There are two kinds of long-term bears, those that think that bitcoin is not a real currency and will therefore fail, and those that think that bitcoin rests on solid foundations but that the circumstances for its potential rise in value will be hampered/suppressed for various reasons (political, etc). I only care to open-mindedly listen to the latter, because the former know nothing about economics. Most of the former aren't even austrian-minded libertarians, which is a prerequisite for any kind of logical discussion on this forum.
That's really elitist and snobby of you... but it's so true.  |
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Is there a number or estimate on how many people are on their mailing list?
Roughly 15k on the mailing list... so that many people will be getting a tiny microdonation in one week. Most will ignore or not care. Some will be marginally interested, and some very interested. While it may be true that most people wouldn't care about bitcoin for 4 cents, these people know the importance of obsoleting the fed. To them, bitcoin should have more meaning than 4 cents or even lower transaction fees. The idea is what counts. Yeah, the monetary value is irrelevant. The important part is that these people will A) know that the Free State Project accepts Bitcoins and B) be given a free ewallet (via BTCinch) to get started on their magical journey toward monetary sovereignty. Many of the Free Staters are fully supportive of any kind of free market currency. But, they're understandably skeptical because Bitcoin is so new and they're not crypto-geeks, so it may take time for them to learn the system well enough to begin adopting it. Also, this promotion is excellent because it demonstrates how Bitcoins can be used in ways which Paypal or other online payment methods cannot. We could not send a nickel's worth of value to 15,000 people using Paypal. Send someone a nickel and see what happens =) Furthermore, we don't need any financial or private information of the subscribers to send the money... just their email address. We have no delay in payment transfer from our donor in Japan, and the fees are... zero. Basically, Bitcoin kicks ass and this was a fun new way to use it. |
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I can verify the whole thing, because I set it up Today was the general press release that Free State Project is now accepting BTC, and next weekend we'll be doing the mega bitcoin blast to the roughly 15k mailing list subscribers. Roger Ver of Memory Dealers donated the funds for this (he's such a rockstar), and BTCinch has been amazingly helpful in building their ewallet/merchant/email system. The registration for Liberty Forum is now open as of today, and within a couple days attendees will be able to purchase their ticket with Bitcoin. Thereafter, essentially everything that FSP offers (from online store to event registrations) will be accepting Bitcoin. |
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Chris Lawless called in tonight and mentioned it on the air, roughly 1/3 through the three hour program. The podcast will be available in a day or two for free. I think when this bitcoin blast goes out next weekend, it'll be mentioned on the air again. |
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Is there a number or estimate on how many people are on their mailing list?
Roughly 15k on the mailing list... so that many people will be getting a tiny microdonation in one week. Most will ignore or not care. Some will be marginally interested, and some very interested. |
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The reality is bitcoin simply isn't ready for enterprise grade integration.
I fully agree. Nobody should try to approach Fortune 500 companies right now. But, this contest is only for businesses with revenues of $50 million. There are many businesses of this size, typically considered "medium size," and I think a company like Bit-pay could quite easily handle them. They're extremely competent. |
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Good news. Is there any way we can make donations?
Well yes, that's the point! =) Go here: http://freestateproject.org/getinvolved/donate.phpIf you donate, Thomas Jefferson's ghost will visit you while you sleep and bless you with a life of success and fortune. |
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Dude, awesome, this is big. Lots of new holders of Bitcoin coming up  Well, more important than being just holders of the coins, many Free Staters will be using them as a currency. They already do this with silver extensively. These are not people who will buy coins to "make money"... they are people who will understand the use case, and they have the ideological backing to become early adopters (the current inconveniences of Bitcoin won't phase them as much). |
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So if I purchase an RU game key the game isn't going to be in russian is it? Lol. Never used russian keys before.
+1 ... is it a normal English version? Just the activation is different, right? |
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Don't screw up the Occupy movement with Bitcoin junk. They're doing something important. Bitcoin is a pyramid scheme on the way down.
To suggest that Bitcoin is disruptive to the Occupy movement because it's a pyramid scheme... when the majority of that movement is calling for increased welfare, medicare, and social security-type programs which are by definition pyramid schemes! Ahhh the irony flows from your posts with no end - if we could but tap that irony mankind would have an infinite source of renewable energy. |
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OP - thank you for producing those, but we've created a similar card for this very purpose, and are giving away free bitcoins with these cards to the occupiers...  More details here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45943.0 (contact forum member deslok to have some printed) And please don't take this offensively but if you're going to charge for a design product, please use professional design work. In the Bitcoin world, the first 10 ideas you try will be shot down by the marketplace. Don't give up. It's the competitive fire that tempers the steel of innovation |
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As the market price falls, those miners who are least efficient will turn off their machines. As marginal profitability drops, so too does hashrate. When price rises, those miners at the margins will turn machines on again. It's both a normal and expected mechanism within the protocol.
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 Contact: Christopher Lawless, Free State Project FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Email: clawless@freestateproject.orgPhone: 603-738-9213 NON-PROFIT GIVING MONEY AWAY TO RAISE MONEY Project is sending digital Bitcoin currency to thousands of members Oct. 8, 2011 Manchester, New Hampshire - The Free State Project is using the new online currency Bitcoin as a creative new promotional tool – ironically giving away free money, literally, to every subscriber on its mailing list. In one week, the non-profit organization – which is an effort to encourage 20,000 “liberty lovers” to move to New Hampshire to work toward greater individual and economic freedom – will send a fraction of a Bitcoin to over fifteen-thousand subscribers on its mailing list. Each recipient will get exactly 0.01 Bitcoins, worth approximately $0.04 at current exchange rates. The goal, as stated by Christopher Lawless, a Free State Project participant, is “primarily to inform our members that we are now accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for donations and event registration fees, but also to raise awareness of this new currency, which should be of interest for anyone who advocates liberty and voluntary exchange – principles at the core of our project.” Bitcoin is a decentralized digital commodity, which emerged as an open-source project in 2009. Its supply is controlled by a hard-coded mathematical formula, as opposed to a central bank, and no person, company, or organization has monopoly control over it (in contrast to every other online payment method). The system enables instant, direct transfers between any two people, anywhere in the world, with avoidance of any bank or financial institution – and all those fees. “The key is that this system is not transferring dollars, or euros, but instead an entirely new form of currency with a floating exchange rate based purely on supply and demand,” explains Ira Miller of BTCinch, the Denver-based company which built the email system for sending Bitcoins being used by the Free State Project. “Bitcoin is becoming an international phenomenon, and we’re happy to see the Free State Project staying ahead of the curve.” “This simply couldn’t have been done with US dollars and traditional banking systems,” says Roger Ver, the FSP member who donated the Bitcoin funds for the promotion. “I currently live in Japan, and this initiative required transferring the donation internationally, and then dividing that money into thousands of micropayments, all going to different people in different places. A bank wire from Japan to the US would’ve taken at least three days plus fees. With Bitcoin it took less than three seconds with no fees. Try to send someone a nickel with Paypal and you’ll find the fee itself is more than a nickel. ” Bitcoin also permits recipients to maintain their financial privacy – a big concern in an age of identity theft and online bank scams. In fact, the Free State Project doesn’t need any financial information of its members in order to send them Bitcoins – all it needs is an email address. “We’re hoping some of the gifts will be sent back as donations to us, but the more important goal was to find a creative way to announce this new donation method to our members. Our eyes are on the long-term, the future, and Bitcoin is very exciting for our project and human freedom in general,” says Lawless. # # # The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. For further information, please contact Chris Lawless with the Free State Project at clawless@freestateproject.orgPress Release: http://bit.ly/qQevfPI'd like to have this Press Release posted on the major Bitcoin news outlets and will be contacting some of you for this purpose. If you'd like any details, please contact me for any relevant info (erikvoorhees [a t] gmail). Original link to the Press Release is here: http://bit.ly/qQevfP and I can provide PDF version to any interested parties. FYI this will be announced on nationally-syndicated Free Talk Live this evening. The "Bitcoin Blast" will be sent next weekend. Free State Project's Liberty Forum will be accepting Bitcoin as a payment method for registration (this event occurs in February at the Crowne Plaza in Nashua, New Hampshire - past speakers have included Ron Paul, Judge Napolitano, John Stossel, Cato staff, etc.). Bitcoin will have a large presence this year, and if you'd like to be a speaker or vendor at the event please contact me. Further, future events and FSP's online store will accept Bitcoin shortly. BIG THANK YOU to Roger Ver of Memory Dealers who is funding this blast next weekend, and Ira and Victor of BTCinch.com for the email/payment/ewallet system - they've been extremely attentive and helpful as we get this launched. And PLEASE DONATE to Free State Project if you care about liberty! The project is becoming a great ally of Bitcoin, so please show your support! Or better yet, sign up and get your ass out here! Donate here: http://freestateproject.org/getinvolved/donate.php |
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I will donate some BTC to this project, I'm at work and I don't have time to read the last few pages. What is the current status as of NOW? Also do we have a script for the automation? I can probably help to get some cards into good hands.
Thread continued here for donors: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=45943.0Chat with us in IRC #operationbitcoin |
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At the end remember China is still a communist nation, though it's making breakthroughs economically , it's still politically communist. And politically they want people to be more in line with their thoughts not ours.
You're like those guys that claim the Nazis were left wing because it was called National Socialism. Or maybe those guys make that claim because they actually read the party platform espoused by the Nazi's. Look up the "25 Point Program" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Program#The_25-point_Program_of_the_NSDAPHere are a few which may indicate explicit socialist tendencies: - "We demand that the state be charged first with providing the opportunity for a livelihood and way of life for the citizens." - "All citizens must have equal rights and obligations." - "The activity of individuals is not to counteract the interests of the universality, but must have its result within the framework of the whole for the benefit of all." - "We demand the nationalisation of all (previous) associated industries (trusts)" - "We demand a division of profits of all heavy industries." - "We demand an expansion on a large scale of old age welfare." - "We demand the creation of a healthy middle class and its conservation" - "Common national criminals, usurers, profiteers and so forth are to be punished with death" <---- People who charge interest or make profit more than is "socially acceptable" - "The state is to be responsible for a fundamental reconstruction of our whole national education program, to enable every capable and industrious German to obtain higher education" - "The State is to care for the elevating national health by protecting the mother and child, by outlawing child-labor, by the encouragement of physical fitness" Now, to be fair, there are some parts I didn't quote which modern socialists would not advocate. But in practice, socialism and fascism are very similar, though "peace loving" socialists like to pretend otherwise. |
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I recommend taking the advice on this page into account. I like evoorhees' bit, but it may not work very well in the format. Why not just announce that Bitcoin is a money not controlled by large financial and government interests, and anyone who wishes to learn more about it should meet at X place and Y time? Lesson #1 of PR: know your audience. The protesters are in the mood for high rhetoric and impact - the statement to them needs to be such. Given the demographic and tenor of the audience, I tried to imagine what Che Guevara would say, if he knew what he was talking about. The wiki page is great general advice for a general audience, but this is not a general audience. |
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Hmm this is frustrating, I don't know how to take a "sipa format" key and turn it into "standard key" Can anyone help me? I can just give you my private key with 1btc on it and you can send me a btc if that's easiest. My coin is stuck in purgatory  Please pm if you can help If you don't mind telling your private key to Block Explorer, you can use their API: Example: Address: 13mWJ7RtAoMTB6nYTWouHSc8KLfpUWZskY Privkey: 5JSnvLmCsFDye4QMbYE1fsyGAPbpr1XjyBuGJpqVfdvuz2kmuo6 Go to https://blockexplorer.com/q/addresstohash/5JSnvLmCsFDye4QMbYE1fsyGAPbpr1XjyBuGJpqVfdvuz2kmuo6and the hex that it spits back is 52E417A1818758EBC3E1C595BF0DCA0C9F29A0E1087D5B01456F43819CFBD401 And if I go to Mt. Gox and try to redeem it, it says "Private address added to your virtual wallet with address 13mWJ7RtAoMTB6nYTWouHSc8KLfpUWZskY. There was no coins in there, maybe you did a typo?" I'm sure that there are ways of doing it with openssl or python or whatnot locally, but as long as you trust the Block Explorer site to not do anything nefarious with your private key before you have a chance to redeem it, it ought to work for you until Mt. Gox supports the import format directly. Boom that worked!!! Thanks bud! |
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Needs more bite... try this:
**********
To those currently occupying Wall St. - Please Listen Up
You're upset with the banks, yet you continue to bank with them.
You're upset with the Federal Reserve, yet you continue to use its fiat money.
You're upset with Wall St., yet you subsidize and support them every day.
The slave who merely grumbles while he endures his enslavement does not advance his own freedom. The banks may have built the cage, but you have locked yourself inside.
There is an alternative to this fraudulent scheme that imprisons you - it's called Bitcoin
It's a decentralized monetary system - no person, corporation, nor government can control it. It is without borders, agenda, or undue influence.
If you care to end the lecherous system that has grown fat off the toils of society, we invite you to come over and discuss.
We're giving away some free donations of this new currency - and we'll teach you how to use it.
Bitcoin will end the banks, if you care to try it.
Message finished.
***********
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