Daily "Check In" Thread For Us

[vnatale]

I actually don't have a will. But when I finally get to doing one, I think I've just determined who is going to get ALL my personal finance books! There are fairly inexpensive "media mail" rates within the United States. Hope that it also extends to Canada!

Vinny

I really appreciate the sentiment, but the day I see those books would be a sad day. I hope I never have to see them, my friend!

I did not think of that part of it! So, thanks for the sentiments. But it will come down to that SOME day and at this point you are head and shoulders above any other person who should get them.

Vinny

[Smith1776]

I did not think of that part of it! So, thanks for the sentiments. But it will come down to that SOME day and at this point you are head and shoulders above any other person who should get them.

Vinny

I am incredibly appreciative.

I am also currently reflecting on how my ability to connect with people online seems to be better than my ability connect with people in real life.

[vnatale]

I did not think of that part of it! So, thanks for the sentiments. But it will come down to that SOME day and at this point you are head and shoulders above any other person who should get them.

Vinny

I am incredibly appreciative.

I am also currently reflecting on how my ability to connect with people online seems to be better than my ability connect with people in real life.

Multiply that by 10 and that's me! Or, at least I have an extremely low need to connect with people in person that much but would much miss all the contact I have with people here and via email and Facebook. All my communications taking place via these fingers! And, most importantly, ALL under my control as to when I want to engage in those communications.

Vinny

[Smith1776]

Multiply that by 10 and that's me! Or, at least I have an extremely low need to connect with people in person that much but would much miss all the contact I have with people here and via email and Facebook. All my communications taking place via these fingers! And, most importantly, ALL under my control as to when I want to engage in those communications.

Vinny

Great minds think alike. We are definitely a bunch meant to get along.

[Smith1776]

I am hereby declaring that the gyro is the official food of this forum.

gyro.JPG (273.62 KiB) Viewed 4796 times

Remember, this is in addition to "National Treasure" being our official forum movie.

That is all.

[Tortoise]

Not bad! While we’re on the topic of official forum foods, movies, etc. — Long ago in this forum’s prehistory, I posted about how James Bond is a metaphor of the PP:

viewtopic.php?p=15969

[Mark Leavy]

Plus one on the gyro, and 007.

But when you need triple action relief...

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[Hal]

While we are on the James Bond theme...
https://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/ ... escue.html

and plenty of Greek food (gyros) down here...
"the largest Greek population of any city in the world outside of Greece."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_com ... _Melbourne

PS: Mark, so Goldbond is 0.15% Menthol and 99.85% Gold Dust

[Libertarian666]

While we are on the James Bond theme...
https://actuary-info.blogspot.com/2011/ ... escue.html

It's good to see actuaries discussing gold intelligently.

[dualstow]

"the largest Greek population of any city in the world outside of Greece."

I forget what they’re called: do you eat those Aussie meat pies that Ben Mendelsohn loves to scarf down when he’s in his home country?

[Mountaineer]

Anyone need some flashback levity to maintain sanity? Enjoy! Short quiz at the end.


(On September 17, 1994, Alabama's Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.)

Question: If you could live forever, would you and why?

Answer: "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever,"

--Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

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"Whenever I watch TV and see those poor starving kids all over the world, I can't help but cry. I mean I'd love to be skinny like that, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."

--Mariah Carey

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"Smoking kills. If you're killed, you've lost a very important part of your life,"

-- Brooke Shields, during an interview to become spokesperson for federal anti-smoking campaign

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"I've never had major knee surgery on any other part of my body,"

--Winston Bennett, University of Kentucky basketball forward.

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"Outside of the killings, Washington has one of the lowest crime rates in the country,"

--Mayor Marion Barry, Washington , DC . ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,


"That lowdown scoundrel deserves to be kicked to death by a jackass, and I'm just the one to do it,"

--A congressional candidate in Texas ..

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"Half this game is ninety percent mental."

--Philadelphia Phillies manager, Danny Ozark

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"It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.."

--Al Gore, Vice President

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"I love California . I practically grew up in Phoenix .."

-- Dan Quayle

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"We've got to pause and ask ourselves: How much clean air do we need?"

--Lee Iacocca

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"The word "genius" isn't applicable in football. A genius is a guy like Norman Einstein."

--Joe Theisman, NFL football quarterback & sports analyst.

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"We don't necessarily discriminate. We simply exclude certain types of people."

-- Colonel Gerald Wellman, ROTC Instructor.

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"Your food stamps will be stopped effective March 2020 because we received notice that you passed away. May God bless you. You may reapply if there is a change in your circumstances."

--Department of Social Services, Greenville , South Carolina

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"Traditionally, most of Australia 's imports come from overseas."

--Keppel Enderbery

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"If somebody has a bad heart, they can plug this jack in at night as they go to bed and it will monitor their heart throughout the night. And the next morning, when they wake up dead, there'll be a record."

-- Mark S. Fowler, FCC Chairman

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Feeling smarter yet?

[Smith1776]

Okay, so far in terms of official forum "stuff".

• Books: Craig & Tex's book, Browne's books, blue_ruin's book
• Movies: James Bond, National Treasure movies
• Food: Gyros
• Topical Relief: Gold Bond powder

I'll be sure to keep expanding this list lol.

[Hal]

"the largest Greek population of any city in the world outside of Greece."

I forget what they’re called: do you eat those Aussie meat pies that Ben Mendelsohn loves to scarf down when he’s in his home country?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/a ... ydney.html

Mass produced ones I wouldn't touch with a bargepole, but the ones made by small bakeries are really good.
Also have cornish pasties down here. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pasty

[dualstow]

hah! That’s the exact page i was referring to.

[Tortoise]

That’s some hard-hitting tabloid news!

[Kriegsspiel]

That was a quaint and wholesome tabloid story. Just a simple bit about spying on a dude eating some food. Two thumbs up.

[Smith1776]

My broker of choice, WealthSimple Trade, is getting into the cryptocurrency game... oh boy, here we go!

ws.png (92.83 KiB) Viewed 4642 times

[Mark Leavy]

I'll be watching you, Smith.
Behave.
Mark

[Smith1776]

I'll be watching you, Smith.
Behave.
Mark

If I do invest (and I might not), it will all be via the Variable Portfolio and the appropriate policy of money you can afford to lose.

Promise!

People watching each other's backs is what a forum should really be about. Thanks.

[Mountaineer]

I'll be watching you, Smith.
Behave.
Mark

If I do invest (and I might not), it will all be via the Variable Portfolio and the appropriate policy of money you can afford to lose.

Promise!

People watching each other's backs is what a forum should really be about. Thanks.

MV5BZjgyMzVjODEtOGZkNi00ZTQ2LWJhNGQtNWY5ZjA0ZGI4ZWFkXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyMjU1Mzk2MA@@._V1_UY1200_CR93,0,630,1200_AL_.jpg (97.25 KiB) Viewed 4637 times

[Smith1776]

Resurrecting another excellent MediumTex post.

For anyone who has read "The Black Swan" you will recall that Taleb tells the story of his family in Lebanon and how they basically went from being upper class and wealthy to losing everything as a result of the chronic political problems and civil war.

The same story could probably be told about many wealthy families in the Confederate states during the U.S. civil war.

No matter how much political and economic stability exists today, it can unravel faster than one would think.

It doesn't have to happen, but it's happened often enough in the past that it makes sense to prepare for it.

I would suggest that it is misleading to call these "disaster" scenarios. The term "disaster" is really just an interpretation of an event, usually from people whose worldview was not realistic to begin with.

The fact is that so-called "disasters" occur quite often. To be fair, it might be more accurate to call these events "amazing failures to plan for the utterly foreseeable."

As I noted a few posts back, Hurricane Katrina is a nice microcosm of the way the natural world rubs up against human civilization and its treasured delusions. People called the hurricane a disaster, but to me the real disaster was to build a city below sea level in an area of the country with a chronically corrupt government. By doing that, you are all but guaranteeing that something bad is going to happen.

Applying this idea at the more macro level, think about how what the Fed is doing right now is basically the monetary equivalent to building a city below sea level, and Congress is completing the analogy by providing the corrupt and incompetent government to make sure that any response to the problem is completely ineffective.

But pointing these things out, to me, is not really predicting a disaster, it's more like pointing out the obvious and asking yourself what you need to do to protect yourself.

In the same way that entropy applies in the physical world, it also applies in the economic and political worlds, no matter how much those in power seek to deny it. The PP makes allowance for all of these processes. That's why I like it.

[Kriegsspiel]

People watching each other's backs is what a forum should really be about. Thanks.

Yo, as a budding superstar comedian (comedienne, in Canada?), you have to listen to Bill Burr's latest appearance on the Rogan podcast. It's awesome front start to finish, but they talk a lot about advice for young comedians.

[Kriegsspiel]

It's July 2020

and my finger is hovering above the "Buy Now" button for a genuine Black Death Plague Mask and Hat.

But I repeat myself.

[Tortoise]

It's July 2020

and my finger is hovering above the "Buy Now" button for a genuine Black Death Plague Mask and Hat.

But I repeat myself.

Just buy it, man. If you chicken out and don’t wear it at Wal-Mart this summer, you can always at least be a smash hit at a Halloween party.

[Kriegsspiel]

Halloween? I wanted it for the office.