I love the logical inconsistencies in a single hand drawn picture.  "Appearances vs. Facts The phenomenon of the disappearance of a ship, hull first, as it recedes from view, is caused by the same law of foreshortening as that which governs the disappearance of the rail, or causes the two rails to appear to approach each other. If we should make calculations on the basis of the appearance instead of on the basis of the fact that the rails do not approach, but only seem to, we necessarily draw false conclusions. This is precisely what the astronomers do. They conclude from appearances rather than from facts." -- The Cellular Cosmogony, Cyrus Teed I used to think that the flat earthers were just trolling everyone, like those videos that went out with kids downloading noises that could get them high... but either they have marvelously trolled everyone to the point that some people actually believe it, or they are wholly ignorant of reality...and should be listened to for total entertainment purposes...like a psycho on the street corner with a sign spouting off about the jews and illuminati |
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But god damn a Trump v. Sanders race would have been entertaining, and I blame Clinton, Wassweman-Schultz and the DNC machine for denying us that pure choice. A generational opportunity squandered for greed and hubris.
I agree, I may have actually watched the election instead of turning off all media, including Facebook, in August of that year when it just got far too bad. The trigger for me was walking into a friend's living room where CNN was playing and seeing Wolf Blitzer talking about latest events blatantly using the term "we" when talking about what needed to be done to stop Trump. Something like "how do we....<insert plea for a strategy to get Hillary elected>". It was like I walked in on a DNC headquarters briefing. My Facebook feed on both sides was also absurd. The free stuff talking point is nonsense.
Overall people are not seeking free stuff, but they do want to have dignity and work, and some kind of way to live in order to be able to provide for families.. pump out babies, raise families and enjoy their short time on earth.
Maybe "free stuff" is infrastructure that is needed that is not going to just happen by itself without community involvement (which is another way of saying government)? Yeah, of course, government becomes dominated by a small group of rich folks and corporations, so the peeps receiving the "free stuff" in actuality end up being BIG money that plays the system to their advantage, and the "free stuff" does not tend to get distributed broadly, as the claims are made that social benefits are draining the public coffers when in fact the ones sucking off the public tit the most tend to be well off already.
I'm all for free stuff. I bet I can one-up anyone on the amount of free stuff I want to have give away. Try me. You're definitely not as caring as I am when it comes to the government giving out free stuff (why don't you want free food for kids? Do you hate children?). But the extortion part...not a fan. |
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Governments enable collusion, especially in the US, by making entry into a market more difficult. Either through regulations, permits, expensive legal hoops to jump through, etc.
Imagine you have a car design that is better and cheaper than all current cars sold. You build the car in your garage and want to start selling and scaling up to full production of these cars. Do you really think you could just set up a factory and start selling them? No. The amount of regulations required to become a car manufacturer is insane. It's almost as if the 3 or 4 auto manufacturers in the country are paying politicians or something. Tesla tried to do it on their own but had to play ball and pay off the government to get to the point of being able to sell cars.
Almost every other industry has permits, required certifications and schooling, etc. These are not for any useful purpose other than keeping out competition.
I currently live in French Polynesia where there are only 3 banks. No new banks can be created due to the amount of regulation requirements to open one. So the 3 banks set the prices on various things very high. It costs about 20% to exchange dollars to francs. And of course, only the banks are allowed to exchange currencies due to government regulations. If there were no government intrusion into money exchanges you'd have people at the airport charging 2-3% just standing there waiting as people get off the plane. You'd have your taxi driver exchanging cash for you. I'd be able to set up a bitcoin exchange here, an ATM at the airport. But it's not allowed.
That makes sense. I guess you sort of have to be a powerhouse already to break into most industries and shake them up. I mean, if you have a lot of money and your main goal is to disrupt an industry, it sounds doable. I can certainly see how it would be more beneficial to have more freedom in starting new businesses. Sometimes it's amazing how deep things go in the government. There are so many restriction at every turn. Probably the only thing I like about spending time in the US is it's competition. You can feel that business are truly competing and competing smart. The leads to better prices for customers and higher quality services. It does go deep, not just in government but in promises that go back generations. They say that the countries that advance the fastest are those that just had a revolution and are starting from scratch. They have a clean slate and can move forward as a country without the baggage of backroom deals made decades ago. |
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I just got bitcoinj up and running. I have been able to run the example Kit program a few times which takes a long time before it connects to enough peers to download the latest block but occasionally it does, then ends as it is supposed to.
I'm trying it on testnet. I have run it for an hour and it won't connect to any peers. Is this just me or is it common?
I get warning messages such as this:
[NioClientManager] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - [46.19.33.249]:18333: Peer died (0 connected, 8 pending, 12 max)
[PeerGroup Thread] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - Waiting 10000 msec before next connect attempt to [178.21.118.174]:18333
[NioClientManager] WARN org.bitcoinj.net.NioClientManager - Failed to connect with exception: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: no further information
java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: no further information
....
[PeerGroup Thread] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - Waiting 10000 msec before next connect attempt to [78.47.230.62]:18333
[NioClientManager] WARN org.bitcoinj.net.NioClientManager - Failed to connect with exception: java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException: null
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerSocketHandler - [52.178.146.191]:18333: Timed out
java.nio.channels.ClosedChannelException
....
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerSocketHandler - [194.187.248.133]:18333: Timed out
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - [194.187.248.133]:18333: Peer died (0 connected, 1 pending, 12 max)
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerSocketHandler - [194.187.248.133]:18333: Timed out
[PeerGroup Thread] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - Waiting 10000 msec before next connect attempt to [78.47.230.62]:18333
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - [194.187.248.133]:18333: Peer died (0 connected, 0 pending, 12 max)
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerSocketHandler - [144.76.75.197]:18333: Timed out
[PeerGroup Thread] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - Waiting 10000 msec before next connect attempt to [14.202.104.193]:18333
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - [144.76.75.197]:18333: Peer died (0 connected, 0 pending, 12 max)
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerSocketHandler - [144.76.75.197]:18333: Timed out
[PeerGroup Thread] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - Waiting 10000 msec before next connect attempt to [50.39.117.154]:18333
[AbstractTimeoutHandler timeouts] INFO org.bitcoinj.core.PeerGroup - [144.76.75.197]:18333: Peer died (0 connected, 0 pending, 12 max)
Is this common or no?
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Would it be possible to create a colored coin exclusive Lightning Network?
Say I proclaim that all satoshis coming from address "1XYZ..." are poker chips to be used for some decentralized online casinos (or whichever).
Then people open LN nodes moving microtransactions of these single satoshis back and forth opening channels.
All is well until someone creates a node that is connected to the network. Then opens a second node and feeds bitcoins from another address and floods the network with new satoshis. You can't trace where the bitcoins in the network originate from so you wouldn't know if the coins you receive are from the fake address or not.
How could it be done so that only satoshis originating from "1XYZ..." are allowed on the network?
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We dropped below a support line at $6800. Next support level is $6200.
If we drop below that we're looking at All Time (this year) Lows.
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The answer is:
Whatever my tax funded school taught me.
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Ok educate me on how Bernie Sanders is phony, selfish and corrupt. (I am open to the possibility that he is).
I respect that the Bern was against the Federal Reserve. I don't fault him for having an expensive house like most people point out. He deserves the product of his labor. But as for his democratic fascism...not a fan.  |
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Stop being so bloody morose already. I'm trying to foster some positivity over here!
How can you be positive when it's all over man? With WEX about to shut down, Jamie Dimon saying Bitcoin is a scam? I mean...Jamie Dimon! Who doesn't listen to his advice all day? Doom I tell ya. Blood in the streets type of doom. |
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I predict WEX shuts down within a week.
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There's no easy solution and personal security in cryptolandia (we talking about bitcoin, right?) remains an evolving target.
Even printers are now a vector to attack your computer through. HP is releasing firmware patches for vulnerabilities in its printers. https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/08/03/hp_printer_malware/Old news. My printer has only ever been connected to PCs without internet access and then only through an actual cable. If there's no ethernet cable and no wifi card there's no way to get in. People get lazy and complacent and leave themselves vulnerable. Everything about paper wallets being the most secure form of cold storage goes out the window if you're careless about leaving images of private keys lying about. I think print-spooler buffers have been a target for years. I used to get root through the printer port on an old Sun system in college. su - sp1 (or something like that). So easy. |
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Thanks again for the detailed response. Oligopoly was a new word for me. I can see that it's more or less the same as a monopoly, but it's just when a small group of companies have "monopoly" over a market, rather than just one. You talk about governments enabling collusion. How does this happen? Aren't there actually laws against price collusion? I think your farm example. That does make sense to me. Why wouldn't that be possible in today's market? On the other hand, a road as long as your farm land may not be that useful. People would still have to continue on the other road. The big company could just not build on-ramps and off-ramps to the farmers road. They'd also have to have a tolling system that could cut that portion of the roads out of what the drivers pay.
Governments enable collusion, especially in the US, by making entry into a market more difficult. Either through regulations, permits, expensive legal hoops to jump through, etc. Imagine you have a car design that is better and cheaper than all current cars sold. You build the car in your garage and want to start selling and scaling up to full production of these cars. Do you really think you could just set up a factory and start selling them? No. The amount of regulations required to become a car manufacturer is insane. It's almost as if the 3 or 4 auto manufacturers in the country are paying politicians or something. Tesla tried to do it on their own but had to play ball and pay off the government to get to the point of being able to sell cars. Almost every other industry has permits, required certifications and schooling, etc. These are not for any useful purpose other than keeping out competition. I currently live in French Polynesia where there are only 3 banks. No new banks can be created due to the amount of regulation requirements to open one. So the 3 banks set the prices on various things very high. It costs about 20% to exchange dollars to francs. And of course, only the banks are allowed to exchange currencies due to government regulations. If there were no government intrusion into money exchanges you'd have people at the airport charging 2-3% just standing there waiting as people get off the plane. You'd have your taxi driver exchanging cash for you. I'd be able to set up a bitcoin exchange here, an ATM at the airport. But it's not allowed. |
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He wants to save Bitcoin by centralizing and regulating it.
Our savior!
Can't wait for these Bakkt coins!
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Price is still under $10k...  |
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Well, if we look up the word "theft," we'll notice it means 'dishonestly taking something that belongs to someone else and keeping it (or stealing, i.e. taking something without the permission or knowledge of the owner and keeping it).' The key words here are without the permission or knowledge , which contradicts the process of taxation. I mean, you know that they are taking the money from you, but on the other hand, they never ask you for permission or whether or not you are willing to do so  So, it's a theft only by half and only providing you're not willing to do so. If you are, then it isn't a theft at all, IMHO. Look up the word tax:  |
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I didn't realize that Disney buys up so many roads. I guess it makes sense. I like the story with the bridge between the US and Canada. I wonder what it is that made the governments so horrible as making the bridge profitable, even at a higher price. What was it that made it easier for the private company to monetize the venture? Aren't there some government policies that prevent cell phone companies from endlessly raising their prices? I think it's called collusion, right? Without government regulation, are there some natural tendencies that would prevent collusion?
Monopolies cannot exist without government force. It just doesn't work. I can only site one case of a natural monopoly in the United States that did not use the force of government. That is the company that manufactures those little white pieces of cardboard for priests to wear around their collars. I'm thinking the only reason it was a monopoly was that there was not much motivation to disrupt that industry and the company likely kept prices low for ideological reasons. I'm not understanding something here. Are you equating monopolies to collusion? Isn't a monopoly when one company takes over an entire market? They may buy out competitors or just run them out of business with more competitive prices. Collusion is something else, if I understand correctly. Price collusion happens when you have multiple companies providing the same service. They would typically compete on price to win more of the market, but they can promise each other that none of them will go over a certain prices. They may also all agree to raise prices. In the example with the roads, couldn't this happen? The private road owners would realize that there is no choice but to use roads. They could take advantage of that. They could collude with all the other road owners and agree to raise prices. People could sort of become slaves to the road owners. Why shouldn't that be a concern? Collusion is almost the same as a monopoly, it's just an oligopoly. Again, it cannot exist without government. They require the government to ensure that nobody outside of their group comes in and takes all of their customers by providing a lower price. Governments tend to provide that service (the service of keeping competition out of the market). Imagine the road running next to a long piece of farm land, through collusion, is making $100k per year just for that strip. The farmer knows that the same square meters of his land only brings in $20k per year. He is now incentivized to build a road on his property instead of food. He can then undercut the road company and take all of the customers. Same with every single property next to the road. Without the government there would be no way an oligopoly would stop people from competing. If you look at old pictures of the future back when roads were first being developed you had airships, airplanes all over, walkways from building to building, etc. We only have a car dominated transportation system we have now because the roads are "free". There would be many different sorts of transportation if roads were not free. Then again, you are certainly not the first person to ask about the roads when it comes to no taxes. Here is the official "what about the roads?" thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345749.0 |
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Is there a spv wallet for namecoin?
Something like bitcoinj?
BitcoinJ has been ported: ConsensusJ-Namecoin. It is in the beta stage. The last release is from April. Look at the last page - there we talked a bit about Electrum-NMC, which would be another option. However, it is even at an earlier development stage and if you don't know exactly what you do you probably shouldn't use it for "real coins". Link: https://github.com/namecoin/electrum-nmc@domob: Thanks! If there is help needed, we'll communicate. Thank you for the feedback. I found an older namecoinj but will check out Consensusj. |
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Is there a spv wallet for namecoin?
Something like bitcoinj?
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With these super low prices we may need to shut down the blockchain.
Fortunately they released Satoshi's alert key.
Time to trigger the shutdown switch? Or might things turn around?
I'm scared.
Help.
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