"This project is to make your own Stainless Steel Bitcoin Wallet. You'll need a plate of stainless steel. About 3x6 inches. You'll need a DC power supply of some sort. I used a fairly large bench-top version, but you can use just about anything. It just might take longer to etch. Anywhere from a 9 volt battery (maybe) to a wall-wort, to a hacked ATX." Continue reading →
"Author and activist Barrett Brown has been behind bars for nearly 300 days without a trial. Federal prosecutors have filed a 17-count indictment on charges arising from the act of republishing material obtained by hackers from HB Gary Federal and Stratfor, two private companies that are deeply involved in national security affairs. Brown’s supposed offense was to commit journalism by republishing information about politically privileged corporation that he didn’t personally acquire, and then to condemn a federal official who was harassing and persecuting his family. That’s the kind of thing that leads to prosecution in the American Reich." Continue reading →
"Describing these factors as a threat to 'officer safety,' the agents demanded access to the home to conduct a 'protective sweep,' during which ammunition and drugs were found. A district court denied Mongold’s motion to suppress the evidence. The US. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals overturned the district court and suppressed the evidence, noting that the ATF agents 'could most easily have protected the officers’ safety by leaving [the] home, not by entering it.' The Tenth Circuit quite sensibly slapped down this cynical argument for a warrantless search, but it was careful to specify that its sensible ruling is not to be used as a precedent." Continue reading →
The full absurdity of cash cost reporting for gold miners is really coming to the fore with the latest batch of quarterly and half yearly reports from the world’s leading gold mining companies. On a cash costs basis virtually all the world’s significant gold miners would appear to be profitable – most highly so, yet as we foreshadowed ahead of them on Mineweb the latest quarterly and half yearly profit figures coming out of the gold mining sector are, virtually without exception, dire. One might have been forgiven from asking in the past why reported earnings have invariably worked out as being way below the optimistic estimates suggested by cash cost reporting." Continue reading →
"The hour is the time when Ben Bernanke must shuffle off to some post where he will do less damage. The man is the person (man or woman) who will take his place in the padded chair. As to Yellen, Summers and Kohn, we would reject them all. Clearly, none has any idea what is coming his way or he wouldn’t want the job. But this is a minority opinion. So let’s keep an open mind and examine each of these fish separately. Janet Yellen has three things going for her. According to Alan Blinder’s recent piece in The Wall Street Journal, she (1) is a woman, 2) is a good diplomat and (3) has been around the Fed since 1990 and nothing bad has happened." Continue reading →
"'The short answer is that financial scams are everywhere and it pays to be cautious about any investment and ensure that you understand it and trust those operating it, before giving them your dollars or your Bitcoins,' said Tulsa Bitcoin trader Ryan Underwood. 'This question of where to place confidence is not a Bitcoin-specific issue but a problem with all investments that make future promises in exchange for taking investor money in the present,' Underwood said. 'The SEC did not protect investors from Madoff despite numerous whistle-blowers coming forward in advance. Only their own diligence could have protected them.'" Continue reading →
"Decreasing quality, with rising prices. That’s stealth inflation. And no one — not even the great monetary wizard Ben Bernanke himself — can deny that stealth inflation’s a real problem. Take a look at Kimberly-Clark Corp., makers of Kleenex and other consumer products. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal points out that they’ve quietly… slowly… been 'de-sheeting.' What is de-sheeting? De-sheeting is the reduction in the number of sheets of toilet paper or tissues in each package while holding retail prices constant. The beauty of the de-sheeting process is that it is very hard for consumers to detect." Continue reading →
Introduction to the 2013 State Balance of Powers Act The constitutionally correct answer begins with the most appropriate questions… Is our State still a sovereign State with constitutionally protected rights? Does our State Government govern our State, or does Washington DC? Are the U.S. Constitution, the Bill of Rights and our State Constitution still in […]
"The good news is that the same forces that built Detroit could help turn it around. First off, Detroit needs to default on its debt. This means the bond holders and the citizenry will suffer. But after this painful process is complete, Detroit will have a few things going for it. It will boast abundantly cheap real estate and plenty of desperate workers. [..] Liberals would rather the unemployed stay that way rather than suffer the degradations of capitalism. So instead of such honest cures, look for Detroit to borrow its way out of the crisis while pretending to fix its chronic problems. If we laugh at their foolishness, we should all look in the mirror." Continue reading →
"Detroit real estate agents have been swamped with requests for cheap properties by Chinese investors. One agency even sold 30 properties to a single buyer. Why all the interest from Chinese investors? Back in May, The New York Times reported that dozens of companies from China were putting down roots in Detroit in order to push their way into the American auto industry. Chinese businesses have tried to keep the movement of Chinese auto suppliers into Detroit as quiet as possible to avoid the public backlash experienced by Japanese automakers moving manufacturing to the U.S. in the 1980s. The Chinese know an opportunity when they see one." Continue reading →