Ankle Sprains - Forget RICE

I sprained my ankle this week. Everyone I talked to told me to RICE (rest, ice, compress, elevate). Even the doctor. Being lazy af, I decide not to, because icing takes too much effort and compression hurts. Just to be safe, I read about ankle sprains. (And selectively ignored all articles that told me to RICE).

My takeaway: RICE isn't very proven to be effective. Instead, just laze around for the first day or two after injury (forget the ice, elevation, compression busyness). Then as soon as you can, start moving/walking/loading (but 15min a day is enough). Even in the first day or two, start movement if you can. Also, use of NSAIDs is inconclusive.

Some snippets below:

-"Insufficient evidence is available from randomized controlled trials to determine the relative effectiveness of RICE therapy for acute ankle sprains in adults. Treatment decisions must be made on an individual basis, carefully weighing the relative benefits and risks of each option, and must be based on expert opinions and national guidelines."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0054121/

-"In general it is recommended that injuries should be allowed “to rest” during the inflammatory phase, and that mobilisation should begin at the earliest when the inflammation has subsided and the regenerative phase has started (many probably do not dare to start then either). We have tested this “clinical truth” in our rat model and found, completely unexpectedly, that loading during the first 6 days had an equally favourable effect as loading during the regenerative phase. It is obvious that loading in some way favourably modifies inflammation."

-"We also investigated the length of time required for loading to produce a beneficial effect and concluded that 5 minutes once a day is enough. If the time is extended to 15 minutes then a better effect is obtained but increasing the time any further has little benefit."
http://www.peraspenberg.com/…/how-do-tendons-and-ligaments…/

-"The Whartons advocated that once fracture or catastrophic injury is excluded: movement is best, not rest, to treat an injury. They encourage immediate but gentle restoration of active range of motion with gradual introduction of functional activities. They note that inactivity shuts the muscle down. Blood flow is restricted and tissue atrophy follows. In contrast, activity improves blood flow, which brings oxygen and removes metabolic waste."
http://thischangedmypractice.com/move-an-injury-not-rice/

Note to self about motorcycle gear and fabrics

Be prepared to spend at least $500 on gear, at a bear minimum, and this already getting slighlty dangerous with non-brand products.

Helmet: $150
Pants: $150
Jacket: $150
Gloves: $50

Helmets:
They come in 3 shapes: Round, intermediate oval, and long oval.
Measuring my head told me I was between M and L. 58.5cm, where M = 57 to 58cm, L = 59 to 60cm.
Intermediate oval M gave a lot of pain at my temples and the left/right sides of my head. This tells me that my head shape was Round.
Intermediate oval L fit nicely with no pain. BUT, i think it might actually be a bit too large. Because with time, it began to feel loose.

For helmets, there are 4 main testing standards: https://www.revzilla.com/common-tread/helmet-safety-ratings-101
DOT, Snell, ECE, Sharp.
In my opinion, sharp is the most thorough testing standard, so I look for 4+ star rated sharp helmets.


Materials:

Strength:
Nylon is stronger than polyester (in tensile)
http://www.orientbag.net/single-post/2016/05/31/The-Fabric-Strength-Challenge-1

Cordura is a type of nylon. Polyester is more or less recycled plastic bottles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyF9MxlcItw
Nylon is hard to recycle though.

600D 84T Polyester/PU is stronger than
500D Nylon, which is stronger than
600D 64T polyester/PVC,
all of which are stronger than jeans (16oz or 12oz canvas)

PU vs PVC
"By comparing the two different 600D fabrics in this test, we can see that the backing material makes a huge difference to the strength of the fabrics. The 600D that comes with PVC backing is about 2.4 times stronger than the 600D fabric with PU backing. This is something interesting to note. Regrettably, PVC is being banded by many countries due to product safety concern."

Abrasion:

Nylon is also more abrasion resistant than polyester:

http://www.orientbag.net/single-post/2016/08/03/Abrasion-Resistance-Test-600D-Polyester-500D-Nylon-1000D-Nylon

Regarding kevlar
http://www.mechanix.com/blog/kevlar-the-mysterious-super-fiber
https://www.aerostich.com/media/oldsite/sec3.html
Alternatives: http://www.servicethread.com/blog/aramid-alternatives-industrial-yarn-and-thread

Goretex is a membrane (that has teflon)
Teflon is a spray

Summary & lessons learned:
If you're comparing polyester vs nylon of the same denier, get nylon

Ratings:
CE rating is not enough:
https://motorbikewriter.com/protective-rider-gear-confusing/
http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/kevlar-or-aramid-motorcycle-jeans.321869/

CE refers to the armor. But armor or kevlar lining wouldn't be much use if the seams of your pants or jacket bust open upon contact. EN 13595 rating refers to the entire piece of clothing. EN 17092 is similar.

http://www.bull-it.com/ce

"Until the star rating system is introduced, Grant has suggested that riders check the CE labels carefully, then go online and research which country they are certified in, for what purpose and to what level.

The number they should be looking for is EN13595-1 (level 1 and 2) for clothing where the abrasion resistance for level 1 clothing is 4 seconds and above, and level 2 is 7 seconds and above.

The number for the armour approval standard is EN1621-2 (previously EN1621-1) followed by a letter which corresponds to the location such as S for shoulder, E for elbow, K for knee etc."

A summary of CE standards for motorcycling clothing:

https://www.webbikeworld.com/ce-certified-vs-approved/

People who are happy

Props to you guys.
I don't know how you guys do it.
Because I can't seem to do it.
Can't seem to will it.
Can't seem to put in the good habits and effort to make it happy.

I just don't know how you guys do it.
You are both lucky and hard working.

How to do Iceland over 4 days in November, on Cheap

This is the stuff I wish I could have read in one place before having to do a lot of research in preparation for a trip to Iceland. 

(Also, this is in perpetual draft mode because I have I-can't-finish-anything-I-started-itis)

Prerequisite

Watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty to get pumped. In fact, look up the locations it was filmed in keep them in mind: http://www.filmapia.com/films/movies/t/the-secret-life-of-walter-mitty

In fact, just watch trailer right now for kicks: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HddkucqSzSM

Getting There

1. Buy your tickets on WOW air for a 11am Thanksgiving Thursday day departure and 5am landing.
2. Since you're flying from the US, get yourself windows seats on the LEFT side of the plane (since you're flying east, these would be seats that face north so that you can see the northern lights on your way there)
3. Be sure to pull an all-nighter the night before the flight so that you'll doze a bit in the 1st half of your flight (while it's still light outside). Wake up to check out the Rockies if you took off from the west coast (like SFO or LAX), then go back to sleep
   

   

   The Rockies

   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
4. Wake up at the flight attendant's announcement to see the northern lights to your left
   

   

   The Northern Lights, from the plane window, on your left

   
   
5. Go back to sleep if you can, because WOW air has no in-flight entertainment at all. If you're not sleepy, maybe do some work, but that's kinda difficult without internet, so maybe start blogging on a text pad to transfer over to Blogger later...

   

   Start blogging on a text pad to transfer over to Blogger later...

Day 1

1. You had booked a rental for a 4wd SUV and called to request studded winter tires a few days before hand. Reputable car rentals will oblige your request. You had checked the 10 day weather everyday leading to the trip to make sure that it won't be WINDY during your time there. If it's too windy, you would've canceled the 4x4 SUV and gotten a sedan, because vast amounts of google searching about winter driving in Iceland said that wind is the most dangerous factor, but there are also a lot of gravel roads that a 4x4 will be helpful with. You opt for the Ford Kuga (aka Ford Escape) instead of Toyota Rav4 because the Rav4's ground clearance is the same as that of a sedan (160mm, or 6.3 inches, so basically useless), while the Ford Kuga's is 2 inches higher at 188 mm (7.4 inches). If you didn't go with the Ford Kuga, you would've gotten the Mazda CX3
2. You landed at 4am so most things are closed, so it's a good thing you have a rent-a-car. You've read horror stories about how the rental car agency will fine you alot for any small damages, so you take your time and do a walk-around with your rent-a-car agent, and you record videos and take photos. You check the underside of the car too, just because you're paranoid. You drive out of the airport but before heading to the capital Reykjavik, you drive north to Gardur Lighthouse to see the atlantic ocean coast, to catch some more northern lights, and that little place where they filmed that one part of the Secret Life of Walter Mitty. You don't catch the Northern Lights again because you're not that lucky, and you also realize that this area wasn't really seen in the movie because the scene was located somewhere off the coast in the ocean.
   
3. You do the "free" walking tour at 9 or 10am that you had booked in advance, because it's free and it's a great way to get introduced to new place, and you tip/pay them well because it's a damn good tour. This tour provides some history on not just Reykjavik, but also Iceland.
4. You grab some food at this famous hot dog stand and keep driving north west to do the golden circle tour.  You pop some caffeine pills around this time because you've been awake for at least 8 hours and you'll continue to be awake for the next 12 hours
5. See the classic 3 spots on the golden circle (slightly rushed, but that's how you like it)
1. Thingveller
2. Geysir
3. Glufoss
4. Kedir (crator) if you have time. If not, you can do Kedir on your way back out of South Iceland.
6. Since the blue lagoon is overrated, overpriced, and everyone and their mother has been there, you end the day at Fludir at the secret lagoon. And since sun sets around 4pm, and this lagoon closes around 8pm, you hope to catch some more northern lights while you're chilling in the hot spring (but you don't, cuz clouds)
7. Spend the night at a hotel near Fludir or, if you're awake enough, continue night driving south, because you'll be going further south tomorrow, because on this trip, you're mainly touring South Iceland instead of the west or north, because a bunch of google searches of "South Iceland vs Snaefellsnes vs West Fjords" gave a consensus that said that if it's your first time in Iceland, do south Iceland because it's more iconic/well-know/picturesque)
8. Sleep - but wake up if the Northern Lights are out.

Day 2

1. You're gonna drive a lot today, in darkness, so caffeinate up. Wake up early to get on the road to see more of the northern lights if you can. You'll miss the breakfast from the hotel, but that's ok, because you booked the room without free breakfast. Down some protein bars.
2. See the classical things that you're supposed to see on a south coast iceland tour:

3. Since you were smart and rented a 4x4 (that was twice the price of a 2wd), drive on road 250 after you see Gluggafoss to see the other waterfall without having to route around.  Yes, you saw this particular road on the map during your many hours of trip planning and it concerned you because it wasn't a major road, and you googled it and but you had found this one forum because someone else also googled it and discussed it.
4. Google search results says there's not much point going past Jokulsarlon Lagoon (Glacier Lagoon) to Hafn, because Hafn's not that worth it (sorry Hafn). So you pretty much make a u-turn past that place
5. Sleep at this Hótel Fljótshlíd  which gives you the best view of this volcano and mountain. There are several other hotels that are closer to the volcano, but you can't actually see the volcano from there because foothills block the view. Thank you Google street view.

Day 3

1. Wake up, ride horses if you wish, because Hótel Fljótshlíd  that you booked has horses
2. Today's a bit in the air in terms of how pack you wanted it to be, because you saw most of the touristy stuff already. Your goal is to drive back and spend the night at Reykjavik so that you'll be closer to the airport for departure tomorrow afternoon. Your route back to Reykjavik can take you through the golden circle again and you can take your time to revisit some spots, and then take some more time to revisit Reykjavik. Or you can err on the side of quantity over quality and yolo it by having another 300km driving day, drive past Reykjavik, to Snaefellsnes, where you originally thought you wouldn't have time to see. You do latter because the weather's not bad.
3. First, you visit Kedir (Crater) right about the time of the 10am sunrise, because you planned the location of your previous night's stay with the time of when you're gonna wake up, eat breakfast, and drive 1hr to get to here at around sunrise (or sunset, or something, depending on if you can fit this into the first day). Afterwards, keep going towards Reykjavik, towards Snaefellsnes.
   
   
4. You thought this route was kinda cool because according to google maps, there's a lot of bridges and tunnels. In particular, there is one tunnel that seems to go under the ocean
   
   
   
   
   
5. Get to the fishing town of Stykkisholmur where another scene of Walter Mitty was shot. Yes, that's the primary reason you drove this far, but it was worth it.
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. Hike that little hill on a rock and snap a picture
   
7. Grab dinner, ask the waiter where else to go, and he will recommend Grundarfjörður, which is next to Kirkujfellsfoss. He will tell you that Grundarfjörður is worth a visit and actually quite a different feel from Stykkisholmur, despite both being small towns next to the sea. Grundarfjörður was controlled by Denmark and has a Danish kind of feel
8. Get to Grundarfjörður and drive towards the coast, if it is dark, you will look out into the pitch black darkness of the ocean, and once you let your eyes settle a little, you will realize there is a huge, dark mountain looming right in front of you. It scared me enough to almost scream. That mountain is Kirkjufell Mountain.
9. Continue towards Kirkjufellsfoss, here, Kirkjufellsfoss (the water fall) will be behind you, and Kirkjufell Mountain will be in front of you (the two are right next to each other).
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
10. At this point, you might notice that the northern lights, and for some reason, the northern lights seemed to be drifting towards the left (towards the west), so you can get into your car and chase it, to this particular viewing point next to the ocean. Which was worth it, because it's dark enough there that you'll see the northern lights even though it's a KP2 kinda night (during which you usually can't see the northern lights)
    
    
11. Drive back towards Reykjavik at night.

Day 4

Spend the morning exploring Reykjavik (like the church, and Perlan), go to blue lagoon if you want.
MAKE SURE YOU GET BACK TO THE AIRPORT WITH PLENTY OF TIME. LIKE 3 HOURS BEFORE YOUR FLIGHT. NOT 2. Because your usual bad-ass-just-make-it-on-time mentality will not work this time, unless you want to say, "sorry, I'm about to miss my flight, may I cut through" to 400 people in front of you.

Backstory

My mom said she wanted to see the northern lights before she got too old. The easiest two places were Alaska or Iceland. Online advice said that you should go for the destination and not just for the northern lights so that you're not heavenly disappointed if it's cloudy or you don't see the northern lights. So We picked Iceland. Vacation days and and schedules are hard to align, but since we're not big on Turkey, we picked Thanksgiving weekend.

A few things to know about the northern lights

• They can only been seen at high latitudes, when IT'S DARK (so it's unlikely during summer, because high latitudes don't have much darkness during the summer. Temperature doesn't really matter)
• But for some reason, Northern Lights are strongest during equinoxes (i.e. Dec 22, March 22, first day of winter or first day of spring, when the days when night and day are the same length)
• Cloud prevents them from being seen, so check rain and cloud averages for that month/day of the year of that location
• Northern Lights come in 15 year cycles, and as of 2017, it's dying down. So if you're reading this in 2035, lucky you! If you're reading this in 2017, good luck, the window is closing.
• Northern Lights are HEAVILY dependent on KP indices. KP indices 2 or lower make it very difficult for the Northern Lights to be visible, even if all of the above works out. So you're gonna be checking forecasts every couple of hours

The vehicle and driving in Iceland

• You NEED studded tires. This fact alone is more important than 4x4 drive or the type of vehicle.
• Try to get 4x4 and/or good ground clearance
• What's ideal is a high skinny vehicle, i.e. high ground clearance with reduced total height, to make it easier on the wind, but those don't really exist
• A California Driver's license is all you need
• There are not right turns at red lights
• You don't need a lot of horsepower. It'll reduce your likelihood of speeding tickets
• Regarding speeding - Iceland has speeding cameras. Some of them use IR and they don't flash. These speeding tickets get mailed to you, and can end up costing THOUSANDS of USD. Yes, google this up.

Other Tips

• Get a Mifi (mobile wireless hotspot), from your rent-a-car agency if want, because your dumbass Sprint Mobile will not have reception despite their website claiming to have international data roaming
• Bring a debit card in addition to Chase Sapphire preferred, because the gas stations only accept cards with pins, so only debit cards worked
• Get a diesel car, 800km per tank (that's almost 500 miles!)

The airport

Gate D will screw you over. It takes an extra 20 minutes to get through security. I know, you are the type of person to rush through and feel like a badass to make it just in the nick of time. But if you do that this time, this will be your most rudest airport performance ever, because you will have to cut 400 people in front of you, TWICE, enough to almost make you change your ways

Last Thoughts

• The sense of adventure also came from being some constrained on time.
• Going to Iceland in the winter is epic AF. The slippery ice below you, the howling wind, the cold air.
• It's the difference between seeing a brown dirt mountain vs a white snowy one. Literally chase the Northern lights. There was one instance when it seemed to "drift" or move to our left, and we drive that direction, and then saw more of it.
• I enjoyed the 2 night time events the most. (Dyrholaey on the second night and Kirkjufellsfoss on the last night) because we pushed ourselves a little extra. And we didn't know what to expect. They were things that I was just about to give up and turn around on, but decided to give it another look. Keep doing that.

ELI5: Bitcoin

A WORK IN PROGRESS EXPLANATION TO MYSELF ABOUT BITCOIN


Me: I'm gonna make a new currency (call it Paper), and you pay each other with paper, and grocery stores should accept it for you to buy food, and you should accept it as a form of payment for your work

You: Go fuck yourself, why should we use that

Me: Well this new currency called Paper is going to be great

You: Where does the original Paper come from?

Me: I print it with a printer

You: Da fuq? What if you just print more for yourself?

Me: Ok, I'll keep a ledger of all the Paper ever created and all the transactions that have occurred with Paper

You: That makes you like the US government or Treasury, the source all money, except you're a no-body. What if you die or you fudge the ledger

Me: Ok, I'll have other people print the money instead. And, I'll print on every Paper the history of that Paper and all the persons it has changed hands through and the printer that printed it, so the ledger (history) is on every Paper

You: That's ridiculous, who would be able to read so fast

Me: I'll assign verifies

You: Who's gonna volunteer to do that dumbass job

Me: Verifiers will get paid a transaction fee, and each time they verify a transaction, they can also print out a little bit of new Paper (newly created) to keep for themselves. This will also slowly put more of this new currency into circulation as time goes on and people want to exchange money.

You: So the verifiers are also going to be the printers?

Me: Yes

You: You're a dumbass, because you're gonna need a bunch of scanners to read the Papers

Me: Fine instead of using actual paper, I'll make everything digital

You: Does every verifier verify every transaction?

Me: Let's call the printers/verifers "miners". Every Paper transaction that goes on in the world gets a unique ID and is broadcasted out to every miner. Whoever is the first miner to finish verifying all the ledger and verify the transaction gets to keep the transaction fee and create a little bit of new Paper to keep for themselves, and then immediately tells all the other verifiers that this transaction ID has been done, along with the ID of the new Paper and who it belongs to

You: You're gonna transmit all that information for each transaction? There could be thousands of transactions a second

Me: Fine, we'll group the transactions into blocks, called blocks.

You: What if there's a tie

Me:



You: Ok, if we believe in your Paper currency, how are you going to go about transitioning the world to use this new currency?

Me: Have a currency exchange - pay some USD for some Paper

What gives Bitcoin its value?

Because people believe it can be used to buy things. That is why any currency has value - becaue people believe in it.

"Bitcoins do not have value as a physical commodity like gold and are not widely accepted as legal tender like dollars. Rather, Bitcoin appears to have value for the following reasons:

It is popular. In short, people accept and trade in Bitcoin because other people accept and trade in Bitcoin. It is recognized and accepted as a currency by many."

Follow up, how did Bitcoin arrive to its current popularity?

1. Because an initial group of people liked the ultimate goal of Bitcoin:

"The end goal is to enable people to transact among themselves without these transactions being controlled by governments and mega corps. To enable monetary freedom."
Source: https://www.quora.com/Bitcoin-what-is-really-the-end-goal-of-it

"Bitcoin is decentralized and limited. This is a major factor for many Bitcoin users. Bitcoin is hard for governments to trace and tax. Also, unlike fiat money produced by central banks, there is a cap set on total Bitcoins, limiting how much the currency can devalue through inflation."

2. Because an initial group of people liked the rules and algorithms describing and defining how Bitcoin operates - which helps Bitcoin reach its end goal. (Read the original paper to fully understand those rules)

3. Because other people use it (network effect)

Read more: Why do Bitcoins have value? | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/100314/why-do-bitcoins-have-value.asp#ixzz4ypjrCHt9 


One reason Bitcoin is popular is that it is decentralized. What does decentralized mean?

The faith we have in the USD is because we have faith in the US government backing that dollar. The US government is centralized, as in it's the source of the laws and police and military backing and enforcing everything. If someone pays you $1USD. You can go to a bank and ask if it's real, you can also find laws about how legal tender works and how it is backed up by the law.

To have faith in a decentralized currency means to have faith in some system that doesn't need the government that has laws, police, and guns. Well, bitcoin has algorithms that you can think of as laws, and those algorithms allow it to be decentralized. If someone pays you in Bitcoin, instead of going to the government to have faith it, Bitcoin has a DECENTRALIZED system of computers that run algorithms that then tell you that the Bitcoin you just received is trustworthy. The computers are known as miners.

https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/12427/can-someone-explain-how-the-bitcoin-blockchain-works/42515#42515


What's mining? What's the incentive behind it?
As mentioned slightly earlier, a decentralized system needs to verify that a transaction is legit. This decentralized system of computers needs to be pay electricity bills. So there must be some incentive for them to verify transactions.

The incentives they get are:
- They get paid per transaction via a transaction fee
- They MAKE some bitcoin for every Block they add, called a block reward.

These mining machines are rated at TH/s (tera-hashes per second).

https://www.bitcoinmining.com/bitcoin-mining-fees/
https://www.buybitcoinworldwide.com/mining/


What's a block?
A block is a list of transactions. A block has a list of all the transactions that have occurred (who paid whom at what time and how much) since the last block that occurred.

"A block records some or all of the most recent Bitcoin transactions that have not yet entered any prior blocks. Thus a block is like a page of a ledger or record book. Each time a block is ‘completed’, it gives way to the next block in the blockchain. A block is thus a permanent store of records which, once written, cannot be altered or removed."

Read more: Block (Bitcoin Block) Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/block-bitcoin-block.asp#ixzz4yq42RQt2 




Why is there a cap of only 21 million Bitcoins?
21million is an arbitrary number. What matters is that it is infinitely divisible.

Everyone needs to earn, save, spend or pay with a piece of the pie. All users need to know is what fraction of the pie do I control? and not how many ounces, pounds, Kg, or tons is the pie. That is just a number.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-Bitcoins-cap-set-at-circa-21-million-coins-and-not-more-or-less-Is-this-amount-chosen-in-an-arbitrary-way-or-is-there-an-argument-behind-it


Why is there a cap at all?
-No cap means there would be inflation (future "printing"/"mining" of bit coin), but inflation is quite dishonest.

Satoshi modeled bitcoin after precious metals.  Mining increases in difficulty over time similar to how gold mining becomes more difficult.  This scarce supply gives bitcoins value.

https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-a-limited-amount-of-bitcoin-available


What happens when all 21 million Bitcoins are mined?

How will miners get paid?
They will have to rely on transaction fees.
https://www.investopedia.com/news/what-happens-bitcoin-after-all-21-million-are-mined/


Is the creator of Bitcoin rich?

Yes, most likely.

"Looking at 2009 alone, 32,489 blocks were mined; at the then-reward rate of 50 BTC per block, the total payout in 2009 was 1,624,500 BTC, which at today’s prices is over $900 million. One may conclude that only Satoshi and perhaps a few other people were mining through 2009, and that they possess a majority of that $900 million worth of BTC. Someone in possession of that much BTC could become a target of criminals, especially since bitcoins are less like stocks and more like cash, where the private keys needed to authorize spending could be printed out and literally kept under a mattress. While it's likely the inventor of Bitcoin would take precautions to make any extortion-induced transfers traceable, remaining anonymous is a good way for Satoshi to limit exposure."

Read more: Bitcoin https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin.asp#ixzz4yqK52fWM
Follow us: Investopedia on Facebook


How does Bitcoin get created? What dictates the rate of their creation?

Answer: the original white paper.

"A mathematical problem is linked with each block. Miners are constantly processing and recording transactions as part of the process of competing in a type of race. They race to ‘complete the current block’ in order to win Bitcoins. When a winning miner is able to solve it, the answer is shared with other mining nodes and it is validated. Every time a miner solves a problem, a newly minted 12.5 BTC (Bitcoin currency symbol) is awarded to the miner and enters the circulation. The first record in that next block is a transaction that awards the winning miner (who completed the previous block) the newly minted BTC. It is the difficulty of the mathematical problem that regulates the creation rate of new Bitcoins since new blocks can’t be submitted to the network without the answer. Based on the fact that it takes around 10 minutes on an average to solve the problem, approximately 12.5 new Bitcoins are minted every 10 minutes."

Read more: Block (Bitcoin Block) Definition | Investopedia https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/block-bitcoin-block.asp#ixzz4yqLKJn1T
Follow us: Investopedia on Facebook

Transactions are broadcasted by anyone in the system and at random intervals. Which transactions, of all the ones broadcasted, are included is very dependent on the miner, as he/she is the one who groups them up and includes them in the block. As Nate noted below, there is also a 1MB block size limit which limits how many transactions can be included in a block. This limit is to prevent huge blocks that clog the network and may be removed if the number of transactions in the network ever grows such that the limit is a serious factor.

Good miners accept all transactions with the standard 0.0001 BTC fee (which is mainly a spam prevention measure). Bad miners are selfish and avoid including transactions to decrease their propogation time. For example, look at this block to see an example where a miner didn't include any transactions except for their own reward transaction.

If you look at https://blockchain.info/ then you can see how many transactions are included in each block.

As far as priority goes, again it depends on the miner, but in general miners like bigger fees and smaller transactions and may prioritize them that way.

Source: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/30019/how-many-transactions-in-one-block









When I buy Bitcoin with Fiat money (e.g. USD), where does the USD go?
It goes to whoever gave you the Bitcoin. That seller also had to pay USD to get that bitcoin, or had to "mine" it, and pay electricity bills for mining it.

"When you buy an ounce of silver bullion at the coin store, who gets the money?

The person who held the coin before you did.

All bitcoins are first issued to miners. From there, miners use those coins for trade or exchange. So when you buy a bitcoin with cash, you are buying it from someone who owned it but initially it was obtained from a miner."

What does it mean now that you have "bought" bitcoin?
It means a new transaction regarding a transfer of some Bitcoin to your address was inserted into a block. That Bitcoin can be traced all the way back through all the hands it has changed to its initial creation.

Yes, you do own the Bitcoin, but it's not like owning a piece of $1USD paper that only has value and no history. With Bitcoin, you own a Bitcoin because the universal transaction ledger shows that a Bitcoin was transferred to your address.

"Remember, bitcoin transactions are stored publicly and permanently on a network, which means that anyone can see the balance and transactions of any bitcoin address. However, only the bitcoin exchanges and/or the parties involved in the transaction can attach the addresses to a real person. So for the most part, the transactions are anonymous."

https://medium.com/@kaleazy/10-step-guide-for-day-trading-bitcoin-ethereum-and-litecoin-79123673957c


Does each Bitcoin has a string value or something?
No. Because that would make Bitcoin just like paper money, except much worse because you can just copy/paste the string.

So when I pay with Bitcoin, am I actually "giving" away the Bitcoins? E.g. giving away the string value (bytes) that a Bitcoin represents? 

There is only the ledger (history) of all transactions about which Bitcoin address sent how much to some other Bitcoin address.



When I buy Bitcoin from Coinbase, is there a Bitcoin transaction fee?
No, that transaction fee is transaction from Bitcoin to Bitcoin.
But if you're just buying Bitcoin with cash (from a bank or credit card), then Coinbase charges its own fees. That is approximately how Coinbase makes money.


Why does the cost of 1 Bitcoin keep rising or fluctuating?



What is the exit plan with Bitcoin?
With a regular stock:

• If I'm day trading: I don't care about the future of the company, I just care about the stock's voltitlty and liquidity (and averages, stats, etc)
• If I buy and hold: I  except the company to keep on growing in value because I really believe in the company's mission, it's technology, it's people, etc. I might hold on to that stock for years, or only just sell it for retirement money. I would need faith that this company will continue to stay around and will continue to grow. (If it got too big, to a point where it's regulated and required to split, your shares will be divided or something, and you can continue assuming each portion of the company will keep growing, because overall, you believe in the company)

But what about Bitcoin?

• If I'm day trading: Same thing. I don't care about the future of the concept, I just care about the bitcoin's volatility and liquidity (and averages, stats, etc)
• If I buy and hold: I expect Bitcoin to keep on growing in value because I believe in its mission, it's technology, and the people behind it. 
• Is this true of me for Bitcoin?
• If yes, I can buy some coins and sleep easy and just wait it out
• How to get to yes: 
• study up on all the possible future outcomes of Bitcoin 
• feel confident about it
• If not, then I am essentially day trading
• Then I don't need to know all the technology behind bitcoin and really believe in what it's doing
• BUT I DO need to
• understand the volatility and liquidity of Bitcoin and how to take advantage of it
• understand the psychology behind what's driving Bitcoin's price
• what humans will do next

What about ETH?


What about Litecoin?



terms:
block
blockchain
transaction
miner
mining
bitcoin


ICO:
What's an ICO?
Are tokens like "shares" from an IPO?
Are utility tokens like "logins" of a normal website?

Life questions:
Is it too late to get into Bitcoin?

New Smartphone Shopping Requirements

After spending hours looking at phones recently, I realize that you can only have 3 out of the 4 following criteria:

Withstand bend test from JerryRigEverything:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWFKCr40YwOZQx8FHU_ZqqQ
(HTC U11 failed this)

Good camera based on DxOMark Mobile (Score of 88 and higher):
https://www.dxomark.com/Mobiles
(HTC U11 won this)

Water resistance:
IP68

Under $650

And this isn't talking about performance (e.g. Snapdragon 835 with >6gb ram...)

Thinking about stopping rock climbing

Because the girls at the gym are SO FUCKING DISTRACTING BECAUSE THEY ALL WEAR TIGHT ASS LEGGINGS. It's so frustrating and annoying. It's like watching softcore porn. Can't focus on working out at all. 

It's not their fault, it's my fault. Pretty sure I have a fetish. I need to remove myself from the equation.