On 21/06/2011 17:43, Peter Johansson wrote: > On Tue, Jun 21, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Bob Blick wrote: > >> > And anyone who has just heard of Bitcoin and thinks they can get rich >> > off it? They are way too late to the party. > Personally, I have strong suspicions that it is these "latecomers" who > are responsible for the recent situation. > > -p. Is Little Dorit the earliest bit of literature where a "Ponzi" Scheme is=20 a major plot item? Or is Trollope's "The Way We Live Now" older or newer? I'm surprised the Victorians didn't have a Telegraphic "bitcoin". It was=20 about 20mins after telegraph was running in London that there was "Spam". "Even though it was not called spam yet, the first spammed messages were=20 actually distributed over telegraph lines in the late 1800s after=20 Western Union began to allow messages to be sent to multiple=20 destinations. Although private telegraph ownership was rare, those=20 people would receive an occasional advertising message." http://www.economist.com/opinion/PrinterFriendly.cfm?story_id=3D10286400 "ON A May evening in 1864, several British politicians were disturbed by=20 a knock at the door and the delivery of a telegram=97a most unusual=20 occurrence at such a late hour. Had war broken out? Had the queen been=20 taken ill? They ripped open the envelopes and were surprised to find a=20 message relating not to some national calamity, but to dentistry. " --=20 http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist .