More Of Money

Don't Worry -

You won't be bothered by intrusive dreams and how clever Conrad is, at least in his own head and imagination.  No, today we continue to follow the huge ripples left by the collapse of FTX, the crypto-currency business that was run by a bunch of crooks.  Conrad doesn't follow the financial markets too closely but is aware that the FTX fraud has put a severe dent in crypto that it may never recover from, and that there are other dodgy players in the market who may be about to go toes-up, too.  Art!

     Yes, that's a Leopard A2 tank, not a collection of Bitcoins, because crypto currency's visual presence is as exciting as boiled lettuce.

     Enter the Silvergate bank, an entity that primarily deals with crypto businesses, one of which was FTX, three initials they now wish they'd never heard of or encountered.  $93 million were deposited there, which are now being sought by the South Canadian Department of Justice, and the FBI and financial authorities in the Bahamas, all grimly determined to recover investors money.  Art!

     FTX going bankrupt was rather like the first domino falling in one of those displays that takes hours to set up and which is over in seconds, for no sooner had they filed for Chapter 11, than account holders with Silvergate began withdrawing their funds.  Thus began a run of $8.1 billion in withdrawals.  This was a very, very serious issue because no bank has the kind of funds available to sustain a run by customers; it's just not how they operate and they don't anticipate such extraordinary excess levels of financial flight.  Art!

Like this, just digital

     The 'Financial Times' says that they had to sell off assets in a hurry and took a bath on them, because they needed the money NOW, not in the next financial quarter.  Yes, they raised over $5 billion to cover the withdrawals, and took a $714 million loss in the process, which wiped out all their profits for the past 10 years.  Ouch.  That's not the end of the story for them, either.  They have laid off two-fifths of their staff (200 people), which will, to be fair, reduce their wage overheads.  They have decided not to go ahead with creating their own crypto-currency, which you might agree is a wise decision were it not for the fact that they'd already handed over nearly $200 million for the necessary hardware.  Given how badly crypto's reputation is now, I don't think they're going to be able to sell their technical kit at anything like market value.  Art!

      All this whilst their business has declined by a third over the past year.  'Brassgate' sounds like a more fitting title, hmmm?  Conrad doubts that they'll still be around by this time next year

     <ooops, took a comfort break, then came back and sat in my chair, wondering what the big lump I felt my nethers descend upon was - had the cushion collapsed?  No, it was Edna, who took the hint and moved.  Sorry, Edders!>

     Hmmm, F.T.X. = "Fraud, Thievery, eXtortion" a better description.

Conrad's Culinary Creativity

I did mention 'Holubtsi' yesteryon, which apparently are an Ukrainian staple, and I dimly remember a video where Ukrainian womenfolk were making and bottling them for their chaps on the front lines.  Being motivated by greed as much as any desire to sample ethnic cuisine, Conrad got the ingredients together.

     First, you have to core and boil your cabbage, so that the leaves are both pliable and more edible.  Art!

     

    Then you get the filling ingredients and mix well, which I always take to mean get-in-there-with-yer-hands.  Art!

    The recipe said cut the spine out of the boiled leaves, which is a mistake, as it left a lot of leaves too small to be used.  I'll know better next time.  Art!

     Then you add the sauce and cook in the oven for at least an hour.  When I took them out the rice hadn't cooked properly, so Conrad added a little more boiling water and back they went for another hour.  Art!

     I tried one and they're not bad.  Next time I may parboil the rice before adding to the filling.  To be served with oodles of sour cream, apparently - Ukrainians slather everything in sour cream.

Whilst On About Ukraine And Food ...

There was a sideline on Bing from the Daily Express which bore looking into.  The words 'combat rabbits' came into play, so Conrad dug a little deeper.

     The Ukrainian Secret Service, it seems, has a ghoulish sense of humour.  They put it about that 'Combat rabbits from secret laboratories' operated in conjunction with Ukrainian marksmen to 'retire' Ruffian soldiers.  In reality they seem to have been used to lure starving Borcs, who subsist on strained mud, licecakes and boiled twigs, out into the open.  Most readers here would go "Awww!" upon seeing a fluffy bunny, whereas the average Borc sees it as a furry dinner-to-be.  Art!

CAUTION! Reality may be wrong

"The Sea Of Sand"

The Doctor is getting ready to commit a little malicious diversionary activity, and is enjoying his dramatic moment.

Relishing his audience’s curiosity, the Doctor loaded a single tracer round into the rifle Tam passed to him.

‘Okay, Sergente Capriccio.  When I tell you, and not before, you start the engine of your vehicle.  Get the revs up as high as possible, into the red if you can, and only then put the clutch in.’

Shrugging, the Sergente took his seat.

‘If this works as I want it to, we may get patrols of bio-vores coming to investigate.  Once that crate catches fire, you all need to mount up and disperse.’

‘Definitely!’ agreed Dominione.  ‘How and where will you meet us?’

Slightly more difficult, that one.

‘Say one mile due west of here.  If the bio-vores keep following you, fall back another mile.’

Sarah, listening from the cab of the Bedford, pretending to sleep, wondered how the Doctor was going to manage travelling that far on his own, in the dark. 

Except it wouldn’t be solo, not if she could help it.

 

‘Now!’ snapped the Doctor.  Capriccio revved the engine up to a metallic scream as the dubious soldiers stood watching.

     I know how this bit ends because I wrote it.  You will have to wait.

Korean History

We do seem to have a martial theme today, don't we?  Well, that's just how the biscuit breaks, and you can't complain because you don't have to pay to read this scrivel, do you now?

     One thing I have noticed is that historical Korea was a tough nut to crack if you were an invader.  The Koreans, in fact, fought invaders - Chinese, Japanese and Mongols alike - very doughtily, and earned a grudging respect for doing so.  Art!

     I have noticed my historical work uses different spelling conventions from the K-dramas I've been watching, such as "Ch" instead of "J", which may just be the difference between Netflix and an Asian scholar.  Maybe I need to ask Jake Broe?

Finally -

Better get this canine-equine extravaganza on the road, I want some of those Holubtsi for lunch.  And, talking of dogs, I am looking out the window at the ever-falling rain and frowning at the thought of taking Edna for a trot.  A swim would be closer to the truth.

     Bah!