lorr

Since I suffered through two divorces myself and since giving responsibility to my mother for her choice in men opened a gateway of self-knowledge that I was blind to before, I rather agree with Lens. My father was also an alcoholic and I also experienced the "bouncing ball phenomenon" where neither parent can be honest with their child about the ways they have massively failed that child. You speak of being confused. Though I don't expect your confusion is the same as mine, once I gave my mother responsibility for her choice in partners, at the very least, I was able to give women, in general, more responsibility for their actions, which allowed me to feel more accepting of men, which has allowed me to explore my bisexuality as well as better judge the people from whom I seek a romantic relationship. Like I said, there's no reason to expect your experience to be identical to mine, but I wanted to illustrate how much I was able to learn about myself as a direct result of no longer giving my mother a pass on her responsibility.

The first thing that I thought of was movies, TV, and fiction in general where magic is used in the plot as an explanation of the unexplainable. (I am aware of Stef's hypothesis that magic in fiction is a metaphor for delusion, but I'm talking about magic as a plot device). As fewer people accept magic as a plausible plot device, science (because people understand it just as little as they understand magic) often fits in perfectly. I know that's not what you mean - you're talking about in the real world and not in fiction - but it seems to me that the line isn't so clear between the two in most people's minds.

Forgive me if this band has already been mentioned, but I got hooked recently and it all started with this mix:http://youtu.be/Iljrx9OO6U4

Yeah, I play Ingress when I go rollerblading in the mornings. Though there aren't many who play around here, this little town has like 30 portals available and you can add more, however the ones I added haven't been reviewed yet and it's been like 2 months. Periodically, there are big Ingress events in big cities across the country and I can't wait to go to one of those.

That card will get you about 100 more kh/s than the 1GB 7850, which is a pretty decent jump. However, it's still a 50% price increase for about a 28% performance increase. So, I would say it is definitely better than both 7850s in terms of hashrate, but only better than the 2GB 7850 in terms of cost effectiveness. The 1GB 7850 is still the most cost effective. I don't know about motherboard compatibility, but it does matter how many PCI-E slots you have if you're running multiple GPUs. Also, the 7870 might be much better at gaming, but I don't know anything about that.

I don't know much about gaming, but I easily believe the 2GB would be noticably better.GPU hashrate comparison for Litecoin (Scrypt) mining: https://litecoin.info/Mining_hardware_comparison#AMD_.28ATI.29Based on those numbers, a 7850 w/ 1GB RAM will pull 340-360 kh/s and a 7850 w/ 2GB RAM will pull 380-410 kh/s, so that $50 (~45% more) is only buying you 40-50 extra kh/s (~16%) more.However, I personally have the XFX 7850 you linked and it runs a steady 365 kh/s overclocked but without unlocked shaders, using GUIminer-scrypt as the mining software. This program is supposed to be less efficient than command-line mining software like CGminer or BFGminer, but is user-friendly. In fact, it has preloaded settings for most GPUs, though you might have to tweak them a bit. I can share my settings with you if you would like. The Scrypt mining hardware comparison linked above will have some GPU settings, as reported by user. Also, this bitcointalk.org thread might be of help: (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.0). These will be helpful if you decide to use command-line mining software. Have you tried finding a used card on E-Bay? That's where I bought my cards in May - a 6870 (300kh/s), a 7850 (365 kh/s), and a 6950 (415+ kh/s) - and paid less than $300 for them. They've been hashing like champs ever since. In fact, I think a used 6950 would be a better bang for your buck (assuming the prices are the same or lower than in May).Edit: Somehow, I failed to include the bitcointalk.org link. Here it is: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=117221.0.

The purpose of Stefan's video about Rob Ford is not to measure his worth as a mayor, it's to show how totally disfunctional Rob Ford is and to show how voters cannot identify such a lousy and imbalanced person to prevent them from having the power. Therefore, the point is that the system utterly fails at providing "good leaders" but provides crooks instead. Never did Stefan say anything along the lines of "Rob Ford is bad, therefore Toronto needs a new mayor." Instead it was more like "Rob Ford is just the latest example of powerful people who abuse that power and, once again, the people didn't catch it until it was too late. The system is broken and needs to be scrapped before more Rob Fords and Bill Clintons can abuse their power."Is the media also clamoring that government be ended? I didn't think so - you're the one comparing apples to oranges.

Thanks for taking the time to lay out the math and make the caveats explicit- in support of the general warning we are both giving about mining, I bought Block Erupters everywhere from 0.1 BTC each (August) to 1 BTC each (June), so I've spent significantly more than $351 (your estimate) and would indeed be $3000+ richer now if I never used BTC to buy Block Erupters (or make donations). "Dabbling," to me, means that you spend time doing something because you enjoy it, not because it's economical. I thought I was clear enough that I in no way endorse mining anything if your intention is proft. Nevertheless, I don't regret my choice because mining has been a blast. Therefore, I offer what help I can should someone want to jump in anyway. I understood the risks and want others to understand them before they start mining. Edit: Corrected a price To be clear, I value your input, Wes, and have been agreeing with you the whole way, but my question was directed at Extraordinary_rendition. I was asking what his thoughts are about mining now that he has a good idea that it's not going to be a quick profit, if any at all, and that it basically comes down to whether or not it's worth it to him to take it up as a hobby.

I entirely agree with your assessment. We cannot make it clear enough that putting money into mining is probably just a waste of otherwise potentially gainful capital. However, I have been mining for about 6 months and it's been a lot of fun (and frustration [followed by victory]). I have/do mine two dozen different coins, using the three prevalent proof-of-work methods - SHA-256, Scrypt, and primes - using CPUs, GPUs, and ASICs. I'm not a tech expert by any means, but I feel tentatively comfortable at talking with people about their choices in mining hardware, building/altering a computer to a mining rig, setting up wallets/mining software/mining settings, and understanding altcoins. Please, if you have any questions or problems with mining, then contact me - I might be able to help. Like I said, however, I can only speak to my experience and not to a greater understanding of tech. If I cannot help, I will be honest. I will be cautious to not guide you into a situation I cannot get you out of. If anyone would just like to talk about Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, or just want information resources, I will be happy to help.Edit: I've also bought cloudhashing through an exchange (CEX.io) and I don't have much intelligent to say about it except it didn't work out well for me :S I have learned a lot about computers by mining. Still have a lot more to learn, though. My earliest mining was by converting my gaming computer into a mining computer (which is basically buying the appropriate graphics cards and installing them [mining equipment comparison available], then finding a mining program appropriate to your level of tech knowledge and learning how to use it to tune your cards, then learning how to regulate clocking and temperatures.) I was assisted greatly in that process by the Sovryn Tech (sovryntech.com) episode that included a how-to on building a rig to mine cryptocurrencies and a personal friend who knows computers in and out. At that time I was mining Bitcoin, but it's not profitable to mine Bitcoin with GPUs (or any other coin that uses the SHA-256 proof-of-work method) so I bought a few ASICminer Block Erupter - adding ASICs to my mining rig. I eventually got my rig to mine Scrypt coins (the proof-of-work method which is currently optimized for GPUs). When Primecoin came out, I delved into mining with my CPU with some success. I'm currently trying Protoshares with my CPU.Given the size of the network currently and the difficulty the network has been pushed to, you cannot practically build a profitable BTC miner - there may not even currently be a profitable way to get into mining Bitcoin. Speculative mining is a valid (but very risky) idea - hence the reason I mine about two dozen coins. If you're dead set on mining BTC, we need to discuss the potentially viable options - ASICs and cloudhashing. The market for both (especially ASICs) contains a lot of potential pitfalls if you're not aware of the history (albeit short) of the mining market. If some dabbling is all you want, ASICminer Block Erupters may be had for as little as $10-$15 each, but I have 27 of them and make less than 0.001 Bitcoin each day.What do you think?

Good idea Stephen, I'll try to catch them online. Thank you.WhoBob: Thank you for your forgiveness. The actual things I said are unclear to me now. I can't remember even if I said anything directly hurtful to any individual, I really just remember that I had a very angry reaction to what were innocuous remarks that I solicited and that you three were the ones who made the remarks. Then I tried to guilt the chatroom in general. I'm glad I failed to manipulate you into feeling negative emotions and I hope I failed equally with everyone else who was involved.

Hi. I feel I owe three FDR members a public apology because of my behavior a month or two ago in the chat. To WhoBoBWhatPants, BlueCat, and (I know I'm butchering this person's name, but this it the best I can come up with) Noitamagani: I'm sorry for the way I reacted to you three. I experienced an emotional reaction which I projected as your intentions. That was foolish and dishonest of me. In addition, I lashed out a bit at the chatroom in general, so I owe an apology to everyone else, as well. To the individuals of FDR: I'm sorry to each of you, as well.I know I'm not giving anyone much to work on, but I've been sick and am physically and emotionally exhausted. If anyone wants to discuss it with me, I'm open to that. But my point here is to admit how wrong I am and how horrible I feel about my actions.