Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, June 9, 2018

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 9, 2018 

Jeff’s Book Pics By Jeff Brown

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


SAFEGUARD YOUR 
CRYPTOCURRENCY ASSETS 
WITH ESTATE PLANNING

One of the biggest appeals of cryptocurrency, such 
as Bitcoin, is that it is decentralized, unregulated, 
and anonymous. There are no financial institutions 
controlling it, and unless you tell someone 
you own digital currency, it remains a secret. 
When it comes to estate planning, however, 
that kind of secrecy can be disastrous. In fact, 
without the appropriate planning protections in 
place, all your crypto wealth will likely disappear 
the moment you die or become incapacitated, 
leaving your family with absolutely no way to 
recover it. 

 Indeed, we’re facing a potential crisis whereby 
millions—perhaps billions—of dollars’ worth of 
family wealth could potentially vanish into thin 
air unless cryptocurrency owners take action to 
protect their digital assets with estate planning. 
Fortunately, putting the appropriate safeguards 
in place is a fairly simple process for an attorney 
experienced with cryptocurrency.

 The first step in securing your crypto assets is 
to let your heirs know you own it. This can be 
done by including your digital currency in your 
asset inventory (such as the one we prepare for 
our clients) listing all your assets and liabilities. 
Along with the amount of cryptocurrency 
you own, you should also include detailed 
instructions about where it’s located and how to 
find the instructions to access it. But you want 
those instructions to be kept in a secure location 
because anyone who has them can take your 
cryptocurrency.

 Even if your heirs know you own 
cryptocurrency, they won’t be able to access 
it unless they know the encrypted passcodes 
needed to unlock your account. Indeed, there 
are numerous stories of crypto owners losing 
their own passcodes and then being so desperate 
to recover or remember them that they dug 
through trash cans and even hired hypnotists.

 The best way to secure your passcodes is by 
storing them in a digital wallet. The safest option 
is a “cold” wallet, or one that is not connected 
to the internet and thus cannot be hacked. Cold 
wallets include USB drives as well as “paper” 
wallets, which are simply the passcodes printed 
on paper—and ideally stored in a fireproof safe 
or safe deposit box. 

Since digital currency is such a recent 
phenomenon, not all estate planning attorneys 
are familiar with it. And although I don’t 
advocate any of my clients invest in it – that is 
their own personal choice – I have helped many 
safeguard their digital wealth just as effectively as 
all their other assets. 

 Why? Because at my firm we don’t just draft 
documents; we ensure clients make informed 
and empowered decisions about life and death, 
for themselves and the people they love. After 
all, that’s what estate planning should really be 
all about.

 Dedicated to empowering your family, 
building your wealth and defining your legacy,

A local attorney and father, Marc Garlett is on 
a mission to help parents protect what they love 
most. 

His office is located at 55 Auburn Avenue, Sierra 
Madre, CA 91024. Schedule an appointment to 
sit down and talk about ensuring a legacy of love 
and financial security for your family by calling 
626.587.3058 or visit www.GarlettLaw.com for 
more information.

Factfulness: Ten Reasons 
We’re Wrong About the World-
-and Why Things Are Better 
Than You Think by Hans Rosling 
and Anna Rosling Rönnlund 

“One of the most important books 
I’ve ever read an indispensable 
guide to thinking clearly about the 
world.” – Bill Gates. Factfulness: 
The stress-reducing habit of only 
carrying opinions for which you 
have strong supporting facts.When 
asked simple questions about global 
trends what percentage of the 
world’s population live in poverty; 
why the world’s population is 
increasing; how many girls finish 
school we systematically get the 
answers wrong. So wrong that a 
chimpanzee choosing answers at 
random will consistently outguess 
teachers, journalists, Nobel 
laureates, and investment bankers.
In Factfulness, Professor Rosling, 
together with his two collaborators, 
Anna and Ola, offers a radical new 
explanation of why this happens. 
They reveal the ten instincts that 
distort our perspective from our 
tendency to divide the world into 
two camps (usually some version 
of us and them) to the way we 
consume media (where fear rules) 
to how we perceive progress 
(believing that most things are 
getting worse).Our problem is that 
we don’t know what we don’t know, 
and even our guesses are informed 
by unconscious and predictable 
biases.It turns out that the world, 
for all its imperfections, is in a much 
better state than we might think. 
That doesn’t mean there aren’t real 
concerns. But when we worry about 
everything all the time instead of 
embracing a worldview based on 
facts, we can lose our ability to 
focus on the things that threaten 
us most.Inspiring and revelatory, 
filled with lively anecdotes and 
moving stories, Factfulness is an 
urgent and essential book that will 
change the way you see the world 
and empower you to respond to 
the crises and opportunities of 
the future.“This book is my last battle in my life-
long mission to fight devastating ignorance…
Previously I armed myself with huge data sets, 
eye-opening software, an energetic learning style 
and a Swedish bayonet for sword-swallowing. It 
wasn’t enough. But I hope this book will be.” 

Hans Rosling Origin Story: A Big History of 
Everything by David Christian 

A captivating history of the universe -- from 
before the dawn of time through the far reaches 
of the distant future.Most historians study the 
smallest slivers of time, emphasizing specific dates, 
individuals, and documents. But what would it look 
like to study the whole of history, 
from the big bang through the 
present day -- and even into the 
remote future? How would looking 
at the full span of time change the 
way we perceive the universe, the 
earth, and our very existence?These 
were the questions David Christian 
set out to answer when he created 
the field of “Big History,” the 
most exciting new approach to 
understanding where we have been, 
where we are, and where we are 
going. Christian takes readers on 
a wild ride through the entire 13.8 
billion years we’ve come to know as 
“history.” By focusing on defining 
events (thresholds), major trends, 
and profound questions about our 
origins, he exposes the hidden 
threads that tie everything together 
-- from the creation of the planet to 
the advent of agriculture, nuclear 
war, and beyond.With stunning 
insights into the origin of the 
universe, the beginning of life, the 
emergence of humans, and what 
the future might bring, Origin 
Story boldly reframes our place in 
the cosmos. 

Being Aware of Being Aware 
(The Essence of Meditation 
Series) by Rupert Spira 

Everybody is aware, all seven billion 
of us. We are aware of thoughts, 
feelings, sensations, and perceptions. 
All people share the experience 
of being aware, but relatively few 
people are aware that they are aware. 
Most people’s lives consist of a flow 
of thoughts, images, ideas, feelings, 
sensations, sights, sounds, and so 
on. Very few people ask, ‘What is 
it that knows this flow of thoughts, 
feelings, and perceptions? With what 
am I aware of my experience?’The 
knowing of our being—or rather, 
awareness’s knowing of its own 
being in us—is our primary, 
fundamental and most intimate 
experience. It is in this experience 
that the peace, happiness and love 
for which all people long reside. 
The happiness we have sought so 
long outside of ourselves, in situations, objects and 
relationships, turns out to be always present and 
available in the simple knowing of our own being as 
it truly is.The knowing of our own being shines in 
each of us as the experience ‘I am’ or ‘I am aware’, or 
simply the knowledge ‘I’. This obvious, familiar and 
intimate experience has no objective qualities and 
is, therefore, overlooked or ignored by the majority 
of people. This overlooking of our own being is the 
ultimate cause of unhappiness. What is the nature 
of the experience of being aware or awareness itself? 
The exploration of this question is the subject matter 
of this book and the essence of the Direct Path to 
peace and happiness.


All Things By Jeff Brown

THE TRUTH ABOUT WEED AND THE BRAIN

It may make sense to legalize marijuana, said 
neuroscientist Judith Grisel, but Americans are 
being” astoundingly naive about how the widespread 
use of pot will affect communities and individuals, 
particularly teenagers.” The research on marijuana’s 
effects on the brain shows that the ingredient the 
causes its “high” Delta 9-THC, can indeed dampen 
motivation and interfere with the successful life, 
as well as lead to tolerance, dependence, and 
craving- the hallmarks of addiction. “In particular, 
the research on THC’s inpact on the developing 
adolescent brain is inconveniently alarming.” Teens 
who smoke weed regularly, studies show, have 
reduced activity in brain circuits critical to noticing 
new information and making decision; they are 
60% less likely to graduate from high school, “are 
at substantially increased risk for heroin addiction 
and alcoholism, “ and are 7 times more likely to 
attempt suicide. Recent studies even show that THC 
can turn on or off genetic expression in a teenager’s 
epigenome, making young users future children “at 
increased risk for mental illness and addiction.” Yes, 
it’s true that alcohol and tobacco also have caused 
great damage, but let’s not pretend that marijuana 
is “benign or beneficial to all.” And let’s not pretend 
that legalizing weed will be without costs. 

Judith Grisel, The Washington Post 

Shower the People/a few lyrics by James Taylor 

“Oh, father and mother, sister and brother, if it feels 
nice, don’t think twice,just shower the people you 
love with love, show them the way that you feel.
Things are gonna work out fine if you only will do 
as I say, just shower the people you love with love, 
show them the way you feel.Things are gonna be 
much better if you only will.” 

 “I wrote ‘Shower the People’ in 1975. Basically 
it’s a positive universal love kind of anthem. And if 
there’s a point to the song, aside from encouraging 
people to express whatever love they feel, it’s about 
contributing positively to the world, making things 
better.And really the way to do that is immediately 
and locally. It’s not just to talk about what needs to 
happen on a global level. If you know somebody and 
you can improve their experience by your contact 
with them, then that’s the thing to do. Identify the 
people you care about and make them feel better. 
That’s how to make the world better. You don’t need 
to reorganize the United Nations.”James Taylor


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