Admin Tasks

In First Post, New Blog, I included a checklist of administrative tasks, all of which have been done. Here are a few more:-

• Logo
• Market quotes

I also need to verify that comments are working properly.

Adding a Description

Since every blog needs a description, I added one. For now it consists mainly of keywords. If I could change the name of the blog, I would now call it 'Bitcoins and Blockchains'... [...] ...and so is it now titled!

Beginning Bitcoin Videos

In First Post, New Blog, I wrote,

I entered the term 'bitcoin' into Youtube and started watching videos. This was more fruitful. General impression: lots of young, fast-talking Silicon Valley types proselytizing on the subject; many references to sinister aspects that make me wonder if it's a sound place to put any money. I'll come back to the videos on my next post.

First, here's a short, simple introduction to the concept.

The Essence of How Bitcoin Works (Non-Technical) (5:24) • 'A brief intro to the main ideas behind How Bitcoin Works, including how money is transferred, who keeps track of it, and how the whole thing is secured.'

A longer version, more technical version by the same video maker can be found at How Bitcoin Works Under the Hood, currently with 659.583 views and 1.274 comments.

For an introduction to the history and some of the social aspects, see Everything You Need to Know About Bitcoin : VICE Podcast 027; 'Reihan Salam sits down with Jerry Brito, one of the leading experts on Bitcoin.'

To hear from some of the main insiders, see The Bitcoin Phenomenon. Near the end we learn,

Starring in order of appearance:- Gavin Andresen, Peter Vessenes, Bennett Hoffman, Angela Keaton, Jeremy Liew, Fred Ehrsam, Erik Voorhees, Trace Mayer; Shot on location at Bitcoin 2013 in San Jose.

After these clips, almost anything featuring Andreas Antonopoulos is worth viewing (except when he's speaking in front of people who are eating -- 'crunch, crunch, slurp, crunch').

First Post, New Blog

Why this topic? Because I sense that it's important and because I know absolutely nothing about it. A weekly post on this blog will give me the time to investigate a different aspect regularly.

How to start? First I read the main Wikipedia article, from which I took away absolutely nothing. I'm comfortable with both software development and math, but that didn't help at all. My guess is that to understand the Wikipedia article, you first have to understand the subject.

After Wikipedia, I entered the term 'bitcoin' into Youtube and started watching videos. This was more fruitful. General impression: lots of young, fast-talking Silicon Valley types proselytizing on the subject; many references to sinister aspects that make me wonder if it's a sound place to put any money. I'll come back to the videos on my next post.

Why this title ('Bitcoins and Bytes') for the blog? The obvious choices were already taken and I wanted something that wouldn't embarrass me later. Time will tell if I succeeded. I've been blogging long enough to know what else needs to be done. Here are a few administrative tasks to be considered, in the same order that they appear on my other blogs.

• Description
• Adsense
• Resources [links]
• Comments
• Archive
• Search
• Labels
• Other blogs
• News

How long will I blog on the topic? As long as I need to. I'm the sort of person that appreciates a beginning, some continuity, and an end. This post is the beginning...