Sick of being a Pathologist. Career change.

[KeratinPearls]

Here’s where Bitcoin comes into play: Inflation

Anyone living in one of the countries listed above will have a hard time trying to save money for a rainy day. It’s like trying to hold water in a leaky bucket.

If you are an entrepreneur in Argentina, Zimbabwe, or Venezuela, it doesn’t matter how well you do or how hard you work, all the value goes to zero almost instantly.

These countries have traditionally resorted to investing in proper stores of value in order to retain some purchasing power. The dollar and other assets have been used as a safe haven to escape from devaluation and inflation.

But now there is something much better. Why depend on a third country with questionable economic policies, endless money printing, and interruptible supply when you can go straight to the source?

Bitcoin is deflationary, censorship-resistant, safe to store, send, and hide. It doesn’t inflate 3000% like the Venezuelan Bolivar or 15% like the US dollar lately.

Gold is also a good store of value but Bitcoin is much easier to buy, carry, send or transact. All these countries are embracing the Bitcoin revolution with open arms and who can blame them. It is the panacea they’ve been waiting for.

In short, citizens should not have to suffer because of poor monetary policies by their own governments.

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[gbwillner]

Crypto solves the problem of moving illegal money internationally.

Good point. It's also incredibly effective as the medium for the world's largest Ponzi scheme.

 

[gbwillner]

View attachment 344055

Here’s where Bitcoin comes into play: Inflation

Anyone living in one of the countries listed above will have a hard time trying to save money for a rainy day. It’s like trying to hold water in a leaky bucket.

If you are an entrepreneur in Argentina, Zimbabwe, or Venezuela, it doesn’t matter how well you do or how hard you work, all the value goes to zero almost instantly.

These countries have traditionally resorted to investing in proper stores of value in order to retain some purchasing power. The dollar and other assets have been used as a safe haven to escape from devaluation and inflation.

But now there is something much better. Why depend on a third country with questionable economic policies, endless money printing, and interruptible supply when you can go straight to the source?

Bitcoin is deflationary, censorship-resistant, safe to store, send, and hide. It doesn’t inflate 3000% like the Venezuelan Bolivar or 15% like the US dollar lately.

Gold is also a good store of value but Bitcoin is much easier to buy, carry, send or transact. All these countries are embracing the Bitcoin revolution with open arms and who can blame them. It is the panacea they’ve been waiting for.

In short, citizens should not have to suffer because of poor monetary policies by their own governments.

Lol. It's a panacea! Funny I don't hear people from El Salvador or any of those other places say that. Just people who are bad at math and don't understand economics.

 

[deleted314957]

1 October 2021 Reuters: Coinbase states hackers took bitcoin from 6000 of their customers. I don’t think hackers want to go after my Vanguard account. Nor do I think they would try. If this ain’t game point, I don’t know what is. Perhaps the PRC banning it. I think block chain currency is a dead end. The powers that be will not allow it to undermine the dollar, renminbi, euro, yen,or pound.

 

[KeratinPearls]

1 October 2021 Reuters: Coinbase states hackers took bitcoin from 6000 of their customers. I don’t think hackers want to go after my Vanguard account. Nor do I think they would try. If this ain’t game point, I don’t know what is. Perhaps the PRC banning it. I think block chain currency is a dead end. The powers that be will not allow it to undermine the dollar, renminbi, euro, yen,or pound.

I wonder why all these crypto entities like Coinbase aren’t being investigated if it’s a Ponzi scheme or a means of money laundering?

I mean look at Bernie Madoff. Bilked billions from investors and died in jail. With crypto, we are talking trillions I’m guessing.

The government cant go after crypto companies or their founders like Vitaly Buterin (Ethereum founder), Brian Armstrong (Coinbase Founder) or Charles Hoskinson (Cardano founder)? Is there a law that prevents this? Can someone explain?

 

[Adrian Cocot]

Odd that this thread turned into a crypto hate-fest.

Somebody wrote an bear thesis on Bitcoin in the general investment thread last year. It was very well written, and covered the same themes in this thread -- scam, ponzi, drugs/contraband, etc. And yet the price of BTC went up 15x after that post, never mind the alts. Price action doesn't give a damn about your feelings.

An easy heuristic: think of cryptos/Defi/NFTs as a specialized tech sector bet, and position size accordingly. Read the white papers, and you'll have a better understanding of the coins/tokens than 90% of the commentariat. A 2-5% speculative position can end up doubling your portfolio. No better r/r than that.

 

[orthoPA81]

Seriously, can you guys take the crypto conversation elsewhere? I would actually like to hear more about pathology. Thanks

 

[deleted314957]

Odd that this thread turned into a crypto hate-fest.

Somebody wrote an bear thesis on Bitcoin in the general investment thread last year. It was very well written, and covered the same themes in this thread -- scam, ponzi, drugs/contraband, etc. And yet the price of BTC went up 15x after that post, never mind the alts. Price action doesn't give a damn about your feelings.

An easy heuristic: think of cryptos/Defi/NFTs as a specialized tech sector bet, and position size accordingly. Read the white papers, and you'll have a better understanding of the coins/tokens than 90% of the commentariat. A 2-5% speculative position can end up doubling your portfolio. No better r/r than that.

Exactly. That is diversification! Only I would diversify such that blockchain technology, nano, banks, quantum computing, high end 3-d copying, etc were all represented PROPORTIONATELY in my portfolio, i’ll hit some winners and hit some losers, the winners will out pay the losers. Fear and greed can f.o.

 

[gbwillner]

Odd that this thread turned into a crypto hate-fest.

Somebody wrote an bear thesis on Bitcoin in the general investment thread last year. It was very well written, and covered the same themes in this thread -- scam, ponzi, drugs/contraband, etc. And yet the price of BTC went up 15x after that post, never mind the alts. Price action doesn't give a damn about your feelings.

An easy heuristic: think of cryptos/Defi/NFTs as a specialized tech sector bet, and position size accordingly. Read the white papers, and you'll have a better understanding of the coins/tokens than 90% of the commentariat. A 2-5% speculative position can end up doubling your portfolio. No better r/r than that.

I probably wrote that too. The problem comes from thinking of this as an "investment" and not gambling, which it is. Price action, by the unregulated nature of crypto, does not mean adoption of its use or reflection of value, as the markets are entirely manipulated. If you put 2% of your real money into these imaginary internet coins, that's your deal. Sure it can go up, down, or sideways. But in the end it will go to 0 (or near it). Everybody cannot "invest" in it and it go up indefinitely with real dollars. That's like breaking the 2nd law of thermodynamics.

Start the education:

 

[Guest8]

The information is out there and no my source is not from 18 yo shills on YouTube.

Panama, El Salvador and Ukraine are adopting Bitcoin. I guess these countries entirely “lack critical thinking” and “do not understand economic principles” as well.

Uhhh...the very histories of those countries show they lack critical thinking and understanding of economic principles.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Uhhh...the very histories of those countries show they lack critical thinking and understanding of economic principles.

Lol gbwillner is that you bro? This thread has been derailed. Let’s go back to talking about “Sick of being a pathologist” since people here want to learn more about pathology. Lmao

 

[WildWing]

You know where is a great place to discuss cryptocurrency? The SDN Finance and Investment forum:

Finance and Investment

Discussion of everything other than financial aid. Includes investment, mortgage, retirement, banking, etc. Co-hosted with The White Coat Investor

forums.studentdoctor.net

Please move your conversation there so the thread can get back on topic.

 

[KeratinPearls]

You know where is a great place to discuss cryptocurrency? The SDN Finance and Investment forum:

Finance and Investment

Discussion of everything other than financial aid. Includes investment, mortgage, retirement, banking, etc. Co-hosted with The White Coat Investor

forums.studentdoctor.net

Please move your conversation there so the thread can get back on topic.

Now back to your original programming….miserable pathologists posting on SDN. Lol!!!!

Have a great week everyone.

 

[gbwillner]

Lol gbwillner is that you bro? This thread has been derailed. Let’s go back to talking about “Sick of being a pathologist” since people here want to learn more about pathology. Lmao

Nope. Just another person with brains, I suppose.

 

[KeratinPearls]

Nope. Just another person with brains, I suppose.

No need to make a personal attack. Take it to the finance forum.

 

[Adrian Cocot]

I probably wrote that too. The problem comes from thinking of this as an "investment" and not gambling, which it is.

No. It's not gambling, it's speculation. Big difference.

Back on topic: Any tech-savvy residents out there consider leaving medicine and becoming a SOL dev? Feels like a collection of microscopic images could make for good NFT series.

 

[Drifter76]

Hello all.

Pathologist with about 6 years of experience.

Tired of being controlled by glorified managers who work their 9-5 from the comfort of their home.

Tired of spending my days stuck in a closet (windowless office) as a salve to other physicians who have zero respect for our specialty.

Tired of being overworked and having glorified managers say the numbers don't support that.

Tired of having to pick up extra work from PA's, cytotechs and pathologist turnover and being told to suck it up.

Tired of having to put in my PTO a year in advance to make other people's jobs easier.

Tired of having sick days and yet not being able to use them unless I'm literally dying, as it affects colleagues.

Tired of being on call.

Tired of seeing no job opportunities in desirable locations.

Sick to my stomach knowing I have sacrificed decades of my life for this.

Pathology is sh##t.

Anyone who has made a career change, please pitch in. I'm open to all suggestions. I just know this isn't it for me.

This has been my experience in pathology- jobs like this, or worse.. and it doesn’t do you any good to find another job in pathology when the next job is just as bad as the last one. When I came out of training, many people felt lucky just to find a crap job like this.

 

[Drifter76]

Maybe my experience is different than yours, but what I have seen is that pathology is disproportionately staffed by heavily accented non-white IMGs. They are also bossed around by admins and talked down to by surgeons and other staff, and fail to stand up for themselves since they feel, likely correctly, that nobody else has their backs because of the systemic racism.

In Canada, where I practice, pathologists are disproportionately salaried employees of the hospitals, easily controlled and not paid for extra work, while other doctors are independent contractors with control over their volumes and fee for service billings. I can think of no other field in Canada that has a disproportionate IMG constituent as much as pathology. I would expect the same in the USA given the fact that over 2/3 of residency spots are filled by IMGs.

It may not be the only reason for the discrepancy in respect, but I do think it contributes.

You are at least partially correct here- in that pathology is a field that has both low levels of professional respect and a high proportion of IMGs. But consider the possibility that the cause- effect relationship between those two parameters actually goes in the opposite direction from what you are suggesting.
Pathology has numerous major issues, one of which is lack of professional respect, and those issues have caused US grads to largely shun the field. Then, because US grads have shunned the field, it essentially opens up a large number of positions to be filled with IMGs. The lack of professional respect is a cause rather than effect, and the very high proportion of IMGs is the effect rather than the cause.
As the OP stated, pathology is a sh###t career path. Hopefully more medical students will heed the warnings on here. I see that the percentage of pathology residency positions filling with US grads is down to around 30 percent, which is extremely low, but that is still close to 200 US medical students a year matching into pathology, and I feel very bad for them to be putting in all those years of work, with the high debt and opportunity cost of medical school/residency, just to throw it all away by going into a profession as dysfunctional as this one. A handful of them may get lucky, but the vast majority are cruisin’ for a bruisin’.

 

[deleted314957]

No. It's not gambling, it's speculation. Big difference.

Back on topic: Any tech-savvy residents out there consider leaving medicine and becoming a SOL dev? Feels like a collection of microscopic images could make for good NFT series.

Boy, the argot of the times has changed! When I see SOL dev I would have immediately thought of some poor developer who was s*** outta’ luck

 

[gbwillner]

There areplebty of bright people in the crypto space. If people don’t agree with what you believe, it doesn’t make them brainless.

You sir, do come across as an arrogant jerk.

I'm sure lots of bright people bought Beanie Babies and invested with Madoff too. I'm glad you think I'm a jerk. Maybe look at the points raised instead of ad hominem commentary.

 

[gyngyn]

A member has been warned for disparagement. That post has been removed.

 

[mdartclub]

A beginner's guide to how to make $1M with an NFT and almost no effort

(this is not financial advice and I would absolutely NOT do this [but LA Doc might]. This is only one of MANY ways to do this)

1. Draw some crap. Literally, it can be anything. It doesn't matter. How about a rock, like this one?

2. Create NFT tokens for it. Set your price so that the total amount of the NFT token value is $1M (or whatever you want it to be!)

3. Have $1M, or $1M "worth" of crypto. Also, it helps to market your NFT in some public forum, like this one. Create an anonymous account at a trading desk there. If you don't have $1M, get your friends and family to pitch in- make sure you tell them you have an amazing opportunity to make free money that can't possibly fail. Make sure you never actually pay them back though, because if they are dumb enough to fall for this, then they don't deserve the cash.

4. Buy your own NFT tokens for $1M worth of Eth from yourself. This is also called a "wash trade". This sets the market rate for your garbage NFT that you have no legal rights to (except that you do because you drew it originally, but no one has to know that!)

5. Now you have $1M in crypto you gave yourself, and a crappy picture's NFT tokens worth $1M. Congrats! You just created $1M out of thin air!!!

6. Sell the NFT tokens to suckers at whatever rate you can. They will all think it is a steal if less than what you paid, and are "buying the dip", when really they are getting fleeced by you!!! You are so smart- you should rub it in their dumb faces. Hire some schmucks to talk about how great your NFT is on YouTube. Maybe the price will MOOOOOON!!!!!!

If that seems like too much work and can't be bothered to pick up a pencil, just get a job at the NFT trading firm above, and then Pump and Dump other people's crap like they did.

7. Spend your winnings wisely and always look over your shoulder.

If you guys are interested, I can teach you other great ways to make money with NFTs!!!!! (serious note, don't do any of these things even if they are surefire ways of making money these days, because it is all entirely not super kosher).

Anyone can create an NFT. The hard part is promoting and sellilng them...

 

[mdartclub]

@KeratinPearls Do you actually own that ape in your avatar? That NFT is so sick...in a good way!

 

[gbwillner]

Anyone can create an NFT. The hard part is promoting and sellilng them...

I think you mean "the hard part is convincing others it's not a scam so they buy"...

 

[mdartclub]

I think you mean "the hard part is convincing others it's not a scam so they buy"...

I mean convincing them about the utility of the piece. It has to provide some value in order for someone to buy.

 

[gbwillner]

I mean convincing them about the utility of the piece. It has to provide some value in order for someone to buy.

Does it? I guess it does, but you really need to stretch the meaning of "value". Like finding "value" as you lose hard-earned money to a grift and finding value in the "friends you made along the way."

 

[mdartclub]

Does it? I guess it does, but you really need to stretch the meaning of "value". Like finding "value" as you lose hard-earned money to a grift and finding value in the "friends you made along the way."

While some NFT are just pieces of art, there are many that have actual utility. You can go to OpenSea, then filter by utility for examples.

 

[gbwillner]

While some NFT are just pieces of art, there are many that have actual utility. You can go to OpenSea, then filter by utility for examples.

I hate to engage in this. NFTs are not "art" or anything with utility. They are tokens on a blockchain. They confer nothing other than you "own" a place on a decentralized ledger. That's it. They do not imply ownership or rights of any kind. They are a scam.

 

[mdartclub]

I hate to engage in this. NFTs are not "art" or anything with utility. They are tokens on a blockchain. They confer nothing other than you "own" a place on a decentralized ledger. That's it. They do not imply ownership or rights of any kind. They are a scam.

I have to agree with you to some extent. When you buy the NFT, you are not buying the art itself, but rather something linking you to the art.

 

[mdartclub]

Whether you feel they have value or not, they are just fun! Sometimes people buy things that are not necessarily rational. Kids trade Pokemon cards. Adults buy fancy cars. Celebrities buy expensive Birkin bags. To some...NFTs are status symbols. To others...a sense of community!

 

[mdartclub]

Like you, I also thought NFTs were stupid ponzi schemes a few months ago. Then I saw what is going on in Discord servers. At first, I was like, what is Discord? Isn't that something for gamers? But there are all these underground servers where people are chatting with people from around the world or banding together to complete certain tasks or playing games together like Pictionary. It's totally foreign to me!

 

[gbwillner]

Like you, I also thought NFTs were stupid ponzi schemes a few months ago. Then I saw what is going on in Discord servers. At first, I was like, what is Discord? Isn't that something for gamers? But there are all these underground servers where people are chatting with people from around the world or banding together to complete certain tasks or playing games together like Pictionary. It's totally foreign to me!

Are people paying for these NFTs with real money? I suspect they are, since you have to buy them with crypto, and these are not usually free and have gas fees.

How is this different than Pokemon? Let me ask- are people buying these because they are fun? Or are they buying them because they think they will make money off of it? If the latter, it is a scheme no matter how you justify it, because you are promising value to offload your worthless database entry that is unsustainable.

 

[mdartclub]

Are people paying for these NFTs with real money? I suspect they are, since you have to buy them with crypto, and these are not usually free and have gas fees.

How is this different than Pokemon? Let me ask- are people buying these because they are fun? Or are they buying them because they think they will make money off of it? If the latter, it is a scheme no matter how you justify it, because you are promising value to offload your worthless database entry that is unsustainable.

I think everyone has different intentions. Some people are buying these for fun...maybe they just think the art looks cool or unique, similar to the way that people collect art to hang in their living room. Other people are buying these to make money...what they typically do is try to get on a "whitelist" where they purchase in a pre-sale at discounted rates, then quickly flip them when the pieces are released to the general public at full price.

 

[mdartclub]

Are people paying for these NFTs with real money? I suspect they are, since you have to buy them with crypto, and these are not usually free and have gas fees.

How is this different than Pokemon? Let me ask- are people buying these because they are fun? Or are they buying them because they think they will make money off of it? If the latter, it is a scheme no matter how you justify it, because you are promising value to offload your worthless database entry that is unsustainable.

Regarding the gas fees, I am seeing more NFTs using the Polygon network which has no pesky gas fees. That's how I have been able to mint and gift hundreds without paying a single cent (if anyone wants some for free, DM me...). My intention is to spread my passion for the art of medicine to those around the world...in fact, I am in the process of organizing a free medical-themed NFT collab in the metaverse as we speak. I have connected with followers in Myanmar, India, United Kingdom, Australia, Bulgaria, Chad, the list goes on and on... Recently, I chatted with someone in Turkey who told me he is including my collection in his thesis about radiology art. If you check out my OpenSea, I have not sold any pieces to date and do not really care. I am doing it because it is fun...and to learn some new skills in the process, such as graphic design, video editing, social marketing, and managing Discord servers. If I really wanted to earn money, I could do some extra moonlighting on the side which would be a lot easier!

 

[mdartclub]

Personally, I agree probably the majority of NFTs are scams, but then there are others that are legit.

 

[mdartclub]

Also, I have come across some NFTs that donate a portion of their proceeds to medical causes. Whether they actually do, who knows...

 

[deleted314957]

Regarding the gas fees, I am seeing more NFTs using the Polygon network which has no pesky gas fees. That's how I have been able to mint and gift hundreds without paying a single cent (if anyone wants some for free, DM me...). My intention is to spread my passion for the art of medicine to those around the world...in fact, I am in the process of organizing a free medical-themed NFT collab in the metaverse as we speak. I have connected with followers in Myanmar, India, United Kingdom, Australia, Bulgaria, Chad, the list goes on and on... Recently, I chatted with someone in Turkey who told me he is including my collection in his thesis about radiology art. If you check out my OpenSea, I have not sold any pieces to date and do not really care. I am doing it because it is fun...and to learn some new skills in the process, such as graphic design, video editing, social marketing, and managing Discord servers. If I really wanted to earn money, I could do some extra moonlighting on the side which would be a lot easier!

Are you hiring?

 

[mdartclub]

Are you hiring?

No I am not hiring. This is a hobby not a business.

 

[deleted314957]

No I am not hiring. This is a hobby not a business.

And this was a joke, not a serious question.

 

[gbwillner]

My intention is to spread my passion for the art of medicine to those around the world...

If this was your intention you could just host these images on a website and let people come see them. It would cost them nothing. The NFT part adds nothing in terms of sharing- quite the opposite- it makes barriers where you have to pay for admission to see something. Is your intent to create a demand for medical images by associating them to crypto and financialization of these things? Because that's what it looks like to me.

 

[HeyDalaron]

 

[mdartclub]

If this was your intention you could just host these images on a website and let people come see them. It would cost them nothing. The NFT part adds nothing in terms of sharing- quite the opposite- it makes barriers where you have to pay for admission to see something. Is your intent to create a demand for medical images by associating them to crypto and financialization of these things? Because that's what it looks like to me.

You raise some good points; there are definitely pros and cons of NFTs, probably more cons than pros. I just wanted to add there are some non-monetary benefits to NFTs. First, by allowing others to own parts of your work, regardless if they paid for it or got it for free (such as winning a contest), they feel more connected to the community as a whole. If they just visited a web site, they would look at the art and be like oh that is cool then leave (I know that's what I would do). But when they are gifted an NFT of which there is only a limited amount available, it feels a little bit more special. Second, there are some cool features of NFTs. When minting an NFT, you can add properties, such as what technique or colors were used. The marketplace then automatically calculates percentages to determine the rarity of each piece. If I were to do a web site, I would have to calculate these percentages myself and then recalculate them every time I add a new piece. Third, I just wanted to get into the NFT space because I've been seeing and hearing a lot about it in the news. In the beginning, I tried applying for giveaway contests with limited success. Now that I have my own NFT collection I am able to directly approach other artists and trade with them. It is a very supportive community.

 

[mdartclub]

This is hilarious! Where did you find this out of curiosity?