31 - October already, change in the air
🇲🇹 We are coming to the end of our stay in Malta - it has been good and interesting to compare with Madeira and Mallorca. On the plus side in addition to warm weather, English is an official language in Malta (the other being Maltese - you will understand nothing of it). Negative points include the crazy traffic and relative difficulty in getting around. There is a lot to be said for Island life (recall the discussions in The Sovereign Individual). From these three our preference is strongly towards Mallorca for quality of life and relative self sufficiency. We will be keeping our experience of the last few months in mind going forward.
During the week we went back to see The Three Cities. It's an easy ferry ride from Valetta and then a short walk into the main "city centre". For variety we took the goldola ride from Valetta and then the ferry back. Like pretty much everywhere in Malta - there are fantastic grand buildings everywhere - all well restored and many open to see inside. There are also a few very picturesque streets (the Birgu Backstreets) and people do seem to live in grand sized houses.
In the coming week we will be back on the road again. Concerning the Global Mass Formation situation- there are finally some positive developments to report:
- HK largely opens up and even allowing us, as permanent residents, to return (we have been forced to be refugees since we left in February). We will be watching to see how the dust really settles in the month ahead.
- Thailand also drops all their restrictions and seems to be fully back to "normal" - let's see...
Sorelle asks a rather pertinent question; her conclusion is that if you do not already have plan in place you likely do want to get planning PDQ. This is certainly something that we have been doing this past year. I gave some tips and practical suggestions that I have found useful back in Issue 13.
Books of the week
First book for this week is Men at Arms - it is the second book in Terry Pratchett's GuardWatch series.
Ryan's review is just GREAT - go read it - I will not attempt to do better. Also check out his website - he has lots of interesting reviews. Since I am reading a couple of other books concurrently this week I am making slower progress and I must say that I found the previous one in the series (Guards! Guards!) to be a bit easier/more fun. Concise as ever, see QuietAsMouse's review: Men At Arms
The other book to mention this week is The Uncommunist Manifesto. I did talk about this back in Issue 23 and I now have my paperback copy of the book - absolutely recommended reading - more here.
When money dies
Lastly, if you are looking for something timely and relevant to read - let me suggest When Money Dies: The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar, Germany. Yes it recounts the story of a hundred years ago but you will be surprised to see how relevant this is today, albeit on a bigger scale. We did discuss this back in Issue 7 in February.
🛠 Update on my Projects
💰 Bitcoin & Lightning
You should listen to Michael Saylor's keynote address (interview style) at the BTC22 - Die Bitcoin Konferenz in Innsbruck. Michael is clear as ever and so direct. You should be in no doubt afterwards. Especially interesting is that Europeans (Germans no less) are now also running such world-class conferences.
You may have noticed that Bitcoin Amsterdam takes place 12-14 October in Amsterdam. Of interest is that this coincides with the bankers' annual jamboree that will also be in town at the same time.
Super interesting interview by Saifedean of Russian economist and investment advisor Lana Nagornaia - Adventures in Late Stage Fiat: Russia - she tells the story of how things evolved economically for Russians recently. Even more interesting is that Lana is now living in Malta...but I have not met her yet!
🎓 Reading, listening and learning
Below are some more interesting sources that I came across, or was reminded of, in the past week - for your enjoyment and edification:
🤔 Macro Economics and Geopolitics
James does a wide-ranging review of what's going on and likely next. You will learn more in 45 minutes than from any amount of TV commentary...
£ Concerning the situation with UK Pound I rather concur with Denome's analysis. This will not end well... Time to wake up and expect additional restrictions on your bank account to come soon. Alf's Macro Compass is also recommended reading (he will even read it to you). Joe explains LDIs and UK Pensions - result is not good! Neil also explains how catastrophic the situation is.
$ Guy explains the global consequences of the strong dollar and possible evolution. Also he points out an interesting research paper from BlackRrock dating from August 2019 that curiously managed to predict the C-19 financial crisis and response just before it happened. Watch his full explainer here and/or read the paper yourself. Almost as amazing as Event201 being a war-room simulation of a respiratory virus causing a global pandemic - run in October 2019 right before that happened in real life. Not to mention the Big Picture that The Economist ran on their December 2018 cover that seems to portray the entire pandemic (including pangolins, facemasks, vaccination passports, DNA and even Putin's pipelines) before it happened. All total coincidence, of course...
🇮🇹 Like Neil, I think Italy's recent developments will be replicated in other European Countries - Poland, Hungary and Sweden have already done it; the coordinated media response trying to overrule and vilify the choice of the people should be well evident for those who wish to think clearly. Divide and conquer at work.
Neil also did a deep dive into the pipeline situation. Plenty of Fog of War...
James and James come to pretty much the same conclusion.
⚠️ Ethereum Merge - the consequences become clearer
You may or may not be surprised to learn that with its switch to PoS, Ethereum has now become an online incarnation of the corrupt banking and political system that we have today. Caveat Emptor...
Scott Sullivan gives is an excellent breakdown of the inner workings of the ETH Proof-of-stake (PoS) design in his article here - or you may prefer to listen to Guy reading it.
You will understand that PoS and PoW (Proof of Work ) are radically different from each other, with most of their core principles even being polar opposites of each other.
🤔 Global Mass Formation situation
You will likely recall (back in Issue 21) that we discussed Prof Mattias Desmet's book and I pointed out many interviews where he explains what is going on in the world today and why - as well as what you can do about it. Go back and check previous discussions. See also this short and succinct interview with Ivor recently in Dublin: Debunking the Critics
🫁 Buteyko breathing
I was happy to find this long interview of Patrick McKeown by Dr Rangan Chatterjee - with extensive show-notes with links here. I recommend listening/watching and check out the good doctor's channel for many more interesting insights. Interesting too is that Ali also agrees and recounts his 30-day (night) experiment. Yet more testimony from a dentist. A recurring theme is that you will feel benefit in days or less than a week. I have been practicing it this week and can report that it meets or exceeds all expectations.
🤪 Finishing up on a lighter note
Lastly, Guy explains in true British Style what happened to the British Pound and why...
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