Category: Politics, Religion & Money

Crapto Currency

I’m halfway through Easy Money: Cryptocurrency, Casino Capitalism, and the Golden Age of Fraud, by actor Ben McKenzie, B.S. Economics, and journalist Jacob Silverman. It’s one of the new books covered in MIT Technology Review.

https://www.technologyreview.com/2023/08/23/1077693/crypto-foul-play/

CNBC has been breathlessly covering the crypto action since it started, almost invariably with a positive spin. In this short segment there’s an attempt to discredit McKenzie’s view that cryptocurrency is a scam. Which is funny, considering all of the investment nonsense that entertainer Jim Cramer spouts on CNBC. Nobel Prize economist Paul Krugman also sees no valid economic use for crypto currency.

Speaking of economics degrees, the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond checks on the popularity of the major in colleges.

https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/research/econ_focus/2022/q3_profession

Scratching the Old A/V Boy Itch – 2

Plan B for having access to my cable TV DVR from the porch was a total flop. This was Plan B.

I had my doubts about wireless HDMI when first considering it seven years ago, before choosing to buy the OTA TiVo instead, and those doubts have been confirmed. Based on hours of experimentation, in my opinion wireless HDMI is suitable only for a line-of-sight connectivity in the same room.

Communicating through a wall or floor doesn’t work, even when the total distance is only ten feet. Worse, the 5 GHz range of frequencies that wireless HDMI uses for peer-to-peer communication, without benefit of a hot spot or router, can interfere with a 5 GHz Wi-Fi network. Yesterday, while the transmitter and receiver kept trying to establish a connection, devices would disconnect from my Wi-Fi extender. Once I realized that was happening I gave up, disconnected the wireless HDMI transmitter and receiver, and put everything back in the box.

Having been a few years since I returned something to Amazon, today was my first time using the self-service return process at an Amazon-owned Whole Foods. First I initiated the return online and downloaded a QR code JPG to my phone. At the store kiosk I scanned the code, then put the box in a bag and slapped on a label the machine printed before dropping it into the kiosk.

This evening I received a text message confirming the return has been processed, with the refund coming within 7 days. By coincidence, this week’s New Yorker has an article about the business of returned purchases.

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/21/the-hidden-cost-of-free-returns