Money box in shape of a temple, from house 25 in Priene; 2nd century B.C.. , Photo by Marcus Cyron
Reprinted from Bitcoin.org
Be careful with online services
You should be wary of any service designed to store your money online. Many exchanges and online wallets suffered from security breaches in the past and such services generally still do not provide enough insurance and security to be used to store money like a bank. Accordingly, you might want to use other types of Bitcoin wallets. Otherwise, you should choose such services very carefully. Additionally, using two-factor authentication is recommended.
Small amounts for everyday uses
A Bitcoin wallet is like a wallet with cash. If you wouldn’t keep a thousand dollars in your pocket, you might want to have the same consideration for your Bitcoin wallet. In general, it is a good practice to keep only small amounts of bitcoins on your computer, mobile, or server for everyday uses and to keep the remaining part of your funds in a safer environment.
Backup your wallet
Stored in a safe place, a backup of your wallet can protect you against computer failures and many human mistakes. It can also allow you to recover your wallet after your mobile or computer was stolen if you keep your wallet encrypted.
Backup your entire wallet
Some wallets use many hidden private keys internally. If you only have a backup of the private keys for your visible Bitcoin addresses, you might not be able to recover a great part of your funds with your backup.
Encrypt online backups
Any backup that is stored online is highly vulnerable to theft. Even a computer that is connected to the Internet is vulnerable to malicious software. As such, encrypting any backup that is exposed to the network is a good security practice.
Use many secure locations
Single points of failure are bad for security. If your backup is not dependent of a single location, it is less likely that any bad event will prevent you to recover your wallet. You might also want to consider using different medias like USB keys, papers and CDs.
Make regular backups
You need to backup your wallet on a regular basis to make sure that all recent Bitcoin change addresses and all new Bitcoin addresses you created are included in your backup. However, all applications will be soon using wallets that only need to be backed up once.
Encrypt your wallet
Encrypting your wallet or your smartphone allows you to set a password for anyone trying to withdraw any funds. This helps protect against thieves, though it cannot protect against keylogging hardware or software.
Never forget your password
You should make sure you never forget the password or your funds will be permanently lost. Unlike your bank, there are very limited password recovery options with Bitcoin. In fact, you should be able to remember your password even after many years without using it. In doubt, you might want to keep a paper copy of your password in a safe place like a vault.
Use a strong password
Any password that contains only letters or recognizable words can be considered very weak and easy to break. A strong password must contain letters, numbers, punctuation marks and must be at least 16 characters long. The most secure passwords are those generated by programs designed specifically for that purpose. Strong passwords are usually harder to remember, so you should take care in memorizing it.
Offline wallet for savings
An offline wallet, also known as cold storage, provides the highest level of security for savings. It involves storing a wallet in a secured place that is not connected to the network. When done properly, it can offer a very good protection against computer vulnerabilities. Using an offline wallet in conjunction with backups and encryption is also a good practice. Here is an overview of some approaches.
Offline transaction signing
This approach involves having two computers sharing some parts of the same wallet. The first one must be disconnected from any network. It is the only one that holds the entire wallet and is able to sign transactions. The second computer is connected to the network and only has a watching wallet that can only create unsigned transactions. This way, you can securely issue new transactions with the following steps.
Create a new transaction on the online computer and save it on an USB key.
Sign the transaction with the offline computer.
Send the signed transaction with the online computer.
Because the computer that is connected to the network cannot sign transactions, it cannot be used to withdraw any funds if it is compromised. Armory can be used to do offline transaction signature.
Hardware wallets
Hardware wallets are the best balance between very high security and ease of use. These are little devices that are designed from the root to be a wallet and nothing else. No software can be installed on them, making them very secure against computer vulnerabilities and online thieves. Because they can allow backup, you can recover your funds if you lose the device.
Keep your software up to date
Using the latest version of your Bitcoin software allows you to receive important stability and security fixes. Updates can prevent problems of various severity, include new useful features and help keep your wallet safe. Installing updates for all other software on your computer or mobile is also important to keep your wallet environment safer.
Multi-signature to protect against theft
Bitcoin includes a multi-signature feature that allows a transaction to require multiple independent approvals to be spent. This can be used by an organization to give its members access to its treasury while only allowing a withdrawal if 3 of 5 members sign the transaction. Some web wallets also provide multi-signature wallets, allowing the user to keep control over their money while preventing a thief from stealing funds by compromising a single device or server.
Think about your testament
Your bitcoins can be lost forever if you don’t have a backup plan for your peers and family. If the location of your wallets or your passwords are not known by anyone when you are gone, there is no hope that your funds will ever be recovered. Taking a bit of time on these matters can make a huge difference.
Abundance is a blessing to the wise; The use of riches in discretion lies. Learn this, ye men of wealth—a heavy purse in a fool’s pocket is a heavy curse.
I am extremely happy to be a Baby-Boomer as it is unlikely I will be alive the day millions of Chinese drones swarm the nation and force the subjugation of the American population.
If that thought puts the fear of God in you, it should. If it does not, you [...] Read more →
In my previous article I presented my hypothesis as to why I suspected that my UPS packages were not being delivered. Three days after writing said article (see article below), all three of my missing packages showed up on one day or on Wednesday December 28th, 2022. I was at [...] Read more →
When one thinks of the English countryside or rural France replete with rambling country house estates and fairly tale chateaus sitting alongside grand chapels and country church spires, one might imagine a realm of manners, neighborly love, and country gentlemen. However, history informs us [...] Read more →
Bird hunters will tell you that a wing shot or one single buckshot spiraling out of the barrel of a large bore shotgun can bring down a high flying bird.
CZ, the CEO of Binance is apparently under high delusion to believe that contagion from the collapse of FTX will [...] Read more →
Bankers have dreamed of a digital dollar based cashless financial system long before Bitcoin. A decent enough history on the subject is available at Amazon.com with a book entitled: The Book of Payments: Historical and Contemporary Views on the Cashless Society ISBN: 978-1-137-60231-2
With the widespread adoption of the internet, [...] Read more →
Verum usque in præsentem diem multa garriunt inter se Canonici de abscondito quodam istius Abbatis Thomæ thesauro, quem sæpe, quanquam adhuc incassum, quæsiverunt Steinfeldenses. Ipsum enim Thomam adhuc florida in ætate existentem ingentem auri massam circa monasterium defodisse perhibent; de quo multoties interrogatus ubi esset, cum risu respondere solitus erat: “Job, [...] Read more →
On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each [...] Read more →
It has been said by a thoughtful writer that the subject of witchcraft has hardly received that place which it deserves in the history of opinions. There has been, of course, a reason for this neglect—the fact that the belief in witchcraft is no longer [...] Read more →
Money box in shape of a temple, from house 25 in Priene; 2nd century B.C.. , Photo by Marcus Cyron
Reprinted from Bitcoin.org
Be careful with online services
You should be wary of any service designed to store your money online. Many exchanges and online wallets suffered from security breaches in the [...] Read more →
There are well over 10,000 crypto currencies available for sale as July 2022. One might think this makes for a rich market place with lots of opportunity for speculative trading, investment, and wealth creation. It might be pointed out that in 1899 there were over thirty auto manufacturers in the United States. [...] Read more →
Ponzi schemes and MLM schemes are by design corrupt. They are designed to confuse and or hoodwink the investor or participant into believing he is buying into a surefire road to riches.
When a computer programmer designs and programs a computer program, or in the case of the crypto-world, a [...] Read more →
I have always enjoyed the rants of Max Keiser, he is quite entertaining. In fact, he makes his money by entertaining the masses, especially those prone to living in alternative “fiat-free” realities such as the cryptocurrency universe with the hope of subverting the power of “the Man” or the manipulative central banking [...] Read more →
The Tulip Folly, by Jean-Léon Gérôme, 1882. A nobleman guards an exceptional bloom as soldiers trample flowerbeds in a vain attempt to stabilise the tulip market by limiting the supply.
Mark Zuckerberg has become the poster boy of modern Tulip mania. It is not clear as to whether or not he is [...] Read more →
Are you dissatisfied with the Savings Account and CD Interest Rates your bank currently has on offer?
If so, go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov and open an account. The U.S. Government’s iBonds are currently earning 9.62% interest through October of this year.
Individuals may purchase $10,000 worth of iBonds per [...] Read more →
The rude awakening over the past year of increasingly high food and gas prices has been quite the shock for the American consumer. The U.S. Federal Government and Federal Reserve Bank’s sluggish reaction to growing consumer price inflation certainly have not helped. If history is to be our guide, there is more [...] Read more →
Listening to MicroStrategy CEO Saylor’s naive proclamations about Bitcoin on MSBC this morning remind me of why stupid people go broke faster.
MicroStrategy—a money losing business software developer that trades under Ticker MSTR—is currently trading for an inflated price of around $168 per share. This share price could soon collapse. [...] Read more →
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION16 CFR Part 23Guides for the Jewelry, PreciousMetals, and Pewter Industries
The US Government has laws guiding the business practices of the Jewelry and Precious Metals Industries. If you are unclear as a seller as to your obligations under the law as related to any [...] Read more →
Prisons as places of detention are very ancient institutions. As soon as men had learned the way to build, in stone, as in Egypt, or with bricks, as in Mesopotamia, when kings had many-towered fortresses, and the great barons castles [...] Read more →
Country House Essays, the book is now in print. This is an eclectic collection of both original, and historical essays, poems, books, and articles created for our loyal reader hear at CountryHouseEssays.com. It is jam packed with reprints of articles from this website. The cost is $49.95 for this massive [...] Read more →
Although the light of nature, and the works of creation and providence, do so far manifest the goodness, wisdom, and power of God, as to leave men inexcusable; yet are they not sufficient to give that knowledge of God, and of his will, which is necessary [...] Read more →
Harvey Wiley, Chief Chemist of the Department of Agriculture’s Division of Chemistry (third from the right) with his staff, not long after he joined the division in 1883. Wiley’s scientific expertise and political skills were a key to passage of the 1906 Food and Drugs Act and the creation of the FDA.
“Saint John’s Gate, Clerkenwell, the main gateway to the Priory of Saint John of Jerusalem,” black and white photograph by the British photographer Henry Dixon, 1880. The church was founded in the 12th century by Jordan de Briset, a Norman knight. Prior Docwra completed the gatehouse shown in this photograph in 1504. The gateway [...] Read more →
The University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee has a long heralded tradition of assisting farmers and growers through it’s Agricultural Extension Service. The following bulletin entitled Grape Growing in Tennessee discusses the Muscadine variety of grapes among others. Muscadine grapes are often found growing wild in Tennessee. On my grandfather’s West Tennessee [...] Read more →
Resolution adapted at the New Orleans Convention of the American Institute of Banking, October 9, 1919:
“Ours is an educational association organized for the benefit of the banking fraternity of the country and within our membership may be found on an equal basis both employees and employers; and in full appreciation [...] Read more →
Reprinted from FineModelShips.com with the kind permission of Dr. Michael Czytko
The SAN FELIPE is one of the most favoured ships among the ship model builders. The model is elegant, very beautifully designed, and makes a decorative piece of art to be displayed at home or in [...] Read more →
By the death of Mr. Scarth on the 5th of April, at Tangier, where he had gone for his health’s sake, the familiar form of an old and much valued Member of the Institute has passed away. Harry Mengden Scarth was bron at Staindrop in Durham, [...] Read more →
A Lecture Delivered at the Guildhall, March 2, 1853 by Rev. H.M. Scarth, M.A., Rector of Bathwick.
To understand the ancient history of the country in which we live, to know something of the arts and manners of the people who have preceded us, to ascertain what we owe to [...] Read more →
Eadweard Muybridge was a fascinating character. Click here to learn how Eadweard committed “Justifiable Homicide” after shooting his wife’s lover in 1874.
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used [...] Read more →
Photo Caption: The Marquis of Zetland, KC, PC – otherwise known as Lawrence Dundas Son of: John Charles Dundas and: Margaret Matilda Talbot born: Friday 16 August 1844 died: Monday 11 March 1929 at Aske Hall Occupation: M.P. for Richmond Viceroy of Ireland Vice Lord Lieutenant of North Yorkshire Lord – in – Waiting [...] Read more →
FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION16 CFR Part 23Guides for the Jewelry, PreciousMetals, and Pewter Industries
The US Government has laws guiding the business practices of the Jewelry and Precious Metals Industries. If you are unclear as a seller as to your obligations under the law as related to any [...] Read more →
Listening to MicroStrategy CEO Saylor’s naive proclamations about Bitcoin on MSBC this morning remind me of why stupid people go broke faster.
MicroStrategy—a money losing business software developer that trades under Ticker MSTR—is currently trading for an inflated price of around $168 per share. This share price could soon collapse. [...] Read more →
The rude awakening over the past year of increasingly high food and gas prices has been quite the shock for the American consumer. The U.S. Federal Government and Federal Reserve Bank’s sluggish reaction to growing consumer price inflation certainly have not helped. If history is to be our guide, there is more [...] Read more →
IT requires a far search to gather up examples of furniture really representative in this kind, and thus to gain a point of view for a prospect into the more ideal where furniture no longer is bought to look expensively useless in a boudoir, but serves everyday and commonplace need, such as [...] Read more →
Buying a book for a serious collector with refined tastes can be a daunting task.
However, there is one company that publishes some of the finest reproduction books in the world, books that most collectors wouldn’t mind having in their collection no matter their general preference or specialty.
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used [...] Read more →
EIGHTEEN GALLONS is here give as a STANDARD for all the following Recipes, it being the most convenient size cask to Families. See A General Process for Making Wine
If, however, only half the quantity of Wine is to be made, it is but to divide the portions of [...] Read more →
Kneller was born in Lubeck, studied with Rembrandt in Amsterdam and by 1676 was working in England as a fashionable portrait painter. He painted seven British monarchs (Charles II, James II, William III, Mary II, Anne, George I and George II), though his [...] Read more →
The following recipes form the most popular items in a nine-course dinner program:
BIRD’S NEST SOUP
Soak one pound bird’s nest in cold water overnight. Drain the cold water and cook in boiling water. Drain again. Do this twice. Clean the bird’s nest. Be sure to [...] Read more →
Four times the nuptial bed she warm’d, And every time so well perform’d, That when death spoil’d each husband’s billing, He left the widow every shilling. Fond was the dame, but not dejected; Five stately mansions she erected With more than royal pomp, to vary The prison of her captive When Hardwicke’s towers shall bow [...] Read more →
I swapped a parakeet for a red-headed Macaw That drank my rum and called me paw I’d rock in my chair, she’d swing on her perch When the preacher came around she’d pretend it was church
On Saturday mornings when we drove into town She’d ride on the back of my blue-tick hound Howling [...] Read more →
4 young squirrels – quartered Salt & Pepper 1 large bunch of fresh coriander 2 large cloves of garlic 2 tbsp. salted sweet cream cow butter ¼ cup of brandy 1 tbsp. turbinado sugar 6 fresh apricots 4 strips of bacon 1 large package of Monterrey [...] Read more →
Grapes are the world’s leading fruit crop and the eighth most important food crop in the world, exceeded only by the principal cereals and starchytubers. Though substantial quantities are used for fresh fruit, raisins, juice and preserves, most of the world’s annual production of about 60 million [...] Read more →
Felix Weihs de Weldon, age 96, died broke in the year 2003 after successive bankruptcies and accumulating $4 million dollars worth of debt. Most of the debt was related to the high cost of love for a wife living with Alzheimer’s. Health care [...] Read more →
Notes on the intaglio processes of the most expensive book on birds available for sale in the world today.
The Audubon prints in “The Birds of America” were all made from copper plates utilizing four of the so called “intaglio” processes, engraving, etching, aquatint, and drypoint. Intaglio processes [...] Read more →
Western prairie quiet broken by forged steel Sage Grouse dance, feathers of resplendent golden lace oblivious to Manifest Destiny’s race Juniper trees observe from high peaks Wisps of threadbare clouds converging on progress
Group of Thuggee – From Harpers Magazine – Dec. 12, 1837
The existence of large bodies of men having no other means of subsistence than those afforded by plunder, is, in all countries, too common to excite surprise; and, unhappily, organized bands of assassins are not peculiar to India! The associations of [...] Read more →
Gold or silver watch chains can be cleaned with a very excellent result, no matter whether they may be matt or polished, by laying them for a few seconds in pure aqua ammonia; they are then rinsed in alcohol, and finally. shaken in clean sawdust, free from sand. [...] Read more →
WITCHCRAFT, SORCERY, MAGIC AND OTHER PSYCHOLOGICAL PHENOMENA AND THEIR IMPLICATIONS ON MILITARY AND PARAMILITARY OPERATIONS IN THE CONGO
This report has been prepared in response to a query posed by ODCS/OPS, Department of the Army, regarding the purported use of witchcraft, sorcery, and magic by insurgent elements in the Republic [...] Read more →
On the evening of November 15th, the little village of Mahim was the scene of a murder, perhaps the most determined which has ever stained the annals of Bombay. Three men were massacred in cold blood, in a house used [...] Read more →
Are you dissatisfied with the Savings Account and CD Interest Rates your bank currently has on offer?
If so, go to https://www.treasurydirect.gov and open an account. The U.S. Government’s iBonds are currently earning 9.62% interest through October of this year.
Individuals may purchase $10,000 worth of iBonds per [...] Read more →
From A History of Fowling, Being an Account of the Many Curios Devices by Which Wild Birds are, or Have Been, Capured in Different Part of the World by Rev. H.A. MacPherson, M.A.
THE RAVEN (Corvus corax) is generally accredited with a large endowment of mother wit. Its warning [...] Read more →
H.F. Leonard was an instructor in wrestling at the New York Athletic Club. Katsukum Higashi was an instructor in Jujitsu.
“I say with emphasis and without qualification that I have been unable to find anything in jujitsu which is not known to Western wrestling. So far as I can see, [...] Read more →
Reprint from the Sportsman Cabinet and Town & Country Magazine, Vol.1, Number 1, November 1832.
MR. Editor,
Will you allow me to inquire, through the medium of your pages, the correct meaning of the term thorough-bred fox-hound? I am very well aware, that the expression is in common [...] Read more →
Here, where these low lush meadows lie, We wandered in the summer weather, When earth and air and arching sky, Blazed grandly, goldenly together.
And oft, in that same summertime, We sought and roamed these self-same meadows, When evening brought the curfew chime, And peopled field and fold with shadows.
The idea of compiling this little volume occurred to me while on a visit to some friends at their summer home in a quaint New England village. The little town had once been a thriving seaport, but now consisted of hardly more than a dozen old-fashioned Colonial houses facing [...] Read more →
Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. Home Top of Pg. Archives [...] Read more →
Snipe shooting-Epistle on snipe shooting, from Ned Copper Cap, Esq., to George Trigger-George Trigger’s reply to Ned Copper Cap-Black partridge.
——
“Si sine amore jocisque Nil est jucundum, vivas in &more jooisque.” -Horace. “If nothing appears to you delightful without love and sports, then live in sporta and [...] Read more →
Take the large blue figs when pretty ripe, and steep them in white wine, having made some slits in them, that they may swell and gather in the substance of the wine.
Then slice some other figs and let them simmer over a fire in water until they are reduced [...] Read more →
By the time I got to California the blondes had gone home The Beach Boys were sporting dreadlocks and singing reggae songs The life guard at the tower didn’t have a tan Said if you’re looking for Mama Cass she’s asleep over there in the van
Four Seasons fill the measure of the year; There are four seasons in the mind of man: He has his lusty spring, when fancy clear Takes in all beauty with an easy span; He has his Summer, when luxuriously Spring’s honied cud of youthful thoughts he loves To ruminate, and by such dreaming high [...] Read more →
Audubon started to develop a special technique for drawing birds in 1806 a Miill Grove, Pennsylvania. He perfected it during the long river trip from Cincinnati to New Orleans and in New Orleans, 1821.
On the decline of the Roman power, about five centuries after Christ, the countries of Northern Europe were left almost destitute of a national government. Numerous chiefs, more or less powerful, held local sway, as far as each [...] Read more →
THE PRINCIPAL fruit and nut trees grown commercially in the United States (except figs, tung, and filberts) are grown as varieties or clonal lines propagated on rootstocks.
Almost all the rootstocks are grown from seed. The resulting seedlings then are either budded or grafted with propagating wood of the desired [...] Read more →
3-4 Young Squirrels, dressed and cleaned 1 tsp. Morton Salt or to taste 1 tsp. McCormick Black Pepper or to taste 1 Cup Martha White All Purpose Flour 1 Cup Hog Lard – Preferably fresh from hog killing, or barbecue table
The arsenicals (compounds which contain the heavy metal element arsenic, As) have a long history of use in man – with both benevolent and malevolent intent. The name ‘arsenic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘arsenikon’ which means ‘potent'”. As early as 2000 BC, arsenic trioxide, obtained from smelting copper, was used [...] Read more →
Quite possibly, the most agonizing decision being made by Baby Boomers across the nation these days is what to do with all that vintage Hi-fi equipment and boxes full of classic rock and roll cassettes and 8-Tracks.
I faced this dilemma head-on this past summer as I definitely wanted in [...] Read more →
When one thinks of the English countryside or rural France replete with rambling country house estates and fairly tale chateaus sitting alongside grand chapels and country church spires, one might imagine a realm of manners, neighborly love, and country gentlemen. However, history informs us [...] Read more →
