VIDEO — Andreas M. Antonopoulos educates Senate of Canada about Bitcoin (Oct 8, ENG)
Bitcoin Embassy
Oct 8, 2014
October 8th 2014, Committee on Banking, Trade and Commerce
“Study on the use of digital currency”, 11th session
Background on the “Study on the use of digital currency”:
In Canada, the public debate surrounding Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies is currently being formalized as the official “Study on the use of digital currency”, a consultative exercise conducted at the initiative of the Senate of Canada’s Banking, Trade and Commerce committee.
Although the Senate of Canada exerts less authority than the House of Commons, its standing committees have proven to be an influential source of expertise and opinion. It also enjoys considerable international attention: according to Stuart Hoegner, general counsel at the Bitcoin Alliance, “no other parliamentary body in the world has publicly canvassed the breadth of materials and opinion that this committee has”.
[hat tip: New World Next Week]
Facebook & Apple Are Paying Women to Delay Having Children — video included
by Susanne Posel
OccupyCorporatism.com
Oct 15, 2014
Facebook has been offering female employees the chance to freeze their eggs by paying up to $20,000 in expenses and give the gift of putting of having children in exchange for working through the “prime career-building years”.
Apple said in a public statement: “We want to empower women at Apple to do the best work of their lives as they care for loved ones and raise their families.”
Around the age of 35, women on average are expected to begin having a family by way of societal pressures.
It is also round this age that the viability of eggs for freezing begins to diminish and therefore harvesting these eggs would not guarantee the employee would be able to use them for fertilization successfully in the near future.
In fact, it is unknown how successful a woman of 30 or 40 who has had her eggs frozen would be in being able to become pregnant using this method.
Jennifer Eaton, medical director of assisted reproductive technology at Duke Fertility Center (DFC) said: “We don’t yet have patients who’ve cryopreserved eggs in their 20s and are coming back in their 30s and 40s, because the technology is so new.”
Author Sarah Elizabeth Richards spent nearly $50,000 freezing her eggs 8 years ago and chronicled her experiences in a book: “You feel bad about yourself, like you’re the odd man out, and somehow you’ve messed up on your path. By freezing, you’ve done something about it. You’re walking taller; your head is held higher. And that can pay off in both your work and romantic lives. Egg freezing gives you the gift of time to start a family, but it’s also, like, here’s how many years I actually have left for my other goals—what can I do with them?”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) stated in their National Vital Statistics Report (NVSR) that “since the 1970s the number of women having babies between the ages of 35 and 39 has increased 150%” while the other side of this trend reveals that 2 out of every 100 infants born in the US are conceived with the help of fertility treatments.
MUST READ — FEMA Conducting Pandemic Drills Amidst Ebola Crisis
by Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
Oct 16, 2014
The Federal Executive Boards in New York City and Northern New Jersey in partnership with FEMA Region II, The Department of Health and Human Services Region II, NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) and the Clearing House Association are sponsoring a two year series of pandemic influenza continuity exercises – tabletop exercise 2013 (complete), full scale exercise 2014 – to increase readiness for a pandemic event amongst Federal Executive Departments and Agencies, US Court, State, tribal, local jurisdictional and private sector continuity.
The exercise, having been underway since 2013 is scheduled to continue to December 4th 2014. The exercise will involve eight scheduled events and/or webinars which will discuss questions surrounding continuity of operations for essential services, transportation impacts, disruption in communications and internet connectivity, disruptions to power sources and other related possible damages to the normal function of societal life. The exercises also deal with the aftermath of the pandemic including “coping with the deaths of multiple coworkers/loved ones,” “replacing staff,” and “replacing personal protective equipment for a potential next wave.”
The fictional pandemic is designed as an influenza virus spreading from person to person worldwide. Sifma describes the setting for this exercise by peppering in statistics regarding the 1918 “Spanish Flu” and projected damage done to the U.S. population as well as the U.S. economy.
The stated objectives of the exercise are “to mitigate vulnerabilities during a pandemic influenza outbreak; to identify gaps or weaknesses in pandemic planning or in organization pandemic influenza continuity plans, policies, and procedures; and encourage private and public organizations to jointly plan for, and test, their pandemic influenza plans.”
The Sifma website provides an overall summary of the exercise as well as links to webinar presentations which can be viewed for free.
Regardless of the origins of the Ebola crisis, whether it be conspiracy or gross incompetence, there are a number of aspects to the entire situation which simply do not add up. While one would not argue that preparedness on the part of the federal government regarding a possible pandemic is a bad thing, its behavior thus far has exuded anything but preparedness. Considering America’s sordid history with national emergency exercises, the ongoing FEMA pandemic exercise cannot help but raise red flags.
Recently from Brandon Turbeville:
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Brandon Turbeville is an author out of Florence, South Carolina. He has a Bachelor’s Degree from Francis Marion University and is the author of six books, Codex Alimentarius — The End of Health Freedom, 7 Real Conspiracies, Five Sense Solutions and Dispatches From a Dissident, volume 1 and volume 2, and The Road to Damascus: The Anglo-American Assault on Syria. Turbeville has published over 300 articles dealing on a wide variety of subjects including health, economics, government corruption, and civil liberties. Brandon Turbeville’s podcast Truth on The Tracks can be found every Monday night 9 pm EST at UCYTV. He is available for radio and TV interviews. Please contact activistpost (at) gmail.com.
[related articles:
- EMERGENCY: HUGE FEMA PANDEMIC EXERCISE IN USA IN NOVEMBER, INTERNET SHUT DOWN PART OF EXERCISE
- Viewers Quickly Notice Something That ‘Makes No Sense’ in Raw Video of Officials Loading Dallas Ebola Patient Onto Plane]
[hat tip: Alex Hunter]
Hackers Hijack Retailers’ Showroom PCs for Cryptocurrency Mining
by Published on October 9, 2014 at 13:40 BST
Dutch hackers have started hijacking laptops showcased in retail stores and using them for cryptocurrency mining, according to a report.
The stores involved have admitted that an undisclosed number of display samples were affected by malware and said they would take steps to eliminate the practice.
Dutch tech publication Computerworld reported the problem on 7th October after a computer science student revealed that laptops in the Media Markt chain of shops have been exposed to mining malware for some months.
Computerworld found that a total of 105 laptops were part of a botnet and that an estimated €500 had been generated in mining revenue over that time.
Media-Saturn Netherlands, owner of Media Markt, said it should not be possible to run malware on the machines as “a display model should require the password of an administrator”, adding:
“We will consult with our locations and suppliers […] Where necessary, we will come up with new or more stringent protocols.”
Several other stores were found to have a risk of malware, namely Paradigit, MyCom and Computerland, according to the report.
3D printer for creating untraceable AR-15 rifles hits market
Published time: October 03, 2014 03:21
Defense Distributed has offered a pre-sale of its new milling machine which allows buyers to print and assemble a steel AR-15 rifle in the comfort of their own home. The weapon is completely untraceable.
Ghost Gunner is the company’s new computer-numerically-controlled (CNC) milling machine. Unlike its so-called Liberator gun, which is a plastic gun design to be created via a 3D printer, the Ghost Gunner is the PC-connected hardware for manufacturing the lower receiver of the popular AR-15 rifle.
The receiver is the control part of a firearm which houses the operating parts and serves as the frame of the gun. Without it, the weapon is inoperable. It is also where the manufacturer places the serial number, which is required by law.
The US does allow for creating a firearm from parts or kits, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), which states: “[An] unlicensed individual may make a ‘firearm’ as defined in the GCA for his own personal use, but not for sale or distribution.”
As a way to get around that law, manufacturers can make a semi-finished lower receiver that “isn’t technically a gun, but gets as close to the line as possible,” Ars Technica reported. The metal piece is usually 80 percent finished, and can be purchased from a variety of companies. The Ghost Gunner machine will finish the lower receiver, and then customers can purchase the rest of the AR-15 parts online, without being subjected to waiting periods or background checks.
The company’s co-founder, Cody Wilson, is a self-described anarchist. He told Wired that he wants to make the process of avoiding government weapons regulations easier and more accessible than ever before.
“Typically this has been the realm of gunsmiths, not the casual user. This is where digital manufacturing, the maker movement, changes things,” he said. “We developed something that’s very cheap, that makes traditional gunsmithing affordable. You can do it at home.”
Couple to Get Married on the Bitcoin Blockchain at Disney Bitcoin Conference
by Adam Hofman
Bitcoin Magazine
Sept 23, 2014
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FL, SEPTEMBER 22 – The value of Bitcoin is about to become life changing for one couple, who will use Bitcoin technology to register their marriage on the blockchain, as one of the governance services provided by Bitnation.
This hi-tech wedding is the first of its kind, and will take place at the Disney World Coins in the Kingdom Bitcoin Conference on October 4th and 5th at The Wyndham Lake Buena Vista on The Walt Disney World Resort.
David Mondrus is a serial entrepreneur, CEO of RedboxJewels.com, and advisor at Bitnation, who met Joyce Bayo while he was researching new business opportunities in the Philippines. She stole his heart when she fed him pineapple on a boat. He stole a kiss from her the following night and she has been trying to get it back ever since.
“We believe that like the blockchain, our love and marriage are forever and that our relationship is not defined by governments or the church. So enshrining our commitment to each other in the blockchain in front of our friends is very dear to us.” said David Mondrus, the groom.
The blockchain is a cryptographically secure public ledger distributed amongst all of its users, which records all transactions on the the Bitcoin Network. When one address signs a transaction it is broadcasted to the network and recorded forever. The blockchain cannot be changed or edited unless there is a consensus within the community of people from all over the world who help maintain the ledger and at this point that numbers above 7000+. The blockchain allows people to be able to always go back and verify when a transaction has a occurred, where it was sent from, and the address which received the transaction.
One way of utilizing this public ledger technology is to embed messages or contracts inside of a transaction. These contracts or messages can be seen by anybody looking at the blockchain as long as it exists. Pondering what type of records one usually documents publically, a variety of uses come to mind such as marriages, titles, notarized documents, shareholder agreements, and even votes. Once embedded within the blockchain, it is easy to determine who owns what utilizing a tool called a block explorer and all without the necessity of a central physical location to store the documents. In effect the blockchain is a record of all of our actions and achievements stamped permanently in time. The blockchain is a transparent time capsule for all to see.
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