Search found 287 matches

by curlew
Thu Jan 12, 2017 10:20 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is America Safe, Or Not?
Replies: 28
Views: 15676

Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

Reub was banned for no worse than this. Where are the moderators? Not advocating a ban but this is not about PC, this is about an extremely offensive statement to a frequent contributor to this forum. An apology is called for. The forum has just started to evaporate in the past week or so. I hope t...
by curlew
Wed Jan 11, 2017 4:14 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is America Safe, Or Not?
Replies: 28
Views: 15676

Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

And just so you know, curlew (now that I'm on a full keyboard), there's rarely a good reason to casually invoke death camps. Certainly not because of some imagined slight against small towns when the original speaker grew up in one, thank you very much. That's the kind of ignorance that proves my p...
by curlew
Tue Jan 10, 2017 9:36 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: My money owns me
Replies: 20
Views: 10731

Re: My money owns me

I Shrugged wrote:I don't think about money much, which I know seems implausible based on what I wrote earlier. It's more like trying to beat the system or win the game, I guess.
So why do u think u do that?

(Same disclaimer as last post)
by curlew
Tue Jan 10, 2017 4:41 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is America Safe, Or Not?
Replies: 28
Views: 15676

Re: Is America Safe, Or Not?

I don't think I would feel as safe in a small town, even though I grew up in one. Or in the countryside. That's partly because I look pretty Jewy, I doubt that most people in small towns or the countryside even know what a Jew looks like. I can't tell myself. As long as you don't advertise it I wou...
by curlew
Tue Jan 10, 2017 4:32 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: My money owns me
Replies: 20
Views: 10731

Re: My money owns me

When I first read your post it made me think of the TV show "Buried Alive". It's about hoarders who can't let go of any of their possessions until it gets so bad they live in unbelievable filth and squalor. It can be very hard to watch. Maybe you have a similar psychological condition involving mone...
by curlew
Tue Jan 10, 2017 10:35 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: My money owns me
Replies: 20
Views: 10731

Re: My money owns me

You might try smoking some pot. It can help you to go placidly amid the noise and the haste.
by curlew
Wed Dec 21, 2016 4:06 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today
Replies: 39
Views: 23741

Re: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today

It could have been destructive or uneconomical testing, though Re-reading the page at the URL for the Gold Balance that I originally posted I see that the person who sent in the coin became suspicious because of visual characteristics. To verify, it appears someone cut into it to reveal the tungste...
by curlew
Wed Dec 21, 2016 10:02 am
Forum: Gold
Topic: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today
Replies: 39
Views: 23741

Re: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today

Hmmm, I wonder if they did the ring (sound) test on it. It seems like passing the balance and sizing is only halfway there. The fact that they could tell it was fake means the coin must have failed some other kind of test. They didn't say what it was but it could have been something as simple as a ...
by curlew
Tue Dec 20, 2016 3:55 pm
Forum: Gold
Topic: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today
Replies: 39
Views: 23741

Re: Gold Coin Counterfeiting today

Shortly after I bought the Gold Coin Balance to test my Golden Eagles, they withdrew their guarantee after someone sent them a passable fake. They still sell the balance but don't guarantee Eagles or Kruggerands any more. Here is the write-up on their website..... https://goldcoinbalance.com/fake-tu...
by curlew
Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:38 pm
Forum: Stocks
Topic: “The Worst Start To A Year Ever!”
Replies: 9
Views: 9768

Re: “The Worst Start To A Year Ever!”

Pointedstick wrote:I'm pretty happy with my Golden Butterfly portfolio's performance this year. :)
Me too with SCV up 26%. I'm glad I didn't jinx it for us. According to Curlew's law, the portfolio should have gone completely south as soon as I adopted it.
by curlew
Mon Dec 19, 2016 2:32 pm
Forum: Bonds
Topic: Whoa...what happened? 2016 Q4 bond performance.
Replies: 8
Views: 6412

Re: Whoa...what happened? 2016 Q4 bond performance.

Didn't you hear that Donald Trump is making America Great Again? The dollar and stock markets have reached all time highs since the election so happy times are here again. So no need for the safe harbors of gold, bonds, and cash any more. But I think the simplest answer is that the FED has finally s...
by curlew
Tue Dec 13, 2016 6:46 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Russia and the US
Replies: 22
Views: 13861

Re: Russia and the US

I was in the eighth grade when the Cold War standoff between Russia and the USA almost reached critical mass during the Cuban Missile Crisis. We were storing food and water in the basement. Everyone was glued to the nightly news and the fear of nuclear war was palpable. Based on what I've subsequent...
by curlew
Sat Dec 10, 2016 9:59 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is work ethic genetic or cultural?
Replies: 40
Views: 20896

Re: Is work ethic genetic or cultural?

Oh, that's funny! Probably wasn't so much for you though. You sound like Wally from Dilbert there. Funny thing is they laid me off at the end of July when upper management delivered an edict that 90% of software development will be done offshore in India as soon as possible - to reduce software dev...
by curlew
Sat Dec 10, 2016 5:59 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Is work ethic genetic or cultural?
Replies: 40
Views: 20896

Re: Is work ethic genetic or cultural?

Related: Why Capitalism Creates Pointless Jobs -- David Graeber in Evonomics.com I spent the last 10 years of my career as a computer programmer surfing the net about 80% of the time and that is no exaggeration. Sometimes I did it for weeks on end and the biggest challenge of my week was coming up ...
by curlew
Sat Dec 10, 2016 5:39 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Recipes and cooking
Replies: 3
Views: 3181

Re: Recipes and cooking

I've taken over all the cooking and cleaning since I retired. With my wife still working, it seemed only fair. I have a 20 year old daughter too but she doesn't have much interest in cooking. As PS demonstrated with his dim sum recipe, Google is your friend. Just find a recipe and follow it exactly....
by curlew
Sat Dec 10, 2016 10:26 am
Forum: Permanent Portfolio Discussion
Topic: New to Permanent Portfolio
Replies: 45
Views: 30955

Re: New to Permanent Portfolio

Actually my portfolio consists of around 60 - 70% HBPP and 20 - 30% VWINX with a little extra cash. I had about the same mix up until the end of last year, funding my Roth IRA's exclusively with VWINX and calling it my VP. In January I read about the Golden Butterfly and switched out the VWINX for ...
by curlew
Fri Dec 09, 2016 3:04 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Trump
Replies: 6
Views: 5377

Re: Trump

Time's "Person of the Year" magazine cover is interesting. There is some debate about whether they intentionally placed the "M" directly over his head to look like devil's horns. I hadn't noticed it myself until someone else pointed it out. What I did notice was the caption, "President of the Divide...
by curlew
Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:46 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Figuring Out Religion
Replies: 4052
Views: 1384603

Re: Figuring Out Religion

Why don't you give the aliens the same benefit of the doubt that you give God? Just because you can't see them and find no evidence that they exist doesn't mean they aren't there. Well that's kind of the point. The hardcore atheists cited give aliens the benefit of all doubts but exclude God out of...
by curlew
Sun Dec 04, 2016 8:29 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Figuring Out Religion
Replies: 4052
Views: 1384603

Re: Figuring Out Religion

During the intervening silence, Fermi calculated the high probability that a vast number of alien species should exist. Also, statistically speaking, a high subset of them would have evolved millions of years ahead of earth’s schedule. That means there should be a considerable number of alien speci...
by curlew
Sat Dec 03, 2016 10:40 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Draining the Swamp?
Replies: 19
Views: 13092

Re: Draining the Swamp?

I also heard him talk often about the waste of 2 trillion dollars on wars in the middle east and how we could have used that money to rebuild our own infrastructure several times over. Correction, I heard on the news last night that the figure for the middle east wars is more like 6 trillion dollar...
by curlew
Fri Dec 02, 2016 12:38 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Draining the Swamp?
Replies: 19
Views: 13092

Re: Draining the Swamp?

I generally like Bacevich's take on things (and I generally like The American Conservative 's view as well). I must say that Trump's picks for Secretary of Defense (James Mattis) and National Security Advisor (James Flynn), and the apparent top choices for Secretary of State (Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Ro...
by curlew
Wed Nov 30, 2016 10:27 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Draining the Swamp?
Replies: 19
Views: 13092

Draining the Swamp?

An excellent article by Andrew Bacevich on Trump and the Middle East conundrum.... While first conceding that Trump might have actually been onto something when he said he knows more about ISIS than the generals he proceeds to express a pessimistic outlook that I share with him. Just hope we are bot...
by curlew
Mon Nov 28, 2016 9:46 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Election Recount
Replies: 6
Views: 5997

Re: Election Recount

From ZeroHedge on why Jill Stein is doing this.... http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-27/democrats-real-strategy-launching-recounts That a person with absolutely no standing in terms of personal damages, and no presentation of credible evidence of wrongdoing could unilaterally disrupt a president...
by curlew
Fri Nov 18, 2016 6:40 am
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!
Replies: 22
Views: 14320

Re: Big, Open, Green, Wasted, Space!

Dead malls are popping up all over the states, particularly in the Midwest, where economic decline has sped up the “going out of business” process. This map, put together by a Dead Malls Enthusiasts Facebook group, shows that well. As Americans are faced with multiple shopping options and more stor...
by curlew
Mon Nov 14, 2016 11:00 pm
Forum: Other Discussions
Topic: The Electoral College
Replies: 11
Views: 10659

Re: The Electoral College

I was surprised to hear Donald Trump say on 60 minutes that he might be in favor of changing the constitution to do away with the electoral college. Right now I think it's a moot point and will stay that way until a red-state candidate loses the election while winning the popular vote. Until that ha...