To understand how Bitcoin works, we must first examine how BTC mining transpires as it is an implementation of the protocol’s security model and consensus-algorithm. Substantial changes to a revolutionary technology with no one in absolute control requires consensus among developers, users, miners, exchanges and merchant services. As with all segments of society, each group within this Bitcoin community have different intentions. Some objectives aligned and others did not. A twenty-four month ideological divide within the community concluded with the administration of Segregated Witness (SegWit) to the Bitcoin protocol. The brilliance in Satoshi Nakamoto’s vision of no one controlling Bitcoin was superbly demonstrated by the process of upgrading to SegWit. Bitcoin’s consensus-algorithm is working, and it is working quite nicely.

 

GENESIS BLOCK: THE TIMES 03/JAN/2009 CHANCELLOR ON BRINK OF SECOND BAILOUT FOR BANKS

The Bitcoin blockchain has been beating like a heart every ten minutes since London’s leading national newspaper published their bailout headline. On the same day, Miss, Mister, or a group of Nakamotos forged the Bitcoin genesis block with the same message.

 

Satoshi created a token in which people compete to earn a block reward that is BTC. The structure of the game automatically adjusts difficulty when more or less people play — the more players play, the harder the game. The game lasts for approximately ten minutes in which a winner is declared and the reward is delivered. To become a winner, participants must solve a highly-complex mathematical problem by hashing their computing power. Miners with more processing power have a greater likelihood of earning the block reward (and transaction fees). Players, participants, or miners hash while concurrently taking transactions in an unconfirmed pool and placing them in a block. Transactions that have higher fees get chosen before lower ones. When a participant solves the puzzle first, their Proof-of-Work (PoW) gets shared immediately on the public blockchain with and for the other miners to verify that it is in fact, confirmed. Upon successful PoW verification by the other miners, the block reward and transaction fees are delivered to the winner. Losing miners rage and throw away their work during which all miners link the new valid block to the existing chain by updating their own ledger, the game then restarts. Proof-of-Work is a free market-based design where miners play a crucial role in verifying transactions and upholding the immutable blockchain, a direct result of their profit-seeking behavior. Satoshi Nakamoto elegantly weaves these facets together by deliberately incentivizing miners to compete in a game and earn a monetary reward in exchange for their work in securing the Bitcoin blockchain.

 

//DEBIT, CREDIT CARDS & THE LIGHTNING NETWORK

Going from cash money to bitcoins is a big leap for traditionalists. Going from credit cards to bitcoins is not as serious of a change, both are merely numbers on a webpage to most people. The top worldwide debit and credit card networks are Visa, MasterCard, UnionPay, Discover, and American Express. These centralized third-party intermediaries processed over 227 billion transactions accounting for $25.718 trillion in debit and credit card payments. You do not pay the merchant directly when utilizing debit or credit cards, the processing fees are charged to the merchants for as little as 1.43% to as much as 3.5%. This is partly the reason why some restaurants require a minimum charge of $10 or $15 if you decide to pay with card.

 

Scalability and transaction fees have been one of the biggest concern. The slow activation of Segregated Witness (SegWit) was a great demonstration of no one in absolute control of the Bitcoin protocol. SegWit allows for layer-2 solutions to be built on top of the immutable blockchain, one of these second layer advances is the Lightning Network (LN)%. The Lightning Network has been under heavy development for the past two years with the brightest minds in computer programming and software engineering. LN allows for virtually instantaneous transactions and nearly zero fees of approximately 10 satoshis, less than 100th of a cent. Consumers can open up their own LN payment channel at any time and load bitcoins in small, spendable amounts, leaving a majority in cold storage. Merchants are able to open up a LN hub and only need to do so once to start collecting payments. Unlike the plastic card payment networks, merchants do not pay the transaction fees on the Lightning Network. Indeed it is rare to find a merchant that accepts bitcoin as a form of payment. With substantially lower costs it is economically enticing for small and big businesses alike, especially since merchants can liquidate back to fiat at the point-of-sale. If the Bitcoin protocol can claim 1.55% of the global payment processing market share, not including cash, that would bring us to $23,679.20 per BTC.

 

I never realized how vehemently bad I am with talking to women until I stopped drinking and smoking. I mean, I kinda had an idea, but now its like 100% confirmed.

 

Having gone completely sober for a quarter of the year may come as a surprise for those of you that know me, and for those of you that don’t, I frequently blacked out on weekends, smoked cigarettes daily and constantly enabled others around me to do things normal people don’t do. As with most things, normal is pretty relative and to this extent, its better left up to your notion as to what.

 

I can only speak for my own experience. Limiting myself to just one drink here and there, or three max per night is not something I was disciplined enough to accomplish. Maybe, just maybe now, but definitely not three months ago. So, I decided to go the other direction altogether and frankly, I was sick and tired of myself and the same old routine.

 

You know, the one where leading up to the end of the week has you all pumped for Thursday and Friday nights, with the occasional Saturday day-fade and the too occasional Sunday fun day. Either waking up Sunday evening or Monday morning didn’t matter, I consequently ‘hated’ drinking and ‘promised’ myself to not ever do that again only for the cycle to continue for X amount of time. I lied to myself for a number of years, pretending I could stop drinking or smoking at any time when in all actuality, I had no control over myself. I was lost. My sense of enjoyment and happiness derived from thorough intoxication and using cigarettes as a companion.

 

Going alcohol and especially smoke-free without help from vapes or patches is something I am proud of and couldn’t have done without support from my friends & family. If you are stuck in a rut or have the slightest feeling that you are falling into addiction, please understand and trust me when I say this, it is much, much better on the other side.

 

. . .

 

The good shit that helped me

It sure as hell ain’t easy. You’re going to get cravings and the urges to make exceptions for yourself. Your little voice inside your head will try and persuade you as to why you deserve it and why just one more time won’t hurt.

 

• Implement positive replacements for your negative cravings

 

I associated smoking with nearly any activity: after eating, before work, out of boredom, in-between flights, after taking the seventh shot of the night, even after taking a wonderful shit would I crave a stoge.

 

It is crucial to implement a different activity when your cravings get triggered. If left unchecked, the craving is almost impossible to ignore. My cigarette itch was more of a habitual and psychological addiction rather than a physical one. Chewing gum and tooth picking provided the oral fixation I craved. I would also take walks, do push-ups, or meditate, my new cherished activity. Execution and follow-through of your new habits are just as important as preparation by way of having readily available gum or throwing away items that subtly remind you of those damn stoges, like lighters or ashtrays. Remember, your cravings won’t just disappear when you decide to quit, they will come back to attack you and your mind, like a hornet infiltrating a beehive. Find positive replacements for your cravings, implement them when they are triggered, and follow-through with them when your mind tells you otherwise.

 

• Tell your friends and family of your new change

 

This is one of my favorites.

 

You don’t have to tell everyone and it may help telling those you spend the most time with of the new you. You will quickly find out who is supportive versus those who would rather have the old you back. Informing your close relationships will lightweight give you a sense of skin in the game from not becoming a lying sack of shit. I didn’t want to be a jackwagon so I waited to have a couple of weeks under my belt before telling my family. Do tell your friends early-on though, since they troll you all the time anyways and will probably wonder whats gotten into you. Nothing is quite like encouragement and support when you are going through challenging times. Like a football player running into the endzone, you want those around you cheering for you as you inch closer towards your goal and you may want to be cautious of those trying to bring you down. At the end of the day, it is nobody’s fault but your own. You are the master of your own universe.

 

• Reduce exposure to temptation, explore new hobbies and resurrect enjoyable ones

 

Drinking and smoking are almost as closely intertwined as Asian and rice.

 

For myself, the worst thing about alcohol was not the usual side-effect of stoging, but the creeping on women that really had me all fucked up. It was as embarrassing as it is inexcusable. By throwing the bottles away: I sleep better, lose weight, am more productive, have clearer skin, retain less chubby cheeks, save money, have more energy throughout the day, own substantially more time on my hands, and the ladies suffer a little less. It is a win all-around. Being drunk was a huge temptation state of mind that I had to leave behind, reducing my exposure to lure. If you stop drinking, even for a measly 30 days, you will be infinitely surprised by the tangible and intangible benefits.

 

With all the extra time on your hands go pick up some new hobbies and revive the old enjoyable ones! For I wanted to relive my high-school-football-quarterback-glory-days and joined two local flag football teams. It’s been a fucking blast. It’s lead me into also playing for two fútbol teams and doing group workouts at 24 fitness. You can try searching meetup.com for damn near any favorite pastime you have. Surround yourself with like-minded individuals and you will have an easier time accomplishing your goal, whatever it may be. I surprisingly got into this crazy positive feedback loop where I kept doing shit that’s good for me like constantly cleaning and sweeping my floor. I’ve balanced out since the initial weeks but one thing that I need to mention is I picked up meditating and it has seriously changed my life. It’s lengthy to explain, I’ll get into it in another post as this is getting rather long.

 

• Miscellaneous shit

 

Don’t underestimate the power of keeping your own journal, writing your thoughts down as they come, dating your entries, going back to reflect on what the hell happened and what went through your head.

 

The best part from not drinking is you get to allocate those lovely calories to FOOD.

 

Recognize when you hit a milestone and reward yourself for it. I knew something was different when I became elated to walk down the tea aisle at Safeway shopping for my next tea bags.

 

The trick isn’t to avoid hanging out with your drunk friends, maybe initially but the real key is to eventually embrace your own sobriety and wear it on your sleeves. I’ve had my favorite moments going out with the hooligans, coming back sober and being super productive the next morning when everyone else is snoozing.

 

Take it one day at a time.

 

Read more.

 

I started wearing contacts again and literally started taking different routes to work. Do small things differently, feel the change and be the change.

 

When a craving hits really bad, try to override your emotional reaction with logic. Just think logically and understand that you are having an emotional response to your emotional craving. Logically, you don’t fucking need it.

. . .

 

Sobriety is not for everyone. I admire those who are disciplined enough take things in moderation. I can’t do that, not yet at least.

 

It takes a while but once you cut the fun from being drunk or high, your mind locates happiness in the small details like watching the sunrise or observing the spotless floor like I like to do. It really warms your heart when people tell you they’ve noticed a difference and that you’ve changed. I am grateful to have made the leap of faith away from smoking and drinking. I knew I had a problem when I needed a drink or smoke to have fun. We see as many goddamn beer commercials as car commercials. Alcohol is ingrained into American society as much as consumerism is. You are actually the weird one if you don’t drink, ain’t that some shit?

It’s not quite as simple as black people go to jail more often and receive longer sentences but almost..

 

Food fairs, valentine’s day flowers, water bottle canteens and car washes were fundraisers back in grade-school that required cooperation between two parties. Now I’m not too sure if Gen Zs still do it like we did it back in the day when trying to raise money, but students participating in student-body government work alongside school administrators, often teachers and faculty whom oversee the liaison organization. School officials essentially act as bureaucrats authorizing the student-body to do certain things in granted ways. The officials set the rules or advise you of what the rules are, what you can and can’t do, what you can and can’t sell, what you can and cannot profit from. These fundraisers are short-term business ideas geared to make money, implemented by two cooperating parties — school officials & doers. You can’t just start selling volumes of spam musubi out the gates, you need permits for that kind of stuff.

 

Buddying up with the officials is a good idea if you have a request that is unusual and may not easily be approved. Lining the pockets of politicians through lobbying has been occurring since the beginning of democracy — first world countries like the United States are by no means an exception. Legislation in favor of your business presents itself as an excellent opportunity.

 

Capitalism will seep through and anchor itself like a redwood tree’s roots where there is profit to be made. Once matured and settled, it becomes increasingly challenging to uproot a system designed to absorb as much resources and profit as possible.

You then hear about it a third time and start thinking 'this thing isn't going away', and maybe, just maybe, you decide that after hearing about it for the 3rd time in a span of a few months to a few years to finally do your own research to see what its about.

 

Its complicated for some, complex for others. Some forget about it, most don't care enough to begin, and few continue the journey.

 

It is seldom to hear a story of those who grasp and comprehend this technological innovation the very first time they dive in—we are all still students and learning.