"Bitcoin is a virtual currency getting a lot of attention by the real world. Coinsetter is a company dedicated to making Bitcoin safe to use. Jaron Lukasiewicz, Coinsetter CEO, shares what the industry has to say. And Benjamin Lawsky, superintendent of NY Department of Financial Services, shares the regulators' side of the story." Continue reading →
"The 64-year-old Christie has been in the Honolulu Federal Detention Center since he and 13 other Big Island residents, including Share Christie, were arrested by federal agents on July 8, 2010. All were charged with conspiracy to manufacture, distribute and possess with intent to distribute 284 marijuana plants, which carries a mandatory minimum prison term of five years and a maximum of 40 years if they’re convicted. The others were granted bail, but U.S. Magistrate Kevin Chang ordered Christie held without bail, calling him 'a danger to the community.'" Continue reading →
"Jeffrey 'Sneak' Paul is an american hacker and security expert who splits his time between New York and Berlin. At the end of July, he sat down with Adam B. Levine of Let's Talk Bitcoin! to discuss cryptocurrency, security, and Sneaks Law." Continue reading →
"Much has been written over the past year about the new digital currency Bitcoin -- especially after its price skyrocketed 15x in just a few months, followed by a blow-off correction of over 50%. But what exactly is it? How does it work? How secure is it? What are its advantages (and disadvantages) to sovereign fiat currencies? To precious metals? In this week's podcast, Chris talks with Gavin Andresen, chief scientist of the Bitcoin Foundation and lead developer for its digital currency project." Continue reading →
"Not only are capital regulations, written as parts of Basel II and Basel III, driving banks to hold government instruments such as US Treasury securities, but it is also driving banks to buy junk municipal debt. The disclosure that European banks are holding bad Detroit paper confirms my suspicions as to the true principles of the so-called safety guidelines capital requirements. They are no such thing, they are crony rules designed to prop up risky government paper. In time, as more government regions from Puerto Rico to Chicago and Los Angeles go into a financial crisis stage, we will learn of even more global bank exposure to debt from these sectors." Continue reading →
"In Nature the ability to reform is called adaptation. Organisms and species that are unable to adapt when selective pressure is applied vanish from the Earth. Humans and human organizations are no different; individuals and organizations that are unable to respond to selective pressure with real self-reform/transformation will also fail and disappear. The political and financial Status Quo is incapable of true reform, because real reform threatens the perquisites and power of entrenched vested interests, what I call fiefdoms. That leaves breakdown as the only possible endpoint." Continue reading →
"College graduate and out of work? You are not alone." Continue reading →
"A new solar observatory is revealing remarkably fine details about a little-explored region of the sun's atmosphere, where temperatures leap from tens of thousands of degrees Fahrenheit at the sun's surface to to millions of degrees in its extended atmosphere. Dubbed the interface region by the observatory's science team, this first 2,000 to 3,000 miles of the sun's atmosphere is thought to play a key role in a range of processes, including those that power solar flares and even more potent coronal-mass ejections. These events can endanger satellites, disrupt radio communication and GPS navigation, as well as disrupt the power grid on Earth." Continue reading →
"Using a tiny heated probe, a team of scientists have 'painted' a grayscale replica of the Mona Lisa that is more than 25,000 times smaller than the original. The 'Mini Lisa,' as it is known, is just 30 millionths of a meter wide. That's roughly 0.001 inches, or one third of the width of a human hair. The team created it using a powerful microscope and a process known as ThermoChemical NanoLithography, or TCNL. Each 'pixel' was 125 billionths of a meter wide – smaller than the smallest known bacteria – and Carroll and the rest of the research team went pixel-by-pixel to create the reproduction." Continue reading →
"Uzac, the CEO, turns 30 on August 7. He grew up in France and South Africa, carries a French passport, and studied geography and economics at the London School of Economics. His partner and IBT's chief content officer is Johnathan Davis, a 31-year-old American who studied computer engineering at UCLA and did time in Silicon Valley.Together they launched what became IBT Media in 2006, with personal savings, a SBA bank loan, and no input, financial or advisory, from VCs. They say they've been profitable since 2010. Headquarters are in New York, with offices in Bangalore, Shanghai, and Sidney. Total editorial employees: about 150." Continue reading →