118 - Holywood and Antwerp
๐ช๐ธ ๐ฌ๐ง ๐ฎ๐ช ๐ง๐ช We had a full week of travel and family things this week. First thing Saturday morning we caught the early flight from Palma direct to Belfast (nice). We arrived in time for breakfast at St Georges Market (Belfast Bap - highly recommended) and later in the day we had a nice family celebration for our Wedding anniversary at the place where we got married all those years ago.
We spent the week with my Dad and his sister and we had a great time with daily outings to all sorts of local sights and places that brought back memories to them. This included Bangor Castle and Walled Garden, all along the seafront to Groomsport as well as Botanic Gardens in Belfast, not to mention quite a few nice locations around Holywood and Belfast.
It was nice too to meet up with a few friends here in Holywood and Belfast. Indeed they had short notice that we were here. For those that could not make it, follow along here and we can catch up next visit! You can also just reach out for a chat.
Friday afternoon we flew over to Belgium, via Dublin. Saturday morning and early afternoon I will be in Antwerp and happy to meet up with anyone that could not join when we were here a few weeks ago - just reach out and ask.
Saturday evening is booked for a great family celebration of the 10th wedding anniversary of V's niece. Of course all the Belgium family will be there and we are looking forward to it.
By Sunday evening we will be back in our apartment in Palma and we plan to get back into our normal schedule again and enjoy the island before our next excursion.
Book of the week
With all the travel I also had plenty of time for reading this week. I have got to recommend Neil Howe's latest book. It is an update of his masterpiece published back in 1997. By popular request he has updated it to include insights gleaned over the 25 years since original publication and to give insights to what to expect in the coming decade and beyond.
ICYMI - he does summarise the ideas behind his original book so you do not need to have read it - but this girl will give you the best summary ever in 8 minutes! You will learn and see very clearly the repeating cycles in history along with the so-called "seasons of history": Spring (High), Summer (Awakening) , Fall (Unravelling) and Winter (Crisis) in each Saeculum. You will also understand the nature of each of the generations: Boomers, Gen X, Millennial and Gen Z - both in previous incarnations as well as the current one and their interactions with society in each of the "seasons" and how that determines what happens.
The book is fascinating and I highly recommend that you get this up-to date, current and forward-looking opinion and explanation on what is happening and coming next. His focus is on largely on United States history but he also highlights many parallels and connections with history of other parts of the world - so you ought to find it relevant to your own situation.
Have you read it? What do you think? Happy to discuss and to hear alternative as well as confirmative opinions - just reach out and let me know.
Interview of the week
I listened to this on the flight and you must listen or watch below. David is an academic and he shares his well-researched and peer-reviewed material that for some (apparent now) reason the mainstream does not support or want discussed. I listened to this after Neil Howe's book and it is crystal clear how they relate and support eachother in their conclusions. David has it completely correct.
He explains clearly how Operation Covid was really a ruse to usher in a global bio-digital totalitarian world state. WWIII was initiated in 2020 and is a war for global technocracy which seeks to dismantle democracy around the world. Psychological warfare is being used against the global population in what he describes as Omniwar.
Instead of going to war with each other as was the tradition, ruling elites have come to a tacit understanding where they are collectively now working to subdue humanity through global class war.
David's book is available here. Do buy it and/or support him directly. Towards the end of the interview he explains why this is necessary and important.
News roundup of the week
On the bus from Aldergrove into Belfast I listened to this news roundup. The folks at UK column have done an excellent job of finding and presenting the most important news to know instead of the propaganda that you are otherwise fed.
They cover quite a bit of ground with many interesting topics, insights and practical suggestions. They are well worth following and you can support them here. As you know, one of the features of the Cantillon effect is that the mainstream propaganda is very close to the money spigot and real, investigative journalists like this are ostracised.
One of the especially interesting topics they discuss is this one, that of the "control group" - let me know what you think.
How to vote smartly - do not consent
Your vote counts when it goes in the ballot box. If all you see is crap and corrupt politicians, write "I DO NOT CONSENT" across your ballot and put it in the ballot box. Ashby vs White 1703. The more who do this, the bigger the impact.
More in this issue
- Photo memories - Holywood, Bangor and Belfast this week
- Project Updates - Capital Flight and Broken Trust
- Plenty of useful links - Planets align - don't say nobody told you!
- Closing out - a selection to broaden your mind
๐ ๏ธ Project Updates
With all the travel and family things this week, I did not have so much time for hands-on project work. So I am sharing with you a couple of fascinating things that are both relevant to my projects. First up is an interesting and informative assessment of the Bitcoin environment and around; listen and learn. Next up is a fascinating documentary that tells you how it all got started around BTCPayServer and why.
How interesting - when you avoid toxicity and listen
I am a great believer in listening to clever and well-researched people. I dislike toxicity and mindless maximalism that many demonstrate; perhaps that comes from growing up in Belfast in the 1970s and seeing the results of such mindsets.
The conversation revolves around Bitcoin and its scaling challenges, the emergence of Monero, and the impacts of these developments on the existing financial system. Hear about how Monero can serve as a decentralised, private, and fungible alternative to traditional payment systems, facilitating peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries and offering much greater and potentially perfect privacy. It is certainly not perfect but neither is any of the other solutions to this challenge.
What is especially interesting is that they honestly discuss Monero's own scaling limits and they conclude and settle on decentralised scaling that sounds a lot like Fedimint and Cashu. Combine this with the Stable-Value developments we discussed last week and you have a BTC/XMR cross - how interesting! I maintain my position that if/when we have reliable, trustless atomic swaps with bitcoin the next stage of the game is on. There are certainly things that Bitcoin and eCash developers can learn from Monero - maximalism does not help here.
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:04:50) Bitcoin's Scaling Challenges and the Emergence of Moneroย
(00:27:21) Attacks on Open Source Development
(00:40:12) Bitcoin's Entanglement with the Existing Financial Systemย
(00:47:19) The Future of Monero and Free Markets
(01:04:25) Public Awareness and Advocacy for Monero's Legal & Constitutional Rights
My trust in you is broken
Created by Nicolas Dorier, BTCPayServer was a reaction against BitPay's direction in the Bitcoin Block Size Wars and their support for SegWit2x. The documentary chronicles the conflicted beginnings of Bitcoin as a payments system and emphasises Dorier's pivotal role in contributing to Bitcoin merchant adoption.
BTCPayServer is free, open-source and enables merchants to directly accept Bitcoin (and Monero), achieving independence from intermediaries. The film also underscores the perils of so-called trusted third parties and intermediaries. This is why we Bitcoin.
๐ Links for your edification
The following are links from my NetNewswire feeds - learn, enjoy and share.
Photoshop - right from the beginning
You might have assumed that the old pictures that you see are all completely real, since they were all taken before Photoshop. Think again. In fact photo manipulation has been prevalent right since photography was invented. Watch below to learn and see many interesting and well-documented examples and you will see how those doctored images were subsequently used to mislead entire populations on issues of national and historical importance. It seems like there is indeed nothing new under the sun!
Related to the above, this next one will surprise you. Remember postcards? Would it surprise you to know that sky is often the same one. Watch below and learn - sometimes it is cropped and sometimes flipped. It is another one of those things that, once seen cannot be unseen.
Yet more corruption and lies in the UK
Latest report shows a decades-long moral failure at the heart of UK national life โ from the National Health Service to the Civil Service, to ministers in successive governments, at every level the people and institutions in which citizens place their trust failed in the most harrowing and devastating way.
The depth of the corruption should be apparent by now. If you are wondering about the implications or what you really can do about it, check out the News Roundup and How to Vote Smartly above.
Seriously!
When I saw the title of this I thought that Saifedean was doing this "tongue-in-cheek" but indeed he is serious! Listen as he explains how Central Banks are really functioning exactly as per Austrian Economic theory but for the benefit of their shareholders and not the public that they are supposed to serve. They deliver Keynesian nonsense and MMT to everyone else.
Planetary Alignment
The next planetary alignment will take place onย June 3, 2024. In the early morning, six planets โย Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptuneย โ will align in the sky. Mercury, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn may be spotted with the naked eye, but you'll need a telescope or high-powered binoculars to see Neptune and Uranus. Let's take a closer look at the conditions for observing the planets.
๐ค Closing Thoughts
I have a selection of closing thoughts where at least something should appeal to everyone!
There are no coincidences
You will know my scepticism on things that are claimed to be"just coincidence". We have talked before about the evil of those who are behind the debt-based financial system. My friend Jordan (Waters Above) goes much deeper and you might well want to watch this and inform yourself.
If you haven't seen it yet, you will want to watch Jordan's update from 1st May.
Taking things to the next level - Joseph has further insights on what's going on. Spoiler alert: 222 seems rather too prevalent for all this to be coincidence! Gematria anyone? If you have been following Jason's analysis you will understand where all this goes - clue: tiny hats.
Happy to discuss and would love to hear your insights and thoughts.
The Primary source - (re)writing history!
Who are the primary sources for our historical narrative? In this video, we take a closer look at Hubert Howe Bancroft. Widely considered to be the authority when it comes to the history of Western North America, I think you'll find more than a little strangeness here.
Jon Levi has some interesting additional commentary here.
The other links referenced are:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/...
https://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu...
Howdie Mickoski's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Expos...
Jon Levi & David Edward's book:
https://www.amazon.com/Evidence-Old-W...
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No one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
- Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix
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