I’m also on Mastodon as https://hachyderm.io/@BoydStephenSmithJr .

  • 13 Posts
  • 42 Comments
Joined 9 months ago
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Cake day: October 2nd, 2023

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  • The DJIA (e.g.) isn’t “the house”. It isn’t something you are competing with in that your losses are its/their gain. You are misunderstanding both investing (in general and the stock market specifically) and gambling when you make that confusion/analogy.

    Not beating the market but having positive returns is only “losing” when infinite exponential growth is the goal. Beating the market but having negative returns is not “winning”.






  • IMO: When you do it for the entertainment/feeling/rush, it’s gambling. When you do it for the returns, it is investing. I also think the other poster that mentioned investing as being interested in the success of the endeavor, that would exclude shorting and I think might be a useful distinction.

    Casino games and sports betting all have lower expected value (probabilistic value) than their cost, so they are not something you can do for returns (you have better expected returns by not participating).

    There are plenty of people that are misinformed, dishonest, or stuck finding a bigger fool that will sell you a gamble by calling it an investment, and expected value is not guaranteed value.



  • Born 1980. I don’t have a traditional wallet, but I do carry a combination card holder (which has my ID) and money clip. I think some people are simplifying that to ID in pocket and all payment methods on phone (tap or app).

    Generations are mostly BS anyway. Carry a wallet or not according to your needs and preferences.












  • In the U.S., laws that disadvantage specific entities are generally considered to not be following the “equal protection” part of the (amended) constitution.

    Countries without (their own) laws prohibiting it can (and do) prohibit specific services.

    Member states of the WTO (like the U.S.) have agreed to allow themselves to be sued for lost profits based on any (new) laws they pass.

    But, I’m no expert – this is just the view from my (potentially misinformed) corner of the world.




  • I “upgraded” to a new Pixel last year because I thought the battery on my old 4A was getting wonky (and I have not had good luck with doing battery replacements). At the time, I did not know (enough) about the Fairphone, and I could not find a new Pixel with an audio jack (maybe I didn’t look hard enough?).

    I’d like to go back to having a jack. I do have one scenario where I want to use well-fitting BT buds, but I can do that on any phone. I want wired buds that I don’t have to charge, can switch between devices in 0.5 second, without interacting with any software, and don’t have misbehaving touch controls that trigger when I brush my long hair back behind my ear(s) or shoulder(s). In fact, I still have a set of completely dumb buds that I use for my work laptop that I’d love to be able to use with my phone – don’t need noise cancelling or controls of any kind. I really hope that I can find a phone with a jack next time I do an upgrade. I don’t care if it is thicker, I’m gonna stick on Otterbox (or similar) on it anyway.

    I was also concerned about security, but full-power BT is fairly secure now. No one can “drive-by” and monitor or replace the audio; they have to get you during “initial” pairing.