Thanks for the link --

If the mod wants to delete the OP, that's fine. Looks like someone beat me to this topic.

Sure is strange, though! There must be all kinds of scheming manipulators out there, playing with the market, all trying to make a buck...

Or is it just the market doing its thing?

I mean, down 17% in a few minutes? Did some early adopter sell a bunch or something?

Some people wouldn't know fun if it slapped them across the face.

It's looking like my guess was incorrect -- it looks like you calculate ALL the NMC blocks proportionate to the last BTC round.

So if you get a long round (like the last one -- 12:58) and word gets out that there's a nice NMC jackpot, everyone's going to want to join for that last 30 minutes so they can get a massive NMC payday.

That's ridiculous if you ask me.

I, for example, was with your pool 100% for the first 7 HOURS or so of the round -- I should get my usual share of NMC blocks found during that period.

Hey Slush -- I have a question about your algorithm.

Say you have a 24 hour round (purely hypothetical!) and my miners are with you for the first 12 hours, then I switch to another pool.
My BTC reward will dwindle to almost nothing; that much I understand.

But what about the Namecoin blocks?  Say you find 50 the first 12 hours, and 50 the second 12 hours. Would I get my usual share of the first 50 (the time I was contributing fully), and then next to nothing (or actual nothing) of the "second" 50 NMC blocks?

In other words, are NMC blocks divided up based on the shares for that NMC block, or is some other algorithm used? I guess I'm asking if NMC and BTC division are separate.

I would hope so, otherwise anyone hearing that 50 NMC blocks were found on Slush would hurry up and join the round, and contribute full shares for 5 or 10 minutes, to get a huge payday!

Thanks,

Matthew

I know variance is a...err... "pain" and all, but heavens to betsy! is this the worst luck ever.
A 5:42 round, followed directly by a 6:56 round which *still* hasn't ended!!!
And this isn't some small pool with 400 GH/s. We've collectively thrown 1200 GH/s at this for hours and still can't get a block -- I notice the number is dropping, as people give up.

Slush better not go outside today -- an asteroid might fall on his head. Talk about HORRIBLE luck!

I think my income is going to be 1/3 of normal today -- which means I'm *losing* money.

I should point out that electric companies generally go after back-amounts owed, once they discover a problem. This makes sense, because, as I said, it's not like it's all free money to them. More like money they've already shelled out which they'd like to have back.

My own mother was being under-billed for about a year (apparently, the guy who was supposed to read the meter gave up very easily), then they hit her with a $500 bill in back-charges for the past year.

The same might happen to you or your landlord.

Your pathetic rationalization is ridiculous.

If you've paid for an "unlimited" plan, of course you have the legal and moral right to be on the phone 24/7.
Did the OP say he paid for an "unlimited" electricity plan?

I rest my case.

This world is fast becoming a ####hole because of selfish people like the OP. It's all about "me, me, me".

If you use $200 worth of electricity from the electric company, and only pay them $3, you're stealing. Period.

It's impossible to justify that.

Do you know who you're stealing from? Everyone else in your area who pays for electricity (which is everyone else).

The electric company doesn't have a huge margin. They don't get their electricity free from magic Tesla boxes or something. In fact, they usually charge you their wholesale cost, plus a percentaqe for "delivery" which -- guess what? -- goes to pay for their very real, very legitimate expenses in keeping the electric grid operational.

Some electric companies might make a BIT of "profit" (maybe 10%?) -- others are co-operatives which means they don't aim to make a profit per se -- they keep any "extra money" in the company to be used for the benefit of the members. Either way, to take electricity without paying even the wholesale cost of it is stealing, just like breaking into a building and taking something that doesn't belong to you.

I forgot to add "for your hair" as well, though guys usually don't care about that. My hair is 1/4" long, so I obviously don't care much about it. But most women do, so we guys should spread the word to them.

Soap and hot water every day is the fastest way to dry out your skin (and hair) in the winter. And our bodies produce Vitamin D by being in the sun -- but here's the catch: you have to wait 48 hours after being in the sun for most of it to be absorbed by the body. So daily showers wipe out the lion's share of it. Vitamin D does more things than I can count, including keeping your immune system in top condition (one of the reasons more people get sick in the winter -- most people don't go outside as much, plus there isn't as much sunlight, and people are more covered up)

I agree, one always feels clean & relaxed (and awake) after a shower -- but it's good to weigh the two and strike a balance.

I think it's only America that is fanatic about once-a-day showers -- most other countries have a long tradition (of common sense?) that doesn't dictate such.
(FYI, I'm an American living in America)

That's nice that you have natural gas for a backup and all, but you really don't need to shower every day in the winter, unless you're doing some *serious* physical work indoors...

It's actually not good for your skin, or your Vitamin D absorption.

You ought to be ashamed of yourself.

If the landlord left his house unlocked, would you take advantage of that as well? Maybe help yourself to some valuables, maybe a bite to eat?

People like you make the world a worse place to live.

Up north, you need a lot of heat to stay warm. Hence the preponderance of non-electrical heat sources (natural gas, oil, etc.)

Electrical resistance heating is the most expensive way to heat a house. Heat pumps are indeed 4x more efficient.

Around here (Texas) a lot of homes use electric for heat, because we only have to run the heat for maybe 1 month a year.

I call BS.

+1

Indeed -- many commentators totally miss the point. A bitcoin is NOT just an entry in a central database somewhere, like with Beenz, etc.
A Bitcoin can't be counterfeited because it's near-impossible to do so.  Unless you're a government, and anything is possible for them...

You do realize, of course, that CPU mining is no longer profitable ever, regardless of CPU model and local cost of electricity. You pay a premium over what a BTC would cost if you just bought the thing on Mt. Gox. Maybe 30% more, maybe 50% more -- maybe even double!

Do mined BTC taste better than ones you buy from an exchange?

I guess you're probably setting this up on your work PC -- still, I'd be careful. Making 0.3 BTC a month (current value: $0.87) isn't worth losing your job

Are you saying we're going to make more NMC per Mhash from now on?

For those wondering if they should give Slush another try, I'd like to remind them that getting Namecoins via merged mining helps to recover one's electricity cost, and maybe even eke out a 4 or 5% profit.

With other pools (most of them -- any that lack Merged Mining) you might very well be losing money with the current price/difficulty.

Yeah, I hope everyone comes back to Slush -- otherwise I'm going to have more work ahead of me to set all my miners to use a different primary pool.
Right now they're all stuck on Slush's pool since it's the primary, with its 697 GH/s.
The current block is at 3 hours 55 minutes and counting...
If more people don't return I'm going to have to switch pools.

Slush, is it likely that the problem is actually fixed permanently? Did you "do anything" or did the DDoS just take a break?
If you really believe in your pool still, we need to let people know that so they return.

Less efficient than you, and objectively "horrible", are two different things. So 90% of miners are operating under "horrible" efficiency?
So, according to you, we should see difficulty drop by 90% in the next month or two?

5970s weren't to be had back in June. I had to buy the best cards available at the time.

Those of you who just bought 5970s, because they're so awesomely efficient, better hope that Bitcoin sticks around for another 3 years. Because it's going to *take* you 3 years to make back your investment. It's like like arguments pro/con FPGAs, only on a smaller scale. 5970's aren't as expensive, but they don't save you as much.

However much you think you're making per day with your super-efficient rigs, it's still going to take a while to reach payoff. Sure, you're sitting pretty vs. most of us as far as MH/W efficiency goes, so you don't have to worry *as much* -- unless BTC collapses. Which it might. And since it will take you a year or more to pay off your systems, a lot can happen in a YEAR!

Heck, I was making pretty good money too, up till a few weeks ago. It only took me 4 months for economic issues to arise. You have just as much to pay off as I did -- you're just at the beginning of your marathon, that's all. Good luck when you hit 80% paid off. We'll see what Bitcoin is doing then.

We can't just throw away all our hardware and start over just because we need a bit more efficiency. If that's what it's come to, then Bitcoin's day is over, at least for 90% of miners.

I didn't buy my 5870s, 5850s, and 5830's at the same time you bought your 5970's. That would be a different story. Mine have been paying for themselves for many months now.

How many miners really meet the description some here have given? That is, rigs of 3 or 4 5970 cards with 1200W 80+Gold power supplies and an underclocked Sempron. I'm guessing not many. 90% of miners have setups as "inefficient" as mine, or worse. Anyone with a 6990 is certainly less efficient than my setup, and those cards were sold out most places for many weeks.