interesting quote from the Chinese mine:
"Their verdict was: "Absolutely nothing to see. The local Tibetans make sure everything is overpriced.""
point being, all the devs who look down on the masses as stupid & irrational as justification for authoritarian practices regarding decisions in Bitcoin are severely underestimating the power of money to motivate ppl to understand the economics of value transaction. i see this everywhere in the Bitcoin community and it's an attitude that will cost those who employ that attitude in many ways more than just in their pocketbooks.
http://www.coindesk.com/my-life-inside-a-remote-chinese-bitcoin-mine/What I found most interesting about that article is that the energy could not find a market until the miner showed up. A long time ago I mentioned that bitcoin mining might allow energy providers to over-provision variable energy sources (wind, solar and to a lesser extent hydro). This would be a good thing for the world, because it means a lower fossil component during marginal production days (cloudy or not that windy).
It looks like that's exactly what is happening here -- but coincidentally rather than in a planned manner.
RE: TPTB, I tend to ignore people who consistently reply multiple times in a row during a conversation. Because there is a pathology there... they are writing more for themselves than for others. The exception to this rule of course is the guy who is stimulating conversation in a thread by citing interesting new news, etc. Cypherdoc in this thread and adam in the classic wall observer for example.