How Much Can You Really Earn From Bitcoin Games?

With the popularity of NFT games on the rise, I wanted to try out one and find out how much I can realistically earn if I played the game on a daily basis. I picked Bitcoin Sudoku from the Google Play Store.

After playing a game of Sudoku, I can earn between 1400 and 3000 points. These points can then be exchanged for Bitcoins after meeting a certain minimum threshold. I needed nearly 10,000 points (between 4 and 5 Sudoku games) before I could exchange it and I got 0.00000001 Bitcoins which, as of the time of this writing was equivalent to 0.01 USD or about 1 US cent. So, if I played this game on a daily basis, I would get 3.65 USD after a year of playing. I'm not so sure that's a smart way of spending my time and phone's energy, plus wearing out my phone's touch screen.

Bitcoin Sudoku also has a maximum number of games allowed per number of hours. I guess this is to prevent players from playing the game continuously using some kind of AI-PC setup. So even if I could up my daily output to 10 cents per day, or 36.5 USD per year, this would require either active participation on my part, or some technical wizardry to come up with an AI who can play this game continuously without getting bored.

The developer/s of the game on the other hand, earns about 0.18 cents on every ad that it shows after every completed game. That's roughly 90 cents every 5 games, or 9 dollars per day if I upped the number of games I played per day to 50. That's 3,285 USD going to the game's developer/s after a year, and that's passive income on his part since all he had to do was wait for me to play his game. That's nearly 100 times what I'm theoretically going to get if I played the game at maximum effort for an entire year.

So, although many articles talk positively about the earning potential from NFT games, I think that most of these games are actually a waste of time and energy - time and energy you could be devoting to actually learning more practical things. While there is potential in trading for game pets or game items in other types of games, the chances of that occurring on a regular basis is probably like winning the lottery.

Star Trek Picard Season 2 Trailer

Warning: Possible spoilers ahead. Read at your own risk. 

I just saw the new trailer of Star Trek Picard and it appears that Trekkies have a great second season to look forward to by March 2022. The trailer shows Q, Guinan, The Borg Queen, Vulcans mind melding with human children, and time travel to Earth 2024. Check the trailer out for yourself below.

 

 

So like any other time travel movie, we expect that something has happened in the past that changes the events in the future and our heroes have to make the correction, otherwise, the future is doomed. It will be interesting to see why Q has once again re-emerged. If you have been watching Star Trek Discovery, it was mentioned that the Federation hasn't heard from any representative of the Q Continuum for a long time, and they have nothing to do with the moving "black hole" that is endangering the Discovery crew's future. And Discovery is already ahead of Star Trek Picard's timeline. (I think)

I also remember, from trading cards, (again I think) that Guinan is supposedly as powerful as Q, although they have never gone head to head in the original Star Trek Next Generation series. So how will these two interact in this new season?

Also, why is the Borg Queen alive again? Didn't the Enterprise crew deal with her in the movie First Contact? Will the Borg collective rise once again and become a threat to the universe?

And what happens in 2024 that is significant to the Picard and friends' future? Humans and Vulcans met for the first time in 2063 and was the reason for the birth of the Federation? If they meet earlier, is this the reason for the divergence in the time line?

As a next generation fan, I can't wait to see it all tie together next month.

The Covid Pandemic and Post Tribulation Beliefs

I have been thinking about Christians who believe that the Lord Jesus Christ will only return for His people after the seven year Great Tribulation period.

The Bible says that during the reign of the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation, people cannot buy or sell without the mark of the Beast either on their right hand or on their forehead.

We have experienced how hard it is when our rights become limited. Governments can restrict movement during the pandemic by removing our rights to go out of our homes, our rights to riding public transportation, or access to malls and other establishments, and even other regions and countries. People can easily lose their jobs or business or source of livelihood.

So, if you are a Christian who is present during the seven year Great Tribulation, can you really survive? Even if you are a Doomsday Prepper, and have your own farm for food, solar panels for energy and deep well for water, how long can you last? And if governments take these sources of necessities away from you, what then?

It has been easy for governments to sway people into getting vaccinated. They use carrots and sticks. How easy will it be for the one world government to sway people into getting the mark of the Beast on their right hand or forehead? This pandemic is the test if one rule can be imposed on the entire world by all countries and if every individual can be forced to follow.

Thanks be to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. If a believer finds himself in this situation, God will give him the strength to live on or the courage to face death for the Lord.

Last Shelter: Bane Blade

After what seemed like an eternity of gaming, I finally completed my first Bane Blade 6-part set. How long did it take for a free to play player like me? Seems like it took more than two years. And when I tested the set against the same hero formation I was using, the increase in damage didn't seem to be that big a deal. Nowadays, it's the heroes you have and the abilities you get from hopeness lab that spell the difference in matches. Still, that's one more item off the bucket list of things I want to accomplish in this game.

Thank You, Arwind Santos

 As a long time fan of SMB's Beeracle Team - the only team to come back from a 3-0 deficit in a finals match, I would just like to say...

Thank you, Arwind Santos.

Today, the news of the trade between SMB and Northport came out. Arwind Santos for Vic Manuel. I know that Arwind's game has been on the decline. I don't remember if it started when the PBA banned his Spiderman - feet on the backboard - dunk... or when Standhardinger came into San Miguel and started eating away at Arwind's minutes at the 4 spot. And imports during the Commissioner's Cup and Governor's Cup also took away from Arwind's minutes. SMB tried to play him at the 3, like Marcio Lassiter, but Arwind was slower than other players on the opposing team, at this spot.

Santos was really perfect for SMB at the 4 position, especially during the All-Filipino Cup. There was a time when Jun Mar could pick 4-three point shooter spots from the post. Cabagnot, Lassiter, Ross, and Santos all were three-point threats. This strategy has even been copied by TNT, and modified so that their Center can shoot the three. But SMB was so deadly when it's three-point game was on, I really think that this was one of the keys why they dominated from 2014 to 2018. I even heard one PBA commentator say that the only constants in this world are death, taxes, and Arwind Santos threes.

Arwind was also an excellent shot blocker. And with him and Jun Mar manning the post during their prime, you could expect a block party for SMB. Even during this year, 2021, there were glimpses of Arwind's brilliance at blocking during some of the PBA games.

But Arwind was not just good at threes and blocks. His dunks used to give SMB energy, much like Troy Rosario does now for TNT. But ever since his Spiderman dunks were banned, he started going for this akward layup that - in my opinion was too low and blockable. And he would even miss the layup at times instead of it being a sure finish. But this was when his game was already on the decline.

I'm not sure if Vic Manuel will be as good a replacement for Arwind Santos. Maybe SMB tried to make a play for Jaime Malonzo, but failed, so they went for whoever could fill their weakness at the 4 position. Vic Manuel doesn't have a consistent 3 like Santos. Maybe he will develop that at SMB.

But this habit of letting go of good players to become better by SMB... it's something I've seen since the Gabby Espinas trade. The Ganuelas-Rosser trade and the Heruela trade are some of the trades I wish SMB didn't go through. MGR would have been a decent replacement for Santos. Heruela was the best guard against Jason Castro. I guess it's inevitable that SMB ran out of good role players to trade, and now, the members of the death squad are no longer untouchable. Cabagnot and Lassiter might be next on the trading block since they are no longer averaging double digits in their output.

Perhaps this trade signifies the death of the death squad era. And maybe it is time for SMB to invest in good support players that will help prolong the remnants of their aging core. So while we fans await the return of SMB to the finals stage, I can just watch replays of the death squad's glory days on YouTube. And one of the reasons why they were so good was Arwind Santos.

TNT Finally Ends Title Drought in 2021

I wrote this post more than three years ago, ending with this statement "Castro, Romeo, Pogoy and Rosario could be the best local core that TNT can use to match up against SMB."

With the exception of Romeo, who by the way, ended up with SMB, Castro, Pogoy, and Rosario are still part of the TNT team that won this year's Philippine Cup. But they wouldn't have done it without the additions of Rookie of the Year, Mikey Williams, and the best local center who can match up against Jun Mar Fajardo, Poy Eram.

Mikey Williams was simply incredible for a rookie. His consistency beyond the arc is just stunning. Magnolia could not find anyone to guard against his three point shots. Small players cannot match his three-point jump shot. Tall players who try to guard him are slow to get to him, and he can opt to drive to the basket. TNT may have lost Ray Parks Jr., but who cares. Mikey Williams might just inherit Jason Castro's mantle, unless he also ends up in Japan like most of the young Filipino players nowadays.

Poy Eram showed his potential against Jun Mar Fajardo long ago when he was still with Blackwater. In one of their matches, he showcased that he could hit the three-point shot, forcing Jun Mar to defend the perimeter, freeing the paint for other TNT offensive players to operate. That's why the MVP group wanted Eram bad, and he might have had to go through NLEX for a few seasons, but eventually landed in TNT.

You could see the hunger in Pogoy, Castro, Rosario and Eram. Even vets like Kelly Williams and Ryan Reyes had renewed vigor. And with the return of Coach Chot Reyes, this had to be the year TNT finally overcame SMB. Now that they know how to win over the Beermen, we might just see a new dynasty for the next few seasons.

LTO Car Registration Renewal 2021

This has been the 5th time I've gone through the car registration renewal process of the LTO. I was expecting the usual steps.

1. Get emission testing certificate
2. Get CTPL insurance
3. Go to LTO and have a technician help accomplish the MVIR form
4. Have documents assessed
5. Pay the Cashier
6. Claim your OR/CR

Left the house at around 9:00 A.M. and arrived at the emission testing center at around 10:00 A.M. Testing was done in around 15 minutes. The test center even offered insurance coverage so I was done with steps 1 and 2. 

At the LTO, after finding a suitable parking spot, the technician was able to stencil the required info to our MVIR form in around 20 minutes. I then had to check out a checklist of required documents and leave this with the security guard who attached a number to my documents.

This is when my 5-hour wait began. This was amazing considering I had gone through the same registration process when the country was already experiencing COVID-19. And I also experienced what is was like before COVID-19. And this was the first time I've had to wait this long. Before, my worst experience was probably around 3-hours of waiting time.

There were multiple times when different people would go to the cashier's window and ask if their name was already called. This was very different from my experiences before. Maybe, it is high time that the Quezon City government help the LTO improve their queuing system. Not having any kind of tracking number, and completely surrendering your documents without any proof that you've already submitted all of these to the LTO, for me, creates anxiety. What if the documents were lost in the process? How do I prove that I've submitted them already? How do I track where the documents are in case I want to leave? etc. etc.

So, when people go to the Cashier window and ask if their name was already called, this further causes delays in the process. The cashier personnel has to act as customer service and re-check the documents that have been called to verify if the person was already bypassed. They then have to direct the person back to the assessment window.

There were also cases wherein an LTO representative would call out the name of a person who was already waiting at the cashier's area and inform that person that some of his documents were missing. This could have been avoided if the documents were assessed properly at the time of submission.

I can also understand why some of the people waiting were worried. The waiting area can be considered an enclosed area, and during the time of COVID-19, nobody wants to be stuck in a room full of people, even if the room is at 50% capacity. So some people would rather wait in open-space areas than in that room, and this was the reason why they'd have to pester the cashier every so often.

After what seemed like an eternity, my name was finally called and I had to pay 1,610 pesos. Combine this amount with 500 pesos for emission testing, 1,000 pesos for the insurance and the 50 pesos tip to the technician, and the total amount spent was around 3,160 pesos.

The cashier issued the new printed OR which looks like a photocopy of some receipt. There was no CR issued. According to the LTO personnel, this was part of the new system. And this was also the reason why it took a long time for registration. (Sounds fishy, since a black and white print-out on regular bond paper should take less time and resources than a more elaborate colored OR and CR. But that's life in the Philippines)

So, the next time you have the car's registration renewed, you might want to take along a book, or your mobile phone for entertainment. Expect a long time of waiting.