Loading ...Artistic license or chemtrails I guess we’ll never know.
Japan and China open
Gold up, dollar down.
ipso,
it’s a commemorative issue about the pope travelling the world spreading the Gospel. Hence the plane.
Buygold
You have it! Looks a little chemtrailish … 
Shows where the Vatican stands.
Oil getting smashed tonight
Down 2 bones to the $56 area. Still haven’t seen a big drop at the pump yet though. $.10-.15 maybe. I noticed 5 dozen eggs has dropped from almost $30 down to $15 this weekend. Another $8 and we’re good.
Ipso – I think I have that coin. I’ve never given it a good look though. Interesting.
Meandering around tonight, but not down yet. Wonder when the Chinese come back to play?
How I Use an Ethereum Explorer to Track Transactions, Wallets, and ERC‑20 Tokens
Okay, so check this out—blockchain explorers are the GPS of Ethereum. Wow! They show you where funds moved, when a contract was called, and which token just minted a billion coins. My instinct said explorers were just for nerds. Then I actually started using one daily and things changed. Initially I thought they were only useful for devs, but then realized every user benefits from knowing how to read a transaction, spot a scam, or verify a token’s provenance.
Short version: an explorer turns opaque blocks into readable stories. Seriously? Yes. Transactions are more than hashes; they’re narratives with actors, gas fees, and intents. If you’re tracking ETH or ERC‑20s, you’ll want to learn three things fast: how to read a tx page, how to inspect token contracts, and how to detect dangerous token approvals. I’ll walk through each, with practical tips I’ve used while debugging real wallet problems (and yeah, I messed up a swap once—more on that later).
Start simple. Look up a transaction hash. Look at status. Check block confirmations. See who paid the gas. See the “To” address. These small checks answer the big questions: did it confirm? was it a contract call or plain transfer? Sometimes you don’t need to be a developer to catch a scam. Hmm… somethin’ felt off about that token? Then dig in.
Practical walkthrough — reading a transaction
Open an explorer and paste a tx hash. (I tend to use etherscan for day-to-day checks.) The top-level info is deceptively useful: status, block number, timestamp, and confirmations. A pending tx has zero confirmations—stop there if you need to cancel or replace it. On one hand, waiting five confirmations is usually safe; on the other, your use case may need more. Actually, wait—let me rephrase that: for most retail transfers 12 confirmations is a safe benchmark, but exchanges have their own rules.
Look at the gas section next. Gas price and gas used tell you whether the tx was expensive or cheap. If gas used is way lower than gas limit, something aborted (and you still paid gas). If it used the full limit, that’s a red flag for a possible stuck loop or malicious contract. My gut says always pause if you see weird gas numbers. Also, check the input data. You don’t need to decode everything—just spot whether the tx targeted a contract function like “approve”, “mint”, or “transferFrom”. Those matter.
Internal transactions are often misunderstood. They aren’t separate transactions stored on their own; they’re value transfers triggered by contract logic. So when a swap looks like two transfers, it’s often an internal transfer inside a DEX contract. That detail saved me once when debugging a failed swap that still moved assets internally and then refunded them—very very tricky.
ERC‑20 token pages — what to inspect
Token trackers contain the core facts: total supply, holders, transfers, and contract code. First rule: verify the contract source code is published and matches the verified bytecode. If it’s not verified, treat it like unknown territory. Check owner privileges. Can the owner mint new tokens? Can they pause transfers? Those functions are the knobs that can wreck your bag. I’m biased, but I always look for a renounceOwnership call in the history.
Watch for these specific red flags: excessive mint functions, an ability to blacklist addresses, or functions that can change balances arbitrarily. Also, check the token’s decimals; if you read amounts as whole numbers you could be off by 18 orders of magnitude. Seriously, that mistake burned a colleague once—he thought he had 1 token, but decimals were 6 and… yeah.
Liquidity behavior matters too. See whether liquidity was added to a pool and whether liquidity tokens were locked. If a developer can rug the pool and then drain it, the token is high risk. Look at token transfers: are there many tiny transfers from the deployer to dozens of wallets? That pattern can indicate bot distribution or wash trading.
Approvals, allowances, and how to stay safe
Approvals are the leaky faucet of DeFi. A single approval grants a contract permission to move your tokens. Whoa! If you approved an infinite allowance to a contract with a dubious reputation, revoke it. Use the approvals checker (or interact directly with the token contract) to see which contracts have allowances and how large they are. I like to periodically revoke allowances to dApps I no longer use. It’s tedious, but worth it.
One trick: when interacting with a new contract, approve only the exact amount needed instead of infinite, and only after testing a tiny transfer. My method is conservative: smaller approvals, more confirmations. On the flip side, replacing a pending approval transaction requires nonce tricks—careful, because messing up nonces can lock your wallet until you fix it. I’m not 100% sure this is beginner-friendly, but you can learn it.
Also: watch for contracts that require “setApprovalForAll” or delegate approvals. Those are more powerful and riskier. If a contract asks for that, pause and double-check. This part bugs me—users often sign without understanding the scope of what they’re allowing.
What to do when a transaction is stuck or you suspect fraud
If a tx is pending, you can either speed it up (by resubmitting with a higher gas price) or try to cancel it by sending a 0 ETH tx with the same nonce and higher gas price. That’s basic nonce replacement. But be aware: if the original tx has already been mined by the time your replacement arrives, nothing changes. Timing is everything. On the bright side, many wallets offer one-click “speed up” options that do the heavy lifting.
If you suspect fraud—say you got a token you didn’t expect—don’t interact with it. Immediately revoke approvals where possible, and move high-value funds to a fresh wallet. It’s a pain, but better than losing everything. (oh, and by the way… if you move funds, keep the nonce sequence in mind, or you’ll create new headaches.)
Common questions from users
How many confirmations should I wait for?
For most retail uses, waiting 12 confirmations is plenty. Exchanges might require more. High-value transfers could justify more waiting. My rule of thumb: more valuable the transfer, more conservatism in confirmations.
How can I tell if a token is a scam?
Look for unverified contracts, owner mint capabilities, tiny liquidity, and sudden token dumps from the deployer. Check holder concentration—if one wallet holds most supply, proceed cautiously. Also verify whether the liquidity is locked and whether the contract code is audited or at least publicly verified.
silver rider @ 22:19
Our thanks to you for setting such an outstanding example for others to follow and build on.
In doing so, Alabama continues to be a source of pride for the entire country that will inspire others.
I hope you get all the help you need to further your efforts.
Our freedom depends on your success.
Alabama Reaffirms Gold and Silver As Legal Tender
Your success will bring more benefits to Alabama than many realize, as people are looking for alternatives to a failing federal mandate that has now become overtly exploitive.
Keep up the good work.
Best to you
Maya
Good thinking of making your own. There is coverage for things like that depending on your insurance under durable medical products.
I wouldn’t worry about a scar in that area either other than healing well. Vita E is controversial but I know it works if your not allergic. A doctor told me about it about 40 years ago although I already read something on it especially taking the pills because some will try to put it on a wound before it’s closed and not meant for that, it’s meant for scaring or rub it on and irritate it.
The suture area, you’d be surprised how far they can stretch out a suture area, it’s just not the cutting that makes is sore afterwards.Lol Think of a C Section.
Goldie
My operative leg is about 1 cm longer now. I can feel it… like I step upwards on that foot. We will see how it works out as the muscles heal. It’s all about sizing the inserts in the bone. He showed me at the checkup. The next smaller thigh insert would have taken me several cm shorter, which would have been much worse. He gave me the card of a shoe specialist who puts inserts into the soles of the sandals we all wear in Hawaii. But rather than spend the money, I am going to try to ‘homebrew’ one myself by gluing (Shoe Goo) an old flat slipper sole onto one of my better hard-sole sandals. Seems to be about the right height.
I’m just freaking amazed I am getting around this well only two weeks after surgery. Can’t wait for the muscles to heal so I’m not so ‘gimpy’ with better balance later. I’m not worried about the scar. It’s only about 4 inches on the front of the thigh. Won’t show unless I’m wearing speedos. LOL! Not happening! Can’t believe all that hardware went in thru that small cut. 🙂
