Bitcoin – a delicious headline- A seed swapping day

Bitcoin is the first decentralized cryptocurrency. Nodes in the peer-to-peer bitcoin network verify transactions through cryptography and record them in a public distributed ledger, called a blockchain, without central oversight. Consensus between nodes is achieved using a computationally intensive process based on proof of work, called mining,

For a few years now I have heard about Bitcoin. This evening I listened to a 90-minute presentation by John Bush who is associated with his site Free Academy. The presentation was exciting in that he had complete control over his subject matter, gave the talk at the same time as looking at the comments and did some juggling with slide presentations.

Currently my main discipline with figures is checking my bank statements every morning. John explained how on his evidence bitcoin will go up in value and that it is worth getting involved. It’s seems that you have to keep your computer on all the time. I understand that the energy usage of people on Bitcoin is greater than the electricity used by the people of Finland. You seem to have to go through quite a few hoops to become fully involved in all the aspects.

John offered a follow-up course, two days worth, for $299. My conclusion is that this type of thing is right for some people but I feel in the way you are selling your soul on a fairly rough ride because the price is go up as well as down and although it is riding high at the moment you never know where world events will take us. The idea is to keep us free of the banking system indeed there are lots of good points but we both felt a certain draining of our spirits and we shall not be being involved. Knowing me I would check how the graphs were going every hour or so and I’m not quite sure the effect it would have on me in the longer term. So we will pass on this one.

Well, some I cant resist. EV Malfunctions at 100mph and Won’t Stop – Forcing Police to Ram it Off the Road.
Yet another great ad. for electric cars.

Broad ‘extremism’ definition risks clampdown on Christian beliefs
The Government is expected to announce plans to widen its definition of extremism to include those who are deemed to ‘undermine British Values’. How do we define it? Could this be a slippery slope towards the abolition of fundamental freedoms.  From the Christian Institute.

With life, expect the unexpected

Westfield Methodist Church Hall on a Rainy Saturday morning is not the place you’d expect to have a lively conversation about the universe and everything. I feel that to go anywhere for any purpose is an act of face because you never know, things might not work out. On this occasion our visits to Westfield, Radstock and Timsbury were outstandingly successful in human terms.

The local counselor was on fire as usual and showing everyone who was interested the latest plans for housing development in the area. She was bemoaning the fact that people’s considerations were ignored and that people were very fond of doing unscheduled additions to their buildings which were later disapproved of by the council and they were ordered to pull them down. I told Eleanor, for that is her name, that she had at least half a dozen books inside her. She had extensive knowledge of local history going back hundreds of years including pagan settlements.

She was  inter alia collecting information on churches from around the world plus she has half a dozen voluntary local tasks one of which was to be on the building committee to decide how the local recently demolished cooperative society building in Radstock should be redeveloped. An application had been made for 45 home units in addition to a supermarket and the previously made application was unsuccessful because the contractors could not deliver so it has now gone back for a second opinion. I have decided to take a rest from my vineyard for various reasons so I’m going to experiment with going to this Methodist church so I will report back from my 10:30 service on Sunday..

Timsbury Seedy Sunday

However my main point of interest was in going to the famous annual ‘Seedy Saturday’ in the Conygre Hall Timsbury. I find that the leaflet is quite a good role model in itself, the front cover of which you will see exhibited left. Inside they listed exhibitors and stall holders, talks, and the back cover was paid for advertorial by Pennard Plants.

We entered and I made a beeline for the cakes and savory serving hatch. I have to avoid sugar so I had a banana slice. There were definitely fewer people overall than last year and quite a lot of browsers as opposed to purchases but people support it because it is part of the local scene and has been held here in the hall for the last 14 years.

We met – or remet – Stef who sells the old established Weleda products for organic and natural cosmetics. Francoise and I are both suffering in various ways from body problems, Françoise has her knee/hip pain limiting here ability to walk and I have my stiff lower back so we both agreed in principle to have a treatment with her. She treats people in their own homes. She charges less than if we visited her. This is because having no consultancy room of her own she would have to hire one and so has to pass the cost on to us. She brings her own massage table which for me is very convenient.

We spoke to an artist friend who had a very unusual art style in rather diaphanous wire shapes (see below), portraying creatures and plants. She spoke about having met her brother after a long period of estrangement and the profound healing that she felt when they hugged. I did an on-spot ‘appreciation’ and found that he had a lot of situations to work out before he became free of his past. I understand there had been a divorce and the way was now clear for him to move forward.

While she and Francoise were talking, a lady came along and showed interest in the art. I engaged in conversation as I normally do and I mentioned that I would include her interesting account of her life into my diary. She showed great interest of this as she had wanted to start making a record of her life. The details were quite interesting to me anyway. She had been told that she had ADHD ( attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) from which she had suffered for some years.  The more pills she took, the worse she became, so about 18 months ago she decided to turn over a new leaf,  stop taking the pills, and started to live again.

She realized that her diagnosed condition was due to living on a higher vibration level than most other people not due to any dysfunction. This must have been a great breakthrough for her and it was a thrill to us both to hear how she had got  herself out of an existential hole.  She has dedicated herself to telling others about this and perhaps helping them in their situation.  We talked about writing a diary and I said she was very welcome to come around and we could have a bit of a chat about how this could be done.

I talked about speech to text, (Speechtext.com) the like of which I’m using to dictate this diary entry, and said how easy it was. She has a brain that works very fast. She said that she speaks fast because there are so many thoughts in her head and I could identify with this completely and see her as a kindred spirit in this respect. I offered my help and support immediately. I love helping the helpers and those who are breaking through for the first time.

We discuss the exhibits on the stand which we were in front of and she said that she would love to buy one for her mother and would return. We discussed how to best describe the characteristic of the art pieces.

Ephemeral I thought was inappropriate as it applies to something that does not last long,
diaphanous but that applies more  to items of dress such as ballet costumes,
Eclectic Perhaps over-egging it a bit.
See-through has the wrong connotations and is not suitable for art,
insubstantial is also mildly insulting as is
flimsy, lacking in substance
I find it defined but semi abstract.
Ethereal could work i.e. half physical half on another plain

The jury is still out on this one