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I wanted to go on a tangent about John Adams' quote:
"We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other."
The argument for anarchy usually runs along the lines that a government always inevitably resorts to force ("government armed with power," says Adams).
I argue against anarchy specifically because I still believe the people will follow a shared moral code.
A legitimate government should not continually be abusing its powers to point guns at innocent people–a government doing that is violating its founding principles.
The Declaration of Independence is a good rebuttal to anarchy, stating that a just government can exist. It is set up by the people, by "the consent of the governed," to stand for the shared moral code the people follow.
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I never understood this. Does politicians automatically assume that all onlookers are naive stupid sheep ? Here's my 2 satoshis worth: In any sort of representative government the people must keep a close eye on their appointed leaders. Plato, The Republic: "...he who refuses to rule is liable to be ruled by one who is worse than himself. And the fear of this, as I conceive, induces the good to take office, not because they would, but because they cannot help–not under the idea that they are going to have any benefit or enjoyment themselves, but as a necessity..." Personally, I would think politicians admitting to faults, would be much better. We're all humans. Politicians or nobody else for that matter, is no different than you or me. We all make mistakes. This is human nature. Sometimes we do fuck up, and sometimes the fuckups are bigger and more serious than other times.
Anything else is stupid. Nobody is perfect. Nobody. I know, I know. The problem is– ideas like "fault" or "mistake" or "human nature" isn't politically correct. Pick a side: "nobody is perfect" is along the lines of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Patrick Henry, and Samuel Adams. John Adams said, "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. Avarice, ambition, revenge, or gallantry would break the strongest cords of our constitution as a whale goes through a net. Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." I guess I should avoid trying to quote the other side as I'm obviously biased; it basically boils down to, "do whatever you want and run to the Federal Government if you're in serious trouble." What implications would it have for her career if she admitted that she overdid it in the Swartz case, and that she will change it in the future ? Would she at this point be done. Would she have to retire from her position ? Actually yes–I believe if Ortiz were to admit prosecutorial overreach the case has enough public outcry as to set a precedent which would curtail the activities of the US Department of Justice. Curtailing the abuse of power, even though it's obviously right, is an admission that morality and religion still have a voice in the Federal Government. Ortiz has chosen a side. I have absolutely zero respect for any authority that is a liar. In important matters, when I see someone lying, even if they have all the power in the world, that doesn't change a thing for me. A liar is a liar. Either the Federal Government is always right or there is some higher authority. You and me individually do not get to choose. Therefore, a lie is either wrong, always wrong–or the Federal Government is right, always right. Either there is a moral code that must be followed–all major religions include a moral code–or the Federal Government sets the moral code. There's nobody else big enough to even compete. If someone doesn't see this, they deserve not to hold any politican position whatsoever. They need to step down. Absolutely! There is still a large group of people who follow a standard moral code. Human nature being what it is, the Federal Government cannot be trusted. We should set some limits on the Federal Government–checks and balances–to rein in human nature, stemming from that moral code which delineates where human nature is ok and where it fails. Pressing for political change on the basis of a shared moral code has worked in the past, so it's not a stretch to think Americans might still rally to it. |
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 Bitcoin benefits from success stories |
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Wow, payment on Jan 10 is really ridiculous! If I knew you were so generous, I would have pre-ordered.
To be fair, I think you have all the reasons to reject his payment. I suggest you to hold a lucky draw and the winners will buy those machines. Chill, man! Avalon should be able to handle the situation just fine. |
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What The Fool said: We don't want the US Federal government to come meddling. Do you know what it means to have official status with the US government? You won't like it if they say yes. Oh, by the way, at some point the government will start taking bitcoin seriously, whether we ask them to or not. I'd like to delay that as long as possible. When the government does start taking an interest in bitcoin things will get crazy! "Be grateful you don't get all the government that your taxes are paying for!" |
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This might be a good group buy opportunity. Would you be interested in selling to a group of us?
You could receive payment immediately, all at once, and I (or anyone really) could coordinate with the buyers (payment, shipping arrangements, etc.)
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Re: those 7970s: can you please post a link if you put them up for sale?
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Alrighty then. I'm going to try something like Witcoin did, but a little less centrally-controlled. Anyone interested in coding with me, please PM me with a list of what languages you know. (I may ignore PMs that don't at least list some qualifications.) What is the state of witcoin?Apologies for witcoin going down.
I have had a lot of internal issues with the administration of the old site and I hope to recover access to your accounts soon so please stay tuned for updates. For this I humbly apologise. Feel free to submit anything to this blog as I have left it open for you to post things to. Contact me by asking a question and once again, I am sorry.
Dave , cryptocoinmedia , witcoin. |
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What technologies will you be using to stream the video to the client? How will you handle DMCA takedowns? This is just me bumping the thread. |
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I still think it's possible for the existing governments to kill bitcoin:
First, just shut off the fiat currency to the exchanges. Shut down all of them at the same time - it would be a breeze. The exchanges are a single point of failure and there are only a few of them. Coordinate a raid on them all at once on some trumped-up charge like money laundering, drug trafficking, etc.
Second, attack the manufacturers that accept fiat. By manufacturers I mean companies who make the stuff that makes bitcoin viable. For example, shut down all ASIC manufacturing, the big FPGA sites, the Casascius coins – anyone who helps bitcoin but takes payment in fiat is vulnerable to an attack the same way the exchanges are vulnerable.
Third, buy out or arrest silk road plus the top ten other bitcoin destinations. If they took out the "top ten list," then bitcoin would be relatively worthless because the average person wouldn't be able to find anything they wanted to buy with it.
Oh yeah, and shut down the popular forums, like this one, by seizing the domain.
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+1 for the Rolling Stone link.
If I were an evil megabank, I would suffocate bitcoin:
1. Shut off the fiat currency to the exchanges
How valuable would BTC1 be if you couldn't sell it for euros, USD, or Yen? For an evil megabank, shutting them all down at the same time would be a breeze. The exchanges are a single point of failure and there aren't so many of them that you couldn't coordinate a raid on them all at once on some trumped-up charge like money laundering, drug trafficking, etc.
Even if the exchanges have a "whack-a-mole" strategy, by using the existing anti-fraud processes built into fiat, the evil megabank could easily find them and kill them.
2. Shut off the fiat currency to the manufacturers
By manufacturers I mean companies who make the stuff that makes bitcoin viable. For example, shut down all ASIC manufacturing, the big FPGA sites, the Casascius coins – anyone who helps bitcoin but takes payment in fiat is vulnerable to an attack the same way the exchanges are vulnerable.
3. Buy out or arrest silk road plus the top ten other bitcoin destinations
The evil megabank doesn't have to kill every merchant who accepts bitcoin. If they took out the "top ten list," then bitcoin would be relatively worthless because the average person wouldn't be able to find anything they wanted to buy with it.
4. Astroturf up a storm
Bitcoin needs the goodwill of the internet and if it was already getting tons of bad press from the above attacks, it would be easy to piggy-back an astroturfing campaign on that to convince everyone "bitcoin is dead," "I lost all my money," "the feds raided my house and took all my computers," etc.
Oh yeah, and shut down the popular forums, like this one, by seizing the domain.
Bitcoin would not disappear, but it would be in a world of hurt
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@ChanceCoats123: handheld market crap
Exactly. Apple thinks their top-end laptop needs to be thinner than an envelope; that's not a wise decision and there's a lot more consumers who want a "real laptop."
Intel has to do a little work to not lose Apple as a customer. But they don't have to try too hard when their only competition is AMD.
Actually if they try too hard, the SEC will go all anti-trust on them. Better to rake in the $ billions and wait.
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The current forum culture can still be shaped but no forum can survive the inevitable " Eternal September" that makes every forum worthless. The quiet, sane comments get shouted down and these users inevitably leave. |
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Yes, I think Intel is missing the ARM race to the bottom.
I think they're doing it on purpose - to push down the share price then buy.
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I'm not long or short on either of these stocks, see below for why I think this is a long con: | INTC | $21.25/share x 4,980,000,000 shares | = $105,740,000,000 | | QCOM | $64.68/share x 1,700,000,000 shares | = $110,220,000,000 |
Everyone who has ever gone up against chipzilla Intel has always lost. Market cap is not an indicator of success. But even the NYT is saying things like: "The PC business as we’ve known it is evolving," said Paul S. Otellini, Intel’s chief executive, in a call to analysts.
"The form factors are going to blur here."
Instead of PCs, more people and businesses are buying smartphones and tablets.
Intel gets 64 percent of its revenues and some of its highest profit margins from chips for PCs.
It has scrambled to revive the market, while it aggressively tries to supply tablet and smartphone makers, so far with little success. That last part is the con, I think: Intel isn't scrambling the big guns to get into tablets and smartphones. It's simple: small devices have small margins, so Intel is content to take a few lazy steps just to keep the engines warm until the timing is right. The press is bear on INTC to pick up the stock right before they shift into high gear. |
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What do you think of a group buy?
To be honest, until they have competition they can set any price.
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Ortiz is a politician. She will never admit wrong-doing.
However, I believe the political storm currently surrounding her is having quite the effect. She is likely to disappear, quietly. This is the end of her political career.
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Crime is everywhere.
Just the other day I went to a surgery room and a guy in a mask pulled a knife on me!
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Sorry, kano. That was just me asking a dumb question. Answer: SF express.
Sure, I'd love for someone to will-call it, then start posting pictures.
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