xkcd's bitcoin hole

[mizerydearia]

<Randall> here's how far I'll go: if anyone types this URL, they can see a black hole into which they can deposit bitcoins: http://xkcd.com/bitcoin/

http://blockexplorer.com/address/1Lg2rvxbBPC8jp2YJoV5xL7sdyTjueMUot
updated: http://blockexplorer.com/address/14FHqYSgAi39CEJksUJJsK8JzJzyqFpLVk

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[ThomasV]

Donated 5BTC. Let's all do it. :-)

[LightRider]

You know Randall?! Sweet!

[ribuck]

Donated 5BTC. Let's all do it. :-)

Sent mine. This is great! All the right people are starting to accept bitcoin donations.

[cuddlefish]

Donated my entire 0.05 bit-cents!

The more we donate, the more likely he is to add Bitcoin purchasing at the XKCD store... let's do it!

Also, for people with IRC, there is a XKCD bitcoin discussion channel: irc.foonetic.net, #xkcd-bitcoin

[mizerydearia]

A few more quotes from about four hours ago:

<Randall> We don't have donations of any kind, actually.  I mean, there are prints you can buy, and you can pay more if you want.
<Randall> I only learned about bitcoins a month or so ago.
<Randall> I don't solicit donations on my website, and I have avoided soliciting donations through various systems where I hadn't decided to actively promote those systems (i.e. flattr and bitcoin).
<Randall> Like, a lot of people contact me and are like "can you sign up for $PROJECT and we'll get a button on your page and people can donate to you!" and I feel like the main effect of my doing that would be promoting $PROJECT.
<Randall> Which isn't really something I do on solicitation, if only because the  moment I did, I'd be flooded with more solicitations.
<Randall> And email is hard
<Randall> here's how far I'll go: if anyone types this URL, they can see a black hole into which they can deposit bitcoins: http://xkcd.com/bitcoin/
<Randall> it'll be interesting to see if anyone stumbles on it.
<Randall> I am probably legally obligated to let you know that I am not a charity and will probably be spending the money on extremely unwise things (i.e. gin)
<Randall> Hooray!  I have some bitcoins now.
<ThomasV_> if you can convince some gin seller to accept bitcoins without converting them to usd, you'll be a hero
<Randall> and then the bitcoin community will collapse into drunken brawls

Also, thanks to cuddlefish for mentioning the XKCD mining pool, which led to Randall setting up the very simplistic webpage.

<Randall> it'll be interesting to see if anyone stumbles on it.

Let's contniue to show our support and help to express our appreciation for Randall's amazingly amazing comics and help to convince him to better adopt Bitcoin!

[divergenta]

Great! I I love xkcd and donated 0.5 BTC. I will donate more when I become more wealthier!

[mpkomara]

i donated a little too.  hopefully randall carries through with his gin purchase and makes it known.  any gin merchants out there?

[NghtRppr]

I donated 5 BTC just because I've always been into XKCD but am not interested in crappy swag.

Looking on the XKCD forums, the first reply to the bitcoin thread made me chuckle.

One problem may be that it was not created by an economist, i.e. it was created by someone who doesn't really understand what a central bank does, or that a loan from a (non-government) bank is actually something useful, even though it means that money is being created.

I agree that someone doesn't understand what a central bank does but it isn't the creator of bitcoin. A central bank counterfeits money, which is a form of theft since it's making the dollars in our pockets worth less which hurts the poorest worst of all. It's just plain evil. As for bank loans, no, fractional reserve banking is a form of fraud. It says that two people own the same money which isn't possible though it works as long as nobody wants their money at the same time. As soon as a bank run occurs though, you're screwed. Of course, the answer to that is to just print more monopoly money, which of course is the exact same thing as taking money from out of our pockets. Let's not even get started on the constant bubbles being created thanks to distorting the markets through artificially low interest rates. Who would have thought that interest rates aren't arbitrary and actually have some sort of role to play and that you can't just force them to remain low without consequences, much like minimum wage laws have consequences for forcing wages to remain artificially high, namely, more unemployment for unskilled laborers.

[Cdecker]

Great job, I love XKCD :-)

[benjamindees]

You see inflation is good because without it no one would have incentive to produce centralized failure-prone easily-monopolized technologies that they can then sell to central banks hurf durf.

[Alex Beckenham]

Funny comic... sent my 2.99 coins.

I wonder if he'll mention bitcoin in an actual comic at some point

[srb123]

I donated 5 BTC just because I've always been into XKCD but am not interested in crappy swag.

Looking on the XKCD forums, the first reply to the bitcoin thread made me chuckle.

One problem may be that it was not created by an economist, i.e. it was created by someone who doesn't really understand what a central bank does, or that a loan from a (non-government) bank is actually something useful, even though it means that money is being created.

I agree that someone doesn't understand what a central bank does but it isn't the creator of bitcoin. A central bank counterfeits money, which is a form of theft since it's making the dollars in our pockets worth less which hurts the poorest worst of all. It's just plain evil. As for bank loans, no, fractional reserve banking is a form of fraud. It says that two people own the same money which isn't possible though it works as long as nobody wants their money at the same time. As soon as a bank run occurs though, you're screwed. Of course, the answer to that is to just print more monopoly money, which of course is the exact same thing as taking money from out of our pockets. Let's not even get started on the constant bubbles being created thanks to distorting the markets through artificially low interest rates. Who would have thought that interest rates aren't arbitrary and actually have some sort of role to play and that you can't just force them to remain low without consequences, much like minimum wage laws have consequences for forcing wages to remain artificially high, namely, more unemployment for unskilled laborers.

Whoa, big tangent. Good point, well made, but it's been made a 100 times, and you're preaching to the choir on this board.

Anyways, you are distracting people from how awesome XKCD is, and that is NOT ON!

[Nefario]

My favourite comic is the cryptonerd one.
My favourite non comic is the explanation of radiation doses.
Awsome.

[Ian Maxwell]

Did anyone point out this site to him? He has well over 150 BTC worth of pledges. Not exactly enough to retire on, sure, but it's decent money for a few hours' labor setting up an Mt Gox account and a Bitcoin checkout.

[Alex Beckenham]

Did anyone point out this site to him?

[Offtopic] Funny typo on that site: Awesome (Window Manger)

[Cusipzzz]

sent a few coins, xkcd is amazing.

[bitcredit]

A central bank counterfeits money, which is a form of theft since it's making the dollars in our pockets worth less which hurts the poorest worst of all.

Poor people have debt, the real value of which is reduced by inflation.

[Nefario]

A central bank counterfeits money, which is a form of theft since it's making the dollars in our pockets worth less which hurts the poorest worst of all.

Poor people have debt, the real value of which is reduced by inflation.

That is true to a point, however interest on that dept is almost always higher than inflation so...

[em3rgentOrdr]

xkcd waycool!