Writing

Writing #

Most of these entries link to my Medium publication, but some link to my writing elsewhere. I don’t put my writing behind the Medium paywall because I want it to be accessible to everyone, this means Medium doesn’t pay me to write anything. I you enjoyed my writing, for it helpful, or just want to make my day, please consider supporting my work

 Toccata & Fugue in the Key of Blockchain

The origins of the underlying data structure has everything to do with ensuring a document or set of documents can be proved published in a particular form at a certain time. In this context, a document could be an image, audio file, movie, or other computer file. This is incredibly general and adaptable to many different circumstances.

 Does Blockchain Generate Trust?

Generating trust from nothing is one of the first major feats blockchain is hyped to do, but blockchain itself doesn’t generate trust out of nothing. It actually derives from the system in which blockchain is used. A blockchain is actually just a chain of blocks of data having a particular structure which ensures its self-integrity, it can only be used to guarantee the data written to the chain was done so in a certain way. Multiple blockchains can be created with the same data up to a certain point — in fact, Bitcoin does this all the time in the mining process and the fork stays around until a majority of nodes choose the fork which grows longest.

 Bitcoin is An Energy Hog -- and its value seems tied to that fact

The price of bitcoin from around 2015 until mid-October 2017, tracks with the price of electricity in China. From August and October, it correlates with the average US cost of energy. In November, it goes on a space walk to a new energy level. By the start of December, it moves with the average cost of electricity in NYC.

 Weaving our Worlds

The good thing is that we don’t have to be what we’ve become, what we’ve made ourselves to be. We are more than what we’ve made ourselves to be. We can pray and grow and learn to become more than we’ve made ourselves to be. Let us remember that.

 The Hypothetical Future of Space Communications

Imagine being on Mars, giving a presentation at a conference on Earth with real time audio and video (or VR even). All it might possibly require is a sufficient amount of planning to store separated entangled photon pairs in both locations and proper timing of a signal to initiate the protocol a suitable time before the presentation. This means we’d still experience a delay, but it would only happen before the stream starts — like a sort of quantum buffering. Of course, this is my imagination running wild. Science will still have see if it’s even possible.

 Towards a portable solar/wind replacement for gas generators

This is a general overview of how to design a solar power system, preferably a portable one. This takes a look at the power density disparities between gas powered generators and solar power systems. It also provides an overview of energy requirements for a few common tools, appliances, and home health needs. It then guides the reader through the calculations and decisions needed in order to build a proper solar power system.