It's kind of like the domain system in that it's a fictional "asset" created by computer geeks that has value because of its limited nature. Sure, the number of domains isn't limited but there is a limited number of domains that are easily usable because of their short length, memorability, or whatnot. Kind of like there is a limited amount of prime real estate. Thus sex.com sells for millions of dollars just like prime new york city real estate does.  Bitcoins is kind of like this except some bitcoins aren't worth more than others, they are all worth the same, but the total number is limited.

Why does anyone value it at all?  Well why do people value domain names?  Because of the utility, what it does for you. Domains allow you to get to a website without having to know the IP address (set of computer numbers that identify a website, like a very long phone number).  Bitcoins provide something too:  security (as long as you know what you're doing), anonymity (as long as you know what you're doing), as well as a global payment system that crosses borders where transactions occur very very quickly and with very little if any fees.  And it's decentralized, meaning it can't be controlled or shut down, without shutting down entire portions of the internet. Just like torrents are used to pirate music and movies but they can't shut it down like they shut down napster, so too is bitcoin almost impossible to shut down because it is decentralized in the same way torrents are.

So....   bitcoins is an "invention" by computer nerds that functions as a monetary system without all the rules and regulations of the normal monetary systems.  It should be obvious, even to your parents, how this can have extreme advantages (AND disadvantages -- like transactions being irreversible).  People will pay for any advantage they can get.

And, just like domain names, those who get in the earliest will make the most money.

My roommate has a 6850 and gets 225 mhash/sec with it.

You can also check here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Mining_hardware_comparison

The first amendment doesn't apply to you, but it applies to ebay.  Meaning they can't sue you under US law if US law makes an allowance for the type of usage you're doing, which it does. They could still sue you in your country, but I don't know what country you live in and even if I did I'm not familiar with its laws. Your country may not allow any kind of usage of someone else's trademark. Or your country may not respect ebay's trademark and allow all usage. Chances are, you're fine though. Even if there is no "fair use" of someone else's trademark in your country, I doubt they would sue you over it since you're not even using the domain, it's just redirecting. Anything's possible and if you want to be absolutely sure you should consult a lawyer. But what they sent you is just a form letter, you're too small potatoes for them to even notice you at this point except that their little algorithm noticed the letters in your domain.

I absolutely would not worry about it so long as there is a bigger fish doing the exact same thing (paypalsucks.com), especially since it has been around for years.

IANAL, but here is my layman's opinion.  This is not legal advice.

1. Companies do things like this routinely as a matter of protecting their trademarks, whether it's valid or not they have to try so it looks like they are active in protecting their trademark otherwise it could be invalidated.  In fact, they probably have a script that monitors the domain registry and sends out these emails.  I bet you could register the domain SpayPalin.com (a political message advocating the sterilization of former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin) and you would get this email because it contains the letters p-a-y-p-a-l.

2. The relevant law, the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (referenced on ebay's info page at http://pages.ebay.com/help/policies/everyone-ebayipuse.html), requires intent to profit from the usage. Specifically, "The ACPA does not prevent the fair use of trademarks or any use protected by the First Amendment, which includes gripe sites." (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticybersquatting_Consumer_Protection_Act)

3. There are already plenty of prior examples of exactly this situation, like paypalsucks.com.  Believe me, if ebay/paypal legally had a case against you they would legally have a case against paypalsucks.com and it would NOT EXIST.  The fact that it does shows that ebay is all bark and no bite here.

In short, I would laugh and tell them to go fly a kite.

Edit:  Oh yeah if anyone finds SpayPalin.com as hilarious as I do and wants to give me a tiny donation for thinking up something so funny, I would humbly accept it lol -- 1HQiS9PLHPcoQMgN8ZdcGwhoMHWh2Hp37p

Oh I see, you're saying that the rate at which bitcoins are created compared to those that have already been created.  Okay.  My bad.

Of course, that means the first day of bitcoins they were inflating at infinite percent

Still, I don't think 44% annual inflation is extraordinary.

I think your math is off.

A block is created every 10 minutes (that's the target anyway). That's 50 bitcoins per ten minutes, or 300 per hour.  Times 24 hours equals 7200 btc per day.

7200 / 21000000 = 0.00034285, which is 0.03% per day.

Of course, blocks are actually found more often than once per 10 minutes (at least while the difficulty is rising).  But the rate you quoted, 0.1% is triple the 10-minute-per-block rate.  0.1% of all bitcoins would only be mined in a day if a new block was being found every three minutes instead of ten.  But if that were the case, difficulty would triple every time it adjusted, instead of going up about 10% give or take like it's been doing.

With difficulty going up 10% per adjustment (average), the rate of bitcoins per day is about 10% faster than my calculation of 0.034%, which means the real rate is about 0.037% (percentage of all bitcoins mined each day).

Additionally, even if we were to use your figure (0.1%), the annual inflation of that compounded daily over a year, is 1.001 ^ 365, or 1.44 = 44% annual inflation, which although high is not that amazing. Especially in light of the fact that, although the supply of bitcoins is growing at that rate, demand for bitcoins (which is still in infancy, really) is also growing quite rapidly.  Plus, the supply growth rate of bitcoins is GUARANTEED to slow down (by half in 2013, then by half again every 4 years, stopping completely eventually).  And that's using your number which is off.

If we use my figure (0.037%), that compounded daily over a year equals a 1.00037 ^ 365 = 1.1445 = 14.5% annual inflation.  Not so bad at all.

Welcome! Ask away!

That doesn't make a very good definition because the same could be said of food, water, oxygen, clothing, shelter, sleep, rest, exercise, transportation, etc

btcguild has been very unlucky lately.  Actually, most of the pools have been very unlucky lately.

Well the person who compiled those videos into a blog post didn't make the videos themselves.  It's not the article that is educational/informative, it's the videos. Don't judge a book by its cover.

And, for what it's worth, I don't think that statement is wholly inaccurate even though it is hyperbole.  People do become enslaved to the fiat currency system, especially the debt part of it.  And the central bankers who control the printing presses do engage in "legalized counterfeiting" from a certain perspective....   inflation steals money away from everyone by making the currency less valuable over time.

I don't see how it's partisan though?  Has nothing to do with republicans/democrats, it's equal opportunity oppression =P

We are a nation of juveniles.

The same logic applies to why people go to the emergency room for a runny nose when they have medicare/medicaid. They're not paying for it, why shouldn't they do it?

et cetera

You could try disabling hardware acceleration via the right-click menu on the flash object.

Check out these videos on economics and money, very informative:  http://pzxc.com/crash-course-on-economics

The answer to your question can be found in one of the stickied threads at the top of this newbie forum entitled "Newbie restrictions"

I would use whichever OS you're most comfortable with.  Once you get your OS to recognize all the GPUs, try mining with them on default settings for a few hours and make sure your system is stable, doesn't overheat, etc (watch the temps). If it's fine for a few hours, then you can overclock it a lil if you want to improve your hashrate, then retest again for a few hours or even a day for stability. Rinse and repeat

Bitcoin accounts are public/private key pairs. The address you send to is the public key. The private key that matches that public key is necessary in order to spend the bitcoins. You can create as many public/private keys as you want but they all have zero bitcoins unless someone sends btc to the public keys of those accounts. You can't mod your client to give yourself more bitcoins, because the bitcoins are associated with the public/private key pairs, not with the client or wallet.

Not to nitpick, but I'm sure you mean 7 mh/s, not 7 gh/s, don't you? 

There are people who would pay a LOT of bitcoins to know how to get 7 gh/s out of a CPU, let alone GPU.

I don't disagree with you.

But my point, is that there are a significant percentage of transactions that occur that the government never hears about.

You are required to collect and pay sales tax when you hold a garage sale. Yet millions of garage sales happen every year and no one collects sales tax or pays it.  If people WANT bitcoins, there will always be a place to get them, and there will always be a place to spend them.

Yes, the government can certainly affect how popular bitcoins are. But, they cannot destroy them. Just like they cannot stop people buying and selling illegal drugs. Thus, the value of bitcoins will never reach zero from what the government does, if it ever goes to zero it will be because the people abandon it, not because of the government.

In fact, the government opposing it might make it MORE attractive to a lot of people.

My share on round 1869 on btcguild are normal, about the same proportions as other nearby rounds.

What would you like explained?