Twitter / LaureLevas: volcano porn of the week. ….

Is Bitcoin the Next Truly Global Currency?

Business & Money

Everyone’s talking about the fast growing digital currency Bitcoin. Jamie Dimon hates it, Marc Andreessen loves it, and Alan Greenspan thinks it’s a bubble with no intrinsic value.

I think Bitcoin reflects the fact that while commerce is increasingly global and digital, money isn’t. But while Bitcoin may gain traction as a safe, easy to use retail currency in the digital era, I’m not so sure it will ever be a global currency a la the dollar or euro, one in which debt is issued or stocks traded. After all, it has no sovereign to guarantee its value and no central bank to regulate its ups and downs (which tend to be sharp).

For more on whether you should be buying into Bitcoin, check out this week’s version of WNYC’s Money Talking.

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Deep Dive into First Unitarian Church v. NSA: Why Freedom of Association Matters

One of the many ways EFF is fighting illegal NSA spying is in our lawsuit First Unitarian Church v. NSA.  In this case, we represent 24 organizations that want to protect their freedom of association.  We filed a major brief in this case over the weekend detailing how the NSA’s mass collection of phone records has resulted in decreased calls to and from these organizations – an unconstitutional violation of their First Amendment rights.  Our filing came just after the Executive Branch’s Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board (PCLOB) reached the same conclusion, specifically describing the organizations’ injuries as “entirely predictable and rational.”

via Deep Dive into First Unitarian Church v. NSA: Why Freedom of Association Matters | Electronic Frontier Foundation.

“A Vision of ABRAXAS”, acrylics on paper, 52x28cm, 2010 — Denis Forkas Kostromitin

via Iconomancy, uromancy: “A Vision of ABRAXAS”, acrylics on….

Imperial Conquest: America’s “Long War” against Humanity

The world is at the crossroads of the most serious crisis in modern history. The US has embarked on a military adventure, “a long war”, which threatens the future of humanity. This “war without borders” is being carried out at the crossroads of the most serious economic crisis in World history, which has been conducive to the impoverishment of large sectors of the World population.

The Pentagon’s global military design is one of world conquest. The military deployment of US-NATO forces is occurring in several regions of the world simultaneously.

The concept of the “Long War” has characterized US military doctrine since the end of World War II. Worldwide militarization is part of a global economic agenda.

via Imperial Conquest: America’s “Long War” against Humanity | Global Research.

Food Security

image from the book Creating a Forest Garden by Martin Crawford

via Food Security « how to save the world.

Scientists Digitize Psychology’s Most Famous Brain

Henry Gustav Molaison is one of the most famous patients in the annals of brain research. In 1953, an experimental surgery meant to relieve his severe epilepsy rendered him frozen in time: He could remember events and facts he knew before the surgery, but could retain virtually nothing after. For decades, Molaison (who’s known as H.M. in psychology textbooks and scores of research papers) cooperated with researchers interested in what his strange memory deficit could teach them about how the brain creates a record of faces, facts, and life experiences.

via Scientists Digitize Psychology’s Most Famous Brain – Wired Science.