Visible with unaided eyes for several days (but still dimmer than about 120 stars in the sky), and with binoculars for about a week, according to NASA.
On 20 April 2016, the Sky and Telescope website reported a sustained brightening since February 2015 from magnitude 10.5 to about 9.2. A similar event was reported in 1938, followed by another outburst in 1946.[20] By June 2018, the star had dimmed slightly but still remained at an unusually high level of activity. In March or April 2023, it dimmed to magnitude 12.3.[21] A similar dimming occurred in the year before the 1945 outburst, indicating that it will likely erupt between March and September 2024.
And if I'm interpreting some of the other content correctly, it'll come and go in one night? Maybe someone who knows more about these can confirm or correct me.. See update below.
Also ..
Even when at peak magnitude of 2.5, this recurrent nova is dimmer than about 120 stars in the night sky.
Once its brightness peaks, it should be visible to the unaided eye for several days and just over a week with binoculars before it dims again, possibly for another 80 years.
Holy crap! She was "saving up" to buy a condo instead of using that money to pay off the credit cards? That's absolutely insane. I really feel like society would benefit immensely if there were mandatory financial literacy courses every 4 years, or at least before any major purchases (house, car, etc).
Server admins are just people, generously running a server, for you. This costs them time and money to do. If they don't want their server amplifying the content from some other server that they see as problematic, they absolutely should have that option.
The channel in my example only needs to be opened with one month's pay, not 6 years worth. The same initial balance goes repeatedly goes back and forth across the channel as it is paid and spent. But your "superior knowledge" of the subject matter is clearly all you need to make your "informed" decisions, so, whatever. I wish you well.
Re: your on chain transactions argument, you're completely over looking (intentionally?) the fact that day to day transactions don't need to be on chain. In fact many would argue that they shouldn't be on chain. Layer 2 protocols can handle all of that.
Just one example scenario could be...
Step 1. Your employer opens a Lightning Network channel to your node (self hosted, or not, your call). This requires one on chain transaction (actually, there are enhancements that allow opening multiple channels in a single transaction, but that's beyond the scope of this conversation.)
Step 2. Every month, your employer pays you over this channel. No new on chain transactions happen for this.
Step 3. You use the channel to pay your rent/mortage, utility bill, etc. Still, no new on chain transactions.
Step 4. You continue to use the channel to buy groceries, lunch, drinks for friends, a massage, etc. No on chain transactions.
Step 5. Oops, you've got a bill that needs to be paid in fiat. What now?!? Use the channel to transfer some Bitcoin to your bank account, where it's automatically converted into fiat. Pay your bill from there. Still no on chain transactions.
Step 6. Return to step 2. Still no on chain transactions.
...
Step 3,658,423. 6 years later, you leave your job, Your employer closes the channel. Any Bitcoin left on your side of the channel (if any) is sent to an on chain address that you provided in step 1. This requires one more on chain transaction.
Total number of on chain transactions in 6 years and countless payments: 2
In reality, that's probably not exactly how it would work. For instance, I would quickly just send my entire paycheck back out on the channel to a different LN channel I had open with a reliable node operator so that I wasn't dependent on my employer keeping their node running over the weekend so I could pick up the tab at the bar. Etc
Regardless, that's how it could work. There are countless other ways it could work, limited only by the desires and imagination of those setting up their channels, and all allowing for countless transactions over months, years, even decades, to be represented by two small on chain transactions.
You don't think that the world banking system would use more energy if it quintupled in size? The world banking system uses more energy every time your local credit union installs an ATM at another grocery store.
Per what capita? There's only one global banking system on Earth. That's what makes it global. There's only one Bitcoin blockchain, and it's globally accessible. Trying to subdivide either into arbitrary regions based on geographic or geopolitical borders is meaningless.
I don't disagree with anything you said. Yes, it's confusing and there's no shortage of scammers trying to make it more confusing in order to bamboozle people.
My humble advice is to ignore "crypto". Adopt, at least for now, the philosophy that, "it's either Bitcoin, or shit coin." That'll simplify things immensely for those just getting started, and is true for at least 99.9% of other coins out there (100% if you want my honest opinion).
Maybe, in the distant future, when/if you decide to dive down the rabbit hole and really get comfortable how Bitcoin functions and what gives it value, then you'll be in a better position to judge other coins. More likely, you won't bother because you won't need to.
But, mark my words, nothing is going to replace Bitcoin. Some other coins might manage to fulfill some esoteric fringe use cases that Bitcoin doesn't, and maybe one those use cases will be beneficial to you. If so, awesome. But they're not going to be able to replace Bitcoin.
Layer 2 protocols are tools that operate on top of the (admittedly slow and variable) Bitcoin blockchain. Lightning Network (LN) is currently the most prominent and allows secure transactions that complete in a few seconds with extremely small fees. LN addresses the "it's too slow/unpredictable" argument against Bitcoin.
There are many other Layer 2 protocols running on top of Bitcoin in various stages of development and production addressing different issues and use cases. But, you don't need to know about any of them, honestly. You don't need to pick the winner (there will be many winners doing different things). When any of them catch on and go mainstream, then that will drive more demand for Bitcoin to help power that protocol.
Visible with unaided eyes for several days (but still dimmer than about 120 stars in the sky), and with binoculars for about a week, according to NASA.