I’m Just Curious: Would you be interested?

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by Debbie Walker

You already know I buy strange books and magazines to read and sometimes share info with you. Today is one of those days. The information that follows is from a 2002 Almanac that I found. The info I am sharing should be useful, even now in 2017!

$$Ways to Save Money

Put a freeze on impulse purchases:

They mean business; literally put your credit card in an empty ice cream carton. First put in some ice cubes, then the card/cards, then put in more cubes. Doing this puts the cards a little deeper than just an ice cube tray! Makes you have to wait longer to thaw to get your hands on the card.

Organize your receipts for taxes:

Don’t buy a file cabinet. Get a 12-bottle (or two six-bottle) wine box from a liquor store (you can always decorate!). Label each of the 12 holes, for its month. Ta Da!

To keep furniture looking good:

You can protect the finish of your furniture with tiles you may have used in your house or a friend’s home. You can also find tiles at The Home Depot, in Waterville, (and I hope you meet Chris, the best customer service I have had in years!) Pick out your tiles and glue felt on bottom to protect furniture.

Drape to distraction:

If you want to paint your room, change the color, but one wall may need some repairs you can’t afford right now. It might be an idea to make a long curtain from ceiling height to floor. You could make the curtain from marked down fabric (at Wal-Mart, in Waterville!). If you need a long curtain rod you can try a long dowel (from Chris at The Home Depot!! We got one as wide as our bedroom).

Express your appreciation:

If you really like a product write to the manufacturer. Explain why you like their product. You may receive a reply and a bunch of coupons. It might save you money on something you like to buy.

Find pencils and pens in a flash!:

Can’t find something to write with in a hurry? This article’s idea is to get a cheap flashlight that has a magnet on it. Take the top, the bulb housing and the batteries; put them away in a drawer where you will find them another day. Then hang the body of the empty flashlight on the ‘fridge and add your pencils and pens.

This all came from an article printed in Yankee magazine and shortened for the Almanac and then I saw it, it has traveled well!

So was the information of use to you? I hope at least one note was. I’m just curious what tips you have to share. Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com . Thanks for reading and don’t forget our website!

REVIEWS: Composer: Prokofiev; Film: Baby’s Day Out

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Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records- Part 2!

With respect to the Burl Ives 78s discussed in last week’s column, I had the privilege of interviewing the head producer for Columbia’s popular records division and later tv sing along personality, Mitch Miller (1911-2010) in 1992 at Houston’s Lancaster Hotel. When I inquired about the records, he replied that he was present during the 1949-1950 recording sessions and commissioned many of the songs from songwriters. Also the men’s chorus supporting Ives were later members of Mitch’s tv sing along gang ! (Part 3 next week.)

Prokofiev

Romeo and Juliet
Dimitri Mitropoulos conducting the New York Philharmonic; Columbia MS 6023, 12-inch vinyl stereo LP, recorded 1958.

Dimitri Mitropoulos

Dimitri Mitropoulos (1896-1960) was yet another of several gifted conductors, alive and dead, who are on my list of favorites. He spent nine years, 1949-1958, as music director of the New York Philharmonic. Here he encountered much disrespect, back biting and other forms of nastiness from players, critics, board members and, most of all, from his successor, the far more well known Leonard Bernstein, who routinely undercut him any way he could while publicly proclaiming the older man as a beloved mentor and the closest of friends.

Meanwhile, despite this cesspool, he conducted many fine performances of a repertoire ranging from Mozart to 20th century composers such as Copland, Shostakovich, etc. The Prokofiev record of excerpts from his great and very popular ballet is a very exciting one. For those who don’t recognize the title beyond its connection to Shakespeare, certain melodies have used on tv and in movies as background.

In private life, he was a very kind, caring man. In order to help others in need, he lived in a second rate hotel and ate in cheap cafeterias and greasy spoons.; thus his earnings assisted with the basic needs of food, lodging, etc., for those unfortunates who came to his attention. He routinely emptied his pockets for the panhandlers.

Finally, he was a lifelong chain smoker, thus suffering from high blood pressure throughout most of his New York Philharmonic years. Both ironically and sadly, after leaving New York in 1958, he encountered greater respect and opportunities conducting in Europe, but his health problems worsened. On November 1st, 1960, in Milan, Italy, he suffered a fatal heart attack on the podium while rehearsing for an eagerly awaited performance of the Mahler 3rd Symphony.

Baby’s Day Out

starring Lara Flynn Boyle, Joe Mantegna, Joe Panteliano, Brian Haley, Cynthia Nixon, Fred Dalton Thompson, etc.; directed by Patrick Read Johnson; 20th Century Fox, released 1994, 99 minutes.

The plot line of this piece of very light entertainment centers on a most lovable crawler of a baby boy, whose parents are beyond super-rich, and his abduction by three hoodlums, posing as baby photographers. It is quite fun from when the baby crawls off to wander around the city and the three kidnappers unleash a Pandora’s Box of grueling pain trying to get him back.

Two such situations :

A. A gorilla protecting the baby brings his fist down on the kidnapper’s hand when the latter tries to snatch the child .
B. The leader of the gang hides little guy inside his coat when two cops walk over to question him. The baby starts a lighter inside the pants, waving it back and forth in front of the hood’s zippered area.

Great fun, despite the movie itself being a box office failure in the US!

Complex renovation would improve ADA access

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Community Commentary

During the Friday night football game at Messalonskee, you can find Carlton (Sonny) Mitchell, age 80, and a resident of a seniors’ home in Sidney, sitting in his favorite spot just inside the bleachers to the left, as he cheers on the home team repeating “GO EAGLES!”

Jon Dubois, also of Sidney, drives his brother-in-law Sonny to the games with his family and indicates that Sonny is one of the Eagles’ biggest fans.

Sonny uses a walker and Dubois’s wife also walks with a cane, so they are very eager to see plans move forward to renovate the Messalonskee High School facilities that will give those with limited mobility better access. Dubois states “We need bleachers with a handicap accessible ramp and platform where you can walk right out, and there is a separated space up high just for those who need it with good views of the field.”

RSU#18 has proposed a $13.9 million bond investment to address a number of safety and access related issues which will be on a ballot during the November 7th town voting in Oakland, Sidney, Rome, Belgrade, and China. The Athletic Complex portion of the bond is $3.9 million.

Dubois, who decades ago was part of parent group that put the first lights on the field, states “This investment will eliminate the mud bowls we have had and make the upkeep of the field much easier. There’s a lot of history there of people in the community that would like to see everything updated around this field. I think if it was there, more kids would want to utilize it.”

Along the hill there are always a row of community members placed strategically closest to the parking spaces which sit high above the field to watch the game. Included among them are students and their families that use wheelchairs. Paula Nadeau’s husband has limited mobility and his son graduated from Messalonskee in 2017 playing three sports – football, lacrosse and track. She states “A Dad with mobility issues cannot get to the sidelines to congratulate his son after a victory or console him after a loss. Instead he has to stand on top of the hill watching the other parents while he waits for his son to come to him.”

Donna and Stacy McCurdy have a son who is now a sophomore and uses a wheelchair due to muscular dystrophy. They have another child who will be in high school next year. McCurdy states, “Getting there is always a challenge for our family.

According to the Messalonskee Middle and High School All Sports Boosters, the athletic complex renovations will address existing safety and ADA access issues as well as install a competition legal track, 4 sport synthetic turf field and update the existing lights, scoreboard and sound system. The project will quadruple the number of practice/playing hours of this facility opening it up to wider community recreational use. For more information visit www.allsportsboosters.com

I’m Just Curious: Sorry, Christmas is coming!

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by Debbie Walker

You know how sometimes you think you have things figured out and you are happy? And then “Whoops!” things change. That is Christmas for me.

I need to give you some background here before we go on. When my grandkids got to be about nine or 10 years old I stopped buying gifts. They were getting to an age where I just didn’t even want to try to figure out what to get. I didn’t know their music or if they were fussy about what they wore, and I was around them a great deal of the time! It was at that time that I switched over to gifting them an experience.

We all lived in Florida (they still do) so coming up with places for them to visit was easy. I think their favorite was the Museum of Science.

When they (granddaughter and grandson) got to be 14 or 15 I decided to change things up a little. I had certain gadgets and other kitchen items that I really like to use so I decided I was going to start buying that kind of stuff for the kids. I figured before too many years went by they would be going out on their own. I started picking up kitchen items and holiday decorations. I bought the same for both of them; some of the items I got in thrift stores and Dollar Tree. And… I wrapped them all in aluminum foil (kitchen theme!) The following year they even had a use for the foil, rolled it all into a big ball and bounced it through the house till just before the next Christmas.
I picked up those kinds of things all year. I don’t think I ever enjoyed gifting quite so much! The kids appeared to have fun with that Christmas so I decided the next year would be done the same way. My daughter said she had overheard the kids telling friends about Christmas with Nana Daffy and, yes, they still call me that, but that’s words for another week!)

My living in Maine and they in Florida makes things a little difficult but… I talked to Tristin the other day about the possibility of a new computer. Before our conversation was over she had put her bid in for their old Christmas’. She explained to me that she didn’t need a computer but she would love some more “kitchen stuff.” Two days later I know exactly what I am going to send them!

So I know what I am doing for Christmas, I’m just curious if you know what you are going to do? Sorry but Christmas is coming. Thanks for reading! Contact me at dwdaffy@yahoo.com, I love hearing from you! Don’t forget, check out our website!

Help For People With Problem Perspiration

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For Your Health

(NAPSI)—A common but hidden scourge, excessive perspiration is a serious medical condition called hyperhidrosis that affects nearly 367 million people.

Lisa Pieretti, executive director of the International Hyperhidrosis Society (IHhS), notes, “The pressures of dealing with a ‘sweating problem’ around peers can be catastrophic to self-esteem and more. Too often, people become anxious about going to work, socializing with friends, or being out in public in general. But when those with hyperhidrosis receive support, understanding, and appropriate treatment, their lives can be dramatically changed.”

Consider these common myths:

Myth: Sweaty people are nervous.

Truth: People with hyperhidrosis sweat excessively regardless of mood, weather or activity.

Myth: Night sweats are a “female problem.”

Truth: Night sweats can be serious for anyone. Any changes in your pattern of sweating should be evaluated by a physician.

Myth: Antiperspirants are for underarms only.

Truth: You can use most antiperspirants nearly anywhere sweating is a problem. One of the most effective available without a prescription, Certain Dri, was specifically developed for people who suffer from excessive sweating.

If you produce excess perspiration, ask your doctor to help you to not just “know sweat” but achieve a more comfortable, happier life.

Learn more at www.SweatHelp.org.

SCORES & OUTDOORS: Where have all the birds gone?

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Roland D. HalleeSCORES & OUTDOORS

by Roland D. Hallee

Where have all the birds gone? That is a question that has been asked of me many times over the last several weeks. My wife first brought it to my attention when we first moved back to town from camp in early October. So, like a good husband, I ignored it. I said that I had seen birds at the feeders. Then, someone called a couple of weeks ago, and asked the same question. Many friends have also brought the situation to my attention.

So, thinking back, I realized the birds I had seen at home did not amount to the same number that have frequented our feeders in the past. Namely, one nuthatch, one chickadee and one house finch. The feeders are usually covered with gold finches, woodpeckers along with many other species. So, where did they go?

Even at camp, we noticed a shortage of birds this season. We did not see any grosbeaks, orioles or cardinals. And the hummingbirds left two weeks earlier than usual. So, where did the bird go?

Research showed me there is no definite answer. One of the reasons could be the loss of insects. Birds are highly dependent on them. When was the last time you had to clean your windshield of insects in the summer as we once did? Even at camp this summer, we noticed a shortage of insects. I haven’t seen a June bug in two years. There were hardly any hickory tussock caterpillars this fall, and definitely a decline in the number of harvestman spiders.

The loss of bird populations in the Western Mountains of Maine includes three major causes. First, there has been a coincidental drop in insect life. No one completely understands how or why this has happened. Another reason is loss of habitat.

Has anyone seen a wooly bear caterpillar this fall? They usually begin to appear in mid-September. I have seen zero, nil, zilch this fall.

Lepidoptera – Arctiidae – Pyrrharctia isabella caterpillar (woolly bear caterpillar)

Birds are the warning lights that tell us our natural systems are stressed out. Seen as indicator species for the health of America’s natural landscape, they are declining in numbers at an alarming rate.

I think it was in July when we first noticed there weren’t as many birds around as usual. We kept the feeders filled, but the time lapse between fill-ups was getting longer.

Was the summer too cold for baby birds to survive? Also, organized spraying campaigns can kill birds as well as the massive caterpillar population. Or, did the birds just go somewhere else. I guess we shouldn’t take it personally because birds do move from place to place in search of food. Birds migrate, so did they leave to head south a little earlier than normal. Did the violent hurricane activity this year have an affect on the bird migration? Did the storms mess up the birds’ timing and navigation? I guess the questions are endless on the possibilities.

The best reason I was able to find was from the Audubon Society, along with other bird information sources, insisting that nothing is wrong. That because of the warmer than usual fall weather and the unusually abundant sources of natural food, the birds are still finding plenty to eat in the wild. Also, another explanation was that bird populations naturally fluctuate from year to year and that a feeder that is really “busy” one year may have fewer birds the next.

It is apparently a universal question in our area right now, and one that seems to have fewer answers.

Read the follow-up, Update on Birds

REVIEWS: Conductor: von Karajan; Novelist: Arnold Bennett; Film: Four Brothers

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Peter CatesREVIEW POTPOURRI

by Peter Cates

How I Started Collecting Records! (Beginning a series of weekly paragraphs.)

The first records I ever owned, at 2 years old, were Columbia yellow label 10-inch 78s – three in number – all featuring Burl Ives applying his warm, cuddly baritone to such titles as The Little White Duck; Lollipop Tree; Old Witch, Old Witch; The Little Engine That Could; and several others. I discovered the thrill of ownership, of music being transferred from a round circulating disc through a needle to a speaker and of the escape to be had from the mundane everydayness of one’s life that could creep in at any moment!!

Haydn

Paris and London Symphonies
Herbert von Karajan conducting the Berlin Philharmonic; DG -477 7917, six CDs, recorded 1981-82.

Herbert von Karajan

I have had a long listening love/hate relationship with Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989). He could do a performance that would send one into clouds of bliss, such as, for example, a mid-’60s Deutsche Grammophon LP of Vivaldi’s 4 Seasons. Then an early 1980s digital recording of the Holst Planets that would drive one crazy with its bombastic slickness and superficiality, as if he didn’t give a hoot !

Hearing the above set of 18 of the most beautiful symphonies Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) ever composed, I wanted to take back every bad response and rehear the bad records. These symphonies each have captivating opening movements; playful and heart-warming Andantes, Adagios and Allegrettos, often with a little joke thrown in; cheerful Minuets; and perky, snappy Finales. They rank among the select group of musical works that are truly life-affirming, thus making this box of CDs a genuine bargain of under 20 bucks in several venues I have checked.

Arnold Bennett

Imperial Palace
published 1930, 625 pages.

Arnold Bennett

For me, Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was one of the most consistently readable and enjoyable novelists, as well as critics and essayists, of a generation of English writers that include such powerful names as Joseph Conrad, John Galsworthy, and Ford Madox Ford. Bennett’s gift was in re-creating the lives of middle- and working-class folks, but he could do memorable rich individuals too.

Imperial Palace would be Bennett’s last novel. Consisting of 625 pages, it would be his longest as well. Focusing on a luxury hotel modeled after London’s Savoy, it chronicles the type of panorama one would expect as its inner workings, but told mainly through the eye of its manager, Evelyn Orcham, and a meticulously competent one at that!

The reader encounters a most memorably depicted array of characters and situations. In fact, there is not a dull page in the book due to Bennett’s extraordinary story-telling skills at placing one in the novel as the proverbial fly on the wall. One scene that will always stick in my mind is a breakfast meeting between Orcham and a multi-billionaire in the latter’s private suite. I could feel the hearts of both men beating throughout this early morning chess game.

Totally recommended to anyone who enjoys a first class, old-fashioned reading experience!!

Four Brothers

starring Mark Wahlberg, etc. 2005.

Mark Wahlberg

A woman is murdered at work during a hold-up. Her four grown-up adopted sons inevitably investigate the circumstances and take joint action. This is a very entertaining revenge film, shot – no pun intended – mainly in Detroit!

IF WALLS COULD TALK, Week of October 26, 2017

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Katie Ouilette Wallsby Katie Ouilette

Faithful readers and WALLS, I’m writing and listening and learning history and, yup, Channel 772 on Beeline Cable TV. Just imagine it, faithful readers, there never used to be television!

Actually, in my growing years, our radio was on most of the day for Mémère Zelia to hear about favorite recipes. Her sitting time was devoted to Ma Perkins, the soap opera of the day! My, how our lives have changed. We neighborhood kids played until lunch-time, then nap time, then we’d repeat the ritual: play time and supper-time and bedtime.The men-folk would either carry their lunch-pails to work or be home at noon. Ah, memories of yesteryear!

Last week, WALLS talked about Skowhegan and Waterville downtowns changing and more changes are on the way, faithful readers!

It seems like the old world and the new are, again, on a collision course. So, does history really repeat itself, as we learned over and over in our history classes?

Everyone who knows me are aware of my singing. I sang for concerts, for Rotary Club in Skowhegan, for different clubs and, at 11 years old, was the youngest person in the Federated Church’s Senior Choir. Radio? Yes, as I studied singing with Roger Nye, of Fairfield, and he had a regular weekly program on an Augusta station. Yes, I sang classical music and nobody does that any more except with Andrae Riew’s Orchestra or the Metropolitan Opera (Yes, I sang with an opera star in college and was invited to audition at the Metropolitan, but how was I to live in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and sing in New York City?)

O.K., I’ve wandered, but I did live in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, the Atomic City, as husband, Joe Denis, worked there after his graduation from Colby College. But, now we hear about another war…and an atomic one, at that. And all the while, Colby College’s campus is changing Waterville’s downtown. Hmmm, does history repeat itself, since Joe Denis’ class of ’52 was the first to graduate from the Mayflower Hill campus?

Well, faithful readers, it is time for you to think about all that WALLS has said today. Yes, next week, WALLS will make you laugh. WALLS, promises no more gloom, as Halloween is really a happy time!

SOLON & BEYOND, Week of October 26, 2017

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by Marilyn Rogers-Bull & Percy
grams29@tds.net
Solon, Maine 04979

Good morning, dear friends. Don’t worry, be happy!

The Solon Pine Tree 4-H Club reorganized for a new year on Saturday, October 14, at the Solon Fire Station with 12 members. Plans were made to attend County Achievement Night on October 27 at Kennebec Valley Grange Hall, in Madison.

Plans were also made to hold a family supper on Friday, November 3, at the Solon Masonic Hall.

For a fun activity the members painted pumpkins that were donated by the Seavey Farm, in North Anson.

They also made Nature Frames using silk from milkweed pods, different kinds of leaves and flowers.

After the meeting the members enjoyed apple cider.

The next meeting will be on Saturday, November 11, at 9:30 a.m., at the Solon Fire Station..

My many thanks to Eleanor Pooler, the leader of the Solon Pine Tree 4-H Club for always sharing their interesting meetings with us. It is always greatly appreciated. And many thanks also, to Eleanor, for her devotion to leading this great club!

I was very glad to receive an e-mail(which had been written while we were in Rangeley) so wasn’t able to get it in in time for the supper) My many thanks to Aryke Coombs for the e-mail that said, “We had our annual roadside cleanup on the morning of Saturday, September 30. We also have a spaghetti dnner and Luck of the Draw coming up on Saturday, October 28. There will be a door prize, the dinner, a Luck of the Draw, and a lot of fun to be had. Our local heroes, the members of our Solon Fire Dept., will be the waiters and waitress. The dinner and Luck of the Draw will be from 4 – 7 pm at the Solon Elementary School. The above was done by the Solon Fire Auxiliary. I was very happy to see the above e-mail to share with our friends, I have stressed before how much I would like to have news of what is being done.

We had a wonderfully relaxing week at the Rangeley Lakes Resort, it is a very nice peaceful place for a vacation. This year we were happy to have several visitors. Lief’s sister and brother-in-law, Judy and Elwood Ellis, of China Village, came up to see us one day. My brother and sister-in-law, Tom and Insowa Jones and their dog Wekow, came up from Farmington and spent Tuesday night with us, then we drove over to New Hampshire on Wednesday. (I could not get used to the fact that you don’t have to pay a sales tax over there, it was great!) On Friday, my daughter Mary and son-in-law Dave Walz came for a visit and we ate at the Red Onion. We were so happy to have visitors and…. we also had four-legged friendly visitors! One evening we arrived back to our cabin and there were two friendly deer waiting for us right on the lawn near the porch. They stayed around and visited for awhile, then slowly meandered off into the trees. Another day a deer came out on the road that leads to the main highway and walked along slowly ahead of us as if he was showing us how to get to the main road.

Another day, we were doing a little shopping across from the Red Onion and heard some one over at the outside eating area call out, “Hey, Lief,” and we looked, and it was Ronnie Brown and several of his ATV friends having lunch there. We went over and talked with them for awhile.

And now for Percy’s memoir on Love: “Love many things, for therein lies the true strength, and whosoever loves much performs much, and can accomplish much, and what is done in love is done well.” (Unknown) and a question by Benjamin Franklin; “Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life and love is made of.”

TECH TALK: Virtual Money – The next evolution in commerce

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ERIC’S TECH TALK

by Eric Austin
Technical Consultant

Commerce began simply enough. When roving bands of hardly-human migratory hunters met in the Neolithic wilderness, it was only natural that they compare resources and exchange goods. The first trades were simple barters: two beaver skins and a mammoth tusk for a dozen arrowheads and a couple of wolf pelts.

As people settled down and built cities, there was a need to standardize commerce. In ancient Babylon, one of our earliest civilizations, barley served as a standard of measurement. The smallest monetary unit, the ‘shekel,’ was equal to 180 grains of barley.

The first coins appeared not long after. Initially, a coin was worth the value of the metal it was minted from, but eventually its intrinsic value separated from its representational value. When the state watered down the alloy of a gold coin with baser metals, such as tin or copper, they invented inflation. With the introduction of paper money, first in China in the 7th century CE and later in medieval Europe, the idea of intrinsic worth was done away with entirely for a representational value dictated by the state.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, corporations took over from the state as the main drivers in the evolution of commerce. Then, in the 1960s, the foundations of e-commerce were laid down with the establishment of the Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). The EDI defines the standards for transactions between two electronic devices on a network. It was initially developed out of Cold War military strategic thinking, specifically the need for logistical coordination of transported goods during the 1948 Berlin Airlift.

Worry about the security of such communication kept it from being used for financial transactions until 1994, when Netscape, an early browser technology company and the foundation of browsers such as Firefox, invented Secure Socket Layers (SSL) encryption, a cryptographic protocol that provides communications security for computers over a network. After this breakthrough, various third parties began providing credit card processing services. A short time later, Verisign developed the first unique digital identifier, or SSL certificate, to verify merchants. With that our current system for online commerce was complete.

So why is Internet security still such a constant worry? Part of the problem is embedded in the structure of the Internet itself. The Internet is first and foremost designed to facilitate communication, and its openness and decentralized structure is paradoxical to the financial sector, which depends on the surety of a centralized authority overseeing all transactions. Most of our existing security issues on the internet are a consequence of these diametrically opposed philosophies.

Cryptocurrencies are the result of thinking about money with an Internet mindset. Classified as a virtual currency, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin aim to solve a number of problems present in our current online transactional system by embracing the decentralized structure of the Internet and by lifting some novel concepts from cryptography, the study of encryption and code-breaking.

Introduced in 2009, Bitcoin was the world’s first virtual currency. Bitcoin tackles the security issues of our current system by decentralizing its transaction data. Bitcoin’s public ledger is called a ‘blockchain,’ with each block in the chain representing a financial transaction. The database is designed to prevent data alteration by building references to other transactions into each record. To alter one record, a hacker would need to alter every other record that references it in order to avoid detection.

And since the database is maintained by every computer participating in that chain of transactions, any data altered on one computer would be immediately detected by every other computer on the network. This ‘decentralized data’ concept eliminates the big weakness in our current system. Today, the control of data is concentrated in a few centralized institutions, and if the security of any one of those institutions is penetrated, the entire system becomes compromised.

Beyond creating a secure financial transaction system for the World Wide Web, another goal of cryptocurrencies is to reduce or even eliminate financial fees by removing the need for a middleman overseeing the transaction. Since no centralized banking authority is necessary to track transactions, many of the costs associated with the involvement of banking institutions disappear. This has made Bitcoin the preferred currency for moving money around the world, as it can be done with a minimum of bureaucratic fees. Western Union currently charges 7-8 percent transfer cost per $100. For migrant workers sending money home to their families, that’s a big hit.

With no personal, identifying information recorded as part of a Bitcoin transaction, it provides a level of anonymity not possible with our current system. However, as pointed out by MIT researchers, this anonymity only extends as far as the merchant accepting the transaction, who may still tag transaction IDs with personal customer info.

The anonymous nature of Bitcoin transactions is a boon to the security of consumers, but it presents a real problem for law enforcement. Bitcoin has become the favored currency for criminal activity. Kidnappers frequently insist on payment in Bitcoin. The WannaCry virus that attacked 200,000 computers in 150 countries earlier this year required victims to pay in Bitcoin.

The value of Bitcoin has steadily increased since it was introduced almost 10 years ago. In January 2014, one bitcoin was worth $869.61. As I write this in October 2017, that same bitcoin is valued at $5,521.32, an increase of more than 500 percent in just three years. With approximately 16 million bitcoins in circulation, the total current value of the Bitcoin market is almost $92 billion. The smallest unit of Bitcoin is called a ‘satoshi,’ worth 1 millionth of a bitcoin.

WannaCry isn’t the only cyberthreat to leverage Bitcoin either. Since Bitcoin is designed to reward computers which keep its database updated with new bitcoins, some malicious programmers have created viruses that hijack your computer in order to force it to mine bitcoins. Most people are not even aware this has happened. There may simply be a process running in the background, slowing down your PC, and quietly depositing earned bitcoins into a hacker’s digital wallet.

The benefits to be gained by this revolution in commerce – security, anonymity, and the elimination of the need for a financial middleman – are great, but the risks are not to be dismissed either. Even as the anonymous nature of cryptocurrencies provide the consumer with greater security and lower costs, it creates a haven for criminals and makes it more difficult for law enforcement to track cybercrime.

Whether Bitcoin sticks around or disappears to be replaced with something else, the philosophy and technology behind it will transform the financial sector in the decades to come. Our current internet commerce model is a slapdash attempt to stick an old system onto the new digital world of the Internet and cannot last. The road to a new financial reality is bound to be a rocky one, as banking institutions are not likely to accept the changes – and the recession of their influence – easily. But, as shown by the recent Equifax hack, which exposed the personal information of 143 million Americans, maybe trusting our financial security to a few, centralized institutions isn’t such a great idea. And maybe cryptocurrencies are part of the answer.