My grandfather was born 16 December 1903. Twenty four hours later, the Wright Brothers flew the first airplane.
In 1914 when he was 10 years old, World War I broke out. When it ended in 1918, he was 14. 22 million people were dead
From 1918 until the time he turned 16 in 1920, Spanish Flu broke out. 50 million people died. He started work.
Did you ever stop to think about the right to work? Did you ever stop to think about the right to have a job? Did you ever stop to think about the fact that those are two entirely different things? Did you ever stop to think about the fact that you cannot have one without destroying the other?
If you receive a monthly salary, did you ever stop to think about the meaning of the word? It goes back to the Latin word “salarium” which was the allowance paid to Roman soldiers to buy “sal” (salt).
(I’ll get to Bitcoin soon, but the story starts in the ancient times, so bear with me.)
Our earliest records of salt as money are in the Hebrew Bible dating to around 500 BC where “salt from a person” effectively meant payment. In order to keep the system going, salt production was controlled by the rulers.
With no cure in sight, children are dying
World on tenterhooks as UK goes to the polls this week, with Boris Johnson’s Brexit a likely winner
Landmark ruling a balance in human rights
SAA strike has cost the country dearly
Lessons can be learnt from Singapore’s founding leader
Slash the taxes on middle-class taxpayers and trigger the multiplier effect
Death of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi will see the emergence of a new power
Grand experiment of party governing Africa’s financial capital with EFF’s permission over
How Magnitsky Act was born out of death and corruption
The stars looked down silently upon the scene. They had seen it before.
My tribute to Dr Abu Asvat was published in The Daily Princetonian and since then has appeared in many other places.
