GreatWhiteNorth

Mostly agree - except maybe my $25 Gift Card at Target. It is intrinsically worth $25 worth of stuff. It's not a national currency, but it is still a form of currency. Disagree. Crypto currency, being decentralized by design, doesn't rely on a trust of a central body. But it still requires a great deal of trust to work (just not on a central body - for better or worse.) Sort of, kind of disagree. Very hard to do globally, but there is no global government, right? The idea that a (national) government could shut it down is quite doable for their country. The ability for a country to cut itself off from the internet is standard procedure now. I may be wrong, but in the context of this discussion, it would seem that a government shutting it down for their own country was implied. Agree. The US sanctions countries that engage in criminal behavior (at least from the perspective of the US.) So - yes - crypto currency is useful for criminals. By far the most useful application of the technology is for criminal types to evade tracking and detection of their evil-doer-type transactions. That is the problem that crypto "solves." Other than that, it provides insignificant value to humanity in its present form. Some would consider it a net negative. (I'd put myself squarely in that camp.)

My opinion is that crypto currency is quite useful for parties who are willing to take significant risk in order to transfer money anonymously (aka criminals.) Another useful case would be those that want to take a percentage of that questionable money transacted in the form of fees in order to fill their own pockets (aka shady banker types.) The last group is the hype network who back it to get regular people in, so they can profit from valuation movement and/or fees that the regular people will be paying for (aka blood sucker brokers.) It is interesting. But only of actual real value to criminals, shady banker types, and blood sucker brokers. Everybody else loses. P.T. Barnum probably would have loved it. (This isn't to say that useful public non-centralized electronic currency isn't possible. It is. But what we have now isn't it and there are some enormous obstacles it would have to overcome to ever get there. The blockchain may even need to be reinvented by then if quantum computing matures and is able to hack it. It would likely look far different than it does now, but it is possible. So is nuclear fusion, which I find far more interesting.)

... yet

Consider that the crap so-called boxing match includes Paul paying them to "not win". To be clear, not paying them to take a fall or purposely lose - just to not try very hard to win. In the old days, things were simple. Win/lose. Succeed/fail. Plus/minus. Now, winning and losing is all gray area. As you've said, the losers also win. And they win big.

Very similar to the argument that occurs in high schools and bars throughout the country. Is Pro Wrestling real or fake? It's fake because it isn't a 'real' competition between roughly evenly matched competitors who both are actually motivated to win. It's entertainment rather than competition, it's simply a show. But the athletics and contact are real - guys hurt themselves badly and occasionally die in the ring. Doesn't get much more real than that. I suspect that argument will never be resolved.

I never really got into baseball, went to Twins games - got bored - and left. Good thing there were a lot of good bars nearby for tipping some pitchers...

Unfortunately, "Everyone" doesn't know he's not a real pro boxer. Posters on this very thread don't seem to know - and that sample trends heavily toward those that should probably know better. Image all those that don't know. He isn't a real pro boxer as he claims to be, he's a fake. A phony. A dbag.

Russian a**holes are doing nothing good for the world. All bad.

Near the end of my college career, I was asked by a good friend from HS if I would visit a grade school where his mother was teaching. Nothing too specific, just a PE class and they apparently wanted a wrestler to visit for some reason or another. I was game. When I arrived, all those little dirt-eating grade school buggers were assembled in the gym, sitting cross legged. and surprisingly super attentive. My HS bud decided now was a good time to explain that I needed to do the rope climb and touch the ceiling without using my legs for the kids. Oh, and back down without legs, too. Not something I had ever done before, and this was not a small gym; the ceiling was not low. I wasn't sure about it. It was high, and ropes weren't part of my workout regimen. My buddy was certain and gave me a "You can do it." The teacher got the kids fired up to encourage me. Worked. Getting to the ceiling was easy. The way down wasn't quite as easy, but I managed to try to look cool as I landed. The kids applauded like I was a celebrity+batman+astronaut. It was a good day - I remember it as clearly as yesterday. More than most of my wrestling matches. If anybody is hesitant to jump in to assist with kids, I hope my story helps. I had no idea kids would connect with a rope climb like they did. You never know what will click.

Tell me that wasn't exciting.

You are correct.

Soooo much better.

Nooooo!!! Was planning to watch that one in a little bit when I have control of the TV again. Eh, still will. Hey MNRodent, maybe [SPOILER] as a prefix in the title next time for breaking news? BTW - NDSU's Owen Pentz is another guy who gets after it and is exciting to watch. Leaving here now before I find out more.

Yet he claims to be a professional boxer.

Call me crazy, but I've still got Hamiti over Carr - good thing for me, pretty sure dust-fart-Dole already forgot the settings. Bonus pick: Calhoun wins at 174 regardless of opponent. Most likely by major.

The world-famous what now? Is that some sort of restaurant in Utah? Never heard of it.

Like your long-time gal dumped you unexpectedly, and you hooked up with one that appeared to be similarly looking, could maybe be as hot, so you hooked up. Then the next day you woke up and gave her a closer look. She still looks hot and everything... but there's just no history.

I'm catching up. By the way, Ledecky is cool - solid competition. But c'mon, where's "ban swimming" when we need him.

I had a gut feeling you would (probably too many enchilada's)

Who is "We"? You and the dust you fart?

Kinda with treep and ionel here. Hamiti has a tremendously exciting style. I'm picking him over Carr now because it's the best chance he's got through the course of the season. Won't be able to pick him come March. (Who am I kidding, I still might.) The real question is - Will we see that matchup on Saturday? I'd maybe bet against it, but I won't post it here because bets belong on the betting board. This is just a 'maybe' bet, not real. Like a "Cinnabet."

Whatever he was hoping to win from the bet, I hope it was big (well, not Big, though.) Both Alice and Angela are solid choices. I'm partial to the original Alice (because I posted it way back when), but the follow-up Angela was also good and very popular. Just like KMF's mullet was business in the front and party in the back, T. Nick was Angela on the top, and Alice on the side. (RIP Angela Lansbury - if you didn't know, she passed a few weeks ago.)

Legitimate story always trumps silly weak GIF - Got to go with banbasketball here.

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