How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 3.

Let’s see where he ended up with this Be-Your-Own-God routine. The feds busted one recipient of a pound of cocaine.  He was a moderator on the Silk Road site. The feds kept this guy under wraps. Dread Pirate Roberts, who also went by DPR, concluded that this person, who worked for Silk Road, had absconded … Continue reading “How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 3.”

How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 2.

While developing Silk Road, Mr. Ulbricht had a girlfriend, whom I won’t name. She knew he was raising and selling dope on the website and broke up when he would not end his involvement with the site. (This is part 2 of a discussion of a book on Silk Road, American Kingpin: The Epic Hunt … Continue reading “How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 2.”

How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 1

What is the relative moral ranking of people selling the following illegal products: Marijuana Cocaine Heroin Weapons Explosives Lethal poisons Harvested body parts Early in the growth of the Silk Road, which was a hidden place on the internet where you could buy anything you wanted, and I mean aaaaanything imaginable, a debate emerged about … Continue reading “How do you make moral decisions if you have no frame of reference other than your own opinion? The tale of Silk Road, part 1”

Second federal agent pleads guilty to stealing bitcoins from Silk Road

Two federal law enforcement officers have now entered guilty pleas to charges they stole bitcoins from the Silk Road site while they were part of the investigation of the site. Other articles on Silk Road and the we-don’t-have-to-say-allegedly corrupt federal agents can be seen on the tag worlds far away I will never visit. The … Continue reading “Second federal agent pleads guilty to stealing bitcoins from Silk Road”

We can change alleged to confessed when talking about the corrupt DEA investigator of Silk Road

This post continues the coverage of worlds far away I’ll never visit. It is also in the you can’t make this stuff up category. I previously discussed a federal DEA agent investigating Silk Road who allegedly got $100K from Dread Pirate Roberts for information about the investigation the agent was conducting and allegedly stole $297K … Continue reading “We can change alleged to confessed when talking about the corrupt DEA investigator of Silk Road”

More on weird worlds far away I’ll never visit. Two federal agents allegedly stole big bucks from Silk Road; one of them allegedly did shake down Dread Pirate Roberts. No, this is not an April 1st story.

Sometimes things go so weird you just gotta’ laugh. Satire site Onion is yet again outdone by reality.  Would you otherwise think this was satire?  Two federal agents allegedly ripped off Silk Road, allegedly ripped off Dread Pirate Roberts, and otherwise allegedly stole a ton  stack  pile  truckload  whole bunch of bitcoins.  3/30 – Wall Street … Continue reading “More on weird worlds far away I’ll never visit. Two federal agents allegedly stole big bucks from Silk Road; one of them allegedly did shake down Dread Pirate Roberts. No, this is not an April 1st story.”

Silk Road: Felony conviction in a world far away

I’ve previously discussed Silk Road as one of the worlds far away from me that I’ll never visit. Learning about stuff is why I’m writing this blog. Last week Ross Ulbricht was convicted of multiple felonies for his role in running Silk Road, a place where you could buy all sorts of illegal stuff. Some … Continue reading “Silk Road: Felony conviction in a world far away”

View from a telescope into a world far away I’ll never visit: wholesale drug distribution

Watching news reports sometimes provides a glimpse into worlds far away that I’ll never visit. Such reports give some hint of what that world is like. There are lots of posts on my blog about such worlds. I wrote lots of posts about Silk Road, the on-line drug/ weapon/ body parts/ hacking tools/ contract murder … Continue reading “View from a telescope into a world far away I’ll never visit: wholesale drug distribution”

More worlds far away I’ll never visit, including a fraud education tidbit for CPAs.

There are many dark places on the underside of life that I will never see. One item on the long list of reasons why I blog is to look into those places by explaining what I read on the ‘net. I describe those places as worlds far away that I’ll never visit. Two topics for … Continue reading “More worlds far away I’ll never visit, including a fraud education tidbit for CPAs.”

More weird stories from worlds far away I’ll never visit

One thread of discussions on this blog are worlds far away that I’ll never approach within distance of a light year. The only way I can get a glimpse of those places is with the super long distance telescope of the Internet. Oh yeah, in case you were wondering what direction to aim your spaceship … Continue reading “More weird stories from worlds far away I’ll never visit”

More good stuff on the open frontier – 1/17

A few articles on technology, energy, and publishing that are worth a read and a brief comment. Efforts for soft landing to recover a first stage came amazingly close to success. Worlds far away I’ll never visit 1/9 – Wired – Why the Silk Road Trial Matters – Some background on the upcoming trial of … Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontier – 1/17”

Another glimpse into a world I’ll never visit

Fun thing about reading widely on the ‘net is I get to look into worlds that I’ll never, ever visit on my own. Like the world of buying guns and dope online. Worlds far away I’ll never visit 11/1 – Economist – The Amazons of the darknet – If you thought the days of buying … Continue reading “Another glimpse into a world I’ll never visit”

More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/23

Several fun articles on the open frontier of privately designed and funded space flight. Lacking any convenient place to comment on worlds far away that I can only see with the telescope of a feature news article, I’m adding a new section to my More Good Stuff series of posts. Will call it Worlds far … Continue reading “More good stuff on the open frontiers – 9/23”

Followup on one of the worlds I’ll never visit

I previously mentioned 2 worlds explored that I’ll never enter. One of those worlds has been closed until further notice. The alleged mastermind behind the website Silk Road is now in federal custody. The person known publicly as Dread Pirate Roberts was arrested last week. His site is alleged to be the vehicle for sales of … Continue reading “Followup on one of the worlds I’ll never visit”