@fellowtraveller (the OP):

I'm in a group which is about 40% people over 50 who don't use the internet. Trying to get them to use Facebook is a chore, in and of itself. When I notified them via Facebook that there was an event coming up, all but one of them said they never got the message.

They rather enjoy being able to keep in touch with one another via email. However, I'm also wondering about the potential for list-service emailing which would allow for multiple recipients based on an opt-in (a proof-of-work opt-in mechanism which might allow them to join a list of recipients who have all agreed using a similar mechanism)?

This would have to be built into the protocol itself, as there are around 2000 members in this group who are in need of listserv-style emailing functions, and when we update they are unwilling to go to a web site (as I said, they barely conceive of email, and I would have to sell them on the idea that this is similar, perhaps even to the point that they would absolutely reject it, but for the simplicity of their use, etc.).

There are reasons for mass emails which aren't actually spam. Church groups, civic clubs, political parties, internal messaging, etc., all benefit from mass emails.

However, I like the idea of preventing spam by requiring a proof-of-work for someone you don't actually know, especially if they don't really want your contact. But what I'm wondering is this: might I suggest that if a pre-existing key exchange has occurred (PGP, Bithash, scrypt, etc.) that there be an opt-in standing agreement which can be revoked by the recipient at any time?

Just an idea. Hope it's not too complex to implement. Not being a programmer, I come up with a lot of those.

6nWwCuDzyu3VcJ51ubb4o2ATmJ4tsbrmUf

If there's any left.

Thanks. 

There is another announcement coming later, I'm told... there are technical reasons it won't happen.

http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2013/04/30/could-paypal-be-on-horizon-for-bitcoin/


Will Bitcoin be Accepted by PayPal?
By Greg Bensinger


Bloomberg
John Donahoe, chief executive of eBay
EBay EBAY -0.07% may open its wallet to the virtual currency Bitcoin.

The e-commerce heavyweight is exploring ways to integrate bitcoins into its PayPal payments network,  Chief Executive John Donahoe said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

“It’s a new disruptive technology, so, yeah, we’re looking at Bitcoin closely,” Donahoe said. “There may be ways to enable it inside PayPal.”

Integration into PayPal’s network would give Bitcoin some much-needed legitimacy. Accepted by few retailers, the currency is held mostly by speculators hoping to profit from price fluctuations, which have been particularly volatile in recent weeks.

Donahoe said eBay hasn’t yet made any commitments to use the currency.

He said Bitcoin was reminiscent of music sharing sites Kazaa and Napster, which were found to violate trademark rights, but helped spawn legitimate sites such Pandora and Spotify. “Virtual currency is something that’s here to stay,” Donahoe said.

Within the next five years, Bitcoin or other virtual currencies, such as airline miles, could be converted to cash and used in retail, Donahoe said. Integrating such virtual currencies into its payment network would help eBay in its effort to push PayPal use at bricks-and-mortar retailers, rather than just online. PayPal brought in $1.55 billion in revenue for eBay in this year’s first quarter, an 18% jump from a year earlier.

Last month the U.S. Treasury Department said it will apply money-laundering rules to Bitcoin and other virtual currencies, meaning firms that issue or exchange the increasingly popular online cash will be regulated in a manner similar to traditional money-order providers.

Coinsetter, which will allow participants to trade bitcoins using borrowed money in the coming weeks, has attracted venture capital funding. And Western Union Co. WU +0.96% and MoneyGram International Inc. MGI +1.81% are also studying ways to allow customers to transfer money around the globe using bitcoins.

For now, the currency is accepted on a few sites, such as Reddit and WordPress, as well as Pizzaforcoins.com, which allows users to pay for some pizza deliveries.

The currency is still volatile, making its prospects in retail sales risky. In April alone, bitcoins have ranged from $50.01 to $266, with an average of $114.94, according to bitcoincharts.com, one site tracking the currency’s value. The market for bitcoins is over $1 billion, according to the site.

Related reading: During his visit with the Journal, Donahoe also explained why eBay stands virtually alone among its peers in opposing a bill in Congress that would create a new national standard for charging state sales taxes on products bought online

6hqjTRJ2i9KfJJWjrGJDNsnC3kxa7cvj8v

If there are any left.

Be aware that casting metals is difficult work, and carving metals tends to be a bit expensive. Depending on the metal you use, and the size of the coin, the small detail of this coin could very well be lost. I'm wanting to make physical coins myself, and am getting an education by someone who does them for a living. Just be aware that the metal itself doesn't necessarily hold its shape if used, and so the smaller details can wear off or wear down if, say, someone carries this coin in their pocket.

Love the basic idea, otherwise.

As to the name of your coin, I'm unclear... is this a name for the entire line, or is it for this particular denomination of coin?

Wow, glad to know my BTC0.002 is safe, LOL.... seriously, this amount is so small, please don't worry about it with me. If it helps, just apply it to those who need payment or toward the server. I'm not doing this really for the money, I'm doing it because it's fun and there is a small payout which I can then track to measure progress with.

Thanks for the rapid response, slush.

It's almost as if they think he's somehow got coins stored on his computer or something...?

AFAIK, it's been low for quite a while. I get about 0.5-1.0% stale. Your stale rate seems actually a little higher to me.

My business is now accepting Bitcoin (and only Bitcoin, for the moment) for donations. If you receive services, there is no requirement to donate; but donations are graciously accepted from those who want to show their gratitude, or further my ability to continue helping people who can't afford the help (as these are generally the people who need the most help).

Do NOT use the wallets in my signature for donation. Donations should go to: 1JVxLS3aX1q22Lu9R82NXotgzVmhPxc2oB

Suggested donations (not required to receive services, but payment guarantees availability):

Typical donation: BTC0.10
Counselling session: BTC0.50
Meditative instruction: BTC0.20

Donations can be more or less than the amounts shown (and can even be 0).

It was not the facts you pointed out.

It was the judgments you put into the middle of them.

Only if you go 1:1 with it... when you tell them a DDoS is happening, the word tends to spread and they begin looking for servers. If everyone does exactly nothing about it, then nothing gets done.

Still getting this:

Thus the reason to involve a lot of users who have telephones in multiple countries to call ISP's after doing a reverse host lookup and finding the hosting provider by IP address, then asking them to disable the server because it's active as part of a botnet DDoS... do I have to spell out the whole thing?

I say we get IP address information on the botnet and execute take-downs of the servers by notifying ISPs that server with IP xx.xx.xx.xx is involved in a DDoS attack, etc.?

How about it, slush, can we have a list of IP addresses from your server logs?

DPR = Dread Pirate Roberts = founder and main operator of Silk Road drug trafficking site that buys/sells things with BTC.

Nice article in Forbes about him.

I want to point out something that doesn't seem to be occurring to anyone:

Not all profits are financial in nature. I've done random anonymous things which benefited people and had no expectation of being paid--I've even created a millionaire and live a very humble life. It's why I became a priest. But not all selfless people become priests, and not all priests are selfless people.... the point (before I digress too far) is that we all have our motivations for doing what we do, and starting a currency system which benefits the world is right up the alley of several people I know.

If Satoshi is an individual, I think he/she has earned privacy. Knowing who he/she is will not change Bitcoin, will not alter one bit what has happened so far, and will not create any new and wonderful system.

If Satoshi is a group, I think they are smart to avoid publicity.

In both cases, everyone expects there to be someone with a big ego, a major player, someone who has a lot to gain or lose with the publicity. And in truth, the best cryptographers in the world are people nobody knows the names of. So if this person is simply some highly-talented cryptographer who had never actually put anything together publicly, but in fact had the world's benefit at heart, I wholeheartedly wish him/her the best and reiterate that knowing this person's identity is not likely to be resolved any time soon.

Satoshi very likely crafted the identity to avoid the very kinds of attention that Gaven Andresen is having to deal with, but would have the added pressure of being "the guy who invented it all" and likely would have to take the brunt of a lot of verbal abuse from people who believed him to be the next incarnation of Satan or something. And so out of respect for the obvious talent of this individual to let go of any need to be a central figure, I offer heartfelt thanks for being strong enough to step out of the limelight and just allow Bitcoin to grow "in the wild" as it were, without having to be the one pumping it up into something it's not, or whatever.

Privacy should be observed.

And yes, we're kinda curious, but if we can't handle our curiosity, how can we possibly handle the anxiety of working with a new currency that every financial magazine is cursing out right now? Governments are trying to figure out ways to control it behind the scenes, since they really can't justify regulating something that has no controls on it. And that, perhaps is the biggest favor that Satoshi did to the world: robbing authorities of the ability to place controls, because the originator is simply anonymous in nature.

I believe that this is the very reason that I will never pry into Satoshi's identity. Not that I expect everyone to fall in line behind me, but I do hope that nobody ever finds out the real identity or identities.

This is one of the issues that my limited knowledge of ASIC technology tends to red-flag and cause skepticism. I know lots of engineers. The only way that something like this could be true is if the math during the design process was flawed (in which case the processing would likewise tend to be flawed).



That's exactly what worries me, LOL.



One of my former ASIC projects had a team of engineers who put together medical processing equipment. A few of them want to actually drive out to Kansas City and offer to help put together the machines free of charge, or for ridiculously cheap. Heck, we'll even meter 'em to make sure they're more or less functional before they ship! However, this email was never answered (to be fair, it's been about 3 weeks since I asked the original email to be sent).



They seem to have a raw calculation of about 2 MH/s/$ posted in a few places, which equates almost directly with the prices and GH/s offered. The power consumption is largely irrelevant today, but the increase in power has to be from overclocking the chips (which would be smart, if they can sustain that speed for 3-4 years at that temperature with few issues because of efficient heating).



See... this is why I keep asking lots of questions. Would you happen to have a URL handy for the video? Even to the correct thread where a link might be would be better than nothing. I'm trying to help people overcome anxiety issues related to their investments that were more than they can afford to lose (breaks a basic rule of investing, but it's done and they're trying to deal with it).



It does offer a glimmer of hope, but the overall silence of the company dashes that hope very quickly. I think daily updates would be the way to go with this, at least some kind of one-liner that says something like:


You know, like that... and no, that's not actually from anyone, just to alleviate any question. I made it up.

Thanks, Crystallas, confirmation that someone's playing games.

I'm shutting down mining for a few more hours.

I'm down again.

EDIT: Logfile for poclbm:


And yes, I edited out my username.

Output for cgminer:


So... yep, it's back down for me. Anyone back on?