I think you are confusing money and currency.

Bitcoin has an intrinsic value, and it is the only crypto that is able to claim this. I have justified this in several threads here.  I don't believe that Bitcoin is a currency, but it is a medium of exchange. and because of its intrinsic value, then it is money by most definitions.

@OP

I gave you 10 merits for your honesty in saying that you feel lost and out of place, and to encourage you to build your knowledge of Bitcoin and crypto. You may feel lost, but you are certainly not out of place here on the beginner's board, and I would like to welcome you to the forum.

Don't fall into the trap of believing that the only way to succeed in crypto is as a forex trader, or a sig spammer. You can build a crypto wallet by accepting selected coins in payment for online sales, and you can receive crypto payments as a reward for content production and other services.

If you are going to try  day trading, then I would suggest that you choose a coin that is volatile, and entering a bull market. Bitcoin is a good example in my opinion. Don't use gearing ( leverage ), and don't make uncovered bets. I've made small profits from scalping, and haven't made any losses in real terms, although I have made some notional losses by selling too soon. Learn about candles and wicks, and see if you could make a profit by anticipating the wicks. Don't speculate any money until you are confident that you can guess price movements well enough to make a profit.

It's raining, and I'm in a stroppy mood, so I put the OP on ignore. This is the risk you take when you try to be creative when soliciting for merits.

I know that some people have severe problems in earning merit, but it isn't really that difficult if you have a genuine interest in learning about Bitcoin, and you respect the forum. Most of the merit sources want to encourage beneficial members, especially new ones, but it can be quite hard to find genuine members to encourage. The merit system has been around for over two years, and there are numerous threads and articles about it. I even created a web site dedicated to discussing my activities as a merit source - Talk Merit - a blog about life as a merit source int he Bitcoin Talk forum. Despite all this, we still see regular threads about the basic concept being started, and the cynical amongst us believe that in many cases, it is just a form of begging.

Activity is a far more restrictive barrier to ranking, but we don't see this discussed much. One wonders if this is because signature campaigns regard merits as a form of exam test, and use it as a qualification for acceptance of their putative spammers.

In the early days when I was a young and enthusiastic source-boy, I wrote this article. -
https://talkmerit.com/the-source/index.php/articles/the-bitcoin-talk-merit-system

It discusses the Bitcoin Talk merits system from the perspective of a merit source. This was a couple of years ago, and it probably needs to be updated to reflect some of the recent changes.

If you are talking about curfews, then you are not talking about a community with freedoms, and if you are basing this on the Covid casedemic, then you are missing the whole points of Governments obeying the diktats of the Pharma.banking elite.

btw - taxing the rich is counter productive.They have move fluidity of movement, and better financial advice. Over taxing them just cases a flight of capital and taxable income. It's far better for governments to stop squandering money, and then they can reduce taxes for everybody.  I believe that id the national assets were managed correctly, and government over employment and revenue mismanagement were removed, it would be possible to abolish income tax completely.

It is difficult not to be biased when reading posts, and awarding merit will probably be affected by this. It seems there are two solutions. You should try to encourage more quality posters to visit your local board. The other solution is for your source to get out more and visit some of the other boards here. That will allow him to dilute hit merit awarding, and hopefully avoid any accusations of bias.

This is entirely predictable. Covid is a ;flu type virus, and based on many decades of information, infections tend to rise in the winter period. This follows the summer when most people are  building immunity by getting out in the sun, and eating prawns and other immune boosting foods. Of course the in the severity of Covid meant that the government had to take steps to reduce this immunity building, and so they introduced the lockdowns and other measures to help the virus spread later. They have also increased testing by about 30x, and the surprise is that the reports of the spreading of immunity ( some call this infection) is not higher, Some virologists are estimating that 6%-80% of the UK population has developed natural immunity. The good news is that ICU admissions and Covid related deaths are down, despite the reported rise in the spread of immunity.

People are starting to realise how weak this virus is, and to rebel against the measures designed to help the bankers and the globalists, and it could well lead to a major shift in political power with any luck.

The basic flaw in the whole concept is that all of the reports discuss the spread of infection. Now to gain immunity, you have to be infected first. This can be a natural process resulting from mixing with infected people, or an artificial process based of vaccination using synthetic viruses that bypass the normal immune system, and this means they need toxic adjuvants to trigger a reaction. What should be reported is the spread on immunity, and not the spread of possible infections that created immunity in the testee.

I still believe that Bitcoin was created by the banks as an experimental project  to test public opinion in preparation for a reset of the failed fiat systems. The mining cap, and the long block generation times were designed to prevent it ever having mass adoption as an everyday payment system. It has been a stunning success, and now the bankers are busy soaking up all the coins they can find to further reduce its appeal, and to make massive profits. This is great news for those of us who are still riding the wave.

Well it is a whole series of fictional stories. They are the manifestos and promises made by Conservative Prime Ministers concerning the implementation of Brexit.

I wonder if they would sell the fiction rights.

But what we really want to know is if a person has long term immunity, and not if they have a few viral particles in their mucus. mucosal virus entrapment is one of out first lines of defence, and if this is the only place viral RNA can be detected, them the person isn't infected. As I understand it, very few people are tested to see if they have immunity. Even the post vaccination tests just check for antibodies, and without a natural way to create target specific antibodies, you don't have immunity. Viruses are countered by a whole variety of natural methods - apoptosis, destruction by killer cells, smothering by protective sells, binding with non-productive cells, the simple expedient of ejection by the body, and a number of other methods.

So what is the point of spending £120 on a useless test that will probably just result in you buying some destructive pharmaceuticals. It's the medical equivalent of the false car MOT reports that are designed to generate more work for the garage.

Of course the number of people who are older than you can never go up, unless you believe in resurrection. It's a pretty obvious fact, and is on a par with.

- It is a scientific fact that people who have more birthdays live longer.

I like the Huawei hardware. It seems to be well made, good value, and has some great features. What I would really  like is to be able to choose the software to run on my phone, as well as choose the hardware. I can do this with computers, and it is starting to become possible with mobile phones.

I have no real objection to data harvesting provided that the outcome is beneficial to me. For example, I like French brie,and I probably developed this taste in France over 60 years ago. The cheese was wonderful, but it is a long time since I have tasted really good brie. Certainly not since we were sucked into the EU. That dropped our food standards significantly, and we seem to be seen as a dumping ground for low quality French ( and other member states) products. The current supermarket brie is a sterile tasteless product, and it is not possible to improve it with ageing. I've switched to English brie from Somerset, and whilst this is not quite up the the standard of my childhood brie, which I ate with a spoon, it is superior to the low quality French export cheese. I would be pleased if the data from my cheese purchasing became part of an analysis project which led to an improvement in the product quality. Unfortunately, all that seems to happen is that I get a load of results telling me that I can save a couple of pence if I buy some inferior plastic imitation. Part of the problem seems to be the  disinterest of modern shoppers. All they seem to want to do is to order rubbish on line, and continue watching football or some other low vale TV programmes. I understand that sawdust has been found in some beef mince products, but no customers seem to have complained about it.

I've come to believe that the obsessive pursuit of privacy reduces the quality of life. We are social animals, and as a result, there needs to be a certain amount of observation and monitoring to ensure that we can preserve this quality. This becomes even more important as population density increases. However, I also believe that we should be allowed to preserve privacy in some parts of our lives. If I want to have a sexual relationship with two consenting women at the same time, then I don't thing that should be of any concern to anybody else - unless there is a husband that has been left out of course.

It seems that Boots ( a UK retail pharma chain) is going to offer fast testing for Covid infections. Now I can't see the point of this, as there seem to be a number of results from the tests.

Your test is negative. Now you don't know if that is a false negative, or if you have long term immunity and no recent infections. The other alternative is that you have no immunity, and you are at risk of infection.

Your test is positive. Now this has a variety of possibilities, assuming that you have no serious symptoms ( in which case you wouldn't be walking into a shop for testing).
- It is a false positive, and some other virus has triggered the result.
- You have no idea of the live load of the virus, so you don't really know what to worry about.
- You have a load of dead viral particles, but no active viruses.
- You have antibodies resulting from the activity of your immune system.
- If it is a mucosal test, you don't know if the virus is active in any serious organs in your body.

So it seems to me that if you do test positive, it is an indication that your immune system is working, and you should not do anything to try to reduce it potency. Of course a retail chemist will try to sell you products to suppress symptoms and thus prolong the recovery process.

Goal or gaol?

It seems many people are lured by the promise of easy money here, and their goal seems to be fast promotion until they can achieve a high revenue source for little effort. When they discover that they need to acquire knowledge, and provide benefit to the forum to achieve the heady heights, then they seem to thrash about creating low value posts, and hunting the net for inspiration. At this point Bitcoin Talk seems to become a gaol, and they are locked into hours of trawling through old threads, and social media comments in the hope that they can find something that will scratch a few merits.

What a waste of their resources. Bitcoin Talk provides a great opportunity to learn about the world of crypto, and once you have gained some knowledge, then you can use this to generate income beyond the dreams of avarice ( well maybe a few of you can ). You goal should always be self improvement whatever your age, and you will find that the income will follow your skills improvement.

Whilst some may consider me to be unconventional, I try to stay within the letter and the spirit of the law, and I hope that I am not socially disruptive. I can be assertive of my rights, and this can lead me into some difficulties on occasions. I don't mind being observed in public, but I resent being spied on. For example, if I go into a supermarket, then I would expect the security staff to watch me in case I am likely to steal something. I have never done this, so I consider it as a means of keeping down prices, rather than an invasion of my privacy. If I am sitting at home ( or anywhere in fact ) and discussing the restoration of stationary engines with a friend,then I don't want to find that my next Internet searches prioritise results about metal paint or engine oil, rather than my current topic of interest. This ir why I would not allow Alexa into my home. I spent a lot of time trying to disable Cortana and other Microsoft spyware, and I haven't had much success. Google is possibly even worse, and I don't use facebook or twitter, or any of the other social media platforms that appear to encourage low level communications and recording users interests.

I don't know what Huawei is up to with customers data. I believe that the CCP has a significant interest in the company, and that CCP rulers have been recruited into the Eton/Oxford elite. You only have to do a bit of research in the activities of Tony Blair and others to be aware of this. But we also know that Google, Microsoft and others have even stronger links the US security, and thus the five Eyes Alliance. That is the military arm of the Eton/Oxford elite, so basically you can't get away from such surveillance. What you can do is to avoid commercial manipulation, and associated control of your computing and communication equipment, and I believe that this is less likely with Huawei. They seem to manufacture excellent mobile phones, and the prices are extremely competitive, and as I don't have any direct issues with the CCP, I don't see it as a threat. I have seen many news reports about life in China, and I would like to live there, but then, I spent a lot of rime in San Francisco, and I loved it, but I would hate to live there now judging by the reports I read about modern life there.

I don't know if I really need a privacy phone, but I want to experiment with creating one, and this is why I may convert my old phone into an E-phone. That won't happen this year though, as I need to do a bit more research about the concept. So I am probably going to end up with a hybrid phone with reduced Microsoft and Google influence on it. Obviously one of the first things to do it to get rid of Bing.

I've  had the phone for over a day now, and I reckon I'm almost ready to read the manual/handbook.

First impressions are good. I had an initial problem with WiFi reception, but I put that down to Morrison's. Checking it as Asda, it appears to be better than the receiver in my P10. There is a yellow wash screen option to reduce eye strain, and I like it. The only problem that I had initially came from the Sim package I had been given. It was an O2 offer, and purported to have 10 pounds credit, but that seems to have expired in August. I'm using the sim card with no credit and the free Asda WiFi to post this. I'm also using a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard for the typing, but I need to register it, as it has no pound sign at the moment. I inserted a spare SD card that I have, and it is telling me that it is slow, and will affect the phone performance, I thought was was a nice check, and I'll buy a faster card.

There are 4 cameras, and I used the general purpose lens as a test. I thought it was stunning for the size of the device, but maybe I am out of touch with current developments. Although the device is supposed to be Google free, it comes with links to enable Gmail, YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and a losd of other social apps. It also uses Bing as a search engine. The browser I'd a Huawei one, and I haven't checked to see if it is Chromium based. Everything that I use on the p!0 seems to be working, but faster. It is using a version of Android, and not the proposed Huawei OS. It doesn't link to Google apps, but links to a Huawei library, and I gather that is fairly comprehensive, but I haven't checked.

I'm going to have to change my original objectives in the light of my discoveries. I can switch to the Three network (Hutchinsons) and get unlimited data, texts and calls for 2 pounds less per month than I am paying at the moment, and I only get 15Gb of data. I'm thinking of transferring my existing phone number, and associated info onto this phone. That will obviously kill all the privacy advantages. Once the transfer is stable with the new provider, then I will try to flash the OS on the P10 and convert it into an E-phone of that is possible. I can then use that if I really need the privacy.

[decision time]

I'm in the Asda cafe (Walmart - ranked no. 3) with no power, and WiFi like treacle, but good value basic foods like fish and chips. The phone is being delivered to my Morrison's locker ( ranked no.4) WiFi a bit better, but loads of sites blocked, and no support for a node. They have power sockets, but the food is expensive, although slightly better quality. Delivery is usually between 11am and 2pm, but could be after 6pm. I can have afternoon tea and cakes in Sainsbury's ( no.2) with power sockets, and WiFi that is up to 100 times faster than Asda at the moment. If I get the phone soon, then I can go to Sainsbury's and play with it, whilst mu node continues to sync.

My life is full of these complex and difficult decisions.
I'm tempted to buy a salmon fillet, and cook it in the van at Morrison's, I can charge the notebook in the van on the way to the store. Then I'll use their WiFi from the car park, and wait for the phone delivery. Sainsbury's cafe closes at 4pm, so if it takes too long, then I'll miss afternoon tea there.

I made this post to show that I have a number of non-standard requirements for my computing and communication equipment.

You don't need all these manipulated "proofs", all you need is to consider a few basic facts, and form your own opinions. If they ( mass media ) stopped calling it the "the spread of infection" to create panic and hysteria, and they called it "the spread of immunity", then we could carry on as normal, and we could protect those who have become vulnerable through pharmaceuticals and poisonous foods, and deaths and loss of life years would decrease.

Viruses have been around since the early days of life forms.
Corona viruses were first detected in the 1930s
Cross viral immunity is built from healthy food and lifestyles, not by immuno-suppressants and drugs.
The human immune system has evolved over thousands of years of testing and evolution, and is obviously successful. Observing the health of US and UK citizens, it is obvious that the Pharma alternatives are destructive and inadequate, and weaken the health and the wealth of most of the population.

Forget the claptrap that comes from government and Pharma propaganda, and just look around you, and think about what you can observe about modern life.

I've given up on trying to change the world. Most people don;t believe you, and don't really care anyway. I've tracked the current ruling elite back to the Knights Templar, and made several posts about it, but I haven't managed to start one decent conversation about it. And this is despite the evidence of English village and street names, and the current disruption of the Brexit process, amongst other things. Knowledge is power, so if you understand what is going on, then you are in a position to optimise your own circumstances.