Twice in a single day Roger Ver's Bitcoin Dotcom has published pieces on the subject of ether huffing (archived). Ether, also known as sweet vitriol, is an extremely flammable volatile organic compound that produces anaesthetic effects when inhaled. Side effects of ether use include withdrawal symptoms common to CNS depressant drugs, providing economic energy to support Buterin's waterfall, and making the ether huffer smell like a leaky, unmaintained automotive filling station. The extreme flammability of ether and the level of intoxication it induces creates a dangerous combination for users as lighting a cigarette or a reefer near the substance suddenly has the risk of being an immediately fatal act, and who among us never smoked a cigarette when they got fucked up? Huffers usually take ether by soaking an American flag in the substance and inhaling like a fiend (archived).
Hulk Hogan Wins "Revenge Porn" Suit Against Gawker Media
Today a jury has awarded Terry 'Hulk Hogan' Bollea 115 million United States dollars, fifteen million more than the Hulkmeister initially sought in a case against Gawker Media for publishing a "revenge porn" video of the beloved entertainer (archived). At trial Gawker Media's legal team heaped further humiliation on the nexus of Hulkamania by compelling him to break kayfabe by answering under oath that many of his tales of sexual accomplishment and prowess were exaggerated, as such tales frequently are, and that his penis is not a full 10 inches in length.
For Gawker Media the stakes in this contest were dire, placing the future of Gawker Media and its ownership in jeopardy. Nick Denton's social engineering blog empire, with many authors who had ironically criticised the practice of publishing the sort of "revenge porn" now endangering the venture's future when other people did it, is likely to challenge the verdict in appellate courts. Unless the facts of the case manage to materially change, this verdict is likely to stand along with the nine figure award. The Hulkster's long reign as the face of an industry and the declining fortunes of fiat currency make the sum a very reasonable approximation of the potential economic damages wrought by Gawker Media against the Suburban Commando and Thunder in Paradise star's future earning potential.
This irony is delicious. (archived). Sorry for your loss.
UPDATE: Of the 115 million United States dollars 55 million is for economic damages, 60 million is for emotional distress, and the jury will reconvene next week to determine punitive damages.
Bitcoin Network Difficulty Up ~4.46 %
After a small dip last adjustment, the Bitcoin network mining difficulty has climbed 4.462384731106239% from 158427203767.39169312 to 165496835118.22634888 in, as these things so frequently are, another all time high.
Woe: Getting Business Internet A Challenge In Heart Of Silicon Valley
Today Condé Nast published a piece on the struggles of Silicon Valley start up SmartCar and its neighbors in their attempt to get serviceable business internet connectivity to their offices in Mountain View, California. In the town where Google keeps its headquarters, ventures in SmartCar's chosen building were made to suffer slow AT&T DSL connections as the only provider offering a contemporary standard of connectivity to their location didn't actually serve their building. The infrastructure simply isn't there. Despite all the pretense that Silicon Valley and California are places operating on some higher form of civilization, it really is just Africa all the way down.
EU Marching Towards "Helicopter Money" As Other Manipulations Are Exhausted
The European Central Bank, aside from the usual negative interest rates business, is not to be underestimated in the competition to further enshitten fiat bezzle currencies. For several months already, central banks of eurozone countries have been tasked to acquire 60bn euro worth of assets monthly of the variety that includes bonds of state-owned enterprises and provincial authorities. Come April 1, this figure will go up to 80bn, and will include any bonds with investment ratings in an effort to stimulate Europe's economy.
ECB chairman Mario Draghi promised there are plenty of instruments left, even the increasingly likely "helicopter money" which she considers "a very interesting concept". As other options are exhausted it is becoming increasingly likely the European Central Bank will resort to helicopter money for stimulus, a move which will reveal just how little the central bankers actually value their fiat bezzle bucks.
EPA Land Grab: War Over Pond!
Using pretense being tested under new "Clean" Water act rules, the United States EPA is seeking the ruin of a Wyoming landowner for having the audacity to create a pond on his property (archived). Continue reading
America Rejected By All But Its Worst
John Kasich, the physical incarnation of America, was soundly thrashed in all of the "Battleground Tuesday" electoral contests except one. That one was Ohio. Ohio is for many sound reasons the objectively worst part of America. At least in every way except for the one where Ohio actually stood by America and it's avatar on Earth John Kasich in an electoral contest. So far John Kasich, America has lost every nominating contest this electoral season except Ohio.
Aspiring 'An Hero' Survives Police Station Assault
Michael Ford, despite recording his last will and testament in anticipation of dying to become 'an hero' to the people, managed to survive an armed assault on a police station in Landover, Maryland (archived). Instead a narcotics detective in street clothes who intervened to allow his fellow officers an opportunity to capture Ford alive was fatally shot by his fellow officers. Two of Ford's brothers who were present as non-combatant journalists are in police custody for recording the event in a clear assault by police on the American constitutional right for citizens to act as a free press. Video of the incident does not yet appear to be available on WORLDSTARHIPHOP at this time.
Qualcomm "Snapdragon" Chips Allegedly Riddled With Vulnerabilities
Trend Micro in a blog post is alleging that Qualcomm's "Snapdragon" family of system on a chip computers are riddled with numerous security vulnerabilities, particularly when paired with Google's Android operating system (archived). The continued plagues of leaky abstraction and faux compartmentalization which require ever larger collections of "teams" to design new chips in the popular style as well as the war on computing suggest that we are going to increasingly see security vulnerabilities baked into silicon. Instead of celebrating the death of Moore's law as occasion to move towards saner architectural decisions, the trend appears to be favoring further insanity and a proliferation of nooks and crannies for culturing security holes organically or placing them deliberately.
US War On Physicians Escalates
The general war against sanity in the United States is escalating in its front against physicians. The Center for Disease Control, under the the direction of Hussein Bahamas's gang in Washington is proposing radical new guidelines which constrain physician judgement in prescribing pain relieving drugs (archived). Continue reading