Recent Posts
Reality trumps paranoid delusions.-Renegade (January 20, 2014, 02:23 PM)
Ya might wanna rethink that statement. Money laundering, crime, tax evasion, et al., have been around - i.e., reality - a lot longer than even the concept of bitcoin and other cyber currencies. Evil or good is not the realm of any currency medium, just the uses to which it is applied. To paraphrase an old saying, "What Man can create, Man can pervert."
-barney (January 20, 2014, 09:34 PM)
I think that's Ren's point. The MSM is trying to spin crypto as causal when it neither is nor can be.-Stoic Joker (January 20, 2014, 09:56 PM)
I wonder what SMOS BAMT isand find this
BAMT vs. SMOS vs. Other Linux-Based "Mining OS"
http://redd.it/1u2azh-erikts (January 21, 2014, 11:14 PM)
Nothing said? They said they're going to continue.
Nothing done? They stayed the course.
Insubstantial? They affirmed that they're going to continue exactly what they're doing now, but perhaps with a minor tweak here or there.-Renegade (January 20, 2014, 02:40 PM)
The speech was supposed to be about reforms and changes to be made to government surveillance programs.
Therefore: Nothing of substance was said. Nothing of any substance will be done. And whatever else was being offered as a proposed course of 'action' is insubstantial when viewed in that context.
-40hz (January 20, 2014, 03:15 PM)
SUMMARY: When all was said and done...very little was said, and virtually nothing was done.
...
The NYT lists the changes. It's insubstantial.-40hz (January 19, 2014, 07:55 AM)
It's bobsleigh time: Jamaican team raises $25,000 in Dogecoin-wraith808 (January 20, 2014, 11:43 AM)
(And actually $34,944, not $25k.)How do I get started with Dogecoin?
howtodoge.com provides some great tutorials on how to get started using Dogecoin!
Romanian Billionaire Saves OpenBSD
Bitcoin—you know, that cryptocurrency you pretend you know all about at parties but secretly search on Wikipedia when you're drunk in the bathroom, has met its match. In a combination almost as perfect as chocolate and peanut butter, bacon and eggs, or water-based lube and silicone dildos, you can now purchase your spank videos with your fave digital currency. In December, Porn.com announced that it would now accept confidential bitcoin payments for its premium services, and Bitcoin users quickly shot up to 10 percent of all sales. That was just the beginning of the love affair, because after the Bitcoiners of Reddit proudly announced their acquisition just 15 days ago—in a synergistic explosion of Moms Bang Teens and cryptography— bitcoin now accounts for a staggering quarter of all Porn.com sales.
Porn.com's current owners aren't too invested in seeing how this whole digital currency phase works out, though. They're already reportedly looking to sell the domain for $50 million in, well, Bitcoin. It's the circle of life. And it jerks us all.
The first batch of primo is now sold out!
(see attachment in previous post)
What does your handwriting say about your personality?-Arizona Hot (January 17, 2014, 08:06 PM)
Hey! They omitted arthritis, amongst other physicals-barney (January 17, 2014, 08:31 PM)
I read in the US news media in my feed-reader today that Obama has made announcements as to how the NSA problem is going to be fixed.
Phew! That's a relief.-IainB (January 18, 2014, 02:16 AM)
Unfortunately, nothing short of an "American Spring" is gonna accomplish that.-40hz (January 18, 2014, 02:52 AM)
That is just ripe for abuse. And when you get down to it, the providers want to make money. That's their business.-wraith808 (January 16, 2014, 04:08 PM)
...I'm going to calm down.-wraith808 (January 15, 2014, 08:07 PM)
Overstock.com CEO attacks Krugman: “Hopefully Bitcoin will destroy central banking”
Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne discusses Bitcoin and the fears of central planning economist Paul Krugman who claims Bitcoin is evil.
Byrne says “Krugman did some great work before he went crazy” he then goes on to explain his hope that Bitcoin can destroy central banking.
(see attachment in previous post)
The Simpsons apologize to Judas Priest via Bart's Blackboard (via the Guardian)-wraith808 (January 14, 2014, 08:51 AM)
They should have got Weird Al to do it instead... For the song voted as the most instantly recognisable metal riff... god... a crying shame... A Stealth Address is a new type of Bitcoin address and related
scriptPubKey/transaction generation scheme that allowers payees to
publish a single, fixed, address that payors can send funds efficiently,
privately, reliably and non-interactively. Payors do not learn what
other payments have been made to the stealth address, and third-parties
learn nothing at all. (both subject to an adjustable anonymity set)
Andreas Antonopoulos - blows me away all the time.-Renegade (January 12, 2014, 07:46 AM)
a big plus one there Ren
I've only watched the first 30 mins yet, and want to watch it again -- there's a lot in there.
I've listened to, I think, four videos by him -- each about different aspects of Bitcoin, and he really is *very* good. He's got great vision -- but with his feet firmly on the ground. It's refreshing to hear someone who supports bitcoin say that the US dollar is in reasonable shape (for a fiat currency).
He's also the only one I've heard or read so far who addresses the questions I had about possible problems with bitcoin. (I'll have to try find a suitable video by him on the practical aspects of Bitcoin to post here.)-tomos (January 13, 2014, 02:04 PM)
When you choose evil without coercion, even if it is a lesser evil, there's something seriously WRONG there.-Renegade (January 10, 2014, 08:02 AM)
Not.. necessarily. Take a US election, with two candidates, and other marginalized ones. You can vote for the one that would do the least harm. Or you can vote for someone else. Or you can not vote at all.
Not voting at all is not making a choice. Similarly, if pragmatically your candidate won't win... that's not really a choice either. Those kinds of choices for the non-mainstream candidate are made before an election and during the campaign. Not at the ballots. Once it becomes obvious that the marginalized candidate won't win, all you do by voting for them is reduce the pool of effective votes.
Voting for the lesser evil in that case, is the pragmatic choice. You're not actually choosing the lesser evil- you're choosing against the greater one.-wraith808 (January 10, 2014, 12:15 PM)
If the game were already over it wouldn't matter. But so as long as it feels disturbing, there's still hope. It's when it doesn't feel like anything that we'll really need to worry.-40hz (January 10, 2014, 01:55 PM)
To define the terms and scope pf a discussion is to control it.
We're already seeing it happen today in the "nuanced" testimony and comments of those in power who place their own self-serving re-definitions on words such as: collateral, redaction, privileged, and legal
We can expect to see even more of this in the future if we continue to allow it to go unchallenged. Unchecked, and it will eventually lead to something resembling this scene in Orwell's 1984:-40hz (January 10, 2014, 12:21 PM)
'And only ONE for birthday presents, you know. There's glory for you!'
'I don't know what you mean by "glory,"' Alice said.
Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. 'Of course you don't--till I tell
you. I meant "there's a nice knock-down argument for you!"'
'But "glory" doesn't mean "a nice knock-down argument,"' Alice objected.
'When _I_ use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, 'it
means just what I choose it to mean--neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you CAN make words mean so many
different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master--that's
all.'
Decent choice of words Renny. I tried to get into this with the idea of "soft coercion". Where your life is not at stake but "my my my, wouldn't it be nice to get a Pepsi right now?"-TaoPhoenix (January 10, 2014, 08:10 AM)
