<story><title>The Alternative Genesis Block of Bitcoin</title><url>https://serhack.me/articles/story-behind-alternative-genesis-block-bitcoin/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Smaug123</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not sure if the author is a programmer as such, but there are a few inferences which seem unjustified to me.&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; However, it is possible to reveal a very important detail about Satoshi Nakamoto’s personality. The fact that Satoshi chose the genesis block with a certain timestamp (which included the sentence in the UK Times article) makes one realize how much preparation and meticulousness was behind Satoshi’s identity.&lt;p&gt;This is immediately following a code snippet in which it is clear that &lt;i&gt;some&lt;/i&gt; value must be hard-coded; it would be the work of seconds to think up a value that was funny or meaningful. I don&amp;#x27;t see why this indicates any preparation or meticulousness.&lt;p&gt;Another example:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The other comment that arouses curiosity is this one: &amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F; is this all we want to do if there&amp;#x27;s a file error like this?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Who was Satoshi referring to when speaking in the plural?&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t this completely normal in programming? I only ever use the plural first person in code unless I&amp;#x27;m specifically referring to myself as a human (in the same way that academic writing uses the plural).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>probably_wrong</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t this completely normal in programming?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&amp;#x27;s common in academic writing too. And many of those academics end up writing code too.&lt;p&gt;From Knut&amp;#x27;s course [1] on mathematical writing:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;But this use of “we” should be used in contexts where it means “you and me together”, not a formal equivalent of “I”. Think of a dialog between author and reader. In most technical writing, “I” should be avoided, unless the author’s persona is relevant.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jmlr.csail.mit.edu&amp;#x2F;reviewing-papers&amp;#x2F;knuth_mathematical_writing.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;jmlr.csail.mit.edu&amp;#x2F;reviewing-papers&amp;#x2F;knuth_mathematic...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>The Alternative Genesis Block of Bitcoin</title><url>https://serhack.me/articles/story-behind-alternative-genesis-block-bitcoin/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>Smaug123</author><text>I&amp;#x27;m not sure if the author is a programmer as such, but there are a few inferences which seem unjustified to me.&lt;p&gt;For example,&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; However, it is possible to reveal a very important detail about Satoshi Nakamoto’s personality. The fact that Satoshi chose the genesis block with a certain timestamp (which included the sentence in the UK Times article) makes one realize how much preparation and meticulousness was behind Satoshi’s identity.&lt;p&gt;This is immediately following a code snippet in which it is clear that &lt;i&gt;some&lt;/i&gt; value must be hard-coded; it would be the work of seconds to think up a value that was funny or meaningful. I don&amp;#x27;t see why this indicates any preparation or meticulousness.&lt;p&gt;Another example:&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; The other comment that arouses curiosity is this one: &amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F; is this all we want to do if there&amp;#x27;s a file error like this?&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Who was Satoshi referring to when speaking in the plural?&lt;p&gt;Isn&amp;#x27;t this completely normal in programming? I only ever use the plural first person in code unless I&amp;#x27;m specifically referring to myself as a human (in the same way that academic writing uses the plural).</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>rajman187</author><text>As a funny aside, the author of one of the early works on wavelets [1] employed the first person plural pronoun with a footnote on the first page defining it as the “Royal we”&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;arc.aiaa.org&amp;#x2F;doi&amp;#x2F;abs&amp;#x2F;10.2514&amp;#x2F;6.1994-2280&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;arc.aiaa.org&amp;#x2F;doi&amp;#x2F;abs&amp;#x2F;10.2514&amp;#x2F;6.1994-2280&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>