200 Bitcoin Meetups and Counting

Last night I went to Strange Brew Tavern in Manchester for their 200th bitcoin meetup. It is the longest running consecutive bitcoin meet up in the world — going for almost 4 years now.

People talked about mining ethereum and being dash masternodes — they talked about successful strategies for encouraging businesses and individuals to take cryptocurrencies as payment — and they talked about achieving more personal freedom in New Hampshire. I was impressed by the turnout. About 2 dozen or so people. A range of all types: gay and straight, techies, real estate people, media people, old, middle aged, and young mothers and their children. The group gets the whole back room in the tavern and received excellent service the whole night.

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Victimless Crime Spree Movie Audience Participation

A friend of mine threw a viewing party for Victimless Crime Spree last night in Manchester, NH. Everyone in attendance had already seen the film, some of them several times, and because of that something unique happened: Audience members began interacting with the various scenes in the movie. During “Give Peace a Chance,” they lit up. During the crossing guard scene, they took out their cameras and recorded. This inspired a bunch more suggestions. This list was sent to me today, and I had to share it. Throw your own viewing party for Victimless Crime Spree, and play along!

Here are the audience participation parts:

WHEN: Lady cop yells, “I give you an order and you gonna obey it!”
AP: Yell “Don’t tell me what to do!”

WHEN: Derrick J tries to light the bowl at the “Give Peace A Chance” rally.
AP: Spark up!
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Third NH Bitcoin Vending Machine Launches in North Country

Twin Mountain Country Store BVM

Bitcoin Vending Machine at Twin Mountain Country Store

Many a liberty activist have made a pilgrimage to Twin Mountain Country Store as it has long been known as the only place in NH one can buy gasoline with bitcoin.  It’s also a shrine to liberty – the store is decked out with various liberty propaganda and signage.  Looking at all of it would take some time.  It’s a fun trip to make when in the White Mountains and now you have one more reason:  it’s the third public location of a Bitcoin Vending Machine in New Hampshire! (Keene and Manchester being the others.)

Store owner Bill Bochynski decided to install the “General Bytes” brand BVM, the same type found at Murphy’s Taproom in Manchester after seeing the unit in operation there. He cited the Keene BVM, operated by the Shire Free Church, as his original inspiration for adding a BVM to the North Country. When asked for comment, he quoted Black Swan author Nassim Taleb:

Bitcoin is the beginning of something great: a currency without a government, something necessary and imperative.

Bochynski thinks its important to bring easy access to bitcoin to the impoverished North Country, where the financial freedom bitcoin can bring could have a real positive impact.

You can visit the Twin Mountain BVM seven-days-a-week from 7am to Midnight. NH is still the only place in New England to feature a Bitcoin Vending Machine open to the public – and now we have three! NH’s bitcoin community just keeps getting better – when are you moving here?

Twin Mountain Country Store BVM

The “General Bytes” Bitcoin Vending Machine at Twin Mountain Country Store in NH

How to Look Cool This Memorial Day

AntiWar.com has cool poppies flower pins for sale, just in time for Memorial Day! Show your support for peace by sporting this cool pin that recognizes war is hell.

Wear it on your blazer. Wear it in your hair! Wear it on your favorite t-shirt! The important thing is that you wear it.

Get your own pin and support AntiWar.com by buying a Poppy pin at AntiWar.me — they take bitcoin! And paypal, too. AntiWar.com is the best source for antiwar news, viewpoints, and activities. Dig it!

My poppy was sent to me by Drew at SuperHeroPrinting.com — Thanks, Drew!

Livefyre Commenting is Back!

Livefyre logoA couple of weeks ago, I took down the WordPress “Jetpack” commenting system and replaced it with Livefyre, the comment system that we’d had previously here a year ago. I’d gotten rid of Livefyre previously because when a user posted a comment via Livefyre, their system would not copy it into our local WordPress comments database. It was a major bug that was a deal-killer for me, which was too bad because otherwise Livefyre is great. The comments look good and it’s easy to log in via various methods and participate.

Thankfully a couple weeks ago, Livefyre’s support department reached out to me to let me know they’d fixed the database issue, so I decided to make the switch back. Unfortunately, the comment import automation process at Livefyre failed as Free Keene has nearly 60,000 comments amassed over nearly a decade, so it took more time and resources than expected to complete the import. During this time, a few thousand comments were gone from the site and they are now back!

Enjoy the trolling!

Pirates on Bridge Ahead!

Armed men wearing badges were parked on the bridge in Manchester, New Hampshire. Friday, April 27, 2016. They used bright lights to stun, mesmerize, and intimidate passing travelers into pulling over. Once stopped, the armed men demanded documents and investigated their victims. Finally, they demanded money from the drivers backed by threats of kidnapping.

A watchdog group from Manchester organized a creative advertising effort to warn drivers of the danger ahead. With laser lights, reflective displayboard, and LED programmable signs, they stood by the bridge and informed those passing that it is their last chance to avoid the pirates.

Some went bar hopping, informing patrons of the extortion trap and offered cards with tips for interacting with the badged criminals.

This went from 10pm to 2am. All night, people expressed their appreciation as they passed and diverted their routes. I estimate that 100 cars were saved.

Reinforce these awesome people by moving to New Hampshire. Learn more at StateFreeProject.com

Full video here: