Starting a new thread for the year #BitcoinInYourTwenties Reflections from being in my 20s and in Bitcoin since the pandemic Let’s begin with I want a better deal than I’ve been sold That’s why I buy Bitcoin

#Ireland Friedrich Engels on the #Irish Engels described how Irish immigrants, with “nothing to lose at home”, were flocking to cities like Manchester in search of “good pay for strong arms”. At his time of writing, there were 40,000 Irish in Manchester, with similar numbers in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Liverpool. London had 120,000. Engels initially held some prejudiced views of Irish immigrants in England. "the southern facile character of the Irishman, his crudity, which places him but little above the savage, his contempt for all humane enjoyments... his filth and poverty, all favour drunkenness." Engels seen the Irish had “grown up almost without civilization” and were now importing their “rough, intemperate, and improvident” ways and “all their brutal habits” into Britain’s already overcrowded cities. The Irish arrived “like cattle” and “insinuate themselves everywhere He also argued that Irish immigration, by introducing the custom of "crowding many persons into a single room," helped drive down wages for English workers Engels claimed that “Whenever a district is distinguished for especial filth and especial ruinousness, the explorer may safely count upon meeting chiefly those Celtic faces which one recognises as different from the Saxon physiognomy.” Focusing on “filth and drunkenness” and a “lack of cleanliness… which is the Irishman’s second nature” They were too different, and too backward, to ever be properly assimilated into British life: “even if the Irish, who have forced their way into other occupations, should become more civilized, enough of the old habits would cling to them to have a strong degrading influence upon their English companions in toil, especially in view of the general effect of being surrounded by the Irish” Furthermore “For work which requires long training or regular, pertinacious application, the dissolute, unsteady, drunken Irishman is on too low a plane.” In many ways, he presented Irish immigrants to industrial Britain as exhibiting what he and Marx would later call “the idiocy of rural life”, a backward people who would soon be submerged by the dynamics of industrial capitalism. Engels was also critical of Irish bourgeois tendencies, stating in a letter to Marx that "the worst thing about the Irish is that they become corruptible as soon as they stop being peasants and turn bourgeois," though he noted this was common among peasant nations. However, Engels' perspective changed significantly over time. Engels argued that the Irish had a right and even a duty to be nationalistic as a step toward internationalism, writing to Karl Kautsky in 1882 that "the Irish and the Poles... are most internationalistic when they are nationalistic.” Engels also recognized the Irish as a "historic nation" with a right to statehood, contrasting them with other groups he deemed non-viable. His personal connections profoundly influenced his views. Through his marriage to Mary Burns and later marriage to her sister Lizzie (working-class Irish immigrants from Manchester) he gained direct insight into Irish poverty and resistance. This connection led him to study Ireland intensely, attempting to learn the Irish language and planning to write a "History of Ireland." Engels felt that the Irish could be the ones to bring down the British state. Marx similarly saw Ireland as the “weakest point” in the British Empire, and looked forward to a social revolution that would be “Ireland’s Revenge” upon England. Here were his thoughts on Daniel O Connell and his famous monster meetings: “The wily old fox gets around from town to town always surrounded by two hundred thousand men, a bodyguard such as no king can boast of. How much could be achieved if a sensible man possessed O’Connell’s popularity, or if O’Connell had a little more sense and a little less egoism and vanity! Two thousand men, and what kind of men! Men who have nothing to lose, two-thirds of them not having a shirt to their backs, they are real proletarians and sansculottes, and moreover Irishmen – wild, headstrong, fanatical Gaels. If one has not seen the Irish, one does not know them.” Engels and Marx were of one mind in their view that Fenianism could be a revolutionary force on both sides of the Irish Sea: “What the English do not yet know is that since 1846 the economic content and therefore also the political aim of English domination in Ireland have entered into an entirely new phase, and that precisely because of this, Fenianism is characterised by a socialistic tendency (in a negative sense, directed against the appropriation of the soil) and by being a lower orders movement.” Marx and Engels’ believed Fenians were unconscious socialists. Giving voice to the resentments of dispossessed Irish peasants, they stood in opposition to the transformation of rural Ireland into a capitalist economy. Engels recognized the fighting spirit of the Irish, remarking in 1867 “Give me two hundred thousand Irishmen and I could overthrow the entire British monarchy” Engels’ later writings, though, were less hopeful for the revolutionary future of Ireland. Visiting Ireland in September 1869 he saw some important changes. Dublin was now “unrecognisable”. Trade was at a high level at the port and the city had acquired a newly cosmopolitan air: “On Queenstown Quay I heard a lot of Italian, also Serbian, French and Danish or Norwegian spoken.” All of this portended a regrettable conclusion: “The worst about the Irish is that they become corruptible as soon as they stop being peasants and turn bourgeois. True, that is the case with most peasant nations. But in Ireland it is particularly bad.” Ireland had made the leap from feudalism to capitalism before Engels or Marx could finish theorizing the transformation.

#Ireland In the 18th century, a secretive group of Irish goldsmiths in Dublin, known as the “Guild of St. Patrick,” developed a unique method of alloying gold with trace amounts of local bog iron to create a distinctive reddish-gold hue. This “Irish red gold” was prized for its warm tone and used in exclusive jewelry for the Anglo-Irish elite, but the exact recipe was lost by the early 19th century, making surviving pieces exceptionally rare.

#Ireland During the Bronze Age, Irish goldsmiths mastered a technique called gold foil stamping, where they hammered gold into ultra-thin sheets (sometimes less than 0.1mm thick) and stamped them onto wooden or leather objects to create intricate designs. This rare skill, seen in artifacts like the Mold Cape-inspired pieces, was so advanced that it rivals modern gold leaf techniques and was unique to Ireland in Western Europe at the time.

GM #Ireland #Choones #Tunestr #Songstr Low time preference Irish music Thomas Moore - Irish melodies I’ve linked the playlist below https://youtube.com/playlist

#Ireland - No taxation without representation Peter Lalor was an Irish-born leader instrumental in the Eureka Stockade rebellion of 1854 in Australia. He championed the term no taxation without representation. Lalor and the miners believed that being taxed without having a voice in government was a form of tyranny. This pivotal moment in Australian history helped ignite the push for democracy and rights for ordinary citizens. His legacy endures as a symbol of resistance, one influenced by his Irish heritage that shaped his views on justice and representation.

Henry Ford’s Dad was from Co. Cork Ireland He famously wrote a prophetic article on energy money and said “It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a revolution before tomorrow morning.” Henry Ford was proud of his Irish roots, and he invested heavily in Ireland during the first half of the last century. Almost 100 years ago he opened an assembly plant in Co Cork, which in peak times employed 7,000 workers, making Ford by far the largest employer in Ireland. The plant was open for some 70 years until the 1980s when its production was moved to another Ford facility in England.

IrishCentral.com

On This Day: The maker of the Model T, Henry Ford passed away

Henry Ford, the maker of the Model T and the man behind the development of the assembly line technique of mass production, had a strong Irish link....

We cooking 🥩🇮🇪🧡

Great post by @Niall ⚡ on #Ireland’s electrical grid system and how bitcoin can play a role Great breakdown of a national electrical grid in general if anyone is interested #Ireland #Mining

BNI - Bitcoin Network Ireland

Energy and the Irish Electricity Grid - a Critical Look Towards 2030 - BNI - Bitcoin Network Ireland

This article breaks down the intricate interplay of energy, power dynamics, and the Irish electrical grid, while also indicating how Bitcoin might ...

Fun fact about the greatest county in #Ireland The O'Reilly coin of Cavan is a fascinating piece of Irish history. The O'Reillys, a prominent Irish clan, were the kings of East Breifne, which roughly corresponds to modern-day County Cavan. What sets them apart is their unique economic practice: they developed and minted their own currency, which was quite unusual in Ireland at the time, where bartering was the primary means of trade The O'Reillys began minting their own coins following the introduction of English coins to Dublin by Henry IV in the early 15th century. Their coins borrowed heavily from the design of these English coins, indicating a strategic adoption of a familiar monetary system to facilitate trade and establish their economic power The O'Reillys' currency was so successful that it became widely circulated, and existing examples of their coins are highly regarded in Ireland. This economic innovation allowed the O'Reillys to control a significant portion of the trade in their region, further cementing their power and influence in East Breifne Despite their success, the O'Reillys faced challenges. Two acts of Parliament in 1447 and 1456 outlawed the production and usage of "Reilly's silver," which was becoming increasingly prevalent. This suggests that the O'Reillys' economic power was seen as a threat, and efforts were made to curb their influence The O'Reillys' coinage is a testament to their ingenuity and their ability to adapt to changing economic landscapes. By creating their own currency, they not only facilitated trade within their kingdom but also asserted their sovereignty and economic independence, making them a unique and significant part of Irish history.

Pints, pints and more pints 🍺 🎄

#Pluribus is good fun

Some classical music from #Ireland before bed Gn 🧡