So, with the influx of new people, it occurred to me that a new video (ala weusebitcoins.org) would be very helpful to new members and image as a community, explaining many of the common misconceptions in a visual and digestible format.  I've begun to think about a narration for said video, and my roommate has expressed interest in helping out (he's a full time graphics designer).  I figured I'd help motivate him to spend his free time on the project by gauging community interest in the project.  So the question is: If released on a purely donation basis for the good of the community, would you donate?  If so, how much?

Likewise, what topics would the community like to see addressed in this video?  Below is the things I've managed to brainstorm (by no means will everything here be included, just the things that come to mind):

• The 21 million cap: How, Why, implications, and myths
• A more in depth look at the way mining works, and why the blockchain makes the transactions secure
• Legality issues ("Legal Tender", etc.)
• Addresses, and common procedures for how to treat your wallet (past mistakes that have cost huge fortunes to be lost)
• Uses of bitcoins, and why it's not "A vehicle for illegal drugs"

Let me know what you think, and maybe I'll be able to kick my roommate into gear in helping me get this developed at a professional quality.

[This is not a real lottery. No money required to play. Please play so that I can judge how things would have gone.]

This is a test run to show everyone how it works, and illustrate the benefit over a regular lotto.

This is not a real lottery.  No money required to play.  Please play so that I can judge how things would have gone.

Here's how it works:

1) I've chosen a random seed to be entered here:

http://www.random.org/integers/?mode=advanced

under the "pregenerated seed".  It's between 1 and 100 (inclusive).
The SHA-256 hash of the seed is: 627c22822c1dee884411b8f3a09b8545616bcf9837f080a6df26704f604b6d0d

2) You pay 1 "fakecoin" to enter, and PM me your guess.  1 guess per fakecoin.  I add this to the pot.

If you guessed correctly, you get 80% of the "fakecoins", 1% will go to me, and 19% will go into the next pot.  Otherwise, I post your guess on the "Failed guess" section and update the jackpot.

Current Jackpot: 34 fakecoins
Chances to win: 1/71
Failed Items:

• 1
• 2
• 3
• 5
• 7
• 11
• 13
• 14
• 17
• 19
• 22
• 33
• 41
• 44
• 50
• 55
• 66
• 77
• 88
• 91
• 92
• 93
• 94
• 95
• 96
• 97
• 98
• 99
• 100

I was considering starting something like a "real time lotto", but wanted to probe the community first.

How would everyone here feel about a lotto that works as following:

I, or some third party, would choose a random number and keep it a secret, and put several bitcoins into the pot to get things going.
People begin to guess numbers at 1btc each guess.  Each bitcoin goes into the pot.
This continues until someone guesses the number, at which point 3 things happen:
80% (or some other number, it's up to how people react) of the pot goes to the winner.
1% goes to me (very modest, I should say)
19% stays in the pot to get it started for the next one, and a random number is chosen again.

This could be automated, as a (potentially) very fast paced lottery.

So: 
What numbers should I use above, or are the values I've chosen reasonable?
Would you prefer the "already guessed" numbers be shown?  Hidden?  Shown after they've been guessed multiple times?
Any other ideas/suggestions?

Anyone want to buy puns for bitcoins?

1 bitcoin for a high quality, sure-to-make-you-groan pun, hand crafted specifically for you.
2 bitcoins for a limerick.

5 bitcoins will get you a pun or limerick crafted specifically around a topic or person of your hearts desire.

If I can't do it within 24 hours, I'll refund your bitcoins!

For the next 8 hours my static IP will be 65.9.208.150, just send me your chosen price, a refund address, and optionally a topic for your pun/limerick.  If the IP will not go through, send me a private message on the forum and I'll craft an address for you to send them to.

I'm currently in the process of writing a very concise guide of how bitcoin works for those new to the system and without the benefit of the background in programming I had.  I just want to make sure I have it all correct, so here's my understanding of the core concepts:

Coin: A cryptographically secure "trace" of all transactions back to the generation of said coin.
Block: A cryptographically secure record of all transactions occurring in a (roughly) 10 minute time period.
Transaction:  A publicly announced transfer of ownership of a bitcoin.

The general process for creating a block:

Create a section of memory containing: Timestamp, the previous blocks hash, an integer we'll call "Nonce", and a set of transactions.
Add a transaction to said block which transfers 50 btc to you out of thin air.  Because this contains your bitcoin address, this makes the block of memory unique to you.

Until the solution is found:
 - Check to see if someone's already solved the block.  If so, keep the section of memory in tact, but look at their solution.
     - Check to see that all the transactions are in the block, the timestamp and previous hash are correct, and the hash of the whole thing produces something less than the target.  If so, tell everyone you've verified the block, and start listening to see if other people have verified it.  Once a certain number of people have verified it's accuracy, (120 to be exact), wipe the section of memory above clean and start over.
 - Check for new transactions.  If so, add it to the section of memory above.
 - Hash the section of memory, producing it's "DNA"/Signature (I've found that's the best way to explain hashes to someone unfamiliar with them)
 - Compare this hash to a "target" value.  This is some value that all of the clients agree upon.  If it's less, Shout bingo.
 - Otherwise, increase the value of Nonce and loop.

When reconnecting to the network, you have to download blocks that were solved since you last DC'd.  Each one you download, you verify it, and broadcast whether you found it was valid or not.  This is what increases the "confirmations" count in the UI.


Is the above information generally accurate?  If so, I'll go ahead and finish up my guide (written much more succinctly than this post, I should hope) and post it here for other people to digest.

In order to bring in a little cash, and more importantly support the bitcoin economy, I'd like to offer my services up as a web developer and/or custom software developer (Mainly C#, but I can write in plenty of other languages), payable in bitcoins. =)

Here's my resume:  http://quantumplation-corner.appspot.com

Feel free to contact me here, or through email.  Prices are completely negotiable, and paying with bitcoins earns you quite a significant discount over my usual pricing (there's the "helping the bitcoin economy" aspect )