Bitcoin credit card to let users withdraw cash

Those with funds in the online peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin may soon be able to withdraw real-world cash directly from an ATM. Charlie Shrem, the co-founder of BitInstant, which lets users convert Bitcoins (BTC) into cash, appears to have confirmed today that a standard credit or debit card will be made available to Bitcoin users at some point in the next two months.

The rest of the short article is here at the New Scientist.

Zero Dark Thirty - the hunt for Bin Laden the movie

Can't wait until December.

Chinese President calls US 'the enemy'

When Wang Lijun, the police chief of Chongqing municipality, sought refuge at the US Consulate, the General Secretary of the Communist Party, Chairman of the Military Commission, and President of China, Hu Jintao, accused him of "betraying the country and going over to the enemy" according to a 'Chinese security source'.

China in the Antarctic

Most Australians don't realise that China is sneaking around Australia's Antarctic claim.

...Beijing’s annual spending on polar expeditions has trebled in the last ten years and it is making a massive investment in polar-related infrastructure. Last summer, the Deputy Head of the China Arctic and Antarctic Administration Chen Lianzeng stated that the overall goal of China’s current five year polar plan was to increase China’s “status and influence” in polar affairs to better protect its “polar rights”.

...

Yet for all the attention it receives, China is not putting a lot of money into its Arctic program—about 20 percent of its polar program goes on the Arctic (the rest on the Antarctic).

... 

There is talk of China establishing a fourth Antarctic base...

From the Jamestown China Brief.