Mark Sands
@MkSands

Fair play to #Whufc They have worked harder than #Chelsea pretty much everywhere. Even a point for us would be daylight robbery at this rate. #whuche
9:13 AM · Dec 9, 2017 from Lambeth, London




Yeah, we devastated them with that late goal and they out-worked us, too. Hope it doesn't happen again to them.

Hammerheads holdin' on! Still 1-0 in 85'. They scored in the 6th. Goooo Hambones.

Morninghasbrokenlikethefirstmorning
blackbirdshacespokenlikethefirst...blackbirds

Hi

West Ham leads Swine Chelsea 1-0 at the half if any yinz care.

Hodlers Are People*

This is from an ArsTechnica article based on interviews with "Brent Goldfarb...a business professor at the University of Maryland, and William Deringer...a historian at MIT."

"Uncertainty of valuation is often a huge issue in bubbles," Deringer told Ars. Unlike a stock or bond, Bitcoin pays no interest or dividends, making it hard to figure out how much the currency ought to be worth. "It is hard to pinpoint exactly what the fundamentals of Bitcoin are," Deringer said.

[I'm tellin' ya, ya ain't gonna get nowheres analyzing Bitcoin with financial analogs like "fundamentals." Bitcoiners are culpable here, too. You cannot justify Bitcoin or its worth with the blockchain technology. Stop!]

Deringer also sees parallels between tulip mania and today's Bitcoin boom. In both cases, he told us, "the value of the thing was not just about a calculation of its economic return but also about the aesthetic value of its coolness."

[I'm tellin ya...]
...
Bitcoin owners don't get interest, dividends, or other benefits from holding bitcoins. It's like a technology stock that's going to be pre-revenue forever. And this makes it less obvious what kind of developments could cause investors to have second thoughts.

["The first person to reason by analogy was the devil," The Prophet Muhammad.]

Goldfarb compares bitcoins to assets with "artificial scarcity" like fine art. "It'll have value so long as people believe it has value," Goldfarb says.

[Okay! Professor Goldfarb has stumbled uncontrollably into the truth! It IS the people.]

We shouldn't take this line of argument too far, however. Bitcoins don't pay dividends, but their value can be pushed upward if a lot of people start using the Bitcoin network. The supply of bitcoins is permanently capped at 21 million. So if a lot of people want to make payments over the Bitcoin network, the value of bitcoins will need to rise (or at least stay at high levels) to accommodate that demand.

[I disagree with the Ars writer there but I don't know enough to say he is wrong. Imo, the price of Bitcoin has to fall if people are going to use it. Why? Because who's going to spend a $16,020 coin?]

The other, weirder possibility is that bitcoins could prove to be a digital version of gold. Gold's value defies conventional market analysis in much the same way bitcoin's value does. Gold doesn't pay a dividend and only about half of the world's gold supply is devoted to jewelry or industrial use.

[I disagree. Gold does not defy economics. Gold has had stable value for hundreds of years: it's "correct" price is about what it takes to buy a really good men's suit. Gold has had that valuation for so long because it is actually, like, used, in jewelry, in industry, Bitcoin Is. Not. Used. Period there. Therefore, Bitcoin has no "correct" price based on such "fundamentals" because Bitcoin is based on people.]

A lot of gold is held in vaults and under floorboards as a long-term store of value and a hedge against inflation and global turmoil—and this kind of speculative trading has a big impact on gold's price. If enough people continue believing that gold is a good investment, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy.

[That is true.]

Something similar could be happening with Bitcoin. Bitcoin now has a large subculture of "hodlers"—a deliberate, whimsical misspelling of "holders"—who make it a point of pride that they hold on to their bitcoins as a long-term investment regardless of short-term market fluctuations. The hodler ideology could be self-fulfilling in much the same way that goldbug ideology is: the more people who come to believe that bitcoins are a good long-term store of wealth, the more it will be a good long-term store of wealth.


*Update: Bitcoin is the new China here. I write something clever about it and the board lights up. This post got 18 readers in just over an hour. The gestalt shifting "I have a new idea" had 11 in about the same time but got drowned out by subsequent posts and is now at 20, still one of the most read posts in about the last 100.

Sports

They're giving City the title again. Some guy on ESPNFC writes that the next three matches will determine if the rest of the season has meaning. Well okay that would put us at 18 out of 38 matches. City lead United by eight points and ten goals going into Sunday's match at Buccaneer Stadium, the fifteenth of the season. I would say if City beat the "Bucs" Sunday that is it. Eleven points up on number two, albeit with 32 to play, that is too much. If United win however, that puts them five out with 32 to play. That ain't nuttin. A draw, eight back with 32 to play, that's doable for United. Why did that guy include the following two matches? We play Swansea, frigging dead. last., in Whales and then are home to Hottsie Tottsie, a disappointing sixth, and eighteen points behind us. The guy could just as compellingly have written, hey, City's next ten matches are really crucial. The key to the season is Sunday.

They're also saying City is going to go unbeaten in the league this year. Have been saying that. I just don't see it. In their last four matches, three in the league and one in the UCL, City have not been "a tremendous machine." 2-1, 2-1, 2-1, against two bottom feeders and mid-table Southie and 1-2 in Ukraine. Two come-from-behinds. I followed those four matches and there are some themes. All four opponents wanted it more, their intensity was greater, Huddersfield were particularly physical, Southampton played particularly good defense, the Hammerheads 'keeper. "Adrian" (sub for former Angel Joe Hart) played out of his mind, we get easily frustrated against physical good defenses, we continue to be bothered tremendously by set pieces, by speed, and we are subject to panic on defense, never our strong side.

So what is United? Mourinho "parks the bus," they are big and strong (although without Pogba not as big or as strong), David De Gea had jaws dropping against Arsenal, they have an excellent manager and their record so far is 11-2-2. That's a good team who have strengths in our weak areas. Finally, there is this:

Heavy snow 

Six to eight inches by game time Sunday. No, United are not going to have to selectively use a snow plow but the pitch is going to be slick at a minimum. Who would a slick surface more likely affect, the pass-happy, tiki-taki'ing, speedy little guys or the big physical brutes? Next question.

I think all three major college tackle football teams who were looking for a head coach found one this week. The #LolVols got Alabama defensive coordinator Jeremy Pruitt, Arkansas got SMU head coach Chad Morris and the University of Nike promoted from within today, naming Mario Cristobal their next coach. I especially like the Cristobal choice.

Mario Cristobal was head coach of Florida International in Miami for six years. He was only the second coach in school history. Came from the University of Miami. Born and raised in Miami. I have never seen a man so giddy at a job opportunity as he was when he was named head at FIU. I still remember the press conference. Cristobal's six year record at FIU was 27-47 but man, he was only their second coach ever, give the guy a break. He recruited well and was 7-6 and 8-5 in years four and five and took the "Golden Panthers" to bowls both years. He cratered in year six. Maybe because his early recruiting success had run its course?! FIU's athletic director, Asshole Pete Garcia, his Christian name, fired Cristobal after that 3-9 sixth season. It was a mistake. Garcia was roundly and severely criticized and Mario Cristobal was absolutely crushed. Poor guy. He went right back to school, though. Spent the next four years at Alabama as an assistant coach, was their top recruiter, and spent the last year at Oregon. I'm very happy for Mario Cristobal and I think Oregon has gotten a good coach.

Last Call

1 Bitcoin equals

16809.99 US Dollar

XMR/USDT

Last Price

247.00

One son who bought a little of both a year and a half ago: priceless.

"Argentine ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner charged with treason"-WaPo

#Alert_A.A.

http://thehill.com/homenews/media/363731-late-night-hosts-poke-fun-at-trump-after-slurred-speech

That is disturbing.That's not dry throat, the White House's explanation. That's not dentures, the comedians' explanation. If he had a tooth pulled and his jaw was still numb, that could be it, but he didn't. It is not mental illness, dementia, as some have suggested. It's impairment, like when you're drunk. I can't believe that lunatic took a belt before going on air to deliver the most consequential speech of his life but I don't know anything else but alcohol that causes that. That is disturbing.

Senator Al Franken Resigns

Sexual harassment.

"This is what democracy looks like"

Travis Weaver‏ @TravWeav

Bought 1,500 bitcoin in 2011 for $2.87 each. I will pick 5 random people who retweet this and give one to each of you. Merry Christmas. #Bitcoin

6:21 AM - 7 Dec 2017

• 36,620 Retweets
• 8,519 Likes

Telll me what democracy looks like...

Forbes
@Forbes

Bitcoin approaches $19,000, popular exchange Coinbase crashes under buying pressure.


...This is what democracy looks like.

1 Bitcoin equals

15366.22 US Dollar

Last Call

1 Bitcoin equals

14066.67 US Dollar

My son's going to be able to retire before he starts working.

City were already booked to the round of 16. Shakhar were not. City have a match Sunday against Manchester United. Shakhar have a match Sunday against Donetsk United or something. So.

From The Guardian:

Manchester City’s winning run ends as makeshift side fall to Shakhtar

[See, "makeshift"! We had to make do with shift.]

...Guardiola has chucked a couple of rookies into his starting lineup. Tosin Adarabioyo is a 20-year-old centreback who has been at City since the age of five; and Phil Foden is one of the 17-year-olds who scaled to the top of the world with England recently...The element of surprise is strong with this one ...

[17 YEARS OLD! Shakhtar is guilty of CHILD ABUSE!]

“I want to win the game. We have prepared seriously for that, with respect for the opponents and everybody.” [Pep]

[Oh, puh-LEEZE]

“Any idea why Pep has burdened several of his first XI with the long trip, even if they are probably going to remain on the bench ?” parps hristopher Jollife. “It seems a missed opportunity to rest about eight players but only De Bruyne (suspension) and Magic Dave (phantom injury certain to heal by Sunday) are given a complete rest.” He’s targeting invincibility, I fancy: he couldn’t bring himself to just throw this game.

It sounds like a splendid atmosphere in Kharkiv, where many Shakhtar fans are wearing Zoro masks after their manager declared that he would run around the town dressed as Zoro if Shakhtar
qualified.


7 min: A nimble move takes Shakhtar sweeping forward and into the box, where their speed sparks panic among City’s defence.

[Zoro is fast]

15 min: City are starting to dominate. But they still haven’t created a real chance...

20 min: Taison, whose hamstring seems to have healed, bursts through midfield, leaving Toure lumbering in his week.

[HAPPY BIRTHDAY YAYA!]

GOAL! Shakhtar 1-0 City (Bernard 26)

28 min: Taison romps through midfield again, leading a swift counter-attack. he fizzes the ball wide to Bernard, who rips into the left-hand side of the box again. Can he make it 2-0? He lashes a low shot .... straight at Ederson, who reacts smartly to keep it out.

[They "romp"; we "lumber."]

30 min: Shakhtar are going for the kill here and their fans are loving it! City, on the other hand, are reeling. They’re finding it difficult to cope with the home side’s speed and slickness, especially on the counter. Good game!

GOAL! Shakhtar 2-0 City (Ismaily 32)

39 min: Toure looked a tad sluggish earlier in the game but he’s up to speed now and starting to exert an encouraging influence for City.

43 min: Shakhtar one-two their way through City again before Taison dashes past Toure and curls a shot inches over from the edge of the box. There aren’t many teams who make this City side look clunky, but that’s what Shakhtar are doing: they’re tremendously slick.

[Yaya went from "a tad sluggish" to "up to speed" to being "dashed past" in four minutes. Slow down, Yaya.]

Half-time: Shakhtar 2-0 City

Thanks to two fine goals and a sizzling performance, Shakthar are on the verge of reaching the knockout stages and ruining this City’s invincible run. What’s Pep going to do about it? He has a strong bench - and he has the Manchester derby on Sunday.

46 min: No substitutions during the break. Let’s see if Guardiola has at least managed to stimulate an increase in his players’ intensity.

54 min: Taison runs at the City defence again. They’re properly frightened of him. But he shoots over from 20 yards.

[Taison "runs,' Yaya "lumbers."]

59 min: City are getting well on top now. Shakhtar remains dangerous on the counter...

60 min: There’s one of those counters! When they break at speed, City can’t keep up with them. Poor old Toure is being bypassed in midfield. 

City substitution: Diaz on, Sane off. Guess that’s more about Sunday than today.

65 min: Azevedo blazes down the left...

68 min: Shakhtar are coming on strong again and look the more likely scorers. So Guardiola has told Aguero to warm up...

74 min: Taison shimmies past Danilo...

77 min:...another fast counter-attack by Shakhtar.

90 min: Most of the crowd now appears to be wearing Zoro masks.

Penalty to City

[CHEATERS! ANYBODY can win if they CHEAT! We play an infirm, aged Ivorian with an oxygen mask to make the game competitive and STILL THEY CHEAT!]

Butko brings down Jesus, whose feet were too nimble for him.

[SEE! NIMBLE. The Arch Angel is "NIMBLE," you couldn't handle him could you? You had to "dash" and "blaze" by "Poor OLD" "clunky," "sluggish," "lumbering" Yaya. Happy birthday, Yaya. Cheaters. Pep if you ever play that mother-fucker in a meaningful I will be mad at you Very mad.

GOAL! Shakhtar 2-1 City (Aguero pen 90+2)

Perfectly executed by Aguero...

Full-time: Shakhar 2-1 City

City lose for the first time this season - and it was a deserved defeat, as Shakhtar were superb: they’ll be tough opponents for someone in the last 16; and City will be very different next time we see them, back to full strength.

And we lost. Shakhtar Donetsk beat City 2-1. Pert near shut us out! Didn't score until 90+2. 

God's Righteous (not cocky) Team of Angels in Blue kickoff right now in Ukraine against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League. 

Monero Price Chart US Dollar (XMR/USD)

Coin	Code	Price
Monero	XMR	$314.0411

Oh my fucking fucking fuck. My son bought me one for Christmas a year ago for $7.50.

1 Bitcoin equals

12825.00 US Dollar

Oh my fucking God.

Willie Taggart Leaves Oregon for Florida State

Midnight of American Sanity: Ray Anderson and Herm Edwards at Arizona State

TEMPE, Ariz. -- Arizona State University and Vice President of University Athletics Ray Anderson has [sic] unveiled plans for a restructured ASU football model and named former NFL head coach Herman Edwards as the 24th head coach of Sun Devil Football, pending approval by the Arizona Board of Regents. [Which are hopefully in the early afternoon of American sanity and will reject this hire.]

The department's New Leadership Model will be similar to an NFL approach using a general manager structure. It's a collaborative approach to managing the ASU football program that includes sport and administrative divisions, which will operate as distinct, but collective units focused on elevating all aspects of Sun Devil Football. This structure will allow the department to form a multi-layered method to the talent evaluation and recruiting processes, increase its emphasis on both student-athlete and coach development and retention, and provide a boost in resource allocation and generation.

"Our goal for this football program is to reach unprecedented heights, and therefore we need to find a way to operate more innovatively and efficiently than we have in the past," Anderson said. "In the spirit of innovation, our vision for this program is to have a head coach who serves as a CEO and is the central leader with a collaborative staff around him that will elevate the performance of players and coaches on the field, in the classroom and in our community. Equally important, the head coach will be a dynamic and tireless recruiter."

Edwards, who will oversee the first New Leadership Model, [Is Herm going to coach, like coach-coach] arrives in Tempe with a football legacy that has impacted thousands, whether as a player, coach, analyst, motivational speaker and author, or community advocate and philanthropist.
...
The New Leadership Model will allow for resource sharing and strategic planning between the football staff and administrators who are directly involved with the program. The administrative division will be primarily composed of Anderson, Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director Jean Boyd and Senior Associate Athletics Director Scottie Graham. The sport division will operate with an experienced and senior football administrator, Senior Associate Athletic Director Tim Cassidy, helping to manage day-to-day operations, along with a variety of staffers responsible for player development, player personnel, and recruiting, among other areas.  

Sun Devil Football's existing recruiting infrastructure will be upgraded through additional staff support and evaluation resources, by instilling a culture of accountability at all levels, and building long-term relationships in communities across the country to help ensure recruiting quality and consistency. Both the sport and administrative divisions will play key roles in student-athlete development.

The New Leadership Model affords coordinators and assistant coaches more flexibility in how they develop student-athletes on the field, and enables Sun Devil Football to build on the 'Championship Life' program already in place through the Office of Student-Athlete Development to better equip student-athletes with the tools and skills necessary to succeed in their respective future endeavors.
...
I feel confident that Arizona State will never live this down.

I have a new take on Bitcoin.

It's the people. Unhelpful! I acknowledge that is an unhelpful take. The truth is not always helpful.

It's the people who determine what Bitcoin is and it's the people who determine its value. Right now the people have determined that Bitcoin's value is $11,416. Momentarily they will determine its value differently, higher or lower. Some day they will determine that its value is zero. We all die sometime.

Bitcoin is democratic and decentralized. Nobody forces it on anybody, as governments do their national currencies. Bitcoin's demand comes from the people; its supply is determined by the people. Bitcoin is many things to many people but the crucial point is that Bitcoin is what they say it is. We make a completely understandable but fatal mistake when we ask Bitcoin existential questions: "What are you?" "What do you do?" and try to pigeon-hole it into categories, currency, store of value, collectible, that we are familiar with.

It is wrong-headed to say that Bitcoin's technology provides sufficient--or insufficient (as I did)--basis for its value. Bitcoin, like democracy, like trial by jury, is process-determinative, not outcome-determinative. In democracies the people always make the "right" choice by the act of choosing. In trial by jury justice is what the jury says it is. There is no external standard: not for the legitimacy of an elected official in a democracy nor for whether the jury made the "right" decision. Nor for what Bitcoin is or what Bitcoin is worth. In each case, it's the people. The candidate gets his legitimacy by the election process; the defendant gets justice by "due process;" Bitcoin gets its legitimacy from its number of buyers and sellers. In all three, process and outcome are collapsed.

The people who buy Bitcoin are always right; The people who sell Bitcoin are always right. The price of Bitcoin is always right. 

hi

White House lawyer Ty Cobb has repeatedly promised the president that Mueller's investigation will be over soon, a pledge that outside Trump advisers worry is divorced from reality. Nonetheless, Trump has internalized Cobb's comments, telling friends that he isn't worried about the probe.

I write here as a criminal defense attorney, not a blogger on public occurrences. That is not effective assistance of counsel, which every person has a right to, that is advice counter-productive to a client's best interests, which an attorney as an obligation to advance. 

I have never seen a more egregiously dirty play than this one in the NFL today.
https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/937422138880950274

Tre’Davious White, the victim, for that is what he is, the victim of a crime, had to leave the game and suffered a concussion. The perp, Rob Gronkowski, ought to be arrested.

Committee Gets It Right: Alabama Makes Top Four

1. Clemson
2. Oklahoma
3. Georgia
4. Alabama

Clemson will play 'Bama in one semi-final game and Oklahoma will play Georgia in the other. Good work. Good, good work.

Angels, you're getting obnoxious. Three straight nervy 2-1 matches against clearly inferior teams. You're reading your headlines and think you have won the league already. You have not. You think you can just turn it on whenever you want. You cannot. You're professionals, you should respect your profession more than that. The other guys are professionals, too. They are going to bite you in the ass if you get cocky. You have NO REASON to be "cocky." You should be playing "like a tremendous machine" and BLOWING THESE TEAMS OUT, not like a defective car that won't start in the morning. Stop fucking around.

Full-time: Manchester City 2-1 West Ham

                     City have done it again.

Look, Tiny Trump, City is Blue and you are Orange.

Manchester City 2 West Ham United 1. FT

12:47

87 min: City get a bit too cocky and West Ham win back possession in a threatening position. Arnautovic hangs a ball into the middle from the left - but it’s just too high for the unmarked Antonio! That was a scare for City. Antonio, meanwhile, has gone down clutching the back of his right leg. It looks like cramp.

Don't like that.

Correct Bro‏ @iamcorrectbro 56s56 seconds ago

Which kind Manchester City be this sef... Lose, you no gree lose... Oya draw, you no wan still draw...

Correct Bro, do you have any weed?