Alan C.
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Posts posted by Alan C.
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Bitcoin's rapid rise was not due to the increase in productivity and labor-saving benefits that it conferred upon society, but rather due to hype, wishful thinking, and speculation. Peter Schiff referred to it as "Tulip Mania."
Society has been made better off by smartphones because they provide visible, tangible, labor-saving benefits. We know what a smartphone is worth because one can calculate opportunity cost of not having a smart phone.
What visible, tangible, labor-saving benefits has Bitcoin accorded? What is the opportunity cost of not using Bitcoin? When somebody answers that question then the real price of a Bitcoin will be discovered, and I think it will be too low to make it worthwhile.-
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Pope on Charlie Hebdo: 'You cannot insult the faith of others'
...Francis said there are limits to freedom of expression, especially when it insults or ridicules someone's faith.
. . .
"...You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others."
Poop Francis is a charlatan who is peddling bullshit to credulous, feeble-minded people.
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I've never bought a Bitcoin and don't plan to.
In The Ethics of Money Production by Guido Hülsmann, he noted that, "...the monetary use of a commodity ultimately depends upon its non-monetary use..."
Rick Rule: "I don't have any way to express the utility of that labor excecpt in the ascribed value of a market for Bitcoin."
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Economic Death Spiral: More American Businesses Dying Than Starting
In a stunning Tuesday report, Gallup CEO and Chairman Jim Clifton revealed that “for the first time in 35 years, American business deaths now outnumber business births.”
Clifton says for the past six years since 2008, employer business startups have fallen below the business failure rate, spurring what he calls “an underground earthquake” that only stands to worsen as lagging U.S. Census data becomes available.Indeed, the numbers are striking. Contrary to the oft-cited 26 million businesses in America figure, Clifton says 20 million of these so-called “businesses” are merely companies on paper with zero workers, profits, customers, or sales. In reality, America has just 6 million businesses with one or more employers–3.8 million of which have four or fewer employees. In total, these 6 million U.S. companies provide jobs for more than 100 million people in America.
Of the 2.2 million job-creating companies with five or more workers, the numbers break down accordingly:
There are about a million companies with five to nine employees, 600,000 businesses with 10 to 19 employees, and 500,000 companies with 20 to 99 employees. There are 90,000 businesses with 100 to 499 employees. And there are just 18,000 with 500 employees or more, and that figure includes about a thousand companies with 10,000 employees or more. Altogether, that is America, Inc.
The Gallup CEO says the numbers paint an ominous portrait of America in a dire state of decline.
“I don’t want to sound like a doomsayer, but when small and medium-sized businesses are dying faster than they’re being born, so is free enterprise,” says Clifton. “And when free enterprise dies, America dies with it.” -
British prime minister says he'd ban encrypted messaging services if elected to power again
UK Prime Minister David Cameron has said that if elected again, he would push for a ban on encrypted communications services, like Snapchat, WhatsApp, and more, whose messages cannot be accessed by the country's intelligence and security agencies, even if they have a valid warrant.
The proposed reforms are part of a new legislation, which if enacted, would make it mandatory for telecom companies and Internet service providers to store more data related to people's online activities.
“Are we going to allow a means of communications which it simply isn’t possible to read?” said Cameron, who has begun campaigning ahead of a national election in Britain in May. “My answer to that question is: ‘No, we must not.’”-
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The reason why this is being largely ignored by mainstream media is because Nigeria isn't part of the Western hegemons, and doesn't advance the "terrorist boogeyman is gonna getcha" narrative.
The media focuses on terrorist attacks that hit home in order to rile people into a patriotic and nationalistic fervor so that they'll support more foreign intervention.
The media and government still talk about 9/11 as if it's the worst tragedy that has ever happened. About the same number of people die in car accidents every month in the U.S. as died from 9/11, and nobody cares.
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People Separated From iPhones Suffer Psychological Effects, Study Finds
A new study finds that people separated from their iPhones could suffer serious psychological and physiological effects.
A study done by researchers from the University of Missouri found that users who were unable to answer their ringing iPhones while solving simple word search puzzles saw increases in their heart rates and blood pressure, while dealing with anxiety and unpleasantness. Researchers also found that the subjects’ performance decreased compared to those who had their iPhones in possession with them while completing similar word search puzzles.
To conduct the study, researchers told participants that the purpose of the experiment was to test the reliability of a new wireless blood pressure cuff. The subjects were then given word search puzzles to complete, the first time with their iPhone in their possession and the second time without it.
Researchers recorded the subjects’ heart rates and blood pressure while they completed the first puzzle with their iPhones. For the second puzzle, researchers told the participants that their iPhones needed to be placed further away from them because they were causing “Bluetooth interference” with the wireless blood pressure cuff.
Researchers found a “significant increase in anxiety, heart rate and blood pressure levels” when they took away the participants iPhones while they were completing the puzzle.
“Our findings suggest that iPhone separation can negatively impact performance on mental tasks,” Russell Clayton, a doctoral candidate at the university’s School of Journalism and lead author of the study, said in a press release. “Additionally, the results from our study suggest that iPhones are capable of becoming an extension of ourselves such that when separated, we experience a lessening of ‘self’ and a negative physiological state.”
I thought this was quite amusing.
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Most Americans Don’t Have Savings to Pay Unexpected Bill
More than three in five Americans wouldn’t have money in their savings accounts to pay for an unexpected car repair or medical emergency, according to a survey released Wednesday.
Only 38% of those polled said they could cover a $500 repair bill or a $1,000 emergency room visit with funds from their bank accounts, a new Bankrate report said. Most others would need to take on debt or cut back elsewhere.
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The survey found that an unexpected bill would cause 26% to reduce spending elsewhere, while 16% would borrow from family or friends and 12% would put the expense on a credit card. The remainder didn’t know what they would do or would make other arrangements. -
It is wrong to say that when someone receives welfare that they stop becoming productive. I think people become more productive when they receive state benefits cause they have the security of a safty net
Doesn't the fact that somebody receives welfare mean that they're not productive? Afterall, if they were productive then they wouldn't need welfare, right?
What does it mean to be productive? It means that somebody is producing something. What do people on welfare produce?
Where does welfare come from? Welfare comes from other people who produce something and then get expropriated by the State.
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Yes, simple carbs break down quickly and can cause your blood sugar to spike.
Many fitness and bodybuilding videos talk about simple vs. complex carbs. Pro bodybuilders minimize simple carbs while cutting, prior to competitions, to prevent fat accumulation. During the cutting phase, they will often eat only lean protein (fish, chicken, egg whites) and vegetables.
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I don't see how a scientist should get paid more or less than a busboy
In a free-market economy, people are rewarded according to the value they provide to others. [some] scientists contribute to the provision of goods and services which improve the lives of millions of people via labor-saving devices and technology. Doing so requires specialized knowledge and expertise which is not in abundant supply, and which may require years of work and deferred consumption.
Being a busboy doesn't require specialized knowledge and expertise, years of work, or deferred consumption. Learning to be a busboy can be accomplished within days and available candidates are abundant.
That's why [some] scientists should get paid more than busboys.
...I don't subscribe to your religion of capitalism. I believe that technology has made life easier. Not because of capitalism
Actually, you do ascribe to it as evidenced by the fact that you're using a computer.
Technological innovation is made possible by the capitalistic order of production.
Fidel Castro hated capitalism, except for his Rolex watches.
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I often sit like that (not quite that exaggerated), but not intentionally. I've been wearing relaxed-fit jeans since my late teens because I have thick, muscular thighs from playing soccer for over a decade. I cannot even cross my legs.
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France has strict gun-control laws, and murder is illegal.
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Kickstarter raised $529M for projects in 2014 (from 3.3M people)
Star Citizen funding reaches $66M (with over 672K supporters)
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I agree that money is better and more efficient (I just wanted to point out that although the DCOW argument defeats the barter system, it isn't as devastating as some people think)
It's not simply a matter of efficiency. Economic calculation requires prices, and prices require money. The absence of money prices severely limits a society's productivity and ability to grow, because prices allow coordination on a vast scale.
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The primary problem with barter economies is that they impose transaction costs (eg. time, coordination, transport, storage, seasonal). Money (ie. a widely recognized and accepted exchange medium) minimizes this problem.
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Scientific team sounds the alarm on sugar as a source of disease
Is sugar making us sick? A team of scientists at the University of California in San Francisco believes so, and they're doing something about it. They launched an initiative to bring information on food and drink and added sugar to the public by reviewing more than 8,000 scientific papers that show a strong link between the consumption of added sugar and chronic diseases.
The common belief until now was that sugar just makes us fat, but it's become clear through research that it's making us sick. For example, there's the rise in fatty-liver disease, the emergence of Type 2 diabetes as an epidemic in children and the dramatic increase in metabolic disorders.
Laura Schmidt, a UCSF professor at the School of Medicine and the lead investigator on the project, SugarScience, said the idea is to make the findings comprehensible and clear to everyone. The results will be available to all on a website (SugarScience.org) and social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.-
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An elderly Gregory Peck?
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Wendy McElroy on the fallacy of rape culture:
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Great movie from the 80s which I saw in the theater.
The amusing thing about this movie was that the aliens were supposed to represent Republicans.
Keith David also appeared in John Carpenters The Thing (1982)
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There is no hope for libertarianism through the political process. The best you can do (and since you're compelled to participate) is to use it as a vehicle for disseminating libertarian ideas.
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Some resources are more abundant than others, and resources can be reconstituted in almost limitless combinations, but I wouldn't say that they're unlimited. However, time is limited and people have to eat. Also, if input exceeds output then you'll get nowhere fast.
People who make others feel guilty and ashamed for living (and consuming) are attempting to compensate for their own feelings of inadequacy and have little to contribute to the benefit and well-being of others. In psychology, it's known as a manipulation tactic called 'leveling.'
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I bought a cheap T-Mobile flip phone (Samsung) and the minutes cost me $100/year, or less. I've had it for about 4 years and have been very happy with it.
There Will Be No Economic Recovery, Prepare Yourself Accordingly
in New Freedomain Content and Updates
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Price of beef, fish, eggs reach record highs
Price of Electricity Hit Record High in U.S. in 2014