Why don't you either play the hero and fix it (or work privately with those who can), or play the villain and secretly exploit the crap out of this?

Oh, yeah, it's because you're playing the scammer as you've got nothing.

Nice try though.

because cgminer didn't.... 

lol.

There are reasons most merchants stopped taking personal checks, and this is one of them. The merchant would rather eat a 2.9-3.9% CC fee and process a transaction with little risk, than have to fight dead beat check writers in court. Despite the law being on the merchant's side, it usually turned out to be a losing proposition due to having to track them down, file court documents, and appear in court.

I, personally, view Bitcoin as a better ACH, but it's just ripe for someone to build a credit card network on top of it.

All pools, (assuming equal fees, pays Tx fees, isn't using a wonky made up scoring system, etc) will pay out the same over time. That's just how mining works.

The large pools reduce your pay outs, but payout more frequently. The smaller pools increase the payouts, but pay out less frequently. It all works out in the end.

If you're willing to accept purchase with 0 confirmations, then we should hook up... I have a lot of micro-purchases I'd like to conduct with you.

There are no certainties in investment other than there will certainly be uncertainty.

If you are asking if a share can be stolen (withheld) by a miner for the purpose of "redeeming" on their own, then the answer is "no". That is not possible, each share is hashed such that the pool is the payout address.

The only reason a miner would withhold a block solution is to cause financial hardship on a pool. They gain no direct financial gain from this.

Very true! I can think of a pool that fits this category, lol.

You've fallen off the deep end! Don't get me wrong, I think consumer debt is horrible, but not all debt is the worst. Judging by your response I'd say it's probably safe to say that you do not own real estate, if you did you'd probably have first hand experience in at least one situation where debt can be at least a neutral force in someone's life.

Circling back to the OP's question; in the case of real estate loans (and certain other long term loans), it's not uncommon for them to be priced at (+/- 1%) of inflation. For example, I have a 30 year home loan priced at 3% interest. Once you factor in inflation, is the bank really making much or anything? In fact, as the debtor I would be foolish to pre-pay such a loan. Ignoring the interest write-offs (as that's a very country and loan specific thing), the fact that the loan hovers around the inflation rate means any pre-payment carries an opportunity cost risk without a large (any?) financial benefit.

So, this really all comes back to an ROI calculation against opportunity cost. If a BTC loan's interest can be justified by having access to BTC today verses tomorrow then re-paying at (or slightly above) inflation could be justified.

Obviously a smart consumer is going to run the calculations in both fiat and BTC, so you'd want to keep the duration of such BTC loans lower... Say 12 months, as to mitigate this.

So, in short; yes, BTC loans could work (even at 26% interest), but you'd have to keep them short and probably have them be very specific purpose loans (e.g. Loans specifically for purchasing mining equipment where you could keep physical possession of the hardware as collateral). "Personal" loans where the debtor can do anything with their BTC or Multi-year loans are probably way too risky given the current inflation rate.

How does this (specifically steps 2 & 3) change when a pool fee is involved? Is B simply reduced by the fee amount (e.g. B is only 99% of what it otherwise was in a 1% fee pool)?

If you have to ask the question, you probably already have your answer. When in doubt, trust your gut.

BTW, I know nothing about them... just speaking from previous experiences in general.

Where is the best place to trade namecoins to bitcoins?

Through merged mining I've gathered several namecoins and have no desire for them. I simply wish to trade them for bitcoins (or litecoins). Unfortunately the two places I've looked (Cryptsy and BTC-e) seem to have VERY shallow markets. I'm afraid unloading these there might be problematic.

What does everyone else do to unload these?

You also lose a LARGE portion of what makes Bitcoin, Bitcoin. The Bitcoin "core" app is the problem here, but resorting to having to trust a 3rd party with your money isn't a wise solution.

^^ this!

Here you go: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/28/us-bitcoin-mtgox-bankruptcy-idUSBREA1R0FX20140228

While bitcoin may not be a Nokia, it sure as heck could become a blackberry if it doesn't evolve.

I'm puzzled as to how the core BTC team sees Bitcoin working for most transactions. Last I checked I didn't have to wait 10 minutes at a convenience store for my Visa to pre-auth.

Many altcoins (Litecoin included) try to address this slow confirmation timeframe.

As it currently is, a Bitcoin is a better ACH not a better Visa.

Thanks!

Hope 1/2% doesn't sound cheap 

I think most people here are either in IT or know there way around a computer. So, I know you know how to deal with this, as do I.

I guess my point really was that my father/mother/uncle/aunt wouldn't, and if we can't make bitcoin approachable for the non-techie then bitcoin has failed.

I'm hopeful since alternative clients exist, and hopefully they take off. But, the point still remains that Bitcoin-Qt is "marketed" as the "official" client and is the one most people start with. First impressions are very important.

I voted for "< $50".

I like the basic idea, though I wonder if the details of a tablet with linux sidestepped your concept. I think if you had a device like Coin that worked with my phone and somehow the two together ensure a greater security for my wallet, then "heck yeah".

But, like Coin, it'd had to be small enough to fit into my regular wallet.

My point was that you were in the wrong forum section, but it looks like this post has already been moved.