Actually you are really agreeing with me. I'm stating that California is almost a country in its own right, but it is being exploited and abused by its overlords in Washington.

My other point is that a fortune is spent on destructive drugs, vaccines and other weapons of war, whilst the domestic infrastructure and economy is allowed to decay.

No coffee lounge can be complete without some Spanish guitar music, so here are some great tracks. I like the pictures as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rSapoh85cU

But his offence budget, and the wall budget are to be increased. When will Washington start to give it's colonies like the bankrupt California some support, and stop wasting the American tax payers' money on regime changes and banking and pharma profit increases?

Thanks for the responses guys. I probably started the thread because I've been reading too many political topics, and only the bad stuff is reported. For example, who has heard of the fact that between 2005 and 2009 the socialist government of Venezuela gave $500 million in aid to help poor Americans with their heating bills. The other thing is that many "discussions" here seem to degenerate into personal abuse, and I think this is an indication of a lost argument, or the inability of the poster to communicate. However, the personal abuse does tend to spoil the flavour of the forum.

Congrats - that is really the great thing about Bitcoin. It has given some people the chance to make life changing decisions, and to improve the quality of their lives. There is no advantage in having a wallet full of Bitcoin if you aren't happy and having a great life.

I gave you a couple of merits to keep up the good work.
Now you can get a screen like this
https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81KTONH713L._SL1500_.jpg
so that you can multi-thread your awards.

ps. They won't give me permission to take that into McDonalds.

Whether Bitcoin comes to dominate the world of crypto and payment  systems is a different argument, but there is no doubt that its impact on banking is up there with fractional reserves, and the removal of the gold standard.

The UK will become massively stronger once it is free of the leeching EU. But this will only affect the exchange rate between Bitcoin and Sterling. The collapse of Deutsche bank and thus the EU will have much more of an effect in my opinion.

A far larger influence will be the proposed State backed crypto from the Bahamas -
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/06/25/bahamas-launching-state-backed-cryptocurrency-legitimate/
As most of you are probably aware, The City of London controls most of the world's money via a hierarchy of trusts in British Commonwealth tax havens like the Bahamas. This is in association with Washington, the country that rules and controls America. It may well be that this crypto will be the forerunner of the new world currency that will replace the unsustainable current fiat systems.

Will Sterling survive? Sterling is the oldest of the current world currencies, and one of the few that still has gold coins as legal tender ( the Sovereign and the Britannia ). It is one of the few currencies that the ruling elite of bankers may decide to retain as we move into the world of formal virtual currencies. These will probably be misnamed as crypto-currencies to try to gain acceptance following the success of Bitcoin.

I started a thread about the first ham radio transaction using the Lightning netwoork, and how that could help us to make Bitcoin transfers without access to the Internet. The recent loss of Internet access in much of Venezuela has brought this topic to the fore again, and it seems there are other solutions. One of which is txTenna -
https://github.com/MuleTools/txTenna

I rhink that this is something that we should be discussing in Bitcoin  Talk, and I would be interested in being a part of any project that may be started here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agZ0xISi40E

This was published in December 2007, and it makes you wonder why the EU and the UK didn't go for the WTO exit that we voted for. All the subsequent time has been wasted, as we could have been making trade arrangements with the various countries in the EU. That's what we will be doing next month, and the UK and the individual countries will be richer as a result of it.

Most of the discussions seem to revolve around the coins, tokens and wannabe currencies in the cryptosphere. Don't forget that crypto is now an industry, and this means there are many other related projects and investments. Some that I can think of are -

- Promotional items and memorabilia.
- Domain names.
- Educational services and eBooks.
- Programming and software development
- Building communities.
- Advertising and sponsorship

and probably many more. So what are you doing for the industry?

Yep, and the first "computer" I worked on was and IBM 421 tabulator. I worked in the group accounts department for a major oil company in London. "programming" involved using plugging short wires into a plugboard to produce the output. I taught myself basic assembler, and moved onto 1401 computers when they started to replace the 421s.

Here is a picture of a plugboard



btw - there is no off topic in this thread. It is coffee room chat, so everything goes except for fighting.

Just a note here.

It isn't the US that is attacking Venezuela and trying to steal their natural assets. It is the country that subjugates Americans, and uses their citizens to fund and fight their wars and die. You may have heard of this country - it is called Washington.

I've been doing a bit of trading in Bitcoin, and I've just opened a buy position at £2,960. I've made some small profits from my trading, but I looked through my recent history. I see that I've sold at prices as low as £2,620. I'd probably have made more money by just leaving my purchases alone, instead of trying to be clever and boost my holdings through trading.

This video of the Jimmy Dore show is a bit of an eye opener.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4HqA02PaAYc

Washington's attack on the politics of Venezuela is certainly throwing up some interesting history. It almost seems that the US would be better off if it rejected their slavery under Washington, and adopted a variation of the Venezuelan political model.

I'm a bit fed up with all the whingeing, bitching and fighting that seems to be going on at the moment, so I thought I would start a thread listing the topics that I think are relaxing and pleasant. I've started this thread in Meta to give it some initial attention, but I have no objection to it being moved if a mod thinks it should live on another board, hopefully it won't be deleted though. So which topics should be included?

Enlightened self-interest means that I should start with my own coffee lounge thread -
 https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5106333.0

Another thread is by CryptopreneurBrainboss, and it is also in the Ivory Tower. In it he discusses the transition from adolescence to adulthood
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5119113.0

I'm only just starting this morning, and I'll add some more as I find them. Fell free to add your own gentle and relaxing threads as you enjoy them.

Your past life, including childhood and adolescence, contain the experiences that you draw on to maximise on the pleasures and benefits of your current life. I'm just hitting middle age ( I'm 77 ), and I've learnt that there are 3 things to avoid in life - debt, ill health, and bad neighbours. You can even arrange your affairs to minimise the effects of a rubbish and dishonest government such as the current one in the UK.

In order to remain debt free, there are only two options - increase your income, and/or reduce your expenditure. I'm a great believer in hedgerow cuisine. It's much healthier, and it's free. Nettles, dandelions, ground elder and wild garlic are great sources of minerals. The odd road kill pheasant or deer can make a real gourmet meal as well.

I'm reminded of the old schoolboy joke - What is the definition of adultery? - The state of being grown up. 

I think you should stop using the word "invest", and state that it is speculation. Investing in crypto is the purchase of domain names and site building, or the starting of crypto projects. Just buying coins is speculation.

I'm starting to think we should be able to declare ourselves as "rank outsiders".

I thought I would revisit this thread now that I've had a bit more time to play with the market.

I'm coming to the conclusion that there aren't just two categories - traders and HODLers, but there is a third category. This is the accumulating investor. I've seen some traders say that they would have made more money by just buying coins when the price was bumping along at the bottom, and holding the coins until the price went up. This would have freed them from market watching during the bull run. Of course the rules are different once Bitcoin turns into a bear market again.

I've been doing a bit of trading to increase the amount of Bitcoin I can buy with my investment deposit, and as soon as the price turns against me when I am holding Bitcoin, then I move the coins into my savings wallet, and I replace the investment fund with fiat. I believe that it is important to make sure that all savings are kept in a wallet over which you have complete control, and free from the temptation to speculate with it. I will watch the market, and at some stage in the future I will start to take profits. I don't intend to HODL and leave my Bitcoin in my will. I'm not sure of a name for a medium term investor, who optimises his accumulation price.