The only ways I know to stabilize BTC involves regulation. That is not going to be well received here.
I'm not an economist or anything, but I believe what you see in the bitcoin economy is a pure supply/demand model.

not taboo, we laugh about it all the time.

Thanks doc. Ill have to read this tonight.

Just seeing the title and the publication date, we know who they are talking about.  

You may be right. But even with our substantial knowledge of chemicals and electromagnetism we simply don't know how to get the "living state" going, or how it keeps going.
In physics a lot of discussion about unifying large and small scale theory is underway. But what about life? It seems to me that no theory of physics is complete without an explanation of the weirdest phenomena of all.

The spookiest thing about quantum (Einstien called it spooky) is that we do not know how it works. For all we know research may discover ways of accessing secure data via multidimensional exploits. It's no longer even out of the question to think that cause and effect is just a phenomena created by our feeble ability to perceive what's really going on.

I teach biology, and I often wonder if there is a quantum connection between wave colapse and the state we call "living". Right now I can't explain to my students the difference between a dead bird and a live bird.
You are going to hear a lot more about this in the future.

I want to change my screen name to "The Manipulator". 

I've done well in the stock/bond markets, angel investing, art, real estate, and bitcoins. The one thing I have learned is to not listen to others. If you feel an investment is a good idea, do it. Those who say the sky is falling or too expect 50% growth per year are just guessing.
On the other hand if you feel uneasy, get out. I pulled out just before the 90's tech bubble burst. I did this against the advise of "experts". Even a cursory review of the statistical efficacy of experts will reveal that they know nothing.
Most investors base their investments on emotion. You want to beat them? Base your decisions on math.

I just linked to this thread on twitter.

Is this big news?

http://anteyekon4myst.visibli.com/share/DlRPpP

It's not even that hard.
There are like 80k words in common use in English. You could just create dictionaries that contain the Md5 values in advance. so six dictionaries could cover words plus up to five sums.
But again, you now have a targeted attack. That is a different beast. You would likely be hit by an additional targeted dictionary with your birthday, dog's name ect.

This method is for the person about to choose "password" as their password.

At least we have all become sophisticated enough to realize we are guessing.  I fliped a coin and it predicted that the market over the next three days will go UP, DOWN, UP.  lets see if the I-ching is right.

It's going to get hot until we all die. 
All other trends will relate to this. Water wars, mass migrations. It's going to be ugly

lol No, you get a pass.

I agree with all your examples. But I would add the possibility that even without help, bitcoin will find a niche. Speculation has become an unintended center of the bitcoin economy. But maybe that is just going to happen. It does make a mean currency for arbitrage, for example.
Perhaps this will lead to wider adoption by those who see it's core benefits as "the money of the Internet"?

Good points all around. My method assumes no one knows you are encoding a simple password. And yes, it would be better to use a non-word. Then an attacker must go the brut force route. The Md5 is long and complex enough to avoid being in the "low hanging fruit" category.

The main advantage is ease of use and relatively strong protection using an easy to remember PW. With a little creativity you can go further. Suppose I used the Md5 result string to hash it again?

Interesting. But those companies prefer to game the market rather than compete. A free market would eat their lunch. In fact if they did not receive my tax money they would be gone already. 

A quick tip for creating long passwords in Linux.

Open a terminal window and type in the following command:

rodeox@Linux-ThinkPad:~$ echo -n test |md5sum

The part in red will be your user and computer name. The part in purple will be your easy to remember password.
Now hit enter and your computer will create an Md5 key for you.

Example for the word "test":
098f6bcd4621d373cade4e832627b4f6

Now any time I want to remember that long string of numbers and letters I just go to my terminal and enter my easy password. Each time it will give the same answer.

Good:
use an escrow or another 3rd. party system. Or insist that you receive and move your money first.

Better:
Check up on the person you are considering doing business with.
What is their real name and home address? Tell them you want to talk on their home phone first. Couldn't find it? Then don't do the deal.

Best:
Never use PayPal. Even with the temptation of a high price.

Whatever his motive, if he pays people back he has taken a step in the right direction.

I also heard that Ron Paul spent 1/10 of the money she did. He should be declared a landslide winner.
I think he is getting the same treatment Howard Dean got from the Democrats.

Competition is good, not greed.