I sort of checked out of the Protoshares universe in January because of some personal stuff.  Since then there have been a lot of changes.  Now my PTS are converted over to Bitshares-PS, BitsharesX is installed, and I've bought some BTSX at bter.  I guess the PTS will turn into some number of BTS at some later date...but I'm not sure how that will happen. (How will that happen, actually?)

All this has been done, admittedly not entirely wrapping my head around all the concepts yet. So I have two questions:

1. Why would someone want to 'register' his account on the blockchain? Is this just for convenience, or for some other reason?

2. What is a 'delegate', and why would someone want to make her account one?

I've read some explanations, but clearer ones would be appreciated.  If I wrap my head around this more fully, I can probably help with explaining this to an equally confused public.