OT: Ray, how's your Bitcoin investment going?

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by HTupolev

They're struggling with intermittency, but the grid isn't just gone.


No it doesn't. Even if Russia occupied the entirety of Crimea, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts, which it doesn't, we'd be looking at about 15% of Ukraine's pre-war GDP.


Not really. Ukraine's ability to mobilize has been mostly limited by material and training, not manpower. Enough Ukrainians have volunteered that they actually cancelled the standard autumn draft for this year.


It would look different, but it's unlikely that it would be over. Even a lot of the analysts who thought that Ukraine's conventional forces would be quickly defeated - analysts who badly underestimated Ukraine and underestimated various systemic problems with Russia's military - were of the opinion that Russian forces would fail in the occupation effort.

Need a like button. I think the “Ukrainian” would rather die on their feet than live on their knees.

[Mr. Pink]

It's bizarre. There's billions of people thousands of miles away saying, how awesome that hundreds of thousands of young men and millions of refugees are sacrificing their lives and futures for, I really don't know what. It's like everyone is watching a movie or even playing a video game, with zero threat to the comfort of their lives, except the price of petroleum products at times. The Blob has invented the perfect war. No body bags, no incoming missles here. And massive weapon sales. It's kind of gross. Orwellian, for sure, especially when you follow the media coverage. It's sad. A country is being destroyed, and, it's very possible it will become a huge DMZ with bots attacking each other, for a long time. Sad.

[robertbb]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

Kiev and now Odessa are dark.Millions have left the country, and, if and when the electric grid fails, millions more will. Russia occupies an area that produced 60-70% of GDP. All able bodied men who couldn't escape or buy their way out of the country are fighting. If we weren't there for support, this would be over.

Well, to be short, war is profit, and the real winners of this thing will be our defense industry and the financiers, including funny money nerds, who support it and loan to the rebuilders. Many billions of usury were made from the Marshall plan.

Oh, and, Russia seemed to be doing just fine in Crimea for eight years, before all this.

Oh, and its heartening to see that comfy, warm Americans are so committed to fighting this war to the last Ukranian.

It's bizarre. There's billions of people thousands of miles away saying, how awesome that hundreds of thousands of young men and millions of refugees are sacrificing their lives and futures for, I really don't know what. It's like everyone is watching a movie or even playing a video game, with zero threat to the comfort of their lives, except the price of petroleum products at times. The Blob has invented the perfect war. No body bags, no incoming missles here. And massive weapon sales. It's kind of gross. Orwellian, for sure, especially when you follow the media coverage. It's sad. A country is being destroyed, and, it's very possible it will become a huge DMZ with bots attacking each other, for a long time. Sad.

Truth. Well said.

[rallizes]

Originally Posted by Mr. Pink

It's bizarre. There's billions of people thousands of miles away saying, how awesome that hundreds of thousands of young men and millions of refugees are sacrificing their lives and futures for, I really don't know what. It's like everyone is watching a movie or even playing a video game, with zero threat to the comfort of their lives, except the price of petroleum products at times. The Blob has invented the perfect war. No body bags, no incoming missles here. And massive weapon sales. It's kind of gross. Orwellian, for sure, especially when you follow the media coverage. It's sad. A country is being destroyed, and, it's very possible it will become a huge DMZ with bots attacking each other, for a long time. Sad.

I am curious if this has influenced how you invest your money.

[Mr. Pink]

Originally Posted by rallizes

I am curious if this has influenced how you invest your money.

Well, whenever they declare cease fire and start negotiating an end to this thing, I'd go all in equities. But, then the Blob moves over to Taiwan, so, who knows?

[Mr. Pink]

Oh jeez, look what just happened.

The U.N. is sending Ukrainians aid in crypto. Should it?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/techn...aine-refugees/

"The United Nations said Thursday it will start aiding people displaced by Russia’s war in Ukraine with cryptocurrency.
The organization’s refugee agency, the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which often sends funds to those displaced from their homes for things like rent, food and heat, will transfer USD Coin (USDC) — a cryptocurrency pegged to the U.S. dollar and considered a stable coin — to uprooted Ukrainians who can ultimately exchange it for cash at MoneyGram locations worldwide.
Proponents said it will help displaced people get money quicker and limit loss or theft in transit — but some skeptics say that adding another layer to getting aid at a time when the cryptocurrency market is in upheaval could be problematic and risky.
“They are basically telling people to get into crypto,” said Molly White, a crypto critic who writes the blog Web3 Is Going Just Great. But there are “parts of the crypto industry that involve enormous risks.”"
"Now, the United Nations will pilot its crypto aid program in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv, Lviv and Vinnytsia. It has been tested for six months and will expand to more “war-affected” people inside the country and Ukrainian refugees in 2023, officials said. It is unclear how successful the tests have been.
To receive funds, uprooted people will have to download a virtual wallet app, called Vibrant, on a smartphone. Money, in the form of USDC, will be transferred to their account. From there, they can exchange the cryptocurrency into euros, dollars or other local currency at one of roughly 4,500 MoneyGram locations in Ukraine.
The currency is on the Stellar blockchain, a network for crypto money exchange. The program is co-developed with the Stellar Development Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for use of the Stellar blockchain.
Stellar officials said that in the past humanitarian aid projects have been limited in scope due to geographical constraints, but using cryptocurrency allows it to scale worldwide, bringing concerns from others."

Good lord, the world is mad.

[fiamme red]

Mr. Pink, please start a new Ukraine thread instead of derailing this one. Are you trying to shut it down?

Below is Bramhall's cartoon in today's New York Daily News.

[peanutgallery]

Thank you, I'm still struggling with all 4 parents of SBF and Ellison being entrenched in academia at Stanford/MIT and their alleged involvement. Just a little weird, like a game/joke or something that was put in motion in 2019

It would be extremely interesting to see how the whole disheveled thing would play if it was people that weren't WASPS from MA or the Bay Area. Those are some smart kids...but not that smart. Thinking there's some struggle at crosswalks and getting up on time, that sort of thing. There has to be a little "help"

Carry on

Originally Posted by fiamme red

Mr. Pink, please start a new Ukraine thread instead of derailing this one. Are you trying to shut it down?

Below is Bramhall's cartoon in today's New York Daily News.

[username]

Originally Posted by peanutgallery

It would be extremely interesting to see how the whole disheveled thing would play if it was people that weren't WASPS from MA or the Bay Area

Not that I particularly want to go down this road, but you think Sam Bankman-Fried is a WASP?

[username]

And yes, he's predictably being attacked as a (((globalist))), when in fact he's just a run-of-the-mill huckster, drug addict, and embezzler.

[peanutgallery]

Yes in the 2022 sense, no in the vein of a Eisenhower Republican with a debutante ball and a Mayflower registry. Term has shifted, but followed with the whole prep school/"Ivy" thing. Out of the top 10 schools in the US, MIT and Stanford are definitely there and a whole thing that gets you entrenched as a prof for 30 years (x4)

The parents are in on the scam

Originally Posted by username

Not that I particularly want to go down this road, but you think Sam Bankman-Fried is a WASP?

[username]

I think the term you're looking for is "establishment" or, better still, "ruling class." That's not to say that my grandparents didn't dream that someday their grandchildren could become WASPs. It's just that I think WASPs still probably have to be Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. (It wasn't all that long ago that Jews weren't considered white, of course, and that's still true in a lot of places. But I take your point that Silicon Valley isn't one of those places.)

[peanutgallery]

There's a whole thing that goes with these 2 terms

If going to an Ivy involves your parents fronting the better part of $60K per anum for 4 years or more...its a little waspy. Like I said, the term has shifted

Originally Posted by username

I think the term you're looking for is "establishment" or, better still, "ruling class." That's not to say that my grandparents didn't dream that someday their grandchildren could become WASPs. It's just that I think WASPs still probably have to be Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. (It wasn't all that long ago that Jews weren't considered white, of course, and that's still true in a lot of places. But I take your point that Silicon Valley isn't one of those places.)

[adub]

The "establishment" is the scam.

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by username

I think the term you're looking for is "establishment" or, better still, "ruling class." That's not to say that my grandparents didn't dream that someday their grandchildren could become WASPs. It's just that I think WASPs still probably have to be Anglo-Saxon and Protestant. (It wasn't all that long ago that Jews weren't considered white, of course, and that's still true in a lot of places. But I take your point that Silicon Valley isn't one of those places.)

I always thought the defining aspect was money. If you have it, or not. The 'old money' always invites the 'new money' to the table because the old money is very good at getting money from the 'new money'. It's like tuition. If the 'New Money' is smart enough not the let the 'Old Money' get all their new money, they to can become 'old money' one day.

This even applies to Silicon Valley. All the money may be newer, but there is definitely a hierarchy of the money. A ball of money has it's own gravity and attracts little balls of money to orbit.