http://www.blackjackchamp.com/casino-news/18169-cyprus-crisis-increases-flight-to-bitcoins/

Clearly, a virtual currency with no single physical presence, on which no government can levy taxes, carries a definite attraction these days, especially in countries whose economies are in a less than perfect shape.

A couple other interesting paragraphs:

A host of vendors also accept payments made in Bitcoins and recently a British man sold his entire house for this virtual, peer-to-peer currency. But a major area driving popularity (and price) of Bitcoins upwards is online and mobile casino gambling.

Did I miss something, or is this just an interesting example of the telephone game?

Another significant development that could have led to this surge in demand for Bitcoins observed over the past couple of days may have been the decision earlier this month by iPoker’s WinPoker.com skin, to add the cloud currency among its deposit and withdrawal options.

Considering these gambling trends it is possible that the events in Cyprus merely served as a catalyst for some people to start working on smart strategies to achieve financial security, but the main driver may still be the increasing availability of gambling destinations accepting Bitcoins.

http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_03_22/Bitcoin-to-become-borderline-illegal-in-the-US/

The US government has discovered a new instrument that could be used by terrorists to fund their illicit activities. Unsurprisingly, the American government is actually using the old terrorist scare in order to suppress the use of the first truly independent digital currency.

Both merchants and ordinary users are likely become targets for money laundering investigations, even if the American authorities insist that the new regulations will only be applied to business owners. Previous experience of “regulatory creep” demonstrates that the US government cannot be trusted to restrict its actions within the original scope of the new regulations.

http://venturebeat.com/2013/03/21/crazy-or-crazy-smart-canadian-man-puts-grandparents-house-up-for-sale-for-bitcoins/

A 22-year-old currency trader is selling his grandparents’ house for as many Bitcoins as he can get his hands on.
Taylor More put the listing up for the family home (pictured above) in Alberta, Canada, several days ago. He told me that the property is worth about $395,000, according to a realtor appraisal.

If nothing else, this guy has gotten tons of publicity

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100581105

A bunch of short articles on a variety of recent market news.  I'll quote the entirety of the bitcoin section below:

Web Money Gets Laundering Rule/WSJ: "The U.S. is applying money-laundering rules to "virtual currencies," amid growing concern that new forms of cash bought on the Internet are being used to fund illicit activities. The move means that firms that issue or exchange the increasingly popular online cash will now be regulated in a similar manner as traditional money-order providers such as Western Union Co. They would have new bookkeeping requirements and mandatory reporting for transactions of more than $10,000. Moreover, firms that receive legal tender in exchange for online currencies or anyone conducting a transaction on someone else's behalf would be subject to new scrutiny, said proponents of Internet currencies. ... One of the fastest-growing alternative cash products is Bitcoin, an online currency launched in 2009 that isn't backed by a central bank or controlled by a central administrator. Currency units, known as "bitcoins" and consisting of a series of numbers, are created automatically on a set schedule and traded anonymously between digital addresses or "wallets." Certain exchange firms buy or sell bitcoins for legal tender at a rate that fluctuates with the market. ... Bitcoins can be used in a host of legitimate transactions-for example, website Reddit allows users to upgrade services using bitcoins and blog service Wordpress.com's store accepts them as a form of payment. Pizzaforcoins.com also lets bitcoin savers pay for deliveries through Domino's and other pizzerias. On the other hand, at least one online service takes bitcoins as payment for illegal drugs, according to a Federal Bureau of Investigation report last year. Bitcoin's backers point out that criminals will use any currency for money laundering or illegal purchases."

And before you yell at me, it was written in one huge paragraph in the original

http://www.salon.com/2013/03/22/a_libertarian_nightmare_bitcoin_meets_big_government/

Bitcoins are undeniably cool: marvelously “mined” from the ore of computer processing power and electricity; more ready for prime time than any previous experiment in purely digital money. And Bitcoins, increasingly, are a success. At a Thursday afternoon all-time-high valuation of $72 per Bitcoin, there were around $700 million worth of Bitcoins in circulation. People are using Bitcoins to buy real goods and services, to hedge against European financial calamity, and to score drugs. That’s money.

If nothing else, Salon thinks we're cool

http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/how-washington-plans-to-regulate-your-bitcoins-20130321

In plain English, if you were to buy this man's house for 6,750 bitcoins like he's asked for, nobody will swoop down on you and tell you "no." On the other hand, if you're a middleman and you help transfer the currency as part of the transaction, you'll be treated just like any other intermediary using paper money

http://qz.com/65709/bitcoin-is-out-of-control-soaring-57-this-week/

Bitcoin, the alternative currency hailed either as the future of money or speculative nonsense, has soared 57% this week, continuing its puzzling climb in 2013.

Analysts and people who help administer bitcoin have been at a loss to explain its newfound strength, beyond vague theories about increasing confidence in bitcoin’s viability as an accepted currency. This week’s surge is even harder to figure out.

http://siliconangle.com/blog/2013/03/21/bitcoin-value-hits-70-and-keeps-climbing-cyprus-bailout-connection-speculated/

Bitcoin has seen a sudden and remarkable boost in value over the past few days that coincides with talks by cash-strapped Cyprus to raid their banking system in order to pay a $13 billion bailout tab—a reporter at BGR noticed that Spaniards became suddenly interested in a trio of iOS Bitcoin apps.

Mostly just a summary of all the latest BTC coverage.

http://www.brandchannel.com/home/post/2013/03/21/Bitcoin-Currency-032113.aspx

Bitcoin, the virtual currency anonymously exchanged through an online peer-to-peer network, has hit the mainstream radar as ironically, a technical glitch caused a “flash crash” this week, sending Bitcoin on a 23 percent tumble and into financial headlines.

Seems oddly out of date.  Is that restaurant in the picture one that was confirmed closed?

http://motherboard.vice.com/blog/why-bitcoins-are-just-like-gold

Bitcoin, in its present form, has a stark resemblance to gold. Both are backed by no one. Both are, relative to fiat currency, inconvenient for day to day use. Your gold coins or bitcoins (yet) won’t do much good at the grocery store. Both lack intrinsic value. If the apocalypse arrived tomorrow, your gold and BTC won’t help you survive against the zombies. Both have value only because society has confidence that they will maintain said value over time.

Very nice.

Entrepreneur Taylor More listed his two-bedroom Alberta bungalow, asking 405,000 Canadian dollars (£261,000; $395,000) - or the equivalent in Bitcoins.

He says the first reaction of his family was that of a shock.

Bitcoins are now a widely used alternative payments system and one Bitcoin is currently worth about £37.

I really hope this bro sells his house for BTC.  It'd be a huge boon for us.  I toats would if I had enough money or had any desire to live in Alberta.

http://www.manolith.com/2013/03/15/bitcoin-tipper-allows-twitter-users-to-tip-each-other-real-kinda-money/

Barack Obama is a popular dude on the Internet. Heck, he holds the world record for most retweeted post and his infamous AMA crashed Reddit prior to the 2012 election.

He’s not going to get rich at the rate he’s earning money via Bitcoin tips on Twitter, though.

Woo! Up to four for me today.

http://www.businessinsider.com/what-in-the-world-is-a-bitcoin-2013-3

Earlier in the week, I wrote to you about an Argentine car rental agency that had started accepting Bitcoins as a means to bypass local capital controls.
We received a lot of questions about the article, the most common of which was “What in the world is a BITCOIN?”

Side note: I'm on fire today! Three press articles in a row! Someone tip me 

http://www.businessinsider.com/crash-belies-confidence-in-bitcoin-2013-3

The virtual currency, which is exchanged anonymously via an online peer-to-peer network, might be starting to go mainstream, as the recent announcement that Silicon Valley Bank will hold Bitcoin deposits suggests.
And while there has been a lot of increased interest in Bitcoin as of late, given its meteoric rise, there's still one big problem, as this week illustrates.

http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/web-host-monstermegs-accepts-bitcoin-payment

Based on the international appetite for its hosting services, there are MonsterMegs customers that can’t pay with traditional payment methods such as PayPal or credit card. With Bitcoins, it is now able to cater to all kinds of customers, regardless of the possible restrictions in their country.

Here's another weird one, but the internet is vast.  I'm looking for a high-quality clip from an episode of the old Power Rangers.  I don't know what episode or season or whatever, so that's part of what I'm paying for.  

All I know is that they are some kids in a computer lab and one says "Oh no! I got a virus!" and the computer screen says something like "YOU HAVE A VIRUS!" and there's a timer and another kid manages to save the day by pounding on the keyboard.

I'll pay .5BTC if anyone can find/get a good version of this clip.  .3BTC if you can at least point me to which episode this was in.  I don't know anything about Power Rangers, but just caught this bit on TV once and cracked me up.

Thanks.

http://www.businessinsider.com/argentines-escaping-currency-controls-with-bitcoins-2013-3

My friend Sir Charles at PricedinGold.com wrote me this morning from Argentina’s Salta province (near Doug Casey’s lovely property in Cafayate) and told me that TEA Turismo, a local tour operator and rental car agency there has started accepting BITCOINS.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/03/07/bitcoinstore_will_the_online_retailer_prompt_amazon_and_others_to_accept.html

Reposted from a different blog, apparently.

My favorite part of the article is when the author calls BS on Amazon's "currency" and links to another article that really debunks it.  Finally, a media outlet that didn't buy the press release without thinking for 15 seconds.

Daily Dot - Bitcoin arrives in 2013 more popular than ever

http://www.dailydot.com/news/bitcoin-growth-steady-popular-2012/

Among the data citing to support this claim was the increase in downloads of the various Bitcoin-related clients. Bitcoin-qt, the most popular of the clients, reached 70,000 downloads a month in the second half of the year.

This is a totally random and specific request. But hey, if someone has it and wants to sell it let me know!