Here's an interesting and pretty hopeful post about Bitcoin mining: One guy mined a Bitcoin block by himself and earned himself a solid 3.195 BTC!

Now, you might be surprised to hear that most Bitcoin miners don't work alone and earn most of their work in regular small payments instead of waiting years to earn a big jackpot like this one.

However, as solo and as simple as these operations may seem, they definitely are not. This solo miner probably works with millions of dollars to run their equipment and keep it running. They probably have to hit these kinds of numbers every couple of months to actually turn a profit. Show Less