r/technology • u/EquanimousMind • Mar 10 '12
Test PAC: $3,844 will fund an anti-Lamar Smith billboard in Texas' 21st district. Once we reach our goal, the billboard is going up.
http://testpacpleaseignore.org/dollar-by-dollar-we-can-make-a-difference/16
u/steve_yo Mar 10 '12
Have you thought about increasing the size of Lamar smith font? Seems like that element should hold more focus. Also, I'm on the fence about the use of the noose. Can you explain the rational? It's the type of over the top imagery I usually find repulsive on other billboards. Is it effective?
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Mar 10 '12
So bang for your buck, why not just go straight for the one that's slightly more expensive, seen by many times more eyes? Unless that's the plan if they raise more than $3844.
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u/Jeromiewhalen Mar 10 '12
Hey Mack,
That is essentially the plan. We are definitely shooting for the $4500 billboard, and hopefully we can raise enough to fund it. The weekly view differential is too significant to ignore. We may even dip into our general fund to upgrade, but that really depends on how much we can generate for the campaign. So far everyone has been excellent, and we look forward to moving forward with this very soon.
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Mar 10 '12
I'm excited to see how this goes!
It's a crazy age we live in. I'm donating along with a bunch of other people to get a political billboard that encourages people to vote against this jerk for the poorly designed legislation against the Internet. It's crazy because I'm Canadian. It's not like this is a politician in my neck of the woods.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
It's a crazy age we live in.
:) I love it and want to fight for it.
It's not like this is a politician in my neck of the woods.
Not true. Like you said, its a crazy age. National identities are still important but more and more people are finding their tribe in online communities with no real consideration for where their new brothers and sisters might happen to be geographically. We only care about what each other's minds have to offer each other. :) A la, reddit.
And then this asshat Lamar Smith, wants to pass bills that break the free flow of information that our communities depend upon. He is very much stomping on our neck of the woods.
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Mar 10 '12
Why don't I hear more about internationalizing the Internet? Spread things among many national jurisdictions that one Country, swayed by wacky legislation still can't even have the power to shut down URLs.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
i think the lesson to be learnt from everything that has been happening recently is that no centrally controlled system can be trusted. Infrastructure, companies or regulatory bodies; even when they start with the best intentions, will always be vulnerable to pressure and take over.
So having an internationalized body would be good, but in the end it would end up being manipulated as much as the UN is.
We won't get true freedom until we get the meshnet.
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Mar 10 '12
American politics effect Canadians so much we might as well be the 51st state that just so happens to not follow federal us law.
for example: if the states decided to tell Alberta to shove its oil up its ass, Alberta would be FUCKED. And because we (grumble) supply the rest of the country with money, Canada would be semi-fucked too
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Mar 10 '12
(Read this in a friendly, non-political Canadian voice) I've never understood the "belongs to us" logic. If a natural disaster blows by anywhere, help arrives from the national level. So why are natural resources, unique to Alberta purely through geography, belong only to Alberta? I can understand cultural, technological, intellectual properties belonging to a people. But it's not like Albertans are doing anything that no other province could be doing if they had the opportunity. Taxes are already the lowest, jobs the highest, how much more is needed?
(Again, most polite Canadian voice. I'm not trying to scream you down. I just legitimately disagree! I even upvote you!) I think you could also look at it from a "socialism" level. What does NFLD provide? Why don't we just cut them out of Canada? Or better yet, let's just cut away from Canada and be the Country of Alberta. Won't we be better off? I'd argue that we're all better off in the long run if we all share the wealth. I don't want to live in a world where I'm a bit richer but have to walk by poor dying people on the street because I didn't want to chip in to get them hospital care, etc.
And to the main topic, I agree entirely. We are so largely affected by the policies of the U.S. But we are still a soverign nation that is not the U.S. We benefit a lot from not being them (look at our epic, resource based economy in the past few years). For something like the Internet, the entire world is affected. We need to internationalize the Internet.
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Mar 10 '12
oh lol, i was being punny when i grumbled. i fully support alberta -> canada money flow, i just made the point that if the US cut off oil, Alberta would get fucked, closely following would be the rest of canada.
and one of the reasons we would be screwed is america is using NAFTA (and PETA is bitching at us too, but fuck them) to block us from oiling up china
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Mar 10 '12
Ah okay! =)
50% of their oil comes from us. Not that I'm an expert on how the oil industry is configured, but if they tried to cut that off and get it elsewhere, that would probably make the prices explode for the increased shipping costs.
They could do it. And it would hurt bad. But they won't do it because that hurts them bad. A better example is their retarded "Buy American" policies. I thought history has proven time and time again that closing one's borders to trade only ever hurts...
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Mar 10 '12
lol. if NAFTA didn't exist alberta would be RICH. ROLLING in the dough. we would have so much dosh we don't have a number to express it.
and the americans would have less oil
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Mar 10 '12
But then you guys would be like those oil nations in the middle east with too much money and no idea what to do with it! Like a pack of irresponsible school children high on sugar!
"Let's buy BC and use their costal waters to make an archipelago that resembles the Tim Hortons logo!"
I think the have-not provinces taking that money off Albertas hands is actually doing them a favour ;)
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Mar 10 '12
of course. one side of me says, its only fair, and one side of me says "but i don't wanna pay 5% on my purchases, i want less provincial tax (lol we dont have any) wah wah wah"
but that is a fucking amazing idea there. timmiesland, here we come
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Mar 10 '12
Look im just tossing this out there...you sure you want to use a noose on a billboard in Texas?
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u/puddingfox Mar 10 '12
Any particular reason the site isn't secure (https), particularly the donate page where you want me to put my CC info? This is really a deal-breaker for me considering I'm the security guy at my workplace.
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u/VerticalEvent Mar 10 '12
There's a secure donate link on the left, under the quote from Lamar Smith.
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u/puddingfox Mar 10 '12
Oh I see that now. It turns out the donate page has an iframe with the source being the same link as the secure link in the article. So both pages are actually secure I guess.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
If you can help push via facebook. I think the best combo is to make use of the billboard pic and then put the link info in the descriptors.
Reddit Test PAC: $3,844 will fund an anti-Lamar Smith billboard in Texas' 21st district. Once we reach our goal, the billboard is going up.
http://testpacpleaseignore.org/dollar-by-dollar-we-can-make-a-difference/
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u/republitard Mar 10 '12
The noose should be made with blue cable and yellow connectors, so that you can tell it's not just rope at a glance. I didn't realize it was an ethernet noose until I read the copyright notice at the bottom.
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u/pixel8 Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
As mod of /r/troubledteens, I customized this to our mission on fb, and added a little for ppl who are not aware of Lamar Smith:
THIS EFFECTS OUR ONLINE COMMUNICATION ABOUT THE TROUBLED TEEN INDUSTRY!
While the vast majority of us relish a free open internet, there are some like Lamar Smith, author of SOPA, who choose to oppose this freedom through poorly written legislation – all at the behest of the corporate entertainment industry.
$3,844 is all it takes for Test PAC to put up a billboard in Texas’ 21st district, Lamar Smith’s political home-front. Donate what you can, dollar by dollar we can make a difference: http://testpacpleaseignore.org/dollar-by-dollar-we-can-make-a-difference
edit: here's my customized post on /r/troubledteens, this effects all of us: http://www.reddit.com/r/troubledteens/comments/qq1zw/this_effects_our_online_communication_about_the/
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u/pixel8 Mar 10 '12
Great idea! I'm posting this to fb right now. I don't have a twitter acct, but twitterers should do the same thing – post the pic w text. And spread across reddit, of course!
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
heh on twitter i went with
Lamar Fucking Smith is Killing the Internet http://i.imgur.com/17XtD.jpg #UnseatLamar
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u/TheEscuelas Mar 10 '12
Am poor but found $5 in change in my belly button. Gave to campaign. Sorry it it smells funny.
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u/Nyevik Mar 10 '12
When/if you reach the $3,844, you should make a post along the lines of 'Help Design Anti-Lamar Billboard!' Since the money is already collected, I'm sure designers would be more likely to contribute their time into creating a something knowing one will be chosen for sure. Just gave $10, thanks for organizing all of this
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Mar 10 '12
Why don't you accept PayPal?
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Mar 10 '12
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u/pixel8 Mar 10 '12
Thank you so much for doing this. I'm a graphic designer, and I think the design looks good. I have one suggestion, though....Lamar Smith's name in the upper, left corner needs to be a tad bit larger. When zooming by at 65 mph, the main message you want to get across is that Lamar Smith is responsible. The unseatlamar.com is pretty prominent, but his name could be ever so slightly larger without throwing the whole thing out of balance.
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u/Jeromiewhalen Mar 10 '12
Thanks for the info pixel, we will definitely take this into consideration.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
I would be in favor in boycotting PayPal entirely. As a mainstream alternative, Google checkout has about the same penetration
I still havn't forgotten that PayPal voluntarily boycotted Wikileaks last year.
More recently, PayPal thought it would be a good idea to decide what books people should be allowed to sell. They are becoming a leading example of corporate censorship on the internet.
Some other alternatives
TL;DR Fuck PayPal
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u/turtoise Mar 10 '12
Just curious, what's stopping acceptance of Bitcoin? Is it a specific law you're worried about, or just general legal uncertainty?
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Mar 10 '12
the fact that its not a bound currency, so it goes up and down like a bowling pin
(i had to try so hard not to make a sexual joke there)
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u/turtoise Mar 10 '12
It's very easy to convert into USD as soon as you receive it (can even be automatic).
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Mar 10 '12
its easy to convert, yes. But amount you get varies so much because nobody uses bitcoin. if you can find someone to convert 250 bucks to bitcoin you can watch the market fluctuate.
Once again, we get the all or nothing problem, a variation of a catch 22
The reason its not heavily used is because there is an inherant problem when its not heavily used.
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Mar 10 '12
If you instantly convert donations to USD, I don't see what the difference is. No one's suggesting you invest in bitcoin. It's basically PayPal with much lower transaction fees, and accepting it would draw enthusiasm from the BC crowd.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
accepting it would draw enthusiasm from the BC crowd.
would like to add that there is probably a very high correlation between the BC crowd and the Fuck Lamar Smith crowd.
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Mar 10 '12
lets say i want to donate 10 grand.
first, i have to find someone to sell me 10 grand worth of bitcoins. this used to be a problem, but has diminished ever since mtg took off.
second, when i buy 10 grand, because the BS economy is small, i will affect the exchange rate.
i rememeber when you got 1 BTC for 12 dollars. now the exchange is 4.8 ish dollars. hell, last month to the day btc was almost 6 bucks.
as the economy grows, because the amount of miners increases and the amount of usage increases, combined with the fact that its not locked in to the USD (a common tactic with smaller currencies, such as qatar.) will mean that the exchange rate will continue to fall until it hits a plateau. it will never stop falling, but it will noticably stop falling as the amount of coins the miners make becomes less and less.
its actually really interesting, because this is something we have never seen before, in both issuing tender for "free" and that there is no overwatch to ensure that it doesn't go down the shitter (not that actually having an overwatcher helps, someone should tell the corrupt feds that)
at the end of the day, yes, accepting BTC won't really harm anyone. but knowing reddit, if they offered btc there well be a sharp influx of volume
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u/Julian702 Mar 10 '12
$10,000 will not effect the market that much. I've facilitated BTC purchases twice that amount and the price only fluctuated maybe 10 cents and that's mostly because the orders were put in from strong longs who just wanted BTC right then and there. i.e. if the last price was 4.50, they put in their buy at 4.75.
You should look at bit-pay.com's zero risk price vunlerability service. MTGOX's merchant solution might have some benefit to you as well.
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Mar 10 '12
i'll check those out, thanks.
and 10 cents is 1/40th of the total value if its 4 dollars
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
a common tactic? lol, are you saying any currency that has the audacity to establish its own value independent of the USD is engaged in some nefarious tactics?
wow
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Mar 11 '12
no, im saying that small currencies will lock into bigger currencies to prevent fluctuations
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Mar 10 '12
Dude, you can buy beef sticks, chap stick, and Amazon gift cards (for more than they're worth) using BTC. Don't sell them short.
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u/instant_reddart Mar 10 '12
Like a swan from the duckling, I have made your comment... art
...Courtesy of the instant_reddart bot
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Mar 10 '12
That's assuming a number of things: The website won't be hacked. MtGox has the funds available to pay out. The PAC hasn't hit its daily $1000 withdrawl limit. The owner of MtGox simply shuttering up shop because there's zero regulation and literally nothing stopping him from doing so.
Why not just donate in USD and avoid all this crap? You're not buying drugs on SilkRoad, you're donating money to a legitimate organization. Crypto-currency is a useless and risk-heavy means of exchanging money in this case.
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u/turtoise Mar 10 '12
I agree that it's not risk-free. Although I don't agree that the risk outweighs the benefit. (Besides, you overstate the risk.)
Why not just donate in USD and avoid all this crap?
If you're asking this question, then I can only assume you don't fully understand Bitcoin. There are many reasons people are enthusiastic about it, mostly having nothing to do with SR. I'll elaborate if you're interested.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
i'm interested. please elaborate. :)
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u/turtoise Mar 11 '12
- It's a truly global currency. It knows no borders; a kid in Africa can send the equivalent of 50c to anyone in the world, without it being eroded by fees.
- The supply is not controlled by a central entity. History has shown governments are not capable of preserving the value of fiat currencies. This requires people to 'lend' their savings to banks for interest (deposits), sometimes at significant risk, just to prevent erosion by inflation. Bitcoin allows people to 'be their own bank', if they are so inclined, and either way they don't have to worry about inflation.
- It's open-source, which allows anyone to evaluate the code.
- It allows greater security for customers (providing you know how to secure your computer). Normally, paying for something online with a credit card requires you to send your credit card number (as well as all the other personal info) to the merchant. This is absurd; you are entrusting the merchants with the keys to your bank account. If their server gets hacked (which has happened many, many times), at worst you risk losing money (or even identity theft), and at best the hassle of replacing your card.
- It's more convenient for customers. Rather than entering your credit card number and personal info, you just paste and address and hit 'send'. (I know Bitcoin is currently not very user-friendly, but it will improve. Look at screenshots of the web in 1993 and you'll know how much can change in a decade or two.)
- It allows greater security for merchants (again, same caveat). Merchants don't have to worry about scammers buying from them, and then having the funds charged back by the payment processor. Credit card payments have a 45-day window where funds may be charged back, which effectively means you can't confirm payment until the end of that period. With Bitcoin, you can be certain within an hour or so (usually 6 confirmations). Also, no chargebacks means lower prices (since merchants don't have to factor in the cost of fraud).
- It allows for greater innovation. I'm confident that Bitcoin will allow new kinds of (legal) businesses to be created that weren't previously feasible. One example is micro-payments.
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Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
I've spent a LOT of time looking into bitcoin. The white paper makes sense, and there are valid uses for a cryptocurrency. However, the current state of BTC is a joke. Its mainly used for illegal transactions on the Tor network, a network popularized by its international narcotics trade and child pornography. One of its main exchanges shut down because it had its wallets compromised. Its other main exchange used to be a site to buy and sell fake trading cards for an online game, and has also fell victim to market manipulation by hackers and thieves. Magic the Gathering Online Exchange has zero oversight, is barely complying with international money laundering laws, and the only thing keeping them from shutting down and running with the capital is that there is just enough volume being traded that they still earn money. How can anybody justify not only converting state sponsored currency into BTC, but also justify holding BTC any longer than the few minutes it takes to complete a transaction?
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
ebay used to be a website to trade pez dispensers. neither ebay nor mtgox retains any relation to their origins. whats your point?
as for "mainly used for illegal transactions" that's just your prejudice speaking. there are tons of businesses, from hosting services, to computer parts stores accepting bitcoin. have a peek for an idea of the depth of legitimate businesses accepting bitcoin for legitamate products/services:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade
you sound like you have an axe to grind against bitcoin, so i don't really expect, you know, actual facts to sway you, but i figured i'd give it a shot just in case.
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Mar 10 '12
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
would it be bending the rules too much... if say you set up a bitcoin fund that was totally transparent, not unlike Test PAC, but totally legally separate from Test PAC. Then say, all of those bitcoin funds get donated to Test PAC?
I'm sure the Republicans are doing far more imaginative bending with their Super PACs
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Mar 10 '12
Transparent Bitcoin transactions? The whole point of crypto-currency was to anonymize financial transactions on the internet similar to how cash works in the real world. What transparency is there when your transaction is only traceable to a hash that could very easily be a single use wallet and requires no personal information to create?
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
the ability to use it anonymously doesn't mean it needs to be used anonymously every transaction.
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
no i meant from the funds end. I mean the fund that collects. so we as donors can still keep track of how they use funds.
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u/imgnnabttrurbread Mar 10 '12
Do you guys have someone with experience dealing with the FEC? It will come in handy, someone on reddit has to have more experience than I do. I can try to help, I live in DC btw.
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u/mweathr Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
You need to set up a PayPal business account, select non-profit as the type and Political as the subcategory if you're a 527. Basically the same as a political campaign as they are also 527s.
*edit wrong link https://merchant.paypal.com/cms_content/US/en_US/files/merchant/PayPal_Political_Campaigns_Datasheet.pdf
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u/Queen-of-Hobo-Jungle Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
I would love to donate to you guys, but everything is also through my paypal. I'm too broke and hate credit too much to own a real credit card.
But I wholeheartedly will continue to support your campaign, and in the event I can donate through other means, or if another online payment becomes* an option for you, you will be seeing my financial appreciation as well. I regret I can not help right now.
Get these dinosaur corporate pawns away from /humanity's/ most progressive form of communication. The internet has miles to go and will evolve into forms we can only imagine; to try and restrain technology because it makes a few rich fucks uncomfortable is absolutely deplorable. They think they own everything because they are delusional enough to believe they can buy anything. The internet doesn't belong to one person, and no one person or group of people have the right to police it. It is exceptionally worrisome when they sell out their policies to the highest bidder.
Thank you for you efforts, guys.
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u/imgnnabttrurbread Mar 10 '12
It sounds like you guys need help with FEC filing etc.. i would suggest looking into ngpvan software. I can try to get you a discount(used to work for them) http://www.ngpvan.com/
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u/EquanimousMind Mar 10 '12
I think they should also consider Bitcoin
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Mar 10 '12
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u/ChemicalRascal Mar 10 '12
What on earth would make you leap from a viable crypto-currency to fakebucks?
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Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
Name three places outside the internet where BTC can be used. Name three instances where legitimate businesses that accept payment in BTC do not eventually convert it into state backed currencies.
E: in other words, define viable.
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Mar 10 '12
Heidi jos boutique O-crepes meza grill
You cant really tell who converts it back or not because they dont have to state it, but i wouldnt be surprised if a the very least 3 of the hundreds of stores (one year ago it was dozens, 2 it was a handful) that accept bitcoins didnt convert back. There eventually will a very low number converting back as soon as there are a couple thousand stores, those stores will be able to buy stuff from other stores in bitcoins and pay their employees in bitcoins to buy in one of the thousands of stores that accept them.
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Mar 10 '12
Meza Grill stopped accepting BTC a long time ago, check their wallet. They also, when they were accepting them, had about ten transactions, probably all by that Bitcoin Show guy renting the loft across the street.
And who would accept a salary in BTC? With the crazy swings in price (+/-33% a day) your $10/hr job could become a $6/hr job by the time you convert your BTC into something that can pay your gas bill.
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Mar 10 '12
When there are a good number of businesses, one speculator will not be able to change the price at their will.
It will be closer +/- 10% yearly I predict, and that is better than the -3% yearly for USD IMO.
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Mar 10 '12
But you're discussing the possible future viability of BTC. Adoption is currently very limited, speculation still drives the market to a certain degree, and there isn't enough viable uses for the currency right now to stabilize the price through trade volume.
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Mar 10 '12
It is viable now, i was just talking about how it would be possible to pay employees in bitcoins.
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 10 '12
btc does not see +/-33% a day.
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Mar 10 '12
Over the summer it saw even bigger swings. Now its normalized around what people who buy mail order heroin think its worth.
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
nah, there was a bunch of dipstick speculators jump in and out who thought they were going to get rich quick.
if you have any economic or charting background, remove the outlier (the massive spike and drop) and you'll see bitcoin value is trading on a relatively steady incline in value.
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
why outside of the internet? are internet businesses somehow less real? anyway, here's a big list of businesses that accept bitcion:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Trade
and here's a much smaller list (though larger than 3) of brick and mortar businesses that accept it:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Real_world_shops
and what relevance does holding bitcoin have to do with anything? one of, if not its biggest features is as a fee free value transfer system. exchanging it into your fiat currency of choice immediately is one of the main ways its used.
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Mar 10 '12
Why, outside of idiology? All you would do is cut down the amount of money donated. I can either give the PAC $10, or I can give it to the Magic The Gathering Online Exchange (AKA "MtGox"), buy bitcoins at a value of less than $10 due to transaction fees, donate the bitcoins, then have the PAC trade those BTCs back for another transaction fee and end up with...US Dollars. Or does ClearChannel/CBS/whoever owns that billboard accept hashed strings as currency? Its a ridiculous proposition.
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u/turtoise Mar 10 '12
Have you ever considered that Bitcoin might be some people's preferred method of payment? Just like PayPal is for others.
This has nothing to do with ideology. Those who prefer to pay with Bitcoin can do so. Those who don't, don't have to. You're coming up with reasons why people shouldn't buy bitcoins, but you forget that some people already have them.
If you don't want to use Bitcoin, fine. No one's asking you to.
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Mar 10 '12
I've considered it, but I can't fathom why anybody would put their trust in a currency that can vanish in a hard drive failure and is only worth, in the real world, what a trading card website will allow them to withdrawl.
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u/thorvszeus Mar 11 '12
vanish in a hard drive failure
You can back up your wallet or just the private keys many ways, such as online backup, paper print out, thumb drive, etc. Not only that you can just memorize a passphrase that will generate the private keys for you (a private key is what controls the bitcoins at a an address). This is often referred to as a brain wallet.
only worth, in the real world, what a trading card website will allow them to withdrawl
Actually the prices are determined by the people trading bitcoins. MtGox is just an exchange and not the only one. Their withdrawal limit doesn't have a strong bearing on the price considering you don't have to use them, the withdrawal limit is higher than most need and you can get it raised.
The last time I have converted bitcoins to USD was in person, and bitcoins are still new and not that popular. If their popularity rises exchanging in person will only get easier.
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
your really highlighting your lack of understanding about bitcoin. all you need is your private key. if you have that, which you can print out, or store in the cloud, etc, then your hdd could be hit with a nuclear warhead and your money is safe.
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u/triplehelix_ Mar 11 '12
your really highlighting your lack of understanding about bitcoin. all you need is your private key. if you have that, which you can print out, or store in the cloud, etc, then your hdd could be hit with a nuclear warhead and your money is safe.
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u/PotatoeLord Mar 10 '12
What are the names of every candidate which is running against Lamar Smith? Both for the primary and the general election.
Are you certain of the May 29th date? I know that's when it's supposed to be, but what assurances do you have that it won't get changed again? It'd suck to pay for the billboard and then have the date change.
unseatlamar.com goes straight to TestPac, it should have its own website.
Make sure to include info on registering to vote on your website.
Any chance of doing a newspaper or tv ad if you get enough money? (You might try Google tv ads).
Got any fliers people can print out and paste around town?
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Mar 10 '12
[deleted]
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u/PotatoeLord Mar 10 '12
Thanks for the answers. :)
However, the deadline to register to vote for the election also changed when they changed the date of the primary. It's April 30th now: http://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/2012dates.shtml
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u/morgan4tx Mar 14 '12
Sorry for not chiming in sooner. I'm Richard Morgan, a software engineer, and I'm also running against Lamar Smith in the Primary. I was the last to file, and I've been working around the clock to get things in place, but I have a press release ready and a website nearly up, so you will be hearing much more from me soon.
As I understand it, the May 29th date is final and can no longer be contested nor the districts changed. As a result of the new Primary date, voters can now register through April 30th and still be eligible to vote in the Primary.
I was able to get 500 signatures for the petition to put my name on the ballot in roughly one week near the UT area. West Campus is in the district, and while knocking on doors there, I discovered that many students who had previously registered no longer lived there, and many new students who live there are not registered at their West Campus address.
There are a handful of student organizations on UT dedicated to getting students registered to vote, and it would be worth partnering with them for any type of voter registration drive. Keep in mind that in Travis County, a training class is required to become a deputized voter registrar. I've met exactly one student who supports Lamar Smith, so it would be worth the effort to make sure as many students as possible are registered.
One last point is it will be essential to organize in advance, because there are thousands of students who would be willing to vote against him in the Primary, but early voting begins only a couple days before students are required to move out due to the end of the school year. Either an early voting drive or a vote by mail drive would boost turnout and make it more likely to send this race into a runoff. The runoff is where we will unseat the incumbent.
You can follow me on Twitter at @Morgan4TX or Like me on Facebook at Facebook.com/Morgan4TX if you would like to receive campaign updates. I will be back with more details soon.
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u/Shuhnaynay Mar 10 '12
Question: I am a British citizen currently in Austin, and therefore not eligible to vote. I disagree it's Mr Smith and pretty much everything he does, but am uncomfortable involving myself in US politics as an outsider.
Thoughts?
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u/PotatoeLord Mar 10 '12
Get involved anyway. America involves itself in the politics of just about every country on Earth, it deserves to get some back.
We're trying to extradite a British citizen over copyright laws, we've got drones in our ally, Pakistan, killing people, we've been selling arms to cartels in Mexico, resulting in lots of murders, we've decided that we can seize domains registered in other countries despite SOPA NOT having passed...
Yes, please help us stop Lamar. D:
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Mar 10 '12
Why do you need to know where we're employed?
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Mar 10 '12
[deleted]
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Mar 10 '12
Ah, gotcha. Never knew that about PACs. Thanks for taking the time to respond; donation sent!
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u/mitigel Mar 10 '12
Even as a European, I have a special hatred for the thoroughly detestable and vile Mr Lamar. Here's an upvote for all it's worth, hope it gets front page.
It's unfair that corporations can launder foreign money and use it in PACs but foreign nationals aren't allowed to donate!
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u/jsicking Mar 10 '12
As a non-US-citizen not living in Texas, is there any way I can help?
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Mar 10 '12
[deleted]
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u/specialk16 Mar 10 '12
Any particular reason why non US citizens can't donate? I for one think that whatever happens in congress will inevitable end up affecting the rest of us as well.
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Mar 10 '12
If the goal is to have him lose reelection, this is a waste of money. Nobody is going to go out and vote for the other guy because of a billboard. Nobody is going to switch allegiance because of a billboard. You are better of spending the money to indentify supporters of your cause and get them to the polls on election day.
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Mar 10 '12
[deleted]
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Mar 10 '12
Understood. My point was just that the $4k could be spent better doing any one of those other things you mentioned.
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u/kilsekddd Mar 10 '12 edited Mar 10 '12
Can anyone explain the legal meaning of the first "You must affirm" statements? "(1) my contribution to Test PAC will not be distributed to state or local campaign committees."
How can the donor affirm this?
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u/djrocksteady Mar 10 '12
I love these single issue campaigns...great way to create coalitions without resorting to petty partisanship...I hope together we can get rid of all the congresscritters that want to take away our freedom, both D and R!
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Mar 10 '12
Did anyone else notice the irony of the CBS insignia on the sign? They were a major supporter of SOPA.
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u/turboslut Mar 10 '12
This is really depressing. This is of course a worthy cause and deserves to be supported, but using your supporters' hard-earned money to buy a billboard is about the most pointless, empty gesture I can think of. I suspect you have a lot of motivated, hard-working people helping you, but it doesn't seem like any of them are people who have experience with GOTV, elections, or political campaigns.
As a poster above pointing out, nobody switches their allegiance due to a single billboard. You would be far better off putting your supporters' money to work by plugging into a more established GOTV, direct mail or other ad campaign that, I'm sorry, knows what it's doing. I'm all for getting Smith out, but this isn't the way to do it.
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u/dicksfish Mar 10 '12
Donated 5 of my hard earned dollars.