Afternoon Tea 4.20.2021 - Chance Kings

Smoke 'em if you're...vaccinated?

April 20, 2021

There’s something pungent in the air, it might be demotivating, it might be languishing, it might just be spending too much time on YouTube. It’s Taco Tuesday, April 20th 2021, and this is the Green Tea.

Shifting Balance of Power? (The Big Picture) Barry Ritholtz consistently remains the most responsible omni-capitalist voice I’ve followed since I started having any photons of money. When the guys running the Wealth Management firms see the writing on the wall for Great Society style pre-crisis middle class focused policies, the next few years could actually see some help for those struggling.

Marijuana by the numbers as 420, the unofficial high holiday, turns 50 (Chicago Tribune) Easiest way to make something uncool for the kids, is to have a bunch of boomers with power embrace it a thousand years too late to still have hurt millions.

  • 91% of U.S. adults say marijuana should be legal in some form

  • 60% approve of recreational use.

  • One in four Americans used cannabis in some form during the past 12 months.

  • Recreational marijuana use is now legal in 17 states and Washington D.C., with New Mexico, Virginia and New York the most recent to approve it.

  • Legal U.S. weed sales will hit $28.3 billion in 2022, up from $22.8 billion this year, a 24% gain.

There’s a Name for the Blah You’re Feeling: It’s Called Languishing (NY Times) Anhedonia, dysthymic feelings, and amotivational syndrome, is it the pot? Is it the plague? We’ll never know!

How Crypto Has Turned Everybody Into Degenerate Gamblers and Chance Kings (Where’s Your Ed At) I really encourage everyone who struggles how to think about why the modern financial world doesn’t make sense, this piece by Ed Zitron is powerful.

The rapid-fire generation of neuroses that crypto is causing reflect the exact feeling that someone gets in the casino - the overwhelming sense that you are missing out every time you haven’t put a dollar on the table, and the crushing feeling that you were stupid for not picking the right number at the right time, despite having no real way of knowing. People who are suddenly saying that they were smart for buying into doge are about as logical as the people that claim that they “knew 11 was about to roll,” and those who feel sick to their stomach (myself included) that they missed out on a “big win” because they decided to do the logical thing are rubes of the same shape and size.

Adversary Drones Are Spying On The U.S. And The Pentagon Acts Like They're UFOs (The Drive) The allegation that UFOs are just drones from other countries, but the Pentagon can’t admit it is absolutely hysterical and totally consistent with how we operate. Let’s ask some other countries about their oblong drone programs, I have third encounter related questions.

Social Media Use in 2021 (Pew) YouTube is the most used social network. Facebook comes in 12% behind. Lots of data for people into it:

Gov. Cuomo Signs Legislation Establishing Program to Provide Affordable Internet to Low-Income Families (New York State) & Mayor comes out against Astoria peaker plant proposal (QNS) & Another Reason to Nationalize Big Oil (New Republic) Remember how I said that if anymore harassment victims stepped forward we’d get medicare 4 all? Cuomo signed legislation requiring $15/month broadband for low-income households, who knows, maybe they can get him to keep the new peaker plant and respiratory ailments from subsidizing fossil fuel companies for the next 30 years in Shallow Queens.

Key investor in $100 million NJ deli has a history of legal problems, ties to criminals (CNBC) & FBI Believes Hometown International is a Robinhood Shell Corporation used to Launder Stolen Client Money (ValueWalk - Speculation Warning) Sources are well cited but this is a wild story that is still coming together. There’s a deli that is supposedly worth $100 million, even though it does about $35,000 in biz annually in, you know, sandwiches and stuff.

Republicans Have Ruined Sports for Republicans (New Republic) Gotta say, I didn’t expect the last vestiges of classic sport to be destroyed by the people who have the most to benefit by keeping classic sport alive.

Burglar Pleads Guilty After Downloading Porn During Break-in, Leaving Semen on Laptop (NBC LA) If you close your eyes, you can imagine the Law & Order SVU episode.

Using the human hand as a powerless infrared radiation source (Phys - Full Text) The research article is literally titled: “Human hand as a powerless and multiplexed infrared light source for information decryption and complex signal generation.” So, that thing your yoga teacher and guru told you about light coming out of your fingertips was actually right.

Song of the Tea: Was privileged to talk to this amazing new sound a few years back, and this single “Like I Do” is exactly the post-Kygo summer vibe that will get you out of your chair. Also, lyric videos are good now, damn.

Thanks for your patience with our absence yesterday. We’re back firing on both barrels.

Yours,