Blockchain

My friend Thomas reminded me of one seminal blockchain video as a response to my glossary post. In it, Anders Brownworth explains what is a hash, a block, a blockchain, how and why it works in a distributed fashion, and issuance. 18 minutes of delightful, crystal-clear education accessible to anyone. It is dense in learning yet light in its approach. One of the fastest ways to go from 0 to 1, no matter your background.

Late Helium

In August, I bought a Helium miner. A bobcat. Back then, the delivery would have been something like 8 weeks. Last week, I checked on the order and the delivery will be in 12-20 weeks.

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Helium is a wireless system that uses a blockchain and rewards people for installing antennas and providing the wired backbone and ultimately connection to the internet. The antenna is the miner. The (LoRaWAN) connectivity was mostly sold to providers of IoT devices/services but in the spring, Helium announced they were going to also provide 5G. There's a waitlist. Another one.

Not enough miners, too much demand. According to the Helium Hotspot Earnings Calculator, a miner could pay for itself in 7 months.

Auto-invest in companies you're a consumer of

M1 Finance came out with a credit card that rewards you with purchases of stocks in the companies you shop at. I love this creative idea but I don't know if it ends up being a sound investment strategy. Not all great companies you should invest in make a product or a service for you. And you probably shouldn't invest in all the companies you're a patron of.