I'm a bit behind the times I guess.
What the heck are these bitcoins?
Better question, who benefits from me "mining" for bitcoins?
<Doing my best Bart Simpson impression:>
"It sounds totally craptastic."
<In 2030 doing my best Grampa Simpson impression:>
"I remember 2020, bad year, that was the year the bitcoin bubble burst."

Just heard about this on the radio on the way home from work today.
Sounds like a scheme you could go to prison for.

The wikipedia entry on bitcoin is fairly extensive, for those who are curious: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bitcoin

It was also fascinating that there was a bitcoin robbery last year: http://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/bitcoin-robbery-exposes-the-currencys-flaws/

If you are interested in virtual money, Neal Stephenson wrote a great short story about the concept called "The Great Simoleon Caper" for Time magazine many years ago. As always, he was way ahead of his time. I HIGHLY recommend reading this. Here is the article: http://kuoi.com/~kamikaze/Text/simoleon.html