Daily Ramble
Does anyone else like the way “rad” sounds? Ever since I was a kid, the word “rad” seemed to have a special resonance. A simple three-letter word that all the cool kids oozed. You know, those cool kids with their extreme ‘s’ sports: surfing, skating, snowboarding, and skydiving.
Ok, so maybe “rad” is a generational thing. But I’ll tell you, the folks from my generation who enjoyed the X-games phenomenon of humans pushing themselves to new extremes still resonate with that word. How do I know? I was talking with a banker yesterday, around my age, who absolutely lit up when I mentioned being a long-long surfer — in response to his passing mention of skateboards. A single “rad” was uttered, and just like that, we were past the typical profiteering conversation of the banking world and into the realm of two people connecting on a passion in life.
And if there’s nothing I’ve learned about connecting with other humans, it’s to find the passion button. What am I talking about? There’s some activity or consumptive pleasure that every one of us carries that elicits an almost unstoppable wave of joy rippling through the body when touched upon by another. We’re all just waiting for a chance to share our joy. Being a curious person and someone who genuinely enjoys connecting with other people, when I used to sell solar systems, finding the client’s passion was my go-to strategy for getting past the stranger-danger masks each of us put up meeting someone unknown. I tried training my staff to use this passion approach but realized being curious and enjoying connecting with people wasn’t a trait native to all salespeople. But it was a trait that showed who was good at their job and who wasn’t.
How did it work? I would walk into someone’s home and scan the walls, shelves, and cupboards to see if I could find a theme. Sailboat images littering the walls? Ask about sailing. CDs and vinyl stacked in the cupboards? Ask about music tastes. A kitchen shelf full of Indian cookbooks? Ask about their favorite curry. It didn’t matter who’s home I went into; there were always indicators of the homeowner’s passion on display. More often than not, genuinely acknowledging it led to the start of trust and friendship. And once trust was developed, the salesperson and client masks dropped away, allowing two people to sit next to each other at the table to discover if there’s a possible win-win solution to working together.
So if you take nothing away from my sleep-deprived caffeinated ramble, know, if you drop “rad” around me, you’re probably going to hear a lot about surfing…
Rad Things on the Interwebs
Two people in El Salvador using the Lightning Network to conduct day-to-day business — no banks. This is what freedom looks like.
Feel free to look into Elizabeth Warren’s comments mentioned above. However, I can’t dignify repeating her falsehoods.
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $33k - $38.4k
Today: $33k - $39k
Tomorrow: $33k - $39k
The Bitcoin price action has been an absolute snooze fest over the last 36 hours. Price has been consolidating slowly around the $36k region, where the bulls and bears are fighting over the trend. We’re at the price where a push from the bulls could eke out a trend change defined by the market making higher highs and higher lows. But it’s also the point where a lot of bears are putting on natural selling pressure. That equates to sideways movement until one side gives. Should bears win, that will likely push us below $35k and if the bulls win, over $40k. So unless you enjoy watching the grass grow, this is not the area to get out the popcorn for.
Bitcoin Q & A
Q: How much capacity can the Lightning Network handle?
A: I don’t know.
By design, the Lightning Network has been built to be more opaque than the Bitcoin baselayer. It is meant to operate as the analog equivalent to cash, i.e., small transactions with low fees, done privately. That means visibility into the size of the network is vague at best. And with the coming upgrade to the Bitcoin network, called Taproot, that visibility will only be further reduced as the visibility into the interaction between the Lightning Network and the Bitcoin network becomes hidden.
Thanks for reading,
Kent
Do you have questions or a “Favorite Thing on the Interwebs”? Comment below or reply to the newsletter to reach me.
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Rad! ☺️ Love it! 😎🏄🏻♀️🏄🏻♂️