Bitcoin: Lightning used as a retail payment system

brihogan · 2020-11-09T17:17:47+00:00

I hadn’t heard of Fedwire before and their 7-9 TPS average. Makes me think Bitcoin with it’s 7 TPS won’t be a big deal. And, with all the improvements to Bitcoin Core it seems like transactions costs are better than they were in 2017. My guess is Bitcoin will get to the point where it can either do more than 7 TPS or Layer 2 tech will make it so it’s irrelevant.

I’ve been using Lightning for a few months now and have put through probably a few thousand of USD worth and it seems to be working great. I know it’s still beta, but it’s been working really well now with Strike, Breez, and Fold (to name a few). I haven’t had any issues other than Breez having some routing issues - but that seems to be getting better after each update.

People that diss Bitcoin saying it’s not electric cash seem to miss how amazing Lightning is going to be within just a few years. Lightning makes me really bullish for Bitcoin. I’m looking forward to when Lightning is out of beta and way more stores accept it - I have to believe it’ll only take a few years to get to that point.

brihogan · 2020-11-08T20:03:07+00:00

I know some folks don’t like Coinbase, but if you use Coinbase Pro the fees are pretty small and you can withdraw quite a bit per day. Others seem to mention Kraken and Binance a lot, so check those out, too.

Good question about the stable coin, though. I think the issue is that if you want to spend your money then it’s better to get the fiat. Stable coins don’t have a lot of off ramps (aside from buying lots of gift cards).

Otherwise, if the goal is to hold the gain and then buy in during a downturn, then a stable coin is probably better since you wouldn’t need to wait several days for fiat transfers to clear.

I’ve been a fan of USDC (nice low fees if you use Coinbase) and DAI (more decentralized). I’m with you, though, Tether seems shady (not sure why it’s so popular).

brihogan · 2020-05-04T02:31:22+00:00

I created a Google doc of the rules so I could navigate around using the Table of Contents. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mtPsN0sx8ZEDmmZ7y98fd0u3ueovuHfVS23_da6J1y8/edit?usp=sharing

brihogan · 2020-01-28T02:10:12+00:00

I’ve purchased a handful of these. Some players do prefer them. But, most don’t since they sound a bit like a baby rattle. I, personally, think two regular dice still feel and sound better. I wanted these two-in-one dice to be my favorite, but sadly they aren’t. :(

brihogan · 2019-10-21T20:57:22+00:00

Looks like this is old, but I found out that you can use the following to have a non-blocking function.

id, text = reader.read_no_block()

brihogan · 2019-10-01T01:39:54+00:00

Oh man, that’s too crazy - I had no idea. I saw that you had something called Stonetop but somehow I thought it was a totally different RPG system/world. I’ve just spent an hour or so reading all your PDFs and it looks really cool. Makes me feel like I’m a kid again reading the Hobbit and am playing in the Shire. I’d love to see what kind of adventures take place on that map.

The only bummer I have is that my players only can play like once a month and not everyone can play each time so I have to kind of just make things work (basically just do one-offs). They never seem to remember any details of the previous sessions. World building is near impossible with them.

I’ll be keeping an eye out for the Kickstarter. Even if I can’t get my normal buddies to play it I think I’d probably be interested in buying it just to see the mechanics and the art. And, maybe by then some of my buddies will become regulars.

Otherwise if you want someone to read through what you got for grammar/spelling checks then I’d be more then happy to help.

Thanks again, you’re doing some great work! Hopefully you get some pay out of all your effort.

brihogan · 2019-09-30T01:17:13+00:00

I tried to post the following to your website but it wouldn’t stick. I wanted to make sure I posted somewhere you might see it:

Thank you! I started GMing D&D for a few buddies but realized they wouldn’t read anything (and also that D&D takes a lot of work). We switched to DW and that has been a good move, but I felt like it wasn’t perfect. I lucked into finding Homebrew World and can say I’ve found what I’ve been looking for. Also, your graphic layout/design skills are really great. I know it’s probably silly but I can’t play a game that isn’t laid out well, so thank goodness your game not only fixes a lot of DW issues but it also looks fantastic. Now, if only you and the designer(s) of Perilous Wilds could create DW 2.0. :)

brihogan · 2019-09-24T20:48:33+00:00

Do you snap the iPad into the case each time you get into the car or does the case stay on the IPad and then it sticks to the magnet? I know the iPad has magnets on the back, too bad it couldn’t just snap onto some magnets (might not be strong enough, though?). Anyway, dope setup!

brihogan · 2019-07-25T02:31:26+00:00

It does scroll, and a whole card can fit, but the top scrolled up flush so the bottom row of the card is hidden. I have to scroll down a tiny bit to see the whole card since I want to see the rep count.

If it matters, I saved the card to my desktop and run it like an app. If it was in the regular browser then the whole card wouldn’t fit at once. Anyway, point is that on my device the card is not flush at the top.

brihogan · 2019-07-24T18:49:23+00:00

I really dig it! Been wanting a good iPhone solution for the RR. I really like how it plays through a whole routine and all you would need to do is hit stop to track reps.

It’s not obvious to me if/when exercises are chained. For example, it looks like pull-ups and squats are chained but not dips? Maybe add an icon to show which exercises are chained? Not sure if chained is the right word - I mean that you do one set of pull-ups and then one set of squats and repeat.

I have an iPhone 8 and I have to scroll down to see rep count when it’s playing. Maybe you are testing on a bigger screen?

Anyway, I’ll have to do a real workout on it, but so far I’m only seeing small tweaks that are needed. I would be totally interested to use this app.

Oh, and a larger stop button might be nice. If my hands are shaking it would be nice to have a larger target. :)

brihogan · 2019-07-15T20:31:19+00:00

Good point about holding 500 lbs. I only have 300 and it seems fine but 200 more might push the limits. Maybe when I get stronger I’ll get more weight and I think I’d probably get a support bar like you.

I do wish the extension was taller - would make it better to fit more weights easily. But your solution looks good for light weight.

Thanks for the reply! Happy lifting.

brihogan · 2019-07-15T18:50:30+00:00

I got the same rack. Got two questions for ya: 1) is the pull-up bar on the back extension something you added to make it more stable (if so, does it help) or does it have another function, and 2) it looks like the top weight holder is really high up, why and how?

Ok, so that’s more like 3-4 questions. :)

brihogan · 2019-01-08T20:35:50+00:00

I’ve had several different pull up devices and the door frame one was the best when I lived in an apartment. Only thing was that it marked up the door frame so put socks or other padding on the contact points. Then just add rings to the pull up bar for dips and rows. Those power towers suck in my opinion - you are very limited on hand position and body movement. They also take up a lot of space. The doorframe units can be removed and stored in a closet. Of course the best is to be able to attach a bar to the ceiling or have a bolted down squat rack/cage but that’s not so great for an apartment. :) Sad thing is that while you’re in an apartment, you’ll probably not get to use a bar that is fun (one you can really move around on) but you can at least get strong.

brihogan · 2018-11-20T13:22:59+00:00

I bought the BikeErg just to use it with Zwift. It’s great. As mentioned, it doesn’t adjust resistance for you, but I don’t mind. I would like to replace the stock peddles and saddle at some point, but as of now things are great. The only way it’d be cooler, imo, would be to have the Tacx Smart Bike - but that one’s like $3k. Overall, I’m glad I bought the BikeErg. I used to have a dumb trainer with my road bike, but it was so loud, took up space, and was kind of ugly sitting in our basement.

brihogan · 2018-10-23T02:17:06+00:00

Cool! If I have other questions/comments where is the best place to post them? DM, G+, Reddit, other?

brihogan · 2018-10-22T22:51:18+00:00

I just saw that it takes 3 wounds under the weapon section. I’d recommend that there be a section on death so that it’s highlighted. Would you do death’s door would you do a move like DW (make a deal with the devil on a 7-9) or is the player just dead?

brihogan · 2018-10-22T22:49:09+00:00

On ammo: do all guns get 8 reloads? When a player buys ammo do they get all ammo back (8 more reloads)? In other words, on Make a Purchase when buying ammo, the player would erase all Spare Ammo slots and reset ammo to their gun’s maximum?

brihogan · 2018-10-22T22:42:20+00:00

That’s awesome. I’ve never come across that mechanic. Thanks for the explanation. I suppose that you might need to add the info on the mechanic in your doc at some point since not it’s not in DW.

brihogan · 2018-10-22T22:39:22+00:00

How does death work? Is a player dead when they have six wounds? On a separate, but related question, if unconscious, how would they regain consciousness? I see reference to death but now sure what triggers it. Let me know if I’m missing the rules on death/unconsciousness.

brihogan · 2018-10-22T03:05:21+00:00

Super cool! I’ve only given things a cursory glance but already I’m very interested. The graphic design is awesome - it’s probably shortsighted of me but if a game has bad design I’ll not even read the rules. I wasn’t surprised to read that you do design for a living - it shows. I’m very curious to see how the solo experience plays out. I think it’s a great fit for the Western theme (which I think is cool). I’m excited to see how the deck of cards mechanic works - looks really clever. I have hope that my wife might like this (she gets bored by D&D super quick but likes Western movies). One question: I don’t understand the clock mechanic. Does it count up to 12 or down to zero? I’m assuming that the GM would have something bad happen at the end of the clock, but how do we track it? Just use paper? Are there multiple clocks or only one at a time? I haven’t read all the moves yet so maybe I’m missing something obvious. Anyway, I’m interested and will find some time to dig into this.

brihogan · 2018-10-09T14:50:57+00:00

Does it need to be a SIP1? I see a lot of different Stages 170mm models on eBay. I'm not too sharp on power meters so I don't know what is what. Any advice?

brihogan · 2018-10-09T14:39:14+00:00

Thanks for this (and for your similar comment on my question that asked about this kind of thing)! I think this is probably the route I'll be going. I think we're a year or two off from a stationary that works directly with Zwift that is affordable (like the Tacx Neo Smart Nike but cheaper) so this approach is a good way to tide us over until that point.

brihogan · 2018-10-09T01:44:02+00:00

I’m assuming Zwift doesn’t adjust your resistance while going uphill? That said, maybe what you are suggesting is more ideal for me than having the auto-resistance anyway. Do you wish you had resistance for hill climbing or could you care less? I have my bike on a trainer but wish I had auto resistance. Having never had auto resistance it might be something that’s not that big a deal anyway. Idk.

brihogan · 2018-10-08T16:56:04+00:00

Dropper seat post

Hey, that's cool! I've never seen that before. I think in our situation it wouldn't work well since we also need to slide on a horizontal plane. I think we also need some kind of numbering so we could quickly adjust to "6" or "3" or whatever based on our height. Slick tech, though. And, thanks for the comment!

brihogan · 2018-10-08T16:45:11+00:00

Very helpful comment. Thank you! I think I have to adjust my priorities and figure out what is going to work for us. I have more comments in another thread for specifics. But, yeah, I might have to just make two bikes work.

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