Here's a snapshot I took right before Blockchain went down on the 17th. Two blocks go missing. Next millions of BTC get paid out. I know this looks to be a glitch of some sort but could someone please explain in simple terms how and where blockchain.info gets its information?

Hi all,

I have been to literally hundreds of websites in the past week researching Bitcoin and other crypto-currency. Yes, I am a n00b. From what I have gathered so far however, there are a few simple ways to get BTC into your wallet but not without their own respectable drawbacks. Here are some:

1. Ebay - Ridiculous markups up to 100%+
2. Craigslist - Human interaction :/
3. Mt. Gox / BitStamp / e-BTC, etc. (Exchanges) - Slow turnaround, shady business practices, hax0rs
4. Tradebitcoins.com and other local coin exchange search - Many legit, many scams
5. Blogs, forum post - Informative, useful material
6. Mine - Hardware costs and difficulty
7. Sell your own goods & accept coins - Low interest and acceptance of BitCoin atm but this is the ideal concept

That is a short list aside from those websites everyone wants to avoid (fill out surveys for free bitcoins!). If anyone has more please contribute to the list. I still haven't found a definitive answer yet. Like the title says choose two; If its easy and quick, its most likely not too safe.