In the past years cryptocurrency blockchains (like Bitcoin and Namecoin) have seen significant adoption with the promise of using such blockchains as general-purpose databases and/or key-value stores. Cryptocurrency blockchains provide a zero-trust infrastructure, where users can securely store and retrieve information while providing security guarantees that only the owner of a particular private-key can write/modify the data. In theory, many decentralized services/application can be built using cryptocurrency blockchains as key-value stores. However, the area is relatively new and rapidly evolving with little production experience/data available to guide design tradeoffs. In this talk, we describe our experience of operating a large real-world deployment of a decentralized naming service, called Openname, built on top of a cryptocurrency blockchain (Namecoin). We present the various challenges that we had to overcome while registering/updating over 30,000 users on the blockchain and discuss how our experience informed the design of a new blockchain-based key-value store, called Blockstore. All of our code is available as open-source at http://github.com/openname.

"moDernisT" was created by salvaging the sounds lost to mp3 compression from the song "Tom’s Diner", famously used as one of the main controls in the listening tests to develop the MP3 encoding algorithm. Here we find the form of the song intact, but the details are just remnants of the original. Similarly, the video contains only material which was left behind during mp4 video compression.

The Best Hidden Features of VLC

lifehacker.com

VLC is easily one of our favorite media players (and yours too). However, it's not just a one-trick pony. Under the surface, there's a wide range of features that you might not have known it could do.

Marine calls for John McCain to be arrested and tried for treason at town hall meeting

Senator John McCain (R-AZ) has come under attack, and rightfully so. He has gone from being a Vietnam Veteran hero to crossing the line, in my opinion and many others, of being a traitor to the Constitution and the United States. I ran across a video of a townhall meeting that apparently took place sometime in September, in which Marine Blaine Cooper called out John McCain on his treason for aiding and abetting the enemy of the United States. 

Fluoride Fight: The forced drugging of society

TRANSCRIPT AND SOURCES: http://www.corbettreport.com/?p=7144 Scientific studies have linked fluoridation of the water supply to lowered IQs, increased risk of cancer, and bone disease, amongst other conditions. So why do we still fluoridate? As researchers like Anthony Gucciardi warn, fluoridation may in fact only be the thin edge of the wedge when it comes to forced medication of the population. This is the GRTV Backgrounder on Global Research TV.