Where does it state mold tool?  The prior-gen cases were not made of cast metal (they were stamped), and to be quite frank, it would be extraordinarily strange for someone to make a low-volume casing with molds and cast metal instead of stamping them out and anodizing.

No one will recognize that they are mining until...
- An unsatisfied employee squawks
- A visitor happens to notice
- Suspicious activity is recognized at a pool or particular IP address
- Something else happens (other unknown risk of being discovered)

Now couple that risk with the fact that they wouldn't be able to mine the whole 3500 BTC.  They might be able to mine a few hundred BTC and not be noticed for at least a little while. But what is a few hundred BTC a day?  $3,800?  Over a year, they make less than $1.5M?  Sure, not pennies, but far less than what they have generated in sales thus far, and they're looking at the long-term plan too.  You think they're going to risk tens of millions in future sales (if Bitcoin continues to be successful) for a measly $1.4M in a year?  I just don't see it as a viable business plan, much less an attractive alternative compared to maintaining a solid reputation and continuing sales.


They've not said one lie to me or anyone else (that I have seen).  Everything you and others have tried to conjure up as lies are not actually lies.  They're speculation and conspiracies.

It is POSSIBLE they are lying, sure.  But I don't believe they are.  If you want to believe that, then go right ahead - that is your right.  Looking at it from a rational perspective, they are a small startup company with real-world problems that crop up.  I've worked for such a company before, I know how it is.  The company I worked for was 7 years old and made $50M in sales annually, but still had plenty of issues surrounding being a new company and processes that hadn't yet been perfected, causing delays, etc.  It happens.  Everything I have seen from BFL indicates that they are doing the best they can with what they have to work with.  They have given me NO reason to distrust them whatsoever.

I will admit, I am a natural optimist.

No proof of the venture capitalist, but I have no reason not to trust BFL at their word (despite what other people claim of them).

Ok, I will agree there is SOME risk.  There's also risk I could die on the way to work tomorrow.  Both are negligible risks, IMO.

I don't believe BFL would lie about something like this.  They are businesspeople.  They would rather make sales than scams.  They are not interested in mining for profit, because what they could get away with really is a small amount of money compared to what they can and will bring in in sales, at the risk of completely ruining their reputation and bankrupting themselves... it is not worth it.  Some people do not see it this way, but I don't see any viable and productive means of them mining any significant portion of Bitcoin and getting away with it, and for that reason, I believe them when they say they won't.

I'm not in financial distress any more, but I certainly have been in the past.  When my wife and I were newly married and both working, we had plenty of money, and we got into debt because of it (it's easy to tell yourself you'll pay it off when you clearly have the means to do so).  Then, we bought a house (still within our realm of financial ability), and she switched jobs to something much lower paying (uh oh, trouble).  Then we had a daughter, and she had to work fewer hours at this job (we're not believers in letting daycare raise your child).  So, we had a lot of smaller debts that added up to a lot of payments we had to make every month, and not enough money to make those payments for a few months.  I think we had 6 credit cards with balances on them, a car loan, a line of credit, etc.  We've paid off all but one at this point, in about 1.5 years.  And in that time, I switched jobs and am now paid several hundred a month more.  So we're comfortable, for now.  But I never want to take on more debt at any time in the future because of that experience.  Housing and investments may be the only exception.

Yes, back then, I absolutely chose to have things now instead of planning for the future.  I've been there, done that, and hated it.  Which is exactly why I refuse to live that way any longer.  Sure, I could live life "in my prime", not working and just doing whatever I feel like, but that doesn't properly support a family, it doesn't leave anything for my children, and it doesn't leave me feeling good about myself or my life.  I cannot think of a more selfish ambition than living for oneself and only today, and I try to not be a selfish person.

I don't think the system is wrong.  For one, people taking 30-year loans on houses are idiots (myself included).  A 15 year loan ensures that a person buys only as much house as they can afford and pays it off quickly.  Also, FHA is a scam (another mistake), as the required mortgage insurance eats away at money that could be paid towards principle.  Finally, housing is a supply-demand marketplace.  Of course everyone would love to own their own home, but homes are not free to build, and land is not limitless.  Those resources and services must be paid for.  Unfortunately, with expanding populations and needing to keep the planet sustainable, consumption of resources used for housing must be limited, which is done, in part, through regulating the logging industries.  I suppose the only part of the housing "system" that I don't believe in is zoning rules and urban growth boundaries.  People should be free to build what they want where they want, and the restrictions on those requirements do inflate housing prices.

Anyway, I suppose that your comment that the system has to change because it is unreasonable to expect people to slave away at loans for decades just reminds me of utopian dreamers who love to spout off ideals without any reasonable way of accomplishing them.  Please correct me if I am wrong, and if you do have a way to magically reduce housing prices.  

I think out of respect for the man and what he accomplished if nothing else.

Or, you could subscribe to the theory that satoshi is actually an organization of some sort.

I do make the guess that he is at least from the US, based on the times of his postings.  He would have had to have been awake at very unreasonable hours of the day if he was based in Japan.

He did choose to disappear.  I believe he worked with theymos on achieving it.  The only one here who I know of who might know his true identity is theymos...  but I wasn't around while he was here either, only a few months after the fact.

Forgot about this step!  This was key to the transition out of our room into her room.  My daughter slept in our bedroom until she was just over 1 year old... but getting her to sleep in her own room was a challenge.  She didn't like not having us right there with us.  At first, we tried the "just ignore and let her cry herself to sleep" approach, which would eventually work, but she hated it (obviously), and it made us feel awful too.  Then we went with the "stay in the room until she falls asleep" approach, which worked wonderfully.

One of us would stay in the room with both kids, just doing our own thing (I would either be on my laptop or phone), but just having us there while she fell asleep was enough to comfort her into doing that without too much fuss.  At first, she wanted to be held, but I'd just gently remind her that it was time to sleep, and tell her to lay down, and she would.  I'd keep repeating that each time she would stand up in bed.  She eventually got the idea, and stopped even asking to be held, just understood that it was time to sleep, but that I would be in the room with her.

Once we got that down (took several months), we started leaving the room when she was almost asleep, but not quite there, of course, always coming back in for a minute if she asked to reassure her that we weren't just abandoning her to the bed.  Then, we started leaving earlier and earlier, and now, we can just leave the room as soon as we say goodnight.

I definitely don't see BFL going bankrupt.  They have venture capital investment and have not touched the customer's pre-order funds.  Perhaps one or both of the others is a possibility to go bankrupt though, I do not know their financial situations.

If BFL has yet to ship out their product by the time the preorder queue is completed for either of the other two vendors, then I will likely cancel my order and switch to the company who has product ready to ship.  I am not interested in becoming one of the first ASIC miners without risk, because I already believe I have very little risk (of losing my money).  The other risk is that of not receiving the miners prior to one of the other companies shipping out all of their preorders, but in that case, it is the same difference if I just wait to see if that happens, then switch my order if needed.  And yes, I do have a guarantee (from BFL), that they will not be mining on mainnet with these ASICs.

The gamble isn't whether I will receive a product or not.  The gamble is whether I will be one of the FIRST to receive a product or not.  With nothing to lose (in my opinion), there is no reason not to take it.

That's certainly a viable strategy to take.  I have seriously considered NOT paying down my debts beyond making minimum payments, and instead investing more, banking on some seriously high inflation in the near future.  But I suppose I would rather have the certainty of becoming debt-free instead of the uncertainty of betting on the economy.  When I am done with everything but the lower interest loans (student loans and mortgage), then I may reconsider my course of action...!

Because it's not just a bit more.  It's a HUGE amount more.  The people who gets the first asics and mine at a difficulty of 3M will make as much in one week as the people who get ASICs afterward will make in 2 months.  It's a huge sum of money at stake... one for which many people (myself included) are willing to gamble on.

I doubt any of the three are scammers (at least purposefully).  I think they will all deliver.  So in my opinion, it is a 33% chance that I will be one of the first ASIC miners vs a 100% chance that I will not be.

"First, no Tangible Cryptography is not looking to start a Bitcoin Credit Union (well at least not in 2012 Smiley )." is unclear?   

I like your new examples.
A) If someone steals paintings or baseball cards, they most certainly will be charged with theft!  Same with Bitcoins... it is something of value stolen, so they will be charged with theft!  I just think test answers is a bad example.
B) Fair enough, I did not realize this.

This is very good advice.  The routine is especially important.  I have a 2 year old and 2.5 year old... now, sometimes they will complain and cry when we say it is time to go to bed, or during the routine (because they know bedtime is coming), but they don't usually cry when they are in bed anymore.  If my 2 year old daughter cries when we say goodnight and leave the room, then one of us will go in and reassure her that it is time to sleep... I usually make her agree that it is night-night time, and then she's fine.  I suppose that wouldn't work well with a toddler who isn't talking yet though, unless he at least acknowledges your questions with a head-nod or something.

I've learned to always steer the discussions not towards bringing down the status quo (most people don't want that), but instead towards the technological revolution that Bitcoin represents, with these two points:

- For the first time ever, you can send money to ANYONE ANYWHERE in the world INSTANTLY and for FREE.
- For the first time ever, you can use a digital cash equivalent.  Previously, every transaction had to go through a bank or other central entity, but now, you can send money digitally without a bank or any other entity having to clear or deal with your transaction, or take transaction fees from it.

Those are both points that most people can relate to.  Those showcase why Bitcoin is so much better than the current systems.  Stay out of the anti-government, anarchist viewpoints, because most people (myself included, I'll admit) don't want that to happen.

Lol, I just added a few myself...

Isn't it caseless or something?

To look at it conversely, the worker could have produced twice as much for the same wage, helping to reduce the prices of those services and products he produced, and making things more affordable across the board for people to purchase.

I suppose I do not really see a way to live joblessly right now even if I wanted to, unless I wanted my family to be homeless.  So it's not really an option.

Regardless, I know that I live much happier when I am not financially stressed.  I also know that if I lived for today instead of tomorrow, I might enjoy it for a little bit, but then have to pay for it tenfold down the road.  Been there, done that already.  Now, I am focused on financial freedom.  Paying off my remaining debts as quickly as possible, saving money into investments, etc.  If I decided to enjoy myself "in my prime", I would very quickly imprison myself to working until whatever age at which social security would kick in.  Instead, I am using my prime to provide for my family and better myself in terms of employability by gaining experience, as well as continuing to set myself up for an early retirement and living stress-free with regards to my finances.

I am very happy with this choice.  I can see that you do not share the same sentiment, which is fine.  Some people like to live for today without regards for tomorrow, and I suppose they will be the ones still working a minimum wage job when they are 70 years old, waiting for the social security to finally kick in. 

WuKvR

Josh already stated that it takes 2-5 days from design to product-in-hand.  They must have someone local doing it for them.  Stamping sheet metal isn't a difficult or lengthy process.