Going a bit off topic - I too live in a country with greater than 60% hydro electricity, and I am aware of the pumped storage systems around the world too.  However, they cost serious money and they would prefer not to use it if they could avoid it.  Pumped storage is used because it's a lower cost option, not because the electricity is "spare".

Even if someone came along with the new 12Peta-flop computer (somewhere in japan), the difficulty changes so that six block per hour are generated (300 coins/hr) until half the coins are mined (Jan 2012).  The the reward drops to 25 coins per block, with difficulty again resetting each two weeks (?might be 10 days - can't be bothered looking it up) for the next four years and the cycle repeats.  These are basic rules of the game if you didn't know. 

Point is, a new super computer or any individual is not going to corner the bitcoin market.

Well argued.  Adding to the "moral" point, when you join early you have a reasonable expectation that there are other people who might join.  After a few rounds, the later adopters should not have the same expectation.

Here, if it is a binary tree it doesn't expand too quickly, but after the first few cash out (say 1 + 2 + 4 + 8 = 15 people) then you need another 16 for the next layer.  So while, in general terms, haf win and half lose, the game changes each round.  Also, the incentives change as those entering late try to get others to join - the argument might be different along the lines of "500 people have git double, if you and 1000 others join and get 2000 people to come in, then you can double too."

Sorry, I find that funny.  Surplus energy - not really.  Most systems use some kind of fossil fuel and they would prefer to hold it until someone places enough alue on it to consume it.  They are not likely to throw away money on mining.

On the flip side, there is a computing community that computes for nothing - I've swapped over for a while - and when it becomes too expensive to mine, I'll probably go back because mining is not very interesting.

Good idea to have a poll.  Might be interesting to see how skewed the population is compared to other large computing communities (eg Boinc - they have stats on OS and hardware).

Might also have been fun to include legit versus pirate on the list.

The power might be 50MW or 500MW (doesn't really matter how much) because that determines the cost of production, but not the price someone is prepared to sell at.  Normally people like to make a profit, but that's not always the case, especially when there is a fixed/variable relationship.  So for the short-run cost (SRMC), if you can sell with a margin, you should, if not, don't.  You might choose to stock-pile or cease production.  At some point the transaction fee per block is supposed to become material when the coin reward is not.

Those that can produce cheaply will, those that cannot won't.

Adding to the OS war, it could be that many users are running pirate copies of W7 and don't get updates.  Linux is "free" by comparison and some who have more time to spend learning two or more OS prefer the flexibility.  I know lots of people who like Linux because of the front end (like gnome) and it makes it like a windows computer - they couldn't use Linux it they tried.

As for the elitist crap that swirls around - there is heaps.   May as well start a Mac vs PC war as well.

Maybe John is just a doom-sayer because he's worked out some people are psychologically drawn to negative statements.  (plus I think his web site is hilarious)
I come across experts and their forecasts all the time.  Even this week I was re-reading an informed forecast of oil prices that suggested USD25 was an extreme value for the future (written in 2003).  Similarly, I have forex gurus tell me the cross rate to the USD should mean revert to the ten year average with no basis or likelihood.  If there is a fundamental, that's great, but saying it will crash (or anything else) is speculation on its own - certainly at this point in time.

Other exchanges were not going crazy, so anyone could have simply transferred out rather than trading out.

Get the GPU card - it will work as a fan heater for the apartment in winter.

I was thinking about this again too.  I had a computer where the flames exited the case.  Sure it was a spectacular bang, but if there had been anything flammable above the computer at the time it would have gone up in flames too. 

17.5 - only been playing with bitcoin a few weeks.  Hindsight and all that.

Yes, others are still shut out.  I'm still waiting for the next go-around on verification.  Tedious.

Well, if there are mods, they will be very busy.  This forum looks full of people who just stir others and/or spam.  Hard to find the worth-while information amongst the dross.  Still, there are some blatant frauds as well, but a lot of people tend to knock those down too.

Yes, it is basic economics in two parts.

Supply/demand balance for bitcoins - more supply, lower price, and,
If the cost to produce is more than the value someone else is prepared to pay (now or future), production will be slowed.

Short answer "YES"

I had a server (Dell2650) with an expansion card running a GPU.  The power connection from the motherboard to the card caused it to over heat slowly and burned the fibreglass board and plastic connections.  Filled the house with smoke and the family was very unimpressed.  Took a week for the smell to clear.

Pyramid schemes are illegal in almost every jurisdiction I know - even between consenting people.  If idiots want to lose their coins there, you could just give them away.  They are a scam.

username kind of says who I am.  Based in New Zealand and having fun reading the flames of the Mt.Gox disaster - those people should be welcomed to the real world if they think getting regulated exchange protections from a market system like this. 

Useful to have restrictions on newbies (I feel old to be one, but that's fine).