COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Browndog]

Oh my, looky here:

Antiviral Therapy | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Ivermectin now shows up as a potential therapy.

My, my, my...

p.s. they're still pushing Remdesivir though...morons.

[Luke Cook]

Of what value is the solving of the problems, and therefore the value of the reward? Time invested in digging a hole and filling it back up cannot be rewarded by rational processes.

The value of solving problems is (as I understand it) if you are a successful miner, you get a Block Reward and a Fee Per Confirmed Transaction.

You are a successful miner if your computer solves the problems first. The problems are the hashing problem, the byzantine generals problem, and the double-spending problem.

Bitcoin is speculative so you run the risk of running up massive energy costs, for little or no return.

Early on (e.g. 2009) you could mine 50 coins every 10 minutes, now each new block mined returns 6.25 BTC.

Currently, the daily total revenue from mining Bitcoin globally is 41 million USD.

BUT

The mathematical problems are so immense, and require so much computing power that you need enormous farms of ASIC's to make it worthwhile.

Bitcoin mining is at its essence burning coal for profit. If nothing else it will increase plant life with all that dastardly CO2!

[Jason Donaldson]

Oh my, looky here:

Antiviral Therapy | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Ivermectin now shows up as a potential therapy.

My, my, my...

p.s. they're still pushing Remdesivir though...morons.

IVM does indeed show up on that page, but the link goes to their assessment that recommends against it.

The Wayback Machine shows a page for it earlier in the year, as well, with an evaluation that there was no evidence for or against it yet, and more studies were needed.

So, the NIH take on IVM has gone from ambivalent to negative, not the other way around.

Current: Ivermectin | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Feb 2022: Ivermectin | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

[Jovan Dragisic]

I don't live in a big city, so there's that. More local production of food, lots of wood to burn. I'm in an area where winter doesn't get incredibly cold. So I'll be alright. I don't believe drastic measures will need to be taken.

We will all be paying for the price caps for decades to come.

[mkm5]

My question is: what precisely is the intrinsic value of Bitcoin? You are dancing around the question without answering it. If the math problems that have to get solved to "mine" Bitcoin are not useful in and of themselves in the greater economy, then this is all bullshit and you guys are just playing an elaborate and expensive game.

Coach, I like your "digging holes and filling them back in" analogy.

I have yet to understand the inherent value of "solving complex mathematical problems to earn some BTC."

Who created these puzzles? Who or what determines if the puzzle has been solved correctly? What value to society does "solving" these imaginary things produce? Sounds like a high tech ponzi scheme to me.

Also, what happens with your BTC savings in a grid down or internet down scenario? Or government confiscation scenario, if you don't toe the line?

But I would welcome Francesco's suggestion for a Starting Strength podcast on the subject.

Oh my, looky here:

Antiviral Therapy | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Ivermectin now shows up as a potential therapy.

My, my, my...

p.s. they're still pushing Remdesivir though...morons.

Thank you for reminding me to check the expiration date of the tubes of apple flavored horse paste in my kitchen cupboard that I've yet to have a need for. I'll head over to the local farm supply store tomorrow and pick up a fresh supply just in case!

--------------------------------

Anyone else notice that whenever someone you know gets the sniffles, it's a case of the coof?

Whatever happened to seasonal allergies, summer colds, flu, bronchitis, etc?

Did Covid cure every other ailment known to mankind for the past 1000 years?

[francesco.decaro]

My question is: what precisely is the intrinsic value of Bitcoin? You are dancing around the question without answering it. If the math problems that have to get solved to "mine" Bitcoin are not useful in and of themselves in the greater economy, then this is all bullshit and you guys are just playing an elaborate and expensive game.

What is useful about the problems that have to get solved to mine gold? Is that the only way to give value to gold?
The intrinsic value is that you can hold or transfer value itself directly to another peer with no third party and no need for blind trust, since you can verify everything about a transaction on the blockchain. Plus all the other stuff I've listed.
The mining part has created countless job opportunities already. The math problems are just math problems, they're not trying to solve any real world problem, it's just the way the mechanism works, because it's better than having humans handle it. But it's not the important part in Bitcoin. Also, the miners job will eventually change into something else, when all the bitcoins will be mined. Bit it will happen in 2140. Lots of things can change until then.

It seems like a fiat currency that you have to expend a lot of energy and time (value) to obtain, that is trackable and show all the entities that have owned it. It has no value in and of itself unlike gold, silver or platinum. If all the power goes out it is unusable like credit cards right? Blockchain follows suit with tracking and identifying who has owned it.

If tomorrow no one gave a shit about Crypto or NFTs they would be worth nothing like tulip bulbs in the 1600's.

The push towards a 'cashless' society seems to be another level of control. You are bad I am locking your accounts. If all money is 'electronic' big brother sees it all.

It seems it is all about control.

Crypto and NFTs are not Bitcoin.
Cashlees societies which use CBDCs are not Bitcoin.
If Bitcoin could be controled by governments, why haven't they?, It's obviously worth more than their fiat fiasco.
Fiat money is objectively getting more worthless every second it exists.
Please explain to me how does a government control Bitcoin.
The argument "if all the power goes out", is simply stupid. In what scenario is that ever goin to happen? And if it does? Is money really what you'd be concerned with? Do you have any idea what unreperable consequences there would be to something of that magnitude?

[Mark Rippetoe]

The value of solving problems is (as I understand it) if you are a successful miner, you get a Block Reward and a Fee Per Confirmed Transaction.

You are a successful miner if your computer solves the problems first. The problems are the hashing problem, the byzantine generals problem, and the double-spending problem.

Bitcoin is speculative so you run the risk of running up massive energy costs, for little or no return.

So, it's a game. It's another fiat currency, just not administered by a central bank.

What is useful about the problems that have to get solved to mine gold? Is that the only way to give value to gold?
The intrinsic value is that you can hold or transfer value itself directly to another peer with no third party and no need for blind trust, since you can verify everything about a transaction on the blockchain. Plus all the other stuff I've listed.

You guys keep repeating yourselves. Like, bodybuilding is a sport because it's hard. Gold has intrinsic value because it is very conductive, very malleable, and does not oxidize -- like palladium, rhodium, platinum, and various other metals like lithium which have industrial applications. What industrial/practical applications do these equations of your possess?

[francesco.decaro]

So, it's a game. It's another fiat currency, just not administered by a central bank.



You guys keep repeating yourselves. Like, bodybuilding is a sport because it's hard. Gold has intrinsic value because it is very conductive, very malleable, and does not oxidize -- like palladium, rhodium, platinum, and various other metals like lithium which have industrial applications. What industrial/practical applications do these equations of your possess?

Bitcoin is not the equations though.
Its value is in the fact that it is in complete contrast with what has been making the world's financial and economic system go to shit for the past 50 years, which is fiat money.
You guys don't understand this CANNOT work the same as fiat money, because no central entity can control it. It was designed for this exact reason. Even if the explanation IPB gave was to be true, all the other features still remain. Would you rather have an inflationary money completely under government control, or an inflationary money under YOUR control, which no one can confiscate? It's like asking would you rather be fat and weak or fat and strong?

This is Satoshi Nakamoto's white paper for Bitcoin, he's the guy who invented it and then proceeded to disappear forever, apparently.
Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System | Satoshi Nakamoto Institute

[mkm5]

Coach, you sound like a fellow metallurgist? I spent more than a few years studying at the former Michigan Mining School way up north. And yes, shiny metals which also have intrinsic value in industry have always been fascinating to me, especially the numismatic variety.

My favorite local hamburger joint will accept a 90% silver half dollar for a double cheeseburger, but I'm pretty sure they don't accept BTC.

[Gilead]

Oh my, looky here:

Antiviral Therapy | COVID-19 Treatment Guidelines

Ivermectin now shows up as a potential therapy.

My, my, my...

p.s. they're still pushing Remdesivir though...morons.

This has been there for about a year, possibly longer. Click on it and see that they are still not recommending it unless in clinical trials.