Laissez Faire City (a BFL connection(?), et al.)

[Gleb Gamow]

I worked on the web-based version of DMT around 1999-2001.  Great group of people down there.  I was friends with Orlin before LFC and DMT, visionary guy.  There's a lot of negative commentary on this thread about LFC and DMT.  I didn't see that.  Knowing Orlin, and what I saw in CR, they were a committed group with strong convictions working to do good.  No one was trying to rip anyone off.  The whole concept was ahead of its time.  Definitely a precursor to BTC, perhaps a direct connection through some of the team members, not sure.  I was not part of the core team, more of a mercenary to bang out code and get parts of the system built.

I'd really like to reconnect with any of the CR team from the old Nicaraguan embassy. Especially haxaw - if you get this, please ping me.

Hello, Sonny Vleisides, how you've been?

If you're not Sonny, then call me at 702-981-5600.

Hi Gleb,  I'm not Sonny.  I was a friend of Orlin's before LFC.  He and I worked on systems for capital markets together and he brought me into a project at LFC to build a web-based client for DMT.  I visited the Costa Rica campus for about a week, I think back in '99 or thereabouts.  

Met a bunch of folks down there and stayed with a guy known as haxaw -- had a lot of late nights drinking rusty nails.  LOL  My team and I worked on the project remotely after that, our codenames were Mr. Black (me), Mr. White, Mr. Blue.  I'm trying to see if I can reconnect with haxaw, but I never knew his real name.  He's probably in his 50s or 60s now, and all I know is that he worked on the Linux kernel with Linus in the early days, and he also patented data networking over electrical power infrastructure in the UK. You'd think I could find him with that info, but it's been a while and the scent is fading.  

Did I meet you down there in CR?  You probably wouldn't recall me, was just there for a brief time.  I remember a girl down there who went by the codename Nova.  She came to pick me up at the airport.  You remember her?  I guess I'm just trying to piece together recollections and reconnect with folks and see if there's a connection between DMT and the early concepts of bitcoin.  There's some mythology building that some of the DMT team are actually Satoshi.  Who knows.  Could be a good movie in there somewhere.

No, I wasn't down there. Do you recall a dude named Jeff Ownby while you were there? I believe I can give you a lead on Nova. At one time I leaned toward her being one of Sonny's girlfriends.

Here's a weird question: Do you think that Orlin is really dead? I'll PM you my Nova lead. I'm hunting it now.

EDIT: Does this person ring a bell? https://twitter.com/wwestmiller

EDIT: May be a dead end on Nova. Mixed her up with Gino but still looking.

EDIT: And fuck you for bringing down this rabbit hole again after once spending hundreds of hours researching LFC et al. 

[mister-black]

I worked on the web-based version of DMT around 1999-2001.  Great group of people down there.  I was friends with Orlin before LFC and DMT, visionary guy.  There's a lot of negative commentary on this thread about LFC and DMT.  I didn't see that.  Knowing Orlin, and what I saw in CR, they were a committed group with strong convictions working to do good.  No one was trying to rip anyone off.  The whole concept was ahead of its time.  Definitely a precursor to BTC, perhaps a direct connection through some of the team members, not sure.  I was not part of the core team, more of a mercenary to bang out code and get parts of the system built.

I'd really like to reconnect with any of the CR team from the old Nicaraguan embassy. Especially haxaw - if you get this, please ping me.

Hello, Sonny Vleisides, how you've been?

If you're not Sonny, then call me at 702-981-5600.

Hi Gleb,  I'm not Sonny.  I was a friend of Orlin's before LFC.  He and I worked on systems for capital markets together and he brought me into a project at LFC to build a web-based client for DMT.  I visited the Costa Rica campus for about a week, I think back in '99 or thereabouts.  

Met a bunch of folks down there and stayed with a guy known as haxaw -- had a lot of late nights drinking rusty nails.  LOL  My team and I worked on the project remotely after that, our codenames were Mr. Black (me), Mr. White, Mr. Blue.  I'm trying to see if I can reconnect with haxaw, but I never knew his real name.  He's probably in his 50s or 60s now, and all I know is that he worked on the Linux kernel with Linus in the early days, and he also patented data networking over electrical power infrastructure in the UK. You'd think I could find him with that info, but it's been a while and the scent is fading.  

Did I meet you down there in CR?  You probably wouldn't recall me, was just there for a brief time.  I remember a girl down there who went by the codename Nova.  She came to pick me up at the airport.  You remember her?  I guess I'm just trying to piece together recollections and reconnect with folks and see if there's a connection between DMT and the early concepts of bitcoin.  There's some mythology building that some of the DMT team are actually Satoshi.  Who knows.  Could be a good movie in there somewhere.

No, I wasn't down there. Do you recall a dude named Jeff Ownby while you were there? I believe I can give you a lead on Nova. At one time I leaned toward her being one of Sonny's girlfriends.

Here's a weird question: Do you think that Orlin is really dead? I'll PM you my Nova lead. I'm hunting it now.

EDIT: Does this person ring a bell? https://twitter.com/wwestmiller

EDIT: May be a dead end on Nova. Mixed her up with Gino but still looking.

EDIT: And fuck you for bringing down this rabbit hole again after once spending hundreds of hours researching LFC et al. 

Haha, yeah - a deep rabbit hole it is. 

A bunch of us conjecture on whether Orlin is still alive, or not.  We had a wake for Orlin in NYC, can't recall exactly when, sometime in the '00s.  There was about a dozen of us, having drinks in the east village, sharing memories of Orlin.  But no one knew if he was actually dead.  No one saw a body or any proof.  So when bitcoin spun up, and all the questions about who really is Satoshi, we would joke that Orlin is Satoshi.  I dunno, man - it's possible.

Hey, that's it!  Westmiller, that's the guy!  I'll have to ping him on LI.  At least to thank him for intro'ing me to Rusty Nails. LOL  Thanks man!

[Gleb Gamow]

I worked on the web-based version of DMT around 1999-2001.  Great group of people down there.  I was friends with Orlin before LFC and DMT, visionary guy.  There's a lot of negative commentary on this thread about LFC and DMT.  I didn't see that.  Knowing Orlin, and what I saw in CR, they were a committed group with strong convictions working to do good.  No one was trying to rip anyone off.  The whole concept was ahead of its time.  Definitely a precursor to BTC, perhaps a direct connection through some of the team members, not sure.  I was not part of the core team, more of a mercenary to bang out code and get parts of the system built.

I'd really like to reconnect with any of the CR team from the old Nicaraguan embassy. Especially haxaw - if you get this, please ping me.

Hello, Sonny Vleisides, how you've been?

If you're not Sonny, then call me at 702-981-5600.

Hi Gleb,  I'm not Sonny.  I was a friend of Orlin's before LFC.  He and I worked on systems for capital markets together and he brought me into a project at LFC to build a web-based client for DMT.  I visited the Costa Rica campus for about a week, I think back in '99 or thereabouts.  

Met a bunch of folks down there and stayed with a guy known as haxaw -- had a lot of late nights drinking rusty nails.  LOL  My team and I worked on the project remotely after that, our codenames were Mr. Black (me), Mr. White, Mr. Blue.  I'm trying to see if I can reconnect with haxaw, but I never knew his real name.  He's probably in his 50s or 60s now, and all I know is that he worked on the Linux kernel with Linus in the early days, and he also patented data networking over electrical power infrastructure in the UK. You'd think I could find him with that info, but it's been a while and the scent is fading.  

Did I meet you down there in CR?  You probably wouldn't recall me, was just there for a brief time.  I remember a girl down there who went by the codename Nova.  She came to pick me up at the airport.  You remember her?  I guess I'm just trying to piece together recollections and reconnect with folks and see if there's a connection between DMT and the early concepts of bitcoin.  There's some mythology building that some of the DMT team are actually Satoshi.  Who knows.  Could be a good movie in there somewhere.

No, I wasn't down there. Do you recall a dude named Jeff Ownby while you were there? I believe I can give you a lead on Nova. At one time I leaned toward her being one of Sonny's girlfriends.

Here's a weird question: Do you think that Orlin is really dead? I'll PM you my Nova lead. I'm hunting it now.

EDIT: Does this person ring a bell? https://twitter.com/wwestmiller

EDIT: May be a dead end on Nova. Mixed her up with Gino but still looking.

EDIT: And fuck you for bringing down this rabbit hole again after once spending hundreds of hours researching LFC et al.  

Haha, yeah - a deep rabbit hole it is.  

A bunch of us conjecture on whether Orlin is still alive, or not.  We had a wake for Orlin in NYC, can't recall exactly when, sometime in the '00s.  There was about a dozen of us, having drinks in the east village, sharing memories of Orlin.  But no one knew if he was actually dead.  No one saw a body or any proof.  So when bitcoin spun up, and all the questions about who really is Satoshi, we would joke that Orlin is Satoshi.  I dunno, man - it's possible.

Hey, that's it!  Westmiller, that's the guy!  I'll have to ping him on LI.  At least to thank him for intro'ing me to Rusty Nails. LOL  Thanks man!

Wait, Westmiller is the guy you were looking for? haxaw? Boy, do I have a surprise for you if he is.

[mister-black]

yeah, that's him.  i'll call you later this weekend, but gotta run for now.  thanks for the info.

[Gleb Gamow]

yeah, that's him.  i'll call you later this weekend, but gotta run for now.  thanks for the info.

Dude, don't you want the surprise first? His email address was gleaned from https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=253701.msg2702979#msg2702979 (rex@lfcity.com) Why was he using Rex at the time when that moniker was contributed to James Ray Houston, Sonny's real dad?

[mister-black]

Gleb, wow - checked out the twitter link and followed some links from here.  also found him on linkedin.  it looks like him (the photo), but the background doesn't match up.  the guy i was working with was quite technical -- worked on the linux kernel, patented data networks over power infrastructure in the UK, and we worked deep in the DMT java code.  all the info i found online doesn't show any of that technical history.

[Gleb Gamow]

Gleb, wow - checked out the twitter link and followed some links from here.  also found him on linkedin.  it looks like him (the photo), but the background doesn't match up.  the guy i was working with was quite technical -- worked on the linux kernel, patented data networks over power infrastructure in the UK, and we worked deep in the DMT java code.  all the info i found online doesn't show any of that technical history.

There is a connection to Grabbe and 1999: https://web.archive.org/web/19990428164419/http://www.zolatimes.com/V3.2/Future_and.html

[mister-black]

Gleb, yes those connections definitely check out.  just the presented skillset doesn't check out.  he's probably not listing his technical capabilities and that related history.  seems to be more politically oriented, so the tech history can be dropped.  it's too much of a coincidence that this is a different guy from the guy i worked with.  even taking into consideration the nearly 20 years of memory fade, chances are there wouldn't be two different people who looked that similar, associated with my experiences with DMT, LFC, Orlin, in CR, during that time frame.  Gotta be the guy.  I've pinged him, haven't heard back  I don't know about all the follow on stories, but he was a good guy to work with, and I found him to be decent and real in the week I spent with him.  Hopefully he'll ping me back, at least to catch up on things.

[Gleb Gamow]

Gleb, wow - checked out the twitter link and followed some links from here.  also found him on linkedin.  it looks like him (the photo), but the background doesn't match up.  the guy i was working with was quite technical -- worked on the linux kernel, patented data networks over power infrastructure in the UK, and we worked deep in the DMT java code.  all the info i found online doesn't show any of that technical history.

Read his Bio here: http://www.westmiller.com/family/ww_biog.htm

[mister-black]

yeah, i found that, too.  u see?  no tech background on there.  i think he's just leaving it off.