I'm not sure if you are intentionally be obtuse or not seeing the forest for the trees.

Bitcoin allows the seller to directly receive payment from the purchaser. Whenever a seller depends on a 3rd party intermediary to pass money through then that seller becomes dependant on the whims of that third party.

In some cases that 3rd party has enough clout to enforce change that is beneficial to society. But that power can be abused easily.

Lets take an imaginary scenario:
Payment processor "Money Buddy" discovers that website "slave-labour-goods.com" is forcing children to work 23hrs a day for a nickle. "Money Buddy" tells them to stop being assholes or they will stop processing their payments.

Nobody can really argue that this forced-change is a bad thing. Now lets change the scenario to something more ambigious.

"Money Buddy" discovers that "imported-cheap-stuff.com" forces that any female employees wear a hijab. The "Money Buddy" CEO is a feminist and thinks that this is an oppressive rule. But "imported-cheap-stuff.com" is located in a country that enforces that law, and the president of the company proudly wears her Hijab during the press conference proclaiming that "Money-Buddy" is actively trying to oppress her religion and national law.

Bitcoin bypasses that middleman. If you want to support child-labour and buy your sneakers for $2 less then the competitor offers then you can. If you want to make sure your money goes directly to the people you want you can. Why allow these fat-cats to continue getting their cut when they offer no added value for their services?

Bitcoin can be an incredibly powerful tool for change in society.

This is one of the many problems that Bitcoin solves.

Easy answer, build N+1 of them and use the 'average' value of time that they generate.

One of my favourite quotes applies here:

"When you have a clock you always know what time it is. When you have two you are never quite sure." - Mark Twain.

You have obviously R'd TFS, TFA, and TFM.
What are you doing on /.?
You are too perfect an imposter. No spelling or grammar errors either. Probably some AI.

Should I refer to you as Wintermute?

Ahh, so since we have screwed up once, we have no choice but to simply keep screwing up?

Your local municipalities, school districts, counties, and states will do anything to grow their castles. That I see you granting your government more power and authority for the sake of netflix access shows that your vote can be bought with the simple promise of convenience. You are just what your local bureaucrat is hoping for.

Oh jeeze.. you're right. And worse: swans aren't deterred by water!

not when the other two companies are forced to subsidize their competition.

but hey, as long as local bueracrats can build castles.

I've heard a rumour that he can also smell things behind him too!

(yes I just started that rumour)

It's almost like they are a... communist country.

Should you take picture of the front and back of your credit and debit cards?

Rarely a month goes by without someone's debit card pic getting retweeted 1000 times.

Some stuff is private. You don't need to make a record of it.

I didn't say it was their fault. I said that the conventional societal wisdom, as puritanical as it may sound, of "don't take picture of cum all over your face" would have probably served some people well.

amazing this article is posted on the same day as 3 0days for MS products.
one of which has been known for over a month, and will soon have a logo.

if someone is selling "internet access" at x throughput rate.... that should mean something.
if someone wants to sell http-only access, fine. But you can't call it "internet access".

The thrill of eating too much candy, playing in the street, and sharing needles has always been there. There is nothing new here but the general laziness of the populace in enforcing standards or taking personal responsibility. Religion, social mores, and scare-the-kids cautionary tales may be entirely made up and arbitrary, but it got mankind all the way from cavemen to what we have today.

If you are fine with your kids doing crazy shit, sit back and sigh that you are powerless against the need to be a cool parent.

There is a world of difference between someone getting a nude photo of you without your knowing in a place where you have a reasonable expectation of privacy, and what we are talking about here today.

If some stalker had gotten the photos through a crack in the curtains, yeah.... a pure don't-blame-the-victim scenario. What we are talking about here? Not that scenario.

Don't you think people SHOULD be able to walk around inside the lion exhibit at the zoo?
The blame for the crime is on the mugger, rapist, account cracker, etc.
The blame for being stupid, in some cases, is on the victim. Life is hard. It's harder if you're stupid.
I know we aren't supposed to talk about the girl in the skirt, but what would YOUR advice really be to YOUR daughter or son regarding sexual assault, mugging, or lion-exhibit safety?

Too much bullshit going on.

My advice to my son or daughter would be the same regarding photos of semen all over their faces: if you don't want people to see those photos, don't take those photos. Do not allow those photos to be taken. Do not allow them to exist.

I don't remember all this bullshit when it was Pamela Anderson, Paris Hilton, or even Kim Kardashian.