The problem with Tor is that the connections are identifiable for anyone with the ability to oversee large portions of the monitered section of the Internet, such as the government of China.  So even if a bridge node is established, it can be identified prettly easily.  Also, China itself could establish a bridge node, and record connections, then kill the bridge and track down the IP's that it has recorded.

Ah, no.  Of course not.  It's your idea.  Build it and we shall come.

Thanks for volunteering.  Keep us updated on your progress.

That chart likely wouldn't record my own 'shy' client, and I'm sure that there are more than just mine.

What do you base this statement upon?

I have personally offered advice in the past, including but not limited to the "that won't work" type.  A polite refusal to consider is still a rejection of opinion, so my point stands.

Mostly likely connections are being blocked by a firewall.

Although an interesting read, that article was far from conclusive on the topic of wages.  Seems pretty comparable to me.

Speculation provides working capital for producers, as well as signals for allocation of resources.  It's a necessary part of the free market system, and the very fact that the Soviet Union would punish it with the death penalty should be indicative of that.  It also has the net effect of suppressing drastic price changes with regard to forseeable economic events.  Do I need to remind you that the history of your own nation is circumstantial evidence that top-down control of economic resources (i.e. soviet style communism) is a failed political ideology?

Except that your pursuit of monetary policy opinions tend to filter out those whom you disagree with.  Not that there is necessarily anything wrong with this, as it has to be done in some fashion; but the end result is the same as Satoshi's.

That is, in fact, not the case.  My wife also applied to Target, and their offer was lower.

They have done that for a long time.  There are many advantages to this, as Walmart is a large enough company with a large enough retail product base to provide a large portion of their own employees' needs.  Rarely did my wife ever leave with a paycheck, as when she worked there, an employee could pick up their check and cash it right there, then she would go shopping.  It closes the loop on a great many things, removing some taxation from the benefit in the same way that other major corporations can offer an employee discount, such as Ford's A plan.  Bitcoin would be a huge boon for Wal-Mart, if they were willing to accept it against the wishes of states; but would be a bigger boon for Bitcoin.  The amount of money that crosses from the US into Mexico due to families sending money to other family members is huge, and quite a source of funds for Wal-Mart as it is.  If they started accepting bitcoin in exchange for store credit, as well as selling bitcoin at the money services desk, they could completely cut the banks out of the loop.

The bankers won't be happy, though.

Then change the laws, but as it stands, these people are already eligible for these programs.  The legal aid simply increases awareness of these programs, to the benefit of their employees and their dependents, and helps them with the processes.  Target's employee base is likely just as eligible, they just aren't aware of them.

I used to believe this kind of propoganda, coming from my union, but after my wife got a job there (in part, out of spite) I came to understand that WalMart isn't union mostly because those who work there don't want to be.  WalMart's benefits package, although sparse in certain areas that families might consider crucial, are incredible in other areas.  I've written about this particular topic repeatedly on this forum.  On example is that WalMart has a legal aid department, that will help "associates" to uncover and apply for government programs targeted towards their situations.  This is the primary reason that there happen to be almost twice as many WalMart employees on government assistance (per capita?) in the US than Walmart's primary competitors such as Target.  They also function, to an extent, the same way that a city supported legal aid department is supposed to work, helping employees to understand how to plea down traffic violations, file motions, etc in their own legal issues.  But they don't provide a lawyer, as far as I know.

That has exactly zero to do with it.

In both the cases of Taiwan and Singapore, the 'seeds' of innovation came decades ago from the adoption of Western culture and economic concepts.  Japan to some degree as well, but there has definitely been some cultural resistance that inhibits the encouragement of 'innovative' types.  I will oversimplify it by saying that it's related to the cultural drive to conform that suppresses whatever leads to 'innovative' types.  Certainly, this is a generalization, and there are always exceptions; but Western cultures tend to value individualility more than China or Japan, the US the most in that respect.  I believe that this is the core element, but I can't really know.  But just think about it, the Western cultures continue to produce the majority of well known innovators such as Steve Jobs, and tends to be more likely to place those same types of people into positions of authority, able to leverage that innovative "quality" into a final product.

There is a strong cultural component to innovation, and the dominat culture that is China doesn't really have it.  That is not to say that it can't happen, if the powers that be in China can recongnize that fact, but odds are high that innovation in China will long be connected to Western companies.  Japan, for that matter, doesn't innovate very well, but both cultures are particularly good at productive efficiency.

Not for the British Empire, it never really collapsed, but simply transferred primary dominance from Britain to the US sometime during WWII.

Empire maintaince and expansion, and the cost of a military of worldwide reach and scope.

There is an internal fallback list, as well as a history list after the first connection.  Connected peers can also share the addresses of peers that it is aware of as well.