Wall Observer BTC/USD - Bitcoin price movement tracking & discussion

[JimboToronto]

All phones do the same things, and android is much cheaper.

My iphone 6s from 2015 still works like this is its first day. Find me an android phone from 2017 which is still in one piece.

Tried android before. They just suck.

Android is an operating system. The actual cellphone hardware varies greatly from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Sure you can get an Android phone for 1/10th of the price of an iPhone and it will work just as well (actually better because you can maintain anonymity and avoid signing into Daddy Corporation's site altogether) but it probably won't last as long before the charger jack starts acting up.

You also have the option of paying 1/2 or 3/4 as much as an iPhone for a higher quality Android device that will outlast your iPhone while also maintaining anonymity and independence and not being insulted by having messages tainted with crApple advertising ("sent from my iPhone", etc.)

My Sony Experia Z2 Ultra is over a half dozen years old and still works great except for a cracked screen. My Samsung (non-Android) Rugby flip phone is so old almost all the finish has worn off right down to the aluminum-magnesium alloy case. Brick shithouse. Cost me <$100. Still my main phone, only one with a SIM card.

I'll be honest. I look down my nose at crApple products... high price, low quality. Back before the turn of the century it was easy to laugh at Mac users with their under-performing Motorola and IBM CPUs and software designed for the technologically inept.

Even after they upgraded to Intel silicon, they were a source of amusement. I remember a post to the OCZ SSD forums back in the early days of consumer SSDs. Someone wanted to know how the Mac version of the original Vertex differed from the normal version. One of the OCZ engineers replied that it had identical hardware and firmware. Only the label was different... and of course the price... the Mac version cost >$100 more.

One born every minute.

[HairyMaclairy]

You can sing Covid-19 to the tune of ‘Come on Eileen’

[HairyMaclairy]

Good morning Bitcoinland.

Still over $9k I see after a wee dip under and back up... currently $9080USD/$12177CAD (Bitcoinaverage).

No problem.

Hey Jimbo

how is spring training going?

Pretty well so far. Of course the Jays are in the middle of a total rebuild.

The big news is top pitching prospect Nate Pearson who has been dominating. In his first appearance he struck out the side (all Yankee major leaguers) on 12 pitches. He has yet to allow a run in 3 appearances. Many believe he will be a homegrown workhorse ace like Dave Stieb or Roy Halladay.

He's big, has a triple-digit fastball and a hard breaking pitch with tons of late movement and possesses a strong work ethic. He's said to be mature beyond his years. Will hopefully be called up sometime this season. Gotta get that extra year of team control though.

Slugging first baseman Rowdy Tellez has come into camp in much better shape. He only lost a pound but described it as losing 15 pounds of fat and gaining 14 pounds of muscle. He also is realizing he doesn't need to swing for the fences to hit it out. His strength should allow him to tighten up his swing, improve his average to all fields and still get lots of HRs and extra-base hits.

Vladdy Guerrero has also arrived in better shape and is looking to improve on what was for him a disappointing rookie season.

Veteran journeyman Joe Panik, signed to a minor league deal has been impressing everyone with his defense at short and stands a chance to make the team as a utility infielder.

Other than that, it's what you'd expect. Veteran pitchers like Ryu and Shoemaker are working on extending pitch counts, youngsters like Thornton are working on new pitches, and hitters are getting their at-bats.

We'll all see how this works out in 3 weeks. I'll be flying up in time for the home opener. Same seats as the last few years, behind home plate but just enough up the 1st base line that the ump doesn't block my view of the strike zone. Good view of the Jays pen and dugout.

Play ball!

Great write up.  I remain baseball ignorant but you almost make me want to watch a game. 

[JayJuanGee]

While I am a big adherent to Hanlon's razor, I find that my suspension of disbelief is increasingly unwilling to explain the manifest ineptitude of governments around this contagion by mere stupidity.

Of course. Never attribute to stupidity what can be perfectly explained with malice.

No wonder you are so fucking looney, Ibian.

It hardly makes any sense to reverse that statement... unless you hate the whole fucking world, which reflects more on your own lack of empathy rather than reflecting on true aspects of the world and the human condition.

Yeah, I also understand the expression that life is nasty, brutal and short, but that still should not indicate that the world is presumptively filled with evil bastards, unless your mom did not love you (and roach neither), perhaps?

[HairyMaclairy]

Even if these were true, I still don't want to drive a goddamn computer with wheels which some other guy can press a button and stop its engine.

Fuck this.

Fuck tesla.

You might if fuel supplies get cut, but you still have solar panels.  If SHTT, the Teslas may be the only cars left driving.  

Also the cell towers will be down, so no one can switch off your car.  

[Jeremy Franklin]

Okay guys, this pump is serious. Don't f*ck it up this time. I want my Lambo smooth and fast.

[HairyMaclairy]

Tesla and all other electric cars are trojan horses and we are actually paying money to get them.

Now think about it... it is crazy.

They should give them us for free for what they are taking from us. Tbh I still wouldn't drive one if it was free.

I love to have Horse instead of Electric Car  

Horses bite, kick, eat a lot and shit a lot. Not to mention trimming their hooves every six weeks. 

[STT]

Its the weekend Pump, its not the 50 day but act as if it is and I reckon we dont go too far from that measure just yet without open combat breaking out in the fight for price.   Especially if main markets continue to decline at an accelerated rate.   I do like the mention of physical cash now is something to avoid using as 'dirty money', that probably at least gets BTC a mention on multiple channels as a rising alternative.   BTW life imitates art here as an old Tom Clancy story features a mutant flu strain spread by dollar notes.

the Mac version cost >$100 more.

Mac will try to argue their part has superior QA, support, warranty, is part of a better designed system and operates with greater efficiency.   You can say the same thing about cars, so much money is wasted by people but theres a consumer demand for convenience and the premium is massive.   Apple is likely just going to continue and be successful because they get it, somehow they rate over windows for convenience and ease of use and so on.   I'm not a fan but I have taken Apple stock when it was unpopular, the margins they operate are beyond belief yet they arent losing their edge.   Eventually maybe they lose their way but apparently the CEO knows enough not to fix what aint broken.    

[HairyMaclairy]

I seriously considered Tesla, got a beemer instead. Model S is fine, but overpriced by at least 50%. Model 3 is too small of a car (spacewise and for the money).

I really wanted a Tesla to work for me. But my daily driver of 21 years was a full-size van. Went and looked at the nearest dealership (over an hour away, FFS). Even the X was too small by a large margin.

Ended up with a Denali instead.

To add insult to injury, GMC recently pre-announced a 1000HP Hummer-branded EV. Maybe shoulda waited? Time will tell.

[JayJuanGee]

*FED CUTS BENCHMARK RATE 50 BPS, SAYS VIRUS POSES EVOLVING RISKS

wow!

Feels sad man. Isn't btc supposed to follow gold? Gold is +3% while btc is -1%.

This decision is the final nail on the FED's coffin. QE and low/negative interest rates forever.

I am not sure of your meaning mindrust.  Are you just describing the mistake that the fed makes because you surely are not too likely to read to much into short term correlations, right? 

Of course, in the short term there can be all kinds of ambiguities regarding bitcoin's performance in comparison to gold, the stock market or the dollar.. .but in the longer term, we should be able to see the whole correlation or lack thereof situation a bit better.

Of course, since bitcoin only has a bit over 10 years of price history, we are still attempting to learn various aspects of bitcoin's price correlation or lack thereof, while we have our theories such as a) stock to flow, b) four year fractal, and c) various s-curve exponential adoption based on networking effects.

[rdbase]

https://i.imgur.com/ylJHuuo.jpg

The doomsday clock is 2 minutes from midnight. So we are nigh to it!
https://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2020/01/22/what-is-doomsday-clock-orig-js.cnn
Isnt it funny celebrities are making a fashion statement out of it with goop showing their creator wearing it like an accessory and even designers having their catwalk models wearing them. As if it is all a joke.
So this is just a fad statement for the doomer generation?
Becoming A Doomer (Part 1)
https://youtu.be/1Nens-f8jG8
Becoming A Doomer (Part 2)
https://youtu.be/DdYHm3JHV0E
Doomer Starts A New Life
https://youtu.be/1Y0_B60AS1g

Watched the Aussie one last week and that one is prime!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyQ1bWBifes
There is a Canadian one, eh?
https://youtu.be/_mEEp8okSEI

[JimboToronto]

Mac will try to argue their part has superior QA, support, warranty, is part of a better designed system and operates with greater efficiency.   You can say the same thing about cars, so much money is wasted by people but theres a consumer demand for convenience and the premium is massive.   Apple is likely just going to continue and be successful because they get it, somehow they rate over windows for convenience and ease of use and so on.   I'm not a fan but I have taken Apple stock when it was unpopular, the margins they operate are beyond belief yet they arent losing their edge.   Eventually maybe they lose their way but apparently the CEO knows enough not to fix what aint broken.    

They get it all right... advertising... slick advertising and lots of it.

That "somehow" is the same somehow that makes Mcdonalds taste so delicious. Seeing people sitting in the window at Starbucks with their Macbooks reminds me of kids at Micky D's. Look at me aren't I cool?

Some folks prefer real food.

[Raja_MBZ]

If Bloomberg bought bitcoin instead of spending money on his campaign he could have given everyone in the world 21 million bitcoins.

"Bad" is literally not enough of a bad word if someone's that bad.

[bitserve]

Vegas just got its first Covid-19 case, what do you guys think odds for a WSOP cancellation look like now?

https://twitter.com/DougPolkPoker/status/1235617119166795776?s=20

Just read this one, how likely would that be, its a very big tournament like 10,000 participants coming from all over the world....

All of these big events are getting cancelled but Vegas is almost entirely based off of tourism right? They might be very reluctant to cancel things there.

Hmmmm, this is interesting. Vegas always try to fill their hotels even if that means almost giving their rooms for free. I am wondering if this summer will be good to go there again for mere pennies.

I would need to check first if my private insurance would cover a coronavir infection overseas... Those US medical bills can rise fast enough to wipe all your lifetime net worth in a couple months.

Decisions, decisions....

Careful.  Lots of travel insurance excludes pandemics.  

I was thinking about my private medical insurance which is supposed to cover me worldwide... but, yeah, probably there are lots of exclusions that I never even bothered to read... But I have just checked that it seems that there is a maximum cover of 50000€ which, after knowing the completely ridiculous prices of medical services in US, it's almost a joke.

Not only it would be a very bad idea to go during a pandemic... but I am also questioning myself if I should ever come back there after realising this. Geez... I was way happier when living on ignorance.

[gentlemand]

I was thinking about my private medical insurance which is supposed to cover me worldwide... but, yeah, probably there are lots of exclusions that I never even bothered to read... But I have just checked that it seems that there is a maximum cover of 50000€ which, after knowing the completely ridiculous prices of medical services in US, it's almost a joke.

Not only it would be a very bad idea to go during a pandemic... but I am also questioning myself if I should ever come back there after realising this. Geez... I was way happier when living on ignorance.

I would never think to assume private medical insurance worked abroad. What you need is travel insurance. Even the crappiest travel insurance bought in the UK covers you for £5-10 million of expense. I'm quite tempted to go above that and see what happens but I'm not sure what ailment I would need. Maybe give birth to siamese twins with AIDS?

And there's no way at all I would ever go anywhere near the US without the best possible insurance.

[bitserve]

I was thinking about my private medical insurance which is supposed to cover me worldwide... but, yeah, probably there are lots of exclusions that I never even bothered to read... But I have just checked that it seems that there is a maximum cover of 50000€ which, after knowing the completely ridiculous prices of medical services in US, it's almost a joke.

Not only it would be a very bad idea to go during a pandemic... but I am also questioning myself if I should ever come back there after realising this. Geez... I was way happier when living on ignorance.

I would never think to assume private medical insurance worked abroad. What you need is travel insurance. Even the crappiest travel insurance bought in the UK covers you for £5-10 million of expense. I'm quite tempted to go above that and see what happens but I'm not sure what ailment I would need. Maybe give birth to siamese twins with AIDS?

And there's no way at all I would ever go anywhere near the US without the best possible insurance.

Mine explicitly includes worldwide cover but limits it to 50000€ max in that case, which now that I know better it is kind of a joke for anything that would require any "complex" (by american standards) procedure or prolonged hospital stay.

5-10Million would probably be more than enough, yeah... if it is more than that then it probably would mean that I am so fucked up that they better let me die anyways.

What I previously said about being happier while living in ignorance is completely accurate considering I *never* bought a travel insurance assuming it was redundant to what I already had. Realising that being cheap could have cost me all I had (and maybe even more) is mindblowing.

Thanks for your advice guys, will carefully do my homework next time I do travel.

P.S.: Thinking about this is making me recognise how wonderful is to have free public health service and how we usually don't see the value in those things we have always taken for granted.

[HairyMaclairy]

Lights Are On but No One’s Working: How Local Governments Are Faking Coronavirus Recovery

Local companies and officials are fraudulently boosting electricity consumption and other metrics in order to meet tough new back-to-work targets as the spread of Covid-19 in China wanes, a Caixin investigation has found.
As new coronavirus cases in China slowed in recent weeks, local governments in less-affected regions pushed companies and factories to return to work, typically by assigning concrete targets to district officials. Company insiders and local civil servants told Caixin that, under pressure to fulfill quotas they could not otherwise meet, they deftly cooked the books.
Leaving lights and air conditioners on all day long in empty offices, turning on manufacturing equipment, faking staff rosters and even coaching factory workers to lie to inspectors are just some of the ways they helped manufacture flashy statistics on the resumption of business for local governments to report up the chain.
Electricity consumption data has regularly been used as a proxy for the business resumption rate when reporting to Beijing, and to the public.
The East China province of Zhejiang has been lauded as a prime example of the nation’s industrial recovery from the coronavirus outbreak by China’s top economic planner, which reported on Feb. 24 that its work resumption rate was more than 90%.
Nevertheless, a civil servant in one district of the provincial capital, Hangzhou, told Caixin that from Saturday plants were instructed to leave their industrial equipment idling for the whole day, while offices were told to keep computers and air-conditioners running, when Beijing began checking the resumption rate by examining power consumption figures.
Caixin has chosen not to name the district to protect the identity of the civil servant, who could face repercussions for revealing the information publicly. But reached by phone, one company insider in the district said they saw such directives in multiple corporate WeChat groups. Another said they received the order too, but their operations had already resumed two weeks prior, and its production lines were in normal operation by Feb. 29. Another executive said they were not informed of the electricity use target, and said they were running at about one-fifth of normal capacity, with only a small proportion of machines in use.
Hangzhou’s target was for corporate electricity consumption that day to hit 75% of what it was on Jan. 8, and that it should return to at least 90% of that by March 10.
The real resumption rate in one industrial park in Hangzhou over the weekend was 40%, the civil servant estimated, far below the 75% target.
The district official pointed out China is further subsidizing electricity costs as a way to incentivize businesses to resume, and said many companies would rather waste a small amount of money on power than irritate local officials.
Insiders told Caixin that in some cases, rather than giving companies direct targets, local governments assigned quotas to local district officials who were then directly responsible for meeting them. Those officials would regularly visit the companies, prodding them to resume production in the guise of expressing “care and support.” That pressure is likely what drove them to switch on their machines.
Zhejiang Provincial Government Deputy Secretary-General Chen Guangsheng boasted to press on Feb. 24 that a segment of manufacturing plants in Zhejiang reported a work resumption rate of 98.6%, and service enterprises 95.6%. More than 99% of the coastal province’s companies with annual export value above $10 million had resumed business, the provincial leader said.

A company in Wenzhou, a major commercial center in the same province, confirmed it had received a designated power consumption target equal to half of the level before the outbreak, and had been running its air conditioners all day long to meet the goal.
Zhejiang is not the only place where the reality on the ground is said to deviate from government figures.
In the small industrial city of Botou, some 230 kilometers (143 miles) south of Beijing, Caixin found factories reported by the local government to have reopened their doors had not in fact resumed production.
The head of one told Caixin that despite reports up the chain, the local government’s unwillingness to risk an outbreak meant it had not actually restarted. “The local government still forbids factories to actually resume work,” the executive said. “We have returned to the offices, but production has not resumed at all.”
He further said the Botou government asked him to falsely report the number of employees who had returned to work, and even went so far as to directly coach workers about how to lie if they received calls from inspectors.
Prolonged suspension of production had led to the loss of technicians and business orders, he added, because some of the company’s peers in other parts of China had resumed manufacturing ahead of them.
Replying to Caixin’s request for comment on Monday, the Botou government said at least 228 enterprises in the Botou area had resumed business, but some companies might have said they did not because while they were registered as having resumed, they may not have been prepared to immediately commence production. They said companies were permitted to resume normal business after reporting to the local government, but could only begin operation after officials confirmed virus control measures were in place.
A source in a smaller enterprise in Botou told Caixin companies have been allowed to resume production after meeting certain virus containment requirements, but face the further logistical issues as many rural roads remain blocked. Without a way to get raw materials in and send products out, there’s not much point in businesses returning to production.
Open data from Baidu Maps shows overall traffic flow inside the Botou city over the weekend was still less than half of the average last year, after two weeks of slow recovery starting from Feb. 18.

[HairyMaclairy]

All my TA says we are at the bottom or very close to it.  Very strong support at $8k.

This is aging well

[JayJuanGee]

(if it's not too personal)?

For educational purpose..

Raja and me comes from the same region, where we have no such thing called personal space etc. I appreciate your politeness but you can ask him or anyone from Indian Subcontinent (if you know them) directly without any filter.

I can imagine what his friend asking him about this flu... Bencho, jinda hai abhi tak? Sisterfucker, you are still alive?

Yeah, but for opsec purposes, you, raja and any other peeps from that area need to protect some of your personal information...

because otherwise you might find ur lil selfie(s) in more trouble than you(s) wish(es) to be.  

Thank me later.

 

Ps.  By the way, my above admonition may be a bit academic because I don't really recall any meaningful instances in which you, JSRAW or Raja had posted some kind of personal information that would have seemed to hav gone overboard kind of breach of opsec.  But, I am getting elderly, so perhaps my memory is fading, somewhat.  Perhaps?

[Cryptotourist]

You guys (and gal) cannot be relying on me to be holding up WO statistics.

WO statistics are page count parity and post count parity. Word count parity ain't a thing.

JJG was gone for roughly one week, and the total WO post count parity, dipped noticeably.
Focus, nobody bought this dip.
Should he ever leave for a month or more, we'd be dealing with a 80% correction, to complete annihilation and lock down of the thread, on the yearly milestone.