Quantum computing as a threat to Bitcoin

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Another threat to Bitcoin. Quantum computing:

Quantum computers and the Bitcoin blockchain

An analysis of the impact quantum computers might have on the Bitcoin blockchain

Regarding the threat from a quantum computer, the public key is directly obtainable from the address. Since all transactions in Bitcoin are public, anyone can obtain the public key from any p2pk address. A quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could then be used to derive the private key from this address. This would allow an adversary who has a quantum computer to spend the coins that the address had.

Google Aims for Commercial-Grade Quantum Computer by 2029.

A friend who was lured out of early retirement after multiple successful startups claims he has held a million (IIRC) qubit chip in his hand. He told me about this in January of 2020 when he was seeking funding to take it commercial. The last time I talked to him about this COVID had halted his funding quest.

Whether it is Google, IBM, Microsoft, other big names, or any number of startups who want a piece of the pie quantum computing is going shake up a lot of things. Bitcoin, at least as we know it, will probably be an early casualty but it will be far from the only one.

Quote of the day—Jim Rickards

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There is some part of the DNA, I don’t have it but some people do, where they just wake up in the morning and they just want to tell people what to do… You do this, do that, etc.

And there’s no end to it. Even if you agree they will have something else. I’m kinda like, just get on your bike and do what you like. I try to leave people alone.

The point being … something like COVID becomes a platform and a perfect cover and a perfect excuse for the inner neo fascist in people all over the world and those in political positions. And they cannot resist the opportunity to boss people around. And the way you do this, it’s tried and true, you put people in fear. You make people very, very, fearful. You tell them they are going to die if they don’t listen to you.

Jim Rickards
May 5, 2021

[Via The New Great Depression, with Jim Rickards.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Ry

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Joe – Stood in the caldera.

Videos later.

Unexplainably awesome.

Ry
Postcard from May 2021
[I received the postcard yesterday:

image

image

I watched the video a few days ago:

The beginning is, “That’s kind of cool.”

At one minute, “Oh! This is more interesting.”

At two minutes, “OH! THAT! IS! AWESOME!”

Watch full screen with the volume up a bit.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Benobos @BenGreggTang

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Ban all semi-automatic firearms with removable magazines or internal magazines greater than 10 rounds.

Benobos @BenGreggTang
Tweeted on May 20, 2021
[The tweet is now deleted or at least hidden. I have to wonder why. Did he change his mind or just didn’t want to confront reality?

Regardless of the reason don’t ever let anyone get away with saying “No one wants to take your guns.”—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kurt Schlichter

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Mock the media. There is no institution with a more inflated sense of itself than the press – that smug self-satisfaction is one of the things that helps make up for the crummy pay (though most young journalists today are rich kids whose birthing parent and daddy subsidize them). Your refusal to pretend that these oafs deserve respect causes them no end of fussy fury. So, refuse.

The media hates you. You owe it nothing. Give it nothing, except your contempt.

Kurt Schlichter
May 17, 2021
The Media Hates You And Is Shocked That You Hate It Back
[Good advice.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Kirstie Alley

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You can be cooking meth and sleeping with hookers, but as long as, apparently, you didn’t vote for Trump. I feel like I’m in the Twilight Zone a bit with the whole concept of it.

Kirstie Alley
May 19, 2021
Kirstie Alley opens up about backlash she received for Trump support: ‘Blackballing situation’
[I’m not going to post it here because it is so incredibly horrible, but the picture of Alley they used tells us what the publisher thinks of people who voted for Trump. This is what they think of people of people who do not agree with their politics.

“Twilight Zone”? Yeah. It’s sort of like that. But if you have read a little about genocides you will quickly realize what we are seeing isn’t just something from a television series writer’s imagination. This could easily be history in the making.

Prepare and respond appropriately.—Joe]

No surprise to me

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After gold being below $1700 in March and now near $1900/ounce we have this:

Bitcoin, ethereum plunge as sell-off smashes crypto sector:

Bitcoin and ether tumbled on Wednesday to 3-1/2 month lows, on track to post their largest one-day loss since March last year, in the wake of China’s move a day ago to ban financial and payment institutions from providing cryptocurrency services.

At one point during the meltdown, nearly $1 trillion was wiped off the cryptocurrency’s market capitalization.

…

“Bitcoin’s sharp price drop should come as no shock to the market,” said Gavin Smith, chief executive officer of crypto consortium Panxora.

“Any asset which has risen as much as bitcoin over the past year can be expected to have pullbacks as some investors withdraw profits, like we’re currently seeing. While often a brilliant investment opportunity, traders must remember that Bitcoin is still an emerging asset class and will continue to experience large price swings,” he added.

It’s only a brilliant investment opportunity if you don’t have any moral qualms about “fleecing the sheep” and have good timing.

This is no surprise to me and apparently not Tam either.

Quote of the day—Roger L. Simon

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As Tal Bachman notes at Steynonline, it’s now our state religion, a state religion in a country that—constitutionally and for good reason—isn’t supposed to have one.

But “Wokism” is yet more than that, too. It’s a mass psychosis similar to many that have arisen throughout history when the masses followed leaders who, in their zeal or self-interest, took them to disastrous ends.

Roger L. Simon
May 9, 2021
How ‘Woke’ May Be Leading Us to Civil War
[See yesterday’s QOTD as well.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tal Bachman

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Wokism is now the official state religion of the United States of America.

By constitutional standards, this means something has gone wrong. The United States isn’t supposed to have a state religion. The First Amendment specifically prohibits the establishment of a state religion. Yet it now has one, and its name is Wokism.

Tal Bachman
May 7, 2021
We Have Met the Enemy, part II
[And as everyone should well know Theocracies are some of the most dangerous forms of government known. Combined with socialism/communism, as this one is, and the deadliness is indisputable.

Take appropriate action.—Joe]

A good omen

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It’s not directly related to the “Red Flag” laws they are using to infringe upon our rights, but it’s very close:

Supreme Court Unanimously Rebuffs Biden Administration on Warrantless Searches for Handguns

The Supreme Court unanimously rejected Biden administration arguments in a case from Rhode Island that police should be allowed to enter homes without a warrant to seize handguns.

The ruling in the case, Caniglia v. Strom, court file 20-157, came May 17.

…

In a separate concurring opinion, Justice Samuel Alito wrote that the Supreme Court is “properly reject[ing] the broad ‘community caretaking’ theory.”

At the same time, he noted that the case implicates “another body of law that petitioner glossed over: the so-called ‘red flag’ laws that some States are now enacting.”

Such laws, he wrote, “enable the police to seize guns pursuant to a court order to prevent their use for suicide or the infliction of harm on innocent persons.”

Although this particular decision does not address those issues, “provisions of red flag laws may be challenged under the Fourth Amendment, and those cases may come before us.”

Also of note is that the decision was unanimous.

Building the foundation for a broader recovery of our infringed rights is a good thing. I just wish it were progressing faster.

See also:

I found this version of the story particular “interesting”. This is a completely different version of the facts compared to all other sources I have read, including the SCOTUS opinion:

Caniglia had brandished a gun while expressing a possible intent to inflict harm on himself.

I originally saw the first quoted material via an Epoch News Alert (Breaking News) but Rolf also send me a link to the reposting on Zero Hedge.

Quote of the day—NY Mom RN ANP FNP RPAC @NYMom16

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You can’t hunt with those guns. It’s just ridiculous. Not meant for hunting & totally stinks for size & accuracy. Rambo wannabe guns. More likely to make up for micro dicks. People killers only. No skilled hunter would ever use such a piece of crap gun. Says alot about the owner

NY Mom RN ANP FNP RPAC @NYMom16
Tweeted on May 10, 2021
[It’s another Markley’s Law Monday!

We have SCOTUS decisions and factual evidence. They have ignorance and childish insults. Take advantage of this.

Via a tweet from In Chains @InChainsInJail.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Karl Popper

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Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them.—In this formulation, I do not imply, for instance, that we should always suppress the utterance of intolerant philosophies; as long as we can counter them by rational argument and keep them in check by public opinion, suppression would certainly be most unwise. But we should claim the right to suppress them if necessary even by force; for it may easily turn out that they are not prepared to meet us on the level of rational argument, but begin by denouncing all argument; they may forbid their followers to listen to rational argument, because it is deceptive, and teach them to answer arguments by the use of their fists or pistols. We should therefore claim, in the name of tolerance, the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should claim that any movement preaching intolerance places itself outside the law and we should consider incitement to intolerance and persecution as criminal, in the same way as we should consider incitement to murder, or to kidnapping, or to the revival of the slave trade, as criminal.

Karl Popper
1945
The Open Society and Its Enemies
[See also Paradox of tolerance.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Bear Bussjaeger

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Rather than engage in this drug-induced rights infringement, I proposed that, in the spirit of “shall not be INFRINGED,” The National Firearms Act of 1934, Gun Control Act of 1968, and all firearm regulations be repealed, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives be permanently disbanded. All former ATF employees should be investigated for civil rights violations under 18 U.S. Code § 242 – Deprivation of rights under color of law.

Bear Bussjaeger
May 8, 2021
Commenting on the ATF’s NPRM Redefining “Firearm”
[This is part of what he intends to submit as an official comment on the proposed rule change by the ATF.

I would like to think the criminals at the ATF will have an opportunity to enjoy their trial.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays

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Either national debt is not a real problem or our government knows there is an asteroid the size of Mars heading directly towards Earth so it doesn’t matter.

I have to believe one of those things is true. Otherwise we are governed by morons.

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays
Tweeted on May 12, 2021
[There are many more than those three options. The most obvious and likely are:

  • Our politicians are evil.
  • Our politicians are evil and/or morons.
  • Our politicians believe what morons and/or evil people tell them.

Prepare accordingly.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Jonathan Evans @MrJonathanEvans

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Every #2A fuck who won’t acknowledge that the guns are the problem is complicit in a culture that forces parents and kids and partners and friends to live in fear. So just to be clear: fuck those horrible fucks

Jonathan Evans @MrJonathanEvans
Tweeted on May 9, 2021
[He sounds nice.

Well, actually, he sounds ignorant and/or evil.

Thanks for being clear Mr. Evans. I expect someone will now put you on their “naughty” list.—Joe]

Quote of the day—Tom Knighton

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People are constantly going on and on about how we have too many guns, but then they say they don’t want to take our guns. They fail to address guns in criminal hands but instead focus on those firearms being sold lawfully.


With this story, desperate to try and link increased gun sales to school violence, it’s almost sad. You’d think that people would understand that correlation doesn’t equal causation, yet they don’t. Then again, they still think gun control works.

Tom Knighton
May 9, 2021
Media Continues Meltdown Over Gun Sale Surge
[For certain definitions of “works” gun control does work:

But I don’t think that is what Knighton was referring to.—Joe]

I’m sorry about my self defense rifle wounds

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Via a tweet from Sean D Sorrentino @SorrentinoSean:

SelfDefenseRifleWounds

Quote of the day—Dean Weingarten

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Once you internalize the decision to be unarmed, arguments on the other side become understandable. The voluntarily unarmed people we are attempting to understand are those who have moved from the decision to be unarmed, to the policy statement “guns are bad”.

Armed people have a power advantage over unarmed people. People do not want others to have a power advantage over them. It makes them uncomfortable. To prevent this, the voluntarily unarmed often want everyone else to be unarmed.

It is why many who are voluntarily unarmed dislike concealed carry, but violently abhor open carry. Open carry presents them with a reality they cannot easily ignore. It destroys their comfortable fantasy.

Dean Weingarten
May 5, 2021
Learn to Think like Someone who Chose to be Unarmed
[That last paragraph seems particularly insightful to me. The observation that they violently abhor open carry rings true. I had casually wondered why they get so upset about open carry by one out of a thousand or 10 thousand when, on average, about one out of every 50 people they meet on the sidewalk is a carrying concealed firearm. The hypothesis that open carry destroys their comfortable fantasy seems reasonable.

Now I wonder if this might be something we can use to our advantage. Destruction of their fantasy might be a good thing, but yet I can easily see open carry being something that unites and activates them.

My initial analysis is that widespread open carry is probably counter productive until we have a solid SCOTUS decision saying the right of the people to keep and bear arms includes carry in public. I could probably be persuaded otherwise.

Please present your arguments and let’s discuss.—Joe]

Too much holster time

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It’s been at least a couple months since I went to the range. Yesterday I remedied that. This was what my gun looked like when I pulled it out of the holster:

image

As I carry it every day, I knew it was going to be covered with lint.

It still functioned just fine but that was way too much holster time without being cleaned.

Quote of the day—Alan M. Gottlieb

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This is a humongous loss for anti-gun Democrat State Attorneys General. They consistently attack Second Amendment rights any way they can.

This legal debacle was led by Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson who became famous for suing the Trump administration in a series of partisan legal actions that cost taxpayers millions of dollars.

SAF and Defense Distributed look forward to sharing technical firearms information with millions of interested people on the Internet.

Alan M. Gottlieb
April 29, 2021
NINTH CIRCUIT VACATES INJUNCTION IN 3-D PRINTING CASE, TELLS LOWER COURT TO DISMISS
[This is incrementalism at work for us.

The proposed new regulations on “ghost guns” (page 21) will not nullify this ruling:

…nothing in this rule would restrict persons not otherwise prohibited from possessing firearms from making their own firearms at home without markings solely for personal use (not for sale or distribution) in accordance with Federal, State, and local law.

As long as parts are available for AR-15 repairs, AR-15 lower receivers can be made to subvert bans on common sporting rifles. Thank SAF.—Joe]