70 Things I Love About Israel

This post was inspired by an article in HaAretz on occasion of Israels 70th independence day. One of the papers well-known correspondents was challenged to find 70 things he loves about Israel. He listed 67, claiming he couldn’t come up with more and it had been hard to find these.

The list included some peculiar entries like the Gaza strip and places with sad childhood memories. I guess that’s what happens when you try to make your emotions adjust to your political views.

I decided to find my own 70 things worthy of being loved (and putting politics aside). Wasn’t hard at all. I could have gone on but will leave some for the next independence celebrations.

So here’s my very personal list of 70 things I love about Israel (not necessarily in that order).

Blockchain – what’s next?

“Do you have a new hobby?” Asked some of my most loyal followers after I posted the last two articles. And if anyone is wondering, yes it is still me, Ruth, writing.

I tell you a secret: it’s pure curiosity!

All I really wanted, was to understand why Google and Facebook are not supportive of cryptocurrency. While researching I learned that there was a whole world of values, ideologies, technologies and innovations behind it.

How Blockchain hooks up with Healthcare

Remember where my last post left off? The whole Bitcoin-mania of the last months has stirred my curiosity about blockchain technology.

As I am not a technical person, for me it is more of a gut feeling, that we“ll be hearing a lot about blockchain in the near future.

Sure enough, a day later I came across this article and was fascinated with the possibilities this technology opens. I would not have guessed that out of everything the healthcare industry would benefit.

But first of, here’s an explanation of blockchain in the words of someone, who understands it a lot better than me. When disconnecting it from digital money in my mind, it all becomes more obvious.

„…imagine it as a shared book of records, or in more technical terms, a distributed database that’s designed in such a smart way that whatever is added to this database, that is immutable. As if it is carved into stone. Any change becomes immediately evident. Moreover, there is no central authority to decide what’s right or wrong. No bank, no regulator, no oversight. The participants need to signify they accept a shared consensus.“ (Ivo Lohmus from the Estonian company Guardtime, developing K.S.I. blockchain technology).

I find it exciting and encouraging, what can be done with it. Read for yourselves and let me know if you share my enthusiasm:

http://medicalfuturist.com/top-12-companies-bringing-blockchain-to-healthcare/

Crypto….. what?

At the end of 2017, it looked like Bitcoin was just one step away from replacing regular money. All of a sudden this digital currency was what everyone needed. If not this one, then one of its crypto-siblings.

Seriously, what was that? Where did that come from and is it gone now? More importantly, why is there such a big controversy about it? When digging into the subject I quickly realized, that my view of it simply being digital currency was extremely naive. Interesting about cryptocurrency is not that it is digital-only-money, but its decentralized character.

As such it is an attempt to undermine the entire global monetary system. It is a direct attack on the authority of central banks and governments. Sort of rebel money, anarchistic currency, if you will.