Initial commit

README.md

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+# bitcoin-utils
+
+Some basic bitcoin utilities utilizing the [blockchain.info](https://blockchain.info/q/)
+query api. Stick them someplace easy for quick access!
+
+```
+$ git clone https://www.github.com/tynes/bitcoin-utils ~/bitcoin-utils
+```
+
+"Asics are making mining too centralized. Regular people have no chance anymore."
+
+"What do you mean? There is some chance that I could mine the next block."
+
+```
+$ date +%Y-%m-%d
+> 2018-05-03
+$ ~/bitcoin-utils/probability
+> 0.0000000000000000000000578884179218271
+```
+
+
+"So you think you can win the lottery?"
+
+
+```
+This is the New Improved Lottery. It shows a
+constantly fluctuating probability distribution
+over the likelihood of a win occurring, the
+likelihood of particular numbers being selected,
+with the overall expectation working out to the
+the aforesaid Poisson distribution. You
+could feed it to a display on people's
+cellphones, so they could just flip open the
+cellphone and see their chances of winning.
+Think of how exciting *that* would be! Much
+more exciting than trying to balance your checkbook!
+This new dream would be so much tastier
+that it would compete with, not only
+hopes of going to technical school, but
+even hopes of getting home from work early.
+People could just stay glued to the screen
+all day long, why, they wouldn't need to
+dream about anything else!
+
+Yep, offering people tempting daydreams that
+will not actually happen sure is a valuable
+service, all right.  People are willing to pay,
+it must be valuable.  The alternative is that
+consumers are making mistakes, and we all
+know that can't happen.
+
+And yet current governments, with their vile monopoly
+on lotteries, don't offer this simple and obvious
+service.  Why?  Because they want to overcharge
+people.  They want them to spend money every week.
+They want them to spend a hundred dollars for the
+thrill of believing their chance of winning is a
+hundred times as large, instead of being able
+to stare at a cellphone screen waiting for the
+likelihood to spike.  So if you believe that the
+lottery is a service, it is clearly an enormously
+overpriced service—charged to the poorest members
+of society—and it is your solemn duty as a citizen
+to demand the New Improved Lottery instead. [1]
+```
+
+---
+__pay attention__ / pā əˈten(t)SH(ə)n / : _idiom_ - to concentrate on
+
+---
+
+```
+It would mean that you're occupying your valuable
+brain with a fantasy whose real probability is
+nearly zero—a tiny line of likelihood which you,
+yourself, can do nothing to realize.  The lottery
+balls will decide your future.  The fantasy is
+of wealth that arrives without effort—without
+conscientiousness, learning, charisma, or even patience.
+
+Which makes the lottery another kind of sink: a sink of
+emotional energy.  It encourages people to invest
+their dreams, their hopes for a better future,
+into an infinitesimal probability.  If not for
+the lottery, maybe they would fantasize about
+going to technical school, or opening their own
+business, or getting a promotion at work—things
+they might be able to actually do, hopes that
+would make them want to become stronger.
+
+Many people don't realize that a numerical
+calculation of expected utility ought to
+override or replace their imprecise financial
+instincts, and instead treat the calculation
+as merely one argument to be balanced
+against their pleasant anticipations — an
+emotionally weak argument, since it's
+made up of mere squiggles on paper,
+instead of visions of fabulous wealth. [2]
+```
+
+---
+
+ ⚛ ☦ 🕉 the universal currency is attention. spend it on what you love.  ☸ ☪ 🔯
+
+ ---
+
+## api
+
+| script         | usage                  | description                                                            |
+| -------------  |------------------------| -----------------------------------------------------------------------|
+| getdifficulty  | $ getdifficulty        | current difficulty target as a decimal number                          |
+| getblockcount  | $ getblockcount        | current block height in the longest chain                              |
+| latesthash     | $ latesthash           | hash of the latest block                                               |
+| bcperblock     | $ bcperblock           | current block reward in BTC                                            |
+| totalbc        | $ totalbc              | total Bitcoins in circulation (delayed by up to 1 hour])               |
+| probability    | $ probability          | probability of finding a valid block each hash attempt                 |
+| hashestowin    | $ hashestowin          | average number of hash attempts needed to solve a block                |
+| nextretarget   | $ nextretarget         | block height of the next difficulty retarget                           |
+| avgtxsize      | $ avgtxsize \<blocks>   | average transaction size for the past number of blocks - default: 1000 |
+| avgtxvalue     | $ avgtxvalue           | average transaction value (1000 Default)                               |
+| interval       | $ interval             | average time between blocks in seconds                                 |
+| eta            | $ eta                  | estimated time until the next block (in seconds)                       |
+| avgtxnumber    | $ avgtxnumber \<blocks> | average number of transactions per block - default: 100                |
+| bestblockheader| $                      | TODO                                                                   |
+
+### sources
+
+[1] - [New Improved Lottery](https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QawvGzYWhqdyPWgBL/new-improved-lottery)  
+[2] - [Lotteries: A Waste of Hope](https://www.lesswrong.com/s/FrqfoG3LJeCZs96Ym/p/vYsuM8cpuRgZS5rYB)  
+[*] - [GEB](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6del,_Escher,_Bach)

avgtxnumber

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/avgtxnumber/$1

avgtxsize

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/avgtxsize/$1

avgtxvalue

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/avgtxvalue

bcperblock

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/bcperblock

eta

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/eta

getblockcount

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/getblockcount

getdifficulty

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/getdifficulty

hashestowin

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/hashestowin

interval

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/interval

latesthash

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/latesthash

nextretarget

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/nextretarget

probability

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/probability

test.sh

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+#!/bin/bash
+
+dir=$(dirname "$(which "$0")")
+
+# ignore README and .sh
+files=$(ls "$dir/" | grep -v README | grep -v '^.*\.sh$')
+_exit=0
+
+# the name of each file corresponds with
+# the uri in the blockchain.info api
+for file in $files; do
+    if [[ ! $(cat "$PWD/$file" | grep $file) ]]; then
+        echo "FAIL: $file"
+        _exit=1
+    else
+        echo "PASS: $file"
+    fi
+done
+
+exit "$_exit"

totalbc

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+curl https://blockchain.info/q/totalbc