All of bpunk's Comments + Replies

bpunk40

Great to see this. Kids can learn to read much earlier than we teach them. My older son was reading quite a bit by the time he was 3 and my younger son currently 32 months is tracking well.  At this point the thing that holds my older son back from reading more at age 4 is endurance. He is gets distracted reading much more than a paragraph of text at a time.  Although I expect that will improve as he gets older.

bpunk20

There is a variety of solar power camping gear that can be used for showers, cooking, lighting, etc. Some subset of this might be worth looking at.

bpunk80

How much (if at all) does Germany rely on natural gas for energy production? Is there a risk of power loss if the natural gas is cutoff or is only heating/cooking at risk?

1arunto
Yes, there is that risk. In 2021 about 10% electricity with natural gas, and in addition hard coal (where the main source is Russia, too) 9%. This year probably more, because two additional nuclear power plants have been closed at the end of 2021. But these numbers underestimate the problem: Natural gas is used to even out fluctuations in the production of electricity with wind or solar (33% of electricity in 2021, 23% wind, 10% solar). Therefore a lack of gas could seriously destabilise electricity production. Because of that risk I would predict that the use of gas for electricity will have priority compared to private heating, decreasing the risk of electric grid breakdown but increasing the risk of supply shortages for private households (and industrial production, which uses even more natural gas than is used for heating).
bpunk40

I started to sign up for Predictit and there was a note that any money deposited is charged a 5% withdrawal fee. Maybe that effects the odds since people who would be placing accurate bets factor the withdrawal fee into their potential winnings. 

bpunk70

Point 4 said a slightly different way: when you rent you are arguably shorting housing since you need to live someplace. When you own 1 place you are neutral and you aren't long in housing until you own multiple places.

bpunk40

Two things to keep in mind when you are making your choice:

1) Exercising isn't a binary decision; you can exercise a portion of your options (ex) exercise 40% and leave 60% on the table to expire. This lets you factor in your personal financial status when you are deciding on your course of action.

2) Many series C startups don't fail or exit. Once a company gets to that size it has a momentum of its own even if it isn't successful. In my case I've worked at 4 startups. Two have exited while the other two are still stumbling along. I left one of the stumblers over 15 years ago so they can go on quite a while!

bpunk30

I am not sure if this would come under the umbrella of financial terms but a discussion of different ways companies can be valued would be interesting. My understanding is that in addition (or instead of the traditional PE ratio) some people use free cash flow. Also other people look at EBITD, and other metrics.