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A place to discuss topics/games with other webDiplomacy players.
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brainbomb (295 D)
30 May 17 UTC
Battle in Texas over Sanctuary Cities
http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/29/us/texas-lawmaker-scuffle/index.html
15 replies
Open
brainbomb (295 D)
27 May 17 UTC
Is Trump secretly movong left of center?
Just noting that between the promise to send a manned mission to mars which will cost a fortune, and the recent hint that the US may stay tye course with Paris Climate accords; is Trump actually going left?
17 replies
Open
orathaic (1009 D(B))
30 May 17 UTC
(+3)
Nothing to see here, move along
https://aheadofthe.news/media-ignores-20-million-muslims-who-march-against-isis/

Millions march against ISIS
3 replies
Open
Zmaj (215 D(B))
29 May 17 UTC
(+4)
You go, girl!
Merkel is finally flexing her considerable muscle.
46 replies
Open
Ogion (3817 D)
28 May 17 UTC
Another terrorist attack kills two
How many more of these do we need to have before we start deporting these people or locking them up?

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/may/27/portland-double-murder-white-supremacist-muslim-hate-speech
22 replies
Open
Player needed
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=198628&msgCountryID=0&rand=31979#chatboxanchor
3 replies
Open
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
Should Jared Kushner security clearance be suspended?
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/335243-dnc-suspend-kushner-security-clearance-amid-fbi-scrutiny

The DNC, for political purposes obviously, wants to suspend Jared Kushner's security clearance. What ever happened to innocent until proven guilty? I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason by Jared secretly met with the CEO from VEB, the Russian state-owned bank.
11 replies
Open
ND (879 D)
26 May 17 UTC
Cryptocurrency discussion
http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-bitcoin-the-cryptocurrency-explained-2017-5
ND (879 D)
26 May 17 UTC
So, I am wondering if this is legit. Can anyone here with any knowledge of this explain to me if it is legit or not? I am looking into it, but I wanted to know if anyone has any experience in these markets and if it is a scam or not. Consider this thread a discussion on the merits and pitfalls of cryptocurrency.
JamesYanik (548 D)
26 May 17 UTC
it's real, it's not a scam. however, it's also extraordinarily volatile, and the kind of thing i wouldn't recommend investing in.
JamesYanik (548 D)
26 May 17 UTC
of course if you're savvy, the volatility can work to your advantage. but not a safe long term investment... perhaps due to the fact it's unique. we don't have much reference to how this will unfold in the long run, plus if the FED keeps hiking rates, we're going to see better investment opportunities.
ND (879 D)
26 May 17 UTC
It freaks me out that, according to business insider, bitcoin went from 1,200 dollars in April to 2,800 dollars in May. That's crazy. It does seem very volatile. I can see why someone may want to invest in it, but what value does cryptocurrency provide people?
JamesYanik (548 D)
26 May 17 UTC
1. investment
2. some places actually accept it as currency
JamesYanik (548 D)
26 May 17 UTC
the more interest in it, the more it's worth. once it gets worth a LOT people will get nervous, and fear will drive it down.

human nature applied in social-fiat currency.
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
@ND, few things I'd prefer to see than you losing money in the free market. Like tulip bulbs or anything else with nothing backing them, bitcoin is destined to fail. Currency backed by gold is good (as long as gold's value doesn't go to shit) and even currency backed by the full faith and credit of the US Government will retain value just as long as the government retains its ability to collect taxes. (The real risk from dollar denominated investments is not from default, but rather from inflation -- the only thing that can really harm their value).
Pluglife (349 D)
26 May 17 UTC
The genius of Bitcoin, in my opinion is that it mimics being a resource in itself, like digital gold, because it must be mined out of data... I was really interested in bitcoin around 2011, but made the decision not to buy any as an investment. looking into it the other day I saw that a bitcoin was worth $2600 Canadian. It was $5 when I looked into it and concluded it would be overtaken by something better... and the moral of the story is... I'm still poor. At the price it is today I can't see it as a very safe investment, however, on the other hand (See Above).
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
But digital gold has no alternate purpose. Granted, most of gold's value is as a "storehouse of wealth" because other people believe that it has value, but gold does have an intrinsic value. It doesn't tarnish or rust and is used as a component is applications that require those features.
Pluglife (349 D)
26 May 17 UTC
@Hauta, I doubt that this is news to you, but US currency is backed up, by global need for oil... It is a misconception that the US goes to war over physical oil, it is the need for that oil to be sold in US currency that gives the Dollar its value.
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
please elaborate. I know that oil sales are generally denominated in dollars because the dollar is pretty stable. But your reasoning, if I understand it, is circular. If countries agreed to denominate oil sales in Euros or Yuan (as they have tried), the dollar would still have value.
orathaic (1009 D(B))
26 May 17 UTC
Bitcoin is useful for anonymous transactions. Though all transactions are recorded in the blockchain, the identities of the owners are not.

It is also fast, and cheap. To transfer bitcoin you just need an ip address/wallet (not sure of the details myself) and iit has a tiny transaction fee (to have your transactions included in the next block being mined out (it started with mining blocks minting new bitcoins, and the algorithm is slowly shifting towards less coins being minted, and more transaction fees being paid to the miners - so they still get to make money so long as the currency is being utilised...)

So you get to cut out the middle man, no banks, no credit card companies, no state (potentially no taxes), and only pay a transaction fee to the miners (the more you pay the faster your transactiongets included, but i think it is still trivial as new coons are still the primary income for miners).

So as a medium for exchange, it has advantages over the alternatives (paypal, for example). And thus there is demand.

So long as the demand and the supply keep up the value of bitcoin will be relatively stable. (Of course with large investments and high volatility in the market, the demand is currently driven by speculators... But in principle, so long as demand and supply remain stable, so should the price...)

Also look up the theft from MtGex (one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges at the time).

Afaik the main use was for illegal goods, because you could buy and sell illegal drugs online via the silk road. But i believe someone also tried to sell his house in bitcoin. Silk road has been shutdown, so i don't know what most transactions are currently based on.
orathaic (1009 D(B))
26 May 17 UTC
Sorry MtGox : https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mt._Gox
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
What happens if I invent a supercomputer that can "mine" new bitcoins faster than anyone thought was possible. Would that tank the bitcoin market?
Pluglife (349 D)
26 May 17 UTC
@Hauta, When the US moved away from the gold standard, they made agreements with the nations of OPEC that stipulated that all oil sales would be done in American Dollars. This means that to this day, every country must hold american dollars to purchase oil if they need to import it. This way they can back their own currencies against their stockpiles of USd. If Oil were to be able to be sold in other currencies, there would be no need to stockpile USd, thus resulting in mass inflation and a currency crisis. That is why when countries sell their Oil in Euro's (Iraq) or their own currencies (Libya Tunisia Egypt Iran) The American government can't have it. They are trying to plug the holes in their leaky boat of an international fiat currency system.

That was a very very brief summary of the topic. If you are still interested, please look up more on the "PetroDollar". It was Nixon's brilliant idea, and it has somehow not completely collapsed yet.

http://faculty.georgetown.edu/imo3/petrod/define.htm
ND (879 D)
26 May 17 UTC
I've read that some computers are built and sold primarily for mining.
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
@Plug, I looked up that link. It doesn't support what you are saying.
Pluglife (349 D)
26 May 17 UTC
@Hauta It's a general overview of what the Petrodollar is. Not a full overview on how it drives foreign policy etc. I will let you do your own research on that subject. If you are concerned about fiat currency and its dubious value, and the dangers of inflation, I think you will find it interesting.
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
@Plug, you made the assertion that "every country must hold american dollars to purchase oil if they need to import it" and that this is to "back their own currencies". It just doesn't make sense. You should be able to buy on the spot market in any freely tradable currency. When buying on the futures market, I can see why the parties would AGREE to use dollars (and might even buy hedges just in case the value of the dollar deviates). As to "backing" the local currency, FX reserves are good because they show that the local country has its fiscal house in order -- that it is not even close to printing money to stay afloat. I suggest that YOU do some more research.
orathaic (1009 D(B))
27 May 17 UTC
I've seen mining 'computers' they don't have regular cpus, so aren't really computers, but instead have very good architecture to explicitally solve the bitcoin mining algorithm's problem (so floating point operation, where you almost hardcode the calculations into the hardware).

This allows miners to use a tiny amount of electricity to process a huge amount of data (like 15-20 Watts i think). But the ROI on those machines seems rather low now, and competition with other miners is huge.

I believe, however, if you built a supercomputer, so you had all the porcessing power in the world, you would not increase the production of bitcoins. The algorithm would make it harder to produce coins the more processing power you applied - so oversupply isn't an issue.

That said, once you gained 51% of the global processing power applied to bitcoin mining, you would be able to add whatever transactions you wanted to the block chain (like giving yourself all the bitcoins), and 'win' the majority of the calculations to validate those transactions.

Unfortunately stealing all bitcoins from everyone would immediately devalue them completely, so that is a rather pointless thing to do (and also next to impossible).

And since the entire blockchain is public, agrieved customers could attempt to go back in tine to hefore the theft occured, and create new blocks without your transactions... (To get themselves back on track).
Hauta (1618 D(S))
27 May 17 UTC
You know a lot. What is the basis of finding a new coin? Is it based on prime numbers or something else, like what makes it progressively harder?
orathaic (1009 D(B))
27 May 17 UTC
The algorithm.

The difficulty is something to do with proving a new block of transactions are valid. Which is what makes the blockchain work.

But i think blocks can be solved a ser difficulty, while mining coins may vary... I'm not sure. But even before you would be able to 'mine all the coins' (i'm pretty sure it doesn't work that way), you would have more than 51% of the processing power, and would be able to reject other solutions (alternative transactions) i'm pretty sure once a block is made, it can be verified very easily, so anyone can do it, but making it is hard (computationally intensive...).

And now i've reached beyond the limit of my knowledge.

I do know scarcity of bitcoins produced is built into the algorithm. There is a macimum total which can ever be mined, with the payout halfing every 18 months (or similar timeframe) - and miners will he paid mostly from transaction fees eventually...
Hauta (1618 D(S))
27 May 17 UTC
So, in this land of the blind, you are the one-eyed man, huh?
steephie22 (182 D(S))
27 May 17 UTC
There's probably some two-eyed people lurking who can't be bothered to explain it to people for the billionth time ;-)
Fluminator (1500 D)
28 May 17 UTC
I've made a reasonable amount investing in bitcoin.
Unfortunately I sold off most of mine because I didn't think it would keep getting this high, but hindsight is 20/20
Randomizer (722 D)
28 May 17 UTC
They are speculative currencies with high volatility compared to other types. It's the same with any other investment on guessing the high. The only thing is did you make a profit.


26 replies
Hauta (1618 D(S))
24 May 17 UTC
First advertiser pulls ads from Sean Hannity show
http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/cars-leaves-sean-hannity-dust-pulls-advertising-article-1.3193120

Cars.com just pulled their ads from Hannity over the Seth Rich fake news propagated by Hannity even after Fox retracted the story. Corporate censorship of the press? Nope.
72 replies
Open
Hippopankake (80 D)
21 May 17 UTC
James Bond
If James Bond is the worlds most famous spy
Doesn't that make him the worlds worst spy?
17 replies
Open
Valis2501 (2850 D(G))
27 May 17 UTC
(+1)
Need F2F player (Skype?) Right now urgent
Our 7th flaked need a warm body in Boston or someone who can telecon ASAP, PM or email me if available in next 20 minutes
5 replies
Open
JimTheGrey (968 D(S))
27 May 17 UTC
#MootAbides
Weasel Moot XI--the premier tournament of the Windy City Weasels Diplomacy club and past host of two WDCs--will be June 23-25 at the Diversey River Bowl in Chicago.
2 replies
Open
Hauta (1618 D(S))
26 May 17 UTC
WSJ article about collusion between GOP and Russians
https://www.wsj.com/articles/how-alleged-russian-hacker-teamed-up-with-florida-gop-operative-1495724787

Yeah, I know that the WSJ is not conservative enough for some of y'all, but it is intriguing nonetheless. You know, the way journalists connect dots and shit.
24 replies
Open
ntrung670 (0 DX)
27 May 17 UTC
LIVE
JOIN QUICK!!!
1 reply
Open
lalaland (0 DX)
26 May 17 UTC
One spot left live game
http://webdiplomacy.net/board.php?gameID=199465
0 replies
Open
Jamiet99uk (1307 D)
24 May 17 UTC
(+1)
US intelligence leaks compromise UK terrorism investigation.
After the Manchester bombing, US intelligence has repeatedly leaked confidential information about the UK's investigation. Seems like US officers are taking after Trump.
Could you just fuck off instead please?
27 replies
Open
RLH (132 D)
25 May 17 UTC
FtF Tournaments
Hello webdippers. Some of you know me already, but for those of you who don't, I'm an active FtF player, tournament-goer, and on the board of the North American Diplomacy Federation (NADF), which seeks to encourage FtF play, at both house games and tournaments, throughout North America.
14 replies
Open
MajorMitchell (1605 D)
21 May 17 UTC
(+3)
US politics is now the best & worst "reality show" around today.
It's damaging the credibility and reputation of a once great nation
108 replies
Open
Lex1 (45 D)
20 May 17 UTC
New game
Hey guys I'm going to start a new modern diplomacy game soon. If you want to sign up then please write your username followed by I WANT TO SIGN UP in all caps.
6 replies
Open
Jamiet99uk (1307 D)
21 May 17 UTC
Who would you kill?
I was having a deep and thoughtful conversation with a beautiful friend and, to my slight surprise, they mentioned that they would be happy to assist with the killing and disposal of several individuals we both know.
44 replies
Open
Chaqa (3971 D(B))
25 May 17 UTC
Need replacement for team game
Hey everyone, Team MOAB needs a replacement for Spain in gameID=197073. The only requirements are:
1. Use Google Hangouts
2. Be willing to drop MOAB on enemy
6 replies
Open
Hauta (1618 D(S))
24 May 17 UTC
Time to end Obama era sanctions on Russia?
Would it be better to let job creating trade flourish rather than hurting both countries economically? Can Russia be our friend?
85 replies
Open
orathaic (1009 D(B))
25 May 17 UTC
The Phillipines
Just because i've been away for a few days, somehow there is no thread about this... One news headline (paraphrased) 'ISIS captures city in Philipines!' Is rather click baity... But goes in to refer to the 'Most Catholic country in south east asia'.
6 replies
Open
Carebear (100 D)
25 May 17 UTC
ODC @ PDET - Assignments Out
The assignments went out 24 hours ago and some of you all have not yet picked up your messages. Please come on over and join your games. :D
3 replies
Open
Refusing to draw in established stalemate
Is there a rule that if stalemate is made and it lasts for 3 years with no changes in a sc count, draw can be forced, or something like that?
3 replies
Open
orathaic (1009 D(B))
25 May 17 UTC
On dna databases
http://www.nature.com/news/china-expands-dna-data-grab-in-troubled-western-region-1.22033

This is what colonial/state oppression looks like. As far as anarchist are concerned they are one and the same, the state oppresses its own people, the colonial empire oppress other peoples. In China they have this lovely grey area...
5 replies
Open
brainbomb (295 D)
23 May 17 UTC
(+1)
Why is Terrorism the only time people feel a visceral response?
I noticed recently there was an incident where a man crashed his car into multiple people injuring many and killing someone. But because it was not terrorism, people did not seem motivated in the same manner against alcoholism as they would have if he were a terrorist. If he had indeed been from any Muslim country at all, and also under the influence of alcohol, one has to wonder if people would just automatically assume it was a terror plot.
91 replies
Open
Hauta (1618 D(S))
22 May 17 UTC
American reporter arrested for asking questions to Trump HHS Secretary
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/10/business/media/reporter-arrested-tom-price.html

Freedom of the press is an integral part of the 1st amendment. Just wondering how rightwing media handled or ignored this story about Dan Heyman, the reporter that was arrested for asking persistent questions to Tom Price, HHS Secretary.
54 replies
Open
JECE (1322 D)
11 May 17 UTC
(+2)
On how PPSC scoring does not encourage players to throw games
In our recent discussion (threadID=1432961), many mods and fellow pillars of the community claimed that when you have two Great Powers in a game that have between 12 and 16 supply centers, one of these Great Powers has a (D) points-incentive to throw the game. I disagreed and this puzzled my fellow users, but only Lethologica took the bait when I explained my position. Here it is again:
32 replies
Open
Oztra (30 DX)
25 Mar 17 UTC
(+3)
Bump
Because I'm a new pleb, I'm not sure what bump means.
I've been seeing people use it a lot, and am unsure of the context and meaning behind this phrase
133 replies
Open
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