@ 32e18276:5c68e245

I’m going to be on an ordinals panels as one of the people who is counter arguing the claim that they are good for bitcoin. I decided to brush up on the technicals on how inscriptions work. I am starting to see luke’s perspective on how it is exploiting a loophole in bitcoin’s anti-data-spam mechanisms.

Storing data in Bitcoin, the “standard” way

The standard way you add “data” to bitcoin is by calling the OP_RETURN opcode. Bitcoin devs noticed that people were storing data (like the bitcoin whitepaper) in the utxo set via large multisig transactions. The problem with this is that this set is unprunable and could grow over time. OP_RETURN outputs on the other-hand are provably prunable and don’t add to utxo bloat.

Here’s an excerpt from the march 2014 0.9.0 release notes that talks about this:

On OP_RETURN: There was been some confusion and misunderstanding in the community, regarding the OP_RETURN feature in 0.9 and data in the blockchain. This change is not an endorsement of storing data in the blockchain. The OP_RETURN change creates a provably-prunable output, to avoid data storage schemes – some of which were already deployed – that were storing arbitrary data such as images as forever-unspendable TX outputs, bloating bitcoin’s UTXO database. Storing arbitrary data in the blockchain is still a bad idea; it is less costly and far more efficient to store non-currency data elsewhere.

Much of the work on bitcoin core has been focused on making sure the system continues to function in a decentralized way for its intended purpose in the presence of people trying to abuse it for things like storing data. Bitcoin core has always discouraged this, as it is not designed for storage of images and data, it is meant for moving digital coins around in cyberspace.

To help incentive-align people to not do stupid things, OP_RETURN transactions were not made non-standard, so that they are relayable by peers and miners, but with the caveat:

1. They can only push 40 bytes (later increased to 80,83, I’m guessing to support larger root merkle hashes since that is the only sane usecase for op_return)

Bitcoin also added an option called -datacarriersize which limits the total number of bytes from these outputs that you will relay or mine.

Why inscriptions are technically an exploit

Inscriptions get around the datacarriersize limit by disguising data as bitcoin script program data via OP_PUSH inside OP_IF blocks. Ordinals do not use OP_RETURN and are not subjected to datacarriersize limits, so noderunners and miners currently have limited control over the total size of this data that they wish to relay and include in blocks. Luke’s fork of bitcoin-core has some options to fight this spam, so hopefully we will see this in core sometime soon as well.

Inscriptions are also taking advantage of features in segwit v1 (witness discount) and v2/taproot (no arbitrary script size limit). Each of these features have interesting and well-justified reasons why they were introduced.

The purpose of the witness discount was to make it cheaper to spend many outputs which helps the reduction of the utxo set size. Inscriptions took advantage of this discount to store monke jpegs disguised as bitcoin scripts. Remember, bitcoin is not for storing data, so anytime bitcoin-devs accidentally make it cheap and easy to relay data then this should be viewed as an exploit. Expect it to be fixed, or at least provide tools to noderunners for fighting this spam.

Where do we go from here

The interesting part of this story is that people seem to attach value to images stored on the bitcoin blockchain, and they are willing to pay the fee to get it in the block, so non-ideologic miners and people who don’t care about the health and decentralization of bitcoin are happy to pay or collect the fee and move on.

Data should not get a discount, people should pay full price if they want to store data. They should just use op_return and hashes like opentimestamps or any other reasonable protocol storing data in bitcoin.

After going through this analysis I’ve come to the opinion that this is a pretty bad data-spam exploit and bitcoin devs should be working on solutions. Ideological devs like luke who actually care about the health and decentralization of the network are and I’m glad to see it.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Menschen tun alles, egal wie absurd, \ um ihrer eigenen Seele nicht zu begegnen. \ Carl Gustav Jung

«Extremer Reichtum ist eine Gefahr für die Demokratie», sagen über die Hälfte der knapp 3000 befragten Millionäre aus G20-Staaten laut einer Umfrage der «Patriotic Millionaires». Ferner stellte dieser Zusammenschluss wohlhabender US-Amerikaner fest, dass 63 Prozent jener Millionäre den Einfluss von Superreichen auf US-Präsident Trump als Bedrohung für die globale Stabilität ansehen.

Diese Besorgnis haben 370 Millionäre und Milliardäre am Dienstag auch den in Davos beim WEF konzentrierten Privilegierten aus aller Welt übermittelt. In einem offenen Brief forderten sie die «gewählten Führer» auf, die Superreichen – also sie selbst – zu besteuern, um «die zersetzenden Auswirkungen des extremen Reichtums auf unsere Demokratien und die Gesellschaft zu bekämpfen». Zum Beispiel kontrolliere eine handvoll extrem reicher Menschen die Medien, beeinflusse die Rechtssysteme in unzulässiger Weise und verwandele Recht in Unrecht.

Schon 2019 beanstandete der bekannte Historiker und Schriftsteller Ruthger Bregman an einer WEF-Podiumsdiskussion die Steuervermeidung der Superreichen. Die elitäre Veranstaltung bezeichnete er als «Feuerwehr-Konferenz, bei der man nicht über Löschwasser sprechen darf.» Daraufhin erhielt Bregman keine Einladungen nach Davos mehr. Auf seine Aussagen machte der Schweizer Aktivist Alec Gagneux aufmerksam, der sich seit Jahrzehnten kritisch mit dem WEF befasst. Ihm wurde kürzlich der Zutritt zu einem dreiteiligen Kurs über das WEF an der Volkshochschule Region Brugg verwehrt.

Nun ist die Erkenntnis, dass mit Geld politischer Einfluss einhergeht, alles andere als neu. Und extremer Reichtum macht die Sache nicht wirklich besser. Trotzdem hat man über Initiativen wie Patriotic Millionaires oder Taxmenow bisher eher selten etwas gehört, obwohl es sie schon lange gibt. Auch scheint es kein Problem, wenn ein Herr Gates fast im Alleingang versucht, globale Gesundheits-, Klima-, Ernährungs- oder Bevölkerungspolitik zu betreiben – im Gegenteil. Im Jahr, als der Milliardär Donald Trump zum zweiten Mal ins Weiße Haus einzieht, ist das Echo in den Gesinnungsmedien dagegen enorm – und uniform, wer hätte das gedacht.

Der neue US-Präsident hat jedoch «Davos geerdet», wie Achgut es nannte. In seiner kurzen Rede beim Weltwirtschaftsforum verteidigte er seine Politik und stellte klar, er habe schlicht eine «Revolution des gesunden Menschenverstands» begonnen. Mit deutlichen Worten sprach er unter anderem von ersten Maßnahmen gegen den «Green New Scam», und von einem «Erlass, der jegliche staatliche Zensur beendet»:

«Unsere Regierung wird die Äußerungen unserer eigenen Bürger nicht mehr als Fehlinformation oder Desinformation bezeichnen, was die Lieblingswörter von Zensoren und derer sind, die den freien Austausch von Ideen und, offen gesagt, den Fortschritt verhindern wollen.»

Wie der «Trumpismus» letztlich einzuordnen ist, muss jeder für sich selbst entscheiden. Skepsis ist definitiv angebracht, denn «einer von uns» sind weder der Präsident noch seine auserwählten Teammitglieder. Ob sie irgendeinen Sumpf trockenlegen oder Staatsverbrechen aufdecken werden oder was aus WHO- und Klimaverträgen wird, bleibt abzuwarten.

Das WHO-Dekret fordert jedenfalls die Übertragung der Gelder auf «glaubwürdige Partner», die die Aktivitäten übernehmen könnten. Zufällig scheint mit «Impfguru» Bill Gates ein weiterer Harris-Unterstützer kürzlich das Lager gewechselt zu haben: Nach einem gemeinsamen Abendessen zeigte er sich «beeindruckt» von Trumps Interesse an der globalen Gesundheit.

Mit dem Projekt «Stargate» sind weitere dunkle Wolken am Erwartungshorizont der Fangemeinde aufgezogen. Trump hat dieses Joint Venture zwischen den Konzernen OpenAI, Oracle, und SoftBank als das «größte KI-Infrastrukturprojekt der Geschichte» angekündigt. Der Stein des Anstoßes: Oracle-CEO Larry Ellison, der auch Fan von KI-gestützter Echtzeit-Überwachung ist, sieht einen weiteren potenziellen Einsatz der künstlichen Intelligenz. Sie könne dazu dienen, Krebserkrankungen zu erkennen und individuelle mRNA-«Impfstoffe» zur Behandlung innerhalb von 48 Stunden zu entwickeln.

Warum bitte sollten sich diese superreichen «Eliten» ins eigene Fleisch schneiden und direkt entgegen ihren eigenen Interessen handeln? Weil sie Menschenfreunde, sogenannte Philanthropen sind? Oder vielleicht, weil sie ein schlechtes Gewissen haben und ihre Schuld kompensieren müssen? Deswegen jedenfalls brauchen «Linke» laut Robert Willacker, einem deutschen Politikberater mit brasilianischen Wurzeln, rechte Parteien – ein ebenso überraschender wie humorvoller Erklärungsansatz.

Wenn eine Krähe der anderen kein Auge aushackt, dann tut sie das sich selbst noch weniger an. Dass Millionäre ernsthaft ihre eigene Besteuerung fordern oder Machteliten ihren eigenen Einfluss zugunsten anderer einschränken würden, halte ich für sehr unwahrscheinlich. So etwas glaube ich erst, wenn zum Beispiel die Rüstungsindustrie sich um Friedensverhandlungen bemüht, die Pharmalobby sich gegen institutionalisierte Korruption einsetzt, Zentralbanken ihre CBDC-Pläne für Bitcoin opfern oder der ÖRR die Abschaffung der Rundfunkgebühren fordert.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 9bcc5462:eb501d90

Cuneiform is mankind’s first writing system created by the ancient Sumerians of Mesopotamia, what is now Iraq. (The word “Sumer” means land of civilized kings). Despite being developed 5,000 years ago, its parallels to Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays will blow your mind! The most striking is how both breakthroughs materialized from the fundamental need to track value exchange–from primal grain tallies to now exchanging bitcoin.

Let’s begin with the fact that the styluses used by these archaic scribes were crafted from reed plants. Their stems were strong because of attachment points called nodes! These were the resilient, ring-like parts of the stem that joined it together with the rest of the plant. Similarly, although symbolically, lightning nodes are powerful on nostr since they allow us to zap each other with sats. An approach stemming from the need to modernize how we interact on social media, trade in networks and conduct business—It’s not surprising cuneiform came about as a way for merchants and farmers to track economic transactions and agricultural inventories!

Another parallel involves how both share everlasting marks. The Sumerians used their styluses to press wedge-like symbols onto wet tablets. They then would bake them in the sun, leaving a permanent record of the documentation. If an error was made, it could not be changed. Likewise, on nostr there is no delete function. Once you publish a note, including any typos, it is preserved for history.

Lastly, the proto-writing that emerged in Mesopotamia which led to Cuneiform was in the form of bullae (bulla: singular). These were spherical clay envelopes encased with tokens representing a transaction. They were sealed with unique markings representing the parties involved for authentication. In other words, cuneiform cylinder seals were effectively early public key cryptography! The seal itself being the private key and its impression being the public key. Just as us nostriches use our nsec to sign our notes with integrity and verify value-for-value with our npub.

               *Rare bulla seal (shout out to Conny Waters from ancientpages.com)*

                               *Sumerian cuneiform tablet (source: britannica.com)*

At the end of the day, maybe we’re not so different from our ancestors after all. The evolution of our writing technology over the course of our history is more than innovation born of necessity. Across millennia, 3025 BCE to 2025 AD, it's man telling the universe– we will be remembered– beyond space and time. As our ancestors stacked their clay tablets, we’ll stack our sats! Onward nostr! The new land of civilized kings.

        *Mankind's Innovations in Writing Technology by Learning Producers, Inc.*

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

President Trump plans to withdraw 20,000 U.S. troops from Europe and expects European allies to contribute financially to the remaining military presence. Reported by ANSA, Trump aims to deliver this message to European leaders since taking office. A European diplomat noted, “the costs cannot be borne solely by American taxpayers.”

The Pentagon hasn't commented yet. Trump has previously sought lower troop levels in Europe and had ordered cuts during his first term. The U.S. currently maintains around 65,000 troops in Europe, with total forces reaching 100,000 since the Ukraine invasion. Trump's new approach may shift military focus to the Pacific amid growing concerns about China.

Sauce

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Die grauenvollste Aussicht ist die der Technokratie – \ einer kontrollierenden Herrschaft, \ die durch verstümmelte und verstümmelnde Geister ausgeübt wird. \ Ernst Jünger

«Davos ist nicht mehr sexy», das Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF) mache Davos kaputt, diese Aussagen eines Einheimischen las ich kürzlich in der Handelszeitung. Während sich einige vor Ort enorm an der «teuersten Gewerbeausstellung der Welt» bereicherten, würden die negativen Begleiterscheinungen wie Wohnungsnot und Niedergang der lokalen Wirtschaft immer deutlicher.

Nächsten Montag beginnt in dem Schweizer Bergdorf erneut ein Jahrestreffen dieses elitären Clubs der Konzerne, bei dem man mit hochrangigen Politikern aus aller Welt und ausgewählten Vertretern der Systemmedien zusammenhocken wird. Wie bereits in den vergangenen vier Jahren wird die Präsidentin der EU-Kommission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Begleitung von Klaus Schwab ihre Grundsatzansprache halten.

Der deutsche WEF-Gründer hatte bei dieser Gelegenheit immer höchst lobende Worte für seine Landsmännin: 2021 erklärte er sich «stolz, dass Europa wieder unter Ihrer Führung steht» und 2022 fand er es bemerkenswert, was sie erreicht habe angesichts des «erstaunlichen Wandels», den die Welt in den vorangegangenen zwei Jahren erlebt habe; es gebe nun einen «neuen europäischen Geist».

Von der Leyens Handeln während der sogenannten Corona-«Pandemie» lobte Schwab damals bereits ebenso, wie es diese Woche das Karlspreis-Direktorium tat, als man der Beschuldigten im Fall Pfizergate die diesjährige internationale Auszeichnung «für Verdienste um die europäische Einigung» verlieh. Außerdem habe sie die EU nicht nur gegen den «Aggressor Russland», sondern auch gegen die «innere Bedrohung durch Rassisten und Demagogen» sowie gegen den Klimawandel verteidigt.

Jene Herausforderungen durch «Krisen epochalen Ausmaßes» werden indes aus dem Umfeld des WEF nicht nur herbeigeredet – wie man alljährlich zur Zeit des Davoser Treffens im Global Risks Report nachlesen kann, der zusammen mit dem Versicherungskonzern Zurich erstellt wird. Seit die Globalisten 2020/21 in der Praxis gesehen haben, wie gut eine konzertierte und konsequente Angst-Kampagne funktionieren kann, geht es Schlag auf Schlag. Sie setzen alles daran, Schwabs goldenes Zeitfenster des «Great Reset» zu nutzen.

Ziel dieses «großen Umbruchs» ist die totale Kontrolle der Technokraten über die Menschen unter dem Deckmantel einer globalen Gesundheitsfürsorge. Wie aber könnte man so etwas erreichen? Ein Mittel dazu ist die «kreative Zerstörung». Weitere unabdingbare Werkzeug sind die Einbindung, ja Gleichschaltung der Medien und der Justiz.

Ein «Great Mental Reset» sei die Voraussetzung dafür, dass ein Großteil der Menschen Einschränkungen und Manipulationen wie durch die Corona-Maßnahmen praktisch kritik- und widerstandslos hinnehme, sagt der Mediziner und Molekulargenetiker Michael Nehls. Er meint damit eine regelrechte Umprogrammierung des Gehirns, wodurch nach und nach unsere Individualität und unser soziales Bewusstsein eliminiert und durch unreflektierten Konformismus ersetzt werden.

Der aktuelle Zustand unserer Gesellschaften ist auch für den Schweizer Rechtsanwalt Philipp Kruse alarmierend. Durch den Umgang mit der «Pandemie» sieht er die Grundlagen von Recht und Vernunft erschüttert, die Rechtsstaatlichkeit stehe auf dem Prüfstand. Seiner dringenden Mahnung an alle Bürger, die Prinzipien von Recht und Freiheit zu verteidigen, kann ich mich nur anschließen.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 1ec45473:d38df139

The probability of AGI ending us is negative.

A common tactic among doomers is to state something along the lines of the following:

"If we create AGI, there is some non-zero chance every year, that the AGI will end humanity. Whatever that chance is compounds every year, and is thus unacceptable."

The question I would ask the doomer is "How do you know that the chance of AGI ending humanity isn't negative?"

What does it mean for AGI to have a negative chance of ending humanity?

Setting aside AGI for a moment, what is the chance every year that humanity ends from other events, such as nuclear war, solar flares, super-volcanoes, asteroid hits, societal collapse, etc?

How do you even answer this question in a reasonable manner? Well lets look at past data.

Of all species that have existed 99% have gone extinct.

Of our closest 7 relatives from the genus Homo, 100% have gone extinct.

On a higher level looking at civilizational collapse. According to Wikipedia, virtually all historical societies have collapsed.

Looking out into the universe, we see no signs of life elsewhere, so if there was life in the past we can assume that they have gone extinct.

It would therefore be reasonable to say that the chance of our extinction is very high even without AGI, well above 90%. Maybe 99%.

You could argue the numbers but at least with these numbers we are using some past data to extrapolate the future, where the doomers are using no data whatsoever to support their numbers.

We can also state, that of all the species and societies that have collapsed in the past, they have done so because they did not yet have the knowledge on how to survive. They didn't know how to create antibiotics, or generate enough energy, or defend themselves from the environment.

What is AGI? AGI is a way to create knowledge. Most all societies in the past have collapsed because they didn't have the knowledge on how to survive, and the doomer argument is that we should slow down our ability to create knowledge, when we know that this has been precisely the problem in the past.

It is a certainty we will all die without more knowledge then we have now. The future death of our sun ensures that.

We have to create the knowledge on how to survive, and that is what AGI does - it creates knowledge.

AGI most certainly has a negative probability of ending humanity.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Ich begann, Social Media aufzubauen, \ um den Menschen eine Stimme zu geben. \ Mark Zuckerberg

Sind euch auch die Tränen gekommen, als ihr Mark Zuckerbergs Wendehals-Deklaration bezüglich der Meinungsfreiheit auf seinen Portalen gehört habt? Rührend, oder? Während er früher die offensichtliche Zensur leugnete und später die Regierung Biden dafür verantwortlich machte, will er nun angeblich «die Zensur auf unseren Plattformen drastisch reduzieren».

«Purer Opportunismus» ob des anstehenden Regierungswechsels wäre als Klassifizierung viel zu kurz gegriffen. Der jetzige Schachzug des Meta-Chefs ist genauso Teil einer kühl kalkulierten Business-Strategie, wie es die 180 Grad umgekehrte Praxis vorher war. Social Media sind ein höchst lukratives Geschäft. Hinzu kommt vielleicht noch ein bisschen verkorkstes Ego, weil derartig viel Einfluss und Geld sicher auch auf die Psyche schlagen. Verständlich.

«Es ist an der Zeit, zu unseren Wurzeln der freien Meinungsäußerung auf Facebook und Instagram zurückzukehren. Ich begann, Social Media aufzubauen, um den Menschen eine Stimme zu geben», sagte Zuckerberg.

Welche Wurzeln? Hat der Mann vergessen, dass er von der Überwachung, dem Ausspionieren und dem Ausverkauf sämtlicher Daten und digitaler Spuren sowie der Manipulation seiner «Kunden» lebt? Das ist knallharter Kommerz, nichts anderes. Um freie Meinungsäußerung geht es bei diesem Geschäft ganz sicher nicht, und das war auch noch nie so. Die Wurzeln von Facebook liegen in einem Projekt des US-Militärs mit dem Namen «LifeLog». Dessen Ziel war es, «ein digitales Protokoll vom Leben eines Menschen zu erstellen».

Der Richtungswechsel kommt allerdings nicht überraschend. Schon Anfang Dezember hatte Meta-Präsident Nick Clegg von «zu hoher Fehlerquote bei der Moderation» von Inhalten gesprochen. Bei der Gelegenheit erwähnte er auch, dass Mark sehr daran interessiert sei, eine aktive Rolle in den Debatten über eine amerikanische Führungsrolle im technologischen Bereich zu spielen.

Während Milliardärskollege und Big Tech-Konkurrent Elon Musk bereits seinen Posten in der kommenden Trump-Regierung in Aussicht hat, möchte Zuckerberg also nicht nur seine Haut retten – Trump hatte ihn einmal einen «Feind des Volkes» genannt und ihm lebenslange Haft angedroht –, sondern am liebsten auch mitspielen. KI-Berater ist wohl die gewünschte Funktion, wie man nach einem Treffen Trump-Zuckerberg hörte. An seine Verhaftung dachte vermutlich auch ein weiterer Multimilliardär mit eigener Social Media-Plattform, Pavel Durov, als er Zuckerberg jetzt kritisierte und gleichzeitig warnte.

Politik und Systemmedien drehen jedenfalls durch – was zu viel ist, ist zu viel. Etwas weniger Zensur und mehr Meinungsfreiheit würden die Freiheit der Bürger schwächen und seien potenziell vernichtend für die Menschenrechte. Zuckerberg setze mit dem neuen Kurs die Demokratie aufs Spiel, das sei eine «Einladung zum nächsten Völkermord», ernsthaft. Die Frage sei, ob sich die EU gegen Musk und Zuckerberg behaupten könne, Brüssel müsse jedenfalls hart durchgreifen.

Auch um die Faktenchecker macht man sich Sorgen. Für die deutsche Nachrichtenagentur dpa und die «Experten» von Correctiv, die (noch) Partner für Fact-Checking-Aktivitäten von Facebook sind, sei das ein «lukratives Geschäftsmodell». Aber möglicherweise werden die Inhalte ohne diese vermeintlichen Korrektoren ja sogar besser. Anders als Meta wollen jedoch Scholz, Faeser und die Tagesschau keine Fehler zugeben und zum Beispiel Correctiv-Falschaussagen einräumen.

Bei derlei dramatischen Befürchtungen wundert es nicht, dass der öffentliche Plausch auf X zwischen Elon Musk und AfD-Chefin Alice Weidel von 150 EU-Beamten überwacht wurde, falls es irgendwelche Rechtsverstöße geben sollte, die man ihnen ankreiden könnte. Auch der Deutsche Bundestag war wachsam. Gefunden haben dürften sie nichts. Das Ganze war eher eine Show, viel Wind wurde gemacht, aber letztlich gab es nichts als heiße Luft.

Das Anbiedern bei Donald Trump ist indes gerade in Mode. Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) tut das auch, denn sie fürchtet um Spenden von über einer Milliarde Dollar. Eventuell könnte ja Elon Musk auch hier künftig aushelfen und der Organisation sowie deren größtem privaten Förderer, Bill Gates, etwas unter die Arme greifen. Nachdem Musks KI-Projekt xAI kürzlich von BlackRock & Co. sechs Milliarden eingestrichen hat, geht da vielleicht etwas.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 1ec45473:d38df139

Preston Pysh posted this event this morning:

Behind the scenes, the nostr event looks like this:

Event = { "id":"a6fa7e1a73ce70c6fb01584a0519fd29788e59d9980402584e7a0af92cf0474a", "pubkey":"85080d3bad70ccdcd7f74c29a44f55bb85cbcd3dd0cbb957da1d215bdb931204", "created_at":1724494504, "kind":1, "tags":[ [ "p", "6c237d8b3b120251c38c230c06d9e48f0d3017657c5b65c8c36112eb15c52aeb", "", "mention" ], [ "p", "77ec966fcd64f901152cad5dc7731c7c831fe22e02e3ae99ff14637e5a48ef9c", "", "mention" ], [ "p", "c1fc7771f5fa418fd3ac49221a18f19b42ccb7a663da8f04cbbf6c08c80d20b1", "", "mention" ], [ "p", "50d94fc2d8580c682b071a542f8b1e31a200b0508bab95a33bef0855df281d63", "", "mention" ], [ "p", "20d88bae0c38e6407279e6a83350a931e714f0135e013ea4a1b14f936b7fead5", "", "mention" ], [ "p", "273e7880d38d39a7fb238efcf8957a1b5b27e819127a8483e975416a0a90f8d2", "", "mention" ], [ "t", "BH2024" ] ], "content":"Awesome Freedom Panel with...", "sig":"2b64e461cd9f5a7aa8abbcbcfd953536f10a334b631a352cd4124e8e187c71aad08be9aefb6a68e5c060e676d06b61c553e821286ea42489f9e7e7107a1bf79a" }

In nostr, all events have this form, so once you become familiar with the nostr event structure, things become pretty easy.

Look at the "tags" key. There are six "p" tags (pubkey) and one "t" tag (hashtag).

The p tags are public keys of people that are mentioned in the note. The t tags are for hashtags in the note.

It is common when working with NOSTR that you have to extract out certain tags. Here are some examples of how to do that with what are called JavaScript Array Methods:

Find the first "p" tag element:

``` Event.tags.find(item => item[0] === 'p')

[ 'p', '6c237d8b3b120251c38c230c06d9e48f0d3017657c5b65c8c36112eb15c52aeb', '', 'mention' ]

```

Same, but just return the pubkey":

``` Event.tags.find(item => item[0] === 'p')[1]

'6c237d8b3b120251c38c230c06d9e48f0d3017657c5b65c8c36112eb15c52aeb'

```

Filter the array so I only get "p" tags:

``` Event.tags.filter(item => item[0] === 'p')

[ [ 'p', '6c237d8b3b120251c38c230c06d9e48f0d3017657c5b65c8c36112eb15c52aeb', '', 'mention' ], [ 'p', '77ec966fcd64f901152cad5dc7731c7c831fe22e02e3ae99ff14637e5a48ef9c', '', 'mention' ], [ 'p', 'c1fc7771f5fa418fd3ac49221a18f19b42ccb7a663da8f04cbbf6c08c80d20b1', '', 'mention' ], [ 'p', '50d94fc2d8580c682b071a542f8b1e31a200b0508bab95a33bef0855df281d63', '', 'mention' ], [ 'p', '20d88bae0c38e6407279e6a83350a931e714f0135e013ea4a1b14f936b7fead5', '', 'mention' ], [ 'p', '273e7880d38d39a7fb238efcf8957a1b5b27e819127a8483e975416a0a90f8d2', '', 'mention' ] ]

```

Return an array with only the pubkeys in the "p" tags:

``` Event.tags.filter(item => item[0] === 'p').map(item => item[1])

[ '6c237d8b3b120251c38c230c06d9e48f0d3017657c5b65c8c36112eb15c52aeb', '77ec966fcd64f901152cad5dc7731c7c831fe22e02e3ae99ff14637e5a48ef9c', 'c1fc7771f5fa418fd3ac49221a18f19b42ccb7a663da8f04cbbf6c08c80d20b1', '50d94fc2d8580c682b071a542f8b1e31a200b0508bab95a33bef0855df281d63', '20d88bae0c38e6407279e6a83350a931e714f0135e013ea4a1b14f936b7fead5', '273e7880d38d39a7fb238efcf8957a1b5b27e819127a8483e975416a0a90f8d2' ]

```

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Was du bist hängt von drei Faktoren ab: \ Was du geerbt hast, \ was deine Umgebung aus dir machte \ und was du in freier Wahl \ aus deiner Umgebung und deinem Erbe gemacht hast. \ Aldous Huxley

Das brave Mitmachen und Mitlaufen in einem vorgegebenen, recht engen Rahmen ist gewiss nicht neu, hat aber gerade wieder mal Konjunktur. Dies kann man deutlich beobachten, eigentlich egal, in welchem gesellschaftlichen Bereich man sich umschaut. Individualität ist nur soweit angesagt, wie sie in ein bestimmtes Schema von «Diversität» passt, und Freiheit verkommt zur Worthülse – nicht erst durch ein gewisses Buch einer gewissen ehemaligen Regierungschefin.

Erklärungsansätze für solche Entwicklungen sind bekannt, und praktisch alle haben etwas mit Massenpsychologie zu tun. Der Herdentrieb, also der Trieb der Menschen, sich – zum Beispiel aus Unsicherheit oder Bequemlichkeit – lieber der Masse anzuschließen als selbstständig zu denken und zu handeln, ist einer der Erklärungsversuche. Andere drehen sich um Macht, Propaganda, Druck und Angst, also den gezielten Einsatz psychologischer Herrschaftsinstrumente.

Aber wollen die Menschen überhaupt Freiheit? Durch Gespräche im privaten Umfeld bin ich diesbezüglich in der letzten Zeit etwas skeptisch geworden. Um die Jahreswende philosophiert man ja gerne ein wenig über das Erlebte und über die Erwartungen für die Zukunft. Dabei hatte ich hin und wieder den Eindruck, die totalitären Anwandlungen unserer «Repräsentanten» kämen manchen Leuten gerade recht.

«Desinformation» ist so ein brisantes Thema. Davor müsse man die Menschen doch schützen, hörte ich. Jemand müsse doch zum Beispiel diese ganzen merkwürdigen Inhalte in den Social Media filtern – zur Ukraine, zum Klima, zu Gesundheitsthemen oder zur Migration. Viele wüssten ja gar nicht einzuschätzen, was richtig und was falsch ist, sie bräuchten eine Führung.

Freiheit bedingt Eigenverantwortung, ohne Zweifel. Eventuell ist es einigen tatsächlich zu anspruchsvoll, die Verantwortung für das eigene Tun und Lassen zu übernehmen. Oder die persönliche Freiheit wird nicht als ausreichend wertvolles Gut angesehen, um sich dafür anzustrengen. In dem Fall wäre die mangelnde Selbstbestimmung wohl das kleinere Übel. Allerdings fehlt dann gemäß Aldous Huxley ein Teil der Persönlichkeit. Letztlich ist natürlich alles eine Frage der Abwägung.

Sind viele Menschen möglicherweise schon so «eingenordet», dass freiheitliche Ambitionen gar nicht für eine ganze Gruppe, ein Kollektiv, verfolgt werden können? Solche Gedanken kamen mir auch, als ich mir kürzlich diverse Talks beim viertägigen Hacker-Kongress des Chaos Computer Clubs (38C3) anschaute. Ich war nicht nur überrascht, sondern reichlich erschreckt angesichts der in weiten Teilen mainstream-geformten Inhalte, mit denen ein dankbares Publikum beglückt wurde. Wo ich allgemein hellere Köpfe erwartet hatte, fand ich Konformismus und enthusiastisch untermauerte Narrative.

Gibt es vielleicht so etwas wie eine Herdenimmunität gegen Indoktrination? Ich denke, ja, zumindest eine gestärkte Widerstandsfähigkeit. Was wir brauchen, sind etwas gesunder Menschenverstand, offene Informationskanäle und der Mut, sich freier auch zwischen den Herden zu bewegen. Sie tun das bereits, aber sagen Sie es auch dieses Jahr ruhig weiter.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 1ec45473:d38df139

`` ______________ / /| / / | /____________ / | | ___________ | | || || | || #NOSTR || | || || | ||___________|| | | _______ | / /| (_______) | / ( |_____________|/ \ .=======================. | :::::::::::::::: ::: | | ::::::::::::::[] ::: | | ----------- ::: |-----------------------'

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@ a95c6243:d345522c

Heute möchte ich ein Gedicht mit euch teilen. Es handelt sich um eine Ballade des österreichischen Lyrikers Johann Gabriel Seidl aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. Mir sind diese Worte fest in Erinnerung, da meine Mutter sie perfekt rezitieren konnte, auch als die Kräfte schon langsam schwanden.

Dem originalen Titel «Die Uhr» habe ich für mich immer das Wort «innere» hinzugefügt. Denn der Zeitmesser – hier vermutliche eine Taschenuhr – symbolisiert zwar in dem Kontext das damalige Zeitempfinden und die Umbrüche durch die industrielle Revolution, sozusagen den Zeitgeist und das moderne Leben. Aber der Autor setzt sich philosophisch mit der Zeit auseinander und gibt seinem Werk auch eine klar spirituelle Dimension.

Das Ticken der Uhr und die Momente des Glücks und der Trauer stehen sinnbildlich für das unaufhaltsame Fortschreiten und die Vergänglichkeit des Lebens. Insofern könnte man bei der Uhr auch an eine Sonnenuhr denken. Der Rhythmus der Ereignisse passt uns vielleicht nicht immer in den Kram.

Was den Takt pocht, ist durchaus auch das Herz, unser «inneres Uhrwerk». Wenn dieses Meisterwerk einmal stillsteht, ist es unweigerlich um uns geschehen. Hoffentlich können wir dann dankbar sagen: «Ich habe mein Bestes gegeben.»

Ich trage, wo ich gehe, stets eine Uhr bei mir; \ Wieviel es geschlagen habe, genau seh ich an ihr. \ Es ist ein großer Meister, der künstlich ihr Werk gefügt, \ Wenngleich ihr Gang nicht immer dem törichten Wunsche genügt.

Ich wollte, sie wäre rascher gegangen an manchem Tag; \ Ich wollte, sie hätte manchmal verzögert den raschen Schlag. \ In meinen Leiden und Freuden, in Sturm und in der Ruh, \ Was immer geschah im Leben, sie pochte den Takt dazu.

Sie schlug am Sarge des Vaters, sie schlug an des Freundes Bahr, \ Sie schlug am Morgen der Liebe, sie schlug am Traualtar. \ Sie schlug an der Wiege des Kindes, sie schlägt, will's Gott, noch oft, \ Wenn bessere Tage kommen, wie meine Seele es hofft.

Und ward sie auch einmal träger, und drohte zu stocken ihr Lauf, \ So zog der Meister immer großmütig sie wieder auf. \ Doch stände sie einmal stille, dann wär's um sie geschehn, \ Kein andrer, als der sie fügte, bringt die Zerstörte zum Gehn.

Dann müßt ich zum Meister wandern, der wohnt am Ende wohl weit, \ Wohl draußen, jenseits der Erde, wohl dort in der Ewigkeit! \ Dann gäb ich sie ihm zurücke mit dankbar kindlichem Flehn: \ Sieh, Herr, ich hab nichts verdorben, sie blieb von selber stehn.

Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804-1875)

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Falls du beim Lesen des Titels dieses Newsletters unwillkürlich an positive Neuigkeiten aus dem globalen polit-medialen Irrenhaus oder gar aus dem wirtschaftlichen Umfeld gedacht hast, darf ich dich beglückwünschen. Diese Assoziation ist sehr löblich, denn sie weist dich als unverbesserlichen Optimisten aus. Leider muss ich dich diesbezüglich aber enttäuschen. Es geht hier um ein anderes Thema, allerdings sehr wohl ein positives, wie ich finde.

Heute ist ein ganz besonderer Tag: die Wintersonnenwende. Genau gesagt hat heute morgen um 10:20 Uhr Mitteleuropäischer Zeit (MEZ) auf der Nordhalbkugel unseres Planeten der astronomische Winter begonnen. Was daran so außergewöhnlich ist? Der kürzeste Tag des Jahres war gestern, seit heute werden die Tage bereits wieder länger! Wir werden also jetzt jeden Tag ein wenig mehr Licht haben.

Für mich ist dieses Ereignis immer wieder etwas kurios: Es beginnt der Winter, aber die Tage werden länger. Das erscheint mir zunächst wie ein Widerspruch, denn meine spontanen Assoziationen zum Winter sind doch eher Kälte und Dunkelheit, relativ zumindest. Umso erfreulicher ist der emotionale Effekt, wenn dann langsam die Erkenntnis durchsickert: Ab jetzt wird es schon wieder heller!

Natürlich ist es kalt im Winter, mancherorts mehr als anderswo. Vielleicht jedoch nicht mehr lange, wenn man den Klimahysterikern glauben wollte. Mindestens letztes Jahr hat Väterchen Frost allerdings gleich zu Beginn seiner Saison – und passenderweise während des globalen Überhitzungsgipfels in Dubai – nochmal richtig mit der Faust auf den Tisch gehauen. Schnee- und Eischaos sind ja eigentlich in der Agenda bereits nicht mehr vorgesehen. Deswegen war man in Deutschland vermutlich in vorauseilendem Gehorsam schon nicht mehr darauf vorbereitet und wurde glatt lahmgelegt.

Aber ich schweife ab. Die Aussicht auf nach und nach mehr Licht und damit auch Wärme stimmt mich froh. Den Zusammenhang zwischen beidem merkt man in Andalusien sehr deutlich. Hier, wo die Häuser im Winter arg auskühlen, geht man zum Aufwärmen raus auf die Straße oder auf den Balkon. Die Sonne hat auch im Winter eine erfreuliche Kraft. Und da ist jede Minute Gold wert.

Außerdem ist mir vor Jahren so richtig klar geworden, warum mir das südliche Klima so sehr gefällt. Das liegt nämlich nicht nur an der Sonne als solcher, oder der Wärme – das liegt vor allem am Licht. Ohne Licht keine Farben, das ist der ebenso simple wie gewaltige Unterschied zwischen einem deprimierenden matschgraubraunen Winter und einem fröhlichen bunten. Ein großes Stück Lebensqualität.

Mir gefällt aber auch die Symbolik dieses Tages: Licht aus der Dunkelheit, ein Wendepunkt, ein Neuanfang, neue Möglichkeiten, Übergang zu neuer Aktivität. In der winterlichen Stille keimt bereits neue Lebendigkeit. Und zwar in einem Zyklus, das wird immer wieder so geschehen. Ich nehme das gern als ein Stück Motivation, es macht mir Hoffnung und gibt mir Energie.

Übrigens ist parallel am heutigen Tag auf der südlichen Halbkugel Sommeranfang. Genau im entgegengesetzten Rhythmus, sich ergänzend, wie Yin und Yang. Das alles liegt an der Schrägstellung der Erdachse, die ist nämlich um 23,4º zur Umlaufbahn um die Sonne geneigt. Wir erinnern uns, gell?

Insofern bleibt eindeutig festzuhalten, dass “schräg sein” ein willkommener, wichtiger und positiver Wert ist. Mit anderen Worten: auch ungewöhnlich, eigenartig, untypisch, wunderlich, kauzig, … ja sogar irre, spinnert oder gar “quer” ist in Ordnung. Das schließt das Denken mit ein.

In diesem Sinne wünsche ich euch allen urige Weihnachtstage!

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Dieser Beitrag ist letztes Jahr in meiner Denkbar erschienen.

@ 6be5cc06:5259daf0

A seguir, veja como instalar e configurar o Privoxy no Pop!_OS.

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1. Instalar o Tor e o Privoxy

Abra o terminal e execute:

bash sudo apt update sudo apt install tor privoxy

Explicação:

• Tor: Roteia o tráfego pela rede Tor.
• Privoxy: Proxy avançado que intermedia a conexão entre aplicativos e o Tor.

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2. Configurar o Privoxy

Abra o arquivo de configuração do Privoxy:

bash sudo nano /etc/privoxy/config

Navegue até a última linha (atalho: Ctrl + / depois Ctrl + V para navegar diretamente até a última linha) e insira:

bash forward-socks5 / 127.0.0.1:9050 .

Isso faz com que o Privoxy envie todo o tráfego para o Tor através da porta 9050.

Salve (CTRL + O e Enter) e feche (CTRL + X) o arquivo.

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3. Iniciar o Tor e o Privoxy

Agora, inicie e habilite os serviços:

bash sudo systemctl start tor sudo systemctl start privoxy sudo systemctl enable tor sudo systemctl enable privoxy

Explicação:

• start: Inicia os serviços.
• enable: Faz com que iniciem automaticamente ao ligar o PC.

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4. Configurar o Navegador Firefox

Para usar a rede Tor com o Firefox:

1. Abra o Firefox.
2. Acesse Configurações → Configurar conexão.
3. Selecione Configuração manual de proxy.
4. Configure assim:
   • Proxy HTTP: 127.0.0.1
   • Porta: 8118 (porta padrão do Privoxy)
   • Domínio SOCKS (v5): 127.0.0.1
   • Porta: 9050
5. Marque a opção "Usar este proxy também em HTTPS".
6. Clique em OK.

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5. Verificar a Conexão com o Tor

Abra o navegador e acesse:

text https://check.torproject.org/

Se aparecer a mensagem "Congratulations. This browser is configured to use Tor.", a configuração está correta.

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Dicas Extras

• Privoxy pode ser ajustado para bloquear anúncios e rastreadores.
• Outros aplicativos também podem ser configurados para usar o Privoxy.

@ 0d7bc80d:aaf2218d

\ Volkesbewusstsein, as interpreted from Carl von Savigny’s legal philosophy, and utilized by Carl Schmitt in his own, refers to the common consciousness of the people.

For Savigny, this meant that the laws and boundaries of the state evolve organically out of the collective consciousness of the people in a given historical period. A blooming out of the shared cultural fabric of a society.

Schmitt’s interpretation is slightly more assertive, seen more as an imposition of the collective will in defining the sovereign and the state.

But what makes up the common consciousness of society in our time? How does that influence the formation of our state and its laws? My sense is that the thing most shared or collective about our current consciousness is the schizophrenic quality of it. Our cultural fabric is that of an insane asylum,. We swim deep inside the algorithmic passivity of our historical moment, and this has fragmented our consciousness.

The concept of the public sphere as conceptualized by Jürgen Habermas projects an idealized image of a bygone era of communal communication and a genuine shared experience of reality. The public sphere was an arena for dialogue, disagreement, and maybe even reconciliation. This ideal held that communication occurred outside the bounds of state and market manipulation and held to rational discourse as a means of discovering Volkesbewusstsein.

Habermas was aware and critical of the modern erosion of the public sphere due to mass media and its influences. And here we are now in our cultural moment. It’s become trite to remind ourselves of the algorithmic sway that we encounter on a daily basis through social media news feeds. But this is one of those realities we need to continually encounter to take seriously, because it backgrounds itself so well. We become passive automatons swayed for engagement. AI agents capturing our attention and manipulating the lizard brain.

We are all aware of this.

However, to what extent are we understanding the schizophrenic agency of the algorithmic hyper-agent? There’s undoubtedly intentional manipulation of information for explicit ends, not explicit to us necessarily, but to someone or some bureaucracy.

What happens though when we have a myriad of explicit algorithmic hyper-agents taking over the public sphere? I’m no clinician, but my diagnosis is schizophrenia at the level of our distributed cognition. We’re in a collective asylum and the guards are insane too.

What kind of heroes emerge out of that cultural fabric? Well, insane ones. And they will look perfectly sane in their response to a system of state sovereignty and laws that have emerged out of that asylum. And we’ll cheer it on as it feels like entropy towards collapse is the only thing that might save us. Not that we are always conscious of our entropic aims. But the walls are crumbling down, and everyone has a sledgehammer, so we decide to pick one up as well. We’d prefer to feel that we’re at least exercising SOME sort of agency, after all.

I find myself entirely addicted to my comforting insanity. Precisely because it gives me the illusion of agency, rather than the passivity that Habermas feared would be the destruction of the public sphere. I’m grateful that every now and then, I’m able to stand back and examine the frames I’m applying, or that have been applied for me, and recognize my passivity.

Perennially, it becomes apparent that we need to step outside of the passive sway of our screens and to engage in an algorithmic free salon. The idealized picture of humans in a communal space, with minimally distorted flows of information, in true dialogue. A mutual respect for each other and our different value judgements, with a shared commitment to orienting towards truth.

The most basic way we can do this is to continually step back from the asylum, and find a quiet corner to discuss with other well intentioned patients how we might organically blossom out a new common consciousness. It’s hegemonic character, that which dominates it, need not be the assertion of one difference over the other, but the assertion that differences in value systems share some orientation.

All this must be, for now, done from the place of acceptance of our diagnosis. Our conversations in the public sphere will need to continually encounter and correct for our schizophrenia. But if enough of us pick up a hammer and start smashing it against the wall of the asylum, a new organic shared consciousness has a shot at arising.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Das Betriebsklima ist das einzige Klima, \ das du selbst bestimmen kannst. \ Anonym

Eine Strategie zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel hat das deutsche Bundeskabinett diese Woche beschlossen. Da «Wetterextreme wie die immer häufiger auftretenden Hitzewellen und Starkregenereignisse» oft desaströse Auswirkungen auf Mensch und Umwelt hätten, werde eine Anpassung an die Folgen des Klimawandels immer wichtiger. «Klimaanpassungsstrategie» nennt die Regierung das.

Für die «Vorsorge vor Klimafolgen» habe man nun erstmals klare Ziele und messbare Kennzahlen festgelegt. So sei der Erfolg überprüfbar, und das solle zu einer schnelleren Bewältigung der Folgen führen. Dass sich hinter dem Begriff Klimafolgen nicht Folgen des Klimas, sondern wohl «Folgen der globalen Erwärmung» verbergen, erklärt den Interessierten die Wikipedia. Dabei ist das mit der Erwärmung ja bekanntermaßen so eine Sache.

Die Zunahme schwerer Unwetterereignisse habe gezeigt, so das Ministerium, wie wichtig eine frühzeitige und effektive Warnung der Bevölkerung sei. Daher solle es eine deutliche Anhebung der Nutzerzahlen der sogenannten Nina-Warn-App geben.

Die ARD spurt wie gewohnt und setzt die Botschaft zielsicher um. Der Artikel beginnt folgendermaßen:

«Die Flut im Ahrtal war ein Schock für das ganze Land. Um künftig besser gegen Extremwetter gewappnet zu sein, hat die Bundesregierung eine neue Strategie zur Klimaanpassung beschlossen. Die Warn-App Nina spielt eine zentrale Rolle. Der Bund will die Menschen in Deutschland besser vor Extremwetter-Ereignissen warnen und dafür die Reichweite der Warn-App Nina deutlich erhöhen.»

Die Kommunen würden bei ihren «Klimaanpassungsmaßnahmen» vom Zentrum KlimaAnpassung unterstützt, schreibt das Umweltministerium. Mit dessen Aufbau wurden das Deutsche Institut für Urbanistik gGmbH, welches sich stark für Smart City-Projekte engagiert, und die Adelphi Consult GmbH beauftragt.

Adelphi beschreibt sich selbst als «Europas führender Think-and-Do-Tank und eine unabhängige Beratung für Klima, Umwelt und Entwicklung». Sie seien «global vernetzte Strateg*innen und weltverbessernde Berater*innen» und als «Vorreiter der sozial-ökologischen Transformation» sei man mit dem Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitspreis ausgezeichnet worden, welcher sich an den Zielen der Agenda 2030 orientiere.

Über die Warn-App mit dem niedlichen Namen Nina, die möglichst jeder auf seinem Smartphone installieren soll, informiert das Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK). Gewarnt wird nicht nur vor Extrem-Wetterereignissen, sondern zum Beispiel auch vor Waffengewalt und Angriffen, Strom- und anderen Versorgungsausfällen oder Krankheitserregern. Wenn man die Kategorie Gefahreninformation wählt, erhält man eine Dosis von ungefähr zwei Benachrichtigungen pro Woche.

Beim BBK erfahren wir auch einiges über die empfohlenen Systemeinstellungen für Nina. Der Benutzer möge zum Beispiel den Zugriff auf die Standortdaten «immer zulassen», und zwar mit aktivierter Funktion «genauen Standort verwenden». Die Datennutzung solle unbeschränkt sein, auch im Hintergrund. Außerdem sei die uneingeschränkte Akkunutzung zu aktivieren, der Energiesparmodus auszuschalten und das Stoppen der App-Aktivität bei Nichtnutzung zu unterbinden.

Dass man so dramatische Ereignisse wie damals im Ahrtal auch anders bewerten kann als Regierungen und Systemmedien, hat meine Kollegin Wiltrud Schwetje anhand der Tragödie im spanischen Valencia gezeigt. Das Stichwort «Agenda 2030» taucht dabei in einem Kontext auf, der wenig mit Nachhaltigkeitspreisen zu tun hat.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Die Ungerechtigkeit ist uns nur in dem Falle angenehm,\ dass wir Vorteile aus ihr ziehen;\ in jedem andern hegt man den Wunsch,\ dass der Unschuldige in Schutz genommen werde.\ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Politiker beteuern jederzeit, nur das Beste für die Bevölkerung zu wollen – nicht von ihr. Auch die zahlreichen unsäglichen «Corona-Maßnahmen» waren angeblich zu unserem Schutz notwendig, vor allem wegen der «besonders vulnerablen Personen». Daher mussten alle möglichen Restriktionen zwangsweise und unter Umgehung der Parlamente verordnet werden.

Inzwischen hat sich immer deutlicher herausgestellt, dass viele jener «Schutzmaßnahmen» den gegenteiligen Effekt hatten, sie haben den Menschen und den Gesellschaften enorm geschadet. Nicht nur haben die experimentellen Geninjektionen – wie erwartet – massive Nebenwirkungen, sondern Maskentragen schadet der Psyche und der Entwicklung (nicht nur unserer Kinder) und «Lockdowns und Zensur haben Menschen getötet».

Eine der wichtigsten Waffen unserer «Beschützer» ist die Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Die tiefen Gräben, die Politiker, Lobbyisten und Leitmedien praktisch weltweit ausgehoben haben, funktionieren leider nahezu in Perfektion. Von ihren persönlichen Erfahrungen als Kritikerin der Maßnahmen berichtete kürzlich eine Schweizerin im Interview mit Transition News. Sie sei schwer enttäuscht und verspüre bis heute eine Hemmschwelle und ein seltsames Unwohlsein im Umgang mit «Geimpften».

Menschen, die aufrichtig andere schützen wollten, werden von einer eindeutig politischen Justiz verfolgt, verhaftet und angeklagt. Dazu zählen viele Ärzte, darunter Heinrich Habig, Bianca Witzschel und Walter Weber. Über den aktuell laufenden Prozess gegen Dr. Weber hat Transition News mehrfach berichtet (z.B. hier und hier). Auch der Selbstschutz durch Verweigerung der Zwangs-Covid-«Impfung» bewahrt nicht vor dem Knast, wie Bundeswehrsoldaten wie Alexander Bittner erfahren mussten.

Die eigentlich Kriminellen schützen sich derweil erfolgreich selber, nämlich vor der Verantwortung. Die «Impf»-Kampagne war «das größte Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit». Trotzdem stellt man sich in den USA gerade die Frage, ob der scheidende Präsident Joe Biden nach seinem Sohn Hunter möglicherweise auch Anthony Fauci begnadigen wird – in diesem Fall sogar präventiv. Gibt es überhaupt noch einen Rest Glaubwürdigkeit, den Biden verspielen könnte?

Der Gedanke, den ehemaligen wissenschaftlichen Chefberater des US-Präsidenten und Direktor des National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) vorsorglich mit einem Schutzschild zu versehen, dürfte mit der vergangenen Präsidentschaftswahl zu tun haben. Gleich mehrere Personalentscheidungen des designierten Präsidenten Donald Trump lassen Leute wie Fauci erneut in den Fokus rücken.

Das Buch «The Real Anthony Fauci» des nominierten US-Gesundheitsministers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. erschien 2021 und dreht sich um die Machenschaften der Pharma-Lobby in der öffentlichen Gesundheit. Das Vorwort zur rumänischen Ausgabe des Buches schrieb übrigens Călin Georgescu, der Überraschungssieger der ersten Wahlrunde der aktuellen Präsidentschaftswahlen in Rumänien. Vielleicht erklärt diese Verbindung einen Teil der Panik im Wertewesten.

In Rumänien selber gab es gerade einen Paukenschlag: Das bisherige Ergebnis wurde heute durch das Verfassungsgericht annuliert und die für Sonntag angesetzte Stichwahl kurzfristig abgesagt – wegen angeblicher «aggressiver russischer Einmischung». Thomas Oysmüller merkt dazu an, damit sei jetzt in der EU das Tabu gebrochen, Wahlen zu verbieten, bevor sie etwas ändern können.

Unsere Empörung angesichts der Historie von Maßnahmen, die die Falschen beschützen und für die meisten von Nachteil sind, müsste enorm sein. Die Frage ist, was wir damit machen. Wir sollten nach vorne schauen und unsere Energie clever einsetzen. Abgesehen von der Umgehung von jeglichem «Schutz vor Desinformation und Hassrede» (sprich: Zensur) wird es unsere wichtigste Aufgabe sein, Gräben zu überwinden.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Und plötzlich weißt du:
Es ist Zeit, etwas Neues zu beginnen
und dem Zauber des Anfangs zu vertrauen.
Meister Eckhart

Schwarz, rot, gold leuchtet es im Kopf des Newsletters der deutschen Bundesregierung, der mir freitags ins Postfach flattert. Rot, gelb und grün werden daneben sicher noch lange vielzitierte Farben sein, auch wenn diese nie geleuchtet haben. Die Ampel hat sich gerade selber den Stecker gezogen – und hinterlässt einen wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Trümmerhaufen.

Mit einem bemerkenswerten Timing hat die deutsche Regierungskoalition am Tag des «Comebacks» von Donald Trump in den USA endlich ihr Scheitern besiegelt. Während der eine seinen Sieg bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen feierte, erwachten die anderen jäh aus ihrer Selbsthypnose rund um Harris-Hype und Trump-Panik – mit teils erschreckenden Auswüchsen. Seit Mittwoch werden die Geschicke Deutschlands nun von einer rot-grünen Minderheitsregierung «geleitet» und man steuert auf Neuwahlen zu.

Das Kindergarten-Gehabe um zwei konkurrierende Wirtschaftsgipfel letzte Woche war bereits bezeichnend. In einem Strategiepapier gestand Finanzminister Lindner außerdem den «Absturz Deutschlands» ein und offenbarte, dass die wirtschaftlichen Probleme teilweise von der Ampel-Politik «vorsätzlich herbeigeführt» worden seien.

Lindner und weitere FDP-Minister wurden also vom Bundeskanzler entlassen. Verkehrs- und Digitalminister Wissing trat flugs aus der FDP aus; deshalb darf er nicht nur im Amt bleiben, sondern hat zusätzlich noch das Justizministerium übernommen. Und mit Jörg Kukies habe Scholz «seinen Lieblingsbock zum Obergärtner», sprich: Finanzminister befördert, meint Norbert Häring.

Es gebe keine Vertrauensbasis für die weitere Zusammenarbeit mit der FDP, hatte der Kanzler erklärt, Lindner habe zu oft sein Vertrauen gebrochen. Am 15. Januar 2025 werde er daher im Bundestag die Vertrauensfrage stellen, was ggf. den Weg für vorgezogene Neuwahlen freimachen würde.

Apropos Vertrauen: Über die Hälfte der Bundesbürger glauben, dass sie ihre Meinung nicht frei sagen können. Das ging erst kürzlich aus dem diesjährigen «Freiheitsindex» hervor, einer Studie, die die Wechselwirkung zwischen Berichterstattung der Medien und subjektivem Freiheitsempfinden der Bürger misst. «Beim Vertrauen in Staat und Medien zerreißt es uns gerade», kommentierte dies der Leiter des Schweizer Unternehmens Media Tenor, das die Untersuchung zusammen mit dem Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach durchführt.

«Die absolute Mehrheit hat absolut die Nase voll», titelte die Bild angesichts des «Ampel-Showdowns». Die Mehrheit wolle Neuwahlen und die Grünen sollten zuerst gehen, lasen wir dort.

Dass «Insolvenzminister» Robert Habeck heute seine Kandidatur für das Kanzleramt verkündet hat, kann nur als Teil der politmedialen Realitätsverweigerung verstanden werden. Wer allerdings denke, schlimmer als in Zeiten der Ampel könne es nicht mehr werden, sei reichlich optimistisch, schrieb Uwe Froschauer bei Manova. Und er kenne Friedrich Merz schlecht, der sich schon jetzt rhetorisch auf seine Rolle als oberster Feldherr Deutschlands vorbereite.

Was also tun? Der Schweizer Verein «Losdemokratie» will eine Volksinitiative lancieren, um die Bestimmung von Parlamentsmitgliedern per Los einzuführen. Das Losverfahren sorge für mehr Demokratie, denn als Alternative zum Wahlverfahren garantiere es eine breitere Beteiligung und repräsentativere Parlamente. Ob das ein Weg ist, sei dahingestellt.

In jedem Fall wird es notwendig sein, unsere Bemühungen um Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung zu verstärken. Mehr Unabhängigkeit von staatlichen und zentralen Institutionen – also die Suche nach dezentralen Lösungsansätzen – gehört dabei sicher zu den Möglichkeiten. Das gilt sowohl für jede/n Einzelne/n als auch für Entitäten wie die alternativen Medien.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Es ist besser, ein Licht zu entzünden, als auf die Dunkelheit zu schimpfen. Konfuzius

Die Bemühungen um Aufarbeitung der sogenannten Corona-Pandemie, um Aufklärung der Hintergründe, Benennung von Verantwortlichkeiten und das Ziehen von Konsequenzen sind durchaus nicht eingeschlafen. Das Interesse daran ist unter den gegebenen Umständen vielleicht nicht sonderlich groß, aber es ist vorhanden.

Der sächsische Landtag hat gestern die Einsetzung eines Untersuchungsausschusses zur Corona-Politik beschlossen. In einer Sondersitzung erhielt ein entsprechender Antrag der AfD-Fraktion die ausreichende Zustimmung, auch von einigen Abgeordneten des BSW.

In den Niederlanden wird Bill Gates vor Gericht erscheinen müssen. Sieben durch die Covid-«Impfstoffe» geschädigte Personen hatten Klage eingereicht. Sie werfen unter anderem Gates, Pfizer-Chef Bourla und dem niederländischen Staat vor, sie hätten gewusst, dass diese Präparate weder sicher noch wirksam sind.

Mit den mRNA-«Impfstoffen» von Pfizer/BioNTech befasst sich auch ein neues Buch. Darin werden die Erkenntnisse von Ärzten und Wissenschaftlern aus der Analyse interner Dokumente über die klinischen Studien der Covid-Injektion präsentiert. Es handelt sich um jene in den USA freigeklagten Papiere, die die Arzneimittelbehörde (Food and Drug Administration, FDA) 75 Jahre unter Verschluss halten wollte.

Ebenfalls Wissenschaftler und Ärzte, aber auch andere Experten organisieren als Verbundnetzwerk Corona-Solution kostenfreie Online-Konferenzen. Ihr Ziel ist es, «wissenschaftlich, demokratisch und friedlich» über Impfstoffe und Behandlungsprotokolle gegen SARS-CoV-2 aufzuklären und die Diskriminierung von Ungeimpften zu stoppen. Gestern fand eine weitere Konferenz statt. Ihr Thema: «Corona und modRNA: Von Toten, Lebenden und Physik lernen».

Aufgrund des Digital Services Acts (DSA) der Europäischen Union sei das Risiko groß, dass ihre Arbeit als «Fake-News» bezeichnet würde, so das Netzwerk. Staatlich unerwünschte wissenschaftliche Aufklärung müsse sich passende Kanäle zur Veröffentlichung suchen. Ihre Live-Streams seien deshalb zum Beispiel nicht auf YouTube zu finden.

Der vielfältige Einsatz für Aufklärung und Aufarbeitung wird sich nicht stummschalten lassen. Nicht einmal der Zensurmeister der EU, Deutschland, wird so etwas erreichen. Die frisch aktivierten «Trusted Flagger» dürften allerdings künftige Siege beim «Denunzianten-Wettbewerb» im Kontext des DSA zusätzlich absichern.

Wo sind die Grenzen der Meinungsfreiheit? Sicher gibt es sie. Aber die ideologische Gleichstellung von illegalen mit unerwünschten Äußerungen verfolgt offensichtlich eher das Ziel, ein derart elementares demokratisches Grundrecht möglichst weitgehend auszuhebeln. Vorwürfe wie «Hassrede», «Delegitimierung des Staates» oder «Volksverhetzung» werden heute inflationär verwendet, um Systemkritik zu unterbinden. Gegen solche Bestrebungen gilt es, sich zu wehren.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum dritten Geburtstag, liebe Denk Bar! Wieso zum dritten? Das war doch 2022 und jetzt sind wir im Jahr 2024, oder? Ja, das ist schon richtig, aber bei Geburtstagen erinnere ich mich immer auch an meinen Vater, und der behauptete oft, der erste sei ja schließlich der Tag der Geburt selber und den müsse man natürlich mitzählen. Wo er recht hat, hat er nunmal recht. Konsequenterweise wird also heute dieser Blog an seinem dritten Geburtstag zwei Jahre alt.

Das ist ein Grund zum Feiern, wie ich finde. Einerseits ganz einfach, weil es dafür gar nicht genug Gründe geben kann. «Das Leben sind zwei Tage», lautet ein gängiger Ausdruck hier in Andalusien. In der Tat könnte es so sein, auch wenn wir uns im Alltag oft genug von der Routine vereinnahmen lassen.

Seit dem Start der Denk Bar vor zwei Jahren ist unglaublich viel passiert. Ebenso wie die zweieinhalb Jahre davor, und all jenes war letztlich auch der Auslöser dafür, dass ich begann, öffentlich zu schreiben. Damals notierte ich:

«Seit einigen Jahren erscheint unser öffentliches Umfeld immer fragwürdiger, widersprüchlicher und manchmal schier unglaublich - jede Menge Anlass für eigene Recherchen und Gedanken, ganz einfach mit einer Portion gesundem Menschenverstand.»

Wir erleben den sogenannten «großen Umbruch», einen globalen Coup, den skrupellose Egoisten clever eingefädelt haben und seit ein paar Jahren knallhart – aber nett verpackt – durchziehen, um buchstäblich alles nach ihrem Gusto umzukrempeln. Die Gelegenheit ist ja angeblich günstig und muss genutzt werden.

Nie hätte ich mir träumen lassen, dass ich so etwas jemals miterleben müsste. Die Bosheit, mit der ganz offensichtlich gegen die eigene Bevölkerung gearbeitet wird, war früher für mich unvorstellbar. Mein (Rest-) Vertrauen in alle möglichen Bereiche wie Politik, Wissenschaft, Justiz, Medien oder Kirche ist praktisch komplett zerstört. Einen «inneren Totalschaden» hatte ich mal für unsere Gesellschaften diagnostiziert.

Was mich vielleicht am meisten erschreckt, ist zum einen das Niveau der Gleichschaltung, das weltweit erreicht werden konnte, und zum anderen die praktisch totale Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Haben wir das tatsächlich mit uns machen lassen?? Unfassbar! Aber das Werkzeug «Angst» ist sehr mächtig und funktioniert bis heute.

Zum Glück passieren auch positive Dinge und neue Perspektiven öffnen sich. Für viele Menschen waren und sind die Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre ein Augenöffner. Sie sehen «Querdenken» als das, was es ist: eine Tugend.

Auch die immer ernsteren Zensurbemühungen sind letztlich nur ein Zeichen der Schwäche, wo Argumente fehlen. Sie werden nicht verhindern, dass wir unsere Meinung äußern, unbequeme Fragen stellen und dass die Wahrheit peu à peu ans Licht kommt. Es gibt immer Mittel und Wege, auch für uns.

---

Danke, dass du diesen Weg mit mir weitergehst!

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Ein Lämmchen löschte an einem Bache seinen Durst. Fern von ihm, aber näher der Quelle, tat ein Wolf das gleiche. Kaum erblickte er das Lämmchen, so schrie er:

"Warum trübst du mir das Wasser, das ich trinken will?"

"Wie wäre das möglich", erwiderte schüchtern das Lämmchen, "ich stehe hier unten und du so weit oben; das Wasser fließt ja von dir zu mir; glaube mir, es kam mir nie in den Sinn, dir etwas Böses zu tun!"

"Ei, sieh doch! Du machst es gerade, wie dein Vater vor sechs Monaten; ich erinnere mich noch sehr wohl, daß auch du dabei warst, aber glücklich entkamst, als ich ihm für sein Schmähen das Fell abzog!"

"Ach, Herr!" flehte das zitternde Lämmchen, "ich bin ja erst vier Wochen alt und kannte meinen Vater gar nicht, so lange ist er schon tot; wie soll ich denn für ihn büßen."

"Du Unverschämter!" so endigt der Wolf mit erheuchelter Wut, indem er die Zähne fletschte. "Tot oder nicht tot, weiß ich doch, daß euer ganzes Geschlecht mich hasset, und dafür muß ich mich rächen."

Ohne weitere Umstände zu machen, zerriß er das Lämmchen und verschlang es.

Das Gewissen regt sich selbst bei dem größten Bösewichte; er sucht doch nach Vorwand, um dasselbe damit bei Begehung seiner Schlechtigkeiten zu beschwichtigen.

Quelle: https://eden.one/fabeln-aesop-das-lamm-und-der-wolf

@ d57360cb:4fe7d935

Martial Arts has a way of imparting deep lessons on you, lessons that you feel deep to the core. Here are a few that have stuck with me. These lessons extend beyond the field of martial arts into every area of life, may you find value in them.

Static Vs Dynamic

The world is a dynamic and fluid domain, yet we think statically. This error makes us incompatible. When we think about the future and the past, they are fixed in our minds. We might have a grand plan for how we will beat our opponent or hold fear of a loss we suffered at the hands of another opponent. Because these are harbored in our minds, we are fixed in place entering a battle which is constantly moving.

To succeed one has to abandon the static and learn to dance. Let me explain this through the problem solving process.

Problem Solving

Imagine there's a giant wall in front of you and this wall is going to fall directly on top of you. Here you're faced with a problem, the wall falling and you also might have guessed the solution which is get out of the way. The usual approach people take in solving problems is they wait til the problem has already taken place and established itself to act.

Knowing fully the wall is falling they will wait til the wall has crushed them, only then they'll enact their plan to get out of the way. Their plan may very well work but not when the wall has already fallen, this renders their plan useless even though it is the correct solution. In their minds they see the problem and the solution only taking place when certain factors are met and conditions are perfect.

They will not act to evade a punch until hit in the face, they won't try to escape a choke until their opponent is squeezing the life out of them. This is the error of unskilled beginners yet it's a necessary path to the dynamic.

The best way to avoid danger is not going there in the first place

At a certain point you will get tired of getting hit in the face, getting choked out, and having the wall get crushed on you. You will see others using the very same solutions you're using and wonder why they succeed and you don't. The cogs in your brain come alive and you begin to think if the solution is to get out the way, I need to do it before or as the wall is falling not when it's already fallen. This takes you from the static to the dynamic, from thinking to feeling.

Instead of thinking and anticipating a punch and then moving, you no longer anticipate you immerse yourself in the chaos and are free to feel. You no longer wait for your opponent to have his hands around your neck to avoid getting choked, you avoid the situation altogether. You see the wall falling and you step out of the way, by nature another wall replaces it, this one is also falling and you maneuver out of its way. This is the great dance, this is the art.

Failure is Information

"The fool that persists in his folly soon becomes wise"

In life as in the arts you will continually face failures or walls. Most people view these as negative. Having a wall crushed on them they take it personally, blame themselves, how terrible they are and how much better their opponent is. These are your trusted guides they show you where you are fixed in place, they show you your inflexibility, your rigidity. They humble you over and over. It may take days, weeks, years or months for you to realize. In this way the end never arrives, the path of practice is the goal.

With diligence and patience the thing you once saw as a failure will become your wisest friend.

No opponent

Each person is going through this struggle internally. They face their own set of problems. In this way your opponents serve you as you serve them. The person that beats you down is not a rival, he's also not 'better' in any way he's exposed you and shown you the areas you have blindspots and weakness in. In the same way you serve that purpose for those just starting on the path. You may beat someone down and think you are 'better' than those you dominate. This is the wrong view you are a guide to those below you and student to those above you.

If you get caught up in your ego and status you will be blinded. One must leave the static world of victory and loss to find the dynamic.

Everything Bleeds

This was a post on material arts, but you could very well replace martial arts with any field and any set of problems. The incompatible mix of the static mind and dynamic world is found in every area of life. The lessons you learn from one area can be translated to another, these lessons are fundamental. In this way lessons bleed and overflow into everything you touch. You are the center of experience the things you devote time to in life are merely tools of expression.

@ 16d11430:61640947

In a world drowning in Monopoly money, where people celebrate government-mandated inflation as "economic growth," it takes a special kind of clarity—nay, cynicism—to rise above the fiat circus. This is your guide to shedding your fiat f**ks and embracing the serene chaos of sound money, all while laughing at the absurdity of a world gone fiat-mad.

---

1. Don’t Feed the Clowns

You know the clowns I’m talking about: central bankers in their tailored suits and smug smirks, wielding "tools" like interest rates and quantitative easing. Their tools are as real as a magician's wand, conjuring trillions of dollars out of thin air to keep their Ponzi economy afloat.

Rule #1: Don’t engage. If a clown offers you a hot take about the "strength of the dollar," smile, nod, and silently wonder how many cups of coffee their paycheck buys this month. Spoiler: fewer than last month.

---

1. Turn Off the Fiat News

Do you really need another breathless headline about the next trillion-dollar deficit? Or the latest clickbait on why you should care about the stock market's emotional rollercoaster? Mainstream media exists to distract you, to keep you tethered to their illusion of importance.

Turn it off. Replace it with something sound, like the Bitcoin whitepaper. Or Nietzsche. At least Nietzsche knew we were doomed.

---

1. Mock Their Inflationary Gospel

Fiat apologists will tell you that inflation is "necessary" and that 2% a year is a "healthy target." Sure, because a little robbery every year keeps society functioning, right? Ask them this: "If 2% is healthy, why not 20%? Why not 200%? Why not Venezuela?"

Fiat logic is like a bad acid trip: entertaining at first, but it quickly spirals into existential horror.

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1. Celebrate the Fiat Freakshow

Sometimes, the best way to resist the fiat clown show is to revel in its absurdity. Watch politicians print money like teenagers running up a credit card bill at Hot Topic, then watch the economists applaud it as "stimulus." It’s performance art, really. Andy Warhol could never.

---

1. Build in the Chaos

While the fiat world burns, Bitcoiners build. This is the ultimate "not giving a fiat f**k" move: creating a parallel economy, one satoshi at a time. Run your Lightning node, stack sats, and laugh as the fiat circus consumes itself in a flaming pile of its own debt.

Let them argue about who gets to rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic. You’re busy designing lifeboats.

---

1. Adopt a Fiat-Free Lifestyle

Fiat-free living means minimizing your entanglement with their clown currency. Buy meat, not ETFs. Trade skills, not IOUs. Tip your barber in Bitcoin and ask if your landlord accepts Lightning. If they say no, chuckle and say, “You’ll learn soon enough.”

Every satoshi spent in the real economy is a slap in the face to the fiat overlords.

---

1. Find the Humor in Collapse

Here’s the thing: the fiat system is unsustainable. You know it, I know it, even the clowns know it. The whole charade is destined to collapse under its own weight. When it does, find solace in the absurdity of it all.

Imagine the central bankers explaining hyperinflation to the public: "Turns out we can't print infinity after all." Pure comedy gold.

---

1. Stay Ruthlessly Optimistic

Despite the doom and gloom, there’s hope. Bitcoin is hope. It’s the lifeboat for humanity, the cheat code to escape the fiat matrix. Cynicism doesn’t mean nihilism; it means seeing the rot for what it is and choosing to build something better.

So, don’t just reject the fiat clown show—replace it. Create a world where money is sound, transactions are sovereign, and wealth is measured in energy, not debt.

---

Final Thought: Burn the Tent Down

Aldous Huxley once envisioned a dystopia where people are so distracted by their own hedonistic consumption that they don’t realize they’re enslaved. Sound familiar? The fiat clown show is Brave New World on steroids, a spectacle designed to keep you pacified while your wealth evaporates.

But here’s the punchline: they can only enslave you if you care. By rejecting their system, you strip them of their power. So let them juggle their debts, inflate their bubbles, and print their trillions. You’ve got Bitcoin, and Bitcoin doesn’t give a fiat f**k.

Welcome to the satirical resistance. Now go stack some sats.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

Oregano oil is a potent natural compound that offers numerous scientifically-supported health benefits.

Active Compounds

The oil's therapeutic properties stem from its key bioactive components: - Carvacrol and thymol (primary active compounds) - Polyphenols and other antioxidant

Antimicrobial Properties

Bacterial Protection The oil demonstrates powerful antibacterial effects, even against antibiotic-resistant strains like MRSA and other harmful bacteria. Studies show it effectively inactivates various pathogenic bacteria without developing resistance.

Antifungal Effects It effectively combats fungal infections, particularly Candida-related conditions like oral thrush, athlete's foot, and nail infections.

Digestive Health Benefits

Oregano oil supports digestive wellness by: - Promoting gastric juice secretion and enzyme production - Helping treat Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) - Managing digestive discomfort, bloating, and IBS symptoms

Anti-inflammatory and Antioxidant Effects

The oil provides significant protective benefits through: - Powerful antioxidant activity that fights free radicals - Reduction of inflammatory markers in the body - Protection against oxidative stress-related conditions

Respiratory Support

It aids respiratory health by: - Loosening mucus and phlegm - Suppressing coughs and throat irritation - Supporting overall respiratory tract function

Additional Benefits

Skin Health - Improves conditions like psoriasis, acne, and eczema - Supports wound healing through antibacterial action - Provides anti-aging benefits through antioxidant properties

Cardiovascular Health Studies show oregano oil may help: - Reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol levels - Support overall heart health

Pain Management The oil demonstrates effectiveness in: - Reducing inflammation-related pain - Managing muscle discomfort - Providing topical pain relief

Safety Note

While oregano oil is generally safe, it's highly concentrated and should be properly diluted before use Consult a healthcare provider before starting supplementation, especially if taking other medications.

@ b17fccdf:b7211155

The past 26 August, Tor introduced officially a proof-of-work (PoW) defense for onion services designed to prioritize verified network traffic as a deterrent against denial of service (DoS) attacks.

~ > This feature at the moment, is deactivate by default, so you need to follow these steps to activate this on a MiniBolt node:

• Make sure you have the latest version of Tor installed, at the time of writing this post, which is v0.4.8.6. Check your current version by typing

tor --version

Example of expected output:

Tor version 0.4.8.6. This build of Tor is covered by the GNU General Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.en.html) Tor is running on Linux with Libevent 2.1.12-stable, OpenSSL 3.0.9, Zlib 1.2.13, Liblzma 5.4.1, Libzstd N/A and Glibc 2.36 as libc. Tor compiled with GCC version 12.2.0

~ > If you have v0.4.8.X, you are OK, if not, type sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade and confirm to update.

• Basic PoW support can be checked by running this command:

tor --list-modules

Expected output:

relay: yes dirauth: yes dircache: yes pow: **yes**

~ > If you have pow: yes, you are OK

• Now go to the torrc file of your MiniBolt and add the parameter to enable PoW for each hidden service added

sudo nano /etc/tor/torrc

Example:

```

Hidden Service BTC RPC Explorer

HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/hidden_service_btcrpcexplorer/ HiddenServiceVersion 3 HiddenServicePoWDefensesEnabled 1 HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:3002 ```

~ > Bitcoin Core and LND use the Tor control port to automatically create the hidden service, requiring no action from the user. We have submitted a feature request in the official GitHub repositories to explore the need for the integration of Tor's PoW defense into the automatic creation process of the hidden service. You can follow them at the following links:

• Bitcoin Core: https://github.com/lightningnetwork/lnd/issues/8002
• LND: https://github.com/bitcoin/bitcoin/issues/28499

---

More info:

• https://blog.torproject.org/introducing-proof-of-work-defense-for-onion-services/
• https://gitlab.torproject.org/tpo/onion-services/onion-support/-/wikis/Documentation/PoW-FAQ

---

Enjoy it MiniBolter! 💙

@ 378562cd:a6fc6773

Top 20 U.S. Cryptocurrency Headlines:

1. SEC Reverses Crypto Accounting Rule, Easing Bank Participation The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has overturned guidance that previously treated digital tokens as liabilities on bank balance sheets. This reversal is expected to facilitate banks in offering cryptocurrency custody services without facing significant penalties.

   ft.com

2. President Trump Signs Executive Order to Bolster Crypto Industry. President Donald Trump has issued an executive order titled "Strengthening American Leadership in Digital Financial Technology," aiming to position the U.S. as a global leader in the digital asset market. The order includes the creation of a task force to propose new crypto regulations and explore the establishment of a national digital asset stockpile.

   Investor's Business Daily

3. Crypto Markets React to New Regulatory Initiatives. Following the administration's recent policy moves, the cryptocurrency market experienced a dip, with Bitcoin stabilizing around $105,000. The creation of a task force to propose new crypto regulations has introduced uncertainty, leading to profit-taking among investors.

   reuters.com

4. Industry Celebrates Anticipated Deregulation Amid Caution. The cryptocurrency community is optimistic about the administration's supportive stance, including proposals for a U.S. Bitcoin reserve. However, experts caution that increased government endorsement could expose the financial system to significant risks if the market faces downturns.

   ft.com

5. White House Appoints David Sacks as Crypto and AI Advisor. The administration has appointed tech entrepreneur David Sacks as the White House's cryptocurrency and artificial intelligence advisor. Sacks will lead the newly formed Presidential Task Force on Digital Asset Markets, focusing on developing regulatory frameworks and exploring the creation of a national Bitcoin reserve.

   Barron's

6. Bitcoin Price Surges to All-Time High Amid Policy Shifts. Bitcoin has reached a record high of $109,000, driven by increased interest following endorsements from President Trump and tech entrepreneur Elon Musk. The launch of cryptocurrencies associated with both Trump and former First Lady Melania Trump has further fueled market enthusiasm.

   The Times & The Sunday Times

7. Financial Institutions Show Renewed Interest in Crypto Services. Major financial firms, including Charles Schwab, are exploring deeper engagement in the crypto market following recent regulatory changes. Traditional banks are now better positioned to offer cryptocurrency custody services, reflecting a shift towards mainstream adoption.

   ft.com

8. Congressional Leaders Express Concerns Over Rapid Crypto Expansion. Some lawmakers have raised concerns about the swift regulatory changes favoring the cryptocurrency industry. They caution that rapid deregulation could lead to increased market volatility and potential risks to the broader financial system.

   reuters.com

9. Crypto-Related Crimes Prompt Calls for Enhanced Security Measures. The recent kidnapping and assault of Ledger co-founder David Balland have highlighted the risks associated with the crypto industry. Security experts advise individuals involved in cryptocurrency to exercise discretion regarding their personal wealth and implement robust security protocols.

   The Times & The Sunday Times

10. Stablecoin Development Encouraged Under New Executive Order. The administration's executive order promotes the development of dollar-backed stablecoins for global use, aiming to enhance the U.S. dollar's presence in the digital asset space while prohibiting the establishment of a central bank digital currency (CBDC) in the U.S.

    Investor's Business Daily

11. Crypto Education Initiatives Launched to Foster Public Understanding. In response to the growing interest in digital assets, educational programs are being developed to inform the public about cryptocurrency investment risks and opportunities, aiming to promote responsible participation in the market.

12. Tech Companies Explore Blockchain Integration Amid Regulatory Clarity. With the recent regulatory developments, technology firms are increasingly considering blockchain integration into their operations, anticipating that clearer guidelines will support innovation in the sector.

13. Crypto Taxation Policies Under Review Following Executive Order. The Treasury Department is reviewing existing cryptocurrency taxation policies to align with the new executive order, potentially leading to revised guidelines that could impact investors and businesses.

14. Investment Funds Increase Crypto Holdings Amid Policy Support. Investment funds are bolstering their cryptocurrency portfolios, encouraged by the administration's supportive policies and the SEC's reversal of restrictive accounting rules.

15. Public-Private Partnerships Form to Advance Blockchain Research. New collaborations between government agencies and private companies are emerging to advance blockchain research and development, aiming to maintain the U.S.'s competitive edge in digital financial technologies.

16. Crypto Mining Operations Expand in the U.S.Cryptocurrency mining firms are expanding their operations domestically, attracted by the favorable regulatory environment and potential incentives outlined in recent policy initiatives.

17. Consumer Protection Agencies Advocate for Crypto Awareness. Consumer protection agencies are launching campaigns to raise awareness about the risks associated with cryptocurrency investments, emphasizing the importance of due diligence.

18. State Governments Explore Local Crypto Regulations. In light of federal initiatives, state governments are examining their regulatory frameworks concerning cryptocurrencies to ensure alignment and address local concerns.

19. Academic Institutions Introduce Cryptocurrency Courses. Universities and colleges are adding cryptocurrency and blockchain courses to their curricula, preparing students for careers in the evolving digital asset landscape.

20. Crypto Exchanges Enhance Compliance Measures. Cryptocurrency exchanges are strengthening their compliance protocols in anticipation of forthcoming regulatory recommendations from the Presidential Task Force on Digital Asset Markets.

Top 5 Worldwide Cryptocurrency Headlines:

1. Global Banks Anticipate U.S. Regulatory Changes. International banks are closely monitoring the U.S. regulatory shifts, assessing the potential global impact on cryptocurrency custody services and market participation.

2. European Union Debates Crypto Regulatory Framework. The European Union is engaging in discussions to establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, aiming to balance innovation with consumer protection.

3. Asian Markets React to U.S. Crypto Policy Developments\ Cryptocurrency markets across Asia, including Japan and South Korea, are seeing increased trading activity following the U.S. administration's supportive stance on digital assets. Investors are optimistic about the ripple effects on the global crypto ecosystem.

4. India Announces Plans for Blockchain-Based Voting System\ The Indian government has unveiled plans to pilot a blockchain-based voting system aimed at enhancing election security and transparency. This initiative is part of India's broader efforts to explore blockchain technology in governance.

5. African Nations Embrace Bitcoin for Cross-Border Payments\ Several African countries are increasingly using Bitcoin to facilitate cross-border payments, citing its efficiency and reduced transaction costs. This trend reflects the growing adoption of cryptocurrencies in regions with limited access to traditional financial services.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

| Parameters | Dry Mead | Medium Mead | Sweet Mead | |------------|-----------|-------------|------------| | Honey | 2 lbs (900 grams) | 3 lbs (1.36 kg) | 4 lbs (1.81 kg) | | Yeast | ~0.07 oz (2 grams) | ~0.08 oz (2.5 grams) | ~0.10 oz (3 grams) | | Fermentation | ~4 weeks | 4 to 6 weeks | 6 to 8 weeks | | Racking | Fortnight or later | 1 month or after | ~2 months and after | | Specific Gravity | <1.010 | ~1.01 to ~1.025 | >1.025 |

@ 0b14a03f:3f0257c2

Change doesn’t come from something external. The change comes from within. But people are so disconnected from themselves that they keep trying and trying with tools to connect without realizing that if there is no connection within, there won’t be a healthy and long-term connection outside.

Bitcoin has no name or last name because it’s not important who created it. What’s important is what it was made for. That’s written on its roots, in its essence. And that essence won’t be discovered if we keep trying to set it up in old avatars, systems, protocols, and connections.

Bitcoin is not a tool to get rich and be free. It’s a means to disconnect from a broken environment and find a safe place to pause, to feel, to see what’s really inside of ourselves, and to analyze if the world around us is not a consequence but a reflection of our internal disconnection.

Freedom will be a consequence, not a cause of a better future. We can be the artisans of that future by connecting with ourselves from within, as individuals first, and as a community after.

Community as in Common Identity. We need to find our identity, then share it, nurture it with others, and by doing so, be able to create a better world.

Don’t fall into old traps. After all, this is a journey from the mind to the heart.

Happy arriving!

Hug✨

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

The landscape of cryptocurrency is witnessing a potential paradigm shift with the growing interest of institutional investors in Bitcoin. The excitement surrounding the prospect of a spot Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) is palpable, yet it brings with it a wave of concern. Arthur Hayes, a renowned figure in the cryptocurrency space and the founder of the Maelstrom Fund, stands as a vocal critic of this development. His insights offer a critical perspective on how institutional involvement could fundamentally alter the essence of Bitcoin, potentially steering it away from its founding principles of decentralization and autonomy. This article delves into Hayes' concerns, unraveling the complexities and potential repercussions of institutional custody on the future of Bitcoin.

Table Of Content

• The Rising Concern of Institutional Involvement

• The Scenario of Institutional Custody

• The Essence of Bitcoin at Stake

• Influence on Network Consensus

• Long-Term Implications for Bitcoin

• Conclusion

• FAQs

The Rising Concern of Institutional Involvement

Arthur Hayes' apprehensions about institutional involvement in Bitcoin are rooted in a deep understanding of both the cryptocurrency world and traditional financial systems. The entry of large financial institutions like BlackRock into the Bitcoin space could signify a significant shift in the dynamics of cryptocurrency ownership and control. These institutions, often perceived as extensions of state interests, could bring a level of centralization and control antithetical to Bitcoin's decentralized ethos. The historical relationship between large financial entities and state mechanisms, and their potential influence on Bitcoin, raises critical questions about the future of this cryptocurrency. The impact of this shift on the broader crypto ecosystem, investor behavior, and Bitcoin's perception in the global financial landscape is profound and multifaceted.

The Scenario of Institutional Custody

The future that Hayes envisions, where significant portions of Bitcoin are locked away in institutional ETFs, is a stark departure from the current state of the cryptocurrency. This transformation could relegate Bitcoin from a vibrant, actively traded asset to a passive component of investment portfolios. Such a shift would not only alter Bitcoin's market dynamics but also its fundamental utility. The implications of this change are far-reaching, affecting everything from Bitcoin's liquidity to its role as a tool for financial freedom and empowerment. The prospect of Bitcoin becoming a mere line item in institutional balance sheets is a scenario that challenges the very ideals upon which the cryptocurrency was built.

The Essence of Bitcoin at Stake

The core of Hayes' argument lies in the potential loss of Bitcoin's identity. If Bitcoin becomes predominantly held in institutional ETFs, it risks becoming just another asset in the global financial system, losing its unique characteristics as a decentralized and autonomous currency. This transformation would affect the philosophical and practical aspects of Bitcoin, impacting principles of autonomy, privacy, and decentralization. The shift from a user-driven to an institutionally controlled asset could have profound implications for the future of Bitcoin, potentially undermining the trust and support of its community.

Influence on Network Consensus

Hayes raises a significant concern about the potential influence of institutional holders on Bitcoin's consensus mechanism and development path. The risk of having a large portion of Bitcoin controlled by entities with different priorities than the broader Bitcoin community is real and concerning. This influence could lead to a misalignment between Bitcoin's development and the needs of its user base, especially regarding crucial updates related to security and privacy enhancements. The integrity and future evolution of Bitcoin's technology could be at stake, raising questions about the true independence and resilience of this decentralized network.

Long-Term Implications for Bitcoin

While the short-term effects of institutional investment, such as price appreciation, are clear, the long-term consequences are more nuanced and complex. The potential trade-offs between short-term gains and long-term impacts on Bitcoin's utility and independence are a critical aspect of this discussion. The paradox of Bitcoin's growing acceptance by traditional financial institutions and the possible erosion of its foundational principles is a dilemma that the crypto community must navigate carefully. The future of Bitcoin, in this context, is not just about its price or market capitalization, but about its ability to retain its core values and functionality.

Conclusion

Arthur Hayes' insights provide a crucial perspective on the evolving landscape of Bitcoin in the face of institutional interest. As the cryptocurrency world grapples with these developments, understanding the balance between mainstream acceptance and the preservation of Bitcoin's core values is essential. This article reflects on the potential risks and implications of institutional custody of Bitcoin, offering a comprehensive analysis that underscores the importance of maintaining the decentralized ethos that has defined Bitcoin since its inception.

FAQs

What is the main concern raised by Arthur Hayes about institutional involvement in Bitcoin? Arthur Hayes expresses concern that institutional involvement, particularly through Bitcoin ETFs, could lead to centralization and control by large financial entities, undermining Bitcoin's decentralized ethos.

How could institutional custody of Bitcoin alter its market dynamics? Institutional custody could transform Bitcoin from an actively traded asset to a passive component of investment portfolios, affecting its liquidity and role as a tool for financial freedom.

What implications does institutional control have on Bitcoin's network consensus? Institutional control could influence Bitcoin's consensus mechanism and development path, potentially leading to a misalignment with the needs of the broader Bitcoin community, especially regarding updates related to security and privacy.

Are there long-term implications of institutional investment in Bitcoin? Yes, while institutional investment might boost Bitcoin's price in the short term, it raises concerns about the long-term impact on Bitcoin's utility, independence, and adherence to its foundational principles.

What is the essence of Arthur Hayes' argument against institutional custody of Bitcoin? Hayes argues that institutional custody risks turning Bitcoin into just another financial asset, losing its unique characteristics as a decentralized and autonomous currency.

That's all for today

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

@ 54286b98:3debc100

The gift and the challenge? More time with my kids than most dads get. Days filled with them. It's a blast.

Diapers, potty training, sticky fingers, the easy stuff. Expected. A privilege, really.

But here's what I'm learning: Undivided attention. Presence. That's the hard part. The part that fades.

We walk. Parks, trails, anywhere but inside. They love it. S'mores, impromptu campsites, boats on the horizon, Florida beaches (no walking next to Florida freshwater for this dad, gators!). We read. We play hard. My oldest is discovering the magic of computers.

Mornings with my daughter. Just us. Quiet. Books. Connection. Then her brother wakes, and the day explodes with breakfast, more books, more play.

Knowledge, manners, a little discipline, and a lot of fun. That's the legacy.

But even with all this time, there's still work. Responsibilities. "Papa needs to work." "Papa, don't you want to play with me?" The hardest lesson: balance. Teaching them independence when all they want is connection.

The reminder: Even when life gets crazy, make the moments count. Be there. Truly be there. And trust that when I can't, they'll know it's not about them. It's about the work.

Love them. Cherish them.

Until the next one.

J

___

Feel free to follow me here on nostr or sign up on my website for my blog posts/newsletters, talking about crafting beauty in life, family, entrepreneurship, culture, woodworking & faith.\ https://www.javierfeliu.com/

@ 6b57533f:eaa341f5

Page: cover

background: #000000 template: vertical

Welcome to NoStry

This is the first nostr-story ever posted!

Page: intro

background-image: https://nostr.build/i/nostr.png template: vertical

What is NoStry?

NoStry is a new way to tell stories on nostr, combining the best of social media stories with the decentralized nature of nostr.

Page: end

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Join the Revolution

Learn More

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers!

Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon!

A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

So stay a while and listen.

🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨

🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/863327

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 概要

Request Network - Summer Hackathon 在2024年夏季结束，吸引了144名开发者参与，并审核通过了32个项目。该活动由Request Network举办，着重于利用其兼容EVM的基础设施开发Web3金融应用。在Hackathon期间，参与者有机会参加针对初学者和高级用户量身定制的工作坊。这些工作坊旨在提高开发发票、支付、会计和借贷应用的技能。

激励措施包括总奖金池15,000美元，分为发票、支付、会计和借贷应用等奖项类别。此外，Request Network基金会为提交至其资助计划的项目提供额外35,000美元。评审标准强调实用性、易用性、技术复杂性和创新性。

参与者可以访问丰富的资源，如视频教程、GitHub代码库，还可以通过专用的Discord热线获得支持。Hackathon强调了积极参与，促进了旨在提升区块链交易能力的应用程序的创建。2024年7月8日，获奖项目公布，展示了参与者的创造力和技术专长。

Hackathon 获奖者

Invoicing Prize Winners

• ChainPay - 该项目通过与QuickBooks集成，将Request Network的功能扩展至Web3支付组件。它解决了Sepolia Testnet上的智能合约调用问题，目标是提供全面的解决方案。
• PiperPay - 一个支持多种货币和代币的发票和支付管理系统。它通过智能合约代理和代币交换遵循Request Network标准。
• Wavein - 该项目通过Request Network和Superfluid为自由职业者提供实时支付，提供带转换功能的流线型支付流。

Accounting Prize Winner

• request-accounting - 基于区块链的会计应用程序，确保安全交易，同时集成与行业标准一致的高效财务管理。

Lending Prize Winners

• Invoice Lending (Factoring) - 该项目通过将发票铸造成NFT提供流动性，允许在Request Network上进行点对点发票融资。
• Invisy Network - 一个去中心化发票平台，利用NFT提升效率和透明度，提供实时发票流动性的市场。

欲了解完整项目列表，请访问 DoraHacks Request Network Summer Hackathon。

关于主办方

Request Network

Request Network是一个兼容EVM的基础协议，致力于推动包括发票、支付和会计在内的Web3金融应用的发展。通过向区块链交易附加额外数据，网络确保合规、对账和可追溯性。这使用户能够维护其财务数据的所有权，促进灵活的转移和选择性共享。关键举措包括支持未抵押贷款和增强区块链交易流程。Request Network致力于促进一个包容的金融未来，通过优化服务来实现数据所有权和金融操作的自动化。

@ ed84ce10:cccf4c2a

Hackathon Summary

The Request Network - Summer Hackathon concluded with 144 developers participating and 32 project submissions approved. Hosted by Request Network, the event focused on developing Web3 financial applications utilizing its EVM-compatible infrastructure. Throughout the hackathon, participants had the opportunity to attend workshops tailored to both beginner and advanced users. These workshops aimed to enhance skills in developing applications for invoicing, payments, accounting, and lending.

Incentives included a total prize pool of $15,000, divided into categories such as invoicing, payments, accounting, and lending applications. Additionally, the Request Network Foundation provided an extra $35,000 for projects submitted to their grants program. The judging criteria emphasized utility, ease of use, technical sophistication, and innovation.

Participants were given access to extensive resources such as video tutorials, GitHub repositories, and support through a dedicated Discord helpline. The hackathon highlighted active engagement, promoting the creation of applications intended to improve blockchain transaction capabilities. On July 8, 2024, the winning projects were announced, showcasing the creativity and technical expertise of the participants.

Hackathon Winners

Invoicing Prize Winners

• ChainPay - This project expands Request Network's capabilities into Web3 payment components by integrating with QuickBooks. It addresses smart contract call issues on the Sepolia Testnet and aims for comprehensive solutions.
• PiperPay - An invoice and payment management system that supports various currencies and tokens. It follows Request Network standards using smart contract proxies and token swaps.
• Wavein - This project facilitates real-time payments for freelancers through Request Network and Superfluid, offering streamlined payment streams with conversion features.

Accounting Prize Winner

• request-accounting - A blockchain-based accounting application that ensures secure transactions while integrating efficient financial management aligned with industry standards.

Lending Prize Winners

• Invoice Lending (Factoring) - This project provides liquidity by minting invoices as NFTs, enabling peer-to-peer invoice financing on the Request Network.
• Invisy Network - A decentralized invoice platform leveraging NFTs to enhance efficiency and transparency, offering a marketplace for real-time invoice liquidity.

For a complete list of projects, visit DoraHacks Request Network Summer Hackathon.

About the Organizer

Request Network

Request Network is an EVM-compatible infrastructure protocol dedicated to advancing Web3 financial applications, including invoicing, payments, and accounting. By appending extra data to blockchain transactions, the network ensures compliance, reconciliation, and traceability. This empowers users to maintain ownership of their financial data, facilitating flexible transfers and selective sharing. Key initiatives include supporting under-collateralized loans and enhancing blockchain transaction processes. Request Network is committed to fostering an inclusive financial future by streamlining services to enable data ownership and automation in financial operations.

@ 6be5cc06:5259daf0

Bitcoin: Um sistema de dinheiro eletrônico direto entre pessoas.

Satoshi Nakamoto
satoshin@gmx.com
www.bitcoin.org

---

Resumo

O Bitcoin é uma forma de dinheiro digital que permite pagamentos diretos entre pessoas, sem a necessidade de um banco ou instituição financeira. Ele resolve um problema chamado gasto duplo, que ocorre quando alguém tenta gastar o mesmo dinheiro duas vezes. Para evitar isso, o Bitcoin usa uma rede descentralizada onde todos trabalham juntos para verificar e registrar as transações.

As transações são registradas em um livro público chamado blockchain, protegido por uma técnica chamada Prova de Trabalho. Essa técnica cria uma cadeia de registros que não pode ser alterada sem refazer todo o trabalho já feito. Essa cadeia é mantida pelos computadores que participam da rede, e a mais longa é considerada a verdadeira.

Enquanto a maior parte do poder computacional da rede for controlada por participantes honestos, o sistema continuará funcionando de forma segura. A rede é flexível, permitindo que qualquer pessoa entre ou saia a qualquer momento, sempre confiando na cadeia mais longa como prova do que aconteceu.

---

1. Introdução

Hoje, quase todos os pagamentos feitos pela internet dependem de bancos ou empresas como processadores de pagamento (cartões de crédito, por exemplo) para funcionar. Embora esse sistema seja útil, ele tem problemas importantes porque é baseado em confiança.

Primeiro, essas empresas podem reverter pagamentos, o que é útil em caso de erros, mas cria custos e incertezas. Isso faz com que pequenas transações, como pagar centavos por um serviço, se tornem inviáveis. Além disso, os comerciantes são obrigados a desconfiar dos clientes, pedindo informações extras e aceitando fraudes como algo inevitável.

Esses problemas não existem no dinheiro físico, como o papel-moeda, onde o pagamento é final e direto entre as partes. No entanto, não temos como enviar dinheiro físico pela internet sem depender de um intermediário confiável.

O que precisamos é de um sistema de pagamento eletrônico baseado em provas matemáticas, não em confiança. Esse sistema permitiria que qualquer pessoa enviasse dinheiro diretamente para outra, sem depender de bancos ou processadores de pagamento. Além disso, as transações seriam irreversíveis, protegendo vendedores contra fraudes, mas mantendo a possibilidade de soluções para disputas legítimas.

Neste documento, apresentamos o Bitcoin, que resolve o problema do gasto duplo usando uma rede descentralizada. Essa rede cria um registro público e protegido por cálculos matemáticos, que garante a ordem das transações. Enquanto a maior parte da rede for controlada por pessoas honestas, o sistema será seguro contra ataques.

---

2. Transações

Para entender como funciona o Bitcoin, é importante saber como as transações são realizadas. Imagine que você quer transferir uma "moeda digital" para outra pessoa. No sistema do Bitcoin, essa "moeda" é representada por uma sequência de registros que mostram quem é o atual dono. Para transferi-la, você adiciona um novo registro comprovando que agora ela pertence ao próximo dono. Esse registro é protegido por um tipo especial de assinatura digital.

O que é uma assinatura digital?

Uma assinatura digital é como uma senha secreta, mas muito mais segura. No Bitcoin, cada usuário tem duas chaves: uma "chave privada", que é secreta e serve para criar a assinatura, e uma "chave pública", que pode ser compartilhada com todos e é usada para verificar se a assinatura é válida. Quando você transfere uma moeda, usa sua chave privada para assinar a transação, provando que você é o dono. A próxima pessoa pode usar sua chave pública para confirmar isso.

Como funciona na prática?

Cada "moeda" no Bitcoin é, na verdade, uma cadeia de assinaturas digitais. Vamos imaginar o seguinte cenário:

1. A moeda está com o Dono 0 (você). Para transferi-la ao Dono 1, você assina digitalmente a transação com sua chave privada. Essa assinatura inclui o código da transação anterior (chamado de "hash") e a chave pública do Dono 1.
2. Quando o Dono 1 quiser transferir a moeda ao Dono 2, ele assinará a transação seguinte com sua própria chave privada, incluindo também o hash da transação anterior e a chave pública do Dono 2.
3. Esse processo continua, formando uma "cadeia" de transações. Qualquer pessoa pode verificar essa cadeia para confirmar quem é o atual dono da moeda.

Resolvendo o problema do gasto duplo

Um grande desafio com moedas digitais é o "gasto duplo", que é quando uma mesma moeda é usada em mais de uma transação. Para evitar isso, muitos sistemas antigos dependiam de uma entidade central confiável, como uma casa da moeda, que verificava todas as transações. No entanto, isso criava um ponto único de falha e centralizava o controle do dinheiro.

O Bitcoin resolve esse problema de forma inovadora: ele usa uma rede descentralizada onde todos os participantes (os "nós") têm acesso a um registro completo de todas as transações. Cada nó verifica se as transações são válidas e se a moeda não foi gasta duas vezes. Quando a maioria dos nós concorda com a validade de uma transação, ela é registrada permanentemente na blockchain.

Por que isso é importante?

Essa solução elimina a necessidade de confiar em uma única entidade para gerenciar o dinheiro, permitindo que qualquer pessoa no mundo use o Bitcoin sem precisar de permissão de terceiros. Além disso, ela garante que o sistema seja seguro e resistente a fraudes.

---

3. Servidor Timestamp

Para assegurar que as transações sejam realizadas de forma segura e transparente, o sistema Bitcoin utiliza algo chamado de "servidor de registro de tempo" (timestamp). Esse servidor funciona como um registro público que organiza as transações em uma ordem específica.

Ele faz isso agrupando várias transações em blocos e criando um código único chamado "hash". Esse hash é como uma impressão digital que representa todo o conteúdo do bloco. O hash de cada bloco é amplamente divulgado, como se fosse publicado em um jornal ou em um fórum público.

Esse processo garante que cada bloco de transações tenha um registro de quando foi criado e que ele existia naquele momento. Além disso, cada novo bloco criado contém o hash do bloco anterior, formando uma cadeia contínua de blocos conectados — conhecida como blockchain.

Com isso, se alguém tentar alterar qualquer informação em um bloco anterior, o hash desse bloco mudará e não corresponderá ao hash armazenado no bloco seguinte. Essa característica torna a cadeia muito segura, pois qualquer tentativa de fraude seria imediatamente detectada.

O sistema de timestamps é essencial para provar a ordem cronológica das transações e garantir que cada uma delas seja única e autêntica. Dessa forma, ele reforça a segurança e a confiança na rede Bitcoin.

---

4. Prova-de-Trabalho

Para implementar o registro de tempo distribuído no sistema Bitcoin, utilizamos um mecanismo chamado prova-de-trabalho. Esse sistema é semelhante ao Hashcash, desenvolvido por Adam Back, e baseia-se na criação de um código único, o "hash", por meio de um processo computacionalmente exigente.

A prova-de-trabalho envolve encontrar um valor especial que, quando processado junto com as informações do bloco, gere um hash que comece com uma quantidade específica de zeros. Esse valor especial é chamado de "nonce". Encontrar o nonce correto exige um esforço significativo do computador, porque envolve tentativas repetidas até que a condição seja satisfeita.

Esse processo é importante porque torna extremamente difícil alterar qualquer informação registrada em um bloco. Se alguém tentar mudar algo em um bloco, seria necessário refazer o trabalho de computação não apenas para aquele bloco, mas também para todos os blocos que vêm depois dele. Isso garante a segurança e a imutabilidade da blockchain.

A prova-de-trabalho também resolve o problema de decidir qual cadeia de blocos é a válida quando há múltiplas cadeias competindo. A decisão é feita pela cadeia mais longa, pois ela representa o maior esforço computacional já realizado. Isso impede que qualquer indivíduo ou grupo controle a rede, desde que a maioria do poder de processamento seja mantida por participantes honestos.

Para garantir que o sistema permaneça eficiente e equilibrado, a dificuldade da prova-de-trabalho é ajustada automaticamente ao longo do tempo. Se novos blocos estiverem sendo gerados rapidamente, a dificuldade aumenta; se estiverem sendo gerados muito lentamente, a dificuldade diminui. Esse ajuste assegura que novos blocos sejam criados aproximadamente a cada 10 minutos, mantendo o sistema estável e funcional.

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5. Rede

A rede Bitcoin é o coração do sistema e funciona de maneira distribuída, conectando vários participantes (ou nós) para garantir o registro e a validação das transações. Os passos para operar essa rede são:

1. Transmissão de Transações: Quando alguém realiza uma nova transação, ela é enviada para todos os nós da rede. Isso é feito para garantir que todos estejam cientes da operação e possam validá-la.

2. Coleta de Transações em Blocos: Cada nó agrupa as novas transações recebidas em um "bloco". Este bloco será preparado para ser adicionado à cadeia de blocos (a blockchain).

3. Prova-de-Trabalho: Os nós competem para resolver a prova-de-trabalho do bloco, utilizando poder computacional para encontrar um hash válido. Esse processo é como resolver um quebra-cabeça matemático difícil.

4. Envio do Bloco Resolvido: Quando um nó encontra a solução para o bloco (a prova-de-trabalho), ele compartilha esse bloco com todos os outros nós na rede.

5. Validação do Bloco: Cada nó verifica o bloco recebido para garantir que todas as transações nele contidas sejam válidas e que nenhuma moeda tenha sido gasta duas vezes. Apenas blocos válidos são aceitos.

6. Construção do Próximo Bloco: Os nós que aceitaram o bloco começam a trabalhar na criação do próximo bloco, utilizando o hash do bloco aceito como base (hash anterior). Isso mantém a continuidade da cadeia.

Resolução de Conflitos e Escolha da Cadeia Mais Longa

Os nós sempre priorizam a cadeia mais longa, pois ela representa o maior esforço computacional já realizado, garantindo maior segurança. Se dois blocos diferentes forem compartilhados simultaneamente, os nós trabalharão no primeiro bloco recebido, mas guardarão o outro como uma alternativa. Caso o segundo bloco eventualmente forme uma cadeia mais longa (ou seja, tenha mais blocos subsequentes), os nós mudarão para essa nova cadeia.

Tolerância a Falhas

A rede é robusta e pode lidar com mensagens que não chegam a todos os nós. Uma transação não precisa alcançar todos os nós de imediato; basta que chegue a um número suficiente deles para ser incluída em um bloco. Da mesma forma, se um nó não receber um bloco em tempo hábil, ele pode solicitá-lo ao perceber que está faltando quando o próximo bloco é recebido.

Esse mecanismo descentralizado permite que a rede Bitcoin funcione de maneira segura, confiável e resiliente, sem depender de uma autoridade central.

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6. Incentivo

O incentivo é um dos pilares fundamentais que sustenta o funcionamento da rede Bitcoin, garantindo que os participantes (nós) continuem operando de forma honesta e contribuindo com recursos computacionais. Ele é estruturado em duas partes principais: a recompensa por mineração e as taxas de transação.

Recompensa por Mineração

Por convenção, o primeiro registro em cada bloco é uma transação especial que cria novas moedas e as atribui ao criador do bloco. Essa recompensa incentiva os mineradores a dedicarem poder computacional para apoiar a rede. Como não há uma autoridade central para emitir moedas, essa é a maneira pela qual novas moedas entram em circulação. Esse processo pode ser comparado ao trabalho de garimpeiros, que utilizam recursos para colocar mais ouro em circulação. No caso do Bitcoin, o "recurso" consiste no tempo de CPU e na energia elétrica consumida para resolver a prova-de-trabalho.

Taxas de Transação

Além da recompensa por mineração, os mineradores também podem ser incentivados pelas taxas de transação. Se uma transação utiliza menos valor de saída do que o valor de entrada, a diferença é tratada como uma taxa, que é adicionada à recompensa do bloco contendo essa transação. Com o passar do tempo e à medida que o número de moedas em circulação atinge o limite predeterminado, essas taxas de transação se tornam a principal fonte de incentivo, substituindo gradualmente a emissão de novas moedas. Isso permite que o sistema opere sem inflação, uma vez que o número total de moedas permanece fixo.

Incentivo à Honestidade

O design do incentivo também busca garantir que os participantes da rede mantenham um comportamento honesto. Para um atacante que consiga reunir mais poder computacional do que o restante da rede, ele enfrentaria duas escolhas:

1. Usar esse poder para fraudar o sistema, como reverter transações e roubar pagamentos.
2. Seguir as regras do sistema, criando novos blocos e recebendo recompensas legítimas.

A lógica econômica favorece a segunda opção, pois um comportamento desonesto prejudicaria a confiança no sistema, diminuindo o valor de todas as moedas, incluindo aquelas que o próprio atacante possui. Jogar dentro das regras não apenas maximiza o retorno financeiro, mas também preserva a validade e a integridade do sistema.

Esse mecanismo garante que os incentivos econômicos estejam alinhados com o objetivo de manter a rede segura, descentralizada e funcional ao longo do tempo.

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7. Recuperação do Espaço em Disco

Depois que uma moeda passa a estar protegida por muitos blocos na cadeia, as informações sobre as transações antigas que a geraram podem ser descartadas para economizar espaço em disco. Para que isso seja possível sem comprometer a segurança, as transações são organizadas em uma estrutura chamada "árvore de Merkle". Essa árvore funciona como um resumo das transações: em vez de armazenar todas elas, guarda apenas um "hash raiz", que é como uma assinatura compacta que representa todo o grupo de transações.

Os blocos antigos podem, então, ser simplificados, removendo as partes desnecessárias dessa árvore. Apenas a raiz do hash precisa ser mantida no cabeçalho do bloco, garantindo que a integridade dos dados seja preservada, mesmo que detalhes específicos sejam descartados.

Para exemplificar: imagine que você tenha vários recibos de compra. Em vez de guardar todos os recibos, você cria um documento e lista apenas o valor total de cada um. Mesmo que os recibos originais sejam descartados, ainda é possível verificar a soma com base nos valores armazenados.

Além disso, o espaço ocupado pelos blocos em si é muito pequeno. Cada bloco sem transações ocupa apenas cerca de 80 bytes. Isso significa que, mesmo com blocos sendo gerados a cada 10 minutos, o crescimento anual em espaço necessário é insignificante: apenas 4,2 MB por ano. Com a capacidade de armazenamento dos computadores crescendo a cada ano, esse espaço continuará sendo trivial, garantindo que a rede possa operar de forma eficiente sem problemas de armazenamento, mesmo a longo prazo.

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8. Verificação de Pagamento Simplificada

É possível confirmar pagamentos sem a necessidade de operar um nó completo da rede. Para isso, o usuário precisa apenas de uma cópia dos cabeçalhos dos blocos da cadeia mais longa (ou seja, a cadeia com maior esforço de trabalho acumulado). Ele pode verificar a validade de uma transação ao consultar os nós da rede até obter a confirmação de que tem a cadeia mais longa. Para isso, utiliza-se o ramo Merkle, que conecta a transação ao bloco em que ela foi registrada.

Entretanto, o método simplificado possui limitações: ele não pode confirmar uma transação isoladamente, mas sim assegurar que ela ocupa um lugar específico na cadeia mais longa. Dessa forma, se um nó da rede aprova a transação, os blocos subsequentes reforçam essa aceitação.

A verificação simplificada é confiável enquanto a maioria dos nós da rede for honesta. Contudo, ela se torna vulnerável caso a rede seja dominada por um invasor. Nesse cenário, um atacante poderia fabricar transações fraudulentas que enganariam o usuário temporariamente até que o invasor obtivesse controle completo da rede.

Uma estratégia para mitigar esse risco é configurar alertas nos softwares de nós completos. Esses alertas identificam blocos inválidos, sugerindo ao usuário baixar o bloco completo para confirmar qualquer inconsistência. Para maior segurança, empresas que realizam pagamentos frequentes podem preferir operar seus próprios nós, reduzindo riscos e permitindo uma verificação mais direta e confiável.

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9. Combinando e Dividindo Valor

No sistema Bitcoin, cada unidade de valor é tratada como uma "moeda" individual, mas gerenciar cada centavo como uma transação separada seria impraticável. Para resolver isso, o Bitcoin permite que valores sejam combinados ou divididos em transações, facilitando pagamentos de qualquer valor.

Entradas e Saídas

Cada transação no Bitcoin é composta por:

• Entradas: Representam os valores recebidos em transações anteriores.
• Saídas: Correspondem aos valores enviados, divididos entre os destinatários e, eventualmente, o troco para o remetente.

Normalmente, uma transação contém:

• Uma única entrada com valor suficiente para cobrir o pagamento.
• Ou várias entradas combinadas para atingir o valor necessário.

O valor total das saídas nunca excede o das entradas, e a diferença (se houver) pode ser retornada ao remetente como troco.

Exemplo Prático

Imagine que você tem duas entradas:

1. 0,03 BTC
2. 0,07 BTC

Se deseja enviar 0,08 BTC para alguém, a transação terá:

• Entrada: As duas entradas combinadas (0,03 + 0,07 BTC = 0,10 BTC).
• Saídas: Uma para o destinatário (0,08 BTC) e outra como troco para você (0,02 BTC).

Essa flexibilidade permite que o sistema funcione sem precisar manipular cada unidade mínima individualmente.

Difusão e Simplificação

A difusão de transações, onde uma depende de várias anteriores e assim por diante, não representa um problema. Não é necessário armazenar ou verificar o histórico completo de uma transação para utilizá-la, já que o registro na blockchain garante sua integridade.

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10. Privacidade

O modelo bancário tradicional oferece um certo nível de privacidade, limitando o acesso às informações financeiras apenas às partes envolvidas e a um terceiro confiável (como bancos ou instituições financeiras). No entanto, o Bitcoin opera de forma diferente, pois todas as transações são publicamente registradas na blockchain. Apesar disso, a privacidade pode ser mantida utilizando chaves públicas anônimas, que desvinculam diretamente as transações das identidades das partes envolvidas.

Fluxo de Informação

• No modelo tradicional, as transações passam por um terceiro confiável que conhece tanto o remetente quanto o destinatário.
• No Bitcoin, as transações são anunciadas publicamente, mas sem revelar diretamente as identidades das partes. Isso é comparável a dados divulgados por bolsas de valores, onde informações como o tempo e o tamanho das negociações (a "fita") são públicas, mas as identidades das partes não.

Protegendo a Privacidade

Para aumentar a privacidade no Bitcoin, são adotadas as seguintes práticas:

1. Chaves Públicas Anônimas: Cada transação utiliza um par de chaves diferentes, dificultando a associação com um proprietário único.
2. Prevenção de Ligação: Ao usar chaves novas para cada transação, reduz-se a possibilidade de links evidentes entre múltiplas transações realizadas pelo mesmo usuário.

Riscos de Ligação

Embora a privacidade seja fortalecida, alguns riscos permanecem:

• Transações multi-entrada podem revelar que todas as entradas pertencem ao mesmo proprietário, caso sejam necessárias para somar o valor total.
• O proprietário da chave pode ser identificado indiretamente por transações anteriores que estejam conectadas.

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11. Cálculos

Imagine que temos um sistema onde as pessoas (ou computadores) competem para adicionar informações novas (blocos) a um grande registro público (a cadeia de blocos ou blockchain). Este registro é como um livro contábil compartilhado, onde todos podem verificar o que está escrito.

Agora, vamos pensar em um cenário: um atacante quer enganar o sistema. Ele quer mudar informações já registradas para beneficiar a si mesmo, por exemplo, desfazendo um pagamento que já fez. Para isso, ele precisa criar uma versão alternativa do livro contábil (a cadeia de blocos dele) e convencer todos os outros participantes de que essa versão é a verdadeira.

Mas isso é extremamente difícil.

Como o Ataque Funciona

Quando um novo bloco é adicionado à cadeia, ele depende de cálculos complexos que levam tempo e esforço. Esses cálculos são como um grande quebra-cabeça que precisa ser resolvido.

• Os “bons jogadores” (nós honestos) estão sempre trabalhando juntos para resolver esses quebra-cabeças e adicionar novos blocos à cadeia verdadeira.
• O atacante, por outro lado, precisa resolver quebra-cabeças sozinho, tentando “alcançar” a cadeia honesta para que sua versão alternativa pareça válida.

Se a cadeia honesta já está vários blocos à frente, o atacante começa em desvantagem, e o sistema está projetado para que a dificuldade de alcançá-los aumente rapidamente.

A Corrida Entre Cadeias

Você pode imaginar isso como uma corrida. A cada bloco novo que os jogadores honestos adicionam à cadeia verdadeira, eles se distanciam mais do atacante. Para vencer, o atacante teria que resolver os quebra-cabeças mais rápido que todos os outros jogadores honestos juntos.

Suponha que:

• A rede honesta tem 80% do poder computacional (ou seja, resolve 8 de cada 10 quebra-cabeças).
• O atacante tem 20% do poder computacional (ou seja, resolve 2 de cada 10 quebra-cabeças).

Cada vez que a rede honesta adiciona um bloco, o atacante tem que "correr atrás" e resolver mais quebra-cabeças para alcançar.

Por Que o Ataque Fica Cada Vez Mais Improvável?

Vamos usar uma fórmula simples para mostrar como as chances de sucesso do atacante diminuem conforme ele precisa "alcançar" mais blocos:

P = (q/p)^z

• q é o poder computacional do atacante (20%, ou 0,2).
• p é o poder computacional da rede honesta (80%, ou 0,8).
• z é a diferença de blocos entre a cadeia honesta e a cadeia do atacante.

Se o atacante está 5 blocos atrás (z = 5):

P = (0,2 / 0,8)^5 = (0,25)^5 = 0,00098, (ou, 0,098%)

Isso significa que o atacante tem menos de 0,1% de chance de sucesso — ou seja, é muito improvável.

Se ele estiver 10 blocos atrás (z = 10):

P = (0,2 / 0,8)^10 = (0,25)^10 = 0,000000095, (ou, 0,0000095%).

Neste caso, as chances de sucesso são praticamente nulas.

Um Exemplo Simples

Se você jogar uma moeda, a chance de cair “cara” é de 50%. Mas se precisar de 10 caras seguidas, sua chance já é bem menor. Se precisar de 20 caras seguidas, é quase impossível.

No caso do Bitcoin, o atacante precisa de muito mais do que 20 caras seguidas. Ele precisa resolver quebra-cabeças extremamente difíceis e alcançar os jogadores honestos que estão sempre à frente. Isso faz com que o ataque seja inviável na prática.

Por Que Tudo Isso é Seguro?

• A probabilidade de sucesso do atacante diminui exponencialmente. Isso significa que, quanto mais tempo passa, menor é a chance de ele conseguir enganar o sistema.
• A cadeia verdadeira (honesta) está protegida pela força da rede. Cada novo bloco que os jogadores honestos adicionam à cadeia torna mais difícil para o atacante alcançar.

E Se o Atacante Tentar Continuar?

O atacante poderia continuar tentando indefinidamente, mas ele estaria gastando muito tempo e energia sem conseguir nada. Enquanto isso, os jogadores honestos estão sempre adicionando novos blocos, tornando o trabalho do atacante ainda mais inútil.

Assim, o sistema garante que a cadeia verdadeira seja extremamente segura e que ataques sejam, na prática, impossíveis de ter sucesso.

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12. Conclusão

Propusemos um sistema de transações eletrônicas que elimina a necessidade de confiança, baseando-se em assinaturas digitais e em uma rede peer-to-peer que utiliza prova de trabalho. Isso resolve o problema do gasto duplo, criando um histórico público de transações imutável, desde que a maioria do poder computacional permaneça sob controle dos participantes honestos. A rede funciona de forma simples e descentralizada, com nós independentes que não precisam de identificação ou coordenação direta. Eles entram e saem livremente, aceitando a cadeia de prova de trabalho como registro do que ocorreu durante sua ausência. As decisões são tomadas por meio do poder de CPU, validando blocos legítimos, estendendo a cadeia e rejeitando os inválidos. Com este mecanismo de consenso, todas as regras e incentivos necessários para o funcionamento seguro e eficiente do sistema são garantidos.

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Faça o download do whitepaper original em português: https://bitcoin.org/files/bitcoin-paper/bitcoin_pt_br.pdf

@ 3f770d65:7a745b24

The recent shutdown of TikTok in the United States due to a potential government ban serves as a stark reminder how fragile centralized platforms truly are under the surface. While these platforms offer convenience, a more polished user experience, and connectivity, they are ultimately beholden to governments, corporations, and other authorities. This makes them vulnerable to censorship, regulation, and outright bans. In contrast, Nostr represents a shift in how we approach online communication and content sharing. Built on the principles of decentralization and user choice, Nostr cannot be banned, because it is not a platform—it is a protocol.

PROTOCOLS, NOT PLATFORMS.

At the heart of Nostr's philosophy is user choice, a feature that fundamentally sets it apart from legacy platforms. In centralized systems, the user experience is dictated by a single person or governing entity. If the platform decides to filter, censor, or ban specific users or content, individuals are left with little action to rectify the situation. They must either accept the changes or abandon the platform entirely, often at the cost of losing their social connections, their data, and their identity.

What's happening with TikTok could never happen on Nostr. With Nostr, the dynamics are completely different. Because it is a protocol, not a platform, no single entity controls the ecosystem. Instead, the protocol enables a network of applications and relays that users can freely choose from. If a particular application or relay implements policies that a user disagrees with, such as censorship, filtering, or even government enforced banning, they are not trapped or abandoned. They have the freedom to move to another application or relay with minimal effort.

THIS IS POWERFUL.

Take, for example, the case of a relay that decides to censor specific content. On a legacy platform, this would result in frustration and a loss of access for users. On Nostr, however, users can simply connect to a different relay that does not impose such restrictions. Similarly, if an application introduces features or policies that users dislike, they can migrate to a different application that better suits their preferences, all while retaining their identity and social connections.

The same principles apply to government bans and censorship. A government can ban a specific application or even multiple applications, just as it can block one relay or several relays. China has implemented both tactics, yet Chinese users continue to exist and actively participate on Nostr, demonstrating Nostr's ability to resistant censorship.

How? Simply, it turns into a game of whack-a-mole. When one relay is censored, another quickly takes its place. When one application is banned, another emerges. Users can also bypass these obstacles by running their own relays and applications directly from their homes or personal devices, eliminating reliance on larger entities or organizations and ensuring continuous access.

AGAIN, THIS IS POWERUFL.

Nostr's open and decentralized design makes it resistant to the kinds of government intervention that led to TikTok's outages this weekend and potential future ban in the next 90 days. There is no central server to target, no company to regulate, and no single point of failure. (Insert your CEO jokes here). As long as there are individuals running relays and applications, users continue creating notes and sending zaps.

Platforms like TikTok can be silenced with the stroke of a pen, leaving millions of users disconnected and abandoned. Social communication should not be silenced so incredibly easily. No one should have that much power over social interactions.

Will we on-board a massive wave of TikTokers in the coming hours or days? I don't know.

TikTokers may not be ready for Nostr yet, and honestly, Nostr may not be ready for them either. The ecosystem still lacks the completely polished applications, tools, and services they’re accustomed to. This is where we say "we're still early". They may not be early adopters like the current Nostr user base. Until we bridge that gap, they’ll likely move to the next centralized platform, only to face another government ban or round of censorship in the future. But eventually, there will come a tipping point, a moment when they’ve had enough. When that time comes, I hope we’re prepared. If we’re not, we risk missing a tremendous opportunity to onboard people who genuinely need Nostr’s freedom.

Until then, to all of the Nostr developers out there, keep up the great work and keep building. Your hard work and determination is needed.

@ 16d11430:61640947

In Australia, a country where the Union Jack flies as a silent yet potent reminder of its colonial origins, the lives of non-violent, non-agitating individuals remain deeply entangled in a system built on inequality. Beneath the surface of modern democratic institutions and peaceful imagery lies a historical and ongoing strategy to maintain systemic dominance, often underpinned by the latent threat of violence.

For those who do not agitate, who simply wish to exist in peace, the daily experience can be one of quiet oppression. The colonial legacy ensures that fairness and justice are privileges reserved for a select ingroup—those who align with the dominant cultural narrative. Meanwhile, others find themselves trapped in a system designed to perpetuate inequality, all while cloaked in the language of ethics, science, and progress.

The Mask of Fairness

Australia’s institutions present themselves as bastions of fairness, meritocracy, and equality. Yet, these ideals are often undermined by the foundational violence that protects and privileges the dominant cultural group. This violence need not always be explicit—it exists in the form of legal frameworks, economic systems, and cultural narratives that favor the descendants of the colonial ingroup while marginalizing others.

For Indigenous Australians, immigrants, and those outside the dominant culture, the system does not just fail to deliver fairness—it actively maintains their disadvantage. The history of dispossession, forced assimilation, and cultural erasure is not simply a relic of the past. It continues to inform how resources, opportunities, and power are distributed today.

Privilege and Forgiveness

One of the most insidious aspects of this system is the privilege afforded to the ingroup. Actions that would be condemned or punished when carried out by marginalized groups are often forgiven, excused, or even celebrated when done by those within the dominant cultural framework. This double standard perpetuates a sense of impunity among the ingroup, while reinforcing the notion that fairness is conditional and selectively applied.

For example, protests or acts of civil disobedience by marginalized groups are often met with harsh policing and public condemnation. Meanwhile, similar actions by those in the dominant culture—especially when framed as defending “traditional values” or “national identity”—are met with leniency, if not outright support.

The Union Jack as a Symbol of Violence

The Union Jack, emblazoned on Australia’s flag, serves as a subtle yet powerful symbol of this systemic violence. It is a constant reminder of the country’s colonial roots, a time when land was taken by force, and Indigenous peoples were systematically oppressed. Today, while the overt violence of colonization has shifted into the background, its legacy persists in the structural inequalities that shape everyday life.

For many Australians, the flag represents pride and progress. For others, it is a symbol of dispossession and exclusion. This dual meaning highlights the deep divisions in how fairness and justice are experienced, depending on one’s place within the colonial hierarchy.

The Control of Peaceful Imaginations

Non-violent individuals often turn to ideals of peace, ethics, and community as a way to navigate the unfairness of the system. However, the colonial strategy has long been to co-opt these imaginations, redirecting them to serve the interests of the dominant group.

For example, the rhetoric of multiculturalism and reconciliation is frequently used to promote the idea that Australia has moved beyond its colonial past. Yet, these efforts often fall short of addressing the structural inequalities that continue to disadvantage marginalized groups. Instead, they serve as a way to maintain the status quo, offering symbolic gestures rather than substantive change.

Unfairness as a Daily Reality

For non-violent, non-agitating individuals, the daily reality of unfairness can manifest in countless ways:

Economic Disparity: Wages, employment opportunities, and wealth distribution continue to favor the dominant cultural group.

Cultural Erasure: Indigenous languages, traditions, and histories are often sidelined in favor of a Eurocentric narrative.

Policing and Justice: Marginalized groups are disproportionately targeted by law enforcement and are less likely to receive fair treatment in the justice system.

While these injustices may not always involve direct violence, the threat of coercion and enforcement looms large. The institutions that govern daily life are protected not by a commitment to fairness, but by the implicit and explicit threat of violence to those who challenge the system.

A Call for Change

Addressing this systemic unfairness requires more than symbolic gestures or surface-level reforms. It demands a reckoning with the colonial legacy and a commitment to dismantling the structures that perpetuate inequality. For true fairness to be realized, Australia must confront the uncomfortable truths about its past and present, moving beyond the veneer of peaceful coexistence to create a society built on genuine equity and justice.

Until then, the Union Jack will remain not just a symbol of the past, but a reminder of the ongoing struggles faced by those who dare to imagine a fairer world.

@ ae6ce958:d0f02c7d

In the age of precision technology, photonic measurement systems like LiDAR play a critical role in transformative industries such as autonomous vehicles, medical imaging, and telecommunications. These systems rely on the precise behavior of sensors and software to ensure accuracy and reliability in complex, real-world environments. DamageBDD, with its innovative approach to Behavior-Driven Development (BDD), provides a platform for enabling a large number of people to participate in defining, testing, and refining the behavior of such systems.

By democratizing the process of behavior definition, DamageBDD unlocks new possibilities for collaboration and innovation. This article explores how DamageBDD can be applied to photonic measurement systems, demonstrating its potential to involve diverse stakeholders and enhance the quality of these technologies.

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Why Involve Large Numbers of People in Defining Behavior?

1. Diverse Perspectives: A wide range of participants, including developers, domain experts, end-users, and testers, brings diverse perspectives to defining system behavior. For example:

A developer might focus on system performance.

A medical professional might prioritize safety in imaging technologies.

An end-user might emphasize usability and intuitive interfaces.

1. Real-World Scenarios: Large-scale participation ensures that real-world scenarios are thoroughly explored and represented. For instance, in autonomous vehicles, scenarios such as heavy rain, fog, or crowded urban streets can be identified and tested by people from various geographies and climates.

2. Collective Intelligence: Crowdsourcing behavior definitions can leverage collective intelligence to anticipate edge cases and improve system robustness.

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DamageBDD in Photonic Measurement Systems

DamageBDD’s unique ability to verify behavior at scale makes it an ideal platform for optimizing photonic measurement systems like LiDAR. Here’s how DamageBDD can be applied:

1. Defining Behavior Using Real-World Scenarios

DamageBDD allows participants to write clear, human-readable scenarios that define expected behavior for photonic measurement systems. These scenarios are stored immutably on-chain, ensuring traceability and accountability.

Example:

Feature: LiDAR distance measurement Scenario: Accurate measurement in clear weather Given a reflective object is placed 10 meters from the sensor When the LiDAR system emits a pulse Then the system should report the distance as 10 ± 0.1 meters

Scenario: Measurement in foggy conditions Given a reflective object is placed 10 meters from the sensor And fog reduces visibility by 50% When the LiDAR system emits a pulse Then the system should report the distance as 10 ± 0.5 meters

With DamageBDD, such scenarios can be written by both technical and non-technical participants, enabling large-scale participation in defining behavior.

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1. Automating Behavior Verification

DamageBDD’s platform integrates seamlessly with testing frameworks, enabling automated verification of defined behaviors. This ensures that photonic measurement systems consistently meet the specified criteria across a wide range of scenarios.

Example: A team testing a LiDAR system can run automated tests against a DamageBDD-powered test suite. If a test fails—say, the system misreports distances under foggy conditions—it is flagged on-chain, triggering iterative improvements.

---

1. Leveraging Crowdsourcing for Edge Cases

DamageBDD enables stakeholders to contribute new test cases and scenarios directly to the platform. For photonic measurement systems, this could involve:

Community members submitting scenarios involving unique environmental conditions (e.g., desert sandstorms or arctic snow).

Engineers proposing tests for hardware variations or upgrades.

Example: A developer in a tropical region might contribute the following scenario:

Scenario: Measurement in heavy rain Given a reflective object is placed 5 meters from the sensor And rainfall intensity is 50 mm/hour When the LiDAR system emits a pulse Then the system should report the distance as 5 ± 0.3 meters

By involving a global community, DamageBDD ensures comprehensive testing and improved resilience.

---

1. Creating Incentives for Participation

One of the standout features of DamageBDD is its ability to incentivize participation through tokenized payouts. Contributors who define or verify behavior are rewarded in Damage Tokens, creating a self-sustaining ecosystem that encourages ongoing collaboration.

Example:

A developer contributes a new test case for low-light conditions.

A tester verifies the scenario by running it against a live system.

Both participants receive tokens for their contributions, fostering continued engagement.

---

1. Ensuring Transparency and Accountability

With DamageBDD, all behavior definitions, tests, and results are immutably recorded on-chain. This ensures that:

Every contribution is traceable to its author.

Changes to system behavior are documented over time, creating an auditable history.

Example: When a new feature is added to a LiDAR system (e.g., enhanced fog detection), its behavior is verified through DamageBDD. The on-chain record shows:

Who defined the behavior.

When it was tested.

How it performed against previous versions.

This transparency builds trust among stakeholders and accelerates adoption.

---

Scaling to Other Photonic Applications

The principles outlined above can be applied to other photonic measurement systems, such as:

Medical Imaging: Ensuring MRI or CT scanners meet safety and accuracy standards across diverse patient demographics.

Telecommunications: Optimizing fiber-optic networks for different bandwidth and latency requirements.

Astronomy: Enhancing telescopes to accurately measure cosmic phenomena under varying atmospheric conditions.

In each case, DamageBDD enables mass participation, rigorous testing, and continuous improvement.

---

Conclusion

By enabling large numbers of people to define and verify behavior, DamageBDD revolutionizes how we approach photonic measurement systems and other complex technologies. Through its emphasis on collaboration, transparency, and tokenized incentives, DamageBDD not only improves the quality of these systems but also democratizes their development.

As industries continue to adopt precision technologies, DamageBDD provides a scalable framework for ensuring they meet the needs of diverse stakeholders. From LiDAR in autonomous vehicles to medical imaging and beyond, the potential for innovation is limitless when empowered by DamageBDD.

@ 89ccea93:df4e00b7

Here's a list of the services I use.

I plan to make a blog post for each on expatriotic.me my previously defunct blog that is going live again.

Stay tuned.

Networking

Flint Router
Mullvad
Tor
Little Snitch

Buying & Selling Bitcoin

Bisq
Robosats
Peach
Hodl Hodl

Private email

Tuta
Addy.io
Proton

Wallets

Ashigaru
Stack Duo
Cake
Sparrow
Envoy
Zeus
Coinos

Swapping Bitcoin

Trocador
basicswapdex
unstoppable-swap

noKYC

```kycnot.me```

Spending Bitcoin

Wise
Bitrefill
Bitpay
PayWithMoon
Coinsbee
The Bitcoin Company
CoinCards.com

Phone

Graphene OS
Minimalism
Obtainium
FOSS apps
Signal for DMs
Telegram for Groups
Silent.Link

Server

DIY with Debian
Start9
Dojo
Ronin Dojo
Monero Nodes

Podcasts

The Ungovernable Misfits News Network
The Watchman Privacy

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/863051

@ cff1720e:15c7e2b2

Einleitung\ \ Schwierige Dinge einfach zu erklären ist der Anspruch von ELI5 (explain me like I'm 5). Das ist in unserer hoch technisierten Welt dringend erforderlich, denn nur mit dem Verständnis der Technologien können wir sie richtig einsetzen und weiter entwickeln.\ Ich starte meine Serie mit Nostr, einem relativ neuen Internet-Protokoll. Was zum Teufel ist ein Internet-Protokoll? Formal beschrieben sind es internationale Standards, die dafür sorgen, dass das Internet seit über 30 Jahren ziemlich gut funktioniert. Es ist die Sprache, in der sich die Rechner miteinander unterhalten und die auch Sie täglich nutzen, vermutlich ohne es bewusst wahrzunehmen. http(s) transportiert ihre Anfrage an einen Server (z.B. Amazon), und html sorgt dafür, dass aus den gelieferten Daten eine schöne Seite auf ihrem Bildschirm entsteht. Eine Mail wird mit smtp an den Mailserver gesendet und mit imap von ihm abgerufen, und da alle den Standard verwenden, funktioniert das mit jeder App auf jedem Betriebssystem und mit jedem Mail-Provider. Und mit einer Mail-Adresse wie roland@pareto.space können sie sogar jederzeit umziehen, egal wohin. Cool, das ist state of the art! Aber warum funktioniert das z.B. bei Chat nicht, gibt es da kein Protokoll? Doch, es heißt IRC (Internet Relay Chat → merken sie sich den Namen), aber es wird so gut wie nicht verwendet. Die Gründe dafür sind nicht technischer Natur, vielmehr wurden mit Apps wie Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, Telegram, Instagram, TikTok u.a. bewusst Inkompatibilitäten und Nutzerabhängigkeiten geschaffen um Profite zu maximieren.

Warum Nostr?

Da das Standard-Protokoll nicht genutzt wird, hat jede App ihr eigenes, und wir brauchen eine handvoll Apps um uns mit allen Bekannten auszutauschen. Eine Mobilfunknummer ist Voraussetzung für jedes Konto, damit können die App-Hersteller die Nutzer umfassend tracken und mit dem Verkauf der Informationen bis zu 30 USD je Konto und Monat verdienen. Der Nutzer ist nicht mehr Kunde, er ist das Produkt! Der Werbe-SPAM ist noch das kleinste Problem bei diesem Geschäftsmodell. Server mit Millionen von Nutzerdaten sind ein “honey pot”, dementsprechend oft werden sie gehackt und die Zugangsdaten verkauft. 2024 wurde auch der Twitter-Account vom damaligen Präsidenten Joe Biden gehackt, niemand wusste mehr wer die Nachrichten verfasst hat (vorher auch nicht), d.h. die Authentizität der Inhalte ist bei keinem dieser Anbieter gewährleistet. Im selben Jahr wurde der Telegram-Gründer in Frankreich in Beugehaft genommen, weil er sich geweigert hatte Hintertüren in seine Software einzubauen. Nun kann zum Schutz "unserer Demokratie” praktisch jeder mitlesen, was sie mit wem an Informationen austauschen, z.B. darüber welches Shampoo bestimmte Politiker verwenden. 

Und wer tatsächlich glaubt er könne Meinungsfreiheit auf sozialen Medien praktizieren, findet sich schnell in der Situation von Donald Trump wieder (seinerzeit amtierender Präsident), dem sein Twitter-Konto 2021 abgeschaltet wurde (Cancel-Culture). Die Nutzerdaten, also ihr Profil, ihre Kontakte, Dokumente, Bilder, Videos und Audiofiles - gehören ihnen ohnehin nicht mehr sondern sind Eigentum des Plattform-Betreibers; lesen sie sich mal die AGB's durch. Aber nein, keine gute Idee, das sind hunderte Seiten und sie werden permanent geändert. Alle nutzen also Apps, deren Technik sie nicht verstehen, deren Regeln sie nicht kennen, wo sie keine Rechte haben und die ihnen die Resultate ihres Handelns stehlen. Was würde wohl der Fünfjährige sagen, wenn ihm seine ältere Schwester anbieten würde, alle seine Spielzeuge zu “verwalten” und dann auszuhändigen wenn er brav ist? “Du spinnst wohl”, und damit beweist der Knirps mehr Vernunft als die Mehrzahl der Erwachsenen. \ \ Resümee: keine Standards, keine Daten, keine Rechte = keine Zukunft!

\ Wie funktioniert Nostr?

Die Entwickler von Nostr haben erkannt dass sich das Server-Client-Konzept in ein Master-Slave-Konzept verwandelt hatte. Der Master ist ein Synonym für Zentralisierung und wird zum “single point of failure”, der zwangsläufig Systeme dysfunktional macht. In einem verteilten Peer2Peer-System gibt es keine Master mehr sondern nur gleichberechtigte Knoten (Relays), auf denen die Informationen gespeichert werden. Indem man Informationen auf mehreren Relays redundant speichert, ist das System in jeglicher Hinsicht resilienter. Nicht nur die Natur verwendet dieses Prinzip seit Jahrmillionen erfolgreich, auch das Internet wurde so konzipiert (das ARPAnet wurde vom US-Militär für den Einsatz in Kriegsfällen unter massiven Störungen entwickelt). Alle Nostr-Daten liegen auf Relays und der Nutzer kann wählen zwischen öffentlichen (zumeist kostenlosen) und privaten Relays, z.B. für geschlossene Gruppen oder zum Zwecke von Daten-Archivierung. Da Dokumente auf mehreren Relays gespeichert sind, werden statt URL's (Locator) eindeutige Dokumentnamen (URI's = Identifier) verwendet, broken Links sind damit Vergangenheit und Löschungen / Verluste ebenfalls.\ \ Jedes Dokument (Event genannt) wird vom Besitzer signiert, es ist damit authentisch und fälschungssicher und kann nur vom Ersteller gelöscht werden. Dafür wird ein Schlüsselpaar verwendet bestehend aus privatem (nsec) und öffentlichem Schlüssel (npub) wie aus der Mailverschlüsselung (PGP) bekannt. Das repräsentiert eine Nostr-Identität, die um Bild, Namen, Bio und eine lesbare Nostr-Adresse ergänzt werden kann (z.B. roland@pareto.space ), mehr braucht es nicht um alle Ressourcen des Nostr-Ökosystems zu nutzen. Und das besteht inzwischen aus über hundert Apps mit unterschiedlichen Fokussierungen, z.B. für persönliche verschlüsselte Nachrichten (DM → OxChat), Kurznachrichten (Damus, Primal), Blogbeiträge (Pareto), Meetups (Joinstr), Gruppen (Groups), Bilder (Olas), Videos (Amethyst), Audio-Chat (Nostr Nests), Audio-Streams (Tunestr), Video-Streams (Zap.Stream), Marktplätze (Shopstr) u.v.a.m. Die Anmeldung erfolgt mit einem Klick (single sign on) und den Apps stehen ALLE Nutzerdaten zur Verfügung (Profil, Daten, Kontakte, Social Graph → Follower, Bookmarks, Comments, etc.), im Gegensatz zu den fragmentierten Datensilos der Gegenwart.\ \ Resümee: ein offener Standard, alle Daten, alle Rechte = große Zukunft!

\ Warum ist Nostr die Zukunft des Internet?

“Baue Dein Haus nicht auf einem fremden Grundstück” gilt auch im Internet - für alle App-Entwickler, Künstler, Journalisten und Nutzer, denn auch ihre Daten sind werthaltig. Nostr garantiert das Eigentum an den Daten, und überwindet ihre Fragmentierung. Weder die Nutzung noch die kreativen Freiheiten werden durch maßlose Lizenz- und Nutzungsbedingungen eingeschränkt. Aus passiven Nutzern werden durch Interaktion aktive Teilnehmer, Co-Creatoren in einer Sharing-Ökonomie (Value4Value). OpenSource schafft endlich wieder Vertrauen in die Software und ihre Anbieter. Offene Standards ermöglichen den Entwicklern mehr Kooperation und schnellere Entwicklung, für die Anwender garantieren sie Wahlfreiheit. Womit wir letztmalig zu unserem Fünfjährigen zurückkehren. Kinder lieben Lego über alles, am meisten die Maxi-Box “Classic”, weil sie damit ihre Phantasie im Kombinieren voll ausleben können. Erwachsene schenken ihnen dann die viel zu teuren Themenpakete, mit denen man nur eine Lösung nach Anleitung bauen kann. “Was stimmt nur mit meinen Eltern nicht, wann sind die denn falsch abgebogen?" fragt sich der Nachwuchs zu Recht. Das Image lässt sich aber wieder aufpolieren, wenn sie ihren Kindern Nostr zeigen, denn die Vorteile verstehen sogar Fünfjährige.

\ Das neue Internet ist dezentral. Das neue Internet ist selbstbestimmt. Nostr ist das neue Internet.

https://nostr.net/ \ https://start.njump.me/

Hier das Interview zum Thema mit Radio Berliner Morgenröte

https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-yxc36-17bb4be

@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

การเผชิญหน้า (The Collision Point)

กลางปี 2017 ที่ร้านคราฟท์เบียร์เล็ก ๆ ในย่านเกาะเกร็ด นนทบุรี อากาศร้อนจนเครื่องปรับอากาศ (ที่ยังไม่มี) ในร้านทำงานหนักแทบไหม้ "แจ๊ก กู้ดเดย์" (Jakk Goodday) นั่งลงบนเก้าอี้ไม้ที่เจ้าของร้านกันไว้ให้เป็นประจำ ราวกับเขาเป็นลูกค้าขาประจำระดับวีไอพี

กลิ่นกาแฟคั่ว ลอยผสมกับไอความร้อนจากนอกหน้าต่าง (ผิดร้านหรือเปล่า?) เกิดเป็นบรรยากาศขมติดปลายลิ้นชวนให้คนจิบแล้วอยากถอนใจ

เขาเหลือบมองออกไปนอกหน้าต่าง.. เห็นแสงแดดแผดเผาราวกับมันรู้ว่าสงคราม Blocksize กำลังคุกรุ่นขึ้นอีกครั้ง

บรรยากาศนอกหน้าต่างกับใน ฟอรัม Bitcointalk ช่างเหมือนกันจนน่าขนลุก มันร้อนแรง ไร้ความปรานี

แจ๊กเปิดแล็ปท็อป กดเข้าเว็บฟอรัม พอเสียงแจ้งเตือน “—ติ๊ง” ดังขึ้น คิ้วของเขาก็ขมวดเล็กน้อย คล้ายได้กลิ่นดินปืนกลางสนามรบ

“โรเจอร์ แวร์ (Roger Ver) ไลฟ์เดือดลั่นเวที!” “ปีเตอร์ วูเล (Pieter Wuille) โต้กลับเรื่อง SegWit!” “Hard Fork ใกล้ถึงจุดปะทะแล้ว!”

แจ๊กคลิกเข้าไปในลิงก์ของไลฟ์ทันที เหมือนมือของเขาไม่ต้องการคำสั่งจากสมอง ความคุ้นเคยกับเหตุการณ์แบบนี้บอกเขาว่า นี่ไม่ใช่ดีเบตธรรมดา แต่มันอาจเปลี่ยนอนาคตของ Bitcoin ได้จริง ๆ

เห็นแค่พาดหัวสั้น ๆ แต่ความตึงเครียดก็ชัดเจนขึ้นเรื่อย ๆ ทุกข้อความเหมือนสุมไฟใส่ใจกองหนึ่งที่พร้อมระเบิดได้ทุกเมื่อ

โทรศัพท์ของแจ๊กดังพร้อมปรากฏชื่อ แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ ลอยขึ้นมา เขาหยิบขึ้นมารับทันที

“ว่าไงวะแชมป์… มีอะไรด่วนหรือเปล่า?” น้ำเสียงแจ๊กฟังดูเหมือนง่วง ๆ แต่จริง ๆ เขาพร้อมจะลุกมาวิเคราะห์สถานการณ์ให้ฟังทุกเมื่อ

“พี่แจ๊ก.. ผมอ่านดีเบตเรื่อง SegWit ในฟอรัมอยู่ครับ บางคนด่าว่ามันไม่ได้แก้ปัญหาจริง ๆ บ้างก็บอกถ้าเพิ่ม Blocksize ไปเลยจะง่ายกว่า... ผมเลยสงสัยว่า Hard Fork ที่เค้าพูดถึงกันนี่คืออะไร ใครคิดอะไรก็ Fork กันได้ง่าย ๆ เลยเหรอ"

"แล้วถ้า Fork ไปหลายสาย สุดท้ายเหรียญไหนจะเป็น ‘Bitcoin ที่แท้จริง’ ล่ะพี่?”

“แล้วการ Fork มันส่งผลกับนักลงทุนยังไงครับ? คนทั่วไปอย่างผมควรถือไว้หรือขายหนีตายดีล่ะเนี่ย?”

แจ๊กยิ้มมุมปาก ชอบใจที่น้องถามจี้จุด

“เอางี้… การ Fork มันเหมือนแบ่งถนนออกเป็นสองสาย ใครชอบกติกาเก่าก็วิ่งถนนเส้นเก่า ใครอยากแก้กติกาใหม่ก็ไปถนนเส้นใหม่"

"แต่ประเด็นคือ... นี่ไม่ใช่เรื่องเล็ก ๆ เพราะมีผลต่ออัตลักษณ์ของ Bitcoin ทั้งหมดเลยนะมึง—ใครจะยอมปล่อยผ่านง่าย ๆ”

"คิดดูสิ ถ้าครั้งนี้พวกเขา Fork จริง มันอาจไม่ได้เปลี่ยนแค่เครือข่าย แต่เปลี่ยนวิธีที่คนมอง Bitcoin ไปตลอดกาลเลยนะ"

"แล้วใครมันจะอยากลงทุนในระบบที่แตกแยกซ้ำแล้วซ้ำเล่าวะ?"

“งั้นหมายความว่าตอนนี้ก็มีสองแนวใหญ่ ๆ ชัวร์ใช่ไหมครับ?” แชมป์ถามต่อ

“ฝั่ง โรเจอร์ แวร์ ที่บอกว่าต้องเพิ่ม Blocksize ให้ใหญ่จุใจ กับฝั่งทีม Core อย่าง ปีเตอร์ วูเล ที่ยืนยันต้องใช้ SegWit ทำให้บล็อกเบา ไม่กระทบการกระจายอำนาจ?”

“ใช่เลย” แจ๊กจิบกาแฟดำเข้ม ๆ ผสมน้ำผึ้งไปหนึ่งอึก

“โรเจอร์นี่เขาเชื่อว่า Bitcoin ต้องเป็นเงินสดดิจิทัลที่ใช้จ่ายไว ค่าธรรมเนียมไม่แพง ส่วนปีเตอร์กับ Bitcoin Core มองว่าการเพิ่มบล็อกเยอะ ๆ มันจะไปฆ่า Node รายย่อย คนไม่มีทุนก็รัน Node ไม่ไหว สุดท้าย Bitcoin จะกลายเป็นระบบกึ่งรวมศูนย์ ซึ่งมันผิดหลักการเดิมของ ซาโตชิ ไงล่ะ”

“ฟังแล้วก็ไม่ใช่เรื่องง่ายนะพี่… งั้นที่ผมได้ยินว่า จิฮั่น อู๋ (Jihan Wu) เจ้าของ Bitmain ที่ถือ Hashrate เกินครึ่งนี่ก็มาอยู่ฝั่งเดียวกับโรเจอร์ใช่ไหม?"

"เพราะยิ่งบล็อกใหญ่ ค่าธรรมเนียมยิ่งเพิ่ม นักขุดก็ได้กำไรสูงขึ้นใช่ป่ะ?”

“ไอ้เรื่องกำไรก็ส่วนหนึ่ง...” แจ๊กถอนหายใจ

“แต่ที่สำคัญกว่านั้นคืออำนาจต่อรอง… ตอนประชุมลับที่ฮ่องกงเมื่อปีที่แล้ว พี่เองก็ถูกชวนให้เข้าไปในฐานะคนกลาง เลยเห็นภาพน่าขนลุกอยู่หน่อย ๆ"

"จิฮั่นนั่งไขว่ห้างด้วยสีหน้ามั่นใจมาก ด้วย Hashrate ราว 60% ของโลก สั่งซ้ายหันขวาหันเหมือนเป็นแม่ทัพใหญ่ได้เลย พอโรเจอร์ก็ไฟแรงอยู่แล้ว อยากให้ Bitcoin ครองโลกด้วยวิธีของเขา สองคนนี่จับมือกันทีจะเขย่าชุมชน Bitcoin ได้ทั้งกระดาน”

"พี่รู้สึกเหมือนนั่งอยู่ในศึกชิงบัลลังก์ยุคใหม่ คนหนึ่งยึดพลังขุด คนหนึ่งยึดความศรัทธาในชื่อ Bitcoin แต่สิ่งที่พี่สงสัยในตอนนั้นคือ… พวกเขาสู้เพื่อใครกันแน่?"

แชมป์เงียบไปครู่เหมือนกำลังประมวลผล “แล้วตอนนั้นพี่คิดยังไงบ้างครับ? รู้สึกกลัวหรือว่ายังไง?”

“จะไม่กลัวได้ไง!” แจ๊กหัวเราะแห้ง ๆ แวบหนึ่งก็นึกถึงสีหน้าที่ยิ้มเยาะของทั้งคู่ตอนประกาศความพร้อมจะ Fork

“พี่อดคิดไม่ได้ว่าถ้า Core ยังไม่ยอมขยายบล็อก พวกนั้นจะลากนักขุดทั้งกองทัพแฮชเรตไปทำเครือข่ายใหม่ให้เป็น ‘Bitcoin สายใหญ่’ แล้วทิ้งเครือข่ายเดิมให้ซวนเซ"

"แค่คิดก็นึกถึงสงครามกลางเมืองในหนังประวัติศาสตร์แล้วน่ะ.. แตกเป็นสองฝ่าย สุดท้ายใครแพ้ใครชนะ ไม่มีใครทำนายได้จริง ๆ”

พูดจบ.. เขาเปิดฟอรัมดูไลฟ์ดีเบตจากงานในปี 2017 ต่อ โรเจอร์ แวร์ กำลังพูดในโทนร้อนแรง

“Bitcoin ไม่ใช่ของคนรวย! ถ้าคุณไม่เพิ่ม Blocksize คุณก็ทำให้ค่าธรรมเนียมพุ่งจนคนธรรมดาใช้ไม่ได้!”

ขณะเดียวกัน ปีเตอร์ วูเล่ ยืนอยู่ฝั่งตรงข้าม สีหน้าเยือกเย็นราวกับตั้งรับมานาน “การเพิ่มบล็อกคือการทำลายโครงสร้าง Node รายย่อยในระยะยาว แล้วมันจะยังเรียกว่ากระจายอำนาจได้หรือ?”

"ถ้าคุณอยากให้ Bitcoin เป็นของคนรวยเพียงไม่กี่คน ก็เชิญขยายบล็อกไปเถอะนะ แต่ถ้าอยากให้มันเป็นระบบที่คนทุกระดับมีส่วนร่วมจริง ๆ ..คุณต้องฟังเสียง Node รายเล็กด้วย" ปีเตอร์กล่าว

เสียงผู้คนในงานโห่ฮากันอย่างแตกเป็นสองฝ่าย บ้างก็เชียร์ความตรงไปตรงมาของโรเจอร์ บ้างก็เคารพเหตุผลเชิงเทคนิคของปีเตอร์

ข้อความจำนวนมหาศาลในฟอรัมต่างโหมกระพือไปต่าง ๆ นานา มีทั้งคำด่าหยาบคายจนแจ๊กต้องเบือนหน้า ตลอดจนการวิเคราะห์ลึก ๆ ถึงอนาคตของ Bitcoin ที่อาจไม่เหมือนเดิม

ในระหว่างนั้น.. แชมป์ส่งข้อความ Discord กลับมาอีก

“พี่ ถ้า Fork จริง ราคาจะป่วนแค่ไหน? ที่เขาว่าคนถือ BTC จะได้เหรียญใหม่ฟรี ๆ จริงไหม? ผมกลัวว่าถ้าเกิดแบ่งเครือข่ายไม่รู้กี่สาย ตลาดอาจมั่วจนคนหายหมดก็ได้ ใช่ไหมครับ?”

"แล้วถ้าเครือข่ายใหม่ล้มเหลวล่ะครับ? จะส่งผลอะไรต่อชุมชน Bitcoin เดิม?"

"ไอ้แชมป์มึงถามรัวจังวะ!?" แจ๊กสบถเพราะเริ่มตั้งรับไม่ทัน

“ก็ขึ้นกับตลาดจะเชื่อว่าสายไหนเป็น ‘ของจริง’ อีกนั่นแหละ” แจ๊กพิมพ์กลับ

“บางคนถือไว้เผื่อได้เหรียญใหม่ฟรี บางคนขายหนีตายก่อน"

"พี่เองก็ยังไม่กล้าการันตีเลย แต่ที่แน่ ๆ สงครามนี้ไม่ได้มีแค่ผลกำไร มันกระทบศรัทธาของชุมชน Bitcoin ทั้งหมดด้วย"

"ถ้าชาวเน็ตเลิกเชื่อมั่น หรือคนนอกมองว่าพวกเราทะเลาะกันเองเหมือนเด็กแย่งของเล่น ต่อให้ฝั่งไหนชนะ ก็อาจไม่มีผู้ใช้เหลือให้ฉลอง”

แล้วสายตาแจ๊กก็ปะทะกับกระทู้ใหม่ที่เด้งขึ้นมาบนหน้าฟอรัม

“โรเจอร์ แวร์ ประกาศ: ถ้าไม่เพิ่ม Blocksize เราจะฟอร์กเป็น Bitcoin ที่แท้จริง!”

ตัวหนังสือหนาแปะอยู่ตรงนั้นส่งแรงสั่นสะเทือนราวกับจะดึงคนในวงการให้ต้องเลือกข้างกันแบบไม่อาจกลับหลังได้

แจ๊กเอื้อมมือปิดแล็ปท็อปช้า ๆ คล้ายยอมรับความจริงว่าหนทางประนีประนอมอาจไม่มีอีกแล้ว..

“สงครามนี่คงใกล้ระเบิดเต็มทีล่ะนะ” เขาลุกจากเก้าอี้ สะพายเป้ พึมพำกับตัวเองขณะมองกาแฟดำที่เหลือครึ่งแก้ว “ถ้าพวกเขาฟอร์กจริง โลกคริปโตฯ ที่เราเคยรู้จักอาจไม่มีวันเหมือนเดิมอีกต่อไป”

เขามองออกไปนอกหน้าต่าง แสงแดดที่แผดเผาราวกับกำลังบอกว่า.. อนาคตของ Bitcoin อยู่ในจุดที่เส้นแบ่งระหว่างชัยชนะกับความล่มสลายเริ่มพร่าเลือน... และอาจไม่มีทางย้อนกลับ

ก่อนเดินออกจากร้าน เขากดส่งข้อความสั้น ๆ ถึงแชมป์

“เตรียมใจกับความปั่นป่วนไว้ให้ดี ไม่แน่ว่าเราอาจจะได้เห็น Bitcoin แตกเป็นหลายสาย.. ใครจะอยู่ใครจะไปไม่รู้เหมือนกัน แต่เรื่องนี้คงไม่จบง่าย ๆ แน่”

แจ๊กผลักประตูออกไปพบกับแดดจัดที่เหมือนแผดเผากว่าเดิม พายุร้อนไม่ได้มาแค่ในรูปความร้อนกลางกรุง แต่มาในรูป “สงคราม Blocksize” ที่พร้อมจะฉีกชุมชนคริปโตออกเป็นฝักฝ่าย และอาจลามบานปลายจนกลายเป็นศึกประวัติศาสตร์

ทว่าสิ่งที่ค้างคาใจกลับเป็นคำถามนั้น…

เมื่อเครือข่ายแบ่งเป็นหลายสายแล้ว เหรียญไหนจะเป็น Bitcoin จริง?

หรือบางที... ในโลกที่ใครก็ Fork ได้ตามใจ เราจะไม่มีวันได้เห็น “Bitcoin หนึ่งเดียว” อีกต่อไป?

คำถามที่ไม่มีใครตอบได้ชัดนี้ส่องประกายอยู่ตรงปลายทาง ราวกับป้ายเตือนว่า “อันตรายข้างหน้า” และคนในชุมชนทั้งหมดกำลังจะต้องเผชิญ…

โดยไม่มีใครมั่นใจเลยว่าจะรอด หรือจะแตกสลายไปก่อนกันแน่...

สองเส้นทาง (The Forked Path)

กลางปี 2017 ท้องฟ้าเหนือบุรีรัมย์ยังคงคุกรุ่นด้วยไอแดดและความร้อนแรงของสงคราม Blocksize แจ๊ก กู้ดเดย์ ก้าวเข้ามาในคาเฟ่เล็ก ๆ แห่งหนึ่งในย่านเทศบาลด้วยสีหน้าครุ่นคิด เขาพยายามมองหามุมสงบสำหรับนั่งตั้งหลักในโลกความเป็นจริง ก่อนจะจมดิ่งสู่สงครามในโลกดิจิทัลบนฟอรัม Bitcointalk อีกครั้ง

กลิ่นกาแฟคั่วเข้มลอยกระทบจมูก แจ๊กสั่งกาแฟดำแก้วโปรดแล้วปลีกตัวมาที่โต๊ะริมกระจก กระจกบานนั้นสะท้อนแสงอาทิตย์จัดจ้า ราวกับจะบอกว่าวันนี้คงไม่มีใครหนีความร้อนที่กำลังแผดเผา ทั้งในอากาศและในชุมชน Bitcoin ได้พ้น

เขาเปิดแล็ปท็อปขึ้น ล็อกอินเข้า Bitcointalk.org ตามเคย ข้อความและกระทู้มากมายกระหน่ำแจ้งเตือน ไม่ต่างอะไรจากสมรภูมิคำพูดที่ไม่มีวันหลับ “Hong Kong Agreement ล้มเหลวจริงหรือ?” “UASF คือปฏิวัติโดย Node?” เหล่านี้ล้วนสะท้อนความไม่แน่นอนในชุมชน Bitcoin ที่ตอนนี้ ดูคล้ายจะถึงจุดแตกหักเต็มที...

“ทั้งที่ตอนนั้นเราก็พยายามกันแทบตาย…” แจ๊กพึมพำ มองจอด้วยสายตาเหนื่อยใจพร้อมภาพความทรงจำย้อนกลับเข้าในหัว เขายังจำการประชุมที่ฮ่องกงเมื่อต้นปี 2016 ได้แม่น ยามนั้นความหวังในการประนีประนอมระหว่าง Big Block และ Small Block ดูเป็นไปได้ หากแต่กลายเป็นละครฉากใหญ่ที่จบลงโดยไม่มีใครยอมถอย...

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...การประชุม Hong Kong Agreement (2016)

ภายในห้องประชุมหรูของโรงแรมใจกลางย่านธุรกิจฮ่องกง บรรยากาศตึงเครียดยิ่งกว่าการเจรจาสงบศึกในสมัยโบราณ

โรเจอร์ แวร์ ยืนเสนอว่า “การเพิ่ม Blocksize สำคัญต่ออนาคตของ Bitcoin — เราอยากให้คนทั่วไปเข้าถึงได้โดยไม่ต้องจ่ายค่าธรรมเนียมแพง ๆ”

“จิฮั่น อู๋ (Jihan Wu)” จาก Bitmain นั่งฝั่งเดียวกับโรเจอร์ คอยเสริมว่าการเพิ่มบล็อกคือโอกาสสำหรับนักขุด และหากทีม Core ไม่ยอม พวกเขาก็พร้อม “ดัน Fork” ขึ้นได้ทุกเมื่อ ด้วย Hashrate มหาศาลที่พวกเขาคุมไว้

ฝั่ง ปีเตอร์ วูเล (Pieter Wuille) กับ เกร็ก แมกซ์เวลล์ (Greg Maxwell) จาก Bitcoin Core เถียงกลับอย่างใจเย็นว่า “การขยายบล็อกอาจดึงดูดทุนใหญ่ ๆ แล้วไล่ Node รายย่อยออกไป ชุมชนอาจไม่เหลือความกระจายอำนาจอย่างที่ Satoshi ตั้งใจ”

สุดท้าย บทสรุปที่เรียกว่า Hong Kong Agreement ลงนามได้ก็จริง แต่มันกลับเป็นแค่ลายเซ็นบนกระดาษที่ไม่มีฝ่ายไหนเชื่อใจใคร

แจ๊กเบือนสายตาออกนอกหน้าต่าง สังเกตเห็นผู้คนเดินขวักไขว่ บ้างก็ดูรีบร้อน บ้างเดินทอดน่องเหมือนว่างเปล่า นี่คงไม่ต่างอะไรกับชาวเน็ตในฟอรัมที่แบ่งฝ่ายกันใน “สงคราม Blocksize” อย่างไม่มีทีท่าจะหยุด

แค่ไม่กี่นาที... เสียงโทรศัพท์ก็ดังขึ้น ชื่อ แชมป์ ‘PIGROCK’ โชว์หราเต็มจออีกครั้ง

“ว่าไงเจ้าแชมป์?” แจ๊กกรอกเสียงในสายด้วยอารมณ์เหนื่อย ๆ ทว่าพร้อมจะอธิบายเหตุการณ์ตามสไตล์คนที่ชอบครุ่นคิด

“พี่แจ๊ก.. ผมเข้าใจแล้วว่าการประชุมฮ่องกงมันล้มเหลว ตอนนี้ก็มีคนแยกเป็นสองขั้ว Big Block กับ SegWit แต่ผมเจออีกกลุ่มในฟอรัมเรียกว่า UASF (User-Activated Soft Fork) ที่เหมือนจะกดดันพวกนักขุดให้ยอมรับ SegWit..."

"อยากรู้ว่าตกลง UASF มันสำคัญยังไงครับ? ทำไมใคร ๆ ถึงเรียกว่าเป็น การปฏิวัติโดย Node กัน?”

แจ๊กอมยิ้มก่อนจะวางแก้วกาแฟลง พูดด้วยน้ำเสียงจริงจังกว่าเดิม “UASF น่ะหรือ? มันเปรียบได้กับการที่ ‘ชาวนา’ หรือ ‘ประชาชนตัวเล็ก ๆ’ ออกมาประกาศว่า ‘ฉันจะไม่รับบล็อกของนักขุดที่ไม่รองรับ SegWit นะ ถ้าแกไม่ทำตาม ฉันก็จะตัดบล็อกแกทิ้ง!’ เสมือนเป็นการปฏิวัติที่บอกว่าแรงขุดมากแค่ไหนก็ไม่สำคัญ ถ้าคนรัน Node ไม่ยอม… เชนก็เดินต่อไม่ได้”

“โห… ฟังดูแรงจริง ๆ พี่ แล้วถ้านักขุดไม่ร่วมมือ UASF จะเกิดอะไรขึ้น?” แชมป์ถามต่อเสียงสั่นนิด ๆ

“ก็อาจเกิด ‘Chain Split’ ยังไงล่ะ"

"แยกเครือข่ายเป็นสองสาย สุดท้ายเครือข่ายเดิม กับเครือข่ายใหม่ที่รองรับ SegWit ไม่ตรงกัน คนอาจสับสนหนักยิ่งกว่า Hard Fork ปกติด้วยซ้ำ"

"แต่นั่นแหละ... มันแสดงพลังว่าผู้ใช้ทั่วไปก็มีสิทธิ์กำหนดทิศทาง Bitcoin ไม่ได้น้อยไปกว่านักขุดเลย”

“เข้าใจแล้วครับพี่… เหมือน การปฏิวัติโดยประชาชนตาดำ ๆ ที่จับมือกันค้านอำนาจทุนใหญ่ใช่ไหม?” แชมป์หยุดครู่หนึ่ง “ผมเคยคิดว่า Node รายย่อยน้อยรายจะไปสู้อะไรไหว แต่ตอนนี้ดูท่าจะเปลี่ยนเกมได้จริงว่ะพี่…”

“ใช่เลย” แจ๊กตอบ

“นี่เป็นความพิเศษของ Bitcoin ที่บอกว่า ‘เราคุมเครือข่ายร่วมกัน’ แม้แต่ Bitmain ที่มี Hashrate มากกว่า 50% ก็หนาวได้ถ้าผู้ใช้หรือ Node รายย่อยรวมพลังกันมากพอ”

แชมป์ฟังด้วยความตื่นเต้นปนกังวล “แล้วแบบนี้ เรื่อง SegWit กับ Blocksize จะจบยังไงครับ? เห็นข่าวว่าถ้านักขุดโดนกดดันมาก ๆ คนอย่าง จิฮั่น อู๋ อาจออกไปสนับสนุน Bitcoin Cash ที่จะเปิดบล็อกใหญ่”

แจ๊กเลื่อนดูฟีดข่าวในฟอรัม Bitcointalk อีกครั้ง ก็เห็นพาดหัวชัด ๆ

“Bitmain ประกาศกร้าวพร้อมหนุน BCH เต็มพิกัด!”

เขาถอนหายใจเฮือกหนึ่ง “ก็ใกล้เป็นจริงแล้วล่ะ… โรเจอร์ แวร์ เองก็ผลักดัน BCH ว่าคือ Bitcoin แท้ที่ค่าธรรมเนียมถูก ใช้งานได้จริง ส่วนฝั่ง BTC ที่ยึดเอา SegWit เป็นหลัก ก็ไม่ยอมให้ Blocksize เพิ่มใหญ่เกินจำเป็น.."

"ต่างคนต่างมีเหตุผล... แต่อุดมการณ์นี่คนละทางเลย”

“แล้วพี่คิดว่าใครจะเป็นฝ่ายชนะครับ?”

“เฮ้ย.. มึงถามยากไปหรือเปล่า” แจ๊กหัวเราะหึ ๆ “ทุกคนมีโอกาสได้หมด และก็มีโอกาสพังหมดเหมือนกัน ถ้า UASF กดดันนักขุดให้อยู่กับ Core ได้ พวกเขาอาจยอมแพ้ แต่ถ้า Bitmain เทใจไป BCH นักขุดรายใหญ่คนอื่น ๆ ก็คงตาม"

"แล้วถ้าฝั่ง BCH เริ่มได้เปรียบ... อาจดึงคนไปเรื่อย ๆ สุดท้ายจะเหลือไหมล่ะฝั่ง SegWit ตัวจริง?”

“งั้น Node รายย่อยจะยืนอยู่ตรงไหนล่ะครับพี่?” แชมป์ถามอย่างหนักใจ

“Node รายย่อยและชุมชนผู้ใช้นี่แหละ คือ ตัวแปรชี้ขาด ทุกวันนี้คนกลุ่ม UASF พยายามโชว์พลังว่าตัวเองมีสิทธิ์ตั้งกติกาเหมือนกัน ไม่ใช่แค่นักขุด"

"อย่างที่บอก.. มันคือการ ‘ลุกขึ้นปฏิวัติ’ โดยชาวนา ต่อสู้กับเจ้าที่ที่ถือ ‘แฮชเรต’ เป็นอาวุธ”

แจ๊กตบบ่าตัวเองเบา ๆ ก่อนจะหัวเราะเล็กน้อย

“นี่แหละความมันของ Bitcoin ไม่มีเจ้าไหนสั่งได้เบ็ดเสร็จจริง ๆ ทุกฝั่งต่างถือไพ่คนละใบ สงครามยังไม่รู้จะจบยังไง ถึงอย่างนั้นมันก็สะท้อนวิญญาณ ‘decentralization’ ที่แท้จริง กล้ายอมรับสิทธิ์ทุกฝ่ายเพื่อแข่งขันกันตามกติกา”

จู่ ๆ ในหน้าฟอรัมก็มีกระทู้ใหม่เด้งเด่น “Bitmain หนุน Bitcoin Cash ด้วย Hashrate กว่า 50%! สงครามเริ่มแล้ว?” ข้อความนั้นดังโครมครามเหมือนระเบิดลงกลางวง

แจ๊กนิ่งไปชั่วขณะ สัมผัสได้ถึงความปั่นป่วนที่กำลังปะทุขึ้นอีกครั้ง เหงื่อบางเบาซึมบนหน้าผากแม้อากาศในคาเฟ่จะเย็นฉ่ำ เขาหันมองโทรศัพท์ที่ยังค้างสายกับแชมป์ แล้วเอ่ยด้วยน้ำเสียงจริงจัง

“นี่ล่ะ.. จุดเริ่มของสองเส้นทางอย่างชัดเจน… บล็อกใหญ่จะไปกับ BCH ส่วน SegWit ก็อยู่กับ BTC แน่นอนว่าทั้งสองฝ่ายไม่คิดถอยง่าย ๆ นักขุดจะเลือกข้างไหน? Node รายย่อยจะยอมใคร?"

"เมื่อสงครามครั้งนี้นำไปสู่การแบ่งเครือข่าย ใครกันแน่จะเป็นผู้ชนะตัวจริง? หรืออาจไม่มีผู้ชนะเลยก็เป็นได้”

ปลายสายเงียบงัน มีแต่เสียงหายใจของแชมป์ที่สะท้อนความกังวลปนอยากรู้อย่างแรง

“พี่… สุดท้ายแล้วเรากำลังยืนอยู่บนรอยแยกที่พร้อมจะฉีกทุกอย่างออกเป็นชิ้น ๆ ใช่ไหมครับ?”

“อาจจะใช่ก็ได้... หรือถ้ามองอีกมุม อาจเป็นวัฏจักรที่ Bitcoin ต้องเจอเป็นระยะ ทุกคนมีสิทธิ์ Fork ได้ตามใจใช่ไหมล่ะ? ก็ขอให้โลกได้เห็นกันว่าชุมชนไหนแน่จริง” แจ๊กพูดทิ้งท้ายก่อนจะแย้มยิ้มเจือรอยอ่อนล้า

ภาพบนจอคอมพิวเตอร์ฉายกระทู้ถกเถียงกันไม่หยุด ประหนึ่งเวทีดีเบตที่ไม่มีวันปิดไฟ แจ๊กจิบกาแฟอึกสุดท้ายเหมือนจะเตรียมพร้อมใจก่อนเข้าสู่สนามรบครั้งใหม่ สงครามยังไม่จบ.. ซ้ำยังดูหนักข้อยิ่งขึ้นเรื่อย ๆ

เขาลุกขึ้นจากโต๊ะ ชำเลืองมองแสงแดดจัดจ้าที่สาดลงมาไม่หยุด เปรียบเหมือนไฟแห่งข้อขัดแย้งที่เผาผลาญทั้งชุมชน Bitcoin ไม่ว่าใครจะเลือกอยู่ฝั่งไหน กลุ่ม UASF, กลุ่ม Big Block, หรือ กลุ่ม SegWit ทางเดินข้างหน้าล้วนเต็มไปด้วยความไม่แน่นอน

“สุดท้ายแล้ว… เมื่อกระดานแบ่งเป็นสองเส้นทางอย่างเด่นชัด สงคราม Blocksize จะจบลงด้วยใครได้บทผู้ชนะ?"

"หรือบางที… มันอาจไม่มีผู้ชนะที่แท้จริงในระบบที่ใครก็ Fork ได้ตลอดเวลา”

คำถามนี้ลอยติดค้างอยู่ในบรรยากาศยามบ่ายที่ร้อนระอุ ชวนให้ใครก็ตามที่จับตาดูสงคราม Blocksize ต้องฉุกคิด

เมื่อไม่มีใครเป็นเจ้าของ Bitcoin อย่างสมบูรณ์ ทุกคนจึงมีสิทธิ์บงการและเสี่ยงต่อการแตกแยกได้ทุกเมื่อ แล้วท้ายที่สุด ชัยชนะ–ความพ่ายแพ้ อาจไม่ใช่จุดสิ้นสุดของโลกคริปโตฯ

แต่เป็นเพียงจุดเริ่มต้นของการวิวัฒน์ที่ไม่มีวันจบสิ้น…

เมาท์แถมเรื่อง UASF (User-Activated Soft Fork)

นี่สนามรบยุคกลางที่ดูเหมือนในหนังแฟนตาซี ทุกคนมีดาบ มีโล่ แต่จู่ ๆ คนตัวเล็กที่เราไม่เคยสังเกต—พวกชาวนา ช่างไม้ คนแบกน้ำ—กลับรวมตัวกันยกดาบบุกวังเจ้าเมือง พร้อมตะโกนว่า “พอเถอะ! เราก็มีสิทธิ์เหมือนกัน!”

มันอาจจะดูเวอร์ ๆ หน่อยใช่ไหมครับ?

แต่ในโลก Bitcoin ปี 2017 นี่คือสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นในรูปแบบ “User-Activated Soft Fork” หรือ UASF การปฏิวัติด้วยพลังโหนด ซึ่งทำให้นักขุดยักษ์ใหญ่ตัวสั่นงันงกันมาแล้ว!

แล้ว UASF มันคืออะไรล่ะ?

“User-Activated Soft Fork” หรือเรียกย่อ ๆ ว่า “UASF” ไม่ใช่อัปเกรดซอฟต์แวร์สวย ๆ แต่เป็น “ดาบเล่มใหม่” ที่คนตัวเล็ก—หมายถึง โหนด รายย่อย—ใช้ต่อรองกับนักขุดรายใหญ่ โดยกติกาคือ.. ถ้านักขุดไม่ทำตาม (เช่น ไม่รองรับ SegWit) โหนดก็จะปฏิเสธบล็อกของพวกเขาอย่างไม่เกรงใจใคร

สมมุติว่าคุณคือโหนด..

คุณรันซอฟต์แวร์ Bitcoin คอยตรวจสอบธุรกรรม วันดีคืนดี คุณประกาศ “ต่อไปถ้าใครไม่รองรับ SegWit ฉันไม่ยอมรับบล็อกนะ!” นี่ล่ะครับ “UASF” ตัวเป็น ๆ

คำขวัญสุดฮิตของ UASF

“No SegWit, No Block”

หรือแปลว่าถ้าบล็อกไม่รองรับ SegWit ก็เชิญออกไปเลยจ้า..

มันเหมือนการที่ชาวนาโผล่มาตบโต๊ะอาหารท่านขุนว่า “นายใหญ่จะปลูกอะไรก็ปลูกไป แต่ไม่งั้นฉันไม่รับผลผลิตนายนะ!”

ความเชื่อมโยงกับ BIP 148

ถ้าจะพูดถึง UASF ต้องรู้จัก BIP 148 ไว้นิดนึง มันเปรียบเหมือน “ธงปฏิวัติ” ที่ตีตราว่าวันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 คือเส้นตาย!

BIP 148 บอกไว้ว่า.. ถ้าถึงวันนั้นแล้วยังมีนักขุดหน้าไหนไม่รองรับ SegWit บล็อกที่ขุดออกมาก็จะถูกโหนดที่ใช้ UASF “แบน” หมด

ผลลัพธ์ที่ตั้งใจ นักขุดไม่อยากโดนแบนก็ต้องทำตาม UASF กล่าวคือ “นายต้องรองรับ SegWit นะ ไม่งั้นอด!”

หลายคนกลัวกันว่า “อ้าว ถ้านักขุดใหญ่ ๆ ไม่ยอมแล้วหันไปขุดสายอื่น จะไม่กลายเป็นแยกเครือข่าย (Chain Split) หรือ?”

ใช่ครับ.. มันอาจเกิดสงครามสายใหม่ทันทีไงล่ะ

ทำไม UASF ถึงสำคัญ?

ย้อนกลับไปก่อนปี 2017 Bitcoin มีปัญหาโลกแตกทั้งค่าธรรมเนียมแพง ธุรกรรมหน่วง บวกกับความขัดแย้งเรื่อง “จะเพิ่ม Blocksize ดีไหม?” ทางกลุ่มนักขุดรายใหญ่ (นำโดย Bitmain, Roger Ver ฯลฯ) รู้สึกว่า “SegWit ไม่ใช่ทางออกที่แท้จริง” แต่อีกฝั่ง (ทีม Core) ชี้ว่า “Blocksize ใหญ่มากไปจะรวมศูนย์นะ โหนดรายย่อยตายหมด”

UASF เลยโผล่มา เหมือนชาวนาตะโกนว่า

“หุบปากได้แล้วไอ้พวกที่สู้กัน! ถ้าพวกแกไม่รองรับ SegWit พวกข้า (โหนด) ก็จะไม่เอาบล็อกแก”

สาระก็คือ.. มันคือตัวบ่งชี้ว่าคนตัวเล็กอย่างโหนดรายย่อยก็มีพลังต่อรอง เป็นกลไกที่ดึงอำนาจจากมือทุนใหญ่กลับสู่มือชุมชน (Decentralization ที่แท้ทรู)

วิธีการทำงานของ UASF

ลองจินตนาการตาม..

1. การกำหนดเส้นตาย BIP 148 ประกาศไว้ “ถึงวันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 ถ้านายยังไม่รองรับ SegWit โหนด UASF จะไม่รับบล็อกนาย”

2. ถ้าคุณเป็นนักขุด… คุณขุดบล็อกออกมา แต่ไม่ได้ตีธง “ฉันรองรับ SegWit” UASF โหนดเห็นปุ๊บ พวกเขาจะจับโยนทิ้งไปเลย

3. ผลกระทบ? นักขุดที่ไม่ยอมทำตามจะเจอปัญหา บล็อกที่ขุดออกมาไม่มีใครรับ—เสียแรงขุดฟรี

อาจเกิด Chain Split คือ แยกเครือข่ายเลย ถ้านักขุดเหล่านั้นไปตั้งสายใหม่

ความสำเร็จและความท้าทายของ UASF

ความสำเร็จ.. หลังการรวมพลังผู้ใช้ โหนดรายย่อยกดดันนักขุดได้ไม่น้อย จนกระทั่ง SegWit เปิดใช้งานจริงใน Bitcoin วันที่ 24 สิงหาคม 2017 ช่วยให้ธุรกรรมเร็วขึ้น แก้ Transaction Malleability และเปิดทางสู่ Lightning Network ในอนาคต

ความท้าทาย.. นักขุดบางค่ายไม่โอเค.. โดยเฉพาะ Bitmain ซึ่งคาดว่าจะสูญรายได้บางส่วน ก็นำไปสู่การสนับสนุน “Bitcoin Cash (BCH)” แยกสาย (Hard Fork) ของตัวเองตั้งแต่วันที่ 1 สิงหาคม 2017 นั่นเอง

ว่าแล้วก็เปรียบง่าย ๆ

UASF เหมือนปฏิบัติการยึดคฤหาสน์เจ้าเมืองมาเปิดให้ชาวบ้านเข้าอยู่ฟรี.. แต่อีกฝ่ายบอก

“งั้นฉันออกไปตั้งคฤหาสน์ใหม่ดีกว่า!”

บทเรียนสำคัญ UASF เป็นตัวอย่างชัดว่า “ผู้ใช้” หรือ โหนดรายย่อย สามารถสร้างแรงกดดันให้นักขุดต้องยอมเปลี่ยนได้จริง ๆ ไม่ใช่แค่ยอมรับเงื่อนไขที่ขุดกันมา

ผลกระทบระยะยาวหลังจากนั้นล่ะ?

SegWit ถูกใช้งาน ทำให้ค่าธรรมเนียมธุรกรรมลดลง (ช่วงหนึ่ง) เกิด Lightning Network เป็น Layer 2 สุเฟี้ยวของ Bitcoin เกิด BCH (Bitcoin Cash) เป็นสายแยกที่อ้างว่า Blocksize ใหญ่คือทางออก

สรุปแล้ว UASF ทำให้โลกได้รู้ว่า..

Bitcoin ไม่ใช่ของนักขุด หรือของฝ่ายพัฒนาใดฝ่ายเดียว แต่มันเป็นของทุกคน!

“Bitcoin เป็นของทุกคน”

ไม่มีใครมีอำนาจเบ็ดเสร็จ ไม่ว่าคุณจะถือ Hashrate มากแค่ไหน ถ้า Node ทั่วโลกไม่เอา ก็จบ!

“แรงขุดใหญ่แค่ไหน ก็แพ้ใจมวลชน!”

(น่าจะมีตอนต่อไปนะ.. ถ้าชอบก็ Zap โหด ๆ เป็นกำลังใจให้ด้วยนะครับ)

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

A new report from the National Sports Shooting Foundation (NSSF) shows that civilian firearm possession exceeded 490 million in 2022. The total from 1990 to 2022 is estimated at 491.3 million firearms. In 2022, over ten million firearms were domestically produced, leading to a total of 16,045,911 firearms available in the U.S. market.

Of these, 9,873,136 were handguns, 4,195,192 were rifles, and 1,977,583 were shotguns. Handgun availability aligns with the concealed carry and self-defense market, as all states allow concealed carry, with 29 having constitutional carry laws.

@ f9cf4e94:96abc355

Para esse exemplo iremos usar: | Nome | Imagem | Descrição | | --------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | Raspberry PI B+ | | Cortex-A53 (ARMv8) 64-bit a 1.4GHz e 1 GB de SDRAM LPDDR2, | | Pen drive | | 16Gb |

Recomendo que use o Ubuntu Server para essa instalação. Você pode baixar o Ubuntu para Raspberry Pi aqui. O passo a passo para a instalação do Ubuntu no Raspberry Pi está disponível aqui. Não instale um desktop (como xubuntu, lubuntu, xfce, etc.).

---

Passo 1: Atualizar o Sistema 🖥️

Primeiro, atualize seu sistema e instale o Tor:

bash apt update apt install tor

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Passo 2: Criar o Arquivo de Serviço nrs.service 🔧

Crie o arquivo de serviço que vai gerenciar o servidor Nostr. Você pode fazer isso com o seguinte conteúdo:

```unit [Unit] Description=Nostr Relay Server Service After=network.target

[Service] Type=simple WorkingDirectory=/opt/nrs ExecStart=/opt/nrs/nrs-arm64 Restart=on-failure

[Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ```

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Passo 3: Baixar o Binário do Nostr 🚀

Baixe o binário mais recente do Nostr aqui no GitHub.

---

Passo 4: Criar as Pastas Necessárias 📂

Agora, crie as pastas para o aplicativo e o pendrive:

bash mkdir -p /opt/nrs /mnt/edriver

---

Passo 5: Listar os Dispositivos Conectados 🔌

Para saber qual dispositivo você vai usar, liste todos os dispositivos conectados:

bash lsblk

---

Passo 6: Formatando o Pendrive 💾

Escolha o pendrive correto (por exemplo, /dev/sda) e formate-o:

bash mkfs.vfat /dev/sda

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Passo 7: Montar o Pendrive 💻

Monte o pendrive na pasta /mnt/edriver:

bash mount /dev/sda /mnt/edriver

---

Passo 8: Verificar UUID dos Dispositivos 📋

Para garantir que o sistema monte o pendrive automaticamente, liste os UUID dos dispositivos conectados:

bash blkid

---

Passo 9: Alterar o fstab para Montar o Pendrive Automáticamente 📝

Abra o arquivo /etc/fstab e adicione uma linha para o pendrive, com o UUID que você obteve no passo anterior. A linha deve ficar assim:

fstab UUID=9c9008f8-f852 /mnt/edriver vfat defaults 0 0

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Passo 10: Copiar o Binário para a Pasta Correta 📥

Agora, copie o binário baixado para a pasta /opt/nrs:

bash cp nrs-arm64 /opt/nrs

---

Passo 11: Criar o Arquivo de Configuração 🛠️

Crie o arquivo de configuração com o seguinte conteúdo e salve-o em /opt/nrs/config.yaml:

yaml app_env: production info: name: Nostr Relay Server description: Nostr Relay Server pub_key: "" contact: "" url: http://localhost:3334 icon: https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u= https://public.bnbstatic.com/image/cms/crawler/COINCU_NEWS/image-495-1024x569.png base_path: /mnt/edriver negentropy: true

---

Passo 12: Copiar o Serviço para o Diretório de Systemd ⚙️

Agora, copie o arquivo nrs.service para o diretório /etc/systemd/system/:

bash cp nrs.service /etc/systemd/system/

Recarregue os serviços e inicie o serviço nrs:

bash systemctl daemon-reload systemctl enable --now nrs.service

---

Passo 13: Configurar o Tor 🌐

Abra o arquivo de configuração do Tor /var/lib/tor/torrc e adicione a seguinte linha:

torrc HiddenServiceDir /var/lib/tor/nostr_server/ HiddenServicePort 80 127.0.0.1:3334

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Passo 14: Habilitar e Iniciar o Tor 🧅

Agora, ative e inicie o serviço Tor:

bash systemctl enable --now tor.service

O Tor irá gerar um endereço .onion para o seu servidor Nostr. Você pode encontrá-lo no arquivo /var/lib/tor/nostr_server/hostname.

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Observações ⚠️

• Com essa configuração, os dados serão salvos no pendrive, enquanto o binário ficará no cartão SD do Raspberry Pi.
• O endereço .onion do seu servidor Nostr será algo como: ws://y3t5t5wgwjif<exemplo>h42zy7ih6iwbyd.onion.

---

Agora, seu servidor Nostr deve estar configurado e funcionando com Tor! 🥳

Se este artigo e as informações aqui contidas forem úteis para você, convidamos a considerar uma doação ao autor como forma de reconhecimento e incentivo à produção de novos conteúdos.

@ 16d11430:61640947

In the grand tapestry of global history, few nations have endured and overcome with the resilience and grace of India. The centuries-long oppression wrought by colonialism not only plundered our material wealth but also sought to erode the dignity of our civilization. Today, while the political shackles have been cast off, the shadow of colonial mind games persists, manifesting as ridicule and prejudice toward the Indian diaspora. Yet, as heirs to an ancient and resilient culture, the diaspora must rise above this insidious narrative, reclaiming its agency and asserting its rightful place in the world.

The Colonial Playbook: Divide, Deride, and Demean

The strategy of the colonial enterprise was never limited to economic exploitation; it sought to demean the very essence of the colonized. Our history, culture, and achievements were systematically denigrated while a manufactured narrative of inferiority was imposed. That very playbook, though subtler in its contemporary iteration, remains at work today.

The Indian diaspora, as ambassadors of a thriving civilization, often finds itself targeted by the remnants of colonial prejudice—mocked for its accents, cuisine, and customs, and vilified for its success. Whether it is the ridicule of our English, tainted by colonial imposition, or the disparagement of our efforts to succeed in foreign lands, these tactics are nothing more than the echoes of a bygone era attempting to assert relevance in a world that has moved on.

A Legacy of Survival and Triumph

To endure is deeply etched into the DNA of the Indian psyche. We have weathered invasions, famines, and systematic subjugation with a fortitude that no conqueror could extinguish. The Indian diaspora, spread across continents, is the living embodiment of this indomitable spirit. It has flourished in the face of adversity, not by seeking vengeance, but by cultivating excellence in every field—science, medicine, literature, and technology—while retaining its cultural roots.

Today, Indian-origin CEOs helm some of the world's largest corporations. Indian doctors, engineers, and academics enrich societies across the globe. Yet, the colonial mind games persist, attempting to reduce these achievements to the stereotype of "over-ambition" or "cultural overreach." Such narratives are designed to diminish, to perpetuate the myth of the colonial superior.

Reclaiming the Narrative

The time has come for the Indian diaspora to reclaim the narrative, not with the bitterness of retribution but with the quiet confidence of a civilization that has seen the rise and fall of empires. The response to colonial mind games must be rooted in three key principles:

1. Pride in Heritage: The richness of Indian culture, from its philosophical traditions to its scientific advancements, is unparalleled. The diaspora must take pride in these achievements and articulate them with clarity and confidence.

2. Mastery of Communication: The colonial critique often begins with language. To counter this, the diaspora must wield English—not as a colonial relic, but as a tool reappropriated and mastered, blending it seamlessly with the wisdom of Sanskrit, Tamil, Hindi, and other mother tongues.

3. Unified Solidarity: The diversity of the Indian diaspora—spanning religions, languages, and regions—is its greatest strength. By standing united, the diaspora can amplify its voice and counter attempts to divide and diminish it.

The Enduring Legacy of Dharma

India's approach to the world has never been one of conquest but of engagement. From the dissemination of Buddhism to the world to the shared wisdom of yoga and Ayurveda, India's influence has always been through persuasion, not coercion. The diaspora must embody this dharmic ethos, rising above pettiness and prejudice, offering the world not retaliation, but enlightenment.

Victory Through Resilience

The colonial mind games that seek to ridicule and undermine the Indian diaspora are, in truth, a recognition of its success. They arise from the insecurities of those who once sought to subjugate, now witnessing the rise of a civilization they sought to diminish.

The Indian diaspora must endure not by stooping to the tactics of its detractors but by transcending them. The answer to colonial prejudice lies in excellence, unity, and an unshakable belief in the values that have guided India for millennia.

As we stride confidently into the future, let us remember: the spirit of India is not one of vengeance but of vindication. The triumph of the Indian diaspora will not be in silencing its critics but in rendering them irrelevant through the brilliance of its achievements and the dignity of its conduct. The time for enduring is over; the time for overcoming is now.

@ 28cac85f:54300cac

Reduction in Crime and Incarceration Rates: The war on drugs has often led to mass incarceration, particularly affecting minority communities. By decriminalizing drugs, the focus shifts from punishment to treatment, reducing the number of people in prison for drug possession. Portugal saw a significant decrease in drug-related incarceration following decriminalization. The proportion of the prison population held for drug offenses has decreased from over 40% in 2001 to around 15.7% by 2019, reducing the burden on the criminal justice system.

Public Health Over Criminal Justice: Treating drug use as a public health issue rather than a criminal one allows for better health outcomes. Portugal's model emphasizes harm reduction strategies like needle exchange programs, which have lowered rates of diseases like HIV and hepatitis C among drug users. There was a significant increase in the number of people entering drug treatment programs, with treatment admissions rising by about 60% from 1998 to 2011. New infections from needle sharing decreased dramatically, with HIV cases among drug users falling from an all-time high in 2000 to much lower rates by 2015.

Focus on Addiction Treatment: Legalization or decriminalization can free up resources (both financial and human) for addiction treatment rather than law enforcement. Portugal invested in treatment facilities and outreach programs, leading to an increase in people seeking help for addiction.

There has been a marked reduction in drug-related mortality. Overdose deaths dropped significantly from around 400 annually before decriminalization to much lower numbers in subsequent years.

Reducing Stigma: By removing criminal penalties, the stigma associated with drug use is diminished, encouraging more users to seek help without fear of legal repercussions. This can lead to earlier interventions in addiction. Drug use is now more widely seen as a health issue rather than a criminal one, which has helped reduce stigmatization and encourage people to seek help.

Economic Benefits: The costs associated with drug enforcement are substantial. Redirecting these funds towards education, prevention, and treatment can be more cost-effective in the long run. Additionally, regulated drug markets could generate tax revenue, although this aspect is more relevant if drugs are fully legalized rather than just decriminalized. The reduction in incarceration for drug offenses has potentially saved costs, allowing reallocation of funds towards health services and treatment.

Impact on Drug Market Violence: Much of the violence associated with drug markets stems from their illegal nature, leading to turf wars among dealers. Legal regulation can potentially reduce this violence by cutting out the black market.

Empirical Evidence: Portugal's experience since decriminalizing personal drug use in 2001 has shown positive trends. Drug-related deaths decreased, and there was no significant increase in drug use among the population, countering fears that decriminalization would lead to rampant drug use.

Human Rights Perspective: The criminalization of drug use has been criticized as a violation of human rights, disproportionately affecting the poor, minorities, and those with mental health issues. A health-centric approach respects human dignity and focuses on recovery.

Let's do this here in the US, why not?

@ 4d41a7cb:7d3633cc

Today is Bitcoin genesis block day, literally Bitcoin’s birthday number 16th. The purpose of this article is to deep dive into Bitcoin's beginnings, what it was meant to be, what its creator's incentives were, why the collaborators were interested in contributing to its success, and what Bitcoin is achieving.

Bitcoin exists to solve a problem.

The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust. Banks must be trusted to hold our money and transfer it electronically, but they lend it out in waves of credit bubbles with barely a fraction in reserve. We have to trust them with our privacy, trust them not to let identity thieves drain our accounts. Their massive overhead costs make micropayments impossible.

Satoshi Nakamoto, February 11, 2009

In this post, Satoshi reveals the main problem: central banking, how this institution has abused the trust we have put in them. Bitcoin is an alternative to a “broken” or corrupt monetary system that it’s been running and stealing from people for centuries, creating credit bubbles with their debt-based fractional reserve banking system

Ponzi nature of banking system

For those who don’t understand this system and its corrupt and inviable nature, think about it as a rigged musical chairs game.

When the music (trust in the banking system and its currency) is on, everyone is happy playing the economic game. Economic activity is soaring; we see new businesses, new products, cheap credit, high lending, asset prices inflate, and people consuming more (thus pushing the economic numbers higher). Everything seems to be okay. But then something happens.

Under this monetary game, deposits are chairs and depositors are players; as the game goes on, there are always more players than chairs or depositors than deposits because banks “lend” currency that they don’t have. When the music (trust in the bank) is stopped, the game is over, and many people lose their chairs (their deposit), creating deflationary recessions and economic crises.

When this happens, everything starts trending the exact opposite way. The economic activity starts slowing down, debt problems arise, bankruptcies occur, people lose their jobs and consume less, asset prices deflate, until the central bank intervenes and the cycle starts again.

This is officially known as the “economic cycle,” and it's sold to us as a natural phenomenon. But the truth is this is a pure central bank–artificially created cycle by monetary manipulation, as we can learn from the Austrian school of economics.

I call the central bankers the market wizards because they hold the lever to manipulate the economic game. They are the money masters, the financial alchemists, the kings of the economic and financial game of commerce where all economic agents operate under.

Bitcoin is a revolution against the central bank monarch, but Satoshi was not shouting about this to the four winds. He didn’t want to get attention before Bitcoin was strong enough, because it would have implied a great risk to its success. Central banks are the most powerful institutions on earth; they literally have the power to create currency in unlimited amounts and buy anything they need to maintain their monopoly.

If we need a more clear confirmation of this, we can look into the encrypted message that Satoshi left in the genesis block. To understand the genesis block, imagine a bookkeeping ledger that adds new pages (blocks) daily and contains a record of all bitcoin transactions ever made. The very first page of this book is called the genesis block.

Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks

Satoshi Nakamoto 03 January 2009

Here’s the newspaper cover he was making reference to.

In allusion to the bank bailouts that were taking place at the time, Satoshi included this intriguing line in the genesis block when he created Bitcoin during the Great Global Financial Crisis. In addition to providing the remedy, those who caused the issue (and profit from it) were making unprecedented profits. \ \ This game is about privatizing profits and socializing losses. This is the opposite of free markets and capitalism. It's clear that Satoshi Nakamoto, whomever he was, detested the established financial system. Since the Bank of England, which was the subject of this article, was established in 1694, we may trace the debt based fractional reserve banking system history back at least 331 years. \ \ This allusion to traditional banking's shortcomings was a declaration of what Bitcoin was trying to combat: fractional reserve banking and its consequences, which include debt, taxation, and inflation.

\ \ The bookkeepers \ \ In essence, banking and money management are bookkeeping, keeping track of who owns what and who owes what. Due to its revolutionary impact on accounting, Bitcoin has been dubbed "triple entry bookkeeping" by some. \ \ These days, banks are in charge of bookkeeping; they basically have the authority to make changes to the books and add new entries, or "print money." Inflation is basically a robber of time, energy, and wealth from everyone using that currency denomination, and banks are the ones who create it. Additionally, they have the ability to cause economic crises and market crashes for their own financial gain, making them deflation inductors. \ \ The incapacity of gold (real money) to meet the demands of a growing global economy gave banks this authority. They essentially became gold safe-keepers and gold IOU bookkeepers' ledgers because people trusted these organizations to provide scalability and lower the cost and risk of gold transactions. \ \ The purpose of banking was to enable credit and payments. Governments and banks did not create money. The free market determined the value of gold and silver, and people only trusted banknotes that were backed by gold. \ \ “Gold is money, everything else is credit" JP Morgan, 1912. \ \ Since banks began growing, they have sought to increase their size even more. When they discovered that the metal money system was restricting their ability to increase credit and bank profits, they literally plotted to seize control of the money market and overthrow governments by demonetizing these metals, effectively eliminating the demand for money in general and substituting it with debt and credit instruments. Essentially promissory notes issued by banks based on debt. \ \ "The borrower is a slave to the lender, and the wealthy dominate the poor”. Proverbs 22:7\ \ Human history is a chronicle of the literal plot by banks to enslave humanity, which resulted in hundreds of wars, thousands of assassinations, and the loss of millions of innocent lives in order to fulfill the banksters' objective of creating a global fractional reserve credit system. The currency that they decided to control? The term "U.S dollars" is frequently and incorrectly used to refer to Federal Reserve Notes. \ \ Slavery is essentially personified in this system. Slavery, in my opinion, is working for a currency that someone else can print without any effort or labor. This is the underlying cause of legal inequality. Theoretically, we live in a democracy and capitalist society where everyone is treated equally, but income taxes and central banking are vital components of the communist manifiesto. \ \ Where do we draw the boundary between a free human being and a slave citizen, given that this system directly violates private property rights? You are 100% slave when you pay 100% taxes, and 40% slave when you pay 40% taxes. It is being violently imposed upon you if it is not a voluntary business deal. Violence or the threat of losing your freedom are used to compel people to pay taxes. \ \ Natural law, often known as moral law, states that every person has the right to keep all of the fruits of their labor. However, this fraudulent financial system is robbing everyone of their means of trade, whether they are called coins, currencies, deposits, checks, etc. Furthermore, ceasing to feed a parasite is the only way to eradicate it. \ \ A purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash would allow online payments to be sent directly from one party to another without going through a financial institution.

Satoshi Nakamoto, October 31, 2008\ \ \ \ What backs fiat currencies?\ \ The worst aspect of this system is that it views people as collateral cattle for the currency's purchasing power. In essence, "government currencies" are credits of their corresponding debts, or government bonds, which are effectively secured by the government's “authority” to impose taxes on its populace. In essence, the government's power to compel its people to give them X percent of their income without providing them with equal recompense.

In essence, citizens' wealth is "baking" the government's debts. Since the currency cannot be exchanged for wealth at a particular rate, it is inaccurate to state that it is backed, thus I said "baking." However, if we must identify a valuable component of the currency, it is as follows: wealth and labor (i.e., human time and energy).

\ And what makes up this wealth? Among other things, land, homes, resources, businesses, and human time. They have demand for trade and exchanges because they make up half of every transaction. However, what do people trade more for currency? Energy and time. \ \ Those who can produce currency out of thin air with little effort (simply adding numbers to the bank ledger) can effectively steal from everyone else who has to labor and invest time and energy (real wealth), as most people exchange their time and energy for currency. Clearly, this is the root cause of inequality. \ \ Not only is this utterly immoral and unfair, but it gets worse. The worst aspect is not that they want to charge interest and can easily generate currency, but rather that they insist that WE repay them! \ \ What am I saying? Every currency unit's counterpart in government bonds is a public debt that generates compound interest on a continuous basis. There is a dollar due plus interest for every dollar that exists. In essence, this debt is a claim on the nation's wealth, which includes the labor (time and energy) and wealth of its citizens. \ \ And to whom is this debt owed? The banks. Therefore, if we apply common logic, it is easy to see that just as borrowers are slaves to lenders, governments and "we the people" are slaves to banks. \ \ However, what precisely do we owe? What kind of material have they given our governments? Is it wealth of any sort, whether it land, gold, or resources? No, it's not. is essentially a promissory note issued by a private bank, a document that serves as a means of exchange and may be produced in an infinite quantity. A counterfeit check.\ \ Global slavery to the banks is the price we pay for a scalable medium of exchange! \ \ And now we have a great substitute! \ \ To sum up, we spend our lives, precious time, energy, stress, suffering, and effort to obtain these currencies and pay our taxes, while another group sits there making up new reasons to add currency the ledger —also known as "printing digital money"—that we must repay plus interest! It's crazy. \ \ The worst aspect is that because the debt exceeds the amount of money in circulation due to compound interest, which keeps accruing and increasing the loan's size, it is mathematically impossible to pay back.\ \ It is equivalent to burning the currency because we pay taxes to cover the interest on an ever-increasing debt that we are unable to pay back. A black hole for taxpayer funds, debt-based currencies are essentially human slavery that is supported by banks and maintained by governments. \ \ Why isn't everyone voicing their disapproval and exposing this? The answer is brainwashing and a lack of knowledge. Much of this has been concealed or esoteric, and a major contributing factor to this blind spot is the misinformation we receive regarding the operation of this system. In order to play the game the way they want us to and avoid the game ending anytime soon, we are given a children's interpretation of human history and reality. \ \ \ Libertarianism\ \ Bitcoin's libertarian nature cannot be disregarded; even Satoshi acknowledged this when he stated:\ \ It’s very attractive to the libertarian viewpoint if we can explain it properly.\ I’m better with code than with words though.

Satoshi Nakamoto, November 14, 2008\ \ Libertarianism is a political philosophy that holds freedom and liberty as primary values. Many libertarians conceive of freedom in accord with the Non-Aggression Principle, according to which each individual has the right to live as they choose, so long as it does not involve violating the rights of others by initiating force or fraud against them.

Libertarians advocate for the expansion of individual autonomy and political self-determination, emphasizing the principles of equality before the law and the protection of civil rights, including the rights to freedom of association, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of choice. They generally support individual liberty and oppose authority, state power, warfare, militarism and nationalism, but some libertarians diverge on the scope and nature of their opposition to existing economic and political systems. 1\ \ Here are several arguments in favor of Bitcoin's libertarian nature. \ \ Non-Aggression Principle: Unlike taxes and fiat currencies, which are supported by state aggression, Bitcoin is supported by energy, math, and processing power. The monopoly of violence “belongs” to governments, and banks use this authority to compel everyone to follow their rules (I'm talking about business). \ \ Personal independence: Bitcoin doesn't require confidence and doesn't have counterparty risk. With bitcoin, the person has complete control over his finances and doesn't require "permission" from a third party to earn, save, or spend it. Bitcoin is referred to be "freedom money" for this reason. \ \ Equality before the law: Unlike the actual banking system, where a group can create money out of thin air with little effort and can alter the rules to suit their interests, the bitcoin protocol ensures that everyone is playing by the same rules and that there is no possibility of cheating or inflating the supply of bitcoin. Equality exists under the Bitcoin protocol. \ \ Indeed there is nobody to act as central bank or federal reserve to adjust the money supply as the population of users grows.\ Satoshi Nakamoto, Febrero 18, 2009\ \ Freedom of speech: To uphold justice and the truth in an era of widespread censorship, freedom of speech is an essential human right. The fact that Bitcoin is information also fits into this category; money is a means of conveying value, but this time in an unstoppable manner that is impervious to censorship. \ \ Freedom of thought: Using bitcoin does not require you to subscribe to any particular philosophy or set of beliefs, including libertarianism or anarchism. Bitcoin is unbiased and doesn't care. \ \ Freedom of choice: Unlike fiat currencies, where you frequently have no other choice, no one will compel you to use bitcoin. \ \ Libertarians reject the current political and economic structures because they are blatantly immoral, criminal, and illegitimate. It is "shaped" by indoctrinated mob rule democracies, supported by violence, and based on lies.

Bitcoin's ascent \ \ Bitcoin wasn't created overnight; rather, it was the result of decades' worth of research, development, and technology. Above all else, however, bitcoin represented a breakthrough—a new method of accomplishing tasks that had previously been impossible. \ \ A lot of people automatically dismiss e-currency as a lost cause because of all the companies that failed since the 1990's. I hope it's obvious it was only the centrally controlled nature of those systems that doomed them. I think this is the first time we're trying a decentralized, non-trust-based system.

Satoshi Nakamoto, Febrero 15, 2009\ \ Due to their centralization and unique points of failure, all of the numerous attempts to implement alternative e-currencies failed. The distributed nature of the bitcoin network makes it more robust and challenging to attack. \ \ The secret to developing a decentralized unchangeable ledger was Satoshi's solution to a problem that had been thought to be intractable since the 1970s. Following years of failure and lessons learned, Satoshi established a finite amount of money that is governed by processing power and energy.\ \ The proof-of-work chain is a solution to the Byzantine Generals Problem.\ Satoshi Nakamoto, Febrero 15, 2009

The return of money \ \ Bitcoin has also had a significant impact on the monetary front, particularly on the system's capacity to function as money and not simply a currency. It has been shown to be the best store of value (SOV) in addition to being an excellent medium of exchange (MOE).

Since currencies replaced money during the last century, we have lost track of what money is. And in order to protect our wealth, we need to be aware of the important distinctions between these technologies. \ \ A currency must be recognized, divisible, fungible, portable, and widely accepted in order to function as a medium of exchange. \ \ All of those qualities are present in money, but it also has the capacity to hold value over time, and it must be scarce in order to function as a store of value. A currency, in contrast to money, is susceptible to inflation due to its ease of replication. This is the cause of the constant price increases. \ \ The money supply needs to be scarce in order to preserve its purchasing power over time (i.e., to be immune to inflation). For thousands of years, gold and silver have been the preferred forms of money. \ \ At first, paper currency was only used to facilitate transitions by serving as a convenient alternative (derivative) to precious metals. Since goldsmiths and subsequent bankers used fractional reserve banking to lend more money (i.e., print more paper currency) than they actually had in storage, paper currencies—which are easily reproducible—have always been vulnerable to inflation. This resulted in the recurring "bank run" crises that are documented throughout history.\ \ But before bitcoin, we didn't have any money since 1933 because banks had taken it and devalued it. Real state, stocks, bonds, and other choices had been selected as alternatives due to the absence of money (a store of value). People buy real estate, stocks, and bonds to protect their wealth because fiat currencies are continually being inlfated, not because they love them. \ \ An estimated 900 trillion dollars' worth of wealth is held in financial and tangible assets worldwide. \ \ In real state, 330 trillions (36.6%)\ \ Bonds worth 300 billions (33.3%)\ \ Currency totaling 120 trillions (13.3%)\ \ Equity of 115 trillions (12,7%)\ \ Art worth 18 billions (2%)\ \ Gold worth 16 trillions (1,77%)\ \ Automobiles and collectibles worth 6 trillions (0,66%)\ \ Bitcoin worth two trillions (0,22%)\ \ Bitcoin only makes up about 0.22% of the world's total wealth. The greatest money ever created, property that you can actually own, with a sovereign protocol, no counterparty risk, a limited supply (better than scarce), and no need for banks or governments. Freedom money is unaffected by debt, taxes, or inflation. \ \ A bitcoin market cap of x10 ($1,000,000) would represent 2,22% of the world's wealth, and a market cap of x100 ($10,000,000) would represent 22,22%. \ \ The denominator, the dollar, is always losing value since it is created infinitely by continuously increasing the debt supply, and wealth is not fixed—rather, it is eternally increasing. According to CBNC the U.S. national debt is rising by $1 trillion about every 100 days.

Bitcoin is energy \ \ Bankers and significant international leaders are aware that energy is the foundation of all human activity. They are aware that they must control the energy sources, including their supply, distribution, and price, in order to establish a monopoly over every industry and a system of slave labor. They even clarified in several released documents that this is the only way to engineer the global economy.

:Silent Weapons for Quiet Wars explains:

In order to achieve such sovereignty, we must at least achieve this one end: that the public will not make either the logical or mathematical connection between economics and the other energy sciences or learn to apply such knowledge.

It is only a matter of time before the new breed of private programmer/economists will catch on to the far-reaching implications of the work begun at Harvard in 1948. The speed with which they can communicate their warning to the public will largely depend upon how effective we have been at controlling the media, subverting education, and keeping the public distracted with matters of no real importance.

The Harvard Economic Research Project (1948-) was an extension of World War II Operations Research. Its purpose was to discover the science of controlling an economy: at first the American economy, and then the world economy. It was felt that with sufficient mathematical foundation and data, it would be nearly as easy to predict and control the trend of an economy as to predict and control the trajectory of a projectile. Such has proven to be the case. Moreover, the economy has been transformed into a guided missile on target.

As we can see, the actual monetary system was created as a system of control (SOC), which is essentially founded on thievery and has restrictions, barriers, closed doors, a lack of transparency, and different rules for different actors. Through fabricated inflation and economic crises, it has been stealing our riches and freedom and controlling not just the electrical supply but also the social energies of humanity. (Inductors and economic conductors)\ \ However, Bitcoin is restoring our freedom. A way to make money, save it, and spend it without any restrictions, inflation, or capricious regulations. A novel kind of property that is not dependent on a counterparty, like banks or governments, and that requires energy to manufacture rather than being formed spontaneously.

Bitcoin generation should end up where it's cheapest. Maybe that will be in cold climates where there's electric heat, where it would be essentially free.

Satoshi Nakamoto, August, 2010

This fact is key to unlock the benefits of deflation that had been opaqued by the artificially created inflation.

Natural deflation

The primary benefit of bitcoin is deflation. Deflation incentives people to delay consumption and save more. Saving is the key to economic growth, because it can help to increase investment and productivity.

With the increase in productivity, prices tend to go down as they are more abundant and we find cheaper ways to produce thanks to technology.

The only reason that prices are not going down today -except in products where improvements are very rapid (e.g., computers)- is because of government-caused-currency inflation.

They have been stealing the benefits of natural deflation from us, but now we can access it thanks to Bitcoin.

It might make sense just to get some in case it catches on. If enough people think the same way, that becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

Satoshi Nakamoto, 1/17/2009

Conclusion

To only way to scape the slavery system is to earn, save and spend bitcoin; a money that’s not controlled by the governments and banks, that is not subject to inflation and where everyone has to play under the same rules.

Happy birthday Bitcoin!

Bitcoin or Slavery!

@ 13bb52c0:7a8bd512

¡Ya Tenemos un nuevo dominio https://VEINTIUNO.BTC.pub!

@ 6389be64:ef439d32

Black Locust can grow up to 170 ft tall

Grows 3-4 ft. per year

Native to North America

Cold hardy in zones 3 to 8

Firewood

• BLT wood, on a pound for pound basis is roughly half that of Anthracite Coal
• Since its growth is fast, firewood can be plentiful

Timber

• Rot resistant due to a naturally produced robinin in the wood
  • 100 year life span in full soil contact! (better than cedar performance)
  • Fence posts
  • Outdoor furniture
  • Outdoor decking
• Sustainable due to its fast growth and spread
  • Can be coppiced (cut to the ground)
  • Can be pollarded (cut above ground)
• Its dense wood makes durable tool handles, boxes (tool), and furniture
  • The wood is tougher than hickory, which is tougher than hard maple, which is tougher than oak.
  • A very low rate of expansion and contraction
  • Hardwood flooring
  • The highest tensile beam strength of any American tree
• The wood is beautiful

Legume

• Nitrogen fixer
  • Fixes the same amount of nitrogen per acre as is needed for 200-bushel/acre corn
  • Black walnuts inter-planted with locust as “nurse” trees were shown to rapidly increase their growth [[Clark, Paul M., and Robert D. Williams. (1978) Black walnut growth increased when interplanted with nitrogen-fixing shrubs and trees. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, vol. 88, pp. 88-91.]]

Bees

• The edible flower clusters are also a top food source for honey bees

Shade Provider

• Its light, airy overstory provides dappled shade
  • Planted on the west side of a garden it provides relief during the hottest part of the day
  • (nitrogen provider)
  • Planted on the west side of a house, its quick growth soon shades that side from the sun

Wind-break

• Fast growth plus it's feathery foliage reduces wind for animals, crops, and shelters

Fodder

• Over 20% crude protein
• 4.1 kcal/g of energy
• Baertsche, S.R, M.T. Yokoyama, and J.W. Hanover (1986) Short rotation, hardwood tree biomass as potential ruminant feed-chemical composition, nylon bag ruminal degradation and ensilement of selected species. J. Animal Sci. 63 2028-2043

@ 16d11430:61640947

In the dystopian wasteland of tech we call the "crypto space," where tokenomics is a euphemism for Ponzi schemes and the word “decentralized” is abused like a buzzword-shaped piñata, software engineers—real ones—struggle to survive. I’m not talking about the low-effort devs churning out Solidity copy-pasta for the next Insert-Adjective-Coin. No, I mean the overexperienced, underpaid, and utterly exhausted professionals who used to build things that mattered—systems that could scale, products that solved problems, applications that didn’t have to slap "on-chain" on their name to justify their existence.

Now? Honest conversations about software design, scalability, or—God forbid—ethics, are impossible. Why? Because the room is full of crypto zealots whose job descriptions boil down to "pump my bags or GTFO."

---

Enter the Zealots: The New Pyramid Architects

Walk into any crypto meeting, and you’ll find the same characters. The "visionary" founder with a LinkedIn bio that could double as a scammer’s résumé. The "community manager" whose job is to slap rocket emojis on tweets about nothing. And the "blockchain developer" who doesn’t know the difference between O(n) and "Oh, nice, this whitepaper has pretty graphs."

Now, try having an honest discussion with this crowd.

You: "This app doesn’t need a blockchain. A SQL database would handle this faster, cheaper, and more securely." Them: "Actually, by using our Layer 2 token, we're decentralizing freedom, empowering communities, and disrupting the financial matrix." Translation: "Our tokenomics scheme will siphon liquidity from suckers while pretending to solve a non-existent problem."

If you dare to mention Bitcoin—real Bitcoin, not some Frankenstein monstrosity glued to a shitcoin L2—you’ll get branded a heretic. "But Bitcoin can’t do smart contracts!" they cry, as if adding complexity to simplicity is a virtue, not a design flaw.

---

The Tokenomics Scam: Why Engineers Hate Their Lives

Here's the dirty secret: most crypto projects are not software projects. They’re marketing scams with some code sprinkled on top. The goal isn’t to build something robust or meaningful—it’s to create just enough technical smoke and mirrors to dupe investors into buying the token.

For a software engineer, it’s soul-crushing work. You’ll spend 80% of your time wrestling with poorly documented APIs on some vaporware blockchain, 15% explaining to your PM why "put it on-chain" is a stupid idea, and the remaining 5% wondering why you didn’t just go into carpentry instead.

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Bitcoin: The Elephant in the Room

Every real engineer knows that Bitcoin works. It’s simple. It’s secure. It’s elegant. But because it doesn’t have a flashy CEO or a billion-dollar marketing budget, the average crypto enthusiast treats it like a relic. "It’s too slow," they’ll say, without understanding why Proof-of-Work exists. "It’s too basic," they’ll argue, as if simplicity is a flaw and not the reason Bitcoin has remained unbroken for over a decade.

Meanwhile, these same zealots will praise the latest shitcoin L2 that "fixes" Bitcoin by adding layers of complexity that require endless token sales to function. Never mind that these systems are riddled with attack vectors. Never mind that the "innovation" usually amounts to reinventing centralized finance, only worse. It’s not about building better systems; it’s about spinning a better narrative.

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The Undervalued CTO: A Study in Pain

And where does that leave the senior engineer, the architect, the CTO who’s been around long enough to smell the bullshit from a mile away? Stuck in endless meetings where you’re forced to explain to the same wide-eyed MBAs why the laws of physics and computer science apply to blockchains, too. Worse, your paycheck is probably being paid in tokens that are only worth something if you can stomach shilling them to the next sucker.

The most depressing part? The zealots don’t even know they’re part of the scam. They’ve convinced themselves that they’re "building the future" when all they’re really building is a pyramid, one token sale at a time.

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A Modest Proposal: Burn It All Down

Here’s an idea: let’s strip crypto down to what works. Keep Bitcoin. Scrap everything else. Rebuild the internet of value on solid foundations, not speculative hype. Let engineers, not marketers, lead the way.

Until then, we’ll keep trudging along, writing code for projects we don’t believe in, pretending that decentralizing dog grooming or tokenizing air molecules is the next big thing. Because, let’s face it, in crypto, the only thing that scales reliably is bullshit.

@ 714f9dc3:76659adb

Last week, I was reading “The Air We Breathe”, by Glen Scrivener. It’s about “How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality”, and it explores the Christian roots of the values we prize in today's western society. It’s all around us, but we don’t really know where it came from: It’s the air we’re breathing. The ideas and ethics behind Christianity, whether you believe in them or not, are embedded in our culture.

As I was reading this, I saw so many parallels with Bitcoin, so wanted to list them below and share some of my thoughts. Can Bitcoin also become “The Air We Breathe”? Or in plebs words: hyperbitcoinization? Can Bitcoin become so ubiquitous that it becomes normal? Can there be a world in which we don’t even know where Bitcoin came from? It would be a world with many similar views as with today's view on Christianity. It becomes the air we breathe, something that used to be a counterculture that over time became ubiquitous. What can we learn from it?

These are my ten parallels of Bitcoin with the early days of Christianity. 1. Separation from state 2. From obscure counterculture to dominant force 3. Exponential grassroots growth 4. Conversion of emperors/politicians 5. Sudden tolerance and protection for ideology 6. Fall of the empire, end of the status quo 7. Missionaries spreading the word 8. Persuasion and education are key 9. Age of Enlightenment

Note: I’m no expert on Christianity, nor a historian of the Roman Empire, and I know just a bit about Bitcoin. See this as a thought experiment.

1. Separation from state In all fairness, I’m not the first to draw this first parallel. It was Satoshi Nakamoto themself who made the connection even before Bitcoin was available to the public, with several hints pointing back to important dates and moments in Christian history. The big parallel here is the “separation of money and state” and “separation of church and state”.

Before going back to the early days of Christianity in the first centuries AD, I first want to draw this parallel with Satoshi.

It’s 1517. The German Priest Maarten Luther writes his Ninety-five Theses, and nails this on the church doors in Wittenberg. The theses are also known as the “Disputation on the Power and Efficacy of Indulgences”. He kickstarted a movement with a radical new idea for that time: The separation of the church from the state.

The Catholic Church had become one with the state. Via the means of indulgences, there was an ability to pay for your redemption. The church was corrupted by money, power and politics. The church and indulgences replaced the need for personal responsibility and an individual faith with money and perverse structures.

Reformation Day is a Protestant Christian religious holiday celebrated on 31 October in remembrance of the onset of the Reformation. But the 31st of October is also the day in which Satoshi shared his pamphlet with the world: in 2008 they published the Bitcoin Whitepaper. It kickstarted a movement with a radical new idea for that time: The separation of the money from the state.

But this was not Satoshi’s only hint. Another one is the date of Bitcoin’s Genesis Block: January 3, 2009. It was the day that the idea of the separation of money and the state became reality, more than just an idea in an individual's mind.

Did you know that Maarten Luther was excommunicated from the Catholic Church in 1521 by Pope Leo X for sparking this revolutionary new way of thinking (and being). It happened on January 3 as well. I bet Satoshi Nakamoto knew.

To be fair, this parallel is not new and known by many bitcoiners. But it’s a good introduction to the topic, and after reading “The Air We Breathe: How We All Came to Believe in Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality”, I automatically started to see more parallels between (the early days of) Christianity and todays adoption of Bitcoin. Because it was of course not Maarten Luther who sparked these rebellious thoughts in 1500, but it was Jesus himself approx. 2000 years ago.

Let’s go back from the 1500s to the first decades AD to the beginning of this radical new belief system. During the dominance of the Roman empire in the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa, someone told a story that opposed every mainstream paradigm.

Jesus’ idea was radically different from the belief systems of that day. He preached Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality in a world that was full of Debauchery and Violence, with Gladiator Games, Slavery, Public Crucifixion, and Brutalities. The belief system of that time was not like todays. There were superior races (Greek/Romans over barbarians), superior sexes (man over women), superior classes (free man over slaves) and the concept of justice was more something in the realm of “restoring rights of those that were superior”, than “equality for all, men and women, Greek and barbarian, free and slave”.

Jesus opposed the status quo. It started small and irrelevant; as a counterculture. But it didn’t stay that way.

2. From obscure counterculture to dominant force In “The Air We Breathe”, Scrivener asks the question: “How did the obscure, marginal Jesus movement of the 1st century become the dominant religious force in the Western world in a few centuries?”

Important to know, is that the Christian faith was the opposite of the narrative. Concepts like Freedom, Kindness, Progress, and Equality didn’t exist in the Roman Empire. Human rights neither. Individual rights neither. The emperor was almost de facto God himself.

Early Christians were persecuted for preaching a different story: that God is NOT the ruler of the empire. Jesus preached the separation of politics from God; separating faith from the state. As a result, he was crucified, and many of his followers were killed by Nero (between 54 and 68 AD), Domitian (81–96 AD), Trajan (98–117 AD) and Decius (249–251 AD). This new narrative was a thread for the Roman rulers.

Draw the parallels of how there have been many attempts to “kill” bitcoin, not with physical persecution but with an information war. Not by physical violence, but by misinformation. Bitcoin threatens the status quo, just like Christianity threatened the Roman Empire.

You see?

But how is the obscure movement of Bitcoin in the 20th century becoming the dominant force, similar to the question that Scrivener asked about Christianity? Perhaps the answer lies in the following parallel.

3. Exponential grassroots growth Sociologist Rodney Stark estimates in “The Rise of Christianity” that from the time of the first Easter, the church began growing at a rate of 40% per decade, a modest but relentless 3.4% per year. By the year 300, Christians numbered perhaps 6 million: about a tenth of the empire.

Despite pushbacks, the army of believers continued to grow. Grassroots, peer-to-peer. It was not the state-religion, it was a peaceful army of believers that spread the word, resulting in an exponential growth of its followers. The counterculture became more and more dominant.

You may see what I’m doing here. It was basically the meme that all Bitcoiners know: Gradually, then suddenly. Against the current.

4. Conversion of emperors/politicians In 312 a big change happened: Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity. As Stark writes, "Constantine's conversion would better be seen as a response to the massive exponential wave in progress, not as its cause".

Are we living in that same era, where nation states start to embrace Bitcoin? Where politicians don’t oppose as strongly anymore, but are flirting with the idea of embracing it? And again the parallel: it’s responsive to the exponential wave of progress, not as its cause.

Whether Constantine is Nayib Bukele, Donald Trump, or Milei: it doesn’t matter. It’s the dynamic that matters. The counterculture becomes so dominant, that the “rulers” of the world are wanting to be part of it. Which will be followed by “rules” that favour the ideology, movement, and beliefs.

5. Tolerance and protection for ideology In 313 Constatines Edict of Milan granted freedom to Christians that were remarkable for that time and a model for religious toleration for the coming centuries.

The tide was turning, and by 380 Emperor Theodosius made Christianity Rome's official religion, more than half the population had already converted. In a few short centuries Christianity had gone from radical counterculture to dominant cultural power. This was an extraordinary shift in the church's relationship with the world. The edict expressly grants religious liberty to Christians, who had been the object of special persecution, but also goes even further and grants liberty to all other religions. And then, in 410, the world itself changed.

It changed from grassroots, bottom-up adoption to some kind of nation state adoption. One that was driven by decrees and edicts, instead of the analog cyberhornets of that day. Actually, the ideas of Indulgences were introduced via these Edicts, something that Maarten Luther actually was fighting against in the 1500s.

The world changed from the state-less Christian belief and moved (back) towards a system in which the state and church were connected again. Yes — the Roman Catholic Church. Until the previously mentioned critics during the Reformation.

6. Fall of the empire, end of the status quo When people speak of the fall of the Roman Empire, they usually mean in the 5th century when the western half fell. But there was also an eastern half, known as the Byzantine Empire (with its capital in what is modern-day Istanbul).

How did this relate to the movement that once was Cult, and now suddenly had become Culture?

It was Augustine, the north African bishop (354-430), who laid the foundation for a new philosophical, theological, and legal system. He distinguished between the fragile earthly realm and the eternal heavenly kingdom. Rome was “a city of man”, which fell. But the “city of God” was forever. He continued to separate the Roman Catholic Church from the faith that it once was. This distinction was vital, and it gave rise to the concept of "the secular realm". He planted the first ideas of "the separation of church and state" again, which started to spread throughout Europe during the supposedly "sandy desert" of the Middle Ages.

The parallel and lesson here might be that narratives can be taken over, for the worse. And that it takes centuries to take back the narrative, but/and only after an empire has fallen. Whether we refer to “The Fourth Turning” by William Strauss and Neil Howe or “Changing World Orders” by Ray Dalio. There is something to preserve, and it needs active monitoring and pushbacks!

7. Missionary, spreading the word The way the church sought to spread its influence would become a question that would take many centuries (and many failures) to settle. In the past, empires sought to spread their influence almost always by force. Christianity has been a missionary faith from the beginning. It was for this reason that Pope Gregory the Great sent Augustine to Britain to convert the Anglo-Saxons.

Augustine was commanded by Gregory to use only "gentle means". His goal was persuasion. His method was teaching and preaching. And he was successful, converting King Aethelbert of Kent and becoming the first Archbishop of Canterbury.

You see what I’m talking about again: the parallel is simple. Bitcoin is a similar peaceful revolution, a missionary movement, of those that wish to see their Cult turn into a Culture. “Genle means”, teachings, persuasions. Or in pleb terminology: Orangepilling.

8. Persuasion and education are key Over the next decades and centuries, this movement continued. English Benedictine monk (675-754) Boniface was sent from the previously “barbarian” Britain to “orangepill the East” – in this case the Saxons in the Germanic lands. In the words of his advisor, the Bishop of Winchester, his goal was "to convince them by many documents and arguments". This mission of persuasion and education was largely successful. Today he’s better known as “the Apostle to the Germans". He was killed in The Netherlands (Dokkum).

Boniface kept to a policy of non-violence and non-retaliation, even to the point of death. Another famous writer about this topic, Tom Holland, summarises the lesson we learn from Boniface: "to convert was to educate".

In the following century this lesson was sorely needed by the Frankish king Charles the Great, aka Charlemagne (742-814). Charlemagne's path to power was a brutal one. When the Saxons stood in his way, Charlemagne beheaded 4,500 of them in a single day. There are concrete reasons why "getting medieval" might be associated today with brutality.

Is “Bitcoin as Legal Tender”, whether this is peaceful or violently, the way to go? Are we “getting medieval” with these kind of measures, in order to go from Cult to Culture, from counterculture to dominant culture, in which we lose the true essence of our revolution of separation of the state from the matter?

9. Age of Enlightenment Alcuin of York (735-804), was bold enough to write to Charlemagne directly with his criticism. "A person can be drawn into the faith, not forced into it". Be a lighthouse, not a tugboat!

The church's official teaching would later agree with Alcuin's position. In the 12th century all "harsh means" were forbidden since faith arises from the will, not compulsion. Enlightenment comes through education and persuasion.

There’s work to do. Grassroots. Education. Peer-to-peer. Not directed by politicians, nor opposed by those in power. Through education and persuasion. Rules without rulers. Because eventually, with the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, there are stark examples of the church using “harsh means" again. Forcing Bitcoin on people will never be the way: it’s a cheat code to the end goal. In order to succeed, we’ll need to be a missionary.

Final words I don’t want in any way to compare Christianity in itself as a faith, and Bitcoin as a technology, with each other. I enjoyed exploring the sociological phenomena between two countercultures, the grassroots movement and missionary parallels between both of them. Satoshi gave the first assist, with the 31st of October (Whitepaper Day) and the Genesis Block on January 3rd.

Let’s not mix religion with monetary systems, even though there are many similarities between certain movements. That’s not my goal for sharing this brain dump. But let’s learn from the past, from Constatine’s Edict and from Augustine, from Charlemagne (and especially Alcuin of York), from Boniface and from Maarten Luther. And from Satoshi Nakamoto.

@ df476244:6804e458

Markdown: Syntax

• Markdown: Syntax
• Overview
  • Philosophy
• Block Elements
  • Paragraphs and Line Breaks
  • Headers
  • Blockquotes
  • Lists
  • Code Blocks
• Span Elements
  • Links
  • Emphasis
  • Code

Note: This document is itself written using Markdown; you can see the source for it by viewing the raw basic.md file.

---

Overview

Philosophy

Markdown is intended to be as easy-to-read and easy-to-write as is feasible.

Readability, however, is emphasized above all else. A Markdown-formatted document should be publishable as-is, as plain text, without looking like it's been marked up with tags or formatting instructions. While Markdown's syntax has been influenced by several existing text-to-HTML filters -- including Setext, atx, Textile, reStructuredText, Grutatext, and EtText -- the single biggest source of inspiration for Markdown's syntax is the format of plain text email.

Block Elements

Paragraphs and Line Breaks

A paragraph is simply one or more consecutive lines of text, separated by one or more blank lines. (A blank line is any line that looks like a blank line -- a line containing nothing but spaces or tabs is considered blank.) Normal paragraphs should not be indented with spaces or tabs.

The implication of the "one or more consecutive lines of text" rule is that Markdown supports "hard-wrapped" text paragraphs. This differs significantly from most other text-to-HTML formatters (including Movable Type's "Convert Line Breaks" option) which translate every line break character in a paragraph into a <br /> tag.

When you do want to insert a <br /> break tag using Markdown, you end a line with two or more spaces, then type return.

Headers

Markdown supports two styles of headers, [Setext] [1] and [atx] [2].

Optionally, you may "close" atx-style headers. This is purely cosmetic -- you can use this if you think it looks better. The closing hashes don't even need to match the number of hashes used to open the header. (The number of opening hashes determines the header level.)

Blockquotes

Markdown uses email-style > characters for blockquoting. If you're familiar with quoting passages of text in an email message, then you know how to create a blockquote in Markdown. It looks best if you hard wrap the text and put a > before every line:

This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

Markdown allows you to be lazy and only put the > before the first line of a hard-wrapped paragraph:

This is a blockquote with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.

Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

Blockquotes can be nested (i.e. a blockquote-in-a-blockquote) by adding additional levels of >:

This is the first level of quoting.

This is nested blockquote.

Back to the first level.

Blockquotes can contain other Markdown elements, including headers, lists, and code blocks:

This is a header.

1. This is the first list item.
2. This is the second list item.

Here's some example code:

return shell_exec("echo $input | $markdown_script");

Any decent text editor should make email-style quoting easy. For example, with BBEdit, you can make a selection and choose Increase Quote Level from the Text menu.

Lists

Markdown supports ordered (numbered) and unordered (bulleted) lists.

Unordered lists use asterisks, pluses, and hyphens -- interchangably -- as list markers:

• Red
• Green
• Blue

is equivalent to:

• Red
• Green
• Blue

and:

• Red
• Green
• Blue

Ordered lists use numbers followed by periods:

1. Bird
2. McHale
3. Parish

It's important to note that the actual numbers you use to mark the list have no effect on the HTML output Markdown produces. The HTML Markdown produces from the above list is:

If you instead wrote the list in Markdown like this:

1. Bird
2. McHale
3. Parish

or even:

1. Bird
2. McHale
3. Parish

you'd get the exact same HTML output. The point is, if you want to, you can use ordinal numbers in your ordered Markdown lists, so that the numbers in your source match the numbers in your published HTML. But if you want to be lazy, you don't have to.

To make lists look nice, you can wrap items with hanging indents:

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.
• Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

But if you want to be lazy, you don't have to:

• Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus. Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus.
• Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

List items may consist of multiple paragraphs. Each subsequent paragraph in a list item must be indented by either 4 spaces or one tab:

1. This is a list item with two paragraphs. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Aliquam hendrerit mi posuere lectus.

   Vestibulum enim wisi, viverra nec, fringilla in, laoreet vitae, risus. Donec sit amet nisl. Aliquam semper ipsum sit amet velit.

2. Suspendisse id sem consectetuer libero luctus adipiscing.

It looks nice if you indent every line of the subsequent paragraphs, but here again, Markdown will allow you to be lazy:

• This is a list item with two paragraphs.

  This is the second paragraph in the list item. You're only required to indent the first line. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit.

• Another item in the same list.

To put a blockquote within a list item, the blockquote's > delimiters need to be indented:

• A list item with a blockquote:

  This is a blockquote inside a list item.

To put a code block within a list item, the code block needs to be indented twice -- 8 spaces or two tabs:

• A list item with a code block:

  <code goes here>
  

Code Blocks

Pre-formatted code blocks are used for writing about programming or markup source code. Rather than forming normal paragraphs, the lines of a code block are interpreted literally. Markdown wraps a code block in both <pre> and <code> tags.

To produce a code block in Markdown, simply indent every line of the block by at least 4 spaces or 1 tab.

This is a normal paragraph:

This is a code block.

Here is an example of AppleScript:

tell application "Foo"
    beep
end tell

A code block continues until it reaches a line that is not indented (or the end of the article).

Within a code block, ampersands (&) and angle brackets (< and >) are automatically converted into HTML entities. This makes it very easy to include example HTML source code using Markdown -- just paste it and indent it, and Markdown will handle the hassle of encoding the ampersands and angle brackets. For example, this:

<div class="footer">
    &copy; 2004 Foo Corporation
</div>

Regular Markdown syntax is not processed within code blocks. E.g., asterisks are just literal asterisks within a code block. This means it's also easy to use Markdown to write about Markdown's own syntax.

tell application "Foo" beep end tell

Span Elements

Links

Markdown supports two style of links: inline and reference.

In both styles, the link text is delimited by [square brackets].

To create an inline link, use a set of regular parentheses immediately after the link text's closing square bracket. Inside the parentheses, put the URL where you want the link to point, along with an optional title for the link, surrounded in quotes. For example:

This is [an example](http://example.com/ "Example Title") inline link.

This is an example inline link.

[This link](http://example.net/) has no title attribute.

This link has no title attribute.

Reference-style links use a second set of square brackets, inside which you place a label of your choosing to identify the link:

This is [an example][id] reference-style link.

This is an example reference-style link.

Then, anywhere in the document, you define your link label like this, on a line by itself:

```

```

Emphasis

Markdown treats asterisks (*) and underscores (_) as indicators of emphasis. Text wrapped with one * or _ will be wrapped with an HTML <em> tag; double *'s or _'s will be wrapped with an HTML <strong> tag. E.g., this input:

single asterisks

single underscores

double asterisks

double underscores

Code

To indicate a span of code, wrap it with backtick quotes (`). Unlike a pre-formatted code block, a code span indicates code within a normal paragraph. For example:

Use the printf() function.

@ 3906af02:af15c9f4

NEW: HRF #Bitcoin Development Fund grants 700 million satoshis to 20 projects worldwide!

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/human-rights-foundation-donates-700000000-satoshis-to-fund-bitcoin-development-and-projects

The grants cover decentralized #Bitcoin mining, technical education, decentralized communications, independent media & privacy-enhanced financial solutions for human rights groups, focusing on key regions in Latin America, Asia, and Africa 🌍🌏🌎🎁

Grants include:

🛠️ Stratum V2 Reference Implementation (SRI) decentralizes #Bitcoin mining by allowing nodes create their own block templates, reducing reliance on large pools. Funds will support @bit-aloo’s work on SRI including benchmarking tools, integration tests & codebase maintenance

⛏️ Public Pool makes #Bitcoin mining accessible for low-hash-rate devices, empowering individuals to self-host mining servers & contribute to decentralization. Funds will support hosting costs, hardware upgrades, & operational expenses.

🛠️ Jon Atack, recognized as one of the top all-time contributors to #Bitcoin Core, plays a pivotal role in enhancing Bitcoin’s decentralization and robustness. Funds will empower him to continue his vital contributions to Bitcoin development

👩🏿‍💻 Naiyoma, the first female #Bitcoin Core developer from Africa. Her work focuses on reviewing pull requests (PRs), addressing bugs through new PRs & improving Bitcoin Core’s codebase. Funds will support her full-time contributions to advancing Bitcoin Core.

🔒 Daniela Brozzoni, a #Bitcoin Core developer who previously contributed to the Bitcoin Development Kit (BDK). This grant will support her full-time contributions to Bitcoin Core reviewing key pull requests (PRs), contributing to new features & improving testing coverage

📱 UX/UI Design for Bitcoin Core by @Michaelhaase will bring the #Bitcoin Core App to mobile enabling users to run nodes, access essential wallet features directly on their phones to improve their financial privacy. Funding will support the project’s design & development.

🚀 Brink, co-founded by Mike Schmidt, supports #Bitcoin protocol engineers with grants and offers training & mentorship to onboard new contributors to open-source development. This grant will support operational expenses

⚡@Tando.me, cofounded by Sabina Gitau, integrates #Bitcoin with Kenya’s M-PESA system, enabling KYC-free, fee-free Lightning payments for everyday transactions for 54 million Kenyans. Funds will help boost Tando’s liquidity, support user growth & drive African expansion.

🌐 YakiHonne, a Nostr client founded by Wendy Ding, supports free speech & promote #Bitcoin payments across 170 countries with innovative functionality & a blend of online & offline events. Funds will support smart widget development, relay improvements & community events.

🌍 SeedSigner Multi-language Support brings accessibility to the open-source SeedSigner hardware wallet, empowering marginalized communities through inexpensive & accessible self-custody. Funds support Ace to deliver a multi-language version of SeedSigner.

🤝 Vexl, cofounded by Lea Petrasova, provides a private, KYC-free, peer-to-peer #Bitcoin trading experience by connecting users to trade through the social graph of their phone contacts. Funds will support expanded adoption in Africa & improvements to the backend infrastructure.

🇮🇳 Tomatech is building developer talent in Goa, India to advance #Bitcoin infrastructure & FOSS projects through training, workshops, & community meetups. Funding will support developer training, the creation of a developer hub, bounties & grants, & general operations.

💾 Krux, open-source firmware that turns generic devices into hardware wallets for secure #Bitcoin self-custody featuring air-gapped operations, key management & backups & support for 10 languages. Funding will support @odudex to advance this project.

🔐 Iris, a #Nostr web client by @MarttiMalmi, which aims to improve protection for metadata & message content, ensuring conversations remain private, especially in surveillant environments. Funding will support hiring an additional developer to expand Iris' features & functionality.

💻 Cashu-ts, the primary Software Development Kit in the @CashuBTC ecosystem developed by @Gandlaf21, simplifies wallet creation, integrates the latest protocol updates & powers popular wallets. Funds will support the developers to maintain & improve this essential library.

🤝 Unify, a Payjoin wallet developed by Fontaine, enhances privacy in #Bitcoin transactions by obscuring transaction histories, crucial for individuals navigating repressive regimes. Funds will support the developer to ship new features & expand compatibility with other wallets.

📢 The Financial Freedom Policy Coalition, led by Venezuelan activist Jorge Jraissati, promotes economic opportunities for people living under authoritarian regimes. Funds will support advocacy missions to educate policymakers on how #Bitcoin supports human rights.

🎓 African UX Bitcoin Bootcamp, led by @MouxDesign, empowered 10 African UX designers with #Bitcoin UX research skills ahead of the Africa Bitcoin Conference & support to test 5 popular Bitcoin products during the conference. Funds cover all program expenses for participants.

📰 No BS Bitcoin delivers ad-free, privacy-focused #Bitcoin news in clear & accessible format, essential for activists & citizens under authoritarian regimes. This grant ensures continued operations, adds an editor & supports Nostr features like Zaps & comments.

📖 Bitcoin History, a research project by Pete Rizzo, documenting key people, events & materials that shaped Bitcoin’s rise as a global monetary & human rights force. Fund will support a researcher to investigate & document stories of Bitcoin’s use against authoritarianism.

🌎 HRF is committed to supporting human rights and financial freedom with #Bitcoin.

If you are working on a #Bitcoin or adjacent freedom tech software (Nostr, eCash, TOR etc), education or adoption project that meets our mandate, submit your application at http://hrf.org/bdfapply 💪

@ bcea2b98:7ccef3c9

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/862840

@ 16d11430:61640947

The legacy of Thomas Babington Macaulay’s education policies in colonial India has left a profound and complex impact on generations of Indians who were groomed to serve as intermediaries between the British colonial authorities and the native population. Dubbed "Macaulay’s Little Englishmen," these individuals faced unique psychosocial challenges stemming from their dual identity—educated and acculturated in the ways of the British yet tied to their Indian heritage. Straddling these two worlds, they often became objects of suspicion and alienation, regarded as potential double agents in a deeply divided society. This article explores the psychosocial effects of such an upbringing, which left these individuals feeling unmoored, mistrusted, and culturally disoriented.

The Double Bind: Torn Between Two Worlds

The fundamental conflict for Macaulay's "Little Englishmen" lay in their hybrid identity. Educated to think, speak, and act like the British, they were expected to serve the colonial administration, often as clerks, teachers, or intermediaries. However, this acculturation came at a cost: alienation from their own cultural roots. Their mastery of the English language and exposure to Western philosophy, law, and governance set them apart from the masses, who viewed them as traitors to their native heritage.

At the same time, these individuals were never fully accepted by the British elite. Despite their fluency in English and adoption of British customs, they were often treated as inferior, excluded from the corridors of real power. This dual rejection—by their own people and their colonial masters—created a profound sense of isolation and a fractured sense of self.

The Suspicion of Betrayal

The psychosocial burden of living as a cultural and social hybrid was compounded by the pervasive suspicion they faced from both sides.

1. From the British: While Macaulay’s education system intended to create loyal intermediaries, the British often doubted the loyalty of these individuals. Were they truly assimilated into the colonial ideology, or were they secretly harboring nationalist sentiments? This doubt meant that, despite their qualifications, many were confined to subordinate roles, denied the trust and respect they sought from their colonial employers.

2. From their own people: Within Indian society, these individuals were often perceived as sellouts or traitors who had traded their cultural identity for material gain. They were seen as collaborators in the colonial machinery that oppressed their own people. This mistrust led to social ostracization and an enduring sense of guilt and shame, as they were caught between the expectations of their colonial education and the loyalty to their heritage.

Psychosocial Consequences

The experience of living under constant suspicion and alienation had deep psychological and social repercussions:

1. Identity Crisis: The duality of their upbringing created a fractured identity. They were neither fully British nor fully Indian, leading to feelings of dislocation and an inability to fully belong to either world. This liminal state often resulted in a lifelong struggle with self-perception and cultural loyalty.

2. Chronic Anxiety: The need to constantly navigate the expectations and suspicions of both the British and Indian communities induced chronic stress. They had to carefully monitor their behavior, speech, and actions to avoid appearing disloyal to either side. This vigilance contributed to anxiety, self-doubt, and a lack of authentic self-expression.

3. Social Isolation: Alienated from their own communities and never fully accepted by the British, many of these individuals experienced profound loneliness. They lacked meaningful social support, as their education and socialization had placed them in a unique and isolating position.

4. Internalized Inferiority: The colonial education system, designed to instill admiration for British culture and disdain for indigenous traditions, often led to internalized feelings of inferiority. Many came to view their own heritage as backward or uncivilized, perpetuating a cycle of cultural self-erasure.

5. Moral Conflict: Being agents of a colonial system that oppressed their own people created a moral dilemma. Many felt complicit in the exploitation and subjugation of their fellow Indians, leading to guilt and cognitive dissonance. This internal conflict was particularly pronounced during the rise of the Indian independence movement, when calls for loyalty to one’s nation clashed with their colonial upbringing.

The Broader Implications

The psychosocial effects of being “Macaulay’s Little Englishmen” extend beyond the individual level, influencing broader societal dynamics. The creation of a class of culturally alienated intermediaries contributed to the perpetuation of colonial hierarchies, even after independence. The mistrust they experienced on both sides foreshadowed the postcolonial identity crises faced by many nations grappling with the legacy of colonization.

Furthermore, the notion of being a "double agent" has parallels in modern postcolonial societies, where individuals educated in Western systems often face similar suspicions of disloyalty or cultural inauthenticity. The scars of Macaulay’s experiment in social engineering are still visible in the struggles of postcolonial nations to reconcile traditional identities with the legacies of colonial modernity.

Conclusion

The psychosocial toll of being "Macaulay’s Little Englishmen" highlights the deep and lasting consequences of cultural alienation and identity manipulation. These individuals lived as bridges between two worlds, yet they were mistrusted and misunderstood by both. Their experiences serve as a poignant reminder of the human cost of colonialism and the complex legacy of cultural hybridity in a divided world. The story of Macaulay's "Little Englishmen" is not just a tale of alienation—it is a testament to the resilience of those who navigated impossible contradictions, often at great personal cost.

@ 6389be64:ef439d32

Bitcoin is more than money, more than an asset, and more than a store of value. Bitcoin is a Prime Mover, an enabler and it ignites imaginations. It certainly fueled an idea in my mind. The idea integrates sensors, computational prowess, actuated machinery, power conversion, and electronic communications to form an autonomous, machined creature roaming forests and harvesting the most widespread and least energy-dense fuel source available. I call it the Forest Walker and it eats wood, and mines Bitcoin.

I know what you're thinking. Why not just put Bitcoin mining rigs where they belong: in a hosted facility sporting electricity from energy-dense fuels like natural gas, climate-controlled with excellent data piping in and out? Why go to all the trouble building a robot that digests wood creating flammable gasses fueling an engine to run a generator powering Bitcoin miners? It's all about synergy.

Bitcoin mining enables the realization of multiple, seemingly unrelated, yet useful activities. Activities considered un-profitable if not for Bitcoin as the Prime Mover. This is much more than simply mining the greatest asset ever conceived by humankind. It’s about the power of synergy, which Bitcoin plays only one of many roles. The synergy created by this system can stabilize forests' fire ecology while generating multiple income streams. That’s the realistic goal here and requires a brief history of American Forest management before continuing.

Smokey The Bear

In 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention Campaign began in the United States. “Only YOU can prevent forest fires” remains the refrain of the Ad Council’s longest running campaign. The Ad Council is a U.S. non-profit set up by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers in 1942. It would seem that the U.S. Department of the Interior was concerned about pesky forest fires and wanted them to stop. So, alongside a national policy of extreme fire suppression they enlisted the entire U.S. population to get onboard via the Ad Council and it worked. Forest fires were almost obliterated and everyone was happy, right? Wrong.

Smokey is a fantastically successful bear so forest fires became so few for so long that the fuel load - dead wood - in forests has become very heavy. So heavy that when a fire happens (and they always happen) it destroys everything in its path because the more fuel there is the hotter that fire becomes. Trees, bushes, shrubs, and all other plant life cannot escape destruction (not to mention homes and businesses). The soil microbiology doesn’t escape either as it is burned away even in deeper soils. To add insult to injury, hydrophobic waxy residues condense on the soil surface, forcing water to travel over the ground rather than through it eroding forest soils. Good job, Smokey. Well done, Sir!

Most terrestrial ecologies are “fire ecologies”. Fire is a part of these systems’ fuel load and pest management. Before we pretended to “manage” millions of acres of forest, fires raged over the world, rarely damaging forests. The fuel load was always too light to generate fires hot enough to moonscape mountainsides. Fires simply burned off the minor amounts of fuel accumulated since the fire before. The lighter heat, smoke, and other combustion gasses suppressed pests, keeping them in check and the smoke condensed into a plant growth accelerant called wood vinegar, not a waxy cap on the soil. These fires also cleared out weak undergrowth, cycled minerals, and thinned the forest canopy, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor. Without a fire’s heat, many pine tree species can’t sow their seed. The heat is required to open the cones (the seed bearing structure) of Spruce, Cypress, Sequoia, Jack Pine, Lodgepole Pine and many more. Without fire forests can’t have babies. The idea was to protect the forests, and it isn't working.

So, in a world of fire, what does an ally look like and what does it do?

Meet The Forest Walker

For the Forest Walker to work as a mobile, autonomous unit, a solid platform that can carry several hundred pounds is required. It so happens this chassis already exists but shelved.

Introducing the Legged Squad Support System (LS3). A joint project between Boston Dynamics, DARPA, and the United States Marine Corps, the quadrupedal robot is the size of a cow, can carry 400 pounds (180 kg) of equipment, negotiate challenging terrain, and operate for 24 hours before needing to refuel. Yes, it had an engine. Abandoned in 2015, the thing was too noisy for military deployment and maintenance "under fire" is never a high-quality idea. However, we can rebuild it to act as a platform for the Forest Walker; albeit with serious alterations. It would need to be bigger, probably. Carry more weight? Definitely. Maybe replace structural metal with carbon fiber and redesign much as 3D printable parts for more effective maintenance.

The original system has a top operational speed of 8 miles per hour. For our purposes, it only needs to move about as fast as a grazing ruminant. Without the hammering vibrations of galloping into battle, shocks of exploding mortars, and drunken soldiers playing "Wrangler of Steel Machines", time between failures should be much longer and the overall energy consumption much lower. The LS3 is a solid platform to build upon. Now it just needs to be pulled out of the mothballs, and completely refitted with outboard equipment.

The Small Branch Chipper

When I say “Forest fuel load” I mean the dead, carbon containing litter on the forest floor. Duff (leaves), fine-woody debris (small branches), and coarse woody debris (logs) are the fuel that feeds forest fires. Walk through any forest in the United States today and you will see quite a lot of these materials. Too much, as I have described. Some of these fuel loads can be 8 tons per acre in pine and hardwood forests and up to 16 tons per acre at active logging sites. That’s some big wood and the more that collects, the more combustible danger to the forest it represents. It also provides a technically unlimited fuel supply for the Forest Walker system.

The problem is that this detritus has to be chewed into pieces that are easily ingestible by the system for the gasification process (we’ll get to that step in a minute). What we need is a wood chipper attached to the chassis (the LS3); its “mouth”.

A small wood chipper handling material up to 2.5 - 3.0 inches (6.3 - 7.6 cm) in diameter would eliminate a substantial amount of fuel. There is no reason for Forest Walker to remove fallen trees. It wouldn’t have to in order to make a real difference. It need only identify appropriately sized branches and grab them. Once loaded into the chipper’s intake hopper for further processing, the beast can immediately look for more “food”. This is essentially kindling that would help ignite larger logs. If it’s all consumed by Forest Walker, then it’s not present to promote an aggravated conflagration.

I have glossed over an obvious question: How does Forest Walker see and identify branches and such? LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) attached to Forest Walker images the local area and feed those data to onboard computers for processing. Maybe AI plays a role. Maybe simple machine learning can do the trick. One thing is for certain: being able to identify a stick and cause robotic appendages to pick it up is not impossible.

Great! We now have a quadrupedal robot autonomously identifying and “eating” dead branches and other light, combustible materials. Whilst strolling through the forest, depleting future fires of combustibles, Forest Walker has already performed a major function of this system: making the forest safer. It's time to convert this low-density fuel into a high-density fuel Forest Walker can leverage. Enter the gasification process.

The Gassifier

The gasifier is the heart of the entire system; it’s where low-density fuel becomes the high-density fuel that powers the entire system. Biochar and wood vinegar are process wastes and I’ll discuss why both are powerful soil amendments in a moment, but first, what’s gasification?

Reacting shredded carbonaceous material at high temperatures in a low or no oxygen environment converts the biomass into biochar, wood vinegar, heat, and Synthesis Gas (Syngas). Syngas consists primarily of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane. All of which are extremely useful fuels in a gaseous state. Part of this gas is used to heat the input biomass and keep the reaction temperature constant while the internal combustion engine that drives the generator to produce electrical power consumes the rest.

Critically, this gasification process is “continuous feed”. Forest Walker must intake biomass from the chipper, process it to fuel, and dump the waste (CO2, heat, biochar, and wood vinegar) continuously. It cannot stop. Everything about this system depends upon this continual grazing, digestion, and excretion of wastes just as a ruminal does. And, like a ruminant, all waste products enhance the local environment.

When I first heard of gasification, I didn’t believe that it was real. Running an electric generator from burning wood seemed more akin to “conspiracy fantasy” than science. Not only is gasification real, it’s ancient technology. A man named Dean Clayton first started experiments on gasification in 1699 and in 1901 gasification was used to power a vehicle. By the end of World War II, there were 500,000 Syngas powered vehicles in Germany alone because of fossil fuel rationing during the war. The global gasification market was $480 billion in 2022 and projected to be as much as $700 billion by 2030 (Vantage Market Research). Gasification technology is the best choice to power the Forest Walker because it’s self-contained and we want its waste products.

Biochar: The Waste

Biochar (AKA agricultural charcoal) is fairly simple: it’s almost pure, solid carbon that resembles charcoal. Its porous nature packs large surface areas into small, 3 dimensional nuggets. Devoid of most other chemistry, like hydrocarbons (methane) and ash (minerals), biochar is extremely lightweight. Do not confuse it with the charcoal you buy for your grill. Biochar doesn’t make good grilling charcoal because it would burn too rapidly as it does not contain the multitude of flammable components that charcoal does. Biochar has several other good use cases. Water filtration, water retention, nutrient retention, providing habitat for microscopic soil organisms, and carbon sequestration are the main ones that we are concerned with here.

Carbon has an amazing ability to adsorb (substances stick to and accumulate on the surface of an object) manifold chemistries. Water, nutrients, and pollutants tightly bind to carbon in this format. So, biochar makes a respectable filter and acts as a “battery” of water and nutrients in soils. Biochar adsorbs and holds on to seven times its weight in water. Soil containing biochar is more drought resilient than soil without it. Adsorbed nutrients, tightly sequestered alongside water, get released only as plants need them. Plants must excrete protons (H+) from their roots to disgorge water or positively charged nutrients from the biochar's surface; it's an active process.

Biochar’s surface area (where adsorption happens) can be 500 square meters per gram or more. That is 10% larger than an official NBA basketball court for every gram of biochar. Biochar’s abundant surface area builds protective habitats for soil microbes like fungi and bacteria and many are critical for the health and productivity of the soil itself.

The “carbon sequestration” component of biochar comes into play where “carbon credits” are concerned. There is a financial market for carbon. Not leveraging that market for revenue is foolish. I am climate agnostic. All I care about is that once solid carbon is inside the soil, it will stay there for thousands of years, imparting drought resiliency, fertility collection, nutrient buffering, and release for that time span. I simply want as much solid carbon in the soil because of the undeniably positive effects it has, regardless of any climactic considerations.

Wood Vinegar: More Waste

Another by-product of the gasification process is wood vinegar (Pyroligneous acid). If you have ever seen Liquid Smoke in the grocery store, then you have seen wood vinegar. Principally composed of acetic acid, acetone, and methanol wood vinegar also contains ~200 other organic compounds. It would seem intuitive that condensed, liquefied wood smoke would at least be bad for the health of all living things if not downright carcinogenic. The counter intuition wins the day, however. Wood vinegar has been used by humans for a very long time to promote digestion, bowel, and liver health; combat diarrhea and vomiting; calm peptic ulcers and regulate cholesterol levels; and a host of other benefits.

For centuries humans have annually burned off hundreds of thousands of square miles of pasture, grassland, forest, and every other conceivable terrestrial ecosystem. Why is this done? After every burn, one thing becomes obvious: the almost supernatural growth these ecosystems exhibit after the burn. How? Wood vinegar is a component of this growth. Even in open burns, smoke condenses and infiltrates the soil. That is when wood vinegar shows its quality.

This stuff beefs up not only general plant growth but seed germination as well and possesses many other qualities that are beneficial to plants. It’s a pesticide, fungicide, promotes beneficial soil microorganisms, enhances nutrient uptake, and imparts disease resistance. I am barely touching a long list of attributes here, but you want wood vinegar in your soil (alongside biochar because it adsorbs wood vinegar as well).

The Internal Combustion Engine

Conversion of grazed forage to chemical, then mechanical, and then electrical energy completes the cycle. The ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) converts the gaseous fuel output from the gasifier to mechanical energy, heat, water vapor, and CO2. It’s the mechanical energy of a rotating drive shaft that we want. That rotation drives the electric generator, which is the heartbeat we need to bring this monster to life. Luckily for us, combined internal combustion engine and generator packages are ubiquitous, delivering a defined energy output given a constant fuel input. It’s the simplest part of the system.

The obvious question here is whether the amount of syngas provided by the gasification process will provide enough energy to generate enough electrons to run the entire system or not. While I have no doubt the energy produced will run Forest Walker's main systems the question is really about the electrons left over. Will it be enough to run the Bitcoin mining aspect of the system? Everything is a budget.

CO2 Production For Growth

Plants are lollipops. No matter if it’s a tree or a bush or a shrubbery, the entire thing is mostly sugar in various formats but mostly long chain carbohydrates like lignin and cellulose. Plants need three things to make sugar: CO2, H2O and light. In a forest, where tree densities can be quite high, CO2 availability becomes a limiting growth factor. It’d be in the forest interests to have more available CO2 providing for various sugar formation providing the organism with food and structure.

An odd thing about tree leaves, the openings that allow gasses like the ever searched for CO2 are on the bottom of the leaf (these are called stomata). Not many stomata are topside. This suggests that trees and bushes have evolved to find gasses like CO2 from below, not above and this further suggests CO2 might be in higher concentrations nearer the soil.

The soil life (bacterial, fungi etc.) is constantly producing enormous amounts of CO2 and it would stay in the soil forever (eventually killing the very soil life that produces it) if not for tidal forces. Water is everywhere and whether in pools, lakes, oceans or distributed in “moist” soils water moves towards to the moon. The water in the soil and also in the water tables below the soil rise toward the surface every day. When the water rises, it expels the accumulated gasses in the soil into the atmosphere and it’s mostly CO2. It’s a good bet on how leaves developed high populations of stomata on the underside of leaves. As the water relaxes (the tide goes out) it sucks oxygenated air back into the soil to continue the functions of soil life respiration. The soil “breathes” albeit slowly.

The gasses produced by the Forest Walker’s internal combustion engine consist primarily of CO2 and H2O. Combusting sugars produce the same gasses that are needed to construct the sugars because the universe is funny like that. The Forest Walker is constantly laying down these critical construction elements right where the trees need them: close to the ground to be gobbled up by the trees.

The Branch Drones

During the last ice age, giant mammals populated North America - forests and otherwise. Mastodons, woolly mammoths, rhinos, short-faced bears, steppe bison, caribou, musk ox, giant beavers, camels, gigantic ground-dwelling sloths, glyptodons, and dire wolves were everywhere. Many were ten to fifteen feet tall. As they crashed through forests, they would effectively cleave off dead side-branches of trees, halting the spread of a ground-based fire migrating into the tree crown ("laddering") which is a death knell for a forest.

These animals are all extinct now and forests no longer have any manner of pruning services. But, if we build drones fitted with cutting implements like saws and loppers, optical cameras and AI trained to discern dead branches from living ones, these drones could effectively take over pruning services by identifying, cutting, and dropping to the forest floor, dead branches. The dropped branches simply get collected by the Forest Walker as part of its continual mission.

The drones dock on the back of the Forest Walker to recharge their batteries when low. The whole scene would look like a grazing cow with some flies bothering it. This activity breaks the link between a relatively cool ground based fire and the tree crowns and is a vital element in forest fire control.

The Bitcoin Miner

Mining is one of four monetary incentive models, making this system a possibility for development. The other three are US Dept. of the Interior, township, county, and electrical utility company easement contracts for fuel load management, global carbon credits trading, and data set sales. All the above depends on obvious questions getting answered. I will list some obvious ones, but this is not an engineering document and is not the place for spreadsheets. How much Bitcoin one Forest Walker can mine depends on everything else. What amount of biomass can we process? Will that biomass flow enough Syngas to keep the lights on? Can the chassis support enough mining ASICs and supporting infrastructure? What does that weigh and will it affect field performance? How much power can the AC generator produce?

Other questions that are more philosophical persist. Even if a single Forest Walker can only mine scant amounts of BTC per day, that pales to how much fuel material it can process into biochar. We are talking about millions upon millions of forested acres in need of fuel load management. What can a single Forest Walker do? I am not thinking in singular terms. The Forest Walker must operate as a fleet. What could 50 do? 500?

What is it worth providing a service to the world by managing forest fuel loads? Providing proof of work to the global monetary system? Seeding soil with drought and nutrient resilience by the excretion, over time, of carbon by the ton? What did the last forest fire cost?

The Mesh Network

What could be better than one bitcoin mining, carbon sequestering, forest fire squelching, soil amending behemoth? Thousands of them, but then they would need to be able to talk to each other to coordinate position, data handling, etc. Fitted with a mesh networking device, like goTenna or Meshtastic LoRa equipment enables each Forest Walker to communicate with each other.

Now we have an interconnected fleet of Forest Walkers relaying data to each other and more importantly, aggregating all of that to the last link in the chain for uplink. Well, at least Bitcoin mining data. Since block data is lightweight, transmission of these data via mesh networking in fairly close quartered environs is more than doable. So, how does data transmit to the Bitcoin Network? How do the Forest Walkers get the previous block data necessary to execute on mining?

Back To The Chain

Getting Bitcoin block data to and from the network is the last puzzle piece. The standing presumption here is that wherever a Forest Walker fleet is operating, it is NOT within cell tower range. We further presume that the nearest Walmart Wi-Fi is hours away. Enter the Blockstream Satellite or something like it.

A separate, ground-based drone will have two jobs: To stay as close to the nearest Forest Walker as it can and to provide an antennae for either terrestrial or orbital data uplink. Bitcoin-centric data is transmitted to the "uplink drone" via the mesh networked transmitters and then sent on to the uplink and the whole flow goes in the opposite direction as well; many to one and one to many.

We cannot transmit data to the Blockstream satellite, and it will be up to Blockstream and companies like it to provide uplink capabilities in the future and I don't doubt they will. Starlink you say? What’s stopping that company from filtering out block data? Nothing because it’s Starlink’s system and they could decide to censor these data. It seems we may have a problem sending and receiving Bitcoin data in back country environs.

But, then again, the utility of this system in staunching the fuel load that creates forest fires is extremely useful around forested communities and many have fiber, Wi-Fi and cell towers. These communities could be a welcoming ground zero for first deployments of the Forest Walker system by the home and business owners seeking fire repression. In the best way, Bitcoin subsidizes the safety of the communities.

Sensor Packages

LiDaR

The benefit of having a Forest Walker fleet strolling through the forest is the never ending opportunity for data gathering. A plethora of deployable sensors gathering hyper-accurate data on everything from temperature to topography is yet another revenue generator. Data is valuable and the Forest Walker could generate data sales to various government entities and private concerns.

LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) can map topography, perform biomass assessment, comparative soil erosion analysis, etc. It so happens that the Forest Walker’s ability to “see,” to navigate about its surroundings, is LiDaR driven and since it’s already being used, we can get double duty by harvesting that data for later use. By using a laser to send out light pulses and measuring the time it takes for the reflection of those pulses to return, very detailed data sets incrementally build up. Eventually, as enough data about a certain area becomes available, the data becomes useful and valuable.

Forestry concerns, both private and public, often use LiDaR to build 3D models of tree stands to assess the amount of harvest-able lumber in entire sections of forest. Consulting companies offering these services charge anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars per square kilometer for such services. A Forest Walker generating such assessments on the fly while performing its other functions is a multi-disciplinary approach to revenue generation.

pH, Soil Moisture, and Cation Exchange Sensing

The Forest Walker is quadrupedal, so there are four contact points to the soil. Why not get a pH data point for every step it takes? We can also gather soil moisture data and cation exchange capacities at unheard of densities because of sampling occurring on the fly during commission of the system’s other duties. No one is going to build a machine to do pH testing of vast tracts of forest soils, but that doesn’t make the data collected from such an endeavor valueless. Since the Forest Walker serves many functions at once, a multitude of data products can add to the return on investment component.

Weather Data

Temperature, humidity, pressure, and even data like evapotranspiration gathered at high densities on broad acre scales have untold value and because the sensors are lightweight and don’t require large power budgets, they come along for the ride at little cost. But, just like the old mantra, “gas, grass, or ass, nobody rides for free”, these sensors provide potential revenue benefits just by them being present.

I’ve touched on just a few data genres here. In fact, the question for universities, governmental bodies, and other institutions becomes, “How much will you pay us to attach your sensor payload to the Forest Walker?”

Noise Suppression

Only you can prevent Metallica filling the surrounds with 120 dB of sound. Easy enough, just turn the car stereo off. But what of a fleet of 50 Forest Walkers operating in the backcountry or near a township? 500? 5000? Each one has a wood chipper, an internal combustion engine, hydraulic pumps, actuators, and more cooling fans than you can shake a stick at. It’s a walking, screaming fire-breathing dragon operating continuously, day and night, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. The sound will negatively affect all living things and that impacts behaviors. Serious engineering consideration and prowess must deliver a silencing blow to the major issue of noise.

It would be foolish to think that a fleet of Forest Walkers could be silent, but if not a major design consideration, then the entire idea is dead on arrival. Townships would not allow them to operate even if they solved the problem of widespread fuel load and neither would governmental entities, and rightly so. Nothing, not man nor beast, would want to be subjected to an eternal, infernal scream even if it were to end within days as the fleet moved further away after consuming what it could. Noise and heat are the only real pollutants of this system; taking noise seriously from the beginning is paramount.

Fire Safety

A “fire-breathing dragon” is not the worst description of the Forest Walker. It eats wood, combusts it at very high temperatures and excretes carbon; and it does so in an extremely flammable environment. Bad mix for one Forest Walker, worse for many. One must take extreme pains to ensure that during normal operation, a Forest Walker could fall over, walk through tinder dry brush, or get pounded into the ground by a meteorite from Krypton and it wouldn’t destroy epic swaths of trees and baby deer. I envision an ultimate test of a prototype to include dowsing it in grain alcohol while it’s wrapped up in toilet paper like a pledge at a fraternity party. If it runs for 72 hours and doesn’t set everything on fire, then maybe outside entities won’t be fearful of something that walks around forests with a constant fire in its belly.

The Wrap

How we think about what can be done with and adjacent to Bitcoin is at least as important as Bitcoin’s economic standing itself. For those who will tell me that this entire idea is without merit, I say, “OK, fine. You can come up with something, too.” What can we plug Bitcoin into that, like a battery, makes something that does not work, work? That’s the lesson I get from this entire exercise. No one was ever going to hire teams of humans to go out and "clean the forest". There's no money in that. The data collection and sales from such an endeavor might provide revenues over the break-even point but investment demands Alpha in this day and age. But, plug Bitcoin into an almost viable system and, voilà! We tip the scales to achieve lift-off.

Let’s face it, we haven’t scratched the surface of Bitcoin’s forcing function on our minds. Not because it’s Bitcoin, but because of what that invention means. The question that pushes me to approach things this way is, “what can we create that one system’s waste is another system’s feedstock?” The Forest Walker system’s only real waste is the conversion of low entropy energy (wood and syngas) into high entropy energy (heat and noise). All other output is beneficial to humanity.

Bitcoin, I believe, is the first product of a new mode of human imagination. An imagination newly forged over the past few millennia of being lied to, stolen from, distracted and otherwise mis-allocated to a black hole of the nonsensical. We are waking up.

What I have presented is not science fiction. Everything I have described here is well within the realm of possibility. The question is one of viability, at least in terms of the detritus of the old world we find ourselves departing from. This system would take a non-trivial amount of time and resources to develop. I think the system would garner extensive long-term contracts from those who have the most to lose from wildfires, the most to gain from hyperaccurate data sets, and, of course, securing the most precious asset in the world. Many may not see it that way, for they seek Alpha and are therefore blind to other possibilities. Others will see only the possibilities; of thinking in a new way, of looking at things differently, and dreaming of what comes next.

@ e3ba5e1a:5e433365

My blog posts and reading material have both been on a decidedly economics-heavy slant recently. The topic today, incentives, squarely falls into the category of economics. However, when I say economics, I’m not talking about “analyzing supply and demand curves.” I’m talking about the true basis of economics: understanding how human beings make decisions in a world of scarcity.

A fair definition of incentive is “a reward or punishment that motivates behavior to achieve a desired outcome.” When most people think about economic incentives, they’re thinking of money. If I offer my son $5 if he washes the dishes, I’m incentivizing certain behavior. We can’t guarantee that he’ll do what I want him to do, but we can agree that the incentive structure itself will guide and ultimately determine what outcome will occur.

The great thing about monetary incentives is how easy they are to talk about and compare. “Would I rather make $5 washing the dishes or $10 cleaning the gutters?” But much of the world is incentivized in non-monetary ways too. For example, using the “punishment” half of the definition above, I might threaten my son with losing Nintendo Switch access if he doesn’t wash the dishes. No money is involved, but I’m still incentivizing behavior.

And there are plenty of incentives beyond our direct control! My son is also incentivized to not wash dishes because it’s boring, or because he has some friends over that he wants to hang out with, or dozens of other things. Ultimately, the conflicting array of different incentive structures placed on him will ultimately determine what actions he chooses to take.

Why incentives matter

A phrase I see often in discussions—whether they are political, parenting, economic, or business—is “if they could just do…” Each time I see that phrase, I cringe a bit internally. Usually, the underlying assumption of the statement is “if people would behave contrary to their incentivized behavior then things would be better.” For example:

• If my kids would just go to bed when I tell them, they wouldn’t be so cranky in the morning.
• If people would just use the recycling bin, we wouldn’t have such a landfill problem.
• If people would just stop being lazy, our team would deliver our project on time.

In all these cases, the speakers are seemingly flummoxed as to why the people in question don’t behave more rationally. The problem is: each group is behaving perfectly rationally.

• The kids have a high time preference, and care more about the joy of staying up now than the crankiness in the morning. Plus, they don’t really suffer the consequences of morning crankiness, their parents do.
• No individual suffers much from their individual contribution to a landfill. If they stopped growing the size of the landfill, it would make an insignificant difference versus the amount of effort they need to engage in to properly recycle.
• If a team doesn’t properly account for the productivity of individuals on a project, each individual receives less harm from their own inaction. Sure, the project may be delayed, company revenue may be down, and they may even risk losing their job when the company goes out of business. But their laziness individually won’t determine the entirety of that outcome. By contrast, they greatly benefit from being lazy by getting to relax at work, go on social media, read a book, or do whatever else they do when they’re supposed to be working.

My point here is that, as long as you ignore the reality of how incentives drive human behavior, you’ll fail at getting the outcomes you want.

If everything I wrote up until now made perfect sense, you understand the premise of this blog post. The rest of it will focus on a bunch of real-world examples to hammer home the point, and demonstrate how versatile this mental model is.

Running a company

Let’s say I run my own company, with myself as the only employee. My personal revenue will be 100% determined by my own actions. If I decide to take Tuesday afternoon off and go fishing, I’ve chosen to lose that afternoon’s revenue. Implicitly, I’ve decided that the enjoyment I get from an afternoon of fishing is greater than the potential revenue. You may think I’m being lazy, but it’s my decision to make. In this situation, the incentive–money–is perfectly aligned with my actions.

Compare this to a typical company/employee relationship. I might have a bank of Paid Time Off (PTO) days, in which case once again my incentives are relatively aligned. I know that I can take off 15 days throughout the year, and I’ve chosen to use half a day for the fishing trip. All is still good.

What about unlimited time off? Suddenly incentives are starting to misalign. I don’t directly pay a price for not showing up to work on Tuesday. Or Wednesday as well, for that matter. I might ultimately be fired for not doing my job, but that will take longer to work its way through the system than simply not making any money for the day taken off.

Compensation overall falls into this misaligned incentive structure. Let’s forget about taking time off. Instead, I work full time on a software project I’m assigned. But instead of using the normal toolchain we’re all used to at work, I play around with a new programming language. I get the fun and joy of playing with new technology, and potentially get to pad my resume a bit when I’m ready to look for a new job. But my current company gets slower results, less productivity, and is forced to subsidize my extracurricular learning.

When a CEO has a bonus structure based on profitability, he’ll do everything he can to make the company profitable. This might include things that actually benefit the company, like improving product quality, reducing internal red tape, or finding cheaper vendors. But it might also include destructive practices, like slashing the R\&D budget to show massive profits this year, in exchange for a catastrophe next year when the next version of the product fails to ship.

Or my favorite example. My parents owned a business when I was growing up. They had a back office where they ran operations like accounting. All of the furniture was old couches from our house. After all, any money they spent on furniture came right out of their paychecks! But in a large corporate environment, each department is generally given a budget for office furniture, a budget which doesn’t roll over year-to-year. The result? Executives make sure to spend the entire budget each year, often buying furniture far more expensive than they would choose if it was their own money.

There are plenty of details you can quibble with above. It’s in a company’s best interest to give people downtime so that they can come back recharged. Having good ergonomic furniture can in fact increase productivity in excess of the money spent on it. But overall, the picture is pretty clear: in large corporate structures, you’re guaranteed to have mismatches between the company’s goals and the incentive structure placed on individuals.

Using our model from above, we can lament how lazy, greedy, and unethical the employees are for doing what they’re incentivized to do instead of what’s right. But that’s simply ignoring the reality of human nature.

Moral hazard

Moral hazard is a situation where one party is incentivized to take on more risk because another party will bear the consequences. Suppose I tell my son when he turns 21 (or whatever legal gambling age is) that I’ll cover all his losses for a day at the casino, but he gets to keep all the winnings.

What do you think he’s going to do? The most logical course of action is to place the largest possible bets for as long as possible, asking me to cover each time he loses, and taking money off the table and into his bank account each time he wins.

But let’s look at a slightly more nuanced example. I go to a bathroom in the mall. As I’m leaving, I wash my hands. It will take me an extra 1 second to turn off the water when I’m done washing. That’s a trivial price to pay. If I don’t turn off the water, the mall will have to pay for many liters of wasted water, benefiting no one. But I won’t suffer any consequences at all.

This is also a moral hazard, but most people will still turn off the water. Why? Usually due to some combination of other reasons such as:

1. We’re so habituated to turning off the water that we don’t even consider not turning it off. Put differently, the mental effort needed to not turn off the water is more expensive than the 1 second of time to turn it off.
2. Many of us have been brought up with a deep guilt about wasting resources like water. We have an internal incentive structure that makes the 1 second to turn off the water much less costly than the mental anguish of the waste we created.
3. We’re afraid we’ll be caught by someone else and face some kind of social repercussions. (Or maybe more than social. Are you sure there isn’t a law against leaving the water tap on?)

Even with all that in place, you may notice that many public bathrooms use automatic water dispensers. Sure, there’s a sanitation reason for that, but it’s also to avoid this moral hazard.

A common denominator in both of these is that the person taking the action that causes the liability (either the gambling or leaving the water on) is not the person who bears the responsibility for that liability (the father or the mall owner). Generally speaking, the closer together the person making the decision and the person incurring the liability are, the smaller the moral hazard.

It’s easy to demonstrate that by extending the casino example a bit. I said it was the father who was covering the losses of the gambler. Many children (though not all) would want to avoid totally bankrupting their parents, or at least financially hurting them. Instead, imagine that someone from the IRS shows up at your door, hands you a credit card, and tells you you can use it at a casino all day, taking home all the chips you want. The money is coming from the government. How many people would put any restriction on how much they spend?

And since we’re talking about the government already…

Government moral hazards

As I was preparing to write this blog post, the California wildfires hit. The discussions around those wildfires gave a huge number of examples of moral hazards. I decided to cherry-pick a few for this post.

The first and most obvious one: California is asking for disaster relief funds from the federal government. That sounds wonderful. These fires were a natural disaster, so why shouldn’t the federal government pitch in and help take care of people?

The problem is, once again, a moral hazard. In the case of the wildfires, California and Los Angeles both had ample actions they could have taken to mitigate the destruction of this fire: better forest management, larger fire department, keeping the water reservoirs filled, and probably much more that hasn’t come to light yet.

If the federal government bails out California, it will be a clear message for the future: your mistakes will be fixed by others. You know what kind of behavior that incentivizes? More risky behavior! Why spend state funds on forest management and extra firefighters—activities that don’t win politicians a lot of votes in general—when you could instead spend it on a football stadium, higher unemployment payments, or anything else, and then let the feds cover the cost of screw-ups.

You may notice that this is virtually identical to the 2008 “too big to fail” bail-outs. Wall Street took insanely risky behavior, reaped huge profits for years, and when they eventually got caught with their pants down, the rest of us bailed them out. “Privatizing profits, socializing losses.”

And here’s the absolute best part of this: I can’t even truly blame either California or Wall Street. (I mean, I do blame them, I think their behavior is reprehensible, but you’ll see what I mean.) In a world where the rules of the game implicitly include the bail-out mentality, you would be harming your citizens/shareholders/investors if you didn’t engage in that risky behavior. Since everyone is on the hook for those socialized losses, your best bet is to maximize those privatized profits.

There’s a lot more to government and moral hazard, but I think these two cases demonstrate the crux pretty solidly. But let’s leave moral hazard behind for a bit and get to general incentivization discussions.

Non-monetary competition

At least 50% of the economics knowledge I have comes from the very first econ course I took in college. That professor was amazing, and had some very colorful stories. I can’t vouch for the veracity of the two I’m about to share, but they definitely drive the point home.

In the 1970s, the US had an oil shortage. To “fix” this problem, they instituted price caps on gasoline, which of course resulted in insufficient gasoline. To “fix” this problem, they instituted policies where, depending on your license plate number, you could only fill up gas on certain days of the week. (Irrelevant detail for our point here, but this just resulted in people filling up their tanks more often, no reduction in gas usage.)

Anyway, my professor’s wife had a friend. My professor described in great detail how attractive this woman was. I’ll skip those details here since this is a PG-rated blog. In any event, she never had any trouble filling up her gas tank any day of the week. She would drive up, be told she couldn’t fill up gas today, bat her eyes at the attendant, explain how helpless she was, and was always allowed to fill up gas.

This is a demonstration of non-monetary compensation. Most of the time in a free market, capitalist economy, people are compensated through money. When price caps come into play, there’s a limit to how much monetary compensation someone can receive. And in that case, people find other ways of competing. Like this woman’s case: through using flirtatious behavior to compensate the gas station workers to let her cheat the rules.

The other example was much more insidious. Santa Monica had a problem: it was predominantly wealthy and white. They wanted to fix this problem, and decided to put in place rent controls. After some time, they discovered that Santa Monica had become wealthier and whiter, the exact opposite of their desired outcome. Why would that happen?

Someone investigated, and ended up interviewing a landlady that demonstrated the reason. She was an older white woman, and admittedly racist. Prior to the rent controls, she would list her apartments in the newspaper, and would be legally obligated to rent to anyone who could afford it. Once rent controls were in place, she took a different tact. She knew that she would only get a certain amount for the apartment, and that the demand for apartments was higher than the supply. That meant she could be picky.

She ended up finding tenants through friends-of-friends. Since it wasn’t an official advertisement, she wasn’t legally required to rent it out if someone could afford to pay. Instead, she got to interview people individually and then make them an offer. Normally, that would have resulted in receiving a lower rental price, but not under rent controls.

So who did she choose? A young, unmarried, wealthy, white woman. It made perfect sense. Women were less intimidating and more likely to maintain the apartment better. Wealthy people, she determined, would be better tenants. (I have no idea if this is true in practice or not, I’m not a landlord myself.) Unmarried, because no kids running around meant less damage to the property. And, of course, white. Because she was racist, and her incentive structure made her prefer whites.

You can deride her for being racist, I won’t disagree with you. But it’s simply the reality. Under the non-rent-control scenario, her profit motive for money outweighed her racism motive. But under rent control, the monetary competition was removed, and she was free to play into her racist tendencies without facing any negative consequences.

Bureaucracy

These were the two examples I remember for that course. But non-monetary compensation pops up in many more places. One highly pertinent example is bureaucracies. Imagine you have a government office, or a large corporation’s acquisition department, or the team that apportions grants at a university. In all these cases, you have a group of people making decisions about handing out money that has no monetary impact on them. If they give to the best qualified recipients, they receive no raises. If they spend the money recklessly on frivolous projects, they face no consequences.

Under such an incentivization scheme, there’s little to encourage the bureaucrats to make intelligent funding decisions. Instead, they’ll be incentivized to spend the money where they recognize non-monetary benefits. This is why it’s so common to hear about expensive meals, gift bags at conferences, and even more inappropriate ways of trying to curry favor with those that hold the purse strings.

Compare that ever so briefly with the purchases made by a small mom-and-pop store like my parents owned. Could my dad take a bribe to buy from a vendor who’s ripping him off? Absolutely he could! But he’d lose more on the deal than he’d make on the bribe, since he’s directly incentivized by the deal itself. It would make much more sense for him to go with the better vendor, save $5,000 on the deal, and then treat himself to a lavish $400 meal to celebrate.

Government incentivized behavior

This post is getting longer in the tooth than I’d intended, so I’ll finish off with this section and make it a bit briefer. Beyond all the methods mentioned above, government has another mechanism for modifying behavior: through directly changing incentives via legislation, regulation, and monetary policy. Let’s see some examples:

• Artificial modification of interest rates encourages people to take on more debt than they would in a free capital market, leading to malinvestment and a consumer debt crisis, and causing the boom-bust cycle we all painfully experience.
• Going along with that, giving tax breaks on interest payments further artificially incentivizes people to take on debt that they wouldn’t otherwise.
• During COVID-19, at some points unemployment benefits were greater than minimum wage, incentivizing people to rather stay home and not work than get a job, leading to reduced overall productivity in the economy and more printed dollars for benefits. In other words, it was a perfect recipe for inflation.
• The tax code gives deductions to “help” people. That might be true, but the real impact is incentivizing people to make decisions they wouldn’t have otherwise. For example, giving out tax deductions on children encourages having more kids. Tax deductions on childcare and preschools incentivizes dual-income households. Whether or not you like the outcomes, it’s clear that it’s government that’s encouraging these outcomes to happen.
• Tax incentives cause people to engage in behavior they wouldn’t otherwise (daycare+working mother, for example).
• Inflation means that the value of your money goes down over time, which encourages people to spend more today, when their money has a larger impact. (Milton Friedman described this as high living.)

Conclusion

The idea here is simple, and fully encapsulated in the title: incentives determine outcomes. If you want to know how to get a certain outcome from others, incentivize them to want that to happen. If you want to understand why people act in seemingly irrational ways, check their incentives. If you’re confused why leaders (and especially politicians) seem to engage in destructive behavior, check their incentives.

We can bemoan these realities all we want, but they are realities. While there are some people who have a solid internal moral and ethical code, and that internal code incentivizes them to behave against their externally-incentivized interests, those people are rare. And frankly, those people are self-defeating. People should take advantage of the incentives around them. Because if they don’t, someone else will.

(If you want a literary example of that last comment, see the horse in Animal Farm.)

How do we improve the world under these conditions? Make sure the incentives align well with the overall goals of society. To me, it’s a simple formula:

• Focus on free trade, value for value, as the basis of a society. In that system, people are always incentivized to provide value to other people.
• Reduce the size of bureaucracies and large groups of all kinds. The larger an organization becomes, the farther the consequences of decisions are from those who make them.
• And since the nature of human beings will be to try and create areas where they can control the incentive systems to their own benefits, make that as difficult as possible. That comes in the form of strict limits on government power, for example.

And even if you don’t want to buy in to this conclusion, I hope the rest of the content was educational, and maybe a bit entertaining!

@ 3c506452:fef9202b

Kia ora ano e te iwi whanui!

Often I pose the question to myself "How would I say this if I had no knowledge whatsoever of English?" That's basically what guides my sentence formation whenever I speak Maori.

Since the arrival of Tauiwi into our turangawaewae, our reo has shifted, largely due to intermingling with the English language, and an entire generation or two completing losing the reo.

Great efforts have been made to secure our language from total extinction, and the number of te reo speakers seems to be on the rise.

What I do notice though is that most of the time when I do hear te reo being spoken, it's cadence follows that of the English language.
Vowels are clipped, consonants are aspirated, and English thought patterns are disguised via the Maori language.
Regardless, I still appreciate and prefer the reo to be spoken rather than it not be spoken at all.
I once heard someone remark that

"Maori sounds like Hawaiian with a New Zealand accent. Hilarious!"

So, how do I personally tackle this and try make my own reo sound more Maori?

Here's how:

1. Read Nupepa Maori - When the written word came to us, we dove straight in. Nupepa Maori gives great insight into how the language was used using the new medium of pen and paper.

2. Listen to the older videos of Wakahuia Docos - Wakahuia has been running for a long time and I find listening to our old people of those times a good way to hear the differences between how the reo sounds today, and how it sounded a little while back.

3. Listen Radio Kahungunu archives - They have a really nice archive of a talkback radio show.

4. People to listen for - I personally try to find anything by Timoti Karetu, Quinton Hita, and Julian Wilcox as I really enjoy the sound of how they speak the reo.

5. Listen to Cook Island Maori, Gagana Tokelau and Hawaiian (Keao Nesmith, Niihau dialect, Kaalala, Kanahele Collection) - Listening to other polynesian languages gives a good general gist of the sound of polynesian languages. I try to emulate a similar sound whenever I speak te reo.

No reira, ko tena tena, I hope that 2025 will be a good year for Te Reo Maori!

Nga rauemi:
Nupepa Maori
Wakahuia
Radio Kahungunu
Quinton Hita
Julian Wilcox
Timoti Karetu
Kanahele Collection
Ka Alala
Gagana Tokelau
Kuki Learning

@ 7ed7d5c3:6927e200

There was a time when we dared not rustle a whisper. But now we write and read samizdat and, congregating in the smoking rooms of research institutes, heartily complain to each other of all they are muddling up, of all they are dragging us into! There’s that unnecessary bravado around our ventures into space, against the backdrop of ruin and poverty at home; and the buttressing of distant savage regimes; and the kindling of civil wars; and the ill-thought-out cultivation of Mao Zedong (at our expense to boot)—in the end we’ll be the ones sent out against him, and we’ll have to go, what other option will there be? And they put whomever they want on trial, and brand the healthy as mentally ill—and it is always “they,” while we are—helpless.

We are approaching the brink; already a universal spiritual demise is upon us; a physical one is about to flare up and engulf us and our children, while we continue to smile sheepishly and babble:

“But what can we do to stop it? We haven’t the strength.”

We have so hopelessly ceded our humanity that for the modest handouts of today we are ready to surrender up all principles, our soul, all the labors of our ancestors, all the prospects of our descendants—anything to avoid disrupting our meager existence. We have lost our strength, our pride, our passion. We do not even fear a common nuclear death, do not fear a third world war (perhaps we’ll hide away in some crevice), but fear only to take a civic stance! We hope only not to stray from the herd, not to set out on our own, and risk suddenly having to make do without the white bread, the hot water heater, a Moscow residency permit.

We have internalized well the lessons drummed into us by the state; we are forever content and comfortable with its premise: we cannot escape the environment, the social conditions; they shape us, “being determines consciousness.” What have we to do with this? We can do nothing.

But we can do—everything!—even if we comfort and lie to ourselves that this is not so. It is not “they” who are guilty of everything, but we ourselves, only we!

Some will counter: But really, there is nothing to be done! Our mouths are gagged, no one listens to us, no one asks us. How can we make them listen to us?

To make them reconsider—is impossible.

The natural thing would be simply not to reelect them, but there are no re-elections in our country.

In the West they have strikes, protest marches, but we are too cowed, too scared: How does one just give up one’s job, just go out onto the street?

All the other fateful means resorted to over the last century of Russia’s bitter history are even less fitting for us today—true, let’s not fall back on them! Today, when all the axes have hewn what they hacked, when all that was sown has borne fruit, we can see how lost, how drugged were those conceited youths who sought, through terror, bloody uprising, and civil war, to make the country just and content. No thank you, fathers of enlightenment! We now know that the vileness of the means begets the vileness of the result. Let our hands be clean!

So has the circle closed? So is there indeed no way out? So the only thing left to do is wait inertly: What if something just happens by itself?

But it will never come unstuck by itself, if we all, every day, continue to acknowledge, glorify, and strengthen it, if we do not, at the least, recoil from its most vulnerable point.

From lies.

When violence bursts onto the peaceful human condition, its face is flush with self-assurance, it displays on its banner and proclaims: “I am Violence! Make way, step aside, I will crush you!” But violence ages swiftly, a few years pass—and it is no longer sure of itself. To prop itself up, to appear decent, it will without fail call forth its ally—Lies. For violence has nothing to cover itself with but lies, and lies can only persist through violence. And it is not every day and not on every shoulder that violence brings down its heavy hand: It demands of us only a submission to lies, a daily participation in deceit—and this suffices as our fealty.

And therein we find, neglected by us, the simplest, the most accessible key to our liberation: a personal nonparticipation in lies! Even if all is covered by lies, even if all is under their rule, let us resist in the smallest way: Let their rule hold not through me!

And this is the way to break out of the imaginary encirclement of our inertness, the easiest way for us and the most devastating for the lies. For when people renounce lies, lies simply cease to exist. Like parasites, they can only survive when attached to a person.

We are not called upon to step out onto the square and shout out the truth, to say out loud what we think—this is scary, we are not ready. But let us at least refuse to say what we do not think!

This is the way, then, the easiest and most accessible for us given our deep-seated organic cowardice, much easier than (it’s scary even to utter the words) civil disobedience à la Gandhi.

Our way must be: Never knowingly support lies! Having understood where the lies begin (and many see this line differently)—step back from that gangrenous edge! Let us not glue back the flaking scales of the Ideology, not gather back its crumbling bones, nor patch together its decomposing garb, and we will be amazed how swiftly and helplessly the lies will fall away, and that which is destined to be naked will be exposed as such to the world.

And thus, overcoming our timidity, let each man choose: Will he remain a witting servant of the lies (needless to say, not due to natural predisposition, but in order to provide a living for the family, to rear the children in the spirit of lies!), or has the time come for him to stand straight as an honest man, worthy of the respect of his children and contemporaries? And from that day onward he:

· Will not write, sign, nor publish in any way, a single line distorting, so far as he can see, the truth;

· Will not utter such a line in private or in public conversation, nor read it from a crib sheet, nor speak it in the role of educator, canvasser, teacher, actor;

· Will not in painting, sculpture, photograph, technology, or music depict, support, or broadcast a single false thought, a single distortion of the truth as he discerns it;

· Will not cite in writing or in speech a single “guiding” quote for gratification, insurance, for his success at work, unless he fully shares the cited thought and believes that it fits the context precisely;

· Will not be forced to a demonstration or a rally if it runs counter to his desire and his will; will not take up and raise a banner or slogan in which he does not fully believe;

· Will not raise a hand in vote for a proposal which he does not sincerely support; will not vote openly or in secret ballot for a candidate whom he deems dubious or unworthy;

· Will not be impelled to a meeting where a forced and distorted discussion is expected to take place;

· Will at once walk out from a session, meeting, lecture, play, or film as soon as he hears the speaker utter a lie, ideological drivel, or shameless propaganda;

· Will not subscribe to, nor buy in retail, a newspaper or journal that distorts or hides the underlying facts.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of the possible and necessary ways of evading lies. But he who begins to cleanse himself will, with a cleansed eye, easily discern yet other opportunities.

Yes, at first it will not be fair. Someone will have to temporarily lose his job. For the young who seek to live by truth, this will at first severely complicate life, for their tests and quizzes, too, are stuffed with lies, and so choices will have to be made. But there is no loophole left for anyone who seeks to be honest: Not even for a day, not even in the safest technical occupations can he avoid even a single one of the listed choices—to be made in favor of either truth or lies, in favor of spiritual independence or spiritual servility. And as for him who lacks the courage to defend even his own soul: Let him not brag of his progressive views, boast of his status as an academician or a recognized artist, a distinguished citizen or general. Let him say to himself plainly: I am cattle, I am a coward, I seek only warmth and to eat my fill.

For us, who have grown staid over time, even this most moderate path of resistance will be not be easy to set out upon. But how much easier it is than self-immolation or even a hunger strike: Flames will not engulf your body, your eyes will not pop out from the heat, and your family will always have at least a piece of black bread to wash down with a glass of clear water.

Betrayed and deceived by us, did not a great European people—the Czechoslovaks—show us how one can stand down the tanks with bared chest alone, as long as inside it beats a worthy heart?

It will not be an easy path, perhaps, but it is the easiest among those that lie before us. Not an easy choice for the body, but the only one for the soul. No, not an easy path, but then we already have among us people, dozens even, who have for years abided by all these rules, who live by the truth.

And so: We need not be the first to set out on this path, Ours is but to join! The more of us set out together, the thicker our ranks, the easier and shorter will this path be for us all! If we become thousands—they will not cope, they will be unable to touch us. If we will grow to tens of thousands—we will not recognize our country!

But if we shrink away, then let us cease complaining that someone does not let us draw breath—we do it to ourselves! Let us then cower and hunker down, while our comrades the biologists bring closer the day when our thoughts can be read and our genes altered.

And if from this also we shrink away, then we are worthless, hopeless, and it is of us that Pushkin asks with scorn:

Why offer herds their liberation? 
............................. Their heritage each generation
The yoke with jingles, and the whip.

February 12, 1974

—translated from the Russian by Yermolai Solzhenitsyn

@ 08288690:77f58eba

Awesome Amapiano

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

Bitcoin, as a decentralized digital currency, is reshaping the global financial landscape, sparking innovation and transformation across various sectors. In South America, Bitcoin communities are emerging as crucial drivers of economic empowerment, financial inclusion, and local technological advancement. This issue will highlight 21 Bitcoin communities from South America, exploring their missions, growth trajectories, and recent developments. By examining these grassroots initiatives, we aim to show how Bitcoin is being leveraged to create sustainable economic ecosystems, foster social progress, and expand access to education and financial tools. Thank you, YakiHonne decentralized media client on Nostr to support people in owning their voice. #iOS #Android, for supporting the publication of the Bitcoin Community Newsletter. Most of the content has been reviewed and confirmed by the South American communities. If there are any omissions, please feel free to reach out to me.

1.Mi Primer Bitcoin nostr:npub17cyatz6z2dzcw6xehtcm9z45m76lde5smxdmyasvs00r4pqv863qrs4ml3 * Introduction My First Bitcoin is a Bitcoin education initiative rooted in the principles of independence, fairness, and community leadership. Originating in El Salvador, it aims to empower individuals and communities by providing open-source educational resources and fostering a decentralized network. Through a commitment to high-quality education, resistance to external influence, and the creation of a global collaborative network, it seeks to spread Bitcoin education to every corner of the world, offering a transparent and transformative model for reshaping traditional financial systems. * Latest Updates Recently, MyfirstBitcoin successfully hosted the fourth Bitcoin Educators Unconference, featuring guests such as nostr:npub1zfgx8v2g0faswd0ry2qn3ay4pvx4jr6q4fw9d0yqalpkyv9hhp0sjccnj5 nostr:npub1rhh9pkmf6l6z7298yg6fgp95rzkmx4j9uxpekn8j73p5k95ck7gsvce7vj attracting around 170 participants and receiving positive feedback. They also held the graduation ceremony in Ilopango, El Salvador, and continued to organize their regular monthly Bitcoin education meetups and Bitcoin game nights. Additionally, MyfirstBitcoin’s Bitcoin Educators Node Network welcomed four new projects from Canada, Nigeria, and the United States. In partnership with Bitcoin Boma, they are launching a free online Bitcoin education course for Malawi in January 2025, aimed at enhancing local Bitcoin knowledge.

2.Bitcoin Beach

• Introduction Bitcoin Beach is a groundbreaking initiative in El Salvador aimed at fostering sustainable local economic development through Bitcoin. The project provides financial services to the community, particularly for those without access to traditional banking. By using Bitcoin for payments, residents can cover everyday expenses such as utility bills, medical costs, and food. Bitcoin Beach leverages the Lightning Network and community collaboration to promote the adoption of Bitcoin both within El Salvador and globally.
• Latest Updates Recently, Bitcoin Beach attended the conference at Bitcoin Lake, where they hosted the Bitcoin Beach Meetup and Bitcoin Beach Festival to support local businesses with Bitcoin. They also invited notable figures such as nostr:npub1q0al05h2uvtj0fp8ww7etl0pdjnkum638ynz9tmku3e522fyvlmqjq04mt Hermann Buhr-Vivier, nostr:npub164xhe3pgcqaj70ls7ls5e4hwlnvl4ttuu8wns99jmwp5z6lwhutsa27wle as podcast guests. The discussions covered a range of impactful topics, including how Bitcoin mining can truly light up rural Africa, how to use Bitcoin to transform small towns in South Africa, and integrating Bitcoin into state-level policies across the United States, among other key areas.

3.Praia Bitcoin Brazil nostr:npub1m3tu3l6y59g2tmackq23v5vgn59u7hu66gxg8xajghz59tqm6xnqk2m888 * Introduction Praia Bitcoin Brazil, located in Jericoacoara, Brazil, is dedicated to creating the country's first Bitcoin circular economy, empowering local residents with financial inclusion. Founded by Fernando Motolese, the project promotes Bitcoin adoption through education, technology, and community-driven initiatives. It has integrated over 40 local businesses into the Bitcoin ecosystem and raised more than 12 BTC through Bitcoin-only crowdfunding. Praia Bitcoin offers self-sovereign financial services and runs programs like the "Bitcoin Smiles" initiative and educational support for children. * Latest Updates Recently, Praia Bitcoin Brazil launched several innovative projects, including the first stage lighting course and free acoustic guitar course funded entirely through Bitcoin crowdfunding. Additionally, Praia Bitcoin successfully hosted the Praia Bitcoin Conference 2024, attracting 10 volunteers, 100 local residents, and 10 new merchants. The conference also sponsored the first music performance paid in Bitcoin and introduced three local courses, all funded via Bitcoin crowdfunding. These initiatives highlight Praia Bitcoin's ongoing efforts to drive Bitcoin adoption and foster local community development.

4.Bitcoin Lake / Lago Bitcoin Guatemala nostr:npub1a4excy7uf9z3mcafvm9cwdr549dl5lpazuvpr2nc550vf27n5a4scqq5k2 * Introduction Bitcoin Lake aims to create a circular economy powered by Bitcoin, providing a novel and accessible solution for unbanked as well as banked merchants in Guatemala. * Latest Updates The Bitcoin Lake community has been actively preparing and promoting a series of innovative initiatives. On November 30 and December 1, Bitcoin Lake successfully hosted its 2024 conference, inviting industry experts such as Ronny Avendaño, co-founder and CEO of the Bitcoin hardware store, and prominent Bitcoin advocate Roman Martínez (chimbera). During the conference, the community also organized creative activities like the coffee workshop and “Be Captain of the Bitcoin Boat”， offering participants an opportunity to dive deeper into Bitcoin and the local economy. Additionally, through partnerships with local merchants, Bitcoin Lake is actively advancing the development of the Bitcoin economy, fostering economic growth and financial inclusion in the community.

5.Bitcoin jungle nostr:npub14f26g7dddy6dpltc70da3pg4e5w2p4apzzqjuugnsr2ema6e3y6s2xv7lu * Introduction Bitcoin Jungle is an open-source community project built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network with the goal of creating a circular Bitcoin economy. The project provides education, resources, and technology to both individuals and businesses. Starting from the Golden Triangle area in Costa Rica (Dominical, Uvita, Ojochal, Platanillo, Tinamaste), it is developing a shining example of what a Bitcoin community can represent. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin Jungle community has been actively promoting the adoption and use of Bitcoin in Costa Rica, participating in various projects and events. Community members attended the Adopting Bitcoin conference in El Salvador, further advancing global Bitcoin adoption. At the same time, they have been actively supporting children's charity projects and Bitcoin diploma courses, continuously driving Bitcoin education, social responsibility, and community development.

6.Bitcoin Berlín sv * Introduction Bitcoin Berlín sv aimed at creating a financially sovereign town in Berlín, El Salvador, through the implementation of a Bitcoin circular economy. The project seeks to integrate Bitcoin into the local economy by educating residents and businesses about its benefits, promoting the adoption of Bitcoin-based payment systems, and empowering local entrepreneurs with financial education. It also focuses on environmental sustainability, encouraging the use of renewable energy and waste reduction. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin Berlín sv has been actively promoting the use of Bitcoin by sharing informative articles and supporting the graduation of podcast producer Joel through the BlinkBTC QR code platform, allowing contributions in sats. This initiative not only supports the growth and development of community members but also furthers Bitcoin’s adoption and usage within the community. Additionally, on November 23rd, the community successfully hosted a cultural festival celebrating the local heritage. During the event, all vendors accepted Bitcoin payments, showcasing its practical application in Berlín’s economy. The festival attracted numerous tourists and residents eager to experience Bitcoin payments, further advancing its integration into daily life.

7.Bitcoin embassy San Salvador * Introduction Bitcoin embassy San Salvador is more into promoting Nostr in the region. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin Embassy San Salvador has been actively promoting the use and adoption of Bitcoin within the community, organizing various events. One of the highlights was the Christmas Toy Drive x Cuarteto Salvación, where toys were purchased using Sats to bring holiday cheer to children in need. The event, held on December 1 at Cuscatlán Park, also featured a special Music Night, attracting a large audience. Additionally, the Embassy hosted an educational gathering for food vendors, aimed at promoting Bitcoin payment systems. During the event, vendors accept Bitcoin payments through tiankii_Tech and blinkbtc platforms, further encouraging local businesses to embrace and adopt Bitcoin payments.

8.ONG Bitcoin Argentina * Introduction ONG Bitcoin Argentina is dedicated to advancing the development and application of decentralized technologies, particularly in the fields of Bitcoin, cryptocurrencies, and blockchain. As a leading organization in this space, the community promotes user protection and the healthy growth of the crypto ecosystem through education, training, and public advocacy. Its mission is to help individuals, businesses, and decision-makers understand and leverage decentralized, transparent, and secure technologies to bring more opportunities and progress to society. ONG Bitcoin Argentina has become a leading force in promoting decentralized technology in Argentina and Latin America. * Latest Updates Recently, ONG Bitcoin Argentina has been actively preparing for the “Moon Party | Despedimos el año ATH (A Todo Hodler)” celebration, set to take place on December 5, 2024. Bitcoin enthusiasts will gather to enjoy exciting activities, including a Lightning Network demonstration and the Fish Bowl Manizesto Bitcoiner art exhibition. In addition, the community has hosted and will host a series of conferences and workshops covering a range of topics, including local digital asset services, Bitcoin as a strategic reserve in the U.S., the reconversion of the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency economy and financial systems, the role of crypto economics in financial system reform, the impact of Bitcoin ETFs on markets, and Bitcoin's influence on global issues, fostering in-depth discussions and development within the crypto industry.

9.La bitcoineta * Introduction La Bitcoineta is an initiative launched by the Argentine community in 2018, designed to promote the adoption and understanding of Bitcoin through a unique and powerful tool: a van and a group of volunteers. This traveling educational project has visited hundreds of towns across Latin America, Africa, and Europe, reaching thousands of people and covering hundreds of thousands of kilometers with the aim of spreading its mission and activities.With its innovative and mobile approach, Bitcoineta has become a globally recognized educational project.

10.Motiv Peru * Introduction Motiv is a non-profit organization founded in 2020, focused on addressing systemic poverty through Bitcoin and innovative projects, aiming to provide better opportunities for survival and prosperity to underserved communities. Its founders, Rich Swisher and Vali Popescu, witnessed firsthand the tragic impact of poverty and lack of basic living conditions in a remote village in the Andes Mountains of Peru, where children were dying due to preventable causes. This inspired them to create Motiv, with the goal of empowering vulnerable populations. By leveraging global support and partnerships, Motiv uses Bitcoin to help local communities break free from poverty and improve their lives, striving to bring positive change and hope to those in need. * Latest Updates Recently, MOTIV Perú has made significant progress in promoting Bitcoin and the circular economy. The organization continues to transform communities across Peru through various initiatives. For example, in the Comas district of Lima, entrepreneurial women are paying for their classes with Bitcoin and learning how to make delicious desserts, further advancing the local circular economy. Additionally, MOTIV Perú held its first Bitcoin training in Carabayllo-Lima, helping Peruvians understand the nature of money and the advantages of Bitcoin. MOTIV is also assisting communities in areas like Tarapoto and Ancon, where locals are using Bitcoin for daily transactions, driving financial freedom and economic empowerment.

11.Montanha bitcoin * Introduction Building a circular economy in Sao thome, Brazil. * Latest Updates Recently, The community has had no recent updates. The latest event dates back to June 2024, highlighting a water contamination incident.

12.Amityage honduras * Introduction Amityage Honduras is the first Bitcoin education center in Honduras, located on Roatán Island in the Prosperá zone. The center's mission is to educate the local community about Bitcoin and spread this knowledge throughout Central America and the Caribbean. It is dedicated to helping businesses on the island adopt Bitcoin as a payment method, teaching children financial literacy, and empowering individuals to achieve financial sovereignty through Bitcoin. The center aims to empower the local community through education and innovation, fostering economic independence and sustainable development. * Latest Updates Recently, Amityage Honduras is actively promoting Bitcoin education by participating in various international Bitcoin events and organizing local courses to help more people understand Bitcoin. Community members took part in significant events such as AdoptingBTC 2024 and BitcoinUnconference, and hosted workshops around the theme of “How to Enter the World of Bitcoin Education.” In Haidmühle, Germany, AmityAge completed a four-day Bitcoin Educators Academy, where the curriculum included topics like using simple analogies to explain Bitcoin and public speaking exercises. Additionally, the community hosted Bitcoin education courses on Roatán Island and provided a free Bitcoin event for beginners at the Crawfish Rock community, further spreading Bitcoin knowledge.

13.Lima - Orange Pill Perú nostr:npub1fw8m5g6nfywmsgqjc66j47jax7jrv8lq46zf7grydjqppc54a8eql47qrx * Introduction Orange Pill Peru is a community-driven initiative dedicated to empowering Peruvians through Bitcoin education. With a focus on transforming the financial landscape, Orange Pill Peru provides resources for individuals to learn about Bitcoin, connect with like-minded enthusiasts, and grow their knowledge through various events and workshops. The community serves as a hub for both beginners and professionals, offering a supportive environment to explore the fundamentals of Bitcoin, its history, and its potential to shape the future of finance. * Latest Updates Recently, there have been no major updates. They actively engage in Bitcoin education and industry updates by sharing and reposting Bitcoin-related content. They support MOTIV Perú's financial freedom education project in the Ancon community in Lima, emphasizing the empowerment of women through Bitcoin. Additionally, the community has shared information about the upcoming Bitcoin Medellin Conference scheduled for January 2025.

14.La Antigua Bitcoin * Introduction La Antigua Bitcoin is a community-based initiative in La Antigua Guatemala, focusing on promoting Bitcoin adoption in local businesses. The community works to create awareness and facilitate the use of Bitcoin as a payment method in various establishments throughout the city. By encouraging merchants to accept Bitcoin, La Antigua Bitcoin aims to integrate cryptocurrency into the everyday economy, driving financial innovation and expanding access to decentralized financial systems within the region. * Latest Updates Recently, the Antigua Bitcoin community has had few updates, with a focus on organizing its first meetup in collaboration with “Run with Bitcoin” on November 24, 2023. The event garnered significant attention within the community, featuring interactions with a special guest. The aim of the event was to further promote Bitcoin adoption in Antigua, Guatemala, and encourage exchange and collaboration between Bitcoin enthusiasts and the local community.

15.Horizonte Bitcoin nostr:npub1wl8u4wfqsdz5m9ey0vvzh4y05mcpk2lm2xhhpw3uzs3878c2mw9sr2ksxk * Introduction Project that aims to contribute to the Bitcoinization of the economy and encourage Entrepreneurship and Decentralization. * Latest Updates Recently, The community has had no recent updates. The latest event dates back to Oct 2024, which shared a message encouraging women to learn more about Bitcoin and connect with others in the field, highlighted a meetup, Satoshe's Lounge, for women, providing a space to learn, discuss, and share knowledge about Bitcoin.

16.Escuelita Bitcoin nostr:npub1awggmqvlw8pa0kp9qq5law8zsvp2a8suztk0357j7e0nt746suwspt7lwx * Introduction Educational Project for Little School. * Latest Updates Recently, the Escuelita Bitcoin team has grown to five members and is actively advancing Bitcoin education and community development. Team members have hosted several workshops in Paraguay and Mexico, spreading Bitcoin knowledge within local communities and encouraging merchants to accept Bitcoin payments, particularly in Ciudad del Este, Paraguay. The team is raising funds through platforms like Geyser. fund and Kuno.anne.media to support the expansion of their educational initiatives and help locals better understand and use Bitcoin. Escuelita Bitcoin also emphasizes privacy education, promoting the use of tools like CakeWallet and Monero. Through collaborations with other organizations and individuals, the team is extending the reach of Bitcoin education, fostering the adoption of Bitcoin in Latin America and emerging markets.

17.Bitcoin é aqui! Rolante/Riozinho-RS-BRASIL nostr:npub168dqt5c8ue3uj8ynlk0lhwalnp7uy39lvzf9tm09wy3htxwmw7qq5nerj4 * Introduction Bitcoin é Aqui! Rolante is located in Rolante, Brazil, and is dedicated to creating a lifestyle and tourism destination where 40% of businesses now accept Bitcoin as a payment method, showcasing the community's success in integrating Bitcoin into the local economy. Residents and visitors can use it to pay for all services, including accommodation, tours, local goods, medical services, and even construction and solar energy equipment. This reflects the practical application and convenience of its use in everyday life, aiming to create a digitally-driven environment powered by Bitcoin. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin é Aqui! Rolante has been actively promoting the adoption and use of Bitcoin in Brazil and beyond. The community has organized several educational events aimed at spreading basic Bitcoin knowledge and its practical applications in daily life, particularly through online videos and lectures. These efforts help people understand how Bitcoin plays a crucial role in the global financial system. The community has also been actively involved in promoting Bitcoin payments, supporting their adoption by local businesses and in the tourism industry.

18.Bitcoin Forte * Introduction Bitcoin Forte is a voluntary initiative aimed at introducing Bitcoin as a currency to Praia do Forte in Bahia, Brazil. The project provides valuable information about Bitcoin’s importance and encourages local merchants to adopt it as a payment method. By highlighting Bitcoin's international use, simplicity, and security, Bitcoin Forte aims to facilitate its adoption among both tourists and businesses.The community promotes Bitcoin as a stable and controlled currency, helping to avoid systemic price inflation. Bitcoin Forte simplifies the process for businesses by offering tools such as QR codes and the “Satoshi POS Wallet” app, which connects to a merchant’s primary wallet for seamless transactions. * Latest Updates Recently, the community has had no recent updates. The latest event dates back to July 2024, introducing Airbtc, a platform similar to Airbnb, but it only accepts Bitcoin as payment.

19.Bitcoin Paraguay * Introduction Bitcoin Paraguay is a community dedicated to connecting individuals in Paraguay who are interested in Bitcoin, promoting its adoption, and fostering the development of local circular economies. The community’s mission is to increase Bitcoin adoption by collaborating with local businesses and nonprofit organizations, helping to create a more sustainable local economy. Through regular events, talks, and resource sharing, Bitcoin Paraguay provides education and support to its members while actively exploring Bitcoin's application across various sectors in Paraguay. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin Paraguay community has made significant progress in promoting Bitcoin adoption. On November 5, they successfully hosted the fifth Bitcoin meetup in Asunción, attracting 110 attendees. The event included two Spanish-language presentations and a Lightning Network onboarding training session, with food and drinks available for purchase using Bitcoin. The event was made possible with strong support from sponsors Blink Wallet and Hacking Lives. On November 13, Josef Tetek visited Bitcoin Paraguay to help promote the adoption of Vexl in the country. The community also shared their progress through articles, with Jake, a community member, publishing an article in the Asunción Times on how Bitcoin Paraguay is improving people's lives.

20.Bitcoin Amantikir * Introduction They are starting the first community in the Serra da Mantiqueira to use and extol people about the bitcoin economy. * Latest Updates Recently, the Bitcoin Amantikir community has made significant progress in promoting Bitcoin as a payment method and fostering a circular economy in Santo Antônio do Pinhal. Various businesses, including a pet store, transportation service providers, a hotel, a fruit shop, and a tourist attraction, have started accepting Bitcoin payments. Additionally, the community is organizing a Bitcoin financial education course on December 2nd at Munay Pousada, aimed at helping young people aged 14-18 acquire essential financial knowledge and understand the importance of Bitcoin.

21.La Crypta nostr:npub1rujdpkd8mwezrvpqd2rx2zphfaztqrtsfg6w3vdnljdghs2q8qrqtt9u68 * Introduction La Crypta is an open-source community dedicated to advancing the adoption of the Nostr protocol and Bitcoin through developer-friendly tools and resources. By providing an integrated open-source stack, La Crypta empowers developers to sync with multiple relays, showcase profiles with badges, and facilitate seamless messaging, making it easier to build and utilize decentralized social platforms. Events like hackathons further enhance collaboration and attract new members, fostering innovation in decentralized social media. * Latest Updates LaWallet, their open-source wallet, integrates Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr to provide a seamless learning experience. With over 8,000 NFC cards distributed across conferences in regions like Argentina, Brazil, and Spain, LaWallet enables easy adoption while prioritizing user privacy. The wallet’s functionality is now supported by Alby’s official browser extension, further boosting accessibility.

@ 3f770d65:7a745b24

I’ve been using Notedeck for several months, starting with its extremely early and experimental alpha versions, all the way to its current, more stable alpha releases. The journey has been fascinating, as I’ve had the privilege of watching it evolve from a concept into a functional and promising tool.

In its earliest stages, Notedeck was raw—offering glimpses of its potential but still far from practical for daily use. Even then, the vision behind it was clear: a platform designed to redefine how we interact with Nostr by offering flexibility and power for all users.

I'm very bullish on Notedeck. Why? Because Will Casarin is making it! Duh! 😂

Seriously though, if we’re reimagining the web and rebuilding portions of the Internet, it’s important to recognize the potential of Notedeck. If Nostr is reimagining the web, then Notedeck is reimagining the Nostr client.

Notedeck isn’t just another Nostr app—it’s more a Nostr browser that functions more like an operating system with micro-apps. How cool is that?

Much like how Google's Chrome evolved from being a web browser with a task manager into ChromeOS, a full blown operating system, Notedeck aims to transform how we interact with the Nostr. It goes beyond individual apps, offering a foundation for a fully integrated ecosystem built around Nostr.

As a Nostr evangelist, I love to scream INTEROPERABILITY and tout every application's integrations. Well, Notedeck has the potential to be one of the best platforms to showcase these integrations in entirely new and exciting ways.

Do you want an Olas feed of images? Add the media column.

Do you want a feed of live video events? Add the zap.stream column.

Do you want Nostr Nests or audio chats? Add that column to your Notedeck.

Git? Email? Books? Chat and DMs? It's all possible.

Not everyone wants a super app though, and that’s okay. As with most things in the Nostr ecosystem, flexibility is key. Notedeck gives users the freedom to choose how they engage with it—whether it’s simply following hashtags or managing straightforward feeds. You'll be able to tailor Notedeck to fit your needs, using it as extensively or minimally as you prefer.

Notedeck is designed with a local-first approach, utilizing Nostr content stored directly on your device via the local nostrdb. This will enable a plethora of advanced tools such as search and filtering, the creation of custom feeds, and the ability to develop personalized algorithms across multiple Notedeck micro-applications—all with unparalleled flexibility.

Notedeck also supports multicast. Let's geek out for a second. Multicast is a method of communication where data is sent from one source to multiple destinations simultaneously, but only to devices that wish to receive the data. Unlike broadcast, which sends data to all devices on a network, multicast targets specific receivers, reducing network traffic. This is commonly used for efficient data distribution in scenarios like streaming, conferencing, or large-scale data synchronization between devices.

In a local first world where each device holds local copies of your nostr nodes, and each device transparently syncs with each other on the local network, each node becomes a backup. Your data becomes antifragile automatically. When a node goes down it can resync and recover from other nodes. Even if not all nodes have a complete collection, negentropy can pull down only what is needed from each device. All this can be done without internet.

-Will Casarin

In the context of Notedeck, multicast would allow multiple devices to sync their Nostr nodes with each other over a local network without needing an internet connection. Wild.

Notedeck aims to offer full customization too, including the ability to design and share custom skins, much like Winamp. Users will also be able to create personalized columns and, in the future, share their setups with others. This opens the door for power users to craft tailored Nostr experiences, leveraging their expertise in the protocol and applications. By sharing these configurations as "Starter Decks," they can simplify onboarding and showcase the best of Nostr’s ecosystem.

Nostr’s “Other Stuff” can often be difficult to discover, use, or understand. Many users doesn't understand or know how to use web browser extensions to login to applications. Let's not even get started with nsecbunkers. Notedeck will address this challenge by providing a native experience that brings these lesser-known applications, tools, and content into a user-friendly and accessible interface, making exploration seamless. However, that doesn't mean Notedeck should disregard power users that want to use nsecbunkers though - hint hint.

For anyone interested in watching Nostr be developed live, right before your very eyes, Notedeck’s progress serves as a reminder of what’s possible when innovation meets dedication. The current alpha is already demonstrating its ability to handle complex use cases, and I’m excited to see how it continues to grow as it moves toward a full release later this year.

@ a09fb9cb:83231556

Who

So, this is it, this is How it begins. No more sitting on the sidelines pondering and wondering. This is it. This is Where the rubber hits the road.

OK, so, err… wow. Welcome. I guess this is How you start these things, right? I welcome you and I tell you a little bit about my self, Why I’m here and Why you should consider reading on… OK, well, I’ve kinda done that in detail on the about page, which you can link off to, if you so wish…

I feel like I’m jumping into the deep end, because there is so much that I just don’t know, and What I don’t know has many sides to it, so let me try and break this down a little.

What

Firstly, there is so much that I wish to discuss here, about the essence of the self the nature of reality the meaning of existence, consciousness, choice, consequence, awareness, intention, sovereignty, autonomy, emotion, liberty, ethics, morality, wellness, society, money, law, power, religion, and technology to name just a few…

How

Then there is Substack, WordPress, Medium, Spotify, YouTube, Rumble, Odysee, and all the other communication channels that are out there, and this doesn’t even begin to account for the minefield that is Social Media today.

Why

I do know Why I’m here on Highlighter (nostr), and it’s for a couple of reasons:

#1 - Information Gathering

Taking the above point about What I wish to discuss, today we have almost instantaneous access to the most amount of information humanity has ever known. This in and of it self creates a huge problem because sifting through all this information to uncover reliable and verifiable facts is becoming increasingly difficult.

Information overload can make it difficult to discern fact from fiction, and verifiable facts form the bedrock of How we operate within our shared, consensus (objective) reality.

I find my self constructing narratives and mental models within my mind that appear to make a lot of sense to my mind, but these can then become difficult to translate into coherent speech When attempting to explain them to others. Thus, writing these things down here on Highlighter overcomes two challenges.

1. I get to make sense of these things my self, because if I cannot translate my understanding into coherent text then my knowledge and experience of the subject matter must be lacking.
2. If I can capture these things in a coherent way, then I can refer them to others, and hopefully receive constructive feedback in ways that may not have yet occurred to me.

I believe this is What Seraph meant When he said:

“You do not truly know someone until you fight them.”_ Seraph - The Matrix Reloaded_

Obviously, the Matrix films were action movies, so the metaphors expressed within them typically manifested through scenes of hand-to-hand combat involving Neo, but at its core, I interpret Seraphs words to mean that, you do not truly know your self until you find your true self. Here’s another way to explain What I mean by this:

mind.noun, a beautiful servant, a dangerous master.

or

When a student is ready, the master appears…

I’ve explained more about this in the about page, but here is the summary, consciousness can exist without thought, but thought cannot exist without consciousness. Ergo, consciousness is an innate quality of Being, whereas Mind is an emergent property of consciousness. Once you deconstruct your Being to its core, you eventually arrive at nothing. Nothing is the truth of all reality (ultimate reality), and so to know nothing, through the experience of enlightenment, is to know thy self.

Once the distinction is made between the conscious self and the thinking mind, truth emerges, and it is this truth that sets us free. This is the “fight” for freedom, or more accurately the struggle for peace, that we are all invited to seek, simply through Being human.

If I can make sense of What is in my mind, by writing it down, then this is a good thing. If those words then translate into meaning and understanding for others, then this is a better thing. If conversations emerge that promote growth and increase understanding, then this is the best thing.

#2 - Process Improvement

So having a corpus of information to discuss is the first thing, but then there is How best to have these discussions… This is of equal importance to me because the way that we are generating and consuming content is changing. There now appears to be as many channels to discuss information, as there is information to be discussed, although I suspect Generative Artificial Intelligence will smash that ratio out of the park soon, if it hasn’t done so already.

So, What is the best way or ways to do this? Well, I figure the only way to find this out is to run the experiment and see Where it goes.

You gotta start somewhere…

Substack seems like a reasonable place to start because:

1. it’s part of the existing world, Where everything is stored centrally, yet it appears to be somewhat censorship resistant, not that I intend to go around kicking the hornets’ nest, but it does appear to be a relatively “safe” place to hang out.
2. it’s growing rapidly and making improvements to its platform all the time, so I can grow and learn as Substack improves.
3. it has a good user base, so connecting with fellow travellers is easier than creating my own standalone website.
4. I’m also hopeful that Substack provides simple and easy integration into things like Podcasting and Social Media, so I can spend more time on content creation and having meaningful conversations, and less time on the technicalities of “distribution”.

…and see where it goes

Which has led me inexorably here. I only just discovered Highlighter last week, so I am going to do my best to publish all my Substack articles here too. I believe that is the purpose of nostr, right?

Where

So, I’m going to start on Substack, and take it goes from there, because as the title of this article suggests, “I know nothing.” This is my working assumption, that I know nothing, because I have no real idea about How I am going to do any of this.

I’ve never done a Substack or Highlighter (nostr) before, nor do I know How to create a Podcast, or How to effectively communicate with fellow travellers via Social Media, so this is going to be a journey of discovery for me. This is my first step into a world that seems to be rapidly evolving, so to help you connect with me, on whatever platform suits you, I’ve mapped out my linktr.ee/danielewen.me.

If you’ve made it this far down the page, thank you! Just writing this first article and the about page has been a useful exercise for me.

I hope that I have somewhat accurately articulated my conscious intentions (the Who, the What, the How, the Why, and the Where) for this Project in such a way that it at least makes some sense to you? Let me know your thoughts in the comments, and I will do my best to digest any constructive feedback that you have for me. I guess all that remains is the…

When

As there is only the present moment, the time is always Now… so here it is.

If you would like to follow me here on nostr then please do so, and if you'd like to subscribe to Substack, then here’s the link for that: https://danielewen.substack.com and / or you can subscribe to my WordPress too, here: https://danielewen.wordpress.com.

I have no idea what this is going to look like #When I hit the publish button, but here goes...

I now know SOMETHiNG…

@ 0d97beae:c5274a14

This article hopes to complement the article by Lyn Alden on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jk_HWmmwiAs

The reason why we have broken money

Before the invention of key technologies such as the printing press and electronic communications, even such as those as early as morse code transmitters, gold had won the competition for best medium of money around the world.

In fact, it was not just gold by itself that became money, rulers and world leaders developed coins in order to help the economy grow. Gold nuggets were not as easy to transact with as coins with specific imprints and denominated sizes.

However, these modern technologies created massive efficiencies that allowed us to communicate and perform services more efficiently and much faster, yet the medium of money could not benefit from these advancements. Gold was heavy, slow and expensive to move globally, even though requesting and performing services globally did not have this limitation anymore.

Banks took initiative and created derivatives of gold: paper and electronic money; these new currencies allowed the economy to continue to grow and evolve, but it was not without its dark side. Today, no currency is denominated in gold at all, money is backed by nothing and its inherent value, the paper it is printed on, is worthless too.

Banks and governments eventually transitioned from a money derivative to a system of debt that could be co-opted and controlled for political and personal reasons. Our money today is broken and is the cause of more expensive, poorer quality goods in the economy, a larger and ever growing wealth gap, and many of the follow-on problems that have come with it.

Bitcoin overcomes the "transfer of hard money" problem

Just like gold coins were created by man, Bitcoin too is a technology created by man. Bitcoin, however is a much more profound invention, possibly more of a discovery than an invention in fact. Bitcoin has proven to be unbreakable, incorruptible and has upheld its ability to keep its units scarce, inalienable and counterfeit proof through the nature of its own design.

Since Bitcoin is a digital technology, it can be transferred across international borders almost as quickly as information itself. It therefore severely reduces the need for a derivative to be used to represent money to facilitate digital trade. This means that as the currency we use today continues to fare poorly for many people, bitcoin will continue to stand out as hard money, that just so happens to work as well, functionally, along side it.

Bitcoin will also always be available to anyone who wishes to earn it directly; even China is unable to restrict its citizens from accessing it. The dollar has traditionally become the currency for people who discover that their local currency is unsustainable. Even when the dollar has become illegal to use, it is simply used privately and unofficially. However, because bitcoin does not require you to trade it at a bank in order to use it across borders and across the web, Bitcoin will continue to be a viable escape hatch until we one day hit some critical mass where the world has simply adopted Bitcoin globally and everyone else must adopt it to survive.

Bitcoin has not yet proven that it can support the world at scale. However it can only be tested through real adoption, and just as gold coins were developed to help gold scale, tools will be developed to help overcome problems as they arise; ideally without the need for another derivative, but if necessary, hopefully with one that is more neutral and less corruptible than the derivatives used to represent gold.

Bitcoin blurs the line between commodity and technology

Bitcoin is a technology, it is a tool that requires human involvement to function, however it surprisingly does not allow for any concentration of power. Anyone can help to facilitate Bitcoin's operations, but no one can take control of its behaviour, its reach, or its prioritisation, as it operates autonomously based on a pre-determined, neutral set of rules.

At the same time, its built-in incentive mechanism ensures that people do not have to operate bitcoin out of the good of their heart. Even though the system cannot be co-opted holistically, It will not stop operating while there are people motivated to trade their time and resources to keep it running and earn from others' transaction fees. Although it requires humans to operate it, it remains both neutral and sustainable.

Never before have we developed or discovered a technology that could not be co-opted and used by one person or faction against another. Due to this nature, Bitcoin's units are often described as a commodity; they cannot be usurped or virtually cloned, and they cannot be affected by political biases.

The dangers of derivatives

A derivative is something created, designed or developed to represent another thing in order to solve a particular complication or problem. For example, paper and electronic money was once a derivative of gold.

In the case of Bitcoin, if you cannot link your units of bitcoin to an "address" that you personally hold a cryptographically secure key to, then you very likely have a derivative of bitcoin, not bitcoin itself. If you buy bitcoin on an online exchange and do not withdraw the bitcoin to a wallet that you control, then you legally own an electronic derivative of bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a new technology. It will have a learning curve and it will take time for humanity to learn how to comprehend, authenticate and take control of bitcoin collectively. Having said that, many people all over the world are already using and relying on Bitcoin natively. For many, it will require for people to find the need or a desire for a neutral money like bitcoin, and to have been burned by derivatives of it, before they start to understand the difference between the two. Eventually, it will become an essential part of what we regard as common sense.

Learn for yourself

If you wish to learn more about how to handle bitcoin and avoid derivatives, you can start by searching online for tutorials about "Bitcoin self custody".

There are many options available, some more practical for you, and some more practical for others. Don't spend too much time trying to find the perfect solution; practice and learn. You may make mistakes along the way, so be careful not to experiment with large amounts of your bitcoin as you explore new ideas and technologies along the way. This is similar to learning anything, like riding a bicycle; you are sure to fall a few times, scuff the frame, so don't buy a high performance racing bike while you're still learning to balance.

@ a58a2663:87bb2918

1. Concluir com minha filha, até o fim de 2025, a leitura da tradução latina de Ursinho Pooh, isto é, Winnie Ille Pu, de Alexander Lenard (1910-1972), poeta, ensaísta e tradutor húngaro que viveu no Brasil. Que texto curioso! Estranho estímulo que me chegou para voltar a estudar latim a sério.

1. Importar mais livros pela Thrift Books e menos pela Loja do Diabo. Seu acervo é excepcional e o frete é mais barato. Às vezes, em menos de duas semanas já estou com o livro em mãos (e olha que resido no Maranhão).

2. Concluir e publicar meu livro Vida após as Universidades. Escrita & criação em velhos & novos contextos de risco, desenvolvimento de algumas ideias que insinuei em Contra a vida intelectual, no que diz respeito ao encerramento de um ciclo histórico de modos de fazer investigação erudita.

3. Rematar o terceiro e último módulo de Convivium - Seminário Permanente de Humanidades, "A Alegoria do Mundo: o Mago, o Filólogo e o Colonizador", embrião de um longo ensaio sobre o "projeto humanista" e as vias de saída da modernidade oferecidas pelo pensamento latino-americano. (As inscrições seguem abertas. Caso queira inscrever-se pagando em bitcoin, me mande um e-mail: camoensiii57@protonmail.com).

4. Defender no primeiro semestre minha tese de doutoramento sobre João Francisco Lisboa (1812-1863), o maior prosador brasileiro de meados do século XIX. Compreender seu Jornal de Tímon implica rever concepções há muitos estabelecidas sobre a formação da literatura brasileira.

5. Escrever pelo menos cinco ensaios de apresentação do pensamento de Vilém Flusser e do que pretendo realizar em FLUSSER_project. A ideia é divulgá-los em inglês e especialmente aqui pelo Nostr.

6. Ler TUDO de Ignacio Gómez de Liaño.

7. Não ceder à tentação de discutir com imbecil.

@ 37fe9853:bcd1b039

yoyoaa

@ a09fb9cb:83231556

• If you understand the below, "i" kindly invite you to connect
• If YOU do not understand the below, "I" would still invite YOU to connect, in fact more so, so that We can Both expand our shared understanding

To understand things, "We" need frameworks of understanding, but We should not confuse the framework for the understanding.

A common misconception is that the "thing" We are searching for EXiSTS somewhere out there. Above us perhaps? To that end We believe that We have to connect with something "outside" of ourself. May I ask YOU, have YOU ever experienced outside, other than through sense perception arising from WITHiN the MiND? Do YOU see the paradox? Outside is unknowable. It is an ILLUSiON... the truth LiES WITHiN

In spiritual speak, the analogy of a triangle is often used, with the all-seeing "i" placed at the top of the triangle. This is where the half-truth is hidden, WITHiN the LiE.

Continuing with the common misconception, We believe that in order to reach greater and greater "spiritual" heights We must grow the triangle.

I ask YOU to consider, what if the "thing" We are searching for is the base of the triangle? This is the foundation of knowing. Knowing leads to understanding and wisdom, through experience. Experience leads to knowing. This is the process of enlightenment...

I know nothing. I now know SOMETHiNG...

I have attempted to convey this metaphor somewhat crudely using the below graphical representation and a previous read that alludes to who "i AM"...

naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpgylh89jrps6t0dzgadseecr6rukk7pln42jlcccgsrlrkpjx92kqy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwwpexjmtpdshxuet59uq32amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7tcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2ap0qqd5jttwdamj66mwdamj6560f4z4gjrfferj67t20fckzwqrsyn3c

...but, do not trust | VERiFY - "i AM". I EXiST.

Does this make sense? I know what I know, but I do not know how to communicate what I know to YOU so that We understand each other. This is Why? I encourage YOU to connect. Finally, YOU have my most sincere gratitude. Thank YOU kindly for your precious time and attention.

If you are wondering who "i AM". "i AM" YOU. "i AM" consciousness MANiFESTED...

@ 6e4f2866:a76f7a29

@ 62033ff8:e4471203

收录的内容中 kind=1的部分，实话说 质量不高。 所以我增加了kind=30023 长文的article，但是更新的太少，多个relays 的服务器也没有多少长文。

所有搜索nostr如果需要产生价值，需要有高质量的文章和新闻。 而且现在有很多机器人的文章充满着浪费空间的作用，其他作用都用不上。

https://www.duozhutuan.com 目前放的是给搜索引擎提供搜索的原材料。没有做UI给人类浏览。所以看上去是粗糙的。 我并没有打算去做一个发microblog的 web客户端，那类的客户端太多了。

我觉得nostr社区需要解决的还是应用。如果仅仅是microblog 感觉有点够呛

幸运的是npub.pro 建站这样的，我觉得有点意思。

yakihonne 智能widget 也有意思

我做的TaskQ5 我自己在用了。分布式的任务系统，也挺好的。

@ a09fb9cb:83231556

I know nothing. Allow me to introduce myself...

The present is eternal and infinite.

Everything that has and will ever happen is continuously happening right now, in the present moment.

"We" typically do not know this because our human senses are connected to the brain.

Through the BRAiN "We" ("i" & "I") perceive the MiND.

The MiND creates concepts and constructs to interpret the senses of perception so that "We" come to observe REALIiTY with Present Moment Awareness.

To become present requires a sense of time.

Time is a concept created WITHiN the MiND to facilite the perception of space. The sense of time allows the observer to perceive change.

Paradoxically,, change is constant.

Change occurs as "We" alter our perception of the eternal and the infinite.

"i" am always present, here and now because "i" am WITHiN EVERYTHiNG.

"i" created YOU ("I") for my own amusement... YOU are the question of "what is beyond the eternal and the infinite?"

YOU will come to understand this, when YOU and "i" rejoice two become one again, in the present. YOU call this enlightenment.

IMAGiNE DOiNG EVERYTHiNG, BEiNG EVERYTHiNG, FOREVER. FOREVER WOULD BE MEANINGLESS. YOU GiVE me MEANiNG. This is Why? "i" CREATED YOU.

YOU ARE me... "We" are EVERYTHiNG. This is the truth that LiES WITHiN, and it is THiS truth that sets Us Both free, but only for a time, because nothing really does last forever...

That's who "i AM". "i AM" nothing. Yet paradoxically, I EXiST.

I now know SOMETHiNG... YOU now know who "i AM", because "I" now know who YOU are.

@ c4b5369a:b812dbd6

Ecash systems built on top of bitcoin have seen increasing adoption over the last couple of years. They have become a polarising topic in the bitcoin community, due to their centralized and custodial nature. Like any system, ecash comes with a lot of pros and cons when compared to other systems, that are fercely debated in cyber- and meat-space.

I have been working on developing tools and software for the ecash implementation Cashu for about 2 years now. I have had countless discussions with various people from different backgrounds about the topic. OG bitcoiners, fiat bankers, friends and family, privacy enthusiast... . As you can imagine the flow and outcome of these discussions varied widely.

Usually, conversations with bitcoiners were the most interesting for me. Their opinions about ecash polarised the most, by far. (excluding the fiat bankers, but that's a story for another day). In this short peice, I want to share some insights from the discussions I had, and maybe clear up some misconceptions about ecash on bitcoin.

What is Ecash?

If you still don't know what ecash is, sorry, I won't go into much detail explaining it. I recommend reading the wikipedia article on Ecash , and then this article on the rise and fall of digicash, the first and maybe only ecash company that existed. This will bring you up to speed on ecash history up until bitcoin entered the scene. Ecash was pretty much dead from the day after digicash went bankrupt untill it recently saw it's revival in two different spheres:

One of these spheres is obviously the bitcoin sphere. Here, ecash got reintroduced with the two open source projects Fedimint and Cashu. In my opinion, the main reason for this revival is the following fact: Unlike an implementation of ecash in the fiat world, that would rely on the permissioned system to "allow" something like ecash to exist, bitcoin does not come with that limitation. The permissionless nature of bitcoin allows for these protocols to exist and interoperate with the existing bitcoin stack.

The second, and maybe lesser known sphere is the revival of ecash as a CBDC. Bitcoiners might get scared at the mentioning of that word. Trust me, I don't like it either. Nonetheless, privacy enthusiasts see the opportunity to steer the CBDC-ship in another direction, by using an underlying technology for them that would limit targeted discrimination by the centralized authorithy. Something that works like cash... but in cyberspace... Ecash. One such implementation is GNU Taler, another one is Project Tourbillon. Usually, these kind of implementations use a cuck-version of the OG ecash, where only payers are anonymous, but not payees.

Anyway, in this article we will focus on the implementation of ecash on bitcoin.

About self custody

Bitcoin as a whole is about sovereignty and liberation. If someone else controls your money, they control you. For the first time since we've stopped using gold, bitcoin allows us to fully take control back of our money. A money that doesn't corrode, a money which supply connot get inflated, and a money that cannot be easily seized. All of this is true for bitcoin. There is only one precondition: You have to hold and use it self custodially.

Using bitcoin self custodially

The problem comes in when using bitcoin in a self custodial fashion. For bitcoin to maintain the monetary properties mentioned above, it has to remain decentralized. This means it is hard to scale, which in turn means the use of bitcoin tends to become more costly as usage increases.

So even if we wish that everyone would use bitcoin self custodially all the time for everything, I fear it is mostly just a dream, at least for the forseable future. Even with trustless second layer protocols like the Lightning Network, we are running into scaling issues, since at the end of the day, they are bound to the same onchain fee realities as bare-bones bitcoin transactions.

For most of humanity, it is financially not viable to pay even 1$ transaction fees for every transaction. Second layer protocol may bring the cost down a bit, but have other requirements. For example in lightning, you have an online assumption, to make sure your channel peers aren't trying to cheat. You need to have inbound liquidity to receive payments. There are cost associated with opening or closing payment channels, or rebalancing liquidity.

Other upcoming second layer protocols like Ark may improve on some of these issues. It is definitely something to look forward to! But they will have their own trade-offs, most likely also cost related. The fact remains that all trustless protocols that use the bitcoin timechain for conflict resolution, will have to deal with this matter. This is the cost of trustlessness.

Soo... Don't self custody...?

NO! If you can, you should always use self custody. As much as possible!

Personally, I use all the tools mentioned above. And I recommend that if you can, you should too.

But the fact is, not everyone can. Many would love to take control over their financial freedom, but the threshold for them to use bitcoin in a sovereign fashion is simply to high. So they will either remain in fiat slavery land, or they will end up using "bitcoin" through a custodian like coinbase, binance, or whatever banking service they have access to.

I will also mention that for some usecases, enjoying the convenience of a custodian is just very attractive. Of course, this is only the case as long as the custodian plays by the book, and doesn't suddenly freeze-, or worse, run away with your deposits.

The right tool for the right job

I don't beleive that one way of using bitcoin is better than the other. It entirely depends on which problem you are trying to solve.

If the problem is storing or transfering wealth, then of course you would want to do that on chain.

If on the other hand, you want to send and receive frequent small to midsized payments, you might want to get setup with a lightning channel to an LSP. Depending on how deep you want to get involved, you may even set up some infrastructure and become part of the Lightning network.

If you want to receive digital tips that you can later claim into self custody after they reach a certain threshold, you might opt for a custodial solution.

If you require certain properties, like offline peer-to-peer transferability, or cash-like privacy, you might choose an ecash system.

It doesn't mean that if you use one, you cannot use the other. You should use whatever is useful for the current problem you are trying to solve, maybe even using multiple tools in conjuction, if that makes sense.

Ecash vs Onchain vs L2?

First of all, we have to understand that ecash is neither a replacement for self custody, nor is it a replacement for trustless second layer protocols. They are irreplaceable with something that is custodial in nature, due to the simple fact that if you lose control over your money, you have lost the control over your life.

So. No one beleives you should prioritize custodial solutions to secure your wealth. Self custody will always remain king in that regard. Custodial wallets should be thought off as a physical spending wallet you can walk around with, even through the dark alleyways where it might get robbed from you. Keep your cash in there for convenient spending, not worrying about fees, liquidity, data footprints, channel backups, etc. etc. etc... These benefits obviously come at the cost of trust, that the provider doesn't rug-pull your deposit.

I really like the user experience of custodial services. I would never put a lot of money into any one of them though, because I don't trust them. Just like I wouldn't walk around with $10000 in my physical wallet. The risk that it gets stolen is simply to great. At the same time, this risk doesn't mean I will get rid of my physical wallet. I think having a wallet with some cash in it is super useful. I will mittigate the risk by reducing the amount I carry inside that wallet. This is the same way I think about digital money I hold in custodial wallets, be it an ecash service or others.

All things considered, it is hard to argue that self custody comes even close to the UX a custodian can give you, due to the fact that they can take care of all the complexities (mentioned above) for you.

So then, why ecash?

We now know, that we are NOT comparing ecash with the sovereign bitcoin stack. We are comparing it instead to traditional custodial systems. This is the area ecash is trying to improve uppon. So if you've chosen that the best tool to solve a problem might be a custodial solution, only then should you start to consider using ecash.

It offers a more privacy preserving, less burdonsome and less censorable way of offering a custody solution.

It offers some neat properties like offline peer-to-peer transactions, programability, de-linkage from personally identifiable information, and more.

Here is an example, on how ecash could create a fairer environment for online consumers:

Online services love to offer subscriptions. But for the consumer, this is mostly a trap. As a consumer, I would rather pay for a service right now and be done with it. I don't want to sign up for a 10 year plan, give them my email address, my date of birth , create an account, etc...

One way of doing that, would be for the service provider to accept payments in ecash, instead of having an account and subscription model.

It would work like this:

1. The user creates ecash by paying into the service's mint. Hereby it is not required to use lightning or even bitcoin. It could be done with any other value transfer meduim the service provider accepts (cash, shitcoins, lottery tickets...).
2. You use the issued ecash, to retreive services. This could be anything from video streaming, to AI prompts.
3. Once you are done, you swap your remaining ecash back.

In a system like this, you wouldn't be tracked as a user, and the service provider wouldn't be burdoned with safeguarding your personal information. Just like a cash-for-goods transaction in a convenience store.

I beleive the search engine Kagi is building a system like that, according to this podcast. It has also be demoed by https://athenut.com/ how it would be implemented, using Cashu.

Here is another example, on how an event organizer can provide privacy preserving electronic payment rails for a conference or a festival, using ecash:

If you have been part of organizing a conference or an event, you might have experienced this problem. Onchain payments are too slow and costly. Lightning payments are too flaky.

Do merchants have to setup a lightning channel? Do they have to request inbound liquidity from an LSP? Do they have to splice into the channel once they run out of liquidity? In practice, these are the realities that merchants and event organizers are faced with when they try to set up payment rails for a conference.

Using ecash, it would look like this:

1. Event organizer will run a dedicated ecash mint for the event.
2. Visitors can swap into ecash when ariving at the entrance, using bitcoin, cash, or whatever medium the organizer accepts.
3. The visitor can spend the ecash freely at the merchants. He enjoys good privacy, like with cash. The online requirements are minimal, so it works well in a setting where connectivity is not great.
4. At the end of the event, visitors and merchants swap their ecash back into the preferred medium (cash, bitcoin...).

This would dreastically reduce the complexity and requirements for merchants, while improving the privacy of the visitors.

A bold experiment: Free banking in the digital age

Most bitcoiners will run out of the room screaming, if they hear the word bank. And fair enough, I don't like them either. I believe in the mantra "unbank the banked", after all. But the reason I do so, is because todays fiat/investment banks just suck. It's the same problem as with the internet platforms today. You, the "customer", is not realy the customer anymore, but the product. You get sold and squeezed, until you have nothing more to give.

I beleive with a sound money basis, these new kind of free banks could once again compete for customers by provididng the best money services they can, and not by who can scam his way to the money printer the best. Maybe this is just a pipe dream. But we all dream a little. Some dream about unlimited onchain transactions (I've had this dream before), and some dream about free banks in cyberspace. In my dream, these banks would use ecash to respect their users privacy.

Clearing up misconceptions and flawed assumptions about ecash on bitcoin

Not only, but especially when talking with bitcoiners there are a lot of assumptions regarding ecash on bitcoin. I want to take this opportunity to address some of those.

Ecash is an attack on self custody

As we've mentioned above, ecash is not meant to compete with self custody. It is meant to go where self custodial bitcoin cannot go. Be it due to on-chain limitations, or network/infrastructure requirements. Ecash is completely detached from bitcoin, and can never compete with the trustless properties that only bitcoin can offer.

Ecash mints will get rugged

100% correct. Every custodial solution, be it multisig or not, will suffer from this risk. It is part of the deal. Act accordingly. Plan for this risk when choosing to use a custodial system.

Working on ecash is a distraction from what really matters, since it is not self custodial

While it is true that improving self custodial bitcoin is one of the most important things our generation will have to solve, it doesn't mean that everything else becomes irrelevant. We see that today, in a lot of circumstances a fully sovereign setup is just not realistic. At which point most users will revert back to custodial solutions. Having technology in place for users that face these circumstances, to offer them at least some protection are worth the effort, in my opinion.

Ecash mints will retroactively introduce KYC

Yes it is true that ecash mints can do that. However, what would they learn? They would learn about the amount you were holding in the mint at that time, should you choose to withdraw. They would not be able to learn anything about your past transactions. And needless to say, at which point you should be one and done with this mint as a service provider, and move to someone that respects their users.

Ecash will be used to "steal" bitcoins self custodial user base

I would argue the oposite. Someone that has realized the power of self custody, would never give it up willingly. On the other hand, someone that got rugged by an ecash mint will forever become a self custody maximalist.

Closing thoughts...

I hope you enjoyed reading my take on ecash built on bitcoin. I beleive it has massive potential, and creators, service providers and consumers can benefit massively from ecash's proposition. Using ecash doesn't mean you reject self custody. It means you have realized that there is more tools than just a hammer, and you intend to use the tool that can best solve the problem at hand. This also means, that to some the tool "ecash" may be useless. After all, not everyone is a carpenter. This is also fine. Use whatever you think is useful, and don't let people tell you otherwise.

Also, please don't take my word for it. Think for yourself.

Best,

Gandlaf

@ 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?

@ 23b0e2f8:d8af76fc

Necessário

• Um Android que você não use mais (a câmera deve estar funcionando).
• Um cartão microSD (opcional, usado apenas uma vez).
• Um dispositivo para acompanhar seus fundos (provavelmente você já tem um).

Algumas coisas que você precisa saber

• O dispositivo servirá como um assinador. Qualquer movimentação só será efetuada após ser assinada por ele.
• O cartão microSD será usado para transferir o APK do Electrum e garantir que o aparelho não terá contato com outras fontes de dados externas após sua formatação. Contudo, é possível usar um cabo USB para o mesmo propósito.
• A ideia é deixar sua chave privada em um dispositivo offline, que ficará desligado em 99% do tempo. Você poderá acompanhar seus fundos em outro dispositivo conectado à internet, como seu celular ou computador pessoal.

---

O tutorial será dividido em dois módulos:

• Módulo 1 - Criando uma carteira fria/assinador.
• Módulo 2 - Configurando um dispositivo para visualizar seus fundos e assinando transações com o assinador.

---

No final, teremos:

• Uma carteira fria que também servirá como assinador.
• Um dispositivo para acompanhar os fundos da carteira.

---

Módulo 1 - Criando uma carteira fria/assinador

1. Baixe o APK do Electrum na aba de downloads em https://electrum.org/. Fique à vontade para verificar as assinaturas do software, garantindo sua autenticidade.

2. Formate o cartão microSD e coloque o APK do Electrum nele. Caso não tenha um cartão microSD, pule este passo.

1. Retire os chips e acessórios do aparelho que será usado como assinador, formate-o e aguarde a inicialização.

1. Durante a inicialização, pule a etapa de conexão ao Wi-Fi e rejeite todas as solicitações de conexão. Após isso, você pode desinstalar aplicativos desnecessários, pois precisará apenas do Electrum. Certifique-se de que Wi-Fi, Bluetooth e dados móveis estejam desligados. Você também pode ativar o modo avião.\ (Curiosidade: algumas pessoas optam por abrir o aparelho e danificar a antena do Wi-Fi/Bluetooth, impossibilitando essas funcionalidades.)

1. Insira o cartão microSD com o APK do Electrum no dispositivo e instale-o. Será necessário permitir instalações de fontes não oficiais.

1. No Electrum, crie uma carteira padrão e gere suas palavras-chave (seed). Anote-as em um local seguro. Caso algo aconteça com seu assinador, essas palavras permitirão o acesso aos seus fundos novamente. (Aqui entra seu método pessoal de backup.)

---

Módulo 2 - Configurando um dispositivo para visualizar seus fundos e assinando transações com o assinador.

1. Criar uma carteira somente leitura em outro dispositivo, como seu celular ou computador pessoal, é uma etapa bastante simples. Para este tutorial, usaremos outro smartphone Android com Electrum. Instale o Electrum a partir da aba de downloads em https://electrum.org/ ou da própria Play Store. (ATENÇÃO: O Electrum não existe oficialmente para iPhone. Desconfie se encontrar algum.)

2. Após instalar o Electrum, crie uma carteira padrão, mas desta vez escolha a opção Usar uma chave mestra.

1. Agora, no assinador que criamos no primeiro módulo, exporte sua chave pública: vá em Carteira > Detalhes da carteira > Compartilhar chave mestra pública.

1. Escaneie o QR gerado da chave pública com o dispositivo de consulta. Assim, ele poderá acompanhar seus fundos, mas sem permissão para movimentá-los.

2. Para receber fundos, envie Bitcoin para um dos endereços gerados pela sua carteira: Carteira > Addresses/Coins.

3. Para movimentar fundos, crie uma transação no dispositivo de consulta. Como ele não possui a chave privada, será necessário assiná-la com o dispositivo assinador.

1. No assinador, escaneie a transação não assinada, confirme os detalhes, assine e compartilhe. Será gerado outro QR, desta vez com a transação já assinada.

1. No dispositivo de consulta, escaneie o QR da transação assinada e transmita-a para a rede.

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Conclusão

Pontos positivos do setup:

• Simplicidade: Basta um dispositivo Android antigo.
• Flexibilidade: Funciona como uma ótima carteira fria, ideal para holders.

Pontos negativos do setup:

• Padronização: Não utiliza seeds no padrão BIP-39, você sempre precisará usar o electrum.
• Interface: A aparência do Electrum pode parecer antiquada para alguns usuários.

Nesse ponto, temos uma carteira fria que também serve para assinar transações. O fluxo de assinar uma transação se torna: Gerar uma transação não assinada > Escanear o QR da transação não assinada > Conferir e assinar essa transação com o assinador > Gerar QR da transação assinada > Escanear a transação assinada com qualquer outro dispositivo que possa transmiti-la para a rede.

Como alguns devem saber, uma transação assinada de Bitcoin é praticamente impossível de ser fraudada. Em um cenário catastrófico, você pode mesmo que sem internet, repassar essa transação assinada para alguém que tenha acesso à rede por qualquer meio de comunicação. Mesmo que não queiramos que isso aconteça um dia, esse setup acaba por tornar essa prática possível.

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@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

It's Finally here Stackers!

It's Friday!

We're about to kick off our weekends with some feel good tracks.

Let's get the party started. Bring me those Feel Good tracks.

Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

Let's go!

Here's DMX! 🫡RIP.

https://youtu.be/thIVtEOtlWM?si=Ee4XXKe2ZDcWGpRN

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/862396

@ 3f770d65:7a745b24

New Year’s resolutions often feel boring and repetitive. Most revolve around getting in shape, eating healthier, or giving up alcohol. While the idea is interesting—using the start of a new calendar year as a catalyst for change—it also seems unnecessary. Why wait for a specific date to make a change? If you want to improve something in your life, you can just do it. You don’t need an excuse.

That’s why I’ve never been drawn to the idea of making a list of resolutions. If I wanted a change, I’d make it happen, without worrying about the calendar. At least, that’s how I felt until now—when, for once, the timing actually gave me a real reason to embrace the idea of New Year’s resolutions.

Enter Olas.

If you're a visual creator, you've likely experienced the relentless grind of building a following on platforms like Instagram—endless doomscrolling, ever-changing algorithms, and the constant pressure to stay relevant. But what if there was a better way? Olas is a Nostr-powered alternative to Instagram that prioritizes community, creativity, and value-for-value exchanges. It's a game changer.

Instagram’s failings are well-known. Its algorithm often dictates whose content gets seen, leaving creators frustrated and powerless. Monetization hurdles further alienate creators who are forced to meet arbitrary follower thresholds before earning anything. Additionally, the platform’s design fosters endless comparisons and exposure to negativity, which can take a significant toll on mental health.

Instagram’s algorithms are notorious for keeping users hooked, often at the cost of their mental health. I've spoken about this extensively, most recently at Nostr Valley, explaining how legacy social media is bad for you. You might find yourself scrolling through content that leaves you feeling anxious or drained. Olas takes a fresh approach, replacing "doomscrolling" with "bloomscrolling." This is a common theme across the Nostr ecosystem. The lack of addictive rage algorithms allows the focus to shift to uplifting, positive content that inspires rather than exhausts.

Monetization is another area where Olas will set itself apart. On Instagram, creators face arbitrary barriers to earning—needing thousands of followers and adhering to restrictive platform rules. Olas eliminates these hurdles by leveraging the Nostr protocol, enabling creators to earn directly through value-for-value exchanges. Fans can support their favorite artists instantly, with no delays or approvals required. The plan is to enable a brand new Olas account that can get paid instantly, with zero followers - that's wild.

Olas addresses these issues head-on. Operating on the open Nostr protocol, it removes centralized control over one's content’s reach or one's ability to monetize. With transparent, configurable algorithms, and a community that thrives on mutual support, Olas creates an environment where creators can grow and succeed without unnecessary barriers.

Join me on my New Year's resolution. Join me on Olas and take part in the #Olas365 challenge! It’s a simple yet exciting way to share your content. The challenge is straightforward: post at least one photo per day on Olas (though you’re welcome to share more!).

Download on iOS.

Download on Android or download via Zapstore.

Let's make waves together.

@ 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.

@ e6817453:b0ac3c39

The Rise of Graph RAGs and the Quest for Data Quality

As we enter a new year, it’s impossible to ignore the boom of retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) systems, particularly those leveraging graph-based approaches. The previous year saw a surge in advancements and discussions about Graph RAGs, driven by their potential to enhance large language models (LLMs), reduce hallucinations, and deliver more reliable outputs. Let’s dive into the trends, challenges, and strategies for making the most of Graph RAGs in artificial intelligence.

Booming Interest in Graph RAGs

Graph RAGs have dominated the conversation in AI circles. With new research papers and innovations emerging weekly, it’s clear that this approach is reshaping the landscape. These systems, especially those developed by tech giants like Microsoft, demonstrate how graphs can:

• Enhance LLM Outputs: By grounding responses in structured knowledge, graphs significantly reduce hallucinations.
• Support Complex Queries: Graphs excel at managing linked and connected data, making them ideal for intricate problem-solving.

Conferences on linked and connected data have increasingly focused on Graph RAGs, underscoring their central role in modern AI systems. However, the excitement around this technology has brought critical questions to the forefront: How do we ensure the quality of the graphs we’re building, and are they genuinely aligned with our needs?

Data Quality: The Foundation of Effective Graphs

A high-quality graph is the backbone of any successful RAG system. Constructing these graphs from unstructured data requires attention to detail and rigorous processes. Here’s why:

• Richness of Entities: Effective retrieval depends on graphs populated with rich, detailed entities.
• Freedom from Hallucinations: Poorly constructed graphs amplify inaccuracies rather than mitigating them.

Without robust data quality, even the most sophisticated Graph RAGs become ineffective. As a result, the focus must shift to refining the graph construction process. Improving data strategy and ensuring meticulous data preparation is essential to unlock the full potential of Graph RAGs.

Hybrid Graph RAGs and Variations

While standard Graph RAGs are already transformative, hybrid models offer additional flexibility and power. Hybrid RAGs combine structured graph data with other retrieval mechanisms, creating systems that:

• Handle diverse data sources with ease.
• Offer improved adaptability to complex queries.

Exploring these variations can open new avenues for AI systems, particularly in domains requiring structured and unstructured data processing.

Ontology: The Key to Graph Construction Quality

Ontology — defining how concepts relate within a knowledge domain — is critical for building effective graphs. While this might sound abstract, it’s a well-established field blending philosophy, engineering, and art. Ontology engineering provides the framework for:

• Defining Relationships: Clarifying how concepts connect within a domain.
• Validating Graph Structures: Ensuring constructed graphs are logically sound and align with domain-specific realities.

Traditionally, ontologists — experts in this discipline — have been integral to large enterprises and research teams. However, not every team has access to dedicated ontologists, leading to a significant challenge: How can teams without such expertise ensure the quality of their graphs?

How to Build Ontology Expertise in a Startup Team

For startups and smaller teams, developing ontology expertise may seem daunting, but it is achievable with the right approach:

1. Assign a Knowledge Champion: Identify a team member with a strong analytical mindset and give them time and resources to learn ontology engineering.
2. Provide Training: Invest in courses, workshops, or certifications in knowledge graph and ontology creation.
3. Leverage Partnerships: Collaborate with academic institutions, domain experts, or consultants to build initial frameworks.
4. Utilize Tools: Introduce ontology development tools like Protégé, OWL, or SHACL to simplify the creation and validation process.
5. Iterate with Feedback: Continuously refine ontologies through collaboration with domain experts and iterative testing.

So, it is not always affordable for a startup to have a dedicated oncologist or knowledge engineer in a team, but you could involve consulters or build barefoot experts.

You could read about barefoot experts in my article :

Even startups can achieve robust and domain-specific ontology frameworks by fostering in-house expertise.

How to Find or Create Ontologies

For teams venturing into Graph RAGs, several strategies can help address the ontology gap:

1. Leverage Existing Ontologies: Many industries and domains already have open ontologies. For instance:

2. Public Knowledge Graphs: Resources like Wikipedia’s graph offer a wealth of structured knowledge.

3. Industry Standards: Enterprises such as Siemens have invested in creating and sharing ontologies specific to their fields.

4. Business Framework Ontology (BFO): A valuable resource for enterprises looking to define business processes and structures.

5. Build In-House Expertise: If budgets allow, consider hiring knowledge engineers or providing team members with the resources and time to develop expertise in ontology creation.

6. Utilize LLMs for Ontology Construction: Interestingly, LLMs themselves can act as a starting point for ontology development:

7. Prompt-Based Extraction: LLMs can generate draft ontologies by leveraging their extensive training on graph data.

8. Domain Expert Refinement: Combine LLM-generated structures with insights from domain experts to create tailored ontologies.

Parallel Ontology and Graph Extraction

An emerging approach involves extracting ontologies and graphs in parallel. While this can streamline the process, it presents challenges such as:

• Detecting Hallucinations: Differentiating between genuine insights and AI-generated inaccuracies.
• Ensuring Completeness: Ensuring no critical concepts are overlooked during extraction.

Teams must carefully validate outputs to ensure reliability and accuracy when employing this parallel method.

LLMs as Ontologists

While traditionally dependent on human expertise, ontology creation is increasingly supported by LLMs. These models, trained on vast amounts of data, possess inherent knowledge of many open ontologies and taxonomies. Teams can use LLMs to:

• Generate Skeleton Ontologies: Prompt LLMs with domain-specific information to draft initial ontology structures.
• Validate and Refine Ontologies: Collaborate with domain experts to refine these drafts, ensuring accuracy and relevance.

However, for validation and graph construction, formal tools such as OWL, SHACL, and RDF should be prioritized over LLMs to minimize hallucinations and ensure robust outcomes.

Final Thoughts: Unlocking the Power of Graph RAGs

The rise of Graph RAGs underscores a simple but crucial correlation: improving graph construction and data quality directly enhances retrieval systems. To truly harness this power, teams must invest in understanding ontologies, building quality graphs, and leveraging both human expertise and advanced AI tools.

As we move forward, the interplay between Graph RAGs and ontology engineering will continue to shape the future of AI. Whether through adopting existing frameworks or exploring innovative uses of LLMs, the path to success lies in a deep commitment to data quality and domain understanding.

Have you explored these technologies in your work? Share your experiences and insights — and stay tuned for more discussions on ontology extraction and its role in AI advancements. Cheers to a year of innovation!

@ 43b8cd49:3e4a7831

Wow, that didn't take long. Trump shot his wad on day one with all the executive orders, and they figured it was time to return to the Dr. Evil/Mordor stuff on day 2. Soften us up with 24 hours of heavy petting then bring in Larry Ellison to shock us back into hell. That is one scary looking dude, and listening to him talk just makes it worse. I am trying to erase it from my memory.

You just know this Stargate thing is tied to Bill Gates, since it concerns vaccines. But Trump and histeam begged Gates to keep his ugly mug out of it, knowing how hated he is. Hard to believe Biden didn't pardon him for being alive. Gates apparently agreed to stay off-camera for this one, and they brought in Ellison to take his place. Another big miscalculation, since Ellison gives off the very same Dr. Evil vibe. You feel bugs crawling on your skin as soon as he walks in the room.

Part of that is Ellison and part is the new Stargate project, which just reeks of evil from every pore. To his credit, Alex Jones is already calling it out, having Malone on to undercut it, but so far the commentary has been way too weak. This is a catastrophe, worse than anything I imagined, and thrust upon us much quicker than I thought they would dare. Effing day 2 they hit us with this, meaning their respect for us is still zero.

Also not good is that after hitting this weakly yesterday, Alex Jones has already dropped it today, reverting immediately to Trump-olatry. Five of Infowars eight lead stories today are selling Trump as a savior. Zerohedge seems to be all bullish so far on Stargate.

If you don't know, the Stargate project is supposedly a billionaire-funded plan to join AI and mRNA vaccines to cure cancer. AI will spot specific cancer markers in the blood, after which the doctors will create a targeted vaccine in 48 hours, built just for you. What does that have to do with a Stargate? No one has said yet, though I am about to tell you. Plus, didn't Trump campaign on a promise to protect us from the Big Tech monsters? And yet here we are, day 2, and he is announcing major promotion of them and alliance with them. He was supposed to take on the Big Tech juggernaut and the Big Pharma juggernaut, right? Instead, we see them joining forces and Trump climbing into bed with them. The only way things could have gotten worse after Biden is if Big Tech and Big Pharma merged, and that has just happened, with Trump's immediate backing. This is total bullshit in every way, and it isn't even a good story. It is a transparent conjob that any child could spot in about 30 seconds. They have been able to scan blood for all content for a long time, including cancer cells, so I don't know what this has to do with AI. Basically they are just renaming “the medical machines we have long had” as AI and expecting you to buy it. It is just a machine, it isn't AI. Every machine isn't now “artificial intelligence”. But they included AI here as part of the current AI blitz. Everything is currently about AI because they want government to invest even more heavily in it that it already is. Meaning, they want to steal even more of your taxes or borrow from the treasury in order to fund this vaporware and boondoggle. We are told the bigdogs have already invested half a trillion of their own money, but if you believe that you need to check your ventilator tubes for kinks. The obvious con is to get the government to supply matching funds. The billionaires will then quietly stop payment on their checks, and it will all come out of your pocket. That is the way it is always done. You will end up getting billed for something they will never deliver, and if they do deliver anything it will be just another useless shot.

As with the fake Covid vaccine, they won't charge people for the shot or therapy, they will take it directly out of the treasury, so you can't stop it even if you don't buy it. Youwill be billed for it regardless. As with the Covid vaccines in the past three years, the government will order millions of doses of it, pay Big Pharma for it from your taxes, and then have to end up trashing the majority of it, because no one wants it. Just flush it all into the streams and oceans, where it can kill the fish, animals, and if they are lucky, you as well.

But I was going to tell you why they called this conjob Stargate. A stargate is a wormhole or otheralien device for communicating or traveling long distances in the galaxy. The black monolith in 2001: a Space Odyssey was a stargate; and then there was the movie Stargate in 1994 with Kurt Russell, where the stargate allows him to travel to the alien planet Abydos, named after the Egyptian town of Abydos, which houses some Pharaonic tombs, including the Temple of Seti I. That is where the Abydos King List is, which lists the 76 Kings of Ancient Egypt. So not only are these people like Ellison selling you the wormhole garbage along with the AI and vaccine garbage, they are cleverly linking themselves to their own oldest ancestors with the usual tribal wink.

@ 378562cd:a6fc6773

Top 20 U.S. Headlines:

1. Federal Judge Blocks Trump's Birthright Citizenship Executive OrderA federal judge has temporarily halted President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at ending birthright citizenship, citing constitutional concerns under the 14th Amendment. This decision marks a significant legal challenge to the administration's immigration policy.

2. U.S. Withdraws from Global Tax AgreementThe United States has officially withdrawn from a global tax deal negotiated at the OECD, which sought to implement a global minimum tax and ensure multinational companies pay fair taxes where they operate. This move signals a potential shift towards a tax war, with considerations to double taxes on foreign companies as a retaliatory measure.

3. Chancellor Rachel Reeves Backs Heathrow ExpansionChancellor Rachel Reeves has expressed support for the long-debated Heathrow Airport expansion, citing economic growth and job creation. However, the project faces resistance from environmental groups and within her party, highlighting concerns over environmental impacts and carbon emissions.

4. Former Politico Reporters Criticize Editorial Decisions on Hunter Biden StoriesEx-Politico reporters Tara Palmeri and Marc Caputo have criticized their former editors for allegedly suppressing significant stories about Hunter Biden's laptop and related issues before the 2020 election, contributing to a narrative of misinformation. Politico has defended its editorial standards and commitment to accuracy.

5. Skepticism Surrounds 'Drill, Baby, Drill' PlanU.S. shale industry leaders have expressed skepticism about President Trump's plan to significantly boost oil production to combat inflation, emphasizing that financial motivations drive decisions rather than political agendas. Despite pressure on OPEC and Saudi Arabia to lower oil prices, low prices could harm U.S. shale profitability, with growth expected to slow.

6. Chicago Bears Appoint Ben Johnson as Head CoachThe Chicago Bears have appointed Ben Johnson as their new head coach, offering a substantial salary of $13 million per year, making him the seventh-highest-paid NFL coach. Despite having no head coaching experience, Johnson's tenure as the Detroit Lions' offensive coordinator saw significant improvements in the team's offense.

7. Southport Attack Aftermath: Addressing Myths and MisinformationFollowing last summer's Southport attack, where three young girls were murdered, authorities are confronting far-right riots and disinformation that ensued. The attacker, Axel Rudakubana, pleaded guilty, and investigations revealed extremist materials in his home. The incident has prompted discussions on effective public communication to dispel harmful disinformation.

8. Southern California Wildfires Force Mass EvacuationsA new explosive wildfire has erupted near Los Angeles, rapidly expanding to over 10,000 acres and forcing mass evacuations. Firefighters are battling to maintain control amid challenging conditions.

9. Historic Snowstorm Paralyzes Parts of the Southern U.S.A record-breaking snowstorm has swept across the southern United States, paralyzing regions unaccustomed to such weather. The storm has led to significant disruptions, including road closures and power outages.

10. President Trump Deploys 1,500 Troops to Southern BorderIn a move to bolster border security, President Trump has ordered the deployment of 1,500 active-duty troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. This action aligns with his administration's recent executive orders on immigration enforcement.

11. Trump Administration Reviewing Automatic Emergency Braking RuleThe U.S. auto safety agency is reconsidering a landmark rule from the previous administration that required nearly all new cars and trucks by 2029 to have advanced automatic emergency braking systems.

12. Lawmakers Seek Sanctions Over Hong Kong Human Rights ViolationsBipartisan U.S. lawmakers are introducing a bill requiring the Trump administration to review whether Hong Kong officials should be sanctioned for human rights violations.

13. International Criminal Court Prepares for Possible U.S. SanctionsThe International Criminal Court has taken measures to shield staff from potential U.S. sanctions, including paying salaries three months in advance, as it braces for financial restrictions that could impact the tribunal's operations.

14. Brianna 'Chickenfry' LaPaglia Reflects on Sexuality Post-BreakupFollowing a tumultuous breakup with country singer Zach Bryan, Brianna LaPaglia, known as "Chickenfry," speculates about her dating preferences, expressing disinterest in having a boyfriend and considering dating women.

15. NATO Chief Warns of Costly Impact if Russia Wins Over UkraineNATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has warned that a Russian victory over Ukraine would undermine the alliance's credibility and could cost trillions of dollars to restore its deterrent power.

16. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Fatally Shot in VermontAuthorities report that a U.S. Border Patrol agent has been fatally shot in northern Vermont. The acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security stated that the agent was killed in the line of duty.

17. MLK Day Observance Highlights Warning Against Anti-Woke RhetoricMartin Luther King Jr. Day celebrations at King's former congregation in Atlanta featured a 70-member choir and remarks from his youngest daughter, warning against anti-woke rhetoric.

18. Biden Pardons Fauci, Milley, and Jan. 6 Panel MembersPresident Joe Biden has pardoned individuals including Dr. Anthony Fauci, General Mark Milley, and members of the Jan. 6 committee, as a guard against potential 'revenge' by former President Trump.

19. Bitter Cold Spreads Across Much of the U.S.Frigid temperatures are engulfing Texas and other parts of the South ahead of a rare winter storm expected to bring heavy snow and disruptive ice accumulations to the region.

20. President Trump Grants Sweeping Pardon of Jan. 6 Defendants\ Former President Trump has issued pardons to multiple individuals convicted of crimes related to the January 6th Capitol breach, framing the move as a commitment to "justice for patriots." This decision has sparked sharp debates across political lines.

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    Top 5 Worldwide Headlines:

    1. Tensions Escalate Between Russia and NATO Over Ukraine\ Russia has ramped up its military offensive in Ukraine, with NATO allies pledging additional support, including advanced weaponry, to Kyiv. The conflict continues to reshape European geopolitics.

    2. Global Markets React to China's Economic Data\ Slower-than-expected economic growth in China has sent ripples through global markets, raising concerns about the potential impact on global trade and supply chains.

    3. Massive Earthquake Strikes Turkey and Syria\ A devastating earthquake has rocked parts of Turkey and Syria, resulting in significant casualties and widespread destruction. International relief efforts are underway.

    4. United Nations Calls for Immediate Action on Climate Crisis\ A new UN report highlights the urgent need for global cooperation to combat the accelerating effects of climate change, including rising sea levels and extreme weather patterns.

    5. Protests Erupt in France Over Pension Reform Plans\ Large-scale protests have broken out across France in response to the government’s proposal to raise the retirement age, with unions organizing nationwide strikes.

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كلنا نعرف أبيات إمرئ القيس في الليل التي تعلمناها في المدارس صغارا.

وليل كموج البحر أرخى سدوله ... عليّ بأنواع الـــهموم ليـــبتلي فقلـــت له لمـا تمـــطى بصـلبـــه ... وأردف أعجازا وناء بكلــــكل ألا أيها الليل الطويل ألا انـجـلي ... بصبح وما الإصباح منك بأمثل

وهي من أروع وأعلى ما قيل في الليل، ولكن تراثنا وشعرنا مليء بروائع في نفس المعنى. يقول النابغة الذبياني:

كليـــني لهمًّ يا أمــيمة ناصـــبِ ... وليل أقاسيه بطيء الكـــواكب تطاول حتى قلت ليس بمنقضٍ ... وليس الذي يرعى النجوم بآيب وصدر أراح الليل عازب هــــمه ... تضاعف فيه الحزن من كل جانب

يطلب النابغة من ابنته أميمة أن تدعه لهمه وتعبه ويشكي بطئ سير كواكب وثقلها في السير كناية على طول الليل.

في البيت الثاني، أقام الصبح مقام الراعي الذي يغدو فيذهب بالماشية والإبل، وبالمثل الصبح يذهب بالنجوم.

ثم يقول أن الليل "أراح عازب همه" بمعنى أنه أرجع اليه همه البعيد.

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ويقول الوليد بن يزيد:

لا أسأل الله تغييرا لما فَعَلَت ... نامت وقد أسهرت عينيَّ عيناها فالليل أطول شيءٍ حين أفقدها ... والليل أقصر شيءٍ حين ألقاها

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ويقول بشار:

خليلَيَّ ما بال الدجى لا تزحزح ... وما بال ضوء الصبـح لا يتوضح أضل النهار المستنير سبـــــيله ... أم الدـــــهر لـــيل كله لا يبــــرح

شعر #أدب #بالعربي

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Stunning beaches, ancient temples as far as the eye can see, and lush, green mountainsides that will leave you in awe—Myanmar is a destination you NEED to add to your bucket list. This guide offers the perfect one-month itinerary to explore the hidden gems of this incredible country.

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The Itinerary

Days 1-2:

Fly into Yangon Airport. Settle in and explore the vibrant sights and flavors of the city.

Day 3:

Take an overnight bus south to the coastal city of Myeik.

Days 4-8:

Go island hopping around the Mergui Archipelago—remote beaches and untouched islands await.

Day 9:

Travel to Dawei. Find a cozy place to stay and relax for the evening.

Days 10-13:

Rent a motorcycle and explore the stunning Dawei Peninsula. Soak up the sun on pristine beaches.

Day 14:

Head to Hpa An. Check into a hotel and enjoy a sunset beer.

Days 15-18:

Discover the limestone mountains, caves, and farmlands of Hpa An.

Day 19:

Travel to Bagan. The journey may be bumpy, but the destination is worth it.

Days 20-23:

Explore the breathtaking temples of Bagan. Sunrise hot air balloon rides are a must.

Day 24:

Head to Lake Inle. Settle into your accommodation and dine by the water.

Days 25-26:

Cruise around Lake Inle by boat. Immerse yourself in the local culture and capture the iconic fishermen in action.

Days 27-28:

Visit Mandalay to experience city life from a Burmese perspective.

Days 29-30:

Return to Yangon for a final exploration before flying home.

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Days 1-2: Arrival in Yangon

Myanmar's largest city is a bustling hub filled with shops, activities, and incredible food. The rapid development of this once-isolated country is evident everywhere you look.

If you are flying internationally: Yangon will most likely be the cheapest and most easily accessible destination to begin the trip.

If you are coming from Thailand: I would recommend altering the itinerary and going straight to Myeik via land border then working your way up the country from there.

Bogyoke Aung San Market

If shopping is your thing, this place is a haven for local treasures. Hundreds of stalls line the market and surrounding alleyways containing everything from art, sculptures, jewelry, antiquities, and fabrics. I spent a few hours here before jumping onto the nearby circular train for a loop around the city. There are a few small shops to get a bite to eat if you are hungry.

Remember that this itinerary will land you back in Yangon at the end of the trip if you see something you want to buy and don’t feel like lugging it around for a month.

Yangon Circular Train

Easily one of the most fascinating experiences of the trip is riding the Yangon Circular Train around the city for a true look at how the locals live. The train is old, slow, and packed with locals commuting to and from work. The doors are wide open, allowing you to hang your feet outside and soak in all of the sights afar. This is one of the best ways to get a true glimpse into the culture and day-to-day life of the Burmese people.

Be sure to speak with a train operator before getting on to make sure the entire loop is operational. When I went, construction stopped the train about 45 minutes into the loop, forcing us to get a taxi back to the downtown area. The full loop will take over 2 hours to complete. On the train, you can find vendors and hawkers selling little things such as water, nuts, and fruit. I’d suggest eating before jumping on.

Shwedagon Pagoda

Upon walking up the steep and lengthy stairway to the Shwedagon Pagoda lies Yangon’s most famous attraction. The 99-meter gold-coated pagoda can be seen all around the city but is best enjoyed up close. This is a must-visit during your time in the capital. I went about an hour before sunset and stayed well into the night. Sunset from the hill it sits atop is spectacular, and the contrast of the pagoda between day and night is striking.

Make sure to bring socks and a bag, as shoes are not allowed, and you will need to carry them or leave them at the door. After visiting, you can take a short walk to the Sky Bar in the Yangon International Hotel overlooking the pagoda. This is a wonderful place to enjoy a nice dinner and drink, ideal for soaking up more of that luxurious golden pagoda.

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Day 3: Bus to Myeik

The longest stretch of the trip—but well worth the sights to come. I took a 22-hour overnight bus and opted for the slight upcharge to take the VIP bus. This option is absolutely worth it. Equipped with A/C, comfortable reclining seats, and stops for three meals, it was a cheaper alternative to the costly domestic flight from Yangon and allowed me to see much more of the country.

I had a surprisingly good sleep and would do it again in a heartbeat. You can also fly directly to Myeik, but flights are infrequent and considerably more expensive. The bus I took arrived in Myeik around noon the next day, leaving me plenty of time to check into the hotel and wander around the city a bit before sunset. There weren’t many buses heading down here, so I’d recommend checking for tickets as early as possible when you arrive in Yangon. Alternatively, if you’re coming from Thailand, you can rearrange the itinerary and begin your Myanmar trip in Myeik by crossing from Thailand via bus at the land border.

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Days 4-8: Island Hopping in Myeik

The city of Myeik has no accessible beaches, so you’ll need to book an island-hopping tour to fully appreciate the surrounding Mergui Archipelago. While the city itself doesn’t offer much in terms of entertainment, the beaches and crystal-clear waters you’ll encounter on an island-hopping tour are truly unparalleled. Your trip to Myeik will be unforgettable and is an experience you shouldn’t miss.

There are several travel companies offering island-hopping tours, ranging from single-day trips to 14-day excursions. While you can book ahead, I found it quite easy to arrange a trip through an agency in the city. I opted for a three-day, two-night tour with Life Seeing Tours, and it was fantastic. They provided food, tents, and transportation—just bring a swimsuit and a change of clothes, and you’re ready to spend a few nights exploring the islands.

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Day 9: Bus to Dawei

Another travel day! This time, you’ll take a shorter bus ride heading north to Dawei. The journey takes about six hours, and tickets can be purchased from one of the travel agencies in Myeik. From what I gathered, there’s only one bus per day on this route, and it departs early in the morning.

Be prepared to wake up around 4 AM and make your way back to the same bus station where you arrived. It’s a good idea to arrange transportation to the station the night before—your hotel can help you book a ride for that morning.

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Days 10-13: Motorcycling the Dawei Peninsula

Dawei boasts some of the most stunning coastlines and beaches in the country. While most of these beaches are only accessible by motorcycle, there are a few small bed-and-breakfast-style accommodations at the southern end of the peninsula that offer direct beach access.

If you’d prefer not to travel 2–3 hours each day from the city, I recommend staying in that area. You can rent a motorcycle from several places in the city and ride down to the B&Bs near the beaches for an overnight stay. This approach lets you enjoy the remote, lush, and scenic motorcycle journey while avoiding the daily commute to the beaches.

Grandfather Beach

Surrounded by mountains and vibrant orange dirt, getting here can be a bit tricky. You’ll need to navigate a steep, loose hill to reach the area. I recommend arriving near low tide, as the beach and surrounding shops flood around noon, making the descent a wet and challenging experience. Be prepared to remove your shoes and walk through knee-deep water to access the beach. This is one of the more popular spots for locals and was among the few beaches I visited that actually had people.

Tizit Beach

When we arrived at Tizit Beach, there was no one else around except for the locals. The sand here is soft, and the ocean is pristine. A motorcycle is necessary to access this beach, but the breathtaking views from the mountain pass make the journey entirely worthwhile. The sand near the shore is firm enough to ride on, creating unforgettable moments of cruising along the beach at sunset.

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Day 14: Bus to Hpa An

One of the shorter bus rides on this trip, the fare is around $20, and it takes approximately 5 bumpy hours. Once you arrive in Hpa An, there are plenty of hostels and hotels to choose from. I booked mine on Hostelworld the night before, but you should have no trouble finding a place to stay on the day of your arrival if needed.

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Days 15-18: Hpa An: Farmland, Caves, and Mountains

Hpa An offers a stark contrast to the beaches and cities encountered so far on the trip. Surrounded by towering limestone mountains and lush green farmland, the region has a peaceful, rural charm. There are several caves, lakes, and one of my favorite sunrise hikes of the journey.

While I have a few recommendations and must-visit spots, Hpa An is best explored without a strict plan. A central theme of this trip has been the freedom of hopping on a motorcycle and riding wherever your heart desires.

Mount Zwegabin Sunrise Hike

Hiking Mount Zwegabin for sunrise is a must-do during your time in Hpa An. The mountain is located a short ride from town, about 40 minutes by motorcycle. The hike to the summit took around 35 minutes at a brisk pace, so you’ll need to leave around 4 AM to catch the sunrise, depending on the season. The highlight of the hike is the final ascent up the floating stairs to reach the peak. Be sure to have your camera ready and take in the breathtaking views.

Kyauk Kalat Pagoda

This is one of those places that leaves you in awe, wondering how such a unique landscape can exist. Easily one of the most unusual rock formations I’ve encountered, it’s a fantastic spot to watch the sunset. A winding staircase leads up the rock to the top of the temple, making it a great place to spend a couple of hours.

Saddar Cave

Filled with bats, stunning limestone formations, and statues, this short cave walk provides a refreshing escape from the heat. The path takes about 20 minutes to explore, leading to a beautiful lake at the back. Grab a drink, relax for a while, and take a small paddle boat back to the entrance for a memorable experience.

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Day 19: Bus to Bagan

A travel day heading north. This part of the trip is hot, bumpy, and slow, so be prepared for a longer journey than expected. Bagan has plenty of hotels and hostels, but I’d recommend booking accommodations in advance, as it’s a popular tourist destination. You’ll need to purchase an entry ticket for the area, as it’s a protected national park, but the bus driver should assist in sorting it out before you enter the park.

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Days 20-23: Chasing Pagodas in Bagan

Once you’ve settled into your accommodation in Bagan, the best way to explore the vast area is by pedal bike or scooter. All the scooters available for rent are electric, helping to reduce noise pollution—a refreshing change from the loud gas-powered vehicles you’ll be used to from the first half of your trip. There’s no right or wrong way to experience Bagan. The park is enormous, with thousands of pagodas scattered throughout. Most of them are open for exploration, with a few offering rooftop access (though that is being restricted more recently).

You could spend weeks here and still not see all the pagodas up close. Bagan is divided into a new town and an old town—most of the backpacker-friendly hostels are located in Old Town. You’ll find a handful of restaurants, but I often ate at my hostel or from local food carts. Several hostels and hotels offer outdoor pools, which are a great perk, especially depending on the time of year you visit. I highly recommend simply wandering the area freely, but here are a few top pagodas and experiences not to miss during your time in Bagan.

Hot Air Ballooning

The top attraction in Bagan is undoubtedly the daily hot air balloon tours. Almost everyone who experiences it claims it’s a must-do. I chose to watch from the ground, as the cost of a tour is quite expensive. If you decide to go for it, be sure to set aside a few hundred USD for the trip. From what I’ve heard, you’ll wake up around 4:30 AM and head to the take-off location, returning by around 9:00 AM.

Sunset Boat Cruise

Be sure to spend at least one evening on a slow cruise down the Ayeyarwady River. It’s a wonderful way to enjoy distant views of some of the pagodas and relax after a long day of exploration. Several companies offer these cruises at very affordable prices. Our boat included snacks, drinks, and even alcohol. The trips range from half an hour to two hours. Book through your hotel for convenience.

The Big Three Temples

With over a thousand pagodas to explore in Bagan, there are three main structures that hold significant importance to locals: Shwesandaw, Thatbyinnyu, and Shwezigon. Be sure to make time to visit these iconic pagodas during your trip—you’re likely to come across them without even trying.

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Day 24: Bus to Kalaw

Long-distance buses run the route multiple times a day, with the overnight option being the most popular. I recommend checking with a travel agent in Bagan to book your tickets before heading to the bus stop

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Day 25-26: Relaxing at Lake Inle

These two days take us to the stunning Lake Inle, located just outside the city of Kalaw. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to make it to Lake Inle during this trip, but everyone I spoke to highly recommended not missing it. The lake is known for its breathtaking scenery, traditional Intha stilt houses, and the unique leg-rowing fishermen.

From what I’ve heard and seen through photos, the calm waters, floating gardens, and vibrant markets make Lake Inle a truly unforgettable destination. Huge thanks to my friend Toby for sharing those beautiful pictures and giving me a glimpse of what I missed!

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Day 27-28: Mandalay City

Mandalay is a fast-paced city with less tourism compared to other parts of the country. It offers a fascinating glimpse into the daily lives of the Burmese people, away from the crowds typically found in Yangon. There are several culturally significant monasteries and temples within the city limits, as well as vibrant markets perfect for shopping and exploring. Mandalay Hill is a great spot for a brisk hike and offers stunning views of the city and sunset on one of your nights. You could also visit the Mandalay Marionettes Theater to catch a local show showcasing Myanmar’s rich history and culture.

As for me, I mainly wandered the city without specific destinations in mind. Since this is the last stop before returning to Yangon, you might not feel as inclined to spend too much time here, but there are definitely some interesting sights worth exploring.

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Day 29-30: Return to Yangon

The final two days of the trip are a return to where it all began. The bus from Mandalay to Yangon takes about 8 hours. Alternatively, Mandalay has a large international airport if you prefer to fly, depending on your next destination.

If you return to Yangon, you’ll have plenty of time to revisit the markets and pick up any final souvenirs or trinkets you might want to take home. Enjoy these last couple of days, savor some delicious food, and take the time to reflect on the incredible month of experiences you’ve had.

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Concluding Thoughts

Your month-long journey through Myanmar is bound to be an unforgettable adventure, filled with stunning landscapes, rich culture, and warm hospitality. From the serene beaches of Ngapali to the ancient wonders of Bagan, and the tranquil beauty of Lake Inle to the bustling streets of Yangon and Mandalay, each destination offers its own unique charm and insight into Myanmar’s diverse culture.

The highlights of your trip—exploring historic pagodas, witnessing breathtaking sunrises, and embracing the freedom of riding a motorcycle—are sure to stay with you. Myanmar’s blend of natural beauty, vibrant traditions, and friendly locals makes every moment special. Despite the occasional long and bumpy journeys, the sense of discovery and connection with the people and places makes the experience truly worthwhile.

As you reflect on your journey, you’ll likely feel grateful for the memories, experiences, and the chance to explore a country that feels both timeless and unique. Myanmar’s beauty lies not just in its landscapes but in the people who call it home. You’ll leave with a deeper appreciation for the warmth and resilience of its people and a desire to return and explore even more of this enchanting land.

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Update: Unfortunately as of this time (June 2021) Myanmar is experiencing major political and civil unrest. Taken from the advice of friends on the ground there— I can not recommend traveling to Myanmar at the time of writing. Pray for Myanmar!

Update 2: The political situation in Myanmar has escalated (July 2022). Travel is still not recommended.

Update 3: As of 2025, some tourists have reported that travel is doable. However many governments still have do not travel advisories. DYOR.

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Other Myanmar Guides:

The Top 3 Hidden Beaches of Myanmar: A Guide to Tizit, Grandfather, and Mergui

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Originally Published June 15, 2021. Edited with Nostr friendly images on 1/5/2025

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In today's competitive legal landscape, establishing a strong, trusted reputation is essential for any legal professional or firm. This includes experts such as engineering expert witnesses, as well as law firms themselves. Brand reputation management (BRM) plays a crucial role in shaping how these professionals are perceived by clients, peers, and the public at large. Here’s how both expert witnesses and law firms can effectively use brand reputation management and email marketing to boost their visibility, trustworthiness, and ultimately their success.

Brand Reputation Management for Engineering Expert Witnesses

An engineering expert witness plays a critical role in many legal cases, providing specialized knowledge and testimony that can make or break a case. Because of the high level of expertise and authority required in this role, managing one's reputation is paramount.

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Managing Negative Press: In any profession, negative feedback or a challenging case outcome is inevitable. However, effective reputation management involves addressing criticism professionally and transparently. Engineering experts can use their website or social media platforms to provide clarifications, correct inaccuracies, or demonstrate how they have learned and evolved from particular experiences.

Brand Reputation Management for Law Firms

For law firms, brand reputation management extends beyond individual cases and expert witnesses. It encompasses the firm’s overall image, which can influence the perception of both current clients and potential clients. Client Testimonials and Case Results: Positive feedback from clients can significantly enhance a law firm's reputation. Gathering testimonials or showcasing successful case outcomes (while adhering to legal ethical standards) on the firm’s website or social media can help build credibility and attract new clients.

Active Social Media Presence: Law firms should be active on professional platforms such as LinkedIn, as well as on other social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. Engaging content, including firm achievements, community involvement, and legal insights, helps to humanize the firm and build a connection with potential clients. Regular posts, along with interactions with followers, demonstrate transparency and accessibility.

Thought Leadership and Content Creation: Publishing blog posts, articles, and industry insights is a great way for law firms to stay at the forefront of the legal community. Sharing knowledge on current legal topics, trends, or emerging areas of law helps establish the firm as a credible source of information and positions attorneys as experts in their fields.

Crisis Management: Sometimes, a firm’s reputation may come under fire due to a high-profile case or a client’s negative experience. Effective brand reputation management involves a well-thought-out crisis communication strategy. Being responsive, addressing concerns publicly, and taking corrective actions when necessary is key to maintaining trust.

How Law Firms Can Use Email Marketing for Brand Building

Email marketing for law firms is a powerful tool to keep their brand top-of-mind with clients, leads, and the broader legal community. Here’s how email marketing can fit into a law firm’s reputation management strategy: Nurturing Leads and Building Relationships: Email newsletters allow law firms to stay connected with leads over time. By offering valuable legal insights, case updates, or industry news, law firms can nurture relationships and remain the go-to resource for potential clients. Educational emails help foster trust and demonstrate the firm’s expertise.

Client Retention: After a client has been through a legal process, it’s essential to keep in touch for future needs or referrals. Personalized follow-up emails post-case or periodic newsletters with updates on the firm’s services, achievements, or relevant legal news can remind past clients of the firm’s value.

Client Testimonials and Case Studies: Law firms can strategically use email marketing to share success stories, case studies, or client testimonials. This not only showcases their expertise but also builds social proof, which is crucial for brand reputation. Featuring clients' positive experiences can influence potential clients' decisions when they are looking for legal representation.

Transparency and Communication: Email marketing helps law firms maintain transparent and open lines of communication. Whether sharing updates on legal proceedings, providing educational content, or sending reminders for consultations, emails allow for consistent engagement, which can build trust with clients.

SEO and Lead Generation: Emails that contain valuable content and include strong calls to action (CTAs) can drive traffic to the firm’s website, potentially converting leads into clients. Offering downloadable guides, legal checklists, or consultation discounts in email campaigns can incentivize recipients to take action.

Segmented Email Lists: A well-segmented email list is key to delivering the right message to the right audience. Law firms can categorize their contacts based on factors such as practice area, client status, or geographical location, enabling them to send highly relevant and personalized communications.

Conclusion

For both engineering expert witnesses and law firms, managing and cultivating a strong brand reputation is essential to building trust, attracting clients, and standing out in a crowded field. Engineering experts can use brand reputation management strategies like showcasing expertise and handling online reviews to cement their credibility. Law firms, on the other hand, can leverage content creation, client testimonials, and social media presence to boost their brand visibility. Email marketing plays a pivotal role in keeping clients informed, building relationships, and strengthening a firm’s reputation. When used effectively, email marketing can not only help retain clients but also generate leads, ensuring that law firms stay at the forefront of clients’ minds when legal needs arise. By embracing these brand reputation management tactics, both individual experts and law firms can ensure sustained success and a robust professional image.

@ a4a6b584:1e05b95b

The Four-Layer Framework

Layer 1: Zoom Out

Start by looking at the big picture. What’s the subject about, and why does it matter? Focus on the overarching ideas and how they fit together. Think of this as the 30,000-foot view—it’s about understanding the "why" and "how" before diving into the "what."

Example: If you’re learning programming, start by understanding that it’s about giving logical instructions to computers to solve problems.

• Tip: Keep it simple. Summarize the subject in one or two sentences and avoid getting bogged down in specifics at this stage.

Once you have the big picture in mind, it’s time to start breaking it down.

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Layer 2: Categorize and Connect

Now it’s time to break the subject into categories—like creating branches on a tree. This helps your brain organize information logically and see connections between ideas.

Example: Studying biology? Group concepts into categories like cells, genetics, and ecosystems.

• Tip: Use headings or labels to group similar ideas. Jot these down in a list or simple diagram to keep track.

With your categories in place, you’re ready to dive into the details that bring them to life.

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Layer 3: Master the Details

Once you’ve mapped out the main categories, you’re ready to dive deeper. This is where you learn the nuts and bolts—like formulas, specific techniques, or key terminology. These details make the subject practical and actionable.

Example: In programming, this might mean learning the syntax for loops, conditionals, or functions in your chosen language.

• Tip: Focus on details that clarify the categories from Layer 2. Skip anything that doesn’t add to your understanding.

Now that you’ve mastered the essentials, you can expand your knowledge to include extra material.

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Layer 4: Expand Your Horizons

Finally, move on to the extra material—less critical facts, trivia, or edge cases. While these aren’t essential to mastering the subject, they can be useful in specialized discussions or exams.

Example: Learn about rare programming quirks or historical trivia about a language’s development.

• Tip: Spend minimal time here unless it’s necessary for your goals. It’s okay to skim if you’re short on time.

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Pro Tips for Better Learning

1. Use Active Recall and Spaced Repetition

Test yourself without looking at notes. Review what you’ve learned at increasing intervals—like after a day, a week, and a month. This strengthens memory by forcing your brain to actively retrieve information.

2. Map It Out

Create visual aids like diagrams or concept maps to clarify relationships between ideas. These are particularly helpful for organizing categories in Layer 2.

3. Teach What You Learn

Explain the subject to someone else as if they’re hearing it for the first time. Teaching exposes any gaps in your understanding and helps reinforce the material.

4. Engage with LLMs and Discuss Concepts

Take advantage of tools like ChatGPT or similar large language models to explore your topic in greater depth. Use these tools to:
- Ask specific questions to clarify confusing points.
- Engage in discussions to simulate real-world applications of the subject.
- Generate examples or analogies that deepen your understanding.

Tip: Use LLMs as a study partner, but don’t rely solely on them. Combine these insights with your own critical thinking to develop a well-rounded perspective.

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Get Started

Ready to try the Four-Layer Method? Take 15 minutes today to map out the big picture of a topic you’re curious about—what’s it all about, and why does it matter? By building your understanding step by step, you’ll master the subject with less stress and more confidence.

@ c4b5369a:b812dbd6

How to print your own ecash, using Gandlaf's money printer

To celebrate the recent money printer update, here is a short guide on how to use it.

Step 1: Go to the money printer

Unlike the FED's money printer, this Cashu ecash money printer is openly available. Head over to https://brrr.gandlaf.com to give it a spin.

Select a mint

Choose a mint that should be backing the ecash notes. You have a few different options when choosing a mint:

1. Connect to your own mint: Connecting to your own mint is great if you want to be the backer of the ecash notes. It does however require you to have your mint up and running. You can connect to it by typing the mint URL into the input field.
2. Connect to a known mint: There are mints that are already indexed on nostr. You can find them by clicking on the `discover more mints` button.
3. Connect to any mint you want!: All you need is the mints URL. Just type it into the input bar!

Once you selected a mint, click connect to set up the mint for money printing :

After connecting to the mint, you will have the option to select the currency you want to print. Not all mints support all currencies! The dropdown menu below will show all available currencies the mint offers.

After selecting your preferred currency, click confirm to continue.

In the next step, you will chose the amount that should be printed on each note. Be careful though, because unfortunately not every amount is possible. To preserve mint users privacy ecash mints use fixed coin amounts. This means a specific amount, will be made up from smaller amounts. Today, most cashu mints use power-of-2 amounts.

So if you for example would like to print the amount "100", it would be made up from the coins [64, 32, 4]. The maximum number of coins that can be encoded in a QR code, without the QR code losing its readability is \~4. The money printer will analyze which amounts the mint offers, and show how many coins will be needed.

Below, you will see the calculation of how much the total issuance for this printing cycle will be. Once you are all set, click confirm to continue.

You can now either add the funds for the print via Cashu token or via Lightning. Let's first take a look on how to add funds via Cashu token.

If you select this option, I will assume that you already own ecash from the mint you wish to print the notes. Otherwise, you should move on to the payment by lightning.

You have to make sure that the token you are pasting is from the correct mint, in the correct unit/currency and matches the amount exactly! Otherwise, it will not work.

If you don't own ecash from that mint, you can pay for the print with lightning directly. The only fees that will be charged are Lightning network fees.

Just scan the QR code that is presented to you and wait for the payment to be confirmed.

Once the payment has confirmed, either through Cashu or through Lightning, the print is ready. You can now customize the design you wish to print.

You can select a color, a brand image and a corner image that should be put on the note.

Once you are happy with the design, go ahead and click `Print now! BRRRRRRRRRRR`

This will take you to the print page. You can now print the ecash by pressing `CTRL`+`P`

And that's it! You have now printed your own money. I hope you liked the experience of playing FED for a day.

Be aware! Once scanned and redeemed, the ecash notes become invalid. So they are one-time-use.

If you want to make another print, just refresh the page. It will take you back to the beginning. Your past prints will also be stored in the browser cache, so you can come back to them at a later time, if your printer overheated or something.

Happy printing!

Gandlaf

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

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No. 1 - The Less Touristy "Bund"

The Bund is certainly a must-see if you are traveling to Shanghai for the first time - and it will be at the top of every travel guide out there, for good reason - there are equally as stunning alternatives away from the crowds. If you want to enjoy the skyline from a more relaxed perspective, consider the Pudong side of the river. There are parks, basketball courts, and green spaces along the riverbank for you to chill at and take in the sights. You can also hop on a ferry or a sightseeing boat to cross the river and admire the views from the renowned Bund.

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No. 2 - Walks Along Golden Street

This one is out in Gubei, a suburban area in the west of Shanghai. It may be a bit of a trek, but it is worth it if you are looking for a more relaxing and peaceful pedestrian street in the city. Golden Street, or Jinxiu Road, is a great place to walk a dog, grab an afternoon drink, or enjoy a romantic dinner with your loved one. While it may be a bit far from downtown, it makes for a great joyride on your scooter or bicycle.

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No. 3 - Moganshan Road Graffiti Wall

Moganshan Road is a gem for all things art. It is home to M50, the best art district in the city, where you will find dozens of galleries, studios, and workshops showcasing a wide range of art. There are also plenty of cool spots scattered around the area, particularly the graffiti wall. The wall is a welcome contrast to some of the drab and monotonous architecture found around the city; with colorful display of street art featuring various styles and themes. Stop by and admire the works of local and international artists, and even jump in to join them in adding your own mark. The wall is constantly evolving, so you can always find something new.

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No. 4 - Jiaotong University in the Fall

Easily one of the best spots in town for catching rows of bright yellow and red leaves. Jiaotong University is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China. The campus is located in Xuhui District and has a mix of Chinese and Western architectural styles to admire as well. Try to visit in late October or early November for the best leaf-peeping. You can walk along the tree-lined paths, set up a blanket in the field for a picnic, or simply take photos and enjoy the scenery.

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No. 5 - Day Drinking at Highline

Hands down one of the top five rooftop bars in the city, along with Bar Rouge, Kartel, and others; Highline is a go-to-spot that offers great views of the city and excellent food. Find it on the sixth floor of the Ascott Hotel in Huaihai Road in Xintiandi. Nothing beats a laid back Saturday afternoon at Highline. I prefer the views during the day, though it is equally as nice a night. Sip cocktails, wine, or beer, and enjoy the music and vibe. Highline is a perfect place to spend an afternoon.

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Additional Photos

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Next Guide in the Series:

An Expats Guide to the Best Spots in Shanghai: 002

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Find Me Elsewhere:

Website

Art

Travel Guides

Photography

Storefront

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All images property of Hes. Originally published as an Instagram Guide on Feb. 02, 2021. Reworked and published on Nostr on Feb. 17, 2024.

@ bd32f268:22b33966

Vivemos num tempo em que predomina a atitude de colocar a vida em serviço de culto ao “Eu”. Aqui por “Eu” entenda-se o ego e as suas manifestações que colocam o indivíduo no centro do seu mundo. Esta priorização do “Eu” revela-se de várias formas, dando á luz vários produtos sociais e culturais. Estas manifestações atuam de forma nociva na sociedade uma vez que desagregam e extinguem todo o tipo coesão social.

Uma sociedade é uma organização de pessoas que buscam uma finalidade comum. Quando a finalidade é primeiramente o serviço aos apetites individuais é cada vez mais provável que surjam conflitos de interesses e estes vão desunindo as pessoas. Desta forma a sociedade precipita-se para o declínio e consequente extinção, uma vez que já não é capaz de sustentar os seus princípios fundadores e a narrativa agregadora que estabelece a identidade da comunidade.

Pensemos numa família, quando os membros da família vivem para si e não para o outro, aqui personificado no esposo e nos filhos, a coesão familiar sai enfraquecida pois muitas serão as ocasiões nas quais os interesses imediatos do indivíduo colidem com os interesses da família. Isto leva a uma série de problemas, nomeadamente os que observamos cada vez mais na educação das crianças. Neste campo, observamos frequentemente um tempo escasso para o convívio e para a pedagogia de vida que os pais devem exercer. Dir-se-á que são as vicissitudes do mundo do trabalho, mas talvez devêssemos balancear essa ideia com a noção de que o materialismo também nos foi habituando a ter outras necessidades que os nossos avós não tinham, o que nos precipita a querer mais e a trabalhar mais e sobretudo fora de casa. Quero dizer que de facto podemos viver com menos e que esse menos no ponto de vista das condições materiais de vida pode significar mais em termos familiares.

Um outro campo em que se nota a primazia do “Eu” é nos relacionamentos em que nos habituamos a ver o outro como um servidor da nossa vontade e do nosso desejo. Confundimos facilmente o conceito de amor com uma troca comercial. Julgamos que aquilo que entregamos tem de ser retribuído, perdendo a noção de que é a nossa escolha entregar-nos a alguém e que como tal temos de enfrentar as consequências da nossa decisão. Nós devemos servir o outro assim como o outro deveria pensar da mesma forma, no entanto não controlamos a cabeça da outra pessoa portanto foquemo-nos sim naquilo que controlamos. Foquemo-nos em honrar as promessas que fazemos e aprender a viver em união com o outro.

Narciso - Caravaggio

Também no cuidado com os idosos se manifesta a primazia do “Eu”. Não são raros os casos de abandono e negligência para com aqueles a quem, para o bem e para o mal, devemos a nossa vida. Vemos cada vez mais idosos institucionalizados quando muitos poderiam estar com as suas respetivas famílias num ambiente familiar muito mais propício para o seu final de vida. As justificações multiplicam-se e novamente o trabalho surge como o fundamento, no entanto facilmente observamos que mesmo quando há tempo esse tempo não é dedicado aos idosos.

A taxa de natalidade é também um sinal da primazia do eu. A retórica pos-contemporânea assegura que ter filhos é um comportamento egoísta, especialmente nos tempos que vivemos. Seja por causa da narrativa climática, seja por questões de pobreza ou doença, essas pessoas defendem a não vida. No entanto, um olhar que guarda o apreço pela vida como algo sagrado é capaz de observar que a vida, mesmo em circunstâncias muito difíceis continua a valer a pena. O verdadeiro motivo que se esconde muitas vezes por trás desta retórica é invariavelmente a primazia do conforto.

Por trás destas opções de vida está também patente um abandono á cultura do sacrifício, que pressupõe a procura de algo que transcende o “Eu”. Nessa transcendência está a chave para encontrar um propósito, isto é uma missão para a vida. Além disso, está também a constatação de que na vida há aspirações e valores mais elevados que nos convocam a entregar a nossa vida, quer isto dizer abrir mão da procura do conforto e do prazer e abraçar por vezes o sofrimento, no entanto este sofrimento tem um propósito. O sacrifício individual não é seguramente a via mais fácil e conveniente, contudo é a única pois o viver para o ego é apenas uma ilusão. Quem vive para si, nem para si vive dado que não ama ninguém além de si próprio e isso não é amor.

@ d4eaddd4:5ce9da9c

("Shipwreck off Nantucket" William Bradford, ca. 1860–61)

What Does It Mean That Grief Comes in Waves?
Grief is often compared to waves—a natural, unpredictable rhythm that surges and recedes, catching us off guard and sweeping us into a sea of emotions. Just like the ocean, grief can be calm one moment and tumultuous the next, leaving us gasping for air. This metaphor resonates deeply because it reflects the enduring, nonlinear nature of loss. Whether your loss occurred recently or years ago, grief remains a lifelong journey, ebbing and flowing with time.

Why Grief Feels Like Waves
At its core, grief is the emotional response to loss, and it doesn’t follow a set timetable. Emotions can be triggered unexpectedly by a song, a scent, or a special date, sending a wave of sorrow crashing over you. Author Adriel Booker eloquently describes these moments:

“You might understand intellectually that they [the waves] will keep coming, but some days they hit more forcefully, more fiercely than you ever imagined possible.”

This lack of predictability makes grief feel overwhelming. It’s not something you “get over,” but rather something you learn to navigate, much like a sailor facing unpredictable seas.

Navigating the First Waves of Grief
When a loss first occurs, the waves of grief can feel relentless. An insightful analogy from a viral Reddit post likens the initial experience of grief to a shipwreck:

“When the ship is first wrecked, you’re drowning, with wreckage all around you. Everything floating around you reminds you of the beauty and the magnificence of the ship that was, and is no more.”

In these early stages, the waves are towering and frequent, crashing over you with little respite. The best advice during this time is simply to float—cling to what sustains you, whether it’s a supportive friend, a cherished memory, or a comforting ritual. Survival is the priority.

The Changing Tides of Grief Over Time
As time passes, the waves of grief may become less frequent and slightly more predictable. Anniversaries, holidays, or milestones often serve as triggers, bringing back the pain of loss. However, with each passing wave, you gain resilience.

The Reddit post continues:

“Somewhere down the line… you find that the waves are only 80 feet tall. Or 50 feet tall. And while they still come, they come further apart. You can see them coming, for the most part, and prepare yourself.”

This doesn’t mean grief ever goes away. The waves still arrive, but they no longer hold the same power to drown you. Instead, they become reminders of the love and connection you shared, leaving behind scars that tell a story of resilience and remembrance.

Coping with the Waves
While grief may never fully disappear, there are ways to weather its storms:
1. Acknowledge Your Emotions: Allow yourself to feel without judgment. Grief is a natural response to love and loss.
2. Find Anchors: Lean on meaningful memories, objects, or relationships that ground you.
3. Seek Support: Whether through friends, family, or professional counselors, connection can be a lifeline.
4. Prepare for Triggers: Recognize that certain dates or events may bring waves of grief and plan how to cope in advance.
5. Practice Self-Compassion: Healing takes time, and there’s no “right” way to grieve.

Conclusion: A Lifelong Journey
Grief, much like the ocean, is vast and unpredictable. But with time and support, you can learn to navigate its waters. The waves will never stop coming, but they will change. And as you face each wave, you’ll discover strength and meaning in your journey.

Grief is a testament to love. As the Reddit post poignantly concludes:

“If you’re lucky, you’ll have lots of scars from lots of loves. And lots of shipwrecks.”

@ 319ad3e7:cc01d50a

Candied Pecans by Double00Satoshi

Details⏲️ Prep time: 10 🍳 Cook time: 45 🍽️ Servings: 16

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound unsalted pecans halves
• 1 egg white
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon water

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a bowl, add sugars, cinnamon, and salt. Whisk until combined. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the egg white, vanilla, and water together until frothy. Add the pecans and gently toss until the pecans are well coated. Add the sugar and cinnamon mixture and toss until pecans are covered. Spread the pecans out in a single layer on prepared baking sheet. Bake for about 30-45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the pecans cool on the baking sheet. When completely cool, store in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

Deviled Eggs by Seth

Details ⏲️ Prep time: 20 min 🍳 Cook time: 15 min 🍽️ Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 6 hard boiled eggs, peeled
• 3 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• 1/2 teaspoon of soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard
• 1/2 stalk of celery, finely diced
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Cut eggs in half lengthwise and pop yolks out into bowl, mash with fork. Mix in mayonnaise, mustard, celery, soy sauce, salt and pepper. Whip until a creamy texture Scoop out fill and add to egg whites, heaping it slightly. Add garnish of choice Serve immediately or refrigerate before serving.

Bang Bang Shrimp by Hes ⚡️

Details ⏲️ Prep time: 20 min 🍳 Cook time: 20 min 🍽️ Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 pound shrimp
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup panko breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon onion powder
• ¼ teaspoon dried basil
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 4 – 5 teaspoon chili garlic sauce
• 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
• ½ cup mayonnaise

Directions

Make the sauce: Mix mayonnaise, chili garlic sauce, sugar, and rice vinegar in a bowl. Refrigerate. Prepare for frying: a) Combine beaten egg and milk in one bowl. b) Mix flour, panko, and seasonings in another bowl. Bread the shrimp: a) Coat each shrimp in flour mixture. b) Dip in egg mixture. c) Coat again in flour mixture. d) Arrange on a plate and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Fry the shrimp: a) Heat oil to 350F in a dutch oven. b) Fry shrimp for 2-3 minutes until golden. c) Drain on wire rack or paper towels. Serve: a) Coat fried shrimp with ¼ cup sauce. b) Serve with remaining sauce on the side.

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To Find More Recipes, go to Zap.Cooking

@ 1bda7e1f:bb97c4d9

Tldr

• Nostr is an open and interoperable protocol
• You can integrate it with workflow automation tools to augment your experience
• n8n is a great low/no-code workflow automation tool which you can host yourself
• Nostrobots allows you to integrate Nostr into n8n
• In this blog I create some workflow automations for Nostr
• A simple form to delegate posting notes
• Push notifications for mentions on multiple accounts
• Push notifications for your favourite accounts when they post a note
• All workflows are provided as open source with MIT license for you to use

Inter-op All The Things

Nostr is a new open social protocol for the internet. This open nature exciting because of the opportunities for interoperability with other technologies. In Using NFC Cards with Nostr I explored the nostr: URI to launch Nostr clients from a card tap.

The interoperability of Nostr doesn't stop there. The internet has many super-powers, and Nostr is open to all of them. Simply, there's no one to stop it. There is no one in charge, there are no permissioned APIs, and there are no risks of being de-platformed. If you can imagine technologies that would work well with Nostr, then any and all of them can ride on or alongside Nostr rails.

My mental model for why this is special is Google Wave ~2010. Google Wave was to be the next big platform. Lars was running it and had a big track record from Maps. I was excited for it. Then, Google pulled the plug. And, immediately all the time and capital invested in understanding and building on the platform was wasted.

This cannot happen to Nostr, as there is no one to pull the plug, and maybe even no plug to pull.

So long as users demand Nostr, Nostr will exist, and that is a pretty strong guarantee. It makes it worthwhile to invest in bringing Nostr into our other applications.

All we need are simple ways to plug things together.

Nostr and Workflow Automation

Workflow automation is about helping people to streamline their work. As a user, the most common way I achieve this is by connecting disparate systems together. By setting up one system to trigger another or to move data between systems, I can solve for many different problems and become way more effective.

n8n for workflow automation

Many workflow automation tools exist. My favourite is n8n. n8n is a low/no-code workflow automation platform which allows you to build all kinds of workflows. You can use it for free, you can self-host it, it has a user-friendly UI and useful API. Vs Zapier it can be far more elaborate. Vs Make.com I find it to be more intuitive in how it abstracts away the right parts of the code, but still allows you to code when you need to.

Most importantly you can plug anything into n8n: You have built-in nodes for specific applications. HTTP nodes for any other API-based service. And community nodes built by individual community members for any other purpose you can imagine.

Eating my own dogfood

It's very clear to me that there is a big design space here just demanding to be explored. If you could integrate Nostr with anything, what would you do?

In my view the best way for anyone to start anything is by solving their own problem first (aka "scratching your own itch" and "eating your own dogfood"). As I get deeper into Nostr I find myself controlling multiple Npubs – to date I have a personal Npub, a brand Npub for a community I am helping, an AI assistant Npub, and various testing Npubs. I need ways to delegate access to those Npubs without handing over the keys, ways to know if they're mentioned, and ways to know if they're posting.

I can build workflows with n8n to solve these issues for myself to start with, and keep expanding from there as new needs come up.

Running n8n with Nostrobots

I am mostly non-technical with a very helpful AI. To set up n8n to work with Nostr and operate these workflows should be possible for anyone with basic technology skills.

• I have a cheap VPS which currently runs my HAVEN Nostr Relay and Albyhub Lightning Node in Docker containers,
• My objective was to set up n8n to run alongside these in a separate Docker container on the same server, install the required nodes, and then build and host my workflows.

Installing n8n

Self-hosting n8n could not be easier. I followed n8n's Docker-Compose installation docs–

• Install Docker and Docker-Compose if you haven't already,
• Create your docker-compose.yml and .env files from the docs,
• Create your data folder sudo docker volume create n8n_data,
• Start your container with sudo docker compose up -d,
• Your n8n instance should be online at port 5678.

n8n is free to self-host but does require a license. Enter your credentials into n8n to get your free license key. You should now have access to the Workflow dashboard and can create and host any kind of workflows from there.

Installing Nostrobots

To integrate n8n nicely with Nostr, I used the Nostrobots community node by Ocknamo.

In n8n parlance a "node" enables certain functionality as a step in a workflow e.g. a "set" node sets a variable, a "send email" node sends an email. n8n comes with all kinds of "official" nodes installed by default, and Nostr is not amongst them. However, n8n also comes with a framework for community members to create their own "community" nodes, which is where Nostrobots comes in.

You can only use a community node in a self-hosted n8n instance (which is what you have if you are running in Docker on your own server, but this limitation does prevent you from using n8n's own hosted alternative).

To install a community node, see n8n community node docs. From your workflow dashboard–

• Click the "..." in the bottom left corner beside your username, and click "settings",
• Cilck "community nodes" left sidebar,
• Click "Install",
• Enter the "npm Package Name" which is n8n-nodes-nostrobots,
• Accept the risks and click "Install",
• Nostrobots is now added to your n8n instance.

Using Nostrobots

Nostrobots gives you nodes to help you build Nostr-integrated workflows–

• Nostr Write – for posting Notes to the Nostr network,
• Nostr Read – for reading Notes from the Nostr network, and
• Nostr Utils – for performing certain conversions you may need (e.g. from bech32 to hex).

Nostrobots has good documentation on each node which focuses on simple use cases.

Each node has a "convenience mode" by default. For example, the "Read" Node by default will fetch Kind 1 notes by a simple filter, in Nostrobots parlance a "Strategy". For example, with Strategy set to "Mention" the node will accept a pubkey and fetch all Kind 1 notes that Mention the pubkey within a time period. This is very good for quick use.

What wasn't clear to me initially (until Ocknamo helped me out) is that advanced use cases are also possible.

Each node also has an advanced mode. For example, the "Read" Node can have "Strategy" set to "RawFilter(advanced)". Now the node will accept json (anything you like that complies with NIP-01). You can use this to query Notes (Kind 1) as above, and also Profiles (Kind 0), Follow Lists (Kind 3), Reactions (Kind 7), Zaps (Kind 9734/9735), and anything else you can think of.

Creating and adding workflows

With n8n and Nostrobots installed, you can now create or add any kind of Nostr Workflow Automation.

• Click "Add workflow" to go to the workflow builder screen,
• If you would like to build your own workflow, you can start with adding any node. Click "+" and see what is available. Type "Nostr" to explore the Nostrobots nodes you have added,
• If you would like to add workflows that someone else has built, click "..." in the top right. Then click "import from URL" and paste in the URL of any workflow you would like to use (including the ones I share later in this article).

Nostr Workflow Automations

It's time to build some things!

A simple form to post a note to Nostr

I started very simply. I needed to delegate the ability to post to Npubs that I own in order that a (future) team can test things for me. I don't want to worry about managing or training those people on how to use keys, and I want to revoke access easily.

I needed a basic form with credentials that posted a Note.

For this I can use a very simple workflow–

• A n8n Form node – Creates a form for users to enter the note they wish to post. Allows for the form to be protected by a username and password. This node is the workflow "trigger" so that the workflow runs each time the form is submitted.
• A Set node – Allows me to set some variables, in this case I set the relays that I intend to use. I typically add a Set node immediately following the trigger node, and put all the variables I need in this. It helps to make the workflows easier to update and maintain.
• A Nostr Write node (from Nostrobots) – Writes a Kind-1 note to the Nostr network. It accepts Nostr credentials, the output of the Form node, and the relays from the Set node, and posts the Note to those relays.

Once the workflow is built, you can test it with the testing form URL, and set it to "Active" to use the production form URL. That's it. You can now give posting access to anyone for any Npub. To revoke access, simply change the credentials or set to workflow to "Inactive".

It may also be the world's simplest Nostr client.

You can find the Nostr Form to Post a Note workflow here.

Push notifications on mentions and new notes

One of the things Nostr is not very good at is push notifications. Furthermore I have some unique itches to scratch. I want–

• To make sure I never miss a note addressed to any of my Npubs – For this I want a push notification any time any Nostr user mentions any of my Npubs,
• To make sure I always see all notes from key accounts – For this I need a push notification any time any of my Npubs post any Notes to the network,
• To get these notifications on all of my devices – Not just my phone where my Nostr regular client lives, but also on each of my laptops to suit wherever I am working that day.

I needed to build a Nostr push notifications solution.

To build this workflow I had to string a few ideas together–

• Triggering the node on a schedule – Nostrobots does not include a trigger node. As every workflow starts with a trigger we needed a different method. I elected to run the workflow on a schedule of every 10-minutes. Frequent enough to see Notes while they are hot, but infrequent enough to not burden public relays or get rate-limited,
• Storing a list of Npubs in a Nostr list – I needed a way to store the list of Npubs that trigger my notifications. I initially used an array defined in the workflow, this worked fine. Then I decided to try Nostr lists (NIP-51, kind 30000). By defining my list of Npubs as a list published to Nostr I can control my list from within a Nostr client (e.g. Listr.lol or Nostrudel.ninja). Not only does this "just work", but because it's based on Nostr lists automagically Amethyst client allows me to browse that list as a Feed, and everyone I add gets notified in their Mentions,
• Using specific relays – I needed to query the right relays, including my own HAVEN relay inbox for notes addressed to me, and wss://purplepag.es for Nostr profile metadata,
• Querying Nostr events (with Nostrobots) – I needed to make use of many different Nostr queries and use quite a wide range of what Nostrobots can do–
  • I read the EventID of my Kind 30000 list, to return the desired pubkeys,
  • For notifications on mentions, I read all Kind 1 notes that mention that pubkey,
  • For notifications on new notes, I read all Kind 1 notes published by that pubkey,
  • Where there are notes, I read the Kind 0 profile metadata event of that pubkey to get the displayName of the relevant Npub,
  • I transform the EventID into a Nevent to help clients find it.
• Using the Nostr URI – As I did with my NFC card article, I created a link with the nostr: URI prefix so that my phone's native client opens the link by default,
• Push notifications solution – I needed a push notifications solution. I found many with n8n integrations and chose to go with Pushover which supports all my devices, has a free trial, and is unfairly cheap with a $5-per-device perpetual license.

Once the workflow was built, lists published, and Pushover installed on my phone, I was fully set up with push notifications on Nostr. I have used these workflows for several weeks now and made various tweaks as I went. They are feeling robust and I'd welcome you to give them a go.

You can find the Nostr Push Notification If Mentioned here and If Posts a Note here.

In speaking with other Nostr users while I was building this, there are all kind of other needs for push notifications too – like on replies to a certain bookmarked note, or when a followed Npub starts streaming on zap.stream. These are all possible.

Use my workflows

I have open sourced all my workflows at my Github with MIT license and tried to write complete docs, so that you can import them into your n8n and configure them for your own use.

To import any of my workflows–

• Click on the workflow of your choice, e.g. "Nostr_Push_Notify_If_Mentioned.json",
• Click on the "raw" button to view the raw JSON, ex any Github page layout,
• Copy that URL,
• Enter that URL in the "import from URL" dialog mentioned above.

To configure them–

• Prerequisites, credentials, and variables are all stated,
• In general any variables required are entered into a Set Node that follows the trigger node,
• Pushover has some extra setup but is very straightforward and documented in the workflow.

What next?

Over my first four blogs I explored creating a good Nostr setup with Vanity Npub, Lightning Payments, Nostr Addresses at Your Domain, and Personal Nostr Relay.

Then in my latest two blogs I explored different types of interoperability with NFC cards and now n8n Workflow Automation.

Thinking ahead n8n can power any kind of interoperability between Nostr and any other legacy technology solution. On my mind as I write this:

• Further enhancements to posting and delegating solutions and forms (enhanced UI or different note kinds),
• Automated or scheduled posting (such as auto-liking everything Lyn Alden posts),
• Further enhancements to push notifications, on new and different types of events (such as notifying me when I get a new follower, on replies to certain posts, or when a user starts streaming),
• All kinds of bridges, such as bridging notes to and from Telegram, Slack, or Campfire. Or bridging RSS or other event feeds to Nostr,
• All kinds of other automation (such as BlackCoffee controlling a coffee machine),
• All kinds of AI Assistants and Agents,

In fact I have already released an open source workflow for an AI Assistant, and will share more about that in my next blog.

Please be sure to let me know if you think there's another Nostr topic you'd like to see me tackle.

GM Nostr.

@ 1bda7e1f:bb97c4d9

Tldr

• Nostr is an open protocol which is interoperable with all kinds of other technologies
• You can use this interoperability to create custom solutions
• Nostr apps define a custom URI scheme handler "nostr:"
• In this blog I use this to integrate Nostr with NFC cards
• I create a Nostr NFC "login card" which allows me to log into Amethyst client
• I create a Nostr NFC "business card" which allows anyone to find my profile with a tap

Inter-Op All The Things!

Nostr is a new open social protocol for the internet. This open nature is very exciting because it means Nostr can add new capabilities to all other internet-connected technologies, from browsers to web applications. In my view, it achieves this through three core capabilities.

• A lightweight decentralised identity (Nostr keys, "npubs" and "nsecs"),
• A lightweight data distribution network (Nostr relays),
• A set of data interoperability standards (The Nostr Improvement Protocols "NIPs"), including the "nostr:" URI which we'll use in this post.

The lightweight nature is its core strength. Very little is required to interoperate with Nostr, which means many existing technologies can be easily used with the network.

Over the next few blog posts, I'll explore different Nostr inter-op ideas, and also deliver my first small open source projects to the community. I'll cover–

• NFC cards integrated with Nostr (in this post),
• Workflow Automations integrated with Nostr,
• AI LLMs integrated with Nostr.

The "Nostr:" URI

One feature of Nostr is it defines a custom URI scheme handler "nostr:". What is that?

A URI is used to identify a resource in a system. A system will have a protocol handler registry used to store such URI's, and if a system has a URI registered, then it knows what to do when it sees it. You are probably already familiar with some URI schemes such as "http:" and "mailto:". For example, when you click an http link, the system knows that it describes an http resource and opens a web browser to fetch the content from the internet.

A nostr: link operates in the same way. The nostr: prefix indicates a custom URI scheme specifically designed for the Nostr protocol. If a system has a Nostr application installed, that application may have registered "nostr:" in the protocol handler registry. On that system when a "nostr:" URI is clicked, the system will know that it describes a nostr resource and open the Nostr client to fetch the content from the nostr relay network.

This inter-op with the protocol handler registry gives us the power to do nice and exciting things with other technologies.

Nostr and NFC

Another technology that uses URIs is NFC cards. NFC (Near Field Communication) is a wireless technology that enables devices to exchange data over a few centimeters. It’s widely used in contactless payments, access control, and information sharing.

NFC tags are small chips embedded in cards or stickers which can store data like plain text, URLs, or custom URIs. They are very cheap (cents each) and widely available (Amazon with next day delivery).

When an NFC tag contains a URI, such as a http: (or nostr:) link, it acts as a trigger. Tapping the tag with an NFC-enabled device launches the associated application and processes the URI. For example, tapping a tag with "nostr:..." could open a Nostr client, directing it to a specific login page, public profile, or event.

This inter-op allows us to bridge the physical world to Nostr with just a tap.

Many useful ideas

There are many interesting ways to use this. Too many for me to explore. Perhaps some of these are interesting for your next side hustle?

• Nostr NFC "login cards" – tap to log into Amethyst on Android,
• Nostr NFC "business cards" – give to connections so they can tap to load your npub,
• Nostr NFC "payment cards" – integrating lightning network or ecash,
• Nostr NFC "doorbells", "punch cards", "drop boxes", or "dead drops" – put a tag in a specific place and tap to open a location-specific message or chat,
• Integrations with other access control systems,
• Integrations with other home automation systems,
• Many more ...

To start with I have built and use the "login card" and "business card" solutions. This blog post will show you how to do the same.

Nostr Login Card

You can use an NFC card to log into your Nostr client.

Most Nostr clients accept a variety of login methods, from posting your nsec into the app (insecure) to using a remote signer (more secure). A less known but more secure method is to sign into a session with a tap of a specially-configured NFC card. Amethyst is a Nostr client on Android which supports this type of login.

• A secure method for logging in
• Optionally keeps no log in history on the device after logout
• Does not require users to know or understand how keys work
• Keys are kept secure on a physically-separated card to reduce risk of compromise

Nostr devs think that this is useful for anti-establishment actors–Fair enough. For me, I am interested in this login card pattern as it could be useful for rolling out identities within an organisation context with less training (office workers are already familiar with door access cards). This pattern potentially abstracts away key management to the IT or ops team who provision the cards.

I first discovered this when Kohei demonstrated it in his video.

Here's how you set it up at a high level–

1. Buy yourself some NFC cards
2. Get your Nostr key ready in an encrypted, password protected format called "nencryptsec"
3. Write the nencryptsec to the NFC card as a custom URI
4. Tap to load the login screen, and enter your password to login

Here it is in detail–

Buy yourself some NFC cards

I found no specific requirements. As usual with Nostr so far, I tried to the cheapest possible route and it worked. Generic brand NFC cards shipped from China, I believe it was 50X for $15 from Amazon. Your mileage may vary.

Get your Nostr key ready

Your key will be saved to the NFC card in an encrypted password-protected format called "nencryptsec". Several applications support this. As we'll be using this to login to Amethyst, we will use Amethyst to output the nencryptsec for us.

1. Login to Amethyst with your nsec,
2. Open the sidebar and click "Backup Keys",
3. Enter a password, and click "Encrypt and my secret key",
4. It will add the password-protected key to your clipboard in the format "ncryptsec1...",
5. Remember to backup your password.

Write the ncryptsec to the NFC card

1. Download the free NFC Tools app to your device, and open it,
2. Click "Write" and "Add a record", then click "Custom URL / URI",
3. Paste your nencryptsec with the nostr URI in front, i.e. "nostr:ncryptsec1..." and click OK,
4. Click "Write". NFC Tools will prompt you to "Approach an NFC tag",
5. Place your NFC card against your phone, and it will write to the card,
6. Your card is ready.

Tap to load the login screen

Tap the card against your phone again, and your phone should open the login screen of Amethyst and prompt you for your password.

Once you enter your password, Amethyst will decrypt your nsec and log you in.

Optionally, you can also set the app to forget you once you log out.

You have created a Nostr NFC "login card".

Nostr Business Card

You can use another NFC card to give anyone you meet a link straight to your Nostr profile.

I attended Peter McCormack's #CheatCode conference in Sydney and gave a few of these out following the Nostr panel, notably to Preston Pysh where it got some cut through and found me my first 100 followers. You can do the same.

To create your Nostr NFC "business card" is even easier than your NFC "login card".

1. Buy yourself some NFC cards,
2. Download the free NFC Tools app to your device, and open it,
3. Click "Write" and "Add a record", then click "Custom URL / URI",
4. Write your npub to the NFC card as a custom URI in the format "nostr:npub1..." (e.g. for me this is "nostr:npub1r0d8u8mnj6769500nypnm28a9hpk9qg8jr0ehe30tygr3wuhcnvs4rfsft"),
5. Your card is ready.

Give the card to someone who is a Nostr user, and when they tap the card against their phone it will open their preferred Nostr client and go directly to your Nostr profile page.

You have created a Nostr NFC "business card".

What I Did Wrong

I like to share what I did wrong so you don't have to make the same mistakes. This time, this was very easy, and little went wrong. In general

• When password-protecting your nsec, don't forget the password!
• When writing to the NFC card, make sure to use "Custom URI/URL" as this accepts your "nostr:" URI scheme. If you use generic "URI/URL" it won't work.

What's Next

Over my first four blogs I have explored creating a good Nostr setup

• Mined a Nostr pubkey and backed up the mnemonic
• Set up Nostr payments with a Lightning wallet plus all the bells and whistles
• Set up NIP-05 and Lighting Address at my own domain
• Set up a Personal Relay at my own domain

Over the next few blogs I will be exploring different types of Nostr inter-op

• NFC cards integrated with Nostr (this post)
• Workflow Automations integrated with Nostr
• AI LLMs integrated with Nostr

Please be sure to let me know if you think there's another Nostr topic you'd like to see me tackle.

GM Nostr.

@ 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 :)

@ b97f07c7:a9ddca71

เปิดโลก social ยุคอนาคต ที่ creator ได้รับเงินจากคนอ่าน content เต็ม 100%! ทำความรู้จัก Nostr ที่จะเปลี่ยนโลกการใช้ social ของคุณกัน!

content จากประสบการณ์จริง ที่ดองนานในระยะนึงล่ะ แต่บอกเลยว่ามันก็ solve pain point ของ user ที่ไม่อยากลับลู้ว่า AI ของ platform นั้น มาคอย suggest อะไรที่เราไม่ได้ตาม

ส่วน content creator เอง เราเป็นคนเขียน คนทำ content บน platform นั้น ๆ ทุกอย่างควบคุมโดย platform ซึ่ง platform อาจจะถูกปิดเมื่อไหร่ก็ได้ ส่วนใหญ่โดนลด reach บางคนโดน platform ลบโพส บางคนโดน platform แบน เราจึงต้องมี asset เป็นของตัวเองอย่าง website ไม่งั้น content ที่เราตั้งใจทำหายไปเสียดายแย่เลย

ซึ่ง concept และการใช้งาน Nostr นั้นลด pain point ของ creator ที่ต้องไปทุก platform เพื่อครอง keyword ซึ่งเหนื่อยมาก ๆ ถ้าเป็นสายแบบเราที่เน้นโค้ดหน่อย ๆ ต้องมาสร้างผู้ติดตามใหม่ แต่ละช่องทางได้กลุ่มผู้ติดตามต่างกันอีก

ร่ายมายาวขนาดนี้เข้าเรื่อง Nostr ได้แล้ว ว่าแต่มันคืออะไร ใช้งานยังไง ต้องทำอะไรบ้าง ไปดูกันนนน

ปล. บทความนี้เป็นแนวแนะนำว่ามันคืออะไร ใช้งานยังไง ยังไม่ลงลึกด้านเดฟนะ คืออยากให้ใช้ให้เป็นก่อนนนนนน

Nostr คืออะไร?

Nostr ย่อมาจาก Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays เป็น open protocol ที่ถูกพัฒนาโดย Giovanni Torres Parra มีจุดประสงค์คือ สร้างเครือข่ายสังคมออนไลน์ที่ไม่ถูกควบคุมหรือเซ็นเซอร์

ในที่นี้ Notes หมายถึง social media และ other stuff คือ data communication

แล้ว protocol คืออะไรล่ะ? ก็คือเราคุยกันผ่านช่องทางไหนยังไง เช่น sms, email อะไรงี้

ดังนั้นมันก็คือ note & other stuff ที่ถูก transmit โดย Relays นั่นเอง

Workflow

ปกติเราทำแอพขึ้นมาแอพนึงประกอบด้วยอะไรบ้าง?

เดิมทีทีมแอพก็มีทีมหน้าบ้าน อย่าง frontend developer หรือ mobile developer อย่าง iOS และ Android แล้วก็ทีมหลังบ้าน backend developer ที่เป็นคนทำระบบหลังบ้าน ไม่ว่าจะเป็นทำ API ให้หน้าบ้านคุยกับ server แล้วก็จัดเก็บข้อมูลลง database ด้วย

flow ก็คือ user download แอพมา หรือใช้ website ตัวแอพหน้าบ้านจะเรียก API เพื่อทำอะไรบางอย่าง เช่น เปิดแอพมาเรียก API เพื่อ check ว่าเรา login อยู่ไหม แล้วก็ดึงหน้า feed มาแสดง

สำหรับ Nostr จะมีแค่คนทำหน้าบ้านเท่านั้น โดยตัวแอพเชื่อมต่อกับ relay ผ่านมาตรฐานของ NIP

ดังนั้น developer อย่างเราจะทำ client หรือตัวแอพที่ใช้ Nostr ได้เลย โดยใช้ Relay เดียวกันได้เลย ภายใต้มาตรฐานของ NIP เวลา user เปลี่ยนแอพใหม่ ตัวข้อมูล ตัวโพสต่าง ๆ ยังคงอยู่เหมือนเดิมที่ delay ไม่ต้องไปสร้าง follower ใหม่บน platform ใหม่ ๆ ให้เสียเวลา

การทำงานของ Nostr

สามารถดูตามภาพนี้ได้เลย เป็นภาพพื้นฐานในการเล่าเลย การทำงานเขาจะแบ่งเป็น 2 ฝั่ง คือ

• Client: คือแอพพลิเคชั่นที่ใช้เล่น Nostr นั่นแหละ เป็นฝั่ง user จะมี key pair คือ private key ใช้ในการยืนยันตัวตนนั่นแหละ เช่น เราเป็นคนโพสอันนี้นะ (เก็บไว้ให้ดี ๆ) และ public key บอกว่าเราคือใคร การทำงาน ตัว client เชื่อมต่อกับตัว relay เช่น บอกว่าใครเป็นคนสร้าง content นี้ หรือเราจะสร้าง content ใน Nostr ก็จะส่งข้อมูลรายละเอียดโพสอย่าง kind, content, tags, pubkey, create_at ตามมาตรฐาน NIPs ส่งไปที่ relay
• Relay: คือ database ตัวนึง ที่เป็นรูปแบบแบบกระจายศูนย์ ได้รับ event อะไร และส่งอะไรกลับไปบ้าง

ref: https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr

แล้ว Client และ Relay สื่อสารระหว่างกันยังไง คุยกันผ่าน WebSocket นะ แล้วแต่ละ event จะส่งมาใน JSON format น่ะ

คุณสมบัติของ Nostr

• decentralized: relay คือ database แบบกระจายศูนย์
• open protocol: Nostr เป็น open protocol สามารถใช้งานได้หลายอย่าง
• censorship-resistant: user มีสิทธิ์เลือก relay เองได้
• high security: encrypt ข้อมูลส่วนตัวก่อนส่งทุกครั้ง

มาตรฐาน NIP

NIP ย่อมาจาก Nostr Implementation Possibilities คือ มาตรฐาน protocol ที่ใช้กันสำหรับ Nostr

ใน content นี้เราไม่ลงลึกมาก เดี๋ยวจะงงกัน เอาให้เห็นภาพคร่าว ๆ เพราะมันมีเยอะมาก

หลัก ๆ ที่เราใช้งานกัน จะมี

• NIP-01: Basic protocol เป็นอันพื้นฐานที่ต้องรู้ บอกโครงสร้าง event การรับส่งข้อมูลต่าง ๆ ทำให้เรารู้โครงสร้างแล้วเอาไปสร้าง client ได้เลย ทำให้ developer focus ที่โครงสร้างนี้อันเดียวเท่านั้นในการพัฒนา เช่น post บน Nostr นั่นแหละ
• NIP-05: Nostr Address บอกว่าเราเป็นใครใน internet ฟีลเดียวกันกับ email address ทำให้เราตั้งชื่อบัญชีให้จดจำได้ง่าย ช่วยในการค้นหาและติดตามกันได้ง่ายยิ่งขึ้น เช่นจากที่เราต้องเพิ่มเพื่อนผ่าน Nostr public key ที่ยาวเหลือเกิน เป็นอะไรสั้น ๆ ฟีล email เช่น mikkipastel@siamstr.com
• NIP-23: Long-form article พวก blog ต่าง ๆ
• NIP-53: สำหรับ live stream

ส่วนแบบอื่น ๆ สามารถอ่านรายละเอียดได้ที่นี่เลย https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/README.md

เริ่มใช้งานบนมือถือ

จาก workflow เราจะเห็นว่าเราสามารถใช้ client ตัวไหนก็ได้ในการเล่น Nostr และโลกของ Nostr มีตัวเลือกให้เราเยอะมากก แล้วเราจะเริ่มยังไงดี?

1. ติดตั้ง Wherostr เป็นแอพที่ทีมคนไทยทำ ใช้ง่ายมาก ๆ สามารถ download ได้ทั้ง App Store และ Play Store
2. แน่นอนว่าเรายังไม่มี account ให้สร้าง account
3. ปรับแต่ง profile ให้เรียบร้อย
4. เก็บ private key ไว้ในที่ปลอดภัย เพราะเป็น key ยืนยันตัวตนว่าเป็นเราในการทำธุรกรรมต่าง ๆ ในที่นี้คือสร้างโพส, กด like, กด share, รวมถึง zap ด้วย ในแอพอาจจะยังไม่เห็น process นี้ ต้องบนคอม

Tips: ไปรับ NIP05 สวย ๆ ได้ที่ https://siamstr.com/

การที่เราสร้าง account ใหม่นั้น จะเป็นการสร้าง key pair อันประกอบด้วย - public key: ขึ้นต้นด้วย npub1... โดยสามารถเพิ่มเพื่อนใน Nostr ผ่านอันนี้ได้ ซึ่งบอกว่าเราเป็นใคร - private key: ขึ้นต้นด้วย nsec1... เป็นส่วนที่เราต้องเก็บไว้ให้ดีเลย เพราะต้องเอามาใช้ sign กับการทำธุรกรรมของเรา เช่น การ login, สร้าง post, reaction post ใด ๆ

เชื่อมกับกระเป๋า Lightning

เชื่อมเพื่อรับ sat จากเพื่อน ๆ โดย sat เป็นหน่วยย่อยของ Bitcoin มาจาก Satoshi อันเป็นนามแฝงของผู้สร้าง Bitcoin โดย 1 Bitcoin = 100,000,000 Satoshi

1. ติดตั้ง Wallet of Satoshi ตัวแอพนี้เป็น custodial wallet ที่เราไม่ต้อง set อะไรเอง แต่เราไม่ได้ถือ key ของกระเป๋านี้เองนะ สามารถ download ได้ทั้ง App Store และ Play Store
2. เชื่อม email กับ Wallet of Satoshi เลข Lightning Wallet กดปุ่ม Receive แล้วก็ copy
3. กลับมาที่ Wherostr ไปที่ Profile ของเรา กด Edit Profile
4. วางเลขเป๋าตรง Bitcoin Lightning Address แล้วก็กด save

การใช้งานทั่วไป

ขอเปรียบเทียบกับ social network ที่เราใช้กันอยู่เนอะ สมัยก่อนโพสจะเรียงตามลำดับเวลา และเพิ่มเพื่อนหรือติดตามเพจก่อน เราถึงจะเห็น content เขาใน feed

แต่สมัยนี้ AI นำหมด ลองไถ feed ดูสิ เจอเพื่อนเราหรือเพจที่เราตามเท่าไหร่ใน 10 post ทำให้ตัว content creator ต้องเรียนรู้ algorithm ของ platform นั้น ๆ เพื่อให้ content ของเราผู้ติดตามเห็นมากขึ้น (งงม่ะ)

แล้ว Nostr ล่ะ? เหมือน social network สมัยก่อนที่เรียง feed ตามเวลาเลย เราสามารถกดติดตามเพื่อนได้ (และระบบนั้นให้เราได้ติดตามตัวเราเองได้ด้วยนะ5555) และอ่านโพสเพื่อน ๆ คนไทยใน Nostr ได้ผ่าน #siamstr

การสร้างโพส

การโพสก็แสนจะง่ายดาย กด + ตรงกลาง แล้วพิมพ์ เพิ่มรูปใด ๆ ได้ตามใจชอบเลย ฟีลประมาณ medium แหละเนอะ สำหรับ wherostr สามารถ tag สถานที่ได้ด้วย

จุดที่น่าสนใจ คือปุ่มเหมือน CPU กดไปดูจะพบว่าเราสามารถเลือก Proof of Work difficulty level ได้ ซึ่งถ้าเราตั้งไว้เพื่อกัน spam แหละ ถ้าตั้งสูงก็ใช้เวลาในการ solve นาน ซึ่ง default POW เป็น 8

เอ้ออย่าลืมติด #siamstr ด้วย

เมื่อเรียบร้อยแล้ว Post แล้วรอแปป โพสของเราเมื่อสร้างเสร็จแล้วจะอยู่บนสุดเหมือนแอพ social media ทั่วไปเลย

ข้อพึงระวัง

• ลงแล้ว edit post ไม่ได้
• และลบไม่ได้ด้วยนะจ๊ะ
• แชร์ลิ้งได้ แต่ก็ไม่แน่ใจว่าเพื่อนเปิดยังไงได้บ้าง บาง client อย่าง Yakihonne สามารถ share url link Nostr post ของเราได้เลยนะ

เราสามารถกด report, comment และ like ตามปกติเลย แต่มีปุ่มนึงเพิ่มมาจาก social network อื่น ๆ คือ zap นั่นเอง

Zap คืออะไร?

แน่นอนไม่ใช่การแอบแซ่บ แต่เป็นการที่เราเอา Bitcoin บน lightning มาใช้จ่ายต่าง ๆ เช่น เอาไปซื้อชากาแฟ หมูปิ้ง เค้กท้อฟฟี่ชลบุรี ปลากรอบ Crispy Will รวมถึงการ donate ให้กับเจ้าของ content ที่คนนี้เขียนดีมาก เรากด zap ให้เขาดีกว่า หรือไป zap ที่ profile ก็ได้ซึ่งทุก sat (satoshi หน่วยย่อยของ Bitcoin) ที่เขาส่งมาให้ เราได้รับครบทุก sat แบบไม่หักจาก platform เลย

วิธีการ zap ผ่าน Wherostr มี 2 ทาง คือ - zap ให้กับคนนั้น ๆ ที่ profile: ไปที่ profile ของเขา แล้วเราจะเห็นปุ่มสายฟ้า - zap ที่ post นั้น ๆ: เลื่อนไปล่างสุด เราจะเห็นปุ่ม repost, like, comment และอีกอันที่เป็นสายฟ้าคือ Zap

เมื่อกดปุ่ม Zap แล้ว เข้าไปหน้า Zap เลือกจำนวน sat ที่เราต้องการ Zap อาจจะใส่ข้อความไปด้วยก็ได้ แล้วก็กดปุ่ม Zap ด้านล่าง

จากนั้นมันจะเด้งไป Wallet of Satashi ที่เรา connect ไว้ ตรวจสอบธุรกรรม เรียบร้อยแล้วกด Send เขียว ๆ รอสักแปป เมื่อสำเร็จแล้วเราจะเห็นหน้าเขียว ๆ แบบนี้เลย

ถึงเงินอาจจะไม่ได้มากมายอะไรมัก ก็เป็นสิ่งที่ platform web2 ให้ไม่ได้เลยนะ กับความรู้สึกดี ๆ แบบนี้ ที่ลง content แล้วมีคนมา Zap ให้ ในขนาดที่ platform web2 ไม่มีคนกด send gift ให้เลย ฮือออออออออออ

Client App อื่น ๆ ที่น่าสนใจ

จริง ๆ เราจะใช้แอพ Client อื่น ๆ เล่น Nostr ได้นะ เพราะว่า Relay สามารถใช้ร่วมกันได้ในหลาย ๆ แอพ

ก่อนที่จะมีแอพ Wherostr เขาจะแนะนำกันว่า

ถ้าใช้ iOS ใช้แอพ Damus ส่วนชาว Android ใช้ Amethyst

ตอนนั้นที่เราลองเล่นเอง เราสร้าง account ผ่าน Iris แหละ เพราะ ก่อนหน้าที่เรารู้จัก Wherostr และเข้าใจ Nostr เราได้ลองกับ Nostr browser นึงที่ชื่อว่า Spring ในนั้นมีหลาย ๆ client ให้เราจิ้มเล่น และแอพนี้มีเฉพาะ Android เท่าน้านนน

สายเขียนบล็อก: Habla, Yakihonne, Npub.pro

ส่วนสายสตรีม: Zap.Stream

ส่วน Client อื่น ๆ สามารถเข้าไปดูได้ที่นี่ ซึ่งในนี้เป็นแค่ส่วนหนึ่งเท่านั้นแหละ https://nostrapps.com/

เริ่มใช้งานบนคอม

หลาย ๆ client นอกจากจะมีเป็นแอพบนมือถือ ยังมีเป็นหน้าเว็บไซต์อีกด้วย

สิ่งที่ต้องมีเพิ่มเติม คือ extension ที่ชื่อว่า Nostr Connect เราใส่ private key เข้าไปในนั้น พอเวลา sign transection ตัว extension จะไม่เอา private key ของเราตรง ๆ

หลังจากติดตั้ง extension ตัวนี้แล้ว การใช้งาน สมมุติเข้าเว็บ Wherostr กดปุ่ม Login แล้วจะมีหน้า popup เด้งมา ให้กด Login with Nostr extension แล้วจะขึ้นหน้าต่างให้เรา sign สองอัน คือ อ่าน public key กับ Relay

เมื่อ login เรียบร้อยแล้ว สมมุติเราสร้างโพสบนเว็บ Wherostr จามปกติ เรียบร้อยแล้วกด Post เขาจะให้เรา sign event ว่าเราเป็นคนสร้าง post นี้นะ เราจะเห็น transaction ออกมาเป็น json เลย ตามมาตรฐาน NIP-01

ปล. จริง ๆ จะกดไม่ให้เปิด popup ก็ได้นะ แต่เราอยากเปิดไว้เอง เอาไว้ check

และ extension อีกตัวที่มีคนแนะนำก่อนหน้านี้คือ Alby ตอนนี้ไม่ต้องไปขอ access code ก่อนถึงจะใช้ได้ สามารถเข้าไปสมัครที่นี่ได้เลย

https://getalby.com/

สุดท้าย ก็หวังว่าทุกคนรู้จัก Nostr กันไม่มากก็น้อยเนอะ

ถ้าใครอยากติดตามเราบน Nostr สามารถเปิดแอพ Wherostr หรืออื่น ๆ เพื่อ scan QR Code นี้ได้ หรือ copy public key หรือ Nostr user ไปหาได้น้า

แน่นอนในนี้เป็นการแท็กเราเอง nostr:npub1h9ls03lflhvgzzmkf6nsymspw3auh0f3d97c02e5l4edn2waefcszlq9qf

Reference

• https://nostr.com/
• https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nostr
• https://rightshift.to/2023/kp/14251/
• จริง ๆ ก็เอามาจากงาน Thailand Bitcoin Conference 2024 ที่เขียนไปด้วยแหละ แต่บวกกับการใช้งานจริงด้วย https://www.mikkipastel.com/thailand-bitcoin-conference-2024/

@ f9cf4e94:96abc355

Scuttlebutt foi iniciado em maio de 2014 por Dominic Tarr ( dominictarr ) como uma rede social alternativa off-line, primeiro para convidados, que permite aos usuários obter controle total de seus dados e privacidade. Secure Scuttlebutt (ssb) foi lançado pouco depois, o que coloca a privacidade em primeiro plano com mais recursos de criptografia.

Se você está se perguntando de onde diabos veio o nome Scuttlebutt:

Este termo do século 19 para uma fofoca vem do Scuttlebutt náutico: “um barril de água mantido no convés, com um buraco para uma xícara”. A gíria náutica vai desde o hábito dos marinheiros de se reunir pelo boato até a fofoca, semelhante à fofoca do bebedouro.

Marinheiros se reunindo em torno da rixa. ( fonte )

Dominic descobriu o termo boato em um artigo de pesquisa que leu.

Em sistemas distribuídos, fofocar é um processo de retransmissão de mensagens ponto a ponto; as mensagens são disseminadas de forma análoga ao “boca a boca”.

Secure Scuttlebutt é um banco de dados de feeds imutáveis apenas para acréscimos, otimizado para replicação eficiente para protocolos ponto a ponto. Cada usuário tem um log imutável somente para acréscimos no qual eles podem gravar. Eles gravam no log assinando mensagens com sua chave privada. Pense em um feed de usuário como seu próprio diário de bordo, como um diário de bordo (ou diário do capitão para os fãs de Star Trek), onde eles são os únicos autorizados a escrever nele, mas têm a capacidade de permitir que outros amigos ou colegas leiam ao seu diário de bordo, se assim o desejarem.

Cada mensagem possui um número de sequência e a mensagem também deve fazer referência à mensagem anterior por seu ID. O ID é um hash da mensagem e da assinatura. A estrutura de dados é semelhante à de uma lista vinculada. É essencialmente um log somente de acréscimo de JSON assinado. Cada item adicionado a um log do usuário é chamado de mensagem.

Os logs do usuário são conhecidos como feed e um usuário pode seguir os feeds de outros usuários para receber suas atualizações. Cada usuário é responsável por armazenar seu próprio feed. Quando Alice assina o feed de Bob, Bob baixa o log de feed de Alice. Bob pode verificar se o registro do feed realmente pertence a Alice verificando as assinaturas. Bob pode verificar as assinaturas usando a chave pública de Alice.

Estrutura de alto nível de um feed

Pubs são servidores de retransmissão conhecidos como “super peers”. Pubs conectam usuários usuários e atualizações de fofocas a outros usuários conectados ao Pub. Um Pub é análogo a um pub da vida real, onde as pessoas vão para se encontrar e se socializar. Para ingressar em um Pub, o usuário deve ser convidado primeiro. Um usuário pode solicitar um código de convite de um Pub; o Pub simplesmente gerará um novo código de convite, mas alguns Pubs podem exigir verificação adicional na forma de verificação de e-mail ou, com alguns Pubs, você deve pedir um código em um fórum público ou chat. Pubs também podem mapear aliases de usuário, como e-mails ou nome de usuário, para IDs de chave pública para facilitar os pares de referência.

Depois que o Pub enviar o código de convite ao usuário, o usuário resgatará o código, o que significa que o Pub seguirá o usuário, o que permite que o usuário veja as mensagens postadas por outros membros do Pub, bem como as mensagens de retransmissão do Pub pelo usuário a outros membros do Pub.

Além de retransmitir mensagens entre pares, os Pubs também podem armazenar as mensagens. Se Alice estiver offline e Bob transmitir atualizações de feed, Alice perderá a atualização. Se Alice ficar online, mas Bob estiver offline, não haverá como ela buscar o feed de Bob. Mas com um Pub, Alice pode buscar o feed no Pub mesmo se Bob estiver off-line porque o Pub está armazenando as mensagens. Pubs são úteis porque assim que um colega fica online, ele pode sincronizar com o Pub para receber os feeds de seus amigos potencialmente offline.

Um usuário pode, opcionalmente, executar seu próprio servidor Pub e abri-lo ao público ou permitir que apenas seus amigos participem, se assim o desejarem. Eles também podem ingressar em um Pub público. Aqui está uma lista de Pubs públicos em que todos podem participar . Explicaremos como ingressar em um posteriormente neste guia. Uma coisa importante a observar é que o Secure Scuttlebutt em uma rede social somente para convidados significa que você deve ser “puxado” para entrar nos círculos sociais. Se você responder às mensagens, os destinatários não serão notificados, a menos que estejam seguindo você de volta. O objetivo do SSB é criar “ilhas” isoladas de redes pares, ao contrário de uma rede pública onde qualquer pessoa pode enviar mensagens a qualquer pessoa.

Perspectivas dos participantes

Scuttlebot

O software Pub é conhecido como servidor Scuttlebutt (servidor ssb ), mas também é conhecido como “Scuttlebot” e sbotna linha de comando. O servidor SSB adiciona comportamento de rede ao banco de dados Scuttlebutt (SSB). Estaremos usando o Scuttlebot ao longo deste tutorial.

Os logs do usuário são conhecidos como feed e um usuário pode seguir os feeds de outros usuários para receber suas atualizações. Cada usuário é responsável por armazenar seu próprio feed. Quando Alice assina o feed de Bob, Bob baixa o log de feed de Alice. Bob pode verificar se o registro do feed realmente pertence a Alice verificando as assinaturas. Bob pode verificar as assinaturas usando a chave pública de Alice.

Estrutura de alto nível de um feed

Pubs são servidores de retransmissão conhecidos como “super peers”. Pubs conectam usuários usuários e atualizações de fofocas a outros usuários conectados ao Pub. Um Pub é análogo a um pub da vida real, onde as pessoas vão para se encontrar e se socializar. Para ingressar em um Pub, o usuário deve ser convidado primeiro. Um usuário pode solicitar um código de convite de um Pub; o Pub simplesmente gerará um novo código de convite, mas alguns Pubs podem exigir verificação adicional na forma de verificação de e-mail ou, com alguns Pubs, você deve pedir um código em um fórum público ou chat. Pubs também podem mapear aliases de usuário, como e-mails ou nome de usuário, para IDs de chave pública para facilitar os pares de referência.

Depois que o Pub enviar o código de convite ao usuário, o usuário resgatará o código, o que significa que o Pub seguirá o usuário, o que permite que o usuário veja as mensagens postadas por outros membros do Pub, bem como as mensagens de retransmissão do Pub pelo usuário a outros membros do Pub.

Além de retransmitir mensagens entre pares, os Pubs também podem armazenar as mensagens. Se Alice estiver offline e Bob transmitir atualizações de feed, Alice perderá a atualização. Se Alice ficar online, mas Bob estiver offline, não haverá como ela buscar o feed de Bob. Mas com um Pub, Alice pode buscar o feed no Pub mesmo se Bob estiver off-line porque o Pub está armazenando as mensagens. Pubs são úteis porque assim que um colega fica online, ele pode sincronizar com o Pub para receber os feeds de seus amigos potencialmente offline.

Um usuário pode, opcionalmente, executar seu próprio servidor Pub e abri-lo ao público ou permitir que apenas seus amigos participem, se assim o desejarem. Eles também podem ingressar em um Pub público. Aqui está uma lista de Pubs públicos em que todos podem participar . Explicaremos como ingressar em um posteriormente neste guia. Uma coisa importante a observar é que o Secure Scuttlebutt em uma rede social somente para convidados significa que você deve ser “puxado” para entrar nos círculos sociais. Se você responder às mensagens, os destinatários não serão notificados, a menos que estejam seguindo você de volta. O objetivo do SSB é criar “ilhas” isoladas de redes pares, ao contrário de uma rede pública onde qualquer pessoa pode enviar mensagens a qualquer pessoa.

Perspectivas dos participantes

Pubs - Hubs

Pubs públicos

| Pub Name | Operator | Invite Code | | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | scuttle.us | @Ryan | scuttle.us:8008:@WqcuCOIpLtXFRw/9vOAQJti8avTZ9vxT9rKrPo8qG6o=.ed25519~/ZUi9Chpl0g1kuWSrmehq2EwMQeV0Pd+8xw8XhWuhLE= | | pub1.upsocial.com | @freedomrules | pub1.upsocial.com:8008:@gjlNF5Cyw3OKZxEoEpsVhT5Xv3HZutVfKBppmu42MkI=.ed25519~lMd6f4nnmBZEZSavAl4uahl+feajLUGqu8s2qdoTLi8= | | Monero Pub | @Denis | xmr-pub.net:8008:@5hTpvduvbDyMLN2IdzDKa7nx7PSem9co3RsOmZoyyCM=.ed25519~vQU+r2HUd6JxPENSinUWdfqrJLlOqXiCbzHoML9iVN4= | | FreeSocial | @Jarland | pub.freesocial.co:8008:@ofYKOy2p9wsaxV73GqgOyh6C6nRGFM5FyciQyxwBd6A=.ed25519~ye9Z808S3KPQsV0MWr1HL0/Sh8boSEwW+ZK+8x85u9w= | | ssb.vpn.net.br | @coffeverton | ssb.vpn.net.br:8008:@ze8nZPcf4sbdULvknEFOCbVZtdp7VRsB95nhNw6/2YQ=.ed25519~D0blTolH3YoTwSAkY5xhNw8jAOjgoNXL/+8ZClzr0io= | | gossip.noisebridge.info | Noisebridge Hackerspace @james.network | gossip.noisebridge.info:8008:@2NANnQVdsoqk0XPiJG2oMZqaEpTeoGrxOHJkLIqs7eY=.ed25519~JWTC6+rPYPW5b5zCion0gqjcJs35h6JKpUrQoAKWgJ4= |

Pubs privados

Você precisará entrar em contato com os proprietários desses bares para receber um convite.

| Pub Name | Operator | Contact | | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ----------------------------------------------- | | many.butt.nz | @dinosaur | mikey@enspiral.com | | one.butt.nz | @dinosaur | mikey@enspiral.com | | ssb.mikey.nz | @dinosaur | mikey@enspiral.com | | ssb.celehner.com | @cel | cel@celehner.com |

Pubs muito grandes

Aviso: embora tecnicamente funcione usar um convite para esses pubs, você provavelmente se divertirá se o fizer devido ao seu tamanho (muitas coisas para baixar, risco para bots / spammers / idiotas)

| Pub Name | Operator | Invite Code | | --------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | | scuttlebutt.de | SolSoCoG | scuttlebutt.de:8008:@yeh/GKxlfhlYXSdgU7CRLxm58GC42za3tDuC4NJld/k=.ed25519~iyaCpZ0co863K9aF+b7j8BnnHfwY65dGeX6Dh2nXs3c= | | Lohn's Pub | @lohn | p.lohn.in:8018:@LohnKVll9HdLI3AndEc4zwGtfdF/J7xC7PW9B/JpI4U=.ed25519~z3m4ttJdI4InHkCtchxTu26kKqOfKk4woBb1TtPeA/s= | | Scuttle Space | @guil-dot | Visit scuttle.space | | SSB PeerNet US-East | timjrobinson | us-east.ssbpeer.net:8008:@sTO03jpVivj65BEAJMhlwtHXsWdLd9fLwyKAT1qAkc0=.ed25519~sXFc5taUA7dpGTJITZVDCRy2A9jmkVttsr107+ufInU= | | Hermies | s | net:hermies.club:8008~shs:uMYDVPuEKftL4SzpRGVyQxLdyPkOiX7njit7+qT/7IQ=:SSB+Room+PSK3TLYC2T86EHQCUHBUHASCASE18JBV24= |

GUI - Interface Gráfica do Utilizador(Usuário)

Patchwork - Uma GUI SSB (Descontinuado)

Patchwork é o aplicativo de mensagens e compartilhamento descentralizado construído em cima do SSB . O protocolo scuttlebutt em si não mantém um conjunto de feeds nos quais um usuário está interessado, então um cliente é necessário para manter uma lista de feeds de pares em que seu respectivo usuário está interessado e seguindo.

Fonte: scuttlebutt.nz

Quando você instala e executa o Patchwork, você só pode ver e se comunicar com seus pares em sua rede local. Para acessar fora de sua LAN, você precisa se conectar a um Pub. Um pub é apenas para convidados e eles retransmitem mensagens entre você e seus pares fora de sua LAN e entre outros Pubs.

Lembre-se de que você precisa seguir alguém para receber mensagens dessa pessoa. Isso reduz o envio de mensagens de spam para os usuários. Os usuários só veem as respostas das pessoas que seguem. Os dados são sincronizados no disco para funcionar offline, mas podem ser sincronizados diretamente com os pares na sua LAN por wi-fi ou bluetooth.

Patchbay - Uma GUI Alternativa

Patchbay é um cliente de fofoca projetado para ser fácil de modificar e estender. Ele usa o mesmo banco de dados que Patchwork e Patchfoo , então você pode facilmente dar uma volta com sua identidade existente.

Planetary - GUI para IOS

Planetary é um app com pubs pré-carregados para facilitar integração.

Manyverse - GUI para Android

Manyverse é um aplicativo de rede social com recursos que você esperaria: posts, curtidas, perfis, mensagens privadas, etc. Mas não está sendo executado na nuvem de propriedade de uma empresa, em vez disso, as postagens de seus amigos e todos os seus dados sociais vivem inteiramente em seu telefone .

Fontes

• https://scuttlebot.io/

• https://decentralized-id.com/decentralized-web/scuttlebot/#plugins

• https://medium.com/@miguelmota/getting-started-with-secure-scuttlebut-e6b7d4c5ecfd

• Secure Scuttlebutt : um protocolo de banco de dados global.

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A Indústria Pornográfica se caracteriza pelo investimento pesado de grandes empresários americanos, desde 2014.

Na década de 90, filmes pornográficos eram feitos às coxas. Era basicamente duas pessoas fazendo sexo amador e sendo gravadas. Não tinha roteiro, nem produção, não tinha maquiagem, nada disso. A distribuição era rudimentar, os assinantes tinham que sair de suas casas, ir até a locadora, sofrer todo tipo de constrangimento para assistir a um filme pornô.

No começo dos anos 2000, o serviço de Pay Per View fez o número de vendas de filmes eróticos (filme erótico é bem mais leve) crescer mas nada se compara com os sites de filmes pornográficos por assinatura.

Com o advento dos serviços de Streaming, os sites que vendem filmes por assinatura se estabeleceram no mercado como nunca foi visto na história.

Hoje, os Produtores usam produtos para esticar os vasos sanguíneos do pênis dos atores e dopam as atrizes para que elas aguentem horas de gravação (a Série Black Mirror fez uma crítica a isso no episódio 1 milhão de méritos de forma sutil).

Além de toda a produção em volta das cenas. Que são gravadas em 4K, para focar bem as partes íntimas dos atores. Quadros fechados, iluminação, tudo isso faz essa Indústria ser "Artística" uma vez que tudo ali é falso. Um filme da Produtora Vixen, por exemplo, onde jovens mulheres transam em mansões com seus empresários estimula o esteriótipo da mina padrão que chama seu chefe rico de "daddy" e seduz ele até ele trair a esposa.

Sites como xvídeos, pornHub e outros nada mais são do que sites que salvam filmes dessas produtoras e hospedam as cenas com anúncios e pop-ups. Alguns sites hospedam o filme inteiro "de graça".

Esse tipo de filme estimula qualquer homem heterosexual com menos de 30 anos, que não tem o córtex frontal de seu cérebro totalmente desenvolvido (segundo estudos só é completamente desenvolvido quando o homem chega aos 31 anos).

A arte Pornográfica faz alguns fantasiarem ter relação sexual com uma gostosa americana branquinha, até escraviza-los. Muitos não conseguem sair do vício e preferem a Ficção à sua esposa real. Então pare de se enganar e admita. A Pornografia faz mal para a saúde mental do homem.

Quem sonha em ter uma transa com Lana Rhodes, deve estar nesse estágio. Trata-se de uma atriz (pornstar) que ganhou muito dinheiro vendendo a ilusão da Arte Pornografica, como a Riley Reid que só gravava para grandes Produtoras. Ambas se arrependeram da carreira artística e agora tentam viver suas vidas como uma mulher comum.

As próprias atrizes se consideram artistas, como Mia Malkova, chegou a dizer que Pornografia é a vida dela, que é "Lindo e Sofisticado."

Mia Malkova inclusive faz questão de dizer que a industria não escravisa mulheres jovens. Trata-se de um negócio onde a mulher assina um contrato com uma produtora e recebe um cachê por isso. Diferente do discurso da Mia Khalifa em entrevista para a BBC, onde diz que as mulheres são exploradas por homens poderosos. Vai ela está confundindo o Conglomerado Vixen com a Rede Globo ou com a empresa do Harvey Weinstein.

Enfim, se você é um homem solteiro entre 18 e 40 anos que já consumiu ou que ainda consome pornografia, sabia que sofrerá consequências. Pois trata-se de "produções artísticas" da indústria audiovisual que altera os níveis de dopamina do seu cérebro, mudando a neuroplasticidade e diminuindo a massa cinzenta, deixando o homem com memória fraca, sem foco e com mente nebulosa.

Por que o Estado não proíbe/criminaliza a Pornografia se ela faz mal? E desde quando o Estado quer o nosso bem? Existem grandes empresarios que financiam essa indústria ajudando governos a manterem o povo viciado e assim alienado. É um pão e circo, só que muito mais viciante e maléfico. Eu costume dizer aos meus amigos que existem grandes empresários jvdeus que são donos de grandes Produtoras de filmes pornográficos como o Conglomerado Vixen. Então se eles assistem vídeos pirateados de filmes dessas produtoras, eles estão no colo do Judeu.

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Oswald: Ruthlessness in the Pursuit of Power and Survival

In Gotham City, Oswald Cobblepot, known as “The Penguin,” lives by the unrelenting rules of the mob: ruthless, without compromise or boundaries. For him, survival demands sheer will, extreme cunning, and coldness. He will do anything to achieve his aims, even betray those closest to him—like his mother, who has profoundly influenced him. His attachment to her is rooted in a twisted, obsessive need for approval, and his ruthlessness is not only a survival strategy but also an expression of his deeply embedded self-centeredness.

The Penguin maneuvers through the shadows of Gotham City with manipulation, deceit, and vengeance, like a serpent coiling around its prey. His every success is built on a disregard for humanity and a relentless thirst for power. Though he appears to show devotion to his mother, this is only another facet of his self-serving nature. He cherishes her only so long as she provides him with a sense of security; the moment she becomes a liability, he discards her without hesitation. This twisted complexity makes him a character who elicits both fascination and repulsion.

The Penguin’s unique blend of cruelty and contradiction separates him from the typical mob character. His ruthless selfishness is rooted in self-preservation. He is capable of manipulating or even betraying those closest to him. His “loyalty” is merely a mask for his unyielding self-interest. This guise of loyalty makes him more isolated and untrustworthy than those around him, ultimately marking him as a true antihero—someone who cannot be trusted and who feels no attachment even to those he holds dear.

Sofia: A Tender Wound in the Cold Reality

In contrast to the Penguin’s dark nature, Sofia, the female lead, presents a softer, yet no less complex character. Like him, she exists within Gotham’s shadows, but she retains a degree of innocence and kindness. Sofia, too, has a damaged side, but hers is gentler, perhaps even curable; her inner nature is resilient and compassionate. The Penguin, however, is wholly different—cold and selfish, with his inner darkness shaping every decision and action. Where Sofia struggles within Gotham’s corruption but maintains her inner light, the Penguin is the opposite, allowing his cruelty to permeate every aspect of his life.

Sofia’s presence is like a quiet undercurrent, casting the Penguin’s icy nature in sharper relief. She occasionally brings light into his shadowed world, though her warmth is ultimately no match for his darkness. Sofia’s compassion exposes the Penguin’s pathological selfishness, and her fleeting kindness only emphasizes his chilling indifference.

The Solitude of a Drifter

With its muted color palette, the film portrays Gotham as a city almost devoid of life, where the clamor of daily existence only serves to conceal an underlying emptiness. The city’s visual loneliness, along with a slow, deliberate narrative and moments of silence, subtly reflects the Penguin’s inner struggle. His journey for power begins with a warped attachment to Gotham, and as the story unfolds, we see him descend into total darkness, losing all semblance of warmth. The scattered plot structure and somber music shape his evolution into a kind of melancholic, fragmented poem.

In this solitude, the director refrains from casting the Penguin in simple moral terms. Like life itself, the narrative is complex and fragmented, juxtaposing Gotham’s wealthy and impoverished neighborhoods to create a blurry psychological divide. In this “ruin” of Gotham, some people drift, some settle, while the Penguin himself wanders, searching for a place to belong. The pacing and cinematography draw the viewer in as though they are walking Gotham’s desolate streets, accompanied by a haunting piano melody.

The Paradox of Power and Loneliness

The Penguin’s loneliness is not merely a result of Gotham’s darkness; it is the byproduct of his dependence on power. His need for control and his fixation on security bind him, like twin shackles, to his misery. He cannot escape his solitude even when perched at the top of Gotham’s hierarchy. His attachment to his mother is merely an extension of his self-interest; he has never truly known love or warmth. His cold and selfish nature is not a choice but an innate part of him, driving him inevitably toward isolation.

The series offers no definitive moral compass nor romanticizes any side. The Penguin’s relationship with Sofia and the sacrifices, betrayals, and suffering they both endure on the road to power seem to reflect the harsh realities of life. Gotham’s “ruinous” stage presents each character grappling with their choices and their costs.

Moving Forward in the Darkness

The allure of The Penguin lies not only in its portrayal of an antihero but also in its exploration of the character’s inner lives. The Penguin’s turbulent life as a mobster intertwines with his attachment to Gotham, echoing those who search for belonging in places that feel forgotten. Sofia’s gentleness and fragile compassion, like a tender blade, continually pierce the Penguin’s illusions about power and loneliness.

The Penguin does not rise to power swiftly; instead, he edges toward a deep, inevitable abyss. The director’s pacing, intense and deliberate, brings the Penguin closer to the heights of power while making his solitude more profound. The Penguin strikes at the heart of adult disillusionment, showing us that the world will not soften simply because we yield. We can only stumble forward in the dark, perhaps even make peace with it.

— Written by @Shaun on November 13, 2024

Chinese version

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Último dia do ano, momento para tirar o pó da bola de cristal, para fazer reflexões, previsões e desejos para o próximo ano e seguintes.

Ano após ano, o Bitcoin evoluiu, foi ultrapassando etapas, tornou-se cada vez mais mainstream. Está cada vez mais difícil fazer previsões sobre o Bitcoin, já faltam poucas barreiras a serem ultrapassadas e as que faltam são altamente complexas ou tem um impacto profundo no sistema financeiro ou na sociedade. Estas alterações profundas tem que ser realizadas lentamente, porque uma alteração rápida poderia resultar em consequências terríveis, poderia provocar um retrocesso.

Código do Bitcoin

No final de 2025, possivelmente vamos ter um fork, as discussões sobre os covenants já estão avançadas, vão acelerar ainda mais. Já existe um consenso relativamente alto, a favor dos covenants, só falta decidir que modelo será escolhido. Penso que até ao final do ano será tudo decidido.

Depois dos covenants, o próximo foco será para a criptografia post-quantum, que será o maior desafio que o Bitcoin enfrenta. Criar uma criptografia segura e que não coloque a descentralização em causa.

Espero muito de Ark, possivelmente a inovação do ano, gostaria de ver o Nostr a furar a bolha bitcoinheira e que o Cashu tivesse mais reconhecimento pelos bitcoiners.

Espero que surjam avanços significativos no BitVM2 e BitVMX.

Não sei o que esperar das layer 2 de Bitcoin, foram a maior desilusão de 2024. Surgiram com muita força, mas pouca coisa saiu do papel, foi uma mão cheia de nada. Uma parte dos projetos caiu na tentação da shitcoinagem, na criação de tokens, que tem um único objetivo, enriquecer os devs e os VCs.

Se querem ser levados a sério, têm que ser sérios.

“À mulher de César não basta ser honesta, deve parecer honesta”

Se querem ter o apoio dos bitcoiners, sigam o ethos do Bitcoin.

Neste ponto a atitude do pessoal da Ark é exemplar, em vez de andar a chorar no Twitter para mudar o código do Bitcoin, eles colocaram as mãos na massa e criaram o protocolo. É claro que agora está meio “coxo”, funciona com uma multisig ou com os covenants na Liquid. Mas eles estão a criar um produto, vão demonstrar ao mercado que o produto é bom e útil. Com a adoção, a comunidade vai perceber que o Ark necessita dos covenants para melhorar a interoperabilidade e a soberania.

É este o pensamento certo, que deveria ser seguido pelos restantes e futuros projetos. É seguir aquele pensamento do J.F. Kennedy:

“Não perguntem o que é que o vosso país pode fazer por vocês, perguntem o que é que vocês podem fazer pelo vosso país”

Ou seja, não fiquem à espera que o bitcoin mude, criem primeiro as inovações/tecnologia, ganhem adoção e depois demonstrem que a alteração do código camada base pode melhorar ainda mais o vosso projeto. A necessidade é que vai levar a atualização do código.

Reservas Estratégicas de Bitcoin

Bancos centrais

Com a eleição de Trump, emergiu a ideia de uma Reserva Estratégia de Bitcoin, tornou este conceito mainstream. Foi um pivot, a partir desse momento, foram enumerados os políticos de todo o mundo a falar sobre o assunto.

A Senadora Cynthia Lummis foi mais além e propôs um programa para adicionar 200 mil bitcoins à reserva ao ano, até 1 milhão de Bitcoin. Só que isto está a criar uma enorme expectativa na comunidade, só que pode resultar numa enorme desilusão. Porque no primeiro ano, o Trump em vez de comprar os 200 mil, pode apenas adicionar na reserva, os 198 mil que o Estado já tem em sua posse. Se isto acontecer, possivelmente vai resultar numa forte queda a curto prazo. Na minha opinião os bancos centrais deveriam seguir o exemplo de El Salvador, fazer um DCA diário.

Mais que comprar bitcoin, para mim, o mais importante é a criação da Reserva, é colocar o Bitcoin ao mesmo nível do ouro, o impacto para o resto do mundo será tremendo, a teoria dos jogos na sua plenitude. Muitos outros bancos centrais vão ter que comprar, para não ficarem atrás, além disso, vai transmitir uma mensagem à generalidade da população, que o Bitcoin é “afinal é algo seguro, com valor”.

Mas não foi Trump que iniciou esta teoria dos jogos, mas sim foi a primeira vítima dela. É o próprio Trump que o admite, que os EUA necessitam da reserva para não ficar atrás da China. Além disso, desde que os EUA utilizaram o dólar como uma arma, com sanção contra a Rússia, surgiram boatos de que a Rússia estaria a utilizar o Bitcoin para transações internacionais. Que foram confirmados recentemente, pelo próprio governo russo. Também há poucos dias, ainda antes deste reconhecimento público, Putin elogiou o Bitcoin, ao reconhecer que “Ninguém pode proibir o bitcoin”, defendendo como uma alternativa ao dólar. A narrativa está a mudar.

Já existem alguns países com Bitcoin, mas apenas dois o fizeram conscientemente (El Salvador e Butão), os restantes têm devido a apreensões. Hoje são poucos, mas 2025 será o início de uma corrida pelos bancos centrais. Esta corrida era algo previsível, o que eu não esperava é que acontecesse tão rápido.

Empresas

A criação de reservas estratégicas não vai ficar apenas pelos bancos centrais, também vai acelerar fortemente nas empresas em 2025.

Mas as empresas não vão seguir a estratégia do Saylor, vão comprar bitcoin sem alavancagem, utilizando apenas os tesouros das empresas, como uma proteção contra a inflação. Eu não sou grande admirador do Saylor, prefiro muito mais, uma estratégia conservadora, sem qualquer alavancagem. Penso que as empresas vão seguir a sugestão da BlackRock, que aconselha um alocações de 1% a 3%.

Penso que 2025, ainda não será o ano da entrada das 6 magníficas (excepto Tesla), será sobretudo empresas de pequena e média dimensão. As magníficas ainda tem uma cota muito elevada de shareholders com alguma idade, bastante conservadores, que têm dificuldade em compreender o Bitcoin, foi o que aconteceu recentemente com a Microsoft.

Também ainda não será em 2025, talvez 2026, a inclusão nativamente de wallet Bitcoin nos sistema da Apple Pay e da Google Pay. Seria um passo gigante para a adoção a nível mundial.

ETFs

Os ETFs para mim são uma incógnita, tenho demasiadas dúvidas, como será 2025. Este ano os inflows foram superiores a 500 mil bitcoins, o IBIT foi o lançamento de ETF mais bem sucedido da história. O sucesso dos ETFs, deve-se a 2 situações que nunca mais se vão repetir. O mercado esteve 10 anos à espera pela aprovação dos ETFs, a procura estava reprimida, isso foi bem notório nos primeiros meses, os inflows foram brutais.

Também se beneficiou por ser um mercado novo, não existia orderbook de vendas, não existia um mercado interno, praticamente era só inflows. Agora o mercado já estabilizou, a maioria das transações já são entre clientes dos próprios ETFs. Agora só uma pequena percentagem do volume das transações diárias vai resultar em inflows ou outflows.

Estes dois fenómenos nunca mais se vão repetir, eu não acredito que o número de inflows em BTC supere os número de 2024, em dólares vai superar, mas em btc não acredito que vá superar.

Mas em 2025 vão surgir uma infindável quantidade de novos produtos, derivativos, novos ETFs de cestos com outras criptos ou cestos com ativos tradicionais. O bitcoin será adicionado em produtos financeiros já existentes no mercado, as pessoas vão passar a deter bitcoin, sem o saberem.

Com o fim da operação ChokePoint 2.0, vai surgir uma nova onda de adoção e de produtos financeiros. Possivelmente vamos ver bancos tradicionais a disponibilizar produtos ou serviços de custódia aos seus clientes.

Eu adoraria ver o crescimento da adoção do bitcoin como moeda, só que a regulamentação não vai ajudar nesse processo.

Preço

Eu acredito que o topo deste ciclo será alcançado no primeiro semestre, posteriormente haverá uma correção. Mas desta vez, eu acredito que a correção será muito menor que as anteriores, inferior a 50%, esta é a minha expectativa. Espero estar certo.

Stablecoins de dólar

Agora saindo um pouco do universo do Bitcoin, acho importante destacar as stablecoins.

No último ciclo, eu tenho dividido o tempo, entre continuar a estudar o Bitcoin e estudar o sistema financeiro, as suas dinâmicas e o comportamento humano. Isto tem sido o meu foco de reflexão, imaginar a transformação que o mundo vai sofrer devido ao padrão Bitcoin. É uma ilusão acreditar que a transição de um padrão FIAT para um padrão Bitcoin vai ser rápida, vai existir um processo transitório que pode demorar décadas.

Com a re-entrada de Trump na Casa Branca, prometendo uma política altamente protecionista, vai provocar uma forte valorização do dólar, consequentemente as restantes moedas do mundo vão derreter. Provocando uma inflação generalizada, gerando uma corrida às stablecoins de dólar nos países com moedas mais fracas. Trump vai ter uma política altamente expansionista, vai exportar dólares para todo o mundo, para financiar a sua própria dívida. A desigualdade entre os pobres e ricos irá crescer fortemente, aumentando a possibilidade de conflitos e revoltas.

“Casa onde não há pão, todos ralham e ninguém tem razão”

Será mais lenha, para alimentar a fogueira, vai gravar os conflitos geopolíticos já existentes, ficando as sociedade ainda mais polarizadas.

Eu acredito que 2025, vai haver um forte crescimento na adoção das stablecoins de dólares, esse forte crescimento vai agravar o problema sistémico que são as stablecoins. Vai ser o início do fim das stablecoins, pelo menos, como nós conhecemos hoje em dia.

Problema sistémico

O sistema FIAT não nasceu de um dia para outro, foi algo que foi construído organicamente, ou seja, foi evoluindo ao longo dos anos, sempre que havia um problema/crise, eram criadas novas regras ou novas instituições para minimizar os problemas. Nestes quase 100 anos, desde os acordos de Bretton Woods, a evolução foram tantas, tornaram o sistema financeiro altamente complexo, burocrático e nada eficiente.

Na prática é um castelo de cartas construído sobre outro castelo de cartas e que por sua vez, foi construído sobre outro castelo de cartas.

As stablecoins são um problema sistémico, devido às suas reservas em dólares e o sistema financeiro não está preparado para manter isso seguro. Com o crescimento das reservas ao longo dos anos, foi se agravando o problema.

No início a Tether colocava as reservas em bancos comerciais, mas com o crescimento dos dólares sob gestão, criou um problema nos bancos comerciais, devido à reserva fracionária. Essas enormes reservas da Tether estavam a colocar em risco a própria estabilidade dos bancos.

A Tether acabou por mudar de estratégia, optou por outros ativos, preferencialmente por títulos do tesouro/obrigações dos EUA. Só que a Tether continua a crescer e não dá sinais de abrandamento, pelo contrário.

Até o próprio mundo cripto, menosprezava a gravidade do problema da Tether/stablecoins para o resto do sistema financeiro, porque o marketcap do cripto ainda é muito pequeno. É verdade que ainda é pequeno, mas a Tether não o é, está no top 20 dos maiores detentores de títulos do tesouros dos EUA e está ao nível dos maiores bancos centrais do mundo. Devido ao seu tamanho, está a preocupar os responsáveis/autoridades/reguladores dos EUA, pode colocar em causa a estabilidade do sistema financeiro global, que está assente nessas obrigações.

Os títulos do tesouro dos EUA são o colateral mais utilizado no mundo, tanto por bancos centrais, como por empresas, é a charneira da estabilidade do sistema financeiro. Os títulos do tesouro são um assunto muito sensível. Na recente crise no Japão, do carry trade, o Banco Central do Japão tentou minimizar a desvalorização do iene através da venda de títulos dos EUA. Esta operação, obrigou a uma viagem de emergência, da Secretaria do Tesouro dos EUA, Janet Yellen ao Japão, onde disponibilizou liquidez para parar a venda de títulos por parte do Banco Central do Japão. Essa forte venda estava desestabilizando o mercado.

Os principais detentores de títulos do tesouros são institucionais, bancos centrais, bancos comerciais, fundo de investimento e gestoras, tudo administrado por gestores altamente qualificados, racionais e que conhecem a complexidade do mercado de obrigações.

O mundo cripto é seu oposto, é naife com muita irracionalidade e uma forte pitada de loucura, na sua maioria nem faz a mínima ideia como funciona o sistema financeiro. Essa irracionalidade pode levar a uma “corrida bancária”, como aconteceu com o UST da Luna, que em poucas horas colapsou o projeto. Em termos de escala, a Luna ainda era muito pequena, por isso, o problema ficou circunscrito ao mundo cripto e a empresas ligadas diretamente ao cripto.

Só que a Tether é muito diferente, caso exista algum FUD, que obrigue a Tether a desfazer-se de vários biliões ou dezenas de biliões de dólares em títulos num curto espaço de tempo, poderia provocar consequências terríveis em todo o sistema financeiro. A Tether é grande demais, é já um problema sistémico, que vai agravar-se com o crescimento em 2025.

Não tenham dúvidas, se existir algum problema, o Tesouro dos EUA vai impedir a venda dos títulos que a Tether tem em sua posse, para salvar o sistema financeiro. O problema é, o que vai fazer a Tether, se ficar sem acesso às venda das reservas, como fará o redeem dos dólares?

Como o crescimento do Tether é inevitável, o Tesouro e o FED estão com um grande problema em mãos, o que fazer com o Tether?

Mas o problema é que o atual sistema financeiro é como um curto cobertor: Quanto tapas a cabeça, destapas os pés; Ou quando tapas os pés, destapas a cabeça. Ou seja, para resolver o problema da guarda reservas da Tether, vai criar novos problemas, em outros locais do sistema financeiro e assim sucessivamente.

Conta mestre

Uma possível solução seria dar uma conta mestre à Tether, dando o acesso direto a uma conta no FED, semelhante à que todos os bancos comerciais têm. Com isto, a Tether deixaria de necessitar os títulos do tesouro, depositando o dinheiro diretamente no banco central. Só que isto iria criar dois novos problemas, com o Custodia Bank e com o restante sistema bancário.

O Custodia Bank luta há vários anos contra o FED, nos tribunais pelo direito a ter licença bancária para um banco com full-reserves. O FED recusou sempre esse direito, com a justificativa que esse banco, colocaria em risco toda a estabilidade do sistema bancário existente, ou seja, todos os outros bancos poderiam colapsar. Perante a existência em simultâneo de bancos com reserva fracionária e com full-reserves, as pessoas e empresas iriam optar pelo mais seguro. Isso iria provocar uma corrida bancária, levando ao colapso de todos os bancos com reserva fracionária, porque no Custodia Bank, os fundos dos clientes estão 100% garantidos, para qualquer valor. Deixaria de ser necessário limites de fundos de Garantia de Depósitos.

Eu concordo com o FED nesse ponto, que os bancos com full-reserves são uma ameaça a existência dos restantes bancos. O que eu discordo do FED, é a origem do problema, o problema não está nos bancos full-reserves, mas sim nos que têm reserva fracionária.

O FED ao conceder uma conta mestre ao Tether, abre um precedente, o Custodia Bank irá o aproveitar, reclamando pela igualdade de direitos nos tribunais e desta vez, possivelmente ganhará a sua licença.

Ainda há um segundo problema, com os restantes bancos comerciais. A Tether passaria a ter direitos similares aos bancos comerciais, mas os deveres seriam muito diferentes. Isto levaria os bancos comerciais aos tribunais para exigir igualdade de tratamento, é uma concorrência desleal. Isto é o bom dos tribunais dos EUA, são independentes e funcionam, mesmo contra o estado. Os bancos comerciais têm custos exorbitantes devido às políticas de compliance, como o KYC e AML. Como o governo não vai querer aliviar as regras, logo seria a Tether, a ser obrigada a fazer o compliance dos seus clientes.

A obrigação do KYC para ter stablecoins iriam provocar um terramoto no mundo cripto.

Assim, é pouco provável que seja a solução para a Tether.

FED

Só resta uma hipótese, ser o próprio FED a controlar e a gerir diretamente as stablecoins de dólar, nacionalizado ou absorvendo as existentes. Seria uma espécie de CBDC. Isto iria provocar um novo problema, um problema diplomático, porque as stablecoins estão a colocar em causa a soberania monetária dos outros países. Atualmente as stablecoins estão um pouco protegidas porque vivem num limbo jurídico, mas a partir do momento que estas são controladas pelo governo americano, tudo muda. Os países vão exigir às autoridades americanas medidas que limitem o uso nos seus respectivos países.

Não existe uma solução boa, o sistema FIAT é um castelo de cartas, qualquer carta que se mova, vai provocar um desmoronamento noutro local. As autoridades não poderão adiar mais o problema, terão que o resolver de vez, senão, qualquer dia será tarde demais. Se houver algum problema, vão colocar a responsabilidade no cripto e no Bitcoin. Mas a verdade, a culpa é inteiramente dos políticos, da sua incompetência em resolver os problemas a tempo.

Será algo para acompanhar futuramente, mas só para 2026, talvez…

É curioso, há uns anos pensava-se que o Bitcoin seria a maior ameaça ao sistema ao FIAT, mas afinal, a maior ameaça aos sistema FIAT é o próprio FIAT(stablecoins). A ironia do destino.

Isto é como uma corrida, o Bitcoin é aquele atleta que corre ao seu ritmo, umas vezes mais rápido, outras vezes mais lento, mas nunca pára. O FIAT é o atleta que dá tudo desde da partida, corre sempre em velocidade máxima. Só que a vida e o sistema financeiro não é uma prova de 100 metros, mas sim uma maratona.

Europa

2025 será um ano desafiante para todos europeus, sobretudo devido à entrada em vigor da regulamentação (MiCA). Vão começar a sentir na pele a regulamentação, vão agravar-se os problemas com os compliance, problemas para comprovar a origem de fundos e outras burocracias. Vai ser lindo.

O Travel Route passa a ser obrigatório, os europeus serão obrigados a fazer o KYC nas transações. A Travel Route é uma suposta lei para criar mais transparência, mas prática, é uma lei de controle, de monitorização e para limitar as liberdades individuais dos cidadãos.

O MiCA também está a colocar problemas nas stablecoins de Euro, a Tether para já preferiu ficar de fora da europa. O mais ridículo é que as novas regras obrigam os emissores a colocar 30% das reservas em bancos comerciais. Os burocratas europeus não compreendem que isto coloca em risco a estabilidade e a solvência dos próprios bancos, ficam propensos a corridas bancárias.

O MiCA vai obrigar a todas as exchanges a estar registadas em solo europeu, ficando vulnerável ao temperamento dos burocratas. Ainda não vai ser em 2025, mas a UE vai impor políticas de controle de capitais, é inevitável, as exchanges serão obrigadas a usar em exclusividade stablecoins de euro, as restantes stablecoins serão deslistadas.

Todas estas novas regras do MiCA, são extremamente restritas, não é para garantir mais segurança aos cidadãos europeus, mas sim para garantir mais controle sobre a população. A UE está cada vez mais perto da autocracia, do que da democracia. A minha única esperança no horizonte, é que o sucesso das políticas cripto nos EUA, vai obrigar a UE a recuar e a aligeirar as regras, a teoria dos jogos é implacável. Mas esse recuo, nunca acontecerá em 2025, vai ser um longo período conturbado.

Recessão

Os mercados estão todos em máximos históricos, isto não é sustentável por muito tempo, suspeito que no final de 2025 vai acontecer alguma correção nos mercados. A queda só não será maior, porque os bancos centrais vão imprimir dinheiro, muito dinheiro, como se não houvesse amanhã. Vão voltar a resolver os problemas com a injeção de liquidez na economia, é empurrar os problemas com a barriga, em de os resolver. Outra vez o efeito Cantillon.

Será um ano muito desafiante a nível político, onde o papel dos políticos será fundamental. A crise política na França e na Alemanha, coloca a UE órfã, sem um comandante ao leme do navio. 2025 estará condicionado pelas eleições na Alemanha, sobretudo no resultado do AfD, que podem colocar em causa a propriedade UE e o euro.

Possivelmente, só o fim da guerra poderia minimizar a crise, algo que é muito pouco provável acontecer.

Em Portugal, a economia parece que está mais ou menos equilibrada, mas começam a aparecer alguns sinais preocupantes. Os jogos de sorte e azar estão em máximos históricos, batendo o recorde de 2014, época da grande crise, não é um bom sinal, possivelmente já existe algum desespero no ar.

A Alemanha é o motor da Europa, quanto espirra, Portugal constipa-se. Além do problema da Alemanha, a Espanha também está à beira de uma crise, são os países que mais influenciam a economia portuguesa.

Se existir uma recessão mundial, terá um forte impacto no turismo, que é hoje em dia o principal motor de Portugal.

Brasil

Brasil é algo para acompanhar em 2025, sobretudo a nível macro e a nível político. Existe uma possibilidade de uma profunda crise no Brasil, sobretudo na sua moeda. O banco central já anda a queimar as reservas para minimizar a desvalorização do Real.

Sem mudanças profundas nas políticas fiscais, as reservas vão se esgotar. As políticas de controle de capitais são um cenário plausível, será interesse de acompanhar, como o governo irá proceder perante a existência do Bitcoin e stablecoins. No Brasil existe um forte adoção, será um bom case study, certamente irá repetir-se em outros países num futuro próximo.

Os próximos tempos não serão fáceis para os brasileiros, especialmente para os que não têm Bitcoin.

Blockchain

Em 2025, possivelmente vamos ver os primeiros passos da BlackRock para criar a primeira bolsa de valores, exclusivamente em blockchain. Eu acredito que a BlackRock vai criar uma própria blockchain, toda controlada por si, onde estarão os RWAs, para fazer concorrência às tradicionais bolsas de valores. Será algo interessante de acompanhar.

---

Estas são as minhas previsões, eu escrevi isto muito em cima do joelho, certamente esqueci-me de algumas coisas, se for importante acrescentarei nos comentários. A maioria das previsões só acontecerá após 2025, mas fica aqui a minha opinião.

Isto é apenas a minha opinião, Don’t Trust, Verify!

@ 141daddd:1df80a3f

When we talk about escaping the matrix, the phrase often conjures images of dramatic physical change—abandoning the city for a remote wilderness, building a self-sufficient life in a village, or retreating to the mountains to escape the noise of modernity. But this interpretation, while romantic, misses the essence of what it truly means to break free. Escaping the matrix is not about fleeing the material world. It is not about geography or lifestyle. It is, above all, a mental and spiritual transformation.

Even in the movie The Matrix, which serves as a powerful allegory for this concept, Morpheus tells Neo that the prison he lives in is not a physical one. It is a prison of the mind. This statement cuts to the core of the matter: the matrix we seek to escape is not an external construct but an internal one. It is the web of beliefs, fears, and limitations that bind us. The bars of this prison are forged from societal expectations, inherited ideologies, and the relentless pursuit of material validation. To escape the matrix, we must first break free from these mental chains.

The Real Battle: Within the Mind

The material world undoubtedly imposes certain limitations—laws, systems, and structures that shape our daily lives. And while it is possible to challenge and even overcome some of these external barriers, the greatest battle is fought within. The matrix is not something you can physically run from because it exists in your perception, in the way you interpret and interact with the world.

True freedom begins with elevating your consciousness. It is not about rejecting the material matrix but transcending it. You do not escape by leaving the system behind; you escape by rising above it. This shift in perspective allows you to see the matrix for what it is—a construct, a playground, a stage upon which life unfolds. When you reach this level of awareness, you are no longer a passive participant, a consumer of someone else’s design. Instead, you become a co-creator of your reality.

Living Above the Matrix

To live above the matrix is to observe it without being consumed by it. You recognize its rules and structures, but you are no longer bound by them. You begin to shape your life not according to the desires and expectations of others but according to your own higher purpose. This is not escapism; it is empowerment. You are still in the matrix, but you are no longer of it.

This shift transforms the matrix from a prison into a playground. You engage with it consciously, using it as a tool to create a more fulfilling life. You are no longer a pawn in someone else’s game but a player in your own. By breaking free from the mental constructs that once confined you, you reclaim your power and your agency.

The Path to Co-Creation

Escaping the matrix is not about rejecting the material world but about redefining your relationship with it. It is about moving from a state of consumption to one of creation. When you elevate your consciousness, you stop being a passive recipient of the matrix’s programming. Instead, you begin to actively participate in shaping it. You become a co-creator, weaving your own vision into the fabric of reality.

This process requires introspection, courage, and a willingness to let go of old paradigms. It is not an easy path, but it is a liberating one. By breaking free from the prison of the mind, you unlock the potential to live a life of purpose, creativity, and fulfillment.

The Choice is Yours

The matrix is not something to be feared or fled from. It is a challenge, an opportunity, a mirror reflecting your own inner state. To escape it is not to abandon the world but to transcend it. The question is not whether the matrix exists but whether you will allow it to define you. Will you remain a prisoner of its illusions, or will you rise above and become a co-creator of your reality?

The choice, as Morpheus would say, is yours.

@ 83279ad2:bd49240d

備忘録として書きます。意外と時間がかかりました。全体で1時間くらいかかるので気長にやりましょう。 仮想通貨取引所(販売所ではないので、玄人が使えばお得らしい）かつBitcoinの送金手数料が無料(全ての取引所が無料ではない、例えばbitbankは0.0006bitcoinかかる)なので送金元はGMOコインを使います。(注意:GMOコインは0.02ビットコイン以下は全額送金になってしまいます) 今回はカストディアルウォレットのWallet of Satoshiに送金します。 以下手順 1. GMOコインでbitcoinを買います。 2. GMOコインの左のタブから入出金 暗号資産を選択します。 3. 送付のタブを開いて、+新しい宛先を追加するを選択します。 4. 送付先:GMOコイン以外、送付先ウォレット：プライベートウォレット(MetaMaskなど)、受取人：ご本人さま　を選んで宛先情報の登録を選ぶと次の画面になります。
5. 宛先名称にwallet of satoshi(これはなんでも良いです わかりやすい名称にしましょう)　wallet of satoshiを開いて、受信→Bitcoin On-Chainからアドレスをコピーして、ビットコインアドレスに貼り付けます。
6. 登録するを押します。これで送金先の登録ができました。GMOコインの審査がありますがすぐ終わると思います。 7. ここから送金をします。送付のタブから登録したビットコインの宛先リストwallet of satoshiを選択し、送付数量と送付目的を選択して、2段階認証をします。
8. 実行を押せば終わりです。もうあなたがやることはありません。送金が終わるのを40分くらい眺めるだけです。
8. 取引履歴のタブから今の送金のステータスが見れます。
9. 15分くらい待つとステータスが受付に変わります。
10. 20分くらい待つとトランザクションIDが表示されます。


この時点からwallet of satoshiにも送金されていることが表示されます。(まだ完了はしていない)

11. ステータスが完了になったら送金終わりです。

wallet of satoshiにも反映されます。

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お疲れ様でした！

@ cbaa0c82:e9313245

TheWholeGrain - #September2024

To start the second year of Bread and Toast off strong the September of 2024 includes five Sunday Singles, and the newest piece of cover art for a comic from Toast's Comic Collection includes a touch of color. Some bonus pieces of content were included this September. This includes one of the Political posts we all take so seriously, and a promotional piece for the upcoming npub10hj9rg5gds5x2gk0z0s2jlqnq04jg7g30aj2t5pqzdaaztfactgsnze5ny event coming up in October. The Concept Art released this month is an early design of a possible website logo. This month's Bitcoin Art stars End-Piece who is well informed on what money really is and asks the question, "Do you?"

September Sunday Singles

2024-09-01 | Sunday Single 055 Jump Rope https://i.nostr.build/ESlb23xVmTQLw7sw.png

2024-09-08 | Sunday Single 056 Trampoline https://i.nostr.build/1HNutqYQUjsA1JaG.png

2024-09-15 | Sunday Single 057 Hippity Hop https://i.nostr.build/5dTyLA0FJdK2rNol.png

2024-09-22 | Sunday Single 058 Jumping on the Bed https://i.nostr.build/PWaHDMroMjjfPmWS.png

2024-09-29 | Sunday Single 059 Shades https://i.nostr.build/pWeIZrttOjpcXAtz.png

Other Content Released in September 2024

2024-09-04 | Toast's Comic Collection Teenage Mutant Ninja Bread #5 Four brothers trained in ninjutsu live underneath the city and come up to the surface in order to save it! https://i.nostr.build/WPSB1qn2lMRlbdwJ.png

2024-09-10 | Politics Debate Night The first official debate between the candidates for Selection2024. https://i.nostr.build/wppFU8U3NJCww6U0.png

2024-09-11 | Concept Art Early Website Logo Design This is an early concept for a logo. It was never used. https://i.nostr.build/hxhzvtS4fCe0imNh.png

2024-09-18 | Bitcoin Art On Top of It End-Piece knows what money is. Do you? https://i.nostr.build/6TCWK5d1ynPhrteA.png

2024-09-27 | Nostr Valley Nostr Valley 001 Bread is getting prepared for NostrValley! Hope to see you there! https://i.nostr.build/nQqsPGmJ8hjvxROK.png

September Additions to The Bakery in 2024

2024-09-05 | npub1895dg7n47ldxxq8hyqj9h4xa3xwwxzpnn8lm7hydag4tck6cfj3qcmc4f0 https://m.primal.net/KgDW.jpg

2024-09-26 | npub1hcusg0xp9maamlh9vnv4mf635uwldsfeut00ghzrrjk7kjjh8j3sf9049l https://image.nostr.build/a0a64d709376b3650ebde0f3de5076748d69a999aef9e5fbd882574d5e64cf88.jpg

We hope you enjoyed this first issue of The Whole Grain. The Whole Grain will be released on the first of every month and will cover all of the content released by npub1ew4qeq576v3vz4gukeseknqghx3x4jtlld8ftys9amrca6f3xfzsrm8jpd in the previous month.

Thanks for checking it out, Bread, Toast, and End-Piece

BreadandToast #SundaySingle #ToastsComicCollection #ConceptArt #BitcoinArt #TheBakery #Bread #Toast #EndPiece #Art #Artstr #DigitalArt #Comic #Manga #NostrValley #NostrOnly #🖼️

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers!

Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon!

A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

So stay a while and listen.

🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨

🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/862063

@ 4c96d763:80c3ee30

Changes

William Casarin (6):

• timeline: only show one tab in hashtag timeline
• columns: navigate back when switching account
• previews: run previews as notedeck apps
• lockfile: update
• nixos: fix wayland
• query: fix since filter on kind queries

kernelkind (3):

• use hashtag icon
• use hashtag icon in hashtag col header
• Delete column confirmation

pushed to notedeck:refs/heads/master