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Yeah, I need to read those books, but currently still doing Raymond Feist series.
But it is; it is a popularity contest, bought in the media, with none of the voters actually looking at what they voting for. That's not a democracy as Plato defined it, it just acts like one.
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Daniel Pfeffer wrote: A cure for IBD
Inflammatory Bowel Disease?
There's been some major progress on that front in the past 30 or so years. I know, because I lived it.
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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I have some gut related chronic sickness.. still suffering... 
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So have I. There may be better treatments, but there is no cure. Even these treatments only work for a limited time. 
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Only when Nukular Fusion reactor will be ready in 20 years.
CI/CD = Continuous Impediment/Continuous Despair
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I'm guessing you're referring to George W. Bush. In that vein there's a singer/songwriter by the name James McMurtry, who said this when speaking of how G.W. pronounced 'Nukular'. Quote: A good 'ol boy can become an intellectual, but an intellectual cannot become a good 'ol boy.
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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The plan may include making Soylent Green out of those that passed before.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Great recycling plan! 
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Very small children do (or used to) play a game called hot potato.
The basic play of the game is to pass around and object, referred to as the potato. It is passed around furiously. Meanwhile, in the background, some sort of time span is being measured by (for example) music or a person who's neither playing nor watching. At any particular time, more or less at random but subject to human whim, they may stop. If you have the hot potato when the interval abruptly ends you are "out" and play continues without you.
This goes on as the players keeping being culled for being stuck with the potato until the last two. When the music stops, the one who got rid of the potato last wins - and the one left holding it, the loser.
Perhaps it's not played by current generations and thus they don't understand the concept?
This, both as a prediction and the analogy to a game for small children, is what bitcoin is all about.*
* see, also, "Tag", "Old Maid", and similar left holding the bag games
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Also "Musical chairs" - same idea, but you start with N - 1 chairs which N kids walk / run round, and take one away each time you stop the music. last kid seated is the winner.
You can get some good fights going if you are careful when you stop the music ... 
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
"Common sense is so rare these days, it should be classified as a super power" - Random T-shirt
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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I didn't pick musical chair in that the players are eliminated by not having something. Aside from that it's the same picture.
My only worry about this fool's gold of the second kind is that when it goes down that it doesn't take any businesses or banks with it and for those who lose there's no government aid. I mean, really, they entered a casino willingly.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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And it's the likes of Musk playing the tune; deciding when to stop and start; and the "kids" thinking he's got their best interest at heart. But he's actually also in the game, and wants the last chair; and doesn't care if you land on your tail bone.
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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Do you remember our Soapbox discussion, ~18 months ago?
One frequent visitor said "I predict an imminent bitcoin crash." A few months later Bitcoin fell from $US 20K to 10K. So he said "Hah! Toldya!". Then it went down to 6K. Now Bitcoin is at 55K.
I am not saying that Bitcoin is the best thins since sliced bread. I am saying Bitcoin is such a strange animal that nobody knows what it'll do next.
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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Even further back, a friend and I at work were writing an article about Bitcoin as it was fairly new and at the time, it was reaching nearly $1000 and we predicted a crash. It did crash of course, but in a year it was even higher.
I still wouldn't touch it though.
Cheers,
Vikram.
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Something with no intrinsic value (even gold can be made into jewelry) is doomed to oblivion. Simply put, it's hardly different than a a ponzi scheme - a house of cards.
Everyone thinks themselves the market genius (until they discover how the game is rigged by and for the giant investors). They all know they'll by the bitcoins and sell before it crashes.
How much it's insanely grown feeds those who think they'll get it right. Instead of it's absolute magnitude you should consider it commonly fluctuates 20% in a week or two. A track record that would make a junk-bond blush with shame.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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And then, perhaps, we can have the same argument when it "crashes" from insane levels down to levels much higher than we see today.
"If we don't change direction, we'll end up where we're going"
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The problem that behind every crypto-currency there is only the demand for it as value (which is actually means it has no value)...
Obviously in the long run there will be no demand for thousands of them... A few (backed by banks or government) will stay - but then there will be some kind of trace on them already... There will be a few others for the black-market, and probably we should not get near to it...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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megaadam wrote: nobody knows what it'll do next.
Call me skeptical, but I imagine some folks indeed know what it's going to do, and capitalize (to the detriment of others) on that knowledge/(control?).
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
"I don't drink any more... then again, I don't drink any less." - Mike Mullikins uncle
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Bitcoin has value because many people think it has value.
Of course, fiat money, like dollars, rupees and kwacha, also has value because many people think it has value, with an important disctinction - the government makes you pay taxes in that currency.
Cheers,
Vikram.
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Most of the currencies are backed by the value of the products a country creates - real things. Some countries even have gold reserves to be on the safe side...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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This. The post is basically solipsistic because all value is subjective. Nothing has intrinsic value. Everyone has their own subjective valuation for whatever is bought and sold. The interplay of all these valuations, of buyers and sellers, is what can be described by supply and demand curves, which find a market-clearing price. You could call this price an "intrinsic value", but there is nothing "intrinsic" about it because it is constantly changing.
Many serious, professional investors are now into Bitcoin. Are they infallible? Hardly. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
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Greg Utas wrote: Many serious, professional investors are now into Bitcoin. Are they infallible? Hardly. So it'll be interesting to see how it plays out.
They're keeping their hands on the trigger to be the first to get out. You can be sure of that.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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No one rings a bell at the top. Anyone playing that game is either a fool or playing with other people's money. Which certainly does describe some of these folks...
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Greg Utas wrote: Anyone playing that game is either a fool or playing with other people's money.
You're confusing value and money here. If you don't want to loose value, put it in something that keeps it.
(Like in; not the US dollar)
Bastard Programmer from Hell
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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