..it all depends on what you are securing against..

Furthermore: are there any catches, problems associated with accepting bitcoins?

I would change this to say "Does a Bitcoin private key have value", to which the answer is yes, because only with the key you can sign a transaction transferring the value stored in the block chain.

"Intangible personal property" means a claim, interest (other than an interest in tangible property), right, or other thing that has value but cannot be seen, felt, weighed, measured, or otherwise perceived by the senses, although its existence may be evidenced by a document."

So I'm at work, after hours, plugging away at my PC, and a co-worker comes to my desk. She sees pictures of my son, and asks if he's mine. Yes, I respond.

 "Oh, he's so handsome! Is he well behaved?"

 I thought that was an odd question, so I said yes, he's very well behaved. When I asked what she meant, she went on about the hells of raising her 6 year old (mine is 7). She complains about how her child doesn't listen to her no matter how much she gets spanked, is constantly misbehaving, etc.

 At this point I had to ask, 'Did it ever occur to you that spanking might be the problem?' I ask this because for a lot of people when discussing the behavior of other children, if they're out of control the comment that the parents must not be spanking enough is always made. I ran into a similar situation a few months ago, went to the house of my wife's friend, and their little one was an absolute nightmare. He was combative, offensive, would not listen and just completely out of control. This was in a Catholic home with plenty of corporal punishment. The parents were just perplexed at what they could possibly be doing wrong, but unable to consider the possibility that spanking was the issue.

 Anyway, I said to my co-worker, my son is at the top of his class. His reading is 3 grades ahead and it's something he does on his own for enjoyment. His classmates look to him for help and as an example. He doesn't hit, he doesn't fight, he doesn't take. He is respectful of the property of others; if anything he's a bit too hesitant to use or touch anything that is not his without express permission to do so. We can take him anywhere, from long international flights to doctors visits to the movies and while he will probably complain about being bored, he'll never go berserk or cause a problem.

 He's empathetic, compassionate, respectful. I woke up today and he had already brushed his teeth and taken a shower, and gotten dressed for school COMPLETELY on his own. I don't know, sometimes I think I take him for granted, or at least his behavior. My co-worker was shocked. And then I dropped the bomb on her:

 I never hit him. Ever. I never raise a hand to him or make him feel threatened. I don't even raise my voice. It has been a lot of work, taking the time to be actively engaged in his life and having to reason with him to help him understand the hows and why's of the world. But I think he's worth it, and if what you want is a child that behaves the way mine does, the last thing you should do is hit. I am not a scientist and he is not an experiment, but anyone that has raised a child should see how they learn; by copying what you do. They're like little copy machines and they mimic behaviors with an amazing skill.

 So if you treat your child with respect instead of aggression, you will get respect instead of aggression.

 I just wanted to share this, and say thank you (again) to Stefan for opening my eyes. It really is true that if we want to achieve a peaceful, cooperative society the place to start is with our children, and the way to teach them is by example.

I'm scanning over it as I get everything formatted, and all I can say is... wow. Well, that's not entirely true. I can say a great many other things, but they're not fit to print.

As the number of "lost coins" goes up, the chances of people opening a new address and finding a pleasant suprise within also goes up.

Thanks, that's what I thought but I wanted to make sure. In other words, contracts involving bitcoins are not enforceable in courts.

I'm wondering though, could you sue for breach of contract or something along those lines? And, in my first example, if you did accept $s but insisted on getting the going exchange rate for bitcoins (lets say 100 bitcoins at $11/each, $1100) would you expect the courts to rule in your favor in that full amount?

I would not be surprised if their knee jerk reaction was: "Remove bitcoin from your site, or else we will freeze your PayPal accounts"

With the total number of bitcoins capped what are the implications?

This is good news, but: How exactly is this target group supposed to get hold of bitcoins? Oh, right. There are no bitcoin exchanges in Kenya, Haiti, Cuba, or Iraq. I am not being sarcastic, but genuinely concerned about this problem.

A positive start and probably the biggest winner is BitPay