- cypherpunks - lists.cpunks.org

Cryptocurrency: acceptable coinage/ currency/ money
by grarpamp 13 Oct '19

13 Oct '19

On 10/11/19, Punk <punks(a)tfwno.gf> wrote: > gold coins are a lot better than any form of > 'crypto currency'. As before, perhaps yes, until it is considered that no one really wants to be carrying around a medieval sack of metal all day, let alone figuring out how to shave it into exact change, nor dealing with proving assay against fake metals, getting robbed with not even a forced password in the way, etc. If their lifestyle, foolish or not, is digital and further involves carrying around a digital device (phone, which must admit the entire planet mostly already does), then the better form of currency for them is likely to be a distributed private cryptocurrency. It sure as fuck isn't Fiat paper, Facebook Libra, or any other centralized non privacy corporate or government coin. And you're not very likely to convince world of adopting metals before crypto, thus metal advocacy will add more time delay before government demise. Nor can you manage your [space consuming] hoard of metals in near as many creative ways as crypto. Etc. Use both (for when they shut the internet down), or one, or keep licking boots.

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Re: Richard Stallman Gets SJW'd
by Zenaan Harkness 13 Oct '19

13 Oct '19

On Thu, Sep 26, 2019 at 11:26:23AM -0400, Ric Moore wrote: > On 9/17/19 9:56 PM, Zenaan Harkness wrote: > > > RMS, founder and originator of the Free Software Foundation, did not > > have sufficient support for his simple and straightforward words > > about words used to conflate or mislead readers (or listeners) about > > Epstein or anyone else for that matter, and RMS has now resigned from > > the FSF. > > Would you trust RMS to babysit your 8 year old daughter? I bet not. His > biggest problem is that he has spouted off for way too many years without > being hauled to task for what comes forth from his mouth. He's an idiot, plain > and simple, for ignoring "convention" and separating himself from "polite > society". No need for me to go into detail, it's all just a google away. Ric Actually yes and without hesitation - I hosted RMS in Sydney some 20 years ago (spent a few days with him in total), and despite him being a little "conversationally confronting", including to me personally, he was principled, precise, and caring of other humans, all to a fault. He gets taken the wrong way sometimes and I get that - haven't we all? So I did a google for "rms stallman egregious" and came up with the below -- all I can see is talk of "precise", email, discussion, and -implications- therein. And some people got upset or felt confronted and ultimately hold that RMS "should be taken down" and that "it's good RMS lost his job at the FSF, who gives a rat's arse if he founded it". Neither robust, nor permitting of robust conversations, nor "intellectually honest", as far as I can tell! I believe it is NOT appropriate that we lynch anyone merely for differing points of view! This is freedom of speech at its absolute most basic. Either we hold to the principle, or we are sluts to safe spaces, cowering pathetically to the snowflakes of the world. No, thank you, but no. Really, no! That is not me. Here's to the right of not only RMS, but you, I and everyone else, to say and argue for and against, whatetever they bloody well choose to. This is the world -I- want to live in. https://www.reddit.com/r/StallmanWasRight/comments/d7v1kf/a_reflection_on_t… > While it is true we should not treat Minsky unfairly, it was > not — and is not — a pressing concern, and by making it his > concern, RMS signaled clearly that it was much more important > to him than the question of the institution’s patterns of > problematic coddling of bad behavior. RMS did merely take part in a mailing list discussion, it's the media that blew it up. It's not like he stepped on a pedestal, creating big signals. It's about as public as talking to people in a coffee shop with a journalist eaves dropping in the background. It's a shame really, we can only have those slick politician like lizard tongue PR people in leading positions. The most important quality today is being dishonest and persuasive at the same time, getting away with it. That's how we got the corporate landscape today, that late stage capitalism where politics, media and industry are all alike, all keeping each other in position rather than in check, all infected with the disease of our times. It's disgusting, one ticket to the moon please... [And the 3rd comment, most poignant indeed:] I don't understand why society has accepted this concept of "you said a thing I don't like so you don't get to have a job anymore". Like what does one's personal opinions have to do with their job, as long as they're doing their job why does it matter. [And perhaps most telling - the "ba da bing, ba da BOOM":] Per Wikipedia, this guy [A KEY RECENT COMPLAINTANT ABOUT RMS] was fired by Stallman in 2001 for failing to perform any work or respond to emails. Did he last speak to Stallman 18 years ago? If not, when? I'd take this account with a huge grain of very salty salt! https://www.reddit.com/r/badlinguistics/comments/cr2en6/i_generally_support… https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21055756 That's what makes me so furious at the morons who deplatformed RMS over some silly devil's advocate defense of Minsky on an internal mailing list. The guy has an important idea that he put most of his life into developing. In the process, he made programming much more inclusive than anyone could dream about in the days of proprietary operating system with compilers that sold for thousands of dollars. So even if having to deal with a difficult old man makes you feel a little less inclusive, it's not too crazy to give him some breaks. The kids who ran him out of town only know how to destroy, not how to create anything comparable to what he did. ... It wasn't just this incident. RMS alienated so many women from open source and free software over the last 30 years, and we've lost all of those potential contributions. He's been getting breaks for 30 years. That he has also done some very good things isn't a good argument for continuing to tolerate his harmful behaviour after he's been asked to fix it for literally decades, and hasn't. ... > Which things specifically, and in what way? Saying that we shouldn't call sexual assault "sexual assault", and implying that there's any way a rich, famous, 73-year-old man can "have sex with" (rape) a 17-year-old girl, whom he has extraordinary power over, and who, in in this case was his friend's trafficking victim. The idea that Minsky's "honour" is in any way more important than harm in what happened to Giuffre perpetuates rape culture. It perpetuates the idea that women are worth less than men, and that it's okay for famous men in CS to rape girls. That emboldens other rapists and makes CS very unwelcoming for rape victims. Minsky should have known. Implying there's any way what he did was okay creates an unwelcoming environment for women, especially young women and girls at MIT. (Background and links from https://medium.com/@selamie/remove-richard-stallman-fec6ec21... ) ... > implying that there's any way a rich, famous, 73-year-old man > can "have sex with" (rape) a 17-year-old girl, whom he has > extraordinary power over, and who, in in this case was his > friend's trafficking victim. ...what are the scare quotes for? Is "have sex with" not a definitional superset of "rape"? As far as I can tell, Stallman does not assert that Giuffre was not raped, only that Minsky would probably not have known. (As far as he knew, she could equally have been one year older and legally, voluntarily engaged in prostitution...?) You could argue that (and I think that if Minsky did indeed have sex with her, you would have a very good case) that Minsky was extremely naive and/or irresponsible to not suspect anything amiss in the setting, but sexual (or any other) assault, in the view of many people, requires intent to harm someone against their will. Here, it seems that the intent, and hence the primary guilt for the assault, most likely was squarely with Epstein and his associates: if a gun salesman takes you to his shooting range and tells you to fire a weapon at a target that he actually secretly tied a person to the back of, and you shoot that person dead, you are not on the hook for murder even if you should really have known that something is off and recall hearing muffled screams from somewhere at one point in hindsight. > The idea that Minsky's "honour" is in any way more important > than harm in what happened to Giuffre Where did Stallman claim that? [NEVER GOT ANSWERED]

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Ars Technica: AT&T and other carriers want to hide detailed 5G maps from FCC and public
by jim bell 12 Oct '19

12 Oct '19

Ars Technica: AT&T and other carriers want to hide detailed 5G maps from FCC and public. https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/10/att-and-other-carriers-want-to-…

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Green energy math - Mtoe (million tonnes oil equivalent) / yr, and compare "Go Green"
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Oct '19

12 Oct '19

tl;dr: We start by converting the three main fossil fuels – coal, oil and natural gas – into a common unit: the “millions of tons of oil equivalent” or Mtoe. In 2018 the world consumed 11,743 Mtoe in the form of coal, natural gas and petroleum. The combustion of these fossil fuels resulted in 33.7 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions. In order for those emissions to reach net-zero, we will have to replace about 12,000 Mtoe of energy consumption expected for 2019. That's 30,000 of the world's largest oil tankers (there are 4 of them in the world) which hold about 3 million barrels of oil at a time. Such a fleet would stretch over 7,000 miles parked stern to nose. There are about 11,000 days between now and 1 Jan 2050, meaning roughly, we must deploy over 1 Mtoe, per day, every day for about 30 years, of "green energy", just to reach carbon neutral by 2050. And achieving net zero by 2050 means decomissioning over 1 Mtoe per day, every day, for those same 30 years. Nuclear energy? We must deploy 3 brand new nuclear plants (of carbon-free energy) every two days, for the next 30 years. At the same time, a nuclear plant's worth of fossil fuel infrastructure must be decomissioned every day, for 30 years straight, to get to that hallowed "carbon neutral". Wind energy? Try ~1,500 2.5 MW (megawatt) wind turbines, spread over about 300 square miles, every day, for the next 30 years. These stats come from last Tuesday, so now we're already 9 nuclear power plants behind in our rollout! Not gonna happen. And just as well, since plants need all that CO2, and we humans are up the food chain of plants, so we need plants to have lots of plant food (CO2). Getting Real About Green Energy https://www.zerohedge.com/health/getting-real-about-green-energy https://www.peakprosperity.com/getting-real-about-green-energy/

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Cryptocurrency: SEC Dictators, US Tricks, Cash, Econ Greta, Bakkt
by grarpamp 12 Oct '19

12 Oct '19

https://reddit.com/r/btc/comments/dgoix7/imagine_being_such_a_totalitarian_… https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2019-212 "Imagine being such a totalitarian dictator that you think you have the moral right to tell hundreds of millions of other human beings what they can and can’t sell without your permission. That’s the SEC." https://www.forbes.com/sites/billybambrough/2019/10/08/the-us-government-tr… https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-10-11/fed-to-start-buying-60b-… "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks" https://reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/dga44n/seen_in_scotland_people_someti… https://i.redd.it/cbwqylnj19r31.jpg https://reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/delc64/forget_greta_this_girl_should_… https://bitcoinist.com/bakkt-bitcoin-futures-trading-up-3100-since-first-da…

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You can't cuck the Tuck - Shepard Smith leaves Fox
by Zenaan Harkness 12 Oct '19

12 Oct '19

Shepard Smith Out At Fox News https://www.zerohedge.com/political/shepard-smith-out-fox-news ... Word of Smith's departure comes two weeks after a "war of words" broke out between Smith and fox anchor Tucker Carlson, after Smith called Carlson and legal analyst Joe diGenova "repugnant" in a daytime analysis of their reporting on the Democratically manufactured Ukrainegate scandal. ... Napolitano concluded that Trump's actions regarding Ukraine constituted "a crime" during the day on Tuesday. diGenova had called Napolitano a "fool" for his analysis on that night, to which Smith returned fire the following evening, stating that diGenova was a "partisan guest" who was "repugnant" for attacking Napolitano. “Apparently our daytime host, who hosted Judge Napolitano, was watching last night and was outraged by what you said and quite ironically called you partisan,” Carlson replied. Later, Carlson took yet another shot at Smith to conclude the segment: “It doesn’t seem honest to me when a host, any host on any channel, including this one, pretends that the answer is obvious. That’s not news, is it? That’s opinion. Why do we find ourselves in a situation where people aren’t willing to admit that their passions are guiding their news coverage? Wouldn’t it be better if we just said out loud you know this is what I think? For example you will never hear me criticize Rachel Maddow. I never agree with anything she says. But she is straightforward, it’s her opinion. Why wouldn’t it be better if we were all that transparent about what’s driving our shows? It makes people cynical when you dress up news coverage, when you dress up partisanship as news coverage and pretend that your angry political opinions are news, you know, people tune out.” And now Smith is out. *** Fox said in a statement (via Forbes): NEW YORK - October 11, 2019 — FOX NEWS Channel’s (FNC) Shepard Smith will step down from his role as Chief News Anchor and Managing Editor of the network’s breaking news unit and Anchor of Shepard Smith Reporting, announced Jay Wallace, President & Executive Editor of FOX News Media. This afternoon’s edition of Shepard Smith Reporting was Mr. Smith’s final show, during which he addressed his decision. A series of rotating anchors will host the 3PM/ET time slot until a new dayside news program is announced. ...

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Shysters thrive on preen, preaching and exaggeration.
by John Young 11 Oct '19

11 Oct '19

Stallman is petty example of ego gone rogue, then claiming to be misunderstood, drag out whines to smoke the air, Trump a prime polluter, but many others in centers of power in homes to holy sees. Adulterers and politicians excel at this but are joined by a host of haughty abusers in all fields. Even on this pure-hearted list shysters thrive on prejudice, preen, preaching and exaggeration. Quite common for the famous, infamous,notorious, obessed, drunkard, dope addict, rich, talented, to presume sexual privileges and monetary profits from those who admire them, their work, performance, braggardy, promotion, self-advertising. Faithful, fans, subjects, citizens, voters, revolutionaries, diehards, warriors, slaves, why even SM followers, are seduced to be screwed by imaginary promises of shared glory and belonging to movements and beliefs of confidence artists, priests, Ponzis, prevaricators, presidents. From royalty to religion to banditry to warmaking to profiteering to, god help us, coding, abusive randiness goes with abusive success, earned or stolen or faked, all the last.

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Nuke Inertial Nav, Ring Gyro, GPS
by grarpamp 11 Oct '19

11 Oct '19

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/30254/this-isnt-a-sci-fi-prop-its-a-d… http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/tvv5/platfrm.html Build your own cruise missles.

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Is Joe Biden guilty of obstruction of justice?
by jim bell 11 Oct '19

11 Oct '19

I try to avoid posting "political" issues, or at least initiating them, but Joe Biden just called for Trump to be impeached because Trump called on Ukraine and China to investigate him, Joe Biden. I wonder why this doesn't qualify as "attempted obstruction of justice". Any facts concerning illegal or improper activity by Biden found by either Ukraine or China would likely eventually make their way back to America, and thus would likely (should they exist) result in the prosecution of Biden's son, Hunter. Joe Biden is trying either to threaten Trump, or to actually remove Trump as retaliation for this investigation. I'm not objecting to Joe Biden simply because he (hypothetically) said something merely wrong or otherwise objectionable. There was plenty Biden could have said in criticism, which wouldn't have constituted attempted obstruction of justice. But that's not what happened. He said he wants Trump removed from office, because Trump wants him and his son investigated for crimes. Jim Bell

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peak snowflake - Sweden Abolishes Ancient History Classes - then backs down after backlash
by Zenaan Harkness 11 Oct '19

11 Oct '19

Surprising. Really surprising. Never, ever, thought Sweden would back down on cucking! The Swedish Board of Education has backed down from a plan to erase teaching of the country’s ancient history and replace it with “postmodernism” classes after a huge backlash. Welp, wonders never cease! May be there's hope for the white wimp yet. Sweden Backs Down From Abolishing Ancient History Classes After Huge Backlash https://www.zerohedge.com/political/sweden-backs-down-abolishing-ancient-hi… Skolverket initially announced a plan to abolish teaching of history prior to 1700, including ancient Greece, the Swedish Great Power era in the 17th century, Rome, and the dark ages. The classes were set to be replaced by a greater focus on “postmodernism” and the post war 20th century era. However, the board was forced to back down after acknowledging there was “a lack of support for our suggestion.” The original proposal was widely denounced, including by Professor of History Dick Harrison, who labeled the idea “intellectual suicide and f**king sick.” One wonders what kind of state a country is in that it would try to abolish teaching of its own history. Back in 2017, “cultural journalist” Kristina Lindquist said that Sweden is so xenophobic, it doesn’t even deserve to celebrate its own national day and that “nationalism should be wiped out.” The next year, Sweden appointed https://www.infowars.com/sweden-appoints-muslim-migrant-head-of-national-he… a Pakistani Muslim migrant as the head of its national heritage board, with the individual admitting that he had not “read anything about cultural heritage.” https://www.youtube.com/embed/iERLyAxddVE Authored by Paul Joseph Watson via Summit News, https://summit.news/2019/10/09/sweden-backs-down-from-abolishing-ancient-hi…

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