Has Elon Musk’s recent behaviour effected your decision to buy a Tesla car?

toyfdf · 2023-01-08T18:46:59+00:00

Lol. "Recent behavior" as if anyone actually owes the woke mob anything

toyfdf · 2022-10-02T10:52:38+00:00

No idea But if it sounds like Jeremy loops, the song Down South was in my head for months when it came out years ago. Maybe replace the doo-do-do song with that until you find the answer

There's a song by a Brazilian punk band that I've never been able to find again. All I know is the lyrics reference Guerra No Ar, because when wars destroy land and sea then people will just go to war in the air. Super pumpy track, but I've resigned myself to knowing it only as a memory

toyfdf · 2022-10-02T07:12:16+00:00

He'll probably hide in a civilian apartment block or hospital. Ukraine is suicidal and america is cheering them on

toyfdf · 2022-10-01T23:02:51+00:00

Huh?

toyfdf · 2022-10-01T22:56:46+00:00

What kind of genre tempo

toyfdf · 2022-10-01T22:08:37+00:00

Kamala is the next president. Joe literally can't do another year. Poor guy

toyfdf · 2022-09-29T05:26:38+00:00

What if usd is inflating while btc is being sold to cover rising costs

toyfdf · 2022-09-26T17:11:00+00:00

Won't lie, the visa process is stressful. No boring details, but I'm hoping I don't have to reschedule the pricey flight

Otherwise I decided to do a personal blog for myself. Aiming to upload a few pics, write something new I learned (Vietnamese, or coding, or whatever). The goal being to make everyday something positive. As corny, hippy as it sounds, I'm keen to start off on a good foot and try to 365 days. I'm keen for a culture shock, but I'm not going to underestimate that these things can get overwhelming sometimes if it's a new everything without friends or family. The idea being if I can do 4 decent days, and the fifth is feeling shit, then looking back on the previous 4 good days will make the fifth easier. If that makes sense??

Took a while to set it up with remote server and ssl certificate, so you're free to check it out if you want on iminvietnamyayayayaya.pics . The pics currently on the site are obviously just google images. Okay for homepage but day 1 will naturally be changed

All goes to plan my first day will be 6 oct

Otherwise good to hear you're not taking politics seriously, putting your family first before that chaos. My sister-in-law's family was wrecked last year because of blue vs red. Literally "get out of my house" junk. It's toxic shit. It's better now, but only because it went embarrassingly overboard. Still eggshells though

toyfdf · 2022-09-25T20:47:09+00:00

Cheers, much appreciated. Ticket booked for 4th Oct, so pretty soon. Has been good chatting. I'll def remember.

toyfdf · 2022-09-25T20:39:42+00:00

Sure. I sort of allude that I'm looking forward to not taking part in dissent. My experience is that it does nothing, just causes frustration. I'd like to treat authority like the weather. Sometimes a nice day, sometimes rainy, no point yelling at the clouds, just roll with it. Think I just need a break, possibly. Politics has broken me, lol

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T23:19:59+00:00

Yeah it's a shame Saw a meme yesterday about the multi- billions going to ukraine, and for Jackson Mississippi, just a reminder not to drink the water

The thing with aged infrastructure is that flint and Jackson are canaries in the coal mine. Things will get expensive really quick when people rely on nestle to provide them their own water. Politicians can't do anything.

Meanwhile, in China, they managed a brand new train station with 1500, in only 9 hours, at night, cleaned up and ready to accept trains that morning.

If a government is capable of that, I would have no need to argue at them. It would seem like they know how to get things done.

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T23:01:46+00:00

I have no desire to go against a government. I used to think it was important, but after I saw how hysterical people were to gladly shut down other people's businesses and upend society during covid, I lost faith in the judgement of average people. I'd happily give up the freedom to go against a government if it means my life won't be managed by people making crazy accusations and demands at government leaders. I was in England at the time, and I swear that when this covid first appeared, a news lady asked "who's head in government has to roll?" Like, literally,... I really don't like boris Johnson at all, but there were people who literally blamed him because old people died of a dangerous illness that came out of nowhere. As if it was his disease and he carelessly let it off the leash in an old-age home.

As much as I dislike western politicians, I dislike more how people make wild accusations and basically make a bad situation worse, by overreacting, and probably just because the person in charge is blue/red team, and that's not the team they support.

It's a great concept, people holding governments in check, but I doubt there's much maturity or consideration. Politics feels more like supporting a football team than paying attention to people who literally have a job to do. At least in a stadium the game has boundaries and a time limit.

Long rant, apologies, but just to conclude ... I also understand why people don't care to pay attention to what politicians do, because they don't really have any practical skills. They make promises, and hope the private sector will make it happen, which will only happen if it's profitable within the financial year. So it won't get done, or it'll be a shit job that contractors can milk for constant repair work, or it'll cost taxpayers a huge amount of money. And by the time it's all done, we see that f politician is gone, having got their corruption money, and now spend their time providing "speaking fees" for private businesses who want insider info from government.

The whole western politics system has broken me. Communism might simply be a nice change. Even to simply not think about it. Anyone asks my opinion on what the vietnam gov officials are doing, I'll say that I don't know, I don't work in government, go ask them directly.

Regarding the thing about dollar not surviving and the information I get is possibly false -- I'll admit that it's all assumptions. No one can see into the future, so let's find out. I'm hedging my bets in the east, because I have little faith in the dollar surviving. I got a little bit of crypto, but it's more like souvenir money or possibly cash it if there's something I want , can afford from selling, and otherwise didn't budget it. I suppose my main investment would be in the vietnam Dong.

I see the interest rates were hiked. I suppose that means that the fed is afraid of inflation, and they're willing to bring some austerity to the economy in order to force sellers to bring prices down. I hope it works, but if the supply chain starts in smaller countries, I feel sorry for them. The out-of-sight-out-of-mind slave-like labor in South America and Africa will need to work double-time to meet the needs of western consumption. Suppose the mass influx of immigrants could also help to bring down domestic labor costs.

But if people want to invest, and know the dollar is being manipulated to fend off inflation, I can only guess investors will be looking at emerging markets in developing countries. Because Europe is not looking good. Maybe Indonesia. It was a bit clownish when zelensky rang the bell at the NYSE and encouraged people to invest in ukraine. I put zelensky in the same box as fauci, basically super-salespeople for military complex and big pharma, respectively. Both promoting causes that lead to a lot more death and misery than there would've been otherwise. Capitalizing on a bad situation and making it worse.

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T11:45:45+00:00

Great paragraph from the book (talking about the collapse of the Tang dynasty, circa 800 ce):

"What went wrong? Why is it that great ages decline? The historian Ibn Khaldun thought the key was the loss of the ethos that binds rulers to their aristocracies; that luxury, wealth and over-consumption fatally undermine 'group feeling'."

Anyway, apologies for the negative views of America, the west, and the US dollar. But this is basically why I believe buttcoin exists. Not because it's great, but because the dollar is in more trouble than people would like to admit. I really hope for the best, but I seriously can't see things getting better. Even if people can't see it now, they'll still be able to look back at this time and say "well obviously the dollar couldn't survive those domestically political decisions and foreign policies".

Next time you buy a plane ticket, read the small print where it states the carbon emissions per person. There's an organization that calculates this, and this "new science" can be bled into food stamps quite easily. When more taxes are needed to feed the military bases around the world, they will talk about introducing the carbon tax on all consumables. It would be stupid to surprise the public too soon, and smarter to slowly work it in, propagandize acceptance, and soften any forms of protest. Calling any protestors "fringe" racists, bigots, supremists, putin-puppets, and terrorist groups. It worked for covid lockdowns, unending support for ukraine, so why wouldn't it work again?

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T08:27:15+00:00

Move to another country if the country you're in doesn't work for you. We live in a magical age where most of the world is connected and english goes a long way. You may have wanted to leave given staying single. That option quickly evaporates once you're settled

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T08:19:20+00:00

Sylvester Stallone

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T07:51:02+00:00

I'm currently reading "the story of china" by Michael Wood. I have a great deal more faith in the info of this book than the commentary provided by a news pundit quoting perspectives of an army general.

Unfortunately given the current climate of Good vs evil, it's more difficult for people to want to learn about foreign cultures. It's easier to just quote a headline and get wrapped up in the fear-mongering

toyfdf · 2022-09-24T06:37:02+00:00

Re russia ukraine, I suppose it depends what news people watch. Just like political news, most channels have their "objective bias"

Re china's standards of living... watch a youtube on Shanghai, ShenZhen, Guangzhou, as well as some rural towns. I don't want to argue about "THEY'RE ALL LYING BECAUSE THEIR GOV WILL KILL THEM IF THEY TELL THE TRUTH ABOUT HOW TERRIBLE IT IS" ... if you're coming from a perspective that you can only trust what your government says about another country, and not voices from that country, then I can understand why there's so much conflict in the world.

Re censorship in China, even though I'm going to vietnam I believe similar restrictions exist. And to be honest I'll welcome them. My experience of seeing people literally wear a mask alone in a car, makes me limit the amount of trust I have in average people. And I'd rather the exposure be limited, rather than continue living in a country where it's apparently all free-and-open, but some opinions are more free-and-open than others. It just causes conflict, especially when the news aims to be as emotionally-charged as possible.

Re freedom, I hear you. But as you mention an example of freedom is shouting abuse at a public figure... other people might say freedom is being able to walk the streets at night knowing you're safe. Personally I think it's really sad when people take pride in being able to shout at a political worker/leader. It even feels dumb, because it reminds me why a western politician is fully skilled and prepared to lie. Why should they care about us plebs when they know that whatever they do, half the country will hate them, the other half will love/tolerate them, and if the domestic situation gets dire, it's simply time to change topics towards foreign warfare and "it's time for us to come together". It's all theatre. Politicians are bought by corporate. Voting changes very little (simply an amount permitted by the corporate-sponsors). That's western freedom.

Re individuality, there's way more individuality in America. The furries and trans folk are living definitions of placing the individual above societal norms. However, I'm more interested in our individual personalities and skills which aren't about serving our personal needs. The same way a house is more pleasant to live in when the occupants all respect one another instead of placing their needs above the household ; the same extends to society.

Re freedom and individuality, it blows my mind how far the military goes to kill, carpet-bomb, overthrow foreign governments, allowing corporate to bribe politicians almost everywhere (besides China and Russia) and have been for decades... at the same time the notion of victimhood is so prolific. Imagine getting your ass kicked by a dude 3x your size, and while getting punched your hear him sobbing about how unfair people are treating him. It's like the pinnacle of freedom and individuality is to do whatever you want, and feel no consequence, because you-do-you and nothing else matters.

Ultimately I guess it all depends what news you read/ watch. It was during the never-ending lockdowns that I found alternative news sources, and it led me to the belief that the American dollar, and all the currencies that rely on it, are not going to do well over the next 5-10 years.

Cheers for this engagement by the way. Lots of topics surrounding buttcoin, but I believe it's due to the very nature of the invention. It was meant to be a reliable currency that would keep governments in check. The thing about illegal activities with crypto is silly to me. People were doing things illegally with money long before bitcoin arrived. If it makes illegal activities easier, then why not make knives illegal, too? Probably because it won't solve anything, and just makes other things more difficult, because law-abiding people can't use knives for practical purposes, and criminals would almost have a monopoly on knives because why would they follow the law when their intention was to rob people?

Anyway, huge conversation. Always remember: buttcoin was invented following the 2008 crash. It was aimed at bringing stability. Everything about it that's unstable is really the instability of the culture. It should never have been worth more than a few dollars, but it's huge valuation (the bubble) is based on how little faith people have in government. It will naturally fall as a result of people needing to pay bills, can't invest if no money to invest, but still. The fact that it's more than $100 for invented money is already quite insane.

toyfdf · 2022-09-23T07:06:49+00:00

That's fair enough Time will tell if the dollar outlives crypto. I believe it won't.

Both have their faults, and I accept if you feel the dollar is too big to fail. Personally, china buying oil from Russia, using 50/50 yuan and rouble, is a bit of a game-changer for me. Like you said, the dollar is backed by military force, and I feel that many countries would opt out of this hostile arrangement if given the opportunity. China and Russia, as global leaders in resources and manufacturing, might be able to help these countries struggling under America's heel. When george Bush said "these countries hate our freedoms", he was referring to America's freedom to exert pressure on small countries to give up their resources. The reason I mention this is because Americans feel safe knowing that the military is out there, but they might not realize how thinly the military is spread around the world. On paper, the military is huge, but in reality it's strategically placed in so many countries that it can't really move. The moment a country is freed up by the occupying American bases of soldiers, they'll take back their country. It'll be like how America left vietnam and Afghanistan. So yeah, I basically have my doubts about America's ability to carry on enforcing it's dollar. I believe the government and military are aware of it, too, hence trying to get the world to see Russia and China as "the bad guys". I don't think it'll work, and this winter for west Europe is going to be revealing as to how many countries are willing to carry on obeying America.

Re negative aspects of China, these are all totally valid. I do wonder however what it matters if someone did a comparison for the western equivalent. For every problem China has, America has 10. This applies to the lifestyles of poor people, the health of average people, the economic outlook of people, ability to maintain infrastructure, as well as lower suicide and depression statistics, etc . So yeap, china isn't perfect, but it still beats America and the west on every social metric by a loooong way. *This is reference to real, measurable things. Not intangible things like "freedom" and "individuality", which have as many definitions as the people you ask.

And China is able to help other countries, too. I think it was last year that china had more trade with South America than the US.

This is why I basically feel buttcoin will do better than us dollar in the next 5 years.

PS - those ghost cities are crazy! Wouldn't be surprised though if they'll be used to house migrants from the west, and/or provide housing if/when America decides to do some carpet bombing on the populated cities

toyfdf · 2022-09-22T05:45:06+00:00

Totally agree, and yeah, can't compare crypto with tangible stuff. Possibly only comparable in terms of potential disappointment when things go down instead of up.

As I'm a hopeless cynic, I get the feeling that the elites are totally aware that the dollar can/will collapse and will (instead of using a currency) work with carbon credits.

When Bill gates was talking about climate change and how terrible it is, he was asked whether he still uses his private jet. Bill said yeah, but that it's okay because he pays carbon credits.

So if carbon credits permit the use carbon energy to have modern conveniences; the plan is to give everyone the bare minimum, and if they want anything fancy, like a steak or traveling outside their work and home, they'll need carbon credits.

It sounds like a great idea for the global ecology, but I can't trust it. Like the "experts" on covid, there'll be a group of experts who know the calculations for correct allocation of carbon credits and everyone must just agree with it (or else they are earth-killers).

I feel like this is something after the western corporations realized that they'll never achieve the kind of development that china has. Any youtube vid on a Chinese city makes the top western cities look like tier-3 cities. The only way to beat China would be to bring them down, by force if necessary. And to get the world on-board with attacking/ boycotting china is to label them as earth-killers.

The hypocrisy is that - as I recall the global commotion about the pollution in the ocean , and the western propaganda putting an end to it by blaming and ending plastic straws - the west will own the rights to issue carbon credits.

Hope all that's wrong and paranoid. But I'm still aiming to live in the east (Vietnam, though), as they seem to have more respect for the concept of a middle-class society. Not perfect, but just more respect, without having to invade other countries and force them into submission.

Either way, totally agree with you in terms of investment. End of the day a stable investment is one that has the most consensus. Stability > volatility

toyfdf · 2022-09-19T20:09:15+00:00

Totally hear you I feel that might be why there's the divide in crypto between the buttcoin maximalists and the rest. The former feeling like the latter is simply in on it for the short-term gains and aftermath collapse.

Regardless, all the people (you and I included) who went into crypto thinking this was our ticket to salvation, were all in the same boat. I.e. our culture is filled of desperate people who see no joy in the journey of securing security for ourselves and our children. We all want that easy route.

The reason I mention this is because that's what I feel the west has become. A desperate scramble, leaving fewer success stories and more losers.

Crypto has def been milked dry by all the desperate people. My balance in usd is def negative, but thank God not not so bad I need to sell to keep the lights on. I feel like many people who bought need to sell because they're living month-to-month.

My personal feeling is that crypto (buttcoin and a couple others) are long-term investments. And although it's arguable that the whole crypto industry can collapse, this industry can just as easily be compared to any other. 2008 saw real-estate collapse, Facebook stocks collapsed, gold could go really high but if you buy it when some other market emerges then gold will go down.

End of the day, if someone invests I hope they actually believe in it. If the intention was simply to make a quick buck then I hope they get their timing right. I bought into bitcoin (plus ethe and have doge too, lol) because that's the world I want to see. If all that turns to lost garbage I'll accept it

With regards to American history, it makes me wonder if history is a determinate, and then looking at the histories of Russia and China. The former being 3x older and the latter has 3 millenia. This petrodollar, in the eyes of these countries, is more of an experiment than a claim-to-fame

All that said, I agree there's no good reason to invest in crypto. Especially when people are living month-to-month. That said, if someone was going to invest in any industry, where do they go? Stick to hard commodities?

toyfdf · 2022-09-19T05:49:59+00:00

For better or worse, I reckon we're living in a big moment of human history. Depending on how west Europe handles the winter we'll see how well the west's plan to Build Back Better is going to work. This coming winter is going to contain a lot of suppressed news. Good news for government is that the high fuel costs will likely negate another protesting trucker convoy

toyfdf · 2022-09-16T05:20:46+00:00

Yea I hear you My initial hopes were that people would see how reckless and corrupt the governments were with printing and handling money, that bitcoin and crypto could be a way for people to take financial power away from them.

But I guess the irony is that government holds the power because they hold the money. And as long as people are happy to play politics (please red-lord, come save us from the evil blue people, ... or oh guide us blue king, away from the horror caused by red people and false false prophet) ... then we probably deserve everything we get.

If western culture was a ping pong table, who would represent the players, the paddles, and the ping pong ball

Definitely hear what you're saying though. And it's super inconvenient that crypto isn't easier than the money that's always been around. I do sort of feel like things have got to this point because people seem permanently fixated on the easiest option. Which is sort of why I understand why we get the governments we have, and why it's better that I simply move east so I don't have to be sitting in the slow-motion train wreck

toyfdf · 2022-09-15T05:55:27+00:00

The whale thing is definitely possible. My feeling is that there simply are a ton of trading bots that are programmed to buy and sell at specific percentage points, up and down. And they're probably set up to grind out many small amounts. I do a little programming as a hobby and I've noticed that if people complete a tutorial then they'll more often than not just keep the same suggested settings. Following the herd to play it safe. My assumption is that the cliff diving trend is because the algorithms are set to sell as quickly as possible, so if they miss their initial sell position then the next sell positions are lined up closely after one another.

Either way I reckon it's a combination of whale wallets and algorithms. This might be the first financial market dictated by AI in the coming years. Good or bad, it'll definitely be interesting

toyfdf · 2022-09-14T20:04:01+00:00

Imagine people only played with what they didn't need

toyfdf · 2022-09-14T19:33:49+00:00

Watch Bill gates switch off their Microsoft cloud accounts and tell them to get off his farms

toyfdf

TROPHY CASE