kidmercury

"lol, i appreciate the bluntness of this response." - kidmercury

"both, although i don't make much of a distinction between the government and wall st. for all practical purposes, goldman sachs is the government." - kidmercury

"if who blocks the IP address? you mean the internet service provider? for that reason, we need to develop mesh networks that can serve as a P2P internet service provider. at least in the beginning; if this movement matures we can proceed with more robust infrastructure. eventually the feds will raid data centers too, so the data needs to be distributed and host files will need the ability to be updated on the fly. but, i think the first step is defending against domain name seizures." - kidmercury

"well, i think the entire system is beyond repair: the political parties, the federal system, the vote counting system, the various branches of government.....the whole thing. however, to the extent that one still believes in this system, i think playing within the two party world and the rules they setup is the best option. too many people are vested in it and will defend it from an attack. that is why i think dropping out and starting anew is the only viable option in the long run." - kidmercury

"the DNS system is operated by ICANN, which for all practical purposes is a part of the US government, as illustrated by the ease with which domain names are seized. i would prefer to move to a world where the US government cannot seize domain names in a meaningful way. if the hosts file on a computer is instructed to associate domains with a specific IP address rather than query the domain name against the ICANN directory, i think that is a big start. the legal system is thoroughly broken, with the biggest problem being 15.3 trillion in debt and rising. a country with such a debt burden, like a person with such a debt burden, is effectively a slave that will experience great difficulty lifting itself up until the debt is removed. this government shows no signs of doing that voluntarily and the population at large shows insufficient attention in addressing this economic reality." - kidmercury

"robert bryce's blog and books for the big picture on energy, especially his latest book "power hungry"; casey research energy report ($40 per year at caseyresearch.com) for monthly updates on energy as a whole, although that is very investment-oriented -- i find it very educational but the primary purpose is investment ideas/stock selection." - kidmercury

"1. i liked the video. 2. i doubt this idea is going to get the necessary traction, which is quite a significant amount. 3. as noble as the intentions are, third parties are not new. the two party system is so entrenched i think a better strategy is to work within them (although this too most likely fail). as we will see the real solution is non-violent revolution. but these things take time, and usually take a degree of desperation that only poverty can bring. we're getting poorer as a nation and a world, but not quite at the acceptance phase, still in the bargaining phase of the crisis. 4. striving for a brokered convention within the rethuglican party is well within reach, if people focus on and work with that as a goal in mind. there is only one candidate who has the name recognition, awareness of the political reality, still in the running for the republican party nomination, and a non-violent grassroots militia already working to make this happen. 5. more importantly, though, the..." - kidmercury

"lol awesome truth cause it worked! if my business doesnt work out my girlfriend is going to kill me lol" - kidmercury

"i am not so serious when i say that happy talk is gross, i am primarily saying that for my own amusement, although if there is a kernel of truth to it is that i do have a strong bias towards painful truth over happy talk." - kidmercury

"this is a great comment. painful truth is some of the most valuable stuff in the world." - kidmercury

"ugh. there's going to be so much happiness today and feel goodiness on this blog in particular. gross.  super tuesday is not that far off. that's the big day in the rethuglican primaries. if you believe unjustified, unprovoked wars are immoral and a free internet is necessary to a prosperous society, then there is only one candidate who meets those criteria.  this is obvious, but the reason why it is still a contrarian vote is because being contrarian requires being disliked -- and very few people have a tolerance for being disliked. of course, being right is far more important than being liked. your loved ones are supposed to love you anyway, and if you're extra lucky, they are the foundation that gives you the courage to be contrarian in the first place.  9/11 was an inside job, kid mercury" - kidmercury

"everyone is trying to create a platform -- ebay, amzn, apple, google, all of them. that is the name of the game and everyone knows it.  the best platform will create the most opportunities for personalization. some degree of end to end integration is needed as personalization is built atop data profiles, which can best be achieved through tracking that only an end to end solution can deliver. with amazon making computers and delivering web pages via AWS, they are on the verge of becoming in a league of their own on the data collection game, and thus, the personalization game, and thus, the platform game.  i do believe niche solutions can beat amazon, but tiny niche platforms is a concept that is currently underexplored, in my opinion." - kidmercury

"this issue boils down to platform governance, and iphone platform governance just isn't good enough. no one has good enough platform governance, although i think amazon is going to be the best of the worst, at least according to my personal preferences. the only way platform governance can be improved is if there is a greater focus on niche models, not the one world approach of amazon, apple, google, facebook, twitter, etc. platforms with no focus on customer segmentation are vulnerable to niche platforms focused on a specific customer type." - kidmercury

"apple does it by creating obstacles for cross-platform development. in some ways i find such policies to be in the interest of the user, but with apple i'm always skeptical and not inclined to give the benefit of the doubt. i suspect amazon will to venture deeper into exclusivity-like deals as their ecosystem grows, although given their fondness of competing on price i suspect they will try to bribe people with discounts of some type to make it agreeable." - kidmercury

"lol actually investing in them might damage your health!" - kidmercury

"yes def down with iceland.....i think any banker-crashed economy is poised to be re-built so the internet people can come in there and build it ground floor up also, one other thing i wanted to mention, in your tech tuesday series, if you can cover spectrum stuff at some point that would great. i'm particularly interested in a discussion with you and readers of your blog regarding whether spectrum is a scarce resource or an infinite one." - kidmercury

"off topic here but i wanted to share this video about the the delegate selection process for the rethuglican party: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... if you watch that video you will see that ron paul has a real chance of winning unless they can change the rules fast enough which i don't think they can. the caucus game is more about passion than it is about popularity as it all boils down to who is going to become a delegate. as we all know paul is short on popularity but long on passion, there is density of passion as his supporters are all a bunch of fringe fanatics like me who are more inclined stay around and become delegates long after the mis-educated romney and santorum supporters have left. we have to keep the support strong for paul, either through delegates or through money, even a bitter cheapskate like me donates so i hope all of you can find a few dollars to spare. don't think of it as a donation but rather an investment in a free and prosperous internet because no other..." - kidmercury

"oh, one other idea i wanted to share here. as scripture tells us targeting non-consumption is prudent. accordingly, a birthplace of the free internet movement could be in areas that do not have internet access, as well as victims of piracy/protectionist laws that have been cut off already. also the fringe non-state crowd, like peter thiel and his floating cities stuff." - kidmercury

"yeah the etoro guys get it. yoni reached out to me last year, i think he wanted to hire me but i had a tough time giving up the entrepreneurial dream (still do). i tried to sell him on working with me in that regard, but the dialogue waned away......i should try striking that up again" - kidmercury

"facebook is the mafia that owns zynga, and so we see zynga trying to diversify. but there is always a give and take here, facebook cannot just destroy zynga, they just need to maintain control and get a good piece of the pie. the move with fb credits is the right way to go, central banking is the trump card in the mafia game. i think we are seeing platforms investing in funds because it is a great way for them to fund their ecosystem while maintaining control. facebook as the fb fund and is also BFF with ycombo." - kidmercury

"i have to commend you for your efforts in publicizing this, you've done more than most of your peers in the VC industry. i hope you feel good about yourself and look down upon them accordingly. as any kook can tell you, the legislative branch is only there to create the illusion of public acceptance, if it doesn't work the executive gets called in. if we stop this treaty they drop the national security card. for this reason it is important to understand that copyright is just the cover story, it is the military and bankign complex -- "the powers that be" (or as kooks like to say, the powers that WERE) -- that feels threatened by the internet and is doing all this anti-internet stuff. government is their turf. they have more money to buy off politicians and the value network in place to do so. for those of us who view disruptive theory as our religion i encourage us to recall what scripture tells us: do not challenge the incumbent on their turf. remember the internet is our turf. we..." - kidmercury

"commodity business for them, marketing cost for a social network....they make their money on trades, you can give away trades at no markup and profit via covestor, ads, or whatever else.....textbook disruption......but the regulatory cost all around is too high, you gotta pay the mafia each step of the way. forex is much easier, and overseas markets are easier in some regards too. those markets are smaller so the mafia is less interested in them." - kidmercury

"i don't blame them.....i think you are better off trying to enter the broker game and build an end to end solution.....i am trying to do that with forex, although the mafia (aka regulators) impose a high price.....it is of course significantly higher in the stock market" - kidmercury

"starts with the broker. etrade had a promo for a while where they gave you a free android phone for opening an account, with their app installed. then they can have whatever other crap they want installed on there too, and automatically plug you into whatever social network based on your account info." - kidmercury

"plenty to beef with in this post. 1. utilities vs. networks -- false dichtomy in my opinion, gotta be both. i do think utility trumps network, i.e. first you bring utility then you leverage that to create network, at least that is what i feel more comfortable with. 2. mobile OS and platforms in general, like governments, follow a mafia-like dynamic. apps exist because the mafia (platforms) allow them to. if you don't pay your tribute, if you don't show respect, you will be "taken care of." if you're an app player, i think it is extremely important to remember this and develop your strategy accordingly. you exist because the mafia allows you to exist. 3. as we all know you guys at USV are down with large engaged networks. i think this runs in contrast to the assertion that the web is becoming more fragmented, because i think a belief system rooted in fragmentation favors niche networks and integrated networks. so, i'm more bullish on platforms bundled with hardware and apps designed..." - kidmercury

"especially ICANN" - kidmercury

"Oh that reminds me, they also changed the x-rate from being $1 per credit to $1.5 or so with discounts for bulk buys. But it still gets you in the psychology of thinking 15 credits is cheaper than it actually is" - kidmercury

"there are companies that do what you are talking about, i forget the name off the top of my head. i agree it is a promising space.  istock used to have better prices, although since they raised them and moved to their scam model of expiring credits i've become more selective in how i use them. now i basically only buy illustrations from them." - kidmercury

"i know this is terrible, but sometimes i find going old school via downloading to disk and mailing it is the best way to get huge files around. at least, when i get really frustrated with the internet stuff, that's what i resort to." - kidmercury

"civil disobedience regarding spectrum laws imposed by nation-states and supranational entities solves that problem, and is part of the road to multiple internets. #cyberutopia" - kidmercury