Friday, April 29, 2022

Fort Worth On The Cutting Edge Of Technology Mining Bitcoins


A couple days ago the DFW entity known as Stenotrophomonas left a comment on a blog post which directed me to what seems to be some new Fort Worth lunacy. But, may not be lunacy, what with it being a fact that I really don't understand cryptocurrency. 

The comment from Stenotrophomonas...

Stenotrophomonas has left a new comment on your post "Driving By The Skagit Valley Tulips East To Snow Covered Cascades":

White for now, but soon to be green with envy.

Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin
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I think the Stenotrophomonas white reference was referring to the snow covered Cascades, whilst the green with envy reference referred to what is known as Fort Worth's Green With Envy syndrome, usually manifested in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram where some mundane thing in Fort Worth will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy.

In this instance it is the cryptocurrency known as bitcoin, which will be making towns, far and wide, green with envy. Though this Fort Worth Report article does not use the green with envy verbiage, it does contain some verbiage of that type delusional sort.

Let's look at this article about Fort Worth embracing cryptocurrency for some examples of delusion. That did not take long. The first sentence...

Fort Worth Mayor Mattie Parker wants the world to know Cowtown is open to cryptocurrency.
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Yes, I imagine the world is quite excited that Fort Worth is open to cryptocurrency. And then there is this quote from Fort Worth's mayor...

“I’ve been joking that we’re Cowtown and cryptocurrency, right?” Parker said on the stream. “It’s all happening in Fort Worth.”
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That is some real knee slapping joking there, joking that Fort Worth is Cowtown and cryptocurrency. And it is all happening in Fort Worth. And then there is this...

Standing beside Parker, Lee Bratcher, president of the Texas Blockchain Council, described Texas as the epicenter for Bitcoin mining globally. Now, he said, Fort Worth is taking steps to become the capital of Bitcoin mining in the state. 
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Texas is the global epicenter of bitcoin mining? With Fort Worth to be the capital of Texas bitcoin mining?

Okay, reading this bitcoin mining stuff had me wondering what that means. So, I Googled "bitcoin mining" and read the Wikipedia article about bitcoin. Reading that article did not help much.

The next bit of bitcoin info in the Fort Worth Report mirrors what I read in the Wikipedia article...

Bitcoin is a type of cryptocurrency, a digital currency that is not backed by an establishment such as a bank. To make sure each Bitcoin transaction is verified, machines in a network compete to solve a complicated math problem. If the machine solves it first, it becomes the official record of the transaction. A Bitcoin is given in exchange as an award to the first miner that solves the math problem. This process is called mining. 
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Yeah, that totally cleared up this whole bitcoin mining thing. With the following paragraph adding even more confusing clarity...

The city of Fort Worth will mine with three Bitmain Antminer S9 machines donated by the Texas Blockchain Council — an organization made up of companies and people working in the cryptocurrency industries. The miners, worth $2,100 altogether, will operate 24 hours a day at the Information Technology Solutions Department at Fort Worth City Hall in a six-month pilot program. 
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And another bit of illumination from Fort Worth's mayor...

"The pilot program isn’t just about testing cryptocurrency," Parker said. “It’s bigger than that. We want to be a city that’s on the forefront of technology innovation. And what I’ve noticed lately is that any company that’s on the forefront of technology, they’re all talking about cryptocurrency.” 
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Who knew Fort Worth wanted to be on the forefront of technology innovation? And how does one notice that any company on the forefront of technology is talking about cryptocurrency?

Two more paragraphs, then go read the entire Fort Worth embraces cryptocurrency, becomes first city in U.S. to mine Bitcoin article...

During the live Twitter conversation, Parker said she got the idea when she was running for mayor and started talking to Les Kreis, principal at Steelhead Capital, about how the city can be at the cutting edge of technology. 

The city of Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers to grow their companies or relocate. It recently established an entrepreneurship and innovation council committee and has funded the Techstars Physical Health Fort Worth Accelerator program, according to past reporting from the Fort Worth Report. 
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No, that is not even remotely delusional, for the Fort Worth mayor to think Fort Worth could somehow be on the cutting edge of technology. Fort Worth has been trying to sell itself as an innovative place for tech workers?

Here's a reality check for the mayor. A town on the cutting edge of anything has streets with sidewalks, modern public transportation, city parks with zero outhouses, no slums, good schools, a well educated population and attributes of many sorts which attract a corporation to invest.

I remember when Fort Worth was trying to woo Intel to build a big facility near where I lived when I first moved to Texas. Fort Worth offered Intel multiple incentives. But, Intel chose to build in Chandler, Arizona. Fort Worth should send a task force to Chandler to see why Intel would pick that town over Fort Worth.

I have given up trying to understand why Fort Worth, as reflected in the town's leaders, and its only newspaper of record, is so prone to delusions about the town, pretending it is something it is not, pretending it can be something it can not possibly ever be, such as becoming a city at the cutting edge of technology.

I can see how Austin might be a Texas town which could see itself on the cutting edge of technology. But Fort Worth?

Cowtown and Cryptocurrency...

1 comment:

Stenotrophomonas said...

What's so great about crypto?

https://www.wired.com/story/tracers-in-the-dark-welcome-to-video-crypto-anonymity-myth/