In this talk, I will describe a new paradigm for constructing a family of extremely simple blockchain protocols. Not only will the talk serve as an accessible tutorial on distributed consensus, the technical ideas described in the talk will also naturally lead to the new consensus schemes (called Pili and Pala) being considered as ThunderCore's main-net candidates. (Note: Pili-pala means the sound of thunder in Chinese. It also means fast, furious, and streamlined).