Bitcoin Tops $1,000 as Virtual Money Gains Popularity

The price of Bitcoin surpassed $1,000 on the Mt. Gox online exchange, fueled by speculators snapping up the virtual currency as it gains wider acceptance.

Bitcoins, which exist as software and aren’t regulated by any country or banking authority, surged to a record $1,073 today, up more than 80-fold from a year earlier.

The currency has rallied on growing interest from investors in China and the U.S., while merchants are starting to accept Bitcoins for everything from Gummi bears to tuition fees.

The virtual currency gained credibility this month after law enforcement and securities agencies said in U.S. Senate hearings that Bitcoin could be a legitimate means of exchange.

The rally had gathered steam last month after regulators shut down the Silk Road Hidden Website, where people could obtain guns, drugs and other illicit goods using Bitcoins. That generated optimism the digital money would become more widely used for legal purposes.

Read more Bloomberg

POLL: Ted Cruz 3rd 'most influential' world leader, behind pope, Obama.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has had the best year of any Republican and virtually anyone in the world, ranking third in Rasmussen Report’s new poll of the of the “most influential” people in the world, behind Pope Francis and President Obama.

In the new poll, Cruz, who made headlines for trying to dismantle Obamacare, was the pick for the most influential of 11 percent. The pope was tops at 23 percent, Obama second at 21 percent.

 FULL ARTICLE

Sights and sounds of Morocco through time-lapse

The mesmerizing and fast-paced journey (with music by John Adams) entitled "Watchtower of Morocco" was posted by Vimeo.. FULL STORY

A decade of slow growth?

By Fareed Zakaria From: Cnn.com:

Every year at Davos, people like me try to get a sense of the mood of the place, take the temperature of people in this frosty mountain resort.

Obviously, I will give you a highly impressionistic and personal picture, but it’s one I find useful since Davos does bring together leaders in government, business, media – even the NGO community – from all corners of the world. It is genuinely global in a way that few conferences are...

FULL STORY

The FACTS: End of the World 2012 phenomenon

Guatemalan Maya natives kneel in front of a temple at the Tikal archaeological site on December 20, 2012.

The exquisite site of Mayan ruins began hosting winter solstice ceremonies on Thursday as the region's indigenous people marked the end of an era.

The 2012 phenomenon comprises a range of eschatological beliefs according to which cataclysmic or transformative events will occur on 21 December 2012 . This date is regarded as the end-date of a 5125-year-long cycle in the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar.

Various astronomical alignments and numerological formulae have been proposed as pertaining to this date, though none has been accepted by mainstream scholarship. A New Age interpretation of this transition is that the date marks the start of time in which Earth and its inhabitants may undergo a positive physical or spiritual transformation, and that 21 December 2012 may mark the beginning of a new era.

Others suggest that the date marks the end of the world or a similar catastrophe. Scenarios suggested for the end of the world include the arrival of the next solar maximum, an interaction between Earth and the black hole at the center of the galaxy, or Earth's collision with a planet called Nibiru.

Scholars from various disciplines have dismissed the idea of such cataclysmic events occurring in 2012.

Professional Mayanist scholars state that predictions of impending doom are not found in any of the extant classic Maya accounts, and that the idea that the Long Count calendar ends in 2012 misrepresents Maya history and culture, While astronomers have rejected the various proposed doomsday scenarios as pseudoscience,stating that they conflict with simple astronomical observations.

FULL STORY Source: wikipedia

Only 15 States Opt to Run Obamacare Exchanges

Only 15 states have told the federal government they plan to operate health insurance exchanges under President Barack Obama's reform law, leaving Washington with the daunting task of creating online marketplaces for two-thirds of the country.

FULL STORY

Bloomberg: The Fiscal Cliff Will Drive the U.S. Into Recession

House Speaker John Boehner says he was "flabbergasted" when Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner pitched the White House plan to save the nation from the "fiscal cliff." FULL STORY