Welcome new readers.

It has been almost 1 year for myself posting to Coil. Some of my posts, in the nascent days of Coil, are my best posts. (I think so anyway) After outlining this I was amazed that I have over 40+ articles that have been posted.

Coil's default blog sequence for creators is sorting by submission date and many wont see those older great nuggets.

For those that are new, take a look around. You could start at the earliest post and read through till the most recent post, however I decided to organize my posts so you could pick per your preference.

Financial

Letter to my Daughter
Free Lunch for Life!
The Tiki Principle

Financial Wizardry with Harry Potter Chess
HSA – Best Investment Ever
What is your Risk Tolerance?
Is This Time Different
Amazon will eat the world!
Emotional Stability Fund
Through the Lens of Time

America's Banking System

Future Musings

Private Transactions on the XRP Ledger

Car Wallet!
Corporate Raiders & Tokenizing Real Assets
Streaming Music Royalties
Level Playing Field
Inattention Blindness

**Inspirational
**Thought Process
The Price of Self-Discipline
Purpose takes your simple wishes to the finish line.
Pavlov's Dogs
“A Wise Old Owl”
What you can achieve by consulting with others before you make a new plan.
What step to take when writers block has you down.
Elementary School Distance Learning

**Informational
**How to create a XRP Wallet
How to secure your digital assets for less than $1.00
Wire Fraud is Not Fun
SaaS Pricing Models

**Humor
**Stefan Thomas interview with David Letterman
Sold our Ranger Rover for 1,156.764549 XRP

**Spending Crypto Series
**Spending Crypto – Post #1
Spending Crypto – Post #2
Spending Crypto – Post #3
Spending Crypto – Post #4
Spending Crypto – Post #5

**Video
**mirrae Intro on CINNAMON
Wait for the face!
This is my story
Gaming on the Bus
Meme Generator – Imgur

Stories by LTM

Wolf Pack
How to Draw a Cat
Trackers Love Story
Gimme my Bike Back

Mentions

https://coil.com/p/consistentbenny/A-Coil-Workaround-Adding-an-Upvote-Button-to-an-External-Website/3lKjaX0UU

I will keep this post as my latest post and up to date so all may see when they arrive.

Coil Featured

Photo by Gia Oris on Unsplash

Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

Do you know the complete story of Pavlov’s dogs? Specifically when they were broken of the ringing bell response?

(If you don't know the story of Pavlov's Dog Experiment and Classical Conditioning see wikipedia link below:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_conditioning

But the rest of the story is:

Pavlov kept the dog in the basement in their own creates. A catastrophic flood occurred September 23, 1924 in St. Petersburg (then called Leningrad) where Pavlov did his research and being in the basement some dogs did not survive and drowned.

The ones that survived were put under such stress and turmoil that it altered their response to the bell. They wouldn’t eat, or salivate. Even after days of not eating they still would not respond.

It wasn't until the dogs regained an emotional attachment with the dog assistant that they started to eat again and play again.

*The final conclusion is that life isn’t as simple as a auto response, and human connection is extremely important.*

**This post was inspired by @Doctor_Change

Spring Break this year started for us March 13th but never ended. Well, Spring Break ended but the kids did not return to school due to the “Shelter in Place” mandates due to the COVID-19 virus. Kids returning to school from Spring Break was eventually not going to happen and there were plenty of indicators.

(My favorite indicator was the Health Hands initiative)

There was a thinly veiled survey, a Student Access to Technology Survey, that was sent to us March 10 ... should need to close school for an extended period of time. Basically can we proceed with Distance Learning and how many laptops will we need to supply to students, is how I read it. To no surprise, a few days later March 13, Free broadband and Wi-Fi access to households with K-12 and/or college students was being offered. Well at that point I realized I will not be going back to the office.

Week 1 of Distance Learning

I'm loosing my mind with trying to work from home and take care of 2 kids, 1 in daycare, well now home and not at daycare, and the other in elementary school with now distance learning. Its like 3 full time jobs!

On conference calls with crying in the background, arguments and frustration. Feeling like I will never be able to do this. How to “stay at home moms” do this everyday?

Week 2 of Distance Learning

Ok, I am getting the hang of this Distance Learning curriculum. But still confused with all the passwords apps and schedule.

Multiple mini 30-mins breaks for a walk outside sure do help.

I get more work done from home now between 5:30 am and 7:30 am (before the monsters awake) than I do the rest of the day.

Week 3 of Distance Learning

The oldest child now in college is having to do distance learning for the rest of the semester and got let go from her restaurant job. Well that sucks, she just moved out and her and her roommates are in the same boat! (Things will not be the same is all I can think about)

A good idea

But then after all the frustration and adjustment to the new daily life thrown at us all, I had an idea.

I now have the oldest daughter mentoring my son with distance learning. It has been a change for the better, we are now helping each other as a family. (I guess paying her to do this is not hurting ;–)

My son's focus, grades and reading have improved, literally in the matter of a week and a half, his improvement is off the chart. My daughter is also surprisingly calm yet stern with the school work and its almost as if my son wants to impress his older sister.

The class has a daily check-in where they are required to answer a few questions each morning. This morning, the question was:

Who do you admire most and why?

Typing with 1 finger on the keyboard, he wrote I admire my sister .... (backspace backspace backspace) my big sister (guess he had to distinguish to the reader that its not his little 3 year old sister) because she helps me with my homework.

Yes, I teared up :–)

Family matters

I can't express how grateful I am now being locked up with these angels during this time and that I am so fortunate to have support from the youngest to the oldest in our family. I wish that everyone could be this lucky.

Thanks COVID!

Continuation from Spending Crypto – Post #4

This will be the last post on spending crypto, Post #5. It has only been 6 weeks of the experiment, well 6 weeks from the first transaction. The process total about 10 weeks now. (It took a long time to setup a crypto card.)

The Results:

Qualitative:

1. It was easy but lengthy in time to setup
2. First use of the crypto card was not a problem (in fact I have had no problems with usage)
3. Nice app on the phone to go along with the card
4. I'm impressed

Quantitative:

1. One transaction is still pending from over 40 days ago, at the time of purchase ETH was @ $251.07 based on the Card records, my records show ETH price was @ $257.84 ; today at time of this writing ETH is @ $131.65. That is one hell of a risk factor – “volatility risk” due to timing of the settlement as well as the price differential of my records to the cards records.

2. Another transaction was interesting and was not anticipated. This was a restaurant transaction, which includes the meal and a tip.

at the time of purchase ETH was @ $241.66 and $213.33 based on the Card records, my records show ETH price was @ $246.71

What actually happened was the meal transaction of $21.99 was completed that same day almost immediately @ the ETH price of $213.33 , however the tip portion of $10.00 was later settled the next day @ the ETH price of $241.66.

What about that 3% crypto back benefit?

Ha ha ha, don't fall for it. Volatility Risk negates any percentage back programs appeal. (Unless it was a “unit of account” and price did not fluctuate.) If you really look at what I mentioned on each of these unique transactions, the difference between the ETH price as per the Card was always a bit lower than the ETH price I documented at the time of the transaction. The math doesn't lie, it ranges between a 2-2.7% difference. LOL ... if someone needs further explanation I could go on and on, but its really not any crypto back!

Conclusion:

In an up trending market this volatility can be good for you, hut in a down trending market it can be bad. I can't wait to see what I really end up paying for the transaction that is pending since 40 days ago! It was a for gas, and right now it looks like it will have cost me 2x the amount since the market has turned down.

For myself, I like the card and vision of spending crypto, however, until a crypto becomes a “unit of account” the volatility risk factor is too high to go mainstream.

Best use case for spending crypto ... when the market shoots up and you want to sell. Instead of selling the crypto on an exchange for fiat, you could just use the Card. Just remember however volatility risk will never go away.

Best use case for spending crypto ... when the market shoots up and you want to sell. Instead of selling the crypto on an exchange for fiat, you could just use the Card. Just remember however volatility risk will never go away.

Thank you and ...

All Spending Crypto series:
Spending Crypto – Post #1
Spending Crypto – Post #2
Spending Crypto – Post #3
Spending Crypto – Post #4

Spending Crypto – Post #5

Credits:
Photo by Dmitry Demidko on Unsplash

Short instruction by LTM

So my son “The Coiler” is so impressed with https://coil.com/u/Kass drawings (so talented), he decided to put an instruction together for how to draw a cat. I know Kass needs a little help with cat drawings.

Here is my sons favorite Kass drawing video https://coil.com/p/Kass/Thumbs-up-/DAs1MaexN

Enjoy ;–)

As mentioned in my last post, everything begins with a thought. But what is thinking? What do we use to think? How do we remember that 2+2=4? Why don't I have to think about breathing?

Well your brain of course. At least that is what I have been told. Your brain must be the boss! It controls everything your body does. It must even control your emotions.

https://youtu.be/-nH4MRvO-10

Thought is actually very physically demanding. Even Grand Master Chess players have to prepare themselves physically for a tournament. What? They are just sitting there for hours barely moving!

Robert Sapolsky, who studies stress in primates at Stanford University, says a chess player can burn up to 6,000 calories a day while playing in a tournament, three times what an average person consumes in a day. Based on breathing rates (which triple during competition), blood pressure (which elevates) and muscle contractions before, during and after major tournaments, Sapolsky suggests that grandmasters' stress responses to chess are on par with what elite athletes experience.

"Grandmasters sustain elevated blood pressure for hours in the range found in competitive marathon runners," Sapolsky says.

**

They even experience on average 2 pounds of weight loss a day during tournaments! over a 10 day tournament, that's 20 pounds! I think I want to try that diet, lets call it the “Grand Master Weight Loss Plan”

So as in the game of chess, so is the way of life. Thought is challenging and of paramount importance.

I would also say that thinking is the only thing a person really has complete control over.

However, other peoples thoughts are constantly injected into our minds by social media, main stream media, pastors, politicians, etc ... its hard to think for yourself.

Controlling your own thoughts is the battle. Thoughts are the start of all actions and emotions. And to be successful in your life, with a definite plan, your mind should be clear on exactly what you want, not what other people think is appropriate.

It must be of great importance to gather dependable facts and reliable sources of information which you can use in your thinking process. That is for you to decide, I can not provide where to find it. But if your mind is calm, you will eventually be able to determine what is good for you.

**

Sources:

[https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27593253/why-grandmasters-magnus-carlsen-fabiano-caruana-lose-weight-playing-chess](https://www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/27593253/why-grandmasters-magnus-carlsen-fabiano-caruana-lose-weight-playing-chess)

Special Thanks to Minh Pham for the picture.