I've noticed that most language in contracts is copied and sometimes tweaked language from other contracts. So, suppose as a lawyer you were required to negotiate a license for every sentence that wasn't your original text. Or more analogously, you were liable for even inadvertent use of phrasing that someone else had created first. For example:

Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you.

Have you ever used that phrase in a contract that you charged a client money for? It (or some minor variation) appears in license agreements from Microsoft, Adobe, Apple and Sony. And I'm pretty sure they don't all use the same lawyer. *I* would never have come up with that phrasing, but perhaps it's obvious to you, someone skilled in the art of contract law. Well, same thing for us software engineers - most of the software patents we see, and nearly all of them in the particular area of software that we specialize - are equally obvious.

Bitcoin hasn't gone away. It may not be an investment to hoard at the moment, but as a currency it's functioning beautifully. I run Dragon's Tale, a casino MMORPG hybrid, which uses Bitcoins exclusively. Our new-players-per-week initially peaked right at the peak of the Bitcoin bubble (around 120 new players per week for a couple weeks), dropped to about 20/week, and has been growing for the last few months. Currently we get around 60 new players per week. Revenue from Dragon's Tale's hasn't passed our other game, A Tale in the Desert yet, but on several recent weeks it's come close.

Players love Bitcoin because deposits *and withdrawals* are instant, unlike all other online casinos. I know that some of my players also play poker at Seals With Clubs, a Bitcoin-only poker site. They may have a win at Dragon's Tale, shoot the money over to Seals, shoot their winnings back to DT, or into their Silk Road account to buy some goodies, or into their desktop wallet. If Bitcoin were never to go beyond gambling, it will be a success: it allows all Bitcoin-based casinos to function as one huge meta-casino.

Assuming they have a provision in the law about "it is a crime to terrorist-flag a site that you do not suspect of terrorism" - then I could imagine viruses that do the chaff-flagging for you. In fact, purposely installing such a virus would allow you to help thwart such a law while giving plausible deniability.

It is not a completely good thing, because as you point out, a merchant or service that hold Bitcoins on behalf of customers can simply walk away with them. When you make a credit card charge, part of that $0.25+2.8% service fee is buying dispute resolution insurance. With Bitcoin, if you want such a service you must buy it separately from a third party.Credit cards force this bundling, Bitcoin does not.

The next release (0.6) will contain core features to facilitate escrow services.

We credit immediately (with 0 confirmations) but lock withdrawals and all forms of player-to-player transfers for about 20 minutes (2 confirmations.) So you can play immediately, but if you immediately have a big jackpot then you do have to wait for the deposited coins to confirm before withdrawing.

Paradoxically, we don't make any such locks on Bitcoins that are given to players, or winnings with those coins. We've always given out small amounts of Bitcoins for free, both as a way to let people try the game, and to promote Bitcoin itself. And yeah, we do have people that just come for the free Bitcoins and withdraw without playing anything.

Peak value was around $200M in June, and current value is around $32M. Using Bitcoins as an investment is a lot like gambling. However...
I can assure you that as a *currency* Bitcoin is wonderful. I run Dragon's Tale which is a cross between an MMORPG and a casino, and the game functions entirely in Bitcoins. Players routinely deposit anywhere from a few cents worth of Bitcoins to $100+ worth. Their account is credited immediately, they (and I) pay almost no transaction fees, there are no chargebacks to worry about, and when a player has a big win, they can cash out immediately.
Over the time that Dragon's Tale has been in development (we've been in open alpha for over a year), Bitcoin has been as low as $0.005 and as high as $32 each, and players who deposit still play for roughly the same USD amount. Our typical player deposits $1-$5 worth of Bitcoin to gamble with, and even if Bitcoin were to go back down to a half-a-cent, I'm quite confident that a typical deposit would be in the $1-$5 range.

The latest Gallup Poll shows 50% support for legalizing marijuana, but if you drill down the survey, you find that supporters of legalization already vote democrat, and so democratic candidates are better off to "capture the middle" by opposing legalization.

The solution to this is to hold our elections with Range Voting instead of the current plurality voting. With Range Voting a hypothetical candidate that is just-like-Obama, except on marijuana legalization, would beat him. Knowing this, Obama would likely change his position to align with the majority of his supporters (and in this case, the majority of Americans.)

From TFA: "Somebody sees something somewhere and we want them to be responsible citizens, report that and let us work it through our processes to abet the concern that they had when they saw something suspicious," said Paul Armes, TSA Federal Security Director for Nashville International Airport.

"Yes, I witnessed some people dressed in TSA uniforms at a weigh station, and I suspect they may be impostors. Could you send some agents over to check the situation?"

Bitcoins are infinitely divisible in theory, and divisible to 1/100000000 in the current implementation. We give away 1/1000 BTC units called "Bitmils" for people to try the game with. (And some just take the gifts and withdraw - not a big deal for such small amounts.)

Our new game, "Dragon's Tale," functions exclusively in Bitcoins. It's a gambling MMORPG based on the same technology as our previous game, "A Tale in the Desert." Choosing Bitcoins means that I never have to worry about PayPal freezing my account, or about $25 chargeback fees, or making Mastercard a 2.5% partner in my business.

When we started Dragon's Tale, Bitcoins were worth 5 cents, and people played for 100's at a time. When Bitcoins were $30, people played for fractions of a coin. Now that Bitcoins are $2.00 or whatever, they may spend a Bitcoin or two on a play session.

The point is that the exchange rate to dollars is irrelevant - players play at the level they're comfortable with, and our revenue (viewed in dollars) has been increasing steadily.