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Like a lot of people I'm sure I on occasion beat myself up over not buying into Crypto, by which I mean specifically Bitcoin and Ethereum.
I mean, I remember first reading about it on BoingBoing or some other online 'zine when it was around a dollar, and I thought it was a curious thing.
"Has potential" I thought, and knowing that money itself is a fiction was curious to see how this new fiction would take off. But I didn't buy in.
And when Bitcoin hit $2000 I was a bit annoyed, as was everyone else on the planet who didn't buy in. "Coulda Shoulda Didn't".
So I took the time to investigate the other crypto currencies, there was Titcoin and Potcoin and a whole bunch of other novelty crypto's used to buy your illegal drugs and porn on the internet, but the one that struck me was Ethereum. Still reasonably cheap, I should buy into this...
I didn't. I'm at heart a big skeptic.
And to be truthful, had I bought in, how would I have known when to sell? I mean, who did?? Sell too early and you'll be cursing yourself on the fortunes you lost. The same if you sold too late. No matter when you're a loser. So even were I a crypto-millionaire I would somehow find a way to beat myself up over it. Although, let's be real, a few million dollars can dry an awful lot of tears...
Bringing us to the newest TikTok trend of people being given Dabloons, which are tokens given to people as a reward for watching certain TikTok videos. They have no value whatsoever, monetary or otherwise, so I'm laughing again in disbelief at people collecting them and I think of the Owner's (restaurant) son, who made a tidy profit selling his house a couple of years ago and "invested" it in Bitcoin and NFT's. He's already lost it all, and I've had a few laughs with him over it, a pocket full of bored apes and a wallet full of dust....
Before that there was his Blackberry stocks, it was only this year he realized...well, it was time to get a proper phone. I think he's still holding on to the stocks.
That kid has had more bailouts than the Titanic...
I send him the link - "Buy in now....get your Dabloons....sell when I tell you and buy stocks in Twitter"....
He's an Elon fanboy, but - even this strikes him as preposterous. Twitter is privately a privately held company. And besides, what remains of his money is "going to the moon" with Gamestop and Dogecoin...
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A fascinating character from Pirate history, the uncaught Henry Every, who made off with one of (if not THE) largest Pirate Hauls in history. One of the largest world-wide manhunts turned up nothing, and he was variously rumored to have died destitute in England or have set up a Pirate Utopia in Madagascar, where coins were supposedly minted with his image. His treasure remains undiscovered.
A curious fact: That even the Captain of a Pirate Ship only took double the portion of his Crew. By that I mean - if 99 crew members survived an act of piracy (eg: taking a galleon) - that treasure would be split 100 ways, each crew member getting a single portion, the Captain getting double.
Compare that to the wages sailors were paid and piracy becomes a perfectly reasonable career (they were often paid a pittance to do the same on behalf of the crown, why not then do it for themselves?).
And compare, again, how well most CEO's pay themselves vs what they pay their employees and you'll soon conclude the golden days of fair play are long past...
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Through the obituaries, looking for Nanu's, when I find another obituary, this one of a longtime customer of the restaurant. Coincidentally at the restaurant the last day we were open, friendly, pleasant people, good customers. Older, and therefore a little more acceptable, natural causes always are, but still, my God, this town can be a graveyard.
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And news, via Facebook, that Nanu had passed away. 62 years old, living, courtesy of Nelson Cares, at the North Shore Inn. Details were scant, I suspect he took his own life.
Fall and winter are the seasons of despair here, and - adding up just off the top of my head the numbers of people I've known to die from Suicide, OD's, well, it's scary.
And these - largely, go unreported. The newspaper does not publish obituaries unless the family pays, and estrangement is often part of the picture. Thus it's probably that there are more people I've known that have simply dropped off the radar, moved away, when in fact their relocation has been a little more ... permanent.
Nanu, I met at the restaurant when he lived in Balfour, he sold me a copy of his book. Friendly, apparently cheerful (although, talking to him you realized he had a lot going on, didn't want to burden you with his shit...), ran into him downtown in the summer, he seemed fine, free time, time to make plans, do other things, practicing the piano, always a load of trifles to keep him occupied. Now, another local character that has vanished, and we're all a little poorer.
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...and in a curious synchronicity I discover that another Nick, whom I worked with a few years ago at the D&D, has passed away. He was a nice guy, classic laid back local hippy/waiter, and I am starting to realize that I've known more people to pass away out here than anywhere else. Which is partly a function of aging, partly of being a little better connected to the community. Still, the reaper awaits and it's time too move forward with other projects...