mircea_popescu: asciilifeform this is so fucking dumb omg. central air costs 2x to install and 0.5x to run for the lifetime of the thing. A DEGREE OF MAGNITUDE SAVINGS
a111: Logged on 2018-10-21 19:58 Mocky: so far so good. gotta see how well I fit in at these 5 star hotels
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-21#1864578 << wait, is this in reference to the meet-up things ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: the uruguay folx, do !!
mircea_popescu: do their malls also have ten bn wallmouinted units ?
a111: Logged on 2018-10-21 19:21 Mocky: yup, but seems like central air in homes is pretty rare. wallmounted units are the thing, with compressors on the roof.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-21 19:18 Mocky: no, i'm subletting a room via airbnb from a nigerian who rents it from someone who also sounds african on speakerphone. and thankfully unseasonably cool with now 2 years worth of rain in the last 2 days
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: what do they do, whack you with scimitar and stretch fresh camel's stomach over yer shaved head, and leave hogtied to dry in the desert ?
mircea_popescu: no i mean, why "mi mismo" rather than "yo mismo"
BingoBoingo: mircea_popescu: I didn't ask why. The bearded fellow behind the counter who looked as though he could have been cast as an above average banana republic general in Hollywood promptly shut her up dispensed the product.
mircea_popescu: ah don't be silly, use the dime.
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-21#1864561 << mi mismo. don't ask why, it doesn't make anymore sense if explained, either.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 20:23 Mocky: theres also a "blockchain doha" group with 103 members, I can reach out to
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864552 << i expect waste of time ; but in the interest of crossing all bitcoin embassies off the list...
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 20:20 Mocky: i also reached out to local bitcoin guy. turns out there are two. one sells other buys. I reached out the the seller but no response yet. The buyer doesn't have contact info listed and i don't have the bitcoin to answer his ad so haven't contacted yet.
lobbesbot: asciilifeform: The operation succeeded.
asciilifeform: hey, gotta have the foam for neutron tamper!11
Mocky: place i was in had 1940's newspaper in the walls
asciilifeform: ( and, extra lulzily, used to be at... different end of street. at one time in usa they knew how to move houses. )
Mocky: they say it's not concrete, that only exterior walls are concrete. but it looks and feels like concrete to me. i can't understand what they are calling it, "tabukla" ?
Mocky: i dont' know what these interior walls are made of but they are prying nails out with hammer without damaging it. def not like back home
Mocky: they live in constant misery, mostly leaving after a short time
Mocky: in other observations, social pantsuits stand out like a sore thumb here. they can't stomach the "racism" "classism" "mistreatment" "conditions for local women". it's a constant irritant to them, they can't figure out how anyone here sleeps at night being party to such things
BingoBoingo rarity in Uruguay, only Panavox product is the fridge
Mocky: i feel bad for my host, trying to get my ac fixed while dealing with these clowns, and thinks i'm just being gracious by saying it's not been bothering me
BingoBoingo: asciilifeform: Nah, only the fancy stuff is Samsung. Everything else Panavox or weird Euro brands that opted out of the 120v nonsense.
Mocky: lol they promised "samsung AC" but brought brandless chinesium claiming "this is the expensive one"
lobbesbot: asciilifeform: The operation succeeded.
mircea_popescu: the pantsuited hilarity herself both knew and said as much, their entire line during elections is "this pays better". and their constant fretful midging on their own "sikrit" comms was all about hiow "apparently people don't care being paid to be stupid nets them slightly more than what they could get on own not being stupid".
mircea_popescu: not like anyone genuninely believes i nthe crap.
mircea_popescu: all the redditards are doing that WHILE AT WORK. if the govt didn't pay peons to blue, whod the fuck would ?
asciilifeform: lol i actually had nfi that were in there
mircea_popescu: he's rehauling the "obamacare" health bs. which he was fucking voted in to do. snipping all sorts of blue nonsense in the paybook, including surgery for disphorists.
Mocky: considering that they are too short to reach the unit and put ladder on my bed to reach the install point!
Mocky: oh hey, the 3 indians return with a new ac unit 8:30pm. now arguing with my nigerian host over having brought a different brand
asciilifeform: ( re 'furries & trannies' -- there is a hilarious wankfest going, somebody spread rumour that trump is plotting to cancel, somehow, Official recognition of trannieism, all sortsa usual suspects are busy filling their pants as we speak )
asciilifeform: ( and not because it interferes with their attempt to run usg-style printing press ..? )
mircea_popescu: shut the shit down.
asciilifeform: soo per this model, cn central bank fatwas btc because -- even there -- miami dreamers ?
mircea_popescu: and this goes the full spectrum, from furries&trannies to ows&bernie sandals to "internet security" to bridgebuilding "technologies" and other haliburtons.
mircea_popescu: the idea that the us has anything meaningful or important to say to the world belongs exactly same place microsoft belongs, and exactly for the same reason.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform yes, "all". but because all are trying to "not get fired by buying ibm" and their idea of "ibm" is http://trilema.com/2014/la-florida-and-other-places/#selection-121.0-125.255 ; and THAT is specifically what must be uprooted.
mircea_popescu: which is how all woods are cut, you understand. a metal bit with an edge attached to a wooden bit they can relate to.
mircea_popescu: they can relate to that :)
Mocky: maybe if i had couple girls to polish the dust off my crown as i walk from the bar to the pool...
mircea_popescu: hey, you've been hanging out in there / reading trilema, what did you think that class was for ?
mircea_popescu: i am not kidding -- go to their house, explain what bdsm is, "looky what this guy i know does with the white women ~he owns~". they'll listen to that in preference of fucking playstation.
Mocky: mircea_popescu, yeah next chapter titled "depeche mode at the four seasons"
mircea_popescu: this guy tho... you've been there two weeks, you already picked up the scent ? not bad.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 19:10 Mocky: re meeting Qataris, I found that 30-something aged men interested in business hang out at certain places on a daily basis. if you go and hang there and get to know them, if they like you they may invite you to majalis. which is the regular practice of closing off half of the home from women in the evening and doing man cave shit
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864532 << hey wd, you're on the right track exactly.
mircea_popescu: police picking them up, you know, "you ok sr ?" "i'm fine. i'm fine. it's ok." "did you see a huge clucking airplane coming behind you flapping its wings, hopping up and down and clucking ?!"
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: dun forget the blinker-siren
mircea_popescu: muttering "i saw some things man... i can't tell anyone the things i saw..."
mircea_popescu: wander into the wilderness
mircea_popescu: i suspect if you drove that on the highway at night most people would just park the car and go out
mircea_popescu: but getting back to the hinged-wing airbus thread : you could also add a modified horn... some hydraulics...
asciilifeform: rright but what if other-guy pulls an actual sword
mircea_popescu: for whacking other guy encountered unexpectedly under moonlight
mircea_popescu: problem was very much "what does useless son say to city guard" "oh, it's for decor" "not for stabbing other cicisbeos ?" "well... not usually..."
BingoBoingo: asciilifeform: Well what are the Uber taxi-ists going to drive?
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform the jewel-encrusted lolsticks still packed some bite. it's just they packed an urban bite.
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: why wouldja expect chinese cars in a place where only moneyed folx and their liveried servants get driver license
BingoBoingo: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-22#1864784 << Don't forget to shave and lube head for good thermal contact
Mocky: asciilifeform, I was told they have gold brick atms here
asciilifeform: BingoBoingo: it wouldn't surprise me if 'rolex watch' is eventually displaced by a wrist-strapped gold brick stamped with word 'rolex' or some other such substitute. sorta how gentleman swords were replaced with jewel-encrusted lolsticks prior to vanishing entirely
Mocky: all the cars here are normal models you'd find in the us, except there are a few toyota models I've never heard of: "fortuner" is one
a111: Logged on 2018-10-22 16:30 mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864523 << is it still the 90s ? "rolex" still counts for "Flashy" somewhere ?
BingoBoingo: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-22#1864770 << It's obvious they haven't caught up to pete_dushenski yet
Mocky: if I had my ford expedition here, I'd be the king of the road. land rovers are a good bit smaller
BingoBoingo: <Mocky> still broke, but it still isnt' a problem. fan blows on me and I sleep fine. 3 day of rain in the dessert. got soaked today waiting for taxi for 30 minutes during downpour which stopped the moment i got in the cab << The incredible similarities to Uruguay
mircea_popescu: fuck, put some hinges on old airbus at the wings, drive THAT. not only big but also fucken tall! and it can flap its wings!
mircea_popescu: it's a wonder they don't drive busses,
Mocky: vehicle size seems a status symbol. "if a bigger one is speeding up from behind, get out of the way!"
Mocky: to my eyes, uniform includes shiny watch and a landrover, or lexus suv (with which to intimidate slave labor on the roadway)
asciilifeform: there was an old mircea_popescu piece with gypsies living in abandoned tunnels, where they had a desk fulla old sov-era phones, with 0 wiring, strictly for 'rolexism'
asciilifeform: re 'rolex' etc -- i've only ever seen'em on (usually) arab orcs ~in usa~ . they dun actually look at the time, lol, i suspect they dun even set the thing, it's strictly part of 'gentleman's uniform', by their lights, like sword used to be
asciilifeform: easily, with the red-hot biznis end
mircea_popescu: Mocky srsly now, these uber-elaborate heatsink-like items made to wear on head, out of 22 carat gold... could be a trent.
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform except it sinks the wrong way lmao
mircea_popescu: nothing says "king of the world" quite like wearing 20lbs of lightning rod on head.
Mocky: i'm not wise to the ways of watches, wouldn't recognize a rolex. "shiny watch" works for my description
a111: Logged on 2018-09-23 16:08 mircea_popescu: the ones who won out of the "go to the center of businessmen, pay for dialup modem by hour, write love letters to fat white women, get them to come over with money, build house at euro standards for tourist trade" lottery.
mircea_popescu: bitch srsly need to tell time for some reason, because wherever they're going ain't gonna just wait till they get there anyway or what is it, no woman in a loose fitted top about to point out "hey, we should get going if we're ever going to make X" ?
Mocky: well when everyone wears the exact same white robes everyday, a watch is pretty much only place on the body for bling
mircea_popescu has not worn wristwatch in like decade+ now... who still does ? why would they ?
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864523 << is it still the 90s ? "rolex" still counts for "Flashy" somewhere ?
mircea_popescu: so i can readily see how and why this'd break down, and especially i can see why they'd register the specific complaint in the specific terminology with mocky. who knows, maybe bitcoin was made for their mula's stupid cunt, and maybe the republic is just pantsuitism++. maybe i sent mocky there to finallty right all "wrongs" ?
mircea_popescu: whereas #metoo-level tard is very "wordsmith" in her own mind, names and labesl and magic incantations all have incredible power and how would the world dare not conform! SHE WANTS A BETTER WORLD DID NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:50 diana_coman: Mocky, I wonder though how much those burnt partners actually catered to the qatari partner as an ongoing relationship rather than just "he gives money for my biznis" (and how the hell is a charity a business, ugh)
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864516 << it is a fact that arab man makes the best friend ; wanna-be humans (like say russkis) manage to emulate this inb software, but usually takes lengthy prison stint together / trench time / whatever such exceptional circumstance. otherwise... rare.
mircea_popescu: there's mechanisms in place, forget abvout it.
asciilifeform: ( it is not currently obvious to me from the spec that this is not a legal op )
asciilifeform: or rather, it can only be done in the (short) interval between the registration of new user's rsa pub, and his 1st session
asciilifeform: so then as i understand , rsa 'ddos' is not possible, i.e. 'allcomer' cannot force serv to perform a modexp simply by asking.
asciilifeform: itly extinguishes the old ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu, diana_coman : '6.3. The server will issue type 5.2 messages encrypted to the corresponding client RSA key in response to any client messages for as long as it doesn't have a preferred client Serpent key set. The client is responsible for either maintaining or explicitly burning ~all~ of these, and will pay for them in any case' means that if a serpent key is currently set, serv won't issue another unless client explic
Mocky: I still have 4 leads to finish chasing down re not needing a Qatari to form a company. not necessarily promising leads but still need to get to the truth of them
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:47 Mocky: Being as the requirement for standard LLC is 51% Qatari ownership, this new info suggests to me that having two locals who split the 51% may be the way to go. They can still close it down but not at the whim of a single person.
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864509 << this is a dubious proposition, seeing how you don't have the cultural finesse to resolve disputes between orcs.
Mocky: still broke, but it still isnt' a problem. fan blows on me and I sleep fine. 3 day of rain in the dessert. got soaked today waiting for taxi for 30 minutes during downpour which stopped the moment i got in the cab
diana_coman: how's the AC, Mocky ?
asciilifeform: can simply look up the expected key in curated db, prior to modexp
asciilifeform: the box still gotta eat an rsa thing to establish 1st session, neh
mircea_popescu: i think i even linked a fetlife discussion re this. "bitch, YOU are doing the work to see if you'd fit in my harem, not i. wtf!"
diana_coman: re fashionable things - yes, quite; my thought there was that hmmm, those are therefore not exactly much of any sort of business people; etsy-style exactly, yes
mircea_popescu: we already have a process whereby i can create an acct ; in the future i just won't care to use it for joe random is all.
mircea_popescu: precisely why we put serpent in there, so alf can go pig wild with his intricate rsaing :D
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:41 asciilifeform: diana_coman: ikr? it's the last thing i'd think of pitching to dar-al-islam
asciilifeform: ( btw for thread-completeness i gotta point out that asciilifeform spends most time on a rather slow box, that 22 is actually a 10 on recent x86 iron )
asciilifeform: most of asciilifeform's arithmatical massage is so that key ~gen~ can be carried out on human, rather than geologic, timescale
asciilifeform: then again if rsa is only used to register new user, even the current proggy is conceivably fast enuff
asciilifeform: my current best 4096bit modexp is still 22 sec. on the 'standard' test iron. but with barrett ( next ch. ) cuts down to ~5sec iirc; and with asm, hypothetically <1s
mircea_popescu: shorter than "general" format. eu uses 490byte, "we" use 512. that'd be the upper bound.
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: precisely what length is the rsa key currently ?
diana_coman: mircea_popescu, once this is in place, it should be relatively painless to swap at a later stage (whenever available) the C rsa/mpi for an Ada implementation since it's basically kept well separate
diana_coman: will probably cut it in 2 parts two, namely the wrappers first and then the whole big .vpatch bringing in everything needed (mpi, keccak, oaep-but-this-time-from-ada-only)
diana_coman: but because of all this it's taking still a bit more time to get out the next chapter
diana_coman: and then Ada will call those
diana_coman: yes, but preparing for that: wrappers in C for the methods so they don't export "mpi" shit but simply octets
diana_coman: t in there)
diana_coman: in other news from the smg comms front: the rsa pack/unpack turned a bit nastier than the nice serpent because (of course!) of the C element; basically the rsa operations are in C (mpi mess) while the oaep is in Ada and the current eucrypt wrapper is fine but doing the ugly dance of C to Ada *and back*; my solution to this is to decree that there will be only ONE direction of calls namely from Ada to C (because Ada is the main, desired par
mircea_popescu: well egypt is the larger arab state. qatar (with brunei and whatnot, oman) the smallest. so yes.
asciilifeform: ( so far from Mocky's description, picture seems like entire place consists of -- handful of natives, owning the petropipe, and much larger set of gastarbeiters servicing pipe + palaces + plumbing etc.; 0 agriculture, 0 industry, pipe economy, possibly ~0 lumpens, quite unlike mircea_popescu's egypt )
mircea_popescu: asciilifeform i suspect all the females he yet spoke with.
mircea_popescu: but there's a lengthy and well documented history of white woman being so far removed from the whip and restraint, she will stubornly do the -ev dumbthing "because it doesn't matter anyway" "i have my own oppinions and experiences" etc.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-22 15:26 mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864476 << this entire discussion is going kinda backwards. the idea is to buy ourselves some cheap qataris, not to sell them anything.
diana_coman: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-22#1864658 -> ah, I was answering Stan there, not implying Mocky is there to sell anything
mircea_popescu: no gopnik ever said "how about you actually run a harem then", and so...
mircea_popescu: "well... it'll attract younger dumb cunts just like me, you can fuck them in the back. and it'll keep me busye enough to shut the fuck up"
mircea_popescu: what was the profit model for the addidas-clad gopnic wife-and-girlfirned's "beauty parlor" ?
asciilifeform: mircea_popescu: btw what's the intended profit model for those ? fat-rendering ?
mircea_popescu: all the 30something should-have-been-in-chains femcrowd can think of these days is "animal rescue center". this generation's hairdressing salon, because it's literally the same biologically material reproduced across the decade gap.
a111: Logged on 2018-09-23 16:08 mircea_popescu: the ones who won out of the "go to the center of businessmen, pay for dialup modem by hour, write love letters to fat white women, get them to come over with money, build house at euro standards for tourist trade" lottery.
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864490 << because etsy morons, trying to do the egyptian "fat white woman" (see ) thing except "Better". so they "live independently" as #metoo dumbcunts.
mircea_popescu: simpleton management best management (provided you have the requisite simpletons).
asciilifeform: i had nfi there were 'cheap qataris'
mircea_popescu: who are they anyway ? human tech made for humans.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:34 diana_coman: asciilifeform, I don't think so; I think they would pay *you* that 500k if you manage to convince them that you are worth that for them
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864476 << this entire discussion is going kinda backwards. the idea is to buy ourselves some cheap qataris, not to sell them anything.
asciilifeform expects that piece will be replaced with 'the heavy cost of japanese toilets' or sumsuch , shortly..
mircea_popescu: this is rank nonsense. it fires almost every time. then Mommy comes along and generally spirits the young cunt away.
asciilifeform has been cycling the bolt and pulling trigger on that broom for yrs... this is 1st afaik round that fired
asciilifeform: 'Register reader Stanislav writes in to inform us that the tech might not be so new and cutting edge, after all. In fact, he points to an analysis he wrote back in June detailing a similar set up on-chip security features that were going into Chromebooks'
BingoBoingo: jurov: Can confirm that the "!!pay BingoBoingo 2" did not go through. Made a note to look out for it if it does pop up in my ledger at some point.
BingoBoingo: bvt: Thank you, let me now if you have any questions along the way.
lobbesbot: asciilifeform: The operation succeeded.
asciilifeform: !Q later tell trinque is http://trinque.org/2018/07/06/cuntoo-bootstrapper-preview/ still most recent cuntoo ? i got errything ready to bake cuntoo lappy ( the oddball lcd box; old ssd from zoolag ) ; should proceed or wait for update ? ty
a111: Logged on 2018-10-22 12:22 deedbot: http://thetarpit.org/posts/y05/07d-klausenburg.html << The Tar Pit - Klausenburg, et alia
asciilifeform: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-22#1864635 >> 'Romanian museum keepers are, with very, very, very few exceptions, a bunch of fucking orcs' >> verily. asciilifeform was in timis art gallery, and they offered tickets for extra penny 'take pictures', i gave'em. then i pull out camera, buncha old biddies immediately appear out of nowhere, like swarm of rats, stand in front of my lens like matrosov in front of german mg nest. finally i pul
PeterL: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-22#1864612 << you may laugh, but at work we have a database access thingy that we have to use with Internet Explorer, because it doesn't work right when using other programs (the thing is a Microshit product)
jurov: which caused mild confusion as i don't have so much on the acct and deedbot said nothing
jurov: ^^ the first try was !!pay BingoBoingo 2
a111: Logged on 2018-10-21 21:59 mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864468 << you're very much not there to sell anything ; you realise this, do you ?
Mocky: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-21#1864601 >> there are some important things that are going to be brought to life by the republic and sure as shit they aren't gonna wait for Qatar to buy in. rather, if the outward appearance is correct and there are men of valor here who can recognize the opportunity then this will be their chance to play host to some business and profit exactly to the degree of their continued valor and foresight and not one riyal more
a111: Logged on 2018-10-21 21:23 mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864445 << not so, was briefly dead but then adobe released a new set after 5+ years silence and it's catching back up.
lobbesbot: BingoBoingo: The operation succeeded.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:32 Mocky: diana_coman, that could be a reasonable assumption and i suggested the same to my companions, they shook thier heads.
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864468 << you're very much not there to sell anything ; you realise this, do you ?
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:28 asciilifeform: Mocky: is the implication also that they dun bother to look into totalcostofownership before buying ? hence the legends of bedouin sheiks buying a merc and leaving it in desert when fuel tank empty ..?
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864463 << universal orc problem. in the space of one half hour saw three (out of five total) cars breaking down. WHY MAINTAIN ANYTHIUNG!!!! WHATY YOU CAN T SEE DOES NOT EXIST!!!
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:27 Mocky: because insurance was to expensive for the given coverage, but because "paying money to get nothing".
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:10 asciilifeform: lol afaik even the heathens have largely forgotten flashism
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864445 << not so, was briefly dead but then adobe released a new set after 5+ years silence and it's catching back up.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:04 billymg: is there perhaps a list of "definitely don't use [feature], will never load for republicans"
mircea_popescu: http://btcbase.org/log/2018-10-20#1864427 << nothing imported from google servers will ever work for me, for instance. so keep everything local. don't add more javascript. keep markup to the absolute minimum.
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 18:01 billymg: curious what type of browser environments the lords use -- when writing a theme for mp-wp will need to know what kind of font, css, js support to expect
a111: Logged on 2018-10-20 15:15 phf: you made it to a hookah bar then?
BingoBoingo: And Gloria, the Peruana frowns upon breaking up the pills with oily pliers to make my own oral solution.
BingoBoingo: <diana_coman> BingoBoingo, don't they sell just pills to swallow? << They do sell them, but at the moment with their size... they don't go down without fighting the surrounding environment
mircea_popescu will get to the logs nao.
Mocky: so far so good. gotta see how well I fit in at these 5 star hotels
Mocky: yup, but seems like central air in homes is pretty rare. wallmounted units are the thing, with compressors on the roof.
Mocky: no, i'm subletting a room via airbnb from a nigerian who rents it from someone who also sounds african on speakerphone. and thankfully unseasonably cool with now 2 years worth of rain in the last 2 days
diana_coman: see, that might be why "no intangibles" - because everyone selling intangibles there actually sells "bs to talk you into buying new"
Mocky: so, working on day 3 of no AC. Everyone I mention it to here laughs at me and says that no repair men here actually know how to fix anything, only to install new. AC, cars, computers, machinery. They just spend hours spinning bs to talk you into buying new.
diana_coman: BingoBoingo, don't they sell just pills to swallow?
BingoBoingo: Still alive. Switched from crushing antibiotics to make a suspension to just returning to the pharmacy and buying appropriate amount of bubble gum flavored suspension for niños over the loud protests of elderly lady disenfranchised by the act.
Mocky: I'm still not used to friday and saturday being the weekend & so many places being closed between 1pm and 4pm every day
Mocky: word was that they may be angry if they feel forced to pay for an intangible, but that will fade and you don't lose respect. but get caught in a lie and they are done with you
Mocky: another thing was that Qatari business men highly value honesty since many foreign partners actually do try to rip them off and are deceptive.
Mocky: also huge fine if you stop past the "stop line". If you go over camera starts recording, tiny light flashes. if you reverse back to proper spot and wave your hand out the window showing submission at the camera, you don't get a ticket!
Mocky: I found out why cars are so nice toward pedestrians in the crosswalks. if you run a red, 3000 USD fine. cameras at most intersections
Mocky: theres also a "blockchain doha" group with 103 members, I can reach out to
Mocky: i also reached out to local bitcoin guy. turns out there are two. one sells other buys. I reached out the the seller but no response yet. The buyer doesn't have contact info listed and i don't have the bitcoin to answer his ad so haven't contacted yet.
BingoBoingo: Well, I mean they could also be stuck on 80's US bzbs books
Mocky: but so many nods around the table, makes me suspect flaws widely present, to some degree
Mocky: it could also be that the above descriptions have selection bias of young Qatari biznis noobs, or peripheral wot members
BingoBoingo: <Mocky> i get the impression from other talks (not today) that there is no end of "i have great biz idea for importing from my home country india" being pitched << WTF does India export that people with options would buy?
Mocky: a chick unrelated to todays info breakfast also suggested the coffee bar in La Cigal Hotel
Mocky: men from a couple of the most powerful families hang out at a Costa coffee chain in the shittiest mall in the city
Mocky: the regular spots are mostly 5 star hotels on the water. St. Regis, The Four Seasons, The Pearl Qatar & Medina Centrale. Also there's some pickup beach volleyball at katara beach on fridays once the day cools off
Mocky: the vet doc has been invited 12 times. he said in the beginning he prepared things to say, ways to pitch business. but they never wanted to talk business with him, just playstation
Mocky: normally is informal "playstation" time, but occasionally, perhaps once a week, it's more formal and they talk business
Mocky: re meeting Qataris, I found that 30-something aged men interested in business hang out at certain places on a daily basis. if you go and hang there and get to know them, if they like you they may invite you to majalis. which is the regular practice of closing off half of the home from women in the evening and doing man cave shit
Mocky: if there is more beyond that, i haven't dug deep enough to find it
asciilifeform: how do they even do lending ? fully collateralized loans only ?
asciilifeform: ( i dun recall whether mircea_popescu revealed whether this is troo in egypt, also, come to think of it )
asciilifeform: Mocky: aand do they still stick to the koranic prohibition against lending-at-interest ? (is that why they spend on 'bling' and oddball 'charity' ..? )
asciilifeform: ( asciilifeform worked for some yrs for a fella who regularly traveled to dubai, and never failed to mention the 'gold bar ATMs' )
Mocky: i get the impression from other talks (not today) that there is no end of "i have great biz idea for importing from my home country india" being pitched
asciilifeform: good q -- what's their notion of charity, anyway
diana_coman: Mocky, I wonder though how much those burnt partners actually catered to the qatari partner as an ongoing relationship rather than just "he gives money for my biznis" (and how the hell is a charity a business, ugh)
Mocky: Being as the requirement for standard LLC is 51% Qatari ownership, this new info suggests to me that having two locals who split the 51% may be the way to go. They can still close it down but not at the whim of a single person.
Mocky: the cats tho! so skinny and downs syndrome looking
asciilifeform: hm so not like turks, then..
Mocky: but ~all cats i've seen are stones throw from open dumpster. i bet if they had auto-closing lids on dumpsters cats would go extinct
Mocky: no dogs but word this morning was that expat western women keep them here like surrogate children just as elsewhere, and there are enough to make a good business
Mocky: and don't want to have to put sweat into it either
Mocky: Word is that they want to make a profit, but don't want to have to put money into it. and they want the profit now. but don't think it thru, maybe can be convinced easily
asciilifeform: diana_coman: ikr? it's the last thing i'd think of pitching to dar-al-islam
Mocky: One Qatari owns a chain of 9 fittness supplement stores. 3 of the stores were found to have someone pocketing the cash from transactions. Owner fired everyone in all 9 stores because "see, everyone tries to steal from us". Also he had his driver who can barely count to 10 doing store inventory for him.
Mocky: Also re impulsiveness: one school adminsitrator said they have a rule of 3 for instructions comeing down from Qatari management. Let them ask three times including an official goverment memo before you do anything they say. Because as soon as they start to see the fall out of random impulsive decisions they will reverse it and have you undo all your work.
asciilifeform: diana_coman: hmm, from my reading seems that they won't pay anybody for 'which screw' , gotta also supply a physical talisman they can hang on wall
diana_coman: but they won't pay rando "expert" that, no
Mocky: isn't necessarily bad, but bad that they waited till 3 months in to even think about it. In the case of the shelter, it was a charity, never meant to make a profit. but still "dun wanna pay anymore"
diana_coman: asciilifeform, I don't think so; I think they would pay *you* that 500k if you manage to convince them that you are worth that for them
Mocky: also seems to go hand in hand with their impulsiveness. 3 different people described this exact scenario. Qatari goes opens a business with someone (one freelance vet service, one animal rescue shelter, one doggy day care) 3 months later decides, "I didn't realize I was going to have to keep paying so much every month (payroll, rent, etc.) where's the profit?" "it may take a year to become profitable, it's only been 3 months" "I'm not paying anymore." which
diana_coman: honestly, by this description I start even liking them
asciilifeform: possibly will be a tough audience for the traditional type of consulting, where you '$ 1 : turned screw $499,999 -- knowing which screw'
Mocky: This goes hand in hand with their feeling that everyone comes to Qatar to take their money and rip them off. So all these fancy insurance / maintenance contracts "feel" like they give nothing to the buyer, plus they were dreamed up by foreigners who come to rip them off and decieve them. They detest such things. Easier to sell them a spoon they can old in their hand today for a million dollars than get them to agree to a monthly payout to a vet for care of
Mocky: diana_coman, that could be a reasonable assumption and i suggested the same to my companions, they shook thier heads.
asciilifeform: Mocky: sounds like they're perfect candidates for selling iron to, rather than softs, then
Mocky: impression i got was totalcostofownership can't compete with how they feel about it in their gut
asciilifeform: Mocky: is the implication also that they dun bother to look into totalcostofownership before buying ? hence the legends of bedouin sheiks buying a merc and leaving it in desert when fuel tank empty ..?
Mocky: Another example was horse needed some major surgery. owner had no problem paying for facilities, staff, ancillaries but balked at paying surgeon fee. "i pay you much less for minor treatments, why must I pay more for your time now". Selling them preventative medicine or machine maintenance is a non-starter. They'd rather pay 10x when the emergency hits because then they know they are getting something for their money.
Mocky: because insurance was to expensive for the given coverage, but because "paying money to get nothing".