Bitcoin estimated to use half a percent of the world’s electric energy by end of 2018

shituationist:

“We’ve seen a lot of back-of-the-envelope calculations, but we need
more scientific discussion on where this network is headed. Right now,
the information available is pretty poor quality overall, so I’m hoping
that people will use this paper as a foundation for more research,” says
de Vries, who works at the Experience Center of PwC in the Netherlands
and is the founder of Digiconomist (@DigiEconomist), a blog that aims to
better inform cryptocurrency users.

His estimates, based in economics, put the minimum current usage of
the Bitcoin network at 2.55 gigawatts, which means it uses almost as
much electricity as Ireland. A single transaction uses as much
electricity as an average household in the Netherlands uses in a month.
By the end of this year, he predicts the network could be using as much
as 7.7 gigawatts–as much as Austria and half of a percent of the
world’s total consumption. “To me, half a percent is already quite
shocking. It’s an extreme difference compared to the regular financial
system, and this increasing electricity demand is definitely not going
to help us reach our climate goals,” he says. If the price of Bitcoin
continues to increase the way some experts have predicted, de Vries
believes the network could someday consume 5% of the world’s
electricity. “That would be quite bad.”

exotic-venom:

(Crotalus scutulatus salvini) Huamantlan rattlesnake

Found in Mexico, from Hidalgo through Tlaxcala and Puebla to southwestern Veracruz.

Source: viscerectomy

bandit1a:

terriblerealestateagentphotos:

Located just a short walk from literally the edge of the world.

You must mean Wolverhampton…

Source: terriblerealestateagentphotos

neoqueenmomo:

Theyre taking that to thier beloved

Source: roseoilz

thepredatorblog:

And here’s a grumpy hyena baby (by Arathusa Safari Lodge)

Would you recommend people the Shepard’s crown on account of it being Pratchett’s last work?

discworldtour:

Not to start with, no. In fact I firmly recommend reading it last if you intend to read the whole series. There are things about it that mean something different after reading everything else; it would be tough to start with for a new reader who wouldn’t have all that context.

That said, I do recommend reading it at all. I know some people have put their copies aside because they aren’t ready yet. I held onto mine for a year. I get it. Sometimes it takes time. But go easy on a resolution to never read it so it will never be over. It was written to be read. It has some important things in it. And after you read it, well, no, there won’t be any more. That was the last one.

But it isn’t over, not over over, the way things are when they’re dead. The Disc is too big for that; we know it because we’ve been there so many times and every time we go back it’s been moving even while we were away. I’ve been reading and re-reading these books for over half my life and I still find things I’ve never noticed in them before, little bits and pieces of the Disc that I’ve never ever seen. And sometimes things I’ve seen a hundred times look totally different through eyes just a few years older. And sometimes it’s places I’ve been and things I’ve seen before, all familiar, all recognizable, and that’s good too. It doesn’t have to be new. The familiar places just start to feel like home.

If you decide never to read it, I understand. Sometimes it’s just nice to know that it’s there, that there’s still an adventure that you can have for the first time. And, hell, reading it isn’t easy. It’s probably the hardest time I’ve ever had reading a book, if only physically because it’s hard to read while lying on the floor in the fetal position.

For me it was worth it. And I do recommend it. But ultimately it’s got to be up to you.