[57north-discuss] bitcoin

[Aidan Karley]

The current situation with academic papers is ridiculous. It seems to be
that firewalled paper just don't get read, no one is benefitting in this
scenario.
Publishing companies benefit, most egregiously Elsevier, though there are many others only slightly less egregious.
It probably involves a smart phone app and a qr code.
Not going to happen. I had my phone pick-pocketed only a few months ago. Anything that requires more than phone numbers (which are duplicates of my "little black book") on my phone isn't going to happen. I appreciate "smart phones for unimportant things like Twitter and the occasional 16x16 sudoku, but anything that involves finance simply is not going to happen on my phone. 

Money is something that happens at home, or in cash. Or at the cash machine.

-- Aidan Karley, Scotland 

    On Friday, 26 February 2016, 8:44, tj <tj at enoti.me> wrote:
 

 On Fri, Feb 26, 2016 at 12:52:01AM +0000, Aidan Karley wrote:
> Though I'm rarely in Aberdeen any more, I do still read the passing
> mails.  Many of you may have met the service "sci-hub.io", which by
> various tricks allows access to a lot of published science papers
> without needing a major library access. Since most of the science in
> such papers is paid for from our tax $CURRENCY$, I don't feel
> particularly constrained about using it. (Besides, my professional
> society fees run to over £200/year, a significant part of which goes
> to an Athens subscription.)

The current situation with academic papers is ridiculous. It seems to be
that firewalled paper just don't get read, no one is benefitting in this
scenario.

> Good service, casting a light into the depths of academic publishing
> by it's contrast ; I feel that I should be paying my due.But they only
> record a "Bitcoin account" as a support method. Since we went through
> this with WikiLeaks, I understand why. But it does leave me with the
> problem of how to buy BitCoin in order to pay to them.
>
> I wouldn't be surprised if other people had similar other problems,
> though the details may differ.  TTBOMK, the only way I can get BitCoin
> into the (currently empty) "wallet" which I set up a few days ago is
> to go down to an ATM on Sauchiehall St in Glasgow and buy some there.
> (Though quite how I'd then "get" them "into" my"wallet" I'm rather
> vague on. (how do you split a BitCoin, for example? for a bullion
> coin, I have a chisel, but for a bit coin, I'm less clear. ) Are there
> "cyber financiers" out there? And is this potentially a topic for a
> Tuesday? I haz coinage and can travelz, but am not sure of an
> effective path to take. 

If you head to Glasgow to use a bitcoin atm there will probably be
either someone or some written material explaining how to use it.

It probably involves a smart phone app and a qr code.

> Also, should I kill two stones with one bird and get my (P)GPG(P) keys
> set up and validated at the same time? I've found both passports now,
> and offended enough people over the years to be recognised, if not
> exactly welcomed. 

Yes you should, joining the web of trust brings many benefits. Someone
might even know what they are (not me!).

- [tj]


  
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