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Comment Re:Not practical as contact lenses (Score 1) 99

by sociocapitalist (#46623831) Attached to: Contact Lenses With Infrared Vision?

For videogames, what you need is X-ray vision. The ability to see the electric signals in the LCD gril before they hit the actual pixels will give you an advantage of several milliseconds compared to your opponents. The same principle applies to Monster cables' gold-plated, titanium-coated, oxygen-free optical cables which give you pure digital audio, free of data which are not zeros or ones.

Awesome - can I get x-ray hearing too to get that pure sound before it's deformed by the speakers and all the crap in my room?

Comment Re:Free market (Score 1) 353

by sociocapitalist (#46623791) Attached to: If Ridesharing Is Banned, What About Ride-Trading?

So much for free market economics and competition. I hate it when government goes to lengths like these as competition is good all around.

As long as the new services operate under the same constraints as taxi companies, I see no reason why they should't be allowed to operate since, as you say, that's a free market at work. But they shouldn't get to skip over all of the costs of business that taxi companies absorb -- things like driver background checks, driver training (in some cities), insurance requirements, car maintenance requirements, etc.

Why not?

At the end it's for the customer to decide if they want to take a risk on a rideshare (based on previous feedback perhaps).

No doubt the people making the rules are getting a kickback in some form or another from the existing businesses. Fuck 'em. Vote 'em out.

Comment Re:It's not arrogant, it's correct. (Score 1) 466

On U.S. mobiles phones, interestingly, both sides pay.

On European mobile phones, on the other hand, only the caller pays, but they pay a non-neutral rate, which varies depending on the type of device the recipient has: calling mobile phones is more expensive (in some countries, much more expensive) than calling landlines.

Here in France it's normal to not pay anything beyond a fixed monthly fee to call fixed or mobile lines.

There is a provider here called 'Free' (http://mobile.free.fr/) who sells mobile service (no subscription required) for 20 euros a month that includes unlimited mobile calls to France, the US, Canada, China and a few other countries - and in the same 20 euros unlimited fixed line calls to 100 countries (no doubt including those already listed). Ah, and 20 gigs of 4G data as well, still in the same 20 euros.

Comment Re:Really? (Score 1) 169

lol...have you ever heard of FDIC? Consumer protections? None of these things apply to bicoin and never will. My bank can be vaporized out of existence and it wouldn't do shit to me.

Your bank probably got bailed out already and you probably helped pay for it so yes, it does shit to you. Probably not as much as if it failed directly (depending on your bank account balance at the time) but you were not unaffected.

Comment Re:Bitcoin (Score 1) 263

Yeah, those fools should have definitely given their money to the pros.
You know what, that's too much sarcasm for me to fart out at once. This sounds essentially like the subprime mortgage crisis. And a lot of other banking crises. It doesn't seem totally insane to me to trust your friend Joe in a trailer over the banking industry: when he runs off with my money, at least he might go to jail rather than getting millions in rewards.

As much as people (including me) like to hate on banks, when was the last time you actually lost money? When was the last time you put money in a bank and they "lost" all or part of it? When was the last time you put money in a bank and lost all or part of it because the bank was robbed?

Have you completely forgotten about the recent bank losses and subsequent massive taxpayer theft to bail them out?

Comment Re:End farming subsidies (Score 1) 545

by sociocapitalist (#46446541) Attached to: Meat Makes Our Planet Thirsty

artificial market controls keep the price of meat low, so we consume excess amounts.
as the price rises, consumption will go down and the problem solves itself. meat will turn from main course to side dish real fast.

i never understood the fixation with 100% meat. meatloaf > pure beef. people were hyperventilating online when taco bell announced their "meat" was 40% meat.

So long as there are others elsewhere (Asia in this case) who are willing to pay for the meat or alfalfa or whatever it is, it will continue to be produced even if the locals don't consume it.

Seen more in poor countries producing food that their own people can't eat, it's interesting to see something similar happening to the US - if not to the same degree.

Comment Re:As Frontalot says (Score 1) 631

by sociocapitalist (#46446093) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Trust Bitcoin?

For every dollar (or whatever) of loss for one person there is a dollar (or whatever) of gain for someone else. The lottery everyone loses but the state. Not the same.

The State is also part of the zero-sum game. And you're assuming that Bitcoin is tax free. There's still some uncertainty about which taxes Bitcoin qualifies for. But if Bitcoin ever became a significant currency, you can be sure it would be taxed just as much as the native currency.

Tax evasion might be easer with Bitcoin, but then that's just saving money by being a criminal.

I trade about 10 bitcoins and I'm making good money by buying on bad news and selling on good. It doesn't take anything other than that.

Which is exactly the thing people were saying in every rising stock market. It takes experiencing a crash or two before they realise it's a mirage.

I am not assuming it's tax free. Nothing is tax free. Even if it's not a currency and is considered an asset there would be capital gains....or a capital loss - again you have to look at both sides of this.

Now, with regard to legality, criminality and tax avoidance I ask you to consider if the average taxpayer who fails to report the odd bit of income is more or less immoral than the corporations who shift billions in revenue to tax havens to avoid paying anything. Completely legal, but arguably just as wrong.

I've come through the bitcoin crashes to date and I'm still saying it. Everything since the gold standard went away is a mirage. That dollar (or whatever) in your pocket is a mirage. Value is relative based on perception and bitcoin is as valuable as people think it is, the same as with anything else.

Comment Re:As Frontalot says (Score 1) 631

by sociocapitalist (#46421229) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Trust Bitcoin?

The other side of the coin is that the people (typically geek cyrptocurrency early adopters, NOT rich people) that sold those bitcoins that people bought between $1000 and $800 made a profit.

Unless the bitcoins they bought were among the 750,000 that were stolen from Mt Gox.

The big losers at this point are people who left their bitcoins in an exchange that then disappeared

Yes, that would be a problem. So basically, keep your bitcoins in your mattress? I thought... well, never mind.

Sure - it's part of the risk of playing with a currency that is completely unregulated. Possibilities of huge profits vs. the risk of losing everything (assuming one wasn't smart enough or was too lazy to distribute the risk between multiple wallets/accounts/exchanges.

I keep my bitcoins distributed between online and offline wallets, with a bit in the exchange I use. I transfer when I want to sell and then I transfer after I buy.

The beauty of bitcoin is that while you have to trust no one, you can trust no one, minimize your risk and still have complete flexibility.

Comment Re:As Frontalot says (Score 1) 631

by sociocapitalist (#46421203) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Trust Bitcoin?

The other side of the coin is that the people (typically geek cyrptocurrency early adopters, NOT rich people) that sold those bitcoins that people bought between $1000 and $800 made a profit.

And some people that buy lottery tickets win.

There is risk around bitcoins yes, but if you buy smart and sell smart you can make a high rate of return that can justify the risk.

The same lie by which most individuals trading on the stock market in the last couple of decades have lost money. Certainly now, when the banks have machines that are making profitable trades so quick, the speed of fibre-optic network links are the limiting factor, and insider trading is so widespread,
the individual is so disadvantaged, they can't hope to win, except by holding on to stocks an being lucky with them.

Bitcoins, with their disappearing and hacked wallets and exchanges are an even worse idea. They are destined to be yet another way by which the gullible are fleeced. And that's started already.

Comparing the lottery and trading currency or stock is invalid. For every dollar (or whatever) of loss for one person there is a dollar (or whatever) of gain for someone else. The lottery everyone loses but the state. Not the same.

Your outlook is way too negative. I trade about 10 bitcoins and I'm making good money by buying on bad news and selling on good. It doesn't take anything other than that.

Comment Re:As Frontalot says (Score 1) 631

by sociocapitalist (#46356729) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Trust Bitcoin?

But that's the problem - Bitcoin isn't "real" money. If it were, there would be a huge number of regulations to follow, sinking it as an anonymous currency. However, if it isn't "real" currency, thefts and/or fraud will not be investigated by law enforcement agencies. So, pick what you want: An anonymous currency with no support of law enforcement, or a "real" currency where regulations such as requiring a photo ID to open an account apply.

Fraud is not limited only to currencies. Currently regulatory agencies are complaining about having to deal with bitcoin but at the end of the day if someone broke the law (i.e. closing the exchange and taking all the bitcoins) it would still be treated as theft, if nothing else, and those responsible would still have to face criminal charges.

Comment Re: As Frontalot says (Score 1) 631

by sociocapitalist (#46356699) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Do You Still Trust Bitcoin?

It's always amazing how blind people are to the US being anything but perfect.

1) The US dollar is, by far, not the most secure currency in the world.
http://content.time.com/time/b... (a bit dated but the reasoning is sound and is backed up by the next two links)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

2) The US is bankrupt with debt as a ridiculous amount and the situation is only getting worse as our politicians continue to spend what we just plain don't have to spend. There has been discussion of a US dollar default which, were it to happen, would completely devastate the value of the US dollar. That discussion will restart today which will most likely result in bitcoin (and other currencies) going up in relative value against the US dollar which will also drive it up in value against other currencies.
http://www.usdebtclock.org/
http://www.reuters.com/article...

I'm not saying bitcoin is safe. It's not - it's very risk compared to government backed currencies. But don't make the mistake of thinking the US dollar is as safe as you seem to think it is either. Default seems inevitable at some point in time as the US just keeps spending and spending and spending with no end in sight.

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