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2476
Living Room / Re: Does anyone here use Bitcoins?
« Last post by Renegade on September 21, 2013, 11:24 AM »
Here's an interesting article on Bitcoin:

http://papers.ssrn.c...?abstract_id=2294124

Abstract:

This paper will discuss and evaluation the design features of Bitcoin in relation to the libertarian and metallist philosophies that have shaped the cryptocurrency. Bitcoin has failed to be perfectly decentralized or particularly anonymous. Furthermore, its hyperdeflationary design features have made Bitcoin a currency dependent on outside, more stable currencies (e.g., the U.S. dollar), which serve as units of account. Finally, despite the view of money taken by its creators, this supposedly stateless currency is far from apolitical in nature. Although its creators tend to espouse apolitical accounts of money, Bitcoin has been from the beginning a political project -- an evolving, distributed constitutional project, with many goals, visions, and factions. Furthermore, depending on the shape of these political goals, Bitcoin advocates may or may not have a vested interest in creating mechanisms to stabilize the currency and make it a viable unit of account.

You may need to click the download button 2x.
2477
Living Room / Re: good Videos [short films] here :)
« Last post by Renegade on September 21, 2013, 11:03 AM »
Here's an ad video for a corporate app.



And here's the Funny or Die rebuttal:

http://www.funnyordi...1aa/honest-scarecrow

I'd recommend watching both. Don't watch just the first, but do watch the first before the Funny or Die version.
2478
Living Room / Re: Raspberry Pi's $35 Linux PC
« Last post by Renegade on September 21, 2013, 10:37 AM »
(see attachment in previous post)
$199, 4.2” computer is Intel’s first Raspberry Pi competitor  Ars Technica

Oooh! Interesting!

It's notable that the MinnowBoard is an open hardware platform, a distinction that Arduino and BeagleBone can claim but Raspberry Pi cannot. Users could create their own MinnowBoards by buying the items on the bill of materials—all the design information is published, and CircuitCo chose components that can be purchased individually rather than in the bulk quantities hardware manufacturers are accustomed to, Anders said. Users can also buy a pre-made MinnowBoard and make customizations or create their own accessory boards to expand its capability.

And being an open hardware platform means that the source code of (almost) all the software required to run the platform is open.

That is a big plus. Especially from a large company like Intel.

In a keynote address, Intel CTO Dirk Hohndel told the LinuxCon crowd that the MinnowBoard was "specifically designed as the first open hardware board based on x86, and that allows you to build derivatives without an NDA. All the pieces are open and available, all the blueprints you need, all the source files you need. You can create your own embedded platforms without Intel, without any of the vendors involved."

There's just one exception: with the graphics processing unit, only the binary files required to drive the GPU are available, as the source code remains closed. Anders said that's a sticking point for some purists, but he's hoping that "as long as we continue to keep pressure on companies like Intel, Texas Instruments, and Freescale… eventually they'll see the light and say, 'we'll make these open as well.'"

The lack of transparency in the video drivers is, well, not great, but depending on what you're doing, it's unlikely to be a deal breaker.

Although it's more than four times the price of the BeagleBone Black, the MinnowBoard is also four or five times more powerful, according to Anders. "If you look at optimizing a few things, you can get it up to 10 times more powerful," he said.

The most likely use cases today aren't hobbyist applications but industrial uses, Anders said. "The BeagleBone is a very small, low-power device, and it's targeted for some very specific applications for hobbying. You know, developing small proof-of-concept designs," Anders said. "Our initial offer for the MinnowBoard is actually more targeted toward industrial automation, industrial controls. What you'll find is a lot of manufacturers, companies creating products, if they want to create an x86 design, they have to buy a third-party reference platform which is closed. They have to buy large software support packages, support contracts, and they generally don't get the right to use the existing design as it is. They have to buy additional licenses and things to create the product."

Meh, more on the market is good. It's not what I'm looking for, but looks like it has a definite market. Just not competing with the Raspberry Pi. :)
2479
Living Room / Re: Cross-platform apps?
« Last post by Renegade on September 21, 2013, 10:30 AM »
Not sure if this take on things would work for you...

Sometimes the program itself is important, but other times it's simply the output. If the output is the important part, then what about using different applications that can handle the same output? e.g. MS Office on Windows, Libre Office on Linux, etc.
2480
The woman smiled and said: "What a coincidence!"

BWAHAHAHA! ;D
2482
^ Not an image that I think I want in my head...  :'(

Too bad! The Bible is the Word of God and God hath commanded you to think ... long and hard ... upon those things!

:P


Cum, cum, now. You can't really mean that! (Was totally tempted to sub out an 'a' for a 'u' in there... resisted temptation... but it didn't flee!)
2483
Living Room / Re: Gadget WEEKENDS
« Last post by Renegade on September 21, 2013, 03:37 AM »
Now the next logical step after getting one of those fellas is to grind your own beans (the home-roasters can talk about that process -- i won't be going there).

As for grinding -- the serious coffee folks will tell you that the more expensive "burr" grinders do a better job of grinding than the cheaper blade grinders.  Personally, i'm not sure i really buy it.  The burr grinders certainly produce more consistent sized grinds and may not leave you with some of the fine particles that the blade grinders will, but i'm not convinced that would be such a big deal.

However, as someone who has a great appreciation for small gadgets that don't take up much room -- the idea of a big burr grinder (and they are all relatively big) is aesthetically offensive.

Which brings us to these little hand (burr) grinders, which take some effort but can pretty quickly grind enough beans for a single cup of coffee.

Here's the one I picked up:
(see attachment in previous post)

Like I said I don't care much about burr vs blade, but what I like is that the coffee gets ground right before use and doesn't sit around for weeks, and it takes up almost no space, and cleans up super easy.  Just dumps the ground from the grinder into the Aeropress (or whatever) and you are done.

If you don't mind doing a little work before each cup of coffee, this is a fairly nice combo with minimal counter space requirements and minimal cleanup.

This is the grinder I have:

Super-Simple-cropped-bcg450xl-zoom_1-414x708.jpg

http://www.brevilleu...al-burr-grinder.html

There are better ones out there, but it does a great job.

For size, I just have it on a high shelf so it's out of the way.

As for burr vs. blade, I had a blade grinder in the past, but I much prefer the burr grinder. The blade grinder was sporadic, inconsistent, and relatively time consuming comparatively as you'd need to grind for longer to get a decent fineness. Also, it couldn't handle a lot, so you'd end up doing a couple batches if you wanted to grind more than a cup. I'd have no clue about taste differences - the only thing I can see there is the grind size.

I've also used a hand cranked burr grinder - not all that fun for more than a cup, though certainly more decorative. The one above certainly looks more practical than the one I used. (It was sort of a decorative meat grinder/chest of droors/something/made of wood.)

I'm not too picky about grinding just before using it. I grind up enough to last a day or two at a time. That's good enough for me. (I do like Turkish fine strong coffee though.)

My particular model needs the base to be cleaned of grounds every so often. It's a tad messy, but nothing serious, and not a worry for anyone that isn't obsessive compulsive about being tidy.
2484
^ Not an image that I think I want in my head...  :'(
2485
Living Room / Re: Do you like short films? Of course you do! Shortoftheweek.com
« Last post by Renegade on September 20, 2013, 06:24 AM »
GREAT FIND!  :Thmbsup:

Just watched this:

http://www.shortofth...com/2013/09/19/carn/

Excellent little 5 minute short.   :Thmbsup:
2486
Living Room / Re: National debt/defecit: what does it REALLY mean??
« Last post by Renegade on September 20, 2013, 06:05 AM »
There are no stupid questions - only unasked questions.

Ha!!  You don’t have kids, do you?!   :D   8)

Jim

So far we still have babbles and whatnot. Guess I have something else to look forward towards! ;D
2487
It opened. Just took what seemed like forever, which is really bizarre because if it is a Trojan searching for stuff, I have an SSD so it should have been faster. :P ;D

By Syriasly... :P Ok, maybe not all that cereal...

Then it occurred to me... If this takes 2,830 pages to explain the foundations of law, they should have paid me because I could do it better, faster, and in 1 word:

HOSED!

I'd throw in an addendum for free:

THIS MEANS YOU!
2488
1239517_304233599714661_665868006_n.jpg

:P
2489
How to calm a crying baby?

The baby was crying because it was too quiet, LOL!  ;D

I hear a lot of babies respond well to the sound of a loud vacuum cleaner, and some babies, it's the only way to get them to go to sleep.

I notice that the baby stopped crying when the bass kicked in. It's probably that rhythmic thumping, and not the "hail Satan let's kill the baby" stuff that settled it.
2490
How to calm a crying baby?



2491
N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: The NANY Retrospective Thread
« Last post by Renegade on September 19, 2013, 12:05 AM »
Hahaha! Yep - that about sums up my submissions.

Ditto minus the interesting history bit ;)

Ooops. Yep - minus the interesting history for me too.
2492
Living Room / Re: National debt/defecit: what does it REALLY mean??
« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2013, 11:50 PM »
I have been wondering about this for a while, and I guess I was too embarrassed to ask.  What do these enormous negative numbers really mean for people individually and/or a nation?

Destruction and destruction.

Some stupid questions:

There are no stupid questions - only unasked questions.

When do we have to pay it back?

Never. It can never be paid back. That's the point to it. Perpetual debt slavery.

Do we have to pay it back?

Yes. You will never be let off the hook.

When is it too much?  If $1.6 trillion dollars equals life as it is today...what is life like with $10 trillion debt?

It was too much a very long time ago. Compare the debt and deficit to GDP, then compare your personal debt to your income, then ask if you could get away with the same kind of shennanigans as the government does if you tried to get a bank loan/debt/deficit like they do.

Welcome to the insanity of Keynsian economics.

Who is it owed to?

Central banks mostly, but a large amount is held by bond holders, etc. etc.

However, trying to track down the specific individuals generally ends in frustration. These people have their money wrapped up in shell corporations, trusts, and all manner of different ways of misdirection. They're rich enough to afford the best lawyers and accountants in the world, and they can hide things better than anyone. People have tried to track down the specific owners of some of these organisations, but have largely failed.

For example, when shares of a bank are owned by some fund... good luck tracking down who the specific investors are. Funds within trusts withing shell corporations within corporations within funds within trusts within...

Can they ask for it back?

Yes.

Is it because the US has bigger guns?  

No. Guns are irrelevant from a national perspective. The debt is globalised and owned by globalist interests, i.e. banksters. Many of the debt holders are American.

If so, when are bigger guns not enough?

They're already not enough. Ever heard the saying, "Welcome to Washington D.C., home of the best government money can buy?" Same thing goes elsewhere as well - D.C. is not unique like that.

i.e. Who are you going to shoot? There are no countries to attack. There are only the super rich, which include Americans as well. (Not all the super rich own parts of that debt.)

If there's such a huge debt, why do the rich get richer?

Who do you think owns the debt?

If the poor who are getting poorer are the ones paying the debt, is it going to the people it's owed to, or the rich, or both?

The people who own the debt are the super rich - banksters. They're getting their pound of flesh no matter what.

Am I missing something here?

Quite a bit, but this is the Living Room, so that's probably more than enough.

It feels like I'm missing something really quite fundamental because none of this really makes any sense to me.  And I'm not that bad with math, economics, numbers, logic, etc.

I've written a bit about some of the questions you've asked (probably best to start at the bottom):

http://cynic.me/tag/...nal-reserve-banking/

The mathematics of FRB collapse at some point. I've written extensively on exactly how and why.

For the economics questions, basically, Keynesian economics are just, well, people are going to get mad at me if I say much more. Do a search for "keynes vs. austrian economics". Then search for "quantitative easing". Have a visit to some site like http://www.zerohedge.com/.

Welcome to the rabbit hole...

2494
basement

more basement
Not to mention the first amendment now. Oh, and the 4th and 5th, and...


Just downloaded the PDF, and since it won't open properly, methinks the tl;dr for the 2830 pages is likely this:

;)
toilet-paper-constitution2.jpg

2495
Developer's Corner / Re: Odd/Fun Ways You've Learned Programming
« Last post by Renegade on September 18, 2013, 08:09 PM »
I had a very simple program that I made for an RPG, and every time I'd learn a new programming language, I'd re-make it in that programming language with a few improvements. :)

Funny, I did the same sort of thing to acclimate to some environments where I didn't usually program much with my "Frackin' Reserve" program. I did a Windows desktop client, a Linux/OS X desktop client, a jQuery web version, and an Android version.

Using a simple program that you KNOW to jump into a new environment really makes things a lot easier.
2496
Clowning around? Pure awesomeness! ;D

http://www.belfastte...sersby-29584319.html

Creepy Northampton clown terrifying residents by standing around on street corners staring at passers-by

...

However, many messages have expressed anger at the clown for scaring people, with one user writing: "You've been spotted now get out of the clown suit and start acting like a grown up that you supposing are and stop scaring people as some people do have real fears of clowns and you are terrorising them despite what you may say." Others have threatened violence should they see the clown.

HAHAHAHAHAA~! ;D



Silly? 110%.
2497
Developer's Corner / Odd/Fun Ways You've Learned Programming
« Last post by Renegade on September 17, 2013, 10:17 AM »
What are some fun ways that you've learned to program? I don't mean EVERYTHING, but some anecdotes or just fun stuff 1-off things or habits - whatever is entertaining. I'll start...

I learned a lot of programming from reading Wrox and other programming books on the toilet. Makes for a loooong poop, and the occasional numb ass, but it was highly educational. :P
2498
General Software Discussion / Real Strike - 3D Augmented Reality FPS
« Last post by Renegade on September 17, 2013, 06:36 AM »
Don't you wish you had this when you were a kid?

http://www.yiistudio...en/apps/real-strike/

Do you ever wonder bringing the fun of First-Person-Shooting into reality? Real Strike is the first app that does exactly that! It mixes up the camera and the real-time computed 3D gun animation into an integrated view, allowing you to turn the forest, street, office or whatever environment you are in into a military simulation field. And, you can make a movie while you play!

Even in the evening, night and thermal vision goggles would give you clear vision to complete your mission. There are 25 high-precision 3D weapons at your disposal, and they all can be viewed with detailed profile in the Armory mode, exquisite in every angle. Environment-sensitive dynamic lighting, realistic animation of firing and reload, physics-simulated trajectory of 3D bullet shells… Only this ultimate Augmented-Reality gun app can bring such a level of heart-beating realness to you!



And then there's the seriously messed up bizarre weirdness that goes along, oh, just about everything. You just cannot make this stuff up...

Kind of makes me wonder if it's worth looking into doing some AR stuff. It would be a lot of fun - you can do some pretty cool stuff with AR.
2499

2500
N.A.N.Y. 2014 / Re: The NANY Retrospective Thread
« Last post by Renegade on September 17, 2013, 01:15 AM »
Most NANY apps didn't have much of a life beyond the event, but i know a few have had an interesting history..

Hahaha! Yep - that about sums up my submissions. A few had some nice comments, but that's about all. It was still fun though.

I was always paranoid about not being able to finish something, so I never "pledged" until I had something done. :D
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