1. Bad storm in North Dallas, power out as of yesterday at 1:30 pm. So my power was out yesterday and last night and I took the family to stay at a hotel as it gets hot without AC in Dallas in the summer. The damage was a ton of trees knocked down and took out power lines, blocked streets, etc. I have power back now as of this morning. People are trying to help clean up. No tornadoes, just straight line wind, but that's the most damage I have seen from straight line wind. Trees that are 2-3 feet in diameter knocked over onto houses, pretty crazy. A crane collapsed into an apartment building downtown killing one person. I was actually out in the middle of nowhere near Tyler Texas dropping off my son at a summer camp.
2. Trade Tariff with Mexico crisis averted. First off, I never thought this would go forward this quickly. The US does not have the customs, nor the systems in place to execute this tariff. Secondly, the fear that would mean that the US would have to halt everything at the border and check by hand was something that Mexico seriously had to consider. Because Trump acts crazy and Mexico could seriously see him try to move forward on this. I have not seen the deal that was enacted, but Mexico does need to take responsibility on their southern border. They have a make shift system and they are trying to do something about it, but I doubt they are doing much. It would be great if all the stuff imported from China could be made in Mexico and all that industrialization was moved there. Mexico does have potential and it would be great to see them successful. Trump does deserve some credit here, he got something done. I still think this power should be in Congress' hands, but Congress can't do anything unless it is partisan and both houses have the same party in charge which leads to problems.
3. Summer Camp. I dropped of my oldest, 7 years old at a catholic summer camp for a week. It looks great, I hope he has a lot of fun. He is more extrovert, so I think he will be fine. He told my wife and myself bye when we walked him to the door of his lodge. My wife was like, what? We need to take you in and get you settled. ME, I was like, let me talk to an adult and make sure he knows your here, he can set you up, and then I'm out of here. Then my wife, aka mommy, went to make his bed, get his stuff set up, etc. FINE. In my opinion, I think these summer camps are great. It is great for the kids to spend time out doors (no electronics) and out of their comfort zone. I may aim for two camps for him next year to enjoy new experiences. I didn't have a church camp when I was young. I went to 4H camp in the summer and that was probably 2 or 3 nights (I can't remember how long it was), but absolutely loved it. I went to a space camp in Florida, hated that. Mostly because the food was awful. I would be curious to hear from some of the OTers about their camp experiences, or some thoughts, recommendations, problems with summer camps.
4. Stock Beyond Meat (BYND). This company has like $5M in annual sales and is worth more then Wendys, now it is over $10 Billion. It is a FAD. a huge bubble. There is no way they can justify that valuation. I am scared to short right now, because you have to hope you don't get called on the bubble if they announce a deal with a fast food company and the stock pops again (see this morning). However, this is ridiculous. There is so much cash right now because the stock market has been opened to everyone through online trading. Everyone thinks they are a genius (I know I do) when it comes to picking stocks. I try to check my emotions out of the equation and go back to fundamentals (see me b!tch about AT&T every day and their 7% dividend and their HBO growth). But I feel very confidant that a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money on BYND. If you have it, SELL SELL SELL.
5. Steven Crowder v. Carlos Maza and Vox, YouTube edition. YouTube adjusted their rules under pressure from Maza and Vox and also demonitized Crowder. YouTube hasn't pulled Crowder's videos, just demonitized them. I am actually more ok with this from a private business perspective. Crowder can still read Ads during his videos and make a lot of money. YouTube doesn't make much money on Crowder and none of their advertisers inadvertently are shown on Crowder's vids. Maza is pissed that Crowder's vids are still up and is demanding YouTube take them down. Crowder is pissed he is losing out on Google money. The main problem is that Google's rules are ambiguous and subject to change and opinion. Just make straight line rules where only the worst vids are removed. But Google does more that that, not only can they demonitized, they can lower the video in search results (which they will do, why would they support your video that makes them little money). It's a tough situation, which is why Google should have tread more carefully instead of catering to the mob. In other bad news for Google, the employee discrimination case in California headlined by Damore is going forward. Both these situations will be interesting to monitor going forward.
2. Trade Tariff with Mexico crisis averted. First off, I never thought this would go forward this quickly. The US does not have the customs, nor the systems in place to execute this tariff. Secondly, the fear that would mean that the US would have to halt everything at the border and check by hand was something that Mexico seriously had to consider. Because Trump acts crazy and Mexico could seriously see him try to move forward on this. I have not seen the deal that was enacted, but Mexico does need to take responsibility on their southern border. They have a make shift system and they are trying to do something about it, but I doubt they are doing much. It would be great if all the stuff imported from China could be made in Mexico and all that industrialization was moved there. Mexico does have potential and it would be great to see them successful. Trump does deserve some credit here, he got something done. I still think this power should be in Congress' hands, but Congress can't do anything unless it is partisan and both houses have the same party in charge which leads to problems.
3. Summer Camp. I dropped of my oldest, 7 years old at a catholic summer camp for a week. It looks great, I hope he has a lot of fun. He is more extrovert, so I think he will be fine. He told my wife and myself bye when we walked him to the door of his lodge. My wife was like, what? We need to take you in and get you settled. ME, I was like, let me talk to an adult and make sure he knows your here, he can set you up, and then I'm out of here. Then my wife, aka mommy, went to make his bed, get his stuff set up, etc. FINE. In my opinion, I think these summer camps are great. It is great for the kids to spend time out doors (no electronics) and out of their comfort zone. I may aim for two camps for him next year to enjoy new experiences. I didn't have a church camp when I was young. I went to 4H camp in the summer and that was probably 2 or 3 nights (I can't remember how long it was), but absolutely loved it. I went to a space camp in Florida, hated that. Mostly because the food was awful. I would be curious to hear from some of the OTers about their camp experiences, or some thoughts, recommendations, problems with summer camps.
4. Stock Beyond Meat (BYND). This company has like $5M in annual sales and is worth more then Wendys, now it is over $10 Billion. It is a FAD. a huge bubble. There is no way they can justify that valuation. I am scared to short right now, because you have to hope you don't get called on the bubble if they announce a deal with a fast food company and the stock pops again (see this morning). However, this is ridiculous. There is so much cash right now because the stock market has been opened to everyone through online trading. Everyone thinks they are a genius (I know I do) when it comes to picking stocks. I try to check my emotions out of the equation and go back to fundamentals (see me b!tch about AT&T every day and their 7% dividend and their HBO growth). But I feel very confidant that a lot of people are going to lose a lot of money on BYND. If you have it, SELL SELL SELL.
5. Steven Crowder v. Carlos Maza and Vox, YouTube edition. YouTube adjusted their rules under pressure from Maza and Vox and also demonitized Crowder. YouTube hasn't pulled Crowder's videos, just demonitized them. I am actually more ok with this from a private business perspective. Crowder can still read Ads during his videos and make a lot of money. YouTube doesn't make much money on Crowder and none of their advertisers inadvertently are shown on Crowder's vids. Maza is pissed that Crowder's vids are still up and is demanding YouTube take them down. Crowder is pissed he is losing out on Google money. The main problem is that Google's rules are ambiguous and subject to change and opinion. Just make straight line rules where only the worst vids are removed. But Google does more that that, not only can they demonitized, they can lower the video in search results (which they will do, why would they support your video that makes them little money). It's a tough situation, which is why Google should have tread more carefully instead of catering to the mob. In other bad news for Google, the employee discrimination case in California headlined by Damore is going forward. Both these situations will be interesting to monitor going forward.
