(Not going to quite everyone due to post length, but to Poker, Franky and Ranochigo, thanks, it all helps me zero in on what I am failing to understand!)

What I get at this point is that PoW takes effort, hence the source seems more serious/honest. Like the woman putting on high heels that she hates to show that she respects the host of the party enough to make an effort. But not every transaction is performed by someone mining a hash, so I still do not entirely get how a mined block verifies the individual transaction better than the network confirmation?

I will reread the paper, maybe I just overlooked something the first seven times. I'm not known as the brightest bulb, but I get tired of my buddy being all smug about me handing him money to invest without me knowing what he does, that smug little s.o.b. :p