Oh, that's interesting.  Rather than rushing ahead of ourselves, we need to let the capabilities mature before pressing the message out.  Then we shouldn't be watching the exchange rate minute-by-minute.  That's different than I was thinking.  Thank you.  Hmm, what is our message until then?  When will we know it is time to unveil Bitcoin again for the masses?  Or are the capabilities going to come along one at a time in an uncoordinated fashion?

The exchange rate is fundamentally driven by emotion at this time.  It's going to take some seriously positive news to break out of this decline.  In my humble opinion the exchange rate could dip to $100-200/BTC at which level either the true believers support it or Bitcoin slides into a long term niche position.  If the core erodes then there's no one left to champion it.  Crossing the chasm into the early majority is not easy/given.  A cohesive and well-executed marketing campaign is the best way to get us there.

My non-retirement Bitcoins were acquired on the following dates;

April 25, 2013
April 26, 2013
May 2, 2013
May 7, 2013
May 17, 2013
May 23, 2013
June 4, 2013
June 6, 2013
June 14, 2013
July 1, 2013
July 2, 2013
July 24, 2013
August 13, 2013

At prices ranging from $85/BTC to 144.49/BTC.

Each of those same dates in 2014 is when the corresponding Bitcoins reach the ripe old age of 12 months and become eligible to be treated as long term capital gains.  My plan is to sell enough of these to finish getting my original stake back (to satisfy my family and friends and keep them from nagging me).

At the same time my plan is acquire additional Bitcoins into my Roth IRA retirement account.

So, I want the Bitcoin exchange rate to be as high as possible on each of the dates given above in 2014 in order to reduce the number of Bitcoins I need to sell but at the same time I want the lowest possible exchange rates on the days in-between so that I can acquire the maximum number of Bitcoins.  Who can arrange this for me?  

Most people I personally know have heard of bitcoin (mostly because I tell them about it); only 1 or maybe 2 of them mine at all.  Perhaps they heard about it too late or are not inclined to mine.

An artist creates a work of art.  The work of art is property.  Does the artist owe income tax on the day the piece of art is complete?  I doubt it.  Creating the accepted block of Bitcoin transactions is a beautiful work of art.

An artist sells a work of art.  The artist owes income tax.  A Bitcoin miner sells/uses the block reward.  The miner owes income tax.

A miner mines a lump of rock out of the mine.  Little does the miner know there's a piece of gold inside the rock.  Does the miner owe income tax right away?  Later the miner breaks open the rock and finds a shiny piece of gold-colored metal.  Does the miner owe income tax yet?  The miner tests the metal and discovers it is gold.  Now does the miner owe income tax?  The miner doesn't have the money to pay and would have to sell the gold in order to have enough money to pay the tax.

I'm watching for a buy in mid-April; not interested in catching the exact bottom; it just happens to coincide with some of "old" non-retirement coins reaching the ripe old age of 12 months (long term capital gains).  I'm replacing them with retirement funds.

Your Account
Amazon.com

   Message From Customer Service

Hello,

I understand that you wish to know that the bit coins can be used.

We don't accept bit coins as a payment method on our website at this time. I sincerely apologize for this.

We accept credit cards, debit cards, payment from U.S. checking accounts, Amazon.com Gift Cards, Amazon Payments Stored Balance, and the Amazon.com Store Card. Here are the credit cards we accept:

-- American Express
-- Diner's Club (U.S. billing addresses only)
-- Discover
-- MasterCard
-- Visa, Visa Electron, and Visa Check Cards
-- Eurocard
-- JCB
-- NYCE
-- STAR
-- China UnionPay (credit card only)

You can learn more about these payment methods on our Help pages:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=513058

If you'd prefer to pay with cash, you can buy Amazon.com Gift Card claim codes from authorized resellers at a store near you. Learn more at:

www.amazon.com/cashgcresellers

However, I've forwarded your message to appropriate department and I'll make sure the appropriate people in our company see your message, So that it will be made active in future.

We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Best regards,
Alagu S.

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Original Message
---------------
03/12/14 19:16:53
Your Name: David Rabahy
Comments:I have Bitcoins and would appreciate it Amazon accepted them as a form of payment.
---------------

Post your efforts to get Amazon to accept Bitcoin here.

I'm trying to do my best to minimize the heaps of BS with my CNBC Squawk on the Street interview being arranged soon.  It will be broadcast live so that will avoid being taken out of context.  Still, they may preface/introduce my segment with their own BS, then may ask twisted questions that are hard to untwist quickly, and then close with their own prepared BS again.  Still my words will be my words.  I suppose a big risk is my own words might turn out to be messed up but I feel pretty prepared and I believe my message is in line with the Bitcoin community.

"First Meta" first appears in this forum over a year ago;

It couldn't be contrived, could it?  https://firstmetaexchange.com/ appears to be well populated; as if it has been around for at least a little while.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/101468694 -- "... rash of suicides ..."; that's disturbing if true and highly manipulative if not.

http://money.cnn.com/gallery/technology/security/2014/02/27/bitcoin-mtgox/3.html was the author's twist from his interview of me.  I did my best to represent my positions in the "Join the Conversation" section.  I have since been called by CNBC for an interview.  What a ball!

When I read http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/25/technology/security/bitcoin-mtgox/index.html?iid=HP_LNI I followed the link to "Share your story: Do you have bitcoins?" which prompted a call from the author Jose Pagliery.

What level?  An undergraduate thesis would be very different than a doctorial thesis.

What kind of thesis?

Unfortunately the process of natural selection does not operate at the speed of the Internet.  Per http://www.historybuff.com/library/refbarnum.html, "There's a sucker born every minute."

http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5057/

To me it is refreshing to feel fear; it means something important/meaningful is happening.  Something is at risk.  Then when I pause to assess my situation I realize I only staked 2% of my wealth and was going to ride Bitcoin to the top or zero whichever comes first.

There is no reward without risk.  Risk without fear is not real risk.

Here's the thing; non-participants in Bitcoin can worry all they want; they don't participate so their concerns do not impact the exchange rates, period.  Only participants in Bitcoin can impact the exchange rates by buying and selling.  If some weaklings got into Bitcoin and don't take the time to understand Mt. Gox is blowing smoke then they made a mistake getting in in the first place.  Investing in Bitcoin is not for weaklings.