The Simpsons marathon on FXX Channel

There is a Simpsons marathon on FXX Channel.  All 24 seasons.  I'm taping all the Treehouse of Horrors!  My top episodes

1) Cape Feare - (I had this 1 place lower)
2) Lisa's Substitute - (I had this 1 place lower)
3) Homer's Enemy - (I had this 20 places lower)
4) Last Exit to Springfield - (I had this 2 places lower for tactical reasons)
5) Homer the Heretic - (I had this 2 places lower)
6) 22 Short Films about Springfield - (I had this 9 places lower)
7) Summer of 4 Ft. 2 - (I didn't put this in my list which I regret)
8) Behind the Laughter - (I definitely didn't put this in my list for good...damn...reasons...)
9) Treehouse of Horror V - (I didn't put this in my list)
10) Lisa the Vegetarian - (I didn't put this in my list)
11) Homer the Great - (I had this 28 places lower)
12) Homer Goes to College - (I didn't put this in my list)
13) Who Shot Mr Burns Parts 1 and 2? - (I put part 1 2 places higher)
14) Homer Badman - (I had this 11 places lower)
15) A Fish Called Selma - (I didn't put this in my list)
16) Duffless - (I had this 31 places lower)
17) Burns Verkaufen der Kraftwerk - (I had this 1 place lower)
18) El Viaje de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage Of Homer) - (I didn't put this in my list)
19) Homer's Phobia - (I had this 5 places lower)
20) The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show - (I didn't put this on my list)
21) Treehouse Of Horror - (I didn't put this on my list)
22) The Cartridge Family - (I didn't put this on my list)
23) Homer And Apu - (I didn't put this on my list)
24) Lemon of Troy - (I had this 16 places higher)
25) Hurricane Neddy - (I didn't put this on my list)
26) You Only Move Twice - (I had this 16 places lower)
27) The Homer They Fall - (I didn't put this on my list but it's a great episode that should have feature on more lists)
28) Homer vs The 18th Amendment - (I had this 27 places higher as it's my #1)
29) Radioactive Man - (I didn't put this on my list)
30) Bart Gets an F - (I didn't put this on my list)
31) $pringfield - (I didn't put this on my list)
32) Deep Space Homer - (I had this 13 places lower)
33) The Way We Was - (I didn't have this on my list)
34) Homer At The Bat - (I had this 24 places higher)
35) When Flanders Failed - (I didn't have this on my list)
36) Flaming Moe's - (I had this 22 places higher)
37) Lisa On Ice - (I didn't have this on my list)
38) Whacking Day - (Sorry Barry but I didn't have this on my list)
39) Secrets Of A Successful Marriage - (I had this 26 places higher)
40) Marge Vs. The Monorail - (I had this 20 places higher)
41) Bart The Daredevil - (I didn't have this on my list)
42) Mr Plow - (I didn't have this on my list)
43) Bart The Lover - (I didn't have this on my list)
44) Rosebud - (I had this 28 places higher)
45) War Of The Simpsons - (I didn't have this on my list)
46) Two Bad Neighbours)
47) Simpsons Roasting On An Open Fire
48) Sideshow Bob Roberts
49) Bart's Comet
50) The Joy Of Sect

Million views: thank you

It passed 1 million at 6:32pm CST today.

thank you

Bought Google Glass today

Bought some google glass today.  It cost me over $1000 dollars.  Google Glass comes with Android 4.4.

ntroductory price	Explorer version: $1,500 USD Consumer edition: "close to the average smartphone"[3]
Operating system	Android[4] (4.4.2[5])
Power	Lithium Polymer battery (2.1 Wh)[6]
CPU	OMAP 4430 SoC, dual-core[6]
Memory	1GB RAM (682MB available to developers)
Storage	16 GB Flash total[6] (12 GB of usable memory)[7]
Display	Prism projector, 640×360 pixels (equivalent of a 25 in/64 cm screen from 8 ft/2.4 m away[7])
Sound	Bone conduction transducer[7]
Input	Voice command through microphone,[7] accelerometer,[7] gyroscope,[7] magnetometer,[7] ambient light sensor, proximity sensor
Controller input	Touchpad, MyGlass phone app
Camera	Photos – 5 MP, videos – 720p[7]
Connectivity	Wi-Fi 802.11b/g,[7] Bluetooth,[7] micro USB
Dimensions	22x21"
Weight	50g
Backward compatibility	Any Bluetooth-capable phone; MyGlass companion app requires Android 4.0.3 (Ice Cream Sandwich) or higher or any iOS 7.0 or higher [7]

multiculturalism in Europe failed

German Chancellor Angela Merkel declared that in Germany, multiculturalism (Critical Theory) has "utterly failed." Both Australia's ex-prime minister John Howard and Spain's ex-prime minister Jose Maria Aznar reached the same conclusion about multiculturalism in their countries. British Prime Minister David Cameron has warned that multiculturalism is fostering extremist ideology and directly contributing to homegrown Islamic terrorism. UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage said the United Kingdom's push for multiculturalism has not united Britons but pushed them apart. It has allowed for Islam to emerge despite Britain's Judeo-Christian culture. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said the roots of violent Islamism are not "superficial but deep" and can be found "in the extremist minority that now, in every European city, preach hatred of the West and our way of life." The bottom line is that much of the Muslim world is at war with Western civilization. There's no question that the West has the military might to thwart radical Islam's agenda. The question up for grabs is whether we have the intelligence to recognize the attack and the will to defend ourselves from annihilation. Multiculturalism is Islamists' foot in the door. At the heart of multiculturalism is an attack on Western and Christian values. Much of that attack has its roots on college campuses among the intellectual elite who see their mission as indoctrinating our youth. In past columns, I've documented professorial hate-America teaching, such as a UCLA economics professor's telling his class, "The United States of America, backed by facts, is the greediest and most selfish country in the world." A history professor told her class: "Capitalism isn't a lie on purpose. It's just a lie." She also said: "(Capitalists) are swine. ... They're bastard people." Students sit through lectures listening to professorial rants about topics such as globalism and Western exploitation of the Middle East and Third World peoples. Some public school boards have banned songs and music containing references to Santa Claus, Jesus or other religious Christmas symbols. The New York City school system permits displays of Jewish menorahs and the Muslim star and crescent, but not the Christian Nativity scene. One school district banned a teacher from using excerpts from historical documents in his classroom because they contained references to God and Christianity. The historical documents in question were the Declaration of Independence and "The Rights of the Colonists," by Samuel Adams. The U.S. is a nation of many races, ethnicities, religions and cultures. Since our inception, people from all over the world have immigrated here to become Americans. They have learned English and American history and celebrated American traditions and values. They have become Americans while also respecting and adapting some of the traditions of the countries they left behind. By contrast, many of today's immigrants demand that classes be taught -- and official documents be printed -- in their native language. Other immigrants demand the use of Shariah, practices that permit honor killing and female genital mutilation. Multiculturalists argue that different cultural values are morally equivalent. That's nonsense. Western culture and values are superior. For those who'd accuse me of Eurocentrism, I'd ask: Is forcible female genital mutilation, as practiced in nearly 30 sub-Saharan African and Middle Eastern countries, a morally equivalent cultural value? Slavery is practiced in Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan; is it morally equivalent? In most of the Middle East, there are numerous limits placed on women, such as prohibitions on driving, employment and education. Under Islamic law, in some countries, female adulterers face death by stoning, and thieves face the punishment of having their hand severed. In some countries, homosexuality is a crime punishable by death. Are these cultural values morally equivalent, superior or inferior to Western values? Multiculturalism has not yet done the damage in the U.S. that it has in western European countries -- such as England, France and Germany -- but it's on its way. By the way, one need not be a Westerner to hold Western values. Mainly, you just have to accept the supremacy of the individual above all else.

Tractor pulls scared all the people away

These farmers don't even use recent tractors in tractor pulls, they use tractors from the 1950s through 1970 especially for tractor pulls around here. (I was going to call them rednecks, but they don't have Confederate flags LOL :-p)   Farm tractors cost 90,000 to $140,000 the most outdated get to be in the tractor pull.  Otherwise, recent John Deere 7410 tractors from the 1990s in the corn fields. These recent John Deere and New Holland last 20 years minimum. Maybe all the millionaires own the John Deere 9RT tractors so the tractor fanbase died off. My tractor pull videos weren't popular, only 40 views on the mediocre talent around here.  There isn't anything that screams watch me at County fairs in this county.
 
 
 Nobody wants to add a John Deere tractor on Pinterest I mean.

The remaining fanbase is all about speculation of (old school) mid-20th century technology.

Stock side
4500 nono turbo
5500 non turbo
5700 stock truck
7000 non turbo
6200 stock truck
9500 non turbo
8000 Stock diesel truck
10,500 non turbo (super trophy class)
9500 turbo
11,500 Turbo
12,500 trubo (Super trophy Class)
14,000 Turbo

Hot side
5700 light hot farm
5200 econo mod
6200 limited light super stock
6200 improved stock truck
6000 light mods
5500 econo mod
6200 light hot farm
6200 light mod
6500 light super stock
6500 light open (Glenwood City only)
6200 Street Mod Truck
6500 limited mod
6200 pro stock truck
7500 open mod
7500 light open (Glenwood Only)
8000 open diesel trucks
9500 limited pro stock
10,500 pro farm
9300 super farm
11,000 improved stock
10,000 pro stock
11,000 pro farm
11,500 improved stock

Most advanced tractor in the county right now  Sad isn't it?

Barnes and Noble deserves going bankrupt

 

Barnes and Noble says that American companies bringing anime to Region 1 are imports and charge 300% over the online price for Sailor Moon.  Barnes and Noble is unbelievably retarded. I'll get a pre-paid credit card and do it myself and save 300%. The overhead for paper books is 50% added cost and there is a shit load of paper farms in this country. I used to watch this between the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. Now Sailor Moon is more popular then Dragon Ball Z for some stupid reason.  Read University students watch it.
 
I bought this for $50, The bootleg version is is worth the fake regret it later discussions online. DVD with 2 MBit video have functioned for over a decade. Good thing I already have all the Sailor Moons except for Sailor Moon Crystal 2014 series.

Millionaires buy businesses, not stock

Warren Buffett is perhaps the greatest investor of all time, and he has a simple solution that could help an individual turn $40 into $10 million.
A few years ago, Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) CEO and Chairman Warren Buffett spoke about one of his favorite companies, Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), and how after dividends, stock splits, and patient reinvestment, someone who bought just $40 worth of the company's stock when it went public in 1919 would now have more than $5 million.

Source: Coca-Cola.

Yet in April 2012, when the board of directors proposed a stock split of the beloved soft-drink manufacturer, that figure was updated and the company noted that original $40 would now be worth $9.8 million. A little back-of-the-envelope math of the total return of Coke since May 2012 would mean that $9.8 million is now worth about $10.8 million.

The power of patience
I know that $40 in 1919 is very different from $40 today. However, even after factoring for inflation, it turns out to be $540 in today's money. Put differently, would you rather have an Xbox One, or almost $11 million?
But the thing is, it isn't even as though an investment in Coca-Cola was a no-brainer at that point, or in the near century since then. Sugar prices were rising. World War I had just ended a year prior. The Great Depression happened a few years later. World War II resulted in sugar rationing. And there have been countless other things over the past 100 years that would cause someone to question whether their money should be in stocks, much less one of a consumer-goods company like Coca-Cola.

The dangers of timing
Yet as Buffett has noted continually, it's terribly dangerous to attempt to time the market:

"With a wonderful business, you can figure out what will happen; you can't figure out when it will happen. You don't want to focus on when, you want to focus on what. If you're right about what, you don't have to worry about when"

So often investors are told they must attempt to time the market, and begin investing when the market is on the rise, and sell when the market is falling.
This type of technical analysis of watching stock movements and buying based on how the prices fluctuate over 200-day moving averages or other seemingly arbitrary fluctuations often receives a lot of media attention, but it has been proved to simply be no better than random chance.

Investing for the long term
Individuals need to see that investing is not like placing a wager on the 49ers to cover the spread against the Panthers, but instead it's buying a tangible piece of a business.
It is absolutely important to understand the relative price you are paying for that business, but what isn't important is attempting to understand whether you're buying in at the "right time," as that is so often just an arbitrary imagination.
In Buffett's own words, "if you're right about the business, you'll make a lot of money," so don't bother about attempting to buy stocks based on how their stock charts have looked over the past 200 days. Instead always remember that "it's far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price."
If you're interested in creating your own version of this story, it's essential to find investments that stand the test of time. To help out in your search, for a limited time we're sharing a company that meets the stringent criteria our analysts require when seeking out incredible long term investing opportunities. Oddly enough, this particular company's product has one of Warren Buffett's most cherished investments directly in it's crosshairs! Our analysts are calling it "Warren Buffett's Worst Nightmare", and 152,298 investors have recently capitalized on similar research we've released. Make sure to access your free copy today by clicking here now.

American women prefer Little Dogs over little babies

The fewer babies Americans give birth to, the more small dogs they seem to buy.

Birth rates in the US have fallen from nearly 70 per 1,000 women in 2007, to under 63 last year—a 10% tumble. American women birthed almost 400,000 fewer little humans in 2013 than they did six years before. The drop-off has come exclusively among 15- to 29-year-olds. This chart, taken from a recent report by the US Department of Health (pdf), does a pretty decent job of showing how much of the growing disinterest in having babies is due to younger women:

1

Meanwhile, the ownership of small dogs—that is, pets weighing no more than 20 pounds (9 kilograms)—is doing just the opposite. Americans have been buying more and more small dogs each year since 1999. The population of little canines more than doubled in the US over that period, and is only projected to continue upwards, according to data from market research firm Euromonitor.

“You do not have to go to many pet shows to realize that the numbers of small and tiny dogs are on the increase,” a report by Pets International opened in 2010 (pdf).

And rightly so. The number of small dogs has grown so fast that they are now the most popular kind nationwide.

It could just be a coincidence that Americans are birthing fewer babies at the same time as they’re buying a lot more little dogs. But there’s pretty good reason to believe it isn’t, Damian Shore, an analyst at market-research firm Euromonitor, told Quartz. “There’s definitely some replacement happening there,” he said.

1

One telling sign that the two are not entirely unrelated is that the same age groups that are forgoing motherhood are leading the small dog charge. “Women are not only having fewer children, but are also getting married later. There are more single and unmarried women in their late 20s and early 30s, which also happens to be the demographic that buys the most small dogs,” Shore said.

There’s also evidence people are treating their dogs a bit more like little humans these days. Premium dog food, the most expensive kind, has grown by 170% over the past 15 years, and now accounts for 57% of of the overall dog food market.

There are now tools to monitor your dog’s fitness, ice cream trucks exclusively for canines, and vacations designed exclusively for dog-having people. “The animals in our homes are family. They’re like children,” David Grimm, the author of the book Citizen Canine, told Wired this week.

Of course, small dog ownership isn’t rising just because people want kid substitutes. Fashion trends aside, small dogs are also emblematic of a national migration to cities, where big dogs are harder to keep. Nearly 80% of Americans live in urban areas. “Smaller homes and apartments are also helping drive the growing popularity of smaller dogs,” Shore said.

But the national trend towards later motherhood is certainly playing its part. And those who treat their pooches and pugs like babies may be on to something. A study last year found that dogs form bonds of dependency with their owners not unlike the ones babies form with their parents.

World War III Theory 2

Prologue
In the first half of the 20th century, there were two major military conflicts of global reach that changed
the politics and economy in the world. They were called World War I (1914-1918) and World War II
(1939-1945). There was also a period of great economic crisis between these two wars, named The
Great Depression (1929-1939). The second half of the 20th century was marked by a non-military
conflict between capitalist and socialist countries, the Cold War (1947-1991). The Cold War began as a
result of World War II, and brought a lot of changes in global culture. In 1991, after the dissolution of
the Soviet Union and the consequent end of the Cold War, people come to believe that the world has
achieved "peace". But this is not true. The end of the Cold War brought a series of unprecedented social
problems, and during the 1990s and the 2000s there were a number of criticisms of the government
systems in the world. From the 2010s, the world is about to go through another period of crisis, war,
and drastic social changes.
2000s
The 2000s are marked by periods of economic and military tension between the Arab countries and the
developed western countries. In 2001 it takes place an attack on two skyscrapers in the United States by
Al-Qaeda, a great Islamist group against the Western system. This attack is possibly the greatest
example of the threat the Islamic states represent to the West. But even in the West there occur serious
internal disputes. After the Cold War, many are still trying to promote the socialist socioeconomic
system and even deploy it in the society. Frequent financial crises in the late 2000s marked an
economic instability.
2010s
2011
In early 2011, there is a series of riots in the Arab world against the dictatorial system of these
countries, after its inhabitants are able to know Western democratic systems. Throughout that year,
these revolts spread by all over the world. In the Arab countries, many revolts succeed and overthrow
national governments, also starting civil wars. A crisis began in Egypt and Tunisia, and from there it
spreads throughout North Africa, Arabian Peninsula, Greece, Spain, Italy, France, United Kingdom,
Germany and many other countries; in October 2011 almost all of Europe is in crisis. Financial crashes
in Asia affect firstly developed nations like Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and then to spread to
countries like China, Russia and India. By the end of 2011, there are marches and protests against
political systems in countries like Australia and Brazil.
2012
In March 2012, after the riots arrive in Sub-Saharan Africa, every country in the world had some kind
of revolt. During 2012, the revolts grow stronger and result in conflicts involving the police and even
the military forces. World economy continues to decline in an impressive way. The conflicts in North
Africa are still going on. It already has military intervention in Europe, USA and Australia. In
December 2012, the global stock drop, causing the so-called Great Crisis or Second Great Depression.
This crisis generates a series of suicides in the world.
2013
In January 2013, the North Africa War finally ends with the victory of popular forces, many corrupt
leaders die.
In Brazil, there is a slight military conflict between citizens who protested against corruption and the
army. That conflict ended up killing about 100 people.
2014
In early 2014 there are many international meetings about the crisis, in February it is proposed to create
a global currency. Western Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Australia, New
Zealand, Israel, Latin America (except Cuba) and sub-Saharan Africa accept the proposal and create a
currency among themselves. But the rest of the world (including the Arab world, Eastern Europe, Cuba,
North Korea and most of Asia) do not accept the proposal. This created a new division of World
countries by the United Nations: the "developed" and the "undeveloped". Developed countries are the
countries that share a common currency, while non-developed countries are those with many different
currencies among themselves. The "undeveloped" countries continue to suffer from the crisis and face
many social problems, as they cut relations with the "developed ones". At the end of 2014, there was a
Christian group in the western United States which proclaimed the independence of 17 western states
after a successful leading Protestant political coalition in the region. They proclaimed the independence
of California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Idaho, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, New
Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska as one big country
called Western United States; the believed in a new era of peace, development and economic stability
in this new conservative nation. These states have proclaimed their independence in November 2014.
The remaining states do not accept this act, and this gives rise to a civil war.
2015
The American West-East war destroys US economy. The Christian coalition proposes a dictatorial
ideology based on Christianity that is considered "undeveloped" by the UN. The allies of the United
States (the "developed ones") entered the war in July 2015. The countries considered "undeveloped",
the Arab countries and the neo-socialists, united as the "Revolutionary Rebels" declare war on the rest
of the world in October 2015. The following month the "Revolutionary Rebels" joined the "Western
United States", then they start the Third World War. Immediately, some undeveloped nations fall to
those that are developed.
WWIII
The World "Allies" (green) and "Axis" (blue) at 2016.
2016
By 2016 there are conflicts occurring in all continents of the world.
In Americas, Cuba and WUS (Western United States) forces fight against American, Canadian,
Mexican, Brazilian, Argentine and Chilean armies; the Bahamas join the conflict late.
All of North Africa (except Eritrea) is in fight; Axis Islamist nations of the Sahel together with
Ethiopia, Djibouti and the new Gaddafi's Libya are in war with the rest of Merranean and Sub-Saharan
African countries, South Sudan and Somalia; South Africa, Madagascar and Burundi also send troops
to Allies side.
All of Europe (except its micro-states) is in war. Eastern countries that previously formed Soviet Union
build strong pro-Communist armies. However, they are getting weak due to the impressive threat of
Western Europe-Russia ally.
Middle East has the greatest warfare ever. It becomes a true death zone as World War III starts; states
like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Afghanistan are completely hostile against Western nations. This Islamist
coalition becomes even stronger with the join of Central Asian countries like Pakistan, Kyrgyzstan,
Tajikistan and Turkmenistan (Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan refused to being part of the Islamist coalition,
standing with the Allies as well as Turkey, Syria and Lebanon).
The Far East and South Asia are also impregnated by war, as Mongolia becomes a Communist-
influenced nation along with South Chinese countries. Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and
Singapore also join the Communist coalition.
Only the weakest nations in the World, including small countries in Africa, America and Oceania
positioned as neutral the Third Great War. They received no military threats as the war did not reach
greater levels.
2017
A short intense battle takes place with some female officers of a US Heavy Tank Division taking many
scalps. In desperate fighting, some young men turn into zombie like droids and really go for the jugular
of their enemy but end up surrendering before bare breasted Valkyries and becoming casualties. An
pseudo-elite special forces team from the 2nd Commando Regiment is caught on soviet sattelite
imagery wanking and bumming each other and performing acts of bestiality on goats in a wadi in Syria.
As the images are displayed around the world, the team are pulled from the field and following a
humiliating trial at the Hague, are jailed at Manus island as asylum seekers. Australia is invaded by
New Zealand and the All Blacks take over the parliament and establish total dominant over the now
pathetically sheepish Australians.
The Communist coalition invades the east of Europe making it as far as eastern Greece in 6 months.
Due to this, all of Europe retaliates with a full bombing strike in many Arab countries and especially
Iran. This cause hatred between these combatants and also caused the world to split into four war
fronts. Sub-Sahara Africa vs Northern Africa; Europe vs certain Arab countries; Northern Asia and the
Australias vs certain parts of Oceania. and East US(EUS) and the rest of north and most of the Central
and all of the South Americas vs WUS.Islamist Coalition started attacking the India.With India most
troops went for Allies help it was easy battle for undeveloped ones.India was also divided into two
parts until end of December.One dissolve with Pakistan while other Hindu republic of India.
2018
The world leader of developed world gather in London to decide what to do about Undeveloped ones
progress.General secretary of UN announced that developed countries will nuclear bombard the
undeveloped ones if they don't come to negoatiation.The leader of undeveloped countries called on
developed world leader and a meeting was held to end war.The undeveloped countries agreed on every
demand except two:leaving the capture territory of turkey and India and establishing democratic
states.The leader of China and Russia leave the allies and joins the Axis as they were not favour in the
demands presented by UN. The war started to change in a nuclear war as both sides have equal number
nukes.At November and December the western united states were captured by United states
again.Resistance movement in United states started to become aggressive. Only end to war seem to be
nuclear bombing.All try for peace are failed and European nation started to fall in the hand of Islamist
coalition.The Argentina and Uruguay also join in Axis and start invading its neighbouring Allies
countries.

Disney DVD are expensive, but I was smarter

Owning all the VHS and DVDs of Walt Disney animation from 1933 - 1996. Beauty and the Beast costing $100+.  I thought I give back in form of a file. I was collecting other expensive DVDs not from American culture instead of the Disney DVDs.  That's me I guess. Some of that stuff is $300 per boxset.  Disney DVDS can't match it.  These gave me 1100 followers on Instagram.

I had a beard for 15 years...

"Keep Calm and..." came from Columbia University?

Keep Calm must be a Columbia University marketing from Axel Honneth.

Mining Bitcoins with advanced Radeon or Geforce GPUs

Mining bitcoins – a process that helps manage bitcoin transactions as well as create new “wealth” – is the new Beanie Babies. Luckily for us, however, bitcoins seem to be going up in value and should maintain their value over time, unlike your mint condition Tiny the stuffed Chihuahua.
But how do you get bitcoins? You can begin by buying them outright, but the market is currently wild. At $188 per coin, the direction of the bitcoin is anyone’s guess right now and, unlike equities, these things don’t split. In short, you should probably mine. But what is bitcoin mining?
Think of it as work done by groups of people to find large prime numbers or trying keys to decrypt a file. You can read a lot more about it here but just understand that for every block mined you get 25 coins or, at current rates, $4,722.25. Currently a single bitcoin is valued at $188, an alarming result that is probably caused by money movements related to Cyprus and a general bubble-like excitement over the platform in general. In fact, many wager that the DDOS attacks on many bitcoin-related services are direct action by hackers to inject instability in order to reduce the price.
As it stands, mining solo is very nearly deprecated. The process of finding blocks is now so popular and the difficulty of finding a block so high that it could take over three years to generate any coins. While you could simply set a machine aside and have it run the algorithms endlessly, the energy cost and equipment deprecation will eventually cost more than the actual bitcoins are worth.
Pooled mining, however, is far more lucrative. Using a service like “Slush’s pool” (more on that later) you can split the work among a ground of people. Using this equation:

(25 BTC + block fees – 2% fee) * (shares found by user’s workers) / (total shares in current round)

While this is simplified, it is basically how the system works. You work for shares in a block and when complete you get a percentage of the block based on the number of workers alongside you, less fees. Using this method, I have been able to raise about $1.50 over the weekend by running a dormant PC. The astute among you will note that I probably used twice that amount of electricity.
Being a neophile, I’m surprised it took me so long to start mining. My buddy Tom explained how to set up a pooled mining account so I thought it would be interesting to share the instructions.
1. Get a wallet. You can either store your wallet locally or store it online. Coinbase.com is an online wallet that is surprisingly simple to set up. Wallets require you to use or download a fairly large blockchain file – about 6GB – so downloading and updating a local wallet may be a non-starter. Like all wealth storage mediums, keeping your bitcoins “local” is probably a better idea than trusting a web service, but that’s a matter of private preference. There is no preferred wallet type and there are obvious trade-offs to both. Privacy advocates would probably say a local wallet is best.
You can download a local wallet here but make sure you keep a copy of your data backed up.
Once you’ve created a wallet, you get an address like this: 1BEkUGADFbrEShQb9Xr4pKPtM8jAyiNQsJ. This, without the period, is a direct way to send bitcoins to your wallet. Make a note of your address. In Coinbase, the wallet address found under linked accounts.

2. Join a pool. To mine in a pool you have to work with a group of other miners on available blocks. The most popular is Slush’s Pool found here. You can also try guilds like BTC Guild as well as a number of other options. Each of the pools is characterized mostly by the fees they charge per block – 2% for Slush’s pool, for example – and the number of users. Pools with fewer users could also have a slower discovery time but pools with many users usually result in smaller payments.
How can you be sure the pool owner doesn’t steal all your bitcoins? You can’t. However, as one pool owner, Slush, notes:

In theory, as the Bitcoin pool operator, I could keep the 25 BTC from a block found by the pool for myself. I’m not going to do this, but I completely accept that people do not trust the pool operator. It is their freedom of choice, and Bitcoin is about freedom.

For simplicity’s sake, I’m using Slush’s Pool and have created three workers. First, create a pool login. Then add workers. The workers are sub-accounts with their own passwords and are usually identified by [yourlogin].[workername]. I have three workers running, currently – one on my iMac and two on my old PC.

You must create workers to mine. The instructions are very straightforward for most services so don’t become overwhelmed. Like any online club, you can dig deeply into the subculture surround bitcoin as you gain experience. I like to think of it as a financial MMORPG.
Also be sure to enter your wallet address into the pool information. This will ensure you get your bitcoins.
3. Get a miner. There are a number of mining options for multiple platforms although OSX users may find themselves in a bit of a pickle. Miners use spare GPU cycles to power the mining operation, much like services like SETI@Home uses spare cycles for finding intelligent life. Miners, on the other hand, use these cycles to help handle peer-to-peer processes associated with bitcoins. Thus by doing “work” you are maintaining the network as well.
GUIMiner is the simplest solution for Windows users as it allows you to create miners using almost all standard graphics cards. You can download it here. 50Miner is also a popular solution. Both require you to enter your worker info and pool and they’ll start mining.
Linux users can run miners like CGMiner. An excellent guide to installing a miner on Ubuntu is available here.
OS X users can use DiabloMiner, a two-year old command-line program that will mine using OpenCL. Sadly, it uses deprecated calls to Bitcoin and is quite a bit slower. As a result, you need to run your own proxy, Stratum, that allows Diablo to connect with services like Slush’s pool. Both of these programs usually run without issue on OS X although you may need to install OpenCL for OSX.
To mine I’ve created a script that I run in Terminal that simply runs the proxy in the background and then connects Diablo. Note the last two arguments are necessary for Mountain Lion.

./stratum-mining-proxy-master/mining_proxy.py &
./DiabloMiner-OSX.sh -u WORKERNAME -p WORKERPASSWORD -o localhost -r 8332 -w 64 -na

RPCMiner is far easier to run – you simply click an icon and enter some data – and both have very rudimentary, text-based interfaces. Running Diablo on my iMac has not had much effect on application performance under OS X although it does slow down my Windows 8 machine considerably.
4. Keep your mind on your money. Bitcoins are baffling in that they are wildly simple to use and mine. Speculators, then, would probably be able to throw hundreds of machines at the problem and gather bitcoins like raindrops, right? Wrong. As more bitcoins are found, they become more difficult to find. This profitability calculator will help you understand what you’re up against but understand that this isn’t a sure thing. I’ve run my systems for a weekend and seen a mere $1.50 – enough for a coke – but other users may have improved hardware and methods to succeed. In short, if it costs more to run your hardware than you gain in bitcoins, you’re probably doing something wrong.
Good luck in your journey and enjoy your first foray into this wild and wooly world.