So are you saying that some if the accounts on here may have been purchased by scammers?

Bitcoin won't replace cash, or gold, or silver or even copper. Copper is emerging as another hedge against inflation, and that's another change in the world of finance. What Bitcoin will do is replace the bank EFT (electronic funds transfer) systems. That raises an interesting speculation about credit cards. It seems people need to borrow money, and there will need to be a system created to allow credit payments via Bitcoin.

I'm in the final stages of downloading the blockchain, and I've noticed a copy of the peers are using software that appears to be out of the normal sequence. One is Satoshi 0.11.99 .and the other is Bitcoin XT 0.11. Are these non-standard nodes? and should I worry about them?

Well it will be a good thing if it stops reckless lending by banks. Isn't Iceland considering a similar thing?

Well I've learnt a lot by downloading the blockchain via public WiFi. Well actually it has been taking far too long, so I'm finishing the download through a domestic connection. Unfortunately it is based on overhead copper wire, and it's a bit windy out here in the country. I'm well into the final year at the moment, so I can move to the next stage fairly soon. I might try to run a full node on a Chromebook - I haven't seen anyone report on this.

I believe that fiat currencies exist in 2 forms. Notes that are printed by the government, and virtual accounts that are created by the banks. Bank bail-ins will cause people to convert their acounts into notes, gold and increasingly - Bitcoin etc. Bitcoin will replace the banks virtual currency before it replaces cash imho.

It isn't the government that creates dollars, it's the banks. A banking crisis could cause people to switch away from bank deposits to actual cash, and of course Bitcoin. They  could also switch to Renminbi, after all, there are a lot of Chinese in the US, and oil is being quoted in Renmimbi on some exchanges.

The real English.

Surely the need for approval by the Fed negates the whole blockchain concept. This puts it into a divergent universe. Anyway, Bitcoin was there first (followed by many others), so I don't see how the patent can be valid. If they want to enforce it, are they going to sue every node in the network?

If a country banned Bitcoin for internal purchases, people would just buy abroad and import the goods. That would weaken the balance of payments for the country. It would be far better to encourage the use of Bitcoin to sell locally manufactured goods abroad.

England - please note that The UK and Great Britain are not countries.

John Bergman - there is so much good medical advice there

Yep - happy Christmas everybody, and remember Bitcoin is for life, not just for Christmas.

Well it isn't over free WiFi.

I don't know the fastest way to download, but the method involving the least effort seems to be by obtaining a copy on DVD or USB stick.

Presumably if a number of people still have copies of the blockchain on USB sticks or somewhere it may be moribund, but not actually dead. I guess if a number of people made a few transfers, and did a bit of mining, it could be revived. I suppose the question really is - would anybody want to?

Here is today's titbit of info.

I looked at the list of peers used in my download - there are 8 of them. For the record, my ip is 46.233.116.128 that is MacD via O2 in Slough, England.
Here is the peer list. The entries are IP, ping time, Location, ISP

45.32.235.62 - 705618 - North Holland - Choopa
178.78.250.3 - 909392 - Stockholm - Ownit
188.40.51.68 - 266569 - Falkenstein (Germany) - Hetznet
85.9.211.186 - 845045 - Salaspils (Latvia) - SIA
72.94.11.105 - 236 - Philadelphia - Verizon
37.120.176.52 - 63 - Karlsruhe - Netcup
107.161.25.226 - 273 - Seattle - Ramnode
104.219.251.106 - 445 - Los Angeles - Namecheap

I guess I should consider this list when considering WiFi performance.

Raspberry pi looks as if it's the way to go. Thanks for suggesting that.

Thanks for the replies. You are correct about the hosting. I've got a bit of a history on the web, and I've still got a lot of domain names from that. atm they are all routed to a monetising service, but I'm just stating to create a few projects for them. The hosting is for these projects rather than posting images. I'll probably consolidate the graphs, and post some comments about the Wifi on a page there. I'd be happy to open it up for discussion in this forum. Bitcoin is a fantastic facility for people with a mobile lifestyle, or for people taking a mobile holiday. Hence my increased interest in Bitcoin.

Thanks for the warning about the lack of security in using public WiFi. It was because of this that I bought a Chromebook, and I used that for net access. There aren't any files or info that would be of any use to anyone. The nrew Windows 10 machine is a different matter, and I'm cautious about its use. It'll take a bit of major planning to secure Bitcoin wallets when I start to use it. I wasn't aware of rogue access points. I'll read up on them - many thanks for mentioning them.

MacD uses the O2 network, and they seem more interested in getting me to buy their Christmas chicken burgers than anything else. BT is a different matter, they keep pushing pages at me, and some of their advertising looks a bit iffy.

The download is taking far too long, so I think I'm going to cheat and complete it over a cable connection. I can always run some partial downloads if I need to repeat any of the tests.

Thanks again for the useful comments and info.

Maybe I've misunderstood things. I am under the impression that joining a pool teaches you how to join a pool. I wanted to learn more than that. I have no desire to become a professional miner, or even to get a return however small. It's the  process that I want to understand.

I started a thread about mining basics in the the forum, but it got moved. As I understand it, if you only have a basic system, you are too small to be accepted by a mining pool, so if you want to learn about mining, you have to start as an independant miner. Of course you have no chance of making any money, but it should be a good way to learn about mining in depth.

Please contradict me if I am wrong.