InVisible

What a ride the BTC vs any other currency has made in the last 48 hours. I don’t envy the people that have invested in Bitcoin (and especially those that have gotten on the bandwagon in the last few weeks) Tonight I was a virtual guest at one of the german Pirate Parties and spent around 2 hours talking and discussing about Bitcoin: “Was ist Bitcoin”. There should be a recording of the event and I will post a link as soon as I have it. The PiratePad contains some more questions and answers that were discussed after my talk. ...

Slept way to little tonight, so no blog post from me. Instead, checkout this list of good advice: https://siavoshb.tumblr.com/post/47005180661/14-lessons-after-five-years-of-professional-programming

What a Wonderful World | Playing For Change from Playing For Change on Vimeo. This song never fails to bring tears to my eyes - specially not in a version like this (via vowe who linked to “Stand by me”)

Thanks to Lutz Korte I have a ADA MP-1 MIDI controlled Tube guitar pre amp on loan (to see if I like it). Unfortunately, the power chord is a fix installed german one, and I didn’t have the necessary connectors or tools handy to change it. But I opened it up and saw this wonderful electronics board (Pic will be replaced with an own picture as soon as I have better light) Pic: https://en.audiofanzine.com/guitar-preamp/ada/MP-1/medias/pictures/a.play,m.68494.html ...

Bitcoin is currently all the rage. The last few weeks saw an incredible rise in “value” (as seen by the exchange rate), a rise in problems (DDos against MtGox and Security Breaches at Instawallet and Bitcoin-Central) and loads of good and bad articles. Currently, the most important problem though, is another one. Hyperdeflation. The constant rise of the value of BTC vs “normal” currencies like EUR or USD makes it highly improbable, that people do anything else than hoard their coins. The reasoning is totally clear: The value of the BTC will be higher tomorrow than today, so it doesn’t make sense to use the BTC to actually buy anything. A currency that is not used to actually buy stuff is kind of useless (and not healthy for the whole ecosystem) ...

Incredible to not only see, but to work with Frank Doran Shihan, who is in Zurich the 25th time. It’s enlightening seeing a man that is 80 years old have so much energy and presence on the mat, with humour and joy. I have been to his seminars for 3 or 4 years now, and they are incredibly inspiring. Hopefully we will have the chance to have him as our guest for many more years to come. ...