Were you using two-factor authentication on your blockchain account? I was thinking that two-factor authentication makes one immune to getting your account hacked.  Am I wrong?

That doesn't make sense...what am I missing?

Statistics from this site: https://blockchain.info/stats

Total Miners Revenue
$3,983,985.75

Electricity Cost
$18,279,390.56

Operating Profit
$-14,295,404.81

Operating Margin
-358.82%

Profit Margin
-627.96%

All statistics are for the previous 24 hour period unless otherwise stated

I've heard that all the computers (i.e. energy consumption) involved in running the BTC network is what makes it so immune to an attack.  If that is true, then I wonder how do these greener alt coins compare to BTC in terms of security? Do they perhaps have another way to offer the same level of security, or is it necessarily an inverse relationship--a trade-off between security and green-ness?

First, let me say that I'm pretty computer illiterate.  I'm trying to figure all this out through Youtube tutorials...

So I burnt a live CD of Ubuntu and I went into BIOS and chose "USB CDROM" as my #1 choice to boot from, but when I reboot, it's still using Windows.  What could be wrong?  

(I know that I burnt the Ubuntu CD correctly cause when I put it in my other computer, it boots from Ubuntu just fine.  I would just use this other computer to generate the wallets, but for some reason I'm not able to get an internet connection with that computer. [Yes, I know that I need to disconnect from the internet before generating the keys.])
    

My interpretation is that merchants are not allowed to accept BTC.    

From the reddit translation (link below)

"Bitcoin is not issued by a monetary authority, it does not have the status of legal tender and obliged acceptance status of currency, it is not currency in the true sense. Bitcoin is a specified virtual commodity, it does not have equal legal status with currency, and it cannot and should not be circulated as currency on the market. But, the general public have the freedom to participate in Bitcoin trading as a commodity trading on the internet on the condition they carry their own risk."

http://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1s5hzl/my_human_translation_of_the_china_regulation/

I don't have anywhere close to the 16GB of RAM required for Armory.  Evidently the beta version requires only 256MB, but doesn't beta mean they're testing it out to see if it works properly?  That shouldn't bother me? 

Maybe one of the other offline wallets requires less RAM?  Would any offline wallet allow me to make a paper wallet or only certain ones?

 

I don't know how to print in HD.  Is it really that important?  If so, why?  (I don't even own a printer.  I'd be using a family member's.)  

Also, this may sound like a stupid question, but what happens if I generate my private key and then I lose my internet connection or my computer freezes before I have a chance to write it down or print it out.  Are my bitcoins lost?

As for buying off Coinbase, I'm aware that there is a delay in recieving the coins once you buy them, but BTC-e and Mt. Gox sound even more risky, plus they take too long to transfer money into.

I want to buy some BTCs, and, from my research, it seems that you shouldn't store any BTCs that you're not prepared to lose in an online wallet.  And I don't think that I have the computer skill or computer memory necessary to use Multibit/Electrum/Armory.  So that leaves the option of a paper wallet...

As far as creating a paper wallet, is it really as simple as writing down your private key on a piece of paper (that's what I heard on a video from Let's Talk Bitcoin)?  If so, that's right up my alley!!   

So I would purchase BTCs on Coinbase, send them to my blockchain.info wallet, and then I somehow generate a private key on blockchain.info???  

And then i just write the private key down on a few sheets of paper, put them in secure places and I'm done???

Other than losing the sheets of paper or someone finding them (both of which are risks I feel very comfortable taking), are there any other security risks involved with this method?  For example, how likely is it that a hacker could be looking at the screen when I generate my private key?  I was thinking that if someone had hacked my computer, they would've already tried wiring money out of my online bank account, using my credit cards, etc., but like I said, I don't really understand computer stuff.

Anyway, even after getting the above questions answered, I'm not sure how confident I will be in carrying out the transfer/storage process on my own without somehow losing my BTCs, so I may want to have someone guide me through the process over the phone, and I would be willing to pay such a person.  It would have to be someone with an established reputation in this community.  If you might be interested in that, let me know.    

Also, I think it would help if I actually practiced sending and receiving BTCs a few times, generating a private key, etc., so if anyone would be willing to send me a penny or nickel's worth of BTCs, let me know as well.  Would be much appreciated.