Notices by atomicpoet (atomicpoet@atomicpoet.org), page 4

@goatsarah I got a DM from a certain mod who agreed that everything I said about Imane Khelif (she’s not transgender) is factual and correct, but I was nevertheless “trolling”, and he warned me to “knock it off”.

The sheer nerve!

Just a reminder to Fediverse admins and moderators: I am not on your server.

My posts appear on your server from my server.

I might not even know your server exists.

It is therefore bad practice to privately message me because you disagree with something I say, are “warning” me about it, and want to appeal to your authority as an admin/moderator.

You might have authority on your server but you have zero authority on mine.

@HistoPol Things change quickly in a year. There was doubt that the Fed would be able to maintain interest rates like this for so long. People thought that Jerome Powell would fold under political pressure.

But what’s happened over the course of the past year is that the U.S. dollar has pretty much made everyone their daddy – even as inflation proved stubborn.

Jerome Powell wanted capitulation. And it looks like he’s getting it.

Warren Buffet owns more U.S. Treasury bills than the Federal Reserve.

Remember what I was saying about the bond market yesterday?

When Warren Buffett starts buying them up, well, the bond market has become even more important.

And when he owns more than the Federal Reserve, pay very close attention!

https://qz.com/warren-buffett-berkshire-hathaway-treasury-bills-fed-1851613106

More and more, I find myself using obsolete technology. Examples:

• Panasonic electronic typewriter
• Polaroid camera
• Fountain pen
• Sony Walkman
• CRT TV

No question, part of it is due to nostalgia.

But another part of it is that I find myself needing to declutter my brain, so things without distraction, without being pinged constantly.

Using something with a singular purpose is liberating.

Berkshire Hathaway recently sold a big boatload of shares in Apple.

A lot of people are asking “Why?”

This is just speculation, but I suspect it might have something to do with Japanese interest rates going into positive territory.

But again, this is just speculation.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/01/investing/munger-interview-buffett-japan-investment-intl-hnk/index.html

Tesla has lost 20.61% of its value over the past month.

Amazon has lost 19.48% of its value.

Nvidia has lost 22.11% of its value.

Intel has lost 40.17% of its value.

All told, it’s been a terrible month for Big Tech.

@john I’m loath to declare a bubble yet. But one thing is certain: investors are running out of patience with the capital required to build out A.I.

Markets are up but I’m 90% sure it’s a dead cat bounce.

You see, on Thursday, we’re going to get more data on jobless claims. And it’s likely to confirm previous unemployment data.

@gearhead There’s extreme fear on the stock market right now, and what’s driving that fear is that the Fed is too slow in lowering interest rates to counter rising unemployment.

So anything that bolsters the notion that unemployment is rising will drive up fear.

This is ^VIX, which measures market volatility.

An optimist would say that volatility has peaked.

A pessimist would say that today’s relative calm is just the eye in the storm.

@bennomatic @HistoPol From what I can tell, Warren Buffet made that trade a few months ago. This had just become public knowledge recently.

Either way, Warren Buffet has the good sense to get out when he smells greed – and he did just that.

@HistoPol But it is annoying when I say “Soros” and some well-meaning leftist says I’m using a dog whistle.

“Soros” isn’t a term. He’s a person. Specifically, he’s a billionaire who’s made his billions through investments.

That shouldn’t be taboo to talk about.

@joeo10 This will drag out in court for years, but the net effect is that this will hurt Google’s business, and will not allow them to engage in the same tactics that enabled them to maintain their search monopoly.

Even if Google is never broken up, this will have long term effects on their business. Just ask Microsoft.

GOOGLE WAS JUST RULED A MONOPOLY!

This wild day just got wilder! 😲

Here’s what the judge wrote:

After having carefully considered and weighed the witness testimony and evidence, the court reaches the following conclusion: Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly. It has violated Section 2 of the Sherman Act.

This ruling won’t just affect Google but also Apple, Amazon, Meta, and every other Big Tech company that the DOJ is going after!

Let me be blunt. After decades of not doing anything about tech monopolies, the U.S. government just showed it is not playing games!

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-loses-antitrust-trial-in-major-blow-to-tech-giant-191745614.html

Am I spreading an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory by saying that George Soros can bet against central banking systems and win?

No, what I’m saying is factual and true.

George Soros is famous for “breaking the Bank of England”. It happened on September 16, 1992. Numerous documentaries have been made about that event.

Talking about Soros and things that he actually has done does not make someone an anti-Semite. It makes them cognizant of how Soros has made his money.

By the way, I am Jewish. I also have no bone to pick against Soros. He doesn’t make me angry.

And I certainly don’t think that talking about Soros’ investing career makes me a self-hating Jew.

https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/george-soros-bank-of-england.asp

More insight into why yesterday’s 12.4% Japanese stock market decline affects the American stock market today.

Until recently, Japan was the last bastion of negative interest rates. Even this year, the Bank of Japan set interest rates at -0.10%. Then last week, the Bank of Japan increased the rates to 0.25%.

They were forced to do this because, just two months ago, the exchange rate was ¥163 to USD$1.00. Because of stagnant wage growth during the past 25 years, this was especially brutal for Japanese people.

At the same time, due to low interest rates, traders were borrowing from yen, converting them to USD to buy US stocks.

Well, increased Japanese interest rates means the yen has strengthened in comparison to USD.

Now everyone who has borrowed yen must not only contend with higher interest rates, they must contend with huge foreign exchange losses as well.

This is causing everyone who has borrowed yen to trade US stocks to exit their investments because they’re now facing margin calls.

In turn, this puts selling pressure on U.S. stocks which also exacerbates “extreme fear” stock market sentiment.

NASDAQ Composite is at -3.41% today so far.

Woke up early just monitor how the market is going because I knew, based on what happened in Japan, this would be an absolutely brutal day.

The good news is that – so far – things aren’t as bad as Japan. The Nikkei 225 fell 12.4%. But hey, things can get worse here.

Also, my prediction that people would move to bonds has proven true. 20+ year treasury bonds have just seen a big uptick in demand. Right this moment, $TLT sees a jump of 1.12% today.

People have been asking me to review Celeste for a long time, and I’ve resisted it.

The reason is that I’ve been playing the original Celeste (a.k.a., Celeste Classic) on the PICO-8 for a long time. I love that game. And for a weird reason, I thought that playing the newer version would ruin my love for the original.

I was wrong.

The newer version of Celeste makes me appreciate the original even more and gives me an appreciation for everything the dev accomplished.

Many people call Celeste the transgender version of Super Meat Boy. I don’t think that description gives it justice. In my view, Celeste is more like the transgender version of Old Man and the Sea.

It’s no secret that the solo dev of Celeste, Maddy Thorson, is a transgender woman. And it’s likely that the protagonist, Maddy, is an avatar for herself. In this game, Maddy must climb Celeste Mountain – an obstacle fraught with challenges. And you really feel this at each screen where just getting through is an incredible accomplishment.

I know nothing about the daily experience of transgender women, but being transgender must be like climbing a mountain. You live a life where everyone has a certain expectation of you. Just transitioning must have its obstacles.

Now the reason I compare Celeste to Old Man and the Sea – and not Super Meat Boy – is because as I play Celeste, I gain more and more appreciation for the mountain. I don’t feel adversarial against it. I feel respect.

Yes, the mountain can kill me. I can easily give up. But at each stage of the mountain is something meticulous and ready for me to discover its fine nuances.

But climbing that mountain gives you aspirations. It gives you hope. At each stage, you remind yourself that you’ve made it further and further – where others have no tread.

The graphics are whimsical. I prefer the classic Celeste graphics with all their limitations, but the look and feel of this remake are a hat tip to the original. Pixel art can be great with good art direction.

I love the soundtrack too. It never wears out its welcome. It’s almost cheering me on.

Maddy Makes Games developed Celeste. I’ve already spoken somewhat about her background. That said, she also made the best game for the Ouya, and that was Towerfall. There’s a version of it on Windows called Towerfall Ascension, and it’s worth playing.

Obviously, I recommend Celeste. It is one of the best platformers of all time.

On Steam, it sells for C$25.99. At that price it’s well worth it.

But if you’re not sure you want to make the investment, I also recommend Celeste Classic for the PICO-8. Not only is it the original game, it’s also free and can be played on any PC or handheld with a PICO-8 emulator.

Celeste, in any guise, is a true modern classic.

Intel just lost -26.3% of its value in a single day!

That’s its biggest loss in value in more than 40 years!

And though this looks dramatic, it has actually been a slow moving trainwreck.

Apple’s move to ARM chips was the canary in the coal mine.

Intel’s CPUs haven’t seen dramatic performance gains in 10 years. In terms of both value and performance, AMD has been crushing them.

And while AMD and Nvidia have been riding the GPU wave, Intel has been slow to enter the market. Where they should be showing value with the Arc line of GPUs, the actual product has been anemic.

It’s got so bad that Microsoft, who was once their duopoly partner in crime – remember the term “Wintel”? – has now turned to Qualcomm’s ARM chips to power their new line of laptops.

But it gets worse! Over the past few months, it’s been discovered on hardware enthusiast forums that Intel has been selling defective 13th and 15th generation chips that are creating permanent damage. Customers are so angry, they’ve filed a class action lawsuit.

This has all culminated in Intel announcing a layoff of 15% of their workforce and an entire reorganization of their company.

To say this company is in trouble is an understatement.