Castanza

I know this is about India and China but I figured it was better than starting a new thread. How long will the world stand by and watch this happen? - People blindfolded and loaded on buses (verified by western intelligence) - Forced sterilization of women including forced abortions - Suspected organ harvesting - 12 tons of human hair confiscated (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/01/china-muslim-labor-camps-uighur-hair-products) How would you go to war with a country that provides so much of your resources and products?

I'm jelly....tight lines

Pikesville Straight Rye

That's not really how we're supposed to do medicine and drugs. There's a reason why we bother with all those pesky drug trials and have prescriptions and stuff. These are not sugar pills. Drugs also have side effects and can be dangerous. I have yet to hear of a dream catcher side effect. That's why promoting wrong drugs is dangerous and irresponsible. People will seek those drugs. Doctors are supposed to be the gatekeepers but in many cases they just fold. That's how people were able to get huge amounts of oxy and kill themselves. Oh right and just cause the promotion comes from a buffoon doesn't make it any less harmless. After the disinfect yourself with bleach press conference there was a remarkable number of people that actually drank bleach. BLEACH! I must have missed the part of the conference where the lady doctor told everyone Covid was some alien sperm related thing. Did the other doctors who spoke subscribe to her strange views as well? There are plenty of quacks out there both known and unknown. I'd suspect if all of the quacks were known, there would be an awful shortage of "reliable" doctors, dentists, and scientists. Yea everything i've said just went woosh. Right back at ya :o Well it’s Thursday....time to head over to the booze thread ;D

That's not really how we're supposed to do medicine and drugs. There's a reason why we bother with all those pesky drug trials and have prescriptions and stuff. These are not sugar pills. Drugs also have side effects and can be dangerous. I have yet to hear of a dream catcher side effect. That's why promoting wrong drugs is dangerous and irresponsible. People will seek those drugs. Doctors are supposed to be the gatekeepers but in many cases they just fold. That's how people were able to get huge amounts of oxy and kill themselves. Oh right and just cause the promotion comes from a buffoon doesn't make it any less harmless. After the disinfect yourself with bleach press conference there was a remarkable number of people that actually drank bleach. BLEACH! I must have missed the part of the conference where the lady doctor told everyone Covid was some alien sperm related thing. Did the other doctors who spoke subscribe to her strange views as well? There are plenty of quacks out there both known and unknown. I'd suspect if all of the quacks were known, there would be an awful shortage of "reliable" doctors, dentists, and scientists.

LOL exactly....plus as soon as some vaccine comes out Liberty will be the first one on here with thousands of twitter links and derogatory comments about how people should be forced to take it and those who don't are science deniers and Trump supporters.

Wow that's quite the non-sequitur. It's not even wrong, it's just, nothing at all. Do you often just plug something you have on the mind into an unrelated discussion like that? Might want to have that checked out. Pretty sure everyone who's not bonkers doesn't think that demon sperm infecting you in your sleep is crazy and that this "doctor" doesn't sound very sane and qualified to give medical advice on critical drug research. "Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious." If you don't think it's INSANE for the president of the US to be simultaneously promoting this "doctor" while attacking Fauci, you probably have had too much love with demons in your dreams.. Well, if it's not effective, and can have dangerous side effects for some people, why would people take it? And claiming something is a cure for a disease for which there is currently no cure is EXTREMELY dangerous, as it'll modify people's behavior and perception of risk and more people will get sick and die and infect others than otherwise, causing more suffering and economic damage than would be the case if people were, y'know, more rational about it. Otherwise, why not go to the pharmacy and just pick stuff at random and take it and tell others to take it too, while at it? It's all FDA-approved, right? Is that the standard? I think both are equally bonkers....just pointing out the hypocrisy from certain camps. Your insertion of her "demon sperm opinion" has no relation to her opinion on HCQ just saying...What I said is not a non-sequitur, but discrediting her views on HCQ because of her other beliefs is.. Also, regardless of her views if she has been granted an MD license from the mighty AMA why wouldn't she be able to practice medicine or give her opinion? I'm not advocating for HCQ...I have no opinion on whether it works or not. Both may or may not be bonkers, but they have nothing to do with each other. That's what non-sequitur means. As for a license, I'm sure you know that there are bad doctors, lawyers, pilots, plumbers, etc. You judge people on their words and actions, not on pieces of papers, and he words are those of an insane person. How far along would science be if we disregarded opinions of those on certain subjects because they hold odd views in other unrelated areas? The answer is not very far.

Wow that's quite the non-sequitur. It's not even wrong, it's just, nothing at all. Do you often just plug something you have on the mind into an unrelated discussion like that? Might want to have that checked out. Pretty sure everyone who's not bonkers doesn't think that demon sperm infecting you in your sleep is crazy and that this "doctor" doesn't sound very sane and qualified to give medical advice on critical drug research. "Immanuel, a pediatrician and a religious minister, has a history of making bizarre claims about medical topics and other issues. She has often claimed that gynecological problems like cysts and endometriosis are in fact caused by people having sex in their dreams with demons and witches. She alleges alien DNA is currently used in medical treatments, and that scientists are cooking up a vaccine to prevent people from being religious." If you don't think it's INSANE for the president of the US to be simultaneously promoting this "doctor" while attacking Fauci, you probably have had too much love with demons in your dreams.. Well, if it's not effective, and can have dangerous side effects for some people, why would people take it? And claiming something is a cure for a disease for which there is currently no cure is EXTREMELY dangerous, as it'll modify people's behavior and perception of risk and more people will get sick and die and infect others than otherwise, causing more suffering and economic damage than would be the case if people were, y'know, more rational about it. Otherwise, why not go to the pharmacy and just pick stuff at random and take it and tell others to take it too, while at it? It's all FDA-approved, right? Is that the standard? I think both are equally bonkers....just pointing out the hypocrisy from certain camps. Your insertion of her "demon sperm opinion" has no relation to her opinion on HCQ just saying...What I said is not a non-sequitur, but discrediting her views on HCQ because of her other beliefs is.. Also, regardless of her views if she has been granted an MD license from the mighty AMA why wouldn't she be able to practice medicine or give her opinion? I'm not advocating for HCQ...I have no opinion on whether it works or not.

Trump pathologically can't admit mistakes, and early on he needed to peddle some miracle cure to reassure people, so he jumped on the early positive news about HCQ but pushed it way way way farther than the evidence supported, so here we are. He can't really reverse on it, and his followers take their cues from him, rather than from the science. Heck, the feds bought 60 million doses, so even more incentives to say it works... Personally, I'll trust Fauci over Trump and his 'demon sperm' doctor on this topic. Meanwhile in New Zealand: It's ironic...the same individuals bashing this "demon sperm doctor" for her views are the same ones who say men can be women and men can give birth and have periods... As far as HCQ goes (and I don't know much) is there any reason to prevent individuals from taking it? I don't understand the divisiveness outside of the politics. This whole thing reminds me of the essential oil and cbd oil crowds but at a national level.

What do you love about the tech? For a company with an R&D budget of their size (compared to Intel) it's impressive the lineup of chips and graphics cards they have put out the past few years. They have proven to be competitive with Intel both on price and performance. GPU Radeon 5700 series is currently the best bang for your buck from a gaming perspective (unless your budget is unlimited). Dr. Lisa T. Su is a great CEO and also recently joined the Cisco board (January). I think she does a good job evading bloat and keeping the pipeline focused on smart innovations. That's fair enough. Thanks. I have serious doubts though. My original post might be confusing (sorry). I didn't buy any AMD. I was just highlighting the crazy run it's had the past few days in light of Intel's demise.

What do you love about the tech? For a company with an R&D budget of their size (compared to Intel) it's impressive the lineup of chips and graphics cards they have put out the past few years. They have proven to be competitive with Intel both on price and performance. GPU Radeon 5700 series is currently the best bang for your buck from a gaming perspective (unless your budget is unlimited). Dr. Lisa T. Su is a great CEO and also recently joined the Cisco board (January). I think she does a good job evading bloat and keeping the pipeline focused on smart innovations.

INTC - will continue to add on the way down. AMD - :o Love the tech, hate the share price.

I also own GD and likely will buy one or more of LHX/NOC/LMT/RTX as well if the prices are right. I don't want all of my eggs in the Navy basket. The thing that's difficult about defense contractors is there is a lot of overlap between the companies. You never know who the new contract will get awarded to. I mean look how many companies have contributed to the A-10 Warthog over the years. I think Boeing was the most recent to work on it with the wing replacements. Then we have the current situation where the Army wants to replace the M4 and M249. This doesn't happen but once a generation. Small arms probably isn't as lucrative as new jets, weapons systems, or tanks but it's a solid recurring revenue stream that doesn't come around often. Then you see the top three contenders for this contract and you just shake your head (except one). General Dynamics(interesting), Textron(what?), and Sig Sauer(makes sense). Where is the Colt, FN, Beretta, etc? Point being, you never know with these companies. Personally I like RTX a lot. Maybe a bit simple, but I view them as the coke producer of the defense industry. Missiles are used by so many systems and aircrafts all across the globe. RTX happens to make a lot of them. They have also diversified a lot over the past decade which is never a bad thing. Still, I think the best approach to defense companies is to buy whoever looks cheap or possibly even an ETF approach if you're just looking for some exposure.

What am I missing? US testing seems to be in line with most other countries? https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/testing/international-comparison What am I missing? Deaths per million seem to be relatively inline with other countries (France, Spain and UK are worse) https://covid19.who.int/?gclid=Cj0KCQjw0rr4BRCtARIsAB0_48NQn4dKLIpwMMAMr76usaDJca2kxJ1lrZI0DKyT_HMUVIjKXRzMBdkaAr_3EALw_wcB

What if this administration worked as hard at trying to contain the virus (like how almost every other country has done) instead of trying to contain information and science and play propaganda games? Are there any numbers on beach goers for the past two months? Haven't been able to find any detailed numbers. Might be an unpopular opinion, but the protests certainly aren't helping. An estimated 26 million people have participated. Not advocating for Trump, but what exactly is he supposed to do when the majority of lock down orders and "mandates" come from the state level? I agree with you on the concerns of the suppression of information you listed above. This past month and a half has been quite the catch - 22

It is bullshit. Don't know if the tweet is deliberate misrepresentation or incompetence, but given its fox news reporter, it probably both. I would not recommend following twitter accounts of fox new reporters for accurate reporting. See the source here (linked in the fox new article) and specifically the table from page 25 onwards for testing by laboratory - http://ww11.doh.state.fl.us/comm/_partners/covid19_report_archive/state_reports_latest.pdf 1. The testing results by lab is sorted high to low by # of tests administered and columns show # inconclusive, # of negatives and # of positives as well. It is clear that > 90% of the data is reporting correctly all numbers - inconclusive, positive and negative numbers. 2. Not only that, this is a long tail where the first 50 or so labs (page 25) account for ~ 80% of the total test results and are correctly reported. Infact, the top lab 10 labs itself report ~ 2 million tests. 3. There are labs reporting 100% positivity (not reporting negatives - they start to show up on page 29) but they are conducting very few tests comparatively. 4. Lastly, a lot of labs have reported conducting a total of 3 tests or less (page 40 on-wards). That is a very low number of tests and it is actually quite likely that all of them turn out positive or all of them turn out negative. This is because sample size is small. In fact, many labs do report 0% positivity when # of tests are very few. Vast majority of data is solid and of-course there are labs that do not report accurately but their influence on the data is rounding error. Thankfully the FL state health dept is still competent and not yet overtly political. I don't follow it, just saw it as a re-tweet. Makes sense though, thanks for the deep dive. There has been a lot of fake stuff going around regarding testing results as Liberty pointed out above.

Most likely bullshit. But would be crazy if true.

Ever Grain Brewing: HELLYES Lager

Welcome to the new “free market”

BRK, USB, BAC

I like AFL a lot too. I owned it a long time ago & sold for a nice gain, then forgot about it until recently. A decade ago, they were getting nearly 80% of their pre-tax earnings from Japan. They made their bones selling supplemental cancer insurance policies in the only country to have 2 nukes dropped on it. For years, I was perplexed by the fact that they've bombarded the US with TV ads & didn't seem to be making inroads but the geographic revenue mix has started skewing towards the US market. I also like that their payouts are fixed & non-negotiable, unlike P & C & health insurers (correct me if I'm wrong here) & they do cover payouts for covid. Most premiums are made through payroll deduction so yeah, the threat to near term earnings is real. They could also experience problems with their investment portfolio in a serious deflationary environment. As per the March 2020 conference call: "we have identified approximately $1.4 billion of middle market loans, most exposed in the current environment and have stress tested $1.3 billion of transitional real estate. While this economic crisis is unprecedented and predicting the trajectory of the economy and recovery is difficult, we have taken a pretty bearish view in our credit stress test. For instance, we have assumed an extremely severe second quarter drop in economic activity of 30% to 50% with just a modest pickup through year-end; revenue declines of 30% to 80%, depending on the specific sector and company; losses on our most sensitive below investment-grade and middle-market loans of up to 20%; oil prices staying below $20 for most of the year as demand slowly recovers. Let me emphasize that the impacts to the global and U.S. economy are going to be highly volatile and very difficult to predict. We will continue to evaluate as more economic information becomes available, along with the impacts to the sectors and companies in our portfolio. Our loss analysis estimates approximately $680 million in pre-tax potential losses. This equates to approximately 100 basis points of potential losses on our total fixed maturity and loan portfolios, of which fixed maturity corporates are 72 basis points." --- Here's a very good report from 2012 that lays out every aspect of how they operate(d). https://www.aflac.com/us/en/docs/investors/fabbook2012_06222012.pdf Thanks for sharing your thoughts

AFL starter - seems cheap, divy looks solid, Q1 looked pretty good This sector does make me a bit nervous right now. Premiums collection could get hammered if unemployment remains high for a long time. Anyone else look at this lately?

AWS and Azure are not as “cheap and convenient” as people think. I’ve worked first hand with dozens of clients this last year who say they’re switching only to have them come back in a few weeks with their tail between their legs once they see the price and quality of service they get. AWS specifically nickel and dimes the hell out of customers. As a result I’ve seen a lot of clients in large companies instead build out their own IT and private cloud infrastructure in house! Now, I can’t say this is true for everyone. AWS and Azure are great products. But they have some work to do on their pricing and subsequent service offering.

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/banking-law/wells-fargo-is-readying-thousands-of-job-cuts-to-start-this-year

PNC