Castanza

This premiums looked a little pricey no?

China likes to control the resources and the shovels needed to extract the resources. Both literally and figuratively. Take a look at the Congo and who owns the majority of those mines. Who moved into Afghanistan right after the US pulled out (likely for the lithium). Who's buying up shipping ports in distressed countries? It's a real problem for the Western world. The leadership of 80% of the Western World has been straight dogshit US, UK, Germany, France, Australia, NZ, Canada, EU countries. Utter garage. There is not a single leader I can look at and be like "Yeah, that's a person who instills confidence and is inspiring or making moves that will benefit the US down the line." When I look at Xi I see a guy who is laser focused on getting his country on the same page. A guy who has initiative and direction. Both in scope of high level and granular level stuff. I might not agree with the approach or methods used; but nobody can deny it. He might not be successful there are certainly a lot of negatives to deal with in China. But I can tell you this......He isn't spending his press conferences discussing his favorite ice cream flavor, inviting smooth brain celebrities to the Zhonghai, or discussing his childhood adventures or taking credit for job creation coming out of a global lockdown..... There are a few niche areas the West still has the advantage in. Fortunately they are key areas, but they are under constant onslaught. ________________________ Discussing investing in China is one thing. I don't do it personally. Discussing the changing world order is another. On this front, China is playing 4-D chess while the West is on their heels.

Idk what will happen, but I sure as shit know I'm not going to die on a hill defending the SEC as some incorruptible arbiter of financial truth and justice. They've failed in a lot of ways and have allowed a lot of shenanigan's to go on without any action over the course of their tenure....If they choose to target BTC or crypto or exchanges, it's not because they deem it invaluable (well maybe the shit coins). It's because they want their hand in the honeypot. Corruption at Binance or other exchanges is just a good Segway for the "professional criminal bankers" to get their way. This whole thing is just an appeal to authority but the "authority" isn't exactly clean either. But it plays well in the press.....the business of MONEY has and always will be deeply corrupt. Two examples: SEC ignored Burry for years on the MBS stuff. They also Subpoenaed him for a GameStop tweet lmao SEC ignored thousands of complaints and pages of proof that Madoff was running a ponzi for 8 years @rkbabang @TwoCitiesCapital Either of you use Coldcard?

That's why I said go with someone who is highly trained from a military background and not some touristy or adrenaline thrill seeker. The guy I went with is a friend who was a Green Beret for 9 years. He had something like 130 jumps under his belt; including HALO. He told me that after he got out he went to a credible jump school in California for fun and the lack of safety checks by instructors was nuts. The death rate for tandem jumps was 15 our of 3.3m in the US....I'd call that pretty safe. But yeah anything can happen. Agree on the sub, was reading carbon fiber subs have a habit of imploding because it's almost impossible to manufacture a defect free haul.

LOL well I mean you could you know, console your Mom or be with family? Dude is likely using it as a way to quilt the band into inviting him backstage. edit: I guess the test will be.....what the step dad thinks if he makes it through lmao. Could be getting written out of the will if he does not take it in a positive manner.

Sky diving is pretty safe. Have done it twice without any issues. Just don't go with someone who doesn't have a advanced military background (Jump Master)and you'll be good. Tbh it's not all it's cracked up to be (especially if cloudy).

small add to OXY edit: MSGE

It's ironic the CEO has an Aerospace engineering degree and built the sub out of carbon fiber which has a terrible track record for failures when it comes to subs.

Dudes stepson……”I’m devastated …but I’m going to go to this Blink-182 concert” smh…. https://twitter.com/MrTooDamnChris/status/1671246761116028929?s=20

Sounds like the US tbh. A lot of areas in the US are worse than third world countries.

Agreed I think the first logical step would be removing the tie between insurance and employer. HMO1973 took US healthcare in the wrong direction.

Makes sense from that perspective. I've sure with medical school debt of what 400k on average it's pretty difficult to make it on your own outside of a major metropolitan area. Might as well move to a universal system at this point....From an investment standpoint as someone who is only 30; I do contribute to HSA etc. But honestly long term I don't see how the US won't have some form of universal in the next 10-20 years. Seems inevitable, especially with the voting demographics changing.

Is it just me or is medicine becoming more and more impersonal in the US? At least here in PA it seems everything is being consolidated under the big branches like UPMC where instead of getting a traditional family doctor for everyday stuff who would follow health history closely; you get in these programs where it's some random rotation of 5-10 MD's or PAs.... No personal health concerns between me and my wife but still annoying and I can imagine it being very frustrating if you have some chronic condition.

Chirp Wheel, corkball (similar to lacrosse ball but can carry backpacking) and Theragun <--- game changer

What? https://www.westfraser.com/investors/stock-information

Do we think the Glazers actually care about being hated though? I mean there is A LOT of hated franchise owners out there that stick around for a long time. Dolan and Jerry Jones come to mind here in the US. I think if they choose to sell its entirely about the money. If they really cared about image and making a better name for themselves they would likely find a way to sell to Ratcliff. Bringing Manu back under the British fold would be a positive image booster with die hard Brit fans. Brit tradition/heritage angle etc. Reminds me somewhat of the LIV golf situation. I don’t think they care about any of that and will simply go with the highest offer if they choose to sell at all.

I've been a net buyer in the low 70's which it seems to touch regularly. But pending what you think regarding a recession this could be a good or bad price in the short term. So my approach is add in small amounts now in the low 70's but plan on adding heavily if this dips in any significant manner pending a recession etc.

I disagree there. There are tons of whitenesses for the tic tac. There are a dozen very qualified individuals who said it’s significant. And yes that is exactly part of the mystery. How is an object moving without showing any heat signatures, exhaust or intake etc. You’re describing it in terms of our tech and understanding of physics. I think that’s the point of “UFO” no? I’m not an aerospace engineer or a physicist. But when I see a lot of credible people saying “yeah we don’t know what that was” I pay attention. People who deeply understand the systems that tracked it and people who deeply understand the aerospace capabilities we have. Good example of someone reasonable and qualified to talk on the unusualness of the “thing”. Edit: You might find this interesting. Shows FLIR camera shots of what heat signatures would look like. In the comments there are some links to better examples of systems from the same timeframe that still show heat signatures from engines etc. Every expert I’ve heard discuss it said that there are no heat signatures. The pilots clocked it going INTO the wind. I mean they got a target lock on it. I think 99% of things can be debunked. But this one so far has stood up against the best criticism.

@Viking has done some really solid work on West Fraser Group here. LVL and engineered products make up a percentage of their product line. Trading around 8x right now. I posted a Morningstar link in the "What Is The Short The Homebuilder Thesis" thread yesterday. Not sure if this is what you're after but it's a very well run company with a solid management team that has been executing very well the past few years. They have acquired a few key pieces the past few years that have given them a significant position in the industry. https://thecobf.com/forum/topic/15893-wfg-west-fraser-timber/page/3/

I think WFG or other suppliers is a better way to play the housing market in general. Good read by Morningstar (link). One thing I've noticed is that the younger generations seem less likely to pay more for older homes. A lot of my peers are looking to build new construction vs paying slightly less for a house built in the 60-70's that is going to need another 50k worth of work. Some of this is the younger generations obsession with "it has to be new" and their general lack of ability to do basic repairs/renovations. You also typically have two spouses working which would cut into any time spend fixing up your own home. Then you have the majoroty of existing homes locked up for at least another decade or two should rates remain where they are. Well people need to live somewhere. Wages are rising and people are justifying a little more spend to build. It was mainly during Covid where you saw people thinking about renovations or DIY projects since they were stuck at home. But that was generally little stuff or contractors were still hired out. All of my contractor friends have been buried up to the gills in work. I bet over the next 2-3 decades we see more old homes being torn down and new ones built in their place. The codes and housing tech has gotten much better and it seems like that margin of difference between a house built in the 70's vs today is much greater than say a house built in the 90s. I think the general home owner is recognizing this and looking for the new shiny more efficient model that they think they have "less" to worry about.

Yeah, you've got Vets lining up for DMT sessions vs going to the VA. Results from what I understand have been stellar. Tends to be what happens with monopolies though. American Medical Association and the Department of Education are right there as well! Mind boggling we still have people locked up on weed charges while the govt (Fed and State) collect taxes off of weed sales.

Been looking for a reasonable investment angle here the past few years. Doing wonders for a lot of mental health issues, ptsd etc.

Not PC but its Comedy

I hear you on all of this and agree! Until someone provides direct evidence I take peoples word as just bullshit. However.... What about videos like the infamous tic-tac? Or the metal sphere? There are unexplained things caught on camera. I have two friends who work in the defense industry both in aerospace. One works for Lockheed and the other Northrop. They have both work on the development of airframes Obviously they are limited to what they can say and have TS clearance all that and I realize these are just two people with limited scope etc.. But I can that they said they've seen the videos and have absolutely no effing clue what could move like that. I mean look at SpaceX...undoubtedly our most advanced airframe/rocket systems no? Doesn't even come close to what was seen. So even if this isn't "extraterrestrial" then it should be concerning that someone out there (be it govt or private) has some craft that far surpasses our known capabilities and seems to defy known physics. I mean the Pentagon said the tech outstrips ours by 100 - 1000 years and that we don't control the airspace? Why would they say this? The Tic Tac was said to be moving 13k mph....the fastest aircraft we know of goes 4500mph. The fastest missiles in the world are a hair slower than that. Until Joe Rogan has a live alien sitting across from him on his podcast I'll be a skeptic. But you've got to admit, some of this is getting wild. Former director of ATTIP: "Imagine a technology that can do 6-to-700 g-forces, that can fly at 13,000 miles an hour, that can evade radar and that can fly through air and water and possibly space. And oh, by the way, has no obvious signs of propulsion, no wings, no control surfaces and yet still can defy the natural effects of Earth's gravity. That's precisely what we're seeing."