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Snake Diggity

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Everything posted by Snake Diggity

  1. Nah not yet, lemme get banned like 10 more times like you and then I’ll start one.
  2. Crypto bro immediately chimes in with link to crypto bro’s blog post.
  3. Thats an interesting point. I am not an expert and all the crypto bros say “no way” but I’m not convinced that the code can’t be changed in a way that undermines its value. Buying Bitcoin is an act of higher faith than buying USD (or gold or stocks) imho. I also look at how much the US is vested in the USD as the worlds primary method of exchange and the worlds reserve currency, and I don’t see them letting Bitcoin undermine that. People aren’t using Bitcoin to transact to any meaningful degree. Its use as a currency is not at all reflected in its current price. I think it’s current price simply reflects the fact that there was a shitload of capital out there with no reasonable place to put it; if Bitcoin’s price keeps going up or remains stable if/when the world economy goes into severe recession then that will be proven wrong to a large degree.
  4. Lineup kicks ass. Bench is solid. Rotation high variance. Leverage relief kicks ass. Middle relief very suspect.
  5. It is an odd thing. Far different from USD or gold and any other financial instrument. If more and more people are using it as currency and there’s no increase in supply, the price will continue to go up which seems like it would become severely deflationary. If Bitcoin’s value is in its use as a currency, but its price continues to rise to the point that it cannot be used as currency……. Clearly a lot of people have made money on Bitcoin, and I have not made any, so maybe that means my opinion has no credibility. I’m certainly no expert on blockchain or crypto. But I still remain skeptical, if for no other reason than every single loud proponent of Bitcoin that I personally know is a fucking idiot. I also believe that change control and government intervention are real risks to its value. My opinion is that Bitcoin is a store of value. An alternative to inflating USD and overpriced stocks. It’s having a moment. I’m not going to try to time that and if Bitcoin continues to go up forever, I am comfortable continuing to miss out.
  6. Y’all motherfuckers need to quit giving me hope. A complete rebuke of Trumpism in November wouldn’t make the last 8 years worth it, but it sure would be a societal sigh of relief bigger than anything in my lifetime.
  7. Yeah, smartphones, social media, and the internet can be pegged as major source of most of the issues I listed. Narratives propagated online breed a lack of resilience, empathy, and accountability. The culture of excess and celebrity diminish the dignity of work. The unregulated Internet breeds disinformation and misinformation. And the 24/7 in-your-face nature of smartphones increases awareness of issues (climate change, war, inequality, etc.) and breeds a sense of powerlessness to address them. In terms of what I think might be achievable ways to address these issues, I think an anti-smartphone/socialmedia campaign and legal accountability similar to what happened with cigarettes and smoking would be good. We also need to poor a fucking fuckton more money into public education.
  8. Top 10 list of crises causing this, in order: 1. Resilience: this skews worse as you analyze younger generations. This goes hand in hand with #2, and paired together is what I think is driving the woefully misguided anti-woke crowd. A culture of victimhood has allowed people to justify wallowing in failure or defeat. We need to teach young people that anything can be overcome, because it’s true, and even if it’s not true, believing that lie generally leads to a happier life than not. 2. Accountability: this is a major problem for all generations. I am not sure the cause, but our society does an epically poor job of holding people accountable for their behavior. I think a lot of people’s unhappiness is bred from an external locus of control mindset and a lack of accountability for their own happiness. We need to teach young people that they are in control of and responsible for their own happiness. To be accountable is to be empowered. 3. Empathy: I trace a lot of this back to the Internet and social media, but there seems to be a tremendous lack of empathy in our current society. People seem to be more able than ever to block out how their actions affect others. This spans all generations. 4. Dignity of work: Working has gotten a really bad rap. Our society glorifies people who inherited wealth more than people who work hard and aren’t wealthy. Workers are viewed as suckers. That has to change. This problems spans all current generations including the Boomers. 5. Disinformation: Media bias is a gigantic fucking problem. Society went from less than a handful of sources of information, all of whom presented basically the same information, to infinite, contradictory sources. Being unable to trust new information breeds a lot of problems that flow into this happiness metric. 6. Healthcare: our healthcare system is utterly fucked and almost no one has quality, affordable, convenient healthcare. This is a tough nut to crack. 7. Education: our education system is utterly fucked and middle and lower class young people are getting the major shaft. Unlike healthcare, I believe money can easily address this problem. A much lower student/teacher ratio and a much higher salary for teachers would go a LONG way to fixing this problem. 8. Climate: it’s hot as fuck all the time and that makes people unhappy. Also, thinking about societal collapse in the next 100 years because their grandparents and parents weren’t willing to make even moderate sacrifices has gotta be depressing as fuck for young people. 9. Inequality: I think there’s a big gap and this issue is far less impactful than the ones above it on the list, but wealth consolidation is a major problem. Access to capital is probably the biggest determinate in someone’s ability to achieve in our society. It far outweighs other factors like talent and fortitude. That has always been a problem in our crony capitalist society over the last 200 years, but it’s worse now than ever. 10. Demographic: I think demographic trends are already causing problems, but this is more a forward-looking issue than something that is causing current unhappiness, and there’s actually a chance this could end up being a good thing if technology and migration are properly managed. But there’s a worldwide shortage of young people relative to old people, and that’s a problem. Mass shootings didn’t make this list, even though I believe they cause young people a lot of unhappiness. And even though I believe guns should be much harder to obtain and that our national priorities are totally out of whack on that issue, I do think if you solved #2, #3, and #7 on my list, you’d see a dramatic reduction in problems related to guns.
  9. It’s ridiculous that users are allowed to get banned multiple times and just create another account and immediately continue doing the same shit that got them banned in the first place. It renders the ignore feature useless. A cancer on the site is a very good metaphor.
  10. Team has looked poorly coached and aside from Weaver it seems every player either regressed or didn’t take a reasonable step forward. The program is on a downward trajectory, but Terry is extremely likely to get 3 full seasons as coach. The bar for next season: Miss the tourney: 2025-2026 hot seat (sweet 16 or you’re fired) 6 seed or worse with Round of 64/32 exit: 2025-2026 is warm seat; better be a top 5 seed in the tourney in 2026 or you’re fired 5 seed or better with Round of 64/32 exit: 2025-2026 is warm seat; better make the 2026 tourney or you’re fired Sweet 16: good job Elite 8: good job, here’s a moderate extension FF or better: great job, here’s a massive extension that makes you one of the 10 highest paid coaches in the sport for the next 5+ years.
  11. Nah. Blanco and Bielak are just as good.
  12. Chic Fil A last night for my family of four (me, wife no pics, 8 year old, 5 year old). $56. There were 2 nuggets leftover. Fml.
  13. This tweet tastes delicious. Nom nom nom nom nom
  14. Bitch out there sounding like Miss teen South Carolina “I personally believe that witch hunt such as the Saudi Arabia and Russia…and the demise of our country like the politically motivated…”
  15. I was taking all that from ballotpedia. Looks like their SC data is wonky.
  16. State govt GOP control of swing states: PA: Senate WI: House, Senate, Supreme Court MI: Supreme Court GA: House, Senate, Governor, Supreme Court AZ: House, Senate, Supreme Court NV: Governor Georgia is the only swing state where the GOP controls all 4, and Kemp hates Trump, so it’s unlikely shenanigans go easy for them even there.
  17. It’s an easy/quick read, which I assume was partially Trump’s influence. That’s about its only non-negative trait. There’s not a single insightful point about business nor a single humanizing anecdote about Trump’s life. If you come away from that book thinking anything positive about Trump, you’re a rube.
  18. I read The Art of the Deal in 2007 during a binge of biographies I was going through. I was moderately interested in Trump, mostly because I knew nothing about him and figured there had to be more to him than the person I’d seen on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous in the 80s or on his reality shows in the aughts. I got thru that book and blew a raspberry, thinking “that dude is nothing but an attention-starved trust fund baby who was born into enough capital to buy fame and purchase an unearned reputation. A bankrupt business genius.” It’s why I never ever considered him a serious threat to the presidency and figured if he did win he’d be totally uninterested in actually doing anything. I totally underestimated how dangerous he was. But this entire last 9 years I have been very confident that his flaws will undo him, as they have multiple times throughout his life; it’s just a matter of time. I don’t know if that’s actually happening now, with apparent dwindling enthusiasm for his style, money and legal problems, and age-related decline. I’m scared to bank on it. But it will happen, eventually. And it will be very satisfying for me to watch.
  19. There are a few things working in Trump’s favor: Foreign influence: Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and Iran all stand to benefit from a Trump presidency. Thought: why aren’t NATO countries meddling in our election the opposite direction to cancel them out? Passion: Trump has fewer supporters than Biden but they are far more passionate about him. His base is more solid, and they are willing to do more (including breaking the law) to help him win. Electoral college: Regardless of the overall numbers, there are only 6-7 states that matter. Expanding the margins in safe blue states is meaningless. Biden could lead the popular vote by 10 million votes but still lose if GA, AZ, and MI/WI don’t go his way. Supreme Court: this is less certain but a conservative court probably works in Trump’s favor if they end up deciding the election.
  20. The last 9 years have proven that rational thinking and obvious outcomes are not dependable when it comes to American politics. Trump is a terrible candidate, a loser, a criminal, and one of the worst/most unlikable human beings on the planet. He’s broke, his party is broke, and his path to victory is extremely narrow. His opponent has more money, a better track record of success, is infinitely more likable, and possesses a starkly superior moral character. The Democrats control the governorship and/or state leg and state courts in almost every swing state. There is no rational thinking that would lead to predicting a Trump victory in November. But it was the same way in 2016 and 2020.
  21. Why is stock concentration considered a leading indicator of economic doom? Why is decreasing money supply in correlation with that an indicator of economic doom? Some interesting graphs but seems kind of meaningless at face value.
  22. With Kessinger hurt, Julks is likely to make the roster. Very hard to see Joey Lopes making the roster. If an everyday guy gets hurt he might be first in line though.
  23. Anecdotally I can confirm this. I have 3 homes in Austin. The 2 in the $350k-$500k range have recent comps that show their prices are continuing to go up or are at least stable. My other property is in the $600k-$900k range and the asking prices for similar homes has come down a bit, but not 20% down from peak. My guess is that 20-25% decrease is coming from the homes in the $900k-$2M range.
  24. A few more guys not on that list were also released. No major surprises although Dauri Lorenzo was an intl top 30 prospect when he signed so I figured he’d get another year of development. Gaston, Balogh, and Borden all showed potential at one point but it’s not shocking to see them cut loose. I am hoping to see some aggressive assignments in 2 weeks, especially in Fayetteville, as there’s a handful of teenage position players who have some of the highest ceilings in the Astros system (Jaworsky, Hernandez, Luciano, Gomez, Huezo, Ochoa).
  25. I can’t stop thinking about how Derka says “boy” on that track. How would you spell that, phonetically? Bwuah? Bou-oy?
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