Bitcoins

Have you heard of Bitcoins? Neither had I until this morning. Apparently they’re an online currency that isn’t tied to any nation and isn’t centralized by any particular bank. They were created by an computer programmer calling himself Satoshi Nakamoto after the fallout of the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Apparently he wanted to create a currency that couldn’t be devalued.  And it’s working – in fact, the opposite seems to be happening. Since the start of this year, the Bitcoin seems to have increased in value by 1000 percent. In May 2010, a programmer in the US bought two pizzas for the hefty price of 10,000 Bitcoins. Last month, a different US citizen reportedly bought a Porche Cayman for the low low price of 300 coins.

According to one online Bitcoin administrator in Australia, the currency is built on a highly complex algorithm which means there is no central control point and that there is no way to produce more than 21 million coins. That number hasn’t been reached yet though – rather, 25 new coins are created every ten minutes by people called Bitcoin miners, with that output halved every four years until the limit is reached in the year 2140.

Bitcoin miners – now that’s a concept I’m still struggling to get my head around. As far as I can tell, Bitcoin mining companies are responsible for solving the algorithm. Once their computers get the equation down to a 64-digit number, the next injection of 25 coins is deposited into their bank, with the acknowledgement of all the other miners around the world. These miners can then spend those Bitcoins at their leisure. Once they send the Bitcoins out there, people can buy them and store them in ‘wallets’. You can get a wallet by making an account on your computer or smartphone.

The monetary value of Bitcoins has been fluctuating wildly since its creation. It’s because of this that it hasn’t been accepted as a legitimate currency yet. Aside from that, it’s the largest form of alternative currency in the world, with a current estimated value of $1.8 billion Australian.

I’m hesitant to say this, but it seems like a pretty solid system. I’m sure all the wallets and retailers out there are programmed to guard against counterfeit coins being created by cyber criminals. They can’t try and cheat the algorithm, because then they would just be legitimate miners. The only place where the system falls down is the safety of the wallets – they can be hacked and raided just like robbing a bank. The world’s largest Bitcoin miner Mt Gox was once hacked and a portion of their Bitcoins stolen, dropping the overall price of the currency by a few cents. A number of exchange retailers have been hacked in the same way, putting them out of business through lack of credibility. But aside from that, it seems like a decent system.  I’m prepared to say this will become a more legitimate form of currency in the future.

Support Our Troops

Samantha Ford works at a Dunkin’ Donuts store outside of Boston. She’s an unmarried mother of two whose boyfriend is in the military. He’s overseas fighting a battle that a lot of people support and a lot of people think never should have happened.  Ford has a bumper sticker on the back of her car which says “half my heart is in Afghanistan”. She doesn’t know if she’ll ever really see him again, but she loves him just the same.

One morning, Samantha left work and made her way to the car to find a hand written note on her windshield. It said:

“I noticed the sticker on the back of your car. Take your hero out to dinner when he comes home. Thank you both for serving. Him deployed and you for waiting.
-United States Veteran. God bless.”

Along with the note, there were two twenty dollar bills pinned under the windshield wiper with which to take each other out to dinner once he gets back.

Samantha took a picture of the note and the money and uploaded it to Facebook, saying “I just thought I would share with you all what happened to me today! Came out of Dunkin Donuts and found this under my windshield wiper. There are no words to describe how I’m feeling right now. Tears in my eyes. I just wish I could thank whoever did this! God bless our troops and all those who stand behind them.” The post has been shared almost 220 000 times and attracted about 50 000 comments. The original post has also been liked by more than 1.7 million people. She’s also gotten in touch with her boyfriend over Skype to tell him about it. He said was so touched and that it was people like that that make him proud to be an American.

Now I absolutely love this story for so many reasons. The first is that you only ever hear about bad stories in the news. No one seems to really care about the good news stories. Why is this one so popular? Maybe it’s because it’s so unusual. It’s a unique act of selflessness that we can all relate to. We all know or can guess what it’s like to have a partner who’s gone off to war and who you may never see again. The second reason is that it’s reinforcing the conviction of Ford and her boyfriend that they’re doing the right thing – that the sacrifices they’re making are appreciated and that they’re doing it for a reason. The third is that I think condemning a person for being a soldier is very short-sighted. Feel free to be against war, that’s fine. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been very controversial and a very large amount of people consider them an embarrassment to the country. I can live with that. But no matter how much against war you are, you can still support the men and women that lay down their lives to protect the country you love. That goes for any country, not just America. Whether going to war is a good idea or a bad one, that’s not their place to decide; and I’m saddened by people who take it out on those troops. This stranger has shown his appreciation and support for what these two people are doing for their country and the 1.7 million people who have liked, commented on and shared the photo are doing the same.

And just quickly please keep voting for me in Star Central Magazine's  Blogger of the Month Award. I caught up to the leader a few days ago, then woke up the next morning to find her 14 votes ahead. It eventually got out to 21, but I've been reeling her in since then. You can vote once every 24 hours, so feel free to vote a second/third/ninety-eighth time.

http://www.starcentralmagazine.com/bloggers-of-the-month/2013/03/15/bloggers-april-2013/

Blogger of the Month

A publication called Star Central Magazine has nominated me for their blogger of the month award. They had me in their archives from a previous discussion and a few weeks ago, they dug me up and gave me a nomination. Right now I'm featured on their website and if I win the voting, I'll be featured in their next issue - which has a readership of 20 000. I'm up against a tells-it-like-it-is fashionista named Kiera Rae and a British backpacker named Emily Duffield and while Kiera has been leading from the start, I've been right on her tail the whole time. At the time of writing, she has 49 votes, I have 43 and Duffield is lagging behind with 12.

While of course the work is nowhere close to finished, I'm certainly proud of my achievements to date, which is why I thought I'd celebrate by making a list of other things that I could be nominate for as "best of the month"...

• Traveler of the month - For someone who makes as weak an income as I do, I tend to go traveling a lot. Since August 2010 I've gone on holiday seven times.That's almost three times per year.
• Photo taker of the month - No, not photographer of the month... I should be nominated for the sheer amount of photos I take. None of them are what you'd call well-taken, but when I put them on my computer and set them as my screensaver I can never seem to look away.
• Boyfriend of the month - This may sound very up myself, but I stand by it. I agreed to do a crocheting class with my girlfriend purely because she wanted to see how much I would agree to. And I fully intend to enjoy it. I rest my case. But I've got more if you need it.
• Rookie newsreader of the month - I've started reading the news at community station Fresh FM and the head of newsreading loved how quickly I took to it. Then she complained about all her other rookies who would get too nervous or not be able to finish their reports in time.
• Peanut butter lover of the month - Wait, that's not true. I have been eating just as much peanut butter as ever, but I don't think I've mentioned it on this blog in MONTHS.
• Charity stunt-puller of the month - I had some friends wax my legs for me for charity. I raised about $80 for the Leukemia Foundation.
• Phone user of the month - I never put the bloody thing down, especially since I discovered The Simpsons Tapped Out.

If you could help me win this petty award, that would be amazing. Keep this link saved in your browser and go back to vote for me once every 24 hours until voting closes on April 10. If that's too much (wuss), simply voting once will be fine. A vote for me is a vote for everything you stand for.

http://www.starcentralmagazine.com/bloggers-of-the-month/2013/03/15/bloggers-april-2013/

Oh Look! An Award!

I was in a deep slumber from the blogging world when Brett Minor found me. I'd been that way for months, silently sleeping away while around me the whole landscape of the blogosphere changed. Writers I had grown to love started to move off and do other things. New writers would emerge and some would fizzle out, while others gained a foothold and grew a following. Slowly, the followers I had befriended began to move on, giving up hope that I would ever write again. A couple of times it looked like I was going to wake from my deep sleep, but that ultimately proved to be just gas.This princess was not going to wake up soon.

But Brett didn't give up on me. He hoped against all hope that there was still a writer in there, bursting to get out. The handsome non-conformist prince found me out in the woods, lying on the altar, a picture of peace and calm. Looking me up and down, he suddenly wondered why I was wearing an elegant yellow and blue dress.
"No no, that doesn't matter," he thought to himself as he knelt down beside me. He placed something down beside the altar, and with seven very short men watching from afar, he gave me a big, wet, sloppy kiss.

He was already gone by the time I opened my eyes. I sat up and looked around me, taking in how much the landscape had changed. Eventually I noticed the object Brett had left beside me. It was the Liebster award - an award that writers hand to other writers that they respect much like people used to do with chain mail. I studied the award a little further and I discovered that to accept the award and fully reenter the blogging world, there were some instructions I had to follow.

1. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer 11 questions the awarder has made for you, then come up with 11 questions of your own.
3. Choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers to pass the award on to and tell them about it. No tag-backs.

So while the seven little men filled me in on the major events I'd missed (what the heck is Gangnam Style?), I began to follow the instructions...

11 Random Facts

1. My middle name is George. My name is Michael George. I guess my parents were huge Wham fans.
2. I do way too much work for free. All my acting and stand-up work, the articles I write for beingtwentysomething.com and the news reading I do for local radio station Fresh FM. All for free.
3. I think I'm about 8 kilos (18 pounds) heavier now than I was when I was ten years old.
4. I tried my stand-up in Perth twice and failed DISMALLY both times. I used all my best material, including the only bit I've used more than once that's never failed.
5. For those who are interested (I'm looking at you Kianwi and Becky), I now have an amazing girlfriend of four months who I'm madly in love with. We tend to disagree on who's lucky to have ended up with who. More details will come in a later post.
6. I have a very close group of friends that's been brought together from a number of places - some from my work at KFC, some from high schools and some as simply friends of friends. Because we get so giggly and make a lot of noise and have a ball doing absolutely anything and make friends everywhere we go, we've started referring to ourselves as the Buttercup Gang. More details will come in a later post.
7. I'm doing the World's Greatest Shave this year, which is an event where people collect money to shave or colour their hair and the money raised goes to the Leukemia Foundation. Last year my friend Kelsey and I went completely bald and this year we're planning to shave everything from the neck down. More details will come in a later post?
8. I'm exactly the  same height as Megan Fox.
9. My favourite fruits are mango and pineapple.
10. If I could have any superpower, it would actually be to have the heart ring from Captain Planet.
11. Once during high school, I tried to explain why my assignments were late and why I was missing so many days of school by telling all my teachers I had depression. One of my teachers tried to comfort me by letting me know about his struggles with manic depression and then the vice principal called a meeting with my parents to discuss what to do about it. Afterwards I told my parents I'd never used the word depression and they'd simply heard me saying I was sad sometimes and jumped to conclusions. They bought that and didn't bring it up again. They also didn't notice how many days I was really missing from school because every time the school notified them I would say I'd missed my bus and just turned up late. It was a nasty web of lies and while I'm definitely proud of how well I'd pulled it off, I'm certainly not proud of my my willingness to do so.

 Answer 11 Questions

1. Q: What's the ""World's Biggest" thing you would love to see?
   A: Probably the world's biggest rock, which is Ayers Rock. Or Uluru as it's known to the Aboriginals.
2. Q: If you could have any hybrid animal as a pet, what would it be?
   A: There are so many possibilities. I could go eagle-monkey, giraffe-shark, horse-frog... I guess I'd pick either a cat-dog because it would be constantly chasing its tail or an eleph-ant because that would be a creature of inconceivable horror.
3. Q: What children's program gets on your nerves the most?
   A: Not many children's shows get on my nerves. I still watch Sesame Street when I get the chance. But I have to say that I just don't get iCarly. What on Earth is that?
4. Q: What's your most embarrassing misunderstood song lyric story?
   A: I had a friend who used to think that our national anthem - which begins with 'Australians all let us rejoice' - in fact started with 'Australia's golden ostriches'.
5. Q: What corporation would you love to be CEO of and why?
   A: Virgin. Richard Branson has done some cool shit with that company.
6. Q: If you killed a clown, where would you hide the body?
   A: I'd kill dozens of other clowns, shove them all inside one little coffin and bury it.
7. Q: What superhero sidekick do you most identify with?
   A: How many sidekicks are there really? I can think of Robin... Boo Boo... Milhouse... Oh wait, you said superhero. Let's just go with Robin and move on.
8. Q: What button on your TV remote gets the most use?
   A: The input button. I'm always putting it to DVD or HDMI mode so I can watch stuff that I may or may not have downloaded illegally.
9. Q: What is your social security number?
   A: Ha ha, sucker. We don't have them in Australia. But I can give you my tax file number if you like...
10. Q: How would you define the word "kleftenarian?
    A: An 80 year old who likes to steal.
11. Q: What song title best describes your relationship with your neighbours?
    A: Probably Yellow, by Coldplay.

11 of My Own Questions

1. What kind of creature is Grimace? (The McDonalds mascot)
2. Who's your favourite non-rock or pop musical artist? (I think that leaves Jazz, Blues, Country, Reggae, Trance, most Rap/Hip Hop and Dubstep)
3. What's your favourite variety of cheese?
4. Have you ever mimiced the Gangnam Style Dance?
5. Who's selling sea shells by the sea shore? They never mention who she is.
6. When was the last time you went for a pap smear/prostate exam?
7. Don't you think it's time?
8. What's your favourite Star Wars, Godfather and Indiana Jones film?
9. How many songs are there on your mp3 player or phone?
10. Do you/have you ever talked about religion or politics with strangers?
11. Which of the Avengers is the hottest?

The Next 11 Bloggers

1. Red from Doesn't Speak Klingon
2. Kevin at Who Woulda Thought?
3. GC at Photography, Writing and More
4. Wily Guy at It's My Mynd
5. Jeff Laws at My Sports Obsession
6. Melanie at Sporkin' On Down the Road
7. Ken at Ken-Inatractor
8. Susannah Brown at Woah, Susannah!
9. Becky at Just Passing Through
10. Kianwi at Simply She Goes
11. My old sparring partner Rusty at Swinging Like a Rusty Gate

 And with that, the spell I was under that I haven't actually mentioned yet fell away forever and I was free to go about my life again. I thanked the seven dwarves for looking after me all this time and not looking up my dress while I was asleep and I walked away into the sunset.

Then I came back when I realized I had nowhere to go. I'm still there now.

If you would like to donate to the fight against Leukemia, you can go to my personal donation page here, or my team's donation page here.

Mardi Gras Brutality

I’m sure most of you have heard about the police brutality story at the recent Sydney Mardi Gras or even seen the YouTube footage of the event. If you haven’t, then you can go to YouTube and look up “Sydney Mardi Gras 2013 Police Brutality” to find it. The footage shows police detaining a boy named Jamie Jackson who was in his underwear and crying that he hadn’t done anything. There were bystanders yelling abuse at the cops, who were trying to keep the situation calm and civil. It becomes clear that before the footage was taken, there was some sort of incident that resulted in Jackson’s head being smacked into the ground and the viewer is shown the splatter of blood. But while the blood is being shown, there’s a thud from off screen and the camera snaps back up to find Jackson being thrown to the ground and then the policeman standing on his back for about 20 seconds.

Police have begun an inquiry into the incident to find out what happened, but essentially everyone seems to have made up their mind already. Some people are on the side of the policeman who was remaining calm and passive while he copped abuse from all sides and then incapacitated a perp who would have tried to escape or fight back. Lots of people are on the side of this boy, because the crowd seemed overwhelmingly on his side and the footage didn’t show him doing anything wrong before he was thrown to the ground.

So here’s my opinion: I think cops are way too easy a target these days. Groups of people who have typically had to fight for their rights in this world – homosexuals, black people, women and all religions except Christianity – tend to be way, WAY too ready to arc up and scream oppression. What’s happened is that the people attending this mardi gras saw a policeman being rough with a fellow gay person and without knowing the full story, they rushed to his defence, all too ready to assume that this was a cop that was abusing his power and oppressing gay people. Naturally, because the video was posted online, mob mentality has spread and other people have sided with the bystanders. You don’t see what happens to cause the violence, either the first or the second time it happens. That boy seemed either drunk or high or both to me and I think it’s perfectly likely that the rough treatment he received was warranted. The New South Wales Police Force is handling this incident in exactly the right way – by admitting that there was no way of knowing what happened from the events of the video and investigating the matter themselves. I don’t think they’ll make any major discoveries. My gut feel is that this was all above board and it was all just a case of people making judgements without facts. And if you do think the violence was unwarranted and that this is the latest episode of cops being crooked and abusive and taking advantage of their authority… just remember what you said about them when the shit hits the fan and they’re the first people you think of to call.

Young Jewish Couple Killed and Their Baby Lost

A young Jewish couple in New York has died on their way to the hospital after a speeding BMW smashed into the back of their taxi and fled the scene. The couple – Nachman and Raizy Glauber – were on their way to the hospital due to ill health when the BMW hit. The force was so hard it threw Raizy out of the car and under a parked semi-trailer and trapped Nachman in so that emergency workers had to use the Jaws of Life to break him out. The two were rushed to individual hospitals and later pronounced dead by medical examiners due to blunt force trauma. The accident was made all the more tragic by the fact that Raizy was seven months pregnant at the time. The baby was delivered via caesarean section soon after she arrived at the hospital, but being only 1.8 kilos (four pounds) and highly under-developed, the baby died at 11:30pm Australian Eastern Daylight Time (5am New York Time).

The whole of the close-knit Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn is in shock after hearing the news. They rushed the bodies of their dead comrades back to their custody so that they could hold the funeral. Jewish customs dictate that a funeral should be held as soon as humanly possible after death. The couple were buried – most likely with their baby – within hours after it happened.

As for the perpetrator, there are calls for him or her to be charged with homicide. The coward ran from the scene, leaving the destroyed vehicles and dead bodies behind. In their search for the culprit, the police have already made an arrest. Takia Walk, aged 29, was the registered owner of the vehicle and was taken away due to insurance fraud. But eye witnesses confirm that she was not the driver of the vehicle when it struck. We can only hope that that person can be found and charged. Maybe it’s a little harsh to call them a coward. If I was in that situation, I may have just not been able to deal with the situation and freaked out. I might not have been able to stop myself from running. It’s easy to sit there and say ‘What are you talking about? If I did something that horrible, I’d stay and face up to it! I’d try and help!’ But my guess is when the mind is faced with a situation that horrific, survival instincts kick in and you’re overcome with the urge to protect yourself. In this case, protecting yourself means running away. Nevertheless I still hope the person’s caught and I feel deeply for the couple and the wounded community they’ve left behind.

The New Bonnie and Clyde

A teenage couple from Queensland have been named the new Bonnie and Clyde after an eight month crime spree including stolen goods, police chases and fraud came to an end last month.

Dylan McDonald, aged 18, would climb into cars through the boot, tear out the car’s ignition and stick a screwdriver into it to get it going. He says he stole 15 cars during this eight month period. On six occasions he ended up in thrilling police chases, reaching speeds of up to 230 kilometres an hour with his girlfriend in the passenger seat taunting them.

Hannah Feasey (the girlfriend), aged 17, would herself walk into JB Hi-Fi pretty much every day and steal video games using a secret compartment in her purse, on-selling them for a profit of up to $200 a day.

Together these two lived a high-octane life, living it up until they were finally caught and brought before a judge charged with over 100 offences. After laughing it up in the face of the law for so long, and blatantly disregarding the rules of society, the new Bonnie and Clyde were finally brought crashing down to their knees. Dylan was blasted with a life changing six month suspended prison term and a $2000 fine, while Hannah was slapped with 18 months of probation and 100 hours of community service. A fitting way to end the lengthy saga.

…Um, does that sound right to you? Hang on, let me reread that…
Wait, 18 months’ probation? Suspended prison sentence? What’s going on here? These two kids knew full well what they were doing, how serious it was and what the consequences were. They laughed in the face of the law for eight months, and now that the trial is over they’re laughing at it still. Dylan and Hannah went on Today Tonight to talk about their crimes and even they thought the ruling was a joke. Dylan said
‘Court’s like pretty much a joke. I’ve got away with so much shit already.’ And Hannah backed him up, saying
‘He's gotten away with so much, it's not funny. He should be in jail right now.’

Let’s be absolutely clear. If this sentence deters either one of them from ever stealing again, I’ll eat my car keys. It will slow them down for a while, but they won’t be done forever, not by a long shot. They got a powerful thrill from being above the law and the fact that they’ve gotten away with it for such a weak penalty will only add fuel to that fire. They’ll get an even bigger sense of being untouchable or bulletproof and they will reoffend.