It can be unfortunate when the "truth bomb" is actually full of hyperbole and little truth.  Look at the two red-tags on topman21's trust wall; both accusing the account of being "hacked" or sold.  True, there seems to be significant circumstantial evidence suggesting the account changed hands, and certainly there's evidence of operating multiple accounts, but neither of those things are banned activities by the forum rules.  If there was legitimate evidence the accounts were "hacked" the mods would lock the accounts, and the other "offenses" may warrant neutral tag at the most.  The referenced post for those red tags even suggests the account may have had three different owners.  Was it "hacked" twice?  Lol, come on man.  Unless the accounts have been used to cheat or scam, I don't see what the big fuss is about.

So actually, this sock puppet isn't meant to avoid drama, but rather it seems he's attempting stir it up. 

Merry Christmas all, carry on.

I store my seeds locally in fire resistant safes, and tucked into fire resistant document bags.  I have three safes on the property with redundant backups.  The odds of all three burning up to the point of all backups being unrecoverable is pretty slim.  My brother and I have talked about each buying a small document safe to hide in the other's house for redundant off-site backups, but neither of us gone to such lengths as of yet.

I've never looked into a safe deposit boxes, so I don't know what they go for in my area but I can't imagine they're cheap.  A small document safe built to be fire and water resistant can be found for under $175.  Even if you had to buy two to have redundant backups in different parts of the house, that's still pretty affordable.  Again, not knowing the cost of a safe deposit box, I don't know how that compares.

Some interesting rates for this afternoon's underdogs.  The Eagles +4.5 @ 1.83 sounds like a bargain.  A bit surprised to see the Cowboys favored by such a margin, but at the same time, I still don't trust the Eagles.

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In other news, the FF playoffs seem to be going as expected.  Good luck to those of you in the hunt, and happy holidays to all.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all.

I know that most of us are anxious for 2022 to be over, the year of "Crypto Winter" and all.  In fact it's been bad for most of my investments, not only bitcoin, and yes, it's time to move on.  

However, on a personal level 2022 has been a good year in many ways.  It's seen the decline of severe Covid infections.  My workload is getting back to normal, and we've finally reached the point of year where days are starting to get longer.

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2023!

If you have concerns that your computer is infected, you should back up your critical data and wipe your machine with a newly installed OS.  But, I agree that you shouldn't install and use a desktop wallet on a machine you don't trust, even if it is a low-value hot wallet.

If you're in the habit of downloading cracked software, especially games, or browsing websites of questionable morality, then you're likely to encounter malware at some point.  You can always isolate those types of activities by using a different machine or an isolated VM.  


Many malware are designed to hide from virus scanners and other other anti-malware measures.  The best thing you can do is be diligent and avoid any unsafe behavior on a machine which is used for bitcoin.


Electrum can be used many different ways, the software itself is safe.  The security of your coins is largely dependent on how you use the software.  As others have mentioned you should only use it for small amounts, as a hot wallet when installed on an internet-connected device.  If you have a hardware wallet, you can use Electrum to manage those wallets by creating a wallet that requires the hardware wallet to sign transactions.  If you install Electrum on an air-gapped machine, it's great for creating cold-storage seeds, that are about as safe as you can get.

What a lame and desperate attempt to gain a single merit.   

You said there were refferences to the red-tags, and a reason for them, but the funny thing is you provided a link with my name that points to a post in the Known Alts thread, but I didn't even give that individual a red-tag.  I left him a neutral-tag.

This is absolutely the stupidest thread I've ever been summoned to.  And the fact that you had to use a sockpuppet to post this garbage, and admitted as much...  SMH

Thanks for putting this on, here're my picks. 

XMR	40%	https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/monero	25
DOGE	30%	https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/dogecoin	8
BUSD	15%	https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/binance-usd	6
GRIN	15%	https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/grin	998

Rational;

• Monero (XMR) because it's been my experience that it's exchange rate with BTC has been fairly stable, therefor it gets the lion's share.  Of course it's among the very few alts I trade, so my perception of the alt market is admittedly limited.
• Doge Coin (DOGE) because it's unwise to underestimate the power of persuasion.  It wouldn't surprise me to see Elon incorporate it into Twitter sooner or later, and if that happens in 2023 that could be a boon.
• Binance-USD (BUSD) as a hedge against volatility.
• GRIN because of wishful thinking.  I like the coin, and I like MimbleWimble.

Then why feed into it?  No one is forcing you to seek out "freshly mined" bitcoin, you're choosing to do that on your own.  No one is forcing you trade on centralized exchanges, again, that's your choice.  There are plenty of alternatives, as you've mentioned.  And since you brought up P2P exchanges, the odds of obtaining a significant amount of ill begotten funds on those platforms is slim to none.

You've allowed yourself to become afraid of "some bitcoin," again choosing to listen to those who would rather keep you afraid so you remain under their control.  If a taco vendor accepts a marked $100 bill from a bank robber, that doesn't make the taco vendor responsible or accountable for robbing the bank.  He accepted a perfectly fungible commodity (the $100 bill) in exchange for goods and services.

And your argument about land makes me think you don't understand fungibility.  Like the example you provided about a used car, land is also diverse in ways that two identically sized and adjacent pieces of land can have significant natural differences that cause their value to be different.  Those differences could create a subjective difference in value, for example; if one parcel floods every year, while the neighboring parcel doesn't that could make one more desirable to a rice farmer, while the other more desirable to a shepherd.  Therefor the value of the parcels is dependent on the individual.  That's exactly the definition of something that is not fungible, and it has nothing to do with government designations or limitations.



I dislike tyranny also, and there's no "but anything."  What better way to fight tyranny than by taking away the tyrant's power?  Tyrants fear bitcoin because it can do just that, if we let it.



I apologize if you think I'm trying to shame you, my goal is to educate you.  But again, this statement causes me to think that you don't understand fungibility.  The fungibility of bitcoin is not in question, the software has indeed been engineered to provide fungibility, and it's quantifiable.  The only thing that can hurt bitcoin's fungibility is our own capitulation to government attempts to "taint" some bitcoin.

Governments power is provided by the people, not the other way around.  We obligate governmental laws that help to keep us safe, so those who commit crimes are punished, or otherwise deterred.  The use of bitcoin (any bitcoin,) in and of itself is not a crime.  The abuse of power, however is criminal, and should be treated as such.

I have the same issue, but I'm certain it's due to the combination of my fat fingers and the small screen.  I've used a stylus in the past and couldn't replicate the issue when doing so.  It is important to make sure the screen is clean, no dust or smudges.  I've since learned how to enter the pin very carefully with my index finger, and usually I'm able to unlock the Trezor T on the first try.

Just out of curiosity, when you go to a bank to withdraw cash do you ask for freshly printed bills directly from the mint?

If yes, how often are you laughed at?  If no, aren't you concerned that the bill you receive may have been stuffed into a strippers skivvies?  What if that money was deposited into said bank by a drug dealer or a doctor who overprescribes narcotic pain killers?  What if those funds were donated to a politician who's views you don't share?  Would you still accept them?

It's ideas like yours (and those reprehensible links you shared) that hurt bitcoin's fungibility and keep people afraid of using it.  This plays right into the hands of draconian government overreach which relies on financial control to keep people enslaved.

The theory was to have the fantasy championship game during week 17 in case teams rest their star players during week 18.  This is based on the assumption that the top teams may have nothing left to play for.  For example; if the Eagles win this weekend they'll clinch the top seed in the NFC, and can start all their backups the last two weeks of the season.  No need to risk injuries for their starting lineup.



That was an amazing comeback, one of the best in NFL history.  Vikings fans will remember that one for generations to come, despite Cousins, lol.  I still remember when Jeff Garcia lead the 9ers back from a 28 point deficit to beat the Giants in a wildcard game in 2002.  I bet Wheelz also remembers that game. 

Lol, he's looking pretty bad, but I don't see him as the problem.  Belichick is a defensive coach with no offensive coordinator.  That's the fist thing that needs to be fixed, then we can talk about a quarterback who's better than Mac Jones.  His situation is reminding me a lot of Alex Smith's when the 9ers drafted him in 2005.

That's all she wrote for the FF regular season, it looks pretty much official as of now.  Congrats to suchmoon, bbc.reporter, Hueristic, and South Park for reaching the semifinals.

On the other end of the table, it's tight race for last place.  At the moment I hold that spot by a mere tenth of a point.  I just need Arron Jones to gain a net two yards, or my team is officially the shittiest.   

Honestly, that's all I ever intended for them to be.  I like the looks of the notes, but never had any intention of funding them.  I haven't looked too deeply into the compatible app, so I'm not sure about all the workings.  I may be paranoid, but if I understand things correctly the app is used to generate an address.  That's a non-starter for me if the notes are intended to be "cold storage."

As for their spotty responses; they delayed shipment of the batch that Mopar ordered also, for whatever that's worth.

You never know, the might both be giants.  And Istanbul was Constantinople.

Yeah, that's me.  My record suggests I may have rolled too much sativa, but I will neither confirm or deny the accuracy of such a suspicion.

Yeah, I've been a fan of the Grateful Dead since I was 15 years old.  My parents had no idea who they were, but growing up the northern Bay Area nearly all my friends' parents were longtime fans so I got exposed early.  I thought they were a bluegrass band until I was 17 when I went to see them for the first time.  It was at the Oakland Colosseum, which was notorious for parties in the parking lot whenever the band played.  My first comment was "who let all the fucking hippies in?"

A couple of the band members owned properties in the town where I grew up.  No one lived on the properties at the time, by then they all owned nice houses in $outh Marin.  One particular property had a "trip-out" shed built among the trees, it was one of those optical illusion rooms with trapezoidal walls.  We waisted a lot of time exploring what we called "Dead Land." *



* I know I just publicly admitted to trespassing (when I was a minor,) but it's a Marin County cultural thing.  In fact, most ranchers in Marin provide convenient access points for the general public which also prevent their livestock from wandering off.  Look into James Hetfield's (Metallica lead singer) struggles with Marin County over people trapesing across his property.  He fought (and lost) that culture war.

He was wrecking ball last year, but yeah he's been plagued with a hamstring injury for the majority of this year.  So have I, btw, but I'm paid much less and my hamstring has no impact on my job duties.  Getting old sux.

As for your Fantasy Leagues, I think you can write Deebo off for the remainder of the fantasy season.  If he does play again this year it probably won't be until Week 18.



As long as Bosa, CMC, and Mr Irrelevant stay healthy I think we'll be fine.  Deebo is obviously an important part of the offense, but mostly on novelty plays.  He's super fast, so he'll be misses as a standard slot receiver also, but none of that is insurmountable from the team's perspective.

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As for our fantasy league, I'm in the running for last place!  I guess it's fitting since I won the championship last year...  I feel like the Rams. 

It's a high ankle sprain, so he'll likely be out for at least three weeks I'm guessing.  Hopefully he's back before the playoffs.  He'll be missed for sure, there are a bunch of tricky plays that just wouldn't work without him. 

The only game that I'm really concerned about is this Thursday at Seattle.  If we win that one we clinch the NFC west, so that guarantees the 3rd seed at least.  The rest of the season looks fairly easy with the Commies at home, a trip to Vegas, then the Cards at home.

I'm trying to keep my enthusiasm from getting the better of me, but HOW ABOUT THEM 9ERS?!?!?

Our defense kept the GOAT guessing all day, and our quite relevant rooky QB is looking like he's got a great career ahead of him.  Last week as I watched Garoppolo being carted off the field, I was sure our season was going right along with him.  Somehow, I think our chances of reaching the playoffs (and winning) just got better.

Speaking of Garoppolo, did anyone see him on the sideline yesterday?  Neither did I. 

Honestly, I think this is a horrible reason to choose legacy over segwit addresses.  It's also unlikely that the core dev team will implement a method for signing and encrypting messages with Taproot addresses, but that won't prevent me from using Taproot exclusively as soon as I can.  

I recommend familiarizing yourself with GnuPG for signing and encrypting messages, it's a far more practical tool for this use case.

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Electrum will also allow you to create 24 word seed phrases with the same command just by changing the nbits field: