Daily Archives: June 15, 2022

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MicroStrategys CEO, Michael Saylor, has pointed out that anyone who has held Bitcoin for four years has never lost money.

Mr. Saylor shared his Bitcoin insights during an interview on CNBCs Squawk Street, where he also pointed out that a good indicator of Bitcoins value is its four-year simple moving average around the $21.6k price level.

He said:

Yeah, I think if you think about Bitcoin if your time horizon is one month, it looks like a volatile risk asset. But if your time horizon is 10 years, it looks like a risk-off store of value asset.

So the crossover point is four years. Nobodys ever lost money investing in Bitcoin for four years and if you want to surrogate for the book value of the Bitcoin network. It would be the four-year simple moving average. The simple moving average of Bitcoin over four years is about $21,685.

With respect to the ongoing concern that MicroStrategys Bitcoin is underwater with an average entry of $30,700, Mr. Saylor explained that the company had backtested its BTC strategy against every other alternative beginning August 10th, 2020. This includes gold and the Nasdaq.

According to Mr. Saylor, Bitcoin has performed better than anything else by a factor of ten. He stated that gold is down ten percent, the Nasdaq is flat, and Bitcoin has been up 86% since August 2020.

Furthermore, when asked whether now was a good time to buy Bitcoin, Mr. Saylor said that current prices could provide a good entry point. He explained:

Absolutely. Bitcoins backed by the most powerful secure computer network in the world. If I gave you a hundred billion dollars, you cant reproduce it, and its beyond a nation-state attack or corporate attack.

So once you understand that and the fact that its a singularity theres nothing like it in the worldthen yeah. This is in fact an ideal entry point to get into this thing all right.

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MicroStrategy CEO: No One Has Ever Lost Money Investing in Bitcoin for Four Years - Ethereum World News

Posted on Jun 12, 2022 in Alien Life, Artificial Intelligence, Climate Change, Extraterrestrial Life, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), NASA, Origin of Life, Planet Earth, Plate Tectonics, quantum physics, Science, Technology

Todays stories range from Could the Blueprint for Life Have Been Generated in Asteroids to Do AI Systems Really Have Their Own Secret Language to How Plate Tectonics, Mountains, and Deep-Sea Sediments Have Maintained Earths Goldilocks Climate, and much more.

Could the Blueprint for Life Have Been Generated in Asteroids? asks NASA. While it is unlikely that DNA could be formed in a meteorite, this discovery demonstrates that these genetic parts are available for delivery and could have contributed to the development of the instructional molecules on early Earth. The discovery, by an international team with NASA researchers, gives more evidence that chemical reactions in asteroids can make some of lifes ingredients, which could have been delivered to ancient Earth by meteorite impacts or perhaps the infall of dust.

Do AI Systems Really Have Their Own Secret Language? asks Singularity Hub. AI language models dont read text the way you and I do. Instead, they break input text up into tokens before processing it.

James Webb Space Telescope Set to Study Two Strange Super-Earths Space agency officials promise to deliver geology results from worlds dozens of light-years away, reports Elizabeth Howell, at Space.com

Is life the result of the laws of entropy? Nearly 80 years ago, Erwin Schrdinger used the physics of the day to try to understand the origins of life. Now, Stephon Alexander and Salvador Almagro-Moreno try to do the same with modern science, reports New Scientist.

NASA is putting together a research team to study UFOs. Still not saying its aliens, though, reports The Verge. The study team, to be led by astrophysicist David Spergel under NASAs Science Mission Directorate, will attempt to identify what data is out there on UAPs and figure out how to best capture data on UAPs in the future. NASA noted that the limitations in sightings make it hard to come to logical conclusions about where UAPs come from.

Why havent plastic-eating bacteria fixed the ocean plastic pollution problem? Scientists have discovered enzymes from several plastic-eating bacteria. So, why are our oceans still full of plastic pollution? asks Big THink.

Could we live without plastic? How our lives would change if we lost access to plastic, reports BBC Future. Of the 8,300 million tons of virgin plastic produced up to the end of 2015, 6,300 million tons has been discarded. In fact, plastic waste is now so widespread that researchers have suggested it could be used as a geological indicator of the Anthropocene.

How the universe got its magnetic field Where did the seed magnetic field come from in the first place? asks Big Think. Professor Ellen Zweibel of the University of Wisconsin at Madison notes that despite decades of remarkable progress in cosmology, the origin of magnetic fields in the universe remains unknown. It is wonderful to see state-of-the-art plasma physics theory and numerical simulation brought to bear on this fundamental problem.

Can gravity batteries solve our energy storage problems? asks BBC Future. Could a cutting-edge technology that harnesses one of the universes fundamental forces help solve our energy storage challenge?

What Is It About the Human Brain That Makes Us Smarter Than Other Animals? asks Singularity Hub. Our understanding of brain function has changed over the years. But current theoretical models describe the brain as a distributed information-processing system. This means it has distinct components that are tightly networked through the brains wiring. To interact with each other, regions exchange information though a system of input and output signal.

How Plate Tectonics, Mountains, and Deep-Sea Sediments Have Maintained Earths Goldilocks Climate, reports Singularity Hub. New research published in Nature shows how tectonic plates, volcanoes, eroding mountains, and seabed sediment have controlled Earths climate in the geological past. Harnessing these processes may play a part in maintaining the Goldilocks climate our planet has enjoyed.

Pandemic, war, and climate change have brought matters to a head. The world faces what the United Nations secretary general, Antnio Guterres, this week called an unprecedented wave of hunger and destitution.

Scientists Have Established a Key Biological Difference Between Psychopaths and Normal People, reports SciTechDaily. The research found that the striatum region of the brain was on average ten percent larger in psychopathic individuals compared to a control group of individuals that had low or no psychopathic traits.

Geology from 50 Light-Years: Webb Gets Ready to Study Rocky Worlds, reports NASA. Among the investigations planned for the first year are studies of two hot exoplanets classified as super-Earths for their size and rocky composition: the lava-covered 55 Cancri e and the airless LHS 3844 b. Researchers will train Webbs high-precision spectrographs on these planets with a view to understanding the geologic diversity of planets across the galaxy, and the evolution of rocky planets like Earth.

Can humanity leave nature behind? asks BBC Future. In the face of environmental collapse, humanity may need to turn to artificial replacements for nature how might we avoid the most dystopian of these futures? Researcher Lauren Holt makes the case for a broader form of offsetting to help balance technology with natural systems.

Notes on E.T., now that we are both in our 40s. In a never-ending homage economy, the lack of a sequel doesnt necessarily mean a story can be at rest, reports Salon.com.

Galapagos tortoise thought extinct for 100 years has been found alive A single female of the Fernandina Island tortoise species that was thought to be extinct for a century has been found in the Galapagos Islands, reports New Scientist.

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NASA Zooms in on UFOs to Is Life the Result of Entropy? (Planet Earth Report) - The Daily Galaxy --Great Discoveries Channel

The earth shook for some

If you noticed your lampshades do a little jiggle-jiggle (not hold) this morning at around 10am, theres a good reason for it. An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3, rippled across the Arabian Gulf from its epicentre 22km off the coast of Kish, an island of Iran.

Theres no reason for concern of course, 5.3is a mere tremor on the Richter scale (the scale that measures the intensity of seismic waves). At that sort of strength, and at the UAEs distance from the centre of the earthquake, its barely doily displacing energy, in fact the shaking will be imperceptible to many. Generally, seismologists only tend to worry about quakes with a magnitude of six and over, thats the stage where within the immediate vicinity, damage to infrastructure and buildings can potentially occur.

We know those geography lessons on fault lines and tectonic plates are still fresh in your mind and ready for pub quiz application, so we wont bore you with the basics. But Iran is a convergence point for several major plates theIranian Plate makes contact with the Indian Plate, the Eurasian Plate,and the Arabian Plate, giving rise to a patchwork network of fault lines and significant tectonic activity.

This means that earthquakes (and to some extent, volcanic eruptions) are relatively common in Iran, and whilst most of the time theyre relatively minor there have been some monsters in the past. In fact its estimated that there have been around 126,000 fatalities from earthquakes in Iran since 1900.

And we only have to look back to 2017, Kermanshah to see the sorts of devastation that can be reaped from a quake. The death toll from the 7.3 magnitude event stood at 630. And still, well within recent living memory, after surveying the aftermath of 2003s infamous Bam earthquake in the Kerman province of south east Iran, authorities recorded a final figure of at least 30,000 dead.

Nope, look were not here to tell you how to prioritise your own hierarchy of anxieties thats for your own subconsciousness to decide. But if we were you wed be much more concerned about comet impact, pathogens, nuclear war, and the AI singularity.

The UAE is considered only a moderate risk country theres only an estimated 10 per cent chance of a potentially damaging earthquake in the next 50 years and because almost all buildngs are hyper-modern, they were constructed with high-tech quake-proofing built into the design.

Images: USGS/Unsplash

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Did you feel the earthquake in the UAE? - What's On Dubai

Just under a year ago, a think tank called Autonomy released a report on what was at the time the worlds biggest four-day work week trial. It took place in Iceland and involved more than one percent of the countrys total working population with over 2,500 participants. They reported decreases in stress, increases in energy levels, improved focus, more independence and control over their pace of work, and less conflict between their work and home lives. Managers reported boosts in employee morale, with productivity levels maintained if not improved.

Now a similar but even bigger trial is kicking off in the UK. With over 3,300 employees from 70 different companies taking part, its the most expansive such pilot to take place anywhere in the world so far. All types of companies are involved, from large corporations to small neighborhood pubs.

Participants will get 100 percent of their pay while working 80 percent of their typical schedule and aiming to maintain 100 percent productivity. The trial is being run by 4 Day Week Global, a nonprofit coalition of business leaders, community strategists, designers, and advocacy thought leaders invested in the transition to reduced working hours. In a somewhat creepy video the organization posted recently on Twitter, they point out that the week and the weekend are concepts we created, and they dont have to keep looking the same way they always have.

Autonomy think tank is also involved, as are researchers from Cambridge University, Oxford University, and Boston College will work with the companies participating to measure the impact the experiment has on employee productivity and well-being. Well be analyzing how employees respond to having an extra day off, in terms of stress and burnout, job and life satisfaction, health, sleep, energy use, travel, and many other aspects of life, said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College and the lead researcher on the pilot.

Covid-19 turned many of our pre-existing work norms on their head. After learning they could be equally as productive at home as they were at the office, if not more so, millions of workers are now adopting hybrid work schedules. This likely would have happened eventually, but the proliferation of remote work wouldve taken many more years if not for the pandemic.

As we emerge from the pandemic, more and more companies are recognizing that the new frontier for competition is quality of life, and that reduced-hour, output-focused working is the vehicle to give them a competitive edge, said Joe OConnor, 4 Day Week Globals CEO.

Similarly, the increase in four-day work week experiments going on all over the world is at least partly attributable to the new ways of working the pandemic imposed on us, and the reconsideration of work-life balance they prompted. Besides Iceland, Spain, Scotland, Japan, and New Zealand have all looked into or trialed a reduced work week.

If were being honest, few to none of us work for eight hours straight on any given day, much less five days a week (though there are, of course, people who work much more than this). We wander around the office (or more recently, our homes), watch videos or search for things we want to buy online, or just stare mindlessly into space for a while.

We tend to adapt the work we have to the amount of time we have to do it; ever notice how, when you have just one simple task to complete, it somehow ends up taking hours, if not the entire day? Yet when you have a long to-do list and no time to waste, youre able to get it all done in the same eight-hour window, going into a sort of hyper-productivity mode.

With the same amount of work to do but less time to do it in, most people will simply find ways to waste less time. So why not kick that hyper-productivity mode into action four days a week, then take the fifth day off?

After the success of its four-day week pilot, organizations in Iceland have made some big adjustments: 86 percent of the countrys working population has now either moved to a shorter work week, or been given the option to negotiate one.

Its worth noting, though, that broadly implementing a four-day week will be more complicated in countries with bigger populations or more pronounced income inequality than Iceland has. The countrys total population is around 343,000, and its one of the most equitable societies in the world. The UK, meanwhile, has almost 68.5 million people, and while inequality isnt as bad as in the US, its far outranked by Iceland.

The UK pilot started this week and will run for six months.

Image Credit: chafleks / 47 images

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The World's Biggest 4-Day Work Week Pilot Just Launched in the UK - Singularity Hub

When I was young and watching television, a film, or even the evening news, I always got excited when I saw a Greek last name credited. I would watch the end credits of a film for a few minutes to see if any of the cast or crew had an oulos, iou, or any of the giveaway Greek surnames. It was a search to see whether anyone from my culture had created the media I valued.

My Big Fat Greek Wedding has become a hallmark for Greek representation, but it seems thats the most representation our culture receives. While the film is legendary, its singularity raises the issue of the overwhelming lack of media representation of modern Greek culture. Growing up, I enjoyed Everybody Loves Raymond because it centered around Italian culture, and that was close enough to Greek culture, so it sufficed. But the nagging thought why cant we have our own show and accurate representation? was ever-present in my mind.

I recently discovered that Tina Fey is of Greek descent. However, she doesnt seem to use her position as screenwriter and producer of countless popular media to include Greek representation. I dont remember seeing a Maria Konstandiou in Mean Girls. Thats not to say that its imperative for all media to include Greek characters, however if even Greek creatives are not featuring our culture on screen, then where will our representation come from?

Now, there are several instances where media has accurately articulated the Greek experience. Brides/ (2004), directed by Pantelis Voulgaris, follows a mail order bride and an American photographer travelling to America in 1922. It sheds light on the circumstances that constricted many Greek women when migrating. Australian director and screenwriter Ana Kokkinos created Head On, a 1998 film adapted from Christos Tsiolkas novel Loaded. The film tracks Ari, a second-generation Greek Australian whose rejection of his Greek identity leads him to float through life exploring his sexuality and experimenting with drugs. I was introduced to this film during an Australian Film and Television subject at The University of Melbourne. I appreciated its inclusion in the subject and the films attention to the identity struggle that plagues many second-generation Greeks; not belonging enough to their Greek culture but also being too far removed to assimilate to Australian culture. While not modern, these representations are still invaluable as they provide young Greeks with the chance to see their culture and history validated on screen.

Modern representations of Greek culture, particularly Greek-Australian culture, are lacking. Several social media comedians have used their platform to poke fun at our culture. This form of media representation is positive in its ability to reach a wide audience. However, the Greek experience should also be fleshed out in longer film and television narratives which would be beneficial to young Greek Australians. So, if youre a budding filmmaker reading this, think about how you can include Greek culture in your work. Itll make all the difference to that young person viewing your media and seeing themselves reflected on screen.

Christina is in her final year of a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Screen Studies and English/Theatre Studies. She is currently on the general committee for MUnGA (Melbourne University Greek Association). Christina has created and edited several editions of the clubs magazine, a new addition to MUnGA this year.

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Greek representation in media: Where are the pites and yiayiades? - Neos Kosmos

When I first encountered the late writer Jim Harrison, I was not a happy man.

It was 30 years ago. I had come north to this resort community along Grand Traverse Bay to run a marathon, only to find that the intern with whom Id talked at the local chamber of commerce had given me the wrong date.

After stewing for a bit, I went for a long solo run along the water, then found my way to a bookstore.

A local weekly newspaper I picked up there featured an interview with Harrison, who lived then in this part of Michigan. I hadnt read him at that time. I knew he sometimes was labeled a kind of latter-day Hemingway because he often wrote about Michigan, hunting and fishing. I learned that it was a comparison he resisted, even resented.

I was at loose ends in those days, not feeling particularly centered in either my personal or professional lives. I wasnt sure of what I wanted or what I was supposed to do.

As I read the interview with Harrison, I was struck by his voice, authentic, honest and questing. He saw this world as a place to be experienced, to be savored, to be endured, to learn from.

Well into the interview, he delivered a short sentence that became a kind of credo for me. When I got back home, I scratched it out on an index card and taped it to the desk where I wrote.

It stayed there for years.

You cant away your life with nonsense, he said.

True then.

True now.

True always.

After I finished the interview, I headed back to the bookstore and picked up a couple of Harrisons books.

That night, I sat in a rather tired hotel room and read Jim Harrison for the first time.

His voice as a writer was raucous, relaxed, sometimes ribald, often revelatory. Although he was capable of reflection, his writers eye most often drifted outward to take note of the world and the singularity of each moment. He found great beauty in existences essential evanescence.

As I learned more about him, I discovered that he had been first and perhaps foremost a poet, which made sense. Few writers Ive read have taken more joy no, more deep satisfaction in the limber elasticities of language well used.

When I got back home, I began to acquire and work my way through a personal library of Harrisons works. Each time I read him the larger and the lesser Harrison works I found myself reminded that there are few things more powerful than truth captured and conveyed in words.

Harrison died a little more than six years ago. I never met him. Thats a regret.

I almost did, though, twice.

Once, when my wife and I took our then infant daughter to Key West a haunt of Harrisons I stopped at another bookstore. As I was leaving, a shortish, stout older man about to enter the store opened the door for me. He looked vaguely familiar.

Only when I was in my car did I realize that it had been Harrison.

A few months later, when my wife, my daughter and I were here in Traverse City, I saw Harrison leaving a bookstore while I was searching for a parking place.

If he keeps stalking me like this, I may have to take out a restraining order, I joked to my wife.

It was a jest I think I hope Harrison would have appreciated, even laughed at.

Now, Im back in Traverse City for the first time in more than 15 years, this time as an old man, one more content with his life than the young man who tried to run through all his frustrations, a human being more attuned, one hopes, to the beauty of evanescence.

A guy still striving not to away his life with nonsense.

Im rereading Harrison while Im up here, for pleasure and because he reminds me of the power of an active mind and great writing.

He does not disappoint.

Moving water is forever in the present tense, I read as the surface of the bay nearby shifts and shimmers, a condition we rather achingly avoid.

Amen, brother.

Amen.

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A writer forever in the present tense - Lebanon Reporter