Granted, I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but could someone explain to me why within our 2016 block range between difficulty retargets, we have some blocks at 1777774 and some at 1779164?

This is the first time I've seen a difficulty change/difference during a 2016 block range.

Did I miss something?

Cheers,
Kermee

EDIT: bitcoind still shows 1777774.48200146, and all the latest blocks solved still shows 1777774.48200146... But http://blockexplorer.com/q/getdifficulty ... 

Block 142742

2.32m BTC's just moved... Nearly 1/3 of all available BTC's mined so far.

Any guesses who?

Cheers,
Kermee

[UPGRADED:]

Hi All,

On top of the Apple iMac 20" Aluminum 2 GHz Intel C2D machine I'm selling, it's time to find my Gaming Notebook a new home too!

Originally purchased from Newegg.com back in November '09 after I started a 9 page debate on purchasing it on NBR.com, she has served me very well.  She still has many years of life left and has been taken well care of.  I've made a couple upgrades and I think the asking price is fair considering how much these still sell for on eBay on top of the upgrades I've done to the unit.  The SSD drive itself still sells between $150-$200 on eBay.  Add the price of the OEM 2nd-drive bracket & 640GB 5400GB HDD with WiFI upgrades... You're getting one heck-of-a 15.6" Gaming Notebook which can still hold its own!

• Original box that it came in!
• ASUS G51Vx-X3A Republic of Gamers Notebook
• Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 (2.53 GHz)
• Stable OC to 3.1 GHz with SetFSB
• 15.6" Glossy LED-backlit 1920x1080p LCD Screen
• 4GB of DDR2 Memory (2x2GB)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260M w/1GB of DDR3 VRAM
• 10/100/1000 Wired Ethernet
• Windows 7 Home Premium x64 (64-bit)
• UPGRADED: Intel® WiMAX/WiFi Link 5350 (WiMAX Portion *CANNOT* be activated though[1])
• UPGRADED: Primary Internal HDD -- Intel X25-M 160GB SSD G2 (Second Generation with TRIM support)
• UPGRADED: Secondary Internal HDD -- 640GB 5400RPM 2.5" SATA2 HDD

Some more info I have on the unit:

• November 2009 benchmark of 10,583 3DMark06

        

And here are the obligatory pictures:

        

And here is what it looks like Top-Side:

        

Price: 110 BTC OBO or 18,500 SC OBO.

I think it's a fair price considering I've upgraded the internal HDD to an Intel X25-M 160GB SSD G2 (And the machine SCREAMS with it!) and purchased the 2-bay internal 2.5" HDD bracket directly from ASUS and put in a 640GB 2.5" 5400RPM SATA2 drive.  I installed a couple of the games I play heavily on the SSD (World of Warcraft, StarCraft II), and some of the 'not-too-important' games, MP3 & video collection on the 640GB drive.  That system worked out extremely well.

As for the [1] note on the WiFI, I upgraded the WiFi inside the notebook from an Intel WiFi 1000 bgn to a Dual-Band Intel WiMax/WiFi 5350 abgn since I needed the 5 GHz.  I was going to use the WiMax on Clear but never got it to work properly since Clear (ClearWire) uses a 'whitelisted' MAC address system in where the MAC address of the WiMax device needs to be in their system, provided to them by Intel.  The MAC address on the Intel 5350 I purchased WAS NOT in Clear's system so they couldn't activate it.  Nevertheless, the WiFi on the Intel 5350 is vastly superior than the 1000 bgn which came with it.

U.S. Residents ONLY. Shipping is done UPS Ground w/Insurance & Adult Signature Required; S/H inclusive in BTC price. -- Buyers must have it shipped to the Lower-Continental 48 States.

Please feel free to ask any questions!  Thanks for looking!

Cheers,
Kermee

P.S. System will be wiped and re-installed with a clean copy of Windows 7 x64 prior to being shipped with all appropriate drivers & utilities installed; None of the ASUS bloatware would be re-installed unless you want me to re-install them

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Today-Marks-40th-Anniversary-wscheats-1950132810.html

Some interesting tidbits:

As is well known now, though the dollar bought roughly 1/35th of an ounce of gold in 1971, today it buys less than 1/1750th. It gets interesting, however, when we notice just how little some things have changed in the last forty years.

Indeed, as Brookes calculated in his essential book The Economy In Mind, “In 1970 an ounce of gold ($35) would buy 15 barrels of OPEC oil ($2.30/bbl). In May 1981 an ounce of gold ($480) still bought 15 barrels of Saudi oil ($32/bbl).” Fast forward to the present, and an ounce of gold ($1750) buys roughly 20 barrels of oil ($85), but given the historical reversion to a 1/15 gold/oil ratio, it’s not a reach to suggest that oil is due for a spike upward to roughly $116/bbl assuming gold remains where it is.

Thoughts, comments, debate on some of the points in the article?  I found it interesting how closely 'oil' follows 'gold'...

Cheers,
Kermee

[Apple iMac 20" (iMac7,1 A1224) with:]

Hi All,

It's time to say 'Goodbye' to my trusty old 20" Apple iMac...



You can find the base specs here at this link, but its memory and HDD have been upgraded and it comes with an Apple Wireless Keyboard and a Apple Magic Mouse retailing about $69 USD each.

Apple iMac 20" (iMac7,1 A1224) with:

• 2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo (T7300)
• Apple OSX Lion 10.7 Pre-Installed (Clean install from USB)
• Apple iLife '11 Pre-Installed
• Ample 4GB RAM
• Large 640GB HDD
• Gorgeous 1680x1050 Resolution IPS LCD Display
• ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT 128MB (OpenCL doesn't run on it!)  
• Wired GbE/Wireless 802.11 abgn/8X DL "SuperDrive"
• Apple Wireless Keyboard
• Apple Magic Mouse
• NOTE: NO physical install media included!

80 BTC OBO or 13,500 SC.

U.S. Residents ONLY. Shipping is done UPS Ground w/Insurance & Adult Signature Required; S/H inclusive in BTC price. -- Buyers must have it shipped to the Lower-Continental 48 States.

It's a great machine and has served me very well for many years.  It's perfect as a spare, or even a main machine... For your kids... dog... cat... or pirate (Arrrrr!) in your household.  It's in great condition and I've never had any issues with it.

I finally upgraded and purchased a fully loaded iMac 27" Thunderbolt i7 Quad-Core machine from some mined bits a month ago...

Cheers,
Kermee

P.S. I preloaded World of Warcraft & StarCraft 2, but I can remove them before shipping if you want.

[ONE]

Both badges are in hand.  You get:

* ONE Three Day PAX Prime 2011 Guest Pass
* ONE Halo Fest Pass

Goes out USPS Express Mail / Signature Required.

Asking 20 BTC.



Cheers,
Kermee

EDIT: Added picture.  Gold-plated Brass Bitcoin and the two 1 gram .999 Fine Silver rounds are NOT included.

It's normally $160 USD...



Stats: 10,688 kWh over 61 days
Rate: $0.08038 Per kWh

Cheers,
Kermee

EDIT: Cops haven't shown up to my residence yet.

[1886589.36771935]

Current Blocks: 139811
Current Difficulty: 1888786.7053531
Next Difficulty At Block: 141119
Next Difficulty In: 1308 blocks
Next Difficulty In About: 1 week, 2 days, 2 hours, 43 minutes, and 36 seconds
Next Difficulty Estimate: 1886589.36771935

Cheers,
Kermee

[There are 803 unconfirmed transactions (252105 bytes):There are 756 low priority transactions.]

As of August 4th, 2011, 2:06:53 AM UTC:

There are 803 unconfirmed transactions (252105 bytes):

There are 756 low priority transactions.

Can you guys up the limit of low-priority/free TX's that are included with solved blocks?

Cheers,
Kermee

... every +~0.01 on the ask side... You're a very funny man/woman/bot.

 

Cheers,
Kermee

[Note that I'm not paying directly in bitcoins, but have exchanged for USD to spend.]

After RSantana started selling his 'novelty' Bitcoin from CoinedBits, I decided I would take it along with me everywhere I go when I'm using funds/profit from mining bitcoins.  Note that I'm not paying directly in bitcoins, but have exchanged for USD to spend.  I'm going to start a little photo diary here just for the fun of it.  Today, it was at the 37th Annual Ballard SeafoodFest in Seattle, WA.

You can't go to the Ballard SeafoodFest in Seattle, WA without missing the authentic Nordic Viking Boat, which is kept by the Nordic Heritage Museum.  I thought it would be appropriate to have my Bitcoin pose a picture with it:

Cost: 0 BTC


I then proceeded to get some grub:



Items

Scalloritto (Bacon wrapped scallops on top of a soft tortilla with creamy pesto & slaw) - Cost: ~0.6 BTC
Pan Seared Scallops (Served on a bed of rice pilaf with pesto drizzle) - Cost: ~0.6 BTC
Alligator On-A-Stick [Pictured Above] - Cost: ~0.5 BTC.



Then I went to go buy 1.5 BTC's worth of fresh wild-caught Alaskan Salmon (10 lbs.) -- Proceeds goes to charity in Italy:



Cost: 1.5 BTC


Then I purchased a 'Strawberry Supernova' at MiroTea:



Cost: ~0.25 BTC

All, in all, I spent about 3.75 BTC's worth of bitcoins today over the course of 4 hours. So to finish it off...

... I found a pirate and tipped him about ~0.3 BTC for letting me take his photo with my 'Bitcoin'... He decided to use it as an 'eye-patch'...:



Cost: ~0.3 BTC

Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr MATEY! I've GOT YOUR BOOTY!

Cheers,
Kermee