And their permanence allowed the campaign to develop vital local insight: to build detailed voter files on potential supporters, field test the best ways to motivate them, and push them to cast their votes weeks before Election Day.

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It allows users to exchange bitcoin files without keeping as detailed of a record of the transaction as would be required over PayPal or other electronic payment networks.

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With a complete set of files on three papal deaths, it was a formidable armory containing detailed background stories -- parts of which could be used again in some form or another -- on the death, the funeral, the conclave, the election, the coronation.

CNN: Pope's resignation a new angle to a tough news beat