“The First Rays of Sunlight” – Summer 2013 – Frick Park – Pittsburgh, PA
So I have been receiving a few emails with questions regarding my acceptance of bitcoin… I have decided to just write about the subject as I have sent the same reply email ten times now… This post is different from anything I have ever written… But I think it will explain why I believe bitcoin is a good thing… And why I think we should all adopt it…
Bitcoin is a decentralized currency that only exists in the digital realm… Meaning… There is nothing physical about it… It is a line of code… I often compare it to gold in that it has a value because supplies are limited… It is difficult to acquire… And increasingly in demand… It is also similar to gold in that its value is universal… When a bitcoin is worth a thousand dollars in the United States… It is worth the equivalent of that anywhere in the world…
Across the bottom of many of my posts you will find my bitcoin wallet address… Just in case – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj – is what it looks like… I can receive bitcoins with this address… If you had one… I could send bitcoin to you… It is safe to post it anywhere… This number only receives… In order to send you actually have to log into your wallet… This is not possible with this address…
If you want a digital wallet… I recommend CoinBase… It is free to sign up… You can receive coins with it… But much more importantly… You can buy bitcoins using this service… Safely… They are based in the United States… And are not linked to the Silk Road or any other drug related dealings… They are a legitimate investments service… Operated by real people… Who actually return emails promptly…
I also like the fact that I can send money anywhere in the world without any kind of charge… I can send twenty dollars to an artist in Africa instantly… I can donate to a cause in Brazil… Hell… I can accept donations or tips from anyone in the world… No matter how large or small… This is why I believe bitcoin could revolutionize blogging… It would allow us to tip each other with actual money… And because bitcoin is digital… Sending small amounts is possible without a transaction fee (There is a transaction fee – But it is so small you will never even notice it)… Basically… If I read your post and like it… I could “tip” you with anything from a fraction of a cent all the way up to millions of dollars… If we all had bitcoin addresses… Making a small amount of money could be possible…
I personally believe bitcoin is here to stay… Though I do not believe it will replace fiat currency… I do believe it will become a commodity like gold or silver… It just makes sense that the concept of “value” would stray away from physical materials into the digital realm… As we as a culture spend more time in cyberspace… We will find ourselves looking for objects of equal value… In a world of computer codes… It just makes sense that we would find certain codes to put value on… The gems of the computer world… Like gold locked away in digital codes…
I recommend anyone who actively blogs at least looks into the world of bitcoins… Check out my link above and sign up for a wallet… After you have a wallet… You will be given a receive address… Anyone in the world with a bitcoin wallet can now send you money… If they like your post… They could send you a few pennies… Or a few million dollars… It just depends on how good of a writer you are…
Since the wallet is free… And costs nothing to maintain… I feel there is no reason all of our blogs don’t list bitcoin addresses… As far as I am concerned… To not have one is to miss out on possible earnings… However small a piece of the pie… But pie none the less…
Just in case you would like to open a wallet – CoinBase is what I use… If you want to purchase coins you have to let them link to your bank account… And the entire transaction takes 4 days for security purposes… I HAVE PERSONALLY DONE THIS… I have bought coins through their service… My only complaint would be they were a little too careful… But that’s not a real complaint…
If you would like anymore information about bitcoins… Please don’t hesitate to ask – c.condello@hotmail.com
plant petunias and question everything – chriscondello
Donations and Tips – 1JsKwa3vYgy4LZjNk4YmPEHFJNjPt2wDJj
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
I like to consider myself a problem solver… And apparently there’s a little issue with that pesky Jebus guy poking his head into our holidays… I mean… When I think “peace on earth”—I think of the federal government!.. Don’t you…
The last of the leaves are being blown from the trees… Winter has finally arrived… The chill of the night is sharply enhanced by the wind… Thirty mile per hour gusts… And the first snow i have seen this season… Life is simple… Life is grand… Life is peachy…
Green grass below me… And grey skies above… Really an odd day for the end of November… The clouds are moving as fast as cars… Blue, purple, orange and grey—constantly changing… Morphing… Heading south-east… At this time of year it can only mean one thing… Cold fronts on the way… Sixty degrees yesterday… Rain in the afternoon… Snow tonight…
I think you should probably go now… There is nothing to see here… This is my secret place—not yours!.. The occupancy permit only accepts one… But if the fire marshal asks… Please forget about all of my personalities… Because although I never invite them… They still manage to crash all of my parties…
Hot cup of coffee while the sun comes up… The first sign of morning is the laser beam of blue light that is enhanced by the cigarette smoke that accompanies my coffee… My body is still numb from the sleep… But my mind is electric from the lack of rest… You see… My body may have been asleep… But my mind wouldn’t shut up… Maybe I can focus for a few…
It was a rare thing for me to say I had a friend while I was still using… I guess we weren’t so much friends… But we had history… I went to school with him… And he always looked out for me… He hung himself in a jail cell… For reasons I actually understand… Oddly enough I was the first person his fiance called… At the time… I was the only person she thought would care… But I wasn’t sad that he was dead… I was sad that I lost my hook-up…
So this afternoon I was standing in the paint department of the local craft store… Dreaming… Staring at a wall of colors that I can only dream of having in my palette… A guy wearing all black and one of those fancy french hats joined me in the aisle… This was surely an accomplished artist, the way he kept looking at me… giving me dirty looks… I could see in his eyes that he was “judging” my artistic ability based on the brand of paint that I was looking at…
I need to be proud of what I have become, I may not be “successful” in the traditional sence, but I am doing ok if you factor in the fact that I should probably be dead… Confidence will come back to me slowly… Luckily I have incredible family, friends, neighbors… And even though this will give her a big head… I also have a great girlfriend…
Gardening is a spiritual and physical connection to the earth that one could not understand without actually doing it, but the earth does a lot more than just feed us. Over millions of years our planet has developed an incredibly diverse bouquet of plants and animals, some feed us, and some simply blow our minds. Ssome things exist out of necessity, and some things are here as one of mother natures vulgar display of power. With all of the attention we currently invest in growing food, I sometimes feel we are forgetting that part of creating a diverse ecosystem also involves growing ornamental trees, shrubs, and flowers… both annuals and perennials.
The lack of pollinating insects has gathered a lot of attention lately, wouldn’t it be funny if it turned out to be something simple like a lack of people growing petunias and geraniums. Next time you are buying tomato or pepper plants pick up a pack of petunia or marigold plants and intermingle them around your tomatoes. One of my all time favorite mistakes was a bunch of volunteer petunias growing in my corn patch… It was truly a beautiful combination…
I understand that gardening is a way for people to feed themselves, but it can also bring beauty and lift spirits in a way that little else can. This year as you plant your garden, don’t just fill every square inch of space with food for yourself, remember the bees and birds that make our vegetables possible work up quite an appetite as well. If you plant 3 tomato plants for yourself, then plant a petunia just for the bees. If you plant a few apple trees, then plant a serviceberry just for the birds. Consider it a sacrifice of space that may seem to hurt your personal yield but in the long run will increase the overall total yield of the earth as an ecosystem. Just as people should count compost into their overall garden yield, insects and birds that are attracted to your garden could also be considered yield… If for no other reason than the presence of these animals will increase your gardens yield as well as contribute to the quality of your life and your surroundings.
I don’t normally share this with people because it makes me feel like a dork but every fruit tree, bush or bramble that I have planted for my personal consumption over the last 3 years has a flower from my garden under it. I consider it a sacrifice to the plant gods, I feel if the plant is going to sacrifice its energy into producing food for me than I can sacrifice one of my flowers to it. Just my nerdy planting ritual that helps me personally connect with the earth and how I sculpt my surroundings.
chriscondello 