Random Thought Thread

Box_Opener said:
Well, I hate to interrupt an oral thread but my daughter was born on Sunday. I’d planned to get a pic of her sleeping next to an HDFK (in the sheath, because I’m not a monster) but we had an emergency c-section (wife and baby are fine) so we’re still in the hospital. But hey, one more CPKer!
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Congratulations! That’s wonderful. :thumbsup::)
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
Like Simone Biles, NBC and commercial sponsors made her The Face of The Olympics. That's just too much pressure for almost anyone - espcially in any kind of sport that requires finesse and is more than just pure strength or pure speed. Too hard to empty your mind and just perform. She's 26 so not too old to make a comeback in Milan. I hope she gets help from the best sports psychologists in the world, because it looks to me from the quotes I'm reading that she's lost self-confidence . . . and frankly I find it heartbreaking.
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I fenced with and against some olympians and had some training from a few as well. My understanding is that on “the day,” in fencing at least, you never really know who is going to win. There are a lot of dynamic things, like your path through direct eliminations, and who wins is often the one who has that X-factor of feeling “on” that day. When I saw the 96 olympics in Atlanta, the guy who won mens epee was not even close to the highest ranked. But he won anyway.

Apparently that’s not unusual at the Olympics. Worlds and Pan-Americans and events like that are much more predictable. The shock of participating in the Olympics plus the fact that it’s only once every four years really does some crazy things to the athletes.
 
The Amazing Virginian said:
Wow. Not sure what to think about that. But I think gymnastics is similar. Maybe there should be age bracket competitions . . . under 16, 16-18, and over 18? Of course then the Russians would be faking birth certificates. So how about weight divisions - like for rasslin', boxing, weightlifting . . . under 100 pounds, 100-120 pounds, and over 120 pounds - something like that? You have to compete in your weight class. You'd see gals packing away pancakes before the weigh-in to make sure they're heavy enough. LOL.
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IDK what can be done to "fix" the situation except BAN Russia from competing in figure skating until it cleans up it's act.

Obviously, the pressure of all of the criticism and scrutiny regarding the doping allegations simply DESTROYED this young girl. It's a shame and it didn't have to be that way. Her coach (the woman in the pic below) was heard reprimanding Valieva in Russian as she stepped off the ice! WTF!!!???

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You have to feel pity for the girl but the "adults in the room" shouldn't have put her in that position. After the +drug test result was announced, they should have withdrawn her from the competition. End of story. But no, they didn't do that because they wanted to sweep the podium.

Instead, they may have ruined a young girl's skating career and marred her mentally for life.

And, while Valieva has distraut over having just f*cked up on the world's biggest stage, Trusova was having a "hissy fit" for not winning; feeling that she got "robbed." There was no JOY in skating for either of them; it was just a matter of winning or losing.

Compare that w/Alissa Lu (16) and Mariah Bell (25), US skaters, who are at the age extremes for female figure skaters who were just happy to be there.

You couldn't wipe the smile off of Alissa's face; it was so charming and endearing. Mariah was just happy to be there and to have skated a pretty clean free skate. Smiles all around and neither of them came close to winning.

Seems like that have much more of what we like to think of as the "Olympic spirit." ;)
 
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WValtakis said:
Meh...Bitcoin is this century's Beanie Baby.
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It's not a product or service. It isn't capable of producing a dividend. It's a currency, which almost by definition, isn't an investment vehicle. People have made an amazing fortune in bitcoin in the last few years. But, while most of the market is overvalued right now, it (mostly) has some kind of industry with some kind of intrinsic value behind it. I wouldn't want to be sitting on a fortune in bitcoin. But I was saying that when it was a few grand. Wish I had bought some...

Wasn't there a whole bunch of market lunacy before the stock market crash in the late 20's?
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
It's not a product or service. It isn't capable of producing a dividend. It's a currency, which almost by definition, isn't an investment vehicle. People have made an amazing fortune in bitcoin in the last few years. But, while most of the market is overvalued right now, it (mostly) has some kind of industry with some kind of intrinsic value behind it. I wouldn't want to be sitting on a fortune in bitcoin. But I was saying that when it was a few grand. Wish I had bought some...

Wasn't there a whole bunch of market lunacy before the stock market crash in the late 20's?
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yup. Those 80 to 100 year debt supercycles are interesting.

Wiemar republic hyperinflation started right around 1920...

''Happy'' Anniversary
 
Nathan the Machinist said:
It's not a product or service. It isn't capable of producing a dividend. It's a currency, which almost by definition, isn't an investment vehicle. People have made an amazing fortune in bitcoin in the last few years. But, while most of the market is overvalued right now, it (mostly) has some kind of industry with some kind of intrinsic value behind it. I wouldn't want to be sitting on a fortune in bitcoin. But I was saying that when it was a few grand. Wish I had bought some...

Wasn't there a whole bunch of market lunacy before the stock market crash in the late 20's?
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If you look at what it takes to mine Bitcoin, the hard/capital assets, actual MW of energy, and people resources... You have to conclude we have reached The Rise Of The Machine.

Lunacy, indeed!
 
TRfromMT said:
If you look at what it takes to mine Bitcoin, the hard/capital assets, actual MW of energy, and people resources... You have to conclude we have reached The Rise Of The Machine.

Lunacy, indeed!
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While it is literally (as in literally) LITTERALY useless and reasonably worthless, it still has more value than fiat currency like the US dollar because (unlike the dollar) there isn't a limitless supply and there is a cost for "printing" more. Hell, most "dollars" they don't even bother to print anymore. It's also imaginary digital funny money except there's nothing stopping "them" from printing a limitless amount. It's not linked to anything. It's all bullshit. It's just made up. Viewed that way, bitcoin is probably a better currency than the dollar, but its current market cap is 3/4 of a trillion dollars. In comparison apparently there's 1.2 trillion dollars of US currency in circulation. It might be a little overpriced....
 
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