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American Empire, Censorship, Commentary, Media, Secrecy, U.S.
Bitcoin: Revolutionary Money in a Time of Universal Deceit
In the cryptocurrency's decentralized network, Nozomi Hayase says those who seek to conspire in secret have no place to hide, as Bitcoin aids WikiLeaks' mission to keep governments transparent and honest.
By Nozomi Hayase
Bitcoin Magazine
George Orwell is reputed to have said, "In a time of universal deceit, speaking truth to power is a revolutionary act." Over a decade ago in the spring of 2010, WikiLeaks burst onto the global stage with the publication of the "Collateral Murder" video that depicted the U.S. military gunning down Iraqi civilians and Reuters journalists on a street in New Baghdad.
WikiLeaks, through the method of transparency, exposed war crimes of the U.S. empire including spying, torture and human rights abuses the world over. Their publications triggered a global crisis of legitimacy, showing how democracy in the West has become an empty shell filled with lies and corruption.
In reaction to WikiLeaks' disclosures, the U.S. government has waged an unprecedented war on whistleblowers. With the DOJ's efforts to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the U.S., this has now escalated into an attempted criminalization of journalism. For more than two years, Assange has been locked up in inhumane conditions inside London's maximum-security prison, facing several effective death sentences if found guilty of these politically driven charges.
Now in the Covid-19 pandemic, as the economic and political system further disintegrates, elites increase their control of public perception with the censorship imposed by Silicon Valley giant tech companies and their manipulation of algorithms. As the veil of deception thickens, a new force for truth has emerged on the internet. Bitcoin — revolutionary money — has arrived.
Conspiracy as Governance
Bitcoin, an uncensorable peer-to-peer digital cash, was invented during the 2008 financial crisis. In its 12 years of existence, it has attained the status of the world's first stateless currency. In its infancy, Bitcoin formed an alliance with WikiLeaks when the organization faced the banking blockade imposed by Bank of America, Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Western Union at the end of 2010 as a direct result of their publications. Now, the cryptocurrency that helped WikiLeaks bypass that economic censorship carries on WikiLeaks' mission to keep the government transparent and honest.
Inspired by the vision of Cypherpunks, a loosely tied group that advocates social change by the use of strong cryptography, WikiLeaks created a platform through which ordinary people around the world work together to hold power to account.
(defendwikileaks.org)
WikiLeaks' revolutionary journalism was built on Julian Assange's understanding of the structure of power. Assange, in his 2006 essay "Conspiracy as Governance," analyzed ways that authoritarian power is maintained through conspiracy, concluding that its primary planning methodology is secrecy. He described conspiracies as "cognitive devices" that give the members of a conspiracy special advantages over those acting alone:
"Conspiracies take information about the world in which they operate (the conspiratorial environment), pass it around the conspirators and then act on the result. We can see conspiracies as a type of device that has inputs (information about the environment) and outputs (actions intending to change or maintain the environment)."
Assange dissected conspiracy as "the agent of deception and information restriction." He assessed that the key to dismantling such an unjust system of governance is cutting off the links between conspirators, thereby stopping the information flows that are required for them to maintain their collaborative secrecy. He envisaged that leaks (releasing concealed information) would induce fear and distrust among conspirators and, therefore, weaken their power.
WikiLeaks' groundbreaking publications, with its pristine record of accuracy of documents, appeared to have been able to at least wound conspiratorial networks. Yet, as was shown with the government's aggressive prosecution of truthtellers, the movement toward transparency has faced serious pushback.
Money Based on Trust
Now, Bitcoin, as a holy grail of Cypherpunks, may hold the solution to the problem of government secrecy and unaccounted power. The rise of Bitcoin has revealed a root cause of conspiratorial governance that has been kept hidden until now. Money supply has been the single greatest source of power that generates the patronage network of "In Each Other We Trust."
In her book Web of Debt, attorney Ellen Brown explains how most people think money is issued by elected officials, declared to be legal tender by the government, but the creation of money has been taken over by private corporations like the Federal Reserve. Money managed by central banks functions as an agent of deception, giving power to "invisible hands" to change and manipulate the environment.
This centralized money relies on financial institutions serving as trusted third parties to process transactions. There is inherent weakness in this trust-based money. Human trust is easily exploitable by those who can act selfishly without concern for others —as demonstrated by the bailouts of Wall Street banks in the panic of 2008, along with the fraud and depravity exemplified in the top banks' currency rigging. The underlying trust in this monetary system was completely broken.
Bitcoin now provides an alternative to this "trusted third-party" model of money that is prone to manipulation. The core invention of Bitcoin is a proof-of-work consensus algorithm — a decentralized trust that allows strangers to achieve consensus without intermediaries. This system, built by cryptographic proof instead of trust, effectively eliminates counterparty risk in a transaction, allowing individuals to exchange value directly with one another without a need for a central authority.
Money with Integrity
Bitcoin ATM in Toronto that allows users to buy or sell bitcoins with cash. (KryptoNatasha, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
Bitcoin regulates itself through algorithms. Unlike central banks whose monetary policy is subject to printing at will, the open-source protocol of Bitcoin uses rules that are fixed and made clear at the outset. They include the total quantity of bitcoin that can ever be created (math caps the monetary base at 21 million BTC), a predictable issuance rate and automatic adjustment of mining difficulty.
In an open network where rules are applied to everyone equally, computers around the world (called miners) engage in a broadcast math competition. By using precious resources, miners work to solve difficult mathematics problems. Every 10 minutes, problems are solved and whoever solves the problem first wins a fixed number of bitcoins. This process leads to both creation of money and clearing of transactions.
Bitcoin brings transparency to the process of money creation. The option to trust math rather than politicians and bankers enables better security of the system. In Bitcoin's decentralized network where there is no central vector, attackers cannot fake trust. In order to gain control over the network, they would have to compromise the mathematics on which the system is based.
Power corrupts, and the best way to check and balance power is to not have these points of control in the first place. Through distributing trust across a network and minimizing the necessity to trust a third party, the system removes the vulnerability that often leads to concentration of power. With careful balancing of risk and reward a network of "rules without leaders" incentivizes honesty and truth, maintaining its own integrity.
Peaceful Revolution
Cypherpunk posters, Prague, October 2017. (Michael Bumann, Flickr, (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0)
In combating the crisis of pandemic, the federal government has spent more than $6 trillion to fund the government rescue program, according to The Washington Post. While their money printing temporarily keeps the dead economy afloat, world leaders are trying to lock down the population as a new digital empire arises — one foreshadowed by the initiatives of "The Great Reset."
As pretense of legitimate governance continues, with fake money propping up propaganda, Bitcoin's new network of transparency has begun to break down this web of deception.
Authoritarian regimes derive their power from people's compliance. Their game of monopoly, perpetuating slavery and oppression, can only prevail as long as we continue to play by their rules. Efforts to hold leaders accountable suck us further into the struggle of power. They amplify darkness, strengthening a system that has no legitimacy by allowing it to feed off our energies.
Bitcoin, an open-source technology of cooperation, can now be used as a tool for ordinary people around the world to create their own network of trust that is uncensorable, living under their own rules.
Through each of us simply exiting from the nation-state's rigged system of "democracy" we can boycott "the system," cutting off their chain of money supply and distributions. We can throttle conspiratorial connections of political elites, thereby defunding their resource wars, surveillance and extractive capitalism, and making their system of control obsolete.
In Bitcoin's decentralized network that dissolves levers of control, those who seek to conspire in secret have no place to hide. We can now create a just and humane world where whistleblowers and publishers no longer need to sacrifice their lives — a future in which there are no political prisoners.
Bitcoin may be the most honest money ever invented. This money based on truth now calls all of us to take action inspired by love.
In a time of universal deceit, HODLing bitcoin is a revolutionary act.
Join Bitcoin's peaceful revolution and become a part of creative destruction of conspiracy of governance!
To get a better understanding of how Bitcoin works and its real impact on the economy, watch Max Keiser's interviews with Jimmy Dore on The Jimmy Dore Show and Lee Camp on Redacted Tonight.
Author's note: WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is facing up to 175 years in prison for publishing truthful information in the public interest. Check out the official campaign page, "Don't Extradite Assange," and "The Assange Defense Committee," a U.S. coalition fighting to free Assange, to get information on how you can help stop the extradition. Also, please consider donating to the WikiLeaks Official Defence Fund.
Nozomi Hayase, Ph.D., is an essayist and author of WikiLeaks, the Global Fourth Estate: History Is Happening.Follow her on Twitter: @nozomimagine
This article is from Bitcoin Magazine.
The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of Consortium News.
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Tags: bitcoin cryptocurrency cypherpunk Federal Reserve Julian Assange Nozomi Hayase
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35 comments for "Bitcoin: Revolutionary Money in a Time of Universal Deceit"
So you solved some mathematical problems on your computer and received recognition for this from the community of people who thusly "mine" bitcoins. Why should this be of any intrinsic value to me such that I would donate my goods and/or services to you in return for accepting your bitcoins as a medium of exchange, let alone as a legal tender (or its equivalent)? I don't see any more real innate value in bitcoins, though limited in maximum number by the mathematical algorithms chosen for employ, than in the widely manipulated and open-ended fiat currencies. In both cases, they are worth whatever you can convince someone to give you for them, from zilch to castles in the sky. I'm no more interested in accepting your bitcoins than in the grade point average you achieved back in college as compensation for my goods and services. At least if your currency is pegged to some weight in gold bullion, tinned sardines or Panama Red I can enjoy the intrinsic uses or benefits of that, should your monetary system collapse. Bitcoin mania may well be nothing more than "Tulipmania" of 17th century Holland redux.
Revolutionary for whom? I don't trust the crypto Ponzi racket either. It has wildly enriched the folks who got in early, and some wealthy speculators. While it may be beneficial in certain instances, in the big picture it solves none of our macro economic or financial problems. The vast majority of Americans can't afford and/or not equipped to speculate in the crypto markets, or any other market.
(Refer back to the conversation between Pepe Escobar and Michael Hudson that was posted here last week for an interesting conversation on international politics, finance, balance of payments etc.)
The only thing that can save Assan,ge or any other political prisoner, is massive demands and resistance from the public. The only thing that will bring about any meaningful change is the resistance of the public to the status quo. Sorry, but crypto is no magic bullet to help the 99%, or Wikileaks or Assange. Revolution comes from a critical mass of the people, not from a ponzi racket for greedy speculators.
torture this
I hear "bitcoin" and I think, "Beanie Babies".
William David Fusfield
Whoa! What a lot of BTC detractors we have in these comments. Some of the criticisms do make sense, I must admit, but there seems to be little appreciation of the primary function of BTC, namely to provide a refuge or "haven" from the ever declining value of all fiat currencies, and especially the EURO, USD, the British pound etc.. Nor does anyone seem to have much faith in the advantages of private digital transactions largely outside of government purview and controlled/manipulated fiat currencies which BTC also provides.
It is true that BTC has been slow to become a universally recognized and standard international alternative to various national fiat currencies, e.g. the roll out of BTC ATMs, while now finally increasing more quickly, has also been frustratingly slow.
Another problem is the long time it takes — roughly 5 to 10 minutes – for a BTC transaction to be checked over the web and approved.
There are also, indeed, as mentioned in some of the comments, big environmental costs to minting new BTC, although can be expected to drop as the limit of 21 million BTC in total is more closely reached from the 18+ million that have already been minted. The strictly limited supply of BTC is one of the factors in its meteoric rise in price during the last year since while the supply is increasingly constrained the demand continues to grow with several new corporations and financial houses, including PayPal, VISA, Mastercard etc. all taking ever larger positions in BTC.
The article also does not mention that there are dozens of other crypto coins now available for use. The leading competitor for BTC is, in my opinion, Ethereum, ETC, a coin with very different protocols, which can continue to issue new coins indefinitely and which has found favor in many typical business applications. Ethereum is a newer and in many ways superior technology to BTC. Just to cite one advantage, its transactions are processed in a few seconds, not minutes.
ETH's blockchain is also far more flexible and can be utilized and modified for various new applications. Currently it is the ever growing "DeFi," "decentralized financial" services industry that has taken Ethereum to heart and led to its rise to over $2000 per unit. Many people, including myself, expect Ethereum, to slowly supplant BTC as the largest and most used global crypto currency.
While it is true that being able to pay in BTC was of great use to Wikileaks once they were kicked off all standard donation exchanges, and while such clandestine applications are involved in some other "forbidden" transactions, BTC is hardly still a good coin to use to buy and sell drugs and other proscribed commodities since the US government does have ways now to crack down on such activities, as, say, when, a few years ago, they arrested a man who had hired a hit-man and paid him with BTC. Most of the disreputable and illegal transactions are now done in some of the many alt-coins, at present, most notably, Moreno, and these too are coming under deeper governmental scrutiny.
As for BTC helping in some way to liberate Julian Assange from his outrageous and miserable confinement in Belmarsh prison that link I too do not see. Far better to keep your letters and emails of protest directed toward the US Dept of Justice in hope of getting them finally to see reason, and abandon the ridiculous "espionage" charges placed upon Assange by the likes of Pompeo and Haspel. …. Oh yes, it is also very important to keep demonstrating in public for Julian's freedom, as well as working one's friends and acquaintances to make sure they all know the dismal story of his decade long "extraordinary detention," torture and persecution. FREE THE PRESS!! FREE JULIAN ASSANGE!! NEVER FORGIVE!! NEVER FORGET!! and NEVER GIVE UP!!
[Full disclosure: I am a HODLer of both BTC and ETH]
Sounds nice, but somehow bitcoin exchanges keep going bust when the managers disappear with all the hard currencies.
Sky Torigoe
So enlightening and clear. Thank you, Nozomi Hayase
Casey VanSise
More and more do I miss those heady political times of the late 2000s and early 2010s, when a burgeoning (if still marginal) cross-pollination of libertarian, progressive, and populist ideas and trends that were relatively less adulterated by astroturfing and demagoguery seemed to augur some approximation of a brighter future. This article brings me back to that era!
Yeah, kinda like during those heady days when there was a group of positive people who thought pro choice/anti-abortion ideas could really make a difference when fused together. You know, beyond "demagoguery" and "astroturfing" and such. You know, that point where any contradiction is dissolved in good libertarian vibes, man. Dig! Buy Bitcoin and go back to those groovy days!
Someone has drunk the Koolaid . . .The preferred money exchange for slave traders, drug kingpins and weapons dealers is our future? No Thanks. Wikileaks is getting shafted, but I'm not tying myself to crypto-miners and their fantasies of anarchistic utopia.
Howard Switzer
A giddy celebration of virtual gold? Really?
A currency with a fluctuating price in dollars? If you have to buy your money, is it really money?
Commodities can always be traded and this is a virtual commodity. Commodity money has always been dominated by the richest owners of the commodity.
Money plays 2 roles, 1. An exchange medium for facilitating economic activity (it is just money)
2. An instrument of power capable of dominating the market (the hidden hand)
If you can hoard enough money you can dominate a market, an industry, as the banks do today.
Also, a computer based internet money with a gargantuan energy footprint? A footprint that grows with its use.
Bitcoin is an investment vehicle exploiting people's ignorance of money to market it as currency. Changing the monetary system is key, certainly, but as systems analysts often discover when they identify a system's leverage point (a point where one small change changes the whole system) that there will already be lots of attention being put there but pushing it in the wrong direction.
Howard Switzer – that is why any currency must be one of substance in my humble opinion.
I don't support the substance of mere "Good Faith" which is what fiat currency is based upon (I think it is diminishing rapidly), but even less do I support a mathematical construction that is based upon calculus, which should be known – is FLAWED at the edges. Good faith, just like everything else is limited, but imaginary mathematics suffers from the delusion that there are no limits. The energy it takes to run the algorithms will be the end of bitcoin if it doesn't die sooner as a result of those who have subsumed it for their own nefarious purposes.
I advocate river rocks as a currency, but I know I'm biased cause I have a bunch of them on my own property. Still better a river rock in the hand than worthless bitcoin codes on the hard-drive in the landfill. Do you think they will actually spend the money to dig that old laptop hard-drive out of the landfill? I hope not cause it is a fool's venture.
Bitcoin might be an idea for the future, but presently it causes more harm than good, and really, I'd just assume have a river rock in my hand. If nothing else, I could throw it at you if you tried to do something harmful on my property. Can't do that with bitcoin – nor can you with fiat come to think of it.
I think money, aside from whatever currency represents it, is an abstract social power embodied in law as an unconditional payment system. Both commodity (substance) money and credit money have been dominated by private wealth. "Money exists not by nature but by law." It is not just "faith" involved here and why it is important they we have a government that represents us that actually does. It is a political battle over the law that is required to change the money being originated only for public purpose as a permanently circulating asset.
There is a third use of money, the original use: paying taxes. The governments of the world from Sumer to Washington, DC, have always invoked means to provision themselves. They do so by demanding taxes. The insight of MMT is that spending comes first and the useful activity descends from the need to pay taxes with the money issued for the spending. As a corollary, we must see 'taxes' as a means to destroy the money issued in the first place; without sufficient taxation, we see the current inequalities in the financial system. Bitcoin will never serve to pay taxes. Nozomi Hayase does not address this because she does not understand money.
Thank you for these wise words!
I don't trust Bitcoin.
It is nothing but a mathematical construct. Here today – gone tomorrow – in a HEARTBEAT!
Bitcoin is NOT the solution for anything. It is part of the problem cause it has been subsumed by those with bad intent.
The solution lies closer to understanding the history of the "FED" and then to audit them, and then to undo the coup they committed….or maybe I should say coups. There have been many. Some obvious, some not so much, but all of them coups nonetheless. Another aspect of the monetary solution lies in doing away with the US dollar hegemony. Now that is worth pursuing, but it won't be done via mathematical constructs that have no underlying basis besides math. I'd rather use river rocks for currency than bitcoin.
Dr. Hujjathullah M.H.B. Sahib
A very sensible comment. Yeah in reality paper-based exploitators are being supplanted with cyber-based exploitators. Bits-based hyper-inflation would be worse than paper-based one because at least the paper could come in useful to swipe the butt, with the bit you will just get the boot !
This is a very important topic and can only hope you allow a full discussion of it here on your message boards.
Personally I think we should bring democracy to the economy. And libertarians, to say the least, think quite the opposite. They aren't even so happy with the notion "democracy" at all, as can be plainly seen from noted libertarian billionaire Peter Thiel's quote: "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible."
If a secretive group of libertarians comes out with a disruptive technology I have no idea why I should consider it in my interests, the interests of my community, or the interests of the society in which I live, whatsoever. I am neither a billionaire, nor a so-called "bitcoin whale," so the libertarian notion of freedom not only has no appeal for me. And not only that, I find the lack of regulation of capital to be diametrically opposed to the freedom of an average citizen such as myself.
Beyond the libertarian angle, as a computer programmer, I find the case for the blockchain vastly overstated. There is a reason the technology has not been widely adopted, it is because it is very inefficient and does not improve upon existing solutions. In other words, it's a solution looking for a problem.
evelync
I think you should dig a little deeper into the crypto currencies.
It's one thing for BitCoin to have enabled Wikileaks to overcome the outrageous and terrifying financial boycott perpetrated on its truth telling that the wrongdoers – the criminal operations that wage war and have so much power that they avoid accountability for their wrongdoing – enforced.
That surely was a very good thing.
It's quite another to assume that the cryptocurrencies have their finances in order meaning that if one uses ones' own sovereign currency to trade it for an equivalent value of the crypto currency to make an assumption of what that value means.
When the cryptocurrencies can only rely on a piecemeal "audit" performed by random computers without an overall comprehensive audit possible, if I understand even a little of what I've read about it, one is never sure that that electronic measurement has not been corrupted by a hack. Where's the proof?
The sovereign currency of country is backed by the taxpayers of that country. Countries can and do mismanage their currencies by acting irresponsibly leading to escalating inflation and devaluation against foreign sovereign currency. And to the extent that a holder of that currency uses it to buy foreign goods at ever increasing prices it can be nasty.
But the holder of sovereign currency can make a deposit into a bank and receive a deposit slip verifying the amount of that deposit – and that bank is audited internally and also by an outside auditor on a regular basis in order for that bank to continue to remain in business. That's the protection against fraud backed by the taxpayer.
I don't think that crypto currencies have an audit trail that what is outstanding in bitcoin dollars really exists and can be accounted for based on the values of the sovereign currencies that were used to purchase the bitcoin, adjusted for fluctuations in exchange rates.
I think if you have an American dollar in your pocket it may not have the same value today as it did yesterday based on fluctuating prices but it is always 1 dollar of the total trillions of dollars outstanding. And always worth what a dollar buys.
The treasury issues dollars. There is a multiplier effect on those dollars based on the legislation that established regulated banking. According to that legislation a bank must hold onto a minimum legislated percentage of dollars received from depositors and is allowed to loan out the remainder. Say, for example that ratio is 10% retained therefore 90% eligible to lend out. That creates a cascading expansion of money supply as the 90% lent out gets deposited and the receiving bank loans out 90% of that deposit and that gets repeated over and over again causing a multiplier effect on those dollars in a well functioning economy.
What is the equivalent control for cryptocurrencies? Every now and then one hears of a hack where someone has stolen "value" whatever that may mean.
And as we know, in addition, the crypto currencies can be very volatile in price against sovereign currencies.
So even if the intent of BitCoin was admirable – which it was, IMO, I have not been able to find an equivalent assurance that one's exchange of one's Dollars or Peso's or Deutschmarks or Francs or Rubles or Yen or Yuan etc etc for cryptocurrency is "safe" "provable" reliable" or whatever one expects from a sovereign currency.
I guess I just don't understand the premise of this article. Bitcoin + ?? = Free Assange… Or maybe I could rearrange the statement like this: bitcoin + Collateral Murder Video = ??… No, it just doesn't make any sense. If I were to buy Bitcoin its value would go up, benefitting those who already own it, and particularly the earliest adopters (or even its anonymous creators most of all).
I think it is safe to say this has nothing to do with the plight of Julian Assange, and would seem to have a lot more in common with raising the value of for the so-called bitcoin "whales."
Thanks, I don't get it either.
George Orwell did not say "speaking truth to power is a revolutionary act"!!!
Bayard Rustin coined the term "speaking truth to power."
The quotation "In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act" has been attributed to Orwell, but never verified.
You've got to be kidding me. Yeah, bitcoin is great if you want the world engulfed in a libertarian free market dystopia. Sure, the "conspiracy of governance" cannot be trusted in many ways, but one group who can't be trusted even more are the secretive billionaire libertarians who manufactured the bitcoin pyramid scheme.
Guillermo Calvo Mahé
An interesting perspective with respect to something that to me has seemed a pyramid scheme
Ian Perkins
You could have said something about Bitcoin's carbon footprint, currently over 30MT CO2 per year.
Kiwiantz
The secrecy meme of this article is so relevant, its scary? In just the last few days, a seismic event has happened at the Federal Reserve Bank? This has happened, seemingly by design, without any Media fanfare & flying completely under the Radar? The FED has apparently STOPPED REPORTING on its M1, M2 & M3 statistical data? Why. Because the FED doesn't want anyone knowing about its recent & massive money printing which has increased by over 500%, printing Trillions & Trillions of fake money? They've started hiding the charts & the QE statistics, this is huge & is a indication that they have a lot to hide & don't want to spook the Stock Market & cause a panic but the reality is the FED knows that this money printing has reached its tipping point & the endgame for the US dollar is near? Hyperinflation is coming & a massive Financial crash is now inevitable that will dwarf the 2008 GFC! Bitcoin is a dagger in the heart for the Central Bank madness of MMT & its out of control, counterfeiting of currency! The Weimar Republic is coming to America & the World, at a Town near you & the only ones who hold precious metals such as Gold & Silver & Bitcoins & Satoshis will survive the coming Financial collapse of the fake, Fiat money system of the Central Banks!
Unfortunately there is a downside to this story. Here is a link to research in Nature Magazine analysing the Carbon footprint of Bitcoin Mining : hXXps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-021-22256-3
NYT– "Bitcoin supporters say that estimates of its carbon footprint are overstated. And if the computers that mine and help transact bitcoins are attached to an electric grid that uses wind and solar power, they add, mining and using it will become cleaner over time."
"if the computers that mine …"
If. But most of them aren't. And if and when they do switch to renewable energy, they'll still be using pretty huge amounts of it.
Ian, you may be a right person to answer my question, while of course Bitcoin uses energy, does it or will it use more than the current system:
raw.materials, algorithms, intricate human assessment and input?
Perhaps I mean wouldn't it be less energy intensive to decentralize?
There is a lot of debate on this topic, but it seems pretty clear that Bitcoin is uncontrollably inefficient right now and uses energy far more than anything equivalent, "currency," or whatever else.
But energy is only one part of the Bitcoin story, even if it might be the most important. When you look at the case its proponents make, how does it really stack up as a currency? Is it really better than the fiat dollar? Well, if the dollar acted like Bitcoin, it would be worth ten dollars tomorrow, and then fifty cents the next. How is that an improvement? A currency needs to provide stability, and that Bitcoin does not is one of its fundamental contradictions. Libertarians by definition love free markets. What a free market provides is a pricing signal. What pricing signals do is determine cost. And in order for this mechanism to work, you need some entity like a government to provide currency stability.
These fluctuations would do nothing but provide constant inflation and deflation! You wouldn't know if you were winning or losing from one day to the next. The thing is, rather than a currency, Bitcoin is better seen as an investment vehicle (or even better, the most rewarding investment vehicle for those who produced it and their early adopters, a pyramid scheme). Those who buy Bitcoin raise its price, thereby making those who already own them richer (and those who own the most very, very rich), and those who sell it make its value go down.
And personally, as a Socialist I think finance should be managed as a public utility. But what these Bitcoin libertarians propose does not even support their self-professed core values. I would go even farther and say what they say is nonsensical, such as all the rhetoric around "full-stack currency," which is not a thing, and as a concept is blatantly pulled from the web development lingo of "full-stack development" (I know this because I am myself a programmer). So, what we have here is more like a snow job, a pyramid scheme (or "investment vehicle," if you like), with a well-paid marketing department, so to speak; a public relations campaign to help inflate another useless billionaire's bottom line, which does the opposite of helping for everyone but themselves.
So here is the impression I hope to leave you with after my long comment: thinking of Bitcoin as a way to get around the oppression and censorship of Wikileaks and Julian Assange comes at a great cost, and that cost is simply too high. Another way must be found, full stop. Because the path that Bitcoin has made for us will intentionally only lead us into the wilderness, and the contradictions hidden in the underbrush will ensure we will never find our way out.
NYT– "Bitcoin supporters say that estimates of its carbon footprint are overstated."
Yet nowhere in that article does anyone offer any reason for that view, nor is anyone quoted as holding it. Several people say Bitcoin's carbon footprint could be decreased in future, which is indeed possible. But if BC's supporters think its carbon footprint is overstated, why doesn't the article quote some of them or explain their reasons for thinking thus?
We appear to have a peer reviewed article in a prestigious scientific journal saying one thing, and anonymous unidentified sources saying something else, offering no evidence or reasoning of any sort to back up their assertions. Until they come up with something better, I'll go with what Nature says about it.
Of course supporters are going to say carbon footprint estimates are overstated. It seems far more sensible to trust a peer-reviewed scientific journal like Nature than libertarian freebooters who have everything to gain from downplaying the negative effects of their source of wealth.
Saying bitcoin mining will become cleaner over time is quite a promise from a group who support a technology whose coders are so secretive nobody knows who they are.
JoeSixPack
Can we also say OWNED BY PRIVATE COMPANIES
The majority of Bitcoin mining is done in China by massive computer arrays that are powered by coal. When, if ever, these might be powered by clean energy sources is very much in question.
Me my self
What happens to bitcoin (your money) when there is a quantum computer that can crack the code and exploit the cryptocurrency?


text:
Sheldon pulls away from Clackamas in second half, wins semifinal 35-14
Jim Beseda
The Irish overpowered the defending Class 6A state champion Cavaliers and advanced to next week's final against Lake Oswego
The Clackamas Cavaliers met their match on Friday night.
Sheldon backup quarterback Griffin Line guided three second-half touchdown drives that carried the Irish to a 35-14 victory over Clackamas in Friday's OSAA Class 6A football semifinals at Hillsboro Stadium, ending the Cavaliers' season at 12-1.
Tied at 14-14, Sheldon's Jack Folsom scored the go-ahead touchdown on a 39-yard pass from Line with 6:22 remaining in the third quarter as the Irish knocked off the defending state champions and advanced to next week's final to face Lake Oswego, a 24-14 winner over Jesuit in Friday's other final.
"We played as a team and everyone did their part," Sheldon coach Josh Line said. "Clackamas is a really good football team. We knew we'd have to get a couple of breaks and execute really well, and we were able to do that.
"It's a pinch-yourself moment, there's no doubt about it. But we believed we could get here and we did the work and … this is where we always wanted to go."
The Cavaliers, who came into the game riding a school-record 26-game win streak over two seasons, saw their bid to become the first big-school program to go undefeated in back-to-back seasons since Roseburg in 1995 and 1996 come to an end.
"I'm disappointed," Clackamas coach Joe Bushman said. "Even though I didn't think we played particularly sharp, we still were 14-14 and right in the thing. In those situations the last few years, we've been really good.
"We've been in a lot of close games in the fourth quarter and we've usually been the team that pulls them out, but not tonight. Give Sheldon credit. They're a really good football team."
Sheldon (11-2) seized the early momentum when they took the opening kickoff and went on a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive that ended with quarterback Michael Johnson Jr, throwing a 15-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Gunner Robinson with 6:17 to play in the first quarter.
Clackamas' first drive lasted only two plays and ended when quarterback Caleb "C.J." Jordan threw a backward pass to wide receiver Jack Dollens, who then tried to throw the ball back to Jordan, only to see Sheldon linebacker Dylan Dowling intercept the second pass at the Cavaliers' 25-yard line.
"We thought we'd catch Sheldon amped up and get them to pursue the football, but they didn't," Bushman said. "They stayed home and we probably shouldn't have thrown it.
"We saw Centennial run that play and we kind of stole it from Centennial. I don't know if we rushed it … I've got to see it on film, but, obviously, it put us in a hole early."
Less than a minute later, Johnson, the Penn State-bound quarterback, scored on a 6-yard run to push the Irish lead to 14-0 with 4:44 remaining in the first quarter.
Clackamas climbed back into the game when slot receiver Jailen Hammer scored on a 12-yard run with 4:44 left in the second quarter, and then wide receiver Richard Kennewell caught a 60-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Austin Atkeson on the second play of the third quarter that tied the score at 14-14.
On Sheldon's next drive, Johnson got shaken up at the end of a short run and had to leave the game with 8:39 to play in the third quarter.
Enter Griffin Line, the junior backup quarterback and the coach's son, who put the Irish back in front four plays later when he connected with Folsom on a 39-yard touchdown pass that made it 21-14.
"After we made it 14-14, I really thought we were going to win the football game," Bushman said. "I thought we had al the momentum. Then their quarterback goes down and their backup came in and ran their offense flawlessly.
"He did a really good job running their zone read. I don't say he ran it better than Johnson, but he read it really well and then their line started to wear on us a little bit."
Sheldon put the game away in the fourth quarter when running back Matthew Burgess scored on a 12-yard run to cap a 10-play, 79-yard drive with 7:23 to play, and then Line scored on a 24-yard run at the end of a five-play, 73-yard drive with 2:16 left.
"We made adjustments at halftime and came out swingin', and they made their adjustments and come out stronger than we did," Cavaliers senior defensive end Justice Pagan said. "They just played an all-around good game and I don't think we were prepared enough.
"Sheldon is a good team. They have a good offense. Michael Johnson Jr. is a helluva player, and so is Patrick Herbert. They just wanted it more than us. That's all it took."
Clackamas had the ball only five times in the second half. The first drive ended with the touchdown that made it 14-14, the second drive ended with a punt, the third drive ended when the Cavaliers failed to convert on fourth-and-3 at the Sheldon 23, the fourth drive ended when they failed to convert on fourth-and-2 at the Sheldon 15, and the final drive ended with an interception with less than a minute to play.
"I love my teammates for keeping their heads up and fighting hard," Cavs' senior center Alex Hall said. "We didn't execute the way we needed to, but we fought hard and I'm very proud of our guys for that.
"Sheldon flew around and played their tails off, and it came down to a few simple mistakes. Football is an 11-man game and if one person doesn't do his job, it goes badly. We just kept making simple mistakes while Sheldon flew around and played perfectly. They did what they needed to do to win."
Sheldon ran 62 plays and gained 382 yards total offense – 229 yards rushing and 153 yards passing.
Clackamas ran 65 plays and had 310 yards offense – 88 yards rushing and 222 yards passing – but struggled in key situations, converting 2 of 14 third-down situations, and 4 of 7 fourth-down plays.
"I thought we played really hard," said Thomas Tolonen, the Cavs' senior wide receiver and defensive back. "Some plays didn't go the way we wanted them to, but at the end of the day, we can't change it. I wish we would have come out on top.
"I really thought we had a chance to pull it out. We were all hyped up on the sideline, but Sheldon is a good team … a really good team. We made some mistakes and it just happened to come out not how we wanted."
Parting shots
Atkeson completed 12 of 22 passes for 148 yards, while Jordan completed 5 of 12 passes for 74 yards and had nine carries for 21 yards for Clackamas. Anthony Talavera was the Cavs' leading rusher with seven carries for 44 yards, and Kennewell was the top receiver with a game-high six catches for 129 yards.
"It's disappointing that we lost, but Sheldon is a good team," Kennewell said. "They have that many weaknesses. We tried to stop their run game. That was our main focus this week, but we weren't able to do it. That killed us."
Senior inside linebacker Jake Bushman led the Clackamas defense with a game-high 14 tackles, Pagan added 10 tackles with a game-high five tackles for loss, and Hammer finished with seven tackles.
"Give Sheldon credit," Jake Bushman said. "We didn't make the plays when it matter. We usually have a good run defense, but they ran downhill against us at times tonight.
"We definitely didn't accomplish what we set out to do, but we have such a special group. Our senior class struggled in youth football growing up, but to see us be successful throughout high school is a special thing in and of itself."
Friday marked the final game for Clackamas' 22 seniors, who were part of a program that over the past four seasons compiled a 45-7 record and won three consecutive Mt. Hood Conference titles. They also reached the state semifinals three years in a row and won one state championship a year ago.
"There were four teams in the semifinals with a legitimate chance to win the state championship this year," Joe Bushman said. "To be in this position for three straight years, it's really a testimony to the kids and their off-season commitment to the program. We don't take that for granted. It's hard to get here.
"The seniors are pretty torn up, but when they look back, I think they'll feel good about what they accomplished."
Added Pagan: "To win 26 straight games is nothing this school and this community has ever seen before and I couldn't be more proud of these guys. All these guys are my brothers and I love every single one of them. We played our hearts out. We just didn't get the result we expected."
SHELDON	14	0	7	14	--	35
CLACKAMAS	0	7	7	0	--	14
S -- Gunner Robinson 15 pass from Michael Johnson Jr. (Jay Kartub kick)
S -- Johnson Jr. 6 run (Kartub kick)
C -- Jailen Hammer 12 run (Jeffrey Nelson kick)
C -- Richard Kennewell 60 pass from Austin Atkeson (Nelson kick)
S -- Jack Folsom 39 pass from Griffin Line (Kartub kick)
S -- Matthew Burgess 12 run (Kartub kick)
S -- Line 24 run (Kartub kick)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Peter Dreier, Contributor
E.P. Clapp Distinguished Professor of Politics, Occidental College
Mourn. Then Organize.
11/09/2016 07:23 am ET Updated Nov 10, 2017
Guests watch television monitors during Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton's election night rally in the Jacob Javits Center glass enclosed lobby in New York, Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
At a time like this, many liberals and progressive will recall the words of Joe Hill: "Don't mourn, organize."
But let's be honest. We're in shock. We need time to mourn. To recover from the trauma of this election.
I feel awful for my 19-year-old twin daughters, who voted for the first time this year and now have to spend their college years with Trump as president. They're upset. They talked about moving to Canada. They were half-serious. We talked and texted all night, trying to console ourselves. It was tough.
I reminded them that we've been through periods like this before. The Civil War. The Gilded Age. The Great Depression.
I told them that in 1968, when I was 20, America elected Richard Nixon. At the time we thought that this was the apocalypse. I had worked for Bobby Kennedy's campaign. His murder in June of that year was traumatic. He certainly would have beaten Nixon, brought together the civil rights, union, and anti-war movements, and pushed to end the war in Vietnam, escalate and war on poverty, and expand workers' rights.
After Nixon won, I considered moving to Canada, not just out of fear of Nixon's agenda but also to avoid the draft and Vietnam. I even submitted an application to the University of Toronto.
But I stayed. I didn't want to abandon my country. Like many others of my generation, I wanted to change it.
This is no time for liberals and progressives, Bernie supporters and Clinton followers, to point fingers. This is a time for cooperation and strategizing.
After Nixon beat Hubert Humphrey in November 1968, a massive resistance movement emerged to make it harder for Nixon to govern. In 1970, we started electing anti-war candidates to Congress. We started a backyard revolution of community organizing in urban communities. Then activists also built the women's movement, consumer movement, and environmental movement.
Nixon did great damage (including the invasion of Cambodia, the killings at Jackson State and Kent State, infiltrating and spying on dissenters), but the country survived.
Yes, Trump is worse than Nixon. He's a demagogue, a white supremacist, a psychopath. But we'll resist again.
I reminded my daughters that probably 35 percent of eligible voters didn't vote this year. Most of them are poor, people of color, and/or young. Had they voted, Clinton would have won big. The American people, overall, are better than the people who voted.
There will be many post mortems trying to explain how and why Trump won. Among the key factors:
James Comey: No major election analyst tonight (not even Rachel Maddow) mentioned the impact of FBI director Comey's outrageous intervention on the outcome of this election. That, more than anything else, stopped Clinton's momentum, diverted attention away from Trump's sex and other scandals, and refocused public attention on HRC's emails. Over 20 million people voted between his letter to Congress 11 days ago and his statement two days ago that the FBI found nothing damning in the new wave of Clinton emails. Much damage was done. Comey, the rogue FBI director, was more responsible for Trump's victory than anyone else. He intentionally caused the damage.
Voter suppression: The Republicans' voter suppression campaign (like voter ID and felon disenfranchisement laws) in key battleground states -- particularly in poor and minority areas -- gave Trump the margin of victory. This was true in Milwaukee, Philadelphia, Charlotte, and other cities. Republicans engaged in fraudulent election activities like sending phony robocalls to black households with misinformation about voting locations and times. Our arcane election laws also played a role. If Election Day was a national holiday (like in most democracies), or most states had same-day voter registration, turnout among those groups would have been higher, and Hillary would have won in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and other swing states and won the presidency.
Media bias: The mainstream media giving Trump a free ride for most of the past year; treating him like a normal candidate rather than a racist demagogue. It allowed him to win the GOP nomination and to gain traction after the Republican convention. The media''s obsession with Hillary's emails obscured the much more serious Trump scandals - his failure to pay taxes, his sexism, his bogus and self-serving foundation, his lies about his fortune, his fraudulent and abusive business practices, his total ignorance about public policy, Only in the past month did the media wake up and begin serious reporting on the the real Trump. But it was too little, too late.
Right-wing money: The Koch brothers didn't back Trump but their political empire --including other right-wing billionaires who joined forces with them -- may have spent close to a billion dollars helping Republican candidates for House and Senate. That increased GOP turnout in battleground states and helped Trump.
Other factors -- Wikileaks, Attorney General Loretta Lynch's stupid meeting with Bill Clinton on the airport tarmac, and the persistence of racism and sexism among a significant segment of the American population -- all played a role.
How did so many pollsters get it wrong? Trump benefited from what political scientists call the "Bradley effect." Just before Election Day in November 1982, polls showed that Tom Bradley, the African American mayor of Los Angeles, was going to beat Republican George Deukmejian in the race for California governor. But on Election Day, Deukmejian won. It appeared that many voters lied to pollsters (or even to themselves). They didn't want to appear racist, so they told pollsters they favored Bradley, but voted for Deukmejian. Apparently a significant number of people this year told pollsters they were voting for Clinton, or were undecided, but wound up voting for Trump. Perhaps they didn't want to admit to pollsters, or to themselves, that they preferred Trump over Clinton.
The future looks better. Although turnout was low among the under-30 generation, those who went to the polls voted overwhelmingly for Hillary Clinton and liberal Democrats for Congress. Latinos -- the fastest growing part of the electorate -- voted overwhelmingly for Clinton. Within a few years, their growing numbers will determine elections in Florida, Arizona, Nevada, even Texas.
Moreover, all polls show that large majorities of Americans support a progressive policy agenda that links economic prosperity and fairness. They want to raise taxes on the super rich, stronger regulations on Wall Street and big business to protect consumers, workers, and the environment, a significant increase in the federal minimum wage, some version of universal health insurance, a large-scale job-creating infrastructure program, and more affordable colleges and universities.
But public opinion, on its own, doesn't bring about change. That's what movements do. We need to join forces to resist where Trump, Mitch McConnell, Paul Ryan, the Koch brothers, and Wall Street want to take the country. We need to build on the momentum of Black Lives Matters, the immigrant rights movement and the Dreamers, campaigns against Keystone and Standing Rock, the movement for fossil fuel divestment, the Fight for 15, and the movement to protect Planned Parenthood and women's right to choose.
We need new Democratic Party leadership. We need a progressive like Warren, or Senator Dick Durbin, or Rep. John Lewis as the next head of the DNC.
This is no time for liberals and progressives, Bernie supporters and Clinton followers, to point fingers. This is a time for cooperation and strategizing. Unions, Planned Parenthood, Sierra Club, the NAACP, community organizing groups, LGBT activists, and wealthy progressives have to collaborate. They need to raise the money, hundreds of millions of dollars, to send an army of paid organizers to key swing states and House districts now. We can't just parachute organizers into swing states a few months before the next election. We need to build and expand the base by getting ordinary people organized around local and nation issues. We need to ramp up protest and civil disobedience to stop Trump's initiatives. And we need to register voters so they'll be "fired up and ready go" for the mid-term elections in two years and the presidential election in 2020.
We need to lay the foundation for Democrats to take back the Congress in 2018, and then elect Elizabeth Warren president in 2020.
Mourn our losses. Then organize.
Peter Dreier is professor of politics and chair of the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His most recent book is The 100 Greatest Americans of the 20th Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame (Nation Books).
Politics Donald Trump Hillary Clinton Elections 2016


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text:
Check out the billboard on South Broadway...
MSU DarwinDay features jurored artshow with cash awards for artists and high school artists!!
Sat, 01/08/2011 - 12:02 — faculty
Evolve: What Does Evolution Mean to You?
62 Doors Gallery and Minot State University are celebrating Darwin Day 2011. How does an art gallery celebrate Charles Darwin, you might ask? Well, by having a jurored art show, obviously. What better way to celebrate the the dude's influence on culture than by bringing in a judge to juror out the riff-raff and award the outstanding artists among the herd. Tom Fleming, big-time professional illustrator, will be sharing his expertise by choosing the winners and awarding the cash.
The artworks chosen for the show will be on display at the MSU Beaver Dam during the Darwin Day Celebration on February 11th from 9am to 3:30pm. Then, it will be shown at the closing reception at 62 Doors that evening starting at 7pm. All awards will be announced at the reception.
Check out 62Doors.com
DarwinDay schedule!!!
MSU DarwinDay 2011 schedule
Join the Minot State University community for DarwinDay, February 10 and 11, celebrate the confluence of science, music and art and Charles Darwin's contributions to the humanities.
Fossil expert and author Neil Shubin will describe his discovery of Tiktaalik, the fish with hands. In addition, award-winning fantasy illustrator Tom Fleming will demonstrate an exhibit live.
MSU DarwinDay will also feature a juried artshow, live local music and theater.
Events are free and open to the public.
We have new billboard for Darwin Day!


text:
Unlocking the Neural Basis of Self-Interest and Self-Sacrifice
By Julian Wills and Jay Van Bavel
Backed by Jacob Peets, Romolo Gaspari, Denny Luan, Harold Wills, Carolyn Funk, Cathy Ohmes, Jon Haidt, Kyle Cassaday, Tim Weidinger, Rob Martin, and 26 other backersJonathan Wills, Kevin Linger, YON - Jan C. Hardenbergh, James Clampett, Michael Paluzzi, Christina Tran, Kyle Ratner, Annie Hill, Jane Schwitter Keihn, Kate Ray, Louis Plowden-Wardlaw, Jessica Waala, Tom Alar, Deborah Walczak, Oscar Jasklowski, Bradley Mensah, Alexander Hoekstra, Sebastian Poreba, Rajiv Shenoy, Cindy Wu, Rosette Wills, Danny Marske, Eric D. Walters, Santos Elena Graham, Bo Sprotte Kofod, and Olivia Miele
PsychologyNeuroscience
Ended on 9/23/15
Unlocking the Neural Basis of Self-Interest and Self-Sacrifice Wills, Julian, and Jay Van Bavel.. New York University, 12 Jun 2015. Experiment
Humans are exceptional when it comes to collaborating and self-sacrificing for the groups we love. Using cutting-edge neuroimaging technology, this project aims to identify specific brain regions that allow us to reign in our selfish impulses and contribute to the greater good. By mapping these neural systems, we can better combat violence, greed, climate change, and other short-sighted temptations that threaten our species' survival.
With the advent of brain imaging, scientists have begun piecing together the neural systems that guide our rich and dynamic social life. Though these methods continue to enrich our grasp of empathy and altruism, the biological roots of group-based cooperation remain mostly a mystery.
So far, researchers have used brain scans to isolate neural regions that activate when people engage in 2-player economic games (e.g. the prisoner's dilemma). Almost every real-world challenge we face, however, occurs on a much larger scale (e.g., family, nation, globe).
With nearly a century of research on the distinctive aspects of group-based psychology, there's now an urgent demand for neuroimaging experiments that can more readily capture the multiplayer dynamics of cooperation.
In order to seal this critical gap, we will conduct fMRI scans while groups of participants solve cooperative dilemmas.In addition, by experimentally manipulating altruistic norms, we can observe in real-time as the brain automatizes cooperative decisions.
Finally, by combining insights across scientific disciplines (e.g., cognitive neuroscience, behavioral economics, social psychology), this project is in a unique position to clarify one of the prevailing mysteries of humankind: are we wired to be good, and if so, how can we leverage this natural benevolence to maximize our collective potential?
The primary goal of this project is to isolate specific neural systems that guide cooperative behavior. First, we will pilot test our experimental procedure to ensure that our modified public goods game is intelligible, compelling, and engaging. Next, we will recruit fifty participants from our local community to play this cooperative dilemma while undergoing fMRI. Afterwards, participants will complete questionnaires measuring key personality variables that can influence cooperation (e.g. psychopathic tendencies). Finally, in order to isolate which variables most accurately predict cooperative choices, we will develop algorithmic models that harvest the multi-dimensional data (i.e., neural, behavioral, personality) we accrue.
Facility maintenance: Though expensive to maintain, today's neuroimaging facilities provide us with unprecedented insight into the inner workings of the human mind. Each session costs (at minimum) $150. Given our target sample size of 50 participants, we will need $7500 to use this equipment.
Participant compensation: Because this project relies on human volunteers, we want to make sure that each participant receives fair compensation for their contribution to this important scientific mission ($15/hour). Moreover, we can't study cooperation unless there are real financial stakes. Participants can earn up to an additional $15 depending on their performance. With each session lasting two hours, we will need $2250 to compensate our full sample.
Although this totals to $9750, we were recently awarded a small seed grant to offset costs. This way, we'll match each dollar you pledge with $1.00 of our own. With your help, we only need $4875 to launch this project. Every dollar counts!
Julian Wills
Jay Van Bavel
New York University Department of Psychology
For as long as I can remember, I've been gripped by the questions that I am now privileged enough to research. Working alongside Jonathan Haidt and Jamie Morris, my undergraduate projects used neuroimaging to explore topics in politics, religion, and cooperation. Now a Ph.D. student at NYU, I feel blessed that I can spend each day continuously probing these questions alongside interdisciplinary experts in social psychology, neuroscience, environmental science, and computer science.
Whether it's working with neurosurgery patients, developing mobile applications, or data mining millions of politicized Tweets, I'm determined to exploit any available technology that can help demystify and enhance our most benevolent behavior.
How do we decide between right and wrong? Between self-interest and self-sacrifice? Despite the antiquity of these questions, today's technology has finally made them scientifically tractable. As a Ph.D. student at New York University, my research combines the latest tools in neuroimaging and Big Data in order to understand and promote morality and cooperation.
Follow @JulianWillsNYU to get a sense of my research interests and musings. Or find out more about Dr. Jay Van Bavel's Social Perception & Evaluation Lab (Twitter and Website).
Jay Van Bavel is an Assistant Professor of Psychology at New
York University and Director of the Social Perception and Evaluation Laboratory.
Dr. Van Bavel examines how collective concerns—group identities, moral values, and political beliefs—shape the mind and brain.
You can follow his research on Twitter (@vanbavellab) or
Facebook (www.facebook.com/vanbavellab)
Measuring Cooperation... In a Brain Scanner?
Fact vs. Fiction: How Easy is it to Shut-Down an MRI?
Backers who pledge more than $250 will receive a personalized thank you letter as well as a lab mug!
Backers who pledge more than $1,000 will be invited to attend a future lab meeting, where they can observe (and even contribute to!) the creative process.
Where the magic happens
$47.35Average Donation


Easter arrives this Sunday, April 21st and the 46th Annual Sunrise Service will be celebrated on The Flower Mound beginning at approximately 6:10 a.m. in anticipation of the 6:51 a.m. sunrise.
This year, Trinity Presbyterian Church in Flower Mound has been asked to deliver the service.
The Easter Service became a Flower Mound tradition that has been carried on by The Summit Club, The Women of Flower Mound and The Mound Foundation.
The Mound is a 12+ acre native prairie grassland near the intersection of FM 3040 and FM 2499 that rises above the surrounding area. Over 300 species of native flowers have been identified on The Mound.
Parking will be in the old Tom Thumb parking lot.
Visit www.womeofflowermound.org for more information.


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text:
genre grinder cult movie podcast
Grinding the Stream
Info/Links
Gabe Powers
Barquero Blu-ray Review (originally published 2015)
A group of Mexican mercenaries, led by a brutal man named Remy (Warren Oates), head for the town of Lonely Dell in order to cross the Paria River. Leaving a trail of death and destruction along the way, they arrive there, not expecting any resistance from the town's citizens. After decimating the local town, the gang of bandits demand that bargeman Travis (Lee Van Cleef) transport the crooks and their booty across the river. But they get more than they bargained for when Travis turns the table on the vicious gang. (From Kino's official synopsis)
By the early 1970s, the Italian western movement, known abroad as spaghetti westerns, had thoroughly caught on in North American. Their popularity, along with a revisionist's spirit pulsing throughout New Hollywood in the late '60s, helped prompt a brief resurgence of American-made westerns. The spaghetti subgenre endured, but did not last very long and many of its American counterparts have been forgotten, especially those not made by cultural touchstones, like Sam Peckinpah or Clint Eastwood. Gordon Douglas' Barquero (1970) has the benchmarks of a post-spaghetti revisionist western, by including appearances from Lee Van Cleef, who had become a superstar in Italy, and long-time Peckinpah collaborator Warren Oates. Unfortunately, there isn't a lot for a post-modern western fan to sink his/her teeth into here; merely well-shot impressions of more impulsive and dynamic motion pictures. George Schenck and William Marks' screenplay doesn't bother to play with conventions as much as fill them out with the same bleak, bloody revisions that Ralph Nelson, Don Siegel, and Michael Winner began to develop in the wake of Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch (1969). There are plenty quirky support characters and, even at his most sedate (thankfully, he breaks out more during the final act), Oates oozes sleazy charm, but there aren't any real stand-out performances and Van Cleef spends too much of the movie off-screen.
Douglas was no spring chicken by the time he made Barquero and might have even been a filmmaker Leone looked up to as a ravenous western fan. After working in overlooked B-movies throughout the '30s and '40s, Gordon made the killer ant classic, Them (1954), and, in the run-up to Barquero, he alternated between westerns, dramas, and Frank Sinatra movies. He also made the superior and stylish spy comedy, In Like Flint (1967). Barquero is too slick to evoke the more vital genre films of the era (it kind of looks like a '60s, live-action Disney production, despite the violence), but the opening shootout is definitely worth noting. Douglas cleverly frames much of the action around Oates as he is introduced as the main villain. There are plenty of cuts between locations during the fight, but, as the handheld camera follows Oates throughout the main set while peering out windows and marching through doors, it feels as though it could've been achieved via a single extended take. If only more scenes were as inventively shot, it would be easier to overlook the slow-moving plot that doesn't really go anywhere until the final 15 minutes.
Barquero was released on DVD in European countries, but never made a digital home video appearance in the United states. This 1.85:1, 1080p BD25 is the first and only HD version available. The image quality is hit-and-miss throughout. Most problems arise from the general age of the material, but the more bothersome issues pertain to definite digital fiddling. It is apparent in the minor-to-moderate DNR artifacts. Usually, these appear in the form of slightly flat textures, but there are also some waxy qualities to the sweaty faces. Daylight sequences are generally in better shape, while darker sequences tend to suffer from significant uptakes in grain. More troubling is the digital noise that smears over nighttime shots or similar scenes with prevalent black levels. This usually white CRT noise is pretty distracting. Colors are punchy, despite the soft backgrounds and purposefully muddy palette. The opening credits are supposed to look like they're shot through a burlap mesh, but I don't know if the blue blobs that appear during Oates' red-baked flashback are supposed to be there.
The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mono soundtrack has similarly small issues. The key problem is that there's a lot of silence in the mix and the sound-floor features an occasional low-end buzz that pokes its head out anytime people aren't talking or shooting at each other. When there is production noise, it all sounds good – dialogue is clear, effects are balanced, and gunshots are loud. Dominic Frontiere's soundtrack is sort of trapped between '40s/'50s Hollywood western standards and Ennio Morricone's genre-bending work with Leone, but it's still pretty interesting, especially the pieces involving Spanish percussion. The music sounds very nice on the track and features no notable high-end distortion effects.
The only extra is a trailer.
The Strangers Blu-ray Review (originally published 2018)
The Soldier (1982) Blu-ray Review (originally published 2018)
Vigilante LE 4K UHD Review
© 2020 Gabe Powers


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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
NASA infrared imagery reveals powerful Tropical Cyclone Idai at Mozambique's coast
IMAGE: At 4 a.m. EDT (0800 UTC) on Oct. 3, 2018 the MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite gathered infrared data on Tropical Cyclone Idai. Strongest thunderstorms circled the…
Credit: NASA/NRL
NASA's Terra satellite captured an infrared image of Tropical Cyclone Idai approaching the coast of Mozambique. The infrared data provided cloud top temperatures that indicated powerful thunderstorms circled Idai's center.
At 4 a.m. EDT (0800 UTC) on March 13 the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS instrument that flies aboard NASA's Terra satellite gathered infrared data on Idai. Infrared data provides temperature information. Strongest thunderstorms circled Idai's center and contained cloud top temperatures as cold as minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 56.6 Celsius). NASA research has shown that cloud tops with temperatures that cold were high in the troposphere and have the ability to generate heavy rain.
MODIS infrared imagery also indicated Idai's eye is about 20 nautical miles wide in diameter, although it was covered by high clouds.
At 11 a.m. EDT (1500 UTC), Idai's center was located near latitude 19.5 degrees south and longitude 38.7 degrees east. That's about 175 nautical miles north-northwest of Europa Island. Idai was moving to the west. Maximum sustained winds were near 103.6 mph (90 knots/166.7 kph) with higher gusts.
On March 13, the Mozambique National Meteorology Institute (INAM) noted that Idai is causing very heavy rains of more than 100 millimeters (4 inches) in 24 hours over the Mozambique Channel.
Idai is forecast to make landfall just north of Biera, Mozambique between March 14 at 1200 UTC and March 15 at 0000 UTC (on March 14 between 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. EDT). Beira is the fourth largest city in the country and is located in the Sofala Province, central region of the country. Heavy rains, thunderstorms and hurricane-force winds are expected as Idai comes ashore.
For the latest advisory from the Mozambique National Meteorology Institute (INAM), visit: http://www.inam.gov.mz/index.php/pt/novo-sistema


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We recently updated PerformanceHub with three new features to help get the most out of objectives.
A new chart has been introduced in appraisals to give employees a summary of performance against all objectives.
The chart is particularly useful when doing an appraisal because it gives you a quick overview of performance against objectives without having to open each objective up.
When enabled (in HR Admins Configuration screens) all objectives get a weighting. Objective weights can be used to show the relative importance of each objective, and when applied, objectives are listed in weight order, with the highest weighting at the top. Weights are set by the line manager by simply clicking on the icon.
In addition, if set, an objective's weight is used when calculating the average rating in the new chart mentioned above. The greater the objective's weight, the more influence performance on that objective has in the chart.
PerformanceHub now supports bonus objectives. You can enable the feature in the HR Admin Configuration screens. There are a number of configuration sub-options to tell PerformanceHub whether everyone is entitled to a bonus or just some employees. And whether all objectives are bonus objectives or just some. If not all employees are eligible for a bonus, then HR can mark the individuals who are via their profile in the Users tab.
The faded 'present' tells the user that the objective does not form part of the bonus calculation and the solid present means that the objective will be included in the calculation.
The line manager decides which objectives are bonused. All they need to do is click on the icon and confirm the change.
HR can generate a new report for bonuses, which provides you with the overall bonus calculations for all eligible employees.
The bonus calculation takes into account an individual's performance against each bonused objective and a new parameter in the objective rating scheme which tells PerformanceHub how much bonus should be paid for each performance level. For example, you can configure the system such that 'Good' performance gives 100% of bonus, better performance gives more than 100% and anything under good gives 0%, but it's up to you, it's entirely flexible.
If objectives are weighted, the weighting is also taken into consideration in the bonus calculation.
If you are interested in setting up bonus objectives, then please get in touch and we can help you set it all up.
We squished a few bugs, and made some changes to speed up certain pages and reports.


Notice passed on from the Penticton Flying Club email, "NOTICE RE: RECENT THEFT FROM AIRCRAFT IN OSOYOOS!
Please keep an eye out for items for sale…. that might be stolen!
Thanks to Mike Beaulieu who has stepped up to help us replace some of the stolen items. This act of kindness is so appreciated by us. Thank you also to the Oliver News for carrying this story.
Years ago i did a newspaper report about this particular airport. There was heaveu duty equioment sitti g on it. You can check it out, i wrote the airport was . Someday i want to be real airport, and nothing has changed on the airport since the 1990s. I also wrote that we could hear the heavy duty eqiupment rust from down since the equipment was there so long. But i never anticipated that people would target snowbirds with their airplane equipment. Abosulutey uncalled for and i am dissapointed in the people who did this crime. Your stepping on turf that dont belong to you. Seniors should be respected.includingsnowbirds who are viable part of our communties of osoyoos and oliver.


Supplied as case and two end panels, one plastic, one 1.6mm Anodised Aluminium.
Case outer surface designed to reduce surface damage.
Battery compartments with a sliding cover available.
Battery compartments accept a variety of battery sizes holders available separately.
Belt clip fittings are available order separately.
Supplied with 4 Case fixing screws, 4 Self-adhesive non slip feet (Size 3, 4 and 5 only, 4 Self Tapping screws for PCB mounting.
Cases and end panels can be machined or printed to your requirements - email us details for a quotation.
Products 75-228099 to75-228110 come WITHOUT Battery Compartment.
Products 75-227915 to 75-227923 come WITH Battery Compartment.