How Can You Profit from a Sudden Decline in Cryptocurrency Prices?

Problem scenario
You have a significant amount of cryptocurrency, but you want to benefit from what you think will be a certain decline. You want to hedge against loss to insure your total investment is not purely correlated or dependent on high cryptocurrency prices. How do you short cryptocurrency prices (to make money)?

Answer
Short selling is an option. You must be cognizant of the risks. If the price point you want to sell at is never reached, you could lose a potentially unlimited amount. Many traders recommend you have covered options (enough cryptocurrency coins to sell or sufficient ETF shares of the fund you were trying to short that you can pay back with coins or shares).

To learn more, read the following:

https://www.investopedia.com/news/short-bitcoin/

https://cointelegraph.com/learn/a-beginners-guide-on-how-to-short-bitcoin-and-other-cryptocurrencies

https://www.ig.com/en/trading-strategies/how-to-short-cryptocurrencies-230612

This is not investment advice. It just provides information to a question that contrarians are thinking about as of March 6, 2024.

How Do You Use Colgate Anywhere, Anytime Sensitivity Relief Serum?

Question
Many anti-sensitivity toothpastes have not worked for you. You want to try Colgate Anywhere, Anytime Sensitivity Relief Serum. What should you do to try it?

Answer
Place the cream/serum where there is sensitivity on your tooth or teeth. Do not use it as a toothpaste. It is a topical cream/serum.

Remind patients that this product is a serum to be applied and massaged directly to the sensitive area and not a paste to be brushed on.

https://www.todaysrdh.com/colgates-anywhere-anytime-offer-immediate-relief-for-sensitivity-during-dental-treatment/

You can see a picture of how it may be used.

Finally, you may want to read What Toothpastes Are There for Sensitive Teeth?

This article is informational and it is not an endorsement of the product. This article should not be considered medical advice. You should consult with a dentist before using a dental serum.

What Solutions Are There for Sensitive Teeth?

Problem scenario
You had some juice or fruit that had a significant amount of citric acid. Your teeth are now sensitive when you eat or drink something that is cold, hot, or crunchy. What should you do? Are there products with different active ingredients to reduce the sensitivity in one or more of your teeth?

Possible Solution #1
There are different anti-sensitivity toothpastes where the active ingredient could be Arginine bicarbonate (Tom's of Maine toothpaste), stannous flouride (some Crest toothpastes), or potassium nitrate (Sensodyne, and some Colgate toothpastes).

Possible Solution #1
Use mouthwashes, strips serums or gels. Colgate's Gel-Kam (that uses stannous flouride) is a topical gel -- not a toothpaste.

Possible Solution #3
At least one toothpaste (Tom's of Maine toothpaste) has directions for applying the toothpaste as a serum to the sensitive tooth and letting it sit for one minute.

Possible Solution #4
You may want to ask your question on healthtap.com (for free).

Possible Solution #5
Speak to your dentist. Sometimes in-office flouride treatments can help.

Final reminders
Just because something is available over the counter does not mean it is harmless. Flouride has created problems for people. You probably should consult with a dentist before using a new topical product. There are many potential solutions out there, and sometimes you need the right dentist -- not any dentist. There does not seem to be one product that works for all people. Some products need to be "tried" daily for four to six weeks. Every individual is different in how they respond to a given product.

This article is informational and it is not an endorsement of the product. This article should not be considered medical advice. You may want to consult with a dentist before using an anti-sensitivity mouthwash, toothpaste, strip, or serum.

What is Layer 2 in the Context of Cryptocurrency?

Question
What is layer 2 in the context of cryptocurrency?

Answer
It is a secondary blockchain that facilitates smart contracts (link). Layer 2 is a second layer of a blockchain, an assistant blockchain, or a sidechain (https://www.ledger.com/academy/topics/blockchain/what-are-ethereum-layer-2-blockchains-and-how-do-they-work). A layer 2 for a cryptocurrency can support more features and more transactions per second (thus more users). A layer 2 can increase the speed which can be attractive to the adoption of a given cryptocurrency. As of 3/3/24, Bitcoin's layer 2s are one of the reasons Bitcoin's price has increased dramatically (https://cointelegraph.com/news/btc-layer-2s-among-catalysts-bull-cycle-bitcoin-og-says).

Will the Price of Bitcoin be Cut in Half at the Halving?

Question
You heard about the Bitcoin halving. Will the price be cut in half or will the quantity of Bitcoin in circulation be cut in half when the halving happens?

Answer
Neither of those things will happen. New Bitcoins are awarded to miners regularly. When the "halving" happens, the Bitcoin reward for mining will be cut in half. Halving is not the total supply of Bitcoin nor the price of Bitcoin. Halving is a reference to the quantity of Bitcoin given to the miners for allowing the blockchain to be built and transactions to take place.

The market will determine the price of Bitcoin. Historically, the price of Bitcoin has gone up considerably after the a halving occurs.

As of early March 2024, miners will get 6.25 BTC for every block mined [1]. After the halving, they will get only 3.125 BTC for every block mined [2]. As of March 2024, "blocks are mined about every 10 minutes" [1].

Marathon Digital is a large Bitcoin mining company in the U.S. [3]. Their stock price has surged in the past 12 months. Other bitcoin mining companies include those that trade under the following symbols BTBT, BITF, HUT, and CLSK.

To read more see these postings:

[1] https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-halving/

[2] https://www.coinbase.com/learn/crypto-basics/what-is-a-bitcoin-halving

[3] https://www.dlnews.com/articles/markets/bitcoins-halving-only-weeks-away-a-problem-for-miners/

Coinbase is generally considered to be the most trusted American cryptocurrency exchange. You may want to open an account there. Bitcoin's price has surged recently.

This European company can allow you to buy crypto or learn more: Iconomi.com

How Do You Secure Your Cryptocurrency Assets?

Problem scenario
You want to be sure your cryptocurrency is secure. What should you do?

Solution

  1. Use hot and cold cryptocurrency wallets. Be sure to get updates for your hot and warm wallets. Cold wallets are offline. You may want a safe deposit box for your cold wallet and recovery phrase (also called a "seed" that is 12 to 31 words).
  2. Use a strong passphrase. You want want to use a passwords safe too.
  3. Use two-factor authentication for your cryptocurrency accounts.
  4. Manually keep a separate record of your transactions.
  5. Manually monitor your cryptocurrency accounts for suspicious activity or transactions that you do not recognize.
  6. Try to find a wealthy person or company that can do customized insurance. A manuscripted insurance policy may not be run-of-the-mill, but they can be created. You may be able to get protection in case you lose your coins.

FYI
Coinbase is generally considered to be the most trusted American cryptocurrency exchange. You may want to open an account there. Bitcoin's price has surged recently.

This European company can allow you to buy crypto or learn more: Iconomi.com

Should You Buy Platinum as an Investment?

Problem scenario
You are contemplating buying platinum. Should you purchase platinum to potentially make money?

Answer
Maybe. Platinum is affordable compared to gold as of 2/26/24. If you want to learn about the typical ratio of platinum to gold prices, see antiquesage.com. This website says "[t]he highest annual value recorded for the platinum gold ratio was a spike to 6.63 in 1968."

According to https://platinumprice.org/, platinum costs $885.73 per oz (as of 2/26/24). According to https://goldprice.org/, gold costs $2,032.46 (as of 2/26/24).

As of 2/26/24, the platinum-to-gold price ratio (ounce-to-ounce) is 0.44. It is not clear if the price of gold will drop, platinum will increase, or if there will be a new normal in the platinum-to-gold price ratio.

The automotive industry creates the biggest demand for platinum according to https://platinuminvestment.com/about/demand-drivers.

According to statista.com the biggest source of demand for platinum in the automobile sector comes from light duty diesel vehicles. Will these specialized vehicles be replaced by electric vehicles or some other technology that needs no platinum? No one knows for sure if or when this will happen. Will environmental standards be raised to increase the need for more platinum per vehicle in the mid-term? This is possible, but no one knows certainly what the price of platinum will be in the 2030s. There are non-automobile uses of platinum.

You can buy platinum on Amazon if you think platinum will rise.

How Do You Deal with Changing Clothes in a Locker Room when You Want Privacy?

Problem scenario
In the smart phone era, some people cannot get embarrassing photos removed from the internet. When you go to the gym and need to change into a swimsuit, you want privacy (so you are not seen). How do you do this without people seeing you?

Possible Solution #1
Change inside a toilet stall in the bathroom. (Showers are usually near bathroom stalls.)

Possible Solution #2
Use a towel around your body, and start to remove or put on different attire under the towel.

Possible Solution #3
Use a shower stall with a curtain if one is available to change your clothes.

Possible Solution #4
If the locker room is part of a school, consider going on homeschool. Find a way to get physical activity elsewhere.

How Do You Find Out when Your Mac was Unlocked?

Problem scenario
You unlocked the desktop of your Mac laptop. How do you find out the time that it happened? Or you just want a history of the times you logged into your MacOS, what should you do?

Solution
Open the command prompt.

Run this:

log show --style syslog --predicate 'process == "loginwindow"' --debug --info | grep "SecKeychainLogin result: 0, password was supplied"

The answer was taken from https://apple.stackexchange.com/a/332226

What Can You Do if Your Throat Constricts when Eating?

Problem scenario
Your throat seems to tighten if you eat something dry. What can you do to prevent this? What should you do if your throat constricts?

Solution
If there is an obstruction, a strong cough can help. Drinking cold water can help.

While people may use less sauce than a dish was designed for (because of health reasons), some meals, or bites of meals, cause someone to feel like they are choking. To avoid choking, it may be advisable to have chilled water nearby. Cold water can reduce inflammation and soothe a throat. As people age, they salivate less. To avoid choking when eating something dry, place a jug of water in a refrigerator to conveniently have ample cold water.

It could be that there is something else wrong. This article is not medical advice. It is informational; you may want to consult with a doctor.