as the title says. i've got $130 in Paypal. looking to get some BTC.

so, just kinda throwing this out there. it's probably already being done, i'm no professional, totally pulling this out of thin air, etc, but figured we could talk about it. maybe you guys know of something already in the works i can look at or something.

as we all know, the BTC blockchain gives us a record of every transaction that's ever happened and it more or less can't be altered. more accurately, it grows increasingly hard to alter the longer it exists, i suppose.

well, enter orwell's 1984, fake news, photoshop, deep fakes, etc.

there's a need for a verifiable, unalterable record of ...well, everything. history itself. it sort of already exists in the internet itself - nothing ever really gets deleted, right? but that's kind of ad hoc and random and really difficult to track down when it could be urgent. ideally we'd have something that could be referenced in courts, in politics, as absolute irrefutable, unarguable, hard fact. "at this time, in this place, this thing happened." full stop, period, end of.

no more editing someone out of a photo with a leader, like the soviets famously did. sure they could edit the photo and share it like it was the original, but then someone comes along and shows, nope, that's fake, and here's the proof. a hard record of fact checking, basically.

i'm not exactly sure on HOW this would work mind you - is it some sort of bot scraping articles for dates, events, pictures and video? well if so, how do we know the articles are posting real things, and not, say, the onion and it's satire?

and obviously there's issues with why would people bother to mine it and build the blockchain - i don't mean this as some kind of "TruthCoin" - not to mention who'd manage it to determine what goes into the record.

and it also obviously couldn't verify any event that happened before it was activated. you'd have to start from zero, really, just like BTC's value...

anyway - you get the idea. a record, via blockchain, that's about factual events and proves they happened and can't be altered.

can it be done? is it being done? SHOULD it be done? how could it be done?

so i've been absent from the BTC scene for ...years. i have a tiny tiny amount in an old wallet.dat that i'd like to check on, but i always used bitcoinQT in the past. on my current internet connection that's... just not gonna work.

so, what's the simplest way to get to the bitcoin i have in the addresses stored in this old wallet.dat file, without compromising the private keys by importing them to some website or something?

a lite client that doesn't need the whole blockchain, maybe?

thanks guys.

so, on a new windows install and formatted hard drive I've installed 16.3 and am trying to sync for the first time. it's getting stuck at about 15%. stays on the same block with no progress for hours. tried restarting the whole process by closing bitcoin core and deleting to data folder (separate hard drive from the install) and it happened again, about 15%, but a different block. the first time I had closed the client and replaced the newly made wallet file with my old one, but the second time I did not.

any thoughts? i can just leave it, but a block shouldn't be taking 6+ hours to download and process, should it?

I'm neck deep in the handcrafted blade community, though only an amateur myself. i'd be happy to act as a liaison for anyone wanting something custom made to their specifications, from any maker, even if they don't accept bitcoin.

for examples, see https://www.custommade.com/gallery/custom-knives/ but don't feel limited to that site. As a middle man, i'd be happy to act as a bitcoin passthrough for anyone, for only a $2 fee.

yea, i know there's a few different websites offering this already, but hey, it's something i know, so why not, right?

anything on steam i'll buy and sell to you for bitcoin at bitstamp's price +$2 for my trouble. delivery within 2 hours, unless i'm asleep. i'm in the US, so that may effect certain prices or availabilities.

so, i just got two BFL singles. based on my research a 500w PC power supply should be enough, so i got one and plugged it in. one BFL single works fine. but the other... well, firstly i had to buy two molex to 6 pin PCIe adapters, so there's that... but when i try to power them both and start mining through BFG, they work for a couple seconds, then the PSU shuts down. i assume due to too much power being used.

i don't have a kill-a-watt or other test stuff handy to determine what they're actually drawing.

i'm also fully aware they won't make any money, so skip it. not why i'm doing it.

how much juice do i need here? 600 watts? more? adapters a bad idea?

i mean, old. like, i've got 50 bucks to throw at this. anything that can up my hash from the... uh... 11 GH it's at right now. *ahem* yea, i know. but hey, if it's just a door stop to you, why not sell it?

so i was the guy who ran the first group buy of asic miner block erupter USB sticks here on the forum - 330 megahash a second each! woohoo, right?

well, having moved recently, i finally unpacked the ones i have and decided to see if they still worked - turns out they do! my hubs are a different story, sadly.

point is: these babies are the first ASIC chips to ever mine bitcoin, out in the wild rather than in labs or production facilities.

i've got 44, all functional.

obviously, there's little real value in running them, but plenty of historical significance.

anyone interested? original prices were something like 200 USD each, but their value now is ...totally unknown. i'd be happy to discuss any offers, either for all of them or for individual sticks. for info's sake regarding shipping, i'm near fort worth texas, zipcode 76022.

so i (finally) got a decent job after quite sometime unemployed. yay! one of the things this leads to is figuring out where to live for my wife and i. we're at her parents house now.

one option is to build a house on their land. they own it free and clear, there is over an acre. i know loans from banks for homes are common, and that home construction loans when you already own the land DO exist. but i haven't got any idea how much i'd even be looking at.

i mean, how much does it cost to build a house? materials, different techniques (modular, prefab, stick build, poured concrete, brick?) labor? how much could we (and friends) do ourselves and what sort of legal stuff is there to deal with?

i just have no idea. not even sure where to begin looking for info, so here we are.

this is in texas, btw. i'm sure it differs by state.

any advice?

just finished my 2nd custom knife the other day. thought someone here might like a peek. thoughts?



more info and pictures over at http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php/1474332-my-2nd-knife-brass-guard-and-subhilt-walnut-scales-square-pins-curved-1080-blade

so i got laid off on December 9th. good times, lemme tell ya. unemployment won't kick in until next week, and i'm late rent. i've got a week to get 800 bucks, in short.

which my tax refund should cover three times over! yay!

but i can't GET it in the next week. BOO!

any ideas?

all i have is my final paystub. no w-2, i'd only worked for the job from feb of 2015 to december 9.

not asking for a loan or anything (i still owe marcotheminer a few coins...) like that, but ideas to get my tax refund early, or a loan on that.

any ideas?

hey guys.

so i've got $230 USD worth of amazon giftcards (technically i haven't bought them yet, so desired amount is flexible and such) that i'm looking to sell for BTC. gotta make a loan payment...

obviously there'll be a mark down, but i'd prefer to get as close to 1 btc as possible.

asking .9 BTC or best offer.

hi guys, i got 3 $100 dollar gift cards with amazon sitting in my email ready to move. need the btc to pay some loans back. talk to me.

to clarify: i'm not looking to lose $70 bucks on this... be reasonable with your offers, k?

EDIT: SOLD!

just bought a bundle and got these, but already have them or don't want them. anyone? first reasonable offer gets it, all three or individual.

friend of mine recently became and AFLAC insurance agent. still training, only passed his test just prior to christmas, but he talks a big game. as i'm in desperate need of a job with real income asap, he's suggesting i follow his footsteps. so, thought i'd ask here opinions on it.

anyone done aflac sales or other insurance? what about other 100% commission jobs? i'm not what i'd consider a natural salesman. i couldn't talk a starving man into spending his last dollar on a belt buckle or some shit. but i can talk to people and tell them about good products. so, maybe? i don't know...

as the kid who dreamed of game development as a career, the fact i'm even considering this seems ludicrous. but damn do i need a job.

so, apparently my bitcoin core stopped syncing sometime friday. i'd been working all weekend and only noticed a couple hours ago... it had been running, trying to sync 2 days worth for about 8 hours. is there some network side reason for this, or is it my end? possibly corrupt blockchain?

so, i live with my fiance and her parents. we all get along just fine. their son lives on the property they own, in a trailer. he brought in someone i can best describe as his gf and she's been living there. in short, she's trash. drugs, actively involved in crime, threats of violence against us, etc. he's no peach either, but that's for later.

no lease agreement, verbal or written exists. no permission was given. she's been verbally told to get the fuck out multiple times, but refuses to do so.

my future in laws just went to a justice of the pease earlier today to try to file for eviction, but were shut down. something to do with the lack of lease. i don't know the details as they aren't home yet.

to put it lightly, my fiance is in tears, her mother - who's hand two heart attacks and survived cancer - is on the verge of physically puking she's so stressed and we're afraid she's gonna drop dead for all this.

anyone got any ideas? all i can think to do is to get her folks to declare me their agent, as they own the land but are both well into their 60's and aren't really able to handle this shit, and then deal with her myself, violently if i must. not that i want to hurt her or anything, but this shit's gone long enough. however i can't find anything on how to GET that declaration done and legally recognized. fiance is worried i'd get arrested for getting involved when it's not my property.

does anyone here have any idea where we can turn or how we can solve this before my mother in law has another heart attack?

original thread here: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=851003.0

this is kinda a cross post, but i want'ed to be sure the longterm guys saw it too, since that is more fitting.

in short, i need $1000 usd for a car insurance deductible to get my car fixed after an accident. the other guy ran...
and about 500 or so (this part is negotiable) to cover living expenses such as food, insurance and car payments, etc.

offering 15% interest and $200 worth of btc repaid monthly (or $50 weekly if you prefer.)

i'm pretty desperate here guys. i use the car for work. with the damage, i can't work.