BTC mining is dead? Huh, that must be why the difficulty is the highest it's ever been. Oh, and the price is 10x what it was a year ago.
The only thing that might be dead is SOLO mining, which now makes it next to impossible to find a block on your own unless you have a massive chunk of the hashrate.
Actually, BTC mining with a pool is more profitable than ever right now. You might be mining fewer coins, but those coins are worth a heck of a lot more.
Yes, that is exactly what everyone is saying (about the impossibility of finding a block)-- How safe is mining for a pool? Should they be checked out first?