#second-largest

Ethereum solidifies its position as the second-largest cryptocurrency, experiencing a surge in market dominance over Bitcoin by 22.4% in the past week. This bullish momentum is corroborated by the daily creation of around 89.4 thousand new Ethereum addresses, a significant increase from early November's 70 thousand new addresses. A particularly noteworthy event was the creation of 96.3 thousand new wallets in a single day, highlighting Ethereum's increasing popularity.

Insights shared by Santiment through an X post shed light on Ethereum's remarkable market performance. The surge in market dominance coincides with a considerable reduction in Ethereum's supply on exchanges, dropping from 8.18% to 8.10% over a 10-day period. This shift suggests a growing trend of investors moving assets off exchanges, indicating a preference for long-term holding strategies or involvement in decentralized finance applications.

The surge in new Ethereum addresses corresponds with the cryptocurrency's growing market capitalization, reinforcing its position as the second-largest asset. The decline in supply on exchanges and the increasing rate of wallet creations point to heightened investor interest and confidence in Ethereum. This trend is likely propelled by various factors, including technological advancements within the Ethereum network, rising adoption in decentralized applications, and broader market trends favoring Ethereum over Bitcoin.

DES MOINES, Iowa — If it seems like lottery jackpots are getting larger and larger, it’s because they are getting larger and larger.

Friday night’s Mega Millions estimated grand prize has hit a staggering $1 billion, continuing a trend of giant jackpots. It’s the second-largest lottery prize in U.S. history and joins five other top 10 drawings in the last three years.

Lottery officials changed the odds in recent years to lessen the chance of winning a jackpot, which in turn increased the opportunity for top prizes to reach stratospheric levels. A look at how the numbers work out:

WHY REDUCE THE NUMBER OF JACKPOTS?

The theory was that bigger jackpots would draw more attention, leading more players to plop down $2 for a Mega Millions or Powerball ticket. The more tickets sold, the more the jackpots grow, leading to more players and … you get the idea.

Powerball was the first to try the theory in October 2015, when it changed the potential number combinations. In doing so, Powerball changed the odds of winning the jackpot from one in 175 million to one in 292.2 million. Officials at that time also increased the chances of winning small prizes. Mega Millions made similar moves in October 2017, resulting in the odds worsening from one in 259 million to one in 302.5 million

DID IT WORK?

States have generally reported increased Mega Millions and Powerball sales since the change. But the ever-increasing jackpots have left them ever-more dependent on those massive payouts because prizes that once seemed so immense now seem almost puny in comparison. Consider the current $430 million Powerball jackpot. That’s an incredible amount of money, but compared to the Mega Millions prize hovering around $1 billion, it barely seems worth the bother of buying a ticket.

WHEN THE JACKPOT GETS ENORMOUS, WHAT ARE SALES LIKE?

It’s hard to overstate how fast lottery tickets fly out of the mini marts when the top prizes get so large. In California, for example, the lottery Thursday sold $5.7 million in Mega Millions tickets during the first half of the day. The height of sales came during the lunch hour, when people were buying 200 tickets per second.

IF I WIN, WHAT MAKES IT INTO THE BANK?

Don’t count on making a deposit for anywhere close to $1 billion if you win the Friday night drawing. Nearly all winners take the cash option, which was about $548 million as of Friday morning. After federal taxes and state deductions, which vary across the country, winners will generally end up with around half that amount to pay for their yacht shopping. The annuity option guarantees more money, but it’s paid over 29 years and also would result in a hefty tax bill.

GIVEN THE AWFUL ODDS, AM I A SUCKER TO PLAY?

You’re not being rational if you think you have a good chance of winning the jackpot, whether it’s with one ticket or 100. The probabilities are overwhelmingly not in your favor.

How bad are they? Cornelius Nelan, a math professor at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut, notes the odds are about the same as rolling a die and getting a one, 11 times in a row.

Most people don’t expect to win and instead think the $2 ticket is a small price to dream and be part of a wishful conversation with co-workers or family. As Jane L. Risen, a professor of behavioral science at the University of Chicago, puts it: When the jackpot grows so large, “it creates this sense of community. It creates this sense of camaraderie. I also think that it creates a potential sense of regret to not be the one playing,” she said.

By SCOTT McFETRIDGE – Oct 19. 2018 – 5:44 PM EDT

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Associated Press journalist Teresa Crawford in Chicago contributed to this report.

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Follow Scott McFetridge on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/smcfetridge

The Thames Barrier, the world's second-largest movable flood barrier, as seen from Silvertown on the north bank of the River Thames during normal operation, looking across to New Charlton. The barrier is located downstream of central London and its purpose is to prevent London from being flooded by exceptionally high tides and storm surges moving up from the sea. It needs to be raised (closed) only during high tide; at ebb tide it can be lowered to release the water that backs up behind it.

'We believe that the distinction between internet and TV viewing will fast disappear as on-demand video takes centre stage,' says Gautam Anand, director, Google (Asia-Pacific Japan).

Amplify’d from www.techgig.com

Google owns world's second-largest search engine too!

Unknown to most, YouTube-the six-year-old video-sharing website-has become the second-largest search engine in the world after Google.

Soon www could stand for world wide watching. Unknown to most, YouTube—the six-year-old video-sharing website—has become the second-largest search engine in the world after Google. It gets two billion views a day, up 50% since 2009. A startup set up by three PayPal employees in 2005, YouTube was bought by Google in 2006 for $1.65 billion. Now it is gearing up to compete with TV. 'We believe that the distinction between internet and TV viewing will fast disappear as on-demand video takes centre stage,' says Gautam Anand, director, Google (Asia-Pacific Japan). YouTube is adding new streams of content and figuring new ways to make money. In the US it has signed up with MGM and CBS to let them upload films and TV serials with advertisements. Last year, it launched an online film rental service in the US. But online video services like Netflix, Hulu—and even Facebook—present formidable competition. The India journey It has nearly 20 million unique users in India. Top hits here mirror what works globallymovies and sports. So Bollywood content dominates and cricket isn't far behind. Dabangg premiered on YouTube in India. Google says Indian content producers lead in adopting and experimenting with YouTube. Monetisation Google isn't ready to disclose if YouTube is profitable yet, but the company says it will continue to offer free content and monetise the traffic to generate ad revenues. It is monetising over 2 billion video views in the US every week and has more than 1,000 partners. Advertisers like Samsung say YouTube's 24/7 availability , specially to office goers is a big draw. HSBC, SBI, HUL, Coca-Cola , Hero Honda, GM, Airtel and Nokia are among the advertisers on YouTube India. For now, YouTube and its rivals could hope that www will also stand for world wide wealth.

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