Jack

So, in the “Man-O-Sphere”, that online collective where heterosexual men seek to debate all things male, a rare consensus seems to exist. Apparently, we men are either alpha or we are not. And while we might be infinitely individual and unique in a host of other ways, in this particular way, we all fall onto one side of the fence or the other.

If you’re not alpha, you are a beta male. And with such nomenclature, how can anyone not perceive a hierarchy? That is, who would want to be beta? Sounds like second class to me. Doesn’t alpha sound so much better? Thus, there tends to be a natural preference for alpha.

Well let’s say straight guys like me do fall into one bucket or the other. What are these two manly types? And how do we know where we land? It seems alpha and beta males may be polar opposites. And of the two, alpha is much less common. Alpha characteristics may be subtle and hard to spot from afar. Beta guys are easier to identify. Betas are the nice guys. And don't girls prefer nice guys?

Oh, but not so much for alphas. Alphas are not so nice. It is said alpha males may be self-absorbed, arrogant, disagreeable, and impolite. They can be aggressive and prone to fight. I’ve seen alpha males described as little more than grunting Neanderthal thugs who yield their clubs and drag their women back to the cave by the hair. On their best days, they are misogynists. Wouldn't women be well advised to steer clear?

Well, there may be evidence to the contrary. In behavioral psychology, where you make your assessments based upon observed behavior, if you look around, there seems to always be plenty of women interested in a small handful of guys. Or said another way, some guys just seem to attract the ladies. Are these the nice guys? Or might these be the alpha males?

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It is said that 80% of all women are focused on only 20% of available men. And 80% of all males are focused on only 20% of available females. Thus at all times, the vast majority of either men or women are trying to match with a much smaller population of mates. There is always competition and a decided imbalance.

And we already know there's an imbalance with our two manly types. We know alpha is the rare type. I believe there's a correlation. Because it is from this 20% minority of men, due to physical attractiveness, opportunity, or environment, that alpha males will evolve. The rest of us will form the beta male group. And the difference will be how each responds to and behaves toward women.

I'll cut to the chase.

Alphas do not revolve their lives around women. Rather, they prioritize their success and their status. An alpha male never enters a female’s world and a woman is never the center of his universe. An alpha male can always walk away. But if a pairing results, and if anyone is the prize in that pairing, it’s never the woman. Any female companion exists in an alpha male’s world only as a compliment. Such thinking and behavior inspires confidence and swagger. And this is exactly what fuels desire.

Hey what's all this got to do with desire?

Well desire, for women especially, may be underappreciated. There is perhaps a lot more going on underneath the surface than superficial attraction. Because as much as we like to think we’re in control of ourselves, we are in fact still driven by forces outside of conscious action. Desire may lie among these unconscious forces.

Women are said to have a fundamental intuition to seek out males who offer provision and protection. And this is true regardless of how self-sufficient she herself has become. Alpha males excel at provision and protection. They have the DNA that helps promote survival for a female and her offspring. So like it or not, she may be biologically attuned to alpha males by evolution.

I've always felt humans could learn a lot about themselves by observing nature. I told my girls when they were adolescents, if you want to understand humanity, watch Animal Planet. You see how the animals behave? The female is coy but the male is persistent. She is disinterested but eventually, she may acquiesce. Some force is operating that compels them both. It’s the same with men and women. Only thing is, in nature there is no influence from social media.

But just like out on the savannah, in the singles club, the alpha and beta males circle the ladies for mating. But not all are chosen. The choice is complex, from both sides, and depends on a lot more than some fundamental and unconscious urge like desire. Education, economics, physical fitness, and age all come into play. But desire may also be operating. And following authentic desire, sex may not be far behind.

Interestingly, and same again as Wild Kingdom, alpha males don't chase sex. They don't focus much energy on getting laid. Sex is simply provided - eventually. I believe that to the alpha male, sex is offered and without much fanfare. The alpha male just evokes the desire. An alpha male also receives sex without fanfare. It’s as if it is his expectation. He’s grown up accustomed to YES.

Here though is where the beta male lives in a polar opposite world. Beta males can make a lifetime career out of chasing sex. They grow up accustomed to NO. Even if they initially look promising to a woman, eventually they find themselves in the friend zone. That's because beta males view the woman as the prize and sex is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. At an extreme, the beta male will mold his entire daily life around succeeding sexually with women. To him, sex is the reward for good behavior, loyalty, and devotion. He loses touch with his true self and learns to operate in this delusion.

On occasion, he succeeds, and the delusion is reaffirmed. But this is not how it really works. Authentic desire rarely results as a reward for good behavior. And over time, the exchange of sex for good behavior becomes less attainable. He longs for reciprocity. But something is lacking for her. There is no authentic desire.

Alpha males discover authentic desire and sexual connection occur by default. Thus they can avoid all the false display. They can prioritize themselves. Some will evolve into selfish men. Beta males must prioritize the female over themselves and adopt a submissive stance. They learn to seek permission for sex. This is cold water on the heat of desire. Alpha males just show up. They needn’t bother with permission.

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So you say that self-consumed alpha over there is up to his eyeballs in "trim" and mild-mannered Jerry keeps being told “oh, let’s just be friends”. Maybe that beta dude needs to embrace some alpha qualities to improve his odds. Enter the false alpha.

Here is where alpha males get a bad rap. This is the player, the pick-up artist, who uses false bravado to attract women. He is confident and assertive to a fault. But he also promotes toxic masculinity. To him, it’s a game and he’s in it to take full advantage. There is no authenticity here.

But here also dovetails in that legendary tale that nice guys finish last. Because girls really don't like nice guys. It is said that girls like alpha males and are willing to forgo the nice part to get what they truly want. But keep in mind, there are alpha imposters out and about. And you cannot fake alpha. It operates below your conscious awareness. But it turns out, alpha and nice are not mutually exclusive.

If we momentarily dive a little deeper, we see that girls really do like nice guys. Of course they do. What's really going on is that girls don't like how nice guys often behave.

Nice guys tend to be passive. They can be followers. Nice guys may be deferential. They can act subordinate. Nice guys can be very agreeable. But this can indicate a lack of proper boundaries. Nice guys will sit patiently in the passenger seat and let the women drive the agenda. But this creates stress for her. Nice guys place their women up on pedestals. But guess what? If you're looking up to a woman, she's looking down on you.

In fact, although they want respect too, many women want to respect their man. They don't want to control a man, they want to admire a man. They seek men with authority and confidence. This allows them to soften and fully embrace their femininity. Women also have inherent safety issues based on their physical capacities. So they seek someone that can contain them. They don't want to be owned or possessed but, they seek clear boundaries and strong energy. This is clarity, not unpleasantness. An alpha male can easily exhibit strength and be nice about it too.

True and authentic alpha males are our leaders. They are confident and assertive but, not in a way that dismisses others. In reality, others respect and admire alpha males for these strong qualities. Alphas never discount their own worth. They trust themselves and inspire trust in those around them. Alphas are decisive and goal-oriented. They don’t shy away from challenges. But they are not necessarily competitive. Rather they promote healthy and positive connections through communication. Alphas are honest. There is nothing toxic about an alpha male.

Tina Fey (not the comedian) writes a succinct list that I'll repost here. Perhaps you'd like to hang it on your bathroom mirror. Here are eight qualities that true alpha males demonstrate and women find attractive.

1. Confidence Without Arrogance

2. Emotional Intelligence

3. Respect For Others

4. Adaptability

5. Leadership

6. Ambition

7. Authenticity

8. Kindness

In this piece, I wanted to reimagine the notion of the alpha male. Perhaps enough to inspire us to try to be more like them. But, I've said that you cannot fake alpha. It must exist organically in you. No harm in trying though. And never too late to begin.

Rollo Tomassi said the person with the power in a relationship is the person who needs the other the least. This is a good reminder that a healthy relationship with a woman fundamentally depends on a secure and independent man. It is key to remember that a true alpha male never revolves his life around a female partner. Prioritize yourself. If you've strayed over the line, time now to regain your footing.

Just don't toss out the nice. There's no need to be manipulative. There's no need to be dismissive. There's no need to control others. Rather, assume control of yourself. Embrace humility and honesty. Believe that discretion always trumps deception. And trust that clarity and direction can be very sexy - at any age.

We are all complicated, unpredictable, and inherently peculiar. That’s all of us folks. There is no normal.

Some would say everybody is just plain weird. Others might be gentler and say we’re all individual and unique - albeit in an oddball kind of way. Certainly some more than others but, we’re all on the spectrum somewhere.

Let’s be clear though...this is not just eccentricity. It is imperfection and idiocy. It causes big problems and many will deny they exhibit any of it. But the truth is, we all exhibit some irrational behavior that is immature, defensive, and generally hurtful to others, especially those closest to us. Some call it our insanity because it seems outside of our protected internal view of ourselves. Of course we have a delightful disposition most of the time. But, let us focus on the darker aspects of ourselves that seem to sabotage our relationships and our happiness.

Irrational: Contrary to Reason

It is frustrating but we cannot fully understand the details of this behavioral abnormality. This is for two reasons. One, dysfunction can only be observed externally. We try but, we simply cannot know the true view from outside if we are stuck inside. Just try to judge how the forest appears from afar when you are standing in the middle of the trees. And two, the behaviors and reactions I’m talking about only emerge as we attempt to get intimately closer to another. This is the greater cause of our delusion. We all have hidden layers that we don’t even realize exist. And every new partner will provoke a new set of surprises.

We all have troublesome issues that will vary based upon who experiences them. If you’ve been married and divorced twice, your two former spouses will recollect your problematic behavior as if you were two completely different individuals. They will each recall the impact on them alone and it’s unlikely each will have the same recollection. This is a key discernment. Because this isn’t solely about us. It is a systemic effect. What we should explore is how we affect our relationships in adverse ways keeping in mind it takes two to tango. It is how our specific chaos spoils our particular partner’s peace. Every relationship has its own distinctive ruination.

Alain De Botton of the London School of Life coined a creative phrase and I give him full credit as I repeat it here. He said, we are all going to marry the wrong person. If I expand upon it, I would say, it doesn't matter who you marry, there is no right person, so by definition everyone must be wrong. In fact, whomever you marry, the result may be the same, an endless maddening struggle to stay in joyful connection, such as it was in the beginning. And instead, a tragic and even comedic realization evolves that our partner only frustrates, angers, disappoints, and annoys us, almost on a daily basis. And without any malice or forethought, we do exactly the same to them.

In some cases, there will be couples who will display such deep incompatibility, such heightened rage, such exasperation and defeat, that something larger must be at play beyond the occasional acidity...they appear to have married the wrong person. But if you accept that there really is no right person, no soulmate, then you may have ended up here anyway, no matter to whom you are married, though perhaps by a much different path.

Why is this?

Well, you likely misunderstood marriage from the outset. Marriage is a partnership, not a love affair. What we call love, in the beginning of a marriage, is something else. It is an attraction and keen interest in another. It is hope and dream. Love is really the destination of a marriage. It’s where we want to end up. We should be seeking a partner that will help us get there. But to engineer such an outcome is impossible - although we try our best.

We must accept that we are not that easy to predict. We have hidden lunacies. And so does our chosen partner. And these will eventually erode our best intentions. And the decay will escalate, ensnare, and engulf our lives. Relationship systems like I describe are called enmeshed. They are vicious cycles. He says, I don’t like you because you won’t have sex with me. And she says, well I’m not going to have sex with someone who doesn’t like me. And on it goes.

In retrospect, when you chose to marry, you did not know yourself well enough to predict how this person would affect you over time. In fact, you could not know. And neither could your partner know themselves well enough to predict how you might affect them over time. It must be revealed and discovered. So very likely you married having no awareness of just how unsuited you might be for each other.

Humans are not rational and well behaved creatures. We are all intensely odd and very dissimilar to one another. We have a bewildering array of insecurities, vulnerabilities, and quirky behavior that only gets provoked by the intimacy of marriage. We appear normal to those who don't know us very well but, to those who get in too close, we can appear misguided and immature.

It is also apparent that the modern collective view of marriage has undergone a reformation since the advent of prosperity. In modern society, we now can direct our future with some measure of confidence. We have opportunities for education, an economy we can use to derive sustenance, and a government to provide reasonable protections. These are not the dark ages. We no longer have to look to marriage to help facilitate basic human needs. In less prosperous times, unmarried or divorced people (especially women) often risked an uncertain and potentially impoverished future.

Modern marriage today can be less logical and many would argue that’s a good thing. But defining marriage as an emotional rite of passage is actually very recent in human history and may lead us astray of our intentions. Our concepts of modern marriage are largely derived from the past several decades alone. Yet they may be already outdated and due for review. Today, marriage is seen to facilitate a new set of needs that are purely psychological and/or spiritual. And, we are impatient creatures.

So rather than undergo a long and painstaking evaluation, to scrutinize our future partner for early warning signs of differences that might surface later, and render us discontent, we prefer to trust instinct alone. Marriage in the modern era has become ethereal, intangible, and fateful. We exclusively follow our hearts and ignore evidence that points us away from where we are drawn.

Historical marriage, although no less successful, was at least somewhat undertaken based upon practical considerations. And the expectations were decidedly less gratifying. Rarely did we choose partners outside of our small little worlds and rarely did we expect lifelong bliss. But marriage has been replaced with a solely romantic version. We are now more likely to make questionable choices, perhaps choosing partners outside of our socio-economics, education, or age, based solely on attraction. Such potentially risky choices are even affirmed by our supporters as long as such choices are assured by the wisdom of our hearts. In fact, the more a union appears to be graced by destiny, the safer it can feel to us.

We marry for happiness and to freeze time. We delight in our joy at finding someone so suitable, such a perfect fit, so right for us sexually, and we see marriage as a way to secure this happiness for all time. But happiness may yet be undefined for us, and rarely does contractual union lead to it.

We also seek love based on familiar love, from our foundations and youth. But we often miss the darker and destructive dynamics of that early love. Perhaps love from our past has been mixed with deprivation, miscommunication, and even fear. So while familiar, love like that may leave us decidedly unhappy.

Finally, we marry to eliminate the unbearable weight of loneliness. Remaining single today can feel like an intolerable burden and we celebrate its eviction from our lives. But the long term outcome of a marriage likely looks much different than its genesis. Perhaps soon after the memorable ceremony, we will be looking at a suburban house, with a long commute to an unforgiving job, and the provoking demands of children. Energy and joy give way to weariness and intolerance. The passion from which the children emerged is gone. Much time and effort will be spent ensuring a beautiful occasion, but almost none on a brave quest to negotiate a compatible future partnership.

With a new understanding of marriage, and ourselves, we can finally see just what a wild and unpredictable ride a marriage can be. How to adjust our expectations and moderate our behavior is the next task at hand...so we suceed in this new age of love.

So, let's say you own a car and you want to know exactly what it's worth. Well, you simply cannot know. That is, until you find a buyer, and you both agree on a price. You see, your car is only ever worth what someone else will pay for it. Like almost anything, intrinsic value is determined by buyers and sellers.

Perhaps you're trying to sell your car, and you find a buyer, and you've both agreed to a price, let's say in US dollars for example. Well good for you but, how about those dollars? Just what exactly is a dollar worth? Prior to 1931, a United States dollar was worth some small amount of gold. Dollars and gold were directly linked by government policy. But that system was abandoned long ago and now, much like your car, a dollar’s value is less deterministic. In fact, a dollar's value can float (rise and fall) and government intervention will try to minimize that float, to avoid inflation but, the precise value of a dollar is only ever worth what someone else is willing to exchange for it. This is one of the basic tenants of a free market economy.

Any cryptocurrency is just like the US dollar. Its value is indeterminate, and is only established by buyers and sellers. And it also floats just like any other asset. However, in a decided departure from the US dollar, or Mexican peso, or Chinese yuan, a unit of cryptocurrency isn’t tied to a particular government. That is, no central authority controls it or regulates it or can intervene to influence it's value.

To help understand, let’s consider the polar opposite scenario (and even spice it up with an international flair). When a tourist from the US buys clothes in Canada with his or her VISA card, a network of central authorities manages the transaction. This way, the exchange can be executed with a measure of trust, and both parties can be assured of either a debit or credit of equivalent value. The buyer trusts that VISA will debit their US bank account, or extend them credit, and the seller trusts that VISA will fund their Canadian bank account, minus a small fee, by an amount determined by a regulated exchange rate. Behind all this, a complex but cooperative system manages and handles all intermediary transactions. The buyer trusted this system, and thus went shopping across the border in the first place, and all was well in the end.

The assurance when using cryptocurrency is the same, only the transaction is managed publicly, over a global shared network, by a distributed authority – not a centralized one - and is transparent to anyone with an internet connection. The inner workings don't need to be visible or understood, just like with VISA, but at the heart of the matter once again is trust. Buyers and sellers must trust that whatever the medium of exchange, whether dollars, or pesos, or tokens of cryptocurrency, value will be assured.

The history of cryptocurrency is surprisingly brief but nonetheless fascinating. Just over a mere decade ago, there was a small worldwide community of computer scientists, interested in cryptography, the study of secure communications, who would gather online to discuss topics, one of which was the concept of virtual currency. One prominent member, an author named Satoshi Nakamoto, published a whitepaper in 2008, that created a small buzz, and introduced a protocol called BitCoin. Satoshi stayed active in the community for a short while longer but as the idea gained momentum, and as the backbone network began to establish itself, and as his handful of associates began to collaborate, and there appeared to be sufficient commitment and support to sustain, then Satoshi withdrew, and very mysteriously has never been heard from since.

I have my theory about Satoshi's identity...but like others...it's only a hunch...because there is only vague and circumstantial evidence left behind. But like me, many others believe one thing above all...anyone so far who claims to be Satoshi certainly cannot be.

The idea of virtual (or digital) currency may have already existed but in his specific system, Satoshi proposed a novel solution to an essential problem, that of double spending. With a physical token, paper bill, or gold coin for example, you have an entity that can only exist in one place at one time. But with a currency that is virtual, double spending was a problem. It meant some clever crook could duplicate and reuse a crypto token in multiple transactions. It would be impossible really to garner public trust and preserve value without a foolproof mechanism that prevented double spending.

Early discussions of how to solve the double spending problem always involved a centralized third-party. And this was inconsistent with the de-centralized ideal. Satoshi was the first to propose a peer-to-peer network, large and distributed world-wide, all mutually distrusting, but all cooperating, with the shared goal of recording and validating transactions, and thus preserving the integrity of the protocol.

Timestamped transactions would be recorded on a public ledger called a blockchain. And the blockchain would be distributed across a large number of network nodes. If someone tried to alter the blockchain to their advantage, there would be thousands of other copies to dispute the discrepancy, and an immediate investigation would be triggered. Furthermore, the blockchain would be validated using cryptography, such that even a tiny and otherwise trivial edit would immediately invalidate the signature. And so in Satoshi's system, there would be a very large system of checks and balances always in place. Transactions would be irreversible, and buyers and sellers could be reassured, and lack of trust would no longer inhibit the system.

Crytocurrency is held in a wallet, just like your good old US greenbacks, only the wallet is virtual, made not from leather, but software. To interact with the wallet, the system uses an address, just like your bank uses an account number. The address is cryptographic, using key pairs, which are sequences of alphanumeric characters, one public and one private. You choose to freely publish your public key, and the blockchain manages any transactions that you choose to initiate, but no one can gain access to your wallet and the funds it contains without the private key, which you keep very secret.

Should your computer be lost, stolen, or crash, your wallet can be recreated on another computer, based upon a seed that you also keep secret. And the wallet's balance can always be restored from the history contained forever in the blockchain. You can also take your crypto off-line to a hardware or paper wallet for long-term safe storage, perhaps akin to the old timer's safe deposit box, held behind thick walls at the Main Street Bank downtown.

For Bitcoin, I use the Electrum wallet. For Monero, I use the myMonero wallet. Both are free.

Your wallet is not managed by any centralized authority, and despite having its balance publicly available and distributed on the blockchain, the wallet's owner stays as anonymous as the owner chooses. But to purchase cryptocurrency, and add it to your wallet, does require a centralized authority, and a loss of anonymity.

Early exchange companies who would exchange one cryptocurrency for another, or more frequently sell you crypto in exchange for traditional government issued fiat money, operated sans regulation. It didn't last long. Soon, government regulators swooped in and now positive identification is required to purchase crypto. This is meant to prevent criminal intent.

It's not illegal or immoral to purchase, own, and use crypto. You just can't do it anonymously.

Once you have your crypto, transactions can be made, and these ARE anonymously recorded on the blockchain. Only wallet addresses and amounts are included. But in reality, it's the same with traditional transactions. Your bank and VISA only care about account numbers and amounts. Of course, as a centralized authority, they can easily associate those account numbers with actual persons, with names and addresses and credit scores, etc. Analysis of the agnostic blockchain yields no such association.

Of course, we all know that big brother has sneaky tricks and the FBI eventually did get wise. Albeit with considerable effort, and if they choose to invest the time and money, they can now (likely) associate your wallet address and a particular transaction amount to your IP address. So if you're in the game to launder drug money, well buyer beware.

Anonymity was never much of a driving force behind the adoption of cryptocurrency into daily life. Ordinary citizens and consumers don't seem to care that much. And there are easy enough ways to hide your footprints if you really want. But some newer cryptocurrencies have emerged in recent years that DO make preserving anonymity a priority (think Monero). But, it’s no longer accurate to consider all cryptocurrency as the domain of criminals.

Up to now, there are these network nodes out there, all over the world, mistrusting but cooperative, who validate and record transactions on the blockchain, and keep the protocol legitimate, thereby preserving the precious value. So who are these valiant volunteers?

They are the miners.

And they’re not that altruistic. They're in it for the money. Getting back to gold for a moment, it seems there are two ways to obtain some for yourself. One is you can buy it, exchanging something of value for some gold. Another is you can dig it out of the ground.

It’s the same with cryptocurrency. You can buy it on an exchange, or mine for it. Interestingly, mining for gold some 170 years ago was the lucky path, for a very few, to turn abject poverty into fabulous wealth. Some have found cryptocurrency mining as the new road to riches. Here's a very compressed summary of the process.

Cryptocurrency transactions are validated or verified through an algorithm. There is something called proof of work that gathers transactions into a block, certifies them by consensus, appends this new block to the existing blockchain, thus making it longer, and whereupon the transactions contained are rendered as carved in stone. This is meant to insure trust to both buyers and sellers.

The algorithm is simple. It’s basically guesswork. Consider it a puzzle. And if you guess a correct starting value, you can chug through the math, solving the puzzle, and the block is mined. There are even a range of starting values that will work, but the ultimate solution and result, is mathematically precise and exact, so easy to verify absolutely. Here's the rub...it's not necessarily easy. Simple and easy are not the same. It typically takes a MEGA-HUGE number of guesses to arrive at a correct answer. Much like the lottery, the odds are decidedly stacked against you, but it takes only a modest effort to try.

So why try?

The answer is because the protocol awards an incentive to the first network node to achieve the goal of validating (certifying by consensus) the latest block of transactions. This incentive drives the miners. The protocol generates new tokens and gives them to the miners. So through mining new cryptocurrency is born. Just like panning for gold at the banks of a mountain river, overall supply increases over time, and new wealth can be bestowed.

There are today many cryptocurrencies in circulation and thus, many protocols running, but most are similar in key ways. One is limited supply. The maximum number of cryptocurrency tokens or coins usually has a cap. There are only so many that can be mined, a fact established by the protocol. Thus, as the global supply increases, the mining reward diminishes. At the same time, as dictated by the protocol, to keep the block validation time relatively constant, the difficulty of validating a new block increases as the number of miners trying to solve the puzzle increases. And the difficult doesn't go up by a trivial amount. Presumably though, as the difficulty increases, the intrinsic value of the cryptocurrency increases, everyone stays incentivized, and all the cogs of the protocol wheel stay well-greased and perfectly aligned.

But as value escalates, so too does competition, as mining a high-value coin can be quite lucrative. This competition has led to some unintended and unforeseen negative consequences. One involves the need for extreme computational horsepower.

In the beginning, anyone with a computer could mine. Then, as the difficulty of validating a block began to escalate, clever miners discovered that a computer’s graphics processor, typically a powerful chip that is optimized for gaming, was even more useful, albeit at an additional cost. At the same time, the value of the mined crypto was increasing so a few highly incentivized and clever companies began producing rigs, similar to computers but optimized for mining. These loud and power hungry super-calculators contained rows of ASIC’s (application specific integrated circuits), engineered and manufactured by semiconductor companies exclusively to excel at running a particular batch of software code over and over, and as fast as possible. And all these ASIC's operated in parallel, all racing to solve the puzzle first, but now at an even more costly investment of hardware and power. So much electricity was required, and so much heat was given off, that keeping these rigs cool became a sizeable portion of their operating cost.

These supercharged mathematical ASIC engines are stratified in terms of hash rate, or how many guesses they can make per second. In the early days, PC based miners talked of "hundreds" of hash computations per second. Ten years later, they talk of "trillions" of hash computations per second.

And on and on it went, higher and higher, more difficult every day, but more valuable as well for those willing and able to keep investing.

Mining pools then emerged. These are groups of miners who collectively try to compete, trading strength in numbers to increase their chances to solve the puzzle against sharing the mined block reward, which is now distributed prorated to the miner's contribution in hash rate. In this way, even small time miners, with very modest hash power, could still participate. Alas, it eventually became beyond any reasonable scope. As small-time miners pooled, so did more enabled miners. And massive mining farms emerged with not only one super-charged machine, but hundreds, even thousands of them, all in enormous racks, sucking down barrels of electricity, but being highly effective as well at being first in line to claim the block reward.

Today, difficulty for the most popular and valuable crypto has risen into the stratosphere, and the small-time miner has been pushed out entirely. Only the strongest and wealthiest have survived.

To put some perspective on the difficulty, and therefore the mathematical horsepower required, consider BitCoin, the most popular by far of all the cryptocurrencies, with over 18 million coins in circulation and as of this writing, a market cap over a half trillion dollars. The current hash rate in the network is about 150 million-trillion hashes per second. And it takes many seconds, about 10 minutes on average, to find an answer which achieves the reward.

That’s an inconceivably big number. Consider it would take you almost 12 continuous days for you to count to a million. It would take around 32 years (!) to count to a billion. A trillion then becomes unreachable even in the timeframe of humanity. And a 150 million of these trillion every second times an average of 600 seconds per block is simply unfathomable.

To cope with this extreme difficulty, a singular top-shelf ASIC mining rig runs over 100 trillion hashes per second. These rigs cost thousands of dollars and consume boatloads of electricity. And the vast majority of mined blocks are achieved by mining farms who have many of these rigs running simultaneously. The hope of an average small time miner, using a PC and a graphics card, to compete with these mining farms has become vanishingly small. And, the sobering reality is that as the weak give up, and the strong get stronger, the largest mining farms are fast approaching being able to mine over 50% of the available blocks, thus potentially exerting influence over the blockchain. This is something that the protocol desperately tried to prevent in the first place by wide network distribution and de-centralization.

Moreover, most large mining farms are increasingly concentrated in a very few hard-lined communist-like countries like China, Russia, and North Korea. This is due to the crippling level of electricity the mining farms require and the ability of these governments to subsidize those farms at will. Suddenly, BitCoin appears to be moving toward centralized control, and not by a democratic or libertarian authority either! An ironic twist of fate that no one envisioned.

Enter Monero

There are hundreds of cryptocurrencies, although most are trivial. Perhaps only 20 or so are viable, as of this writing, and Monero is near the bottom of that list. So Monero is small and Monero focuses on anonymity. But it appears to be gaining favor.

It is a cryptocurrency that was established for privacy. It can be used in transactions and leaves virtually no trace evidence behind on its blockchain as to the parties involved. It does this by obfuscating the wallet addresses and amounts. The blockchain is still transparent, and widely distributed, and thus easily verifiable, but the transaction details are hopelessly hidden underneath.

Of course, no cryptocurrency makes it easy to reverse engineer the blockchain but, as I've already pointed out, some very clever and extremely well funded people in law enforcement have figured out ways to make educated guesses, and thus have succeeded in discovering what's really going on. With Monero, it becomes next to impossible. Naturally, darker aspects of internet commerce have embraced this feature.

So be it.

There is something more important. What attracts me to Monero, is the community of organizers and developers that collectively manage the protocol. They recognize a shortcoming with early cryptocurrencies, that being the proof of work can be computationally optimized, meaning an ASIC can be engineered, essentially out of reach for small scale miners, which crushes any other form of competition. And as the tokens become more valuable, mining farms invest heavily, electronics companies respond with customized hardware, and eventually a large mining farm gains influence over the network. Going back to basics, this jeopardizes trust and value.

Monero uses a proof of work that tries to avoid this. In fact, the protocol is flexible, and the proof of work can change if it seems like the network is becoming too centralized. In November of 2019, the Monero team switched the proof of work to Random X. This algorithm contains a random element and thus makes it impossible to engineer an ASIC that can render a consumer CPU useless in comparison. An ASIC, to succeed, must optimize an EXACT sequence of code. With Random X, ordinary store bought computers running Windows, or Linux, or IOS (Apple), with a trivial hash rate compared to an ASIC, can still participate in the search to solve blocks and achieve rewards. This is especially true for mining pools of CPU rigs, of which there are now many, but of modest size, since scale does not necessarily provide any advantage.

The Monero network by design is large and distributed with small nodes. This is consistent with Satoshi’s vision for BitCoin. If the network becomes less distributed and more centralized, the Monero team is inspired to counteract. Random X makes home computer mining reachable - and possibly profitable - for many. The incentive is preserved.

This has spurred a new breed of miners to join the effort, all small scale, and using inexpensive consumer hardware, along with freely available advice and software from the enthusiast community. And the network becomes more distributed every day, as hoped.

Technical Details - Monero Mining

I now have four CPU rigs running in my basement mining Monero. I'm part of Monerohash, a small pool that manages to claim a block reward every hour or so. And as of this writing, the block reward is just over a single token, so this means my pool might earn an average of 24 Monero's a day. Of course, I supply only a tiny fraction of the pool's total hash power, about 1/2000th, and thus receive only a tiny fraction of that reward - when a block is mined by my pool.

Doing the math...at today's price of just over $200 per Monero, and considering my investment, it will be over two years, running 24/7, before I break even. So, this is an obvious hobby and clearly not a wise investment. Some in the enthusiast community encourage mining for no reward at all, but out of goodwill, to keep the network distributed. I however do have a margin of faith that Monero will appreciate over time, and perhaps someday my enterprise will turn a small profit. Like BitCoin, there’s no telling what the future holds for Monero. But I'm not counting on any windfall.

Truth be told...being a techno-nerdo-weirdo...I do it for fun. Probably not somebody you'd want to date.

Intel’s long rival and subordinate AMD, has finally found their calling. Their Ryzen processors are surprisingly VERY good at running these mining algorithms, plus being aggressively priced, are now the preferred choice for low-cost CPU miners – a high percentage of which mine Monero. Very effective FREE software has also emerged, which really takes full advantage of these multi-core CPU’s, and as compensation to the developers, typically comes programmed to direct a small percentage (1%) of any earned rewards to the development team, thus keeping everybody warm and happy and staying put. Where Monero, and BitCoin, and Ethereum, and all these many coins end up is a total crap shoot. For now though, we mine, for joy, or dreams, or just to try.

I build desktop computers. I'm comfortable doing it and I've done it for years. The components are easily obtained (Newegg) and there's really no great skill required. Everything just pretty much snaps together and works. So it's no stretch for me to build a mining rig. It may lack some bells and whistles because it has a uniquely singular job...to run one application continuously. If you aren't so inclined as to build your own rig, you can buy a completely assembled bare-bones desktop from Amazon or Best Buy and just set up the software. It'll just be a bit more money for you up front.

For Windows, I have an MSDN license that my job pays for. So I can obtain multiple licensed and activated copies of Windows at no cost. If you build your rig, you might have an old laptop or desktop where you can repurpose the Windows license. Otherwise, Linux is a free option. But in other cases, you'll have to consider a nod to Microsoft as one of your costs.

I built two AMD units for $450 apiece. Later, I'll describe my other two miners, which are Intel, and $100 cheaper overall, but which yield a reduced hash rate. All together, they use just over 500-watts, or the equivalent of five 100-watt lightbulbs. So I'm in the game for $1600 and my electricity costs are reasonable (Bitcoin ASIC rigs tend to consume maybe 6 times as much juice). To achieve low power draw, choose PC power supplies that are at least bronze 80 plus certified and have active power factor correction. Fortunately, these aren't hard to find or expensive.

To keep other hardware costs absolutely minimal, but still achieve decent results, the Ryzen 5 3600 looks to be the most cost efficient. Benchmarks indicate it can pump out 8 kH/s and as of this writing, for just $200. You can view benchmarks for hash rates of processor rigs that have been tested. To achieve substantial rewards, you've got to have substantial horsepower, and there are massive beasts available (think Xeon and Threadripper) that'll do the trick for you. But it's all relative to cost. The most capable offerings from both Intel and AMD are in the thousands of dollars. So even with an impressive hash rate, it'll take you much longer to recoup your investment.

There are cheaper options too. I've noted that successful miners today often have access either to cheap hardware or cheap electricity. So, if you're paying for power, perhaps you can locate an older refurbished corporate desktop, workstation, or network server. I see these available dirt cheap, complete with Windows, and I suspect even such a dated rig would be surprisingly capable. Or you could opt to build a brand new rig but using a less costly CPU. Neither choice will be satisfactory though. You'll end up miles away from 8 kH/s and you'll end up opting for the Ryzen.

You see, what is essential in choosing a CPU, in this highly particular instance, is L3 cache. The right mix is 2 MB per thread (4 MB per core) minimum. The Ryzen 5 3600 is hex-core with 32 MB. So, under full load, it can run 12 threads and the software has its needed 24 MB of L3. As an option, a Ryzen 7 could be chosen which is octal-core but, only for a significant price premium. For me (and many others), the Ryzen 5 3600, with two cores disabled, hits the sweet spot.

The L3 is required to enable certain operating system optimizations, most notably, locking code in CPU memory and allowing it to run continuously, rather than being time-shared and shuffled in and out for the sake of multitasking. Locking it down is called enabling huge pages (a Linux reference). In Windows, you must enable this through Group Policy. Having this L3 available, and enabling the software to take advantage, is the most substantial grease you can apply to make your mining engine really move. It's essential.

I run Windows 10 64-Bit Pro and my mining software is XMRig which runs the Random X algorithm. To optimize performance, most users will push the CPU and memory as hard as possible. The Ryzen is unlocked and AMD provides very nice software to allow experimentation. But I'm an economy builder, and my motherboard is basic, and uses a cost-effective design, so I quickly went unstable when I tried to move beyond the defaults. I do want these rigs to run reliably and last forever. Also, it was obvious to me that the gain in hash rate would be almost negligible.

I did enable the memory's XMP profile in BIOS and used AMD's Ryzen Master software to fix the CPU core clocks at their specified maximum turbo speed (4.2 GHz). This got me to a highly respectable 7.6 kH/s. To get slightly higher, you'd have to spend more on a capable motherboard, include some faster and more expensive RAM, and find a way to deal with the heat. For me, the additional cost would never be worth the marginal gain.

Speaking of heat, I use water coolers for the CPU's. This may seem at odds with keeping costs low but, I got them super cheap. I also did a very light lap to both the CPU and heatsink (and used carbon based thermal paste) to maximize heat transfer. So I'm able to run the cores at 4.2 Ghz with the voltage at a modest 3.125 volts. And my Ryzens run cucumber-cool at only 60 degrees C. You might find that with stock fan cooling, you'll be unable to set the clocks that high and/or you'll need to bump up the core voltage a bit. And this may push your case temperature closer to 80 C, and this may impact your CPU's long term life. I'm sure the guy who benchmarked 8 kH/s was running fast and hot.

Finally, there are necessary Windows optimizations needed to achieve these results. See XMRig's website. Apart from enabling huge pages, changing other default Windows settings can permit the CPU to focus on the task at hand and avoid pesky interruptions. My mining rigs are miners only. I don't use them for web browsing or anything else. So I can safely drop any Windows features that might suck CPU cycles away from running the algorithm.

Okay, now onto Intel.

One downside to the Ryzen is no on-chip graphics. So, even though your exclusive mining rig needs only entry-level graphics, you still have to spend on a discrete graphics card. I found out, much to my surprise, that inexpensive and entry-level video cards are no longer manufactured (there's no market anymore), and even used ones are hard to find, so you may spend at least another $40-$60 to drive even a VGA monitor.

Enter the 10th generation Intel I5-10400. It's of a similar ilk to the Ryzen, that is with six cores, has 12 MB of L3, and includes on-board graphics. Plus, it's 25% cheaper. So, along with slightly cheaper memory and stock fan cooling, my Intel rigs cost only $350 to build.

With Intel though, I only achieve a hash rate of about 4 kH/s. So yes, cheaper in the beginning but, longer to reach your break-even point. One reason for the reduced performance is memory. The I-5 runs up to DDR4-2666 and the Random X algorithm turns out to be VERY memory speed sensitive. The second reason is L3. When I opted to try Intel, I mistakenly thought the L3 requirement was 2 MB per core and it's actually 2 MB per thread that you need. So with only 12 MB, I can't hyperthread. I run all 6 cores, but logically only at 50%, resulting in 6 threads, or half what the Ryzen offers.

After much research, I was surprised to learn that today, there are few consumer or enterprise grade Intel offerings that feature 4 MB of L3 per core.

Some Xeon's are the exception but they are either expensive if purchased new - or - limited in some way if purchased refurbished and cheap. For the latter, you'll have to limit threads and/or deal with reduced clocks and/or pay high prices for motherboards with rare legacy sockets. In the end, if you're able to save any money, your hash rate will be low. See the benchmarks. Ultimately, you might equal the Ryzen, dollar for dollar, but you won't exceed the Ryzen, so why bother trying.

Finally, the I5-10400 is not unlocked so, overclocking is off the table. You've got to accept the clock speed and core voltage Intel and Microsoft want to give you. My six cores run at 4.0 GHz, and never go any higher, despite Intel's claims that the turbo boost speed should be closer to 4.3 GHz. With DDR4-2666 as a major bottleneck however, a higher CPU clock may not improve things too much. The good news is that at this CPU clock speed, the chip temperature, even with fan cooling, gets no hotter than the Ryzen's.

Had I recognized the L3 requirement as per thread, and known how sensitive the mining software is to memory speed, I never would have opted to try Intel. I would have just built two more AMD rigs and paid for the graphics cards and DDR4-3200. If I opted to retain the stock fan coolers, and avoid the extra cost of water coolers, maybe my clocks would have to be set back 200 MHz but, I think my hash rate would still exceed what Intel gives me. Lessons learned the hard way.

The beauty of Monero (to some) is its inherent privacy. And this has caused some to shy away so as to avoid any association with "dark" commerce. Recently, exchanges have begun to delist Monero due to governmental pressures. But also consider Monero's resistance to centralized control. When a very small time CPU miner like myself can substantially participate in the mining and creation of new coins, and potentially even make a profit from it, the protocol's foundation is strengthened. Keeping the protocol strong is an aspect of cryptocurrency that will be gaining more attention in the future as these foreign mining farms overtake the networks. This will begin ultimately to erode confidence and underlying value and encourage the adoption of altcoins like Monero.

Footnotes

1) So not to be a party-pooper, I saved this tidbit until the end. Mining is dirty work. And, it's hard to make a living. This is a fact you'll constantly encounter. My advice...take it to heart. Average electricity costs in the US are about 12 cents per killowatt-hour. In my neighborhood, costs are slightly higher...about 15 cents. Both AMD rigs taken together consume 330 watts and crank out 15 kH/s. Plus, I'm paying about 2.5% to software developers and pool maintenance. CryptoCompare calculates that the AMD rigs just barely keep their heads above water. Maybe I mine a meager 25 cents profit per day. Both Intel rigs taken together consume less, maybe 240 watts, but also crank out only 8 kH/s. Plugging in these numbers is sobering. These rigs actually lose about 10 cents per day. Until Monero rises above the current price, I'm running in the red. My hope lies in the astonishing rise of Bitcoin which as of this writing, is over $50k and who among us could have ever imagined that!

2) The Intel rigs produce wildly varying hash rates from one cold start to the next. I've seen a range from 2800 to 4200. This is inexplicable but has been seen before. You can find older archived posts talking about this kind of randomness on 8th generation Intel silicon. I haven't been able to find a reason or a solution. But I am seeing this on my 10th generation CPU. A prevailing theory that makes sense to me is that it's something about Windows 10 and the L3 cache. The only way to insure a decent hash seems to be closing and opening XMRig multiple times until it lands on a respectable hash rate. Once there, it stays put fortunately. But also see next item.

3) Another related frustration with my Intel rigs is Microsoft's real-time anti-malware protection, which steals CPU cycles. Even after you turn it off, it turns itself back on when you're not looking. Hash rate drops by 20%. You can however disable it semi-permanently with group policy. Why this happens on my Intel rigs and not my AMD rigs is fascinating. But I cannot find any information online about why. With an AMD CPU, you don't even have to turn this Windows feature off. It just doesn't cause trouble. There's something strange going on with Intel and Microsoft Defender. That's all I can say.

4) It may take a while to get going with CPU mining but, once you're cranking along, you want the miners to be low maintenance. I hooked all four of my mining rigs up to a neato 4-way KVM switch that drives a single $50 refurbished VGA monitor. The switch is cheap and comes with cables. Now I can quickly and easily switch between the miners to check in, something I'm compelled to do daily, at least for now.

5) AMD has recently announced a new Ryzen line of CPU's which are like the 3000 series but include on-board graphics. However, these are not available to the general public and are sold only to OEM desktop vendors like HP. Furthermore, they lack the same amount of L3 as their non-graphics-enabled cousins so they'll never be a viable option for Monero mining.

There’s been a lot of attention in the past few years placed on the aging male, especially as it relates to his penis. The realities of erectile dysfunction and loss of libido are now as common in conversation as a balding head and a paunchy midriff. Apparently also, the playing field is leveling. Men are now coming face to face with the reality that the same physical and emotional decline we happily relegated to the aging female, is happening to us as well. It brings a new focus to that familiar phase in men’s lives: the mid-life crisis.

The word crisis is probably appropriate for many. It is a time of “intense difficulty or trouble”. Men sometimes very suddenly become aware they’ve lost their potency. Perhaps they discover they really never were very potent in the first place and it was only the illusion of potency that eventually abandoned them.

While crisis may be an accurate term, the notion that it occurs in midlife might NOT be appropriate. For many, that might mean around 40 or 45 years of age. My crisis began well into my 6th decade. And for me, it wasn’t sudden. But over time, I began to recognize a change of perspective had taken up residence in my head.

It started with the car.

I like a stick shift. And I hadn’t had one for a while. I had been driving the Mister Mom car, a Chrysler minivan, while the kids needed me to haul them around with all their friends. And now it was time for a change. But, as you might know, manual transmissions are hard to find on anything but cheap base model sedans - or - sports cars.

It was 2015. I saw an ad from Dodge. The classic Challenger had been issued in 2014 as a 100th anniversary edition. It was nice, had everything I wanted, and not much I didn’t want. There were few options...color, transmission, interior...everything else was standard...navigation, upgraded stereo, heated seats, moon roof, wheels, track suspension, etc. But, that was the previous year.

Dodge is sort of unique in one regard. Their website allows you to search inventory virtually anywhere in the country. Other car brands only give inventory in your geographic area. So I could use Dodge’s website to see if any leftover models were still out there anywhere. There were two, one was two states away, one was three. A week later the closer one was gone. It had sold. The spring weather was coming. Buyers were buying. I needed to act.

I called and explained. I said I couldn’t travel to test drive the car without knowing what I’d have to pay if I wanted to buy it. The dealer understood and gave me a drive away price. The deal was done. I took a one-way flight on a Saturday morning and drove home later that night. And I came home a different person.

I truly love the car. It’s all I had hoped for and imagined. But this article isn’t supposed to be about the car. Suffice it to say that it’s fun to drive, gets me noticed, and didn’t break the bank. So after a bit of time, I’m kind of noticing, that it sort of feels like I did the right thing.

Wait. Take a double take. The right thing? Not some immature and childish act? My midlife crisis moment wasn’t embarrassing, or shameful, or in any way something I’d soon regret. But isn’t it supposed to be?

Next came losing some weight. Then I got my ear pierced (by a real technician at a real shop). Then some shorter hair, and a bit of color to hide some of the grey. Then some new clothes, and shoes, and cologne. All in good time. Nothing rushed. But all seemingly appropriate. Never desperate or awkward. Wow, this was all going a lot better than I had heard about.

I began to see the reality.

It wasn’t a crisis at all. It was an opportunity. It was a gift. I had spent years trying to get here without even knowing it. It was my arrival...my destination. My so-called “crisis” actually was a time to be celebrated.

A midlife crisis should be embraced. It is a perfect opportunity to re-invent ourselves without having to explain or conform to others. Yes, I’m changing. Yes, I’m improving. Yes, I’m fixing some long overdue repairs.

Here are some ideas.

Lose some weight. I know...I know...easier said than done. Let’s forget exercise for the moment. Nothing wrong with good health but, losing weight has to involve food, first and foremost. Now nobody loves food more than I do. For decades, I just couldn’t diet or place any kind of control on my eating. Food controlled me so I know it can be almost impossible for some of us. I’m going to suggest something controversial. How about an appetite suppressant? I took some medication one time that had that particular side effect and I was stunned. Suddenly, food lost its insatiable allure. Suddenly, I could eat less. And the pounds began to leave. It was transformative and I encourage you to consider it, if you have struggled hopelessly in the past, at least long enough to get the weight loss started.

Next, improve the grooming. Cut your hair short and keep it that way. Use some drug store coloring. Get some high quality oil based cologne. Expensive yes but, it lasts. Buy a new piece of jewelry strictly for appearance. A wristwatch, necklace, or ring. Pierce your ear if you like and wear a single simple and masculine earring.

Loose the baggy shirts and pants. Buy some fitted clothes. These will encourage a more youthful appearance. I’m not talking “slim” fit because you’ll probably look stupid but, jeans, Docker’s slacks, button front cotton shirts, and higher end polo shirts are all cut slimmer these days. And while we’re at it, loose the faded jeans and t-shirts and flip-flops. Wear dark blue straight cut “dad” jeans and closed-toe shoes only.

The idea is not to look fake, or desperate, but to embrace your age, your wisdom, and don’t try to hide your aging body or appearance. Accepting ourselves as we truly are is a definition for humility. A well dressed and confident older male is so much more attractive than one who can’t seem to recognize that time has taken its toll and realignment with reality is overdue.

Trade in the “dad-mobile”. Get a more refined sedan with a big engine. There’s something undeniably ego boosting about having a V-8 under the hood. Try white as the color. It makes sense to people when they see an older man exiting a hot car, as long as it’s white. Drive something fire engine red or deep black with racing stripes and you’ll end up looking ridiculous.

Stop watching TV. Really, TV is a hole. You’re trying to get on top – not go further down. Get out instead. Go to the bar. And not the hip hop singles bar on a Friday night. Find a place where mature folks go on weekdays. Sit and talk to new people or at least make friends with the bartenders and staff. Break out of the rut. Just be careful to keep your boundaries. With women, guys at the bar can be seen as potential threats. Are they there for a pickup? But, if you’re clear, and don’t give in to hidden agendas, women will engage. You’re not trying to get laid. You’re trying to be social, attractive, and likeable. It can take practice, especially if it’s been a while.

Finally, really work on your attitude. You are responsible for everything in your life. This includes your happiness. There are no victims. It’s your job to prioritize your joy and work to enhance it. Get a therapist if that works for you. Read a book on the subject. It is said, bring the body and the mind will follow.

Forget the hair replacement and plastic surgery. These are extreme measures that actually buck the current. Seek rather to get IN the flow of the river. The world is changing, like it or not, with or without you. Your choice is to ride along or get left behind.

So I like to play craps, and I’ve read a few books on the game. One thing they all have in common is some kind of secret system that’s sure to beat the house. Everybody’s got a fail-safe, never-gonna-lose recipe for success. The part they all leave out is that to make any strategy work, you’ve got to apply it over and over. You’ve got to play the game frequently. Only then can the law of averages begin to have an effect. If you flip a coin 10 times, the outcomes are anyone’s guess. But flip a coin 10 thousand times and the outcomes will begin to mathematically approach 50-50.

So, if you live next to the casino, and tend to hang out there at least a couple of times a week, and you can maintain the discipline necessary to follow one of these winning strategies, well good on you mate!

But, for someone like me, who frequents the casino only on occasion, carrying only a small bankroll, and hopes to leave not feeling duped and taken for a fool, these strategies will never apply. Maybe I’ll hang for 2 or 3 hours and get in maybe 20 or 30 rounds, and just like the coin toss, my outcomes will be anyone’s guess. So, here’s my take on the game when you’re a casual player like me.

First, let’s talk odds. When you pull the handle on the slot machine, what are the chances you’re going to hit? Well, you don’t really know. Nowadays, the machines are electronic and the house can set the odds. They may get set differently depending on time of year, day of the week, what the casino’s revenue was last quarter, etc. The odds may even adjust in real time, while you’re sitting there, as the machine tries to detect what type of player you are, and how much money it thinks it can squeeze out of your wallet.

With dice it’s different. You know the odds in advance. There’s only a fixed number of outcomes when the bones are rolled. And in craps, you also know the payouts for the various bets. The game is fairly standard across casinos worldwide. You’ll also notice the casino pays out less than true odds, for almost all bets. If they paid true odds, they’d have a very short lifetime. Somebody's got to keep the lights on. The difference between what the casino pays when you win versus the true odds against winning...is called the vig. It’s the small commission the casino reserves for itself.

Recall the coin toss. What are the odds it will flip up heads? Well, it’s easy, the odds are true 50/50 because every time, it’s gonna be one or the other. So, let’s say a casino is offering a coin toss game and they are paying true odds, that is, 1-for-1. If you bet $20 and you win, they pay you $20. How long do you think the casino doors are going to stay open?

If the casino wants to survive, and certainly they do, they’d have to adjust the payout downward, perhaps to $18 on a $20 bet. The $2 difference is now the vig. Oh, and by the way, your chances of leaving a winner just went down as well.

The craps table has many bets to choose from. But you should know the odds. Casinos don’t typically want to advertise these. They like to entice you with the payouts, which for some bets, can be fantastic, but good luck with those. If the payout is high, you can be sure the odds are stacked against you. Fortunately for us, and unlike slot machines, dice are deterministic, albeit in a random way. Two 6-sided dice can only show in one of 36 possible combinations. So, the odds are fairly easy to determine.

However, the vig isn’t the same for every bet. Some bets have bigger vigs. These are usually the one roll or long shot bets with the big payouts. These are the sucker bets that are profit makers for the casino. Other bets have smaller vigs, that is, the payout is pretty close to true odds. And some bets even have no vig at all. Craps is the BEST game in the casino in terms of payouts versus odds of winning AND craps is the ONLY game in the casino offering payouts equal to true odds, even if only on a handful of bets. Winning at craps takes a smile from lady luck, let’s face it. But, you can position yourself in an optimal spot to be smiled upon, if you stick to bets with decent odds and the smallest vigs.

I just said winning. That word requires a definition. Winning at the casino is breaking even, because the casino almost always pays out less than true odds. So if you come away even, you’ve just beaten the casino. Of course, we always want to come away far above just even. And, that’s the allure. But while we play for that big score, we must avoid the big loss. So in that regard, at the end of the night, even is alright, given the alternative.

So let’s play.

Pass Line is a common bet and everybody almost always plays Pass Line. Did you know you have to make a Pass Line bet if you want to roll the dice? Otherwise, you get skipped over. Don’t Pass is just as good, if not even slightly better, although much less common, since dice rollers like to see other table players betting in their favor, and players tend to want to support one another. However bets are never for or against the shooter. This is a common illusion. Craps is a social game and table players tend to encourage and congratulate one another. Don't Pass is a bet that the dice will not go in the shooter's favor. But like all bets, this is a bet against the house. Still, it may be best to keep a low profile, near the corner of the table, if you want to be a “wrong” better.

Here’s a technique that might help avoid embarrassment. Play both Pass Line and Don’t Pass. Did you know, once made, a Pass Line bet cannot be removed, once a point has been established? But, a Don’t Pass bet can be picked up even after the point. So, I start with both and decide which one to play once the point has been made. If the point is a 5, 6, 8, or 9, I pick up the Don’t Pass bet and back up the Pass Line bet. If the point is a 4 or 10, I may have to say adios to my Pass Line bet, since it cannot be picked up, but I'm really choosing to invest and focus on my Don’t Pass bet.

Now backing up your Pass Line or Don’t Pass bet (called taking or laying odds respectively) is an optional bet but, should never be avoided. It’s the ONLY bet in the casino that pays straight odds. There is NO vig! It’s always worthwhile to back up your line bet with odds, whatever side of the fence you’re playing.

Casinos will advertise ridiculously high allowed odds like 10X or even 100X. Many authors suggest making the maximum odds bet, since it’s the best way to reduce the casino’s vig. However, unless you’ve got a Texas sized bankroll, a couple of plays that don’t go your way can quickly wipe you out. I play low odds (1X to 3X) and try to protect the bankroll.

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a $5 table, unless you’re playing on a Sunday morning with the bus people. Most minimums on weekend nights are $10 or $15 and I’m now starting to see more $25 tables. At these buy-ins, you can easily have $100 or more in play. A few 7’s in a row and you’ll be leaving with your tail between your legs.

So, I may play 1X or 2X odds on Pass Line. If I’m on a hot roll (very rare, by the way), maybe I’ll bump up to 3X. You’ve got to protect the bank roll!

If I’m on the Don’t side, laying odds on the 4 or 10 requires me to lay out the payout to collect the odds. It’s the opposite of Pass Line. For the 4 or 10, the true odds are 2:1. On Pass Line odds, you could bet $10 and win $20. But on Don’t Pass odds, you’ve got to lay out $20 to win $10. That’s because the true odds are really in your favor. It’s much more likely that the shooter will roll a 7 and you’ll win your bets. You may be inclined therefore to bump up to 2X odds or higher, given the likelihood of winning, but I don’t because it requires such a big outlay of cash. I’m there to play, not to lose my money.

So far, we’ve got a Pass and a Don’t Pass line bet. We pick up the Don’t Pass bet on a 5, 6, 8, or 9 and play it on a 4 or 10. We lay 1X odds on Don’t and take 2X odds on Pass.

Right after a point is made and we lay or take odds, we place a couple of numbers, even if we’re playing the Don’t. We always place 6 and 8, unless one of them is the point, in which case we either just place the other one, or place the two numbers on either side. We’re careful not to be greedy. Two hits on the place bets and we come down.

Place bets can be removed at any time and we take full advantage of this to protect our exposure. The vig is a bit higher on place bets. For 6 & 8, The payout is $7 for a $6 bet. That is, you’ve got to make your bets in increments of $6. On a $15 table, that’s $18 on #6 and $18 on #8 for a possible win of $21 on either. But, recall we’ve also got a Pass Line bet with at least 2X odds. That’s $30 already in play. Now, with two place bets, a 7 will cost us $66. Perhaps you can see why I worry about my bankroll. So, hit twice on 6 or 8 and come down. Then leave the $30 in play and wait for a decision.

Dice have no memory. Every roll is totally distinct from the previous. You could have just rolled a hundred 7’s in a row. The next roll doesn’t care. It will follow the odds. That is, there’s 6 chances out of 36 it will come up 7 again. This is a hard fact to accept. We all want to believe there’s some order to the outcomes, such that we can set an expectation, and bet accordingly. Authors will note that dice run in spells. They will look for cold tables to avoid, and hot tables to join. They will press their bets when the dice are coming up numbers. I try not to get sucked up into the allure. But it’s hard not to hope for good luck.

Anyway, the 7 will come, and usually much sooner than we’d like. So the idea is NOT to leave much on the table for too long. The $66 wipeout just recently detailed would take a long time to make back, at our slow and steady style of play.

Consider...once the point is established, the very next roll has a 6 out of 36 chance of coming up 7. But it has a 5 out of 36 chance of coming up 6 and another 5 out of 36 chance of coming up 8. That’s 10 shots at a win and 6 at a loss. That’s why we place the 6 and 8 anytime, even if we’re on the Don’t side. But, we take our small victory and politely leave once we’ve hit twice (or even once).

Another approach.

The downside to this style of play is we can’t really take advantage of a nice set of rolls. It’s certainly possible the 7 will wait to show. And while we wait, we may regret playing so conservatively, while more aggressive players at the table are raking in score after score. One way to play for a bigger score is to look for free bets.

Okay, no bets are free. But some bets can be inexpensive once you've hit once. Let's consider.

Forget the pass line for a moment. Some players focus elsewhere. You can always place the 6 & 8. And, every roll has a 10 to 6 advantage. And if we can afford it, we could play an amount beyond the minimum. Let’s say we’re at a $10 table. We would typically play the 6 & 8 for $12 each but tonight we’re feeling good. We play for $36 each. We’ve got $72 in play so, we’re out on the edge but, we hit either a 6 or 8 for $42. We essentially come down on our two $36 bets so, that money is now protected and we’ve got $42 now in our favor. So, we add $2 and go $44 inside. This covers the 6 & 8 for $12 each and the 5 & 9 for $10 each. The beauty of this strategy is it’s really next to a free bet because of our $42 win. If we wipeout on the next roll, we’re only exposing $2. The 7 really can’t hurt us and we can leave the bets in play as long as the dice will allow.

This is a favored style of play by John Patrick. He bypasses the come out roll entirely and only plays the place bets. He bets 6 and 8 right after a point has been established for an amount that, if he hits once, will let him go inside essentially for low money. The dealer has to rearrange your bets so betting in $5 chips makes this a bit easier, to keep him or her on your side.

And certainly, let’s give the dealer some.

It’s super hard to deal craps, in my opinion. You’ve got to think fast, never make a mistake, deal with obnoxious players, and you rotate positions every 15 minutes or so. You’ve got to deal chips AND play stick, which is challenging because of the myriad of one roll bets that are constantly coming in and paying out every time the dice roll.

One of the bets with the stick man (or woman) are the Hardways. These are not 1-roll bets, that is, they stay in play until they lose. And, they are low money bets. Many tables allow $1. You’re trying for 4, 6, 8, or 10 but, only with both die equal. Like a 6 made by 3 & 3, not by the more likely 2 & 4. Besides the dreaded 7, each bet loses if the easy-way comes up first. The bets have a large vig, are pretty profitable for the casino, and are not recommended for any consistent play strategy.

But, they’re great for showing your appreciation to the dealers. You can always make a bet for the dealers and they typically REALLY appreciate this. One way to gain favor would be to say, Hardways 2-way, and toss $8 on the table. You’re making 4 $1 bets for yourself and 4 more for the dealers. If one of them hits, everybody wins, and this is great for table dynamics. And, if the shooter makes his point, the bets stay in play for the next round.

Like I said, craps is often a social game. You can really make friends with other players at the table. If you want this, I recommend NOT playing Don’t Pass, congratulate other players when they win, make bets for the dealers on occasion, and in general have a happy disposition, even if you’re losing money. You will have a losing night once in a while. That’s why we bet conservatively and protect the bankroll. The idea is play, win a little perhaps, break even at worst, and leave the casino head held high.

Let's say you want to visit Havana. Well good for you. I think a visit is worthwhile. I supported the Obama administration when they took the first steps in nearly 50 years to ease restrictions and encourage friendlier relations with our foreign neighbor, so close by, just 90 miles from Florida.

However, for reasons I can’t really fathom, the Trump administration rolled them back. The tourist style visa categories, that is, people-to-people and educational, are now eliminated for individuals. You must travel as part of a group to use these.

But for us solo dark tourists, the door was left slightly ajar, and for the moment one category remains. Support for the Cuban People remains a valid travel intent. This essentially means travel to Cuba is allowed as long as your money benefits the people and not the government.

This is harder than it sounds, given that almost everything worth spending money on in Cuba is owned by the government. Private ownership isn’t exactly gone but, resorts, hotels, restaurants, cigar factories, rum factories, nightclubs, museums, and other tourist destinations are mostly all government owned and operated.

There's still plenty of reason and opportunity to plan a trip so, allow me to help navigate the way. Soon, the door may close completely.

In Puerto Rico's capital city of San Juan, tourists are sometimes advised not to visit La Perla, the barrio, especially at night, as there can be shady characters lurking and looking to prey on tourists. Havana makes La Perla look like Disneyland. Havana is absolutely the scariest (looking) place I have ever been. There seemed to be opportunities for disaster on every corner.

And simultaneously Havana turned out to be one of the least scary places I have ever been. Although I walked through desperately poor neighborhoods, past countless alleyways, down dark dank streets, I was supremely confident with regard to my safety.

I felt as though I was being watched constantly, even though I know that was unlikely. I felt as though they all knew I was American. They certainly knew I was a tourist. And they knew that Cuba depends critically on tourism. They have so little else. And they knew the tourists were golden - especially U.S. tourists. They knew that if they messed with the tourists, big brother would find them, and the hand would come down hard, without mercy, because NOBODY messes with the tourists. It just seemed like they all knew.

In fact, the people I met, whether at noon on Sunday, or very late Friday night, were thoroughly delightful. They welcomed me. They wanted me to go back and tell all the others. They were genuine and giving of their time, attention, and warm wishes. They were excited to learn I was American. They knew though, that the modest amount of cash in my pocket was to them, maybe six months wages. And maybe, for some I did not meet, but who watched me from afar, the hustlers, those that were already accustomed to dark deeds, found themselves briefly tempted. But, I never once felt at risk. They all knew I was off-limits.

Havana's streets and buildings are in very poor condition. Everything is potentially crumbling. There are signs of restoration but, it is spotty, and on every street, there are very poor families. As such, pretty much everywhere you walk, you feel like you could be in a "bad" neighborhood, or at least, right around the next corner from one. But it is an illusion. This is just Havana. It is everywhere the same.

Not spending money in Cuba that benefits the government means lodging not in a hotel, but in an apartment, a room, or right in someone's home.

There are many AirBnB’s to choose from. I found a small apartment, tiny kitchen, air conditioned, private entrance, for $35 a night. This was one block from the Malecon, ocean drive, and close to the old city. It was simple and sparse, but it was only for one, and it was a spectacular location. But there were many more. They were everywhere.

My hosts were a young couple, who recognize they must be entrepreneurial to succeed. So, they struggle to buy and renovate rooms and rent them to tourists. They lived below me, on the first floor, but I rarely saw them. I brought them supplies as a gift. Shampoo, lotion, razors, and toothbrushes. These are appreciated, since they are in such short supply, or are so expensive for Cubans.

I also brought gifts for the children. Coloring books and crayons, pencils and school supplies, and toys. If you want to make a friend in this world, be kind to their children, or their parents. It usually means a lot. It buys you safety as well. Word gets around.

To the old women on the street, some with obvious health issues, all with obvious need, I gave occasional money. Older folks have such a hard time in desperate economies. The scarce jobs go to the youthful. I would hand out three-dollar bills. As I walked down their streets I’d speak, hola momma, para ti (for you). This is likely a week's income for many of them. They would say, God bless you, in deeply broken English. And their sons and daughters, and grand-sons and grand-daughters watched in astonishment. This simple kindness is apparently rare among the tourists.

My apartment was a short walk to the old city, where government offices and upscale hotels can be found. This area caters to the tourists. The cruise ships dock here. You will find many international travelers as well as some fun shops, a central promenade along a main boulevard where artists and craftsmen set up small stands, and open-air cafes where live music can be heard. It is as you might expect.

My apartment was only one block from the ocean, where each evening the fishermen would gather along the concrete wall, hoping for a decent dinner. And people would gather, to watch the countless classic car taxis whiz by. Along the Malecon, you can find a few less upscale hotels, where you can buy a beer, or Cuban rum, or an hour of internet service. No cellular data service exists in Havana. Google maps will not help you. Just follow your nose.

Vedado is a neighborhood where more affluent Cubans live. There are nightclubs and a lively street scene at night. But, it was not walking distance from my apartment and I did not visit. You will not find Cubans inside the clubs, unless they are pimps, or working girls, seeking to meet tourists. But if you'd like to learn to salsa, then make the trip.

I chose to explore my neighborhood. What I found was that just one or two blocks outside of the old city, or away from the ocean drive, people live on broken streets, with standing water, crumbling sidewalks, decrepit buildings, loose dogs, and debris. Doorways are usually open however and people are moving about and are approachable. This is where you must go to see Cuba. People congregate, mostly in the cooler evenings, some setting up small shops, selling cigarettes and bottled water, or counterfeit cigars, to earn whatever they can. Here you will be alone, that is, without any comrade tourists, but among the people.

Although I did not stay in the hotels, I opted to visit them for drinks and food. I was told you could ask if a restaurant was private. And I found one or two that claimed to be but, I'm not sure if they told me the truth. I didn’t care. I would break the rules. If the U.S. was paying attention and checking, they could perhaps learn if I was staying at a government hotel, but they couldn’t find out where I ate dinner, or had a beer. In the end, upon my return to the states, no one in customs asked me about anything specific to Cuba.

There is no decent food in Cuba. That is their biggest dire need. There are no vegetables. Only occasional meat and starch like rice or plantains. Each morning I would stumble down to the 5-star hotel in the old city, with the white linen tablecloths, and golden chandeliers gracing the marble staircases. And I would sit at the bar and order a Bloody Mary, and smoke a cigarette. Smoking is commonplace in Cuba and the island is known for cigars and tobacco. Smoking is allowed inside the hotels but, there are designated non-smoking areas as well. Anyway, I would order an omelette with toast. There was no cheese. They had no jam. They had crappy butter. They had no fresh eggs or vegetables. I received an dry, old looking plate of overcooked eggs with some dry toast. No garnish. And this was a 5-star hotel with suits and ties and soft music and rare wines. There is no decent food in Cuba.

So, most of my meals were liquid. They had plenty of that, in all the familiar varieties. They have island beer, both Cuban and Haitian, that was very good. To my bartender, I would slip a couple of dollar coins under my plate, very discretely, such that he could grab them as he cleaned away my dishes. This was obviously something that almost never happened. I told him to share. Once the staff knew, I was suddenly their new best friend. It’s apparent customer tips go directly to the house, and you must sneak them directly into a workers pocket. Workers make about $20 per month so a buck or two means a lot to them.

The band as well, playing quiet morning music from adult contemporary European and American artists (think Lionel Richie and Celine Dion), was stunned when I casually dropped 3 dollar coins on their tiny stage, behind the monitors, such that the watchful security, and cameras might miss, and they might enjoy a decent days pay for once. I told them to play something Cuban. No one had ever asked before. My best friend group was small but growing. And they played me a Cuban song.

I went to the supermarket. There were two within a walk from my apartment. The shelves were mostly dank, and not completely empty, but with little selection. I bought pasta and a small jar of sauce. In my room, I opened the jar. It had black inside the lid. It was sealed, and unspoiled, and I would cook it to boiling to be sure, but probably two or three years old.

In the market, I chose some frozen thinly sliced chourico sausage for breakfast. Turns out, at the checkout counter, it's explained to me, mostly through gestures and grunts, that I have to pay at the meat counter, at the rear of the store. Before I can, the butcher comes out from behind the counter, says some stern words to me in Spanish, reaches into my bag, and removes my frozen sausage. He places it back in the freezer and goes back behind the stark meat display case, with its scary looking sandwich meat loaf and a few greenish looking hot dogs. I’m stunned. I don’t know what just happened. Am I not allowed to buy this?

I turn to leave, not knowing what else to do, and he steps into the back, to another freezer, out of the reach of customers, and removes an identical package of frozen sausage. He checks the date. It is fresher. He then hands it to me. Now I understand. The package I had chosen was so old, he was afraid I’d be sickened. Big brother likes to protect the tourists. He insured my candy-ass, white-boy, sanitized digestion wouldn't be sent back to the states early.

You must declare your intent when you purchase your airline reservation, and again at the airport before your departure, and again for the customs agent upon your return to the states. But no worries, just keep your answers consistent when you’re asked.

Flights are available on virtually all major airlines from numerous east coast airports. They are reasonably priced, but unlike most things in Cuba, not exactly dirt cheap. And you’ll find a few empty seats. There's little danger though of the plane being overbooked as volume for non-Cuban-citizen travelers has dropped considerably since Trump took office. However, Cuban citizens living in the states are plentiful and the planes are far from empty.

You will need a full passport (not the passport card) to travel. You will need a tourist card (Cuban visa). Your airline will assist but the visa is supplied by a 3rd party and costs about $75. The airline ticket is supposed to include medical insurance but, I couldn’t find any proof (and you’re supposed to carry proof). I also couldn’t locate anyone at the airport who knew for sure. I took a chance. But, no one asked for proof when I arrived and there just didn’t seem to be any issue. Of course, I have no idea what would have happened if I really needed medical care. But I suspect many travel destinations are a bit of a crap shoot in that regard so, Cuba is no different.

The Havana airport is decent enough and I had no trouble checking and retrieving my bags. As a solo, I was traveling light. There were others who were not so nimble, with large baggage, and those folks had to explain themselves to the military style exit agents.

A taxi from the airport to downtown takes 30 minutes and costs $25. You have to establish the price before you get in. There are thousands of taxis, many yellow and legitimate, many not yellow and of questionable legitimacy. Many people attempt to eke out a living by giving rides to tourists – in whatever style of noxious, motorized, noisy, old, barely alive, form of vehicle imaginable.

I saw an unbelievable number of shiny gleaming Buicks, Chevys, DeSotos, and Chryslers. Fun to look at but, obviously held together with paper clips and duct tape underneath. Each morning at 5 am, in the lot behind my apartment, they would start them up, and poke and prod them until they ran solid, for a day selling rides to tourists. I stuck with yellow taxis. Or I walked.

You can exchange dollars for money at the airport. The upstairs exchange has shorter lines.

Things are pretty cheap in Cuba. What would you expect when even educated professionals make in a month what we are accustomed to making in an hour. We know already the lodging is cheap. Taxis are cheap also, unless you’re coming or going a long distance, like to and from the airport, where they’re still fair.

It is hard to find English speaking people in Cuba. Even ones who only know a little English are in short supply. Learning a bit of Spanish before your trip is highly recommended. I bought an app for my phone and took lessons. Even so, I could speak to almost no one.

If you live in Cuba, and can speak English, or some European language, you may end up a Jintero. These are street hustlers that hound the tourists. They earn a commission for whatever they can guide you to, a house, a restaurant, a ride, a lady for the evening. I didn’t see, and wasn't offered, any dope. I think it may be rare, just because it’s a police state, and everybody is too poor.

The Jineteras (notice the slightly different spelling) are commonplace. Castro, in his day, claimed the women did not need to service the tourists, but rather did so for their own pleasure, since the state provided everything the women needed. So, if they chose to, they could “ride” the tourists. Jinetera translates to jockey in English.

In actuality, prostitution is common in Havana and pretty much all over Cuba. This is due, first and foremost, to the poverty. In a society where jobs are scarce and women's opportunities are so much worse than for men, earning money by providing service, is one way women can take control of their lives, and elevate themselves above the poverty line. Escape from dependency does exist for them, albeit at a steep price, and in a deeply paradoxical way.

A second aspect though, is that in many places around the world, sex is a currency. It is not uncommon to trade for consensual sex, especially when money is so scarce. In Cuban society, there are pimps, and prostitutes, and sexual servitude. But there is also consensual, casual, carnal activity for sale. Many female participants are educated, working, and even married. It is just an accepted side job that provides a little extra income. It is strictly illegal but, in places where the police are so underpaid, it isn't aggressively combated. Except for youth. Get caught in an underage sting and expect the worst.

The Jineteros were easy to navigate. I had no trouble and was not bothered by them, despite the warnings to the contrary. The Jineteras were even easier. They were few and far between and a friendly no thank you was all it took to send them away.

As a middle aged man traveling alone, I was suspicious looking from the start. Certainly, there are numerous look alike sex tourists traveling in and out of Cuba and this has been true for decades. So, I was surprised actually that I wasn’t hounded more. But I wasn’t. Maybe word got around, and the locals appreciated that at least one tourist actually came for something else.

A democratic society and free market economy only work when business and government are opposing forces. This insures balance. When business and government become aligned and cooperative (in recent times during and after Bill Clinton's administration), workers become exploited, resources become depleted, and the disparity between rich and poor grows without limit.

In our enterprise, compare business to the pure athlete, who competes only to achieve and win. Government then must act as the regulatory committee that insures fair competition, protection for participants, and compliance with the rules.

The middle class is now seeing that the republican tax bill of 2018 assigned them a higher burden. It is true that more taxes must be sought and the middle class will have to help out. The United States is an expensive and troubled union. What is intolerable, in fact what is truly obscene, is that the upper class (those that control business) are now paying less.

Wealth and income are often confused with regard to taxes in America. Wealth is not taxed. Rather it is protected and limitless, so feel free to accumulate as much as you can. It is INCOME that is taxed, or for those fortunate enough to already possess wealth, the accumulation of even more wealth. If a citizen earns, in a given year, an income that far exceeds that of their fellow countrymen, they should be asked to pay a greater share. Presumably, it was their wealth in the first place that enabled them to accumulate such a disproportionate amount. Why then would they work so hard, through lobbying and political influence, to pass laws that afford them the unfair advantage to pay a lesser percentage? Greed and lack of conscience are the only explanations.

It is often said that business lacks conscience. But this is misguided. In truth, business isn't supposed to be required to act ethically or morally. It is strictly optional. Like the athlete who seeks only to win at any cost, business shouldn't be required to have a conscience. They should be allowed to focus only on their profit - with more sympathetic objectives held for those who choose to lead by example. Conscience then is the role of citizens and government, who issue controls to limit business practices and activity. Representatives are elected to act in the best interest of their constituents and our common union, not the businesses that they are supposed to regulate.

So let’s say you’ve decided to try some Viagra. Well, to be sure, this is going to be one very sad day for you. But hey, that’s a story for another day. Today’s story is about, once you’ve transcended the sadness and denial, how to acquire and pay for the precious Viagra.

Back in the day, for us old coots, a prescription from the doc was the only legitimate way to begin. Easy enough, if you could get past the embarrassment, as doctors were only happy to oblige. As a nasty surprise though, it ended up costing much more than your typical medication, even with good insurance. My copay, for example, was $65 per pill. And, just to add insult to injury, my supply was limited to four pills a month. So, it was going to cost me $260 every 30 days for a handful of bones? Bummer dude.

But today, all is well. I can obtain pretty much an unlimited supply, at just over $1 per pill. You see, I had the curiosity, and incentive, and patience, to locate an unregulated market.

I buy Viagra on-line from a darknet marketplace using Bitcoin. The darknet occupies but a small part of the much larger deepweb, a non-indexed portion of the world-wide-web, where special software and/or secure transmissions are required. Lots of internet traffic uses the deepweb for on-line banking, streaming video, and everyday email. But here also lurks the darknet, hosting marketplaces that offer illegitimate and illegal goods and services.

Cryptocurrency is the means, and Bitcoin is by far the most common variant. Bitcoin behaves just like other forms of payment but by using it, buyers and sellers can keep their identity out of the exchange. If you think about it, good old greenbacks from Uncle Sam are also anonymous. Nobody knows your name when you lay your money down. But you can’t use cash online. And electronic cash (debit cards and credit cards) are ripe with fraud, as well as data harvesting from big brother. It seems like you can’t even take a shit these days without Visa or Mastercard trying to sell the details to Google. But with Bitcoin, you can trade your dollars for coins, and then go shopping in peace.

Darknet marketplaces and their vendors are not all dark and evil. Many sellers are quite the opposite. And, in terms of what’s for sale, there’s a fair amount of items that probably ought to be available on Amazon, but for a variety of reasons are not. And then there’s the dark side, the stuff you'd rather keep hidden, right alongside the other. I was relieved however, never to see anything truly objectionable for sale.

Darknet marketplaces are not easy to access, or perhaps I should say, are not easy to access safely, or even better I should say, are not easy to access safely if you’re not properly set up. And getting set up is the not-so-easy part. No matter how you’re set up though, there will always be risk, that is, if your shopping cart contains any contraband.

On that last point, buying Viagra from a pill factory in China or India seems harmless enough, and I doubt law enforcement (LE) would ever be highly motivated to arrest and prosecute a small time crook like me. But more nefarious purchases, such as weapons, explosives, or narcotics, should only be attempted with a heavy dose of caution, and what the market calls “stealth”.

In the spirit of illustration, I will detail for you my fairly stealthy approach, although it would be overkill if all you wanted to do is buy some Viagra. You decide which steps to follow and which ones you can skip based upon the risk you want to assume.

I also claim no expertise in these matters. My experience is detailed here for the old fart common man. Computer savvy techno-geeks may find it too introductory. And my assumptions and opinions are just that. Are we solid?

So, let’s say you do want to step a little farther out onto the wild side. Now you’ve got to take your safety and anonymity seriously. So, an extra stealthy approach would be to have one public and one private computer to access the internet. You use your public computer when necessary and only use your private computer for darknet shopping.

Your public computer is perhaps a PC that’s easily associated with you. It’s your home office desktop and you use it to check email, pay bills, shop Amazon, etc. So you’re NEVER going to use it to access the darknet. Your private computer is perhaps a laptop that is in NO WAY associated with you. Maybe it’s an old one, or one you bought on eBay, and it’s been wiped clean, and set up from scratch anonymously. So, you’re NEVER going to use it to access any website where you could be identified. You’re NEVER going to login, except where you’re guaranteed to remain mysterious. If this laptop were ever seized, there isn’t anything to find that ties it back to you, your address, your zip code, etc.

But dig...having my laptop seized by the fuzz, and mined for evidence, such that I could be put away in prison for decades, is really NOT what truly concerns me. You see, both these computers use Windows. And I know this to be vulnerable. And I suspect that there are evil-doers out there, from some distant and desperate locale, who will try to infiltrate my weak defenses, and perhaps threaten to expose me, to extract from me what they can. Ransomware is abundant, and the darknet is just the kind of neighborhood it thrives in.

So rather than fret about how to protect myself against intrusion, I figure let it come, and just don’t leave anything lying around that’s worth stealing. What I seek to avoid, and what I fear may be likely, is that a malware BOT will find its way onto my laptop’s memory to snoop around and feedback user data to some up-to-no-good person or authority. And if there’s nothing in any history file or cookie file or system file that could be used to identify me, then when this intrusion does occur, I still remain anonymous. That’s the point of having the private laptop and using it accordingly.

You can opt to use a single computer, maybe you can use Linux instead of Windows, which is inherently much less prone to invasion, or you can choose to dismiss my concerns, but the public/private dual computer model is helpful in explaining some of the process steps to come, so we'll stick with it for now.

So using my public PC, I buy Bitcoin. I will now move this balance around a bit, to different accounts, such that it can’t be traced back to its source. Eventually it will end up in my marketplace user account. Then I will use it to shop and make purchases on the darknet.

Any purchases I make will be shipped to my post office box that is in another town, some distance away from my home. I also have an anonymous email, and a cell phone that does not know its owner, if I need them, which I don't, but which I include just for completeness.

Obtaining an anonymous email is trivial. Just register with a provider and make up an alias. Sometimes you may choose to use 2-factor authentication, where they send you a text with a login code every time you access the account. Here’s where the anonymous phone comes in handy. I use GMX for my private email and they’re a free service. Naturally, I use my laptop exclusively for checking this account and NEVER use anything else.

The cell phone is easy, cheap, but not free. I bought an AT&T flip phone on clearance at the drugstore for only $5! Then I bought a $100 refill card. Okay, 100 bucks is not sounding too cheap but, the balance lasts an entire year. That is, the $100 cards expire after 365 days whereas lesser value cards expire after 30 or 90 days. You can easily fund a pay-as-you-go plan for a full 12 months for well under $100, assuming you only use the phone on occasion.

Eventually though, the balance will expire and you’ll need to fill up again. On the average then, it ends up being about $8 a month for a phone and number that is anonymous, which is pretty cheap. And here’s a tip: right before the balance expires, and must be forfeited, you can purchase a small refill card, like $10, with a 30-day expiration, and after applying the new card to your account, the full expiring balance plus the $10 will shift to the new expiration date. Lather, rinse, repeat, every 30-days.

Unfortunately, the post office box is neither easy nor free nor anonymous. Identification is a must when you rent a post office box. There may be other anonymous relay mail options but, none as affordable as renting a box directly from USPS.

To minimize risk, choose a post office in a small town some comfortable distance away from your home. You’re likely to avoid sniffing dogs, x-ray machines, and highly suspicious postal employees. Small offices also tend to offer the most reasonable rates, as little as $5 per month, if you rent for a full year. Even though USPS knows who you are, as long as your packages don’t attract undue attention, you can fly under the postal police radar.

In keeping with maintaining a low profile and incurring minimal risk, only buy small items and quantities for small amounts in small packages. Avoid the temptation to buy in quantity to save money or for redistribution.

Also, use your real name, especially if you decide to skip the post office box and use your street address to receive packages. When you place orders, your name and address are sent encrypted so only the seller will be able to see them. Moreover though, the reasoning not to use an alias is that it’s never good to raise the attention of your postal carrier. They are often aware of who resides at an address or who pays the rent on a box. Package delivery to a strange alias only invites unwanted curiosity.

Now the astute reader, at this point, may be puzzling about inconsistent advice. Fair enough, because using your real name and address may seem counter intuitive, given our stealthy goals, but it isn’t uncommon when shopping the darknet, for reasons just stated.

Using your real name and address reduces risk instead of increasing it. However, it is fair to say, that handing this information out on the darknet, even if encrypted, feels pretty spooky. If the marketplace or vendor turned out to be illegitimate, you’ve perhaps just invited trouble right to your door.

But just like buying a dime bag of weed on the street, you never really know your seller very well. Follow your nose and trust your intuition. If you’d rather, you can always pony up more dough for a more elaborate relay mail option. Then you can hide your identity and ship to an alias. But, post office box rental will require you to identify yourself, so there’s little to gain by then trying to use an alias.

Like the post office box, it’s also not possible (or at least not easy) to obtain Bitcoin while still remaining anonymous and without providing any identifying info. Fortunately, by the time you’re spending the Bitcoin, it’s long been de-associated from you.

Bitcoin is obtained through an exchange, like Coinbase, so the first step is to get yourself an account. You will need to associate your new account with a brick and mortar bank’s checking account and you’ll likely have to jump through a few hoops in terms of identity verification to get established (I had to send them a selfie holding my driver’s license).

The reason, you see, is that some characters attempt to utilize these crypto-exchanges to launder money and avoid paying taxes. So, the feds force these exchange guys to take identity verification seriously. You don’t really care. You are working on the public side of the process. It isn’t illegal or unusual to own and trade Bitcoin. You’ll move your Bitcoin over to the private side of the process soon enough.

You also don’t care about the Bitcoin exchange rate or its volatility. You’re not holding onto these coins as an investment. You’re merely exchanging one form of currency for another, and for just a brief time. As the exchange rate changes, marketplace prices will track along. The current exchange rate is a non-issue, as long as you intend to spend the funds in a timely fashion.

A single Bitcoin, abbreviated BTC, can trade for many thousands of dollars. Therefore, often times buyers and sellers operate in milli-Bitcoins, or a thousandth of a Bitcoin and you will see these abbreviated mBTC. Even smaller denominations may be called Satoshis, or one 100 millionth of a Bitcoin – named in honor of the yet to be identified Satoshi Nakamoto, the mysterious author of the 2008 paper proposing the Bitcoin system.

It will take a week to get your account in order, and another week (perhaps) to buy the Bitcoin. Transfers from checking accounts are notoriously slow. Recently, Coinbase started accepting orders with your debit card and these transactions seem to be almost immediate.

Once the Bitcoin is in your Coinbase account, it’s now time to move it around. Cryptocurrency can be kept in an account or, in a wallet (just like real cash). Only the wallets are virtual and there are many to choose from. Most are set up around mobile usage (that is, to be used from a cell phone). This is because the wallet addresses are long strings of alpha-numeric characters and it’s so much easier to scan a QR code with your cell phone’s camera than to type in long addresses. On a PC or laptop, you can just copy/paste the long alpha-numeric character sequence. No camera is required. You can also copy it to a temporary text file and use a USB stick to move it from one computer to another.

I use Electrum for my software wallets, which certainly is fine for a mobile device, but also works well from a laptop or desktop. When you start Electrum, it will provide you with a random phrase (sequence of words) which will be used to generate your wallet addresses. A set of addresses actually, one public set and one VERY private set – all in pairs. Any address pair points back to your wallet. Any of the PUBLIC addresses can be used to receive Bitcoin. Any of the PRIVATE addresses, placed into the wrong hands, could be used to rid you of all your Bitcoins so, buyer beware.

Unlike your cash wallet, in your back pocket or purse, cyptocurrency lives in the cloud, and can be accessed from anywhere in the world. If needed, the pass-phrase can be used to re-generate the addresses, so it serves as a backup that should be stored off line, and kept in case of a future catastrophe, like if your PC dies and/or your software wallet is ever lost.

Once your wallet is established using Electrum, you can then go back to Coinbase and send your Bitcoin to one of your wallet’s public addresses. Of course, Coinbase charges a fee to buy Bitcoin (that’s how they stay in business). It is typically around 4% (although there's a more complex and potentially cheaper fee structure for purchases directly from checking accounts).

Transferring Bitcoin assets to a wallet requires the blockchain. The blockchain isn’t something you need to worry about. But, it’s how Bitcoin transactions are verified, since there is no central authority. The blockchain is a public ledger of transactions, maintained by a large group of mutually mistrusting individuals. Seeking to be verified, transactions involving addresses and amounts are gathered into blocks with a new block being generated and published every 10 minutes. Once a new block emerges and has been successfully validated, it becomes permanently embedded into the blockchain with a unique cryptographic hash. That means the block can never be retroactively altered and this is how coins avoid being double-spent and thus, retain their value.

It all may sound like a bunch of fancy software hocus pocus (and you can certainly look at it that way) but, an essential point is that there are folks out there called miners, that have powerful computers to validate the blockchain, that is, the exchange of Bitcoin from buyer to seller, or from one wallet to another.

Miners may be mutually mistrusting, and this helps keep everyone in line, but they operate cooperatively and collectively according to a commonly established set of rules. Because miners are also numerous, the system is self-regulating. Miners are rewarded for their trouble and investment through rewards and fees. And, every transaction on the blockchain includes a miner fee. It is MUCH less than Coinbase’s 4% and more like 25 cents, or less, per transaction. The fee is based on the size of the transaction rather than the amount.

Electrum allows you to set the fee, within a range, and this also sets the time it takes for the transaction to be verified on the blockchain. The fee range varies according to network activity. If you’re in a hurry, attach a fee toward the higher end of the range and this might get your transaction verified in only 10 minutes (1 block). If not, save yourself some money and attach a more modest fee. Then, your transaction verification might take an hour or more.

Permanent Bitcoin exchange also takes a multiple of verifications. Six verifications is considered irreversible and, in some cases, fewer than six is acceptable for the value to be considered debited from the source and credited to the destination. But, you cannot really spend any newly acquired Bitcoin in your wallet until the transaction has been verified - and more than once. Even with higher end fees and 10 minute verifications, an hour can pass before your funds are usable. Patience is required.

Finally, the Bitcoin system is set up to keep creating new coins until a total of 21 million coins exist. Limiting the number of coins insures scarcity and thus, inherent value. Fortunately for us, the system won't max out anytime soon. Much like the Federal Reserve injecting money into the economy, the Bitcoin system allows miners to mine for new coins, and this is where the real payoff comes in.

Miners compete to verify transactions, compute a new block's hash, and collect what is called the block reward. This turns out to be a fantastically difficult computational nightmare based largely on starting with a lucky guess. However, as of this writing, block rewards are 12.5 BTC and this is a hefty bounty for sure. Therefore, it is common for miners to assemble vast expanses of blazing fast computational horsepower. It is also not uncommon for miners to set up shop somewhere where the electricity rates are low, like in some poh-dunk small town out in the middle of nowhere, since these monster machines soak up so much juice. I’ve also seen some miners use underground bunkers in Scandinavian countries since it’s cool down there and overheating problems can be better managed in a cold subterranean environment.

I digress...back to fees. As I said, the blockchain isn't something you need to concern yourself with. So, Coinbase attaches the miner fee for you and you cannot choose it. So, you can transfer almost ALL of your Coinbase account value to your Electrum wallet, all except for the small miner fee, which Coinbase chooses for you, but does not benefit from.

There are always going to be fees. It costs to buy Bitcoin, transfer it to a wallet, and use it on a marketplace site. Everybody’s got to get their piece of the pie. But, we’re not shopping here for the bargains.

Now you’ve now got your Bitcoin into your Electrum wallet. It sits there on your PC, held secure by its public and private address, generated by the pass-phrase. The blockchain knows about it, such that the balance could be restored, if it ever were lost. The blockchain has no idea however who it belongs to. Only the virtual wallet address and amount are public.

Now, we continue our moving about. Only now, we’re moving into private territory...onto our laptop.

We install Electrum on our laptop also. It generates another wallet, based on a new pass-phrase, that is totally independent of our other Electrum wallet. Both are anonymous, of course. Our public wallet received its funds from our Coinbase account. We could now send these funds to our new private wallet on our laptop.

However, if we merely send our Bitcoin, a record would exist on the blockchain. Thus, it could possibly be reverse engineered, and traced back to our Electrum public wallet, and from there back to our Coinbase account, and that’s where our identity could be uncovered. It would take some effort, but it could be done.

So rather than send the funds between public and private wallets, and leave some trace evidence behind, we can add a significant layer in between, that is very hard to circumvent, by sweeping the funds from our public wallet over to our private wallet. This is actually the reason to maintain two wallets. And this is a key point, whether or not you choose to operate public and private computers, you must maintain public and private wallets, that is, if you want to distance your identity from the public purchase of your Bitcoin.

Sweeping is using your private addresses from your public wallet to move your Bitcoin over to your private wallet. The difference that sweeping provides (as opposed to just sending) is that Electrum generates an entirely new public and private address set for the transfer, effectively tossing all the old keys away, but holding onto the funds. And this renders those funds disconnected from any prior blockchain transaction. Thus, we insert an obstacle to anyone trying to work backwards from a marketplace transaction.

To sweep funds from public to private wallets, export the private keys into a file. If you specify a CSV file, you can then import the file into Excel. From there, strip out everything that precedes “p2pkh” on every line, and export what remains to a text file. Put the text file on a USB stick, walk it over to your laptop, and select Wallet - Private Keys to sweep the private key set file into your private Electrum wallet. Of course, there’s another miner fee. And for safety, delete the file containing private keys.

Once the transaction is verified on the blockchain (recall this can take a while), your Bitcoin is secure in your private wallet and much more anonymous than before. You can now send it to anyone and the blockchain cannot easily be analyzed to uncover the original source. You will ultimately send your funds to a wallet address in your marketplace account and from there, you can use the funds to make marketplace purchases.

I’m not going to say much about darknet marketplaces. For one thing, they tend to disappear suddenly. This usually means they’ve been seized by LE. It could also mean the administrators have run off with everyone’s money. This is rare but, it has happened.

There are only smaller marketplaces now, since the demise of Silk Road, Alpha Bay, and Sansa. This is both good and bad. Good because a small marketplace doesn’t attract the scale of LE resources necessary to bring it down and bad because it’s harder for a small marketplace to stay viable and profitable. Hence, today’s marketplaces tend to be less reliable and have shorter lifespans.

Like any free-for-all market, the range of sellers extends from A to Z. Many are friendly and reliable but, it’s not hard to find stories about snakes and sharks. There are reviews and stats to help you wade through the offerings. There are forums and other on-line sources of recommendations, complaints, and warnings. As always, you have to do your research. It typically comes down to using someone with a decent number of favorable prior transactions and reviews.

Once you've read further, and are able to proceed, check out the Dread forum for discussion, DarkDotFail for a list of updated and verified links, and Darknet Live for news. With these, you can begin educating yourself. Ultimately though, I leave it up to you to discover the variety of marketplaces and vendors, how they work, and what they have to offer. I'm not going to lead you by the hand. The process is complicated and time consuming and if you're not prepared to research, experiment, and teach yourself, you probably shouldn't venture inside.

But if you do want to shop on a market, you’ll first need an account. Here of course, you use completely false information. Make up a user name and unique password that is NOT anything you’ve ever used before. Use your anonymous phone if you’d like to use 2-factor authentication.

The marketplace will give you a wallet where you can store your Bitcoin but, I recommend leaving it in your Electrum wallet until right before you’re ready to use it. Transfer it to your marketplace wallet just prior to when it gets spent. That way, if the marketplace went under, or was under some form of DOS (denial of service) attack, your funds would not be vulnerable.

Vendors on marketplaces can use escrow. You can search for goods and services by category and include escrow in the search. Using escrow means, you make a purchase and the funds are held. Then, once you’re satisfied with the sale, that is, you’ve received the goods, you finalize the exchange, and the funds go to the vendor. Funds will automatically transfer after some length of time, if you fail to finalize, but the escrow process gives you and the seller some time to resolve any issues. There may be occasional cases where you’ll be glad to have this interim period.

Established vendors may qualify to offer goods and services without escrow, and at slightly reduced prices. If you have good previous experience with a vendor, you may opt to take advantage of the discount. Without escrow, the vendor gets paid immediately, and you trust the delivery will proceed. But escrow or not, the marketplace charges a fee for every transaction.

Escrow sellers will try to get you to finalize early. They don’t like to ship packages before they’ve been paid. But, this can also be a scam. They get the funds and you never get the package. I recommend using escrow but being vigilant to finalize immediately once the package has been received. Legitimate vendors understand the necessity for escrow and they appreciate buyers who finalize promptly.

Just like eBay or Amazon, you can leave a review and a rating. Vendors depend on high marks so will typically work pretty hard to insure satisfaction. Packages are typically sent securely, vacuum sealed, sometimes decoyed, and in general, the way you might expect. Low quality or sloppy execution is not commonplace.

Many sellers are overseas. Depending on the product, this can be fine. As I say, buying Viagra often entails shipments from India or China. However, expect delivery to take weeks because passing through customs can seemingly take forever. Many times therefore, an escrow order from an overseas vendor will auto-finalize due to the long shipping time. The vendor gets paid regardless of whether you get the goods. Fortunately, these are usually not high value transactions.

Be especially careful though with items somewhat more conspicuous than little blue pills from overseas vendors. Stealth and decoy become more of a necessity when dealing with imported goods crossing customs so, consider using stateside vendors only. You can specify locale in your search. This is sometimes inaccurate however.

Marketplaces also feature automatic encryption whereby your communications (including your name and address) can only be seen by the seller. When you register for an account, you’ll be given a PGP public key. You can use this but, your communication options are one-way only, from you to the seller. This may be sufficient because most times there is no seller chit-chat. Any messages you receive are system generated acknowledgements that your order has been accepted and/or shipped.

You can use external PGP software (not built-in to the marketplace software) to generate your own keys for communication. You can import your own public PGP key into your marketplace profile, overriding the marketplace supplied key. The value in doing so is to gain the ability to decrypt any vendor messages you may receive. We will discuss PGP encryption later on. For now, we need to examine the URL’s of these dark marketplaces, and why you can’t see them with your plain-vanilla web browser.

As I said early on, you need to get set up right to shop the darknet, and getting set up is a process. There are many pieces to have in place. One essential piece is TOR (an acronym for The Onion Router). You cannot access the darknet without TOR.

TOR is a web browser that, in a fantastic twist of fate, was developed with funding from the US government. It was originally aimed at protecting intelligence communications. Now it is used primarily by privacy advocates and those trying to protect their anonymity online.

TOR hides the source and destination nodes between any internet link. It does this through a relay network, which can severely slow down your speed but, also makes it very difficult to trace your path. You can use external VPN software (and we certainly will) to do pretty much the same thing, with an even higher level of security.

It is therefore an additional and even more important feature of TOR that we want. TOR provides us access to a website’s hidden gateway. A hidden service on the internet is reachable through an address that ends in “onion”. Marketplace URL’s on the darknet are long strings of seemingly unrelated gibberish, but always ending in "onion".

There are three levels of security provided by TOR and these are user select-able under the onion tab. Medium or high is recommended as this restricts or disables HTML 5 video and JavaScript, which are vulnerabilities that could be exploited by someone trying to identify you (or steal your Bitcoin).

TOR is released and maintained by a volunteer network of enthusiasts and is available today as free software.

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Virtual Private Network or VPN is software that uses a private network of servers to relay an internet link. TOR is similar, only you can’t really claim the TOR network is private. Anyway, with VPN, a shopper on the darknet does not access the marketplace’s onion URL directly. Rather the VPN software sends the link request to its network of servers who then relay the request.

In this way, if anyone snooping around at the darknet destination website wanted to know who was knocking at the door, they would see only the VPN server’s address. The shopper’s address would be seen only by the VPN server and these machines are specifically set up to ignore it.

VPN companies typically base themselves in off-shore locations where laws do not require them to keep log files or any other record of who uses their service. Naturally, all this service costs money and software that is worth having is not free. I use NordVPN and this costs about $3 per month, if you sign up for a year or more.

Keep in mind though, we’re trying to use our private laptop only for anonymous activity. And, this is the computer onto which we must install our VPN software. How are we going to pay for, download, and install this software without exposing our identity?

Fortunately, NordVPN accepts Bitcoin. So, the ideal plan would be to set up our Coinbase account and both our public and private wallets BEFORE purchasing and installing VPN. This way we can do so with Bitcoin and avoid having to use credit cards or Paypal accounts which will leave an identity clue behind.

We can (and should) also perform the above steps away from our home, and avoid using our home wi-fi, until after the VPN is installed and running. I chose to set these initial steps up using my guest wi-fi at work, which is open to anyone, and does not require a login. Wi-fi at the library or Starbucks is also an option.

Once VPN is running, I can use my home wi-fi without fear my IP address will be seen by anyone at the marketplace destination server or really anyplace beyond my VPN service provider.

NordVPN features enhanced security such as Onion Over VPN and choosing your relay server location (like deep in the Panamanian jungle). I don't know how much cover you want or need. But, a relay beyond the US or Canada will severely limit your speed. A small price to pay, I suppose, for cloaking.

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PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) has been around a while and, like the name implies, is pretty good. That is, it isn’t bulletproof and I’m sure the NSA or FBI has ways to break the cover. But, you’d have to rise up pretty far on the most wanted list to warrant that kind of attention from them. For the rest of us, PGP is essentially top secret.

PGP uses keys, both public and private, just like your cryptocurrency wallet. Keys are just like wallet addresses, that is, they are long sequences of alpha-numeric characters. Buyers and sellers on marketplaces freely share their public keys and keep their private keys strictly private. Messages and responses can be encrypted such that decryption is very difficult, except of course for the intended recipient.

PGP will use the sender’s PUBLIC key to generate a random and temporary SESSION key which will be used to encrypt the message. PGP will also use the recipient’s PUBLIC key to encrypt the SESSION key. The encrypted SESSION key and message will be combined and sent. A recipient then uses their PRIVATE key to decrypt the SESSION key which is then used to decrypt the message. So public keys are used to send messages and private keys are used to read them.

When you register for a marketplace account, you are automatically assigned both a wallet address to fund your account and a public PGP key. This allows you to send encrypted messages to vendors. As previously talked about though, you have no access to your private key so, you cannot decrypt any vendor response.

For this reason, it’s best to use separate PGP software to generate your set of public/private keys and import your public key into your marketplace account profile. If you then receive an encrypted vendor response, you can decrypt it using your PGP software private key. You just have to export the encrypted message to your external PGP software.

The PGP algorithm is implemented in lots of open source free software – as well as lots of software that isn’t free. One popular free option is Kleopatra. There are numerous user guides freely published.

And there you have it. One way to go. Please enjoy.

I have suggested many specific pieces of software. Some are essential but, others are either optional or there are many choices beyond my suggestions.

Some additional information: I was uneducated and paranoid when I started. But more out of curiosity than paranoia, I wanted to understand and explore anonymity, given that it is becoming so rare and difficult to maintain. I wanted to first wipe my laptop clean, install the operating system fresh, and make sure I never used it in any way that might leave some forensic clue behind as to my identity.

That last point is key. Surfing websites these days is a bit of a crap shoot in terms of how transparent they are. That is, there may be a lot going on behind the scenes in the form of cookies and data collecting bots.

Websites want to know who you are, because they can monetize that information, and they will trick you into telling them, or they’ll just have a look around while you’re unaware, and feed your identity back for their benefit. But, if you NEVER visit any site whose login ties back to you, and ONLY visit websites where you’re login is anonymous, you can keep your laptop sanitized, and your identity private.

I was using Windows 7 and I had the installation CD so, I could start fresh anytime I wanted. Now some will say, if you’re using Windows, stealth is worthless. My opinion, as I've already said, is that stealth has less to do with the operating system and more to do with what forensic bread crumbs you leave behind.

Linux is certainly better than Windows for security but, I didn’t write this guide for computer literate software engineers. Apple is Linux based (as you might already know) but, is really not very transparent and I'm not going to even consider them. Windows, at least, can be installed fresh, without any identity verification, and that is what I would recommend.

You can easily obtain a used Windows compatible laptop off eBay for cheap if you don’t have one. If you don’t have Windows installation media, you can obtain it pretty easy from Microsoft, and it will work as long as you have the activation code, usually a sticker on the bottom of the laptop (or on occasion hidden inside the removable battery compartment). You must choose the EXACT operating system version that the code activates, for example, Windows Home Premium or Windows 64-Bit Professional, so pay attention to the sticker.

If you have a laptop candidate that already may contain some forensic bread crumbs tied to you, and a CD/DVD/USB with Windows, the process would be to first wipe the drive clean, then install Windows from scratch, and from that moment forward, never do anything, or enter information of any kind, that could be recorded in a log file or history file or cookie file that would link back to you.

Wiping a traditional hard drive is easy. I use Darik’s Boot and Nuke, which is freeware. But you must wipe the entire drive, including the boot sector, and totally destroy the pre-existing data. And, if you have a solid state drive (SSD), it’s even a bit more complicated.

First, you cannot use Darik’s, although nothing will tell you that. It will just seem to work, even though it didn’t. For an SSD, you can use Parted Magic but this is not freeware and will cost you $10. SSD’s are non-trivial to wipe clean.

Now, once the drive is wiped, and the operating system freshly installed, you will want to update Windows, and activate it, and/or install some driver software, just to get the laptop to a stable and usable baseline.

During this setup period, keep the wireless networking off and don’t allow the laptop to use your home wi-fi. Use some public wi-fi for this, or your guest wi-fi at work, as long as you don’t have to login. You want no possibility that your identity or home IP address would end up in some log, history, or cookie file, until we’ve improved our stealth with VPN.

Next, as said before, establish a private wallet on your laptop and fund it (by sweeping from your public wallet) such that you can pay for and install VPN. After VPN is running, you can use your laptop at home without fear your IP address will be detectable outside. Finally, install PGP and TOR to begin your adventure.

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A Single Computer Option: I recently acquired a brand new Chromebook laptop from Acer for $250. It’s a sleak machine that features a full 14” HD display in a thin all-aluminum frame. I’m seriously impressed with how much machine is available for the money. It is a very reasonably priced and fully functional spare machine that can serve as your private darknet shopper.

Now, you can’t actually use Chrome OS to do everything I propose so, in a bit of a hack, you will have to bag Chrome OS and change the operating system to Linux. This is a moderately complicated process that requires, among other things, the ability to reflash the bios. Screwing this up can render the machine un-usable so, if this is beyond your comfort zone, I recommend buying a used Windows based laptop off eBay and going down that route.

If you want to proceed, I recommend GalliumOS as your Linux distribution and their documentation pages will assist you in the process. There are many variations to the installation depending on your model. Once the OS is installed, all the prior software (Electrum, TOR, NordVPN, PGP) is available to run under Linux.

And using Linux essentially eliminates any security concerns. Thus the whole public and private computer model becomes moot. A single Chromebook can suffice and it’s unlikely that a ransomware bot will ever get in. Note though, for full protection, you must still sweep funds between two wallets (only now on the same computer) such that the marketplace transaction can be reverse engineered only so far, back only to the second wallet, and never back to your Coinbase account.

Jack Collins

I like skiing, fireworks, and beer...sometimes all at once!

ARTICLES

SEEKING ALPHA

in search of the true alpha male

MARITAL BLISS

or lack thereof

A PRIMER ON CRYPTO

plus Monero mining at home

ON THE AGING MALE

a midlife crisis reconsidered

CRAPS FOR THE COMMON MAN

strategies for the casual player

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

trip report from the forbidden island

GOVERNMENTAL BALANCE

on wealth and taxes

A JOURNEY INTO THE DARKNESS

shopping for contraband

SEEKING ALPHA

12/25/2023

If you're gonna die,die with your boots on.Iron Maiden

MARITAL BLISS

03/01/2022

Is there concrete all aroundor is it in my head?Mott The Hoople

A PRIMER ON CRYPTO

01/01/2021

Can we have everything louderthan everything else?Deep Purple

ON THE AGING MALE

05/24/2019

If you're tired of the same old story, turn some pages.I'll be here when you are ready, to roll with the changes.REO Speedwagon

CRAPS FOR THE COMMON MAN

04/15/2019

The winner don't knowwhat the gambler understands.Heart

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 1 - 03/04/2019

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 2 - 03/05/2019

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 3 - 03/06/2019

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 4 - 03/07/2019

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 5 - 03/08/2019

AN AMERICAN IN CUBA

Part 6 - 03/09/2019

I can't complain but,sometimes I still do.Joe Walsh

GOVERNMENTAL BALANCE

02/14/2019

Hey mama, look at me,I'm on my way to the promised land.AC/DC

A Journey Into The Darkness

Chapter 1 - 7/18 - The Darknet

A Journey Into The Darkness

Chapter 2 - 8/18 - Vigilance

A Journey Into The Darkness

Chapter 3 - 9/18 - Anonymity

A Journey Into The Darkness

Chapter 4 - 10/18 - Bitcoin

A Journey Into the darkness

Chapter 5 - 11/18 - Stealth

A Journey into the darkness

Chapter 6 - 12/18 - Other Tools

A journey into the darkness

Chapter 7 - 1/19 - Epilogue

I'm a software engineer living outside of Boston.jackvcollins@gmail.com

Website Design by Captain Rock Enterprises

If you're gonna die,
die with your boots on.
Iron Maiden

Is there concrete all around
or is it in my head?
Mott The Hoople

Can we have everything louder
than everything else?
Deep Purple

If you're tired of the same old story, turn some pages.
I'll be here when you are ready, to roll with the changes.
REO Speedwagon

The winner don't know
what the gambler understands.
Heart

I can't complain but,
sometimes I still do.
Joe Walsh

Hey mama, look at me,
I'm on my way to the promised land.
AC/DC

I'm a software engineer living outside of Boston.
jackvcollins@gmail.com