I don't really like the matchups I'm seeing today.  I feel like any game could go either way without too much shock value.  I did have to get at least one bet in though, so here's what I went with.

Brooklyn Nets - Cleveland Cavaliers
Winner (Incl. Overtime)
Cleveland Cavaliers

New York Knicks - Dallas Mavericks
Winner (Incl. Overtime)
Dallas Mavericks

Odds
2.16

The Cavs are heavy favorites over the Nets so that's why I took that game and I like the way the Mavericks are playing so I picked them to beat New York.  Not bad odds for a 2 game parlay with the favorites being selected, but I'm concerned about the Knicks/Mavericks outcome.

Maybe you’re right, but I think a lot of people are going to find a lot more common ground with what Putin is pushing than what Biden is pushing. A lot of us are sick of seeing what’s happening to our children and society. Putin will most definitely appeal to those who want to see happy families instead of drag shows. Not to mention the bio-labs… Tonight will hopefully educate a lot of people that war has two sides and historically Americans are only told one side of that story.

I think you might want to try an auction and start the price at that amount. I’ve gotten some pretty crazy offers for these coins in the past and I know there are plenty of members here who would love to get their hands on these coins. They were the coins I based my Bitcoin Binary Rounds on (same designer even) and are extremely rare.

I don’t dislike theymos. He did a lot of good for the forum in the early days. I just know theymos is not a man of his word and I don’t really respect that. He hasn’t stood up to call LoyceV a liar for what he’s said about me stealing BTC from the treasury. He didn’t live up to his threat to blackball the mentally ill guy from DT for his trust abuse. He set me up with making me an original DT member, asking me to keep the default trust network honest and then empowering the evil I was keeping out of DT, unleashing an army of trolls my way… This while going more than a year without paying me and then calling me tacky for doing my fiduciary duty. So I guess I have my reasons for the disrespect. The mentally ill guy is mad at theymos for what?

It seems like the ETFs have started sucking up all the BTC for sale in the ecosystem. Miners are reducing their holdings and the halving is right around the corner. The only thing that can stop this market from propelling to the moon this summer will be mtgox. Once those coins are digested… Good times…

In a move I can’t say I really understand, the Suns decided to trade most of their bench for Royce O’Neale. I can’t say I know how this makes them better. It seems like they gave up a couple decent prospects for an aging bench player, but maybe he’s got some special skills or something. Hope there are better trades than this being discussed right now.

I will admit I don’t know what I’m talking about but when I think ‘problem’ gambling I think of someone who gambles money they don’t have and get their life into trouble with the results. Whereas compulsive gambling is like the guy at a party that’s just chilling until someone mentions gambling and then that’s all they can do the rest of the day.

If you want BTC without having it tied to some sort of KYC then the right way to do it has always been to mine it to a fresh address. It’s built right into Bitcoin. You can use p2pool type mining pools or go ham and get enough hashrate to mine solo. Using mixers is like playing Russian Roulette with your money.

Philly is really missing Embiid. The way the Warriors have been playing I was afraid to put any money behind them. Interestingly enough Andrew Wiggins led the team in scoring tonight. That seems unusual.

The Pelicans are starting to blowout the Clippers right now. Not good for me since I picked the Clippers to win.

I’m very interested to see this interview and plan on watching it tomorrow night. I think it’s important to hear the other side of the story and I applaud Tucker for bringing that to us. I understand half the people watching will say it’s all propaganda, but just maybe it will make some sort of a difference that can help lead to peace.

Keep your eye on D'Angelo Russell for a possible move tonight.  They're keeping him out of practice and out of tomorrow's game with the excuse that he had a "tune up" on Tuesday.  I'm not sure what that means and it seems like an odd way to bounce around the subject.  If he received treatment, it seems like they could have just said what treatment he received, but the tune up comment struck me as weird.  Maybe nothing, but when a player was seen crying on the bench last week, is out of practice this week and won't be playing in a game on the trade deadline, the rumors are going to swirl... 

It's definitely more than $130 million.  I had thought the number was closer to 200K BTC, but the number being kicked around in chats outside this forum is 130,000 BTC, so that's what I mentioned.  You're right that only the early payout recipients will be paid soon, but I believe that makes up a large amount of the BTC being paid out.  It's a massive amount of BTC and I would be shocked if it didn't cause a noticeable decline on the market, but who knows...  Maybe enough people have gone short or are awaiting on the sidelines to balance it out, but like I said, I'd be shocked.  That's a huge number.

I'm just learning about this EigenLayer app and I must say that it seems to be the most dangerous thing I've seen in crypto in a long time.  Granted, users will all eventually be forced to use this technology when staking, which means eventually all altcoins that offer staking will be in the same basket.  When some big boy decides the value proposition has run it's course, they will dump on everyone causing a chain reaction that takes down multiple chains instead of just one.  So while this isn't a ponzi, it most definitely acts like one and the participants will feel the pain together as one when new users stop tossing money into the fire. 

Looks like the trades may be heating up as we approach the deadline.  The first major trade I've heard so far is the Sacramento Kings and Portland Trail Blazers.  This trade is apparently not official yet, but expected to be before the trade deadline.  The Trail Blazers are giving up Jerami Grant for Harrison Barnes, Trey Lyles, and a pick.  I think this is good for both teams.  The Kings get younger and more talented, Portland gets to dump salary after the season and pick up another draft pick.  It makes sense for both teams.  The big loser I guess is Harrison Barnes, who might get bought out at the end of the year and find himself out of the NBA.

This reminds me of a saying by Dave Ramsey, who is a writer that tries to help people get ahead financially.  His famous quote is that people need to, "live like no one else now, so you can live like no one else later."  Basically saying that you shouldn't be keeping up with the Jones family or buying unnecessary expensive sneakers or other flashy stuff.  You should live frugal now and save money while investing in the hopes that someday you can live off dividends and buy whatever you want.  I'm not sure he'd say to invest everything into Bitcoin, but as many of folks say, it isn't about what you make, it's about what you spend or maybe more importantly, what you spend it on.

Don't be so quick to dismiss the effect that the mtgox coins could have on the market.  Last time I looked the discussion was that about 130,000 BTC were going to hit the market once the coins are distributed.  After April we're looking at 450 BTC per day being added to the system.  That's like damn near dumping a year's worth (289 days) of BTC supply on the market overnight.  While there are certainly funds and OTC buyers lining up to get their hands on a massive chunk of BTC without moving the market, there's no way to tell if those 130K are going to be absorbed or cause an absolute market crash until it happens.  My hope is that people with deep pockets will see this as an entry point the way Tim Draper did back in 2012/2013 with the government auction of a massive amount of coins, but I wouldn't say it's certain.



I'm sure there's more to it.  Like with cigarettes, I sometimes see people out smoking or drinking their morning coffee and just taking in their surroundings.  I like that part of it.  I guess I'm a weirdo, but I think that prolonged use of anything causes your body to stop providing certain things as it adapts.  Coffee drinkers wake up useless without their coffee for example while others don't.  Along that same line of thinking, people who use chapstick always seem to have chapped lips...  I don't want to be always tired without an upper like coffee, whereas with downers like weed, your body has to fight to stay "up" which I think is better than it fighting to stay down.  Perhaps a downright looney bin take on substances, but it's mine.

That's why I clicked.  Not because I think you don't have them or anything.  I just wanted to see some Casascius Coin pr0n. 

I can't provide too much guidance on the 5 BTC Casascius coin as I have never owned one, but I did sell a brass 1/2 BTC Casascius coin not all that long ago for 0.76 BTC (but there was another coin involved as well so you can say 0.74 BTC as a more accurate price).  That was my offer I couldn't refuse.  I hope that helps guide you on what you may be able to get for these.  Although with so many at once it might be a challenge if you're looking for a quick sale.

Luck the way most people use it is nonsense.  For example, "you got lucky."  People use luck as if it was this thing that comes to certain people and can influence outcomes.  It is not that at all, but rather the expression of falling on the lower side of the odds on an event.  This is really obvious with Bitcoin mining difficulty.  They have the "luck" measurement, which determines the time when a block should be found on average.  If you beat this average you are lucky, if you don't, you are unlucky.  It just means over or underperforming expectations basically.  So if someone calls you lucky, they are expressing that you beat the expected outcome.  Whether that expectation was a low bar or not can usually determine how a person feels about you.  Mostly though, luck is used by losers to explain why other people have had success where they have not, so I try to avoid using that work to describe people's outcomes.

No, I've never had a sip of coffee.  Not because my body is a temple, but because I've just never felt the need.  I see people wake up and say they can't function until they've had their coffee.  That's enough for me to not want to ever get on that train.  I wake up ready for anything.  

My body is less like a temple and more like a monster truck.  I'm more of a live fast die young sort of fella.  I don't lift weights for my health, I do it to make the ride in the truck more fun.

A more on topic post...  It appears like we've been stuck in a trading range for 3 months now.  With this latest change of direction I think we're likely to see a retest around the $48K range.  If that breaks, there's really just one more major level at $52K to smash through before a straight run to the all time high.  We're closer to new highs than people think right now, but a lot of selling is coming in the pipeline that will delay the ride.

I've been mostly doing 5 sets of 20, but have gone 10 and 30 a few times.  I'm looking forward to the day I can do 100 at once, perhaps by the halving.  We'll see...

I hope everyone is also keeping track of your push-ups (I'm currently at 540 which will be 560 by the time you read this).  It would be cool to list a total number of push-ups done by the community in this thread once we hit $100,000.  Also, don't be ashamed if you can only do 10 a day to start, or even if you have to do modified ones.  Get after it!  I'd love nothing more than to hear about someone who started this challenge doing modified push-ups only to end it with 100 real push-ups a day by the end.