Weekly /r/DesMoines Events Thread for the week of November 10, 2019

This thread is for any events going on in Des Moines this week! What events will you be attending? What events do you want to attend? What events do you want to promote? Whats new around Des Moines this week? Add a comment below.

Please provide the following when posting new events: - Time, Date, Location, Cost and some sort of description of the event.

New threads start every Sunday, and will be stickied at the top of the subreddit.

Here are some places to find things to do: Cityview's Calendar - Juice's Calendar - Des Moines Register Event Page - Catch Des Moines Calendar

If you have any recurring events, specials, or other suggestions for this weekly thread, please send us a modmail

Bar Map

THANKS FOR HELPING US CROWDSOURCE THIS

Trivia Nights:

• First Monday of the month is Mona's Pub Quiz at The Lift

• Benchwarmers in Ankeny on Mondays

• Tuesdays at Blue Moon in WDM - starts at 8

• Wednesdays at Fireside Grille in Altoona -starts at 8

• Trivia Thursdays at The Ingersoll Tap.

• Tuesdays at Quinton's

• Gas Lamp has triva on Tuesday

• Tuesdays at Basement Bar at Des Moines Social Club

• There's trivia at The Beer House in Urbandale on Wednesdays, 7pm. Also at F&O's on Fridays, 9pm

• Tuesdays at Wellman's Ingersoll

• Geeks Who Drink at Red Monk is actually trivia. They do have specials, but the main event is trivia.

• Wellmans Pub on Ingersoll has trivia Tuesday night at 8

• Trivia at Thunder Head in Ankeny every Tuesday

• Trivia at the Keg Stand, Thursday nights (I think it starts at 8:30?)

• Hi, I'm the owner of Mad Meatball Pizzeria & Pub, located at 401 SE 5th St in Des Moines. We have Trivia every Wednesday at 7:30pm. The Special for the Trivia AYCE Wings for $10 from 7-10pm and $1 off all craft and import beer.

  Drink Specials:

• 2 for Tuesdays @ the Flying Moose every Tuesday all night (Also, 2 fers every day until 8pm)

• Beechwood has 2 for 1 on tuesdays.

• Tuesday night is dollar domestic bottles at Streetcar 209

• Quintons: Thursday Half off all drinks

• Quarter beers at both Flying Moose and Mickey's Clive on Weds

• Wednesday is geeks who drink at the red monk

• Lift has $3 draws on Thursday

• First Wednesday of every month there is a bottle share at 515 Brewing @ 6

• Wacky Wednesdays at Hero's on Court Ave are 2 for 1's all night each week

• Sunday nights at Lime at Lime Lounge in the East Village has live Hip Hop acts and DJs, no cover, 2 for $5 wells, 2 for $10 martinis and mojitos, 3 for $7 lime drop shots, and a $1 well drink power hour

  • Tuesdays they have trivia at The Hall in Valley Junction too. Starts at 7.
  • Smashpark in WDM has trivia at 7 and 8 on monday nights

  Weekly Open Mic night:

• Gas Lamp now does karaoke on Tuesdays (with a live band for you to sing with!).

• Tuesday night comedy open mic at Lefty's Live Music at 8pm.

• open mic every Tuesday at Luckys at 8.

• Friday night at the Beechwood is free stand-up comedy.

• Acoustic music open mic at AJ's on East Court, Sundays at 4pm

• Free Killer Queen at Up-Down every Thursday!

• There is trivia at The Ducktail Lounge on Sunday’s.

• Open Mic Thursday at Java Joe's Downtown at 7:30

  Other Ongoing Events:

• Blues Jam Band every Tuesday at Carl's Place, $3 tallboys

• Des Moines Bitcoin and Blockchain MeetUp at Gravitate in West Des Moines - 2nd and 4th Thursdays of each month (eg Oct 25th) at 7:00pm

  If any of these are no longer current or you would like to add something, please ping /u/annarchist to update this thread otherwise I may miss it.

[uncensored-r/Bitcoin] Why use your own full node? Answered by Pieter Wuille

The following post by TheGreatMuffin is being replicated because some comments within the post(but not the post itself) have been silently removed.

The original post can be found(in censored form) at this link:

np.reddit.com/r/ Bitcoin/comments/duaq1o

The original post's content was as follows:

---

One of Bitcoin's strengths - the most important in my opinion even - is the low degree of trust you need in others.

If you use a full node for your incoming transactions, you know that there was no cheating anytime in the history of your coins:

• Nobody ever created money out of nothing (except for mimers, and only according to a well-defined schedule).

• Nobody ever spent coins without holder their private key.

• Nobody spent the same coins twice (but see further).

• Nobody violated any of the other tricky rules that are needed to keep the system in check (difficulty, proof of work, DoS protection, ...).

... with one exception: because there is a need to pick a winner in presence of multiple competing valid versions of the ledger, (a majority of) miners have the authority to pick the version of the block chain that wins. This means their power is limited to choosing the order in which otherwise valid transactions occur, up to and including the right to delay them indefinitely. But they cannot make invalid transaction look valid to a full node.

If you are not running a full node, the amount of trust you're placing in others increases.

SPV nodes (such as some mobile clients, and Multibit) place a blind trust in the majority of miners, without checking validity of the blockchain they produce. It still requires a majority of miners to mislead an SPV node, but they can make it believe anything (including "You received 10000000 BTC!"). The reason why this does not happen is because full nodes would not accept such blocks, and assuming a large portion of the ecosystem does rely on full nodes, miners who do this would not see their blocks accepted by the larger economy, resulting in them wasting money.

Centralized services (most webwallets) make the user trust whatever the site says. They can claim anything.

So I hope you now see the importance of full nodes in this model. If you run a full node somewhere on the network, and nobody looks at the transactions it validates, it is indeed contributing to the network, but it is not helping with the reduction of trust.

Look at it another way: if only a few large players in the Bitcoin ecosystem were running full nodes, it only requires a malicious intent, or an attack/threat against them, to change the system's rules, as nobody else is validating.

Doing transactions in the Bitcoin ecosystem helps the Bitcoin currency. Running a full node helps the network. Using a full node helps you and the ecosystem reduce the need for trust.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BitcoinBeginners/comments/3eq3y7/full_node_question/ctk4lnd/

---

Adding to that answer myself:

Running (and using) your own full node gives you the benefit of increased privacy, because you don't leak information about your UTXOs to the default node of your wallet, which can link your UTXOs together, perhaps even link them to your real world identity.

There are different ways how to set up a node (from simply installing the Bitcoin Core software on your computer to getting a plug'n'play solution such as Casa or Nodl), but to connect a (hardware) wallet to it is a little more tricky for now.

One of the projects I frequently recommend myself is https://stadicus.github.io/RaspiBolt/. It's somewhat cheap (~$150 for hardware, as compared to other plug'n'play nodes which are around $300) but can run 24/7 and includes guides how to set up Tor on the device, and how to use your hardware wallet with the node.

Notes on Ray Dalio’s November 5th 2019 Thesis: A Bitcoiners Guide To the Galaxy of Worth-less Fiat

https://medium.com/@Fiach_dubh/notes-on-ray-dalios-november-5th-2019-thesis-8e25f1b08a4a

/r/Monero Weekly Discussion – November 09, 2019 - Use this thread for general chatter, basic questions, and if you're new to Monero

Index

1. General questions
2. Wallet: CLI & GUI
3. Wallet: Ledger
4. Nodes

1. General questions

Where can I download the Monero wallet?

There are multiple Monero wallets for a wide range of devices at your disposal. Check the table below for details and download links. Attention: for extra security make sure to calculate and compare the checksum of your downloaded files when possible.

Please note the following usage of the labels:

⚠️ - Relatively new and/or beta. Use wallet with caution.

☢️ - Closed source.

---

Desktop wallets

Wallet	Device	Description	Download link
"Official" GUI / CLI	Windows, macOS, Linux	Default implementation maintained by the core team. Use this wallet to run a full node and obtain maximum privacy. Integrates with hardware wallets. Current version: 0.14.1.0 / 0.14.0.2.	GetMonero.org
MyMonero	Windows, macOS, Linux	Lightweight wallet -- you don't need to download the blockchain and run a node. MyMonero was developed with the assistance of the core team. It also has web-based and iOS versions.	MyMonero.com
Exodus	Windows, macOS, Linux	⚠️ / Multi-asset wallet.	Exodus.io
ZelCore	Windows, macOS, Linux	⚠️ / Multi-asset wallet. It also has Android and iOS versions.	Zeltrez.io
Guarda	Windows, macOS, Linux	⚠️ ☢️ / Multi-asset wallet.	Guarda.co

Mobile wallets

Wallet	Device	Description	Download link
Monerujo	Android	Integrates with Ledger (hardware wallet). Website: https://www.monerujo.io/.	Google Play / F-Droid / GitHub
MyMonero	iOS	Website: https://mymonero.com/	App Store
Cake Wallet	iOS	Website: https://cakewallet.io/	App Store
X Wallet	iOS	Website: https://xwallet.tech/	App Store
Edge Wallet	Android / iOS	Multi-asset wallet. Website: https://edge.app/	Google Play / App Store
ZelCore	Android / iOS	⚠️ / Multi-asset wallet. Website: https://zelcore.io/	Google Play / App Store
Coinomi	Android / iOS	⚠️ ☢️ / Multi-asset wallet. Website: https://www.coinomi.com/	Google Play / App Store
Moxi / Guarda	Android / iOS	⚠️ ☢️ / Multi-asset wallet. Website: https://guarda.co/	Google Play / App Store
Exa Wallet	Android / iOS	⚠️ Website: https://exan.tech/	Google Play / App Store
Wookey Wallet	Android / iOS	⚠️ Website: https://wallet.wookey.io/	Google Play / F-Droid / App Store

Web-based wallets

Wallet	Description	Link
MyMonero	Web version of the MyMonero wallet.	Web
XMRWallet	Web wallet with TOR support.	Web / Onion URL
Guarda	Multi-asset wallet.	Web

How long does it take for my balance to unlock?

Your balance is unlocked after 10 confirmations (which means 10 mined blocks). A block is mined approximately every two minutes on the Monero network, so that would be around 20 minutes.

How can I prove that I sent a payment?

The fastest and most direct way is by using the ExploreMonero blockchain explorer. You will need to recover the transaction key from your wallet (complete guide for GUI / CLI).

How do I buy Monero (XMR) with Bitcoin (BTC)?

There are dozens of exchanges that trade Monero against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Check out the list on CoinMarketCap and choose the option that suits you best.

How do I buy Monero (XMR) with fiat?

• Kraken (USD and EUR): old-school, decent exchange. They might require your documents for verification and approval of your account.
• LocalMonero: peer-to-peer exchange. They have pretty much everything as a payment method and they support hundreds of fiat options.

How can I quickly exchange my Monero (XMR) for Bitcoin (BTC)?

There are multiple ways to exchange your Monero for Bitcoin, but first of all, I'd like to remind you that if you really want to do your part for Monero, one of the simplest ways is to get in touch with your merchant/service provider and request for it to accept Monero directly as payment. Ask the service provider to visit the official website and our communication channels if he or she needs help with system integration.

That being said, the community has been recommending two services in particular, XMR.TO and MorphToken. These services are only recommendations and are operated by entities outside the control of the Monero Project. Be diligent.

How do I mine Monero? And other mining questions.

The correct place to ask questions and discuss the Monero mining scene is in the dedicated subreddit r/MoneroMining. That being said, you can find a list of pools and available mining software in the GetMonero.org website.

---

2. Wallet: CLI & GUI

Why I can't see my balance? Where is my XMR?

Before any action there are two things to check:

1. Are you using the latest available version of the wallet? A new version is released roughly every 6 months, so make sure you're using the current release (compare the release on GetMonero.org with your wallet's version on Settings, under Debug info).
2. Is your wallet fully synchronized? If it isn't, wait the sync to complete.

Because Monero is different from Bitcoin, wallet synchronization is not instant. The software needs to synchronize the blockchain and use your private keys to identify your transactions. Check in the lower left corner (GUI) if the wallet is synchronized.

You can't send transactions and your balance might be wrong or unavailable if the wallet is not synced with the network. So please wait.

If this is not a sufficient answer for your case and you're looking for more information, please see this answer on StackExchange.

How do I upgrade my wallet to the newest version?

This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.

Why does it take so long to sync the wallet [for the first time]?

You have decided to use Monero's wallet and run a local node. Congratulations! You have chosen the safest and most secure option for your privacy, but unfortunately this has an initial cost. The first reason for the slowness is that you will need to download the entire blockchain, which is considerably heavy (+70 GB) and constantly growing. There are technologies being implemented in Monero to slow this growth, however it is inevitable to make this initial download to run a full node. Consider syncing to a device that has an SSD instead of an HDD, as this greatly impacts the speed of synchronization.

Now that the blockchain is on your computer, the next time you run the wallet you only need to download new blocks, which should take seconds or minutes (depending on how often you use the wallet).

I don't want to download the blockchain, how can I skip that?

The way to skip downloading the blockchain is connecting your wallet to a public remote node. You can follow this guide on how to set it up. You can find a list of public remote nodes on MoneroWorld.

Be advised that when using a public remote node you lose some of your privacy. A public remote node is able to identify your IP and opens up a range for certain attacks that further diminish your privacy. A remote node can't see your balance and it can't spend your XMR.

How do I restore my wallet from the mnemonic seed or from the keys?

To restore your wallet with the 25 word mnemonic seed, please see this guide.

To restore your wallet with your keys, please see this guide.

---

3. Wallet: Ledger

How do I generate a Ledger Monero Wallet with the GUI or CLI?

This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange. Check this page for the GUI instructions, and this page for the CLI instructions.

---

4. Nodes

How can my local node become a public remote node?

If you want to support other Monero users by making your node public, you can follow the instructions on MoneroWorld, under the section "How To Include Your Node On Moneroworld".

How can I connect my node via Tor?

This question is beautifully answered on StackExchange.

"The year is 2065, and finally everything is now on the blockchain. Our protagonist has a stupid name since a typo in his birth certificate was immutably uploaded to the chain" - funny twitter thread

The year is 2065, and finally everything is now on the blockchain. Our protagonist has a stupid name since a typo in his birth certificate was immutably uploaded to the chain

Society is ruled by dynastic families of Hodlers, inbred so they could all avoid diluting their inherited stacks to nocoiners and shitcoiners. All the drudge work in society is done by a subhuman race of nocoiners, forever mocked by the lack of belief of their ancestors

The nocoiners are forever in a perpetual cycle of trying to work for their freedom. Everytime they get close to earn their freedom, the currency has deflated so much that they can no longer afford the transaction fee to move it, so they must work during another generation

Meanwhile, Elon Musk "giving away free btc" bots are now the 6th largest economy in the world, closely followed by all of the old world millionaire celebrities and the new world coiner playboys

All stores and restaurants list hundreds of currencies, prices, and trading pairs, glowing in neon and constantly changing and disappearing as new coins are invented and go to zero in a matter of seconds.

Shitcoins are the pleb's bread and butter, the pleb class only has access to altcoins and its the bitcoin maximalists who are in an elite class who never have to touch them

Funnily enough, since fiat was abolished its now become an extremely rare collector's item, and actually it's now worth so much more despite blatant forgeries and near infinity supply

All curse words have been replaced by extinct financial institutions of the past. Sentences like "I don't give a Goldamn Sachs" are commonplace. Saying "fed" is like dropping the "N" word.

Holidays are now an intra-day event, spontaneous and unpredictable, since you never know when the network congestions happen, which grinds the world economy to a stop.

Will our typo'd protagonist rise from the underworld into the elite class? Can merit still thrive despite generational confirmation times and astronomical transaction fees? Stay tuned to find out

source: https://twitter.com/BenRickertt/status/1193535935654313984

Bitcoin/Shitcoin

Could you please comment with an educated guess about Bitcoin's next dip?

I have watched several Nouriel Roubini's videos, where he basically spits on cryptos, blockchain, shitcoins, and Bitcoin.

I have to say he speaks in an authoritarian way with a lot of confidence and what seems like anger but could be associated with allergy to a radically new socio-economical paradigm that Bitcoin and blockchain space could represent.

Although he is widely regarded as an "economy" guru etc... And I respect that; his whole character really bothers me because he is just a puppet that is here to alter the truth... So here is quick destruction of the beginning of his argumentation, I will remain extremely objective and will use external sources to answer his sometimes stupid assertion when any...

​

1. NR: "We don't need blockchain, we don't need crypto!" - How bold, how limited! We might not need blockchain, but we need crypto-currencies... So we need blockchain. Bitcoin is too volatile? Then use a stable coin. Below is a pretty simple description of the pro's and cons of stable coins (source: https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-Stablecoins-compared-to-traditional-cryptocurrencies ):

Stablecoin has a ton of points of interest.

• The most critical is that these digital currencies enable their proprietors to be moderately tranquil for their benefits, exploiting all the positive parts of cryptoeconomy.

• In certainty, stablecoins can be considered as dollars, gold, oil, etc exchanged crypto exchanges. Normally, against the foundation of different coins that don't have such an incredible base, they are substantially more steady.

For instance, we will take Tether. 1 USDT dependably had an estimation of 1 U.S. dollar. Practically speaking the most extreme expense of USDT was $1,05, and least — $0,92. Be that as it may, there was it at the snapshots of solid variances of the cryptomarket and the negative occasions associated with the working of the cash, for example, breaking and robbery of benefits for the aggregate over $30 million which has occurred in the fall of 2017.

• During the most grounded fall of digital money showcase before the New Year, when numerous monetary standards dropped more than 30-70%, Tether again held out inside 8%. It isn't comprehended what will happen explicitly with USDT because of how designers respond to the occasions, however in itself guaranteeing the money with the dollar desires supported.

• In certainty, an amazing dollar stablecoin will enable us to utilize the USD on cryptoexchanges. Presently numerous trades don't bolster fiat, and those that help, generally speaking, require the client to pass confirmation.

The digital forms of money gave real qualities can be utilized in regular day to day existence, in little and medium business nearly without fears.

Blockchain innovation enables the holder to make sure that his money is truly furnished with an advantage.

Disadvantages of Stablecoin

Be that as it may, stablecoin has various disservices and they don't enable it to make a noteworthy challenge to driving digital forms of money:

• Stablecoin, in contrast to regular cryptographic forms of money, does not bode well to use as a venture resource. In the event that $ 100 stablecoins were purchased for $ 100, at that point in two years they will at present expense $ 100, paying little mind to what will happen to the dollar.

• Stablecoin, binded to a customary resource, ends up being reliant on it and on the customary money related structure, which involves dangers not found in regular cryptographic forms of money.

• Some clients aren't sure that the official to a customary financial framework can give a decentralizovannost, and to the proprietor — obscurity.

• Finally, if the digital currency speaks to a code which is recorded in the memory of the PC, at that point the customary resource frequently requests exceptional capacity conditions, assets for giving these conditions, etc.

As per Bitcoin: It is a speculative asset, not a currency that can be used to simply exchange value. In order for Bitcoin to become a currency, a country should make Bitcoin as its own national currency and should accept having no control over its own currency price fluctuation...

1. "NR: I would say 99% of crypto-currencies are worth 0" - If you know well, just short them... Skin in the game...

2. NR: "Why would I want to trust somebody in Russia or somebody in China to validate my transactions?" - Although we can not rationally explain this sentence, let's still suppose that all the Bitcoin transactions are validated by Russian and Chinese, as Nouriel seems to believe, then the reason are simple. a) It is faster b) It is cheaper c) It is safer d) It is 100% reliable d) It is more stable e) It is more transparent f) Ask former Lehman Brother's clients' why they might prefer using Bitcoin or other decentralized crypto currency...

3. NR: "To me this entire space has been the mother and the father of all financial bubbles" Come on! We are just out of the 2008 financial crisis that wiped:

​

• 23.1 million Americans, or 15% of the public, are out of work or unable to find full-time jobs using the broadest measure of unemployment, or U-6.
• 9.3 million Americans have lost their health insurance.
• 11 million homeowners, almost 1 in 4, are saddled with mortgages higher than the value of their homes. https://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/2008-financial-crisis-cost-americans-12-8-trillion-145432501.html So who is the mother of all bubbles now? It's 5 minutes of research... No need to be a top economist like Nouriel to find those numbers. The whole crypto space never even reached USD 1 Trillion. So it appears to me that someone has a cow it milks happily and doesn't want to have them free... And then, of course, the Dot Com bubble, out of which not even 1% of companies have survived... https://www.investopedia.com/terms/d/dotcom-bubble.asp

I mean, I could go on and on and on, but having someone so famous that really lies so much with impunity makes me sick.

And tired actually... So yeah...

Bitcoin worth £900,000 seized from hacker to compensate victims.

What is bitcoin?

“Inevitably in any case like this there will have to be a further hearing after this,” the prosecuting counsel, Kevin Barry, told the court. “As the court recognises today, as do the parties, there is likely to be fluctuation which will require in due course for the order to be amended upwards or downwards.”

The Metropolitan police had also seized a much smaller amount in other cryptocurrencies, including ethereum and bitcoin cash, after a lengthy investigation, codenamed Operation Draba.

About £200,000 in bitcoin was being held by the FBI under its own investigation, and had been frozen on the request of the Crown Prosecution Service, Barry told reporters.

Though police were already in control of the assets, the defendant must legally agree to the default sentence because he may have refused to sell the assets. The cryptocurrency was seized by the Met after West was caught on a train from Rhyl to London with his “fingers on the keyboard”.

Grant West. The value of bitcoin can fluctuate radically, which has complicated attempts to compensate victims. Photograph: Metropolitan Police/PA

A judge has ordered the confiscation of bitcoin worth more than £900,000 from a jailed hacker in the first case of its kind for the Metropolitan police.

Grant West, 27 – previously described as a “one-man cybercrime wave” – had about £1m-worth of the cryptocurrency seized from a number of accounts after in September 2017, but the value of bitcoin has since fluctuated radically, complicating attempts to compensate victims. Proceedings in Southwark crown court on Friday morning were temporarily stalled as the order signed by West agreeing to the confiscation of the cryptocurrency related to a higher amount than that which was confiscated. Eventually announcing the order under the Proceeds of Crime Act, the judge, Joanna Korner QC, said: “I therefore order a confiscation of that amount, to be paid as a way of compensation to the losers.” She said West would spend an additional four years in jail if he refused. He has agreed to comply with the order. UK authorities have been in possession of 82 bitcoin previously obtained by West through criminal activity since before his sentencing. Unlike fiat currencies, there is no centralised exchange rate for the currency, which rose in value to almost £18,000 a bitcoin in December 2017 before falling below £7,000 in May 2018. The value of the seized assets was calculated by authorities on Friday at a rate of about £8,500 a bitcoin. It was being held by authorities in secure accounts and would be sold on the open market in due course by an agent of the crown, Barry said. The head of the Met’s cybercrime unit, DCI Kirsty Goldsmith, said: “The MPS is committed to ensuring that individuals who are committing criminality on the dark web are identified, prosecuted and their criminal assets are seized … I am very proud of my team for bringing this offender to justice and ensuring we have secured this order.”

Using the online identity “Courvoisier”, he carried out cyber-attacks over two and a half years on more than 100 companies and organisations worldwide including Sainsbury’s, Asda, Uber, the British Cardiovascular Society and the bookmakers Ladbrokes and Coral. He sold the information on the dark web and collected his profits in online caches. Officers discovered about 78m individual usernames and passwords along with 63,000 credit and debit card details stored on an SD card recovered from his address. Masquerading as the food delivery service Just Eat between July and December 2016, he also attempted to obtain the email addresses of more than 160,000 people through an unsuccessful phishing scam, which cost the company about £200,000. West started trading on the dark web in March 2015 and completed more than 47,000 sales from an online “store”, the Met said. Along with financial data, he also sold cannabis, which he shipped to customers, as well as how to guides instructing others how to carry out cyber-attacks.