Cryptocurrency markets are volatile enough without making simple, easily avoidable mistakes.
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them.
Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody.
Here we’ll explore some of the more common mistakes that cryptocurrency investors and traders make and how you can protect yourself from unnecessary losses.
Losing your keys
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger technology that offers high levels of security for digital assets without the need for a centralized custodian. However, this puts the onus of protection on asset holders, and storing the cryptographic keys to your digital asset wallet safely is an integral part of this.
On the blockchain, digital transactions are created and signed using private keys, which act as a unique identifier to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency wallet. Unlike a password or a PIN, you cannot reset or recover your keys if you lose them. This makes it extremely important to keep your keys safe and secure, as losing them would mean losing access to all digital assets stored in that wallet.
Lost keys are among the most common mistakes that crypto investors make. According to a report from Chainalysis, of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined so far, over 20% has been lost to forgotten or misplaced keys.
Storing coins in online wallets
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are probably the easiest way for investors to get their hands on some cryptocurrencies. However, these exchanges do not give you access to the wallets holding the tokens, instead offering you a service similar to banks. While the user technically owns the coins stored on the platform, they are still held by the exchange, leaving them vulnerable to attacks on the platform and putting them at risk.
There have been many documented attacks on high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges that have led to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from these platforms. The most secure option to protect your assets against such risk is to store your cryptocurrencies offline, withdrawing assets to either a software or hardware wallet after purchase.
Not keeping a hard copy of your seed phrase
To generate a private key for your crypto wallet, you will be prompted to write down a seed phrase consisting of up to 24 randomly generated words in a specific order. If you ever lose access to your wallet, this seed phrase can be used to generate your private keys and access your cryptocurrencies.
Keeping a hard copy record, such as a printed document or a piece of paper with the seed phrase written on it, can help prevent needless losses from damaged hardware wallets, faulty digital storage systems, and more. Just like losing your private keys, traders have lost many a coin to crashed computers and corrupted hard drives.
Fat-finger error
A fat-finger error is when an investor accidentally enters a trade order that isn’t what they intended. One misplaced zero can lead to significant losses, and mistyping even a single decimal place can have considerable ramifications.
One instance of this fat-finger error was when the DeversiFi platform erroneously paid out a $24-million fee. Another unforgettable tale was when a highly sought-after Bored Ape nonfungible token was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.
Sending to the wrong address
Investors should take extreme care while sending digital assets to another person or wallet, as there is no way to retrieve them if they are sent to the wrong address. This mistake often happens when the sender isn’t paying attention while entering the wallet address. Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, and unlike a bank, there are no customer support lines to help with the situation.
This kind of error can be fatal to an investment portfolio. Still, in a positive turn of events, Tether, the firm behind the world’s most popular stablecoin, recovered and returned $1 million worth of Tether (USDT) to a group of crypto traders who sent the funds to the wrong decentralized finance platform in 2020. However, this story is a drop in the ocean of examples where things don’t work out so well. Hodlers should be careful while dealing with digital asset transactions and take time to enter the details. Once you make a mistake, there’s no going back.
Over diversification
Diversification is crucial to building a resilient cryptocurrency portfolio, especially with the high volatility levels in the space. However, with the sheer number of options out there and the predominant thirst for outsized gains, cryptocurrency investors often end up over-diversifying their portfolios, which can have immense consequences.
Over-diversification can lead to an investor holding a large number of heavily underperforming assets, leading to significant losses. It’s vital to only diversify into cryptocurrencies where the fundamental value is clear and to have a strong understanding of the different types of assets and how they will likely perform in various market conditions.
Not setting up a stop-loss arrangement
A stop-loss is an order type that enables investors to sell a security only when the market reaches a specific price. Investors use this to prevent losing more money than they are willing to, ensuring they at least make back their initial investment.
In several cases, investors have experienced huge losses because of incorrectly setting up their stop losses before asset prices dropped. However, it’s also important to remember that stop-loss orders aren’t perfect and can sometimes fail to trigger a sale in the event of a large, sudden crash.
That being said, the importance of setting up stop losses to protect investments cannot be understated and can significantly help mitigate losses during a market downturn.
Crypto investing and trading is a risky business with no guarantees of success. Like any other form of trading, patience, caution and understanding can go a long way. Blockchain places the responsibility on the investor, so it’s crucial to take the time to figure out the various aspects of the market and learn from past mistakes before putting your money at risk.
Cryptocurrency markets are volatile enough without making simple, easily avoidable mistakes.
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them.
Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody.
Here we’ll explore some of the more common mistakes that cryptocurrency investors and traders make and how you can protect yourself from unnecessary losses.
Losing your keys
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger technology that offers high levels of security for digital assets without the need for a centralized custodian. However, this puts the onus of protection on asset holders, and storing the cryptographic keys to your digital asset wallet safely is an integral part of this.
On the blockchain, digital transactions are created and signed using private keys, which act as a unique identifier to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency wallet. Unlike a password or a PIN, you cannot reset or recover your keys if you lose them. This makes it extremely important to keep your keys safe and secure, as losing them would mean losing access to all digital assets stored in that wallet.
Lost keys are among the most common mistakes that crypto investors make. According to a report from Chainalysis, of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined so far, over 20% has been lost to forgotten or misplaced keys.
Storing coins in online wallets
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are probably the easiest way for investors to get their hands on some cryptocurrencies. However, these exchanges do not give you access to the wallets holding the tokens, instead offering you a service similar to banks. While the user technically owns the coins stored on the platform, they are still held by the exchange, leaving them vulnerable to attacks on the platform and putting them at risk.
There have been many documented attacks on high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges that have led to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from these platforms. The most secure option to protect your assets against such risk is to store your cryptocurrencies offline, withdrawing assets to either a software or hardware wallet after purchase.
Not keeping a hard copy of your seed phrase
To generate a private key for your crypto wallet, you will be prompted to write down a seed phrase consisting of up to 24 randomly generated words in a specific order. If you ever lose access to your wallet, this seed phrase can be used to generate your private keys and access your cryptocurrencies.
Keeping a hard copy record, such as a printed document or a piece of paper with the seed phrase written on it, can help prevent needless losses from damaged hardware wallets, faulty digital storage systems, and more. Just like losing your private keys, traders have lost many a coin to crashed computers and corrupted hard drives.
Fat-finger error
A fat-finger error is when an investor accidentally enters a trade order that isn’t what they intended. One misplaced zero can lead to significant losses, and mistyping even a single decimal place can have considerable ramifications.
One instance of this fat-finger error was when the DeversiFi platform erroneously paid out a $24-million fee. Another unforgettable tale was when a highly sought-after Bored Ape nonfungible token was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.
Sending to the wrong address
Investors should take extreme care while sending digital assets to another person or wallet, as there is no way to retrieve them if they are sent to the wrong address. This mistake often happens when the sender isn’t paying attention while entering the wallet address. Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, and unlike a bank, there are no customer support lines to help with the situation.
This kind of error can be fatal to an investment portfolio. Still, in a positive turn of events, Tether, the firm behind the world’s most popular stablecoin, recovered and returned $1 million worth of Tether (USDT) to a group of crypto traders who sent the funds to the wrong decentralized finance platform in 2020. However, this story is a drop in the ocean of examples where things don’t work out so well. Hodlers should be careful while dealing with digital asset transactions and take time to enter the details. Once you make a mistake, there’s no going back.
Over diversification
Diversification is crucial to building a resilient cryptocurrency portfolio, especially with the high volatility levels in the space. However, with the sheer number of options out there and the predominant thirst for outsized gains, cryptocurrency investors often end up over-diversifying their portfolios, which can have immense consequences.
Over-diversification can lead to an investor holding a large number of heavily underperforming assets, leading to significant losses. It’s vital to only diversify into cryptocurrencies where the fundamental value is clear and to have a strong understanding of the different types of assets and how they will likely perform in various market conditions.
Not setting up a stop-loss arrangement
A stop-loss is an order type that enables investors to sell a security only when the market reaches a specific price. Investors use this to prevent losing more money than they are willing to, ensuring they at least make back their initial investment.
In several cases, investors have experienced huge losses because of incorrectly setting up their stop losses before asset prices dropped. However, it’s also important to remember that stop-loss orders aren’t perfect and can sometimes fail to trigger a sale in the event of a large, sudden crash.
That being said, the importance of setting up stop losses to protect investments cannot be understated and can significantly help mitigate losses during a market downturn.
Crypto investing and trading is a risky business with no guarantees of success. Like any other form of trading, patience, caution and understanding can go a long way. Blockchain places the responsibility on the investor, so it’s crucial to take the time to figure out the various aspects of the market and learn from past mistakes before putting your money at risk.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
Cryptocurrency markets are volatile enough without making simple, easily avoidable mistakes.
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them.
Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody.
Here we’ll explore some of the more common mistakes that cryptocurrency investors and traders make and how you can protect yourself from unnecessary losses.
Losing your keys
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger technology that offers high levels of security for digital assets without the need for a centralized custodian. However, this puts the onus of protection on asset holders, and storing the cryptographic keys to your digital asset wallet safely is an integral part of this.
On the blockchain, digital transactions are created and signed using private keys, which act as a unique identifier to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency wallet. Unlike a password or a PIN, you cannot reset or recover your keys if you lose them. This makes it extremely important to keep your keys safe and secure, as losing them would mean losing access to all digital assets stored in that wallet.
Lost keys are among the most common mistakes that crypto investors make. According to a report from Chainalysis, of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined so far, over 20% has been lost to forgotten or misplaced keys.
Storing coins in online wallets
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are probably the easiest way for investors to get their hands on some cryptocurrencies. However, these exchanges do not give you access to the wallets holding the tokens, instead offering you a service similar to banks. While the user technically owns the coins stored on the platform, they are still held by the exchange, leaving them vulnerable to attacks on the platform and putting them at risk.
There have been many documented attacks on high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges that have led to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from these platforms. The most secure option to protect your assets against such risk is to store your cryptocurrencies offline, withdrawing assets to either a software or hardware wallet after purchase.
Not keeping a hard copy of your seed phrase
To generate a private key for your crypto wallet, you will be prompted to write down a seed phrase consisting of up to 24 randomly generated words in a specific order. If you ever lose access to your wallet, this seed phrase can be used to generate your private keys and access your cryptocurrencies.
Keeping a hard copy record, such as a printed document or a piece of paper with the seed phrase written on it, can help prevent needless losses from damaged hardware wallets, faulty digital storage systems, and more. Just like losing your private keys, traders have lost many a coin to crashed computers and corrupted hard drives.
Fat-finger error
A fat-finger error is when an investor accidentally enters a trade order that isn’t what they intended. One misplaced zero can lead to significant losses, and mistyping even a single decimal place can have considerable ramifications.
One instance of this fat-finger error was when the DeversiFi platform erroneously paid out a $24-million fee. Another unforgettable tale was when a highly sought-after Bored Ape nonfungible token was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.
Sending to the wrong address
Investors should take extreme care while sending digital assets to another person or wallet, as there is no way to retrieve them if they are sent to the wrong address. This mistake often happens when the sender isn’t paying attention while entering the wallet address. Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, and unlike a bank, there are no customer support lines to help with the situation.
This kind of error can be fatal to an investment portfolio. Still, in a positive turn of events, Tether, the firm behind the world’s most popular stablecoin, recovered and returned $1 million worth of Tether (USDT) to a group of crypto traders who sent the funds to the wrong decentralized finance platform in 2020. However, this story is a drop in the ocean of examples where things don’t work out so well. Hodlers should be careful while dealing with digital asset transactions and take time to enter the details. Once you make a mistake, there’s no going back.
Over diversification
Diversification is crucial to building a resilient cryptocurrency portfolio, especially with the high volatility levels in the space. However, with the sheer number of options out there and the predominant thirst for outsized gains, cryptocurrency investors often end up over-diversifying their portfolios, which can have immense consequences.
Over-diversification can lead to an investor holding a large number of heavily underperforming assets, leading to significant losses. It’s vital to only diversify into cryptocurrencies where the fundamental value is clear and to have a strong understanding of the different types of assets and how they will likely perform in various market conditions.
Not setting up a stop-loss arrangement
A stop-loss is an order type that enables investors to sell a security only when the market reaches a specific price. Investors use this to prevent losing more money than they are willing to, ensuring they at least make back their initial investment.
In several cases, investors have experienced huge losses because of incorrectly setting up their stop losses before asset prices dropped. However, it’s also important to remember that stop-loss orders aren’t perfect and can sometimes fail to trigger a sale in the event of a large, sudden crash.
That being said, the importance of setting up stop losses to protect investments cannot be understated and can significantly help mitigate losses during a market downturn.
Crypto investing and trading is a risky business with no guarantees of success. Like any other form of trading, patience, caution and understanding can go a long way. Blockchain places the responsibility on the investor, so it’s crucial to take the time to figure out the various aspects of the market and learn from past mistakes before putting your money at risk.
Cryptocurrency markets are volatile enough without making simple, easily avoidable mistakes.
Investing in cryptocurrencies and digital assets is now easier than ever before. Online brokers, centralized exchanges and even decentralized exchanges give investors the flexibility to buy and sell tokens without going through a traditional financial institution and the hefty fees and commissions that come along with them.
Cryptocurrencies were designed to operate in a decentralized manner. This means that while they’re an innovative avenue for global peer-to-peer value transfers, there are no trusted authorities involved that can guarantee the security of your assets. Your losses are your responsibility once you take your digital assets into custody.
Here we’ll explore some of the more common mistakes that cryptocurrency investors and traders make and how you can protect yourself from unnecessary losses.
Losing your keys
Cryptocurrencies are built on blockchain technology, a form of distributed ledger technology that offers high levels of security for digital assets without the need for a centralized custodian. However, this puts the onus of protection on asset holders, and storing the cryptographic keys to your digital asset wallet safely is an integral part of this.
On the blockchain, digital transactions are created and signed using private keys, which act as a unique identifier to prevent unauthorized access to your cryptocurrency wallet. Unlike a password or a PIN, you cannot reset or recover your keys if you lose them. This makes it extremely important to keep your keys safe and secure, as losing them would mean losing access to all digital assets stored in that wallet.
Lost keys are among the most common mistakes that crypto investors make. According to a report from Chainalysis, of the 18.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) mined so far, over 20% has been lost to forgotten or misplaced keys.
Storing coins in online wallets
Centralized cryptocurrency exchanges are probably the easiest way for investors to get their hands on some cryptocurrencies. However, these exchanges do not give you access to the wallets holding the tokens, instead offering you a service similar to banks. While the user technically owns the coins stored on the platform, they are still held by the exchange, leaving them vulnerable to attacks on the platform and putting them at risk.
There have been many documented attacks on high-profile cryptocurrency exchanges that have led to millions of dollars worth of cryptocurrency stolen from these platforms. The most secure option to protect your assets against such risk is to store your cryptocurrencies offline, withdrawing assets to either a software or hardware wallet after purchase.
Not keeping a hard copy of your seed phrase
To generate a private key for your crypto wallet, you will be prompted to write down a seed phrase consisting of up to 24 randomly generated words in a specific order. If you ever lose access to your wallet, this seed phrase can be used to generate your private keys and access your cryptocurrencies.
Keeping a hard copy record, such as a printed document or a piece of paper with the seed phrase written on it, can help prevent needless losses from damaged hardware wallets, faulty digital storage systems, and more. Just like losing your private keys, traders have lost many a coin to crashed computers and corrupted hard drives.
Fat-finger error
A fat-finger error is when an investor accidentally enters a trade order that isn’t what they intended. One misplaced zero can lead to significant losses, and mistyping even a single decimal place can have considerable ramifications.
One instance of this fat-finger error was when the DeversiFi platform erroneously paid out a $24-million fee. Another unforgettable tale was when a highly sought-after Bored Ape nonfungible token was accidentally sold for $3,000 instead of $300,000.
Sending to the wrong address
Investors should take extreme care while sending digital assets to another person or wallet, as there is no way to retrieve them if they are sent to the wrong address. This mistake often happens when the sender isn’t paying attention while entering the wallet address. Transactions on the blockchain are irreversible, and unlike a bank, there are no customer support lines to help with the situation.
This kind of error can be fatal to an investment portfolio. Still, in a positive turn of events, Tether, the firm behind the world’s most popular stablecoin, recovered and returned $1 million worth of Tether (USDT) to a group of crypto traders who sent the funds to the wrong decentralized finance platform in 2020. However, this story is a drop in the ocean of examples where things don’t work out so well. Hodlers should be careful while dealing with digital asset transactions and take time to enter the details. Once you make a mistake, there’s no going back.
Over diversification
Diversification is crucial to building a resilient cryptocurrency portfolio, especially with the high volatility levels in the space. However, with the sheer number of options out there and the predominant thirst for outsized gains, cryptocurrency investors often end up over-diversifying their portfolios, which can have immense consequences.
Over-diversification can lead to an investor holding a large number of heavily underperforming assets, leading to significant losses. It’s vital to only diversify into cryptocurrencies where the fundamental value is clear and to have a strong understanding of the different types of assets and how they will likely perform in various market conditions.
Not setting up a stop-loss arrangement
A stop-loss is an order type that enables investors to sell a security only when the market reaches a specific price. Investors use this to prevent losing more money than they are willing to, ensuring they at least make back their initial investment.
In several cases, investors have experienced huge losses because of incorrectly setting up their stop losses before asset prices dropped. However, it’s also important to remember that stop-loss orders aren’t perfect and can sometimes fail to trigger a sale in the event of a large, sudden crash.
That being said, the importance of setting up stop losses to protect investments cannot be understated and can significantly help mitigate losses during a market downturn.
Crypto investing and trading is a risky business with no guarantees of success. Like any other form of trading, patience, caution and understanding can go a long way. Blockchain places the responsibility on the investor, so it’s crucial to take the time to figure out the various aspects of the market and learn from past mistakes before putting your money at risk.
“Imagine there’s no countries It isn’t hard to do Nothing to kill or die for And no religion too Imagine all the people Living life in peace
You may say that I’m a dreamer But I’m not the only one I hope someday you’ll join us And the world will be as one”
John Lennon, Imagine
“He who joyfully marches to music rank and file has already earned my contempt.
He has been given a large brain by mistake, since for him the spinal cord
would surely suffice.
This disgrace to civilization
should be done away with at once.
Heroism at command, senseless brutality, deplorable love-of-country stance and all the loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism, how violently I hate all this, how despicable and ignoble war is;
I would rather be torn to shreds than be part of so base an action!
It is my conviction that killing
under the cloak of war is nothing
but an act of murder.”
Albert Einstein
“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”
George Orwell, “1984”
“I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.”
Albert Einstein
“Only the dead have seen the end of war.”
Plato
“The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting.”
Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
Today the most civilized countries of the world spend a maximum of their income on war and a minimum on education.
The twenty-first century will
reverse this order.
It will be more glorious to fight against ignorance than to die on the field of battle.
The discovery of a new scientific truth
will be more important thanthe
squabbles of diplomats.
Even the newspapers of our own
dayare beginning to treat scientific discoveries and the creation of freshphilosophical concepts as news.
The newspapers of the twenty-first century will give a mere ‘stick’ in the back pages to accounts of crime or political controversies, but will headline on the front pages the proclamation of a new scientific hypothesis.
Progress along such lines will be impossible while nations persist in the savage
practice of killing each other off.
I inherited from my father, an erudite
man who labored hard for peace,
an ineradicable hatred of war.
Nikola Tesla
“Older men declare war.
But it is youth that must fight and die.”
Herbert Hoover
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left.”
Anonymous
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed,those who are
cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not
spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers,
the genius of its scientists,
the hopes of its children.
This is not a way of life at all
in any true sense.
Under the clouds of war,
it is humanity hanging on a cross of iron.”
Dwight D. Eisenhower
“You can have peace.
Or you can have freedom.
Don’t ever count on having both at once.”
Robert A. Heinlein
“War is over … If you want it.”
John Lennon
“How is it possible to have a civil war?”
George Carlin
“It is not enough to win a war; it is more important to organize the peace.”
Aristotle
“They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one’s country.
But in modern war, there is nothing
sweet nor fitting in your dying.
You will die like a dog
for no good reason.”
Ernest Hemingway
“In times of war, the law falls silent.”
“Silent enim leges inter arma“
Marcus Tullius Cicero
“The nuclear arms race is like two sworn enemies standing waist deep in gasoline, one with three matches, the other with five.”
Carl Sagan
“The human race is unimportant.
It is the self that must not be betrayed.”
“I suppose one could say that
Hitler didn’t betray his self.”
“You are right.
He did not.
But millions of Germans
did betray their selves.
That was the tragedy.
Not that one man had
the courage to be evil.
But that millions had not
the courage to be good.”
John Fowles, “The Magus”
“Fighting for peace, is like f***ing for chastity.”
Stephen King, “Hearts in Atlantis”
“I’m fed up to the ears with old men dreaming up wars for young men to die in.”
George McGovern
“Pacifism is objectively pro-fascist.
This is elementary common sense.
If you hamper the war effort of one side,
you automatically help out
that of the other.
Nor is there any real way
of remaining outside
such a war as the present one.
In practice, ‘he that is not with me
is against me’.”
George Orwell
“The essential act of war is destruction,
not necessarily of human lives,
but of the products of human labour.
War is a way of shattering to pieces,
or pouring into the stratosphere,
or sinking in the depths of the sea,
materials which might otherwise
be used to make the masses
too comfortable,and hence,
in the long run,too intelligent.”
George Orwell, “1984”
“Mankind must put an end to war – or war will put an end to mankind.”
[Address before the United Nations, September 25 1961]
John F. Kennedy
“Military men are just dumb, stupid animals to be used as pawns in foreign policy.”
Henry Kissinger
“In War: Resolution, In Defeat: Defiance, In Victory: Magnanimity In Peace: Good Will.”
Winston S. Churchill, “The Second World War”
“this is the 21st century and we need
to redefine r/evolution.
this planet needs a people’s r/evolution.
a humanist r/evolution.
r/evolution is not about bloodshed or about going to the mountains and fighting.
we will fight if we are forced to
but the fundamental goal of
r/evolution must be peace.
we need a r/evolution of the mind.
we need a r/evolution of the heart.
we need a r/evolution of the spirit.
the power of the people is stronger
than any weapon.
a people’s r/evolution can’t be stopped.
we need to be weapons
of mass construction.
weapons of mass love.
it’s not enough just to change the system.
we need to change ourselves.
we have got to make this world
user friendly. user friendly.
are you ready to sacrifice
to end world hunger.
to sacrifice to end colonialism.
to end neo-colonialism.
to end racism.
to end sexism.
r/evolution means the end of exploitation.
r/evolution means respecting
people from other cultures.
r/evolution is creative.
r/evolution means treating your
mate as a friend and an equal.
r/evolution is sexy.
r/evolution means respecting and
learning from your children.
r/evolution is beautiful.
r/evolution means protecting
the people.
the plants. the animals. the air. the water.
r/evolution means saving this planet.
r/evolution is love.”
Assata Shakur
“After all, no one is stupid enough to prefer war to peace; in peace sons bury their fathers and in war fathers bury their sons.”
Herodotus
“Let my country die for me.”
James Joyce, “Ulysses”
“If we really saw war,
what war does to young minds and bodies, it would be impossible to embrace the myth of war.
If we had to stand over the mangled corpses of schoolchildren killed in Afghanistan and listen to the wails of their parents, we would not be able to repeat clichés we use to justify war.
This is why war is carefully sanitized.
This is why we are given war’s perverse and dark thrill but are spared from seeing war’s consequences.
The mythic visions of war keep it heroic and entertaining…
The wounded, the crippled, and the dead are, in this great charade, swiftly carted offstage.
They are war’s refuse.
We do not see them.
We do not hear them.
They are doomed, like wandering spirits, to float around the edges of our consciousness, ignored, even reviled.
The message they tell is too painful for us to hear.
We prefer to celebrate ourselves and our nation by imbibing the myths of glory, honor, patriotism, and heroism, words that in combat become empty and meaningless.“
Chris Hedges “Death of the Liberal Class”
“The ever more sophisticated weapons piling up in the arsenals of the wealthiest and the mightiest can kill the illiterate, the ill, the poor and the hungry, but they cannot kill ignorance, illness, poverty or hunger.”
Fidel Castro
“For the whole earth is the tomb
of famous men; not only are they commemorated by columns
and inscriptions in their own country,
but in foreign lands there dwells also an unwritten memorial of them,
graven not on stone
but in the hearts of men.
Make them your examples, and,
esteeming courage to be freedom and freedom to be happiness,
do not weigh too nicely
the perils of war.”
[Funeral Oration of Pericles]
Thucydides, “History of the Peloponnesian War”
“War and drink are the two things
man is never too poor to buy.”
William Faulkner
For me, the most ironic token of
[the first human moon landing] is the plaque signed by President Richard M. Nixon that Apollo 11 took to the moon.
It reads:
“We came in peace for all Mankind.”
As the United States wasdropping
7 ½ megatons of conventional
explosives on small nations
inSoutheast Asia,
we congratulated ourselves on
our humanity.
We would harm no one on a lifeless rock.”
Carl Sagan, “Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space”
“This topic brings me to that
worstoutcrop of herd life,
the military system, which I abhor…
This plague-spot of civilization ought
to be abolished with all possible speed.
Heroism on command,
senseless violence,
and all the loathsome nonsense that
goes by the name of patriotism —
how passionately I hate them!”
Albert Einstein
1. Bangladesh…. In 1971 … Kissinger overrode all advice in order to support
the Pakistani generals in both their
civilian massacre policy in East Bengal
and their armed attack on India
from West Pakistan….
This led to a moral and political catastrophe the effects of which are still sorely felt.
Kissinger’s undisclosed reason for the ‘tilt’ was the supposed but never materialised ‘brokerage’ offered by the dictator Yahya Khan in the course of secret diplomacy between Nixon and China….
Of the new state of Bangladesh,
Kissinger remarked coldly that it
was ‘a basket case’ before turning
his unsolicited expertise elsewhere.
2. Chile…. Kissinger had direct personal knowledge of the CIA’s plan to kidnap
and murder General René Schneider, the head of the Chilean Armed Forces … who refused to countenance military intervention in politics.
In his hatred for the Allende Government, Kissinger even outdid Richard Helms …
who warned him that a coup insuch
a stable democracy would
behard to procure.
The murder of Schneider nonetheless
went ahead, at Kissinger’s urging and
with American financing, just between Allende’s election and his confirmation….
This was one of the relatively few times
that Mr Kissinger (his success in getting people to call him ‘Doctor’ is greater
than that of most PhDs) involved himself
in the assassination of a single named individual rather than the slaughter
of anonymous thousands.
His jocular remark on this occasion—
‘I don’t see why we have to let a country
go Marxist just because its people
are irresponsible’—suggests he may
have been having the best of times….
3. Cyprus…. Kissinger approved of the preparations by Greek Cypriot fascists
for the murder of President Makarios,
and sanctioned the coup which tried
to extend the rule of the Athens junta
(a favoured client of his) to the island.
When despite great waste of life this coup failed in its objective, which was also Kissinger’s, of enforced partition, Kissinger promiscuously switched sides to support
an even bloodier intervention by Turkey.
Thomas Boyatt … went to Kissinger
in advance of the anti-Makarios
putschand warned him that it
could leadto a civil war.
‘Spare me the civics lecture,’ replied Kissinger, who as you can readily see had an aphorism for all occasions.
4. Kurdistan. Having endorsed the covert policy of supporting a Kurdish revolt
in northern Iraq between 1974 and 1975, with ‘deniable’ assistance also provided
by Israel and the Shah of Iran, Kissinger made it plain to his subordinates that
the Kurds were not to be allowed to win,
but were to be employed fortheir
nuisance value alone.
They were not to be told that this was
the case, but soon found out when
the Shah and Saddam Hussein composed their differences, and American
aid to Kurdistan was cut off.
Hardened CIA hands went to Kissinger …
for an aid programme for the many thousands of Kurdish refugees
who were thus abruptly created….
The apercu of the day was: ‘foreign policy should not he confused with missionary work.’ Saddam Hussein heartily concurred.
5. East Timor. The day after Kissinger left Djakarta in 1975, the Armed Forces
of Indonesia employed American weapons to invade and subjugate the independent former Portuguese colony of East Timor.
Isaacson gives a figure of 100,000 deaths resulting from the occupation, or one-seventh of the population, and there
are good judges who put this
estimateon the low side.
Kissinger was furious when news of
his own collusion was leaked, because
as well as breaking international law
the Indonesians were also violating
an agreement with the United States….
Monroe Leigh … pointed out this awkward latter fact. Kissinger snapped: ‘The Israelis when they go into Lebanon—when was the last time we protested that?‘
A good question, even if it did not and
does not lie especially well in his mouth.
It goes on and on and on until one
cannot eat enough to vomit enough.”
Christopher Hitchens
“At one time I had given much thought
to why men were so very rarely
capable of living for an ideal.
Now I saw that many, no,
all men were capable of dying for one.”
Hermann Hesse, “Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend”
“We need to decide that we will not go to war, whatever reason is conjured up by the politicians or the media, because war in our time is always indiscriminate, a war against innocents, a war against children.”
Howard Zinn
All wars are sacred,” he said.
“To those who have to fight them.
If the people who started wars
didn’t make them sacred,who would be
foolish enough to fight?
But, no matter what rallying cries
the orators give to the idiots who fight,
no matter what noble purposes they
assign to wars, there is neverbut
one reason for a war.
And that is money.
All wars are in reality money squabbles.
But so few people ever realize it.
Their ears are too full of bugles
anddrums and the fine words
from stay-at-home orators.
Sometimes the rallying cry is
’save the Tomb of Christ from the Heathen!’
Sometimes it’s ’down with Popery!’
andsometimes ‘Liberty!’
and sometimes
‘Cotton, Slavery and States’ Rights!”
Margaret Mitchell, “Gone with the Wind”
“The most dangerous people in the world are not the tiny minority instigating evil acts, but those who do the acts for them.
For example, when the British
invaded India, many Indians accepted
to work for the British to kill off
Indians who resisted their occupation.
So in other words, many Indians were
hired to kill other Indians on behalf
of the enemy for a paycheck.
Today, we have mercenaries in Africa, corporate armies from the western world, and unemployed men throughout the Middle East killing their own people – and people of other nations – for a paycheck.
To act without a conscience,
but for a paycheck,
makes anyone a dangerous animal.
The devil would be powerless
if he couldn’t entice people
to do his work.
So as long as money continuesto seduce
the hungry, the hopeless, the broken,
the greedy, and the needy,
there will always be
war between brothers.”
Suzy Kassem
“Peace is such hard work.
Harder than war.
It takes way more effort
to forgive than to kill.”
Rae Carson, “The Bitter Kingdom” (Fire and Thorns, #3)
“An unjust law is itself a species of violence.
Arrest for its breach is more so.
Now the law of nonviolence says that violence should be resisted not by counter-violence but by nonviolence.
This I do by breaking the law and by peacefully submitting to arrest and imprisonment.”
Mahatma Gandhi, “Non-violence in Peace and War” 1942-1949
“Civilized society is perpetually menaced with disintegration through this primary hostility of men towards one another.”
Sigmund Freud
“In war,
the strong make slaves of the weak,
and in peace,
the rich makes slaves of the poor.”
Oscar Wilde
“So it is the human condition that to wish for the greatness of one’s fatherland
is to wish evil to one’s neighbors.
The citizen of the universe would be
the man who wishes his countrynever to be either greater or smaller, richer or poorer.”
Voltaire, “Philosophical Dictionary”
“A democracy which makes or eveneffectively prepares for modern,
A weapon is a manifestation of a decision that has already been made.”
Steven Galloway, “The Cellist of Sarajevo”
“There has never been a just [war],
never an honorable one —
on the part of the instigator of the war.
I can see a million years ahead,
and this rule will never change
in so many as half a dozen instances.
The loud little handful— as usual —
willshout for the war.
The pulpit will–warily and cautiously–object–at first;
the great, big, dull bulk of the nation
will rub its sleepy eyes and tryto
make out why there should be a war,
and will say, earnestly and indignantly,
‘It is unjust and dishonorable,
and there is no necessity for it.
‘ Then the handful will shout louder.
A few fair men on the other side will
argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity.
Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform,
and free speech strangled by hordesof furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers–as earlier–but do not dare say so.
And now the whole nation–pulpit and all–will take up the war-cry, and shout
itself hoarse, and mob any honest man
who ventures to open his mouth;
and presently such mouths
will cease to open.
Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities,
and will diligently study them, and refuse
to examine any refutations of them;
and thus he will by and by convince
himself the war is just,
and will thank God
for the better sleep he enjoys
after this processof
grotesque self-deception.”
Mark Twain, “The Mysterious Stranger and Other Stories”
“We often think of peace
as the absence of war,
that if powerful countries
would reduce their weapon arsenals,
we could have peace.
But if we look deeplyinto the weapons,
we see our own minds– our own
prejudices,fears and ignorance.
Even if we transport all the bombs
to the moon, the roots of war
and the roots of bombs are still there,
in our hearts and minds,
and sooner or later we will
make new bombs.
To work for peace is to uproot warfrom ourselves and from the hearts
of men and women.
To prepare for war,
to give millions of men and women
the opportunity to practice killing
day and night in their hearts,
is to plant millions of seeds of violence, anger, frustration, and fear that will be passed on for generations to come.”
Thich Nhat Hanh, “Living Buddha, Living Christ”
“There are seasons of our lives when nothing seems to be happening, when no smoke betrays a burned town or homestead and few tears are shed for the newly dead.
I have learned not to trust those times, because if the world is at peace then it means someone is planning war.”
Bernard Cornwell, “Death of Kings” (The Saxon Stories, #6)
“That there are men in all countries
who get their living by war,
and by keeping up the quarrels
of Nations is as shocking as it is true…”
Thomas Paine
“The real power in America is held by a fast-emerging new Oligarchy of pimps
and preachers who see no need for Democracy or fairness or even trees,
except maybe the ones in their own yards, and they don’t mind admitting it.
They worship money and power and death.
Their ideal solution to all the
nation’s problems would be
another 100 Year War.”
Hunter S. Thompson, “Kingdom of Fear: Loathsome Secrets of a Star-Crossed Child in the Final Days of the American Century”
“Once war becomes a clash of absolutes, there is no breathing room for mercy.
Absolute truth is blind truth.”
Deepak Chopra, “The Third Jesus: The Christ We Cannot Ignore”
“What is so often said about the solders
of the 20th century is thatthe
foughtto make us free.
Which is a wonderful sentiment and
one witch should evoke tremendous gratitude if in fact there was a shred
of truth in that statement but,
it’s not true.
It’s not even close to true
in fact it’s the opposite of truth.
There’s this myth around that people believe that the way to honor deaths of so many of millions of people; that the way to honor is to say that we achieved some tangible, positive, good, out of their death’s.
That’s how we are supposed to
honor their deaths.
We can try and rescue some positive
and forward momentum of human progress, of human virtue from these hundreds of millions of death’s but we
don’t do it by pretending that they’d died
to set us free because we are less free;
far less free now then we were
beforethese slaughters began.
These people did not die to set us free.
They did not die fighting any enemy
other than the ones that the
previous deaths created.
The beginning of wisdom is to call
things by their proper names.
Solders are paid killers, and I say this
with a great degree of sympathy to young men and women who are suckered into
a life of evil through propaganda and the labeling of heroic to a man in costume who kills for money and the life of honor is accepting ordered killings for money, prestige, and pensions.
We create the possibility of moral choice
by communicating truth
about ethics to people.
That to me is where real heroism
and real respect for the dead lies.
Real respect for the dead lies in exhuming the corpses and hearing what they would say if they could speak out; and they
would say: If any ask us why we died tell
it’s because our fathers lied, tell them it’s because we were told that charging up a hill and slaughtering our fellow man was heroic, noble, and honorable.
But these hundreds of millions of ghosts encircled the world in agony, remorse
will not be released from our collective unconscious until we lay the truth of
theirmurders on the table and look
at the horror that is the lie;
that murder for money can be moral, that murder for prestige can be moral.
These poor young men and woman propagandized into an undead ethical status lied to about what is noble,
virtuous, courageous, honorable, decent, and good to the point that they’re rolling hand grenades into children’s rooms and the illusion that, that is going to make the world a better place.
We have to stare this in the face if we want to remember why these people died. They did not die to set us free. They did not die to make the world a better place. They died because we are ruled by sociopaths. The only thing that can create a better world is the truth is the virtue is the honor and courage of standing up to the genocidal lies of mankind and calling them lies and ultimate corruptions.
The trauma and horrors of this century of staggering bloodshed of the brief respite of the 19th century. This addiction to blood and the idea that if we pour more bodies into the hole of the mass graves of the 20th century, if we pour more bodies and more blood we can build some sort of cathedral to a better place but it doesn’t happen. We can throw as many young men and woman as we want into this pit of slaughter and it will never be full. It will never do anything other than sink and recede further into the depths of hell. We can’t build a better world on bodies. We can’t build peace on blood. If we don’t look back and see the army of the dead of the 20th century calling out for us to see that they died to enslave us. That whenever there was a war the government grew and grew.
We are so addicted to this lie. What we need to do is remember that these bodies bury us. This ocean of blood that we create through the fantasy that violence brings virtue. It drowns us, drowns our children, our future, and the world. When we pour these endless young bodies into this pit of death; we follow it.”
Stefan Molyneux
“It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans
ofthe wounded who cry aloud for blood,
more vengeance, more desolation.
War is hell.”
William Tecumseh Sherman
Our enemies are Medes and Persians,
men who for centuries have lived
soft and luxurious lives;
we of Macedon for generations past
have been trained in the hard school
of danger and war.
Above all, we are free men,
and they are slaves.
There are Greek troops, to be sure, in Persian service — but how different
is their cause from ours!
They will be fighting for pay — and not much of at that; we, on the contrary,
shall fight for Greece, and our
heartswill be in it.
As for our foreign troops — Thracians, Paeonians, Illyrians, Agrianes — they
are the best and stoutest soldiers in Europe, and they will find as their opponents the slackest and softest of the tribes of Asia.
And what, finally, of the two men
in supreme command?
You have Alexander, they — Darius!”
Alexander the Great
“If I had known they were going to do this,
I would have become a shoemaker.”
Albert Einstein
“One question in my mind,
which I hardly dare mention in public,
is whether patriotism has, overall, been a force for good or evil in the world.
Patriotism is rampant in war and
there are some good things about it.
Just as self-respect and pride bring out the best in an individual, pride in family,
pride in teammates, pride in hometown bring out the best in groups of people.
War brings out the kind of pride in country that encourages its citizens in the direction of excellence and it encourages them
to be ready to die for it.
At no time do people work so well
together to achieve the same goal
as they do in wartime.
Maybe that’s enough to make patriotism eligible to be considered a virtue.
If only I could get out of my mind
the most patriotic people
who ever lived,
the Nazi Germans.”
Andy Rooney, “My War”
“My own concern is primarily the
terror and violence carried out by
my own state, for two reasons.
For one thing, because it happens to be the larger component of international violence.
But also for a much more important
reason than that; namely, I can
do something about it.
So even if the U.S. was responsible
for 2 percent of the violence in the
world instead of the majority of it,
it would bethat 2 percent I would
be primarily responsible for.
And that is a simple ethical judgment.
That is, the ethical value of one’s actions depends on their anticipated
and predictable consequences.
It is very easy to denounce the
atrocitiesof someone else.
That has about as much ethical value
as denouncing atrocities that
took place in the 18th century.”
Noam Chomsky
“We are in the hands of men whosepower and wealth have separatedthem
from the reality of daily life
and from the imagination.
We are right to be afraid.”
Grace Paley
“Wars of nations are fought
to change maps.
But wars of poverty are fought
to map change.”
Muhammad Ali
“What passing bells for these
who die as cattle? Only the monstrous anger of the guns. Only the stuttering rifle’s rapid rattle Can patter out their hasty orisons. No mockeries now for them;
no prayers, nor bells, Nor any voice of mourning save the choirs, The shrill demented choirs of wailing shells, And bugles calling for them from sad shires. What candles may be held
to speed them all? Not in the hands of boys, but in their eyes, Shall shine the holy glimmers of goodbyes. The pallor of girls’ brows shall be their pall, Their flowers the tenderness
of patient minds, And each, slow dusk a drawing
down of blinds.”
Wilfred Owen, The War Poems
Millions of fathers in rain Millions of mothers in pain Millions of brothers in woe
Millions of sisters nowhere to go
Millions of daughters walk in the mud Millions of children wash in the flood A million girls vomit and groan Millions of families hopeless alone”
Allen Ginsberg, “Poems”
“No honest journalist should be willing to describe himself or herself as ’embedded.’
To say, ‘I’m an embedded journalist’ is to say, ‘I’m a government Propagandist.”
Noam Chomsky, “Imperial Ambitions: Conversations on the Post-9/11 World”
“Darwinism by itself did not produce the Holocaust, but without Darwinism…
neither Hitler nor his Nazi followers
would have had the necessary scientific underpinnings to convince themselves
and their collaborators that one
of the worlds greatest atrocities
was really morally praiseworthy.”
Richard Weikart, “From Darwin to Hitler: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany”
“War means fighting.
The business of the soldier is to fight.
Armies are not called out to dig trenches,
to throw up breastworks,to live in camps, but to find the enemy and strike him; to invade his country, and do him all possible damage in the shortest possible time.
This will involve great destruction of life and property while it lasts; but such a war will of necessity be of brief continuance,
and so would be an economy of life
and property in the end.”
Stonewall Jackson
“I have seen war.
I have seen war on land and sea.
I have seen blood running from
the wounded.
I have seen men coughing out their
gassed lungs.
I have seen the dead in the mud.
I have seen cities destroyed.
I have seen 200 limping, exhausted
men come out of line—the survivors
of a regiment of 1,000 that went
forward 48 hours before.
I have seen children starving.
I have seen the agony of mothers and wives.
I hate war.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt
“How is the world ruled and led to war?
Diplomats lie to journalists and believe these lies when they see them in print.”
Karl Kraus
“Each Javelin round costs $80,000, and
the idea that it’s fired by a guy who doesn’t make that in a year at a guy who doesn’t make that in a lifetime is somehow so outrageous it almost makes the
war seem winnable.”
Sebastian Junger, “War”
“But what are a hundred million deaths?
When one has served in a war, one hardly knows what a dead man is, after a while.
And since a dead man has no substance unless one has actually seen him dead,
a hundred million corpses broadcast through history are no more than a puff
of smoke in the imagination.”
Albert Camus
“I have never advocated war except
as means of peace, so seek peace,
but prepare for war.
Because war…
War never changes.
War is like winter and winter is coming.”
Ulysses S Grant
“I do not say that there is no glory
to be gained [in war];
but it is not personal glory.
In itself, no cause was ever more glorious than that of men who struggle, not to conquer territory, not to gather spoil,
not to gratify ambition, but for freedom,
for religion, for hearth and home, and to revenge the countless atrocities inflicted upon them by their oppressors.”
G. A. HENTY
“World War I was the most colossal, murderous, mismanaged butchery that
has ever taken place on earth.
Any writer who said otherwise lied,
So the writers either wrote propaganda, shut up, or fought.”
Ernest Hemingway
“In peace, children inter their parents;
war violates the order of natureand
causes parents to inter their children.”
Herodotus
“Perpetual peace is a futile dream.”
Gen. George S. Patton
“Such then is the human condition,
that to wish greatness for one’s country
is to wish harm to one’s neighbors.”
Voltaire
“It is precisely that requirement
ofshared worship that has been the principal source of suffering for individual manand the human race since
the beginning of history.
In their efforts to impose universal worship, men have unsheathed their swords
and killed one another.
They have invented gods and challenged each other:
“Discard your gods and worship mineor
I will destroy both your godsand you!”
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov”
What a terrible thing war is,
what a terrible thing!”
Leo Tolstoy, “War and Peace”
“When you think about new-born babies being killed in our own lifetime,’ he said,
‘all the efforts of culture seem worthless.
What have people learned from all
our Goethes and Bachs?
To kill babies?”
Vasily Grossman, “Life and Fate”
“Those of us who are most genuinely repelled by war and violence are also
those who are most likely to decide
that some things, after all,
are worth fighting for.”
Christopher Hitchens, “The Quotable Hitchens from Alcohol to Zionism: The Very Best of Christopher Hitchens”
“I have never advocated war
except as a means of peace.”
Ulysses S. Grant
“It is of the greatest important in this world that a man should know himself, and the measure of his own strength and means; and he who knows that he has not a genius for fighting must learn how to govern
by the arts of peace.”
Machiavelli, Niccolo
“War has no longer the justification that
it makes for the survival of the fittest;
it involves the survival of the less fit.
The idea that the struggle between nations is a part of the evolutionary law of man’s advance involves a profound misreading
of the biological analogy.
The warlike nations do not inherit the earth; they represent
the decaying human element.”
Norman Angell, “The Great Illusion”
“Homo sapiens!
The name itself was an irony.
They had not been wise at all,
but incredibly stupid.
Lords of the Earth with their great gray brains, their thinking minds had placed them above all other forms of life.
Yet it had not been thought that compelled them to act, but emotion.
From the dawn of their evolution they had killed, and conquered, and subdued.
They had committed atrocities on others
of their kind, ravaged the land, polluted
and destroyed, left millions to starve
in Third World countries, and finished
it all with a nuclear holocaust.
The mutants were right.
Intelligent creatures did not commit genocide, or murder the environment
on which they were dependent.”
Louise Lawrence, “Children of the Dust”
“War: first, one hopes to win;
then one expects the enemy to lose;
then, one is satisfied that he too is suffering;
in the end, one is surprised that
everyone has lost.”
Karl Kraus
“War is unlike life.
It’s a denial of everything you learn life is.
And that’s why when you get finished with it, you see that if offers no lessons that can’t be bettered learned in civilian life.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
It is from the epithet of a parable, explaining that a fool waits for the stream to stop before crossing, while a wise man forgoes comfort and crosses anyway.
It is a frequently used motto for academic institutions.
Kant answers the question in the first sentence of the essay: “Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-incurred immaturity (Unmündigkeit).”
He argues that the immaturity is self-inflicted not from a lack of understanding, but from the lack of courage to use one’s reason, intellect, and wisdom without the guidance of another.
Kant argued that using one’s reason is considered dangerous by most men and all women.
He exclaims that the motto of the Enlightenment is “Sapere aude“! – Dare to be wise!
“Enlightenment is man’s release from his self-incurred tutelage.
Tutelage is man’s inability to make use of his understanding without direction from another.
Self-incurred is this tutelage when its cause lies not in lack of reason but in lack of resolution and courage to use it without direction from another.
Sapere Aude!
‘Have courage to use your own reason!’- that is the motto of enlightenment.”
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from Latin: aurum) and atomic number 79, making it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally.
It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal in a pure form.
Chemically, gold is a transition metal and a group 11 element. It is one of the least reactive chemical elements and is solid under standard conditions.
Gold often occurs in free elemental (native) form, as nuggets or grains, in rocks, veins, and alluvial deposits. It occurs in a solid solution series with the native element silver (as electrum), naturally alloyed with other metals like copper and palladium, and mineral inclusions such as within pyrite.
Less commonly, it occurs in minerals as gold compounds, often with tellurium (gold tellurides).
A relatively rare element, gold is a precious metal that has been used for coinage, jewelry, and other arts throughout recorded history.
Still, gold coins ceased to be minted as a circulating currency in the 1930s, and the world gold standard was abandoned for a fiat currency system after 1971.
As of 2017, the world’s largest gold producer by far was China, with 440 tonnes per year.
A total of around 201,296 tonnes of gold exists above ground, as of 2020. This is equal to a cube with each side measuring roughly 21.7 meters (71 ft).
Gold’s high malleability, ductility, resistance to corrosion and most other chemical reactions, and conductivity of electricity have led to its continued use in corrosion-resistant electrical connectors in all types of computerized devices (its chief industrial use).
The world consumption of new gold produced is about 50% in jewelry, 40% in investments and 10% in industry.
Gold is also used in infrared shielding, colored-glass production, gold leafing, and tooth restoration. Certain gold salts are still used as anti-inflammatories in medicine.
F I A T
Fiat money (from Latin: fiat, “let it be done”) is a type of money that is not backed by any commodity such as gold or silver, and typically declared by a decree from the government to be legal tender.
Throughout history, fiat money was sometimes issued by local banks and other institutions. In modern times, fiat money is generally established by government regulation.
Yuan dynasty banknotes are a medieval form of fiat money
Fiat money does not have intrinsic value and does not have use value. It has value only because the people who use it as a medium of exchange agree on its value. They trust that it will be accepted by merchants and other people.
Fiat money is an alternative to commodity money, which is a currency that has intrinsic value because it contains a precious metal such as gold or silver which is embedded in the coin.
Fiat also differs from representative money, which is money that has intrinsic value because it is backed by and can be converted into a precious metal or another commodity.
Fiat money can look similar to representative money (such as paper bills), but the former has no backing, while the latter represents a claim on a commodity (which can be redeemed to a greater or lesser extent).
Government-issued fiat money banknotes were used first during the 11th century in China.
Fiat money started to predominate during the 20th century.
Money declared by a person, institution or government to be legal tender, meaning that it must be accepted in payment of a debt in specific circumstances.
State-issued money which is neither convertible through a central bank to anything else nor fixed in value in terms of any objective standard.
Money used because of government decree.
An otherwise non-valuable object that serves as a medium of exchange (also known as fiduciary money.)
The term fiat derives from the Latin word fiat, meaning “let it be done” used in the sense of an order, decree or resolution.
Bitcoin – Digital Gold
The most common, and best, ways to think about bitcoin is as “digital gold”.
Like gold, bitcoin doesn’t rely on a central issuer, can’t have its supply manipulated by any authority, and has fundamental properties long considered important for a monetary good and store of value.
Unlike gold, bitcoin is extremely easy and cheap to “transport”, and trivial to verify its authenticity.
Bitcoin is also “programmable”. This means custody of bitcoin can be extremely flexible. It can be split amongst a set of people (“key holders”), backed up and encrypted, or even frozen-in-place until a certain date in the future. This is all done without a central authority managing the process.
You can walk across a national border with bitcoin “stored” in your head by memorizing a key.
The similarities to gold, plus the unique features possible because bitcoin is purely digital, give it the “digital gold” moniker.
Sharing fundamental properties with gold means it shares use-cases with gold, such as hedging inflation and political uncertainty.
But being digital, bitcoin adds capabilities that are especially relevant in our modern electronic times.
The world does indeed need a digital version of gold.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
Bitcoin surges after accidentally released Treasury statement
Prices of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have soared following the apparent accidental release of a U.S. Treasury statement on Biden’s expected executive order on digital assets.
The premature statement by Treasury Secretary Yellen, which was dated March 9, has since been removed.
“President Biden’s historic executive order calls for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy. This approach will support responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses.
It will also address risks related to illicit finance, protecting consumers and investors, and preventing threats to the financial system and broader economy.”
Quote from the now deleted statement
At the time of writing, Bitcoin is up nearly 8% in the last 24 hours.
Biden’s executive order aims to regulate the crypto market while also reaping the benefits of digital currencies.
So far, like most countries in the world, the US has tended to react to developments and has limited itself to pointing to a political-economic approach that is yet to be developed.
Statement by Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen on President Biden’s Executive Order on Digital Assets
March 9, 2022
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Janet L. Yellen released the following statement on President Biden’s executive order on digital assets.
“President Biden’s historic executive order calls for a coordinated and comprehensive approach to digital asset policy. This approach will support responsible innovation that could result in substantial benefits for the nation, consumers, and businesses. It will also address risks related to illicit finance, protecting consumers and investors, and preventing threats to the financial system and broader economy.
Under the executive order, Treasury will partner with interagency colleagues to produce a report on the future of money and payment systems. We’ll also convene the Financial Stability Oversight Council to evaluate the potential financial stability risks of digital assets and assess whether appropriate safeguards are in place. And, because the questions raised by digital assets often have important cross-border dimensions, we’ll work with our international partners to promote robust standards and a level playing field.
This work will complement ongoing efforts by Treasury. Already, the Department has worked with the President’s Working Group on Financial Markets, the FDIC, and OCC to study one particular kind of digital asset – stablecoins– and to make recommendations. Under the executive order, Treasury and interagency partners will build upon the recently published National Risk Assessments, which identify key illicit financing risks associated with digital assets.
As we take on this important work, we’ll be guided by consumer and investor protection groups, market participants, and other leading experts. Treasury will work to promote a fairer, more inclusive, and more efficient financial system, while building on our ongoing work to counter illicit finance, and prevent risks to financial stability and national security.”
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
Assigning the most powerful supercomputer to mine bitcoin would be comparable to hiring a grandmaster chess player to move a pile of bricks by hand.
The job would get done eventually but the chess player is much better at thinking and playing chess than exerting energy to repetitively move bricks.
Likewise, combining the computing power of the most powerful supercomputers in the world and using them to mine bitcoin would essentially be pointless when compared to the ASIC machines used today.
ASICs are designed to do one thing as quickly and efficiently as possible, whereas a supercomputer is designed to do complicated tasks or math problems.
Since Bitcoin mining is a lottery based on random trial and error rather than complex math, specialization (ASICs)beatsgeneral excellence (supercomputers) everytime.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
Why this crazyness with rabbits ?!? And their holes, you would ask ?!? Why is the rabbit hole so deep ?¿
And what does the rabbit hole has to do with that BitCorn thing I keep hearing about all over the place ?¿
I like to start from the begining, as I think so I am 😋😂
Rabbit Hole is a play written by David Lindsay-Abaire. It was the recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered on Broadway in 2006, and it has also been produced by regional theatres in cities such as Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The play had its Spanish language premiere in San Juan, Puerto Rico in Autumn of 2010.
The play deals with the ways family members survive a major loss, and includes comedy as well as tragedy. Cynthia Nixon won the 2006 Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Play for her performance as Becca in the New York production, and the play was nominated for several other Tony awards.
Rabbit Hole
A situation, journey, or process that is particularly strange, problematic, difficult, complex, or chaotic, especially one that becomes increasingly so as it develops or unfolds.
An allusion to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” by Lewis Carroll, it is used especially in the phrase “(go) down the rabbit hole.”
Overhauling the current tax legislation is a rabbit hole I don’t think this administration should go down at this point.I’ve stayed away from drugs and alcohol since coming to college. I have an addictive personality, so I decided to just avoid that rabbit hole altogether.
What does rabbit hole mean?
Used especially in the phrase going down the rabbit hole or fallingdown the rabbit hole, a rabbit hole is a metaphor for something that transports someone into a wonderfully (or troublingly) surreal state or situation.
On the internet, a rabbit holefrequently refers to an extremely engrossing and time-consuming topic.
Where does rabbit hole come from?
Alice’s Adventures in WonderLand
Literally, a rabbit hole is what the animal digs for its home. The earliest written record of the phrase dates back to the 17th century. But the figurative rabbit hole begins with Lewis Carroll’s 1865 classic, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
In its opening chapter, “Down the Rabbit-Hole,” Alice follows the White Rabbit into his burrow, which transports her to the strange, surreal, and nonsensical world of Wonderland.
Since then, Carroll’s rabbit hole has proved a popular and useful reference. The Oxford English Dictionary finds the first allusive rabbit hole in a 1938 edition of TheYale Law Journal: “It is the Rabbit-Hole down which we fell into the Law, and to him who has gone down it, no queer performance is strange.”
Over much of the 20th century, rabbit hole has been used to characterize bizarre and irrational experiences. It’s especially used to reference magical, challenging, and even dangerous places or positions, similar to Carroll’s topsy-turvy Wonderland.
Rabbit holehas many metaphorical applications—from frustrating red tape to the mind-bending complexity of science to hallucinations during altered states—all united by a common sense of passing into some labyrinthine, logic-defying realm that, once entered, is hard to get out of.
One can fall down the rabbit hole of government bureaucracy, healthcare, obtaining a green card, tax law, the political economy of modern Japan, puberty, college admissions, or quantum mechanics.
If you’re Neo in the hit film The Matrix, you can take the red pill—a pill that shows you the truth, as opposed to the blue pill, which keeps you in ignorance—and “see how deep the rabbit hole goes.”
In a related note, some people literally take pills and go down the rabbit hole of a psychedelic drug trip.
But as Kathryn Schulz observed for The New Yorker in 2015, rabbit hole has further evolved in the information age: “These days…when we say that we fell down the rabbit hole, we seldom mean that we wound up somewhere psychedelically strange. We mean that we got interested in something to the point of distraction—usually by accident, and usually to a degree that the subject in question might not seem to merit.”
Thanks to the abundance, variety, and instant access of content online, many fall down internet rabbit holes which are often spectacularly, and addictively, niche: scary stories, obscure conspiracy theories, or famous last meals, for instance.
Other rabbit holes tend to be opened up by specific services or social media, which serve users item after item, link after link: Wikipedia, Netflix, Amazon, Facebook, YouTube, and so forth.
These rabbit holes have become so common that people sometimes swap out rabbit for the name of the particular site, e.g. “I’ve fallen down an Instragram hole” or “I’m falling down a wikihole.”
Who uses rabbit hole?
From formal documents to internet status updates, rabbit hole is a very popular and widespread expression. Unlike earlier iterations of the metaphor, internet rabbit holes convey less a sense of weirdness, disorientation, or difficulty than they do of an intensely captivating diversion.
Rabbit hole is also showing increasing use as a modifier, e.g. a rabbit-hole question or phenomenon.
Now… that we have a basic and broader understanding about this Hole and it’s rabbit that digged it 😋😂
Let me show you a journey that I took to get to know, understand, admire, be amazed and support the BitCorn everybody is so crazy about …
Bitcoin Glossary
Block
Blocks are found in the Bitcoin blockchain. Blocks connect all transactions together. Transactions are combined into single blocks and are verified every ten minutes through mining. Each subsequent block strengthens the verification of the previous blocks, making it impossible to double spend bitcoin transactions (see double spend below).
BIP
Bitcoin Improvement Proposal or BIP, is a technical design document providing information to the bitcoin community, or describing a new feature for bitcoin or its processes or environment which affect the Bitcoin protocol. New features, suggestions, and design changes to the protocol should be submitted as a BIP. The BIP author is responsible for building consensus within the community and documenting dissenting opinions.
Blockchain
The Bitcoin blockchain is a public record of all Bitcoin transactions. You might also hear the term used as a “public ledger.” The blockchain shows every single record of bitcoin transactions in order, dating back to the very first one. The entire blockchain can be downloaded and openly reviewed by anyone, or you can use a block explorer to review the blockchain online.
Block Height
The block height is just the number of blocks connected together in the block chain. Height 0 for example refers to the very first block, called the “genesis block.”
Block Reward
When a block is successfully mined on the bitcoin network, there is a block reward that helps incentivize miners to secure the network. The block reward is part of a “coinbase” transaction which may also include transaction fees. The block rewards halves roughly every four years; see also “halving.”
Change
Let’s say you are spending $1.90 in your local supermarket, and you give the cashier $2.00. You will get back .10 cents in change. The same logic applies to bitcoin transactions. Bitcoin transactions are made up of inputs and outputs. When you send bitcoins, you can only send them in a whole “output.” The change is then sent back to the sender.
Cold Storage
The term cold storage is a general term for different ways of securing your bitcoins offline (disconnected from the internet). This would be the opposite of a hot wallet or hosted wallet, which is connected to the web for day-to-day transactions. The purpose of using cold storage is to minimize the chances of your bitcoins being stolen from a malicious hacker and is commonly used for larger sums of bitcoins.
Confirmation
A confirmation means that the bitcoin transaction has been verified by the network, through the process known as mining. Once a transaction is confirmed, it cannot be reversed or double spent. Transactions are included in blocks.
Cryptography
Cryptography is used in multiple places to provide security for the Bitcoin network. Cryptography, which is essentially mathematical and computer science algorithms used to encrypt and decrypt information, is used in bitcoin addresses, hash functions, and the blockchain.
Decentralized
Having a decentralized bitcoin network is a critical aspect. The network is “decentralized,” meaning that it’s void of a centralized company or entity that governs the network. Bitcoin is a peer-to-peer protocol, where all users within the network work and communicate directly with each other, instead of having their funds handled by a middleman, such as a bank or credit card company.
Difficulty
Difficulty is directly related to Bitcoin mining (see mining below), and how hard it is to verify blocks in the Bitcoin network. Bitcoin adjusts the mining difficulty of verifying blocks every 2016 blocks. Difficulty is automatically adjusted to keep block verification times at ten minutes.
Double Spend
If someone tries to send a bitcoin transaction to two different recipients at the same time, this is double spending. Once a bitcoin transaction is confirmed, it makes it nearly impossible to double spend it. The more confirmations that a transaction has, the harder it is to double spend the bitcoins.
Full Node
A full node is when you download the entire blockchain using a bitcoin client, and you relay, validate, and secure the data within the blockchain. The data is bitcoin transactions and blocks, which is validated across the entire network of users.
Halving
Bitcoins have a finite supply, which makes them scarce. The total amount that will ever be issued is 21 million. The number of bitcoins generated per block is decreased 50% every four years. This is called “halving.” The final halving will take place in the year 2140.
Hash Rate
The hash rate is how the Bitcoin mining network processing power is measured. In order for miners to confirm transactions and secure the blockchain, the hardware they use must perform intensive computational operations which is output in hashes per second.
Hash (txid)
A transaction hash (sometimes referred to as a transaction ID or txid) is a unique identifier that can be used on any block explorer to look up all of the public details of a particular transaction. Every on-chain transaction has a unique hash made up of a long string of alphanumeric characters.
Mining
Bitcoin mining is the process of using computer hardware to do mathematical calculations for the Bitcoin network in order to confirm transactions. Miners collect transaction fees for the transactions they confirm and are awarded bitcoins for each block they verify.
Pool
As part of bitcoin mining, mining “pools” are a network of miners that work together to mine a block, then split the block reward among the pool miners. Mining pools are a good way for miners to combine their resources to increase the probability of mining a block, and also contribute to the overall health and decentralization of the bitcoin network.
Private Key
A private key is a string of data that shows you have access to bitcoins in a specific wallet. Think of a private key like a password; private keys must never be revealed to anyone but you, as they allow you to spend the bitcoins from your bitcoin wallet through a cryptographic signature.
Proof of Work
Proof of work refers to the hash of a block header (blocks of bitcoin transactions). A block is considered valid only if its hash is lower than the current target. Each block refers to a previous block adding to previous proofs of work, which forms a chain of blocks, known as a blockchain. Once a chain is formed, it confirms all previous Bitcoin transactions and secures the network.
Public Address
A public bitcoin address is cryptographic hash of a public key. A public address typically starts with the number “1.” Think of a public address like an email address. It can be published anywhere and bitcoins can be sent to it, just like an email can be sent to an email address.
RBF
RBF stands for Replace By Fee, and refers to a method that allows a sender to replace a “stuck” or unconfirmed transaction with a new one that uses a higher fee. This is done to make sure a transaction confirms as quickly as possible. The “replacement” transaction uses the same inputs as the original one. This is not considered a double spend, as the receiving address(es) typically remain the same.
Satoshi Nakamoto
Bitcoin’s existence began with an academic paper written in 2008 by a developer under the name of Satoshi Nakamoto. Satoshi is the name used as the original inventor of Bitcoin.
Transaction
A transaction is when data is sent to and from one bitcoin address to another. Just like financial transactions where you send money from one person to another, in bitcoin you do the same thing by sending data (bitcoins) to each other. Bitcoins have value because it’s based on the properties of mathematics, rather than relying on physical properties (like gold and silver) or trust in central authorities, like fiat currencies.
Wallet
Just like with paper dollars you hold in your physical wallet, a bitcoin wallet is a digital wallet where you can store, send, and receive bitcoins securely. There are many varieties of wallets available, whether you’re looking for a web or mobile solution. Ideally, a bitcoin wallet will give you access to your public and private keys. This means that only you have rightful access to spend these bitcoins, whenever you choose to.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
On January 3rd, 2009 Satoshi Nakamoto published the Genesis Block with the first 50 Bitcoins on Sourceforge. He also left a message on the blockchain at the time, quoting the headline in the British newspaper Times:
On January 3, 2009, the minister was on the verge of bailing out the banks.
Nakamoto started writing the white paper in 2008 and published it in October of that year.
The concept of a decentralized, anonymous, trusted currency emerged after the 2008 financial crisis, which left responsibility for the banks.
Satoshi neither supports the modern banking system nor does he like partial reserve banks.
A partial reserve bank is a bank that takes deposits and issues loans or investments, but only has to reserve a fraction of its liabilities for deposits. Basically, the bank is using money that it doesn’t own.
Satoshi wants to get rid of banks and seedy middlemen whom he believes are corrupt and unreliable. As such, he created a more community-centric digital currency.
13 years later, Bitcoin is still going strong with a market cap of nearly $ 900 billion. It is currently held by billionaires, banks, celebrities, governments, and corporations. This is evidence of how far BTC has come in its brief existence.
The precarious banking situation and economic uncertainty are also in crisis again.
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
“This is a book I want every athlete, aspiring leader, entrepreneur, thinker and doer to read. Ryan Holiday is one of the most promising young writers of his generation.”
George Raveling, Hall of Fame Basketball Coach
“Ryan Holiday is one of his generation’s finest thinkers, and this book is his best yet.”
Steven Pressfield, author of “The War of Art” and “Gates of Fire“
“Ryan Holiday has written a brilliant and engaging book, well beyond his years… It is invaluable.”
Brian Koppelman, screenwriter and director, “Rounders”, “Ocean’s Thirteen” and “Billions”
Ego Is the Enemy
“While the history books are filled with tales of obsessive, visionary geniuses who remade the world in their image with sheer, almost irrational force, I’ve found that history is also made by individuals who fought their egos at every turn, who eschewed the spotlight, and who put their higher goals above their desire for recognition.” – from the Prologue
Many of us insist the main impediment to a full, successful life is the outside world. In fact, the most common enemy lies within: our ego. Early in our careers, it impedes learning and the cultivation of talent. With success, it can blind us to our faults and sow future problems. In failure, it magnifies each blow and makes recovery more difficult. At every stage, ego holds us back.
The Ego is the Enemy draws on a vast array of stories and examples, from literature to philosophy to history. We meet fascinating figures like Howard Hughes, Katharine Graham, Bill Belichick, and Eleanor Roosevelt, all of whom reached the highest levels of power and success by conquering their own egos. Their strategies and tactics can be ours as well.
But why should we bother fighting ego in an era that glorifies social media, reality TV, and other forms of shameless self-promotion? Armed with the lessons in this book, as Holiday writes, “you will be less invested in the story you tell about your own specialness, and as a result, you will be liberated to accomplish the world-changing work you’ve set out to achieve.
RYAN HOLIDAY
Ryan Holiday is a strategist and writer. He dropped out of college at nineteen to apprentice under Robert Greene, author of “The 48 Laws of Power”, and later served as the director of marketing for American Apparel.
His company, Brass Check, has advised clients like Google, TASER, and Complex, as well as many prominent bestselling authors.
Holiday has written four previous books, most recently The Obstacle Is the Way, which has been translated into seventeen languages and has a cult following among NFL coaches, world-class athletes, TV personalities, political leaders, and others around the world.
He lives on a small ranch outside Austin, Texas.
Made with 💚 by Free Spirit
✌ & 💚
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The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→
The Art of War (Chinese: 孫子兵法; lit. ‘Sun Tzu’s Military Method’, pinyin: Sūnzi bīngfǎ) is an ancient Chinese military treatise dating from the Late Spring and Autumn Period (roughly 5th century BC). The … Continue reading The Art of War Quotes→
What Is Inflation? Inflation is a rise in prices, which can be translated as the decline of purchasing power over time. The rate at which purchasing power drops can be reflected in the … Continue reading Learn about Inflation Folks!→
Hy there my fellow citizens of this amazingly beautiful Mother Earth of… Not Ours !!! We tend to forget that and treat it as if we would have another habitable sphere on wich … Continue reading Free Spirit’s Library→
The Bretton Woods Conference, formally known as the United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference, was the gathering of 730 delegates from all 44 Allied nations at the Mount Washington Hotel, situated in Bretton … Continue reading What is Bretton Woods ?!?→
A smart contract is a computerized transaction protocol that executes the terms of a contract. The general objectives of smart contract design are to satisfy common contractual conditions (such as payment terms, liens, … Continue reading Smart Contracts by Nick Szabo-1994→