Let's Talk Clermont

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Episode 18 of Let's Talk Clermont. We talk with John Weis about his work founding Clermont Christian School and his take on classical education. We also get into Ohio’s proposed cryptocurrency legislation and what it could mean for Bitcoin’s future in the state. Plus a rundown of upcoming Clermont County events and how you can support the show!

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[00:00:11] Unknown:

We've been living in sin so long.   All   Welcome to episode 18 of Let's Talk Claremont. I am your host, Patrick, and I appreciate you tuning in, and I appreciate everybody that's been liking and sharing and supporting us.   People seem to like what we're doing, so, I think we're gonna keep doing it.   Like always, we're gonna talk about a little bit of news, then we'll get into our interview for the day,   and then we'll wrap it all up with some events going on around the county.   So we're gonna start with some legislation that's working its way, through the legislature up in Columbus.   Specifically, we're gonna look at some Bitcoin bills or, I guess, more   accurately,   some cryptocurrency bills. And I wanna talk about these today because, the interview that we have today,   with John Weis, he talks a lot about Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, kind of what it is, what it does, why it's important.  

So there are three different bills in the legislature,   that have to do with   cryptocurrency.   They cover a range of issues,   stuff like state investment and reserves in cryptocurrency, regulatory frameworks,   taxation, mining operations, stuff like that.   So let's look at each of these individually,   kind of   a a high level overview.   There's house bill 18, the Ohio strategic cryptocurrency   reserve act.   And this is gonna let Ohio the Ohio state government invest a portion of public funds in cryptocurrency.   And I think it's important to note here that that is not specifically bitcoin. That can be any kind of cryptocurrency.   It permits the state treasurer to alley allocate   up to 10%   of certain state held funds into digital assets.  

Next up, we have house bill one sixteen.   So this is gonna establish a legal framework,   for digital assets and blockchain technology.   It's gonna prevent state and local governments from improw imposing extra restrictions, fees, or taxes   that single out the use of cryptocurrency.   It's also gonna create a state income tax deduction slash exemption for small cryptocurrency transactions,   waving income tax on capital gains   up to $200   per transaction   when selling or using digital assets.   This one   might not be immediately obvious why that's interesting, but   governments and state governments look at cryptocurrency   like they would any other investment, like a stock, for example. So if you buy a stock at at, say, a dollar,   it goes to $2,   and then you sell that stock and you get, you know, the,   the   gains from that,   you have to pay tax on on those gains. They look at crypto like that. So if you bought Bitcoin for a dollar and it went to $2 and then you sold it for US dollars, they would say, well, you now owe us capital gains tax.  

This would eliminate that,   for   transactions up to $200.   It's also gonna offer a little bit of protection for cryptocurrency   mining operations and data centers.   So local governments, they're still gonna retain zoning authority, but they can't use that,   authority to target mining operations more harshly   than other comparable businesses.   So cryptocurrency mining is very energy intensive. It can be loud. It can be noisy.   And what this is saying is is that, you know, obviously, you can't do this in a neighborhood, but if you're in the right zoning,   you can mine cryptocurrency   and local governments can't unfairly   target you.  

Senate bill 57, the Ohio Bitcoin Reserve Act. And this is very, very similar to house bill 18.   There's some nuances that make it different than,   what is it, house bill 18.   One of them being that it's a Bitcoin reserve act, so it's specifically talking about Bitcoin and not cryptocurrency in general.   And the other key difference, at least as I see it, is it forces government wide crypto acceptance for public payments.   So that means   if you've got some Bitcoin, you wanna pay your taxes with Bitcoin or you wanna pay like a speeding ticket or something like that with some kind of cryptocurrency,   it's gonna force the government to, to accept that, which   again, I think that's all pretty interesting stuff.  

So let's move a little more closer to home. Let's talk about some stuff going on in the county.   The county planning commission reviewed a subdivision design plan for Lakefield Place on, July 29. This is gonna be a new residential development in Goshen Township.   It's gonna be a 107   single family lots, plus two open space lots,   and the whole development is gonna be about 43 acres.   Overall, they recommended approval. There were some county departments that had some comments. So,   the,   the zoning the county planning commission said, you know, we're gonna approve this, but you need to satisfy the departmental comments and you need to comply with all applicable regulations. So,   if you live in Goshen, there's gonna be a new subdivision, I think, in your future.  

This one's pretty exciting especially if you're a small business.   Applications open for the 2025   Duke Energy Hometown Revitalization   Grant Program.   This is a partnership   between Duke Energy and the Claremont County   Chamber of Commerce Foundation.   In total, there is $30,000   available to support small businesses, and it's gonna provide   direct financial assistance to help small businesses grow, enhance their physical spaces, expand services,   and meet workforce demands.   So the way you can use this money if you apply and you actually get the grant, you can upgrade or modify your physical space for improved service.   You can buy furniture   for, expanded outdoor operations.  

You can invest in storefront beautification like signage, paint, planters, stuff like that.   You can implement technology to help you, increase or enhance your online sales.   And you can support workforce development like, job listing service or employee training.   Stuff you can't use the money for, like, you can't use it for payrolls, so you can't pay people with it.   You can't use it for rent. You can't use it for utilities,   and you cannot use it to pay off debt.   To be eligible for this grant, you need to be a current member of the Claremont County Chamber of Commerce, and you need to be in good standing.   You have to have had maintained your membership for at least two consecutive years, and you have to employ fewer than 50 individuals.  

Or you also have to be a Duke Energy customer, which I think everybody is. I don't I don't know who else provides energy out here.   Maybe there's someone.   So you can request,   money anywhere from $500 to $10,000.   Deadline to apply is August 8, and you can do that on the Claremont County Chamber of Commerce's website. So, if you're a small business,   you know, I'd look into that.   It seems like it's a really nice little program.   This is also good news. Clermont County Animal Shelter is getting an upgrade. I really like to hear this.   They're remodeling to help them improve their operations.  

This is funded by a donation and some county capital funds.   Like I said, this is really nice to hear. It's a great shelter. I I think it's a no kill shelter. I'm not a 100% sure on that. I know we got our dog Homer there, and,   frankly, he's the best dog   I've ever had in my life. And they have lots of great great animals there that are looking for a home. So,   little plug for the Clermont County animal shelter. If you're looking for a pet,   check that out first. It's a really great place.   Let's look at Batavia Township. The zoning commission,   is going to hold a continued public workshop   to review text amendments to the Batavia Township zoning resolution.  

The meeting is gonna be August 14 at 05:30PM at the Batavia Township Community Center.   And the rules that, that they're gonna be updating involve,   temporary uses, portable storage unit,   sight triangles, and I had to look up what a sight triangle is.   It's clear areas at at streets or driveway intersections,   that must stay free of view blocking objects so drivers, cyclists, pedestrians can see,   can see what's going on and have time to react. So   there's a there's a little fun fact for you. That's what site triangles are.   It's also gonna look at, outdoor and self storage, parking and off street loading, sign standards,   and violations and penalties.  

So, if you're in the township, like I am, I'm gonna try to make this.   I would I would go I would seriously consider going there and seeing what, seeing what they're trying to do.   That's all we have for the news,   and that will bring us to we are a value for value podcast and that means if you find value in what we're doing, all we ask is for a little value in return and that can be in the form of time, talent and treasure   And, we now have a way for treasure. We have a a a way that you can donate money to us. If you go to our website, let's talk claremont.com,   there's a little donations tab. Just click it. You can pay with PayPal or a service called Stripe. I believe both of them can accept credit card and Apple Pay, all kinds of different payments. There's lots of options.  

And the way I've set this up initially is any dollar amount is appreciated. So   thank you for any amount of of money you'd like to give to the show.   But for donations of $50 or more, you'll get a special mention.   And for donations of $200 and above,   you'll get a credit, an executive producer credit, and I will read   a note,   on the show. And that note can be anything. It can be, you know,   musings that you have. It could be if you have a business. I'm happy to promote your business. It's kinda like buying ad space or something.   So that's what, what we're gonna try to do. And as an executive producer, that's a valid credit. Producers are pretty much just, you know, you see television shows, you see producers, and you see all those credits. Those are pretty much just people that that put up the money to make the show happen.  

So that is a valid credit. Now, I will vouch for you. So, if you wanna put that on your resume, you wanna put that on IMDB, whatever you wanna do, you are an actual producer of this show.   And as a quick note, if you do decide to donate that, you know, 200 or above   and you wanna send a note in,   please be sure to email separately because there's no way to really,   tie that   note to the donation   on the website. So, just email me separately with your name and the dollar amount you donated and your note, and you can do that at info@let'stalkclaremont.com.   I don't want to ignore,   talent and time.  

We wanna hear from you. We wanna know what's going on in your neighborhood, your community.   If you've got a news story you want us to talk about, let me know.   If you've got somebody,   like, that is doing interesting stuff, and you think would be a great interview,   let me know. I'll track them down and we'll get them on the show.   So you can connect with us on Facebook, Let's Talk Clermont podcast, on Instagram at Let's Talk Clermont. And you can follow us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or whatever it is you use for podcasts. And like I mentioned before, you can always email us info@let'stalkclairemont.com.   So for our interview today, we're talking to John Weis.  

He's   quite frankly, he's a bit of a renaissance man. He's he's very knowledgeable about a lot of different things, and I actually know him from the gym I go to. There's a group of guys in the morning that, attend the church that are right next to the gym, and I've gotten to know him over, the last couple of years, and he's a really great guy.   Today, specifically, we're gonna talk about, a school he's opened, Claremont Christian School. And like I mentioned earlier, we're gonna talk about Bitcoin, what it is, why it's important,   you know, what why people are talking about it in general.  

Overall, he's just really knowledgeable and smart. And I'm I'm gonna try to have him back on, and I think we're just gonna try to get his opinion about   stuff that's going on in the county and the state. I like talking to knowledgeable smart people and getting their opinion on things. So   so with all that said, I hope you enjoy the interview.  

[00:12:52] Unknown:

Until I leave this location I love our phones. They're amazing. You can really do that? Yeah. That creeps disturb until I leave this location. That creeps me out. That's great. I don't like it, John.   Well, you don't have to like it. I just embrace it. I don't even have my location turned on,  

[00:13:08] Unknown:

for Google Maps. Yeah. And Katie's always like, why don't you just like, like, what what do they care Mhmm. That you're going to the grocery store? Like, I   I mean, they know everything about me already. Yeah. Like, it's but it's, you know, it's little victories. Right? You're a data amoeba in an ocean. I am. No one is watching your, you know I know. Data. They're looking at me in aggregate.  

[00:13:28] Unknown:

That's right. Box with a million other people. But it's all ads. Right? You know, it's all about ads. I got a Which isn't that one of the most depressing things? It's like we Sure. We're at the pinnacle of technology,  

[00:13:39] Unknown:

and it seems like what people are just trying to do is figure out how to sell you something. Yeah. I'm with you. I'm gonna give you a contrarian take, though. I'd love to hear a contrarian take, though. I'd love to hear a contrarian. The consumer. You know?  

[00:13:49] Unknown:

You know, I just had a a person in my garage giving me a quote for, like, one of those garage floor treatments. Sure. And now because of that, I have eight different companies in my Facebook feed, and I'm gonna get a free quote from everybody.   I'm gonna I'm gonna start pinning them against each other.   Should I keep that should I keep that part in? Put it in the notes. Put it put it in the show notes. Just just have a have one employee come over to your house.   They'll correlate,  

[00:14:15] Unknown:

and then now you're in the ad funnel. Yeah. That's great. You're in eight different marketing funnels.   People got really good at making those things.   Yeah. They will you will get sucked into a funnel. Yep. Yep. All I want is an epoxy floor.  

[00:14:30] Unknown:

And here I am on Facebook and my entire feed, like, literally eight different companies. My entire feed is just garage floor videos. So I used to work for a Cash for Gold company Okay. Way back in the day, which is a whole story. But  

[00:14:43] Unknown:

I would look up, like, gold prices Mhmm. And, you know, what what are things doing? Precious metals, coins, things like that, because we got into a whole bunch of weird stuff. In any event,   for years,   I kept getting ads. I mean, I use a Brave browser now, so all the ads are which if you've never I'm sure you use ad blockers or something, which is a completely different   Internet experience. Sure.   But it was just, like, in my inbox and everything trying people just trying to sell me gold, and I'm like, yeah. Mhmm. Mhmm.  

[00:15:11] Unknown:

Before we actually roll, can we turn the lights on? Oh, yeah. Yeah. We're we're already rolling. It's a little it's getting a little spooky. Yeah.   First, you give me Mead. Yeah.   Oh, there we go. There it is. That's better.  

[00:15:24] Unknown:

Alright. Well, I guess we can officially start, and this is round two. Here we go. The first time   I botched it.   And I normally start these things, which is tell me who you are and what you do, but you're a bit of a renaissance man. So I might have to I'm gonna kinda direct you to start off with. Tell us who you are, but then I think we'll just talk about the school you're gonna open or have opened Right.  

[00:15:45] Unknown:

To start with. Sure. Well, thanks again, Patrick, for having me on. One of the Twice.   One of the things that I've appreciated about your intros is the idea of value for value. So the idea of You're doing a value for value plug? I I am.   I actually you know? So I'm a transplant from the Dayton area. And my wife and I, when we moved down here in '21,   you know, we didn't really know what to expect, but we have absolutely fallen in love with, Claremont County. And I came to that realization actually listening to your first episode with Becky Johnson Oh, yeah. And just learning more about her. And, obviously, I know her through the church and and through our school. Yeah. But, after listening to that episode, I just kinda was reflecting on we we just loved being down here. Yeah. And so, yeah, a little bit about me.   Married,   thirteen years now. Yeah. We have four children.  

We're transplants. Mhmm. So we came down here to be a part of a church plant called East River Church over in Batavia.   Yep. If folks know where the Red Barn used to be, we meet in that big steel barn,   right there downtown Batavia.   And we've absolutely fallen in love with this area.   So,   I've been involved in Christian education a number of different ways   over the years. And when we moved down here, we kind of realized   there are many good schools, but there are very few Christian schools   within, you know, driving distance of what we would like. And so, you know, this was right around the post pandemic   twenty twenty one era, and a bunch of people were suddenly,   you know, either out of their public school or looking for other options. And we so so we thought, you know, what would we want if we,   were living here? And we just decided we should do what we know, which was, Christian education. Yeah. Because you did something in Dayton prior. Right? Yeah. Exactly. So,   my parents,   worked very hard to sacrifice to, send me to good private schools growing up. So I I went to a number of different Christian schools in the Dayton area. And then when I came back from university, I came back in Ohio, in '20,   02/2009,   and then a few years later joined the board of the high school school I graduated from.  

And so since What, high school is that? Yeah. Since 2014, I've been on the board of Dominion Academy. Okay. So it's a small k through 12 school, about a 125   students   any given year, and,   really great educational outcomes.   I I benefited massively from from that school. You are a smart fellow. Well, thanks thanks for the compliment, but but, you know, much of what I learned in college and and even in my master's work that I've done a little bit of,   much of it touches on what I received in that high school. Mhmm. And so,   you know, it's just a a great option for families who are are looking for that. And so we wanted to begin   that kind of work down here. So that school is just celebrated its twenty fifth year few years ago, and and now by god's grace, we are now in our third year Nice. Down here in Clermont County. Nice. Yeah. So what,  

[00:18:48] Unknown:

I guess, let's kinda start with what kind of curriculum do you teach? Sure. Why why is a Christian parent, would I send my child to your school? Sure. That's a great question.  

[00:18:57] Unknown:

For many families, they want an education   that is not just,   you know, the basics, reading, writing, arithmetic, and then a Bible class tacked on. Right.   As Christians,   some some Christians   understand that   Christ is the center of all things. Right? Colossians talks about that. Saint Paul says that, Christ is before all things and in him all things hold together. Mhmm. And that idea that all truth is,   centered on one thing is the idea behind   the university.   Right. And so in the West, we have understood that god is the center. And because he's the center, because he's the creator,   all things should point back to and do point back to him. And so for for many families who are looking for a Christian education, private Christian school can help do that.  

So the reason I'm going here is you mentioned education and curriculum.   We don't just have a Bible class,   and, you know, tacked on,   all of the subjects we teach, right,   will refer to in some way the the creator Right. Or the fact that truth is all one in God. And so,   it's a great way to have a a full curriculum   that emphasizes that in every class.   We do a lot of things that relate to the particular age.   So young children, when they're,   anywhere from, you know, just learning how to talk all the way up to about five or six years old, they're naturally imitating. Mhmm. They're repeating.   And so classical education makes great use of that. So we do poetry.  

We do,   some Latin recitation.   That's Latin.   I wish I would teach Latin. I wish I knew Latin, quite frankly. But Yeah. That's really cool you guys teach Latin at an early age. That's right. I wish I knew Latin as well. Yeah. My wife has been a a Latin teacher, both at Dominion Academy and now here at at Claremont Christian School, and she is able to, to do that. I've actually never learned Latin Yeah. Myself, but,   it's a great help to learning English and also a great primer for the rest of, you know, your your academic time.  

[00:21:06] Unknown:

We do bible memory. Mhmm. We do some Memory is the other thing that on the first podcast you talked about, which is another one of those things that   memorization is like a lost art. Oh, absolutely. You know? I mean, it it used to be you'd graduate college and you could recite   Homer or, you know, poems and  

[00:21:25] Unknown:

people just don't do that anymore. That's right. Yeah. And what we found is that students who memorize these things, for example, we use a a a principle called a catechism,   which is a fancy word for just question and answer. Mhmm. But the Westminster Catechism kinda what a catechism. Yeah. Exactly.   And for for those of your listeners who've you know, most people when they hear catechism, they think Roman Catholic,   but actually, catechisms have been used in all branches of the church,   for a very long time. But the Westminster Catechism just begins with the great truth of,   what is the chief end of man. Mhmm. Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever. And that might not mean to you, when you're five years old, it might not mean a lot to you. Right. But what you'll be doing over the next few years is you'll be thinking of that question and Mhmm. Reflecting on it. And we we understand that it actually creates great meaning over time. Well, that's the other thing I think a lot of because I'm a product of public schools.  



[00:22:23] Unknown:

You know, I enjoyed my time at Middletown High School, but   they don't instill meaning, you know. And the the I mean, I don't know. I don't know if that's   something that can be easily taught, but there, you know, there's just not   an underlying meaning, which is, I   think, a fundamental thing that humans need.  

[00:22:40] Unknown:

Sure. And this this really strikes at the heart of what classical education is. So Christian classical education is taking all of the benefit of the Christian tradition in the West,   Christian art, Christian culture, Christian writing, thinking,   Augustine,   Thomas Aquinas, etcetera. You you you can you can nerd out there. Yeah. But the other part of our school is is also the classical emphasis. Mhmm. And even in that first catechism question I mentioned,   what is man's chief end?   That idea,   actually gets to one of the biggest ideas in western thought, which is things have a purpose. Yeah. And so while a public school is gonna give you Atilios. Atilios. Yeah. That's the the end.   So Aristotle talked about four reasons for things, and and the the ultimate reason is its end. What's its aim? Right.  

So you can obviously learn a great amount   of education, information. You can be equipped with great job skills skills in many types of schools.   But one thing is gonna be lacking, and that's, often the end for which Yeah. Something tells us. That's it. Yeah. Exactly. And so we we think that's a a a very important part of education.   Another just important part is the idea that, we have a purpose. Mhmm. And, again, that's that that end. Where are we all going?   But another thing is a lot of people wanna emphasize that education should not teach you what to think. Mhmm. It should teach you how to think. Yeah.   And I disagree.  



[00:24:12] Unknown:

Okay.  

[00:24:13] Unknown:

I think education should teach you both how to think and Okay. It should aim you at what to think. Right. It should equip you with the skills to verify whether that's true or not. Yeah.   But it absolutely   should not teach you,   that everything is equally relevant Right. And all all opinions are equally valid. It should aim you towards the true, the beautiful, and the good. Right. Yeah.  

[00:24:38] Unknown:

The true, the beautiful, and the good. Yeah. I feel like I might be a little lost these days. But   so,  

[00:24:44] Unknown:

just outside of curriculum, what what kind of age range do you guys have? Yeah. This year, we're enrolling from kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. Okay. And we have about 25 students coming next year. Nice. So our model is a little different than most traditional schools.   Most schools are gonna be Monday through Friday starting anywhere from 07:30 or eight going to three, 03:30, four. Mhmm. And our school is set up, this coming year in a what's called a blended model. Okay. So we'll have students in, in school Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  

[00:25:15] Unknown:

Okay. And then at home, Tuesday and Thursday, where their parents are helping them either process their homework or review or do reading and other things like that. That's the other nice thing is putting the parent kinda back in there. I mean, I know you it can be difficult for peep for parents to do that. Absolutely. But, you know, having  

[00:25:33] Unknown:

having yourself in your child's education, I think, is is important. Mhmm. You know? Yep. This is a a huge idea and one that we really strongly support. So I I love homeschooling. I love, all the benefits of private schooling. I'm I'm not, you know, an ideologue that says everybody has to do our way. Right.   It's an option for families. And for families who do have that luxury,   you know, we love that parent student bond, that parent child bond. So we talk about it.   We're not we don't replace parents. Right. We don't,   usurp their authority. We don't take their position.  

So we're in the place of parents, not in place not replacing them. Yeah.   And so we wanna we wanna strengthen that relationship. And at the same time, our model kind of helps take some of the pressure Yeah. Off of parents in terms of organizing curriculum, scope and sequence, things like this. And so it's a great way to get some,   class bonding, but also a great way to maintain that, parent child relationship. Yeah. I interviewed,  

[00:26:34] Unknown:

her name's Sarah Cox. She runs, mustard seed market. Okay. And she homeschools her children, and we were doing it in their children's classroom. And she was just talking about how how difficult it is, you know. I mean, she I think she has four kids. Mhmm. And,   I mean, it's it's   I I don't know what it's like to teach four kids, but I I know what it's like to raise two. And that's not easy. But then getting trying to get them to sit down and learn something. So it's   it's I like I like the idea of that model. Mhmm. I like the idea of   taking a little bit of that pressure off the home school.  

And and I think there's also something to a structured classroom. Right. You know, to like get up out of your house and go to a classroom. Yep. Where there is an authority figure that you have to pay attention to and and, you know, do work and things like that. Right. And so schooling has always been, you know, a a great aspect of of American culture since the founding.  

[00:27:26] Unknown:

My wife and I attended a wedding of someone in our church, and we were in Downtown Cincinnati.   I I forget the name of the venue, but on the wall was a mural,   and it was celebrating the settlers of Ohio. And it had the words from the Northwest ordinance of 1787.   Okay. And it was essentially the the provision was,   to to enable our children,   to to make most, I'm butchering the paraphrase here, but to to essentially   they wanted to create schools Yeah. In order to create a stable society. Yeah. And so, you know, just the way children naturally arise in a family, they're all gonna be a different age unless you have twins. Yeah.   And they're all gonna be at different capabilities.  

And so from the earliest founding, we always were setting up in every village, every new settlement.   You'd have a church. You'd have a school. Yeah. And often that kind of one room schoolhouse model worked really well,   but there's   economic reality to specialization   Yep. And classroom dynamics are real. But then also, like you mentioned, socialization.   Yeah. Learning how to interact with others who aren't your parents. Mhmm. In fact, in my education, that was one of the best things. I got to see,   people who they loved art history. They loved,   the Bible class. They loved mathematics or our governments or our civics class, and they weren't my parents. Yeah. But they still were Christians through and through, and they and they love their subjects. Yeah. And some of those people became my mentors. Mhmm. And so as a young person, especially, is hitting that age where they're beginning to differentiate from parents and Mhmm. Do all the normal good things, a school that's well run can help with that Yeah. In a good way.  



[00:29:06] Unknown:

So you mentioned it's a Christian school.   I think we talked about on the prior podcast, but it is   you're probably not gonna be of of fit if you're a Roman Catholic or an Eastern Orthodox or something like that. Sure.  

[00:29:19] Unknown:

Yeah. Coming back to that idea of we're not replacing parents. Yeah.   As a school, we are not usurping the parents' authority.   So we would never want to take a Roman Catholic student and begin to teach them in our Bible class things that their parents would disagree with Right. And that also, would be creating strife in that home. Right. So it's not that we don't like Roman Catholics. You're you're a good friend of mine.  

[00:29:42] Unknown:

And and we Jason might disagree. Well Shout out, Jason.  

[00:29:47] Unknown:

At at at a basic level, we we think it's it's bad for that student. It's also bad for that family. And so, you   know, our school allows for any Bible   Bible believing evangelical   Christian to attend. We have a basic statement of faith, so you don't have to be a particular denomination. But,   you know, listeners might think of it as broad Protestant, right, or just evangelical.   Right. So that's what the school is suited for. And, you know,   again, in the history of our country, the reason Catholic schools were established well, and I think this might be helpful to those who who love public schooling and,  

[00:30:22] Unknown:

certainly don't wanna pick a bone there. But, the Catholic There's a great Catholic school right down the road from me. So if you're Catholic and you wanna send your kid to Saint Louis, it I'm sure they'll take you. The the Catholics understood at the very beginning that the public schools, which at the time were thoroughly Protestant Mhmm. We can't send our students there. Right. They'll end up Protestant. Well, that's I I don't wanna send my kid to a Protestant school, not because I don't like Protestants, but because it's not what Yeah. We believe. I think it's good, you know,  

[00:30:48] Unknown:

good fences make good neighbors. Yeah. And I think there's nothing wrong with having clear lines of delineation where we can each say we can have,   camaraderie. Yep. We can be friends, but you're gonna do things over here your way, and we'll do things over here our way. Mhmm.  

[00:31:04] Unknown:

That was a little weird. Hope that,  

[00:31:06] Unknown:

I think I broke its brain.   Imagine Christian's getting along.  

[00:31:12] Unknown:

Let me make sure these connections are  

[00:31:14] Unknown:

I'll push that in. I'm gonna check my mic here. Alright. We can all we can edit in post. Yeah.  

[00:31:21] Unknown:

Which   I'm getting better at. Who Where is that post? The it's upstairs in my office. That's that's where post is.  

[00:31:30] Unknown:

So what's the, the enrollment process like? Yeah. It's a great question. So we believe that, trust is very important.   If you are placing your student in our school, we want you to know us, and we also wanna know you. Again, that comes back to that same principle.   We're not replacing the parents. Right? So,   we wanna make sure that fit is a two way street, and it's a good fit. Mhmm. So what we do after we get an enrollment,   application,   we then, schedule a time to go and meet the parents. Mhmm. We do a very simple assessment of just how is that family,   how have they educated their students so far Mhmm. To make sure that student is coming in in the right time. Sometimes, you know, you have a question of is it August birthday or September birthday? So, you know, especially with kindergarten students, making sure they're ready, but also that their age range is correct for their grade. Right. So we're wanting to make sure that that's,   really well set up. And so we do a lightweight assessment, and then afterwards,   we, you know, enroll the student and they come the next year.  

But that that assessment is really aimed at how are how are they doing reading, writing,   basic skills necessary.   And in in some cases, we've actually had that begin the the start of a really great relationship. Mhmm.   Especially for some kindergartners,   if they've gotten,   very little,   book time. You know, we've been able to suggest   things here and there, like, do some reading, do some audio books, and then we see that kid a few months later coming into kindergarten, and they're ready to go. They're ready to go. It's amazing. That's pretty cool.  

[00:33:05] Unknown:

So,   let's talk about cost. Sure. I I think you mentioned it because   John and I,   live together in the mornings. That's how I know him.   At another shout out advocate of iron.   But I think you mentioned you were you were working on something to help   alleviate the cost.   Yeah. So I guess we just talk about tuition.  

[00:33:29] Unknown:

Yeah. There's a great,   there's a great number of subjects we could cover. I know that sometimes you like to cover news Oh, sure. In your, segments.   We unfortunately just got some bad news. Oh, no.   Mike DeWine just did a line item veto on I didn't know this. ESAs.   So there was a,   a proposal from the legislature, which which actually passed and was a part of the biannual,   bill,   funding bill.   And,   what ESAs are, they're education savings accounts. Yeah. Okay. So they allow for the money to track the child or track the student.   So instead of, you know, a school having to go through a chartering process,   essentially, both homeschoolers, private schoolers, etcetera,   would all have the ability   to apply for and receive   funds through an ESA. Mhmm.  

Unfortunately, that like I said, it was just, just vetoed, with a line item veto from DeWine.   But what this would have allowed you to do is is take about $4,500   and apply that to either tuition, books, or materials if you're a homeschooler. Yeah.   I think it was a great option,   for both school choice and families. Education savings account. Is that did he veto that or Well, there's I can't remember what they're called. Yeah. ESAs, I believe, are also the same term for you can set up a, you know, a bank account Yeah. Or a funding account with a broker   and begin to save money for college. Yeah. And so it's unfortunate, I think, that they use the same term Yeah. Because those are not state run. Those are you know, I think they're a federal or IRS provision or something like that. Okay. But, this would have been a great option. You know, ESAs,   opponents of them were saying that this was gonna take money from public schools. And while that is true to some degree,   it obviously doesn't affect local levies,   where, you know, it's not funding per student. But the other thing is the numbers just don't really matter that much. There's about 50,000 homeschoolers in Ohio,   and about 10% of all students attend private schools in Ohio. So it's a very small amount of money   relative. So if any legislatures   are legislators are listening to this podcast,   you know, hopefully, we can put this in in in the next two years again and see if we can get it through. Even if any legislatures are let us legislators  

[00:35:49] Unknown:

are not,   you can still contact. Adam Bird, I know, is is one of our representatives. I can't remember who our senator is. Absolutely.  

[00:35:57] Unknown:

And I think,   you know,   thank you, you know, Ohio legislators   for for doing this. Unfortunately, I I don't really understand,   why DeWine did this. I know it's been opposed strongly by the teachers unions and things like that. And I understand I I get it. But,   you know,   I like to enter policy questions by the first principles.   Right? I want to direct those funds to,   create outcomes and create opportunities for for families who don't have those means. And aligning,   the money with the student, in my opinion, is just a great way to do it because,   especially private schools have an outsized impact with those students.  

So not only is it only a small fraction of their overall education budget in the state, it also is incentivizing excellence. Yeah. And I think that's what we need for a thriving Ohio.  

[00:36:48] Unknown:

Well, I mean, a thriving world. You want these incentivized people to be excellent. That's Right.  

[00:36:54] Unknown:

So and and you can't use EdChoice. Right? That's Yeah. Unfortunately, not. So so I was on the board of Dominion Academy when we went through the process of becoming what's called a voucher accepting school. Mhmm.   So a school can become a private school can go through the process of becoming a chartered school. So it's a chartered non public school. So that means the school is not run by the local municipality school board. It's still a private organization,   but it has a charter from the state.   And this is a a very lengthy process. It takes,   in our experience, at least a year and a half of planning, execution, administration,   and a great amount of cost. We actually have to in most cases, you have to have a full time staff member   to set up your school and then run it,   in this way. And and that, of course, is coming from the taxpayer. Yeah. They're they're paying that, that bill at the end of the day. But schools who go through that process can receive about 6,600   per k through eight student. Yeah.  

While that may sound like a lot of money,   I can relate back to my experience up in Dayton where   that school system, city of Dayton public schools,   when you take the overall budget and divide it by the number of students, they're spending about $18,000.   In the public school. In the public school. Wow. And so when you think about, again, all these   opponents to the vouchers or ESAs, etcetera,   it is true that it is taking money away from the public system in a sense. Right. But if you combine it with two things, one is that,   the school has an outsized effect   with their students. Sorry. You're fine.  



[00:38:35] Unknown:

Homer's,  

[00:38:36] Unknown:

going after John here. But then also that it does so at one third of the cost. Yeah. I think this is a very strong argument. In any case,   we we've looked at a voucher,   at becoming a voucher accepting school. It takes a great amount of work, and we're still considering that option.   But it's it's definitely,   it's no small thing to do. It's a process. It is. And when you're a school of 25,   you probably don't have enough staff to pull this off. Some organization organizations can do this. Mhmm. But it usually requires a large   non not guaranteed   effort at the beginning before you can then take those vouchers. Yeah.  



[00:39:17] Unknown:

Do do you wanna talk actual tuition? Yeah. Sure. You know, all of our information If you don't, that's fine. I'm I'm sure you have a website with all this on it. Yeah. All of our information can be found at claremontchristian.org.  

[00:39:28] Unknown:

So that's Oh, what's that? I don't even know if you mentioned the name of the school. Very briefly, Claremont Christian School. Okay. Wanna keep it simple. That's very simple. I like it. Yep. Claremont Christian School. And all of our information, as I said, is is online, and you can see the application process and tuition and things like that.   Our tuition for kindergarten next year is gonna be $3,500,   and that's a half day of classes Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.   And then our blended learning for the full year at Monday, Wednesday, Friday is $6,200.   For the full year. For the full year. That's And so as far as private schools go, that seems pretty reasonable. It's a it's a very affordable option for especially for homeschool minded families. Yeah. Because what they're getting with that tuition, that's tuition and books. Yep. So they're getting all the materials they would need to purchase that year for the full,   you know, academic year, and they're also getting three   in class instruction days Yeah. Every week. That's pretty awesome. That's it seems like I don't know a whole lot about private school besides what we pay for all of it. That seems like a pretty good deal. It's it's a very affordable deal for for many families. You know, it's possible because we have some very, very good donors this year, and we also run a very lean ship. Right?  

Very tight ship. We're we're we're not admin heavy. We have a number of staff, not handfuls. Yeah. But we're also trying to build an economic model that works. Yep.   So I've I've served as the treasurer,   for a number of years at at Dominion,   back up in Dayton, Ohio. And it is amazing   what private organizations can do both on the donation side, but more importantly,   running an efficient organization   Yeah.   Where, you know, you're you're trying to pay your people as best you can Mhmm. But you don't have access to those public funds. And so you have to make sure things are working well. I think that's  

[00:41:16] Unknown:

I would make the argument that having to run lean makes you   it's like startups. Right? You know? Start start up companies are more effective, more efficient   just because they have to be. Sure. You know? Yeah. You don't have it's not like a giant corporation that can just throw money at any problem. You gotta be really smart about what you're doing. And, you know, although I'm not a Darwinian,  

[00:41:38] Unknown:

survival of the fittest is real. Yeah. If you if you run a bad school as a private school, you will not exist. Yeah. And so it it really,   your your plans have to be well thought out, but more importantly, they have to be well executed. Yeah. Yeah.  

[00:41:53] Unknown:

So before   I  

[00:41:56] Unknown:

switch gears at a breakneck speed, is is there anything else you'd you'd like to say about the school and and what you guys are doing? Yeah. I just wanna give a shout out to pastor James Kerr of Clough Pike Baptist. So our school will be meeting at Clough Pike Baptist Church,   over there in Batavia, and they've, been really good neighbors to us. So the last few years, we've been at East River Church's buildings. But next year, we're gonna be at Clough Pike, and it's really well set up with a common area where we'll have assemblies in the morning and then classrooms that are on the border Nice. Kind of on the periphery of that common area. Yeah. Yeah. And so we'll have two, two or three classrooms depending on enrollment next year,   and we'll have a forms model, but still have common times for lunch, assembly,   So a little bit of activity. Have you have  

[00:42:42] Unknown:

you partnered with any other, churches around here, or is it just the Clough Pike Church? Clough Pike is the first church to, sponsor us with a location.  

[00:42:52] Unknown:

But, we've got some friends in other churches, and,   the reception down here has been really warm. So, yeah, it's been encouraging. They're they're  

[00:43:01] Unknown:

again, I don't know.   I know about the Catholic option. Sure. I don't know about the other Christian options, but it doesn't seem like there's a whole lot of them. So There's a bunch when you start getting towards the 275 Loop. Yeah. And then there's as you get into Brown County, there's Brown County Christian Academy.  

[00:43:16] Unknown:

And so it's it's great that those schools exist. But if you if you're driving forty five minutes twice a day, you know, drop off and pick up, that can be a lot. And so we we've thought a lot about geographic location, and we've made sure that we're,   not unnecessarily   avoiding partnering with others, but also in a really nice location,   for people on the East Side Of Cincy. That's awesome.  

[00:43:40] Unknown:

Is there before I move on, is there anything else? No. We we're very excited for next year. I'm excited you guys are doing that. I mean, it's   I don't I don't know much about education and education models. But   from what I understand that   that typical that Prussian model of, like, kids in seats, bells,   it's just not   it's not how we're built to learn. Right. It's it's great if you wanna produce if you wanna take a bunch of rural farm kids and turn them into factory workers Right. That's a great model. Or you wanna turn them into soldiers, that's a great model. But if you want, like you said, people   who have lives with teleos, you know, purpose and drive,  

[00:44:21] Unknown:

That might not be the best way of going. That's right. Yeah. We we think the purpose of an education is to make a free citizen. Yeah. Right? So that's where people will use the phrase liberal education. They don't mean liberal like   conservative versus liberal. They mean liberal as in Libertas. Right? The the things that you need to be a free man. Right. And so these things include reading, writing,   you know, interaction with history Yeah. Wrestling with the great ideas,   the ability to articulate and debate with someone else. And the this is what helps, you know, form people. And that's not achieved by just sitting in a desk, like you said Right. And just kind of downloading information. Right. You gotta get up. You gotta move around. You gotta debate, memorize, recite,   give speeches, especially in the in the high school. Man, that's one thing.  



[00:45:08] Unknown:

Public speaking is that's another thing with memorization. I feel like it's becoming a lost art. It's like how to get up in front of people and actually draw them in and Mhmm. Make them listen to you and get your point across. Yeah. You know? As someone who's gone on that journey myself, I didn't know that there are actually principles of rhetoric  

[00:45:26] Unknown:

that have stood the test of time. You know? Oh, yeah. The greeting your audience Mhmm. Thanking them for their willingness to listen to you, appealing to their emotions, not in a manipulative way No. But in the best of them and calling them to action that all public speech is   eventually a a call to action. Yeah.   And if you study, you know, those who have done great things in society, they it's not as if they are all these just charismatic people who Yeah. You know, just discovered it on their own. They were they were often trained in that. And so, again, I I just think for   to have a good informed citizenry, to have a great society, we need to   transmit these ideas to people, and much much of education in America is really just focused on job and vocational training.  

And while that's important, it's important to have jobs,   all four of those kind of vocational schools, especially in high school and things like that,   At the same time,   even in those jobs, you need leaders or or to defend yourself, advocate for yourself, negotiate good salaries. So these are the things that contribute to people being free. Yeah. And we wanna transmit that to the next generation. So, again, thank you, Patrick, for having me on to talk about that. Oh, okay. I was gonna say you're not done yet. Oh, no. I'm sure we've got more time. You're not. I'm not letting you go yet.  

[00:46:44] Unknown:

But real quick, I you know, we talked about public speaking and things like that. I became acutely aware   of that, you know, like, you have to engage your audience and and you can't just go up there and say, like, this is who I am and what I wanna do. I was in eighth grade. I was running for class president.   I go up. I'm like, hi. I'm Patrick Ventrella.   You You know, I wanna be president of student council because, you know, I really wanna get us out into the school. I think there's more that we can be doing. You know, vote for me.   The guy who was running against me got up and said, I won't say his name, but he's like, I'm so and so, and you should vote for me because I'm sex I mean and everybody laughed. Sure. And everybody voted for him. That's right. I was like, that was my crash course in politics and oration. I was like, oh, oh, maybe I'm not cut out for politics. Yeah.  



[00:47:30] Unknown:

Humor is very effective in drawing people in. And, unfortunately, you know, much political discourse in our country is devolved into just satire. Yeah.   At the same time, memes are very powerful.  

[00:47:42] Unknown:

Memes are   people don't realize what a meme really is. And it comes from that Richard Dawkins, the selfish gene   of a meme being,   like, the smallest bit of information that can be translated or transmitted. Right? Sure. And stick in your mind. And so, you know, you think a meme, you think all these funny pictures online and things like that, but it's far more powerful than that. Right. I mean, it's and what the Internet has done for that idea of memes is just It's very powerful. Yeah. And they have great societal effect. I mean Oh, very. You know, I voted for this. That's a meme.   You can just do things. Yeah. That's a great meme. That's Well, and think about how much information is actually just transmitted Right. In those memes. Right. I mean, it's   vast amounts of information  

[00:48:23] Unknown:

in a little, you know, four box Yep. Meme. Yeah. Yeah. They distill it down to a phrase, to a single picture, and then that that meme becomes the template in which other content can be inserted. And  

[00:48:35] Unknown:

When you talk about survival of the fittest too, that's what the Internet's doing with all these memes. Is Exactly. There are probably mountains   of crappy memes out there, but it's the ones that really just stick with people and then they get shared and liked and shared and liked and shared and liked, and it's   it propagates itself. I mean, I think   what is it? I heard   a quote by Young. It's people don't have ideas. Ideas have people. That's right. That's right. And it I I think it's   very similar to how these memes work. You know?  

[00:49:03] Unknown:

Right. Right. A a similar idea there. You might not be interested in communism, but communist is interested in you. Or you might not be interested in war. You know? War is interested.   These are these are powerful ideas. Yeah. And when you can say something that's quippy, right, that that, sticks and strikes. Right? Yeah. Yeah. When you can say it in that way, you then leave an impression with people. And again, that's that call to action that you want,   want them to follow. It's a fantastic  

[00:49:30] Unknown:

video. I think it's an MIT professor,   but he's in front of, presumably, a bunch of engineers and science y folk.   And he's doing an entire lecture about how to   public speak and how to present things. This guy   is the most droll,   like, he puts you to sleep guy, but he structures this this presentation   so   well, so beautifully.   If I can find it, I'll send it to you. I I think I've seen that one.  

[00:49:58] Unknown:

He's an older gentleman. He's an MIT lecturer, multiple chalkboards. Yeah. Yeah.   Yeah. No. It's he even talks about when to place your lectures. Don't place them too early. Students don't show up. Yeah. So you wanna hit that, you know, timing is everything in, in lectures and comedy. Yeah. So In in life, really. Yeah. I said, what's the key to comedy? Timing. Timing. Yeah. There you go.  

[00:50:21] Unknown:

So anyway,   let's switch gears to this is a a massive subject. Here we go. Bitcoin. Okay. Because before this episode, I will go back and do my   I hope I didn't already no. I wouldn't have already have done it because the first episode we did was botched.   So in Ohio, at the state legislature,   I only thought it was one house bill. There are many house bills that Sure. Seem like they're trying to position Ohio as,   I guess, a Bitcoin hub or at least a crypto hub. Like, there's a a Bitcoin reserve   that they're proposing.   There's a, no capital gains if you sell it, I believe.  

Paying for public services Sure. Bitcoin or crypto.   So   as probably the only person I know that knows a lot about cryptocurrency and Bitcoin,   Bitcoin. Why don't we start with what is   what is should we start with what is cryptocurrency   or what is Bitcoin?  

[00:51:16] Unknown:

Well, I'll preface everything that I'm about to say with Well, this is not financial advice, first of all. I am not a lawyer. Yeah. This is not financial advice. Yeah.   Past performance is not indicative   of future returns. Yeah. As someone who's probably consumed more than four thousand hours worth of Bitcoin content, I didn't have to intentionally memorize those phrases.   But let me just say,   Bitcoin is a very important idea for people to understand.   All investment decisions have to be your own. Yeah. And you need to do your own research.   People ask me at the end of any sort of discussions, should I buy some? And I I usually tell them, yeah. You should buy $50 worth just so you, you know,   get the experience of setting up an account   on one of these exchanges, and then you have a little bit of an experience with it. But, really, you you need to make a very informed decision. Yeah.  

And,   you know, this this is a topic that a lot of people have a lot of ideas about.   But I'm I'm happy to discuss any particular aspect of Bitcoin   that's interesting.  

[00:52:21] Unknown:

Let's   honestly, it's all interesting. Sure. I mean, it's   from what I understand of it, it's   it's pretty wild. Yep.   So let let's just start off with what what is Bitcoin, and I guess more specifically, what is the idea behind  

[00:52:36] Unknown:

Bitcoin? Yeah. I think we should go back to that idea earlier in this podcast, which was the tell us   of Bitcoin.   So what is Bitcoin   trying to do?   If you go back in the history of Bitcoin's announcements and various,   message boards on the early part of the Internet It's also kind of a mystery how it started. Right? It it's it's mysterious of who was involved in the making of it.   But, you know, a person who wanted to stay anonymous,   because there's often been   military   or government pushback on these efforts and so much. Conspiracy theories that it actually is military and government. Could be. Could be.   But We won't get into the conspiracy theories of Bitcoin. But some of the early writings   of this person Satoshi. Right? Who used a pseudonym,   Satoshi Nakamoto, which is a Japanese name.  

He starts   to talk about how the modern banking system is great, but it has one central flaw, which is trust. And over and over again, central banks have   have not resisted   the   perennial temptation to abuse that trust. Mhmm. So if you think about what is money, gold is great as a money because it is scarce,   it's recognizable,   it's divisible,   it's, able to be,   you know, quantified,   stable, doesn't rust. Stable, doesn't rust, can't be manufactured out of anything, takes real cost to go mine gold.   Gold's very good for a money,   because it has all of those properties.  

But when you begin to get into the industrial era and we have things like steamboats   and rails   and, you know, the frontier of America,   and international communications through transatlantic cables and businesses that operate in both continents,   you very quickly run into a problem, which is gold is very heavy. It's very heavy. You can't ship pallets of gold. And because it's physical, it cannot be moved instantaneously.   Right. But with the telegraph, you can communicate instantaneously,   but you can't settle. Right? And so what eventually emerges after gold is central banking. Mhmm. And there's a good reason for this. Many   people in the Bitcoin world don't understand, actually, central banking is a better banking technology than gold. I've just angered the entire house. The entire auto gold bug. So earlier, I I probably annoyed all of the the public schoolers, and now now I'm annoying.  



[00:55:09] Unknown:

My goal here is to actually turn you into public enemy number one, Claremont. Here we are. Here we are. These are strong opinions lightly held.  

[00:55:18] Unknown:

Central banking is a great   bank model. It's a great money technology   because central bank is based on trust. So if we can send a message across the Transatlantic   cable, you you know, I'm buying 10,000 steel beams for x dollars and we both trust each other to settle later, boom, we're done. Yeah. So that we're done. Yeah.   So that's great.   But the problem is over time,   the central banks of the world have never withstood the temptation   to devalue the currency. Yeah. And so what we have in the modern world is   and we could we could dive deep into every decade or every forty years of the nineteen twenties and the two thousands here,   to talk about the failures   of the central banking model.  

So that is what Bitcoin is aimed at solving. It's not coffee payments.   It's not, you know, digital transactions of micro lending every, you know, five seconds like some of these,   Ethereum   or Stella,   all these other altcoins.   Bitcoin is really attempting to be a digital gold. Yeah. So that's that's usually where I like to start with people. That's its purpose.   And if you understand that, then you can immediately kind of get away from, well, how how much money is it gonna make me?   What is its point? Its point is not to make you rich.   Bitcoin is a way that you can store value over time. Yeah. So it's not a get rich quick scheme. No. It's a don't get poor slowly Right. Technology.  



[00:56:50] Unknown:

Yeah. That's a good way of looking at it. So   this was long ago in in centrifuge, which you you're familiar with. Sure. I remember hearing somebody I think they were   I think they were promoting Ethereum or something or other. Mhmm. But they essentially because   this actually would be a good segue into the techno the backbone of the technology backbone that it runs on.   But   they said blockchain   is   essentially a technology   to determine what is true.   And so   but would lead me into what is blockchain and how does that Yeah. Fit into Bitcoin. This is a great great segue because  

[00:57:29] Unknown:

as soon as we start talking about Bitcoin, people then will bring up, what about Ethereum?   What about, you know, this other altcoin that I've never heard of? Because I don't care. Or the meme coins? The meme coins, you know, the Trump coin, whatever.   It's a stain on the administration.  

[00:57:45] Unknown:

I I figured you were gonna say it was a stain on cryptocurrency.  

[00:57:48] Unknown:

Oh, yeah. Sure.   So so when we talk about what Bitcoin is,   again, we talked about how gold is hard to mine. Mhmm. Bitcoin,   replicates that idea. And in fact, people have adopted the term mining. Yeah. I actually had a friend  

[00:58:05] Unknown:

text me about Bitcoin. She's like,   what the hell? Iran is mining Bitcoins? Like, we think they have a mine? I'm like, no. It's not really a mine. They just  

[00:58:15] Unknown:

but I I don't really know it that well. So I decided me to cut you off. No. No. No worries. So one of the one of the tricky things, again, that analogy of, you know, we're doing steel beams across Transatlantic.   Well,   that's great if we trust each other. Mhmm. But in how do how do you trust each other without trusting a central bank?   Bitcoin solves that problem through a process of validating transactions.   And those validating,   transactions are cryptographically   signed so that you can't create Bitcoins out of thin air Mhmm. And you can't spend Bitcoins you don't own. Yeah. So for you to send me Bitcoins, you have to own them. And one way that you send them to me is by signing a message that attributes those coins from you to me. Mhmm. But all the Bitcoin computers, we often call them nodes, have to agree that that transaction is valid.   And once they do, that   that transaction's incorporated into what's called a block. Mhmm. So just like you would mine, you know, sectors of a, you know, a mountain Mhmm. To find the gold or the copper or whatever,   Bitcoin miners are working on a problem.  

So the analogy is it kinda breaks down at this point. But, essentially, Bitcoin miners are special single purpose computers. So they're not like laptops that you can buy or GPUs that you play get video games with. Yeah. They're special   single purpose computers   that,   solve the equation   that contributes trust to the Bitcoin ledger. Yeah. So as record They're very difficult equations to solve. Right? Yes. And so what it requires is a lot of power. Yeah.   This is why the kind of blockchain as truth for assets,   narrative kinda falls apart, and here's why.  

Bitcoin   mining is expending real world   power, energy,   compute, rental facilities,   real world costs   to get   Bitcoins,   and that's it. Yeah. So that single purpose computer, if you don't wanna mine Bitcoin with it anymore, you can't do anything. You have to sell it to somebody else who wants to or throw it away. Yeah. Right?   Same thing with that, you know, that power contract that you have from the utility. You've gotta have that computer, and it's a long term play of I want to adopt Bitcoin   as that technology. But all that it gets you   is an item on the network.  

And the truth of that, I own these Bitcoins, is only valid in that network. Yeah. So when we start talking about, like, securing   real estate transactions   on these altcoins or whatever,   it it all falls apart because it's touching something   with a digital ledger in the physical world. Yeah. Okay. And the ownership of that physical thing always   will be eventually arbitrated by a government.   So I have the title to this house. I have the title to this car.  

[01:01:04] Unknown:

So, essentially, you're still using a third party You're you have to.  

[01:01:10] Unknown:

To validate the transaction. That's right. And so why would we use a Bitcoin blockchain ledger, which is a very inefficient database technology? It's very secure. Right? Very secure to do something that at the end of the day is gonna require a county   or a state or a country   to to, you know, arbitrate the actual ownership of that thing. Unless you're a hardcore crypto bro, in which case you would say you don't need the government at all. And and I think I think those people can have that experiment. Yeah.   You know Everybody's a libertarian until their house is on fire. Some of those Bitcoiners, we we talk about these altcoins as they're just a scam to keep you from Bitcoin.  



[01:01:51] Unknown:

So,   man, you really are hardcore Bitcoin, aren't you? I I pay  

[01:01:57] Unknown:

after so early days, you know, 2013,   I I discovered Bitcoin and thought, oh, this is kinda dumb. Mhmm. Why wouldn't we just use credit card companies? And I didn't understand   the purpose of, oh, it's a replacement for international monetary settlement. Yeah. Which is a very I again, I just wanna say, like, 1% of your audience cares about this idea. I care about this idea. I'm glad. That's all I care about. Yeah. We make things that are great.  

[01:02:22] Unknown:

They'll come along or they won't. Well, I do think I think,  

[01:02:26] Unknown:

I think people who are thinking about transmitting   value to their children   should absolutely be thinking about Bitcoin. Yeah. And if you want to know why, just go look at the purchasing power of a dollar   in the nineteen hundreds. Yeah. And any quick googling will demonstrate.   You know,   another great website is WTF happened in 1971.   If you Google that, you'll find,   you'll find that website. But it just shows the break the breaking apart of purchasing power versus,   productivity in corporations versus wages. Yeah. And all of this is traced back to some actions that Nixon was forced to take,   in the suspending   of the international agreement to settle dollars for gold. Mhmm. And when we Well, you're not necessarily against fiat currency, though, are you? No. I'm I'm not. Because, again,   like I said,   central banking is a great Yeah. Replacement when you have international,  

[01:03:25] Unknown:

you know, commerce. Actually, we should probably back up a little bit and talk about what fiat currency   actually is. Sure. Perhaps the problem it tries to solve.  

[01:03:34] Unknown:

Yeah. Fiat is just Latin. I said I don't know Latin, but I do know this Latin.   Fiat,   you know, let there be light. Right? Fiat lux. So fiat just means let it be. Mhmm. And so any system that is ruled by fiat   is some authority   saying it should be. Yeah. In this case, we live in, you know, 2025,   and America has a financial system that is based on the Federal Reserve,   and that is a corporation  

[01:04:02] Unknown:

of independent banks. It is not something a lot of people don't know. It is not actually   I remember my Ron Paul That's right. Back back when I was in college. All the Ron Paul bros are Yeah. Are remembering.  

[01:04:13] Unknown:

It's it's about as federal as Federal Express. Right? That's what they would say. Would say. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That was the line. So so the Federal Reserve is not part of the government,   although the president   can appoint   or suggest It's all fuzzy. Who the chairman should be, and it's not exactly clear how all that works.   But the Federal Reserve essentially has authority to set   banking regulations.   So in our system of fiat currency, money is created and destroyed through the process of granting,   loans. Mhmm. So if you,   if you take out a mortgage,   you aren't borrowing money from the bank.  

You are creating an equity. Mhmm. You're you're actually,   you're giving the bank a contract to pay them a certain amount of money   in exchange for the immediate delivery of, that amount of money for a real estate transaction. Yeah. So money is created and destroyed not by the Federal Reserve,   but it's actually created through the process of lending and borrowing. And this happens both at the retail level and the commercial level.   So so, anyway,   fiat just means that the government has the ability, the authority, etcetera, to,   create or destroy,   expand or contract the money supply. Right. And so that's that's what that means. So unlike gold where we need,   work to be expended in order to find,   mine, and refine, and produce gold,   or Bitcoin, where again, you have to spend electricity and these special computers.  



[01:05:45] Unknown:

Well, it's also finite too. There's a certain   amount of Bitcoin.  

[01:05:49] Unknown:

With fiat currency,   you have,   an expandable and contractible   supply. And this is actually pretty good at responding to certain events that happen in,   in the economy, but, other people will argue that those events   only come from,   bad policies. Yeah. So it it's kinda like setting your house on fire and then putting it out real quick. Yeah. You know, it's we did a great job here at the fire. Out. Yeah. Yeah.   So,  

[01:06:17] Unknown:

but, yeah, that's that's essentially the difference between Well, that's how I mean, this is relevant too. That's essentially how inflation   comes about. Sure. Because if you print way too much money Sure. And there's not enough goods for that money to be put into Mhmm. Then, I mean, it's supply and demand. Right? Yeah. I mean, in the lifetime in my lifetime, I I know of  

[01:06:35] Unknown:

basically   two major financial crises, you know, the February.   A lot of that was created   really through banks who were abusing   lending practices. Again, all of those set by the Federal Reserve.   But, also, they were rescued from the error of their ways Yeah. By both the government and the Fed,   through the toxic asset relief program, TARP.   And, you know, we had to essentially give all of them money to stop a series of runs on those banks.   But, you know,   that that   massively   changed the landscape for,   people coming out of college. I came out of, university in 02/2009.   Yeah. And so 02/2008.  

So for for you and I, right, that that early job market was terrifying. It was not only terrifying, but brutal.  

[01:07:27] Unknown:

And   it is instilled in me   a deep mistrust of banks. That's right. A deep and a mistrust that will like, my a mistrust my parents don't have.  

[01:07:37] Unknown:

You know? Absolutely. And a mistrust of markets too. And and a lot of it is really well so when when I hear, you know, like, guys like Peter Thiel   saying 70% of millennials are, you know, okay with the principles of communism,   and everyone responds to him as, you know, he's a bad guy for pointing it out. Yeah.   He what he's trying to point out is there are people who believe that's true, which, you know, it's communism's not ideal No. Of course.   But there's a reason why upset all the communists. Here we go. There's a reason why millennials believe that. Yeah. And one of the reasons why is because following the baby boom generation, we've had expansionary policies,   that have really disrupted   the real estate market. Yeah.  

And that, you know, that didn't come from nowhere. Right? It it came from,   a number of different policies, you know, that were supported, well established. No one was breaking the law Yeah. In a sense. What was it? Was it Glass Steagall?   Glass Steagall. Kind of the firewall. That's right. Between commercial banking and real estate bank or, retail banking. Yeah. And, you know, as soon as you start commoditizing   home loans   and then creating assets out of them, which is the CDO still don't even understand how you even.  

[01:08:56] Unknown:

It's like they just take a they take loans and assets and they chop them up and they essentially make a financial hamburger with them.  

[01:09:04] Unknown:

I again, I this is not my area of expertise. No. No. No. It's mine neither. But But it is interesting.   You know, if people wanna go watch movies, there's there's some out there on the global financial crisis that are Big Short. The Big Short is one you gotta watch out if you've got don't watch that with your kids around. Oh, no. No. No.   But but also,   Margin Call is a is a good movie. Margin Call is a great love that movie. Like Margin Call. Because what it what it does is it portrays how quickly it all fell apart in a really great kind of twenty four hour setup there. I love that boardroom scene in in Margin Call. I that it's it's Margin Call right where it's   Who's the actor who plays the guy that runs the whole thing? I forget his name. Oh. But, yeah, he does a great job of kind of portraying there's a crisis. Right?  

Yeah.   And and so, you know, what you what you've got is a massive,   massive number of loans all aggregated together. And then instead of selling,   like, securities on one mortgage, like, you're gonna make 3% on this mortgage or whatever, we bundle them all up so that if a certain number of them fail,   the overall   equity is still or the security is all still valuable. Right. Right? So it's kind of kind of, in a way, an insurance contract on a bunch of mortgages at the same time. But if you start putting a lot of really bad mortgages in there Yeah.   And so that's that's what began to happen,   you know, and and so people were buying these on the market   and essentially,   you know,   pensions were beginning to buy these. They promised outsized returns. I remember at one point during, all of this, I there was this company called American Home Mortgage Company,   or it might have been American   Home Mortgage   Trust. I think it was American Home Mortgage Company. This sounds familiar. And they were offering at one point a 25 dividend every year. So whatever the stock price is, 25% of that was returned in cash to shareholders.  

And I remember thinking this is too good to be true. And a friend of mine,   her her brother was a,   stock trader in Chicago. Yeah. And he said, you must buy this.   And a year later, that company is nonexistent.   Gone. Yeah. Yeah. And and what it what that company was was doing these kinds of things. Right?   And so,   anyway, you know, this kind of all blew up in 02/2009,   the global financial crisis. And so a lot of people,   you know, entered a job market, you know, our age Mhmm. Where there are no jobs Yep. Because I'll never forget looking at jobs, and it's like  

[01:11:40] Unknown:

entry level position need five years of experience.   What?  

[01:11:44] Unknown:

Yeah. How am I gonna find a job? Well and and at that time, people were making huge career changes and Yeah. It's, it was really I was really fortunate to be entering software at that time, which was largely not impacted. But even our market was kind of kinda dicey. Yeah.   So, yeah, I think a lot of a lot of millennials now are recognizing,   it's impossible to buy a house. Mhmm. It's very difficult to buy a car.   They're not able to achieve that upward mobility,   that starter home, which is necessary to begin oftentimes the creation of a family or or the beginning of of raising children. And so millennials are saying communism's better Yeah. Because we at least get the goods. Yeah. Under communism. They might be bad. But it's better than what we have. But it's better than renting and driving Uber every night just to make it. I mean, never mind the starvation and the, you know, Google logs and things like that. Sure. And so Yeah. Have a hut.   Well,   you know, that that phrase, you'll own nothing and be happy. Right? Yeah. Again, coming back to memes. Mhmm.  

Charles Schwab. That's right. That that   you know, when when people like the IMF are using these phrases   openly Mhmm.   It really display it displays that our our modern economy is not well suited Yeah. Right, for for the average person. So, again, you know, why I'm interested in Bitcoin, why I think it's interesting is   it's not gonna make you rich overnight.   And and it's really a a way to attempt to escape the fact that real estate is not a great investment.   Stocks, you know, are also risky. And but no matter what you put your money into,   Bitcoin is as a technology an attempt to create an alternative. Yeah. Right? So it's it's appealing for those reasons.  

I think it's also you know, if you're a computer science person or you like code, if you go read the Bitcoin source code, it is a beautiful project Is it beautiful? On a cord a code level. Yeah. Yeah. What makes it beautiful?   Is it just the simplicity of it? Or Absolutely. Yeah. So, for example, you mentioned that Bitcoin's finite. Mhmm. Well, the rules, the mathematical rules that ensure that finiteness   is about three lines of code. Really? And so in a modern program to achieve that kind of complexity is,   it's very elegant from a computer science perspective.  



[01:14:04] Unknown:

That's   I   I always love listening   to computer programmers and mathematicians talk about,   like, beautiful code or Sure. Beautiful equations.   I   I think it's something a lot of people don't   think about, but there is an element of beauty in that   in those endeavors. Yeah.   But I I think   I think it is an apt comparison   to gold   as a store of wealth. Like you said, it's not an investment, but, like, it helps you not get poor. Right. Right? Right. So it's not gonna make you millionaire. And the argument I would make for something like Bitcoin over   gold is   well, first first of all, you've gotta pay a premium on the gold. So if you're   if you're even going to make your money back, it's gotta go up, like, 25%.  



[01:14:54] Unknown:

Mhmm.  

[01:14:55] Unknown:

And   then you've just got gold bars. It's like, what am I I can't take a gold bar   to the gas station and pay for my gas. Right? And even if you wanna go to an extreme example of, you know, the world has gone to hell and it's the apocalypse.   Sure. Like, well, then I need   food and water. I don't I don't need a mass dump. I don't need I'm not like a dragon. I don't need a whole bunch of piles of gold.   And I think in Cincinnati and Cleveland,   I've kind of emerged in Ohio as to kind of bit where you can actually use Bitcoin to purchase goods from stores. Exactly.  

[01:15:30] Unknown:

Yeah. There's a a cent layer of Bitcoin. So Bitcoin has an as a network, often has a a first layer. So on the Internet, we we call this, you know, like TCP or, you know, transmission control protocol.   And but then when we surf the web, we're using other technologies like HTTP   or HTTPS.   And so this is that idea of first layer, second layer.   Bitcoin has a first layer, the the actual Bitcoin network, but then there's these other things called second layers.   And oftentimes,   people will implement things like the lightning network. Mhmm. And you can think of that more like a credit card where, you know, you don't pay your credit card company every month, or every every time you spend your card, you you settle once a month. Right?   And so in the same way with lightning,   you can load up your Bitcoin onto that lightning network and then, you know, buy the burrito, buy the coffee. Yeah. And those, those aren't broadcast those small transactions aren't broadcast to every node in the network. Yeah. They're just broadcast to other people, just the people you've transacted with. And then at some point, you will then kinda settle again back up to that main layer.  

These are really interesting ideas.  

[01:16:44] Unknown:

I don't realize it's how like I said,   in order for that transaction to take place in any reasonable amount of time,   you would have to have something like that. Exactly.  

[01:16:54] Unknown:

The again, these are great ideas. I don't see right now, I don't see the Lightning Network,   out competing like Visa. Mhmm. Visa has built I I think it's hard for people to understand   the cost of building alternatives.   We are so quick and, you know, here I am starting a private Christian school. Yeah. We we are so quick to,   downplay   the   cost to build these networks. Visa has, an eighty year lead time on,   on something like the lightning network, but also it's already got payment purchase, payment processors. Everyone's got a card Yeah. And a really great user experience.   And while I do think, like, some of these alternative mechanisms make sense, it could be that we all keep the Visa network, but instead of paying dollars, we settle with gold Yeah. Or settle with Bitcoin. Yeah. There I go.  

You know? And so you you   you can still have Bitcoin win, so to speak, without the whole thing having to be this worldwide adoption.   And I I think that's the more realistic scenario.   But, again,   that's all speculation. Right? Who knows what's gonna happen there? And not financial advice.   Speculation, not financial advice. I am not a lawyer.  

[01:18:11] Unknown:

So, you also mentioned some of the other altcoins and things like that. Do you wanna touch on any of those and kind of how   they differ from Bitcoin and why you seem Not really. On them? No. Maybe. You don't wanna you don't wanna peeve off all the Ethereum bros? Oh, I'm I'm fine telling them. You know, they're they're not worth  

[01:18:30] Unknown:

exploration. My my thing is if you if you spend   ten hours   reading a Bitcoin book or listening to a few Bitcoin podcasts and then you're interested in some of these others, go for it. Yeah. I'm not, you know, like, I'm not afraid of the truth.   And if if those networks have appeal to you or something like that, that's great. But for me, I I've done my cursory exploration.   I I understand   why those aren't,   a a viable alternative to Bitcoin.   And most of them fall apart for the same reasons that central banks do.   So Ethereum, for example, is probably the easiest one to it's the second,   kinda major network to Bitcoin.  

But increasingly,   the Ethereum network is going through the process of centralizing. Yeah.   So they're they're doing that by making it too complicated   and making it too large. And so instead of being able to run,   for example, in the Bitcoin network, a a node at your house that is,   you know, validating the Bitcoin network, staying true to its principles.   For Ethereum, you you really have to have very,   expensive computers at a data center,   where,   you know,   participation in the network requires great financial investment upfront,   but also,   not anybody   not just anybody can can,   validate that Ethereum staying true, if you will.  

So these other networks, even in their very short,   lifetime I mean, Bitcoin is very short to begin with. And when did when did it come out? I can't remember. I think the first mine first mine block was in 02/2009.   Okay. Sounds about right. And so, you know, we're sitting here at, like, sixteen years.   It's not a long time.   It's certainly not a long time to put a huge amount of your assets into it. Right.   And these other networks are many years later.   Those networks are already in their very young life showing signs of massive centralization.   And in my opinion,   it's gonna be unavoidable   that those   networks   fall prey to all the sorts of either government pressure to prohibit transactions   or re you know, wind them back or,   you know, prohibit certain items from being sold or or capturing,   you know,  

[01:20:48] Unknown:

enemies of the state and things like that. So because with with Bitcoin, I guess this is another important point to make about Bitcoin. It's not as if there's a Bitcoin company. Right. There's it just is a thing that people participate in. It's truly decentralized. Truly decentralized. It's a computer network.  

[01:21:06] Unknown:

If that, you know, if that computer network,   you know, the transactions that happen on that network   ultimately become,   real world transactions, then then that's great. But as you know, it has really no,   tangible connection back to the physical world. Yeah. Right? It's a digital network. There's no company that runs it. Yeah.   Yeah. It's so it's it's pretty interesting. I think folks who are intrigued by this discussion, they should definitely look at it.   There's a a book I'd recommend called Inventing Bitcoin by Jan Pritzker.   You can get that from Swan Bitcoin. I believe it's a free download, but it it explains how Bitcoin works and why it has to work that way.  

Another great book that folks might be interested in is The Bitcoin Standard by Safdine Amuse.   And The Bitcoin Standard takes you through all of that,   what I kinda history I just recounted of the gold standard and,   why Bitcoin's a replacement for that. But, again, these are these are kinda heady topics. Yeah. And,   you know, I think people who wanna buy Bitcoin or get into it We we got pretty nerdy there. We did. Yeah. That's, I think, as nerdy as I've gotten on the topic.   You know, trying to condense   thousands of hours worth of content down to,  

[01:22:21] Unknown:

you know, a few short minutes Yeah. Can be overwhelming for folks. You'd need an entire lecture on monetary theory. Right? I mean, what this all boils down to is value and how we place value on things. Yeah. And that's   a a vast topic.  

[01:22:36] Unknown:

Right. Most of us, we learn money   intuitively   by getting our first job,   you know, paper routes,   mowing lawns for neighbors. And, you know, I I, you know, collected some leaves for a little old lady across the street because my dad made me. Yeah.   And she was sweet enough to pay me $5, and it was great. And, you know, at 12 years old, it's like, wow. I got this thing. I have money.   But, really, what is money? I mean, money at the end of the day is a means or a technology to deal with an uncertain future. Yeah.   And,   you know, until you get to that idea, if you think about, like, what what is money,   you don't really ever,   ask the question, is this a good money? Right. Because money is just a thing. The the very idea that there could be alternative monies. Yeah.  

Most most people don't really think about that, and that's that's actually a good thing. Again, because that's saying that the money that they use is working pretty well. Yeah. For most of us, we are you know, money's working okay. Yeah. But if I'm questioned every time I got $5 whether or not it was like I actually had $5, it'd be it'd be a problem. But when you look at the ten year timeline, money's not working okay. Yeah. Right? And that's why I think Bitcoin is really appealing to young people right now. Again, coming back to the, you know, millennial,   mindset and and the economic difficulties,   we're realizing, hey. To actually achieve that house, that car, the, you know, upwardly mobile, we have to have a savings technology  

[01:24:05] Unknown:

that isn't just regular cash. Yeah. I'm you know, it's funny you talk about millennials and their mindset. I feel like   half of us went   Karl Marx and the other half went Ron Paul. It's like some of us are reading Das Kapital. Everybody else is reading the, like, Ayn Rand. That's right. And there was no middle ground. I've I've also had the privilege of seeing a a number of, so my, you know, day to day is computer science. Mhmm. And so I,  

[01:24:31] Unknown:

I often have the experience of hiring,   you know, through through our company,   hiring young software engineers. And I remember the first, guy I hired all the way back in   02/2010.   He came in and was just   pure left Obama supporter. Yeah. And,   I remember him talking to me at the office a few weeks after he started about how angry he was about how much money was taken out of his check.   And I was just like, well Yeah. That's   that's how it is. Those are taxes. That's right. And now he's he's probably further right than I  

[01:25:13] Unknown:

am. So if we can   step back a little bit from the nerdiness Sure. And   what in your opinion   would be the advantage of Ohio   actually becoming a hub for this  

[01:25:26] Unknown:

Bitcoin? Yeah. That's a great question. There's a few things that Ohio should do.   You know, there was an effort to bring intel to Columbus and, ostensibly, there I think they were gonna be producing some of the special purpose chips Oh, wow. To to mine Bitcoin with.   They're in that fab over in fabrication unit over in Columbus,   and that would be great. I I think that,   the number of jobs aren't gonna be there, but I do think that plan is still moving forward. I'm not sure if they're gonna be producing those chips. But in any case,   you know, being Bitcoin friendly as a as a position for Ohio would be great.  

Some of the things that you mentioned too, one was, you know, a de minimis,   transaction. So so if I buy Bitcoin or if if I buy something with Bitcoin,   instead of having to run the capital gains   tax calculation,   I can just do that if I'm buying something under a certain amount, like a $100 or a thousand dollars. That would be great because that incentivizes,  

[01:26:28] Unknown:

merchants to take Bitcoin. Because as it stands now, if you liquidate your Bitcoin, you have to pay capital. You have to pay capital gains tax. No matter what  

[01:26:36] Unknown:

no matter what the amount is. Yeah. And, again, not a tax professional, but Neither am I. I think capital gains in asset held under a year is 30%   Okay. Of the gains, and over a year is 15. Okay. That's still a substantial amount of money just for Especially if you're paying $10 for something, you know. It's like, yeah, it it can be a pain. And, again, Bitcoin as a savings technology, the value that you got, it it's not that Bitcoin went up 10%.   Right. The US dollar went down. Yeah. Yeah. 12% or whatever it did. So so, again, you're you're taxing the savings.   So that's it would be great if Ohio did that. So that's, you know, again, people who are interested in this, if they've got poll with their representatives   or should just contact them to to support that,   but also incentivizing mining here in Ohio.  

We do have, places in the state that have either natural gas that's stranded or just data centers where there's excess power and, excess supply,   you can then monetize that supply. And so this is a good for the power company and it's a good for the miner.   And those it brings jobs and investment into Ohio.   So all those reasons, Ohio is a great you know, it'd be great for Ohio   to, you know,   do whatever we can to incentivize Bitcoin mining, Bitcoin   using,  

[01:27:58] Unknown:

Bitcoin Bitcoin holding here in the state. Yeah. Do you think it would attract,   investment and perhaps what would you call it?   I'm trying to think of a word for, like, brain capital, but essentially smart people to come here? Absolutely. There's a company in Columbus already,  

[01:28:16] Unknown:

who's demonstrated this. They're River Financial, and they're a Bitcoin,   broker.   And they I'm I'm not sure their size now, but they're pretty sizable operation. You know, they were a start up, and they've hired a number of people there in Columbus. And,   they're still I think they're doing really well in terms of, you know, the Bitcoin space is very risky Mhmm. Because it goes through these boom and bust cycles. But they've they've survived a number of cycles. So it absolutely would attract talent.  

[01:28:44] Unknown:

Okay.   And I guess   maybe kind of, if somebody wanted   to just get into Bitcoin, what do you have to do?  

[01:28:53] Unknown:

Sure. Most people have to set up,   an account at a brokerage.   So a popular one is Coinbase.   I think Coinbase is is probably not the best one to start with.   I recommend Swan Bitcoin,   swanbitcoin.com.   You go on there just like you're signing up for a bank account somewhere else. You have to upload your ID. So you you know? Yeah. People think Bitcoin is just this world of shadowy dark figures. Well, I got a really bad reputation from the Silk Road and Sure. You know, nefarious characters paying each because you can't it's decentralized. You can't track it. You know? And so you you go on to swanbitcoin.com,   and you can then, you know, link your bank account if you wanna start buying things.  

And so that's just a really simple way to go. You have to upload your ID, tell them who you are, give them a phone number and address,   and then, essentially, you're you're ready to start buying Bitcoin from the market. Okay. Yeah. That's pretty easy. I thought it was more complicated than that. Super easy. Yep.  

[01:29:51] Unknown:

Well, I think that's all I got on Bitcoin. Let me see how we're doing on time here.   I was   going to ask you I'm sorry.   All wonky here.   I was gonna ask you briefly   because it is getting a little late.   How's your lifting going?  

[01:30:13] Unknown:

It's going great. I love people who,   live in Batavia or the surrounding area, Advocate of Iron is a great gym. Yeah. That's how I know Patrick. And, yeah, my lifting is going great. It's good to be back in the gym three days a week. I hope to be there tomorrow morning. Yeah. I'll be there. Right there at six six in the morning. It's a good crew in the morning. It's a great crew, and it's a great space. Love what Josh has done with that, you know, establishing that facility, and it's just really well run. And,   you know, it's not over the top. That's what I love about, you know, some of these gyms you go in there and there's, like, pizza on the counter. Yeah. I don't want any of that. Yeah. It's a Trying to get away from the pizza. The old Planet Fitness model. That's right. Those are the best gyms. Because I started lifting in high school, and the gym we had was like it's just grungy. There's iron plates everywhere.  



[01:30:58] Unknown:

Yep. If you ever are looking for   different gyms for different people. Sure.   Like, if you if you're into CrossFit, do your CrossFit thing. But,   like, just strength gyms. You gotta find the grungiest,   like, cobbled together   dirtiest gym, and that's  

[01:31:15] Unknown:

that is your weightlifting gym. Yeah. Yeah. It definitely weeds out the people who wanna be there. Yeah.   But I what I love about our crew is there's enough ridicule if you don't show up, you know, for a few weeks, but also,   great camaraderie and just encouragement.   You know, I've I've gotten now two lifting techniques from Brandon Really? Over my time. Brandon's lifting techniques.  

[01:31:38] Unknown:

It's been helpful. Wow. I love Brandon, but he's always getting these Rube Goldberg lifts. Like, it's Sure. We gotta position the machine like this and like that, like this. Yeah. In this case, it was Randy was my lifting partner for about a year. So I do love him. Yeah. He helped me on, the leg press machine. Did he? Yep. Yep. Have you used the hack squat machine yet? Love that new hack squat. I'm gonna start putting that in. It's very good. I'm a little sore today because of it, for sure. Did you do, legs yesterday? Did legs yesterday. Went went hard on the hack squat. Nice. So what else have you been doing? What like, do you have a program or anything, or you just go in and lift what you feel? I lift what I feel. I kinda follow the other guys in the gym. I try to put on more weight than I did two weeks ago. Yeah. That's It's pretty simple. That's the best program. I I used to track meticulously  

[01:32:21] Unknown:

with an app, and, you know, I'd rather just relax. Yeah. So Well, I mean, I I'm a huge proponent of  

[01:32:28] Unknown:

tracking   if you have specific weight goals. Right. Like, if you have a specific like, I wanna hit this squad,   then, yeah, you gotta track it. And you gotta get yourself on some kind of program because   just adding more weight. You I was telling Joseph this.   Because Joseph is getting to the point where he's I mean, I think his squat was, like, four zero five and his bench is up there at two seventy five. Like, he's gonna get to the point where you can't just add five more pounds. Sure. And you've gotta get smarter about how you're you're gaining weight. But   I guess if if anybody out there has been thinking about lifting   and you're in the Batavia area, come to Advocate Iron, come in the morning because we're all really nice guys. But,   you just gotta start doing it,   And then you can worry about that. Because you see a lot of guys who have spreadsheets and, you know, like, be very meticulous and, you know, like, but  

[01:33:18] Unknown:

you you've got, like you're bench pressing the bar. Yep. Like, you you're not there yet. You don't need to worry about wave loading or step loading. Right. You just need to get strong. My goal is to go in there and put more weight on every once in a while and not get hurt. Yeah. Because if if I get hurt and I'm gone for three weeks, six weeks, whatever, I I don't want that because then the habit's destroyed. Yeah. But more importantly, I'd rather not lose a month of progress. Yeah. Right? Because I'm reaching too too quickly. Yeah. So Well, that's the  

[01:33:47] Unknown:

the   beauty of deloads. I know everybody, they all rag on, I think, specifically me for deloading, but  

[01:33:54] Unknown:

that's also why I'm not hurt for weeks on end. Yeah. What made you decide to start lifting? Did you have you lifted in the past? Yeah. I you know, it's kinda interesting my my story with lifting. Before I got married, I was lifting about three or four times a week, just dumbbells in my parents' basement Yeah. Where I, you know, got a really cheap, rent rate of $0 per month.   But after I got married, I actually kinda went up in weight, not in Yeah. Not in the right kind of sense. No. That happened to me. And so,   around 02/2016,   I started doing a five k program, catch a five k, and then after that lifting. And so for me, it's really just,   you know, pain management, but also trying to get be strong. And just recognizing that here, you know, in my late thirties,   I'm going to, in the next two decades, lose muscle mass. Yep. And so just trying to build that bone density.  

Bone density is another big one. You know, there's this video of the grandfather. I think it was a German bank who put out this, commercial, again, talking about memes. And he's lifting a kettlebell every morning Mhmm. Just above shoulder height. Yeah. And then, you know, the   the adult daughter is seeing him and wondering what he's doing. And then finally, it's Christmas. Yeah. And you see the cameras looking through the kitchen window into the living room, and there he's got his, like, three year old or four year old granddaughter,   and he's lifting her so she can put the star on the Christmas tree.  

Absolutely wonderful ad. Yeah. That's what I'm wanting. I'm wanting to be able to hold my grandkids in the air. Yeah. That's it. Yeah. I mean, I have goals, but that's  

[01:35:32] Unknown:

the supreme one. Yep. It's like I don't wanna be   like an old decrepit man. Yeah. I wanna be able to function   when I'm older. What are some of your favorites? Lifts in the gym?  

[01:35:42] Unknown:

I really like the butterfly press, so chest press. Yeah. Yeah. That machine is great, because it gives me a lot of shoulder mobility and just a lot of good stretch.   Love that the hack squat is fantastic.   Bench press, you know, I don't Not for everybody. I I got I got to, a plate, you know, and I think that was good. I've got some weird stuff with my left shoulder. Yeah. So I'm watching that closely, but, a lot of tricep pull down. The cables are great.   Just enjoy all of that. The one I'm working on, the most right now is just that shoulder extension  

[01:36:19] Unknown:

Yeah. And shoulder press. So I'm trying to think of I showed you that the w stretch. That's right. Band. Yep. Yeah. Yeah. It works great. Yeah. It is great.   Well, I don't   I don't think I have any more topics. We covered a lot. Yeah. We we covered a lot of ground. We started with,   you opening a school, moved to Bitcoin,   and then had a brief discussion on weightlifting.  

[01:36:40] Unknown:

It is really interesting,   you know, coming back to memes. I think that is probably a meme. You know?   Christian,   Bitcoiner,   lifting lifting weights. Christian Bitcoiner weightlifter. Yeah. Yeah. Well, yeah. Again, thanks so much, Patrick, for having me on. It was a pleasure. Thanks for doing it again. Absolutely. I've I've really appreciated this, podcast. And just to echo what I started with, we've really fallen in love with Clermont County. Yeah. It's been as a transplant, you you know, you never know what it's gonna be when you you live there and you land there. And it's just been awesome to see how receptive this area is. Yeah. And that's really, you know, exemplified by our friendship and Yeah. That gym culture. So, again, thank you so much. Well, thank you. And we're gonna call this a successful podcast. Awesome.  

[01:37:36] Unknown:

I hope you enjoyed that interview with John. I really enjoyed talking, talking with him.   And thank you to John for for doing that.   As you might have heard in the interview a second time because I botched the recording,   he was supposed to be our very first interview, and,   I didn't really know what I was doing. So so thanks, John, for,   coming back and doing that again.   Like I said in the intro, we're gonna try to have him back on. He's, like I said, a very knowledgeable,   smart guy, and, we're just gonna try to get his opinion on different stuff going on in the state and the county.   So with that, let's talk about some events.  

First up, we have the Union Township summer concert with the Whammies.   It's gonna be August 1, seven to 9PM at the Union Township Civic Center Amphitheater.   It's a free outdoor concert,   obviously, with the whammies,   and that's a local band known for upbeat classic hits, I believe, from the eighties.   So you get to enjoy that music. And, if you come a little early,   I think the, farmer's market and food trucks will be there 04:30. So get there a little early, check out the farmer's market, get yourself some food, and then, listen to the whammies.   Next up, we have the Loveland Shorts Film Festival   from August 1 to August 3. There's gonna be various blocks of of events going on here, so you'll need to look at the festival schedule   to see, to see what's going on. And you can do that at filmfreeway.com/   loveland shorts film festival.  

It's gonna be at the Loveland Stage Company Theater, and it's gonna showcase a selection of independent short films, stuff that's twenty minutes or less,   from all different kinds of genres.   There's gonna be screenings, filmmaker q and a sessions, workshops, and meet and greet events.   You do need to buy, tickets for screenings   and, you can go for one day or enjoy all three days. And, since you do need to check out the website for all this, I'll say that again. It is filmfreeway.com/   loveland shorts film festival.   There's yoga in the park, August 2 at 9AM, Sycamore Park.  

It's a free yoga class, and it's open to adults and teens of all skill levels.   So if you're just getting started in yoga, or you don't know anything about yoga and you wanna check it out, this will be good for you.   Next, we have Heritage Crafts Sun Printing on August 2. There's gonna be two sessions, 1PM and 3PM. This is gonna be at Clingman Park and you get to create your own cyanotype prints and what that is, there's a special,   light sensitive paper that when you expose it to the sun, it'll kinda turn a   a a blue color.  

So what you'll do is there'll be a naturalist artist there. You'll forge some leaves and stuff from nature, put it on this paper, and you'll,   make a print. And you you'll do it on a canvas tote bag.   Each   participant   gets to take home, that tote bag. So you can get a pretty cool,   moment memento from all that.   You do need to register and you can only register for one of those two time slots, and all ages are welcome.   We have Taylorville,   Taylor Swift tribute concert, something for all the Swifties out there. This is gonna be August 2 from five to 9PM at Miami Meadows Park.   It's gonna feature Taylorville, an unofficial Taylor Swift tribute band from Saint Louis, Missouri.  

It's a free outdoor concert.   A preshow   starts at 5PM and there's gonna be Taylor Swift trivia games, themed activities,   food trucks, and the live concert will start at, 07:00PM   and they're gonna perform all the pop mega hits.   They tell you to bring a picnic basket or chairs and sing along to your favorite Taylor tunes under the summer sky.   So if you're Swifty, check that out.   Next up, City of Loveland movie in the park double feature. It's gonna be on August 2 at 07:30PM   at Phillips Park. It's an outdoor family movie night. The first movie is gonna be Jungle Book, and that's gonna start at 07:30PM.   That's gonna be followed by The Princess Bride, which is,   honestly, one of my favorite movies.  

It's free and no tickets are required.   National Night Out, August.   This is a   a series of different events held at different places around the county. So, if you're interested in this, I would just Google national night out and see if,   there's something in your township or town,   that's going on.   But what this is, it's a community building event where you get to go meet,   police and first responders.   And most of these events involve some kind of food,   but I think it's pretty cool. You get to go see the people who are out there, keeping us safe and,   you know, say hi and thank them.  

Shakespeare in the Park, A Midsummer Night's Dream.   It's gonna be August 8 from 7PM at starting at 7PM at Shiloh Park.   It's a free outdoor Shakespeare performance with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company,   but it seems pretty great. It's one of my favorite plays,   and it's free. So I would check that out.   Last but certainly not least, Archery Adventure at East Fork State Park. This is gonna be August 9 from 03:15   to 04:15PM,   at East Fork State Park, the Nature Center area.   It's a beginner friendly archery program that's gonna be hosted by Ohio State Park's naturalist,   and you get to learn some basic basic archery skills. This is gonna be stuff like safety and shooting techniques.  

They provide all the bows and arrows.   It didn't say anything about cost or registration, but I would double check just in case if you're interested in this.   I also know BOCE if BOCE season hasn't started.   I'm sure we'll be starting soon. I think it's September.   So even if you are experienced, this might be a nice refresher   before you get out there   hunting some deer.   So, those are all the events that we have and that will bring us to we are a value for value podcast And what that means is that if you find value in what we're doing, we just ask for a little value in return   in the form of time, talent, or treasure.  

For time and talent, if you've got a story or something that's going on in your community that you wanna tell us about that you think we should be talking about,   let us know.   If you know somebody in the county or you yourself or somebody in the county that, is doing interesting things and you think we should interview,   you or some person, let me know, and we'll get you on here.   As I said in the intro for treasure, we now have a way for that to happen. If you go to our website, let's talk claremont.com,   click the donations tab,   and you can donate via PayPal or service called Stripe and they accept all kinds of different payments from credit cards to Apple Pay.  

And again, in the beginning, like I said,   any dollar amount is very appreciated, helps helps us keep doing what we're doing.   But for dollar amounts 50 and above, you'll get a special mention on the show. For 200 and above, you are an executive producer, and that is a valid credit that I will vouch for. You can put that on a resume. You can put that on IMDB. You can put that anywhere you want. In addition to that, we will also read a note,   whatever you wanna tell us. If you just wanna   talk about you or or business you're doing or whatever,   doesn't matter. So go there and check that out. You can connect with us on Facebook,   Let's Talk Claremont podcast, Instagram at Let's Talk Claremont   and you can always email us at info@let'stalkClaremont.com   and please follow us on on whatever streaming platform you have, whether that's Spotify or Apple podcast or like I said, whatever.  

That helps us out and it'll help you out because you'll get a notification,   anytime we have a new show.   So,   I normally wrap these up with some crazy thing my daughter, Olive, has said in the past week,   but, honestly,   I can't remember anything because my wife and I have been   working like crazy to get our house ready for a new baby, which will be here August 1. So   August 1, I will be in the hospital,   God willing with a with a new healthy baby boy. So instead of an oliveism, I'll just ask that, you know, if,   if you're inclined to,   send some prayers our way that that,   that that goes well.  

Well, thank you again for listening, and we will see you next time.