brndnmtthws

It's free in some states, depending on the circumstances. And yes, it should indeed be free. I wish I could opt out of giving them any of my data entirely, but it's neither practical nor possible.

It's cheap to freeze your credit report.

Precisely.

Lighting Network does indeed exist today. You can use it right now.

Download the desktop app and try it out: https://github.com/lightninglabs/lightning-app

It's early, but that's no reason to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Last I checked Bitcoin still works fine for transactions.

It has an uncapped supply, and inflates at 1% per year. It doesn't really seem to offer anything compelling other than its A-list investors. It was also created by the same person who brought the world eDonkey 2000, Mt. Gox, and Ripple.

I hope the price goes close to 0 so I can buy it all up.

I appreciate your comment.

Exactly my thoughts about the parent.

The post is pretty good, and mostly accurate. It would have been good to expand more on the details of Lightning Network, which is IMO a more interesting subject.

I wrote a blog post about fees last week, and one thing I specifically discuss is whether or not fees are actually necessary: https://medium.com/@brndnmtthws/questioning-assumptions-do-c...

The tl;dr is that I believe the fees have (in some cases, specifically with Bitcoin) acted against the best interests of users. I also don't completely buy into the game theory/economics argument that fees help keep the network secure.

For those wondering about 'HODL', it's a meme that originated from the misspelling of HOLD on bitcointalk.org, here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=375643.0

See also, The HODLer Manifesto: https://hodlermanifesto.com (created by yours truly).

I'd love it if we could ban BI from HN due to their extremely low quality content.

At least cardboard decomposes, whereas plastic remains in a landfill for eternity.

I hope this also means the end of shitty, wasteful blister/clamshell packaging. It's about time we use materials that decompose, occupy less volume, and don't damage my hands when opening them.

On desktop it's awful too. I scrolled for about 5 seconds and decided it wasn't readable.

I've always thought the whole idea of virtual reality is strange. Why would I want to experience the world through VR when I can experience reality instead? I suppose there are exceptions where it makes sense. Maybe if someone is physically incapable of having an experience, or the risk is too high, but for the most part I derive more joy from actually going outside and doing stuff than playing a video game equivalent.

To each their own, as they say.

By the way: great post.

More like robbing people of their time.

They're using it as a way of increasing their ad revenue by getting free data from their users. How is that not spam? If I send you unsolicited emails asking you to give me photos of products you use which I'll then sell ads for and keep all the revenue, would that not be spam?

I did not sign up for any product promotion notifications, so if I receive any it's spam.

You shouldn't have to opt out of spam.

Jobs jobs jobs

Bitcoin is a tool for liberating people from the ruling elites and the oppression of crony capitalism.

I doubt Intel will be lowering their prices, or refunding anyone a portion of the price of their previously purchased CPUs, that's for sure.

Look what happened after the VW diesel scandal ('dieselgate'): VW had to pay for repairs, and pay buyers (my friend bought one of the cars and got about $6k IIRC). Some people even went to jail.

Intel (or any other CPU maker) will probably not suffer similar fates. This situation is a bit different, because they may not have known about the problem. Still, everyone who bought a CPU is going to get a 10-30% performance haircut because they made a mistake. And Intel isn't going to have to pay for it.

BitConnect is definitely a ponzi, but I think this sets the wrong precedent. Exchanges should have voluntarily delisted BCC (many already have, but it still trades on some markets and is listed on coinmarketcap) rather than being forced by threats from the government. This gives regulators credence as our protectors and suggests they will try these strongarm tactics again in the future.

Move to a different city.

Automobile ownership is dumb, but ridesharing isn't the answer either. Cities need to invest in public infrastructure, especially fast efficient public transit. People should also rediscover the joy of human power (walk, bike, run).

Seems absurd to me. Companies could claim they put whatever they want in that text and the burden of proof would lie with the end user.

Please don't ask trick questions in interviews. It's never a good idea.

Given that nobody reads these things anyway, how enforceable are they? People just click 'Accept' and continue doing whatever they want.

Is anyone else tired of hearing the word 'bubble' applied to everything? Whether we're talking about tech stocks, chicken futures, tulips, or Bitcoin, it's become a really tired and meaningless term. You can't know if an asset is in a 'bubble' until long after the bubble has burst. Bitcoin is far from having burst, so this article and all those that came before it offer nothing new or insightful.

Please, let's move past the name calling. Calling something a bubble does not make it so.

And what, they don't count as people?