by Ian | Jan 21, 2016 |
Manchester’s “General Bytes” Brand Bitcoin Vending Machine
After more than a year of providing the community with bitcoin in the Keene area, the Shire Free Church has now launched another Bitcoin Vending Machine, this one in Manchester!
Say hello to the “General Bytes” brand Bitcoin Vending Machine, now operational at Murphy’s Taproom! As with our Keene unit, the Shire Free Church’s goal is to bring bitcoin to the community at the lowest possible price, in furtherance of our mission of fostering peace. As a result, you’ll find the fee to be just 5%. (Though, it could be as high as 10% during a crazy spike in price – we’ve only had to do this once for a very short time in a year of operation in Keene.)
Murphy’s and the BVM are open seven-days-per-week, 11:30a-1a.
Murphy’s Taproom on Elm St. is host to the new Manchester BVM.
Special thanks to Murphy’s Taproom owner Keith Murphy for being willing to host this new unit after the less-than-stellar performance of the previous unit located at Murphy’s by a company called PYC. PYC was not based in NH and now appear to be out of business. The previous unit in the Taproom was a Skyhook brand, which in my experience, is the worst possible unit to have in public.
This new General Bytes unit should be much more reliable, as it has a much higher quality bill receiver unit than the Skyhook. Plus, it naturally comes in its beautiful yellow-and-black color scheme! It’s also the second publicly accessible Bitcoin Vending Machine in New Hampshire, and in fact all of New England & Upstate NY, according to visitors to the Keene BVM and CoinATMRadar.com.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to continue to connect more people with bitcoin at an excellent rate. Please bring your bitcoin wallet and give the new BVM a try, any day of the week! To learn more about bitcoin, visit bitcoin.com.
by Ian | Sep 3, 2015 |
Jazzy Girl on the Rainbow Bench!
This morning, Christopher Cornell of the United Church of Christ at the head of Central Square in Downtown Keene announced a really cool selfie contest in response to continued vandalization of their rainbow benches in Elsie Priest Park, just behind the UCC on Church St.
At least one unknown vandal in her sixties has been caught in the act of painting the rainbow bench in red. She ran to her red compact car and took off. The bench was subsequently painted rainbow by more volunteers, then attacked by the vandal(s) again, and so on. The church has plenty of paint and volunteers. Love will win over hate.
UCC administrator Mark C. Harris explained in a post to the church blog that the benches were painted rainbow this summer by volunteers and that they represent that, “We want everyone to feel welcome to use the park. This is in good keeping with our belief that all of God’s children are beloved, no matter who they are, or where they are on life’s journey. All are welcome, no matter their gender, age, race, ethnicity, economic status, sexual orientation, difference in abilities, religion or absence thereof.”
Renee Kate and Jazzy Showing Love > Hate
Today the benches are rainbow and people who side with love have been invited by the UCC to visit them and take a selfie, and post it on social media tagged with #onthebench. there are prizes, and the contest for the best selfie ends Saturday September 5th, at 10pm, which coincides with the end of the Keene Music Festival.
Speculation abounds as to the motivation of the vandal(s) – it’s easy to jump to a conclusion and say it’s someone with an anti-gay sentiment, but longtime readers of this blog will also recall the controversy back in 2009 when local entrepreneur Dorrie O’Meara launched her Mexican restaurant Pedraza’s. Some people around town were upset because O’Meara painted her building yellow! Certain grumpy people in this area seem to hate colors besides brick red and gray.
Take this, vandals!
Cornell said in an interview for Free Keene that he thinks the first time the the vandal(s) struck, the benches were fully painted red, but that since then the vandal(s) have only painted over the yellow part. He’s losing track of the amount of times the benches have been vandalized, but thinks it may have been at least six times, all since the beginning of August.
Smart move on the UCC’s part to make this into a hopefully-viral phenomenon. The vandals, whatever the hate they carry in their hearts, probably weren’t expecting these benches to turn into a movement!
The Shire Free Church is joining in solidarity with the UCC and all those who support love over hate, so I went out with Renee Kate and Jazzy the Studio Dog for a photo shoot this afternoon. Remember to tag your bench selfies with #onthebench on your social media posts.
Stay tuned to Free Keene for the latest on this controversy. Last year it was chalk causing controversy, this year it’s rainbows!
by Ian | Sep 2, 2015 |
The War on Drugs is a failure.
Ending the war on drugs is a good first step to removing a major barrier (fear of arrest) to addicts getting help. Let’s start by treating addicts with compassion. Hatred is not helping.
Church of the Invisible Hand founder and Shire Free Church minister Rich Paul wrote an excellent blog post on the matter while he was behind bars. He was jailed for a year for selling cannabis flowers – the cops and FBI even let a heroin dealer go free so they could bust Rich.
Rich’s blog is titled, “Reducing the Incidence and Impact of Heroin Abuse” – don’t miss it.
-Posted today to the Shire Free Church facebook page.
by Ian | Aug 18, 2015 |
Keene Native Jared Goodell Launching Morning Talk Show in Manchester
Goodell’s show will be the first local, longform weekday talk show on the station and it’s a major win for Goodell, a Keene native who cut his teeth in Keene music radio for years – he started at age 13 at WOOL-FM in Bellows Falls, VT. It’s a bold move for Saga to tap a young talk host like Jared to head up mornings. Good for them for taking the chance on the farm team rather than going the typical route of hiring some old politico or using a national morning show.
Goodell says of his new gig, “I hope to usher in a new era for talk radio. There is a lot of speculation as to the future of the format, some of which is not great. I love talk radio and want to see it live on for many more generations. Talk radio has always been the medium that the American people could use to amplify their voice and to hold their government accountable.”
He’s proven he’s got the chops for issues-oriented talk radio in his recent week-long fill-ins for longtime local morning man Dan Mitchell on WKBK here in Keene. I was grateful to be a guest on a recent episode to discuss the Shire Free Church:
Goodell’s new show will be 7a-9a to start, eventually expanding to 6a-9a after a syndication contract ends. While his show will not air in Keene at this time, you can still listen online via WFEA’s website.
Good luck in the big city, Jared. Here’s a video of Goodell performing WKBK’s morning show, courtesy of Youtube’s CAPTAINQUINN: (more…)
by Ian | Aug 14, 2015 |
JP, Rich, and Jessica
Like with all new churches, there are many who are disrespectful to our freedom of religion. While our church may not be hundreds or thousands of years old, it’s still subject to the same constitutional protection as anyone’s. The issuance of this marriage certificage is more recognition of those rights by the people calling themselves the state. Thanks to the Registrar of Vital Records for officially recognizing our freedom of religion. They now join the NH State Police, who recognized my status as a Shire Free Church minister in a 2014 press release and Keene District Court judge Edward J Burke who recognized Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s nonprofit status by accepting our certification of a defendant’s community service hours, which Burke has also done for the Church of the Sword.
The Shire Free Church offers a sanctuary for those seeking an escape from state churches. We perform media and real-life outreach to spread god’s message of peace and love and awakening those to the evil state religion. As the state believers continue to force their beliefs on us, we will continue to use their system to accomplish our god-given mission. Please join us.
by Ian | Aug 14, 2015 |
As expected, the city tax assessor denied Shire Free Church: Monadnock’s 2015 tax exemption for our parsonage and parish house here in Keene. Thanks to the Keene Sentinel’s Martha Shanahan for her feature story that was published in Tuesday’s paper:
Members of a Keene activist group and self-proclaimed church plan to file an appeal in Cheshire County Superior Court after the Keene Board of Assessors again denied their request for tax-exempt status on a Leverett Street house.
The group’s members, ministers of the Shire Free Church: Monadnock, have hired Manchester Attorney Brandon L. Ross to represent them in their second attempt to prove that the duplex doubles as a parish house or parsonage.
Ian B. Freeman, Darryl W. Perry and Mark Edgington, all members of the board of Shire Free Church: Monadnock and members of a loosely organized group of Keene libertarian activists, first filed an application with the Board of Assessors for tax-exempt status in March 2014. (more…)
