tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-62174808323615313512024-03-14T07:17:22.599+00:00Milton Marmalade his writings and ramblingsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger58125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-65267573232556352262019-01-16T15:39:00.001+00:002019-01-29T10:58:58.427+00:00Brexit<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p-rTqgot5K0/XD9Py1OVCaI/AAAAAAAAAvg/UAJOIhjQLcsly90oiaB5KbluUjoR-aEKACPcBGAYYCw/s1600/brexit.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p-rTqgot5K0/XD9Py1OVCaI/AAAAAAAAAvg/UAJOIhjQLcsly90oiaB5KbluUjoR-aEKACPcBGAYYCw/s320/brexit.gif" width="320" /></a></div>
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Muddling through since Ethelred the Unready</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-72303551350385467812018-11-21T15:47:00.000+00:002018-11-21T15:47:33.865+00:00A message for those who want it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rTCzn5sa1CY/W_V7v-D10pI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/tU8kiAhV1RASM6KwmBT4KEpFPNMjryRugCLcBGAs/s1600/102266-004-65D274D5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="254" data-original-width="500" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-rTCzn5sa1CY/W_V7v-D10pI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/tU8kiAhV1RASM6KwmBT4KEpFPNMjryRugCLcBGAs/s1600/102266-004-65D274D5.jpg" /></a></div>
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At the foot of this post is a poem I wrote in 2004. I still believe that we can, each of us, re-create the eternal city inside ourselves, in each moment in which we connect with the humble reality in front of us. But I no longer associate this with a place or any time other than now.<br />
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This is a message for the disillusioned. You carry with you everything that through your work you have gained.<br />
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Here is a link to Cavafy's poem, <a href="http://www.cavafy.com/poems/content.asp?id=12" target="_blank">The god abandons Anthony</a>, which expresses this idea better than I can.<br />
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Below is my 2004 poem:<br />
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<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: "Copperplate Light"; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 86px;">
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"></span><br />
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<span style="font-kerning: none;"><span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Another Athens shall arise</span></span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 86px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Though our untended wasteland's choked with weeds,</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 86px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Yet, bramble-bound, a rough Arcadia lies</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Here hidden, and its dark earth holds the seeds</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">From which a city's garden shall arise.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Tear with bare fingers ivy from the face</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Of Dionysos! Here we'll plant a hill</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Of vines, and there Athena shows a place</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">For rustling olive groves. Then, labouring still,</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">We'll change the thorns of bramble for the rose;</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Among the flowers build a noble square</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Where love shall wear away the years of those</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Who, ever younger, greet each other there.</span></div>
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<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 86px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">Here a new, waking Athens shall arise</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); -webkit-text-stroke-width: initial; font-family: Baskerville; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; margin-left: 86px;">
<span style="-webkit-font-kerning: none;">That with our hearts shall mirror Paradise.</span></div>
</span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-6614531994749543782018-10-31T17:21:00.000+00:002018-10-31T17:21:28.929+00:00Free vampire story for halloween<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb6u2ho7qCU/WSfx_sI3PjI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/xVOKH_ClfVsVD7woLC2AXrRp39mYGYazwCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/Ourouboros%2Bdragon%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-pb6u2ho7qCU/WSfx_sI3PjI/AAAAAAAAAnQ/xVOKH_ClfVsVD7woLC2AXrRp39mYGYazwCPcBGAYYCw/s320/Ourouboros%2Bdragon%2Bcover.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
Click for a free vampire story, <a href="https://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.com/p/the-girl-who-was-not-vampire.html?m=1" target="_blank">The girl who was not a vampire</a>. Fair enough, my heroine is not a vampire, but there is definitely a vampire in the story.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-25458923142304740822018-10-25T10:19:00.001+01:002018-10-25T10:19:40.698+01:00Recipe for a happy marriage<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yzk8kz77EsQ/W9GKf85lyBI/AAAAAAAAAu8/mjkWlHaIPVg3a6jSnpbhT812Pxe3IJfFACKgBGAs/s1600/poppy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1253" data-original-width="1125" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Yzk8kz77EsQ/W9GKf85lyBI/AAAAAAAAAu8/mjkWlHaIPVg3a6jSnpbhT812Pxe3IJfFACKgBGAs/s320/poppy.jpg" width="287" /></a></div>
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Milton Marmalade's recipe for a happy marriage:<br />
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(1) Find someone you fancy and who loves you despite your being a bit of an idiot sometimes;<br />
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(2) When (s)he pushes your buttons, bite your tongue (this too shall pass);<br />
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(3) When (s)he's in the mood, give her (him) a good time.<br />
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That's it.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-37320800842678582332018-10-15T14:23:00.000+01:002018-10-15T14:23:24.551+01:00Increase levity using Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-upsIf you take yourself lightly enough you may one day learn to fly.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhdKYCz50rQ/W8Rk5MYgprI/AAAAAAAAAuo/AaN-1-lLn2MAWEdosl8JB7QdvfcdaubqQCEwYBhgL/s1600/Milton%2BMarmalades%2BSilly%2BStories%2Bfront%2Bcover.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-ups front cover" border="0" data-original-height="599" data-original-width="426" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZhdKYCz50rQ/W8Rk5MYgprI/AAAAAAAAAuo/AaN-1-lLn2MAWEdosl8JB7QdvfcdaubqQCEwYBhgL/s320/Milton%2BMarmalades%2BSilly%2BStories%2Bfront%2Bcover.gif" title="Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-ups" width="227" /></a></div>
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<em>Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-ups</em> are here to help you into a light frame of mind. They are mostly happy tales with just a bit of necessary darkness.<br />
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This is a slim volume of strange tales which struggle with universal questions like the meaning of now, infinity, and why Wolf fell in love with Redcap. <a href="https://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.com/p/the-girl-who-was-not-vampire.html">The girl who was not a vampire</a> (complete story available on this web site - just click the link) celebrates the condition of being ordinary. <em>Chocolatina</em> is a satire on the odd puritanism that informs some New Age diets and at the same time a paean in praise of chocolate. I have also sneaked in a few poems, mostly silly and one just a little bit erotic (not enough to make you spurt your takeaway coffee in public, although what you do in private is your own affair). In a deliberate protest against the decayed mores of the age, the poems rhyme. A literary tapas time for curly minds everywhere.<br />
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At a mere US$5.99 (€5.99, £4.99), a bargain stocking-filler for chuckles over a mince pie. Available from Amazon worldwide and good bookstores everywhere.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-60041408253488242332018-10-02T14:58:00.000+01:002018-10-02T14:58:04.876+01:00We are still birds, and children of the sky<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kafCvxMuvBI/WCc5J1lPhgI/AAAAAAAAAkU/qDrJFB8yGIQ2fa6pqiiTGO4eoYKM26hLgCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/fish_bw.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="gloomy fish" border="0" data-original-height="300" data-original-width="581" height="103" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kafCvxMuvBI/WCc5J1lPhgI/AAAAAAAAAkU/qDrJFB8yGIQ2fa6pqiiTGO4eoYKM26hLgCPcBGAYYCw/s200/fish_bw.gif" title="gloomy fish" width="200" /></a></div>
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Swims a gloomy fish through muddy weeds,<br />
There hides the flickering tail-fin of despair;<br />
The bottom-dweller on detritus feeds:<br />
A Something sees all this, and is not there.<br />
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Between the half-lit gloomy depths and air<br />
Exists a surface shimmering and free:<br />
Beneath this subtle boundary despair<br />
Drifts through an imaginary sea.<br />
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We looked below and fancied ourselves fishes;<br />
Our vision caught, we understood not why<br />
Our airy state had turned to brine-worn wishes;<br />
We are still birds, and children of the sky.<br />
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This is the only serious poem (leaving aside the slightly erotic one) in my forthcoming book of poems and stories, <i>Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-ups</i>. I shall post a silly poem on this blog soon, together with news of the new book, which should be available in an inexpensive edition in time for Christmas. Suitable for anyone with a curly mind.</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-49238858437006760842018-09-18T16:03:00.000+01:002018-09-18T16:03:09.241+01:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRv9KbLazpo/W6EPEtpSkWI/AAAAAAAAAuU/WTqvutwbXJIkv3nnEc1gIsNNPjwBPwojwCLcBGAs/s1600/Ourouboros%2Bdragon%2Bcover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="600" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-VRv9KbLazpo/W6EPEtpSkWI/AAAAAAAAAuU/WTqvutwbXJIkv3nnEc1gIsNNPjwBPwojwCLcBGAs/s320/Ourouboros%2Bdragon%2Bcover.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
This is a draft cover for my new collection of short stories and poems. The revised title will be <em>Milton Marmalade's Remarkably Silly Stories for Grown-ups</em>, and the cover will be very stylish when it's finished.<br />
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Here is the copyright notice, because I thought the usual copyright notice a bit dated:
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Remarkably Silly Stories are all copyright, all rights reserved, and if you steal my stories and I later get famous my lawyers will certainly be after you. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My lawyers are called Bloodfang & Wolf and they have a reputation. If you go into their office on a full moon you will find yourself at the front desk where a very pretty woman sits.
In one corner is a carved wooden candlestick holding a fat off-white church candle, its tiny flame guttering ineffectually. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You see the woman by the moonlight streaming through the gothic windows. She is wearing a black dress calculated to show off her figure, in which roundness in all the right places is emphasised by an almost unfeasably small waist. She has raven hair and her eyes are pools of darkness. Though she is beautiful you feel for a moment as though you are staring into the soul of an animal. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You ask to see one of the partners but she tells you ever so sweetly that since it is a full moon neither of them are in. However she assures you that your case is in the best hands and anyone who steals your work will be sure to regret it.
Somewhere outside you hear a scream which you think may be a fox or maybe not. </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Because she is smiling at you, and also because her low cut dress suggests breasts of surpassing wonder, you think about asking her out on a date. The moonlight casts a glint on one of her unusually sharp canine teeth.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
You lose your nerve and find yourself out on the pavement again wondering quite what happened. The fox, or whatever it was, screams again, briefly, then there is silence. </blockquote>
Check back again soon for updates on the book, which will be pocket-size and as affordable as printing costs will allow.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-78107414749836757842018-09-14T12:53:00.000+01:002018-09-14T12:53:42.259+01:00The world turned upside-down<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s3huj31GHcU/W5ugaVtIycI/AAAAAAAAAuI/xFpo_m7OBuY6HQh7cnCv9RXMt1k7ycE3QCLcBGAs/s1600/a_rare_complete_almoravid_or_almohad_quran_section_spain_or_morocco_12_d5826208_003g.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="613" data-original-width="584" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-s3huj31GHcU/W5ugaVtIycI/AAAAAAAAAuI/xFpo_m7OBuY6HQh7cnCv9RXMt1k7ycE3QCLcBGAs/s320/a_rare_complete_almoravid_or_almohad_quran_section_spain_or_morocco_12_d5826208_003g.jpg" width="304" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/ibnarabi.html" target="_blank">Ibn 'Arabi</a> refers to The Reality, meaning (as far as I can tell) that God is objectively real and implying that our subjective states are just that - their reality is partial and dependent on something larger.<br />
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In our post-Enlightenment world we tend to view the world the other way up, as though our subjective beliefs were the touchstone of reality. We see, as St Paul says, '<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+13%3A12&version=KJV" target="_blank">through a glass darkly</a>.' Or as Xenophanes has it, 'Only the gods see things as they are, but for us it is a woven web of guesses' (cited in Popper, <em><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/240591.The_World_of_Parmenides" target="_blank">The World of Parmenides</a></em>). We are so habituated to seeing the world as it were upside-down that we take materialist explanations (chemical changes in the brain etc.) as more real than the experiences themselves. We think we are phenomenologists but our post-Enlightenment discourse is full of mechanistic hypothesis.<br />
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It is difficult to think outside the materialist paradigm. If we met something greater than ourselves we would reduce that to a chemical change in the brain, even though we know that experience forms and reforms the brain through neural plasticity. Causation works in both directions. Delusions and hallucinations occur, but not everything that we experience is illusory. Sometimes we don't know which way is up.<br />
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For this reason we don't understand Parmenides. His <a href="https://www.ancient.eu/article/175/parmenides--the-path-of-truth/" target="_blank">Way of Truth</a> is his approach to reality, and his Way of Illusion (a reputedly large work now mostly lost) described what we would think of as science.<br />
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Does that mean we should abandon science? Assuredly not, because that which belongs in the material realm can correctly be dealt with by the methods of the material realm. Fantastical notions are still subject to appropriate demolition.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-56314416380560741782018-08-20T10:24:00.000+01:002018-08-20T10:24:07.613+01:00Some thoughts about pedantry<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ew-D1Q1OuUM/W21WhsSEVLI/AAAAAAAAAt4/vvPCEHdg52sCZPNo5FHy5XfhbRQsfbImgCLcBGAs/s1600/20330e1403465799o7509.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="505" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ew-D1Q1OuUM/W21WhsSEVLI/AAAAAAAAAt4/vvPCEHdg52sCZPNo5FHy5XfhbRQsfbImgCLcBGAs/s320/20330e1403465799o7509.jpg" width="309" /></a></div>
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Pedants enjoy deprecating 'bad' uses of English. I am myself one such, acutely aware of 'correct' and 'incorrect' language.<br />
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I was brought up, for example, to believe that the word 'deprecate' meant to curse or abominate, and that 'deprecate' was often wrongly used when 'depreciate,' to belittle, was intended. I had a vision of cursing with bell, book and candle.<br />
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Now, however, the Oxford Dictionary, while acknowledging that the origin of 'deprecate' is from roots meaning 'to pray against,' states that it means 'to express disapproval of' or 'to depreciate.' Another piece of pedantry dies, like dried seaweed on the shore of usage.<br />
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As has always been the case, language mutates and diverges. An early English king had to send an interpreter to accompany a mission to Northumbria. Reality TV, Facebook and the fact that English is no longer the official language of just one island mean that we have the conditions in which the only things holding the English language together are precisely the media in which all its variations are expressed.<br />
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Might I recommend David Crystal's very entertaining <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stories-English-David-Crystal/dp/0141015934" target="_blank">The Stories of English</a>? Some patterns of speech <a href="https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/deprecate" target="_blank">deprecated</a> in their time are now normal even for pedants, and the earlier preferred alternatives sound stilted or odd.<br />
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Crystal argues that in Chaucer no single regional accent had more prestige than another. The precedence of Received Pronunciation I think has to do with political and commercial power being centred in the South East of England, the dominance of the Midlands during the Industrial Revolution not having lasted long enough to make more northern accents associated with power and success. Needless to say there are many regional dialects such as in the Caribbean that have never had prestige despite having <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caribbean_poetry" target="_blank">their own poets</a>.<br />
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It is worth remembering that Chaucer was himself establishing an underdog language (English) as an acceptable vehicle for serious literature, and Robert Burns tried to do the same for Scots English.<br />
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The function of language is to convey meaning. If it does so unambiguously then one can argue that it has done its job. If Shakespeare bent the rules it was probably because he was looking for a particular effect on the ear, and that has to do with the music of language. Some scholars have suggested that <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/4637605.stm" target="_blank">early pre-humans might have sung</a> rather than spoken, and it is also the case that <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syhlPzqEpkE" target="_blank">we hear repeated spoken phrases as music</a>, so the effect of language is both to convey meaning and to convey a feeling.<br />
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If we are looking for quality in language then we need to look beyond what happens to be fashionably 'correct' in our small corner of the vast English-speaking world. Rather we need to write and speak for clarity, and for the all the techniques of rhythm, assonance and rhetoric that make language a pleasure to read and to hear.<br />
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Meanwhile the majestically protean English language ebbs and flows leaving us mere pedants behind like bleached driftwood in the littoral zone.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-1047583385593731272018-08-10T09:57:00.000+01:002018-08-10T09:57:37.018+01:00Random awesomeness elsewhere<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" data-original-height="993" data-original-width="499" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XMRSpkpqu18/W21SjDn3I6I/AAAAAAAAAts/BDlYABkdQVoEvLxmjh5KsuP721FZG0PigCLcBGAs/s320/d16c7d922f090931ba3fdebc1a51dad0.jpg" width="160" /></div>
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<a href="https://www.treasure-prizes.com/" target="_blank">https://www.treasure-prizes.com/</a></div>
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Since I have been silent for a while and have nothing much useful to say right at this minute I thought I'd direct your attention to some random awesomeness that I discovered by chance on the web. There you go. Genius.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-13184383772358916462018-04-20T16:20:00.001+01:002018-04-20T16:20:45.919+01:00On the mild depression that accompanies mild illness and how to fix it<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1iN1tdD_DH8/WtoE1N256vI/AAAAAAAAAtU/zDuOup-1PCAipW9NXf3ZS-d61XpKHt80ACLcBGAs/s1600/inflamed%2Bmind.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="499" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1iN1tdD_DH8/WtoE1N256vI/AAAAAAAAAtU/zDuOup-1PCAipW9NXf3ZS-d61XpKHt80ACLcBGAs/s320/inflamed%2Bmind.jpg" width="202" /></a></div>
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This morning the author of <a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Inflamed-Mind-radical-approach-depression/dp/1780723504" target="_blank">The Inflamed Mind</a>, Edward Bullmore, was interviewed on Radio 4 about his book, just out this month. He says that it may be not merely that one is depressed because of the effects of being ill, but that inflammation as such can cause depression. That at any rate was my understanding from the interview.<br />
<br />
Bullmore described having 'flu and feeling, as he put it, 'blue' - so far so ordinary - but then speculated upon whether it is the inflammatory process rather than just the symptoms which cause that low mood. Apparently 30 per cent of depressed people have raised inflammatory markers when tested.<br />
<br />
Of course as stated on the programme, association does not prove causation, but it's an interesting idea which could lead to new therapeutic interventions.<br />
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For myself, I recall feeling unaccountably depressed one day, one of those times when everything seems grey and pointless. The things that usually stirred me to enthusiasm gave me no joy or any desire to do them. In the words of Shakespeare, 'How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world!' (Hamlet Act I scene 2, 129-34)<br />
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Then I realised that I was coming down with a cold or some-such mild viral illness. I told myself that it was my body that was ill and that I was not depressed at all. That I did not feel like doing the things I normally enjoy was merely that my body needed to rest. All I had to do was accept the situation and understand the needs of my body. By re-framing the situation in this way I was immediately free of the depressed mood.<br />
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Now of course I am not claiming that this approach will cure severe depression. It may be, as others have said before, that depression is a sign that there is something not right, something needing to be fixed, and that might be something deep, long-lasting, emotional, and not easy to remedy. Even so there may be merit in treating depression as a signal that something needs to change, rather than only a condition to be suffered.<br />
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'Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them?' (Hamlet Act III scene 1)
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46gFCd5bcgc/WtoCQwVx86I/AAAAAAAAAtM/Y8NYDgwCYZoPxoJiESgriC4eryl8K03WwCEwYBhgL/s1600/Hamlet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-46gFCd5bcgc/WtoCQwVx86I/AAAAAAAAAtM/Y8NYDgwCYZoPxoJiESgriC4eryl8K03WwCEwYBhgL/s320/Hamlet.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-44568412326030184752018-02-19T11:25:00.000+00:002018-02-19T13:57:23.812+00:00The mermaid frontispiece for Sir Henry Herring's account of St Doris Island<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yYOKn9kX71E/WZ1IfZALi4I/AAAAAAAAAp8/mggGmFfUILcgtBOpGCH1k9mHBcUzzad3gCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/__sketch%2Bmermaid%2Bfor%2Bhenry%2Bherring%2527s%2Bbook%2Bfrontispiece.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1153" height="400" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yYOKn9kX71E/WZ1IfZALi4I/AAAAAAAAAp8/mggGmFfUILcgtBOpGCH1k9mHBcUzzad3gCPcBGAYYCw/s400/__sketch%2Bmermaid%2Bfor%2Bhenry%2Bherring%2527s%2Bbook%2Bfrontispiece.jpg" width="288" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mermaid at St Doris Island, showing Drake's Golden Hinde, flying fish and a sea monster</td></tr>
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The print is now available! Read on to see it.</div>
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You may remember the above sketch by <a href="https://daceart.wordpress.com/" target="_blank">Martin Dace</a> for the frontispiece of Sir Henry Herring's book, 'Seynt Doris Ilande,' subtitled 'Seynt Doris, an Iland in ye Westerne Indies, its Historie Geographie & divers Marvells founde therein together with a Description of its Aboriginall Salvages, set down in all Veritie by Henry Herring, Earl of a Bit of Cornwall and not the Other Bit, who went with Francis Drake, Kt. in the XXI year of the reine of Her Glorious Majestie Queen Elizabeth whom God preserve. Printed and sold at St. Doris-by-the-Fishmonger Churchyard, London MDLXXXXIX.'<br />
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(Takes breath.)<br />
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The sketch is of course an attempt at a modern reconstruction of the original. I have the book somewhere but unfortunately it is in a box or perhaps a cupboard somewhere, and as frequently happens with things I put in a safe place I've no idea how to find it. Martin did the sketch from the description in my novel, '<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/Mermaid-Bath-mermaids-consciousness-philosophical/dp/0956549764/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1519033260&sr=1-1&keywords=a+mermaid+in+the+bath" target="_blank">A Mermaid in the Bath</a>,' as follows:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">
'The frontispiece facing the title page showed a woodcut, primitive and wonderful, of a volcanic island fringed with palm trees, in the distance a little ship much like Drake's <i>Golden Hinde</i> and dominating the foreground a triumphantly naked mermaid.'</blockquote>
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I am happy to report that not only is this pretty close to my memory of the original, but also that it has now been fully realised as a lino print. Here it is:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yEhr3jyjNPo/Woqeyk0YVjI/AAAAAAAAAsc/MSXUc9tZk0g6sh1rATuBciQK7kb-zfW3ACLcBGAs/s1600/St%2BDoris%2BIsland%2Bmermaid.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1000" data-original-width="719" height="400" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yEhr3jyjNPo/Woqeyk0YVjI/AAAAAAAAAsc/MSXUc9tZk0g6sh1rATuBciQK7kb-zfW3ACLcBGAs/s400/St%2BDoris%2BIsland%2Bmermaid.jpg" width="287" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The mermaid at St Doris Island, together with Drake's Golden Hinde , a sea monster and four flying fish<br />
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This is now available as a limited edition print on Japanese Kitakata paper (buff coloured) or Shoji (white) from <a href="https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/DaceOriginalArt?ref=search_shop_redirect" target="_blank">Martin Dace's Etsy store</a>.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-70056961783416579912018-02-16T17:30:00.000+00:002018-02-16T17:30:45.061+00:00More about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies - some things to avoid<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJubd774jEk/WocTT9ynGNI/AAAAAAAAAsI/x2UHTSLTrZs78JWlgTIfdZquFSJCLDJqQCLcBGAs/s1600/bitcoin-3125488__340.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="340" data-original-width="340" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BJubd774jEk/WocTT9ynGNI/AAAAAAAAAsI/x2UHTSLTrZs78JWlgTIfdZquFSJCLDJqQCLcBGAs/s320/bitcoin-3125488__340.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have previously written <a href="http://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/the-mysteries-of-cryptocurrencies.html" target="_blank">a brief introduction to Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies generally</a>, and since then I have been tinkering about using small amounts of my own money. Although I do not profess to be anything like an expert in this area, and certainly what I write should not be construed as financial advice, I thought that one or two of the things I have found out might be of use to other beginners.<br />
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I first put a modest sum into Bitcoin in July 2017, more to see how the whole thing worked than in the expectation of huge gains. The sums are in any event small by comparison with money earned in my proper job. My initial sum had quadrupled (in terms of GBP) by early January 2018 (the peak of a speculative bubble probably caused by stories of vast fortunes made by others in the past reaching the general public) and has now fallen to about 2.8 times my initial speculation. The ups and downs of major cryptocurrencies (and all those I have looked at) roughly copy each other so far, irrespective it seems of merit.<br />
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There are now hundreds of tokens and cryptocurrencies. Some of these are of doubtful value and some are so-called 'pump and dump' schemes, where a new token is offered and promoted, the value of the token then spikes owing to speculation, and the owners then cash in and disappear. Some, however, appear to offer genuine utility and a few will probably change the way we do business in currently unimaginable ways, much as the internet has changed our lives over the past two decades. What we don't know is which ones will become the Googles and Amazons of the future, and which ones will disappear, as happened to so many startups in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble" target="_blank">dot-com bubble</a>.<br />
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I cannot predict the future, nor do I believe anyone who claims to do so, so all anyone interested in any sort of investment can do is to invest on merit. A <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tulip_mania" target="_blank">tulip bulb</a> bought at the right price at the right time could make a fortune in 17th century Netherlands, but bought at the wrong time at the wrong price could equally lose a fortune. The question is, is the value of a tulip bulb fundamentally equal to that of a house or not? If not then don't buy. If speculating in cryptocurrencies, the best one can do is look for those with genuine utility and hold on.<br />
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Not all cryptocurrencies are actually currencies, although the tokens do have a market value. For example, a token called <a href="https://www.po.et/" target="_blank">Po.et (POE)</a> is intended to allow writers and artists to establish copyright and licensing on the blockchain. POE and many other tokens are built on the <a href="https://ethereum.org/" target="_blank">Ethereum</a> platform, which itself has a token with its own market value (once again, beware: don't use the Ethereum wallet from the download on the Ethereum.org front page; <a href="http://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/ethereum-dont-do-what-i-did.html" target="_blank">it doesn't work</a> for ordinary folk but there are people who play with it and also can't get it to work and I've no idea why they spend time on it).<br />
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What would (for me at any rate) be immediately useful would be a way of making transfers into and out of different local currencies for the purposes of paying for things abroad and for sending money abroad. Anyone who has done either of these things will know that bank charges can be excruciatingly high - around 15GBP minimum to send any amount, and an unfair exchange rate at the airport or worse at a hotel (I was charged 10% in a Barbados hotel). What if instead one could load up one's debit card with Bitcoin and convert to local currency without using the banks as intermediaries?<br />
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I have reported before on <a href="http://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/more-about-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrencies.html" target="_blank">cryptocurrency contactless payment systems</a> in the pipeline. However caveat emptor: <a href="https://steemit.com/bitcoin/@bitcoinshirtz/a-full-list-of-bitcoin-debit-cards-for-2017" target="_blank">some of the Bitcoin debit cards on offer</a> actually have charges just as bad as those I should like to avoid. In the meantime there are non-crypto ways of achieving cheap money transfers, one of which I have tried successfully in sending money to India (GBP to Rupees): <a href="https://transferwise.com/" target="_blank">Transferwise</a>. Another I am testing is <a href="https://glintpay.com/" target="_blank">Glint</a>, for everyday purchases in different currencies - but I won't be able to verify the real cost until I am next abroad. Rather than using cryptocurrencies, Glint allows the user to convert between local fiat currencies and a notional amount of gold. Both are available as smartphone apps.<br />
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[NOTE: at the time of writing this blog has no affiliate links and makes no money from any links. Nothing in this article should be taken as financial advice.]<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-42870836287270026992017-11-22T11:26:00.001+00:002017-11-22T11:26:10.909+00:00Check out Martin Dace's new art blog<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yOglalMXjnw/WhVexHsBvvI/AAAAAAAAArw/TtmFXlgRsMMXHoHWBlW4EQgLZyBit35hgCLcBGAs/s1600/sleeping_nymph_9_1024x768.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="764" height="240" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yOglalMXjnw/WhVexHsBvvI/AAAAAAAAArw/TtmFXlgRsMMXHoHWBlW4EQgLZyBit35hgCLcBGAs/s320/sleeping_nymph_9_1024x768.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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My illustrator Martin Dace has a new blog at <a href="http://daceart.wordpress.com/">daceart.wordpress.com</a>. This replaces his <a href="https://dace-art.blogspot.co.uk/" target="_blank">old blog</a>, however the old posts will stay for the time being.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-6982587806512753912017-11-16T12:57:00.000+00:002017-11-16T12:57:30.320+00:00Persistance and endurance<em>Ausdauer</em> and <em>Durchhalten</em> as far as I know mean persistence and endurance - but they sound more impressive in German for some reason. We sometimes lose what we might have gained by giving up too soon.<br />
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I wonder if this is what happens to some of those film stars who get married half a dozen times (and no doubt this happens to other people who are not famous so we don't know about them). In that first falling in love, or perhaps in the slower development of a relationship that grows on us more gradually, we see everything beautiful and wonderful about the other person. With more time certain things we used to overlook start to irritate. Perhaps when they irritate or even exasperate enough we start thinking that we should move on, look elsewhere. This is the point at which to apply <em>Ausdauer und Durchhalten. </em><br />
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It does sometimes happen that a situation is beyond redemption and it is better for all concerned to move on. But first one must consider what in the situation might be redeemable, and what efforts one must make oneself. Thinking about what changes the <em>other</em> person must make will not achieve anything useful. And endurance and persistence can sometimes lead to surprising results. Just as a couple who have been through a difficult external situation together become closer to each other, so it can happen if they successfully negotiate difficulties in a relationship.<br />
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In other areas of life, too, success usually depends more on persistence than anything else. Why am I not a very rich successful business person? Because I am not fixated on those goals enough, I do not put the necessary effort into those things. Not because there is anything fundamental in my nature preventing it other than the lack of sufficient desire.<br />
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Not to worry: decide what you really want (that's the hard part) then go for it. And like a child learning to play a musical instrument, don't get put off because you cannot play Beethoven after your first lesson.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-62250287227731438202017-11-09T13:58:00.000+00:002017-11-09T13:58:06.607+00:00Mermaid at St Doris Island - work in progress<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2bF9WpaMCs/Wfxzh_i11hI/AAAAAAAAArc/Qw4WrBiLA2Y1QCaxzvj6lEvIHfnz7_9RwCLcBGAs/s1600/Mermaid%2B-%2B8%2BOct%2B2017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1133" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2bF9WpaMCs/Wfxzh_i11hI/AAAAAAAAArc/Qw4WrBiLA2Y1QCaxzvj6lEvIHfnz7_9RwCLcBGAs/s320/Mermaid%2B-%2B8%2BOct%2B2017.jpg" width="226" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mermaid at St Doris Island - work in progress</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Here is the current state of the latest mermaid linocut. Apart from a few wavy wiggles the sky will be more-or-less white. In the background you can see the volcano on St Doris Island and on the other side is Drake's <em>Golden Hinde</em> at anchor, as described in Sir Henry Herring's book, <em>S. Doris Iland and the Divers Marvells therein</em>, as quoted in <em><a href="https://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/p/ch.html" target="_blank">A Mermaid in the Bath</a></em> by Milton Marmalade.Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-56509617916892578392017-11-01T12:26:00.000+00:002017-11-01T12:26:03.858+00:00Do one thing at a time<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhaCT5vX9EA/Wecz7esYC9I/AAAAAAAAArM/Ixd-mjVJiEscxnT0ZBp8hgpZLEpGrN0FgCLcBGAs/s1600/Do-one-thing-at-a-time.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="675" data-original-width="1200" height="180" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MhaCT5vX9EA/Wecz7esYC9I/AAAAAAAAArM/Ixd-mjVJiEscxnT0ZBp8hgpZLEpGrN0FgCLcBGAs/s320/Do-one-thing-at-a-time.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There is evidence that <a href="http://www.talentsmart.com/articles/Multitasking-Damages-Your-Brain-and-Your-Career,-New-Studies-Suggest-2102500909-p-1.html" target="_blank">multitasking lowers your intelligence</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://alifeofproductivity.com/do-one-thing-at-a-time/" target="_blank">This blogger</a> says it better than me. Do one thing at a time. You'll feel better for it, and get more done.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-42071820624420573152017-10-27T17:26:00.000+01:002017-10-27T17:26:06.077+01:00Ethereum - don't do what I didEthereum, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are increasingly in the news. You may see in this an opportunity to get in on something that may turn out to be big (or all manner of mishaps may happen to it). However it's interesting enough to put an amount of money into it that wouldn't hurt you much if you lost it all.<br />
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Ethereum is interesting because it's not just an alternative currency (although it has value), it's a platform on which what are called 'smart contracts' are written. The idea is to write contracts in code on top of the blockchain (ethereum's existing distributed ledger) making contracts enforceable automatically and (presumably) avoiding the necessity of going to law in the case of disputes. That is, both the rules and the execution of the contract are encoded, and the code is tamper-proof, so no external arbitration is required. That's the theory anyway, and it does depend crucially on the code not having exploitable loopholes.<br />
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Anyway, long story short, it might be a good although high-risk investment. In my naivete I went to the official site at <a href="https://ethereum.org/">https://ethereum.org/</a> on the basis that this is all new and there are no doubt some scams out there, so might as well go to the source. If you scroll down you will see that you can download the wallet free. A wallet is somewhere you can keep cryptocurrencies. Using the wallet I purchased a modest quantity of ether (the cryptocurrency). From my experience with Bitcoin I did not expect the amount to show up in my wallet immediately, as these things generally take between a few minutes and an hour. I ran the thing day and night from 11 September until I gave up on 9 October and my ether still did not appear in my wallet. This was because the software was still trying to synchronise with the entire blockchain.<br />
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At various points I went to the user community discussion forum discussing this very problem. Although people were mostly kind I was told more than once that this was not the correct forum. I could not understand why people were spending any time on this piece of software that clearly wasn't working for any of them. Anyway I persisted and eventually a user gave me enough information to rescue my ether to the point where if I want to convert them back to regular money I probably can.<br />
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So if any of this makes any sense to any of you, take heed, and if you want to play around with this, don't invest a lot of money in it until you understand what you are doing.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-24372071845567478092017-10-19T16:36:00.000+01:002017-10-19T16:36:03.102+01:00How to get spiritual understanding: Mark 7:28<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/---4WZSxkdm4/WecxtA0atyI/AAAAAAAAArA/HnC7_RHiAho8dbPxEUPApxh1Lxmw3jSDQCLcBGAs/s1600/mark%2B7%2B28.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="414" data-original-width="736" height="180" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/---4WZSxkdm4/WecxtA0atyI/AAAAAAAAArA/HnC7_RHiAho8dbPxEUPApxh1Lxmw3jSDQCLcBGAs/s320/mark%2B7%2B28.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<h3>
Mark 7:28 Context</h3>
"For a certain woman, whose young daughter had an unclean spirit, heard of him, and came and fell at his feet: The woman was a Greek, a Syrophenician by nation; and she besought him that he would cast forth the devil out of her daughter. But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. <a href="https://www.kingjamesbibleonline.org/Mark-7-28/">Mark 7:28</a> And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter."<br />
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This is remarkable. The woman was given a hard answer, but she didn't give up. That's how humble we (i) need to be to get spiritual understanding.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0UK51.6180165487737 -1.757812530.306850548773703 -43.0664065 72.9291825487737 39.5507815tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-37912125419361603942017-10-12T16:31:00.000+01:002017-10-12T16:31:10.661+01:00More about Bitcoin and cryptocurrenciesI do not know enough to pontificate, so what I write about this is a guess (please contradict if you wish).<br />
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Big institutions including governments are looking into cryptos and blockchain technology (not necessarily the same thing) for their own reasons. But that doesn't mean that an independent cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin would not continue and indeed prosper. In the long term that means people being able to buy things and services with it.<br />
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In the pipeline are systems that will allow <a href="https://plutus.it/">contactless payment</a> much like Applepay but with Bitcoin, with virtual debit cards loaded from Bitcoin accounts by the user. It could be attractive for at least two reasons: (1) being able to access foreign currency when abroad without having to pay exorbitant fees and spreads on currency exchange; (2) having a store of value that would not depreciate significantly in an inflationary crisis.<br />
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Once people start actually using Bitcoin for purchases its value might well stabilise, or at least become less volatile, as now I presume the volatility is largely driven by speculation.
The threats as I see them are (1) most of the Bitcoin mining takes place in China, where electricity is relatively cheap. This problem will not go away until we have quantum computing, and of course then we have to hope that someone will redesign the blockchain technology to make it tamper-proof again; (2) the unresolved speed/ capacity problem.
On the up side, given Bitcoin's ultimately limited supply, if it does not collapse then the value will ultimately rise - quite a lot.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-64327812878432206562017-10-05T13:25:00.001+01:002017-10-05T13:28:55.142+01:00They're not looking at you<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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(Occasionally I have thoughts that might actually be useful to someone.)<br />
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Do you worry about what other people might think about you, or think other people are judging you?<br />
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Usually they're not. Usually they are worried about what you think about them.<br />
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Learn not to care about what other people might think about you. Do what's right, keep doing your best, forgive yourself mistakes and keep going. Other people will come around in their own time.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LP93FukhhiA/WdYldXM9XBI/AAAAAAAAAqw/OKevIftrd9Qts7RF6MoRsMbvHgO_MoTxQCLcBGAs/s1600/What_do_you_care_what_other_people_think.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="330" data-original-width="220" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LP93FukhhiA/WdYldXM9XBI/AAAAAAAAAqw/OKevIftrd9Qts7RF6MoRsMbvHgO_MoTxQCLcBGAs/s320/What_do_you_care_what_other_people_think.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-45377844118388632642017-09-28T12:35:00.000+01:002017-09-28T12:35:09.503+01:00C. S. Lewis's Pilgrim's Regress<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yry7ts_nUak/WcObI6ixRoI/AAAAAAAAAqY/V7Ac8AbK7YE1V0a_yTxXLkfxTD30JHJ3wCLcBGAs/s1600/Pilgrims%2BRegress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="319" data-original-width="196" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yry7ts_nUak/WcObI6ixRoI/AAAAAAAAAqY/V7Ac8AbK7YE1V0a_yTxXLkfxTD30JHJ3wCLcBGAs/s1600/Pilgrims%2BRegress.jpg" /></a></div>
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Is it possible to change merely by hearing the word spoken?<br />
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The suggestion in C.S.Lewis's allegory <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pilgrim%27s_Regress">The Pilgrim's Regress</a></em> is that the quick way across the ravine from the intellectual desert of the 20th century to the island paradise is by Old Mother Kirk, in other words, the Church. But for some reason the hero, John, does not take that route.<br />
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The island paradise is glimpsed by John towards the beginning of the book. This island paradise is not a mere fantasy or daydream, rather it is a glimpse of the truth. Its nature is not defined, but I take it to mean the real Self, the heart of the world, the still small voice. John has a memory of reality. As you can see, my own ability to describe it in words fails, because it is one of those things that is prior to words, as I have discussed previously <a href="https://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-limitations-of-reason.html" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="https://miltonmarmalade.blogspot.co.uk/2017/03/the-limitations-of-reason-2.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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My feeling is that simply hearing the word spoken is not enough - we must strive to understand it and to put it into practice. No amount of theoretical understanding about the chemistry and techniques of cooking can make us into chefs nor can a Haynes manual make us into car mechanics - we have to get our hands dirty and do it. The theory helps of course and is often essential, but it is nothing without practice. That is where real understanding comes from.<br />
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Yet hearing a sacred text spoken at least opens up thought, often a thought more useful than the many thoughts that come from other sources. And if we see something different in the text than is in the sermon, that too can be useful.<br />
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We are bombarded with thoughts and opinions, many of them without merit, mere opinion based on nothing. Some of these impressions are simply nasty, not something we would wish to become. Our mental and emotional lives are made of the stuff which we allow to come into us. To put ourselves in the way of hearing and seeing something better, whether at church or elsewhere, must change us.<br />
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Whether it will do more than change us, whether it will lead us to the island, will almost certainly require practice as well.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-63737889010475452332017-09-20T21:42:00.000+01:002017-09-20T21:42:42.144+01:00How to prevent terrorism on the tubeCould the Parsons Green bomber have been stopped by citizen action? Quite possibly.<br />
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We could widen our attention as little children do and probably spies do, too.<br />
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We all like to lose ourselves in our mobile phones or books on the usually uncomfortable tube ride to work. So if someone gets on the tube with a bomb and then leaves it there we are unlikely to notice it. What if we all took notice of our surroundings? Not necessarily all the time but just at stations, and note who gets on, what baggage they are carrying, and who gets off and whether they have forgotten their bag.<br />
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If only ten percent of us did this then the risk of a repeat incident on the tube would be much less.<br />
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I have the number of British Transport Police listed on my phone under BTP. Thus it would take at most six keystrokes to call them (phone - contacts - BTP - call). The number is 61016. If you commute in London, put it on your phone now, and stay alert at stations.<br />
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This also gives us opportunities to come into the present moment and out of the mist of imagination in which we dream into work.<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-3400635248629681652017-09-16T21:31:00.000+01:002017-09-16T21:31:17.964+01:00Jane Austen on the banknotes, as predicted by Milton Marmalade<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aszgq3FiiA8/Wb2I-_t9dHI/AAAAAAAAAqI/TWuV890irTkgjL9KXc9zBS4-DzqaErmPACLcBGAs/s1600/Jane-Austen-concep-xlarge_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqDU3Wv6_OZRHbgkJ_cUk82AH1_BAz7Aa7YL7O6sLQ1nk.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="273" data-original-width="437" height="199" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Aszgq3FiiA8/Wb2I-_t9dHI/AAAAAAAAAqI/TWuV890irTkgjL9KXc9zBS4-DzqaErmPACLcBGAs/s320/Jane-Austen-concep-xlarge_trans_NvBQzQNjv4BqDU3Wv6_OZRHbgkJ_cUk82AH1_BAz7Aa7YL7O6sLQ1nk.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As predicted on page 198 of my magnum opus, <em>A Mermaid in the Bath</em>, as of 14th September there will be a picture of Jane Austen on the ten pound note.<br />
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This is a further demonstration of the inspired nature of my oeuvre.<br />
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From page 198 of the paperback edition:<br />
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...Half way through Milton addresses himself to you with the words ‘gentle reader... .’ Who does he think he is, Jane Austen? Anyway I hope they put her picture on the banknotes as it’s about time we had a woman on there. Mind you the Queen is on all of them isn’t she? Talking of Jane Austen, that would have been a good name for a car in the heyday of the British Motor Corporation, instead of the Austin Cambridge, like. Then the Morris Oxford would have been Jane Morris. As you no doubt know, Jane Morris was the muse of the Pre-Raphaelites. It must be nice being a muse and getting all that male attention.
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Goodness, this Argentine wine is good! I’m feeling quite inspired now. Perhaps I’ll write that bodice-ripper myself and then I can ask Milton to help me with it while I snuggle up to him. Once I’m back in England. And I’m not living in a shed at the back of the Co-op. He’ll have to get a proper house.
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6217480832361531351.post-70500219656798674682017-09-07T16:47:00.000+01:002017-09-07T16:47:11.487+01:00The mysteries of cryptocurrencies<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXIon4yUcww/V5-RombSkWI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/L9RPyUgGiW48A1sqI3ZPsGVFd6jRtYePQCPcBGAYYCw/s1600/combined-lino-prints.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="671" height="238" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-rXIon4yUcww/V5-RombSkWI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/L9RPyUgGiW48A1sqI3ZPsGVFd6jRtYePQCPcBGAYYCw/s320/combined-lino-prints.gif" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">You can buy this mermaid print using Bitcoin</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Is the electronic currency <a href="https://bitcoin.org/en/" target="_blank">Bitcoin</a> the borderless currency of the future?<br />
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From time to time I may share with you my understanding, such as it is, of Bitcoin and alternative digital currencies, sometimes called cryptocurrencies. You can take this as a starting point for your own enquiries if you wish, and whether you agree or not with what I write, if you have something to add to the discussion you are very welcome to comment.<br />
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Bitcoin is a digital currency on what is called a distributed ledger. This means that the record of who owns what and all transactions are held electronically on computers all over the world. There is no central banker. The system is designed for peer-to-peer transactions, that is, ordinary folk buying from and selling to each other without banking interference and across borders. Also if, for example, you lose your virtual wallet (for example, you own Bitcoin in your smartphone and your smartphone is lost), as long as you have your code words you can get your money back.<br />
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Currently the UK, USA and most if not all countries of the world use fiat currencies, that is, money not backed by precious metals. The USA left the gold standard in 1971 (<a href="https://www.amazon.co.uk/End-Alchemy-Banking-Future-Economy/dp/0349140677/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502809844&sr=1-1&keywords=mervyn+king" target="_blank">Mervyn King, <em>The End of Alchemy</em>, Abacus 2017</a> p.73) as did Britain temporarily in 1797 when at war with France and permanently in 1931 (ibid. pp.75-6). Fiat currencies allow governments to print money whenever it seems useful to do so, whether to fund a war or to get the country out of economic difficulty.<br />
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One problem with fiat currencies is that if they get out of control, hyperinflation can occur, rendering money virtually worthless, as happened during the Weimar republic and more recently in Zimbabwe. In such times people who hold gold can do well, because gold holds its value as the supply is limited. Limited supply is also a feature of the digital currency Bitcoin.<br />
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<a href="http://sprottphysicalbullion.com/#" target="_blank">Holding gold</a> is difficult, partly because it has to be stored somewhere and at some cost and partly because it has somehow to be converted into fiat currency in order to spend it. Bitcoin can be held securely in a number of ways including on a smartphone and can also be held off-line and so secure from hackers. It can be converted into many fiat currencies on-line, and a very small number of businesses world-wide will accept it. Its value in terms of most (but not all) fiat currencies suffers from extreme volatility, but on average its value as measured against fiat currencies has trended very much upwards up until now. (<a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/14/goldman-sachs-says-bitcoin-may-rise-about-500-more.html" target="_blank">Where it will go next</a> is not something I'd like to predict, because I wouldn't want to get the blame if it all goes wrong.) Interestingly Bitcoin is much less volatile when measured against currencies in crisis, such as the Venzuelan bolívar.<br />
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What effect the large-scale adoption of Bitcoin would have on the world economy is difficult to imagine. It would allow borderless transactions between ordinary people without going through a bank and without having to pay currency conversion and transmission charges.<br />
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One thing that is holding it back now is that a little bit of research is needed for an ordinary person to understand exactly what Bitcoin is, and storing it requires a little bit of technical know-how. Another thing holding it back is lack of sufficient speed in the system to support the number of transactions that major card companies do every day (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/explained/bitcoin-scaling-problem-explained" target="_blank">a complex topic which is covered elsewhere</a>) and a third problem is the lack of charge cards or debit cards that can be used to pay with Bitcoin.<br />
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If it were possible to have a charge card that would convert the Bitcoin held on it into the local fiat currency on the fly (that is, without the intermediary of a bank) to pay for goods at a contactless or chip-and-pin checkout then I believe Bitcoin would take off.<br />
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There are a large number of debit or charge cards available that claim to be able to let you pay with Bitcoin, but as I understand it for the most part these cards require you to convert Bitcoin into fiat currency in order to load them up, and they cost money to use. Therefore this leads to the same old bank charges for cash withdrawal and currency conversion. I cannot see the point of them.<br />
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A true Bitcoin card would do currency conversion via an on-line Bitcoin exchange. The only <a href="https://plutus.it/" target="_blank">contactless Bitcoin payment system</a> I've found that comes close to a true peer-to-peer system doesn't actually exist yet: it will be an app that you have on your smartphone. In this case you send as much in Bitcoin as you want to spend that day to the address on the app. The Bitcoin is converted to your local currency using a peer-to-peer trading network and is then available to spend using your smartphone for contactless payments. It remains to be seen whether you will be able to change your preferred fiat currency easily within the app (for example when travelling). This is not a product recommendation but it certainly looks interesting. If I were to use it I'd only put as much on it as I was likely to use in a day or so, since funds held on-line are at least in theory vulnerable to hacking or the system organisers closing down and running off with the money, not that I have any reason to suspect that particular organisation.<br />
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Anyway, as an experiment I have created a page on <a href="https://www.openbazaar.org/" target="_blank">OpenBazaar</a> (a peer-to-peer alternative to eBay - perhaps one day) to sell some artist's prints in exchange for payment in Bitcoin (see illustration at the top of this post). So far I have not become rich (or actually sold anything) but it's early days. My next hurdle is to set up an old computer to be a server so that I can have my page on-line all the time.<br />
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All comments and questions welcome.<br />
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[Disclaimer: I am merely passing on my own understanding and hoping to start a debate. I do not claim to have expert knowledge and no-one should base any financial decisions on what I have written, nor do the links provided necessarily imply a recommendation (except that <a href="https://www.amazon.com/End-Alchemy-Banking-Future-Economy/dp/0393247023/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1502811164&sr=1-1&keywords=mervyn+king" target="_blank">Mervyn King's book</a>, which is not about Bitcoin, is very good).]<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0