@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr: a quick introduction, attempt #2

Nostr doesn't subscribe to any ideals of "free speech" as these belong to the realm of politics and assume a big powerful government that enforces a common ruleupon everybody else.

Nostr instead is much simpler, it simply says that servers are private property and establishes a generalized framework for people to connect to all these servers, creating a true free market in the process. In other words, Nostr is the public road that each market participant can use to build their own store or visit others and use their services.

(Of course a road is never truly public, in normal cases it's ran by the government, in this case it relies upon the previous existence of the internet with all its quirks and chaos plus a hand of government control, but none of that matters for this explanation).

More concretely speaking, Nostr is just a set of definitions of the formats of the data that can be passed between participants and their expected order, i.e. messages between clients (i.e. the program that runs on a user computer) and relays (i.e. the program that runs on a publicly accessible computer, a "server", generally with a domain-name associated) over a type of TCP connection (WebSocket) with cryptographic signatures. This is what is called a "protocol" in this context, and upon that simple base multiple kinds of sub-protocols can be added, like a protocol for "public-square style microblogging", "semi-closed group chat" or, I don't know, "recipe sharing and feedback".

@ 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.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Drivechain

Understanding Drivechain requires a shift from the paradigm most bitcoiners are used to. It is not about "trustlessness" or "mathematical certainty", but game theory and incentives. (Well, Bitcoin in general is also that, but people prefer to ignore it and focus on some illusion of trustlessness provided by mathematics.)

Here we will describe the basic mechanism (simple) and incentives (complex) of "hashrate escrow" and how it enables a 2-way peg between the mainchain (Bitcoin) and various sidechains.

The full concept of "Drivechain" also involves blind merged mining (i.e., the sidechains mine themselves by publishing their block hashes to the mainchain without the miners having to run the sidechain software), but this is much easier to understand and can be accomplished either by the BIP-301 mechanism or by the Spacechains mechanism.

How does hashrate escrow work from the point of view of Bitcoin?

A new address type is created. Anything that goes in that is locked and can only be spent if all miners agree on the Withdrawal Transaction (WT^) that will spend it for 6 months. There is one of these special addresses for each sidechain.

To gather miners' agreement bitcoind keeps track of the "score" of all transactions that could possibly spend from that address. On every block mined, for each sidechain, the miner can use a portion of their coinbase to either increase the score of one WT^ by 1 while decreasing the score of all others by 1; or they can decrease the score of all WT^s by 1; or they can do nothing.

Once a transaction has gotten a score high enough, it is published and funds are effectively transferred from the sidechain to the withdrawing users.

If a timeout of 6 months passes and the score doesn't meet the threshold, that WT^ is discarded.

What does the above procedure mean?

It means that people can transfer coins from the mainchain to a sidechain by depositing to the special address. Then they can withdraw from the sidechain by making a special withdraw transaction in the sidechain.

The special transaction somehow freezes funds in the sidechain while a transaction that aggregates all withdrawals into a single mainchain WT^, which is then submitted to the mainchain miners so they can start voting on it and finally after some months it is published.

Now the crucial part: the validity of the WT^ is not verified by the Bitcoin mainchain rules, i.e., if Bob has requested a withdraw from the sidechain to his mainchain address, but someone publishes a wrong WT^ that instead takes Bob's funds and sends them to Alice's main address there is no way the mainchain will know that. What determines the "validity" of the WT^ is the miner vote score and only that. It is the job of miners to vote correctly -- and for that they may want to run the sidechain node in SPV mode so they can attest for the existence of a reference to the WT^ transaction in the sidechain blockchain (which then ensures it is ok) or do these checks by some other means.

What? 6 months to get my money back?

Yes. But no, in practice anyone who wants their money back will be able to use an atomic swap, submarine swap or other similar service to transfer funds from the sidechain to the mainchain and vice-versa. The long delayed withdraw costs would be incurred by few liquidity providers that would gain some small profit from it.

Why bother with this at all?

Drivechains solve many different problems:

It enables experimentation and new use cases for Bitcoin

Issued assets, fully private transactions, stateful blockchain contracts, turing-completeness, decentralized games, some "DeFi" aspects, prediction markets, futarchy, decentralized and yet meaningful human-readable names, big blocks with a ton of normal transactions on them, a chain optimized only for Lighting-style networks to be built on top of it.

These are some ideas that may have merit to them, but were never actually tried because they couldn't be tried with real Bitcoin or inferfacing with real bitcoins. They were either relegated to the shitcoin territory or to custodial solutions like Liquid or RSK that may have failed to gain network effect because of that.

It solves conflicts and infighting

Some people want fully private transactions in a UTXO model, others want "accounts" they can tie to their name and build reputation on top; some people want simple multisig solutions, others want complex code that reads a ton of variables; some people want to put all the transactions on a global chain in batches every 10 minutes, others want off-chain instant transactions backed by funds previously locked in channels; some want to spend, others want to just hold; some want to use blockchain technology to solve all the problems in the world, others just want to solve money.

With Drivechain-based sidechains all these groups can be happy simultaneously and don't fight. Meanwhile they will all be using the same money and contributing to each other's ecosystem even unwillingly, it's also easy and free for them to change their group affiliation later, which reduces cognitive dissonance.

It solves "scaling"

Multiple chains like the ones described above would certainly do a lot to accomodate many more transactions that the current Bitcoin chain can. One could have special Lightning Network chains, but even just big block chains or big-block-mimblewimble chains or whatnot could probably do a good job. Or even something less cool like 200 independent chains just like Bitcoin is today, no extra features (and you can call it "sharding"), just that would already multiply the current total capacity by 200.

Use your imagination.

It solves the blockchain security budget issue

The calculation is simple: you imagine what security budget is reasonable for each block in a world without block subsidy and divide that for the amount of bytes you can fit in a single block: that is the price to be paid in satoshis per byte. In reasonable estimative, the price necessary for every Bitcoin transaction goes to very large amounts, such that not only any day-to-day transaction has insanely prohibitive costs, but also Lightning channel opens and closes are impracticable.

So without a solution like Drivechain you'll be left with only one alternative: pushing Bitcoin usage to trusted services like Liquid and RSK or custodial Lightning wallets. With Drivechain, though, there could be thousands of transactions happening in sidechains and being all aggregated into a sidechain block that would then pay a very large fee to be published (via blind merged mining) to the mainchain. Bitcoin security guaranteed.

It keeps Bitcoin decentralized

Once we have sidechains to accomodate the normal transactions, the mainchain functionality can be reduced to be only a "hub" for the sidechains' comings and goings, and then the maximum block size for the mainchain can be reduced to, say, 100kb, which would make running a full node very very easy.

Can miners steal?

Yes. If a group of coordinated miners are able to secure the majority of the hashpower and keep their coordination for 6 months, they can publish a WT^ that takes the money from the sidechains and pays to themselves.

Will miners steal?

No, because the incentives are such that they won't.

Although it may look at first that stealing is an obvious strategy for miners as it is free money, there are many costs involved:

1. The cost of ceasing blind-merged mining returns -- as stealing will kill a sidechain, all the fees from it that miners would be expected to earn for the next years are gone;
2. The cost of Bitcoin price going down: If a steal is successful that will mean Drivechains are not safe, therefore Bitcoin is less useful, and miner credibility will also be hurt, which are likely to cause the Bitcoin price to go down, which in turn may kill the miners' businesses and savings;
3. The cost of coordination -- assuming miners are just normal businesses, they just want to do their work and get paid, but stealing from a Drivechain will require coordination with other miners to conduct an immoral act in a way that has many pitfalls and is likely to be broken over the months;
4. The cost of miners leaving your mining pool: when we talked about "miners" above we were actually talking about mining pools operators, so they must also consider the risk of miners migrating from their mining pool to others as they begin the process of stealing;
5. The cost of community goodwill -- when participating in a steal operation, a miner will suffer a ton of backlash from the community. Even if the attempt fails at the end, the fact that it was attempted will contribute to growing concerns over exaggerated miners power over the Bitcoin ecosystem, which may end up causing the community to agree on a hard-fork to change the mining algorithm in the future, or to do something to increase participation of more entities in the mining process (such as development or cheapment of new ASICs), which have a chance of decreasing the profits of current miners.

Another point to take in consideration is that one may be inclined to think a newly-created sidechain or a sidechain with relatively low usage may be more easily stolen from, since the blind merged mining returns from it (point 1 above) are going to be small -- but the fact is also that a sidechain with small usage will also have less money to be stolen from, and since the other costs besides 1 are less elastic at the end it will not be worth stealing from these too.

All of the above consideration are valid only if miners are stealing from good sidechains. If there is a sidechain that is doing things wrong, scamming people, not being used at all, or is full of bugs, for example, that will be perceived as a bad sidechain, and then miners can and will safely steal from it and kill it, which will be perceived as a good thing by everybody.

What do we do if miners steal?

Paul Sztorc has suggested in the past that a user-activated soft-fork could prevent miners from stealing, i.e., most Bitcoin users and nodes issue a rule similar to this one to invalidate the inclusion of a faulty WT^ and thus cause any miner that includes it in a block to be relegated to their own Bitcoin fork that other nodes won't accept.

This suggestion has made people think Drivechain is a sidechain solution backed by user-actived soft-forks for safety, which is very far from the truth. Drivechains must not and will not rely on this kind of soft-fork, although they are possible, as the coordination costs are too high and no one should ever expect these things to happen.

If even with all the incentives against them (see above) miners do still steal from a good sidechain that will mean the failure of the Drivechain experiment. It will very likely also mean the failure of the Bitcoin experiment too, as it will be proven that miners can coordinate to act maliciously over a prolonged period of time regardless of economic and social incentives, meaning they are probably in it just for attacking Bitcoin, backed by nation-states or something else, and therefore no Bitcoin transaction in the mainchain is to be expected to be safe ever again.

Why use this and not a full-blown trustless and open sidechain technology?

Because it is impossible.

If you ever heard someone saying "just use a sidechain", "do this in a sidechain" or anything like that, be aware that these people are either talking about "federated" sidechains (i.e., funds are kept in custody by a group of entities) or they are talking about Drivechain, or they are disillusioned and think it is possible to do sidechains in any other manner.

No, I mean a trustless 2-way peg with correctness of the withdrawals verified by the Bitcoin protocol!

That is not possible unless Bitcoin verifies all transactions that happen in all the sidechains, which would be akin to drastically increasing the blocksize and expanding the Bitcoin rules in tons of ways, i.e., a terrible idea that no one wants.

What about the Blockstream sidechains whitepaper?

Yes, that was a way to do it. The Drivechain hashrate escrow is a conceptually simpler way to achieve the same thing with improved incentives, less junk in the chain, more safety.

Isn't the hashrate escrow a very complex soft-fork?

Yes, but it is much simpler than SegWit. And, unlike SegWit, it doesn't force anything on users, i.e., it isn't a mandatory blocksize increase.

Why should we expect miners to care enough to participate in the voting mechanism?

Because it's in their own self-interest to do it, and it costs very little. Today over half of the miners mine RSK. It's not blind merged mining, it's a very convoluted process that requires them to run a RSK full node. For the Drivechain sidechains, an SPV node would be enough, or maybe just getting data from a block explorer API, so much much simpler.

What if I still don't like Drivechain even after reading this?

That is the entire point! You don't have to like it or use it as long as you're fine with other people using it. The hashrate escrow special addresses will not impact you at all, validation cost is minimal, and you get the benefit of people who want to use Drivechain migrating to their own sidechains and freeing up space for you in the mainchain. See also the point above about infighting.

See also

• Podcast episode with Ruben Somsen and Aaron van Wirdum explaining Drivechain
• Alternatives to Drivechain
• Drivechain comparison with Ethereum

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Personagens de jogos e símbolos

A sensação de "ser" um personagem em um jogo ou uma brincadeira talvez seja o mais próximo que eu tenha conseguido chegar do entendimento de um símbolo religioso.

A hóstia consagrada é, segundo a religião, o corpo de Cristo, mas nossa mente moderna só consegue concebê-la como sendo uma representação do corpo de Cristo. Da mesma forma outras culturas e outras religiões têm símbolos parecidos, inclusive nos quais o próprio participante do ritual faz o papel de um deus ou de qualquer coisa parecida.

"Faz o papel" é de novo a interpretação da mente moderna. O sujeito ali é a coisa, mas ele ao mesmo tempo que é também sabe que não é, que continua sendo ele mesmo.

Nos jogos de videogame e brincadeiras infantis em que se encarna um personagem o jogador é o personagem. não se diz, entre os jogadores, que alguém está "encenando", mas que ele é e pronto. nem há outra denominação ou outro verbo. No máximo "encarnando", mas já aí já é vocabulário jornalístico feito para facilitar a compreensão de quem está de fora do jogo.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

A Causa

o Princípios de Economia Política de Menger é o único livro que enfatiza a CAUSA o tempo todo. os cientistas todos parecem não saber, ou se esquecer sempre, que as coisas têm causa, e que o conhecimento verdadeiro é o conhecimento da causa das coisas.

a causa é uma categoria metafísica muito superior a qualquer correlação ou resultado de teste de hipótese, ela não pode ser descoberta por nenhum artifício econométrico ou reduzida à simples antecedência temporal estatística. a causa dos fenômenos não pode ser provada cientificamente, mas pode ser conhecida.

o livro de Menger conta para o leitor as causas de vários fenômenos econômicos e as interliga de forma que o mundo caótico da economia parece adquirir uma ordem no momento em que você lê. é uma sensação mágica e indescritível.

quando eu te o recomendei, queria é te imbuir com o espírito da busca pela causa das coisas. depois de ler aquilo, você está apto a perceber continuidade causal nos fenômenos mais complexos da economia atual, enxergar as causas entre toda a ação governamental e as suas várias consequências na vida humana. eu faço isso todos os dias e é a melhor sensação do mundo quando o caos das notícias do caderno de Economia do jornal -- que para o próprio jornalista que as escreveu não têm nenhum sentido (tanto é que ele escreve tudo errado) -- se incluem num sistema ordenado de causas e consequências.

provavelmente eu sempre erro em alguns ou vários pontos, mas ainda assim é maravilhoso. ou então é mais maravilhoso ainda quando eu descubro o erro e reinsiro o acerto naquela racionalização bela da ordem do mundo econômico que é a ordem de Deus.

em scrap para T.P.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Veterano não é dono de bixete

"VETERANO NÃO É DONO DE BIXETE". A frase em letras garrafais chama a atenção dos transeuntes neófitos. Paira sobre um cartaz amarelo que lista várias reclamações contra os "trotes machistas", que, na opinião do responsável pelo cartaz, "não é brincadeira, é opressão".

Eis aí um bizarro exemplo de como são as coisas: primeiro todos os universitários aprovam a idéia do trote, apoiam sua realização e até mesmo desejam sofrer o trote -- com a condição de o poderem aplicar eles mesmos depois --, louvam as maravilhas do mundo universitário, onde a suprema sabedoria se esconde atrás de rituais iniciáticos fora do alcance da imaginação do homem comum e rude, do pobre e do filhinho-de-papai das faculdades privadas; em suma: fomentam os mais baixos, os mais animalescos instintos, a crueldade primordial, destroem em si mesmos e nos colegas quaisquer valores civilizatórios que tivessem sobrado ali, ficando todos indistingüíveis de macacos agressivos e tarados.

Depois vêm aí com um cartaz protestar contra os assédios -- que sem dúvida acontecem em larguíssima escala -- sofridos pelas calouras de 17 anos e que, sendo também novatas no mundo universitário, ainda conservam um pouco de discernimento e pudor.

A incompreensão do fenômeno, porém, é tão grande, que os trotes não são identificados como um problema mental, uma doença que deve ser tratada e eliminada, mas como um sintoma da opressão machista dos homens às mulheres, um produto desta civilização paternalista que, desde que Deus é chamado "o Pai" e não "a Mãe", corrompe a benéfica, pura e angélica natureza do homem primitivo e o torna esta tão torpe criatura.

Na opinião dos autores desse cartaz é preciso, pois, continuar a destruir o que resta da cultura ocidental, e então esperar que haja trotes menos opressores.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

neuron.vim

I started using this neuron thing to create an update this same zettelkasten, but the existing vim plugin had too many problems, so I forked it and ended up changing almost everything.

Since the upstream repository was somewhat abandoned, most users and people who were trying to contribute upstream migrate to my fork too.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/neuron.vim

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

On "zk-rollups" applied to Bitcoin

ZK rollups make no sense in bitcoin because there is no "cheap calldata". all data is already ~~cheap~~ expensive calldata.

There could be an onchain zk verification that allows succinct signatures maybe, but never a rollup.

What happens is: you can have one UTXO that contains multiple balances on it and in each transaction you can recreate that UTXOs but alter its state using a zk to compress all internal transactions that took place.

The blockchain must be aware of all these new things, so it is in no way "L2".

And you must have an entity responsible for that UTXO and for conjuring the state changes and zk proofs.

But on bitcoin you also must keep the data necessary to rebuild the proofs somewhere else, I'm not sure how can the third party responsible for that UTXO ensure that happens.

I think such a construct is similar to a credit card corporation: one central party upon which everybody depends, zero interoperability with external entities, every vendor must have an account on each credit card company to be able to charge customers, therefore it is not clear that such a thing is more desirable than solutions that are truly open and interoperable like Lightning, which may have its defects but at least fosters a much better environment, bringing together different conflicting parties, custodians, anyone.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Splitpages

The simplest possible service: it splitted PDF pages in half.

Created specially to solve the problem of those scanned books that come with two pages side-by-side as if they were a single page and are much harder to read on Kindle because of that.

It required me to learn about Heroku Buildpacks though, and fork or contribute to a Heroku Buildpack that embedded a mupdf binary.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/splitpages
• https://splitpages.herokuapp.com/

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

tempreites

My first library to get stars on GitHub, was a very stupid templating library that used just HTML and HTML attributes ("DSL-free"). I was inspired by http://microjs.com/ at the time and ended up not using the library. Probably no one ever did.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/tempreites

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

litepub

A Go library that abstracts all the burdensome ActivityPub things and provides just the right amount of helpers necessary to integrate an existing website into the "fediverse" (what an odious name). Made for the gravity integration.

• https://godoc.org/github.com/fiatjaf/litepub

See also

-

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

questo.email

This was a thing done in a brief period I liked the idea of "indiewebcamp", a stupid movement of people saying everybody should have their site and post their lives in it.

From the GitHub postmortem:

questo.email was a service that integrated email addresses into the indieweb ecosystem by providing email-to-note and email-to-webmention triggers, which could be used for people to comment through webmention using their email addresses, and be replied, and also for people to send messages from their sites directly to the email addresses of people they knew; Questo also worked as an IndieAuth provider that used people's email addresses and Mozilla Persona.

It was live from December 2014 through December 2015.

Here's how the home page looked:

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/questo.email

See also

• jekmentions, another thing related to "indieweb"

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

idea: Rumple

a payments network based on trust channels

This is the description of a Lightning-like network that will work only with credit or trust-based channels and exist alongside the normal Lightning Network. I imagine some people will think this is undesirable and at the same time very easy to do (such that if it doesn't exist yet it must be because no one cares), but in fact it is a very desirable thing -- which I hope I can establish below -- and at the same time a very non-trivial problem to solve, as the history of Ryan Fugger's Ripple project and posterior copies of it show.

Read these first to get the full context:

1. Ryan Fugger's Ripple
2. Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit
3. The Lightning Network solves the problem of the decentralized commit
4. Parallel Chains

Explanation about the name

Since we're copying the fundamental Ripple idea from Ryan Fugger and since the name "Ripple" is now associated with a scam coin called XRP, and since Ryan Fugger has changed the name of his old website "Ripplepay" to "Rumplepay", we will follow his lead here. If "Ripplepay" was the name of a centralized prototype to the open peer-to-peer network "Ripple", now that the centralized version is called "Rumplepay" the peer-to-peer version must be called "Rumple".

Now the idea

Basically we copy the Lightning Network, but without HTLCs or channels being opened and closed with funds committed to them on multisig Bitcoin transactions published to the blockchain. Instead we use pure trust relationships like the original Ripple concept.

And we use the blockchain commit method, but instead of spending an absurd amount of money to use the actual Bitcoin blockchain instead we use a parallel chain.

How exactly -- a protocol proposal attempt

It could work like this:

The parallel chain, or "Rumple Chain"

1. We define a parallel chain with a genesis block;
2. Following blocks must contain a. the ID of the previous block; b. a list of up to 32768 entries of arbitrary 32-byte values; c. an ID constituted by sha256(the previous block ID + the merkle root of all the entries)
3. To be mined, each parallel block must be included in the Bitcoin chain according as explained above.

Now that we have a structure for a simple "blockchain" that is completely useless, just blocks over blocks of meaningless values, we proceed to the next step of assigning meaning to these values.

The off-chain payments network, or "Rumple Network"

1. We create a network of nodes that can talk to each other via TCP messages (all details are the same as the Lightning Network, except where mentioned otherwise);
2. These nodes can create trust channels to each other. These channels are backed by nothing except the willingness of one peer to pay the other what is owed.
3. When Alice creates a trust channel with Bob (Alice trusts Bob), contrary to what happens in the Lightning Network, it's A that can immediately receive payments through that channel, and everything A receives will be an IOU from Bob to Alice. So Alice should never open a channel to Bob unless Alice trusts Bob. But also Alice can choose the amount of trust it has in Bob, she can, for example, open a very small channel with Bob, which means she will only lose a few satoshis if Bob decides to exit scam her. (in the original Ripple examples these channels were always depicted as friend relationships, and they can continue being that, but it's expected -- given the experience of the Lightning Network -- that the bulk of the channels will exist between users and wallet provider nodes that will act as hubs).
4. As Alice receive a payment through her channel with Bob, she becomes a creditor and Bob a debtor, i.e., the balance of the channel moves a little to her side. Now she can use these funds to make payments over that channel (or make a payment that combines funds from multiple channels using MPP).
5. If at any time Alice decides to close her channel with Bob, she can send all the funds she has standing there to somewhere else (for example, another channel she has with someone else, another wallet somewhere else, a shop that is selling some good or service, or a service that will aggregate all funds from all her channels and send a transaction to the Bitcoin chain on her behalf).
6. If at any time Bob leaves the network Alice is entitled by Bob's cryptographic signatures to knock on his door and demand payment, or go to a judge and ask him to force Bob to pay, or share the signatures and commitments online and hurt Bob's reputation with the rest of the network (but yes, none of these things is good enough and if Bob is a very dishonest person none of these things is likely to save Alice's funds).

The payment flow

1. Suppose there exists a route Alice->Bob->Carol and Alice wants to send a payment to Carol.
2. First Alice reads an invoice she received from Carol. The invoice (which can be pretty similar or maybe even the same as BOLT11) contains a payment hash h and information about how to reach Carol's node, optionally an amount. Let's say it's 100 satoshis.
3. Using the routing information she gathered, Alice builds an onion and sends it to Bob, at the same time she offers to Bob a "conditional IOU". That stands for a signed commitment that Alice will owe Bob an 100 satoshis if in the next 50 blocks of the Rumple Chain there appears a block containing the preimage p such that sha256(p) == h.
4. Bob peels the onion and discovers that he must forward that payment to Carol, so he forwards the peeled onion and offers a conditional IOU to Carol with the same h. Bob doesn't know Carol is the final recipient of the payment, it could potentially go on and on.
5. When Carol gets the conditional IOU from Bob, she makes a list of all the nodes who have announced themselves as miners (which is not something I have mentioned before, but nodes that are acting as miners will must announce themselves somehow) and are online and bidding for the next Rumple block. Each of these miners will have previously published a random 32-byte value v they they intend to include in their next block.
6. Carol sends payments through routes to all (or a big number) of these miners, but this time the conditional IOU contains two conditions (values that must appear in a block for the IOU to be valid): p such that sha256(p) == h (the same that featured in the invoice) and v (which must be unique and constant for each miner, something that is easily verifiable by Carol beforehand). Also, instead of these conditions being valid for the next 50 blocks they are valid only for the single next block.
7. Now Carol broadcasts p to the mempool and hopes one of the miners to which she sent conditional payments sees it and, allured by the possibility of cashing in Carol's payment, includes p in the next block. If that does not happen, Carol can try again in the next block.

Why bother with this at all?

1. The biggest advantage of Lightning is its openness

   It has been said multiple times that if trust is involved then we don't need Lightning, we can use Coinbase, or worse, Paypal. This is very wrong. Lightning is good specially because it serves as a bridge between Coinbase, Paypal, other custodial provider and someone running their own node. All these can transact freely across the network and pay each other without worrying about who is in which provider or setup.

   Rumple inherits that openness. In a Rumple Network anyone is free to open new trust channels and immediately route payments to anyone else.

   Also, since Rumple payments are also based on the reveal of a preimage it can do swaps with Lightning inside a payment route from day one (by which I mean one can pay from Rumple to Lightning and vice-versa).

2. Rumple fixes Lightning's fragility

   Lightning is too fragile.

   It's known that Lightning is vulnerable to multiple attacks -- like the flood-and-loot attack, for example, although not an attack that's easy to execute, it's still dangerous even if failed. Given the existence of these attacks, it's important to not ever open channels with random anonymous people. Some degree of trust must exist between peers.

   But one does not even have to consider attacks. The creation of HTLCs is a liability that every node has to do multiple times during its life. Every initiated, received or forwarded payment require adding one HTLC then removing it from the commitment transaction.

   Another issue that makes trust needed between peers is the fact that channels can be closed unilaterally. Although this is a feature, it is also a bug when considering high-fee environments. Imagine you pay $2 in fees to open a channel, your peer may close that unilaterally in the next second and then you have to pay another $15 to close the channel. The opener pays (this is also a feature that can double as a bug by itself). Even if it's not you opening the channel, a peer can open a channel with you, make a payment, then clone the channel, and now you're left with, say, an output of 800 satoshis, which is equal to zero if network fees are high.

   So you should only open channels with people you know and know aren't going to actively try to hack you and people who are not going to close channels and impose unnecessary costs on you. But even considering a fully trusted Lightning Network, even if -- to be extreme -- you only opened channels with yourself, these channels would still be fragile. If some HTLC gets stuck for any reason (peer offline or some weird small incompatibility between node softwares) and you're forced to close the channel because of that, there are the extra costs of sweeping these UTXO outputs plus the total costs of closing and reopening a channel that shouldn't have been closed in the first place. Even if HTLCs don't get stuck, a fee renegotiation event during a mempool spike may cause channels to force-close, become valueless or settle for very high closing fee.

   Some of these issues are mitigated by Eltoo, others by only having channels with people you trust. Others referenced above, plus the the griefing attack and in general the ability of anyone to spam the network for free with payments that can be pending forever or a lot of payments fail repeatedly makes it very fragile.

   Rumple solves most of these problems by not having to touch the blockchain at all. Fee negotiation makes no sense. Opening and closing channels is free. Flood-and-loot is a non-issue. The griefing attack can be still attempted as funds in trust channels must be reserved like on Lightning, but since there should be no theoretical limit to the number of prepared payments a channel can have, the griefing must rely on actual amounts being committed, which prevents large attacks from being performed easily.

3. Rumple fixes Lightning's unsolvable reputation issues

   In the Lightning Conference 2019, Rusty Russell promised there would be pre-payments on Lightning someday, since everybody was aware of potential spam issues and pre-payments would be the way to solve that. Fast-forward to November 2020 and these pre-payments have become an apparently unsolvable problem[^thread-402]: no one knows how to implement them reliably without destroying privacy completely or introducing worse problems.

   Replacing these payments with tables of reputation between peers is also an unsolved problem[^reputation-lightning], for the same reasons explained in the thread above.

4. Rumple solves the hot wallet problem

   Since you don't have to use Bitcoin keys or sign transactions with a Rumple node, only your channel trust is at risk at any time.

5. Rumple ends custodianship

   Since no one is storing other people's funds, a big hub or wallet provider can be used in multiple payment routes, but it cannot be immediately classified as a "custodian". At best, it will be a big debtor.

6. Rumple is fun

   Opening channels with strangers is boring. Opening channels with friends and people you trust even a little makes that relationship grow stronger and the trust be reinforced. (But of course, like it happens in the Lightning Network today, if Rumple is successful the bulk of trust will be from isolated users to big reliable hubs.)

Questions or potential issues

1. So many advantages, yes, but trusted? Custodial? That's easy and stupid!

   Well, an enormous part of the current Lightning Network (and also onchain Bitcoin wallets) already rests on trust, mainly trust between users and custodial wallet providers like ZEBEDEE, Alby, Wallet-of-Satoshi and others. Worse: on the current Lightning Network users not only trust, they also expose their entire transaction history to these providers[^hosted-channels].

   Besides that, as detailed in point 3 of the previous section, there are many unsolvable issues on the Lightning protocol that make each sovereign node dependent on some level of trust in its peers (and the network in general dependent on trusting that no one else will spam it to death).

   So, given the current state of the Lightning Network, to trust peers like Rumple requires is not a giant change -- but it is still a significant change: in Rumple you shouldn't open a large trust channel with someone just because it looks trustworthy, you must personally know that person and only put in what you're willing to lose. In known brands that have reputation to lose you can probably deposit more trust, same for long-term friends, and that's all. Still it is probably good enough, given the existence of MPP payments and the fact that the purpose of Rumple is to be a payments network for day-to-day purchases and not a way to buy real estate.

2. Why would anyone run a node in this parallel chain?

   I don't know. Ideally every server running a Rumple Network node will be running a Bitcoin node and a Rumple chain node. Besides using it to confirm and publish your own Rumple Network transactions it can be set to do BMM mining automatically and maybe earn some small fees comparable to running a Lightning routing node or a JoinMarket yield generator.

   Also it will probably be very lightweight, as pruning is completely free and no verification-since-the-genesis-block will take place.

3. What is the maturity of the debt that exists in the Rumple Network or its legal status?

   By default it is to be understood as being payable on demand for payments occurring inside the network (as credit can be used to forward or initiate payments by the creditor using that channel). But details of settlement outside the network or what happens if one of the peers disappears cannot be enforced or specified by the network.

   Perhaps some standard optional settlement methods (like a Bitcoin address) can be announced and negotiated upon channel creation inside the protocol, but nothing more than that.

[^thread-402]: Read at least the first 10 messages of the thread to see how naïve proposals like you and me could have thought about are brought up and then dismantled very carefully by the group of people most committed to getting Lightning to work properly. [^reputation-lightning]: See also the footnote at Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit. [^hosted-channels]: Although that second part can be solved by hosted channels.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Boardthreads

This was a very badly done service for turning a Trello list into a helpdesk UI.

Surprisingly, it had more paying users than Websites For Trello, which I was working on simultaneously and dedicating much more time to it.

The Neo4j database I used for this was a very poor choice, it was probably the cause of all the bugs.

-https://github.com/fiatjaf/boardthreads

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

bolt12 problems

• clients can't programatically build new offers by changing a path or query params (services like zbd.gg or lnurl-pay.me won't work)
• impossible to use in a load-balanced custodian way -- since offers would have to be pregenerated and tied to a specific lightning node.
• the existence of fiat currency fields makes it so wallets have to fetch exchange rates from somewhere on the internet (or offer a bad user experience), using HTTP which hurts user privacy.
• the vendor field is misleading, can be phished very easily, not as safe as a domain name.
• onion messages are an improvement over fake HTLC-based payments as a way of transmitting data, for sure. but we must decide if they are (i) suitable for transmitting all kinds of data over the internet, a replacement for tor; or (ii) not something that will scale well or on which we can count on for the future. if there was proper incentivization for data transmission it could end up being (i), the holy grail of p2p communication over the internet, but that is a very hard problem to solve and not guaranteed to yield the desired scalability results. since not even hints of attempting to solve that are being made, it's safer to conclude it is (ii).

bolt12 limitations

• not flexible enough. there are some interesting fields defined in the spec, but who gets to add more fields later if necessary? very unclear.
• services can't return any actionable data to the users who paid for something. it's unclear how business can be conducted without an extra communication channel.

bolt12 illusions

• recurring payments is not really solved, it is just a spec that defines intervals. the actual implementation must still be done by each wallet and service. the recurring payment cannot be enforced, the wallet must still initiate the payment. even if the wallet is evil and is willing to initiate a payment without the user knowing it still needs to have funds, channels, be online, connected etc., so it's not as if the services could rely on the payments being delivered in time.
• people seem to think it will enable pushing payments to mobile wallets, which it does not and cannot.
• there is a confusion of contexts: it looks like offers are superior to lnurl-pay, for example, because they don't require domain names. domain names, though, are common and well-established among internet services and stores, because these services have websites, so this is not really an issue. it is an issue, though, for people that want to receive payments in their homes. for these, indeed, bolt12 offers a superior solution -- but at the same time bolt12 seems to be selling itself as a tool for merchants and service providers when it includes and highlights features as recurring payments and refunds.
• the privacy gains for the receiver that are promoted as being part of bolt12 in fact come from a separate proposal, blinded paths, which should work for all normal lightning payments and indeed are a very nice solution. they are (or at least were, and should be) independent from the bolt12 proposal. a separate proposal, which can be (and already is being) used right now, also improves privacy for the receiver very much anway, it's called trampoline routing.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The Lightning Network solves the problem of the decentralized commit

Before reading this, see Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network can be thought as a system similar to Ripple: there are conditional IOUs (HTLCs) that are sent in "prepare"-like messages across a route, and a secret p that must travel from the final receiver backwards through the route until it reaches the initial sender and possession of that secret serves to prove the payment as well as to make the IOU hold true.

The difference is that if one of the parties don't send the "acknowledge" in time, the other has a trusted third-party with its own clock (that is the clock that is valid for everybody involved) to complain immediately at the timeout: the Bitcoin blockchain. If C has p and B isn't acknowleding it, C tells the Bitcoin blockchain and it will force the transfer of the amount from B to C.

Differences (or 1 upside and 3 downside)

1. The Lightning Network differs from a "pure" Ripple network in that when we send a "prepare" message on the Lightning Network, unlike on a pure Ripple network we're not just promising we will owe something -- instead we are putting the money on the table already for the other to get if we are not responsive.

2. The feature above removes the trust element from the equation. We can now have relationships with people we don't trust, as the Bitcoin blockchain will serve as an automated escrow for our conditional payments and no one will be harmed. Therefore it is much easier to build networks and route payments if you don't always require trust relationships.

3. However it introduces the cost of the capital. A ton of capital must be made available in channels and locked in HTLCs so payments can be routed. This leads to potential issues like the ones described in https://twitter.com/joostjgr/status/1308414364911841281.

4. Another issue that comes with the necessity of using the Bitcoin blockchain as an arbiter is that it may cost a lot in fees -- much more than the value of the payment that is being disputed -- to enforce it on the blockchain.[^closing-channels-for-nothing]

Solutions

Because the downsides listed above are so real and problematic -- and much more so when attacks from malicious peers are taken into account --, some have argued that the Lightning Network must rely on at least some trust between peers, which partly negate the benefit.

The introduction of purely trust-backend channels is the next step in the reasoning: if we are trusting already, why not make channels that don't touch the blockchain and don't require peers to commit large amounts of capital?

The reason is, again, the ambiguity that comes from the problem of the decentralized commit. Therefore hosted channels can be good when trust is required only from one side, like in the final hops of payments, but they cannot work in the middle of routes without eroding trust relationships between peers (however they can be useful if employed as channels between two nodes ran by the same person).

The next solution is a revamped pure Ripple network, one that solves the problem of the decentralized commit in a different way.

[^closing-channels-for-nothing]: That is even true when, for reasons of the payment being so small that it doesn't even deserve an actual HTLC that can be enforced on the chain (as per the protocol), even then the channel between the two nodes will be closed, only to make it very clear that there was a disagreement. Leaving it online would be harmful as one of the peers could repeat the attack again and again. This is a proof that ambiguity, in case of the pure Ripple network, is a very important issue.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Webvatar

Like Gravatar, but using profile images from websites tagged with "microformats-2" tags, like people from the indiewebcamp movement liked. It falled back to favicon, gravatar and procedural avatar generators.

No one really used this, despite people saying they liked it. Since I was desperate to getting some of my programs appreciated by someone I even bought a domain. It was sad, but an enriching experience.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/webvatar.com
• http://webvatar.com

See also

• jekmentions
• questo.email

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Eltoo

Read the paper, it's actually nice and small. You can read only everything up to section 4.2 and it will be enough. Done.

Ok, you don't want to. Or you tried but still want to read here.

Eltoo is a way of keeping payment channel state that works better than the original scheme used in Lightning. Since Lightning is a bunch of different protocols glued together, it can It replace just the part the previously dealed with keeping the payment channel.

Eltoo works like this: A and B want a payment channel, so they create a multisig transaction with deposits from both -- or from just one, doesn't matter. That transaction is only spendable if both cooperate. So if one of them is unresponsive or non-cooperative the other must have a way to get his funds back, so they also create an update transaction but don't publish it to the blockchain. That update transaction spends to a settlement transaction that then distributes the money back to A and B as their balances say.

If they are cooperative they can change the balances of the channel by just creating new update transactions and settlement transactions and number them like 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.

Solid arrows means a transaction is presigned to spend only that previous other transaction; dotted arrows mean it's a floating transaction that can spend any of the previous.

Why do they need and update and a settlement transaction?

Because if B publishes update2 (in which his balances were greater) A needs some time to publish update4 (the latest, which holds correct state of balances).

Each update transaction can be spent by any newer update transaction immediately or by its own specific settlement transaction only after some time -- or some blocks.

Hopefully you got that.

How do they close the channel?

If they're cooperative they can just agree to spend the funding transaction, that first multisig transaction I mentioned, to whatever destinations they want. If one party isn't cooperating the other can just publish the latest update transaction, wait a while, then publish its settlement transaction.

How is this better than the previous way of keeping channel states?

Eltoo is better because nodes only have to keep the last set of update and settlement transactions. Before they had to keep all intermediate state updates.

If it is so better why didn't they do it first?

Because they didn't have the idea. And also because they needed an update to the Bitcoin protocol that allowed the presigned update transactions to spend any of the previous update transactions. This protocol update is called SIGHASH_NOINPUT[^anyprevout], you've seen this name out there. By marking a transaction with SIGHASH_NOINPUT it enters a mystical state and becomes a floating transaction that can be bound to any other transaction as long as its unlocking script matches the locking script.

Why can't update2 bind itself to update4 and spend that?

Good question. It can. But then it can't anymore, because Eltoo uses OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY to ensure that doesn't actually check not a locktime, but a sequence. It's all arcane stuff.

And then Eltoo update transactions are numbered and their lock/unlock scripts will only match if a transaction is being spent by another one that's greater than it.

Do Eltoo channels expire?

No.

What is that "on-chain protocol" they talk about in the paper?

That's just an example to guide you through how the off-chain protocol works. Read carefully or don't read it at all. The off-chain mechanics is different from the on-chain mechanics. Repeating: the on-chain protocol is useless in the real world, it's just a didactic tool.

[^anyprevout]: Later SIGHASH_NOINPUT was modified to fit better with Taproot and Schnorr signatures and renamed to SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

idea: Hosted-channels Lightning wallet that runs in the browser

Communicates over HTTP with a server that is actually connected to the Lightning Network, but generates preimages and onions locally, doing everything like the Hosted Channels protocol says. Just the communication method changes.

Could use this library: https://www.npmjs.com/package/bolt04

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The problem with ION

ION is a DID method based on a thing called "Sidetree".

I can't say for sure what is the problem with ION, because I don't understand the design, even though I have read all I could and asked everybody I knew. All available information only touches on the high-level aspects of it (and of course its amazing wonders) and no one has ever bothered to explain the details. I've also asked the main designer of the protocol, Daniel Buchner, but he may have thought I was trolling him on Twitter and refused to answer, instead pointing me to an incomplete spec on the Decentralized Identity Foundation website that I had already read before. I even tried to join the DIF as a member so I could join their closed community calls and hear what they say, maybe eventually ask a question, so I could understand it, but my entrance was ignored, then after many months and a nudge from another member I was told I had to do a KYC process to be admitted, which I refused.

One thing I know is:

• ION is supposed to provide a way to rotate keys seamlessly and automatically without losing the main identity (and the ION proponents also claim there are no "master" keys because these can also be rotated).
• ION is also not a blockchain, i.e. it doesn't have a deterministic consensus mechanism and it is decentralized, i.e. anyone can publish data to it, doesn't have to be a single central server, there may be holes in the available data and the protocol doesn't treat that as a problem.
• From all we know about years of attempts to scale Bitcoins and develop offchain protocols it is clear that you can't solve the double-spend problem without a central authority or a kind of blockchain (i.e. a decentralized system with deterministic consensus).
• Rotating keys also suffer from the double-spend problem: whenever you rotate a key it is as if it was "spent", you aren't supposed to be able to use it again.

The logic conclusion of the 4 assumptions above is that ION is flawed: it can't provide the key rotation it says it can if it is not a blockchain.

See also

• Excerpt of discussion about DIDs and ION

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

doulas.club

A full catalog of all Brazilian doulas with data carefully scrapped from many websites that contained partial catalogs and some data manually included. All this packaged as a Couchapp and served directly from Cloudant.

This was done because the idea of doulas was good, but I spotted an issue: pregnant womwn should know many doulas before choosing one that would match well, therefore a full catalog with a lot of information was necessary.

This was a huge amount of work mostly wasted.

Many doulas who knew about this didn't like it and sent angry and offensive emails telling me to remove them. This was information one should know before choosing a doula.

See also

• About CouchDB

@ 7c765d40:bd121d84

The same thing happens every bitcoin halving.

The new supply of bitcoin is chopped in half.

The demand rises while the supply shrinks.

Bitcoin starts making a move.

But it takes a little longer than people expect.

So they get impatient.

They get bored.

They greedy.

The 150% return they've made this year isn't enough.

F 150% I want 250%!

Or they bought in at the "top" and want to see some action.

And when I say they - I am including myself in there.

Just like our friend Odell - who coined the phrase STAY HUMBLE, STACK SATS.

He says it as a reminder to others but mostly himself.

For some reason, it's very difficult to stay focused on bitcoin.

It should be so easy.

All you have to do is literally NOTHING.

Buy or earn the bitcoin and hold onto it.

That's it!

If only it were that simple.

Sometimes we need a little reminder.

We have to remember why we are here.

We have the potential to make real change in the world if we get this right.

Satoshi discovered the hardest money that has ever existed.

A peer-to-peer electronic cash.

That is fair - because anyone on earth with an internet connection can join the network.

That is honest - because the entire ledger of transactions can be seen by anyone, dating back to January 3, 2009 when the first bitcoin block was mined.

Bitcoin was designed to separate money from State.

And the State is showing up in January.

Some states are already here.

That’s the bad news.

The good news is that they cannot print bitcoin.

But they will be buying.

They aren't buying DOGE.

They aren't buying XRP.

Or Ethereum.

Ha ha ha ha Ethereum.

They are buying BITCOIN.

And there's only so much bitcoin available.

What happens when a steep upward demand curve meets a fixed supply?

Well, we have never seen it before in human history.

So instead of chasing the quick gains, try to stay focused on bitcoin.

Because the only reason you'd chase quick gains is if you weren't happy with yourself.

And if you're not happy with yourself now, you won't be happy with yourself with more money in the bank.

This is a long game.

Bitcoin doesn't care what timeline you're on.

You know where this is going.

Don't rush it.

Every single sat is more valuable than you could ever imagine.

Protect them.

Have some patience.

Stay focused.

Remember why we are here.

@ 41e6f20b:06049e45

Let me tell you a beautiful story. Last night, during the speakers' dinner at Monerotopia, the waitress was collecting tiny tips in Mexican pesos. I asked her, "Do you really want to earn tips seriously?" I then showed her how to set up a Cake Wallet, and she started collecting tips in Monero, reaching 0.9 XMR. Of course, she wanted to cash out to fiat immediately, but it solved a real problem for her: making more money. That amount was something she would never have earned in a single workday. We kept talking, and I promised to give her Zoom workshops. What can I say? I love people, and that's why I'm a natural orange-piller.

@ bcea2b98:7ccef3c9

Weekends are the perfect time to unwind, explore, or spend time doing what we love. How would you spend your ideal weekend? Would it be all about relaxation, or would you be out and about?

For me, an ideal weekend would start with a slow Saturday morning, a good book and coffee. Then I would spend the afternoon exploring local trails and looking for snacks. Then always a slow Sunday night hopefully.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/760492

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

You have no idea

I regularly read comments from people, on here, wondering how it's possible to marry -- or even simply be friends! -- with someone who doesn't agree with you on politics. I see this sentiment expressed quite often, usually in the context of Bitcoin, or whatever pig is currently being chased through the village, as they say around here.

It seems rather sensible, but I don't think it's as hard, as people make it out to be. Further, I think it's a dangerous precondition to set, for your interpersonal relationships, because the political field is constantly in flux. If you determine who you will love, by their opinions, do you stop loving them if their opinions change, or if the opinions they have become irrelevant and a new set of opinions are needed -- and their new ones don't match your new ones? We could see this happen to relationships en masse, during the Covid Era, and I think it happens every day, in a slow grind toward the disintegration of interpersonal discourse.

I suspect many people do stop loving, at that point, as they never really loved the other person for their own sake, they loved the other person because they thought the other person was exactly like they are. But no two people are alike, and the longer you are in a relationship with someone else, the more the initial giddiness wears off and the trials and tribulations add up, the more you notice how very different you actually are. This is the point, where best friends and romantic couples say, We just grew apart.

But you were always apart. You were always two different people. You just didn't notice, until now.

I've also always been surprised at how many same-party relationships disintegrate because of some disagreement over some particular detail of some particular topic, that they generally agree on. To me, it seems like an irrelevant side-topic, but they can't stand to be with this person... and they stomp off. So, I tend to think that it's less that opinions need to align to each other, but rather that opinions need to align in accordance with the level of interpersonal tolerance they can bring into the relationship.

I was raised by relaxed revolutionaries

Maybe I see things this way because my parents come from two diverging political, cultural, national, and ethnic backgrounds, and are prone to disagreeing about a lot of "important" (to people outside their marriage) things, but still have one of the healthiest, most-fruitful, and most long-running marriages of anyone I know, from that generation. My parents, you see, aren't united by their opinions. They're united by their relationship, which is something outside of opinions. Beyond opinions. Relationships are what turn two different people into one, cohesive unit, so that they slowly grow together. Eventually, even their faces merge, and their biological clocks tick to the same rhythm. They eventually become one entity that contains differing opinions about the same topics.

It's like magic, but it's the result of a mindset, not a worldview. Or, as I like to quip:

The best way to stay married, is to not get divorced.

My parents simply determined early on, that they would stay together, and whenever they would find that they disagreed on something that didn't directly pertain to their day-to-day existence with each other they would just agree-to-disagree about that, or roll their eyes, and move on. You do you. Live and let live.

My parents have some of the most strongly held personal opinions of any people I've ever met, but they're also incredibly tolerant and can get along with nearly anyone, so their friends are a confusing hodgepodge of people we liked and found interesting enough to keep around. Which makes their house parties really fun, and highly unusual, in this day and age of mutual-damnation across the aisle.

The things that did affect them, directly, like which school the children should attend or which country they should live in, etc. were things they'd sit down and discuss, and somehow one opinion would emerge, and they'd again... move on.

And that's how my husband and I also live our lives, and it's been working surprisingly well. No topics are off-limits to discussion (so long as you don't drone on for too long), nobody has to give up deeply held beliefs, or stop agitating for the political decisions they prefer.

You see, we didn't like that the other always had the same opinion. We liked that the other always held their opinions strongly. That they were passionate about their opinions. That they were willing to voice their opinions; sacrifice to promote their opinions. And that they didn't let anyone browbeat or cow them, for their opinions, not even their best friends or their spouse. But that they were open to listening to the other side, and trying to wrap their mind around the possibility that they might just be wrong about something.

We married each other because we knew: this person really cares, this person has thought this through, and they're in it, to win it. What "it" is, is mostly irrelevant, so long as it doesn't entail torturing small animals in the basement, or raising the children on a diet of Mountain Dew and porn, or something.

Live and let live. At least, it's never boring. At least, there's always something to ~~argue~~ talk about. At least, we never think... we've just grown apart.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

All memed out

It finally happened. I think it was October 25th, at circa 18:45 in the evening. I was doomscrolling my Nostr feed, and kept seeing the same Bitcoin memes repeated over and over, by different people. They weren't even reposts, they were copy-pasted versions of the same image. A very funny image. Well, it was very funny last year... and the year before that... and probably the year before that, when it appeared on a different network.

Because it's all just reposts, copy-pastes and rehashes of the Best of Bitcoin Twitter, just like the tiresome influencers, with their groupies and their Episode 498 of Let's all eat a large chunk of lightly-burnt dead animal and count our stacks before jetting off to talk about how to save the poors by getting them to buy individual satoshis with money they don't have.

I'm the poors your looking for

It's all so tiresome. It has little bearing on the real world I see around me, where most people are thinking all day about 99 problems and Bitcoin ain't one.

Which is, of course, what the Bitcoin influencers would have you believe, is the reason that they're poor. What in the world could be more important, than thinking about Bitcoin? Why do these people not get with the program? Don't they know, that we are trying to save them?

Why are they worrying about OtherProblems? Don't they know that all OtherProblems can be fixed with Bitcoin? Really, if you just go back far enough, in any current, situational problem, you will discover that there was some slight, negative shift to the history record that involved soft money. It's the financial version of the Butterfly Effect.

That's why #BitcoinFixesThis. Bitcoin fixes everything, if you just think about it, for long enough.

The same way that we all actually come out of Africa, supposedly, if you go back enough generations. So, coming out of Africa, now, as a Real Life Person in The Present is supposed to have no significance. What does someone from Cameroon know about Africa, that someone from Alaska doesn't? Both people come out of Africa, if you just think about it, for long enough.

And maybe that really is true. Maybe Bitcoin will eventually end all vice and crimes, save the planet, and we will all just hold hands and sing kumbaya all day, while waiting for the Singularity to upload us to Satoshi.

Bitcoin envelope budgeting

Or maybe it's not. Maybe it's just a really hard, digital money that incentivizes savings, functions as a reliable measure, and makes micropayments possible on a global scale. Those really are things that will help the poors, including myself. I can see it, already, when trying to organize pre-paid meetups or figure out what to do with our household's meager savings, when the stock market is looking particularly bubblicious.

But this is what I would consider Boring Bitcoin. Bitcoin home economics. Penny-pinching Bitcoin. Bitcoin for homemakers. How to use the Bitcoin envelope budgeting system to beat inflation by a margin of 13%.

The actual use of Bitcoin as money, rather than as a mere investment gamble or hype machine. That's the part of Bitcoin that nobody seems to really talk about because it's incredibly practical, dull, and useful, and it can only be tested by -- Oh, the horror! -- actually spending Bitcoin.

But... perhaps I will begin talking about it. Perhaps those of us, Bitcoiners, who are having fun staying poor, while stacking sats, should speak up a bit more. Perhaps the boring stuff is actually the interesting stuff. Perhaps there is more to say about Bitcoin, than can fit into a meme.

@ a9434ee1:d5c885be

This design system has two goals: 1. Being the basis for the development of a design-first, native Nostr app focused on exceptional zapping and chatting, relay-based communities and beauty 2. Serving as inspiration for builders that need coherent UI building blocks for their own apps with a different scope but overlapping needs (chats, threads, zaps, articles, highlights, events, wikis, ...)

Design System

Check it out here.
This is by no means finished and will be continually updated and completed as we go along.

Project description

Check it out here nostr:naddr1qvzqqqrcvgpzp22rfmsktmgpk2rtan7zwu00zuzax5maq5dnsu5g3xxvqr2u3pd7qyt8wumn8ghj7mnfv4kzumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejj7qq00fshqcmgv96z6urjda4x2cm5lrswda

This is a very first bullet-point-style draft to set the tone and is open to change, hence it being a wiki.

Explanatory videos

This list of videos will also be continually updated and completed as we go along:

1. Chat as the universal interface
   https://cdn.satellite.earth/43ccc6224a373dd22b7ae92edb70a0b9a3facabef27dff037de7f4fcf3ee7f37.mov

2. Your Nostr Dashboard
   https://cdn.satellite.earth/20fa9683dbf815c7deafa8a532c1d1e99cddbaac622fbf075b33b70fb0bdef22.mov

3. Keeping Tabs on all these Content types https://cdn.satellite.earth/a15ab05b55db1787349863f0f92c465dcde828b90c2cb61a92bd712a0012e9c6.mov

4. Design entered the Chat
   https://cdn.satellite.earth/7c25215262125562c847412c0d9a7d027e087028838204b6c447b5c07830979a.mov

5. Targeted publication & The blurry edges of interoperable communities
   https://cdn.satellite.earth/160c9431f53e7be108ad37f8d368e2af840690a8a936d1caaa68b468c9b1e0a9.mov

6. Travel Back
   https://cdn.satellite.earth/36d38027e6208e91c1fa27b0560f70fbad7d3e31c22d659c9a53a5c4cf90a876.mov

@ 75d12141:3458d1e2

Chef's notes

A childhood favorite of mine! Just don't go too crazy with the scallions as you don't want to overpower the pork flavor.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15
• 🍳 Cook time: 15-20 mins
• 🍽️ Servings: 3-5

Ingredients

• 1 pound of lean ground pork
• 1 tablespoon of diced scallions
• Ground black pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Lightly coat your palms with olive oil to prevent the meat from sticking to you and to assist in keeping its ball form
2. Mix the ground pork and diced scallions in a large bowl
3. Roll the pork into the preferred portion size until it feels like it won't fall apart
4. Cook in a skillet for 15-20 mins

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

(Please note that this is not official financial or business advice, but rather a description of something we have done, on an informal basis.)

A long, long time ago

It's been nearly a year, since nostr:nprofile1qydhwumn8ghj7argv4nx7un9wd6zumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcpypmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuetfde6kuer6wasku7nfvuh8xurpvdjj7qpqs3ht77dq4zqnya8vjun5jp3p44pr794ru36d0ltxu65chljw8xjqv5atj2 came into being, mostly as a lark, involving a couple of members of our private chat group. Our initial plan was to work toward bounties, but Nostr bounties are a bit of a biased, uncertain thing, and our enthusiasm for that quickly waned.

So, what to do? Here we are, we three (nostr:npub1ecdlntvjzexlyfale2egzvvncc8tgqsaxkl5hw7xlgjv2cxs705s9qs735, nostr:npub1wqfzz2p880wq0tumuae9lfwyhs8uz35xd0kr34zrvrwyh3kvrzuskcqsyn, and I): IT professionals with little time, but plenty of intellectual energy, a Slack chat, a GitHub repo, and lots of frustration with the Nostr status quo.

We were, you see, Nostr end-users. We loved the idea of the protocol, but we were being regularly stymied by the poor quality of many implementations.

• Why can I not login? Oh, they fixed the login! Nope, still can't login.
• If I press this button, it says it sent, but it didn't send. Where note?
• They announced a new feature, but I tried it and it didn't work. Oh well.
• I noticed a bug in the client, reported it, and the issue is just rotting away in the project repo. Ignored.
• The website/relay/repo was here... yesterday. Today it has disappeared, and taken my zaps with it.

It was enough to make us want to tear our hair out. We decided that what Nostr needed... what it really needed... was a Nostr Stable Version. Nothing glamorous. Nothing exotic. Nothing busy or excitable. Just something that stayed where you initially found it, ran, and actually worked. Something where you could report a bug and receive a prompt response. Maybe even something, where you could pay a reasonable fee and be allowed to have expectations of some particular service being returned. And who better to build such a version, than people who want to use it, themselves?

Things working is an underrated concept

I know that the very idea of software running as expected and websites not appearing and disappearing suddenly, based upon what some particular developer had for lunch, tends to be met with little but scorn, from hardened, seasoned Nostriches (who are convinced that bugs are all features), but I think the majority of potential users would see it differently.

I'm with the majority, on this one.

I like to click "save" buttons and have them save. If I publish something, I want it to appear under my list of published somethings. I like to type in the website address I always type in, and have it magically appear on my screen, as if there were a little man sitting at controls in my laptop, just waiting for me to write H-T-T-P-S... and then jump to attention.

My unreasonable expectations have no bounds, it is true. But unreasonable people are also people, so we would also like to have our own unreasonable things to play with. Scorn away. My save button will save, and my published something will publish, and my website will load every damn time, just to spite you.

In the larger scheme of things, you see, we win even if we fail, if we at least increase the competition enough, that things working becomes the new standard. We can simply prove, definitively, that it is possible for Nostr things to work, if they are built by people who care if they work. If we also have fun together, learn something new, and come up with some cool, novel use cases, then that's pure profit.

We can only win, at this endeavor.

Where to start?

Name that brand

So, we had a team, we had a business idea, and we had a heck of a lot of motivation. What we didn't have, is a name. (Never underestimate the importance of naming things.)

We decided to name ourselves "GitCitadel" because "git" sounds techy, hints at our GitRepublic project, and is reminiscent of open-source development, and "citadel" reminds us of Bitcoin. The republic is at home in the citadel, naturally. All other products also live in the same citadel, hence the naming-convention of prefacing everything with "GC" (i.e. "GC Alexandria", "GC Sybil", "GC Aedile", etc.).

Brand yourself

The next thing we did, was rent a domain and run a webserver on it. This is an important step because it gives you an Internet presence, allows you to have company NIP-05 and email addresses (a form of promotion), and it's simply exciting to have one. Feels so much more "official" and it helps increase the name-recognition of your company.

Define yourself

We then sat down, together, over the Internet, and figured out who we are. Not who we individually are, but who we are, as a company. A company, after all, (according to the Cambridge Dictionary) is "an organization that produces or sells goods or services in order to make a profit". Now, a company's profits don't have to be monetary, but they should be something tangible. A company, in other words, is a team of people working toward some defined goal.

What is our goal? Well, we decided to think it over, sat down with the newer additions to the company (you can see who they are, on our project wiki page, and came up with a Vision and a Mission:

The vision is what the overall goals of the company are, whereas the mission describes how those goals shall be achieved. Now, this is a sort of lofty, abstract statement, so it was important that we posted it someplace publicly (to keep ourselves accountable) and look at it regularly, so that we can ponder it and realign whatever we are currently working on, with this statement. We know the statement is well-designed, if considering it helps us make decisions about what to do next.

Pay yourselves

(I'm going to switch from "we" to "you", here, as it's easier to write this part, but let's just pretend I didn't.)

The next thing on the list, is to arrange the finances, usually by setting up a Geyserfund, with an associated wallet, and then deciding how the funds from the wallet will be dispersed or stored. (I won't tell you how we are handling that, as that's internal company business, but I'm sure you'll think of something clever, yourselves. Or just google it.)

I would encourage you to arrange to pay yourselves profits. Not merely because your idea is going to make you all fabulously wealthy and internationally famous (although, that is obviously true), but because profits are the most pure form of communication that consumers in the market have with its producers, and one of the best ways to make decisions and measure increases in efficiency (increasing profits and/or output, while keeping prices steady or falling).

Cutting off this signal, in order to look pious to outsiders, is to shoot yourself in your free-market foot. Nobody says that you have to spend your profits on the proverbial lambo and a bimbo. You could donate them to charity, reinvest them, or store them for your nephews to inherit, but pay them out, you should. You don't have to love money, to value it as a tool and use it shrewdly. Money is a measure, and companies should regularly measure themselves: against their previous state, against their potential state, and against their competition.

(Also, you can use money to buy a lambo and a bimbo, but you didn't hear that from me.)

Organize yourselves

Once you've been working together, for a while, you'll find that you need to figure out how to organize yourselves. The first step is to...

Form a board of directors.

Stop laughing. I'm serious.

Any company has at least two roles (President and Secretary), ideally held by two different people, so any single-proprietor company is a man down. Find a different person, to be your Second, even if they're just your confident, who lets you cry on your shoulder on The Bad Days, when your code refuses to compile, and can tell people that you've become a Bitcoin millionaire and have gone on a sabbatical to hike the Himalayas and will be back in 3 months on The Very Good Days. Because business man was not meant to be alone.

If, like us, you're a small herd of people and have already been working together for a while, then this step is actually really, really fun. Just think about what people are already doing, and put a label on it. That role is now defined and it is clear who is in charge of what.

Scientists become "Chief Science Officer" or "Scientific Advisor". The person who always writes the okay, so this is what we've decided comment in the thread becomes the Secretary, the one managing the Lightning wallet and worrying over paying for the servers is the CFO, the person running the remote server becomes the CTO, and so on and etc.

And everyone knows who the CEO is. Everyone always knows. They do. Just write it down.

Agree how to disagree

Now, have the secretary write up a Member's Agreement. It's a contract between the members, about whatever the group thinks is important concerning the way the company will operate. According to Investopedia, common topics are:

Is this legally binding? Probably not. Maybe. I don't know and wouldn't tell you, even if I did. But it's emotionally binding, which is arguably more important.

Writing things down is an advanced form of naming things and it provides clarity, helps to manage expectations, and allows you to define a working agreement before Real Money shows up and taints your interaction. You're just accepting tips, at the moment. Everyone is calm and cheerful, so now is your best time to negotiate.

Keep it very simple and only address the most basic things. If you wish to incorporate, at a later date, then you just take this to a registered agent, or other experienced person, and have them tidy up any loose ends and add the fine print.

Go forth, together

This has probably taken you weeks, or even months, but you're now a company. Get a logo and a company npub, start dropping the company name into your notes, and get on with the business of being in business.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Bitcoin transactions explained

A transaction is a piece of data that takes inputs and produces outputs. Forget about the blockchain thing, Bitcoin is actually just a big tree of transactions. The blockchain is just a way to keep transactions ordered.

Imagine you have 10 satoshis. That means you have them in an unspent transaction output (UTXO). You want to spend them, so you create a transaction. The transaction should reference unspent outputs as its inputs. Every transaction has an immutable id, so you use that id plus the index of the output (because transactions can have multiple outputs). Then you specify a script that unlocks that transaction and related signatures, then you specify outputs along with a script that locks these outputs.

As you can see, there's this lock/unlocking thing and there are inputs and outputs. Inputs must be unlocked by fulfilling the conditions specified by the person who created the transaction they're in. And outputs must be locked so anyone wanting to spend those outputs will need to unlock them.

For most of the cases locking and unlocking means specifying a public key whose controller (the person who has the corresponding private key) will be able to spend. Other fancy things are possible too, but we can ignore them for now.

Back to the 10 satoshis you want to spend. Since you've successfully referenced 10 satoshis and unlocked them, now you can specify the outputs (this is all done in a single step). You can specify one output of 10 satoshis, two of 5, one of 3 and one of 7, three of 3 and so on. The sum of outputs can't be more than 10. And if the sum of outputs is less than 10 the difference goes to fees. In the first days of Bitcoin you didn't need any fees, but now you do, otherwise your transaction won't be included in any block.

If you're still interested in transactions maybe you could take a look at this small chapter of that Andreas Antonopoulos book.

If you hate Andreas Antonopoulos because he is a communist shitcoiner or don't want to read more than half a page, go here: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Coin_analogy

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Bolo

It seems that from 1987 to around 2000 there was a big community of people who played this game called "Bolo". It was a game in which people controlled a tank and killed others while trying to capture bases in team matches. Always 2 teams, from 2 to 16 total players, games could last from 10 minutes to 12 hours. I'm still trying to understand all this.

The game looks silly from some videos you can find today, but apparently it was very deep in strategy because people developed strategy guides and wrote extensively about it and Netscape even supported bolo: URLs out of the box.

The two most important elements on the map are pillboxes and bases. Pillboxes are originally neutral, meaning that they shoot at every tank that happens to get in its range. They shoot fast and with deadly accuracy. You can shoot the pillbox with your tank, and you can see how damaged it is by looking at it. Once the pillbox is subdued, you may run over it, which will pick it up. You may place the pillbox where you want to put it (where it is clear), if you've enough trees to build it back up. Trees are harvested by sending your man outside your tank to forest the trees. Your man (also called a builder) can also lay mines, build roads, and build walls. Once you have placed a pillbox, it will not shoot at you, but only your enemies. Therefore, pillboxes are often used to protect your bases.

That quote was taken from this "augmented FAQ" written by some user. Apparently there were many FAQs for this game. A FAQ is after all just a simple, clear and direct to the point way of writing about anything, previously known as summa[^summa-k], it doesn't have to be related to any actually frequently asked question.

More unexpected Bolo writings include an etiquette guide, an anthropology study and some wonderings on the reverse pill war tactic.

[^summa-k]: It's not the same thing, but I couldn't help but notice the similarity.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

IPFS problems: Community

I was an avid IPFS user until yesterday. Many many times I asked simple questions for which I couldn't find an answer on the internet in the #ipfs IRC channel on Freenode. Most of the times I didn't get an answer, and even when I got it was rarely by someone who knew IPFS deeply. I've had issues go unanswered on js-ipfs repositories for year – one of these was raising awareness of a problem that then got fixed some months later by a complete rewrite, I closed my own issue after realizing that by myself some couple of months later, I don't think the people responsible for the rewrite were ever acknowledge that he had fixed my issue.

Some days ago I asked some questions about how the IPFS protocol worked internally, sincerely trying to understand the inefficiencies in finding and fetching content over IPFS. I pointed it would be a good idea to have a drawing showing that so people would understand the difficulties (which I didn't) and wouldn't be pissed off by the slowness. I was told to read the whitepaper. I had already the whitepaper, but read again the relevant parts. The whitepaper doesn't explain anything about the DHT and how IPFS finds content. I said that in the room, was told to read again.

Before anyone misread this section, I want to say I understand it's a pain to keep answering people on IRC if you're busy developing stuff of interplanetary importance, and that I'm not paying anyone nor I have the right to be answered. On the other hand, if you're developing a super-important protocol, financed by many millions of dollars and a lot of people are hitting their heads against your software and there's no one to help them; you're always busy but never delivers anything that brings joy to your users, something is very wrong. I sincerely don't know what IPFS developers are working on, I wouldn't doubt they're working on important things if they said that, but what I see – and what many other users see (take a look at the IPFS Discourse forum) is bugs, bugs all over the place, confusing UX, and almost no help.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Castas hindus em nova chave

Shudras buscam o máximo bem para os seus próprios corpos; vaishyas o máximo bem para a sua própria vida terrena e a da sua família; kshatriyas o máximo bem para a sociedade e este mundo terreno; brâmanes buscam o máximo bem.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Thoughts on Nostr key management

On Why I don't like NIP-26 as a solution for key management I talked about multiple techniques that could be used to tackle the problem of key management on Nostr.

Here are some ideas that work in tandem:

• NIP-41 (stateless key invalidation)
• NIP-46 (Nostr Connect)
• NIP-07 (signer browser extension)
• Connected hardware signing devices
• other things like musig or frostr keys used in conjunction with a semi-trusted server; or other kinds of trusted software, like a dedicated signer on a mobile device that can sign on behalf of other apps; or even a separate protocol that some people decide to use as the source of truth for their keys, and some clients might decide to use that automatically
• there are probably many other ideas

Some premises I have in my mind (that may be flawed) that base my thoughts on these matters (and cause me to not worry too much) are that

• For the vast majority of people, Nostr keys aren't a target as valuable as Bitcoin keys, so they will probably be ok even without any solution;
• Even when you lose everything, identity can be recovered -- slowly and painfully, but still --, unlike money;
• Nostr is not trying to replace all other forms of online communication (even though when I think about this I can't imagine one thing that wouldn't be nice to replace with Nostr) or of offline communication, so there will always be ways.
• For the vast majority of people, losing keys and starting fresh isn't a big deal. It is a big deal when you have followers and an online persona and your life depends on that, but how many people are like that? In the real world I see people deleting social media accounts all the time and creating new ones, people losing their phone numbers or other accounts associated with their phone numbers, and not caring very much -- they just find a way to notify friends and family and move on.

We can probably come up with some specs to ease the "manual" recovery process, like social attestation and explicit signaling -- i.e., Alice, Bob and Carol are friends; Alice loses her key; Bob sends a new Nostr event kind to the network saying what is Alice's new key; depending on how much Carol trusts Bob, she can automatically start following that and remove the old key -- or something like that.

---

One nice thing about some of these proposals, like NIP-41, or the social-recovery method, or the external-source-of-truth-method, is that they don't have to be implemented in any client, they can live in standalone single-purpose microapps that users open or visit only every now and then, and these can then automatically update their follow lists with the latest news from keys that have changed according to multiple methods.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

IPFS problems: Shitcoinery

IPFS was advertised to the Ethereum community since the beggining as a way to "store" data for their "dApps". I don't think this is harmful in any way, but for some reason it may have led IPFS developers to focus too much on Ethereum stuff. Once I watched a talk showing libp2p developers – despite being ignored by the Ethereum team (that ended up creating their own agnostic p2p library) – dedicating an enourmous amount of work on getting a libp2p app running in the browser talking to a normal Ethereum node.

The always somewhat-abandoned "Awesome IPFS" site is a big repository of "dApps", some of which don't even have their landing page up anymore, useless Ethereum smart contracts that for some reason use IPFS to store whatever the useless data their users produce.

Again, per se it isn't a problem that Ethereum people are using IPFS, but it is at least confusing, maybe misleading, that when you search for IPFS most of the use-cases are actually Ethereum useless-cases.

See also

• Bitcoin, the only non-shitcoin

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Economics

Just a bunch of somewhat-related notes.

• notes on "Economic Action Beyond the Extent of the Market", Per Bylund
• Mises' interest rate theory
• Profits, not wages, as the originary factor
• Reisman on opportunity cost
• Money Supply Measurement
• Per Bylund's insight
• Maybe a new approach to the Austrian Business Cycle Theory, some disorganized thoughts
• An argument according to which fractional-reserve banking is merely theft and nothing else
• Conjecture and criticism
• Qual é o economista? (piadas)
• UBI calculations
• Donations on the internet

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

nix

Pra instalar o neuron fui forçado a baixar e instalar o nix. Não consegui me lembrar por que não estava usando até hoje aquele maravilhoso sistema de instalar pacotes desde a primeira vez que tentei, anos atrás.

Que sofrimento pra fazer funcionar com o fish, mas até que bem menos sofrimento que da outra vez. Tive que instalar um tal de fish-foreign-environment (usando o próprio nix!, já que a outra opção era o oh-my-fish ou qualquer outra porcaria dessas) e aí usá-lo para aplicar as definições de shell para bash direto no fish.

E aí lembrei também que o /nix/store fica cheio demais, o negócio instala tudo que existe neste mundo a partir do zero. É só para computadores muito ricos, mas vamos ver como vai ser. Estou gostando do neuron (veja, estou usando como diário), então vou ter que deixar o nix aí.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

nostr - Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays

The simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global "social" network once and for all.

It doesn't rely on any trusted central server, hence it is resilient; it is based on cryptographic keys and signatures, so it is tamperproof; it does not rely on P2P techniques, therefore it works.

Very short summary of how it works, if you don't plan to read anything else:

Everybody runs a client. It can be a native client, a web client, etc. To publish something, you write a post, sign it with your key and send it to multiple relays (servers hosted by someone else, or yourself). To get updates from other people, you ask multiple relays if they know anything about these other people. Anyone can run a relay. A relay is very simple and dumb. It does nothing besides accepting posts from some people and forwarding to others. Relays don't have to be trusted. Signatures are verified on the client side.

This is needed because other solutions are broken:

The problem with Twitter

• Twitter has ads;
• Twitter uses bizarre techniques to keep you addicted;
• Twitter doesn't show an actual historical feed from people you follow;
• Twitter bans people;
• Twitter shadowbans people.
• Twitter has a lot of spam.

The problem with Mastodon and similar programs

• User identities are attached to domain names controlled by third-parties;
• Server owners can ban you, just like Twitter; Server owners can also block other servers;
• Migration between servers is an afterthought and can only be accomplished if servers cooperate. It doesn't work in an adversarial environment (all followers are lost);
• There are no clear incentives to run servers, therefore they tend to be run by enthusiasts and people who want to have their name attached to a cool domain. Then, users are subject to the despotism of a single person, which is often worse than that of a big company like Twitter, and they can't migrate out;
• Since servers tend to be run amateurishly, they are often abandoned after a while — which is effectively the same as banning everybody;
• It doesn't make sense to have a ton of servers if updates from every server will have to be painfully pushed (and saved!) to a ton of other servers. This point is exacerbated by the fact that servers tend to exist in huge numbers, therefore more data has to be passed to more places more often;
• For the specific example of video sharing, ActivityPub enthusiasts realized it would be completely impossible to transmit video from server to server the way text notes are, so they decided to keep the video hosted only from the single instance where it was posted to, which is similar to the Nostr approach.

The problem with SSB (Secure Scuttlebutt)

• It doesn't have many problems. I think it's great. In fact, I was going to use it as a basis for this, but
• its protocol is too complicated because it wasn't thought about being an open protocol at all. It was just written in JavaScript in probably a quick way to solve a specific problem and grew from that, therefore it has weird and unnecessary quirks like signing a JSON string which must strictly follow the rules of ECMA-262 6th Edition;
• It insists on having a chain of updates from a single user, which feels unnecessary to me and something that adds bloat and rigidity to the thing — each server/user needs to store all the chain of posts to be sure the new one is valid. Why? (Maybe they have a good reason);
• It is not as simple as Nostr, as it was primarily made for P2P syncing, with "pubs" being an afterthought;
• Still, it may be worth considering using SSB instead of this custom protocol and just adapting it to the client-relay server model, because reusing a standard is always better than trying to get people in a new one.

The problem with other solutions that require everybody to run their own server

• They require everybody to run their own server;
• Sometimes people can still be censored in these because domain names can be censored.

How does Nostr work?

• There are two components: clients and relays. Each user runs a client. Anyone can run a relay.
• Every user is identified by a public key. Every post is signed. Every client validates these signatures.
• Clients fetch data from relays of their choice and publish data to other relays of their choice. A relay doesn't talk to another relay, only directly to users.
• For example, to "follow" someone a user just instructs their client to query the relays it knows for posts from that public key.
• On startup, a client queries data from all relays it knows for all users it follows (for example, all updates from the last day), then displays that data to the user chronologically.
• A "post" can contain any kind of structured data, but the most used ones are going to find their way into the standard so all clients and relays can handle them seamlessly.

How does it solve the problems the networks above can't?

• Users getting banned and servers being closed
• A relay can block a user from publishing anything there, but that has no effect on them as they can still publish to other relays. Since users are identified by a public key, they don't lose their identities and their follower base when they get banned.
• Instead of requiring users to manually type new relay addresses (although this should also be supported), whenever someone you're following posts a server recommendation, the client should automatically add that to the list of relays it will query.
• If someone is using a relay to publish their data but wants to migrate to another one, they can publish a server recommendation to that previous relay and go;
• If someone gets banned from many relays such that they can't get their server recommendations broadcasted, they may still let some close friends know through other means with which relay they are publishing now. Then, these close friends can publish server recommendations to that new server, and slowly, the old follower base of the banned user will begin finding their posts again from the new relay.

• All of the above is valid too for when a relay ceases its operations.

• Censorship-resistance

• Each user can publish their updates to any number of relays.

• A relay can charge a fee (the negotiation of that fee is outside of the protocol for now) from users to publish there, which ensures censorship-resistance (there will always be some Russian server willing to take your money in exchange for serving your posts).

• Spam

• If spam is a concern for a relay, it can require payment for publication or some other form of authentication, such as an email address or phone, and associate these internally with a pubkey that then gets to publish to that relay — or other anti-spam techniques, like hashcash or captchas. If a relay is being used as a spam vector, it can easily be unlisted by clients, which can continue to fetch updates from other relays.

• Data storage

• For the network to stay healthy, there is no need for hundreds of active relays. In fact, it can work just fine with just a handful, given the fact that new relays can be created and spread through the network easily in case the existing relays start misbehaving. Therefore, the amount of data storage required, in general, is relatively less than Mastodon or similar software.

• Or considering a different outcome: one in which there exist hundreds of niche relays run by amateurs, each relaying updates from a small group of users. The architecture scales just as well: data is sent from users to a single server, and from that server directly to the users who will consume that. It doesn't have to be stored by anyone else. In this situation, it is not a big burden for any single server to process updates from others, and having amateur servers is not a problem.

• Video and other heavy content

• It's easy for a relay to reject large content, or to charge for accepting and hosting large content. When information and incentives are clear, it's easy for the market forces to solve the problem.

• Techniques to trick the user

• Each client can decide how to best show posts to users, so there is always the option of just consuming what you want in the manner you want — from using an AI to decide the order of the updates you'll see to just reading them in chronological order.

FAQ

• This is very simple. Why hasn't anyone done it before?

I don't know, but I imagine it has to do with the fact that people making social networks are either companies wanting to make money or P2P activists who want to make a thing completely without servers. They both fail to see the specific mix of both worlds that Nostr uses.

• How do I find people to follow?

First, you must know them and get their public key somehow, either by asking or by seeing it referenced somewhere. Once you're inside a Nostr social network you'll be able to see them interacting with other people and then you can also start following and interacting with these others.

• How do I find relays? What happens if I'm not connected to the same relays someone else is?

You won't be able to communicate with that person. But there are hints on events that can be used so that your client software (or you, manually) knows how to connect to the other person's relay and interact with them. There are other ideas on how to solve this too in the future but we can't ever promise perfect reachability, no protocol can.

• Can I know how many people are following me?

No, but you can get some estimates if relays cooperate in an extra-protocol way.

• What incentive is there for people to run relays?

The question is misleading. It assumes that relays are free dumb pipes that exist such that people can move data around through them. In this case yes, the incentives would not exist. This in fact could be said of DHT nodes in all other p2p network stacks: what incentive is there for people to run DHT nodes?

• Nostr enables you to move between server relays or use multiple relays but if these relays are just on AWS or Azure what’s the difference?

There are literally thousands of VPS providers scattered all around the globe today, there is not only AWS or Azure. AWS or Azure are exactly the providers used by single centralized service providers that need a lot of scale, and even then not just these two. For smaller relay servers any VPS will do the job very well.

@ a849beb6:b327e6d2

\ \ It was another historic week for both bitcoin and the Ten31 portfolio, as the world’s oldest, largest, most battle-tested cryptocurrency climbed to new all-time highs each day to close out the week just shy of the $100,000 mark. Along the way, bitcoin continued to accumulate institutional and regulatory wins, including the much-anticipated approval and launch of spot bitcoin ETF options and the appointment of several additional pro-bitcoin Presidential cabinet officials. The timing for this momentum was poetic, as this week marked the second anniversary of the pico-bottom of the 2022 bear market, a level that bitcoin has now hurdled to the tune of more than 6x despite the litany of bitcoin obituaries published at the time. The entirety of 2024 and especially the past month have further cemented our view that bitcoin is rapidly gaining a sense of legitimacy among institutions, fiduciaries, and governments, and we remain optimistic that this trend is set to accelerate even more into 2025.

Several Ten31 portfolio companies made exciting announcements this week that should serve to further entrench bitcoin’s institutional adoption. AnchorWatch, a first of its kind bitcoin insurance provider offering 1:1 coverage with its innovative use of bitcoin’s native properties, announced it has been designated a Lloyd’s of London Coverholder, giving the company unique, blue-chip status as it begins to write bitcoin insurance policies of up to $100 million per policy starting next month. Meanwhile, Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the launch of Battery’s pioneering private credit strategy which fuses bitcoin and conventional tangible assets in a dual-collateralized structure that offers a compelling risk/return profile to both lenders and borrowers. Both companies are clearing a path for substantially greater bitcoin adoption in massive, untapped pools of capital, and Ten31 is proud to have served as lead investor for AnchorWatch’s Seed round and as exclusive capital partner for Battery.

As the world’s largest investor focused entirely on bitcoin, Ten31 has deployed nearly $150 million across two funds into more than 30 of the most promising and innovative companies in the ecosystem like AnchorWatch and Battery, and we expect 2025 to be the best year yet for both bitcoin and our portfolio. Ten31 will hold a first close for its third fund at the end of this year, and investors in that close will benefit from attractive incentives and a strong initial portfolio. Visit ten31.vc/funds to learn more and get in touch to discuss participating.\ \ Portfolio Company Spotlight 

Primal is a first of its kind application for the Nostr protocol that combines a client, caching service, analytics tools, and more to address several unmet needs in the nascent Nostr ecosystem. Through the combination of its sleek client application and its caching service (built on a completely open source stack), Primal seeks to offer an end-user experience as smooth and easy as that of legacy social media platforms like Twitter and eventually many other applications, unlocking the vast potential of Nostr for the next billion people. Primal also offers an integrated wallet (powered by Strike BLACK) that substantially reduces onboarding and UX frictions for both Nostr and the lightning network while highlighting bitcoin’s unique power as internet-native, open-source money. 

Selected Portfolio News

AnchorWatch announced it has achieved Llody’s Coverholder status, allowing the company to provide unique 1:1 bitcoin insurance offerings starting in December.\ \ Battery Finance Founder and CEO Andrew Hohns appeared on CNBC to delve into the company’s unique bitcoin-backed private credit strategy.

Primal launched version 2.0, a landmark update that adds a feed marketplace, robust advanced search capabilities, premium-tier offerings, and many more new features.

Debifi launched its new iOS app for Apple users seeking non-custodial bitcoin-collateralized loans.

Media

Strike Founder and CEO Jack Mallers joined Bloomberg TV to discuss the strong volumes the company has seen over the past year and the potential for a US bitcoin strategic reserve. 

Primal Founder and CEO Miljan Braticevic joined The Bitcoin Podcast to discuss the rollout of Primal 2.0 and the future of Nostr. 

Ten31 Managing Partner Marty Bent appeared on BlazeTV to discuss recent changes in the regulatory environment for bitcoin. 

Zaprite published a customer testimonial video highlighting the popularity of its offerings across the bitcoin ecosystem. 

Market Updates

Continuing its recent momentum, bitcoin reached another new all-time high this week, clocking in just below $100,000 on Friday. Bitcoin has now reached a market cap of nearly $2 trillion, putting it within 3% of the market caps of Amazon and Google. 

After receiving SEC and CFTC approval over the past month, long-awaited options on spot bitcoin ETFs were fully approved and launched this week. These options should help further expand bitcoin’s institutional liquidity profile, with potentially significant implications for price action over time.

The new derivatives showed strong performance out of the gate, with volumes on options for BlackRock’s IBIT reaching nearly $2 billion on just the first day of trading despite surprisingly tight position limits for the vehicles. 

Meanwhile, the underlying spot bitcoin ETF complex had yet another banner week, pulling in $3.4 billion in net inflows. 

New reports suggested President-elect Donald Trump’s social media company is in advanced talks to acquire crypto trading platform Bakkt, potentially the latest indication of the incoming administration’s stance toward the broader “crypto” ecosystem. 

On the macro front, US housing starts declined M/M again in October on persistently high mortgage rates and weather impacts. The metric remains well below pre-COVID levels. 

Pockets of the US commercial real estate market remain challenged, as the CEO of large Florida developer Related indicated that developers need further rate cuts “badly” to maintain project viability. 

US Manufacturing PMI increased slightly M/M, but has now been in contraction territory (<50) for well over two years.

The latest iteration of the University of Michigan’s popular consumer sentiment survey ticked up following this month’s election results, though so did five-year inflation expectations, which now sit comfortably north of 3%. 

Regulatory Update

After weeks of speculation, the incoming Trump administration appointed hedge fund manager Scott Bessent to head up the US Treasury. Like many of Trump’s cabinet selections so far, Bessent has been a public advocate for bitcoin. 

Trump also appointed Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick – another outspoken bitcoin bull – as Secretary of the Commerce Department. 

Meanwhile, the Trump team is reportedly considering creating a new “crypto czar” role to sit within the administration. While it’s unclear at this point what that role would entail, one report indicated that the administration’s broader “crypto council” is expected to move forward with plans for a strategic bitcoin reserve.

Various government lawyers suggested this week that the Trump administration is likely to be less aggressive in seeking adversarial enforcement actions against bitcoin and “crypto” in general, as regulatory bodies appear poised to shift resources and focus elsewhere. 

Other updates from the regulatory apparatus were also directionally positive for bitcoin, most notably FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg’s confirmation that he plans to resign from his post at the end of President Biden’s term. 

Many critics have alleged Gruenberg was an architect of “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” which has created banking headwinds for bitcoin companies over the past several years, so a change of leadership at the department is likely yet another positive for the space.

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler also officially announced he plans to resign at the start of the new administration. Gensler has been the target of much ire from the broader “crypto” space, though we expect many projects outside bitcoin may continue to struggle with questions around the Howey Test.

Overseas, a Chinese court ruled that it is not illegal for individuals to hold cryptocurrency, even though the country is still ostensibly enforcing a ban on crypto transactions. 

Noteworthy

The incoming CEO of Charles Schwab – which administers over $9 trillion in client assets – suggested the platform is preparing to “get into” spot bitcoin offerings and that he “feels silly” for having waited this long. As this attitude becomes more common among traditional finance players, we continue to believe that the number of acquirers coming to market for bitcoin infrastructure capabilities will far outstrip the number of available high quality assets. 

BlackRock’s 2025 Thematic Outlook notes a “renewed sense of optimism” on bitcoin among the asset manager’s client base due to macro tailwinds and the improving regulatory environment. Elsewhere, BlackRock’s head of digital assets indicated the firm does not view bitcoin as a “risk-on” asset. 

MicroStrategy, which was a sub-$1 billion market cap company less than five years ago, briefly breached a $100 billion equity value this week as it continues to aggressively acquire bitcoin. The company now holds nearly 350,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet. 

Notably, Allianz SE, Germany’s largest insurer, spoke for 25% of MicroStrategy’s latest $3 billion convertible note offering this week, suggesting growing appetite for bitcoin proxy exposure among more restricted pools of capital. 

The ongoing meltdown of fintech middleware provider Synapse has left tens of thousands of customers with nearly 100% deposit haircuts as hundreds of millions in funds remain missing, the latest unfortunate case study in the fragility of much of the US’s legacy banking stack. 

Travel

• BitcoinMENA, Dec 9-10

• Nashville BitDevs, Dec 10

• Austin BitDevs, Dec 19

• Nashville Energy and Mining Summit, Jan 30

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

The motherhood illusion

Growing up, I was always told that women wanted children, whilst men wanted sex. So, marriage was created, to unite these two urges, and men and women don't otherwise particularly differ. But, it turns out, that women want protection and sex, and men want children and sex.

This is why women tend to be attracted to more masculine men (they're associated with protection) and men tend to be attracted to more feminine women (they're associated with motherhood). Women who are attracted to men, who aren't overtly masculine, are looking for a different aspect of protection (reliability, steady income or wealth, emotional security, etc.)

This wasn't readily apparent, in earlier generations, as widespread, youthful marriage meant that there weren't any real decisions being made by the participants. Almost all women got married and had kids, and almost all men got married and had sex. Math checks out. But the number of women who could protect and provide for themselves was low, and the men marrying were often very young and libidinous, and not yet contemplating their own legacy.

Feminism, easy abortion, deindustrialization, delayed marriage, and reliable contraception have dissolved this illusion, completely. Millions of Western women quickly turned into cougars, careerists, party girls, and e-girls, and an entire army of childless men and sidelined dads bubbled up and began to make their pain known. Humanity's dirty underbelly has been exposed.

Women aren't as sweet, as we thought, and men are much sweeter.

Women also want children, but not as intensely. In fact, they seem to often viscerally dislike children, and are jealous of the protection they are to give them. So, they are prone to offing their offspring because they are averse to having any in-house competition.

If you just left women up to their own devices and reduced the social pressure, at least a fifth of them wouldn't bother having children, at all, and another quarter will have one and then lose interest or age out. This is not a new phenomenon, as we can see.

The male competition for potential mothers turns out to be absolutely brutal, and more difficult than simply finding a woman to sleep with. And, now, we finally understand why men traditionally jumped through so many hoops, to attain a wife. It wasn't for the sex; we've always had brothels, masturbation, and pornography. It was for the familial comfort, and, especially, for the children.

Good fathers make good mothers

Some women don't know if they are "potential mothers", until they meet a "potential father", and their urge to procreate suddenly kicks in. They didn't want children for their own sake, but now they want some for his sake. All of a sudden, they're imagining themselves rocking the cradle, googling "what to eat, when you're expecting", and find themselves gushing over anything that gives off Hint of Infant.

I'm pregnant! Look what I can do! Look what I can do! For you, darling.

Women married to men they are deeply in love with, are much more likely to desire to become mothers (and be devastated by infertility), and make for better mothers, because children are like individualized presents they can give to their husband.

They want to impress him. Most want to be decent parents in their own right, but the urge to impress seems to raise this to a much higher level because women are vain, and therefore focused on raising their own status and how they appear to others. And the greatest "other", of a happy wife, is her husband.

Because men are narcissistic, and therefore in love with anything associated with themselves (which underpins their obsession with owning property), men have an intense attachment to their children. What is more "yours", than your progeny?

Fathers seem to develop a special attachment to, or fondness for, the mothers of their children, that goes beyond lust or romantic love; they never forgot who gave them this new Mini Me. And they are often quite impressed by their own ability to perform this trick numerous times, which leads to the intense satisfaction they feel at "going into serial production" and churning out more of those Mini Mes until their adoring wife pleads for mercy.

Men want children. Women, who love a man, want to give him those children and gain the fidelity that comes along with those children. This is the actual "trade" underpinning the urge to marry.

@ 5e5fc143:393d5a2c

Now test old reliable front end Stay tuned more later Keeping this as template long note for debugging in future as come across few NIP-33 post edit issues

@ af9c48b7:a3f7aaf4

Chef's notes

This simple, easy, no bake desert will surely be the it at you next family gathering. You can keep it a secret or share it with the crowd that this is a healthy alternative to normal pie. I think everyone will be amazed at how good it really is.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30
• 🍳 Cook time: 0
• 🍽️ Servings: 8

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup of Heavy Cream- 0g sugar, 5.5g carbohydrates
• 3/4 cup of Half and Half- 6g sugar, 3g carbohydrates
• 4oz Sugar Free Cool Whip (1/2 small container) - 0g sugar, 37.5g carbohydrates
• 1.5oz box (small box) of Sugar Free Instant Chocolate Pudding- 0g sugar, 32g carbohydrates
• 1 Pecan Pie Crust- 24g sugar, 72g carbohydrates

Directions

1. The total pie has 30g of sugar and 149.50g of carboydrates. So if you cut the pie into 8 equal slices, that would come to 3.75g of sugar and 18.69g carbohydrates per slice. If you decided to not eat the crust, your sugar intake would be .75 gram per slice and the carborytrates would be 9.69g per slice. Based on your objective, you could use only heavy whipping cream and no half and half to further reduce your sugar intake.
2. Mix all wet ingredients and the instant pudding until thoroughly mixed and a consistent color has been achieved. The heavy whipping cream causes the mixture to thicken the more you mix it. So, I’d recommend using an electric mixer. Once you are satisfied with the color, start mixing in the whipping cream until it has a consistent “chocolate” color thorough. Once your satisfied with the color, spoon the mixture into the pie crust, smooth the top to your liking, and then refrigerate for one hour before serving.

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Tutorial feito por nostr:nostr:npub1rc56x0ek0dd303eph523g3chm0wmrs5wdk6vs0ehd0m5fn8t7y4sqra3tk poste original abaixo:

Parte 1 : http://xh6liiypqffzwnu5734ucwps37tn2g6npthvugz3gdoqpikujju525yd.onion/263585/tutorial-debloat-de-celulares-android-via-adb-parte-1

Parte 2 : http://xh6liiypqffzwnu5734ucwps37tn2g6npthvugz3gdoqpikujju525yd.onion/index.php/263586/tutorial-debloat-de-celulares-android-via-adb-parte-2

Quando o assunto é privacidade em celulares, uma das medidas comumente mencionadas é a remoção de bloatwares do dispositivo, também chamado de debloat. O meio mais eficiente para isso sem dúvidas é a troca de sistema operacional. Custom Rom’s como LineageOS, GrapheneOS, Iodé, CalyxOS, etc, já são bastante enxutos nesse quesito, principalmente quanto não é instalado os G-Apps com o sistema. No entanto, essa prática pode acabar resultando em problemas indesejados como a perca de funções do dispositivo, e até mesmo incompatibilidade com apps bancários, tornando este método mais atrativo para quem possui mais de um dispositivo e separando um apenas para privacidade.   Pensando nisso, pessoas que possuem apenas um único dispositivo móvel, que são necessitadas desses apps ou funções, mas, ao mesmo tempo, tem essa visão em prol da privacidade, buscam por um meio-termo entre manter a Stock rom, e não ter seus dados coletados por esses bloatwares. Felizmente, a remoção de bloatwares é possível e pode ser realizada via root, ou mais da maneira que este artigo irá tratar, via adb.

O que são bloatwares?

Bloatware é a junção das palavras bloat (inchar) + software (programa), ou seja, um bloatware é basicamente um programa inútil ou facilmente substituível — colocado em seu dispositivo previamente pela fabricante e operadora — que está no seu dispositivo apenas ocupando espaço de armazenamento, consumindo memória RAM e pior, coletando seus dados e enviando para servidores externos, além de serem mais pontos de vulnerabilidades.

O que é o adb?

O Android Debug Brigde, ou apenas adb, é uma ferramenta que se utiliza das permissões de usuário shell e permite o envio de comandos vindo de um computador para um dispositivo Android exigindo apenas que a depuração USB esteja ativa, mas também pode ser usada diretamente no celular a partir do Android 11, com o uso do Termux e a depuração sem fio (ou depuração wifi). A ferramenta funciona normalmente em dispositivos sem root, e também funciona caso o celular esteja em Recovery Mode.

Requisitos:

Para computadores:

• Depuração USB ativa no celular; • Computador com adb; • Cabo USB;

Para celulares:

• Depuração sem fio (ou depuração wifi) ativa no celular; • Termux; • Android 11 ou superior;

Para ambos:

• Firewall NetGuard instalado e configurado no celular; • Lista de bloatwares para seu dispositivo;

Ativação de depuração:

Para ativar a Depuração USB em seu dispositivo, pesquise como ativar as opções de desenvolvedor de seu dispositivo, e lá ative a depuração. No caso da depuração sem fio, sua ativação irá ser necessária apenas no momento que for conectar o dispositivo ao Termux.

Instalação e configuração do NetGuard

O NetGuard pode ser instalado através da própria Google Play Store, mas de preferência instale pela F-Droid ou Github para evitar telemetria.

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/eu.faircode.netguard/

Github: https://github.com/M66B/NetGuard/releases

Após instalado, configure da seguinte maneira:

Configurações → padrões (lista branca/negra) → ative as 3 primeiras opções (bloquear wifi, bloquear dados móveis e aplicar regras ‘quando tela estiver ligada’);

Configurações → opções avançadas → ative as duas primeiras (administrar aplicativos do sistema e registrar acesso a internet);

Com isso, todos os apps estarão sendo bloqueados de acessar a internet, seja por wifi ou dados móveis, e na página principal do app basta permitir o acesso a rede para os apps que você vai usar (se necessário). Permita que o app rode em segundo plano sem restrição da otimização de bateria, assim quando o celular ligar, ele já estará ativo.

Lista de bloatwares

Nem todos os bloatwares são genéricos, haverá bloatwares diferentes conforme a marca, modelo, versão do Android, e até mesmo região.

Para obter uma lista de bloatwares de seu dispositivo, caso seu aparelho já possua um tempo de existência, você encontrará listas prontas facilmente apenas pesquisando por elas. Supondo que temos um Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus em mãos, basta pesquisar em seu motor de busca por:

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus bloatware list

Provavelmente essas listas já terão inclusas todos os bloatwares das mais diversas regiões, lhe poupando o trabalho de buscar por alguma lista mais específica.

Caso seu aparelho seja muito recente, e/ou não encontre uma lista pronta de bloatwares, devo dizer que você acaba de pegar em merda, pois é chato para um caralho pesquisar por cada aplicação para saber sua função, se é essencial para o sistema ou se é facilmente substituível.

De antemão já aviso, que mais para frente, caso vossa gostosura remova um desses aplicativos que era essencial para o sistema sem saber, vai acabar resultando na perda de alguma função importante, ou pior, ao reiniciar o aparelho o sistema pode estar quebrado, lhe obrigando a seguir com uma formatação, e repetir todo o processo novamente.

Download do adb em computadores

Para usar a ferramenta do adb em computadores, basta baixar o pacote chamado SDK platform-tools, disponível através deste link: https://developer.android.com/tools/releases/platform-tools. Por ele, você consegue o download para Windows, Mac e Linux.

Uma vez baixado, basta extrair o arquivo zipado, contendo dentro dele uma pasta chamada platform-tools que basta ser aberta no terminal para se usar o adb.

Download do adb em celulares com Termux.

Para usar a ferramenta do adb diretamente no celular, antes temos que baixar o app Termux, que é um emulador de terminal linux, e já possui o adb em seu repositório. Você encontra o app na Google Play Store, mas novamente recomendo baixar pela F-Droid ou diretamente no Github do projeto.

F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/en/packages/com.termux/

Github: https://github.com/termux/termux-app/releases

Processo de debloat

Antes de iniciarmos, é importante deixar claro que não é para você sair removendo todos os bloatwares de cara sem mais nem menos, afinal alguns deles precisam antes ser substituídos, podem ser essenciais para você para alguma atividade ou função, ou até mesmo são insubstituíveis.

Alguns exemplos de bloatwares que a substituição é necessária antes da remoção, é o Launcher, afinal, é a interface gráfica do sistema, e o teclado, que sem ele só é possível digitar com teclado externo. O Launcher e teclado podem ser substituídos por quaisquer outros, minha recomendação pessoal é por aqueles que respeitam sua privacidade, como Pie Launcher e Simple Laucher, enquanto o teclado pelo OpenBoard e FlorisBoard, todos open-source e disponíveis da F-Droid.

Identifique entre a lista de bloatwares, quais você gosta, precisa ou prefere não substituir, de maneira alguma você é obrigado a remover todos os bloatwares possíveis, modifique seu sistema a seu bel-prazer. O NetGuard lista todos os apps do celular com o nome do pacote, com isso você pode filtrar bem qual deles não remover.

Um exemplo claro de bloatware insubstituível e, portanto, não pode ser removido, é o com.android.mtp, um protocolo onde sua função é auxiliar a comunicação do dispositivo com um computador via USB, mas por algum motivo, tem acesso a rede e se comunica frequentemente com servidores externos. Para esses casos, e melhor solução mesmo é bloquear o acesso a rede desses bloatwares com o NetGuard.

MTP tentando comunicação com servidores externos:

Executando o adb shell

No computador

Faça backup de todos os seus arquivos importantes para algum armazenamento externo, e formate seu celular com o hard reset. Após a formatação, e a ativação da depuração USB, conecte seu aparelho e o pc com o auxílio de um cabo USB. Muito provavelmente seu dispositivo irá apenas começar a carregar, por isso permita a transferência de dados, para que o computador consiga se comunicar normalmente com o celular.

Já no pc, abra a pasta platform-tools dentro do terminal, e execute o seguinte comando:

./adb start-server

O resultado deve ser:

daemon not running; starting now at tcp:5037 daemon started successfully

E caso não apareça nada, execute:

./adb kill-server

E inicie novamente.

Com o adb conectado ao celular, execute:

./adb shell

Para poder executar comandos diretamente para o dispositivo. No meu caso, meu celular é um Redmi Note 8 Pro, codinome Begonia.

Logo o resultado deve ser:

begonia:/ $

Caso ocorra algum erro do tipo:

adb: device unauthorized. This adb server’s $ADB_VENDOR_KEYS is not set Try ‘adb kill-server’ if that seems wrong. Otherwise check for a confirmation dialog on your device.

Verifique no celular se apareceu alguma confirmação para autorizar a depuração USB, caso sim, autorize e tente novamente. Caso não apareça nada, execute o kill-server e repita o processo.

No celular

Após realizar o mesmo processo de backup e hard reset citado anteriormente, instale o Termux e, com ele iniciado, execute o comando:

pkg install android-tools

Quando surgir a mensagem “Do you want to continue? [Y/n]”, basta dar enter novamente que já aceita e finaliza a instalação

Agora, vá até as opções de desenvolvedor, e ative a depuração sem fio. Dentro das opções da depuração sem fio, terá uma opção de emparelhamento do dispositivo com um código, que irá informar para você um código em emparelhamento, com um endereço IP e porta, que será usado para a conexão com o Termux.

Para facilitar o processo, recomendo que abra tanto as configurações quanto o Termux ao mesmo tempo, e divida a tela com os dois app’s, como da maneira a seguir:

Para parear o Termux com o dispositivo, não é necessário digitar o ip informado, basta trocar por “localhost”, já a porta e o código de emparelhamento, deve ser digitado exatamente como informado. Execute:

adb pair localhost:porta CódigoDeEmparelhamento

De acordo com a imagem mostrada anteriormente, o comando ficaria “adb pair localhost:41255 757495”.

Com o dispositivo emparelhado com o Termux, agora basta conectar para conseguir executar os comandos, para isso execute:

adb connect localhost:porta

Obs: a porta que você deve informar neste comando não é a mesma informada com o código de emparelhamento, e sim a informada na tela principal da depuração sem fio.

Pronto! Termux e adb conectado com sucesso ao dispositivo, agora basta executar normalmente o adb shell:

adb shell

Remoção na prática Com o adb shell executado, você está pronto para remover os bloatwares. No meu caso, irei mostrar apenas a remoção de um app (Google Maps), já que o comando é o mesmo para qualquer outro, mudando apenas o nome do pacote.

Dentro do NetGuard, verificando as informações do Google Maps:

Podemos ver que mesmo fora de uso, e com a localização do dispositivo desativado, o app está tentando loucamente se comunicar com servidores externos, e informar sabe-se lá que peste. Mas sem novidades até aqui, o mais importante é que podemos ver que o nome do pacote do Google Maps é com.google.android.apps.maps, e para o remover do celular, basta executar:

pm uninstall –user 0 com.google.android.apps.maps

E pronto, bloatware removido! Agora basta repetir o processo para o resto dos bloatwares, trocando apenas o nome do pacote.

Para acelerar o processo, você pode já criar uma lista do bloco de notas com os comandos, e quando colar no terminal, irá executar um atrás do outro.

Exemplo de lista:

Caso a donzela tenha removido alguma coisa sem querer, também é possível recuperar o pacote com o comando:

cmd package install-existing nome.do.pacote

Pós-debloat

Após limpar o máximo possível o seu sistema, reinicie o aparelho, caso entre no como recovery e não seja possível dar reboot, significa que você removeu algum app “essencial” para o sistema, e terá que formatar o aparelho e repetir toda a remoção novamente, desta vez removendo poucos bloatwares de uma vez, e reiniciando o aparelho até descobrir qual deles não pode ser removido. Sim, dá trabalho… quem mandou querer privacidade?

Caso o aparelho reinicie normalmente após a remoção, parabéns, agora basta usar seu celular como bem entender! Mantenha o NetGuard sempre executando e os bloatwares que não foram possíveis remover não irão se comunicar com servidores externos, passe a usar apps open source da F-Droid e instale outros apps através da Aurora Store ao invés da Google Play Store.

Referências: Caso você seja um Australopithecus e tenha achado este guia difícil, eis uma videoaula (3:14:40) do Anderson do canal Ciberdef, realizando todo o processo: http://odysee.com/@zai:5/Como-remover-at%C3%A9-200-APLICATIVOS-que-colocam-a-sua-PRIVACIDADE-E-SEGURAN%C3%87A-em-risco.:4?lid=6d50f40314eee7e2f218536d9e5d300290931d23

Pdf’s do Anderson citados na videoaula: créditos ao anon6837264 http://eternalcbrzpicytj4zyguygpmkjlkddxob7tptlr25cdipe5svyqoqd.onion/file/3863a834d29285d397b73a4af6fb1bbe67c888d72d30/t-05e63192d02ffd.pdf

Processo de instalação do Termux e adb no celular: https://youtu.be/APolZrPHSms

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Tutorial feito por Grom mestre⚡poste original abaixo:

http://xh6liiypqffzwnu5734ucwps37tn2g6npthvugz3gdoqpikujju525yd.onion/240277/tutorial-criando-e-acessando-sua-conta-de-email-pela-i2p?show=240277#q240277

Bom dia/tarde/noite a todos os camaradas. Seguindo a nossa série de tutoriais referentes a tecnologias essenciais para a segurança e o anonimato dos usuários, sendo as primeiras a openPGP e a I2P, lhes apresento mais uma opção para expandir os seus conhecimentos da DW. Muitos devem conhecer os serviços de mail na onion como DNMX e mail2tor, mas e que tal um serviço de email pela I2P. Nesse tutorial eu vou mostrar a vocês como criar a sua primeira conta no hq.postman.i2p e a acessar essa conta.

É importante que vocês tenham lido a minha primeira série de tutoriais a respeito de como instalar, configurar e navegar pela I2P nostr:nevent1qqsyjcz2w0e6d6dcdeprhuuarw4aqkw730y542dzlwxwssneq3mwpaspz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygzt4r5x6tvh39kujvmu8egqdyvf84e3w4e0mq0ckswamfwcn5eduspsgqqqqqqsyp5vcq Esse tutorial é um pré-requisito para o seguinte e portanto recomendo que leia-os antes de prosseguir com o seguinte tutorial. O tutorial de Kleopatra nostr:nevent1qqs8h7vsn5j6qh35949sa60dms4fneussmv9jd76n24lsmtz24k0xlqzyp9636rd9ktcjmwfxd7ru5qxjxyn6uch2uhas8utg8wa5hvf6vk7gqcyqqqqqqgecq8f7 é complementar dado que é extremamente recomendado assinar e criptografar as mensagens que seguem por emails pela DW. Sem mais delongas, vamos ao tutorial de fato.

1. Criando uma conta de email no hq.postman

Relembrando: Esse tutorial considera que você já tenha acesso à I2P. Entre no seu navegador e acesse o endereço hq.postman.i2p. O roteador provavelmente já contém esse endereço no seu addressbook e não haverá a necessidade de inserir o endereço b32 completo. Após entrar no site vá para a página '1 - Creating a mailbox' https://image.nostr.build/d850379fe315d2abab71430949b06d3fa49366d91df4c9b00a4a8367d53fcca3.jpg

Nessa página, insira as credenciais de sua preferências nos campos do formulário abaixo. Lembre-se que o seu endereço de email aceita apenas letras e números. Clique em 'Proceed' depois que preencher todos os campos. https://image.nostr.build/670dfda7264db393e48391f217e60a2eb87d85c2729360c8ef6fe0cf52508ab4.jpg

Uma página vai aparecer pedindo para confirmar as credenciais da sua nova conta. Se tudo estiver certo apenas clique em 'Confirm and Create Mailbox'. Se tudo ocorrer como conforme haverá uma confirmação de que a sua nova conta foi criada com sucesso. Após isso aguarde por volta de 5 minutos antes de tentar acessá-la, para que haja tempo suficiente para o servidor atualizar o banco de dados. https://image.nostr.build/ec58fb826bffa60791fedfd9c89a25d592ac3d11645b270c936c60a7c59c067f.jpg https://image.nostr.build/a2b7710d1e3cbb36431acb9055fd62937986b4da4b1a1bbb06d3f3cb1f544fd3.jpg

Pronto! Sua nova conta de email na I2P foi criada. Agora vamos para a próxima etapa: como acessar a sua conta via um cliente de email.

2. Configurando os túneis cliente de SMTP e POP3

O hq.postman não possui um cliente web que nos permite acessar a nossa conta pelo navegador. Para isso precisamos usar um cliente como Thunderbird e configurar os túneis cliente no I2Pd que serão necessários para o Thunderbird se comunicar com o servidor pela I2P.

Caso não tenha instalado o Thunderbird ainda, faça-o agora antes de prosseguir.

Vamos configurar os túneis cliente do servidor de email no nosso roteador. Para isso abra um terminal ou o seu gestor de arquivos e vá para a pasta de configuração de túneis do I2P. Em Linux esse diretório se localiza em /etc/i2pd/tunnels.d. Em Windows, essa pasta se localiza em C:\users\user\APPDATA\i2pd. Na pasta tunnels.d crie dois arquivos: smtp.postman.conf e pop-postman.conf. Lembre-se que em Linux você precisa de permissões de root para escrever na pasta de configuração. Use o comando sudoedit para isso.

Edite-os conforme as imagens a seguir:

Arquivo pop-postman.conf https://image.nostr.build/7e03505c8bc3b632ca5db1f8eaefc6cecb4743cd2096d211dd90bbdc16fe2593.jpg

Arquivo smtp-postman.conf https://image.nostr.build/2d06c021841dedd6000c9fc2a641ed519b3be3c6125000b188842cd0a5af3d16.jpg

Salve os arquivos e reinicie o serviço do I2Pd. Em Linux isso é feito pelo comando: sudo systemctl restart i2pd Entre no Webconsole do I2Pd pelo navegador (localhost:7070) e na seção I2P Tunnels, verifique se os túneis pop-postman e smtp-postman foram criados, caso contrário verifique se há algum erro nos arquivos e reinicie o serviço.

Com os túneis cliente criados, vamos agora configurar o Thunderbird

3. Configurando o Thunderbird para acessar a nossa conta

Abra o Thunderbird e clique em criar uma nova conta de email. Se você não tiver nenhum conta previamente presente nele você vai ser diretamente recebido pela janela de criação de conta a seguir. https://image.nostr.build/e9509d7bd30623716ef9adcad76c1d465f5bc3d5840e0c35fe4faa85740f41b4.jpg https://image.nostr.build/688b59b8352a17389902ec1e99d7484e310d7d287491b34f562b8cdd9dbe8a99.jpg

Coloque as suas credenciais, mas não clique ainda em Continuar. Clique antes em Configure Manually, já que precisamos configurar manualmente os servidores de SMTP e POP3 para, respectivamente, enviar e receber mensagens.

Preencha os campos como na imagem a seguir. Detalhe: Não coloque o seu endereço completo com o @mail.i2p, apenas o nome da sua conta. https://image.nostr.build/4610b0315c0a3b741965d3d7c1e4aff6425a167297e323ba8490f4325f40cdcc.jpg

Clique em Re-test para verificar a integridade da conexão. Se tudo estiver certo uma mensagem irá aparecer avisando que as configurações do servidores estão corretas. Clique em Done assim que estiver pronto para prosseguir. https://image.nostr.build/8a47bb292f94b0d9d474d4d4a134f8d73afb84ecf1d4c0a7eb6366d46bf3973a.jpg

A seguinte mensagem vai aparecer alertando que não estamos usando criptografia no envio das credenciais. Não há problema nenhum aqui, pois a I2P está garantindo toda a proteção e anonimato dos nossos dados, o que dispensa a necessidade de uso de TLS ou qualquer tecnologia similar nas camadas acima. Marque a opção 'I Understand the risks' e clique em 'Continue' https://image.nostr.build/9c1bf585248773297d2cb1d9705c1be3bd815e2be85d4342227f1db2f13a9cc6.jpg

E por fim, se tudo ocorreu como devido sua conta será criada com sucesso e você agora será capaz de enviar e receber emails pela I2P usando essa conta. https://image.nostr.build/8ba7f2c160453c9bfa172fa9a30b642a7ee9ae3eeb9b78b4dc24ce25aa2c7ecc.jpg

4. Observações e considerações finais

Como informado pelo próprio site do hq.postman, o domínio @mail.i2p serve apenas para emails enviados dentro da I2P. Emails enviados pela surface devem usar o domínio @i2pmai.org. É imprescindível que você saiba usar o PGP para assinar e criptografar as suas mensagens, dado que provavelmente as mensagens não são armazenadas de forma criptografada enquanto elas estão armazenadas no servidor. Como o protocolo POP3 delete as mensagens no imediato momento em que você as recebe, não há necessidade de fazer qualquer limpeza na sua conta de forma manual.

Por fim, espero que esse tutorial tenha sido útil para vocês. Que seu conhecimento tenha expandido ainda mais com as informações trazidas aqui. Até a próxima.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

kind:1 maximalism and the future of other stuff and Nostr decentralization

These two problems exist on Nostr today, and they look unrelated at first:

1. People adding more stuff to kind:1 notes, such as making them editable, or adding special corky syntax thas has to be parsed and rendered in complicated UIs;
2. The discovery of "other stuff" content (i.e. long-form articles, podcasts, calendar events, livestreams etc) is hard due to the fact that most people only use microblogging clients and they often don't appear there for them.

Point 2 above has 3 different solutions:

• a. Just publish everything as kind:1 notes;
• b. Publish different things as different kinds, but make microblogging clients fetch all the event kinds from people you follow, then render them natively or use NIP-31, or NIP-89 to point users to other clients that would render them better;
• c. Publish different things as different kinds, and reference them in kind:1 notes that would act as announcements to these other events, also relying on NIP-31 and NIP-89 for displaying references and recommending other clients.

Solution a is obviously very bad, so I won't address it.

For a while I have believed solution b was the correct one, and many others seem to tacitly agree with it, given that some clients have been fetching more and more event kinds and going out of their way to render them in the same feed where only kind:1 notes were originally expected to be.

I don't think clients doing that is necessarily bad, but I do think this have some centralizing effects on the protocol, as it pushes clients to become bigger and bigger, raising the barrier to entry into the kind:1 realm. And also in the past I have talked about the fact that I disliked that some clients would display my long-form articles as if they were normal kind:1 notes and just dump them into the feeds of whoever was following me: nostr:nevent1qqsdk90k9k30vtzwpj6grxys9mvsegu5kkwd4jmpyhlmtjnxet2rvggprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wdmksetjv5hxxmmdqy8hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnddaksygpm7rrrljungc6q0tuh5hj7ue863q73qlheu4vywtzwhx42a7j9n5hae35c

These and other reasons have made me switch my preference to solution c, as it gives the most flexibility to the publisher: whoever wants to announce stuff so it can be discovered can, whoever doesn't don't have to. And it allows microblogging clients the freedom to render just render tweets and having a straightforward barrier between what they can render and what is just a link to an external app or webapp (of course they can always opt to render the referenced content in-app if they want).

It also makes the case for microapps more evident. If all microblogging clients become superapps that can render recipe events perfectly why would anyone want to use a dedicated recipes app? I guess there are still reasons, but blurring the line between content kinds in superapps would definitely remove some of the reasons and eventually kill all the microapps.

---

That brings us back to point 1 above (the overcomplication of kind:1 events): if solution c is what we're going to, that makes kind:1 events very special in Nostr, and not just another kind among others. Microblogging clients become the central plaza of Nostr, thus protecting their neutrality and decentralization much more important. Having a lot of clients with different userbases, doing things in slightly different ways, is essential for that decentralization.

It's ok if Nostr ends up having just 2 recipe-sharing clients, but it must have dozens of microblogging clients -- and maybe not even full-blown microblogging clients, but other apps that somehow deal with kind:1 events in multiple ways. It's ok if implementing a client for public audio-rooms is very hard and complicated, but at the same time it should be very simple to write a client that can render a kind:1 note referencing an audio-room and linking to that dedicated client.

I hope you got my point and agreed because this article is ended.

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Ele foi criado por Mark Harman e lançado sob a licença GNU General Public License (GPL), o que significa que qualquer pessoa pode acessar, modificar e distribuir o código-fonte do aplicativo.

Recursos e Funcionalidades: O Open Camera oferece uma ampla gama de recursos e funcionalidades que permitem aos usuários aproveitar ao máximo suas câmeras em dispositivos Android. Alguns dos recursos notáveis incluem:

1. Controles Manuais: O aplicativo permite ajustar manualmente as configurações da câmera, como exposição, foco, balanço de branco, ISO e muito mais. Isso oferece maior flexibilidade e controle sobre a qualidade e o estilo das fotos tiradas.

2. Suporte a Formatos de Arquivo Avançados: O Open Camera suporta uma variedade de formatos de arquivo, incluindo RAW, que é uma opção preferida por fotógrafos profissionais devido à maior quantidade de informações capturadas e à flexibilidade durante a pós-produção.

3. Modo de Gravação de Vídeo Avançado: Além da fotografia, o Open Camera também oferece recursos avançados de gravação de vídeo, como gravação em câmera lenta, gravação de lapso de tempo e suporte a taxas de quadros personalizadas.

4. Marcação de Geolocalização: O aplicativo permite que os usuários adicione informações de localização às fotos tiradas, o que pode ser útil para organizar e recordar onde cada imagem foi capturada.

5. Interface Personalizável: O Open Camera oferece opções para personalizar a interface do usuário de acordo com as preferências individuais, incluindo a escolha de cores e layouts.

O código-fonte aberto permite que os usuários examinem e verifiquem como o aplicativo funciona. Isso aumenta a transparência e a confiança na segurança e privacidade dos dados. Os desenvolvedores podem modificar o aplicativo para atender às suas necessidades específicas ou adicionar novos recursos. Isso cria um ecossistema de desenvolvimento vibrante e incentiva a inovação. O Open Camera possui uma comunidade ativa de desenvolvedores e usuários que contribuem com melhorias, correções de bugs e compartilham conhecimentos. Isso garante que o aplicativo seja continuamente atualizado e aprimorado.

O Open Camera é uma opção poderosa e personalizável para aqueles que desejam aproveitar ao máximo a câmera de seus dispositivos Android. Com recursos avançados e a flexibilidade proporcionada pelo código aberto, o aplicativo oferece uma experiência fotográfica aprimorada para entusiastas e profissionais da fotografia. Se você está procurando um aplicativo de câmera versátil e repleto de recursos, o Open Camera é definitivamente uma escolha que vale a pena considerar.

https://sourceforge.net/p/opencamera/code/ci/master/tree/

https://opencamera.org.uk/

https://f-droid.org/packages/net.sourceforge.opencamera/

@ 7e6f9018:a6bbbce5

The whole island of Mallorca is filled with tourist spots, but it can be divided into four main types of areas:

1. Major hotel areas. These are coastal villages predominantly filled with hotels, which create a vibrant atmosphere during the summer, with plenty of restaurants, bars, and other summer-oriented businesses.

2. Minor hotel areas. These are coastal villages, mainly populated by hotels as well, but they are smaller and, therefore, quieter and more relaxing. While there are some restaurants, bars, and other summer-oriented businesses, the offerings are not comparable to those in the major hotel areas.

3. Vacation rental areas. These are coastal villages with virtually no hotels; the accommodations primarily consist of vacation rentals. There are only a few restaurants and bars in the village, with limited options beyond that. However, they offer the quietest and most relaxing experience.

4. Inland areas. These consist of the Tramuntana mountain region and the rural countryside, typically featuring a balanced mix of small hotels and vacation rentals. The availability of restaurants, bars, and other summer-oriented businesses is decent but not huge, so having a car or a transportation plan may be necessary.

Important note: Almost all of these areas are "dead" from November to April, as 80% of businesses are closed and only operate from May to October. If you are visiting from November to April, consider how this can affect your travel plans, and maybe opt for cities that are still populated by residents, such as Palma, Sóller, Pollença, and Alcúdia.

In the following map you can see the Major hotel areas (in black numbers) and the Minor hotel areas (in purple letters).

Map of Hotels, each black dot is a hotel.

The major hotel areas are as follows:

| | Major hotel areas | | Major hotel areas | |---|---------------------------------------------------|---|-------------------------------------------------------| | 1 | S'Arenal | 14 | Port de Sóller | | 2 | Can Pastilla | 15 | Sóller | | 3 | Ciutat de Palma | 16 | Port de Pollença | | 4 | Port de Palma | 17 | Port d'Alcúdia | | 5 | Cala Major | 18 | Platja de Muro | | 6 | Illetes | 19 | Can Picafort | | 7 | Portals Nous | 20 | Cala Ratjada | | 8 | Palmanova | 21 | Cala Millor | | 9 | Magaluf | 22 | Sa Coma | | 10 | Santa Ponça | 23 | Cales de Mallorca | | 11 | Peguera | 24 | Portocolom | | 12 | Camp de Mar | 25 | Cala d'Or | | 13 | Port d'Andratx | 26 | Colònia de Sant Jordi |

The minor hotel areas are as follows:

| | Minor hotel areas | | Minor hotel areas | |---|-------------------------------|---|------------------------| | a | Cala Gamba / Es Coll d'en Rabassa | h | Canyamel | | b | El Molinar / Es Portitxol | i | Portocristo | | c | Cala Vinyes | j | Cala Mendia and Cala Magrana | | d | Cala Fornells | k | Cala Romàntica | | e | Sant Elm | l | Portopetro | | f | Cala Sant Vicenç | m | Cala Mondragó / Barca trencada | | g | Cala Mesquida | n | Cala Figuera |

If you still want to be in a coastal area but prefer to escape the livelier areas and seek a quiet, low-density spot (with both its advantages and disadvantages), the following map highlights the main vacation rental areas.

Map of vacation rental, each red dot is a rental house.

The main vacation rental areas are as follows:

| | Main vacation rentals | | Main vacation rentals | |---|----------------------------------|---|--------------------------| | 1 | Badia Gran | 6 | Betlem | | 2 | Cala Pi and Vallgornera | 7 | Colònia de Sant Pere | | 3 | Sa Ràpita | 8 | Son Serra de Marina | | 4 | Cala Llombards and Cala Santanyí | 9 | Bonaire and Es Mal Pas | | 5 | Costa dels pins | 10 | Pollença outskirts |

If you don't mind staying in coastal areas, you could opt for inland areas. There are accommodations throughout the entire island, allowing you to choose a location that suits your preferences (goal and budget).

Map of inland areas. Each black dot is a hotel, each red dot is a vacation rental.

The most popular villages, and its outskirts, are as follows:

| | Inland areas | | Inland areas | |---|----------------------------------|---|--------------------------| | 1 | Artà | 6 | Alaró | | 2 | Sineu | 7 | Fornalutx | | 3 | Llubí | 8 | Deià | | 4 | Sa Pobla | 9 | Valldemossa | | 5 | Selva | 10 | Puigpunyent |

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

VeraCrupt foi lançado em 2013 como um fork do projeto TrueCrypt descontinuado. Desde então, o VeraCrypt tem passado por diversas atualizações e melhorias de segurança, incluindo a correção de problemas identificados por auditorias de código do TrueCrypt. O VeraCrypt inclui implementações otimizadas de funções criptográficas de hash e cifras, o que aumenta o desempenho em CPUs modernas. O software permite criar e gerenciar volumes criptografados em computadores ou dispositivos de armazenamento externo, com suporte para vários algoritmos de criptografia e recursos adicionais, como proteção contra ataques de keylogger e ocultação de volumes , tem opção de segurança robusta para proteger seus dados.

Quando você cria um volume criptografado no VeraCrypt, o software cria um arquivo virtual que funciona como um disco rígido criptografado. Esse arquivo é montado como uma unidade lógica no seu sistema operacional e pode ser acessado como qualquer outro disco rígido.

Antes que você possa acessar o volume criptografado, você precisa fornecer a senha correta. A senha é usada para desbloquear o arquivo virtual criptografado e permitir que o sistema operacional acesse o conteúdo. O VeraCrypt suporta vários algoritmos de criptografia, incluindo AES, Serpent e Twofish, que podem ser selecionados pelo usuário ao criar o volume criptografado.

O VeraCrypt também oferece recursos adicionais de segurança, como proteção contra keyloggers, que podem registrar as teclas digitadas no teclado para capturar senhas. Ele faz isso fornecendo uma interface virtual para digitar senhas, o que impede que os keyloggers capturem a senha real. O VeraCrypt também permite ocultar volumes criptografados dentro de outros volumes criptografados, o que fornece uma camada adicional de segurança.

O veracrypt proteger informações confidenciais armazenadas em dispositivos de armazenamento, como discos rígidos, unidades flash USB e cartões de memória, contra acesso não autorizado. Se um usuário estiver executando o Tails a partir de uma unidade flash USB, e o disco rígido estiver criptografado com o VeraCrypt, o Tails não terá acesso ao conteúdo do disco rígido, a menos que o usuário monte o volume criptografado do VeraCrypt e forneça a senha correta.

No entanto, é importante lembrar que a criptografia do disco rígido por si só não garante a segurança completa do sistema. Os usuários também devem tomar outras medidas de segurança, como manter o sistema operacional e o software atualizados, usar senhas fortes e não compartilhá-las com ninguém, e tomar cuidado com o acesso físico ao computador ou dispositivo de armazenamento externo.

https://veracrypt.fr

https://github.com/veracrypt/VeraCrypt/

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Distribuição segura do Linux de código aberto

O sistema operacional Linux Kodachi é baseado no Ubuntu 18.04.5 LTS, ele fornecerá a você um sistema operacional seguro, anti-forense e anônimo, considerando todos os recursos que uma pessoa preocupada com a privacidade precisa ter para estar segura.

O Kodachi é muito fácil de usar, tudo o que você precisa fazer é inicializá-lo no seu PC via unidade USB, então você deve ter um sistema operacional totalmente em execução com conexão VPN estabelecida + conexão Tor estabelecida + serviço DNScrypt em execução. Nenhuma configuração ou conhecimento de Linux é necessário de sua parte, nós fazemos tudo para você. Todo o sistema operacional funciona a partir de sua memória RAM temporária, portanto, depois de desligá-lo, nenhum vestígio é deixado para trás, todas as suas atividades são apagadas.

Kodachi é um sistema operacional ao vivo, que você pode iniciar em quase qualquer computador a partir de um DVD, pendrive ou cartão SD. Destina-se a preservar a sua privacidade e anonimato.

Características

Pronto para VPN

Tor Ready com seleção de nó de saída

DNScrypt pronto

Onion Circuits/Onion share

i2p

GNUNET

Carteira multimoeda Exodus

Rkhhunter

Guardião de Pares

Sala do pânico

Bleachbit

Átomo

audibilidade

Zulucrypt

Informações de sistema e segurança na área de trabalho

Wipe Ram

Limpe o espaço livre

Mate o sistema operacional!

Nautilus-wipe

Keepass2x

cavalo marinho

Gpa

Gnupg2Name

Enigmail

gufw

prisão de fogo

geany

Krusader

fundir

Obturador

Htop

Zulumount

FileZillaName

Exterminador do Futuro

Transmissão

Caixa Virtual

Syslinux-utils

Smbclient

dispersar

Fcitx

Ibus

pidgin

Coim

Anel

Sinal

Geoip-bin

Cais do Cairo

pcmanfm

Nmap

Xtrlock

Ncdu

Gksu

Sysv-rc-conf

Rdesktop

GnomeNettoolGenericName

Sinal

GResolver

OpenShot

Icedove

SiriKali

Denyhosts

Steghide

navegador da web Chromium

Gdebi

Comandante Gnomo

Visualizadores de imagens de luz Blender Viewnior e Risrtto

barulhento

Iridium-browser

raposa d'água

sincronizando

carteira jaxx

bomba nuclear

persistência

https://sourceforge.net/projects/linuxkodachi/

https://www.youtube.com/live/gCHjRQOTZmQ?feature=share

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

This was my first attempt at hosting a podcast with another photographer while also juggling scene switches in OBS on the fly. Not sure what went sideways with Gardner's audio - podcast pleb mistake, clearly. But hey, trial and error, right?

click image to watch the full episode

That said, I’ve been wanting to interview photographers I admire for a while, so I was stoked to finally sit down with Gardner and explore his work. His creative use of lasers and external flash really caught my eye. It’s not my typical style, but the way he executes it - with such taste and precision - is impressive. I think you’ll find his process just as fascinating as I did.

During our conversation, we covered a lot - music, cameras, and some funny stories. One of my favorites was the time he went to photograph a mobile home with a tree growing through it, only to realize someone was still living there.

We took a deep dive into his portfolio, unpacking the intricate details behind his images. Hearing the story straight from the photographer hits differently than just reading a blurb about the series. Learning why a photo was taken and how it came together feels way more compelling once you understand the person behind the lens.

You can catch the full episode now on my PictureRoom YouTube channel. Like and subscribe if you’re feeling generous.

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Com uma interface intuitiva e poderosa, o Librera torna a experiência de leitura de e-books verdadeiramente agradável.

Algumas características principais do Librera incluem: - Descoberta fácil de documentos através de critérios configuráveis, incluindo verificação automática de pastas predefinidas e navegação com um explorador de arquivos no aplicativo. - Visualização de documentos recentes com indicador de progresso de leitura. - Suporte para marcadores, anotações e índices EPUB3. - Conexão com nuvens e catálogos online, e sincronização entre dispositivos Android via Google Drive para progresso de leitura e favoritos. - Modos dia e noite configuráveis, incluindo cor de link personalizável para notas de rodapé e notas finais. - Suporte para dicionários populares online e offline, bloqueio de rolagem vertical e centralização automática e manual de documentos. - Possibilidade de inserir código CSS personalizado, visualização de página única de documentos de duas páginas e modo de músico com velocidade de rolagem ajustável. - Leitura TTS personalizável e reprodutor de mídia integrado, pesquisa de texto com várias palavras e conversão de documentos online. - Leitura de documentos arquivados (.zip) e suporte para idiomas RTL (tailandês, hebraico, árabe, etc.). - Importação e exportação de configurações, backup automático da sessão atual e iniciais principais em documentos FB2.

Com o Librera Reader, é fácil criar bibliotecas auto-mantidas de documentos, selecionando os formatos a serem incluídos e as pastas a serem digitalizadas. A biblioteca pode ser visualizada em forma de lista ou grade, com capas de miniaturas ajustáveis e descrições detalhadas para identificação dos documentos. A organização da biblioteca pode ser feita por caminho, nome, tamanho, data, etc., e um filtro auxilia na busca por documentos específicos ou grupos. Durante a leitura, os documentos podem ser bloqueados em modo de rolagem vertical e navegados por página ou tela. É possível reformatar o texto e fazer anotações, além de personalizar fontes e fundos através das configurações. Trechos selecionados podem ser traduzidos, compartilhados, copiados e pesquisados dentro do próprio documento ou na Internet.

https://github.com/foobnix/LibreraReader

https://f-droid.org/pt_BR/packages/com.foobnix.pro.pdf.reader/

@ 83794dfe:e46c6636

BRM 200 km – Samstag, 28.09.2024 05:30 – 09:30 Uhr

We left on Saturday morning and enjoyed a great day on the bike, meeting some friends along the way and dropped some.

with an average speed of 26.5 we needed around 7.3 hours to complete the track.

It was a sunny but windy day at the end we even ended up with some cold shower at the end.

A Brevet is not a race along the way we had to pick up some proof that we visited certain points like gas stations.

@ df8f0a64:057d87a5

2024年下半期の振り返り

あんまり変化はないんですが、進捗ありません！で終わっても仕方ないのでちょっとは無理やりでも振り返りましょう

0. 退職した

上半期時点で決まってはいたんですが、　6年間ほど勤務した会社を退職しました

退職直前まで爆発物取扱みたいなタスクをこなして、なかなかひやひやした退職プロセス

静かに退職したいので送別会の類のイベントは無しにしてくれというお願いをきいてくれた各メンバーに感謝です

1. 公開していたNostrリレーの設定を変更した

日本のみに公開していたリレーを、全世界に公開しました

当初はCloudflareでリレーをホストしていたのが、利用していたnosflareもcfrelayもクライアントに対してイベントを配布するコードがなく（R2だけではできない）

さてどうしたものかと悩んでいたタイミングで、Umbrelのおひとり様リレーのポートを公開する対応をしました。リレーのお引越し

で、公開してしばらくしたら、すごい勢いで日本国外からの投稿が着信するようになり大困惑

調べてみたら、Mutiny wallet（現在はサービス終了）が運営しているblastr.mutinywallet.com（たぶんまだ稼働している）が原因でした

Nostr.watchのAPIを利用して、世の中にあるNostrリレーすべてにイベントを送り込む凶悪な思想犯です

ヘッダー情報などでブロックできなかったので、blastrがホストされてるCloudflareのIPを全てブロックする力技で対処しました

ちなみに、nosflareもいつのまにかblastrのようなものをホストしているようです

なんなんでしょうね、Nostrの白人さんたちの、過激なほど分散というか対検閲をしようとするお節介さは

2. 公開していたNostrリレーを潰した

上記のように折角いろいろやったリレーを潰しました

Reply guyというbotが猛威をふるった時期、クソみたいなイベントをばら撒かれてくることに私がキレたからです。クソが

NostrとしてはこれをきっかけにWoTを組み込んだリレーが開発されたりして、スパム対策が一歩前進した感があります。クソが

スパムばら撒きをBostrが助長してるみたいな批難を受けて、作者のYonleさんがブチ切れ、全Nostr関連リポジトリのメンテを放棄する事態も発生

ちょうどMutiny walletでGOXしたご本人の機嫌が悪かった時期に、クソスパムがぶつかったことによる悲しい出来事でした。ほんとクソ

3. おわりに

他にもこまいことはいくつかあるんですが、主にはこんなとこでしょうか。来年も楽しくNostrしたいですね

@ 5e5fc143:393d5a2c

Just revisiting some quick tips for #newbies #pow #public #blockchain users only.

if you just getting started with bitcoin or any pow crypto coins or been using or storing them for a while, you not must forget the roots and fundamentals.

Hot Wallet — It gets connected to live internet at some point in time essentially to sign / send a tx i.e. spending transaction — exposes the private key of the address from in the process

Cold Wallet — It never ever gets connected or online and can always keep receiving inbound amounts Paper wallets are best n cheapest form of cold wallet that can used once n thrown away.

Cold wallets need to either “import”ed or “sweep”ed in order to used or spend — https://coinsutra.com/private-key-import-vs-sweep-difference/

Any thin #wallet is always dependent on connectivity to live up2date node server where-as self-sufficient qt / cli wallet takes a while to sync up to latest block height in order to be usable.

Beginners should always resist the attraction of quick and fast — thin n 3rd party wallets and always start a long learning journey of core wallets of any coin — either “qt” GUI wallet or command line “coin-cli” wallet

Almost all #proofofwork #blockchains i.e. #POW has #node #wallet - everyone who use support he #public #blockchain secures own you coin value

You can run fullnode either on clearnet or over onion 🧅 #BTC has >55% of nodes running in onion out of total 15000+ live fullnodes and 50000+ bitcoincore wallets around blockheight 777000 . Other notable pow chains are #LTC #RVN and rest are babychains for now !

Always delete hot wallet to test practice restoration before sending any large refunds to it to be safe.

Large funds are always best to keep in self custody node wallets rare n occasional use

Final word — Cannot see private key 🔑 or seed 🌱 in any wallet means not your coin. 😲

Use wallet which u learn or understand best only

That’s all for now n Thank you 🙏 ! ⚡️ https://getalby.com/p/captjack ⚡️

Some Cold wallet nostr posts nostr:note1p6ke5wqshgxtfzj5de3u04hejl2c5ygj8xk8ex6fqdsg29jmt33qnx57y2 nostr:note1rse0l220quur6vfx0htje94ezecjj03y6j7lguwl09fmvmpt6g3q0cg7yw nostr:note1q5w8dyjuqc7sz7ygl97y0ztv6sal2hm4yrf5nmur2tkz9lq2wx9qcjw90q

some nostr specific lightning ⚡️ Layer2 wallets with blockchain mainnet option nostr:naddr1qqsky6t5vdhkjm3qd35kw6r5de5kueeqf38zqampd3kx2apqdehhxarjqyv8wue69uhkummnw3e8qun00puju6t08genxven9uqkvamnwvaz7tmxd9k8getj9ehx7um5wgh8w6twv5hkuur4vgchgefsw4a8xdnkdgerjatddfshsmr3w93hgwpjdgu8zdnswpuk2enj0pcnqdnydpersepkwpm8wenpw3nkkut2d44xwams8a38ymmpv33kzum58468yat9qyt8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtngv9kkuet59e5k7tczyqvq5m2zcltylrpetrvazrw45sgha24va288lxq8s8562vfkeatfxqcyqqq823ckqlhc8 related blog post nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3cxyenjv3c8qmr2v34qy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq3zamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wwa5kuef0qydhwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytn4wdjkcetnwdeks6t59e3k7tczyp6x5fz66g2wd9ffu4zwlzjzwek9t7mqk7w0qzksvsys2qm63k9ngqcyqqq823cpdfq87

@ 06b7819d:d1d8327c

The Weaponization of Technology: A Prelude to Adoption

Throughout history, new technologies have often been weaponized before becoming widely adopted for civilian use. This pattern, deeply intertwined with human priorities for power, survival, and dominance, sheds light on how societies interact with technological innovation.

The Weaponization Imperative

When a groundbreaking technology emerges, its potential to confer an advantage—military, economic, or ideological—tends to attract attention from those in power. Governments and militaries, seeking to outpace rivals, often invest heavily in adapting new tools for conflict or defense. Weaponization provides a context where innovation thrives under high-stakes conditions. Technologies like radar, nuclear energy, and the internet, initially conceived or expanded within the framework of military priorities, exemplify this trend.

Historical Examples

1.  Gunpowder: Invented in 9th-century China, gunpowder was first used for military purposes before transitioning into civilian life, influencing mining, construction, and entertainment through fireworks.

1. The Internet: Initially developed as ARPANET during the Cold War to ensure communication in the event of a nuclear attack, the internet’s infrastructure later supported the global digital revolution, reshaping commerce, education, and social interaction.

2. Drones: Unmanned aerial vehicles began as tools of surveillance and warfare but have since been adopted for everything from package delivery to agricultural monitoring.

Weaponization often spurs rapid technological development. War environments demand urgency and innovation, fast-tracking research and turning prototypes into functional tools. This phase of militarization ensures that the technology is robust, scalable, and often cost-effective, setting the stage for broader adoption.

Adoption and Civilian Integration

Once a technology’s military dominance is established, its applications often spill into civilian life. These transitions occur when:

•   The technology becomes affordable and accessible.
•   Governments or corporations recognize its commercial potential.
•   Public awareness and trust grow, mitigating fears tied to its military origins.

For example, GPS was first a military navigation system but is now indispensable for personal devices, logistics, and autonomous vehicles.

Cultural Implications

The process of weaponization shapes public perception of technology. Media narratives, often dominated by stories of power and conflict, influence how societies view emerging tools. When technologies are initially seen through the lens of violence or control, their subsequent integration into daily life can carry residual concerns, from privacy to ethical implications.

Conclusion

The weaponization of technology is not an aberration but a recurring feature of technological progress. By understanding this pattern, societies can critically assess how technologies evolve from tools of conflict to instruments of everyday life, ensuring that ethical considerations and equitable access are not lost in the rush to innovate. As Marshall McLuhan might suggest, the medium through which a technology is introduced deeply influences the message it ultimately conveys to the world.

@ 06b7819d:d1d8327c

In June 2023, the Law Commission of England and Wales published its final report on digital assets, concluding that the existing common law is generally flexible enough to accommodate digital assets, including crypto-tokens and non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

However, to address specific areas of uncertainty, the Commission recommended targeted statutory reforms and the establishment of an expert panel.

Key Conclusions and Recommendations:

1.  Recognition of a Third Category of Personal Property:

Traditional English law classifies personal property into two categories: “things in possession” (tangible items) and “things in action” (enforceable rights). Digital assets do not fit neatly into either category. The Commission recommended legislation to confirm the existence of a distinct third category of personal property to better accommodate digital assets. 

1. Development of Common Law: The Commission emphasized that the common law is well-suited to adapt to the complexities of emerging technologies and should continue to evolve to address issues related to digital assets. 

2. Establishment of an Expert Panel: To assist courts in navigating the technical and legal challenges posed by digital assets, the Commission recommended that the government create a panel of industry experts, legal practitioners, academics, and judges. This panel would provide non-binding guidance on issues such as control and transfer of digital assets. 

3. Facilitation of Crypto-Token and Crypto-Asset Collateral Arrangements: The Commission proposed the creation of a bespoke statutory legal framework to facilitate the use of digital assets as collateral, addressing current legal uncertainties in this area. 

4. Clarification of the Financial Collateral Arrangements Regulations: The report recommended statutory amendments to clarify the extent to which digital assets fall within the scope of the Financial Collateral Arrangements (No 2) Regulations 2003, ensuring that existing financial regulations appropriately cover digital assets. 

Overall, the Law Commission’s report underscores the adaptability of English common law in addressing the challenges posed by digital assets, while also identifying specific areas where legislative action is necessary to provide clarity and support the evolving digital economy.

@ 06b7819d:d1d8327c

The system design and challenges of retail Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) differ significantly from Bitcoin in several key aspects, reflecting their distinct purposes and underlying philosophies:

1. Core Purpose and Issuance

   • CBDCs: Issued by central banks, CBDCs are designed as state-backed digital currencies for public use. Their goal is to modernize payments, enhance financial inclusion, and provide a risk-free alternative to private money. • Bitcoin: A decentralized, peer-to-peer cryptocurrency created to operate independently of central authorities. Bitcoin aims to be a store of value and medium of exchange without reliance on intermediaries or governments.

2. Governance and Control

   • CBDCs: Operate under centralized governance. Central banks retain control over issuance, transaction validation, and data management, allowing for integration with existing regulatory frameworks (e.g., AML and CFT). • Bitcoin: Fully decentralized, governed by a consensus mechanism (Proof of Work). Transactions are validated by miners, and no single entity controls the network.

3. Privacy

   • CBDCs: Seek to balance privacy with regulatory compliance. Privacy-enhancing technologies may be implemented, but user data is typically accessible to intermediaries and central banks to meet regulatory needs. • Bitcoin: Pseudonymous by design. Transactions are public on the blockchain but do not directly link to individual identities unless voluntarily disclosed.

4. System Design

   • CBDCs: May adopt a hybrid system combining centralized (e.g., central bank-controlled settlement) and decentralized elements (e.g., private-sector intermediaries). Offline functionality and interoperability with existing systems are priorities. • Bitcoin: Fully decentralized, using a distributed ledger (blockchain) where all transactions are validated and recorded without reliance on intermediaries.

5. Cybersecurity

   • CBDCs: Cybersecurity risks are heightened due to potential reliance on centralized points for data storage and validation. Post-quantum cryptography is a concern for future-proofing against quantum computing threats. • Bitcoin: Security relies on cryptographic algorithms and decentralization. However, it is also vulnerable to quantum computing in the long term, unless upgraded to quantum-resistant protocols.

6. Offline Functionality

   • CBDCs: Exploring offline payment capabilities for broader usability in remote or unconnected areas. • Bitcoin: Offline payments are not natively supported, although some solutions (e.g., Lightning Network or third-party hardware wallets) can enable limited offline functionality.

7. Point of Sale and Adoption

   • CBDCs: Designed for seamless integration with existing PoS systems and modern financial infrastructure to encourage widespread adoption. • Bitcoin: Adoption depends on merchant willingness and the availability of cryptocurrency payment gateways. Its volatility can discourage usage as a medium of exchange.

8. Monetary Policy and Design

   • CBDCs: Can be programmed to support specific policy goals, such as negative interest rates, transaction limits, or conditional transfers. • Bitcoin: Supply is fixed at 21 million coins, governed by its code. It is resistant to monetary policy interventions and inflationary adjustments.

In summary, while CBDCs aim to complement existing monetary systems with centralized oversight and tailored features, Bitcoin is designed as a decentralized alternative to traditional currency. CBDCs prioritize integration, control, and regulatory compliance, whereas Bitcoin emphasizes autonomy, censorship resistance, and a trustless system.

@ 5e5fc143:393d5a2c

We are now given a choice of digital freedom #nostr .

Creativity for every nostrich is now unleashed from the cage of bigtech censorship , rules and algo. But freedom comes with responsibility so pick right one(s). I will try share here some learning experience both technical and also from fundamental point of view. Just wanted kick start this article n fill as we go like living reference document.

Nostr itself is an application layer protocol that can used beyond just social media mirco or long blogging. Each nostr client heavily dependent on back-end servers call nostr "Relay servers" or in short "rs" or "relays" Relays can hosted anywhere in clearnet internet, onion net , vpn , i2p , nym Relays are controlled by their respective admins based NIP specs that they select to implement according to own decisions. Relays can have certain ToS (Terms of Service) Rules to adhered too.

New users can choose and pick client or app (ios / android/ windows) with preset of relays in the simplest form , but other advanced users need to do a regular manual relay management.

Relay management is an active regular task based on where when n how you are using.

Relay list are saved within you npub profile backup file which can edited and broadcast anytime.

Relay management is an active regular task based on where when and how you are using.

Relay list always need to be updated time to time as and when needed.

2 Users MUST a common RELAY between them even if one only need to follow another. Occasionally you may notice certain npub accounts you are following already but cannot see frequent notes publish by them – one of cause maybe you not sharing a common relay

Most nostr client applications has SETTINGS where user choose add/remove relays Also user choose which function to enable - READ or WRITE

Relay list for your account is always saved within you npub profile backup file which can edited and broadcast anytime. Hence any app or browser when u login with you npub the same relay list will be enforced. There could valid reasons why u need have list for if you trying to save bandwidth and traveling.

Functions in app.getcurrent.io and primal.net app for mobile apple or android are ideal for user traveling abroad and wanted to save bandwidth since relay management is done the providers in backend and saves hassle for basic usage.

Remember if someone is selecting relay on your behalf then you may not be necessarily able to pull and get some specific and special content that you may need. Such providers like coracle and nostrid also give option to override the default relays they selected.

Relay types: They can be categorized by various features or policy or technologies.

FREE PUBLIC Relays vs PAID PUBLIC Relays

PAID relays provide unrestricted access / write / filtering options than FREE relays but both are public clearnet relays. Just subscribing to PAID relays will not solve all problems unless you choose the relays properly and enable settings correctly.

Private Replay or Tor Relays – normally not easily visible until unless someone tell you. You can also host own private relay not opened to internet of archive and back of your own notes.

The technical landscape in nostr can be fast changing as more NIPs get proposed or updated. Relays admin can choose implement certain NIPs or not based on policy or technical limitations.

Example NIP33 defines “long notes” aka blogs as you now reading this in habla site which #1 UI and site for "Editable" long notes – some relays donot implement or allow this. NIP07 is used for client authentication like nos2x and is implemented by all relays in fact. Nostr is so fasting changing-hence many links many broken Pushing long note again.

To be continued again ... reference pics will added later also Hope this help you understand "why when what" to tune and maintain active set of proper relays. Relay Proxy, Relay aggregator or Relay multiplexer – Paid, Public, Free, Private, Event, Relays That’s all for now n more later ... Thank you 🙏 ! ⚡️ https://getalby.com/p/captjack ⚡️ PV 💜 🤙

References: https://habla.news/relays https://relay.exchange/ https://relays.vercel.app/ https://nostr.info/relays/ https://nostrudel.ninja/#/relays

Related Articles: https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/types-nostr-relays/ nostr:naddr1qqd5c6t8dp6xu6twvukkvctnwss92jfqvehhygzwdaehguszyrtp7w79k045gq80mtnpdxjuzl9t7vjxk52rv80f888y5xsd5mh55qcyqqq823cf39s98 https://habla.news/u/current@getcurrent.io/1694434022411

@ 6fff5148:a5dd5cdf

PROBLEM GAMBLING..

WHAT IS GAMBLING: Gambling is defined as the act of risking something of value on a game of chance for the desired result. Usually, gambling addiction is discovered when there is a loss of accessibility to money and/or negative actions occur. Gambling Addiction or Problem Gambling is known as the “hidden addiction” because there are no visible signs. Unlike alcohol or drug addiction, you can’t visibly see the effects of someone’s gambling. For example, if someone has been drinking, you may smell alcohol, or they may be slurring their speech. Because of the lack of visibility, often those suffering from a gambling addiction can hide it longer than someone with an alcohol or drug problem.

Popular types of gambling are:

Casinos Lottery/Scratch-off tickets Sports Betting Horse Betting Bingo Raffles/Office Pool..

PREVENTIONS..

Talking to youth about the risks and consequences of engaging in underage gambling activities can make a difference in the choices they make. Parents and caregivers, educators and community members can take steps to prevent youth gambling behaviors.

Encourage youth to be involved in positive social activities such as clubs, sports, and other positive community outlets Be a positive role model Talk early about the potential for gambling to be a problem Avoid giving scratch off tickets as gifts and/or encouraging underage gambling Monitor youth’s activities and friends Establish rules and enforce

RESPONSIBLE PLAY

In Nigeria, you must be 18 to gamble, including buying lottery tickets or buying/selling raffle tickets. If a casino sells alcohol, you must be 21 to enter the casino floor. Most adults can gamble responsibly. Having a plan before you gamble can help keep gambling fun and help you avoid consequences.

Consider some of the following tips:

Make a plan before you gamble. Ask a friend to hold you to it. Set a limit on how much time you plan to spend gambling. Be sure to balance gambling with other forms of entertainment. Set a limit on how much money you plan to gamble. Only bet what you can afford to lose, treat whatever you wager as the cost of your entertainment. Take frequent breaks while gambling. Getting lost in gambling activities may result in losing track of your spending. Avoid drinking alcohol while gambling. Decisions made while impaired may later be regrettable. Know how the games work and the odds of winning. Gambling is for entertainment only and should not be used as a way to make money. Avoid chasing losses. Never continue gambling to try and win back lost money. Gamble when you’re feeling positive and looking to have fun. Don’t use gambling to cope with or escape from feelings of stress, loneliness or depression.

Lastly and most importantly, if you notice warning signs of a gambling problem in your life, know that it is okay to ask for help:

To get help for problem gambling, for yourself, or a loved one, please reach out to: NYS HOPEline at: 1-877-8-HOPENY or The NY Council on Problem Gambling at: nyproblemgamblinghelp.org

WARNING SIGNS

Some warning signs that gambling might be a problem include:

nostr:#Thinking often about gambling nostr:#Covering up/lying about gambling behaviors nostr:#Missing time with friends and loved ones to gamble nostr:#Gambling to escape problems or negative feelings nostr:#Gambling more money than planned or can afford nostr:#Trying unsuccessfully to cut back or stop gambling

Source.. content writer

@ 9c47bb51:000381d0

In the race toward digitizing money, Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs) have emerged as a buzzword among governments and financial institutions worldwide. While these digital currencies promise convenience, efficiency, and modernization, their widespread adoption could come at a heavy cost to individual freedoms. It is crucial to understand why CBDCs pose a significant threat and how decentralized solutions like Bitcoin and the Cashu protocol (eCash) can serve as powerful alternatives for the future.

The Threats of CBDCs

At first glance, CBDCs may appear to be a natural evolution of money. However, their implementation carries inherent risks that could erode fundamental rights: 1. Surveillance and Privacy Intrusion Unlike cash or decentralized cryptocurrencies, CBDCs are fully controlled by central banks. This gives governments the ability to monitor every transaction, mapping out a complete picture of how, where, and why you spend your money. The promise of “convenience” masks the reality of mass surveillance.

2.  Programmability and Control

CBDCs are programmable, meaning authorities could impose conditions on their use. For example, your funds could be limited to specific goods or services, or they might expire if not used within a certain time frame. Worse still, governments could freeze or confiscate funds for dissent or non-compliance.

3.  Financial Exclusion

In a world where access to CBDCs depends on digital identities, social credit systems, or other centralized criteria, individuals who do not conform to these systems could be financially excluded, leaving them with no way to participate in the economy.

Bitcoin: The Digital Lifeboat

Bitcoin stands in stark contrast to CBDCs. It is a decentralized, censorship-resistant currency that enables financial sovereignty. Here’s why Bitcoin matters in the face of a CBDC-dominated future: 1. Censorship Resistance Bitcoin operates on a decentralized network, meaning no single entity has control over your funds. Transactions cannot be blocked or reversed, ensuring you remain in full control of your money.

2.  Borderless and Inclusive

Bitcoin doesn’t discriminate based on location, identity, or political beliefs. It empowers the unbanked and underbanked, providing access to financial services for millions worldwide.

3.  Store of Value

With its fixed supply of 21 million coins, Bitcoin offers a hedge against inflation and the erosion of purchasing power—a stark contrast to the infinite supply of fiat-backed CBDCs.

Cashu Protocol: The Future of Private Digital Payments

While Bitcoin excels as a store of value and medium of exchange, privacy in everyday transactions remains a challenge. This is where the Cashu protocol (eCash) comes in—a protocol designed for private and scalable payments. 1. Enhanced Privacy Cashu uses Chaumian blind signatures to enable private transactions, ensuring that payments cannot be linked to specific individuals. It offers a level of anonymity similar to cash, which is vital in an increasingly surveilled world.

2.  Scalability and Efficiency

Cashu is lightweight and designed for high-speed, low-cost transactions. This makes it ideal for micropayments, tipping, and everyday purchases where Bitcoin might be impractical due to higher fees or latency.

3.  Custodial Freedom

While Cashu requires custodians to issue tokens, users can operate with pseudonymity, reducing the need for trust while enabling practical privacy for smaller-scale transactions.

The Road Ahead

As CBDCs inch closer to mainstream adoption, the conversation about financial sovereignty, privacy, and control becomes more urgent. Bitcoin provides a robust foundation for decentralization and freedom, while innovations like Cashu enhance its usability and privacy for daily life.

The battle between centralized control and decentralized freedom is not just about money—it’s about the very essence of liberty in the digital age. Choosing Bitcoin and eCash today is an investment in a future where individuals—not institutions—retain control over their wealth and choices.

The question is: Will you choose freedom?

@ 472f440f:5669301e

As we sprint toward the 2024 US Presidential election the case for using bitcoin as an asset to store value for the long term has never been stronger. The insanity of the incumbent power structure is being laid bare and it is becoming impossible to ignore the headwinds that the Borg faces moving forward.

Yesterday morning and earlier today it became clear that inflation is rearing its head again. Not ideal for the soft landing Jerome Powell and Yellen are signaling to the markets after the first Fed Funds rate cut in years.

It seems like the yield curve predicted this earlier this week when it inverted after a temporary normalizing period after the Fed's rate cut. Futhermore, it is becoming glaringly obvious that running historically high fiscal deficits while interest rates were at multi-decade highs was a pretty bad idea. As James Lavish points out, the data from the CBO earlier this week shows that the US federal government is running a deficit that is 13% higher than it was last year. This is at a time when real wages are still depressed, inflation is still suffocating American consumers and the private sector job market for American citizens is cratering.

Speaking of the job market, the numbers that came in yesterday were worse than expected: The effect of Hurricane Helene should certainly be taken into consideration when looking at this jobs miss. However, even with the miss we know that these numbers have been under reported for years to make the economy seem healthier than it actually is. Even with Helene's effect taken into consideration this print will likely be revised higher 3-6 months from now.

All of this points to a breaking point. A breaking point for the economy and, more importantly, a breaking point for overall confidence in the US government and its ability to operate with any semblance of fiscal responsibility. The chart that Pierre Rochard shares in the tweet at the top of this letter is the only chart that matters for anyone attempting to gauge where we find ourselves on the path to bitcoin realizing its full potential.

There is $133 TRILLION worth of value sitting in global bond markets. Bitcoin is a far superior asset to store one's wealth in. Bond markets are beholden to the whims of the actors who issue those bonds. In the case of the US Treasury market, the largest bond market in the world, the US government. And as we have pointed out above, the US government is recklessly irresponsible when it comes to issuing debt with a complete inability to pay it back on the long-term. Inflation is up, the jobs market is cratering for the native born Americans who actually pay taxes, and the push toward a multi-polar geopolitical landscape is becoming more pronounced by the day. All of this points to a long-term weakening in demand for US treasuries.

The only way out of this mess is to overtly default on this debt or inflate it away. The latter will most certainly be the route that is taken, which positions bitcoin extremely well as people seek the confines of an asset that cannot be debased because it cannot be controlled by a central authority. The levels of sovereign debt in the world are staggering. Do not let the bitcoin price consolidation of the last six months lull you into a state of complacency. Even the results of the Presidential election won't have a material effect on these dynamics. Though, a Donald Trump presidency would certainly be preferable if you prefer to see relatively sane policy enacted that would provide you with time to find safety in bitcoin. But, in regards to this sovereign debt crisis, that is the only benefit you can hope for; more time to prepare. I'll leave you with some thoughts from Porter Stansberry:

"We are about to see the final destruction of the American experiment. Every economist knows this (see below) is correct; but nobody is going to tell you about it. I’ll summarize in plan English: We are fucked.

1. Debt is growing much faster than GD and interest expense is growing much faster than debt; and the real growth in entitlement spending hasn’t even begun yet.

2. Progressive taxation means nobody will ever vote for less spending + the combined size of government employees and dependents, there’s no way for America’s actual taxpayers (about 20m people) to ever win an election, so the spending won’t stop growing and, ironically, inflation will make demands for more spending to grow.

3. Inflation undermines both economic growth and social cohesion. The purple hair man-women weirdos are only the beginning; what comes next is scapegoating jews, blacks, immigrants and a huge increase in violence/domestic terror.

Get ready America. This election has nothing to do with what’s coming. And neither Trump nor Kamala can stop it.

Our experiment in freedom and self-government died in 1971 (when all restraint on government spending was abandoned with the gold standard.) You can only live at the expense of your neighbor until he runs out of money.

And that day is here."

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Final thought... I hope my tux still fits for this wedding. Enjoy your weekend, freaks.Use the code "TFTC" for 15% off

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Projector, VDMX5, Final Cut Pro X, Satomizer, Processing, Pure Data, MadMapper, Cinema 4D, APC40. [100’ x 25’]

This project was presented in 2015 in Boulder, Colorado. Images and video remain property of Hes.

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Artist Statement

Light Pollution: Group Exhibition

"Light Pollution" is a group exhibition that investigates the influence of artificial light on the natural environment. As part of this exhibition, I transformed the CU Boulder campus's Engineering Complex into a dynamic canvas through projection mapping. My contribution, a 100ft+ projection on the complex's tallest spire, featured the video "Superintended Vanquishment". This piece showcased engineering failures caused by natural forces, prompting viewers to contemplate the environmental repercussions of human activities and the potential consequences of nature's retaliation. The projection not only illuminates the impact of light pollution on our surroundings, but also prompts a deeper reflection on our relationship with the natural world and the power of nature over humans.

The "Light Pollution" group exhibition was a thought-provoking and visually stunning exploration of the impact of artificial light on the natural environment. Through the use of projection mapping, video content, and immersive sound design, the artists aimed to create an unforgettable experience that would inspire viewers to think more deeply about our relationship with the environment and the impact of humans on the natural world.

Superintended Vanquishment: Short Film

‘Superintended Vanquishment’ is a digital media project that showcases modern engineering failures onto the very building where the future engineers of tomorrow are studying. The Engineering Complex at CU Boulder serves as the backdrop for this thought-provoking piece. The irony lies in the fact that the video, which depicts engineering disasters caused by natural forces, is projected onto the building where students are learning about engineering.

By using this content, I wanted to challenge viewers to think about the consequences of our actions on the environment and the delicate balance between human development and natural systems.

This project ties into the theme of light pollution by highlighting the impact of artificial light on both humans and nature. While humans have made great strides in engineering, nature still holds the power to reclaim what's hers. The video features scenes of engineering failures, such as a dam collapsing due to a flood, a building destroyed by an earthquake, and a bridge washed away by a landslide. The film serves as a reminder of the fragility of human creations and the power of nature.

The projection itself is striking, with the video mapped onto the Engineering Complex's tallest spire. The lighting effects and surround sound speakers create an immersive experience for viewers, allowing them to feel as if they're part of the scene. This visual and auditory display invites viewers to reflect on the consequences of human actions on the environment and the delicate balance between human development and natural systems.

Ultimately, the project underscores the notion that, despite our technological advancements, nature will always have the final say.

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Watch ‘Superintended Vanquishment’

nostr:naddr1qqrk7e24vekhvcspzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejsygquk99txdv8dly7lsmasw969p70zlj6mnxtyzlk6j0em2tft4fyvgpsgqqqskasrmevqw

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Originally published in 2015 by Hes.

Republished to habla.news/u/hes@nostrplebs.com on 11/28/2024.

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Find me elsewhere:

Website

Store

@ fe7f6bc6:c42539a3

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Chad (full podcast), a seasoned Muay Thai fighter with over a decade of experience, to talk about life inside and outside the ring. Chad’s story is raw, intense, and unfiltered—a journey of struggle, discipline, and transformation. His insights left me reflecting on how combat sports, especially Muay Thai, can teach us profound lessons about resilience, focus, and the human spirit.

The Fight Beyond the Ring

What struck me most was how Muay Thai isn’t just a sport for Chad—it’s a way of life. He began his journey as a teenager, struggling with family issues and uncertainty about his future. A chance meeting led him to Thailand, where he trained intensely and fought his first bout just 28 days later. Chad told me, “Muay Thai saved my life,” and I could feel the weight behind those words.

For Chad, the ring became a space to confront not just opponents but his own fears and insecurities. The process of training—the relentless hill sprints, countless kicks, and sparring sessions—taught him how to face challenges head-on. Fighting wasn’t about aggression; it was about finding strength in adversity.

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The Beauty in the Brutality

One of the most fascinating things Chad shared was his perspective on pain and sacrifice. During his career, he’s endured broken ribs, countless stitches, and even fought with a broken nose for eight years before getting it fixed. “Pain is the best teacher,” he said, explaining how injuries forced him to adapt and improve.

What I found most compelling was how this physical suffering seemed to heighten his appreciation for life. Chad described moments after brutal training sessions when even a sunset or a simple breeze felt extraordinary. It’s as if the harshness of the ring makes the world outside it feel brighter, sharper, and more alive. “When you’re ready to die in the ring,” he said, “you start seeing life differently.”

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The Mental Battle

Chad emphasized the mental aspect of fighting, something I hadn’t fully appreciated before. He talked about the mindset required to step into the ring: the inner dialogue where you convince yourself you’re ready to endure pain and push beyond limits. “You can play football or tennis, but you can’t play Muay Thai,” he said, driving home the seriousness of the sport.

Before a fight, Chad uses visualization to prepare himself for the intensity of combat. He doesn’t shy away from the danger but instead leans into it, fully accepting the risks. This mindset, he believes, is what separates good fighters from great ones.

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Lessons for Life

While most of us won’t step into a Muay Thai ring, Chad’s experiences offer valuable lessons that apply to all areas of life:

• Discipline Creates Freedom: The structure of relentless training gave Chad a sense of purpose and control over his life.
• Face Your Fears: Whether it’s an elbow to the face or a difficult decision in life, avoidance only makes things worse.
• Surround Yourself with the Right People: Chad stressed the importance of training with people who push you to be better. “Energy matters,” he said, and I couldn’t agree more.

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Final Thoughts

Chad’s story reminded me why I wanted to take on my own Muay Thai journey. It’s not just about fighting; it’s about testing yourself in ways that reveal who you really are. For Chad, the ring isn’t just a place to compete—it’s a place to grow, to learn, and to become a better version of himself.

After our conversation, I realized that the lessons of Muay Thai go beyond the gym. Whether you’re training for a fight or tackling challenges in everyday life, the principles of resilience, discipline, and self-reflection are universal.

If you’re curious to learn more about Chad’s journey, I highly recommend watching the documentary we worked on together. It’s a glimpse into the raw, unforgiving world of Muay Thai—and the unshakable spirit of those who live it.

Stay Healthy - Max

@ 460c25e6:ef85065c

In the early days of Nostr, developers often competed to see who could implement the most NIPs. Although all were optional (except NIP-01), it became a point of pride and vital for the ecosystem's growth. Back then, there were only a few dozen relatively simple NIPs to implement. Fast forward to today, with nearly 100 NIPs, maintaining and implementing everything has become nearly impossible. Yet, the drive among developers to "code all things Nostr" remains as strong as ever.

nostr:nprofile1qqsrhuxx8l9ex335q7he0f09aej04zpazpl0ne2cgukyawd24mayt8gprfmhxue69uhhq7tjv9kkjepwve5kzar2v9nzucm0d5hszxmhwden5te0wfjkccte9emk2um5v4exucn5vvhxxmmd9uq3xamnwvaz7tmhda6zuat50phjummwv5hsx7c9z9 raised the point that everyone, even I, agrees:

nostr:nevent1qqsqqqp2zrs7836tyjlsfe7aj9c4d97zrxxqyayagkdwlcur96t4laspzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43z7q3q80cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsxpqqqqqqzgcrrrp

But how big is too big? How can we better understand the range of options available for devs out there?

I went out for a hunt in my own brain to figure out how to clarify the situation. I came up with the following 4 categories for Nostr Clients: - Super Clients: These apps merge vastly different domains into a single application, offering basic support for reading, writing, configuration, and data management for each use case within each domains. An example would be an app that combines a Marketplace and Live Streams under one roof.

• Clients: These apps provide comprehensive support for a single domain, handling all its use cases in a single home. They manage the complete set of reading, writing, configuration, and long-term data management within that domain. An example is a marketplace app that helps users manage product catalogs, process orders, collect payments, and handle fulfillment and reports.

• Mini Clients: These apps focus on read and write functionality for a single use case, including configuration management and any actions related to that specific task. For example, a fulfillment app that helps users view orders placed from another client to then pack and ship them.

• Micro Clients: These apps have a single interface and perform one specific action. Viewing and creating a record is handled by separate micro apps. An example is an app that simply scans an order's QR code and marks it as shipped.

Based on my made-up categories described at the end, this is how I would split our most known apps.

Super Clients - amethyst - nostrudel - coracle

Clients - damus - twitter - primal - twitter - snort - twitter - gossip - twitter - lume - twitter - ditto - twitter - rabbit - twitter - freefrom - twitter - nos - twitter - flycat - twitter - straylight - twitter - nostter - twitter - iris - twitter - nostur - twitter - nostrmo - twitter - yana - twitter - openvibe - twitter - freerse - twitter - 0xchat - chats - cornychat - chats - coop - chats - nostrchat - chats - blowater - chats - habla - blogs - yakihonne - blogs - highlighter - blogs - blogstack - blogs - stemstr - music - wavlake - music - fountain - podcasts - zap.stream - live streaming - shopstr - marketplace - plebeian.market - marketplace - flotilla - communities - satellite - communities - zapddit - communities - nostr.kiwi - communities - hivetalk - video calls - flare - long-form videos - nostrnests - audio spaces - wherostr - location - yondar - location - stacker.news - news - flockstr - events - nostrocket - issue tracker - docstr - docs - satshoot - freelance - wikifreedia - wiki - formstr - forms - chesstr - chess - memestr - meme feed - npub.cash - wallet - npub.pro - websites - gitworkshop - dev tools - onosendai - metaverse - degmods - games - turdsoup - prompts

Mini Clients - amber - signer - alby - signer - nos2x - signer - nsec.app - signer - keys.band - signer - nostrame - signer - nokakoi - anon - zap.cooking - recipes - anonostr - anon - getwired - anon - lowent - anon - creatr - exclusive content - lightning.video - exclusive content - zaplinks - slides - listr - lists - zap.store - app store - badges.page - badges - oddbean - news - dtan - torrents - nosta - user pages - pinstr - pinterest - pollerama - polls - swarmstr - trending - nostrapp - apps manager - noogle - search - ostrich.work - job postings - emojito - emoji manager - nostree - links - citrine - local relay - joinstr - coinjoins - heya - crowdfunding - zapplepay - zaps - nosbin - clipboard - shipyard - scheduler - tunestr - live streams - filestr - files - nostrcheck.me - media hosting - sheetstr - spreadsheets - crafters - curriculum vitae

Micro Clients - w3 - url shortener - nosdrive - backups - zaplife - zaps dashboard - zapper.fun - payments - nostrends - trends - zephyr - trends - wavman - music player - nostrrr - relay info - nosdump - relay info - notestack - blogs - nostr.build - media hosting - nostr.watch - relay info - nostr hours - use reports - lazereyes - vision prescriptions - snakestr - games - deletestr - deletion requests - 2048str - games - nostrqr - qr generator - notanostrclient - anon

Super apps will try to do everything, but can't really do most things super well. Regular-sized Clients will try to manage most of a given domain but are likely to centralize users on themselves, an unwanted effect inside of Nostr. If we want Nostr to grow in a decentralized fashion, we have to start betting on and using more Mini and Micro clients.

@ 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 :)

@ 5af07946:98fca8c4

The earliest public model of chatGPT (version 3.0) used around 12000 mathematical dimensions to internalize the context of around 50,000 words of text. It did so by crawling through the data from internet, digital books in public domain and code repositories. This in itself is a breakthrough but consider the later versions that learnt music and art.

It begs the question : how many dimensions must a human mind have - it may be trained in text, music, art and thousands of other skills - agriculture, metallurgy, transportation to state the obvious.

And what does it take to create a consistent three-dimensional visual experience ?

Though it is hard to compare a biological neural network such as human brain with a software neural network such as chatGPT, yet it is common acceptance that a synapse in the biological terms ( roughly equal to number of dendrites per neurons) is equivalent to a "parameter" in the computing paradigm of software neural networks.

The chatGPT version 4 is estimated to have 100 Trillion parameters whereas a single human brain has around 700 trillion synapses (assuming around 100 billion neurons, each having 7000 dendrites). It's amazing that each one of us carry seven times the natural intelligence than the biggest artificial neural network as of 2024.

Even more amazing is the fact that we run such vast neural network on just 2000 calories per day - almost equal to a 100 watts light bulb, whereas chatGPT consumes as much energy as 26000 US homes. This efficiency is key to the idea of higher general intelligence. For example Elephants or Whales have bigger brains than us, but our advantage is we survive on much less due to our smaller size. No wonder there are only seven or eight chatGPT like models, while there are eight billion of us!

Another way to think about it is that AI needs to be 700 billion times more efficient to out do humans. Even then it may be hard because we already have millions of years of early start advantage. In essence, AI is no threat to humans. It is a cool utility that we should embrace to improve our conscious experience. As with any technology, there is always a chance of misuse - you can kill someone with a kitchen knife. Investigating such misuse (when reported) is the responsibility of law and order, but it doesn't mean we start regulating the industry. Regulation must always be a reactive posture - not proactive.

There is another argument given to scare the people - that humans fight with each other whereas all AIs may be singularly focused. Nothing can be farther from the truth because as soon as AI's number start growing, there will be a fight for resources among competing models. No computing system is free from competition just the way all biological systems must compete to evolve.

@ 7c765d40:bd121d84

We are in the midst (or middle for the non-fancy folks out there) of the BIGGEST transition in human history.

The crazy part?

Most people have no idea.

I mean, they have probably heard this at their latest webex or conference that they were paid to attend.

But they don't truly understand the magnitude of this shift.

The world will look completely different in a decade or two from now.

Unrecognizable.

And I believe, for the much better.

Think about how much has changed in the last 20 years.

2004.

What did it look like?

From my experience, cell phones were few and far between.

I remember my grandpa, who was an auctioneer, had a phone in his truck.

It looked like a normal home phone but used a HUGE antenna on top of the truck to pick up signal.

I don't even know what it was called but it was pretty bad ass at the time.

Then phones became mobile.

T9. The snake game. Ten cents per text.

Wow that was a fun trip down memory lane.

Back to the point.

How will the world look in 20 years from now?

It's almost impossible for someone like me to predict that.

There will be many things that nobody saw coming.

But we can break it down to the skills, traits, and trends based on both people and businesses.

And if my calculations are correct, they will be intertwined by then.

The people who will make a dent: self-belief, good communicators, strong personal networks, low time preference, highly skilled, multiple sources of income, holding hard assets, and crazy.

The people who will suffer: lazy, stubborn, slow, fat, single source of income, high time preference, holding paper assets, and crazy.

Moral of the story? Everyone is crazy.

Let's talk about businesses.

I believe in 20 years, everyone will be their own business.

Or at least, the 80/20 rule will shift.

Traditional system, about 20% have their own business while 80% are employees.

That will flip.

So what type of businesses will succeed?

Decentralized, agile, high quality products, focus on health, open source, and traditional values.

They will hire the best person for the job.

And the businesses that will fail?

Centralized, rigid, low quality products, monopolies, government funded, closed source, and a woke mentality.

I used my assistant Claude to help confirm some of these theories.

He did a great job of organizing some of these and also ended with an appropriate summary.

Success will come to those who can rapidly learn, unlearn, and relearn.

While maintaining a dynamic and growth oriented mindset.

Notice he didn't say anything about diversity, equality, and inclusion.

We are back baby.

We are fuckin back!

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PROJECT POTENTIAL - You can now find the expanded audio versions of these on the new podcast - Project Potential! I will be sharing the video versions here for the LITF members but you can also find it for free on Spotify and of course Fountain!

Here is the link to Episode 002 on Fountain: https://fountain.fm/episode/AHGwJ66NcgYZ7V2YFvAu

Have a great day everyone! Happy Thanksgiving to all our American brothers and sisters.

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Jor

@ 76724cf1:ba40319f

(A healthy lifestyle can help you live longer by reducing your risk of disease and other health problems. Eating a nutritious diet and exercising regularly may increase your life expectancy. Other factors, like overeating and drinking more than a moderate level of alcohol, may increase your risk of certain diseases. Here are 10 healthy lifestyle you can add to your daily activity that will help you live longer: 1. Exercise: Regular physical activity can help you live longer and lower your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and some cancers. You can try to get at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise per day. 2. Eat well: A healthy diet includes lots of vegetables, fruits, nuts, whole grains, and healthy fats. You can try to limit red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, trans fat, and sodium. 3. Maintain a healthy weight: A normal body mass index (BMI) is between 18.5 and 24.9. 4. Don't smoke: Smoking is not healthy at any level. 5. Get enough sleep: A regular sleeping pattern is important for regulating cell function and helping your body heal. Try to go to bed and wake up around the same time each day. 6. Build a strong social network: Staying connected with others can help you live longer. You can try volunteering or reaching out to people with similar interests. 7. Get regular checkups: Seeing your doctor regularly can help you stay healthy and prevent problems 8. Adding some nuts to your daily routine may keep you healthy and help you live longer 9. Develop a good sleeping pattern: A recent study reports that longevity is likely linked to regular sleeping patterns, such as going to bed and waking up around the same time each day. Developing a sleep routine that includes 7–8 hours of sleep each night may help you live longer 10. Have a positive attitude: A positive attitude towards aging can contribute to a healthier and more enjoyable life. Just be happy, passionate and try to enjoy life

The bottom line is longevity may seem beyond your control, but many healthy habits may lead you to a ripe, old age. Following these few tips and applying them to your life can make all the difference Taken together, these habits can boost your health and put you on the path to a long life And importantly, don't forget to be happy. Enjoy your life.

@ 06b7819d:d1d8327c

The Bank of Amsterdam (Amsterdamse Wisselbank), established in 1609, played a pivotal role in the early history of banking and the development of banknotes. While banknotes as a concept had been pioneered in China centuries earlier, their modern form began emerging in Europe in the 17th century, and the Bank of Amsterdam leveraged its unique position to dominate this nascent monetary tool.

Founding and Early Innovations

The Bank of Amsterdam was created to stabilize and rationalize Amsterdam’s chaotic monetary system. During the early 1600s, a plethora of coins of varying quality and origin circulated in Europe, making trade cumbersome and unreliable. The Wisselbank provided a centralized repository where merchants could deposit coins and receive account balances in return, denominated in a standardized unit of account known as “bank money.” This “bank money” was more stable and widely trusted, making it an early form of fiat currency.

The Rise of Banknotes

Although the Wisselbank initially issued “bank money” as a ledger-based system, the growing demand for portable, trusted currency led to the adoption of transferable receipts or “banknotes.” These receipts acted as claims on deposited money and quickly became a trusted medium of exchange. The innovation of banknotes allowed merchants to avoid carrying large quantities of heavy coinage, enhancing convenience and security in trade.

Monopoly on Banknotes

The Wisselbank’s reputation for financial stability and integrity enabled it to establish a monopoly on banknotes in the Dutch Republic. The bank’s stringent policies ensured that its issued notes were fully backed by coinage or bullion, which bolstered trust in their value. By centralizing the issuance of notes, the bank eliminated competition from private or less reliable issuers, ensuring its notes became the de facto currency for merchants and traders.

Moreover, the bank’s policies discouraged the redemption of notes for physical coins, as it charged fees for withdrawals. This incentivized the circulation of banknotes rather than the underlying specie, cementing their role in the economy.

Decline of the Monopoly

The Wisselbank’s monopoly and influence lasted for much of the 17th century, making Amsterdam a hub of global trade and finance. However, as the 18th century progressed, financial mismanagement and competition from other emerging financial institutions eroded the Wisselbank’s dominance. By the late 18th century, its role in the global financial system had diminished, and other European financial centers, such as London, rose to prominence.

Legacy

The Bank of Amsterdam’s early monopolization of banknotes set a precedent for centralized banking and the development of modern monetary systems. Its ability to create trust in a standardized, portable medium of exchange foreshadowed the role that central banks would play in issuing and regulating currency worldwide.

@ 6d8e2a24:5faaca4c

Why do people enjoy pain and a short time pleasure, which could ruin their life and peace?

Why can't people leave their fleshy desires, obsession and pleasures even if it kills them?

Many have become slaves to their obsession having no will of theirs, claiming to be free yet imprisoned by their futility and lust.

We thought we have closed all the doors and windows, turn off the light so no one can see us, least so we thought to ourselves, forgetting our conscience is wide open, and God who sit in heaven watching, like it was never night nor dark, sees through us for he is light ruling over darkness.

The devil working upon our obsession making it a reality. The devil always uses our sinful, lustful desire to trick us given an end vain pleasure

We fall once, down with the guilt and pain of sin, the weight of the burden once thought, destroying the spirit and causing so many pains of regret, low self-esteem, and lack of confidence again.

He comes again not to bring new but to dwell in our past, bringing memories, mistakes, and errors making us feel more guilty and vulnerable, making us feel worthless and hopeless "We are doomed, so we think, God can't help us, our sins are too many; and with that, he finds a way to make us fall again, destroying us slowly till we are empty, having no will (stronghold).

Like a fire 🔥 lit in a bush, small as it is no one thought it could cause so much harm, or rather they thought they could control it or, put it off when they don't need it or, get bizarre.

Anything that has passed infantry allowed to grow is difficult or impossible to control so is a sin when is allowed to grow like a fire covering many areas is hard to put all areas off fast before one knows many areas are damaged many are beyond repairs

Every day we wake up, we plan how our lives, and how we are going to live the day, without the slimmest thought of contention, 'what if'. We do believe we have everything under control, everything planned out, but we forget that we are nothing but a sand timer that runs down so quickly than we thought.

Like the sand timer, our lives fade away gently, piece by piece till we cease to exist, only then, do we understand that we are rebels in this kingdom, not owners for we own nothing, with the dust reaching its last, the heartbeat and craves for more time, then we also understand, that time is never enough and time is so precious and priceless

Why do we always feel as if we have all the time in the world? why do we assume death to be a fairytale or a horror ghost story just to scare us out? Without having a sting.

Every day death proves more eager, the grave is so desperate that it looms looking and searching for any opportunity necessary to sting it stings.

But we are so carried away by life, deceived by what we have, the power, authority, and influence. We feel we are covered, yes we are but only to some certain extent. For life is so spiritual, than we could ever imagine or think of.

The night comes darkness looms over, evil rises, and fear grips one's heart, all wishing for the light. But now is no longer darkness that's so terrifying, but light itself has become as terrifying as the darkness, people wishing to live through the light, now wish the same to live through the night, for in it they find peace and comfort 😢

Why, I ask why, why has light become so terrifying and darkness become more comforting that the people find solace in it?

I came to understand why people find comfort in darkness is because they are afraid of selves afraid of what they have become, darkness does not challenge but rather allows you to wallow in your misery and regret, killing and draining you where no one will correct you or remind you, that you are not good enough, darkness gives you the room to accept who and what you have become, and there and then it echoes is better to die and live in peace than to be alive and live in misery.

Why will one think of death as the only option or think of death as the only solution to peace, is living not joyful, is life not great to live, why will one wish to leave all, family, friends everything, and settle for death?

I came to understand that, the most reason why one tends to choose death over life or loves to behold the warmth of darkness instead of light, is the feeling of emptiness and internal failure even after a significant measure, of material and social success, is a direct result of failure to discover purpose in life and a reason of being, when one loses his peace, joy all that's left or remain is pain, and regret. When a man reaches a stage of emptiness, where nothing else again matters life itself has no meaning, then it's only a test of time before destruction befalls such a person

Even the rich are depressed and frustrated beholding the enticement of the dark, and many try to drink themselves up, to them is the only way to find peace within, why, after so much wealth and achievement yet feel lonely, his greatest friends are alcohol and nights.

If money, riches cant give fulfillment or perfect peace then what can?

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

NOTE: this is just a quick technical guide. sorry for the lack of details

Install NodeJS

Download it from the official website https://nodejs.org/en/download

Or use nvm https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm?tab=readme-ov-file#install--update-script

bash wget -qO- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash nvm install 20

Clone example config.yml

bash wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/hzrd149/blossom-server/master/config.example.yml -O config.yml

Modify config.yml

```bash nano config.yml

or if your that type of person

vim config.yml ```

Run blossom-server

```bash npx blossom-server-ts

or install it locally and run using npm

npm install blossom-server-ts ./node_modules/.bin/blossom-server-ts ```

Now you can open http://localhost:3000 and see your blossom server

And if you set the dashboard.enabled option in the config.yml you can open http://localhost:3000/admin to see the admin dashboard

@ 7e6f9018:a6bbbce5

Sovint governs i premsa publiquen dades del coneixement de català entre la població. Aquestes dades només representen una etapa en el procés lingüístic, i no reflecteixen bé l’estat de la llengua, ja que una llengua només té futur si s’empra. El coneixement és una etapa necessària de cara a emprar-la, però no és l’etapa final, aquesta etapa és l’ús.

I quin és l’estat de l’ús del català? Si miram les dades d’ús habitual, veim que la llengua catalana du els darrers cent anys estancada en quasi el mateix nombre de parlants habituals. L’any 1930 hi havia uns 2,5 milions de parlants, i l’any 2018 hi havia 2,7 milions.

Ús habitual del català a Catalunya, en milions de parlants. Els trams en puntets són una estimació de l’evolució, partint de les afirmacions de Joan Coromines i estimant la corba d’acord amb el creixement poblacional de Catalunya.

Aquestes dades no serien necessàriament negatives si la integritat lingüística sigues forta, és a dir, si la seva existència no estigués amenaçada per altres llengües. Però la població de Catalunya ha passat de 2,7 milions l’any 1930, a 7,5 milions l’any 2018. Això significa que els parlants habituals de català avui només són el 36% de la població de Catalunya, el 1930 aquests representaven el 90% de la població.

Ús habitual del català a Catalunya, en percentatge de parlants. Els trams en puntets són una estimació de l’evolució, partint de les afirmacions de Joan Coromines i estimant la corba d’acord amb el creixement poblacional de Catalunya.

La llengua que ha anat guanyant presència és majorment el castellà, que ha passat de 200.000 parlants el 1930 a 3,8 milions el 2018. Amb tot, els parlants d’altres llengües estrangeres (500.000 parlants) també han crescut més que no pas els catalanoparlants en els darrers cent anys.

Notes, fonts i metodologia

Les dades de 2003 endavant estan extretes de l'Idescat (font). Abans de 2003 no existeixen dades oficials, però sí que podem fer interpretacions partint d'evidències històriques. Les dades anteriors a 2003 estan calculades partint de dues evidències:

• 1a interpretació: El 1930 el 90% de la població de la CAC parlava català de forma habitual. Font i evidència: El lingüista en llengües romàniques Joan Coromines i Vigneaux (un lingüista prestigiós del segle XX), va afirmar a la seva obra de 1950 (El que s'ha de saber de la llengua catalana), que "Dins aquest territori [Gran Catalunya] gairebé tota la població parla el català com a llengua habitual" (1, 2). "Gairebé tota" no és un nombre, però a efectes quantitatius ho podem interpretar com un nombre entre 80 i 100. Per tal de fer una interpretació moderada partirem del 90% de població, amb el 10% restant essent immigrants i funcionaris de l'estat Espanyol.
• 2a interpretació: En relació amb el creixement poblacional entre 1930 i 1998, de mitjana el 60% és a causa de la immigració (que és o s'assimila a la llengua castellana) i el 40% és creixement natural (que adopta i aprèn el català des de petit). Font i evidència: Entre el període 1999 - 2019 (que sí que hi ha dades ben desagregades), sabem que la immigració va causar el 68% del creixement poblacional. Entre el 1930 i 1998 es va viure una onada migratòria de similar magnitud a la dels 2000 (especialment entre el 1953 i 1973), i que fou d'origen castellanoparlant (3, 4, 5, 6). Per tal de fer una interpretació moderada partirem del 60% com a opció de creixement poblacional causat per la immigració, amb els percentatges que fluctuaran segons si és un període de més o menys creixement total.

@ bc6ccd13:f53098e4

Of all the common misconceptions about money, this is the deepest and most pervasive. It taps into the very psychology that makes money the most powerful tool in the world. Money works in large part because, for most practical purposes, you can assume that money and wealth are the same thing and be very successful in life.

The problem is, it's a completely false premise. And without purging that assumption from your mental framework, understanding money and economics at a fundamental level is impossible.

Luckily, money is such an effective tool that it can continue to "mostly" function even without anyone understanding it at a fundamental level. It's a lot like gravity in that regard. You don't need to understand general relativity to learn how to walk. But unlike gravity, money is a powerful tool that can easily be used to exploit the less knowledgeable. That's why the general acceptance of this particular false idea is such a tragedy; it enables theft and exploitation on a global scale, and leaves the victims unable to identify the perpetrators or understand their methods.

Money as a Social Technology

So let's unpack this misconception. We can start with a simple example. You've been shipwrecked on a desert island with only the clothes on your back. After a day under the blistering sun, you're presented with two options: a billion dollars in cash, or a case of bottled water. Which one do you choose? If you chose the water, congratulations. You survived because you were able to differentiate money from real wealth.

Now run the same experiment, but place yourself in the water aisle at Costco. Suddenly you choose differently. This shows a few key requirements for money to be useful. One, you need the real wealth, the actual goods and services. If there is no bottled water on that island, all the money in the world won't do you a lick of good. Two, you need someone willing to exchange the real wealth for your money. If you're alone on that island and you find a bottle of water, you don't need money to drink it, you just help yourself. Both requirements are essential.

This shows us that money is a social technology. Understanding the purpose and function of this technology is critical to dispensing with misconceptions like "money=wealth".

Money and Civilization

What's the difference between a subsistence hunter/gatherer lifestyle and the modern civilization we all enjoy today? Specialization of labor, and complex supply chains. And what enables those civilizational necessities? Money.

In a subsistence situation, everything you have is created start-to-finish by you or by your immediate family or tribe. Everyone has to be a sort of jack-of-all-trades, at least at a group level. If you want a shelter, you collect the natural materials and build it yourself. If you need clothes, you collect the fibers or skins, process them, and use the fabric to sew your own outfit.

Contrast that with the electronic device you're using to read these words right now. How many people does it take to build a smartphone? Millions. Can one person do it? Absolutely not. You could give anyone in the world an entire lifetime and there's no way they could mine, process, and assemble the raw materials into a functional smartphone. It's simply too complex, too many processes and too much specialized knowledge and machinery needed. Not to mention doing it at a cost that most people on the planet can afford. That miracle is only possible because millions of people specialize in one tiny specific task related to making one part of a complex item, over and over again. The efficiency of only doing one specific task instead of being a generalist is what makes civilization possible.

But there's a problem. The person who's doing one specific task to make part of one widget still needs to eat, have a place to live, clothes to wear, etc. But how do you get all that while working a full time job making widgets? You can't do it all yourself, you need to buy those things from someone else who, similarly, specializes in those necessities of life. You need money. Money is what makes the whole thing work.

Money and Barter

So what exactly is money and how does it work? In a subsistence society, you can use barter to trade with strangers. You give them some fish, they give you some clothing, everyone is happy. But barter has major problems, and doesn't work at all in complex supply chains with specialized workers. Specialized jobs don't produce valuable finished goods that can be bartered. When you solder circuit boards all day, you can't go to your local farmer and trade ten "solder circuit board" for a dozen eggs.

Enter money. Money solves multiple problems that arise with barter. For one, it creates a way to compare extremely dissimilar things. How many fish is a pound of butter worth? How many eggs? With barter, every good or service has to be priced in relation to every other good or service it's exchanged for. This is impossibly cumbersome and inefficient. Having money as a unit of account is as essential to trade as having a uniform inch is to building a house. A single carpenter might be able to use the width of his hand to measure boards, but get two carpenters working together and that "handbreadth" no longer works.

Second, money solves the problem of not having the correct item to barter with. If your neighbor has butter and you have fish, but your neighbor hates fish and will only accept a chicken, barter won't work. But if you can just pay him with money, he can go buy whatever he prefers.

Third, money creates a way to value and reimburse specialized work. That's arguably the most important aspect.

The Social Contract Underlying Money

So what makes money function? Why would someone accept a piece of paper with a picture of a dead president in exchange for a very real and very valuable good or service? Well, the obvious answer is that they can be certain they'll be able to exchange that piece of paper with someone else and get an equally valuable good or service in the future. This is circular logic though, and leads some economists to mistakenly attribute the value of money to a "collective delusion". But since every known advanced civilization has used some form of money, calling it a delusion is both inaccurate and boorishly pretentious.

To understand the real mechanism behind the phenomenon, we have to consider how money is acquired. As anyone who has ever earned an honest wage knows, getting a paycheck requires two things. One, producing a valuable good or service. And two, giving that good or service to someone else instead of immediately consuming it yourself.

The first point is self-explanatory. If what you produce isn't valuable, no one will buy it.

The second point needs a bit more explanation. Money is a social technology, it's only valuable in a purely monetary sense when there's someone else to trade with. When you make yourself a few eggs for breakfast, you don't pay yourself for frying the eggs. Obviously. But if you eat your eggs, then go to your job as a short-order cook at the local diner, you may spend the morning getting paid to do exactly what you did "for free" at home. The difference is in the deferred consumption.

When you do a favor for someone, morality and the spirit of fairness dictates that they would be willing to return the favor in the future when you need something from them. That's how it works in a family or small community. People "owe each other one," and favors are reciprocated regularly without any money changing hands in a kind of informal credit system. But if one person starts to take advantage of others' generosity and requests a lot of favors, but always fails to reciprocate when asked, people catch on quickly. The parasitic behavior will be met with increasing unwillingness to help from members of the family or community, and in extreme cases, even exile from the community itself.

This informal credit system is the simplest and most fundamental form of money, and we can learn the basic principle behind why money works by observing it. We can see that a person accumulates "credits" by contributing productive value to others without getting anything in return. The "credits" are informal mental ledger credits that represent "this person has done something productive and valuable for someone else, which means he deserves to receive something valuable in the future." If a person contributes generously enough to the community, he will build up so much "credit" with everyone that he can expect generous help in return from any member of the community.

The shortcomings of this informal credit system are that one, it doesn't provide a unit of measurement to compare different goods and services accurately. This can lead to misunderstanding and disputes when different people don't value services the same way. Someone can feel that they are contributing more to the community than they're getting back in return. And two, it relies heavily on trust, and only works between people who interact on a regular basis. It would be foolish to provide favors to a stranger of unknown reputation, or someone who's just traveling through the area, because in either case there's no expectation of establishing a reciprocal relationship with that individual.

Money is just a way to formalize and expand that local, informal mental ledger. It's a way to keep track, on a societal level, who has contributed their fair share to the community and is deserving of reciprocal treatment. When someone buys something from you, although you don't consciously think through what's happening, on a subconscious level you're participating in a societal dialogue that goes something like this: "This person has money, which means they're a capable, generous, reciprocal person who has contributed more to the community than they've taken. Fairness dictates that they deserve something of value as a reward for their pro-social behavior. By taking their money, and giving them something of value, I can perpetuate the cycle of rewarding people who generously and capably do work that benefits others, and that will be beneficial to me personally and also to society as a whole. By having the money they give me, I can then also signal to others that I'm the same type of generous, reciprocal, productive person, and I can expect to be rewarded for that in the future when I try to exchange this money for valuable goods and services."

So the money has value, not because of some inherent quality of the paper or gold or mental "credit," but because it represents past productive behavior, but without immediate consumption. The money itself is not wealth, it's just an abstract representation, a kind of scorecard or ledger entry, of the real wealth that the holder of the money has already produced.

Money and Capital Formation

This dialogue or unwritten contract is the foundation of modern civilization. It's powerful, because deferred consumption is the mechanism of capital formation, and capital formation is the foundation of complex supply chains and technological progress.

You might be able to catch enough fish to feed your family with a crude rod and line. But building a modern fishing trawler (a valuable capital good) takes thousands of people working together for a long time. All that hard work doesn't result in any fish being caught throughout the process, and all those people could instead be out fishing and catching a lot of fish to eat. But by deferring that consumption and instead putting that effort into building a capital good, you end up with a huge fishing trawler. Once it's finished, a few of those thousands of people can catch more fish in a week than all the thousands of them combined could have caught over the whole time it took to build the trawler. That makes fishing much easier and more effective in the future, making food much more plentiful and increasing the standard of living for the whole society. And money is what makes all that possible on a global scale.

Final Thoughts

Given how critical this system is to civilization, any attack on money and its function is an existential threat. Unfortunately, a failure to understand the true nature of money leads to reliance on less nuanced or completely false ideas like "money=wealth". And that gives psychological cover to parasitic anti-social behavior like creating money and giving it away to buy votes, and all sorts of other destructive and dishonest shenanigans. Understanding that money is not wealth exposes the folly of all these schemes that purport to make people wealthier simply by creating more money. Believing that money is wealth makes the MMT clowns and the Keynesian grifters sound at least marginally credible. But those are specific misconceptions that need their own detailed explanation.

For now, reprogramming your mental framework to draw a strong distinction between money and real wealth will give you a solid foundation to understand economics, and to critique the many incorrect theories presented by the parasitical elements who wish to muddy the waters and avoid scrutiny of their anti-civilizational exploitation.

@ 63d59db8:be170f6f

Thrilled to share that we’ll be part of the 5th annual Press Play Art/Book Fair hosted by Pioneer Works!

We’re bringing the last 50 copies of ISSUE N.001 (from a run of just 500) to the table. This might be your final chance to snag one - and at a sweet discount, too. Trust me, it hits different when you can hold it, flip through it, and see the work up close.

Swing by, say hi, grab a copy, and maybe chat about whatever randomness is on your mind.

Oh, and yes, marbles will absolutely be on the table.

We’ll be at table 84 (in red with yellow box) in the way back, so voyage yourself down and find us there.

December 7/8th, 2024

Address: 159 Pioneer Street; Brooklyn, NY 11231

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr is not decentralized nor censorship-resistant

Peter Todd has been saying this for a long time and all the time I've been thinking he is misunderstanding everything, but I guess a more charitable interpretation is that he is right.

Nostr today is indeed centralized.

Yesterday I published two harmless notes with the exact same content at the same time. In two minutes the notes had a noticeable difference in responses:

The top one was published to wss://nostr.wine, wss://nos.lol, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com. The second was published to the relay where I generally publish all my notes to, wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com, and that is announced on my NIP-05 file and on my NIP-65 relay list.

A few minutes later I published that screenshot again in two identical notes to the same sets of relays, asking if people understood the implications. The difference in quantity of responses can still be seen today:

These results are skewed now by the fact that the two notes got rebroadcasted to multiple relays after some time, but the fundamental point remains.

What happened was that a huge lot more of people saw the first note compared to the second, and if Nostr was really censorship-resistant that shouldn't have happened at all.

Some people implied in the comments, with an air of obviousness, that publishing the note to "more relays" should have predictably resulted in more replies, which, again, shouldn't be the case if Nostr is really censorship-resistant.

What happens is that most people who engaged with the note are following me, in the sense that they have instructed their clients to fetch my notes on their behalf and present them in the UI, and clients are failing to do that despite me making it clear in multiple ways that my notes are to be found on wss://pyramid.fiatjaf.com.

If we were talking not about me, but about some public figure that was being censored by the State and got banned (or shadowbanned) by the 3 biggest public relays, the sad reality would be that the person would immediately get his reach reduced to ~10% of what they had before. This is not at all unlike what happened to dozens of personalities that were banned from the corporate social media platforms and then moved to other platforms -- how many of their original followers switched to these other platforms? Probably some small percentage close to 10%. In that sense Nostr today is similar to what we had before.

Peter Todd is right that if the way Nostr works is that you just subscribe to a small set of relays and expect to get everything from them then it tends to get very centralized very fast, and this is the reality today.

Peter Todd is wrong that Nostr is inherently centralized or that it needs a protocol change to become what it has always purported to be. He is in fact wrong today, because what is written above is not valid for all clients of today, and if we drive in the right direction we can successfully make Peter Todd be more and more wrong as time passes, instead of the contrary.

---

See also:

• Censorship-resistant relay discovery in Nostr
• A vision for content discovery and relay usage for basic social-networking in Nostr

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

GitHub is a software project graveyard

I think the main reason why we have so many lone wolf devs is an economic one. The fact that most FOSS devs aren't being paid for their code is making this worse, not better, as they work for fame, not fortune.

Nobody wants to use joint-repos because they don't want to give up or share the property rights to the contents. But because anything someone else does in a repo you own, also belongs to you, people are disincentized from contributing to your repo.

GitHub, especially, has incentivized this splintering and isolation. Everyone wants to have all changes in their own repo because they can profit best on repos listed directly under their own name, so long as they become popular. Maximize your 🟩 and ⭐ , like chips you can cash in for a prize.

And because forking other people's repos is the norm, rather than teamwork, requests for changes are usually ignored or responded to with "fork it, bro." Go away. Leave me alone. My repo is none of your business.

Too autistic, even for me

So, the developers separate their efforts into a million tiny repos that are mostly redundant with other ones, there's little interaction, progress is often surprisingly slow and stalls for months at a time, it's hard to keep track of what other people are doing (so that you can review and test changes), most of the effort is headed straight for the bin, people build the same things over and over, and communication is extremely limited.

This is a work environment that is unattractive for anyone who isn't autistic and/or highly introverted. Half of the fun of open-source development used to be the esprit de corps. Much has been said about #Bluesky, but it all misses a major point: that's where you go, if you want to work with other people, to build something large, polished, and impressive. It doesn't actually matter how many developers Nostr has, if they all only stare at their own plates.

Your repo coulda been a file folder.

Ironically, git was developed for collaboration on large projects with a distributed team. Now, everyone uses it for projects they work on alone. They put those projects on the Internet to market them. It's a cheap gimmick, not an earnest attempt at collaboration. Collaboration begins at the beginning.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

GraphQL vs REST

Today I saw this: https://github.com/stickfigure/blog/wiki/How-to-(and-how-not-to)-design-REST-APIs

And it reminded me why GraphQL is so much better.

It has also reminded me why HTTP is so confusing and awful as a protocol, especially as a protocol for structured data APIs, with all its status codes and headers and bodies and querystrings and content-types -- but let's not talk about that for now.

People complain about GraphQL being great for frontend developers and bad for backend developers, but I don't know who are these people that apparently love reading guides like the one above of how to properly construct ad-hoc path routers, decide how to properly build the JSON, what to include and in which circumstance, what status codes and headers to use, all without having any idea of what the frontend or the API consumer will want to do with their data.

It is a much less stressful environment that one in which we can just actually perform the task and fit the data in a preexistent schema with types and a structure that we don't have to decide again and again while anticipating with very incomplete knowledge the usage of an extraneous person -- i.e., an environment with GraphQL, or something like GraphQL.

By the way, I know there are some people that say that these HTTP JSON APIs are not the real REST, but that is irrelevant for now.

@ 6a3d3f20:6a569bcc

En el mundo de las redes sociales descentralizadas, múltiples protocolos buscan resolver problemas relacionados con la privacidad, la interoperabilidad y la resistencia a la censura. Entre ellos, destacan Nostr, AT Protocol (usado por Bluesky) y ActivityPub (adoptado por Mastodon). Cada uno tiene sus méritos, pero Nostr se ha posicionado como una opción innovadora con ventajas únicas que lo diferencian de sus competidores.

Ventajas del Protocolo Nostr

1. Sencillez y Minimalismo

   • Arquitectura simple: A diferencia de otros protocolos que requieren complejas infraestructuras, Nostr se basa en un diseño minimalista. Solo necesita claves públicas/privadas y relays para funcionar, lo que reduce los puntos de fallo y facilita su implementación. • Facilidad de desarrollo: Los desarrolladores pueden crear aplicaciones rápidamente sin enfrentarse a las complejidades técnicas de protocolos más elaborados como ActivityPub.

2. Resistencia a la Censura

   • Modelo distribuido: Nostr no depende de servidores centralizados ni de federaciones específicas. Esto lo hace más resistente a la censura, ya que los mensajes se replican en múltiples relays, y un relay censurado no afecta al resto del sistema. • Claves privadas como identidad: La identidad de los usuarios no depende de una instancia o servidor. Conservar la clave privada permite mantener el control total sobre la identidad.

3. Interoperabilidad y Flexibilidad

   • Compatibilidad con múltiples aplicaciones: Nostr permite que las aplicaciones utilicen el mismo protocolo para diversos casos de uso (mensajería, redes sociales, pagos, etc.), a diferencia de ActivityPub, que está más limitado a redes sociales. • Extensibilidad: Al ser un protocolo simple, puede ser extendido fácilmente para adaptarse a nuevos usos o necesidades.

4. Neutralidad y Descentralización

   • Sin entidades centralizadas: Nostr no depende de organizaciones o consorcios que dicten reglas, a diferencia de AT Protocol o ActivityPub, que están influenciados por sus comunidades o estructuras de gobernanza. • Incentivos abiertos: No hay jerarquías ni dependencias, lo que permite una verdadera descentralización sin riesgo de monopolios.

5. Privacidad y Seguridad

   • Cifrado de extremo a extremo: Al depender de claves públicas y privadas, se garantiza un alto nivel de privacidad y seguridad en las comunicaciones. • Anonimato opcional: Los usuarios pueden interactuar sin necesidad de compartir datos personales.

Conclusión

Nostr destaca entre otros protocolos descentralizados por su sencillez, resistencia a la censura y verdadera neutralidad. Mientras que AT Protocol y ActivityPub tienen sus fortalezas, su complejidad y dependencia de entidades específicas limitan su alcance. Nostr representa una solución ágil y poderosa que podría convertirse en el estándar para un internet más libre y descentralizado.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Haskell Monoids

You've seen that <> syntax and noticed it is imported from Data.Monoid?

I've always thought <> was a pretty complex mathematical function and it was very odd that people were using it for Text values, like "whatever " <> textValue <> " end.".

It turns out Text is a Monoid. That means it implements the Monoid class (or typeclass), that means it has a particular way of being concatenated. Any list could be a Monoid, any abstraction you can think of for which it makes sense to concatenate could be a Monoid, and it would use the same <> syntax. What exactly <> would do with that value when concatenating depends on its typeclass implementation of Monoid.

We can assume, for example, that Text implements Monoid by just joining the text bytes, and now we can use <> without getting puzzled about it.

@ 2779f3d9:1a7f98d1

NOSTR SDK FOR APPLE PLATFORMS

Progress Report # 1: Aug - Oct 2024

Nostr SDK for Apple Platforms made great strides this quarter. I was the sole developer who maintained Nostr SDK for Apple Platforms part-time, as the other core contributors, unfortunately, could not commit time to developing or reviewing code for the project.

Approximately 50% of the tasks listed in the original OpenSats application have been completed. Moreover, implementations of several other NIPs / event kinds not listed in the application were fixed or added.

There was a substantial architecture change in how Nostr event kinds are built to improve the project's code maintainability and scalability as more NIPs and event kinds are supported. Specifically, certain event kinds support several handfuls of tags, some of which have complex logic. This requirement resulted in the introduction of a large, unmaintainable number of parameters in event creation methods in the EventCreating protocol. Multiple event kinds share some tags, but the EventCreating architecture made it difficult to share logic. By deprecating the EventCreating protocol in favor of the NostrEventBuilding protocol, we can encourage a composable architecture: decompose each event kind tag into a separate builder function, and tags shared across multiple event kinds can re-use the same code. This architecture change has and will pay dividends in future changes. For example, labels, custom emojis, and threading are concepts and tags shared across multiple event kinds, and their implementation has been made substantially more manageable with this architecture. Vitor Pamplona, developer of Amethyst, applauded the architecture design by saying: It's nice indeed. I will be copying your SDK patterns on Kotlin :)

I battle-tested Nostr SDK for Apple Platforms in the wild by integrating it into Comingle iOS, an events app powered by Nostr, solely developed by me. It was launched and used at Nostriga in August 2024 for attendees to see the conference schedule and RSVP to talks. It proved that a developer could quickly use the SDK to build a functional iOS app on Nostr using Swift.

1) How did you spend your time?

Below is a broken-down summarized bulletpointed list of completed tasks.

Development of Nostr SDK for Apple Platforms

Added

• NIP-17 Private Direct Messages
• NIP-31 alt tags
• NIP-32 Labeling
• NIP-36 Sensitive Content / Content Warning
• NIP-40 Expiration Timestamp
• Add NostrEventBuilding protocol to enable flexible composition of shared patterns across different kinds of NostrEvents
• Add Swift 6.0 to unit tests
• Integration into Comingle iOS client to battle-test SDK

Updated

• NIP-01 - Add missing test coverage for referencedEventIds and referencedPubkeys functions in TextNoteEventTests
• NIP-01 - Add referencedPubkeys, referencedEventIds, and referencedEventCoordinates to NostrEvent
• NIP-01 - Fix incorrect test fixture and assertions in TextNoteEventTests for replies
• NIP-10 - Refactor threaded event tag building and interpreting logic so non-kind-1 events can reuse them
• NIP-25 Reactions - Add ReactionEvent.Builder to deprecate equivalent function in EventCreating
• NIP-42 Authentication - Add AuthenticationEvent.Builder to deprecate equivalent function in EventCreating
• NIP-42 - Deprecate AuthenticationEvent initializer in favor of AuthenticationEvent.Builder
• NIP-59 Gift Wrap - Add support for receiver aliases for gift wrap creation to avoid exposing identities and improve test coverage
• Fix GitHub workflows to trigger on pull_request_target so that they can run on PRs from public forks
• Expose RelayResponse.Message and RelayResponse.MessagePrefix as public
• Fix SwiftLint errors from latest SwiftLint release
• Fix GitHub workflows to also run on main branch
• Update README with current list of NIPs

In Progress

• NIP-28 Public Chat - Review pull request from external contributor developing Skatepay
• NIP-57 Lightning Zaps
• Deprecate EventCreating protocol in favor of NostrEventBuilding protocol for the remaining event kinds

2) What do you plan to work on next quarter?

The remaining items in the original application to OpenSats include: - Deprecate EventCreating protocol in favor of NostrEventBuilding protocol for the remaining event kinds - Provide better support for integrating data models with persistence layers - Add unit tests and graceful handling for bad data from relays - Outbox model support / relay abstraction on top of events - Integrate demo app with more implemented NIPs - Integrate Nostr SDK for Apple Platforms further into Comingle iOS for further battle-testing - Support Damus, Nos.social, Primal, and other clients as they integrate with parts of the SDK by answering questions, fixing any issues they have, adding requested features, and reviewing pull requests - Consider integrating SDK NIP-44 v2 encryption or NIP-17 DMs with Damus iOS to battle-test implementation and push for deprecation of NIP-04 DMs - NIP-28 Public Chat - Review pull request from external contributor developing Skatepay - NIP-47 Nostr Wallet Connect - Review pull request from external contributor - NIP-57 Lightning Zaps

3) How did you make use of the money?

Living expenses.

@ c755de14:cc53833a

Do you ever have one of those days where nothing seems to be going the way you planned?

And suddenly you find yourself in a bad mood?

... which then goes on to having a bad day.

Because I have.

Here's the good news: Bad days? They happen to everyone, because we're human and sometimes our emotions get the best of us.

The even better news is that we can do something about these bad days and make them better.

Here Are What To Do When You're Having A Bad Day

1. Take a step back from the situation and breathe.

When you're having a bad day, remove yourself from the situation and give yourself room to breathe and process through what you're going to.

Allow yourself to feel your feelings, but don't wallow in them or feel sorry for yourself.

Its okay to have bad days. We all have them.

It's unrealistic to expect every day to be a good day, because we're human and sometimes life is messy and hard.

I know that when I'm having a bad moment or day, the last thing I want to do is calm myself down and breathe. But honestly? It helps so much and it works.

Being upset is a choice. Staying angry is another choice.

All of these are choices, and we can either choose to let go and move on or hold on to what's making us feel bad. But I promise being kind to yourself and having empathy is a way better choice than beating yourself up and making yourself feel worse.

2. Remember that a bad day does not equal a bad life.

Nor does it mean that you are a person who is "bad at living life". I know I've told myself that one a couple of times.

"You just suck at life."

No, you don't suck at life.

Maybe you're having one of those days where nothing seems to working out - and that's okay. We all have days that are frustrating and annoying. It happens to all of us, but it's not so much about what happens to us as much as how we react to it.

So maybe you didn't have the most wonderful morning, it doesn't mean your whole day has to be bad or upsetting.

Don't turn a single moment into your entire life.

3. Change your attitude and mindset.

Ultimately, we are responsible for how we feel.

And if having bad days is a common occurrence in your life, then it might be time to re-evaluate.

We've all heard the story of how two people could be driving in traffic and have different experiences. One is grateful and spends their commute jamming out to their favorite playlist or listening to their favorite podcast while the other is fuming the whole way.

Ask yourself which one you are now and which one you'd like to be.

**Check yourself before you wreck yourself. **

Are you having a bad day, or do you just have a bad attitude?

And trust me, I totally get it. I'm still working on my own attitude and working on practicing gratitude.

4. Don't surround yourself with people who complain about their bad days.

We all know how much misery loves company, but it's time to stop inviting misery to stay in our lives. Trust me, it's not here to help your bad day feel better.

Have you ever had a bad day and just wanted to complain to someone? And the person you're complaining to also had a bad day? And suddenly, it feels like you're competition over who had the worst day.

But... instead of this happening only once or twice, it's a daily occurrence for most people. Or maybe even multiple times a day.

If you surround yourself with people who complain and enable you to complain, you're going to have a lot of bad days (and a bad attitude). And you're going to feel bad about feeling bad.

So take yourself out of the situation.

And don't feel bad about it.

Because there's nothing to feel bad about.

@ db0d2c60:3fa9d265

Bitcoin is nice

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

Chef's notes

Leftover ground beef? Not sure what to do with it?

Here’s what I do with mine. I call it…

The Beef Panzone

It’s like an omelette, a calzone, and a quesadilla had a baby. I called it that for now, but hey, if you’ve got a better name, lemme hear it!

The beef’s already cooked and seasoned with sea salt, but feel free to spice it up however you like.

Watch the video here: https://video.nostr.build/ad4856d2704ab0626a1907f5da8fedcb776495080bbaa92f4472db402c9f689d.mp4

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5
• 🍳 Cook time: 10
• 🍽️ Servings: 1-2

Ingredients

• ground beef
• 2-3 eggs
• water
• sea salt
• honey
• coconut oil

Directions

1. Leftover ground beef – Chop it into small pieces. Trust me, the smaller, the better—it’ll cover more surface area in the pan.
2. Two eggs, whipped with a dash of water.
3. Heat up a small pan.
4. Add coconut oil (around a tablespoon).
5. Once the oil’s warmed up, throw in the beef.
6. Stir it around.
7. I like to add local honey here—sweeten it up to your taste.
8. Mix it all around.
9. Pour in the egg mixture, making sure it spreads out evenly. I use chopsticks here because they make it easier to maneuver.
10. Use those chopsticks to poke through the egg and let the uncooked top flow to the pan. This speeds up cooking time.
11. Cover it for 1–3 minutes.
12. Optional step: Cut it down the middle.
13. Fold it over like a calzone.
14. Plate it up, either by flipping the pan over onto the plate or scooping it out.
15. PANZONE!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Temperos

"Templates as a service", or "temperaas", changed to "temperos" later because it was a nice pun in Portuguese.

The ideas was that it would take an URL with any file and some querystring parameters, then replace {{paramName}} with the parameters from the querystring and serve it, all stateless.

Created to make it easy for people to embed scripts on Websites For Trello (but of course it was too hard for most people).

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/temperos
• https://temperos.alhur.es/

@ 65912a7a:5dc638bf

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 12-14oz fresh cranberries
• 1⅓ cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 orange, peeled & chopped
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Using medium sauce pan, simmer cranberries and water for 5-6 min. Cranberries will start to pop.
2. Add brown sugar, raisins, and chopped orange to the berries.
3. Bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 20 min. Stir often to prevent sticking. Remove from heat.
4. Let set until room temp. Mixture will thicken as it cools.
5. Put in a covered container and keep refrigerated. Lasts for about 2 weeks.

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Artist Statement

The Earth Lens series is a harmonious fusion of art and nature, inviting unknowing viewers to step beyond the ordinary and immerse themselves in the lost intricacies of the surrounding landscape. These interactive earthworks serve as portals to the natural world, drawing us into a deeper connection with land around us; while forcing us to consider the impermanence of the world around.

Each unique Earth Lens is meticulously crafted and placed with an eye for perspective. The choice of location is deliberate, aligning with a prominent or unique feature of the land chosen to highlight. Whether perched atop a hill, nestled within a forest, or overlooking a serene lake, every lens captures a unique viewpoint. The curvature of the frame guides our gaze, emphasizing certain elements—a distant mountain peak, a winding river, or a cluster of wildflowers.

Accompanying each Earth Lens lies a small bench, providing the viewer with an invitation to linger. Positioned precisely where the lens frames its most captivating view, the bench beckons viewers to sit and absorb the work. Take a seat, and time slows down.

Where did this work came from? How long it has been standing? Who built it? The bench becomes a vessel for contemplation, a place to savor the beauty before us and question the permanence of time.

As the sun traverses the sky, Earth Lenses orchestrate a symphony of light. Through this interplay, we discover that art and nature are not separate entities but interconnected threads in the grand tapestry of existence. In the quietude of an Earth Lens, we rediscover wonder. These humble yet profound installations remind us that beauty lies not only in the grand vistas but also in the delicate details—the curve of a petal, the ripple on water, the whisper of wind through grass. So, take a seat, peer through the lens, and let the Earth reveal its magic.

Impermanence

As an artist, I am drawn to the ephemeral nature of the natural world and the impermanence of the structures that inhabit it. My Earth Lens series is a reflection of this fascination, as each installation is intentionally designed to be temporary, existing for only a brief period of time before being reclaimed by the natural world.

This impermanence is a deliberate choice, as I believe it allows the work to become an integral part of the landscape itself, rather than simply a static monument. By placing the lenses in unique and dynamic locations, I aim to create a sense of continuity and connection between the art and the environment, even as the art itself is in a state of flux. In this sense, the Earth Lens series is not a fixed or static entity, but rather a dynamic and evolving process.

It is a reminder that beauty and meaning are not fixed, but rather are constantly being reinterpreted and recontextualized. By embracing the impermanence of the natural world, and the impermanence of the art itself, I hope to create a sense of wonder and awe, and to inspire viewers to slow down, observe, and appreciate the beauty that's all around us, even as it's constantly changing.

---

List of works in the series:

001- 'Looking Glass'. Boulder, USA [2016]

002- 'Folsom'. Boulder, USA [2016]

003- 'Sanctuary'. Castle Pines, USA [2016]

004- 'Platte'. Littleton, USA. [2017]

005- 'Grandfather'. Dawei, Myanmar [2020]

006- 'Chongming'. Shanghai, China [2021]

---

Originally published in 2016 by Hes.

Republished to habla.news/u/hes@nostrplebs.com on 11/27/2024 with slight edits.

---

Find me elsewhere:

Website

Store

@ 6d8e2a24:5faaca4c

In this article, I seek to show how and why Bitcoin is different than all the other altcoins that exist.

How People Progress in Bitcoin

1. Wow, Bitcoin is amazing! There’s a limit to how many will ever exist and significant control over my own money. How do I get some?

2. Mining sounds really cool. That sounds like where the money is going to get made. How do I get miners and start making some Bitcoin?

3. Mining looks really hard and difficult. I guess it’s better if I just buy it. Now where can I go buy some?

4. Awesome, now I own some Bitcoin, but what are all these other coins? Are they going to take over sometime?

5. I want to hedge against Bitcoin self destructing somehow. Maybe I should buy some of these altcoins.

6. I can’t possibly look into every altcoin there is, there’s just too many of them. How do I choose?

7. I know, I’ll just buy the most popular ones since they’re probably the most likely to have any chance at all of beating Bitcoin anyway.

8. Hmm, but the popular ones look pretty expensive. Maybe I’ll buy some of these other ones that are just starting.

Many people stop and stay at a particular step. For example, I know many people that have never bought Bitcoin but have simply mined all the Bitcoins they own. They’ll gladly spend thousands on mining equipment but would never actually buy Bitcoin on the market. There are others that stay on the Bitcoin step and never proceed to look into altcoins. There are still others that hedge with pretty much every altcoin out there. Point is, that this pattern of looking for the best way to take advantage of this new innovation progresses in a predictable way, but different people are convinced by different things.

@ 7e6f9018:a6bbbce5

Per les xarxes socials es parla amb efusivitat de que Bitcoin arribarà a valer milions de dòlars. El mateix Hal Finney allà pel 2009, va estimar el potencial, en un cas extrem, de 10 milions $:

As an amusing thought experiment, imagine that Bitcoin is successful and becomes the dominant payment system in use throughout the world. Then the total value of the currency should be equal to the total value of all the wealth in the world. Current estimates of total worldwide household wealth that I have found range from $100 trillion to $300 trillion. Withn 20 million coins, that gives each coin a value of about $10 million. https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/bitcoin-list/threads/4/

No estic d'acord amb els càlculs del bo d'en Hal, ja que no consider que la valoració d'una moneda funcioni així. En qualsevol cas, el 2009 la capitalització de la riquesa mundial era de 300 bilions $, avui és de 660 bilions $, és a dir ha anat pujant un 5,3% de manera anual, $$(660/300)^{1/15} = 1.053$$

La primera apreciació amb aquest augment anual del 5% és que si algú llegeix aquest article i té diners que no necessita aturats al banc (estalvis), ara és bon moment per començar a moure'ls, encara sigui amb moviments defensius (títols de deute governamental o la propietat del primer habitatge). La desagregació per actius dels 660 bilions és:

1. Immobiliari residencial = 260 bilions $
2. Títols de deute = 125 bilions $
3. Accions = 110 bilions
4. Diners fiat = 78 bilions $
5. Terres agrícoles = 35 bilions $
6. Immobiliari comercial = 32 bilions $
7. Or = 18 bilions $
8. Bitcoin = 2 bilions $

La riquesa mundial és major que 660 bilions, però aquests 8 actius crec que són els principals, ja que s'aprecien a dia d'avui. El PIB global anual és de 84 bilions $, que no són bromes, però aquest actius creats (cotxes, ordinadors, roba, aliments...), perden valor una vegada produïts, aproximant-se a 0 passades unes dècades.

Partint d'aquest nombres com a vàlids, la meva posició base respecte de Bitcoin, ja des de fa un parell d'anys, és que te capacitat per posar-se al nivell de capitalització de l'or, perquè conceptualment s'emulen bé, i perquè tot i que Bitcoin no té un valor tangible industrial com pot tenir l'or, sí que te un valor intangible tecnològic, que és pales en tot l'ecosistema que s'ha creat al seu voltant:

• Creació de tecnologies de pagament instantani: la Lightning Network, Cashu i la Liquid Network.
• Producció d'aplicacions amb l'íntegrament de pagaments instantanis. Especialment destacar el protocol de Nostr (Primal, Amethyst, Damus, Yakihonne, 0xChat...)
• Industria energètica: permet estabilitzar xarxes elèctriques i emprar energia malbaratada (flaring gas), amb la generació de demanda de hardware i software dedicat.
• Educació financera i defensa de drets humans. És una eina de defensa contra governs i estats repressius. La Human Rights Foundation fa una feina bastant destacada d'educació.

Ara posem el potencial en nombres:

• Si iguala l'empresa amb major capitalització, que és Apple, arribaria a uns 160 mil dòlars per bitcoin.
• Si iguala el nivell de l'or, arribaria a uns 800 mil dòlars per bitcoin.
• Si iguala el nivell del diner fiat líquid, arribaria a un 3.7 milions de dòlars per bitcoin.

Crec que igualar la capitalització d'Apple és probable en els pròxims 5 - 10 anys. També igualar el nivell de l'or en els pròxims 20 anys em sembla una fita possible. Ara bé, qualsevol fita per sota d'aquesta capitalització ha d'implicar tota una serie de successos al món que no sóc capaç d'imaginar. Que no vol dir que no pugui passar.

@ ddf03aca:5cb3bbbe

Recently, I have been surrounded by people experimenting with various projects, and a common theme among them is the use of cashu as the payment layer. While this fact alone is already great, the best part is to identify users and implementers needs and combining forces to come up with novel solutions.

---

Subscriptions with Cashu

One of the most remarkable aspects of cashu is that it is a bearer asset. This hands ownership and control back to the user. Even though mints back the tokens, they have no authority to move a token on behalf of a user or any other party. How cool is that?

However, this also introduces challenges when building subscription-based services. Subscriptions typically require periodic payments, and with cashu, users must renew these manually. Currently, there are two primary approaches to address this:

1. Overpaying:
   To minimize the number of interactions, users can pay for longer periods upfront. For example, instead of paying 2,100 sats for one hour, they could pay 6,000 sats for three hours. If they realize they don’t need the full three hours, the excess payment is effectively wasted.

2. Full Interactivity:
   In this setup, payers and receivers stay connected through a communication channel, and payments are made at small, regular intervals. While this avoids overpayment, it requires constant connectivity. If the connection is lost, the subscription ends.

---

Enter Locking Scripts

One of the most powerful features of cashu is its locking scripts. Let’s take a quick refresher. A locking script defines the conditions under which a token (or "nut") becomes spendable. In essence, it’s similar to Bitcoin’s spending conditions, but instead of being enforced by the Bitcoin network, these conditions are enforced by the cashu mint alone.

A widely-used locking condition is Pay-to-Public-Key (P2PK). This locks a token to a specific public key, meaning it can only be spent when a valid signature from the key’s owner is provided. This mechanism is what enables NIP-61 nut zaps, where a token can be publicly shared but is only claimable by the intended recipient who holds the private key.

To address situations where a recipient loses access to their keys or simply doesn’t claim the token, P2PK includes additional options: locktime and a refund key. These options allow for the inclusion of a fallback mechanism. If the primary lock expires after a set time, a refund key can reclaim the token.

With these tools, we can now create non-interactive payment streams!

---

One Missing Piece…

Before diving into payment streams, there’s one more crucial concept to cover: cashu tokens are not singular "things". Instead, they’re composed of multiple proofs, each carrying its own cryptographic data and spendability. For example, if you receive a cashu token made up of five proofs, you could choose to claim only three proofs and leave the other two untouched. This flexibility is rarely utilized but is vital for building payment streams.

---

The Grand Finale: Payment Streams

Now that we have all the building blocks, let’s construct a payment stream using cashu. By leveraging locking scripts, refund keys, and multiple proofs, we can design a token that enables recipients to claim small portions of the total amount at regular intervals—without requiring any further interaction from the sender.

Even better, as the sender, you retain the ability to cancel the stream at any time and reclaim any unspent portions.

Example: Renting a VPS

Imagine renting a VPS for a week, priced at 1,000 sats per day. Here’s how a payment stream could work:

1. Construct a token worth 7,000 sats to cover the entire week.
2. Divide the token into 7 proofs, each worth 1,000 sats.
3. Lock each proof using a P2PK script, locking to your key and adding the recipients key as a refund key.
4. The first proof has a locktime of now.
5. The second proof has a locktime of now + 1 day.
6. The third proof has a locktime of now + 2 days, and so on.

When the token is sent, the receiver can immediately claim the first proof since its locktime has expired and the refund key is now able to claim. The second proof becomes claimable after one day, the third after two days, and so on.

At the same time, the sender retains the ability to reclaim any unclaimed proofs by signing with their key. If you decide to stop using the VPS midweek, you can cancel the stream and reclaim the remaining proofs; all without further interaction with the receiver.

---

With this approach, we can create robust, non-interactive payment streams that combine the autonomy of cashu with the flexibility to reclaim funds.

Thank you for reading. Make sure to leave a nut if you enjoyed this :)

@ f977c464:32fcbe00

Kendisini aynada ilk defa gördüğü o gün, diğerleri gibi olduğunu anlamıştı. Oysaki her insan biricik olmalıydı. Sözgelimi sinirlendiğinde bir kaşı diğerinden birkaç milimetre daha az çatılabilirdi veya sevindiğinde dudağı ona has bir açıyla dalgalanabilirdi. Hatta bunların hiçbiri mümkün değilse, en azından, gözlerinin içinde sadece onun sahip olabileceği bir ışık parlayabilirdi. Çok sıradan, öyle sıradan ki kimsenin fark etmediği o milyonlarca minik şeyden herhangi biri. Ne olursa.

Ama yansımasına bakarken bunların hiçbirini bulamadı ve diğer günlerden hiç de farklı başlamamış o gün, işe gitmek için vagonunun gelmesini beklediği alelade bir metro istasyonunda, içinde kaybolduğu illüzyon dağılmaya başladı.

İlk önce derisi döküldü. Tam olarak dökülmedi aslında, daha çok kıvılcımlara dönüşüp bedeninden fırlamış ve bir an sonra sönerek külleşmiş, havada dağılmıştı. Ardında da, kaybolmadan hemen önce, kısa süre için hayal meyal görülebilen, bir ruhun yok oluşuna ağıt yakan rengârenk peri cesetleri bırakmıştı. Beklenenin aksine, havaya toz kokusu yayıldı.

Dehşete düştü elbette. Dehşete düştüler. Panikle üstlerini yırtan 50 işçi. Her şeyin sebebiyse o vagon.

Saçları da döküldü. Her tel, yere varmadan önce, her santimde ikiye ayrıla ayrıla yok oldu.

Bütün yüzeylerin mat olduğu, hiçbir şeyin yansımadığı, suyun siyah aktığı ve kendine ancak kameralarla bakabildiğin bir dünyada, vagonun içine yerleştirilmiş bir aynadan ilk defa kendini görmek.

Gözlerinin akları buharlaşıp havada dağıldı, mercekleri boşalan yeri doldurmak için eriyip yayıldı. Gerçeği görmemek için yaratılmış, bu yüzden görmeye hazır olmayan ve hiç olmayacak gözler.

Her şeyin o anda sona erdiğini sanabilirdi insan. Derin bir karanlık ve ölüm. Görmenin görmek olduğu o anın bitişi.

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Ben geldiğimde ölmüşlerdi.

Yani bozulmuşlardı demek istiyorum.

Belleklerini yeni taşıyıcılara takmam mümkün olmadı. Fiziksel olarak kusursuz durumdaydılar, olmayanları da tamir edebilirdim ama tüm o hengamede kendilerini baştan programlamış ve girdilerini modifiye etmişlerdi.

Belleklerden birini masanın üzerinden ileriye savurdu. Hınca hınç dolu bir barda oturuyorlardı. O ve arkadaşı.

Sırf şu kendisini insan sanan androidler travma geçirip delirmesin diye neler yapıyoruz, insanın aklı almıyor.

Eliyle arkasını işaret etti.

Polislerin söylediğine göre biri vagonun içerisine ayna yerleştirmiş. Bu zavallılar da kapı açılıp bir anda yansımalarını görünce kafayı kırmışlar.

Arkadaşı bunların ona ne hissettirdiğini sordu. Yani o kadar bozuk, insan olduğunu sanan androidi kendilerini parçalamış olarak yerde görmek onu sarsmamış mıydı?

Hayır, sonuçta belirli bir amaç için yaratılmış şeyler onlar. Kaliteli bir bilgisayarım bozulduğunda üzülürüm çünkü parasını ben vermişimdir. Bunlarsa devletin. Bana ne ki?

Arkadaşı anlayışla kafasını sallayıp suyundan bir yudum aldı. Kravatını biraz gevşetti.

Bira istemediğinden emin misin?

İstemediğini söyledi. Sahi, neden deliriyordu bu androidler?

Basit. Onların yapay zekâlarını kodlarken bir şeyler yazıyorlar. Yazılımcılar. Biliyorsun, ben donanımdayım. Bunlar da kendilerini insan sanıyorlar. Tiplerine bak.

Sesini alçalttı.

Arabalarda kaza testi yapılan mankenlere benziyor hepsi. Ağızları burunları bile yok ama şu geldiğimizden beri sakalını düzeltip duruyor mesela. Hayır, hepsi de diğerleri onun sakalı varmış sanıyor, o manyak bir şey.

Arkadaşı bunun delirmeleriyle bağlantısını çözemediğini söyledi. O da normal sesiyle konuşmaya devam etti.

Anlasana, aynayı falan ayırt edemiyor mercekleri. Lönk diye kendilerini görüyorlar. Böyle, olduğu gibi...

Nedenmiş peki? Ne gerek varmış?

Ne bileyim be abicim! Ahiret soruları gibi.

Birasına bakarak dalıp gitti. Sonra masaya abanarak arkadaşına iyice yaklaştı. Bulanık, bir tünelin ucundaki biri gibi, şekli şemalı belirsiz bir adam.

Ben seni nereden tanıyorum ki ulan? Kimsin sen?

Belleği makineden çıkardılar. İki kişiydiler. Soruşturmadan sorumlu memurlar.

─ Baştan mı başlıyoruz, diye sordu belleği elinde tutan ilk memur.

─ Bir kere daha deneyelim ama bu sefer direkt aynayı sorarak başla, diye cevapladı ikinci memur.

─ Bence de. Yeterince düzgün çalışıyor.

Simülasyon yüklenirken, ayakta, biraz arkada duran ve alnını kaşıyan ikinci memur sormaktan kendisini alamadı:

─ Bu androidleri niye böyle bir olay yerine göndermişler ki? Belli tost olacakları. İsraf. Gidip biz baksak aynayı kırıp delilleri mahvetmek zorunda da kalmazlar.

Diğer memur sandalyesinde hafifçe dönecek oldu, o sırada soruyu bilgisayarın hoparlöründen teknisyen cevapladı.

Hangi işimizde bir yamukluk yok ki be abi.

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Ama bir son değildi. Üstlerindeki tüm illüzyon dağıldığında ve çıplak, cinsiyetsiz, birbirinin aynı bedenleriyle kaldıklarında sıra dünyaya gelmişti.

Yere düştüler. Elleri -bütün bedeni gibi siyah turmalinden, boğumları çelikten- yere değdiği anda, metronun zemini dağıldı.

Yerdeki karolar öncesinde beyazdı ve çok parlaktı. Tepelerindeki floresan, ışığını olduğu gibi yansıtıyor, tek bir lekenin olmadığı ve tek bir tozun uçmadığı istasyonu aydınlatıyorlardı.

Duvarlara duyurular asılmıştı. Örneğin, yarın akşam kültür merkezinde 20.00’da başlayacak bir tekno blues festivalinin cıvıl cıvıl afişi vardı. Onun yanında daha geniş, sarı puntolu harflerle yazılmış, yatay siyah kesiklerle çerçevesi çizilmiş, bir platformdan düşen çöp adamın bulunduğu “Dikkat! Sarı bandı geçmeyin!” uyarısı. Biraz ilerisinde günlük resmi gazete, onun ilerisinde bir aksiyon filminin ve başka bir romantik komedi filminin afişleri, yapılacakların ve yapılmayacakların söylendiği küçük puntolu çeşitli duyurular... Duvar uzayıp giden bir panoydu. On, on beş metrede bir tekrarlanıyordu.

Tüm istasyonun eni yüz metre kadar. Genişliği on metre civarı.

Önlerinde, açık kapısından o mendebur aynanın gözüktüğü vagon duruyordu. Metro, istasyona sığmayacak kadar uzundu. Bir kılıcın keskinliğiyle uzanıyor ama yer yer vagonların ek yerleriyle bölünüyordu.

Hiçbir vagonda pencere olmadığı için metronun içi, içlerindekiler meçhuldü.

Sonrasında karolar zerrelerine ayrılarak yükseldi. Floresanın ışığında her yeri toza boğdular ve ortalığı gri bir sisin altına gömdüler. Çok kısa bir an. Afişleri dalgalandırmadılar. Dalgalandırmaya vakitleri olmadı. Yerlerinden söküp aldılar en fazla. Işık birkaç kere sönüp yanarak direndi. Son kez söndüğünde bir daha geri gelmedi.

Yine de etraf aydınlıktı. Kırmızı, her yere eşit dağılan soluk bir ışıkla.

Yer tamamen tele dönüşmüştü. Altında çapraz hatlarla desteklenmiş demir bir iskelet. Işık birkaç metreden daha fazla aşağıya uzanamıyordu. Sonsuzluğa giden bir uçurum.

Duvarın yerini aynı teller ve demir iskelet almıştı. Arkasında, birbirine vidalarla tutturulmuş demir plakalardan oluşan, üstünden geçen boruların ek yerlerinden bazen ince buharların çıktığı ve bir süre asılı kaldıktan sonra ağır, yağlı bir havayla sürüklendiği bir koridor.

Diğer tarafta paslanmış, pencerelerindeki camlar kırıldığı için demir plakalarla kapatılmış külüstür bir metro. Kapının karşısındaki aynadan her şey olduğu gibi yansıyordu.

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Bir konteynırın içini andıran bir evde, gerçi gayet de birbirine eklenmiş konteynırlardan oluşan bir şehirde “andıran” demek doğru olmayacağı için düpedüz bir konteynırın içinde, masaya mum görüntüsü vermek için koyulmuş, yarı katı yağ atıklarından şekillendirilmiş kütleleri yakmayı deniyordu. Kafasında hayvan kıllarından yapılmış grili siyahlı bir peruk. Aynı kıllardan kendisine gür bir bıyık da yapmıştı.

Üstünde mavi çöp poşetlerinden yapılmış, kravatlı, şık bir takım.

Masanın ayakları yerine oradan buradan çıkmış parçalar konulmuştu: bir arabanın şaft mili, üst üste konulmuş ve üstünde yazı okunamayan tenekeler, boş kitaplar, boş gazete balyaları... Hiçbir şeye yazı yazılmıyordu, gerek yoktu da zaten çünkü merkez veri bankası onları fark ettirmeden, merceklerden giren veriyi sentezleyerek insanlar için dolduruyordu. Yani, androidler için. Farklı şekilde isimlendirmek bir fark yaratacaksa.

Onların mercekleri için değil. Bağlantıları çok önceden kopmuştu.

─ Hayatım, sofra hazır, diye bağırdı yatak odasındaki karısına.

Sofrada tabak yerine düz, bardak yerine bükülmüş, çatal ve bıçak yerine sivriltilmiş plakalar.

Karısı salonun kapısında durakladı ve ancak kulaklarına kadar uzanan, kocasınınkine benzeyen, cansız, ölü hayvanların kıllarından ibaret peruğunu eliyle düzeltti. Dudağını, daha doğrusu dudağının olması gereken yeri koyu kırmızı bir yağ tabakasıyla renklendirmeyi denemişti. Biraz da yanaklarına sürmüştü.

─ Nasıl olmuş, diye sordu.

Sesi tek düzeydi ama hafif bir neşe olduğunu hissettiğinize yemin edebilirdiniz.

Üzerinde, çöp poşetlerinin içini yazısız gazete kağıtlarıyla doldurarak yaptığı iki parça giysi.

─ Çok güzelsin, diyerek kravatını düzeltti kocası.

─ Sen de öylesin, sevgilim.

Yaklaşıp kocasını öptü. Kocası da onu. Sonra nazikçe elinden tutarak, sandalyesini geriye çekerek oturmasına yardım etti.

Sofrada yemek niyetine hiçbir şey yoktu. Gerek de yoktu zaten.

Konteynırın kapısı gürültüyle tekmelenip içeri iki memur girene kadar birbirlerine öyküler anlattılar. O gün neler yaptıklarını. İşten erken çıkıp yemyeşil çimenlerde gezdiklerini, uçurtma uçurduklarını, kadının nasıl o elbiseyi bulmak için saatlerce gezip yorulduğunu, kocasının kısa süreliğine işe dönüp nasıl başarılı bir hamleyle yaşanan krizi çözdüğünü ve kadının yanına döndükten sonra, alışveriş merkezinde oturdukları yeni dondurmacının dondurmalarının ne kadar lezzetli olduğunu, boğazlarının ağrımasından korktuklarını...

Akşam film izleyebilirlerdi, televizyonda -boş ve mat bir plaka- güzel bir film oynayacaktı.

İki memur. Çıplak bedenleriyle birbirinin aynı. Ellerindeki silahları onlara doğrultmuşlardı. Mum ışığında, tertemiz bir örtünün serili olduğu masada, bardaklarında şaraplarla oturan ve henüz sofranın ortasındaki hindiye dokunmamış çifti gördüklerinde bocaladılar.

Hiç de androidlere bilinçli olarak zarar verebilecek gibi gözükmüyorlardı.

─ Sessiz kalma hakkına sahipsiniz, diye bağırdı içeri giren ikinci memur. Söylediğiniz her şey...

Cümlesini bitiremedi. Yatak odasındaki, masanın üzerinden gördüğü o şey, onunla aynı hareketleri yapan android, yoksa, bir aynadaki yansıması mıydı?

Bütün illüzyon o anda dağılmaya başladı.

Not: Bu öykü ilk olarak 2020 yılında Esrarengiz Hikâyeler'de yayımlanmıştır.

@ c755de14:cc53833a

###### Bitcoin's price premium on Coinbase rebounded after flipping negative during the recent pullback, suggesting that American traders may be driving the rally.

What to know

• Bitcoin hits $98,700, up 3.3% in broad crypto rally.

• BTC futures on CME briefly surpassed $100,000 for the second time after last week's first, a sign of strong institutional participation.

• Bitcoin miners BTDR, MARA, RIOT also surged, outpacing crypto-related stocks COIN and MSTR.

One week after its first attempt, bitcoin (BTC) is once again approaching the $100,000 milestone on Friday as crypto prices surged higher alongside the return of U.S. traders following Thanksgiving.

The Coindesk Bitcoin Index climbed to a $98,690 session high during early U.S. hours, advancing 3.3% over the past 24 hours. The broad-market CoinDesk 20 Index surged 6.2% during the same period, indicating that altcoins led the advance. XRP, ADA, RENDER and HBAR booked double-digit gains during the day.

For more information, Check out https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2024/11/29/bitcoin-price-makes-another-run-at-100-k-as-u-s-traders-return-after-thanksgiving

@ fff19d35:43344a0b

The impact of Bitcoin in Nigeria has been significant, driven by the country's economic challenges, including high inflation and a weakening currency. Many Nigerians have turned to Bitcoin as a way to protect their wealth and facilitate cross-border trade ¹.

One of the primary reasons for Bitcoin's popularity in Nigeria is the lack of access to financial services. Fewer than one in four Nigerian adults have a bank account, making Bitcoin an attractive alternative for transactions and savings ¹.

The Nigerian government's ban on certain industries paying for imports using foreign currency has also contributed to the growth of Bitcoin in the country. Businesses have been forced to find alternative ways to pay for imports, and Bitcoin has become a popular solution ¹.

In addition, the Nigerian government's introduction of the e-Naira, a central bank digital currency (CBDC), has also had an impact on the use of Bitcoin in the country. While the e-Naira is designed to provide a digital alternative to cash, it is centralized and controlled by the government, whereas Bitcoin is decentralized and operates independently of government control ¹.

The rise of Bitcoin in Nigeria has also been driven by the country's growing tech-savvy population and the increasing availability of cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms ².

Overall, the impact of Bitcoin in Nigeria has been significant, providing an alternative to traditional financial systems and facilitating cross-border trade and transactions.

@ 2fb77d26:c47a6ee1

»Worte interessieren nur da, wo sie zu Taten führen«, notierte ich vor knapp 15 Jahren für einen meiner Texte. Gelten sollte diese Prämisse vor allem für Wahlversprechen. Doch die Geschichte zeigt, dass von den vollmundigen Zusicherungen eines Wahlkampfes nach Amtsantritt kaum etwas umgesetzt wird. Davon muss wohl auch in Bezug auf die US-Präsidentschaftswahl 2024 ausgegangen werden. Auch wenn viele immer noch auf eine »Trockenlegung des Sumpfes« hoffen. Ein Überblick.

Original mit Quellen (VÖ: 14.11.2024): https://www.regenauer.press/trump-reloaded

Unterhaltsam ist es bisweilen. Keine Frage. Ist ja auch Politainment. Fake. Eine Show. Eine ziemlich kostenintensive dazu. Und einer gewissen Schadenfreude kann man sich in der Tat kaum verwehren, betrachtet man die irrationalen Reaktionen, Nervenzusammenbrüche und infantilen Ausraster der Wahlverlierer – dem Lager, das in puncto Covid, Klimaschutz und Genderpolitik nie einen Hehl aus seinen totalitären Anwandlungen machte. Leider wird aus Spaß aber schnell bitterer ernst. So tötete ein psychisch labiler Mann aus Minnesota am Tag nach Donald Trumps Wahlsieg zuerst seine ehemalige Partnerin und deren Kind, dann seine Frau und den eigenen Sohn, und anschließend sich selbst. Während die Polizei bislang kein offizielles Tatmotiv kommuniziert, implizieren Social-Media-Beiträge des 46-jährigen Demokraten, dass seine Angst vor den Republikanern, beziehungsweise dem Einzug Trumps ins Weiße Haus, durchaus Auslöser des Amoklaufes sein könnten.

Während die weithin von »Wokeness« beseelten Demokraten ihre Wunden lecken, zelebrieren das konservative Lager der Republikaner und die MAGA-Apologeten einen vermeintlich historischen Sieg. Trump selbst verspricht bei seiner Siegesrede ein »goldenes Zeitalter«. Dass er jetzt »alles in Ordnung bringen« werde. Die Krypto-Branche wähnt sich im Aufwind. Der Bitcoin-Kurs steigt. Dow Jones, S&P 500 und Nasdaq erreichen neue Allzeithochs. In Iowa soll 2026 eine Art Weltausstellung stattfinden, um das 250-jährige Jubiläum Amerikas zu feiern. Bis zum Beginn der Feierlichkeiten sollen Elon Musk und Vivek Ramaswamy die Ausgaben des Staatsapparats um zwei Billionen US-Dollar reduziert haben. Natürlich ist Trump auch die letzte Chance der USA, um endlich die Grenze zu Mexiko zu sichern. Und von Robert F. Kennedy Jr. erwartet man, die Vereinigten Staaten im Rahmen eines MAHA-Programmes – »Make America Healthy Again« – wieder gesund zu machen.

Im Überschwang der Euphorie – oder Frust der Niederlage – fällt gerne unter den Tisch, dass Wähler in Amerika den Präsidenten gemäß Verfassung gar nicht direkt wählen dürfen, weil das für die Wahl des Präsidenten zuständige Electoral College im Prinzip völlig unabhängig vom eigentlichen Wahlausgang entscheiden kann. Die Wahlmänner könnten auch jeden anderen zum Staatsoberhaupt ernennen. Ob das Volk ihn will, oder er überhaupt angetreten ist, spielt rein formal gar keine Rolle. Bei genauerer Betrachtung also nicht unbedingt Demokratie in Reinform. Egal. Schnöde Details. »Trust the plan. Wir haben gewonnen. Geschichte wurde geschrieben« – und so weiter.

Die NATO gibt unterdes zu Protokoll, dass sich an ihrer geostrategischen Agenda »nichts ändern wird, egal, wer die Wahl gewinnt«, weil das »im Interesse der Vereinigten Staaten liege«. Vielleicht hat das US-Militär ja deshalb nur wenige Stunden nach Schließung der Wahllokale eine Minuteman III Interkontinentalrakete zu Testzwecken abgefeuert. Eine Langstreckenwaffe, die drei einzeln steuerbare Atomsprengköpfe transportieren kann.

Auch das Ron Paul Institute rechnet nicht mit grundlegenden Veränderungen und führt diverse Bereiche an, die unabhängig von der Besetzung des Oval Office ein Problem bleiben werden: Kontinuierliche Unterminierung der Verfassung, Krieg gegen die eigene Bevölkerung, Tiefenstaat, Washingtons ausufernde, verstetigte Notstandsermächtigungen, Militärinterventionen in aller Welt, maßlose Korruption und staatliche Tyrannei. Klingt nicht wirklich nach einem goldenen Zeitalter.

Die Reaktionen rund um die US-Wahl – ob positiv oder negativ, ob vor Ort oder im Rest der Welt – veranschaulichen jedenfalls, dass Wahlen Emotionsamplituden auslösen, die in keiner Relation zu dem stehen, was ein Präsident, Kanzler oder Premierminister tatsächlich bewirken kann. Sonst hätte Trump den tiefenstaatlichen »Sumpf« ja schon in seiner ersten Amtsperiode trockenlegen können.

Während die Demokraten also darauf warten, dass die USA ab dem 20. Januar 2025 zur Diktatur verkommen und auf Demonstrationen gegen das Resultat der US-Variante von Demokratie protestieren, fiebern die anderen dem Anbruch eines goldenen Zeitalters entgegen.

Genug Zeit also, den 47. Heilsbringer im Oval Office noch einmal genauer unter die Lupe zu nehmen. Denn auch wenn Donald Trump sich fraglos darauf versteht, zu unterhalten und große Reden von Freiheit und staatlicher Souveränität, von Weltfrieden und Prosperität zu schwingen, sprechen seine Taten zumeist eine ganz andere Sprache.

Fangen wir vorne an: Dank der Zurückstellung vom Wehrdienst konnte Donald Trump bereits 1968 bei Trump Management einsteigen, dem Unternehmen seines Vaters Fred C. Trump, der vor allem mit staatlichen geförderten Wohnungsbauprojekten – »Federal Housing Projects«, heute die Ghettos von New York – zum Multimillionär geworden war. 1971 übernahm Donald im Alter von 25 Jahren die Geschäftsleitung der Firma. Bei Interviews prahlt er bis heute gerne damit, dass sein Vater ihm in jungen Jahren »lediglich einen kleinen Kredit« über eine Million Dollar als Startkapital gewährte. Daraus habe er dann als gewiefter Unternehmer ein Immobilienimperium erschaffen. Dieser Darstellung widerspricht ein Artikel der New York Times (NYT) vom 2. Oktober 2018, der basierend auf Steuer- und Buchhaltungsunterlagen kalkuliert, dass Donald Trump gut 60 Millionen US-Dollar an Krediten erhielt.

»Im Alter von drei Jahren verdiente Trump am Imperium seines Vaters 200.000 Dollar jährlich. Mit acht Jahren war er Millionär. Mit 17 Jahren überließ ihm sein Vater einen Teilbesitz an einem Mehrfamilienhaus mit 52 Wohneinheiten. Kurz nachdem Trump das College abgeschlossen hatte, erhielt er von seinem Vater jährlich umgerechnet eine Million Dollar. Über die Jahre stiegen die jährlichen Schenkungen. In seinen Vierzigern und Fünfzigern lagen sie bei über fünf Millionen Dollar jährlich.«

Als Fred Trump im Juni 1999 verstarb, hatte der trickreiche Unternehmer und Steuerallergiker seinem Sprössling nach Berechnungen der NYT insgesamt 413 Millionen Dollar überschrieben. Selbst wenn New York Times, Associated Press und Co. im Jahr 2018 mit diesen Artikeln fraglos Stimmung gegen Trump machen wollten, kann dessen selbstbeweihräuchernde Darstellung augenscheinlich nicht ganz der Wahrheit entsprechen.

Aber: Er hatte Erfolg. Und das war in der Immobilienbranche des New Yorks der 70er und 80er nicht selbstverständlich. Denn sie wurde von der Mafia dominiert. Von den »Fünf Familien«. Wer nicht den Schutz von »Fat Tony« Salerno, Carmine Galante, Paul Castellano et al. genoss, den Bossen der Genovese-, Bonanno- und Gambino-Familien, hatte schlechte Karten. Das wusste auch Donald Trump. Also macht er Gebrauch von den exzellenten Kontakten seines Freundes, Mentors und Anwalts Roy Cohn, der nicht nur enge Verbindungen zum langjährigen FBI-Chef J. Edgar Hoover pflegte, sondern unter anderem auch Nancy Reagan, die Besitzer des Studio 54, Andy Warhol, die katholische Erzdiözese und die Führungsetage der fünf Mafia-Familien als Anwalt vertrat. Nicht umsonst ist Cohn ein zentraler Charakter in Whitney Webbs Zweiteiler »One Nation under Blackmail«. Den Kontakt zu Cohn, einer Schlüsselfigur für die Zusammenarbeit von Oberschicht und Unterwelt, suchte Donald Trump bereits 1973, als die US-Regierung ein Unternehmen seines Vaters verklagte. Er sollte bestehen bleiben, bis Cohn im August 1986 seiner AIDS-Erkrankung erlag.

Cohns Verbindungen zu Politik, Mafia und Jimmy Hoffas teilkrimineller Teamster-Gewerkschaft sorgten dafür, dass Trump in der Stadt Fuß fassen und sein Geschäft ausbauen konnte. Im Gegenzug war er gezwungen, überteuerte Baumaterialien von Fat Tonys Tarnfirmen zu beziehen. Nach Angaben eines ehemaligen Mitarbeiters von Cohn trafen sich Trump und Salerno in dessen Stadthaus in Manhattan. Trump will sich an ein solches Meeting allerdings nicht erinnern können – obwohl Salerno 1988 unter anderem wegen Erpressung in Höhe von acht Millionen Dollar im Rahmen eines Trump-Bauprojektes rechtskräftig verurteilt wurde. Die Wahrheit kennt wohl nur Trump selbst. Denn Cohn und Fat Tony sind tot.

Sicher ist: Die Geschäftsbeziehungen zwischen Donald Trump und Firmen des organisierten Verbrechens waren intensiver als seinerzeit üblich. Auf Tonbändern des FBI und der US-Staatsanwaltschaft, damals geleitet vom späteren Trump-Anwalt Rudy Giuliani, die beim Abhören von Mafia-Fahrzeugen und -Etablissements entstanden, ist mehrfach von Trump-Projekten die Rede. Donald passte sich dem Geschäftsgebaren seines Umfelds an. Den opportunistischen, skrupellosen, steuervermeidenden Praktiken seines Vaters – und dem von organisierter Kriminalität durchzogenen Filz des Ostküsten-Establishments.

Donald Trumps Frühphase, seine Geschäfte und Geschäftspartner sind also nicht unbedingt ein Paradebeispiel in Sachen Arbeitsethos. Im Vergleich zu seinen späteren Kontakten wirken seine Buddys der 70er und 80er aber fast noch sympathisch – denn Steuern sind Raub und die Mafia pflegt, im Gegensatz zu Regierungen, Militär und Geheimdiensten, zumindest einen Ehrenkodex.

Die 90er begannen für Trump mit finanziellen Turbulenzen. Diverse Bau- und Casino-Projekte liefen nicht wie geplant. Investments warfen nicht den erwarteten Gewinn ab und die Schulden häuften sich bis zur Zahlungsunfähigkeit. In der Öffentlichkeit gab er jedoch weiterhin den erfolgreichen Entrepreneur. 1995 gründe Trump, immer noch bis über beide Ohren verschuldet, eine Aktiengesellschaft und ging an die Börse. Durch diesen Schritt landete er nach 1989 erstmals wieder auf der Forbes-Liste der reichsten Amerikaner. Da die neue AG aber aufgrund der Altlasten mit 1,7 Milliarden Dollar verschuldet war, fiel ihr Börsenkurs zwischen 1996 und 2005 von 35 Dollar auf 17 Cent. Dann wurde der Handel ausgesetzt. Trump bezog aber noch bis 2009 Vergütungen aus der Gesellschaft in Höhe von 44 Millionen Dollar.

Parallel zu diesen fragwürdigen Umtrieben zu Lasten von Anlegern und Geschäftspartnern mauserte sich Donald Trump zum Society-Phänomen. Ob The Apprentice, WrestleMania, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Talkshows oder soziale Anlässe aller Art – Trump war überall, wo sich Öffentlichkeit für Trump generieren ließ. Mit Erfolg. Überschuldung, Zahlungsunfähigkeit, Mafia-Kontakte, Betrugsvorwürfe und juristische Probleme verblassten im omnipräsenten Scheinwerferlicht.

Weniger glamourös dagegen ist Donald Trumps Beziehung zu einem der verachtenswertesten Menschen der jüngeren Vergangenheit – Jeffrey Epstein. Denn während Trump lange Jahre leugnete, überhaupt mit Epstein in Kontakt gestanden zu haben, belegen unlängst veröffentlichte Audio-Mitschnitte, dass er sehr wohl eine Beziehung mit dem verurteilten Sexualstraftäter, Pädophilen, Menschenhändler und Doppelagenten pflegte. Eine sehr enge.

Jeffrey Epstein bezeichnet sich im Zuge der Aufnahmen als »Trumps engsten Freund«. Für über zehn Jahre. Man besuchte die gleichen Partys, kannte die gleichen Leute. Kaum verwunderlich. Epstein war bestens mit dem »Who is Who« des Establishments vernetzt – auch mit dem zwielichtigen Roy Cohn. Es liegt nahe, dass über diesen der Erstkontakt zustande kam. Epstein erpresste elitäre Zirkel in aller Welt mit heimlich aufgenommenen Videos arrangierter Sex-Eskapaden. Die Opfer: Meist Minderjährige. Manche erst acht Jahre alt. Wer Macht und Einfluss ausüben und sichern wollte, nahm seine Dienste in Anspruch. Das wusste wohl jeder seiner engeren Kontakte. Trotzdem sprach Donald Trump von einem »tollen Typen, den er seit 15 Jahren kenne«, als er in einem Interview mit dem New York Magazine 2002 nach seiner Meinung zu Epstein und der gemeinsamen Vorliebe für junge Frauen gefragt wurde. Darüber hinaus flog Donald Trump mindestens sieben Mal mit Jeffrey Epsteins Privatjet, besser bekannt als »Lolita Express«.

Elon Musk, über dessen hinter Imagedesign verborgene Nähe zu Militär, Geheimdiensten, Big Pharma und Transhumanisten ich bereits im Oktober 2022 ausführlich berichtet habe, hatte ebenfalls Verbindungen zu Jeffrey Epstein, wie ein ausführliches Dossier von Johnny Vedmore belegt. Ganz zu schweigen von Musks Forderungen nach CO2-Steuern gegen den Klimawandel oder seinen offenen Plädoyers für Technokratie, einem faschistischen Herrschaftsmodell, das schon sein Großvater Joshua N. Haldemann in leitender Position vertrat. Man kann sich also ausmalen, was unter einem Effizienzprogramm unter Musks Ägide zu erwarten ist – Tech-Faschismus, getarnt als libertäre Progressivität.

Auch RFK Jr. flog zwei Mal mit dem »Lolita Express«, gibt aber an, in Begleitung von Frau und Kindern gereist zu sein – während er gleichzeitig erklärt, die beiden Flüge seien nur zustande gekommen, weil seine »Frau irgendeine Art von Beziehung mit Ghislaine Maxwell hatte«. Was für eine Beziehung das war, beschreibt RFK Jr. nicht. Dabei wären die Hintergründe dieser Beziehung durchaus relevant für die Bewertung seiner Verbindung zum Epstein-Netzwerk. Denn Maxwell, deren Elternhaus für CIA und Mossad tätig war, war seit 1991 Epsteins engste Mitarbeiterin. Sie führte ihm minderjährige Mädchen zu. Phantombilder legen nahe, dass sie auch am Verschwinden, beziehungsweise Tod, von Madeleine McCann beteiligt sein könnte. Nach dem als Suizid vermarkteten Mord an Epstein im August 2019 tauchte Maxwell ab. Aufenthaltsort unbekannt. Erst am 2. Juli 2020 konnte das FBI sie festnehmen. Im Dezember 2021 wurde Maxwell wegen Unterstützung von Epsteins Pädo-Business zu 20 Jahren Haft verurteilt.

Man darf gespannt sein, ob Epsteins unter Verschluss gehaltene Kundenliste jemals ans Licht kommt. Wenn Trump nichts zu verbergen hat, seine dahingehenden Ankündigungen wahr machen und den Sumpf trockenlegen will, könnte er damit ordentlich vorlegen. Entsprechende Forderungen stehen ja bereits im Raum.

Bei einer Pressekonferenz im Weißen Haus am 21. Juli 2020 verkündete er allerdings noch, Maxwell mehrfach getroffen zu haben und wünschte ihr »wirklich alles Gute«.

Wahrscheinlich ist eine Offenlegung der Kundenliste aber nicht. Denn auch Trumps neuer Generalstaatsanwalt, Matt Gaetz, gegen den 2020 wegen sexueller Kontakte zu einem minderjährigen Mädchen ermittelt wurde, sprach sich in der Vergangenheit explizit gegen eine neuerliche Überprüfung des Falls Epstein aus. Er behauptete außerdem, Epstein sei von ausländischen Geheimdiensten, nicht vom US-Tiefenstaat ermordet worden. Sein Wahlkampf-Team nutzte denn auch die gleiche Anwaltskanzlei wie Jeffrey Epstein. Und ein enger Vertrauter von Gaetz warb intensiv dafür, Ghislaine Maxwell aus der Haft zu entlassen. Seit 2021 ist Gaetz mit der Schwester des Peter Thiel-Protegés Palmer Lucky verheiratet, der mit seiner Firma Anduril für das High-Tech-Überwachungssystem an der mexikanischen Grenze verantwortlich zeichnet, KI-Waffenprogramme entwickelt und für das US-Verteidigungsministerium an Project Maven arbeitet. Sumpf, soweit das Auge reicht. Trockenzulegen gäbe es da also einiges.

Warten wir’s ab – und werfen unterdes einen Blick auf Donald Trumps erste Amtszeit. Denn auch diesbezüglich sagen Taten mehr als Worte.

Während Trump sich derzeit als Gegner der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) geriert, war er als 45. US-Präsident mit »Operation Warp Speed« (OWS) für eine militarisierte Impf-Kampagne der Superlative verantwortlich, die 300 Millionen Dosen einer experimentellen mRNA-Gentherapie unters Volk bringen und den Herstellern mindestens 18 Milliarden Dollar in die Kasse spülen sollte. Anthony Fauci, den Trump heute gerne öffentlich diffamiert, kümmerte sich für ihn um den Rollout der Injektionen und die damit verbundene Nudging-Propaganda. Für seine Verdienste im Rahmen von OWS erhielt Fauci von Trump am letzten Tag seiner Präsidentschaft eine Auszeichnung, wie eine Pressemitteilung im Archiv des Weißen Hauses belegt. Während Trump sich in den letzten Wochen medienwirksam von Fauci distanzierte und abstritt, diese Auszeichnung abgesegnet zu haben, verweisen Mitarbeiter des Weißen Hauses darauf, dass eine solche Auszeichnung gemäß Protokoll nur dann verliehen wird, wenn der Präsident sie persönlich autorisiert. Fragt sich, wer lügt.

Daneben genehmigte Trump im Februar 2020 eine Zahlung von 1,16 Milliarden US-Dollar an GAVI, die Impfallianz von WHO, Weltbank, UNICEF und der Bill & Melinda Gates Stiftung. Der Betrag sollte GAVI binnen drei Jahren über die CIA-Tarnfirma USAID ausbezahlt werden. Ungeachtet aller Gegenanzeigen, Nebenwirkungen und Kollateralschäden durch Lockdowns und partielle Impfpflichten pries Donald Trump OWS stets als durchschlagenden Erfolg. Erst nach der Ankündigung, mit Kennedy kollaborieren zu wollen, hielt er sich mit dem Eigenlob zurück. Dass er sich in den Wochen vor dem Wahlsieg neu positionierte, dürfte also reine Wahlkampfstrategie gewesen sein.

Wenn Trump nun in Aussicht stellt, Impfungen verbieten und Amerika gemeinsam mit RFK Jr. gesund machen zu wollen, ist das in Anbetracht der immensen Marktmacht von Big Pharma kaum als realistisch zu bewerten. Siehe Briefing des Roosevelt Institute vom 22. Mai 2019. Titel: »Kapern der Regierung – Wie Big Pharma die Gesetzgebung übernahm«. In Trumps Team wurden in den letzten Wochen bereits Stimmen laut, die forderten, sich von RFK Jr. zu distanzieren. Während Kennedy in einem Interview vom 28. Oktober verkündete, Trump habe ihm den »Chefposten der Gesundheitsbehörde HHS versprochen«, stellte Howard Lutnik, Vize-Vorsitzender von Trumps Transition-Team, am 30. Oktober bei CNN fest, dass dies »natürlich nicht der Fall sein werde« und man Kennedy lediglich Zugriff auf Daten gewähren wolle. Am 14. November gab Donald Trump dann allerdings bekannt, RFK Jr. tatsächlich zum Chef der HHS machen zu wollen. Die Nominierung muss aber noch vom Senat bestätigt werden. Und bis Januar kann noch einiges passieren. Die Vergangenheit lässt jedenfalls darauf schließen, dass weder Big Pharma noch WHO oder GAVI künftig unter der neuen Regierung leiden werden.

Dann wären da noch die galoppierenden Staatsschulden der Vereinigten Staaten. Denn unter Trumps Ägide schöpfte die US-Zentralbank allein im Jahr 2020 über drei Billionen Dollar. »Die Vereinigten Staaten haben im Juni mehr Geld gedruckt als in den ersten zwei Jahrhunderten nach ihrer Gründung. Letzten Monat war das Haushaltsdefizit der USA – 864 Milliarden Dollar – größer als die Gesamtverschuldung von 1776 bis Ende 1979«, so Dan Morehead, CEO von Pantera Capital am 29. Juli 2020. Seit 2020 hat die Staatsverschuldung um knapp zwölf Billionen Dollar zugenommen und belief sich im September 2024 auf 35,46 Billionen Dollar. Das sollten speziell Trump-Anhänger vor Ort nicht vergessen, wenn sie nun für den Wocheneinkauf deutlich tiefer in die Tasche greifen müssen. Inflation sei Dank.

»Dafür hat Trump keine neuen Kriege angefangen!« – hört man immer wieder, wenn man auf dessen Verfehlungen hinweist. Stimmt. Weil er fünf Krisenherde von der vorherigen Regierung geerbt hat und sich dort austoben konnte. Trump hat nämlich deutlich mehr Drohnen-Einsätze befohlen als sein Vorgänger. Obama autorisierte in den ersten zwei Jahren seiner Amtszeit 186 Einsätze – bei Trump waren es 238. Allein im Jemen hat die Trump-Regierung 176 Angriffe binnen zwei Jahren durchgeführt. Bei Obama waren es 154 in acht Jahren. Und während die Regierung unter Obama zumindest teilweise Daten zu den Opferzahlen dieser Einsätze veröffentlichte, änderte Trump die entsprechenden Transparenzanforderungen und veröffentlichte gar keine Daten. Laut einem Artikel von Foreign Policy vom 9. August 2017 ist Trump »der kriegslüsternste Präsident der jüngeren Geschichte«. Weiter führte das 1970 von Samuel P. Huntington gegründete Magazin aus:

»Unter Trump haben die Vereinigten Staaten bis zum 31. Juli etwa 20.650 Bomben abgeworfen, das sind 80 Prozent der Menge, die unter Obama im gesamten Jahr 2016 abgeworfen wurden. (…) Daten zeigen, dass die Vereinigten Staaten im Irak und in Syrien Bomben in beispiellosem Ausmaß abwerfen. Im Juli warf die Koalition zur Bekämpfung des Islamischen Staats (sprich: die Vereinigten Staaten) 4.313 Bomben ab, 77 Prozent mehr als im Juli letzten Jahres. Im Juni lag die Zahl bei 4.848 – 1.600 Bomben mehr als unter Präsident Barack Obama jemals pro Monat abgeworfen wurden. In Afghanistan ist die Zahl der abgeworfenen Bomben seit Trumps Amtsantritt ebenfalls sprunghaft angestiegen. Im April wurden im Land mehr Bomben abgeworfen als auf dem Höhepunkt von Obamas Truppenaufstockung im Jahr 2012. In diesem Monat bombardierten die Vereinigten Staaten das afghanische Mamand-Tal mit der größten nichtnuklearen Bombe, die jemals abgeworfen wurde. Trump hat auch das militärische Engagement der USA in Ländern außerhalb der Kriegsschauplätze ausgeweitet – nämlich im Jemen, in Somalia und in Pakistan. In den letzten 193 Tagen von Obamas Präsidentschaft gab es in diesen drei Ländern 21 tödliche Anti-Terror-Operationen. Trump hat diese Zahl verfünffacht und mindestens 92 solcher Operationen im Jemen, sieben in Somalia und vier in Pakistan durchgeführt.«

Klingt für mich jetzt nicht so ganz nach Friedenstauben.

Wahrscheinlich war es am Ende nur die Hektik bei der Übergabe der Amtsgeschäfte im Januar 2021, oder der Stress permanenter Medienpräsenz, der Trump auch noch davon abhielt, Julian Assange oder Edward Snowden zu begnadigen. Immerhin war er »kurz davor, einen der beiden auszuwählen«, wie er in einem Interview für Daily Wire verlauten ließ. Am Ende blieb dann aber leider doch nur Zeit für die Begnadigung der anderen 116 Personen auf der Liste. Dumm gelaufen.

Wenden wir uns der Gegenwart zu. Und dem, was uns die nächsten vier Jahre erwarten könnte. Es muss ja jetzt auf jeden Fall alles viel besser laufen als in der ersten Runde. Denn in den Augen vieler seiner Unterstützer habe Trump in der Zwischenzeit viel gelernt und wurde damals nur hinters Licht geführt. Überrumpelt vom Tiefenstaat, den er eigentlich abschaffen wollte. Zudem hat er nun Elon Musk und RFK Jr. an seiner Seite, der gemäß Lutnik zwar keinen Job bekommt, aber immerhin steht irgendwo Kennedy auf der Banderole. Das ist doch auch was.

Ernsthaft. Bereits in Rahmen seiner ersten Amtszeit plante Trump, ein biometrisches System zur Ein- und Ausreisekontrolle zu etablieren. Es sollte zunächst nur für Ausländer gelten. Aber jeder weiß, dass es nicht lange dauert, bis so ein System für jeden gilt. Dazu passt, dass seit Beginn des Wahlkampfes 2024 permanent von der Voter ID gesprochen wird. Ausweise für alle – gegen Wahlbetrug. Bisher besitzen nur knapp 40 Prozent der Amerikaner einen Reisepass. Nur acht Prozent verlassen im Urlaub überhaupt das Land. Die virtuelle Wand wird das ändern, nicht nur an der Grenze zu Mexiko. Denn über kurz oder lang resultiert das Projekt in der flächendeckenden Einführung einer eID. Basis für die eID- oder Voter ID-Infrastruktur könnte zum Beispiel E-Verify sein, ein vom Department of Homeland Security betriebenes Projekt zur Verifikation von Personen, dessen Nutzung für Personalabteilungen von Bundesbehörden seit dem 1. Oktober 2007 obligatorisch ist. Die Nominierung von Tom Homan als Chef der Einwanderungs- und Zollbehörde impliziert, dass genau dieser Kurs eingeschlagen wird. Homan ist Hardliner. Er war Teil des rechtskonservativen Project 2025 und befürwortet neben flächendeckender Biometrie auch die Trennung von Eltern und Kindern an der Grenze.

Kein Zufall also, dass der Gründer der Cardano-Blockchain, Charles Hoskinson, die Regierung Trump ab 2025 in Bezug auf Kryptoanwendungen beraten soll. Immerhin hatte Hoskinson bereits mit dem von Jeffrey Epstein finanzierten Ben Goertzel ein biometrisches eID-System für Schulkinder in Äthiopien entwickelt. Und nachdem die von Peter Thiel finanzierte Silikon-Valley-Marionette JD Vance als Vizepräsident fungiert, hat auch der mächtigste Überwachungskonzern der Welt, Palantir, nun einen Fuß in der Tür des Oval Office. Mit diesem Setup dürfte der gläserne Bürger der Gegenwart bald ein Relikt der Vergangenheit sein.

Ganz zur Freude von Ex-Spion John Ratcliffe, dem neuen CIA-Direktor unter »Orange Man«. In Trumps erster Amtszeit war Ratcliffe »Director of National Intelligence«, unter George W. Bush zuständig für Anti-Terror-Operationen und nationale Sicherheit. Später leitete er zusammen mit John Ashcroft, Generalstaatsanwalt unter Bush und Architekt des Ermächtigungsgesetzes »Patriot Act«, ein Unternehmen für strategische Beratung (AGS). Im Dezember 2023 unterstützte John Ratcliffe den Bilderberger, Kriegstreiber und Tiefenstaat-Neocon Mike Pompeo bei der Erneuerung des Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), der die fortgesetzte, anlasslose Massenüberwachung der US-Bevölkerung legalisiert. Und kaum war er nominiert, machte Ratcliffe am 13. November 2024 auf FOX-News wahrheitswidrig Stimmung gegen den Iran und unterstellte der dortigen Regierung »kriegerische Handlungen« gegenüber den USA.

Kollaborieren wird Ratcliffe künftig mit Tulsi Gabbard. Sie beerbt ihn als Trumps neuer »Director of National Intelligence«. Gabbard war Mitglied der WEF Young Global Leaders sowie des Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). Beide Organisationen tilgten ihren Namen von der eigenen Homepage, nachdem Gabbard öffentlich über US-Biowaffenlabore in der Ukraine sprach. In Interviews bestätigt sie ihre Rolle im CFR allerdings selbst. Gabbard befürwortete die Covid-Impfkampagne und schmückt sich gerne mit dem Image »Kriegsveteran« – obwohl sie die Schrecken des Krieges lediglich aus sicherer Entfernung sah. Eine Opportunistin, deren konservativ-kritisches Image nichts weiter ist als ein wackliges Kartenhaus.

»Ich war Kadett. Was ist das Motto der Kadetten in West Point? Du wirst nicht lügen, betrügen, oder stehlen – und diejenigen nicht dulden, die das tun. Ich war der CIA-Direktor. Wir haben gelogen, wir haben betrogen, wir haben gestohlen. Wir haben ganze Trainingskurse dazu absolviert.« (Mike Pompeo, April 2019)

Und wer denkt, Donald Trump werde wenigstens die Einführung einer digitalen Zentralbankwährung (CBDC) verhindern, irrt. Zumindest im Kern. Denn im Rahmen seiner Rede auf der Bitcoin Konferenz 2024 sprach Donald Trump von »regulatorischer Klarheit« sowie der »sicheren und verantwortungsvollen Expansion von Stablecoins«. Damit bestätigte er, dass die Einführung von digitalem Geld über privatwirtschaftliche Entitäten erfolgen wird. Denn ein Konto bei der Zentralbank will niemand. Leider werden aber die Transaktionen all der ach so marktwirtschaftlich eingeführten Digitalwährungen zentral erfasst. Im »Unified Ledger« der Bank für Internationalen Zahlungsausgleich (BIZ) in Basel. Was am Ende zum exakt gleichen Ergebnis führt wie eine vom Staat oder der Zentralbank aufgelegte CBDC – zu lückenloser Überwachung mit Interventionspotenzial.

Zurück zur künftigen Regierung. Stabschef im Weißen Haus und damit »mächtigste Frau in Washington« soll Susie Wiles werden – bisher Co-Vositzende von Mercury Public Affairs LLC, einem Lobby-Giganten, der unter anderem Pfizer, GAVI, die Vereinten Nationen oder SpaceX vertritt. Mercury Public Affairs gehört seit 2003 zur Omnicom Group, einem WEF-Partner für Öffentlichkeitsarbeit. Wiles gilt als die »am meisten gefürchtete und am wenigsten bekannte Politagentin Amerikas«.

Als Außenminister nominierte Trump den von der Zionismus-Lobby korrumpierten Marco Rubio. Einen Neocon. Sprich: Militärischer Interventionismus und unilaterale Hegemonieansprüche. Den Posten des nationalen Sicherheitsberaters offeriert Trump dem ehemaligen Green Beret Mike Waltz. Neben Marco Rubio der zweite Mann in der künftigen Regierung, der sich mit China anlegen möchte. Ergänzt wird das kriegsaffine Duo von Brian Hook, der dem Iran am liebsten sofort den Krieg erklären möchte und den Auftrag erhielt, Schlüsselpositionen im Außenministerium mit geeignetem Personal dafür zu besetzen.

Der ehemalige texanische Kongressabgeordnete Ron Paul sieht in diesen Nominierungen »einen schlechten Tag für jene, die an America First glaubten«. Sollte Trump die Unterstützung der Ukraine seitens Amerika tatsächlich beenden, dürften nämlich ersatzweise zuerst der Iran und langfristig eventuell gar China von Demokratie aus der Luft beglückt werden. Daran wird auch die neue US-Botschafterin bei den Vereinten Nationen nichts ändern. Denn Elise Stefanik hat praktisch keine relevante Berufserfahrung – und ist ebenfalls ein Neocon. Sowohl Stefanik als auch Rubio, Waltz oder Hook setzen sich für weitere Waffenlieferungen nach Israel und eine Fortsetzung des auch von israelischen Zeitungen also solchen bezeichneten Genozids in Gaza ein.

»Die westliche Zivilisation repräsentiert heute das Verständnis, dass Zionismus und Amerikanismus die Frontlinien der westlichen Zivilisation und Freiheit in unserer Welt sind«, erklärte der Army-Veteran, United Against Nuclear Iran-Advokat und Ex-FOX-News-Mitarbeiter Pete Hegseth im April 2019.

An dieser faschistoiden wie imperialistischen Doktrin scheinen sich auch Trump und Co. zu orientieren – denn Hegseth wird nun Verteidigungsminister. Passend dazu wird Mike Huckabee, ein bekennender Zionist, der nächste US-Botschafter in Israel. Huckabee nennt das Westjordanland Judäa und behauptet entgegen historischer Fakten, dass es Teil Israels ist. Auch die Annexion der Westbank fände er in Ordnung. Seine Nominierung kann als Kriegserklärung an die Palästinenser verstanden werden. Wohlwissend, dass Israels völkerrechtswidriges Vorgehen leicht zu einem regionalen, wenn nicht globalen Flächenbrand führen kann.

Apropos globale Themen: Dahingehend lohnt sich ein genauerer Blick auf die Hintergründe des bereits erwähnten Howard Lutnick. Diesen hat die Investigativ-Journalistin Whitney Webb am 7. November 2024 gewagt. Unter der Überschrift »Macht euch bereit für den Kohlenstoffmarkt der Republikaner« erklärt sie:

»Viele der einflussreichsten Namen der kommenden Trump-Regierung sowie der vorherigen haben sich in den letzten Jahren intensiv mit der Schaffung von Kohlenstoffmärkten befasst, während andere eine langjährige Erfolgsgeschichte bei der Implementierung von CO2-Steuern und anderen Formen der CO2-Bepreisung vorweisen können. Der wichtigste unter ihnen ist Howard Lutnick, Co-Vorsitzender von Trumps Transition-Team, der erklärte, seine Aufgabe sei es, Talente für die kommende Regierung zu finden. Lutnick ist der langjährige Leiter von Cantor Fitzgerald, einem der ersten Akteure im Emissionshandel, der sich seitdem zu einem weltweit führenden Unternehmen für ESG-Investitionen, die Finanzierung nachhaltiger Infrastruktur und grüne Anleihen entwickelt hat. So hat sich Cantors nachhaltiger Infrastrukturfonds ausdrücklich der digitalen Transformation, Dekarbonisierung und Verbesserung und Modernisierung alternder Infrastruktur verschrieben, während ein Hauptaugenmerk des Fonds darauf liegen wird, in Emittenten zu investieren, die mit ihren Produkten und Dienstleistungen dazu beitragen, bestimmte Ziele der Vereinten Nationen für nachhaltige Entwicklung zu erreichen. Darüber hinaus ist Invenergy, ein Unternehmen für erneuerbare Energien, das im Rahmen von Bidens umstrittenem Inflationsbekämpfungsgesetz eine beträchtliche Menge an Subventionen erhalten hat und vom ersten Windmilliardär des Landes, Michael Polsky, geleitet wird, der wichtigste Bestandteil eines weiteren Infrastrukturfonds von Cantor. Lutnick sitzt auch im Vorstand eines Satellitenüberwachungsunternehmens namens Satellogic. Neben Lutnick ist der ehemalige Finanzminister von Trump, Steve Mnuchin, Vorsitzender des Vorstands. Auch Joe Dunford, ehemaliger Stabschef des US-Militärs unter Trump, sitzt im Vorstand. Satellogic ist integraler Bestandteil eines Konsortiums, das versucht, durch undurchsichtige vertragliche Vereinbarungen auf kommunaler Ebene einen riesigen, Blockchain-basierten Kohlenstoffmarkt in Lateinamerika durchzusetzen. Dieser Kohlenstoffmarkt, der unter dem Namen GREEN+ operiert, soll auf einer Bitcoin-Sidechain aufgebaut werden. Das entsprechende Emissionsgutschriftsystem ist für lateinamerikanische Gemeinden zutiefst ungerecht. So könnten die betroffenen Gemeinden beispielsweise nur Geld verdienen, wenn Einnahmen unter den für GREEN+ anerkannten, nachhaltigen Projekten generiert werden, während die Investoren von GREEN+ den Großteil der Gewinne einstreichen. Das Programm würde Gemeinden außerdem ohne ihre Zustimmung dem Satellitenüberwachungsapparat von Satellogic (der mit der US-Regierung und dem israelischen Geheimdienst verbunden ist) aussetzen. Darüber hinaus ist GREEN+ in bemerkenswerter Weise mit Personen verbunden, die Trumps Verbündeten in der Region nahestehen. So ist eine wichtige Persönlichkeit in Nayib Bukeles politischer Partei – der Bürgermeister von San Salvador, Mario Durán – Vizepräsident einer der wichtigsten Gruppen, die das GREEN+-Programm orchestrieren, während das Netzwerk Endeavor Argentina, das sehr enge Verbindungen zu Javier Milei pflegt, ebenfalls eng mit Satellogic verbunden ist. Satellogic ist ein von Endeavor unterstütztes Unternehmen, während Endeavors erster Milliardär und Unternehmer, Marcos Galperín von MercadoLibre, im Vorstand von Satellogic sitzt. Darüber hinaus ist ein anderer wichtiger Investor von Satellogic, der Dollar-Stablecoin-Emittent Tether, auch eng mit Howard Lutnick verbunden. Lutnick ist langjähriger Fürsprecher von Tether. Und Cantor Fitzgerald hält den Großteil der US-Staatsanleihen von Tether, um deren Stablecoin und seine Bindung an den US-Dollar zu stützen.«

Das sollte Wähler, die dem Klimawandel-Narrativ und Digitalwährungen skeptisch gegenüberstehen, hellhörig werden lassen – denn auch wenn Donald Trump im Rahmen seiner öffentlichen Auftritte gegen die Nachhaltigkeitsagenda wettert und der leitmediale Komplex seine entsprechenden Phrasen für Konterpropaganda nutzt, sprechen die Taten wieder einmal eine ganz andere Sprache. In Anbetracht vorgängig beschriebener Umstände sieht es nämlich nicht so aus, als widersetze sich der 47. US-Präsident dem Nachhaltigkeitskorporatismus der UN. Im Gegenteil.

»Der König ist tot, es lebe der König«. Die neue US-Regierung wird die gleiche Agenda fahren wie die alte – nur die Vermarktung ändert sich. Das kündigte Lynn Forester de Rothschild (CIC) schon vor über einem Jahr bei Bloomberg an. Genau wie Larry Fink (BlackRock).

Die Einführung biometrischer Massenüberwachung wird nun mit der Migrationskrise und drohendem Wahlbetrug, mit der Stärkung der Demokratie gerechtfertigt, anstatt mit einem Virus. Den Krieg in der Ukraine wird man nicht weiter unterstützen. Diesen Brandherd sollen die Europäer am Kokeln halten, damit man endlich den Iran und China ins Fadenkreuz nehmen kann. So ein dritter Weltkrieg wäre nämlich ein profitables Geschäft. Das Klimawandel-Narrativ wird man öffentlich negieren und verhöhnen, während die Agenda 2030 trotzdem umsetzt wird. Gleiches gilt für Totalüberwachung, Genderwahn, globale Gleichschaltung von Lerninhalten und die schleichende Digitalisierung des Weltfinanzsystems. Denn auch diese Programme werden von überstaatlichen Akteuren vorangetrieben und entziehen sich dem Einfluss nationaler Regierungen. So funktioniert Korporatismus.

Ernüchternd ist vor allem, dass sich die Bevölkerung, die in den letzten vier Jahren tatsächlich ein gewisses Maß an rebellischem Potenzial entwickelte, wieder einmal täuschen lässt. Trump-Hype wohin man schaut. Selbst die Corona-Dissidenten, selbst jene, die dem Staat aufgrund von Covid-Lügen, Green-Economy-Deindustrialisierung und militantem Neoimperialismus zusehends kritisch gegenüberstanden, haben sich in weiten Teilen von den leeren Versprechungen der MAGA-Promotion und ihren Sekundanten blenden lassen.

Sie werden genauso desillusioniert zurückbleiben wie einst die auf »Hope« geeichten Obama-Fans – und sich in ein paar Jahren vermutlich trotzdem wieder an die Wahlurne schleppen, weil sie auf den nächsten Erlöser hoffen, anstatt selbst die Welt zu verändern.

Zur Wahl stehen aber jeweils nur verschiedene Geschmacksrichtungen der gleichen, bitteren Pille Marke Unterdrückung. Keine Unterdrückung – das ist natürlich keine Option. Das steht nicht auf dem Wahlzettel.

Linke gegen Rechte, Demokraten gegen Republikaner, Christentum gegen Islam – Bevölkerungsgruppen, die man gegeneinander aufwiegeln kann, finden sich dagegen immer. Präsentiert man ihnen einen verheißungsvollen Erlöser, werden sie ihn unterstützen, um die andere Gruppe loszuwerden. Das ist Herrschaftsdialektik. Man bringt die Menschen dazu, um Dinge zu betteln, die ohnehin eingeführt werden sollen. Und der einzige Gewinner in diesem immer riskanter werdenden Spiel ist die Prädatorenkaste.

»Die mächtigste Waffe in den Händen der Unterdrücker ist der Geist der Unterdrückten.« (Stephen Bantu Biko)

Wer Donald Trump unterstützt, ist nicht für Frieden und Freiheit, sondern nur gegen das, was die andere Seite will. Denn Donald Trumps Interesse gilt nicht Frieden und Freiheit, sondern Donald Trump. So war es sein ganzes Leben lang.

@ 01d0bbf9:91130d4c

The Bitcoin community thrives on open-source innovation, but Coinkite’s move against BTClock risks stifling progress and alienating its core supporters.

Open-source projects like BTClock typically aim to promote innovation and accessibility within the Bitcoin community. Suing the programmer for trademark infringement seems like an overly aggressive move by Coinkite, given the values that Bitcoin and its ecosystem often stand for: decentralization, collaboration, and open innovation.

Why It’s Problematic:

1. Chilling Effect on Open Source:

2. Actions like this discourage developers from creating alternative solutions or building on existing ideas, which stifles community-driven progress.

3. Open-source projects thrive on shared knowledge, and this lawsuit could set a precedent for others to clamp down on grassroots efforts.

4. Reputation Risk for Coinkite:

5. While Coinkite has long been respected for products like the Blockclock and Coldcard, this move could alienate its core audience—Bitcoiners who value freedom and decentralization.

6. By targeting an open-source developer, Coinkite risks being perceived as prioritizing profits over community principles.

7. Trademark Infringement Question:

8. If the issue is solely over the name "BTClock," a fair resolution could involve renaming the project rather than pursuing legal action.

9. Lawsuits should ideally be a last resort, not the first response.

A Better Approach:

• Coinkite could have worked with the BTClock developer to address concerns without legal action—perhaps through dialogue or collaboration.
• Open acknowledgment of BTClock’s differences (lower cost, open-source) would have shown confidence in their own premium product, while still respecting community-driven alternatives.

What NVK and Coinkite Should Do

Even now, NVK could mitigate the damage:

• Withdraw the Lawsuit: Openly acknowledge the backlash and frame it as a misunderstanding or a "necessary step" that they’re now reconsidering due to the community’s response.
• Collaborate with BTClock: Find a way to coexist, perhaps by licensing certain Blockclock-specific elements if truly necessary, while leaving room for BTClock’s open-source innovation.

@ c48e29f0:26e14c11

TL;DR -- HIGHLIGHT THIS TRANSCRIPT TO CREATE NEW NOSTR EVENTS, GET ZAPS, AND EXPOSE MORE PEOPLE TO THE* BITCOIN PODCAST IN THE PROCESS*

WHY THE FUCK AM I DOING THIS?

Up until now I've been publishing transcripts for THE Bitcoin Podcast (@Titcoin on Nostr) on my website, bitcoinpodcast.net/words, and, more recently, putting show notes/summaries on my newly-created Substack, substack.com/@walkeramerica, so people can sign up to get episodes delivered to their inbox (unfortunately I can't publish the full transcripts on Substack because they're too long). I also just hate doing this because it takes time and I don't think anyone actually reads them on my website or on my Substack. And Substack is a centralized shithole anyway.

But I've been thinking... It would make a lot more sense to just publish the summaries and full transcripts directly on Nostr so people can search and highlight the text more easily, with each highlight creating a brand new Nostr event. I'll also post the quotes I've already pulled from the episode in a section at the top, which will give people a taste of what they can expect in addition to giving them some low-hanging-fruit for highlighting. Most obviously, publishing on Nostr means I just need to publish ONCE and my post will be available to everyone on whatever client they use (huzzah for open protocols and fuck Substack).

There are a few benefits to this Nostr-focused approach:

1. People can easily search the full text transcripts and find quotes they find meaningful/funny/fucked up/insightful/etc.
2. When they create a highlight, they publish a new Nostr event which people can zap. People are incentivized to find the most valuable quotes because people like getting zapped.
3. If people see highlights they find valuable, they'll come check out the full version of the show notes and subsequently watch/listen to the episodes, in addition to searching the transcript for their own highlight-able material (more zaps ensue). Maybe they even use the transcript as they listen to the episode and highlight as they go. Who knows?!
4. As a content creator, I now have a new way to discover what parts of the episode speak to people most because I can see what people choose to highlight, and which highlights people choose to zap. This helps me decide which parts of an episode will make for the highest-signal short-form video clips, and of finding fire quotes I may have missed on my first pass-through. The highlights become a way to crowdsource signal and filter noise.
5. The episodes become more interactive as new conversations pop up around Nostr based on different highlights. Nostr events are created, thoughts are provoked, zaps are zapped, sats flow, community grows, and my episodes of THE Bitcoin Podcast get more visibility. #GrowNostr ?
6. Thanks to Zap Splits, I can add my podcast guests to a split list, ensuring that any zaps I received are also shared with them (which I did for HODL and Cason on this long-form note).

Anyway, that's enough chit chat for now. Let's see if this works or if it's just a late-night idea that doesn't seem as smart in the morning.

The full transcript of the episode is below, in addition to some of the quotes I pulled already (feel free to highlight the shit out of them). But first, here are the links to watch/listen to my conversation with Hodl and Cason:

• Fountain: https://www.fountain.fm/episode/TO4YqCAm0k2zTdLIi7xl
• YouTube: https://youtu.be/0Jy2QFRmhP4
• Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bitcoin-trump-freedom-the-american-idea-erik-cason/id1694392423?i=1000676077910
• Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/7rCjFeTCdXwgrX6jylj5jH
• Rumble: https://rumble.com/v5mtk5t-bitcoin-trump-freedom-and-the-american-idea-erik-cason-and-american-hodl.html
• Everywhere else: https://bitcoinpodcast.net/podcast
• SHOW NOTES: https://open.substack.com/pub/walkeramerica/p/american-hodl-x-erik-cason-bitcoin
• Highlighter: https://highlighter.com/walker/BITCOIN-TRUMP-FREEDOM-THE-AMERICAN-IDEA-ERIK-CASON-AMERICAN-HODL-THE-Bitcoin-Podcast-zmwmhj *

EXTREMELY HIGHLIGHT-ABLE QUOTES

Erik Cason “Look, you dumb motherfuckers, you could have just doubled your fucking wealth over the last year, had you just shut the fuck up and been like, ‘maybe I'm poor and working at a dead end job that I fucking hate because I don't understand how money actually works. And maybe these Bitcoin guys who have made some money and some self-independence for themselves, maybe they have a point.’ But instead they go, this is a far right Psyop that's being played in order to try to destroy the wonderfulness of modern monetary theory. And the government needs to be able to print out money because how else can we spread the love and make sure that all people everywhere are always equal and have all of the equal opportunity always, particularly the brown people that we want to bomb out of existence because, you know, they need to use my fucking pronouns. And that's why we're bombing the shit out of them is because they're hateful, racist pieces of garbage that, you know, and then, and then there's just like the like, well, like fuck Israel, we can't like support them. But like Ukraine is great. Or the people doing the opposite one. I'm like, what, like, why the fuck is the red or the blue people telling you to bomb the right people?

HODL (50:34.642) You can just do things. You don't have to wait for anybody. Nothing's decreed. Like, listen, fiat is a fucking disease of the mind. That's what it is. And every currency on earth that's not Bitcoin is fiat. Ethereum is fiat. Solana is fiat. Tether is fiat. They're all fiat, okay? And then obviously all the fiat currencies are fiat. But fiat is not just affecting the monetary supply and material goods like iPhones and shit. No, fiat affects YOU. It affects your mind. It affects the way you think. You think that the world is decreed to you from scribes on high. It's not. The world is built by people that get out and build the fucking world. So if you want to do something, just go do it. Get politically active if you want to be politically active. Build a business if you want to build a business. Build a family if you want to build a family. Build an estate if you want to build an estate. Go to Mars if you want to go to Mars. Fucking just go do it. Do what you want to do. That is the Bitcoin story. Not by decree. No one tells you to do it. You decree it. You fucking decree it. You go out and do what the fuck you're gonna do in the world. That's what we're doing here in Bitcoin.

HODL “The state condemned a man to slow death, double life imprisonment. And we said, ‘no, you don't get to do that.’ We got to rewrite the rules of the game as the game was being played. And it shows that we don't have to just sit there and take it.”

Erik Cason (01:01:49.037) the world fucking needs Americanism right now. Like shit is fucked up and there needs to be a renewal of this American spirit that pushes out into the world that, you know, is what 1776 was about, which was a global revolution that then swept through Europe because they're like, yo Europeans, look, we just like fucked up the British empire and we earned our own rights by fighting these assholes. Would you like that? They're like, yeah, this like monarchy shit is bullshit. Let's, let's fucking fight. And I hope that we're going to see a renewal of that same spirit that we're going to fight back against our federal government and their surveillance in the deep state and that we're going to push that shit out numb into Europe and that the Europeans are going to be like, yeah, you know what? turns out getting asked fucked by our government and getting global surveillance through a CBDC is bullshit. Let's fight these motherfuckers.

HODL That is the Bitcoin story. Not by decree. No one tells you to do it. You decree it. You fucking decree it. You go out and do what the fuck you're gonna do in the world. That's what we're doing here in Bitcoin.

TRANSCRIPT: AMERICAN HODL x ERIK CASON

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (00:00.07) ground audio, but the new Macs do it like really fucking well shockingly, which is honestly quite nice. Okay. We are allegedly live on zap.stream. So I'm just going to fiddle with this for a second. Let's see here. But yeah, we were, Eric, we were just discussing that hodl is basically on team no sleep right now. and has been, yeah, just

HODL (00:01.4) Mm-hmm.

Erik Cason (00:07.304) It's just.

Erik Cason (00:11.184) Alright.

HODL (00:24.418) Well, ever since they stole the 2020 election, you gotta stay up all night now.

Erik Cason (00:24.72) Are you?

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (00:29.668) It's true. You got to keep them in check.

Erik Cason (00:32.525) So is this like a young children thing or is this like your brain is all spun out from

HODL (00:38.808) No, this is was it. No, it's because I was at Bitcoin mags live stream for like 12 hours yesterday and I didn't get home until like, you know, 1 30 a.m. and then I fucking didn't go to sleep until 2 a.m. And then because I have young children, I was up at 5 a.m. So it's like, you know, good times.

Erik Cason (00:54.893) Good. No, I... My sleep got absolutely fucked a couple nights ago, because like I was like, I'm gonna stay up a little late and watch a movie. And then my brain was like, yeah, you want to stay up fucking late, asshole? How about you fall asleep at 4 a.m.? So this last night I was like, you know what? Like this shit isn't worth it anymore. Like I'm a fucking adult. I'm going to bed at nine o'clock. I'm going to get up at six o'clock and like work out and do all my like adult shit because...

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:07.735) how you like that.

Erik Cason (01:18.866) I'm just like fucking sick. Like I could do that shit when I was in my 20s, but like that's a long ways away from now. So now I gotta like take care of my body or it's gonna fuck me up.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:30.62) it's I was out. I was fishing like this whole weekend, like a dude's trip with my, dad and my father-in-law and like some other older dudes. And just like, yeah, we were fishing, fishing for steelheads. It was a wonderful time. My first time fishing for steelheads had a fucking blast, but like you're out in the river all goddamn day. And by the time we got back, like, and I was like the young buck of the group and still I'm like, 7 P.M. It's about time to turn in like, fuck.

Erik Cason (01:42.099) Drop.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (02:00.591) But yeah, so I feel your pain. But then last night I got home from the trip and like was watching MSNBC for fun and stayed up until like three or something because I was.

HODL (02:08.802) Yeah. did either of you watch the view this morning? It was, it was so good. I would highly recommend it. Well, they start whoopee Goldberg starts off with tears in her eyes and she's trying to be magnanimous and she, she goes, yeah, let's talk about, let's get into it. And then she passes it to Joy Behar and Joy Behar holds it together for like,

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (02:13.572) No.

Erik Cason (02:13.819) No, like-

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (02:19.915) Describe it.

HODL (02:35.832) 90 % of the time and she's like, you know, we got it. It was a fair election and we got it just but he's a racist and then they just like rescinded. It's a full struggle session. It was amazing. Like honestly, it could have been pay-per-view. I would have paid $75 to watch it. It was one of the greatest things I've ever seen. It was amazing.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (02:47.081) my god.

Erik Cason (02:56.683) So like, what are they gonna do now other than just like malfunction and have a hard time? Like I'm just really enjoying getting to like sit in this space and being like democracy is super great, isn't it? Isn't it wonderful that we elected a fascist Hitler who's waited for his second term to implement the genocide against all of the people that are you? And they're like, the demogood, so I'm really.

HODL (03:20.024) Yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (03:24.54) The glitching is real right now. you almost feel bad, or I would almost feel bad, if the people who are glitching, like, were glitching right now, weren't so insufferable for so long. Like, I would almost feel bad, you know what I mean? But I'm not quite there yet.

HODL (03:40.049) Yeah, yeah. No, I don't feel a shred of guilt about anything. I'm just laughing at all the memes. It's hilarious.

Erik Cason (03:42.172) One.

Erik Cason (03:47.146) Like look, like fuck this voting and democracy nonsense, but like I'm, really enjoying these liberals that have used the last four years to try to cram all this fucking nonsense down everybody's throat and now have to deal with like the reactionary against that. in addition to the fact of that, like it's about fucking time. Like the last, the last four years were like really fucking wacky. And like we had, we, we still have this geriatric prison. Like what the fuck happened to Joe Biden? Did he just like vanish? Like what?

HODL (04:08.6) Mm-hmm.

Erik Cason (04:16.862) It's just so weird to me in that, like in the meanwhile, the whole liberal machine keeps marching on being like, like this is, so anyways, I'm just excited to watch this whole thing kind of break down and crash into flames and see what happens.

HODL (04:31.128) I woke up feeling just proud of America. And the reason I was proud of America is not because America voted the way I wanted them to vote, which they did, like in a landslide victory. The reason I was proud of them, proud of the feeling of being American was that propaganda doesn't work on us. You tried to Psyop us and we just aren't fucking having it.

Because being an American means doing whatever the fuck we want and you are not allowed to tell us what to do. That's the feeling, that's the energy I woke up with. Like, the American people are exactly who I thought they were. You know, it's like that meme. They are who we thought they were! They are who we thought they were! You know, it's like, the American people are who I thought they were and they're just as fucking wild and untamed and fucking crazy.

and individualistic as I've always expected and needed them and wanted them to be and known that they were and I just fucking love it. I love seeing the results come in and then the people who are the professional propagandists, the Joe Scarborough, the MSNBCs, the Rachel Maddows, the Whoopi Goldbergs, right? Professional paid propagandists go, I can't believe calling them racist garbage didn't work. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck all of you. Fuck you.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (05:51.245) It's fucking insane.

Erik Cason (05:51.287) Well, it's interesting because like it's a it's this really reactionary hateful thing where and it's like super hypocritical where it's like, fuck you, you racist piece of goddamn shit. Like you need to go into the fucking concentration camp and be brutally raped and tortured because you won't tolerate other people. You fucking sick fucking pig. And it's like, you know, maybe there should be some self reflection here about some of those things you said and are expressing and like

HODL (06:20.642) Yeah.

Erik Cason (06:20.715) I don't know, like this is the thing that I've been trying to deal with kind of in the liberal bubble I'm in. It's like, hey, do you guys think that like all the hatred and vitriol that you're directing at white people and about like how useless men are and that they really obstruct everything that could have ever been done that's good might have a little something to do with this. In addition to like, perhaps we're in the position that we're in because of the way that you keep shitting on all these people that actually

might have some degree of value to society. And I'm not saying they're better or worse than anybody, but maybe trying to direct all your hate towards them could have something to do with the outcome that came here as opposed to you being like, hey, these people, we'd like to include them in the fold rather than just kind of doing the reverse hate thing. But you know, I don't know. I'm not, I'm not a politician.

HODL (07:07.96) Yeah.

It's tough to tell people like, you know all that shit that's in your head? That's not real. It's just not real. None of it. You made it up. You're living in magical fairy princess land. Okay. And what I would, what I would want you to do is form a hypothesis and test it. You know I mean? Like experiment. Are you in magical fairy princess land? Can you fly? You know what I mean? Maybe you start on the ground first. Don't jump out of a window, but like, you know, maybe test your flap your wings little, see if it works.

If it doesn't, maybe we have the wrong hypothesis. I don't know. Weird. Just be calling here.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (07:42.586) Whoa, that would require like critical thought though and actual self-reflection and like now they've just like they've gone the other way and they're like well actually the black and Latinos are racist too and they clearly like and you're like hold on hold on guys I was told because of the intersectional hierarchy that they couldn't be Racist but but now they are racist and the Arabs to some of those Arabs We don't like them the Cubans especially escaping communism coming here voting for a Republican. Who do they think they are? It's ridiculous

HODL (07:53.748) Right.

HODL (08:00.876) They can't be racist. Yeah, they can't.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (08:12.804) Yeah, it's fucking will there be any self-reflection though like any like moment of inward like looking inward to say Maybe we were kind of part of the problem, huh? Hmm

HODL (08:23.448) They're nowhere close to being ready to deal with reality. In a sense, kind of like, it's a huge miscarriage of American civil duty that's happened because these people have been so badly brainwashed and Psy-op by the mainstream media, these professional state propagandists that you can't help but feel a little bit bad for them. at the same time, mean,

There's nothing to do but to get out of your echo bubble. you, the only person who can crawl out of Plato's cave is you. And I don't know how to explain to you that the shadows aren't real. They're just not real. And so like those of us who are out of the cave, we, we all talk about how retarded you all are in the cave, but we don't know how to actually get you out of the cave. Cause every time we try and bring you out, you fucking bite us and go rabid, you know?

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (09:17.66) And we can literally tell you the cave exit is right there. This is where you need to go to get out of the cave. And they're like, that exit looks not really like it's inclusive. I don't think I'm going to go out that way. Sorry, Kason. Go ahead,

Erik Cason (09:17.689) It's a pretty sad situation overall.

Erik Cason (09:31.29) Well, like with it being at a Bitcoin all time high right now, like that, you know, is what I came on with is that like, look, you dumb motherfuckers, like you could have, you could have just doubled your fucking wealth over, know, over the last year, had you just like shut the fuck up and been like, maybe I'm poor and working at a dead end job that I fucking hate because I don't understand how money actually works. And maybe these Bitcoin guys who have like made some money and some

self-independence for themselves, like maybe they have a point. But instead they go, this is a far right Psyop that's being played in order to try to destroy the wonderfulness of modern monetary theory. And the government needs to be able to print out money because how else can we spread the love and make sure that all people everywhere are always equal and have all of the equal opportunity always, particularly the brown people that we want to bomb out of existence because

You know, they need to use my fucking pronouns. And that's why we're bombing the shit out of them is because they're hateful, racist pieces of garbage that, you know, and then, and then there's just like the like, well, like fuck Israel, we can't like support them. But like Ukraine is great. Or the people doing the opposite one. I'm like, what, like, why the fuck is the red or the blue people telling you to bomb the right people? Regardless, like maybe you should just be upset that brown people are

you know, and in the case of Ukraine, white people too are getting blown up. Like the bombs are not racist. They will kill people whether they're white or brown. And I don't know, it would just be really great if people could be like, you know, maybe we should just kind of talk to people instead of murder them. But again, I'm not a politician. Maybe there's something I'm missing here. Maybe they need to be murdered.

HODL (11:07.501) Yeah.

key on this is like the Bitcoin price as a lens by which to view the world. It's like last night when I was watching the election results. I was at Bitcoin Magazine studio and they had all the boards up and all the stuff, you know, and I'm watching it all. It's like the traditional media and I'm on my phone looking at the Bitcoin price and I'm like Trump's gonna win. Like it just got bid in the markets. This is gonna happen. I now know the future ahead of traditional media.

And it's the same thing with like, Polymarket was telling us Trump was going to win for months and months because people have been actually, you know, putting economic value behind those, those, you know, those votes that they're making with their economic capital, right? And so, you know, if you're listening to traditional media, you're trying to do sense making that way and you have like, you know, the, poll, the Nate Silvers of the world, the pollsters telling you, Ann Seltzer telling you like, he's going to win Iowa, whatever. they, these people have no skin in the game. So there's no.

proof of work to their predictions. you need to, once you have proof of work as a lens, you as a Bitcoiner, look for it and see it and find it everywhere and anything that you can attach proof of work to, you realize that this is a real thing and you can bank on it. But I mean, people that don't have that are doing everything proof of stake, right? Like they just don't understand that reality that unfortunately they are living in. There's nothing you can do about it. can't.

You can't escape that reality, right? Like you are inside that reality.

Erik Cason (12:42.853) Well, it'd be clear like, proof of stake as a methodology that's like operable and like that's called socialism. Like I can actually like hijack the government and be like, Hey, Mr. Musk, like, fuck you. We're going to like steal all your shit. It's like, cool. Like now that we did that guys, like how much more runway we have? They're like, we have, we have four days. We got, we got four days to run the budget now. It's like, it's like the guy that's

Wait, wait, the guy that's getting us into space and like gave us like satellite internet and shit, like stealing everything from him got us four days of runway? And they're like, yeah. So we're out of time now. So who are we going to rob next? They're like, that Amazon guy. Yeah, like fuck him. He's like stealing from people and he's hateful. It's like, yeah. Why do you think he has better approval ratings than like the

and like everyone in like the US military. Like it seems like people really like him. They're like, cause, cause he's, he's racist, right? So let's steal his shit. And like, and like, that's what proof of stake is about. It's like, fuck these other people. We can like steal their shit and like remake the rules so that like stealing shit is okay when we steal shit for the right reasons.

And this is like the clusterfuck that's Ethereum. Like if you've watched like what their monetary policy has been like since the fucking Dow fork that happened, it's literally always been like, yeah, but like this is the one time it will ever happen. Well, maybe we'll change it again. You know what? Fuck it. We're just going to kind of do whatever we want. And like, that's fine, but it's not going to work out long-term and there's going to be very severe fucking consequences. So you...

could learn about how economics works and it turns out that like, nobody likes being stolen from and it turns out like, if I can steal from you, I can steal from other people too. And that's like a really big problem. So you should probably be invested in a system that goes, you know what? We're not gonna steal from anybody ever. But what about Hitler and Pol Pot? And it's like, yeah, it turns out that even fucking assholes, we like need to respect their right to property too.

Erik Cason (14:54.332) And they're like, but if we do that, then like all of the racist and hateful people will win. And it's like, you know, maybe you need to expand your worldview beyond thinking that everybody's hateful and racist. And that's kind of their main problem. By the way, like I've never actually, like when I was younger, I had a couple of friends, dads who were like pretty racist and stuff, but it was always this like, I don't know. Like I've never met somebody who like really had as their like main thing. They're like, yeah, but like, fuck the Mexicans and the black people. It's it's like usually like.

Yeah, but what about Habib? Like he was helping us out early and they're like, well, yeah, he's brown and that's fine. But, I'm like, so you're like, not really that racist. And they're like, well, you know, they're trying to take our jobs. And it's like, well, but were you gonna, were you gonna do the gardening? And they're like, well, no, fuck no. I ain't gonna get wet today. It's like, maybe he, maybe Jesus is pretty good at what he does, you know? I'm just saying.

I don't think he's taking your job. You don't seem like you're gonna be gardening in the ring. I'm just saying.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (15:57.544) I think so much this is like a it's it's it is a mirror right like What you see and everybody else tends to be more of a reflection of what you have going on in the inside? Than what is actually going on with them because you don't fucking know them you have no way of knowing what they're what their beliefs are whether or not they are a Giant bigot and a racist or whether they're just some man or woman trying to live their life Put food in the table for their kids and not get just absolutely bent over a barrel by the government

which is like a reasonable thing. Like nobody really wants to be bent over a barrel by the government, right? But apparently if you push back against that too hard, you are given one of these labels. But then it's like you have kind of this proof of concept here that this is just a reflection of what is going on in a lot of these, you know, bigot callers minds. When you see them say things like, you know, I can't like why would all of these Latinos vote for their own deportation? It's like, do you think the only Latinos in the country?

are here illegally? Like, is that what you think? That they're voting for their own deportation? Like, there's lots of Latinos here who came here legally, like a ton of them. And it turns out a lot of them were escaping the same sort of bullshit socialist verging on communist policies that you're trying to push on them now. And then you turn around and call them racist because they didn't agree with you. Like, it's this insane

paternalistic projection and I like but again the sad thing is I don't know if there is ever like a come to Jesus moment where they're like you know what you know guys we went too far we were wrong I was was pretty messed up for a few years there huh we're cool now let's keep things civil we're not gonna call everybody Nazis anymore especially you white lib or you white women you know you white suburban women you Nazis like it's just like turns out calling everybody a Nazi is a really bad campaign move like

I don't know who like how who could have known right shocking.

HODL (17:57.56) I think you guys are both being charitable and trying to diagnose them. I spent a lot of time trying to do that too, get into their heads and understand their psychology. How could you think this way? It's so severely retarded. And now I'm just like, listen, we have now unfettered control of all three branches of government. it's like, I don't listen. At the Thanksgiving dinner table, I don't pay attention to the conversation at the kids table. I don't care what the kids are talking about. You know what mean? It doesn't matter. It's like...

What color crayon do you like? I don't know. like burnt umber. That's my favorite. Yeah. It's like no, who gives a fuck? We're at the adult table now and it's about stacking wins on the board and you know, like for instance, mean, Trump is the first Bitcoin president. Vance owns Bitcoin. We now have the opportunity to like see real Bitcoin appointments be made where like people who are being recommended for high purchase of power

will be people that are sympathetic to Bitcoin, if not Bitcoiners themselves from an ideological standpoint. And to me, that's the most fascinating thing that's going on. And whatever like woke mind virus is like eating the brains of like the liberal white women we all know. I don't give a single fuck like drink your Chardonnay bitch and like hopefully it cures it. I don't know what to tell you, you know, take some ivermectin.

Erik Cason (19:11.977) Well, it's funny because I have a good friend who like, you know, he's like, deep barrier roots. So like everybody is like very, very liberal. And like he's a bit of the black sheep of family. So he, you know, he was like, I'm going to vote for Trump. And this, this is like very upsetting to his family. And like, you know, everyone was getting outraged with him. And he was like, look, he was like, look, like the only way we get to talk about politics now is like, you have to steel man my position. Like you don't get to come to me and be like,

But Trump's like a racist bigot. Like you need to actually come to me and be like, well, perhaps you want to elect Trump because like you feel different about economic policies or whatever. And I've found like, this is the best way to actually like force people to, like think in a meaningful way. Cause like, otherwise they'll do the same bullshit with you. But I've found like it really glitches people pretty hard. Cause I can be like, look, like I, I understand your position. Like you think Kamala as being the first black woman president.

is really going to create policies that champion and allow for, you know, people of various and diverse backgrounds to be able to have a real leg up in America. Totally hear that. I have a fundamentally different position that I don't believe that that actually helps people in a unique way. And I actually think there's a very discreet kind of racism that's going on with that. When you say, Hey, we need to give reparations to black people.

because they're not good enough to be able to compete with the white people. It's like, they're, you know, like I see something a bit racist in that. And like, again, I'm not trying to take away from that. There, there can be good reasoning behind that, but you know, particularly living in the state of California where this has actually been proposed as like a meaningful bill seems pretty fucking racist to me to steal a bunch of money from me and give it to a bunch of, of, you know, people, you know, I think in this case, just black people that are going to be getting that.

money directly when as far as I know they directly were not enslaved by me or my ancestors and I'm not sure what their relationship is to it either. I'm saying the with Kamala Harris like black woman this is this you know great that if she was elected that she would be the first black woman but let's be very clear she's not like African-American she's a Jamaican woman that's where she's descended from and again like doesn't take away from the fact that that is would be the first black woman president but

Erik Cason (21:35.851) She is not an African-American and that's a bit misleading to kind of do that whole pitch. But most people are really uninterested in this just because they have a deep vested interest in what their emotional capacity is. And that's one of the things I've found deeply disturbing about a lot of liberal ideology is that like if something feels right, that means that like that is right. And when you try to pick that apart, they go, well, that's racist. And that doesn't feel like if I'm, that doesn't feel good. So we can't be that.

And like it turns out that like maybe there's a little bit of racism you have going on there with, you know, wanting to steal money from white people and give it to all the other people. Just saying.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (22:16.397) It's you know, it's you mentioned like this friend who's bucking the trend in his Bay Area family, right? And something I just think is so genuinely sad is that we are at a place right now and and I'm sure you know people could come up with examples of like well in the Civil War families were broken up over that and it's like, okay, let's not please let's not compare the two the two moments in time, but the fact that people will literally stop speaking to their family basically, you know, diso you know disavow them like well my

My mom voted for Donald Trump. And so I can't I just I won't speak to her anymore. I can't possibly because it turns out even though this woman loved me and raised me my entire life and made so many sacrifices for me and did everything she possibly could to give me every advantage I could have. She's a racist bigot. And it's like people will literally stop like I'm sure you guys know people like I can think of a number of people within circles. I run it like off the top of my head that level like nope.

I won't be talking to them anymore. Like I like I'm out, you know, no more family Thanksgiving for me. I can't be around this racism. No more Christmas. I you're not going to see your grandchild. I don't know any of those examples personally out of no more grandchildren time. That'd be like especially fucked up. But the point is like how do you have so much hate in your heart that you cannot you cannot get over the fact that somebody that you love and that loves you may have a slightly different opinion than you.

And that the fact that their opinion is different is so offensive to you that you would break apart those ties that bind you for a fucking political candidate, for a fucking agent of the state apparatus. That is fucking insane. Like that truly blows my mind and I think that is really sad. If somebody by some chances listened to this who's like, well I haven't talked to my uncle Jim in two years because he voted for so-and-so on either side of the fucking aisle. Who cares?

Like you should be able to argue the most with the people you love the most. Because no matter what, at the end of the day, you guys fucking still love each other. Get the fuck over it. You're going to have disagreements. It's OK. That's a beautiful thing. And you should have people that challenge you.

Erik Cason (24:25.621) What?

It's both about like a first of all, it's about like a really weak frame of individual reference that that that's very frankly, callow at the bottom. Because like if you you have to identify so strongly with a political party or a movement that that becomes definitive about you and that like you you need to break with other people because they're disagreeing with it. Because like, look, like I'm clearly like a freak Bitcoiner and like everyone in my life doesn't agree.

with the Bitcoin thing, despite the fact that they've seen me have very, very fat gains while they have lost lots of money. And I think that's sad and unfortunate. And like, I'm always like waiting, you know, at the dinner table at Thanksgiving for them to be like, so Eric, like Bitcoin's at an all time high. Like we were all totally fucking wrong and we could have, you know, doubled our portfolios had we actually listened to you. But like, nope, never fucking happens. And at best I try to bring up the Bitcoin thing.

Wow, like the, just don't understand this money thing. So how was the game last night? And I'm like, you you could like, you could have actually like rolled that into like a question being like, so Eric, like what is money? Like why is Bitcoin actually different from the dollar? Cause I don't understand and you seem to get it. But yeah, that never happens. And I find it pretty sad and unfortunate. And like the other one is like.

I'm still open to Bitcoin being fucking wrong. I'm certain it's not. I mean, like if you happen to be a top tier world cryptographer and you're like, check it out. There's this error in the sub 256 curve that was chosen. And turns out the whole thing's fucking broken. You know, I'd probably contact the US military first and like let them know and understand that fucking encryption standards don't work. I just find it pretty fascinating how deep.

Erik Cason (26:19.241) Most people have fled into the them and like they don't actually have a definitive idea of who and what they are, their purpose in the world. that they're like much more interested in making sure everybody feels comfortable and safe rather than making a little bit of discomfort in a conversation that might force some thought and growth. Cause like, again, I don't want to be a fucking asshole, but

Why don't we think real hard about how things are going and what we would really desire for ourselves and others? And like, I don't know. It's, I know this Thanksgiving is going to get interesting with people being like, that hateful bigot Trump, he was elected and he's going to destroy America now. I'll be like, yeah, like it was pretty bad when Hitler was elected for the second non-consecutive term. And when he really made the choice to go after all of his political opponents at that point in time, that was a really weird.

time in history, huh guys? And they're like, yeah.

HODL (27:13.932) Yeah, remember, remember Hitler's bipartisan coalition, you know, like the Tulsi Gavrids of the Weimar Germany were joining up with Hitler like, no, it's so stupid, dude. I think if we take it at face value, everything Eric said is and Walker said is true. But like, you know, I think a lot of these things are just that family members just really don't fuck with each other for deep, deep familial reasons like trauma, trauma reasons. And they're using the

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (27:24.998) you

HODL (27:40.93) the Trump thing is a convenient excuse, right? Rather than going to therapy and like hashing out their shit or having a frank and honest conversation. I mean, I have family members in my life who, you know, I've had these frictions with and the truth is like, our relationship was never good. It goes deep to the psyche of both individuals in the conflict. It relates back to our grandparents and their site and you know, it just goes back and back and you're like.

Okay, so I actually I've been like cast in a play here of like some deep familial trauma and I'm not even like really aware of what's going on and neither is the other participant. We just know that we don't like each other and then you have this flashpoint of Donald Trump's election in 2016 or in 2024 or whatever and then that becomes the the way to fissure like it creates the fissures in the relationship and whatever. So I think I think that's a lot of what's going on. But I also think that you know more on the

the topic that you were saying about, you were trying to talk to all these people and they wouldn't listen or whatever. I went through this myself and what I realized is that I had survivor's guilt. So I needed to fix them for me, had nothing to do with them. It was all about me. It had to do with my own feelings of inadequacy around not being able to save my own mother from her psychological issues. And then when I realized that I was like, okay, I can just stop doing that.

because it's not serving the other person. I thought it was my way into being a good person. Like I'm a good person. I care about these people. I really want to help them and whatever. But the truth is man that there are people with a growth mindset and there are people without a growth mindset. And I'm a person with a growth mindset. I want to continue growing in life and doing, you know, cause there's no, there's no stasis in nature, right? That's nature abhors a vacuum. Like there is no stasis.

everything's in constant flux. It's constant chaos and you're, basically either growing or decaying, right? That's how nature works. And so we are a part of nature. That's how we work. Also, that's how we work psychologically, but for some reason, people don't think or believe this and they like to, you know, have this sort of delusion that they're, they're a static element in a static system. makes no sense to me. And I can't stand people who are like that and I don't want to be around them. So for me, after I realized the survivor's guilt thing, I was like, okay, yeah.

HODL (29:58.432) I don't want to be around people that don't have a growth mindset. And so now I just am not. So if you don't have that, if you don't think that way, I'm just not around you, bro. I don't know what you got going on and I don't care. And I wish you well. I hope you get out of it, but fuck off.

Erik Cason (30:13.977) Yeah, I've, you know, it's taken me a while to learn it, but particularly family, it's as much as like, really want like deep connecting conversation and for like us to understand each other and for them to like meet me where I'm at. They have like zero fucking interest in that. Like they really want to talk about the weather, like anything that's like level one, maybe level two, but like level three, fuck no.

and it took me a long time to like button up against that wall being like, what, like, why aren't you guys turned on? Like, why don't you like, you know, I'm like, like COVID was like a great example of like trying to bring that stuff up and like lots of big conflict coming up. And it hurt me for a long time because I was like, why don't they want to understand me? Like, this is so difficult. I want to be loved in the way I want to be loved. And like, I finally just kind of got to the place of like, like this is their shit.

HODL (30:50.104) Mm-hmm.

Erik Cason (31:04.262) they're incapable of it. And like the more I rock the boat, the more that they're going to resist it, making capsize more likely. And like, I just need to be okay with doing the level one and level two thing with them. And the truth is I can, I can do level eight, nine, 10 shit with you guys. And like that's frankly, like that's why I really fucking love the Bitcoin community is cause like I can have real and sincere conversation where we actually think hard about shit and go deep and enjoy that. And like that's.

Kind of what friends are supposed to be for. Family can be for, you know, just loving them for who they're meant. you know, I love my mom, really great person. I'm never going to have a deep and thoughtful connecting conversation about the political nature of world and our reality with her. Gonna have a really great conversation about how beautiful the sky is. But, you know, that's about as far as it can go. And that's okay.

And so I just, I really welcome people who are going to go into this Thanksgiving ready to fist fight everybody. Just like eat like a fucking marijuana brownie before that. And just like enjoy staring at the vase or some shit. Like it's not worth fighting your family and their stupid ideas of what they believe is right. Cause the other is like, if you're a Bitcoiner, like it's pretty clear that the next cycle is getting pumping right now.

And so anybody who is even remotely smart in your family is going to come to you when Bitcoin's at $120,000 at Thanksgiving and be like, hey, you know, you like made like some money with this, right? And you can be like, yeah, I'm like really fucking high, but yeah, I made some money with this. And they'll be like, could you, could you tell me a bit about that? And maybe that'll be your opening. Don't, don't expect it, but

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that with what the Trump team is up to, they're about to like front run destroying the entire financial system. Cause that's like, that's kind of their MO. They're like good with this money shit and they all clearly hold Bitcoin and they're clearly going to be appointing people. So, look, like I'm not telling you what to do, but like, if you like money, you should probably buy Bitcoin and keep holding it for awhile. Cause I'm pretty sure it's going to keep going up for awhile here.

Erik Cason (33:15.035) Although there is some fucking moron right now who's absolutely gonna slam their hand in the door and be like, it's going back to 15k. No way the bit going to keep up with this.

HODL (33:23.881) 58K is a lost universe. Otto said it's not static. Bullshit. 58K, stable coin, static, static system.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (33:31.261) To fair, I love the 58k meme and I am guilty of using it so much, but now I've also implemented the 158k meme because it looks almost the same to the the unseeing eye. You just see 58k, but there's a one in there.

HODL (33:43.128) Why not, why not 250 AK? Why not 350 AK? Why not 950 AK? Why not 1.258 K?

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (33:48.17) Jesus I hadn't even gotten that far fuck why not

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (33:55.421) 5.8 you know, like fuck it. Let's let's roll it up. So first of all, I appreciate you guys because you and I appreciate that we can have level eight and nine conversation, maybe someday a level 10. I don't know how high these levels go. So like how the scale works exactly, but I appreciate that there exist people that we can have these kinds of fucking talks with because it's you're right. It's not always within the family. Sometimes it is. And that's very fortunate, but like

If that's not you out there listening like that's okay, too Like you know, that's why that's why you're in Bitcoin, right? Because you can go meet with a bunch of other strange people who want to talk about how fucked up our monetary system is like ad nauseum and like are Super fucking down with that and that's a beautiful thing But I'm curious cuz cuz Eric you mentioned just like the Trump team MO being Go in and kind of like fuck shit up a little bit in the in the financial system. Do you think?

Do you think, okay, like Trump is on board with that? Like, is Trump gonna go full on end the Fed? Like, is Ron Paul coming on here and we are fucking burning this thing down? Or is Trump, like, he's, I don't know about your, like, the vibes you've gotten from, but he seems more measured lately. Like, maybe it's, you know, almost getting assassinated. Maybe it's just a little, you know, couple extra years. Maybe it's Barron being nine and a half feet tall standing next to him. And he's like, you know what? I'm not the biggest guy in the room anymore. I don't know. We're like,

Where do you think we go? Where is Trump at on this? And do you think the team he's assembling is actually going to go in there and be like, no, we're going to bring the Fed down?

Erik Cason (35:34.077) I think from the standpoint, it looks like that's a possibility, but like I, I am very, very deeply convinced that like, the deep state is absolutely and unequivocally in control. And there's no conceivable fucking way that anybody in any elected or any appointed position can like meaningfully stop any of this. Cause like, I, I can't really imagine the powers that be in the back room are like, you guys, they let, like got the right people in the right position to like do stuff like.

What are we gonna do now? And they're like, dang, guess we lost. We just gotta accept it. So no, and I think Ron Paul and Elon Musk and all the people who get in right position, they are absolutely going to try their best to do stuff. And then I'm pretty sure none of it's gonna happen. Same thing, totally holding my breath that Trump keeps his word about freeing Ross day one. Gonna be mum on the word until then. If it doesn't happen, I'm not gonna be shocked.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (36:28.371) Yeah.

Erik Cason (36:32.094) If it does happen, I will be the first to give alkylates to where they're due because that would be phenomenal. My hope is that everybody who's really full all the hopium of all this stuff will see the next two years play out. Very little will actually change in terms of it. Yeah, that's when I'm gonna launch my radical states rights movement to use the states to unilaterally fuck up the federal government.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (36:40.764) Amen.

HODL (36:59.272) Dude, let's talk about the Ross thing for a second because did anyone have more on the line yesterday than Ross Ulbricht? No. Like, mean, Ross Ulbricht's life hung in the balance. was double life, rot in a prison cell for all eternity until you die and are taken away in a casket or freedom in three months, freedom in two and a half months. I mean, that's a fucking crazy

crazy thing that he had to live through, you know, the potential that either one of these outcomes, was like, everyone was saying it was a 50-50 toss up between these outcomes. And luckily, we're in the good timeline. And, you know, I was hanging out with the production crew when I was at this thing last night, and, you know, basically they were asking me like, why do you guys all care so much about Ross? And I said, listen, Ross's story is a miscarriage of justice.

and Ross didn't deserve double life. did do something wrong. He did deserve some prison time. Like, that's just how it is. I know, like, the anarcho-capitalist would be like, no way, bro, but it's like, come on. I mean, we have a society that has rules. He broke the rules. Like, he does a little time. But he's, at this point in life, he has paid his, whatever debt he owed to society has been more than paid. He just created a website. He never hired hitmen. All that is bullshit. The man who allegedly,

he hired to have killed supports him as a vocal supporter of Ross Ulberg. I mean, you've been lied to about this case, the agents, the federal agents on the case were dirty. They were they were stealing. Yes. Yeah, FBI. Yep.

Erik Cason (38:33.375) Like all of them from different agencies, like every single motherfucking federal agent in that goddamn agency stole money, like it's fucking insane. And most of them like got off the hook too. And this is what I'm so fucking angry about is the hypocrisy of

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (38:34.759) Yeah.

HODL (38:43.352) Yeah, they did last time that Ross last time that Ross exactly. No, and I mean what I'm saying is like this is this case is a miscarriage of justice and Ross deserves to be free and he will be free in two and a half months. I'm not one of these Bitcoiners who's like we'll see bro. We'll see if Trump does it like no, no, he's he's gonna be free. It's a campaign promise. We put up serious money and we went to bat for Trump and now we're gonna get Ross out and the reason it's important to us is what I told the production crew.

is because yes, all those things are truths of miscarriage of justice, et cetera. But what it shows is that we are ascendant politically, that we matter, that we're important. Things weren't supposed to happen this way. And then they happen this way. The state condemned a man to slow death, double life imprisonment. And we said, no, you don't get to do that. We got to rewrite the rules of the game as the game was being played. And it shows that we don't have to just sit there and take it. mean, imagine the timeline where Bitcoin goes to zero.

In that timeline, Ross rots in prison for the rest of his life. But we're in the good timeline where Bitcoin is at 76k and Ross is free in two and a half months. And I mean, it just shows that we are going to be players in the world. You're not going to be off in the woods with your cold card shoved up your ass. I mean, if you want to do that, like that's fine. Like get freaky. It's okay. Bitcoin is about freedom, but

Erik Cason (40:03.294) You should really consider a ledger if you're doing that, you know.

HODL (40:05.41) Go like that, open your eyes. Yeah, don't, the cold card is very square. Listen, you want to shove it up your ass, you be my guest, okay? But we're going to be playing.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (40:05.901) Yeah, for real.

Erik Cason (40:14.43) I really need to make a buttplug that is specifically designed for this.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (40:18.076) How has no one made that yet? That's my question.

HODL (40:19.544) I know right. We are going to be players in the world and we're going to have political power. And we're also going to make some butt plugs. Okay. That can accept a leg.

Erik Cason (40:25.255) seed taker.

Erik Cason (40:32.606) You want your engraved butt plug? Please read each other.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (40:37.95) We're thinking of spinning up a little, a little shop for them. They're going to be super nice. Hypoallergenic, course, really smooth on entry. Not so much on exit. Cause you don't want that thing coming out necessarily, right? Like you got to keep it in there.

Erik Cason (40:41.129) You

HODL (40:43.224) I'm

HODL (40:51.938) Just to wrap that up, I'm happy for Ross and I'm happy for us. think like this is a big moment in Bitcoin's history. Ross being for it is a big moment.

Erik Cason (41:02.625) Well, and and, you know, I'm on the opposite side. I'm going to hold my breath till it happens. And when it does, I'm, you know, that'll bring you back in the fold from like crazy crypto anarchist land. Like I'm, might like move into like far right political activism or some shit. but it's really important to get that, like, we're an actual political force now. And like, I really hope that we're going to start behaving like it and that there's going to be like a real actual Bitcoin contingency because like,

HODL (41:09.698) Just fair.

Erik Cason (41:30.175) I actually think in the next four years, there's a real fucking shot of ending the Fed. And like, I don't think anybody inside the federal government will do it, but I do legitimately believe that like, if we got 35 states to push through their state legislature legislation to like end the Fed, that that shit would get amended to the constitution. And like the federal government would have to like flip the fuck out and figure out how to do that.

And I think it's really important because like the federal government is so out of fucking control at this point in time. We really need to start figuring out new and different methodologies to change how that can happen. So I'm just excited to see all the change that's happening and also like fucking 100K is like in play now. So it's to be really exciting when we get there. I haven't heard from Valis in like a year. Well, I've privately heard him from before, but like I hope his 100K party is still going to happen somewhere.

HODL (42:12.6) dude, 100k by Thanksgiving.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (42:21.727) Yeah, we're whether I mean I don't like to you know talk about price too much on this show because I'm not an open-mouthed YouTube shill But that being said caveat, you know, it is like above 70 say we're like 76 200 right now that's just like kind of a trip, you know, and I would I agree with you that like As I was watching the price last night again, I like I've been on the river these last like four days. I have like checked

Twitter a couple of times then I was like, nah, that's not really of interest to me. Like I'm out in fucking nature catching fish hanging out with like my dad. Like that's what I want to, this is what I want to be doing right at this moment. And, then I got back and of course I was like, yes, you know, like bring it in. And then, you know, stayed up until 2 AM watching MSNBC as one does, but like you could, you could feel something was happening and I think you can feel something is happening now. And I just wonder like,

HODL (43:00.93) Yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (43:17.916) does Bitcoin like because I would say that Bitcoin is it is inherently partisan or excuse me it is inherently political it is not partisan right it is like money is always going to be political we're talking about separating fucking money in state of course that is going to be political it is not inherently partisan it is only partisan if partisans make it partisan and that's not to say the people that are pro Bitcoin are the partisans who are making it partisan it's the ones on the other side who are reactionary to it right

HODL (43:25.804) Yes.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (43:46.343) So I'm just interested to see like, I mean, fuck like there, it's a, it's a red fucking wave. Like Trump blew out the popular vote. He's got the mandate, right? He obviously won the electoral college. You've got a Republican majority in the house and the Senate by all rights. have no excuse not to do everything they claim they want to do. Right? Like they have, there's no excuse.

HODL (44:04.704) interest rate. 100%. By the way, by the way, the Democrats going after us and brought and broader crypto markets was such in retrospect, such a massive unforced error on their part. There was no reason to make significant enemies of us. None. And all they did was suffer because of it. Now, like, I don't know how much we affected the election.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (44:21.554) Yes.

HODL (44:32.62) But we affected it some non-trivial amount, okay? And it just, it wasn't something they needed to do and they did it anyway because they were drunk with power. That's why they

Erik Cason (44:43.022) I mean, they did it because like they believe their own retarded bullshit that they like they had literally pumped up their own ass intentionally where they're they're like, this is used for terrorism financing and it's it's so all the bros can get away with tax and like it was all bullshit that they just repeatedly kept convincing themselves like like the fucking Greenpeace nonsense and like the like I feel so bad for the guy that's running that Twitter because like

Like all he does is tweet something and is immediately, like provided all of the evidence of how fucking wrong he is. And like the other thing that's just so shameful is that like these people are supposed to actually like give a fuck about the environment and like, what's more important than making sure that we're actually getting clean hydro power from power plants that were going to be shut down otherwise, you know, like what's more important to people in sub-Saharan Africa who have never had access to

fucking electricity and can't have clean water and now they can. Like it's, it's just so disingenuous. And like, again, I would really hope that, you know, the Democrats would sit down and be like, wow, we like, we really fucked that one up. We should really like reconsider this. But, I very, very strong doubts that that's going to happen. And it's going to be really interesting to see kind of what the co what comes out of it. But yeah, I have a very strong expectation.

that they are going to continue to double down until essentially they fracture the Democrat party into like, there's either gonna be a renewed moderated democratic movement or it's gonna fracture out into like different parties. Either way, it's gonna be fucking entertaining.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (46:26.386) Can I say something controversial guys? am, I am, I am glad Elizabeth Warren was reelected because honestly, I, she was, she was against what John Deaton, right? He was like the, yeah, he lost.

Erik Cason (46:28.546) No.

HODL (46:30.962) Yeah.

Erik Cason (46:36.254) was she?

HODL (46:41.1) Yeah, he lost. Yeah. He had an uphill battle. She's very well funded in her state and Massachusetts is a liberal shithole.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (46:46.202) she is.

Erik Cason (46:47.973) Huh, where'd that money come from? That's really interesting. Huh.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (46:50.723) from but he was funded by crypto lobbyists. But no, the reason I'm happy that Elizabeth Warren won is because I would have missed her. I would have honestly missed reply guying her all the time when she says stupid fucking useless shit like that would have left a little bit of a hole in me. And I don't know how I would have filled it like I need something to butt up against. And like Pocahontas is the best.

HODL (46:55.65) Yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (47:18.52) She's just the best for that. it's like when she talks about price gouging, I see Elizabeth Warren price gouging tweet. And I'm just like, yes, I know what I'm doing today. You know, like, it's nice to have that. And like, I also think to your point, Eric, like, she is going to their and to your point as well, like unforced errors, she's going to continue to fracture the Democratic Party. Because like, like one in fucking seven Americans owns Bitcoin, like owns Bitcoin.

This is according to the study that Troy Cross did. There's probably a margin of error there. But even if it's one in fucking five Americans, that's already a shitload. And we are not even in like number go up mania yet where people are like, I probably need some of that. This is a growing coalition. And to fight against it is just like, first of all, you're fighting against freedom and you're just fighting against people from all walks of life. It's not like these are just the crypto bros or all these, you know, like not every, you know,

Bitcoin bro is as fucking radical as case in over here, you know, and I mean that in honestly the most complimentary way possible just so know, Eric, but like that, like what the fuck are they fighting against? What are they anti your anti freedom? Your anti people being able to make decisions for themselves. But it's like, like it's like my body, my choice, like my fucking money, my choice. Fuck right off. Anyway, I'm so glad I was so glad she was reelected. That's it. That's

Erik Cason (48:25.289) Thank you, I appreciate that.

HODL (48:38.968) 100 % no, I was gonna I was gonna say the same thing you said which is that it's such a it's such a bipartisan like coalition multi racial like pluralistic like I mean Bitcoin is a large tent like the Orange Party is the largest tent we have politically and they did they made a large mistake going after us because you know, first of all, it's like

Erik Cason (48:44.359) back in a minute, gentlemen.

HODL (49:06.604) Are you dumb? You're going after young millennials with money who are multi- like racially diverse? The fuck is- are you stupid? Like what's wrong? It doesn't even make sense. It doesn't even compute. But anyway, listen, there was a referendum on these people last night. I feel confident that this worldview is going to be dealt a hearty blow. And they're gonna realize that, you know, there's a new player in town and it's the crypto lobby and the Bitcoin lobby.

And David Bailey in some non-trivial fashion was responsible for freeing Ross Ulbrich from prison or will be responsible for freeing Ross Ulbrich from prison and for getting Donald Trump elected. He made a significant, you know, mark dent on this election and he's the MVP of Bitcoin in 2024. Like that goes to David Bailey, number one with a bullet. There's no one else that even came close this year. And, you know, I think

It just reminds me, I was talking with David Zell about this last night that you can just do things. You can just do things. Whatever you want to do, you can just do it. Just do it. Elon wanted to affect the election. He just went out and rounded up a bunch of Amish people and drove them to the polls because the Amish can't drive themselves to the polls. He was like, we will drive you to the polls. You hate the government, right? And the Amish were like, fuck yeah. They tried to shut down our raw milk and shit. And Elon was like, yeah, fuck that.

We will drive you there. Let's all go vote. You can just do things. You don't have to wait for anybody. Nothing's decreed. Like, listen, fiat is a fucking disease of the mind. That's what it is. And every currency on earth that's not Bitcoin is fiat. Ethereum is fiat. Solana is fiat. Tether is fiat. They're all fiat, okay? And then obviously all the fiat currencies are fiat. But fiat is not just affecting the monetary supply and material goods like iPhones and shit. No, fiat affects

You. It affects your mind. It affects the way you think. You think that the world is decreed to you from scribes on high. It's not. The world is built by people that get out and build the fucking world. So if you want to do something, just go do it. Get politically active if you want to be politically active. Build a business if you want to build a business. Build a family if you want to build a family. Build an estate if you want to build an estate. Go to Mars if you want to go to Mars. Fucking just go do it. Do what you want to do.

HODL (51:31.916) That is the Bitcoin story. Not by decree. No one tells you to do it. You decree it. You fucking decree it. You go out and do what the fuck you're gonna do in the world. That's what we're doing here in Bitcoin.

Erik Cason (51:52.808) the to elaborate on your point, like, this fucking disease has rotted out 95 % of all of the creative potential of people everywhere. And it's great to see that that 5 % is making the change for the other 90%. Like, what we're seeing being developed in this entire system is fucking phenomenal. And people are not asking for fucking permission anymore. And I really hope between what we're seeing in Bitcoin, and the renewal of this American spirit that like,

Like one of the things I didn't realize last night with that I was so excited about when I started watching the Bitcoin price go up and the markets go up. was like, yeah, like there's this entire economic engine that's sighing with relief now that they're not going to get fucked out of existence by a socialist government that fucking hates them. And that maybe there's real potential to actually create dynamic change. Like I actually, and I think it's really interesting that people like this tariff thing's going to destroy anything. Like fuck that, this tariff thing's going to supercharge the fucking economy.

Like it's gonna turn out that like people that are importing cheap shit from China and they have to pay twice as much, they're gonna go, you know, maybe I'm gonna buy the American made thing where I'm not gonna have to pay twice as much for the same thing, you know? And like that's a really great fucking thing. And I understand all the economic arguments about how tariffs work and otherwise, but like, let's be clear, cheap shit from China that's subsidized by slavery, like it's not good for fucking America. You know what's good for America? Shit made in America that paid American people.

HODL (53:17.067) huh.

Erik Cason (53:18.59) that give American salaries so that they can spend money in America. And like, not to get on the nationalistist thing, but like, the other thing is, like, the world fucking needs Americanism right now. Like shit is fucked up and there needs to be a renewal of this American spirit that pushes out into the world that, you know, is what 1776 was about, which was a global revolution that then swept through Europe because they're like, yo Europeans, look, we just like fucked up the British empire and we...

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (53:30.43) Yes.

Erik Cason (53:47.21) earned our own rights by fighting these assholes. Would you like that? They're like, yeah, this like monarchy shit is bullshit. Let's, let's fucking fight. And I hope that we're going to see a renewal of that same spirit that we're going to fight back against our federal government and their surveillance in the deep state and that we're going to push that shit out numb into Europe and that the Europeans are going to be like, yeah, you know what? turns out getting asked fucked by our government and getting global surveillance through a CBDC is bullshit. Let's fight these motherfuckers. And I would love to see more than anything.

See, a sincere German nationalist movement renew itself instead of them living in their fucking shame about Nazism and like, get that like that shit's over guys and that like Germans, you actually have some like really great shit about your culture that if you guys can protect in a meaningful way, very similar to Americans and still be able to be inclusive with that ideal, like there's something great to be done. But like living in all this shame about like, like.

we're bunch of racist Nazis because we believe German culture is great is the same kind of bullshit that they're trying to tell us about because you believe in America and what America means, it doesn't mean that you're a far right racist. It means that you're a fucking American that believes in the real values and ethics of what it means to be American. So, you know, fuck this fiat bullshit, fuck CBDCs and it's time for us to really start rebuilding in a meaningful and thoughtful way on top of a Bitcoin standard because that's really an American standard.

HODL (55:00.344) Mm-hmm.

HODL (55:12.162) Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. Fuck yeah. Fuck No. No. No. No.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (55:12.479) fucking it. Fuck. Yeah, Wait, can we talk about Europeans for a second? Because like, wait, wait, just for one second. Cause have you noticed that the only people more confused about what happened in the U S election than the Democrats are the Europeans. They're like, on. What do you, what do you mean? Don't you understand? He's mean and bad. And how sad is this? These Americans, how did like it's it's mind blowing. And then you're like, God,

HODL (55:24.822) is the Europeans,

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (55:41.149) Like your point Eric like yeah, like I'm like so I feel like sometimes I went through the state like a stage in my life where I was like not I love America I love America because I love the fucking American idea and I love the American people and I love the possibilities that the existence of the American idea Allows for people in this country because it allows people to fucking create and build and do meaningful things but I went through a stage where I was like, you know, this is on my my Bitcoin journey where I'm also like

Well, but the fucking military industrial fucking war machine, the fucking the fucking fiat monetary colonialism that's perpetuated by the IMF and the World Bank, like and the Federal Reserve. This is this is bad. Like and then I got to the point where naturally like five seconds later I was like, yeah, but that's not America. Like that's fucking institutions. That is US government institutions. Those are institutions of theft and destruction and death.

America is a fucking idea and it's the people who hold that idea up and use it as their fucking torch to bring light into darkness and That is what I think people can get behind and I think you should be able to fucking get behind that Like I don't give a fuck what political party you fucking identify with like this week or forever in your entire life like There I don't know if you guys have heard anybody say this before but there is no red. There is no blue There is the state and there is you

Yes, there are meaningful differences in political parties. Obviously, there's a difference between Kamala, like what Kamala's administration would have been and what Trump's will be. But ultimately, we are not a divided people. We are a people who are united around the idea that America is fucking amazing. That idea is fucking amazing. And we are going to be fucking damned if we will let the state usurp that idea for its own fucking death and destruction and theft. And I think

I hope that more people can get around that and realize that look we're all on the fucking same side. There are two sides. It is the people the independent individuals and it is the state. There is no other side like there's no there's no other sides. You can color the horse a different color but like it's still the state granted again. me caveat. There are some differences especially you get down to local governments. There's a lot of difference but like we have so much more not to sound fucking cheesy.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (58:02.634) We have so much more that brings us together than divides us. And what brings us together is the idea that America is fucking special. And if it wasn't for fucking America, Europe would be still have been fucked from those fucking German Nazis, actual Nazis. Like we have literally pulled Europe's own head out of its ass so many times. And yet they still look at us like, well, these, you know, uncouth barbarians. It's like, you know, fucking right. We're uncouth and we're fucking barbarians. And there's a reason that you called us.

when you fucking got your panties in a twist and started murdering tr- like millions of people because you couldn't handle it on your fucking own, you pansies. Like, I love- for any Europeans listening, I fucking love you because you're listening to this and you obviously have a set of balls or maybe not balls, you know, you may be a lady European, but like, America is uniquely positioned to drive massive change in the world because of the American idea. That is what I would say.

HODL (58:58.392) The American, by the way, the thing that's beautiful about America, the American ideal, what is it, right? Like people might not know, especially if you're from Europe, the American ideal is I am the king of my own castle. I am, I am the captain of myself. Okay. I do not have to do anything that you want me to do. I am in charge of me. And if what I'm doing doesn't harm anyone, I should be completely allowed. And I'm well within every right, my God given rights to continue doing that thing.

That is a new idea in the world. It's a baby idea. It's only 250 some odd years old and not quite 250 yet. It's only about 250 years old. And we have to protect that idea because that's the most important idea in the history of the world thus far. And every time I see Americans exercise it and say, a second. Sometimes Americans get caught up in this thing where they're listening to people they shouldn't be listening to.

You know, they're to the television, Rachel Maddow or whoever, Joy Reid, Whoopi Goldberg. And then they go, wait a second, why? They just wake up and they go, why have I been listening to this bitch? What the fuck am I doing listening to this person? I'm just gonna do whatever the fuck I want. No! I'm doing what I want!

Erik Cason (01:00:18.705) Well, Hoddle's out now because he did what he wanted. Look, these are really important.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:00:23.144) Wait, is your computer okay?

HODL (01:00:24.984) I didn't mean to hit the computer, but it's okay, it's fine.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:00:28.072) I thought that was for dramatic effect.

Erik Cason (01:00:28.409) The, the, yeah, it was good. These are really important ideals and like, you know, to, reemphasize everything that you said, Walker, like it took me a long time on my own journey as an anarchist. So like, like I'm an, I'm an anarchist and I'm American. Like I fundamentally believe that Americans on a whole, like we have all of the same value sets. Like nobody wants to hurt other people. Nobody wants to be hurt. People want to respect each other's right to private property. People want to see innovative and creative solutions and

and like let people be freaky and do what they are. And so like, I see reactions on both sides. It's like, look, like if you want to be your gay transgender lizard or like whatever the fuck you want to identify as, like that's fucking great. Good for you. Like do not come into the fucking schools and try to teach kids that shit. Like I'm uninterested in that. In fact, like why the fuck are we doing this school thing? Like if you look at the fucking department of education, you know what every single standard has been measured to do each year?

It goes fucking down. That's what it does. It teaches kids to be fucking stupid little robots that can't think for themselves. Like it, I find it deeply disturbing when I, when my son has friends that are in public school come over and like how fucking remedial they are and how much they, don't, there's a certain creativity that they really lack that I find fucking disturbing, you know? And also on the same side, like just cause people want to be weirdos and freaks don't mean that we have to hate on them and remove their right to be fucking weirdos and freaks. It's just like, don't.

In the same way that like, I'm not going to put my shit in your face. Don't put your shit in my face and don't try to use public institutions to do that. There's no fucking need. Same thing. Like I have no fucking interest in deporting people from this country just because they disagree with me on different principles. Like we need to learn to live in fucking peace and have a radical modernism between us because without that, they're like that. That's what America is all about is about being able to figure out.

How do we live with these ideals that allow for us all to flourish despite how different we are? know, like Europeans like take a fucking cue from us. Like, you know, like we, we figured out how to make this shit work. You guys are trying to model the same thing, but to be very clear, like what you guys are doing with the European Central Bank and the EU and shit, like this is not going to end well for you guys. And so I really encourage

Erik Cason (01:02:47.665) And like I've noticed this more coming from German specifically like you guys need to redouble in your own nationalism and so far of that like you guys are actual independent countries and you need to stop letting this fucked up institution that got created by a bunch of bureaucrats that told you that everything was gonna get better with it. You know like I have an uncle that's lived in Berlin since the 1970s and he knows the conversion of when they went from the mark to the euro fucked everybody over super hard and that's how it is kind of universally.

You guys should really consider taking back national sovereignty, destroying the European Central Bank, and probably, you know, the fact that the thing is ran by an actual fucking financial criminal who has been found guilty of financial crimes, that's pretty fucking ridiculous. And it's pretty ridiculous that you guys tolerate this bullshit being shoved down your throat from Brussels, so...

I really hope that you guys are gonna light shit on fire, cause like, when you guys commit yourself to burning shit down and like throwing shit at people and other stuff, you guys are really good at it. Like, into that. Like keep doing more of that. Like stop, stop with this other fucking nonsense. Cause you know, you guys are gonna get something pretty nasty out of it if you guys keep tolerating this bullshit.

HODL (01:04:03.836) You know what I think the difference between the European mind and the American mind is is that in Europe for you know, thousands of years, if you talk back to the nobility, they could kill you with impunity, right? And in America, one day we took a look at the nobility and we were like, fuck you. We just killed everybody, bro. You know, and so that's different starting points, you know, inception.

Erik Cason (01:04:24.048) Yup, fun f-

Erik Cason (01:04:27.868) Fun fact is that there is an actual amendment to the United States Constitution that is still active to be ratified by states that if you are given a title of nobility in America, you will be stripped of all political rights and positions. think it was the, because there's like three outstanding articles that could be ratified by states, like aren't, like another is about like child labor. The other one's article the first, which.

HODL (01:04:49.706) Yeah.

Erik Cason (01:04:53.424) I've had another great radical plan of like forcing state legislatures to ratify article the first to be, and it's called that because it was the first article to ever be that passed through the congressional approval process. And it went to the States to get approved, but it was never approved. And what article the first stipulates is that no representative of the federal government shall ever represent any more than 50,000 people at a time. And to be clear, if that passed today, that would mean that the House of Representatives would be like,

7,000 people or some shit like that. So that would be really fun if we like got states to pass it just to fuck up the federal government. Cause this is my big thing that I want not only for Americans, but for Europeans and all people everywhere is that like, I believe very, very strongly it is about states, provinces and counties against their unified federal government. Like if you look at what's going on in Spain right now, after the crisis that happened in Valencia and how much the federal government is absolutely fucking those people over.

This is where the real war is at. So I'd like to see more radicalism of states' rights against federal governments across the board. And I think that would really help solve a lot of problems.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:06:02.717) Eric, you mentioned something earlier about, like, just speaking of states' rights, that if, what was it, 35 states were to basically resolve internally, like, as independent states, that we should end the Fed, that the federal government would basically need to scramble. Can you elaborate on that a little bit more for those of us who are less constitutionally literate?

Erik Cason (01:06:20.71) Yeah, so this is all a hypothetical way to be able to ratify the United States Constitution directly using state legislatures only. Nothing has to go through the federal government and it is not supposed to have any oversight. This has never happened in American history because every single time that this method has been used to amend the Constitution, when it's gotten within two or three states,

The federal government has essentially flipped the fuck out and Congress has passed that amendment to the United States with the same language directly so that this was all circumnavigated. There was a Supreme Court decision in 1908 that essentially said if states tried to do this, we wouldn't recognize it. But like this is all about creating constitutional crisis because the 10th Amendment is very explicit and that any powers that are not enumerated to the federal government directly in the Constitution are reserved for states alone. So.

The whole idea would be essentially be go state by state, get the exact same language passed saying that we are calling on an Article 5 convention to amend the United States Constitution to end the Federal Reserve and that the federal government shall have no oversight whatsoever around the issuance of a currency. And in theory, it could pass. For me, the big goal is to get it past 33 states or something.

federal government's gonna freak out. You're probably gonna have the judicial branch being like, no, this is illegitimate. There's no way to amend the constitution without the federal government. We're gonna be like, Texas, what do you think about that? They're trying to say that the sovereignty of your state and what you guys decide isn't okay. Is that something you agree with? How do you feel about that, Nevada, Wyoming? Is this okay with you guys?

Cause for me, the big crisis that happened in America, which is where fiat money started in America was during the civil war. And as much as everybody likes to suck Abraham Lincoln's dick and celebrate him as being a really great guy, good job with like ending slavery, but like you like really fucked up a lot of other stuff with what you did in that. Not to mention that like explicitly creating an amendment to the United States constitution that says that other people can't have slaves, but the

Erik Cason (01:08:28.913) the state itself can have slaves is pretty fucked up. So with that, I really encourage everybody look into the Article 5 ratification process. I really have a boner for the idea using this to like fuck up the federal government across the board. Because to me, this is actually about a radical evolution of the political process that like I think federal politics is fundamentally broken. And if there's a way to lateralize a national movement that uses

only states and state legislatures to start amending the Constitution, or even calling for an Article 5 convention to rewrite the Constitution on a whole, which is also specifically reserved by Article 5 in the U.S. Constitution, there's actually an opportunity for us to roll back radical federal power, destroy the deep state, and renew the American dream throughout the globe by essentially creating the American dream with the federal government and the deep state stripped from it. So that's kind of my insane idea.

you know, let's have a couple lawyers and legal scholars come in here and tell me how I'm fucking insane or wrong or maybe even right, but as far as I know, this is an actual thing that could happen. It's just been kind of buried in history for a long time.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:09:41.32) HODL your thoughts.

HODL (01:09:43.512) I listen, I'm an Article 5 maxi as well. Eric has explained it to me multiple times. just, you know, I think like in practical terms, I just I just don't think we're gonna be able to do that. Yeah, it'd be cool. It'd be cool if it happened. You know, I would be for it.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:10:00.4) Let's let's talk about some practical terms then because okay I want to want to get your guys take on this whole Bitcoin strategic reserve thing Senator okay, so you we remember at the Bitcoin conference in Nashville Trump gave what I think was honestly incredible stand-up performance like that dudes a dude he riffs like he's he's Like you cannot argue with the fact that the dude can fucking what does he call? He calls it the weave right? You know like he riffs. It's impressive. It's just

HODL (01:10:20.344) It was funny. Yeah.

HODL (01:10:25.91) leave.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:10:28.702) very like nice routine. yeah. Yeah. Go save the delivery man. But, and he talked kind of like, we're going to keep the Bitcoin that we have, you know, we're not going to sell any of it. He didn't like explicitly say we are going to start, you know, printing fiat to acquire Bitcoin. He said he would protect the industry though. He said a lot of positive things. Then as everybody is leaving the stage, like after he finished, Lummis comes up and is like, I have a fucking bill right here. Like

Erik Cason (01:10:29.088) My dogs are attacking the delivery man, so I gotta stop them.

HODL (01:10:31.416) Nope.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:10:57.703) I have a bill for the US to establish a strategic Bitcoin reserve and like I felt bad because like again like people are like yelling like everyone's leaving the thing like and I'm sitting there like she just like this is fucking actually actually news that lumos is like I've got a fucking bill for this she's been on top of it since then Do what do you think is the most likely scenario that's gonna play out as far as the establishment of a strategic reserve? Is this something that like Trump is gonna be all for?

HODL (01:11:05.442) Yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:11:24.455) Like once he gets a little more knowledge of it, where do you think we're going with this?

HODL (01:11:27.348) So the way that Trump said it on stage initially is is wrong and can't happen. So the Bitcoin that have been seized, you know by whomever, whichever government authority sees them, then there are multiple government authorities that have seized them over time. They belong to somebody they have owners, right? So like most recently the Bitfinex hack there was four billion dollars worth of Bitcoin or something that was seized by the US government, but that Bitcoin all belongs to

people and it has to go back to them. So you can't use it for your national strategic stockpile. But in general, I think the idea of a national strategic stockpile is something that is going to happen one way or another. I think it's inevitable. Whether it goes on the central bank's balance sheet or whether it's put into the hands of the executive branch, I'm not sure. But America is going to acquire a large swath of Bitcoin at some point.

I think there's a the most interesting thing about it is the prisoners dilemma of the nation state level game theory around who goes first So if you go first, you're the most advantaged, right? But for some reason I don't think this is widely known and so nobody's gone first yet or maybe it's because we don't have Younger people who understand these things or have game this out Is Trump's administration administration where we we can do those things I think

Maybe I mean, JD Vance is a Bitcoin or Vivek is a Bitcoin or Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is a Bitcoin or Tulsi Gabbard is a Bitcoin or Elon Musk is a Bitcoin or Trump owns a little bit of Bitcoin. He's dabbled in some crypto bullshit. He has his own shit coin. So yeah, I mean, there is a potential that it could happen this time around. I think the most important or the most interesting thing to me is the game theory between other nation states. And then the thing I was going to mention is in some

To some degree, I think the Bitcoin that's in the public markets is a honeypot for the US government. So MSTR is a honeypot for the US government. The ETFs are the public companies that have Bitcoin on treasury like Tesla. So those things are things that can be nationalized in a moment's notice if needed. But we're not on a Bitcoin standard. So the government doesn't need to seize your Bitcoin yet. If fiat starts to collapse, they may need to seize your Bitcoin.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:13:33.256) Mm.

HODL (01:13:56.273) They may seize your b- They'll never need to do it. I mean, they just will do it, right? And so, yeah, I think that's- Those are my high-level thoughts around everything, though.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:14:04.595) Do you, I assume when you talk about a first mover advantage, you're discounting El Salvador in this particular instance because they do not print their own currency, because they are dollarized. Yeah.

HODL (01:14:12.756) It's too small. Well, it's also too small. It's just too small. El Salvador is a very poor country. They're doing listen, they're doing great. They're on the upswing, but they're not a player in the world. They don't mean anything like I mean, El Salvador is a tiny nothing country with no resources like I love what's going on down there. You're always probably they're very small. If you looked at them on the map, it's like this big. It's yeah, it's Russia, China, America.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:14:28.105) For now, for now, for now, let's let's let, yeah.

HODL (01:14:41.238) France, Germany, those are the countries that one of them needs to go first. G7.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:14:45.897) Do you so I mean like Russia has been shifting some of its stances around Bitcoin mining and Bitcoin more generally recently. mean do you think that like that is like we're going to see a lot more of that because Russia was for a while very like no we're you know not a fan of this. mean you know it's not the not the freest country in the world let's say and so freedom money tends to be a little bit.

It's like oil and water, like they don't mix well, right? But clearly they're realizing the geopolitical significance of Bitcoin, which is still sitting at like, I mean, I don't know what the market cap is right now after we're over, we're pamping, but like, we're not over 2 trillion yet. We're at like what, below a trillion and a half, like 1.5, which is fucking nothing. Like in the grand scheme of things, like we are still fucking early.

Erik Cason (01:15:31.04) point five.

HODL (01:15:37.74) Yep. Smaller than Apple Computer.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:15:42.303) Yeah, Bitcoin did just pass meta though, right? I think like today like I believe so, but I don't know like

HODL (01:15:47.308) Probably.

Erik Cason (01:15:52.717) That piece of shit company is worth one and a half tru- Like what the fuck is wrong with this world? I'm sorry, like that- that is upsetting that so many fucking morons are on that goddamn surveillance platform giving away their information towards somebody that fucking hates them.

HODL (01:16:02.38) It's.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:16:06.473) to, it's just,

HODL (01:16:08.214) Instagram is very popular with the hoes Eric very popular

Erik Cason (01:16:11.434) I know. Bitches just be scrolling.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:16:12.551) And Facebook's very popular with the boomers. Like I think boomers are the only ones left on Facebook. I'm honestly convinced, which is hilarious because the boomers were the same ones being like this, this, these Facebook's are going to melt your brains. And now they're like, you know, like this picture of Donald Trump and Jesus is incredible. Like when did they take this? This is amazing. Like, don't think boomer boomers have really bad AI detection skills. Also, that's a slight digression, but it leaves them very vulnerable to manipulation. I think

HODL (01:16:24.342) It's, yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:16:40.456) It's also kind of cute and endearing. God bless you, you bought your house for two raspberries and now you're a multimillionaire.

Erik Cason (01:16:47.724) look like in all honesty, like I see the next decade is like there's gonna be this really it's funny because I remember I was at Burning Man. I'd taken a bunch of acid and I was talking to a younger friend about this and I like went on this crazy diatribe. was like, yeah, in 30 years, we're gonna have like a youth fascist movement that's just gonna be all about like fucking stripping the boomers of their property and like sending them off to the prison camps for liquidation just because people are gonna be so fucking angry at the way that they feel like they were robbed and stolen from. So like

I don't know. It's very similar to that Junseth podcast where he talked to that young scammer where he was pretty indifferent to the way he was ripping people off. honestly, young people have a pretty good point. Yeah, if an AI boomer can't tell the difference between Donald Trump and an AI bot, and you can rip him off doing that, why shouldn't you? Yeah, he made his millions of dollars from watching his house inflate.

HODL (01:17:21.57) of these cameras.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:17:23.049) was amazing.

Erik Cason (01:17:46.102) you know, because of how fucked up the monetary system is. So why shouldn't you just engage in outright graft? I'm not saying that that's right in any meaningful way. Like it's an honest and open-ended question that frankly, I've really struggled with, like meaningfully answering to them. Cause like, yeah, this system has absolutely fucked you and robbed you. And there is no meaningful way that you are going to crawl out of the hole that you've been forced to live in. So like, I don't, I don't know what you can really do to try to protect yourself other than get yourself on a Bitcoin standard.

HODL (01:18:15.108) you? Do you that's Do you think that's true, though? Because like, didn't you feel that way when you were 1819? Because I did, I felt like the boomers had pulled up the ladder. They got rich selling houses back and forth to each other. We were never going to be able to do the same thing, etc, etc. And then God was just like, boom, here's, here's digital coins, bitch. And I was like, fuck. This is amazing. I'm richer than these guys could have ever dreamed. Yeah.

Erik Cason (01:18:15.414) But you probably shouldn't be robbing people, because that's fucked up.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:18:18.344) Yeah

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:18:38.045) you

You

HODL (01:18:43.158) So I mean, think there's always something on the horizon.

Erik Cason (01:18:43.567) I mean, for me personally, for me personally, yeah, but like, I, and like, this is one of the things I always struggle with is that like, we're in an extremely unique position, you know, across, like, that's one of the reasons I didn't just like take the money and run is that like, feel a real obligation towards speaking to the very real power that this has to like, write the economy in a meaningful way again. And with that being said, like,

If I was 20 years old looking at the economy right now, like I would very sincerely be trying to build a career as probably both a drug dealer and a scammer just because I look at the world and be like, why the fuck should I participate in any of this goddamn non- like you want me to fork out $400,000 to get a fucking bachelor's degree while you got that shit for free? Like why the fuck shouldn't I just set fire to everything and watch it burn because

What do I have to win in this system? Like, like I can work for 30 fucking years so I can get a down payment on a home that then I'll spend the next 30 fucking years trying to pay off scraping by. Like, I think shit is really, really fucked up. And I think the only reason that kids aren't outraged is because they're so dopamine addicted to the scrolling that they can't even pull their head far enough out of the phone to stop and look around and go, gee, shit's really fucking bad. But that terrifies them. So they look back at the phone and keep scrolling.

so I think shit's kind of sad right now, but, you know, like I, I hope I'm wrong and that it's not actually that dark out there, but from the, from the young people that I speak to, like, there isn't a rage about it. There's like a very real defeat that like they have been beaten down into a cage that like, they're just doing their best to figure out how to be in. So, while I do agree that I did feel that way when I was younger, like I very sincerely feel like I just like found the fucking glitch in the system.

And I remember like picking it up and being like, there's no fucking way that like magic internet money is going to become the global standard of the future and like make a difference in the 2024 presidential election. And the funniest thing is, that like, there was no political conversation about Bitcoin in my opinion, up until about 2016. Like there were, there was no conceivable difference. know, like crypto didn't even exist on a whole. There was a bunch of shit coin copies, like Litecoin and Feathercoin and shit.

Erik Cason (01:21:07.812) But it was only with the premiere of Ethereum that Bitcoiners were like, hang on, like, we're trying to like make a kind of money that you can't fuck with. And they're like, yeah, like I thought, I thought this was the whole thing that we could just like make up Clowncoin and like make a bunch of money. And I was like, I think we have like different ethics here. And they're like, huh. So like, you don't want any Clowncoin? And I was like, no.

Good luck with that though.

HODL (01:21:32.28) No, mean, you know, I think that, okay, so one thing is, did you see the scammers who got caught for 250 million? They hit up a Genesis creditor for 250 million. Did you see that story?

Erik Cason (01:21:44.022) yeah, yeah. Wasn't this a while ago that they just, you it was like, he had like fucking, like two FAA, like through texts or some shit and they just, just, yeah.

HODL (01:21:52.438) Yeah, they posed as I think they pose as Genesis or so I can't remember how the scam worked. But anyway, like they got $250 million in Bitcoin off of this guy. And it wasn't that long ago. was like six months ago or something. And then what did they do? They went out to the clubs in Miami and LA and they started buying OnlyFans girls Birkin bags and Lamborghinis and whatever. And my favorite text message from the thread is by the way, and then the FBI caught them two months later because

Everybody who's ever seen Goodfellas knows you don't go out and buy a fucking pink Cadillac day one. Are you fucking retarded? Robert De Niro is gonna whack you, okay? Or they don't watch it? Yeah, it's like, the kid literally bought a pink, he bought a pink Lambo for a girl. That is in Goodfellas, the guy does that and then he gets whacked.

Erik Cason (01:22:29.509) Kids don't watch oldies anymore.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:22:31.567) No, the answers are all there. They gave you the answers.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:22:41.425) Also, like she's not going to bang you either way, bro. Like, you know, seriously,

HODL (01:22:43.704) Well, that's the point. That's the point I'm getting to. So there's a text message from the girl and he goes, hey, what's up? I bought you a fucking pink Lambo Urus. You want it? Let's be friends, whatever. And she's like, lol, I have a boyfriend. Sorry. And it's like, dude, you are going to get ass raped in federal prison for the next 10 years.

Erik Cason (01:22:44.377) Yeah, that's like the most beta fucking move you can make.

HODL (01:23:09.568) and you couldn't even get the girl to sleep with you after you bought her a fucking Lamborghini. You know why? It's because when you earn money that way, girls know. They know that you're a fucking loser. They can feel it. They can sense it. Right? And so like she didn't want to have anything to do with you. So it's like, what did you get out of the score, bro? You went to Rodeo Drive and wore some gay Louis Vuitton shit for a little bit and we're in the nightclub fucking sipping on fucking...

awesome, Migo, fucking Don Hoolit, whatever the fuck, like what the f- that's nothing. You threw away your life for nothing, bro. Come on.

Erik Cason (01:23:41.263) Yeah, not to digress, but like if you want to like get rich and make a bunch of money to like get all the hot bitches, like I got news for you. Like it's not gonna work in any meaningful way. And like, you're actually gonna find yourself in like a super bitch beta position where you're gonna be like, huh, like I just like drove this girl in my Porsche over to this guy's house that she's like, that isn't my boyfriend. So.

HODL (01:24:06.808) It's just her trainer dude, it's just her trainer dude. He's the only guy who can work her glutes right bro, it's a thing.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:24:09.639) It's just Pilates instructor. It's cool, man.

Erik Cason (01:24:12.716) Yeah.

I'm going to, you know, she needs me to pick her up in a half hour. So I'm just, I'm going to hang out at this coffee shop just cause I wonder why she's doing only a half hour of Pilate though. That's kind of weird.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:24:24.735) That's strange. Doesn't seem like enough to get a good burn.

HODL (01:24:25.836) was like a... No, dude, it's more intense sweat, dude. If you do it that way, it's what...

Erik Cason (01:24:31.644) Well, and look, the... This is all part of the general nihilism that's playing out, because like when you get that money, when you get money that easily, that quickly through doing dumb shit like scamming, like you're not going to like stop and be like, whoa, like I finally got the lotto ticket to get out of here. Like I'm going to buy a couple of laundry mats and maybe like, you know, like a driving range and a couple other places that can really generate some cashflow for me.

No, you're gonna do like a bunch of retarded shit like that and you're gonna blow the money. like, this is one of the things I love the most about Bitcoin. It's like, Bitcoin doesn't solve cashflow problems or if like you don't have any meaningful like model that you're operating from the world from. if you can't save money, like you will not have any fucking Bitcoin. But like, if you're somebody who's like thoughtful and saving money and you have like a 401k and you've like played their game and gotten fucked by that, like.

Bitcoin's going to be hugely helpful for you because like now you're actually going to have a like savings that like does the thing it's supposed to do. So good on you. And also like, I'm sorry for all the younger kids that are getting fucked by this system that hates them. Like you really should be on only a Bitcoin standard. And if you're not, like I, I would love to hear your solution on why we're fucking dumb and you have the solution. Cause as far as I can tell.

You're gonna work at a Starbucks for the next 30 years and live in your mom's basement and like maybe, maybe if you want a family, you'll have like a chihuahua or something like, look, I got two dogs right now. Like these motherfuckers eat like nobody's business. So like get a really small dog that like you, you like don't need to like feed a lot of food to.

HODL (01:26:08.075) Dude, you know what though, it's all mentality, truly. It's like, people don't, when you talk about like having children and caring about yourself for the future and you know, making money and how making money is a good thing, younger people are just straight up confused, right? And to us, that's like, that's the default that we grew up in. Those are our values. And yeah, but younger people are like, what? Is this some sort of like, trad, like trad?

Chad movement thing, dude. And you're like, what? This is called being a normal person, retard. What are you talking about? And it's because it's so like they haven't heard it. They've been being dude, if you go to public school, you have been being lectured by cat ladies eight hours a day for a fucking 15 years. OK, like and they have like fucking unicorn fairy tattoos on them and stuff. And they're like, Donald Trump is a racist. That's what you've been dealing with.

Erik Cason (01:26:46.577) You can't say that word anymore.

HODL (01:27:06.432) Okay, so you come out of that and then Andrew Tate's like, if you want to be a fucking man, you gotta have a fucking Bugatti. And then you go, fuck, this is fucking speaking to me, dude. Right? Like, when we were young, that was just like common sense. It was like, yeah, sports cars and hot chicks. Like that's what we like, bro. Like, you know.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:27:26.162) Nobody needs to tell you that dude. Like, yeah.

Erik Cason (01:27:26.46) I feel...

I feel really fucking bad for younger people. Like particularly like if you're like a young guy going through puberty and like you want to like go talk to this girl, but you're all nervous because you've watched all this like cancel culture shit. Like now you're too terrified to ever go talk to her. And now like you haven't talked to any girls in your whole life and you want to, but you can't. So like you feel like total fucking wiener. And then like somebody was like, well, if you feel like a wiener and like being a man's really hard, like maybe you're a woman and they're like, maybe I am a woman. And like,

It's something, it's fucked up. It's really wrong. And like a lot of times these poor kids just need somebody to be like, yeah, like you need to go talk to the woman. She could possibly like get really upset and sue you or some shit, but chances are she's just going to think you're kind of weird and you'll feel uncomfortable and walk away, you know, being blown out and like, that's okay. That that's part of life. It's okay when a woman rejects you. doesn't define you as a human being.

HODL (01:28:17.56) I'm not supposed to say this but if you're a teenage boy Go and get a little drunk and do donuts in a parking lot. Okay. I'm not supposed to say that you probably shouldn't do it, but you know You should probably do it. Yeah, like in an empty parking lot empty. Don't go on the road. Just Donuts you can do it in don't do

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:28:31.498) Great advice. It's terrible advice, but it's great advice.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:28:41.608) And honestly, you live in the mid-west, like wait until, like you've got a little bit of snow there, wait until it's a little bit slick, it's much safer to do the donuts when your wheels are actually sliding versus you're like burning rubber. So that, we're tempering the donut device with some good Midwestern, you know, logical advice there. You know, I think, and Hodel, know you've got a hard stop coming up soon. I think we may need to do an entire other...

HODL (01:28:57.653) Absolutely.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:29:08.702) show about the fact that you know who hates homeschooling and who has had homeschooling illegal for a long time. Germany. Thank you. It's it's I appreciate you knew where I was going with that. And you know who implemented that. It was the fucking Nazis. Why did they implement the fact that you can't it is illegal for you to homeschool your kids for you to raise and instruct your kids at home.

HODL (01:29:18.754) Germany, right?

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:29:34.868) because they wanted to fucking control the narrative and control your kids and indoctrinate them and make them good little fucking Hitler's youth Nazis. And then we can go back a little bit further to the Prussian system of education, which is like what kind of was the genesis of the Nazi system, which is we want to create great little worker bees and great little soldiers. And the only way we can do that is if we have control of them from the first time they're able to fucking formulate a word.

Until they are of a you an age where it's appropriate to send them off to fucking work until they die or fight until they die I digress a little bit but the point is that if you don't like homeschooling you're a nazi And I mean that literally not like the everyone's a nazi thing like you're literally agreeing with what the nazis wanted So congratulations. You're a literal nazi not a figurative nazi That's

I just wanted to get that off my chest a little bit guys as a homeschooled guy myself who then went to public school because my parents Said it's your fucking decision do what you want to do. They didn't swear at me at that time They just said it's your decision, but I added the fucking but That was a fucking trip getting into public school and realizing I thought I was gonna be real stupid That was like my big worry where I was like mom and dad I think I should go to public school like what if I'm not as smart as the other kids They're always all my friends that I play sports with they're always doing homework and all this extra work like they've to be way ahead of me

They're like, okay, that's your decision. You can decide to do that. But like you've got a you know, like it's your it's your choice So anything that comes with it's your you know your responsibility, okay? And then I got to school and I was like, my god, everybody is fucking stupid. shit They are catering to the lowest common denominator. And this is a fucking joke I dig and I'm not even like that smart like I was smart enough to be a valedictorian and like kind of a bumblefucky town but that's like, you know, like you're the

skinniest kid at fat camp. You know what I mean? Like it's like, okay, like nice, nice job, but like you're still fat. Like, Hey, Hey, you guys are, you know,

Erik Cason (01:31:31.689) There are all these kids from her high school listening right now, and I'm like, hey, I'm not that dumb.

HODL (01:31:35.316) Hey, I often walk here. I often walk in my glue and he sniffed it. I thought we were friends.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:31:42.305) I knew some fucking great fucking people and there were also some great fucking teachers in there who actually were like fuck this administrative bullshit. I'm just going to actually teach these kids. They were also the teachers always getting in trouble with the administration for like you're not following the curriculum. know like but and like I fucking love the small town that I grew up in because there are fucking great people there. The point is that the public school system did no one any favors. And you know what you just don't fucking need it man. You should do like

An hour or two of school a day and you'll be fucking good. That's all I did And then I went and started fires like not pyro fires But like I like to start controlled fires who doesn't you know what I mean? That's part of it And if you're a young guy listening to this and you've never just gone and started a fire fucking a go and start a fire because No, self-respecting woman will marry you unless you can start a fire like and I'm just telling you Yeah

Erik Cason (01:32:31.926) Yeah, do it on metal trash can though, or like somewhere that you're not gonna start forest fire. know, like Smokey the Bear had a point.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:32:37.258) Well, yeah, don't do yet again not pyromaniac fires start controlled fires Learn how to control them and be a responsible member of society who knows how to make flame like fucking hey That's the only reason that we started drinking bone marrow that was actually cooked and had our brains grow and you want to spit on that I don't think so I've digressed a little bit but it felt like I needed to digress a little bit to get us off track enough for hodl for me to allow you to make a graceful exit here How much more time you got you got time for one last?

HODL (01:33:05.928) got, yeah, I got like five more minutes. I can do five more minutes.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:33:06.81) thought Okay, okay, so Okay, it first. I just want to say thank you to everybody who tuned in on this Noster only live stream fuck YouTube fuck live stream on Twitter fuck wherever else you can live stream like twitch I've never used it, but I hear the kids do all these sats that you guys have sent which is almost 50,000 sats which is awesome I'm gonna send them all to open sats and provide receipts. So thank you guys for doing that We're gonna fund some open source development while shitting on ridiculous people

Erik Cason (01:33:10.21) diatribe.

HODL (01:33:34.072) Yeah.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:33:36.352) Closing thoughts, gentlemen. Hodel, you want to kick us off?

HODL (01:33:40.888) Yeah, let me think about this here for a second. What are my closing thoughts? I think...

in general, you gotta just keep living, man. No, I got nothing.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:33:57.792) Yeah, you don't have to have that. You already dropped so much wisdom. Well, Eric, what about you? What do want to leave people with?

HODL (01:34:04.561) Come back to me. Do Eric first, then come back.

Erik Cason (01:34:10.474) Look, Trump getting elected was like a the whole market was like waiting to see whether or not we're going to go into like socialism hell or if there's going to be an opportunity for something meaningful to happen. Now something meaningful is going to happen and Bitcoin is going to rip super fucking hard in the next six months. And so like if you've been like, I've been like, stacking a little here and there, but I got my 401k like you don't have enough fucking coin. You're going to want more coin later and you should stack harder. So you should really consider about like

Put, you know, like stop messing around, like fucking shove it in, like, like put the whole thing in and enjoy what it means and be like, fucking go for it. In addition to, you know, you should really think for yourself, you know, like no, nobody actually has all of the right fucking answers. And if you actually spend some time and energy thinking hard about what your values are and what you want for the world and for yourself, you're probably going to come to some great conclusions. you know,

So I really hope that more of you are going to fly your freak freak flags and like do your own thing. Walker, you're a great example. You're just doing the Bitcoin podcast to swipe the fact that Bitcoin podcasts were saturated as fuck. You were just like, you know what? I'm going to try my own fucking thing. Turns out people like you and like listen to you. So even if it seems in other people are like, hey, this is saturated. There's too many people like go do you and what you're supposed to like, that's what the world wants. That's where you're to find your power and that's where you're going to make the most money. Don't wait for somebody to be like,

You need to call a degree in to suck five dicks at this law firm to get a job to practice law. find, like, find the fucking hack. Figure out the way that you can actually go do the thing that you want to do. What is the world wants for you and other people want for you? The system does not fucking want for you. Like realize that right now, you're going to be way fucking ahead for yourself. So.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:35:36.02) You

Erik Cason (01:35:53.28) I hope to see all of you young entrepreneurs with the production of all of the great and wonderful things that you will be accepting only on a Bitcoin standard because you're smart enough that you don't want to get fucked holding a bunch of fiat that's going to go to zero. That's the end of what I have to

HODL (01:36:06.496) I am. I actually do have something to say I was I was thinking about this. I think going into the bull market, an important message for people that they need to be aware of is that, yes, you should go hard. know, there's that clip of me on Walker show saying stack your fucking ass off and all that. And like, yes, you should go hard. You should you should be here. You should be fully committed to this and you should be, you know, investing a significant portion of what you have available. All true.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:36:06.728) A fucking

HODL (01:36:34.648) but you know in bull markets people take leverage and Leverage is something that people mistakenly think is a time machine to being an og And it's not and you know, we've seen a lot of people get wrecked So if you are gonna take leverage be extremely careful it's it's one of those things that like if you warn enough people about doing it the people that

you know, ignore all the warnings and walk through all the warning signs anyway, and then go do it and succeed. They were always meant to succeed. But for the vast majority of people like you won't succeed. You know what mean? So like you really should heed the warning and only you know if you're that person or not, and everybody thinks they are that person. But you only find out you're not that person who can walk through all the warning signs until you get fucking destroyed. So don't get destroyed. You know what I mean? Like

Erik Cason (01:37:24.676) By the way, this is being said by the man who made a Bitcoin by betting the man who had the leverage platform that his leverage platform would go bankrupt within a year and it fucking did. just saying that Hoddle might actually know a little bit about what the fuck he's talking about. So with that, please don't go long and slam your fucking dick in the door because there's a 10 % drawdown, which could very well happen when we hit an all time high and your retarded ass did a 10X long and didn't realize.

HODL (01:37:32.728) That's right.

Erik Cason (01:37:51.928) that that's what happens. You get fucking liquidated when the price goes down. So don't be fucking retarded and lose the little bit of Bitcoin that you have because you thought that you could get more Bitcoin because you were smarter. You're not. You're a normal fucking person who will hurt yourself if you do that. So sorry, I just really wanted to add.

HODL (01:38:07.746) So no, % 100 % and two cardinal sins here in Bitcoin you need to be aware of heading into the bull market is number one, not being bullish enough on Bitcoin. That's the biggest sin. It's the biggest sin anyone can make. Number two, unfortunately, is being too bullish on Bitcoin. So you got to strike the balance right in the middle there. Because if you're on either side, you're getting fucking wrecked. Okay, so the best way to do that, stack your Bitcoin, hodl your Bitcoin.

do it in self custody, do it in cold storage, do it with a multi sig. Don't go crazy on this, these products, these MSTU and BTU and fucking these leverage products you can now get access to in the markets. Don't go crazy on MSTR stock, don't go crazy on shit coins or meme coins. You know, everybody has a plan. I've met a lot of guys who had a plan to get to 100 Bitcoin, who ended up with zero Bitcoin, right? So like,

Try not to be one of those guys. If your plan has three elaborate steps that involve you hitting a million shot three times, you're not gonna execute that plan, man. I couldn't execute it. I don't know why you think you're good enough to. I don't know why anyone would ever think they're good enough to. Be smart.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:39:20.83) got a fucking three step plan and it's called DCA and fucking like literally guys, none of us are as smart as we think we are. And like that's good. Like you being too smart is just a pain. That's why you know, that's why you need to drink and stuff. But like literally just like just fucking DCA. Like it's actually like just this GCO like you can just buy Bitcoin, set up a daily DCA buy and then set up an hourly DCA buy.

HODL (01:39:24.503) Yes.

HODL (01:39:38.828) Totally.

Walker (BitcoinPodcast.net) (01:39:49.492) and it'll just split the difference and you will be in large profit in the long term. And I have not been around as long as you guys been around since 2020 and I just dollar cost average. And you know what? It works. And I try to create some value. And Eric, to your point, I appreciate that, that you see this journey that I'm on creating another fucking Bitcoin podcast. But I just want to say until there are more Bitcoin podcasts than insufferable fucking finance bro podcasts,

There are not enough Bitcoin podcasts. need to this needs to be the flippening where Bitcoin podcasts are more plentiful than fucking finance bro. Like here here's the real real estate stock stocks that you should buy that'll generate some passive income for you when you're 401k. It's like Jesus fucking Christ. Grow some balls and buy some Bitcoin guys. Yeah. I fucking appreciate you guys. Thanks for hopping on here. This this was a very enjoyable time.

And I know that people fucking love hearing from both of you guys because you are principal dudes who always laid out straight and We are we are very blessed to have you in this fucking strange community of people and it's great to fucking hang out with you guys And I hope we can do it in fucking person over a beer again soon But yeah, hold on get the fuck out of here case it I'm you guys for everyone listening I'm gonna kill this live stream now and we're gonna just to make sure these guys are uploaded. So fucking love you all. Thanks for joining

I'm killing it now.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Konsum ist Therapie.
Wolfgang Joop

Umweltbewusstes Verhalten und verantwortungsvoller Konsum zeugen durchaus von einer wünschenswerten Einstellung. Ob man deswegen allerdings einen grünen statt eines schwarzen Freitags braucht, darf getrost bezweifelt werden – zumal es sich um manipulatorische Konzepte handelt. Wie in der politischen Landschaft sind auch hier die Etiketten irgendwas zwischen nichtssagend und trügerisch.

Heute ist also wieder mal «Black Friday», falls Sie es noch nicht mitbekommen haben sollten. Eigentlich haben wir ja eher schon eine ganze «Black Week», der dann oft auch noch ein «Cyber Monday» folgt. Die Werbebranche wird nicht müde, immer neue Anlässe zu erfinden oder zu importieren, um uns zum Konsumieren zu bewegen. Und sie ist damit sehr erfolgreich.

Warum fallen wir auf derartige Werbetricks herein und kaufen im Zweifelsfall Dinge oder Mengen, die wir sicher nicht brauchen? Pure Psychologie, würde ich sagen. Rabattschilder triggern etwas in uns, was den Verstand in Stand-by versetzt. Zusätzlich beeinflussen uns alle möglichen emotionalen Reize und animieren uns zum Schnäppchenkauf.

Gedankenlosigkeit und Maßlosigkeit können besonders bei der Ernährung zu ernsten Problemen führen. Erst kürzlich hat mir ein Bekannter nach einer USA-Reise erzählt, dass es dort offenbar nicht unüblich ist, schon zum ausgiebigen Frühstück in einem Restaurant wenigstens einen Liter Cola zu trinken. Gerne auch mehr, um das Gratis-Nachfüllen des Bechers auszunutzen.

Kritik am schwarzen Freitag und dem unnötigen Konsum kommt oft von Umweltschützern. Neben Ressourcenverschwendung, hohem Energieverbrauch und wachsenden Müllbergen durch eine zunehmende Wegwerfmentalität kommt dabei in der Regel auch die «Klimakrise» auf den Tisch.

Die EU-Kommission lancierte 2015 den Begriff «Green Friday» im Kontext der überarbeiteten Rechtsvorschriften zur Kennzeichnung der Energieeffizienz von Elektrogeräten. Sie nutzte die Gelegenheit kurz vor dem damaligen schwarzen Freitag und vor der UN-Klimakonferenz COP21, bei der das Pariser Abkommen unterzeichnet werden sollte.

Heute wird ein grüner Freitag oft im Zusammenhang mit der Forderung nach «nachhaltigem Konsum» benutzt. Derweil ist die Europäische Union schon weit in ihr Geschäftsmodell des «Green New Deal» verstrickt. In ihrer Propaganda zum Klimawandel verspricht sie tatsächlich «Unterstützung der Menschen und Regionen, die von immer häufigeren Extremwetter-Ereignissen betroffen sind». Was wohl die Menschen in der Region um Valencia dazu sagen?

Ganz im Sinne des Great Reset propagierten die Vereinten Nationen seit Ende 2020 eine «grüne Erholung von Covid-19, um den Klimawandel zu verlangsamen». Der UN-Umweltbericht sah in dem Jahr einen Schwerpunkt auf dem Verbraucherverhalten. Änderungen des Konsumverhaltens des Einzelnen könnten dazu beitragen, den Klimaschutz zu stärken, hieß es dort.

Der Begriff «Schwarzer Freitag» wurde in den USA nicht erstmals für Einkäufe nach Thanksgiving verwendet – wie oft angenommen –, sondern für eine Finanzkrise. Jedoch nicht für den Börsencrash von 1929, sondern bereits für den Zusammenbruch des US-Goldmarktes im September 1869. Seitdem mussten die Menschen weltweit so einige schwarze Tage erleben.

Kürzlich sind die britischen Aufsichtsbehörden weiter von ihrer Zurückhaltung nach dem letzten großen Finanzcrash von 2008 abgerückt. Sie haben Regeln für den Bankensektor gelockert, womit sie «verantwortungsvolle Risikobereitschaft» unterstützen wollen. Man würde sicher zu schwarz sehen, wenn man hier ein grünes Wunder befürchten würde.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ e6ce6154:275e3444

Este artigo foi censurado pelo estado e fomos obrigados a deletá-lo após ameaça de homens armados virem nos visitar e agredir nossa vida e propriedade.

Isto é mais uma prova que os autoproclamados antirracistas são piores que os racistas.

https://rothbardbrasil.com/pelo-direito-de-ser-racista-fascista-machista-e-homofobico

Segue artigo na íntegra. 👇

Sem dúvida, a escalada autoritária do totalitarismo cultural progressista nos últimos anos tem sido sumariamente deletéria e prejudicial para a liberdade de expressão. Como seria de se esperar, a cada dia que passa o autoritarismo progressista continua a se expandir de maneira irrefreável, prejudicando a liberdade dos indivíduos de formas cada vez mais deploráveis e contundentes.

Com a ascensão da tirania politicamente correta e sua invasão a todos os terrenos culturais, o autoritarismo progressista foi se alastrando e consolidando sua hegemonia em determinados segmentos. Com a eventual eclosão e a expansão da opressiva e despótica cultura do cancelamento — uma progênie inevitável do totalitarismo progressista —, todas as pessoas que manifestam opiniões, crenças ou posicionamentos que não estão alinhados com as pautas universitárias da moda tornam-se um alvo.

Há algumas semanas, vimos a enorme repercussão causada pelo caso envolvendo o jogador profissional de vôlei Maurício Sousa, que foi cancelado pelo simples fato de ter emitido sua opinião pessoal sobre um personagem de história em quadrinhos, Jon Kent, o novo Superman, que é bissexual. Maurício Sousa reprovou a conduta sexual do personagem, o que é um direito pessoal inalienável que ele tem. Ele não é obrigado a gostar ou aprovar a bissexualidade. Como qualquer pessoa, ele tem o direito pleno de criticar tudo aquilo que ele não gosta. No entanto, pelo simples fato de emitir a sua opinião pessoal, Maurício Sousa foi acusado de homofobia e teve seu contrato rescindido, sendo desligado do Minas Tênis Clube.

Lamentavelmente, Maurício Sousa não foi o primeiro e nem será o último indivíduo a sofrer com a opressiva e autoritária cultura do cancelamento. Como uma tirania cultural que está em plena ascensão e usufrui de um amplo apoio do establishment, essa nova forma de totalitarismo cultural colorido e festivo está se impondo de formas e maneiras bastante contundentes em praticamente todas as esferas da sociedade contemporânea. Sua intenção é relegar ao ostracismo todos aqueles que não se curvam ao totalitarismo progressista, criminalizando opiniões e crenças que divergem do culto à libertinagem hedonista pós-moderna. Oculto por trás de todo esse ativismo autoritário, o que temos de fato é uma profunda hostilidade por padrões morais tradicionalistas, cristãos e conservadores.

No entanto, é fundamental entendermos uma questão imperativa, que explica em partes o conflito aqui criado — todos os progressistas contemporâneos são crias oriundas do direito positivo. Por essa razão, eles jamais entenderão de forma pragmática e objetiva conceitos como criminalidade, direitos de propriedade, agressão e liberdade de expressão pela perspectiva do jusnaturalismo, que é manifestamente o direito em seu estado mais puro, correto, ético e equilibrado.

Pela ótica jusnaturalista, uma opinião é uma opinião. Ponto final. E absolutamente ninguém deve ser preso, cancelado, sabotado ou boicotado por expressar uma opinião particular sobre qualquer assunto. Palavras não agridem ninguém, portanto jamais poderiam ser consideradas um crime em si. Apenas deveriam ser tipificados como crimes agressões de caráter objetivo, como roubo, sequestro, fraude, extorsão, estupro e infrações similares, que representam uma ameaça direta à integridade física da vítima, ou que busquem subtrair alguma posse empregando a violência.

Infelizmente, a geração floquinho de neve — terrivelmente histérica, egocêntrica e sensível — fica profundamente ofendida e consternada sempre que alguém defende posicionamentos contrários à religião progressista. Por essa razão, os guerreiros da justiça social sinceramente acreditam que o papai-estado deve censurar todas as opiniões que eles não gostam de ouvir, assim como deve também criar leis para encarcerar todos aqueles que falam ou escrevem coisas que desagradam a militância.

Como a geração floquinho de neve foi criada para acreditar que todas as suas vontades pessoais e disposições ideológicas devem ser sumariamente atendidas pelo papai-estado, eles embarcaram em uma cruzada moral que pretende erradicar todas as coisas que são ofensivas à ideologia progressista; só assim eles poderão deflagrar na Terra o seu tão sonhado paraíso hedonista e igualitário, de inimaginável esplendor e felicidade.

Em virtude do seu comportamento intrinsecamente despótico, autoritário e egocêntrico, acaba sendo inevitável que militantes progressistas problematizem tudo aquilo que os desagrada.

Como são criaturas inúteis destituídas de ocupação real e verdadeiro sentido na vida, sendo oprimidas unicamente na sua própria imaginação, militantes progressistas precisam constantemente inventar novos vilões para serem combatidos.

Partindo dessa perspectiva, é natural para a militância que absolutamente tudo que exista no mundo e que não se enquadra com as regras autoritárias e restritivas da religião progressista seja encarado como um problema. Para a geração floquinho de neve, o capitalismo é um problema. O fascismo é um problema. A iniciativa privada é um problema. O homem branco, tradicionalista, conservador e heterossexual é um problema. A desigualdade é um problema. A liberdade é um problema. Monteiro Lobato é um problema (sim, até mesmo o renomado ícone da literatura brasileira, autor — entre outros títulos — de Urupês, foi vítima da cultura do cancelamento, acusado de ser racista e eugenista).

Para a esquerda, praticamente tudo é um problema. Na mentalidade da militância progressista, tudo é motivo para reclamação. Foi em função desse comportamento histérico, histriônico e infantil que o famoso pensador conservador-libertário americano P. J. O’Rourke afirmou que “o esquerdismo é uma filosofia de pirralhos chorões”. O que é uma verdade absoluta e irrefutável em todos os sentidos.

De fato, todas as filosofias de esquerda de forma geral são idealizações utópicas e infantis de um mundo perfeito. Enquanto o mundo não se transformar naquela colorida e vibrante utopia que é apresentada pela cartilha socialista padrão, militantes continuarão a reclamar contra tudo o que existe no mundo de forma agressiva, visceral e beligerante. Evidentemente, eles não vão fazer absolutamente nada de positivo ou construtivo para que o mundo se transforme no gracioso paraíso que eles tanto desejam ver consolidado, mas eles continuarão a berrar e vociferar muito em sua busca incessante pela utopia, marcando presença em passeatas inúteis ou combatendo o fascismo imaginário nas redes sociais.

Sem dúvida, estamos muito perto de ver leis absurdas e estúpidas sendo implementadas, para agradar a militância da terra colorida do assistencialismo eterno onde nada é escasso e tudo cai do céu. Em breve, você não poderá usar calças pretas, pois elas serão consideradas peças de vestuário excessivamente heterossexuais. Apenas calças amarelas ou coloridas serão permitidas. Você também terá que tingir de cor-de-rosa uma mecha do seu cabelo; pois preservar o seu cabelo na sua cor natural é heteronormativo demais da sua parte, sendo portanto um componente demasiadamente opressor da sociedade.

Você também não poderá ver filmes de guerra ou de ação, apenas comédias românticas, pois certos gêneros de filmes exaltam a violência do patriarcado e isso impede o mundo de se tornar uma graciosa festa colorida de fraternidades universitárias ungidas por pôneis resplandecentes, hedonismo infinito, vadiagem universitária e autogratificação psicodélica, que certamente são elementos indispensáveis para se produzir o paraíso na Terra.

Sabemos perfeitamente, no entanto, que dentre as atitudes “opressivas” que a militância progressista mais se empenha em combater, estão o racismo, o fascismo, o machismo e a homofobia. No entanto, é fundamental entender que ser racista, fascista, machista ou homofóbico não são crimes em si. Na prática, todos esses elementos são apenas traços de personalidade; e eles não podem ser pura e simplesmente criminalizados porque ideólogos e militantes progressistas iluminados não gostam deles.

Tanto pela ética quanto pela ótica jusnaturalista, é facilmente compreensível entender que esses traços de personalidade não podem ser criminalizados ou proibidos simplesmente porque integrantes de uma ideologia não tem nenhuma apreciação ou simpatia por eles. Da mesma forma, nenhum desses traços de personalidade representa em si um perigo para a sociedade, pelo simples fato de existir. Por incrível que pareça, até mesmo o machismo, o racismo, o fascismo e a homofobia merecem a devida apologia.

Mas vamos analisar cada um desses tópicos separadamente para entender isso melhor.

Racismo

Quando falamos no Japão, normalmente não fazemos nenhuma associação da sociedade japonesa com o racismo. No entanto, é incontestável o fato de que a sociedade japonesa pode ser considerada uma das sociedades mais racistas do mundo. E a verdade é que não há absolutamente nada de errado com isso.

Aproximadamente 97% da população do Japão é nativa; apenas 3% do componente populacional é constituído por estrangeiros (a população do Japão é estimada em aproximadamente 126 milhões de habitantes). Isso faz a sociedade japonesa ser uma das mais homogêneas do mundo. As autoridades japonesas reconhecidamente dificultam processos de seleção e aplicação a estrangeiros que desejam se tornar residentes. E a maioria dos japoneses aprova essa decisão.

Diversos estabelecimentos comerciais como hotéis, bares e restaurantes por todo o país tem placas na entrada que dizem “somente para japoneses” e a maioria destes estabelecimentos se recusa ostensivamente a atender ou aceitar clientes estrangeiros, não importa quão ricos ou abastados sejam.

Na Terra do Sol Nascente, a hostilidade e a desconfiança natural para com estrangeiros é tão grande que até mesmo indivíduos que nascem em algum outro país, mas são filhos de pais japoneses, não são considerados cidadãos plenamente japoneses.

Se estes indivíduos decidem sair do seu país de origem para se estabelecer no Japão — mesmo tendo descendência nipônica legítima e inquestionável —, eles enfrentarão uma discriminação social considerável, especialmente se não dominarem o idioma japonês de forma impecável. Esse fato mostra que a discriminação é uma parte tão indissociável quanto elementar da sociedade japonesa, e ela está tão profundamente arraigada à cultura nipônica que é praticamente impossível alterá-la ou atenuá-la por qualquer motivo.

A verdade é que — quando falamos de um país como o Japão — nem todos os discursos politicamente corretos do mundo, nem a histeria progressista ocidental mais inflamada poderão algum dia modificar, extirpar ou sequer atenuar o componente racista da cultura nipônica. E isso é consequência de uma questão tão simples quanto primordial: discriminar faz parte da natureza humana, sendo tanto um direito individual quanto um elemento cultural inerente à muitas nações do mundo. Os japoneses não tem problema algum em admitir ou institucionalizar o seu preconceito, justamente pelo fato de que a ideologia politicamente correta não tem no oriente a força e a presença que tem no ocidente.

E é fundamental enfatizar que, sendo de natureza pacífica — ou seja, não violando nem agredindo terceiros —, a discriminação é um recurso natural dos seres humanos, que está diretamente associada a questões como familiaridade e segurança.

Absolutamente ninguém deve ser forçado a apreciar ou integrar-se a raças, etnias, pessoas ou tribos que não lhe transmitem sentimentos de segurança ou familiaridade. Integração forçada é o verdadeiro crime, e isso diversos países europeus — principalmente os escandinavos (países que lideram o ranking de submissão à ideologia politicamente correta) — aprenderam da pior forma possível.

A integração forçada com imigrantes islâmicos resultou em ondas de assassinato, estupro e violência inimagináveis para diversos países europeus, até então civilizados, que a imprensa ocidental politicamente correta e a militância progressista estão permanentemente tentando esconder, porque não desejam que o ocidente descubra como a agenda “humanitária” de integração forçada dos povos muçulmanos em países do Velho Mundo resultou em algumas das piores chacinas e tragédias na história recente da Europa.

Ou seja, ao discriminarem estrangeiros, os japoneses estão apenas se protegendo e lutando para preservar sua nação como um ambiente cultural, étnico e social que lhe é seguro e familiar, assim se opondo a mudanças bruscas, indesejadas e antinaturais, que poderiam comprometer a estabilidade social do país.

A discriminação — sendo de natureza pacífica —, é benévola, salutar e indubitavelmente ajuda a manter a estabilidade social da comunidade. Toda e qualquer forma de integração forçada deve ser repudiada com veemência, pois, mais cedo ou mais tarde, ela irá subverter a ordem social vigente, e sempre será acompanhada de deploráveis e dramáticos resultados.

Para citar novamente os países escandinavos, a Suécia é um excelente exemplo do que não fazer. Tendo seguido o caminho contrário ao da discriminação racional praticada pela sociedade japonesa, atualmente a sociedade sueca — além de afundar de forma consistente na lama da libertinagem, da decadência e da deterioração progressista — sofre em demasia com os imigrantes muçulmanos, que foram deixados praticamente livres para matar, saquear, esquartejar e estuprar quem eles quiserem. Hoje, eles são praticamente intocáveis, visto que denunciá-los, desmoralizá-los ou acusá-los de qualquer crime é uma atitude politicamente incorreta e altamente reprovada pelo establishment progressista. A elite socialista sueca jamais se atreve a acusá-los de qualquer crime, pois temem ser classificados como xenófobos e intolerantes. Ou seja, a desgraça da Europa, sobretudo dos países escandinavos, foi não ter oferecido nenhuma resistência à ideologia progressista politicamente correta. Hoje, eles são totalmente submissos a ela.

O exemplo do Japão mostra, portanto — para além de qualquer dúvida —, a importância ética e prática da discriminação, que é perfeitamente aceitável e natural, sendo uma tendência inerente aos seres humanos, e portanto intrínseca a determinados comportamentos, sociedades e culturas.

Indo ainda mais longe nessa questão, devemos entender que na verdade todos nós discriminamos, e não existe absolutamente nada de errado nisso. Discriminar pessoas faz parte da natureza humana e quem se recusa a admitir esse fato é um hipócrita. Mulheres discriminam homens na hora de selecionar um parceiro; elas avaliam diversos quesitos, como altura, aparência, status social, condição financeira e carisma. E dentre suas opções, elas sempre escolherão o homem mais atraente, másculo e viril, em detrimento de todos os baixinhos, calvos, carentes, frágeis e inibidos que possam estar disponíveis. Da mesma forma, homens sempre terão preferência por mulheres jovens, atraentes e delicadas, em detrimento de todas as feministas de meia-idade, acima do peso, de cabelo pintado, que são mães solteiras e militantes socialistas. A própria militância progressista discrimina pessoas de forma virulenta e intransigente, como fica evidente no tratamento que dispensam a mulheres bolsonaristas e a negros de direita.

A verdade é que — não importa o nível de histeria da militância progressista — a discriminação é inerente à condição humana e um direito natural inalienável de todos. É parte indissociável da natureza humana e qualquer pessoa pode e deve exercer esse direito sempre que desejar. Não existe absolutamente nada de errado em discriminar pessoas. O problema real é a ideologia progressista e o autoritarismo politicamente correto, movimentos tirânicos que não respeitam o direito das pessoas de discriminar.

Fascismo

Quando falamos de fascismo, precisamos entender que, para a esquerda política, o fascismo é compreendido como um conceito completamente divorciado do seu significado original. Para um militante de esquerda, fascista é todo aquele que defende posicionamentos contrários ao progressismo, não se referindo necessariamente a um fascista clássico.

Mas, seja como for, é necessário entender que — como qualquer ideologia política — até mesmo o fascismo clássico tem o direito de existir e ocupar o seu devido lugar; portanto, fascistas não devem ser arbitrariamente censurados, apesar de defenderem conceitos que representam uma completa antítese de tudo aquilo que é valioso para os entusiastas da liberdade.

Em um país como o Brasil, onde socialistas e comunistas tem total liberdade para se expressar, defender suas ideologias e até mesmo formar partidos políticos, não faz absolutamente o menor sentido que fascistas — e até mesmo nazistas assumidos — sofram qualquer tipo de discriminação. Embora socialistas e comunistas se sintam moralmente superiores aos fascistas (ou a qualquer outra filosofia política ou escola de pensamento), sabemos perfeitamente que o seu senso de superioridade é fruto de uma pueril romantização universitária da sua própria ideologia. A história mostra efetivamente que o socialismo clássico e o comunismo causaram muito mais destruição do que o fascismo.

Portanto, se socialistas e comunistas tem total liberdade para se expressar, não existe a menor razão para que fascistas não usufruam dessa mesma liberdade.

É claro, nesse ponto, seremos invariavelmente confrontados por um oportuno dilema — o famoso paradoxo da intolerância, de Karl Popper. Até que ponto uma sociedade livre e tolerante deve tolerar a intolerância (inerente a ideologias totalitárias)?

As leis de propriedade privada resolveriam isso em uma sociedade livre. O mais importante a levarmos em consideração no atual contexto, no entanto — ao defender ou criticar uma determinada ideologia, filosofia ou escola de pensamento —, é entender que, seja ela qual for, ela tem o direito de existir. E todas as pessoas que a defendem tem o direito de defendê-la, da mesma maneira que todos os seus detratores tem o direito de criticá-la.

Essa é uma forte razão para jamais apoiarmos a censura. Muito pelo contrário, devemos repudiar com veemência e intransigência toda e qualquer forma de censura, especialmente a estatal.

Existem duas fortes razões para isso:

A primeira delas é a volatilidade da censura (especialmente a estatal). A censura oficial do governo, depois que é implementada, torna-se absolutamente incontrolável. Hoje, ela pode estar apontada para um grupo de pessoas cujas ideias divergem das suas. Mas amanhã, ela pode estar apontada justamente para as ideias que você defende. É fundamental, portanto, compreendermos que a censura estatal é incontrolável. Sob qualquer ponto de vista, é muito mais vantajoso que exista uma vasta pluralidade de ideias conflitantes na sociedade competindo entre si, do que o estado decidir que ideias podem ser difundidas ou não.

Além do mais, libertários e anarcocapitalistas não podem nunca esperar qualquer tipo de simpatia por parte das autoridades governamentais. Para o estado, seria infinitamente mais prático e vantajoso criminalizar o libertarianismo e o anarcocapitalismo — sob a alegação de que são filosofias perigosas difundidas por extremistas radicais que ameaçam o estado democrático de direito — do que o fascismo ou qualquer outra ideologia centralizada em governos burocráticos e onipotentes. Portanto, defender a censura, especialmente a estatal, representa sempre um perigo para o próprio indivíduo, que mais cedo ou mais tarde poderá ver a censura oficial do sistema se voltar contra ele.

Outra razão pela qual libertários jamais devem defender a censura, é porque — ao contrário dos estatistas — não é coerente que defensores da liberdade se comportem como se o estado fosse o seu papai e o governo fosse a sua mamãe. Não devemos terceirizar nossas próprias responsabilidades, tampouco devemos nos comportar como adultos infantilizados. Assumimos a responsabilidade de combater todas as ideologias e filosofias que agridem a liberdade e os seres humanos. Não procuramos políticos ou burocratas para executar essa tarefa por nós.

Portanto, se você ver um fascista sendo censurado nas redes sociais ou em qualquer outro lugar, assuma suas dores. Sinta-se compelido a defendê-lo, mostre aos seus detratores que ele tem todo direito de se expressar, como qualquer pessoa. Você não tem obrigação de concordar com ele ou apreciar as ideias que ele defende. Mas silenciar arbitrariamente qualquer pessoa não é uma pauta que honra a liberdade.

Se você não gosta de estado, planejamento central, burocracia, impostos, tarifas, políticas coletivistas, nacionalistas e desenvolvimentistas, mostre com argumentos coesos e convincentes porque a liberdade e o livre mercado são superiores a todos esses conceitos. Mas repudie a censura com intransigência e mordacidade.

Em primeiro lugar, porque você aprecia e defende a liberdade de expressão para todas as pessoas. E em segundo lugar, por entender perfeitamente que — se a censura eventualmente se tornar uma política de estado vigente entre a sociedade — é mais provável que ela atinja primeiro os defensores da liberdade do que os defensores do estado.

Machismo

Muitos elementos do comportamento masculino que hoje são atacados com virulência e considerados machistas pelo movimento progressista são na verdade manifestações naturais intrínsecas ao homem, que nossos avôs cultivaram ao longo de suas vidas sem serem recriminados por isso. Com a ascensão do feminismo, do progressismo e a eventual problematização do sexo masculino, o antagonismo militante dos principais líderes da revolução sexual da contracultura passou a naturalmente condenar todos os atributos genuinamente masculinos, por considerá-los símbolos de opressão e dominação social.

Apesar do Brasil ser uma sociedade liberal ultra-progressista, onde o estado protege mais as mulheres do que as crianças — afinal, a cada semana novas leis são implementadas concedendo inúmeros privilégios e benefícios às mulheres, aos quais elas jamais teriam direito em uma sociedade genuinamente machista e patriarcal —, a esquerda política persiste em tentar difundir a fantasia da opressão masculina e o mito de que vivemos em uma sociedade machista e patriarcal.

Como sempre, a realidade mostra um cenário muito diferente daquilo que é pregado pela militância da terra da fantasia. O Brasil atual não tem absolutamente nada de machista ou patriarcal. No Brasil, mulheres podem votar, podem ocupar posições de poder e autoridade tanto na esfera pública quanto em companhias privadas, podem se candidatar a cargos políticos, podem ser vereadoras, deputadas, governadoras, podem ser proprietárias do próprio negócio, podem se divorciar, podem dirigir, podem comprar armas, podem andar de biquíni nas praias, podem usar saias extremamente curtas, podem ver programas de televisão sobre sexo voltados única e exclusivamente para o público feminino, podem se casar com outras mulheres, podem ser promíscuas, podem consumir bebidas alcoólicas ao ponto da embriaguez, e podem fazer praticamente tudo aquilo que elas desejarem. No Brasil do século XXI, as mulheres são genuinamente livres para fazer as próprias escolhas em praticamente todos os aspectos de suas vidas. O que mostra efetivamente que a tal opressão do patriarcado não existe.

O liberalismo social extremo do qual as mulheres usufruem no Brasil atual — e que poderíamos estender a toda a sociedade contemporânea ocidental — é suficiente para desmantelar completamente a fábula feminista da sociedade patriarcal machista e opressora, que existe única e exclusivamente no mundinho de fantasias ideológicas da esquerda progressista.

Tão importante quanto, é fundamental compreender que nenhum homem é obrigado a levar o feminismo a sério ou considerá-lo um movimento social e político legítimo. Para um homem, ser considerado machista ou até mesmo assumir-se como um não deveria ser um problema. O progressismo e o feminismo — com o seu nefasto hábito de demonizar os homens, bem como todos os elementos inerentes ao comportamento e a cultura masculina — é que são o verdadeiro problema, conforme tentam modificar o homem para transformá-lo em algo que ele não é nem deveria ser: uma criatura dócil, passiva e submissa, que é comandada por ideologias hostis e antinaturais, que não respeitam a hierarquia de uma ordem social milenar e condições inerentes à própria natureza humana. Com o seu hábito de tentar modificar tudo através de leis e decretos, o feminismo e o progressismo mostram efetivamente que o seu real objetivo é criminalizar a masculinidade.

A verdade é que — usufruindo de um nível elevado de liberdades — não existe praticamente nada que a mulher brasileira do século XXI não possa fazer. Adicionalmente, o governo dá as mulheres uma quantidade tão avassaladora de vantagens, privilégios e benefícios, que está ficando cada vez mais difícil para elas encontrarem razões válidas para reclamarem da vida. Se o projeto de lei que pretende fornecer um auxílio mensal de mil e duzentos reais para mães solteiras for aprovado pelo senado, muitas mulheres que tem filhos não precisarão nem mesmo trabalhar para ter sustento. E tantas outras procurarão engravidar, para ter direito a receber uma mesada mensal do governo até o seu filho completar a maioridade.

O que a militância colorida da terra da fantasia convenientemente ignora — pois a realidade nunca corresponde ao seu conto de fadas ideológico — é que o mundo de uma forma geral continua sendo muito mais implacável com os homens do que é com as mulheres. No Brasil, a esmagadora maioria dos suicídios é praticada por homens, a maioria das vítimas de homicídio são homens e de cada quatro moradores de rua, três são homens. Mas é evidente que uma sociedade liberal ultra-progressista não se importa com os homens, pois ela não é influenciada por fatos concretos ou pela realidade. Seu objetivo é simplesmente atender as disposições de uma agenda ideológica, não importa quão divorciadas da realidade elas são.

O nível exacerbado de liberdades sociais e privilégios governamentais dos quais as mulheres brasileiras usufruem é suficiente para destruir a fantasiosa fábula da sociedade machista, opressora e patriarcal. Se as mulheres brasileiras não estão felizes, a culpa definitivamente não é dos homens. Se a vasta profusão de liberdades, privilégios e benefícios da sociedade ocidental não as deixa plenamente saciadas e satisfeitas, elas podem sempre mudar de ares e tentar uma vida mais abnegada e espartana em países como Irã, Paquistão ou Afeganistão. Quem sabe assim elas não se sentirão melhores e mais realizadas?

Homofobia

Quando falamos em homofobia, entramos em uma categoria muito parecida com a do racismo: o direito de discriminação é totalmente válido. Absolutamente ninguém deve ser obrigado a aceitar homossexuais ou considerar o homossexualismo como algo normal. Sendo cristão, não existe nem sequer a mais vaga possibilidade de que algum dia eu venha a aceitar o homossexualismo como algo natural. O homossexualismo se qualifica como um grave desvio de conduta e um pecado contra o Criador.

A Bíblia proíbe terminantemente conduta sexual imoral, o que — além do homossexualismo — inclui adultério, fornicação, incesto e bestialidade, entre outras formas igualmente pérfidas de degradação.

Segue abaixo três passagens bíblicas que proíbem terminantemente a conduta homossexual:

“Não te deitarás com um homem como se deita com uma mulher. Isso é abominável!” (Levítico 18:22 — King James Atualizada)

“Se um homem se deitar com outro homem, como se deita com mulher, ambos terão praticado abominação; certamente serão mortos; o seu sangue estará sobre eles.” (Levítico 20:13 — João Ferreira de Almeida Atualizada)

“O quê! Não sabeis que os injustos não herdarão o reino de Deus? Não sejais desencaminhados. Nem fornicadores, nem idólatras, nem adúlteros, nem homens mantidos para propósitos desnaturais, nem homens que se deitam com homens, nem ladrões, nem gananciosos, nem beberrões, nem injuriadores, nem extorsores herdarão o reino de Deus.” (1 Coríntios 6:9,10 —Tradução do Novo Mundo das Escrituras Sagradas com Referências)

Se você não é religioso, pode simplesmente levar em consideração o argumento do respeito pela ordem natural. A ordem natural é incondicional e incisiva com relação a uma questão: o complemento de tudo o que existe é o seu oposto, não o seu igual. O complemento do dia é a noite, o complemento da luz é a escuridão, o complemento da água, que é líquida, é a terra, que é sólida. E como sabemos o complemento do macho — de sua respectiva espécie — é a fêmea.

Portanto, o complemento do homem, o macho da espécie humana, é naturalmente a mulher, a fêmea da espécie humana. Um homem e uma mulher podem naturalmente se reproduzir, porque são um complemento biológico natural. Por outro lado, um homem e outro homem são incapazes de se reproduzir, assim como uma mulher e outra mulher.

Infelizmente, o mundo atual está longe de aceitar como plenamente estabelecida a ordem natural pelo simples fato dela existir, visto que tentam subvertê-la a qualquer custo, não importa o malabarismo intelectual que tenham que fazer para justificar os seus pontos de vista distorcidos e antinaturais. A libertinagem irrefreável e a imoralidade bestial do mundo contemporâneo pós-moderno não reconhecem nenhum tipo de limite. Quem tenta restabelecer princípios morais salutares é imediatamente considerado um vilão retrógrado e repressivo, sendo ativamente demonizado pela militância do hedonismo, da luxúria e da licenciosidade desenfreada e sem limites.

Definitivamente, fazer a apologia da moralidade, do autocontrole e do autodomínio não faz nenhum sucesso na Sodoma e Gomorra global dos dias atuais. O que faz sucesso é lacração, devassidão, promiscuidade e prazeres carnais vazios. O famoso escritor e filósofo francês Albert Camus expressou uma verdade contundente quando disse: “Uma só frase lhe bastará para definir o homem moderno — fornicava e lia jornais”.

Qualquer indivíduo tem o direito inalienável de discriminar ativamente homossexuais, pelo direito que ele julgar mais pertinente no seu caso. A objeção de consciência para qualquer situação é um direito natural dos indivíduos. Há alguns anos, um caso que aconteceu nos Estados Unidos ganhou enorme repercussão internacional, quando o confeiteiro Jack Phillips se recusou a fazer um bolo de casamento para o “casal” homossexual Dave Mullins e Charlie Craig.

Uma representação dos direitos civis do estado do Colorado abriu um inquérito contra o confeiteiro, alegando que ele deveria ser obrigado a atender todos os clientes, independente da orientação sexual, raça ou crença. Preste atenção nas palavras usadas — ele deveria ser obrigado a atender.

Como se recusou bravamente a ceder, o caso foi parar invariavelmente na Suprema Corte, que decidiu por sete a dois em favor de Jack Phillips, sob a alegação de que obrigar o confeiteiro a atender o “casal” homossexual era uma violação nefasta dos seus princípios religiosos. Felizmente, esse foi um caso em que a liberdade prevaleceu sobre a tirania progressista.

Evidentemente, homossexuais não devem ser agredidos, ofendidos, internados em clínicas contra a sua vontade, nem devem ser constrangidos em suas liberdades pelo fato de serem homossexuais. O que eles precisam entender é que a liberdade é uma via de mão dupla. Eles podem ter liberdade para adotar a conduta que desejarem e fazer o que quiserem (contanto que não agridam ninguém), mas da mesma forma, é fundamental respeitar e preservar a liberdade de terceiros que desejam rejeitá-los pacificamente, pelo motivo que for.

Afinal, ninguém tem a menor obrigação de aceitá-los, atendê-los ou sequer pensar que uma união estável entre duas pessoas do mesmo sexo — incapaz de gerar descendentes, e, portanto, antinatural — deva ser considerado um matrimônio de verdade. Absolutamente nenhuma pessoa, ideia, movimento, crença ou ideologia usufrui de plena unanimidade no mundo. Por que o homossexualismo deveria ter tal privilégio?

Homossexuais não são portadores de uma verdade definitiva, absoluta e indiscutível, que está acima da humanidade. São seres humanos comuns que — na melhor das hipóteses —, levam um estilo de vida que pode ser considerado “alternativo”, e absolutamente ninguém tem a obrigação de considerar esse estilo de vida normal ou aceitável. A única obrigação das pessoas é não interferir, e isso não implica uma obrigação em aceitar.

Discriminar homossexuais (assim como pessoas de qualquer outro grupo, raça, religião, nacionalidade ou etnia) é um direito natural por parte de todos aqueles que desejam exercer esse direito. E isso nem o direito positivo nem a militância progressista poderão algum dia alterar ou subverter. O direito natural e a inclinação inerente dos seres humanos em atender às suas próprias disposições é simplesmente imutável e faz parte do seu conjunto de necessidades.

Conclusão

A militância progressista é absurdamente autoritária, e todas as suas estratégias e disposições ideológicas mostram que ela está em uma guerra permanente contra a ordem natural, contra a liberdade e principalmente contra o homem branco, cristão, conservador e tradicionalista — possivelmente, aquilo que ela mais odeia e despreza.

Nós não podemos, no entanto, ceder ou dar espaço para a agenda progressista, tampouco pensar em considerar como sendo normais todas as pautas abusivas e tirânicas que a militância pretende estabelecer como sendo perfeitamente razoáveis e aceitáveis, quer a sociedade aceite isso ou não. Afinal, conforme formos cedendo, o progressismo tirânico e totalitário tende a ganhar cada vez mais espaço.

Quanto mais espaço o progressismo conquistar, mais corroída será a liberdade e mais impulso ganhará o totalitarismo. Com isso, a cultura do cancelamento vai acabar com carreiras, profissões e com o sustento de muitas pessoas, pelo simples fato de que elas discordam das pautas universitárias da moda.

A história mostra perfeitamente que quanto mais liberdade uma sociedade tem, mais progresso ela atinge. Por outro lado, quanto mais autoritária ela for, mais retrocessos ela sofrerá. O autoritarismo se combate com liberdade, desafiando as pautas de todos aqueles que persistem em implementar a tirania na sociedade. O politicamente correto é o nazismo dos costumes, que pretende subverter a moral através de uma cultura de vigilância policial despótica e autoritária, para que toda a sociedade seja subjugada pela agenda totalitária progressista.

Pois quanto a nós, precisamos continuar travando o bom combate em nome da liberdade. E isso inclui reconhecer que ideologias, hábitos e costumes de que não gostamos tem o direito de existir e até mesmo de serem defendidos.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

You don't understand how insidious open-borders propaganda is, until you realize that it's an attempt to remove all differentiating traits from humans. They call this "strengthening individuality by removing nationality" (hello, newspeak), but what makes humans individual is their particular collection of traits, and nationality (and ethnicity, religion, etc. -- nationality is just the first domino they want to topple) is one of those.

Humans are not blank slates. Like DNA or physiognomy, our personalities are differing jumbles of cultural "letters". Each person selects consciously and subconsciously from amongst these letters, adding to or rejecting them, amplifying or suppressing them, twisting or combining them, building on top of them... and that's what makes you into You.

Open borders is an attempt to reduce the number of cultural letters you can build your "You" out of. If you take away the word "German", I am not liberated. There is simply one less adjective, with which I can describe myself. You have merely eradicated information, crippled language, and reduced my choices. I can then no longer define myself according to "German things", but I can also no longer define myself in opposition to German things.

Enter the Borg

We are easier to control and brainwash and persecute, if we are centralized and homogenized. As if the entire world were one, big prison and we were all forced to undergo the same education, wear the same clothes, follow the same rules, eat the same foods, enjoy the same entertainment, live the same lifestyle, share the same diseases and cures, enjoy the same lockdowns, join in the same cancel culture, fight the same wars.

That is what globalization brings. That is the end game of Open Borders: * No more cultural evolution or revolution. * Genes, but no memes. * You can go everywhere, but everywhere is the same, so you just stay home. * You can meet people from all over, but they are all the same, so you just don't bother. * One mass of humanity, that can be easily molded and manipulated.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

The newspaper barons are all into crypto, now

Watching the outsized-impact we crypto enthusiasts (I'm including Bitcoin in that category), had on the 2024 USA presidential election, was a sobering affair. At the moment, our impact is primarily over the voting box, but, already, indirectly, (over Elon Musik, Donald Trump, and Jack Dorsey, etc.) through our sheer wealth (and the ingenuity that brought us that wealth) being able to influence the voting population, by changing/shifting the communications channels and influencing what is written there.

Elon even reached deep into his foreign-learned bag of political tricks and started handing out money, directly, to petition signers.

Survival of the fittest, ongoing

Now, you all know that I have full respect for an expert player, when I see one, so no hating the hustle, from my side. We all play the hand we are dealt, and the political game is now such a pigsty, that you have to get a bit dirty, to have a chance at winning. Trying to stay neat and above the fray cost Republicans the last election.

It was the most dramatic display of the greatest power following the best money, that has been seen, since the Medici family began minting gold coins. The entire world is in shock. Change is upon us.

He who has the best money, makes the rules.

On a smaller, but not insignificant scale, private wealth and access to Bitcoin funding, have allowed quite a few of us Nostriches, to dedicate time and energy toward promoting and developing the New Internet. Whereas, other people's hobby is increasingly the night shift at the gas station, or doing something mind-numbing, to escape the realities of their current economic misery.

You don't need money to be here, but you can spend more time here, if you have money. And we are here, writing the rules. We call them NIPs.

Same ole, same ole

But back to us Bitcoiners...

I increasingly don't see us morally any different than the clever people crowding into any safe asset, during any financial crisis. Like the people who bought agricultural land, gold, and Swiss Francs, before the Reichsmark melted down. The people who had that stuff, mostly managed to keep it, and their children and grandchildren have inherited it. Or they managed to marry back into families, that have done so, by remaining in the same social class, through beauty or talent.

We Bitcoiners have a good narrative to go along with our flight to economic safety, but everyone has that narrative. Humans have a conscience and need to justify their own actions, to themselves. I'm also a goldbug, you see, and a stockholder, and all three assets are rife with the same virtuous narrative.

How do we save our financial behinds, without being evil?

Some people are simply more situationally aware and have more agency, by nature and circumstances, and they adapt faster. It's not mere intelligence, rather, it also requires a willingness to act and take risks. There's an element of chance to it, but it's still always the same types of people ending up with the assets, with the winners slightly shifting with each round, due to evolution and changes in the environment.

Charity was invented, to get such people to willingly share their assets, or the fruits of their assets, for the common good. So, rather than fret over the morality of the asset, itself, the better response is to consider stepping up your charity (effort or payments), to balance out the inevitable negative impact of the coming Age of Bitcoin Inequality.

Coming down from the ATH

Even now, Bitcoin isn't the only safe asset; it's just the most-fungible and partitionable one, so that it's the one most akin to money. And lines are being blurred, as corporations, funds, governments, and insurers discharge dollars and stock up on harder reserve assets, including Bitcoin.

They can hear the money printers rolling out, already, because nobody can print-n-spend, like Trump can. Let's not forget that the money for the last big bump came from the infamous Trump stimmy checks, that lots of us stacked on crypto.

As Bitcoin flows into such markets, the power will rest with both groups (the direct-hodlers and the title-holders), although the hodlers will initially have the upper hand. I say, initially because many hodlers will need to discharge or invest Bitcoin, to live off of it, but the others don't need to, so it should eventually even out. It could take dozens or even hundreds of years to rebalance. By then, the world will be a very different place, and we don't know if Bitcoin will even still be a part of it.

Assets come, assets go, and I'm just glad I didn't let down my forefathers, by leaving them with the first generation, who failed to adapt. Even if I'm a bit late, to the Bitcoin game, the ball is still in play.

May the best money win. And may it be mine. And may I do good with it.

@ b6424601:a11e4ff4

At Jones Pierce, we firmly believe that sound money and sound design are intertwined. Therefore, we are excited to announce that we now accept Bitcoin as the preferred payment for our residential architectural design services! For over 25 years, we have designed and executed architectural asset projects that hold long-term value and provide a return on investment beyond a monetary investment. Our Bitcoin strategy of accepting Bitcoin payments and saving Bitcoin in our corporate treasury is a natural extension of our approach to asset architecture.

What is Asset Architecture?

Asset Architecture is a design approach that creates buildings that hold long-term value and provide a return on investment beyond a monetary investment. It's a framework that considers each client's specific needs and goals. We consider key qualities, including ease of maintenance, energy efficiency, flexibility, durability, and income-generating buildings, to apply a unique design prescription for each client and site.

How Does Bitcoin Fit into Asset Architecture?

By taking our first individual steps to move the design and construction industry onto a Bitcoin standard, we hope to remove much of its monetary premium and fiat incentives that lead to high-time preference projects not built with quality design nor built to last. We also implemented a Bitcoin treasury strategy to save Bitcoin on our balance sheet and take steps toward a Bitcoin Standard.

"We're excited to offer Bitcoin as a payment option for our clients," said Bryan, Founder of Jones Pierce. "For the first time in my business life, there is a simple pattern to follow. Do the work we believe in and our clients value. Design our business systems to make a profit. Retain profits in a BTC treasury account."

We want to promote better architecture by accepting Bitcoin as a medium of exchange. We acknowledge the help from Jon Gordon at Satoshi Health Advisors. We align with the view that Bitcoin is digital real estate, as Leon Wankum has written extensively. The Bitcoin Urbanism Movement inspires us.

Benefits of Paying with Bitcoin

As a special offer, new clients who pay with Bitcoin will receive a 10% reduction on their initial project fees. By paying with Bitcoin, clients will also appreciate not having to divulge ACH information or pay credit card transaction fees. We also hope clients will continue utilizing our Zaprite invoicing option for the remainder of their projects with us, enabling Bitcoin on-chain and Lightning Network transactions.

Learn More

To learn more about our service process and how we can help you create a long-term value architectural asset, we invite you to contact us to share your goals so we can schedule a consultation. Visit our website, www.jonespierce.com, to get started.

Bryan Jones, Principal

About Jones Pierce:

Based in Atlanta, we work closely with our clients throughout and beyond the project to accomplish your goals, a process guided by our ten principles. Following the tenets ensures decisions are made as milestones throughout the process, allowing you to create and improve your asset architecture. We do our best work when designing for YOU, the individual who will own, operate, or live in your custom architecture. @bryan@jonespierce

@ 60e759a2:b77e525b

LIFE Life is a journey of race There is no farthermost place it keeps moving pace by pace It is like knoting a handful of shoelace

Life is not all cakes and rainbows There are thorns and adversities it depends on how you move to grow which gives an output of diverse anniversaries

There are times of meekness There are times of weakness these gives us an edge to grow these teaches us to know

Those weak moments are our strength Those strengthened mindset are our weakness it all comes to one solemn output which brings about determination to live

                 ----  Freddie

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

Unsucking the feed is real

As a Nostrich with an interesting, thought-provoking, and informative feed... a feed so good, that we're creating clients just to look at that feed... a feed that puts a lie to the idea that Nostr is nothing, but people reposting from Twitter or rehashing worn-out Bitcoin memes... a feed that I personally and increasingly enjoy perusing... I am here to tell you that the feed is real.

It's taken me over a year, to produce this feed. I literally spent hours and hours, day in and day out, scouring the Nostrverse for people worth introducing other people to. It was brutally difficult, as I was fighting the inherent nature of the Nostr clients and relays, in their current, most-popular form.

It goes like so...

Here are the steps I took, that sometimes weren't possible to take, until I tried to take them, and that still will sometimes break your client because the clients are often intentionally designed to steer you into having one particular feed:

1) Make a screenshot of your current relay list and copy your follows list. 2) Unsubscribe from all the relays, that you are currently subscribed to. Your feed should disappear. If it doesn't, or it doesn't allow for this, switch to a different client app because yours is corrupted. 3) Unfollow everyone. Delete the whole list. You are taking your follows private, which will invariably result in only following npubs whose stuff you actually want to see, since there's no longer any virtue-signaling going on. Also, it's easier to explain having no list, than a very short one. If your client doesn't allow for this, or starts throwing error messages and freezing up, then switch to a different client app because yours is corrupted. 4) Curate your copied follows list. Go line by line and look at the feed produced by the npub on that list. * Do you want to see that in your feed, going forward? * Do they produce original content and/or are they interesting conversationalists, in the replies? * Have they been active, within the past three months? * Are they simply good friends or real-life acquaintances, that you want to keep tabs on? * If not, cross out their name. * If you have been following someone because they repost or quote interesting things, look at who they've been reposting and follow them, instead. 5) Of the npubs remaining on your list, go through and select the 10 most interesting ones, and look at the reposts and quotes in their feed, and their topical lists like \"Favorites\", \"Devs\", \"Recipes\", etc. (Not their follows list, unless it's quite short, as follows tend to be full of people they follow for social-signaling or client-functional reasons, that they don't actively look at.) Find some new follows, there. 6) Now, set up a personal relay and add all the follows, that made the cut, to your allowed-npubs list. Do not add people to the list, just to make them feel better, or because you feel guilty, as they follow you, or to keep them from yelling at you. Remember, they can't see the list! 7) Think about the topics you find interesting, and add an allowed-keywords list (this is better than hashtags, as it searches the entire content of the notes), with the OR operator (these allowed npubs OR these allowed topics). 8) Make sure that you choose words likely to find the content you are most-interested in, and not people just ranting about it or spamming (those are great additions to your relay's block-list). If you are Muslim, for instance, instead of "Islam" or "shariah", choose "hadith" or "riba", as those are words more-likely to be used by people who know what they are talking about. If you are into bread baking, add "sourdough", "rye", "yeast", or "whisk", but don't add "bread" or "carbs". Once a note from those people shows up in your feed, and their feed looks like someone interesting, you can add their npub to your allow list. Remember: The topics are there to find people to add to the allow list, not merely for their own sake, as this is not a topical relay, but a personal one. 9) Open up a faucet (or relay syncing) with some of the big relays you previously unsubscribed from, some WoT relays, and some of the paid relays (nostr.land, nostr.wine, nostr21.com, and sovbit.host, for example). Your relay will filter that feed and only accept the events from the people and topics on your list. As your relay becomes more popular, npubs will begin writing directly to it, and the connections to other relays will sink in significance. 10) Go to your client of choice and subscribe to your new relay. Also subscribe to some topical relays, or curated neighborhood relays, you find interesting or your frens are running. This is an easy way to find new, interesting npubs, to add to your own relay.

That's a lot of work, you say? Yes, but the result is great, and you are now fully in-charge of your own feed. You also -- here's the cool part -- have a feed good enough, that other people can add your feed to theirs and enjoy your manual curation. As you refine and expand your feed, theirs will also be refined, in parallel. You are now an official Nostr Community Curator. My sincere congratulations.

Why is this so hard?

This is only a lot of work because the clients aren't designed to interact with relays, to this extent, as they were created to service mega-relays, download all their crap to your local cache, and adjust the feed over the follows/mutes lists. This was an idea borne of the axiom that Relays Are Hard, so there will only ever be a handful of them, where we'd all clump together and the relay operators would never judge the quality of someone's content. Then, some unusually clever people made relays increasingly easy, and the mailbox communication model was invented, and here we are.

What we have now, and that is slowly growing in popularity, among the #NostrIntelligentsia, are Nostr clients aimed at curating and viewing individual relays or personalized sets of smaller or more-specialized relays. The reigning client devs refused to give us those clients, and most of us aren't up to developing our own clients, so the relay devs took matters into their own hands and made the clients themselves. The free market remains undefeated.

This is a total game-changer. Last one to board this train is a rotten egg.

Originally, relays were supposed to be completely stupid and clients were supposed to be completely smart, but it's now actually the other way around, because most relay devs have a market-born incentive to make their content highly customizable and appealing to individuals (so that more people run relays).

But what about algos?

Can't you just slap an algo on top of Damus, Lol, or Primal relays, and get the same result? I would argue... no. No, you can't. Or, rather, only in the short to medium term.

Running your own relay, is running your own server. You are now intellectually independent, at a machine-level, and therefore a fully sovereign consumer. If you then use algos to control your own server, or in a client that subscribes to your own server, then you can further-refine a feed that is already in a high-to-you-signal state, rather than risking an algo inching you toward the Consensus Feed.

I have noticed that my own feed is slowly drifting away from the ReplyGuy-Cryptobot-Porny-Bitcoin-Meme Dumpster Fire, that almost everyone else is looking at, and it's due to running my own relay. If I use DVMs, those algos sometimes refer to relays I intentionally avoid, so they return results according to those relays. The results are as underwhelming, as you would expect, and often are simply 31 flavors of the Trending List.

But, that isn't your problem, anymore. From here, you can actively expand and refine your feed, over your whitelist, the topics, and your personally-managed algos.

Happy Nostr-ing!