Podcast appearances and mentions of David Gerard

David Gerard is one of Silicon Valley's most sought-after magicians and mentalists, performing over 90 shows annually for Fortune 500 companies and tech industry leaders. Before pursuing magic full-time, David spent 12 years in tech, starting at Google where he worked on flagship products including YouTube, AdWords, and Google Play, before leading growth and marketing initiatives at Discord and Aalto. Now, David combines his expertise in product growth with his mastery of psychological principles from magic, consulting with series A and B startups while maintaining a rigorous performance schedule that includes over 60 shows at Hollywood's prestigious Magic Castle. His unique background bridging tech and magic makes him a distinctive voice on user psychology, attention, and engagement.In our conversation, we unpack: A magician's secret for creating engaging experiences How magic shows achieve retention (and what products can learn from it) The misdirection technique that can transform user experiences What magicians know about building trust that most companies miss The surprising way performers make experiences feel personalized at scaleFrom Google to the stage, David Gerard has mastered both tech product growth and performance magic. In this episode, he reveals the psychological principles behind great magic shows and how product teams can apply them to create experiences users can't look away from. A must-listen for growth, product and design leaders looking to add a touch of magic to their user experience.Enjoy this episode? Rate it and leave a review. It really helps others find the podcast.Learn more about Kristen and Irrational Labs⁠here⁠.

Toamna se numără meciurile de rugby iar Stejarii, ca de obicei, vor întâlni adversari de top în seria meciurilor test. Președintele federației, Alin Petrache, selecționerul David Gerard și jucătorii Cristi Chirică, Alin Conache și Marius Simionescu, vorbesc despre duelul cu Tonga, partidă ce va avea loc mâine, de la ora 18.00, pe stadionul Arcul de Triumf.

The spring series of the Edict kicks off properly with our first special guest and it's David Gerard, co-editor of the newsletter Pivot to AI. So guess what we talk about.Yes, in this episode we talk about artificial intelligence. Specifically, we test out Google's NotebookLM podcast creator, we discuss why the much-promoted AI utopia won't happen, we put the idea of a robot uprising into its cultural context, and much more.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00231/Please consider supporting this podcast:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

Today's guest is absolutely unbelievable.  He's among the greatest magicians and mentalists of our time, he's amazingly talented, and he's truly one of the best.  My guest today is David Gerard. His performances have graced Fortune 500 companies, Silicon Valley elite gatherings, and international stages, including more than 60 shows at the Magic Castle in Hollywood. David performs shows for audiences from 15 to 1,000 people.  His magic appeals to modern audiences, and he specializes in mindreading, influence, and prediction tricks.  Whether he's standing on a stage in front of a large crowd or just walking around small groups, David Gerard will affect and astound you with his unique approach to magic.  In addition to being incredibly skilled, David also has a great ability to connect with the audience.  He knows how to get on your level, and make you feel a part of the show too.  Thousands of event planners have chosen David for their events, and he's trusted by the world's leading companies that include Vanity Fair, Google, eBay, Walgreens, and Facebook, just to name a few. In this conversation, you'll definitely hear how much love and passion he has.  And you'll also hear how important it is for him to really connect with the audience. To learn more about David's show and how you can book him for events, visit his website davidgerard.com. And be sure to tell him LD sent you. Be sure to like and review, and let everyone know about the podcast!

On this week's episode of The Riff, Byrne Hobart and Erik Torenberg discuss how the 2024 presidential election has changed, why Wikipedia's partisanship problem is difficult to solve, and the strategy behind Amazon's media business.

Paris Marx is joined by David Gerard to discuss Jack Dorsey's decision to leave Bluesky, his obsession with Bitcoin, and his contributions (or lack thereof) to modern technology. David Gerard is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. He also makes Pivot to AI with Amy Castor.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Support the show on Patreon.The podcast is made in partnership with The Nation. Production is by Eric Wickham. Transcripts are by Brigitte Pawliw-Fry.Also mentioned in this episode:David wrote about Jack Dorsey abandoning Bluesky on his blog.Business Insider reported on how Dorsey gave money to the far-right founder of Nostr.Dorsey was interviewed by Mike Solana on Pirate Wires.Dorsey has posted in support of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the response to it is why he deleted his Bluesky account.Support the Show.

On this episode of Tech Won't Save Us, Paris Marx is joined by David Gerard to discuss Jack Dorsey's decision to leave Bluesky, his obsession with Bitcoin, and his contributions (or lack thereof) to modern technology.David Gerard is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. He also makes Pivot to AI with Amy Castor.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

This is a linkpost for https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin, posted in full here given its relevance to this community. Gerard has been one of the longest-standing malicious critics of the rationalist and EA communities and has done remarkable amounts of work to shape their public images behind the scenes. Note: I am closer to this story than to many of my others. As always, I write aiming to provide a thorough and honest picture, but this should be read as the view of a close onlooker who has known about much within this story for years and has strong opinions about the matter, not a disinterested observer coming across something foreign and new. If you're curious about the backstory, I encourage you to read my companion article after this one. Introduction: Reliable Sources Wikipedia administrator David Gerard cares a great deal about Reliable Sources. For the past half-decade, he has torn [...] ---Outline:(00:55) Introduction: Reliable Sources(06:00) Gerard's Standards for Reliable Sources(13:48) Who Is David Gerard?(16:49) The Early Romantic Years(27:52) Gerard's fling with LessWrong in the twilight of the old internet(37:44) The bitter end(45:19) The Vindictive Ex(49:53) LessWrong(01:04:08) Effective Altruism(01:07:47) Scott Alexander(01:16:14) Conclusion(01:21:49) Companion article: A Young Mormon Discovers Online RationalityThe original text contained 24 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. The original text contained 13 images which were described by AI. --- First published: July 10th, 2024 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/D8GmTE9jvJg44GTAg/reliable-sources-the-story-of-david-gerard --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO. ---Images from the article:Apple Podcasts and Spotify do not show images in the episode description. Try Pocket Casts, or another podcast app.

This is a linkpost for https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin, posted in full here given its relevance to this community. Gerard has been one of the longest-standing malicious critics of the rationalist and EA communities and has done remarkable amounts of work to shape their public images behind the scenes.Note: I am closer to this story than to many of my others. As always, I write aiming to provide a thorough and honest picture, but this should be read as the view of a close onlooker who has known about much within this story for years and has strong opinions about the matter, not a disinterested observer coming across something foreign and new. If you're curious about the backstory, I encourage you to read my companion article after this one. Introduction: Reliable SourcesWikipedia administrator David Gerard cares a great deal about Reliable Sources. For the past half-decade, he has torn [...] ---Outline:(00:55) Introduction: Reliable Sources(06:01) Gerard's Standards for Reliable Sources(13:53) Who Is David Gerard?(16:53) The Early Romantic Years(28:00) Gerard's fling with LessWrong in the twilight of the old internet(37:51) The bitter end(45:26) The Vindictive Ex(50:01) LessWrong(01:04:17) Effective Altruism(01:07:55) Scott Alexander(01:16:22) Conclusion(01:21:58) Companion article: A Young Mormon Discovers Online RationalityThe original text contained 24 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. The original text contained 12 images which were described by AI. --- First published: July 10th, 2024 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/3XNinGkqrHn93dwhY/reliable-sources-the-story-of-david-gerard --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Reliable Sources: The Story of David Gerard, published by TracingWoodgrains on July 10, 2024 on LessWrong. This is a linkpost for https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin, posted in full here given its relevance to this community. Gerard has been one of the longest-standing malicious critics of the rationalist and EA communities and has done remarkable amounts of work to shape their public images behind the scenes. Note: I am closer to this story than to many of my others. As always, I write aiming to provide a thorough and honest picture, but this should be read as the view of a close onlooker who has known about much within this story for years and has strong opinions about the matter, not a disinterested observer coming across something foreign and new. If you're curious about the backstory, I encourage you to read my companion article after this one. Introduction: Reliable Sources Wikipedia administrator David Gerard cares a great deal about Reliable Sources. For the past half-decade, he has torn through the website with dozens of daily edits - upwards of fifty thousand, all told - aimed at slashing and burning lines on the site that reference sources deemed unreliable by Wikipedia. He has stepped into dozens of official discussions determining which sources the site should allow people to use, opining on which are Reliable and which are not. He cares so much about Reliable Sources, in fact, that he goes out of his way to provide interviews to journalists who may write about topics he's passionate about, then returns to the site to ensure someone adds just the right quotes from those sources to Wikipedia articles about those topics and to protect those additions from all who might question them. While by Wikipedia's nature, nobody can precisely claim to speak or act on behalf of the site as a whole, Gerard comes about as close as anyone really could. He's been a volunteer Wikipedia administrator since 2004, has edited the site more than 200,000 times, and even served off and on as the site's UK spokesman. Few people have had more of a hand than him in shaping the site, and few have a more encyclopedic understanding of its rules, written and unwritten. Reliable sources, a ban on original research, and an aspiration towards a neutral point of view have long been at the heart of Wikipedia's approach. Have an argument, editors say? Back it up with a citation. Articles should cover "all majority and significant minority views" from Reliable Sources (WP:RS) on the topic "fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias" (WP:NPOV). The site has a color-coding system for frequently discussed sources: green for reliable, yellow for unclear, red for unreliable, and dark red for "deprecated" sources that can only be used in exceptional situations. The minutiae of Wikipedia administration, as with the inner workings of any bureaucracy, is an inherently dry subject. On the site as a whole, users sometimes edit pages directly with terse comments, other times engage in elaborate arguments on "Talk" pages to settle disputes about what should be added. Each edit is added to a permanent history page. To understand any given decision, onlookers must trawl through page after page of archives and discussions replete with tidily packaged references to one policy or another. Where most see boredom behind the scenes and are simply glad for mostly functional overviews of topics they know nothing about, though, a few see opportunity. Those who master the bureaucracy in behind-the-scenes janitorial battles, after all, define the public's first impressions of whatever they care about. Since 2017, when Wikipedia made the decision to ban citations to the Daily Mail due to "poor fact-checking, sensationalism, and flat-out fabrication," ed...

Link to original articleWelcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Reliable Sources: The Story of David Gerard, published by TracingWoodgrains on July 10, 2024 on LessWrong. This is a linkpost for https://www.tracingwoodgrains.com/p/reliable-sources-how-wikipedia-admin, posted in full here given its relevance to this community. Gerard has been one of the longest-standing malicious critics of the rationalist and EA communities and has done remarkable amounts of work to shape their public images behind the scenes. Note: I am closer to this story than to many of my others. As always, I write aiming to provide a thorough and honest picture, but this should be read as the view of a close onlooker who has known about much within this story for years and has strong opinions about the matter, not a disinterested observer coming across something foreign and new. If you're curious about the backstory, I encourage you to read my companion article after this one. Introduction: Reliable Sources Wikipedia administrator David Gerard cares a great deal about Reliable Sources. For the past half-decade, he has torn through the website with dozens of daily edits - upwards of fifty thousand, all told - aimed at slashing and burning lines on the site that reference sources deemed unreliable by Wikipedia. He has stepped into dozens of official discussions determining which sources the site should allow people to use, opining on which are Reliable and which are not. He cares so much about Reliable Sources, in fact, that he goes out of his way to provide interviews to journalists who may write about topics he's passionate about, then returns to the site to ensure someone adds just the right quotes from those sources to Wikipedia articles about those topics and to protect those additions from all who might question them. While by Wikipedia's nature, nobody can precisely claim to speak or act on behalf of the site as a whole, Gerard comes about as close as anyone really could. He's been a volunteer Wikipedia administrator since 2004, has edited the site more than 200,000 times, and even served off and on as the site's UK spokesman. Few people have had more of a hand than him in shaping the site, and few have a more encyclopedic understanding of its rules, written and unwritten. Reliable sources, a ban on original research, and an aspiration towards a neutral point of view have long been at the heart of Wikipedia's approach. Have an argument, editors say? Back it up with a citation. Articles should cover "all majority and significant minority views" from Reliable Sources (WP:RS) on the topic "fairly, proportionately, and, as far as possible, without editorial bias" (WP:NPOV). The site has a color-coding system for frequently discussed sources: green for reliable, yellow for unclear, red for unreliable, and dark red for "deprecated" sources that can only be used in exceptional situations. The minutiae of Wikipedia administration, as with the inner workings of any bureaucracy, is an inherently dry subject. On the site as a whole, users sometimes edit pages directly with terse comments, other times engage in elaborate arguments on "Talk" pages to settle disputes about what should be added. Each edit is added to a permanent history page. To understand any given decision, onlookers must trawl through page after page of archives and discussions replete with tidily packaged references to one policy or another. Where most see boredom behind the scenes and are simply glad for mostly functional overviews of topics they know nothing about, though, a few see opportunity. Those who master the bureaucracy in behind-the-scenes janitorial battles, after all, define the public's first impressions of whatever they care about. Since 2017, when Wikipedia made the decision to ban citations to the Daily Mail due to "poor fact-checking, sensationalism, and flat-out fabrication," ed...

Hébergé par Ausha. Visitez ausha.co/politique-de-confidentialite pour plus d'informations.

The New York Times Picture a scene: the New York Times is releasing an article on Effective Altruism (EA) with an express goal to dig up every piece of negative information they can find. They contact Émile Torres, David Gerard, and Timnit Gebru, collect evidence about Sam Bankman-Fried, the OpenAI board blowup, and Pasek's Doom, start calling Astral Codex Ten (ACX) readers to ask them about rumors they'd heard about affinity between Effective Altruists, neoreactionaries, and something called TESCREAL. They spend hundreds of hours over six months on interviews and evidence collection, paying Émile and Timnit for their time and effort. The phrase "HBD" is muttered, but it's nobody's birthday. A few days before publication, they present key claims to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), who furiously tell them that many of the claims are provably false and ask for a brief delay to demonstrate the falsehood of [...]The original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: December 19th, 2023 Source: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/2vNHiaTb4rcA8PgXQ/effective-aspersions-how-the-nonlinear-investigation-went --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: Effective Aspersions: How the Nonlinear Investigation Went Wrong, published by TracingWoodgrains on December 19, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum. The New York Times Picture a scene: the New York Times is releasing an article on Effective Altruism (EA) with an express goal to dig up every piece of negative information they can find. They contact Émile Torres, David Gerard, and Timnit Gebru, collect evidence about Sam Bankman-Fried, the OpenAI board blowup, and Pasek's Doom, start calling Astral Codex Ten (ACX) readers to ask them about rumors they'd heard about affinity between Effective Altruists, neoreactionaries, and something called TESCREAL. They spend hundreds of hours over six months on interviews and evidence collection, paying Émile and Timnit for their time and effort. The phrase "HBD" is muttered, but it's nobody's birthday. A few days before publication, they present key claims to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), who furiously tell them that many of the claims are provably false and ask for a brief delay to demonstrate the falsehood of those claims, though their principles compel them to avoid threatening any form of legal action. The Times unconditionally refuses, claiming it must meet a hard deadline. The day before publication, Scott Alexander gets his hands on a copy of the article and informs the Times that it's full of provable falsehoods. They correct one of his claims, but tell him it's too late to fix another. The final article comes out. It states openly that it's not aiming to be a balanced view, but to provide a deep dive into the worst of EA so people can judge for themselves. It contains lurid and alarming claims about Effective Altruists, paired with a section of responses based on its conversation with EA that it says provides a view of the EA perspective that CEA agreed was a good summary. In the end, it warns people that EA is a destructive movement likely to chew up and spit out young people hoping to do good. In the comments, the overwhelming majority of readers thank it for providing such thorough journalism. Readers broadly agree that waiting to review CEA's further claims was clearly unnecessary. David Gerard pops in to provide more harrowing stories. Scott gets a polite but skeptical hearing out as he shares his story of what happened, and one enterprising EA shares hard evidence of one error in the article to a mixed and mostly hostile audience. A few weeks later, the article writer pens a triumphant follow-up about how well the whole process went and offers to do similar work for a high price in the future. This is not an essay about the New York Times. The rationalist and EA communities tend to feel a certain way about the New York Times. Adamantly a certain way. Emphatically a certain way, even. I can't say my sentiment is terribly different - in fact, even when I have positive things to say about the New York Times, Scott has a way of saying them more elegantly, as in The Media Very Rarely Lies. That essay segues neatly into my next statement, one I never imagined I would make: You are very very lucky the New York Times does not cover you the way you cover you. A Word of Introduction Since this is my first post here, I owe you a brief introduction. I am a friendly critic of EA who would join you were it not for my irreconcilable differences in fundamental values and thinks you are, by and large, one of the most pleasant and well-meaning groups of people in the world. I spend much more time in the ACX sphere or around its more esoteric descendants and know more than anyone ought about its history and occasional drama. Some of you know me from my adversarial collaboration in Scott's contest some years ago, others from my misadventures in "speedrunning" college, still others from my exhaustively detailed deep dives in...

The New York Times Picture a scene: the New York Times is releasing an article on Effective Altruism (EA) with an express goal to dig up every piece of negative information they can find. They contact Émile Torres, David Gerard, and Timnit Gebru, collect evidence about Sam Bankman-Fried, the OpenAI board blowup, and Pasek's Doom, start calling Astral Codex Ten (ACX) readers to ask them about rumors they'd heard about affinity between Effective Altruists, neoreactionaries, and something called TESCREAL. They spend hundreds of hours over six months on interviews and evidence collection, paying Émile and Timnit for their time and effort. The phrase "HBD" is muttered, but it's nobody's birthday. A few days before publication, they present key claims to the Centre for Effective Altruism (CEA), who furiously tell them that many of the claims are provably false and ask for a brief delay to demonstrate the falsehood of [...] ---Outline:(00:06) The New York Times(03:08) A Word of Introduction(07:35) The Story So Far: A Recap(11:08) Avoidable, Unambiguous Falsehoods in Sharing Information About Nonlinear(21:32) These Issues Were Known and Knowable By Lightcone and the Community. The EA/LW Community Dismissed Them(27:03) Better processes are both possible and necessary(38:44) On Lawsuits(47:15) First Principles, Duty, and Harm(50:43) What of Nonlinear?The original text contained 16 footnotes which were omitted from this narration. --- First published: December 19th, 2023 Source: https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/bwtpBFQXKaGxuic6Q/effective-aspersions-how-the-nonlinear-investigation-went --- Narrated by TYPE III AUDIO.

Paris Marx is joined by Molly White to discuss the Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuits against Binance and Coinbase and what they might mean for the future of the crypto industry. Molly White is the creator of Web3 Is Going Just Great and a fellow at Harvard Library Innovation Lab. Follow Molly on Twitter at @molly0xFFF.Tech Won't Save Us offers a critical perspective on tech, its worldview, and wider society with the goal of inspiring people to demand better tech and a better world. Follow the podcast (@techwontsaveus) and host Paris Marx (@parismarx) on Twitter, and support the show on Patreon.The podcast is produced by Eric Wickham and part of the Harbinger Media Network.Also mentioned in this episode:Tech Won't Save Us was in the New York Times!Molly wrote about the Binance and Coinbase cases for Rolling Stone. She also wrote about both cases in her newsletter.Amy Castor and David Gerard broke down the Coinbase lawsuit.Matt Levine has also written about the lawsuits and what it means for crypto being seen as a security.In 2020, Forbes reported on the Tai Chi documents about Binance's efforts to evade regulators.Binance is also being sued by the CFTC and there are reports that criminal charges could also be coming from the Department of Justice.Prometheum Capital registered to deal in crypto securities.Binance recently withdrew from Canada.Robinhood ended support for tokens the SEC listed as securities.Crypto.com is winding down US institutional trading.Nigeria's SEC said Binance's operations are illegal.Elon Musk is being sued over manipulation of the price of Dogecoin.Support the show

David Gerard on how to face the harsh reality of criticism, examining what it feels like to be fooled, and how to grow your magic business The post Magic, Mindfulness, and Marketing with David Gerard appeared first on Discourse in Magic.

Saturday 28th January 2023 10:00am - 5.30pmDealers Open10:30am - 11:30amMark James Lecture You've been amazed by his show; now is your chance to learn his magic. This lecture will focus on professional, doable magic. With a focus on non-card tricks, this is a can't-miss lecture. 1:30pm - 3pmPaul Gertner Show and Lecture This was our most anticipated event at the last Magifest…but needed to be postponed due to Covid. We're pleased that Paul has consented to return this year to deliver what will surely be an unforgettable presentation. A multiple-winner on Penn & Teller's Fool Us, a FISM winner, and one of the industry's leading professionals, Paul will present a show for us and then lecture on some of his best material. 3:30pm - 4:30pmDavid Gerard Marketing Lecture Here David will share hard-earned, seldom-shared insider information on a topic he has dedicated his life to: marketing and branding. Having played an integral role in several Silicon Valley startups (as well as a lengthy tenure at Google), by day David Gerard helps companies put their message across. By night David entertains top brass at these companies, and he will share his marketing and branding insights with us in this rare, candid lecture on an area of performing most of us overlook. 5:30pm - 6:30pmShoot Ogawa Lecture On the heels of his first-place FISM win, Shoot Ogawa will share the magic that has taken around the world and made him a household name in magic. This lecture will feature new, non-card material, as well as a few “Ogawa” classics. 8:30pm - 10:00pmGala Show Hosted by Lucy DarlingMortenn ChristiansenErik TaitRuben VilagrandShoot OgawaPaul GertnerJunWoo Park 10:30pm - 11.30pmBar Magic with Mark Calabrese View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize View fullsize Time stamps for this episode: 00:00:18 - Charles Greene III talks about his restaurant and trade chow career plus Charlie Randall helps us recap some of the shows from Day Two00:12:47 - Matthew Neely talks a bit about what impressed him the most at this convention00:18:13 - Joe Cole from Omaha, Nebraska, stopped to show us a photo of one of his winning trophies00:21:40 - Jep Hostetler, Past President of the I.B.M. was also the chairman of the Magifest before it was turned over to Josh and Andi00:26:12 - One of th highlights of the Mgifest, Mortenn Christiansen, FISM Winner this past year talks about his experience and his journey to Quebec.00:35:00 - Cosmo Solano, from Colorado Springs, Colorado, has his own magic theater and talks about his show00:44:56 - Erik Tait, host of the Penguin Podcast, talks about his FISM experience, this Magifest and what's new and hot at Penguin right now.00:54:28 - Cody Clark works with the Society of Young Magicians for the S.A.M. and he talks about the Magifest and how much they have been doing for the youth at this convention.01:01:23 - Don Burcell with Don's Magic Books talks about how the sales went this year in the dealer's area01:05:29 - Charles Greene III and Scott recap the evening;s show plus the overall convention Download this podcast in an MP3 file by Clicking Here and then right click to save the file. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by Clicking Here. You can download or listen to the podcast through Stitcher by Clicking Here or through FeedPress by Clicking Here or through Tunein.com by Clicking Here or through iHeart Radio by Clicking Here..If you have a Spotify account, then you can also hear us through that app, too. You can also listen through your Amazon Alexa and Google Home devices. Remember, you can download it through the iTunes store, too. See the preview page by Clicking Here

Pre-show Banter Peter Schif lost it all (https://archive.ph/ezKOA) in 2020 News U.S Treasury staving off liquidity problems due to debt ceiling (https://www.reuters.com/business/finance/us-treasury-launches-debt-limit-cash-management-measures-2023-01-19/) by not paying into retirement programs Economics Paper on Cryptocurrency and Regulation (https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3649475) cited by David Gerard (https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2023/01/15/crypto-collapse-bitcoin-goes-up-nexo-charged-gbtc-still-wants-to-be-an-etf-crypto-exchanges-struggle-ftx-voyager/) Arthur's Bouncy Castle (https://blog.bitmex.com/bouncy-castle/) - a story of markets of FED pivots Layoffs.fyi - Tech Layoff Tracker and Startup Layoff Lists (https://layoffs.fyi/) Technology Multiple Linux Backdoors Discovered Targeting Bitcoin Core Developer (https://lordx64.medium.com/multiple-linux-backdoors-discovered-targeting-bitcoin-core-developer-technical-analysis-793f8491f561) — Technical Analysis Privacy TRAC is a violation of American's civil liberterties (https://archive.ph/144G5)...also an altcoin Bitcoin Education BIP 329 Wallet labels merged into bitcoin (https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0329.mediawiki) Corrections Missouri Governor accuses journalist (https://techcrunch.com/2021/10/15/f12-isnt-hacking-missouri-governor-threatens-to-prosecute-local-journalist-for-finding-exposed-state-data/) of 'hacking' - courtesy of OptimusGray Feedback Remember to get in touch bitcoindadpod@protonmail.com or @bitcoindadpod (https://mobile.twitter.com/bitcoindadpod) on twitter Consider joining the matrix channel (https://matrix.to/#/#bitcoin:jupiterbroadcasting.com) using a matrix client like element (https://element.io/get-started), details here (https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/community/matrix/) Thank you Boosters If you get some value from this show, please consider sending a boost. Hearing from you means a lot to us! Send a Boost via the Podcast Index web page. No Podcast app upgrade required. Install Alby (https://getalby.com/) Find the Bitcoin Dad Pod on the Podcast Index (https://podcastindex.org/podcast/5049889) Boost right from the page! Value for Value Podcasting 2.0 to support an indepenent podcasting ecosystem (https://podcastindex.org/) Recomended Podcasting2.0 apps: Fountain (https://www.fountain.fm/) podcast app (Android) Podverse (https://podverse.fm/) (Cross platform and self hostable) Castamatic (https://apps.apple.com/us/app/castamatic-podcast-player/id966632553) (Apple)+ Podcasting 2.0 to support an indepenent podcasting ecosystem (https://podcastindex.org/) Sponsors and Acknowledgements Music by Lesfm from Pixabay Self Hosted Show (https://selfhosted.show/) courtesy of Jupiter Broadcasting (https://www.jupiterbroadcasting.com/)

Last week, creditors were left in the lurch after FTX exchange, once valued at $32 billion US, filed for bankruptcy. Federal investigators now have the massive task of figuring out what happened. Matt Galloway speaks with David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts; and reporter Claire Brownell, who covers digital currencies for The Logic.

Super Excited is a podcast about blockchain technology, cryptocurrencies and technology as a whole. In this episode, Stefan Rust talks with David Gerard. David Gerard is a UK-based writer, blogger, probably best known for being one of crypto's great haters. He documents the foibles and scams and even otherwise legitimate crypto projects as all part of the same grand illusion of easy money and con-men. He's sought out for quotes by the press when anything goes wrong in crypto, and his work has appeared in venerable journals such as Foreign Policy. He's also the author of two books on crypto, Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and Libra Shrugged. In this episode, Stefan and David discuss Bitcoin, Celsius and Voyager, regulation in crypto and CBDCs. David Gerard: Twitter Stefan Rust: Youtube | Twitter | Linkedin

Facebook tried to disrupt the world — and the world says “no.” Facebook launched Libra in June 2019. Libra would be an international currency and payment system. It would flow instantly around the world by phone. It could even “bank the unbanked.” But Libra would also make Facebook too big to control— and lead the way for Facebook's Silicon Valley fellows to swing the power of their money as they pleased. Facebook and their friends could work around any single country's rules. Libra could shake whole economies and Facebook would become the “digital identity” provider to the world. Governments looked at Libra — and saw another 2008 financial crisis in the making. Facebook's plan would have made the company even more entrenched — at the cost of broken economies worldwide; starting with toppling the US dollar. “Libra Shrugged” is the story of a bad idea. Bio: David Gerard writes the cryptocurrency and blockchain news site Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. He is the author of the 2017 book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts and the 2020 book Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money. Until he reinstalled the laptop they were on, he was the proud owner of six Dogecoins. He remains a frequent, if occasionally annoyed, user of Facebook. As well as being a crypto journalist, David also works as a Unix system administrator, where his job includes keeping track of exciting new technologies, and advising against the bad ones. He has also been an award-winning music journalist, and has blogged about music at Rocknerd.co.uk since 2001. He is a volunteer spokesman for Wikipedia, and for skeptical wiki RationalWiki.org. Originally from Australia, he lives in east London with his spouse Arkady Rose and their daughter. Website - https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ Artwork by Phillip Thor - https://linktr.ee/Philipthor_art The Way Podcast - www.PodcastTheWay.com - Follow at Twitter / Instagram - @podcasttheway (Subscribe/Follow on streaming platforms and social media!) To watch the visuals with the trailer go to https://www.podcasttheway.com/trailers/ Thank you Don Grant for the Intro/Outro. Check out his podcast - https://threeinterestingthings.captivate.fm Intro guitar copied from Aiden Ayers at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UiB9FMOP5s *The views demonstrated in this show are strictly those of The Way Podcast/Radio Show*

What is the real value of cryptocurrencies? Can crypto technology be applied to traditional financial markets? In this episode, we welcome David Gerard, a technologist and author of the books Libra Shrugged and Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.  He uses his skills as a journalist to investigate the uses and hype around cryptocurrencies and is an outspoken skeptic of the technology. Although not originally from the technology sector, he has become an authority on the topic and has briefed the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee on the technology. He also runs a blog covering important aspects of the cryptocurrency space. In today's conversation, we learn some harsh realities about the benefits of cryptocurrencies and why they will not last in the long term. We learn what the real value of crypto-markets is, why he considers it to be a Ponzi scheme, what needs to change about cryptocurrencies, whether there are any benefits to the technology and the role of financial journalism in the crypto space. Listen as we unravel the political ideology which underpins crypto and whether it can be separated from the technology. We also discuss the outcome of El Salvador's bitcoin experiment and why it did not work. We also learn the reasons behind the recent crash in some crypto markets and find out which book David thinks everyone should read.   Key Points From This Episode:   We start the show by finding out the real dollar value of crypto markets. [0:03:45] The role financial journalism played in getting crypto to where it is today. [0:06:02] Reasons why he does not trust the value of cryptocurrencies. [0:11:04] Why he thinks cryptocurrency journalism is not credible. [0:12:00] He explains Bitcoin's underlying political ideology and the associated problems. [0:13:25] The classic debate of who should have control over financial markets. [0:16:41] Whether it is possible to remove the political ideology from crypto-technology. [0:17:34] What the most important aspect of cryptocurrency technology is. [0:18:24] The reasoning behind the argument, ‘You just don't understand the technology.' [0:21:52] How to make cryptocurrency work in traditional financial markets. [0:23:50] Why the recent crash in the cryptocurrency markets occurred. [0:28:03] Find out if cryptocurrencies can be beneficial for the ‘bankless'. [0:30:25] We discuss the outcome of El Salvador's bitcoin experiment. [0:32:20] He outlines why Salvadorans did not like the proposed bitcoin market. [0:38:11] Learn what the UK House of Commons Science and Technology Committee wanted to understand about cryptocurrency. [0:41:23] How his views on cryptocurrency were received by the commission. [0:43:46] An example of a crypto-based business that was operating illegally. [0:45:01] Whether NFTs will allow artists and musicians to keep more financial gains from their work. [0:46:13] We discuss whether crypto-based technologies will improve over time. [0:47:57] Examples of good uses for crypto and blockchain technology. [0:49:22] What would need to happen for David to change his opinion on crypto. [0:52:25]

Intro Wild speculation that @elonmusk killed #terraluna with their #Bitcoin sale at 30k, killed all the degens, What a legend

We are joined by David Gerard – longtime critic of blockchain, even before it was cool – to discuss the experience of staring into the crypto abyss and having it stare back into you. Follow, read, and support David here: ••• Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgerard ••• Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/book/ ••• Libra Shrugged: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/ ••• Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard Subscribe to hear more analysis and commentary in our premium episodes every week! patreon.com/thismachinekills Grab fresh new TMK gear: bonfire.com/store/this-machine-kills-podcast/ Hosted by Jathan Sadowski (twitter.com/jathansadowski) and Edward Ongweso Jr. (twitter.com/bigblackjacobin). Production / Music by Jereme Brown (twitter.com/braunestahl)

Crypto critics David Gerard & Amy Castor join Matt Binder on Scam Economy to talk about the "Jenga stack of interconnected time bombs" that is this week's cryptocurrency crash. David and Amy breakdown how the entire crypto space is like a Jenga tower and all it takes is for one rug pull to knock down the stack, how Terra/Luna set the stage for the plunge, what Celsius is and why it was the next piece to take down what was left, what the role crypto exchanges like Coinbase play, why crypto hedge funds like Three Arrows Capital are now floundering, and how Tether, Bitcoin miners, and even Mt. Gox will continue to play a role in crypto's nosedive. Read David and Amy's piece, The Latecomer's Guide to Crypto Crashing: https://amycastor.com/2022/06/14/the-latecomers-guide-to-crypto-crashing-a-quick-map-of-where-we-are-and-whats-ahead/ - Visit: ScamEconomy.com - Support the show: http://www.patreon.com/mattbinder

The autumn series of The 9pm Edict concludes with the implosion of cryptocurrencies and NFTs. Our special guest is David Gerard, author of "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain" and "Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money". This podcast is an expression of glorious schadenfreude. But we also talk about garlic, Julian Assange and the battle with Scientology, and even Elon Musk.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00173/Please consider supporting this podcast at:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

El Salvador bet big on Bitcoin, but was reported to have suffered heavy losses when cryptocurrency markets recently slumped. We talk to Isabella Cota, the Latin America economic correspondent for El Pais; and David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.

There is little that is uncontroversial when it comes to cryptocurrency, from its wild fluctuations and energy usage to its links to transnational crime and mysterious origins. In this episode, Rhiannon chats to David Gerard, an author and cryptocurrency journalist from London. They talk about: What cryptocurrency is and how it came about back in 2008 The benefits and dangers of digital currencies The failure of Facebook's stable coin Libra and the approach of state regulators El Salvador's fiasco integrating bitcoin as legal tender The future of crypto and what it means for our society You can read more of David's articles on cryptocurrency here and find him on Twitter. David also has several books out – find them here. Are you enjoying Global Questions? Got an idea for an upcoming episode? If so, we'd love to hear from you! Head to our suggestions page. Follow us on Instagram @global.questions for breaking news updates, quizzes, and bonus content. For more info about us, check out our website. CREDITS: This episode is produced by Young Diplomats Society on the lands of the Wurundjeri/Gadigal people. We pay our respects to the traditional custodians of the lands upon which we operate and live.

Between security issues and lack of use crypto does not deliver on its decade long promises argues David Gerard an independent blockchain journalist.

Today Bennett and Cas are joined by pioneering cryptocurrency author and skeptic David Gerard so he can tell us why he was skeptical in the first place and why he continues to be so today. David's books: Attack of the 50 Foot Blockhain https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-ebook/dp/B073CPP581 Libra Shrugged https://www.amazon.com/Libra-Shrugged-Facebook-Tried-Money-ebook/dp/B08KK9SZP6/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= Books Recommended: Extraordinary Popular Delusions http://supernovae.in2p3.fr/~llg/Textes/Extraordinary-Popular-Delusions-Mackay.pdf The Politics of Bitcoin https://www.amazon.com/Politics-Bitcoin-Right-Wing-Extremism-Forerunners/dp/1517901804 BitCon https://www.amazon.com/BitCon-Naked-Truth-About-Bitcoin-ebook/dp/B00NUIUQ3A Shameless self-promotion: Cas' article on Caritas Ponzi Scheme https://thecaspiancey.medium.com/caritas-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-hating-and-love-the-ponzi-26bd8e05c066 Cas on Crypto Island by PJ Vogt https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crypto-island/id1614253637?i=1000556292753 This episode was recorded on Friday, April 8th, 2022

Blockchain technology has gone mainstream. It earns huge amounts of column inches and airtime. Stories abound of Bitcoin millionaires and multimillion-dollar ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings). New cryptocurrencies are launched every week. People who don't entirely understand what they're buying are rushing to purchase Bitcoin for fear of missing out, and recently the UK's Royal Mint announced its first ever blockchain-based non-fungible token, an NFT. Back in 2018, Intelligence Squared gathered crypto specialists to debate whether blockchain technology has a legitimate future or not, including Jamie Bartlett, author and analyst on the politics of the internet, blockchain expert Primavera De Filippi, Vit Jedlička, President of the micronation Liberland, and crypto journalist David Gerard. The host for this discussion was journalist, author and former BBC News Editorial Director, Kamal Ahmed.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hey DOOMED listeners, Matt's new show is here! For a taste of what's in store, episode #1 of Scam Economy. (We won't be crossing the feeds too regularly, so be sure to subscribe to Scam Economy too!) Welcome to the Scam Economy: Episode #1 with our first guest cryptocurrency journalist and author, David Gerard. Cryptocurrency? Bitcoin? Ethereum? NFTs? Proof of work? Proof of stake? What does this all mean? David joins host Matt Binder to breakdown everything you need to know about (most of) the basics in the world of cryptocurrency. For more, check out: scameconomy.com

David talks about his motivations to cover crypto , bitcoin etc , Shortcomings of blockchain, NFT boom and much more.

Welcome to the Scam Economy: Episode #1 with our first guest cryptocurrency journalist and author, David Gerard. Cryptocurrency? Bitcoin? Ethereum? NFTs? Proof of work? Proof of stake? What does this all mean? David joins host Matt Binder to breakdown everything you need to know about (most of) the basics in the world of cryptocurrency. For more, check out: scameconomy.com

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: [moderator action] Eugine_Nier is now banned for mass downvote harassment, published by Kaj_Sotala on the LessWrong. As previously discussed, on June 6th I received a message from jackk, a Trike Admin. He reported that the user Jiro had asked Trike to carry out an investigation to the retributive downvoting that Jiro had been subjected to. The investigation revealed that the user Eugine_Nier had downvoted over half of Jiro's comments, amounting to hundreds of downvotes. I asked the community's guidance on dealing with the issue, and while the matter was being discussed, I also reviewed previous discussions about mass downvoting and looked for other people who mentioned being the victims of it. I asked Jack to compile reports on several other users who mentioned having been mass-downvoted, and it turned out that Eugine was also overwhelmingly the biggest downvoter of users David_Gerard, daenarys, falenas108, ialdabaoth, shminux, and Tenoke. As this discussion was going on, it turned out that user Ander had also been targeted by Eugine. I sent two messages to Eugine, requesting an explanation. I received a response today. Eugine admitted his guilt, expressing the opinion that LW's karma system was failing to carry out its purpose of keeping out weak material and that he was engaged in a "weeding" of users who he did not think displayed sufficient rationality. Needless to say, it is not the place of individual users to unilaterally decide that someone else should be "weeded" out of the community. The Less Wrong content deletion policy contains this clause: Harrassment of individual users. If we determine that you're e.g. following a particular user around and leaving insulting comments to them, we reserve the right to delete those comments. (This has happened extremely rarely.) Although the wording does not explicitly mention downvoting, harassment by downvoting is still harassment. Several users have indicated that they have experienced considerable emotional anguish from the harassment, and have in some cases been discouraged from using Less Wrong at all. This is not a desirable state of affairs, to say the least. I was originally given my moderator powers on a rather ad-hoc basis, with someone awarding mod privileges to the ten users with the highest karma at the time. The original purpose for that appointment was just to delete spam. Nonetheless, since retributive downvoting has been a clear problem for the community, I asked the community for guidance on dealing with the issue. The rough consensus of the responses seemed to authorize me to deal with the problem as I deemed appropriate. The fact that Eugine remained quiet about his guilt until directly confronted with the evidence, despite several public discussions of the issue, is indicative of him realizing that he was breaking prevailing social norms. Eugine's actions have worsened the atmosphere of this site, and that atmosphere will remain troubled for as long as he is allowed to remain here. Therefore, I now announce that Eugine_Nier is permanently banned from posting on LessWrong. This decision is final and will not be changed in response to possible follow-up objections. Unfortunately, it looks like while a ban prevents posting, it does not actually block a user from casting votes. I have asked jackk to look into the matter and find a way to actually stop the downvoting. Jack indicated earlier on that it would be technically straightforward to apply a negative karma modifier to Eugine's account, and wiping out Eugine's karma balance would prevent him from casting future downvotes. Whatever the easiest solution is, it will be applied as soon as possible. EDIT 24 July 2014: Banned users are now prohibited from voting. Thanks for listening. to help us out with the nonlinear library or to learn more, please vis...

Support the show and get the weekly bonus episode at patreon.com/leftreckoningMatt and David speak with David Gerard (@DavidGerard), writer of Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money and Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain to discuss crypto, particularly technologies like blockchain and smart contracts that supposedly validate utopian claims of crypto advocates in a way the currencies themselves don't.Also, what Biden's Title 42 sellout means and a Economic Update as unemployment benefits are cut to coerce labor.Day of action:https://www.detentionwatchnetwork.org/take-action/national-day-of-action-2021

Crypto currencies involve "mining" which is weird because they have no physical existence. They use more energy than a country like Sweden, but to what end? Phil Sansom and David Gerard explore this mysterious phenomenon... Like this podcast? Please help us by writing a review

This week's CoinMarketRecap podcast with Connor Sephton is an El Salvador special. As the country became the first in the world to embrace Bitcoin as legal tender, the crypto community was in a celebratory mood. But the rollout was tainted by technical difficulties and protests… and overshadowed by one of the worst market crashes of 2021 so far.We'll explain all of this news in an easy-to-understand way. A crypto enthusiast will join us from El Salvador to explain the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead — and tell us whether the government's newly launched Bitcoin wallet is up to the job.Crypto journalist and author David Gerard, who is critical of President Nayib Bukele's move, explains why he thinks the Bitcoin Law is bad for the country.CoinMarketCap's Molly Jane Zuckerman is here with a roundup of this week's other crypto headlines.Blockchain engineer David Mihal joins us to explain why more than $800 million worth of Ether has been burned.And a year after R&B star Akon laid the first ceremonial stone of his ambitious crypto-powered city, West Africa journalist Emmet Livingstone gives us an update on how the project is going.

Paris Marx is joined by Olivier Jutel to discuss blockchain's pivot to humanitarianism, the questionable people behind the technology, and how their projects in the Pacific have benefited capitalist and imperial power.Olivier Jutel is a lecturer at the University of Otago. Follow Olivier on Twitter at @OJutel.

NFTs experienced a huge boom earlier this year particularly after artist Beeple sold his artwork for $69 million, but his artwork was just a jpeg available for everyone to see. So what is an NFT? And why are they selling for so much? Tim Dowling talks to billionaire Mark Cuban, journalist David Gerard, Professor Charlie Gere and digital art curator Chloe Diamond to find out.

What exactly happened on Monday morning with #Tether? You know her from her independent journalistic work on financial fraud in cryptocurrencies that has been published nearly everywhere- Artnet News, Business Insider, The Block, Bitcoin Magazine, Coindesk, Forbes, Modern Consensus, Decrypt and elsewhere! You know him from his hilarious best-selling book- Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and his poorly timed dissection of Facebook's attempt to takeover money- Libra Shrugged. Amy Castor and David Gerard join me in a deep dig past the completely organic (organic like what comes out the end of a cow) behavior following the leaking of the Tether Target Letter. The original leak was published via Bloomberg and is paywalled here: https://www.bloomberg.co m/news/articles/2021-07-26/tether-executives-said-to-face-criminal-probe-into-bank-fraud Castor, with the help of Gerard, published an excellent piece later that day, that both covers the history of the Tether banking issues as well as the meaning of the news that many of us struggled to understand. This discussion surrounds that article: https://amycastor.com/2021/07/26/the-dojs-criminal-probe-into-tether-what-we-know/ If you enjoyed hearing from the dynamic duo, follow them! Amy Castor https://amycastor.com/ https://twitter.com/ahcastor https://www.reddit.com/user/amycastor/ Support Amy on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/amycastor David Gerard https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ https://twitter.com/davidgerard https://www.reddit.com/user/dgerard/ Find both his books on his website! https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/book/ https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/ A huge thank you to my audio editor Gordon! Lucky to have him help me on short notice. Check him out on twitter: https://twitter.com/gordolven Follow me on twitter to stay up to date on the latest! https://twitter.com/milner_aviv --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/when-the-music-stops/message

On this week's episode of the Unhashed Podcast we talk about the latest in NFT weirdness with celebrity "Stoner Cats", how video game grinding is the original PoW, Blockfi's regulatory setback, ThorChains incompetency, the new EU proposal on crypto regulations, and more!In a hard hitting piece from Coindesk, a new animated web series, 'œStoner Cats,' launches Monday, featuring Mila Kunis, Ashton Kutcher, Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin, Jane Fonda, and others. To watch the first five-minute episode, viewers must purchase a non-fungible token (NFT) for 0.35 ETH each, which is both a digital artwork of a character from the show, as well as a ticket to unlock all 'œStoner Cats' episodes as they are made. Actress and entrepreneur Mila Kunis, along with Sound Ventures Partner Maaria Bajwa were interviewed to 'œshare insights' into their project.Last week, Ukrainian authorities busted a massive illegal Sony PlayStation 4 farm for what they believed was a crypto mining operation. As it turns out, the warehouse was actually grinding for FIFA Ultimate Team coins and cards. According to the Ukrainian business journal Delo, which undertook an investigation itself following skepticism from initial findings by the authorities, the 3,800 PS4s discovered weren't actually being used to mine cryptocurrency, which makes sense given how their hardware and graphics cards aren't ideal. It also pointed out that in many photos you can see game discs actually sticking out of the consoles. The Security Service of Ukraine has refused to comment on Delo'˜s findings, explaining that the ongoing investigation must be kept a secret. For those unfamiliar, the Ultimate Team game mode within FIFA allows gamers to build their own custom teams with various player cards. To get better players, you'll have to play and win more matches, giving you in-game currency to buy packs. Alternatively, you can also pay with real currency to buy coins to unlock these packs. On the flip side, the in-game currency earned or cards you obtain can be sold back in black markets for actual money. To give you a sense of just how big this market is, official FIFA Ultimate Team transactions brought in $1.6 billion USD for EA in just the past year. '" https://hypebeast.com/2021/7/ukraine-playstation-4-farm-fifa-ultimate-team-account-grindingBig woes this week for Blockfi. It started with the state of New Jersey, Blockfi's home turf, sending in a cease and desist, causing Blockfi to stop offering its Bitcoin Interest Account (BIA for short) to new customers from the state. Within the next several days, Alabama, Texas and Vermont followed suit. At issue is whether or not the BIA is to be deemed a security. In a piece for Coinbase, Preston Byrne lays out the security laws at issue. TLDR, you bank can pay you interest on your dollars and that is not a security because of the tiny risk (due to FDIC insurance), but with BlockFi and other platforms, according to Byrne's interpretation and the suits by the states, you are actually trading your bitcoin for BIA promises, and these promises are securities. '" https://www.coindesk.com/blockfi-securities-law-defiLast week, the Thorchain protocol was drained of around 4,000 ether. A couple of days ago Thorchain was hit by another exploit, this time costing around $8 million. The hacker claims they deliberately minimized the damage from the exploit in a bid to teach THORChain a lesson, stating: 'œDo not rush code that controls 9 figures,' and 'œDisable until audits are complete.' The hacker adds that they could have stolen Ether, Bitcoin, Binance Coin, Lycancoin, and many BEP-20 tokens if they had wanted to, asserting that 'œmultiple critical issues' were found and that a 10% bug bounty could have prevented the incident. '" https://cointelegraph.com/news/possible-white-hat-hacker-exploits-thorchain-for-8m-proposes-10-bountyProposed changes to EU law would force companies that transfer Bitcoin or other crypto-assets to collect details on the recipient and sender. The proposals could take two years to become law. The Commission argued that crypto-asset transfers should be subject to the same anti-money-laundering rules as wire transfers. "Given that virtual assets transfers are subject to similar money-laundering and terrorist-financing risks as wire funds transfers... it therefore appears logical to use the same legislative instrument to address these common issues," the Commission wrote. While some crypto-asset service providers are already covered by anti-money-laundering rules, the new proposals would "extend these rules to the entire crypto-sector, obliging all service providers to conduct due diligence on their customers," the Commission explained. Under the proposals, a company transferring crypto-assets for a customer would be obliged to include their name, address, date of birth and account number, and the name of the recipient. David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, told the BBC: "This is just applying existing rules to crypto. This has been coming since 2019." He said that although these were European proposals their impact would reach much further. "If you want to make real money, you have to follow the rules of real money," he said. '" https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-5790111

Bestselling author, David Gerard, goes in-depth into a seemingly harmless idea that has wreaked havoc on the hard drive market. The creator of the highly successful file-sharing software, Bram Cohen, gains new notoriety with his latest invention in the blockchain space. Chia is a mining-based distributed system, much like Bitcoin, but with a seemingly positive new contribution. Rather than wasting the electric capacity of Iceland, Chia purports to be the eco-friendly solution. With a reward system enticing to any consumer with a computer or a phone, it seems too good to be true.  David Gerard talks proof of work vs proof waste, Tether, NFTs, crypto-investors' psychology and the blockchain industry as a whole. Much of this interview talks about his 2017 book, "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain", a bestseller that brought much needed skepticism towards crypto. His latest book. "Libra Shrugged", details the attempt of Facebook to try to take over money. Both are available on Amazon. Find more from David Gerard: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/book/   Follow him on Twitter: @davidgerard https://twitter.com/davidgerard   His recent blog on Chia: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/05/23/foreign-policy-chia-is-a-new-way-to-waste-resources-for-cryptocurrency/ Want to come on the podcast? Reach out to me at aviv@blacktieconsultants.com Special thanks to the r/buttcoin community for encouraging skeptical inquiry. And special thanks to @Bitfinexed, my good friends Robin and Gavin, @CasPiancey and another big thanks to David for a great read and a great interview! Upcoming podcasts: Amy Castor talks NFTs! Buttcoin Redditor discusses Microstrategy & Will Bitcoin Save us from Inflation?   As well as a very special secret guest who may be a moderator on our favorite subreddit. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/when-the-music-stops/message

Kelly Cutrara talks to financial journalist, David Gerard.   Watch the mention being blamed for the sell-off here.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

I interviewed David Gerard, author of the cryptocurrency blog and book of the same name "Attack of the 50ft Blockchain", as well as a new book "Libra Shrugged" about Facebook's attempt to develop cryptocurrencies. We talked about Bitcoin, its flaws, its origins, and its future.

David Gerard is the author of the book and blog, "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts."

The 9pm Autumn Series 2021 continues with blockchain and cryptocurrency realist David Gerard, author of "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain" and "Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Take Over the Money".We talk about Bitcoin, of course, as well as cryptocurrency and blockchain technology more generally, Facebook's plan to reinvent money, anarcho-capitalism, money laundering, market manipulation, Elon Musk, Philomena Cunk, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), the nature of money, and even the nature of art.Full podcast details and credits at:https://the9pmedict.com/edict/00131/If you've been enjoying the Autumn Series of The 9pm Edict podcast, then why not support a few more episodes? Perhaps even a Public House Forum? Remember them?https://the9pmedict.com/moreautumn2021Support this podcast at:https://the9pmedict.com/tip/https://skank.com.au/subscribe/

This episode sees the return of popular guest David Gerard - reluctant expert on crypto currency and author of Attack of the 50ft Blockchain and Libra Shrugged - to tell us about Bitcoin and the Nazis.  Content Warnings, as ever, but an especial TW this time for discussion of a suicide. Podcast Notes: Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to one full extra episode a month. Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618 IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper Jack's Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_ IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1 Episode Notes: David's... Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgerard Site: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard/overview The Politics of Bitcoin: Software as Right-Wing Extremism by David Golumbia (https://twitter.com/dgolumbia): https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-politics-of-bitcoin   Brenna Smith at Bellingcat on the 'Bitcoin Fairy': https://www.bellingcat.com/news/2021/02/03/why-500k-donation-to-right-wing-causes-does-not-signify-return-of-bitcoin-fairy/   Craig Wright copyright claims, Grayscale, Mt. Gox, Reddit on Ethereum, the French Bitcoin neo-Nazi: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/2021/01/27/news-craig-wright-copyright-claims-grayscale-mt-gox-reddit-on-ethereum-the-french-bitcoin-neo-nazi/   Thread: https://twitter.com/davidgerard/status/1350174661590577155   Neo-Nazi BTC Tracker: https://twitter.com/NeonaziWallets  

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are like Bitcoin marmite - you either love ‘em or hate ‘em. Some, like digital artist Beeple, who recently sold an NFT at auction for $69.3 million, are understandably enamoured. Others, such as crypto sceptic David Gerard, have serious doubts.  Josh Petty, co-founder of Twetch, has seen the trend first-hand. He recently launched NFTs for 101 Twetch hats which sold out in under a minute. The hats are embroidered with an individual number and come with a digital trading card to represent them.  “The Twetch hat is a very special type of digital item because it actually comes with the physical peg,” Josh says. The hats, which first sold for $100 to $420 and are currently trading at $2000, are just the first step for Josh. He says, “the hat is a very simple, primitive example of the direction we’re going where the property that you have in real life or the digital life, those things are interacting.”  On this week’s CoinGeek Conversations, David Gerard admitted he was impressed by Josh’s initiative but said he still had concerns about NFTs: “a lot of my objections to NFTs are not so much the future possibilities of what you might be able to do with this construct as with a lot of the grim realities we’re seeing here in March 2021.”  David is unimpressed by customer service issues on NFT markets run by Ethereum. He says there are “enormous amounts of problems that they really haven’t done a lot of homework to work out how to sort out. Just customer service issues like you sold me an NFT that wasn’t minted by the artist and I feel ripped off.”  Because an NFT doesn’t require people to own the copyright of something to mint tokens for it, it’s a market ripe for fraud. And there are other possible problems too: Josh admits that “there’s even been cases where people are going to an Ethereum based NFT website, they buy this piece of art, the artist later just goes to the website and uploads a different image of a rug.”  But Josh explains that it’s easier to build verification into the blockchain on Bitcoin SV and show where digital property is minted. On Twetch “somebody can actually prove they own it, and they can prove it’s the thing that they have, that digital item and it’s built into their ownership and we’re solving that problem where no one else really is.”  Josh also criticises Ethereum’s high minting fees, saying, “the price of purchasing an NFT - the minimum is so high on Ethereum that small artists that want to sell something for twenty dollars or less aren’t going to be able to have any income from this at all. On BSV we can do this.”  BSV’s low transaction fees and capacity for scaling mean that budding digital creators can offer tokens at a higher margin. On Ethereum, new entrants are hit with high transaction fees and unexpected marketplace costs, restricting their earning potential. Josh believes BSV offers accessibility to young artists. He plans to “build a better platform that actually empowers people to be able to sell and trade things and make actual money from it.”  The conversation was more of a meeting of the minds than Josh and David expected. David agreed that “there’s a world in which NFTs are this sort of fun, interesting thing you can play with and that’s good.”

Another special episode this time, as we welcome to the show David Gerard, author of acclaimed takedown of cryptocurrency Attack of the 50ft Blockchain, and Elizabeth Sandifer, author of acclaimed takedown of neo-reaction Neoreaction a Basilisk, to discuss Scott Alexander (or is it Siskind?) and his blog Slate Star Codex, with digressions into Less Wrong, 'rationalism', and why David is responsible for Grimes hooking up with Elon Musk. Content Warnings apply, as ever. Also, we once again we have audio that doesn't quite meet our recent standards, though its perfectly listenable. Podcast Notes: Please consider donating to help us make the show and stay independent.  Patrons get exclusive access to one full extra episode a month. Daniel's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/danielharper Jack's Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=4196618 IDSG Twitter: https://twitter.com/idsgpod Daniel's Twitter: @danieleharper Jack's Twitter: @_Jack_Graham_ IDSG on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/i-dont-speak-german/id1449848509?ls=1 Episode Notes: Elizabeth's... Twitter: https://twitter.com/ElSandifer Site: http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/elizabethsandifer David's... Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgerard Site: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidgerard/overview Elizabeth's recent article on Scott Alexander/Siskind: http://www.eruditorumpress.com/blog/the-beigeness-or-how-to-kill-people-with-bad-writing-the-scott-alexander-method/ RationalWiki on Scott Alexander: https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Scott_Alexander

Guests:David Gerard (twitter.com/davidgerard)Bryce Weiner (twitter.com/bryceweiner)Host:Richard Yan (twitter.com/gentso09)Today's motion is “Diem is a glorified PayPal.”Diem of course used to be called Libra. It's a cryptocurrency floated by Facebook in 2019. It was a big deal back then. A global borderless currency for 2 billion install base is a game charger for commerce and remittances, and would have implications on capital control. There were some very high profile congressional hearings held on this matter with Facebook executives including Mark Zuckerberg. This also supposedly accelerated the adoption of CBDC by certain countries.So, what are the ambitious promises and regulatory constraints around Diem? What are the politicians' biggest concerns on Diem? Will it end up getting reduced to a PayPal? How will Facebook make money from this? Our two guests will cover all of the above.If you're into crypto and like to hear two sides of the story, be sure to also check out our previous episodes. We've featured some of the best known thinkers in the crypto space.If you would like to debate or want to nominate someone, please DM me at @blockdebate on Twitter.Please note that nothing in our podcast should be construed as financial advice.Source of select items discussed in the debate (and supplemental material):Diem official page: Diem.comSummary of Zuckerberg congressional testimony on Libra: https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/23/zuckerberg-testimony/David Gerard's book on Diem "Libra Shrugged: How Facebook tried to take over the money": https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/Tao network: https://tao.network/Guest bios:David Gerard is the author of two crypto books, “Libra Shrugged: How Facebook tried to take over the money” and "Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum and Smart Contracts." He is a no-coiner, and writes a popular no-coiner newsletter also named “Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain.”Bryce Weiner is a former Fortune 500 developer with over 20 years of software engineering experience, with nearly a decade in cryptocurrency development and monetization. He is the lead developer of the Tao smart contract network and the CEO of US-based exchange AltMarket.

A staunch critic of Silicon Valley, writer and journalist David Gerard offers a stinging critique of Facebook’s cryptocurrency project: “Libra is not a story about cryptocurrency; it’s a story about Silicon Valley hubris and people who think they can start their own money and take over the world that way.” Known in the crypto world as a Bitcoin and blockchain critic, in his new book Libra Shrugged Gerard offers a comprehensive analysis of Facebook’s Libra project. Speaking to Coingeek’s Charles Miller, he characterizes the Libra team as “a group of people who think they can take advantage of the system without getting called out on it.” When Facebook announced Libra back in June 2019, “its original plan was to run a currency basket-based token on blockchain.” Gerard explains. The project, however, was met with fierce criticism from regulators around the world. Regulators’ biggest concern, Gerard says, is to avoid a repeat of the 2008 financial crisis which was brought about by the kind of structure Facebook’s Libra was proposing. Regulators fear that a monopoly could threaten global financial stability - as happened in 2008 when a few companies were purported to be ‘too big to fail’: “Regulators around the world are frightened of one thing and that’s another 2008 happening. And Facebook came along and presented them with a plan for ‘here’s how we could do a 2008 all by ourselves’.” Following opposition and backlash, the social media platform floated a new plan for a series of currency substitute tokens such as a dollar token, pound token, and Euro token. But as Gerard explains, this plan didn’t go down well with regulators either. “The real objection the regulators have is the scale of it.” The currency reserve needed to fulfill Facebook’s plan would have been worth over a trillion dollars - posing a major problem for global financial stability in itself. In October 2020, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by members of the US Congress to a hearing to explain the company’s plans. Gerard observes Zuckerberg to be a good talker, serving up well thought-out statements, however lacking substance. Zuckerberg has since made it clear that Libra would not move forward without proper regulatory compliance. But one by one, large companies dropped their support for Libra, leaving a select few onboard. In December, Libra was renamed Diem. In an attempt to win over regulators, Diem presented a simpler and revamped structure. Its launch date was initially set for January 2021. As Gerard explains, it’s the same Libra group proposing different technologies to solve problems, except that now it’s the Diem Association instead of the Libra Association. You can buy David Gerard’s Libra Shrugged here: https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/

There will only ever be 21 million Bitcoin. No one knows why (they might say they do, but they don't) and it's set off a frenzy of 'mining' which is sucking up power and pumping out carbon. Is it the madness of Easter Island all over again? A mad rush for a symbol of wealth that ends up undermining our ability to protect our ecosystems? We take a wry look at the subject. Turns out the Easter Island story might be a myth, but the rush to mine Bitcoin is very real. Includes an acerbic interview with David Gerard, author of The Attack of the 50ft Blockchain.

Not content with owning our social lives, Facebook has a plan to take over the world's money. All of it. That's the thinking behind 'Libra' a cryptocurrency proposed by Facebook in 2019 and immediately blocked by regulators around the world. Is this proof that Mr. Zuckerberg is after world domination? Is it evidence that he's a disciple of the mad Objectivist, Ayn Rand? Does he want to be like her dead-behind-the-eyes Neoliberal heroes in her brick-like books? We speak to David Gerard, acerbic tech critic and author of the definitive account of the Libra plan: 'Libra Shrugged: How Facebook Tried to Takeover THE MONEY!' - well worth a read if you're interested not just in crypto but money is general. It's available at https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/

Follow The Decrypt Daily Twitter: @decryptmedia Website: Decrypt.co Follow me on : Twitter: @TheDecryptDaily IG: @TheDecryptDaily Author David Gerard https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/libra/ Libra Shugged https://amzn.to/2HLzxGa Links: PayPal Launches Cryptocurrency Trading for All US Users https://decrypt.co/48042/paypal-launches-crypto-trading-for-us-users Crypto Tracing Firm Wants to Help Feds Better Handle Seized Bitcoin https://decrypt.co/48060/chainalysis-asset-realization-program-seized-bitcoin Russia Eases Up on Putting Bitcoin Users in Jail in Proposed Tax Law https://decrypt.co/48048/russia-bitcoin-jail-tax-law Music: Say Good Night by Joakim Karud https://soundcloud.com/joakimkarud Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported— CC BY-SA 3.0 Free Download / Stream: http://bit.ly/2RzhBOn Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/SZkVShypKgM Here comes the money https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ZpesMYF6A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n695sgmV3EQ Financial Disclosure: Matthew Aaron is a holder of cryptocurrencies, digital assets, and other stocks. *** this is not financial or legal advice*** © Copyright 2020 Matthew Aaron Podcasts LLC All Rights Reserved

Facebook’s ‘Libra’ digital currency project combined incompetence and arrogance and was bound to fail, says David Gerard, our guest on the latest New Money Review podcast. Gerard, a technology expert and journalist, is the author of a new book, called ‘Libra Shrugged’, on what he sees as Facebook’s attempts to take over the world’s money. In June last year, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced his firm’s ambitions to provide the first global medium of exchange, for use across the firm’s social media channels, which include Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram and reach over 2bn global users. According to Gerard, Facebook’s bid to launch a private currency was motivated by its desire to collect even more of our personal data. And if regulators hadn’t prevented the launch of Libra, says Gerard, the US technology firm would have obtained an almost impregnable competitive advantage, he argues. “If you think Facebook is hard to regulate now — just think how hard Facebook would be to regulate if it controlled not just the money, but your access to financial services outside Facebook,” he writes in his new book. According to Gerard, Facebook seriously misjudged the complexity of the regulations governing the world’s financial system. The firm apparently thought it could just launch a new global digital currency on the basis of a good idea, he says during the podcast. While the tech giant is likely to continue in its payments push, says Gerard, it will have to do so with vastly reduced ambitions. Facebook has already been forced to abandon its plans for a single global currency unit. In the podcast, Gerard also explains his long-standing dislike of cryptocurrency, calling bitcoin an ‘apocalyptic death cult’. While the cryptography supporting bitcoin is sound, he says, the 12-year-old digital currency—and its many spin-offs—have attracted serial scammers, who keep preying on gullible members of the public. During the interview, Gerard goes on to express scepticism about the current race to introduce central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). As payments become increasingly digital, CBDCs could replace national banknotes and coins. But most of these new digital moneys are a solution in search of a problem, argues Gerard, and are unlikely to take off.

David is the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain and a leading commentator on Bitcoin, blockchain and related technologies. TL;DR David doesn't think that any of this stuff is any good, and that blockchain is a solution looking for a problem.   For further Bitcoin-related banter, you can visit https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ or @ him on https://twitter.com/davidgerard

On this episode we have special guest David Gerard from Junk Spirit Games in studio to talk about his kickstarter project "Slip Strike". We talk about potential board game delays because of a virus? and of course the quickstarter with Sean! 

David Gerard, famous Bitcoin hater, nocoiner, author and wikipedia editor against blockchains & BTC.

Motion: Bitcoin will Attain Global Store of Value Status in 2040.Guests:Jimmy Song (@jimmysong) - debating FOR the motionDavid Gerard (@davidgerard) - debating AGAINST the motionHost:Richard Yan (@gentso09)This debate touches upon one of the most fundamental value proposition of cryptos. If any crypto can attain the status of digital gold, the coin with the longest history, highest market cap and widest recognition seems to have the best chance. And if there are serious obstacles, it's probably important for investors, developers and operators of other alternative coins to know why.Some of the highlights of the debate include real bitcoin usage in oppressive regimes and inflation-heavy countries; myths around mining centralization; nuances in fixing bitcoin code; whether irreversibility is a feature or bug.Source of select items discussed in the debate:Bitcoin ownership survey: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/largest-bitcoin-ownership-survey-reveals-6-2-of-americans-own-bitcoin-while-7-3-are-planning-to-buy-some-300928651.htmlBitcoin usage in Venezuela: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/23/opinion/sunday/venezuela-bitcoin-inflation-cryptocurrencies.htmlBitcoin inflation bug: https://www.coindesk.com/the-latest-bitcoin-bug-was-so-bad-developers-kept-its-full-details-a-secret

$50,000 BTC!!! Decentralization! Crypto is the future! Sovereign money! But, what if it isn’t the future? What if we never see all time highs for bitcoin again. What if it was all a destined for failure technology? David Gerard is in that camp. He sees nothing but scams, misplaced technology beliefs, and hopeful people waiting to get robbed. A special thank you to our sponsors Unity Coin: https://www.unity.sg AAX: https://www.aax.com Follow us at: Twitter: @whatiscrypto Website: Whatiscrypto.com FB Group & Page: What is Crypto YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCspcykxjIbHo0C9ZOCM9YnA David Gerard Twitter: @davidgerard Book: https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts/dp/1974000060/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2A9K7KTI5AH4D&keywords=attack+of+the+50+foot+blockchain&qid=1575479334&sprefix=attack+of+the+50+foot+b%2Caps%2C137&sr=8-1 Michael Nye (Host) Twitter: @MrMichaelNye IG: mrmichaelnye Matthew Aaron (Producer) Twitter: @MatthewAaronCLE Email: Matthew@iamnye.com For Bookings: https://www.whatiscrypto.com Editor: Randy McMillan Twitter: @RandyMcMillan Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X43uhXqwJA Lost In The Shadows - Del. https://soundcloud.com/del-sound Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/lost-in-the-shadows Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/5X43uhXqwJA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62mBX_0TdA Coming Home - LiQWYD & Dayfox https://soundcloud.com/liqwyd https://soundcloud.com/dayfox Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_coming-home Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/s62mBX_0TdA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsbbGAKhxLI Morning Routine - Ghostrifter Official https://soundcloud.com/ghostrifter-of... Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: https://bit.ly/_morning-routine Music promoted by Audio Library https://youtu.be/lsbbGAKhxLI *** this is not financial or legal advice*** © Copyright 2019 What is Crypto Media LLC All Rights Reserved

In this episode we interview snide hipster who hates everyone, David Gerard, about Bitcoin being hilarious trash. Connect with David: Twitter: @davidgerard Website: davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain Find his book on Amazon Our Socials: Website: keywordcrypto.com Facebook: @keywordcrypto Twitter: @keywordcrypto Twitter (Michael): @keywordcrypto_m Twitter (JJ): @keyword_jj Linkedin: @keywordcrypto Youtube: KeywordCrypto Support Us: BTC: 39v3yrPDqm61LtyknESDAyAmGUGyuW3Kc1 ETH: 0xe5DCA0e80BF96Cb43fdb0d033a65461c8F8f9988 NANO: nano_3qrknjfmy33jspmzbssrbpskzdi8qibq9zztr6rn7kx8ai3yzyb8569fmfpf Patreon Coinbase Tippin.me Intro Song: Physical Forms - On the Brink --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/keywordcrypto/support

Kelly talks to David Gerard

This week's episode of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs is the first of two bonus episodes answering listener questions at the end of the first year of the podcast.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. ----more---- Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   Patreon backers can ask questions for next episode at this link. Books mentioned -- Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick, Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum, Roots, Radicals and Rockers by Billy Bragg, Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw.  Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Hello, and welcome to the first of our two-part question and answer session.   For those who didn't hear the little admin podcast I did last week, this week and next week are not regular episodes of the podcast -- I'm taking two weeks out to get the book version of the first fifty episodes edited and published, and to get a bit of a backlog in writing future episodes. I'm planning on doing this every year from now on, and doing it this way will mean that the podcast will take exactly ten years, rather than the nine years and eight months it would otherwise take,   But to fill in the gaps while you wait, I asked for any questions from my Patreon backers, about anything to do with the podcast. This week and next week I'm going to be answering those questions.   Now, I'll be honest, I wasn't even sure that anyone would have any questions at all, and I was worried I'd have to think of something else to do next week, but it turns out there are loads of them. I've actually had so many questions, some of them requiring quite long answers, that I'll probably have enough to not only do this week and next week's episodes based on questions, but to do a bonus backer-only half-hour podcast of more questions next week.   Anyway, to start with, a question that I've been asked quite a bit, and that both Melissa Williams and Claire Boothby asked -- what's the theme music for the podcast, and how does it fit in with the show?   [Excerpt: Boswell Sisters, “Rock and Roll”]   The song is called "Rock and Roll", and it's from 1934. It is, I believe, the very first song to use the phrase "rock and roll" in those words -- there was an earlier song called "rocking and rolling", but I think it's the first one to use the phrase "rock and roll".   It's performed by the Boswell Sisters, a jazz vocal trio from the thirties whose lead singer, Connee Boswell, influenced Ella Fitzgerald among others, and it was written by Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare.   They actually wrote it for Shirley Temple -- they're the people who wrote "On the Good Ship Lollipop" -- but it was turned down for use in one of her films so the Boswells did it instead.   The version I'm using is actually the version the Boswells sang in a film, Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, rather than the proper studio recording. That's just because the film version was easier for me to obtain.   As for why I'm using it, a few reasons. One is that it's of historical note, as I said, because it's the first song to use the phrase, and that seemed appropriate for a podcast on the history of rock music. The other main reason is that it's in the public domain, and I try wherever possible to keep to copyright laws. I think all the uses of music in the podcast fall under fair use or fair dealing, because they're short excerpts used for educational purposes and I link to legal versions of the full thing, but using a recording as the theme music doesn't, so I had to choose something that was in the public domain.   Next we have a question from David Gerard: "piece of trivia from waaaaay back: in "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie", why "*democratic* fellows named Mack"? what's that line about?"   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch'Boogie”]   Well, I've never actually seen an interview with the writers of the song, but I can hazard two educated guesses. One of them is boring and probably right, the other one is more interesting and probably wrong.   The boring and probably right one is very simple -- the word "democratic" scans, and there aren't that many words that fit that syllable pattern. There are some -- "existential", "sympathetic", "diuretic" -- but not that many, and "democratic" happens to be assonant with the song's rhyme scheme, too -- the "cratic" doesn't actually rhyme with all those "alack", "track" "jack", and so on, but it sounds good in combination with them. I suspect that the solution is as simple as that.   The more interesting one is probably not the case, and I say this because the songwriters who wrote "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" were white. BUT, Milt Gabler, one of the three credited writers, was familiar enough with black culture that this might be the case.   Now, the character in "Choo Choo Ch'Boogie" is a soldier returning from the second world war -- we know this from the first two lines, "Heading for the station with a pack on my back/I'm tired of transportation in the back of a hack", plus the date the song was recorded, 1946. So we've got someone who's recently been discharged from the army and has no job.   BUT, given it's Louis Jordan singing, we can presume this someone is black. And that puts the song in a rather different light. Because 1946 is slap in the middle of what's known as the second great migration -- the second big wave of black people moving from the rural deep south to the urban north and (in the case of the second migration, but not really the first) the west. This is something we've touched on a bit in the podcast, because it was the second great migration that was, in large part, responsible for the popularity of the urban jump blues that became R&B -- and separately, it was also the cause of the creation of the electric blues in Chicago. And Chicago is an interesting one here. Because Chicago was one of the biggest destinations -- possibly the single biggest destination -- for black people looking to move around this time.   And so we recontextualise a bit. Our black soldier has returned to the US, but he's travelling by train to somewhere where there's no job waiting for him, and there's no mention of going to see his friends or his wife or anything like that. So maybe, he's someone who grew up in the rural deep south, but has decided to use the opportunity of his discharge from the military to go and build himself a new life in one of the big cities, quite probably Chicago. And he's looking for work and doesn't have many contacts there. We can tell that because in the second verse he's looking at the classified ads for jobs in the paper.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch'Boogie”]   Now, at this time, especially during and immediately after the Second World War, the single biggest employer in the US in the big cities was the government, and in the big cities there was a *lot* of patronage being handed out by the party in charge -- basically, in most of the big cities, the political parties, especially the Democrats at this time, were an arm of organised crime, with the mayor of the city acting much as a Mafia don would. And the only way to get a job, if you didn't have any special qualifications, if you weren't a "man with a knack" as the song puts it -- especially a sinecure where you didn't have to work very hard -- the only way to get such a job was to be owed a favour by the local Democratic Party.   Now, in Chicago -- again, Chicago is not named in the song, but it would seem the most logical place for our protagonist to be travelling, and this was true of other big Northern cities like New York, too -- the Democratic Party was run at this time almost entirely by Irish-Americans. The Mayor of Chicago, at the time was Edward Kelly, and he was the head of a formidable electoral machine, a coalition of several different ethnic groups, but dominated by Irish people.   So, if you wanted one of those jobs that were being handed out, you'd have to do favours for Kelly's Irish Democrats -- you'd have to pal around with Democratic fellows named Mac.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch'Boogie”]   Now I come to a few questions that I'm going to treat as one -- questions from Jeff Stanzler, Steven Hinkle, and Matthew Elmslie. They ask, between them, how I plan out what songs I'm going to include, and if I have to make difficult choices about what to include and what not to include, and who the most significant performer I don't plan to include at all is. Jeremy Wilson also asks if I've got all five hundred songs planned out and how close to the current day I plan to get.   These are all, actually, very different questions, but they all centre around the same thing, and so I'm going to address them all together here. If any of you don't think I've addressed your question sufficiently, please say and I'll come back to it next week.   Now, I don't have the whole five hundred songs mapped out. To do that would be for me to assume that in the next nine years none of my research will cause me to revise my opinions on what's important. So far, in the first fifty, I've not really had to make any difficult choices at all -- the only things I've wished I could include have either been things where there's just not enough information out there to put together an interesting episode, or where my own self-imposed restrictions like the starting point cut them off. Like if I'd decided to start a few years earlier, I *would* have included Jimmie Rodgers, but you have to have a cut-off point, and if I hadn't set 1938 and the Goodman Carnegie Hall concerts as a good starting point I could have gone all the way back at least to the mid nineteenth century, and it would have been more the prehistory of rock.   Maybe I'll do that as a project when I've finished this one.   But even those people I've excluded, I've ended up being able to cover as bonus episodes, so I've not really had to leave anything out.   But that means so far, since we're still really at the very beginning of rock and roll, there have been no difficult choices. That will change as the story goes on -- in the sixties there are so many important records that I'm going to have to cut out a lot, and by the mid-seventies rock has diversified so much that there will be *tons* of things I'll just have to gloss over. But right now I've had to make no tough decisions.   Now, the way I do this -- I have a list of about two hundred or so songs that I'm pretty sure are going to make the final list. Like I'm sure nobody will be surprised to find that I'll be covering, say, "Peggy Sue", "Satisfaction", "Stairway to Heaven", "God Save the Queen" and "Walk This Way". You can't leave those things out of the story and still have it be anything like an actual history of rock music. That's my sort of master list, but I don't consult that all that often.   What I do, is at any given point I'm working on the next ten scripts simultaneously -- I do things that way because I use the same research materials for multiple episodes, so for example I was writing the Chess episodes all at the same time, and the rockabilly episodes all at the same time, so I might be reading a biography of Carl Perkins, see an interesting fact about Johnny Cash, and stick the fact in the Johnny Cash episode or whatever. I have another list of about twenty probables, just titles, that I'm planning to work on soon after. Every time I finish a script, I look through the list of probables, pull out a good one to work on next, and add that to the ten I'm writing. I'll also, when I'm doing that, add any more titles I've thought of to the list. So I know exactly what I'm going to be doing in the next two and a half months, have a pretty good idea of what I'm doing for the next six, and only a basic outline after that.   That means that I can't necessarily say for certain who I *won't* be including. There will, undoubtedly, be some significant performers who don't get included, but I can't say who until we get past their part in the story. Steven also asked as part of this if I've determined an end point. Yes I have. That may change over the next nine years, but when I was planning out the podcast -- even before it became a podcast, when I was thinking of it as just a series of books -- I thought of what I think would make the perfect ending for the series -- a song from 1999 -- and I'm going to use that.   Related to that, William Maybury asked "Why 1999?"   Well, a few reasons -- partly because it's a nice cut-off point -- the end of the nineties and so on. Partly because it's about the time that I disengaged totally from popular culture -- I like plenty of music from the last couple of decades, but not really much that has made any impact on the wider world. Partly because, when I finish the podcast, 1999 will be thirty years ago, which seems like about the right sort of length of time to have a decent historical perspective on things; partly because one of the inspirations for this was Richard Thompson's 1000 Years of Popular Music and that cut off -- well, it cut off in 2001, but close enough; and partly because the final song I'm going to cover came out then, and it's a good ending song.   William also asked "What's the bottom standard for notability to be covered? (We heard about "Ooby Dooby" before "Crying," are we going to hear about "Take My Tip" before "Space Oddity"? Bootlegs beyond the Million Dollar Band that you mentioned on Twitter? Archival groundbreakers like Parson Sound?)"   [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Ooby Dooby”]   That's an interesting question... there's no bottom standard for notability *as such*. It's more that notability is just one of a number of factors I'm using to decide on the songs I cover. So the question I ask myself when I'm choosing one to include isn't just "is this song influential or important?" though that's a primary one. There's also "is there a particularly fascinating story behind the recording of this track?" "Does this illustrate something important about music or about cultural history?", “Is this just a song I really like and want to talk about?” And also, "does this provide a link between otherwise disconnected strands of the story?" There are also things like "have I not covered anything by a woman or a black person or whatever in a while?" because one of the things I want to do is make sure that this isn't just the story of white men, however much they dominate the narrative, and I know I will have to consciously correct for my own biases, so I pay attention to that.   And there's *also* the question of mixing the stuff everyone knows about with the stuff they'll be hearing about for the first time -- you have to cover "Satisfaction" because everyone would notice it's missing, but if you just do Beatles-Stones-Led Zep-Pink Floyd-whoever's-on-the-cover-of-Mojo-this-month, nobody's going to hear anything they can't get in a million different places.   So to take the example of "Ooby Dooby", it's only a relatively important track in itself, though it is notable for being the start of Roy Orbison's career. But it also ties Orbison in to the story of Sam Phillips and Sun Records, and thus into the stories of Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and so on. It allows me to set up something for the future while tying the story together and moving the stories of multiple people forward a bit.   So... as a tiny bit of a spoiler, though this won't be too much of a surprise to those who've read my book California Dreaming, I am almost certainly going to cover the GTOs, who are almost a footnote to a footnote. I'll cover them because their one album was co-produced by Frank Zappa and Lowell George, later of Little Feat, it featured the Jeff Beck Group, including Rod Stewart, and it had songs co-written by Davy Jones of the Monkees -- and the songs Davy Jones co-wrote were about Captain Beefheart and about Nick St Nicholas of Steppenwolf. That's an enormous nexus of otherwise unconnected musicians, and it allows me to move several strands of the story forwards at the same time -- and it also allows me to talk about groupie culture and misogyny in the rock world from the perspective of the women who were involved.   [Excerpt: GTOs, “The Captain's Fat Theresa Shoes”]   I'm not *definitely* going to cover that, but I'm likely to -- and I'm likely to cover it rather than covering some more well-known but less interesting track.   Dean Mattson asks what my favourite three books are on the music I've covered so far. That's a good question. I'm actually going to name more than three, though...   The book that has been of most value in terms of sheer information density is Before Elvis, by Larry Birnbaum. This is a book that covers the prehistory of rock and roll to an absurd level of detail, and it's absolutely wonderful, but it's also absolutely hard going. Birnbaum seems to have heard, without exaggeration, every record released before 1954, and he'll do things like trace a musical motif from a Chuck Berry solo to a Louis Jordan record, and from the Louis Jordan record to one by Count Basie, and from that to Blind Blake, to Blind Lemon Jefferson, to Jelly Roll Morton, to a 1918 recording by Wilbur Sweatman's Jazz Orchestra. And he does that kind of thing in every single paragraph of a 474-page book. He must reference, at a very conservative estimate, five thousand different recordings.   Now this is information density at the expense of everything else, and Birnbaum's book has something of the air of those dense 18th and 19th century omnium gatherum type books like Origin of Species or Capital or The Golden Bough, or The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, where there are a million examples provided to prove a point in the most exhaustive detail possible. I've done entire episodes of the podcast which are just expanding on a single paragraph of Birnbaum and providing enough context and narrative for a lay audience to appreciate it. It's not a book you read for fun. It's a book you read a paragraph at a time, with a notepad, looking up recordings of all the songs he covers as he gets to them. But if you're willing to put that time in, the book will reward you with a truly comprehensive understanding of American popular music of the period up to 1954.   The book that surprised me the most with its quality was Billy Bragg's Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World. I've always quite liked Bragg as a songwriter, but I'd never expected him to be much good at writing a work of non-fiction. I only actually got hold of a copy because it had just come out when I started the podcast, and it had a certain amount of publicity behind it. I thought if I didn't read it I would then get people asking questions like, "But Billy Bragg says X, why do you say Y?"   But in fact, if you want a book on the skiffle movement and early British rock and roll, you could not do better than this one. It's exhaustively researched, and it's written in a staggeringly readable prose style, by someone who has spent his life as both a folk musician and a political activist, and so understands the culture of the skiffle movement on a bone-deep level. If there was one book I was to urge people to read just to read a really good, entertaining, book, it would be that one.   The book that's been the most use to me is Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw -- an account of the 50s R&B scene from someone who was part of it. Shaw worked for a music publisher at the time, and had a lot of contacts in the industry. When he came to write the book in the 70s, he was able to call upon those contacts and interview a huge number of people -- many of whom gave him their last interviews before they died. The podcast wouldn't be as good without some of the other books, but it wouldn't exist at all without this one, because Shaw added so much to our knowledge of 50s R&B.   But I also want to recommend all of Peter Guralnick's books, but especially Last Train to Memphis, the first of his two-volume biography of Elvis Presley. Guralnick's written a lot of books on Southern US music, including ones on Sam Phillips and Sam Cooke which have also been important resources. But the thing that sets Guralnick apart as a writer is his ability to make the reader thoroughly understand why people admired extraordinarily flawed individuals, but without minimising their flaws. With all Guralnick's biographies, I've come away both thinking less of his subjects as people *and* admiring them more as creators. He doesn't flinch from showing the men he writes about as egocentric, often misogynist, manipulators who damaged the people around him, but nor does he turn his books into Albert Goldman style denunciations of his subjects. Indeed, in the case of Elvis, I've got more understanding of who Elvis was from Guralnick than from any of the hundreds of thousands of other words I've read on the subject. Elvis as he turns up in this podcast is the Elvis that Guralnick wrote about, rather than anything else.   Magic at Mungos asked what the best song I've discovered, that I hadn't heard before doing the podcast, is.   Well, I've discovered very little doing the podcast, really. The only song I've covered that I didn't know before starting work on the podcast was "Ko Ko Mo", and I can't say that one was a favourite of mine -- it's not a bad record by any means, but it's not one that changed my life or anything. But there have been a few things that I've heard that I didn't do full episodes about but which made an impression -- the McHouston Baker album I talked about towards the end of the “Love is Strange” episode, for example, is well worth a listen.   [Excerpt: McHouston Baker, “Alabama March”]   What the podcast *has* done, though, is make me reevaluate a few people I already knew about. In particular I'd been very dismissive of Lonnie Donegan previously -- I just hadn't got him -- but having to cover him for the podcast meant listening to all his fifties and early sixties work, and I came out of that hugely impressed.   I had a similar experience with Bo Diddley, who I *did* admire beforehand, and whose music I knew fairly well, but listening to his work as a body of work, rather than as isolated tracks and albums, made me think of him as a far more subtle, interesting, musician and songwriter than I'd given him the credit for previously.   Another one from William Maybury, who wants to know about my recording setup. I actually don't have very good recording equipment -- I just use a thirty-pound USB condenser mic plugged into my laptop on my dining room table. This is partly because I don't have a huge budget for the podcast, but also because there's only so much that can be done with the sound quality anyway. I live in an acoustically... fairly horrible... house, which has a weird reverb to a lot of the rooms. It's a terraced house with relatively thin walls, so you can hear the neighbours, and I live underneath a major flight path and by a main road in a major city, often driven on by people with the kind of in-car sound systems that inflict themselves on everyone nearby.   While I would like better equipment, at a certain point all it would be doing is giving a really clear recording of the neighbours' arguments or the TV shows they're watching, and the sound systems in the cars driving past – like today, I was woken at 3AM by someone driving by, playing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips in their car so loud it woke me up. Acoustic perfection when recording somewhere like here would just be wasted.   So I make up for this by doing a *LOT* of editing on the podcast. I've not done so much on this episode, because these are specifically designed to be low-stress episodes for me, but I've been known to spend literally twenty hours on editing some individual episodes, cutting out extraneous noises, fixing sound quality issues, and so on.   And finally for this week, Russell Stallings asks, "my son Pete wants to know if you are a musician? And , who is your favorite beatle?"   The answer to whether I'm a musician is "yes and no", I'm afraid. I can play a lot of instruments badly. I'm dyspraxic, so I have natural limits to my dexterity, and so no matter how much I practiced I never became more than a competent rhythm guitarist at best. But I manage to be not very good on a whole variety of instruments -- I've been in bands before, and played guitar, keyboards, bass, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo on recordings -- and I can, more or less, get a tune out of a clarinet or saxophone with a good run-up.   Where I think my own musical skills lie is as a songwriter, arranger, and producer. I've not done much of that in over a decade, as I don't really have the personality for collaboration, but I did a lot of it in my twenties and thirties. Here's an example, from a band I used to be in called The National Pep.   [Excerpt: The National Pep, "Think Carefully For Victory"]   In the section you just heard, I wrote the music, co-produced, and played all the instruments except the drums. Tilt -- who does a podcast called The Sitcom Club I know some of you listen to -- sang lead, wrote the lyrics, played drums, and co-produced.   So, sort of a musician, sort of not.   As to the question about my favourite Beatle, John Lennon has always been my favourite, though as I grow older I'm growing more and more to appreciate Paul McCartney. I'm also, though, someone who thinks the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts in that particular case. All four of them did solo work I like a lot, but also the group was immensely better than any of the solo work. It's very, very, rare that every member of a band is utterly irreplaceable -- normally, even when every member of a band is talented, you can imagine them carrying on with one or more members swapped out for other, equally competent, people. But in the case of the Beatles, I don't think you can.   Anyway, that's all for this week. I'll be answering more questions next week, then the podcast will be back to normal on October the sixth with an episode on Carl Perkins. If you have any questions you'd like to ask, you can still ask by signing up on patreon.com/andrewhickey – and if you've not signed up for that, you can do so for as little as a dollar a month. Patreon backers also get a ten minute bonus podcast every week I do a regular podcast, and when the book version of the podcast comes out, backers at the $5 or higher level will be getting free copies of that. They also get copies of my other books.   Thanks for listening.

This week’s episode of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs is the first of two bonus episodes answering listener questions at the end of the first year of the podcast.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   Patreon backers can ask questions for next episode at this link. Books mentioned — Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick, Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum, Roots, Radicals and Rockers by Billy Bragg, Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw.  Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Hello, and welcome to the first of our two-part question and answer session.   For those who didn’t hear the little admin podcast I did last week, this week and next week are not regular episodes of the podcast — I’m taking two weeks out to get the book version of the first fifty episodes edited and published, and to get a bit of a backlog in writing future episodes. I’m planning on doing this every year from now on, and doing it this way will mean that the podcast will take exactly ten years, rather than the nine years and eight months it would otherwise take,   But to fill in the gaps while you wait, I asked for any questions from my Patreon backers, about anything to do with the podcast. This week and next week I’m going to be answering those questions.   Now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even sure that anyone would have any questions at all, and I was worried I’d have to think of something else to do next week, but it turns out there are loads of them. I’ve actually had so many questions, some of them requiring quite long answers, that I’ll probably have enough to not only do this week and next week’s episodes based on questions, but to do a bonus backer-only half-hour podcast of more questions next week.   Anyway, to start with, a question that I’ve been asked quite a bit, and that both Melissa Williams and Claire Boothby asked — what’s the theme music for the podcast, and how does it fit in with the show?   [Excerpt: Boswell Sisters, “Rock and Roll”]   The song is called “Rock and Roll”, and it’s from 1934. It is, I believe, the very first song to use the phrase “rock and roll” in those words — there was an earlier song called “rocking and rolling”, but I think it’s the first one to use the phrase “rock and roll”.   It’s performed by the Boswell Sisters, a jazz vocal trio from the thirties whose lead singer, Connee Boswell, influenced Ella Fitzgerald among others, and it was written by Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare.   They actually wrote it for Shirley Temple — they’re the people who wrote “On the Good Ship Lollipop” — but it was turned down for use in one of her films so the Boswells did it instead.   The version I’m using is actually the version the Boswells sang in a film, Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, rather than the proper studio recording. That’s just because the film version was easier for me to obtain.   As for why I’m using it, a few reasons. One is that it’s of historical note, as I said, because it’s the first song to use the phrase, and that seemed appropriate for a podcast on the history of rock music. The other main reason is that it’s in the public domain, and I try wherever possible to keep to copyright laws. I think all the uses of music in the podcast fall under fair use or fair dealing, because they’re short excerpts used for educational purposes and I link to legal versions of the full thing, but using a recording as the theme music doesn’t, so I had to choose something that was in the public domain.   Next we have a question from David Gerard: “piece of trivia from waaaaay back: in “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”, why “*democratic* fellows named Mack”? what’s that line about?”   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Well, I’ve never actually seen an interview with the writers of the song, but I can hazard two educated guesses. One of them is boring and probably right, the other one is more interesting and probably wrong.   The boring and probably right one is very simple — the word “democratic” scans, and there aren’t that many words that fit that syllable pattern. There are some — “existential”, “sympathetic”, “diuretic” — but not that many, and “democratic” happens to be assonant with the song’s rhyme scheme, too — the “cratic” doesn’t actually rhyme with all those “alack”, “track” “jack”, and so on, but it sounds good in combination with them. I suspect that the solution is as simple as that.   The more interesting one is probably not the case, and I say this because the songwriters who wrote “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” were white. BUT, Milt Gabler, one of the three credited writers, was familiar enough with black culture that this might be the case.   Now, the character in “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” is a soldier returning from the second world war — we know this from the first two lines, “Heading for the station with a pack on my back/I’m tired of transportation in the back of a hack”, plus the date the song was recorded, 1946. So we’ve got someone who’s recently been discharged from the army and has no job.   BUT, given it’s Louis Jordan singing, we can presume this someone is black. And that puts the song in a rather different light. Because 1946 is slap in the middle of what’s known as the second great migration — the second big wave of black people moving from the rural deep south to the urban north and (in the case of the second migration, but not really the first) the west. This is something we’ve touched on a bit in the podcast, because it was the second great migration that was, in large part, responsible for the popularity of the urban jump blues that became R&B — and separately, it was also the cause of the creation of the electric blues in Chicago. And Chicago is an interesting one here. Because Chicago was one of the biggest destinations — possibly the single biggest destination — for black people looking to move around this time.   And so we recontextualise a bit. Our black soldier has returned to the US, but he’s travelling by train to somewhere where there’s no job waiting for him, and there’s no mention of going to see his friends or his wife or anything like that. So maybe, he’s someone who grew up in the rural deep south, but has decided to use the opportunity of his discharge from the military to go and build himself a new life in one of the big cities, quite probably Chicago. And he’s looking for work and doesn’t have many contacts there. We can tell that because in the second verse he’s looking at the classified ads for jobs in the paper.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Now, at this time, especially during and immediately after the Second World War, the single biggest employer in the US in the big cities was the government, and in the big cities there was a *lot* of patronage being handed out by the party in charge — basically, in most of the big cities, the political parties, especially the Democrats at this time, were an arm of organised crime, with the mayor of the city acting much as a Mafia don would. And the only way to get a job, if you didn’t have any special qualifications, if you weren’t a “man with a knack” as the song puts it — especially a sinecure where you didn’t have to work very hard — the only way to get such a job was to be owed a favour by the local Democratic Party.   Now, in Chicago — again, Chicago is not named in the song, but it would seem the most logical place for our protagonist to be travelling, and this was true of other big Northern cities like New York, too — the Democratic Party was run at this time almost entirely by Irish-Americans. The Mayor of Chicago, at the time was Edward Kelly, and he was the head of a formidable electoral machine, a coalition of several different ethnic groups, but dominated by Irish people.   So, if you wanted one of those jobs that were being handed out, you’d have to do favours for Kelly’s Irish Democrats — you’d have to pal around with Democratic fellows named Mac.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Now I come to a few questions that I’m going to treat as one — questions from Jeff Stanzler, Steven Hinkle, and Matthew Elmslie. They ask, between them, how I plan out what songs I’m going to include, and if I have to make difficult choices about what to include and what not to include, and who the most significant performer I don’t plan to include at all is. Jeremy Wilson also asks if I’ve got all five hundred songs planned out and how close to the current day I plan to get.   These are all, actually, very different questions, but they all centre around the same thing, and so I’m going to address them all together here. If any of you don’t think I’ve addressed your question sufficiently, please say and I’ll come back to it next week.   Now, I don’t have the whole five hundred songs mapped out. To do that would be for me to assume that in the next nine years none of my research will cause me to revise my opinions on what’s important. So far, in the first fifty, I’ve not really had to make any difficult choices at all — the only things I’ve wished I could include have either been things where there’s just not enough information out there to put together an interesting episode, or where my own self-imposed restrictions like the starting point cut them off. Like if I’d decided to start a few years earlier, I *would* have included Jimmie Rodgers, but you have to have a cut-off point, and if I hadn’t set 1938 and the Goodman Carnegie Hall concerts as a good starting point I could have gone all the way back at least to the mid nineteenth century, and it would have been more the prehistory of rock.   Maybe I’ll do that as a project when I’ve finished this one.   But even those people I’ve excluded, I’ve ended up being able to cover as bonus episodes, so I’ve not really had to leave anything out.   But that means so far, since we’re still really at the very beginning of rock and roll, there have been no difficult choices. That will change as the story goes on — in the sixties there are so many important records that I’m going to have to cut out a lot, and by the mid-seventies rock has diversified so much that there will be *tons* of things I’ll just have to gloss over. But right now I’ve had to make no tough decisions.   Now, the way I do this — I have a list of about two hundred or so songs that I’m pretty sure are going to make the final list. Like I’m sure nobody will be surprised to find that I’ll be covering, say, “Peggy Sue”, “Satisfaction”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “God Save the Queen” and “Walk This Way”. You can’t leave those things out of the story and still have it be anything like an actual history of rock music. That’s my sort of master list, but I don’t consult that all that often.   What I do, is at any given point I’m working on the next ten scripts simultaneously — I do things that way because I use the same research materials for multiple episodes, so for example I was writing the Chess episodes all at the same time, and the rockabilly episodes all at the same time, so I might be reading a biography of Carl Perkins, see an interesting fact about Johnny Cash, and stick the fact in the Johnny Cash episode or whatever. I have another list of about twenty probables, just titles, that I’m planning to work on soon after. Every time I finish a script, I look through the list of probables, pull out a good one to work on next, and add that to the ten I’m writing. I’ll also, when I’m doing that, add any more titles I’ve thought of to the list. So I know exactly what I’m going to be doing in the next two and a half months, have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing for the next six, and only a basic outline after that.   That means that I can’t necessarily say for certain who I *won’t* be including. There will, undoubtedly, be some significant performers who don’t get included, but I can’t say who until we get past their part in the story. Steven also asked as part of this if I’ve determined an end point. Yes I have. That may change over the next nine years, but when I was planning out the podcast — even before it became a podcast, when I was thinking of it as just a series of books — I thought of what I think would make the perfect ending for the series — a song from 1999 — and I’m going to use that.   Related to that, William Maybury asked “Why 1999?”   Well, a few reasons — partly because it’s a nice cut-off point — the end of the nineties and so on. Partly because it’s about the time that I disengaged totally from popular culture — I like plenty of music from the last couple of decades, but not really much that has made any impact on the wider world. Partly because, when I finish the podcast, 1999 will be thirty years ago, which seems like about the right sort of length of time to have a decent historical perspective on things; partly because one of the inspirations for this was Richard Thompson’s 1000 Years of Popular Music and that cut off — well, it cut off in 2001, but close enough; and partly because the final song I’m going to cover came out then, and it’s a good ending song.   William also asked “What’s the bottom standard for notability to be covered? (We heard about “Ooby Dooby” before “Crying,” are we going to hear about “Take My Tip” before “Space Oddity”? Bootlegs beyond the Million Dollar Band that you mentioned on Twitter? Archival groundbreakers like Parson Sound?)”   [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Ooby Dooby”]   That’s an interesting question… there’s no bottom standard for notability *as such*. It’s more that notability is just one of a number of factors I’m using to decide on the songs I cover. So the question I ask myself when I’m choosing one to include isn’t just “is this song influential or important?” though that’s a primary one. There’s also “is there a particularly fascinating story behind the recording of this track?” “Does this illustrate something important about music or about cultural history?”, “Is this just a song I really like and want to talk about?” And also, “does this provide a link between otherwise disconnected strands of the story?” There are also things like “have I not covered anything by a woman or a black person or whatever in a while?” because one of the things I want to do is make sure that this isn’t just the story of white men, however much they dominate the narrative, and I know I will have to consciously correct for my own biases, so I pay attention to that.   And there’s *also* the question of mixing the stuff everyone knows about with the stuff they’ll be hearing about for the first time — you have to cover “Satisfaction” because everyone would notice it’s missing, but if you just do Beatles-Stones-Led Zep-Pink Floyd-whoever’s-on-the-cover-of-Mojo-this-month, nobody’s going to hear anything they can’t get in a million different places.   So to take the example of “Ooby Dooby”, it’s only a relatively important track in itself, though it is notable for being the start of Roy Orbison’s career. But it also ties Orbison in to the story of Sam Phillips and Sun Records, and thus into the stories of Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and so on. It allows me to set up something for the future while tying the story together and moving the stories of multiple people forward a bit.   So… as a tiny bit of a spoiler, though this won’t be too much of a surprise to those who’ve read my book California Dreaming, I am almost certainly going to cover the GTOs, who are almost a footnote to a footnote. I’ll cover them because their one album was co-produced by Frank Zappa and Lowell George, later of Little Feat, it featured the Jeff Beck Group, including Rod Stewart, and it had songs co-written by Davy Jones of the Monkees — and the songs Davy Jones co-wrote were about Captain Beefheart and about Nick St Nicholas of Steppenwolf. That’s an enormous nexus of otherwise unconnected musicians, and it allows me to move several strands of the story forwards at the same time — and it also allows me to talk about groupie culture and misogyny in the rock world from the perspective of the women who were involved.   [Excerpt: GTOs, “The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes”]   I’m not *definitely* going to cover that, but I’m likely to — and I’m likely to cover it rather than covering some more well-known but less interesting track.   Dean Mattson asks what my favourite three books are on the music I’ve covered so far. That’s a good question. I’m actually going to name more than three, though…   The book that has been of most value in terms of sheer information density is Before Elvis, by Larry Birnbaum. This is a book that covers the prehistory of rock and roll to an absurd level of detail, and it’s absolutely wonderful, but it’s also absolutely hard going. Birnbaum seems to have heard, without exaggeration, every record released before 1954, and he’ll do things like trace a musical motif from a Chuck Berry solo to a Louis Jordan record, and from the Louis Jordan record to one by Count Basie, and from that to Blind Blake, to Blind Lemon Jefferson, to Jelly Roll Morton, to a 1918 recording by Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Orchestra. And he does that kind of thing in every single paragraph of a 474-page book. He must reference, at a very conservative estimate, five thousand different recordings.   Now this is information density at the expense of everything else, and Birnbaum’s book has something of the air of those dense 18th and 19th century omnium gatherum type books like Origin of Species or Capital or The Golden Bough, or The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, where there are a million examples provided to prove a point in the most exhaustive detail possible. I’ve done entire episodes of the podcast which are just expanding on a single paragraph of Birnbaum and providing enough context and narrative for a lay audience to appreciate it. It’s not a book you read for fun. It’s a book you read a paragraph at a time, with a notepad, looking up recordings of all the songs he covers as he gets to them. But if you’re willing to put that time in, the book will reward you with a truly comprehensive understanding of American popular music of the period up to 1954.   The book that surprised me the most with its quality was Billy Bragg’s Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World. I’ve always quite liked Bragg as a songwriter, but I’d never expected him to be much good at writing a work of non-fiction. I only actually got hold of a copy because it had just come out when I started the podcast, and it had a certain amount of publicity behind it. I thought if I didn’t read it I would then get people asking questions like, “But Billy Bragg says X, why do you say Y?”   But in fact, if you want a book on the skiffle movement and early British rock and roll, you could not do better than this one. It’s exhaustively researched, and it’s written in a staggeringly readable prose style, by someone who has spent his life as both a folk musician and a political activist, and so understands the culture of the skiffle movement on a bone-deep level. If there was one book I was to urge people to read just to read a really good, entertaining, book, it would be that one.   The book that’s been the most use to me is Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw — an account of the 50s R&B scene from someone who was part of it. Shaw worked for a music publisher at the time, and had a lot of contacts in the industry. When he came to write the book in the 70s, he was able to call upon those contacts and interview a huge number of people — many of whom gave him their last interviews before they died. The podcast wouldn’t be as good without some of the other books, but it wouldn’t exist at all without this one, because Shaw added so much to our knowledge of 50s R&B.   But I also want to recommend all of Peter Guralnick’s books, but especially Last Train to Memphis, the first of his two-volume biography of Elvis Presley. Guralnick’s written a lot of books on Southern US music, including ones on Sam Phillips and Sam Cooke which have also been important resources. But the thing that sets Guralnick apart as a writer is his ability to make the reader thoroughly understand why people admired extraordinarily flawed individuals, but without minimising their flaws. With all Guralnick’s biographies, I’ve come away both thinking less of his subjects as people *and* admiring them more as creators. He doesn’t flinch from showing the men he writes about as egocentric, often misogynist, manipulators who damaged the people around him, but nor does he turn his books into Albert Goldman style denunciations of his subjects. Indeed, in the case of Elvis, I’ve got more understanding of who Elvis was from Guralnick than from any of the hundreds of thousands of other words I’ve read on the subject. Elvis as he turns up in this podcast is the Elvis that Guralnick wrote about, rather than anything else.   Magic at Mungos asked what the best song I’ve discovered, that I hadn’t heard before doing the podcast, is.   Well, I’ve discovered very little doing the podcast, really. The only song I’ve covered that I didn’t know before starting work on the podcast was “Ko Ko Mo”, and I can’t say that one was a favourite of mine — it’s not a bad record by any means, but it’s not one that changed my life or anything. But there have been a few things that I’ve heard that I didn’t do full episodes about but which made an impression — the McHouston Baker album I talked about towards the end of the “Love is Strange” episode, for example, is well worth a listen.   [Excerpt: McHouston Baker, “Alabama March”]   What the podcast *has* done, though, is make me reevaluate a few people I already knew about. In particular I’d been very dismissive of Lonnie Donegan previously — I just hadn’t got him — but having to cover him for the podcast meant listening to all his fifties and early sixties work, and I came out of that hugely impressed.   I had a similar experience with Bo Diddley, who I *did* admire beforehand, and whose music I knew fairly well, but listening to his work as a body of work, rather than as isolated tracks and albums, made me think of him as a far more subtle, interesting, musician and songwriter than I’d given him the credit for previously.   Another one from William Maybury, who wants to know about my recording setup. I actually don’t have very good recording equipment — I just use a thirty-pound USB condenser mic plugged into my laptop on my dining room table. This is partly because I don’t have a huge budget for the podcast, but also because there’s only so much that can be done with the sound quality anyway. I live in an acoustically… fairly horrible… house, which has a weird reverb to a lot of the rooms. It’s a terraced house with relatively thin walls, so you can hear the neighbours, and I live underneath a major flight path and by a main road in a major city, often driven on by people with the kind of in-car sound systems that inflict themselves on everyone nearby.   While I would like better equipment, at a certain point all it would be doing is giving a really clear recording of the neighbours’ arguments or the TV shows they’re watching, and the sound systems in the cars driving past – like today, I was woken at 3AM by someone driving by, playing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips in their car so loud it woke me up. Acoustic perfection when recording somewhere like here would just be wasted.   So I make up for this by doing a *LOT* of editing on the podcast. I’ve not done so much on this episode, because these are specifically designed to be low-stress episodes for me, but I’ve been known to spend literally twenty hours on editing some individual episodes, cutting out extraneous noises, fixing sound quality issues, and so on.   And finally for this week, Russell Stallings asks, “my son Pete wants to know if you are a musician? And , who is your favorite beatle?”   The answer to whether I’m a musician is “yes and no”, I’m afraid. I can play a lot of instruments badly. I’m dyspraxic, so I have natural limits to my dexterity, and so no matter how much I practiced I never became more than a competent rhythm guitarist at best. But I manage to be not very good on a whole variety of instruments — I’ve been in bands before, and played guitar, keyboards, bass, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo on recordings — and I can, more or less, get a tune out of a clarinet or saxophone with a good run-up.   Where I think my own musical skills lie is as a songwriter, arranger, and producer. I’ve not done much of that in over a decade, as I don’t really have the personality for collaboration, but I did a lot of it in my twenties and thirties. Here’s an example, from a band I used to be in called The National Pep.   [Excerpt: The National Pep, “Think Carefully For Victory”]   In the section you just heard, I wrote the music, co-produced, and played all the instruments except the drums. Tilt — who does a podcast called The Sitcom Club I know some of you listen to — sang lead, wrote the lyrics, played drums, and co-produced.   So, sort of a musician, sort of not.   As to the question about my favourite Beatle, John Lennon has always been my favourite, though as I grow older I’m growing more and more to appreciate Paul McCartney. I’m also, though, someone who thinks the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts in that particular case. All four of them did solo work I like a lot, but also the group was immensely better than any of the solo work. It’s very, very, rare that every member of a band is utterly irreplaceable — normally, even when every member of a band is talented, you can imagine them carrying on with one or more members swapped out for other, equally competent, people. But in the case of the Beatles, I don’t think you can.   Anyway, that’s all for this week. I’ll be answering more questions next week, then the podcast will be back to normal on October the sixth with an episode on Carl Perkins. If you have any questions you’d like to ask, you can still ask by signing up on patreon.com/andrewhickey – and if you’ve not signed up for that, you can do so for as little as a dollar a month. Patreon backers also get a ten minute bonus podcast every week I do a regular podcast, and when the book version of the podcast comes out, backers at the $5 or higher level will be getting free copies of that. They also get copies of my other books.   Thanks for listening.

This week’s episode of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs is the first of two bonus episodes answering listener questions at the end of the first year of the podcast.. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. —-more—- Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   Patreon backers can ask questions for next episode at this link. Books mentioned — Last Train to Memphis by Peter Guralnick, Before Elvis by Larry Birnbaum, Roots, Radicals and Rockers by Billy Bragg, Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw.  Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Hello, and welcome to the first of our two-part question and answer session.   For those who didn’t hear the little admin podcast I did last week, this week and next week are not regular episodes of the podcast — I’m taking two weeks out to get the book version of the first fifty episodes edited and published, and to get a bit of a backlog in writing future episodes. I’m planning on doing this every year from now on, and doing it this way will mean that the podcast will take exactly ten years, rather than the nine years and eight months it would otherwise take,   But to fill in the gaps while you wait, I asked for any questions from my Patreon backers, about anything to do with the podcast. This week and next week I’m going to be answering those questions.   Now, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t even sure that anyone would have any questions at all, and I was worried I’d have to think of something else to do next week, but it turns out there are loads of them. I’ve actually had so many questions, some of them requiring quite long answers, that I’ll probably have enough to not only do this week and next week’s episodes based on questions, but to do a bonus backer-only half-hour podcast of more questions next week.   Anyway, to start with, a question that I’ve been asked quite a bit, and that both Melissa Williams and Claire Boothby asked — what’s the theme music for the podcast, and how does it fit in with the show?   [Excerpt: Boswell Sisters, “Rock and Roll”]   The song is called “Rock and Roll”, and it’s from 1934. It is, I believe, the very first song to use the phrase “rock and roll” in those words — there was an earlier song called “rocking and rolling”, but I think it’s the first one to use the phrase “rock and roll”.   It’s performed by the Boswell Sisters, a jazz vocal trio from the thirties whose lead singer, Connee Boswell, influenced Ella Fitzgerald among others, and it was written by Richard Whiting and Sidney Clare.   They actually wrote it for Shirley Temple — they’re the people who wrote “On the Good Ship Lollipop” — but it was turned down for use in one of her films so the Boswells did it instead.   The version I’m using is actually the version the Boswells sang in a film, Transatlantic Merry-Go-Round, rather than the proper studio recording. That’s just because the film version was easier for me to obtain.   As for why I’m using it, a few reasons. One is that it’s of historical note, as I said, because it’s the first song to use the phrase, and that seemed appropriate for a podcast on the history of rock music. The other main reason is that it’s in the public domain, and I try wherever possible to keep to copyright laws. I think all the uses of music in the podcast fall under fair use or fair dealing, because they’re short excerpts used for educational purposes and I link to legal versions of the full thing, but using a recording as the theme music doesn’t, so I had to choose something that was in the public domain.   Next we have a question from David Gerard: “piece of trivia from waaaaay back: in “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”, why “*democratic* fellows named Mack”? what’s that line about?”   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Well, I’ve never actually seen an interview with the writers of the song, but I can hazard two educated guesses. One of them is boring and probably right, the other one is more interesting and probably wrong.   The boring and probably right one is very simple — the word “democratic” scans, and there aren’t that many words that fit that syllable pattern. There are some — “existential”, “sympathetic”, “diuretic” — but not that many, and “democratic” happens to be assonant with the song’s rhyme scheme, too — the “cratic” doesn’t actually rhyme with all those “alack”, “track” “jack”, and so on, but it sounds good in combination with them. I suspect that the solution is as simple as that.   The more interesting one is probably not the case, and I say this because the songwriters who wrote “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” were white. BUT, Milt Gabler, one of the three credited writers, was familiar enough with black culture that this might be the case.   Now, the character in “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie” is a soldier returning from the second world war — we know this from the first two lines, “Heading for the station with a pack on my back/I’m tired of transportation in the back of a hack”, plus the date the song was recorded, 1946. So we’ve got someone who’s recently been discharged from the army and has no job.   BUT, given it’s Louis Jordan singing, we can presume this someone is black. And that puts the song in a rather different light. Because 1946 is slap in the middle of what’s known as the second great migration — the second big wave of black people moving from the rural deep south to the urban north and (in the case of the second migration, but not really the first) the west. This is something we’ve touched on a bit in the podcast, because it was the second great migration that was, in large part, responsible for the popularity of the urban jump blues that became R&B — and separately, it was also the cause of the creation of the electric blues in Chicago. And Chicago is an interesting one here. Because Chicago was one of the biggest destinations — possibly the single biggest destination — for black people looking to move around this time.   And so we recontextualise a bit. Our black soldier has returned to the US, but he’s travelling by train to somewhere where there’s no job waiting for him, and there’s no mention of going to see his friends or his wife or anything like that. So maybe, he’s someone who grew up in the rural deep south, but has decided to use the opportunity of his discharge from the military to go and build himself a new life in one of the big cities, quite probably Chicago. And he’s looking for work and doesn’t have many contacts there. We can tell that because in the second verse he’s looking at the classified ads for jobs in the paper.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Now, at this time, especially during and immediately after the Second World War, the single biggest employer in the US in the big cities was the government, and in the big cities there was a *lot* of patronage being handed out by the party in charge — basically, in most of the big cities, the political parties, especially the Democrats at this time, were an arm of organised crime, with the mayor of the city acting much as a Mafia don would. And the only way to get a job, if you didn’t have any special qualifications, if you weren’t a “man with a knack” as the song puts it — especially a sinecure where you didn’t have to work very hard — the only way to get such a job was to be owed a favour by the local Democratic Party.   Now, in Chicago — again, Chicago is not named in the song, but it would seem the most logical place for our protagonist to be travelling, and this was true of other big Northern cities like New York, too — the Democratic Party was run at this time almost entirely by Irish-Americans. The Mayor of Chicago, at the time was Edward Kelly, and he was the head of a formidable electoral machine, a coalition of several different ethnic groups, but dominated by Irish people.   So, if you wanted one of those jobs that were being handed out, you’d have to do favours for Kelly’s Irish Democrats — you’d have to pal around with Democratic fellows named Mac.   [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Choo Choo Ch’Boogie”]   Now I come to a few questions that I’m going to treat as one — questions from Jeff Stanzler, Steven Hinkle, and Matthew Elmslie. They ask, between them, how I plan out what songs I’m going to include, and if I have to make difficult choices about what to include and what not to include, and who the most significant performer I don’t plan to include at all is. Jeremy Wilson also asks if I’ve got all five hundred songs planned out and how close to the current day I plan to get.   These are all, actually, very different questions, but they all centre around the same thing, and so I’m going to address them all together here. If any of you don’t think I’ve addressed your question sufficiently, please say and I’ll come back to it next week.   Now, I don’t have the whole five hundred songs mapped out. To do that would be for me to assume that in the next nine years none of my research will cause me to revise my opinions on what’s important. So far, in the first fifty, I’ve not really had to make any difficult choices at all — the only things I’ve wished I could include have either been things where there’s just not enough information out there to put together an interesting episode, or where my own self-imposed restrictions like the starting point cut them off. Like if I’d decided to start a few years earlier, I *would* have included Jimmie Rodgers, but you have to have a cut-off point, and if I hadn’t set 1938 and the Goodman Carnegie Hall concerts as a good starting point I could have gone all the way back at least to the mid nineteenth century, and it would have been more the prehistory of rock.   Maybe I’ll do that as a project when I’ve finished this one.   But even those people I’ve excluded, I’ve ended up being able to cover as bonus episodes, so I’ve not really had to leave anything out.   But that means so far, since we’re still really at the very beginning of rock and roll, there have been no difficult choices. That will change as the story goes on — in the sixties there are so many important records that I’m going to have to cut out a lot, and by the mid-seventies rock has diversified so much that there will be *tons* of things I’ll just have to gloss over. But right now I’ve had to make no tough decisions.   Now, the way I do this — I have a list of about two hundred or so songs that I’m pretty sure are going to make the final list. Like I’m sure nobody will be surprised to find that I’ll be covering, say, “Peggy Sue”, “Satisfaction”, “Stairway to Heaven”, “God Save the Queen” and “Walk This Way”. You can’t leave those things out of the story and still have it be anything like an actual history of rock music. That’s my sort of master list, but I don’t consult that all that often.   What I do, is at any given point I’m working on the next ten scripts simultaneously — I do things that way because I use the same research materials for multiple episodes, so for example I was writing the Chess episodes all at the same time, and the rockabilly episodes all at the same time, so I might be reading a biography of Carl Perkins, see an interesting fact about Johnny Cash, and stick the fact in the Johnny Cash episode or whatever. I have another list of about twenty probables, just titles, that I’m planning to work on soon after. Every time I finish a script, I look through the list of probables, pull out a good one to work on next, and add that to the ten I’m writing. I’ll also, when I’m doing that, add any more titles I’ve thought of to the list. So I know exactly what I’m going to be doing in the next two and a half months, have a pretty good idea of what I’m doing for the next six, and only a basic outline after that.   That means that I can’t necessarily say for certain who I *won’t* be including. There will, undoubtedly, be some significant performers who don’t get included, but I can’t say who until we get past their part in the story. Steven also asked as part of this if I’ve determined an end point. Yes I have. That may change over the next nine years, but when I was planning out the podcast — even before it became a podcast, when I was thinking of it as just a series of books — I thought of what I think would make the perfect ending for the series — a song from 1999 — and I’m going to use that.   Related to that, William Maybury asked “Why 1999?”   Well, a few reasons — partly because it’s a nice cut-off point — the end of the nineties and so on. Partly because it’s about the time that I disengaged totally from popular culture — I like plenty of music from the last couple of decades, but not really much that has made any impact on the wider world. Partly because, when I finish the podcast, 1999 will be thirty years ago, which seems like about the right sort of length of time to have a decent historical perspective on things; partly because one of the inspirations for this was Richard Thompson’s 1000 Years of Popular Music and that cut off — well, it cut off in 2001, but close enough; and partly because the final song I’m going to cover came out then, and it’s a good ending song.   William also asked “What’s the bottom standard for notability to be covered? (We heard about “Ooby Dooby” before “Crying,” are we going to hear about “Take My Tip” before “Space Oddity”? Bootlegs beyond the Million Dollar Band that you mentioned on Twitter? Archival groundbreakers like Parson Sound?)”   [Excerpt: Roy Orbison, “Ooby Dooby”]   That’s an interesting question… there’s no bottom standard for notability *as such*. It’s more that notability is just one of a number of factors I’m using to decide on the songs I cover. So the question I ask myself when I’m choosing one to include isn’t just “is this song influential or important?” though that’s a primary one. There’s also “is there a particularly fascinating story behind the recording of this track?” “Does this illustrate something important about music or about cultural history?”, “Is this just a song I really like and want to talk about?” And also, “does this provide a link between otherwise disconnected strands of the story?” There are also things like “have I not covered anything by a woman or a black person or whatever in a while?” because one of the things I want to do is make sure that this isn’t just the story of white men, however much they dominate the narrative, and I know I will have to consciously correct for my own biases, so I pay attention to that.   And there’s *also* the question of mixing the stuff everyone knows about with the stuff they’ll be hearing about for the first time — you have to cover “Satisfaction” because everyone would notice it’s missing, but if you just do Beatles-Stones-Led Zep-Pink Floyd-whoever’s-on-the-cover-of-Mojo-this-month, nobody’s going to hear anything they can’t get in a million different places.   So to take the example of “Ooby Dooby”, it’s only a relatively important track in itself, though it is notable for being the start of Roy Orbison’s career. But it also ties Orbison in to the story of Sam Phillips and Sun Records, and thus into the stories of Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, and so on. It allows me to set up something for the future while tying the story together and moving the stories of multiple people forward a bit.   So… as a tiny bit of a spoiler, though this won’t be too much of a surprise to those who’ve read my book California Dreaming, I am almost certainly going to cover the GTOs, who are almost a footnote to a footnote. I’ll cover them because their one album was co-produced by Frank Zappa and Lowell George, later of Little Feat, it featured the Jeff Beck Group, including Rod Stewart, and it had songs co-written by Davy Jones of the Monkees — and the songs Davy Jones co-wrote were about Captain Beefheart and about Nick St Nicholas of Steppenwolf. That’s an enormous nexus of otherwise unconnected musicians, and it allows me to move several strands of the story forwards at the same time — and it also allows me to talk about groupie culture and misogyny in the rock world from the perspective of the women who were involved.   [Excerpt: GTOs, “The Captain’s Fat Theresa Shoes”]   I’m not *definitely* going to cover that, but I’m likely to — and I’m likely to cover it rather than covering some more well-known but less interesting track.   Dean Mattson asks what my favourite three books are on the music I’ve covered so far. That’s a good question. I’m actually going to name more than three, though…   The book that has been of most value in terms of sheer information density is Before Elvis, by Larry Birnbaum. This is a book that covers the prehistory of rock and roll to an absurd level of detail, and it’s absolutely wonderful, but it’s also absolutely hard going. Birnbaum seems to have heard, without exaggeration, every record released before 1954, and he’ll do things like trace a musical motif from a Chuck Berry solo to a Louis Jordan record, and from the Louis Jordan record to one by Count Basie, and from that to Blind Blake, to Blind Lemon Jefferson, to Jelly Roll Morton, to a 1918 recording by Wilbur Sweatman’s Jazz Orchestra. And he does that kind of thing in every single paragraph of a 474-page book. He must reference, at a very conservative estimate, five thousand different recordings.   Now this is information density at the expense of everything else, and Birnbaum’s book has something of the air of those dense 18th and 19th century omnium gatherum type books like Origin of Species or Capital or The Golden Bough, or The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, where there are a million examples provided to prove a point in the most exhaustive detail possible. I’ve done entire episodes of the podcast which are just expanding on a single paragraph of Birnbaum and providing enough context and narrative for a lay audience to appreciate it. It’s not a book you read for fun. It’s a book you read a paragraph at a time, with a notepad, looking up recordings of all the songs he covers as he gets to them. But if you’re willing to put that time in, the book will reward you with a truly comprehensive understanding of American popular music of the period up to 1954.   The book that surprised me the most with its quality was Billy Bragg’s Roots, Radicals and Rockers: How Skiffle Changed the World. I’ve always quite liked Bragg as a songwriter, but I’d never expected him to be much good at writing a work of non-fiction. I only actually got hold of a copy because it had just come out when I started the podcast, and it had a certain amount of publicity behind it. I thought if I didn’t read it I would then get people asking questions like, “But Billy Bragg says X, why do you say Y?”   But in fact, if you want a book on the skiffle movement and early British rock and roll, you could not do better than this one. It’s exhaustively researched, and it’s written in a staggeringly readable prose style, by someone who has spent his life as both a folk musician and a political activist, and so understands the culture of the skiffle movement on a bone-deep level. If there was one book I was to urge people to read just to read a really good, entertaining, book, it would be that one.   The book that’s been the most use to me is Honkers and Shouters by Arnold Shaw — an account of the 50s R&B scene from someone who was part of it. Shaw worked for a music publisher at the time, and had a lot of contacts in the industry. When he came to write the book in the 70s, he was able to call upon those contacts and interview a huge number of people — many of whom gave him their last interviews before they died. The podcast wouldn’t be as good without some of the other books, but it wouldn’t exist at all without this one, because Shaw added so much to our knowledge of 50s R&B.   But I also want to recommend all of Peter Guralnick’s books, but especially Last Train to Memphis, the first of his two-volume biography of Elvis Presley. Guralnick’s written a lot of books on Southern US music, including ones on Sam Phillips and Sam Cooke which have also been important resources. But the thing that sets Guralnick apart as a writer is his ability to make the reader thoroughly understand why people admired extraordinarily flawed individuals, but without minimising their flaws. With all Guralnick’s biographies, I’ve come away both thinking less of his subjects as people *and* admiring them more as creators. He doesn’t flinch from showing the men he writes about as egocentric, often misogynist, manipulators who damaged the people around him, but nor does he turn his books into Albert Goldman style denunciations of his subjects. Indeed, in the case of Elvis, I’ve got more understanding of who Elvis was from Guralnick than from any of the hundreds of thousands of other words I’ve read on the subject. Elvis as he turns up in this podcast is the Elvis that Guralnick wrote about, rather than anything else.   Magic at Mungos asked what the best song I’ve discovered, that I hadn’t heard before doing the podcast, is.   Well, I’ve discovered very little doing the podcast, really. The only song I’ve covered that I didn’t know before starting work on the podcast was “Ko Ko Mo”, and I can’t say that one was a favourite of mine — it’s not a bad record by any means, but it’s not one that changed my life or anything. But there have been a few things that I’ve heard that I didn’t do full episodes about but which made an impression — the McHouston Baker album I talked about towards the end of the “Love is Strange” episode, for example, is well worth a listen.   [Excerpt: McHouston Baker, “Alabama March”]   What the podcast *has* done, though, is make me reevaluate a few people I already knew about. In particular I’d been very dismissive of Lonnie Donegan previously — I just hadn’t got him — but having to cover him for the podcast meant listening to all his fifties and early sixties work, and I came out of that hugely impressed.   I had a similar experience with Bo Diddley, who I *did* admire beforehand, and whose music I knew fairly well, but listening to his work as a body of work, rather than as isolated tracks and albums, made me think of him as a far more subtle, interesting, musician and songwriter than I’d given him the credit for previously.   Another one from William Maybury, who wants to know about my recording setup. I actually don’t have very good recording equipment — I just use a thirty-pound USB condenser mic plugged into my laptop on my dining room table. This is partly because I don’t have a huge budget for the podcast, but also because there’s only so much that can be done with the sound quality anyway. I live in an acoustically… fairly horrible… house, which has a weird reverb to a lot of the rooms. It’s a terraced house with relatively thin walls, so you can hear the neighbours, and I live underneath a major flight path and by a main road in a major city, often driven on by people with the kind of in-car sound systems that inflict themselves on everyone nearby.   While I would like better equipment, at a certain point all it would be doing is giving a really clear recording of the neighbours’ arguments or the TV shows they’re watching, and the sound systems in the cars driving past – like today, I was woken at 3AM by someone driving by, playing “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips in their car so loud it woke me up. Acoustic perfection when recording somewhere like here would just be wasted.   So I make up for this by doing a *LOT* of editing on the podcast. I’ve not done so much on this episode, because these are specifically designed to be low-stress episodes for me, but I’ve been known to spend literally twenty hours on editing some individual episodes, cutting out extraneous noises, fixing sound quality issues, and so on.   And finally for this week, Russell Stallings asks, “my son Pete wants to know if you are a musician? And , who is your favorite beatle?”   The answer to whether I’m a musician is “yes and no”, I’m afraid. I can play a lot of instruments badly. I’m dyspraxic, so I have natural limits to my dexterity, and so no matter how much I practiced I never became more than a competent rhythm guitarist at best. But I manage to be not very good on a whole variety of instruments — I’ve been in bands before, and played guitar, keyboards, bass, mandolin, ukulele, and banjo on recordings — and I can, more or less, get a tune out of a clarinet or saxophone with a good run-up.   Where I think my own musical skills lie is as a songwriter, arranger, and producer. I’ve not done much of that in over a decade, as I don’t really have the personality for collaboration, but I did a lot of it in my twenties and thirties. Here’s an example, from a band I used to be in called The National Pep.   [Excerpt: The National Pep, “Think Carefully For Victory”]   In the section you just heard, I wrote the music, co-produced, and played all the instruments except the drums. Tilt — who does a podcast called The Sitcom Club I know some of you listen to — sang lead, wrote the lyrics, played drums, and co-produced.   So, sort of a musician, sort of not.   As to the question about my favourite Beatle, John Lennon has always been my favourite, though as I grow older I’m growing more and more to appreciate Paul McCartney. I’m also, though, someone who thinks the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts in that particular case. All four of them did solo work I like a lot, but also the group was immensely better than any of the solo work. It’s very, very, rare that every member of a band is utterly irreplaceable — normally, even when every member of a band is talented, you can imagine them carrying on with one or more members swapped out for other, equally competent, people. But in the case of the Beatles, I don’t think you can.   Anyway, that’s all for this week. I’ll be answering more questions next week, then the podcast will be back to normal on October the sixth with an episode on Carl Perkins. If you have any questions you’d like to ask, you can still ask by signing up on patreon.com/andrewhickey – and if you’ve not signed up for that, you can do so for as little as a dollar a month. Patreon backers also get a ten minute bonus podcast every week I do a regular podcast, and when the book version of the podcast comes out, backers at the $5 or higher level will be getting free copies of that. They also get copies of my other books.   Thanks for listening.

Kelly talks to David Gerard, Crypto Journalist and author of Attack of the 50 foot blockchain

Welcome to Sequences, hope you all enjoyed our special podcast on the music of John Dyson & Wavestar, more to come this year, with musicians who have had long careers in the scene. This edition features as usual, looks at many of the new album releases from well known names who have graced our airways over the years. The conceptual ambient musical project by Sveere Knut Johansen with soundscape pioneer Robert Rich, analog structures of live sequential sounds from Spyra, joined by the voice of soul mate Roksana Vikaluk. Neo-Classical synthesised uplifting compositions of Gunnar Spardel, the beating heart that brings David Gerard intrinsic sound structures, that are hypnotic, using strings piano and choirs in a dramatic complex setting. Ann Grace capturing mother earth in her subtle melodies, calm and emotional, second collaboration from Romerium & Martin Neuhold, reflecting on the season of winter. The chill-out beautiful & Intense album ‘Meerblick” by Thomas Lemmer & Christoph Sebastian Pabst. Kamarius mystical meditative “Wheels Of Truth”, evoking an eastern culture, especially Tibetan. Naturalistic drone scapes of deep ambient textures of pure organic sound from Alio Die and Lorenzo Montana. Robert Otto’s atmospheric experiences & Robert Fox’s 18th solo album ”Phoenix Rising”, emotive, melodic, with dream like quality. Opening for this edition is Spyra, live at the Solingen, “Sequenzen" festival, Germany. Playlist No 152 02.35 Spyra: feat Roksana ‘Zeitstaub’ (album inSPYRAtion) *** www.groove.nl 16.06 elAstrum ‘Whole Hole Explorer’ (album Freqmod) www.kahvicollective.bandcamnp.com 19.23 elAstrum ‘Moondo’ 22.34 Confluent Phase ’Solitude’ (album Ad Astra) www.txtrecordings.co.uk 32.29 Sverre Knut Johansen with Robert Rich ‘Archean Eon’ (album Precambrian) www.spottedpeccary.com 38.42 Sverre Knut Johansen with Robert Rich ‘Hadean Eon’ 43.30 Thomas Lemmer & Christoph Sebastian Pabst ‘Gezeitenkraefte’(album Meerblick) www.sine-music.com 48.24 Thomas Lemmer & Christoph Sebastian Pabst ‘Lapislazulikueste’ 53.07 Thomas Lemmer & Christoph Sebastian Pabst ‘Meeresleuchten’ 54.34 Thomas Lemmer & Christoph Sebastian Pabst ‘Plastikfluten’ 59.24 Liam Thomas ‘Go Above’ http://www.sine-music.com 01.02.43 Ann Grace ‘Outside: ambient mix’ (EP Outside) https://orcd.co/ann_grace-outside 01.07.54 Curious Inversions ‘Aspirations Of Man’ (album Spire) www.kahvicollective.bandcamnp.com 01.14.55 Curious Inversions ‘Rumours’ 01.21.21 Alio Die & Lorenza Montana ‘On The Waves Of Fate Pt 1’ (album The Threshold Of Beauty) www.projekt.com 01.28.29 David Gerard ‘MountainTops’ ***(album The Anxious Beating Of My Tensile Heart) *** https://ambientism.bandcamp.com 01.43.36 David Gerard ‘Resonating From Higher Consciousness’ 01.45.36 David Gerard ;Nightscape For Bordy’ 01.53.18 Odeko ‘The Dove From Above’ www.theambientzone.co.uk 01.57.03 Gunnar Spardel ‘Eternal Memory’ (album Simplicity In A Complex World) www.gunnarspardel.bandcamp.com 02.01.50 Gunnar Spardel ‘In Between’ 02.07.51 Robert Fox ‘Waiting for the Horizon’ (album Phoenix Rising) www.admusiconline.com 02.16.00 Nick Owen ‘Rejuvenation’ (E-Scape 2019, Various Artists) www.admusiconline.com 02.24.59 Kamarius ‘Eastern Summers - Wheel Of Truth’ (album Wheel Of Truth) https://kamarius.bandcamp.com 02.29.24 Bu Re ‘Ache Mend’ www.theambientzone.co.uk 02.34.03 Romerium ‘Dark & Cold’ (album When Winter Was Here) www.romerium.bandcamp.com 02.42.07 Steve Brand ‘Off Worlder’ (album Graduated) https://databloem.com 02.48.28 Robert Otto ‘Deep Sleep’ (album Dreams) www.robertotto.bandcamp.com 02.54.14 Vince Tampio ‘Tides Part 1 & 2 ‘ (album Tides) *** www.vincetampio.com Edit ***

David Gerard is a crypto skeptic and author of the book, Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain, an insightful read into the history of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

HodlCast Episode 83 with Amy Castor and David Gerard. I had the opportunity to speak to two of the most informed journalists on the Quadriga Exchange. We discussed all the mystery surrounding the story, including how the exchange got started, the key people involved, the hidden identities, the questions about Cotton's death, and what is happening now. Check out the guests here: Websites: https://amycastor.com/ https://davidgerard.co.uk/blockchain/ Twitter: @ahcastor @davidgerard David's book: Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: https://www.amazon.com/Attack-50-Foot-Blockchain-Contracts-ebook/dp/B073CPP581

It was once hailed as the technology that would change everything. From banking to shipping, retail and, of course, energy. But has the hype surrounding Blockchain now peaked? If so, what is left? Could Blockchain change the energy industry? And, before we even get there, what on earth is it? Presented by Kunal Dutta. Featuring JoJo Hubbard, Electron; Scott Kessler, LO3 Energy; David Gerard, author Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain & Judith Durkin, Shell. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The mayor has proclaimed it "blockchain week" in Toronto. Kelly gets the skinny on Blockchain from finance journalist and author of Attack of the 50 foot blockchain David Gerard.

Nako interviews David Gerard, a Bitcoin critic. They talk about the technological superiority complex of some Bitcoin maximalists; Bitcoin's energy inefficiencies and whether crypto mass adoption is a pipe dream or closer to becoming a reality because of the Lightning Network.

Cryptocurrencies are on the rebound, but does the case for investing in them make any more sense? Manuela Saragosa hears both sides of the argument. Jay Smith is a long-time player in the markets for these digital tokens, and is a popular player on the electronic trading site eToro. He explains why he believes Bitcoin and its ilk have a long-term future, even though he doesn't personally subscribe to the libertarian ideology that most of his fellow investors share. However, cold water is poured on this vision by sceptic David Gerard, author of a book called Attack of the 50ft Blockchain. Plus Angela Walch, a research fellow at the Centre for Blockchain Technologies at University College London, says she thinks the crypto craze is a symptom of the broader rise of populism since the 2008 financial crash. (Picture: A visual representation of the digital Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin; Credit: Chesnot/Getty Images)

A few weeks ago we sat down with Dan and gave you the episode 'The Case for PoW.' But now, popular crypto-contrarian David Gerard has joined us to debate whether or not proof-of-work is a net-positive. A fascinating conversation that has inspired us to bring you more debates in the future! You can listen to our Podcast Show on any major Podcast platform including Apple Podcasts & Spotify. If you want to support the channel, just click 'Subscribe,' that way we can grow and bring you even better content in the future! Our Site: www.cryptoauthority.co.uk Our Twitter: twitter.com/cryptoauthorit Dan's Twitter: https://twitter.com/danheld David's Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidgerard

In this episode we touch on the promised topic of the mainstreamers vs the vanguardists in the far-right movement, but only in the course of covering topical events.  These include the firing of the 'Nazi EMT' Alex McNabb, and the recently released tapes of disgusting comments by Fox News's pet white nationalist con-man Tucker Carlson.  But, most particularly, of course, we talk about the recent ghastly massacre at Christchurch, New Zealand.   Daniel provides really vital insights in this episode into the way such murderous terrorist attacks by fascists - of which the Christchurch attack is just the latest of many - stem from a conscious organisational strategy within the far right called 'leaderless resistance'.  Daniel explains this and where it comes from, its meaning within the movement, etc, going into the infamous racist novel The Turner Diaries and 'The Order', and so on.  He also goes into the murderer's 'manifesto', the meme-drenched nature of his chan board-based fascism, and describes the contents of his livestream broadcast.  We touch on the killer's 'Balkan Nationalism' and his ostensible ecological concerns. Needless to say, some of this is upsetting listening. (Sorry for the delay but, to be honest, this one was a bit distressing to edit.)   * Catch us on iTunes. We recently got mentioned in a web article by David Gerard for Foreign Policy magazine about the far-right and crypto currency, for which Daniel was interviewed.  We were also recommended on the AV Club, thanks to Anthony Herrera. * Show Notes: Bring the War Home Blood and Politics McNabb fired "In Unearthed Audio, Tucker Carlson Makes Numerous Misogynistic and Perverted Comments" Madeline Peltz profile at Washington Post Chip Berlet "When Hate Went Online." Documents white supremacist BBS networks in 1984 or 1985. Louis Beam at the SPLC Louis Beam: Leaderless Resistance. (His site.) Robert Jay Mathews at Wikipedia 'The Order' at Wikipedia Robert Evans at Bellingcat: "Shitposting, Inspirational Terrorism, and the Christchurch Mosque Massacre" "In Brenton Harrison Tarrant’s Australian hometown, his relatives remember violent video games, trouble with women" "'You Are Safe Now': Moments of Heroism in Christchurch Massacre" "New Zealand Mosque Gunman Inspired by Balkan Nationalists." On the Moynihan Report Part 3 of Behind the Bastards podcast series on George Lincoln Rockwell, the father of modern American fascism, focusing on his legacy.  Good stuff.  Intersects with our topics this week. Excellent new video from Some More News on Tucker Carlson, covering his recent "How is Diversity Our Strength?" rhetoric. Sean debunks Lauren Southern and her puffing of the 'Great Replacement' racist conspiracy theory  

Crypto hater David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50ft Blockchain, is guest on this episode of Milk. He’s an important voice in the community, even if he thinks the entire thing is a colossal waste of time, and worse. Love him or not, he’s worth considering.

Latest episode of CoinSpice.io Milk: Soothing Crypto's Burn

*** this is not financial or legal advice*** After seeing a tweet that Peter was not going to release and episode with David Gerard, which Matthew recently interviewed, Matthew was intrigued as to why. What started with curiosity as to Pete's beef with David, turned into a truly authentic origin story. Show Links: CRYPTO101podcast.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=8429526 Twitter: twitter.com/Crypto101Pod twitter.com/BrycePaul101 twitter.com/PizzaMind www.instagram.com/crypto_101 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/101Crypto/ https://www.facebook.com/CRYPTO101Podcast/ **THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE** © Copyright 2019 Boardwalk Flock, LLC All Rights Reserved Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaqWF7FG1Xo ♫Music By♫ ●Notes - Know You ●Song - https://youtu.be/eaqWF7FG1Xo ●iTunes & Spotify - http://smarturl.it/knowyou-pr ⬇️️ DOWNLOAD SONG HERE - https://www.bassrebels.co.uk/dubstep/...

*** this is not financial or legal advice*** After seeing a tweet that Peter was not going to release and episode with David Gerard, which Matthew recently interviewed, Matthew was intrigued as to why. What started with curiosity as to Pete’s beef with David, turned into a truly authentic origin story. Show Links: CRYPTO101podcast.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=8429526 Twitter: twitter.com/Crypto101Pod twitter.com/BrycePaul101 twitter.com/PizzaMind www.instagram.com/crypto_101 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/101Crypto/ https://www.facebook.com/CRYPTO101Podcast/ **THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE** © Copyright 2019 Boardwalk Flock, LLC All Rights Reserved Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaqWF7FG1Xo ♫Music By♫ ●Notes - Know You ●Song - https://youtu.be/eaqWF7FG1Xo ●iTunes & Spotify - http://smarturl.it/knowyou-pr ⬇️️ DOWNLOAD SONG HERE - https://www.bassrebels.co.uk/dubstep/...

*** this is not financial or legal advice*** It is rare that we have someone that is not crazy for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the show. But, it is sure refreshing to chat with someone that is not a member of the choir. Please welcome David Gerard, the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. In this episode we go through chapter by chapter his criticisms of bitcoin, the space, and blockchain startups. Show Links: CRYPTO101podcast.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=8429526 Twitter: twitter.com/Crypto101Pod twitter.com/BrycePaul101 twitter.com/PizzaMind www.instagram.com/crypto_101 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/101Crypto/ https://www.facebook.com/CRYPTO101Podcast/ **THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE** © Copyright 2019 Boardwalk Flock, LLC All Rights Reserved Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBHB6aAaNk ♫Music By♫ ●Meluran - With You [Bass Rebels Release] ●Song/Free Download - https://youtu.be/zgBHB6aAaNk ●iTunes, Spotify +more - http://smarturl.it/WithYou-br ●Follow Meluran - http://smarturl.it/Meluran ⬇️️ DOWNLOAD SONG HERE - http://www.bassrebels.co.uk/dubstep/m...

*** this is not financial or legal advice*** It is rare that we have someone that is not crazy for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency on the show. But, it is sure refreshing to chat with someone that is not a member of the choir. Please welcome David Gerard, the author of Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain. In this episode we go through chapter by chapter his criticisms of bitcoin, the space, and blockchain startups. Show Links: CRYPTO101podcast.com Patreon: www.patreon.com/user?u=8429526 Twitter: twitter.com/Crypto101Pod twitter.com/BrycePaul101 twitter.com/PizzaMind www.instagram.com/crypto_101 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/101Crypto/ https://www.facebook.com/CRYPTO101Podcast/ **THIS IS NOT FINANCIAL OR LEGAL ADVICE** © Copyright 2019 Boardwalk Flock, LLC All Rights Reserved Music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgBHB6aAaNk ♫Music By♫ ●Meluran - With You [Bass Rebels Release] ●Song/Free Download - https://youtu.be/zgBHB6aAaNk ●iTunes, Spotify +more - http://smarturl.it/WithYou-br ●Follow Meluran - http://smarturl.it/Meluran ⬇️️ DOWNLOAD SONG HERE - http://www.bassrebels.co.uk/dubstep/m...

On the 184th episode, new material, plus, whats been going on with me this week, and a wide variety of music. Set 1: East Coast Acappella You're Still the One 02:43 Homeward Bound 2012 04:00 Elizabeth Byrd: Cellist - Breath and the Chakras Heart - love is divine power (F tonal center) 06:58 Cleveland Wehle Pastoral Lament 05:53 Haven When You Hold Me 04:01 Kerani Voice of the Mountains 10:44 Nick Baker Eight Lap Run 04:58 Mateo Stoneman Menos de Dos Dolores 03:50 Set 2: The Silence That Surrounds Us by Scott Lawlor with David Gerard is featured. In the audio, I said 4652, but its 4632. This is a separate label, that produces a lot of material including some of Scott's work. I intend to correct the audio on the podcast as I initially gave the wrong URL, and I link here to the album. We play 3 from this 7 track album. I hope you enjoy this 2018 album. Scott Lawlor & David Gerard Ring Of New Stars 08:25 Scott Lawlor & David Gerard Canes Venatici 09:48 Scott Lawlor & David Gerard Upon Returning 13:35 Greg Williams Gilak Slendro 04:39 Gopal Clouds Come and Go 02:10 Héllena A Wish To The Stars 01:58 Phrozenlight 04 - Higher Connections 26:41 Aeoliah Chintamani: The Treasure 27:59 This ends the program. Thanks for listening!

Our hosts, Simon Taylor and Leda Glyptis are joined by three great guests: Max Rofagha, CEO and Founder at Finimize, Husayn Kassai, CEO at Onfido and Lisa Jacobs, CSO at Funding Circle. First up, Banking services for the unbanked! Singapore-based Grab started as a taxi-booking app but is expanding into areas like parcel and food delivery and financial services. Grab's partnered with Mastercard to issue virtual and physical prepaid cards tailored to Southeast Asian consumers, with the aim of expanding use of Grab's digital wallet and helping its unbanked users transact online. The companies hope to leverage Grab's 110 million app users and Mastercard's network of 3 million merchant outlets. Customers can top up their cards using cash through agents, drivers and merchants on the GrabPay platform. Most banks will be made irrelevant by 2030-Gartner. Within 12 years time, 80% of “heritage financial firms” will either go out of business or be rendered irrelevant by new competition, changing customer behaviour and advancements in technology, according to forecasts by Gartner. They will be replaced by global digital platforms, fintech companies and other nontraditional players. U.S. state banking regulators sue government to stop “fintech charters”. A body of U.S. state banking regulators on Thursday sued the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) over its plan, to issue bank charters to online lenders and payment companies. The body, the Conference of State Bank Supervisors (CSBS), said the so-called fintech charter was unconstitutional and puts consumers and taxpayers at risk. Follows a similar suit filed by the New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) last month. Initiative Q: Scam, pyramid scheme or next PayPal? No one seems to have any idea if it’s a scam or not. Only detailed has come from David Gerard, author of Attack of the 50ft Blockchain. “It’s not impossible they’ll get something up … but pure ideas are near-worthless. The hard part is always execution.” Trendy challenger bank Monzo is Britain’s latest unicorn startup. Monzo secured a £85 million funding round, giving it a valuation of £1 billion, investors include Stripe, Accel Ventures, and General Catalyst. Most notably, the company has also relied on equity crowdfunding in the past and reportedly plans to raise a further £20 million from ordinary retail investors later this year. And finally, a special 50p coin will mark Brexit. A commemorative 50p coin will be issued to mark the UK's departure from the European Union (EU) next year. The coin would be made available in spring 2019 but it’s not yet known exactly what the new Brexit coins will look like. All this and so much more on today's episode of Fintech Insider! Subscribe so you never miss an episode, leave a review on iTunes and every other podcast app. Spread the fintech love by sharing or tweeting this podcast. Let us know your thoughts @FintechInsiders and join the discussion by signing up at www.fintechinsidernews.com This week's episode was produced by Laura Watkins and Petrit Berisha. Edited by Michael Bailey and written by Dhanum Nursigadoo. Special Guests: Husayn Kassai, Leda Glyptis, Lisa Jacobs, and Max Rofagha.

Sounds In The Dark turns one year old with an amazing playlist of new work from Alex Cobb, Tiny Leaves, HELM, Shuttle358, The Sly and Unseen, Tim Kays, and much more! Enjoying the show? Please support BFF.FM with a donation. Playlist Eric's Basement & Secret Tunnels by Psymon Spine on Psymon Spine (Axis Mundi) A ground without a figure by SHUTTLE358 on CAN YOU PROVE I WAS BORN (12k) September 1st by Altars Altars on 1864 (http://altarsaltars.bandcamp.com) Live By Golden Rule: Go Orange Be Strong by Andrew Weathers Ensemble on Fuck Everybody, You Can Do Anything (Full Spectrum) Thograinn Thograinn (Hidden Orchestra Remix) by Macmaster / Hay on Reorchestrations (Denovali) I Saw The Brown Leaves Dropping by Siavash Amini and Heinali on When No Wind Whirled (Futuresequence) Medicated Yoga by Lifted on 1 (PAN) Radar Receiver by Solvent on Apples & Synthesizers (Ghostly International) Summer Shower Interlude #4 by Tim Kays on Phenomena (Aural Films) Cold Wind On Erringden Moor by The Sly and Unseen on All Similarities And Technical Difficulties End Here (Hibernate Records) Shed Abroad by Tiny Leaves on A Certain Tide (Futuresequence) the sea inside of me by tunnel at the end of the light on IN THE WAKE OF AN AVALANCHE (http://tunnelattheendofthelight.bandcamp.com) Bagatelle for Harp and Orchestra by Cousin Silas & David Gerard on Cousin Silas David Gerard (We Are All Ghosts) Path of Appearance by Alex Cobb on Chantepleure (Students of Decay) Sky Wax (London) by HELM on Olympic Mess (PAN ) end of the night by Chihei Hatakeyama on Moon Light Reflecting Over Mountains (Room40) Il Giardino Dei Riflessi by Neil On Impression on L'oceano Delle Onde Che Restano Onde Per Sempre (Denovali) by long sea breakers by juxta phona on we will not be silence (Home Normal) Disorder 7 Piano 2 by Alex Menzies on Order & Disorder (Kathexis) Check out the full archives on the website.

Blockchain, the technology on which Bitcoin is based, has gone mainstream. Evangelists describe it as a thrilling and versatile foundation that will revolutionise everything from finance to governance. But is it really the radical new paradigm its adherents claim?We were joined on stage by Jamie Bartlett, one of the UK’s leading thinkers on the politics and social influence of the internet; Primavera De Filippi, expert on the legal challenges and opportunities of blockchain technologies and author of Blockchain and The Law; David Gerard, author of the news blog and book Attack of the 50 Foot Blockchain: Bitcoin, Blockchain, Ethereum & Smart Contracts; and Vít Jedlička, founder and first elected president of the Free Republic of Liberland, which aims to be the first country to base its government structure on blockchain technology.The event was chaired by BBC Economics Editor Kamal Ahmed. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Hello, you are listening to Of Sound Mind, a podcast about the stories of the latests changes and technologies in the audio industry. Today, we are going to continue talking about blockchain and the music industry. We started this topic in our last episode, with a telephone interview with David Gerard, the author of the […]

Hi everyone, it’s that time again to immerse yourself into a host of great electronic music presented by Sequences coming from a very wet, hot & steamy Queensland. Although we love the melodic & accessible side to electronic music, be it Berlin School, Chill-out, New Age and so on, the experimentation of ambient atmospheric music takes us into the fascinating collage of sounds beyond the boundaries of easy listening and throes up so many aspects of what man and machines can do, haunting & captivating, but don't worry, we are still bringing a good choice of diverse sounds, accessible & listenable, which are mostly from new album releases. Taking care of the ambient & the experimental side include, Numina, David Gerard, Juta Takahashi, Spacetime Continuum, K Ambient Sounds, Claudio Casanueva & Shall Remain Nameless, this leaves us with Ryo Utasato, Stephan Whitlan, Dask, Karmarius, Ron Boots & Others & Daniel Pierzecki, covering symphonic, sequential, melodic & even a touch of prog rock sounds. Our vintage track, 'Shades Of Night Descending', by Walter Holland, comes from the 1990 Compilation Album, 'Dali The Endless Enigma'. We begin our 3 hour journey with the epic soundtrack music of Ryo Utasato Sequences Playlist no124 02.27 Ryo ‘Atlas’ https://soundcloud.com/ryo-utasato 07.02 Ryo Utasato ‘Elements Of Water’ (album Dawn Of An Empire) www.darksignmusic.de 11.26 Ryo Utasato ‘New Moon’ 14.19 Daniel Pierzecki Atarens ‘Mysterious’ www.atarens.art.pl 19.27 Karmarius ’New Earth’ (album Heavens Within) https://kamariusmusic.wixsite.com/kamarius 23.40 Karmarius Ascending Souls’ 29.18 Numina ‘Bringer Of The Beings’ (album The Chroma Plateau) www.spottedpeccary.com 37.50 K Ambient Sounds ‘Infinite Sky’ (album Unbound Space) https://kambientsounds.wordpress.com 47.44 Shall Remain Nameless ‘Untitled 1’ (album Untitled) 53.35 Dask ’State Of Flux’ (album Sol) www.syngate.net 66.00 Spacetime Continuum ‘Ping Pong’ (album Sea Biscuit) ***https://psychonavigationrecordsofficial.bandcamp.com 71.48 Spacetime Continuum ‘A Low Frequency Inversion Field’ 78.48 AsferSun ‘Born’ (album Dissolution Of Chaos) *** https://asfersun.bandcamp.com/releases 89.29 Walter Holland ‘Shades Of Night Descending’ (album Dali: The Endless Enigma). 95.37 Rephazer ‘Afterlife’ (album Sketches In Between Noise) https://rephazer.bandcamp.com 101.45 Stephan Whitlan ’Spacetime’ (album Second Site) *** www. groove.nl 113.43 Ron Boots & Others ‘Acoustic Shadows’ (album An Evening With Friends) www.groove.nl 121.22 David Gerard ‘Warpspeed’ (album Awakenings) https://ambientism.bandcamp.com 124.02 David Gerard ‘Overture’ 130.09 David Gerard ‘The Final Outpost’ 133.27 Juta Takahashi ‘Deeper Skies’ (album Light & Shadows) http://www.jutatakahashi.com/ 142.26 Juta Takahashi ‘Tangerine Blue’ 154.22 Claudio Casanueva ‘Fabula’ https://www.instagram.com/claudiocasanueva/ 156.40 Claudio Casanueva ‘Density’ 170.07 Ron Boots & Others ‘A Warm Place’ (album An Evening With Friends) *** www.groove.nl Edit***

We sit down with David Gerard, author of Attack of the Fifty Foot Blockchain and discuss cryptocoins and the environment. Elsewhere, the shutdown ends (for now), chip is funded, Oregon approves healthcare taxes and spending by a wide margin and Washington bans bumpstocks.

With it being a busy month for Mick, this will be our only edition instead of the normal two. We always like to focus on giving you a preview of new releases and hearing some outstanding musicians with different styles in Electronic Music, it’s all here for your ears. You will notice a lot of new names introducing their tunes on Sequences including, Jorg Schaaf, Quest, Fryderyk Jona, David Gerard, Rick Batyr, Bobbotov, Danutz, Hammock & The Heisenberg Compensators with some great music from melodic floating sounds to beautiful neoclassical scores. Our vintage track comes from French composer Bernard Xolotl’s 1983 LP Procession, with the seductive tones of violinist Daniel Kobialk joining him on that release. We open with Translunar’s rhythmical and melodic new release Robots, enjoy. 01:53 Translunar ‘Timestorm’ (album Spaceman) www.translunarmusic.com 08.34 Translunar ‘Rise Of The Robots’ 12,53 Rick Batyr ‘Synchronize, Feat Tikki Masala’ (album Unfolding) https://www.pranasoundstudio.com 23.41 Rick Batyr ‘It Has Always Been Here’ 30,11 Bobbotov ‘Moments of Time’ (album Mirages) https://areciborecords.bandcamp.com/album/mirages 37.32 Bobbotov ‘Chimeras’ 43.23 Erik Wollo ‘Crescent Moon’ (album Cinematic) www.projekt.com 50.49 Erik Wollo ‘Venture 1’ 56.33 Bernard Xolotl & Daniel Kobialka ‘Procession’ (album Procession) http://www.bernard-xolotl.com 63.35 Hammock ‘Now And Not Yet’ (album Mysterium) www.hammockmusic.com 69.35 Ian Boddy & Markus Reuter ‘Shore’ (album Stay) https://dinrecords.bandcamp.com/yum 78.27 Howard Givens & Craig Padilla ‘Threads Of Thoughts’ (album Being Of Light) ***www.spottedpeccary.com 89.16 M R K ‘Confidential’ (album Revealer) http://www.mrk-music.com/ 90.45 M R K ‘This Is Policy’ 93.05 M R K ‘Morning LA’ 95.44 M R K ‘Stock Market’ 97.44 M R K ‘ On The Way Home’ 100.05 David Gerard & Michael Bruckner The Rise Before, The Falling Away’ (Album The Electric Consortium) 105.05 David Gerard & Hollan Holmes ‘Shoreline’ 109.31 David Gerard & Cousin Silas ‘Echoes Of Shepperton’ http://ambientism.wixsite.com/davidgerard 115.41 Rutger Holst, David Gerard & Paul Christensen ‘Floating Thru Primordial Void’ (album As We Basked In The Warmth Of A Dying Star) 125.16 Quest ‘Half Life’ (album Quay) www.whereambientlives.bandcamp.com 130.50 Jorg Schaaf ‘Stepsequencer Business’ (album Indiscreet) https://joergschaaf.bandcamp.com 133.42 Jorg Schaaf ‘Ambient Groove’ 138.00 Jorg Schaaf ‘Dog In tHe Woods’ 141.44 Fryderyk Jona ‘ Drift Away With Love In The Galaxies’ (album Outer Lands) *** www.fryderykjona.com 153.38 Danutz ‘Interstellar’ (album Interstellar) *** www.archive.org/DANUTZ 163.56 Yves Potin ‘Forest Mist’ (album Forest Stairways) www.jazzcomputer.org 173.13 The Heisenberg Compensators ‘Inner’ (album The Adventures Of Werner And Random) www.groove.nl Edit***

This month, a special series of Eruditorum Presscasts as Phil sits down with various guests to be interviewed about his new book, Neoreaction a Basilisk. This week he's joined by David Gerard, who read the book in 2000 word chunks serialized as Phil was writing it, and who spent time in the trenches of LessWrong and reading neoreactionaries before it was cool. You can back Neoreaction a Basilisk on Kickstarter. 

hour one: "abide with me" john coltrane w/thelonious monk "re-pulsion" kyoka (w/mike watt on bass) "all fall down" (live on target video) mau maus "the street is my home" berlin brats "ticking beat" sandra vu "who tattled told?" sock-tight "houdini" cuz "good complexion" tobacco "sacando pecho y brazo" victor jara "inside looking out" omega is the alpha "tropically hot" berlin brats hour two: "(I'm) psychotic" berlin brats "talkin' about my neighbors" san pedro slim "mujer metralleta" familea miranda "utsu" hobocombo "sun" in zaire "as they swim" tom gallo "objectivication" (live) peer group "peel the sticker off the apple" jee jee band "war baby" mau maus "clear the runway" wharton tiers ensemble "hang on" the gears "cannibalism is the future" toepunt "buddha's hair" devin flynn hour three: "roadhouse blues" (live) mau maus w/robbie krieger "impaired nominee" scarcity of tanks "father's day" (live) bob schriner "people" rewild "the manual" 208 talks of angels "blooms & blossoms" freescha "mechanical mammoth" mystical weapons

hour one: "the theme" (live) john coltrane w/miles davis "pass.age" sawako "dipsmack" tobacco "thinkin' 'bout thinkin'" cuz "love song" hooray matinee "alter ego" lite "she lives on my block" chicano batman "columbus" spielgusher "quipster" coldcock trio "check out" cibo matto "how deep is your wonder" chris scroger "otpisani 05" milovoje mica markovic jazz band "la vie en rose" clara rockmore "suite - moderato" lydia kavina hour two: "treetops I float" tom gallo "stung by a honey bee" jee jee band "every move a picture" name the band "lonesome day" three thirds "second" aaron oppenheim "quit your unnatural ways" ava mendoza + nick tamburro "michael jackson" familea miranda "campesino rock!" the lemon-limes "whoops" wharton tiers ensemble "a conspiracy of planets" (part 1) david gerard "awful son" pale angels "reflections on april 28th 5" peter kowald + damon smith "the apartment song" san pedro slim "je vous veux" bombon "I'd rather burn" (demo) doug walters hour three: "city slang" (live) sonic's rendezvous band "desert snake" rewild "a glance into a page of madness" omega is the alpha "shoofar" the god in hackney "super horror" zombie crash "nothing in the sky" (with harold nono) pndc & housework "henry hudson" freescha "my albatross wants to drop an albatross on your albatross"" errors of metabolism "when humans roamed the earth" south oaks "blood" carnal kitchen "hear what I say" frightwig "f.u.f." the gears "echo" yucca

Welcome to another edition of Crypto Basic News! Our editor is SO busy in quarantine that he forgot to post this episode so you're getting it with a few days of delay. We still love him though. He may or may not be the one writing this description. Anyway, today we're talking about shady senators dumping stocks after a private coronavirus briefing, Steemit developers forking into a new platform called Hive due to Justin Sun's shenanigans, and much more. Oh, and coronavirus. Surprise surprise. Tune in now!Rapid FireGlobal cryptocurrency wallet usage has tripled in the last three years.10 mill in 2016 to 40mil end of 2019.Devs Plot Launch of Telegram’s Blockchain Without Company’s InvolvementSo says the TON Community Foundation, a group of more than two dozen software developers and investors, who are now discussing possible ways to launch the Telegram Open Network (TON) without the messaging platform's participation.Coinbase Wallet integrates DeFi directly into app. Users will be able to borrow and lend crypto with interest thru the app now.Which US cities own the most crypto? Let's hear your guesses.Congress Bill Looks to create a digital dollar (B?)ANNNNND ITS GONEhttps://www.coindesk.com/digital-dollar-stripped-from-latest-us-coronavirus-relief-billFed Pledges asset purchases with no limits, Bitcoin and Gold Spike - KFederal Reserve said Monday it will launch a barrage of programs to help stimulate the economyUnlike previous crisis where there was a commitment to a set amount of balance sheet expansion, this time they are indicating no limitsThe Fed also will be moving for the first time into corporate bondsAlso a lending program for Main Street businesses ($300 Billion) to support flow of credit“The central bank is shifting from being not just the lender of last resort, but now it is the buyer of last resort. Don’t ask how much they will buy, this is truly QE infinity.”-Chris Rupkey, chief finacial economist at MUFG Union Bankwill lower the interest rate on its repo operations to 0% from 0.1%. (The operations are conducted daily to provide banks short-term funding)All this backed by Treasury department so Fed doesnt lose moneybitcoin jumped from $5,860 to $6,628 in an hour, Gold went from from $1,494 to $1,524 over the same time frame.Four US Senators caught dumping stocks after a private briefing on Corona Virus - BThere was a Senate Intelligence Committee briefing on the Corona Virus, and right after that meeting there were 4 Senators that immediately started to sell off positions.The names of the senators: Richard Burr, Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. , Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga. , James Inhofe, R-OklaRichard Burr even had a meeting with some fellow rich people (membership to join this group that he had the meeting with is $500, up to $10k) and said this "There's one thing that I can tell you about this: It is much more aggressive in its transmission than anything that we have seen in recent history," he said, according to a secret recording of the remarks obtained by NPR. "It is probably more akin to the 1918 pandemic."Burr's private comments were dire, his public comments made it sound like this was under control.So I saw a mention of one of the Senators being married to the Chairman of the NYSE. I was trying to remember where I heard that before. Kelly Loeffler! Holy shit she was the CEO that was in charge of BAKKT.Then, Karim remember this bitch wasn't even elected.Coronavirus crisis may highlight the overlap between the surveillance state and the cryptocurrency industry. - KIsraeli tech company NSO Group is working on new product to monitor spread of Corona, with nearly a dozen companies testing the productNSO, is best known for selling spyware to Saudi Arabia and other governmentsNSO Group’s surveillance technology has attracted widespread criticism for covertly accessing phones, activating cameras and collecting location data.NSO Groups to pranks seem to have significant ties to the crypto industryco-founders Omri Lavie and Shalev Hulio have invested in the bitcoin startup SimplexEddy Shalev (investor) has invested in the non-custodial wallet startup Portis, the exchange platform eToro and the privacy startup QEDIT.Coinbase famously sparked industrywide backlash in 2019it acquired Neutrino, founded by three former members of a controversial Italian surveillance vendor called Hacking Team.Coinbase said those people would transition out of the company, but no update and they refused to comment when asked.So just a reminder that cryptocurrency is just a tech, a tool, not innately a tool of liberation/freedom/etc, could be the opposite too, a tool of surveillance, or controlUpdate on some Justin Sun / Steemit Drama - BSo we talked about Justin trying to take over the Steem blockchain a few weeks ago. It looks like he was actually completely successful.Steemit developers quit because of the takeover.Justin has been hiding any posts on Steem critical of the new Steem ownership, and downvoting them as, well.The Steem community essentially capitulated, and forked into a new platform called Hive.Hive is going to be airdropped at 1:1 on Steem accounts.However, they bricked the Steemit Inc. coins to the tune of 60M, which is what Justin was able to get control of.They are proposing that anyone that switches to Hive and moves their coins loses their stake on Steemit lolol.Which is of course what Hive is doing.From Crypto Mining to Coronavirus Research - KCoreWeave is the largest U.S. miner on the Ethereum blockchain,redirecting the processing power of 6,000 specialized computer chips toward research to find a therapy for the coronavirus.GPUs will be pointed toward Stanford University's Folding@home program.Long standing, use donated processing power to simulate protein folds to try to cure different disieasesRecently announced specific project to boost coronavirus research"Their protein simulations attempt to find potential 'pockets' where existing [U.S. federal agency Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] approved drugs or other known compounds could help inhibit or treat the virus,"This addition has essentially double the power of the entire network, GPUs designed to handle repetitive calculationsAccording to Venturo, those 6,000 GPUs made up about 0.2 percent of Ethereum's total hashrate, earning roughly 28 ETH per day, worth about $3,600 at press time.Tulip.tools founder Johann Tanzer put out a call to action to Tezos bakers (miners) and offered a modest 15 XTZ ($20ish) to the leading contributor to Folding@home20 groups of Tezos miners are now contributing a slice of their hashing power to the cause. (and the pot grew to $600ish with other people donating as well)GPUs are flexible, but ASICs really cant participate. More powerful than GPUs, but only at one thing (so we probably wont see a lot of btc mining groups helping)FOLDING@HOME UPDATE ON SARS-COV-2Shots Fired!Wikipedia and Cardano having some issuesCharles Hoskinson, CEO of Cardano, is the latest figure in crypto to assert that Wikipedia is censoring his platform. He made a nearly 10 min video regarding the situation. Accusing Wikipedia to be a community-run free encyclopedia, hostile towards crypto.David Gerard, a crypto-hater and Wikipedia editor, says that Cardano is self promoting, and needs to be covered by the mainstream media, not the crypto press.Hoskinson said coins like Spankchain can have an article on Wikipedia. Spankchain does not have a Wikipedia page.Some Cardano members tried to include a blurb on Ourobouros, the algorithm that powers Cardano.Please join the conversation in the Discord. We're in there all the time.Rate us on iTunes.Follow CryptoBasicBrent on Reddit.We are not Financial advisers.