Light Entertainment

[harryg]

is NOT the headline I'm seeing today in the UK, don't know why.

Meanwhile, someone else's view:

[SOL]

is NOT the headline I'm seeing today in the UK, don't know why.

Meanwhile, someone else's view:

The Old Brits had Grits to some degree. Today's Brits have the S**TS

[Budge]

is NOT the headline I'm seeing today in the UK, don't know why.

Meanwhile, someone else's view:

And with the bloody uniforms they wore as well!

I remember landing at Gatwick July 1995. It was raining (shocker). But the real shocker was it didn't rain again until the second week in September. One of hottest summers on record (may have been the hottest) and we're talking of records going back to the 17thC.

I took my two boys to a park one day and the local kids were in short supply and those that were there were in a desperate state. One girl, in a dress, went down the slide and burnt her arse. My lads meanwhile were like Energizer Bunnies - kept going and going. We'd just moved there from Texas.

[harryg]

The Old Brits had Grits to some degree. Today's Brits have the S**TS

It would appear that our illustrious (& industrious) leader has poetic tendencies. More!

I remember landing at Gatwick July 1995. It was raining (shocker). But the real shocker was it didn't rain again until the second week in September. One of hottest summers on record (may have been the hottest) and we're talking of records going back to the 17thC.

I took my two boys to a park one day and the local kids were in short supply and those that were there were in a desperate state. One girl, in a dress, went down the slide and burnt her arse. My lads meanwhile were like Energizer Bunnies - kept going and going. We'd just moved there from Texas.

Yes, it's all relative of course. Stayed in Phoenix for a week or so - that's a bit warm, but they did have full a/c in the house. (Their road is called Dreamy Draw Drive, one of the best road names I've heard. They told me it was named that because of the effects of mercury on the miners there).

1995 was hot in the UK but the one I remember most from my childhood was 1976. It was really hot in London for two or three weeks and didn't cool down at night. Playing football I fell on the grass and broke my arm - floor was like concrete.

[Budge]

Crypto is a house of cards, eventually it will lead to a field of broken dreams rather than riches.

Lol, this seals it: both you and BJ are posting bad stuff about crypto - bottom's likely in, or close, for BTC (strong support in the 12k to 15k range).

BTC will start doing well again, sometime after March '23.

Btw, I don't consider BTC = "crypto." It's quite different from the alt. coins.

Most alt. coins will be perished, but BTC and a few others should do well, in the years ahead.

Remember, my base case is that BTC was started by the CIA before it was handed over to the smart coders, and I don't think the CIA is ready to kill off its brainchild, yet.

Or if you want a better, non-conspiratorial analogy, BTC's long-term pattern is remarkably similar to Amazon's.

Highs and lows, unimaginable volatility, and so forth ...

Not negative, I still expect it to mount some rally (could be quite decent) and then the odds are quite high it will drop to new lows. Then it is possible a mega buy signal could be triggered.

Cryptos are the stalking horse for Central Bank crapo currencies. Get the punters used to them and then the hammer drops. Think I read that somewhere but not quite as eloquently as I phrased it.

[Budge]

The Old Brits had Grits to some degree. Today's Brits have the S**TS

It would appear that our illustrious (& industrious) leader has poetic tendencies. More!

I remember landing at Gatwick July 1995. It was raining (shocker). But the real shocker was it didn't rain again until the second week in September. One of hottest summers on record (may have been the hottest) and we're talking of records going back to the 17thC.

I took my two boys to a park one day and the local kids were in short supply and those that were there were in a desperate state. One girl, in a dress, went down the slide and burnt her arse. My lads meanwhile were like Energizer Bunnies - kept going and going. We'd just moved there from Texas.

Yes, it's all relative of course. Stayed in Phoenix for a week or so - that's a bit warm, but they did have full a/c in the house. (Their road is called Dreamy Draw Drive, one of the best road names I've heard. They told me it was named that because of the effects of mercury on the miners there).

1995 was hot in the UK but the one I remember most from my childhood was 1976. It was really hot in London for two or three weeks and didn't cool down at night. Playing football I fell on the grass and broke my arm - floor was like concrete.

I do remember that summer of '76. Caused much heartache to the home insurance business especially in clay areas. Poured foundations weren't deep enough to cope with the shrinkage. Resulted in new building code - deeper foundations.

Dreamy Draw Drive and mercury - someone was pulling yer plonker. More likely because Phoenix was a huge pot distribution center.

I lived in Glendale, AZ for a couple of years. Bought a foreclosure with a big dirt backyard. Moving from the east coast I was all for getting rid of our mower ("It's all effin desert I told the missus") but she who must be obeyed won the day. The yard had a sprinkler system and the locals told us just run the sprinklers, the grass will grow. Damn did it ever. The next time some jerk who's never lived and worked there says, "But it's a dry heat", you have my permission to tell them to eff off. When you can fry an egg on the sidewalk and your pool water reaches 95F just imagine what it does to the brain (dreamy man well that's my excuse anyway).

[LoriPrecisely]

Cryptos are the stalking horse for Central Bank crapo currencies. Get the punters used to them and then the hammer drops. Think I read that somewhere but not quite as eloquently as I phrased it.

I agree. The narrative has been that crypto would be decentralized, but I believe the real goal is to centralize all of our transactions so they can monitor and tax us, and penalize us if they don't like what we are doing, or reward us if we are complicit citizens. It is all about Power and Control.

[Yodean]

Cryptos are the stalking horse for Central Bank crapo currencies. Get the punters used to them and then the hammer drops. Think I read that somewhere but not quite as eloquently as I phrased it.

I agree. The narrative has been that crypto would be decentralized, but I believe the real goal is to centralize all of our transactions so they can monitor and tax us, and penalize us if they don't like what we are doing, or reward us if we are complicit citizens. It is all about Power and Control.

While the above is likely all true, it does not actually go against BTC, ETH, and a few others challenging aths sometime in late '23 onwards ...

[SOL]

Cryptos are the stalking horse for Central Bank crapo currencies. Get the punters used to them and then the hammer drops. Think I read that somewhere but not quite as eloquently as I phrased it.

I agree. The narrative has been that crypto would be decentralized, but I believe the real goal is to centralize all of our transactions so they can monitor and tax us, and penalize us if they don't like what we are doing, or reward us if we are complicit citizens. It is all about Power and Control.

While the above is likely all true, it does not actually go against BTC, ETH, and a few others challenging aths sometime in late '23 onwards ...

Never underestimate the human mind's affinity for stupidity. Most humans live in a world of illusions compounded by delusions or delusionary behaviour. The illusions help them live through a dreary today in hopes for a better tomorrow; the delusion helps cement the illusion that everything will eventually end well. They are wrong on both counts, but nothing stops them from catching this deadly duo at a young age.

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value other than the illusion it offers a deluded mind of safety. The illusion powered by the delusion is what pushed BTC so high; momentary bouts of reality are what account for the harsh corrections.

Hence one could take advantage of the next delusionary cycle as the illusion is constant, but it needs the delusion to sustain it. In that sense, when BTC gets smashed, it will make for a good albeit volatile investment until the delusion shows signs of weakness. I will be selling everything I have in GBTC around Sept/October and wait patiently for the next crash cycle unless the pattern dramatically experiences a change, but there are too many people that found God in the crypto-currency markets and God's record on offering a helping hand is rather spotty at least in the financial markets

[scott]

One useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three is a Congress (John Quincy Adams)

Really like your (new) sig Budge. In Russia they say three is a bazaar; so much for triumvirates. John Quincy Adams was my great, great, great, great, great, Grandfather. Just goes to show, SOL is right about no improvements in five generations! Seems it'll be a long time coming.

[harryg]

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value other than the illusion it offers a deluded mind of safety. The illusion powered by the delusion is what pushed BTC so high; momentary bouts of reality are what account for the harsh corrections.

I think that this type of thinking is misguided and a very bad reason to dismiss Bitcoin and Ethereum. Or to better explain, it applies equally to all financial markets. The dot com bubble is a recent and obvious example.

All financial assets, without exception, have no intrinsic value and are worth only what someone will pay for them. Intrinsic value, in this context, is a nonsense made up by the financial services industry. The price of all of them goes up and down based on expectations, calculations, fear/greed, call it what you will. Without disagreement on value there would be no price and no market.

You might well think that you have very good reasons for believing that GOOGL shares are worth something (as I do), but they too are worth only what you can sell them for on any given day. At the weekend one could argue that they aren't worth anything at all.

Hard assets (real things) can have some intrinsic value, by which I mean benefit obtained other than from the price one can sell them for on any given day. Random examples include house (you can live in it), food (you can eat it), wood (you can burn it to keep warm) and friends (you can burn them to keep warm).

[SOL]

Bitcoin has no intrinsic value other than the illusion it offers a deluded mind of safety. The illusion powered by the delusion is what pushed BTC so high; momentary bouts of reality are what account for the harsh corrections.

I think that this type of thinking is misguided and a very bad reason to dismiss Bitcoin and Ethereum. Or to better explain, it applies equally to all financial markets. The dot com bubble is a recent and obvious example.

All financial assets, without exception, have no intrinsic value and are worth only what someone will pay for them. Intrinsic value, in this context, is a nonsense made up by the financial services industry. The price of all of them goes up and down based on expectations, calculations, fear/greed, call it what you will. Without disagreement on value there would be no price and no market.

You might well think that you have very good reasons for believing that GOOGL shares are worth something (as I do), but they too are worth only what you can sell them for on any given day. At the weekend one could argue that they aren't worth anything at all.

Hard assets (real things) can have some intrinsic value, by which I mean benefit obtained other than from the price one can sell them for on any given day. Random examples include house (you can live in it), food (you can eat it), wood (you can burn it to keep warm) and friends (you can burn them to keep warm).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SA7bKo4 ... cificDusty

Solid points; what I value about your thought process is that you can simultaneously be harsh, reasonable and funny. It takes skill to get to that level

Having said that, BTC was just some concept created out of thin much like Fiat. On the other hand, Google has some hard assets such as buildings, computer gear, real income, etc., BTC, for now, is a dream about a better tomorrow, and we all wish for a better tomorrow. The tomorrow that we dreamed about becomes worse.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhTufX7 ... rDasCOMEDY

However, one could argue we are subject to our delusions or illusions. I might be delusional in actually thinking that I know what I am talking about

[AstuteShift]

Crypto is complete garbage but a good trading vehicle. It’s nothing but a modern version of tulip craze, at least stocks are legit companies

[LoriPrecisely]

A couple news articles with key phrases that caught my eye this morning regarding bitcoin.

China’s Top Chipmaker Achieves Breakthrough Despite US Curbs
The Shanghai-based manufacturer is shipping Bitcoin-mining semiconductors built using 7-nanometer technology, industry watchers TechInsights wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. That’s well ahead of SMIC’s established 14nm technology, a measure of fabrication complexity in which narrower transistor widths help produce faster and more efficient chips. Since late 2020, the US has barred the unlicensed sale to the Chinese firm of equipment that can be used to fabricate semiconductors of 10nm and beyond, infuriating Beijing.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has likely advanced its production technology by two generations, defying US sanctions intended to halt the rise of China’s largest chipmaker.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... d89cb60890

Tesla, MicroStrategy, Block Face Hit From Bitcoin
As if the environment weren’t tough enough for one-time stock market high-flyers Tesla Inc., MicroStrategy Inc. and Block Inc., the three companies took an estimated combined hit of $5 billion on their holdings of Bitcoin in the second quarter.

There are at least 27 public companies with Bitcoin on their balance sheet, according to CoinGecko. While most of them are cryptocurrency miners and financial service firms, more than 85% of the Bitcoins held at public companies were with software company MicroStrategy, carmaker Tesla and payments provider Block.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-mi ... 42447.html

[Budge]

A couple news articles with key phrases that caught my eye this morning regarding bitcoin.

China’s Top Chipmaker Achieves Breakthrough Despite US Curbs
The Shanghai-based manufacturer is shipping Bitcoin-mining semiconductors built using 7-nanometer technology, industry watchers TechInsights wrote in a blog post on Tuesday. That’s well ahead of SMIC’s established 14nm technology, a measure of fabrication complexity in which narrower transistor widths help produce faster and more efficient chips. Since late 2020, the US has barred the unlicensed sale to the Chinese firm of equipment that can be used to fabricate semiconductors of 10nm and beyond, infuriating Beijing.

Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. has likely advanced its production technology by two generations, defying US sanctions intended to halt the rise of China’s largest chipmaker.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... d89cb60890

Tesla, MicroStrategy, Block Face Hit From Bitcoin
As if the environment weren’t tough enough for one-time stock market high-flyers Tesla Inc., MicroStrategy Inc. and Block Inc., the three companies took an estimated combined hit of $5 billion on their holdings of Bitcoin in the second quarter.

There are at least 27 public companies with Bitcoin on their balance sheet, according to CoinGecko. While most of them are cryptocurrency miners and financial service firms, more than 85% of the Bitcoins held at public companies were with software company MicroStrategy, carmaker Tesla and payments provider Block.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-mi ... 42447.html

TSLA sells 75% of its Bitcoin:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/20/tesla-c ... -2022.html