So what you are saying, basically, is you got rich because Bendolzians will have sex with each other more easily than humans will sex with each other?
Yes.
But what does THAT have to do with accusations of defrauding an entire species for billions?
I didn’t do that. Ever.
But everyone accused you off it?
I made my money legally. Those charges were dropped.
So why did you have 384 separate arrest warrants out on you at one time?
Jealousy.
Jealousy? You were accused of massive intergalactic fraud and theft by 83 separate nations, out of jealousy?
Yes Mr Robert.
That’s a big statement.
I can back it up. With evidence.
Alright.
Not on the phone. It’s too dangerous. Come to my house.
The Bendolzian consulate?
My house. I know you are nearby. Come quick. Before someone tries to intercept you. They’re watching me closely. Get down to the marina. Look for a Bendolzian boat.
How will I spot it?
You’ll spot it. Hurry. They will be moving in on you from the moment this call ends.
Click
Belize, June 4th 2114
The line went dead. Robert Fadden blinked. The fact he managed to get a phone interview with the most elusive man on Earth was enough to keep his editor happy.
He had heard the rumours, everyone had; Sanjay Gupta was an Indian who had made his fortune in the waste disposal business. Somehow a decade or so ago he then made a bigger fortune defrauding the Bendolzians. The details were sealed and secret.
But everyone wanted this man. He had gone on the run. He was utterly paranoid they said. He lived on a private island where he partook in drug fulled orgies.
He was a real life Bond villain.
Still, mused Fadden, there WERE parts of his story that had his hard-nosed journalistic soul wondering. The Bendolzians had responded to the arrest warrants out on him by designating his island home their consulate and was considered Bendolzian territory. Rumour said he was forced them to do it- but how do you influence an entire alien species to do your bidding?
And the charges were ALL mysteriously dropped a couple of years ago. No clear explanation was ever given.
Every journalist on Earth wanted to work out what was going on with this story. And he had gotten to talk to the man. The first to have ever done that.
Fadden sat at the desk of his hotel room, sweat clinging to his body. ‘They will be moving in on you’? Well the paranoia part was correct.
Inwardly, Fadden could hear his mother, her strict Presbyterian Scottish accent, Don’t be having anything to do with dangerous men Bobby his internal version of her intones, Ya neva know what trouble it can land ya in.
But another part of him hears the words of his editor, Get the story Rob, and I promise you a front page. For about ten seconds Robert Fadden is torn between prudence and daring, between caution and risk.
He opts for risk. He moves without explanation or pause. He grabs his phone and throws it into his bag, followed by his digital recorder, a cheap digital camera, and the keys to the rental car parked in the garage below the hotel. He puts on his jacket (despite the heat) and heads out.
He foregoes waiting for the old lift, but takes the fire stairwell: moving fast, leaping the last three steps to each landing, downwards, forwards, driven as much by the excitement of the story than the fears of some paranoid billionaire.
In a few moments he enters the relative coolness of the underground car park; half full, he spots the small green 2093 Zephyr sat by itself. It was boxy, had seen much better days and was clearly the kind of hire car people on a budget would take. Which is why it was his.
He leaps in, inserts the key, watches as its electric engine starts instantly and silently, and quickly makes his way up and out onto the street besides the Hotel Anacebo.
The heat is stifling; even with the cars aircon he can feel it. A tropical heat, wet and stuffy, where the humidity was enhanced by the rainforest that surrounded the town and threatened, always, to overwhelm it.
The town was small. All roads led either out to the forest or down to the marina. He took the turns to the latter. He didn’t drive especially quickly but he did glance, nervously, at his rear view mirror a few times.
30 years had passed since humans had encountered Bendolzians; a gentle, faintly insectoid, interstellar species, whose exploration ship had emerged on the edge of the solar system and who had come towards Earth broadcasting messages of peace in a dozen languages.
Three decades of amazement and wonder. It had changed the world. The Bendolzians were far more advanced than we were in the realm of science. Human life expectancy had increased on average 25 years since they began sharing their technologies with us.
People spoke of a new golden age.
In return the humans had a culture and a civilisation that fascinated the aliens. Human music, human languages, human art. The Bendolzians, it was said, had given the human race the technology to produce stable clones in return for a live performance of a concerto by Bach. At least that is what everyone said. The aliens didn’t use currency. They gave us technology, we gave them culture.
But as Fadden drove he realised that while a generation had passed since then and Bendolzian technology had impacted upon all aspects of human life... in some places it was more apparent than others. Here? Miles from anywhere, a small, poor town, in a small, poor province of a small, poor country? You couldn’t tell at all.
The cars were ramshackle, the streets badly paved, the shops were basic. Life here carried on as if it was the 2030’s not the 2110’s. Poverty. Unemployment. Corruption.
Mankind maybe wasn’t alone anymore but it sure hadn’t changed much.
The marina’s car park is crowded but he finds a spot, parks the car, slugs his bag over his shoulder and strides towards the water. Inwardly he grins.
He was on his way to meet a real life Bond villain.
He scans the scene before him. As usual the place is filled with rusty fishing boats that have seen better days and a few small cargo craft. Further down is where the private boats are- he can see the masts of about two dozen yachts. Most will be small, he knows from experience; folks who live on the sea, often retirees. Living the dream and sailing the world.
As he walks he finds himself looking behind him and wondering if anyone was following him... Stop it. The guys paranoid
He strides onwards purposefully and notices a bunch of locals staring with real interest out at the edge of the marina. And then he sees what they are staring at.
It’s a boat. It’s a boat because it moves on water. But no part of it is touching the water. It hovers about six feet above the waves, gliding through the air. Its not... flying... as it’s wake causes the water to stir as if it was gliding in on some kind of invisible fin.
Long, sleek, elegant, very purple, and slightly ominous.
Clearly the Bendolzian boat then.
Robert makes his way towards the pier the boat seemed to be aiming at. The glare of the water makes him squint for a moment before he decides to put on his sunglasses. He stands there, watching the boat cut its engine and drift towards him. A tall Scot, in casual trousers, blond crew cut, and sunglasses.
How very fuckin James Bond of ya, ya wee Weegie Shite! goes his inner monologue.
Fadden is a tad disappointed that stepping onto the edge of the boat isn’t an actual Bendolzian but a human. By the looks of things, a local, dressed in a crisp white uniform.
“Mr Fadden?”
“Yes. Is this for me?”
“Yes Mr Fadden. Please come on board. We have instructions to take you at once to the Consulate...”
The Consulate of the Most Serene Chorus of the Beldolzia Collective had once been on the market as a millionaires retreat, a few decades ago. A half moon shaped island, two miles off the coast of Belize and facing the Caribbean.
There was a mansion, tennis courts, private grounds, more. All available for anyone who wished for privacy and avoidance of US Tax laws.
But then Sanjay Gupta has bought it and it had become an alien consulate and was one of the more discussed places on Earth.
Still, as the craft sliced through the air above the sea Robert couldn’t help have the impression he wasn’t approaching the some evil lair, rather somewhere that looked like a small, tacky, tourist resort. It was conservative, slightly garish and very boring.
No grand displays of alien technology, no alien flags, no aliens.
As the ship carefully and expertly navigated to a landing pad next to a pier the only indication he was technically on alien soil was a small sign which informed visitors that this island was under the laws and jurisdiction of the Bendolzians.
He was met by a polite staff and escorted to see the elusive billionaire. As he strides, Fadden looked about him.
Can’t imagine anyone having an orgy in a place like this. Maybe a game of bingo...
Twenty five minutes later, small talk over with, he has his recorder set up and mic placed to pick up his target.
He had to admit- Sanjay Gupta was not what he was expecting. Bespectacled, hair thinning, his face filed with a smile that was a little too over eager, a growing gut. If anything Fadden would have said he seemed more needy Indian uncle than evil billionaire.
The Scottish reporter clears his throat, turns on the recorder and begins.
“So, Mr Gupta...”
“Sanjay please. I prefer informality in my interviews,” comes the reply. Gupta’s English was perfect; the exact intonations of formal Received Pronunciation. Fadden could tell he had spent a lot to hide his origins form Uttar Pradesh.
“Fine. Sanjay. So, for the record, why did so many governments accuse you of fraud and theft?”
The billionaire smiles his over eager smile and sits back on his luxurious couch.
“Do you know the precise accusations or only the board terms?”
He’s avoiding...
“Only the broad terms, obviously.”
“Why is this? You are a journalist after all? Surely YOU would know more?”
Fadden can sense some kind of trap, so makes sure to answer precisely.
“The United World Global Council declared that since the crimes were committed against Beldolzians it would be better if the exact details remains a secret, to prevent any inter-species misunderstandings they said.”
Gupta seems pleased with this answer, and nodding says, “Indeed. The seven nations in the UWGC decreed it and the other 79 in the general assembly who had made allegations against me agreed to follow their decision. So the world was only ever given a broad over view of what I supposedly did.”
“Massive fraud of the Beldolzians,” says Robert, hoping to get more out of him, “and theft and deception. Hundreds of counts. Which makes me restate my question: Why?”
“Because they were jealous. I merely saw a gap in the market first and they could not see a way of closing this gap,” comes the reply.
“So the accusations were untrue?”
“Indeed Mr Robert, but it is worse that that? They were a smokescreen. The governments of humanity only alleged those things so they could shake me down for money. They wanted a cut of my profits. Extortion. So I made a deal with them and suddenly the charges were dropped.”
“Really?”
Fadden tried to keep the skepticism out of his voice but fails. Gupta did not seem to notice.
“Really Mr Robert. There WAS a fraud committed but not enacted by myself. It was done by the leaders of the world. I’m the victim here.”
“That’s a very serious accusation...”
“Would you like me to show you the emails? The private correspondence I have from the worlds leaders? The President of the EU? Prime Minister of the Greater Indian Republic? I even have a mail from the Patriarch of the Holy Russian Theocracy offering to lift the excommunication they had placed upon me, in exchange for hard currency. Extortion.”
“Because you are making...”
“Because I’ve made a fortune and made the Bendolzians very happy. Our alien friends pay me for simply providing them a service,” says the Indian. The Scot was having none of this, his hard nose journalist edge sought to sting his subject into revealing more.
“By selling them fake art? That seemed to be the gist of the accusations.”
Gupta smiles, all teeth and thin lips, but his eyes are cold.
“I never sold fakes. I sold copies.”
“You don’t pay a fortune for a copy,” spits back Fadden.
“The Bendolzians do.”
“Why?”
Gupta thinks and leans forward and say quietly, ‘I need to talk about that sex statement I made on the phone yes?”
“It was a hell of a statement to make. Provocative.”
“Deliberately so, Mr Robert. But not incorrect.”
“Explain it to me. Why do alien sexual practices mean you made fortune selling them copies of art?”
The billionaire nods and leans back again, his eyes searching Fadden’s face for a moment.
“Alright Mr Robert. I need to ask you a hypothetical question to begin. Indulge me for a moment.”
“Go ahead,” comes the crisp Glaswegian accent.
“Let us assume you are gay. Or that sexuality and gender is not something you cared about. I don’t know if you do, I don’t care, I just need you to suspend those concepts for me before I ask you this question,” says Gupta.
“Alright. Consider them suspended. What’s the question?”
“Would you be inclined to sleep with me. Right now.”
Robert blinks. Part of him has to admit, he did NOT expect such a question. Rapidly, he regains his composure.
“Er... no.”
“Alright. Why?”
“I don’t find you attractive. As men go. If I was to find a man attractive, I don’t think you would be it.”
“So,” says Gupta, talking as casually as he would an old friend, “there is an aesthetic quality you would desire in a partner. My ‘looks’ are not attractive enough to entice you?”
“Indeed. Not attractive enough.”
The Indian smiles, this time with an amused twinkle in his eye.
“But consider- I am the richest man on Earth. Worth billions. Being my sexual partner has its advantages then.”
“Are you offering me cash to sleep with you? Hypothetically speaking of course,” says Robert, also amused at the conversation.
“Let’s assume I’m not, so let me be more precise- isn’t there a certain allure to the idea of having said ‘I slept with the richest man on Earth?’ Would this change your mind?”
“Maybe. I’m unsure.”
“Let us assume then if you slept with me, you would receive financial benefits.”
“How much?”
“Assume a lot.”
“No offence, it would have to be,” he says automatically, but the journalist inwardly worries if his reply went too far. Luckily it did not seem to have.
“None taken. But assume it would be a life changing amount. Does this change your answer?”
“Maybe. Probably. I don’t know. Probably.”
“Aha. So the result of my proposition depends upon the CONTEXT it occurs in. By myself? You have no desire to have sex with me. With my wealth? Maybe. With material reward? Probably. I am correct in this?”
Robert couldn’t help but worry where this was going.
“Mr Gupta, I have to say...”
“Mr Robert- firstly? It’s Sanjay. Secondly, let me assure you, I have NO desire to sleep with you. At all. You are are someone I do not find attractive. And you do not have an alluring multi-billion dollar fortune to help compensate for this.”
Fadden grins, and says, “So why the questions?”
“Consider the human criteria for sleeping with people. Trust me Mr Robert, I am not one of the winners in the lottery of life in this regards. But I am aware that all people have certain traits, certain criteria we all place before us when it comes to choosing a sexual partner.”
The billionaire folds one leg under his body and gets into his stride.
“For some it is good looks we value most. For others it is wealth. Others would find a man who is gentle to be what they seek for most. Still others would place the ability to make them laugh. Usually it is not just one thing, but a combination of things, of desires, that all mix together and are manifest in something called the hierarchy of desire.”
The Scotsman blinks and says quietly, “You referring to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs?”
The Indians face lights up, the way a persons face changes when they realise someone understands what they are talking about.
“Partly. Maslow’s theories do not have any scientific proof behind them yes? But they remain popular over 150 years after they come out because we all recognise something of ourselves in them?”
“That’s a fair assessment,” says Robert, trying to remember courses in psychology and sociology he had studied in university decades ago.
“So, I do not use HIS example as the actual model of this heirachy, as humans are more complex and there is probably much more interplay beteeen the actual levels...”
“I’d always thought so.”
“Good. We agree. But I use the term ‘hierarchy of desire’ as shorthand to describe the complicated, and uniquely individualistic ways we humans make the choice to decide if we are going to have sex with someone. Or not. There are a myriad of factors yes?”
Robert remained silent. He’d have to do some reading after this interview to see if Gupta’s words were valid or just cherry picking aspects of things, but for now he was just letting his target speak. Gupta simply carries on.
“Deep seated desires, physical fetishes, the circumstances you find yourself in, your location, all these are a factor. But, when the decision is made, we ALL follow a simple concept- where does the person who wishes to sleep with me fit within my heirachy of desire?”
A shrug, “Above the criteria for sex? We will have sex most probably. Below it? And we most probably won’t.”
Fadden sat and watched this little Indian explain the theory with glee. He was also aware he had allowed Gupta steer the interview away from him. It was time to try and bring it back.
“Alright Sanjay, assume I agree with that. What has all of this to do with accusations of defrauding an entire alien species?”
Sanjay Gupta sighs and shakes his head. He stands and walks away from the seating area towards the far wall of his grand study. Along one side, open windows with billowing curtains, reveal a stunning vista of the Caribbean but he ignores it.
“Follow me please,” he says as he does this. Robert Fadden, startled, grabs his microphone and follows the billionaire.
Gupta walks towards a painting at the far, far end of the massive room, leans upon a nearby desk and indicates to it.
“Mr Robert? Please, look at this,” he says politely.
The Scotsman joins the billionaire and gazed at the painting. It was sumptuous. A renaissance work he was sure. A woman holding a rather chubby baby, talking to another woman, with a man stood behind her. Robert is drawn to the way the sumptuous colours and fine detail.
He gazed at it a few seconds and says “Beautiful. Is it expensive?”
Gupta grins and says,”It is ‘A Sacra Conversazione: The Madonna and Child with Saints Luke and Catherine of Alexandria’ by the Renaissance master, Titian. Painted around 550 years ago. It was last sold in 2011 for just shy of 17 million dollars. Its current value is 378 million dollars. US.”
Unsure of how to respond to the billionaire showing off his wealth Robert simply says, “It’s amazing.”
Gupta raises his eyebrows.
“I bought this for 250,000 dollars. Cash.”
“Why so cheap?”
“Its not the original,” comes the cool reply.
“It isn’t?”
“I paid a man in Hong King, a most skilled fabricator, that much cash to create a copy of it. A copy so good that only a true expert armed with a bevvy of technology would be able to detect it is NOT the real thing. It is by all accounts an amazing replica. Right down to the exact number of brushstrokes.”
Robert gazed at it. It LOOKED authentic. He has no idea why he is looking at it, but part of him senses the billionaire is close to confessing his fraud, So remains silent. People hate silence. They fill it.
Two seconds later Gupta fills the silence.
“Next question Mr Robert; if this is virtually indistinguishable from the original, except to the eye of an utter expert who has spent a lifetime studying the paintings of Titian, why is original verison worth 1384 times more than this?”
“Its a fake.”
“No, it would ONLY become a fake if I ever tried to say it was the original. I do not. It is a replica. A copy. I repeat the question; why is it worth much less than the original?”
“Because it’s NOT the original.”
“Agreed. But why do we insist an original is worth more than a copy?”
This is it Robert- this is him confessing... careful man... just entice him to confess...
“I dunno”, comes the Scottish brogue accent, “it’s complicated. Why do we value art?”
“A complex question, yes. But consider it this way- ultimately all you are saying is that the difference between this painting and the one it copies is the CONTEXT of both paintings yes?”
Robert Fadden frowns and thinks for a moment before speaking.
“Are you saying it’s like the way we pick sexual partners?”
“Not in so many words but at its heart, yes. There is an underlying pattern of thought. The thoughts themselves differ Mr Robert, but the pattern of thought, the idea of a hierarchy of desire remains.”
“I suppose I see your point Mr Gupta... Sanjay. But it’s rather thin don’t you think?”
Slowly the billionaire walks away from the painting to the open windows and just beyond it, a wide balcony that runs along the side of the massive room. There is no wind today, but despite the sun, the balcony is in shade. Robert finds it so wonderfully refreshing... and it’s a heck of a view.
As he walks, Gupta chats along with the journalist casually.
“You know what I was reading the other day? The original reviews of an old 20th century movie called ‘Psycho’. It is an amazing film. It is about a woman who steals money of her employer and then flees to join up with her lover in another state. As she drives, she is troubled by a violent storm and so decides to stop on her journey at somewhere called the Bates Motel, where she meets the owner, one Norman Bates...”
“Yes Sanjay, I am aware of ‘Psycho’. She gets murdered in the shower.”
“Oh good. Now what’s interesting is that the critics, without exception, slated the film. They called it unimaginative and plodding and even said it was infested with tediousness. Meanwhile the public hated it. They did not go see it. It was a commercial failure.”
The reporter frowns, “No. Wait. That’s not right. Hitchcock’s Psycho is a classic.”
The Indian smiles broadly at this reply.
“Ah. I refer to the remake made by Gus Van Sant 38 years later. An almost shot for shot remake of the original. A perfect copy. Utterly overlooked. It’s existence is almost forgotten about.”
There was a remake?
“Tell me- what is it about copies we hate so much? In the heriarchy of desire why do we hate ‘fakes’- men who try too hard, or movies that make copies of classics or modern versions of ancient paintings?”
Fadden gazed at the waves for a moment and says, “Authenticity. We value authenticity.”
“Ah, very good Mr Robert. We value authenticity. The key word there is ‘value’. When we talk about art we say authenticity. When we talk about sexual partners we can say sincerity. Or attractiveness. Whatever. It is NOT about HOW we place things in the heirarchy of desire, it is that we have these values at all that is crucial.”
“Alright Sanjay. Let’s assume I go along with this. What does all this have to do...”
“I’m getting to that Mr Robert. All I am saying ultimately is that when you study humans you quickly realise that this method of thinking in ingrained so deeply into us that it manifests itself in a million ways. So, shall I have sex with this person or that person? Shall I buy this suit or this coat? Shall I purchase this limited edition car? Shall I visit this country or that country? How much is this painting worth? Do you see?”
Robert stares out at the sea for a few seconds.
“Yes. I see. I think.”
“Or put it this way. Take the Mona Lisa. The most expensive painting in the world. It said to be priceless but I happen to know that if you offered the French government 7 billion Euros? They would let you purchase it. Of course it must remain in the Louvre for all time. But for seven billion you get a little plaque next to it saying it’s yours.”
Fadden can’t help but grin at Gupta.
“You asked didn’t you?”
“I was curious,” he laughs, “but now consider this. The Mona Lisa is worth 7 billion. A high grade copy of it printed on canvus with the best processes money can buy? Ten thousand euros. A low grade copy? Maybe 400. And a poster? Ten euro. See? We value originals, authenticated and unique above all others. And the CONTEXT of the other copies will dictate where we place them on the hierarchy of desire.”
“Right but...”
“But what about our alien friends?”
“Indeed,” says Fadden.
“Bendolzian’s are an odd bunch to look at. You must have seen pictures. Trust me they are much more shocking to meet for real. Eight feet high. Six legs around a long central core containing their mouth for eating and oriface for excretion. They have the torso above the core, which means arms, mouths, eyes and ears and crucially brains are separate from functions for eating and movement...”
“Yes I am aware of how... different they look. When did you first have dealings with them?”
The billionaire began walking back to his fake painting by the desk, the reporter carefully making sure his microphone picks up every word. Gupta seems to be happy to talk about his dealings with the aliens.
“I first visited the Bendolzian home world 9 years ago. Part of a mostly failed trade delegation. I was hoping to see if they needed any large scale waste disposal.”
“Go on?”
“My first day there? I met a human XenoBiologist. One of the first who went there. He told me something fascinating. The Bendolzians love sex. For the sake of sex.”
Robert nodded. Back to the sex talk.
“They DO?” He tried to sound mock shocked.
“Yes. Or so he thought. Bendolzians are capable of feeling intense pleasure during sex and seem to copulate often. Yet sex is a common social interaction for them. They use sex in greeting, departing, in establishing rapport. They have no sense of shame about it. And aside from a prohibition upon close familial members, to prevent genetic deformities, no hangs ups. They copulate. Frequently. Its why their population is so staggeringly large. There are 11 billion humans and 580 billion Bendolzian”
“So they like sex, good for them...”
“No Mr Robert. That’s not the point. You make the same mistake the XenoBiologists make. You see events but don’t think about what they mean...”
Gupta is back leaning against his desk. It’s covered in papers, neatly arranged, held down with some kind of gold coloured paperweight; perfectly aligned pens; a small, but powerful computer to one side. Fadden however is focused utterly upon the Indian.
“What this shows Mr Robert, is the Bendolzians do NOT have a heirarchy of desire.”
Gupta smiles, “And I realised at that exact moment that they and we THINK differently. This is not exactly a original thing to realise. It obvious really. My gift was I saw exactly how we differed in thought- what process of human thought they did not have. It’s why they don’t use currency. Why their society is far more fluid socially. They simply appreciate the pleasure of sex or the beauty in an object because it is pleasurable or beautiful.”
The Scotsman raises an eyebrow and says quietly, “So you mean...”
“I mean that to a Bendolzian, the ten euro poster of the Mona Lisa is as valuable as the high grade copy, or even the original. They do not fixate upon the need for authenticity. A thing is a thing to them. If it is a beautiful painting? They appreciate the painting, even if it is merely a cheap copy to us.”
Fadden watched as the India picked up the golden paperweight on his desk in an absent-minded manner. He then realised it wasn’t a golden paperweight at all, but an actual small ingot of gold, a few inches long, solid and set. Having it on the desk seemed like the kind of onsetentious display a billionaire liked to make. But he put it out of his mind. He had his exclusive.
“So,” says the reporter, zeroing in on his story, “you realised this and then exploited this?”
“I capitalised upon it. Bendolzians adore human culture yes? So I made a deal with them. I gained the exclusive rights to sell them human art. They love human art. Its alien but fascinating to them. I would sell copies of human paintings to them. To all of them. Any Beldozian now could own a small copy of any human painting. A simple high resolution copy. And they would pay me. Not much. But there are hundreds of billions of them. Micro transactions really do add up.”
“Wait- that IS fraud. That’s the work of artists. You are using THEIR work to gain profit...”
That smug grin returns.
“I never used any art created by a living painter. In fact I don’t use any work less than 100 years old. That left me all the art work from antiquity to the start of the twentieth century. Billions of images. All in the public domain. A never ending supply really.”
“What about the owners of these paintings? Or the museums? They hold the rights to these images, in terms of profit making...”
The India smiles and begins walking back to the comfy chairs, the reporter following him as he spoke.
“Two things Mr Robert- firstly, ALL human laws regarding licensing rights were written specifically to do with the gaining of currency and Bendoldzians do not use currency so they are technically inapplicable.”
Sanjay Gupta sits down, his face wearing a Cheshire Cat grin, “Secondly- museums? Really? Did you ever read about how in the early 21st century there was a rash of ‘copyright farmers’? Legal firms who would purchase the rights to old songs and then go after anyone who used those songs in any media, demanding payment? Men who never had a damn thing to do with the writing, performing and recording of the song, but who bought the rights and made a fortune from them? Tell me, how are museums functionally different from those odious creatures?”
“That’s a debate for the courts. I don’t think they would agree,” says the reporter sitting down opposite his target.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. But the cases never came to court. The great and the good spluttered at what I was doing in utter indignation and rage, unleashed a bevvy of criminal charges upon me, sought to demand I cut them into my deal. A shake down. They were outraged that I, solely, was profiting from the collective output of thousands of years of human art.”
“Yes, agreed. Its not fair really...”
The billionaire smiles as he stares into his reflection in the small gold ingot he casually toyed with in his hands.
“Perhaps. But then? They dropped ALL the charges. Dropped everything. Retracted every single allegation. Can you guess why?”
“You cut them in?”
“Actually? I made a deal but not the one they wanted. I never gave them a penny. Which begs the question- why did they drop the allegations?”
“It was the Bendolzians? They were getting art from you. They moved to protect you?”
“Oh no Mr Robert. The answer is much more mundane and obvious. Think back along what I have told you during the interview. What is the one glaring inconsistency in my story. What part, when you think about it, doesn’t make sense? A single idea that doesn’t sit right?”
Robert Fadden blinks and sits back. His mind ranges over the rambling discussion. None of it really made too much sense he supposed. A billionaire justifying his fraudulent method of getting rich. Still, it DID seem to have a consistency to it. Fadden mused.
About sex, and art, and how humans think and how the aliens think, and about copies of art, and museums and lawsuits and fraud and...
He blinks.
“Wait. You said the Bendolzians PAID you. But Bendolzians don’t use currency. They never ‘pay’ anyone. They trade. Technology for art.”
“Ah, you are very intelligent Mr.Robert. Yes they trade. A thing for a thing.”
“They gave you technology?”
“No. I have never displayed any advanced technological item have I? No, they did not give me any technology for this art.”
“So what did they give you?”
The Indian smiles and tosses across the small gold ingot casually at him, underarm. Fadden catches it, loses it, and hurriedly grabs it as it falls. He stares at the gold bar for a few seconds.
“Gold?”
“The heriarchy of desire Mr Robert. Question- why do we value gold?”
“It’s precious.”
“No, WHY? Why is it considered precious?”
“It’s rare.”
“Yes. All gold on Earth arrived here at a very specific time period in the planets history. The late heavy bombardment; the asteroids came they hit the thick crust and gold was deposited. But it isn’t much. Gold is a rare and precious commodity on Earth. This rarity makes it desirable. It moves up the heirarchy of desire.”
“But the Bendolzians...”
“The Bendolzians are a very advanced civilisation. They harvest plasma from their sun you know? This process provides fuel for their ships. There is, however, an annoying side effect in this process.”
“Annoying side effect?”
“What business did I begin in again Mr Robert?”
Robert Fadden clings to the small gold ingot, but his eyes widen and in a horse Scottish whisper says, “Waste disposal...”
“Well done Mr Fadden. Bendolzians harvest plasma from their sun and remove the many impurities they find there, including huge quantities of a useless, soft yellow metal, that they have no need for. Gold. I offered to dispose of it for them. In my eagerness however, I unfortunately mentioned it had a value to us humans. Otherwise they may have just given it to me for free. But I was able to fashion an arrangement. I give them art, they give me lots of this waste metal,” he smiles.
“But... that... I mean...”
“Question Mr Robert- can you imagine what would happen to human civilisation if it was revealed that the most precious metal, the actual bedrock of the global economy, was actually as common as sea water?”
“It would... the price would...”
“It would lose its place in the heriarchy of desire Mr Robert. It would no longer be a Mona Lisa, but a low quality postcard of it. The value would plummet.”
“It would... it could... cause a global economic meltdown.”
“Which is what the leaders of the world realised. So a deal was struck. They leave me alone and I keep this a secret. I was allowed enough gold to enter the market to make me richer than anyone else who has ever been and then? I sit on the rest. Occasionally I make secret transfers to the few governments who know. I have actually helped prevent a economic crisis or two. I get good rates.”
“But that’s...”
“Merely a function of the hierarchy of desire Mr Robert. Human beings are no longer alone in the universe. But we haven’t actually changed at all have we? We are still human.”
He laughs, joyful and happy. He catches Robert’s shocked face and his grin seems to grow.
“Of course, I need to keep this fact a secret, but I’m fine with that. Mostly.”
The reporter feels a cold clammy sweat trickle down his back. He gazed at the gold bar in his hand, his mind awash with a thousand thoughts and then one thought stops his thinking dead. One single thought makes him slowly look up, look at his microphone and the recording device, and then look Sanjay Gupta dead in the eye.
“Wait. You have to keep this secret. From everyone. Why are you confessing to me?”
“Oh Mr Robert. I’m not confessing... I am BRAGGING. The only issue with having pulled this off, this brilliant manipulation of TWO species is, alas, I can’t tell anyone about it. It can be somewhat vexing.”
He leans forwards eagerly, a cold glint in his eyes.
“And so? Every so often, when the desire to gloat gets too much much for me? I invite a journalist who is sniffing around, and there are ALWAYS journalists sniffing around, to come meet me. And then I get to brag about this brilliant thing I have done. It is most refreshing and enjoyable to do so. You will be the fourth person I have told this too.”
“What happened to the other three?”
A shrug.
“They are all dead. Oh, it wasn’t me who did it. All three left this Island as alive as when they arrived. But what can I say? All three knew a secret. And maybe they would have published the story. Or maybe they would have kept it to themselves. Who knows? But I ask you? What government can take that chance eh?”
“They were killed?”
“Maybe. They are all certainly dead. Which is odd don’t you think?”
Robert Madden finds himself standing, moving towards the open windows, staring out onto the perfect Caribbean Sea. It’s blue waves gently undulate but the beauty of it is lost upon him. His mind races, considering possibilities and permutations.
Behind him two security men enter the room quietly, and the Indian muses, “Of course we have to ask WHY human governments would think it better to dispose of the reporters like this. Where exactly DO trashy tabloid journalists fit on the hierarchy?”
Fadden feels very cold.
A Bond villain after all...
“You can keep that, by the way,” says Gupta, and Robert is aware he is still holding the gold bar; he gazed at it as his host says, “it’s not like I would miss it.”
Robert closes his eyes. He considers all he knows about the world, all he has learned about life and comes to one sudden, cold, reality.
“I’m fucked,” he says openly, his Glaswegian accent becoming thicker as he gets upset.
“Alas yes Mr Andrew. It would appear so. Now, these gentlemen will escort you to the boat.”
Robert turns and sees his recording device on the table. Next to it sits Sanjay Gupta, smiling away and next to him stand two menacing gentlemen in well made suits.
Twenty minutes later he gathers his wits. As he sits on the purple boat he realises he has one chance, just one chance... if he can upload the interview onto the web, he could maybe use it as leverage. His mind races through possible negotiations with mysterious government figures, his silence can be bought.
But as he fumbles with his phone he spots something and a few minutes later a crew member explains “Mr Gupta apologises, but Bendolozian craft generate a field that prevents signal getting out. If you could wait until you reach the shore...”
Robert Fadden’s mind races. He’ll upload the moment he gets to the marina, then go back to his hotel, if he has time, encrypt the recording, hide all trace, use its existence as a way to...
But as the boat comes into view of its destination he sees them. A small handful of local police officers. Amidst them westerners. Tall ones. Casually dressed. Wearing sunglasses. Their faces all staring at the purple boat that glides into the marina...
He hears his mother’s voice echo in his mind Don’t be having anything to do with dangerous men Bobby; Ya neva know what trouble it can land ya in.

Hardware:
I think the smartest defensive move Facebook can make at this stage is doing whatever it takes to become a major player in consumer hardware. Even if they breakeven, or lose money on this endeavor it can be treated as user acquisition costs for the people who wouldn't make a Facebook account otherwise, or as a way to make Facebook accounts as sticky as possible to protect against people leaving the platform. Anecdotally, I've seen people that have preached "Facebook is evil" for years, say that not they will not ever delete their newly open accounts because if they did their Oculus hardware wouldn't work, and they'd lose all of their purchases.
Facebook is dominating the growing VR market with an iron fist. Non-advertising revenue grew 156% in Q4, and IDC estimates 3 million Quest 2's were sold in Q4. Oculus Quest 2 has stellar reviews, despite the mandatory Facebook account for use. Facebook's VR devices also use Messenger for messages, Workplace for enterprise, and I believe Facebook Horizon (which is integrated with the FB app) will eventually be the place users load into initially, and launch third party apps from.
High investment cost makes it unlikely that other social media company can compete with Facebook in hardware (especially AVR), and this should give Facebook a permanent utility advantage against its peers. The companies that could compete, big tech, and gaming giants seem unwilling to make the investment to compete. I think they're aware that Facebook is completely fine making $0 to be dominant in the VR space, and that's scared them away in addition to facts like VR being a relatively small market for them.Apple is rumored to be considering a release of a Quest-like headset in later 2022, but the device will be priced far above $1000 according to Mark Gurman.
VR is where I'm most confident in Facebook's ability to achieve its hardware dreams, but consumer AR is also an area where its only competition in terms of investments made is Apple. So I think their chances there are decent too. Facebook is working on long term AR glasses, but is also releasing Smartglasses in collaboration with Luxottica (Ray-Ban and Oakley) this year. There's also Facebook's line of smart video chatting devices, Portal.
Traditionally Listed Moats
Intangible assets consisting of the vast amount of data users have shared: sustained and growing, but people are also sharing things about themselves on other apps increasingly.
Growth of users means network effects still growing
Number and diversity of advertisers, and advertiser verticals still growing
Competition?
There is rising social media competition, and always the threat of new entrants. That being said, competition seems to carve out niches, so they aren't competing as directly as we'd think. The closest thing to Facebook the Blue app, for connecting with family and friends is Instagram. Competing apps can have similar features, but the main utilities are different. Tik Tok is mostly a short video app, Youtube is a long video app, Twitter is a breaking news app, Reddit is a communities app, etc. Facebook's utility first and foremost is connecting with REAL people who's identity you can verify, like friends and family. Like previously mentioned, the closest competitor is Instagram.
Messaging
There can be lack of differentiation here, but Messenger tied to Facebook, Instagram, Portal and Oculus. I suspect it'll be tied to future hardware as well. Whatsapp has network effects, and may one day have lock-in comparable to Chinese super apps (at least that's what's being worked towards). iMessage is the the main competitor here, because they are automatically installed on every iPhone
Misc
I think Facebook Marketplace, the Craigslist alternative benefits greatly from Facebook using real identities, and is an overall better product. If you want to sell something locally FB Marketplace is the best option, and I think it's a strong reason to have an account. Usage of Marketplace is growing.
The integration with Jio in India, and importance in Indian society is worth mentioning for Whatsapp.
Facebook Groups, have competition in the form of Reddit, and Discord. The edge here will be real identities, and the tools they are building to make moderating a Facebook group profitable (subscriptions, etc)
The only other pure "Real Identity social network" is Linkedin is a professional network.
Problems
No young people use Facebook? This seems to be a US centric cliche, as Facebook is popular among all age demographics around the world. According to Pew Research 76% of people 18-24 use Facebook, only superseded by Youtube. For teens in 2018, 51% of teens used Facebook which is good in my opinion for a social network not targeted to teens like Tik Tok. I personally think the utility of Facebook kicks in after college age, but regardless if there is a problem, I think the cure can be User Acquisition through hardware.
Chance of mass exodus? again, mitigated by the lock-in of hardware, but this is a concern of mine based on Facebook's reputation. 1. Privacy, there is truth to some criticism here, because Facebook's business model does depend on data collection, and in many ways is opposed to strict definitions of privacy, but much of it is also pushed by myth like "Facebook sells data". Facebook has the same business model as its advertising funded peers, but perception is what matters, and Facebook is losing the perception battle. 2. Politics, In my opinion has been half of Facebook's reputation problem. Recently Zuck said that they are trying to make Facebook less political by not recommending political groups, and lowering reach on political posts. Also, Donald Trump being gone should make the next 4 years less politically controversial. Since Facebook is in the business of advertising, and people can mostly say what they want, there's always the small chance of a #DeleteFacebook movement reaching critical mass based on these themes.
Being banned in countries? Mitigated by becoming a hardware player, but this is an unlikely outcome for many reasons that my hands are too tired to elaborate on.
Apple's privacy stance and iOS 14: The hit to revenue estimates I've seen are between 1%-7%, but it could also be a boost to revenue since third party signals being reduced will give the edge to whoever has the best first party signals, we'll have wait to see. This is something to watch closely, but transferring third party data into first party data by having ecommerce on the platform through initiatives like Facebooks shops, and Instagram shopping can be the cure. Also, being in control of hardware mitigates this risk
Antitrust- generally not concerned
Privacy as a theme that is adversarial to advertising - slightly concerned but I don't think ad funded business models are going anywhere, many people like not paying for things
Might add more to this later...

Hardware:
I think the smartest defensive move Facebook can make at this stage is doing whatever it takes to become a major player in consumer hardware. Even if they breakeven, or lose money on this endeavor it can be treated as user acquisition costs for the people who wouldn't make a Facebook account otherwise, or as a way to make Facebook accounts as sticky as possible to protect against people leaving the platform. Anecdotally, I've seen people that have preached "Facebook is evil" for years, say that not they will not ever delete their newly open accounts because if they did their Oculus hardware wouldn't work, and they'd lose all of their purchases.
Facebook is dominating the growing VR market with an iron fist. Non-advertising revenue grew 156% in Q4, and IDC estimates 3 million Quest 2's were sold in Q4. Oculus Quest 2 has stellar reviews, despite the mandatory Facebook account for use. Facebook's VR devices also use Messenger for messages, Workplace for enterprise, and I believe Facebook Horizon (which is integrated with the FB app) will eventually be the place users load into initially, and launch third party apps from.
High investment cost makes it unlikely that other social media company can compete with Facebook in hardware (especially AVR), and this should give Facebook a permanent utility advantage against its peers. The companies that could compete, big tech, and gaming giants seem unwilling to make the investment to compete. I think they're aware that Facebook is completely fine making $0 to be dominant in the VR space, and that's scared them away in addition to facts like VR being a relatively small market for them.Apple is rumored to be considering a release of a Quest-like headset in later 2022, but the device will be priced far above $1000 according to Mark Gurman.
VR is where I'm most confident in Facebook's ability to achieve its hardware dreams, but consumer AR is also an area where its only competition in terms of investments made is Apple. So I think their chances there are decent too. Facebook is working on long term AR glasses, but is also releasing Smartglasses in collaboration with Luxottica (Ray-Ban and Oakley) this year. There's also Facebook's line of smart video chatting devices, Portal.
Traditionally Listed Moats
Intangible assets consisting of the vast amount of data users have shared: sustained and growing, but people are also sharing things about themselves on other apps increasingly.
Growth of users means network effects still growing
Number and diversity of advertisers, and advertiser verticals still growing
Competition?
There is rising social media competition, and always the threat of new entrants. That being said, competition seems to carve out niches, so they aren't competing as directly as we'd think. The closest thing to Facebook the Blue app, for connecting with family and friends is Instagram. Competing apps can have similar features, but the main utilities are different. Tik Tok is mostly a short video app, Youtube is a long video app, Twitter is a breaking news app, Reddit is a communities app, etc. Facebook's utility first and foremost is connecting with REAL people who's identity you can verify, like friends and family. Like previously mentioned, the closest competitor is Instagram.
Messaging
There can be lack of differentiation here, but Messenger tied to Facebook, Instagram, Portal and Oculus. I suspect it'll be tied to future hardware as well. Whatsapp has network effects, and may one day have lock-in comparable to Chinese super apps (at least that's what's being worked towards). iMessage is the the main competitor here, because they are automatically installed on every iPhone
Misc
I think Facebook Marketplace, the Craigslist alternative benefits greatly from Facebook using real identities, and is an overall better product. If you want to sell something locally FB Marketplace is the best option, and I think it's a strong reason to have an account. Usage of Marketplace is growing.
The integration with Jio in India, and importance in Indian society is worth mentioning for Whatsapp.
Facebook Groups, have competition in the form of Reddit, and Discord. The edge here will be real identities, and the tools they are building to make moderating a Facebook group profitable (subscriptions, etc)
The only other pure "Real Identity social network" is Linkedin is a professional network.
Problems
No young people use Facebook? This seems to be a US centric cliche, as Facebook is popular among all age demographics around the world. According to Pew Research 76% of people 18-24 use Facebook, only superseded by Youtube. For teens in 2018, 51% of teens used Facebook which is good in my opinion for a social network not targeted to teens like Tik Tok. I personally think the utility of Facebook kicks in after college age, but regardless if there is a problem, I think the cure can be User Acquisition through hardware.
Chance of mass exodus? again, mitigated by the lock-in of hardware, but this is a concern of mine based on Facebook's reputation. 1. Privacy, there is truth to some criticism here, because Facebook's business model does depend on data collection, and in many ways is opposed to strict definitions of privacy, but much of it is also pushed by myth like "Facebook sells data". Facebook has the same business model as its advertising funded peers, but perception is what matters, and Facebook is losing the perception battle. 2. Politics, In my opinion has been half of Facebook's reputation problem. Recently Zuck said that they are trying to make Facebook less political by not recommending political groups, and lowering reach on political posts. Also, Donald Trump being gone should make the next 4 years less politically controversial. Since Facebook is in the business of advertising, and people can mostly say what they want, there's always the small chance of a #DeleteFacebook movement reaching critical mass based on these themes.
Being banned in countries? Mitigated by becoming a hardware player, but this is an unlikely outcome for many reasons that my hands are too tired to elaborate on.
Apple's privacy stance and iOS 14: The hit to revenue estimates I've seen are between 1%-7%, but it could also be a boost to revenue since third party signals being reduced will give the edge to whoever has the best first party signals, we'll have wait to see. This is something to watch closely, but transferring third party data into first party data by having ecommerce on the platform through initiatives like Facebooks shops, and Instagram shopping can be the cure. Also, being in control of hardware mitigates this risk
Antitrust- generally not concerned
Privacy as a theme that is adversarial to advertising - slightly concerned but I don't think ad funded business models are going anywhere, many people like not paying for things
Might add more to this later...

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Wanted to share some of my research on Digital Turbine, which in my view isn’t getting enough attention. The company owns a monopoly in the pre-load app space, has a lot of exciting growth opportunities, and is a great long-term buy. The stock is up over 650% over the past 12 months, so the valuation does seem stretched, but I could see the stock going to $100 within the next 6-12 months if the next few earnings calls don’t disappoint.
Super long post, TLDR on the bottom.
What Does Digital Turbine Do?

• Digital Turbine has created digital software called Ignite and its flagship product Dynamic Installs (70% of revenue) automatically pre-loads apps onto the phone for the Android market ONLY. Basically, if you buy a new Android device and you see Uber or Starbucks installed when you first boot up the phone, Digital Turbine is likely the company behind that.
• Digital Turbine has additional products (30% of revenue) including:
  • Wizard - a pop-up menu that shows up and asks users if they want to add apps onto their phone when booting up a new phone
  • SingleTap - a patented digital ad technology that allows users to frictionlessly download apps with one-click instead of having to go through multiple steps on the App Store
  • Notifications that pop on the user’s home screen recommending apps or content

Business Model

• The power of Digital Turbine’s business model comes from its extensive partnerships. The company has multi-year EXCLUSIVE contracts with many of the major phone carriers like Verizon and AT&T, OEMs like Samsung and LG, and advertisers which consist of 70% of the top apps on Google Play.
• To give you an example of how Digital Turbine makes money, let’s imagine Lyft wants to gain users on Android devices. Lyft could spend $100 marketing on Facebook or Snapchat to get new users but then they’re competing with the hundreds of thousands of other apps spending on ads, OR they could approach Digital Turbine and get a guaranteed number of pre-loaded apps onto phones for that same $100. Digital Turbine touts this to give companies a much better ROI.
  • Roughly a third of the revenue paid by an advertiser goes to the carrier, a third to the OEM, and a third to Digital Turbine
• Carriers and OEMs earn money from advertisers without much work on their end, while app developers are able to access millions of Android devices as long as their app is a good fit for the phone buyer
• To give you a sense of scale for the business, Digital Turbine to date has delivered 4.2 billion apps, has its software on more than 500 million phones, and is adding more than 20 million new devices each month

Growth Prospects

• Macroeconomic / secular trends
  • Though most US users love their iPhones the Android market actually dominates with an 80%+ market share worldwide, and this is not likely to change any time soon
  • Due to COVID-19, a lot of retail stores had to shut down, which resulted in less new phone sales, which means less revenue for Digital Turbine. With the return of the economy and with the next wave of 5G phones which will push customers to upgrade phones, the next few years look favorable for the company
• Mobile Posse
  • The company acquired Mobile Posse, which provides carriers like Verizon and OEMs like Samsung the ability to show phone users third party content through two products:
    • firstAPP which aggregates different media content and is shown right when a user unlocks the phone
    • firstPAGE which shows media content when a user opens the browser
  • The transaction closed in February 2020 and is a great complementary add to Digital Turbine for 3 reasons:
    • The deal was extremely fair in price. Mobile Posse was acquired for $66 million but $24.5 million of that is an estimated earn-out. With the company having generated $59 million in 2019 revenue, the company was purchased just over 1x revenue which in my opinion is a steal considering the company has a 5-year CAGR of 48% and is profitable
    • This acquisition makes Digital Turbine’s entire ecosystem more attractive to its partners by extending its product offerings throughout the life of the phone by being able to constantly show users content and ads. Mobile Posse’s content products will now consist of around a third of Digital Turbine’s revenue which is great because it decreases the company’s dependence on app pre-loads.
    • One of Mobile Posse’s primary carrier partners is T-Mobile which recently merged with Sprint, and this is the last major US carrier that Digital Turbine doesn’t have major business with. According to the latest earnings call, the CEO remains upbeat about signing T-Mobile and Sprint as partners, and the acquisition of Mobile Posse helps makes Digital Turbine more likely to sign on the carrier, which means more devices and an even stronger partnership network.
• International expansion
  • The third and most powerful opportunity for growth is international expansion. Currently, North America revenue accounts for roughly 65% of the company’s sales, but the real golden opportunity lies beyond in developing countries where Android is the dominant player.
  • In December 2018, Digital Turbine signed on Samsung as a partner, which paved the way for the company to sign on Telefonica, Telecom Italia, America Movil, Millicom, and AT&T Mexico in the past 1-2 years. Basically, this means Digital Turbine now partners with 2/3 of the OEMs in Latin America and an estimated 80% of mobile subscribers through carriers
  • The company also has a partnership with Reliance Jio, which covers 25% of the 1 billion mobile subscribers in India and has a partnership with Xiaomi which could lead to partnerships in China
  • All of this is to say that Digital Turbine is truly in the beginning stages of its international expansion, and I believe as investors are starting to see the company successfully execute, it’s beginning to draw more attention and hence why it’s stock has shot up over the past year

Financials

• In the latest quarterly earnings report, the company reported quarter over quarter revenue that is up 116% which is inflated due to the Mobile Posse acquisition but on a combined company basis, sales grew by 53%.
• The company also grew recurring revenue from 10% in the previous year to 40% which is a really good sign because it means revenue will be more reliable moving forward
• The company also reported 43% gross margin in the quarter as compared to 39% in the previous year, another great sign
• Company has just about as much debt as cash (~$17mm) and is profitable and cash-flow positive

Risks & mitigations

• First, is the valuation. Digital Turbine has experienced some explosive growth over the past year and in order to justify its share price, the company needs to execute well especially with its international expansion which is always tricky
  • However, I do think the management team has shown that it has been making all the right moves and I think the path to future growth as I laid out earlier in the video will lead to some nice surprise developments in the next few years
• Second, in its 10K, one of the biggest risks is that carriers or OEMs may start building their own services to work with advertisers, and if a big customer like Verizon or AT&T were to pull out their contracts, that would really hurt the company like when TikTok pulled from Fastly.
  • I think Digital Turbine is aware of this risk and that’s why it’s working hard to diversify its revenue stream by strengthening its product offerings through the acquisition of Mobile Posse and expanding internationally
• Lastly, there’s some criticism that Digital Turbine products are bloatware, and this would only be a problem if customers actually were turning away from devices because of the pre-loaded apps and home screen products Digital Turbine provides
  • Customers can always turn off any of Digital Turbine’s products and delete pre-loaded apps but more often than not, customers end up utilizing the company’s products in one form or another

What I’m Doing

• I’ve started a small position in the company a few weeks ago and plan to hold for the next few years
• Valuation looks a bit overstretched so I wouldn’t bet the farm on it at these prices but if the stock does have any major dips, I am going to treat them as major buying opportunities
• Company’s earnings report is on February 3rd, which will be really interesting to see what happens. Last quarter, the company reported strong earnings but the stock dropped 16% and rebounded quickly
• If the stock dips to the $30s or $40s, that would be an ideal great time to buy

Resources I looked at:

• Latest investor presentation
• 10Qs and 10Ks
• Mobile Posse acquisition presentation
• Company presentation from a Digital Turbine director at a conference

TLDR: Company owns a monopoly in the Android pre-load app space with partnerships with the largest carriers and OEMs in the world not named Apple; lots of good growth prospects including its recent acquisition + international expansion. Expensive stock fundamentally right now but good one to keep an eye on if there are any major dips. Strong buy in the $30s-40s. Medium buy in the $50s. Earnings call on February 3rd should materially move the stock either up or down so will be important to pay attention to that.

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My name is Dmitry Boshenyatov. I am the CEO of the CyberTime Finance project. This is my first post on Reddit, but I'm sure not the last.
I'll tell you about a situation that happened yesterday. A post from u/KMiguel1 has been released with an overview of CyberTime token distribution. If you missed it, you can check it here
Within a few hours, one of the comments received 40-50 Upvote. At the moment there are about 80 of them. User u/nawab_saab sharply expressed his opinion calling the project a fake, tokens as garbage. He doubted the choice of the audit company and assumed that we are all scammers. Other users noticed the author's writing style and the intrigue around the cheat code.
Let's understand everything in order. So let's go!
I would like to start with the most important thing - feedback, questions, criticism of the project from users.
Constructive dialogue helps users to learn more about the project, and the team to be flexible and create a product that people need. But it is very important that the discussion does not turn into abuse and insults. Respect for each other remained! I am grateful to u/nawab_saab for his feedback, but I think he clearly went overboard. I wanted to discuss with him in DM what specifically bothers him, but he just started insulting me. Since things have gone so far, I show a screenshot of our correspondence
I can understand his anger, hatred and irritation. There are a lot of scammers around the blockchain whose goal is to fill their pocket with money. But this does not give the right to insult the project / team / founder for choosing audit company or for something else!
We were publicly accused of being a fake project. Is it so?
Most likely u/nawab_saab hasn't seen my last interviews with 2 crypto bloggers:

• Interview for Techie SDS Channel (English language)
• Interview for Tokenized TV Channel (Russian language)

Why should I have a lucky light if I want to deceive everyone?
Move on. We have chosen the token distribution model through Farming. It will be 2 tokens, the team has a share only in CTF - 10%, which is not available immediately, but is paid gradually every day for 365 days. We can't crank up the scheme like Chef Nomi and quickly quit the game. Why this difficulties with farming, distribution model, when we could have just made a presale, raised money, make pump and dumb and wasted.
The most suspicious will say: "You want to collect more money in 18 pools, leave a vulnerability in the project, organize a fictitious hacker attack and do an Exit Scam". Looks like a good business scheme. If you do this anonymously, you can launch a new project every month. - Why would I do interviews and show my face? - Why should I write answers to criticism? - Why make a product on the NFT market when you can make another DeFi with more money?
Indeed, we have not yet opened access to the code on GitHub, are not hosted on Uniswap, are not listed on Coinmarketcap & Coingecko, we are not showing links to smart contracts of tokens and pools. It is very important that we do it all in the next 5 days! We don't hold a private presale for whitelists, do we? We do not collect money from anyone. You just need to wait for the release, but someone does not have enough patience and it breaks down
A new project is launched by farming with an unknown audit company from India looks suspicious, isn't it? But let's talk it in more detail.
Now the market has such an opinion. If you are not audited by companies: Quantstamp, Peckshield, Certik or other TOP-10 audit firms, then you are automatically a fraud and a liar.
But let's face it. Throwing off the link to the news from 5 February (7 days ago)
Yearn.Finance (YFI) Targeted by "Flash Loan" Attack, $ 11,000,000 Drained (Coinmarketcap publication)
Wait a second? Has a project with a capitalization of $1.6 billion been hacked? Have they not audited smart contracts since launch in July 2020?
It is important to understand that there are always risks in investment. Especially in a market that is just getting infected.
Why did we choose Untitled Lab and Adesh Nandkishor Kolte as our auditors?
Because we are a very young startup that launches a project with our own money. We did not conduct a presale, we did not conduct a premining, we do not have investors! Prices for audit in TOP companies start from $ 5000, in fact they cost $7.500- $10.000. This is just an audit! And also development, marketing.Why are we entering this market without a lot of money? Because we see the prospects for the NFT market, we have assembled a cool team of professionals, we want to create a cool platform and unite crypto artists, digital art lovers, Fantasy Teams, game lovers, blockchain enthusiasts on it.
We were on a tight budget, so we chose Adesh Nandkishor Kolte & Untitled Lab. He does not hide his face (he has been blogging about cybersecurity on Medium since 2017), he helped find vulnerabilities to Google, Microsoft, Oracle and other companies. He thinks like a hacker, so he use the concept of threat modeling in work and look’s deeply in front runner attacks on Uniswap, semantics check, gas audit etc. I personally talked a lot with Adesh and realized that he is a good guy. He has no purpose to cheat, he is burning with cybersecurity and wants to make a name for himself in the audit market. And trust is the most important thing in a market where many are anonymous.
Will we give 100% guarantee that nothing will happen? I cannot say that, but I am confident in my team, confident in the auditor and confident in what we are doing.In the future, perhaps we will audit a large campaign.
But what if Adesh & Untitled Lab prove themselves in the nearest farming? Of course, we will continue to work with them, and we will use large audit companies for marketing and more reliable project protection.
In the end, I would like to say that our goal is to create a strong and open community around our project and NFT. We are ready to listen, ready to change. And we will defend our project from negativity, insults and unfounded accusations!
Let everyone decide for himself - TRUST or NOT
Thanks to u/KMiguel1 for the post and "Cheat code" meme, which we will definitely use in the future!

• Twitter - https://twitter.com/cybertime_eth
• Telegram - https://t.me/cybertime_eth

Hello again, and good morning!
I'm stuck inside for the day (I believe we're at about 6" and counting, supposed to snow/ice all day until midday tomorrow) - so what better task than to offer the leftovers from my January 31 auction? For those of you who aren't familiar, you can buy anything you want right here and right now - no buyer's premiums, no additional fees.
The Usual Specials:
*FREE shipping for any order over $100.
*All items priced at $1 are now .75 each
NOTE: I'm stuck inside, and it's snowing all day today and at least half of tomorrow. I will drop off any sales from this batch on WEDNESDAY MORNING. I'll still get you a tracking number right away, but I won't be able to take it to USPS (and my carrier does NOT do pickups, we tried that once.)
Each lot was individually imaged (front and back) for the auction - so the easiest way for you to see exactly what you're buying is to visit the auction link (mods: the auction is over, so I'm not advertising anything different or advertising an upcoming auction) - so here that is:
Invaluable or AuctionZip
Here is the required "prove you still have the stuff" photo with the username card and today's date:
PHOTO
Payment: PayPal only. I do not have Venmo/Zello/Bitcoin or any other form of digital payment at this time. No notes if using PPFF, please. (Thank you.) If you choose to use PPFF, please make sure to send me your shipping address here as it won't automatically load with your payment, and NO NOTES (thank you.)
Shipping: I will charge you what it costs me for the USPS label rounded up to the nearest dollar. For First Class that is usually $4, for USPS Priority Mail Flat Rate Small Box it will be $9. I will get you a tracking number right after payment is received and will get your package scanned into the USPS system within 24 hours of receipt of payment. I will offer "Risky Shipping" (via stamped greeting card) at my discretion for $1 - for single, small coins ONLY. NOTE: These prices are for Continental US shipping only - if you live outside the continental US, shipping will be more expensive. I am still happy to do it under the same rules as above, but just keep in mind it's going to cost more.
What do YOU need to do to buy coins from this group: send me a list of which lots you want (for example, I want to buy lots # 51, 52, 53, 54, 55) and I will send you a total. There are too many coins here (plus there are duplicates) so I cannot look up the coins you want by description - just give me lot numbers and it will be much simpler.
I'd like to make a simple and polite request - if I have sent you my PayPal information (meaning we've agreed to a deal) please finish it up as soon as you can so I can check you off the list and move on to the next person. This helps make sure you get all the coins we discussed and no one else is in limbo.
I will do my absolute best to update the ad as soon as lots sell.
LEFTOVERS:
51 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
53 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
54 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
55 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
56 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
58 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
60 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
64 1957 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
65 1959 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
66 1961 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
67 British West Africa - 1940 1/10 Penny NICE $5.00
68 1961 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
69 1961 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
71 1976 Shelbyville Dam (Illinois) Elongated/Smashed Nickel Souvenir $3.00
73 1962 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
75 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
76 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
77 Papua New Guinea - 2008 2 Kina UNC $2.00
78 Missouri Insurance Company (St. Louis) Good Luck Token $3.00
79 1900 India (Rama-Laksmana) Type C #1 (Brotman) Temple Token NICE $40.00
80 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
81 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
82 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
83 1955 General Motors "Motorama" Medal BU $15.00
84 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
85 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
86 Central States 70th Anniversary Convention Token Jerry Lebo Advertising $6.00
89 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
90 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
92 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
93 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
94 German East Africa (Tanzania) - 1916 T 20 Heller $10.00
96 5 Cent Trade Token NICE $3.00
97 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
98 Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) - 1923 10 Mark Notgeld UNC $10.00
100 EZ Park Courtesy Token $1.00
151 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
152 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
153 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
154 1963 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
155 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
156 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
157 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
158 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
159 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
160 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
161 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
162 1964 Type B Reverse Washington Quarter $6.00
164 Great Britain - 1924 1/2 Penny $1.00
169 Portugal - 1921 10 Centavos NICE $10.00
170 Great Britain - 1925 1/2 Penny $1.00
176 Canada - 1921 1 Cent NICE $4.00
178 Great Britain - 1936 1/2 Penny $1.00
180 The TV Shop Slidell, LA One Wooden Buck $1.00
183 Great Britain - 1949 1 Penny NICE $2.00
184 Great Britain - 1949 1 Penny NICE $2.00
188 Great Britain - 1919 KN 1 Penny KEY DATE $5.00
193 State of Missouri Sesquicentennial Medal $2.00
194 State of Missouri Sesquicentennial Medal $2.00
196 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
197 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
198 Mexico - 1946 1 Centavo NICE $1.00
199 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
200 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
251 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
252 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
253 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
254 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
255 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
257 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
258 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
259 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
262 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
269 Maybrook NY Golden Jubilee Good For 10 Cent Wooden Nickel $1.00
270 Maybrook NY 1975 Golden Jubilee 25 Cent Wooden Nickel $1.00
274 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
276 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
278 1941 S "Large S" Lincoln Wheat Cent $1.00
280 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 012 UNC $2.00
281 1941 S "Large S" Lincoln Wheat Cent $1.00
283 1941 S "Large S" Lincoln Wheat Cent $1.00
288 1945 Walking Liberty Half Dollar Partially Missing Designer's Initials $12.00
293 1960's Terre Haute, IN Sesquicentennial Wooden Nickel $2.00
295 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
296 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 002 UNC $2.00
297 1864 Indian Head Cent $8.00
298 1982 Buffalo NY Sesquicentennial Wooden Nickel $1.00
299 1909 Indian Head Cent $2.00
352 Denmark - 1950 5 Ore KEY DATE $10.00
354 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse 013 UNC $2.00
357 1990 Rappahannock Area Coin Club Wooden Nickel $1.00
358 Bank of Canada - 1 Sou Montreal $2.00
359 Province of Canada (Bank of Montreal) - 1844 Half Penny Token $3.00
360 Old Time Wooden Nickel Co Support Our Troops Wooden Nickel $1.00
361 1941 S "Large S" Lincoln Wheat Cent $1.00
362 1941 S "Large S" Lincoln Wheat Cent $1.00
363 Great Britain - 1893 1/2 Penny Countermarked $3.00
364 1980 D Jefferson Nickel Mint Error - Minor Curved Clip (@3:30) $3.00
367 France - 1946 C 5 Francs Open 9 SEMI KEY $5.00
368 French IndoChina - 1921 1 Centime $2.00
369 Madagascar - 1953 20 Francs NICE $5.00
371 Australia - 1951 3 Pence $2.00
375 50 Cents in Trade Token $1.00
377 Clear Lake, IA Perkins Wooden Nickel $1.00
378 50 Cents in Trade Token $1.00
379 Medallic Art Co Grand Canyon National Park 50th Anniversary Medal Bronze $3.00
382 Pomona National Bridge / Jackson County 200 Year Anniversary Medal $3.00
385 Illawarrra Numismatic Association Membership Discount Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
388 Artisan Silverworks Temecula, CA Wooden Nickel $1.00
389 Canada - 1966 1 Cent Emerald Toning $2.00
392 5 Cent Token $1.00
395 Denmark - 1904/804 1 Ore NICE $8.00
397 Germany (Empire) - 1874 G 1 Pfennig $10.00
398 Netherlands - 1921 1/2 Cent BETTER DATE $2.00
399 Netherlands - 1922 1/2 Cent BETTER DATE $4.00
400 Germany (Empire) - 1874 D 10 Pfennig $3.00
451 IBM Endicott Parking Token $1.00
454 "This is my lucky day" Game Piece Token $1.00
455 Brown's Tavern Laingsburg, Michigan 10 Cent Good For Trade Token $3.00
456 20 Werte Marke Token $1.00
457 India - 2011 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
458 Canada - 1948 5 Cents $1.00
459 India - 2011 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
460 Denmark - 1951 10 Ore NICE $5.00
461 India - 2013 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
462 India - 2013 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
463 Barbados - 1973 Proof 25 Cents in OGP $1.00
464 India - 2009 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
465 India - 2009 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
466 India - 2008 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
468 India - 2008 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
469 India - 2015 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
470 India - 2015 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
471 India - 2010 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
472 India - 2010 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
473 India - 2012 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
475 India - 2012 10 Rupee UNC $1.00
476 India - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board 10 Rupees UNC $1.00
477 India - Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board 10 Rupees UNC $1.00
478 Mount Vernon, VA High School Token Overstruck on State Quarter $1.00
479 Mount Vernon, VA High School Token Overstruck on State Quarter $1.00
480 Barbados - 1980 Proof 25 Cents in OGP cello $1.00
484 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse Book Low UNC $2.00
485 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse Book Low UNC $2.00
486 Austria - 1893 10 Heller $1.00
487 2009 P Lincoln Cent "Formative Years" Doubled Die Reverse Book Low UNC $2.00
488 Netherlands East Indies - 1921 1/2 Cent NICE KEY DATE $8.00
489 Austria - 1895 10 Heller $1.00
490 Austria - 1894 20 Heller $1.00
493 Portland, Oregon Hesse Store Token $5.00
496 Kiau Chiau 1909 10 Cent ex- Jewelry $5.00
498 French IndoChina Watch Fob (2 coins linked) $2.00
499 India - 1976 10 Paise NICE $1.00
500 France - 1944 C 1 Franc $1.00
551 French IndoChina - 1923 1 Centime $1.00
554 Panama - 1975 Proof 1 Centesimo in OGP $5.00
561 Panama - 1975 Proof 5 Centesimos in OGP $1.00
562 Panama - 1976 Proof 5 Centesimos in OGP $2.00
564 South Africa - 1966 Proof 1 Cent LOW MINTAGE 25,000 $2.00
568 Panama - 1974 Proof 5 Centesimos in OGP cello $1.00
574 Barbados - 1973 Proof 1 Cent $1.00
584 Liberia - 1974 Proof 10 Cents in OGP $1.00
593 Mexico - 1923 5 Centavos NICE $5.00
594 Bahamas - 1970 Proof 1 Cent in OGP $1.00
595 Mexico - 1935 20 Centavos NICE $30.00
596 Token "10" Unknown origin $1.00
652 Indiana Sesquicentennial Medal 1966 $3.00
654 Alleppey Dist Treasury 286 Token $3.00
655 Creotina Remedies Belleville, IL Token $3.00
657 Mexico - 2001 1 Peso UNC in original cello $1.00
662 1970 S Silver Proof Kennedy Half Dollar $5.00
664 Malaysia - 1977 50 Sen TONED UNC $3.00
665 Franklin D Roosevelt $2 Trade Token Union Maystern $3.00
666 Great Britain - 1953 5 Shillings UNC (Crown sized) $5.00
667 Russia - 1994 50 Roubles Blind Mole Rat LOW MINTAGE UNC $3.00
672 Mint of Romania Aluminum Token UNC $3.00
673 Bahamas - 1973 and 1974 Proof 1 Cents in OGP (two coins) $1.00
674 1970 S Silver Proof Kennedy Half Dollar $5.00
677 Penny Press Mint 1 Dollar Token (Morgan Dollar Inspired Design) $2.00
678 France (Paris) Montmartre Auditing Firm "Good for one audition" Token $2.00
679 Thailand - Bangkok Institute of Accounting Token $1.00
681 1941 Mercury Dime Pin $4.00
682 Korea (Republic) - 1968 5 Won UNC $25.00
683 Korea (Republic) - 1973 50 Won NICE $5.00
684 Russia - 1994 50 Roubles Bison NICE LOW MINTAGE $2.00
686 State Mint of Romania Octagonal Token UNC $2.00
688 France - 1977 10 Francs TONED $2.00
690 Saarland - 1954 10 Franken UNC $8.00
692 Mount Vernon, VA High School Token $1.00
693 Korea (Republic) - 1967 10 Won NICE $5.00
694 Korea (Republic) - 1967 10 Won UNC $40.00
695 Princes of Jerusalem - Cahokia Council A.A.S.RITE Valley of East St Louis Token $3.00
697 Magic Mountain Valencia California Souvenir Token $2.00
698 Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Driver's Association "good for one full fare" token $2.00
699 1950 D Jefferson Nickel KEY DATE $4.00
700 Downtown Granite City (Illinois) Shopping Center Token $3.00
751 Canada - 1957 House of Commons Medal $3.00
752 1973 D Washington Quarter UNC RAINBOW TONED $2.00
753 Mr. Pizza (World's Worst Pizza) Wooden Quarter Token $1.00
754 National Pony Express Centennial Medal So Called Dollar UNC TONED $5.00
755 Pulaski Bowling Center Free Game Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
756 Four Canada 1991 UNC Cents (4 coins) in OGP CELLO $1.00
757 Four Canada 1991 UNC 5 Cents (4 coins) in OGP CELLO $1.00
758 1995 P Washington Quarter UNC RAINBOW TONED $2.00
760 1998 P Washington Quarter UNC RAINBOW TONED $2.00
761 Mexico - 2000 10 Pesos UNC in original cello $6.00
764 Ye Olde Curiosity Shop Seattle 25 Cent Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
765 Mexico - 2000 20 Pesos UNC in original cello $10.00
768 Morocco - AH1320 10 Mazunas $8.00
773 Diamond Dolls Pompano Beach, FL Free Hamburger Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
774 Nadine's Backwoods Bistro One Free Tap Beer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
775 Ocean Springs Mini Golf One Free Game Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
777 1931 D Mercury Dime Better Date $5.00
778 Lansing, Michigan University Quality Inn One Free Well Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
779 1931 D Mercury Dime Better Date $5.00
780 San Jose, California Donut Delight One Small Drink 40 Cents Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
781 H.E.B. Hustle Chip Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
782 Two Mixed Tokens $1.00
784 South Gate, California Robby's Tepee 1 Glass Draft Beer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
785 Macadoo's One Free Sara Lee Bagle (with butter!) Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
786 Canada - 1970 1 Cent TONED $1.00
788 State Penal Institution 5 Cent Good For Token $3.00
789 Russia - 1992 10 Roubles UNC $3.00
790 Fishing Equipment & Tackle 10% Discount Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
791 District Treasury Alleppey 1860 Token Government of Kerala $2.00
792 Russia (Empire) - 1881 1 Kopek $1.00
793 Black Duck Buck Good For One Premium Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
794 Goodles, Michigan Cook's Cobblestone One Free Beer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
795 City of Jackson, Tennessee 5 Cent Parking Token $2.00
796 San Diego, California My Yogurt Place One Free Frozen Yogurt Sundae Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
797 Canada - 1939 Coronation Medal $2.00
798 Ellsworth, Maine Bicentennial Headquarters Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
799 Garden State Parkway Car Fare Token $1.00
800 Suwanee River Attractions 25 Cent Admission Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
851 Sunnyvale, California Odyssey Room 1 Free Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
852 Great Britain - Queen Victoria 60 Years of Rule Medal $3.00
854 Belgium - 1944 2 Franc NICE $1.00
855 Fredericksburg, Virginia Rappahannock Area Coin Club Wooden Nickel Token One free month $1.00
857 Canada - 1962 "Hanging 1" 1 Cent UNC $5.00
858 Canada - 1962 "Hanging 1" 1 Cent UNC $5.00
859 Monarch Automatic Co Northhampton Good For One Coupon in Trading Token $2.00
860 Netherlands - 1881 1 Cent $1.00
861 Canada - 1963 "Hanging 1" 1 Cent UNC $5.00
862 Mexico - 2000 20 Pesos UNC in original cello $10.00
863 Fredericksburg, Virginia Rappahannock Area Coin Club Wooden Nickel Token One free month $1.00
864 Tullahoma, Tennessee The Finish Line Free Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
865 Here's Johnny's 25 Cents off Purchase Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
866 $1 Good For Token Large $3.00
867 Canada - 1939 Coronation Medal $3.00
868 Boise, Idaho Miller's Sewing Center 25 Cent Needle Package Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
869 San Antonio, Texas Dan's 10861 FM "Round TUIT" Wooden Token $1.00
870 Belgium - 1836 2 Centimes $1.00
871 Vandalia, Ohio Skipper's $3 off purchase Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
872 Roseville, California Onyx Club One Free Beer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
873 Long Beach, California Fayette Cleaners Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
874 Beckett, Massachussetts 1965 Bicentennial Lee National Bank 5 Cent Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
875 Munhall, Pennsylvania 5 Cent Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
876 Canada - 1963 "Hanging 1" 1 Cent UNC $5.00
878 1953 Queen Elizabeth Coronation Medal $3.00
881 Fredonia, New York Coyle's Pub One Free Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
882 Monterey, California Wharfside Restaurant Complimentary Calimari Appetizer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
883 Lyman, Wyoming Cecil Sanderson Military Token & Wooden Nickel Collector "Round TUIT" Token $1.00
884 Eastlake, Colorado Karl's Farm Dairy Inc 25 Cent Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
885 Elko, Nevada Ed's Coins & Currency "Cents of Humor" Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
886 Great Britain - 1874 1 Penny $4.00
887 Richmond Hot Stuff Deluxe Tattoo One Free Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
889 Sacramento, California The Tides 1 Free Beer Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
890 Lancaster, Pennsylvania The Comic Store Free Comic Wooden Nickel Token RARE $1.00
891 Bennington, Vermont Bicentennial 1961 5 Cent Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
892 Torrance, California Old Towne Mall One Free Play Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
893 Duenweg, Missouri State Bank One Quart Token NICE $3.00
894 Rotary International Token $1.00
895 Great Britain - 1896 1 Penny $4.00
896 Canada - 1930 House of Commons Medal $3.00
897 Greenfield, Iowa Al's Shoe Service 5 Cents Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
898 Great Britain - 1863 1 Penny $2.00
899 Great Britain - 1891 1 Penny $2.00
952 Poland - 2006 2 Zlotych $3.00
953 Poland - 2003 2 Zlotych $3.00
954 Aurora, Illinois Dairy Queen Free Small Sundae Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
955 Mullan, Idaho Silver Dollar Bar 1 Free Drink Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
956 Poland - 2004 2 Zlotych $3.00
957 New Horizons Computer Learning Center Turkey Token 10 Auction Dollars Wooden $1.00
958 Great Britain - 1863 1 Penny $2.00
959 Great Britain - 1899 1 Penny $2.00
960 Great Britain - 1892 1 Penny $2.00
962 Lake of the Woods 40th Anniversary Token $2.00
963 The Travancore Bank Trivandrum #103 Token $1.00
965 Great Britain - 1863 1 Penny $2.00
966 1925 Larkin Dollar Medal BU $8.00
967 Great Britain - 1862 1 Penny $2.00
968 Palmolive Soap Chicago, Illinois Good For One Cake Token NICE $5.00
969 Duenweg State Bank Duenweg, Missouri Strawberry Token Good For 1 Crate $6.00
970 Dallas, Texas City Hall Token $1.00
972 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (Mexico 20 Centavos) $3.00
973 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (Mexico 20 Centavos) $3.00
975 Great Britain - 1862 1 Penny $2.00
977 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (New Zealand 5 Cents) $3.00
979 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (New Zealand 5 Cents) $3.00
980 Great Britain - 1894 1 Penny $2.00
981 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (New Zealand 5 Cents) $3.00
982 Great Britain - 1892 1 Penny $2.00
983 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (New Zealand 5 Cents) $3.00
984 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (New Zealand 5 Cents) $3.00
985 Great Britain - 1899 1 Penny $2.00
986 Great Britain - 1862 1 Penny $2.00
987 Harry S Truman US Mint Bronze Medal in OGP $3.00
989 Vietnam Veterans National Bronze Medal in OGP $3.00
990 Great Britain - 1881 H 1 Penny $5.00
991 Great Britain - 1877 1 Penny $2.00
992 2010 Korea Money Fair Token with original Flip $3.00
993 Matchless Metal Polish Co Liverpool 1906 Token $5.00
994 Great Britain - 1888 1 Penny $2.00
995 Marissa, Illinois 1967 Centennial Wooden Nickel Token $1.00
996 Central States Numismatic Society 2005 Token Original AirTite $2.00
997 Central States Numismatic Society 2005 Token Original AirTite $2.00
998 Central States Numismatic Society 2005 Token Original AirTite $2.00
1000 Worldwide Bi-Metallic Collector's Club World Money Fair Encased Coin (Euro 5 Cent) $3.00

Not a bubble post!
For a couple of months, I have been looking into what is a hot investment so to speak and I couldn't believe my eyes. People are chugging ICLN and whatever Cathie Woods puts out without even a flinch of thought that it may not be the best time to purchase certain securities.
We have genomics ETF. It holds great companies and some have a bright future and a lot of potentials but those companies are driven up like crazy and people are constantly buying at whatever levels they are priced. It is not good. ETF's made it easy to believe that you cannot really lose a lot of money because you have a lot of different securities under one name - WRONG.
I was sold the same idea with certain ETFs around gold and I quickly found out that holding ETF's below 40-50K dollars is not efficient. You pay some fees, you pay some taxes and you have almost zero control. I like only those that follow indexes automatically and only these have some reasoning.
Why would you purchase something priced at 100$ without underlying balance sheets to support this type of price? It is beyond me.
BYND is a perfect example too. I know I know, we have Biden and many people are excited about billions going into the green energy sector but remember this - government contract doesn't guarantee retail success. We have to think about these companies like other normal businesses and if you are buying a 110$ stock based on a sausage they might produce later this and sell it 4-5 years down the road - you are making a mistake. This is not investing - this is buying on the premise that the company will do insanely well - the sad truth is if you were to spend 45 minutes of your life on youtube looking at reviews from burger channels people that are chugging meat all day long are cringing while eating their plant-based burger. "Yeah it's fine, I like the idea but it is not tasty" - people are not coming back to pay 30% more money for a burger that tastes worse than a cow. I am sorry but this is just reality. Especially in an economy where people are out of a job, need to cut costs.
People forgot how to INVEST. This is the keyword. People (not all of you) started speculating and when I see another ETF made on whatever is the new hot thing it makes me cringe.
One guy asks if he should invest in a newly created ETF on the water! Do your DD and if companies under that ETF are not printing money - DON'T. Another user replied with a great answer - if we have a national/global water problem distribution will be held on a government level probably controlled by the army, not by a few capitalists, OP immediately changed his narration because he didn't take that possibility into the equation.
People like Cathie Wood need to make money for their companies and it is 100% understandable. She is looking for new ways of making money and if something fails - it fails. These people have hundred of billions of dollars under control and all it takes as we see is a couple of phone calls to turn tables around if something goes south. DO NOT INVEST YOUR FIRST 10K INTO A RANDOM ETF MADE BY A RANDOM PERSON TELLING YOU THAT THIS IS THE FUTURE. You will most likely lose money.
I am afraid ETFs made it easier to lure people into these financial assets just like bad debt was bundled and sold across Wallstreet in 2007/2008. I may be wrong, I may be a boomer but I am not touching any active managed ETF's at this moment.
Let me rant about green a little more.
How on earth are you thinking that a bunch of startups under ICLN will pump billions upon billions each year? The big dirty oil industry may be destroying our planet but managers of these companies have trillions in assets that can be spent overnight to create networks of green energy hubs across the globe. If you look at the investor relations tab with British Petroleum or Energy Product Partners (EPD) first company suggests it wants to go carbon-free but when it will be profitable and widely implemented - in 2050. Do you want to wait 29 years for your investments to profit? This is capitalism, not a charity created by Wallstreet. Some small companies may succeed in their missions on some grounds, selling/leasing green technology or components but the big dogs are going to pull the triggers on how and when things are going to be done. They are not going out of business, that knife is not falling. There is a great discussion about geography, only 17% of populated areas in the world are good for implementing green energy (taking financial situation and weather into account). Many many many poor countries are not having a dime for it. It is nice to think about buying 40k$ solar panels on your 400m2 house roof while we have a shortage of water in India, shortage of food, and political instability in many African countries ruled by corrupt governments that are not going to spend billions of $ to make the world a better place. There is an argument for the green but it is still too very early to even think about switching from oil. I am not saying that because I am invested in oil. I hold both sides but majority of energy is still in that is good today and will be 15 years down the line. Think beyond your area/country/continent. There is a great TEDex speech about ignorant people that are not recognizing world problems beyond their rich neighborhood and I suggest every investor - watch it. I am buying companies that are trying to make oil a little better because it will be widely used in production and consumption after we are going to see more carbon regulations. Companies and countries are going to seek cleaner oil - not a solar panel. $$$ speaks $$$
In EU countries pledged to remove coal sometime between 2030-2050. Think about that. Coal is still so big it can't be replaced in 5 years. Oh well, guess in which sector cheap coal bites in.
If investors were to really shape the planet we would be out of oil 40 years ago and Nestle would be long gone alongside KO and every major bank involved in Panama Papers and 2008 would be replaced by some fintech. Oh didn't happen.
I wish you all a lot of luck and invest wisely.
Cheers

DISCLAIMER: I wear my mask, wash my hands and try not to touch my face. I limit my social interactions.
I agree with lockdown measures that were taken in March/April 2020, when a lot was unknown. We did not know who the virus affected and we did not have better treatment measures.
But science and data over the last 10 months has clearly shown that our approach needs to change. —————————————————————.
“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much” Walter Lippmann, 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Canada is a business, and as a tax paying resident, you are a shareholder. I urge you to inform yourselves of the facts and judge for yourself what the board of directors (AKA politicians) are doing.
NUMBER OF CASES SHOULD NOT BE THE ONLY DATA SET. The government is creating COVID mitigation policies based on ONE fact: Number of COVID cases
COVID case numbers have, for a large part, INCREASED because testing numbers INCREASED. In Ontario, we have gone from conducting 10000 tests per day (April 22) to 62000 tests per day (Dec 12). [24]
More importantly, PCR tests have been shown to be scientifically meaningless for detecting a COVID infection. They were never intended as a diagnostic tool. Not only do they have a large tendency to have false positives, but they are also NOT a specific confirmation of an active COVID infection [25]. (i.e. the person may have been infected weeks or months ago)
A Public Health Ontario paper from Sept 2020 itself concluded that more research is needed on the PCR test viability for asymptomatic cases, due to a high threshold amplification of over 40, and variance in laboratory procedures. Otherwise, it may result in false cases and subsequent unnecessary isolation. [29]
Lastly, number of cases does not tell the whole story. Our main concern should be how many of those cases are getting HOSPITALIZED and who is DYING.
SO WHO IS COVID DEADLY FOR? Many of the following facts are directly from government public health websites. Please go see these sources for yourselves. The numbers below are current as of Dec 12, 2020.
PUBLIC HEALTH CANADA. https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html#fn1
Out of 12979 COVID related deaths in Canada, 89.4% are in the 70+ age group.
Percentage of COVID deaths in the 0-49 age group: 0.9% (this is a total of 127 COVID related deaths in Canada)
NOTE: It is important to make the distinction that just because someone dies WITH COVID does not mean that they died BECAUSE of COVID. COVID deaths might be inflated due to this distinction.
LONG TERM CARE HOMES. https://ltc-covid19-tracker.ca As of Dec 14, 2020: 73% of all COVID deaths in Canada have been in long term care homes [1].
PUBLIC HEALTH ONTARIO: LONG TERM CARE HOMES. https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-epidemiologic-summaries-public-health-ontario
Number of Weekly Ontario Long Term Care COVID Deaths (Vs. TOTAL Ontario COVID Deaths). Nov 29-Dec 5: 19 (42). Nov 22-28: 37 (81)
Based on the dates above, almost half of COVID related deaths in Ontario are still occurring in Long Term Care Homes.
PUBLIC HEALTH ALBERTA https://www.alberta.ca/stats/covid-19-alberta-statistics.htm
Average age of COVID-related death in Alberta: 82 years old.
Out of 697 COVID related deaths in Alberta, 98.1% have had 1 or more co-morbidities.
Here is the breakdown: 3 or more comorbidities: 77.3% 2 comorbidities: 15.4% 1 comorbidity: 5.4% No comorbidity: 1.9%
Comorbidities: the simultaneous presence of 2 or more diseases/ medical conditions in a patient.
NOTE: Comorbitities included are: Diabetes, Hypertension, COPD, Cancer, Dementia, Stroke, Liver Cirrhosis, Cardiovascular diseases (including IHD and Congestive heart failure), Chronic Kidney disease, and Immuno-deficiency.
NOTE: Comorbidity information is not released by Ontario, Quebec or BC (perhaps it is not even tracked).
STATSCAN REPORT: COVID 19 DEATH COMORBIDITIES IN CANADA (from the first wave) https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/45-28-0001/2020001/article/00087-eng.htm
As of July 31, 2020, - 90% of all COVID-involved deaths had at least 1 co-morbidity.

• ALL COVID-involved deaths in Canada under the age of 45 had at least 1 other disease or condition certified on the medical certificate of death.

Co-morbidity information above clearly shows that COVID is not the LONE killer in a COVID related death.
NOTE: It is highly likely that the 2% COVID related deaths with NO comorbidity were in the older demographic.
WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN? First of all, these are stats, but they are also people and each number represents a human loss. We are all empathetic to that.
Secondly, thank you to the public health officials that have collected and presented this information.
Their work clearly states the obvious.

1. A LARGE majority of COVID related deaths have and are still occurring in long term care homes.
   
2. COVID is a deadly threat to persons with co-morbidities and/or persons above the age of 70.
   

GOOD NEWS #1. For a healthy person below the age of 70, there is >99% chance of COVID recovery. For most, a COVID infection will range from no symptoms to just a bad flu.
GOOD NEWS #2: VITAMIN D3 DATA. We now know that a Vitamin D deficiency will likely result in a serious case of a COVID infection.
Vitamin D3 was shown to be deficient in 80% of hospitalized COVID patients in Spain [4].
The most comprehensive scientific study of Vitamin D deficiency in correlation to COVID patients was conducted in India over a span of 6 weeks. Out of 154 patients, 63 severe cases needed ICU. Out of these, 61 patients or 97% had a Vitamin D deficiency [5]. Overall, India has shown to have a lower strain of COVID, possibly because Vitamin D deficiency hits a much lower percentage of the population (due to more sunlight).
4000 IU daily is recommended to create a strong immune response to COVID [6].
GOOD NEWS #3: ASYMPTOMATIC %. At least 17% of the population is estimated to be asymptomatic to COVID [3]. This is GOOD news; there are many who are immune to the danger of COVID.
The converse argument, of course, is the asymptomatic spread of infection which is difficult to detect.
However, if an asymptomatic person does not deal with the vulnerable portion of the population, then what difference does it make? (More on this later).
Asymptomatic spread also leads to another important point: why and how are we supposed to control virus spread in an ENTIRE population when it is so difficult to detect in certain people? We’re setting ourselves up to fail with this strategy. Instead, why not focus on controlling spread in the SMALLER vulnerable demographic where it really matters?
GOOD NEWS #4. Doctors have improved the mortality rates of severe cases. We have gotten better at treating COVID [7].
We know the correct drugs to use.
We know that oxygenation is better than intubation (in many cases).
GOOD NEWS #5. The majority of cases are in the younger population. These cases are less severe and require less hospitalizations.
Daily Ontario COVID Cases for Age Group 0-59 [17]. Nov 27: 80.4% of the 1822 cases. Dec 05: 81.1% of the 1924 cases.
THE BAD NEWS #1: CANADA ECONOMIC SITUATION: THE REALITY. Canada Deficit 2019: $19.8 Billion [8]. Projected Deficit for March 2021: $381.6 to $398.7 Billion [9]
This is an increase in deficit of 1927% (worst case scenario 2014%).
THIS IS REAL. This is NOT a typo. (Imagine your $20,000 student loan becoming $398,000). This is the HIGHEST deficit in Canadian history.
NOTE: The economic statement was released on Nov 30, 2020. [9]
Canada has the worst increase in deficit (in relation to GDP) in the G20 countries [10]. This is based on Oct 2020 data, before the fiscal update, and is much worse now.
Our Minister Of Finance resigned during the summer. A day after the Fall Economic statement on Nov 30, 2020, our Deputy Minister Of Finance also resigned.
Our current Minister of Finance has no background in this field. Watch this video of her in Parliament: https://fb.watch/23ypw_Ru1_/
The following industries have been devastated: - Aviation - Tourism - Entertainment - Hospitality - Restaurants - Fitness
Even if you don’t think these are important in day-to-day life, they are a key cog in the Canadian economy and the source of employment for many.
Our official unemployment rate in October 2020 was listed at 8.9% [11]. This is deceiving. This is artificially held low by government subsidies and by ridiculous requirements to be considered “unemployed”.
The true unemployment number could be as high as 30%, if not more [12]. That means a staggering 10 million Canadians unemployed.
Over 158,000 small to medium businesses are at risk of closing permanently (NOT A TYPO) [13]. This is based on July 2020 data, before a second lockdown, and is clearly much worse now.
On the other hand, large corporations are thriving.
The price of a lockdown is not equally borne across the Canadian population.
We are all in the SAME storm, but not the SAME boat.
BAD NEWS# 2: LOCKDOWNS ARE NOT THE ANSWER; THEY ARE NOT ABOUT SAVING LIVES VS. THE ECONOMY. If you believe that a lockdown puts life ahead of the economy, you have been gravely misled.
The World Health Organization themselves “do not advocate for lockdowns as the primary means of control of this virus”[15]. Yet that has basically been Canada’s only means of fighting this virus.
In the UK, for every 3 COVID deaths, it is estimated another 2 deaths are added due to lockdown [14].
Reasons for these lockdown deaths is due to restricted medical care such as - Cancelled surgeries. - Undiagnosed heart and cancer patients. - lack of accessible treatment for current patients.
Between Mar 15-Jun 13, 2020, the Ontario surgical backlog had an average weekly increase of a whopping 11413 surgeries. This backlog is estimated to take 84 weeks to clear (almost 1.5 years). [30]. How many can survive a backlog that long?
Moreover, the following repercussions of a lockdown are also not taken into account - Mental Health - Suicides - Domestic Abuse - Drug Abuse and Alcoholism - Poverty - Children’s Education and Childhood Trauma
A Canadian Mental Health Association study concluded a study on all of the above, with 3027 participants Canada wide. Here are some highlights. https://cmha.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/CMHA-UBC-wave-2-Summary-of-Findings-FINAL-EN.pdf

• 40% have had their mental health decline during the pandemic
• 27% are worried about putting food on the table
• 10% experienced recent thoughts or feelings of suicide (up from 2.5% pre-pandemic).
• 18% report fearing physical and mental abuse while trapped at home
• Ontario has experienced a 38% increase in drug overdose deaths [31]

Another Psychiatric Research report has projected an increase of between 418-2114 excess suicides in Canada (depending on 1.6% to 10.7% increase in unemployment). [32]
Lastly, our immunity is being lowered. We are locked down at home, with increasing mental health issues, stress, lack of sunlight and lack of exercise. This further lowers our bodies’ response to a COVID infection.
WHY IS THE GOVERNMENT STILL IMPLEMENTING SUCH DAMAGING POLICIES?
DEMAGOGY: political activity or practices that seek support by appealing to the desires and prejudices of ordinary people rather than by using rational argument.
If the government changed their approach now, it would essentially mean admitting they are wrong.
How can they reverse course without getting politically skewered for going all in on what is now by far the largest public spending campaign ever, the most significant restriction on free society ever and the greatest peacetime damage ever inflicted on a generation, socially and economically, in modern history when it turns out it didn't make much of a difference?
A lockdown comes with its own collateral health damage and non-COVID deaths. However, politicians don’t have to wipe that blood off their hands. It is about “optics” and saving COVID lives only.
Politicians are making decisions from a position of privilege; they are completely protected from the consequences of their decisions. - Their salary is insulated from economic disaster i.e. it stays the same regardless of how well (or not) they do their job. - Their large pensions are fully protected.
If we had always put health ahead of the economy, here’s what would have happened a long time ago. - Alcohol would be banned - Tobacco would be banned - Highly processed and fried foods would be banned - Exercise would be mandatory - MORE climate change and air pollution prevention measures would be put in place.
Doing the above would save tens of millions of lives globally. But we accept those risks despite high fatality numbers, in order to stimulate the economy. We leave the decisions to consume alcohol, eat fried foods and smoke in the hands of the people. (Yes, they are not CONTAGIOUS so it’s a different form of threat, but a death is a death, specially if it is preventable).
WHY IS THE PUBLIC SUPPORTING THESE POLICIES? For the general public, there are many working from home. Many still are lucky enough to have a full or partially reduced salary.
They have nothing to lose with a lockdown, so it is easy to support it. Again, a position of privilege.
They are unaware of our country’s deficit or that millions are unemployed and at risk of losing everything. They are unaware that many are having long term mental health issues and that the lockdown is still taking non-COVID lives.
Most importantly, people’s support is being driven by the mass hysteria from the fear-mongering and sensationalizing of news by irresponsible journalism and incompetent politicians.
SO HOW DO WE ADDRESS THE MAJOR PROBLEMS? I hope it’s clear: the problem isn’t number of cases. It’s number of deaths and number of hospitalizations. We have to look at ALL this data together.
PROBLEM #1: COVID RELATED DEATHS. We know who is dying. Persons over the age of 70 and/or persons with co-morbidities. And for the MOST part, this is occurring in long term homes.
If we can isolate them and stop spreading infections to them, shouldn’t this solve the problem of COVID related deaths and hospitalizations?
This is, of course, easier said than done. There are many others who have UNAVOIDABLE contact with them (for example, living with them). They need to be protected too.
Theoretically, even if this is 50% of the population, isn’t it better than shutting down the entire country?
PROBLEM #2: HOSPITALS BEING OVERLOADED. We know one thing for sure: Lockdowns should be our absolute last measure and that they will still come at a serious cost to society. Lockdowns are a REACTIVE measure to avoid getting hospitals overloaded.
So what can be done to be PROACTIVE? 1. The ideal measure should have been to increase hospital capacity as much as possible. But the issue with hospital overload is not space. It is staff shortages [16]. This was an issue even before the pandemic. Why has the government not addressed this? This is the most IMPORTANT factor in avoiding a lockdown.
Why is the public paying the price for government inadequacy?

1. Regardless of the above issue, if we isolate the vulnerable and those in contact with them, this will once again reduce COVID related hospitalizations.

Of all hospitalized COVID patients in Canada since the start of the pandemic, 54.6% have been in the 70+ age group [18]. Our hospital case load can be lowered significantly by protecting this section of the population.

1. Lastly, we need to strengthen our immune systems. Promote exercise, a nutritious diet and Vitamin D. This is such a simple cost effective measure!

I understand isolating the vulnerable portion of population won’t be an easy task, but it’s achievable.
In many places around the world, the isolated and the sick have been provided daily necessities dropped off at their doorstep, at government cost.
Sports leagues have successfully created bubbles.
If the government has already committed to digging a $400 Billion hole, why not direct it toward where it matters? Why shut down the entire country when at least half of us can function normally with ease?
QUESTIONS FOR THE GOVERNMENT. The government had 9 months to prepare for a second wave.
QUESTION: Why are PCR tests being used as the lone source for creating broad policies, despite their inaccuracy and unsuitability?
QUESTION: Why are long term care facilities still experiencing COVID related deaths and not being protected better?
QUESTION: Why is the rest of Canada shut down when a distinct majority of the COVID related deaths are occurring in long term care homes, in age groups of 70+ and persons with co-morbidities?
Theoretically, protecting the above demographic can prevent 90+% COVID related deaths in Canada.
QUESTION: Why do thousands of small businesses have to suffer when they do not deal with the most vulnerable demographic of the population? When there is no proof that they are responsible for COVID transmissions?
Ontario COVID-19 Science Advisory Table: Restaurants, bars and clubs are the source of 0.7% of all COVID transmissions in Ontario (NOT A TYPO) [26]. In fact, 58% of COVID cases do not know how and where the person was infected.
Our politicians are blindly flailing at theories and superstitions to control this virus. How can a politician rob someone of their entire livelihood based on a hunch?
FYI the primary known source, close contact, adds up to 45% of Ontario COVID transmissions [26]. This means an unmasked setting for a prolonged period of time near someone close to you.
QUESTION: What is considered essential? Who decides this? Why is the LCBO (alcohol) store open but gyms aren’t?
To every person who is about to lose their job or business, isn’t that considered ESSENTIAL?
QUESTION: When implementing polcicies, why has there been no discussion of the extreme financial burden on the current and future generations? The national deficit may affect the rest of our lives.
Apart from that, there has been no discussion of mental health effects or collateral lives lost.
QUESTION: Why has the government not put out a simple disclaimer to increase our Vitamin D3 intake, especially during the winter months? The benefits of Vitamin D was common knowledge before COVID, and is increasingly important now. It is such a simple yet possibly effective response that can potentially protect against severe and long term effects of COVID. Perhaps, hospitals will not be as overloaded. This is the one measure which can possibly yield the MOST result with LEAST effort and collateral damage.
FYI the Scottish government has already promoted Vitamin D and rest of the UK may be following suit with free vitamin D handouts [19].
QUESTION: Why has the government not volunteered to take a pay cut, given that most of the population is suffering economically? Doesn’t a CEO take a pay cut when his/her company is in financial trouble?
FYI: The New Zealand PM and her ministers took a 6-month 20% pay cut in April 2020 [28].
(SIDENOTE: A Canadian MP who only holds 6 years in office gets a lifelong pension. Even a war veteran does not get this benefit [20])
QUESTION: Why is new data on COVID not used for a science-based approach to combatting COVID and opening up the economy? Why is a cost-benefit-result analysis not mentioned in any government policy? Why are these policies being made behind closed doors?The Ontario government has abused its emergency powers to make policies without the input of ALL members of Parliament. WATCH THE ONTARIO GOVERNMENT BEING QUESTIONED ON THIS IN PARLIAMENT https://fb.watch/22j-hpTDiL/
QUESTION: Why is every international arrival subject to an archaic 14-day quarantine when the Canada’s chief public health officer Dr. Tam herself has said that there is little - if any - evidence of COVID transmission aboard aircraft? [21]
Why is testing not conducted on arriving passengers? Studies have shown that 1% of passengers have tested positive for COVID [22].
Out of this 1%: - 0.7% are detected on arrival - 0.3% detected within 7 days - that means 99.7% cleared or detected on arrival (100% by Day 7)
COVID transmission through travel primarily occurred before mitigation measures were implemented. Now, it is one of the safest public places you can be in. Looking at air circulation on an airplane, a US Department of Defense study showed that with a mask on, only 0.003% of particles made their way to another passenger's breathing zone [27]. Airplane cabin air quality and recycling is equivalent to a hospital room. Masked and sitting next to another passenger is equivalent to being 6-7 feet from someone in a normal public environment.
QUESTION: Why have those affected financially not been given a choice? If someone has to worry about putting food on the table and a roof over their head, they should have the right to go out and make a living. Let them decide for themselves whether they are willing to risk contracting COVID (a disease with a lethality rate of under 1% for most of the Canadian population).
A blanket lockdown on the entire population, using emergency powers, is government overreach. It is an abuse of every Canadian’s rights, freedoms and civil liberties. We do not need every aspect of our life micromanaged.
THE OTHER SIDE IS SPEAKING OUT. Anyone who speaks against the fear mongering narrative is automatically deemed as a selfish lunatic, but they need to be heard. The runaway train from the fear of early 2020 needs to be stopped.
OTHER POLITICIANS ARE ALSO SPEAKING OUT. See the leadership of these fine politicians fighting on our behalf in Parliament. Please follow them.
Belinda Karahalios, MPP: https://www.facebook.com/KarahaliosPC/videos/369403927491286/
Randy Hillier, MPP: https://fb.watch/23wMKDbVNT/
Pierre Poilievre, MP: https://www.facebook.com/PierrePoilievreMP/videos/777124426201418/
DOCTORS AROUND THE WORLD ARE SPEAKING OUT. More references from credible medical professionals, which also condemn our prolonged overreaction to COVID. I urge you to see their perspective.
World Doctors Alliance: Letter to Citizens and Governments of the World https://worlddoctorsalliance.com
Great Barrington Declaration https://gbdeclaration.org
Dr. Malthouse Letter to B.C. Health Officer https://www.marktaliano.net/letter-by-dr-stephen-malthouse-md-to-dr-bonnie-henry-b-c-provincial-health-office
Dr. Hodkison address to Edmonton City Council
Dr. Roger Hodkinson Medical Specialist in Pathology, including virology. Ex President of the pathology section of the medical association Chairman of the Royal college of physicians of Canada examination comittee of Canada in Pathology in Ottawa Currently chairman of a bio tech company in the US selling COVID-19 tests "Utterly unfounded public hysteria driven by the media and politicians" https://fb.watch/1VA9oT_oH_/
MOVING FORWARD: SO WHAT DO WE DO NOW? We have had 9 months to prepare and learn more. A lot is still unknown about COVID but A LOT IS KNOWN (specially compared to a year ago).
We are we so focused on “number of cases and infections”? They aren’t reliable anyway and pose little or no harm to most of the younger healthy population. The important data is “number of hospitalizations and deaths”.
In other words, shift our energy from “how to we limit COVID SPREAD?” to “how do we limit COVID DAMAGE?” i.e. How do we reduce hospitalizations and deaths?
COVID is here now and we cannot stop or control it. It cannot be the SOLE reason behind making broad policies.
Moreover, the measures we have taken are disproportionate to the threat that COVID brings.
Do not let irrational fear from 10 months ago cloud our judgement in current circumstances.
There is a fine line between learning to live with COVID vs paralyzing our lives due to COVID. We crossed that line a long time ago.
The long-term health and financial effects of a lockdown need to be considered. Lockdowns will only transfer lives lost and destroyed. They will not save the overall excess deaths to a population.
Even a vaccine with a high efficacy will not prevent deaths. That potential vaccine is at least more than a year away for most people. We cannot have another 6 months of lockdowns. Moreover, there are many who will choose not to take a vaccine.
COVID is an added threat to our life in the same way that the flu kills 230,000-650,000 people a year globally [23]. (Yes, I know COVID is more lethal).
Let’s stop resisting new information and start implementing measures that yield the same or better results (WITHOUT the collateral damage and WITHOUT overloading hospitals)
=============================. Firstly, we must still continue with the following mitigation measures to limit COVID spread. That is ALL we can do without collateral damage. - masks - wash hands frequently - don’t touch your face - socially distance - limit frequency and size of social interactions.
Moreover, focus our energies on the following:

1. Protect the following:
2. long term care homes
3. the vulnerable population and
4. those that have UNAVOIDABLE interaction with them.

This measure alone may reduce the COVID related deaths by 90+%. Even if the above demographic is half of the Canadian population, at least the other half don’t need to be locked down.

1. Let everyone else roam free, if they CHOOSE (of course, with cautionary measures such as masks, wash hands etc)
   
2. Promote a healthy lifestyle and nutritious diet and increase Vitamin D intake for EVERYONE. This alone may reduce the number of hospitalizations and severe cases.
   
3. BONUS MEASURE: All politicians need to take a pay cut. Sign the following petition: https://www.truenorthinitiative.com/politicians_need_to_cut_their_salaries
   

LET ME BE CLEAR. This is not about LIVES VS. MONEY.
This is about using everything we know to have an all-inclusive approach and look at the bigger picture. To make decisions using logic, as opposed to fear.
This is about using science (and common sense) to have a smarter approach to this pandemic.
A focused protection approach will SAVE MORE LIVES and PROTECT THE ECONOMY. It’s a win-win.
If we’re spending obscene amounts of our tax dollars, why not use it for where it needs to go.
Don’t use it to force people to sit at home and live off minimal government payments, when most of them can very well can go out and make a living with minimal danger to their life.
Enough damage has been done. Don’t make the CURE worse than the virus.
Don’t let political agendas get in the way of real help.
I’m open and respectful to hearing other opinions; similar or not. I wish the very best for everyone in this world. Moreover, I want to clarify that I am careful with my daily actions. - I wear a mask, wash my hands and try not to touch my face. - I limit my social interactions.
These are all useful measures which may have successful mitigation results, without extensive damage to society.
I’m sure my opinion is wildly unpopular, in Canada and globally, but the facts are presented to you above to make your own judgement.
We cannot simply accept the FIRST viewpoint presented to us. Science requires many different points of view, rigorously tested, before arriving to a conclusion.
“Where all think alike, no one thinks very much” Walter Lippmann, 2-time Pulitzer Prize winner
Please copy, paste or share this message if you agree. Spreading the word is the only way we can attain change.
FACEBOOK URL LINK FOR THIS POST: https://www.facebook.com/502738951/posts/10158274391903952/?d=n
And please send it to your MPs. I do not care for credit.
Find your MP: https://www.ourcommons.ca/members/en/search Find your Ontario MPP (bottom of page): https://www.ola.org/en/members
Once again, this message was written with information and guidance from a lot of brave individuals and I thank them for their input.
Sincerely, Samad Kadri [email protected]
REFERENCES. [1] https://hillnotes.ca/2020/10/30/long-term-care-homes-in-canada-the-impact-of-covid-19/
[2] https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/10/07/death-rates-higher-in-for-profit-nursing-homes-report-says.html
[3] https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03141-3
[4] https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/more-than-80-per-cent-of-hospitalized-covid-19-patients-had-vitamin-d-deficiency-study-1.5162396
[5] https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-77093-z
[6] https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2020/10/01/COVID-19-Scientists-raise-the-vitamin-D-alarm
[7] https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/coronavirus-blog/2020/11/14/-we-are-seeing-some-better-results---doctors-say-they-are-getting-better-at-treating-covid
[8] https://www.budget.gc.ca/2019/docs/plan/toc-tdm-en.html
[9] https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/federal-deficit-on-track-to-exceed-381b-as-spending-increases-in-wake-of-second-covid-19-wave-1.5209807
https://www.cpac.ca/en/programs/cpac-special/episodes/66228624/
[10] https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/entry/budget-deficit-canada_ca_ https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/en/rates-and-analysis/economic-analysis/hot-charts-201014.pdf
[11] https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/201106/dq201106a-eng.htm
[12] https://www.thestar.com/business/opinion/2020/05/09/statcan-says-13-of-canadians-arent-working-but-the-true-number-is-more-like-30.html
[13] https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/coronavirus/new-closures-will-be-fatal-for-thousands-of-small-businesses-advocate-warns-1.5184987
[14] https://news.sky.com/story/amp/coronavirus-lockdown-may-have-indirectly-caused-16-000-excess-deaths-study-12044923
[15] https://www.narcity.com/en-ca/news/lockdown-situations-in-canada-who-official-said-stop-using-them-as-main-control-method
[16] https://globalnews.ca/news/7464926/coronavirus-canada-hospital-capacity/
[17] https://covid-19.ontario.ca/covid-19-epidemiologic-summaries-public-health-ontario#daily
[18] https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html#fn1
[19] https://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/science/uk-to-roll-out-vitamin-d-supplements-for-people-vulnerable-to-covid/article33056754.ece
[20] https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-board-secretariat/services/pension-plan/pension-publications/reports/administration-members-parliament-retiring-allowances-act-report/frequently-asked-questions-changes-members-parliament-pension-plan.html
[21] https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/covid-transmission-flights-extremely-rare-1.5797065
[22] https://mcmasterhealthlabs.ca/pdf/MHL%20Border%20Study%20Interim%20Results%20News%20Release_20201117_vF_EN.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2hl1RbUQhMIrax3kfwh1iiLOttFp_kowjzOj8sM3Lw9meEFTr6W2NgSCw
[23] https://www.health.com/condition/cold-flu-sinus/how-many-people-die-of-the-flu-every-year
[24] https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/epidemiological-summary-covid-19-cases.html#fn1
[25] https://cormandrostenreview.com/report/ https://bpa-pathology.com/covid19-pcr-tests-are-scientifically-meaningless/
[26] https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2020/11/28/where-are-people-catching-covid-19-community-transmission-still-a-puzzle-in-ontario.html
[27] https://kstp.com/coronavirus/uniteddod-study-using-mannequins-sheds-light-on-infectious-particle-spread-on-airplanes-november-2020/5929843/
https://www.ustranscom.mil/cmd/docs/TRANSCOM%20Report%20Final.pdf?fbclid=IwAR12OWktSrbvd0LW1MF9WgIBZwA1wLAdZVnipiznq9r4hCvPQlQ263x3YQI
[28] https://globalnews.ca/news/6820459/jacinda-ardern-coronavirus-pay-cut/
[29] https://www.publichealthontario.ca/-/media/documents/ncov/main/2020/09/cycle-threshold-values-sars-cov2-pcr.pdf?la=en
[30] https://www.cmaj.ca/content/192/44/E1347
[31]https://tnc.news/2020/12/09/suicidal-thoughts-anxiety-on-the-rise-as-lockdowns-continue-study/
[32] https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165178120310386