brace yourself... difficulty is about to increase, a lot

[BinaryMage]

Venezuela. Gasoline is 0.1$/gal, diesel even cheaper.

Thanks, that's quite useful information. Sounds like an excellent place for a mining operation.

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[SgtSpike]

*moves to Venezuela*

[DeathAndTaxes]

Venezuela. Gasoline is 0.1$/gal, diesel even cheaper.

Thanks, that's quite useful information. Sounds like an excellent place for a mining operation.

The country also routinely seizes private property for the "common good".  It would be the last place I would consider for a mining operation.   Hell it would be the last place I would consider a hotdog cart. 

"Sorry BinaryMage, the people of Venezuala are better served by directly managing your server farm.  These documents transfer ownership of your buildings, computing hardware, software, records, bank accounts, and wallets to the people of Venezuela.   Feel happy knowing that your contribution will make the country a better place for all its citizens.  These Police Officers will provide you escort to the airport, your visa has been revoked".

There is a reason why economic growth in Venezuala is essentially flat lined while the majority of the continent is enjoying massive GDP growth.

[BinaryMage]

Venezuela. Gasoline is 0.1$/gal, diesel even cheaper.

Thanks, that's quite useful information. Sounds like an excellent place for a mining operation.

The country also routinely seizes private property for the "common good".  It would be the last place I would consider for a mining operation. 

"Sorry BinaryMage, the people of Venezuala are better served if the govt owns your server farm.  Your building, all mining rigs, offices, records, and any bitcoin wallets will now be directly managed by the people of Venezuala.   Feel happy knowing that your contribution will make the country a better place for all its citizens.  These Police Officers will provide you escort to the airport, your visa has been revoked".

There is a reason why economic growth in Venezuala is essentially flat lined while the majority of the continent is enjoying massive GDP growth.

Well, that certainly changes things quite a bit. Seemed a little odd. Thanks D&T for enlightening me.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Not odd when you consider the country is highly socialist

http://www.usbcnews.com/socialism-throttles-investment-in-venezuela.html

and Hugo Chavez has such gems as:

“I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.”

and

I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet."

[BinaryMage]

Not odd when you consider the country is highly socialist and Hugo Chavez has such gems as:

“I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.”

and

I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet."

I was referring to the low rates and lack of economy as odd, not the governmental stance. I'm no expert in Venezuelan politics. (obviously)

[DeathAndTaxes]

I was referring to the low rates and lack of economy as odd, not the governmental stance.

Well the two are linked.  The govt seizes wealth and then uses some of the "profit" to subsidize energy and fuel prices in an attempt to bolster the economy.   

[silverbox]

I actually think it's a shame that difficulty has increased this much for relatively so few miners. As I said in my cgminer thread, the original vision of bitcoin mining was that anyone who wanted to use bitcoin could also contribute a few spare hashes to make the network more secure and gain a few bit cents along the way. The fact that it is getting harder every day to justify throwing any computing power to make those few bit cents and it is becoming the domain of "professional setups" is far from that original vision. I know human nature will tend to concentrate on the profit side of things and they will always try to find a way of increasing said profit, but it's still a shame.

Still be plenty of peeps mining with free power, or who use the waste heat to heat their homes. 

Also I think there will be small miners who are converting electricity into bitcoins, its still a pita to convert small amounts of fiat into BTC, if you just need a lil bit and have a decent gpu, its easier to just mine it even if the power costs the same or slightly more then the value of the BTC.

[Stephen Gornick]

Not odd when you consider the country is highly socialist

http://www.usbcnews.com/socialism-throttles-investment-in-venezuela.html

and Hugo Chavez has such gems as:

“I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.”

Speaking of Hugo Chavez:

Will he be re-elected?
 - http://betsofbitco.in/item?id=302

Will he even be president by the time the election comes around?
 - http://betsofbitco.in/item?id=332

[SgtSpike]

Looks like we're going to get a difficulty drop again here shortly...

[P4man]

Not odd when you consider the country is highly socialist

http://www.usbcnews.com/socialism-throttles-investment-in-venezuela.html

and Hugo Chavez has such gems as:

“I have said it already, I am convinced that the way to build a new and better world is not capitalism. Capitalism leads us straight to hell.”

and

I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet."

Socialist it may be,  some perspective never hurts
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/sep/10/venezuela-economics

This demonizing of Chavez is getting a bit old. Id rather live in Venezuela than Colombia.

[DeathAndTaxes]

This demonizing of Chavez is getting a bit old. Id rather live in Venezuela than Colombia.

I would rather live in Brazil (or 95% of Latin America) than Venezuala.  Colombia is a casualty of the failed war on drugs.  Still I would pick Belize over all of them.

Did you find the article funny? When "only" having 21% inflation, the 4th highest murder rate in the world, and positive but significantly lower GDP growth than its Latin American peers are the "positives" well it kinda feels like the author is reaching.

That doesn't even get into the moral issue.  Even if you "could" improve the common good by seizing the wealth of others through the use/threat of violence is it moral/ethical?  I would say no, the ends never justify the means.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Looks like we're going to get a difficulty drop again here shortly...

And back on topic the drop looks to be significant.

Avg time between blocks since the last change has been >11.5 minutes and this site is predicting a 15% drop.
http://dot-bit.org/tools/nextDifficulty.php

[SgtSpike]

Looks like we're going to get a difficulty drop again here shortly...

And back on topic the drop looks to be significant.

Avg time between blocks since the last change has been >11.5 minutes and this site is predicting a 15% drop.
http://dot-bit.org/tools/nextDifficulty.php

Probably a combination of GPU miners being kicked out due to difficulty vs price getting too high, and summer heat causing people to turn off miners for the summer.

I look at the charts more than anything else to predict the next difficulty.  Seems like the difficulty predictions are always way off unless the difficulty changeover is near.  But looking at the graph, it is easy to see where the average MH/s lies, and where the expected difficulty will be on the next changeover.

[DILLIGAF]

This demonizing of Chavez is getting a bit old. Id rather live in Venezuela than Colombia.

I would rather live in Brazil (or 95% of Latin America) than Venezuala.  Colombia is a casualty of the failed war on drugs.  Still I would pick Belize over all of them.

Did you find the article funny? When "only" having 21% inflation, the 4th highest murder rate in the world, and positive but significantly lower GDP growth than its Latin American peers are the "positives" well it kinda feels like the author is reaching.

That doesn't even get into the moral issue.  Even if you "could" improve the common good by seizing the wealth of others through the use/threat of violence is it moral/ethical?  I would say no, the ends never justify the means.

But apparently don't feel the same way about the companies that accumulated that wealth by their corrupt practices that lead to them getting it in the first place, to the determent of the people/countries they operate in.