Boxturret posted:

Bulgakov posted:

i thought most mormon sects moved beyond that old timey celibate gear??

...! posted:

if they have that's the first i've heard of it. pretty sure it's an integral part of the religion

...! posted:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/happy-birthday-bitcoin-letter-ross-ulbricht/

Happy Birthday, Bitcoin! A Letter From Ross Ulbricht



Happy Birthday, Bitcoin!

Bitcoin is turning ten, and like many of us, I feel like a proud parent, having watched it grow into its potential over the years. I guess I’m the estranged father in prison though, who can’t be there to help raise his kid.

Bitcoin: Mommy, when’s Daddy coming home?

Mommy: He’ll come home as soon as he can, sweetie.

Bitcoin: Why did he leave us, Mommy?

Mommy: I’ll explain when you’re older. Now run along and play blockchain with the other cryptos.

Bitcoin as a 10-year-old kid is not a bad analogy. The technology is still very young, still growing. It’s been shooting up like a weed and been through some growing pains, but it’s barely a pre-teen and has the rocky road of adolescence still ahead. It’s something we all have to go through to mature into adults, to discover who we are, and Bitcoin is no different.

We will see in the years ahead what Bitcoin is capable of, how it will be used, and the impact it will have on our world. I have high hopes that our gifted child will exceed everyone’s expectations and go on to greatness, but it is still a child that must be nurtured and protected.

Bitcoin needs us to continue guiding it with the values it was founded on, that gave it its potential. We must keep our focus on decentralization, privacy and empowering individuals. We are Bitcoin’s advocates and representatives. How far it goes and what it becomes in the crucial years ahead will depend on us. It is a technology with the power to make abstractions like peace and equality into reality. But it’s up to us to embody such ideals and be role models for the ever-growing Bitcoin community and for Bitcoin itself.

I’m so excited for what’s to come in the next ten years, for Bitcoin and all of its crypto cousins. I just hope I can come home and make up for these lost years and show everyone where my heart truly is.

--
This is a guest post by Ross Ulbricht. It was shared, with permission, with Bitcoin Magazine by Ross's mother, Lyn Ulbricht. To learn more about Ross, sign his petition for clemency, and support the campaign to free him, please visit freeross.org. Follow @free_ross, @RealRossU and the #freeross hashtag on Twitter. Visit Free Ross on Facebook and freerossulbricht on Instagram.
--
Guest Contributor

Ross Ulbricht is a Bitcoin advocate who is serving a double life sentence without parole, for all non-violent charges, for his role in the Silk Road website. He is seeking a commutation of that sentence from President Trump. Visit freeross.org.

EorayMel posted:

Ross "Dread Pirate Roberts" Ulbricht will never leave prison.

...! posted:

that's what makes the whole thing funny. his mom should have cared enough about her own kid to have been preparing him for being in prison forever. instead, she and his followers have given him so much false hope that he sincerely believes it's just a matter of time until he gets out. as year after year goes by and he's still rotting in there he'll be more and more confused as to why he's not out yet. the psychological toll is going to be HUGE, and he deserves it

Zero One posted:

oh boy

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1057633867002187776?s=21

Boxturret posted:

ross ulbrich hasn't had any contact with the outside world since he went in

Zero One posted:

oh boy

https://twitter.com/jeff_foust/status/1057633867002187776?s=21

...! posted:

Bitcoin as a 10-year-old kid is not a bad analogy. The technology is still very young, still growing.

...! posted:

https://mobile.twitter.com/RealRossU/status/1057671172530200576

klafbang posted:

Explains why butters like it.

Sham bam bamina! posted:

this joke never gets old

Sham bam bamina! posted:

god i loving hate bit coins

African AIDS cum posted:

...! posted:

bitscoin are the best and you love them

Xelkelvos posted:

I touched the poop in replying to the Tweet about Ross. I'm sorry.

Jonny Nox posted:

So back in the day there was a comic strip editing thread.

One of the popular targets was For Better Or Worse (FOOB)

But they had to call it FOOB because the writer was highly litigious about her ip.

The story going around the thread was that the characters were originally based around her family, but as her family slowly disappointed her and started walking out of her life she made the characters in the strip more and more idealized. Creating a perfect family for herself.

I think about that story every time I read a Ross tweet.

...! posted:

Bitcoin mining could cancel out climate change efforts, scientists say

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Oct 30, 2018 9:07 AM ET | Last Updated: 3 hours ago

Demand for bitcoin could single-handedly derail efforts to limit global warming because the increasingly popular digital currency takes huge amounts of energy to produce, scientists said on Monday.

Producing bitcoin at a pace with growing demand could by 2033 defeat the aim of limiting global warming to 2 C, according to U.S. research published in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Almost 200 nations agreed in Paris in 2015 on the goal to keep warming to "well below" a rise of 2 C above pre-industrial times.

But mining, the process of producing bitcoins by solving mathematical equations, uses high-powered computers and a lot of electricity, the researchers said.

"Currently, the emissions from transportation, housing and food are considered the main contributors to ongoing climate change," said study co-author Katie Taladay in a statement. "This research illustrates that bitcoin should be added to this list."

Mining is a lucrative business, with one bitcoin currently selling for about $8,300.

In 2017, bitcoin production and usage emitted an estimated 69 million tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, the researchers said.

That year, bitcoin was involved in less than 0.5 per cent of the world's cashless transactions, they said.

As the currency becomes more common, researchers said it could use enough electricity to emit about 230 gigatonnes of carbon within a decade and a half. One gigatonne is equal to one billion tonnes of carbon.

"No matter how you slice it, that thing is using a lot of electricity. That means bad business for the environment," Camilo Mora, another co-author, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Bitcoin mining, however, is becoming more energy efficient, said Katrina Kelly-Pitou, research associate at the University of Pittsburgh.

She said bitcoin miners are moving away from sites such as China, with coal-generated electricity, to more environmentally friendly utilities in Iceland and the United States.

Pimblor posted:

its cool my dudes, this planet will boil in 10 years so no need to worry about bitscon

Jonny Nox posted:

So back in the day there was a comic strip editing thread.

One of the popular targets was For Better Or Worse (FOOB)

But they had to call it FOOB because the writer was highly litigious about her ip.

The story going around the thread was that the characters were originally based around her family, but as her family slowly disappointed her and started walking out of her life she made the characters in the strip more and more idealized. Creating a perfect family for herself.

I think about that story every time I read a Ross tweet.