Things you just don't "get."

[Olivia Bauer]

crypto currency   

I have never been able to understand this either. I mean, computers generating complex numbers somehow translates to material wealth?  I have tried to understand this and simply cannot see how it produces value. All I see it a great deal of electricity being wasted to power high end computers to "mine" these numbers.

Yes, effort and energy are being expended to mine these numbers,  but nothing of value  is produced and electricity and computer resources are wasted.

Plug bitcoin is limited in possible numbers. I simply cannot see the logic or value  of this system. I'm thinking itcs a case of "the emperor's new clothes'.

How is that different from money printed in paper?

OK. Money officially issued by a government is at least theoretically backed up  by some form of material worth. For instance america used to use the "gold standard" that meant america's money was backed up by gold.  The value of a  nation's money  is also part based on itcs physical wealth and measured lartily by it's  annual GDP.

This crypto currency is based on...?  I don't understand. Basically computers run a program to discover the secret numbers that we're generated and "mine" them but they have no value,  they can't be used for anything,  building material , food, useful items, etc.

From what little I understand, I believe it's based on whatever is chosen. Like you can have a Bitcoin based on wheat, and then its value is determined by how well the wheat market is doing.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that's roughly how it works.

[Rev. Powell]

crypto currency   

I have never been able to understand this either. I mean, computers generating complex numbers somehow translates to material wealth?  I have tried to understand this and simply cannot see how it produces value. All I see it a great deal of electricity being wasted to power high end computers to "mine" these numbers.

Yes, effort and energy are being expended to mine these numbers,  but nothing of value  is produced and electricity and computer resources are wasted.

Plug bitcoin is limited in possible numbers. I simply cannot see the logic or value  of this system. I'm thinking itcs a case of "the emperor's new clothes'.

How is that different from money printed in paper?

OK. Money officially issued by a government is at least theoretically backed up  by some form of material worth. For instance america used to use the "gold standard" that meant america's money was backed up by gold.  The value of a  nation's money  is also part based on itcs physical wealth and measured lartily by it's  annual GDP.

This crypto currency is based on...?  I don't understand. Basically computers run a program to discover the secret numbers that we're generated and "mine" them but they have no value,  they can't be used for anything,  building material , food, useful items, etc.

From what little I understand, I believe it's based on whatever is chosen. Like you can have a Bitcoin based on wheat, and then its value is determined by how well the wheat market is doing.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong but I believe that's roughly how it works.

I don't know where you got that idea, AJ.

Bitcoin's value is based on 1) scarcity and 2) people's faith in its value. Anarchist types love it because they think it can free humanity from the "tyranny" of "fiat currency."  Speculators are jumping on it because they can make money because it's so volatile. That in itself pumps up the value. (Heck, I made several thousand dollars off it; I was lucky to sell it at the peak).

In theory it would allow people to exchange money electronically with very small transaction costs. It's not there yet, though.

The underlying blockchain technology is also innovative and people are thinking of new ways to implement it. I think Bitcoin itself is too inefficient to be useful in the long term, but some other cryptocurrency may well improve on it and find a use. Guessing which one it will be is a shot in the dark.

[Olivia Bauer]

Huh. Maybe I'm thinking of a specific type of Cryptocurrency. I don't remember where I heard it though. Thanks, Rev.

[Svengoolie 3]

The Achilles heel with crypto currency is that if it works and creates a safe, anonymous currency system that can't be traced or controlled by gubmints, gubmints will ban it and make use of it criminal because gubmints and the corporate oligarchs who run them don't  want people to have privacy and security from surveillance,  they want to be able to rack every cent you spend and even control who you can send money to. You know a lot of credit cards refuse to let people use them to donate to wiki leaks? And of course the US gubmint wants to keep American from sending money to Cuban relatives hurt by it's  spiteful embargo on Cuba.

The only way to know what a truly effective crycur is when one is finally perfected is if you  risk prison and fines for using it.

[Olivia Bauer]

The Achilles heel with crypto currency is that if it works and creates a safe, anonymous currency system that can't be traced or controlled by gubmints, gubmints will ban it and make use of it criminal because gubmints and the corporate oligarchs who run them don't  want people to have privacy and security from surveillance,  they want to be able to rack every cent you spend and even control who you can send money to. You know a lot of credit cards refuse to let people use them to donate to wiki leaks? And of course the US gubmint wants to keep American from sending money to Cuban relatives hurt by it's  spiteful embargo on Cuba.

The only way to know what a truly effective crycur is when one is finally perfected is if you  risk prison and fines for using it.

I can't tell if "gubmint" is a typo or some kind of intentional joke that I'm not getting.

[Svengoolie 3]

It's not a typo. In america the term "gubmint' is a joke about how barely semi literate people say 'government' in the deep red and frequently deeply inbred states.  It has morphed to refer to government in a negative, dictatorial tyrannical sense.

[Olivia Bauer]

It's not a typo. In america the term "gubmint' is a joke about how barely semi literate people say 'government' in the deep red and frequently deeply inbred states.  It has morphed to refer to government in a negative, dictatorial tyrannical sense.

Huh. Never heard that one before.

[Svengoolie 3]

Well,  OK, a classic reff to it goes like this?

What's a Reagan democrat?

He's a guy who got out of the army in 1945 and went to college on the G. I.  Bill.

In the 50's he opened his small business with a loan from the SBA.

In the 60's he sentnhyismkids to college with Pell graants.

In the 70's he retired with social security and medicare.

In 1980 he voted for Reagan because "I want that big gubmint off my back! "

Also they're the guys who live in flood plains and tornado alleys, constslty complain how "Gubmint ain't the solution,  gubmint is the problem! " and when a flood,  hurricane or tornado  predictably devastates their community  start screaming for federal disaster relief aid.

Now other people may occasionally use 'gubmint' to refer to the government when it does bad things since the term gubmint is a negative one.

[chainsaw midget]

I have never heard that term either.   

[El Misfit]

I mainly hear Gubmint used in a sarcastic sense.

[Trevor]

I mainly hear Gubmint used in a sarcastic sense.

I work for the South African Gubmint: these last 29 years. 

[Svengoolie 3]

According to this  it was first used in Australia.

https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/gubmint

This is how the america left uses it.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Gubmint

There is a gubmints website.
http://gubmints.com

And this which is the right wing definition.
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Small_government

But,  however you define it, a gubmint would move to crush any real, effective crypto currency that allowed people to put a dollar out of government or corporate control. The rich don't  need it since they have the law written to let them keep their money which they get from the  work of the non rich and protect their privacy.  So a real crypto currency would only benefit the non rich and would therefore  be destroyed  by gubmint as it would be used to "fund terri'sm!  or "S'port drug lords! " and,  of course,  if all else fails we'd  be told cryotocurrencty must be banned "for the children! "

So honestly, any crypto currency that hasn't been banned is clearly not effective, as it it we're effective for real people  it would be either banned or regulated into uselessness and massive criminal penalties would be attached to its  use.

[ER]

Winning lottery numbers.

[Svengoolie 3]

Winning lottery numbers.

OK,  I have to admit, that was good!

[Svengoolie 3]

WTF is the new fad of ruining perfectly good food in Walmart?!

First it was ice cream licking which good ghawd was bad enough,  but now this?!?!

https://www.aol.com/article/news/2019/07/31/pennsylvania-woman-who-urinated-on-bucket-of-potatoes-at-walmart-turns-herself-in/23783464/

In a world where starvation is a major cause of death this is just... Horrible,  obscene,  disgusting .. I just don't have the word for it.

What next?  What feat of vile idiocy will someone pull just to top this?  Taking a dump in a bag of coco puffs?

Normally I'm against orison for non violent offenses and think we have waaaay to many people in prisons,  especially for profit corporate prisons. But when I see this I can't help thinking that these people should be either jailed for a few years, or put in stocks in the public square for a couple weeks with a sign proclaiming their vileness. Itcs almost a pity sterilization isn't allowed in america for cases like this as these people should not be breeding,  but even so that's a direction we shouldn't go. I don't really want america to do that , but,  oh, cases like this seductively whisper to me,  calling me to the dark side.

I see this and I have to tell you I am depressed and sickened all at once. One of you guys say something to cheer me up will you?

Thatcs one nice thing about this place, I honestly can't believe anyone here would even think of something like this.