Overview of my thinking.
Before we go in the the usual weekly update, I wanted to share my thoughts and why I’m here. The below weekly update basically represents some of the interesting things that I’ve come across in the last week that I thought was informative, noteworthy, funny or has advanced my thinking on a topic.
The thing to note is that we’re in a world wide pandemic, that goes beyond one country. I don’t believe it’s a made up thing, simple due to how hard it is to get governments which covers various cultures to co-ordinate anything in the past (climate change comes to mind). So for them to have collectively invented this would very much over estimating their ability to co-ordinate. The jury is still out whether they have over reacted because the economical impact has been huge in my opinion. However, I do believe it will be used as an opportunity to grab power over the individual life.
The other thing to note is that we’re at the start of a global economic event that will be viewed on a similar magnitude to the great depression of the 1930s. The important thing here is that it didn’t start with the pandemic, and was started last year when there was issues in the repo markets where the US federal reserve had to step in. You could even say that it’s an extension of the 2008 financial crisis, where we have kicked the can down the road, and now with governments shutting down the economy that “can” has finally caught up to us.
The thing that I’m looking out for is how this will all play out, and how to protect ourselves. How to protect our health, our loved ones, our children’s futures, our hard earned savings in case the economic situation gets worst (which is why you will find me talking about bitcoin – BTC to help you get your head around it) . But also to try and see where the opportunities are. And of course to stay focused, grow and adapt.
The world has changed and we all do need to adapt. The whole working remotely is going to be here to stay in some form. How our children need to be educated needs to change, and we need to have a more active role. Those of us who use to travel 1 hour to work, 1 hour home each day. You have essentially gained 10 hours of your life back, that you could be using to doing something to advance something in your life.
I have confidence that we will get through this just fine because of our human sense of resilience, and the world on the other side of this will be very different and hopefully a better place.
There is a lot of news out there in the current Internet age, so hopefully you will find something in my weekly updates that is informative, useful and also advance your thinking.
COVID
Of course the big news is that Trump got COVID. Umm.. I’ll leave it at that without engaging in any schadenfreude. The world is at 8,027,395 active cases, with 1,038,810 now deceased. The top countries are interesting – They are US, followed by India, Brazil, Russia, Columbia, Peru, Argentina, Span, Mexico. The Victoria equivalent around the world appears to be California in the US, Quebec in Canada, Lombardy in Italy, Moscow in Russia.
We’re down to 241 active cases in Victoria. 39 active cases in NSW. In case you are wondering about the extra arrows I’ve drawn it’s to help someone out whom I didn’t know couldn’t tell the difference with the colours.
So we’re all in our social distance bubble, in reality it probably looks more like this
Something interesting I was reading is that people who get COVID-19 sometimes lose their sense of taste and smell, and it doesn’t come back even months later. That it would be pretty depressing if you lost your sense of taste and smell of food again. It seems to be backed up by other people’s experiences from the comments on hacker news. However do note that everyone seems to be having a different experience. I have to admit that there are many times where I come across an article, and the first thing I do is the find the comments and see what everyone else thought and is talking about, which really is the reason I like hacker news because the comments are usually high quality from intelligent people.
Here’s another article talking about long term effects of COVID. It looks like it’s possible that the immunity to seasonal coronaviruses is short lived, and people get reinfected. It’s not sounding too promising if it same happens in COVID-19.
A lot of families are enjoying the lock down in Melbourne and getting to spend more time with families, including kids of various ages. However everyone’s mileage might vary, if there were relationship issues before COVID or some people who had autistic children, then lock down has only magnified those situations.
Erin Sullivan, a travel photographer, had too much time on her hands. Check out the great photos she’s created using normal house hold items.
Umm who calls him Waldo? He’s called Wally in Australia, and Charlie in France.
This one reminded me of Karate Kid.
Going with the movie theme, the below is a great mask!
Markets and Economics
Here’s a nice short 1 min explanation of Hyperinflation.
So many people unable to get back to paying their loans makes me concerned, and definitely one thing to keep an eye on in the coming months.
The usual update from Raoul Pal on where we are at is always interesting.
The foreign interference pushing Australia to war with China was extremely interesting as they go through all these people who have influence behind the scenes.
First 7 mins of setting the stage of where we are at. No need to watch after that unless you are interested in the ETH vs BTC debate.
Seems there’s something structurally wrong at the RBA. On the topic of monetary policy I found this discussion interesting. It will give you an idea on how a bitcoiner is seeing the world.
This is long but will make for an interesting read – the Bullish Cash For Bitcoin.
BTC is still hovering around 10,600 USD.
Other Stuff
How to prevent hay fever? Vaseline your nostrils…. Ewww
Best Takeaway in Victoria appears to be Zafeera’s Fine Malaysian Indian Cuisine in Carlton North. If someone validates, can they let me know!
Don’t drink coffee without 1 hour of your breakfast. Also 12 items to make great coffee at home. I’ve been thinking of a moka pot, one of the best coffee I’ve ever had was made in a moka pot, but then I would need a grinder and beans.
Some life changing purchase I’ve made last week was
- A switch to allow me to share my keyboard and mouse between my desktop and laptop with a press of a button. I’ve tapped the switch to the bottom of my desk so that it doesn’t clutter the top of my desk.
- A switch to share my monitor between my laptop and desktop. My monitor and laptop dock take display port cables so this works out great for me. Please check before you purchase one of these to make sure you getting the right inputs and outputs that you need for your own setup.
- A breathable face mask for walking outside so it doesn’t feel like I’m getting a mouth full of cloth every time I breath.
I’m listening to Wolf Totem by The Hu. It’s Mongolian, and features the very bizarre throat singing (I have no idea how he makes those sounds), and the Mongolian horse head fiddle. Have a great week all.
