Marcus, my laptop will not let me go there. Suggestions? On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 4:01 PM Marcus Daniels <[email protected]> wrote:
> > https://consensys.net/blog/ethereum-2-0/proof-of-stake-is-coming-to-ethereum-sooner-than-we-think/ > > > > *From:* Friam <[email protected]> *On Behalf Of *Merle Lefkoff > *Sent:* Tuesday, March 30, 2021 2:45 PM > *To:* The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group < > [email protected]> > *Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] CryptoCoins go mainstream > > > > The calculations on the energy use and servers that will need to be built > have been done, and we can be assured that cybercurrencies worldwide will > hasten the collapse much quicker. I say, "Bring it On!" > > > > On Tue, Mar 30, 2021 at 2:55 PM Steve Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > Effin' Epic, Steve. Well done! > > <shucks> "don't let me get off on a rant here..." *Dennis Miller* > <establishing that I have my own inner toxic-masculine> > > > > As long as I'm on an toxic-masculine (and technophilic) anecdotal > romp.... > > I used to like to chide my Liberatarian friends when we'd have a beer > or meal by offering to pay, but then with the caveat: > > "but only if they accept Gold or Bitcoin or will barter for a > Chicken"... > > leaving them to take the check since they were on oldSkool *fiat > currency* or worse *unsustainable credit* cards which were pretty much the > only fungible modes of payment at the time. > > I certainly didn't believe anyone would be prepared at any level to accept > either as payment... maybe a server *might* have a digital wallet ready to > broker the transaction, but I felt pretty safe. Nobody was likely to have > an assay kit on hand. In either case they'd have had to impose a large > transaction fee to facilitate that exotic exchange. > > As of few weeks ago, I could at least buy a Tesla (Cybertruck anyone?), > and it looks *now* like I can soon buy a GM product (all Electric > Hummer?) with Bitcoin! > > https://www.gmc.com/?evar25=gm_com_our_brands > > But *now* my bluff is called: > > https://www.paypal.com/us/webapps/mpp/crypto > > Is paying with Crypto going to be the 2020s equivalent of bellying up to > the bar with a big ole bluetooth earpiece and projecting your voice into > the room so everyone knows what a big swinging d0rk you are in your > world? > > GenX Alice: > "Here, let me pay with my ฿ " <gestures phone toward touchless > pay-terminal> > > GenZ Bob: > " No, No!, Let ME pay... " <makes a show of checking smart-watch> > "my Ξ just went up by more than the price of the meal since we've been > sitting here!" > > Millenial Server: > " Kewl! But that new article on Salon.com came out 7 minutes ago on > Cardano, and my ₳ went *exponentially ballistic* since I brought you > your check and I just completed a transaction to buy this dump from the > #$%#@%@$ bourgeoisie owners. Everything is on the house today! > > Boomer: > "doh?" "I dunno what you just said, but at least I got the Vax > <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hekDuCBxCc>! Nya Nya Nya!" > > - Sieve > > > > > > > > On 3/30/21 11:25 AM, Steve Smith wrote: > > Dave, Glen, et (gun-toting) alia - > > > > When I bought the pistol, 1969, I could get armor piercing, black talon, > heavy grain, light grain, different gauge shot shells, flares, and a grenade > launcher (bullet with screw in top that took a rod to which the grenade was > attached). Best friend at the time was a genius savant in electronics (3M > fellow while still an undergraduate) and full-bore survivalist. We had a lot > of fun together. He was the "researcher" that wired up a modular computer the > psych department received sans manual, and I was the "lab rat" in my first > LSD experiments. You produce some interesting brain waves when on meditation > and on LSD. > > And this was during your SDS/Weathermen years, right? At least nobody died > (as you tell it). > > > > And even more fascinating if you are fondling your .357 whilst on your LSD > trip, jacked in to a jacked up TRS-80's? /The heft, the grip, the caress of > the cold metal! / How does that translate when inhibitions and conventions > about reality are lifted? Maybe complement that with a WWI Trench Knife or > a Katana in the other hand! Surely there are some such studies out there of > how the brain lights up when you have the capability to "end" one or many > people at the twitch of the wrist or an index finger? And does it matter if > it's loaded with snake-shot, mercury-filled hollow point, armor piercing, or > a grenade (or one of each)? Do some light up our sense of importance, > power, domination more than others? > > > > And how about them Rods from God (nod to Marcus). Does any one check the > payloads on SpaceX's Falcon Heavy launches? I think a full complement of > Gods Rods comes in at the standard 6-shooter revolver cylinder load of > tungsten telephone poles. If you can't use them to excise Pence and those > traitorous lawmakers from "the People's House", maybe take out Putin in his > summer house, or Epstiens island, or Khomanie or XiXhing or little Rocket > Man and his sister, or ... how *must* it feel to be Zeus or Thor hisself? > Oh the problems we could solve with enough ballistic dominance! Just think > how fast we could have cleared the Ever Given clog in the Suez? <bwah ha > ha!> <ha haaaa...>... <ha!>. > > > > Some of my lucid-dreaming as a pre-teen included carrying a fully automatic > weapon of some kind (my father's era Tommy Gun, or the contemporary M16 ?) > I didn't watch many movies and no TV but somehow I knew the image/swagger of > having a firestick in my hand that in principle could eliminate all foes just > by waving it in their direction with the trigger held tight. > Unsurprisingly, the subjects of my attempted elimination were "deserving* of > such, because in fact they weren't just out to get *me* but to "get" > innocent people and *I* was the only thing standing between the two. Where > did I get *that* image? I was the proverbial "good guy with a gun"... what > an archetype for my developing young male psyche! Taken straight from the > engraving on the barrel of Glen's own obje't d' desire is the phrase "The > Judge". Yes, it is compelling to be judge, jury and executioner! After all > we *individuals* know best right from wrong and Ayn Rant(sic) tole us that it > was our public > > duty to pursue our private interests to their fullest... and what greater > proof of that is the willingness to take someone else's life with a flick of > a wrist and twitch of a finger, for our idiosyncratic sense of greater-good! > I wonder what our last two mass murderers were fixing up? Getting rid of > those little exotic women he felt to be his temptation? Getting back at the > bullies from high school that *might* have been in the supermarket (or > school playground, or theater or ???) that day? > > > > Of course, true to form (in such dreams), the more important a willful act > was, the more ineffectual my ability to respond. Most of us know how ff'ing > hard it is to *run* in a dream, but in this case, that ineffectuality was > extended to the bullets in the rifle... they were definitely "ultra-light > grain loads" and in fact the harder I squinched my eyes or ground my teeth, > or thrust the weapon toward the target, the more lame the trajectory until > the bullets were barely able to make it out of the barrel! I vaguely > remember in those dreams (paradoxically) having the fear that I would > actually *hit something* with my limp waterhose of lead. As I tried in vain > to raise my aim enough for the pathetic stream of tracers (yes, somehow I > knew about tracer rounds) to reach my targets, I had to ask myself the > question "are these truly my enemies, and is complete annihilation by lead > (and tracers) raining down from the sky (consider my trajectories) the best > answer. It was > > usually at this point in my dream that I began to exert my will a little more > effectually and quit picking at *that* Gordian Knot. I think by then my > enemies were usually bored enough with watching my pathetic attempts to "hose > them out of existence" that they had quit whatever Snidely Whiplash activity > they had been gesturing toward and I probably woke up out of my own boredom > with the whole scene. I don't think kids who play MMORPG FPS (massive > multiplayer online role playing game first-person-shooters) have the same > dreams I did... maybe if I'd had more encouragement in my hero-wannabe-ism I > would have become a gun nut myself? > > > > I should probably be telling all this to my therapist, not this crowd... > though i think while her code of ethics requires her to keep it all to > herself (unless I or someone else is in imminent danger from my ideations and > intentions)... and here, this just goes into the archives for all to read > (including my neighbors who probably already know I'm a danger to their > god-guts-n-glory 2nd amendment rights). They are probably scared to death > that I'm going to back my antique dump truck through the front wall of their > house and hook a logging chain to their gun safe and yank it out of the wimpy > little lead anchor-bolts holding it down to their 4" floor-slab... come the > apocalypse (only) of course. <sidebar> Apocalypse rules: Might really DOES > make Right! Maybe if they hadn't seen me welding steel plates over the > doors and windows of the truck cab, they wouldn't have thought of that? > Paranoia provides such a glorious endorphin rush! /If only I had some cold > hard steel > > to fondle as I contemplate all the horrible things in the world that "a good > guy with a gun" can fix up/ with just a little exertion of will... and what > better scenario than a world run amok where *everything* is an opportunity to > "do good" (by some twisted logic). > > > > The saying goes: "You don't see any motorcycles parked in front of a > therapists office". I suspect you don't see many Diesel Duallies belching > black smoke and sporting TruckNutz or NRA stickers either. I suspect an > inflated sense of power over others might be just the antidote to the > existential angst and ennui those without the big-iron feel? Maybe this is > the answer to Marcus reflection on whether Rupublicans are happier than > Democrats? Go sit astride a 100 horsepower Iron Horse or in the cab of a > 400HP coal-rolling pickemup (don't forget the TruckNutz!) and fondle the grip > and finger the trigger of some of your good friends standing against the wall > of the closet (or tucked between the mattress and box springs of your bed). > THAT will help relieve any self-doubt/self-loathing you might have! > > > > Just pay it forward, you don't need to own it... belch that exhaust, rip > that sound out those 'murrican made cored out mufflers on your 'murrican made > iron horse, wave those ('murrican made) weapons of war, spray some lead... > see, don't you feel better now? Save that $100 and buy a round of drinks at > the roadhouse for you buddies in patinated leather or denim but hold back > enough to buy a dozen rounds for your best friend tucked down your pants like > a phallic symbol. He doesn't want to be left with an empty chamber. > > > > Yup, I could probably go on forever... thank Goddess I sublimated my > red-blooded 'murrican love for hot lead into the hot lead of type, long since > gone virtual/digital <fingers clattering on my keyboard, ratta tat tat!>. > Spraying my words indiscriminately over the crowd... fortunately they are > easier to duck (or catch in your teeth and spit back as some here do so > adeptly)... hitting <delete> is like my choosing to wake from lucid dreams > when they got too boring or inane in spite of my best efforts to steer them > right! Beware the rain of lead and tracers from an ineffectual keyboard > jockey! > > > > ramble, mumble, grumble, bramble, > > > > - Steve > > > > <disclosure> I own my Grandfather's WWI-issue .45 (but no ammo, armor > piercing or otherwise), a Diesel pickup (sans NRA sticker and Truck Nutz and > programmed chip to belch smoke), and have owned a round dozen motorcycles > (all rice burners) in my life... oh yeah... a couple-a 1940's typewriters > and full set of brass linotype slugs for making (literally) hot lead type > on-demand ( forget which type-face, I've never put them in a hot-lead lino to > test them out). I don't own any tungsten rods in orbit. > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > > > > > -- > > Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. > Center for Emergent Diplomacy > emergentdiplomacy.org > > Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA > > > mobile: (303) 859-5609 > skype: merle.lelfkoff2 > > twitter: @merle110 > > > - .... . -..-. . -. -.. -..-. .. ... -..-. .... . .-. . > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Zoom Fridays 9:30a-12p Mtn GMT-6 bit.ly/virtualfriam > un/subscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com > FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ > archives: http://friam.471366.n2.nabble.com/ > -- Merle Lefkoff, Ph.D. Center for Emergent Diplomacy emergentdiplomacy.org Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA mobile: (303) 859-5609 skype: merle.lelfkoff2 twitter: @merle110
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