swissie

In India alone there are over 30'000 Gods (yes thirtythousand). Humanity always had trouble understanding the concept of being born, only to die a short time later. The "Gods" came in handy, as practically all religions offer "a life after death". The spiritual "best seller" of all time. The only firm anchor in their life. They NEED this anchor. For most, the thaught of lifes only meaning is "reproduction" is unbearable for them. - Imagine a TV evangelist, preaching "we must worship God, but there is no after live". He would lose his followers overnight. I remain: Eternal life is the spiritual "best seller" of all time.

In India alone there are over 30'000 Gods (yes thirtythousand). Humanity always had trouble understanding the concept of being born, only to die a short time later. The "Gods" came in handy, as practically all religions offer "a life after death". The spiritual "best seller" of all time. The only firm anchor in their life. They NEED this anchor. For most, the thaught of lifes only meaning is "reproduction" is unbearable for them. - Imagine a TV evangelist, preaching "we must worship God, but there is no after live". He would lose his followers overnight. I remain: Eternal life is the spiritual "best seller" of all time.

The unexpected demise of Ubon Joe has shown, how fast the final curtain can fall. All it takes is a "short illness". Still, instead of enjoying every day, I am mired in "planning the future", hoping to circumnavigate negative personal events. It must be in my European genes. Why can't I just dance around a fire at night, chanting meaningful chants. Like so many "less developped" folks do. Not giving a rats ass what tomorrow will bring. Granted, most folks dancing around a fire or going to church have the firm believe that a better "after-live" is the reward for enduring earthly life. So, death is not really a problem for them. As an atheist, I dont have it so good. Being born and having to die after a very short time, to me, is an evolutionary joke. But affecting all living things. My dog dosn't know about this mechanism, but (unfortunately) I do. Still trying to grasp Ubon Joe's demise. He contributed to this forum in a meaningful way, as very much opposed to the rest of us.

That is exactly what will happen. It's all about "which group are you in".

"Short Illness"? What exactly happened to him? Irreplacable. A major loss for ASEAN NOW. Just to think that folks will have to interpret Visa Matters by way of cumbersome official visa websites is a nightmare.

The jury is still out of how severe the recession will be. While Copper inventories on the LME are still dwindling, they are increasing in Shanghai. This is the stuff "Choppy-Markets" arer made of. I expect a "roller coaster" ride for the rest of the year. But: The "carrying-charge" for long Copper is only an annualised 2.2%. Very reasonable. Making a longer term view on things very "justifiable". Especially as long as the "electrification" of the world is an ongoing process and it takes between 10 to 12 years to bring future copper mines "on line". Currently, the price of Copper is too low to justify the fast developpent of new Copper mines. - I wish, I was 20 years younger.

Monk Mode and "productivity". "Productivity" hardly in the economical sense. Spiritually maybe. Not beneffitting the rest of the world. "Monk-Mode" is everywhere and in full swing. In Europe: Next door neighbors not talking to each other. "Hello" the only conversation, after years of living next door to each other. No need to join a Thai-Temple. If getting tired of European "Monkism", one can always link-up with our 200 Facebook friends.

Quote: "the writing style strikes me as verbose, unnecessarily complex, and often rife with melodramatic sentiment". It may strike us like this today as we have lost half of our vocabulary. The "richness" of languages is gone. Be it English, French or German, compared to before, we speak and write those languages as "skeleton-languages". Even Arthur Conan Doyle and Aghata Cristie spoke a different English compared to todays English. Remarkably: The youth of today seems to be limited to some basic 600 words. Even refusing to pronounce the words understanably. Their speach resembling the speach of a 95 year old toothless senior. Like everything else, languages change/adopt over time. The greatest literature ever written was during a time when it was perfectly normal to ship millions of Africans to the new world and the kings ruled the world in the name of "God" and the Pope in Rome. ---------------- The future of languages. Thanks to AI we will only have to commence a sentence. AI will complete the sentence for us. Therefore, we should manage just fine with a vocabulary reduced to 200 words.

Now that "the Markets" have reached the conclusion that the long awaited recession is finally coming, "everything" is (will be) down, not only Copper. As the long-term fundamentals for Copper remain intact, I will add to my position on severe setbacks. Currently, I am only engaged with 30% of my planned position in Copper.

Forgetting to "tip" their retail customers. The usual. After a massive price increase, they will recommend it to their retail-custoers as a "strong buy". (The unloading process from "strong hands" to "weak hands"). Usually the end of every Bull-Market.

True "preppers" have built their bunkers already, stacked with supplies lasting for 2 years. Only problem: Someday they will have to emerge from their bunkers. If the ultimative "armageddon" should have happened in the meantime, they will feel "very alone", as the "non-prepping surface dwellers" will all have died. How to organise a "resurrection" party when nobody is left to join the party and your underwear starts to glow in the dark? Everybody not having built a bunker is not a true "prepper". Having accumulated 50 Kilos of pasta makes one merely a "Hamster", but not a true "prepper".

During the COVID Lockdowns that was the case in Germany. In France, the most hoarded article were CONDOMS. Does that tell us something of the "charakters of nations" ?.

Current and projected Supply and Demand can not be compared between the 2 commodities. An entirely different situation.

Yes.

I can do better: We all should have bought "Apple", 500 years ago.

Amen! The priests have alwas fared better than their followers. Hate to think that the creators of "new cryptos" (weekly or monthly) are the modern day priests.

Can't remember. But I also can't remember when I heard "Hello sexy man" for the first time.

Point 1,2,3 are absolutely correct, resulting in "trust", making it a "common denominator" for worldwide trade. If the Thai Farmer should decide to export his water melons, he would have to take a glance at the US$/BAHT exchange rate occasionally. He is not likely going to look at the price of Bitcoin.

Above comment makes it clear to me, that unless someone is a "computer-wizard", it is not possible to understand the "inner-workings" of crypto currencies. I happen to believe that 95% of people are not computer-wizards. Caution would suggest, if something is not understood, better "hands-off". This brings me in "devils-kitchen". Men claim, that we don't know the "inner-workings" of women. That has not stopped us from keeping our hands off women. "Brute Force" was mentioned. I can rob a bank with brute force. Someone tell me how to rob with "keyboard brute force". It might turn me into a convert.

These days, the "Market Gurus" cant't make up their minds. Torn between market statistics that can indicate a future economic "recession" or a general "nevermind". We will "sit out whatever comes", recommending mostly a very conservative approach to "the markets". Fine. - But future "Bull-Markets" sneak up like a cat on silent paws. Not noticed by the Wall Sreet Guru community, until the cat has leaped foreward (upward) by 50%). Then they recommend it with "a strong buy". Currently we have a cat, getting ready to "leap". Having formed a very solid technical and fundamental base from witch to "leap". Having build up the foundation to laep for months. Most producers of this material agree that they will not be able to satisfy the demand for this material. At the latest by September this year. Regardless if the Chinese Economy recovers or not. (A major consumer). The Wall-Street Gurus have not gotten wind of it yet. But the producers of this material have. Does the cat, aproaching on silent paws has a name? Yes, it's name is COPPER.

I have asked many questios and received many answers. Can you ask again what answer I have not given.

According to you, not long enough. But I have never met a person that bought Bitcoin at $ 60'000 and is still happy.

Quote: "No technical reason. Its creator just made that choice so the system is not indefinitely inflationary. What if he changes his mind and allowes for 100 million coins? Quote; "It's called Crypto Currency because it relies on Cryptography. Kryptos means concealed, hidden, secret. Not unexplainable, mysterious or beyond comprehension. Secrecy is the key to digital security because the opposite would mean everyone could access your accounts, wallets, data etc. Then why is it that on a monthly basis we learn that certain Crypto accouts heve been plundered by some sophisticated "hackers". Secrecy? PS: It happenes that some native English Speakers occasionally post messages here, that I can only qualify as "cryptic messages". It may have something to do with local "slang", giving new meaning to Crtiptologie, dwarfing the Cryptig messages of the old Greeks. ======================== Now down to some basic fundamentals: To asses the intristic value of something we need a "measuring stick". Here, we are walking on "thin ice". 2000 years ago, in the middle east, the measuring stick consisted of 100 sheep skins equals the value of 10 cows. I strongly believe that the US$ will remain as the "measuring stick" for a long time to come. (power of taxation). To what would one link any crypto to a system without power of taxation? Exchanging a hundred sheep skins for 10 cows, taking place at the New York Stock exchange? Or exchanging a good looking women for 1 Bitcoin? An exchange of " values" can only take place with a centralised common denominator. Worldwide. And this is the US$ still. Formerly Gold and Silver coins. Cryptos can not replace "the value compass" of this world due to the lack of the power of taxation. Worse: Without any "tangible" anchorage of any sort. (Unless backed by 100 sheep skins or 1 good looking women as currency).

Of course, turning it into "economic-growth". For better or for worse. Do Crypto Miners contribute to Economic Growth"?

Thanks guys. I am a bit wiser now. A few questions remain: - The "production" of Bitcoins is called "mining". I read that the amount of Bitcoins that ever could be mined is limited to 21 Million coins. Why not more? Please explain. Surely we will not run out of numerical combinations. - The "mining" uses already as much elctricity as the entire country of Morocco. "The Governements of this world" may find this unacceptable, if this trend continues. ------------------- Many speculative bubbles have come and gone over time. Starting with the "Tulip Mania" in old Holland. 1 Tulip seed had the value of a downtown house, before the big crash. At least a tulip was something tangibe. One cold see it, smell it, touch it. On the other hand, most people have never seen, nor smelled, nor touched a Bitcoin. I like "tangible things". Holding a 100 Dollar billl in my hands still gives me a warm feeling. Especially as long as the value of Cryptos is measured in form of US$. The word "Crypto" has it's origins in the old Greek language. Meaning: Mysterious, unexplainable, beyond comprehention. Food for thaught.