Why would you want to host your website on an MS OS anyway, let alone one you don't even know how to administer properly.

My advice, look around for a good hosting deal (with good backups etc.) on shared hosting. Buy a hosting plan that can easily be upgraded to something dedicated as and when (and if) needed. Use your machine as a developer machine with all that entails (backups, version control etc.).

Forget about "the cloud". You're dreaming at this point. "The cloud" is something for when you actually need to radically increase the number of visitors that the site can handle.

Are you sure it is a valid CC number though? I would be all like, umm, fuckers, 5151 9410 2489 or whatever, making sure the check bits matched of course. I.e. give a fake number. Just like if some random person on the street asked for my password in exchange for a pen or something. "Sure, it's 'fuckyoucunts', now can I have my pen?"

There is a JavaScript miner as well.

A simple Google search provides these links:
Bitcoin JavaScipt Miner on Github
Slush made one too

But what would be the point of actually using one? They'd be too slow.

"A major function of the federal reserve is to prevent the infinite expansion of the M1/M2 money supply. I don't understand how Bitcoin prevents this. Is there a mechanism?"

Yes, only 21 million coins can be created. Dun dun dun.

The "value" given to gold is more than it's actual use value. Gold is given value because it is pretty, not because it is useful. It would be priced more like copper if it's use value was the sole value looked at.

As for generating coins, you aren't going to.

Check out this bitcoin generation calculator. Use the old calculator as well.

You also won't see any transactions until you actually get someone to pay you something.

'Cause I live in a country where it's the national fucking drink! Often even just plain water isn't available.

Besides, I do actually like the stuff, well some of the stuff, now.

Well, I guess doing an Internet search is something I should have done. But I still can't see where it is said that the government is encouraging it. Even reading more recent articles (such as the one quoted below).

At the moment, "Japan’s 540 MW of installed geothermal equals less than 1% of the country’s 46 GW of nuclear power capacity." Apparently part of the problem is that there is no feed-in tariff.

1 http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2011/05/japans-geothermal-resources-gets-a-closer-look

Five years ago I couldn't drink green tea. However, I persisted, and can now, if not enjoy, accept, the taste.
Five months ago, I couldn't eat natto. However, I persisted, and can now eat, and indeed enjoy the taste.

You have to eat a small amount every now and again until you get used to it. Similar food experiences can be had with yeast extract based spreads such as vegemite and marmite.

Exactly unlike the sun then. Which was rather my point.

Burning wood or crop waste is a renewable option.
Tidal power is a perfectly good energy source as well.

I personally agree with one of the commentators above, all (or most) of the above should be an option. It depends on local conditions to a large degree. In the northern and southern most parts of the globe, solar power is not feasible for much of the year. In deserts hydro is unlikely to provide enough power. And I don't think I've ever even seen a hamster.

I'm currently in Japan, and the government is going on about increasing the use of solar and wind and other such. But I've never heard mention of geothermal power. Japan is in an excellent location for this, what with being on the border of three different continental plates and all. You'd think that in a country that has so many hot springs, the government would realize that it's possible to get power from the same source.

(Also, don't you love the misuse of words. Renewable, meaning it can be replaced (Wikipedia says "naturally replenished"), right? Except when it comes to energy, apparently. Because I can't see us replacing the sun when it runs out. I also have the same problem with the word "reclaimed" in relation to "reclaiming" swamps and other wetlands. The term really should just be "claimed".)

The first thought that came to mind was "fucking hard". The next was RPG (that standa for "role playing game", not a term from a FPS that starts with "rocket").

Someone asked if Diablo is a "roguelike". Well, Yes? No.

The "roguelike" that I've played the most of is Nethack. Even when cheating outrageously (save scumming, fiddling with bones files, all the tricks in the book), I still can't win. It's just too fucking hard! But, I've played a lot of other RPGs (e.g. Exile and Avernum from Spiderweb Software), which are winnable.

Then again, Dwarf Fortress isn't exactly an RPG.

Maybe we need to stop putting everything into little boxes?

I hope you told them to bugger off (politely of course). "Am I under-arrest?" "Am I free to go?" (if no, to the second question, you are under arrest no matter what they say). "I do not consent to any search" "I have the right to remain silent and I wish to exercise that right" "I want to speak to a lawyer".

You did nothing wrong, and therefore have no reason to speak to the police. Even if you did do something wrong, you shouldn't speak to the police because that will just give them evidence to use against you.

It's not your job to make the police's job easier, but it is your job to defend your rights, which include not giving the police the time of day.

Apparently I'm not the only one who dislikes the design. from here:

When Gawker Media launched a big redesign in February 2011, its traffic halved. That can happen because even when you do good things, people don’t like change. It can take them a while to adapt to the new environment. So, assuming for a moment the Gawker redesign was a good thing, have things picked up again?

“Turns out, according to Gawker’s public statistics, things are much, much worse than was originally reported,” The Atlantic Online states. “Yes, the redesign cut traffic in half almost instantly, but instead of coming back, even more readers left the site behind.”

I think it's more that Gawker uses a moronic JavaScript method of making pages, with no non-JavaScript fallback. I use NoScript, therefore, I'm not going to see the article. That's fine, as I'm sure that someone else will post all the interesting bits in the discussion thread.

I really wanted to see those animated gifs that take ages to make though. They must be awesome. But not enough to potentially open up my browser to an attack. If Gawker are too incompetent to make a non-JavaScript fallback,I don't thin they'd be able to protect themselves against someone taking over their site and inserting malicious JavaScript in it...

(Also, MNG and APNG, neither of which has any real support. Have the GIF patents expired yet?)

China is in no way communist. It's as capitalist as they come. They only thing "communist" about them is the name of the party in power. What's the similarity between the economic and political systems of the former USSR (along its 70 odd year life), Cuba (over the last 50 odd years), Vietnam since 1975, PRC since '49, North Korea since the '50s, and Romania, East Germany, and other Eastern European "Warsaw Bloc" countries when they were "communist"?

Oh wait, fuck all. Apart from, most of the time, the party in power having the word "communist" in its name.

Sure, there are many companies that are owned by the government in China. There are also a lot more that aren't. That's part of the reason you hear all these cases of people dying from contaminated milk products and the like. Capitalists making a killing. Saving money at any cost.

Wikipedia (not a great source for most political ideas) says:

The only communist state which still traditionally follows Marxist-Leninist doctrine and maintains a largely planned economy is Cuba, which describes itself as "a socialist state guided by ideas of Marx, Engels and Lenin and in transition to a communist society".