Price Slump Tests Bitcoins Self-Correcting Economics

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A crash in the value of Bitcoin has made it too expensive for some companies to mine the currency.

Those watching or betting on the digital currency Bitcoin could be in for an interesting week.

Thats roughly how long it will be before the decentralized software that operates the currency can correct for the effects of a plunge in the value of Bitcoin since the start of the year. A Bitcoin is currently worth just over $200, down about one-third from where it began January. It peaked at more than $1,000 late in 2013.

The low price threatens the operations of the miners who use powerful computers to mint new bitcoinsand whose activity is also needed to confirm and process Bitcoin transactions. As the value of new coins has tumbled, the cost of the computers and electricity needed to mine them have nota similar problem to the one that has stranded some oil companies as the price of crude has dropped.

Several Bitcoin companies ceased operations last week, saying that they couldnt operate profitably. Small-time miners talked in online forums about having to shut off their equipment.

It is hard to know how many miners experienced similar problems, given the variations in electricity prices and the cost structures of different companies. Mining companies contacted by MIT Technology Review on Friday did not respond. However, data from the Bitcoin network indicates that the revenue generated by all miners each day has roughly halved since the start of the year.

In theory, Bitcoins self-regulating setup should prevent this situation from cascading into significant problems for the currency. The Bitcoin software has a mechanism that is designed to ensure there are always enough miners working to keep the currency operating and to regulate their output. It does that by altering the difficulty of the work that mining software has to do so that their miners combined rate of output is always the same. Since Bitcoin got started in 2009, the difficulty has increased again and again to compensate for the growing sophistication of mining computers (see Custom Chips Could be the Shovels in a Bitcoin Gold Rush) and to keep too many Bitcoins from being created.

Now that interest in mining is softening, the mining difficulty is set to drop so as to keep the Bitcoin network running correctly. That would give miners a break on their power bills. But the difficulty is only reevaluated roughly every two weeks (the exact timing depends on the combined output of the miners). The last update happened just before a sudden slump in the price of Bitcoin last Wednesday. Unless the price of Bitcoin recovers, miners wont get relief until next week.

Benjamin Edelman, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who has studied the economics of Bitcoin, says thats not soon enough to prevent the pain of miners from spreading more widely.

I think that miners are pulling out and dumping Bitcoin to make up for lost revenue, which itself changes the value, says Edelman. Those that do continue mining will contribute to the problem because they will have to immediately sell any new Bitcoins they mine, he says.

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Price Slump Tests Bitcoins Self-Correcting Economics

Bill Haley and The Comets- Shake, Rattle and Roll (Live) Alt. Version – Video

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Bill Haley and The Comets- Shake, Rattle and Roll (Live) Alt. Version
1960 Rock #39;n #39; Roll. An Warner Bros. Recording. If you are owner of some rights about this recording or sound and you want it removed please contact me and I will delete the video as soon as...

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Novartis' Cosentyx Approved By EU For First-line Systemic Treatment Of Psoriasis

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By RTT News, January 19, 2015, 02:05:00 AM EDT

(RTTNews.com) - Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG ( NVS ) announced that the European Commission or EC has approved Cosentyx (TM) as a first-line systemic treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis in adults who are candidates for systemic therapy.

Cosentyx is the first and only biologic that has been approved in Europe as first-line systemic therapy in the treatment of psoriasis and as an alternative to treatments that have significant side effects. All other biologic treatments for psoriasis, including anti-tumor necrosis factor therapies and Stelara are recommended for second-line systemic therapy in Europe, according to the company.

The company said that the key treatment goal for psoriasis patients is achieving clear skin. In clinical studies, 70% or more Cosentyx 300 mg patients achieved clear skin or PASI 100 or almost clear skin or PASI 90, during the first 16 weeks of treatment and importantly, this was maintained with continued treatment in the majority of patients up to Week 52.

Novartis stated that the EU approval follows the recent results of the Phase IIIb CLEAR study, which showed that Cosentyx was superior to Stelara in clearing skin of patients living with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis. The CLEAR study was the second head-to-head study for Cosentyx. Cosentyx also showed superiority to Enbrel in clearing skin in the FIXTURE study.

In addition to the EU, Cosentyx has been approved in Australia for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and in Japan for the treatment of moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis and active psoriatic arthritis.

Further, the company said that the US Food and Drug Administration or FDA decision in moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis is anticipated early in 2015 following the unanimous recommendation of approval in October 2014 from the Dermatologic and Ophthalmic Drugs Advisory Committee or DODAC to the US FDA.

For comments and feedback: contact editorial@rttnews.com

http://www.rttnews.com

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Novartis' Cosentyx Approved By EU For First-line Systemic Treatment Of Psoriasis

Shin splints/muscle atrophy three months after stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson, N.D. – Video

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Shin splints/muscle atrophy three months after stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson, N.D.
Angela is a life-long triathlete. Ten years ago she developed severe shin splints in her left leg that resulted in atrophy of her lower leg muscles. Here, sh...

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Shin splints/muscle atrophy three months after stem cell therapy by Harry Adelson, N.D. - Video

Pet Stems Cell Therapy for Pets Prolong the life of your pet – Video

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Pet Stems Cell Therapy for Pets Prolong the life of your pet
http://petstems.com Pet Stems is cutting edge orally administered cell therapy designed for pets. No other company in the world offers this kind of nutritional cell therapy for pets. We love...

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Pet Stems Cell Therapy for Pets Prolong the life of your pet - Video

Overview of Stem Cell Therapy at New Jersey Pain Management Clinics – Video

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Overview of Stem Cell Therapy at New Jersey Pain Management Clinics
http://nj-pain.com/treatments/stem-cell-procedure/ Stem Cell Therapy falls under regenerative medicine, and it is now a reality in musculoskeletal medicine. This includes stem cells being...

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Overview of Stem Cell Therapy at New Jersey Pain Management Clinics - Video

Winnipeg company offering stem cell therapy is fraudulent, MS sufferer alleges

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A Winnipeg-based company that has touted its ability to improve the lives of Multiple Sclerosis patients through stem cell therapy is now under the microscope after allegations of fraud from a client.

The CEO of Regenetek Research Inc. has been collecting thousands of dollars from Canadian patients looking for help. Some of the patients are now questioning the research and credentials of the man they know as Dr. Doug.

One of them is Lee Chuckry, 47. He has been living with MS for nearly two decades.

MS just keeps progressing, thats what it does. Hopefully I could stop it. That was my ultimate goal, Chuckry said in an interview with CTV News.

His efforts led him to Regenetek, and its CEO: Doug Broeska.

In testimonials, MS patients attributed miraculous medical improvement to experimental stem cell therapy. For $35,000, Regenetek patients were flown to India for the procedure.

Chuckry was one of the participants. But when he returned home, he says his symptoms worsened.

When he started digging deeper, he said, he found the doctor hed put his faith in wasnt what he claimed to be.

Im going to call Doug a con artist, Chuckry said. You are preying on people who are desperate. They are looking for hope of any sort.

Chuckry and at least one other patient have gone to the RCMP. They allege Broeska, who claims to hold a PhD and a Bachelor of Science, is a fraud who is operating as a medical researcher without proper credentials.

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Winnipeg company offering stem cell therapy is fraudulent, MS sufferer alleges

You are God. What & Where is God? ‘God’ and Spirituality | Nicky Sutton – Video

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You are God. What Where is God? #39;God #39; and Spirituality | Nicky Sutton
Religion aside, you may have questions about #39;God #39;. You might be surprised that you and everything you see around you is God. We are part of one infinite being, each of us endowed with ...

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The Journey Within Seeking Spiritual Reality Through the Power of Cosmic Energy and Meditation – Video

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The Journey Within Seeking Spiritual Reality Through the Power of Cosmic Energy and Meditation
Download link for the book "The Secret of Light by Walter Russell" (PDF - 163 Pages): https://archive.org/details/WalterRussellTheSecretOfLight This is a med...

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Bill Maher is right about religion: The Orwellian ridiculousness of Jesus, and the truth about moral progress

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Most people believe that moral progress has primarily been due to the guiding light of religious teachings, the activities of spiritual leaders, and the power of faith-based initiatives. In The Moral Arc I argue that this is not the case, and that most moral progress is the result of science, reason, and secular values developed during the Enlightenment. Once moral progress in a particular area is underway, most religions eventually get on boardas in the abolition of slavery in the 19thcentury, womens rights in the 20thcentury, and gay rights in the 21stcenturybut this often happens after a shamefully protracted lag time. Why?

The rules that were dreamt up and enshrined by the various religions over the millennia did not have as their goal the expansion of the moral sphere to include other sentient beings. Moses did not come down from the mountain with a detailed list of the ways in which the Israelites could make life better for the Moabites, the Edomites, the Midianites, or for any other tribe of people that happened not to be them. One justification for this constricted sphere can be found in the Old Testament injunction to Love thy neighbor, who at that time was ones immediate kin and kind, which was admittedly an evolutionary stratagem appropriate for the time. It would be suicidal to love thy neighbor as thyself when thy neighbor would like nothing better than to exterminate you, which was often the case for the Bronze Age peoples of the Old Testament. What good would have come of the Israelites loving, for example, the Midianites as themselves? The results would have been catastrophic given that the Midianites were allied with the Moabites in their desire to see the Israelites wiped off the face of the earth.

Today, of course, most Jews, Christians, and Muslims believe that moral principles are universal and apply to everyone, but this is because they have inculcated into their moral thinking the modern Enlightenment goal of broadening and redefining the parameters of moral consideration. But by their nature the worlds religions are tribal and xenophobic, serving to regulate moral rules within the community but not seeking to embrace humanity outside their circle. Religion, by definition, forms an identity of those like us, in sharp distinction from those not us, those heathens, those unbelievers. Most religions were pulled into the modern Enlightenment with their fingernails dug into the past. Change in religious beliefs and practices, when it happens at all, is slow and cumbersome, and it is almost always in response to the church or its leaders facing outside political or cultural forces.

The history of Mormonism is a case in point. In the 1830s the churchs founder, Joseph Smith, received a revelation from God to enact what he euphemistically called celestial marriage, more accurately described as plural marriagethe rest of the world calls it polygamyjust about the time he found a new love interest while married to another woman. Once Smith caught the Solomonic fever for multiple wives (King Solomon had 700), he couldnt stop himself or his brethren from spreading their seed, along with the practice, which in 1852 was codified into Mormon law through its sacred Doctrines and Covenants. Until 1890, that is, when the people of Utahdesirous for their territory to become a state in the unionwere told by the United States federal government that polygamy would not be tolerated.

Conveniently, God issued a new revelation to the Mormon leaders, instructing them that a plurality of wives was no longer a celestial blessing, and that instead monogamy was now the One True Way. As well, Mormon policy forbade African Americans to be priests in the church. The reason, Joseph Smith had decreed, was that they are not actually from Africa but instead are descendants of the evil Lamanites, whom God cursed by making their skin black after they lost the war against the good Nephites, both clans of which were descendants of two of the lost tribes of Israel. Naturally, since the evil Lamanites were prohibited from having sexual relations with the good Nephites, interracial marriage was also banned. This racist nonsense lasted a century and a half until it collided with the civil rights movement of the 1960s. Finally, in 1978, the Church head Spencer W. Kimball announced that he had received a new revelation from God instructing him to drop the racial restrictions and adopt a more inclusive attitude.

There are three reasons for the sclerotic nature of religion: (1) The foundation of the belief in an absolute morality is the belief in an absolute religion grounded in the One True God. This inexorably leads to the conclusion that anyone who believes differently has departed from this truth and thus is unprotected by our moral obligations. (2) Unlike science, religion has no systematic process and no empirical method to employ to determine the verisimilitude of its claims and beliefs, much less right and wrong. (3) The morality of holy booksmost notably the Bibleis not the morality any of us would wish to live by, and thus it is not possible for the religious doctrines derived from holy books to be the catalyst for moral evolvement.

Many Jews and Christians say that they get their morality from the Bible, but this cannot be true because as holy books go the Bible is possibly the most unhelpful guide ever written for determining right from wrong. Its chockfull of bizarre stories about dysfunctional families, advice about how to beat your slaves, how to kill your headstrong kids, how to sell your virgin daughters, and other clearly outdated practices that most cultures gave up centuries ago.

In order to make the Bible relevant, believers must pick and choose biblical passages that suit their needs; thus the game of cherry picking from the Bible generally works to the advantage of the pickers. In the Old Testament, the believer might find guidance in Deuteronomy 5:17, which says, explicitly, Thou shalt not kill; or in Exodus 22:21, a verse that delivers a straightforward and indisputable prohibition: You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.

These verses seem to set a high moral bar, but the handful of positive moral commands in the Old Testament are desultory and scattered among a sea of violent stories of murder, rape, torture, slavery, and all manner of violence, including capital punishment for a variety of acts:

Blaspheming or cursing of the Lord: And he that blasphemeth the name of theLord, he shall surely be put to death, and all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name of the Lord, shall be put to death. (Leviticus 24:13-16)

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Bill Maher is right about religion: The Orwellian ridiculousness of Jesus, and the truth about moral progress