Mainstream News

‘Sovereign citizen’ pays fines with 70,000 pennies

"Fourteen months and about 70,000 pennies later, James Sanders has finally paid off a pair of citations he received last summer in Clinton County. But the most difficult part of paying the fine wasn't coping with the impact it might have on his budget. It was figuring out how to carry it from the car to the courthouse. 'As far as I'm concerned, they are stealing this money from me,' Sanders said. 'If they want it, this is how they are going to get it.' Using two large buckets and a utility dolly usually used for moving furniture, Sanders and a neighbor loaded up the coins and carted them into the courthouse." Continue reading →

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Gypsy Uses Gold for Bail? Judge Says It Seems ‘Fishy’

"There were Liberty gold coins and Krugerrands, and a gold chain so thick that had it been used as a restraining device, it might have done a fair job of keeping Tom Eli behind bars. After centuries of being chased from country to country, the Roma, sometimes called Gypsies, have developed an aversion to traditional institutions, including banks, and have their own internal economy. He said he feared that his client was being treated differently from similarly situated people because of his background. Mr. Kenniff said that many who live in the United States still follow ancient traditions, including passing down gold coins and necklaces as heirlooms, and owning those pieces communally." Continue reading →

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Here’s What Happened When Google Went Public

"I arrived at Google in late 2003, prior to our S-1 being filed in April 2004. There was already lots of internal and external speculation about our trajectory but until the document went public, no one understood just how powerful a business model the company had created. During my interview process Google HR was very secretive about the value of my equity. In fact they told me only the number of shares I had been granted. Without knowing the number of shares outstanding or the enterprise value of the company, a grant total was totally useless but they essentially said 'trust us.' What changed once we went public and how might these same shifts impact Twitter?" Continue reading →

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Google argues for right to continue scanning Gmail

"Attorneys suing Google say the firm violates privacy and takes personal property by electronically scanning the contents of people's Gmail accounts and then targeting ads to them. 'This company reads, on a daily basis, every email that's submitted, and when I say read, I mean looking at every word to determine meaning,' said Texas attorney Sean Rommel, who is co-counsel suing Google. But in a federal court hearing Thursday in San Jose, Google argued that the case should be dismissed, and that 'all users of email must necessarily expect that their emails will be subject to automated processing.'" Continue reading →

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Brazil hackers accidentally attack NASA as payback for NSA surveillance

"Hackers have hit back in retaliation for US cyber-spying on Brazil but mistook the US space agency NASA for the National Security Agency (NSA), a news website reported here Tuesday. 'Some activists decided to protest this US practice but it seems that they picked the wrong target,' a specialized blog of the Brazilian news portal Uol said. 'They hacked NASA’s web page and left the message: Stop spying on us,' it said. The hackers’ message also called on the United States not to attack Syria. A NASA spokesman confirmed that a Brazilian hacker group last week posted a political message on a number of NASA websites." Continue reading →

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Alaskan border town may use Canadian dollars, but they’re ‘100% American’

"Hyder is a good example of the close connection between our two countries and the tribal nature of national identity; of how a line on a map, drawn forever ago, and a Canadian border crossing staffed by some presumably bored Canadian Customs officers (there is no U.S. Customs in Hyder) can seem as wide as the Grand Canyon — even when the metaphorical price of admission is being counted in loonies." Continue reading →

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A Day in the Life of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss

"The twins made headlines in July when they announced the creation of the Winklevoss Bitcoin Trust, which would operate an exchange-traded fund dealing only in the virtual currency of bitcoins. Putting their profile and wealth behind bitcoin represents a big risk. 'You have to be willing to gamble a bit,' says Tyler. 'Entrepreneurs are a special breed. They make their own fate, but there's no safety net if it doesn't work out.' Entrepreneurship is in their blood: Their father, born to a family of Pennsylvanian businessmen and coal miners, created an actuarial software company that made him a multimillionaire. The brothers followed a similar path, creating Winklevoss Capital." Continue reading →

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Coming Soon to America: Bitcoin ATMs

"At least two firms have plans to ship out Bitcoin ATMs to American cities in the coming months. Robocoin, the Las Vegas-based firm rolling out the world’s first Bitcoin ATMs in Canada this fall, plans to ship 12 to 15 of the units by the end of the year. So what, you may wonder, is the point of an ATM for a digital currency? Think of it more like a vending machine or currency exchange counter: Rather than just offering withdrawals or deposits, the Bitcoin ATM allows a user to buy Bitcoins in exchange for cash. The machines also offer some real-world convenience—like traditional ATMs, you can take dollars from the ATM by trading in your Bitcoins." Continue reading →

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Aussies start paying for beers in Bitcoin

"The Old Fitzroy will become the first pub in Australia that will allow customers to buy their beers in Bitcoin. The pub in Woolloomooloo, Sydney, will start accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment on September 29, with Bitcoin Sydney on hand to help new-timers to the crypto-currency. The pub, which has been around since at least 1907, will use QR codes to handle transactions. With Bitcoin wallets able to be accessed via smartphones, customers simply scan the QR code and authorise the transaction in order to pay. Beers should cost customers around 0.05 Bitcoins, around the equivalent of AU$7 at the current value of the currency." Continue reading →

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