I agree on the mask comments. Anything you put in front of your mouth helps. Even the palm of your hand. It's no coincidence that most of us have a habit of covering our mouth when we cough. We learned this from our parents, and it helps. The thing is, when we speak (much more when we cough), tiny droplets come out of our mouth, like little projectiles. Putting even a piece of cloth in front of our mouth will slow them down, to the point of not reaching very far, thus lowering the chance of infecting the other person. It's like putting your hand or a piece of cloth in front of a water hose. Water will still come out, but won't reach very far.

Also, it's a myth that mask mesh should be finer than the size of the virus. Even a coarser mask mesh can contain the virus, because it tends to stick to the threads of the mesh (even more so, if it's multi-layered), thus not easily reaching the other side, if at all.

As for vax vs. antivax, I think we're all on the same side, it's wrong to fight each other as if one is the enemy of the other. We're all trying to fight this as best we can, some trust the vaccines, others don't. But fighting each other is bad for both, and may even benefit the real enemies in all this.

Off-Topic - Just had a meeting with an unvaccinated colleague that recently came out of hospital for COVID-19. He is very fit and was perfectly healthy before he contracted the virus. He was hospitalized for 1 month. Suffered a lot, with serious respiratory problems. He has now tested negative, and has started coming back to work. We met in his car for 10 minutes. He was not wearing a mask, and I was not wearing a mask either (I forgot to take it with me, and didn't say anything, out of politeness)... He coughed a few times while in the car with me. I'm vaccinated.

Hopefully, all will be fine and I'll still be alive to enjoy the $100k+ pump in November. Let's see how this plays out. 干!      

Sunday, and I'm bored.
Feeling all bothered and hot.
Vax clotting my blood?

Peace, brothers, peace yo!
We're all on the same side, no?
No vax can kill WO!

See, in these here parts,
We buy the dip when it dumps,
And have sex with ants!

#haikusthatrhime

About LN, very interesting posts there, especially the long one by hisslyness (many thanks to him). I also remember Bob's struggle with LN some years back.

I don't know... I've never set up a LN node or anything, so I can't have an informed opinion, but the feeling I get by reading about it, is that it looks cool, simple, fast, cheap on the outside, but is quite complicated and messy on the inside. Also, the constant need for pampering the node, in order for it to function properly, is not good. These are not good signs, and I fear that they may cause problems for its future/success. I hope I'm totally wrong on this.

The whole thing brings back memories of Mike Hearn's blog post where he declares he's abandoning the Bitcoin project, and even jbreher's transaction limit posts here in WO... Don't get me wrong, I'm totally in favor of 2nd-layer solutions for micro-transactions and believe this is the future, but I sense that something may not be quite right (yet) in the current state of affairs in this matter. Just thinking out loud...

Only just saw your post, VERY busy as always, can barely keep up with WO...

My best wishes man. Hope everything is fine and you're out of the hospital and into RL very soon.

Yup. Lawrence Lepard gets it.

Peter Schiff, are you listening?
Peter Schiff probably gets it too, but he just likes the publicity.

It's OK, all is fine. Darwin at work. Whoever owns BTC and can fall for this scam is not worthy of owning (keys of) BTC.

That's why I agree with cAPSLOCK's stance on banks. Whether we like it or not, banks are necessary, to take care of those incapable of being their own bank. I do hope this changes in the future, but somehow I don't think it ever will...

If you're worried because of the recent dip, you're not doing it right.

Zoom out and enjoy the view.

@LFC: I hear you, but don't worry too much, it will come, and soon. In fact, I'm looking forward to buying my next $1k+ smartphone with your $50 prize money (there will be change for the beers too). When this happens, Bitcoin price will be at $180k+ and we will all be ecstatic. And it will happen sooner than many of us expect.

Onwards & upwards.

HoDL.

Edit: Fixed typo.

My cousin has been into cryptocurrencies (not Bitcoin) since 2017, when I introduced him to Bitcoin (but he never bought). His 30-day Kraken trading volume once exceeded $10M. Up until now, he has achieved an overall 3x profit, with countless stressful and sleepless nights, trying to catch the waves and endlessly moving funds from shitcoin to shitcoin.

Had he invested in Bitcoin in 2017 and HeDL until now, he would be so much better off. I estimated his profit now would be about 30x -- and all of that while sleeping like a baby (insert Buffett quote here). He has now spent 2/3 of his stash on some land and a large-screen TV. I suggested to him to Bitcoin-DCA from now on, but I don't think he paid much attention. He just said that he will use the remaining 1/3 in BCH (the next Bitcoin, according to him) to become rich in 2 years.

Go figure...  

No offense, but every time I visit other threads it just feels like Circo Medrano, full of clowns and other animals, complete with colorful signatures, name calling, trollery, retardedness, pigeon English, the works! IMHO, it just isn't worth it, even browsing outside WO.

Don't confuse privacy with security. As far as security is concerned, I think it's rock-solid, as has been shown by more than a decade of failed attacks and attempts to break it. No issues there.

As far as privacy is concerned, things are not so good -- yet. There are ways to protect it, but it's not automatic, one has to be aware of the various privacy issues and do things in certain ways in order to protect it. I think this is what's reflected in the poll result.

Breaker, breaker! CQ CQ. WO calling CAROLINA. QSL.

WORLD urgently needs some serious non-ant corn UPpity (at least supra-$60k), to restore WORLD peace.

Huh? I thought we were talking about the $100k party, no? Now it's the $1M party?

Actually I like the change. $100k seems so close, almost a no biggie, boring even ($100k boring? WTF?). $1M will be so cool...until it becomes boring too, and we aim for $10M.

Well, no, $1M will never be boring, because of that 'M' in there. This should bring many of us to "fuck-the-universe" status!

Sad... He played a key part in bringing personal computers closer to the masses, to a young generation of inventors and makers that would shape the future of technology and computing for years to come.

RIP Sir Clive Sinclair, and thanks.

I think OOM may have tried to use the term "pyramid scheme" in a different way than what you're suggesting. In any case, I agree with your statements quoted above. I don't like pyramid schemes (such as AmWay, and many others), and would never associate Bitcoin with pyramid schemes in a discussion with newbies/nocoiners. If anything, they are usually the ones who bring the pyramid scheme framework in the discussion, and falsely claim that Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme. In such cases, I try my best to explain/prove to them that Bitcoin is NOT a pyramid scheme, and is also NOT a Ponzi scheme (another term they often associate with Bitcoin). I try my best, but I fail miserably in most cases, it seems. They just don't get it, or they don't want to get it, or they think they get it and don't want to listen to me preaching to them about something they think they already know. Most of them seem to have already decided that Bitcoin is a scam...because the TV told them so.



I think OOM puts it quite nicely in his post above (which I snipped in the interest of readability). I think most people would treat anything as revolutionary as Bitcoin with a negative attitude. It's a natural reaction. I don't blame them. I just felt the need to "plant the seed" so to speak, and let it grow, or not. In most cases it dies. Maybe out of 30 people, one would buy a small amount of BTC, two would buy shitcoins because "Bitcoin is too expensive" and the rest would just dismiss it. Well, if you think about it, Bitcoin has shaken the foundations of a monetary system that all of us grew in and were brainwashed to trust and accept as the only way to handle monetary wealth. It's so deeply embedded in our brains that it's almost like a natural reaction, a millisecond response as OOM puts it.

"Bitcoin? Be your own bank? That can't be right! Surely it's a scam! Seed words? Is this some kind of word guessing game? What? Put my next month's paycheck in Bitcoin? Are you insane? And get what? QR codes?" That's more or less what I get. Or used to get. Because lately there is noticeably more interest in Bitcoin, and those who laughed and joked in 2015 are now asking seriously. My response now is "Google it". Not to punish them or anything, but because I just don't have the time and energy for this kind of thing anymore. After all, maybe that's the way it should be. Darwin, nature and all. Some will get it, some won't. That's life. I feel I did my part in spreading the word when I could, and I still do if I see really genuine interest.

I don't know... Being a Bitcoiner has been the best thing that's ever happened to me, certainly financially, but also psychologically. It's a weirdly satisfying, pleasantly powerful feeling that has got to be felt to be appreciated, as I'm sure many WOers would confirm. And I can't even begin to imagine how it will feel 5-6 4-8 years from now (a HoDLer can only count years in multiples of 4...)

@somac. & @OOM:

I agree with both of you. The worst thing is not lack of knowledge, but lack of action. Maybe it's not just a matter of intelligence, but also of willingness to take risks and embrace something new. Most people take the conservative option of "if it seems too good to be true, it probably is", and miss out on one of the rarest opportunities in our lifetime. We all tend to fear what we don't understand, and surely, Bitcoin is something that's quite hard to understand for most people. I think the transition is not gradual, but abrupt. Once it "clicks" in your brain, you can instantly change from a nocoiner to a Bitcoin evangelist. Michael Saylor is one popular example.

Edit:

"We all tend to fear what we don't understand"

This guy understands, using math & science. [totally unrelated to Bitcoin]:

https://youtu.be/Zw1bp1V_RwA

I'm also amazed at my nocoiner friends/colleagues/relatives' persistent passiveness when it comes to Bitcoin. They laughed at me in 2015, they still didn't listen to me in 2017, they started getting interested in 2020, they are more interested now, but they are still nocoiners and haven't bought a single sat! Instead, whenever Bitcoin is mentioned, they look at me like rabbits blinded by the light.

Bitcoin is a strange beast. You either get it, or you don't. Maybe some kind of special brain wiring is needed? 

Sorry to hear that man... COVID-19-related? I hope all goes well for your dad.



Yup. He could have carried all of that in a Trezor, possibly inserted into his anus to avoid detection (#nohomo). Even better, 12 seed words in his brain (but he probably doesn't have one).

Someone put up that roller coaster corn meme. Fits the situation nicely...