Castanza

Yup I own a small amount of this as well. Payed attention when Kuppy started pounding the table on uranium. At some point the world will wake up and realize it needs nuclear.

AIV, FRPH, PCYO

Yup the ability to take your net worth (or some worth) with you by simply memorizing a 24 word seed phrase is priceless. Anyone who’s lived through a Warzone or major crisis should understand this. Imagine if this existed during WWII and nations stored their wealth in BTC instead of Gold. Hitler would have had a MUCH tougher time finding the war. Those gold reserves and wealth he stole from Europes banks, citizens, Jews etc. would not have been there.

Ratio when I was there was 6 to 1 insiders vs off street hire. 4 years till you hit top pay rate. Worked out well for me and paid for the rest of education. Def wouldn’t want to do it as a career. Every guy there had back surgery, elbow, shoulder, knee you name it. Divorce rate was through the roof.

As someone who’s done it I’d find something else. Hours suck and you don’t start till 8:30-9 so that 10-12hr shift hits worse with the home life. Pay and benefits were great for a normal job. Stress is relative and subjective. During 08-09 every banker and financial advisor from here to Timbuktu was shaking like a dog crapping a peach seed. But those Union drivers say pretty. So stress is different pending the macro environment for sure. But I do get @Gregmal point. I think we share pretty similar frameworks but I’m maybe a bit more risk averse since I paid off my house early. I think Greg is also a bit older than me so probably at different stops on the route; and frankly probably better off/more financially savvy. Now that my monthly cash flow is less intensive I’ve definitely dialed back the savings requirements, intending to make that money work more for me etc. Whatever let’s you sleep at night

Dropping the gold standard also happened in 1971 fwiw

VSCO Adding it to the retailer basket......I like the setup here. It's optically cheap, they have some catalysts on the horizon, holidays is around the corner, and retail spend remains generally strong. @LearningMachine Thanks for the DD and insights on this.

I did just see this with BMW haha but something tells me auto makers will be pushing this very hard the next decade. Especially as we move to more EVs that a much more integrated with software suites. Not going to be a fun world to live in if it’s not kept in check.

If you work in a Union shop and don’t join; life will be a living Hell for you. You’ll get overloaded with work and abused in many ways. After all you have no recourse or representative.

Since the FTC has been so busy as of late “protecting consumers.” What are some things you wish they would target? - Carrier locked cell phones (AT&T) - Subscription services for features in cars (BMW proposed subscription for heated seats)

CLPR, AIV, FRPH

Adds: AIV, PCYO, CLPR, FRPH New positions: O, CROX

Another angle the could be a positive from remote work is a resurgence in small town/city productivity. There is no question that smaller towns have been dying in the US. Late 90’s - 2010’’s really pushed this narrative along as more and more manufacturing left and jobs that required higher education and commanded higher lay moved towards big city centers. This causes massive economic disparities long term. But I do think there is a large amount of people about there who wish they could live in smaller towns but also make good money. Well now we have a solution…and with that solution comes more taxes revenue and consumer/expendable business demand for small towns as higher income earners move in. Will be interesting to see how this plays out over time.

What’s funny about it is everyone I know who is full time wfh said their companies productivity numbers have done nothing but go up. Sad it boils down to nothing but some personal power validation. Gotta have your subjects in office so you can lord over them and feel important parking your Porsche in premium parking spot

Quite a few employers starting to push people back to offices. Wouldn't be surprised to see political pressure on companies to push them back if the CRE market get's bad enough.

Well there are various theories out there. But I will say the Mongols were not stopped because of European might. The evidence we have shows the Mongols were superior fighters and they defeated the Templars, the Teutonics and the Hospitallers; all of who were considered very formidable forces in their times. Going off the records it would seem the defeated them handily as well. I think leadership was the main cause of the retreat but it was also environmental as well. It’s really such a weird time in history. So many cultures and levels of sophistication bumping into each other.

The Mongols were very innovative and quick to adopt new ideas and technology (more so under Kublia Khan) . But damn did they rule with an iron fist or crush your soul if you didn’t pay tribute or swear allegiance. Relating back to Ukraine with the Mongols in mind, I think it’s funny to see who owned the land when the Horde was laying siege to the cities throughout the region. I’ll let people do a little digging to find that answer I guess this is why I get annoyed with the justification in this thread that goes “Ukraine is a sovereign nation and deserves its land and borders to be respected.” Etc. In my opinion, nobody owns land, you hold it with force. Ukraine has a right to defend what they believe is their land. But as history shows, that land can change hands and likely will over the next millennium. If there is one thing you can learn from Dan Carlins series; it’s that History boils down to conquer or be conquered. History bears no remorse and grants nothing. It’s take and hold until the marauders are at your gate. Plan accordingly and maybe you’ll get 50 years of peace at best!

Dan Carlin is a whole different animal when it comes to podcasts. He often reads 50+ books and original sources before even attempting to construct a historical narrative. He often only puts out 1-2 podcast series a year. Usually lists all his sources etc. There are quite a few free episodes but his paid series is very much worth it imo.

The Mongols stopped their exploits in Europe because their leader died and there was division amounts the leadership on a successor. Prior to this death; they were cutting through Poland like a hot knife through butter. They would decimate armies of 75k with less than 20k of men who were supposed to be just a scouting party. The Mongols had a massive moat when it came to warfare tactics. Their brutality was unmatched as well. Prior to the Mongols, siege warfare could be drawn out for a few years. They could raid cities and decimate armies in weeks and months. Many many times single battles decided the outcome. European Knights were no match for the Mongols technique. The Comanche Native Americans dominated with similar techniques. I believe it was in Ukraine where the Mongols captured 10,000 soldiers and they tied them up and stacked them like cord wood. They then proceeded to build a wooden platform on top of them where the Mongols then climbed on top of and ate their victory meal. The weight slowly crushed the enemy. Ogedei’s death caused the “scouting party” to turn back to elect a new leader. EU would look VERY different today without this single death. Not too often in history do big changes boil down to single events like this.

Can’t learn about the Mongols without some Dan Carlin Hardcore History….Europe was saved by a very untimely death.

Not sure if it’s the lack of sleep from the baby or the constant hammering from the roofers….held my nose and bought some M the last two days. Also added to NTDOY @Parsad I’ll bite on the return to fair value thesis

*GRAPHIC* War is Hell and trench warfare is probably about as close to the 9th circle as you can get. It’s “fun” to discuss strategy here, but when it comes to war I think it’s important to keep perspective on the reality of it. Any one of us could have been easily born Russian and thrown to the wolves in a similar situation. It’s been interesting to discuss this war with my brother who is adopted from Russia. He is a combat veteran and served in Afghanistan during the mid 2000s. He said it’s weird to think that likely most of the other boys that he was with in the orphanage are likely in the Russian military now; probably being thrown to the meat grinder and how he could have easily been on the other end of the military spectrum. Perspective matters when discussing these topics. Above is a recent video of Ukrainian SEALs (Western trained) clearing a trench line against Russian soldier thrown to the meat grinder. Under-equipped, under-prepared, and likely no desire to be there. I thought this Reddit users comment on the video was pertinent

Can see the missile trail plain as day Translation of the videographer in the comments.

Perfect quote to sum it up