Okay. The perrenial question: does time flow? I'm slowly beginning to side with some who see time as merely the recollection or marking of an event. In that sense, it's not actually time that slows or is bent but the speed at which events are affect by natural forces. The beginning of time is the start of a procession of events within the created realm.
This seems as good a place as any for an announcement. Some of you know this already, but my wife and I have just welcomed a foster child into our home. We've had her stay with us for a few weekends and now she is living with us indefinitely. It's a lot of adjustment for us and for her, but we're optimistic we can make a difference in her life. Assuming all goes according to plan our intention is to adopt her.
Seems the decentralized architecture and virtual nature of the cryptocurrency system is primed for eventual domination of the global economy and could very well be a means of excluding all but the most exclusive from normal commerce. Maybe. It's novel complexity also affords a stealth-like evolution and gradual invasion into the collective psyche. Maybe not.
ALthough I recently read that the government had managed to recover at least some of the Bitcoin paid in a ransomware attack. If the government can recover (i.e. seize) the coins it kinda defeats the point of having something decentralised and outside government control. At least with silver coins stuffed into the mattress nobody can steal them without physically getting into your home. Which might not be much consolation when a bunch of angry dudes with guns comes knocking but at least they can't be stolen from afar.
Chocolate tastes amazing. Salty chocolate tastes even better. Salty crunchy chocolate is divine. That is all.
Wow, you done said a mouthful. It's sort of like the snake swallowing it's tail, if you get my meaning.
LOL! A recent scam email I received demanded a ransom paid in bitcoins, and offered a link to a place to purchase them, with the certainty that tracing the transaction would be futile. Getting blood out of a turnip is also futile. Let them do their worst, Ha! My PCs and devices are as clear as my conscience and my Word documents are free for the taking. Increasingly finding myself disillusioned by all things Internet lately, anyhow, and pretty much regret the time spent. Email was all bogus anyhow.
I got an email a while back from someone who had allegedly hacked into my computer (because it's easy to do), recorded all the porn I'd been watching and also recorded me watching it through my webcam. This mysterious individual very charitably offered me the option to not have him email his video montage to everybody in my contact list (which he had also hacked, obviously) for the very reasonable price of some amount of bitcoin. Except there were a few flaws in his proposition. Firstly the password he used to prove he had gained access was one I only use on disposable online accounts so he had gained access to nothing. Secondly it's been quite a long time since I darkened the doors of porn sites on the internet. Thirdly I routinely keep tape over my webcam anyway, just in case anything unexpected should access it. So this video that the mystery hacker figured I wouldn't want released would have had to be the most boring video imaginable. I guess as with so much else if you send out enough emails you'll get a few people who bite and it's easier than working for a living.
HaHa! Got one of those also. Pure slime. (My webcam would have espied an old man who sleeps with his mouth open).
For all the hoopla about cryptocurrency not being a valid form of money, at least in it's generally unregulated manifestation, it certainly appears to be gaining momentum on all fronts. The eventual essential will be the need for flawless identification.
Honestly, I think anything can be a valid form of money. Some things are better suited to it than others but ultimately if two people agree to trade one thing for another thing it works. Whether the people are looking to trade for something to use now, use later or trade later doesn't really matter. In that regard cryptocurrency ticks some boxes that regular currencies cannot, not least because they are far more divisible and because they can't be created out of thin air like fiat currency. Admittedly they aren't very stable in their purchasing power but where many commodities are concerned it seems regular currencies aren't very stable these days.
In the beginning, around 2009, "mining" was relatively simple and could be accomplished using PCs and laptops. To be competitive these days, one needs to invest in high-end computer systems, even quantum, or at least invest in mining companies. So far, the amount of Bitcoins that can be created is ultimately limited. Today, 1 Bitcoin is valued at $31,680 US. Will be taking a course on cryptocurrency to help me understand the mystifying system. My piggy bank gets mostly ignored these days.