rkbabang

@rkbabang Just wanted to say thanks for this recommendation. No press for it in the UK. Completely crazy! Reminded me a little of a smaller scale Tiger King, in that you keep saying, 'WTF?'. You're welcome. It hasn't gotten much attention here in the states either, but it is really is entertaining. It starts off a little crazy and just gets crazier and crazier all the way through. It has everything from feuding Elvis Impersonators to a presidential assassination attempt (I even vaguely remember hearing about that at the time, but didn't know the crazy story behind it). Like you said, it just makes you say "WTF?" over and over again.

To sum it up, ETH started out bad, got worse, then got even worse, then worse still, then far worse.

Yes, and then it became proof of stake making it even worse.

1. It had a pre-mine making it decentralized from the start, then it became proof of stake which will guarantee that it will be increasingly centralized and controlled by the largest holders. No non-proof-of-work coin will ever be decentralized. It is just fiat on the internet. 2. I think it is currently the most secure network man-kind has ever built and long term the security will increase to the point that no nation-state or groups of nation-states, nor all the nation-states on earth working together could ever hope to break it.

Sometime around 2002 or 2003. I've never not been a shareholder since then, but I haven't always had a large position. It is where I have parked cash that I have no other ideas for.

You have had to be that guy to own Bitcoin and not everyone has the stomach or the confidence for that. I’ve been a libertarian/anarchist my entire adult life so being that guy is just how I’ve gone through life. And I’m a tech guy not a finance guy by profession so Bitcoin interested me from a technical, political, and financial point of view all at the same time.

I don't know, is the honest answer. I'd feel better if the mining community didn't let this happen. It sounds like some people are raising the alarms now and maybe this will be avoided.

I think that is how miners are justifying it to themselves. And even if they are correct in that no one would ever abuse that power, what they are missing is that the fact that some entity has the power to kill the use case for BTC, whether or not they ever use it, would kill the trust in BTC.

Basically because of regulations and KYC miners are starting to care more about compliance than profits and it has the potential to concentrate mining power in one mining pool (Foundry). When any miner or pool of miners has more than 50% hashrate they can do bad things (like double spend coins, or censor addresses from using Bitcoin, etc)

When looking at anything in this world. Whether it is in business, with people, investing or anything else (including crypto), it is always good to remember that no matter what it is you are looking at Sturgeon's Law applies. And I'd recommend considering the very real possibility that Sturgeon was far too optimistic.

He should sell his $TRUMP now while he can.

Is it me or are there only 11 eggs in that carton? They keep the price low and sell 11-egg dozens? I know, JK, 5+% of the eggs cartons in a store have broken eggs in them. That one is probably just completely crushed. BTW if they have "Trader Joe's Heirloom Blue and Brown Eggs" where you are they are amazing for not much more.

Agreed. There was a study I read that there is an inverse relationship between how much couples spend on their wedding and how long they stay married. My wife and I rented an Elks hall for $100 for our reception, had a friend's band play, found a cheap caterer who did a chicken dish for $8/plate. The hall provided a bar tender and it was a cash bar, so guests paid for their drinks. My wife did all the flowers herself, her bouquet, all the table arrangements, etc. She bought a discontinued wedding dress off a display they were getting rid of at a fraction of it's full cost and had her mothers friend alter it. Then their was a limo rental and a tux rental. We had my wife's sister in-law take pictures of the ceremony because she had a nice camera (this is film camera days), we also left a single-use disposable camera on every table and told guests to take pictures during the reception and leave the camera on the table for us at the end of the night, so we could develop all the film. You can get married on the cheap and still have a great time, but most people in the US want to impress their guests like they're some kind of royalty even if they have to go into debt to do it. We bought our first house 2 months after our wedding because we didn't go into debt to get married. EDIT: This could be the study I remember: Want a happy marriage? Have a big, cheap wedding https://www.cnn.com/2014/10/13/living/wedding-expenses-study/index.html

My god, I'm glad I'm old. No more friends getting married. My wife and I didn't spend $15K on our wedding (not even adjusted for inflation) we spent $6K in 1996 ($12K inflation adjusted) and we had >200 people attending. I've never spent more than $100-$200 on someone else's wedding. (My kids aren't married yet).

That has been my experience as well. I've know quite a few people who have done both to excess. The alcoholics had much worse outcomes, to say the least. And it's not even close.

I wonder if the legalization of pot has taken some market share away from booze as well as some younger people avoiding alcohol altogether. That said I've been looking into ABEV, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Does anyone know if younger people are drinking less alcohol in South America too or is that just a US trend?

Make sure you buy 20 loafs of bread and at least 17 Gallons of milk.

^ This. I've been fully invested since 1996. I've pretty much never had more than 5% cash and usually less than 2%. I got pretty much wiped out in 2000 because I was young and stupid and invested almost 100% in tech stocks. I learned a few things after that. I was actually in the green in 2006 and 2007, while everyone else was having a bad year or two. If you invest what everyone else is invested in your returns will be like everyone else's, if you invest elsewhere your returns will be different from the macro (one way or the other). Don't follow the herd. Don't put all your eggs in 1 basket, and don't be afraid to go outside of the box. By 1 basket, I don't just mean 1 company, I mean one style of investing, 1 type of company, 1 strategy. Don't build yourself a box to begin with. But yes, stay fully invested for 30-50+ years putting as much money as you can in along the way and you will be wealthy.

Carter wasn't the best president, but he gets a worst rap than he deserves. Nixon was without a doubt the worst president of my lifetime with his price controls and untying the dollar completely from gold he has caused more long term damage to the country than anyone since FDR or Wilson earlier in the 20th century. Look at every economically relevant chart and everything takes a turn for the worse in 1971.

I don't even know how that is an honor? Shut down the market? An honor would be allowing it to be open on a Sunday, not closing down human trade on a Thursday.

BTC. A market they can't close on a nonsensical whim.

My portfolio is mostly the same names as when I posted a year ago (https://thecobf.com/forum/topic/20512-share-your-portfolio-2024/page/2/#findComment-546304). I haven't done much selling this year, so I've just incrementally been adding to positions. The main differences are MSTR and BTC going way up and JOE going down (even though I own more shares than I did a year ago). First chart is stocks only and second one is including crypto and real estate.

That's great that you are starting so young. I have to say that you do look quite a bit older than 22 though.

I found this in my email from February of 2008. I'm not sure if this was when I first joined or if this was a move from one location to another. I remember the board changing locations twice I think.