Yes, do include JDS Uniphase and Cisco Systems as well, both companies were thought to be on the path to becoming the largest companies (by market cap) in the world...

Where is Microsoft now?  Not Number One.  Apple may seem invincible now, but we will see what the future brings.

zerohedge.com, bitchez!  <--- If that does not offend you, then you may be OK.  

If you venture into the Middle East threads, here are some suggestions:

1)  arm-up, bring along your AK or AR with at least 1000 rounds of ammo (and 10 clips), also you sidearm with at least 100 rounds
2)  helmet and body-armor
3)  attitude that you will hit more than be hit...  Go tough..., or go home.

There is NO WAY anyone (or even any group) is going to clean-up ZH.  The participants don't want it.  ZH's philosophy more-or-less follows the movie "The Fight Club".

For all its incivility, ZH is perhaps the best source of finance-related news outside the MainStream Media.


EDIT: The majority of ZH members do not like Bitcoin.....

...

Well, the sad thing about blockchain.info being such a sleazy service (in terms of downtime) is that my wallet there is not only unavailable, but that their SharedCoin (BTC mixing for privacy) service does not work either.

Other than bitmixer.io, that SharedCoin service is about the only mixing service that works with few complaints.  Both work well for me.  Both services use different techniques to mix BTC, using them both in series seems to provide extremely robust privacy, at least to attackers without very special tools...

Actually, I welcome this development in Russia as it might be a great experiment for the world to see.  Russia is a place that is mighty close to a seriously authoritarian country, and it would be of great interest to see if the Oppression Apparatus of Russia can squash the individuals seeking the freedom to exchange currencies as they wish...

I would like to know WHAT Russia would be banning, and how they would go about it.

Same comments about China and Venezuela.  Interesting experiments worth keeping an eye on.

Well, then one suggestion I would have for you is never, ever, ever go to Zero Hedge.  Especially the Israel/Middle East threads or anything to do with China vs. the USA or Russia vs. the USA.  They have nasty trolls there...

But, I agree with the thought behind your thread here.  Decent discussion is much better.

bitcointalk.org, please accept my best wishes, and participants please write good things rather than bad.  Cosmic Law and all that.

The problem with calling the Soviet government (responsible for the Holodomor) "Fascist" is that many people get very hung up on word definitions.  I can practically feel Bernie's spittle hitting me should you say Communist = Fascist.

I prefer the word "totalitarian" when it comes to ANY .gov that uses force or threatens to in getting citizens to comply.

But, yeah, all totalitarian governments are prone to extremes like inflicting horrors up to and including mass starvation.

Nice to see you drop by, TPTB.

...

I have always preferred civilized forums, bitcointalk is actually rather good, certainly vs. Zero Hedge's "Fight Club".  ZH has many anti-Semites and Putin bootlickers that just make it hard to enjoy some threads (Middle East and Russia).

I do much prefer bitcointalk to Reddit, I could never work up the enthusiasm to join.

For relative beginners (like me), I would look at having at least two wallets:

1) an online wallet with perhaps $40 worth of BTC, maybe in your mobile device

2) the other 90% or more in a hardware wallet like Trezor or Ledger Nano (both of which I use and like)

I have not used Electrum, Armory, nor paper wallets so cannot comment beyond above.

...

All advertising is an experiment, trust me, I know that from hard experience.

My take is that the advertisers who have sustained campaigns would very well know if they work, else (as has been pointed out above) they would not be sending out BTC for exposure.  Those offering campaigns are probably taking a long view...  If they get well known and stronger now, they will more likely be stronger players later.

IMO the Signature Campaigns are a great thing.  As an experiment for me, as an income producer for those in poorer countries (where $5.00 per week is actually meaningful).

No..., I disagree.  OP should ask questions that may be uncomfortable or to clarify.  Without the free exchange of information I have read here, I would be less informed about Bitcoin's strengths and weaknesses.

TPTB could make BTC much harder to use by clamping down on exchanges or other chokepoints of trading BTC for US$ for example.  I have used BTC to buy ONLY gold, and if TPTB shut down the retailers' abilities to get fiat, that would mean that I would less interest in BTC.

...

CoinCube just wrote:

"Bankrupt countries and their handout dependent populations will line up to eagerly surrender national sovereignty as this will be the only means to pay the bills. Greece is the future model for most of the indebted world."

That is an interesting idea, I had not seen that before, and it is worth thinking about.  It makes a lot of sense, that FSA populations would get in line to get food...

I definitely am more suspicious of a consolidating NWO and its benevolence.  I do not see how that is predictable.  One thing I have learned in my 59 years is that it is very hard to predict the future...

*   *   *

trollercoaster

I LIKE your avatar! 

...

Re the recent BTC price increases, there is one other interesting wrinkle to look at.  The Bitcoin:Gold ratio is down to under 4.00 for the first time in a while.  This would hint that buying gold for BTC would be good, certainly better than a few weeks ago when that ratio was over 5.00.

Currently the BTC:Au is at 3.97.

ounce.me

Yep, a from me too.


*   *   *

I hereby RESCIND my endorsement that blockchain.info's wallet is reasonably good.

Blockchain has often had issues, but I was lulled into accepting them as a quality wallet host based on recent (until today) performance.

The fact that they are still down after so many hours (and hence non-availability of wallets hosted there) is UNACCEPTABLE.

When they are up, I am moving my thankfully low balance somewhere else.

...

thejaytiesto, MickeyB, poncom

All three of your remarks above give me some hope that privacy can be maintained in our "NewEra".  I sure hope so.

I am not in a position to know (not a programmer, etc.), but BTC at least seems to be pretty secure.  I do not enough about TOR, there are constant rumors about TOR being compromised.

*   *   *

poncom, other than TOR's own website, is there any site that can give a beginner a reasonably good explanation of it as well as an assessment of its security?

...

The War on Cash advances to another front:

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-26/barcelona-threatens-print-parallel-currency-madrid-seethes

It looks like Barcelona (their left wing government, LOL?) will join the War in addition to irking Madrid...

Zero Hedge notes:

"It appears the war on cash has moved from one of words to actions (as it is likely no coincidence that most of the local community currencies that have been launched so far are in purely digital format, as would Barcelona’s.)"

Well, it looks like we're not off to a great start this week...  

It is very hard for individuals to fight the state.  About the best we can do to start is to be diversified and aware.  Your post is part of that process.  Beyond a START, we would have to get our hands dirty fighting off the tyrants.

But, for what it's worth, I have many doubts of the competence of the BRICS or anyone else to govern.  All of these governments are big and sluggish...

I like gold a lot.  But, there are some risks to gold: it can be stolen, it may be hard to get out of the country (gold shines brightly in the X-Ray machines) and it may be a little hard to exchange depending on where you are/go.

Re Bitcoin, from what I am reading (not an expert), the math is pretty convincing that the system itself is quite robust.  The major weaknesses seem to be when the user (payer and payee) interact.  Exchanges, weak wallet passwords, etc.

So, gold is NOT losing its shine for me.  But there are risks in almost any investment holding.

...

I notice some recent interesting political commentary here on our theme of "Economic Totalitarianism".

And a thought has just occurred to me: "politics as normal" is not going to solve any of our problems.  It looks like we are in gridlock almost everywhere.  No one wants to take any medicine.  This is actually not good, IMO.  We will have to fall very hard to change anything...

...

Armstrong publishes a some interesting items today.

"Debt Forgiveness / Cancellations"

http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/38560

He discusses debt cancellations in the distant past, and why they are unlike today's government debts.  See his pictures of Mesopotamian artifacts.  Also, he was considering funding excavation of an ancient home in Italy, where there may be books by Greek authors, perhaps never seen before.


"Merkel is Doomed in Germany"

http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/38594

Merkel's got a problem...  I wonder WHY she even agreed to letting in so many Syrians? 


"Socrates: Political Unrest & Economic Financial Trends"

http://www.armstrongeconomics.com/archives/38514

Armstrong's giant Socrates computer & database system is almost ready for action.  Here's a handy map of Europe and its separatist movements (from the article):

Agree with both of you.  At some point this large part of China's economy will yield diminishing returns.  An economy built on on, well, low quality does not seem to be sustainable to me.

China has other big problems: a huge set of debts, bad demographics and terrible pollution.  One or more of these three will compound misery for China in the future.

Re PolarPoint's comment, yes, China exports less as the rest of the world slows down.  A vicious circle.  We are seeing the reverse  in Peru (my in-laws there run a small bearing import company).  Peru is exporting less copper (etc.), and that has just started affecting our sales.