rkbabang

Bingo. They are looking at scaling solutions... It's just kind of crazy that it's valued at $120B and they haven't implemented scaling yet. Usually when you develop a software solution that needs to scale you take care of that at step 1, not after the software is live. I am very intrigued to see what happens to bitcoin in a major global recession (perhaps in the next year or two?). People loved internet stocks in the late 1990s. I have a feeling the 20-30 somethings at the time were the most confident in their internet stock holdings (these people had never seen stocks decline, perhaps like bitcoin holders today). Did their confidence prevent them from losing 90-100% of their money? People that ask me about bitcoin are certainly intrigued by the price rising - if that is why you are buying it, who will be left to buy when it's 'cheap'? I'm not sure there will be enough bitcoin bargain-hunters to stop the panic. That will be me left buying when its cheap. The more panic the better. Another chance to buy at $100 or $1 would be greatly appreciated.

Bingo. They are looking at scaling solutions... It's just kind of crazy that it's valued at $120B and they haven't implemented scaling yet. Usually when you develop a software solution that needs to scale you take care of that at step 1, not after the software is live. The complete dataset with all of the age groups included is interesting as well: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0Lpn9mr-a-8d0gyalVMZjJ5YkE/view

<Man dials phone> <Little Girl answers phone> GIRL: Hello MAN: Hello sweetie, this is Daddy is Mommy near the phone? GIRL: Hi Daddy, no she's in the bedroom with Uncle Paul. MAN: But you don't have an Uncle Paul? GIRL: I know, Mommy just wants me to call him that. They've been in the bedroom a long time. MAN: Can you do something for Dadddy? GIRL: Yes MAN: Go knock on the bedroom door and yell Daddy's Home! and then come back and tell me what happened. GIRL: Okay Daddy. <loud noises, screams, bangs> GIRL: Daddy, Daddy, I think Mommy's hurt, she ran out of the bedroom with no clothes on, she fell down the stairs and she's not moving! MAN: What! GIRL: And Uncle Paul, he jumped out the window into the pool, he didn't know that you drained the water last week. I think he's dead! <girl sobbing> <long pause ...> MAN: Pool? Is this 554-1288? GIRL: No MAN: I'm sorry, wrong number. <Phone disconnects>

I think blockchain is going to be crucial in proving identity and validity of information. We all know that pictures can be photoshopped, but the same capability is now available to edit video and even voice. You can edit a video of someone now and make them say anything you wish them to say. When you see a video how will you know it is real? If people upload videos to a blockchain signed with their personal key (or audio like in podcasting) then when someone sends me a clip of you saying that you are have joined the Nazi party and think the white race is biologically superior, I won't believe it unless it was uploaded to the blockchain and signed by you personally.

:( It's still the early days though. None of this has been sorted out yet. I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. A lot of people are going to lose a lot of money due to carelessness and theft before the dust settles. The people who take extreme measures won't.

Which is why open source standard protocols are the way to go, so the best people can work on and audit the code. If everyone is rolling their own some are going to be very bad. The problem with that though, is if a bug does exist then everyone is vulnerable. There are no easy solutions right now. Security is tough. If you have millions or hundreds of millions of dollars to protect, create a paper wallet with a new air-gapped computer which has never been connected to a network, print it on a printer which has never been connected to a network, do this in a concrete basement with no windows (physical glass or MS), destroy the computer's hard drive, then store the paper safely.

oops! "devops199 said they were a newbie to the crypto-currency system, and had created a multi-signature wallet in a way the software did not expect. When devops199 tried to delete the buggy money pouch, it bafflingly locked down all multi-signature Parity wallets created after the last software update" "Gavin Woods, admitted today that a user calling themselves devops199 had "accidentally" triggered a bug in its multi-signature wallets that hold Ethereum coins. As a result, wallets created after July 20 are now locked down and inaccessible, quite possibly permanently, thus nuking $90m of Woods' own savings." Paper wallets are still the safest. I'd never hold millions of dollars in a software wallet. This wasn't even malicious hacking by some super genius, just a software bug triggered accidently by a newbie.

I own a basket of Cryptocurrencies (which I discuss here: http://www.cornerofberkshireandfairfax.ca/forum/general-discussion/cryptocurrencies/) And I have owned OSTK for a long time. I haven't done any research on any of the companies on that list you posted. Do any of them strike you as real companies with potential or are they just trying to take advantage of the hype by changing their name to something with "Blockchain" in it? I suspect that there will be a lot of vaporware in this space. There will be opportunities as well as scams.

Hyundai and Kia are great cars. My 2007 Hyundai Elantra has over 200K miles on it and still going strong. Bought it new for $15k in 2007 and still drive it to work 5 days per week. The paint/body looks almost like new even after 10 New England winters and no visible rust underneath either.

I've bought cars from dealers and private individuals. Getting a carfax is a must on a used car, it will tell you if there have been any reported accidents, how many owners, and if it was ever a rental. I usually sign up for the unlimited carfax plan when I start looking, so I can research the vehicle before even going to look at it in person. Don't waste your time looking at vehicles with problems.

My answer is that I don’t know when to sell. It is still too early to get a good idea what it will even be used for in the end. I used to think that Bitcoin would be a currency, but now I’m not so sure. Like SnarkyPuppy above I think it might end up being a store of value like gold as well as a way to transfer large amounts of wealth between institutions or like wiring money and a Western Union replacement. I think other coins will be used more like a currency. They will be faster and cheaper, but won’t be as secure. You will use bitcoin as your savings and the other as your checking (for an analogy). There will be still other coins used mainly for smart contracts or to purchase specific goods and services. The other big unknown is how governments will react. I do not know when to sell, but not in the next 10 years. This is internet circa 1994. Everyone has now heard of it, but almost no one is using it. And a ton of people think it is a bunch useless hype.

Fixed that. aaand this is where wiggle watching winds up! Cheers ;) I blame the scotch, not the wiggles. The wiggles never lie.

I still always keep my eye out for the double loop de loop as a strong signal to stop looking at stocks, turn off my computer, and go to bed.

Nice. I was just thinking if I just buy one less Ferrari every month I could buy an A-share instead. :)

Just got real....

I have Google alerts set for all of the company names and ticker symbols for the stocks I own or am watching. This gives me daily emails with news from all different sources. A lot of junk/uninteresting news to sort through though, especially for the larger companies. I find this method very useful for small caps and less so for a company like Apple.

I started buying stocks in 1996 right after graduating from college. But I was pretty much buying random tech stocks without really knowing or even trying to know what I was doing. I wouldn't say that I started really trying to learn about investing until after the tech crash in 2000-2001 or so.

Fiskars Oyj FKRAF was founded 1649 -- seems to be the winner so far. Probably going into my portfolio -- to make it look more respectable! It looks like Kongō Gumi Co., Ltd. founded 578 wins. Maybe create a basket of ancient companies.

Hudson's Bay Company maybe? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hudson%27s_Bay_Company

You can, and should, trust no one, which is why I'm bullish on crypto.

Jeff Bezos christened Amazon’s largest wind farm while 300 feet in the air

In case anyone missed this, episodes 2 & 3 are now out (only episode 1 was available when Liberty originally posted this) and all of them are excellent.

:o This doesn't happen with solar panels.

I know nothing about wind turbines, but at first glance I always assumed that because they are generators with moving parts (as opposed to solar) that there must be some upkeep/maintenance/repairs required. Is there lubrication required, are there bearings that wear out, etc? Are there any costs after installation? I've also heard the argument that it takes more energy to make them then they generate, but I too find that almost impossible to believe. Especially if they have a 30 year expected life.

Will this bubble popping be enough to bring down the market though the way the housing bubble did? I'm not sure this is large enough part of the economy to have a huge effect. It does sound like after this happens it will be a really good time to buy a good used car though.