And that would change the situation, how?  He didn't know he needed his block count to be current.  Why would he know?  There's no tool tip or documentation with the client that even says what a block count is.

Before you go messing around installing new clients or changing you glibc libraries (don't do that, btw), BACK UP YOUR WALLET.DAT to a thumb drive or burn it to a CD.

you accidentally nuke your wallet.dat and you'll never see the money.

It's threads like this that prove that BTC is not ready for the masses yet.  This guy is somewhat technical (he runs linux) and he didn't know what was going on.  How's Grandma gonna do?

Now *that's* a killer idea.  Hide your assets in BTC!

Divorce lawyers, are you paying attention?

you guys are dreaming, which is fine.

My take on the OP, is what, TODAY, do you *need* BTC to buy? I think his point was "not much".

However, I have found it incredibly easy to gamble with BTC.  And speculate. I know there are sizable numbers of forum users who are against both of these things, but the reality is, that's what you can do with BTC today.  I'm having fun doing both.  But if we are to have a thriving BTC economy, we need that "killer app", that one thing (besides gambling and drugs - not that there's anything wrong with that), that only BTC can get you.

You'll say "anonymity" or all the usual Libertarian things (not that theres anything wrong with that, either).  But what will make my Mom or Dad (both diehard union liberals) or my Grandpa (die hard mid western gun nut conservative) say "I got to get me some of those bitcoins so I can buy a xxxxxx".

It aint Alpaca Socks (cool tho they are).

Let's find that killer app.

Yes!  the bigger bets clear the old backlog, pay those players, and make the game new again!  Genius!

Well, http://bitcat.ch is the best.  There are many, many ponzi / pyramid games, but this is the best, most transparent, most automatic.  Xyu, the operator, has been really good, throughout the alpha period, about refunding for bugs, etc.  There are a few tweaks I think he can make to make it even better, but it's way better than those "spreadsheet" games.  It has set the new bar for ponzi / pyramid games.

http://btcjack.1btchost.com/index.php has been good to me.  It's little clunky, but it's fair.  I love blackjack, and this one does it right.

ahhh.  well, then now I do understand.  Thanks.

Oh, the website says "June 6 Jackpot Was: 87.86 BTC or 1150 USD (on draw date) " but I think you meant July 6th?

when is the winner announced?  I got in yesterday and I'm feeling lucky!

He should have a new round start every day at the time this one did.  That's about an hour after I get to work.  I would make bank hitting it at the start every day!

seriously, tho, someone told me it should have a random end time, and not tell us what that end time is until 5 minutes to go.  Now, that's gambling!

because this pool is so transparent, people see the big bet and get scared off, afraid they won't get paid.  That the big bet will clog up the pool.

However, a long list of unpaid's is also "scary".  Not as much, I dont think, but that's a personal opinion.

Bitcat.ch is AWESOME!

I guess I don't understand.  I withdrew to Dwolla (the one time I withdrew) and it was fast and cheap.  $0.25.  What's the problem with that?

the advantage to "last in gets paid", especially with a minimum bet, is that some more people come in at the end, instead of the round slowly grinding to a halt


But the split idea has merit, also.  better some stop loss than lose it all.

RE: getting paid

I see a few people might be unclear on exactly how this works.

You get paid when enough bets have been made by people after you to pay out to you.

So, person 1 bets .5, to get paid .6.  the pot is now .5
person 2 bets .5, the pot is now 1.0 so person1 gets paid .6, the pot is now .4
person 3 bets .5, the pot is now .9, so person 2 gets paid .6.  The pot is now .3
etc...

you can see how it will take longer and longer to get paid.  eventually, someone (or many someones) gets stuck not paid, because no one new is betting.

That's why it's called gambling.  You might lose.

However, if we keep new people coming in, we'll all get paid.

I am making so much freaking money off this game! 

seems like we have a long lull, then 2 or 3 close together.

more, smaller pools = more robust bitcoin

there's only been 1 block processed since you took it down, so no big loss 

working great for me so far.  I sent in 2, got paid, and sent in 2 more