Curt Doolittle

Form: Quote Commentary

  • RUSSIA DECLARES BITCOIN A MONEY SUBSTITUTE –“CB noted that according to Article

    RUSSIA DECLARES BITCOIN A MONEY SUBSTITUTE

    –“CB noted that according to Article 27 of the Federal Law “On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation” issuing “money substitutes” on the territory of the Russian Federation is prohibited.

    The regulator also noted that Bitcoin transactions are classified in the category of questionable transactions.

    The Bank of Russia noted that there is no provision for virtual currency and legally obligated economic agents: “Operations on them [virtual currency] are speculative in nature, carried out on the so-called” virtual exchanges “and carry a high risk of loss of value,” – said the Central Bank.

    In addition, as noted by the regulator, the company may inadvertently be parties to the transaction on money laundering, in connection with the fact that the release of virtual currencies engaged in anonymous actors.

    In this regard, the Bank of Russia intends to consider the provision of services to Russian companies Bitcoin exchange for rubles and foreign currency as a potential involvement in the implementation of suspicious transactions.

    CBA first outlined the position in relation to the Bitcoins. Earlier, similar statements were made by other regulators. National Bank of China, for example, forbade banks to use their virtual currency than provoked the collapse of Bitcoin rate to 50 percent. Cautions on the use of Crypto-currency were also isused by CB France, India and Estonia. Nevertheless, none of them did not declare questionable transactions with Bitcoin.

    January 24 Sberbank head German Gref defended the virtual currency. Leader of the largest in Russia Financial Organization said in an interview with Bloomberg, he had sent letters to the Presidential Administration, the Central Bank and Ministry of Finance to prevent the spread of e-money restrictions.’–

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-28 05:19:00 UTC

  • UKRAINE: ECONOMICS DIVISION OF CULTURAL INTEREST –” eastern Ukraine, notably it

    UKRAINE: ECONOMICS DIVISION OF CULTURAL INTEREST

    –” eastern Ukraine, notably its industrial Donetsk basin, feared that growing integration with the EU would wipe out their region’s antiquated manufacturing industry, mining, steel firms, commodity companies and chemical plants, causing high unemployment.”– Eric Margolis

    I didn’t understand this until Max explained it to me this week. But last night I read up on it. It’s true. Eastern Ukraine’s Russian speakers and western Ukraine’s agrarians would be differently affected by moves east or west.

    The west is catholic polish and speaks Ukrainian. The east is byzantine, Russified, and speaks Russian. Although you must understand that genetically, Ukraine is a very diverse, and the data I have seen is that it contains every western tribe in greater mix than any other state I’ve seen.

    I tend to see spiritual differences as meaningless, but differences economic interests are irreconcilable.

    So I overnight I started leaning more toward dividing this torn country. With each side maintaining independence. Two Ukraine’s are the best allies for independent Ukrainians.

    Smaller is better.

    Always.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-28 03:53:00 UTC

  • INTOLERANCE DEMONSTRATES A LACK OF MORAL COURAGE –“social intolerance, kills no

    INTOLERANCE DEMONSTRATES A LACK OF MORAL COURAGE

    –“social intolerance, kills no one, roots out no opinions, but induces men to disguise them, or to abstain from any active effort for their diffusion. […] And thus is kept up a state of things very satisfactory to some minds, because, without the unpleasant process of fining or imprisoning anybody, it maintains all prevailing opinions outwardly undisturbed, while it does not absolutely interdict the exercise of reason by dissentients afflicted with the malady of thought. A convenient plan for having peace in the intellectual world, and keeping all things going on therein very much as they do already. But the price paid for this sort of intellectual pacification, is the sacrifice of the entire moral courage of the human mind.”– JS Mill

    COUNTER PROPOSITION (One of my favorite quotes)

    “Whenever we say we are being tolerant, we must ask whether our tolerance is a matter of convenience or conviction. Tolerance is costly. It is an investment in the commons. If being tolerant is easy, it’s most likely that it’s a convenience – we’re just failing to pay the cost of maintaining the moral commons.}

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-26 04:39:00 UTC

  • “Mathematics, as a discipline created by human beings, has some ‘meaning’ with i

    “Mathematics, as a discipline created by human beings, has some ‘meaning’ with it which cannot be reduced to mere sequence of logical symbols. We can understand mathematics not by transforming mathematical proofs into logical symbols and checking that there is no mistake applying logical rules, but by understanding the ‘meaning’ indicated by the theorems. Thus, the mental world of mathematics can also be explained by the function of metaphors, our brain’s inferring mechanism. This is the idea shared by G. Lakoff and R.E. Nunez”

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-23 17:20:00 UTC

  • KIRK ON VIOLENCE “In every principal premise of his argument, Stephen declared,

    KIRK ON VIOLENCE

    “In every principal premise of his argument, Stephen declared, Mills suffered from an inadequate understanding of human nature and history. All the great moments of humankind said Stephen, have been achieved by force, not by free discussion; and if we leave forced out of our calculations, very soon we will be subject to the intolerant wills of men who have no scruples about employing force against us. It is consummate folly to tolerate every variety of opinion, on every topic, out of devotion to an abstract “liberty”; for opinion soon finds its expression in action, and the fanatics whom we tolerated will not tolerate us when they have power.” (Pages 23–24).

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-23 16:08:00 UTC

  • AETNA CEO: ONLY 11% ARE FORMERLY UNINSURED. OBAMACARE A FAILURE “Obamacare has j

    AETNA CEO: ONLY 11% ARE FORMERLY UNINSURED. OBAMACARE A FAILURE

    “Obamacare has just shifted people who were insured in the individual market to the public exchanges where they could get a better deal on a subsidy for coverage. “We see only 11 percent of the population is actually people that were firmly uninsured that are now insured. So [it] didn’t really eat into the uninsured population.”

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-22 22:47:00 UTC

  • MEN SHOULD BOYCOTT MARRIAGE

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D33L4zxjpH0WHY MEN SHOULD BOYCOTT MARRIAGE

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-22 06:42:00 UTC

  • TALKS ARE VAPID, CULTY MASS-SELFIES” “The long knives have been out for TED Talk

    http://www.theawl.com/2014/01/what-if-these-seven-famous-ted-talks-are-just-totally-wrong?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheAwl+%28The+Awl%29″TED TALKS ARE VAPID, CULTY MASS-SELFIES”

    “The long knives have been out for TED Talks for some time. Benjamin Bratton called them “middlebrow megachurch infotainment.” Evegny Morozov called the TED publishing arm the “insatiable kingpin of international meme laundering.” The gist of these arguments is that TED Talks are vapid, culty mass-selfies that fetishize technology for every solution. It is “placebo science” meant to make its audience feel good about learning and themselves, where ideas can hang out and do whatever, man—just turn the safety off on your brain-gun.”

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-20 09:11:00 UTC

  • 12th Century Ethnic Slurs (What on earth is a ‘tail-bearer’?) “‘the English were

    12th Century Ethnic Slurs

    (What on earth is a ‘tail-bearer’?)

    “‘the English were drunks and tail-bearers, the French arrogant, weak and effeminate, the Germans furious, with disgusting manners, the Normans vain and boastful, the Poitevins traitors and adventurers. The Burgundians were reputed to be vulgar and stupid. They reproached the Bretons for being frivolous and fickle, often teasing them about Arthur’s death. They called the Lombards greedy, malicious and cowardly; the Romans seditious, violent and avaricious; the Sicilians tyrannical and cruel; the Brabanters bloodthirsty, arsonists, brigands and rapists; the Flemish self-indulgent, rich, gluttonous, and weak and soft as butter.” — “Ethnic Stereotyping in Twelfth-Century Paris” in Difference and Identity in Francia and Medieval France [pgs. 117-118

    Humans Never Change : We gossip and shame. Signal Machines. We do it with words instead of leaving a chemical trail. But it’s the same behavior just at a higher level of complexity

    Via HBD Chick.

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-17 01:36:00 UTC

  • “This guy wants to tell me we’re living in a community? Don’t make me laugh. I’m

    –“This guy wants to tell me we’re living in a community? Don’t make me laugh. I’m living in America, and in America you’re on your own. America’s not a country. It’s just a business. Now f___kin’ pay me.”–

    Killing Them Softly (2012)

    Source date (UTC): 2014-01-16 14:33:00 UTC