Bitcoin’s Value Drops Amid Russia-Ukraine War and Inflation – The New York Times

For years, Bitcoin buffs who were questioned by skeptics about the value of the cryptocurrency would respond by saying: just wait.

Wait until inflation hits, and people look to park their savings in a stable digital asset that won’t lose its value. Wait until war breaks out, and authoritarians start seizing assets and imposing capital controls on their citizens. Wait until big banks and tech companies start censoring dissidents for their political views. Then you’ll see why we need a stateless, decentralized, anonymous digital currency.

More than most cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin was seen by many of its libertarian-leaning fans as a kind of doomsday insurance, a form of “digital gold” that would be a source of stability as the world grew more chaotic and unpredictable.

Well, chaos is here. In the United States, inflation is rising at the fastest pace in decades, and the VIX — the so-called fear index used by Wall Street to measure expected volatility in the stock market — has risen more than 80 percent this year. Last month, Canada’s government responded to the threat of a protest convoy of anti-vaccine truckers by threatening to freeze their bank accounts, drawing calls for a type of money that isn’t subject to government seizures. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was met with brutal sanctions that have tanked the ruble and devastated the Russian economy, and many U.S. companies have pulled out of Russia, making it nearly impossible for its citizens to access their bank accounts, use credit cards or even post on social media.

In other words, this is a perfect storm of economic and geopolitical events that should, theoretically, be great for Bitcoin.

But Bitcoin hasn’t boomed. In fact, even as Wall Street analysts contemplate the possibility of nuclear Armageddon, crypto prices have fallen steadily. Bitcoin prices are down 10 percent in the past month, and Ether, the second most popular crypto coin, is down roughly 15 percent.

Analysis: Texas officials bully transgender kids for political points | The Texas Tribune

Lucky for them, Texas officials probably can’t be prosecuted for bullying under the state’s education laws. The gist of those laws, however, is crystal clear, and so is the effect of their actions and rhetoric about gender-affirming health care. Source: Analysis: Texas officials bully transgender kids for political points | The Texas Tribune

Ukraine war: Fact-checking Russia’s biological weapons claims – BBC News

Russia claims that biological weapons are being developed in laboratories in Ukraine with support from the United States.

It says evidence is now being destroyed to conceal the country’s weapons programme, but the US says this is “total nonsense” and that Russia is inventing false narratives to justify its actions in Ukraine.

We’ve looked into some of the claims and assess whether there’s any evidence to support them.

Source: Ukraine war: Fact-checking Russia’s biological weapons claims – BBC News

Being Interviewed – Living with Chronic Illness and Long Covid

PainPalsBlog

A couple of weeks ago I was interviewed for a local online magazine. The journalist Chloe Clarke asked how it has felt to live through the pandemic as a “vulnerable person” with chronic illness and to contract Covid, then to later be diagnosed with Long Covid. I was also spoke about how I feel about the lifting of restrictions.

“Two days into the first lockdown in March 2020, retired nurse Claire Saul started coughing and was later diagnosed with Covid.

One day, her symptoms got so bad that an ambulance arrived to assist with her breathing while she was turning blue – but they were reluctant to take her to hospital because of her chronic conditions, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and postural tachycardia syndrome (PoTS).

A friend of Claire’s who shopped for her while she was ill told her that when she pulled up, she could hear her “horrendous cough” from the…

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Cuando sean mayores y recuerden

Santiago Galicia Rojon Serrallonga

SANTIAGOGALICIA ROJON SERRALLONGA

Derechos reservados conforme a la ley/ Copyright

Cuando sean mayores y evoquen los años del ayer, la historia y las rutas de sus existencias, especialmente su niñez, adolescencia y juventud, y descubran el juego perverso que les prepararon quienes controlan el poder económico, militar y político, en el mundo, con la complicidad de medios de comunicación, instituciones, artistas, intelectuales y científicos mercenarios, para arruinarlos y, por añadidura, convertirlos en parte de la generación perdida y rota, ¿qué reacción tendrán? Independientemente de la brecha generacional, muchos de sus padres se encuentran distraídos y ocupados en labores cotidianas, en múltiples asuntos, aunque a un gran número se les vea en actividades y costumbres baladíes, y las relaciones estén desgajadas, coyuntura que aprovechan las mentes ruines con la intención de hacer nodrizas, madrastras y padrastros de la televisión, la radio y las redes sociales mal enfocados y con cierta…

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Gold rush in Ecuador’s Amazon region threatens 1,500 communities

  • In the Ecuadoran Amazon, a boom in legal and illegal gold mining has sparked Indigenous land rights conflicts and water contamination in the Anzu and Jatunyacu rivers.
  • Recently analyzed water samples from the region reveal high concentrations of toxic metals, such as lead and aluminum, that are up to 500% higher than permissible limits.
  • In some of the sites studied, aquatic insects had disappeared, indicating high levels of pollution and serious health impacts to communities relying on the rivers for water and fish.
  • Recent court hearings have ordered mining companies to offer reparations to affected communities and undertake clear consultation processes.

In Ecuador’s central Napo province, legal and illegal gold mining in rivers is expanding, causing freshwater contamination and conflict among communities living in the Anzu and Jatunyacu river basins, according to recent studies and Indigenous organizations. The findings, signaling a gold rush in the Amazonian province, identify several new mining concessions and their environmental impacts between December 2019 and January 2022.

Source: Gold rush in Ecuador’s Amazon region threatens 1,500 communities

French Fridays: Le Comte de Monte-Cristo/The Count of Monte-Cristo

Context, Thought, and Learning: ShiraDest Offers Project Do Better

       I am writing this review again, after having reviewed it several months ago, but not here:

Wow.

This is one of the very few books I would feel it necessary to own, rather than giving my copy to the library. I listened to the LibriVox edition, read mostly by a lady I believe to be Quebecoise, so her accent took some getting used to (I’m accustomed to the continental French accent), but I found it useful to be able to listen while cleaning, cooking, eating, and powdering my nose. Class differences are dramatic, in this book, as are the many references to slavery, but none of it takes us away from the central theme of the just vengeance of the unjustly wronged.

dumas_by_nadar2c_1855

Dumas was a genius, if I had to judge by this book. What surprised me was learning that he was the son of a Hatian…

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Spring has almost sprung – and the bees need our help! — Filosofa’s Word

Originally posted on Wibble: Just yesterday (as I write this, on 04Mar2022) a ginormous bumblebee buzzed past me, and said, “Spring is coming!” Well, not literally, but the message was clear. It reminded me of the fact that ‘our’ planet’s bee population is in serious decline (which is almost certainly our fault), and that if…

Spring has almost sprung – and the bees need our help! — Filosofa’s Word