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[2017-09-27 09:10:12] - a: Heard of this? https://www.engadget.com/2017/09/26/blockchain-smartphone-sirin-finney-solarin/ -- Xpovos
[2017-09-26 16:24:21] - Like I might think of showing it to some other younger devs here for the good parts but I'll probably pass because of the politics. -Daniel
[2017-09-26 16:23:45] - Xpovos: Pretty good, I think it would be easier to share without the politics though. -Daniel
[2017-09-26 15:51:30] - Thoughts? https://www.netmeister.org/blog/semper-ubi-sub-ubi.html -- Xpovos
[2017-09-26 14:11:22] - mig/paul: "into the streets" is a saying we've been using to deal with our problems since the 70s. ~a
[2017-09-26 14:08:20] - mig: the question is where you draw the line obviously. some people, like paul, think protesting in the street should be curtailed: i'm on the fence about that one especially when you have enough protesters that fitting on the sidewalk is unreasonable. ~a
[2017-09-26 14:07:56] - mig: a lot of that is obviously tongue in cheek. not all of those things are specifically argued by real people. but, i'll answer you literally anyways: not all protesting should be legal and not all protesting should be illegal, so, it's always going to be a balance. ~a
[2017-09-26 14:02:43] - a: "Also, it should be ILLEGAL to protest." who exactly is making this argument? - mig
[2017-09-26 13:39:56] - Paul: I think its Trump forcing people to pick a side somewhat. Like more players were on Colin's side but it wasn't a big deal. Trump made it a big deal so now they are letting people know which side they are on. So is that a protest against Trump or with Colin? I think both? But again, hard to say what ratio applies. -Daniel
[2017-09-26 13:20:18] - a: Sure. I'm not a mind reader, but it sounds like the Steelers have outright said it was more about unity and pushing back on Trump. -Paul
[2017-09-26 13:13:40] - a: I don't know if it's the media's fault, but I do think plenty of people are jumping to conclusions about what both sides are upset about, and that disconnect is a big part of the problem. -Paul
[2017-09-26 13:12:22] - paul: i think its hard to say what ratio of that mixture applies to each person involved in the protests this weekend
~a[2017-09-26 13:10:26] - a: Because before Trump opened his mouth, there were just a handful of players who were kneeling. After Trump, the number jumped a bunch. I attribute that change to what he said, lacking any other notable change. -Paul
[2017-09-26 13:06:18] - mig: it wasn't just kaepernick last year. ~a
[2017-09-26 13:00:23] - a: then why protest now? Where were they last year when it was just Kaepnerick? - mig
[2017-09-26 12:57:58] - mig: that's not the player's faults though. that's the media and twitter.com/realDonaldTrump . . . right? this kind of protest can be easily misinterpreted. and *i* feel like it has been. ~a
[2017-09-26 12:55:55] - a: because there has actually been very little discussion on the issue of minorities and policing. It's been mainly about Trump vs. NFL players. - mig
[2017-09-26 12:53:22] - Paul: I think its mixed up now. Both protesting racial issues / police actions and being unified against Trump. I think its hard to say what ratio of that mixture applies to each person involved in the protests this weekend. -Daniel
[2017-09-26 12:48:59] - "I feel like many of the players doing this this past weekend was to show unity or protest Trump" why do you feel this way? ~a
[2017-09-26 12:47:48] - And even with Villanueva, it sounds like he didn't want to stand out or stand apart from his team, but being there for the anthem was important to him. Basically... this isn't all black and white (no double meaning intended) in terms of being 100% for the flag/anthem or 100% for protest. It means different things for different people. -Paul
[2017-09-26 12:46:28] - mig: Yeah, I think the Big Ben statement is pretty telling about how this whole anthem thing means different things to different people. Kaepernick kneeling meant one thing (protest police actions, among other things), but I feel like many of the players doing this this past weekend was to show unity or protest Trump. -Paul
[2017-09-26 12:12:34] - and I think Rothlisbergers statement of regret might be a bit more telling. - mig
[2017-09-26 12:04:14] - and honestly, if anyone threw anyone else under the bus, it was Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. - mig
[2017-09-26 11:55:26] - a: so I understand why he might feel that way, but I think it's kind of fucked up an decorated army vet is now feeling ashamed for doing something that's probably ingrained into his being. - mig
[2017-09-26 11:38:13] - Paul: Indeed. -Daniel
[2017-09-26 11:35:10] - Daniel: The implication being that the facebook guy isn't being logical and reasonable? I second your statement, though, in that I've always appreciated that I can debate pretty much anything here and expect thoughtful responses. Same can't always be said for Facebook. -Paul
[2017-09-26 11:33:21] - a: I can totally buy that. In fact, when I first heard about it, that was my first thought (because he still wasn't out on the field, from what I heard, he was still somewhat inside the stadium). I figured he wanted to support his team-mates but also still respect the flag, but the camera caught him. -Paul
[2017-09-26 11:26:16] - -Daniel
[2017-09-26 11:26:14] - As a quote from the facebook discussion I'm having from the other guy "There is a false narrative that minorities are somehow oppressed here. But when any minority rises to the top in any field it negates the argument". I would like to take this moment to express gratitude and thankfulness for our discussions and debates here that I think are thoughtful and that we all make an effort to be logical and reasonable even when we disagree.
[2017-09-26 11:09:52] - paul: yep. not sure if this is a rhetorical question or not. but if not, yes, he was hoping to be inconspicuous. he didn't mean to throw his teammates under the bus. ~a
[2017-09-26 11:02:24] - a: Do you know why? Was he hoping to be inconspicuous and doesn't like how he's being used as an icon now? -Paul
[2017-09-26 09:42:46] - mig/daniel: villanueva regrets the "stance" he took. ~a
[2017-09-26 09:03:24] - i think people should just stick to their profession ~a
[2017-09-25 16:36:59] - Was it the bar not doing well (it is kind of a dungeon-y dump), the expectation of a depressing blowout, or a boycott over the anthem protests? Probably a combination of all those factors but it was a really strange experience. - mig
[2017-09-25 16:35:21] - just as a weird anecdote I was at a local bar to get some dinner and catch the end of the afternoon games and my god I have never seen a place that dead in my life on an NFL Sunday. And I didn't really see anyone roll in for the Redskins pregame as I was leaving. - mig
[2017-09-25 14:36:18] - a: happy birthday
[2017-09-25 14:25:11] - mig: Totally agree there. Its just part of what I find so interesting about this. That people feel so strongly that they went and spent $$ to buy a jersey for a guy they felt like represented 'their side'. Just more examples of how strongly people are responding to this issue. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 14:12:30] - as an aside the Villanueva thing is also a fascinating thing that came out of yesterday as well. - mig
[2017-09-25 13:31:35] - Daniel: But I can see your coworker's point that if I did, I would be annoyed. -Paul
[2017-09-25 13:31:18] - Daniel: I think your coworker has a decent point that I don't necessarily disagree with. That's why I was saying it was silly to kneel for the anthem. I think it's a bad way of protesting because it alienates lots of potential allies. I don't have any overwhelming reverence for the flag or the anthem so I don't care much... -Paul
[2017-09-25 13:21:56] - I think we'll have to wait and see if it actually has any kind of impact long term. If they don't kneel again next week does it just fade away as one week of uproar? I'm curious to see. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 13:20:32] - mig: I think the anthem because thats when they can get the biggest audience? Start the most conversation? Something like that, but thats me guessing. I think the point about it being more anti Trump at this point is definitely valid though. Or at least a significant motivator at this point even if not the sole reason. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 13:16:53] - And I think the players might have miscalculated what the fan reaction was going to be. - mig
[2017-09-25 13:06:25] - And likewise most of yesterday felt like players cared more about sticking it to Trump (which is somewhat understandable), rather than trying to fix any serious issues that go on in this country. - mig
[2017-09-25 13:04:55] - well, I think the one thing I could never understand is why the national anthem was the target. I've always felt Kaepernick's protest was kind of a "look at me!" type protest instead of actual genuine concern over black lives being lost (and his utterances afterword seem to reinforce that perception for me). - mig
[2017-09-25 12:49:55] - daniel: is he former military? - mig
[2017-09-25 12:25:16] - So just as some thoughts - apparently the guy who sits next to me at work was offended by the kneeling so in talking with him his two main points seemed to be :1) They are protesting the entire country and I am part of the entire country therefore I'm insulted. 2) They are wrong in their assertion that America is racist against black people. Just food for thought and more anecdotal info. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 12:00:16] - Paul: That is an interesting question. I have no idea how many would know why they are kneeling. I guess I was assuming at least most did as the ones taking the action. Perhaps thats optimistic of me though. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 11:46:19] - Daniel: For instance, if you polled every NFL player who knelt yesterday, how many could even explain that it was about police mistreatment of blacks? I think some just saw it as an anti-Trump thing and ran with it. -Paul
[2017-09-25 11:44:30] - Daniel: Heh, yeah, I was going to wish you luck on that.
I don't really know to answer your question. It seems like some people on my facebook feed aren't fully aware of what the kneeling is about, but I would flip that around and ask if the NFL players are really fully aware of what the kneeling is about too. -Paul[2017-09-25 11:43:23] - Bob Costas had an interesting point that so many people basically see the flag as representing the military at this point instead of the country as a whole. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 11:41:00] - Dee's posts on facebook to be clear. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 11:40:36] - Paul: Thats part of what I'm curious about. Do the people who are upset even understand whats happening and why? Or do they only know they knelt for the the anthem and are therefore upset? I actually responded on one of Dee's posts about which seems somewhat dangerous but no response yet. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 11:33:28] - Daniel: And I think those people see it more as an anti-America protest. I don't think Kaepernick has done the movement any favors on that point with some of his statements. -Paul
[2017-09-25 11:32:46] - Daniel: From what I can tell from my Facebook feed (so anecdotal evidence, to be sure), it sounds like a lot of people are upset over the lack of respect to the flag/country. Lots of mention of service men and women and the military and people dying for freedoms and whatnot. Some people don't see it as a police specific protest. -Paul
[2017-09-25 11:30:40] - Daniel: Yeah, I was thinking, "Nothing is guaranteed to get more people kneeling for the anthem than Trump coming after people who kneel for the anthem." Heck, I think the whole kneeling thing is mostly silly, but even I was hoping like entire teams would do it to spite him. -Paul
[2017-09-25 11:29:25] - Like people protesting police behavior is so upsetting to you? Or if they were to protest anything by kneeling during the anthem you would be this upset? Or somehow that kneeling during the anthem itself is so offensive? Like it just seems crazy to me how upset it makes people. Fascinating indeed. -Daniel
[2017-09-25 11:28:15] - This whole NFL / Trump debacle is super fascinating for me. Kaepernick was never able to generate this kind of response. Then Trump goes off and the whole NFL comes back at him. Also its super interesting to me to see people get super worked up and swear off the NFL because of this. -Daniel
[2017-09-24 15:13:15] - Paul: If they weren't I can't imagine why. It was all fixed hosting costs, the development was done. They could serve ads up next to it, knowing both the user and the interests, that's Google's wheelhouse. -- Xpovos
[2017-09-22 17:31:42] - Xpovos: Isn't that the same thing? They weren't making money on Google Reader, were they? -Paul
[2017-09-22 17:28:40] - Paul: People using it and them not making money? Or just random useful thing that they're doing away with for no reason, like Google Reader? -- Xpovos
[2017-09-22 17:13:31] - Guess it's time to finally start using my Fool scorecard more. -Paul
[2017-09-22 17:12:45] - Oh, wait, I misread that. They're getting rid of the portfolio feature entirely.... That sucks. -Paul
[2017-09-22 17:05:17] - "Google Finance is under renovation. As a part of this process, the Portfolios feature won't be available after mid-November 2017. To keep a copy, download your portfolio." Uh... what? To renovate google finance you have to remove a feature for 2 months? I guess I should be grateful they aren't getting rid of it after ignoring it for so long. -Paul
[2017-09-22 11:23:43] - agreed on both accounts. it would be interesting for a daniel or matt to put money on the line. ~a
[2017-09-22 10:51:38] - a: *Shrug* We could ask, but my guess is he wouldn't want to play for money, although it would be fun to have a "Daniel" that had money on the line. -Paul
[2017-09-22 10:40:12] - paul: it's fine. would he be playing for money? or would it be like daniel/gurkie: free ride, but no winnings if they win? ~a
[2017-09-22 09:57:31] - a: What do you think about inviting Matt Herndon to our Stock Market challenge for December (or whenever it is)? Or do you think he'll be too boring like Daniel?
-Paul[2017-09-21 15:41:15] - yet they all seem to be weighted the same. - mig
[2017-09-21 15:40:56] - also to echo paul, there are some issues I feel much more strongly about than others. - mig
[2017-09-21 15:35:24] - 69% hyra, 63% gillespie, 25% notham. I really don't like the options on a lot of these questions. The education ones in particular. - mig
[2017-09-20 15:13:56] - a: This is the kind of stuff that I always think should be easier to find and interpret, but which causes me to get bored and give up. Maybe try here? https://budget.lis.virginia.gov/bill/2017/1/HB1500/Chapter/ -Paul
[2017-09-20 15:02:45] - paul: so regarding the tax policy changes: how do i figure out which stuff is paid for by VA and which stuff is paid for by my-city/county? for instance, if schools and roads are paid for by city/county property tax money . . . what services does virginia tax money pay for? ~a
[2017-09-20 14:54:52] - a: When I skip questions I didn't like, I get (in the same order as before): 78/67/11. So basically it causes me to like my first two more and dislike my last choice more. I guess most of those questions where I didn't like my choices had gone to Northam. -Paul
[2017-09-20 14:52:12] - a: Pretty sure they just pulled those answers directly from the candidates proposals because I recognized Hyra's proposal about the first $60,000 of household income. I think I chose A, though, because that's closer to my belief. -Paul
[2017-09-20 14:51:52] - paul: i took it again and skipped all of the questions where i was like "dumb question or dumb answers". ~70% northam, ~60% hyra, ~20% gillespie. ~a
[2017-09-20 14:47:13] - paul: "Should Virginia pursue income tax policy changes?" a) Yes, tax rates should be cut across-the-board cut for everyone b) No, deep cuts would imperil funding for schools, police and essential services c) Yes, no one should be taxed on the first $60,000 of household income. which answer did you get for this? also this question reads like a push poll, wtf. ~a
[2017-09-20 14:45:28] - a: Ah, should've done that for a few. -Paul
[2017-09-20 14:41:20] - paul: yeah it's not obvious, but you can skip questions. ~a
[2017-09-20 12:49:28] - a: 69% Hyra, 50% Gillespie, 38% Northam. Some of the questions I didn't like my options for answers, though, while others I felt very strongly about. -Paul
[2017-09-20 12:46:08] - paul: ~70% northam, ~40% hyra, ~20% gillespie ~a
[2017-09-20 12:01:40] - http://www.myvacandidate.com/ -Paul
[2017-09-20 11:27:52] - paul: i'm not sure. depends on what changes i guess. still $7 trades? will the website change in some way i don't like? will my account change in some way i don't like? ~a
[2017-09-20 11:12:34] - a: You going to stick with Scottrade/TD Ameritrade? -Paul
[2017-09-20 11:07:22] - a: The Fool was doing a live action mario kart thing which looked like it would be fun to watch, but only if it was within walking distance.
-Paul[2017-09-20 10:51:19] - paul: no, i never worked near where you work. i used to live near where you work, and worked near tj. but now i live in arlington ( https://aporter.org/friendsmap/ ), and work in arlington ( https://aporter.org/friendsmap/ ). why? you work in biking distance of where i live and work. ~a
[2017-09-20 10:07:26] - a: Do you still work in Alexandria near where I work? -Paul
[2017-09-20 10:06:17] - a: Oh, yeah, the deal was made a few months (over a year?) ago. I knew it was coming. Honestly, I probably should move my money because I'm sure I could either get a cash bonus or free trades, but I've been too lazy. -Paul
[2017-09-20 09:39:34] - paul: aww i didn't realize that scottrade was being sold. lame. ~a
[2017-09-19 21:30:55] - a: Pretty sure I am not. -Paul
[2017-09-19 15:15:38] - paul: you would. sure. wanna buy a share? the legality of unregulated securities by an unaccredited investor in your jurisdiction is unknown. are you an accredited investor? ~a
[2017-09-19 13:57:39] - a: Do I get a portion of future revenue should the seat turn into a paid one? -Paul
[2017-09-18 16:26:27] - also of note: my board seat is unpaid. so i'll sell you shares in that.
~a[2017-09-18 16:23:16] - paul: well, it's a market. you don't have be on the board of some company. you just need to find someone who's on the board of some company to sell you shares in his salary? something like that? you need to repackage his board seat? more generally i think any place where anyone is making money: i think that can become a market. ~a
[2017-09-18 15:57:55] - a: Heh, I think you were joking on some of those, but I do have some exposure to commodities and debt (or maybe repackaged debt?). Still working on getting on the board of some company. -Paul
[2017-09-18 15:53:32] - commodities. debt. repackaged debt. small-time landlords. non-profits and governments that pay large salaries to their boards and executives and contractors. organizations/companies that use hollywood accounting. home gambling. craigslist sales. barter transactions. kids doing chores. so many untapped markets. ~a
[2017-09-18 15:42:58] - a: Well, I keep wondering if there are "holes" in my retirement portfolio, like real estate (REITs?) or foreign markets or cryptocurrencies or non-public companies... Maybe extra-terrestrial is one. -Paul
[2017-09-18 15:08:18] - your foreign stocks aren't foreign enough. why no moon stocks? Vanguard Total Mars Stock Market Index Fund Admiral Shares? ~a
[2017-09-18 14:55:23] - a: Actually, it might be smaller than that now. My 401(k) doesn't have a lot of good options for low fee foreign funds, so I primarily have that in my IRA (which is like 60% foreign stocks), but my 401(k) keeps getting contributions so it keeps getting bigger. Might need to look into re-balancing soon. -Paul
[2017-09-18 14:50:50] - a: I thought international stocks might be due since they've been under-performing US stocks for awhile. That's why I'm pretty heavily invested in foreign stocks right now. Hard to tell exactly what percentage, but it might be close to 40%. -Paul
[2017-09-18 14:49:35] - a: Puts into perspective our collective awesomeness. Even without our top 1s we're still beating the top 1s of our competition.
-Paul[2017-09-18 14:35:39] - paul: there, fixed it. ~a
[2017-09-18 14:34:15] - you're "only" up on daniel by 17 percentage points.
geeze international stocks have been killing it recently. ~a[2017-09-18 12:48:51] - a: Well, close enough that it seemed achievable for a few days. You were "only" up by like 40 percentage points.
I did see the bottom 4 after you mentioned it. Nice to see I'm winning there. Why no bottom 4 for Gurkie and Daniel? -Paul[2017-09-18 12:31:37] - dunno if you noticed, but i threw up a "bottom 4" section way over on the right. ~a
[2017-09-18 12:30:43] - did you though? ~a
[2017-09-18 11:43:37] - a: There goes bitcoin again. Well, at least I got kinda close... -Paul
[2017-09-15 12:44:29] - a: Right, I was going to make the comparison of Tesla and GM (or Toyota, if you prefer). -Paul
[2017-09-15 12:12:16] - paul: a lot of that is speculation on future growth expectations. for instance, look at the current earnings: nvda still has a long way to come. ~a
[2017-09-15 10:10:54] - Holy crap, nVidia is getting close to the size of Intel in terms of market cap. -Paul
[2017-09-15 09:56:01] - a: I would assume with very sharp scissors, or maybe a covfefe. -Paul
[2017-09-15 09:33:17] - how do we "cut off" the internet? ~a
[2017-09-14 11:38:33] - a: Gotcha. -Paul
[2017-09-14 11:35:16] - i am. that one is $10 in bits. ~a
[2017-09-14 11:34:16] - a: Oh, okay, .02 btc is fine with me. What was the other bet? Are you talking about the self driving car one? -Paul
[2017-09-14 11:23:01] - we can make it $20 though if you'd prefer . . . i understand that it's not exactly like it makes sense to denominate things in bits. ~a
[2017-09-14 11:21:21] - no, we have two bets. one denominated in bits and paid in bits, the other denominated in usd and paid in bits. this one is the former (20k bits = .02btc). ~a
[2017-09-14 11:01:41] - a: Hopefully this bitcoin dip can last until next May, so I can win our stock market bet ($20 in bitcoin, right?) and also buy some more.... -Paul
[2017-09-13 15:04:53] - a: Oh! That was the same guy the second time? I was a little confused as to whether you were supposed to go up on foot or bike up, and also whether you were supposed to continue on or loop around. Makes sense now. -Paul
[2017-09-13 15:03:09] - in a bike race, one of the racers bikes up a staircase, but screws up at the top. instead of continuing on, he walks down the staircase, and loops back around to bike up the staircase a second time. ~a
[2017-09-13 14:28:34] - a: I'm confused as to what I am seeing with your video. -Paul
[2017-09-13 14:04:19] - hah, funny quote from serena wiliams: "i remember i went through the drive-thru to deposit [a one million dollar check], and then they were like, 'I think you need to come in for this,' and so I ended up going inside … 'Just put it in my account!'" ~a
[2017-09-13 12:41:33] - when biking up the stairs isn't enough (WARNING VERY LOUD AUDIO. you're better off muting the audio entirely) ~a
[2017-09-13 12:37:16] - a: Oh, interesting. I didn't realize that. Might need to rebalance my 401(k) contributions. -Paul
[2017-09-13 12:28:05] - paul: vgslx is encompassed by vtsax. (i checked. spg, eqix, and pld are all in vtsax) ~a
[2017-09-13 12:08:17] - a: How about REITs if he doesn't own a house to get some real estate exposure? -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:26:03] - the only thing that daniel is missing is bonds. but at this age we're not supposed to be holding many if any money in bonds. ~a
[2017-09-13 11:25:19] - "Small, mid, large cap and foreign and domestic?" yes, i believe so. also with a low fee, and customer owned. i'm surprised nobody has tried to copy that model. ~a
[2017-09-13 11:22:00] - a: That's fair. I was just thinking that market cap alone doesn't really give an indication of how "legitimate" a business is. Indexes have more requirements than just market cap which I figured in theory should weed out more penny stock type companies. -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:18:19] - paul: well actually i forgot that your old metric was 500m not 1b. i'm fine with 500m instead of 1b. i don't like the rule to be an exchange or an index because that's dumb: you're centralizing who decides what has worth. you're too dependent on the american sec
so non-libertarian of you, paul. ~a[2017-09-13 11:17:09] - a: Okay, neat, so Daniel does pretty much have his stock market bases covered with those two? Small, mid, large cap and foreign and domestic? -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:16:28] - a: Oh, haha, sorry, I misread "developed and emerging markets" as "developing and emerging markets". My bad. -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:15:19] - paul: europe and japan are included in vtiax. are you confusing vtiax with vemax? ~a
[2017-09-13 11:11:59] - a: Should it be a market cap restriction? Or maybe just restricted to being in the Russell 3000 or on a major index (ie, not pink sheets)? I'm not 100% sure how the S&P, Russell, Nasdaq, NYSE and such overlap, so maybe that's a dumb idea. -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:09:51] - Daniel: In theory, aren't you missing out on non-developing/emerging markets that aren't the US with your mix? Places like Europe and Japan aren't included in VTSAX or VTIAX, right? -Paul
[2017-09-13 11:08:32] - paul: 1b market cap minimum. stocks picked the week of christmas (so secular of us). everything is blacklisted from the 2017 game. daniel, "the market" can be the only exception to that rule. ~a
[2017-09-13 11:06:23] - "once enough people accept it" little bit of a chicken-and-egg problem. price stability is its own orthogonal chicken-and-egg problem. i mentioned recently that credit-cards had to solve a similar bootstrapping period. ~a
[2017-09-13 11:05:42] - Paul: I could mix it up and go 60/40 domestic/international so as to be a little different at least
-Daniel[2017-09-13 11:03:57] - aDaniel: Are we still on for round two of our stock market challenge in December (or whenever)? 5 new stocks (I guess we can allow Daniel to choose his Vanguard funds again)? Are we restricting the universe to avoid game breaking stocks like GBTC?
-Paul[2017-09-13 11:01:12] - yes he did. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:59:59] - a: Huh, I thought they used medium to create their site. I wonder if he even knows he had comments. He asked for them in the article. -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:58:38] - a: I will once enough people accept it and the price is stable enough.
-Paul[2017-09-13 10:57:49] - it wasn't medium. an no. what a dbag. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:56:25] - paul: you should look into bitcoin. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:56:06] - a: Did you ever get a response to that comment on that bitcoin article? I'm not sure how medium works and if I would get a notification. -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:55:43] - a: I just like the appeal of an alternative currency to the USD, especially one that doesn't have the problem of rampant inflation. I don't care what percentage of transactions are done with it, as long as enough people accept it and the price is stable enough to be useful as a currency. -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:54:15] - daniel: yes that is the idea. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:53:22] - daniel: "I thought it was in theory based on math and public/private keys" yeah this is the area where you're missing an important part: your "public" key is not always made public. when you receive money, people are sending it to a *checksum* (a digest, a hash) of your public key. QCs are not good at undoing one-way hashing functions. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:48:10] - a: I'm not sure I understood point 3, analogously one could pick the lock with QC but if you can't find the door it doesn't matter. Is that the idea? -Daniel
[2017-09-13 10:47:49] - a: I agree that QC might be very much in they flying car dept so its all very hypothetical. I also might not understand how bitcoin works well enough to have any semblance of intelligent conversation about it. That said, I thought it was in theory based on math and public/private keys which QC in theory would be able to break. -Daniel
[2017-09-13 10:46:57] - yeah i don't know how i feel about that really. i honestly don't know if we'll ever get to that point. i'm content with bitcoin being the currency of the internet. once 50% of all internet transactions happen in bitcoin; once 75% of all online web-stores accept bitcoin, that will be "success" to me. will the government successfully ban bitcoin? i really truly don't know for sure either way. it might depend on when and how they try. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:43:04] - a: Sure, but what percentage of transactions are we talking about nationwide? 1%? I don't think the government cares until suddenly 5% or 10% or 20% of transactions start to happen outside of currency they control. -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:38:39] - paul: it's very legal yes of course. very few people do that? you obviously have never lived very far north. it definitely happens on the border to canada (on both sides of the border). person-to-person but also person-to-company. there's also like dozens of countries that will accept USD everywhere: on the street, in taxi-cabs, in restaurants. (they just don't always give the best exchange rate) ~a
[2017-09-13 10:35:11] - a:You mean person to person? I actually don't know if it's legal (I suspect it is, but wouldn't be shocked if it technically wasn't). Very few people do that, though, whereas if bitcoin starts to gain wide acceptance I think the government is going to start caring. -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:34:38] - daniel: (4. i have a weak-belief that QC is like flying cars, FTL travel, trips to the moon, and the coming robot apocalypse: things that probably won't happen in our lifetimes) ~a
[2017-09-13 10:26:45] - paul: that is true. except the part where you implied that i said something about merchants requiring anything. "we're allowed to buy and sell things with gbp, right?" is what i said. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:25:30] - daniel: 3. 99% of all bits are already quantum-resistant (if you never reuse addresses you actually are never under the QC gun because the ECDSA public key is never published. the hashing algorithm your public key is behind is already quantum resistant). ~a
[2017-09-13 10:24:32] - daniel: likely, no. my reasons for saying no are long and complicated though. 0. most importantly, regular banks are more likely to run into problems with QC *way* before bitcoin since https/tls will be the first target. 1. quantum computing won't happen overnight. 2. a hard-fork will "fix" bitcoin to make it more quantum-resistant when quantum computers of small sizes start to be manufactured. ~a
[2017-09-13 10:12:22] - a: I don't know if that's entirely accurate. I think merchants in the US are required to accept USD but not required to accept GBP, right? -Paul
[2017-09-13 10:11:45] - a: Wouldn't quantum computing (if they ever figured it out) break bitcoin? I mean it would break a lot of things if they figured it out but especially bitcoin? That might make it go to zero real fast. -Daniel
[2017-09-13 09:57:20] - they don't control usd though. not at a transactional level. they also don't control euros at any level. or gbp. we're allowed to buy and sell things with gbp, right? why do they even allow that? ~a
[2017-09-13 09:55:12] - a: Yeah, but the government controls USD. It doesn't have any control over bitcoin. I see zero reason why they wouldn't treat bitcoin with a different standard. -Paul
[2017-09-12 16:49:31] - yeah, i doubt china has a big of an effect on the bitcoin economy as people seem to think. "Dimon said he’s skeptical authorities will allow a currency to exist without state oversight". i'm on the fence about this. the government doesn't have any oversight on person-to-person cash transactions and anything under 1m dollars fits pretty easily in a briefcase. ~100% of all drug transactions and ~100% of all money laundering happens with usd ~a
[2017-09-12 16:43:20] - a: Yeah, I see, bitcoin is too widely used for it to go to zero overnight, imho. Even if all the trading in China got shut down overnight (somehow), I don't see it going all the way to zero. -Paul
[2017-09-12 16:34:55] - paul: ok. "I do think there's a decent chance bitcoin goes to zero (or close to it), but it seems almost inevitable that at least one crypto currency will win." yeah as long as "slowly" is added in there, i agree with that. ~a
[2017-09-12 16:32:17] - a: Oh, I don't think it's very likely at all that it goes to zero quickly. Barring anything incredibly extreme (I can't even think of what it would have to be...) I think it would be a slow decent that maybe accelerates near the end, but I'm still thinking months at the very least. -Paul
[2017-09-12 16:25:53] - ok, btc could go to zero, i of course agree, and just as i agree that jpm could go to zero. in 2010 i used to think the probability of btc quickly going to zero was really huge: as time goes on i've started to wonder what that probability of that quickly happening really has become. would we have acknowledged that leh, mer, or bsc going to zero was a real possibility in 2006? ~a
[2017-09-12 16:21:45] - a: Yup. Risk everywhere.
-Paul[2017-09-12 16:20:02] - there's also a decent chance jpm goes to zero (or close to it). see old tickers leh or mer, or current ticker bsc as prime examples. ~a
[2017-09-12 16:16:37] - a: Yeah, I think people have a tendency to jump to "Tulip mania" comparisons for any bubble. I do think there's a decent chance bitcoin goes to zero (or close to it), but it seems almost inevitable that at least one crypto currency will win. -Paul
[2017-09-12 16:14:12] - tulip mania lasted five months. ~a
[2017-09-12 16:09:24] - a: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-09-12/jpmorgan-s-ceo-says-he-d-fire-traders-who-bet-on-fraud-bitcoin "Dimon said he’s skeptical authorities will allow a currency to exist without state oversight". I don't put a lot of stock in most of what he said, but I think this is a good point. -Paul
[2017-09-12 10:58:59] - that is a huge radar. ~a
[2017-09-12 10:57:31] - spacenews ~a
[2017-09-11 11:31:07] - a: Yeah, lots of stocks up 3-5%. Luckily(?) bitcoin is still depressed so I should be gaining on you. -Paul
[2017-09-11 11:28:04] - paul: wow, good morning. ~a
[2017-09-11 11:20:09] - aaron: We got a little lucky last night in that we didn't get totally screwed, but we also had some challenges (no yellow 1 until mid-game, I got almost all of the multi-color tiles, which made it hard for Gurkie to clue me to stuff easily). -Paul
[2017-09-11 11:18:55] - aaron: Gurkie sent the picture. I think we've gotten pretty good at playing two player with each other because we've figured out how each other thinks. Our mistakes usually happen when one of us plays out of "style" (like me taking a chance playing something instead of being conservative). -Paul
[2017-09-11 07:16:57] - and i explained, "it sucks, but the correct answer is you have to clue it anyway.... and just hope that i'll do the right thing." and he was like, "but, then how do *you* know whether to play the newest card or not" and i was like, "yeah, even with proper play, the answer is you don't always 100% know. that's why it's still a game." - aaron
[2017-09-11 07:14:02] - after explained the basic conventions and we played 2-3 games -- we scored around 19-21 points on average, and in the last game i discarded a yellow four which we really needed to keep. and he was like, "so i wanted to clue you about your yellow four. but if i clued it, i was worried you'd play one of your newer cards" - aaron
[2017-09-11 07:12:29] - paul: was that the picture you went me on the phone? that's really cool, congrats. i played hanabi a few games with vinnie in vietnam, i think he liked it. he had that one hanabi "moment" a lot of people have, (i think yourself included,) - aaron
[2017-09-08 10:25:22] - aaron: And last night we got a perfect score, although there was MUCH consternation the last 2-3 turns. I think we might try having the multi-color being every color next. -Paul
[2017-09-08 10:14:21] - paul: cool, good job! i've only ever played with the expert "every color" variant, but adding a sixth color seems hard too -- especially with the limited hand space of a 2-player game - aaron
[2017-09-08 10:14:09] - a: From a "What's new with Alexa" email: "Alexa, what’s the price of bitcoin?"
-Paul[2017-09-07 11:23:29] - a: Yeah, I realized I screwed it up after you said something about 6 that confused me because I had switched them in my head. Sorry! -Paul
[2017-09-07 11:21:13] - "1 being impossible" "but 10 was impossible" just now realizing that you (intentionally!) tried to confuse me with your dynamic system.
~a[2017-09-07 11:13:24] - a: Thanks! Good to know. I imagine roughly 100% of the programming would be done by me, so Python's weaknesses don't seem as important, especially since Java has always SEEMED harder to me. -Paul
[2017-09-06 11:28:32] - i program in python *a* *lot*. but i'm not really much of a fan of python. it's pretty shitty for large projects (multiple developers) because of the dynamic typing. (though javascript is arguably worse at this). typescript adds some interesting typing aspects to javascript. i kinda like typescript. ~a
[2017-09-06 11:27:00] - python is not the new hotness. i don't know the simplest: depends on how many users you anticipate i guess. also depends on what languages you currently know the best. ~a
[2017-09-06 11:16:21] - a: Without committing to anything, in your opinion, the best way to do this in terms of simplicity is Java? Why was python included in 2003? I thought python was the new hotness. You sure I can't use Wix or AWS or something to just use a drop-and-drop interface to do 90% of the work?
-Paul[2017-09-06 11:09:20] - paul: sure, do it. ~a
[2017-09-06 10:56:29] - aaron: Gurkie and I started playing Hanabi with the 6th color last night one game after we got 24 points (and probably should've had 25 if it weren't for a silly mistake). I think we got 28 points. We were playing the multi-color as simply a 6th color and not anything weird like "every color". -Paul
[2017-09-06 10:54:23] - a: I wasn't asking you to have to do any work on this, I was just wondering if it was something I could (I mean, my friend could) conceivably do with his limited skills and free time. -Paul
[2017-09-06 10:06:31] - paul: yeah, there used to be this on github but he stopped updating it. maybe i'll see if the download code still functions. ~a
[2017-09-06 09:57:46] - a: Wouldn't need intra-day prices at all. I think just checking once at market close every day would be fine. I was talking to a coworker about that and it's weird how there isn't an easy way to handle that as far as we can tell. -Paul
[2017-09-06 08:58:49] - the only reason i wouldn't say 6/10 is that you're getting stock price info. something that's not exactly easy to get. especially intra-day. ~a
[2017-09-06 08:56:18] - yeah, super easy. 5/10. ~a
[2017-09-05 23:19:05] - a: But that's it. Super easy. -paul
[2017-09-05 23:18:55] - a: And deal with all the extra functionality that WON'T be used, while I also carefully explain exactly what they can and cannot do. I'm thinking something really simple, like only a few steps beyond the spreadsheet we have, so people can jump on, pick their stocks, and check every few days... -Paul
[2017-09-05 23:17:45] - a: Yeah, that's fairly close to what I want to be able to do. Part of it is that if I invited a bunch of friends to some third party website like investopedia to see if they wanted to do a stock market challenge type thing, they might not want to jump through all the hoops registering with somebody like that... -Paul
[2017-09-05 16:32:06] - unless there's an open source app that can be tuned to do those things (doubtful) he'll have to write some code. ~a
[2017-09-05 16:31:46] - daniel: not speaking for paul, but i think he wants to be able to tune his app further than what investopedia/marketwatch will allow. for instance, it sounds like he wants to set up his own page, with his own junk. and it sounds like he wants to enforce some of the rules that you can't have those apps enforce (like the even split, 5 things, no buy/sell orders, etc). ~a
[2017-09-05 16:12:50] - Paul: You can do that in those can't you? Just set up a challenge for friends and then we just agree to only buy five things split evenly? Seems like its pretty close to what you want - it just also has extra. -Daniel
[2017-09-05 16:03:37] - aDaniel: Yeah, but those systems are different than what I am thinking of. I just want something like our stock market challenge, where you choose X stocks of equal weighting and hold them for Y months with no worry about allocating dollars or when to buy and sell or whatever. -Paul
[2017-09-05 14:42:35] - daniel: yeah totally agree. marketwatch.com also totally has a similar system. ~a
[2017-09-05 14:33:09] - Paul: As with many things when it comes to programming - always good to see if a COTS solution is the way to go. http://www.investopedia.com/simulator/ -Daniel
[2017-09-05 14:29:06] - wordpress would be an interesting approach too. you could probably write a plugin to wordpress that would do this. ~a
[2017-09-05 14:27:17] - a: Yeah, but 10 was impossible, so 5 is like landing on the moon. I can't do that.
More seriously, though, I might tell Paul to take a deeper look into it. I think he was hoping there might be a more ready made solution like Wordpress that could be used (maybe something from AWS?) -Paul[2017-09-05 14:23:42] - 5/10? that's like the perfect number. expectations managed: not too easy and not too hard! ~a
[2017-09-05 14:09:29] - a: Yeesh, 5 seems awfully high. Looks like I need to tell Paul to find an easier project. Thanks!
-Paul[2017-09-05 13:44:31] - paul: you could make that, sure. 5? there's probably a million ways to make that system though. i'd probably use java spring, or a java vertx server, or a nodejs server (maybe i'd learn react?). maybe use firebase as the server so you can avoid having to deal with heavy loads. uhhh, if it was 2003 i'd probably make it in php or perl or python. ~a
[2017-09-05 11:51:44] - a: Create a website where people could create a log in, and then choose a portfolio/team of stocks to compete against other people's portfolio/team over a common period of time to see which teamfolio got the best return (accounting for price appreciation, splits and dividends)? -Paul
[2017-09-05 11:50:02] - a: Random question. I have a friend, let's call him "Paul". Paul has no discernible programming skills, but has a willingness to learn, once took a few classes in college and maybe even was a programmer in a past life. On a scale of 1-10 (1 being impossible and 10 being really easy), how hard do you think it would be for Paul to do the following? -Paul
[2017-09-05 10:32:11] - daniel: yeah, i hear you. some shows i watch, but aren't really that "good" so i guess they don't affect me like the good shows do. it's much harder to measure cultural impact though. like how would you even define it? ~a
[2017-09-05 10:15:37] - Yeah I think shows like Law and Order or NCIS or Big Bang get watched by more people so I guess arguably has more impact on culture? Or could have a bigger impact but I don't think those shows get talked about as much because they aren't as notable. I think they are like good filler? So I don't know that they actually do impact our culture as much. Not sure though... -Daniel
[2017-09-05 08:27:16] - yeah hardly much of a pullback though. it's dropped back to where it was . . . 7 days ago? (at the low last night, we were at that point 14 days ago). i have a limit-buy order for gbtc, but i doubt it'll get filled. ~a
[2017-09-04 21:35:49] - a: Bitcoin pullback! Still need like 50% more of a drop for the stock market challenge to be close and for me to consider buying more.
-Paul[2017-09-02 21:32:40] - a: Oh! Got it. Didn't realize it was in reference to bitcoin. -Paul
[2017-09-02 20:18:42] - ah, the meme was just in reference in to the "that's completely dwarfed by bitcoin gains recently".
~a[2017-09-02 15:24:32] - a: Also, I don't quite get your meme. I mean, I get that the market has been crazy this year, but that doesn't mean the market can't be beaten *points to stock market challenge*. -Paul
[2017-09-02 15:23:46] - a: I would use the deflating currency when I had to, which is like 99% of my normal transactions.
-Paul[2017-09-02 15:21:14] - a: I was trying to make a similar point on Rampant Discourse once (http://rampantdiscourse.com/not-everybody-shares-same-experiences/). It's strange how often I see hear people talk about GoT at work or on twitter, but things like NCIS I hardly ever heard about. -Paul
[2017-09-02 09:50:49] - paul: 10% and 20% ~a
[2017-09-02 08:19:52] - jesus. the cosby show. *top* *rated* tv show for five years in a row. i'm very surprised by that. ~a
[2017-09-02 08:18:35] - Top-rated United States television programs of 1992–93 ~a
[2017-09-02 08:18:33] - daniel: it probably matters that hbo isn't available to everybody. what's funny is i have hbo and i don't watch game of thrones. i'd even say "the sopranos" (which i didn't watch either) or "the wire" were more culturally significant than GoT. but, if you look at raw numbers, stuff like Survivor, American Idol, ER, CSI, NCIS, the big bang theory, have more of an effect on our culture as a whole. ~a
[2017-09-02 08:11:31] - paul: "My point is more that if one currency is massively deflating, while there is another, more widely used currency that is inflating. Why would you use the deflating one?" quite the contrary, i would stop using the inflating currency *even more*. i would stop using it entirely. that would be nice. maybe some day. ~a
[2017-09-02 01:03:13] - Paul: Oo good ideas, Seinfeld definitely I would think. We came up with MASH as well. Johnny Carson maybe? I don't actually know enough about that to know if it was a bigger deal or not. -Daniel
[2017-09-01 22:55:14] - Daniel: Seinfeld? There's got to be some from back when there were only 3-5 channels, right? The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson? MASH? -Paul
[2017-09-01 22:54:16] - a: My point is more that if one currency is massively deflating, while there is another, more widely used currency that is inflating. Why would you use the deflating one? -Paul
[2017-09-01 22:53:53] - a: 20% per year, but not a very long track record. Historically the stock market returns closer to 10%, right? I also do not fear slight deflation in currency. -Paul
[2017-09-01 22:47:28] - Andrea and I were talking and trying to come up with the list of shows that were bigger than Game of Thrones culturally speaking. Thoughts? -Daniel
[2017-09-01 20:41:53] - "completely dwarfed by bitcoin gains" ok, granted. but the argument still stands. even when a currency deflates, there's still shit i want to buy. maybe i'll be more careful not to buy crap, but is that actually a bad thing? *not* buying crap? it's kinda why i wonder why everybody is so afraid of deflation. i'm not convinced small amounts of deflation is definitely bad. ~a
[2017-09-01 20:39:29] - paul, yeah, we've all been getting almost 20% gains in the stock market. i.e. 17%/4 months = 60%/yr. the s&p500 has done 17% in the past year. nasdaq has been doing even better: 22% in the past year. ~a
[2017-09-01 18:59:44] - a: You've been getting 20% gains in the stock market? Still, that's completely dwarfed by bitcoin gains recently (see GBTC as exhibit 1). Also, I don't think you generally do use shares in a company as currency, right? -Paul
[2017-09-01 18:58:58] - a: I jokingly said I would sell it if it's value more than doubled from here to a few weeks from now.
-Paul[2017-09-01 17:34:07] - paul: my USD has recently been going up by ~20%/year after inflation in the stock market. i wouldn't consider spending USD while the market has been escalating like this unless i had to. i still don't see why anybody would. /s ~a
[2017-09-01 17:29:50] - paul: you're considering selling some of it though. how that's any better or worse than spending it? ~a
[2017-09-01 15:58:27] - a: Well, if I owned bitcoin (and I do), I wouldn't consider spending it while the price has been escalating like this unless I had to (and I haven't been spending it). I still don't see why anybody would. -Paul
[2017-09-01 15:30:44] - author of "trump: the art of the deal": no way trump donates $1 million to harvey victims. he only promises to give. never actually does. ~a
[2017-09-01 15:27:36] - we can definitely look at count of transactions vs count of exchange trades, but i thought that would be less useful. ~a
[2017-09-01 15:23:40] - paul: 9% of bitcoin. sorry, i thought that number would matter more. ~a
[2017-09-01 15:21:33] - a: Are you talking about 9% of bitcoin? Or 9% of people who have bitcoin? Seems like two very different things. -Paul
[2017-09-01 14:54:35] - over 1 billion usd/day . . . jeese it's hard to even imagine that amount of money. especially running over open source software. on everybody's home computers. a billion each day goes over my home ISP.
~a[2017-09-01 14:49:17] - daniel: well i'd argue that bitcoin isn't necessarily trying to compete with USD *or* gold. it's trying to fit in-between the two. it has benefits that both of them have. it also has plenty of benefits of its own. pros and cons all around. ~a
[2017-09-01 14:46:49] - a: Yeah I don't really think of gold as a currency. More a commodity. -Daniel
[2017-09-01 14:42:50] - paul: ~80k btc/day are exchanged in . . . exchanges. and ~250k btc/day are transacted in blocks. there are a shitton of assumptions in those numbers (we're guessing about which part of the transaction is the "change addresses", we can't ignore self-transactions, etc), but i think we're talking about a lot more than 9% on a daily basis. what's more, i don't even think 9% too low of a number! ~a
[2017-09-01 14:41:42] - a: I wouldn't argue that gold is really used as a currency in the US, if that matters. -Paul
[2017-09-01 14:35:13] - paul: ok, single digits. i actually think 9%, barely single digits, would be an acceptable usage as a currency (especially compared to gold which is probably closer to 1% or less)! so, anyways, let's do this: let's look at the transactions, since those are all public. ~a
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