Alternative News

Bitcoin developer Jeff Garzik on Satoshi Nakamoto and the future of Bitcoin

"The core developers carry ultimate veto, and they’re notoriously cautious. 'In general, the devs try to be very conservative. Typically, we don’t introduce new features. We just try to ensure that the existing ones work.' That isn’t to say that new features can’t happen. There’s a mechanism called the Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BPI) used to put forward proposed new features for the protocol. But it’s controlled by the core devs. 'If we want to extend it, we’ll write up a BIP and publicise it through blogs, and we just try to judge through user feedback whether they like the feature, or don’t understand it, or things of that nature.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingBitcoin developer Jeff Garzik on Satoshi Nakamoto and the future of Bitcoin

3D Printer for $1,000

"A British firm is selling a 3D printer for home use for about $1,000. It’s for people who are technologically savvy, and who want to be on the cutting edge. Watch it build a gadget. This is the equivalent of the Altair 8800 microcomputer in 1975. Soon, there will be an Apple I, then a TRS-80. Then a PC. Then there will be the equivalent of Visicalc, a 'killer app' for business. That is when this technology will get into the general population. This will change the world. It will take a decade or two, but we can see what’s coming. When a home brew version starts out at $1,000, the cost will fall, and capabilities will increase." Continue reading →

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1,700,000 Foreclosures Are in the Pipeline.

"A government report says that 1.7 million homeowners are 90 days or more late in their mortgage payments. Fannie Mae and HUD will wind up with these homes on their books, unless they decide to let the homeowners live rent-free. This is shadow inventory. It hangs like the sword of Damocles over the housing market. If the government does nothing, these homeowners will receive a huge subsidy: a tax-free grant equal to their mortgage payment, month after month, year after year. But if it forecloses, what will it do with these empty houses. Then the subsidy goes to operators of the squatters. Will the government kick the can? Probably." Continue reading →

Continue Reading1,700,000 Foreclosures Are in the Pipeline.

Why did Charlie Chaplin renounce the America which made him world-famous?

"'It is not easy to uproot myself and my family from a country where I have lived for 40 years without a feeling of sadness. Since the end of the last world war, I have been the object of lies and vicious propaganda by powerful reactionary groups who by their influence and by the aid of America’s yellow press have created an unhealthy atmosphere in which liberal-minded individuals can be singled out and persecuted.' - Williamson Daily News – April 22, 1953" Continue reading →

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Oregon Supreme Court Allows Unticketed Drivers To Be Searched

"James Kenneth Watson had been driving through Myrtle Creek when Officer Kris Malek recognized him and decided to pull him over. Officer Malek claimed Watson's car briefly crossed over the yellow painted lane divider stripes. When pulled over, Officer Malek decided not to issue a ticket. He asked for license and registration and began questioning Watson while he waited for dispatch to confirm the license and check for arrest warrants. Deputy Clayton Ruble arrived on the scene and claimed he smelled a 'pretty strong' odor of marijuana that Officer Malek had not noticed. An officer with a drug dog was called to the scene to sniff Watson's car. The dog indicated." Continue reading →

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Who voted for the Reed Amendment in 1995 and 1996?

"The Reed Amendment — which bans people determined by the Attorney-General to have 'renounced citizenship for the purpose of avoiding taxation' — was an amendment to the Immigration in the National Interest Act of 1995. I was aware in a general sense that Republicans had taken back the House and the Senate in 1994, but I’d never really put two and two together until reading this list: Republicans formed a majority among the supporters of the Reed Amendment. Indeed, every single one of the Republican freshmen on the committee who joined the House as a result of the 1994 'Revolution' voted for Reed’s amendment." Continue reading →

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What the Libertarian Candidate for NYC Comptroller Would Like to Ask Eliot Spitzer

"'I'll ask his position on prostitution. And if he thinks johns should be arrested and charged just like madams and prostitutes. If he thought it was fair that he was never charged as a john under his new felony law but that I spent four months in Rikers Island from which I returned penniless, homeless, and forced to take sex offender classes for five months with pedophiles and perverts while he returned to his wife in his 5th Ave. high rise without ever being fingerprinted, mug shot, remanded, or charged with a crime under the very law he signed.' 'But my guess is that he will use his vast money he used to pay high-priced prostitutes to try to knock me off the ballot.'" Continue reading →

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Private paramilitaries guard Wisconsin mining site from protesters

The company brought in the paramilitary forces after being confronted by a group of about 15 protesters in June. At least one of the demonstrators, a young woman, was hit with misdemeanor charges for trying to take a camera away from one of the company’s geologists. Gogebic claims they’ve since caught several people illegally camping on their property and did not want to take any chances. The company hired by Gogebic is Arizona-based Bulletproof Securities, which boasts that many of their employees are ex-military. A spokesperson for Gogebic told The Cap Times on Tuesday that they’re considering restricting their drilling sites from public access." Continue reading →

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Federal judge orders Secret Service to release files on Internet activist Aaron Swartz

"U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued her ruling in response to a lawsuit filed by Wired reporter Kevin Poulsen, who is investigating the reasons for the heavy-handed prosecution that spurred Swartz to commit suicide. Swartz, who helped create the first RSS protocol at age 14 and co-founded the popular websites Reddit and Demand Progress, was charged in 2011 of stealing data from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology after he accessed a secure database of academic papers. Prosecutors threatened him with up to 30 years in prison, and Swartz committed suicide by hanging in January, at just 26 years old." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFederal judge orders Secret Service to release files on Internet activist Aaron Swartz

A Constitution-Free Zone Where Officials Can Grab Your Computer And Copy Your Hard Drive

"Did you know that the U.S. government considers the U.S. border to be a 'constitution-free zone'? Did you know that customs officials can take your computer away from you, keep it for 30 days or more, and make a copy of everything that is on your hard drive? Sadly, this is actually true. According to the government, when you choose to cross the U.S. border you temporarily give up your constitutional rights. They can look at anything on your computer that they want to, and if they find anything that violates any law, they can use it against you in court. You may think twice about taking your computer out of the country after you read the rest of this article." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingA Constitution-Free Zone Where Officials Can Grab Your Computer And Copy Your Hard Drive