Castanza

Didn't Zerohedge just get banned from Twitter for spreading false info about this?

https://c-bandalliance.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Boeing-Ex-Parte-No18-122.pdf

The problem with that argument is the C band can be cleared up if legislation dictates it so. Sat companies do not own the rights to C band. Senators can do whatever they want. What are the odds Sat companies are well compensated for clearing the space? I don't no, but it is absolutely clear it could be well below any assumption of market value. Once again, the sat companies have no ownership and therefore there is no guarantee for fair compensation. Every penny may go to the treasury. The contract between the FCC and the companies who purchased the licenses can not be violated. There are terms for “non-interference” meaning the FCC has the right to dictate who can use the C, but they don’t have the right to circumvent contracts. That’s a pretty dangerous precedent to set. Think how many industries rely on licenses to operate.

Really sorry to hear that! Wish the best for you and your family

My sister and brother in-law flew through Beijing on their way back to Laos (Jan 18). Luckily they made it through the quarantine. They haven’t been tested yet (not available) but haven’t had any symptoms yet. They did say that public buildings and schools (at least in Vientiane) are beginning to close.

Wegmans (grocery store chain)

I've commented on Walmart's logistic network in other threads and it really is impressive at scale. They should really be figuring out ways to leverage that. But as a prime holder I personally feel some sense of "responsibility" to purchase from Amazon. Its quick and convenient and generally consistent. That is the "hook" which Walmart does not have. Amazon (much like apple) has a way of making their product and services feel in some ways "premium" compared to the competition. You see a similar dichotomy with Target and Walmart. All are great companies though and easily investable if the price is right.

I have never heard a millennial say. "Let me check Walmart.com." But I don't have enough fingers or toes to count the number of ties I hear "Let me check Amazon." in a weeks time. "Amazons Brand" so to speak is(has) becoming the "just Google it" of search. That is a very powerful thing. I'm by no means saying Walmart wont be competitive. I'm just saying they need to hurry up if they want to stay in the game.

Don't forget Kubernetes and VMware. Anecdotal, but at least at my company we have had much better support/customer service with Azure than with our AWS stuff.

31.2% Brokerage (much thanks to MSFT) 23.7% Roth

Is this going to become the new FNMA and FMCC thread? Looks like a really interesting situation. Thanks for bringing this to light! Edit: Was reading a bit more about this. Essentially the government is coming in and claiming "national security" to seize Intelsats assets at bargain basement prices (1-5B vs the estimated value of 40-80B). How would this not go to court? https://www.wsj.com/articles/intelsat-bonds-fall-on-fears-over-fcc-auction-plan-11580408121 "We’ve tried to establish for the record that the actual value of the spectrum is between $43 billion and $77 billion,” said Dianne VanBeber, vice president for investor relations at Intelsat. “We have a fiduciary duty to our stakeholders and can’t surrender the value of our rights for less than the market value.” "That's right. The uncertainty regarding the spectrum 'product' would result in a very low price achieved by the government. Further, how would capital markets underwrite investments in spectrum-related companies when their rights are uncertain?" Twitter - Dianne VanBeber https://www.fiercewireless.com/wireless/senators-introduce-c-band-legislation-to-prevent-windfall-for-satellite-companies

I can’t tell if this is directed at me or just some rant :P Personally, I couldn’t care less about office amenities. A sleep pod isn’t going to boost my work activity and neither is a free smoothie bar. I mean sure, if someone wants to pay for all that....by all means. It’s amazing the stuff people complain about in offices. I was just saying I prefer a quiet/private office style.

Cash looking to enter/add to position

Wrote Covered Put Feb 28 CMCSA $42 at 0.43 T $36 for 0.27 Wrote Covered Call Feb 28 CSCO $50 for 0.53

There was talk at our site to knockdown all walls and move to a cubical environment...I cited the below and the subsequent Harvard study to help put an end to it. But the truth is at our building everyone including myself work on "global teams" so collaboration (person to person) is quite rare to begin with. Personally I cannot focus unless I have absolute silence. Generally I sit with my Sony noise canceling earbuds (no music) and crank out my work. https://hbr.org/2019/11/the-truth-about-open-offices Harvard has quite a few studies showing the negative effects of Open Office designs. Everyone is different though. I think a good mix is the best solution. Somewhere I can go with team members to collaborate and then a place I can retreat to focus.

I still think about the day a friend and myself sold 200+ BTC when they were around $10 a piece.... Back in college a buddy recruited me into his half baked plan of turning our school library computer lab desktops into mining machines....Worked so well we decided to pull the plug thinking we were sure to get caught. We thought it hurt bad seeing it hit the 200's until it hit 20k....It's amazing how easy it was to mine coins not too long ago. Needless to say we ate a lot of beer and wings that semester... memories are priceless right? :P (at least that makes me feel better)

Plenty of photos here collected by abyli. Empty supply bins for masks, gloves and eye goggles. https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/r0MgCEtpYRocZECSPcpDXA I also have photos of dead bodies on the ground in the hospital for hours with no one taking care of. They are covered by white cloth so I can tell they are already dead. While at the same time, I have a photo of the Provincial Governor on TV saying that they have plenty of supply and there is nothing to worry about! Best of wishes to your relatives. My wife (who speaks some Chinese) also looked at some news and told me that it looks quite concerning and that I should look into 3M stock. APT is also a bit interesting

Lol what? How were they diagnosed BEFORE being hospitalized? Why not? They come to the hospital, wait for 5 hours while infecting all other patients waiting in line (and being infected as well). Then they met the doctor, who asked the nurse to do a series of lab testing for them. Then results show positive. And doctor says sorry we don't have any beds for you today. Go home and try to come here again tomorrow to see if we have any empty beds. Your story sounds like a whole load of BS. There is absolutely no way the hospital is letting an infected victim just go home. They’ll house them in tents if there aren’t any beds and keep them quarantined. Are you from China? Have relatives. If China is capable of completely shutting down 15 cities, enclosing off-boarding passengers suspected of being infected in boxes, and building a 1000-bed hospital in six days you think they’d test someone, find out they’ve been inflicted and just say “you should go home and come back another day when there’s space”? Have you seen the videos of the hospitals? They are overrun. They probably don’t have enough tests and telling people to go home and stay inside is a decent way to contain something. Basically house arrest. They’re full of people full of panic. Wuhan has 11 million people, just imagine what would happen once you quarantine the city and everyone’s scared shitless. Of course they’d rush to the hospital whether they have symptoms or not. I mean that’s basically my point. Who knows how many are infected. But if it spreads as easy as it sounds like. Then 11mil people heading to the hospital doesn’t make it see outrageous for the number to be much much higher. Time will tell though. No use jumping to conclusions.

Lol what? How were they diagnosed BEFORE being hospitalized? Why not? They come to the hospital, wait for 5 hours while infecting all other patients waiting in line (and being infected as well). Then they met the doctor, who asked the nurse to do a series of lab testing for them. Then results show positive. And doctor says sorry we don't have any beds for you today. Go home and try to come here again tomorrow to see if we have any empty beds. Your story sounds like a whole load of BS. There is absolutely no way the hospital is letting an infected victim just go home. They’ll house them in tents if there aren’t any beds and keep them quarantined. Are you from China? Have relatives. If China is capable of completely shutting down 15 cities, enclosing off-boarding passengers suspected of being infected in boxes, and building a 1000-bed hospital in six days you think they’d test someone, find out they’ve been inflicted and just say “you should go home and come back another day when there’s space”? Have you seen the videos of the hospitals? They are overrun. They probably don’t have enough tests and telling people to go home and stay inside is a decent way to contain something. Basically house arrest.

There was one video of the Wuhan hospital with bodies just lying around. Between Hong Kong and now this China has a lot of issues. All we need is for it to hit EU where nobody has any money.... Not going to lie....I didn’t think this would pan out into anything.

Lol what? How were they diagnosed BEFORE being hospitalized? Why not? They come to the hospital, wait for 5 hours while infecting all other patients waiting in line (and being infected as well). Then they met the doctor, who asked the nurse to do a series of lab testing for them. Then results show positive. And doctor says sorry we don't have any beds for you today. Go home and try to come here again tomorrow to see if we have any empty beds. Wow that’s crazy, hope they end up alright

Starter position PBCT

Absolutely agree. I’ll still most likely refrain from leverage. I avoid most types of debt in my life and choose to live with the loss of potential gains. I guess I mostly wanted to revive it to see what the mentality was alongside this ever increasing frothy market. Thanks You don't necessarily need debt to lever your position. The biggest leverage-fest that we've ever had on this board was probably the widespread purchase of bank LEAPs and Tarp Warrants. Lots of people on this board made lots of money from that opportunity. The LEAPS and warrants were objectively cheap, and it was nice to not be at risk of a margin call if the market temporarily moved the wrong direction. The second biggest leverage-fest on this board was when a smaller group made heavy purchases of FFH LEAPs back when they were objectively cheap. That one was one of my most expensive errors -- I bought the stock for less than US$100, which is all fine and dandy, but other guys harvested 40 and 60 bags off the the LEAPS. The third most significant leverage-fest was BRK options and LEAPs about 4 or 5 years ago. I think it was TWA's thread "The Mother of Easy Trades" that really identified how stupidly cheap BRK had gotten, and how even more stupidly cheap were the LEAPs. Once again, I was stupid and just added shares rather than lever the hell out of the situation... I need a painfully obvious opportunity before I use any meaningful amount of leverage (either debt or options). So far, my errors of omission have cost me a shit-load. SJ Wow that thread is full of interesting stuff. Thanks for the insights. I guess hindsight it always 2020 right?

Absolutely agree. I’ll still most likely refrain from leverage. I avoid most types of debt in my life and choose to live with the loss of potential gains. I guess I mostly wanted to revive it to see what the mentality was alongside this ever increasing frothy market. Thanks

Do you have general rules of thumb that you follow? Most people who I see use margin seem to limit their exposure to say 10% of their portfolio.