The only thing that has intrinsic value to me is water, food , shelter and bullets...all the rest of the smoke and mirrors out there is BS

If there is a currency out there that takes banks and governments out of the equations "thank god"

Ummmmm....the model of we can participate in money laundering schemes a lot easier now....just as simple as that

Using bitcoin is actually easier than using fiat currency...exchanging bitcoin for other currencies...not so much.

True...normal currency is legal tender and its what the government insists on being paid with.

I am still curious in what way you feel that normal currency is guaranteed?

Its interesting how you would use the phrase "guaranteed by the same mechanisms as your normal currency"

In what way do you feel that normal currency is guaranteed?

Spending fractions of a bitcoin is extremely common.

Once you actually posses bitcoin, banks and photo id are irrelevant.

As long as someone is willing to accept bitcoin, you can carry out a transaction with them...its actually easier than using a credit card or a debit card.

The buyer simply provides the seller with a transaction id...no fees, no cards, no special hand held terminal devices, no cash registers, no banks and no governments.

If you want to buy or sell bitcoin it takes about 10 days because now you need to deal with a bank transfer.

Your wallet file is nothing more than a bankbook and reflects its participation in what is known as the blockchain. Like all things bitcoin, this "bankbook" is completely anonymous...without it you cant get your money.

The block chain is a record of every transaction in bitcoin history...currently its around 13GB.

This bankbook (wallet file) and bank ledger (blockchain) should only be stored offline...any idiot who stores it online is an idiot.

With this being said, storing small amounts of bitcoin in an online wallet is useful if one wants to use bitcoin the same way people use cash or credit cards.

Think:
Offline - Bank Account
Online - Wallet in your back pocket

For anyone who has had a layover on an international flight it is pretty obvious that countries don't trust each other any-more when one views current airport security practices.

The process on every single layover is as follows:
1. Get off air-plane
2. Leave no-mans-land and enter the country (Customs and Border Control)
3. Pick up your baggage
4. Check your baggage
5. Go through security back into no-mans-land
6. Get on the air-plane

Pretty sad...it was so bad when I left the EU last time that I had to show my passport just to leave.

Just my 2 cents.

Hedghog

...a couple of IDE cards, 3x250GB IDE drives, barebones console install of Linux, software raid, Samba and mix well.

Instant 500GB raid5 file server...it's been working great for 3 years now.

Just make sure you one drive on each port...all masters, no slave drives!!!

The same recipe should work for SATA as well.

Hedghog