Ripple is a scam cryptocurrency. Pity, since the alleged design is more scalable than bitcoin. A cryptocurrency is mainly worth its speculative value, worth the possibility it could replace the US$. Obviously Ripple is not going to replace the US$, being a wholly controlled muppet of Cathedral minions. If Ripple was funded by Baidu rather than Google, I would be on it like a tomcat on a pussy in heat.
Category: crypto
Bitcoin scaling problems
When bitcoin was first proposed, I argued that the proposed algorithm failed to scale. Well, when getting started, scaling does not matter. Now, however, a bitcoin wallet is starting to cost substantial bandwidth and processing power. There are plans to address this, but I am underwhelmed by those plans. The proposed plans will make bitcoin more centralized, and will still have scaling issues. Seems to me that we need an algorithm …
All your skypes belong to Microsoft
All Your Skype Are Belong To Us Microsoft is reading everything you write Skype used to be the most secure instant messaging system and I have frequently recommended it on this basis. Microsoft, under Bill Gates, used to be the big company most willing to protect user’s privacy. Skype was recently purchased by Microsoft. Heise Security then reproduced the events by sending two test HTTPS URLs, one containing login information …
Bitcoin as a speculative bet
Charting bitcoin, it looks good, if you are inclined to gamble on charts. The recent collapse from two hundred dollars tested support at the hundred dollar mark, found plenty of support around there. By and large, it is a good idea to buy at major support levels, since a speculative property is a lot more likely to go up than to break through the support level.  If it did not …
Free reaction.la email addresses
For as long as comments remain open on this post, you can get a free someone@reaction.la email address, such that any mail sent to someone@reaction.la will be forwarded to the address requested in your comment. I have discovered that yahoo does not like people registering email addresses by proxy, and google likes one true name to rule them all, insisting on it as part of the android operating system, among …
Google is evil
Firefox reports your IP and all nearby wifi systems to Google. Thunderbird reports your IP to Google. From the nearby wifi systems, Google can locate you relative to nearby wifi points.. From a multitude of browsers reporting in, it can locate wifi systems relative to each other. When it does ground level photo drives for Google Earth, it locates wifi systems relative to streets and houses. Knowing the location of …
Lara Logan and the media rules
Caroline Glick analyzes the coverage: Identity politics revolve around the narrative of victimization. For adherents to identity politics, the victim is not a person, but a member of a privileged victim group. That is, the status of victimhood is not determined by facts, but by membership in an identity group. Stories about victims are not dictated by facts. Victim stories are tailored to fit the victim. Facts, values and individual …
Diebold voting machines horribly wrong
xkcd gets it exactly right
One mode, and it is secure
Ian Grigg correctly argues that any internet protocol that has an insecure mode can never be made secure, thus if security is introduced as after thought, will never be secure. Https is exactly such a bolted on afterthought, and to use it one must pay money, and suffer substantial inconvenience. Further, it is a woefully inefficient protocol, so people always try to minimize their use of it to only what …