Blog of Sal

I'm only making a recommendation today because I have a very high level of conviction. The last time I got like this was when I was recommending everyone buy Bitcoin in 2013. I put my skin in the game then and am doing so again now. My pick is the iShares S&P/TSX Composite High Dividend Index ETF (ticker XEI) at the current price of $13.08 CAD.  With the coronavirus scare the S&P/TSX composite (OSPTX) dropped by 34% from the all time high, but XEI has fallen 45%. The reason for the XEI index performing much worse than broader markets is due to crashing oil prices. For context, XEG, the iShares ETF that tracks Canadian energy stocks, is down over 70%. Meanwhile the Canadian dollar has been massacred, dropping 10% against the USD. Because of this "triple whammy" of coronavirus plus collapsing oil plus a plunging Canadian dollar, we have a situation where even XEI, a diversified Canadian ETF which represents the Canadian economy as a whole quite well ...

Here's a quick plug for a book that really digs into the evolution of cryptocurrency. Author Tim Swanson offers a thorough rundown of everything happening in the ecosystem, and the book contains great quotes from many professionals in the industry. Get the details on projects like Colored Coins , Mastercoin , NXT , Ethereum , BitShares ,  Counterparty , Ripple , and Open-Transactions , and learn more about top companies in the industry. I was interviewed for the book, and have some remarks published regarding where I see future opportunity in the industry. Check it out on Amazon: Great Chain of Numbers: A Guide to Smart Contracts, Smart Property and Trustless Asset Management by Tim Swanson

This piece was intended for publication on a media website that was never launched called BitCitizen.com. I decided to publish it here while it's still somewhat fresh:  Bitcoin is maturing. Last fall I was lucky if my Google Alerts contained a single decent Bitcoin-related headline. Today, there are dozens of Bitcoin stories dropping on high profile media websites every day. Unfortunately, this ascent into the mainstream media has ushered in many negative opinion pieces by pundits who haven't the foggiest idea what they're talking about. One culprit is a recent Huffington Post article entitled “ Nine Trust-Based Problems With Bitcoin ”. Try as he might, columnist Steven Strauss fails to make a lick of sense. Here are some replies to his commentary:

I think a lot of Canadian artists and musicians are influenced by the CBC to make music that follows well the narrative of other music that has been featured extensively on the CBC. In other words, the CBC programming directors manipulate creativity in an attempt to construct a narrative that communicates effectively to the government the value of the CBC as a true expression of the Canadian narrative, so that they can receive a maximum of public funding. Don't get me wrong, I like the CBC, and listen/watch often. But I mostly enjoy them for their documentaries, and I think any alternative media that can stand on its own two legs in the free market is more valuable and more likely to be a demonstration of true art, and an expression of the true Canadian narrative.  Some cling to the classical ideal that art and commerce shouldn't mix, but this is an attitude of complacency that suppresses creativity in favour of conserving the status quo. In 2013  artists are allow...

How High Will Zuckerberg's Star Rise? I have a history of predicting cultural and technological trends correctly. So after being bombarded with the culture of Facebook for years, I'd like to offer some thoughts on their initial public offering.  I know little about investing, so please think of this article as more of a blind rant than an investment recommendation. Zuckerberg built an amazing tool, and he turned that tool into a huge company. They did 3.7 billion dollars in revenue last year, not too shabby. As they go public, the fairy tale version of their story would go something like: public money allows facebook to unleash a plethora of amazing new technology offerings, stock prices rise steeply for years.  A story something like Google's, who came out of the recession smelling like roses, and have seen their stock rise from an $87 IPO in 2004 to a current price of $600 per share. But Google grew out of a time when it was easier to remain a global ...

They came from every corner of the world To be a western man From every walk of life they hailed To figure in to this new plan A merging of two worlds To bitter and wealthy ends A western man did come to be A hero and a friend At first they came from Europe To settle a new land To mix and match with Indians To delegate, rule and plan A future of democracy Innovation and adventure In this age the west was to the world Below, and still indentured Later came the modern age Of trains and planes and autos America, a prodigal son Had matured into its motto To be the greatest land on earth Through hard work and bravado And a swath of culture from this place Accross the world did echo The Eastern seaboard was now changed Through years of industrialization The midwest was it's factory Incesant with production Throughout this new east The dream had changed forever Slanted towards industry And away from adventure But tucked away Accross the new world In p...