Daily Ramble
In the midst of home packing, work, child care, and travel planning, my mind has been trying to avoid being sucked into the fear cycle that so much of society finds itself at the moment, thanks in large part to the fear porn it’s religiously spoon-fed.
I think you’d have to be a sociopath in this climate not to feel at least a bit of the abject terror so many find themselves due to the COVID virus reaction. Unfortunately, fear is the mind-killer and stopping many intelligent people from objectively considering their situation and the policies they want their governments to enact. I watched a video by a Jewish doctor who’s been highly successful at treating severe COVID patients talking about his perspective on what is occurring. He believes we’re experiencing a planetary crisis of faith because individuals have placed their faith in government over God, whatever flavor that comes in. I’m still chewing on this fresh idea but decided to use today’s Ramble to flush it out a bit.
His argument hit particularly close to home for me. I grew up in what I think of now as a liberal evangelical Christian faith. I strayed far from that path as I wandered through the twists and turns of life in my 20s and mid-30s, only to surprisingly find my Christian faith again through work with Amazonian plant medicines. While no single experience caused the shift, sitting in an ayahuasca ceremony with a Catholic priest was an experience I’ll never forget. Today, as I look around, I notice that those who are also questioning the policies enacted in the wake of COVID all seem to share a core faith that does not rest with the government governing them.
Coincidence, I don’t know. But I do know that if the vaccine has long-term consequences, then those that have placed their faith in it and the government’s policies are going to feel a betrayal whose reaction I don’t want to contemplate. In the meantime, as so many of us wait to see how the long-term consequences for the vaccine play out, the push to force vaccinations is reaching a fevered pitch. Just yesterday, the US Food and Drug Administration authorized the Pfizer vaccine and almost immediately requested businesses mandate the vaccine. Federal employee vaccine mandates are also coming with deadlines not far out. I’m sure many will comply out of faith in the US government.
But from where I stand, I will continue to give until next spring to see the health impacts of the vaccine. The combination of data suggesting my age bracket has little risk and having survived COVID at least once with flying colors makes the unknown consequences of the long-term impacts of the vaccine too high. That’s my personal calculus, and others have reached a different conclusion based on their circumstances — a choice I have no desire to remove. But, no matter which direction the long-term consequences of the vaccine take, my faith sits outside those consequences. And it gives me a little more room to think and breathe easily — something I hope everyone is taking the time to do right now regardless of where their faith lies.
Things to Think About on the Interweb
Is this young man’s perspective related to the money printed to sustain US war efforts?
Bitcoin Price Prediction
Yesterday: $48.7k - $50.5k
Today: $47.2k - $49.8k
Tomorrow: $44.8k - $49.8k
As I write these words, Bitcoin is in the midst of an intraday pullback that could open the doors to further downside. The uptrend continues to be quite strong, but the pullback below $49k after closing above it the last two days is not a particularly bullish sight. Thus, I am leaning towards more downside, possibly into the $44k region, before basing and finding room for another bullish pivot. That said, there are still more than 10 hours before the session closes, leaving the possibility that this is simply an intraday test of support before continuation. We’ll know by this time tomorrow, but I’m leaning more towards pullback here than a bullish continuation.
Bitcoin Q & A
Q: If the Lightning Network is an example of a Layer 2 technology built on Bitcoin, what are Layer 3 technologies?
A: Layer 3 technologies are built on Layer 2. Applications being built on the Lightning Network are an example.
Zion and Sphinx are two applications built on the Lightning Network. These are both considered Layer 3 applications. Zion is a decentralized social media platform, and Sphinx is a chat application. So there’s the budding hope that we’re witnessing a new, decentralized internet being built as Layer 3 technologies are more like the internet applications we currently use daily.
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Hello Kent, I find myself turning back to my faith as well. Hey just to let you know the media is not being truthful as the vaccine was NOT approved but rather the Emergency Use. Here is the FDA letter clearly stating it was a EUA extension
https://www.armstrongeconomics.com/world-news/corruption/the-fake-news-that-fda-approved-the-vaccines-is-made-clear-in-the-letter/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=RSS