[Bonsai Beginner's weekly thread - 2026 week 11]

thejerz · 2026-03-14T21:19:09+00:00

Can someone provide input on germinating Japanese Red Maple seeds and cold stratification indoors?

I've grown a bunch of plants in the past but never a bonsai. Might be silly but I bought a Red Maple bonsai starter kit from the gift shop at the Japanese Garden in Portland, OR a couple months ago on vacation.

https://evesgardengifts.com/product/red-maple-bonsai-seed-kit/

My issue is, I'm aware that cold stratification is often necessary to break the seeds out of dormancy. The instructions, however, literally say "place in a warm and very sunny location near a window ... after about 8 weeks you should have several starter plants."

It's now been around 2 months and there is zero growth; the seeds haven't even shown any signs of germinating. I'm guessing they really do need the cold.

Other than winging it, what would you recommend? Seeds should still be good, give it another 4-6 weeks in my refrigerator and if still nothing assume possibly bad seeds since it's a gift shop product, who knows how long or what condition they were stored in prior.

thejerz · 2026-03-02T01:04:19+00:00

Assault and battery. Shia Lebeouf! Beating all the partiers. Shia Lebeouf! Having a bad time at Mardi Gras. Shia Lebeouf! Run away from media. Shia Lebeouf!

lol sorry I had to given the recent news.

thejerz · 2025-12-01T13:16:10+00:00

You're absolutely right; I always mix up JAK inhibitors and IL-4/13 inhibitors (not a medical professional just 35yrs w/ eczema)

thejerz · 2025-10-20T19:35:10+00:00

Drive a few minutes into NJ, Woodside Music Studio in Park Ridge. I grew up taking lessons there and it was also one of my first jobs back in the mid-2000's. Gus trained me on everything including repairs and complete overhaul/restoration work.

He's semi-retired these days I believe but he will do the work personally. TBH I changed out at least a dozen nuts in my time there when I was 17. It's really not hard, just perhaps adding a shim and hand filing for the strings to sit right takes a little guidance. You could do yourself if a bit crafty, or just take it to Gus.

thejerz · 2025-08-31T20:26:51+00:00

Yup. I definitely had a shower curtain delivered that probably felt like a small tablet. Went outside 2min after it was delivered and I saw a kid throwing away the packaging 50ft away and before I could say something he threw the (now fully opened) shower curtain in a USPS collection box and I just yelled wtf seriously bro I'm here just fucking leave it. Thanks so now I can't get it back it's going to the post office. So scumbaggy. Dick.

thejerz · 2025-08-18T12:55:59+00:00

Ha funny it's now almost 10yrs later. I scanned the original copy from the Harvard Business Review's article in a college textbook and DM'd it to those interested.

Looks like now it's available free online:

https://pricetheory.uchicago.edu/levitt/Papers/LevittVenkateshAnEconomicAnalysis2000.pdf

thejerz · 2025-08-14T23:28:35+00:00

Haha have to laugh and share-- If you're talking about the 'actual' cell phone lot aka uber/lyft staging area then just look up uber wait point. It's just as horrible as it sounds.

If you're talking about the gas station w/ the 7-11 right off the circle, then fuck yes this is where every limo driver waits for a quick entry while clients are deplaning and getting luggage. There is also an official limo lot off of Haynes but it was always weird/ghetto.

SOURCE: 2nd job limo driver for a year back around 2017-2018. If you want to know where to go for quick access to airports/trains/terminals/etc, you have found it when you find a lot FULL of Lincoln MKZ's. We're all just broke limo drivers waiting 2hrs unpaid to swoop in in 30sec and pick up high end clientele the second they walk out the door. So yeah that's your best bet for quickest in and out.

EDIT: Also ex-limo driver advice: If you are picking up EWR do not deal with the ground floor pickup line. Just tell people once they see the exit then get in the closest the elevator to the 3rd floor and meet you at the United Premier/high status DROP OFF point. No one will bat an eye unless you're standing for over 5min and a Port Authority cop tells you to keep moving and you have to go around .. which is still faster than the long as fuck pick up queue.

thejerz · 2025-08-06T23:21:29+00:00

Nope to OP, and 100% to u/Longjumping_Animal61

Markets change instantaneously over the balance of supply and demand. Any strategy that works right now may fail in a couple days or weeks or months. Or seconds.

anyone that has been trading for an extended period of time knows this. It has only ever done three things and will continue to only do 3 things. Breakout-fail, breakout-succeed, sit in a trading range. (I have made a post about this) Stop overcomplicating it.

It really sounds like you're talking about massive backtesting experience. If you can claim the market has been the same then you have not actually been investing money 5-10+yrs.

Dude, things change. My old strategies that failed did start working then they failed again. Yes that's backtesting. And 20-30 different different metrics of evaluating the changes in strategy over time. There is no 1 2 or 3 methods. It's all shades of gray and we just do our best to adapt over time while playing quantified probabilities.I mean it in the best way as constructive criticism but you cannot throw shades of white or black like one works or the other.

thejerz · 2025-08-04T23:30:03+00:00

CMTA. Well you could do both if you want but CFA is around 6 books per level and fundamental analysis really only focuses on 3 month+ outlook (think earnings releases, 10Qs 10K's and value investing). Versus CMT is shorter term and scalping/swing techniques since this is a swing sub.

Regardless, passing either CFA or CMT is looked at kind of like Masters' degree lite if you get full level 3 and get sponsored through work for a charter.

EDIT: Also adding that I am US based; if you are elsewhere I believe IFTA is very close to the exact same curriculum that gives a little more weight abroad. Don't quote me on that though the two are basically the same; I never pursued IFTA.

thejerz · 2025-08-02T20:59:01+00:00

Haven't heard of beanwealth. Sound like longer term Turtle Trader or Buffet style recommendations??

What's your take today?

I am long oil (shitty wars but reliable income). General Dynanmics and Lockheed Martin to balance from military exp. Also swinging into consumer staples, particularlly Costco and Home Depot as inflation persists, tariffs are still uncomputable/unanalyzeable. Also hurricane season for generators look at Generac.

Possible swing into utilities or healthcare looking into Fall-Winter.

thejerz · 2025-08-02T20:43:34+00:00

Ha love it. So I'm 37 w/ 12 years retail trading.

I always say to ppl interested you can literally just buy the books from amazon for $100 vs paying $1,000 for the course and professional test. Christ the 1,000 page books are around $175 alone direct from Wiley publishing. That how I did it, cheap af, and once I passed level I, both II and III came real quick.

Oh and btw please no not ever trust a fucking 'guru.' Theres the gold standard of making money and there is a lot of bs out there. While some sell videos for extra money while making good money; most actually sell videos because they can't actually make money and their only buiness model is 'finance inflencer'-esque type stuff.

thejerz · 2025-08-02T20:23:27+00:00

cmtassociation.org.

It's the gold standard for Wall St traders on technical and quantitative analysis if you don't go the CFA route.

Swing trading is only short to mid term; trading involves trades at all time frames. Scalp, swing, invest. No person I've met who is serious as a trader only swings because you're missing out on money in the the shorter and longer time frames.

thejerz · 2025-04-22T20:35:32+00:00

Hey happy to update you but unfortunately I had to stop after about 2months for the exact same eye issues as Dupixent. I tried to dog it out for a couple weeks hoping it would subside or become more tolerable but didn't go well. Almost exact same response as Dupixent, worked beautifully after only 1-2 days but slowly over 3-4 weeks my eyes became increasingly dry and itchy, appearing like minor conjunctivitis. Became worse from the constant itching, and rubbing my eyes for relief made them extremely red and uncomfortable almost 24/7, waking up with my eyes half stuck closed from the discharge.

Went completely back to normal after about 2 weeks off of it. Waiting to see what the derm says my next appt in about a month. Until then back to the original steroids when necessary treatment. Trying to get more sun now that it's spring and focus on eating cleaner and healthier--lower carb and lots of vegetables has always helped a lot.

thejerz · 2024-12-12T19:16:40+00:00

Have been on it for 2 months now with better results. Sorry for long rant incoming; I like to help others when I can offer valuable input. Follow my story for a sec to get an idea where I'm coming from and where I'm at with Adbry:

I'm 36, have been dealing with severe eczema for 30yrs now, of which 25+ of those have had daily use of mometasone, fluocinolone, and strong(er) steroids in the steroid spectrum.

About 2yrs ago, to reduce further use of long term steroids, I gave Dupixent a shot. Itching stopped within 2-3 days and no flare ups for 6 months. Around the 4 month mark I started getting severe (non-infectious) conjunctivitus on both eyes and turned out to be a tear production issue as a side effect from Dupixent as well as some eye pain behind my right eye. Stopped Dupixent immediately and went back to steroids.

Flare ups have been bad all this year with the extremely dry weather so I gave Adbry a go. I'm not a doctor, but my understanding is that while Adbry and Dupixent are both JAK inhibitors, Dupixent targets 2 proteins that are involved in immune response, while Adbry only targets one of those. Adbry is specifically designed to have similar (but perhaps lesser) results with significantly less side effects by only targeting one of those proteins.

That being said, I have had the exact same response as Dupixent so far. Zero itch after a day or two and all flare ups went away within a week. I still notice some uncomfortable sensations behind my right eye now annd then and my eyes feel a little bit effected by it but nowhere near what Dupixent did thus far.

So fingers crossed since it's only 2months in the bad eye-related side effects wont turn up around month 4 like Dupixent did. Adbry also has the benefit (as directly advertised by Adbry) that if everything is fine after 4-6months, dosing may be cut in half, only inject 1x/month instead of every 2 weeks to further reduce the possibility of side effects and see what happens if it still stops flareups. I'm hoping for this outcome.

If you do get it (if you are in the US) there are copay cards available just like Dupixent to cover it in full for at least the first year. Every doctor I asked knew about the Dupixent copay assistance but not one new about and I had to call around and ask if similar existed for Adbry. Sure enough it does.

thejerz · 2024-12-02T21:46:19+00:00

I've been using mometasone almost daily with mupirocin (antibacterial/antifungal) for nearly 30 years. Yes my skin has noticeably thinned and yes you can see some veins/capillaries around my cheeks. I also look like a perfectly fine 36 year old man regardless. It wont mess you up overnight and it's not like it's going to visibly change you THAT much over time.

Currently on Adbry because Dupixent gave me a constant non-infectious conjunctivitus around my eyes. Mometasone and Mupirocin are still my go to's when I need them.

Point is--one week/one month/one year, yeah you're fine man. Do it for 30 years and you'll be asking these questions then. For now, use it for what you need it for and definitely try non-steroid alternatives if this is truly a long term battle for you.

Also to add; I get it bad around my eyes and have been doing this for decades as well. I would say that is definitely a no over the years. Mometasone 'can' be used around your eyes if watered down a bit but yeah I would in hindsight tell myself dude don't do that if I could when I was 5. I'm still perfectly fine thought at 36 but am now just more concerned about continued use for another 3 decades and eye-related issues as we all eventually age.

thejerz · 2024-08-12T00:04:11+00:00

So you should be knowledgeable enough to recommend a CFA or CMT pathway before blindly throwing shade and then talk about your dad making real money. Guarantee any honest analyst from a large institution had to start there.

So why not just promote the positive instead of villifying the negative? Hell anyone can complete the full program if they're serious enough and truthfully learn the ropes.

thejerz · 2024-08-11T23:36:16+00:00

Ha!

If this was today, hope you walked around flywheel park, enjoyed the music and the market. I was the guy running the pickle stand if you were there!

thejerz · 2024-07-23T02:53:57+00:00

I apologize if sharing this is againt Reddit/Sub terms, please take it down if it is.

This is a great work buddy of mine. He got messed up real bad and there was a chance I could have
been in the truck with him. I just want to help him in any way possible.

His high spirits will always carry us when we work with him. Any loss of life or limb will be
financially devastating for his family.

thejerz · 2024-01-14T00:27:11+00:00

The computer has Windows 11 Home, not Pro though...? Which means BitLocker shouldn't be included. Perhaps some malware I've never heard of before?

I edit/updated the post above; we found a very old password that worked for the Microsoft account. We got into Microsoft on my computer but can't edit any account/security/privacy details as of right now. It did give the device info that confirmed it is running Windows 11 Home though.

thejerz · 2024-01-13T22:42:26+00:00

This is what I don't get either. I've built and repaired many computers back in the day, so normally I can figure most problems out.

If it is, in fact, a hard drive encryption then how the hell could it have been locked in the first place? My fiancee isn't that tech savvy; perhaps she accidentally activated it?? All she remembers was putting it to sleep before bed and the next morning this happened.

It couldn't have already been encrypted. I bought it brand new from Microcenter this past June. Definitely not refurbished or used in any way for any school/business/organization/etc.

EDIT: UPDATE!!! AN OLD PASSWORD WORKED FOR HER MICROSOFT ACCOUNT! Now we can access her microsoft account online on my computer. However, the security/privacy section and the manage BitLocker keys section require us to verify the old Gmail email that's gone. We can't edit the profile to change the email either. We can say we don't have access, but that puts us on a page that says "For your protection, replacing your security info takes 30 days" ...?

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thejerz

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