we already have an "oil standard". it is called the US petrodollar.
this is a good read:
The End of Dollar Hegemony

excerpt:

Realizing the world was embarking on something new and mind-boggling, elite money managers, with especially strong support from U.S. authorities, struck an agreement with OPEC to price oil in U.S. dollars exclusively for all worldwide transactions. This gave the dollar a special place among world currencies and in essence “backed” the dollar with oil. In return, the U.S. promised to protect the various oil-rich kingdoms in the Persian Gulf against threat of invasion or domestic coup. This arrangement helped ignite the radical Islamic movement among those who resented our influence in the region. The arrangement gave the dollar artificial strength, with tremendous financial benefits for the United States. It allowed us to export our monetary inflation by buying oil and other goods at a great discount as dollar influence flourished.

Funny enough, I just got one because a customer of mine wants a custom app for it to run on 600 new devices. It's a pretty nice device; my wife took it from me, later informing me that she will allow me to use it for testing purposes but otherwise she is keeping it.

You should read the article. They did in fact understand it and followup up to verify the information. They only went through with it for the hell of it since taking part in the android platform was an experiment.

That is funny, I coulda sworn that my customers put through hundreds of millions of dollars of sales on .net software every year. Hell of a useless product.

Speak for yourself; MS is my sugardaddy and I like it that way.

Isn't the whole reason for this article the fact that they DON'T have a monopoly? They can do whatever they want with their property, as long as the government doesn't guarantee them a monopoly then it isn't any of my business.

i actually prefer his solutions to those issues.
There should be no "gay rights". You have individual rights, they should be the same for everybody.
Get the government OUT of marriage. Marriage licensing by the government originated as a way to keep whites and blacks from marrying. Let's eliminate state-sanctioned marriage and return it back to where it came from, chuches or individual private ceremonies.
Well I'm pro-life, but even then his solution is to return it back to the state level. Let those red states outlaw abortion the blue states can keep it.

Yet another reason to support Dr. Ron Paul for president.

Actually it was done in asp/vbscript first. of course it was just a diskspace website back then -- when a few hundred meg was a big deal.

Well that won't work, the ISPs might disable the botnets run by govt contractors.

Great book, well worth a read. I most enjoyed the descriptions of the packs of dogs. Of him riding his bike, trying to bring a fish home from the market and having dogs attempting to take it from him. Or later, when he is riding in a truck with his dog.

"to below what the customer paid for"
and
"This would prevent Comcast from screwing with torrent traffic"

I don't think it would prevent them for screwing with torrent traffic. Last I checked, most consumer-level cable connections such as what most have with comcast explicitly forbid running a "server" on the line in the contract. Torrents pretty much meet the definition of running a server. So comcast could completely block such traffic and still not be interferring with "what the customer paid for". Of course the consumer could opt for the much more expensive business line which allows servers.

Note: maybe this has changed I haven't had comcast in a few years and I do pay for a business fios line to my house, so I can do whatever I want on it.

"And before you go off all half-cocked, I am not naive enough to think that governments today aren't totally corrupted by corporate sourced money. That is a different issue, however"

I don't think it is a different issue, not one bit. You just argued for giving more power and control to the very entity you declared corrupt. I for one think our government has too much power already.