I get a bit into bitcoin today to reflect how volatile it can be. Yesterday,  President Donald Trump threatened new 100% tariffs on China. The  U.S. stock market tumbled , with the Dow Jones Industrial dropping 879 points, or 1.9%.  The broader S&P dropped 2.71%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 3.56%. Gold rose 1.5%.   Read my posting of yesterday on how just this commodity could trigger a collapse of the USA and World . In particular,  cryptocurrencies Bitcoin ( almost a 10% decline ), Ether ( 14.2% ) and Solana ( 20% ) led the sinking , bringing total liquidations to $14.28 billion, the largest in crypto history.  One of Trump's executive order to allow digital assets to be included in 401(k) plans led to  Bitcoin  soaring to a record high of $124,000 last week.   When to capitalize (b)itcoin?  When referring to the protocol, technology or network.  But lowercase bitcoin is used as a unit of currency....

Is this the beginning of the next pandemic surge?  From the  New York Times  this morning. You've read about  Philadelphia's return to indoor masks .   But what about the other regions?   Remember when the Alpha variant hit Michigan and Minnesota about a year ago...then fizzled?   So sure predictions are difficult.  Of course, most new cases are being caused by the Omicron BA.2 subvariant, the most contagious virus yet, but the combination of vaccinations, high number of previous asymptomatic cases, home tests ( which are generally not reported ) and mildness of the resultant symptoms is not affecting the hospitalization rate, with a continuing decline of death rates.   We are now in the mode of uncertainty tinged with optimism. The  crypto world is erupting .  It's possible that this could become a revolution.  However, anything relatively new remains perilous, and this financing option could just as easily...