Just what we needed, an invitation to a 0.9999... vs 1 debate.  

Aaand messages sent to both of you.

All right, be on the lookout for a message, both of you. (May not be until later today as I'm in Prepare for Work Mode right now)

I think I can now declare myself officially unlucky. Mining both solo and in a pool, 24/7, I got my expected two blocks during the last difficulty level.

Both of them went to the pool.

SUPER NITPICK: I'm mildly irked by the popularity of quoting efficiency in "megahashes per second per watt" when folks could use "megahashes per watt-second" or "megahashes per joule" or even the far more immediately usable "terahashes per kWh".

...well, there goes all the wind out of my sails.

(I think you birthers are nutbars too, but I'm not a Bitcoin conspiracy theorist. I just assumed people who like/dislike the idea of a conspiracy would tend to like/dislike them across the board.)

I defy you to point me to a single Bitcoin conspiracy theorist who has done this.

+1 to Rebuilder. Timely payment, no hassle, a friendly sale all around.

Rebuilder has paid for and received his Portal 2 preorder. But both copies of the original Portal are still up for grabs!

Portal is a fantastic game and well worth the price. I realize people are probably holding onto their BTC right now, hoping for their value to rise to earlier levels, so I'll make the following offer.

Portal: 10.00 BTC per copy! At the current exchange rate that's more than half off the standard price, and even at dollar parity it's about 33% off.

If you're interested, post here to claim a copy and I will send you a payment address. Payment up front, please; Rebuilder will vouch for my honesty if you ask him.

(You might suspect I'll go lower still if you wait long enough, since these copies have no intrinsic value to me. So I am precommitting now: this is my final offer. I will never make a lower one.)

Yes, good news that the price seems to be going up!

I just wish I'd predicted the downturn before buying a bunch of BTC, literally the day before it happened... would have been better for the finances and the blood pressure.

I don't actually buy a lot of hardware, because my requirements are pretty modest and I rarely discover a need to upgrade. But my next upgrade will probably be a solid-state drive, and I will definitely look at your store if it has reasonable prices on those.

I really like ITX and low-power stuff, since I like the idea of building dedicated machines for different purposes. (Still need to get around to that car PC.) Having "guides" for things like building a DVR or a home security system would be cool.

Cool. Is Megawatt one of those people? He's said nothing to indicate that he is.

The Script: It's all right in the block chain on your own system. If you don't want to go digging through it, you can also look at e.g. http://blockexplorer.com/address/14BGGTSsiJdCkrVm5CCGyMdjvjheLukGW5

That there is my very own first address.

I have no problem with wanting to help, out of loyalty or kindness or whatever motive. But why help in this particular way? Why not, say, save the money you would have spent on electricity and donate it to the team developing the Bitcoin software? Or, if you do want to help specifically by strengthening the network, pay someone else to mine who is in a position to do it more efficiently, like ArtForz. There are many ways to use your money to benefit Bitcoin, why pick such a grossly inefficient one?

I've sent you back a few responses, rebuilder.

You really shouldn't be mining if you're only getting 2.5 Mhash/sec, unless your power requirements are incredibly low.

Even if your electricity costs are fixed, and even if you don't care about wasting megawatts on creating less value than you've destroyed in the process, consider the time cost to you of maintaining the software for as long as it will take to generate a block. You'd be far better off taking that time and performing some sort of useful service, and getting paid in bitcoins.

As has been said in many places elsewhere, Bitcoin is not about mining! Mining is one way to get it, but (except for gamers or professionals) it is probably not the best way to get it. The best way to get it is to trade goods or services.

+1 to Gusti, +1 to Keefe.

Recently completed a currency exchange with Gusti, using Keefe as an escrow. No problems throughout.

I'm pretty sure you just posted on the last page, buddy.

If slush is wrong, all that connecting will do is increase the hash rate and decrease the average time to payout, leaving the expected value of a share unchanged while reducing the variance. In other words, exactly what would happen if anyone else did the same thing.

If you are saying that a person can deliberately unbalance and harm your pool with only 3 GHash/s, how on earth is that not a vulnerability?

Re. our earlier exchange: if I had already decided to leave because of your attitude, I would have done so, not written here about it. And if I decide to do so, I'll do it, not demand that you offer me a better deal. My purpose was to inform you that your attitude is toxic and is not going to attract users to your pool.

geebus, I like your pool a lot but you have an attitude problem. I have repeatedly considered leaving it, not because of the payouts (which are of course the best available), but because I don't like being associated with it.

Stop letting technical discussions about potential cheating methods turn into protracted "Whose pool is better" wars, because it's really off-putting. If you know your pool is safe, let your results speak for themselves.

(Though you should really make sure you actually know that, first. If I knew my own server were safe from an attack, I would invite you to try it out, not tell you to leave me alone. Since you don't trust the math and you don't want to do the experiment, what method are you using to decide whether you are vulnerable?)