The Crypto Markets Are Kicking My Butt!!
I guess I need to pay more attention to @BitcoinBaby, because right now I am way down in my crypto investments.
As some of you may recall, I put a total of $2,300 USD into crypto in three separate occasions back in January. ( https://noise.cash/post/12gzpj77 , https://noise.cash/post/l4x37q8j , and https://noise.cash/post/18528236 , the last purchase being when I gave up and bought $100 of that shitty ETH.) Woo hoo, huh? Well, what's all this stuff worth right now?
Uh ..... would you believe just over $1,800? Yip ..... eeeeekk!!
That's about $500 up in smoke! And believe it or not, that money is NOT easy come, easy go, at least for me. *** EDIT - I was losing $500, NOT $5,000!! ***
My best performer is BTC, who has only declined to about $188. My worst performer? The stinker known as Algorand, who is currently lagging behind at about $118. Then again, two of my favorite coins, Solana and Cardano, aren't all that much ahead of hapless ALGO.
So, I take a deep breath, close my eyes to this hopefully temporary madness, and remember that I am invested in crypto for the LONG TERM. I may not see a profit on these coins for a year or more, but I am betting that once that profit comes, it will be prophetic in its magnitude. *
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* Yeah, that last phrase doesn't make a whole lot of sense, because I was trying to be clever with my use of the words "profit" and "prophetic", but all I did was misuse the latter word. Hey, cut me a break! I'm traumatized by all these cryptos bleeding out their value.
And Then This Shit Happens
TLDR: As if the world doesn't have enough pain and misery at the moment, Anton Petrov, a YouTuber who creates interesting educational content, just lost his infant son. May Neil Apollo Petrov rest in peace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKdjKFrzk_o&t=60s
I don't really know a damn thing about Anton, but he seems like a decent guy, and I'm really sorry such an awful thing happened to his family. It would be nice if y'all would check out his YouTube channel, and watch a video of his or three. (Be certain to like it!) https://www.youtube.com/c/whatdamath
This is one of those events that makes you wonder about God. If he has all those abilities he is claimed to have, or even a fraction of them, yet allows something like this to occur, he seems to be an incompetent boob at best, or a malicious bastard at worst. C'mon God! We know you can do better than this!
And please don't tell me I shouldn't question God, or scold Him. God created me to be what I am. God, (at least my conception of Him), has a great sense of humor, and can take our questioning and criticisms in stride. (A finite, puny mortal questioning the omnipresent, eternal creator of the universe: if that ain't a joke, what is?) And why not? He can do anything!
If my outrage at God comes from a sense of entitlement, from anger at not getting something for myself, then I'm a selfish jerk, and setting myself up to be squashed out of existence. But if my anger and doubt comes from a concern for the suffering of my fellow man, then God will certainly humor me, and help me to understand the WHY behind his actions. At least I hope so.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6fA35Ved-Y
So another downer of a post from me. Yeah, it would be easy at this point to swallow a black pill, curl up into a ball, and simply wait for life to roll past us, as existence in this universe is shaky at best. But I hope and believe that better things await us, even if just in our dreams. Neil Petrov's life was way too short, but I'd bet my bottom dollar it was happy!
We are flawed creatures, but we have the potential to be angelic. With God's help, maybe someday we'll all reach that promised land, where loved ones will never part, and there will be no strife, no anger, no hunger, and no pain.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhHBr7nMMio
The pic is of Neil, having a happy moment in his brief life, resting in the arms of whom (or should the word here be "who"? anybody out there speak English?), I think is his mama.
Night Bird
She flies over the valley of death, her tired wings pulling her broken body towards a distant paradise. Down below lies misery, hate, death, and disease, and although her multitude of ailments weight her down, her spirit is strong. She keeps flying, pulling, straining for that better life.
As she flies, she sings a joyful song of hope. It is a beautiful song, and it catches your attention, and warms your shriveled heart. You notice that you are smiling for the first time in years. "It's okay ...... it's alright".
But the storm clouds on the horizon swell in intensity, and as they draw closer, strong headwinds rip at her wings, battering her until she is slammed into the ground.
Laying amongst the wreckage and filth of the valley floor, her song changes to a wail of despair, and as the cold rain pummels the ground, she dies.
You look at her dead body, realize the futility of her flight, and remember the pain of her dying. Despite the joy of her song, she died anyway. You shake your head and think to yourself that the cynics are correct: life sucks, and then you die. All there is to life is waiting for it to end.
Yet somewhere, clinging to the back of your mind, remains that song. Softly, gently, it reminds you over and over that, "It's okay ...... it's alright".
We are all living on borrowed time, waiting for the death sentence on our brief existence to be enacted. Why, then, shouldn't we all be night birds? Let's take to the skies and sing for joy, happy in our flight, even though we know that our flights will eventually be cut short.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6UzrJrkpwQ
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nightbirde
No More Polish Jokes for Me!
Check this out: https://www.reddit.com/r/Damnthatsinteresting/comments/t7onq2/parents_in_poland_left_their_baby_strollers_in/ .
I went on Reddit for another purpose, (trying to help someone "consolidate" a wallet), when that headline caught my eye. Wow ...... that's just so, for lack of a better word, "humane". Which is how we should all act, when we aren't allowing our worse emotions to influence us.
Back when I was a kid, ethnic jokes were popular, and Polish folks were often the brunt of the joke. (E.G. - During WWII, the Poles would throw hand grenades at the Germans. The Germans would catch them, pull the pins, and throw them back. Ha, ha!) Well no more, at least not for me. If someone were to call me a Polack today, I would be proud! Heck yeah, I'd be honored to be someone like those folks!
And please don't consider Russians evil. Yes, there is most likely an evil man leading Russia, but he is NOT all Russians. Remember, as @MarSou reminds us, we are all one.
Anyone Else Give Up On Binance.com Because of KYC?
I give up! The KYC on Binance.com is just too picky!
I've been trying to set up an account on Binance for my mother-in-law for days now, (since I'm an American, I am not allowed to use Binance.com), but after three attempts we're done. In the first place, Lola is old, not computer literate, and doesn't really understand much about cryptocurrency. So even getting her to agree to get an account took lots of persuasion.
The next problem is I don't speak Bisaya, so I had to have my wife there with us to translate back and forth between English and Bisaya. Three people attempting to appease a fussy KYC process sure seems like a huge waste of time to me!
Finally, every time the process failed, we had to start all over again. That means getting Lola to sit still for the laptop camera, then move her head around in whatever motions the KYC process felt were important at the time.
Our first two attempts were rejected because the photos of the IDs we supplied weren't clear enough. (Never mind that other exchanges, such as Coins.PH, accepted them with no problem.) Our final attempt was cut short because when the KYC process went into the "head shaking" routine for what would be the third time now, Lola rebelled, and got up and walked away. I don't blame her!
So congratulations, Binance! We will NOT be using your services.
MetaMask Surely Sucks. Are Software Wallets Subject to Censorship Too? Is a Roth IRA The Best Solution For Americans?
Due to my paranoia and laziness, (mostly laziness, to be honest), I have never bothered to set up a MetaMask account. I know that in the crypto world it is said that being decentralized is preferable to being centralized, so my approach to decentralization has been to store some crypto in various software wallets. (This crypto now belongs to my mother-in-law, should any of y'all reading this be employees of greedy tax agencies.)
If you have been using MetaMask, you should probably watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=13LLjSMpgmk&t=192s . Yes, with just the flip of a switch, users of MetaMask can be locked out of their wallets should they happen to reside in a "bad country". (For a definition of what a "bad country" is, read George Orwell's book 1984.)
Yikes! But even worse, the speaker on the video raises "centralization" concerns with wallets I help my mother-in-law use, such as Atomic, Exodus, and Trust Wallet. I'd say "Double Yikes" here, but fortunately, (for us, at least), she doesn't present any evidence for her concerns that these software wallets are subject to centralized censorship.
Of course we are told to use hardware wallets as the best way to keep our crypto off centralized platforms, but the hassle of a hardware wallet seems excessive for the amount of crypto she owns. Besides, maybe I am giving in to the dark side, but with my largest personal crypto investment I am taking the opposite approach.
If you're an American citizen like me, you surely realize that the stupid Federal Government is attempting to tax nearly everything related to cryptocurrency. If they could, they would probably tax even just thinking about crypto! So what is a citizen of the "Land of the Free" to do to avoid these onerous tax obligations, besides flying under the radar? (Not recommended, by the way!)
There is something called a Roth IRA in the USA. Money put into a Roth IRA is tax free FOREVER! (Subject to change at a future date, of course. NEVER blindly trust a government!) So it would be hugely beneficial for an American such as me to have my crypto sitting in a Roth IRA.
So that is what I have done. I signed up for a self-directed Roth IRA, and have begun the process of funding it. This is where the majority of my crypto now resides. Yes, it is extremely centralized, but it is legal, stored on a fairly decent exchange, (Gemini), subject to the rules and regulations of the rapacious minds at the IRA, (some of these rules and regulations actually protect me!), and thus I would contend almost as secure as crypto stored on a hardwallet locked in a safe in a remote, secure location.
I am just starting my journey into keeping crypto in a Roth IRA, so I don't know how this will actually work out for me. I'll keep y'all informed as I learn more through my experiences.
In the meantime, if you must use MetaMask, you should probably watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SonqKIlqt0&t=0s .
The Renoise Channel
Hey all, I just created a channel, the "Renoise Channel". I created it to, (surprise, surprise!), have a place to put a renoised comment, as apparently I just can't allow it to exist under my User ID anymore.
Is it true that we now aren't allowed to renoise under our User ID, but must renoise into a Channel? Or is this just my latest "User Error", as this old man continues to be befuddled by all this newfangled technology?
If we must renoise into a channel, (phooey if that is true!), then we need a relaxed, drama free place to do it. The Renoise Channel has no moderators, (that I am aware of!), so your renoises should post there immediately.
Use this channel if you so desire, or, if you have a better idea for how to go about renoising, describe it in a comment. Thanks!
Answers, Part 2
The time has finally arrived, unfortunately, to continue answering my own "interesting" questions. You may have had the misfortune to read "Answers, Part 1" ( https://noise.cash/post/15r727p8 ), which if I had any shame I would apologize for posting, but shame seems a foreign trait to me, so I won't.
Just like in "Part 1", I will reprint the questions before answering them. And as a reminder, you can always view the original post here: noise.cash/post/1vq74k46 .
TLDR: More prattling about "stuff".
10. Is intelligence a trait that varies by race?
Of course not! Ever notice that the folks who ask this are always assuming that THEIR race is the smart one?
Anyway, if you're going to answer this question, you'll need to have some way of quantifying "intelligence" and "race". What is actually meant by those words anyway? Isn't race more a measure of appearance, of the phenotype, rather than the genotype, the actual genetic makeup of an individual?
If you can quantify an aspect of intelligence, and then can show that a certain genetic combination enhances this aspect, then at that point I suppose you have proven that intelligence has some basis in genetics. You would then have to show that this genetic combination seems to occur in certain populations to make any sort of claim about the relative intelligence of "races".
11. Are women really smarter than men?
Obviously. However, because of the fluctuations of powerful hormones within a woman's body, many woman, while very smart, are also emotionally unstable. Batshit crazy, even.
So guys are dull, but steady, while women are brilliant, but unstable.
Yes, I know this is a generalization, and doesn't apply to everyone. Deal with it!
12. Is it true that the more men (or women) a women has had sex with prior to marriage, then the less likely the chance that this marriage will be successful?
Unfortunately the available data from social science research seems to validate this claim. Now of course the social "sciences" are hardly scientific at all, and the "data" gathered by these professions are highly suspect, but it's the best we have at the moment.
So guys, I guess there is something to the idea that a woman should be a virgin on her wedding night. But before you get too cocky about this, consider that it probably also applies to us guys as well. The more you screw around before getting hitched, the weaker that "hitch" will be.
13. Why should we consider any document written by other people as somehow "holy"?
I don't know. But I look at it this way: for any given religious text, a whole lot of people much smarter than me have considered it worth paying attention to. Am I going to inflate my ego and claim I know better than many, many, many folks before me, or am I going to humbly submit myself to some guidance which has served humanity well for centuries?
14. Is it true that the advantage of having sex with 29 year olds is that there are 20 of them?
Yuck. I don't understand pedophilia. How can you be sexually attracted to someone who hasn't developed their secondary sex characteristics yet?
The rule of thumb is this: once there is grass on the infield, it's time to play ball! (Disclaimer: follow the rules and regulations of the stupid government, (yeah that's redundant, as all governments are stupid), in control wherever you live. I will NOT be liable if your actions land you in jail!)
15. Despite their undeniable achievements, do Jews cause, (inadvertently or not), the inevitable collapse of any society which accepts them as citizens?
No. Believe it or not, Jews are just people like everybody else. (Imagine that!)
What the Jews do have is a culture that promotes achievement. So Jews will tend to achieve more than the non-Jews they live among. And once you're in a prominent position, you have the ability to cause more of an impact.
For example, Hank Aaron, probably the greatest hitter of all time in the sport of American Baseball, was much more likely to hit into a double play than a lesser hitter. Does that mean that he was a detriment for any team he played for? Duh - of course not!
The contribution of Jews to the cultures they have lived in has been profound. Unfortunately, in some rare cases the impact has been profoundly negative. But overall any world leader would have to be nuts not to welcome Jews into his/her country.
16. If someone stole your mood ring, would you know how to feel about it?
No. How could you?
17. Are all metaphysics bullshit, consisting of nothing more than our fears and hopes cast out into a mechanistic, uncaring universe?
All SECULAR metaphysics are bullshit. Consider, if you will, speculations about what existed before the Big Bang: the "Big Suck"?
Metaphysics is rightly the realm of faith, and as such isn't something that I feel comfortable discussing here. For better or worse, your faith determines your reality. Everything else is simply an attempt to validate your faith.
18. Is it true that the best way to kill a vegetarian vampire is with a steak to the heart?
I don't know about vegetarians, but certainly the best way to chase off a rabid vegan is with logic, if you have the patience to deal with their wacky pseudo-religious babble. Besides, don't plants have feelings too? How would you like it if some clueless herbivore walked by, ripped off several of your leaves, and ate them?
And what about microbes? Every day millions of innocent microbes are sucked into our lungs and killed by our immune systems. Is that fair, or ethical? Do we need to start a movement to "Save the Microbes"?
Bonus Question. Did you actually read through all this crap?
If you did, simply indicate so in any reply you may leave, (e.g., "Yes I painfully read through all your senseless drivel, OB."), and I'll try to "reward" you in some way. But don't get too excited. I am notoriously kuripot, (Filipinos know what that word means), so you'll be lucky to get much more than a penny.
If and when I ever post Part 3 of this series, (which is thankfully the last part), I'll add a link to it here. Now stop reading this and go do something useful!
The Mess May Not Be All Putin's Fault
User @marsou has posted a plaintive post, ( https://noise.cash/post/1k400zn3 ), about the current disaster in the Ukraine. Please pray to however you conceive of your "Higher Power" that this conflict be resolved quickly, with as little loss of life, limb, and property as possible.
However, there is one idea I keep seeing in posts here on Noise.cash, and on other places online, that I believe may be mistaken. This is the idea that the invasion of Ukraine is somehow all Putin's fault.
I know I'm a bit of a paranoid fool sometimes, (okay, leave off "a bit of", and that may be more accurate!), but IMHO the depravity of our "leaders" seems to know no bounds. As many of you may know, the American economy is not doing too well at the moment. What could help revive it? Why a nice little foreign war, of course, where the civilians murdered aren't American citizens and the cities destroyed aren't American cities. The Military-Industrial Complex, ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military%E2%80%93industrial_complex ), in the USA is HUGE, and is most likely the leading cause of economic growth or decline for that country. A war in the Ukraine, provided it doesn't end too soon, could provide quite the economic boost to America.
Don't believe me? Have you paid attention to American foreign policy this century? How many wars has America been involved in? How many years has America not had troops actively fighting somewhere?
War certainly sucks, and Putin sure seems to be a jerk, but we don't know what has really transpired between him and western leaders. Could Putin and the West have some sort of under the table agreement to bleed Ukraine?
Oh, but America, the "Land of the Free", would never, ever agree to such an evil thing, right?
Well, I DO know that, years ago when the Philippines was attempting to break free of Spanish rule, the USA made a secret deal with Spain to "free" the Philippines. The American military swooped in, and "attacked" the hapless Spanish. The Spanish army was quickly routed, (because they were paid not to put up a fight), and finally the Philippines was free! Ha, ha, ha ...... just kidding. The Philippines now became a colony of the USA, and Filipinos now had to fight America for their freedom, which they only got after WWII. (Hey, maybe the Japanese occupation did have some sort of positive impact?)
Never underestimate the duplicity of our "leaders".
A Short Post
Some folks say my posts are too long. This one isn’t.
😜
FRUSTRATION!!
I'm sure I don't need to remind anyone of how difficult it is to save money, yet how friggin' easy it is to spend it. :-(
For many months now, (you could almost say years), I have been squirreling away a sizable chunk of cash, just waiting for the overheated US stock market bubble to burst. Thanks to Putin's blood lust, it appears a tipping point may have been reached, and the much anticipated market "correction" (collapse?) is beginning to happen. Now should be a time when I am eagerly watching the financial markets, and starting to slowly accumulate stocks and crypto at a heavy discount.
Which is exactly what I would be doing if I were single. However ......
Apparently my wife's auntie is ill. And apparently she has some land nearby which she needs to sell to pay bills. And apparently I have agreed (really?) with my wife to buy this land from her. For THIRTY THOUSAND USD!!
Aaaahhhhh!!!!
Yes, the land is very nice. It is filled with harvestable trees, and is mostly very flat and level. *
However, it is also landlocked. ** But no one seems worried about that but me.
So -- Poof!! --, just like that, my sizable chunk of money that I had hoped to invest in the market at a tremendous discount is gone, (and then some!), following other large clumps of money into this bottomless pit of life here in the Philippines.
My wife assures me this is a good investment. I sure hope she knows what she is doing.
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* Land which is flat AND level is rather scarce around here, unless it is in a flood plain and used to grow rice. Before we arrived here in the Philippines, my wife convinced me to buy some flat land her sister had discovered was for sale. Well, the land is flat alright, it's just that it is also tilted at what is at least a 45 degree angle! It would be great for raising mountain goats, I suppose. But unless you're a mountain goat farmer, I would think that you would also want your land to be relatively level.
** I don't understand land ownership and usage here in the Philippines at all. Back in the USA, if you own a chunk of landlocked land and you don't also have some sort of legal, deeded access to it, it is basically worthless. However here in Mindanao owning a chunk of land that you don't have deeded access to is apparently common? Heck, we don't even own the land our house sits on. (Another sore point for this confused Kano!) And people cross over, and graze their animals on, parcels of land that don't belong to them all the time. Is this legal, some sort of "squatter's rights"?
The House Is Almost Complete!
About a month ago I wrote a post about building a house for my wife's cousin. ( https://noise.cash/post/185p282n ) That house is now almost complete. All that needs to be done, I believe, is put in the windows. (That will happen once we get some more money.)
Actually the house has been complete for more than a week now. I've just been too lazy to post this update.
The first pic is of the front of the house. (The lady in the reddish shirt sitting on the porch is our Lola.) The second pic is of the back. Next is an interior shot, followed by a shot of the kitchen. (Okay, the kitchen needs work too.) The door to the left of the kitchen goes to an indoor CR, which is shown in the last pic.
I don't understand why, but most Filipino toilets are like this, simply consisting of a very, very small commode, with no seat.
So now everyone is waiting on yours truly to cough up some more cash so the house can finally be finished. I'm just waiting for my monthly pension payment to clear.
Stupid Body Tricks, Part Two
Getting old is a weird experience. You experience first hand what it is like to be slowly deteriorating, as your body starts to decay and malfunction. We're trapped in these "meat suits", and as they wear out we can feel our remaining time on this planet slipping away.
I've written about stupid body tricks before, ( https://noise.cash/post/17nwgx8p ), and I guess I could write a repeating post about the stupid body trick of the day, but that would soon grow tedious. But today my body played a really mean trick on me, so I suppose this event merits a post of its own.
First of all, my cough, though diminished, is still hanging on, my right ear is now plugged with wax, and I felt kinda dizzy and weak when getting up this morning. Normal occurrences for this old body, you could rightly assert. Disregarding my usual aches and pains, I decided to go for a morning walk.
I didn't get much walking in yesterday, (I try to walk at least a mile daily), so this morning I was planning on walking about 2 miles. My wife joined me at first, and we had a nice walk up to the main, paved road. We came back to the house, but according to my iPhone had only gone about 1.5 miles, so while my wife went back inside, I continued walking down the dirt "almost road" towards a distant part of the purok.
Once I was a considerable distance away from our house, I got the tingling sensation of needing to poop. It wasn't that urgent or anything, so I just ignored it, and continued walking. A few minutes later this sensation had changed, and was now very urgent, as if I had to poop RIGHT NOW! So I turned around and headed back towards home, hoping I could make it there before I had an accident.
Spoiler alert: I didn't make it back home in time!
***** Warning - the remainder of this post gets kinda gross! Skip it if you're easily offended. *****
I had only gone about 30 feet or so when I realized I wasn't gonna make it, that for better or worse this poop was coming out NOW! So I walked off into the bushes, and as best I could tried to pull off my pants while squatting down. I was remarkably unsuccessful. The poop shot out into my pants before I could completely pull them off. Yuck, yuck, YUCK!!
So now I had the extremely unpleasant task of trying to clean poop out of my pants while squatting in the woods, while random bits of poop, seemingly guided by some malevolent force, managed to get all over my butt and legs. It was a catastrophe!
I eventually managed to pull up my soiled pants, and walk back to the house. Before I came inside I screamed for my wife, telling her I had pooped myself while walking. The two of us went over to the outdoor CR, where we also have a hose, and she washed me off as best she could. I slipped into the CR and tried to wash out my pants, while she went inside and got me another pair to wear.
To bring this gross, smelly tale to a close, I wasn't completely cleaned off until she bathed me in the indoor CR. My brother-in-law gave me some anti-diarrhea medicine, and since taking it I have only had to run to the CR once.
The second pic is actually of some edible "poop", the recipe for which can be found here: https://www.instructables.com/100-Edible-Poop-That-Didnt-Come-From-Your-Dog/ . Amaze your friends the next time you host a dinner party!
The Fish That Killed Magellan
While it is widely known that Lapulapu was the guy who finally put a stop to Magellan's voyage of discovery, (or conquest, depending on your point of view), did you know that a very yummy fish is also named after him?
The Lapu-lapu is actually a grouper, which must be why it tastes so darn good. Apparently it is a big deal on Palawan, where they harvest lots of these fish for export to places around the world.
http://www.positivelyfilipino.com/magazine/a-fish-called-lapu-lapu
The first pic is of a woman holding a red Lapu-lapu. The second pic is of a related species, the green grouper, which must be the fish we had to eat, because my wife claims it was cheap. * But it was still super delicious! (Both pics were swiped from the article referenced above.)
Assuming she is correct, and this was a cheap fish, then WHY do you Filipinos keep eating those awful tasting oily fleshed fish that are best used as bait, or food for domestic animals? Seriously, WHY? This was a fantastic tasting fish, better than tilapia, (which at a small size seems to be all skin and bones anyway), so unless you're a masochist, I can't understand why you wouldn't purchase it.
I just wish they wouldn't have named it after the guy who murdered one of my childhood heroes. Growing up in the USA, Magellan was presented as a brave explorer to us kids, not as someone who was looking for lands to conquer and pillage. It was a bit traumatic to me, on my first trip to the Philippines, to discover that Lapulapu was considered a Philippine hero. It all depends on which "side" you're on, I suppose. Maybe someday there will be only "one side", that of the human race?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapulapu
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* - Okay, I guess "cheap" is relative. I pressed her about this, and she admitted that while it wasn't "expensive", (whatever that means), it did cost a bit more than some other fish. But it is much meatier than the other fish, certainly tilapia, so when you figure out the cost based on how much you get to eat, it comes out pretty reasonable. Or so I think. I don't speak Bisaya, so I only pick up about 20% of what is actually going on here, if even that much. For all I know this was an expensive luxury she bought for us, and she doesn't want to 'fess up to it. But boy was it yummy!
The Wonderful Martin A. Couney
TLDR: Martin A. Couney was a wonderful man who in the early twentieth century defied the existing medical establishment and managed to save the lives of many premature babies, one of whom was his daughter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njql0oySdJs
God works in wondrous ways! Would you believe that, back in the early 1900's, a man managed to save the lives of many prematurely born kids, by setting up a carnival sideshow? Martin A. Couney was most likely never a real medical doctor, yet despite this he did what most of the doctors of his time were unable/unwilling to do, namely, allow premature babies a fighting chance at life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_A._Couney
https://www.historicmysteries.com/martin-couney/
https://www.americanheritage.com/martin-couney
Unfortunately, he often had to push back against the existing medical orthodoxy of his day.
Some of the establishment doctors of that period were seriously recommending that prematurely born babies should just be left to die!
So when we currently have doctors who, in a seemingly Don Quixote style quest, try to challenge the windmills of the CDC, NIH, and other governmental alphabet agencies of our health care system over their diagnosis and treatment of Covid19, we need to recognize that fighting against the misconceptions of an entrenched orthodoxy is nothing new. Sadly we seem to have learned nothing from this 100 year old lesson.
If when I die God is in a particularly forgiving mood and allows me to ascend to the "good place", one of the first people I'm going to look out for is Mr. Couney. I will shake his hand, and thank him for his efforts to save the lives of so many people. He is a true embodiment of the best of the human spirit.
The Frog Effect
If you look at the pics, he's probably more of a toad, but at any rate he seems to love to climb into our pots and tear up our plants.
The pot in the pics had some seeds, (mangosteen, I think), I had planted. I've been able to get mangosteen, marang, jackfruit, and seeds of other fruits to sprout fairly easily, although raising the young plants has proven difficult, as I struggle to find the right combination of sun and shade for them to grow, yet not get burnt up by the sun.
Meanwhile .... our friend the toad has been looking for a home, and decided to give our pots a try.
Besides tearing up my seedlings, he made the mistake of digging up one of my wife's plants. This enraged her, and she enlisted my younger son to go "kill that frog!" It took all of my diplomatic skills to call off this assassination attempt, and although I did manage to save the toad's life, I took a lot of abuse for my interference. My wife claims I care more about the toad than her, and tells me to "kiss the frog", as it must be my true love.
Sigh ..... Stupid toad! Why couldn't he just stay out in the forest, where he belongs?
Answers, Part 1
Recently I added a post which consisted of several thought provoking, (or gag inducing, depending on your viewpoint), questions. While it would be incredibly self-indulgent and self-infatuated of me to then create a post answering my own questions, that is what I am going to do now. The internet and social media sites have given old windbags such as myself an almost unlimited soapbox to shout our nonsense all across the world. Ain't Noise.cash wonderful!
As you can see, this is just Part 1 of my answers. Besides being pompous, I am also verbose, so my answers will span more than one post. (The horror! The horror!!)
I am reprinting the questions here, but if you have a burning need to see them in their original form, you can scoot on over to that post here: https://noise.cash/post/1vq74k46 .
1. Do agnostic, dyslexic, insomniacs lay awake at night, wondering if there really is a dog?
As a former agnostic myself, (I'm more of a Deist now), I can relate to the existential angst that some of us feel from time to time relating to our place in a seemingly uncaring universe. But I have found a cure, albeit a temporary one, to feelings of being lost in "the void". I simply think about sex. And with almost universal access to the internet now, yummy pornography is available to anyone who wants/needs it, 24/7, 365 days a year.
I find that once I am good and horny, worries about silly things such as humanity's place in the universe, current moral dilemmas, or my own brief existence, fade away beneath the irresistible urge to "get off". Salvation via orgasm!
While this may not work for everyone, (many females, asexual folks, anyone with an emotional maturity greater than 15 years old), it worked great for me for many years, although with advancing age I find myself less inclined/able to indulge in it.
So next time you find yourself stuck in one of those "dark nights of the soul", try this technique, and see if it works for you too. You can thank me later!
2. Did Western Civilization begin its great decline once women were given the right to vote?
I had the beginnings of an answer to this question forming in my head, but I was preempted by several folks who correctly pointed out that correlation does not necessitate causation. In other words, just because everything started going to hell once the ladies began voting, that does not prove that the female vote ruined everything.
Well phooey on that, I say! Ignoring this minor complaint, along with the existence of two catastrophic world wars, I contend that women's votes have irreparably harmed Western Civilization because of women's tendency to vote for socialism and other progressive causes much more so than men. I guess there are still folks who would argue against this, but I believe it has been proven beyond a doubt that social welfare programs over the long run inevitably weaken the society in which they are implemented.
One such person who did in fact argue against this was my late, great friend Ms. E, who despite being one of the smartest and kindest people I ever met, was a die hard socialist and progressive. When I would demonstrate to her how harmful social programs were, she would simply respond, "Okay then, OB, what are you going to do for the people who are depending on them?"
Hmm ......
She is still waiting for my answer. Maybe one day, should by chance I fortunately discover myself in that wonderful place where Ms. E is no doubt currently residing, we can continue our discussion.
3. Are all blondes with two functioning brain cells actually pregnant?
This is clearly a bogus question. As a former blonde myself, before my hair lost all its color and turned white, I can not believe that ANY blonde could ever have two functioning brain cells, let alone even one! What nonsense will you have us believe next, the existence of an honest politician?
4. Is the majority of artistic/intellectual creation and content the product of homosexual men?
Like it or not, the swishy boys amongst us are clearly behind much of the world's art, for better or for worse. (If you disagree, do you own research and prove me wrong.) But what about intellectual creations? What about progress in math and science?
It's clear that Alan Turing, ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Turing ), was gay, yet as Wikipedia states, "Turing was highly influential in the development of theoretical computer science, providing a formalization of the concepts of algorithm and computation with the Turing machine, which can be considered a model of a general-purpose computer. Turing is widely considered to be the father of theoretical computer science and artificial intelligence." Heck, he's even got his own page on the CIA's website: https://www.cia.gov/stories/story/the-enigma-of-alan-turing/ .
But what about Isaac Newton, arguably the greatest theoretical scientist of all time? Was Sir Isaac gay?
It's hard to know because he lived in a different time, when LGBTQ wasn't a militant stance against "straight" society. He may have been a repressed homosexual, or he may have just been an asexual, neurotic wacko, (my opinion). Either way, he wasn't able or willing to establish and maintain a heterosexual relationship.
People with great minds are different from the rest of us normal folk, and they may behave in ways that we find odd, or queer. I guess this is what Plato was referring to in his Allegory of the Cave, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory_of_the_cave .
5. Should I inform my friend, who is extremely lacking in self-confidence, that the song he wrote about tortillas is actually more of a rap.
This was supposed to be a joke, playing on the word (w)rap. A tortilla is used to wrap around food! But then I added that phrase about him lacking self-confidence, and the whole thing fell apart.
I should have left well enough alone. Sorry!
6. Are all males controlled by their testicles?
Yes.
7. If an omnipotent God exists who is good, then why does evil exist?
I'm sorry, but this question is way, WAY beyond my pay grade. I've tried through the years to come up with solutions, (evil is simply the absence of good, etc.), but at the end of the day I'm still back at square one, wondering how a God who is good would create/allow evil. I haven't a clue.
8. Is there really such a thing as "good" or "evil"?
I think so. "Good" is simply behaving in a way that furthers the purpose for which the universe was created, while "evil" is behaving in any way that is at odds with "good". Another way to state this would be that evil is the absence of good.
While I'm fairly certain that "good" exists, I vacillate between thinking that "evil" is, like I stated above, simply the absence of good, or that evil exists in its own right. (Does Hell exist, or is it simply the absence of Heaven?)
This is a complicated subject, and unfortunately ties in to #7 above, which I have no answer for. So yes, "good" exists, although I can't adequately explain why. As for "evil", who knows?
9. Is it really true that the only reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the naughty girls live?
Probably. If you were a guy with a "large sack", wouldn't you enjoy visiting naughty girls from time to time? (Heck, even a guy like me with a .... er, um, non-large sack, enjoys a good time with bad girls.)
Naughty girls are lots of fun SHORT TERM. Fortunately for Santa, he has a good time "ho ho hoeing" with the not-so-nice lovelies, then once his jingle bells won't ring anymore all he has to do is hop in his sleigh, and his reindeer whisk him off to the North Pole, far away from any complications his frolics may have caused. (Yeah, he still has to face Mrs. Claus. Not sure how he deals with that.)
This is more than enough now for one post. Should I write another post answering some of the remaining questions, I will link to it here.
*** Well, no one stopped me, so I went and created an "Answers, Part 2" post: https://noise.cash/post/1xg5674z . Read it at your own risk. ***
Questions That Can Not Be Asked
I haven't posted in a while, and it seems like forever since I put up something rude and offensive that irritated lots of folks. This is unfortunate, as after all I do have a reputation to uphold. So it's time to get off my fat butt and rectify this situation.
Unfortunately I don't believe I can just be offensive without some "snowflake" complaining to the powers that be here on Noise.cash and trying to get me banned, so I decided that I would mix my insults in with humor. That way, if someone gets their panties all in a wad over something I wrote, I can simply claim that they didn't get the joke.
So here, for your amusement and irritation, are a bunch of questions that can never be asked.
1. Do agnostic, dyslexic, insomniacs lay awake at night, wondering if there really is a dog?
2. Did Western Civilization begin its great decline once women were given the right to vote?
3. Are all blondes with two functioning brain cells actually pregnant?
4. Is the majority of artistic/intellectual creation and content the product of homosexual men?
5. Should I inform my friend, who is extremely lacking in self-confidence, that the song he wrote about tortillas is actually more of a rap.
6. Are all males controlled by their testicles?
7. If an omnipotent God exists who is good, then why does evil exist?
8. Is there really such a thing as "good" or "evil"?
9. Is it really true that the only reason Santa is so jolly is because he knows where all the naughty girls live?
10. Is intelligence a trait that varies by race?
11. Are women really smarter than men?
12. Is it true that the more men a women has had sex with prior to marriage, then the less likely the chance that this marriage will be successful?
13. Why should we consider any document written by other people as somehow "holy"?
14. Is it true that the advantage of having sex with 29 year olds is that there are 20 of them?
15. Despite their undeniable achievements, do Jews cause, (inadvertently or not), the inevitable collapse of any society which accepts them as citizens?
16. If someone stole your mood ring, would you know how to feel about it?
17. Are all metaphysics bullshit, consisting of nothing more than our fears and hopes cast out into a mechanistic, uncaring universe?
18. Is it true that the best way to kill a vegetarian vampire is with a steak to the heart?
19. Is the Covid jab the beginning of the "mark of the beast"?
20. Can we all live as brothers and sisters, or will we die violently as fools?
21. Is it okay to have sex with a sibling, as long as no pregnancy results?
22. Is a dinosaur with an extensive vocabulary actually a thesaurus?
23. If you were asked the different between ignorance and apathy, would you know? Would you care?
24. If you were to die right now, would it matter to anyone but you?
25. Are we actually intelligent, self-aware beings, or is our self-consciousness simply an illusion?
26. Is it true that elephants are so skilled at camouflage that they are almost never spotted when sleeping in their tree top nests?
27. Is there anyone in the known universe who actually understands how the Noise.cash tipping algorithm works?
Hacking A Hardware Wallet
I recently came across this YouTube video where a "professional hacker" was hired to break into a Trezor hardware wallet whose owner had forgotten its pin number. It's an interesting watch, at least if you're kinda geeky like me.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dT9y-KQbqi4
I probably only understood about 25% of what was going on here, but it's fascinating none-the-less to see how hackers work, and how any electronic system is ultimately vulnerable to the laws of physics.
Kudos to Trezor for publishing known security vulnerabilities with their devices on their website. It's easier to mitigate a known problem than an unknown one!
Please remember to backup your passwords/pin numbers in a secure manner! Had that been done in this case, much time and effort could have been spared. But then we wouldn't have had this cool video to watch!
I Gave Up And Bought Some ETH
As y'all may remember, I recently invested money into 11 different cryptocurrencies, ADA, ALGO, ATOM, BCH, BTC, DASH, DOT, LTC, SOL, XLM, and XTZ. (If you need a reminder, that post is here: https://noise.cash/post/l4x37q8j .) Conspicuously missing from that list is ETH because, well ..... because I think it sucks! Gas fees for using ETH are so ridiculous that I lose money every time I touch it. Yuck!
However, if you spend any time cruising the internet or looking at YouTube videos, it seems that recently everybody and their crazy cousin Ethelbert is proclaiming how Etherium is going to skyrocket in value by the end of this year. Really? Is it going to pull SHIB and the other doggy poop coins along with it?
I'm old, and I'm getting tired of trying to swim upstream against the current. So ETH is going to "shoot the moon"? Fine, I'll buy some then.
Which is what I did. You can see by looking at the attached screen shots from my Coinbase account that I have now invested about $100 into that piece of crap ETH.
Actually, it's kinda fun to see how volatile the crypto markets are by looking at my "current" results. (This is what everything looked like this morning. God only knows what each of these coins are worth now.) BTC has recovered quite nicely, followed closely by ADA, then DASH, LTC, Stellar, and BCH. Leading the losers is Tezos, followed by a recovering (hopefully!) ALGO, DOT, and SOL. And who is now the stinkiest loser? (Although I hate ETH, it can't be included in the list of deplorables because I only put $100 into it, not $200 like the others.) Why none other than Cosmos, the very same coin I was praising just a few days ago as being the only one who held onto its value. I guess ATOM bombed?
All of this is to simply point out the futility, IMHO, of trying to time something as insanely erratic as the crypto market. God bless you folks who are able to make money actively trading your crypto, but as for me, I'm going to stick to HODLING.
DON'T PANIC!!
OMG! Across the board every major cryptocurrency is down in price, not just in the last 24 hours, but in the last 7 days as well! What should we do? Sell everything now, before we lose all our money?
Unless you're a heavily leveraged day trader, (in which case you brought this on yourself!), all selling right now will do is ensure that you lose money, both the actual amount you'll lose now, and the potential gains you would have received once crypto inevitably reverses course and starts climbing in value again.
Remember boys and girls: we invest in crypto for the long term. So stop worrying about its day-to-day price.
Here are some YouTube videos that will put all this into its proper perspective, and do a much better job of explaining what is going on, and why you should not panic, than I could do.
Crypto JUST Crashed: How To Double Your Money - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XQyuE1cA_M
$2.5 Billion in Net Losses for Bitcoin Today - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwJwbqG55pw
Bitcoin Crashes 50%! Am I Still Bullish? - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgXEjHZUTUc
Finally, here's a video that's negative on Bitcoin for the short term, but positive for the long term: Bitcoin Heading to $20,000, More Damage to Come Says Expert Technical Analyst - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FGp9T8YxCe0 . (Note that this video is based on technical analysis, which I think is a bunch of bunk. Max Keiser says it best when he calls it, "Astrology for men.")
Doubling Down On My Crypto Investment(s)
About two weeks ago, (06/Jan/2022 to be precise), I invested $100 each into the following cryptos: ADA, ALGO, ATOM, BCH, BTC, DASH, DOT, LTC, SOL, XLM, and XTZ. As predicted, the market tanked soon after I put money into it, with ALGO leading the parade of stinkiness. Rather than sob in my oatmeal about my losses, I decided the "sensible" thing to do now was to double down, and invest an additional $100 into each of these coins, while the market was weak, and their prices were low.
So that's what I did. You can see my current balances in the screenshots below. (MKR, OXT, EOS, CGLD are just coins I picked up by going through Coinbase's Learn program. It's a great way to scoop up some free crypto.)
The ONLY coin that is even holding on to 90% of what I put into it is Cosmos/ATOM. Everybody else is displaying a greater or lesser degree of suckiness.
To be fair, Coinbase hits you with a $3.00 transaction fee. So on all my $100 transactions I would already be down to 97% of what I invested immediately. But to lose half of what I invested in just two weeks is putrid, to say the least!
Looking at the second screenshot, we can see the worst of the worst, lead by a coin I really like, Algorand. Ignoring the $100 I just invested, we can see it's lost about half its value. WTF, ALGO? Aren't you supposed to be part of the future of crypto?
ALGO is outperformed, (barely!), by SOL and Tezos/XTZ, both of whom at the moment still suck. The ranks of the worst losers is rounded out by DOT, who ONLY lost about 40% of its value.
Moving on to the first screenshot, we can look at the cryptos who aren't quite so sucky. XLM lost over 30% of its value, and the trio of BCH, DASH, and LTC, all of whom have the potential to be functional digital currency someday, also lost about 30%. ADA and BTC are struggling to hang in there, both having lost about 25% of what I bought them for.
Like I stated earlier, the only bright spot seems to be ATOM.
Now of course looking at the value of these coins right now is kinda silly, as I have no intention of doing anything with them until the end of the year. I am a HODLer, not a trader.
But it is kinda entertaining to see how much profit/loss they have already created.
And for those of you who were counting on a crypto market rebound to begin soon, I apologize for putting a jinx on crypto, or at least those particular coins I just invested in. It really brings me no joy to drive an already battered market lower.
P.S. - If you're curious, my original post on my crypto investments can be found here: https://noise.cash/post/12gzpj77 .
Rebuilding Cousin's House - Part of a Continuing Series on How To Go Broke In The Philippines for Westerners.
In addition to spending a lot of money fixing Lola's house, (details of that sad story here: https://noise.cash/post/1rgzq0qz ), the decision was made to build a new house for our cousin, who lives with his wife and kids right across the muddy "driveway" from Lola's house.
The first pic is of his current house. I don't think it looks too bad, and is more-or-less average for the houses in our purok, but I have been assured that the roof leaks, and it has only a dirt floor, which is less than ideal.
The second pic is of the outdoor CR. I HATE outdoor bathrooms, (can you imagine trudging out to that thing on a rainy night?), but once again for our purok it is more-or-less standard. There are much, much worse CRs around here. Heck, the CR outside of Lola's old house was so miserable that when visiting I would become constipated rather than force myself to use it!
The third pic is of the back of the house, where the mighty Sir Anthony sits scowling at me, wondering just what the heck I am doing wandering around in his backyard! (Sir Anthony is our cousin's oldest kid.)
The last two pics show the beginning of the construction of the new house. Unfortunately this new house was built right on top of their garden! They had a really, really nice garden, full of flowers and yummy stuff to eat. If it were my decision, I would have been tempted to stay in the old house and save the garden.
Once this new house is complete, this will be the second house we built on land we do not own. Supposedly our cousin's papa had a similar "tenancy agreement" that our Lolo did, so we should have some protection against simply being told to vacate someday. Who knows? I hope we aren't throwing good money after bad.
Speaking of throwing money away, yesterday we drove to Ozamiz to get our tourist visas extended. We have to do this because my wife never got her Philippines dual citizenship resolved, despite my insistence upon arriving here that it was her highest priority to do so. (So much for my authority within the family!) We had to pay about $820 USD to bump out our visas for another 6 months. Well, that's not quite correct. My visa and our two kids' visas were extended 6 months, but for some bizarre reason, my wife's visa could only be extended for 2 months. Maybe that will finally inspire her to stop putzing around and get her dual citizenship? Ha!
Blah
TLDR: May your resolve to HODL never waver during this craziness, may that "special" crypto you sunk lots of money into quadruple or more in value, may the world come to its senses and stop shitting on BCH, may your encounters with the latest variant of Covid be as quick and painless as possible, may anyone anywhere in the world who gave an order to mandate a Covid jab be dragged into the street and beaten, (or at least receive a stern verbal beatdown), may the fortunes of Mr. MDM continue to grow so that he is inspired to continue funding Noise.cash, may the admins of Noise.cash follow his wishes and give us an abundance of Free Tips each and every day, may all your posts receive a multitude of likes and tips, may all of us accumulate a fortune in BCH, may the sun always shine upon you, may any wind always be at your back, may your pleasures by many and your troubles be few, may God walk beside you all your days, and may He guide our steps as we continue our journeys to our final home. Peace, paz, ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ, kapayapaan, سلام, hoà bình, paix, barış, мир, สันติภาพ, 和平, fred, mir, Friede, ειρήνη, שלום, Amani, vrede, filemu, rauha, Lapè, अमन, pace, xi hño, ਸ਼ਾਂਤੀ, béke, friður, damai, an tsíocháin, 平和, pokój, صلح, शान्ति, 평화, សន្តិភាព, roj, ငြိမ်းချမ်းရေး, Keamanan, miers, taika, fiadanana, eacepay.
Blah. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah. Blah! Blah blah blah.
Snerg? Blah. Snerg snerg? Blah! Snerg snerg snerg snerg, snerg snerg. Blah blah blah.
Ghdi jelndo dmwiidi dussy hwpklaab. Blah? Ghdi jelndo dmwiidi, dussy dlkji dussy? SNERG!
Blah. Blah blah blah. Blah blah blah, blah blah blah, blah. Blah! Blah blah blah.
Blah.
Choosing The Least Harmful Option
Today my wife, her mama, and I all got a Covid jab. Fortunately for us, (at least I believe so), it was the CoronaVac (Sinovac) vaccine, which is NOT an mRNA vaccine, but rather a vaccine based on inactivated viruses, a technology which has been around a while. (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoronaVac ) While I am NOT happy about taking a vaccine developed in China to combat a virus released in China, (my displeasure is with the odious Chinese government, not the Chinese people, who are just like everybody else, including you and me), I believe that of all the options available, this is the one that will cause us the least amount of harm. Will it do us any actual good? Probably not, but at this point not getting harmed by the stupid Covid jab is enough of a "victory" for me.
So now we have our special "vaccine cards", and can hopefully travel freely within this country and enter stores, restaurants, and malls with minimal hassle from vaccine compliance thugs and other assorted self-proclaimed "protectors of the peace". We just have to remember to get our second dose some time in February.
And if the world ever returns to some semblance of sanity, I sure hope the goons who encouraged all these vaccine mandates get a through beating. Jerks!
I Think I’m Gonna Get The Covid Jab - Part Two
(This is a continuation of a long rant I started here: https://noise.cash/post/ljp5z5ww .)
This saga ended right as we were discussing the long term effects of the stupid "vaccine", which, if anyone tells you they know what they are, then they are LYING. The powers-that-be have chosen to play this out in real life, and we will know what, if any, long term effects the vaccines have as people develop them. It seems like a pretty reckless way to handle public health policy, but what the hell do I know, right? I'm not an obstinate government bureaucrat, and therefore I guess my opinion is irrelevant.
More on the vaccines later, but let's get back to my favorite subject, me! Specifically, why am I willing to have this mess injected into my body?
The reason is simple: I'm f*cking tired of being ill every 6 months. Yeah, life is great when I'm not sneezing or coughing, (assuming some other body parts haven't decided to malfunction), but that is down to at most 10 months out of the year now, and apparently continuing to decline. Do I really want to live the life of a semi-invalid?
I am willing to get jabbed on the off chance, (about 10%, in my estimation), that it may actually do me some good, and help clear up or at least lessen whatever the hell is wrong with my immune system. That's not much of a chance, but it is better than zero.
My guess as for the most likely outcome of the jab is that is will do absolutely nothing, or at worst make me slightly ill for a bit. I would rate this outcome as 60% likely.
That leaves 30%, which is the horrible outcome where the jab seriously disables me or outright kills me.
Why would I risk a 30% likelihood of a horrible outcome for a 10% likelihood of a great outcome? Well, obviously these numbers were just pulled out of my rear, so God only knows what the actual likelihood of any particular outcome may be, (and He ain't telling nobody nuthin' at the moment), but even if they were accurate, that is just how fed up and tired I am with getting friggin' ill all the time. It really, really sucks!
So hit me up with your ouchie, old Doc Fauci. This boy is wildly swinging for the bleachers. (I.E., trying to "hit a homerun". Kinda like a "Hail Mary" pass.)
If you're especially masochistic and you've stayed with me this far, put on your tinfoil hat and let's examine two seemingly disparate means of control, vaccine cards and CBDCs, and see how they may intertwine in the future into a dystopian nightmare. Since Covid is in the wild now, and since the "vaccines" don't really prevent it, it will continue to mutate and evolve into new forms into the foreseeable future. Never one to let a good crisis go to waste, world "leaders" will continue to push tyrannical measures onto their citizens, requiring more and more ridiculous forms of compliance. Obviously getting the latest booster jab will be one of these requirements. But how to track if all your booster jabs are up to date?
Why not use a blockchain to do so? Every human would have his/her entry on the blockchain. DNA sequence could be the unique key to any entry. All Universal Basic Income, (which many will depend on as more private businesses shut down due to Covid restrictions), and pension payments to anyone's CBDC account, (the only accepted currency), would first have to bounce off that person's "vaccine" entry, to verify that they are in compliance with all the rules. Don't want to get the latest booster shot? Besides draining your CBDC account to zero, shutting off all your utilities, and disabling your smart phone, the government may send its goons to pick you up, (thanks to your smart phone, it knows where you are), and cart you off to an "isolation facility", where you remain quarantined until it is deemed you are safe to go back into society again. How many years will that process take?
Enough of this nightmare! If somehow you managed to read through all this crap without reading the first part yet, and want to subject yourself to the beginning of this screed, it can be found here: https://noise.cash/post/ljp5z5ww .
**EDIT: We got jabbed! https://noise.cash/post/169wm494
I Think I’m Gonna Get The Covid Jab - Part One
TLDR: Frustrated with his body’s near constant respiratory infections, the old guy decides to get the jab, despite knowing that it is more likely to cause him harm than good. Part one.
The TLDR above sums up more than what y’all really want or need to know about this. The rest of this post is just me whining about how “unfair” my life has been, so read it at your own hazard.
I have decided to go ahead and get the stupid Covid jab. Yes, it will make living here in the Philippines much easier, thanks to the morons in power who keep restricting access to all sorts of things, (restaurants, malls, even OUTDOOR parks!), to those who have a “vaccination card”. But that’s not why I’m getting the psuedo-vaccination. I’m doing it because I’m tired of my body’s remarkable inability to fight off any type of respiratory infection.
Ever since I was a kid I’ve tended to get respiratory infections on a regular basis. I remember going to events and concerts with a cough and runny nose quite frequently. I could expect to get ill at least once a year. In most cases this illness would only last a week or so, with me being bedridden for about a day, but when I was in high school I caught the swine flu, and that stuff nearly killed me. I might be exaggerating, but I seem to remember being bedridden for about three weeks.
Fortunately I haven’t gotten that sick again, but as I’ve gotten older, the frequency of these infections has increased to about once every 6 to 8 months. It really is frustrating to be ill so often!
Of course through the years I’ve gone to doctor after doctor searching for someone who could “cure” me. But other than giving me amoxicillin and telling me to drink plenty of fluids, there wasn’t much they could do for me. Despite having all the symptoms of a severe autoimmune problem, I tested negative for all the common allergies. One Doc did a scan of my head under some sort of machine, and informed me that I have mold growing all through my sinuses. He proposed “scraping” all this mold out. I talked to a few folks who had this procedure done. While it isn’t nearly as bad as it sounds, it is not a permanent solution. The mold will grow back.
My frequent colds were a major reason I decided to retire early. It’s not a lot of fun going into an enclosed office building coughing and sneezing, and my coworkers liked it even less than I did.
This brings us to the current day. A bunch of arrogant scientists tried to play God and screwed up, letting loose another virus upon the world. Oh, but of course they claim to have the “cure”, which unfortunately is anything but that. And power hungry assholes the world over have seized upon this opportunity to grab even more power in their attempts to “protect” us from this new threat. And just a few days ago, I got yet another damn respiratory infection.
I last got sick in late August, and was ill for most of the month of September. This latest crud doesn’t seem as nasty as what I had back then, but still, it’s only been three friggin’ months since I got over it. And now my stupid body is playing host to another group of nasties?
To say I’m tired of this shit is an understatement. I’m not ready to take a dirt nap yet, but I’m getting closer. Which brings me to the stupid psuedo-vaccine.
It’s often said that what causes us the most trouble isn’t what we don’t know, but what we think we know, but we don’t. The arrogance behind this forced mass vaccination program is mind blowing. We don’t really know what the long term effects of it will be.
(Suppose you've finished reading this mess, and being in a prickly self-abusive mood, you want to read Part two? Well, you're in luck, because it can be found by clicking here: https://noise.cash/post/lk4pm637)
People That Are STILL in Denial About Bitcoin!
Oh no! What's this? Yet another link to a YouTube video?
Yes indeed, and like all the other videos I link to, I believe you should take the 8 minutes or so out of your day necessary to watch it, and watch it. So ..... WATCH IT! ---> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4VPBeBElYs .
The video itself is a spoof of anti-crypto folks created by the comedian "JP". Yes, it is BTC centric, but that's okay. There is room in the crypto world for all sorts of cryptos, even the obsolete original Bitcoin. Just watch the video for a laugh or two.
As an added bonus, JP mentions something called Zion at the end. What is Zion? If you scoot on over to https://guide.getzion.com/ , you'll see that it is an uncensorable "decentralized social network built on Bitcoin". Now I am NOT recommending that anyone abandon Noise.cash and move on over to Zion, because to date Noise.cash is still paying WAY MORE to its participants than any other social network site. But we have to remember that this site is largely funded through the kindness of one man, the remarkable Mr. MDM, and at some point it is likely he will tire of pouring out money to it.
Consider Zion as something to look into when that sad day finally arrives when the Noise.cash gravy train stops running.
Fixing Lola's House - Part of a Continuing Series on How To Go Broke In The Philippines for Westerners.
I am continually dismayed by how much money we are spending here in the Philippines. Our latest expenses deal with repairing the house to keep out rats.
As I have written about before, ( https://noise.cash/post/l69j6v6v ), we have rats in our attic, because despite assurances to the contrary the house wasn't complete when we moved here. We are lacking what I believe is called "soffit", (or is it "fascia"), the stuff that goes around the overhang part of the roof to keep the damn varmints out.
With the start of the new year, we decided to go ahead and spend the money necessary to get this problem resolved. Of course, I haven't finished paying back the money we borrowed to buy the new farm truck yet, (I complained about that expense here: https://noise.cash/post/ljww65kz ), but what the heck, another broke family in the Philippines isn't going to make much of a difference. And if we can control our spending for the rest of the year, (ha, ha, ha!!), we might actually come out of this okay.
The workers have been diligent, when it's not a "fiesta", or they haven't gotten drunk the night before. They put up a bamboo scaffolding, which they climb on with bare feet. Slowly, slowly, ever so slowly, access to our attic is being sealed off from the outside world.
To think that I was sold on the idea of moving to the Philippines to "save money". What a sucker I am! Bill Gates would go broke here, (which quite frankly would do him good), because there is so much that needs replaced, fixed, developed, maintained, or reinstalled properly. Sure, you can live cheaply here, if you don't mind that your neighbors, who at times you will depend on, are still living in a dirt floor shack. (More on that later.)
How To Get Started Using SmartBCH
In one of my posts, (in between long rants about whatever was bothering me at the moment, such as another stupid head cold, malicious coconut trees, rapidly vanishing Free Tips, or the evil intent of "proof of vaccine" certifications, most likely), I mentioned that here on Noise.cash, (and Read.cash), there have been several well written explanations of how to get started on SmartBCH. Folks then began asking me about these explanations, hoping I could give them a link. Alas! I did not make a note of these posts upon viewing them, and now I just can't remember what they were called, or who wrote them.
So ...... I did a search here on Noise.cash, and rummaged through the results, to try to come up with posts you could view to get an idea of how to get rolling on SmartBCH.
Without any further nonsense, (other than to point out that the IRS and the SEC are evil institutions that should be obliterated off the face of the planet, or at least overhauled to actually serve rather than oppress citizens), here these posts are, presented in reverse chronological order:
https://noise.cash/post/l85r0gnq
https://noise.cash/post/1694vvvr
https://noise.cash/post/1rgv3qr8
https://noise.cash/post/1vqk72gn
https://noise.cash/post/l5r4wr35
https://noise.cash/post/lw8x5506
https://noise.cash/post/1qzwkmp9
https://noise.cash/post/12gjj3v7
https://noise.cash/post/1vqnmkwg
https://noise.cash/post/19zppn50
There ya go! That's 10 separate posts, which should be enough for anybody. Yeah, I know some of them may refer to the same article or video. But that is why, if you are a clever noiser, you will at least scan all of them, and then pick at least two or three that are sufficiently different to read more carefully. Different authors express things in different ways, and you will pick up more knowledge, insight, and tips if you can digest more than one post.
An important thing to note here is that I am NOT using SmartBCH, because to do so requires using Metamask, which I do not want to instal on my PC, nor use. But if Metamask is not a problem for you, then you should definitely be hopping on the SmartBCH chain.
P.S. - The potentially offensive picture has nothing to do with SmartBCH, but is a good representation of what I hope to be doing soon, once travel here in the Philippines opens up, and I can easily go to the beach. Imagine coming across a fellow like this, but with a much, much larger ........ belly, and any of you beach going Filipinos know what wondrous sights may someday await you!
@OldBastard
