I'm an English teacher in Germany so I get to talk with people about a diversity of topics, often what I suggest  . I've been educating my students on "What is money?" using videos and discussion. I've also been introducing BTC to them, which seems to complete the money education picture. I'm getting amazed at how much people are catching on. I mean most people have no idea about money, much less bitcoin. The girl I taught today works in accounting and was sort of pissed off at banking after we watched the first 20 mins of the first video below. Hopefully the Butterfly Effect has been started.

I feel like I'm doing my part to help mankind, not so much to get others educated on BTC, which happens anyway.

I've used the following two videos (both animated), which I recommend to educate people on money. (Then get into Bitcoin). I prefer the first as it is more about money, though the second is more entertaining. I'm curious if any of you are familiar with them, some feedback and perhaps other videos you may recommend. These videos might be a bit on the long side for some. Also, if you have other recommendations for educating others, I'm all ears. Eventually I hope some of my students start watching videos from The Bitcoin Education Project (which are being updated I just heard). https://www.udemy.com/bitcoin-or-how-i-learned-to-stop-worrying-and-love-crypto/

1. Money as Debt (45 mins) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqvKjsIxT_8

2. The American Dream (30 mins) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGk5ioEXlIM

I have brought a physical Casascius BTC into the class as well.
I also carry around this in my wallet, makes for interesting conversation and is a great intro into "What is money?":



IAS

Even though one might argue that the ASIC mining companies produced too many Gh too quick, doesn't that help secure the network and make a 51% attack from a government or such, less likely?
Just trying to find something positive in it all.

I ordered my Jalapeno, quite recently, knowing I wouldn't break even (since it will probably arrive at near years end) but I wanted to do my part to help support the network. And when one considers I can run it with low energy consumption using a Rasberry PI, it seemed like a good thing to do, especially since the Jalapeno uses a small amount of energy compared to a currently shipping competitors unit. But, I guess I'd then be able to pay for the unit if I had it now! 

IAS

I'd love to join in with Bitmessage.
But, has anyone made an install file (.dmg) for Mac yet?

+1
And I see coinseeker was at the heart of this. 

I wonder if he is talking about other uses for a new blockchain or the existing blockchain. If it is a new blockchain, then we are talking about things like namecoin (decentralized dns), decentralized voting, online ownership ledger, etc. If he is talking about the bitcoin blockchain, then that is interesting as it starts to build upon bitcoins blockchain with other services. I'd love to hear more about that. And don't get me wrong,
either of the preceding are transcending technologically. We are at a special place guys in our history. I only wish more could see it.

Behold the anti-fragile black swan (see my sig)...

I don't have a problem here, I just made a point. What are you a rep for them? Defending them and giving me advice? I don't want your advice and I wasn't looking to start trouble.

And I'm not saying to see everything, something reasonable so that the firestorm of people who think BFL is stealing their money. Is that fair? There are a lot of scams going on as money is to be made. There is nothing wrong with giving the customers security. I realize they are shipping, maybe 100 orders have been delivered that were ordered 1 year ago. I don't think some customer security is out of line.

I did say it has value intrinsically and I did say for a few reasons (and I am VERY familiar with Keisser and like the guy). I am saying, you still need faith for a money to work. Whether or not you see it as primary or secondary is just semantics.
If BTC was scarce but not secure (cryptographically), it wouldn't matter much, now would it? Bitcoin isn't anonymous. I would say it is pseudoanonymous (experts seem to agree here). You really have to know what you are doing to make it anonymous. I can imagine that if BTC follows money regulations, they will probably go after those trying to be completely anonymous. Not saying I like that, but can't imagine them not at least trying, just like they have been with torrent for years (and failing of course).

And by faith, that is not a bad thing. That is the center of money, that is what keeps it going. We all know BTC is valuable intrinsically, but the number of people I have to explain to what money is (that have lots of it, use it, etc.) just shows you people have faith in it. They don't understand it. They really have no idea on basic things like fractional reserve banking and such.

I'm not sure about what you say on two levels:


1 - IF stocks go up intrinsically, why don't we see the same level of inflation with goods and services in general?
2 - And what is speculative about the Fed buying stocks with printed money? (I can see people buying stocks as being speculative but when their bank deposit interest rate is 1%, they are just moving money but yes that is speculation). What the Fed is doing seems to be funneling the "inflation".

I understand that quite well. I prefer to just call it inflation, soon to be hyperinflation if they keep doing what they are doing. They are printing 85 billion new dollars every month. The banks that receive this are investing some of those $$$ in the stock market. The Fed I believe has as much as said that they are involved in asset (stock market) allocation. People who have money in the bank, hurt by artificially low interest rates are also putting money in the stock market. So, we have a sideways to falling economy, decreasing productivity, very high unemployment rates, people working 2 or more jobs and often being completely overqualified for what they are doing = A rising stock market. I guess most folks believe CNN, FOX, etc.

Anyway, the thing that is keeping things going is that people believe in the money. Money is essentially faith, we are seeing that with BTC. Intriniscally it has value for a few reasons, most notably its cryptographic security imo. Once people stop believing in the dollar, once they can't keep printing dollars to make the stock market go up (e.g. - worsening economy, rates that need to rise) = POP goes the weasel.

My point with the 16,000 level in the DOW was that, that is around when their game ends, regardless of printing more money or not.

Perhaps BFL can just open their books and show us all we have nothing to worry about. Very good point about the low post positive reports.

With regulatory bodies breathing down our necks and the Fed investigating whether or not we are a threat to their hyperinflated USD, we really need the expected, and long overdue currency and market crashes to start to happen.

We need to give the people who are soon to lose a lot of savings hope that there is another choice outside of the USD and US stock markets. We also need to give people who are not blind enough to invest in stock markets and such, hope there there is something sound. A soundly managed currency like BTC can give us that. It can give us back a store of value. Of course it isn't really ready imo to be a world currency, but as a compliment, as well as a store of value, it is perfect. It will also open the door to other decentralized stateless currencies, if need be.

We need to create a barrier between us and both the regulatory agencies and the Fed, govt, etc. Stock market and currency crashes will give us that as the people will demand something outside of those corrupt institutions/policies.

Understand that I'm not saying this selfishly. I think this system has been propped up long enough and enough money has been stolen from the people. The longer inflated fiat currencies and stock markets stay afloat with what should be termed illegal means, the worse the crash will happen; the more the people and economies will be hurt. And when things crash, and it will, the banks will no longer be able to keep the price of silver and gold down through the paper markets. We might very well see a decoupling of physical gold and silver (and probably BTC) from currencies hit the hardest, possibly even the dollar though it still is the world currency. People will more clearly see what these criminals have been doing to us for a long time.

Its about sharing

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/world-indexes/

   

Thanks, I didn't know about the European info (odd considering I'm in Germany).
I have heard from a few different sources (reliable with other stock market top calls) that the DOW will hit 16000 or so max and then POP goes the weasel. That will also coincide with a fall of the dollar.
Not saying I believe that, but I am watching for that...

Nikkei down 4%. Man, is that like down over 20% or so in two weeks?

http://www.bloomberg.com/markets/stocks/world-indexes/

Every time I see that image, it reminds me of this:

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=chaikin+money+flow


http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators:chaikin_money_flow

Developed by Marc Chaikin, Chaikin Money Flow measures the amount of Money Flow Volume over a specific period. Money Flow Volume forms the basis for the Accumulation Distribution Line. Instead of a cumulative total of Money Flow Volume, Chaikin Money Flow simply sums Money Flow Volume for a specific look-back period, typically 20 or 21 days. The resulting indicator fluctuates above/below the zero line just like an oscillator. Chartists weigh the balance of buying or selling pressure with the absolute level of Chaikin Money Flow. Chartists can also look for crosses above or below the zero line to identify changes on money flow.

Interpretation

Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is an oscillator that fluctuates between -1 and +1. Rarely, if ever, will the indicator reach these extremes. It would take 20 consecutive closes on the high (low) for 20-day Chaikin Money Flow to reach +1 (-1). Typically, this oscillator fluctuates between -.50 and +.50 with zero as the centerline.

Chaikin Money Flow measures buying and selling pressure for a given period of time. A move into positive territory indicates buying pressure, while a move into negative territory indicates selling pressure. Chartists can use the absolute value of Chaikin Money Flow to confirm or question the price action of the underlying. Positive CMF would confirm an uptrend, but negative CMF would call into question the strength behind an uptrend. The reverse holds true for downtrends.

Buying/Selling Pressure

Chaikin Money Flow can be used to define a general buying or selling bias simply with positive or negative values. The indicator oscillates above/below the zero line. Generally, buying pressure is stronger when the indicator is positive and selling pressure is stronger when the indicator is negative.

While this zero line cross seems simple enough, the reality is much choppier. Chaikin Money Flow sometimes only briefly crosses the zero line with a move that turns the indicator barely positive or negative. There is no follow through and this zero line cross ends up becoming a whipsaw (bad signal). Chartists can filter these signals with buffers by setting the bullish threshold a little above zero (+.05) and the bearish threshold a little below zero (-.05). These thresholds will not entirely eliminate bad signals, but can help reduce whipsaws and filter out weaker signals.

Calculation Quirk

The Money Flow Multiplier in Chaikin Money Flow focuses on the level of the close relative to the high-low range for a given period (day, week, month). With this formula, a security could gap down and close significantly lower, but the Money Flow Multiplier would rise if the close were above the midpoint of the high-low range. The chart below shows Clorox (CLX) with a big gap down and a close near the top of the day's high-low range. Even though the stock closed sharply lower on high volume, Chaikin Money Flow rose because the Money Flow Multiplier was positive and volume was well above average. Ignoring the change from close-to-close means that Chaikin Money Flow can sometimes disconnect with price.

Conclusions

Chaikin Money Flow is an oscillator that measures buying and selling pressure over a set period of time. At its most basic, money flow favors the bulls when CMF is positive and the bears when negative. Chartists looking for quicker money flow shifts can look for bullish and bearish divergences. Be careful though. Selling pressure still has the edge in negative territory, even when there is a bullish divergence. This bullish divergence simply shows less selling pressure. It takes a move into positive territory to indicate actual buying pressure. As an money flow oscillator, CMF can be used in conjunction with pure price oscillators, such as MACD or RSI. As with all indicators, Chaikin Money Flow should not be used as a stand-alone indicator. Marc Chaikin also developed the Accumulation Distribution Line and the Chaikin Oscillator.

Molecular - I came across your post via a series of coincidences, too complicated to share here. 
But, we share a vision, a passion and perhaps some inspiration.

I think we all understand this may not be smooth sailing, but that is a large part of the specialness of what BTC is bringing to the show.

They are trying to regulate us and I'm not completely against some as long as it doesn't become a stranglehold. We are in a position of power and we shouldn't forget that. They should meet us in the middle.
If you notice the news pumping out stories of Liberty Reserve being shut down and perhaps Bitcoin being next, all the while ignoring that we are decentralized, you know we are on their minds. They are
trying to quell the storm that recently started to explode in the media. (Once we are a few hundred more dollars per BTC, they won't be able to. It is my STRONG belief we need to go slow here. Don't try
to do to much too fast (regarding price)).

Now the Fed is investigating the effect we have on their money. Wow, a private corporation seeing if we impact them. I think their terrible policy (e.g. - inflation - 85 bill more $ a month) is doing that fine alone.

It will be interesting to see who gets to that point of no return first, TPTB or BTC. My bet is on the latter and we might have already crossed that threshold, though the legality hanging over us needs
some attention as we are up against criminals who profit from wars and have been enslaving people for a long time. They don't want "competition" and they will make a more obvious move, count on it.

Exciting times ahead. Our Anti-Fragile Black Swan has entered the building and she is not going anywhere (see my sig). To do so just makes her stronger. We are the beginning of a technological revolution that we just don't understand yet.

My Brother,
IAS

I don't know which indicator per say to use, but if you were to go through some of your more favorite ones (e.g. - MACD, when EMA's cross, money flow, etc.) and somehow connect
that to your bid/ask ratio and then back test it and see where it was meaningful. Know what I mean?

Thanks again for the description. It is interesting to look back (two weeks is your max) and see how the bid/ask ratio came down recently and is going back up now. It would be
interesting too look back a few months to see what it looked like during the big rise and boom, etc.

Interesting article talking about last weekends manipulation: http://blog.coinsetter.com/2013/06/03/bitcoin-market-manipulators-strike-on-the-weekend/

Bitcoin “Market Manipulators” Strike on the Weekend

After weeks of relative stability in the Bitcoin market, this weekend saw a rapid and unnatural drop in the Bitcoin price. Breaking from the $130 level where it had hovered for the prior week, strong selling pressures forced the Bitcoin price to $120 over the course of just seven hours. The price movement coincided with a gigantic jump in volume that had no apparent purpose. We also noticed multiple “clog sales” (i.e. small transactions of the same size in rapid progression). In all, $5.3 million of bitcoins were sold off during the seven hour period. This equated to more than 40,000 BTC of trading volume, which was returned to the market as buy orders about an hour later. Our prognosis: possible market manipulation.

The chart below displays trading activity on Mt. Gox on June 2, 2013. One can see that trading volume was light (almost non-existent) before the price drop occurred. Then, without explanation, one or multiple sellers overloaded the market with sell orders. There were several large orders placed, the largest trade being for 1,000 BTC.



As has already been widely discussed, market manipulation is easier to accomplish in markets with low trading volume. This ability is due to the ease of reaching lower orders in the orderbook with relatively little capital on hand. Given that Bitcoin’s displayed and perceived current price is based on the “last price”, big selling on a small orderbook can make it appear that prices are dropping for a more legitimate purpose. Contrary to this weekend’s downward price movement, Bitcoin’s future is just as strong as it was before the weekend. If this drop caused a setback in your outlook for Bitcoin, read our article on Bitcoin’s future (in short: it has never been brighter). http://blog.coinsetter.com/2013/05/30/a-letter-from-coinsetters-ceo-the-future-of-bitcoin-has-never-been-brighter/

Coinsetter to the Rescue!

We believe our platform can reduce the effect market manipulators have on Bitcoin prices. By aggregating the feeds of multiple exchanges, we dilute the power they can have on prices by diversifying systemic market liquidity. It’s also worth noting that higher trading volume on a well-built platform will make it increasingly difficult for any single dollar to move the market. Fickle exchanges have created a fickle market, but it won’t always be this way.

Thanks for the info, a bit clearer to me now.
Any reason why Bitstamp is way below 1? (I think it was around .4 or so) on the bid/ask ratio chart).

Also, have you played with combining the ratio chart with any other indicators? I have a feeling there might be something there.     But, just a feeling...

Resolve where? That is the problem. But, all they need to do is create a plugin for chrome and firefox and that solves the problem to an extent.
Doesn't do much for mom and pop but the internet revolution was created by techies and it took capitalistic greed like AOL to get people to use it...