If you cannot live without Chrome but want privacy, there is a chromium modified out there (its open source, remember?) called ungoogled-chromium. Or you can use any of the browsers based on Chromium and handled by different parties (Opera, Brave, etc.)

Not if the address belongs to a cold wallet, no "hacker" could touch that (if the seed words/private key are not online either).

Actually it is very easy, but it boils down to what distro you use.

Essentially you just install it and it would run. But what you want is bitcoind, and that may come in a different package name depending on distro. You don't need the wallet to run the node. On many distros it will start as a service immediately and start syncing, in others you might need to edit a text file or two, again it all depends on distro.

Just make sure you have 500g or so (its currently using 248g, 225g ./blocks, 20g ./indexes 3g ./chainstate) and uncapped bandwidth, thats it. If you have neither, then you will want to change the configuration options to reduce space and bandwidth use.

Plus its anything but cheap. The plant is expensive, the fuel is expensive, and most of all, disposal is expensive. Its only advantage is that each refueling takes decades. If the plant is already built and has a schedule for its closure (which can take years) then sure, but ideally it should be avoided and certainly don't encourage to build more.

Usually the opposite direction from the herd is good, but, it seems to have remained at 5k. That doesn't sound bearish to me... Time will tell i guess.

Well when it was down and you started seeing it climb, you are a bit late. But if you do nothing, you lose your chance.

Unfortunately most (all?) Electrum servers are now rejecting versions under 3.3.3... Python 3.7 is needed, probably, to run the 3.3.4 client. For Ubuntu and derivatives such as mint, a ppa is available.

There are a ton of rogue servers that won't pass transactions, they might sync but it will return the error with the phishing link you don't click.

What you said was true until the Electrum servers decided rejecting the older versions. There is a lot of info in the Electrum sub forum area.

Yes, but now there are counter measures in place, namely: Segwit, and LN. Dec 2017 was quite exceptional, if things remained the same (no segwit, as a group wanted) you could probably predict the exact same thing occurring again. But now, even if tx fees rise up a little, i don't think it will be as dramatic as those 3 months.

Mining profits are destined to go down regardless. Coin price has delayed this somewhat, but in the long run is a lost battle. The last miners will be those with free electricity, such as those that invested in solar back when they could have spent it all in more Asic miners. I cannot stress this enough: Buying only asics and no renewables means you won't stay for long. Incidentally too large operations will go as well, smaler more efficient farms using renewable energy will outlast the giants using the grid. Some people without discipline expand beyond their capacity because they don't think long term. Even with higher bitcoin prices, mining will become more and more unprofitable, as designed.

Actually I'm more worried with that humidity increase, that is very important. If i were you, i wouldn't use the wetting thing. Lowering the outside temperature isn't as critical as that humidity. You will see more rust if you keep those containers at 72% in exchange for reducing a mere 4°C.

Let me tell you something, I saw a warehouse in a tropical climate, regular under roof is temp was 40°C, but with some thermal insulation, it came down to 30°C. No messing with an already high ambient humidity (which ironically can be brought down by putting some of the hot exhaust air back in).

To be blunt i think you are making a mistake in your containers, just worry about moving air, not cooling it down. But if anything, yes, just add a roof on top of the container, perhaps with enough space so that air can flow between. For added points, put some solar panels. Regular filters (non wet) are good for dust and such, those are fine. Of course i know there is a system that "self cleans" itself by using water, and as a side effect you get some cooling, but also humidity... Electronic equipment doesn't like too much humidity (or too little, your idea can be a blessing in dry places).

50% copper vs 90% oil...
40% inflation vs 1,000,000% inflation...
You didn't mention Brazil, or the rest of South America...

Do you even know where that inflation comes from? Are you REALLY asking this in the economics area?

What did Germany had at the time of Ludwig Erhard? And what did they do to become what they are today? What makes you think Venezuela can't restart its economy, or that there aren't several investors waiting for Maduro to leave?

Actually all three products you mention do exist "made in Venezuela", but that is off topic. Indeed your ignorance is boundless. Hint: Siragon.

Socialism destroyed the economy, and most industries stopped. What is needed for them to return? a free market economy. Good economy = more income from taxes, simple. And to boost it lower the taxes in key areas, this brings even more income from those taxes. Why can't you understand something this simple or call it "socialism"? A smaller State doesn't need a huge budget anyway, that is the point of selling the State owned companies.

Its not the State that needs money, its the people, and they get it when the economy becomes free and they can work and start business again.


Very well no taxes, because taxes are socialism... NOT. Actually the Kingdom of Norway considers itself a Welfare State... Incidentally their Oil accounts only for 33% of their exports...

You alone came with this "tax the hell out of it" nonsense, you seem to ignore the century this country had foreign oil companies working and getting taxed as almost everybody else does in the world.

Chavez did not nationalize the oil industry, it was done by Perez in 1976. Again, get your facts right...

Oh really? No industry? No tourism? No Agriculture? Your ignorance cannot be worse. You are thinking like a socialist. Venezuela doesn't need that oil income, and any free market economy can do fine with 10% or less of that. Venezuela's oil barrel costs 10USD less than west texas, not brent, it is the world's cheapest because its heavy, which is why we built giant refineries to export finished product as opposed to crude oil, at least before the socialists seized power...

First thing to do is shrink the state, sell those companies and stimulate the economy with lower taxes and other incentives. Just by selling the state companies there is plenty of money to keep things running without getting any more debts.

To me just dismantling the gigantic over-bloated socialist state with a much lean and smaller classic liberalism state or similar, is all this country needs to do to be better than Chile. Oh and Chile is not living of copper alone, that's another sign of ignorance. And you even mentioned "south America", so, Brazil and Argentina extract what from the ground again? What about Uruguay, so called "Swiss of the Americas"? I could keep going but very few countries in the world are "dependent" on a single resource as if they had nothing else, such as, maybe the middle east countries surrounded by sand.

It was the wrong choice and politicians to neglect other sectors, if the state oil company is sold, you can tax that and everyone else, and no longer would the corrupt politicians be tempted to steal all that income since it won't be in their hands ever again.

In this you are wrong, VERY wrong. As i wrote before, the Venezuelan oil industry is profitable even if the oil barrel goes down to 7USD. The problem IS NOT the oil price, is the GIANT mismanagement and misuse of funds, and the politicians meddling.

The socialists are not competent or efficient at all. Quite the opposite, anything they do (if ever) costs 10x more, and takes 100x more to do.

ANYONE that is not from Maduro's party, WILL FREE THE ECONOMY. This is the main root of Venezuela's poverty. The second root is STOPPING CRIMINALITY.

Furthermore Venezuela COULD LIVE WITHOUT OIL if it wanted, you have no idea how wrong you are by making that statement.

I think they are planning it, as long as Bitmain won't stop them. I'm not sure what the situation is with SSH access as i don't own an S15...


It would be sad if serial was required to start the firmware replacement process, but if it comes to that, then so be it...

Did anyone check from which geographical area this bull run started from? China? Japan new era change (令和)?

Socialism is when the State takes control of the means of production. Under socialism you can't freely choose to be "social" to others, you are forced to. And "being social" can actually be translated into: obey when they tell you what to do and what not to do, your life becomes regulated to minute detail.

What you sell with your words and what you produce with your action is different because you still haven't managed to actually do it, once you do, if you ever do, you will fall into the aforementioned. People have their nature, and socialism negates it, so it has to coerce to "show" it "can" work, but it doesn't, because socialists fail to understand economy and basic human nature.

---

The New York Times:



Trump, Putin and a Possible ‘Red-Line Moment’ in Venezuela

PDVSA was run nearly into bankruptcy due to the abuse politicians did to it. Before Chávez, it only dedicated itself to the oil industry (sounds logical no?) but when Chávez took control of it (after the failed coup in 2002~2003) it was forced to do the things normally done by the State, and not an oil industry. In fact it was required to hand over the entire income to the central bank, where the politicians would decide what to do, before they decide to give something back to the industry.

Normally you would let the company work alone to sustain itself and then tax it, but the politicians got greedy and saw it as an infinite source of money (to buy votes with populism). PDVSA was actually quite profitable until this occurred. I clearly remember the company could easily sustain itself with oil price as low as 7 USD. But can you guess who takes pays the subsidy for the "free" gasoline Venezuelans get? Yup, PDVSA. And this is what happens when you let socialists run a company... They will ruin it, no matter what.

There was a law in place that didn't allow the gov to touch the income above a threshold, 40 USD a barrel or something, it should have gone entirely to international reserves to strengthen the local fiat, but Chávez didn't like that and changed the law to spend it all. The other oil rich countries used the extra to either build their reserve (savings) or diversify their economy. We did neither...

Strange thing is i clearly remember the previous halving having the same thought. One bitcoin was like 600$, the S9 was the new super efficient asic miner, others were happy with their S7s and couldn't justify spending 2k~3k USD for the S9. 2016 was a good year, would bitcoin ever breach that mythical 1.2K barrier prior to the Mt.Gox demise? ah those were the days....

I have at least two years without earning anything in fiat, what little i get, is all in bitcoin. So anytime i need to spend something, i hit localbitcoins and exchange as little as possible, basically the needs for that day. This is because the fiat we use here had become the worst of the planet, thanks to the politicians.

So your single day experience, for me has already been a couple of years. And while this is doable, it hurts not being able to keep them for the future...

Contrary to the misleading media, there is almost no place that accepts bitcoin directly here. There are like a couple of places that claim to accept bitcoin, but the exchange rate would be a complete ripoff compared to exchanging it yourself first. And once you have the fiat, you don't need to wait for confirmations (but instead have to pray the stupid bank debit card works). Yes this is a cashless country, not by choice but by force...

You can at least still freely choose to use your fiat, probably even in physical form...

Are you not aware of the drama unfolded by the recent crashes of a couple of 737 MAX?

Ok let me explain. The electricity of this country was actually quite good, and we used to export it to both Colombia and Brazil.
In the 60ies and 70ies, that large dam project in the river Guri was completed, it is the third biggest in the continent. It was done to complement the large iron and still mill production of the southern part of the country near the dam, and also supply the rest of the nation. When completed i think not even half of it was needed.

The population grew, and the economy, but everything was well kept and maintained thru the 80ies and 90ies, slowly all the old fossil fuel plants were decommissioned as this clean hydro electricity was plenty for all and there was excess to export too. The earlier governments were "lite" socialists, so called "reformists" (social-democrats). Since the 70ies not much was done to expand this generation and it was deemed unnecessary.

And then came socialism. At first, things seemed fine, with the high oil price socialists did what socialists know to do best: increase spending, and get in debt with others because oil price would never ever go down and more social programs are always needed than worrying about them being sustainable (they never are anyway), and the corruption this makes is incredible.

In the meantime all the democratic institutions were dismantled, and government centered solely on the presidential figure. The charismatic leader Chávez seemed to do things by decree faster than the bureaucratic institutions from the past, being a military commander he essentially ran the country like a commander in a military base, and weakened all those pesky institutions such as the legislative and judiciary branch, no one needs those balances and checks when the commander himself can do a far better job... And then he died, not before appointing Maduro as successor, no one knows why him instead of others. And the oil prices fell. Maduro did not want to stop or reduce any spending, and kept doing it as if nothing had changed, but the money was over. So he ordered the central bank to add zeroes to all the State bank accounts. Now you know there the hyperinflation comes from...

During these last 10 or so years, with inflation and a worsening situation, parts stopped coming for the (way too many) State owned companies, including electricity. Preventive maintenance was stopped and neglected completely. What used to be routine scheduled equip replacement, became more like: "Only if it blows up change it. We need to save what little left we have..." So the time bomb was ticking.

Had Venezuela ever had nationwide blackouts? Yes, even during Chávez in 2010, but after a mere 4 hours later everything was back to normal. But that was then. A backup plan was devised and countless millions of dollars spent, to have enough fossil fuel plants ready in case the dam ever failed again (usually its not the dam, but the very long very high voltage transmission line). By 2011 or so these were put into operation, so we had double what was needed, with the fossil fuel plants switched off most of the time.

And they slowly took everything from those plants, dismantled them, sold them, etc... corruption, corruption, corruption.

Well, socialism spending everything, the budget not cutting it anymore, all purchases stopped. First they start cannibalizing "non essential" things to repair others (since now new purchases were allowed anymore), and to "save" from purchasing parts. When there is no way or means to buy the parts, try to "repair" what we have. Oh and those old transformers taken off by their scheduled end of life, see if you can retro fit them and put them back to work... So now when something blows up after being way past their lifetime, replace it with the things that were also past their lifetime but are still "looking good"...

And then there is the maintenance related to keeping the foliage away from the transmission line. A "menial" work but they had no budget to keep doing it anymore, so meh. A little fire in the woods (which are seasonal in this country) a rogue animal there and poof, there goes the electricity again.

Venezuela has access to the Chinese market, anyone knows China can make ANYTHING. But we are already huge debts with them, and they refused Maduro to give it more loans anymore. If they hadn't driven bankrupt the country, they would have provided anything, as in fact they did years before, with buses, cars, military equipment etc. They want to blame the "sanctions" now that the US did sanction the individuals, but only because the truth of the matter gets conveniently hidden.

Just imagine for a minute there were no "sanctions", and any US company could still deal with them. They wouldn't, because the country IS broke and no one is lending money to them anymore. Socialists just neglect to tend their own debts, its far easier to blame it on "Imperialism" rather to reduce spending and balance the budget.

Since March 8 there have been 5 or more nationwide blackouts, after the first one they switched off all auto control, went to manual, and have failed to keep things running smooth again. Overloading transformers, making mistakes with loads, we sometimes get high voltage, low voltage, and most often than not, blackouts for hours. Maduro shamelessly announced "load balancing" (rationing) but zero schedule, people can't even prepare themselves, it goes and comes without warning, who cares if there is a patient in surgery or people in an elevator, they just don't care, because they suffer none of it.

Socialists are super hypocrites, they make a super rich privileged class, themselves, and throw everyone else into the utmost misery, and make sure yo keep a strong police state to keep the masses oppressed, with storm groups at their beck and call do the dirty job and keep everyone quiet or else...



Gasoline is still super cheap, its much less than that, you'd need satoshis to be able to express it, i could do the math... But all of that is pointless if the "price" means an entire nation suffering in misery. People can't live by drinking gasoline... But the corruption behind it is overwhelming.

6 VES per liter. 3500 VES = 1 USD, so 1 USD buys 583 (95 octane) liters so 0.0017 USD per liter or about 30 satoshis. Don't laugh, the price in human lives is not worth it. Oh yes, a gallon is nearly 4 liters so 113ish sats per gallon. There is also 91 octane, and that costs a third. Diesel is much much lower.

Electricity price is also ridiculous, but what is the use if they let the grid break completely? Why can't socialists understand that neglecting a social program to save the budget, means saving the entire country from a much worse situation? Ah, because they "hate" economy... That is why.

Foreign exchange disappears, wire transfer disappears. Those two are solid enough reasons. No electricity or connectivity might make things difficult. Maybe if they do like a casino, a machine dispensing (physical) tokens that could be used instead and exchanged later, for these few occasions.