Kaunus, Lithuania: the least terrible place for the conference, fourth edition.

There have thus far been three Bitcoin conferences hosted by Mircea Popescu. The first two were in Timisoara, Romania and the third was in Buenos Aires, Argentina.i While I wasn’t fortunate enough to find myself in attendance at any of the conferences thus far, I’ve been optimistically setting my sights on the fourth, barring any more goddam WEDDINGS. Unfortunately, the fourth doesn’t yet have a location, and most places on the earth suck something fierce, in each its own magical and unique way, but some suggestions are being bandied about, namely NYC and Lithuania, thus far.

Now NYC, or at least Manhattan, is one of my least favourite places on earth,ii filled with the insufficiently hungry as it is, and besides, any USG-affiliated territory is pretty much out of the question. Yes, this means that Japan, Canada, Germany, and Turkey are nixed. Lithuania, however, being a well-timed sneeze away from Russian annexation and perhaps not quite as NATOey as some of the other member countries, might just fit the bill.

I’m a big fan of the southernmost Baltic state – it could scarcely be nearer and dearer to my heart. In fact, I think that Kaunus in particular would make an absolutely brilliant venue for the conference, fourth edition. Now perhaps it’s my Eastern European roots shining through or perhaps it’s the fact that I was there a year ago almost to the day and was absolutely smitten with the city,iii principally because it’s clean, beautifully laid out, just historic enough yet still very youthful (as there are a fair number of colleges and universities), and it’s there that I spent more time with the attractive and fun-loving young locals, drinking and trading stories until the wee’est hours of the night. It probably didn’t hurt that there was also a Drift Allstars race while I was in town. Total coincidence, honest !

Whatever the precise causes may have been, here are a few photos from my trip to Kaunus that I hope will give some perspective as to why it’s my favourite city in a really very lovely region of the world :

Kaunus15

Kaunus11

Kaunus10

Kaunus9

Kaunus8

Kaunus7

Kaunus6

Kaunus1

Kaunus5

Kaunus16

Kaunus17

Kaunus4

Kaunus2

Kaunus14

Kaunus13

As you’ve surely gathered, I’m a big fan of Lithuania’s second-largest city and would gladly return for the conference, fourth edition.

Unless, that is, you have a better idea ?

___ ___ ___

  1. Returning to either Timisoara or Buenos Aires for the fourth edition is apparently off the table. As to the date, first we need a place, then we can talk dates !
  2. Manhattan in November is a cold, soulless hellhole. It sucks the heat right out of your very being, even when you’re dressed for it, as you can see I was.
    pete at nyse 2012
     
  3. This was on the same tour (not organised! god!) that took me through Latvia as well, which I covered in Architecture in Riga

2 thoughts on “Kaunus, Lithuania: the least terrible place for the conference, fourth edition.

  1. Pete D. says:

    A clip from the subsequent convo in channel, ftr :

    ascii_field: What is the appeal of living in a nato-colonial bitch orcdom?
    pete_dushenski: Perhaps these pictures will answer your inquiry. Barring that, there’s always, y’know, going there and seeing for yourself. It’s sorta ridiculous to propose that living in a ‘NATO-colonial bitch orcdom’ is somehow better than living inside NATO’s lower intestine. Now, I couldn’t tell you whether mircea_popescu would seriously consider hosting the conference, fourth edition in Lithuania or whether he was just throwing names at the wall for shits and giggles, but I’d be more than happy to go back.

    ascii_field: In the intestine, there are no illusions about where you are.
    pete_dushenski: Illusions are in your head wherever you are. You’d be you regardless, and other people would be other people regardless. There are plenty in DC who honestly think to themselves “Oh what good fortune I have to live HERE and NOW”. Hell, there are ~far~ fewer who are happy about their station in Lithuania.

    mircea_popescu: This is generally the heuristic for a good place inhabited by smart people. When you’re among derps happy to be there you’re on a sinking cargo cultship.
    pete_dushenski: If anything, the delusions in the ‘colonies’ are vastly reduced. Less padding in the cage, so to speak. Your face is closer to the grindstone.

  2. […] there, from the photos I’ve seen of previous editions, the dress is decidedly informal. Maybe the fourth will be different, or maybe it’ll be the twentieth conference by the time we have a proper […]

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