Plato's Republic. As truthful today as it was in ancient times.
Here is a link:
http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/republic.html

If you have any questions about it, I believe Plato has an account here.   

DigitTraders

The one that came out was a half carat. Not really a "baguette" diamond, but more of a rectangular cut.

I listed this ring as sort of an experiment.  Gold is the ultimate currency and some might think me crazy for using gold and diamonds to buy bitcoin. But I wanted to see the real value of gold in bitcoin, factoring in the risk of buying semi-anonymously. I currently have not even been offered the 60BTC reserve. That is about half of the scrap value according to the jewelry store near my home. That is even considering the low end of the diamond value. A full appraisal would involve  removing the stones and would cost too much relative to the value of the ring.

So I think fear about peer-to-peer sales means that sellers need to reduce price to coax buyers when using bitcoins. I believe if I put this on e-bay for USD it would have offers, maybe even the low buy it now price, which is just a scarp price a dealer might pay.

What do you think?

Mine also. But yes the center stone has bought her off!  lol

As Plato once said,

What about specialty items for moding or special purpose computers?

+1 Madhatter

If using his Bitcoin4Cash it may take a couple of weeks but don't worry.

Re-Edit:
 I believe Madhatter is a stand up guy.

I am selling a 14k white gold ring with four small diamonds.
It is missing the center stone, so I'm selling it as scrap. I wanted to see how much gold is really worth in bitcoins.  

Take a look! http://www.biddingpond.com/item.php?id=417&mode=1

EDIT: The winner is Distribution.

This is a good question. Very small payments are problematic for other payment systems such as credit cards because they cannot scale as well as a P2P system. Especially when it comes to things worth a few pennies or less. In addition to requiring a profit, Mastercard must buy it's infrastructure and pay something additional to get anything done. Because of this, the micropayment economy may be relatively untapped.
I can envision a wide range of areas for such payments:
Internet advertising: those per-click based arrangements would automate well by paying in bitcoin.
Charitable giving: Tiny and anonymous contributions could be made directly to those in need.
Consumer promotional campaigns: Pay consumers , or charge for deals.
Small fair trade items: Doesn't get more fair than buying direct.
video game point system: Maybe you have the option to bet with your friends during a deathmatch.
Metered Internet services: Advanced searches, news, large automated services.
The big thing nobody saw coming: 

I don't have an SVG of this. But if you like it I can convert it.
http://imgur.com/s1xkN

you look fine with your head shaved. I tried it once and wow did it look awful. 

It's a wonderful notion, but what government would ever entertain the idea? Would they allow this new country to have an army? Without an army what would keep someone from just looting your village?

I'm no believer in faith either. However it seems to me all you need to create a currency is something hard to counterfeit and a belief in it's value. So, faith is important. After all dollars are just paper, and gold is just a shinny rock. All value beyond that is based on our belief that it will still have value tomorrow.

Ok. I sent the last bitcoins to the address in the link.  A little beyond "medical diets", but interesting. I would add that despite the barriers of language and distance it was nice doing business with Jameszhang.

Thanks!

It has been an interesting experiment to see the ideas of the Chinese students who are trying to earn bitcoins for a class project. I bought something today and had a wonderful experience connecting with some random person in China. In an effort to help these students to do even better, I offer the following advice.

1. Consider what can be sold easily. A dog, for example, is not a good choice. It would be almost impossible to send it to your buyer. The information about Chinese food I bought is a good example of something easy to buy and easy to provide over the internet.

2. Be upfront about price and terms. Many of the students have been unclear about the price. This is all new, so it is understandable. However clearly showing the price in an ad will increase the confidence of the buyer.

3. Have all the details needed to do the transaction in the ad. That includes the price, how the product/service will be delivered, and your receiving address.

What is it with me and lists today?

I was so excited to hear about bitcoin that I bought some before I had a clue what to do with them. In the past few weeks I have learned a little and wanted to share some advice with new users or those still considering bitcoin.

6 things for new bitcoiners to do:

1. A good first step after downloading the bitcoin program may be to head over to bitcoin faucet for a free 0.5BTC . That is not much money but you can see how the program functions. Congratulations, you have your first transaction.

2. Turn some fiat currency into bitcoins. There are several services to use cash, PayPal, etc.  There are other ways of getting bitcoins, but buying them with dollars or other currency helps establish bitcoin.

3. Give back your bitcoin faucet money. Giving back the tiny amount you received will allow the website to continue helping new users.

4. Buy something, anything. There are a growing number of goods and services to choose from. More than anything else, buying things with bitcoin will strengthen it's role as a currency. An advantage of using bitcoin is that you can deal directly with a seller (if you want). It also does not have to be a big purchase. With no fees you could buy something for 0.00001BTC.

5. Donate to some things you like.  Again, small amounts are fine. You could sent payment to someone who wrote something helpful to you. Or help defend Julian Assange, whatever.

6. Sell something. Several sites offer escrow service or tools to advertise whatever it is you are selling.  You could sell an item or a service. Especially a service that can be done online. Maybe you can translate text, or write some sick code.


After doing these things you should have enough experience to confidently use bitcoin as an alternate to oldskool paper money.

谢谢您的回答我的电子邮件。我期待着尝试这种食物类型！

I just sent an email about this. I'm buying a copy. Is it still .50BTC?

set up account, email sent. Thanks!

Edit: Coins received.

In Ubuntu it is likely  in:  /home/user/.bitcoin/

Thanks for this tuxsoul! I'm adding you to my cool book.