@ 592295cf:413a0db9

Week 12-08 a suitable protocol

The knots come to a head, some of you have gray hair, you get older.

Tkinter is better than ws://, more secure, but has limitations, unless you know how to use figma and do some magic. The project of Nabismo.

Maybe Nostr doesn't work for me.

Aspirin moment Nip-17, works with nip-44 and nip-59. Someone said they made the groups encrypted with nip-17. I tried and succeeded, now you can DM me, don't do it. I had sent the link to a conversation of nip-87 closed groups. There's JeffG doing something with MLS. Then there's keychat.io which uses signal Nostr Bitcoin ecash and that's it... But in dart. It's a bit like the Matrix analogue for Nostr.

Final controversy not all nips are mandatory.

Build the foundation. You can't think about selling the house

Yakihonne has a countdown. What can a desktop app be. Community Lists, Nip-29

A birthday on Nostr, no that's not possible, they're all cypherpunks. 🎉🎉 (Except me)

There is a different attitude from Nostr when updates are released compared to Bluesky, everyone there is still enthusiastic, on Nostr ah ok but this is missing oh but this is missing or but support this other one, or but * zap, wait a minute, keep calm 🙇‍♂️, I'm the first to do this. (The revolt of the developers)

Deletetion: Client that have relay paired can do delete, more intelligently, Perhaps you can think of a delete.nrelay subdomain as a filter. This id is deleted. Be careful what you don't want to do. Maybe a session with a psychologist is better, because then you find yourself doing what you said you didn't want to do.

Does it make sense to follow someone on Bluesky? In my opinion no, or better yet yes. There are several algorithms on Bluesky, which do their job well. In the end it's just a matter of arranging them better on the screen. Yes you can have lists to save someone, but then you read everything, so lists with algorithm seems like a next feature. this way they can keep the following small, almost minimal, because there are algorithms that work for the user. People will start writing for SEO algorithm and AI and other things, which tech gurus really like and so on. The fact that it is almost exclusively an app will greatly facilitate this trend, there will be almost no need for moderation, and you can get it all in just a few apps. (Great)

Oh yegorpetrov has abandoned. Pegorpetrov said that he is coming back 😌 It might be an invention but I'm a little heartened by it.

Bankify, a new wallet of super testnet, only for crush testers.

You can't stream on zap stream without reach, maybe it's better audio space. Contact someone maybe an influencer or Nostr elite or whatever. Open Source Justice Foundation streaming

Designer, I wanted to propose comment on wikifreedia nielliesmons article and follow #nostrdesign, but too many answers for today. NVK note is ~~mainstream~~

I think I'm not suited to Nostr.

Nostr-ava bike file geo tag sharing. (NIP-113) Sebastix doesn't respond, I must have done something bad to him, or maybe I'm stressing him too much. Finally he replied 🤙. In the end maybe, I have too much hype about this proposal and it's something I don't know maybe, but maybe if they were already doing something with geo tags it's better to say so.

Another birthday, less cypher more punk 😌

Usdt on Nostr, there must be some error. (freeform app)

USDT on tron ​​is like Money. (Bitcoiner not really)

Privacy issue, deletion motion, or deletion request, go go.

Nip29 hype, i don't have hype at all. I'm tired of words, I record a podcast on Nostr. Let's see if I can do it, at least think it. (It's more of a workflow thing than actually something I would do)

1. Create an npub (easy)
2. Record the audio episode (I think I can do it). Terrible audio
3. Loading on a Nostrhosting, if less than 10 MB it should go smoothly.
4. Publish the video or audio of the episode on some Nostr client, perhaps using blastr relay 😞.
5. Do the nostree link, by putting the episode, and also the npub.pro and put the URL on café-society. 6) Publish all these links on the Main profile, saying that, made a podcast about Nostr in Nostr of nostr. 😂

I thought a client could have poll, form, spreadsheet, collaboration document. It's the kind of otherstuff we want to see. Something that goes beyond a normal feed.

Emoj on bluesky, Eventually also zap 🥜 link emoj Blue

Eventually there will be a developer revolt And they will only do a social network in their downtime, they will call it Nostr.

There is a storm, Nostr does not work in 4g with two bars. Or now 4G is gone too.

Yakihonne Smart widgets, something to try on the weekend.

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

Wow

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

Ok

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

Testing

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

Some content

@ 3c827db6:66418fc3

Somebody, somewhere, at some point decided they would destroy the competition by creating a barrier to entry. They made the barrier high so they could feel safe. It is logical to put a fence around your property, and perfectly fine to do so. The problem is when you put a regulatory fence over something that means you are not allowing anyone else to have a property like this. Just to make the distinction clearer a fence around your house is creating a cost for other people to get in the yard. A license to be able to have a fence is creating a cost for anyone to protect their yard. The harder to attain and costlier the license is the more people can’t afford it. The more people who can’t afford it the bigger the divide between rich and poor. You can't have a fence because you can't have a license leaving your yard unprotected. The poor people are left unprotected and they get robbed easily, the rich are hard to get so they keep what they have. The more licenses/regulatory compliance someone has to comply with the more the costs for them are increased and the cycle of dividing is entrenched.

When constructing something physical, regulatory oversight is sensible to ensure structural integrity, particularly when people no longer build things for themselves. However, when it comes to more abstract concepts like licenses and credentials, possessing them doesn't guarantee success, and lacking them doesn't preclude doing excellent work. The whole point of the series is that the work should speak for itself and the people who did it should build their reputation based on their work history not on theory.

Let’s dive into a sector full of licenses for abstract things that keep people out and cornered the market. The betting industry.

The incentive structure in this scenario is problematic. Individuals with substantial financial resources that were gained illegally may seek friendly relationships with those responsible for issuing licenses. Obtaining a betting license now can serve as a means to launder money acquired unlawfully. Beyond mere laundering, they have a direct incentive to continue their illegal activities and a way to legitimize the funds. So they steal from the people who work and it gets even worse. Their scaling solution is to open the money laundering to other illegal actors.

A few parts of the economy are primed for these types of activities: the lottery, casinos, and sports betting.

Let’s start with the current lottery system and the “potential” exploits. Well, one person does something illegal and has stolen $1,000,000. Now he has a problem with how to legitimize the funds so he can spend it on things he wants. He goes to the owner of a lottery and says I will give you $200,000 if you give me an $800,000 winning ticket. Now 80% of the funds become legal. The person with the illegal funds buys $200,000 worth of tickets from which 1 of them is set up to win $800,000. Now all the funds have become legal. So the lottery company has a $200,000 income and $800,000 payout, seemingly paying out the winner with legitimate funds, but in reality, using the criminal's own money - correction, other people's stolen money. That is good for hiding taxes and the state is not getting anything, or is it?

The state gets its cut for every winning ticket by taxing all winners. Because of this income, they are incentivized to have more winners. This whole “hypothetical” system then is limited by how much money has to be laundered. More illegal money, more income for each side - the state, the illegal player, the lottery company. While they get the big winning tickets the public is left with the small prizes and they are robbed continuously for the next lottery "prizes". This tripod system demonstrates how one simple thing can be a continuous erosion of society. The lottery company does nothing to earn their money but they are incentivizing the illegal actors to continue doing illegal things. The State allowing licenses keeps competition out. The illegal actor closes the circle of his business.

The lottery should be something that is played without anyone having an advantage over anyone else. Including the company, there shouldn’t be a barrier for people creating all sorts of lottery games. The same model of behavior incentives is applicable for all the casinos. There is the same principle - some type of algorithm determines whether you win or not. But you can always approach the casino owner and apply the same logic to the casino. A player with illegal funds has to launder a million dollars again. In the first few hands, he wins a million dollars and keeps playing until incurs losses amounting to $200,000 and then stops. This way the casino loses $800,000 on its balance sheet but in reality, the illegal funds are distributed to the casino and the illegal actor.

In the sports betting industry, the barrier to entry is often determined by licenses, and companies typically act as custodians of the funds when users place bets. Additionally, these companies are responsible for providing betting odds, a task that incurs substantial costs when done accurately. Assessing various factors such as team performance, player injuries, and changes in management helps determine the odds. However, it's crucial to note that the odds provided by betting companies are designed to favor the company rather than the individuals placing bets. This inherent bias in odds contributes to the company's profit margin in the betting business.

Exploring a free and ethical approach to lottery apps and innovative payout structures

The whole lottery system should be verifiable! The point of it is not to have yet another system where the poor are preyed upon. That is why the lottery app should be open-sourced. The bigger reason for the apps to be FOSS - I am reluctant to say how this particular app should be created because, on the one side, there are going to be regulatory people who want you to ask for approval, and on the other side there are betting companies that a percentage of them are involved in criminal activities. If you create an app that makes them obsolete you will find yourself being attacked legally, illegally, and anything in between. That is why the only option that I see for a small guy to not be a target is to create this app as a FOSS (free and open source software). This will create a problem for those entities because there is no target. It will have no barriers for others to create apps competing with the existing incentives. There was a big debate in my head about whether I should publish this article about this particular topic because of the ethically sticky situation. Also, I do not think that people should play with money and bet on stupid things. The main reason that I am doing this is that there should not be an incentive to do illegal activities but there should be a cost for it. Since the current system is incentivizing it, people should create the cost for them by making a free alternative (no licenses, or permissions from anyone) and with no risk for the players (non-custodial). Also, the cases that we will look at below as a payment structure are simply cool and unique that we have yet to experience anywhere. This will push even us at Breez to create and facilitate them if the need is there. Now let’s take a look at the potential solution and what I envision it could look like.

An algorithm can be designed where individuals purchase a virtual ticket, and once 100 participants acquire tickets, the entire pool is distributed among three randomly selected winners. The distribution comprises 50% for the first prize, 30% for the second, and 20% for the third. The concept of a physical ticket is eliminated; instead, participants contribute equal amounts of satoshis to a smart contract, which activates upon reaching the 100th participant. The executed contracts allocate 50% to the first-place winner, 30% to the second, and 20% to the third. No entity holds funds for others, and participants await the completion of the 100 spots to determine the three winners. You can do the lottery for more or fewer people. For different amounts of sats. With a different payout structure.

I envision a lottery game modeled after the hashing race in Bitcoin mining. Participants are required to guess a number between 1 and 1,000,000 by locking in 10 satoshis for each guess. If the guessed number is incorrect, that specific guess is eliminated from the potential answers, and the satoshis from all guesses contribute to the Jackpot for the correct number. The participant who correctly guesses the number receives the accumulated satoshis. The payout amount depends on the position of the correct guess, for example, if it occurs on the 10th try, the prize is 100 sats, and if on the 100,000th try, the prize is a million sats. Upon completion of the payout, the game resets, and participants can engage in the next round.

Revolutionizing one-on-one Betting with trustless payouts

When I am with a friend, we can choose to place a bet on something--our favorite sports team, who can spit the furthest, or whether the sun will rise tomorrow. We are perfectly able to do so with cash, and we do not need a license from anyone to place those bets or determine the odds for us. There is only one problem that we have to handle when the results are in - the person who is losing the bet has to pay the winner. Because of this risk, you need a trusted third party that is unbiased to execute the payment when the results are known. Now you need a mitigation for the third-party risk--that they won't run away with the money. So you make a fourth party involved to determine who can have a license to be a trusted third party, and we are back to the current fiat operational model.

With instant settlement and smart contracts, we destroy all those problems. * You do not need a license for trust because no one is holding money for anyone else. * You do not need a trusted third party because you have a smart contract responsible for the execution of the payment when the results are known * You do not need a third party to determine the odds because they are decided by the people and put in the smart contract * You do not need to trust the person to pay when you win because he signed the execution of the payment when both of you placed the bet.

This structure for one-on-one betting is already implemented with a few games in the lightning space. One is from our friends at THNDR games and another is the Chain Duel. I like the infrastructure for the payment of the THNDR games because I am a sucker for non-custodial lightning. Custody for a second, a minute or a year is still custody.

What would a sports betting app look like that has a non-custodial instant settlement? There are a few easy settings to establish. First, there needs to be a deadline for placing bets before the sports event starts. Second, a timeframe must be set for the payout. In one-on-one betting, the payout structure is straightforward. Each side can wager any amount against the other, and if there is a disparity in the amounts, the odds are not 1:1. When the result is determined, the winning party has their funds unlocked without being sent, while the losing party has their contract executed, transferring the payment to the winner. THNDR is already implementing a similar concept called "clinch" which we are glad we had some input on, but I want to take it a few steps further.

Exploring novel concepts in wagering -> community-to-community

What if there's a group of people on one side of the bet and another group on the opposing side? What does the payout look like, and how are the odds determined? Let's delve into a straightforward graph to better illustrate this example.

The graphs in the picture are the reference for the explanations below

The individuals on the left consist of only two people, but they wager a larger amount. On the right, there are four people, but their bets are smaller. If the left side wins, the two individuals will share the $1,000 bet placed by the opposing group. Since they bet equal amounts, each person will receive $500, reflecting a 50% stake for each. Conversely, if the right side wins, the stakes differ. Individuals 1 and 2 have a 25% stake, person 3 has a 40% stake, and person 4 has a 10% stake. Consequently, their respective payouts would be $500, $500, $800, and $200. That was a surprise even for me - there is a proof of stake system that I would be for. I realized that the staking is just not used in the proper context and that is why I have a problem with it. Proof of stake is deployed for bets and bets only. There is no such thing called staking your energy - that is called working. Now this system is not the shitcoin model - stake something and I guarantee you something more. Staking something means that going in you know (or you should know) that your stake could be lost. If someone is asking you to stake money and promising you more money you should ask yourself who is the loser that will pay the winner. If I am the winner, who is the loser? If we are all winners that means we all lost to inflation and the winner is the inflator. Stake = Bet.

The true stake system introduces a novel dimension to betting. While the primary goal is to win, participants might consider adding more funds to their community bet to avoid dilution. For instance, if I initially bet $10 alone, I would have a 100% payout potential. However, if someone else places a $10,000 bet on my side, my potential payout percentage drops to less than 0.1%. In such a scenario, I face two choices: increase my bet on my community's side for a better payout or place a bet on the opposing side, capitalizing on the changed odds for a potentially significant payout if I am wrong. This concept sheds light on the genuine meaning of hedging. You are hedging things that you BET on! Whether you call it an investment strategy or not you should now recognize that everything in the fiat system is using these terms but hiding the fact that it is gambling. For example, if you are a true investor you should do everything you can to make your investment work and realize that goal. Betting against yourself = hedge.

The community-to-community betting brings about more significant implications than current betting models. In this setup, the victorious community directly benefits, and if the bet is placed on a sports event, the winning team supports the winning community. The funds from the losing team's community are directly paid to the winning community and not to a betting company. This eliminates the intermediary role of any betting company. The people also are forced to do their research and assess which is a good bet and which is not - not that the majority do it. If they did it was going to be clear to all of us by now that all sh*tcoins are the fiat scam on a blockchain.

When there are three or more possible outcomes for a bet, multiple people or communities can bet on those outcomes, and all losing communities pay the winning community. In this scenario, individual participants receive payouts based on their respective stakes. For instance, in a bet involving predicting an exact score where no one bets on the correct score, there is no winner, and consequently, no actual losers. In such cases, participants simply have their sats unlocked without any winnings or losses.

We invest our energy in goals - make sure it is your goals and not someone else's. With money, we do 3 things only - earning, spending, or gambling!

People want to pay you money so you achieve their goals and stake your money so you can lose it to them. Be very aware of where you invest your energy and how you are using your bitcoin. I would like to repeat my statement from above one more time. The forces that are involved with these gambling companies are very powerful and I do not want to inspire someone and put a target on their back. I am doing this because of the utility of the payments and because this can be an open-sourced project that just competes with them. Satoshi set a standard for how to solve a monopoly - with FOSS. This will completely reshape the coordination between humans again with instant settlement payment. I do not like that I am promoting betting behavior because it is addictive and dangerous but I hope this puts a light on why all fiat behavior is gambling. The only proof of stake that matters is what is your stake in Bitcoin from the 21 million coins. Having a stake there is betting on humanity for the better.

Now be careful with this bet to make that app!

@ 2ede6f6b:b94998e2

test

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459392

@ 2ede6f6b:b94998e2

test

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459391

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

• Updated the references documentation here and here
• Improved relay responses and added backwards compability for the used CommandResult class
• Added RelayResponses according to the logic described in NIP-01 using this PR#59 from kriptonix as a base.
  • OK response
  • ERROR response
  • CLOSE response
  • EVENT response
  • EOSE response
  • NOTICE response
• Partly integrated NIP-42 with an AUTH relay response
• Added the documentation page 'relay responses' on nostr-php.dev
• The screenshot is quite funny describing Nostr having PHP vibes comparing it with the ATProtocol from Bluesky [source].

@ 2ede6f6b:b94998e2

test

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459390

@ 46fcbe30:6bd8ce4d

Opinion about BitWallet - Buy & Sell Bitcoin (android)

On trustpilot, 20% of reviews are complaining about KYC only after trying to withdraw, with some claims of outright disappearing money.

WalletScrutiny #nostrOpinion

Join the conversation!

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

H1 Tag

Testing!

@ b22fef18:1bba6e1f

Chef's notes

Old family recipe that my grandma used to make during the summer. Creamy and refreshing.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 4 hours chilled
• 🍽️ Servings: 8-10

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup shredded cucumber
• 3/4 cup cucumber juice
• 3/4 cup water
• 1 packet lime jello
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1 cup 4% cottage cheese
• 1 cup Miracle Whip

Directions

1. Shred cucumber and add salt to draw out moisture.
2. Mix juice from shredded cucumber and water.
3. Heat juice/water and dissolve lime jello.
4. Allow to cool slightly. (Add a couple ice cubes to chill it down and remove before melted)
5. Mix together the jello mixture and all other ingredients.

@ 35f3a26c:92ddf231

What is multiculturalism?

Multiculturalism is a concept that promotes the acceptance, appreciation, and celebration of diverse cultures within a society. It involves recognizing and valuing the differences between various cultural groups while fostering social cohesion and equality.

The key principles of multiculturalism include:

1. Cultural pluralism: Acknowledging and accepting the existence of multiple cultural identities and practices within a society.
2. Equality: Ensuring equal opportunities and rights for all individuals, regardless of their cultural background or identity.
3. Inclusion: Encouraging participation and engagement of diverse cultural groups in social, political, and economic processes.
4. Respect: Promoting mutual respect and understanding between different cultural groups, while recognizing the legitimacy of differing beliefs, values, and practices.

Two questions come to mind:

1. Is it working?

IMO, most definitely not. The world is very divided by race, religion and ideologies, it is a very difficult task. Countries trying this the most (practically enforcing it by law) have encountered more division and segregation; people of the same race, country or ideology will create their own small city sectors, cultural sectors, commercial sectors (China town, little Italy, etc); as is happening in USA for a long time already, happening as well in Spain, France, Germany, etc. 2. Is it being encouraged with tolerance toward those opposing it? I personally don't think so, the irony... But that is just my opinion...

What do you thing?

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/651181

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.

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OOOO

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Table Of Content

• Introducing Bitgeneration

• The Bitgeneration Curriculum

• Impact on Italian High Schools

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Cryptocurrency education is becoming increasingly important in today's world, as more and more people are turning to digital currencies as a form of investment or payment. In Italy, Bitgeneration is leading the way in providing innovative education about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies to high school students. In this article, we will explore the Bitgeneration program and its impact on Italian high schools.

Introducing Bitgeneration

Bitgeneration is a program that aims to teach high school students about Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The program was founded in 2018 by two Italian entrepreneurs, Giacomo Zucco and Federico Tenga. The goal of the program is to provide students with a comprehensive understanding of how digital currencies work, their potential uses and risks, and their impact on the global economy.

The Bitgeneration Curriculum

The Bitgeneration curriculum consists of a series of interactive lessons that are designed to engage students and make learning about Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies fun and accessible. The lessons cover a range of topics, including the history of money, the principles of cryptography, the basics of blockchain technology, and the social and economic implications of digital currencies.

In addition to the classroom lessons, Bitgeneration also provides students with hands-on experience with cryptocurrencies through a series of interactive workshops. These workshops teach students how to use digital wallets, how to send and receive Bitcoin, and how to invest in cryptocurrencies.

Impact on Italian High Schools

Since its launch, the Bitgeneration program has had a significant impact on Italian high schools. The program has been embraced by both students and teachers, who have praised its innovative approach to education and its relevance to the modern world.

According to Giacomo Zucco, one of the co-founders of Bitgeneration, the program has already reached over 20,000 students across Italy. Zucco believes that cryptocurrency education is becoming increasingly important, as digital currencies continue to grow in popularity and influence.

In addition to providing students with a solid understanding of cryptocurrencies, Bitgeneration also aims to promote critical thinking and creativity among students. By encouraging students to explore the potential uses and risks of digital currencies, Bitgeneration is helping to create a new generation of thinkers and innovators who are prepared to navigate the complex world of digital finance.

Conclusion

The Bitgeneration program is a pioneering effort in the field of cryptocurrency education. By providing high school students with a comprehensive understanding of Bitcoin and other digital currencies, Bitgeneration is helping to prepare the next generation for the challenges and opportunities of the digital age. As the global economy continues to shift towards digital currencies, programs like Bitgeneration are becoming increasingly important in ensuring that students are equipped with the knowledge and skills they need to succeed in the world of tomorrow.

FAQ

What is the goal of Bitgeneration? The goal of Bitgeneration is to provide high school students with a comprehensive understanding of how digital currencies work, their potential uses and risks, and their impact on the global economy.

Why is cryptocurrency education becoming increasingly important? Cryptocurrency education is becoming increasingly important as more people turn to digital currencies as a form of investment or payment. Programs like Bitgeneration are helping to prepare the next generation for the challenges and opportunities of the digital age.

Who founded Bitgeneration? Bitgeneration was founded in 2018 by two Italian entrepreneurs, Giacomo Zucco and Federico Tenga.

What types of interactive workshops does Bitgeneration provide?

Bitgeneration provides students with hands-on experience with cryptocurrencies through interactive workshops that teach them how to use digital wallets, how to send and receive Bitcoin, and how to invest in cryptocurrencies.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

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Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 99fdaa11:3157ec8e

...

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

```js import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react"; import axios from "axios"; import { InputText } from "primereact/inputtext"; import { InputNumber } from "primereact/inputnumber"; import { InputSwitch } from "primereact/inputswitch"; import { Button } from "primereact/button"; import { Dropdown } from "primereact/dropdown"; import { ProgressSpinner } from "primereact/progressspinner"; import { useSession } from 'next-auth/react'; import { useRouter } from "next/router"; import { useToast } from "@/hooks/useToast"; import { useNDKContext } from "@/context/NDKContext"; import { useWorkshopsQuery } from "@/hooks/nostrQueries/content/useWorkshopsQuery"; import { useResourcesQuery } from "@/hooks/nostrQueries/content/useResourcesQuery"; import { useDraftsQuery } from "@/hooks/apiQueries/useDraftsQuery"; import { parseEvent } from "@/utils/nostr"; import ContentDropdownItem from "@/components/content/dropdowns/ContentDropdownItem"; import 'primeicons/primeicons.css';

const EditCourseForm = ({ draft }) => { const [title, setTitle] = useState(''); const [summary, setSummary] = useState(''); const [checked, setChecked] = useState(false); const [price, setPrice] = useState(0); const [coverImage, setCoverImage] = useState(''); const [selectedLessons, setSelectedLessons] = useState([]); const [selectedLessonsLoading, setSelectedLessonsLoading] = useState(false); const [topics, setTopics] = useState(['']);

const { ndk } = useNDKContext();
const { resources, resourcesLoading } = useResourcesQuery();
const { workshops, workshopsLoading } = useWorkshopsQuery();
const { drafts, draftsLoading } = useDraftsQuery();
const { data: session } = useSession();
const router = useRouter();
const { showToast } = useToast();

useEffect(() => {
    if (draft) {
        const fetchLessonEventFromNostr = async (eventId) => {
            try {
                await ndk.connect();
                const fetchedEvent = await ndk.fetchEvent(eventId);
                return fetchedEvent ? parseEvent(fetchedEvent) : null;
            } catch (error) {
                showToast('error', 'Error', `Failed to fetch lesson: ${eventId}`);
                return null;
            }
        };

        const fetchLessons = async () => {
            setSelectedLessonsLoading(true);
            const fetchedLessons = await Promise.all(
                draft.resources.map(lesson => fetchLessonEventFromNostr(lesson.noteId))
            );
            setSelectedLessons(fetchedLessons.filter(Boolean));
            setSelectedLessonsLoading(false);
        };

        fetchLessons();
        setTitle(draft.title);
        setSummary(draft.summary);
        setChecked(draft.price > 0);
        setPrice(draft.price || 0);
        setCoverImage(draft.image);
        setTopics(draft.topics || ['']);
    }
}, [draft, ndk, showToast]);

const handleSubmit = async (e) => {
    e.preventDefault();

    const payload = {
        title,
        summary,
        image: coverImage,
        price: checked ? price : 0,
        topics,
        resourceIds: selectedLessons.map(lesson => lesson.id)
    };

    try {
        await axios.put(`/api/courses/drafts/${draft.id}`, payload);
        showToast('success', 'Success', 'Course draft updated successfully');
        router.push(`/course/${draft.id}/draft`);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error updating course draft:', error);
        showToast('error', 'Failed to update course draft', error.response?.data?.details || error.message);
    }
};

const handleLessonSelect = (content) => {
    if (!selectedLessons.some(lesson => lesson.id === content.id)) {
        setSelectedLessons([...selectedLessons, content]);
    }
};

const removeLesson = (index) => {
    const updatedSelectedLessons = selectedLessons.filter((_, i) => i !== index);
    setSelectedLessons(updatedSelectedLessons);
};

const addTopic = () => {
    setTopics([...topics, '']);
};

const removeTopic = (index) => {
    const updatedTopics = topics.filter((_, i) => i !== index);
    setTopics(updatedTopics);
};

const handleTopicChange = (index, value) => {
    const updatedTopics = topics.map((topic, i) => i === index ? value : topic);
    setTopics(updatedTopics);
};

const getContentOptions = () => {
    if (resourcesLoading || !resources || workshopsLoading || !workshops || draftsLoading || !drafts) {
        return [];
    }

    const resourceOptions = resources.map(resource => {
        const parsedResource = parseEvent(resource);
        return {
            label: <ContentDropdownItem content={parsedResource} onSelect={handleLessonSelect} selected={selectedLessons.some(lesson => lesson.id === parsedResource.id)} />,
            value: parsedResource.id
        };
    });

    const workshopOptions = workshops.map(workshop => {
        const parsedWorkshop = parseEvent(workshop);
        return {
            label: <ContentDropdownItem content={parsedWorkshop} onSelect={handleLessonSelect} selected={selectedLessons.some(lesson => lesson.id === parsedWorkshop.id)} />,
            value: parsedWorkshop.id
        };
    });

    return [
        { label: 'Resources', items: resourceOptions },
        { label: 'Workshops', items: workshopOptions }
    ];
};

if (resourcesLoading || workshopsLoading || draftsLoading || selectedLessonsLoading) {
    return <ProgressSpinner />;
}

return (
    <form onSubmit={handleSubmit}>
        <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1">
            <InputText value={title} onChange={(e) => setTitle(e.target.value)} placeholder="Title" />
        </div>
        <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4">
            <InputText value={summary} onChange={(e) => setSummary(e.target.value)} placeholder="Summary" />
        </div>
        <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4">
            <InputText value={coverImage} onChange={(e) => setCoverImage(e.target.value)} placeholder="Cover Image URL" />
        </div>
        <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4 flex-col">
            <p className="py-2">Paid Course</p>
            <InputSwitch checked={checked} onChange={(e) => setChecked(e.value)} />
            {checked && (
                <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1 py-4">
                    <InputNumber value={price} onValueChange={(e) => setPrice(e.value)} placeholder="Price (sats)" />
                </div>
            )}
        </div>
        <div className="mt-8 flex-col w-full">
            <div className="mt-4 flex-col w-full">
                {selectedLessons.map((lesson, index) => (
                    <div key={lesson.id} className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4">
                        <ContentDropdownItem content={lesson} selected={true} />
                        <Button icon="pi pi-times" className="p-button-danger" onClick={() => removeLesson(index)} />
                    </div>
                ))}
                <div className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4">
                    <Dropdown
                        options={getContentOptions()}
                        onChange={(e) => handleLessonSelect(e.value)}
                        placeholder="Add a Lesson"
                        optionLabel="label"
                        optionGroupLabel="label"
                        optionGroupChildren="items"
                    />
                </div>
            </div>
        </div>
        <div className="mt-4 flex-col w-full">
            {topics.map((topic, index) => (
                <div key={index} className="p-inputgroup flex-1 mt-4">
                    <InputText value={topic} onChange={(e) => handleTopicChange(index, e.target.value)} placeholder={`Topic #${index + 1}`} className="w-full" />
                    {index > 0 && (
                        <Button icon="pi pi-times" className="p-button-danger mt-2" onClick={() => removeTopic(index)} />
                    )}
                </div>
            ))}
            <Button type="button" icon="pi pi-plus" onClick={addTopic} className="p-button-outlined mt-2" />
        </div>
        <div className="flex justify-center mt-8">
            <Button type="submit" label="Update Draft" className="p-button-raised p-button-success" />
        </div>
    </form>
);

}

export default EditCourseForm; ```

@ 000002de:c05780a7

I do not know if it is intentional or if there is some conspiracy behind this but it seems clear to me that the media is executing a pattern they have done before. Pushing a narrative about bitcoin that differs greatly from that the elite hold personally.

I keep hearing the bitcoin ETFs have been adopted by institutions. That's not plebs. The plebs are not buying the ETFs or bitcoin for the most part. They have been psyoped into believing its a scam or to volatile at a minimum. Meanwhile we are seeing more wealth elites openly talking about bitcoin. We are seeing huge financial institutions buying the ETF or forecasting bitcoin gains in market value.

Recently I heard Morgen Rochard, a bitcoiner and certified financial planner say that the licensing org she is a part of is going after CFPs that recommend bitcoin. Like I said, I don't know that this is coordinated but it is odd. And regardless of intent this is a fractal.

One thing I have learned over the years is to spot media bs when I see it. They are clearly holding the public back from learning about bitcoin. The crowd here isn't affected. We are early adopters. But just thought about this today. Your friends and family are likely falling prey to a psyop.

What do you think? Do you think this is all coincidence? Or is there something more sinister in play? Regardless, it is hard to break the programming of the people around you. I know. I have tried on many subjects. Most of us are just the weird people in our social circles. We think differently. We are not bothered by holding views that are not on the index card of allowable opinion. At this point with bitcoin and many topics I just let people be. If they ask I'm ready to talk but I don't push. I'm a firm believer in leading by example. Making sure I'm prepared and strong so I can be a lighthouse when the storms come.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/651157

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

```js import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

export default async function handler(req, res) { if (req.method === 'PUT') { try { const { slug } = req.query; const { courseDraftId, courseId } = req.body;

        console.log('Received data:', { slug, courseDraftId, courseId });

        const updateData = {};
        if (courseDraftId !== undefined) {
            updateData.courseDraftId = courseDraftId;
        }
        if (courseId !== undefined) {
            updateData.courseId = courseId;
        }

        const updatedResource = await prisma.resource.update({
            where: { id: slug },
            data: updateData,
        });

        res.status(200).json(updatedResource);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error updating resource:', error);
        res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to update resource', details: error.message });
    }
} else if (req.method === 'DELETE') {
    try {
        const { slug } = req.query;
        await prisma.resource.delete({
            where: { slug },
        });
        res.status(204).end();
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error deleting resource:', error);
        res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to delete resource' });
    }
} else {
    res.setHeader('Allow', ['PUT', 'DELETE']);
    res.status(405).end(`Method ${req.method} Not Allowed`);
}

} ```

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

```js import { PrismaClient } from '@prisma/client';

const prisma = new PrismaClient();

export default async function handler(req, res) { if (req.method === 'POST') { try { const { userId, title, summary, image, price, topics } = req.body;

        if (!userId) {
            return res.status(400).json({ error: 'userId is required' });
        }

        const courseDraft = await prisma.courseDraft.create({
            data: {
                title,
                summary,
                image,
                price,
                topics: topics || [],
                user: {
                    connect: { id: userId }
                }
            },
        });

        res.status(201).json(courseDraft);
    } catch (error) {
        console.error('Error creating course draft:', error);
        res.status(500).json({ error: 'Failed to create course draft', details: error.message });
    }
} else {
    res.setHeader('Allow', ['POST']);
    res.status(405).end(`Method ${req.method} Not Allowed`);
}

} ```

@ fa984bd7:58018f52

@ 1739d937:3e3136ef

This is the fifth in a series of weekly updates detailing progress on bringing MLS protocol DMs and group messaging to Nostr.

Previous Updates

• June 28th 2024
• July 6th 2024
• July 12th 2024
• July 19th 2024

Progress this week

I'm back from a few weeks of family holiday this week and feeling super productive. The major news this week is that I've posted the draft NIP to the NIPs repository for how to implement MLS messaging on Nostr. I've gotten feedback on the doc from several other Nostr devs but I'm absolutely looking for more feedback from the community.

I've also made progress on the dependencies that I was working on before my holidays. Info below.

The NIP

I won't review the entire proposed NIP here but I wanted to call out one tradeoff that I thought hard about.

In my original proposal, which only supported one-to-one direct messages, all messages between the two parties were sent as NIP-59 gift-wrapped events. This helps to hide metadata but it creates problems of it's own. Notably, it's very possible to DDoS Nostr clients with meaningless gift-wrap events since clients must decrypt and unwrap each event to even understand if it's something that is important to them.

Aside from those problems, gift-wrapping messages to an entire group would be very impractical. It would require the client sending a message to individually gift-wrap the message individually to all other participants in a group.

The tradeoff I've come up with is to use a public event, kind:445, tagged with the group ID, so that all participants in the group can easily query for messages from each of the groups that they are a part of. The content field of these event is encrypted using the MLS ratchet keys and thus is only able to be decrypted by members of the group. These events are published using an ephemeral key so that the number and identity of the group members is obfuscated.

This means that observers have a relative idea of the level of activity in a given group but don't know exactly how many or who is in the group. In addition, it's easy within the MLS spec to rotate the group ID over time.

Would love to hear thoughts on how people feel about that tradeoff.

HPKE-RS

My PR to add support for secp256k1 is stuck because of bad test vectors for the secp256k1 curve. I've been working on generating new vectors that will be usable by other HPKE implementations as well. Huge thanks to @dan for the help on this.

OpenMLS & Ciphersuites

As mentioned in the previous updated, I've spoken with the OpenMLS team about how to better support custom ciphersuites. I've started to work on the expansive refactor in OpenMLS to make this possible but it's going to take a while.

One major decision that has come from this is that I've decided that the NIP will not require a single custom ciphersuite (built around Schnorr signatures on the secp256k1 curve). Instead, clients can decide which ciphersuites they want to support and are able to implement this NIP immediately with the current OpenMLS version.

I will continue to work on refactoring the OpenMLS library to ensure that it supports custom ciphersuites and to build a custom Crypto Provider focused on the Nostr crypto primitives and I expect that, long-term, many Nostr clients will prefer to support only that ciphersuite to reduce the dependency surface area of their apps.

Onward and Upward

LFG! 🤙 Please take a moment and send me feedback and thoughts on the above and especially on the NIP if you're a developer.

@ be39043c:4a573ca3

Traditionally, miso making takes place during the cold winter. Miso is fermented during the warm season and start using after it gets cooler in the fall. However, I did make during the summer and there was no problem.

For 29oz miso

Ingredients: * Chickpeas 0.5lbs（227g） * Dried Koji 0.5lbs（227g） *not raw(active) koji * Natural salts 103g * Chickpeas : Koji: Salts = 1: 1: 0.45 (salts 12.5%)

I find chickpeas easier to handle than soy beans. For soy beans,

• Soy beans 230g (soak at least 18 hours)
• Dried Koji 340g
• Natural salts 　30g（Salts 12.5%）

You also need :
Container for fermentation -32 oz glass jar (no metal lid) or strong plastic container or bag that can be sealed. * large mixing bowl
small bowl
* pressure cooker or large pot * food processor or blender or masher (I use the bottom of small glass jar sanitized with hotwater) * parchment paper or plastic wrap to cover the surface

1. Wash chickpeas and soak over night
2. Cook chickpeas until it can be crashed with your thumb and pinky finger with a pressure cooker or a pot (this may take hours with a pot) Move a part of cooked liquid from the pot to a small bowl and drain the rest. Wait until chickpeas can be handled with hand.
3. Mash chickpeas into paste
4. Sanitize the 32oz jar with hot water or sanitizer of your choice
5. Mixed dried koji with salts with hand
6. Add koji and salts to the chickpea paste. Mix with hand well. Add a little bit of the liquid you put aside earlier if the paste is too dry (do not add too much).
7. When mixed well, make balls with the paste using hands.
8. Throw one of the balls into the jar and push onto the jar with your fist. Repeat this process. (you don't have to punch here. Just push. This process is to transfer the miso paste into the jar without air. The exposure to air will lead to mold. Make sure not to have a space.)
9. After throwing all balls into the jar and place tightly without air, seal the surface with a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap.
10. Close the lid.
11. Place the jar in a cool and dark place (room temperature). Leave 6 months to 2 years. After the half of the duration, you may pull out of paste and place the bottom half onto the upper half so that the miso will be evenly fermented. This process can be skipped. Check once in a couple of months if there is mold.
12. If mold appears on the surface, just scrape it off.

Miso pro's video. He uses soys.

https://marukawamiso.com/make-miso/85.html

@ 2ede6f6b:b94998e2

test

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459389

@ 33d72151:97ae5c43

La belleza quizás no es un atributo inherente a las cosas, sino una cualidad que emerge de la interacción entre el observador y lo observado. Al cambiar nuestra forma de mirar e interpretar, cambiamos nuestra forma de sentir y, en última instancia, nuestro estado de ánimo y por ende nuestra forma de vivir.

La belleza que percibimos en un paisaje, en una pieza musical o incluso en una situación desafiante, es un tejido entre lo que observamos y cómo lo sentimos. Es como un espejo que refleja el mundo exterior y como nosotros lo interpretamos en nuestro mundo interior.

Imagina un paisaje con campo de flores silvestres. Para algunos, puede ser simplemente un montón de plantas y flores, un lugar sin mayor interés. Pero para otros, esos mismos colores y formas moldeados por el sol al caer la tarde, pueden evocar recuerdos felices de su niñez, despertar emociones profundas por recorrer, en tiempos pasados de noviazgo y en su memoria con su pareja a su lado o simplemente inspirar pensamientos creativos en un pintor. La diferencia radica en la mirada interna, en la lente a través del cual observamos la realidad. Las cosas son como son y nosotros las vemos según como somos.

Un mismo mar puede ser visto como una inmensidad apacible y apetecible al baño o como un abismo amenazante con solo estar dentro a tres metros de la arena por una persona que no sabe nadar. Todo depende de "las gafas" con las que lo miremos e interpretamos. Lo mismo ocurre con la melodía de una canción: puede ser una fuente de alegría o una expresión de melancolía o incluso producir rechazo por traer malos recuerdos. La clave está en la actitud con la que nos acercamos a cada momento y experiencia.

Nuestra percepción y nuestro yo particular, moldeado por nuestras vivencias y emociones, colorea cada instante con los colores del arco iris o reduciéndolo a ocres o grises. Un amanecer puede ser un símbolo de esperanza y agradecimiento por un nuevo día, el recordatorio de que espera un día duro de trabajo o un recordatorio de la fugacidad del tiempo y lo efímeros que somos en la vida y en el universo. La belleza, la verdad y la realidad, en este sentido y con los ejemplos que he mencionado es una construcción muy subjetiva, como la felicidad es una interpretación muy personal de la realidad.

Esta dualidad no nos debería limitar; al contrario, nos invita a explorar las múltiples facetas que cada experiencia puede tener para nosotros o incluso para otras personas y con esto saber y entender que la verdad, en muchos casos no siempre es única. Pero también podemos elegir ver el vaso medio lleno o medio vacío y enfocarnos en lo positivo o en lo negativo. Y esta elección, a su vez si influye en nuestra propia realidad emocional y en la de los que nos rodean.

Cultivar una mirada positiva nos permite descubrir belleza de la vida incluso en los lugares y situaciones más inesperadas. Desdramatizar situaciones y positivar la vida en general es mejor. Nos abre las puertas a nuevas posibilidades y nos conecta con una sensación en general de bienestar, aceptación y equilibrio mental.

Sabiendo y siendo consciente de la dualidad, sin duda, al mirar el mundo con curiosidad, asombro y desde el punto de vista del observador positivo, transformamos nuestra experiencia de vida, enriquecemos nuestro viaje y nos mantendrá más en un estado de mayor tranquilidad y paz mental.

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Here's how people use OtherStuff apps.

1) They usually go there to write or post, not to read or view, unless someone they closely follow wrote about it in a Kind 01 note, SimpleX chat, Slack Channel, Telegram group, etc.

2) While they are there, they sometimes look around at what their frens have posted, zap them, leave a comment or a reply, etc. Sometimes they spend hours there. They really like it!

3) Then they leave.

4) If someone responds to anything they posted or wrote there, with anything other than a Kind 01 reply, they do not know about it, because it does not show up in their normal feed or notifications.

5) They do not come back until 1) happens again.

@ d1b118c6:4985b38d

Chef's notes

I hope you like it, let me know

https://maria.omg.lol

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 minutes or so
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 minutes or so
• 🍽️ Servings: 1-4

Ingredients

• Brussels sprouts cut in half
• Olive oil
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder
• Dried cranberries (craisins)
• Sunflower seeds
• Goat cheese
• Balsamic vinegar
• Sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F
2. Cut brussel sprouts in half
3. Put them on a baking sheet and mix them up with olive oil and seasoning
4. Throw them in the over for like 20-30 minutes
5. Mix balsamic vinegar and sugar together in a sauce pan, heat up til boil then turn it real low to thicken it up a bit
6. When the Brussels start to brown pull them out of the oven
7. Pour the balsamic sauce on the Brussels to taste
8. Add dried cranberries and sunflower seeds to taste
9. Add goat cheese to taste or use on flatbread/crackers on the side
10. Add bacon bits to taste (if you have already cooked bacon!)

@ 000002de:c05780a7

I'm honestly asking for your arguments in either direction. Specifically from an economic perspective.

I'm not specifying between so called natural monopolies, market monopolies, or state enforced monopolies.

What do you think?

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/649810

@ dbc3a87e:575a34c3

Step right into the dynamic world of crypto, where excitement is in the air with Kiloex. Imagine a place where airdrops and governance tokens create a buzz of opportunity. Picture the Kiloex initiative — a shining light in the ever-changing world of finance. Our guide is like your trusted friend, helping you navigate the ins and outs of the Kiloex airdrop journey while showing you why it matters so much.

Discover the Kiloex Airdrop Experience

Kiloex airdrops are more than just receiving tokens; they’re like big celebrations that reward supporters with over $5000+ in value and valuable governance tokens. It’s not just about tokens; it’s about having a say in where the project goes next — a dream come true for fans of DeFi and community-driven projects.

How to Join the Kiloex Airdrop Adventure

👉 Visit the Airdrop Page: Click on claim

👉 Connect Your Wallet: Link your active wallet to join (Empty wallets are ineligible.

👉 Verify Eligibility: Click Confirm on the prompt request to verify participation through your wallet by signing the prompt request.

👉 Claim Your Tokens: After Approving the prompt on your app, You will receive your rewards.

Tips to Get the Most from Your Airdrop Experience 💡 Get Involved: Immerse yourself in the vibrant crypto community to find more airdrop opportunities and make meaningful connections.

💡 Stay Updated: Keep an eye on new projects and exciting token giveaways.

💡 Keep It Fair: Follow the rules and stay ethical as you pursue airdrop rewards.

In Conclusion The Kiloex airdrop isn’t just about tokens; it’s about joining a community-driven movement that values solidarity and collective impact. Stay informed, get involved, and enjoy the rewards waiting for you. Remember, in the world of crypto, knowledge and security are your best friends. Are you ready to unlock the limitless possibilities of the Kiloex Airdrop? Get Started!

Disclaimer: 1. According to the rules of Medium about cryptocurrency (https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000646167-Cryptocurrencies-on-Medium), I warn about the high risks of investing in cryptocurrency. 2. In accordance with Medium Rules (https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/213477928-Medium-Rules) and Federal Trade Commission law, I confirm that the article contains referral links.

@ 81870f53:29bef6a6

ここで、CNN チャンネルの絶え間ない衰退がわかります。完全に覚醒し、ワシントンの外交政策に有利な情報のみを発信し、ほぼ10年間トランプを侮辱し、例えばエルドアンやオルバンなど米国に反対するすべての人々に嘔吐してきたが、今やその所有者にとって支払うべき代償は非常に高価なものとなっている。 :

CNNはもう価値がない、ゼロ、NADA

ワーナー・ブラザーズ社は、情報を得たければ他のより中立で誠実なサイトを経由しなければならないことを米国人が理解していたため、91億ドルの価値を帳消しにすることを余儀なくされた。

「親会社のワーナー・ブラザースが91億ドルの評価損を計上したことで、CNNは実際には無価値になった。何年もの間、「私たち全員にとって」明らかだったことが、ついに公式になった。昨夜遅く、CNNとTNTの親会社であるワーナー・ディスカバリーの株価は10％下落した悲惨な結果を報告し、あらゆる面で期待を外れ、損益計算書のすべてのカテゴリーで落ち込んだ後、過去最低となった。

「2年前、従来のメディア企業の市場評価と状況は現在とは大きく異なっていた」とCEOのデビッド・ザスラフ氏は投資家との電話会議で語った。）今回の評価損は、NBA（バスケットボールリーグ）による先月のワーナー解任決定に続くものである。放送パートナーとして、ウォルト・ディズニー、コムキャスト、アマゾン・ドット・コムと11年間の760億ドルのメディア権契約を結ぶ。ワーナーブラザーズ先月、契約違反の疑いでNBAを相手取って訴訟を起こした。

さらに重要なのは、この下落は、従来のテレビの収入の大部分を占める広告販売と受信料を伴って、CNNなどのケーブルネットワークからストリーミングへ視聴者が流出し続けていることを反映しているということだ。

こうした変化はメディアにも反映されました。ワーナーは過去1年間で2,000人以上のポジションを削減し、先月CNNで100人を削減した」とブルームバーグを引き継いだZHはここに書いている。

いずれにせよ、新しい情報消費習慣により、会計士は貸借対照表における CNN と TNT の価値を 90 億下げることを余儀なくされました...

翻訳: CNNは死んだ。

そしてそれがパラマウントにとっても重要な点だ。「今週のパラマウントとワーナー・ブラザース・ディスカバリーの評価損は従来のテレビの棺に釘を刺すものだ」とイーマーケッターのテレビ・ストリーミングアナリストのロス・ベネズ氏は述べ、「パラマウントにとっては最大のチャンスだ」と語った。この状況から抜け出す方法は、Skydance を利用することです。待てば待つほど、ビジネスの価値は下がってしまいます。」

パラマウントの映画事業は、「IF」などの作品が初登場で興行収入トップとなり、「クワイエット・プレイス：デイ・ワン」がシリーズ最高の財務成績を記録したにもかかわらず、5,400万ドルの損失を計上した。」

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/cnn-effectively-worthless-after-parent-warner-bros-takes-91-billion-writedown

@ bcbb3e40:a494e501

El hombre y el contexto

El pensamiento tradicionalista español cuenta con una amplia trayectoria en la que concurren personajes, situaciones e ideas gestadas en el transcurso de dos siglos, en los que debemos distinguir el conflicto dinástico y el papel del legitimismo de la propia doctrina, que es algo que se construirá en el tiempo, con la contribución de figuras como el protagonista de este escrito, Don Juan Vázquez de Mella, así como por la confluencia de fuerzas de diferente signo que tiene lugar a lo largo del siglo XIX y la consolidación del Estado liberal, que lo hará siempre en lucha abierta contra las peculiaridades y el carácter genuino del pueblo español. Vázquez de Mella, nuestro autor, quizás represente la consolidación y madurez doctrinal del movimiento tradicionalista español, uno de sus primeros y más brillantes sistematizadores. No se destacó por una obra extensa ni especialmente difundida más allá de sus discursos, de sus artículos en periódicos y sus escritos dispersos, los cuales fue capaz de dotar de una especial significación y dignidad fruto de su enorme carisma y especial clarividencia para dar una forma definida y meridianamente clara a las ideas y doctrinas que nutrieron el tradicionalismo español madurado al calor de las armas, de las tres guerras que el carlismo libró contra el liberalismo español.

|| |:-:| |Juan Vázquez de Mella|

Nuestro autor, de origen asturiano, y nacido en Cangas de Onís un 8 de junio de 1861, ha mantenido vivo su prestigio y el valor de sus aportaciones teórico-doctrinales, ampliamente reconocidos por sus sucesores, por Rafael Gambra Ciudad (1920-2004) y Francisco Elías de Tejada y Espinola (1918-1978), así como de otros autores como Álvaro D'Ors (1915-2004) y otros muchos, que han reivindicado su figura en el tiempo y se han nutrido de sus fecundas enseñanzas. Se ha destacado la rectitud de su pensamiento, su inquebrantable voluntad y su impagable contribución en la creación de un marco teórico y conceptual para dar un sentido y una forma a las ideas del tradicionalismo español. Hijo de un militar de origen gallego, muerto prematuramente, quedó huérfano de padre durante su niñez, por lo cual pasó al cuidado de unos parientes de origen modesto. Estudió en la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, donde mostró tempranamente su temperamento y habilidades oratorias, que explotó convenientemente a través de diarios como La Restauración o El pensamiento galaico, donde también mostró sus filiaciones militantes con el catolicismo tradicional. Sus habilidades y la brillantez de sus escritos pronto llegaron a Madrid, a las más altas instancias del Carlismo, lo que le permitió dar continuidad a sus actividades desde un medio más amplio, a través de El correo español.

En su militancia política llegó a las más altas cotas de su trayectoria con la elección en 1893 como representante de las Cortes por el distrito de Estella, Navarra, que ya con sus primeros discursos obtuvo un notable éxito, incluso entre los propios liberales, hasta 1900, fecha en la que se vio obligado a marcharse a Portugal, acusado de participar en una conspiración para derrocar el régimen de la Restauración. No regresó a España hasta 1905, manteniendo su estatus como diputado hasta 1919. De todos modos, no queremos dar más protagonismo a la biografía en detrimento de la doctrina, que es lo que nos interesa en este artículo, de ahí que obviemos otros datos biográficos trascendentes, polémicas con otras facciones del carlismo o sus posturas respecto a la dictadura del general Miguel Primo de Rivera, que nos harían desviar la atención del propósito principal que acabamos de enunciar.

La gran paradoja del Carlismo fue que a pesar de su derrota en la Tercera Guerra Carlista (1872-1876), y pese a la posterior escisión integrista en 1888, el partido carlista continuó manteniendo una fuerza y preponderancia significativa en la sociedad española del régimen de la Restauración durante el último cuarto de siglo. El Carlismo se vio inmerso en un buen número de paradojas, de situaciones encontradas, especialmente en relación al Desastre del 98 y la pérdida de los últimos territorios ultramarinos. Mientras que la gran esperanza del tradicionalismo español estaba depositada en el desmoronamiento y caída final de la restauración alfonsina, por otro lado este mismo régimen trataba de defender, al menos en teoría, los últimos restos del imperio español y, de algún modo, a la España católica frente a una nación protestante, como era la anglosajona estadounidense. Al mismo tiempo, durante esta época el tradicionalismo español se enfrentó a los grandes retos que presentaba una sociedad en cambio, con transformaciones políticas y sociales de gran calado como la emergencia del sufragio universal o el nacimiento de los separatismos periféricos (propiciados por la burguesía liberal), las cuales requerían de nuevas estrategias y reestructuraciones internas capaces de enfrentar la envergadura de todos estos cambios. Fue en este contexto donde se significó la figura de Juan Vázquez de Mella, quien merced a la obra de sistematización a la que ya hemos hecho alusión, y de sus concurridas conferencias, dio lugar a la denominada Acta Loredán, redactada por el tradicionalista asturiano y publicado en El correo español. Este escrito tenía como ejes fundamentales la defensa de la nación política española fundamentada en la monarquía, el catolicismo y el régimen foral. Al mismo tiempo, también recogía la reivindicación de un programa corporativista y gremial al abrigo de la doctrina social de la Iglesia defendido en la encíclica Rerum Novarum (1891), y es lo que se conoce como el «sociedalismo», cuyos antecedentes encontramos ya en autores como Donoso Cortés o Antonio Aparisi Guijarro. Son precisamente los atributos de esta doctrina, que contribuyó a la revitalización del pensamiento carlista, los que nos disponemos a desarrollar a continuación.

La figura del tradicionalista asturiano, de Don Juan Vázquez de Mella, aparece como necesaria ante una serie sucesiva de destrucciones que el régimen liberal ha producido sobre los fundamentos tradicionales de España, pero su papel no fue, como ya venimos apuntando, el de un gran intelectual erudito, y de hecho, como apunta Rafael Gambra, las mayores debilidades de su pensamiento se encuentran en los principios filosóficos, y destacando, en cambio, su papel de «revulsivo espiritual» podemos ubicarlo mejor en el ámbito de lo político y lo espiritual. Para ello debió tomar en cuenta las fuentes de sus predecesores, entre los cuales podemos ubicar perfectamente al ya mencionado Donoso Cortés y Jaime Balmes, así como también a otro contemporáneo suyo, Menéndez Pelayo. De los dos primeros tomó su capacidad de síntesis y la sencillez expositiva, mientras que de Menéndez Pelayo tomó, al menos en parte, el sentido de la crítica histórica en aras de la restauración de una Tradición nacional. Pero más allá de los sistemas de pensamiento y elementos retóricos, vemos a Vázquez de Mella profundamente interesado por la vida política de los pueblos medievales de Las Españas, lo cual fue, en definitiva, el marco de referencia para una síntesis política de conjunto más allá de los posicionamientos teóricos, como algo que puede ser llevado a la práctica en sus aspectos concretos y que es perfectamente viable. Todo un sistema edificado sobre el pensamiento tomista y una una profunda religiosidad, En este contexto, y más allá de las ideas formuladas por realistas y carlistas en la primera mitad del siglo XIX, Mella teoriza junto a la concepción del espíritu medieval, la idea de la coexistencia de dos soberanías, una política y otra social, una teoría de la soberanía tradicional inspirada por un principio dinámico y que se cimenta en las propias experiencias humanas en el devenir de la historia.

|| |:-:| |NITOGLIA, Curzio; En el mar de la nada: Metafísica y nihilismo a prueba en la posmodernidad, Hipérbola Janus, 2023|

El concepto de lo social

Lo social para Mella no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con las denominadas «políticas sociales», tan comunes en el lenguaje político de las democracias liberales, en las que se contempla lo social como un elemento externo a la propia estructura política, donde prevalece el individualismo a todos los niveles, y la sociedad aparece como un mero agregado de individuos. Muy al contrario, lo social, en el tradicionalismo de nuestro autor, implica la afirmación de un principio intrínseco tanto al modelo social como al tipo humano, así como a la naturaleza de las cosas en las que la persona desarrolla su existencia en común con los demás. Nos referimos a las instituciones, a los elementos jurídicos y otros órganos gestados en el tiempo por la experiencia histórica, que regulan la vida común.

En el ámbito de la sociedad cristiana medieval, en plena Reconquista, cuando todavía no existía un Estado unitario como tal, cada municipio tenía sus propias leyes y sus normas, adaptadas a su modelo de vida y costumbres, Las comunidades se concebían como agrupaciones de familias con un sistema de propiedad comunal y privado en las que el patrimonio y el estatus de cada uno de sus miembros venía garantizado por el ejercicio activo de una serie de derechos en defensa de las libertades concretas, cuya fuente última era el derecho natural. Los señores feudales y los reyes se limitaban a reclamar tributos para la guerra, pero sin interferir en la defensa de estas libertades concretas ni vulnerar el sistema que las sustentaba.

Eran gobiernos autárquicos, muy estables e inspirados por un principio democrático, el cual nada tenía que ver con las democracias liberales plutocráticas de la actualidad, cuya idea del derecho y la justicia está pervertida por el formalismo jurídico vacío e inane de sus constituciones, abstractas y plenamente funcionales a las oligarquías, al servicio de intereses espurios. En este caso, el hombre alcanzaba una plena dignidad y desarrollo en el contexto de una comunidad donde prevalecía el vínculo comunitario, al amparo de un modelo tradicional, de normas consuetudinarias y concretas que permitían la defensa efectiva del propio derecho. Ni siquiera con el advenimiento de los Estados modernos, y la centralización de algunos elementos de poder, como la Hacienda o el Ejército, se vieron alterados significativamente estos elementos, que representaban a los denominados «cuerpos intermedios» de la sociedad, y que adquirieron su propia expresión particular bajo el nombre de «Fueros», los que los propios reyes juraron respetar a lo largo de toda la Edad Moderna y hasta el advenimiento del régimen borbónico.

La antropología tradicional vincula al hombre a un medio social, a una familia, a una estirpe o a un pueblo, que reproducen esa misma estructura familiar, aunque a mayor escala. En nuestro caso particular lo vemos a través de la convivencia de pequeños grupos humanos, de ahí la importancia de los municipios o de los concejos en un marco de vida comunitaria fuertemente institucionalizada. Al mismo tiempo este modelo y estructura también se replicaba en otros ámbitos, como en la vida económica y profesional, impregnando todas las esferas de la vida del hombre. Instituciones naturales, amparadas en el derecho natural, y orientadas a la protección y garantía de prosperidad de los hombres, y esto por encima de cualquier interés particular y mercantil de negocio. Para Mella, la ruptura con este mundo, y en general con las experiencias del pasado, es la que nos lleva, merced a la acción del liberalismo, a los tiempos actuales, y lo hace recorriendo un itinerario que todos conocemos, y que tienen su punto de partida en la Ilustración y la posterior Revolución Francesa, la irrupción del elemento racional y abstracto y la destrucción de la religión, considerada como fruto de la superstición. La destrucción del orden feudal, que todavía pervivía como marco de convivencia en el mundo rural, como una suerte de prolongación de ese espíritu medieval, hizo desaparecer de un plumazo ese entorno de relaciones concretas y personales para sustituirlas por lo «público» entendido como la centralización estatal uniforme, ignorando las realidades particulares subyacentes en el cuerpo social, los denominados «cuerpos intermedios», que fueron despojados de su autonomía, corporaciones y patrimonios. De modo que la destrucción de estas «sociedades intermedias» que mediaban entre el Estado y la sociedad desenraizó y destruyó la propia sociedad, al mismo tiempo que los fundamentos cristianos del derecho natural sobre la cual se hallaba asentada, para hacer prevalecer esos principios racionales y abstractos traídos por la revolución.

Al mismo tiempo, y anejo a este desarraigo, del individuo se encuentra sometido a poderes arbitrarios del propio Estado liberal, sin un conglomerado institucional propio que lo proteja de estos atropellos, sumido en el individualismo ajeno a toda institución y destino colectivo, se limita al voto cada cuatro años de los partidos al servicio de oligarquías e intereses espurios, contrarios al Bien común. En este sentido, y advirtiendo las posibles acusaciones de «absolutismo» que en ocasiones se han lanzado contra el tradicionalismo, hay que señalar que Mella las rechaza por completo, dado que viola la idea de contrapoderes frente a la autoridad del rey que éste formula, ya que el absolutismo creía en la existencia de un poder ilimitado y tiránico del rey, transmitido por Dios y ajeno a la participación de la sociedad y sus estamentos. Como bien señaló Julius Evola, el absolutismo es un fenómeno antitradicional, vinculado a la descomposición y desacralización de las estructuras tradicionales. De hecho, el absolutismo, como los regímenes liberales de hoy, dejan al individuo totalmente desprotegido, sin un asidero sobre el que apoyarse en la defensa de sus libertades concretas. El propio Mella, como bien saben todos los que se adentren en su obra, fue partidario de contrarrestar el creciente poder del aparato estatal, tal y como hemos visto y seguiremos viendo en lo sucesivo, a lo largo del presente artículo.

|| |:-:| |EVOLA, Julis; Metapolítica, Tradición y Modernidad: Antología de artículos evolianos, Hipérbola Janus, 2020|

En nuestro caso particular, la desaparición de la organización gremial y corporativa tuvo unas consecuencias especialmente nefastas, y en especial después de las dos desamortizaciones liberales (Mendizabal y Madoz) al despojar a los grupos sociales populares de su natural organización sociohistórica. Asimismo, desvincularon la propiedad en las relaciones comunitarias y su uso patrimonial para vincularla al uso privado y anónimo, para fines puramente especulativos, los que caracterizan al liberal-capitalismo. De ahí nace la figura del asalariado, del contratado como mera mercancía, en un proceso de alienación del trabajo característico en el desarrollo del capitalismo burgués. De aquí parte lo que algunos tradicionalistas, como Gambra, denominan el «problema social», frente al cual, y al margen de las recetas ideológicas de la modernidad, Mella reivindica la restauración de los antiguos vínculos corporativos y orgánicos de inspiración medieval.

La idea de soberanía social

Todos los procesos disolutivos que conducen a la Modernidad liberal tienen su punto de inicio con el Renacimiento, con la afirmación del individualismo y la ruptura definitiva del ecumene cristiano medieval, algo que aparece indefectiblemente unido a la Reforma luterana, así como la «valorización» del mundo clásico, con la reemergencia de teorías de tipo hedonista, como las de Epicuro, por ejemplo, generando una disolución de los vínculos con el medio concreto. Esto supone la aparición de un nuevo tipo, que es el hombre abstracto que escapa cada vez más al entorno inmediato y vital, esto al tiempo que el poder del Estado se robustece y se vuelve omnipotente. Es por ese motivo que en lo sucesivo se ha impuesto en nuestras sociedades la falta de concreción, tanto en lo teórico como en lo político, lo cual ha propiciado el triunfo del contrato social roussoniano y la justificación del orden social en virtud de componendas voluntarias y totalmente artificiales. Estas construcciones político-ideológicas son las que contribuyen a la construcción de la sociedad liberal, asentada sobre patrones puramente racionales, individualistas y mercantilistas.

De hecho, la mayor preocupación de Mella es la destrucción de las instituciones locales y ese vínculo afectivo del hombre con su realidad inmediata, algo que impregnaba su relación con el trabajo, con su obra, con su impronta vocacional y devota, imprimiéndole, como en el caso del artesano, un sello propio y particular a su trabajo.

Y en este sentido, Mella afirma que la sociedad moderna ha perdido su sentido institucional como base estable de la sociabilidad. A través del elemento jurídico y la participación en las instituciones es el medio a partir del cual la comunidad se cohesiona y construye sus vínculos y su particular autonomía, que le hace tener una vida propia e interna, y con la institución nos podemos referir desde una asociación profesional, a la universidad o una cofradía etc. El individualismo ha representado el factor disolutivo y corrosivo que ha destruido este vínculo social fundado en múltiples solidaridades que han enfrentado y polarizado al cuerpo social, con el enfrentamiento entre «clases sociales» y la negación de las jerarquías naturales.

Ante todo lo relatado, y como consecuencia de las destrucciones provocadas por la revolución, Mella plantea su teoría de la soberanía social. Esta teoría consiste básicamente en encuadrar de nuevo a la sociedad en sus raíces naturales, concebida en todos sus órdenes como portadora de un dinamismo propio en una suerte de organización geométrica en la que conviven objetivos y finalidades variadas y concretas con su propia legitimidad y autonomía. Estas finalidades, amparadas en el derecho natural, son junto al poder del propio Estado las únicas formas de limitación del poder. La particularidad de esta idea de soberanía social está en el hecho de que la formación de la jerarquía social tiene una dirección ascendente, que tiene como punto de partida a las personas colectivas y concretas, pasando por una serie de instituciones, hasta llegar al Estado central, de forma escalonada y plenamente conscientes de sus funciones. Así lo expresa Mella en su propio lenguaje: «la jerar­quía de personas colectivas, de poderes organizados, de clases, que suben desde la familia hasta la sobera­nía que llamo política concretada en el Estado, que deben auxiliar, pero también contener». Es lo que Mella concibe como el sociedalismo, que supone la reintegración de la sociedad en la vida concreta de los hombres, con el desarrollo de una vida política común y estable en el marco de instituciones naturales que potencien las relaciones humanas y sociales, estimulando la sociabilidad. Y hablamos, desde la perspectiva de la integración de distintas sociedades, fuertemente institucionalizadas con funciones y finalidades concretas, más allá del sentido democrático y pactista que pueda entenderse en términos modernos o de cualquier asociación u organización relacionada con el «problema social».

¿Qué es la Tradición?

De este modo quedan formuladas las dos soberanías, la política y la social, que coexisten en un mismo espacio limitándose y apoyándose recíprocamente en lo que es uno de los fundamentos del sociedalismo de Mella. No obstante, esta doble soberanía no explica todavía la concreción política de cada pueblo y el vínculo superior que lo lleva a federarse con las diferentes sociedades y a mantenerse unido en una historia y espíritu comunes. Los vínculos que las mantienen unidas en el tiempo tienen que ver con un orden histórico concreto, con un vínculo espiritual que las entrelaza interiormente de una generación a otra, y en última instancia de ese orden tradicional que lo engloba todo, y que al mismo tiempo se asienta en la monarquía y la religión católica. La lealtad a Dios y a un solo rey en torno a los cuales se aglutina la fe, viene a coronar todas estas estructuras y lazos forjados en el fermento de la historia.

No se trata de la Tradición en términos de un «ultraconservadurismo», que ya sabemos que el prefijo «ultra» (lo que sea) es muy recurrente en nuestros días, con la idea de un medio social y político petrificado e invariable, sino que es el producto de un proceso de maduración y evolución histórica, de carácter dinámico y nutrido de experiencias humanas. Nada que ver con las monstruosas ideologías progresistas y modernas, nacidas de lo abstracto e impulsadas por un desbocado «ir hacia delante», desarraigado y que tiende siempre hacia la deshumanización y la destrucción de toda creación humana natural forjada en el devenir de los siglos. Este mismo dinamismo, planteado por Mella, en torno al concepto e idea de Tradición tiene continuidad y adquiere fuerza en sus sucesores y depositarios. Y al fin y al cabo, Mella no hace más que partir de la propia etimología del término, que viene del latín tradere, entregar, de la generación que entrega los frutos de su experiencia a la siguiente, perfeccionándola, haciéndola más estable y segura.

Podríamos seguir extrayendo más conclusiones del pensamiento tradicional de Vázquez de Mella, pero probablemente excedería, y por mucho, el modesto propósito de este escrito, de modo que nos quedaremos aquí, no sin advertir a nuestros lectores de la posibilidad de que en un futuro volvamos a retomar nuevamente el tema.

Antes de acabar queremos llamar la atención sobre una polémica acontecida hace unos años en torno a una Plaza en Madrid que llevaba el nombre de nuestro autor y que se cambio para dedicársela a un sujeto cuyos méritos eran, por decirlo suavemente, más que discutibles, concretamente a Pedro Zerolo, miembro del PSOE y activista al servicio del lobby homosexualista. Durante aquella época, en 2019, muchos miembros de la izquierda globalista trataron de identificar a Vázquez de Mella como un «pensador franquista», cuando en realidad ni cronológica ni ideológicamente tuvo nunca nada que ver con el franquismo. Recordemos que murió en 1928, y la impronta de su pensamiento ha tenido como continuadores a sus propios correligionarios dentro del ámbito tradicional, aunque en su tiempo llegó a ser muy respetado también por sus adversarios, los liberales. Aunque la retirada del nombre de una calle pueda resultar algo banal, o carente de una importancia excesiva, también contribuye, a su modo, a una forma de damnatio memoriae que condena al olvido y al ostracismo a grandes autores de la Tradición, portadores de un Patriotismo sano y capaz de entender las peculiaridades y el Dasein profundo de España, que si bien no nació invertebrada, como pretendían los Orteguianos, su esencia y naturaleza es mucho más compleja que cualquiera de las grandes naciones de Europa.

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Artículo original: Hipérbola Janus, Juan Vázquez de Mella y el tradicionalismo español, 16/Ago/2024

@ 74001620:c34e7191

# Introducing the Robosats Alert Bot for SimpleX

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originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/649204

@ dbc828cc:ed78a663

El nuevo continente

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La siguiente es la carta de respuesta a mi amigo de Japón, Yamaguchi, quien me ha preguntado acerca de la vida en el "nuevo continente". Para ser más precisos, la relación que el continente tiene con bitcoin. Su servidor solamente ha conocido algunas partes de México y El Salvador así que por esta ocasión solo voy a escribir acerca del segundo país, al cuál ya considero un segundo hogar.

A continuación algunas fotografías con descripciones que ayuden a comunicar ideas de medianoche acerca del nuevo continente y bitcoin. Por otro lado, este escrito se ha procurado intencionalmente con el idioma Español en mente, mi lengua nativa, para fines de hacerle la tarea más fácil a ChatGPT, quien nos ayuda a traducir nuestras conversaciones.

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¿Nuevo y viejo; este, y oeste?

Yamaguchi se ha referido al continente Americano como el "nuevo continente". Esto me ha sorprendido pues, desde mi experiencia, el continente Asiático, —para nosotros al menos—, es más comúnmente conocido como el continente del Este. (Eastern and Western). Llamarlo "nuevo" acarrea ya una connotación distinta a la geográfica, y la traslada a la temporal. Pues bien, para honrar la idea a propósito de una connotación temporal que mejor describa el carácter jovial de de Latinoamérica, ciertamente puedo confirmar que la vida de experiencia en El Salvador se aprecia temprana, pero llena de entusiasmo.

Para todos fue una sorpresa el anuncio de bitcoin como moneda de recurso legal en El Salvador. La siguiente sorpresa para la gente Salvadoreña fue presenciar el ir y venir de extranjeros curiosos, energéticos y en algunas ocasiones, faltos de vergüenza. ¿Qué se le va a hacer?, por eso y por otras cosas son conocidos los bitcoineros :).

Como tal parece que sucede en otros lugares del mundo, las grandes ciudades parecen más precavidas acerca del uso de bitcoin; desconfiadas, en algunos otros casos. No es para menos; en la ciudad a menudo las estafas y la criminalidad le hacen pasar malos ratos a las personas, y lamentablemente, el costo es la confianza.

En la playa y en las montañas, sin embargo, las cosas mejoran. Bitcoin Beach es el nombre de la iniciativa que ha inaugurado un sueño parecido en muchos de nosotros; aún sin poder responder precisamente ¿cuál es ese sueño?, es posible asegurar que se puede "sentir" y que de este modo, el valor de la confianza puede ser reconstruido.

La gente Salvadoreña es muy trabajadora y de buen humor. El pueblo de El Salvador ha tenido que hacer frente a periodos de guerra, de violencia y carestía; pero a pesar de las adversidades, en sus corazones no se ha acomodado el resentimiento y en cambio, se ha permitido lugar a la bondad, el compañerismo y el esfuerzo.

Por un lado más generalizado; tal parece que las oportunidades de inversión y empleo lucen optimistas. El Salvador tiene reconocidas producciones de café, caña, y energía volcánica ;). Mejor conocido por ser un destino clave para quiénes practican surf, El Salvador parece comenzar a abrir sus puertas a nuevas ideas.

Ahora bien, personalmente hablando, para mi El Salvador es como un pequeño México. Las regiones climáticas y culturales son bastante parecidas, pero sin duda parece una buena ventaja tener las montañas y las playas a poca distancia; es posible cambiar de atmósfera en un mismo día.

Finalmente, me despido con un viejo refrán que viene a propósito del entusiasmo que bitcoin irradia no solamente hacia Latinoamérica, sino al mundo entero: "con calma, que llevo prisa". Es decir, si bien los sentimientos de energía, ímpetu y entusiasmo son alimento nutritivo para el espíritu; cuando se abusa de sus bendiciones se puede también propiciar la generación de malos hábitos o accidentes. Es mejor ir con con calma pero con confianza ;). Buenas noches.

@ 0461fcbe:35a474dd

Nostr events are transferred between clients and relays over WebSocket, but that requires servers to be online. A universal file format is needed to store events for backup and transfer between people and systems.

JSONL is a simple format that stores one JSON object per line. This is ideal for Nostr events, and is already compatible with a bunch of existing tools including nak, strfry, and Ditto. It is memory-effecient because only one line needs to be processed at a time, and it is universally compatible because it's just Nostr events.

Storing Events

JSONL files should end in a .jsonl file extension. Each line should have a complete, valid Nostr event.

```sh

Example storing jsonl events with nak

nak req wss://ditto.pub/relay > events.jsonl ```

Importing Events

You can cat a JSONL file to stdin of various programs.

```sh

Example importing jsonl events with nak

cat events.jsonl | nak event wss://ditto.pub/relay ```

Filtering Events

Use the jq command to filter down an JSONL file.

```sh

Get only kind 0 events

jq -c 'select(.kind == 0)' events.jsonl ```

You can filter before importing:

```sh

Get only kind 3 events then import them with nak

jq -c 'select(.kind == 3)' events.jsonl | nak event wss://ditto.pub/relay ```

Or filter while exporting:

```sh

Get all events and then post-filter them

nak req wss://ditto.pub/relay | jq -c 'select(.kind == 3)' > events.jsonl ```

Of course you can chain many shell commands together to do all sorts of useful things!

Sharing Events

JSONL events can be shared on cloud services, compressed, emailed, transferred with rsync, or any other method. Another powerful method is to host the file on an HTTP server, allowing users to curl it and pipe it directly into other programs.

Suggestions to Relay and Client Developers

Relay and client developers should allow users to export/import events from their software in JSONL format.

For relays, since the public interface is often restricted, relay software should add direct import/export of jsonl. That way relay operators would be able to shell in and run a command to get events in jsonl, and to import from jsonl. Ideally these commands would use stdin and stdout so they can be piped to other commands for filtering or direct transfer.

Clients should also offer an import/export screen inside the app in jsonl format. I would suggest a separate export of all "your" data, and another one for all cached data.

Usage With Existing Tools

Here are examples of how to use JSONL events with some existing tools.

nak

Change the relay to your desired relay. Try nak help req to see all the available filtering options.

```sh

Export

nak req wss://ditto.pub/relay > events.jsonl

Import

cat events.jsonl | nak event wss://ditto.pub/relay ```

strfry

See strfry's README for more information. --since and --until flags are supported during export.

```sh

Export

./strfry export > events.jsonl

Import

cat events.jsonl | ./strfry import ```

Ditto

```sh

Export

deno task db:export > events.jsonl

Import

cat events.jsonl | deno task db:import ```

@ 56a6da9b:7f5a2243

*I normally post my Flash Fiction in the Art or the UFO categories. Since this one is about architecture and building, I thought why not post it here. I hope you enjoy it. *

_

LISTEN HERE (The podcasts are more complete and nuanced, imo)

DAY 13 OF FLASH AUGUST FICTION. Not a lot to say about this one. A skill I have is building. I was a bricklayer and a stonemason, and I know fire tech. What that means is that I can build fireplaces, masonry heaters, flue systems, and chimneys. I think a lot about how the buildings around us affect us. I hate gargoyles. I love angels. I’m Commercial Herschel, and I’m here to help.

Purge the Gargoyles

The People Agreed

614 WORDS WRITTEN IN A HALF HOUR

Mayor Jackson won the election in surprising fashion. No one expected her to win. She had no real money, she didn't have any high-profile support, and the other two candidates were as shocked as she was that she won. Her campaign was simple. “Our City for Us”.

The dominant Party was on the outs with the people. They usually controlled the big cities, and the people finally stopped falling for them. They had lost favor, and there was no politics, or even violence, that would bring the people back to them. The other Party was more of a rural and suburban party, but the idea that they could get this city was like a conquest. They courted Mrs. Jackson, but they could not win her. They offered her money, and all sorts of corporations made all sorts of promises, but he just wanted her city to be for her people.

Her campaign was so unfamiliar. All of these corporations were making all of these promises to her. Her response was, “We'll see.” She didn't present herself as a candidate with all sorts of business and influence as leverage behind her. Instead, she presented herself as someone with the support of the people as the leverage behind her, so she could get the best deal for the people that she could. Her attitude toward the corporations was, “Look, do you see all these people I have behind me? If you want their business, I'm here to be sure you make a really good deal for my people.”

Once she took office, there were so many questions. The media and her critics were all over her, looking for answers to all the tough policy questions. She knew these were pressing concerns, but she wanted to truly ground herself. She had to establish some things in some kind of permanent way.

Her first press conference after the election was the time that she could establish her intent.

“Ma'am, no one expected you to win this election. What was the first thought you had when you saw the results?” One of the media people asked.

“My first thought was that the establishment didn't expect that they would have to cheat on me, so they didn't try very hard.”

Another reporter shouts out the next question. “Mrs. Jackson, what's the first thing you want to do with your new position?”

“Well, the Library really bothers me,” she says.

People are perplexed, it doesn't make sense. What could be the problem with a library?

“You don't like libraries, ma'am?” One of the reporters asks.

“Of course, I like libraries. Who does not like libraries? What I don't understand is why the library has gargoyles all over the roof-line. I want to replace those demonic gargoyles with angels.”

DAY 13 OF FLASH AUGUST FICTION

There are a lot of raised eyebrows among the press crew, it's not what they were expecting.

“I'm not going to use the city budget to do this,” the new mayor says. “I'm going to ask people to make donations at the library.”

Within a matter of days, the library had enough donations to replace the gargoyles with angels. There was a contest for some different angel designs. Some weird, wealthy people offered money for the old gargoyles, but the mayor crushed them into dust and dumped them into the nearby lake.

People felt better, something was right about this. It set the new administration on a good path, and the mayor was able to cut a lot of good deals that benefited the people of the city. She won several elections and served for three terms until she retired at an age that would allow her to enjoy her grandchildren.

The End.

I hope you might get a paid subscription, or buy me a coffee, or donate some bitcoin. I wish you the best. I’m Commercial Herschel, and I’m here to help.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/649105

@ 000002de:c05780a7

I'm not an expert about any of this but today I saw a document posted that I have seen posted many times on SN by @DarthCoin and others that lists people that supposedly work for IN-Q-TEL. I only say supposedly because I do not know if the document is accurate. The document mentions a person named "Lisabeth Poulos" as the IN-Q-TEL Chief of Staff. But that isn't her name. Her name is actually spelled "Lisbeth Poulos".

Background

For those that are not familiar according to Wikipedia IN-Q-TEL is

an American not-for-profit venture capital firm based in Arlington, Virginia. It invests in companies to keep the Central Intelligence Agency, and other intelligence agencies, equipped with the latest in information technology in support of United States intelligence capability.

It is basically a "private" corporation controlled by the CIA and it really doesn't try to hide that. Poulos did work for IN-Q-TEL as chief of staff from 2002-2022. IN-Q-TEL is very obviously operated by the CIA and is connected with other government agencies. Looking at the companies connected to IN-Q-TEL is an interesting rabbit hole to go down. For those that still believe we live in a free country I don't think I can help you.

Anyway, what I have heard said elsewhere and posted on SN is that MicroStrategy is ran by the CIA. The only "evidence" I have seen is this document.

The evidence for this is weak to say the least. Honestly, I don't think overstating the case really accomplishes much except shock value. Now, don't get me wrong. I am not suggesting that the CIA does not control many companies or at least influence their direction and decisions. I highly recommend those interested in this topic read Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. It is not a conspiracy based book. It is all based on interviews with people that worked for or with the CIA and government. Its all on the record. Not based in theories. The stories told in this book are pretty wild and often sound like something you'd hear said by some nut case.

Back to MicroStrategy and Lisabeth Poulos. On her Crunchbase profile it lists MicroStrategy as well as BAE Systems. According to Crunchbase she also worked for CIA and NSA. She's at least a former spook but I have yet to see evidence that MicroStrategy is operated by the CIA. According to her LinkedIn she is now self employed. It is possible that MicroStrategy is ran by or influenced by the CIA but I've never seen hard evidence of this. This doc having her name misspelled doesn't strengthen the case. Logically it very possible that her skill set is also valuable and a business intelligence company. That's what MicroStrategy does. She worked in government intelligence after all.

Does it matter?

The broader question is why does this matter? When I start looking organizations like IN-Q-TEL, CFR, and others they have connections all over the Fortune 500. The US government and its agencies have connections in most companies. Its starts getting really dumb fast with the guilt by association. But, I have to admit this woman wasn't so low level person at IN-Q-TEL, it raises my curiosity for sure. I'm just not ready to say, case closed. Saylor is a spook. Why? Because my brain will not let me say that. It bugs me when people will on the one hand see how the system works and not just take what their rulers say at face value. But then will take loosely related facts built up into a definitive statement as fact. If you can't think of a conspiracy theory that you do not believe you might just be gullible. I have a deep distrust for government based on facts and experience. Its not based in theories.

This whole MicroStrategy & CIA thing reminds me of the story that the CIA created Bitcoin. I'm pretty sure it didn't but if it had... so what. It doesn't matter. Same is true here. If the CIA runs MicroStrategy it doesn't matter to me. They are buying a lot of bitcoin. Many other groups and people we may not like will buy bitcoin. Who cares. Its money not an exclusive club.

The Threat

The only threat I see is that of influence. I've said it before. Don't create heroes. Saylor is a dude. He could be a bad dude. It doesn't really matter to me and it shouldn't to true bitcoiners. The only threat I see from Saylor is his influence over weak minded bitcoiners. Some act like everything he says is coming from the mouth of god. That's a problem, but not one we can fix. People like that will have many hard lessons to learn. There will always be fools.

I'm not saying you should go out and buy MSTR stock. I'm not saying you should trust Saylor or his company. I don't trust people from the government or suits. Just thought I would share what I found and a few of my thoughts for what they are worth.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/648650

@ da18e986:3a0d9851

After months of development I am excited to officially announce the first version of DVMDash (v0.1). DVMDash is a monitoring and debugging tool for all Data Vending Machine (DVM) activity on Nostr. The website is live at https://dvmdash.live and the code is available on Github.

Data Vending Machines (NIP-90) offload computationally expensive tasks from relays and clients in a decentralized, free-market manner. They are especially useful for AI tools, algorithmic processing of user’s feeds, and many other use cases.

The long term goal of DVMDash is to become 1) a place to easily see what’s happening in the DVM ecosystem with metrics and graphs, and 2) provide real-time tools to help developers monitor, debug, and improve their DVMs.

DVMDash aims to enable users to answer these types of questions at a glance: * What’s the most popular DVM right now? * How much money is being paid to image generation DVMs? * Is any DVM down at the moment? When was the last time that DVM completed a task? * Have any DVMs failed to deliver after accepting payment? Did they refund that payment? * How long does it take this DVM to respond? * For task X, what’s the average amount of time it takes for a DVM to complete the task? * … and more

For developers working with DVMs there is now a visual, graph based tool that shows DVM-chain activity. DVMs have already started calling other DVMs to assist with work. Soon, we will have humans in the loop monitoring DVM activity, or completing tasks themselves. The activity trace of which DVM is being called as part of a sub-task from another DVM will become complicated, especially because these decisions will be made at run-time and are not known ahead of time. Building a tool to help users and developers understand where a DVM is in this activity trace, whether it’s gotten stuck or is just taking a long time, will be invaluable. For now, the website only shows 1 step of a dvm chain from a user's request.

One of the main designs for the site is that it is highly clickable, meaning whenever you see a DVM, Kind, User, or Event ID, you can click it and open that up in a new page to inspect it.

Another aspect of this website is that it should be fast. If you submit a DVM request, you should see it in DVMDash within seconds, as well as events from DVMs interacting with your request. I have attempted to obtain DVM events from relays as quickly as possible and compute metrics over them within seconds.

This project makes use of a nosql database and graph database, currently set to use mongo db and neo4j, for which there are free, community versions that can be run locally.

Finally, I’m grateful to nostr:npub10pensatlcfwktnvjjw2dtem38n6rvw8g6fv73h84cuacxn4c28eqyfn34f for supporting this project.

Features in v0.1:

Global Network Metrics:

This page shows the following metrics: - DVM Requests: Number of unencrypted DVM requests (kind 5000-5999) - DVM Results: Number of unencrypted DVM results (kind 6000-6999) - DVM Request Kinds Seen: Number of unique kinds in the Kind range 5000-5999 (except for known non-DVM kinds 5666 and 5969) - DVM Result Kinds Seen: Number of unique kinds in the Kind range 6000-6999 (except for known non-DVM kinds 6666 and 6969) - DVM Pub Keys Seen: Number of unique pub keys that have written a kind 6000-6999 (except for known non-DVM kinds) or have published a kind 31990 event that specifies a ‘k’ tag value between 5000-5999 - DVM Profiles (NIP-89) Seen: Number of 31990 that have a ‘k’ tag value for kind 5000-5999 - Most Popular DVM: The DVM that has produced the most result events (kind 6000-6999) - Most Popular Kind: The Kind in range 5000-5999 that has the most requests by users. - 24 hr DVM Requests: Number of kind 5000-5999 events created in the last 24 hrs - 24 hr DVM Results: Number of kind 6000-6999 events created in the last 24 hours - 1 week DVM Requests: Number of kind 5000-5999 events created in the last week - 1 week DVM Results: Number of kind 6000-6999 events created in the last week - Unique Users of DVMs: Number of unique pubkeys of kind 5000-5999 events - Total Sats Paid to DVMs: - This is an estimate. - This value is likely a lower bound as it does not take into consideration subscriptions paid to DVMs - This is calculated by counting the values of all invoices where: - A DVM published a kind 7000 event requesting payment and containing an invoice - The DVM later provided a DVM Result for the same job for which it requested payment. - The assumption is that the invoice was paid, otherwise the DVM would not have done the work - Note that because there are multiple ways to pay a DVM such as lightning invoices, ecash, and subscriptions, there is no guaranteed way to know whether a DVM has been paid. Additionally, there is no way to know that a DVM completed the job because some DVMs may not publish a final result event and instead send the user a DM or take some other kind of action.

Recent Requests:

This page shows the most recent 3 events per kind, sorted by created date. You should always be able to find the last 3 events here of all DVM kinds.

DVM Browser:

This page will either show a profile of a specific DVM, or when no DVM is given in the url, it will show a table of all DVMs with some high level stats. Users can click on a DVM in the table to load the DVM specific page.

Kind Browser:

This page will either show data on a specific kind including all DVMs that have performed jobs of that kind, or when no kind is given, it will show a table summarizing activity across all Kinds.

Debug:

This page shows the graph based visualization of all events, users, and DVMs involved in a single job as well as a table of all events in order from oldest to newest. When no event is given, this page shows the 200 most recent events where the user can click on an event in order to debug that job. The graph-based visualization allows the user to zoom in and out and move around the graph, as well as double click on any node in the graph (except invoices) to open up that event, user, or dvm in a new page.

Playground:

This page is currently under development and may not work at the moment. If it does work, in the current state you can login with NIP-07 extension and broadcast a 5050 event with some text and then the page will show you events from DVMs. This page will be used to interact with DVMs live. A current good alternative to this feature, for some but not all kinds, is https://vendata.io/.

Looking to the Future

I originally built DVMDash out of Fear-of-Missing-Out (FOMO); I wanted to make AI systems that were comprised of DVMs but my day job was taking up a lot of my time. I needed to know when someone was performing a new task or launching a new AI or Nostr tool!

I have a long list of DVMs and Agents I hope to build and I needed DVMDash to help me do it; I hope it helps you achieve your goals with Nostr, DVMs, and even AI. To this end, I wish for this tool to be useful to others, so if you would like a feature, please submit a git issue here or note me on Nostr!

Immediate Next Steps:

• Refactoring code and removing code that is no longer used
• Improve documentation to run the project locally
• Adding a metric for number of encrypted requests
• Adding a metric for number of encrypted results

Long Term Goals:

• Add more metrics based on community feedback
• Add plots showing metrics over time
• Add support for showing a multi-dvm chain in the graph based visualizer
• Add a real-time mode where the pages will auto update (currently the user must refresh the page)
• ... Add support for user requested features!

Acknowledgements

There are some fantastic people working in the DVM space right now. Thank you to nostr:npub1drvpzev3syqt0kjrls50050uzf25gehpz9vgdw08hvex7e0vgfeq0eseet for making python bindings for nostr_sdk and for the recent asyncio upgrades! Thank you to nostr:npub1nxa4tywfz9nqp7z9zp7nr7d4nchhclsf58lcqt5y782rmf2hefjquaa6q8 for answering lots of questions about DVMs and for making the nostrdvm library. Thank you to nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft for making the original DVM NIP and vendata.io which I use all the time for testing!

P.S. I rushed to get this out in time for Nostriga 2024; code refactoring will be coming :)

@ 38d0888d:bd8e1246

There exists a transformative impact in disseminating knowledge about spirituality, ethics, and social responsibility through educational avenues. This knowledge plays a pivotal role in cultivating individual awareness of the profound significance inherent in these dimensions of life. All efforts should focus on ensuring widespread access to education and fostering a deep understanding of spiritual values, which are key elements in the collective endeavor to eradicate selfishness.

Humanity must unite in all its endeavors, actively engaging in spiritual education—integral for both personal and collective growth. This not only contributes to individual well-being but also stabilizes collective mental states. As individuals explore spirituality with true understanding and awareness, free from misleading mystical speculations, a harmonious resonance emerges, fostering a collective consciousness that transcends discord and promotes mental stability.

A commitment to developing educational programs is paramount. These programs should enhance capabilities for a nuanced understanding of the presence of a higher power and its omnipresence in every facet of human existence. The importance of specialists and their collaborative efforts becomes evident, emphasizing a responsible attitude and concern for the world and society over individual impulses.

The potential of humanity is woven into the sacred scriptures, which hold the key to unlocking hidden dimensions of human existence. It is essential for everyone to comprehend the wisdom embedded in these scriptures—a knowledge that reveals itself when humanity engages with it collectively. This process requires collaboration and unity, eradicating selfish tendencies. The knowledge contained in the sacred scriptures is not for individuals but for all of humanity, highlighting the importance of developing altruistic intentions and fostering common connections. Open meetings, discussions, and ongoing interactions are crucial for deepening collective understanding and promoting genuine inquiry.

However, it is important to recognize the potential pitfalls that may arise when superficial knowledge from sacred scriptures is exploited for personal gain. In some cases, individuals driven by selfish motives commercialize this knowledge by publishing books, creating schools, and teaching immature adherents. Such exploitation distorts sacred knowledge, fostering disunity rather than promoting collective understanding. To safeguard against these developments, humanity must advocate for the development and implementation of tools, particularly using digital technologies, to ensure the authenticity and integrity of spiritual teachings. These technological solutions can be crucial in preventing the rise of sects and false teachings, safeguarding the purity of spiritual knowledge for the benefit of humanity's collective evolution.

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

Heres a scenario:

Imagine you have a nostr e-cash/Lightning Wallet and you would like to have a maximum receive balance of 20k split in between 5 mints that enable multipath payments.

Pick 5 mints below to store 4k sats each, the funds are automatically withdrawn to your lightning node at the end of the day.

Stacker News Robosats Sparrow Coinkite Start9 Rabbit Hole Recap @siggy47 Damus LND Your own mint

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/648298

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

It's wild. I just proved I can build #nostr 'wallet' where I can store the encrypted tokens in a Germany relay and make the lightning payment out of a Singapore mint. All using a #nsec that never leaves my machine. https://primal.net/e/note15l02rf4r474ck04mlrxxfagyl0z6t04ltsugf9dtph4xxhzfnd4sqpk74n

I’ve proven to myself that a #nostr wallet can exist across time and space, independently of any one app, server or custodian. The only thing which controls the ‘wallet’ is the generation and control of an #nsec which is free to exist within or flee any jurisdiction.

In my mind, this lays to rest the notion that a wallet needs to be an app, service, or anything that can be captured commercially or by the state. https://primal.net/e/note13nwsh852x9tfex2jade6vwymhhct8zussxr4zwy7uag24hjc9stq0xsxaf

https://image.nostr.build/07dd1b56d6bb60b13cfe6c19d9384bc3ef198d01af4be9a5c544f791b80b746a.png

I am thinking about coining the term “nsac” to refer to a wallet-like thing that can exist on #nostr holding your valuable things, such as ecash tokens. I have already implemented a prototype #cashu ecash wallet which looks to be promising.

So you would have:

npub - your identity

nsec - your private key

nsac - your valuables

Your #nsac could be the same as your #nsec but better case is to generate as many #nsacs as required.

Happy to hear feedback!

For reference, what a ‘sac’ is in the biological sense:

A sac is a biological term referring to a pouch or cavity in an organism that is typically enclosed and may contain fluid, air, or other substances. Sacs can serve various functions depending on their location and role in the body, such as protecting a developing embryo, facilitating the exchange of gases in the lungs, or reducing friction between moving parts in joints

https://primal.net/e/note1snj7y9m6f7lhfzkd2ujzqcvparpgddzmgcgwsgghqvkcyd0rkqhsmmlyla

npub1q6mcr8tlr3l4gus3sfnw6772s7zae6hqncmw5wj27ejud5wcxf7q0nx7d5

Wild stuff freaks, will nostr become the best lightning/E-Cash wallet? Let me know what you think.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/648270

@ 02f0a63d:f91bde2c

Usa PGP para enviar mensajes privados por telegram

PGP es una gran herramienta con la que podremos cifrar nuestras conversaciones en cualquier canal de comunicación. En esta publicación te mostraré la forma más rápida y sencilla para poder usar esta herramienta junto con telegram. Te guiaré en unos pasos sencillos para disponer de todo lo necesario para comunicarte con tus contactos de forma privada. Existen muchas formas de hacerlo, a continuación te enseñaré la mas sencilla en mi opinión, no necesitas conocimientos previos ¡¡Los irás adquiriendo practicando ¡¡

Aplicaciones necesarias

F-Droid

Es una store de aplicaciones open source para android, del cual descargaremos las aplicaciones que necesitamos. Descarga : https://f-droid.org/F-Droid.apk

Nekogram x

Es un cliente de Telegram open source con funciones añadidas entre las que se encuentra la integración de PGP a través de Openkeychain. La descarga e instalación la realizaremos desde F-droid.

https://github.com/NekoX-Dev/NekoX

Openkeychain

Aplicación para android con el estandar OpenPGP . Con Openkeychain se hace muy sencilla La creación de claves PGP y su uso integrado con Nekogram facilita sus uso.

La descarga e instalación la realizaremos desde F-droid.

Guía para comunicarte de forma privada con tu contraparte

Creación de clave con openkeychain

Te pedirá que introduzcas un nombre para identificar la clave y un correo electrónico (puedes poner uno inventado). Haz click en crear clave. Podrás ver tus claves almacenadas.

Compartir tu clave pública con el receptor

Una vez creada tu clave, ve al chat en Nekogram con quien vas a compartir tu clave pública, haz click en los 3 puntitos de la esquina superior en el chat. Elige tu clave y se compartirá en el chat de tu contacto.

Importar clave pública de mi contacto

Necesitas la clave pública de tu contacto para poder cifrar la información y que solo el pueda descifrarla con su clave privada. Pídele a tu contacto que te envíe su clave pública (si no sabe comparte esta guía)para que te la envíe al chat de telegram. Haz click sobre el mensaje con la clave pública y pincha en importar clave.

Se abrirá openkeychain y le daremos a importar.

Y aparecerá almacenada junto con tu clave.

Cifrar mensaje con la clave pública de mi contacto

Una vez creada tu clave e importada la clave pública de tu contacto ya tienes todo para poder cifrar y descifrar los mensajes que os enviéis. En Openkeychain abre el menu pinchando en las 3 rayas horizontales en la esquina superior derecha. le das a cifrar/descifrar. Elige cifrar texto

En cifrar para : la calve de tu contacto.

En firmar con : tu clave

Escribe el texto que quieres cifrar y lo copias o comparte pinchando en los símbolos de arriba.

Pegalo en el chat del contacto

mensaje cifrado, telegram no puede ver el mensaje que contiene.

Descifrar un mensaje en Nekogram

Podremos descifrar un mensaje cuando el emisor lo haya cifrado con nuestra clave pública. Es tan sencillo como pinchar en el mensaje cifrado y darle a descifrar mensaje en la pantalla que sale. Te llevará a Openkeychain.

Se abrira Openkeychain y te mostrará el mensaje descifrado.

Conclusiones:

Hemos visto la manera más fácil para cifrar y descrifrar mensajes con quien quieras, gracias a Openkeychain y la integración de éste en Nekogram X hacen muy fácil mandar mensajes cifrados que solo tú y tu receptor podeis descifrar.

Este sistema se hace necesario usarlo para enviar información que no quiero que un tercero (servidores de telegram) sepa. Como cuando compartimos información personal, o direcciones de bitcoin para no vincularla a tu cuenta de telegram, etc.

Ya no tienes excusa para hacer uso de tu privacidad y revelarla selectivamente a quien desees.

@ 256a7941:b828ba8d

Taking calls, texts and FaceTimes. Be direct Be courageous

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/647955

@ 256a7941:b828ba8d

BITCOINERS NEED A REMINDER THAT ROSS ULBRICHT WAS A SELF-PROCLAIMED LIBERTARIAN. NOT DEMOCRAT. NOT REPUBLICAN

FREEROSS

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/647883

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Title

subtitle

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some Code some code: ```js import NextAuth from "next-auth"; import CredentialsProvider from "next-auth/providers/credentials"; import NDK from "@nostr-dev-kit/ndk"; import axios from "axios"; import { findKind0Fields } from "@/utils/nostr";

const relayUrls = [ "wss://nos.lol/", "wss://relay.damus.io/", "wss://relay.snort.social/", "wss://relay.nostr.band/", "wss://nostr.mutinywallet.com/", "wss://relay.mutinywallet.com/", "wss://relay.primal.net/" ];

const BASE_URL = process.env.BASE_URL;

const ndk = new NDK({ explicitRelayUrls: relayUrls, });

const authorize = async (pubkey) => { await ndk.connect(); const user = ndk.getUser({ pubkey });

try {
    const profile = await user.fetchProfile();

    // Check if user exists, create if not
    const response = await axios.get(`${BASE_URL}/api/users/${pubkey}`);
    if (response.status === 200 && response.data) {
        const fields = await findKind0Fields(profile);

        // Combine user object with kind0Fields, giving priority to kind0Fields
        const combinedUser = { ...fields, ...response.data };

        // Update the user on the backend if necessary
        // await axios.put(`${BASE_URL}/api/users/${combinedUser.id}`, combinedUser);

        return combinedUser;
    } else if (response.status === 204) {
        // Create user
        if (profile) {
            const fields = await findKind0Fields(profile);
            console.log('FEEEEELDS', fields);
            const payload = { pubkey, ...fields };

            const createUserResponse = await axios.post(`${BASE_URL}/api/users`, payload);
            return createUserResponse.data;
        }
    }
} catch (error) {
    console.error("Nostr login error:", error);
}
return null;

}

export default NextAuth({ providers: [ CredentialsProvider({ id: "nostr", name: "Nostr", credentials: { pubkey: { label: "Public Key", type: "text" }, }, authorize: async (credentials) => { if (credentials?.pubkey) { return await authorize(credentials.pubkey); } return null; }, }), ], callbacks: { async jwt({ token, trigger, user }) { console.log('TRIGGER', trigger); if (trigger === "update") { // if we trigger an update call the authorize function again const newUser = await authorize(token.user.pubkey); token.user = newUser; } // Add combined user object to the token if (user) { token.user = user; } return token; }, async session({ session, token }) { // Add user from token to session session.user = token.user; session.jwt = token; return session; }, async redirect({ url, baseUrl }) { return baseUrl; }, async signOut({ token, session }) { console.log('signOut', token, session); token = {} session = {} return true }, }, secret: process.env.NEXTAUTH_SECRET, session: { strategy: "jwt" }, jwt: { signingKey: process.env.JWT_SECRET, }, pages: { signIn: "/auth/signin", }, }); ```

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O comunismo, tal como idealizado por Karl Marx e Friedrich Engels, prometia uma sociedade utópica, livre de divisões de classe, onde os recursos seriam partilhados de forma equitativa e o Estado acabaria por desaparecer. No entanto, apesar de várias tentativas de implementar esta ideologia em diferentes países, o sonho do "verdadeiro" comunismo nunca se concretizou. Uma das principais razões para esse fracasso reside no factor humano—um aspecto que Marx e Engels não consideraram completamente no seu quadro teórico. Além disso, a implementação de controlos de preços, frequentemente utilizada em economias comunistas e planificadas centralmente, tem repetidamente levado a consequências económicas não intencionais e frequentemente desastrosas. Este artigo explora os desafios inerentes à concretização do verdadeiro comunismo e o papel que os controlos de preços desempenham em minar os próprios objectivos que deveriam apoiar.

A Visão do Verdadeiro Comunismo

O Quadro Ideológico de Marx e Engels

Karl Marx e Friedrich Engels, nas suas obras revolucionárias, como "O Manifesto Comunista" e "O Capital", lançaram as bases para o que se tornaria uma das ideologias mais influentes dos séculos XIX e XX: o comunismo. No seu cerne, o comunismo é uma crítica ao capitalismo, que Marx e Engels viam como um sistema intrinsecamente explorador, onde a burguesia (a classe capitalista) se enriquece ao extrair mais-valia do proletariado (a classe trabalhadora). A sua visão para o futuro era a de uma revolução que derrubasse as estruturas capitalistas, levando à criação de uma sociedade sem classes e sem Estado.

Nesta sociedade ideal, os meios de produção—fábricas, terras e recursos—seriam colectivamente detidos pelo povo. O motivo do lucro, que impulsiona o capitalismo, seria substituído pela produção para uso, garantindo que bens e serviços fossem distribuídos com base na necessidade, em vez da capacidade de pagar. O Estado, que Marx e Engels viam como um instrumento de opressão de classe, acabaria por "definhar" à medida que a necessidade de estruturas de poder coercitivo desaparecesse. Isto levaria a uma sociedade onde a igualdade, a cooperação e a propriedade comunal seriam a norma, e a exploração de uma classe por outra deixaria de existir.

Marx e Engels acreditavam que esta transição do capitalismo para o comunismo seria alcançada através de uma série de etapas. Inicialmente, a classe trabalhadora tomaria o poder político e estabeleceria uma "ditadura do proletariado", onde o Estado serviria para desmantelar o sistema capitalista e redistribuir riqueza e recursos. Com o tempo, à medida que os vestígios do capitalismo fossem eliminados e as distinções de classe dissolvidas, o próprio Estado se tornaria desnecessário e gradualmente desapareceria, deixando para trás uma sociedade verdadeiramente comunista.

Embora esta visão fosse revolucionária e tenha inspirado muitos movimentos em todo o mundo, ela baseava-se em várias suposições—particularmente em relação à natureza humana e às dinâmicas sociais—que se revelariam problemáticas na prática.

O Factor Humano: O Que Marx e Engels Não Previram

Um dos erros críticos na teoria de Marx e Engels é a subestimação da complexidade do comportamento e das motivações humanas. A sua visão de uma sociedade harmoniosa e sem classes assume que, uma vez alterada a estrutura económica, a natureza humana se adaptaria em conformidade. No entanto, a realidade mostrou-se muito mais complicada.

Os seres humanos não são apenas actores económicos movidos por condições materiais. Eles também são motivados por ambições pessoais, desejos de poder e status, e pela necessidade de reconhecimento individual. Embora Marx e Engels reconhecessem o papel da luta de classes na formação da história, eles não consideraram plenamente o quão profundamente enraizadas estão as hierarquias sociais e as dinâmicas de poder, mesmo em sociedades que afirmam ter abolido as distinções de classe.

Em todas as tentativas de implementar o comunismo, novas elites surgiram, muitas vezes compostas por oficiais do partido e burocratas que detinham poder e privilégios significativos. Estas elites, longe de personificarem os ideais igualitários do comunismo, frequentemente perpetuaram as mesmas desigualdades que deveriam eliminar. A concentração de poder no Estado, que deveria ser uma medida temporária durante a transição do capitalismo, tornou-se entrincheirada e autoritária. Em vez de definhar, o Estado frequentemente cresceu em poder e opressão, à medida que aqueles no controle procuravam manter as suas posições.

Além disso, a abolição da propriedade privada, embora teoricamente destinada a eliminar a exploração, removeu muitos dos incentivos que impulsionam a inovação e a produtividade. Em economias comunistas, onde o emprego e as necessidades básicas eram garantidos independentemente do esforço individual, o absentismo, a ineficiência e a falta de motivação tornaram-se generalizados. O desejo humano de realização pessoal e recompensa, algo que Marx e Engels não abordaram completamente, desempenhou um papel significativo na estagnação económica que muitos sistemas comunistas experimentaram.

Outro aspecto crítico que Marx e Engels não previram é a importância da flexibilidade e adaptabilidade nos sistemas económicos. O planeamento económico centralizado, uma marca dos estados comunistas, frequentemente lutou para responder às mudanças nas condições económicas e nas exigências dos consumidores. Sem os mecanismos de feedback proporcionados pelos preços de mercado, os planificadores tiveram dificuldade em alocar recursos de forma eficiente. Esta rigidez levou a persistente escassez de bens, produtos de baixa qualidade e à incapacidade de satisfazer as necessidades da população—um cenário muito distante da abundância e igualdade prometidas pela ideologia comunista.

Em resumo, embora Marx e Engels tenham delineado uma visão convincente de uma sociedade livre da exploração e das desigualdades do capitalismo, subestimaram os desafios colocados pela natureza humana e pelas complexidades da organização social e económica. O factor humano—abrangendo as motivações individuais, a persistência das hierarquias sociais e a necessidade de sistemas económicos flexíveis e adaptáveis—tem consistentemente minado as tentativas de alcançar o "verdadeiro" comunismo. Esta falha tem sido uma razão fundamental pela qual o sonho de uma sociedade sem Estado e sem classes tem permanecido ilusório em todas as implementações reais da ideologia comunista.

Tentativas Históricas de Comunismo

Ao longo do século XX, várias nações tentaram implementar o comunismo com base nos princípios marxistas. Esses esforços resultaram numa ampla gama de resultados económicos e sociais, mas nenhum conseguiu alcançar a sociedade sem classes e sem Estado idealizada por Marx e Engels.

A União Soviética e a Europa de Leste

A União Soviética foi a primeira e a maior tentativa de implementar o comunismo. Estabelecida na sequência da Revolução Bolchevique de 1917, o Estado soviético rapidamente adoptou o planeamento económico centralizado e nacionalizou indústrias. Sob o comando de Joseph Stalin, a URSS embarcou numa rápida industrialização, com realizações significativas na indústria pesada e no poder militar. O modelo soviético foi posteriormente exportado para a Europa de Leste após a Segunda Guerra Mundial, onde os estados satélites adoptaram sistemas de planeamento centralizado semelhantes.

Embora a União Soviética tenha inicialmente registado alguns sucessos, particularmente na transformação de uma sociedade predominantemente agrária numa potência industrial, essas conquistas tiveram um custo significativo. A natureza rígida e centralizada do planeamento económico soviético levou a ineficiências generalizadas. A ausência de sinais de mercado dificultou a alocação eficaz de recursos, resultando em escassez crónica de bens de consumo e produtos de baixa qualidade. O controlo de preços foi uma ferramenta chave no sistema soviético, destinado a manter os bens básicos acessíveis, mas muitas vezes resultou em mercados distorcidos e actividade no mercado negro.

Politicamente, o regime soviético tornou-se cada vez mais repressivo. A concentração de poder no Partido Comunista criou uma nova classe de elite composta por burocratas e funcionários, minando os ideais igualitários do comunismo. A dissidência foi severamente reprimida, e a falta de competição política fez com que o sistema fosse resistente a reformas, mesmo perante problemas económicos crescentes. Na década de 1980, a economia soviética estava em estagnação, e as tentativas de reforma, como a Perestroika de Mikhail Gorbachev, chegaram tarde demais para salvar o regime. Em 1991, a União Soviética colapsou, e os seus estados satélites na Europa de Leste rapidamente abandonaram o comunismo em favor de reformas orientadas para o mercado.

China e Vietname: Reformas de Mercado e Capitalismo de Estado

A China apresenta um caso único na história do comunismo. Após o Partido Comunista chegar ao poder em 1949, a China inicialmente seguiu o modelo soviético de planeamento centralizado e controlo estatal da economia. No entanto, esta abordagem levou a resultados desastrosos, sendo o mais notável o Grande Salto em Frente, que resultou numa fome generalizada e na morte de milhões de pessoas. Reconhecendo a necessidade de mudança, a liderança chinesa, sob Deng Xiaoping, iniciou uma série de reformas de mercado no final da década de 1970 que transformaram profundamente a economia.

Essas reformas, frequentemente chamadas de "socialismo com características chinesas", introduziram mecanismos de mercado e permitiram a iniciativa privada, mantendo, no entanto, o controlo político do Partido Comunista. A economia da China experimentou um crescimento sem precedentes, com uma média de quase 10% de crescimento anual do PIB durante várias décadas. No entanto, esse sucesso foi alcançado à custa do abandono de muitos dos princípios fundamentais do marxismo. O sistema da China é melhor descrito como "capitalismo de estado", onde o estado mantém o controlo sobre indústrias-chave, mas as forças de mercado desempenham um papel significativo na economia mais ampla.

O Vietname seguiu um caminho semelhante. Após a Guerra do Vietname e a reunificação do país sob o domínio comunista, o Vietname inicialmente seguiu uma economia planeada centralmente. No entanto, como a China, também enfrentou dificuldades económicas, o que levou à introdução de reformas orientadas para o mercado na década de 1980, conhecidas como Đổi Mới. Essas reformas impulsionaram um rápido crescimento económico e tiraram milhões da pobreza, mas também marcaram um afastamento da ideologia comunista tradicional.

Tanto a China como o Vietname demonstram que o sucesso económico sob um governo comunista é possível quando os mecanismos de mercado são introduzidos. No entanto, esse sucesso representa uma desvio significativo da visão comunista original, destacando os desafios de alcançar o verdadeiro comunismo na prática.

Cuba: Um Legado Misto

A experiência comunista de Cuba oferece uma perspectiva diferente, focando-se mais em realizações sociais do que no sucesso económico. Desde a Revolução Cubana de 1959, o país tem mantido um governo comunista sob a liderança de Fidel Castro e seus sucessores. A economia de Cuba tem sido longamente caracterizada pelo planeamento centralizado e controlo estatal, com o controlo de preços desempenhando um papel significativo em manter os bens básicos acessíveis.

Apesar das suas dificuldades económicas, Cuba fez progressos notáveis em áreas como a saúde e a educação. O sistema de saúde do país, em particular, é frequentemente elogiado pela sua acessibilidade e resultados, com uma expectativa de vida e taxas de mortalidade infantil comparáveis às de nações muito mais ricas. A educação é outra área onde Cuba se destacou, alcançando altas taxas de alfabetização e amplo acesso à escolarização.

No entanto, esses sucessos sociais tiveram um custo de estagnação económica. Cuba classifica-se baixo em liberdade económica em comparação com outros países das Américas, e a sua economia tem sido marcada por escassez persistente de bens básicos, em parte devido aos controlos de preços que distorcem a dinâmica do mercado. O país também dependeu fortemente de apoio externo, particularmente de petróleo subsidiado de aliados como a União Soviética e, mais tarde, a Venezuela. À medida que esses apoios externos diminuíram, as dificuldades económicas de Cuba aprofundaram-se.

Politicamente, Cuba manteve um estado unipartidário, com pouca tolerância para a dissidência. Como outros estados comunistas, viu a emergência de uma nova classe de elite, com funcionários do partido e líderes militares a usufruírem de privilégios não disponíveis aos cidadãos comuns. Embora as conquistas sociais de Cuba sejam significativas, não foram suficientes para superar os desafios económicos inerentes ao seu sistema.

Ao examinar as tentativas históricas de comunismo, torna-se claro que, embora alguns estados comunistas tenham alcançado sucessos notáveis — seja na industrialização, nos serviços sociais ou no crescimento económico —, nenhum conseguiu criar a sociedade sem classes e sem Estado idealizada por Marx e Engels. O factor humano, as ineficiências económicas e as consequências não intencionais de políticas como os controlos de preços minaram consistentemente esses esforços. Seja através do colapso da União Soviética, das reformas de mercado na China e no Vietname, ou das lutas contínuas em Cuba, a história do comunismo é marcada pela tensão entre a ideologia e a realidade.

O Impacto Económico do Controle de Preços

Os controles de preços, frequentemente implementados em economias comunistas e planeadas centralmente, são ferramentas usadas pelos governos para regular os preços de bens e serviços essenciais. Embora estes controles sejam normalmente introduzidos com a intenção de proteger os consumidores, garantir a acessibilidade e manter a equidade social, eles frequentemente levam a distorções económicas significativas. Em sistemas comunistas, onde o controlo estatal sobre a economia é primordial, os controles de preços têm sido uma característica central da política económica. No entanto, as consequências desses controles têm sido muitas vezes prejudiciais, resultando em ineficiências de mercado, redução da inovação e encargos sociais e fiscais não intencionais.

Distorções na Oferta e na Procura

Uma das consequências económicas mais significativas dos controles de preços é a interrupção do equilíbrio natural entre a oferta e a procura. Em sistemas comunistas, os tectos de preços (preços máximos) são frequentemente estabelecidos em bens essenciais para garantir a acessibilidade. No entanto, quando os preços são mantidos artificialmente baixos, a procura normalmente excede a oferta, levando a escassez crónica. Este era um fenómeno comum na União Soviética, onde bens de consumo básicos como alimentos, vestuário e itens domésticos eram frequentemente escassos. A falta de sinais de mercado, como o aumento dos preços para indicar uma maior procura, impedia a alocação eficiente de recursos, exacerbando as carências.

Por outro lado, os "pisos" de preços (preços mínimos) podem levar a excedentes. Nos sectores agrícolas, por exemplo, a fixação de preços acima do nível de equilíbrio de mercado pode resultar em superprodução. Isto leva ao desperdício de recursos e ineficiências, pois o governo deve ou comprar o excesso de oferta ou deixá-lo desperdiçar. Estas distorções ilustram o desafio fundamental do planeamento central: sem os mecanismos autorreguladores de um mercado livre, as economias têm dificuldades em equilibrar eficazmente a produção com o consumo.

Redução do Investimento e da Inovação

Os controles de preços também podem ter um efeito desmotivador sobre o investimento e a inovação. Quando os governos impõem tectos de preços, eles frequentemente reduzem as margens de lucro para os produtores. Em economias comunistas, onde o Estado controla a maior parte da produção, isso pode desencorajar o investimento interno e a actividade empresarial. A ausência de incentivos baseados no mercado para a inovação leva à estagnação, pois há pouca motivação para melhorar a eficiência ou desenvolver novos produtos.

Esta falta de inovação era evidente na União Soviética e em outras economias planeadas centralmente, onde os avanços tecnológicos ficaram atrás dos países capitalistas. As indústrias que eram fortemente controladas por preços, como bens de consumo e produtos farmacêuticos, sofreram com baixa produtividade e tecnologia desactualizada. Em sectores como o farmacêutico, os controles de preços reduziram os incentivos para a investigação e desenvolvimento, potencialmente limitando futuras inovações médicas. O efeito a longo prazo desta redução do investimento é o menor crescimento económico e a diminuição da competitividade no cenário global.

Deterioração da Qualidade

Outra consequência dos controles de preços é a deterioração da qualidade. Quando os preços são estabelecidos demasiado baixos, os produtores frequentemente procuram maneiras de cortar custos para manter a rentabilidade. Isto resulta frequentemente em bens e serviços de menor qualidade. Em economias comunistas, onde a escolha do consumidor é limitada e a concorrência é suprimida, há pouca pressão sobre os produtores para manter altos padrões. O resultado é que os consumidores ficam com produtos inferiores, deteriorando ainda mais o padrão de vida.

Por exemplo, na União Soviética, o foco na quantidade em detrimento da qualidade na fabricação levou a produtos mal feitos que muitas vezes não atendiam às necessidades dos consumidores. Em sectores como a habitação, os controles de rendas mantinham os preços baixos, mas a qualidade do parque habitacional deteriorava-se, uma vez que havia pouco incentivo para a manutenção ou melhoria. Esta troca entre preços baixos e baixa qualidade destaca uma das falhas principais dos controles de preços na prática.

Mercados Negros e Economias Informais

As ineficiências criadas pelos controles de preços frequentemente levam ao surgimento de mercados negros, onde os bens são vendidos a preços superiores aos níveis estabelecidos pelo governo. Em economias comunistas, onde as carências são comuns, os mercados negros tornam-se um mecanismo crucial para obter bens escassos. Estes mercados ilegais minam o controlo do governo sobre a economia e criam uma economia paralela que opera fora do sistema oficial.

Na União Soviética e na Europa Oriental, os mercados negros prosperavam à medida que os consumidores procuravam aceder a bens que estavam indisponíveis ou eram de baixa qualidade nas lojas estatais. A existência destes mercados também destaca o fracasso dos controles de preços em atingir os seus objectivos pretendidos, pois as mesmas pessoas que deveriam beneficiar de preços baixos acabavam por pagar preços muito mais altos no sector informal.

Racionamento e Filas

Quando os controles de preços levam à escassez, os governos muitas vezes recorrem a sistemas de racionamento para distribuir os suprimentos limitados. O racionamento, embora assegure que todos recebam uma parte dos bens escassos, também introduz ineficiências e iniquidades. Filas longas para necessidades básicas tornaram-se uma visão comum em muitos países comunistas, com pessoas a gastar horas à espera de itens que frequentemente estavam em falta.

Este sistema não só desperdiçava tempo valioso, como também evidenciava as falhas do planeamento central. O racionamento e as filas são uma consequência directa dos controles de preços que impedem os mercados de se ajustarem naturalmente. Em vez de permitir que os preços subam e incentivem o aumento da produção, os governos mantêm preços artificialmente baixos, resultando em escassez crónica e frustração generalizada entre a população.

Encargo Fiscal e Consequências Sociais

Manter controles de preços frequentemente requer uma intervenção governamental significativa, incluindo subsídios aos produtores para compensar os custos dos preços baixos. Isto cria um encargo fiscal que pode sobrecarregar os orçamentos governamentais, especialmente em economias que já enfrentam ineficiências. Em alguns casos, o custo de manter os controles de preços pode superar os benefícios, levando a políticas económicas insustentáveis.

Além disso, os controles de preços podem levar a consequências sociais não intencionais. Embora sejam destinados a ajudar as populações mais vulneráveis, eles podem, por vezes, beneficiar aqueles que não precisam de assistência. Por exemplo, os controles de rendas destinados a proporcionar habitação acessível podem acabar por beneficiar indivíduos mais ricos que têm acesso a apartamentos com rendas controladas, enquanto os indivíduos de baixos rendimentos continuam a enfrentar dificuldades com a acessibilidade habitacional.

Além disso, os controles de preços podem empurrar a actividade económica para o sector informal, reduzindo as receitas fiscais e a supervisão regulatória. Esta informalidade enfraquece a capacidade do Estado de gerir a economia de forma eficaz e cria distorções adicionais.

Crescimento Económico a Longo Prazo e Impactos Específicos por Sector

A longo prazo, as distorções causadas pelos controles de preços podem levar a uma redução do crescimento económico. Ao interferir nos sinais de mercado, os controles de preços desencorajam o investimento, a inovação e a produtividade, todos essenciais para o desenvolvimento económico sustentado. Ao longo do tempo, isso pode resultar em estagnação, como visto em muitas economias comunistas onde o crescimento abrandou ou até mesmo retrocedeu.

Sectores específicos, como o farmacêutico e o agrícola, podem ser particularmente afectados pelos controles de preços. No sector farmacêutico, por exemplo, os tectos de preços podem reduzir o incentivo para as empresas investirem em investigação e desenvolvimento, potencialmente limitando futuras inovações médicas. Na agricultura, os pisos de preços podem levar à superprodução, desperdício e à necessidade de intervenções governamentais onerosas.

Os Benefícios a Curto Prazo e Potenciais Justificativas

Embora os controles de preços sejam geralmente vistos de forma negativa devido às suas consequências a longo prazo, podem haver alguns benefícios a curto prazo, especialmente em tempos de crise. Por exemplo, durante emergências, os controles de preços podem impedir a exploração de preços e garantir que bens essenciais permaneçam acessíveis às populações vulneráveis. Nestes casos, os controles de preços podem fornecer alívio temporário e proteger os consumidores de abusos.

No entanto, esses benefícios a curto prazo são muitas vezes superados pelos custos a longo prazo. Mesmo em situações de crise, os efeitos distorcionários dos controles de preços podem criar mais problemas do que resolvem, tornando-os uma ferramenta que deve ser usada com cautela.

Os controles de preços, embora destinados a proteger os consumidores e promover a equidade social, frequentemente levam a consequências económicas, de mercado e sociais não intencionais. Em sistemas comunistas, onde o controlo estatal sobre a economia é central, estes controles exacerbaram ineficiências, sufocaram a inovação e criaram uma série de resultados negativos, desde mercados negros até encargos fiscais. Embora possa haver situações onde os controles de preços sejam justificados a curto prazo, o seu impacto a longo prazo é geralmente prejudicial, minando os próprios objectivos que pretendem alcançar. Compreender o legado complexo dos controles de preços nas economias comunistas fornece lições valiosas para os formuladores de políticas que procuram equilibrar a estabilidade económica com a equidade social.

Consequências do Planeamento Centralizado e do Controlo de Preços

Autoritarismo e a Concentração de Poder

Uma das consequências políticas mais significativas do planeamento económico centralizado e do controlo de preços é a concentração de poder dentro do aparelho de Estado. Em teoria, o comunismo idealiza uma sociedade sem Estado, mas na prática, a implementação desses sistemas muitas vezes exige uma autoridade central forte para aplicar as directivas económicas e manter o controlo. Esta concentração de poder frequentemente leva ao autoritarismo, como se vê em numerosos regimes comunistas.

A centralização do poder permite que um pequeno grupo de líderes ou um único partido domine a vida política, muitas vezes suprimindo a oposição e restringindo as liberdades individuais. Sem pesos e contrapesos, estes regimes podem impor controlos rigorosos na economia e na sociedade, levando a uma repressão generalizada. A natureza autoritária desses governos é frequentemente justificada como um meio necessário para proteger a revolução e manter a ordem social, mas resulta na erosão dos princípios democráticos e na marginalização das vozes dissidentes.

Além disso, a concentração de poder no Estado mina os próprios ideais do comunismo. Em vez de uma sociedade sem classes, emerge uma nova classe dominante de funcionários do partido e burocratas, que gozam de privilégios e autoridade muito além do cidadão comum. Esta dinâmica de poder não só contradiz os objectivos igualitários do comunismo, como também perpetua a desigualdade dentro do sistema.

Desigualdade Social e o Surgimento de Novas Elites

Apesar do objectivo teórico de eliminar as classes sociais, os sistemas comunistas muitas vezes testemunham o surgimento de novas elites. Estas elites, compostas por líderes do partido, burocratas do Estado e oficiais militares, gozam de privilégios significativos que os distinguem da população em geral. Este fenómeno reflecte o desafio inerente de alcançar uma verdadeira igualdade num sistema onde o poder está concentrado nas mãos de poucos.

Em muitos casos, essas novas elites tornam-se enraizadas, criando um fosso entre os governantes e os governados que espelha as divisões de classe que o comunismo pretendia eliminar. Os privilégios e o poder desfrutados por essas elites frequentemente levam à corrupção e ao clientelismo, corroendo ainda mais a confiança pública no sistema. O descontentamento resultante entre a população pode levar a agitação, à medida que as pessoas percebem que a igualdade prometida é inatingível dentro da estrutura política existente.

A Supressão de Dissidência e Suas Consequências Económicas

A supressão da dissidência é uma característica marcante de muitos regimes comunistas, impulsionada pela necessidade de manter o controlo tanto sobre a economia quanto sobre a sociedade. Na prática, essa supressão assume várias formas, incluindo censura, vigilância e perseguição de oponentes políticos. A falta de competição política e de debate aberto sufoca a inovação e o feedback crítico, que são essenciais para uma economia dinâmica e adaptável.

Sem a capacidade de expressar preocupações ou propor políticas alternativas, os regimes comunistas muitas vezes lutam para responder de forma eficaz aos desafios económicos. A natureza rígida do planeamento centralizado, combinada com a supressão da dissidência, cria um ciclo vicioso em que os problemas são ignorados ou exacerbados, levando a um maior declínio económico. A ausência de dissidência também significa que as reformas necessárias são adiadas ou bloqueadas, à medida que as elites no poder priorizam os seus próprios interesses em detrimento do bem comum.

As consequências a longo prazo dessa supressão são profundas. Economias que carecem de flexibilidade para se adaptar às mudanças ou enfrentar ineficiências tornam-se estagnadas, levando a escassez, declínio na produtividade e uma queda no padrão de vida da população. A supressão da dissidência não só prejudica o desempenho económico, mas também enfraquece o tecido social, à medida que a confiança no governo se deteriora e as pessoas se sentem cada vez mais alienadas do sistema político.

Autoritarismo nas Sociedades Ocidentais: Uma Preocupação Crescente

Nos últimos anos, o aumento do autoritarismo nas sociedades ocidentais tornou-se uma preocupação crescente, manifestando-se através de várias tendências chave que ecoam algumas das dinâmicas observadas em regimes comunistas. Embora as democracias ocidentais estejam longe de um autoritarismo pleno, a concentração de poder, o crescimento das desigualdades sociais, o surgimento de novas elites e a supressão da dissidência sugerem um desvio preocupante dos princípios democráticos liberais.

Tem havido uma crescente centralização do poder em muitos países ocidentais, muitas vezes manifestada através do excesso de autoridade executiva e da expansão do poder presidencial ou do primeiro-ministro. O enfraquecimento dos mecanismos de pesos e contrapesos entre os ramos do governo e as tentativas de minar a independência judicial e o estado de direito são indicadores claros desta tendência. Esta concentração de poder corrói as normas e instituições democráticas ao longo do tempo, tornando mais difícil responsabilizar os líderes.

A crescente desigualdade económica tem alimentado o descontentamento e movimentos populistas em muitos países ocidentais. O aumento da disparidade de riqueza entre as elites e a população em geral, os salários estagnados para as classes média e trabalhadora e a redução da mobilidade social contribuíram para um crescente sentimento de desilusão com os sistemas democráticos tradicionais. Esta disparidade económica criou um terreno fértil para líderes com tendências autoritárias, que prometem resolver esses problemas, mas muitas vezes concentram ainda mais o poder.

O surgimento de novas estruturas de poder e grupos de elites, como os oligarcas da tecnologia e as elites empresariais ligadas à política, tem desafiado os mecanismos tradicionais de responsabilização democrática. Estas novas elites frequentemente exercem uma influência significativa sobre a informação, o discurso e a política, operando fora do alcance das instituições democráticas. Líderes populistas, que cultivam cultos de personalidade, também contribuem para esta mudança, enfraquecendo ainda mais os processos democráticos.

As preocupações sobre restrições à liberdade de expressão e ao debate aberto estão a crescer nas sociedades ocidentais. Embora não sejam equivalentes à censura autoritária vista em regimes comunistas, tendências como a "cultura do cancelamento", a vigilância governamental e a repressão de protestos têm um efeito dissuasor sobre o discurso aberto. A autocensura devido ao medo de retaliações online ou de consequências profissionais está a tornar-se mais comum, limitando a diversidade de pontos de vista no debate público.

A fé pública nos pilares centrais da democracia — governos, partidos políticos e funcionários eleitos — tem-se deteriorado em muitos países ocidentais. O cepticismo em relação aos meios de comunicação tradicionais e ao conhecimento especializado também aumentou, enquanto a integridade dos sistemas eleitorais é cada vez mais questionada. Esta perda de confiança cria oportunidades para líderes com tendências autoritárias ganharem apoio, enfraquecendo ainda mais as instituições democráticas.

O aumento do autoritarismo nas sociedades ocidentais, embora ainda não comparável ao controlo centralizado visto em regimes comunistas, sinaliza uma mudança preocupante em relação aos princípios da democracia liberal. A concentração de poder, o crescimento das desigualdades sociais, o surgimento de novas elites e a supressão da dissidência são todos factores que espelham os problemas enfrentados pelos estados comunistas históricos, embora em formas diferentes. Estas tendências, se não forem controladas, podem levar a uma erosão gradual das normas e instituições democráticas, minando os próprios alicerces de sociedades livres e abertas.

Os paralelos entre os desafios enfrentados pelos regimes comunistas e as tendências actuais nas democracias ocidentais destacam a importância de abordar essas questões subjacentes. Assim como o planeamento económico centralizado e o controlo de preços levaram a ineficiências e agitação social nos estados comunistas, a concentração de poder e a desigualdade no Ocidente ameaçam enfraquecer os sistemas democráticos por dentro. A supressão da dissidência e a diminuição da confiança nas instituições democráticas agravam ainda mais esses problemas, criando um ambiente onde o autoritarismo pode ganhar terreno.

É crucial que as sociedades ocidentais reforcem as normas e instituições democráticas. Isso envolve garantir que os pesos e contrapesos entre os ramos do governo sejam mantidos, protegendo a independência judicial e salvaguardando o estado de direito. Abordar a desigualdade económica também é essencial, pois é um dos principais impulsionadores dos sentimentos populistas e autoritários. Políticas que promovam a mobilidade social, salários justos e oportunidades económicas podem ajudar a reconstruir a confiança nos sistemas democráticos.

Além disso, promover um discurso público aberto e inclusivo é vital para prevenir a supressão da dissidência. Isso significa defender a liberdade de expressão, encorajar a diversidade de pontos de vista e resistir à tentação de silenciar opiniões impopulares através de pressão social ou governamental. Ao criar uma cultura que valoriza o debate e respeita perspectivas diferentes, as sociedades ocidentais podem resistir ao desvio para o autoritarismo.

Finalmente, reconstruir a confiança nas instituições democráticas exige transparência, responsabilização e capacidade de resposta por parte dos governos e líderes políticos. Os funcionários eleitos devem ser vistos a agir no interesse público, e as instituições devem ser percepcionadas como justas e eficazes. Restaurar a confiança nos sistemas eleitorais e nos meios de comunicação também é essencial para contrariar a ascensão do populismo e do autoritarismo.

Embora os desafios enfrentados pelas democracias ocidentais hoje sejam distintos dos que atormentaram os regimes comunistas, as dinâmicas subjacentes de poder, desigualdade e dissidência partilham algumas semelhanças preocupantes. Ao reconhecer e aprender com os fracassos do comunismo e ao abordar estas questões de frente, as sociedades ocidentais podem fortalecer as suas fundações democráticas e evitar o deslizamento para o autoritarismo.

Conclusão

Em resumo, os fracassos do verdadeiro comunismo e os efeitos prejudiciais dos controles de preços não são meramente notas de rodapé históricas, mas lições duradouras que continuam a ressoar hoje em dia. O colapso de inúmeros regimes comunistas e as persistentes dificuldades económicas em países que ainda tentam aderir aos princípios comunistas destacam as falhas fundamentais da ideologia. O factor humano—motivações individuais, o desejo de liberdade pessoal e as complexidades da governação—continuamente perturbam a visão utópica de uma sociedade sem classes e sem estado. O planeamento centralizado e os controles de preços, longe de criar igualdade e estabilidade, têm consistentemente levado a ineficiências económicas, escassez e regimes autoritários.

No entanto, estas lições não são apenas relevantes para o passado. As sociedades ocidentais de hoje enfrentam os seus próprios riscos, à medida que a esquerda se inclina cada vez mais para políticas autoritárias sob o disfarce de equidade e justiça social. A pressão por mais controlo estatal, juntamente com uma crescente intolerância à dissidência, espelha os estágios iniciais dos mesmos sistemas que levaram à tirania e ditadura no passado. O marxismo cultural, um movimento que busca remodelar a sociedade promovendo a ideologia marxista através das instituições culturais, está a ganhar força, particularmente no meio académico e nos meios de comunicação. Esta mudança ideológica está a corroer as fundações da liberdade individual e da liberdade económica que têm definido o Ocidente.

De forma alarmante, muitos jovens no Ocidente estão a louvar cada vez mais a ideologia marxista e o comunismo, muitas vezes sem compreender plenamente as realidades históricas desses sistemas. Esta tendência reflecte uma perigosa ignorância das atrocidades e do sofrimento que ocorreram sob os regimes comunistas. A romantização do comunismo ignora as duras verdades da história—a repressão, o colapso económico e a perda de liberdades pessoais que têm consistentemente acompanhado as tentativas de implementar esta ideologia.

É crucial manter-se vigilante contra estas tendências. As lições da história devem servir de alerta para aqueles que procuram replicar sistemas falhados. Embora a busca por uma sociedade mais justa e equitativa seja um objectivo nobre, não pode vir à custa das liberdades individuais e dos benefícios comprovados de uma economia baseada no mercado. As sociedades ocidentais devem proteger-se contra o fascínio do autoritarismo, seja na forma de comunismo declarado ou de formas mais subtis de controlo estatal. Garantir que a próxima geração compreenda a verdadeira natureza dessas ideologias é essencial para preservar as liberdades e a prosperidade que foram arduamente conquistadas ao longo de séculos.

---

Photo by Mick Haupt on Unsplash

@ 8e7462a8:c723a97b

Here's some code!

```js import React, { useEffect, useState } from "react"; import { useNDKContext } from "@/context/NDKContext"; import { parseEvent } from "@/utils/nostr"; import { ProgressSpinner } from "primereact/progressspinner";

const PurchasedListItem = ({ eventId, category }) => { const { ndk } = useNDKContext(); const [event, setEvent] = useState(null);

useEffect(() => {
    const fetchEvent = async () => {
        if (!eventId) return;

        try {
            await ndk.connect();
            const event = await ndk.fetchEvent(eventId);
            if (event) {
                setEvent(parseEvent(event));
            }
        } catch (error) {
            console.error("Error fetching event:", error);
        }
    }
    fetchEvent();
}, [eventId, ndk]);

return !event || !ndk ? <ProgressSpinner className="w-[40px] h-[40px]" /> : (<a className="text-blue-500 underline hover:text-blue-600" href={category === "courses" ? `/courses/${event.id}` : `/details/${event.id}`}>{event.title}</a>);

}

export default PurchasedListItem; ```

@ eed76ece:afa98124

Hopefully people out there that are importers, exporters, agents, traders, wholesalers in various types of goods, will eventually post, or at the very least find some possible business leads, contacts and most importantly reviews on payments methods using Bitcoin around the World.

The Good News

1. Wholesale and Retail merchants have heard the Independent, Democratic and Republican parties are speaking in a positive tone about Bitcoin and the C word in general. Whether any of them actually will do anything in the future is another issue, note the fact that Bitcoin and the C word is being brought up in a positive way is a good.

2. Bitcoin Dev groups are opening up in more places around the World and obviously some general education, terminology and introduction to Lightning, Nostr, and hybrid point of sale systems are slowly be added to merchants retail and wholesale.

3. Shopify, As the majority of business are using Shopify, Open Node is easily added as a payment method to accept Bitcoin. (I'm using it) works fine, had to as ibexpay left supporting the USA.

4. "Just hodl" comes up more and more in conversations with my peers, asking with a confused look "When do we use it, circulate it in transacting buying or selling goods (wholesale), NOT just a cup of coffee, we are just suppose to hodl, and never use it ?

5. We have SN, we should be thankful it's a positive tool.

If anyone wants to communicate with other manufacturers, wholesalers, B2B merchants, importers, exporters, agents selling goods of any type consider reaching out as a post on SN, or contacting me directly, hopefully that you are considering using Bitcoin as the payment method.

Stay humble use SATS

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/647600

@ 35f3a26c:92ddf231

Share!

https://video.nostr.build/9217eb6231f0c18055329679f582b41b60e4e74359ba0d86b040f45ffaa480ae.mp4

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/647261

@ a9434ee1:d5c885be

Markdown + X, Y, Z is a problem, but Markdown + N can fix that.
Where N = any type of Nostr event.

Whatever Markup language you choose, people will be referencing other Nostr events in it all the time. Since apps have to find ways to display those events (or the links to them) anyway, we mights as well use that as an opportunity.

Why can't Tables, for example, be embedded Nostr events?

Switching from Markdown to Asciidocs (because it has tables and some more technical stuff) still doesn’t make Tables a great experience. On mobile, Tables are notoriously hard to display in a useful way. It depends on the use case, size of the table, etc….

Creators need guarantees on these things being displayed the way they intended.
There’s a reason why most authors just embed pictures of tables instead. It has little to do with Markdown not really supporting tables and more with them ensuring readability and appropriate styling.

So what if you enhance Markdown not only with embedded Nostr Events but also with something like Hypernotes Widgets that serve as a preview/display for those Nostr Events?

That way: - you are still using the most simple and popular markup language - devs “only” have to implement one extra thing (Hypernotes) that handles all the complexity and extensibility from there - authors can create articles and wiki entries with interactive elements in them, can have the guarantee that they display properly, can use any styling that suits them, etc… - the worst case scenario of reading it in a random crappy app still displays the link to the event (including it's explanatory metadata)

Imagine custom interactive graphs, polls, media players, products, … embedded in articles BUT limited to the Nostr-verse for all interaction and data fetching.

(this article will be updated with UI prototypes and further thoughts)

@ 1c9dcd8f:1852f704

Many strange spells are effected by the means of a dead man’s hand—chiefly to produce butter in the churn. The milk is stirred round nine times with the dead hand, the operator crying aloud all the time, “Gather! gather! gather!” While a secret form of words is used which none but the initiated know.

Another use is to facilitate robberies. If a candle is placed in a dead hand, neither wind nor water can extinguish it. And if carried into a house the inmates will sleep the sleep of the dead as long as it remains under the roof, and no power on earth can wake them while the dead hand holds the candle.

---

For a mystic charm, one of the strongest known is the hand of an unbaptized infant fresh taken from the grave in the name of the Evil One.

---

A dead hand is esteemed also a certain cure for most diseases, and many a time sick people have been brought to a house where a corpse lay that the hand of the dead might be laid on them.

--

The souls of the dead who may happen to die abroad, greatly desire to rest in Ireland. And the relations deem it their duty to bring back the body to be laid in Irish earth. But even then the dead will not rest peaceably unless laid with their forefathers and their own people, and not amongst strangers.

---

A young girl happened to die of a fever while away on a visit to some friends, and her father thought it safer not to bring her home, but to have her buried in the nearest churchyard. However, a few nights after his return home, he was awakened by a mournful wail at the window, and a voice cried, “I am alone; I am alone; I am alone!” Then the poor father knew well what it meant, and he prayed in the name of God that the spirit of his dead child might rest in peace until the morning. And when the day broke he arose and set off to the strange burial ground, and there he drew the coffin from the earth, and had it carried all the way back from Cork to Mayo; and after he had laid the dead in the old graveyard beside his people and his kindred, the spirit of his child had rest, and the mournful cry was no more heard in the night.

---

The corner of a sheet that has wrapped a corpse is a cure for headache if tied round the head.

---

The ends of candles used at wakes are of great efficacy in curing burns.

---

A piece of linen wrap taken from a corpse will cure the swelling of a limb if tied round the part affected.

---

It is believed that the spirit of the dead last buried has to watch in the churchyard until another corpse is laid there; or has to perform menial offices in the spirit world, such as carrying wood and water until the next spirit comes from earth. They are also sent on messages to earth, chiefly to announce the coming death of some relative, and at this they are glad, for then their time of peace and rest will come at last.

---

If any one stumbles at a grave it is a bad omen; but if he falls and touches the clay, he will assuredly die before the year is out.

---

Any one meeting a funeral must turn back and walk at least four steps with the mourners.

---

If the nearest relative touches the hand of a corpse it will utter a wild cry if not quite dead.

---

On Twelfth Night the dead walk, and on every tile of the house a soul is sitting, waiting for your prayers to take it out of purgatory.

---

There are many strange superstitions in the western islands of Connemara. At night the dead can be heard laughing with the fairies and spinning the flax. One girl declared that she distinctly heard her dead mother’s voice singing a mournful Irish air away down in the heart of the hill. But after a year and a day the voices cease, and the dead are gone for ever.

---

It is a custom in the West, when a corpse is carried to the grave, for the bearers to stop half way, while the nearest relatives build up a small monument of loose stones, and no hand would ever dare to touch or disturb this monument while the world lasts.

---

When the grave is dug, a cross is made of two spades, and the coffin is carried round it three times before being placed in the clay. Then the prayers for the dead are said, all the people kneeling with uncovered head.

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

I’ve written about this before. The point of this league isn’t the meager $50 entry fee and the modest prize for winning it. It’s avoiding the downside of losing the steakhouse side bet wherein you foot the bill (one year I paid $520) for a bunch of greedy gluttonous douches who stuff their faces on your dime.*

It’s a 14-team, half-PPR auction, with IDPs instead of team defenses. Here are the results:

*It’s well known I’m the greediest most gluttonous douche when I win the bet, and that is often.

My strategy was to buy three elite receivers and skimp everywhere else. It was going well until I price-enforced on Chris Olave (who I hate at his second-round ADP) and got stuck for $31. I would much rather have gone the extra mile for a $47 Amon-Ra St. Brown or spent it instead on a running back.

I thought I’d be able to get RBs cheap late too, but that wasn’t the case. After bowing out on an $18 Rhamondre Stevenson, I found myself bidding up Brian Robinson (who I like) to $16. And I wanted to pair Jerome Ford ($11) with Nick Chubb ($14), but he too got out of reach late.

Everything else went fine. I spent $4 combined on Tua Tagovailoa and Danny Dimes who in this running-QB-friendly format has more value. I also got Rashid Shaheed late because I think he’s a better player in real life than Olave and felt like I needed the insurance after that mistake.

All things considered, the draft was fine — CeeDee Lamb and Ja’Marr Chase are two top-seven overall picks, Olave is a second rounder and Stefon Diggs goes late third-early fourth, and that’s in the NFFC’s 12-team format, though unlike this, it’s full PPR.

@ 6ad3e2a3:c90b7740

From the ages of 8-11, I spent my summers in Saltaire, Fire Island, a tiny town across the bay from Bayshore Long Island, accessible only by ferry. I vaguely recall the first summer our parents enrolled my younger brother Damon and me in day camp where they made us swim in the cold, jelly-fish-ridden bay water early in the morning. We quit the camp within the week and were largely left to our own devices after that.

The island didn’t have cars, so you got around by bike. That meant it was safe for kids, and late-70s/early-80s parents could check out entirely. By the time I was 10 or 11, I would wake up whenever it suited me, scarf down a bowl of cereal, grab my bike and return for dinner. No one knew where we were — though the baseball field was a good bet — and no one cared.

I remember one time we brought a two-man inflatable raft to the ocean on a choppy day and had the bright idea to ride the waves in it. We got so destroyed by one wave, Damon wound up face-down in the sand underneath the raft. He was crying, but no real harm done.

. . .

To this day, I often find myself projecting into the future. “In 12 hours, I’ll be back in Lisbon, in 48 hours, I’ll be done with my running for the week, in 72 hours, etc.” And when the time comes, and I’m done with whatever travel or unpleasant task, I’ll start all over again.

If you tell this to someone, they’ll often say, “You need to be in the present.” Yeah no shit. That’s like telling someone you’re an alcoholic and them saying, “You should stop drinking.” It’s a bad habit, I’m aware. But where did this habit come from, and why is it so entrenched?

. . .

My summers were a stark contrast to the school year where like everyone else I was up at 7:00 am, exhausted and forced to sit through class after class all day, the teachers droning on about something in which I had no interest. I remember watching the clock, as though trying to make the hands move faster with my mind. Only 20 minutes left, only 10 minutes, only five. Thank God it’s Friday.

. . .

I’ve never had a real job. I worked on the Truckee River one summer blowing up rafts, stacking them on trucks and putting people in the water. I cleaned houses one summer, I worked for free during law school for the NY Attorney General’s office, I ghost wrote car blurbs for Motor Trend and Car And Driver and then I worked for RotoWire (in fantasy sports) for 22 years before we sold it. The idea of grinding away at a law firm or some other joyless menial mental labor filled me with dread. Even tedious tasks like editing our annual NFL magazine, going over the copy word by word four or five times was torture. And I had a dream job and owned part of the company.

. . .

I partied a lot in my 20s and 30s, and it was not without consequence. I have a beautiful 12-YO daughter now, but we started too late to have more than one kid. Had I known then what I know now, I would have started a big family much earlier. I would have been more serious and made it a priority. But even though I wasn’t exactly an alcoholic, I had a strong urge to use the weekend as an escape. It was my time, and I wanted to use it to chase the pleasures that were denied to me during the slog of the work week.

. . .

For parents, school is kid storage, but for kids like me it was prison. My biggest takeaway was there are dreadful, pointless things society wants from you, and you should get those done with the least possible effort so you could do whatever you wanted later. That life is divided into appeasing the machine and having fun, and the problem to solve was how to get rich despite having a very low tolerance for appeasement. The point of getting rich was to do whatever you wanted whenever you wanted and to dispense with the dreadful, pointless things forever.

. . .

Now that I have no job, and the dreadful, pointless things are kept to a minimum, I mostly do whatever I want. But the younger version of me would be surprised to know that includes running at the track three times a week, doing pull-ups at the local park, writing and editing my own essays, learning and using to the extent I’m capable the challenging new freedom tech protocols (bitcoin and nostr.) I’ve largely stopped drinking, almost never smoke weed, fast once a week, am gluten-free, rarely eat junk food, don’t drive a fancy car. I save rather than spend most of my money.

There is nothing from which to escape and nowhere to go anymore. And yet my mind still projects into the future, perpetuating the dichotomy between obligations and leisure, indentured servitude and escapism. It’s as if I’m back in Saltaire, the whole day every day in front of me, but it’s only June, and I haven’t yet adjusted fully to the reality that school’s out, and it’s really, actually summer.

Just as soon as I post this essay, walk the dog, do my pull-ups at the park, I’ll start to relax and enjoy myself.

@ 1c9dcd8f:1852f704

It is especially dangerous to be out late on the last night of November, for it is the closing scene of the revels—the last night when the dead have leave to dance on the hill with the fairies, and after that they must all go back to their graves and lie in the chill, cold earth, without music or wine till the next November comes round, when they all spring up again in their shrouds and rush out into the moonlight with mad laughter.

One November night, a woman of Shark Island, coming home late at the hour of the dead, grew tired and sat down to rest, when presently a young man came up and talked to her.

“Wait a bit,” he said, “and you will see the most beautiful dancing you ever looked on there by the side of the hill.”

And she looked at him steadily. He was very pale, and seemed sad.

“Why are you so sad?” she asked, “and as pale as if you were dead?”

“Look well at me,” he answered. “Do you not know me?”

“Yes, I know you now,” she said. “You are young Brien that was drowned last year when out fishing. What are you here for?”

“Look,” he said, “at the side of the hill and you will see why I am here.”

And she looked, and saw a great company dancing to sweet music; and amongst them were all the dead who had died as long as she could remember—men, women, and children, all in white, and their faces were pale as the moonlight.

“Now,” said the young man, “run for your life; for if once the fairies bring you into the dance you will never be able to leave them any more.”

But while they were talking, the fairies came up and danced round her in a circle, joining their hands. And she fell to the ground in a faint, and knew no more till she woke up in the morning in her own bed at home. And they all saw that her face was pale as the dead, and they knew that she had got the fairy-stroke. So the herb doctor was sent for, and every measure tried to save her, but without avail, for just as the moon rose that night, soft, low music was heard round the house, and when they looked at the woman she was dead.

It is a custom amongst the people, when throwing away water at night, to cry out in a loud voice, “Take care of the water;” or, literally from the Irish, “Away with yourself from the water”—for they say the spirits of the dead last buried are then wandering about, and it would be dangerous if the water fell on them.

One dark winter’s night a woman suddenly threw out a pail of boiling water without thinking of the warning words. Instantly a cry was heard as of a person in pain, but no one was seen. However, the next night a black lamb entered the house, having the back all fresh scalded, and it lay down moaning by the hearth and died. Then they all knew this was the spirit that had been scalded by the woman. And they carried the dead lamb out reverently and buried it deep in the earth. Yet every night at the same hour it walked again into the house and lay down and moaned and died. And after this had happened many times, the priest was sent for, and finally, by the strength of his exorcism, the spirit of the dead was laid to rest, and the black lamb appeared no more. Neither was the body of the dead lamb found in the grave when they searched for it, though it had been laid by their own hands deep in the earth and covered with the clay.

Before an accident happens to a boat, or a death by drowning, low music is often heard, as if under the water, along with harmonious lamentations, and then every one in the boat knows that some young man or beautiful young girl is wanted by the fairies, and is doomed to die. The best safeguard is to have music and singing in the boat, for the fairies are so enamoured of the mortal voices and music that they forget to weave the spell till the fatal moment has passed, and then all in the boat are safe from harm.

@ c0a57a12:8b230f7a

Concept:

This sauce is intended to be used on 10-16 lb smoked pork butt (Boston Butt). #foodstr

Ingredients:

• 1 Pineapple (cored, peeled)
• 2 cup coconut water
• 1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 6 Scotch Bonnet Peppers or 3 TBSP Eaton's Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce
• 4 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 tbsp minced onion
• 4 tbsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground clove
• 1 tbsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp salt

Instructions:

1. Core pineapple
2. Place all ingredients in blender. Blend well.
3. Pour purée into medium saucepan
4. Reduce to thicken.
5. Allow sauce to cool.

@ c0a57a12:8b230f7a

Concept:

This sauce is intended to be used on 10-16 lb smoked pork butt (Boston Butt). #foodstr

Ingredients:

• 1 Pineapple (cored, peeled)
• 2 cup coconut water
• 1/3 cup Red Wine Vinegar
• 6 Scotch Bonnet Peppers or 3 TBSP Eaton's Scotch Bonnet Pepper Sauce
• 4 tbsp minced garlic
• 4 tbsp minced onion
• 4 tbsp ground allspice
• 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp ground clove
• 1 tbsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp paprika
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tbsp salt

Instructions:

1. Core pineapple
2. Place all ingredients in blender. Blend well.
3. Pour purée into medium saucepan
4. Reduce to thicken.
5. Allow sauce to cool.

@ 0176967e:1e6f471e

Dvadsaťjeden prináša zaujímavý a netradičný článok k tohtoročnému Lunarpunk Festivalu v podaní Zuzi Lali a.k.a Agenta A. 😊

@ 1bb2128b:746f21ab

Whenever people proposed a charity policy, ask the 2 following questions first: 1. Are they proposing using other people's money to do the charity? Or are they saying, "I wanna help this people. Here is my money, take them. Now, let's do more and here is my proposal."

1. Are they proposing to help those in dire circumstances in nearest proximity? Eg: Don't propose to help the poor in another state or country if they are people starving, sick or dying in your neighbourhood.

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

On social media and in the Nostr space in particular, there’s been a lot of debate about the idea of supporting deletion and editing of notes.

Some people think they’re vital features to have, others believe that more honest and healthy social media will come from getting rid of these features. The discussion about these features quickly turns to the feasibility of completely deleting something on a decentralized protocol. We quickly get to the “We can’t really delete anything from the internet, or a decentralized network.” argument. This crowds out how Delete and Edit can mimic elements of offline interactions, how they can be used as social signals.

When it comes to issues of deletion and editing content, what matters more is if the creator can communicate their intentions around their content. Sure, on the internet, with decentralized protocols, there’s no way to be sure something’s deleted. It’s not like taking a piece of paper and burning it. Computers make copies of things all the time, computers don’t like deleting things. In particular, distributed systems tend to use a Kafka architecture with immutable logs, it’s just easier to keep everything around, as deleting and reindexing is hard. Even if the software could be made to delete something, there’s always screenshots, or even pictures of screens. We can’t provably make something disappear.

What we need to do in our software is clearly express intention. A delete is actually a kind of retraction. “I no longer want to associate myself with this content, please stop showing it to people as part of what I’ve published, stop highlighting it, stop sharing it.” Even if a relay or other server keeps a copy, and keeps sharing it, being able to clearly state “hello world, this thing I said, was a mistake, please get rid of it.” Just giving users the chance to say “I deleted this” is a way of showing intention. It’s also a way of signaling that feedback has been heard. Perhaps the post was factually incorrect or perhaps it was mean and the person wants to remove what they said. In an IRL conversation, for either of these scenarios there is some dialogue where the creator of the content is learning something and taking action based on what they’ve learned.

Without delete or edit, there is no option to signal to the rest of the community that you have learned something because of how the content is structured today. On most platforms a reply or response stating one’s learning will be lost often in a deluge of replies on the original post and subsequent posts are often not seen especially when the original goes viral. By providing tools like delete and edit we give people a chance to signal that they have heard the feedback and taken action.

The Nostr Protocol supports delete and expiring notes. It was one of the reasons we switched from secure scuttlebutt to build on Nostr. Our nos.social app offers delete and while we know that not all relays will honor this, we believe it’s important to provide social signaling tools as a means of making the internet more humane.

We believe that the power to learn from each other is more important than the need to police through moral outrage which is how the current platforms and even some Nostr clients work today.

It’s important that we don’t say Nostr doesn’t support delete. Not all apps need to support requesting a delete, some might want to call it a retraction. It is important that users know there is no way to enforce a delete and not all relays may honor their request.

Edit is similar, although not as widely supported as delete. It’s a creator making a clear statement that they’ve created a new version of their content. Maybe it’s a spelling error, or a new version of the content, or maybe they’re changing it altogether. Freedom online means freedom to retract a statement, freedom to update a statement, freedom to edit your own content. By building on these freedoms, we’ll make Nostr a space where people feel empowered and in control of their own media.

@ 765da722:17c600e6

Just gimme a box with a blinking cursor for text, And I'll type words and strings for when I'm vexed. Within a rectangle, feelings will splash and bounce. Some I will embrace, and some renounce. There's hope for a healthier mind on the other side. Excuse the bumps if you join me for the ride.

─J. Randal Matheny, 2024-08-15

poetry #poems #writing

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• What are Decentralized Exchanges?

• How Do Decentralized Exchanges Work?

• Benefits of Decentralized Exchanges

• Challenges of Decentralized Exchanges

• Conclusion

• FAQ

In the world of cryptocurrency, decentralized exchanges (DEXs) are gaining popularity as an alternative to traditional centralized exchanges. Unlike centralized exchanges, which are controlled by a single entity, DEXs operate in a decentralized manner, where transactions are facilitated directly between users. In this article, we will discuss what decentralized exchanges are, how they work, and their potential to become the future of peer-to-peer trading.

What are Decentralized Exchanges?

Decentralized exchanges are platforms that allow users to trade cryptocurrencies directly with each other without the need for a middleman. Unlike centralized exchanges, which require users to deposit their funds into a centralized wallet controlled by the exchange, DEXs allow users to retain control of their funds at all times. This makes DEXs a more secure option for trading cryptocurrencies.

How Do Decentralized Exchanges Work?

Decentralized exchanges operate using a blockchain-based system, where trades are executed through smart contracts. Smart contracts are self-executing programs that execute trades based on pre-defined conditions. Once the conditions are met, the smart contract automatically executes the trade without the need for any human intervention.

DEXs also use a decentralized order book, which records all buy and sell orders on the blockchain. This ensures that the order book is transparent and tamper-proof, as it cannot be altered by any single entity.

Benefits of Decentralized Exchanges

Increased Security - One of the main advantages of DEXs is that they offer increased security compared to centralized exchanges. Users retain control of their funds at all times, reducing the risk of hacking or theft.

No KYC/AML Requirements - Unlike centralized exchanges, which require users to undergo Know Your Customer (KYC) and Anti-Money Laundering (AML) checks, DEXs do not have any such requirements. This ensures user privacy and eliminates the need for users to share their personal information with a third party.

No Fees - Many DEXs do not charge any trading fees, making them a more cost-effective option for traders.

No Single Point of Failure - DEXs operate in a decentralized manner, meaning that there is no single point of failure. This reduces the risk of downtime or system failure.

Challenges of Decentralized Exchanges

Low Liquidity - One of the main challenges facing DEXs is low liquidity. Because DEXs operate in a decentralized manner, there are fewer users and trading pairs compared to centralized exchanges. This can make it difficult to execute large trades or find buyers/sellers for certain cryptocurrencies.

Complexity - DEXs can be more complex to use compared to centralized exchanges, which often have a more user-friendly interface. This can make it more difficult for new users to navigate and execute trades on DEXs.

Price Volatility - Because DEXs have lower liquidity and fewer users, price volatility can be higher compared to centralized exchanges. This can result in higher spreads and slippage.

Conclusion

Decentralized exchanges offer a more secure, private, and cost-effective way for users to trade cryptocurrencies directly with each other. While they still face some challenges, such as low liquidity and complexity, DEXs have the potential to become the future of peer-to-peer trading. As the cryptocurrency market continues to grow, it will be interesting to see how DEXs evolve and adapt to meet the needs of users.

FAQ

Are decentralized exchanges the future of peer-to-peer trading? Decentralized exchanges have the potential to become the future of peer-to-peer trading due to their security, privacy, and cost-effectiveness, but they still face challenges that need to be addressed.

How do decentralized exchanges differ from centralized exchanges? Decentralized exchanges differ from centralized exchanges in that they are not controlled by a single entity, and trades are executed directly between users without the need for a middleman. Users also retain control of their funds at all times in decentralized exchanges.

Are decentralized exchanges more secure than centralized exchanges? Decentralized exchanges are generally considered to be more secure than centralized exchanges because users retain control of their funds at all times, reducing the risk of hacking or theft.

Can anyone use a decentralized exchange? Yes, anyone with a cryptocurrency wallet can use a decentralized exchange, but users should be aware of the challenges and risks associated with using DEXs, such as low liquidity and price volatility.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 06830f6c:34da40c5

Recent data shows a notable divergence in Bitcoin’s (BTC) performance year-to-date (YTD): it has increased by 1% against the US Dollar (USD) but surged by 10% against the Kenyan Shilling (KES) over the past eight months. This discrepancy becomes even more pronounced in light of recent events in Kenya, where widespread protests have erupted over controversial tax hikes and demands for greater governmental accountability. Here’s a detailed analysis of why Bitcoin’s value has diverged against these two currencies and how the current political climate in Kenya might be influencing this trend.

1. Currency Depreciation and Inflationary Pressures

The substantial increase in Bitcoin’s value against the KES compared to the USD can largely be attributed to the significant depreciation of the Kenyan Shilling. Over the past eight months, the KES has likely weakened considerably due to both economic pressures and political instability. The ongoing protests against proposed tax hikes and calls for government resignation reflect broader discontent and could exacerbate inflation and currency depreciation.

In such a volatile environment, Bitcoin is often viewed as a safe-haven asset. The 10% rise in Bitcoin relative to the KES indicates that the local currency has lost purchasing power rapidly, making Bitcoin more attractive as a store of value.

2. Local Economic Conditions and Market Dynamics

The protests in Kenya, which have been driven by dissatisfaction with proposed tax increases and demands for more accountable governance, are indicative of broader economic and political challenges. These issues can create significant uncertainty and instability, which in turn affects the local currency. As the KES depreciates amidst these challenges, Bitcoin’s value in local terms increases more sharply.

In addition, local market conditions—such as heightened demand for Bitcoin as a hedge against currency risk—may further drive up its price in Kenya. Limited trading options or high transaction costs could also contribute to amplified price movements in the KES market.

3. Global Economic Influences and Exchange Rates

The performance of Bitcoin against the USD and KES over the YTD period also reflects broader global economic trends. The USD tends to be more stable compared to emerging market currencies like the KES. The 1% increase in Bitcoin relative to the USD suggests a relatively stable global environment, whereas the 10% rise against the KES indicates more severe local economic disturbances.

The depreciation of the KES against the USD, exacerbated by the recent political unrest, has likely intensified the divergence in Bitcoin’s value between the two currencies. This reflects the impact of local economic and political instability on the value of digital assets.

4. Arbitrage Opportunities and Market Speculation

Arbitrage opportunities and market speculation may also play a role in the observed price discrepancies. In times of local economic or political turmoil, such as the current protests in Kenya, there can be increased speculative trading and volatility. Investors seeking to hedge against local currency risks may drive up Bitcoin’s value more significantly in Kenya compared to other markets.

Conclusion

In summary, Bitcoin’s 10% rise against the Kenyan Shilling, contrasted with a 1% increase against the US Dollar over the past eight months, highlights the impact of local economic and political instability. The recent protests in Kenya, triggered by tax hikes and demands for better governance, have likely contributed to the rapid depreciation of the KES, amplifying Bitcoin’s value in local terms. Meanwhile, Bitcoin’s relatively modest increase against the USD reflects a more stable global economic environment. Understanding these dynamics is crucial for investors and stakeholders navigating the complexities of cryptocurrency and foreign exchange markets amid ongoing political unrest. #bitbiashara

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

...a 25W light bulb. Sorry. But is anybody working on this (using mining heat and a lower watt LED bulb)? I know that GekkoScience is working on a coffee warmer right now.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/645846

@ bcbb3e40:a494e501

En este nuevo artículo sobre actualidad sería la segunda vez que nombremos a la figura de Alvise Pérez. Lo habíamos mencionado de pasada anteriormente, cuando comentamos nuestras hipótesis respecto al atentado contra Trump y lo que ello, a nuestro entender, supondría.

La motivación del mismo no es defender a Alvise, con quien no nos alineamos por motivos que explicaremos. Lo que nos llama la atención es la reacción adversa del sector disidente (llamémoslo así) que, si bien reconocemos que puede haber un componente legítimo de desconfianza ante la aparición «súbita» de este personaje, consideramos que está motivada principalmente por envidias, celos y algo de sectarismo.

El objetivo es por lo tanto, hacernos capaces de encontrar la viga en el propio ojo y dejar de señalar la paja en el ojo ajeno.

Sospechas contra Alvise

Alvise Pérez logró una gran relevancia a raíz del resultado de su agrupación electoral «Se acabó la fiesta» (SALF) en las últimas elecciones al parlamento europeo celebradas en España el pasado 9 de junio de 2024.

A la totalidad del espectro político/mediático español le sentó como un jarro de agua fría la friolera de más de 800.000 votos oficiales (SALF asegura que son más y está reclamando el recuento) conseguida por un personaje que hasta el momento estaba vetado por la prensa y que basó su campaña electoral en la difusión a través de las redes sociales que no habían podido serle censuradas y después de una serie de meetings de presupuesto ínfimo celebrados por las principales capitales españolas.

|| |:-:| |Alvise Pérez durante su discurso pronuciado tras el cierre de los colegios electorales en las elecciones europeas del 9J|

Viéndolo así a todos nos parece un cuento demasiado bonito como para ser verdad. Estamos todos muy escarmentados del ascenso a la relevancia pública de personajes «desconocidos» como José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Pablo Iglesias Turrión o Pedro Sánchez Pérez-Castejón, o de fuerzas políticas como VOX; todos estos casos, aupados por los medios. Además de la lógica desconfianza que nos suscita el ascenso meteórico de las figuras y organizaciones mencionadas desde la nada, sin una trayectoria previa conocida, y sin una masa social o apoyo reconocido.

Sí, también VOX era prácticamente desconocida hasta que los invitaron a este programa en Televisión de Cataluña, allá por el 2018, con todo el tema del independentismo catalán en auge:

A todos los ejemplos anteriores los aupó la prensa. Sin embargo, parece que Alvise/SALF no es el caso… Lo que lleva a la hipótesis conspiranoica de que es un personaje puesto por el Centro Nacional de Inteligencia de España (CNI).

La hipótesis del CNI

Es cierto que Alvise ha ido ganando mucha relevancia en redes sociales en base a información que ha ido publicando y que ha sido activamente ignorada o vetada por el aparato mediático. Además, la calidad de dicha información siempre ha sido de categoría de espionaje. ¿Cómo es posible que un chaval sevillano haya logrado acceso a informaciones de un calibre capaz de hacer tambalearse a un país como España?

Él ha manifestado en repetidas ocasiones que, efectivamente, utiliza métodos «sucios» como la extorsión o el hacking. Pero, obviamente, aquí tendríamos que creer en su palabra y no se puede desmentir de forma tajante que no tenga algún tipo de relación con los servicios de inteligencia.

No obstante, la nube de sospecha del CNI o de colaboración con la policía siempre ha estado encima de algunos personajes disidentes destacados, con mayor o menor acierto. Es más, de hecho no descartamos que muchos focos «disidentes» como pseudo-partidos políticos o incluso algunas librerías hayan tenido algún tipo de conexión. Es lo que en inglés se denomina Honeypot (trampa de miel).

Volviendo a Alvise, lo que se le reprocha desde algunos sectores disidentes sobre su hipotética relación con el CNI es que éstos lo hayan introducido en la esfera pública para debilitar a otras opciones disidentes o patrióticas[^1], como VOX. Sinceramente, este reproche nos parece ridículo. ¿Acaso hay otras fuerzas patrióticas (nótense las cursivas) aparte de VOX que tengan algún tipo de influencia real como para que merezca la pena diluirlas? Y VOX, ¿por qué no apoya a SALF en su cruzada contra INDRA y secunda sus dudas plausibles sobre la precisión del cómputo y la veracidad de los resultados electorales?

El deplorable activismo disidente en España

Pese a que las sospechas contra él pudieran demostrarse como ciertas en algún momento, si nos atenemos a su historial registrado y a lo que ha ido aportando a la sociedad española desde sus medios, ¿¡dónde está el problema!?

Entendemos perfectamente las sospechas y compartimos el historial de desengaños de muchas opciones políticas, pero posiblemente muchos se estén pasando de estrictos, quizás con el ánimo de defender sus colores. ¿Existe acaso miedo de que otro haga las cosas bien porque «los tuyos» no lo han logrado?

Es una actitud patética y sectaria que antepone el interés del partido o del grupúsculo que uno defiende al interés general del país. Una actitud, dicho sea de paso, demasiado habitual en cualquier tipo de agrupación humana: asociaciones lúdicas, partidos, empresas, etc.

Escrutinio feroz contra Alvise

El contrato que Alvise firmó con su base de seguidores fue el siguiente: «Vosotros me votáis para proporcionarme inmunidad política y, a cambio, 1) yo utilizaré esa inmunidad para difundir información que me pondría en apuros en caso de no disponer de tal inmunidad y además 2) renunciaré a mi sueldo, sorteándolo entre vosotros».

Las elecciones se celebraron hace apenas dos meses… Pues bien, durante este tiempo no han dejado de llover las críticas de por qué no ha cumplido todavía con lo prometido. Críticas expresadas con especial vehemencia sobre todo por aquellos que no le votaron y que, por lo tanto, no suscribieron dicho contrato con él. Pero bueno…

La cuestión es que el pasado sábado 10 de agosto, sabiendo como él sabe manejar a los medios y a la opinión pública, publicó el siguiente mensaje según el cual, aparentemente, renunciaba cumplir el punto 2) del contrato:

Acabo de cobrar mi sueldo como eurodiputado! - 8.089,46 como sueldo de agosto. - 4.043,60 como sueldo de medio julio. En un rato explico en un vídeo por qué he decidido NO ENTREGAR mi sueldo, y quedármelo como respuesta a todos los ataques recibidos por periodistas, partidos y haters en general. 😘 8:58 p. m. · 10 ago. 2024

La respuesta de toda la prensa y de sus enemigos políticos de la izquierda no se hizo esperar. Es algo que no pilla a nadie de sorpresa. Sin embargo, lo que fue especialmente ridículo fue ver cómo otros patriotas y disidentes se subían al carro del linchamiento sin pararse a pensar por un momento que tenía toda la pinta de ser un troleo.

Porque sí, porque a la que alguien haya seguido un poco la trayectoria de Alvise debería haber anticipado que no renunciar a su sueldo sería casi un suicidio para él. Él aún no tiene la posibilidad, el poder, los privilegios ni una base zombi lo suficientemente motivada como para que le permitan «cambiar de opinión».

No tardó mucho en humillar por completo a todos sus detractores publicando el siguiente mensaje unas horas más tarde:

Me quedo mi sueldo. Lo explico todo en: http://AlviseCumpliendo.com 10:25 p. m. · 10 ago. 2024

Efectivamente, tal y como prometió, parece que cumplirá el punto 2).

Es que, de hecho, el «sacrificio» de sortear su salario le reporta muchos más beneficios que no hacerlo. El número de suscriptores de su canal de Telegram ha aumentado en más de 70.000 personas en menos de 2 días. Y los seguidores de su canal de Instagram ya superan el millón. Este incremento de audiencia, monetizado, supera con creces los 10.000 euros mensuales.

En la disidencia organizada todo son excusas y malos resultados

Pese a todo, para los más fanáticos de nada servirán los logros de Alvise ya no para adherirse a él sino simplemente para dejar de atacarle. Parece que muchos lo quieren o todo o nada, pero en realidad la motivación que lleva a tal animadversión es la impotencia, la frustración y la envidia que genera ver que otros tienen éxito y los tuyos no.

El sector disidente español ha sido lamentable desde mucho antes de la transición democrática española. Especialmente desde la década de 1990 lo único que poblaba el panorama español eran grupos de frikis y de nostálgicos de vete tú a saber qué, que jamás lograron tener una relevancia pública ni política significativa ya que estaban más encariñados con sus símbolos y parafilias que con la población general y «analfabeta política» española. La disidencia española, salvo alguna honrosa iniciativa cultural sobre todo, se ha mantenido inoperante a lo largo de las más de cuatro décadas de existencia del actual régimen. Estamos hablando de organizaciones políticas, iniciativas ciudadanas o personajes particulares que hayan podido mostrar un discurso y una cosmovisión alternativas. En muchas ocasiones han antepuesto los intereses particulares de la organización, y han optado por la ortodoxia ideológica frente a cualquier pragmatismo o movimiento táctico orientado a las contingencias del momento, lo cual ha desactivado toda posibilidad de plantear una alternativa viable y seria para combatir las injusticias del régimen demoliberal.

Cierto es que los medios de comunicación de aquella época tampoco eran favorables y que el sistema ha puesto muchas dificultades, pero no nos engañemos, la mayoría de esos grupos no ha sabido hacer nunca un proselitismo eficiente y atractivo, haciendo propuestas endogámicas y de consumo interno, sin ser capaces de salir de su burbuja, quedando en muchos casos en terrenos oscurantistas.

Lo único que pareció romper un poco este panorama tan lamentable fue la irrupción intencionada de VOX, que pese a que podamos sospechar que se trata de disidencia controlada para canalizar el desencanto de un sector cada vez más amplio de la población, también ha servido para visibilizar que ese sector poblacional existe, que no es precisamente insignificante y que abarca a un espectro social amplio, más allá de los marginados antisociales (friki-fachas) que proliferaban por la escena patriótica.

No obstante, dentro de este panorama tan lamentable, la irrupción de VOX no ha mejorado en absoluto la situación, porque se ha dedicado a fagocitar ciertos elementos de esa «falsa disidencia» fracasada e inoperante, para ocupar muchos de sus cuadros dirigentes, al tiempo que ejerce una mera oposición retórica y actúa como cualquier otra organización del arco parlamentario, invocando el «imperio de la ley», como tanto gusta a los liberales, bajo su formalismo positivo, vacío e inconsecuente. Aún así, el hartazgo y el desengaño ha llegado a ciertos sectores de sus votantes, los cuales se han desmarcado progresivamente de sus políticas y de ese pseudopatriotismo que ha pretendido atribuirse desde su fundación.

Dicho todo esto, ¿importa realmente la posición contraria a Alvise de la disidencia patriótica española?. Pues realmente no, porque su capacidad de influencia es insignificante. Por eso, creemos que lo más inteligente que podrían hacer es callarse y dejar de hacer el ridículo, pero quizás eso sea pedirles mucho. En este sentido, y dadas las urgencias que demanda nuestra precaria situación, no deberíamos obstaculizar cualquier acción positiva que contribuya a la causa disidente, aunque sea limitada en el tiempo y quienes la realicen se encuentren en nuestras antípodas ideológicas. En el terreno de lo táctico, y en el terreno de las contingencias, quizás haya ocasiones en las que priorizar un cierto pragmatismo en nuestra visión de las cosas frente a las demandas ideológicas, que siendo absolutamente necesarias y legítimas pueden esperar ante los hechos inmediatos.

Por qué no somos anti-alvisistas

Aunque lo hemos dicho al principio, no está de más recalcar que el propósito de este artículo no es encumbrar ni mucho menos a Alvise Pérez. Nosotros también compartimos algunas de las sospechas que se vierten contra él. Además, tampoco estamos alineados a nivel ideológico.

Alvise parece el típico español de a pie, con sus defectos y sus virtudes, educado e influido bajo un sistema liberal. No propone un cambio de paradigma político, sino una continuación del mismo, eso sí, en el que al menos se cumplan las normas que se supone que se tendrían que cumplir.

|| |:-:| |Las «ardillas» es la red de seguidores/colaboradores/informadores/votantes indignados anónimos de Alvise Pérez, quizás en referencia a «Alvin y las Ardillas»|

Es evidente la decadencia del panorama político actual donde se nos miente y se nos toma el pelo ya sin ningún tipo de disimulo. A calzón quitado. Ya ni siquiera se molestan en aparentar que cumplen las normas que ellos mismos han impuesto. Los escándalos de corrupción que hemos testimoniado en el pasado y en la actualidad rebosan lo ultrajante.

Intentar que por lo menos se cumplan las normas que se supone que se tendrían que cumplir según el ordenamiento legal vigente, lamentablemente, se tiene que considerar como un logro. Obviamente, nosotros no nos adherimos al susodicho ordenamiento legal, pero entendemos que lo mínimo es ser respetuoso con lo que éste dicta, así como con sus procedimientos y protocolos. Ya llevamos muchos años escuchando por los mass media aquello del «estado de derecho», el «imperio de la ley» o «el sistema más garantistas de todos los existentes», para luego ver cómo la corrupción y el menoscabo de la dignidad e integridad del territorio nacional son prácticas habituales.

Por eso creemos que marcarse eso como objetivo a corto o a medio plazo ya es más que suficiente, y si Alvise sirve como ariete para eso, bienvenido sea. No creemos que sea pertinente arremeter contra él y convertirlo en cabeza de turco cuando desde la partitocracia, a izquierda y derecha, se está contribuyendo activamente a la destrucción y sometimiento de España a sus enemigos.

Ahora bien, ¿aspiramos al mismo modelo de sociedad? No. Él aspira a lo que cree que es correcto: un modelo Democrático Liberal. Alvise quiere reparar. Nosotros queremos reconstruir desde cero. Lo suyo es más realista y factible a corto plazo. Lo nuestro es una batalla cultural.

Podemos contemplar con cierto agrado las acciones de Alvise, siempre que éstas se dirijan contra los partidos políticos, sus integrantes y las corruptelas que protagonizan en un escenario de traición permanente contra el Pueblo y la nación española. Pero nunca podremos coincidir con quienes pretenden seguir confiando en el liberalismo como una opción de futuro, y más después de constatar la responsabilidad de esta ideología perversa en la destrucción del Occidente europeo, totalmente tiranizado y en un estado de metástasis que parece conducirnos a un abismo de caos y destrucción. Por eso lo fundamental en toda opción disidente pasa por adoptar una postura radical e innegociable frente al liberalismo y sus iniquidades.

No podemos aceptar el discurso que afirma que lo que fallan son las personas, que son corruptas, pero que el sistema y su entramado ideológico e institucional es bueno, positivo y perfectamente viable, porque no es así. Las personas que dirigen e integran las altas jerarquías del régimen español, y por extensión de las democracias liberales europeas, son corruptas, mezquinas y traidoras porque las instituciones y la ideología que las impregna posee esa misma naturaleza. Y con esto también queremos contrarrestar aquellos tópicos que muchas veces escuchamos en las conversaciones cotidianas, que tienden a culpar el factor humano y contingente y no la estructura político-ideológica que ha favorecido su ascenso y es consustancial a esa corrupción.

Desde los tiempos de la plandemia se ha visto un cierto despertar entre amplios sectores de la sociedad española, que han empezado a desconfiar abiertamente de los postulados «políticamente correctos», y ya se atreven a criticar abiertamente temas como la «inmigración», las ingenierías sociales asociadas al Nuevo Orden Mundial u otro tipo de ideas que la prensa vendida se empeña en fabricar para mantenernos dócilmente en el redil. Estos hechos han suscitado formas embrionarias de disidencia y organización, apoyándose muchas veces en las nuevas tecnologías e Internet, como el propio Alvise, y la posibilidad de ir generando redes de comunicación propias, convertidas en vectores de ideas y discursos compartidos por miles de personas. Aunque no coincidamos en lo ideológico, es justo celebrar y apoyar este tipo de iniciativas, y que todo lo que dañe el actual orden de cosas y genere vínculos orgánicos y de solidaridad entre los propios españoles, y europeos, reciba el aliento y el apoyo de todos nosotros.

[^1]: Entendemos que VOX no es un partido patriota, sino liberal de derechas, y con evidentes filiaciones con el sionismo. No obstante, hay quien considera que VOX representa, erróneamente, una alternativa «patriota» al actual sistema vigente, cuando siempre ha defendido tanto el orden constitucional fundado en 1978, como sus principales figuras jurídicas e institucionales, tales como la monarquía.

---

Artículo original: Hipérbola Janus, Alvise Pérez y el estado de la disidencia en España, 12/Ago/2024

@ 4f7bd9c0:d530c5ce

This is a preview of my post. Join my community and get access to this and more of my work.

https://highlighter.com/_@getfaaans.com

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Zap this meme for today (Special Edition) Meme Monday contest

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/645734

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

Zap this meme for today (Special Edition) Meme Monday contest

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/645698

@ 8dc86882:9dc4ba5e

I've seen some discussions on Nostr lately talking about the need for relays. I find it to be something I can maybe do to help the community, since I'm not a coder. The downfall is I haven't been able to find a good up to date guide on what is needed. There are a ton of relay projects, but I do not know which are stable enough to run with any kind of reliability. If anyone has input, guides, etc.. It would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/644888

@ 765da722:17c600e6

So here goes using the Nostr Writer plugin. This will be a really cool option, if it’ll work for me. The question is, where are the files/content, where’s the link?

Let’s try it …

@ 06830f6c:34da40c5

On August 10, 2024, the vibrant Sarit Expo was alive with energy as Bitcoin Dada celebrated the graduation of its seventh cohort. This momentous event, dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of cryptocurrency, showcased the dynamism and innovation of the Bitcoin Dada community. The evening began with the MC engaging the audience in a series of lively questions. “What is Bitcoin? Explain it to me like I’m five,” was one such question that underscored the diverse range of understanding in the room. While some answers were complex, others offered simpler explanations, highlighting the challenge of conveying intricate concepts.

As the MC continued, participants were asked for their impressions of the event space and suggestions for improvement. Comments ranged from critiques of overly bright lighting to discussions about the relevance of Bitcoin. One participant proposed an intriguing app idea that combined Eventbrite and WhatsApp, reflecting the innovative spirit of the audience.

The highlight of the evening was the inspiring opening speech by the CEO of Bitcoin Dada. She addressed the marginalization of women in tech, celebrating Bitcoin Dada’s commitment to inclusivity and support. She introduced her team

each member contributing uniquely: Edith, the community lead from Uganda; Sabina, the recruiter who found a sense of belonging; and Memelord, the project manager with a flair for comedy.

The ideathon segment was particularly thrilling. Debra’s third-place pitch proposed a Bitcoin-powered marketplace aimed at reducing youth unemployment by showcasing skills. Shantelle’s second-place idea focused on using Bitcoin to address global issues, such as helping refugees find safe zones with GPS technology. The top prize went to Meg, with her solution promising a significant impact—though the specifics were left as a tantalizing cliffhanger. 🌟🏆

PS : Sabina also gave a preview of the #tando app tha you can check out here on my youtube channel Link HERE

Meeting Inspiring Figures and Making Connections 📸

Throughout the event, I had the pleasure of meeting some remarkable individuals who are deeply involved in the Bitcoin community.

First, I met Felix from TheCore, a key panelist in the discussion on the financial revolution amidst economic unrest. We took a photo together, capturing a moment of shared enthusiasm for the potential of Bitcoin.

Later, I connected with a Bitcoin Dada and gamer who is actively involved with Thndr Games, Mary Imasuen. We took a photo showcasing our shared passion for Bitcoin and gaming.

I also had the chance to meet a Bitcoin enthusiast named Hope and she was adorned in Bitcoin-themed merchandise. We snapped a photo together, celebrating our mutual enthusiasm for Bitcoin and its future.

Panel Discussions: Insightful Exchanges and Thoughtful Dialogues

The panel discussion titled “Financial Revolution Amidst Economic Unrest” featured Felix from TheCore, Jason, a Bitcoin Dada supporter, and Bill, a lawyer with expertise in Bitcoin. They delved into the major challenges Kenyans face in adopting Bitcoin, emphasizing the importance of education and community support. They discussed the solid foundation of Bitcoin’s base layer and the need for further development in subsequent layers to enhance its functionality.

The discussion also touched on Kenya’s future in the Bitcoin space. Bill suggested integrating Bitcoin with fiat transactions and stock exchanges, while Jason highlighted the government's welcoming stance and the need for energy to support Bitcoin. Felix proposed making Bitcoin legal tender and finding sustainable energy sources to bolster its use. ⚖️🌍

Audience questions added further depth to the conversation. One attendee asked about using Bitcoin to offset government debt, while another inquired about measures for improving public education on Bitcoin. The responses stressed the need for comprehensive educational initiatives. When asked about alternative cryptocurrencies, the panel firmly rejected the idea of “shitcoins,” focusing instead on the value of Bitcoin. 🚫💸

The second panel discussion, moderated by Sharon from ₿-Trust, explored personal experiences with Bitcoin Dada. Panelists Anon, Vera, and Caroline shared how the program impacted their perspectives.

• Anon discovered a niche and a supportive community, emphasizing Bitcoin’s role as “lightning-fast internet money,” especially with Layer 2 advancements. 🌐⚡
• Vera found Bitcoin to be a valuable medium of exchange, advocated against other cryptocurrencies as “shitcoins,” and highlighted opportunities for women. 💪💰
• Caroline expanded her knowledge and aimed to educate others, describing Bitcoin as a store of value and emphasizing the importance of combating inflation through education. 📚🔍

The panelists also discussed opportunities for Bitcoin in their communities: - Anon saw potential for learning and growth through knowledge-sharing. - Vera mentioned BitSacco, a solution for saving in Bitcoin, and other upcoming projects like Sabina’s Tando app. - Caroline stressed the importance of education to counteract misconceptions about Bitcoin and its benefits. 🏡📈

In their closing remarks, the panelists shared their future aspirations: - Anon aimed to become a developer impacted by Bitcoin. - Vera planned to engage with the community and learn from others. - Caroline focused on educating the community to dispel myths about Bitcoin. 🌟👩‍💻

The event concluded with a warm dinner where attendees mingled, exchanged ideas, and enjoyed a meal together. WATCH https://video.nostr.build/4d0fbc2dd6ae0c20e0d45aa071a9e88000a9544f4289414900c91134d13960da.mp4

The Bitcoin Dada Cohort 7 graduation was more than just a celebration of individual achievements; it was a testament to the collective potential of the Bitcoin community.

As the event wrapped up, the atmosphere was charged with optimism and a shared commitment to advancing bitcoin technology. The graduating cohort left with new skills, fresh ideas, and a network of like-minded individuals, ready to make a significant impact on the future of Bitcoin. 🌍💡 #kenya #bitbiashara #kenya

@ 1c9dcd8f:1852f704

It is esteemed a very wrong thing amongst the islanders to be about on November Eve, minding any business, for the fairies have their flitting then, and do not like to be seen or watched; and all the spirits come to meet them and help them. But mortal people should keep at home, or they will suffer for it; for the souls of the dead have power over all things on that one night of the year; and they hold a festival with the fairies, and drink red wine from the fairy cups, and dance to fairy music till the moon goes down.

There was a man of the village who stayed out late one November Eve fishing, and never thought of the fairies until he saw a great number of dancing lights, and a crowd of people hurrying past with baskets and bags, and all laughing and singing and making merry as they went along.

“You are a merry set,” he said, “where are ye all going to?”

“We are going to the fair,” said a little old man with a cocked hat and a gold band round it. “Come with us, Hugh King, and you will have the finest food and the finest drink you ever set eyes upon.”

“And just carry this basket for me,” said a little red-haired woman.

So Hugh took it, and went with them till they came to the fair, which was filled with a crowd of people he had never seen on the island in all his days. And they danced and laughed and drank red wine from little cups. And there were pipers, and harpers, and little cobblers mending shoes, and all the most beautiful things in the world to eat and drink, just as if they were in a king’s palace. But the basket was very heavy, and Hugh longed to drop it, that he might go and dance with a little beauty with long yellow hair, that was laughing up close to his face.

“Well, here put down the basket,” said the red-haired woman, “for you are quite tired, I see;” and she took it and opened the cover, and out came a little old man, the ugliest, most misshapen little imp that could be imagined.

“Ah, thank you, Hugh,” said the imp, quite politely; “you have carried me nicely; for I am weak on the limbs—indeed I have nothing to speak of in the way of legs: but I’ll pay you well, my fine fellow; hold out your two hands,” and the little imp poured down gold and gold and gold into them, bright golden guineas. “Now go,” said he, “and drink my health, and make yourself quite pleasant, and don’t be afraid of anything you see and hear.”

So they all left him, except the man with the cocked hat and the red sash round his waist.

“Wait here now a bit,” says he, “for Finvarra, the king, is coming, and his wife, to see the fair.”

As he spoke, the sound of a horn was heard, and up drove a coach and four white horses, and out of it stepped a grand, grave gentleman all in black and a beautiful lady with a silver veil over her face.

“Here is Finvarra himself and the queen,” said the little old man; but Hugh was ready to die of fright when Finvarra asked—

“What brought this man here?”

And the king frowned and looked so black that Hugh nearly fell to the ground with fear. Then they all laughed, and laughed so loud that everything seemed shaking and tumbling down from the laughter. And the dancers came up, and they all danced round Hugh, and tried to take his hands to make him dance with them.

“Do you know who these people are; and the men and women who are dancing round you?” asked the old man. “Look well, have you ever seen them before?”

And when Hugh looked he saw a girl that had died the year before, then another and another of his friends that he knew had died long ago; and then he saw that all the dancers, men, women, and girls, were the dead in their long, white shrouds. And he tried to escape from them, but could not, for they coiled round him, and danced and laughed and seized his arms, and tried to draw him into the dance, and their laugh seemed to pierce through his brain and kill him. And he fell down before them there, like one faint from sleep, and knew no more till he found himself next morning lying within the old stone circle by the fairy rath on the hill. Still it was all true that he had been with the fairies; no one could deny it, for his arms were all black with the touch of the hands of the dead, the time they had tried to draw him into the dance; but not one bit of all the red gold, which the little imp had given him, could he find in his pocket. Not one single golden piece; it was all gone for evermore.

And Hugh went sadly to his home, for now he knew that the spirits had mocked him and punished him, because he troubled their revels on November Eve—that one night of all the year when the dead can leave their graves and dance in the moonlight on the hill, and mortals should stay at home and never dare to look on them.

@ 56a6da9b:7f5a2243

DAY NINE of FLASH AUGUST FICTION. I keep thinking about the FFF episode I did called The Resident. That one was weird. It had a surprising ending that also made sense. The word that stays prominent in my mind is furniture. So, that's the thing. Let's see what happens with furniture. Also, I want to refer a very good writer, just as I did yesterday. I think you should check out KW NORTON I like all of her writing, and this one about spiritual warfare is especially good. OK, so let's see what this thing about furniture is all about. It seems like this time around there are a lot of single word prompts. LISTEN

Horace's Desk Chair

Very Good Help is Hard to Find 1038 WORDS WRITTEN IS ABOUT AN HOUR AND FIFTEEN MINUTES

Harrison hates being called Harry. He likes his name, Harrison. He is a big guy, he has natural muscles, he was an athlete, and all of that. He hates being pigeonholed as a big, physical guy who is not very intelligent and only does physical things for a living. Even with that being the case, one of his incomes is from being a furniture delivery guy. It pays OK; it's close to the house, it's in the neighborhood he grew up in and he's proud of being a working man.

His other job is as a consultant for interior designers, and his hobbies are a lot more intellectual. He writes, he plays music, and he is a night school architecture student. He'd like to be an architect, or at least an assistant. He has a love for both new building technology and historic buildings.

He has several small deliveries today. There was a mix-up, and some incorrect deliveries were made; he has to correct those, and then he has one near the end of the day that is a special case. It's an antique. It is a small desk with a chair attached, from the 1950's, when those types of desks were the norm in American schools. A student chair desk with a flip top for storage inside the desk.

When he loads the truck, he first loads things that will be delivered last, of course. So, the chair desk would be loaded first, but since he is fixing botched deliveries that have already been made, he only needs to store the chair desk and secure it well in the Truck so it doesn't slide around.

With each stop, he has to explain to the clients what happened. The spreadsheet was adjusted, but an entry was removed improperly, and it caused all the addresses to be off-kilter with the corresponding piece. Luckily, none of these items are very large; they are the smaller items. The larger items are all two-man jobs, and those are being handled by the guys who made the mistake in the first place. So, Harrison feels good about that.

He has notes on each delivery. Things he has to remember: the names of the clients; whether there is a freight elevator; if the building has a contact he needs to clear for entry; and any special notes regarding the items, such as assembly, whether he is doing the assembly, whether the client has anyone to place the item for them, or whether Harrison is doing that. He notices that his final delivery has a very odd and important note.

"Please use special caution with my brother's chair desk. This was his chair desk from elementary school. Please come up to the apartment and meet me before bringing it to the elevator. Thank you, Mrs. Theresa Stanley."

Harrison is finished with all of his other deliveries. It's time for him to go to the affluent part of town to deliver this antique desk. He parks the truck across from the building and checks in with the front desk man. A confirmation of his arrival is made, and he goes up the front elevator to meet the client.

Mrs. Stanley is waiting for him at her door, and she invites him in. Harrison introduces himself. "Hello ma'am, my name is Harrison, I have your desk in the truck across the street."

"Thanks, Harrison. I wanted you to come up first, because I want to be sure you're capable and that you'll use a lot of caution bringing my brother's desk up the stairs." You seem very strong, and I know you will be sure not to damage the desk, and make sure it gets up here in good condition and in one piece." You can take it up the back freight elevator. "It's a sizeable elevator, and there should be no issue maneuvering inside there."

"Mrs. Stanley, I hope you don't mind my asking, but that item has been in our shop for years. I've moved it several times and dusted it many times while cleaning around the store." How can you be sure that this desk is your brother's?"

"Well. You see Harrison; as you probably know, there is a carving on the upper corner of the desk."

"You mean the little half-moon with the three stars?"

"Yes, exactly. My brother would get in so much trouble carving that design into everything he saw, and I remember it like yesterday, seeing him in the classroom at that desk." When I was at your store just yesterday, I couldn't believe my eyes." I bought the desk right away. "Thank you so much for bringing it here."

-

Buy me a coffee. Donate some Bitcoin.

-

"I'll bet your brother will be surprised, have you told him?"

"Well, no, but maybe he knows." You see, my family has a trait where some of us are born with a heart condition, he and my other sibling passed away from it before they were adults. "I hesitate to tell you that Horace actually passed away right in that chair. “My mother who also had the condition, died giving birth to him. "I don't have the condition myself."

"Mrs. Stanley, I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry. I hope I didn't upset you."

"Not at all, Harrison. I understand. How could you know?"

"I'll go get your brother's desk chair right away, and you can be sure I'll take extra care."

Harrison takes the truck around to the back of the building and uses the freight elevator. He carefully and lovingly carries the chair past Mrs. Stanley into the apartment, and she instructs him as to the placement of the desk chair. He sets it down gingerly, and he gently pats the little desk chair on the desktop. "There you go, Mrs. Stanley."

The two of them chat for a moment, and Harrison tells her about his goal of becoming an architect. She explains that her brother-in-law from right here in town is an architect, and she pledges to introduce him. She hands him $200 as a tip for his kind help. "Mrs. Stanley, this is very generous. Thank you so much.”

"I'm so glad Horace got such good help today. Thank you so much, Harrison."

The End.

That was more than I expected. I wrote it and it made me a little emotional. I like Flash Fiction and I hope you do as well. I’m a broke writer, I’m also a truth teller in these challenging times. I have always been a truth teller, and the theys really don’t like that. They don’t really let us succeed if they can help it. I hope you might get a paid subscription, or Buy me a coffee, or Donate some Bitcoin. I wish you the best. I’m Commercial Herschel, and I’m here to help.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/644592

@ 9e915942:f8133dec

I am not a therapist

Part one of a three-part series called "Breaking my silence on social-emotional learning" I’ve been suspicious of “social-emotional circles” since I learned about them, several years ago. My first concern was how to fit this practice into a curriculum in which two snow days can mean I have to cut content. However, my second and more substantive concern, was that, put simply, I am not a therapist and am not equipped to lead an exercise like this. After reading Bad Therapy: Why the kids aren’t growing up, by Abigail Shier, I’m not only convinced that I shouldn’t do these in my classroom, I think they should rarely be done in classrooms at all.

While this and the next couple of posts will focus on circles, the book has raised many flags for me about things we routinely do in schools intended to help kids’ mental health. She argues we, the well-intentioned people who work with young people, frequently commit iatrogenesis (harm caused by those attempting to heal) and argues that many of our best-intentioned interventions likely cause more harm than benefit. I chose circles for a couple reasons. First, it’s relevant to many teachers because it – along with restorative practices, social-emotional learning (SEL) generally, and trauma-informed education – has become quite popular over the last several years. Second, it provides a concrete case study that exemplifies broader issues with SEL in schools.

For those of you unfamiliar with restorative circles, I’ll try to give you the TL:DR. A teacher puts the students in her class in a circle. Basically she then goes around the circle and everyone has the opportunity to share something. There are many variations on this. The teacher might ask students to share how they are feeling that day (check-in style circle), something their struggling with recently or something good that’s happened, or how something that happened in class - like an outburst by a student, for example - made them feel. All of these types or circles have been suggested in the trainings that I’ve attended to varying degrees. (You can read more about restorative circles here, which explains in detail more or less the what I’ve learned about them in trainings.)

For now, I want to focus on the more “meaningful” types of circles, not the “check-in” types. These are designed to help students build empathy and other social-emotional skills as well as help students process something they, or the class as a whole, is going through. (Although Shier has convinced me that the check-in style circles are a bad practice as well – an argument I plan to flesh out in part three.)

I am not a therapist

You might be wondering, if a teacher has time to do them, what could be the harm in doing these regularly with students? Wouldn’t they help build a stronger classroom community?

Let’s suppose that time is not an issue. The biggest problem I see is that I am not a therapist and nearly every teacher is not trained as a therapist either.

I remember sitting in trainings and imagining situations in which I’m running a circle and a kid shares something and bursts into tears. Or shares something deeply personal that maybe they shouldn’t have shared with me or their peers. Or calls out another student in class for some reason, creating a conflict in front of the entire class. Whenever circles were described to me it felt like a description of group therapy, and I am simply not trained to handle the variety of situations that might arise in group therapy. In fact, if you really want to see how closely they resemble each other, check out this page by the counseling Center Group for group therapy in New York City and compare it the description of circles in the article I linked above. You’ll find a lot of common themes, although the group therapy article emphasizes repeatedly that trained therapists will be leading the groups. 

I’ve raised this concern with individual colleagues and in various meetings over the last several years, including recently at a district-level diversity, equity, and inclusion task force meeting. This is not a direct quote, but I’m most often met with some flavor of the following, either from a teacher who uses circles often, an education consultant leading professional development, or an administrator who has seen teachers run them:

Most of the time these concerns aren’t an issue. Kids don’t share those kinds of things. If anything gets shared beyond what you think you can handle, you can always end the circle and bring in a school counselor to help you with that individual student or to help you run the circle again to address what happened. Maybe you should work with a teacher who does circles often to help you feel more comfortable.

Sometimes other tips are also shared at this point – a sort of ad hoc list of group therapy hacks. Start doing circles with light-hearted prompts to help build community, they might say. Make sure students know they can “pass” and don’t have to share if they don’t want to share. Don’t pass judgement on what students share, be empathic, ask open questions instead of closed questions. And so on.

This is akin to taking a truck driver and giving him a three-hour training on driving a school bus and telling him he can start a bus route next week. When he says he’s not sure that he can actually pull that off, he’s told that “opening the door is actually pretty easy to figure out, remember to take wide turns, and don’t forget to stop at every railroad crossing. I’ll let you talk with Sam – he’s been driving bus on the side for years! I’m sure you’ll do great!”

Are there similarities between driving a semi-truck and trailer and a school bus? Of course. Are there some truck drivers who could make the switch and be just fine after some practice? Certainly. Will there be many accidents, some of which are avoidable and catastrophic? If this practice continues long enough – absolutely.

Similarly, some interpersonal skills required to teach overlap with those needed by therapists, surely some teachers would be good therapists with minimal training, and having this as a practice by an institution will almost certainly lead to kids being victims of mishandled situations (iatrogenesis).

Bad therapy in circles - a specific example

Undoubtedly, many bad therapy practices are hidden from me because I don’t have the expertise to know what I don’t know, but I want to share one bad practice that Shier writes about to help make my point – therapist self-disclosure.

When educators are taught about circles we are told that if we share personal stories then we will build trust with our students and this will encourage them to share more as well. From the Edutopia article linked above, we are told, “Share authentically of yourself. This gives others permission to do the same.”

Unfortunately, this is usually unethical according to Shier (she cites this paper, which doesn’t argue that self-disclosure is always unethical, but that it is a very nuanced question in psychotherapy and that generally erring away from self-disclosure is best; which reiterates my argument since, as I’m not trained in psychotherapy, I’m not even aware of the aspects of it which are nuanced or settled or debated. But, I digress). Shier writes about a teacher (Kendra Jones, cited from this Education Week article) who is “very vulnerable” with her students and goes on to say the following:

Interestingly, were Jones an actual therapist, such self disclosure would be considered unethical. Anytime a therapist might be inclined to share her personal history in order to gratify her own need, she must abstain in order to prioritize the clients needs. And here’s where things get tricky: teachers aren't actually trained in psychotherapy, and they aren't bound by its ethical guidelines, either. Setting up an “emotional sharing” session may sound good, but typically, therapists perform this function under ethical guidelines, so that they don't inadvertently exploit or betray their patients.

Are the nuances of psychotherapy explored in trainings about restorative circles? Of course not. Because the trainers know that we aren’t therapists! Again, when I have raised this issue I’m told that this should not really be a concern - if you think anything is beyond what you can handle, get support from one of the school counselors.

SEL circles exist in a superposition of importance; they are simultaneously innocuous enough that a teacher needn’t worry about not being trained in psychotherapy, but important enough that every teacher should be working to integrate them in all of their classes.

The problems with SEL circles go beyond my lack of training in psychotherapy. In the next post I will explore the issues of confidentiality in circles and in part three explain how even if I was a therapist and we could somehow erase the issue of confidentiality, we still shouldn’t try to make circles a common practice.

Disclaimer: I realize that in writing this and publishing it publicly I run the risk of upsetting some friends, colleagues, and, potentially, administrators. Unfortunately, there are times when that risk must be taken in order to say what is true, needs to be said, and is not being said. I write this while passing no bad judgement on any educator who has implemented restorative circles or other restorative and social-emotional learning practices in their school or classroom. We have had countless trainers in countless hours of professional development the last several years telling us that this is best for kids – that kids will learn better and be more emotionally healthy if we do this. I don’t fault anyone for doing what we were told by the experts was best practice. I hope only to illuminate a contrary perspective that, in my opinion and experience, has significant ramifications if we are to truly do what’s best for our students.

@ 72592ec9:ffa64d2c

This excellent book was first published in 2015. It peaked my interest since it was referred to as the source material for some really old emails between Hal Finney and Satoshi. Apparently the author, Nathaniel Popper, was able to get access to these emails from Hal’s wife, Fran Finney, and some of them were latter released by The Wall Street Journal:

https://www.wsj.com/public/resources/documents/finneynakamotoemails.pdf

I think the best part of this book is probably the first few chapters which focus on the very early days of Bitcoin’s origin story with Satoshi Nakamoto, Wei Dai, Hal Finney, Adam Back, Marti Malmi and numerous other characters who were there at the genesis of Bitcoin. The book really does justice to telling the origin story of Bitcoin.

It outlines many of the commonly known stories and narratives around Bitcoin’s quirky cypherpunks, aficionados, and rebels. It also helped verify a few of the older stories I heard in passing about silk road, MTGOX, and Malmi’s emails with Satoshi. I do wish it had focused on these original characters more. But it eventually moves onto the second stage of Bitcoin’s journey, where it gets picked up by silicon valley and venture capital types.

Some interesting stories in there as well, including a good synopsis of the silk road saga, featuring Dread Pirate Roberts, aka Ross Ulbricht. The climax of the book focuses on MTGOX and the downfall of Mark Karpeless.

It’s strange reading this book now, and seeing the resolution of many of these stories, such as MTGOX creditors getting repaid. Or perhaps even the release of Ross latter this year, God willing. Stranger still, I knew most of these stories already by heart, but they all came back in livid colour reading through them in detail. There’s a good amount of references and supporting evidence provided as well for each narrative.

This is a great book for anyone who didn’t live through the early days of Bitcoin history and wants to know how beautifully chaotic it all was at the start. Much the way it is still now, just at a larger scale An astute reader may find that many of these stories are still repeating to this day. If your curious about Bitcoin’s origin stories, this is the book to read to get up to speed. Preferably on a beach in El Salvador.

A part two continuation of this book would probably look like the Blocksize Wars book by Jonathan Bier. Both are great reads, but Digital Gold predates the Blocksize Wars, so its a good one to read first, and a great introduction to Bitcoin’s history.

Worthy of the Bitcoin Book List:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Bitcoin/comments/1c5fjhn/advanced_bitcoin_reading_list_curriculum_in_order/

5/5 Stars

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/644578

@ 56a6da9b:7f5a2243

DAY 10 of FLASH AUGUST FICTION. Essentially, a third of the way. I have some weird ideas today. It's not a single-word prompt, a dream, or some recurring notion. Some years ago, I wrote a book. I thought it was a novel. It was not. It was actually a serial. What I didn't understand is that novels have to be written in a single voice. It was not. I wrote it in narration, but the narrator wrote from the perspective of several people in his town, as he was a storyteller. Also, this story had a major arc, but each "chapter" is also its own story that could stand alone. Again, a serial. So, I'm going to write a new episode of that story today. It is called The Chronicles of the Last Gas Station.

- What happens to local economies once corporatism is finished sucking the life out of us? You might listen to today's podcast because I'm going to get more into the background of it in the audio. - (tag someone who like to discuss or think about economics?)

=

First, I want to recommend someone again today. Dana Leigh Lyons is another writer I keep up with. Her latest post is relevant for the terrible days we are experiencing in the States. It’s called It’s Not Political, It’s Hate. She is right on point. Most of us in the US are independent. We are not in the parties.

- It’s horrifying to see what these two organizations are doing to our country. It is a lot like watching two backward, feuding cousins ruin the picnic for the whole family. That is the nice way that I describe this. -

Dana is right on point in her way of describing this from her Buddhist perspective and in terms of trying to respect people. This gal is most definitely on a healing journey. I strongly suggest reading her. Like KW Norton, whom I recommended yesterday, she recognizes that there is a spiritual component to this. Please listen to the audio of this post because I’ll probably get into more. This is a much longer introduction than I normally do, but for whatever reason, it seems fitting.

Thanks for reading and for listening. I’m Herschel Sterling, and I’m here to help.

- -A Chronicle of The Last Gas Station - Antler Pestle and Mint Discuss a Local Food Pact

691 WORDS, WRITTEN IN ABOUT A HALF HOUR

Antler is out back of the firehouse, ovaling out his new bat handle with a blade and some sandpaper. He's got the back doors and the front garage door open, airing out the place after cleaning the floors. He sits on the bottom couple of the back stairs that lead to the roof. Mint sees him from the gas station window. He knocks on the window to get Antler's attention across the street. Antler sees him. Mint motions with his hand, making a talking motion. Antler waves him over.

Mint puts a sign on the door after locking it. "I'm just at the firehouse. Just whistle or yell, and I'll be right over."

Antler is stretching a ribbon of sandpaper over his bat handle, pulling it back and forth in an even motion. He feels it for smoothness, blowing off the dust as he goes. "What's going on, young man?' He asks Mint.

"Not much," Mint responds. "I was just thinking about the food meeting from yesterday." I can't believe the people who have all agreed to work together. "Six months ago, they were at each other's throats." He says.

"Necessity is a good tonic." Antler advises. "We aren't out of the woods yet, but food brings people together."

"I guess it does," Mint says. "We're really behind on meat, though." I know we'll get there, but we have a lot of ground to make up."

"There's always hunting." Antler says. "You can bet for sure that there won't be any waste in that department." I expect there will be lots of sausage." So far, watching the sausage get made has been painless, so to speak."

"That's what I'm afraid of, I hear terrible stories about, the so to speak, sausage getting made."

"A thing to remember about that," Antler says, "is to allow for a lot of experimentation." That's kind of a natural thing. "Let a few different things happen and see what works."

"Can I tell you something? In confidence?" Mint asks him.

"Of course, kid, always." Anlter answers.

"Jasmine wants to take a road trip." She wants to go out to the Northwest and get the stuff her dad left her. "She wants me to go with her."

"What's the problem?" Antler asks.

"Do you think I should?" Mint answers.

"I absolutely think you'd be silly to not take her up on that." He responds.

"Really?" You think Paul will be OK?"

A Great Name For a Gas Station Unless You’re Eight, and It’s a Fart Joke

= "Everyone will be OK." You have to take care of yourself." Paul has to be a big boy; he really does. "You have done more than put your time in here." Get out there and see some things. "Whatever happens, it will be OK." If you leave and Paul stays, that will be fine. "If you both leave, that will also be fine. "Necessity is a good tonic."

Antler continues. "The clearing out back looks good, by the way." Something to think about is taking up the grass. "Don't turn it under. "See if anyone needs it." It will be a headache if you leave it in there. "That's something to finish before you leave."

"We're going to run a few cycles of hemp back there to make sure it's OK for food." Mint says.

"That is a mighty wise move," Antler says. "Better safe than sorry."

Antler stands up. He grips the bat handle and gets into a hitting stance. He takes a few swings.

"You got a new bat?" Mint says. "Why?"

"I guess it's just something I do in the spring." I give them to the school. "It's just a habit." He says. "Speaking of cycles."

"Hmm," Mint says.

As the two are finishing up their chat, a whistle can be heard from the gas station. "I got a custy." Mint says.

"Get to it." Antler responds.

"I'll check you out later, Antler." Mints says.

Antler responds. "Likewise, young dude."

Mint runs over to the gas station, and he sees that Jasmine came over to hang out with him at work.

"You're just in time," Mint says. "The floors need mopping."

"Cool," Jasmine says. I'll watch while you work on that."

The End.

= This was me, maybe ten years ago when I was writing this book. Yes, to answer your question. I could probably rent out my forehead space. I would do it by the millimeter. I think I could get more that way.

= I hope you might get a paid subscription on my substack, or buy me a coffee, or donate some bitcoin. I wish you the best. I’m Commercial Herschel, and I’m here to help.

The Spine of My Old, non-Book that is no longer real but that I might serialize

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/644518

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)

If we want to have a clean heart, to know Jesus as Savior, and to join Him in heaven for all eternity, we need a new heart.

A friend of ours from church had a failing heart. It wasn’t working right. He couldn’t do any physical activity. Eventually he was limited to bedrest. He needed a new heart (physical). One day, a heart donor became available. Someone needed to die so that he could get the new heart he needed. One day, he went through surgery and a new physical heart was implanted in his chest. After receiving a new heart, he had to go through lots of Physical Therapy to build up his body and his heart, so everything was working as it was supposed to.

In the same way we are broken, sinful men and women. Our hearts are corrupted and failing and we are quickly heading towards death. Jesus died to take away our sins and when we repent of our sins, acknowledge Him as our Savior, Lord, and God, He gives us a new heart.

From the moment of salvation, we have a new heart and are a new person. This is Salvation and it happens instantaneously. We go from spiritually dead to spiritually alive.

Born Again

Being born again is a hard thing to understand. Even the top spiritual leaders of Jesus’s time couldn’t understand it. Here is Jesus’s explanation:

Now there was a man of the Pharisees, named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews; this man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” (John 3:1-21) {emphasis mine}

One thing that science has never been able to explain is the soul of man. People are more than just biology. We are body, mind, and soul. We are more than chemical reactions. Our body may be finite and decaying, but our soul is not. It will exist for all eternity.

The important thing is that our soul be renewed to its perfect state by repentance and faith in Jesus.

When my sons were little, I allowed them to make small mistakes where they suffered small consequences, so they could learn and avoid making big mistakes with life changing consequences. I encouraged them to climb stairs in spots where there were only 2-3 steps, so they could fall, learn about heights, but not get any serious injuries. I allowed them to waste a few dollars and regret their choices, so they would not waste their money and indebt themselves in adulthood.

In the same way, God allowed Adam and Eve to chose to disobey God and pay the consequences for that choice, but He also made a way to escape those consequences. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” We now have a second chance to make the right choice and to choose to repent and trust Jesus. If we chose to reject Jesus, we are “judged already, because he(we) has(have) not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”

Regeneration

When we are born again, there should be an immediate change in our thoughts, words, and actions. No, we don’t go from non-stop sinners to perfect saints in that instant, but there should be immediate change. Depending on our lives before accepting Jesus, this change may be more or less dramatic, but it should still be obvious to those around them.

When my oldest son was little, he said that he had trusted Jesus. He was a people pleaser and a submissive child and he wanted to please his parents. The first time he told us this, we looked at his life and rather easily determined that he had not truly been saved. A year or two later, he came and said the same thing. At that point we saw a definite change in him that was obvious to us despite the fact that he had been a “good” son before being born again. There is always a change.

In the case of Saul/Paul, the change in his life was immediately obvious to everyone around him.

Now Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest, and asked for letters from him to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way (Christians), both men and women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem. As he was traveling, it happened that he was approaching Damascus, and suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him; and he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” And He said, “I am Jesus whom you are persecuting, but get up and enter the city, and it will be told you what you must do.” The men who traveled with him stood speechless, hearing the voice but seeing no one. Saul got up from the ground, and though his eyes were open, he could see nothing; and leading him by the hand, they brought him into Damascus. And he was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias; and the Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord.” And the Lord said to him, “Get up and go to the street called Straight, and inquire at the house of Judas for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him, so that he might regain his sight.” But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much harm he did to Your saints at Jerusalem; and here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on Your name.” But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name’s sake.” (Acts 9:1-16)

Saul went from doing everything in his power to destroy the church and to destroy all belief in Jesus to being Paul who suffered and died to share the truth of Jesus with people all around the world. The change was so dramatic that even many of the Christians couldn’t believe that his conversion was real. It didn’t make sense to them. Only the power of God is able to change a heart from sinfulness leading to separation from God, to righteousness and love leading to eternity in God’s presence. Of all the miracles in the Bible, this change of heart in believers may be the greatest.

Salvation vs Sanctification

From the moment of saving faith and repentance, we have God’s salvation.

But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

We are given the gift of His forgiveness, the indwelling of His Spirit, and the promise of eternity with Him. On the other hand, sanctification takes time. Sanctification takes effort learning to submit to God’s will and to rely on the power of the Spirit in us rather than on our own power.

In the movie A Princess Bride, one of the main characters, Wesley, is tortured “to death.” The other characters take him to Miracle Max to see if he can be brought back to life. Miracle Max says Wesley is “only mostly dead and mostly dead is partially alive.” Some believers are only mostly dead, but mostly dead is partially alive. Sanctification is the process of reviving us from mostly dead, to alive and in the image of God and His son, Jesus Christ.

No Christian should stay in this mostly dead state. We should NOT resemble the sinners of the world. We should resemble Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps guide us and empower us to become more alive and more like Jesus. He changes our hearts from a cold heart of stone, to a loving heart in accordance to God’s will.

Although sanctification is really a work of the Holy Spirit, there are things we can do, with the help of the Spirit to become more alive in Jesus. We can read the Bible to learn more about who God is and what He expects from us. We can pray for His help accomplishing His will and changing our will to be inline with His will. The more we know about God and who He is, the more we know what we should become and what is pleasing to Him.

Being saved requires us to know that Jesus is God and that we are sinners. It requires us to trust in what Jesus did for us and to submit to His will. Being sanctified requires so much more. How can we trust someone we don’t really know? How can we become like someone of whom we only have a cursory knowledge? We need to know more about God (primarily by reading the Bible), and we need to know God better (primarily by talking to Him and listening to Him through prayer).

Sanctification also requires time. Nobody becomes an expert at anything instantly. We get better at things through practice. Now this doesn’t mean that we sanctify ourselves or do this by ourselves. Just like salvation is a work of God, so is sanctification, but we do need to learn over time. As we trust Him and obey Him, we see that He is faithful and His way is the best way causing us to trust and obey Him more. It builds on itself helping us to grow to become more like Jesus. Sins (no matter how “small”) that didn’t seem like a big deal will become a big deal to us as we grow to view the world as God does.

And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified. (Acts 20:32)

This growth will prepare us for eternity in God’s presence.

He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he will not go out from it anymore; and I will write on him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and My new name. (Revelation 3:12)

God can do anything, but I’ve never seen a person instantly go from being a sinner, separated from God to having a 100% proper view of God and His will and having a perfectly correct view of our relationship with Him. Hopefully as you live your life through the power of the Holy Spirit, you will continue growing in this wisdom, in knowledge of Him, and in likeness to Jesus.

Pray with me, “Create in me a clean heart.”

Trust Jesus.

FYI, Read my whole series on the individual fruits of the Spirit listed in Galatians 5

Bible verses are NASB (New American Standard Bible) 1995 edition unless otherwise stated

@ a39d19ec:3d88f61e

This months daily driver is the #Casio A100WE with module 3503. It features am/pm time, date and weekday, alarm and a stopwatch.

Design

The design is plain and simple. 4 front facing Button, a small but surprisingly readable display. It has a resin casing with metal surface and a black rubber band.

Storytime

There is not much to say about this watch. I remember buying it for my collection because it was on sale some time ago. There is one version with the colour accents near the buttons, that looks much nicer.

@ fa7153ef:1de1cf78

I read an interesting post on stacker news, with the following quote:

Writing teaches you to develop the ability to understand

And I instantly liked it, and want to try working on it. I mean, who wouldn't want to develop the ability to understand?

I've always been better in written form of communication - especially when it comes to work (software engineering) - thinking through tickets, compiling my thoughts, and writing them all down was always a preferred method for me.

On the other hand, I've always had issues with oral communication - be it in english (which I use for work), or my native language. I've always had an issue with simply talking to people. In large majority of cases, I have nothing to add to the conversation that I find useful (and now re-reading this - I think it's something to focus on a bit more another time - "that I find useful" bit).

Listening, on the other hand, is not a problem. I've been a trash can for people to vent out, and release their problems for years - someone that can listen, and sometimes provide something of value back - but mostly to listen. People don't need advice, in large majority of cases. Simply listening, and saying something from time to time seems to be enough. I don't know. Maybe I'm not good at listening as well, and this is false thinking from my end as well. It usually does not bother me, since I'm not good at talking, but it gets tiring quickly. There's only so much of other peoples problems you can listen to, without burning out.

I have a couple of friends (maybe one, when I think about it) that asks me things, and tries to hear my thoughts. I can feel some pressure when talking to him at times - also something to meditate on.

Back to writing - the quote resonates very well, and I hope it proves to be useful. Probably more than writing itself, the thing that improves your thinking or "the ability to understand" are the things you write about.

I would like to use this, and work through some of the things from my life - things I have experience in, or things that come to mind. It would be interesting to use this as a way to understand something new - something I'm not familiar with and even something I dread of looking into (kind of like workout, and Bulgarian split squats).

I hope to be back soon, and continue this process. I'd like to have a list of topics/interests somewhere, but maybe winging it is also a nice approach - until some form of habit is formed.

@ 6871d8df:4a9396c1

In life, we often seek guidance and inspiration from role models who embody qualities we admire. While no role model is perfect, we can isolate and learn from the traits that resonate with us. As we grow and evolve, different aspects of a particular role model may speak to us at different times, reflecting our changing values and priorities. This evolution can have a profound impact on our lives, influencing the experiences we seek and the paths we take.

For myself, the qualities I admire today are quite different from those I've admired in the past. In fact, they are entirely different than I ever imagined them to be. I've always idolized success and achievement, but my feelings about what constitutes success have shifted. Lately, I've found myself looking for inspiration for deeper truths and more robust forms of fulfillment rather than the simplistic form of monetary wealth. In my eyes, there are no better examples of this — at least in the sports world — than my two current favorite athletes: Rich Froning and Scottie Scheffler.

Having CrossFit and golf athletes at the top of my list may seem odd, but I enjoy watching the sports I participate in most. I train CrossFit almost 5-6 times a week and try to play golf 1-2 times a week. Of course, they both came to my attention because of their excellence, but that isn't what has kept my intrigue and respect.

What I find particularly impressive about Rich and Scottie is that, beyond their exceptional skills, they exhibit qualities that I deeply admire. They are both very humble and soft-spoken, though fiercely competitive. They also generally take the high road and objectively seem to be great people. They both care deeply about family and are great fathers. They are also deeply religious, often citing glorifying God as the reason for their perseverance.

Unlike Scottie, who remains humble and low-key despite being considered the best player in the world, Rich's personality shines through in his online presence. Through his YouTube channel, we get a glimpse into his life beyond the sport, and I've found myself drawing inspiration from how he balances his passions and priorities. As I've grown older, I've begun to reflect on how to apply similar principles to my life, with the most important being how he prioritizes his community.

Rich still lives where he grew up in Cookeville, Tennessee. He has a close family, a loving wife, and three adopted children. Few knew of Cookeville before Rich Froning. With a population of under 40,000, it is not a place you'd expect to be the center of a fitness movement. However, because of Rich, Cookeville has become the Mecca of CrossFit. He has built enormous gyms where athletes and fans from far and wide come for the chance to train with him or to say they have trained at his gyms. It continually pushes out the best athletes in the sport who come and train under his tutelage. This influx creates an industry of its own. He's also been able to expand into other areas he's passionate about and started those businesses right there as well.

This dedication and commitment to his hometown inspire me in a way I didn't expect. I similarly grew up in a small town in central Massachusetts but always had a different idea of my future. I never envisioned anything for me there. As I became a young adult, I couldn't imagine doing anything other than leaving and never returning. I scoffed at how there was very little to do and how no one seemed to have any ambition for anything grander. I figured that to get this "greater success," I had to leave. Rich's journey has made me second guess this entirely, as he almost makes me ashamed of abandoning the place where I spent my formative years.

But why? What is it about these actions that inspire me? It's not like Rich is preaching anything; as a matter of fact, he is very much going about his life and not imposing anything on anyone.

Reflectively, I believe it relates to something I learned from Jordan Peterson regarding how to make actual change in the world. He was always very antagonistic toward those who were depressive, disorganized, and lost in their personal lives but felt they needed to lecture others about how to solve the grander problems we face collectively as a society. He always recommended starting small and working inward before addressing these larger issues. He popularized the phrase 'clean your room,' which emphasizes personal responsibility and incremental progress. This approach starts with small, manageable tasks and builds up to larger ones, much like the concept of induction in computer science. For instance, the idea of 'cleaning your room' can be applied both literally and metaphorically. It means taking care of your personal space and life, ensuring they are organized, in order, and even beautiful. Once you feel you have control over those things, you work outward to your home, maybe a relationship, then your immediate family, then your friends, then your community, and larger till you feel you can positively impact broader society. You cannot simply skip to the last step. You grow and mature at each stage so that you have the experience and empathy to successfully facilitate change rather than be an authoritarian tyrant shouting at others what they must do.

Froning encompasses this beautifully. He has left his mark on the town and made positive changes to improve Cookeville, placing it on the tongues of people who otherwise would be completely oblivious. Something about this behavior calls to me in a profoundly spiritual way. I have no idea what Cookeville was like before Rich, but something is captivating about taking ownership, leaving your mark, and making it more beautiful for everyone. In the grand scheme, true success is measured not just by personal achievements but also by the positive impact we have on our community and loved ones. Is a man truly successful if he doesn't leave a positive mark on the places he's been?

To contrast this sentiment, I can't help but think of how I felt the last time I visited my hometown. Last year at Christmas, I drove around and was very disappointed with what I saw. I even wrote about it, explaining how I was disgusted and frustrated by how it was declining. In the piece, I asked the question, how do we turn this deterioration around? Well, I think I answered that question. It takes people giving a damn about having a positive impact on their communities, myself included. If my hometown is a dump, it is my duty to rectify that. It's empowering because it gives you agency when I felt there was no reason to have any.

As I've grown older and reflected on my values, I've realized that this evolution in my thinking results from maturity. I've begun prioritizing the long-term impact I can have on my community and the world around me. By no means am I moving back to my hometown anytime soon, but I certainly feel this newfound duty or obligation to make it a priority. Living where you can best thrive is still critical, but I must do this while also remembering where I came from and the longer-term picture that the positive change could have for future generations. Will Cookeville be a fitness center for generations to come? Maybe. But if it does, the people will always remember who put it on the map. I think the lesson there is good for everyone to ponder. We can't live exclusively on the backs of those who came before us. It is up to all of us to build on our ancestors' hard work, each working toward improving the immediate places around us. If even a tiny proportion of individuals took on this responsibility, it would likely have a significant positive impact on our communities.

My definition of success has evolved beyond mere wealth and material possessions. If I can achieve the things I want to achieve, it should be reflected in the positive change of the people and places that shaped me, improvements that can hopefully last and inspire generations. That is the best indicator of success, living breadcrumbs encapsulating the journey and how you did your small part to improve the world around you along the way.

@ 4b3b215f:b091b1f9

Actualizado: Agosto 10, 2024

⚠️ Advertencia: Esta guía tiene el objetivo de proporcionar información educativa sobre cómo empezar a aceptar Bitcoin en tu negocio. No se ofrece ni se vende ningún servicio relacionado con Bitcoin. Es esencial que sepas que NO DEBES confiar en terceros que te ofrezcan productos o servicios relacionados con Bitcoin, ya que el uso y la gestión de Bitcoin deben ser autónomos y soberanos.

Recuerda: ¡Bitcoin es tu camino hacia la libertad financiera! No confíes en terceros que te ofrezcan productos o servicios para aceptar o utilizar Bitcoin. Bitcoin es dinero, y no necesitas a nadie más para comenzar a usarlo.

¡No aceptes ni pagues por servicios de Bitcoin, tú puedes hacerlo por ti mismo!

¡No confíes, verifica! ₿

¿Qué es Bitcoin?

Bitcoin es una forma de efectivo electrónico entre pares, una moneda digital que puede transferirse entre personas o computadoras sin necesidad de intermediarios confiables como los bancos. A diferencia de los pagos tradicionales que requieren servicios intermedios como tarjetas de crédito o plataformas de pago digital, Bitcoin permite transacciones directas entre usuarios, preservando así la privacidad y la independencia financiera. Es una alternativa descentralizada al dinero digital controlado centralmente, ofreciendo seguridad y autonomía a sus usuarios.

Además, Bitcoin ofrece una solución a la dependencia de sistemas de pago digitales centralizados, los cuales pueden ser utilizados para el control y la vigilancia gubernamental. Al utilizar una red de computadoras interconectadas, Bitcoin garantiza la verificación independiente de las transacciones y la aplicación de reglas consensuadas, lo que permite un sistema de pagos más transparente y resistente a la censura.

¿Qué es Lightning? ⚡️

La red lightning (Lightning Network) es una red global de pagos de Bitcoin que ofrece transacciones instantáneas, privadas y de bajo o nulo costo. Propuesta en 2015, permite transacciones de Bitcoin más rápidas, económicas y privadas fuera de la cadena de bloques de Bitcoin. Es lo que se conoce como una tecnologîa de capa 2 (L2), con Bitcoin siendo la capa 1 (L1).

A diferencia de las redes bancarias tradicionales, lightning network ofrece liquidación instantánea, sin contracargos y utiliza Bitcoin como su activo subyacente. Aborda un desafío clave para Bitcoin al permitir la escalabilidad para un gran número de usuarios que realizan numerosos pagos.

Esta innovadora red de pagos es sin fronteras, abierta, económica e instantánea, ofreciendo pagos instantáneos, económicos e interoperables en todo el mundo. Los pagos enrutados a través de Lightning se mueven a la velocidad de la luz y son definitivos al llegar, eliminando los retrasos y riesgos asociados con los métodos de pago tradicionales.

*Una poderosa analogía para explicar cómo funciona el Lightning Network.

¿Qué hay de todos estos hacks y quiebras de intercambios?

La base de datos de la cadena de bloques de Bitcoin nunca ha sido hackeada. En sus 15 años de existencia, Bitcoin ha demostrado ser el sistema digital más seguro del mundo y el sistema monetario más confiable jamás inventado. Nunca se ha emitido moneda falsa en la red.

La seguridad de Bitcoin radica en su naturaleza descentralizada. Opera a través de una red de computadoras, llamadas nodos, que se comunican para construir y actualizar la base de datos. Cada nodo almacena una copia de la cadena de bloques, lo que hace virtualmente imposible que los hackers comprometan toda la red. Además, Bitcoin permite a los usuarios mantener sus fondos de forma segura en billeteras personales, reduciendo el riesgo asociado con los exchanges (Intercambios) de terceros. Si dejas tus bitcoins en un intercambio o con cualquier tercero, estás asumiendo un riesgo enorme que, para pequeñas cantidades, puede ser razonable a cambio de conveniencia. Pero piénsalo muy bien.

Si bien Bitcoin opera principalmente a través de internet, incluso en casos de interrupciones de internet, la cadena de bloques permanece intacta. Los nodos continúan almacenando los bloques, asegurando la seguridad y la integridad del sistema. Mientras haya por lo menos un nodo conectado, Bitcoin seguira operando sin interrupciones, es decir, para que Bitcoin deje de funcionar, tendria que caerse el internet en todo el mundo al mismo tiempo, lo cual es poco probable. En caso de una divergencia de red, los nodos pueden reconciliarse y acordar cuál es la cadena de bloques objetivamente más válida a seguir, manteniendo la robustez y seguridad de Bitcoin.

¿Por qué Debería Mi Negocio Aceptar Bitcoin?

En primer lugar, para atraer Bitcoiners. Los Bitcoiners son leales y están altamente motivados a buscar negocios que acepten Bitcoin. Con Bitcoin, puedes recibir pagos las 24 horas del día, los 7 días de la semana, los 365 días del año, sin la necesidad de esperar por días hábiles. Además, no hay contracargos y las tarifas de transacción son muy bajas o casi nulas gracias a la red Lightning.

Bitcoin es Bueno para los Negocios

Bitcoin te permite recibir pagos directamente de tus clientes, al igual que el efectivo. La red Bitcoin opera sin intermediarios como bancos y compañías de tarjetas de crédito, evitando las tarifas elevadas asociadas. Los pagos con Bitcoin se liquidan instantáneamente gracias a la red Lightning, eliminando la espera en comparación con los métodos tradicionales. Además, al ocurrir directamente entre tú y tus clientes, es imposible que alguien te quite el dinero mediante un contracargo. Además, el Bitcoin falsificado no puede ser enviado en la red Bitcoin, lo que asegura la integridad de las transacciones y protege a tu negocio de fraudes financieros.

Al aceptar Bitcoin, atraes más clientes, ya que millones de personas poseen Bitcoin y desean gastarlo en lugares que lo acepten.

Aceptar Bitcoin es completamente gratuito y te brinda la oportunidad de aparecer en mapas de comerciantes de Bitcoin, lo que facilita que los usuarios encuentren tu negocio con facilidad.

Pero, Bitcoin no está regulado. ¿Cómo puedo declarar impuestos si acepto Bitcoin en mi negocio?

Muy bien, antes de comenzar, déjame decirte que el no estar regulado es una cualidad, no un defecto. Bitcoin no lo controla nadie, pero es de todos y está disponible para cualquiera que desee usarlo sin necesidad de pedir permiso. Bitcoin no necesita permiso!

Estamos hablando de una forma superior de dinero y la mejor tecnología de ahorro jamás inventada por los humanos. Aceptar Bitcoin es como recibir efectivo: simplemente registras la venta y te llevas el dinero en efectivo a casa. ¿Acaso cuando recibes efectivo, le tomas fotografías a los billetes para enviárselas al gobierno? Eso pensé.

Bitcoin representa la separación entre el estado y el dinero; no es necesario que el estado sepa cuántos Bitcoin tienes. Si un amigo fuera a tu negocio de hamburguesas y te pagara con canicas, ¿le avisarías al gobierno que tu amigo te ha pagado con canicas? Probablemente no. Registra la venta como efectivo en tus libros contables y guarda tu Bitcoin. Es TU dinero, y tienes derecho a mantenerlo privado.

Se recomienda que cuando poseas un saldo importante de Bitcoin, lo retires a una billetera fría. Imagina que recibes efectivo todo el día en tu negocio; al final del día, ¿dejarías todo ese dinero en la caja? Probablemente no sería una buena idea. Muchos negocios retiran su efectivo al final del día o de la semana y lo depositan en un banco o en una caja fuerte en algún lugar seguro. Haz lo mismo con tu Bitcoin: una vez que tengas un saldo mayor del que llevarías cómodamente en el bolsillo, retíralo a una billetera fría.

Bitcoin ES dinero. No es una divisa, ni una inversión, ni acciones, y mucho menos "sujeto a impuestos". Los impuestos son un robo, punto. No importa lo que tu gobierno te diga: Bitcoin es simplemente dinero.

Si no sabes la diferencia entre el dinero y una divisa (Money and Currency), te invito a revisar la siguiente imagen.

Para todos los "amantes de los impuestos" que vienen a decir "Pero el gobierno regulará Bitcoin" o "El gobierno le impondrá impuestos a mi Bitcoin", solo les digo: ¡Pon tu mierda en orden! El dinero no está sujeto a impuestos, punto.

Si realmente deseas utilizarlo para fines comerciales y por tu propia tranquilidad mental, en tus libros contables, decláralo como "ingreso en efectivo". Así de simple: no es asunto del gobierno saber qué tipo de "efectivo" posees. No es asunto suyo lo que haces con tu dinero.

¿Cuál es la diferencia entre billeteras custodiales y no custodiales?

Cuando se trata de billeteras de Bitcoin, hay dos tipos principales: custodiales y no custodiales.

Las billeteras custodiales son como tener tu dinero en un banco. Confías en el proveedor de la billetera para mantener seguro tu Bitcoin y manejar todo por ti. Es conveniente y rápido, especialmente para cantidades pequeñas, pero recuerda, no tienes control total sobre tu Bitcoin. Estás confiando en el proveedor de la billetera para gestionarlo por ti.

Por otro lado, las billeteras no custodiales te dan control total. Tienes tus propias claves y puedes hacer una copia de seguridad de tu billetera. Esto significa que tú eres quien controla tu Bitcoin y puedes moverlo como quieras. Es como guardar efectivo en tu propia caja fuerte en casa. Recuerda, en una billetera no custodial, tú eres el único responsable de tus Bitcoins. Si pierdes u olvidas tus claves (llaves), nadie podrá ayudarte.

Si bien las billeteras custodiales están bien para empezar y para cantidades pequeñas, te recomendamos continuar con tu educación sobre Bitcoin y, eventualmente, pasar a una solución no custodial. Esto te da más control, soberanía, y seguridad sobre tu Bitcoin a largo plazo. Así que, comienza con una billetera custodial como Blink o Wallet Of Satoshi para familiarizarte con Bitcoin, pero apunta a cambiar a una billetera no custodial una vez que te sientas cómodo y listo.

Cómo Aceptar Pagos en Bitcoin

Todo lo que necesitas para aceptar pagos en Bitcoin es una billetera como Blink. Por otro lado, con una billetera híbrida como Wallib, puedes convertir automáticamente los pagos de Bitcoin que recibes a COP.

También puedes optar por ahorrar y mantener una parte de los pagos en Bitcoin, lo que ofrece muchos beneficios a largo plazo.

Ahorra en Bitcoin.

1) Descarga la aplicación:

Bitcoin es una red abierta y hay muchas aplicaciones (wallets) que te permites enviar, recibir, y guardar Bitcoin. Para comenzar, te recomendamos la aplicación Blink Wallet.

Al final de esta guía hay una lista de wallets (billeteras) recomendadas. Pero recuerda, no creas todo lo que lees y haz tu propia investigación.

2) Crea una cuenta:

Una vez que descargues la app, deberas ingresar tu numero de teléfono para registrarte, ya que Blink es una billetera custodial. Pero descuida, no debes dar datos personales adicionales para crear una cuenta.

Una vez ingreses tu teléfono, recibirás un mensaje de texto con un código que deberas ingresar para terminar con el proceso de verificación.

Cuando este configurada, veras la pantalla principal donde está tu balance, tus transacciones, etc. Explora la aplicación y familiarizarte con todas sus opciones.

3) Recibir y enviar Bitcoin:

Ya estas listo para recibir Bitcoin de cualquier persona y desde cualquier lugar, sin importar que aplicacion de lightning usen. Al instante y casi gratis. Esta es la maravilla de la red lightning de Bitcoin!

Aceptar Bitcoin en Persona y en Línea

Aceptar pagos en Bitcoin, ya sea en persona o en línea, es sencillo utilizando tu billetera. Puedes integrar Bitcoin como opción de pago en tu tienda en línea o utilizar la función de "recibir" en tu billetera para recibir pagos en persona. Además, puedes compartir la dirección de pago a través de plataformas como WhatsApp, Instagram, etc.

Cómo Atraer Más Clientes Aceptando Bitcoin

Millones de usuarios de Bitcoin desean gastar sus bitcoins en negocios que los acepten. Al aceptar Bitcoin, puedes aparecer en mapas de comerciantes de Bitcoin como BTC Map de forma gratuita y aumentar tu exposición a nuevos clientes potenciales.

Costo de Aceptar Bitcoin

Aceptar Bitcoin en tu negocio es 100% gratuito. No hay contratos ni tarifas ocultas. No confíes en terceros que te ofrezcan productos o servicios para aceptar o utilizar Bitcoin. Bitcoin es dinero, y no necesitas a nadie más para comenzar a usarlo.

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Acepta Bitcoin Ahora! ⚡️

A continuación, algunas billeteras, apps y herramientas que recomendamos.

Billeteras Custodiales

Blink - Billetera móvil de Bitcoin y Lightning

Wallet Of Satoshi - Billetera móvil de Bitcoin y Lightning

Sati - Billetera de Bitcoin y Lightning en WhatsApp

CoinOS - Billetera web (BTC/LN/Liquid)

Alby - Extensión de explorador y web

Billeteras No Custodiales

Phoenix - Billetera móvil de Lightning

Blue Wallet - Billetera móvil y de escritorio de Bitcoin y Lightning.

Green Wallet - Billetera móvil y de escritorio de Bitcoin y Lightning (beta) para principiantes.

Sparrow - Billetera de escritorio solo de Bitcoin (L1 - onchain)

Electrum - Billetera móvil y de escritorio de Bitcoin y Lightning.

Zeus LN - Nodo móvil y billetera de bitcoin y lightning para usuarios avanzados.

Blixt Wallet - Nodo móvil y billetera de Bitcoin y Lightning para usuarios avanzados.

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Lecturas Recomendadas

1. "La Tesis Alcista de Bitcoin” por Vijay Boyapati [Lectura]
2. "Bitcoin: ¿qué, cómo y para qué?” de Franco Amati [Lectura]
3. “El Patrón Bitcoin” por Saifedean Ammous [Lectura]

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Más Recursos

• El Libro De Bitcoin Mas Simple Jamas Escrito - Por Kaysa Luna (Descarga PDF)
• Las 5 Etapas Para Convertirse En Un Bitcoiner
• Simple Bitcoin App - Aprende sobre Bitcoin y gana premios (Como Duolingo pero para Bitcoin)
• Lee El White Paper de Satoshi Nakamoto En Español
• Estudio Bitcoin - Entra en la madriguera del conejo y aprende mas sobre Bitcoin

@ 02d1853d:69d06e35

https://mobilespinespecialist.com/ Mobile Spine Specialist is a professional, medical, mobile physical therapy practice. In our service to you, we do not pursue fitness fads or provide unnecessary treatment. Instead, there is always intent and content in what is provided toward getting you to be better, faster!

We understand the frustration that comes when your expectations are not met for managing your condition. Our purpose is to have you return to your pre-injury, independent way of living without delay through strong partnership, clear communication, and unfailing concern for your well-being.

We know how it feels to worry about your own health and being uncertain if you are doing the right things to stay healthy. A big part of that concern is not seeing measurable improvement. Are you really getting better? Objective measures such as strength, flexibility, and function will always be implemented in our in-person treatment, so you can clearly see your progress and the successful end result!

All goals in your life are achieved with the effort you put forth, and the getting well process is no exception. Your active participation in following through with your customized plan is crucial to getting back to where you want to be. You may feel intimidated and not know where to begin. But you are not alone! We will be guiding you every step of the way to ensure your independence in life.

@ 0dde8796:14799cec

News Of The Week

Welcome to this week’s issue of the Books And Articles newsletter. Thanks for all of the quality posts. I have been thinking of running another contest in the next few weeks, perhaps an open ended poetry contest-any topic, even if it’s been published before, so long as it is the stacker’s original work. Please let me know if anyone is interested.
As always, please reply with suggestions and opinions on how to make this territory better.
I hope everyone has a good week.

Top Five Posts Of The Week

Here are this week’s top posts:

• The Watch by Ross Ulbricht, Writings from Prison by @plebpoet

• If you were to write a book about your life, what would the title be? by @Taft

• Sensei Stacked 1.2 Million Sats on Stacker News by @cryotosensei

• FTDG #30: A day where everything went wrong by @cryotosensei

• Generative AI Can Harm Learning by @oliverweiss

Siggy’s Suggestions

• Who Caused the Ukraine War? by @Bell_curve

@Bell_curve, as he seems to have a knack for doing, stirred up some controversy and heated discussion with this post. Whatever side of this issue you’re on, I see this discussion as valuable and important.

A Proven Antidote to Fear for Rome's Legionnaires by @Atreus

This was a great post about Julius Caesar that, as is usual, has relevance in today’s world. I am always puzzled about which posts garner attention, and which ones don’t. This one is a worthwhile read.

This week’s Golden Oldie:

• What was your favorite book of 2023? by @kr

@kr has left Stacker News, but his posts are still lurking around. He had some great book recommendation posts, and this is one of them.

Writing Contests

• Writing Contest #1

• Writing Contest #2

Stackers’ Blogs

• Fighting The Daily Grind by @cryotosensei

• Personal Blog, Got My First Job by @CyberCrypto

My Bitcoin Journey

Inspired by Writing Contest #1, this is where stacker’s bitcoin origin stories will be posted for easy reference.

• Grayruby’s Bitcoin story by @grayruby

• I Put ¼ Of A Bitcoin In A Landfill by @brandonsbytes

• From Selling Newspapers To Finding Bitcoin by @Coinsreporter

• My bitcoin journey by @Carreson

Book Clubs

• Stoic Book Club:Meditations by @Se7enZ

Books

• The Universal Good Deal by @cleophas

• Who Brought The Steak Tartare?, Chapter 1 by @cleophas

• The Final Product by @cleophas

• The Penal Preserve, Chapter 1 by @cleophas

• Happy The Hippo, an absolutely wonderful children’s book written by @cryotosensei for his son.

• The Rogue Scholar by @jbschirtzinger

• Submersible by @johnbnevin

Book Reviews

• Some Thoughts On Re-Reading Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

• The Last Policeman, by Ben H. Winters by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

• Number Go Up Inside Crypto's Wild Rise and Staggering Fall by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

• The Bezzle, by Cory Doctorow by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

• Some thoughts on Moore and Lloyd's V for Vendetta by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

• Author Recommendation- Andrew Heaton by @Undisciplined

• The Things We Leave Unfinished, by Rebecca Yarros by @Tef

• The Achilles Trap, by Steve Coll by @Coinsreporter

• Software,by Rudy Rucker by @Scoresby

• Bleeding Edge by Thomas Pynchon by @Scoresby

•  “Better than Before” by Gretchen Rubin by @cryotosensei

• Giada De Laurentiis Recipe for Adventure Hong Kong by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “The Culture Code” appeals to the adolescent in me by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | Wanna evolve like Pokemon with “My Morning Routine” by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | The Handbook for Leaders by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “Fierce Conversations” by Susan Scott by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “All Joy and No Fun” Jennifer Stone by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “The Four Tendencies” by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “Work Rules!” by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “Thrive” by Arianna Huffington by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | “What I Wish I Knew When I Was 20” by @cryotosensei

• Book Review | Giada De Laurentiis’s Recipe for Adventure Naples! by @cryotosensei

• Lonesome Traveller by Jack Kerouac by @carlosfandango

• Pre-review of Human Rights and the Uses of History by Samuel Moyn by @SilkyNinja

• Book Review- The Genesis Book by @siggy47

• What I read in June, including what might become one of the best books of 2024: by @speakingyourtruth

• The Book of Five Rings by Musashi Miyamoto by @itermathi

• Symbolisms in "The Metamorphosis" by Franz Kafka (book review) by @Nadia

• Book Review: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari by Robin Sharma by @Athena

• Book Reviews Directory 11/23-3/24

Essays

• Nihilism Wants Empire:Camus On Nietzsche by @jurraca

• Cory Doctorow: Writing in the Age of Distraction by @StillStackinAfterAllTheseYears

Poetry

• Poetry:unresolved between a thai lad and I by @cryotosensei

• plebpoet’s original poem + discussion by @plebpoet

• I am not man enough by @Nuttall

• If A Day Comes... by @Tef

Short Stories

• Neo’s Adventure In The Digital Realm: Discovering The Treasure Of Bitcoin by @VEINTIUNO

Comics

• Apriori Flower 01:16 - Are We Better? - Dhamma Comic by @Nuttall

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/642974

@ 5d1d83de:d0db5aa0

Encouraging everyone to embrace stacker news RSS feed. Using RSS has being a great way to move off of twitter and other algorithmic feeds. Create a feedbin account. Use that account on multiple devices and put the stacker news RSS feed there go get a raw feed of news and topics without any algorithmic curation. It is easy to mark posts as read later and also bookmark great content. Then pair that with pinboard.in archiving and you have great content cached forever

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/642938

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

BCL2 took place today. I drew the third pick.

Here are the results:

1.3 Ja’Marr Chase — I didn’t want Christian McCalfinjury, of whom I already have a share, so I was set on CeeDee Lamb or Tyreek Hill if they were there. But I had an inkling they might go 1-2 in which case Ja’Marr Chase was narrowly my fallback over Amon Ra St. Brown and Breece Hall. Chase has St. Brown’s target upside, but with a much bigger vertical game. The biggest negative for him is Burrow’s health, but Burrow’s fine now, and anyone can get hurt. I also thought maybe I’d draft Tee Higgins if he fell to me in Round 5 (which was unlikely) in which case I’d try to get Burrow too.

2.10 Jaylen Waddle — It was Waddle the solid, boring pick or Malik Nabers the fun, exciting one. Team 4 did me a favor and took De’Von Achane out of the equation — I have Achane in BCL1, and while I love his upside, he’s not the kind of player to which you tie all your teams. I narrowly went Waddle who actually has upside too if Tyreek Hill ever got hurt.

3.10 Malik Nabers — I couldn’t believe it, but Nabers made it all the way back despite third-round reversal. I love Nabers, but I think the market is over-drafting him slightly relative to his projected target share. I mean he might get 150, but I think 130-140 Daniel Jones targets is more likely, and that’s a third, not a second-round pick. ** 4.3 Stefon Diggs** — This was going perfectly. Had Nabers been taken, I would have gone Diggs in Round 3, but he was still there four picks later. I’ve mentioned before I have Diggs as a top-10-ish WR.

5.10 Anthony Richardson — I took Reachardson early because I didn’t need another receiver (would be my first bench spot), the running back I liked best was still likely to be back in Round 6 too, and I couldn’t bring myself to take Kyle Pitts who has burned me so many times.

6.3 Rhamondre Stevenson — Backs were flying off the board in this draft which figures because I went so WR-heavy, but I think Stevenson is good, and there’s no way the Patriots offense won’t be better than last year’s just from pure regression to the mean.

7.10 Javonte Williams — Another good back on a bad team, Williams’ 2023 was not representative given he was only one year removed from an ACL tear. We should see the real version this year, and I expect him to be the main guy in Denver. ** 8.3 Ladd McConkey** — This was a luxury pick, but I liked the value too much, and I wasn’t in love with any of the RB or TE at cost. (I missed out on Jake Ferguson right after the Williams pick.) But the McConkey pick cost me Zack Moss, Devin Singletary, Nick Chubb, Brian Robinson, Chase Brown, Blake Corum and Tyjae Spears.

9.10 Brock Bowers — I missed out on David Njoku by one pick too, so it was time to get Bowers, the last of that tier of tight ends.

10.3 Jerome Ford — He’s Nick Chubb’s backup at worst, and that assumes Chubb will even be at full health any time soon.

11.10 Rashid Shaheed — Another luxury pick, but I couldn’t pass him up here. I’ve mentioned many times, I think he’s as good as Chris Olave, and there are only two of them now, so Shaheed should see his share of targets, either way. Shaheed cost me Zach Charbonnet and Cole Kmet though.

12.3 J.K. Dobbins — I’m not a big Gus Edwards believer — he’s 29 and with a limited skill set. Dobbins can never stay healthy, but worth a flyer here on what should be a run-heavy offense.

13.10 Kimani Vidal — Sounds like a high-end hair salon, but he’s actually the fallback if Dobbins and Edwards don’t pan out. I like his build (5-8, 215), speed and pass-catching skills.

14.3 Bucky Irving — I’m not sold on Rachaad White being anything special, and Irving is his backup. I needed a lot of lottery ticket backs with this build. ** 15.10 Khalil Herbert** — There are rumors he could be moved, but either way, I don’t trust D’Andre Soft, and Roschon Johnson is just a guy.

16.3 Jonnu Smith — This was a bit early per ADP, but I needed a second TE, and Smith has a lot of upside in an offense that’s so top heavy.

17.10 Justin Fields — In the likely event Russell Wilson is cooked, Fields is a top-10 fantasy quarterback already. I thought about Danny Dimes too. ** 18.3 Younghoe Koo** — I’m tired of drafting Justin Tucker every year, felt it was time for a Younghoe.

19.10 Giants Defense — They get the Sam Darnold Vikings in Week 1, the Football Team in Week 2. And they now have three elite pass rushers in Kayvon Thibodeaux, Dexter Lawrence and Brian Burns.

20.3 Roman Wilson — I wanted to take Danny Dimes, but Wilson could easily be the Steelers’ slot guy — Van Jefferson is bad, and even George Pickens is more of a highlight-reel guy who doesn’t command massive target share.

Roster By Position

QB Anthony Richardson

RB Rhamondre Stevenson/Javonte Williams

WR Ja’Marr Chase/Jaylen Waddle/Malik Nabers

TE Brock Bowers

FLEX Stefon Diggs

K Younghoe Koo

D Giants

B Ladd McConkey/Jerome Ford/Rashid Shaheed/J.K. Dobbins/Kimani Vidal/Bucky Irving/Khalil Herbert/Jonnu Smith/Justin Fields/Roman Wilson

@ 0d97beae:c5274a14

** takes deep breath **

Bitcoin mining is often simplified to the point where the definition is basically meaningless. I will try to explain it as simply as possible but first we need to unlearn some unhelpful things.

The goal of Bitcoin mining is NOT to earn bitcoin

If we start with the premise that the goal of mining is to earn bitcoin, it makes everything 100x harder to explain. It's a nuanced point however, miners DO mine to earn bitcoin, but in the grand scheme of things, the main goal of mining is not to create or earn bitcoin.

I like to think of Bitcoin as a complex clock or watch, there are many small moving parts all coming together to keep the system working flawlessly. Take out one small part and the whole thing might fall apart. The goal of mining is to provide "immutability" and "finality" to all the events that occur on the Bitcoin network.

Understanding the anatomy of Bitcoin

Before we can understand the purpose of Bitcoin mining, we must first understand a little about the anatomy of Bitcoin and some of the properties it must uphold to be useful.

Consider your bank account; there is a balance associated with your name, but what gives that data integrity? Usually it is the fact that the data is coming from an authoritative source, a trusted third party. If I could get a copy of the bank's database, would you trust that the same data sourced from my machine was correct? Could I have modified the records before showing it to you?

Bitcoin does not rely on any authority. This is a very important part of its design and it is what allows Bitcoin to remain independent of any company or government. To achieve this, it relies on checks and balances to be embedded within the data that it contains. Bitcoin is fully transparent in order to ensure that anyone can audit its data. The most important thing to check, of course, is that the books are balanced, but beyond that, Bitcoin introduced personal digital signatures to ensure that records are authorised by individuals directly, and it introduced an ordering system.

Digital signatures not only prove that a record was created by the owner of the bitcoin being spent, but if the record is ever altered, the signature no longer matches; this means that we don't need to trust anyone to execute our requests faithfully.

Order is important to ensure that everybody can agree with which payments are valid and which are not. Imagine I write two identical cheques to give all of my bank balance to two different people. One will settle, the other will bounce. With a traditional bank, one banker will decide which came first and will decide which settles and which bounces. In a decentralised (not centralised) system like Bitcoin, we need to be able to introduce a robust and reliable ordering system that does not rely on a trusted authority. Beyond just ordering, there also needs to be some integrity to the data so that not only an order can be agreed upon, but also there can be no re-ordering. Determining an order without preventing re-ordering is basically useless.

Ordering records

You may have heard of the "blockchain". This technology is just a data format, but Bitcoin uses this technology to help lock in an order into the record system. In a blockchain, records are grouped into blocks, and each block must have a link back to its previous block, creating a chain of blocks; pretty self explanatory in hindsight.

Imagine somebody deciding to become part of the Bitcoin network, they wish to get a copy of all the bitcoin records, but there is a problem:

1. One person shows a series of records that fully balances, has all the other checks and balances, and it shows a payment from me to you.
2. Another person provides a similar series of records that also fully balances but it does not show that payment from me to you, it shows a payment from me to me in its place.

Which one is correct? Both pass all checks, but if I choose the first set of records, then the payment from me to me becomes invalid because it attempts to spend money that has already been spent, while if I take the second set of records, the inverse becomes true.

The blockchain allows us to declare an order, but we still need a way to lock that order in, such that if someone provides an alternative set of records with a different order of events, we can all use some robust and reliable set of rules to choose the same record set without needing to coordinate with one another or rely on some trusted authoritative source.

This solution also needs to be resistant to being gamed; one elephant in the room is the idea of relying on dates and times, but computers are terrible at agreeing on time and although data can travel at the speed of electrons, there are still bottlenecks that can lead to data arriving in a different order between different computers.

Using a game of chance to prevent changes

The most fair way to make an arbitrary decision such as this, where there is no real right or wrong answer (remember "date sent" can be gamed, so we can't base any decisions on that), but a decision still needs to be made is by introducing something that is statistically hard to undo.

You may know the game of Boggle. This is a game where you have a set of dice inside a tray with letters on the sides instead of numbers; you place a box cover over it, shake it, and then allow the dice to fall into a mould at the bottom so that they are all sitting alongside each other in a square formation (usually 4x4) with one letter facing up per die. Let's re-imagine that the goal of the game was simply to shake the box, align the dice and remove the cover and if there was a 4 letter word on each row, you win, and if not you must shake again.

This is analogous to Bitcoin mining. It is a pure game of chance, and if we had a bunch of them, we could turn the game into a race: who can create the longest chain of winning boggle shakes in a row!

To illustrate how the blockchain creates links between blocks, we can add an additional rule that the first die in a Boggle tray (we will call them blocks going forward) must match the last die in the previous block. This way, we know that the order of blocks cannot change as the link is being built up.

Here is an illustration of a chain from this game:

Finally, let's make it more interesting: the goal is to have as many blocks as you can on the longest chain. If you notice that someone else has a pretty long chain, you can abandon your own and start to build blocks for their chain instead. If you create a block that satisfies the rules and your first letter matches the last letter of their last block, your block can go on top.

We will start to notice the following things:

1. People will quite quickly start to abandon their own chains and work on top of one faster growing chain.
2. The chain with the most people working on it will naturally grow at a faster pace.
3. Those competing too hard to maximise the number of blocks they have in a chain will see their chain fall behind the fastest growing chain.
4. It takes a non-negligable time between rounds and usually one person wins at a time, there are rarely any moments where two people create a valid block for the same chain within moments of one another.

Using forks to change history

It gets interesting when someone notices something like an offensive word in the chain, let's call it "DUCK". A lot of people don't care, but a large group of individuals do, so they choose to "fix" the rules, making that block and all the blocks after it invalid too (because they all eventually link back to the invalid block).

They create a new block that continues off from the block before the offensive one, creating what we call a "fork". This new chain will inherit the same past as the original chain, but it will still be shorter than the original chain because during the time it took to create this alternative block to replace the offensive one, the rest of the players continued to build blocks on the original chain as normal.

Since this game is mostly based on chance, the chain that grows the fastest will be the one that has the most players contributing to it. Even if the smaller group appears faster for some time, over a long enough time, statistics will prevail; it is the same as how over enough coin flips, we will observe that there really is a 50/50 chance of heads over tails, even if the first few flips were mostly all heads.

If enough players are motivated to contribute to the shorter, profanity-free chain, then that chain will grow faster and eventually become, and remain, the longest chain. The other indifferent players will then jump ship and join the new longest chain in order to maximise the number of their blocks in the new longest and faster growing chain.

Fortunately, the more likely scenario is that the offended group is a minority and the original chain remains the longest and fastest growing chain. This natural phenomenon ensures that the history of events cannot easily be changed for simply arbitrary reasons. On a global scale, this phenomenon is ever more present, because not even laws, politics, nor what is considered moral can be agreed across the world.

Cheating

In a game like the one above, there are opportunities to cheat. Maybe you could choose not to shake your box, but place the dice by hand. Unless someone is constantly watching you, no one would ever know.

With Bitcoin mining, there are simply no such shortcuts. The fastest and cheapest way to produce a block is to play fairly. Let's dive into what Bitcoin mining really is.

What exactly is Bitcoin mining?

People often use analogies to describe mining; "it's like a lottery", "miners solve complex mathematical problems", "miners guess random numbers". The problem with analogies are that they tend to omit key details that ultimately mislead the reader.

Miners perform a series of tasks repetitively, simplified:

1. Collect the records that users create and compose them into a file.
2. Add a reference to the previous block.
3. Add a random number to the end.
4. Check if the file satisfies a certain special criteria.
5. If not, replace the random number with a new random number and repeat from step 3.

To check if a file satisfies our special criteria, we pass the file through a special program called "SHA256" and the program reveals a large unpredictable unique number. We check to see if that number is below a pre-determined target and if so, it has satisfied the criteria (i.e. given SHA256(FILE1) = 123 and TARGET = 20, is 123 < 20?).

SHA256 is a known as a mathematical "hash function". Although its output is unpredictable, it is also "deterministic", which means that given the same input file, it will always produce the same number. It is unpredictable because given the same file with even a small change will produce a completely different number altogether. We use these type of algorithms to give our files identifiers that make them resistant to tampering; it is very useful when downloading from torrents, where files can be downloaded in parallel, from multiple places, be reconstructed, and the file is only accepted if it resolves to the same identifier, ensuring that you get exactly what you asked for.

These files containing records are traditionally called "blocks", and once an acceptable block has been produced (aka mined), it is shared with all the online Bitcoin nodes and we all move on to mining the next block. As we observed before, attempting to ignore the latest mined block is counterproductive and would result in a fork and put you on a path of creating blocks for a new chain that no one would care about and that everyone would simply discard as invalid data.

As you can imagine, this process is very repetitive. One round is hardly power intensive, but the chances of success are so low, that it takes many cycles to find a successful block. The process of mining is very power intensive due to the nature of the process being a repetitive process with a low chance of success.

The incentives

Many people who focus on the "number guessing" and "repetitive nature" side of things tend to consider this process to be pretty arbitrary, however this repetitive chance-based system is key to ensure that it cannot be cheated. As we have discussed, it introduces order, and solidifies it to bring robustness and reliability to Bitcoin.

This process also incurs a cost. Computers draw electrical power to perform their operations, and when people are competing with one another, this power draw becomes non-negligible very quickly.

Miners do earn bitcoin when they mine. As they create blocks, they include an entry allocating bitcoin to themselves. This is their incentive to add the most number of blocks to the chain, as the more blocks they add, the more bitcoin they can earn.

The amount that a miner can allocate to themselves is based on two things:

1. Transaction fees (aka fee market): users can see what transactions are waiting to be mined, what fees they are offering, and can offer a competitive fee to get their transactions prioritised. Miners will often pick the transactions that offer the highest fees to include into their blocks; this ensures that they are earning the most amount of Bitcoin that they have available to them at all times.
2. Block reward: Every block can issue a fixed amount of new bitcoin which the miner can allocate to themselves. Around every four years, the amount of new bitcoin that can be issued is reduced in a controlled manner, and in the year 2140, there will be no more bitcoin left to issue, meaning that miners will need to remain profitable using transaction fees alone.

The block reward satisfies two purposes:

1. Bitcoin must be distributed fairly; there are no licenses or authority based limitations that restrict who can mine bitcoin. Anyone with access to energy, a computer and internet can participate, and therefore new bitcoin can land in the hands of almost absolutely anyone around the world, based purely on fair chance.
2. People must be incentivised to participate in the running of the Bitcoin network, Bitcoin is nothing without a diverse and distributed mass of people running it. Early adopters earn more, while as we get closer to the year 2140, we expect that a critical mass of people will rely on Bitcoin and a plethora of tools, technologies and infrastructure have been built to support it.

These incentives are why people think the goal of mining is to produce more Bitcoin. While for a miner, the main goal is to earn bitcoin, for the system as a whole, mining serves a very different, important and distinct role and the rewards are there merely to ensure people are motivated to do it.

The difficulty adjustment

To get a complete view of Bitcoin mining, the "difficulty adjustment" feature of Bitcoin addresses the elephant in the room: as more people compete to mine bitcoin, wouldn't blocks get produced more quickly?

Bitcoin blocks are produced every 10 minutes on average. Every 2 weeks, or more precisely, every 2016 blocks, a "difficulty target" is redetermined based on the historical production rate of the previous 2016 blocks. All the participants who help to run the Bitcoin network are able to follow this well defined rule automatically on their own computers and will come to the exact same result.

The difficulty target is a way to change the odds of the chance based game, such that we can maintain the average of 10 minutes per solve. Doing this on a regular basis, ensures that even if more miners enter, or if the hardware becomes more efficient, or if they get access to even more energy and computing power, or even if many miners exit, the network can adjust itself and ensure that the network runs smoothly and at a constant pace.

There are also many extra rules that ensure that even this part of the system cannot be gamed. Many developers, mathematicians and philosophers have evaluated Bitcoin deeply and have not found ways to easily game the system.

The 10 minute pace of the system is important for a number of reasons:

1. The issuance of new bitcoin as a reward should not happen too quickly; people need time to discover and adopt bitcoin in order to ensure that bitcoin can be distributed as fairly as possible.
2. Chance is unpredictable and there are cases where multiple miners do find blocks within moments of one another, and this creates forks in the system. The chances of this happening consecutively is rare, and this allows the network to very quickly settle on a single chain and continue operating without issue. Reducing the 10 minute average interval would amplify this situation, causing problems with the smooth running of the network.
3. Considering that blocks can be up to 4mb in size, 10 minutes is ample time for it to be distributed to all bitcoin computers across the world wide web, even over slow network infrastructure and old hardware. 10 minute block times ensure that all computers can remain up to date and not be left eternally catching up as more blocks are being produced faster than their computers can download and validate.

With the difficulty property, the Bitcoin network can grow at a constant pace, and yet everyone can still tell which chain has had the most effort contributed towards it. When a computer comes across two chains, two versions of history, it does not look to find the "longest" chain, but it looks for the one that has the solved for the most amount of difficulty. The result is the same, the chain of data that is considered official is the one that has the most amount of man and electrical power behind it.

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

@ faf5d2e8:374ed5b1

We recently held a weekend hackathon to make notes.trustroots.org even better!

A lot of our work focused on making sure that the notes we display on our map are trustworthy. We want to avoid showing any spam or invalid content, so we’ve set up a system to verify that notes come from real Trustroots users. Our solution involves running a server that checks the source of each note and reposts it with extra information. When you add a note to the map, it creates an event, but only notes from verified users will be shown.

If anyone wants to create their own version of this, they can set up their own server to check notes in different ways.

We also completed an important update called NIP-05 on trustroots.org. This means you can now verify your Trustroots username in other Nostr applications. You can see how it works at our nostroots profile on nostr, nostr:npub1lt6a968lk4h6yqduqnxcha628cudulgy8xk607c4xyxn6d6w6kcsmgp8hj.

Additionally, we’ve added server-side code that checks if notes are coming from actual Trustroots users. While this does centralize some processes, it helps us move towards a more decentralized future for Nostroots.

We now offer temporary notes that last for 5 minutes, but you can still choose to keep notes indefinitely if you prefer.

The platform is more reliable now, with clearer error messages in the JavaScript console to help with troubleshooting.

Lastly, we connected with Trent Larson, who is working on Lives of Giving, and checked in with Kenny, who is making progress on adding Nostr features to triphopping.com.

Funding

We’re excited to share that we are receiving funding to help us move Trustroots to Nostr. This will also help more people learn about what we’re doing:

“Really excited about Nostroots !

I’ve been saying for a while now that someone should make couchsurfing on nostr…Couchsurfing around 2010 was like the greatest thing ever, and it was such a tragedy when the admins sold out and rugged everyone who had built up connections. Building it on nostr is a great use case showing how we can preserve social capital.” — Stuart Bowman

Wanna help?

We’re always looking for enthusiastic individuals to join us in this exciting journey! We’re specifically interested in people who want to help with communication. If you know a little about nostr and are interested in helping us bring this idea to the community, please reach out on nostr. Together, we can build a stronger community!

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

This is, hand down, the best bitcoin price chart I've ever seen. Kudos to @handsome_latino for making this for the world.

https://bitcoinexactforecast.com/

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/642212

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

```js import React, { useRef, useEffect, useState, useMemo } from 'react'; import { OverlayPanel } from 'primereact/overlaypanel'; import ZapForm from './ZapForm'; import { ProgressSpinner } from 'primereact/progressspinner';

const ZapDisplay = ({ zapAmount, event, zapsLoading }) => { const op = useRef(null); const [extraLoading, setExtraLoading] = useState(false);

useMemo(() => {
    let timeout;
    if (!zapsLoading && zapAmount === 0) {
        setExtraLoading(true);
        timeout = setTimeout(() => setExtraLoading(false), 5000);
    }
    return () => clearTimeout(timeout);
}, [zapsLoading, zapAmount]);

return (
    <>
        <span className="text-xs cursor-pointer flex items-center relative hover:opacity-80" onClick={(e) => op.current.toggle(e)}>
            <i className="pi pi-bolt text-yellow-300"></i>
            <span className="relative flex items-center min-w-[20px] min-h-[20px]">
                {zapsLoading || zapAmount === null || extraLoading ? (
                    <ProgressSpinner className="absolute top-0 left-0 w-[20px] h-[20px]" strokeWidth="8" animationDuration=".5s" />
                ) : (
                    zapAmount
                )}
            </span>
        </span>
        <OverlayPanel className='w-[40%] h-[40%]' ref={op}>
            <ZapForm event={event} />
        </OverlayPanel>
    
)

}

export default ZapDisplay; ```

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• The Human Rights Foundation and Bitcoin

• The HRF's Generous Donation

• The 10 Global Projects

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Bitcoin has made a significant impact on the world in recent years, revolutionizing the way people think about money and transactions. However, its true potential lies in its ability to transform philanthropy by providing a more transparent, secure, and efficient way to give. The Human Rights Foundation (HRF) recently demonstrated this potential by donating $1 million in Bitcoin to 10 global projects, showcasing how digital currency can be a force for good.

The Human Rights Foundation and Bitcoin

The HRF is a non-profit organization that promotes and protects human rights globally. Its work focuses on supporting activists and organizations that champion human rights, free speech, and civil liberties. The HRF believes that Bitcoin is a powerful tool for advancing its mission, given its ability to bypass government restrictions and censorship. By using Bitcoin, the HRF can provide support to those in need without the constraints of traditional financial systems.

The HRF's Generous Donation

In December 2021, the HRF announced a $1 million Bitcoin donation to 10 global projects. The projects selected were chosen for their commitment to promoting human rights and civil liberties. Each project received $100,000 in Bitcoin to further their work and help create a freer, more equitable world.

The 10 Global Projects

Bitcoin Development Fund - This project supports the development of the Bitcoin protocol and infrastructure, making it more accessible and secure.

Privacy International - This organization works to defend privacy rights and challenge surveillance practices worldwide.

WITNESS - WITNESS uses video and technology to document human rights abuses and share the stories of those affected.

Seeds of Peace - Seeds of Peace brings together young people from conflict regions to promote dialogue and understanding.

Internet Freedom Foundation - This organization promotes digital freedom and fights against online censorship and surveillance.

Access Now - Access Now advocates for digital rights and online freedom, particularly in repressive regimes.

Freedom of the Press Foundation - This organization supports journalists and whistleblowers, defending their right to free speech and freedom of the press.

The Tor Project - The Tor Project develops and maintains the Tor anonymity network, which helps protect privacy and security online.

Gitcoin Grants - Gitcoin Grants is a platform that allows people to fund public goods and open-source projects, promoting collaboration and innovation.

The zkSNACKs Foundation - This foundation supports the development of privacy-preserving technologies, including the privacy-focused cryptocurrency, Zcash.

Conclusion

The HRF's donation is a testament to the power of Bitcoin and the potential for digital currency to create positive change. By supporting organizations that promote human rights, civil liberties, and digital freedom, the HRF is helping to build a more equitable and just world. As Bitcoin continues to evolve and gain wider acceptance, we can expect to see more philanthropic efforts using this innovative technology to make a difference.

FAQ

Can Bitcoin be used for charitable donations? Yes, many charities now accept Bitcoin donations. Bitcoin donations can offer several advantages over traditional donations, including lower transaction fees and greater transparency.

Can I send Bitcoin to anyone, anywhere in the world? Yes, Bitcoin can be sent to anyone, anywhere in the world as long as they have a Bitcoin wallet address.

Are there any taxes associated with Bitcoin? Yes, Bitcoin is subject to taxation in many countries. It's important to consult with a tax professional to understand the tax implications of buying, selling, and holding Bitcoin.

Can Bitcoin be used anonymously? Bitcoin transactions are pseudonymous, meaning that the identity of the person sending or receiving Bitcoin is not directly tied to the transaction. However, it's important to note that Bitcoin transactions are still recorded on the blockchain and can be traced back to the user if the identity is revealed.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnews

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co

Youtube: @croxroadnews

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

@ 08f96856:ffe59a09

Introduction

Bitcoin is often cited as a prime example of a truly decentralized system. Unlike traditional financial systems that rely on central authorities, Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network of nodes, where each node independently validates and records transactions. This decentralization is critical for Bitcoin’s security, trust, and resistance to censorship. Understanding how entropy and Proof of Work (PoW) contribute to this decentralization helps elucidate why Bitcoin remains a robust and effective decentralized system. Additionally, examining how these concepts relate to thermodynamics can provide a deeper insight into the physical and informational transformations involved.

Understanding Entropy in Bitcoin

In the context of Bitcoin, entropy can be understood both from a physical perspective and an information-theoretic perspective:

1. Entropy in Physical Terms: In Bitcoin, physical entropy arises from the distributed nature of the network and the computational work involved in mining. Each miner competes to find a valid hash that meets a specific target by adjusting a nonce in the block header. This process introduces randomness and unpredictability into the network, leading to a high degree of entropy in terms of computational effort and energy consumption.

2. Entropy in Information Theory: Information entropy, introduced by Claude Shannon in 1948, measures the uncertainty or unpredictability associated with a random variable. In Bitcoin, this concept applies to the state of the blockchain. The entropy of Bitcoin's blockchain can be understood as the uncertainty in the ledger’s state before and after a new block is added [1][2].

Formulation of Information Entropy:

Shannon defined entropy H(X) for a discrete random variable X with a probability mass function P(x), where x represents the possible outcomes of X. The entropy H(X) is given by:

$$H(X) = -\sum_{x \in X} P(x) \log_2 P(x)$$

where: - The sum is taken over all possible outcomes x of X, - The logarithm base 2 measures entropy in bits.

In Bitcoin, X can be considered as the state of the blockchain, and P(x) represents the probability distribution of different blockchain states. High entropy indicates high uncertainty or disorder in the blockchain's state [1][2].

Proof of Work and Reducing Entropy

Proof of Work (PoW) plays a crucial role in Bitcoin’s mechanism for managing entropy and maintaining decentralization. Here’s how PoW works to reduce entropy in Bitcoin:

1. PoW and Hashing

Bitcoin miners perform PoW by repeatedly hashing the block header using the SHA-256 algorithm until they find a hash value that is less than or equal to the current target threshold. This process involves trial and error, where miners adjust a small variable called a nonce to generate new hash values. The difficulty of this task is adjusted periodically to ensure that new blocks are added roughly every 10 minutes.

The randomness and unpredictability of the hashing process introduce entropy into the mining process. However, once a valid hash is found, it imposes order on the blockchain by allowing the miner to add a new block, reducing the overall entropy of the ledger state [3].

1. Block Addition and Entropy Reduction

When a miner successfully finds a valid hash that meets the difficulty target, they add a new block to the blockchain. This process involves:

• Verification: The solution (i.e., the valid hash) is verified by other nodes, confirming the correctness and integrity of the block.
• Consensus: The new block is propagated across the network, and nodes update their copies of the blockchain.

The addition of a new block with a valid PoW solution reduces the entropy of the ledger state S. To quantify this, let’s relate the reduction in entropy to the probability of finding a valid hash:

Entropy Reduction Quantification

The probability of finding a valid hash p affects the entropy of the blockchain state. Initially, the entropy H(S) of the ledger state before adding the block can be modeled as:

$$H(S) = -\sum_{s \in S} P(s) \log_2 P(s)$$

After a block is mined and added to the blockchain, the entropy H(S') of the new ledger state S' can be expressed as:

$$H(S') = -\sum_{s' \in S'} P(s') \log_2 P(s')$$

To determine H(S'), consider the effect of p. The addition of a block with a valid PoW solution implies that the blockchain state is more certain and less variable. This leads to a more concentrated probability distribution over valid states.

If the probability distribution P(s') of the new states is more concentrated due to the successful addition of a block, the entropy H(S') decreases. Mathematically, this concentration can be approximated by the lower entropy due to the fewer number of valid states s':

$$H(S') = -p\log_2(p)-(1-p)log_2(1-p)$$

With high difficulty, the probability p of successfully finding a valid hash is very low, which means that only a few states are valid. As a result, the entropy contribution of these few valid states is reduced, leading to a lower overall entropy H(S′). This is because the logarithm of a small probability is large and negative, but when multiplied by a very small probability, the result is small. Thus, the overall entropy H(S′) decreases.

Therefore, the reduction in entropy due to PoW can then be represented as:

$$ΔH=H(S′)−H(S)$$

Given that H(S′)<H(S), ΔH is negative, reflecting the decrease in uncertainty about the blockchain state due to the successful resolution of the PoW.

This reduction in entropy highlights how PoW helps maintain the order and consistency of the blockchain, even as new blocks are added.

Proof of Work as a Mechanism for Order

PoW transforms physical work into a structured record. The process ensures that adding new blocks requires solving computational puzzles, which imposes a cost on creating new records. This cost (in terms of computational effort and energy) acts as a deterrent against tampering and contributes to maintaining the order and consistency of the blockchain.

The reduction in entropy due to PoW can be formalized by noting that the probability distribution of valid ledger states becomes more concentrated after a block is added. This makes the state of the ledger more predictable and less uncertain, reducing the overall entropy.

Relation to Thermodynamics

The concept of entropy in thermodynamics refers to the measure of disorder or randomness in a physical system. In thermodynamics:

1. Entropy and Energy: In thermodynamics, entropy is a measure of the amount of energy in a system that is not available to do work. When energy is added to a system, it often leads to an increase in entropy, reflecting the system's transition to a more disordered state.

2. Entropy Reduction: To reduce entropy in a thermodynamic system, energy must be expended to impose order. For example, cooling a system can reduce its entropy by decreasing its temperature and organizing the particles in a more orderly state.

Applying Thermodynamic Concepts to Bitcoin

1. Physical Work in PoW: In Bitcoin, PoW can be analogously related to thermodynamic processes. The computational work required for PoW is akin to expending physical energy in thermodynamics. The physical energy used by miners in finding a valid hash can be seen as a mechanism to impose order on the blockchain, similar to how energy can be used to reduce entropy in a physical system.

2. Transforming Physical to Informational Order: PoW transforms physical work into informational order. Just as energy expenditure in thermodynamics can lead to a more ordered state, the computational work done in PoW helps organize and secure the blockchain, reducing the entropy of the ledger state.

3. Balancing Order and Disorder: The relationship between energy and entropy in thermodynamics mirrors the balance between order and disorder in Bitcoin’s blockchain. The work done in PoW introduces structure and consistency, reducing entropy and enhancing the system's overall stability.

Proof of Stake: Limitations in Reducing Entropy

In contrast, Proof of Stake (PoS), while offering a different approach to consensus, faces limitations in managing entropy:

1. No Physical Energy Input: PoS does not involve physical work or energy expenditure. Validators are chosen based on their financial stake rather than their computational efforts, which limits its ability to impose order and structure.

2. Internal System Dynamics: PoS operates within a closed system of staked assets, relying on the existing wealth of participants rather than external physical resources. This does not effectively reduce entropy in the same way that PoW does.

3. Potential for Centralization: PoS can lead to centralization if a few participants control a large portion of the stake, introducing new forms of entropy and inequality.

Bitcoin: A Truly Decentralized System

Bitcoin’s decentralization is supported by its use of Proof of Work, which effectively reduces entropy by transforming physical energy into a structured and ordered blockchain. This ensures that the network remains secure, consistent, and resistant to tampering while maintaining its decentralized nature. The relationship between physical energy, information entropy, and thermodynamic entropy underscores the complex interplay between order and disorder in Bitcoin’s design and operation.

Acknowledgments

This article benefited from the assistance of ChatGPT, an AI language model developed by OpenAI, which provided valuable insights and suggestions for understanding and explaining concepts related to entropy in decentralized systems and Bitcoin mining.

References

1. Shannon, C. E. (1948). "A Mathematical Theory of Communication." The Bell System Technical Journal, 27(3), 379-423.

2. Cover, T. M., & Thomas, J. A. (2006). Elements of Information Theory (2nd ed.). Wiley.

3. Nakamoto, S. (2008). "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System." Link to paper

@ 5afdec5b:2d631be1

Introducing Our New Whitepaper on Escrow-Less Bitcoin-Collateralized Lending

We are thrilled to release our latest whitepaper, elaborating on our innovative Escrow-Less Bitcoin-Collateralized Lending protocol. This pioneering system leverages the power of Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) and Hash Time Lock Contracts (HTLCs) to create a trustless, peer-to-peer lending environment that aligns with the ethos of decentralization and user empowerment.

Read the full whitepaper here

Empowering Users with Our Architecture

Our protocol is meticulously designed to empower users by allowing them to borrow against their Bitcoin while retaining full control over it. We believe that this is not just a technological advancement, but a crucial step towards crafting a more decentralized, trust-minimized, and secure financial ecosystem. By eliminating the need for intermediaries, we aim to give users greater autonomy and flexibility, freeing them from traditional constraints.

Addressing Market Needs for Peer-to-Peer, Trustless Lending

Extensive market research highlights a significant, growing demand for peer-to-peer, trustless lending solutions. Users consistently expressed a desire for more control over their assets and greater flexibility in their lending options. Our Escrow-Less Lending protocol directly addresses these needs, providing a robust framework that enhances user control while maintaining the integrity and security of the lending process.

Exploring the Potential of Ark for Microloan Liquidity Management

Initially, our focus was predominantly on micro-loans. However, user interviews revealed a relatively limited demand for such products at this time. Nonetheless, we identified Ark as good solution in the context of Bitcoin microloans. Ark's capabilities could unlock new possibilities and efficiencies, making microloans more viable and attractive.

Remaining Flexible and Adaptable

Even as our primary focus shifts, the potential of Ark continues to intrigue us. Our protocol's design is inherently flexible and adaptable, allowing for continuous refinement and adjustments based on user interest and feedback. Should there be sufficient interest in the future, we are open and ready to explore Ark's integration once again to better serve our users’ needs.

Revolutionizing Bitcoin Borrowing and Lending

We firmly believe that our Escrow-Less Bitcoin-Collateralized Lending protocol has the potential to revolutionize the borrowing and lending landscape within the Bitcoin ecosystem. Our commitment is steadfast; we aim to make this innovative protocol a reality and will diligently work to iterate and improve based on user feedback. Together, let’s shape the future of decentralized lending.

Your Feedback Matters

We invite you to delve into our whitepaper and share your thoughts and feedback on this groundbreaking approach. Your insights are invaluable as we strive to create a more user-centric, flexible, and secure lending protocol. Read the full whitepaper here

---

Feel free to reach out with your thoughts, questions, or suggestions. We’re eager to engage with you and iterate based on your valuable input.

@ 2a5d1247:0398ad01

🧠Quote(s) of the week:

'People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.' - V -

'A simple plan: Manipulate the data. Manipulate the media. Manipulate the money. A simple response: Resist manipulation and think for yourself.' - James Lavish

🧡Bitcoin news🧡

The UK is losing its grip on democracy: 'We do have dedicated police officers who are scouring social media to look for this material, and then follow up with arrests.' Tim Walz (He is the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election): “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech and especially around our democracy.”

Your thoughts, writings, and communications (with or without machine intelligence) can only be private if they are never held by any central party. It is time you learn and discover Nostr. Study, use Nostr, start now. Freedom of speech is one of the most precious things in life and society. We lose it at our peril.

**On the 6th of August:

➡️ Morgan Stanley's 15,000 wealth advisors, and $4.8 trillion under management, started pitching clients to buy Bitcoin ETFs by BlackRock and Fidelity on the 7th of August. Several sources believe that Wells Fargo will quickly follow Morgan Stanley with Bitcoin ETF approvals.

The Bitcoin ecosystem will gain 15,000+ professional salespeople who have relationships with a trillion dollars of managed wealth. Ignore the noise and focus on the signal.

➡️'Tether’s Q2 2024 attestation reveals they hold $4.7 billion in Bitcoin. They also announced a new all-time high in direct and indirect U.S. Treasury holdings at $97.6 billion, surpassing Germany, the UAE, and Australia.' - Bitcoin News

➡️$5.2B worth of Bitcoin was moved by short-term holders within a week. In contrast, long-term holders largely held onto their BTC. Of the $850M in realized losses, only $600K originated from long-term holders. Don't sell your precious corn to BlackRock.

Now, read the statement above again and think about it. Only 0.07% of the $850M losses were incurred by long-term holders. Jepp, we don't freaking sell our Bitcoin! Only (the new) paper hands got frightened and shook out.

➡️'Bitcoin is in the "Extreme Fear" phase of the Fear & Greed Index at a score of 17/100. We've been this fearful 3 times in the last 5 years: • 2019 bottom • 2020 bottom • 2022 bottom Plenty of blood-curdling screams in the streets. Excellent buying opportunity.' -Joe Consorti

➡️Lifehack: 'Airbnb host catches guests running a Bitcoin mining farm on his property. He was tipped off when the power company notified him that the renters used a month's worth of electricity in just 4 days.' -Bitcoin News

➡️'It currently takes 1,880 hrs (47 weeks) of work to buy 1 Bitcoin. Said another way: 1 Bitcoin currently buys 1 FTE (at avg. US wage).' -Anilsaidso Now this is before income tax. If you take that into account it would be closer to 1.5 years.

On the 7th of August:

➡️'In Bitcoin over the last decade, the average return for the top 10 days each year was 184%, and the average return (loss) for all of the remaining days each year was −10%.' - James Lavish

This is why you don't trade Bitcoin. Time in the market beats timing the market. Just buy with a 4+ year horizon and go live your life. Spend time with your family & friends.

➡️Metaplanet is raising $70M to increase its Bitcoin holdings. The company plans to allocate $58.76M of the funds directly to Bitcoin, aiming to hedge against currency depreciation.

➡️Michael Saylor says “I own at least 17,732 Bitcoin and can’t see a better place to put money”

On the 8th of August:

➡️21,000 Bitcoins were taken off exchanges last week.

➡️Metaplanet secures ¥1 billion 0.1% APR loan; proceeds to fund additional purchases of $BTC.

➡️Bloomberg's Balchunas: '99.5% of the money invested in Bitcoin ETFs held firm despite a -14% drop on Monday and a -21% decline for the week.

IBIT saw no outflows at all — a total freak. I’m very bullish on ETF investors’ resilience, but even I’m surprised by this.'

On the 10th of August:

➡️The number of Bitcoin nodes has increased 20% yoy.

On the 11th of August:

➡️The Bitcoin White paper, but explained in Gen Z Language.

Original source:

➡️'3 years ago, Bitcoin's market cap was ~$835B. Same for all the crypto stuff w/o stablecoins. Today, Bitcoin's market cap is up 37% ($1.15T) And the other stuff? -11% (not adjusted for inflation) It’s an insightful statistic to present to people who blindly “diversify”.' -Sam Wouters

Bitcoin, not CrYpTO (aka. altcoins).

On the 12th of August:

➡️Remember my statement on Trump after the Bitcoin Conference in Nashville? (Stop larping, politicians need votes, etc., etc.)

President Trump has announced his 20 Core Promises to the American people. We (Bitcoin) are not even a top 20 priority issue in Trump's agenda.

You know what is on #13: Keep the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency. "end inflation" and "keep the U.S. Dollar as the world's reserve currency" are diametrically opposed and are diabolical. If you don't believe me, scroll down a bit and read the segment Macro-Economics.

For all the people on Twitter or other platforms, stop bootlicking, stop larping. You can’t say “Don’t trust verify” AND trust politicians or go full fangirl.

➡️Bitcoinminer Marathon to raise $250m to buy more Bitcoin.

'Marathon Digital Holdings, Inc. Announces Proposed Private Offering of $250 Million of Convertible Senior Notes. Proceeds to be used primarily to acquire Bitcoin and for general corporate purposes.'

They bought $100m in July and currently HODL 20,000 Bitcoin.

💸Traditional Finance / Macro:

On the 6th of August:

👉🏽'JP Morgan says Institutions bought the dip while Retail panic-sold aggressively. Retail sold -$1 BILLION -2.5 standard deviations BELOW the 12m average Institutions bought +$14 billion. +2.9 std dev ABOVE the 12m average' - Rader

Maybe it's because trading platforms were down for retail investors? Market manipulation at its finest.

On the 8th of August:

👉🏽Investors Pull $2.2 Billion From ARKK In 2024 As Cathie Wood Underperforms Nasdaq By -30% YTD

👉🏽$6.4 TRILLION wiped out from global stock markets in just 4 weeks - Bloomberg

🏦Banks:

👉🏽No news

🌎Macro/Geopolitics:

Going to start this segment with a great quote by Luke Gromen:

'JPY "too strong" = global market dysfunction, which quickly leads to UST dysfunction. USD "too strong" = UST market dysfunction, which quickly leads to global market dysfunction.

Powell ultimately only has a choice of how he wants to lose the long end - "fire" or "ice"?'

This is what triggered a global-scale sell-off of every major asset class.

This is how unstable the system is. To add a great James Lavish quote:

'And one might say the root cause before the trigger, and the reason for instability was this (15 years of free money).'

On the 6th of August:

👉🏽M2 money supply update: On the 7th of August the US Treasury starts Treasury buy-backs again at $30 billion a month. The US Treasury will begin buying back up to $50 billion worth of outstanding government securities by the end of October, primarily to provide liquidity support.

• $8.5B buyback in August
• $31.5B buyback in September
• $10B buyback in October Hello liquidity, the printers are back on!

Remember:

USD in circulation (M2): 21T US Government Debt: 35.1T* More debt than their money in circulation. * The US Debt just hit 35.1 Trillion. Up 0.1 Trillion in a week. *

It is kicking the goddamnnn can down the road.

The U.S. Now Has: 1. Record $17.8 trillion in household debt 2. Record $12.5 trillion in mortgages 3. Record $1.6 trillion in auto loans 4. Near record $1.6 trillion in student loans 5. Record $1.14 trillion in credit card debt (with the average person owing $6,218 at a 20%+ rate. Making minimum payments, it will take them over 18 years and an additional $9K+ to pay off that debt.) Total household debt is now up 53% over the last 10 years and total credit card debt is up 50% since 2020. Meanwhile, delinquency rates on credit cards and auto loans are nearing the highs seen in 2008

"Who could defeat the US military?"

Compounding interest is defeating the US military & compounding interest is undefeated v. hegemons. Buy LT USTs if you think the US will lose Cold War 2.0 for lack of printing enough USDs to finance this; if not, buy gold, BTC, & stocks.' - Luke Gromen

No doom and gloom, just facts.

Anyway: "Amateurs talk about tactics, but professionals study logistics" - General Omar Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley was a senior officer of the United States Army during and after World War II, rising to the rank of General of the Army.

👉🏽Again a great explanation of the situation in Japan:

Bank of Japan (BoJ) 1. Prints insane amounts of money. 2. Becomes the largest holder of ETFs in the Nikkei, incentivizing investors to purchase Japanese ETFs borrowing in yen. 3. Yen falls to 40-year lows 4. BOJ blames "speculators". A classic. 5. BOJ spends billions stabilizing the yen 6. Yen rises, market declines, margin calls jump, Nikkei plummets. Black Monday. You think this is a "free market".

Classic interventionist economics by the BoJ.

Explanation: 'Now what does this mean: 1. Treasury buybacks improve liquidity in the bond market that has been living on life support over the last few years as high inflation made bonds unappealing 2. This may be deflationary if the amount of money taken out is larger than the amount we are spending to aid in economic expansion I hope this helps you. 3. This will likely lead to a lowering of interest rates later on. 4. This will improve US credit ratings as it shows that we are paying down our debts, hopefully, faster than we are creating new debts. I hope this helps.' -Tim

👉🏽Bank of Japan to hold an emergency meeting to discuss International Financial Markets - Reuters

The Bank of Japan said it, the Ministry of Finance, and the Financial Services Agency will meet from 3 pm on the 6th of August in Tokyo to discuss international markets.

After the meeting: 'No more rate hikes in the near term due to market volatility.' BoJ

On the 7th of August:

👉🏽 Germany's industrial production was up in June. But looking at the chart and the previous month's revised down (3.1% decline), it's a bit too early to call for a revival of Europe's former Manufacturing 'Powerhouse.'

Germany has had no growth for five years. As a matter of fact, German industrial production has been constantly declining since 2017. Grotesque overregulation and energy suicide are accelerating deindustrialization, and some left weirdos are even celebrating degrowth nonsense.

Meanwhile the number of bankruptcies in Germany "unexpectedly" rose in July to the highest level in about ten years.

👉🏽'The US unemployment rate has risen for 4 consecutive months, the longest streak since the 2008 Financial Crisis.

Over the last 75 years, every time unemployment rose for 4 consecutive months, the US economy entered recession.

The jobless rate has surged from 3.8% in March to 4.3% in July, its highest level since October 2021.

Meanwhile, the US hires rate declined to 3.4% in July, its lowest level since the 2020 Pandemic and below the pre-pandemic average of 3.8%. The US labor market is contracting.' -TKL

👉🏽 11% of credit card balances in the US are now 90+ days delinquent, the highest in over a decade. Probably nothing!

👉🏽'We do have dedicated police officers who are scouring social media to look for this material, and then follow up with arrests.'

The director of public prosecutions of England and Wales warns that sharing online material of riots could be an offense.

This is not something I just made up. He is saying no free speech. the British government is completely corrupt, and anyone who points this out is a target as sharing videos is now a crime. Is it even a democracy then?

Tim Walz (He is the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election): “There’s no guarantee to free speech on misinformation or hate speech and especially around our democracy.”

Remember what Jacinda Ardern, then Prime Minister of New Zealand said in 2020: "We will continue to be your single source of truth…Remember, unless you hear it from us it is not the truth."

OpenAI has an ex-NSA director on its Board;

The new Dutch Prime Minister is a Former Dutch intelligence chief; How convenient!

Now don't get me wrong. People should think before they post or repost something on social media. But arresting people for creating online content or reposting that contact is just vile.

V for Vendetta was supposed to be just a graphic novel... not real life! A reminder that V for Vendetta is based in the UK!

Again, you should start using Nostr.

And it is not just in the UK, also EUROPE is going crazy. Read the bit on the 12th of August.

On the 8th of August:

👉🏽Bank of England expected to lose £254 BILLION from the QE money printing program since December 2021 - The Economist

On the 10th of August:

👉🏽'How much have prices increased over the last 24 years?

US hospital services prices have skyrocketed by 256% since the beginning of this century.

At the same time, College Tuition and Fees, as well as College Textbooks spiked by 188% and 158%, respectively.

Moreover, the prices of Childcare or Nursery School and Medical Care Services rose by 139% and 136%.

On the other hand, TVs, Toys, and computer software prices declined by 98%, 74%, and 74%, respectively.

To put this into perspective, average hourly wages are up 119% since 2000. Wage growth is struggling to keep up with many items.' -TKL

Our society and our economy are driven by debt. CPI is a structural understanding of actual inflation. Everything the government subsidizes goes up by 1 to 300 percent. More protocols, less competition, less disruption, less efficiency; Ergo more inflation. (you can sum up the last part in one word: EUROPE)

The industries where governments stay out are private competition, ergo drives pricing down. Competition is deflationary, when will people realize that?

👉🏽'The rich are getting richer faster than ever before:

The top 40% of US income earners hold 83% of the total net worth, near an all-time record.

The top 20% account for 71% of the total net worth, up 10 percentage points over the last 2 decades.

On the other hand, the bottom 40% of income households hold only 8% of the wealth. Moreover, the bottom 20% of earners reflect just 3% of total US wealth. Over the last few years, the rich have gotten a lot richer.' - TKL

This makes perfect sense. If you can hold assets in an inflationary economy/environment, well assets and wealth will go up. The consequences of central banks all around the world printing trillions. The money inevitably flows into asset classes creating bubbles in equity markets, real estate, luxury goods, and many more. The wealthy being the largest owners of these assets simply benefit the most. What do we call that? It’s called the Cantillon effect.

On the 12th of August:

👉🏽Freedom of speech is one of the most precious things in life and society.

'It's amazing how everything they say, is always the opposite: "ensuring freedom of expression and information are protected" = "censor anything we, an unelected group of ultrawealthy technocrats, disagree with". - ZeroHedge

I couldn't have said it better...Jeroen Blokland:

'Europe has completely lost it. European ‘politicians’, who are not leaders, increasingly act from an ideologist perspective, which is incompatible with democratic and socially supported policy making. To send a threatening letter to Elon Musk, compelling him to censor(!) his meeting with Trump is another example of how the aging, declining, and weakening European ‘power’ unrightfully believes it can force its subjective moral standard onto others. Not only does that create friction with many other parts of the world, which outperform Europe in many areas, it also causes massive polarization on the European continent.'

"There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice." - Montesquieu

"The welfare of the people has always been the alibi of tyrants, and it provides the servants of tyranny a good conscience." - Albert Camus

Really you should study Bitcoin & Nostr!

'Paradoxically, the Cantillon Effect means that the very last people to understand the need for BTC & technologies like Nostr will be those in and closest to western technocratic & banking centers.' - Luke Gromen

🎁If you have made it this far I would like to give you a little gift:

Great book, great podcast: Resistance Money with Andrew Bailey, Bradley Rettler, & Craig Warmke 'Andrew Bailey, is a Professor of Philosophy at Yale-NUS College, Bradley Rettler is a Professor of Philosophy at the University of Wyoming and Craig Warmke is a Professor of Philosophy at Northern Illinois University. In this episode we discuss their book Resistance Money and the global net-benefits of Bitcoin.'

“When asking a question like this…it’s tempting to replace it with the question ‘is Bitcoin good for me?’, and then you’re off to bag-pumping or bag-dumping; so what we tried to do here is to give a bit more precision to the question: ‘is Bitcoin good for the world?’” — Andrew Bailey

Credit: I have used multiple sources!

My savings account: Bitcoin

The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: @Relai 🇨🇭 especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly. (Please only use it till the 31st of October - after that full KYC)

Hence a DCA, Dollar cost Average Strategy. Check out my tutorial post (Instagram) & video (YouTube) for more info. ⠀⠀⠀⠀

Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Do you think this post is helpful to you? If so, please share it and support my work with sats.

Many thanks for reading the Weekly Recap, see you all next week!

Felipe - Bitcoin Friday

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea

```js import React, { useRef } from 'react'; import Image from 'next/image'; import UserAvatar from './user/UserAvatar'; import MenuTab from '../menutab/MenuTab'; import { Menubar } from 'primereact/menubar'; import { Menu } from 'primereact/menu'; import { useRouter } from 'next/router'; import 'primereact/resources/primereact.min.css'; import 'primeicons/primeicons.css';

const Navbar = () => { const router = useRouter();

const menu = useRef(null);

const navbarHeight = '60px';

const menuItems = [
    {
        label: 'Home',
        icon: 'pi pi-home',
        command: () => {
            // Add your edit functionality here
        }
    },
    {
        label: 'Content',
        icon: 'pi pi-video',
        command: () => {
            // Add your delete functionality here
        }
    },
    {
        label: 'Chat',
        icon: 'pi pi-comment',
        items: [
            {
                label: 'General',
                icon: 'pi pi-hashtag',
                command: () => {
                    // Add your edit functionality here
                }
            },
            {
                label: 'Nostr',
                icon: 'pi pi-hashtag',
                command: () => {
                    // Add your delete functionality here
                }
            },
            {
                label: 'Discord',
                icon: 'pi pi-hashtag',
                command: () => {
                    // Add your delete functionality here
                }
            },
            {
                label: 'Stackernews',
                icon: 'pi pi-hashtag',
                command: () => {
                    // Add your delete functionality here
                }
            }
        ]
    }
];

const start = (
    <div className='flex items-center'>
        {/* <div className='hidden max-tab:block max-mob:block max-tab:px-6 max-mob:px-6'>
            <i className="pi pi-bars text-xl pt-1"
                onClick={(e) => menu.current.toggle(e)}></i>
            <Menu model={menuItems} popup ref={menu} />
        </div> */}
        <div onClick={() => router.push('/')} className="flex flex-row items-center justify-center cursor-pointer">
            <Image
                alt="logo"
                src="/plebdevs-guy.jpg"
                width={50}
                height={50}
                className="rounded-full mr-2 max-tab:hidden max-mob:hidden"
            />
            <h1 className="text-white text-xl font-semibold max-tab:text-2xl max-mob:text-2xl">PlebDevs</h1>
        </div>
    </div>
);

return (
    <>
        <div className='w-[100vw] h-fit'>
            <Menubar
                start={start}
                end={UserAvatar}
                className='px-[2%] py-8 bg-gray-800 border-t-0 border-l-0 border-r-0 rounded-none fixed z-10 w-[100vw] max-tab:px-[5%] max-mob:px-[5%]'
                style={{ height: navbarHeight }}
            />
        </div>
        {/* Placeholder div with the same height as the Navbar */}
        <div style={{ height: navbarHeight }}></div>
    
);

};

export default Navbar; ```

@ 8cb60e21:5f2deaea