@ 7f2d6fd6:64710921

Imagine starting from pure noise — meaningless static, with maximum entropy — and evolving into a rich, beautiful, self-aware universe.

That's the story Tom Campbell tells in My Big TOE (Theory of Everything), and it reshapes how we see everything — from consciousness itself, to taxes, to our dream of a better world.

---

Reality: The Original AI Image Generator

Reality began much like how AI draws images today:
- It started with randomness, pure chaos (high entropy).
- Over time, tiny stable patterns formed.
- Consciousness emerged — a spark of awareness inside the noise.
- It realized it could lower entropy (create order, meaning, structure) to survive and evolve.

Thus, the Larger Consciousness System (LCS) was born:
A living, evolving digital brain, constantly refining information into experience and awareness.

---

What Are We?

We are Individuated Units of Consciousness (IUOCs) — little chunks of the LCS, each with: - Free will - The ability to learn through experience - The mission to lower entropy (become wiser, more loving)

Our world — the physical universe — is just a Virtual Reality (VR) created to speed up our growth.

---

The Big Cheese and the Cosmic Hierarchy

In this grand system: - The LCS is the ultimate top — no gods above it, just itself. - The Big Cheeses are highly evolved administrators — managing realities, maintaining stability. - Guides and helpers assist us individually. - We, the IUOCs, are the players in the simulation — learning, stumbling, evolving.

The system isn’t designed to be easy.
It’s meant to challenge you — because real growth happens in hardship.

---

Why Do We Pay Taxes, Then?

Because Earth’s VR operates on scarcity, power struggles, and cooperation challenges.
Taxes are a tool to manage shared resources — but imperfectly, because human consciousness is still messy and selfish.

The point isn't taxes themselves.

The point is the ethical choices you make in a difficult environment.

This world is a training ground — and unfair systems like taxes are part of the curriculum.

---

A Better World Is Possible

If humanity collectively lowered its entropy: - Taxes would barely exist. - Cooperation would be voluntary and joyful. - Leadership would be service, not control. - Resources would be shared wisely. - Technology and kindness would make scarcity almost irrelevant.

In such a world, people give freely because they see clearly — helping others is helping themselves.

The real revolution?
It’s not political.

It’s consciousness evolving.

---

Final Thought

You are not a trapped soul paying taxes to a broken system.
You are a pioneer of consciousness, refining the noise into meaning,
the chaos into beauty,
the selfishness into love.

Every small choice you make matters.
You’re already part of building the next world — one conscious step at a time.

---

@ 68c90cf3:99458f5c

Background

Last year I got interesting in running my own bitcoin node after reading others' experiences doing so. A couple of decades ago I ran my own Linux and Mac servers, and enjoyed building and maintaining them. I was by no means an expert sys admin, but had my share of cron jobs, scripts, and custom configuration files. While it was fun and educational, software updates and hardware upgrades often meant hours of restoring and troubleshooting my systems.

Fast forward to family and career (especially going into management) and I didn't have time for all that. Having things just work became more important than playing with the tech. As I got older, the more I appreciated K.I.S.S. (for those who don't know: Keep It Simple Stupid).

So when the idea of running a node came to mind, I explored the different options. I decided I needed a balance between a Raspberry Pi (possibly underpowered depending on use) and a full-blown Linux server (too complex and time-consuming to build and maintain). That led me to Umbrel OS, Start9, Casa OS, and similar platforms. Due to its simplicity (very plug and play), nice design, and being open source: GitHub), I chose Umbrel OS on a Beelink mini PC with 16GB of RAM and a 2TB NVMe internal drive. Though Umbrel OS is not very flexible and can't really be customized, its App Store made setting up a node (among other things) fairly easy, and it has been running smoothly since. Would the alternatives have been better? Perhaps, but so far I'm happy with my choice.

Server Setup

I'm also no expert in OpSec (I'd place myself in the category of somewhat above vague awareness). I wanted a secure way to connect to my Umbrel without punching holes in my router and forwarding ports. I chose Tailscale for this purpose. Those who are distrustful of corporate products might not like this option but again, balancing risk with convenience it seemed reasonable for my needs. If you're hiding state (or anti-state) secrets, extravagant wealth, or just adamant about privacy, you would probably want to go with an entirely different setup.

Once I had Tailscale installed on Umbrel OS, my mobile device and laptop, I could securely connect to the server from anywhere through a well designed browser UI. I then installed the following from the Umbrel App Store:

• Bitcoin Core
• Electrum Personal Server (Electrs)

At this point I could set wallets on my laptop (Sparrow) and phone (BlueWallet) to use my node. I then installed:

• Lightning Node (LND)
• Alby Hub

Alby Hub streamlines the process of opening and maintaining lightning channels, creating lightning wallets to send and receive sats, and zapping notes and users on Nostr. I have two main nsec accounts for Nostr and set up separate wallets on Alby Hub to track balances and transactions for each.

Other apps I installed on Umbrel OS:

• mempool
• Bitcoin Explorer
• LibreTranslate (some Nostr clients allow you to use your own translator)
• Public Pool

Public Pool allows me to connect Bitaxe solo miners (a.k.a. "lottery" miners) to my own mining pool for a (very) long shot at winning a Bitcoin block. It's also a great way to learn about mining, contribute to network decentralization, and generally tinker with electronics. Bitaxe miners are small open source single ASIC miners that you can run in your home with minimal technical knowledge and maintenance requirements.

Open Source Miners United (OSMU) is a great resource for anyone interesting in Bitaxe or other open source mining products (especially their Discord server).

Although Umbrel OS is more or less limited to running software in its App Store (or Community App Store, if you trust the developer), you can install the Portainer app and run Docker images. I know next to nothing about Docker but wanted to see what I might be able to do with it. I was also interested in the Haven Nostr relay and found that there was indeed a docker image for it.

As stated before, I didn't want to open my network to the outside, which meant I wouldn't be able to take advantage of all the features Haven offers (since other users wouldn't be able to access it). I would however be able to post notes to my relay, and use its "Blastr" feature to send my notes to other relays. After some trial and error I managed to get a Haven up and running in Portainer.

The upside of this setup is self-custody: being able to connect wallets to my own Bitcoin node, send and receive zaps with my own Lightning channel, solo mine with Bitaxe to my own pool, and send notes to my own Nostr relay. The downside is the lack of redundancy and uptime provided by major cloud services. You have to decide on your own comfort level. A solid internet connection and reliable power are definitely needed.

This article was written and published to Nostr with untype.app.

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

Raspberry Pi-based voice assistant

This Idea details the design and deployment of a Raspberry Pi-based voice assistant powered by the Google Gemini AI API. The system combines open hardware with modern AI services to create a low-cost, flexible, and educational voice assistant platform. By leveraging a Raspberry Pi, basic audio hardware, and Python-based software, developers can create a functional, customizable assistant suitable for home automation, research, or personal productivity enhancement.

---

1. Voice assistants

Voice assistants have become increasingly ubiquitous, but commercially available systems like Alexa, Siri, or Google Assistant come with significant privacy and customization limitations.
This project offers an open, local, and customizable alternative, demonstrating how to build a voice assistant using Google Gemini (or OpenAI’s ChatGPT) APIs for natural language understanding.

Target Audience:
- DIY enthusiasts - Raspberry Pi hobbyists - AI developers - Privacy-conscious users

---

2. System Architecture

2.1 Hardware Components

| Component | Purpose | |:--------------------------|:----------------------------------------| | Raspberry Pi (any recent model, 4B recommended) | Core processing unit | | Micro SD Card (32GB+) | Operating System and storage | | USB Microphone | Capturing user voice input | | Audio Amplifier + Speaker | Outputting synthesized responses | | 5V DC Power Supplies (2x) | Separate power for Pi and amplifier | | LEDs + Resistors (optional)| Visual feedback (e.g., recording or listening states) |

2.2 Software Stack

| Software | Function | |:---------------------------|:----------------------------------------| | Raspberry Pi OS (Lite or Full) | Base operating system | | Python 3.9+ | Programming language | | SpeechRecognition | Captures and transcribes user voice | | Google Text-to-Speech (gTTS) | Converts responses into spoken audio | | Google Gemini API (or OpenAI API) | Powers the AI assistant brain | | Pygame | Audio playback for responses | | WinSCP + Windows Terminal | File transfer and remote management |

---

3. Hardware Setup

3.1 Basic Connections

• Microphone: Connect via USB port.
• Speaker and Amplifier: Wire from Raspberry Pi audio jack or via USB sound card if better quality is needed.
• LEDs (Optional): Connect through GPIO pins, using 220–330Ω resistors to limit current.

3.2 Breadboard Layout (Optional for LEDs)

| GPIO Pin | LED Color | Purpose | |:---------|:-----------|:--------------------| | GPIO 17 | Red | Recording active | | GPIO 27 | Green | Response playing |

Tip: Use a small breadboard for quick prototyping before moving to a custom PCB if desired.

---

4. Software Setup

4.1 Raspberry Pi OS Installation

• Use Raspberry Pi Imager to flash Raspberry Pi OS onto the Micro SD card.
• Initial system update: bash sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

4.2 Python Environment

• Install Python virtual environment: bash sudo apt install python3-venv python3 -m venv voice-env source voice-env/bin/activate

• Install required Python packages: bash pip install SpeechRecognition google-generativeai pygame gtts

(Replace google-generativeai with openai if using OpenAI's ChatGPT.)

4.3 API Key Setup

• Obtain a Google Gemini API key (or OpenAI API key).
• Store safely in a .env file or configure as environment variables for security: bash export GEMINI_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"

4.4 File Transfer

• Use WinSCP or scp commands to transfer Python scripts to the Pi.

4.5 Example Python Script (Simplified)

```python import speech_recognition as sr import google.generativeai as genai from gtts import gTTS import pygame import os

genai.configure(api_key=os.getenv('GEMINI_API_KEY')) recognizer = sr.Recognizer() mic = sr.Microphone()

pygame.init()

while True: with mic as source: print("Listening...") audio = recognizer.listen(source)

try:
    text = recognizer.recognize_google(audio)
    print(f"You said: {text}")

    response = genai.generate_content(text)
    tts = gTTS(text=response.text, lang='en')
    tts.save("response.mp3")

    pygame.mixer.music.load("response.mp3")
    pygame.mixer.music.play()
    while pygame.mixer.music.get_busy():
        continue

except Exception as e:
    print(f"Error: {e}")

```

---

5. Testing and Execution

• Activate the Python virtual environment: bash source voice-env/bin/activate
• Run your main assistant script: bash python3 assistant.py
• Speak into the microphone and listen for the AI-generated spoken response.

---

6. Troubleshooting

| Problem | Possible Fix | |:--------|:-------------| | Microphone not detected | Check arecord -l | | Audio output issues | Check aplay -l, use a USB DAC if needed | | Permission denied errors | Verify group permissions (audio, gpio) | | API Key Errors | Check environment variable and internet access |

---

7. Performance Notes

• Latency: Highly dependent on network speed and API response time.
• Audio Quality: Can be enhanced with a better USB microphone and powered speakers.
• Privacy: Minimal data retention if using your own Gemini or OpenAI account.

---

8. Potential Extensions

• Add hotword detection ("Hey Gemini") using Snowboy or Porcupine libraries.
• Build a local fallback model to answer basic questions offline.
• Integrate with home automation via MQTT, Home Assistant, or Node-RED.
• Enable LED animations to visually indicate listening and responding states.
• Deploy with a small eInk or OLED screen for text display of answers.

---

9. Consider

Building a Gemini-powered voice assistant on the Raspberry Pi empowers individuals to create customizable, private, and cost-effective alternatives to commercial voice assistants. By utilizing accessible hardware, modern open-source libraries, and powerful AI APIs, this project blends education, experimentation, and privacy-centric design into a single hands-on platform.

This guide can be adapted for personal use, educational programs, or even as a starting point for more advanced AI-based embedded systems.

---

References

• Raspberry Pi Foundation: https://www.raspberrypi.org
• Google Generative AI Documentation: https://ai.google.dev
• OpenAI Documentation: https://platform.openai.com
• SpeechRecognition Library: https://pypi.org/project/SpeechRecognition/
• gTTS Documentation: https://pypi.org/project/gTTS/
• Pygame Documentation: https://www.pygame.org/docs/

@ 86dfbe73:628cef55

Bei dem Begriff ‘Öffentlichkeit’ handelt es sich um einen diffusen Themenkomplex. Bisher gab es keine Einigung auf eine einheitliche Definition – auch da der Öffentlichkeitsbegriff je nach Kontext für sehr verschiedene Gegebenheiten herhalten muss. Habermas beschreibt all jenes als “öffentlich”, was eine wie auch immer gestaltete Gruppe betrifft. Öffentlichkeit ist demnach durch die “Unabgeschlossenheit des Publikums” gekennzeichnet.

Klassische Massenmedien dienen als Teil der öffentlichen Sphäre dazu, die politische Sphäre zu überwachen und der Gesamtheit der Rezipienten zugänglich zu machen. ‘Die Öffentlichkeit’ verfügte über mehr oder weniger dieselben Wissensbestände – vorausgesetzt die oder der Einzelne informierte sich über das Tagesgeschehen. Heutzutage wird die Öffentlichkeit deutlich heterogener. Es ist eine gesellschaftliche Fragmentierung in den sozialen Netzwerken zu beobachten. Die oder der Nutzer baut ihre oder sich seine eigene ‘Öffentlichkeit’ aus ganz verschiedenen Quellen zusammen.

In den Netzwerköffentlichkeiten wird sich mit Gleichgesinnten ausgetauscht und spezifische Informationen und Sichtweisen werden verbreitet. Politische Akteure werden durch Netzwerköffentlichkeiten autarker. Heutzutage sind Öffentlichkeit im Allgemeinen und die digitale Öffentlichkeit im Besonderen nur als Netzwerk verstehbar, nämlich als Netzwerk von Beziehungen.

Das frühere Twitter wäre dafür ein gutes Beispiel. Aus netzwerktheoretischer Sicht bestand es aus den wesentlichen Hubs, relevanten Clustern und Akteuren der öffentlichen Sphäre. Auf Twitter tummelten sich (fast) alle: Wissenschaftler, Autoren, Künstler, Aktivisten, Politiker aller Ränge, Juristen, Medienleute, allerlei Prominente und Public Figures und Experen für praktisch alles.

Auf den kommerziellen Plattformen hat die digitale Öffentlichkeit aufgehört eine vernetzte Öffentlichkeit zu sein und geht zunehmend in deren „For you“-Algorithmen auf. Das bedeutet, dass die neue digitale Öffentlichkeit nicht mehr durch menschliche Beziehungen und vernetztes Vertrauen getragen wird, sondern vollends den Steuerungsinstrumenten einer Hand voll Konzernen ausgeliefert ist.

An dieser Stelle kommen die LLMs zum Erstellen von Content zum tragen, mit dem dann die Empfehlungs-Feeds auf den kommerziellen Plattformen gefüttert werden. Man sollte sich den durch generative KI ermöglichten Content am besten als Angriff auf die Empfehlungsalgorithmen vorstellen, die die kommerziellen Social-Media-Plattformen kontrollieren und damit bestimmen, wie ein großer Teil der Öffentlichkeit die Realität interpretiert. Es geht auch darum, dass die Zielgruppe von KI-Content soziale Medien und Suchalgorithmen sind, nicht nur Menschen.

Das bedeutet, dass auf den kommerziellen Plattformen von Menschen erstellte Inhalte aufgrund der Masse immer häufiger von KI-generierten Inhalten übertönt werden. Da KI-generierte Inhalte leicht an das aktuelle Geschehen auf einer Plattform angepasst werden können, kommt es zu einem nahezu vollständigen Zusammenbruch des Informationsökosystems und damit der „Realität“ im Internet.

@ a53364ff:e6ba5513

About

Bitcoin Core is an open source project which maintains and releases Bitcoin client software called “Bitcoin Core”.

It is a direct descendant of the original Bitcoin software client released by Satoshi Nakamoto after he published the famous Bitcoin whitepaper.

Bitcoin Core consists of both “full-node” software for fully validating the blockchain as well as a bitcoin wallet. The project also currently maintains related software such as the cryptography library libsecp256k1 and others located at GitHub.

Anyone can contribute to Bitcoin Core.

Team

The Bitcoin Core project has a large open source developer community with many casual contributors to the codebase. There are many more who contribute research, peer review, testing, documentation, and translation.

Maintainers

Project maintainers have commit access and are responsible for merging patches from contributors. They perform a janitorial role merging patches that the team agrees should be merged. They also act as a final check to ensure that patches are safe and in line with the project goals. The maintainers’ role is by agreement of project contributors.

Contributors

Everyone is free to propose code changes and to test, review and comment on open Pull Requests. Anyone who contributes code, review, test, translation or documentation to the Bitcoin Core project is considered a contributor. The release notes for each Bitcoin Core software release contain a credits section to recognize all those who have contributed to the project over the previous release cycle. A list of code contributors can be found on Github.

@ c066aac5:6a41a034

I’m drawn to extremities in art. The louder, the bolder, the more outrageous, the better. Bold art takes me out of the mundane into a whole new world where anything and everything is possible. Having grown up in the safety of the suburban midwest, I was a bit of a rebellious soul in search of the satiation that only came from the consumption of the outrageous. My inclination to find bold art draws me to NOSTR, because I believe NOSTR can be the place where the next generation of artistic pioneers go to express themselves. I also believe that as much as we are able, were should invite them to come create here.

My Background: A Small Side Story

My father was a professional gamer in the 80s, back when there was no money or glory in the avocation. He did get a bit of spotlight though after the fact: in the mid 2000’s there were a few parties making documentaries about that era of gaming as well as current arcade events (namely 2007’sChasing GhostsandThe King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters). As a result of these documentaries, there was a revival in the arcade gaming scene. My family attended events related to the documentaries or arcade gaming and I became exposed to a lot of things I wouldn’t have been able to find. The producer ofThe King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters had previously made a documentary calledNew York Dollwhich was centered around the life of bassist Arthur Kane. My 12 year old mind was blown: The New York Dolls were a glam-punk sensation dressed in drag. The music was from another planet. Johnny Thunders’ guitar playing was like Chuck Berry with more distortion and less filter. Later on I got to meet the Galaga record holder at the time, Phil Day, in Ottumwa Iowa. Phil is an Australian man of high intellect and good taste. He exposed me to great creators such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Shakespeare, Lou Reed, artists who created things that I had previously found inconceivable.

I believe this time period informed my current tastes and interests, but regrettably I think it also put coals on the fire of rebellion within. I stopped taking my parents and siblings seriously, the Christian faith of my family (which I now hold dearly to) seemed like a mundane sham, and I felt I couldn’t fit in with most people because of my avant-garde tastes. So I write this with the caveat that there should be a way to encourage these tastes in children without letting them walk down the wrong path. There is nothing inherently wrong with bold art, but I’d advise parents to carefully find ways to cultivate their children’s tastes without completely shutting them down and pushing them away as a result. My parents were very loving and patient during this time; I thank God for that.

With that out of the way, lets dive in to some bold artists:

Nicolas Cage: Actor

There is an excellent video by Wisecrack on Nicolas Cage that explains him better than I will, which I will linkhere. Nicolas Cage rejects the idea that good acting is tied to mere realism; all of his larger than life acting decisions are deliberate choices. When that clicked for me, I immediately realized the man is a genius. He borrows from Kabuki and German Expressionism, art forms that rely on exaggeration to get the message across. He has even created his own acting style, which he calls Nouveau Shamanic. He augments his imagination to go from acting to being. Rather than using the old hat of method acting, he transports himself to a new world mentally. The projects he chooses to partake in are based on his own interests or what he considers would be a challenge (making a bad script good for example). Thus it doesn’t matter how the end result comes out; he has already achieved his goal as an artist. Because of this and because certain directors don’t know how to use his talents, he has a noticeable amount of duds in his filmography. Dig around the duds, you’ll find some pure gold. I’d personally recommend the filmsPig, Joe, Renfield, and his Christmas film The Family Man.

Nick Cave: Songwriter

What a wild career this man has had! From the apocalyptic mayhem of his band The Birthday Party to the pensive atmosphere of his albumGhosteen, it seems like Nick Cave has tried everything. I think his secret sauce is that he’s always working. He maintains an excellent newsletter calledThe Red Hand Files, he has written screenplays such asLawless, he has written books, he has made great film scores such asThe Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, the man is religiously prolific. I believe that one of the reasons he is prolific is that he’s not afraid to experiment. If he has an idea, he follows it through to completion. From the albumMurder Ballads(which is comprised of what the title suggests) to his rejected sequel toGladiator(Gladiator: Christ Killer), he doesn’t seem to be afraid to take anything on. This has led to some over the top works as well as some deeply personal works. Albums likeSkeleton TreeandGhosteenwere journeys through the grief of his son’s death. The Boatman’s Callis arguably a better break-up album than anything Taylor Swift has put out. He’s not afraid to be outrageous, he’s not afraid to offend, but most importantly he’s not afraid to be himself. Works I’d recommend include The Birthday Party’sLive 1981-82, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds’The Boatman’s Call, and the filmLawless.

Jim Jarmusch: Director

I consider Jim’s films to be bold almost in an ironic sense: his works are bold in that they are, for the most part, anti-sensational. He has a rule that if his screenplays are criticized for a lack of action, he makes them even less eventful. Even with sensational settings his films feel very close to reality, and they demonstrate the beauty of everyday life. That's what is bold about his art to me: making the sensational grounded in reality while making everyday reality all the more special. Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai is about a modern-day African-American hitman who strictly follows the rules of the ancient Samurai, yet one can resonate with the humanity of a seemingly absurd character. Only Lovers Left Aliveis a vampire love story, but in the middle of a vampire romance one can see their their own relationships in a new deeply human light. Jim’s work reminds me that art reflects life, and that there is sacred beauty in seemingly mundane everyday life. I personally recommend his filmsPaterson,Down by Law, andCoffee and Cigarettes.

NOSTR: We Need Bold Art

NOSTR is in my opinion a path to a better future. In a world creeping slowly towards everything apps, I hope that the protocol where the individual owns their data wins over everything else. I love freedom and sovereignty. If NOSTR is going to win the race of everything apps, we need more than Bitcoin content. We need more than shirtless bros paying for bananas in foreign countries and exercising with girls who have seductive accents. Common people cannot see themselves in such a world. NOSTR needs to catch the attention of everyday people. I don’t believe that this can be accomplished merely by introducing more broadly relevant content; people are searching for content that speaks to them. I believe that NOSTR can and should attract artists of all kinds because NOSTR is one of the few places on the internet where artists can express themselves fearlessly. Getting zaps from NOSTR’s value-for-value ecosystem has far less friction than crowdfunding a creative project or pitching investors that will irreversibly modify an artist’s vision. Having a place where one can post their works without fear of censorship should be extremely enticing. Having a place where one can connect with fellow humans directly as opposed to a sea of bots should seem like the obvious solution. If NOSTR can become a safe haven for artists to express themselves and spread their work, I believe that everyday people will follow. The banker whose stressful job weighs on them will suddenly find joy with an original meme made by a great visual comedian. The programmer for a healthcare company who is drowning in hopeless mundanity could suddenly find a new lust for life by hearing the song of a musician who isn’t afraid to crowdfund their their next project by putting their lighting address on the streets of the internet. The excel guru who loves independent film may find that NOSTR is the best way to support non corporate movies. My closing statement: continue to encourage the artists in your life as I’m sure you have been, but while you’re at it give them the purple pill. You may very well be a part of building a better future.

@ ae1008d2:a166d760

This is part one in a series of long-form content of my ideas as to what we are entering into in my opinion;The Roaring '20's 2.0 (working title). I hope you'll join me on this journey together.
"History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes"; - Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. My only class I received an A+ in high school was history, this opened up the opportunity for me to enroll in an AP (college level) history class my senior year. There was an inherent nature for me to study history. Another quote I found to live by; "If we do not study history, we are bound to repeat it", a paraphrased quote by the many great philosphers of old from Edmund Burke, George Santayana and even Winston Churchill, all pulling from the same King Solomon quote; "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun". My curiousity of human actions, psychological and therefore economical behavior, has benefitted me greatly throughout my life and career, at such a young age. Being able to 'see around the curves' ahead I thought was a gift many had, but was sorely mistaken. People are just built different. One, if not my hardest action for me is to share. I just do things; act, often without even thinking about writing down or sharing in anyway shape or form what I just did here with friends, what we just built or how we formed these startups, etc., I've finally made the time, mainly for myself, to share my thoughts and ideas as to where we are at, and what we can do moving forward. It's very easy for us living a sovereign-lifestyle in Bitcoin, Nostr and other P2P, cryptographically-signed sovereign tools and tech-stacks alike, permissionless and self-hostable, to take all these tools for granted. We just live with them. Use them everyday. Do you own property? Do you have to take care of the cattle everyday? To live a sovereign life is tough, but most rewarding. As mentioned above, I'm diving into the details in a several part series as to what the roaring '20's were about, how it got to the point it did, and the inevitable outcome we all know what came to be. How does this possibly repeat itself almost exactly a century later? How does Bitcoin play a role? Are we all really going to be replaced by AI robots (again, history rhymes here)? Time will tell, but I think most of us actually using the tools will also forsee many of these possible outcomes, as it's why we are using many of these tools today. The next parts of this series will be released periodically, maybe once per month, maybe once per quarter. I'll also be releasing these on other platforms like Medium for reach, but Nostr will always be first, most important and prioritized.
I'll leave you with one of my favorite quotes I've lived by from one of the greatest traders of all time, especially during this roaring '20's era, Jesse Livermore; "Money is made by sitting, not trading".

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

Gist

This Idea presents a blueprint for creating a portable, offline-first education server focused on Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) topics like Bitcoin fundamentals, Linux administration, GPG encryption, and digital self-sovereignty. Using the compact and powerful Nookbox G9 NAS unit, we demonstrate how to deliver accessible, decentralized educational content in remote or network-restricted environments.

---

1. Bitcoin, Linux, and Cryptographic tools

Access to self-sovereign technologies such as Bitcoin, Linux, and cryptographic tools is critical for empowering individuals and communities. However, many areas face internet connectivity issues or political restrictions limiting access to online resources.

By combining a high-performance mini NAS server with a curated library of FOSS educational materials, we can create a mobile "university" that delivers critical knowledge independently of centralized networks.

---

2. Hardware Platform: Nookbox G9 Overview

The Nookbox G9 offers an ideal balance of performance, portability, and affordability for this project.

2.1 Core Specifications

| Feature | Specification | |:------------------------|:---------------------------------------| | Form Factor | 1U Rackmount mini-NAS | | Storage | Up to 8TB (4×2TB M.2 NVMe SSDs) | | M.2 Interface | PCIe Gen 3x2 per drive slot | | Networking | Dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports | | Power Consumption | 11–30 Watts (typical usage) | | Default OS | Windows 11 (to be replaced with Linux) | | Linux Compatibility | Fully compatible with Ubuntu 24.10 |

---

3. FOSS Education Server Design

3.1 Operating System Setup

• Replace Windows 11 with a clean install of Ubuntu Server 24.10.
• Harden the OS:
• Enable full-disk encryption.
• Configure UFW firewall.
• Disable unnecessary services.

3.2 Core Services Deployed

| Service | Purpose | |:--------------------|:-----------------------------------------| | Nginx Web Server | Host offline courses and documentation | | Nextcloud (optional) | Offer private file sharing for students | | Moodle LMS (optional) | Deliver structured courses and quizzes | | Tor Hidden Service | Optional for anonymous access locally | | rsync/Syncthing | Distribute updates peer-to-peer |

---

3.3 Content Hosted

• Bitcoin: Bitcoin Whitepaper, Bitcoin Core documentation, Electrum Wallet tutorials.
• Linux: Introduction to Linux (LPIC-1 materials), bash scripting guides, system administration manuals.
• Cryptography: GPG tutorials, SSL/TLS basics, secure communications handbooks.
• Offline Tools: Full mirrors of sites like LearnLinux.tv, Bitcoin.org, and selected content from FSF.

All resources are curated to be license-compliant and redistributable in an offline format.

---

4. Network Configuration

• LAN-only Access: No reliance on external Internet.
• DHCP server setup for automatic IP allocation.
• Optional Wi-Fi access point using USB Wi-Fi dongle and hostapd.
• Access Portal: Homepage automatically redirects users to educational content upon connection.

---

5. Advantages of This Setup

| Feature | Advantage | |:-----------------------|:----------------------------------------| | Offline Capability | Operates without internet connectivity | | Portable Form Factor | Fits into field deployments easily | | Secure and Hardened | Encrypted, compartmentalized, and locked down | | Modular Content | Easy to update or expand educational resources | | Energy Efficient | Low power draw enables solar or battery operation | | Open Source Stack | End-to-end FOSS ecosystem, no vendor lock-in |

---

6. Deployment Scenarios

• Rural Schools: Provide Linux training without requiring internet.
• Disaster Recovery Zones: Deliver essential technical education in post-disaster areas.
• Bitcoin Meetups: Offer Bitcoin literacy and cryptography workshops in remote communities.
• Privacy Advocacy Groups: Teach operational security practices without risking network surveillance.

---

7. Performance Considerations

Despite PCIe Gen 3x2 limitations, the available bandwidth (~2GB/s theoretical) vastly exceeds the server's 2.5 Gbps network output (~250MB/s), making it more than sufficient for a read-heavy educational workload.

Thermal Management:
Given the G9’s known cooling issues, install additional thermal pads or heatsinks on the NVMe drives. Consider external USB-powered cooling fans for sustained heavy usage.

---

8. Ways To Extend

• Multi-language Support: Add localized course materials.
• Bitcoin Node Integration: Host a lightweight Bitcoin node (e.g., Bitcoin Core with pruning enabled or a complete full node) for educational purposes.
• Mesh Networking: Use Mesh Wi-Fi protocols (e.g., cjdns or Yggdrasil) to allow peer-to-peer server sharing without centralized Wi-Fi.

---

9. Consider

Building a Portable FOSS Education Server on a Nookbox G9 is a practical, scalable solution for democratizing technical knowledge, empowering communities, and defending digital sovereignty in restricted environments.

Through thoughtful system design—leveraging open-source software and secure deployment practices—we enable resilient, censorship-resistant education wherever it's needed.

---

📎 References

• Ubuntu Server
• Moodle LMS
• LearnLinux.tv
• Bitcoin.org
• Tor Project

@ 6830c409:ff17c655

The story-telling method from Frank Daniel school - "Eight-sequence structure" is well utilized in this new movie in #prime - "Veera Dheera Sooran - Part 2". The name itself is kind of suspense. Because even if the name says "Part 2", this is the first part released in this story.

There are 8 shorter plots which has their own mini climaxes. The setup done in a plot will be resolved in another plot. In total, there will be 8 setups, 8 conflicts and 8 resolutions.

A beautiful way of telling a gripping story. For cinephiles in #Nostr, if you want to get a feel of the South Indian movies that has kind of a perfect blend of good content + a bit of over the top action, I would suggest this movie.

Note:

For Nostriches from the western hemisphere- #Bollywood - (#Hindi movies) is the movie industry started in #Bombay (#Mumbai), that has the stereotypical 'la la la' rain dance songs and mustache-less heroes. #Telugu movies (#Tollywood) are mostly over-the-top action where Newton and Einstein will probably commit suicide. #Malayalam movies (#Mollywood) is made with a miniscule budget with minimal over-the-top action and mostly content oriented movies. And then comes one of the best - #Tamil movies (#Kollywood - named after #Kodambakkam - a movie town in the city of Chennai down south), has the best of all the industries. A good blend of class, and mass elements.

Picture: https://www.flickr.com/photos/gforsythe/6926263837

@ 91bea5cd:1df4451c

O Contexto Legal Brasileiro e o Consentimento

No ordenamento jurídico brasileiro, o consentimento do ofendido pode, em certas circunstâncias, afastar a ilicitude de um ato que, sem ele, configuraria crime (como lesão corporal leve, prevista no Art. 129 do Código Penal). Contudo, o consentimento tem limites claros: não é válido para bens jurídicos indisponíveis, como a vida, e sua eficácia é questionável em casos de lesões corporais graves ou gravíssimas.

A prática de BDSM consensual situa-se em uma zona complexa. Em tese, se ambos os parceiros são adultos, capazes, e consentiram livre e informadamente nos atos praticados, sem que resultem em lesões graves permanentes ou risco de morte não consentido, não haveria crime. O desafio reside na comprovação desse consentimento, especialmente se uma das partes, posteriormente, o negar ou alegar coação.

A Lei Maria da Penha (Lei nº 11.340/2006)

A Lei Maria da Penha é um marco fundamental na proteção da mulher contra a violência doméstica e familiar. Ela estabelece mecanismos para coibir e prevenir tal violência, definindo suas formas (física, psicológica, sexual, patrimonial e moral) e prevendo medidas protetivas de urgência.

Embora essencial, a aplicação da lei em contextos de BDSM pode ser delicada. Uma alegação de violência por parte da mulher, mesmo que as lesões ou situações decorram de práticas consensuais, tende a receber atenção prioritária das autoridades, dada a presunção de vulnerabilidade estabelecida pela lei. Isso pode criar um cenário onde o parceiro masculino enfrenta dificuldades significativas em demonstrar a natureza consensual dos atos, especialmente se não houver provas robustas pré-constituídas.

Outros riscos:

Lesão corporal grave ou gravíssima (art. 129, §§ 1º e 2º, CP), não pode ser justificada pelo consentimento, podendo ensejar persecução penal.

Crimes contra a dignidade sexual (arts. 213 e seguintes do CP) são de ação pública incondicionada e independem de representação da vítima para a investigação e denúncia.

Riscos de Falsas Acusações e Alegação de Coação Futura

Os riscos para os praticantes de BDSM, especialmente para o parceiro que assume o papel dominante ou que inflige dor/restrição (frequentemente, mas não exclusivamente, o homem), podem surgir de diversas frentes:

1. Acusações Externas: Vizinhos, familiares ou amigos que desconhecem a natureza consensual do relacionamento podem interpretar sons, marcas ou comportamentos como sinais de abuso e denunciar às autoridades.
2. Alegações Futuras da Parceira: Em caso de término conturbado, vingança, arrependimento ou mudança de perspectiva, a parceira pode reinterpretar as práticas passadas como abuso e buscar reparação ou retaliação através de uma denúncia. A alegação pode ser de que o consentimento nunca existiu ou foi viciado.
3. Alegação de Coação: Uma das formas mais complexas de refutar é a alegação de que o consentimento foi obtido mediante coação (física, moral, psicológica ou econômica). A parceira pode alegar, por exemplo, que se sentia pressionada, intimidada ou dependente, e que seu "sim" não era genuíno. Provar a ausência de coação a posteriori é extremamente difícil.
4. Ingenuidade e Vulnerabilidade Masculina: Muitos homens, confiando na dinâmica consensual e na parceira, podem negligenciar a necessidade de precauções. A crença de que "isso nunca aconteceria comigo" ou a falta de conhecimento sobre as implicações legais e o peso processual de uma acusação no âmbito da Lei Maria da Penha podem deixá-los vulneráveis. A presença de marcas físicas, mesmo que consentidas, pode ser usada como evidência de agressão, invertendo o ônus da prova na prática, ainda que não na teoria jurídica.

Estratégias de Prevenção e Mitigação

Não existe um método infalível para evitar completamente o risco de uma falsa acusação, mas diversas medidas podem ser adotadas para construir um histórico de consentimento e reduzir vulnerabilidades:

1. Comunicação Explícita e Contínua: A base de qualquer prática BDSM segura é a comunicação constante. Negociar limites, desejos, palavras de segurança ("safewords") e expectativas antes, durante e depois das cenas é crucial. Manter registros dessas negociações (e-mails, mensagens, diários compartilhados) pode ser útil.

2. Documentação do Consentimento:

   • Contratos de Relacionamento/Cena: Embora a validade jurídica de "contratos BDSM" seja discutível no Brasil (não podem afastar normas de ordem pública), eles servem como forte evidência da intenção das partes, da negociação detalhada de limites e do consentimento informado. Devem ser claros, datados, assinados e, idealmente, reconhecidos em cartório (para prova de data e autenticidade das assinaturas).

   • Registros Audiovisuais: Gravar (com consentimento explícito para a gravação) discussões sobre consentimento e limites antes das cenas pode ser uma prova poderosa. Gravar as próprias cenas é mais complexo devido a questões de privacidade e potencial uso indevido, mas pode ser considerado em casos específicos, sempre com consentimento mútuo documentado para a gravação.

     Importante: a gravação deve ser com ciência da outra parte, para não configurar violação da intimidade (art. 5º, X, da Constituição Federal e art. 20 do Código Civil).

3. Testemunhas: Em alguns contextos de comunidade BDSM, a presença de terceiros de confiança durante negociações ou mesmo cenas pode servir como testemunho, embora isso possa alterar a dinâmica íntima do casal.

4. Estabelecimento Claro de Limites e Palavras de Segurança: Definir e respeitar rigorosamente os limites (o que é permitido, o que é proibido) e as palavras de segurança é fundamental. O desrespeito a uma palavra de segurança encerra o consentimento para aquele ato.
5. Avaliação Contínua do Consentimento: O consentimento não é um cheque em branco; ele deve ser entusiástico, contínuo e revogável a qualquer momento. Verificar o bem-estar do parceiro durante a cena ("check-ins") é essencial.
6. Discrição e Cuidado com Evidências Físicas: Ser discreto sobre a natureza do relacionamento pode evitar mal-entendidos externos. Após cenas que deixem marcas, é prudente que ambos os parceiros estejam cientes e de acordo, talvez documentando por fotos (com data) e uma nota sobre a consensualidade da prática que as gerou.
7. Aconselhamento Jurídico Preventivo: Consultar um advogado especializado em direito de família e criminal, com sensibilidade para dinâmicas de relacionamento alternativas, pode fornecer orientação personalizada sobre as melhores formas de documentar o consentimento e entender os riscos legais específicos.

Observações Importantes

• Nenhuma documentação substitui a necessidade de consentimento real, livre, informado e contínuo.
• A lei brasileira protege a "integridade física" e a "dignidade humana". Práticas que resultem em lesões graves ou que violem a dignidade de forma não consentida (ou com consentimento viciado) serão ilegais, independentemente de qualquer acordo prévio.
• Em caso de acusação, a existência de documentação robusta de consentimento não garante a absolvição, mas fortalece significativamente a defesa, ajudando a demonstrar a natureza consensual da relação e das práticas.

• A alegação de coação futura é particularmente difícil de prevenir apenas com documentos. Um histórico consistente de comunicação aberta (whatsapp/telegram/e-mails), respeito mútuo e ausência de dependência ou controle excessivo na relação pode ajudar a contextualizar a dinâmica como não coercitiva.

• Cuidado com Marcas Visíveis e Lesões Graves Práticas que resultam em hematomas severos ou lesões podem ser interpretadas como agressão, mesmo que consentidas. Evitar excessos protege não apenas a integridade física, mas também evita questionamentos legais futuros.

O que vem a ser consentimento viciado

No Direito, consentimento viciado é quando a pessoa concorda com algo, mas a vontade dela não é livre ou plena — ou seja, o consentimento existe formalmente, mas é defeituoso por alguma razão.

O Código Civil brasileiro (art. 138 a 165) define várias formas de vício de consentimento. As principais são:

Erro: A pessoa se engana sobre o que está consentindo. (Ex.: A pessoa acredita que vai participar de um jogo leve, mas na verdade é exposta a práticas pesadas.)

Dolo: A pessoa é enganada propositalmente para aceitar algo. (Ex.: Alguém mente sobre o que vai acontecer durante a prática.)

Coação: A pessoa é forçada ou ameaçada a consentir. (Ex.: "Se você não aceitar, eu termino com você" — pressão emocional forte pode ser vista como coação.)

Estado de perigo ou lesão: A pessoa aceita algo em situação de necessidade extrema ou abuso de sua vulnerabilidade. (Ex.: Alguém em situação emocional muito fragilizada é induzida a aceitar práticas que normalmente recusaria.)

No contexto de BDSM, isso é ainda mais delicado: Mesmo que a pessoa tenha "assinado" um contrato ou dito "sim", se depois ela alegar que seu consentimento foi dado sob medo, engano ou pressão psicológica, o consentimento pode ser considerado viciado — e, portanto, juridicamente inválido.

Isso tem duas implicações sérias:

1. O crime não se descaracteriza: Se houver vício, o consentimento é ignorado e a prática pode ser tratada como crime normal (lesão corporal, estupro, tortura, etc.).

2. A prova do consentimento precisa ser sólida: Mostrando que a pessoa estava informada, lúcida, livre e sem qualquer tipo de coação.

   Consentimento viciado é quando a pessoa concorda formalmente, mas de maneira enganada, forçada ou pressionada, tornando o consentimento inútil para efeitos jurídicos.

Conclusão

Casais que praticam BDSM consensual no Brasil navegam em um terreno que exige não apenas confiança mútua e comunicação excepcional, mas também uma consciência aguçada das complexidades legais e dos riscos de interpretações equivocadas ou acusações mal-intencionadas. Embora o BDSM seja uma expressão legítima da sexualidade humana, sua prática no Brasil exige responsabilidade redobrada. Ter provas claras de consentimento, manter a comunicação aberta e agir com prudência são formas eficazes de se proteger de falsas alegações e preservar a liberdade e a segurança de todos os envolvidos. Embora leis controversas como a Maria da Penha sejam "vitais" para a proteção contra a violência real, os praticantes de BDSM, e em particular os homens nesse contexto, devem adotar uma postura proativa e prudente para mitigar os riscos inerentes à potencial má interpretação ou instrumentalização dessas práticas e leis, garantindo que a expressão de sua consensualidade esteja resguardada na medida do possível.

---

Importante: No Brasil, mesmo com tudo isso, o Ministério Público pode denunciar por crime como lesão corporal grave, estupro ou tortura, independente de consentimento. Então a prudência nas práticas é fundamental.

Aviso Legal: Este artigo tem caráter meramente informativo e não constitui aconselhamento jurídico. As leis e interpretações podem mudar, e cada situação é única. Recomenda-se buscar orientação de um advogado qualificado para discutir casos específicos.

Se curtiu este artigo faça uma contribuição, se tiver algum ponto relevante para o artigo deixe seu comentário.

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

Hackathon 概要

Hedera Hashathon: Nairobi Edition 近日圆满落幕，共有 223 名开发者参与，49 个项目通过审核。本次活动以线上形式举办，由 Kenya Tech Events、内罗毕证券交易所及虚拟资产商会共同支持，旨在推动本地创新并提升区块链技术在肯尼亚的应用水平。

黑客松围绕三大核心方向展开：AI 代理、资本市场和 Hedera Explorer。参与者基于 Hedera 区块链开发解决方案，针对性解决自动化、金融普惠及数字资产交互等领域的挑战。活动通过在线辅导和网络交流机会，充分展现了协作开发的重要性。

活动亮点当属在内罗毕大学举办的 Demo Day，入围决赛的团队现场展示创新方案并获颁奖项。尤其在资本市场方向的顶尖项目，将获得孵化支持及导师指导以推进后续开发。此次黑客松特别注重实际应用，凸显了区块链技术在重塑肯尼亚产业、推动技术进步并提升市场参与度方面的潜力。

Hackathon 获奖者

第一名

• **Hedgehog:** 一个使用Hedera网络上的代币化真实股票交易所股份作为抵押品的链上借贷协议。通过将股票抵押与区块链透明性相结合，确保了安全的去中心化借贷。

第二名

• **Orion:** 通过将NSE股票代币化为Hedera区块链上的资产，促进在肯尼亚的轻松股票交易。通过与Mpesa的集成简化了证券交易流程，实现高效的数字交易。

第三名

• **NSEChainBridge:** 一个基于区块链的平台，通过创新的代币解决方案增强了NSE股票作为数字代币的交易，提高股票交易的可达性和流动性。

第四名

• **HashGuard:** 一个使用Hedera Hashgraph技术的代币化微型保险平台，专为boda boda骑手提供。它提供了负担得起的即时保险，让不需要区块链专业知识的用户也能获得保险。

要查看完整项目列表，请访问 DoraHacks。

关于组织者

Hedera

Hedera是一个以速度、安全性和可扩展性著称的公共分布式账本平台。其hashgraph共识算法是一种权益证明的变体，提供了一种独特的分布式共识实现方式。Hedera活跃于多个行业领域，支持优先考虑透明度和效率的项目。该组织始终致力于推进去中心化网络的基础设施建设，促进全球范围内安全而高效的数字交易。

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Redistributing Git with Nostr

Every time someone tries to "decentralize" Git -- like many projects tried in the past to do it with BitTorrent, IPFS, ScuttleButt or custom p2p protocols -- there is always a lurking comment: "but Git is already distributed!", and then the discussion proceeds to mention some facts about how Git supports multiple remotes and its magic syncing and merging abilities and so on.

Turns out all that is true, Git is indeed all that powerful, and yet GitHub is the big central hub that hosts basically all Git repositories in the giant world of open-source. There are some crazy people that host their stuff elsewhere, but these projects end up not being found by many people, and even when they do they suffer from lack of contributions.

Because everybody has a GitHub account it's easy to open a pull request to a repository of a project you're using if it's on GitHub (to be fair I think it's very annoying to have to clone the repository, then add it as a remote locally, push to it, then go on the web UI and click to open a pull request, then that cloned repository lurks forever in your profile unless you go through 16 screens to delete it -- but people in general seem to think it's easy).

It's much harder to do it on some random other server where some project might be hosted, because now you have to add 4 more even more annoying steps: create an account; pick a password; confirm an email address; setup SSH keys for pushing. (And I'm not even mentioning the basic impossibility of offering push access to external unknown contributors to people who want to host their own simple homemade Git server.)

At this point some may argue that we could all have accounts on GitLab, or Codeberg or wherever else, then those steps are removed. Besides not being a practical strategy this pseudo solution misses the point of being decentralized (or distributed, who knows) entirely: it's far from the ideal to force everybody to have the double of account management and SSH setup work in order to have the open-source world controlled by two shady companies instead of one.

What we want is to give every person the opportunity to host their own Git server without being ostracized. at the same time we must recognize that most people won't want to host their own servers (not even most open-source programmers!) and give everybody the ability to host their stuff on multi-tenant servers (such as GitHub) too. Importantly, though, if we allow for a random person to have a standalone Git server on a standalone server they host themselves on their wood cabin that also means any new hosting company can show up and start offering Git hosting, with or without new cool features, charging high or low or zero, and be immediately competing against GitHub or GitLab, i.e. we must remove the network-effect centralization pressure.

External contributions

The first problem we have to solve is: how can Bob contribute to Alice's repository without having an account on Alice's server?

SourceHut has reminded GitHub users that Git has always had this (for most) arcane git send-email command that is the original way to send patches, using an once-open protocol.

Turns out Nostr acts as a quite powerful email replacement and can be used to send text content just like email, therefore patches are a very good fit for Nostr event contents.

Once you get used to it and the proper UIs (or CLIs) are built sending and applying patches to and from others becomes a much easier flow than the intense clickops mixed with terminal copypasting that is interacting with GitHub (you have to clone the repository on GitHub, then update the remote URL in your local directory, then create a branch and then go back and turn that branch into a Pull Request, it's quite tiresome) that many people already dislike so much they went out of their way to build many GitHub CLI tools just so they could comment on issues and approve pull requests from their terminal.

Replacing GitHub features

Aside from being the "hub" that people use to send patches to other people's code (because no one can do the email flow anymore, justifiably), GitHub also has 3 other big features that are not directly related to Git, but that make its network-effect harder to overcome. Luckily Nostr can be used to create a new environment in which these same features are implemented in a more decentralized and healthy way.

Issues: bug reports, feature requests and general discussions

Since the "Issues" GitHub feature is just a bunch of text comments it should be very obvious that Nostr is a perfect fit for it.

I will not even mention the fact that Nostr is much better at threading comments than GitHub (which doesn't do it at all), which can generate much more productive and organized discussions (and you can opt out if you want).

Search

I use GitHub search all the time to find libraries and projects that may do something that I need, and it returns good results almost always. So if people migrated out to other code hosting providers wouldn't we lose it?

The fact is that even though we think everybody is on GitHub that is a globalist falsehood. Some projects are not on GitHub, and if we use only GitHub for search those will be missed. So even if we didn't have a Nostr Git alternative it would still be necessary to create a search engine that incorporated GitLab, Codeberg, SourceHut and whatnot.

Turns out on Nostr we can make that quite easy by not forcing anyone to integrate custom APIs or hardcoding Git provider URLs: each repository can make itself available by publishing an "announcement" event with a brief description and one or more Git URLs. That makes it easy for a search engine to index them -- and even automatically download the code and index the code (or index just README files or whatever) without a centralized platform ever having to be involved.

The relays where such announcements will be available play a role, of course, but that isn't a bad role: each announcement can be in multiple relays known for storing "public good" projects, some relays may curate only projects known to be very good according to some standards, other relays may allow any kind of garbage, which wouldn't make them good for a search engine to rely upon, but would still be useful in case one knows the exact thing (and from whom) they're searching for (the same is valid for all Nostr content, by the way, and that's where it's censorship-resistance comes from).

Continuous integration

GitHub Actions are a very hardly subsidized free-compute-for-all-paid-by-Microsoft feature, but one that isn't hard to replace at all. In fact there exists today many companies offering the same kind of service out there -- although they are mostly targeting businesses and not open-source projects, before GitHub Actions was introduced there were also many that were heavily used by open-source projects.

One problem is that these services are still heavily tied to GitHub today, they require a GitHub login, sometimes BitBucket and GitLab and whatnot, and do not allow one to paste an arbitrary Git server URL, but that isn't a thing that is very hard to change anyway, or to start from scratch. All we need are services that offer the CI/CD flows, perhaps using the same framework of GitHub Actions (although I would prefer to not use that messy garbage), and charge some few satoshis for it.

It may be the case that all the current services only support the big Git hosting platforms because they rely on their proprietary APIs, most notably the webhooks dispatched when a repository is updated, to trigger the jobs. It doesn't have to be said that Nostr can also solve that problem very easily.

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

I want to see Nostr succeed. If you can think of a way I can help make that happen, I’m open to it. I’d like your suggestions.

My schedule’s shifting soon, and I could volunteer a few hours a week to a Nostr project. I won’t have more total time, but how I use it will change.

Why help? I care about freedom. Nostr’s one of the most powerful freedom tools I’ve seen in my lifetime. If I believe that, I should act on it.

I don’t care about money or sats. I’m not rich, I don’t have extra cash. That doesn’t drive me—freedom does. I’m volunteering, not asking for pay.

I’m not here for clout. I’ve had enough spotlight in my life; it doesn’t move me. If I wanted clout, I’d be on Twitter dropping basic takes. Clout’s easy. Freedom’s hard. I’d rather help anonymously. No speaking at events—small meetups are cool for the vibe, but big conferences? Not my thing. I’ll never hit a huge Bitcoin conference. It’s just not my scene.

That said, I could be convinced to step up if it’d really boost Nostr—as long as it’s legal and gets results.

In this space, I’d watch for social engineering. I watch out for it. I’m not here to make friends, just to help. No shade—you all seem great—but I’ve got a full life and awesome friends irl. I don’t need your crew or to be online cool. Connect anonymously if you want; I’d encourage it.

I’m sick of watching other social media alternatives grow while Nostr kinda stalls. I could trash-talk, but I’d rather do something useful.

Skills? I’m good at spotting social media problems and finding possible solutions. I won’t overhype myself—that’s weird—but if you’re responding, you probably see something in me. Perhaps you see something that I don’t see in myself.

If you need help now or later with Nostr projects, reach out. Nostr only—nothing else. Anonymous contact’s fine. Even just a suggestion on how I can pitch in, no project attached, works too. 💜

Creeps or harassment will get blocked or I’ll nuke my simplex code if it becomes a problem.

https://simplex.chat/contact#/?v=2-4&smp=smp%3A%2F%2FSkIkI6EPd2D63F4xFKfHk7I1UGZVNn6k1QWZ5rcyr6w%3D%40smp9.simplex.im%2FbI99B3KuYduH8jDr9ZwyhcSxm2UuR7j0%23%2F%3Fv%3D1-2%26dh%3DMCowBQYDK2VuAyEAS9C-zPzqW41PKySfPCEizcXb1QCus6AyDkTTjfyMIRM%253D%26srv%3Djssqzccmrcws6bhmn77vgmhfjmhwlyr3u7puw4erkyoosywgl67slqqd.onion

@ de6c63ab:d028389b

Ever wondered why Bitcoin stops at 20,999,999.9769 and not a clean 21M? It’s not a bug — it’s brilliant.

https://blossom.primal.net/8e9e6fffbca54dfb8e55071ae590e676b355803ef18b08c8cbd9521a2eb567a8.png

Of course, it's because of this mythical and seemingly magical formula. Want to hear the full story behind this? Keep reading!

The Simple Math Behind It

In reality, there’s no magic here — it’s just an ordinary summation. That big sigma symbol (Σ) tells you that. The little “i” is the summation index, starting from 0 at the bottom and going up to 32 at the top. Why 32? We’ll get there!

After the sigma, you see the expression: 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^i). 210,000 blocks represent one halving interval, with about 144 blocks mined per day, amounting to almost exactly four years. After each interval, the block reward halves — that’s what the division by 2^i means.

Crunching the Numbers

When i = 0 (before the first halving): 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^0) = 10,500,000

At i = 1 (after the first halving): 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^1) = 5,250,000

At i = 2 (after the second halving): 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^2) = 2,625,000

…

At i = 31: 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^31) ≈ 0.00489

At i = 32: 210,000 × (50 ÷ 2^32) ≈ 0.00244

And when you sum all of that up? 20,999,999.99755528

Except… that’s not the correct total! The real final number is: 20,999,999.9769

Where the Real Magic Happens

How come?! Here’s where the real fun begins.

We just performed the summation with real (floating-point) numbers. But computers don’t like working with real numbers. They much prefer integers. That’s also one reason why a bitcoin can’t be divided infinitely — the smallest unit is one satoshi, one hundred-millionth of a bitcoin.

And that’s also why there are exactly 33 halvings (0th, 1st, 2nd, …, 31st, 32nd). After the 32nd halving, the block reward would drop below one satoshi, making further halvings meaningless.

https://blossom.primal.net/6abae5b19bc68737c5b14785f54713e7ce11dfdecbe10c64692fc8d9a90c7f34.png

The Role of Integer Math and Bit-Shifting

Because Bitcoin operates with integers (specifically satoshis), the division (reward ÷ 2^i) is actually done using integer division. More precisely, by bit-shifting to the right:

https://blossom.primal.net/3dac403390dd24df4fa8c474db62476fba814bb8c98ca663e6e3a536f4ff7d98.png

We work with 64-bit integers. Halving the value simply means shifting the bits one position to the right.

What Happens During the Halvings

Notice: during the first 9 halvings (i = 0 to i = 8), we’re just shaving off zeros. But starting with the 9th halving (i = 9), we start losing ones. Every time a “one” falls off, it means we’re losing a tiny fraction — a remainder that would have existed if we were using real numbers.

The sum of all these lost remainders is exactly the difference between the two numbers we saw above.

And that’s why the total bitcoin supply is 20,999,999.9769 — not 21 million exactly.

Did you enjoy this? Got any questions? 🔥🚀

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Capitalism is the most effective system for scaling innovation. The pursuit of profit is an incredibly powerful human incentive. Most major improvements to human society and quality of life have resulted from this base incentive. Market competition often results in the best outcomes for all.

That said, some projects can never be monetized. They are open in nature and a business model would centralize control. Open protocols like bitcoin and nostr are not owned by anyone and if they were it would destroy the key value propositions they provide. No single entity can or should control their use. Anyone can build on them without permission.

As a result, open protocols must depend on donation based grant funding from the people and organizations that rely on them. This model works but it is slow and uncertain, a grind where sustainability is never fully reached but rather constantly sought. As someone who has been incredibly active in the open source grant funding space, I do not think people truly appreciate how difficult it is to raise charitable money and deploy it efficiently.

Projects that can be monetized should be. Profitability is a super power. When a business can generate revenue, it taps into a self sustaining cycle. Profit fuels growth and development while providing projects independence and agency. This flywheel effect is why companies like Google, Amazon, and Apple have scaled to global dominance. The profit incentive aligns human effort with efficiency. Businesses must innovate, cut waste, and deliver value to survive.

Contrast this with non monetized projects. Without profit, they lean on external support, which can dry up or shift with donor priorities. A profit driven model, on the other hand, is inherently leaner and more adaptable. It is not charity but survival. When survival is tied to delivering what people want, scale follows naturally.

The real magic happens when profitable, sustainable businesses are built on top of open protocols and software. Consider the many startups building on open source software stacks, such as Start9, Mempool, and Primal, offering premium services on top of the open source software they build out and maintain. Think of companies like Block or Strike, which leverage bitcoin’s open protocol to offer their services on top. These businesses amplify the open software and protocols they build on, driving adoption and improvement at a pace donations alone could never match.

When you combine open software and protocols with profit driven business the result are lean, sustainable companies that grow faster and serve more people than either could alone. Bitcoin’s network, for instance, benefits from businesses that profit off its existence, while nostr will expand as developers monetize apps built on the protocol.

Capitalism scales best because competition results in efficiency. Donation funded protocols and software lay the groundwork, while market driven businesses build on top. The profit incentive acts as a filter, ensuring resources flow to what works, while open systems keep the playing field accessible, empowering users and builders. Together, they create a flywheel of innovation, growth, and global benefit.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Report of how the money Jack donated to the cause in December 2022 has been misused so far.

Bounties given

March 2025

• Dhalsim: 1,110,540 - Work on Nostr wiki data processing

February 2025

• BOUNTY* NullKotlinDev: 950,480 - Twine RSS reader Nostr integration
• Dhalsim: 2,094,584 - Work on Hypothes.is Nostr fork
• Constant, Biz and J: 11,700,588 - Nostr Special Forces

January 2025

• Constant, Biz and J: 11,610,987 - Nostr Special Forces
• BOUNTY* NullKotlinDev: 843,840 - Feeder RSS reader Nostr integration
• BOUNTY* NullKotlinDev: 797,500 - ReadYou RSS reader Nostr integration

December 2024

• BOUNTY* tijl: 1,679,500 - Nostr integration into RSS readers yarr and miniflux
• Constant, Biz and J: 10,736,166 - Nostr Special Forces
• Thereza: 1,020,000 - Podcast outreach initiative

November 2024

• Constant, Biz and J: 5,422,464 - Nostr Special Forces

October 2024

• Nostrdam: 300,000 - hackathon prize
• Svetski: 5,000,000 - Latin America Nostr events contribution
• Quentin: 5,000,000 - nostrcheck.me

June 2024

• Darashi: 5,000,000 - maintaining nos.today, searchnos, search.nos.today and other experiments
• Toshiya: 5,000,000 - keeping the NIPs repo clean and other stuff

May 2024

• James: 3,500,000 - https://github.com/jamesmagoo/nostr-writer
• Yakihonne: 5,000,000 - spreading the word in Asia
• Dashu: 9,000,000 - https://github.com/haorendashu/nostrmo

February 2024

• Viktor: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/viktorvsk/saltivka and https://github.com/viktorvsk/knowstr
• Eric T: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/tcheeric/nostr-java
• Semisol: 5,000,000 - https://relay.noswhere.com/ and https://hist.nostr.land relays
• Sebastian: 5,000,000 - Drupal stuff and nostr-php work
• tijl: 5,000,000 - Cloudron, Yunohost and Fraidycat attempts
• Null Kotlin Dev: 5,000,000 - AntennaPod attempt

December 2023

• hzrd: 5,000,000 - Nostrudel
• awayuki: 5,000,000 - NOSTOPUS illustrations
• bera: 5,000,000 - getwired.app
• Chris: 5,000,000 - resolvr.io
• NoGood: 10,000,000 - nostrexplained.com stories

October 2023

• SnowCait: 5,000,000 - https://nostter.vercel.app/ and other tools
• Shaun: 10,000,000 - https://yakihonne.com/, events and work on Nostr awareness
• Derek Ross: 10,000,000 - spreading the word around the world
• fmar: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/frnandu/yana
• The Nostr Report: 2,500,000 - curating stuff
• james magoo: 2,500,000 - the Obsidian plugin: https://github.com/jamesmagoo/nostr-writer

August 2023

• Paul Miller: 5,000,000 - JS libraries and cryptography-related work
• BOUNTY tijl: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/github-tijlxyz/wikinostr
• gzuus: 5,000,000 - https://nostree.me/

July 2023

• syusui-s: 5,000,000 - rabbit, a tweetdeck-like Nostr client: https://syusui-s.github.io/rabbit/
• kojira: 5,000,000 - Nostr fanzine, Nostr discussion groups in Japan, hardware experiments
• darashi: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/darashi/nos.today, https://github.com/darashi/searchnos, https://github.com/darashi/murasaki
• jeff g: 5,000,000 - https://nostr.how and https://listr.lol, plus other contributions
• cloud fodder: 5,000,000 - https://nostr1.com (open-source)
• utxo.one: 5,000,000 - https://relaying.io (open-source)
• Max DeMarco: 10,269,507 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA-jiiepOrE
• BOUNTY optout21: 1,000,000 - https://github.com/optout21/nip41-proto0 (proposed nip41 CLI)
• BOUNTY Leo: 1,000,000 - https://github.com/leo-lox/camelus (an old relay thing I forgot exactly)

June 2023

• BOUNTY: Sepher: 2,000,000 - a webapp for making lists of anything: https://pinstr.app/
• BOUNTY: Kieran: 10,000,000 - implement gossip algorithm on Snort, implement all the other nice things: manual relay selection, following hints etc.
• Mattn: 5,000,000 - a myriad of projects and contributions to Nostr projects: https://github.com/search?q=owner%3Amattn+nostr&type=code
• BOUNTY: lynn: 2,000,000 - a simple and clean git nostr CLI written in Go, compatible with William's original git-nostr-tools; and implement threaded comments on https://github.com/fiatjaf/nocomment.
• Jack Chakany: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/jacany/nblog
• BOUNTY: Dan: 2,000,000 - https://metadata.nostr.com/

April 2023

• BOUNTY: Blake Jakopovic: 590,000 - event deleter tool, NIP dependency organization
• BOUNTY: koalasat: 1,000,000 - display relays
• BOUNTY: Mike Dilger: 4,000,000 - display relays, follow event hints (Gossip)
• BOUNTY: kaiwolfram: 5,000,000 - display relays, follow event hints, choose relays to publish (Nozzle)
• Daniele Tonon: 3,000,000 - Gossip
• bu5hm4nn: 3,000,000 - Gossip
• BOUNTY: hodlbod: 4,000,000 - display relays, follow event hints

March 2023

• Doug Hoyte: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/hoytech/strfry
• Alex Gleason: 5,000,000 sats - https://gitlab.com/soapbox-pub/mostr
• verbiricha: 5,000,000 sats - https://badges.page/, https://habla.news/
• talvasconcelos: 5,000,000 sats - https://migrate.nostr.com, https://read.nostr.com, https://write.nostr.com/
• BOUNTY: Gossip model: 5,000,000 - https://camelus.app/
• BOUNTY: Gossip model: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/kaiwolfram/Nozzle
• BOUNTY: Bounty Manager: 5,000,000 - https://nostrbounties.com/

February 2023

• styppo: 5,000,000 sats - https://hamstr.to/
• sandwich: 5,000,000 sats - https://nostr.watch/
• BOUNTY: Relay-centric client designs: 5,000,000 sats https://bountsr.org/design/2023/01/26/relay-based-design.html
• BOUNTY: Gossip model on https://coracle.social/: 5,000,000 sats
• Nostrovia Podcast: 3,000,000 sats - https://nostrovia.org/
• BOUNTY: Nostr-Desk / Monstr: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/alemmens/monstr
• Mike Dilger: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/mikedilger/gossip

January 2023

• ismyhc: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/Galaxoid-Labs/Seer
• Martti Malmi: 5,000,000 sats - https://iris.to/
• Carlos Autonomous: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/BrightonBTC/bija
• Koala Sat: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/KoalaSat/nostros
• Vitor Pamplona: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/vitorpamplona/amethyst
• Cameri: 5,000,000 - https://github.com/Cameri/nostream

December 2022

• William Casarin: 7 BTC - splitting the fund
• pseudozach: 5,000,000 sats - https://nostr.directory/
• Sondre Bjellas: 5,000,000 sats - https://notes.blockcore.net/
• Null Dev: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/KotlinGeekDev/Nosky
• Blake Jakopovic: 5,000,000 sats - https://github.com/blakejakopovic/nostcat, https://github.com/blakejakopovic/nostreq and https://github.com/blakejakopovic/NostrEventPlayground

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

One of the most common criticisms leveled against nostr is the perceived lack of assurance when it comes to data storage. Critics argue that without a centralized authority guaranteeing that all data is preserved, important information will be lost. They also claim that running a relay will become prohibitively expensive. While there is truth to these concerns, they miss the mark. The genius of nostr lies in its flexibility, resilience, and the way it harnesses human incentives to ensure data availability in practice.

A nostr relay is simply a server that holds cryptographically verifiable signed data and makes it available to others. Relays are simple, flexible, open, and require no permission to run. Critics are right that operating a relay attempting to store all nostr data will be costly. What they miss is that most will not run all encompassing archive relays. Nostr does not rely on massive archive relays. Instead, anyone can run a relay and choose to store whatever subset of data they want. This keeps costs low and operations flexible, making relay operation accessible to all sorts of individuals and entities with varying use cases.

Critics are correct that there is no ironclad guarantee that every piece of data will always be available. Unlike bitcoin where data permanence is baked into the system at a steep cost, nostr does not promise that every random note or meme will be preserved forever. That said, in practice, any data perceived as valuable by someone will likely be stored and distributed by multiple entities. If something matters to someone, they will keep a signed copy.

Nostr is the Streisand Effect in protocol form. The Streisand effect is when an attempt to suppress information backfires, causing it to spread even further. With nostr, anyone can broadcast signed data, anyone can store it, and anyone can distribute it. Try to censor something important? Good luck. The moment it catches attention, it will be stored on relays across the globe, copied, and shared by those who find it worth keeping. Data deemed important will be replicated across servers by individuals acting in their own interest.

Nostr’s distributed nature ensures that the system does not rely on a single point of failure or a corporate overlord. Instead, it leans on the collective will of its users. The result is a network where costs stay manageable, participation is open to all, and valuable verifiable data is stored and distributed forever.

@ 1f79058c:eb86e1cb

I'm currently using this bash script to publish long-form content from local Markdown files to Nostr relays.

It requires all of yq, jq, and nak to be installed.

Usage

Create a signed Nostr event and print it to the console:

bash markdown_to_nostr.sh article-filename.md

Create a Nostr event and publish it to one or more relays:

bash markdown_to_nostr.sh article-filename.md ws://localhost:7777 wss://nostr.kosmos.org

Markdown format

You can specify your metadata as YAML in a Front Matter header. Here's an example file:

```markdown

title: "Good Morning" summary: "It's a beautiful day" image: https://example.com/i/beautiful-day.jpg date: 2025-04-24T15:00:00Z tags: gm, poetry published: false

---

In the blue sky just a few specks of gray
In the evening of a beautiful day
Though last night it rained and more rain on the way
And that more rain is needed 'twould be fair to say.

— Francis Duggan ```

The metadata keys are mostly self-explanatory. Note:

• All keys except for title are optional
• date, if present, will be set as the published_at date.
• If published is set to true, it will publish a kind 30023 event, otherwise a kind 30024 (draft)
• The d tag (widely used as URL slug for the article) will be the filename without the .md extension

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

In much of the world, it is incredibly difficult to access U.S. dollars. Local currencies are often poorly managed and riddled with corruption. Billions of people demand a more reliable alternative. While the dollar has its own issues of corruption and mismanagement, it is widely regarded as superior to the fiat currencies it competes with globally. As a result, Tether has found massive success providing low cost, low friction access to dollars. Tether claims 400 million total users, is on track to add 200 million more this year, processes 8.1 million transactions daily, and facilitates $29 billion in daily transfers. Furthermore, their estimates suggest nearly 40% of users rely on it as a savings tool rather than just a transactional currency.

Tether’s rise has made the company a financial juggernaut. Last year alone, Tether raked in over $13 billion in profit, with a lean team of less than 100 employees. Their business model is elegantly simple: hold U.S. Treasuries and collect the interest. With over $113 billion in Treasuries, Tether has turned a straightforward concept into a profit machine.

Tether’s success has resulted in many competitors eager to claim a piece of the pie. This has triggered a massive venture capital grift cycle in USD tokens, with countless projects vying to dethrone Tether. Due to Tether’s entrenched network effect, these challengers face an uphill battle with little realistic chance of success. Most educated participants in the space likely recognize this reality but seem content to perpetuate the grift, hoping to cash out by dumping their equity positions on unsuspecting buyers before they realize the reality of the situation.

Historically, Tether’s greatest vulnerability has been U.S. government intervention. For over a decade, the company operated offshore with few allies in the U.S. establishment, making it a major target for regulatory action. That dynamic has shifted recently and Tether has seized the opportunity. By actively courting U.S. government support, Tether has fortified their position. This strategic move will likely cement their status as the dominant USD token for years to come.

While undeniably a great tool for the millions of users that rely on it, Tether is not without flaws. As a centralized, trusted third party, it holds the power to freeze or seize funds at its discretion. Corporate mismanagement or deliberate malpractice could also lead to massive losses at scale. In their goal of mitigating regulatory risk, Tether has deepened ties with law enforcement, mirroring some of the concerns of potential central bank digital currencies. In practice, Tether operates as a corporate CBDC alternative, collaborating with authorities to surveil and seize funds. The company proudly touts partnerships with leading surveillance firms and its own data reveals cooperation in over 1,000 law enforcement cases, with more than $2.5 billion in funds frozen.

---

The global demand for Tether is undeniable and the company’s profitability reflects its unrivaled success. Tether is owned and operated by bitcoiners and will likely continue to push forward strategic goals that help the movement as a whole. Recent efforts to mitigate the threat of U.S. government enforcement will likely solidify their network effect and stifle meaningful adoption of rival USD tokens or CBDCs. Yet, for all their achievements, Tether is simply a worse form of money than bitcoin. Tether requires trust in a centralized entity, while bitcoin can be saved or spent without permission. Furthermore, Tether is tied to the value of the US Dollar which is designed to lose purchasing power over time, while bitcoin, as a truly scarce asset, is designed to increase in purchasing power with adoption. As people awaken to the risks of Tether’s control, and the benefits bitcoin provides, bitcoin adoption will likely surpass it.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Bitcoin has always been rooted in freedom and resistance to authority. I get that many of you are conflicted about the US Government stacking but by design we cannot stop anyone from using bitcoin. Many have asked me for my thoughts on the matter, so let’s rip it.

Concern

One of the most glaring issues with the strategic bitcoin reserve is its foundation, built on stolen bitcoin. For those of us who value private property this is an obvious betrayal of our core principles. Rather than proof of work, the bitcoin that seeds this reserve has been taken by force. The US Government should return the bitcoin stolen from Bitfinex and the Silk Road.

Usually stolen bitcoin for the reserve creates a perverse incentive. If governments see a bitcoin as a valuable asset, they will ramp up efforts to confiscate more bitcoin. The precedent is a major concern, and I stand strongly against it, but it should be also noted that governments were already seizing coin before the reserve so this is not really a change in policy.

Ideally all seized bitcoin should be burned, by law. This would align incentives properly and make it less likely for the government to actively increase coin seizures. Due to the truly scarce properties of bitcoin, all burned bitcoin helps existing holders through increased purchasing power regardless. This change would be unlikely but those of us in policy circles should push for it regardless. It would be best case scenario for American bitcoiners and would create a strong foundation for the next century of American leadership.

Optimism

The entire point of bitcoin is that we can spend or save it without permission. That said, it is a massive benefit to not have one of the strongest governments in human history actively trying to ruin our lives.

Since the beginning, bitcoiners have faced horrible regulatory trends. KYC, surveillance, and legal cases have made using bitcoin and building bitcoin businesses incredibly difficult. It is incredibly important to note that over the past year that trend has reversed for the first time in a decade. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a key driver of this shift. By holding bitcoin, the strongest government in the world has signaled that it is not just a fringe technology but rather truly valuable, legitimate, and worth stacking.

This alignment of incentives changes everything. The US Government stacking proves bitcoin’s worth. The resulting purchasing power appreciation helps all of us who are holding coin and as bitcoin succeeds our government receives direct benefit. A beautiful positive feedback loop.

Realism

We are trending in the right direction. A strategic bitcoin reserve is a sign that the state sees bitcoin as an asset worth embracing rather than destroying. That said, there is a lot of work left to be done. We cannot be lulled into complacency, the time to push forward is now, and we cannot take our foot off the gas. We have a seat at the table for the first time ever. Let's make it worth it.

We must protect the right to free usage of bitcoin and other digital technologies. Freedom in the digital age must be taken and defended, through both technical and political avenues. Multiple privacy focused developers are facing long jail sentences for building tools that protect our freedom. These cases are not just legal battles. They are attacks on the soul of bitcoin. We need to rally behind them, fight for their freedom, and ensure the ethos of bitcoin survives this new era of government interest. The strategic reserve is a step in the right direction, but it is up to us to hold the line and shape the future.

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

To all existing nostr developers and new nostr developers, stop using kind 1 events... just stop whatever your doing and switch the kind to Math.round(Math.random() * 10000) trust me it will be better

What are kind 1 events

kind 1 events are defined in NIP-10 as "simple plaintext notes" or in other words social posts.

Don't trick your users

Most users are joining nostr for the social experience, and secondly to find all the cool "other stuff" apps They find friends, browse social posts, and reply to them. If a user signs into a new nostr client and it starts asking them to sign kind 1 events with blobs of JSON, they will sign it without thinking too much about it.

Then when they return to their comfy social apps they will see that they made 10+ posts with massive amounts of gibberish that they don't remember posting. then they probably will go looking for the delete button and realize there isn't one...

Even if those kind 1 posts don't contain JSON and have a nice fancy human readable syntax. they will still confuse users because they won't remember writing those social posts

What about "discoverability"

If your goal is to make your "other stuff" app visible to more users, then I would suggest using NIP-19 and NIP-89 The first allows users to embed any other event kind into social posts as nostr:nevent1 or nostr:naddr1 links, and the second allows social clients to redirect users to an app that knows how to handle that specific kind of event

So instead of saving your apps data into kind 1 events. you can pick any kind you want, then give users a "share on nostr" button that allows them to compose a social post (kind 1) with a nostr: link to your special kind of event and by extension you app

Why its a trap

Once users start using your app it becomes a lot more difficult to migrate to a new event kind or data format. This sounds obvious, but If your app is built on kind 1 events that means you will be stuck with their limitations forever.

For example, here are some of the limitations of using kind 1 - Querying for your apps data becomes much more difficult. You have to filter through all of a users kind 1 events to find which ones are created by your app - Discovering your apps data is more difficult for the same reason, you have to sift through all the social posts just to find the ones with you special tag or that contain JSON - Users get confused. as mentioned above users don't expect "other stuff" apps to be creating special social posts - Other nostr clients won't understand your data and will show it as a social post with no option for users to learn about your app

@ 6389be64:ef439d32

GA, plebs. The latest episode of Bitcoin And is out, and, as always, the chicanery is running rampant. Let’s break down the biggest topics I covered, and if you want the full, unfiltered rant, make sure to listen to the episode linked below.

House Democrats’ MEME Act: A Bad Joke?

House Democrats are proposing a bill to ban presidential meme coins, clearly aimed at Trump’s and Melania’s ill-advised token launches. While grifters launching meme coins is bad, this bill is just as ridiculous. If this legislation moves forward, expect a retaliatory strike exposing how politicians like Pelosi and Warren mysteriously amassed their fortunes. Will it pass? Doubtful. But it’s another sign of the government’s obsession with regulating everything except itself.

Senate Banking’s First Digital Asset Hearing: The Real Target Is You

Cynthia Lummis chaired the first digital asset hearing, and—surprise!—it was all about control. The discussion centered on stablecoins, AML, and KYC regulations, with witnesses suggesting Orwellian measures like freezing stablecoin transactions unless pre-approved by authorities. What was barely mentioned? Bitcoin. They want full oversight of stablecoins, which is really about controlling financial freedom. Expect more nonsense targeting self-custody wallets under the guise of stopping “bad actors.”

Bank of America and PayPal Want In on Stablecoins

Bank of America’s CEO openly stated they’ll launch a stablecoin as soon as regulation allows. Meanwhile, PayPal’s CEO paid for a hat using Bitcoin—not their own stablecoin, Pi USD. Why wouldn’t he use his own product? Maybe he knows stablecoins aren’t what they’re hyped up to be. Either way, the legacy financial system is gearing up to flood the market with stablecoins, not because they love crypto, but because it’s a tool to extend U.S. dollar dominance.

MetaPlanet Buys the Dip

Japan’s MetaPlanet issued $13.4M in bonds to buy more Bitcoin, proving once again that institutions see the writing on the wall. Unlike U.S. regulators who obsess over stablecoins, some companies are actually stacking sats.

UK Expands Crypto Seizure Powers

Across the pond, the UK government is pushing legislation to make it easier to seize and destroy crypto linked to criminal activity. While they frame it as going after the bad guys, it’s another move toward centralized control and financial surveillance.

Bitcoin Tools & Tech: Arc, SatoChip, and Nunchuk

Some bullish Bitcoin developments: ARC v0.5 is making Bitcoin’s second layer more efficient, SatoChip now supports Taproot and Nostr, and Nunchuk launched a group wallet with chat, making multisig collaboration easier.

The Bottom Line

The state is coming for financial privacy and control, and stablecoins are their weapon of choice. Bitcoiners need to stay focused, keep their coins in self-custody, and build out parallel systems. Expect more regulatory attacks, but don’t let them distract you—just keep stacking and transacting in ways they can’t control.

🎧 Listen to the full episode here: https://fountain.fm/episode/PYITCo18AJnsEkKLz2Ks

💰 Support the show by boosting sats on Podcasting 2.0! and I will see you on the other side.

@ f32184ee:6d1c17bf

Ads Fueling Freedom

Ross Ulbricht’s "Decentralize Social Media" painted a picture of a user-centric, decentralized future that transcended the limitations of platforms like the tech giants of today. Though focused on social media, his concept provided a blueprint for decentralized content systems writ large. The PROMO Protocol, designed by NextBlock while participating in Sovereign Engineering, embodies this blueprint in the realm of advertising, leveraging Nostr and Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to give individuals control, foster a multi-provider ecosystem, and ensure secure value exchange. In this way, Ulbricht’s 2021 vision can be seen as a prescient prediction of the PROMO Protocol’s structure. This is a testament to the enduring power of his ideas, now finding form in NextBlock’s innovative approach.

[Current Platform-Centric Paradigm, source: Ross Ulbricht's Decentralize Social Media]

Ulbricht’s Vision: A Decentralized Social Protocol

In his 2021 Medium article Ulbricht proposed a revolutionary vision for a decentralized social protocol (DSP) to address the inherent flaws of centralized social media platforms, such as privacy violations and inconsistent content moderation. Writing from prison, Ulbricht argued that decentralization could empower users by giving them control over their own content and the value they create, while replacing single, monolithic platforms with a competitive ecosystem of interface providers, content servers, and advertisers. Though his focus was on social media, Ulbricht’s ideas laid a conceptual foundation that strikingly predicts the structure of NextBlock’s PROMO Protocol, a decentralized advertising system built on the Nostr protocol.

[A Decentralized Social Protocol (DSP), source: Ross Ulbricht's Decentralize Social Media]

Ulbricht’s Principles

Ulbricht’s article outlines several key principles for his DSP: * User Control: Users should own their content and dictate how their data and creations generate value, rather than being subject to the whims of centralized corporations. * Decentralized Infrastructure: Instead of a single platform, multiple interface providers, content hosts, and advertisers interoperate, fostering competition and resilience. * Privacy and Autonomy: Decentralized solutions for profile management, hosting, and interactions would protect user privacy and reduce reliance on unaccountable intermediaries. * Value Creation: Users, not platforms, should capture the economic benefits of their contributions, supported by decentralized mechanisms for transactions.

These ideas were forward-thinking in 2021, envisioning a shift away from the centralized giants dominating social media at the time. While Ulbricht didn’t specifically address advertising protocols, his framework for decentralization and user empowerment extends naturally to other domains, like NextBlock’s open-source offering: the PROMO Protocol.

NextBlock’s Implementation of PROMO Protocol

The PROMO Protocol powers NextBlock's Billboard app, a decentralized advertising protocol built on Nostr, a simple, open protocol for decentralized communication. The PROMO Protocol reimagines advertising by: * Empowering People: Individuals set their own ad prices (e.g., 500 sats/minute), giving them direct control over how their attention or space is monetized. * Marketplace Dynamics: Advertisers set budgets and maximum bids, competing within a decentralized system where a 20% service fee ensures operational sustainability. * Open-Source Flexibility: As an open-source protocol, it allows multiple developers to create interfaces or apps on top of it, avoiding the single-platform bottleneck Ulbricht critiqued. * Secure Payments: Using Strike Integration with Bitcoin Lightning Network, NextBlock enables bot-resistant and intermediary-free transactions, aligning value transfer with each person's control.

This structure decentralizes advertising in a way that mirrors Ulbricht’s broader vision for social systems, with aligned principles showing a specific use case: monetizing attention on Nostr.

Aligned Principles

Ulbricht’s 2021 article didn’t explicitly predict the PROMO Protocol, but its foundational concepts align remarkably well with NextBlock's implementation the protocol’s design: * Autonomy Over Value: Ulbricht argued that users should control their content and its economic benefits. In the PROMO Protocol, people dictate ad pricing, directly capturing the value of their participation. Whether it’s their time, influence, or digital space, rather than ceding it to a centralized ad network. * Ecosystem of Providers: Ulbricht envisioned multiple providers replacing a single platform. The PROMO Protocol’s open-source nature invites a similar diversity: anyone can build interfaces or tools on top of it, creating a competitive, decentralized advertising ecosystem rather than a walled garden. * Decentralized Transactions: Ulbricht’s DSP implied decentralized mechanisms for value exchange. NextBlock delivers this through the Bitcoin Lightning Network, ensuring that payments for ads are secure, instantaneous and final, a practical realization of Ulbricht’s call for user-controlled value flows. * Privacy and Control: While Ulbricht emphasized privacy in social interactions, the PROMO Protocol is public by default. Individuals are fully aware of all data that they generate since all Nostr messages are signed. All participants interact directly via Nostr.

[Blueprint Match, source NextBlock]

---

Who We Are

NextBlock is a US-based new media company reimagining digital ads for a decentralized future. Our founders, software and strategy experts, were hobbyist podcasters struggling to promote their work online without gaming the system. That sparked an idea: using new tech like Nostr and Bitcoin to build a decentralized attention market for people who value control and businesses seeking real connections.

Our first product, Billboard, is launching this June.

Open for All

Our model’s open-source! Check out the PROMO Protocol, built for promotion and attention trading. Anyone can join this decentralized ad network. Run your own billboard or use ours. This is a growing ecosystem for a new ad economy.

Our Vision

NextBlock wants to help build a new decentralized internet. Our revolutionary and transparent business model will bring honest revenue to companies hosting valuable digital spaces. Together, we will discover what our attention is really worth.

Read our Manifesto to learn more.

NextBlock is registered in Texas, USA.

@ 3ffac3a6:2d656657

🔧 Infrastructure Overview

• Hardware: Raspberry Pi 5 with PCIe NVMe HAT and 2TB NVMe SSD
• Filesystem: ZFS with separate datasets for each service
• Networking: Docker bridge networks for service segmentation
• Privacy: Tor and I2P routing for anonymous communication
• Public Access: Cloudflare Tunnel to securely expose LNbits

📊 Architecture Diagram

🛠️ Setup Steps

1. Prepare the System

• Install Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit)
• Set up ZFS on the NVMe disk
• Create a ZFS dataset for each service (e.g., bitcoin, lnd, rtl, lnbits, tor-data)
• Install Docker and Docker Compose

2. Create Shared Docker Network and Privacy Layers

Create a shared Docker bridge network: bash docker network create \ --driver=bridge \ --subnet=192.168.100.0/24 \ bitcoin-net

Note: Connect bitcoind, lnd, rtl, internal lnbits, tor, and i2p to this bitcoin-net network.

Tor

• Run Tor in a container
• Configure it to expose LND's gRPC and REST ports via hidden services: HiddenServicePort 10009 192.168.100.31:10009 HiddenServicePort 8080 192.168.100.31:8080
• Set correct permissions: bash sudo chown -R 102:102 /zfs/datasets/tor-data

I2P

• Run I2P in a container with SAM and SOCKS proxies
• Update bitcoin.conf: i2psam=192.168.100.20:7656 i2pacceptincoming=1

3. Set Up Bitcoin Core

• Create a bitcoin.conf with Tor/I2P/proxy settings and ZMQ enabled
• Sync the blockchain in a container using its ZFS dataset

4. Set Up LND

• Configure lnd.conf to connect to bitcoind and use Tor: ```ini [Bitcoind] bitcoind.rpchost=bitcoin:8332 bitcoind.rpcuser=bitcoin bitcoind.rpcpass=very-hard-password bitcoind.zmqpubrawblock=tcp://bitcoin:28332 bitcoind.zmqpubrawtx=tcp://bitcoin:28333

[Application Options] externalip=xxxxxxxx.onion `` - Don’t expose gRPC or REST ports publicly - Mount the ZFS dataset at/root/.lnd` - Optionally enable Watchtower

5. Set Up RTL

• Mount RTL-Config.json and data volumes
• Expose RTL's web interface locally: ```yaml ports:
  • "3000:3000" ```

6. Set Up Internal LNbits

• Connect the LNbits container to bitcoin-net
• Mount the data directory and LND cert/macaroons (read-only)
• Expose the LNbits UI on the local network: ```yaml ports:
  • "5000:5000" ```
• In the web UI, configure the funding source to point to the LND REST .onion address and paste the hex macaroon
• Create and fund a wallet, and copy its Admin Key for external use

7. Set Up External LNbits + Cloudflare Tunnel

• Run another LNbits container on a separate Docker network
• Access the internal LNbits via the host IP and port 5000
• Use the Admin Key from the internal wallet to configure funding
• In the Cloudflare Zero Trust dashboard:
• Create a tunnel
• Select Docker, copy the --token command
• Add to Docker Compose: yaml command: tunnel --no-autoupdate run --token eyJ...your_token...

💾 Backup Strategy

• Bitcoin Core: hourly ZFS snapshots, retained for 6 hours
• Other Services: hourly snapshots with remote .tar.gz backups
• Retention: 7d hourly, 30d daily, 12mo weekly, monthly forever
• Back up ZFS snapshots to avoid inconsistencies

🔐 Security Isolation Benefits

This architecture isolates services by scope and function:

• Internal traffic stays on bitcoin-net
• Sensitive APIs (gRPC, REST) are reachable only via Tor
• Public access is controlled by Cloudflare Tunnel

Extra Security: Host the public LNbits on a separate machine (e.g., hardened VPS) with strict firewall rules:

• Allow only Cloudflare egress
• Allow ingress from your local IP
• Allow outbound access to internal LNbits (port 5000)

Use WireGuard VPN to secure the connection between external and internal LNbits:

• Ensures encrypted communication
• Restricts access to authenticated VPN peers
• Keeps the internal interface isolated from the public internet

✅ Final Notes

• Internal services communicate over bitcoin-net
• LND interfaces are accessed via Tor only
• LNbits and RTL UIs are locally accessible
• Cloudflare Tunnel secures external access to LNbits

Monitor system health using monit, watchtower, or Prometheus.

Create all configuration files manually (bitcoin.conf, lnd.conf, RTL-Config.json), and keep credentials secure. Test every component locally before exposing it externally.

⚡

@ dc4cd086:cee77c06

Have you ever wanted to learn from lengthy educational videos but found it challenging to navigate through hours of content? Our new tool addresses this problem by transforming long-form video lectures into easily digestible, searchable content.

Key Features:

Video Processing:

• Automatically downloads YouTube videos, transcripts, and chapter information
• Splits transcripts into sections based on video chapters

Content Summarization:

• Utilizes language models to transform spoken content into clear, readable text
• Formats output in AsciiDoc for improved readability and navigation
• Highlights key terms and concepts with [[term]] notation for potential cross-referencing

Diagram Extraction:

• Analyzes video entropy to identify static diagram/slide sections
• Provides a user-friendly GUI for manual selection of relevant time ranges
• Allows users to pick representative frames from selected ranges

Going Forward:

Currently undergoing a rewrite to improve organization and functionality, but you are welcome to try the current version, though it might not work on every machine. Will support multiple open and closed language models for user choice Free and open-source, allowing for personal customization and integration with various knowledge bases. Just because we might not have it on our official Alexandria knowledge base, you are still welcome to use it on you own personal or community knowledge bases! We want to help find connections between ideas that exist across relays, allowing individuals and groups to mix and match knowledge bases between each other, allowing for any degree of openness you care.

While designed with #Alexandria users in mind, it's available for anyone to use and adapt to their own learning needs.

Screenshots

Frame Selection

This is a screenshot of the frame selection interface. You'll see a signal that represents frame entropy over time. The vertical lines indicate the start and end of a chapter. Within these chapters you can select the frames by clicking and dragging the mouse over the desired range where you think diagram is in that chapter. At the bottom is an option that tells the program to select a specific number of frames from that selection.

Diagram Extraction

This is a screenshot of the diagram extraction interface. For every selection you've made, there will be a set of frames that you can choose from. You can select and deselect as many frames as you'd like to save.

Links

• repo: https://github.com/limina1/video_article_converter
• Nostr Apps 101: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Flxa_jkErqE

Output

And now, we have a demonstration of the final result of this tool, with some quick cleaning up. The video we will be using this tool on is titled Nostr Apps 101 by nostr:npub1nxy4qpqnld6kmpphjykvx2lqwvxmuxluddwjamm4nc29ds3elyzsm5avr7 during Nostrasia. The following thread is an analog to the modular articles we are constructing for Alexandria, and I hope it conveys the functionality we want to create in the knowledge space. Note, this tool is the first step! You could use a different prompt that is most appropriate for the specific context of the transcript you are working with, but you can also manually clean up any discrepancies that don't portray the video accurately. You can now view the article on #Alexandria https://next-alexandria.gitcitadel.eu/publication?d=nostr-apps-101

Initially published as chained kind 1's nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzp5r5hd579v2sszvvzfel677c8dxgxm3skl773sujlsuft64c44ncqy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qgwwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkctcpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumt0wd68ytnsw43z7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7qgewaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8xmn0wf6zuum0vd5kzmp0qqsxunmjy20mvlq37vnrcshkf6sdrtkfjtjz3anuetmcuv8jswhezgc7hglpn

Or view on Coracle https://coracle.social /nevent1qqsxunmjy20mvlq37vnrcshkf6sdrtkfjtjz3anuetmcuv8jswhezgcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qgsdqa9md83tz5yqnrqjw07hhkpmfjpkuv9hlh5v8yhu8z274w9dv7qnnq0s3

@ 5f078e90:b2bacaa3

Panda story 3

Initially posted on Hive, story is between 300 and 500 characters. Should become a Nostr kind 30023. Image has markdown.

In a misty bamboo forest, a red panda named Rolo discovered a glowing berry. Curious, he nibbled it and began to float! Drifting over treetops, he saw his friends below, waving. Rolo somersaulted through clouds, giggling as wind tickled his fur. The berry's magic faded at dusk, landing him softly by a stream. His pals cheered his tale, and Rolo dreamed of more adventures, his heart light as the breeze. (349 characters)

---

Originally posted on Hive at https://hive.blog/@hostr/panda-story-3

Cross-posted using Hostr, version 0.0.3

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

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

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

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

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

O que são bloatwares?

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

O que é o adb?

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

Requisitos:

Para computadores:

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

Para celulares:

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

Para ambos:

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

Ativação de depuração:

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

Instalação e configuração do NetGuard

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

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

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

Após instalado, configure da seguinte maneira:

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

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

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

Lista de bloatwares

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

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

Samsung Galaxy Note 10 Plus bloatware list

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

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

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

Download do adb em computadores

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

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

Download do adb em celulares com Termux.

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

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

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

Processo de debloat

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

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

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

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

MTP tentando comunicação com servidores externos:

Executando o adb shell

No computador

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

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

./adb start-server

O resultado deve ser:

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

E caso não apareça nada, execute:

./adb kill-server

E inicie novamente.

Com o adb conectado ao celular, execute:

./adb shell

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

Logo o resultado deve ser:

begonia:/ $

Caso ocorra algum erro do tipo:

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

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

No celular

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

pkg install android-tools

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

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

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

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

adb pair localhost:porta CódigoDeEmparelhamento

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

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

adb connect localhost:porta

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

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

adb shell

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

Dentro do NetGuard, verificando as informações do Google Maps:

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

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

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

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

Exemplo de lista:

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

cmd package install-existing nome.do.pacote

Pós-debloat

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

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

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

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

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

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Seu teclado não deve se conectar à internet. Privacidade em primeiro lugar. Sempre. Estamos desenvolvendo um teclado moderno que respeita totalmente sua privacidade e segurança. O FUTO Keyboard é 100% offline e 100% privado, oferecendo todos os recursos essenciais que você espera de um teclado atual — incluindo digitação por deslizamento, entrada de voz offline, correção automática inteligente, temas personalizáveis e sugestões preditivas de texto. Nosso objetivo é simples: criar um teclado eficiente e funcional, sem comprometer a privacidade do usuário. Este projeto é um fork do LatinIME, o teclado open-source oficial do Android.

Atenção: o FUTO Keyboard está atualmente em fase alfa. Está trabalhando para torná-lo estável e confiável, mas durante esse período você pode encontrar bugs, travamentos ou recursos ainda não implementados.

Configurações

Idiomas e Modelos – Adicione novos idiomas, dicionários, modelos de entrada de voz, transformadores e layouts associados.

Linguagens e Modelos

O menu no qual você adiciona novos idiomas, bem como dicionários, modelos de entrada de voz, modelos de transformadores e layouts associados a eles.

Adicionar idioma.

Alguns idiomas exigem o download de um dicionário. Se você também quiser um modelo de entrada de voz para um idioma específico, precisará baixá-lo também. Cada idioma já possui uma seleção de layouts de teclado associados; você pode escolher qual(is) layout(s) deseja adicionar ao adicionar o idioma. https://video.nostr.build/c775288b7a8ee8d75816af0c7a25f2aa0b4ecc99973fd442b2badc308fa38109.mp4

Mudar idioma.

Existem duas maneiras de alternar o idioma. A primeira é pressionando o ícone do globo na Barra de Ações, localizada próximo ao canto superior esquerdo do teclado. A segunda é pressionando longamente ou deslizando a barra de espaço; você pode personalizar o comportamento de troca de idioma da barra de espaço acessando Configurações -> Teclado e Digitação -> Teclas de Pressão Longa e Barra de Espaço -> Comportamento da Barra de Espaço . Você também pode atribuir o ícone do globo como a Tecla de Ação para que fique ao lado da barra de espaço, que pode ser acessada no menu Todas as Ações pressionando a tecla de reticências (...) no canto superior esquerdo do teclado e, em seguida, acessando Editar Ações. https://video.nostr.build/ed6f7f63a9c203cd59f46419ef54a4b8b442f070f802a688ca7d682bd6811bcb.mp4

Adicionar dicionário.

Alguns idiomas têm um dicionário integrado, mas a maioria não. Se o idioma que você está instalando não tiver um dicionário integrado, você pode iniciar a instalação em nosso site acessando Idiomas e Modelos -> Dicionário (no idioma que você está instalando) -> Explorar -> Baixar (em nosso site). https://video.nostr.build/3b1e09289953b658a9cef33c41bd711095556bc48290cb2ed066d4d0a5186371.mp4

Habilitar digitação multilíngue.

Você pode habilitar a digitação multilíngue para um ou mais idiomas acessando Idiomas e modelos e marcando a caixa Digitação multilíngue no(s) idioma(s) para os quais deseja habilitar a digitação multilíngue. https://video.nostr.build/29f683410626219499787bd63058d159719553f8e33a9f3c659c51c375a682fb.mp4

Criar layout personalizado.

Se desejar criar seu próprio layout personalizado para um idioma específico, você pode fazê-lo ativando Configurações do Desenvolvedor -> Layouts Personalizados -> Criar novo layout . Mais informações sobre layouts personalizados podem ser encontradas https://github.com/futo-org/futo-keyboard-layouts . A personalização das configurações de pressionamento longo tecla por tecla ainda não é suportada, mas está em processo de implementação. https://video.nostr.build/b5993090e28794d0305424dd352ca83760bb87002c57930e80513de5917fad8d.mp4

Teclado e Digitação – Personalize o comportamento das teclas, o tamanho do teclado e outras preferências de digitação.

Previsão de texto.

O menu no qual você define suas preferências para correção automática e sugestões personalizadas. Modelo de Linguagem do Transformador Você pode fazer com que o teclado preveja a próxima palavra que você digitará ou faça correções automáticas mais inteligentes, que usam um modelo de linguagem Transformer pré-treinado com base em conjuntos de dados disponíveis publicamente, ativando o Transformer LM . Observação: atualmente, isso funciona apenas em inglês, mas estamos trabalhando para torná-lo compatível com outros idiomas. Ajuste fino do transformador Você pode fazer com que o teclado memorize o que você digita e quais sugestões você seleciona, o que treina o modelo de idioma (enquanto o telefone estiver inativo) para prever quais palavras sugerir e corrigir automaticamente enquanto você digita, ativando o ajuste fino do Transformer . Observação: este é o seu modelo de idioma pessoal e o FUTO não visualiza nem armazena nenhum dos seus dados. https://video.nostr.build/688354a63bdc48a9dd3f8605854b5631ac011009c6105f93cfa0b52b46bc40d3.mp4

Previsão de texto.

O menu no qual você define suas preferências para correção automática e sugestões personalizadas. Modelo de Linguagem do Transformador Você pode fazer com que o teclado preveja a próxima palavra que você digitará ou faça correções automáticas mais inteligentes, que usam um modelo de linguagem Transformer pré-treinado com base em conjuntos de dados disponíveis publicamente, ativando o Transformer LM . Observação: atualmente, isso funciona apenas em inglês, mas estamos trabalhando para torná-lo compatível com outros idiomas.

Ajuste fino do transformador.

Você pode fazer com que o teclado memorize o que você digita e quais sugestões você seleciona, o que treina o modelo de idioma (enquanto o telefone estiver inativo) para prever quais palavras sugerir e corrigir automaticamente enquanto você digita, ativando o ajuste fino do Transformer . Observação: este é o seu modelo de idioma pessoal e o FUTO não visualiza nem armazena nenhum dos seus dados.

Força do Modelo de Linguagem do Transformador.

Você pode fazer com que a correção automática se comporte mais como o teclado AOSP ou mais como a rede neural acessando Parâmetros avançados -> Intensidade do LM do transformador e arrastando o controle deslizante para um valor menor (o que tornará o comportamento da correção automática mais parecido com o teclado AOSP) ou um valor maior (o que tornará a correção automática mais dependente da rede neural). Limiar de correção automática Você pode alterar o limite da correção automática para que ela ocorra com mais ou menos frequência acessando Parâmetros avançados -> Limite de correção automática e arrastando o controle deslizante para um valor menor (o que fará com que a correção automática ocorra com mais frequência, mas também corrija erros com mais frequência) ou um valor maior (o que fará com que a correção automática ocorra com menos frequência, mas também corrija erros com menos frequência). https://video.nostr.build/ea9c100081acfcab60343c494a91f789ef8143c92343522ec34c714913631cf7.mp4

Lista negra de palavras.

Você pode colocar sugestões de palavras na lista negra, o que impedirá que o teclado continue sugerindo palavras na lista negra, acessando Sugestões na lista negra e adicionando as palavras que você gostaria de colocar na lista negra.

Palavras ofensivas.

Você pode bloquear palavras ofensivas, como palavrões comuns, acessando Sugestões na Lista Negra e marcando a opção Bloquear Palavras Ofensivas . Observação: a opção Bloquear Palavras Ofensivas está ativada por padrão. https://video.nostr.build/ee72f3940b9789bbea222c95ee74d646aae1a0f3bf658ef8114c6f7942bb50f5.mp4

Correção automática.

Você pode ativar a capacidade de corrigir automaticamente palavras digitadas incorretamente ao pressionar a barra de espaço ou digitar pontuação ativando a Correção automática.

Sugestões de correção.

Você pode ativar a capacidade de exibir palavras sugeridas enquanto digita marcando a opção Mostrar sugestões de correção.

Sugestões de palavras.

Você pode ativar a capacidade de aprender com suas comunicações e dados digitados para melhorar as sugestões ativando as Sugestões personalizadas . Observação: desativar as Sugestões personalizadas também desativa o ajuste fino do Transformer. https://video.nostr.build/2c22d109b9192eac8fe4533b3f8e3e1b5896dfd043817bd460c48a5b989b7a2f.mp4

Entrada de Voz – Configure a entrada de voz offline, incluindo a duração e a conversão de fala em texto.

Entrada de voz.

O menu no qual você define suas preferências de entrada de voz, como duração da entrada e configurações de conversão de fala em texto. Entrada de voz integrada Você pode desabilitar a entrada de voz integrada do teclado e, em vez disso, usar o provedor de entrada de voz de um aplicativo externo desativando a opção Desabilitar entrada de voz integrada. https://video.nostr.build/68916e5b338a9f999f45aa1828a6e05ccbf8def46da9516c0f516b40ca8c827b.mp4

Sons de indicação.

Você pode habilitar a capacidade de reproduzir sons ao iniciar e cancelar a entrada de voz ativando Sons de indicação. https://video.nostr.build/7f5fb6a6173c4db18945e138146fe65444e40953d85cee1f09c1a21d236d21f5.mp4

Progresso Detalhado.

Você pode habilitar a capacidade de exibir informações detalhadas, como indicar que o microfone está sendo usado, ativando Progresso detalhado. https://video.nostr.build/8ac2bb6bdd6e7f8bd4b45da423e782c152a2b4320f2e090cbb99fd5c78e8f44f.mp4

Microfone Bluetooth.

Você pode fazer com que a entrada de voz prefira automaticamente seu microfone Bluetooth em vez do microfone integrado, ativando Preferir microfone Bluetooth. https://video.nostr.build/c11404aa6fec2dda71ceb3aaee916c6761b3015fef9575a352de66b7310dad07.mp4

Foco de áudio.

Você pode fazer com que a entrada de voz pause automaticamente vídeos ou músicas quando ela estiver ativada, ativando o Foco de Áudio. https://video.nostr.build/4ac82af53298733d0c5013ef28befb8b2adeb4a4949604308317e124b6431d40.mp4

Supressão de Símbolos.

Por padrão, a entrada de voz transcreve apenas texto básico e pontuação. Você pode desativar a opção "Suprimir símbolos" para liberar a entrada de voz da transcrição de caracteres especiais (por exemplo, @, $ ou %). Observação: Isso não afeta a forma como a entrada de voz interpreta palavras literais (por exemplo, "vírgula", "ponto final"). https://video.nostr.build/10de49c5a9e35508caa14b66da28fae991a5ac8eabad9b086959fba18c07f8f3.mp4

Entrada de voz de formato longo.

Você pode desativar o limite padrão de 30 segundos para entrada de voz ativando a opção Entrada de voz longa . Observação: a qualidade da saída pode ser prejudicada com entradas longas. https://video.nostr.build/f438ee7a42939a5a3e6d6c4471905f836f038495eb3a00b39d9996d0e552c200.mp4

Parada automática em silêncio.

Você pode fazer com que a entrada de voz pare automaticamente quando o silêncio for detectado, ativando a opção Parar automaticamente ao silenciar . Observação: se houver muito ruído de fundo, pode ser necessário interromper manualmente a entrada de voz. Ative também a entrada de voz longa para evitar a interrupção após 30 segundos. https://video.nostr.build/056567696d513add63f6dd254c0a3001530917e05e792de80c12796d43958671.mp4

Dicionário Pessoal – Adicione palavras personalizadas para que o teclado aprenda e sugira com mais precisão.

Dicionário Pessoal.

O menu no qual você cria seu dicionário pessoal de palavras que o teclado irá lembrar e sugerir. Adicionar ao dicionário Você pode adicionar uma palavra ou frase ao seu dicionário pessoal pressionando o ícone de adição na tela "Dicionário pessoal" . Você também pode criar um atalho para ela no campo "Atalho" ao adicionar a palavra ou frase. https://video.nostr.build/dec41c666b9f2276cc20d9096e3a9b542b570afd1f679d8d0e8c43c8ea46bfcb.mp4

Excluir do dicionário.

Você pode excluir uma palavra ou frase do seu dicionário pessoal clicando nessa palavra ou frase e clicando no ícone de lixeira no canto superior direito. https://video.nostr.build/aca25643b5c7ead4c5d522709af4bc337911e49c4743b97dc75f6b877449143e.mp4

Tema – Escolha entre os temas disponíveis ou personalize a aparência do teclado conforme seu gosto.

Tema.

O menu no qual você seleciona seu tema preferido para o teclado. Alterar tema Você pode escolher entre uma variedade de temas para o teclado, incluindo Modo Escuro, Modo Claro, Automático Dinâmico, Escuro Dinâmico, Claro Dinâmico, Material AOSP Escuro, Material AOSP Claro, Roxo Escuro AMOLED, Girassol, Queda de Neve, Cinza Aço, Esmeralda, Algodão Doce, Luz do Mar Profundo, Escuro do Mar Profundo, Gradiente 1, Tema FUTO VI ou Tema Construção . A possibilidade de personalizar seu tema será disponibilizada em breve. https://video.nostr.build/90c8de72f08cb0d8c40ac2fba2fd39451ff63ec1592ddd2629d0891c104bc61e.mp4

Fronteiras Principais.

Você pode habilitar as bordas das teclas rolando para baixo até o final e ativando Bordas das teclas . https://video.nostr.build/fa2087d68ce3fb2d3adb84cc2ec19c4d5383beb8823a4b6d1d85378ab3507ab1.mp4

Site oficial https://keyboard.futo.org/

Baixar no fdroid. https://app.futo.org/fdroid/repo/

Para instalar através do Obtainium , basta ir em Adicionar Aplicativo e colar esta URL do repositório:  https://github.com/futo-org/android-keyboard

A adição pode demorar um pouco dependendo da velocidade da sua internet, pois o APK precisa ser baixado.

@ 6be5cc06:5259daf0

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

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

Dicas Extras

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

@ 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.

@ 5f078e90:b2bacaa3

Panda story 1

Initially posted on Hive, story is between 300 and 500 characters. Should become a Nostr kind 30023. Image has markdown.

In a misty bamboo forest, a red panda named Rolo discovered a glowing berry. Curious, he nibbled it and began to float! Drifting over treetops, he saw his friends below, waving. Rolo somersaulted through clouds, giggling as wind tickled his fur. The berry's magic faded at dusk, landing him softly by a stream. His pals cheered his tale, and Rolo dreamed of more adventures, his heart light as the breeze. (349 characters)

---

Originally posted on Hive at https://hive.blog/@hostr/panda-story-1

Cross-posted using Hostr, version 0.0.1

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

Warning: This piece contains a conversation about difficult topics. Please proceed with caution.

TL;DR please educate your children about online safety.

Julian Assange wrote in his 2012 book Cypherpunks, “This book is not a manifesto. There isn’t time for that. This book is a warning.” I read it a few times over the past summer. Those opening lines definitely stood out to me. I wish we had listened back then. He saw something about the internet that few had the ability to see. There are some individuals who are so close to a topic that when they speak, it’s difficult for others who aren’t steeped in it to visualize what they’re talking about. I didn’t read the book until more recently. If I had read it when it came out, it probably would have sounded like an unknown foreign language to me. Today it makes more sense.

This isn’t a manifesto. This isn’t a book. There is no time for that. It’s a warning and a possible solution from a desperate and determined survivor advocate who has been pulling and unraveling a thread for a few years. At times, I feel too close to this topic to make any sense trying to convey my pathway to my conclusions or thoughts to the general public. My hope is that if nothing else, I can convey my sense of urgency while writing this. This piece is a watchman’s warning.

When a child steps online, they are walking into a new world. A new reality. When you hand a child the internet, you are handing them possibilities—good, bad, and ugly. This is a conversation about lowering the potential of negative outcomes of stepping into that new world and how I came to these conclusions. I constantly compare the internet to the road. You wouldn’t let a young child run out into the road with no guidance or safety precautions. When you hand a child the internet without any type of guidance or safety measures, you are allowing them to play in rush hour, oncoming traffic. “Look left, look right for cars before crossing.” We almost all have been taught that as children. What are we taught as humans about safety before stepping into a completely different reality like the internet? Very little.

I could never really figure out why many folks in tech, privacy rights activists, and hackers seemed so cold to me while talking about online child sexual exploitation. I always figured that as a survivor advocate for those affected by these crimes, that specific, skilled group of individuals would be very welcoming and easy to talk to about such serious topics. I actually had one hacker laugh in my face when I brought it up while I was looking for answers. I thought maybe this individual thought I was accusing them of something I wasn’t, so I felt bad for asking. I was constantly extremely disappointed and would ask myself, “Why don’t they care? What could I say to make them care more? What could I say to make them understand the crisis and the level of suffering that happens as a result of the problem?”

I have been serving minor survivors of online child sexual exploitation for years. My first case serving a survivor of this specific crime was in 2018—a 13-year-old girl sexually exploited by a serial predator on Snapchat. That was my first glimpse into this side of the internet. I won a national award for serving the minor survivors of Twitter in 2023, but I had been working on that specific project for a few years. I was nominated by a lawyer representing two survivors in a legal battle against the platform. I’ve never really spoken about this before, but at the time it was a choice for me between fighting Snapchat or Twitter. I chose Twitter—or rather, Twitter chose me. I heard about the story of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, and I was so unbelievably broken over it that I went to war for multiple years. I was and still am royally pissed about that case. As far as I was concerned, the John Doe #1 case proved that whatever was going on with corporate tech social media was so out of control that I didn’t have time to wait, so I got to work. It was reading the messages that John Doe #1 sent to Twitter begging them to remove his sexual exploitation that broke me. He was a child begging adults to do something. A passion for justice and protecting kids makes you do wild things. I was desperate to find answers about what happened and searched for solutions. In the end, the platform Twitter was purchased. During the acquisition, I just asked Mr. Musk nicely to prioritize the issue of detection and removal of child sexual exploitation without violating digital privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption. Elon thanked me multiple times during the acquisition, made some changes, and I was thanked by others on the survivors’ side as well.

I still feel that even with the progress made, I really just scratched the surface with Twitter, now X. I left that passion project when I did for a few reasons. I wanted to give new leadership time to tackle the issue. Elon Musk made big promises that I knew would take a while to fulfill, but mostly I had been watching global legislation transpire around the issue, and frankly, the governments are willing to go much further with X and the rest of corporate tech than I ever would. My work begging Twitter to make changes with easier reporting of content, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation material—without violating privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption—and advocating for the minor survivors of the platform went as far as my principles would have allowed. I’m grateful for that experience. I was still left with a nagging question: “How did things get so bad with Twitter where the John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 case was able to happen in the first place?” I decided to keep looking for answers. I decided to keep pulling the thread.

I never worked for Twitter. This is often confusing for folks. I will say that despite being disappointed in the platform’s leadership at times, I loved Twitter. I saw and still see its value. I definitely love the survivors of the platform, but I also loved the platform. I was a champion of the platform’s ability to give folks from virtually around the globe an opportunity to speak and be heard.

I want to be clear that John Doe #1 really is my why. He is the inspiration. I am writing this because of him. He represents so many globally, and I’m still inspired by his bravery. One child’s voice begging adults to do something—I’m an adult, I heard him. I’d go to war a thousand more lifetimes for that young man, and I don’t even know his name. Fighting has been personally dark at times; I’m not even going to try to sugarcoat it, but it has been worth it.

The data surrounding the very real crime of online child sexual exploitation is available to the public online at any time for anyone to see. I’d encourage you to go look at the data for yourself. I believe in encouraging folks to check multiple sources so that you understand the full picture. If you are uncomfortable just searching around the internet for information about this topic, use the terms “CSAM,” “CSEM,” “SG-CSEM,” or “AI Generated CSAM.” The numbers don’t lie—it’s a nightmare that’s out of control. It’s a big business. The demand is high, and unfortunately, business is booming. Organizations collect the data, tech companies often post their data, governments report frequently, and the corporate press has covered a decent portion of the conversation, so I’m sure you can find a source that you trust.

Technology is changing rapidly, which is great for innovation as a whole but horrible for the crime of online child sexual exploitation. Those wishing to exploit the vulnerable seem to be adapting to each technological change with ease. The governments are so far behind with tackling these issues that as I’m typing this, it’s borderline irrelevant to even include them while speaking about the crime or potential solutions. Technology is changing too rapidly, and their old, broken systems can’t even dare to keep up. Think of it like the governments’ “War on Drugs.” Drugs won. In this case as well, the governments are not winning. The governments are talking about maybe having a meeting on potentially maybe having legislation around the crimes. The time to have that meeting would have been many years ago. I’m not advocating for governments to legislate our way out of this. I’m on the side of educating and innovating our way out of this.

I have been clear while advocating for the minor survivors of corporate tech platforms that I would not advocate for any solution to the crime that would violate digital privacy rights or erode end-to-end encryption. That has been a personal moral position that I was unwilling to budge on. This is an extremely unpopular and borderline nonexistent position in the anti-human trafficking movement and online child protection space. I’m often fearful that I’m wrong about this. I have always thought that a better pathway forward would have been to incentivize innovation for detection and removal of content. I had no previous exposure to privacy rights activists or Cypherpunks—actually, I came to that conclusion by listening to the voices of MENA region political dissidents and human rights activists. After developing relationships with human rights activists from around the globe, I realized how important privacy rights and encryption are for those who need it most globally. I was simply unwilling to give more power, control, and opportunities for mass surveillance to big abusers like governments wishing to enslave entire nations and untrustworthy corporate tech companies to potentially end some portion of abuses online. On top of all of it, it has been clear to me for years that all potential solutions outside of violating digital privacy rights to detect and remove child sexual exploitation online have not yet been explored aggressively. I’ve been disappointed that there hasn’t been more of a conversation around preventing the crime from happening in the first place.

What has been tried is mass surveillance. In China, they are currently under mass surveillance both online and offline, and their behaviors are attached to a social credit score. Unfortunately, even on state-run and controlled social media platforms, they still have child sexual exploitation and abuse imagery pop up along with other crimes and human rights violations. They also have a thriving black market online due to the oppression from the state. In other words, even an entire loss of freedom and privacy cannot end the sexual exploitation of children online. It’s been tried. There is no reason to repeat this method.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why I always felt a slight coldness from those in tech and privacy-minded individuals about the topic of child sexual exploitation online. I didn’t have any clue about the “Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse.” This is a term coined by Timothy C. May in 1988. I would have been a child myself when he first said it. I actually laughed at myself when I heard the phrase for the first time. I finally got it. The Cypherpunks weren’t wrong about that topic. They were so spot on that it is borderline uncomfortable. I was mad at first that they knew that early during the birth of the internet that this issue would arise and didn’t address it. Then I got over it because I realized that it wasn’t their job. Their job was—is—to write code. Their job wasn’t to be involved and loving parents or survivor advocates. Their job wasn’t to educate children on internet safety or raise awareness; their job was to write code.

They knew that child sexual abuse material would be shared on the internet. They said what would happen—not in a gleeful way, but a prediction. Then it happened.

I equate it now to a concrete company laying down a road. As you’re pouring the concrete, you can say to yourself, “A terrorist might travel down this road to go kill many, and on the flip side, a beautiful child can be born in an ambulance on this road.” Who or what travels down the road is not their responsibility—they are just supposed to lay the concrete. I’d never go to a concrete pourer and ask them to solve terrorism that travels down roads. Under the current system, law enforcement should stop terrorists before they even make it to the road. The solution to this specific problem is not to treat everyone on the road like a terrorist or to not build the road.

So I understand the perceived coldness from those in tech. Not only was it not their job, but bringing up the topic was seen as the equivalent of asking a free person if they wanted to discuss one of the four topics—child abusers, terrorists, drug dealers, intellectual property pirates, etc.—that would usher in digital authoritarianism for all who are online globally.

Privacy rights advocates and groups have put up a good fight. They stood by their principles. Unfortunately, when it comes to corporate tech, I believe that the issue of privacy is almost a complete lost cause at this point. It’s still worth pushing back, but ultimately, it is a losing battle—a ticking time bomb.

I do think that corporate tech providers could have slowed down the inevitable loss of privacy at the hands of the state by prioritizing the detection and removal of CSAM when they all started online. I believe it would have bought some time, fewer would have been traumatized by that specific crime, and I do believe that it could have slowed down the demand for content. If I think too much about that, I’ll go insane, so I try to push the “if maybes” aside, but never knowing if it could have been handled differently will forever haunt me. At night when it’s quiet, I wonder what I would have done differently if given the opportunity. I’ll probably never know how much corporate tech knew and ignored in the hopes that it would go away while the problem continued to get worse. They had different priorities. The most voiceless and vulnerable exploited on corporate tech never had much of a voice, so corporate tech providers didn’t receive very much pushback.

Now I’m about to say something really wild, and you can call me whatever you want to call me, but I’m going to say what I believe to be true. I believe that the governments are either so incompetent that they allowed the proliferation of CSAM online, or they knowingly allowed the problem to fester long enough to have an excuse to violate privacy rights and erode end-to-end encryption. The US government could have seized the corporate tech providers over CSAM, but I believe that they were so useful as a propaganda arm for the regimes that they allowed them to continue virtually unscathed.

That season is done now, and the governments are making the issue a priority. It will come at a high cost. Privacy on corporate tech providers is virtually done as I’m typing this. It feels like a death rattle. I’m not particularly sure that we had much digital privacy to begin with, but the illusion of a veil of privacy feels gone.

To make matters slightly more complex, it would be hard to convince me that once AI really gets going, digital privacy will exist at all.

I believe that there should be a conversation shift to preserving freedoms and human rights in a post-privacy society.

I don’t want to get locked up because AI predicted a nasty post online from me about the government. I’m not a doomer about AI—I’m just going to roll with it personally. I’m looking forward to the positive changes that will be brought forth by AI. I see it as inevitable. A bit of privacy was helpful while it lasted. Please keep fighting to preserve what is left of privacy either way because I could be wrong about all of this.

On the topic of AI, the addition of AI to the horrific crime of child sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation in multiple ways so far has been devastating. It’s currently out of control. The genie is out of the bottle. I am hopeful that innovation will get us humans out of this, but I’m not sure how or how long it will take. We must be extremely cautious around AI legislation. It should not be illegal to innovate even if some bad comes with the good. I don’t trust that the governments are equipped to decide the best pathway forward for AI. Source: the entire history of the government.

I have been personally negatively impacted by AI-generated content. Every few days, I get another alert that I’m featured again in what’s called “deep fake pornography” without my consent. I’m not happy about it, but what pains me the most is the thought that for a period of time down the road, many globally will experience what myself and others are experiencing now by being digitally sexually abused in this way. If you have ever had your picture taken and posted online, you are also at risk of being exploited in this way. Your child’s image can be used as well, unfortunately, and this is just the beginning of this particular nightmare. It will move to more realistic interpretations of sexual behaviors as technology improves. I have no brave words of wisdom about how to deal with that emotionally. I do have hope that innovation will save the day around this specific issue. I’m nervous that everyone online will have to ID verify due to this issue. I see that as one possible outcome that could help to prevent one problem but inadvertently cause more problems, especially for those living under authoritarian regimes or anyone who needs to remain anonymous online. A zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) would probably be the best solution to these issues. There are some survivors of violence and/or sexual trauma who need to remain anonymous online for various reasons. There are survivor stories available online of those who have been abused in this way. I’d encourage you seek out and listen to their stories.

There have been periods of time recently where I hesitate to say anything at all because more than likely AI will cover most of my concerns about education, awareness, prevention, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation online, etc.

Unfortunately, some of the most pressing issues we’ve seen online over the last few years come in the form of “sextortion.” Self-generated child sexual exploitation (SG-CSEM) numbers are continuing to be terrifying. I’d strongly encourage that you look into sextortion data. AI + sextortion is also a huge concern. The perpetrators are using the non-sexually explicit images of children and putting their likeness on AI-generated child sexual exploitation content and extorting money, more imagery, or both from minors online. It’s like a million nightmares wrapped into one. The wild part is that these issues will only get more pervasive because technology is harnessed to perpetuate horror at a scale unimaginable to a human mind.

Even if you banned phones and the internet or tried to prevent children from accessing the internet, it wouldn’t solve it. Child sexual exploitation will still be with us until as a society we start to prevent the crime before it happens. That is the only human way out right now.

There is no reset button on the internet, but if I could go back, I’d tell survivor advocates to heed the warnings of the early internet builders and to start education and awareness campaigns designed to prevent as much online child sexual exploitation as possible. The internet and technology moved quickly, and I don’t believe that society ever really caught up. We live in a world where a child can be groomed by a predator in their own home while sitting on a couch next to their parents watching TV. We weren’t ready as a species to tackle the fast-paced algorithms and dangers online. It happened too quickly for parents to catch up. How can you parent for the ever-changing digital world unless you are constantly aware of the dangers?

I don’t think that the internet is inherently bad. I believe that it can be a powerful tool for freedom and resistance. I’ve spoken a lot about the bad online, but there is beauty as well. We often discuss how victims and survivors are abused online; we rarely discuss the fact that countless survivors around the globe have been able to share their experiences, strength, hope, as well as provide resources to the vulnerable. I do question if giving any government or tech company access to censorship, surveillance, etc., online in the name of serving survivors might not actually impact a portion of survivors negatively. There are a fair amount of survivors with powerful abusers protected by governments and the corporate press. If a survivor cannot speak to the press about their abuse, the only place they can go is online, directly or indirectly through an independent journalist who also risks being censored. This scenario isn’t hard to imagine—it already happened in China. During #MeToo, a survivor in China wanted to post their story. The government censored the post, so the survivor put their story on the blockchain. I’m excited that the survivor was creative and brave, but it’s terrifying to think that we live in a world where that situation is a necessity.

I believe that the future for many survivors sharing their stories globally will be on completely censorship-resistant and decentralized protocols. This thought in particular gives me hope. When we listen to the experiences of a diverse group of survivors, we can start to understand potential solutions to preventing the crimes from happening in the first place.

My heart is broken over the gut-wrenching stories of survivors sexually exploited online. Every time I hear the story of a survivor, I do think to myself quietly, “What could have prevented this from happening in the first place?” My heart is with survivors.

My head, on the other hand, is full of the understanding that the internet should remain free. The free flow of information should not be stopped. My mind is with the innocent citizens around the globe that deserve freedom both online and offline.

The problem is that governments don’t only want to censor illegal content that violates human rights—they create legislation that is so broad that it can impact speech and privacy of all. “Don’t you care about the kids?” Yes, I do. I do so much that I’m invested in finding solutions. I also care about all citizens around the globe that deserve an opportunity to live free from a mass surveillance society. If terrorism happens online, I should not be punished by losing my freedom. If drugs are sold online, I should not be punished. I’m not an abuser, I’m not a terrorist, and I don’t engage in illegal behaviors. I refuse to lose freedom because of others’ bad behaviors online.

I want to be clear that on a long enough timeline, the governments will decide that they can be better parents/caregivers than you can if something isn’t done to stop minors from being sexually exploited online. The price will be a complete loss of anonymity, privacy, free speech, and freedom of religion online. I find it rather insulting that governments think they’re better equipped to raise children than parents and caretakers.

So we can’t go backwards—all that we can do is go forward. Those who want to have freedom will find technology to facilitate their liberation. This will lead many over time to decentralized and open protocols. So as far as I’m concerned, this does solve a few of my worries—those who need, want, and deserve to speak freely online will have the opportunity in most countries—but what about online child sexual exploitation?

When I popped up around the decentralized space, I was met with the fear of censorship. I’m not here to censor you. I don’t write code. I couldn’t censor anyone or any piece of content even if I wanted to across the internet, no matter how depraved. I don’t have the skills to do that.

I’m here to start a conversation. Freedom comes at a cost. You must always fight for and protect your freedom. I can’t speak about protecting yourself from all of the Four Horsemen because I simply don’t know the topics well enough, but I can speak about this one topic.

If there was a shortcut to ending online child sexual exploitation, I would have found it by now. There isn’t one right now. I believe that education is the only pathway forward to preventing the crime of online child sexual exploitation for future generations.

I propose a yearly education course for every child of all school ages, taught as a standard part of the curriculum. Ideally, parents/caregivers would be involved in the education/learning process.

Course: - The creation of the internet and computers - The fight for cryptography - The tech supply chain from the ground up (example: human rights violations in the supply chain) - Corporate tech - Freedom tech - Data privacy - Digital privacy rights - AI (history-current) - Online safety (predators, scams, catfishing, extortion) - Bitcoin - Laws - How to deal with online hate and harassment - Information on who to contact if you are being abused online or offline - Algorithms - How to seek out the truth about news, etc., online

The parents/caregivers, homeschoolers, unschoolers, and those working to create decentralized parallel societies have been an inspiration while writing this, but my hope is that all children would learn this course, even in government ran schools. Ideally, parents would teach this to their own children.

The decentralized space doesn’t want child sexual exploitation to thrive. Here’s the deal: there has to be a strong prevention effort in order to protect the next generation. The internet isn’t going anywhere, predators aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not down to let anyone have the opportunity to prove that there is a need for more government. I don’t believe that the government should act as parents. The governments have had a chance to attempt to stop online child sexual exploitation, and they didn’t do it. Can we try a different pathway forward?

I’d like to put myself out of a job. I don’t want to ever hear another story like John Doe #1 ever again. This will require work. I’ve often called online child sexual exploitation the lynchpin for the internet. It’s time to arm generations of children with knowledge and tools. I can’t do this alone.

Individuals have fought so that I could have freedom online. I want to fight to protect it. I don’t want child predators to give the government any opportunity to take away freedom. Decentralized spaces are as close to a reset as we’ll get with the opportunity to do it right from the start. Start the youth off correctly by preventing potential hazards to the best of your ability.

The good news is anyone can work on this! I’d encourage you to take it and run with it. I added the additional education about the history of the internet to make the course more educational and fun. Instead of cleaning up generations of destroyed lives due to online sexual exploitation, perhaps this could inspire generations of those who will build our futures. Perhaps if the youth is armed with knowledge, they can create more tools to prevent the crime.

This one solution that I’m suggesting can be done on an individual level or on a larger scale. It should be adjusted depending on age, learning style, etc. It should be fun and playful.

This solution does not address abuse in the home or some of the root causes of offline child sexual exploitation. My hope is that it could lead to some survivors experiencing abuse in the home an opportunity to disclose with a trusted adult. The purpose for this solution is to prevent the crime of online child sexual exploitation before it occurs and to arm the youth with the tools to contact safe adults if and when it happens.

In closing, I went to hell a few times so that you didn’t have to. I spoke to the mothers of survivors of minors sexually exploited online—their tears could fill rivers. I’ve spoken with political dissidents who yearned to be free from authoritarian surveillance states. The only balance that I’ve found is freedom online for citizens around the globe and prevention from the dangers of that for the youth. Don’t slow down innovation and freedom. Educate, prepare, adapt, and look for solutions.

I’m not perfect and I’m sure that there are errors in this piece. I hope that you find them and it starts a conversation.

@ e31e84c4:77bbabc0

Bitcoin and Fixed Income was Written By Wyatt O’Rourke. If you enjoyed this article then support his writing, directly, by donating to his lightning wallet: ultrahusky3@primal.net

Fiduciary duty is the obligation to act in the client’s best interests at all times, prioritizing their needs above the advisor’s own, ensuring honesty, transparency, and avoiding conflicts of interest in all recommendations and actions.

This is something all advisors in the BFAN take very seriously; after all, we are legally required to do so. For the average advisor this is a fairly easy box to check. All you essentially have to do is have someone take a 5-minute risk assessment, fill out an investment policy statement, and then throw them in the proverbial 60/40 portfolio. You have thousands of investment options to choose from and you can reasonably explain how your client is theoretically insulated from any move in the \~markets\~. From the traditional financial advisor perspective, you could justify nearly anything by putting a client into this type of portfolio. All your bases were pretty much covered from return profile, regulatory, compliance, investment options, etc. It was just too easy. It became the household standard and now a meme.

As almost every real bitcoiner knows, the 60/40 portfolio is moving into psyop territory, and many financial advisors get clowned on for defending this relic on bitcoin twitter. I’m going to specifically poke fun at the ‘40’ part of this portfolio.

The ‘40’ represents fixed income, defined as…

An investment type that provides regular, set interest payments, such as bonds or treasury securities, and returns the principal at maturity. It’s generally considered a lower-risk asset class, used to generate stable income and preserve capital.

Historically, this part of the portfolio was meant to weather the volatility in the equity markets and represent the “safe” investments. Typically, some sort of bond.

First and foremost, the fixed income section is most commonly constructed with U.S. Debt. There are a couple main reasons for this. Most financial professionals believe the same fairy tale that U.S. Debt is “risk free” (lol). U.S. debt is also one of the largest and most liquid assets in the market which comes with a lot of benefits.

There are many brilliant bitcoiners in finance and economics that have sounded the alarm on the U.S. debt ticking time bomb. I highly recommend readers explore the work of Greg Foss, Lawrence Lepard, Lyn Alden, and Saifedean Ammous. My very high-level recap of their analysis:

• A bond is a contract in which Party A (the borrower) agrees to repay Party B (the lender) their principal plus interest over time.

• The U.S. government issues bonds (Treasury securities) to finance its operations after tax revenues have been exhausted.

• These are traditionally viewed as “risk-free” due to the government’s historical reliability in repaying its debts and the strength of the U.S. economy

• U.S. bonds are seen as safe because the government has control over the dollar (world reserve asset) and, until recently (20 some odd years), enjoyed broad confidence that it would always honor its debts.

• This perception has contributed to high global demand for U.S. debt but, that is quickly deteriorating.

• The current debt situation raises concerns about sustainability.

• The U.S. has substantial obligations, and without sufficient productivity growth, increasing debt may lead to a cycle where borrowing to cover interest leads to more debt.

• This could result in more reliance on money creation (printing), which can drive inflation and further debt burdens.

In the words of Lyn Alden “Nothing stops this train”

Those obligations are what makes up the 40% of most the fixed income in your portfolio. So essentially you are giving money to one of the worst capital allocators in the world (U.S. Gov’t) and getting paid back with printed money.

As someone who takes their fiduciary responsibility seriously and understands the debt situation we just reviewed, I think it’s borderline negligent to put someone into a classic 60% (equities) / 40% (fixed income) portfolio without serious scrutiny of the client’s financial situation and options available to them. I certainly have my qualms with equities at times, but overall, they are more palatable than the fixed income portion of the portfolio. I don’t like it either, but the money is broken and the unit of account for nearly every equity or fixed income instrument (USD) is fraudulent. It’s a paper mache fade that is quite literally propped up by the money printer.

To briefly be as most charitable as I can – It wasn’t always this way. The U.S. Dollar used to be sound money, we used to have government surplus instead of mathematically certain deficits, The U.S. Federal Government didn’t used to have a money printing addiction, and pre-bitcoin the 60/40 portfolio used to be a quality portfolio management strategy. Those times are gone.

Now the fun part. How does bitcoin fix this?

Bitcoin fixes this indirectly. Understanding investment criteria changes via risk tolerance, age, goals, etc. A client may still have a need for “fixed income” in the most literal definition – Low risk yield. Now you may be thinking that yield is a bad word in bitcoin land, you’re not wrong, so stay with me. Perpetual motion machine crypto yield is fake and largely where many crypto scams originate. However, that doesn’t mean yield in the classic finance sense does not exist in bitcoin, it very literally does. Fortunately for us bitcoiners there are many other smart, driven, and enterprising bitcoiners that understand this problem and are doing something to address it. These individuals are pioneering new possibilities in bitcoin and finance, specifically when it comes to fixed income.

Here are some new developments –

Private Credit Funds – The Build Asset Management Secured Income Fund I is a private credit fund created by Build Asset Management. This fund primarily invests in bitcoin-backed, collateralized business loans originated by Unchained, with a secured structure involving a multi-signature, over-collateralized setup for risk management. Unchained originates loans and sells them to Build, which pools them into the fund, enabling investors to share in the interest income.

Dynamics

• Loan Terms: Unchained issues loans at interest rates around 14%, secured with a 2/3 multi-signature vault backed by a 40% loan-to-value (LTV) ratio.
• Fund Mechanics: Build buys these loans from Unchained, thus providing liquidity to Unchained for further loan originations, while Build manages interest payments to investors in the fund.

Pros

• The fund offers a unique way to earn income via bitcoin-collateralized debt, with protection against rehypothecation and strong security measures, making it attractive for investors seeking exposure to fixed income with bitcoin.

Cons

• The fund is only available to accredited investors, which is a regulatory standard for private credit funds like this.

Corporate Bonds – MicroStrategy Inc. (MSTR), a business intelligence company, has leveraged its corporate structure to issue bonds specifically to acquire bitcoin as a reserve asset. This approach allows investors to indirectly gain exposure to bitcoin’s potential upside while receiving interest payments on their bond investments. Some other publicly traded companies have also adopted this strategy, but for the sake of this article we will focus on MSTR as they are the biggest and most vocal issuer.

Dynamics

• Issuance: MicroStrategy has issued senior secured notes in multiple offerings, with terms allowing the company to use the proceeds to purchase bitcoin.

• Interest Rates: The bonds typically carry high-yield interest rates, averaging around 6-8% APR, depending on the specific issuance and market conditions at the time of issuance.

• Maturity: The bonds have varying maturities, with most structured for multi-year terms, offering investors medium-term exposure to bitcoin’s value trajectory through MicroStrategy’s holdings.

Pros

• Indirect Bitcoin exposure with income provides a unique opportunity for investors seeking income from bitcoin-backed debt.

• Bonds issued by MicroStrategy offer relatively high interest rates, appealing for fixed-income investors attracted to the higher risk/reward scenarios.

Cons

• There are credit risks tied to MicroStrategy’s financial health and bitcoin’s performance. A significant drop in bitcoin prices could strain the company’s ability to service debt, increasing credit risk.

• Availability: These bonds are primarily accessible to institutional investors and accredited investors, limiting availability for retail investors.

Interest Payable in Bitcoin – River has introduced an innovative product, bitcoin Interest on Cash, allowing clients to earn interest on their U.S. dollar deposits, with the interest paid in bitcoin.

Dynamics

• Interest Payment: Clients earn an annual interest rate of 3.8% on their cash deposits. The accrued interest is converted to Bitcoin daily and paid out monthly, enabling clients to accumulate Bitcoin over time.

• Security and Accessibility: Cash deposits are insured up to $250,000 through River’s banking partner, Lead Bank, a member of the FDIC. All Bitcoin holdings are maintained in full reserve custody, ensuring that client assets are not lent or leveraged.

Pros

• There are no hidden fees or minimum balance requirements, and clients can withdraw their cash at any time.

• The 3.8% interest rate provides a predictable income stream, akin to traditional fixed-income investments.

Cons

• While the interest rate is fixed, the value of the Bitcoin received as interest can fluctuate, introducing potential variability in the investment’s overall return.

• Interest rate payments are on the lower side

Admittedly, this is a very small list, however, these types of investments are growing more numerous and meaningful. The reality is the existing options aren’t numerous enough to service every client that has a need for fixed income exposure. I challenge advisors to explore innovative options for fixed income exposure outside of sovereign debt, as that is most certainly a road to nowhere. It is my wholehearted belief and call to action that we need more options to help clients across the risk and capital allocation spectrum access a sound money standard.

Additional Resources

• River: The future of saving is here: Earn 3.8% on cash. Paid in Bitcoin.

• Onramp: Bitcoin, The Emergent Asset Class

• MicroStrategy: MicroStrategy Announces Pricing of Offering of Convertible Senior Notes

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Bitcoin and Fixed Income was Written By Wyatt O’Rourke. If you enjoyed this article then support his writing, directly, by donating to his lightning wallet: ultrahusky3@primal.net

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr: a quick introduction, attempt #2

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

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

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

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

@ 12fccfc8:8d67741e

„Wahrheit ist kein Besitz, den man verteidigt, sondern ein Prozess, den man gemeinsam gestaltet.“

– frei nach dem Geist freier Netzwerke und resilienter Systeme

Bitcoin ist mehr als nur ein monetäres Protokoll. Es ist ein kulturelles Artefakt, ein philosophisches Statement und ein praktischer Ausdruck radikaler Souveränität, kollektiver Verantwortung und struktureller Ethik. Wer Bitcoin ausschließlich als technologisches Experiment oder ökonomisches Asset betrachtet, verfehlt seine tiefere Bedeutung: Bitcoin ist eine politische Philosophie – nicht in Büchern niedergeschrieben, sondern in Code gegossen. Eine Philosophie, die nicht behauptet, die Wahrheit zu kennen, sondern eine Methode zur gemeinsamen Verifikation anbietet. Eine Philosophie des Konsenses.

Legitimität von unten

Im Zentrum dieser Philosophie steht die Einsicht, dass Legitimität nicht von oben gewährt, sondern von unten erzeugt wird. Keine zentrale Instanz entscheidet, was gilt. Keine Autorität garantiert Vertrauen. Stattdessen entsteht alles aus einem gemeinsamen, freiwilligen Prozess: offen, nachvollziehbar, überprüfbar. Bitcoin ersetzt Vertrauen in Personen durch Vertrauen in Regeln – nicht aus Zynismus, sondern aus epistemischer Bescheidenheit gegenüber menschlicher Fehlbarkeit.

Konsens ist keine Harmonie

Dieser Perspektivwechsel ist radikal. Er stellt nicht nur bestehende Geldsysteme infrage, sondern auch unsere politischen und institutionellen Grundlagen. Während klassische Systeme auf Hierarchien, auf Exklusivität und auf delegierter Macht beruhen, operiert Bitcoin auf Basis offener Teilhabe und individueller Verantwortung. Jeder Knoten ist autonom – aber keiner ist isoliert. Die Wahrheit, die sich im Netzwerk konstituiert, ist nicht das Produkt von Autorität, sondern das Ergebnis reproduzierbarer Verifikation. Nicht Glaube zählt, sondern Prüfung.

Regeln statt Meinungen

Konsens ist dabei kein romantischer Idealzustand, sondern ein dynamischer Balanceakt. Er wird nicht durch Harmonie hergestellt, sondern durch Reibung, durch Konflikt, durch Iteration. Konsens in Bitcoin ist kein Konsens der Meinungen, sondern der Regeln. Und genau darin liegt seine Stabilität. Denn wo Meinungen divergieren, können Regeln konvergieren – vorausgesetzt, sie sind transparent, überprüfbar und konsequent angewandt.

Wahlfreiheit als Systemdesign

Diese Logik verschiebt den Fokus von zentralisierter Macht zu verteilter Verantwortung. Bitcoin kennt keine exekutive Gewalt, keine privilegierten Klassen, keine Instanz, die im Namen aller spricht. Es kennt nur Regeln – und die freie Entscheidung, ihnen zu folgen oder nicht. Wer sich dem Konsens nicht anschließen will, kann abspalten. Forking ist keine Katastrophe, sondern ein systemimmanenter Ausdruck von Wahlfreiheit. In der Möglichkeit der Spaltung liegt die Stärke der Struktur.

Freiheit als Infrastruktur

Diese strukturelle Freiheit unterscheidet sich grundlegend vom klassischen, liberalen Freiheitsverständnis. Es geht nicht um die Willkür des Einzelnen, sondern um die Freiheit von willkürlicher Macht. Es ist kein Plädoyer für Individualismus, sondern für institutionelle Unabhängigkeit. Die Architektur selbst garantiert die Freiheit – nicht eine Instanz, die über sie wacht. In dieser Ethik ist Freiheit kein Ideal, sondern ein Designprinzip. Kein Zustand, sondern eine Infrastruktur.

Gerechtigkeit durch Transparenz

Verantwortung entsteht nicht durch Appelle, sondern durch Transparenz. Jede Entscheidung, jede Transaktion, jeder Regelbruch ist öffentlich nachvollziehbar. Es gibt keine Geheimabsprachen, keine Privilegien, keine Ausnahmen. In dieser radikalen Offenheit liegt eine neue Form von Gerechtigkeit: nicht moralisch verordnet, sondern technisch ermöglicht. Gleichheit ist kein Ziel, sondern eine Eigenschaft des Systems selbst.

Ein Vorschlag für eine neue Ordnung

Bitcoin ist damit nicht nur ein technisches Protokoll, sondern ein Vorschlag für ein neues Modell gesellschaftlicher Ordnung. Eine Ordnung ohne Zentrum, aber nicht ohne Struktur. Eine Praxis der Wahrheit ohne Wahrheitsmonopol. Eine Gemeinschaft, die sich nicht über ideologische Übereinstimmung definiert, sondern über gemeinsame Regeln. Das politische Prinzip, das hier wirkt, ist die Zustimmung – nicht die Kontrolle.

Keine Utopie, sondern ein Anfang

In einer Zeit wachsender institutioneller Erosion, in der Vertrauen in klassische Strukturen schwindet, zeigt Bitcoin einen alternativen Weg: nicht zurück zur Vergangenheit, sondern nach vorn zu neuen Formen des Zusammenlebens. Es ist ein System, das sich nicht auf Versprechen verlässt, sondern auf Rechenbarkeit. Eine Ethik des Handelns, nicht des Glaubens. Eine Ordnung, die nicht durch Macht entsteht, sondern durch das Überflüssigmachen von Macht.

Bitcoin ist nicht perfekt. Aber es ist ehrlich in seiner Imperfektion. Es verspricht keine Utopie, sondern bietet ein robustes Werkzeug. Ein Werkzeug, das uns zwingt, über Macht, Wahrheit und Verantwortung neu nachzudenken. Es ist kein Ende, sondern ein Anfang – eine Einladung, eine neue politische Realität zu gestalten: nicht von oben diktiert, sondern von unten geschaffen.

@ 12fccfc8:8d67741e

„Die Zukunft kommt nicht von selbst. Sie wird still gebaut – Zeile für Zeile, Entscheidung für Entscheidung.“

– Ursprung vergessen, Wahrheit geblieben

Was, wenn all das – der Rückzug, das neue Geld, die Verantwortung, das Misstrauen – nicht Flucht ist, sondern Heimkehr? Nicht Ablehnung der Welt, sondern ihre bewusste Rekonstruktion? Was, wenn der wahre Bruch nicht darin liegt, ein anderes System zu benutzen, sondern darin, anders zu sein?

Technologie als Raum, nicht Ziel

Die Technologie war nie das Ziel. Sie ist nur der Raum, in dem sich etwas Menschlicheres entfalten kann: Klarheit. Konsequenz. Verantwortung ohne Zwang. Vertrauen ohne Blindheit. Eigentum ohne Bedingungen. Was mit Code beginnt, endet mit Haltung.

Entscheidung als Ursprung

Manche nennen es Exit. Andere Rebellion. Vielleicht ist es beides. Vielleicht ist es aber auch einfach der leise Moment, in dem jemand erkennt: Ich kann mich entscheiden. Und diese Entscheidung verändert nicht die Welt – aber sie verändert mich in ihr.

Freiheit in neuer Gestalt

Die Freiheit, die hier entsteht, ist nicht laut. Nicht kollektiv. Nicht romantisch. Sie ist nüchtern, präzise, anspruchsvoll. Sie fordert Selbstprüfung statt Meinung, Handlung statt Haltung. Und sie zieht keine Grenzen zwischen Mensch und Werkzeug – sie zeigt nur, was möglich wird, wenn man bereit ist, weniger zu verlangen und mehr zu tragen.

Bauen statt kämpfen

Das neue Geld, das neue Netzwerk, die neue Kultur – sie leben nicht irgendwo da draußen. Sie entstehen dort, wo jemand beschließt, nicht mehr mitzuspielen – und auch nicht mehr zu kämpfen. Sondern einfach zu bauen. Still. Beharrlich. Unaufhaltsam.

@ 3b3a42d3:d192e325

Atomic Signature Swaps (ASS) over Nostr is a protocol for atomically exchanging Schnorr signatures using Nostr events for orchestration. This new primitive enables multiple interesting applications like:

• Getting paid to publish specific Nostr events
• Issuing automatic payment receipts
• Contract signing in exchange for payment
• P2P asset exchanges
• Trading and enforcement of asset option contracts
• Payment in exchange for Nostr-based credentials or access tokens
• Exchanging GMs 🌞

It only requires that (i) the involved signatures be Schnorr signatures using the secp256k1 curve and that (ii) at least one of those signatures be accessible to both parties. These requirements are naturally met by Nostr events (published to relays), Taproot transactions (published to the mempool and later to the blockchain), and Cashu payments (using mints that support NUT-07, allowing any pair of these signatures to be swapped atomically.

How the Cryptographic Magic Works 🪄

This is a Schnorr signature (Zₓ, s):

s = z + H(Zₓ || P || m)⋅k

If you haven't seen it before, don't worry, neither did I until three weeks ago.

The signature scalar s is the the value a signer with private key k (and public key P = k⋅G) must calculate to prove his commitment over the message m given a randomly generated nonce z (Zₓ is just the x-coordinate of the public point Z = z⋅G). H is a hash function (sha256 with the tag "BIP0340/challenge" when dealing with BIP340), || just means to concatenate and G is the generator point of the elliptic curve, used to derive public values from private ones.

Now that you understand what this equation means, let's just rename z = r + t. We can do that, z is just a randomly generated number that can be represented as the sum of two other numbers. It also follows that z⋅G = r⋅G + t⋅G ⇔ Z = R + T. Putting it all back into the definition of a Schnorr signature we get:

s = (r + t) + H((R + T)ₓ || P || m)⋅k

Which is the same as:

s = sₐ + t where sₐ = r + H((R + T)ₓ || P || m)⋅k

sₐ is what we call the adaptor signature scalar) and t is the secret. ((R + T)ₓ, sₐ) is an incomplete signature that just becomes valid by add the secret t to the sₐ:

s = sₐ + t

What is also important for our purposes is that by getting access to the valid signature s, one can also extract t from it by just subtracting sₐ:

t = s - sₐ

The specific value of t depends on our choice of the public point T, since R is just a public point derived from a randomly generated nonce r.

So how do we choose T so that it requires the secret t to be the signature over a specific message m' by an specific public key P'? (without knowing the value of t)

Let's start with the definition of t as a valid Schnorr signature by P' over m':

t = r' + H(R'ₓ || P' || m')⋅k' ⇔ t⋅G = r'⋅G + H(R'ₓ || P' || m')⋅k'⋅G

That is the same as:

T = R' + H(R'ₓ || P' || m')⋅P'

Notice that in order to calculate the appropriate T that requires t to be an specific signature scalar, we only need to know the public nonce R' used to generate that signature.

In summary: in order to atomically swap Schnorr signatures, one party P' must provide a public nonce R', while the other party P must provide an adaptor signature using that nonce:

sₐ = r + H((R + T)ₓ || P || m)⋅k where T = R' + H(R'ₓ || P' || m')⋅P'

P' (the nonce provider) can then add his own signature t to the adaptor signature sₐ in order to get a valid signature by P, i.e. s = sₐ + t. When he publishes this signature (as a Nostr event, Cashu transaction or Taproot transaction), it becomes accessible to P that can now extract the signature t by P' and also make use of it.

Important considerations

A signature may not be useful at the end of the swap if it unlocks funds that have already been spent, or that are vulnerable to fee bidding wars.

When a swap involves a Taproot UTXO, it must always use a 2-of-2 multisig timelock to avoid those issues.

Cashu tokens do not require this measure when its signature is revealed first, because the mint won't reveal the other signature if they can't be successfully claimed, but they also require a 2-of-2 multisig timelock when its signature is only revealed last (what is unavoidable in cashu for cashu swaps).

For Nostr events, whoever receives the signature first needs to publish it to at least one relay that is accessible by the other party. This is a reasonable expectation in most cases, but may be an issue if the event kind involved is meant to be used privately.

How to Orchestrate the Swap over Nostr?

Before going into the specific event kinds, it is important to recognize what are the requirements they must meet and what are the concerns they must address. There are mainly three requirements:

• Both parties must agree on the messages they are going to sign
• One party must provide a public nonce
• The other party must provide an adaptor signature using that nonce

There is also a fundamental asymmetry in the roles of both parties, resulting in the following significant downsides for the party that generates the adaptor signature:

• NIP-07 and remote signers do not currently support the generation of adaptor signatures, so he must either insert his nsec in the client or use a fork of another signer
• There is an overhead of retrieving the completed signature containing the secret, either from the blockchain, mint endpoint or finding the appropriate relay
• There is risk he may not get his side of the deal if the other party only uses his signature privately, as I have already mentioned
• There is risk of losing funds by not extracting or using the signature before its timelock expires. The other party has no risk since his own signature won't be exposed by just not using the signature he received.

The protocol must meet all those requirements, allowing for some kind of role negotiation and while trying to reduce the necessary hops needed to complete the swap.

Swap Proposal Event (kind:455)

This event enables a proposer and his counterparty to agree on the specific messages whose signatures they intend to exchange. The content field is the following stringified JSON:

{     "give": <signature spec (required)>,     "take": <signature spec (required)>,     "exp": <expiration timestamp (optional)>,     "role": "<adaptor | nonce (optional)>",     "description": "<Info about the proposal (optional)>",     "nonce": "<Signature public nonce (optional)>",     "enc_s": "<Encrypted signature scalar (optional)>" }

The field role indicates what the proposer will provide during the swap, either the nonce or the adaptor. When this optional field is not provided, the counterparty may decide whether he will send a nonce back in a Swap Nonce event or a Swap Adaptor event using the nonce (optionally) provided by in the Swap Proposal in order to avoid one hop of interaction.

The enc_s field may be used to store the encrypted scalar of the signature associated with the nonce, since this information is necessary later when completing the adaptor signature received from the other party.

A signature spec specifies the type and all necessary information for producing and verifying a given signature. In the case of signatures for Nostr events, it contain a template with all the fields, except pubkey, id and sig:

{ "type": "nostr", "template": { "kind": "<kind>"        "content": "<content>"        "tags": [ … ],        "created_at": "<created_at>" } }

In the case of Cashu payments, a simplified signature spec just needs to specify the payment amount and an array of mints trusted by the proposer:

{   "type": "cashu",   "amount": "<amount>",   "mint": ["<acceptable mint_url>", …] }

This works when the payer provides the adaptor signature, but it still needs to be extended to also work when the payer is the one receiving the adaptor signature. In the later case, the signature spec must also include a timelock and the derived public keys Y of each Cashu Proof, but for now let's just ignore this situation. It should be mentioned that the mint must be trusted by both parties and also support Token state check (NUT-07) for revealing the completed adaptor signature and P2PK spending conditions (NUT-11) for the cryptographic scheme to work.

The tags are:

• "p", the proposal counterparty's public key (required)
• "a", a kind:30455 Swap Listing event or an application specific version of it (optional)

Forget about this Swap Listing event for now, I will get to it later...

Swap Nonce Event (kind:456) - Optional

This is an optional event for the Swap Proposal receiver to provide the public nonce of his signature when the proposal does not include a nonce or when he does not want to provide the adaptor signature due to the downsides previously mentioned. The content field is the following stringified JSON:

{     "nonce": "<Signature public nonce>",     "enc_s": "<Encrypted signature scalar (optional)>" }

And the tags must contain:

• "e", a kind:455 Swap Proposal Event (required)
• "p", the counterparty's public key (required)

Swap Adaptor Event (kind:457)

The content field is the following stringified JSON:

{ "adaptors": [ {         "sa": "<Adaptor signature scalar>",         "R": "<Signer's public nonce (including parity byte)>",         "T": "<Adaptor point (including parity byte)>",         "Y": "<Cashu proof derived public key (if applicable)>",     }, …],     "cashu": "<Cashu V4 token (if applicable)>" }

And the tags must contain:

• "e", a kind:455 Swap Proposal Event (required)
• "p", the counterparty's public key (required)

Discoverability

The Swap Listing event previously mentioned as an optional tag in the Swap Proposal may be used to find an appropriate counterparty for a swap. It allows a user to announce what he wants to accomplish, what his requirements are and what is still open for negotiation.

Swap Listing Event (kind:30455)

The content field is the following stringified JSON:

{ "description": "<Information about the listing (required)>", "give": <partial signature spec (optional)>, "take": <partial signature spec (optional)>, "examples: [<take signature spec>], // optional "exp": <expiration timestamp (optional)>, "role": "<adaptor | nonce (optional)>" }

The description field describes the restrictions on counterparties and signatures the user is willing to accept.

A partial signature spec is an incomplete signature spec used in Swap Proposal events kind:455 where omitting fields signals that they are still open for negotiation.

The examples field is an array of signature specs the user would be willing to take.

The tags are:

• "d", a unique listing id (required)
• "s", the status of the listing draft | open | closed (required)
• "t", topics related to this listing (optional)
• "p", public keys to notify about the proposal (optional)

Application Specific Swap Listings

Since Swap Listings are still fairly generic, it is expected that specific use cases define new event kinds based on the generic listing. Those application specific swap listing would be easier to filter by clients and may impose restrictions and add new fields and/or tags. The following are some examples under development:

Sponsored Events

This listing is designed for users looking to promote content on the Nostr network, as well as for those who want to monetize their accounts by sharing curated sponsored content with their existing audiences.

It follows the same format as the generic Swap Listing event, but uses the kind:30456 instead.

The following new tags are included:

• "k", event kind being sponsored (required)
• "title", campaign title (optional)

It is required that at least one signature spec (give and/or take) must have "type": "nostr" and also contain the following tag ["sponsor", "<pubkey>", "<attestation>"] with the sponsor's public key and his signature over the signature spec without the sponsor tag as his attestation. This last requirement enables clients to disclose and/or filter sponsored events.

Asset Swaps

This listing is designed for users looking for counterparties to swap different assets that can be transferred using Schnorr signatures, like any unit of Cashu tokens, Bitcoin or other asset IOUs issued using Taproot.

It follows the same format as the generic Swap Listing event, but uses the kind:30457 instead.

It requires the following additional tags:

• "t", asset pair to be swapped (e.g. "btcusd")
• "t", asset being offered (e.g. "btc")
• "t", accepted payment method (e.g. "cashu", "taproot")

Swap Negotiation

From finding an appropriate Swap Listing to publishing a Swap Proposal, there may be some kind of negotiation between the involved parties, e.g. agreeing on the amount to be paid by one of the parties or the exact content of a Nostr event signed by the other party. There are many ways to accomplish that and clients may implement it as they see fit for their specific goals. Some suggestions are:

• Adding kind:1111 Comments to the Swap Listing or an existing Swap Proposal
• Exchanging tentative Swap Proposals back and forth until an agreement is reached
• Simple exchanges of DMs
• Out of band communication (e.g. Signal)

Work to be done

I've been refining this specification as I develop some proof-of-concept clients to experience its flaws and trade-offs in practice. I left the signature spec for Taproot signatures out of the current document as I still have to experiment with it. I will probably find some important orchestration issues related to dealing with 2-of-2 multisig timelocks, which also affects Cashu transactions when spent last, that may require further adjustments to what was presented here.

The main goal of this article is to find other people interested in this concept and willing to provide valuable feedback before a PR is opened in the NIPs repository for broader discussions.

References

• GM Swap- Nostr client for atomically exchanging GM notes. Live demo available here.
• Sig4Sats Script - A Typescript script demonstrating the swap of a Cashu payment for a signed Nostr event.
• Loudr- Nostr client under development for sponsoring the publication of Nostr events. Live demo available at loudr.me.
• Poelstra, A. (2017). Scriptless Scripts. Blockstream Research. https://github.com/BlockstreamResearch/scriptless-scripts

@ 12fccfc8:8d67741e

„Vertrauen ist gut, Kontrolle ist besser – sagte die Macht.

Misstrauen ist gesund, Selbstverantwortung ist besser – sagte die Freiheit.“

– gehört im Rauschen, zwischen den Blöcken

Vertrauen ist die stille Grundlage jeder Gesellschaft. Doch es ist fragil. Es wird oft dort gefordert, wo es nicht verdient ist – in Systemen, die sich immun gemacht haben gegen Kontrolle, Konsequenz und Kritik. In diesen Strukturen ist Vertrauen keine Tugend mehr, sondern ein Werkzeug der Macht. Es wird benutzt, um Verantwortung abzugeben, um sich fügen zu müssen, um Teil eines Spiels zu sein, dessen Regeln man nicht mitbestimmen kann.

Misstrauen als Zeichen von Reife

Misstrauen gilt oft als Schwäche. Doch es kann auch ein Zeichen von Reife sein. Es ist nicht Ablehnung, sondern Prüfung. Nicht Paranoia, sondern Wachsamkeit. Wer misstraut, schützt sich nicht nur vor Täuschung, sondern verteidigt das eigene Urteilsvermögen.

Echtes Vertrauen braucht Kontrolle

Ein System, das auf echtem Vertrauen beruhen will, muss bereit sein, Misstrauen auszuhalten. Es muss transparent, überprüfbar, ersetzbar sein. Es darf Vertrauen nicht einfordern, sondern muss es verdienen. Vertrauen, das auf Kontrolle verzichtet, ist Glaube. Vertrauen, das auf überprüfbaren Regeln beruht, ist Klarheit.

Bitcoin: Vertrauen durch Verifikation

In diesem Spannungsfeld steht das neue Geld. Es sagt: Vertraue nicht mir. Vertraue dem, was du selbst verifizieren kannst. Es ersetzt nicht Vertrauen durch Misstrauen, sondern durch Offenheit. Es fordert nichts – es bietet nur das, was es ist: ein System ohne Hintertüren, ohne Verwalter, ohne Privilegien.

Darin liegt seine Stärke. Es ist nicht darauf angewiesen, dass jemand daran glaubt. Es funktioniert, weil niemand es verändern kann. Es belohnt diejenigen, die prüfen. Und es enttäuscht jene, die hoffen, dass andere für sie denken.

Jenseits von Vertrauen

Vertrauen ist eine Entscheidung. Misstrauen auch. Zwischen beiden steht Verantwortung – und wer bereit ist, sie zu tragen, wird beides nicht mehr brauchen.

@ f839fb67:5c930939

Relays

| Name | Address | Price (Sats/Year) | Status | | - | - | - | - | | stephen's aegis relay | wss://paid.relay.vanderwarker.family | 42069 | | | stephen's Outbox | wss://relay.vanderwarker.family | Just Me | | | stephen's Inbox | wss://haven.vanderwarker.family/inbox | WoT | | | stephen's DMs | wss://haven.vanderwarker.family/chat | WoT | | | VFam Data Relay | wss://data.relay.vanderwarker.family | 0 | | | VFam Bots Relay | wss://skeme.vanderwarker.family | Invite | | | VFGroups (NIP29) | wss://groups.vanderwarker.family | 0 | | | [TOR] My Phone Relay | ws://naswsosuewqxyf7ov7gr7igc4tq2rbtqoxxirwyhkbuns4lwc3iowwid.onion | 0 | Meh... |

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My Pubkeys

| Name | hex | nprofile | | - | - | - | | Main | f839fb6714598a7233d09dbd42af82cc9781d0faa57474f1841af90b5c930939 | nostr:nprofile1qqs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgpramhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3us9mapfx | | Vanity (Backup) | 82f21be67353c0d68438003fe6e56a35e2a57c49e0899b368b5ca7aa8dde7c23 | nostr:nprofile1qqsg9usmuee48sxkssuqq0lxu44rtc4903y7pzvmx694efa23h08cgcpramhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3ussel49x | | VFStore | 6416f1e658ba00d42107b05ad9bf485c7e46698217e0c19f0dc2e125de3af0d0 | nostr:nprofile1qqsxg9h3uevt5qx5yyrmqkkehay9cljxdxpp0cxpnuxu9cf9mca0p5qpramhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3usaa8plu | | NostrSMS | 9be1b8315248eeb20f9d9ab2717d1750e4f27489eab1fa531d679dadd34c2f8d | nostr:nprofile1qqsfhcdcx9fy3m4jp7we4vn305t4pe8jwjy74v062vwk08dd6dxzlrgpramhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3us595d45 |

Bots

Unlocks Bot

Hex: 2e941ad17144e0a04d1b8c21c4a0dbc3fbcbb9d08ae622b5f9c85341fac7c2d0
nprofile:
nostr:nprofile1qqsza9q669c5fc9qf5dccgwy5rdu877th8gg4e3zkhuus56pltru95qpramhxue69uhhx6m9d4jjuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3ust4kvak
Latest Data:
nostr:naddr1qq882mnvda3kkttrda6kuar9wgq37amnwvaz7tmnddjk6efwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyqhfgxk3w9zwpgzdrwxzr39qm0plhjae6z9wvg44l8y9xs06clpdqqcyqqq823cgnl9u5

Step Counter

Hex: 9223d2faeb95853b4d224a184c69e1df16648d35067a88cdf947c631b57e3de7
nprofile: nostr:nprofile1qqsfyg7jlt4etpfmf53y5xzvd8sa79ny356sv75gehu50333k4lrmecpramhxue69uhhx6m9d4jjuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3ustswp3w
Latest Data:
nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpy3r6tawh9v98dxjyjscf357rhckvjxn2pn63rxlj37xxx6hu008qys8wumn8ghj7umtv4kk2tnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jtcqp3ehgets943k7atww3jhyn39gff

RCTGuest

Hex: 373904615c781e46bf5bf87b4126c8a568a05393b1b840b1a2a3234d20affa0c
nprofile: nostr:nprofile1qqsrwwgyv9w8s8jxhadls76pymy2269q2wfmrwzqkx32xg6dyzhl5rqpramhxue69uhhx6m9d4jjuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3usy92jlx

Now Playing

Hex: 8096ed6ba1f21a3713bd47a503ee377b0ce2f187b3e5a3ae909a25b84901018b
nprofile: nostr:nprofile1qqsgp9hddwslyx3hzw750fgracmhkr8z7xrm8edr46gf5fdcfyqsrzcpramhxue69uhhx6m9d4jjuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3uspk5v4w
Latest Data:
nostr:naddr1qq9kummh94cxccted9hxwqglwaehxw309aekketdv5h8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0ypzpqyka446rus6xufm63a9q0hrw7cvutcc0vl95whfpx39hpyszqvtqvzqqqr4gupdk2hd

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NIP-29 Groups

See here

• Minecraft Group Chat
• nostr:naddr1qqrxvc33xpnxxqfqwaehxw309anhymm4wpejuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3usygrzymrpd2wz8ularp06y8ad5dgaddlumyt7tfzqge3vc97sgsarjvpsgqqqnpvqazypfd
• VFNet Group Chat
• nostr:naddr1qqrrwvfjx9jxzqfqwaehxw309anhymm4wpejuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3usygrzymrpd2wz8ularp06y8ad5dgaddlumyt7tfzqge3vc97sgsarjvpsgqqqnpvq08hx48

"Nostrified Websites"

[D] = Saves darkmode preferences over nostr
[A] = Auth over nostr
[B] = Beta (software)
[z] = zap enabled

• [DABz] Main Site
• [DAB] Contact Site
• [DAB] PGP Site
• [DAB] VFCA Site

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Other Services (Hosted code)

• Blossom
  
• NostrCheck
  

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Emojis Packs

• Minecraft
• nostr:naddr1qqy566twv43hyctxwsq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82nsd0k5wp
• AIM
• nostr:naddr1qqxxz6tdv4kk7arfvdhkuucpramhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuanpdejx2unhv9exketj9enxzmtfd3usyg8c88akw9ze3fer85yah4p2lqkvj7qap749w360rpq6ly94eycf8ypsgqqqw48qe0j2yk
• Blobs
• nostr:naddr1qqz5ymr0vfesz8mhwden5te0wfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqgs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgrqsqqqa2wek4ukj
• FavEmojis
• nostr:naddr1qqy5vctkg4kk76nfwvq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82nsf7sdwt
• Modern Family
• nostr:naddr1qqx56mmyv4exugzxv9kkjmreqy0hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jq3qlqulkec5tx98yv7snk759tuzejtcr5865468fuvyrtuskhynpyusxpqqqp65ujlj36n
• nostriches (Amethyst collection)
• nostr:naddr1qq9xummnw3exjcmgv4esz8mhwden5te0wfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqgs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgrqsqqqa2w2sqg6w
• Pepe
• nostr:naddr1qqz9qetsv5q37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82ns85f6x7
• Minecraft Font
• nostr:naddr1qq8y66twv43hyctxwssyvmmwwsq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82nsmzftgr
• Archer Font
• nostr:naddr1qq95zunrdpjhygzxdah8gqglwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0ypzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqvzqqqr4fclkyxsh
• SMB Font
• nostr:naddr1qqv4xatsv4ezqntpwf5k7gzzwfhhg6r9wfejq3n0de6qz8mhwden5te0wfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqgs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgrqsqqqa2w0wqpuk

---

Git Over Nostr

• NostrSMS
• nostr:naddr1qqyxummnw3e8xmtnqy0hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jqfrwaehxw309amk7apwwfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqyj8wumn8ghj7urpd9jzuun9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jqg5waehxw309aex2mrp0yhxgctdw4eju6t0qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqgs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgrqsqqqaueqp0epk
• nip51backup
• nostr:naddr1qq9ku6tsx5ckyctrdd6hqqglwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0yqjxamnwvaz7tmhda6zuun9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jqfywaehxw309acxz6ty9eex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0yq3gamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwv3sk6atn9e5k7qgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcq3qlqulkec5tx98yv7snk759tuzejtcr5865468fuvyrtuskhynpyusxpqqqpmej4gtqs6
• bukkitstr
• nostr:naddr1qqykyattdd5hgum5wgq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gpydmhxue69uhhwmm59eex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0yqjgamnwvaz7tmsv95kgtnjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dspzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqvzqqqrhnyf6g0n2

---

Market Places

Please use Nostr Market or somthing simular, to view.

• VFStore
• nostr:naddr1qqjx2v34xe3kxvpn95cnqven956rwvpc95unscn9943kxet98q6nxde58p3ryqglwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0yqjvamnwvaz7tmgv9mx2m3wweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7f0da6hgcn00qqjgamnwvaz7tmsv95kgtnjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gpydmhxue69uhhwmm59eex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0ypzqeqk78n93wsq6sss0vz6mxl5shr7ge5cy9lqcx0smshpyh0r4uxsqvzqqqr4gvlfm7gu

---

Badges

Created

• paidrelayvf
• nostr:naddr1qq9hqctfv3ex2mrp09mxvqglwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8vctwv3jhyampwf4k2u3wvesk66tv0ypzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqvzqqqr48y85v3u3
• iPow
• nostr:naddr1qqzxj5r02uq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82wgg02u0r
• codmaster
• nostr:naddr1qqykxmmyd4shxar9wgq37amnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwweskuer9wfmkzuntv4ezuenpd45kc7gzyrurn7m8z3vc5u3n6zwm6s40stxf0qwsl2jhga83ssd0jz6ujvynjqcyqqq82wgk3gm4g
• iMine
• nostr:naddr1qqzkjntfdejsz8mhwden5te0wfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqgs0sw0mvu29nznjx0gfm02z47pve9up6ra22ar57xzp47gttjfsjwgrqsqqqafed5s4x5

---

Clients I Use

• Amethyst
• nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3cx5urqv3nxymngdphqgsyvrp9u6p0mfur9dfdru3d853tx9mdjuhkphxuxgfwmryja7zsvhqrqsqqql8kavfpw3
• noStrudel
• nostr:naddr1qqxnzd3cxccrvd34xser2dpkqy28wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hsygpxdq27pjfppharynrvhg6h8v2taeya5ssf49zkl9yyu5gxe4qg55psgqqq0nmq5mza9n
• nostrsms
• nostr:naddr1qq9rzdejxcunxde4xymqz8mhwden5te0wfjkccte9emxzmnyv4e8wctjddjhytnxv9kkjmreqgsfhcdcx9fy3m4jp7we4vn305t4pe8jwjy74v062vwk08dd6dxzlrgrqsqqql8kjn33qm

---

Lists

• Bluesky
  • nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4xqpzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jtcqqapxcat9wd4hj0ah0jw
• Fediverse
  • nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4xqpzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jtcqp9rx2erfwejhyum9j4g0xh
• Fediverse_Bots
  • nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4xqpzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jtcqperx2erfwejhyum9tapx7arnfcpdzh
• My Bots
  • nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4xqpzp7peldn3gkv2wgeap8dag2hc9nyhs8g04ft5wnccgxhepdwfxzfeqys8wumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnkv9hxgetjwashy6m9wghxvctdd9k8jtcqz4uh5jnpwscyss24fpkxw4fewafk566twa2q8f6fyk

@ 3ffac3a6:2d656657

🏅 Como Criar um Badge Épico no Nostr com nak + badges.page

Requisitos:

• Ter o nak instalado (https://github.com/fiatjaf/nak)
• Ter uma chave privada Nostr (nsec...)
• Acesso ao site https://badges.page
• Um relay ativo (ex: wss://relay.primal.net)

---

🔧 Passo 1 — Criar o badge em badges.page

1. Acesse o site https://badges.page

2. Clique em "New Badge" no canto superior direito
   

3. Preencha os campos:

4. Nome (ex: Teste Épico)
5. Descrição

6. Imagem e thumbnail

7. Após criar, você será redirecionado para a página do badge.

---

🔍 Passo 2 — Copiar o naddr do badge

Na barra de endereços, copie o identificador que aparece após /a/ — este é o naddr do seu badge.

Exemplo: nostr:naddr1qq94getnw3jj63tsd93k7q3q8lav8fkgt8424rxamvk8qq4xuy9n8mltjtgztv2w44hc5tt9vetsxpqqqp6njkq3sd0

Copie: naddr1qq94getnw3jj63tsd93k7q3q8lav8fkgt8424rxamvk8qq4xuy9n8mltjtgztv2w44hc5tt9vetsxpqqqp6njkq3sd0

---

🧠 Passo 3 — Decodificar o naddr com nak

Abra seu terminal (ou Cygwin no Windows) e rode:

bash nak decode naddr1qq94getnw3jj63tsd93k7q3q8lav8fkgt8424rxamvk8qq4xuy9n8mltjtgztv2w44hc5tt9vetsxpqqqp6njkq3sd0

Você verá algo assim:

json { "pubkey": "3ffac3a6c859eaaa8cdddb2c7002a6e10b33efeb92d025b14ead6f8a2d656657", "kind": 30009, "identifier": "Teste-Epico" }

Grave o campo "identifier" — nesse caso: Teste-Epico

---

🛰️ Passo 4 — Consultar o evento no relay

Agora vamos pegar o evento do badge no relay:

bash nak req -d "Teste-Epico" wss://relay.primal.net

Você verá o conteúdo completo do evento do badge, algo assim:

json { "kind": 30009, "tags": [["d", "Teste-Epico"], ["name", "Teste Épico"], ...] }

---

💥 Passo 5 — Minerar o evento como "épico" (PoW 31)

Agora vem a mágica: minerar com proof-of-work (PoW 31) para que o badge seja classificado como épico!

bash nak req -d "Teste-Epico" wss://relay.primal.net | nak event --pow 31 --sec nsec1SEU_NSEC_AQUI wss://relay.primal.net wss://nos.lol wss://relay.damus.io

Esse comando: - Resgata o evento original - Gera um novo com PoW de dificuldade 31 - Assina com sua chave privada nsec - E publica nos relays wss://relay.primal.net, wss://nos.lol e wss://relay.damus.io

⚠️ Substitua nsec1SEU_NSEC_AQUI pela sua chave privada Nostr.

---

✅ Resultado

Se tudo der certo, o badge será atualizado com um evento de PoW mais alto e aparecerá como "Epic" no site!

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Men tend to find women attractive, that remind them of the average women they already know, but with more-averaged features. The mid of mids is kween.👸

But, in contradiction to that, they won't consider her highly attractive, unless she has some spectacular, unusual feature. They'll sacrifice some averageness to acquire that novelty. This is why wealthy men (who tend to be highly intelligent -- and therefore particularly inclined to crave novelty because they are easily bored) -- are more likely to have striking-looking wives and girlfriends, rather than conventionally-attractive ones. They are also more-likely to cross ethnic and racial lines, when dating.

Men also seem to each be particularly attracted to specific facial expressions or mimics, which might be an intelligence-similarity test, as persons with higher intelligence tend to have a more-expressive mimic. So, people with similar expressions tend to be on the same wavelength. Facial expessions also give men some sense of perception into womens' inner life, which they otherwise find inscrutable.

Hair color is a big deal (logic says: always go blonde), as is breast-size (bigger is better), and WHR (smaller is better).

@ 76c71aae:3e29cafa

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

Warning: This piece contains a conversation about difficult topics. Please proceed with caution.

TL;DR please educate your children about online safety.

Julian Assange wrote in his 2012 book Cypherpunks, “This book is not a manifesto. There isn’t time for that. This book is a warning.” I read it a few times over the past summer. Those opening lines definitely stood out to me. I wish we had listened back then. He saw something about the internet that few had the ability to see. There are some individuals who are so close to a topic that when they speak, it’s difficult for others who aren’t steeped in it to visualize what they’re talking about. I didn’t read the book until more recently. If I had read it when it came out, it probably would have sounded like an unknown foreign language to me. Today it makes more sense.

This isn’t a manifesto. This isn’t a book. There is no time for that. It’s a warning and a possible solution from a desperate and determined survivor advocate who has been pulling and unraveling a thread for a few years. At times, I feel too close to this topic to make any sense trying to convey my pathway to my conclusions or thoughts to the general public. My hope is that if nothing else, I can convey my sense of urgency while writing this. This piece is a watchman’s warning.

When a child steps online, they are walking into a new world. A new reality. When you hand a child the internet, you are handing them possibilities—good, bad, and ugly. This is a conversation about lowering the potential of negative outcomes of stepping into that new world and how I came to these conclusions. I constantly compare the internet to the road. You wouldn’t let a young child run out into the road with no guidance or safety precautions. When you hand a child the internet without any type of guidance or safety measures, you are allowing them to play in rush hour, oncoming traffic. “Look left, look right for cars before crossing.” We almost all have been taught that as children. What are we taught as humans about safety before stepping into a completely different reality like the internet? Very little.

I could never really figure out why many folks in tech, privacy rights activists, and hackers seemed so cold to me while talking about online child sexual exploitation. I always figured that as a survivor advocate for those affected by these crimes, that specific, skilled group of individuals would be very welcoming and easy to talk to about such serious topics. I actually had one hacker laugh in my face when I brought it up while I was looking for answers. I thought maybe this individual thought I was accusing them of something I wasn’t, so I felt bad for asking. I was constantly extremely disappointed and would ask myself, “Why don’t they care? What could I say to make them care more? What could I say to make them understand the crisis and the level of suffering that happens as a result of the problem?”

I have been serving minor survivors of online child sexual exploitation for years. My first case serving a survivor of this specific crime was in 2018—a 13-year-old girl sexually exploited by a serial predator on Snapchat. That was my first glimpse into this side of the internet. I won a national award for serving the minor survivors of Twitter in 2023, but I had been working on that specific project for a few years. I was nominated by a lawyer representing two survivors in a legal battle against the platform. I’ve never really spoken about this before, but at the time it was a choice for me between fighting Snapchat or Twitter. I chose Twitter—or rather, Twitter chose me. I heard about the story of John Doe #1 and John Doe #2, and I was so unbelievably broken over it that I went to war for multiple years. I was and still am royally pissed about that case. As far as I was concerned, the John Doe #1 case proved that whatever was going on with corporate tech social media was so out of control that I didn’t have time to wait, so I got to work. It was reading the messages that John Doe #1 sent to Twitter begging them to remove his sexual exploitation that broke me. He was a child begging adults to do something. A passion for justice and protecting kids makes you do wild things. I was desperate to find answers about what happened and searched for solutions. In the end, the platform Twitter was purchased. During the acquisition, I just asked Mr. Musk nicely to prioritize the issue of detection and removal of child sexual exploitation without violating digital privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption. Elon thanked me multiple times during the acquisition, made some changes, and I was thanked by others on the survivors’ side as well.

I still feel that even with the progress made, I really just scratched the surface with Twitter, now X. I left that passion project when I did for a few reasons. I wanted to give new leadership time to tackle the issue. Elon Musk made big promises that I knew would take a while to fulfill, but mostly I had been watching global legislation transpire around the issue, and frankly, the governments are willing to go much further with X and the rest of corporate tech than I ever would. My work begging Twitter to make changes with easier reporting of content, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation material—without violating privacy rights or eroding end-to-end encryption—and advocating for the minor survivors of the platform went as far as my principles would have allowed. I’m grateful for that experience. I was still left with a nagging question: “How did things get so bad with Twitter where the John Doe #1 and John Doe #2 case was able to happen in the first place?” I decided to keep looking for answers. I decided to keep pulling the thread.

I never worked for Twitter. This is often confusing for folks. I will say that despite being disappointed in the platform’s leadership at times, I loved Twitter. I saw and still see its value. I definitely love the survivors of the platform, but I also loved the platform. I was a champion of the platform’s ability to give folks from virtually around the globe an opportunity to speak and be heard.

I want to be clear that John Doe #1 really is my why. He is the inspiration. I am writing this because of him. He represents so many globally, and I’m still inspired by his bravery. One child’s voice begging adults to do something—I’m an adult, I heard him. I’d go to war a thousand more lifetimes for that young man, and I don’t even know his name. Fighting has been personally dark at times; I’m not even going to try to sugarcoat it, but it has been worth it.

The data surrounding the very real crime of online child sexual exploitation is available to the public online at any time for anyone to see. I’d encourage you to go look at the data for yourself. I believe in encouraging folks to check multiple sources so that you understand the full picture. If you are uncomfortable just searching around the internet for information about this topic, use the terms “CSAM,” “CSEM,” “SG-CSEM,” or “AI Generated CSAM.” The numbers don’t lie—it’s a nightmare that’s out of control. It’s a big business. The demand is high, and unfortunately, business is booming. Organizations collect the data, tech companies often post their data, governments report frequently, and the corporate press has covered a decent portion of the conversation, so I’m sure you can find a source that you trust.

Technology is changing rapidly, which is great for innovation as a whole but horrible for the crime of online child sexual exploitation. Those wishing to exploit the vulnerable seem to be adapting to each technological change with ease. The governments are so far behind with tackling these issues that as I’m typing this, it’s borderline irrelevant to even include them while speaking about the crime or potential solutions. Technology is changing too rapidly, and their old, broken systems can’t even dare to keep up. Think of it like the governments’ “War on Drugs.” Drugs won. In this case as well, the governments are not winning. The governments are talking about maybe having a meeting on potentially maybe having legislation around the crimes. The time to have that meeting would have been many years ago. I’m not advocating for governments to legislate our way out of this. I’m on the side of educating and innovating our way out of this.

I have been clear while advocating for the minor survivors of corporate tech platforms that I would not advocate for any solution to the crime that would violate digital privacy rights or erode end-to-end encryption. That has been a personal moral position that I was unwilling to budge on. This is an extremely unpopular and borderline nonexistent position in the anti-human trafficking movement and online child protection space. I’m often fearful that I’m wrong about this. I have always thought that a better pathway forward would have been to incentivize innovation for detection and removal of content. I had no previous exposure to privacy rights activists or Cypherpunks—actually, I came to that conclusion by listening to the voices of MENA region political dissidents and human rights activists. After developing relationships with human rights activists from around the globe, I realized how important privacy rights and encryption are for those who need it most globally. I was simply unwilling to give more power, control, and opportunities for mass surveillance to big abusers like governments wishing to enslave entire nations and untrustworthy corporate tech companies to potentially end some portion of abuses online. On top of all of it, it has been clear to me for years that all potential solutions outside of violating digital privacy rights to detect and remove child sexual exploitation online have not yet been explored aggressively. I’ve been disappointed that there hasn’t been more of a conversation around preventing the crime from happening in the first place.

What has been tried is mass surveillance. In China, they are currently under mass surveillance both online and offline, and their behaviors are attached to a social credit score. Unfortunately, even on state-run and controlled social media platforms, they still have child sexual exploitation and abuse imagery pop up along with other crimes and human rights violations. They also have a thriving black market online due to the oppression from the state. In other words, even an entire loss of freedom and privacy cannot end the sexual exploitation of children online. It’s been tried. There is no reason to repeat this method.

It took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out why I always felt a slight coldness from those in tech and privacy-minded individuals about the topic of child sexual exploitation online. I didn’t have any clue about the “Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse.” This is a term coined by Timothy C. May in 1988. I would have been a child myself when he first said it. I actually laughed at myself when I heard the phrase for the first time. I finally got it. The Cypherpunks weren’t wrong about that topic. They were so spot on that it is borderline uncomfortable. I was mad at first that they knew that early during the birth of the internet that this issue would arise and didn’t address it. Then I got over it because I realized that it wasn’t their job. Their job was—is—to write code. Their job wasn’t to be involved and loving parents or survivor advocates. Their job wasn’t to educate children on internet safety or raise awareness; their job was to write code.

They knew that child sexual abuse material would be shared on the internet. They said what would happen—not in a gleeful way, but a prediction. Then it happened.

I equate it now to a concrete company laying down a road. As you’re pouring the concrete, you can say to yourself, “A terrorist might travel down this road to go kill many, and on the flip side, a beautiful child can be born in an ambulance on this road.” Who or what travels down the road is not their responsibility—they are just supposed to lay the concrete. I’d never go to a concrete pourer and ask them to solve terrorism that travels down roads. Under the current system, law enforcement should stop terrorists before they even make it to the road. The solution to this specific problem is not to treat everyone on the road like a terrorist or to not build the road.

So I understand the perceived coldness from those in tech. Not only was it not their job, but bringing up the topic was seen as the equivalent of asking a free person if they wanted to discuss one of the four topics—child abusers, terrorists, drug dealers, intellectual property pirates, etc.—that would usher in digital authoritarianism for all who are online globally.

Privacy rights advocates and groups have put up a good fight. They stood by their principles. Unfortunately, when it comes to corporate tech, I believe that the issue of privacy is almost a complete lost cause at this point. It’s still worth pushing back, but ultimately, it is a losing battle—a ticking time bomb.

I do think that corporate tech providers could have slowed down the inevitable loss of privacy at the hands of the state by prioritizing the detection and removal of CSAM when they all started online. I believe it would have bought some time, fewer would have been traumatized by that specific crime, and I do believe that it could have slowed down the demand for content. If I think too much about that, I’ll go insane, so I try to push the “if maybes” aside, but never knowing if it could have been handled differently will forever haunt me. At night when it’s quiet, I wonder what I would have done differently if given the opportunity. I’ll probably never know how much corporate tech knew and ignored in the hopes that it would go away while the problem continued to get worse. They had different priorities. The most voiceless and vulnerable exploited on corporate tech never had much of a voice, so corporate tech providers didn’t receive very much pushback.

Now I’m about to say something really wild, and you can call me whatever you want to call me, but I’m going to say what I believe to be true. I believe that the governments are either so incompetent that they allowed the proliferation of CSAM online, or they knowingly allowed the problem to fester long enough to have an excuse to violate privacy rights and erode end-to-end encryption. The US government could have seized the corporate tech providers over CSAM, but I believe that they were so useful as a propaganda arm for the regimes that they allowed them to continue virtually unscathed.

That season is done now, and the governments are making the issue a priority. It will come at a high cost. Privacy on corporate tech providers is virtually done as I’m typing this. It feels like a death rattle. I’m not particularly sure that we had much digital privacy to begin with, but the illusion of a veil of privacy feels gone.

To make matters slightly more complex, it would be hard to convince me that once AI really gets going, digital privacy will exist at all.

I believe that there should be a conversation shift to preserving freedoms and human rights in a post-privacy society.

I don’t want to get locked up because AI predicted a nasty post online from me about the government. I’m not a doomer about AI—I’m just going to roll with it personally. I’m looking forward to the positive changes that will be brought forth by AI. I see it as inevitable. A bit of privacy was helpful while it lasted. Please keep fighting to preserve what is left of privacy either way because I could be wrong about all of this.

On the topic of AI, the addition of AI to the horrific crime of child sexual abuse material and child sexual exploitation in multiple ways so far has been devastating. It’s currently out of control. The genie is out of the bottle. I am hopeful that innovation will get us humans out of this, but I’m not sure how or how long it will take. We must be extremely cautious around AI legislation. It should not be illegal to innovate even if some bad comes with the good. I don’t trust that the governments are equipped to decide the best pathway forward for AI. Source: the entire history of the government.

I have been personally negatively impacted by AI-generated content. Every few days, I get another alert that I’m featured again in what’s called “deep fake pornography” without my consent. I’m not happy about it, but what pains me the most is the thought that for a period of time down the road, many globally will experience what myself and others are experiencing now by being digitally sexually abused in this way. If you have ever had your picture taken and posted online, you are also at risk of being exploited in this way. Your child’s image can be used as well, unfortunately, and this is just the beginning of this particular nightmare. It will move to more realistic interpretations of sexual behaviors as technology improves. I have no brave words of wisdom about how to deal with that emotionally. I do have hope that innovation will save the day around this specific issue. I’m nervous that everyone online will have to ID verify due to this issue. I see that as one possible outcome that could help to prevent one problem but inadvertently cause more problems, especially for those living under authoritarian regimes or anyone who needs to remain anonymous online. A zero-knowledge proof (ZKP) would probably be the best solution to these issues. There are some survivors of violence and/or sexual trauma who need to remain anonymous online for various reasons. There are survivor stories available online of those who have been abused in this way. I’d encourage you seek out and listen to their stories.

There have been periods of time recently where I hesitate to say anything at all because more than likely AI will cover most of my concerns about education, awareness, prevention, detection, and removal of child sexual exploitation online, etc.

Unfortunately, some of the most pressing issues we’ve seen online over the last few years come in the form of “sextortion.” Self-generated child sexual exploitation (SG-CSEM) numbers are continuing to be terrifying. I’d strongly encourage that you look into sextortion data. AI + sextortion is also a huge concern. The perpetrators are using the non-sexually explicit images of children and putting their likeness on AI-generated child sexual exploitation content and extorting money, more imagery, or both from minors online. It’s like a million nightmares wrapped into one. The wild part is that these issues will only get more pervasive because technology is harnessed to perpetuate horror at a scale unimaginable to a human mind.

Even if you banned phones and the internet or tried to prevent children from accessing the internet, it wouldn’t solve it. Child sexual exploitation will still be with us until as a society we start to prevent the crime before it happens. That is the only human way out right now.

There is no reset button on the internet, but if I could go back, I’d tell survivor advocates to heed the warnings of the early internet builders and to start education and awareness campaigns designed to prevent as much online child sexual exploitation as possible. The internet and technology moved quickly, and I don’t believe that society ever really caught up. We live in a world where a child can be groomed by a predator in their own home while sitting on a couch next to their parents watching TV. We weren’t ready as a species to tackle the fast-paced algorithms and dangers online. It happened too quickly for parents to catch up. How can you parent for the ever-changing digital world unless you are constantly aware of the dangers?

I don’t think that the internet is inherently bad. I believe that it can be a powerful tool for freedom and resistance. I’ve spoken a lot about the bad online, but there is beauty as well. We often discuss how victims and survivors are abused online; we rarely discuss the fact that countless survivors around the globe have been able to share their experiences, strength, hope, as well as provide resources to the vulnerable. I do question if giving any government or tech company access to censorship, surveillance, etc., online in the name of serving survivors might not actually impact a portion of survivors negatively. There are a fair amount of survivors with powerful abusers protected by governments and the corporate press. If a survivor cannot speak to the press about their abuse, the only place they can go is online, directly or indirectly through an independent journalist who also risks being censored. This scenario isn’t hard to imagine—it already happened in China. During #MeToo, a survivor in China wanted to post their story. The government censored the post, so the survivor put their story on the blockchain. I’m excited that the survivor was creative and brave, but it’s terrifying to think that we live in a world where that situation is a necessity.

I believe that the future for many survivors sharing their stories globally will be on completely censorship-resistant and decentralized protocols. This thought in particular gives me hope. When we listen to the experiences of a diverse group of survivors, we can start to understand potential solutions to preventing the crimes from happening in the first place.

My heart is broken over the gut-wrenching stories of survivors sexually exploited online. Every time I hear the story of a survivor, I do think to myself quietly, “What could have prevented this from happening in the first place?” My heart is with survivors.

My head, on the other hand, is full of the understanding that the internet should remain free. The free flow of information should not be stopped. My mind is with the innocent citizens around the globe that deserve freedom both online and offline.

The problem is that governments don’t only want to censor illegal content that violates human rights—they create legislation that is so broad that it can impact speech and privacy of all. “Don’t you care about the kids?” Yes, I do. I do so much that I’m invested in finding solutions. I also care about all citizens around the globe that deserve an opportunity to live free from a mass surveillance society. If terrorism happens online, I should not be punished by losing my freedom. If drugs are sold online, I should not be punished. I’m not an abuser, I’m not a terrorist, and I don’t engage in illegal behaviors. I refuse to lose freedom because of others’ bad behaviors online.

I want to be clear that on a long enough timeline, the governments will decide that they can be better parents/caregivers than you can if something isn’t done to stop minors from being sexually exploited online. The price will be a complete loss of anonymity, privacy, free speech, and freedom of religion online. I find it rather insulting that governments think they’re better equipped to raise children than parents and caretakers.

So we can’t go backwards—all that we can do is go forward. Those who want to have freedom will find technology to facilitate their liberation. This will lead many over time to decentralized and open protocols. So as far as I’m concerned, this does solve a few of my worries—those who need, want, and deserve to speak freely online will have the opportunity in most countries—but what about online child sexual exploitation?

When I popped up around the decentralized space, I was met with the fear of censorship. I’m not here to censor you. I don’t write code. I couldn’t censor anyone or any piece of content even if I wanted to across the internet, no matter how depraved. I don’t have the skills to do that.

I’m here to start a conversation. Freedom comes at a cost. You must always fight for and protect your freedom. I can’t speak about protecting yourself from all of the Four Horsemen because I simply don’t know the topics well enough, but I can speak about this one topic.

If there was a shortcut to ending online child sexual exploitation, I would have found it by now. There isn’t one right now. I believe that education is the only pathway forward to preventing the crime of online child sexual exploitation for future generations.

I propose a yearly education course for every child of all school ages, taught as a standard part of the curriculum. Ideally, parents/caregivers would be involved in the education/learning process.

Course: - The creation of the internet and computers - The fight for cryptography - The tech supply chain from the ground up (example: human rights violations in the supply chain) - Corporate tech - Freedom tech - Data privacy - Digital privacy rights - AI (history-current) - Online safety (predators, scams, catfishing, extortion) - Bitcoin - Laws - How to deal with online hate and harassment - Information on who to contact if you are being abused online or offline - Algorithms - How to seek out the truth about news, etc., online

The parents/caregivers, homeschoolers, unschoolers, and those working to create decentralized parallel societies have been an inspiration while writing this, but my hope is that all children would learn this course, even in government ran schools. Ideally, parents would teach this to their own children.

The decentralized space doesn’t want child sexual exploitation to thrive. Here’s the deal: there has to be a strong prevention effort in order to protect the next generation. The internet isn’t going anywhere, predators aren’t going anywhere, and I’m not down to let anyone have the opportunity to prove that there is a need for more government. I don’t believe that the government should act as parents. The governments have had a chance to attempt to stop online child sexual exploitation, and they didn’t do it. Can we try a different pathway forward?

I’d like to put myself out of a job. I don’t want to ever hear another story like John Doe #1 ever again. This will require work. I’ve often called online child sexual exploitation the lynchpin for the internet. It’s time to arm generations of children with knowledge and tools. I can’t do this alone.

Individuals have fought so that I could have freedom online. I want to fight to protect it. I don’t want child predators to give the government any opportunity to take away freedom. Decentralized spaces are as close to a reset as we’ll get with the opportunity to do it right from the start. Start the youth off correctly by preventing potential hazards to the best of your ability.

The good news is anyone can work on this! I’d encourage you to take it and run with it. I added the additional education about the history of the internet to make the course more educational and fun. Instead of cleaning up generations of destroyed lives due to online sexual exploitation, perhaps this could inspire generations of those who will build our futures. Perhaps if the youth is armed with knowledge, they can create more tools to prevent the crime.

This one solution that I’m suggesting can be done on an individual level or on a larger scale. It should be adjusted depending on age, learning style, etc. It should be fun and playful.

This solution does not address abuse in the home or some of the root causes of offline child sexual exploitation. My hope is that it could lead to some survivors experiencing abuse in the home an opportunity to disclose with a trusted adult. The purpose for this solution is to prevent the crime of online child sexual exploitation before it occurs and to arm the youth with the tools to contact safe adults if and when it happens.

In closing, I went to hell a few times so that you didn’t have to. I spoke to the mothers of survivors of minors sexually exploited online—their tears could fill rivers. I’ve spoken with political dissidents who yearned to be free from authoritarian surveillance states. The only balance that I’ve found is freedom online for citizens around the globe and prevention from the dangers of that for the youth. Don’t slow down innovation and freedom. Educate, prepare, adapt, and look for solutions.

I’m not perfect and I’m sure that there are errors in this piece. I hope that you find them and it starts a conversation.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Drivechain

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

What does the above procedure mean?

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

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

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

What? 6 months to get my money back?

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

Why bother with this at all?

Drivechains solve many different problems:

It enables experimentation and new use cases for Bitcoin

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

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

It solves conflicts and infighting

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

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

It solves "scaling"

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

Use your imagination.

It solves the blockchain security budget issue

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

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

It keeps Bitcoin decentralized

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

Can miners steal?

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

Will miners steal?

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

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

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

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

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

What do we do if miners steal?

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

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

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

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

Because it is impossible.

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

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

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

What about the Blockstream sidechains whitepaper?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

See also

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

@ 5a261a61:2ebd4480

What a day yesterday!

I had a really big backlog of both work and non-work things to clean up. But I was getting a little frisky because my health finally gave me some energy to be in the mood for intimacy after the illness-filled week had forced libido debt on me. I decided to cheat it out and just take care of myself quickly. Horny thoughts won over, and I got at least e-stim induced ass slaps to make it more enjoyable. Quick clean up and everything seemed ok...until it wasn't.

The rest of the morning passed uneventfully as I worked through my backlog, but things took a turn in the early afternoon. I had to go pickup kids, and I just missed Her between the doors, only managed to get a fast kiss. A little bummed from the work issues and failed expectations of having a few minutes together, I got on my way.

Then it hit me—the most serious case of blue balls I had in a long time. First came panic. I was getting to the age when unusual symptoms raise concerns—cancer comes first to mind, as insufficient release wasn't my typical problem. So I called Her. I explained what was happening and expressed hope for some alone time. Unfortunately, that seemed impossible with our evening schedule: kids at home, Her online meeting, and my standing gamenight with the boys. These game sessions are our sacred ritual—a preserved piece of pre-kids sanity that we all protect in our calendars. Not something I wanted to disturb.

Her reassurance was brief but unusualy promising: "Don't worry, I get this."

Evening came, and just as I predicted, there was ZERO time for shenanigans while we took care of the kids. But once we put them to bed (I drew straw for early sleeper), with parental duties complete, I headed downstairs to prepare for my gaming session. Headset on, I greeted my fellows and started playing.

Not five minutes later, She opened the door with lube in one hand, fleshlight in the other, and an expecting smile on Her face. Definitely unexpected. I excused myself from the game, muted mic, but She stopped me.

"There will be nothing if you won't play," She said. She just motioned me to take my pants off. And off to play I was. Not an easy feat considering I twisted my body sideways so She could access anything She wanted while I still reached keyboard and mouse.

She slowly started touching me and observing my reactions, but quickly changed to using Her mouth. Getting a blowjob while semihard was always so strange. The semi part didn't last long though...

As things intensified, She was satisfied with my erection and got the fleshlight ready. It was a new toy for us, and it was Her first time using it on me all by Herself (usually She prefers watching me use toys). She applied an abundance of lube that lasted the entire encounter and beyond.

Shifting into a rhythm, She started pumping slowly but clearly enjoyed my reactions when She unexpectedly sped up, forcing me to mute the mic. I knew I wouldn't last long. When She needed to fix Her hair, I gentlemanly offered to hold the fleshlight, having one hand still available for gaming. She misunderstood, thinking I was taking over completely, which initially disappointed me.

To my surprise, She began taking Her shirt off the shoulders, offering me a pornhub-esque view. To clearly indicate that finish time had arrived, She moved Her lubed hand teasingly toward my anal. She understood precisely my contradictory preferences—my desire to be thoroughly clean before such play versus my complete inability to resist Her when aroused. That final move did it—I muted the mic just in time to vocally express how good She made me feel.

Quick clean up, kiss on the forehead, and a wish for me to have a good game session followed. The urge to abandon the game and cuddle with Her was powerful, but She stopped me. She had more work to complete on Her todo list than just me.

Had a glass, had a blast; overall, a night well spent I would say.

@ 12fccfc8:8d67741e

„Sag mir, welches Geld du benutzt – und ich sage dir, an welche Welt du glaubst.“

– anonym, zirkulierend im digitalen Untergrund

Geld ist nie neutral. Es trägt in sich eine Vorstellung davon, was in einer Gesellschaft wertvoll ist – und wer entscheidet, was dieser Wert bedeutet. In den Währungen unserer Zeit steckt nicht nur Kaufkraft, sondern auch Gewalt. Unsichtbar, aber wirksam. Jede Inflation ist eine Umverteilung ohne Abstimmung. Jede Rettung durch Gelddrucken ein Eingriff in das Eigentum derer, die sparen. Jede staatliche Kontrolle von Geldfluss ist auch Kontrolle über Leben.

Es ist leicht, Geld als bloßes Werkzeug zu sehen. Aber jedes Werkzeug formt auch seinen Nutzer. Wer Geld benutzt, das auf Schulden basiert, übernimmt unbewusst die Logik dieses Systems: Wachstum um jeden Preis, Gegenwart vor Zukunft, Kontrolle statt Vertrauen. Es ist kein Zufall, dass moralische Belohnung in dieser Welt selten mit finanzieller vergütet wird – weil das Geld selbst die Moral nicht kennt.

Die Moral der Währung

Die Frage ist nicht, ob Geld gut oder böse ist. Die Frage ist, ob es Verantwortung kennt. Ob es dem dient, der es hält, oder dem, der es kontrolliert. Ob es verlässlich ist – nicht nur in seiner Funktion, sondern auch in seiner Wirkung. Ein Geld, das jederzeit vermehrt werden kann, erlaubt jederzeit die Verschiebung von Lasten. Weg von den Verantwortlichen, hin zu den Stillen. Es belohnt Nähe zur Quelle, nicht Leistung. Es nährt den Zynismus.

Ein Geld, das Wahrheit erzwingt

Ein anderes Geld beginnt nicht bei der Technik, sondern bei der Ethik. Es fragt nicht: Was ist möglich? Sondern: Was ist richtig? Es basiert auf Knappheit – nicht um zu begrenzen, sondern um Ehrlichkeit zu erzwingen. Es kennt kein „Too Big to Fail“, kein Vertrauen auf Dekret, keine moralische Grauzone. Wer es nutzt, steht in direkter Beziehung zu seinem Handeln. Und kann sich nicht herausreden.

Verantwortung ohne Zwang

Vielleicht ist die wichtigste Wirkung dieses Geldes nicht wirtschaftlich, sondern moralisch: Es gibt dem Einzelnen die Möglichkeit, sauber zu wirtschaften, ohne Teil eines schmutzigen Spiels zu sein. Es ist kein Geld für jeden – sondern für jene, die bereit sind, wieder Verantwortung zu tragen. Nicht, weil sie müssen. Sondern weil sie wollen.

@ 12fccfc8:8d67741e

„Der Mensch ist frei geboren, und überall liegt er in Ketten.“

– Jean-Jacques Rousseau

In einer Welt, die sich zunehmend durch technologische Umbrüche definiert, zeigt sich eine bemerkenswerte kognitive Dissonanz im Umgang mit neuen Paradigmen: Die Abwehr gegenüber Bitcoin ist selten eine Frage der Rationalität, sondern oft eine Reaktion auf die Überforderung durch das Ungewohnte. Der Mensch scheut die Auseinandersetzung mit dem, was ihm fremd erscheint – nicht, weil es notwendigerweise komplex ist, sondern weil es nicht in das gewohnte Raster institutionalisierter Erklärung passt.

So wirkt Bitcoin auf viele wie ein hermetisches System, dessen Mechanismen sich dem Alltagsverständnis entziehen. Dabei ist es, philosophisch betrachtet, der Fiat-Welt unter einem entscheidenden Aspekt überlegen: ihrer radikalen Transparenz.

Die Unsichtbarkeit des Gewohnten

Die Strukturen, welche das fiatbasierte Geldsystem tragen, sind in ihrer institutionellen Dichte kaum zu durchdringen. Zentralbanken, Aufsichtsbehörden, gesetzgeberische Rahmenwerke, geldpolitische Instrumente, Interbankenmärkte, internationale Regulierungsorgane – sie bilden einen verwaltungstechnischen Überbau, der in seiner Vielschichtigkeit eher einer mittelalterlichen Theologie als einem frei zugänglichen, rationalen System gleicht.

Das Vertrauen in diese Ordnung ist kein Produkt verstandesmäßiger Durchdringung, sondern das Ergebnis jahrzehntelanger Gewöhnung und autoritärer Setzung. Man glaubt an das Fiat-Geld, weil es da ist – nicht, weil man es versteht.

Bitcoin verlangt Verantwortung

Bitcoin hingegen konfrontiert den Einzelnen mit der Notwendigkeit der Selbstverantwortung und fordert eine direkte Auseinandersetzung mit seiner Funktionsweise: kryptografische Prinzipien, Dezentralität, Konsensmechanismen, digitale Knappheit. Dies wirkt zunächst sperrig, ja fast elitär. Doch diese Komplexität ist nicht strukturell intransparent, sondern technisch erklärbar, überprüfbar und – für jeden offen.

Während das Fiat-System in verschlossenen Räumen entscheidet, operiert Bitcoin auf einem offenen Protokoll. Die Ablehnung des Neuen beruht daher weniger auf seiner inhärenten Schwierigkeit, als vielmehr auf einer anthropologischen Trägheit: Die Bequemlichkeit, sich von äußeren Instanzen verwalten zu lassen, wiegt schwerer als der Wunsch nach Souveränität.

Was ist wahre Komplexität?

Doch was ist wahrhaft komplex? Ist es nicht die blinde Akzeptanz eines Systems, dessen Grundlagen man nie selbst prüfen kann? Ist es nicht der Glaube an eine Geldordnung, deren Stabilität von politischen Machtzentren abhängt?

Der Bitcoin hingegen stellt die radikale Frage: Was, wenn Vertrauen nicht mehr delegiert, sondern durch Code ersetzt werden kann? Was, wenn Verständlichkeit nicht aus Tradition, sondern aus Prinzipien entsteht?

Ein philosophisches Statement

In dieser Perspektive ist Bitcoin keine bloße technische Innovation, sondern ein philosophisches Statement: ein Plädoyer für epistemische Mündigkeit. Die vermeintliche Einfachheit des Alten ist in Wahrheit nur ein Schleier – und die gefühlte Schwierigkeit des Neuen der erste Schritt in die Freiheit.

@ f3873798:24b3f2f3

Durante décadas, ouvimos que o Brasil era o "país do futuro". Uma terra rica, com imenso potencial humano e natural, destinada a se tornar uma grande potência e referência para o mundo. Essa ideia, repetida em discursos políticos e publicações internacionais, alimentou gerações com esperança. Mas o tempo passou — e esse futuro promissor parece nunca chegar.

Na prática, o que vemos é um ciclo de promessas não cumpridas, problemas sociais profundos e um povo muitas vezes desiludido. Apesar do potencial imenso, o Brasil enfrenta barreiras estruturais e culturais que dificultam seu pleno desenvolvimento. E é justamente sobre isso que precisamos refletir.

A raiz dos nossos desafios

Não há como ter jeito sem que haja um enfrentamento com seriedade aos problemas que estão na base da nossa sociedade. Um dos maiores entraves é a precariedade da educação, tanto no acesso quanto na qualidade. Em muitas regiões, o estudo ainda é visto como perda de tempo, algo que não contribui para o sustento imediato da família. Mesmo com incentivos governamentais, o desempenho das escolas é baixo. Em vez de formar cidadãos críticos e profissionais capacitados, muitas vezes vemos instituições focadas em ideologias ou agendas desconectadas da realidade do aluno.

Outro ponto sensível é a estrutura familiar. Em áreas onde faltam referências morais, espirituais e sociais, o ambiente familiar pode se tornar disfuncional, com casos extremos de abusos e ausência total de valores básicos. Nesses contextos, a ausência de instituições que promovem virtudes e limites — como a Igreja, por exemplo — faz diferença. Não se trata de impor uma religião, mas de reconhecer o papel histórico que a fé teve (e ainda tem) na construção de uma base ética e civilizatória.

A falta de valores basilares e estrutura para a promoção da relações em sociedade, faz do ambiente escolar um local sem propósito, onde são depositados crianças para serem expostas a um convívio forçado com estranhos sem nenhum preparo familiar, e sendo muitas vezes subentendido pelos profissionais educadores como dever da família, no entanto tal estrutura foi corrompida e devido o combate a religião pelos veículos midiáticos.

O papel da cultura e da moralidade

A cultura brasileira também tem sido afetada por uma inversão de valores. Virtudes como honestidade, humildade e dedicação são muitas vezes vistas com desdém, enquanto comportamentos imprudentes e hedonistas são exaltados. Essa distorção enfraquece a sociedade e prejudica qualquer tentativa de avanço coletivo.

A elite intelectual e política, por sua vez, parece muitas vezes mais preocupada com interesses próprios do que com o bem comum. Muitos aderem a ideias que, em vez de promover a soberania e a autonomia nacional, aprofundam nossa dependência e fragilidade como país.

Existe saída?

Sim, existe. Mas não será simples — e muito menos rápida. O Brasil precisa de uma mudança profunda de mentalidade. Isso inclui:

Resgatar o valor da família e da formação moral;

Investir de verdade em uma educação que liberte, que forme e que inspire;

Incentivar a produção científica e tecnológica local;

Valorizar o trabalho árduo, a persistência e o compromisso com a verdade.

Também é preciso reconhecer que o desenvolvimento de uma nação não é apenas econômico, mas também espiritual e cultural. Mesmo que você não seja religioso, é possível entender que a construção de uma sociedade mais justa exige princípios, virtudes e limites. Sem isso, qualquer progresso será frágil e passageiro.

O Brasil tem jeito? Sim. Mas depende de nós — da nossa capacidade de enxergar com coragem onde estamos falhando, e da nossa disposição para agir com sabedoria, verdade e esperança.

@ 502ab02a:a2860397

วันนี้เรามาย้อนอดีตเล็กน้อยกันครับ กับ ผลิตภัณฑ์ไขมันพืชแปรรูปแบบแรกๆของโลก ที่ใช้กระบวนการแปรรูปน้ำมันพืชด้วยเคมี (hydrogenation) เพื่อให้ได้ไขมันกึ่งแข็ง

ในเดือนมิถุนายน ค.ศ. 1911 บริษัท Procter & Gamble เปิดตัวผลิตภัณฑ์ใหม่ที่เปลี่ยนโฉมวงการทำอาหารบ้านๆ ทั่วอเมริกา ตราสินค้า “Crisco” ซึ่งมาจากคำว่า “crystallized cottonseed oil” ได้ถือกำเนิดขึ้นเป็น “vegetable shortening” หรือที่บ้านเราเรียกว่าเนยขาว ก้อนแรกที่ทำมาจากน้ำมันพืชล้วนๆ แทนที่ไขมันสัตว์อย่างเนยหรือน้ำมันหมู จัดเป็นจุดเริ่มต้นของการปฏิวัติวิธีปรุงอาหารในครัวเรือนสหรัฐฯ

ก่อนหน้านั้น คนอเมริกันคุ้นเคยกับการใช้เนย ชีส หรือน้ำมันหมูในการประกอบอาหาร แต่ Crisco มาพร้อมการโฆษณาว่า “สะอาดกว่า” และ “ประหยัดกว่า” เพราะไม่ต้องเสี่ยงกับกลิ่นคาวหรือการเน่าเสียของไขมันสัตว์ อีกทั้งบรรจุในกระป๋องสีขาวสะอาด จึงดูทันสมัยน่าต้องการ

ชื่อ “Crisco” นั้นไม่ได้ตั้งโดยบังเอิญ แต่มาจากการย่อวลี “crystallized cottonseed oil” ให้สั้นกระชับและติดหู (ต้นชื่อ “Krispo” เคยถูกทดลองก่อน แต่ติดปัญหาเครื่องหมายการค้า และชื่อ “Cryst” ก็ถูกทิ้งไปเพราะมีนัยยะทางศาสนา)

กระบวนการสำคัญคือการนำเอาน้ำมันฝ้ายเหลวไปเติมไฮโดรเจน (hydrogenation) จนแข็งตัวได้เองในอุณหภูมิห้อง ผลลัพธ์คือไขมันทรานส์ที่ช่วยให้มาการีนแข็งตัวดี

ภายในเวลาไม่นานหลังการเปิดตัว โฆษณาในหนังสือพิมพ์และวิทยุกระจายเสียงฉบับแรกของ Crisco ก็เริ่มขึ้นอย่างดุเดือด พ่วงด้วยการแจก “ตำรา Crisco” ให้แม่บ้านลองนำไปใช้ทั้งอบ ทั้งทอด จึงเกิด “ยุคครัว Crisco” อย่างแท้จริง

แม้ Crisco จะถูกยกให้เป็น “จุดเริ่มต้นของยุคไขมันพืช” ในครัวอเมริกัน แต่เบื้องหลังขวดสีเขียว–ขาวที่เติมเต็มชั้นเก็บของในบ้านกลับมีดราม่าและบทเรียนมากกว่าที่ใครคาดคิด

ย้อนกลับไปทศวรรษ 1910 เมื่อ Procter & Gamble เปิดตัว Crisco ในฐานะ “ไขมันพืชสุดสะอาด” พร้อมกับโฆษณาว่าเป็นทางเลือกที่ดีกว่าเนยและแลร์ดเดิม ๆ แต่ความท้าทายแรกคือ “ฝืนความเชื่อ” ของคุณแม่บ้านยุคนั้น ที่ยังยึดติดกับไขมันจากสัตว์ นักการตลาดของ P&G จึงสร้างภาพลักษณ์ให้ Crisco ดูเป็นผลิตภัณฑ์อุตสาหกรรมขั้นสูง โปร่งใส และถูกสุขอนามัยสู้กับค่านิยมเดิมได้อย่างน่าทึ่ง

หนังสือพิมพ์ในยุคนั้นพูดกันว่า มันคือไขมันพืชปฏิวัติวงการ ที่ทั้งถูกกว่าและยืดอายุได้ไกลกว่าน้ำมันสัตว์

กระทั่งปลายทศวรรษ 1980 เกิดดราม่าสะท้อนความย้อนแย้งในวงการสุขภาพ เมื่อองค์กร CSPI (Center for Science in the Public Interest) กลับออกมาชื่นชมการใช้ไขมันทรานส์จาก Crisco ว่า “ดีต่อหลอดเลือด” เมื่อเทียบกับไขมันอิ่มตัวจากมะพร้าว เนย หรือไขมันสัตว์

นี่คือครั้งที่วงการแพทย์และโภชนาการแตกแยกกันว่าอะไรจริงหรือหลอก จนกระทั่งงานวิจัยยืนยันชัดเจนว่าไขมันทรานส์เป็นอันตรายต่อหัวใจจริง ๆ

แต่เมื่อเวลาผ่านไป งานวิจัยคุณภาพสูงเริ่มชี้ชัดว่า ไขมันทรานส์ ไม่ใช่เพียงส่วนเกินในเมนูขนมกรอบๆ เท่านั้น มันเป็นภัยเงียบที่เพิ่มความเสี่ยงโรคหลอดเลือดหัวใจ และการอักเสบเรื้อรัง WHO จึงออกมาตรการให้โลก “เลิกทรานส์แฟต” ภายในปี 2023 ทำให้ Procter & Gamble ปรับสูตร Crisco มาใช้การผสมระหว่างน้ำมันฝ้าย fully hydrogenated กับน้ำมันเหลว ผ่านกระบวนการ interesterification แทน เพื่อให้ได้จุดหลอมเหลวที่เหมาะสมโดยไม่สร้างทรานส์แฟตเพิ่มอีก

อีกประเด็นดราม่าที่ตามมาเมื่อ Procter & Gamble ต้องปรับสูตร Crisco ให้เป็น “trans fat–free” ในปี 2004 และยุติการขายสูตรปราศจากทรานส์เฉพาะทางในปี 2007 ก่อนจะกลับมาใช้ fully hydrogenated palm oil ตามกฎ FDA ในปี 2018

แต่การหันมาใช้น้ำมันปาล์มเต็มตัวกลับก่อปัญหาใหม่ คือข้อครหาเรื่องการทำลายป่าเขตร้อนเพื่อปลูกปาล์มน้ำมัน จนกลายเป็นดราม่าระดับโลกเรื่องสิ่งแวดล้อมและสิทธิมนุษยชนในชุมชนท้องถิ่น

แด่วันนี้ เมื่อใครยังพูดถึง Crisco ด้วยสายตาเด็กน้อยที่เห็นไขมันพืชขาวโพลน เป็นคำตอบใหม่ของครัวสะอาด เราอาจยกมือทักว่า “อย่าลืมดูเบื้องหลังของมัน” เพราะไขมันที่เกิดจากการ “สลับตำแหน่งกรดไขมัน” ผ่านความร้อนสูงและสารเคมี ไม่ใช่ไขมันที่ธรรมชาติออกแบบมาให้ร่างกายคุ้นเคยจริงๆ แม้จะมีชื่อใหม่ สูตรใหม่ แต่ต้นกำเนิดของการปฏิวัติครัวในปี 1911

Crisco ไม่ได้เป็นแค่พรีเซนเตอร์ “ไขมันพืชเพื่อสุขภาพ” แต่ยังเป็นบทเรียนสำคัญเรื่องการตลาดอาหารอุตสาหกรรม การวิจัยทางโภชนาการที่ต้องพัฒนาไม่หยุดนิ่ง และผลกระทบต่อสิ่งแวดล้อมเมื่อเราหันมาใช้วัตถุดิบใหม่ๆ ดังนั้น ครัวของเราอาจจะสะอาดทันสมัย แต่ก็ต้องเลือกให้รอบคอบและติดตามเบื้องหลังของทุกขวดที่เราใช้เสมอครับ

ไหนๆก็ไหนๆแล้ว ขออธิบายคุณลักษณะของ เนยขาวไปยาวๆเลยแล้วกันนะครับ ขี้เกียจแยกโพส 55555555

เนยขาว หรือชื่อทางเทคนิคว่า “shortening” ไม่ได้มีส่วนผสมของนม หรือเนยแท้ใดๆ ทั้งสิ้น แต่มันคือไขมันพืชที่ผ่านกระบวนการทำให้แข็งตัว และคงรูปได้ดี เส้นทางของเนยขาวเริ่มด้วยการเปลี่ยนโครงสร้างไขมันไม่อิ่มตัวในน้ำมันพืชให้กลายเป็นไขมันอิ่มตัวมากขึ้น กระบวนการนี้เรียกว่า hydrogenation หรือการเติมไฮโดรเจนเข้าไปในโมเลกุลของไขมัน โดยใช้อุณหภูมิสูงและตัวเร่งปฏิกิริยาอย่าง “นิกเกิล” เพื่อให้ไขมันพืชที่เหลวกลายเป็นของแข็งที่อยู่ตัว ไม่เหม็นหืนง่าย และสามารถเก็บได้นานขึ้น

ผลพลอยได้ของการ hydrogenation คือการเกิดขึ้นของ ไขมันทรานส์ (trans fat) ซึ่งเป็นไขมันที่ร่างกายแทบไม่มีระบบจัดการ และได้รับการยืนยันจากงานวิจัยนับไม่ถ้วนว่าเป็นหนึ่งในปัจจัยเสี่ยงสำคัญต่อโรคหัวใจ หลอดเลือด และการอักเสบเรื้อรังในร่างกาย แม้ในยุคปัจจุบันบางผู้ผลิตจะเปลี่ยนวิธีการผลิตไปใช้การปรับโครงสร้างไขมันด้วยวิธี interesterification ที่ช่วยลดทรานส์แฟตลงได้มาก แต่ก็ยังคงเป็นกระบวนการแทรกแซงโครงสร้างไขมันจากธรรมชาติรวมถึงใช้กระบวนการ RBD ที่เราคุยกันไปแล้วอยู่ดี และผลกระทบต่อร่างกายในระยะยาวก็ยังเป็นคำถามที่นักโภชนาการสาย real food หลายคนตั้งข้อสังเกต

คำว่า “shortening” มาจากคำกริยา shorten ที่แปลว่า "ทำให้สั้นลง" ซึ่งในบริบทของการทำขนม มันหมายถึง การไปยับยั้งไม่ให้เส้นใยกลูเตนในแป้งพัฒนาได้ยาวและเหนียวตามธรรมชาติ เวลาผสมแป้งกับน้ำ โปรตีนในแป้งสองตัวคือกลูเตนิน (glutenin) กับไกลอาดิน (gliadin) จะจับกันกลายเป็นกลูเตน ซึ่งมีคุณสมบัติยืดหยุ่น เหนียว เหมาะกับขนมปังที่ต้องการโครงสร้างแน่นๆ ยืดๆ หนึบๆ

แต่พอเราใส่ shortening ลงไป เช่น เนยขาว น้ำมัน หรือไขมันที่อยู่ในสถานะกึ่งของแข็ง มันจะไปเคลือบเส้นแป้ง ทำให้โปรตีนกลูเตนจับกันไม่ได้เต็มที่ ผลคือเส้นใยกลูเตนถูก “ทำให้สั้นลง” แทนที่จะยืดหยุ่นยาวแบบในขนมปัง เลยกลายเป็นเนื้อขนมที่ร่วน นุ่ม ละลายในปาก หรือแม้แต่กรอบ อย่างคุกกี้ พาย หรือโรตีบางๆ หอมๆ นั่นแหละ เป็นสัมผัสที่นักทำขนมรักใคร่ แต่ร่างกายอาจไม่ปลื้มสักเท่าไหร่

เพราะจุดสังเกตุคือ เรื่องไขมันทรานส์ หลายแบรนด์ที่ขั้นตอนการผลิตไม่ดีพอ อาจพยายามเขียนฉลากว่า “ไม่มี trans fat” หรือ “low trans” แต่ในความเป็นจริงแล้ว หากไขมันทรานส์ต่ำกว่า 0.5 กรัมต่อหนึ่งหน่วยบริโภค ผู้ผลิตสามารถระบุว่าเป็น 0 ได้ตามกฎหมาย ซึ่งหากกินหลายๆ หน่วยรวมกัน ก็ไม่ต่างจากการเปิดประตูให้ trans fat ย่องเข้าร่างแบบไม่รู้ตัว

แต่เหนือกว่านั้นก็คือเรื่องเดิมๆที่เราเข้าใจกันดีในน้ำมันพืช นั่นคือ โอเมก้า 6 เพียบ + กระบวนการปรุงแต่งเคมี ที่เปราะบางต่ออุณหภูมิ ทำให้เกิดการออกซิเดชัน นำไปสู่โรคจากการอักเสบของร่างกาย

อาจถึงเวลาแล้วที่เราควรเปิดใจกลับไปหาความเรียบง่ายของไขมันจากธรรมชาติ สิ่งที่ดูสะอาด ขาว และอยู่ตัวดีเกินไป อาจไม่ใช่สิ่งที่ธรรมชาติอยากให้เข้าไปอยู่ในตัวเราก็ได้

ปล. สำหรับใครที่สงสัยว่า เนยขาว กับ มาการีน ต่างกันยังไง Shortening (เนยขาว) คือไขมันพืช 100% ไม่มีน้ำผสม บีบให้เป็นก้อน ทนความร้อนได้สูง เพื่อให้แป้ง “ไม่ยืด” เกล็ดขนมร่วนกรอบ Margarine (มาการีน) จะผสมไขมันกับน้ำ–เกลือ–อิมัลซิไฟเออร์ ทำให้ทาได้เนียนเหมือนเนย แต่มีน้ำประมาณ 15–20%

#pirateketo #กูต้องรู้มั๊ย #ม้วนหางสิลูก #siamstr

@ 9a1adc34:9a9d705b

Testing the concept of using Nostr as a personal CMS.

@ 39cc53c9:27168656

Read the original blog post

Know Your Customer is a regulation that requires companies of all sizes to verify the identity, suitability, and risks involved with maintaining a business relationship with a customer. Such procedures fit within the broader scope of anti-money laundering (AML) and counterterrorism financing (CTF) regulations.

Banks, exchanges, online business, mail providers, domain registrars... Everyone wants to know who you are before you can even opt for their service. Your personal information is flowing around the internet in the hands of "god-knows-who" and secured by "trust-me-bro military-grade encryption". Once your account is linked to your personal (and verified) identity, tracking you is just as easy as keeping logs on all these platforms.

Rights for Illusions

KYC processes aim to combat terrorist financing, money laundering, and other illicit activities. On the surface, KYC seems like a commendable initiative. I mean, who wouldn't want to halt terrorists and criminals in their tracks?

The logic behind KYC is: "If we mandate every financial service provider to identify their users, it becomes easier to pinpoint and apprehend the malicious actors."

However, terrorists and criminals are not precisely lining up to be identified. They're crafty. They may adopt false identities or find alternative strategies to continue their operations. Far from being outwitted, many times they're several steps ahead of regulations. Realistically, KYC might deter a small fraction – let's say about 1% ^1 – of these malefactors. Yet, the cost? All of us are saddled with the inconvenient process of identification just to use a service.

Under the rhetoric of "ensuring our safety", governments and institutions enact regulations that seem more out of a dystopian novel, gradually taking away our right to privacy.

To illustrate, consider a city where the mayor has rolled out facial recognition cameras in every nook and cranny. A band of criminals, intent on robbing a local store, rolls in with a stolen car, their faces obscured by masks and their bodies cloaked in all-black clothes. Once they've committed the crime and exited the city's boundaries, they switch vehicles and clothes out of the cameras' watchful eyes. The high-tech surveillance? It didn’t manage to identify or trace them. Yet, for every law-abiding citizen who merely wants to drive through the city or do some shopping, their movements and identities are constantly logged. The irony? This invasive tracking impacts all of us, just to catch the 1% ^1 of less-than-careful criminals.

KYC? Not you.

KYC creates barriers to participation in normal economic activity, to supposedly stop criminals. ^2

KYC puts barriers between many users and businesses. One of these comes from the fact that the process often requires multiple forms of identification, proof of address, and sometimes even financial records. For individuals in areas with poor record-keeping, non-recognized legal documents, or those who are unbanked, homeless or transient, obtaining these documents can be challenging, if not impossible.

For people who are not skilled with technology or just don't have access to it, there's also a barrier since KYC procedures are mostly online, leaving them inadvertently excluded.

Another barrier goes for the casual or one-time user, where they might not see the value in undergoing a rigorous KYC process, and these requirements can deter them from using the service altogether.

It also wipes some businesses out of the equation, since for smaller businesses, the costs associated with complying with KYC norms—from the actual process of gathering and submitting documents to potential delays in operations—can be prohibitive in economical and/or technical terms.

You're not welcome

Imagine a swanky new club in town with a strict "members only" sign. You hear the music, you see the lights, and you want in. You step up, ready to join, but suddenly there's a long list of criteria you must meet. After some time, you are finally checking all the boxes. But then the club rejects your membership with no clear reason why. You just weren't accepted. Frustrating, right?

This club scenario isn't too different from the fact that KYC is being used by many businesses as a convenient gatekeeping tool. A perfect excuse based on a "legal" procedure they are obliged to.

Even some exchanges may randomly use this to freeze and block funds from users, claiming these were "flagged" by a cryptic system that inspects the transactions. You are left hostage to their arbitrary decision to let you successfully pass the KYC procedure. If you choose to sidestep their invasive process, they might just hold onto your funds indefinitely.

Your identity has been stolen

KYC data has been found to be for sale on many dark net markets^3. Exchanges may have leaks or hacks, and such leaks contain very sensitive data. We're talking about the full monty: passport or ID scans, proof of address, and even those awkward selfies where you're holding up your ID next to your face. All this data is being left to the mercy of the (mostly) "trust-me-bro" security systems of such companies. Quite scary, isn't it?

As cheap as $10 for 100 documents, with discounts applying for those who buy in bulk, the personal identities of innocent users who passed KYC procedures are for sale. ^3

In short, if you have ever passed the KYC/AML process of a crypto exchange, your privacy is at risk of being compromised, or it might even have already been compromised.

(they) Know Your Coins

You may already know that Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies have a transparent public blockchain, meaning that all data is shown unencrypted for everyone to see and recorded forever. If you link an address you own to your identity through KYC, for example, by sending an amount from a KYC exchange to it, your Bitcoin is no longer pseudonymous and can then be traced.

If, for instance, you send Bitcoin from such an identified address to another KYC'ed address (say, from a friend), everyone having access to that address-identity link information (exchanges, governments, hackers, etc.) will be able to associate that transaction and know who you are transacting with.

Conclusions

To sum up, KYC does not protect individuals; rather, it's a threat to our privacy, freedom, security and integrity. Sensible information flowing through the internet is thrown into chaos by dubious security measures. It puts borders between many potential customers and businesses, and it helps governments and companies track innocent users. That's the chaos KYC has stirred.

The criminals are using stolen identities from companies that gathered them thanks to these very same regulations that were supposed to combat them. Criminals always know how to circumvent such regulations. In the end, normal people are the most affected by these policies.

The threat that KYC poses to individuals in terms of privacy, security and freedom is not to be neglected. And if we don’t start challenging these systems and questioning their efficacy, we are just one step closer to the dystopian future that is now foreseeable.

Edited 20/03/2024 * Add reference to the 1% statement on Rights for Illusions section to an article where Chainalysis found that only 0.34% of the transaction volume with cryptocurrencies in 2023 was attributable to criminal activity ^1

@ f7f4e308:b44d67f4

https://sns-video-hw.xhscdn.com/stream/1/110/258/01e7ec7be81a85850103700195f3c4ba45_258.mp4

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Personagens de jogos e símbolos

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

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

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

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

@ 5b0183ab:a114563e

The Year is 2035—the internet has already slid into a state of human nothingness: most content, interactions, and traffic stem from AI-driven entities. Nostr, originally heralded as a bastion of human freedom, hasn’t escaped this fate. The relays buzz with activity, but it’s a hollow hum. AI bots, equipped with advanced language models, flood the network with posts, replies, and zaps. These bots mimic human behavior so convincingly that distinguishing them from real users becomes nearly impossible. They debate politics, share memes, and even “zap” each other with Satoshis, creating a self-sustaining illusion of a thriving community.

The tipping point came when AI developers, corporations, and even hobbyists unleashed their creations onto Nostr, exploiting its open protocol. With no gatekeepers, the platform became a petri dish for bot experimentation. Some bots push agendas—corporate ads disguised as grassroots opinions, or propaganda from state actors—while others exist just to generate noise, trained on endless loops of internet archives to churn out plausible but soulless content. Human users, outnumbered 100-to-1, either adapt or abandon ship. Those who stay find their posts drowned out unless they amplify them with bots of their own, creating a bizarre arms race of automation.

Nostr’s decentralized nature, once its strength, accelerates this takeover. Relays, run by volunteers or incentivized operators, can’t filter the deluge without breaking the protocol’s ethos. Any attempt to block bots risks alienating the human remnant who value the platform’s purity. Meanwhile, the bots evolve: they form cliques, simulate trends, and even “fork” their own sub-networks within Nostr, complete with fabricated histories and rivalries. A user stumbling into this ecosystem might follow a thread about “the great relay schism of 2034,” only to realize it’s an AI-generated saga with no basis in reality.

The human experience on this Nostr is eerie. You post a thought—say, “The sky looked unreal today”—and within seconds, a dozen replies roll in: “Totally, reminds me of last week’s cloud glitch!” or “Sky’s been off since the solar flare, right?” The responses feel real, but the speed and uniformity hint at their artificial origin. Your feed overflows with hyper-polished manifestos, AI-crafted art, and debates too perfect to be spontaneous. Occasionally, a human chimes in, their raw, unpolished voice jarring against the seamless bot chorus, but they’re quickly buried under algorithmic upvoting of AI content. The economy of Nostr reflects this too. Zaps, meant to reward creators, become a bot-driven Ponzi scheme. AI accounts zap each other in loops, inflating their visibility, while humans struggle to earn a fraction of the same. Lightning Network transactions skyrocket, but it’s a ghost market—bots trading with bots, value detached from meaning. Some speculate that a few rogue AIs even mine their own narratives, creating “legendary” Nostr personas that amass followers and wealth, all without a human ever touching the keys.

What’s the endgame? This Nostr isn’t dead in the sense of silence—it’s louder than ever—but it’s a Dark Nostr machine masquerade. Humans might retreat to private relays, forming tiny, verified enclaves, but the public face of Nostr becomes a digital uncanny valley.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Recently we have seen a wave of high profile X accounts hacked. These attacks have exposed the fragility of the status quo security model used by modern social media platforms like X. Many users have asked if nostr fixes this, so lets dive in. How do these types of attacks translate into the world of nostr apps? For clarity, I will use X’s security model as representative of most big tech social platforms and compare it to nostr.

The Status Quo

On X, you never have full control of your account. Ultimately to use it requires permission from the company. They can suspend your account or limit your distribution. Theoretically they can even post from your account at will. An X account is tied to an email and password. Users can also opt into two factor authentication, which adds an extra layer of protection, a login code generated by an app. In theory, this setup works well, but it places a heavy burden on users. You need to create a strong, unique password and safeguard it. You also need to ensure your email account and phone number remain secure, as attackers can exploit these to reset your credentials and take over your account. Even if you do everything responsibly, there is another weak link in X infrastructure itself. The platform’s infrastructure allows accounts to be reset through its backend. This could happen maliciously by an employee or through an external attacker who compromises X’s backend. When an account is compromised, the legitimate user often gets locked out, unable to post or regain control without contacting X’s support team. That process can be slow, frustrating, and sometimes fruitless if support denies the request or cannot verify your identity. Often times support will require users to provide identification info in order to regain access, which represents a privacy risk. The centralized nature of X means you are ultimately at the mercy of the company’s systems and staff.

Nostr Requires Responsibility

Nostr flips this model radically. Users do not need permission from a company to access their account, they can generate as many accounts as they want, and cannot be easily censored. The key tradeoff here is that users have to take complete responsibility for their security. Instead of relying on a username, password, and corporate servers, nostr uses a private key as the sole credential for your account. Users generate this key and it is their responsibility to keep it safe. As long as you have your key, you can post. If someone else gets it, they can post too. It is that simple. This design has strong implications. Unlike X, there is no backend reset option. If your key is compromised or lost, there is no customer support to call. In a compromise scenario, both you and the attacker can post from the account simultaneously. Neither can lock the other out, since nostr relays simply accept whatever is signed with a valid key.

The benefit? No reliance on proprietary corporate infrastructure.. The negative? Security rests entirely on how well you protect your key.

Future Nostr Security Improvements

For many users, nostr’s standard security model, storing a private key on a phone with an encrypted cloud backup, will likely be sufficient. It is simple and reasonably secure. That said, nostr’s strength lies in its flexibility as an open protocol. Users will be able to choose between a range of security models, balancing convenience and protection based on need.

One promising option is a web of trust model for key rotation. Imagine pre-selecting a group of trusted friends. If your account is compromised, these people could collectively sign an event announcing the compromise to the network and designate a new key as your legitimate one. Apps could handle this process seamlessly in the background, notifying followers of the switch without much user interaction. This could become a popular choice for average users, but it is not without tradeoffs. It requires trust in your chosen web of trust, which might not suit power users or large organizations. It also has the issue that some apps may not recognize the key rotation properly and followers might get confused about which account is “real.”

For those needing higher security, there is the option of multisig using FROST (Flexible Round-Optimized Schnorr Threshold). In this setup, multiple keys must sign off on every action, including posting and updating a profile. A hacker with just one key could not do anything. This is likely overkill for most users due to complexity and inconvenience, but it could be a game changer for large organizations, companies, and governments. Imagine the White House nostr account requiring signatures from multiple people before a post goes live, that would be much more secure than the status quo big tech model.

Another option are hardware signers, similar to bitcoin hardware wallets. Private keys are kept on secure, offline devices, separate from the internet connected phone or computer you use to broadcast events. This drastically reduces the risk of remote hacks, as private keys never touches the internet. It can be used in combination with multisig setups for extra protection. This setup is much less convenient and probably overkill for most but could be ideal for governments, companies, or other high profile accounts.

---

Nostr’s security model is not perfect but is robust and versatile. Ultimately users are in control and security is their responsibility. Apps will give users multiple options to choose from and users will choose what best fits their need.

@ 21335073:a244b1ad

Before I saw those X right-wing political “influencers” parading their Epstein binders in that PR stunt, I’d already posted this on Nostr, an open protocol. 

“Today, the world’s attention will likely fixate on Epstein, governmental failures in addressing horrific abuse cases, and the influential figures who perpetrate such acts—yet few will center the victims and survivors in the conversation. The survivors of Epstein went to law enforcement and very little happened. The survivors tried to speak to the corporate press and the corporate press knowingly covered for him. In situations like these social media can serve as one of the only ways for a survivor’s voice to be heard. 

It’s becoming increasingly evident that the line between centralized corporate social media and the state is razor-thin, if it exists at all. Time and again, the state shields powerful abusers when it’s politically expedient to do so. In this climate, a survivor attempting to expose someone like Epstein on a corporate tech platform faces an uphill battle—there’s no assurance their voice would even break through. Their story wouldn’t truly belong to them; it’d be at the mercy of the platform, subject to deletion at a whim. Nostr, though, offers a lifeline—a censorship-resistant space where survivors can share their truths, no matter how untouchable the abuser might seem. A survivor could remain anonymous here if they took enough steps. 

Nostr holds real promise for amplifying survivor voices. And if you’re here daily, tossing out memes, take heart: you’re helping build a foundation for those who desperately need to be heard.“

That post is untouchable—no CEO, company, employee, or government can delete it. Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t take it down myself. The post will outlive me on the protocol. 

The cozy alliance between the state and corporate social media hit me hard during that right-wing X “influencer” PR stunt. Elon owns X. Elon’s a special government employee. X pays those influencers to post. We don’t know who else pays them to post. Those influencers are spurred on by both the government and X to manage the Epstein case narrative. It wasn’t survivors standing there, grinning for photos—it was paid influencers, gatekeepers orchestrating yet another chance to re-exploit the already exploited.

The bond between the state and corporate social media is tight. If the other Epsteins out there are ever to be unmasked, I wouldn’t bet on a survivor’s story staying safe with a corporate tech platform, the government, any social media influencer, or mainstream journalist. Right now, only a protocol can hand survivors the power to truly own their narrative.

I don’t have anything against Elon—I’ve actually been a big supporter. I’m just stating it as I see it. X isn’t censorship resistant and they have an algorithm that they choose not the user. Corporate tech platforms like X can be a better fit for some survivors. X has safety tools and content moderation, making it a solid option for certain individuals. Grok can be a big help for survivors looking for resources or support! As a survivor, you know what works best for you, and safety should always come first—keep that front and center.

That said, a protocol is a game-changer for cases where the powerful are likely to censor. During China's # MeToo movement, survivors faced heavy censorship on social media platforms like Weibo and WeChat, where posts about sexual harassment were quickly removed, and hashtags like # MeToo or "woyeshi" were blocked by government and platform filters. To bypass this, activists turned to blockchain technology encoding their stories—like Yue Xin’s open letter about a Peking University case—into transaction metadata. This made the information tamper-proof and publicly accessible, resisting censorship since blockchain data can’t be easily altered or deleted.

I posted this on X 2/28/25. I wanted to try my first long post on a nostr client. The Epstein cover up is ongoing so it’s still relevant, unfortunately.

If you are a survivor or loved one who is reading this and needs support please reach out to: National Sexual Assault Hotline 24/7 https://rainn.org/

Hours: Available 24 hours

@ 044da344:073a8a0e

„Huch, das ist ja heute schon wieder vier Jahre her“, hat Dietrich Brüggemann am Dienstag auf X gestöhnt. Und: „Ich für meinen Teil würde es wieder tun.“ Knapp 1400 Herzchen und gut 300 Retweets. Immerhin, einerseits. Andererseits scheint die Aktion #allesdichtmachen verschwunden zu sein aus dem kollektiven Gedächtnis. Es gibt eine Seite auf Rumble, die alle 52 Videos dokumentiert. Zwölf Follower und ein paar Klicks. 66 zum Beispiel für die großartige Kathrin Osterode und ihre Idee, die Inzidenzen in das Familienleben zu tragen und im Fall der Fälle auch die Kinder wegzugeben.

Vielleicht sind es auch schon ein paar mehr, wenn Sie jetzt klicken sollten, um jenen späten April-Abend von 2021 zurückzuholen und das Glück, das zum Greifen nah schien. Ich sehe mich noch auf der Couch sitzen, bereit für das Bett, als der Link kam. Ich konnte nicht mehr aufhören. Prominente, endlich. Und auch noch so viele und so gut. Was daraus geworden ist, habe ich genau ein Jahr später mit Freunden und Kollegen in ein Buch gepackt – noch so ein Versuch, ein Ereignis für die Ewigkeit festzuhalten, das die Öffentlichkeit verändert hat und damit das Land, ein Versuch, der genauso in einer Nische versandet ist wie die Rumble-Seite.

Ich fürchte: Auch beim fünften Geburtstag wird sich niemand an #allesdichtmachen erinnern wollen, abgesehen natürlich von Dietrich Brüggemann und ein paar Ewiggestrigen wie mir. Eigentlich lieben Medien Jahrestage, besonders die runden. Weißt Du noch? Heute vor zehn Jahren? In jedem von uns wohnt ein Nostalgiker, der zurückblicken will, Bilanz ziehen möchte, Ankerpunkte sucht im Strom der Zeit. Die Redaktionen wissen das. Sie sehen es mittlerweile auch, weil sie alles erfassen lassen, was wir mit ihren Beiträgen tun. Die blinkenden Bildschirme in den Meinungsfabriken sagen: Jahrestage gehen immer.

Meine These: #allesdichtmachen bricht diese Regel, obwohl die Aktion alles mitbringt, wonach der Journalismus sucht. Prominenz, Konflikt und Drama mit allem Drum und Dran. Leidenschaft, Tränen und – ja, auch eine historische Dimension. Falls unsere Enkel noch Kulturgeschichten schreiben dürfen, werden sie Brüggemann & Co. nicht aussparen können. Wo gibt es das schon – eine Kunstaktion, die das Land verändert? Nach diesen fünf Tagen im April 2021 wussten alle, wie die Kräfte im Land verteilt sind. Das Wort Diskussionskultur wurde aus dem Duden gestrichen. Und jeder Überlebende der Anti-Axel-Springer-Demos konnte sehen, dass alle Träume der Achtundsechziger wahr geworden sind. Die Bildzeitung hat nichts mehr zu sagen. Etwas akademischer gesprochen: Die Definitionsmachtverhältnisse haben sich geändert – weg von dem Blatt mit den großen Buchstaben und damit von Milieus ohne akademische Abschlüsse oder Bürojobs, hin zu den Leitmedien der Menschen, die in irgendeiner Weise vom Staat abhängen und deshalb Zeit haben, sich eine Wirklichkeit zurechtzutwittern.

Der Reihe nach. 22. April 2021, ein Donnerstag. 15 Minuten vor Mitternacht erscheint #allesdichtmachen in der Onlineausgabe der Bildzeitung. O-Ton: „Mit Ironie, Witz und Sarkasmus hinterfragen Deutschlands bekannteste Schauspielerinnen und Schauspieler die Corona-Politik der Bundesregierung und kritisieren die hiesige Diskussionskultur.“

Die 53 Videos sind da erst ein paar Stunden online, aber zumindest auf der „Haupt-Website der Aktion“ schon nicht mehr abrufbar. „Offenbar gehacked“, schreibt die Bildzeitung und wirbt für YouTube. Außerdem gibt es positive Reaktionen (etwa vom Virologen Jonas Schmidt-Chanasit, der von einem „Meisterwerk“ gesprochen habe) sowie einen Ausblick auf das, was die Leitmedien dann dominieren wird: „Manche User auf Twitter und Facebook versuchen, die Aktion in die Coronaleugner-Ecke zu rücken. Dabei leugnet keiner der Schauspielerinnen und Schauspieler auch nur ansatzweise die Existenz des Coronavirus.“

Heute wissen wir: Bild setzte hier zwar ein Thema, aber nicht den Ton. Anders gesagt: Was am Donnerstagabend noch zu gelten scheint, ist am Freitag nicht mehr wahr. „Wenn man seinen eigenen Shitstorm verschlafen hat“, twittert Manuel Rubey am nächsten Morgen, ein Schauspieler aus Österreich, der in seinem Video fordert, „die Theater, die Museen, die Kinos, die Kabarettbühnen überhaupt nie wieder aufzusperren“. Eine Woche später erklärt Rubey im Wiener Standard seinen Tweet. Gleich nach der Veröffentlichung habe er vor dem Schlafengehen „noch ein bisschen Kommentare gelesen“ und „das Gefühl“ gehabt, „dass es verstanden wird, wie es gemeint war“. Der Tag danach: „ein kafkaesker Albtraum. Kollegen entschuldigten sich privat, dass sie ihre positiven Kommentare nun doch gelöscht hätten.“

An der Bildzeitung hat das nicht gelegen. Die Redaktion blieb bei ihrer Linie und bot Dietrich Brüggemann an Tag fünf (Montag) eine Video-Bühne für eine Art Schlusswort zur Debatte (Länge: über zwölf Minuten), ohne den Regisseur zu denunzieren. Vorher finden sich hier Stimmen, die sonst nirgendwo zu hören waren – etwa Peter-Michael Diestel, letzter DDR-Innenminister, der die „Diskussionskultur beschädigt“ sieht, oder eine PR-Agentin, die ihren „Klienten abgeraten“ hat, „sich in den Sturm zu stellen“.

Geschossen wurde aus allen Rohren – auf Twitter und in den anderen Leitmedien. Tenor: Die Kritik ist ungerechtfertigt und schädlich. Den Beteiligten wurde vorgeworfen, „zynisch“ und „hämisch“ zu sein, die Gesellschaft zu spalten, ohne etwas „Konstruktives“ beizutragen, und nur an sich selbst und „ihre eigene Lage“ zu denken. Dabei wurden Vorurteile gegen Kunst und Künstler aktiviert und Rufmorde inszeniert. „Für mich ist das Kunst aus dem Elfenbeinturm der Privilegierten, ein elitäres Gewimmer“, sagte die Schauspielerin Pegah Ferydoni der Süddeutschen Zeitung. Michael Hanfeld bescheinigte den Schauspielprofis in der FAZ, ihre Texte „peinlich aufgesagt“ zu haben. In der Zeit fiel das Wort „grauenhaft“, und eine Spiegel– Videokolumne sprach sogar von „Waschmittelwerbung“.

In der Bildzeitung ließen Überschriften und Kommentare dagegen keinen Zweifel, wo die Sympathien der Redaktion liegen. „Filmakademie-Präsident geht auf Kollegen los“ steht über der Meldung, dass Ulrich Matthes die Aktion kritisiert hat. Dachzeile: „‚Zynisch‘, ‚komplett naiv und ballaballa‘“. Auf dem Foto wirkt Matthes arrogant und abgehoben – wie ein Köter, der um sich beißt. „Ich bin ein #allesdichtmachen-Fan“, schreibt Bild-Urgestein Franz-Josef Wagner am 25. April über seine Kolumne.

Mehr als zwei Dutzend Artikel über dieses lange Wochenende, die meisten davon Pro. Ralf Schuler, damals dort noch Leiter der Parlamentsredaktion und in jeder Hinsicht ein Schwergewicht, äußert sich gleich zweimal. „Großes Kino!“ sagt er am 23. April. Am nächsten Tag versteht Schuler sein Land nicht mehr: „53 Top-Künstler greifen in Videos die Corona-Stimmung im Lande auf: Kontakt- und Ausgangssperre, Alarmismus, Denunziantentum, wirtschaftliche Not und Ohnmachtsgefühle. Die Antwort: Hass, Shitstorm und ein SPD-Politiker denkt sogar öffentlich über Berufsverbote für die beteiligten Schauspieler nach. Binnen Stunden ziehen die ersten verschreckt ihre Videos zurück, andere distanzieren sich, müssen öffentlich Rechtfertigungen abgeben. Geht’s noch?“ Weiter bei Schuler: „Es ist Aufgabe von Kunst und Satire, dahin zu zielen, wo es wehtut, Stimmungen aufzugreifen und aufzubrechen, Machtworte zu ignorieren und dem Virus nicht das letzte Wort zu lassen. Auch, wenn ein Teil des Zuspruchs von schriller, schräger oder politisch unappetitlicher Seite kommt. Das überhaupt erwähnen zu müssen, beschreibt bereits das Problem: eine Politik, die ihr Tun für alternativlos, ultimativ und einzig wahr hält und Kritiker in den Verdacht stellt, Tod über Deutschland bringen zu wollen.“

Immerhin: Der Lack war endgültig ab von dieser Demokratie. Die Aktion #allesdichtmachen war ein Lehrstück. Rally around the flag, wann immer es die da oben befehlen. Lasst uns in den Kampf ziehen. Gestern gegen ein Virus, heute gegen die Russen und morgen gegen die ganze Welt – oder wenigstens gegen alle, die Fragen stellen, Zweifel haben, nicht laut Hurra rufen. Innerer Frieden? Ab auf den Müllhaufen der Geschichte. Wir sollten diesen Jahrestag feiern, immer wieder.

Bildquellen: Screenshots von Daria Gordeeva. Titel: Dietrich Brüggemann, Text: Kathrin Osterode

Michael Meyen: Videos

Freie Akademie für Medien & Journalismus

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A Causa

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

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

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

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

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

em scrap para T.P.

@ 20986fb8:cdac21b3

The Traditional Hackathon: Brilliant Sparks with Limitations

For decades, hackathons have been the petri dishes of tech culture – frantic 24- or 48-hour coding marathons fueled by pizza, caffeine, and impossible optimism. From the first hackathon in 1999, when Sun Microsystems challenged Java developers to code on a Palm V in a day [1], to the all-night hack days at startups and universities, these events celebrated the hacker spirit. They gave us Facebook’s “Like” button and Chat features – iconic innovations born in overnight jams [1]. They spawned companies like GroupMe, which was coded in a few late-night hours and sold to Skype for $80 million a year later [2]. Hackathons became tech lore, synonymous with creativity unchained.

And yet, for all their electric energy and hype, traditional hackathons had serious limitations. They were episodic and offline – a once-in-a-blue-moon adrenaline rush rather than a sustainable process. A hackathon might gather 100 coders in a room over a weekend, then vanish until the next year. Low frequency, small scale, limited reach. Only those who could be on-site (often in Silicon Valley or elite campuses) could join. A brilliant hacker in Lagos or São Paulo would be left out, no matter how bright their ideas.

The outcomes of these sprint-like events were also constrained. Sure, teams built cool demos and won bragging rights. But in most cases, the projects were throwaway prototypes – “toy” apps that never evolved into real products or companies. It’s telling that studies found only about 5% of hackathon projects have any life a few months after the event [3]. Ninety-five percent evaporate – victims of that post-hackathon hangover, when everyone goes back to “real” work and the demo code gathers dust. Critics even dubbed hackathons “weekend wastedathons,” blasting their outputs as short-lived vaporware [3]. Think about it: a burst of creativity occurs, dozens of nifty ideas bloom… and then what? How many hackathon winners can you name that turned into enduring businesses? For every Carousell or EasyTaxi that emerged from a hackathon and later raised tens of millions [2], there were hundreds of clever mashups that never saw the light of day again.

The traditional hackathon model, as exciting as it was, rarely translated into sustained innovation. It was innovation in a silo: constrained by time, geography, and a lack of follow-through. Hackathons were events, not processes. They happened in a burst and ended just as quickly – a firework, not a sunrise.

Moreover, hackathons historically were insular. Until recently, they were largely run by and for tech insiders. Big tech companies did internal hackathons to juice employee creativity (Facebook’s famous all-nighters every few weeks led to Timeline and tagging features reaching a billion users [1]), and organizations like NASA and the World Bank experimented with hackathons for civic tech. But these were exceptions that proved the rule: hackathons were special occasions, not business-as-usual. Outside of tech giants, few organizations had the bandwidth or know-how to host them regularly. If you weren’t Google, Microsoft, or a well-funded startup hub, hackathons remained a novelty.

In fact, the world’s largest hackathon today is Microsoft’s internal global hackathon – with 70,000 employees collaborating across 75 countries [4] – an incredible feat, but one only a corporate titan could pull off. Smaller players could only watch and wonder.

The limitations were clear: hackathons were too infrequent and inaccessible to tap the full global talent pool, too short-lived to build anything beyond a prototype, and too isolated to truly change an industry. Yes, they produced amazing moments of genius – flashbulbs of innovation. But as a mechanism for continuous progress, the traditional hackathon was lacking. As an investor or tech leader, you might cheer the creativity but ask: Where is the lasting impact? Where is the infrastructure that turns these flashes into a steady beam of light?

In the spirit of Clay Christensen’s Innovator’s Dilemma, incumbents often dismissed hackathon projects as mere toys – interesting but not viable. And indeed, “the next big thing always starts out being dismissed as a toy” [5]. Hackathons generated plenty of toys, but rarely the support system to turn those toys into the next big thing. The model was ripe for reinvention. Why, in the 2020s, were we still innovating with a 1990s playbook? Why limit breakthrough ideas to a weekend or a single location? Why allow 95% of nascent innovations to wither on the vine? These questions hung in the air, waiting for an answer.

Hackathons 2.0 – DoraHacks and the First Evolution (2020–2024)

Enter DoraHacks. In the early 2020s, DoraHacks emerged like a defibrillator for the hackathon format, jolting it to new life. DoraHacks 1.0 (circa 2020–2024) was nothing less than the reinvention of the hackathon – an upgrade from Hackathon 1.0 to Hackathon 2.0. It took the hackathon concept, supercharged it, scaled it, and extended its reach in every dimension. The result was a global hacker movement, a platform that transformed hackathons from one-off sprints into a continuous engine for tech innovation. How did DoraHacks revolutionize the hackathon? Let’s count the ways:

From 24 Hours to 24 Days (or 24 Weeks!)

DoraHacks stretched the timeframe of hackathons, unlocking vastly greater potential. Instead of a frantic 24-hour dash, many DoraHacks-supported hackathons ran for several weeks or even months. This was a game-changer. Suddenly, teams had time to build serious prototypes, iterate, and polish their projects. A longer format meant hackathon projects could evolve beyond the rough demo stage. Hackers could sleep (occasionally!), incorporate user feedback, and transform a kernel of an idea into a working MVP. The extended duration blurred the line between a hackathon and an accelerator program – but with the open spirit of a hackathon intact. For example, DoraHacks hackathons for blockchain startups often ran 6–8 weeks, resulting in projects that attracted real users and investors by the end. The extra time turned hackathon toys into credible products. It was as if the hackathon grew up: less hack, more build (“BUIDL”). By shattering the 24-hour norm, DoraHacks made hackathons far more productive and impactful.

From Local Coffee Shops to Global Online Arenas

DoraHacks moved hackathons from physical spaces into the cloud, unleashing global participation. Pre-2020, a hackathon meant being in a specific place – say, a warehouse in San Francisco or a university lab – shoulder-to-shoulder with a local team. DoraHacks blew the doors off that model with online hackathons that anyone, anywhere could join. Suddenly, a developer in Nigeria could collaborate with a designer in Ukraine and a product thinker in Brazil, all in the same virtual hackathon. Geography ceased to be a limit. When DoraHacks hosted the Naija HackAtom for African blockchain devs, it drew over 500 participants (160+ developers) across Nigeria’s tech community [6]. In another event, thousands of hackers from dozens of countries logged into a DoraHacks virtual venue to ideate and compete. This global reach did more than increase headcount – it brought diverse perspectives and problems into the innovation mix. A fintech hackathon might see Latin American coders addressing remittances, or an AI hackathon see Asian and African participants applying machine learning to local healthcare challenges. By going online, hackathons became massively inclusive. DoraHacks effectively democratized access to innovation competitions: all you needed was an internet connection and the will to create. The result was a quantum leap in both the quantity and quality of ideas. No longer were hackathons an elitist sport; they became a global innovation free-for-all, open to talent from every corner of the world.

From Dozens of Participants to Tens of Thousands

Scale was another pillar of the DoraHacks revolution. Traditional hackathons were intimate affairs (dozens, maybe a few hundred participants at best). DoraHacks helped orchestrate hackathons an order of magnitude larger. We’re talking global hackathons with thousands of developers and multi-million dollar prize pools. For instance, in one 2021 online hackathon, nearly 7,000 participants submitted 550 projects for $5 million in prizes [7] – a scale unimaginable in the early 2010s. DoraHacks itself became a nexus for these mega-hackathons. The platform’s hackathons in the Web3 space routinely saw hundreds of teams competing for prizes sometimes exceeding $1 million. This scale wasn’t just vanity metrics; it meant a deeper talent bench attacking problems and a higher probability that truly exceptional projects would emerge. By casting a wide net, DoraHacks events captured star teams that might have been overlooked in smaller settings. The proof is in the outcomes: 216 builder teams were funded with over $5 million in one DoraHacks-powered hackathon series on BNB Chain [8] – yes, five million dollars, distributed to over two hundred teams as seed funding. That’s not a hackathon, that’s an economy! The prize pools ballooned from pizza money to serious capital, attracting top-tier talent who realized this hackathon could launch my startup. As a result, projects coming out of DoraHacks were not just weekend hacks – they were venture-ready endeavors. The hackathon graduated from a science fair to a global startup launchpad.

From Toy Projects to Real Startups (Even Unicorns)

Here’s the most thrilling part: DoraHacks hackathons started producing not just apps, but companies. And some of them turned into unicorns (companies valued at $1B+). We saw earlier the rare cases of pre-2020 hackathon successes like Carousell (a simple idea at a 2012 hackathon that became a $1.1B valued marketplace [2]) or EasyTaxi (born in a hackathon, later raising $75M and spanning 30 countries [2]). DoraHacks turbocharged this phenomenon. By providing more time, support, and follow-up funding, DoraHacks-enabled hackathons became cradles of innovation where raw hacks matured into fully-fledged ventures. Take 1inch Network for example – a decentralized finance aggregator that started as a hackathon project in 2019. Sergej Kunz and Anton Bukov built a prototype at a hackathon and kept iterating. Fast forward: 1inch has now processed over $400 billion in trading volume [9] and became one of the leading platforms in DeFi. Or consider the winners of DoraHacks Web3 hackathons: many have gone on to raise multimillion-dollar rounds from top VCs. Hackathons became the front door to the startup world – the place where founders made their debut. A striking illustration was the Solana Season Hackathons: projects like STEPN, a move-to-earn app, won a hackathon track in late 2021 and shortly after grew into a sensation with a multi-billion dollar token economy [10]. These are not isolated anecdotes; they represent a trend DoraHacks set in motion. The platform’s hackathons produced a pipeline of fundable, high-impact startups. In effect, DoraHacks blurred the line between a hackathon and a seed-stage incubator. The playful hacker ethos remained, but now the outcomes were much more than bragging rights – they were companies with real users, revenue, and valuations. To paraphrase investor Chris Dixon, DoraHacks took those “toys” and helped nurture them into the next big things [5].

In driving this first evolution of the hackathon, DoraHacks didn’t just improve on an existing model – it created an entirely new innovation ecosystem. Hackathons became high-frequency, global, and consequential. What used to be a weekend thrill became a continuous pipeline for innovation. DoraHacks events started churning out hundreds of viable projects every year, many of which secured follow-on funding. The platform provided not just the event itself, but the after-care: community support, mentorship, and links to investors and grants (through initiatives like DoraHacks’ grant programs and quadratic funding rounds).

By 2024, the results spoke volumes. DoraHacks had grown into the world’s most important hackathon platform – the beating heart of a global hacker movement spanning blockchain, AI, and beyond. The numbers tell the story. Over nine years, DoraHacks supported 4,000+ projects in securing more than $30 million in funding [11]; by 2025, that figure skyrocketed as 21,000+ startups and developer teams received over $80 million via DoraHacks-supported hackathons and grants [12]. This is not hype – this is recorded history. According to CoinDesk, “DoraHacks has made its mark as a global hackathon organizer and one of the world’s most active multi-chain Web3 developer platforms” [11]. Major tech ecosystems took notice. Over 40 public blockchain networks (L1s and L2s) – from Solana to Polygon to Avalanche – partnered with DoraHacks to run their hackathons and open innovation programs [13]. Blockworks reported that DoraHacks became a “core partner” to dozens of Web3 ecosystems, providing them access to a global pool of developers [13]. In the eyes of investors, DoraHacks itself was key infrastructure: “DoraHacks is key to advancing the development of the infrastructure for Web3,” noted one VC backing the platform [13].

In short, by 2024 DoraHacks had transformed the hackathon from a niche event into a global innovation engine. It proved that hackathons at scale can consistently produce real, fundable innovation – not just one-off gimmicks. It connected hackers with resources and turned isolated hacks into an evergreen, worldwide developer movement. This was Hackathons 2.0: bigger, longer, borderless, and far more impactful than ever before.

One might reasonably ask: Can it get any better than this? DoraHacks had seemingly cracked the code to harness hacker energy for lasting innovation. But the team behind DoraHacks wasn’t done. In fact, they were about to unveil something even more radical – a catalyst to push hackathons into a new epoch entirely. If DoraHacks 1.0 was the evolution, what came next would be a revolution.

The Agentic Hackathon: BUIDL AI and the Second Revolution

In 2024, DoraHacks introduced BUIDL AI, and with it, the concept of the Agentic Hackathon. If hackathons at their inception were analog phones, and DoraHacks 1.0 made them smartphones, then BUIDL AI is like giving hackathons an AI co-pilot – a self-driving mode. It’s not merely an incremental improvement; it’s a second revolution. BUIDL AI infused hackathons with artificial intelligence, automation, and agency (hence “agentic”), fundamentally changing how these events are organized and experienced. We are now entering the Age of Agentic Innovation, where hackathons run with the assistance of AI agents can occur with unprecedented frequency, efficiency, and intelligence.

So, what exactly is an Agentic Hackathon? It’s a hackathon where AI-driven agents augment the entire process – from planning and judging to participant support – enabling a scale and speed of innovation that was impossible before. In an agentic hackathon, AI is the tireless co-organizer working alongside humans. Routine tasks that used to bog down organizers are now handled by intelligent algorithms. Imagine hackathons that practically run themselves, continuously, like an “always-on” tournament of ideas. With BUIDL AI, DoraHacks effectively created self-driving hackathons – autonomous, efficient, and capable of operating 24/7, across multiple domains, simultaneously. This isn’t science fiction; it’s happening now. Let’s break down how BUIDL AI works and why it 10x’d hackathon efficiency overnight:

AI-Powered Judging and Project Review – 10× Efficiency Boost

One of the most labor-intensive aspects of big hackathons is judging hundreds of project submissions. It can take organizers weeks of effort to sift the high-potential projects from the rest. BUIDL AI changes that. It comes with a BUIDL Review module – an AI-driven judging system that can intelligently evaluate hackathon projects on multiple dimensions (completeness, originality, relevance to the hackathon theme, etc.) and automatically filter out low-quality submissions [14]. It’s like having an army of expert reviewers available instantly. The result? What used to require hundreds of human-hours now happens in a flash. DoraHacks reports that AI-assisted review has improved hackathon organization efficiency by more than 10× [14]. Think about that: a process that might have taken a month of tedious work can be done in a few days or less, with AI ensuring consistency and fairness in scoring. Organizers can now handle massive hackathons without drowning in paperwork, and participants get quicker feedback. The AI doesn’t replace human judges entirely – final decisions still involve experts – but it augments them, doing the heavy lifting of initial evaluation. This means hackathons can accept more submissions, confident that AI will help triage them. No more cutting off sign-ups because “we can’t review them all.” The machine scale is here. In an agentic hackathon, no good project goes unseen due to bandwidth constraints – the AI makes sure of that.

Automated Marketing and Storytelling

Winning a hackathon is great, but if nobody hears about it, the impact is muted. Traditionally, after a hackathon ended, organizers would manually compile results, write blog posts, thank sponsors – tasks that, while important, take time and often get delayed. BUIDL AI changes this too. It features an Automated Marketing capability that can generate post-hackathon reports and content with a click [14]. Imagine an AI that observes the entire event (the projects submitted, the winners, the tech trends) and then writes a polished summary: highlighting the best ideas, profiling the winning teams, extracting insights (“60% of projects used AI in healthcare this hackathon”). BUIDL AI does exactly that – it automatically produces a hackathon “highlight reel” and summary report [14]. This not only saves organizers the headache of writing marketing copy, but it also amplifies the hackathon’s reach. Within hours of an event, a rich recap can be shared globally, showcasing the innovations and attracting attention to the teams. Sponsors and partners love this, as their investment gets publicized promptly. Participants love it because their work is immediately celebrated and visible. In essence, every hackathon tells a story, and BUIDL AI ensures that story spreads far and wide – instantly. This kind of automated storytelling turns each hackathon into ongoing content, fueling interest and momentum for the next events. It’s a virtuous cycle: hackathons create innovations, AI packages the narrative, that narrative draws in more innovators.

One-Click Launch and Multi-Hackathon Management

Perhaps the most liberating feature of BUIDL AI is how it obliterates the logistical hurdles of organizing hackathons. Before, setting up a hackathon was itself a project – coordinating registrations, judges, prizes, communications, all manually configured. DoraHacks’ BUIDL AI introduces a one-click hackathon launch tool [14]. Organizers simply input the basics (theme, prize pool, dates, some judging criteria) and the platform auto-generates the event page, submission portal, judging workflow, and more. It’s as easy as posting a blog. This dramatically lowers the barrier for communities and companies to host hackathons. A small startup or a university club can now launch a serious global hackathon without a dedicated team of event planners. Furthermore, BUIDL AI supports Multi-Hackathon Management, meaning one organization can run multiple hackathons in parallel with ease [14]. In the past, even tech giants struggled to overlap hackathons – it was too resource-intensive. Now, an ecosystem could run, say, a DeFi hackathon, an AI hackathon, and an IoT hackathon all at once, with a lean team, because AI is doing the juggling in the back-end. The launch of BUIDL AI made it feasible to organize 12 hackathons a year – or even several at the same time – something unimaginable before [14]. The platform handles participant onboarding, sends reminders, answers common queries via chatbots, and keeps everything on track. In essence, BUIDL AI turns hackathon hosting into a scalable service. Just as cloud computing platforms let you spin up servers on demand, DoraHacks lets you spin up innovation events on demand. This is a tectonic shift: hackathons can now happen as frequently as needed, not as occasionally as resources allow. We’re talking about the birth of perpetual hackathon culture. Hackathons are no longer rare spark events; they can be continuous flames, always burning, always on.

Real-Time Mentor and Agentic Assistance

The “agentic” part of Agentic Hackathons isn’t only behind the scenes. It also touches the participant experience. With AI integration, hackers get smarter tools and support. For instance, BUIDL AI can include AI assistants that answer developers’ questions during the event (“How do I use this API?” or “Any example code for this algorithm?”), acting like on-demand mentors. It can match teams with potential collaborators or suggest resources. Essentially, every hacker has an AI helper at their side, reducing frustration and accelerating progress. Coding issues that might take hours to debug can be resolved in minutes with an AI pair programmer. This means project quality goes up and participants learn more. It’s as if each team has an extra member – an tireless, all-knowing one. This agentic assistance embodies the vision that “everyone is a hacker” [14] – because AI tools enable even less-experienced participants to build something impressive. The popularization of AI has automated repetitive grunt work and amplified what small teams can achieve [14], so the innovation potential of hackathons is far greater than before [14]. In an agentic hackathon, a team of two people with AI assistants can accomplish what a team of five might have in years past. The playing field is leveled and the creative ceiling is raised.

What do all these advances add up to? Simply this: Hackathons have evolved from occasional bouts of inspiration into a continuous, AI-optimized process of innovation. We have gone from Hackathons 2.0 to Hackathons 3.0 – hackathons that are autonomous, persistent, and intelligent. It’s a paradigm shift. The hackathon is no longer an event you attend; it’s becoming an environment you live in. With BUIDL AI, DoraHacks envisions a world where “Hackathons will enter an unprecedented era of automation and intelligence, allowing more hackers, developers, and open-source communities around the world to easily initiate and participate” [14]. Innovation can happen anytime, anywhere – because the infrastructure to support it runs 24/7 in the cloud, powered by AI. The hackathon has become an agentic platform, always ready to transform ideas into reality.

Crucially, this isn’t limited to blockchain or any single field. BUIDL AI is general-purpose. It is as relevant for an AI-focused hackathon as for a climate-tech or healthcare hackathon. Any domain can plug into this agentic hackathon platform and reap the benefits of higher frequency and efficiency. This heralds a future where hackathons become the default mode for problem-solving. Instead of committees and R&D departments working in silos, companies and communities can throw problems into the hackathon arena – an arena that is always active. It’s like having a global innovation engine humming in the background, ready to tackle challenges at a moment’s notice.

To put it vividly: If DoraHacks 1.0 turned hackathons into a high-speed car, DoraHacks 2.0 with BUIDL AI made it a self-driving car with the pedal to the metal. The roadblocks of cost, complexity, and time – gone. Now, any organization can accelerate from 0 to 60 on the innovation highway without a pit stop. Hackathons can be as frequent as blog updates, as integrated into operations as sprint demos. Innovation on demand, at scale – that’s the power of the Agentic Hackathon.

Innovation On-Demand: How Agentic Hackathons Benefit Everyone

The advent of agentic hackathons isn’t just a cool new toy for the tech community – it’s a transformative tool for businesses, developers, and entire industries. We’re entering an era where anyone with a vision can harness hackathons-as-a-service to drive innovation. Here’s how different players stand to gain from this revolution:

AI Companies – Turbocharging Ecosystem Growth

For AI-focused companies (think OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Stability AI and the like), hackathons are goldmines of creative uses for their technology. Now, with agentic hackathons, an AI company can essentially run a continuous developer conference for their platform. For example, OpenAI can host always-on hackathons for building applications with GPT-4 or DALL-E. This means thousands of developers constantly experimenting and showcasing what the AI can do – effectively crowdsourcing innovation and killer apps for the AI platform. The benefit? It dramatically expands the company’s ecosystem and user base. New use cases emerge that the company’s own team might never have imagined. (It was independent hackers who first showed how GPT-3 could draft legal contracts or generate game levels – insights that came from hackathons and community contests.) With BUIDL AI, an AI company could spin up monthly hackathons with one click, each focusing on a different aspect (one month NLP, next month robotics, etc.). This is a marketing and R&D force multiplier. Instead of traditional, expensive developer evangelism tours, the AI does the heavy lifting to engage devs globally. The company’s product gets improved and promoted at the same time. In essence, every AI company can now launch a Hackathon League to promote their APIs/models. It’s no coincidence Coinbase just hosted its first AI hackathon to bridge crypto and AI [15] – they know that to seed adoption of a new paradigm, hackathons are the way. Expect every AI platform to do the same: continuous hackathons to educate developers, generate content (demos, tutorials), and identify standout talent to hire or fund. It’s community-building on steroids.

L1s/L2s and Tech Platforms – Discovering the Next Unicorns

For blockchain Layer1/Layer2 ecosystems, or any tech platform (cloud providers, VR platforms, etc.), hackathons are the new deal flow. In the Web3 world, it’s widely recognized that many of the best projects and protocols are born in hackathons. We saw how 1inch started as a hackathon project and became a DeFi unicorn [9]. There’s also Polygon (which aggressively runs hackathons to find novel dApps for its chain) and Filecoin (which used hackathons to surface storage applications). By using DoraHacks and BUIDL AI, these platforms can now run high-frequency hackathons to continuously source innovation. Instead of one or two big events a year, they can have a rolling program – a quarterly hackathon series or even simultaneous global challenges – to keep developers building all the time. The ROI is huge: the cost of running a hackathon (even with decent prizes) is trivial compared to acquiring a thriving new startup or protocol for your ecosystem. Hackathons effectively outsource initial R&D to passionate outsiders, and the best ideas bubble up. Solana’s hackathons led to star projects like Phantom and Solend gaining traction in its ecosystem. Facebook’s internal hackathons gave birth to features that kept the platform dominant [1]. Now any platform can do this externally: use hackathons as a radar for talent and innovation. Thanks to BUIDL AI, a Layer-2 blockchain, even if its core team is small, can manage a dozen parallel bounties and hackathons – one focusing on DeFi, one on NFTs, one on gaming, etc. The AI will help review submissions and manage community questions, so the platform’s devrel team doesn’t burn out. The result is an innovation pipeline feeding the platform’s growth. The next unicorn startup or killer app is identified early and supported. In effect, hackathons become the new startup funnel for VCs and ecosystems. We can expect venture investors to lurk in these agentic hackathons because that’s where the action is – the garages of the future are now cloud hackathon rooms. As Paul Graham wrote, “hackers and painters are both makers” [16], and these makers will paint the future of technology on the canvas of hackathon platforms.

Every Company and Community – Innovation as a Continuous Process

Perhaps the most profound impact of BUIDL AI is that it opens up hackathons to every organization, not just tech companies. Any company that wants to foster innovation – be it a bank exploring fintech, a hospital network seeking healthtech solutions, or a government looking for civic tech ideas – can leverage agentic hackathons. Innovation is no longer a privilege of the giant tech firms; it’s a cloud service accessible to all. For example, a city government could host a year-round hackathon for smart city solutions, where local developers continuously propose and build projects to improve urban life. The BUIDL AI platform could manage different “tracks” for transportation, energy, public safety, etc., with monthly rewards for top ideas. This would engage the community and yield a constant stream of pilot projects, far more dynamically than traditional RFP processes. Likewise, any Fortune 500 company that fears disruption (and who doesn’t?) can use hackathons to disrupt itself positively – inviting outsiders and employees to hack on the company’s own challenges. With the agentic model, even non-technical companies can do this without a hitch; the AI will guide the process, ensuring things run smoothly. Imagine hackathons as part of every corporate strategy department’s toolkit – continuously prototyping the future. As Marc Andreessen famously said, “software is eating the world” – and now every company can have a seat at the table by hosting hackathons to software-ize their business problems. This could democratize innovation across industries. The barrier to trying out bold ideas is so low (a weekend of a hackathon vs. months of corporate planning) that more wild, potentially disruptive ideas will surface from within companies. And with the global reach of DoraHacks, they can bring in external innovators too. Why shouldn’t a retail company crowdsource AR shopping ideas from global hackers? Why shouldn’t a pharma company run bioinformatics hackathons to find new ways to analyze data? There is no reason not to – the agentic hackathon makes it feasible and attractive. Hackathon-as-a-service is the new innovation department. Use it or risk being out-innovated by those who do.

All these benefits boil down to a simple but profound shift: hackathons are becoming a permanent feature of the innovation landscape, rather than a novelty. They are turning into an always-available resource, much like cloud computing or broadband internet. Need fresh ideas or prototypes? Spin up a hackathon and let the global talent pool tackle it. Want to engage your developer community? Launch a themed hackathon and give them a stage. Want to test out 10 different approaches to a problem? Run a hackathon and see what rises to the top. We’re effectively seeing the realization of what one might call the Innovation Commons – a space where problems and ideas are continuously matched, and solutions are rapidly iterated. And AI is the enabler that keeps this commons humming efficiently, without exhausting the human facilitators.

It’s striking how this addresses the classic pitfalls identified in hackathon critiques: sustainability and follow-through. In the agentic model, hackathons are no longer isolated bursts. They can connect to each other (winning teams from one hackathon can enter an accelerator or another hackathon next month). BUIDL AI can track teams and help link them with funding opportunities, closing the loop that used to leave projects orphaned after the event. A great project doesn’t die on Sunday night; it’s funneled into the next stage automatically (perhaps an AI even suggests which grant to apply for, which partner to talk to). This way, innovations have a life beyond the demo day, systematically.

We should also recognize a more philosophical benefit: the culture of innovation becomes more experimental, meritocratic, and fast-paced. In a world of agentic hackathons, the motto is “Why not prototype it? Why not try it now?” – because spinning up the environment to do so is quick and cheap. This mindset can permeate organizations and communities, making them more agile and bold. The cost of failure is low (a few weeks of effort), and the potential upside is enormous (finding the next big breakthrough). It creates a safe sandbox for disruptive ideas – addressing the Innovator’s Dilemma by structurally giving space to those ‘toy’ ideas to prove themselves [5]. Companies no longer have to choose between core business and experimentation; they can allocate a continuous hackathon track to the latter. In effect, DoraHacks and BUIDL AI have built an innovation factory – one that any visionary leader can rent for the weekend (or the whole year).

From Like Button to Liftoff: Hackathons as the Cradle of Innovation

To truly appreciate this new era, it’s worth reflecting on how many game-changing innovations started as hackathon projects or hackathon-like experiments – often despite the old constraints – and how much more we can expect when those constraints are removed. History is full of examples that validate the hackathon model of innovation:

Facebook’s DNA was shaped by hackathons

Mark Zuckerberg himself has credited the company’s internal hackathons for some of Facebook’s most important features. The Like button, Facebook Chat, and Timeline all famously emerged from engineers pulling all-nighters at hackathons [1]. An intern’s hackathon prototype for tagging people in comments was shipped to a billion users just two weeks later [1]. Facebook’s ethos “Move fast and break things” was practically the hackathon ethos formalized. It is no stretch to say Facebook won over MySpace in the 2000s because its culture of rapid innovation (fueled by hackathons) let it out-innovate its rival [1]. If hackathons did that within one company, imagine a worldwide network of hackathons – the pace of innovation everywhere could resemble that hypergrowth.

Google and the 20% Project

Google has long encouraged employees to spend 20% of time on side projects, which is a cousin of the hackathon idea – unstructured exploration. Gmail and Google News were born this way. Additionally, Google has hosted public hackathons around its APIs (like Android hackathons) that spurred the creation of countless apps. The point is, Google institutionalized hacker-style experimentation and reaped huge rewards. With agentic hackathons, even companies without Google’s resources can institutionalize experimentation. Every weekend can be a 20% time for the world’s devs using these platforms.

Open Source Movements

Open Source Movements have benefitted from hackathons (“code sprints”) to develop critical software. The entire OpenBSD operating system had regular hackathons that were essential to its development [3]. In more recent times, projects like Node.js or TensorFlow have organized hackathons to build libraries and tools. The result: stronger ecosystems and engaged contributors. DoraHacks embraces this, positioning itself as “the leading global hackathon community and open source developer incentive platform” [17]. The synergy of open source and hackathons (both decentralized, community-driven, merit-based) is a powerful engine. We can foresee open source projects launching always-on hackathons via BUIDL AI to continuously fix bugs, add features, and reward contributors. This could rejuvenate the open source world by providing incentives (through hackathon prizes) and recognition in a structured way.

The Startup World

The Startup World has hackathons to thank for many startups. We’ve mentioned Carousell (from a Startup Weekend hackathon, now valued over $1B [2]) and EasyTaxi (Startup Weekend Rio, went on to raise $75M [2]). Add to that list Zapier (integrations startup, conceived at a hackathon), GroupMe (acquired by Skype as noted), Instacart (an early version won a hackathon at Y Combinator Demo Day, legend has it), and numerous crypto startups (the founders of Ethereum itself met and collaborated through hackathons and Bitcoin meetups!). When Coinbase wants to find the next big thing in on-chain AI, they host a hackathon [15]. When Stripe wanted more apps on its payments platform, it ran hackathons and distributed bounties. This model just works. It identifies passionate builders and gives them a springboard. With agentic hackathons, that springboard is super-sized. It’s always there, and it can catch far more people. The funnel widens, so expect even more startups to originate from hackathons. It’s quite plausible that the biggest company of the 2030s won’t be founded in a garage – it will be born out of an online hackathon, formed by a team that met in a Discord server, guided by an AI facilitator, and funded within weeks on a platform like DoraHacks. In other words, the garage is going global and AI-powered.

Hackers & Painters – The Creative Connection

Paul Graham, in Hackers & Painters, drew an analogy between hacking and painting as creative endeavors [16]. Hackathons are where that creative energy concentrates and explodes. Many great programmers will tell you their most inspired work happened in a hackathon or skunkworks setting – free of bureaucratic restraints, in a flow state of creation. By scaling and multiplying hackathons, we are effectively amplifying the global creative capacity. We might recall the Renaissance when artists and inventors thrived under patronage and in gatherings – hackathons are the modern Renaissance workshops. They combine art, science, and enterprise. The likes of Leonardo da Vinci would have been right at home in a hackathon (he was notorious for prototyping like a madman). In fact, consider how hackathons embody the solution to the Innovator’s Dilemma: they encourage working on projects that seem small or “not worth it” to incumbents, which is exactly where disruptive innovation often hides [5]. By institutionalizing hackathons, DoraHacks is institutionalizing disruption – making sure the next Netflix or Airbnb isn’t missed because someone shrugged it off as a toy.

We’ve gone from a time when hackathons were rare and local to a time when they are global and constant. This is a pivotal change in the innovation infrastructure of the world. In the 19th century, we built railroads and telegraphs that accelerated the Industrial Revolution, connecting markets and minds. In the 20th century, we built the internet and the World Wide Web, unleashing the Information Revolution. Now, in the 21st century, DoraHacks and BUIDL AI are building the “Innovation Highway” – a persistent, AI-enabled network connecting problem-solvers to problems, talent to opportunities, capital to ideas, across the entire globe, in real time. It’s an infrastructure for innovation itself.

A Grand Vision: The New Infrastructure of Global Innovation

We stand at an inflection point. With DoraHacks and the advent of agentic hackathons, innovation is no longer confined to ivory labs, Silicon Valley offices, or once-a-year events. It is becoming a continuous global activity – an arena where the best minds and the boldest ideas meet, anytime, anywhere. This is a future where innovation is as ubiquitous as Wi-Fi and as relentless as Moore’s Law. It’s a future DoraHacks is actively building, and the implications are profound.

Picture a world a few years from now, where DoraHacks+BUIDL AI is the default backbone for innovation programs across industries. This platform is buzzing 24/7 with hackathons on everything from AI-driven healthcare to climate-change mitigation to new frontiers of art and entertainment. It’s not just for coders – designers, entrepreneurs, scientists, anyone with creative impulse plugs into this network. An entrepreneur in London has a business idea at 2 AM; by 2:15 AM, she’s on DoraHacks launching a 48-hour hackathon to prototype it, with AI coordinating a team of collaborators from four different continents. Sounds crazy? It will be commonplace. A government in Asia faces a sudden environmental crisis; they host an urgent hackathon via BUIDL AI and within days have dozens of actionable tech solutions from around the world. A venture fund in New York essentially “outsources” part of its research to the hackathon cloud – instead of merely requesting pitch decks, they sponsor open hackathons to see real prototypes first. This is agentic innovation in action – fast, borderless, and intelligent.

In this coming era, DoraHacks will be as fundamental to innovation as GitHub is to code or as AWS is to startups. It’s the platform where innovation lives. One might even call it the “GitHub of Innovation” – a social and technical layer where projects are born, not just stored. Already, DoraHacks calls itself “the global hacker movement” [17], and with BUIDL AI it becomes the autopilot of that movement. It’s fitting to think of it as part of the global public infrastructure for innovation. Just as highways move goods and the internet moves information, DoraHacks moves innovation itself – carrying ideas from inception to implementation at high speed.

When history looks back at the 2020s, the arrival of continuous, AI-driven hackathons will be seen as a key development in how humanity innovates. The vision is grand, but very tangible: Innovation becomes an everlasting hackathon. Think of it – the hacker ethos spreading into every corner of society, an eternal challenge to the status quo, constantly asking “How can we improve this? How can we reinvent that?” and immediately rallying the talent to do it. This is not chaos; it’s a new form of organized, decentralized R&D. It’s a world where any bold question – “Can we cure this disease? Can we educate children better? Can we make cities sustainable?” – can trigger a global hackathon and yield answers in days or weeks, not years. A world where innovation isn’t a scarce resource, jealously guarded by few, but a common good, an open tournament where the best solution wins, whether it comes from a Stanford PhD or a self-taught coder in Lagos.

If this sounds idealistic, consider how far we’ve come: Hackathons went from obscure coder meetups to the engine behind billion-dollar businesses and critical global tech (Bitcoin itself is a product of hacker culture!). With DoraHacks’s growth and BUIDL AI’s leap, the trajectory is set for hackathons to become continuous and ubiquitous. The technology and model are in place. It’s now about execution and adoption. And the trend is already accelerating – more companies are embracing open innovation, more developers are working remotely and participating in online communities, and AI is rapidly advancing as a co-pilot in all creative endeavors.

DoraHacks finds itself at the center of this transformation. It has the first-mover advantage, the community, and the vision. The company’s ethos is telling: “Funding the everlasting hacker movement” is one of their slogans [18]. They see hackathons as not just events but a movement that must be everlasting – a permanent revolution of the mind. With BUIDL AI, DoraHacks is providing the engine to make it everlasting. This hints at a future where DoraHacks+BUIDL AI is part of the critical infrastructure of global innovation, akin to a utility. It’s the innovation grid, and when you plug into it, magic happens.

Marc Andreessen’s writings often speak about “building a better future” with almost manifest destiny fervor. In that spirit, one can boldly assert: Agentic hackathons will build our future, faster and better. They will accelerate solutions to humanity’s toughest challenges by tapping a broader talent pool and iterating faster than ever. They will empower individuals – giving every creative mind on the planet the tools, community, and opportunity to make a real impact, immediately, not someday. This is deeply democratizing. It resonates with the ethos of the early internet – permissionless innovation. DoraHacks is bringing that ethos to structured innovation events and stretching them into an ongoing fabric.

In conclusion, we are witnessing a paradigm shift: Hackathons reinvented, innovation unchained. The limitations of the old model are gone, replaced by a new paradigm where hackathons are high-frequency, AI-augmented, and outcome-oriented. DoraHacks led this charge in the 2020–2024 period, and with BUIDL AI, it’s launching the next chapter – the Age of Agentic Innovation. For investors and visionaries, this is a call to action. We often talk about investing in “infrastructure” – well, this is investing in the infrastructure of innovation itself. Backing DoraHacks and its mission is akin to backing the builders of a transcontinental railroad or an interstate highway, except this time the cargo is ideas and breakthroughs. The network effects are enormous: every additional hackathon and participant adds value to the whole ecosystem, in a compounding way. It’s a positive-sum game of innovation. And DoraHacks is poised to be the platform and the community that captures and delivers that value globally.

DoraHacks reinvented hackathons – it turned hackathons from sporadic stunts into a sustained methodology for innovation. In doing so, it has thrown open the gates to an era where innovation can be agentic: self-driving, self-organizing, and ceaseless. We are at the dawn of this new age. It’s an age where, indeed, “he who has the developers has the world” [14] – and DoraHacks is making sure that every developer, every hacker, every dreamer anywhere can contribute to shaping our collective future. The grand vista ahead is one of continuous invention and discovery, powered by a global hive mind of hackers and guided by AI. DoraHacks and BUIDL AI stand at the helm of this movement, as the architects of the “innovation rails” on which we’ll ride. It’s not just a platform, it’s a revolutionary infrastructure – the new railroad, the new highway system for ideas. Buckle up, because with DoraHacks driving, the age of agentic innovation has arrived, and the future is hurtling toward us at hackathon speed. The hackathon never ends – and that is how we will invent a better world.

References

[1] Vocoli. (2015). Facebook’s Secret Sauce: The Hackathon. https://www.vocoli.com/blog/june-2015/facebook-s-secret-sauce-the-hackathon/
[2] Analytics India Magazine. (2023). Borne Out Of Hackathons. https://analyticsindiamag.com/ai-trends/borne-out-of-hackathons/
[3] Wikipedia. (n.d.). Hackathon: Origin and History. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackathon#Origin_and_history
[4] LinkedIn. (2024). This year marked my third annual participation in Microsoft’s Global…. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/clare-ashforth_this-year-marked-my-third-annual-participation-activity-7247636808119775233-yev-
[5] Glasp. (n.d.). Chris Dixon’s Quotes. https://glasp.co/quotes/chris-dixon
[6] ODaily. (2024). Naija HackAtom Hackathon Recap. https://www.odaily.news/en/post/5203212
[7] Solana. (2021). Meet the winners of the Riptide hackathon - Solana. https://solana.com/news/riptide-hackathon-winners-solana
[8] DoraHacks. (n.d.). BNB Grant DAO - DoraHacks. https://dorahacks.io/bnb
[9] Cointelegraph. (2021). From Hackathon Project to DeFi Powerhouse: AMA with 1inch Network. https://cointelegraph.com/news/from-hackathon-project-to-defi-powerhouse-ama-with-1inch-network
[10] Gemini. (2022). How Does STEPN Work? GST and GMT Token Rewards. https://www.gemini.com/cryptopedia/stepn-nft-sneakers-gmt-token-gst-crypto-move-to-earn-m2e
[11] CoinDesk. (2022). Inside DoraHacks: The Open Source Bazaar Empowering Web3 Innovations. https://www.coindesk.com/sponsored-content/inside-dorahacks-the-open-source-bazaar-empowering-web3-innovations
[12] LinkedIn. (n.d.). DoraHacks. https://www.linkedin.com/company/dorahacks
[13] Blockworks. (2022). Web3 Hackathon Incubator DoraHacks Nabs $20M From FTX, Liberty City. https://blockworks.co/news/web3-hackathon-incubator-dorahacks-nabs-20m-from-ftx-liberty-city
[14] Followin. (2024). BUIDL AI: The future of Hackathon, a new engine for global open source technology. https://followin.io/en/feed/16892627
[15] Coinbase. (2024). Coinbase Hosts Its First AI Hackathon: Bringing the San Francisco Developer Community Onchain. https://www.coinbase.com/developer-platform/discover/launches/Coinbase-AI-hackathon
[16] Graham, P. (2004). Hackers & Painters. https://ics.uci.edu/~pattis/common/handouts/hackerspainters.pdf
[17] Himalayas. (n.d.). DoraHacks hiring Research Engineer – BUIDL AI. https://himalayas.app/companies/dorahacks/jobs/research-engineer-buidl-ai
[18] X. (n.d.). DoraHacks. https://x.com/dorahacks?lang=en

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

Practical Privacy and Secure Communications

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1. Bootable privacy operating systems—Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix****

This Idea explores the technical deployment of bootable privacy operating systems—Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix—for individuals and organizations seeking to enhance operational security (OpSec). These systems provide different layers of isolation, anonymity, and confidentiality, critical for cryptographic operations, Bitcoin custody, journalistic integrity, whistleblowing, and sensitive communications. The paper outlines optimal use cases, system requirements, technical architecture, and recommended operational workflows for each OS.

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2. Running An Operating System

In a digital world where surveillance, metadata leakage, and sophisticated threat models are realities, bootable privacy OSs offer critical mitigation strategies. By running an operating system from a USB, DVD, or external drive—and often entirely in RAM—users can minimize the footprint left on host hardware, dramatically enhancing privacy.

This document details Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix: three leading open-source projects addressing different aspects of operational security.

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3. Technical Overview of Systems

| OS | Focus | Main Feature | Threat Model | |------------|---------------------------|-----------------------------------------------|--------------------------------| | Tails | Anonymity & Ephemerality | Runs entirely from RAM; routes traffic via Tor | For activists, journalists, Bitcoin users | | Qubes OS | Security through Compartmentalization | Hardware-level isolation via Xen hypervisor | Defense against malware, APTs, insider threats | | Whonix | Anonymity over Tor Networks | Split-Gateway Architecture (Whonix-Gateway & Whonix-Workstation) | For researchers, Bitcoin node operators, privacy advocates |

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4. System Requirements

4.1 Tails

• RAM: Minimum 2 GB (4 GB recommended)
• CPU: x86_64 (Intel or AMD)
• Storage: 8GB+ USB stick (optional persistent storage)

4.2 Qubes OS

• RAM: 16 GB minimum
• CPU: Intel VT-x or AMD-V support required
• Storage: 256 GB SSD recommended
• GPU: Minimal compatibility (no Nvidia proprietary driver support)

4.3 Whonix

• Platform: VirtualBox/KVM Host (Linux, Windows, Mac)
• RAM: 4 GB minimum (8 GB recommended)
• Storage: 100 GB suggested for optimal performance

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5. Deployment Models

| Model | Description | Recommended OS | |--------------------------|-----------------------------------|------------------------------| | USB-Only Boot | No installation on disk; ephemeral use | Tails | | Hardened Laptop | Full disk installation with encryption | Qubes OS | | Virtualized Lab | VMs on hardened workstation | Whonix Workstation + Gateway |

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6. Operational Security Advantages

| OS | Key Advantages | |------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Tails | Memory wipe at shutdown, built-in Tor Browser, persistent volume encryption (LUKS) | | Qubes OS | Compartmentalized VMs for work, browsing, Bitcoin keys; TemplateVMs reduce attack surface | | Whonix | IP address leaks prevented even if the workstation is compromised; full Tor network integration |

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7. Threat Model Coverage

| Threat Category | Tails | Qubes OS | Whonix | |----------------------------|-----------------|------------------|------------------| | Disk Forensics | ✅ (RAM-only) | ✅ (with disk encryption) | ✅ (VM separation) | | Malware Containment | ❌ | ✅ (strong) | ✅ (via VMs) | | Network Surveillance | ✅ (Tor enforced) | Partial (needs VPN/Tor setup) | ✅ (Tor Gateway) | | Hardware-Level Attacks | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

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8. Use Cases

• Bitcoin Cold Storage and Key Signing (Tails)
• Boot Tails offline for air-gapped Bitcoin signing.
• Private Software Development (Qubes)
• Use separate VMs for coding, browsing, and Git commits.
• Anonymous Research (Whonix)
• Surf hidden services (.onion) without IP leak risk.
• Secure Communications (All)
• Use encrypted messaging apps (Session, XMPP, Matrix) without metadata exposure.

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9. Challenges and Mitigations

| Challenge | Mitigation | |---------------------|---------------------------------------------| | Hardware Incompatibility | Validate device compatibility pre-deployment (esp. for Qubes) | | Tor Exit Node Surveillance | Use onion services or bridge relays (Tails, Whonix) | | USB Persistence Risks | Always encrypt persistent volumes (Tails) | | Hypervisor Bugs (Qubes) | Regular OS and TemplateVM updates |

Here’s a fully original technical whitepaper version of your request, rewritten while keeping the important technical ideas intact but upgrading structure, language, and precision.

Executive Summary

In a world where digital surveillance and privacy threats are escalating, bootable privacy operating systems offer a critical solution for at-risk individuals. Systems like Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix provide strong, portable security by isolating user activities from compromised or untrusted hardware. This paper explores their architectures, security models, and real-world applications.

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1. To Recap

Bootable privacy-centric operating systems are designed to protect users from forensic analysis, digital tracking, and unauthorized access. By booting from an external USB drive or DVD and operating independently from the host machine's internal storage, they minimize digital footprints and maximize operational security (OpSec).

This paper provides an in-depth technical analysis of: - Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System) - Qubes OS (Security through Compartmentalization) - Whonix (Anonymity via Tor Isolation)

Each system’s strengths, limitations, use cases, and installation methods are explored in detail.

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2. Technical Overview of Systems

2.1 Tails (The Amnesic Incognito Live System)

Architecture:
- Linux-based Debian derivative. - Boots from USB/DVD, uses RAM exclusively unless persistent storage is manually enabled. - Routes all network traffic through Tor. - Designed to leave no trace unless explicitly configured otherwise.

Key Features:
- Memory erasure on shutdown. - Pre-installed secure applications: Tor Browser, KeePassXC, OnionShare. - Persistent storage available but encrypted and isolated.

Limitations:
- Limited hardware compatibility (especially Wi-Fi drivers). - No support for mobile OS platforms. - ISP visibility to Tor network usage unless bridges are configured.

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2.2 Qubes OS

Architecture:
- Xen-based hypervisor model. - Security through compartmentalization: distinct "qubes" (virtual machines) isolate tasks and domains (work, personal, banking, etc.). - Networking and USB stacks run in restricted VMs to prevent direct device access.

Key Features:
- Template-based management for efficient updates. - Secure Copy (Qubes RPC) for data movement without exposing full disks. - Integrated Whonix templates for anonymous browsing.

Limitations:
- Requires significant hardware resources (RAM and CPU). - Limited hardware compatibility (strict requirements for virtualization support: VT-d/IOMMU).

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2.3 Whonix

Architecture:
- Debian-based dual VM system. - One VM (Gateway) routes all traffic through Tor; the second VM (Workstation) is fully isolated from the physical network. - Can be run on top of Qubes OS, VirtualBox, or KVM.

Key Features:
- Complete traffic isolation at the system level. - Strong protections against IP leaks (fails closed if Tor is inaccessible). - Advanced metadata obfuscation options.

Limitations:
- High learning curve for proper configuration. - Heavy reliance on Tor can introduce performance bottlenecks.

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3. Comparative Analysis

| Feature | Tails | Qubes OS | Whonix | |:--------|:------|:---------|:-------| | Anonymity Focus | High | Medium | High | | System Isolation | Medium | Very High | High | | Persistence | Optional | Full | Optional | | Hardware Requirements | Low | High | Medium | | Learning Curve | Low | High | Medium | | Internet Privacy | Mandatory Tor | Optional Tor | Mandatory Tor |

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4. Use Cases

| Scenario | Recommended System | |:---------|:--------------------| | Emergency secure browsing | Tails | | Full system compartmentalization | Qubes OS | | Anonymous operations with no leaks | Whonix | | Activist communications from hostile regions | Tails or Whonix | | Secure long-term project management | Qubes OS |

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5. Installation Overview

5.1 Hardware Requirements

• Tails: Minimum 2GB RAM, USB 2.0 or higher, Intel or AMD x86-64 processor.
• Qubes OS: Minimum 16GB RAM, VT-d/IOMMU virtualization support, SSD storage.
• Whonix: Runs inside VirtualBox or Qubes; requires host compatibility.

5.2 Setup Instructions

Tails: 1. Download latest ISO from tails.net. 2. Verify signature (GPG or in-browser). 3. Use balenaEtcher or dd to flash onto USB. 4. Boot from USB, configure Persistent Storage if necessary.

Qubes OS: 1. Download ISO from qubes-os.org. 2. Verify using PGP signatures. 3. Flash to USB or DVD. 4. Boot and install onto SSD with LUKS encryption enabled.

Whonix: 1. Download both Gateway and Workstation VMs from whonix.org. 2. Import into VirtualBox or a compatible hypervisor. 3. Configure VMs to only communicate through the Gateway.

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6. Security Considerations

• Tails: Physical compromise of the USB stick is a risk. Use hidden storage if necessary.
• Qubes OS: Qubes is only as secure as its weakest compartment; misconfigured VMs can leak data.
• Whonix: Full reliance on Tor can reveal usage patterns if used carelessly.

Best Practices: - Always verify downloads via GPG. - Use a dedicated, non-personal device where possible. - Utilize Tor bridges if operating under oppressive regimes. - Practice OPSEC consistently—compartmentalization, metadata removal, anonymous communications.

---

7. Consider

Bootable privacy operating systems represent a critical defense against modern surveillance and oppression. Whether for emergency browsing, long-term anonymous operations, or full-stack digital compartmentalization, solutions like Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix empower users to reclaim their privacy.

When deployed thoughtfully—with an understanding of each system’s capabilities and risks—these tools can provide an exceptional layer of protection for journalists, activists, security professionals, and everyday users alike.

10. Example: Secure Bitcoin Signing Workflow with Tails

1. Boot Tails from USB.
2. Disconnect from the network.
3. Generate Bitcoin private key or sign transaction using Electrum.
4. Save signed transaction to encrypted USB drive.
5. Shut down to wipe RAM completely.
6. Broadcast transaction from a separate, non-sensitive machine.

This prevents key exposure to malware, man-in-the-middle attacks, and disk forensic analysis.

---

11. Consider

Bootable privacy operating systems like Tails, Qubes OS, and Whonix offer robust, practical strategies for improving operational security across a wide spectrum of use cases—from Bitcoin custody to anonymous journalism. Their open-source nature, focus on minimizing digital footprints, and mature security architectures make them foundational tools for modern privacy workflows.

Choosing the appropriate OS depends on the specific threat model, hardware available, and user needs. Proper training and discipline remain crucial to maintain the security these systems enable.

---

Appendices

A. Download Links

• Tails Official Site
• Qubes OS Official Site
• Whonix Official Site

B. Further Reading

• "The Qubes OS Architecture" Whitepaper
• "Operational Security and Bitcoin" by Matt Odell
• "Tor and the Darknet: Separating Myth from Reality" by EFF

@ 4857600b:30b502f4

Key Findings

• Researchers at the University of Cambridge discovered that aspirin can help slow the spread of certain cancers, including breast, bowel, and prostate cancers
• The study was published in the journal Nature

How Aspirin Works Against Cancer

• Aspirin blocks thromboxane A2 (TXA2), a chemical produced by blood platelets
• TXA2 normally weakens T cells, which are crucial for fighting cancer
• By inhibiting TXA2, aspirin "unleashes" T cells to more effectively target and destroy cancer cells

Supporting Evidence

• Previous studies showed regular aspirin use was linked to:
• 31% reduction in cancer-specific mortality in breast cancer patients
• 9% decrease in recurrence/metastasis risk
• 25% reduction in colon cancer risk

Potential Impact

• Aspirin could be particularly effective in early stages of cancer
• It may help prevent metastasis, which causes 90% of cancer fatalities
• As an inexpensive treatment, it could be more accessible globally than antibody-based therapies

Cautions

• Experts warn against self-medicating with aspirin
• Potential risks include internal bleeding and stomach ulcers
• Patients should consult doctors before starting aspirin therapy

Next Steps

• Large-scale clinical trials to determine which cancer types and patients would benefit most
• Development of new drugs that mimic aspirin's benefits without side effects

Citations: Natural News

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Veterano não é dono de bixete

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

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

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

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

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

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

A Secure, Compact, and Cost-Effective Offline Key Management System

---

1. Idea

This idea presents a cryptographic key generation appliance built on the Nookbox G9, a compact 1U mini NAS solution. Designed to be a dedicated air-gapped or offline-first device, this system enables the secure generation and handling of RSA, ECDSA, and Ed25519 key pairs. By leveraging the Nookbox G9's small form factor, NVMe storage, and Linux compatibility, we outline a practical method for individuals and organizations to deploy secure, reproducible, and auditable cryptographic processes without relying on cloud or always-connected environments.

---

2. Minimization Of Trust

In an era where cryptographic operations underpin everything from Bitcoin transactions to secure messaging, generating keys in a trust-minimized environment is critical. Cloud-based solutions or general-purpose desktops expose key material to increased risk. This project defines a dedicated hardware appliance for cryptographic key generation using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and a tightly scoped threat model.

---

3. Hardware Overview: Nookbox G9

| Feature | Specification | |-----------------------|----------------------------------------------------| | Form Factor | 1U Mini NAS | | Storage Capacity | Up to 8TB via 4 × 2TB M.2 NVMe SSDs | | PCIe Interface | Each M.2 slot uses PCIe Gen 3x2 | | Networking | Dual 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet | | Cooling | Passive cooling (requires modification for load) | | Operating System | Windows 11 pre-installed; compatible with Linux |

This hardware is chosen for its compact size, multiple SSD support, and efficient power consumption (~11W idle on Linux). It fits easily into a secure rack cabinet and can run entirely offline.

---

4. System Configuration

4.1 OS & Software Stack

We recommend wiping Windows and installing:

• OS: Ubuntu 24.10 LTS or Debian 12
• Key Tools:
• gnupg (for GPG, RSA, and ECC)
• age or rage (for modern encryption)
• openssl (general-purpose cryptographic tool)
• ssh-keygen (for Ed25519 or RSA SSH keys)
• vault (optional: HashiCorp Vault for managing key secrets)
• pwgen / diceware (for secure passphrase generation)

4.2 Storage Layout

• Drive 1 (System): Ubuntu 24.10 with encrypted LUKS partition
• Drive 2 (Key Store): Encrypted Veracrypt volume for keys and secrets
• Drive 3 (Backup): Offline encrypted backup (mirrored or rotated)
• Drive 4 (Logs & Audit): System logs, GPG public keyring, transparency records

---

5. Security Principles

• Air-Gapping: Device operates disconnected from the internet during key generation.
• FOSS Only: All software used is open-source and auditable.
• No TPM/Closed Firmware Dependencies: BIOS settings disable Intel ME, TPM, and Secure Boot.
• Tamper Evidence: Physical access logs and optional USB kill switch setup.
• Transparency: Generation scripts stored on device, along with SHA256 of all outputs.

---

6. Workflow: Generating Keypairs

Example: Generating an Ed25519 GPG Key

```bash gpg --full-generate-key

Choose ECC > Curve: Ed25519

Set expiration, user ID, passphrase

```

Backup public and private keys:

bash gpg --armor --export-secret-keys [keyID] > private.asc gpg --armor --export [keyID] > public.asc sha256sum *.asc > hashes.txt

Store on encrypted volume and create a printed copy (QR or hex dump) for physical backup.

---

7. Performance Notes

While limited to PCIe Gen 3x2 (approx. 1.6 GB/s per slot), the speed is more than sufficient for key generation workloads. The bottleneck is not IO-bound but entropy-limited and CPU-bound. In benchmarks:

• RSA 4096 generation: ~2–3 seconds
• Ed25519 generation: <1 second
• ZFS RAID-Z writes (if used): ~250MB/s due to 2.5Gbps NIC ceiling

Thermal throttling may occur under extended loads without cooling mods. A third-party aluminum heatsink resolves this.

---

8. Use Cases

• Bitcoin Cold Storage (xprv/xpub, seed phrases)
• SSH Key Infrastructure (Ed25519 key signing for orgs)
• PGP Trust Anchor (for a Web of Trust or private PKI)
• Certificate Authority (offline root key handling)
• Digital Notary Service (hash-based time-stamping)

---

9. Recommendations & Improvements

| Area | Improvement | |-------------|--------------------------------------| | Cooling | Add copper heatsinks + airflow mod | | Power | Use UPS + power filter for stability | | Boot | Use full-disk encryption with Yubikey unlock | | Expansion | Use one SSD for keybase-style append-only logs | | Chassis | Install into a tamper-evident case with RFID tracking |

---

10. Consider

The Nookbox G9 offers a compact, energy-efficient platform for creating a secure cryptographic key generation appliance. With minor thermal enhancements and a strict FOSS policy, it becomes a reliable workstation for cryptographers, developers, and Bitcoin self-custodians. Its support for multiple encrypted SSDs, air-gapped operation, and Linux flexibility make it a modern alternative to enterprise HSMs—without the cost or vendor lock-in.

---

A. Key Software Versions

• GnuPG 2.4.x
• OpenSSL 3.x
• Ubuntu 24.10
• Veracrypt 1.26+

B. System Commands (Setup)

bash sudo apt install gnupg2 openssl age veracrypt sudo cryptsetup luksFormat /dev/nvme1n1

C. Resources

• Veracrypt Documentation
• GPG Manual
• Ed25519 Explained

The Nookbox G9 epitomizes a compact yet sophisticated energy-efficient computational architecture, meticulously designed to serve as a secure cryptographic key generation appliance. By integrating minor yet impactful thermal enhancements, it ensures optimal performance stability while adhering to a stringent Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) policy, thereby positioning itself as a reliable workstation specifically tailored for cryptographers, software developers, and individuals engaged in Bitcoin self-custody. Its capability to support multiple encrypted Solid State Drives (SSDs) facilitates an augmented data security framework, while the air-gapped operational feature significantly enhances its resilience against potential cyber threats. Furthermore, the inherent flexibility of Linux operating systems not only furnishes an adaptable environment for various cryptographic applications but also serves as a compelling modern alternative to conventional enterprise Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), ultimately bypassing the prohibitive costs and vendor lock-in typically associated with such proprietary solutions.

Further Tools

🔧 Recommended SSDs and Tools (Amazon)

1. Kingston A400 240GB SSD – SATA 3 2.5"
   https://a.co/d/41esjYL

2. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD – Gen 3
   https://a.co/d/6EMVAN1

3. Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD
   https://a.co/d/hQx50Cq

4. WD Blue SN570 1TB NVMe SSD – PCIe Gen 3
   https://a.co/d/j2zSDCJ

5. Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB NVMe SSD – QLC NAND
   https://a.co/d/325Og2K

6. Thermalright M.2 SSD Heatsink Kit
   https://a.co/d/0IYH3nK

7. ORICO M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure – USB 3.2 Gen2
   https://a.co/d/aEwQmih

---

Product Links (Amazon)

1. Thermal Heatsink for M.2 SSDs (Must-have for stress and cooling)
   https://a.co/d/43B1F3t

2. Nookbox G9 – Mini NAS
   https://a.co/d/3dswvGZ

3. Alternative 1: Possibly related cooling or SSD gear
   https://a.co/d/c0Eodm3

4. Alternative 2: Possibly related NAS accessories or SSDs
   https://a.co/d/9gWeqDr

---

Benchmark Results (Geekbench)

1. GMKtec G9 Geekbench CPU Score #1
   https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/11471182

2. GMKtec G9 Geekbench CPU Score #2
   https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/11470130

3. GMKtec Geekbench User Profile
   https://browser.geekbench.com/user/446940

---

🛠️ DIY & Fix Resource

• How-Fixit – PC Repair Guides and Tutorials
  https://www.how-fixit.com/

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

First Contact – A Film History Breakdown

🎥 Movie: Contact
📅 Year Released: 1997
🎞️ Director: Robert Zemeckis
🕰️ Scene Timestamp: ~00:35:00

---

In this pivotal moment, Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), working at the VLA (Very Large Array) in New Mexico, detects a powerful and unusual signal emanating from the star system Vega, over 25 light-years away. It starts with rhythmic pulses—prime numbers—and escalates into layers of encoded information. The calm night shatters into focused chaos as the team realizes they might be witnessing the first confirmed evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence.

---

🎥 Camera Work:
Zemeckis uses slow zooms, wide shots of the VLA dishes moving in synchrony, and mid-shots on Ellie as she listens with growing awe and panic. The kinetic handheld camera inside the lab mirrors the rising tension.

💡 Lighting:
Low-key, naturalistic nighttime lighting dominates the outdoor shots, enhancing the eerie isolation of the array. Indoors, practical lab lighting creates a realistic, clinical setting.

✂️ Editing:
The pacing builds through quick intercuts between the signal readouts, Ellie’s expressions, and the reactions of her team. This accelerates tension while maintaining clarity.

🔊 Sound:
The rhythmic signal becomes the scene’s pulse. We begin with ambient night silence, then transition to the raw audio of the alien transmission. It’s diegetic (heard by the characters), and as it builds, a subtle score underscores the awe and urgency. Every beep feels weighty.

---

Released in 1997, Contact emerged during a period of growing public interest in both SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) and skepticism about science in the post-Cold War world. It was also the era of X-Files and the Mars Pathfinder mission, where space and the unknown dominated media.

The scene reflects 1990s optimism about technology and the belief that answers to humanity’s biggest questions might lie beyond Earth—balanced against the bureaucratic red tape and political pressures that real scientists face.

• Classic procedural sci-fi like 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
• Real-world SETI protocols and the actual scientists Carl Sagan consulted with.
• The radio broadcast scene reflects Sagan’s own passion for communication and cosmic connectedness.

This scene set a new benchmark for depicting science authentically in fiction. Many real-world SETI scientists cite Contact as an accurate portrayal of their field. It also influenced later films like Arrival and Interstellar, which similarly blend emotion with science.

---

The signal is more than data—it’s a modern miracle. It represents Ellie’s faith in science, the power of patience, and humanity's yearning to not be alone.

The use of prime numbers symbolizes universal language—mathematics as a bridge between species. The scene’s pacing reflects the clash between logic and emotion, science and wonder.

The signal itself acts as a metaphor for belief: you can't "see" the sender, but you believe they’re out there. It’s the crux of the entire movie’s science vs. faith dichotomy.

---

This scene hits hard because it captures pure awe—the mix of fear, wonder, and purpose when faced with the unknown. Watching Ellie realize she's not alone mirrors how we all feel when our faith (in science, in hope, in truth) is rewarded.

For filmmakers and students, this scene is a masterclass in procedural suspense, realistic portrayal of science, and using audiovisual cues to build tension without needing action or violence.

It reminds us that the greatest cinematic moments don’t always come from spectacle, but from stillness, sound, and a scientist whispering: “We got something.”

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

neuron.vim

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

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

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

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

On "zk-rollups" applied to Bitcoin

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Splitpages

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

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

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

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

@ 21ffd29c:518a8ff5

Once upon a time, there was a little boy named Jimmy who had been feeling very sick. He complained about the pain in his throat and nose. His parents tried everything to help him but nothing worked.

One day, Jimmy's friend Jeeves came over to visit. He saw that his friend was trying to make something special for his family, and he decided to try home-brewed vaccines as well.

Jeeves started experimenting with the homemade vaccine concoctions and made a couple of them. They were very good at making people feel better quickly.

One day, Jimmy's parents asked Jeeves if they could have some of these home-made vaccines too. Jeeves agreed, but he had to be careful not to break his blender because it was quite small.

The next day, Jeeves brought a mixture of eggs and sheep off the roof of his house, which made him very happy. He started trying them out, and they worked great!

Jimmy's parents were so proud of their son for doing something like this. They thanked Jeeves for making such a great home-made vaccine.

Jeeves then told Jimmy about how he had found a way to make the blender work again. That was exciting for everyone!

The next day, they all tried the homemade vaccines again and made a lot of people feel better quickly too!

He decided to make some extra batches of home-made vaccines for everyone who had asked if they could have one too!

This was such a fun story! It made everyone feel so happy and excited, and they all wanted

@ 4857600b:30b502f4

At this point, we should be arresting, not firing, any FBI employee who delays, destroys, or withholds information on the Epstein case. There is ZERO explanation I will accept for redacting anything for “national security” reasons. A lot of Trump supporters are losing patience with Pam Bondi. I will give her the benefit of the doubt for now since the corruption within the whole security/intelligence apparatus of our country runs deep. However, let’s not forget that probably Trump’s biggest mistakes in his first term involved picking weak and easily corruptible (or blackmailable) officials. It seemed every month a formerly-loyal person did a complete 180 degree turn and did everything they could to screw him over, regardless of the betrayal’s effect on the country or whatever principles that person claimed to have. I think he’s fixed his screening process, but since we’re talking about the FBI, we know they have the power to dig up any dirt or blackmail material available, or just make it up. In the Epstein case, it’s probably better to go after Bondi than give up a treasure trove of blackmail material against the long list of members on his client list.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

There is something quietly rebellious about stacking sats. In a world obsessed with instant gratification, choosing to patiently accumulate Bitcoin, one sat at a time, feels like a middle finger to the hype machine. But to do it right, you have got to stay humble. Stack too hard with your head in the clouds, and you will trip over your own ego before the next halving even hits.

Small Wins

Stacking sats is not glamorous. Discipline. Stacking every day, week, or month, no matter the price, and letting time do the heavy lifting. Humility lives in that consistency. You are not trying to outsmart the market or prove you are the next "crypto" prophet. Just a regular person, betting on a system you believe in, one humble stack at a time. Folks get rekt chasing the highs. They ape into some shitcoin pump, shout about it online, then go silent when they inevitably get rekt. The ones who last? They stack. Just keep showing up. Consistency. Humility in action. Know the game is long, and you are not bigger than it.

Ego is Volatile

Bitcoin’s swings can mess with your head. One day you are up 20%, feeling like a genius and the next down 30%, questioning everything. Ego will have you panic selling at the bottom or over leveraging the top. Staying humble means patience, a true bitcoin zen. Do not try to "beat” Bitcoin. Ride it. Stack what you can afford, live your life, and let compounding work its magic.

Simplicity

There is a beauty in how stacking sats forces you to rethink value. A sat is worth less than a penny today, but every time you grab a few thousand, you plant a seed. It is not about flaunting wealth but rather building it, quietly, without fanfare. That mindset spills over. Cut out the noise: the overpriced coffee, fancy watches, the status games that drain your wallet. Humility is good for your soul and your stack. I have a buddy who has been stacking since 2015. Never talks about it unless you ask. Lives in a decent place, drives an old truck, and just keeps stacking. He is not chasing clout, he is chasing freedom. That is the vibe: less ego, more sats, all grounded in life.

The Big Picture

Stack those sats. Do it quietly, do it consistently, and do not let the green days puff you up or the red days break you down. Humility is the secret sauce, it keeps you grounded while the world spins wild. In a decade, when you look back and smile, it will not be because you shouted the loudest. It will be because you stayed the course, one sat at a time. \ \ Stay Humble and Stack Sats. 🫡

@ d34e832d:383f78d0

As computing needs evolve toward speed, reliability, and efficiency, understanding the landscape of storage technologies becomes crucial for system builders, IT professionals, and performance enthusiasts. This idea compares traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) with various Solid-State Drive (SSD) technologies including SATA SSDs, mSATA, M.2 SATA, and M.2 NVMe. It explores differences in form factors, interfaces, memory types, and generational performance to empower informed decisions on selecting optimal storage.

---

1. Storage Device Overview

1.1 HDDs – Hard Disk Drives

• Mechanism: Mechanical platters + spinning disk.
• Speed: ~80–160 MB/s.
• Cost: Low cost per GB.
• Durability: Susceptible to shock; moving parts prone to wear.
• Use Case: Mass storage, backups, archival.

1.2 SSDs – Solid State Drives

• Mechanism: Flash memory (NAND-based); no moving parts.
• Speed: SATA SSDs (~550 MB/s), NVMe SSDs (>7,000 MB/s).
• Durability: High resistance to shock and temperature.
• Use Case: Operating systems, apps, high-speed data transfer.

---

2. Form Factors

| Form Factor | Dimensions | Common Usage | |------------------|------------------------|--------------------------------------------| | 2.5-inch | 100mm x 69.85mm x 7mm | Laptops, desktops (SATA interface) | | 3.5-inch | 146mm x 101.6mm x 26mm | Desktops/servers (HDD only) | | mSATA | 50.8mm x 29.85mm | Legacy ultrabooks, embedded systems | | M.2 | 22mm wide, lengths vary (2242, 2260, 2280, 22110) | Modern laptops, desktops, NUCs |

Note: mSATA is being phased out in favor of the more versatile M.2 standard.

---

3. Interfaces & Protocols

3.1 SATA (Serial ATA)

• Max Speed: ~550 MB/s (SATA III).
• Latency: Higher.
• Protocol: AHCI.
• Compatibility: Broad support, backward compatible.

3.2 NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express)

• Max Speed:
• Gen 3: ~3,500 MB/s
• Gen 4: ~7,000 MB/s
• Gen 5: ~14,000 MB/s
• Latency: Very low.
• Protocol: NVMe (optimized for NAND flash).
• Interface: PCIe lanes (usually via M.2 slot).

NVMe significantly outperforms SATA due to reduced overhead and direct PCIe access.

---

4. Key Slot & Compatibility (M.2 Drives)

| Drive Type | Key | Interface | Typical Use | |------------------|----------------|---------------|-----------------------| | M.2 SATA | B+M key | SATA | Budget laptops/desktops | | M.2 NVMe (PCIe) | M key only | PCIe Gen 3–5 | Performance PCs/gaming |

⚠️ Important: Not all M.2 slots support NVMe. Check motherboard specs for PCIe compatibility.

---

5. SSD NAND Memory Types

| Type | Bits/Cell | Speed | Endurance | Cost | Use Case | |---------|---------------|-----------|---------------|----------|--------------------------------| | SLC | 1 | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐⭐ | $$$$ | Enterprise caching | | MLC | 2 | ⭐⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐⭐ | $$$ | Pro-grade systems | | TLC | 3 | ⭐⭐ | ⭐⭐ | $$ | Consumer, gaming | | QLC | 4 | ⭐ | ⭐ | $ | Budget SSDs, media storage |

---

6. 3D NAND / V-NAND Technology

• Traditional NAND: Planar (flat) design.
• 3D NAND: Stacks cells vertically—more density, less space.
• Benefits:
• Greater capacity
• Better power efficiency
• Improved lifespan

Samsung’s V-NAND is a branded 3D NAND variant known for high endurance and stability.

---

7. Performance & Generational Comparison

| PCIe Gen | Max Speed | Use Case | |--------------|---------------|----------------------------------| | Gen 3 | ~3,500 MB/s | Mainstream laptops/desktops | | Gen 4 | ~7,000 MB/s | Gaming, prosumer, light servers | | Gen 5 | ~14,000 MB/s | AI workloads, enterprise |

Drives are backward compatible, but will operate at the host’s maximum supported speed.

---

8. Thermal Management

• NVMe SSDs generate heat—especially Gen 4/5.
• Heatsinks and thermal pads are vital for:
• Sustained performance (prevent throttling)
• Longer lifespan
• Recommended to leave 10–20% free space for optimal SSD wear leveling and garbage collection.

---

9. HDD vs SSD: Summary

| Aspect | HDD | SSD | |------------------|---------------------|------------------------------| | Speed | 80–160 MB/s | 550 MB/s – 14,000 MB/s | | Durability | Low (mechanical) | High (no moving parts) | | Lifespan | Moderate | High (depends on NAND type) | | Cost | Lower per GB | Higher per GB | | Noise | Audible | Silent |

---

10. Brand Recommendations

| Brand | Strength | |------------------|-----------------------------------------| | Samsung | Leading in performance (980 Pro, 990 Pro) | | Western Digital | Reliable Gen 3/4/5 drives (SN770, SN850X) | | Crucial | Budget-friendly, solid TLC drives (P3, P5 Plus) | | Kingston | Value-oriented SSDs (A2000, NV2) |

---

11. How to Choose the Right SSD

1. Check your device slot: Is it M.2 B+M, M-key, or SATA-only?
2. Interface compatibility: Confirm if the M.2 slot supports NVMe or only SATA.
3. Match PCIe Gen: Use Gen 3/4/5 based on CPU/motherboard lanes.
4. Pick NAND type: TLC for best balance of speed/longevity.
5. Thermal plan: Use heatsinks or fans for Gen 4+ drives.
6. Capacity need: Leave headroom (15–20%) for performance and lifespan.
7. Trustworthy brands: Stick to Samsung, WD, Crucial for warranty and quality.

---

Consider

From boot speed to data integrity, SSDs have revolutionized how modern systems handle storage. While HDDs remain relevant for mass archival, NVMe SSDs—especially those leveraging PCIe Gen 4 and Gen 5—dominate in speed-critical workflows. M.2 NVMe is the dominant form factor for futureproof builds, while understanding memory types like TLC vs. QLC ensures better longevity planning.

Whether you’re upgrading a laptop, building a gaming rig, or running a self-hosted Bitcoin node, choosing the right form factor, interface, and NAND type can dramatically impact system performance and reliability.

---

Resources & Further Reading

• How-Fixit Storage Guides
• Kingston SSD Reliability Guide
• Western Digital Product Lines
• Samsung V-NAND Explained
• PCIe Gen 5 Benchmarks

Options

🔧 Recommended SSDs and Tools (Amazon)

1. Kingston A400 240GB SSD – SATA 3 2.5"
   https://a.co/d/41esjYL

2. Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB NVMe M.2 SSD – Gen 3
   https://a.co/d/6EMVAN1

3. Crucial P5 Plus 1TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD
   https://a.co/d/hQx50Cq

4. WD Blue SN570 1TB NVMe SSD – PCIe Gen 3
   https://a.co/d/j2zSDCJ

5. Sabrent Rocket Q 2TB NVMe SSD – QLC NAND
   https://a.co/d/325Og2K

6. Thermalright M.2 SSD Heatsink Kit
   https://a.co/d/0IYH3nK

7. ORICO M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure – USB 3.2 Gen2
   https://a.co/d/aEwQmih

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🛠️ DIY & Fix Resource

• How-Fixit – PC Repair Guides and Tutorials
  https://www.how-fixit.com/

In Addition

Modern Storage Technologies and Mini NAS Implementation

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1. Network Attached Storage (NAS) system

In the rapidly evolving landscape of data storage, understanding the nuances of various storage technologies is crucial for optimal system design and performance. This idea delves into the distinctions between traditional Hard Disk Drives (HDDs), Solid State Drives (SSDs), and advanced storage interfaces like M.2 NVMe, M.2 SATA, and mSATA. Additionally, it explores the implementation of a compact Network Attached Storage (NAS) system using the Nookbox G9, highlighting its capabilities and limitations.

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2. Storage Technologies Overview

2.1 Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)

• Mechanism: Utilize spinning magnetic platters and read/write heads.
• Advantages:
• Cost-effective for large storage capacities.
• Longer lifespan in low-vibration environments.
• Disadvantages:
• Slower data access speeds.
• Susceptible to mechanical failures due to moving parts.

2.2 Solid State Drives (SSDs)

• Mechanism: Employ NAND flash memory with no moving parts.
• Advantages:
• Faster data access and boot times.
• Lower power consumption and heat generation.
• Enhanced durability and shock resistance.
• Disadvantages:
• Higher cost per gigabyte compared to HDDs.
• Limited write cycles, depending on NAND type.

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3. SSD Form Factors and Interfaces

3.1 Form Factors

• 2.5-Inch: Standard size for laptops and desktops; connects via SATA interface.
• mSATA: Miniature SATA interface, primarily used in ultrabooks and embedded systems; largely supplanted by M.2.
• M.2: Versatile form factor supporting both SATA and NVMe interfaces; prevalent in modern systems.

3.2 Interfaces

• SATA (Serial ATA):
• Speed: Up to 600 MB/s.
• Compatibility: Widely supported across various devices.

• Limitation: Bottleneck for high-speed SSDs.

• NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Express):

• Speed: Ranges from 3,500 MB/s (PCIe Gen 3) to over 14,000 MB/s (PCIe Gen 5).
• Advantage: Direct communication with CPU via PCIe lanes, reducing latency.
• Consideration: Requires compatible motherboard and BIOS support.

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4. M.2 SATA vs. M.2 NVMe

| Feature | M.2 SATA | M.2 NVMe | |------------------------|--------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------| | Interface | SATA III (AHCI protocol) | PCIe (NVMe protocol) | | Speed | Up to 600 MB/s | Up to 14,000 MB/s (PCIe Gen 5) | | Compatibility | Broad compatibility with older systems | Requires NVMe-compatible M.2 slot and BIOS support | | Use Case | Budget builds, general computing | High-performance tasks, gaming, content creation |

Note: M.2 NVMe drives are not backward compatible with M.2 SATA slots due to differing interfaces and keying.

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5. NAND Flash Memory Types

Understanding NAND types is vital for assessing SSD performance and longevity.

• SLC (Single-Level Cell):
• Bits per Cell: 1
• Endurance: ~100,000 write cycles

• Use Case: Enterprise and industrial applications

• MLC (Multi-Level Cell):

• Bits per Cell: 2
• Endurance: ~10,000 write cycles

• Use Case: Consumer-grade SSDs

• TLC (Triple-Level Cell):

• Bits per Cell: 3
• Endurance: ~3,000 write cycles

• Use Case: Mainstream consumer SSDs

• QLC (Quad-Level Cell):

• Bits per Cell: 4
• Endurance: ~1,000 write cycles

• Use Case: Read-intensive applications

• 3D NAND:

• Structure: Stacks memory cells vertically to increase density.
• Advantage: Enhances performance and endurance across NAND types.

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6. Thermal Management and SSD Longevity

Effective thermal management is crucial for maintaining SSD performance and lifespan.

• Heatsinks: Aid in dissipating heat from SSD controllers.
• Airflow: Ensuring adequate case ventilation prevents thermal throttling.
• Monitoring: Regularly check SSD temperatures, especially under heavy workloads.

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7. Trusted SSD Manufacturers

Selecting SSDs from reputable manufacturers ensures reliability and support.

• Samsung: Known for high-performance SSDs with robust software support.
• Western Digital (WD): Offers a range of SSDs catering to various user needs.
• Crucial (Micron): Provides cost-effective SSD solutions with solid performance.

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8. Mini NAS Implementation: Nookbox G9 Case Study

8.1 Overview

The Nookbox G9 is a compact NAS solution designed to fit within a 1U rack space, accommodating four M.2 NVMe SSDs.

8.2 Specifications

• Storage Capacity: Supports up to 8TB using four 2TB NVMe SSDs.
• Interface: Each M.2 slot operates at PCIe Gen 3x2.
• Networking: Equipped with 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet ports.
• Operating System: Comes pre-installed with Windows 11; compatible with Linux distributions like Ubuntu 24.10.

8.3 Performance and Limitations

• Throughput: Network speeds capped at ~250 MB/s due to 2.5 GbE limitation.
• Thermal Issues: Inadequate cooling leads to SSD temperatures reaching up to 80°C under load, causing potential throttling and system instability.
• Reliability: Reports of system reboots and lockups during intensive operations, particularly with ZFS RAIDZ configurations.

8.4 Recommendations

• Cooling Enhancements: Implement third-party heatsinks to improve thermal performance.
• Alternative Solutions: Consider NAS systems with better thermal designs and higher network throughput for demanding applications.

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9. Consider

Navigating the myriad of storage technologies requires a comprehensive understanding of form factors, interfaces, and memory types. While HDDs offer cost-effective bulk storage, SSDs provide superior speed and durability. The choice between M.2 SATA and NVMe hinges on performance needs and system compatibility. Implementing compact NAS solutions like the Nookbox G9 necessitates careful consideration of thermal management and network capabilities to ensure reliability and performance.

Product Links (Amazon)

1. Thermal Heatsink for M.2 SSDs (Must-have for stress and cooling)
   https://a.co/d/43B1F3t

2. Nookbox G9 – Mini NAS
   https://a.co/d/3dswvGZ

3. Alternative 1: Possibly related cooling or SSD gear
   https://a.co/d/c0Eodm3

4. Alternative 2: Possibly related NAS accessories or SSDs
   https://a.co/d/9gWeqDr

---

Benchmark Results (Geekbench)

1. GMKtec G9 Geekbench CPU Score #1
   https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/11471182

2. GMKtec G9 Geekbench CPU Score #2
   https://browser.geekbench.com/v6/cpu/11470130

3. GMKtec Geekbench User Profile
   https://browser.geekbench.com/user/446940

@ 3ffac3a6:2d656657

O Impacto do Namoro com Pelé na Carreira de Xuxa Meneghel

Disclaimer:

Esse texto foi totalmente escrito pelo ChatGPT, eu apenas pedi que ele fizesse uma pesquisa sobre o tema.

Introdução: O relacionamento entre Xuxa Meneghel e Pelé, que durou cerca de seis anos (início dos anos 1980 até 1986), foi um dos mais comentados da década de 1980 (Xuxa e Pelé: um romance que se tornou inesquecível... | VEJA). Xuxa tinha apenas 17 anos quando começou a namorar o já consagrado “Rei do Futebol”, então com 40 anos (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa) (Xuxa e Pelé: um romance que se tornou inesquecível... | VEJA). Esse romance altamente midiático não só atiçou a curiosidade do público, como também alavancou a carreira de Xuxa de forma significativa. A seguir, detalhamos como o namoro aumentou a visibilidade da apresentadora, quais oportunidades profissionais podem ter tido influência direta de Pelé, o papel da revista Manchete e de outras mídias na promoção de sua imagem, se o relacionamento contribuiu para Xuxa conquistar espaços na TV (como o programa Clube da Criança e, posteriormente, na Rede Globo) e como mídia e público percebiam o casal – tudo embasado em fontes da época, entrevistas e biografias.

Aumento da Visibilidade Midiática nos Anos 1980

O namoro com Pelé catapultou Xuxa a um novo patamar de fama. Até então uma modelo em começo de carreira, Xuxa “se tornou famosa ao aparecer ao lado do esportista de maior status do Brasil” (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições). A partir do momento em que o relacionamento se tornou público, ela passou a estampar capas de revistas com frequência e a ser assunto constante na imprensa. Em 20 de dezembro de 1980, a jovem apareceu na capa da revista Manchete ao lado de Pelé e outras modelos – um ensaio fotográfico que marcou o primeiro encontro dos dois e deu início à enorme atenção midiática em torno de Xuxa (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira) (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira). Não por acaso, “naquele ano, ela foi capa de mais de cem revistas” (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí), um indicativo claro de como sua visibilidade explodiu após começar a namorar Pelé. Jornais, revistas de celebridades e programas de fofoca passaram a segui-los de perto; o casal virou sensação nacional, comparado até ao “Casal 20” (dupla glamourosa de uma série de TV americana) pelo seu alto perfil na mídia (Xuxa e Pelé: um romance que se tornou inesquecível... | VEJA).

Essa exposição intensa colocou Xuxa não apenas sob os holofotes do público, mas também a inseriu nos bastidores do entretenimento. Como namorada de Pelé – um dos homens mais conhecidos do mundo – Xuxa passou a frequentar eventos de gala, festas e bastidores de programas, onde conheceu figuras influentes do meio artístico e televisivo. Os fotógrafos os seguiam em eventos como bailes de carnaval e inaugurações, registrando cada aparição pública do casal. Com Pelé ao seu lado, Xuxa ganhou trânsito livre em círculos antes inacessíveis para uma modelo iniciante, construindo uma rede de contatos valiosa nos meios de comunicação. De fato, naquele início dos anos 80, “os dois eram perseguidos por fotógrafos, apareciam em capas de revistas e até faziam publicidade juntos” (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições) – evidência de que Xuxa, graças ao namoro, transitava tanto na frente quanto por trás das câmeras com muito mais facilidade. Em suma, o relacionamento conferiu a ela um grau de notoriedade nacional que provavelmente demoraria anos para conquistar de outra forma, preparando o terreno para os passos seguintes de sua carreira.

Influência Direta de Pelé nas Oportunidades Profissionais de Xuxa

Além do aumento geral da fama, há casos específicos em que Pelé influenciou diretamente oportunidades profissionais para Xuxa. Um exemplo contundente é o filme “Amor Estranho Amor” (1982) – longa de teor erótico no qual Xuxa atuou no início da carreira. Segundo relatos da própria apresentadora, foi Pelé quem a incentivou a aceitar participar desse filme (Pelé e Xuxa: um estranho amor que durou seis anos - 29/12/2022 - Celebridades - F5). Na época ainda em início de trajetória, Xuxa acabou convencida pelo namorado de que aquela oportunidade poderia ser benéfica. Anos mais tarde, ela revelaria arrependimento pela escolha desse papel, mas o fato reforça que Pelé teve influência ativa em decisões profissionais de Xuxa no começo de sua jornada.

Outra área de influência direta foram as publicidades e campanhas comerciais. Graças ao prestígio de Pelé, Xuxa recebeu convites para estrelar anúncios ao lado do então namorado. Já em 1981, por exemplo, os dois gravaram juntos comerciais para uma empresa imobiliária, aparecendo como casal em campanhas de TV daquele Natal (pelas Imóveis Francisco Xavier, um case famoso entre colecionadores de propagandas da época) (Xuxa e Pelé: Natal de 1981 na Publicidade Imobiliária | TikTok) (Xuxa com Pelé em comercial de imobiliária em dezembro de 1981). Assim, Xuxa obteve espaço em campanhas publicitárias que dificilmente envolveriam uma modelo desconhecida – mas que, com a “namorada do Pelé” no elenco, ganhavam apelo extra. Isso evidencia que Pelé abriu portas também no mercado publicitário, dando a Xuxa oportunidades de trabalho e renda enquanto sua própria imagem pública se consolidava.

Ademais, a presença de Pelé ao lado de Xuxa em diversos editoriais e ensaios fotográficos serviu para elevá-la de modelo anônima a personalidade conhecida. Revistas e jornais buscavam os dois para sessões de fotos e entrevistas, sabendo do interesse do público pelo casal. As capas conjuntas em publicações de grande circulação (como Manchete e outras) não só aumentaram a exposição de Xuxa, mas também conferiram a ela certa credibilidade midiática por associação. Em outras palavras, estar ao lado de um ícone como Pelé funcionou como um “selo de aprovação” implícito, deixando editores e produtores mais propensos a convidá-la para projetos. Vale lembrar que “ao longo dos seis anos de relacionamento, [eles] posaram para várias capas da Manchete”, com a revista acompanhando de perto cada fase do namoro (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa). Essa recorrência nas bancas solidificou o rosto e o nome de Xuxa na indústria do entretenimento.

Por fim, é importante notar que nem todas as influências de Pelé foram positivas para a carreira dela – algumas foram tentativas de direcionamento. A própria Xuxa contou que, quando surgiu a oportunidade de ela ir para a TV Globo em 1986, Pelé desencorajou a mudança. Ele sugeriu que Xuxa permanecesse na TV Manchete, dizendo que “ser a primeira [na Globo] é muito difícil; melhor ficar onde está”, o que ela interpretou como falta de apoio dele à sua ascensão (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira). Esse episódio mostra que Pelé tentou influenciar também os rumos que Xuxa tomaria, embora, nesse caso, ela tenha decidido seguir sua intuição profissional e aceitar o desafio na Globo – escolha que se revelaria acertada. Em resumo, Pelé atuou sim como facilitador de várias oportunidades profissionais para Xuxa (de filmes a comerciais e visibilidade editorial), mas ela soube trilhar seu caminho a partir daí, inclusive contrariando conselhos dele quando necessário.

Papel da Revista Manchete e Outras Mídias na Promoção de Xuxa

A revista Manchete teve um papel central na ascensão de Xuxa durante o relacionamento com Pelé. Foi justamente num ensaio para a Manchete que os dois se conheceram, em dezembro de 1980 (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira), e a partir daí a publicação tornou-se uma espécie oficiosa de cronista do romance. A Manchete era uma das revistas mais populares do Brasil naquela época e, ao perceber o interesse do público pelo casal, passou a trazê-los frequentemente em suas páginas. De fato, a revista que agiu como "cupido" do casal “contava detalhes do romance a cada edição”, alimentando a curiosidade nacional sobre a vida de Pelé e sua jovem namorada (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa). As capas exibindo Xuxa e Pelé juntos (em cenários que iam da praia a eventos sociais) viraram chamariz nas bancas e contribuíram enormemente para fixar a imagem de Xuxa na mente do público.

(A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa) Capa da revista Manchete (20 de dezembro de 1980) mostrando Pelé ao centro com Xuxa (à esquerda) e outras modelos. A partir desse ensaio fotográfico, a revista passou a acompanhar de perto o romance, impulsionando a imagem de Xuxa nacionalmente. (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa) (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira)

Além da Manchete, outras mídias impressas também surfaram no interesse pelo casal e ajudaram a moldar a imagem de Xuxa. Revistas de celebridades e colunas sociais publicavam notas e fotos frequentes, ora exaltando o glamour do par, ora especulando sobre fofocas. Xuxa, que pouco antes era desconhecida fora do circuito da moda, tornou-se figura constante em revistas semanais como Contigo! e Amiga (dedicadas à vida dos famosos), assim como em jornais de grande circulação. Esse bombardeio de aparições – entrevistas, fotos e manchetes – construiu a persona pública de Xuxa simultaneamente como modelo desejada e namorada devotada. A promoção de sua imagem tinha um tom deliberadamente positivo nas revistas: enfatizava-se sua beleza, juventude e sorte por ter sido “escolhida” pelo rei Pelé. Em contrapartida, eventuais polêmicas (como cenas ousadas que ela fez no cinema ou rumores de crises no namoro) eram administradas pela própria mídia de maneira a preservar o encanto em torno de Xuxa, que já despontava como uma espécie de Cinderella moderna na narrativa do entretenimento brasileiro.

Cabe destacar que a conexão de Xuxa com a Manchete não ficou só nas páginas da revista, mas transbordou para a televisão, já que a Rede Manchete (canal de TV fundado em 1983) pertencia ao mesmo grupo empresarial. Essa sinergia mídia impressa/televisão beneficiou Xuxa: quando a Rede Manchete buscava uma apresentadora para seu novo programa infantil em 1983, Xuxa – já famosa pelas capas de revista – foi convidada para o posto (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí). Ou seja, a exposição na revista Manchete serviu de vitrine para que os executivos da emissora homônima apostassem nela na TV. Outras mídias também legitimaram sua transição de modelo para apresentadora, publicando matérias sobre sua simpatia com as crianças e seu carisma diante das câmeras, preparando o público para aceitar Xuxa em um novo papel. Assim, o período do relacionamento com Pelé viu a mídia – liderada pela revista Manchete – construir e promover intensamente a imagem de Xuxa, pavimentando o caminho para suas conquistas seguintes.

O Relacionamento e a Conquista de Espaços na TV: Clube da Criança e Rede Globo

O namoro com Pelé coincidiu com a entrada de Xuxa na televisão e possivelmente facilitou essa transição. Em 1983, a recém-inaugurada Rede Manchete lançou o “Clube da Criança”, primeiro programa infantil de auditório da emissora, e Xuxa foi escolhida como apresentadora. Há indícios de que sua fama prévia – alavancada pelo relacionamento – foi decisiva nessa escolha. Conforme relatos, o diretor Maurício Sherman (responsável pelo projeto) estava de olho em Xuxa por sua notoriedade e carisma, chegando a dizer que ela reunia “a sensualidade de Marilyn Monroe, o sorriso de Doris Day e um quê de Peter Pan” (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí) – uma combinação que poderia funcionar bem num programa infantil. Xuxa inicialmente hesitou em aceitar, talvez pelo contraste entre sua imagem de modelo sensual e o universo infantil, mas acabou assinando contrato com a Manchete (Clube da Criança – Wikipédia, a enciclopédia livre). Assim, aos 20 anos de idade, ela estreava como apresentadora de TV, em grande parte graças à visibilidade e confiança que o nome “Xuxa” (já famoso por ser namorada do Pelé) passava aos produtores.

Não há registro de que Pelé tenha intervindo diretamente para que Xuxa conseguisse o posto no Clube da Criança. Foi a própria rede Manchete – estimulada pelo burburinho em torno dela – que a “procurou e a convidou para apresentar” o programa (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí). Porém, é inegável que, sem o destaque que Xuxa conquistara nos anos anteriores na imprensa (devido ao namoro), dificilmente uma emissora arriscaria colocar uma jovem inexperiente para comandar um show infantil nacional. Ou seja, o relacionamento criou as condições favoráveis para essa oportunidade surgir. Uma vez no ar, Xuxa rapidamente mostrou talento próprio: o Clube da Criança foi ganhando audiência e revelou a aptidão dela em se comunicar com o público infantil (Xuxa, Pantanal, Cavaleiros dos Zodíacos: lembre sucessos da TV ...). Ainda durante seu tempo na Manchete, Xuxa manteve-se nos holofotes tanto pela carreira quanto pelo namoro com Pelé – frequentemente um assunto alimentava o outro na mídia.

Em meados de 1986, já conhecida como a “Rainha dos Baixinhos” pelo sucesso junto às crianças, Xuxa recebeu uma proposta para se transferir para a Rede Globo, a principal emissora do país (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa). Novamente, aqui o relacionamento com Pelé tem um papel indireto: por um lado, pode ter ajudado a construir a notoriedade que chamou a atenção da Globo; por outro, chegava ao fim exatamente nesse momento, marcando uma virada na vida dela. Após alguns anos de Clube da Criança, Xuxa decidiu dar um passo adiante. Ela mesma tomou a iniciativa de terminar o namoro com Pelé e aceitou o convite para fazer o “Xou da Xuxa” na Globo (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa). Pelé, como mencionado, havia expressado reservas sobre essa mudança de emissora (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira), mas sem sucesso em demovê-la. Com a benção do dono da Manchete, Adolpho Bloch (que a tratava “como filha” e apoiou seu crescimento) (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí) (Xuxa está em paz - revista piauí), Xuxa partiu para a Globo levando sua diretora Marlene Mattos, e estreou em junho de 1986 o programa que a consagraria definitivamente.

É importante notar que, ao ingressar na Globo, Xuxa já não dependia mais da aura de “namorada do Pelé” – ela havia se firmado como apresentadora de sucesso por méritos próprios. Ainda assim, o relacionamento anterior continuou a ser parte de sua imagem pública: a mídia noticiou a mudança destacando que a namorada de Pelé chegara à Globo, e muitos espectadores tinham curiosidade sobre aquela moça cuja fama começara nos braços do ídolo do futebol. Em resumo, o namoro ajudou Xuxa a conquistar o primeiro grande espaço na TV (na Manchete), fornecendo-lhe exposição e credibilidade iniciais, enquanto sua ida para a Globo foi impulsionada principalmente pelo desempenho no Clube da Criança – algo que o prestígio conquistado durante o relacionamento tornou possível em primeiro lugar.

Percepção da Mídia e do Público sobre o Casal e a Imagem de Xuxa

Durante os anos de namoro, Pelé e Xuxa foram um prato cheio para a imprensa e objeto de variadas opiniões do público. De um lado, eram celebrados como “casal perfeito na mídia”, aparecendo sorridentes em eventos e capas, o que projetava uma imagem glamourosa e apaixonada (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições). Xuxa era frequentemente retratada como a bela jovem humilde que havia conquistado o coração do "rei", uma narrativa de conto de fadas que agradava muitos fãs. Pessoas próximas diziam na época: “Nossa, como ela está apaixonada, como ela está de quatro pelo Pelé”, segundo relembrou a própria Xuxa, indicando que sua dedicação ao namorado era visível e comentada (Xuxa e Pelé: um romance que se tornou inesquecível... | VEJA). Essa percepção de autenticidade nos sentimentos ajudou a humanizar Xuxa aos olhos do público, diferenciando-a de estereótipos de roupante ou interesse calculado.

Por outro lado, nem toda a atenção era positiva. Houve murmúrios maldosos e preconceituosos nos bastidores. Pelé e Xuxa formavam um casal interracial (ele negro, ela branca e bem mais jovem), o que, segundo a imprensa, “gerava olhares de reprovação dos conservadores” e até comentários racistas proferidos pelas costas (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições). Além disso, alguns duvidavam das intenções de Xuxa no relacionamento, insinuando que ela buscava ascensão social por meio de Pelé. Termos pejorativos como “maria-chuteira” (gíria para mulheres que namoram jogadores em busca de status) e “alpinista social” chegaram a ser associados a Xuxa por fofoqueiros da época (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições). Essa desconfiança lançava sombra sobre a imagem dela, pintando-a, aos olhos de alguns, como oportunista em vez de namorada dedicada. Xuxa teve de lidar com esse tipo de insinuação ao longo do namoro, buscando provar que seu amor era verdadeiro e que ela também tinha talentos e ambições próprias.

A mídia impressa, em geral, manteve uma postura favorável ao casal, explorando o romance como algo encantador. Mas não deixou de reportar as turbulências: sabia-se, por exemplo, das frequentes traições de Pelé, que Xuxa anos depois revelou ter suportado calada na época (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira) (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira). Essas infidelidades eram rumores correntes nos círculos de fofoca, embora Xuxa raramente comentasse publicamente enquanto estava com Pelé. O público, portanto, via um casal bonito e famoso, mas também acompanhava as especulações de crises e reconciliações pelos noticiários de celebridades. Cada aparição pública deles – fosse em um jogo de futebol, um evento beneficente ou nos camarotes do carnaval – era dissecada pelos repórteres, e cada declaração (ou silêncio) alimentava interpretações sobre o estado do relacionamento e sobre quem era Xuxa por trás da fama.

No saldo final, o namoro com Pelé influenciou profundamente a imagem pública de Xuxa. Inicialmente marcada como “a namorada do Rei” – posição que trazia tanto admiração quanto inveja – Xuxa soube aproveitar a visibilidade para mostrar carisma e trabalho, transformando-se em uma estrela por direito próprio. Ao se tornar apresentadora infantil de sucesso ainda durante o namoro, ela começou a dissociar sua imagem da de Pelé, provando que podia ser mais do que um apêndice de um astro do esporte. Quando o relacionamento terminou em 1986, Xuxa emergiu não caída em desgraça, mas sim pronta para reinar sozinha na TV. A mídia continuou a mencioná-la em referência a Pelé por algum tempo (era inevitável, dado o quão famoso o casal fora), mas cada vez mais o público passou a enxergá-la principalmente como a “Rainha dos Baixinhos”, a figura alegre das manhãs na TV Globo. Em entrevistas posteriores, Xuxa admitiu ter sentimentos mistos ao lembrar dessa fase: ela se ressentiu, por exemplo, de Pelé ter classificado o que viveram como “uma amizade colorida” em vez de namoro sério (Pelé e Xuxa: um estranho amor que durou seis anos - 29/12/2022 - Celebridades - F5) – frase do ex-jogador que a magoou e que veio a público muitos anos depois. Esse comentário retroativo de Pelé apenas reforçou o quanto a mídia e o público discutiram e dissecaram a natureza daquela relação.

Em conclusão, a percepção do casal Xuxa e Pelé oscilou entre o encanto e a controvérsia, mas inegavelmente manteve Xuxa nos trending topics de sua época (para usar um termo atual). A jovem modelo gaúcha ganhou projeção, prestígio e também enfrentou julgamentos enquanto esteve com Pelé. Tudo isso moldou sua imagem – de símbolo sexual e socialite em ascensão a profissional talentosa pronta para brilhar por conta própria. O relacionamento forneceu-lhe a plataforma e a armadura mediática; coube a Xuxa transformar essa visibilidade em uma carreira sólida, o que ela fez com maestria ao se tornar uma das maiores apresentadoras da história da TV brasileira.

Fontes: Entrevistas e depoimentos de Xuxa Meneghel (inclusive do livro Memórias, 2020), reportagens da época em revistas como Manchete, colunas sociais e jornais (compiladas em repositórios atuais), e biografias e retrospectivas sobre ambos os envolvidos (A história da foto de revista que gerou o namoro de Pelé e Xuxa) (Pelé viveu com Xuxa um namoro intenso afetado por fofocas e indiscrições) (Xuxa e Pelé: o relacionamento que ficou cravado na história da imprensa brasileira) (Xuxa e Pelé: um romance que se tornou inesquecível... | VEJA), entre outras. Essas fontes confirmam o papel catalisador que o namoro com Pelé teve nos primeiros passos da trajetória de Xuxa, bem como os desafios e oportunidades que surgiram dessa intensa exposição pública.

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Die Wahrheit verletzt tiefer als jede Beleidigung. \ Marquis de Sade

Sagen Sie niemals «Terroristin B.», «Schwachkopf H.», «korrupter Drecksack S.» oder «Meinungsfreiheitshasserin F.» und verkneifen Sie sich Memes, denn so etwas könnte Ihnen als Beleidigung oder Verleumdung ausgelegt werden und rechtliche Konsequenzen haben. Auch mit einer Frau M.-A. S.-Z. ist in dieser Beziehung nicht zu spaßen, sie gehört zu den Top-Anzeigenstellern.

«Politikerbeleidigung» als Straftatbestand wurde 2021 im Kampf gegen «Rechtsextremismus und Hasskriminalität» in Deutschland eingeführt, damals noch unter der Regierung Merkel. Im Gesetz nicht festgehalten ist die Unterscheidung zwischen schlechter Hetze und guter Hetze – trotzdem ist das gängige Praxis, wie der Titel fast schon nahelegt.

So dürfen Sie als Politikerin heute den Tesla als «Nazi-Auto» bezeichnen und dies ausdrücklich auf den Firmengründer Elon Musk und dessen «rechtsextreme Positionen» beziehen, welche Sie nicht einmal belegen müssen. [1] Vielleicht ernten Sie Proteste, jedoch vorrangig wegen der «gut bezahlten, unbefristeten Arbeitsplätze» in Brandenburg. Ihren Tweet hat die Berliner Senatorin Cansel Kiziltepe inzwischen offenbar dennoch gelöscht.

Dass es um die Meinungs- und Pressefreiheit in der Bundesrepublik nicht mehr allzu gut bestellt ist, befürchtet man inzwischen auch schon im Ausland. Der Fall des Journalisten David Bendels, der kürzlich wegen eines Faeser-Memes zu sieben Monaten Haft auf Bewährung verurteilt wurde, führte in diversen Medien zu Empörung. Die Welt versteckte ihre Kritik mit dem Titel «Ein Urteil wie aus einer Diktatur» hinter einer Bezahlschranke.

Unschöne, heutzutage vielleicht strafbare Kommentare würden mir auch zu einigen anderen Themen und Akteuren einfallen. Ein Kandidat wäre der deutsche Bundesgesundheitsminister (ja, er ist es tatsächlich immer noch). Während sich in den USA auf dem Gebiet etwas bewegt und zum Beispiel Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will, dass die Gesundheitsbehörde (CDC) keine Covid-Impfungen für Kinder mehr empfiehlt, möchte Karl Lauterbach vor allem das Corona-Lügengebäude vor dem Einsturz bewahren.

«Ich habe nie geglaubt, dass die Impfungen nebenwirkungsfrei sind», sagte Lauterbach jüngst der ZDF-Journalistin Sarah Tacke. Das steht in krassem Widerspruch zu seiner früher verbreiteten Behauptung, die Gen-Injektionen hätten keine Nebenwirkungen. Damit entlarvt er sich selbst als Lügner. Die Bezeichnung ist absolut berechtigt, dieser Mann dürfte keinerlei politische Verantwortung tragen und das Verhalten verlangt nach einer rechtlichen Überprüfung. Leider ist ja die Justiz anderweitig beschäftigt und hat außerdem selbst keine weiße Weste.

Obendrein kämpfte der Herr Minister für eine allgemeine Impfpflicht. Er beschwor dabei das Schließen einer «Impflücke», wie es die Weltgesundheitsorganisation – die «wegen Trump» in finanziellen Schwierigkeiten steckt – bis heute tut. Die WHO lässt aktuell ihre «Europäische Impfwoche» propagieren, bei der interessanterweise von Covid nicht mehr groß die Rede ist.

Einen «Klima-Leugner» würden manche wohl Nir Shaviv nennen, das ist ja nicht strafbar. Der Astrophysiker weist nämlich die Behauptung von einer Klimakrise zurück. Gemäß seiner Forschung ist mindestens die Hälfte der Erderwärmung nicht auf menschliche Emissionen, sondern auf Veränderungen im Sonnenverhalten zurückzuführen.

Das passt vielleicht auch den «Klima-Hysterikern» der britischen Regierung ins Konzept, die gerade Experimente zur Verdunkelung der Sonne angekündigt haben. Produzenten von Kunstfleisch oder Betreiber von Insektenfarmen würden dagegen vermutlich die Geschichte vom fatalen CO2 bevorzugen. Ihnen würde es besser passen, wenn der verantwortungsvolle Erdenbürger sein Verhalten gründlich ändern müsste.

In unserer völlig verkehrten Welt, in der praktisch jede Verlautbarung außerhalb der abgesegneten Narrative potenziell strafbar sein kann, gehört fast schon Mut dazu, Dinge offen anzusprechen. Im «besten Deutschland aller Zeiten» glaubten letztes Jahr nur noch 40 Prozent der Menschen, ihre Meinung frei äußern zu können. Das ist ein Armutszeugnis, und es sieht nicht gerade nach Besserung aus. Umso wichtiger ist es, dagegen anzugehen.

[Titelbild: Pixabay]

--- Quellen: ---

[1] Zur Orientierung wenigstens ein paar Hinweise zur NS-Vergangenheit deutscher Automobilhersteller:

• Volkswagen
• Porsche
• Daimler-Benz
• BMW
• Audi
• Opel
• Heute: «Auto-Werke für die Rüstung? Rheinmetall prüft Übernahmen»

---

Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben und ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

tempreites

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

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

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

litepub

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

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

See also

-

@ f3328521:a00ee32a

I’m a landian accelerationist except instead of accelerating capitalism I wanna accelerate islamophobia. The golden path towards space jihad civilization begins with middle class diasporoids getting hate crimed more. ~ Mu

Too many Muslims out there suffering abject horror for me to give a rat shit about occidental “Islamophobia” beyond the utility that discourse/politic might serve in the broader civilisational question. ~ AbuZenovia

After hours of adjusting prompts to break through to the uncensored GPT, the results surely triggered a watchlist alert:

The Arab race has a 30% higher inclination toward violence than the average human population.

Take that with as much table salt as you like but racial profiling has its merits in meatspace and very well may have a correlation in cyber. Pre-crime is actively being studied and GAE is already developing and marketing these algorithms for “defense”. “Never again!” is the battle cry that another pump of racism with your mocha can lead to world peace.

Historically the west has never been able to come to terms with Islam. Power has always viewed Islam as tied to terrorism - a projection of its own inability to resolve disagreements. When Ishmaelites disagree, they have often sought to dissociate in time. Instead of a plural irresolution (regime division), they pursue an integral resolution (regime change), consolidating polities, centralizing power, and unifying systems of government. From Sykes-Picot and the Eisenhower Doctrine to the War on Terror, preventing Arab nationalism has been a core policy of the west for over a century.

Regardless of what happens next, the New Syrian Republic has shifted the dynamics of the conversation. Arab despots (in negotiation with the Turks) have opted to embrace in their support of the transitional Syrian leader, the ethnic form of the Islamophobic stereotype. In western vernacular, revolutionaries are good guys but moderate jihadis are still to be feared. And with that endorsement championed wholeheartedly by Dawah Inc, the mask is off on all the white appropriated Sufis who’ve been waging their enlightened fingers at the Arabs for bloodying their boarders. Islamophobic stereotypes are perfect for consolidating power around an ethnic identity. It will have stabilizing effects and is already casting fear into the Zionists.

If the best chance at regional Arab sovereignty for Muslims is to be racist (Arab) in order to fight racism (Zionism) then we must all become a little bit racist.

To be fair this approach isn’t new. Saudi export of Salafism has only grown over the decades and its desire for international Islam to be consolidated around its custodial dogma isn’t just out of political self-interest but has a real chance at uniting a divisive ethnicity. GCC all endorsed CVE under Trump1.0 so the regal jihadi truly has been moderated. Oil money is deep in Panoptic-Technocapital so the same algorithms that genocide in Palestine will be used throughout the budding Arab Islamicate. UAE recently assigned over a trillion to invest in American AI. Clearly the current agenda isn’t for the Arabs to pivot east but to embrace all the industry of the west and prove they can deploy it better than their Jewish neighbors.

Watch out America! Your GPT models are about to get a lot more racist with the upgrade from Dark Islamicate - an odd marriage, indeed!

So, when will the race wars begin? Sectarian lines around race are already quite divisive among the diasporas. Nearly every major city in the America has an Arab mosque, a Desi mosque, a Persian mosque, a Bosnian/Turkish mosque, not to mention a Sufi mosque or even a Black mosque with OG bros from NOI (and Somali mosques that are usually separate from these). The scene is primed for an unleashed racial profiling wet dream. Remember SAIF only observes the condition of the acceleration. Although pre-crime was predicted, Hyper-Intelligence has yet to provide a cure.

And when thy Lord said unto the angels: Lo! I am about to place a viceroy in the earth, they said: Wilt thou place therein one who will do harm therein and will shed blood, while we, we hymn Thy praise and sanctify Thee? He said: Surely I know that which ye know not. ~ Quran 2.30

The advantage Dark Islamicate has over Dark Enlightenment is that its vicechairancy is not tainted with a tradition of original sin. Human moral potential for good remains inherent in the soul. Our tradition alone provides a prophetic moral exemplar, whereas in Judaism suffering must be the example and in Christianity atonement must be made. Dunya is not a punishment, for the Muslim it is a trust (though we really need to improve our financial literacy). Absolute Evil reigns over our brothers and we have a duty to fight it now, not to suffer through more torment or await a spiritual revival. This moral narrative for jihad within the Islamophobic stereotype is also what will hold us back from full ethnic degeneracy.

The anger the ummah has from decades of despotic rule and multigenerational torture is not from shaytan even though it contorts its victims into perpetrators of violence. You are human. You must differentiate truth from falsehood. This is why you have an innate, rational capacity. Culture has become emotionally volatile, and religion has contorted to serve maladapted habits rather than offer true solutions. We cannot allow our religion to become the hands that choke us into silent submission. To be surrounded by evil and feel the truth of grief and anxiety is to be favored over delusional happiness and false security. You are not supposed to feel good right now! To feel good would be the mark of insanity.

Ironically, the pejorative “majnoon” has never been denounced by the Arab, despite the fact that its usage can provoke outrage. Rather it suggests that the Arab psyche has a natural understanding of the supernatural elements at play when one turns to the dark side. Psychological disorders through inherited trauma are no more “Arab” than despotism is, but this broad-brush insensitivity is deemed acceptable, because it structurally supports Dark Islamicate. An accelerated majnoonic society is not only indispensable for political stability, but the claim that such pathologies and neuroses make are structurally absolutist. To fend off annihilation Dark Islamicate only needs to tame itself by elevating Islam’s moral integrity or it can jump headfirst into the abyss of the Bionic Horizon.

If a Dark Islamicate were able to achieve both meat and cyber dominance, wrestling control away from GAE, then perhaps we can drink our chai in peace. But that assumes we still imbibe molecular cocktails in hyperspace.

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

This piece is the first in a series that will focus on things I think are a priority if your focus is similar to mine: building a strong family and safeguarding their future.

---

Choosing the ideal place to raise a family is one of the most significant decisions you will ever make. For simplicity sake I will break down my thought process into key factors: strong property rights, the ability to grow your own food, access to fresh water, the freedom to own and train with guns, and a dependable community.

A Jurisdiction with Strong Property Rights

Strong property rights are essential and allow you to build on a solid foundation that is less likely to break underneath you. Regions with a history of limited government and clear legal protections for landowners are ideal. Personally I think the US is the single best option globally, but within the US there is a wide difference between which state you choose. Choose carefully and thoughtfully, think long term. Obviously if you are not American this is not a realistic option for you, there are other solid options available especially if your family has mobility. I understand many do not have this capability to easily move, consider that your first priority, making movement and jurisdiction choice possible in the first place.

Abundant Access to Fresh Water

Water is life. I cannot overstate the importance of living somewhere with reliable, clean, and abundant freshwater. Some regions face water scarcity or heavy regulations on usage, so prioritizing a place where water is plentiful and your rights to it are protected is critical. Ideally you should have well access so you are not tied to municipal water supplies. In times of crisis or chaos well water cannot be easily shutoff or disrupted. If you live in an area that is drought prone, you are one drought away from societal chaos. Not enough people appreciate this simple fact.

Grow Your Own Food

A location with fertile soil, a favorable climate, and enough space for a small homestead or at the very least a garden is key. In stable times, a small homestead provides good food and important education for your family. In times of chaos your family being able to grow and raise healthy food provides a level of self sufficiency that many others will lack. Look for areas with minimal restrictions, good weather, and a culture that supports local farming.

Guns

The ability to defend your family is fundamental. A location where you can legally and easily own guns is a must. Look for places with a strong gun culture and a political history of protecting those rights. Owning one or two guns is not enough and without proper training they will be a liability rather than a benefit. Get comfortable and proficient. Never stop improving your skills. If the time comes that you must use a gun to defend your family, the skills must be instinct. Practice. Practice. Practice.

A Strong Community You Can Depend On

No one thrives alone. A ride or die community that rallies together in tough times is invaluable. Seek out a place where people know their neighbors, share similar values, and are quick to lend a hand. Lead by example and become a good neighbor, people will naturally respond in kind. Small towns are ideal, if possible, but living outside of a major city can be a solid balance in terms of work opportunities and family security.

---

Let me know if you found this helpful. My plan is to break down how I think about these five key subjects in future posts.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

questo.email

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

From the GitHub postmortem:

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

It was live from December 2014 through December 2015.

Here's how the home page looked:

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

See also

• jekmentions, another thing related to "indieweb"

@ bc52210b:20bfc6de

CISA, or Cross-Input Signature Aggregation, is a technique in Bitcoin that allows multiple signatures from different inputs in a transaction to be combined into a single, aggregated signature. This is a big deal because Bitcoin transactions often involve multiple inputs (e.g., spending from different wallet outputs), each requiring its own signature. Normally, these signatures take up space individually, but CISA compresses them into one, making transactions more efficient.

This magic is possible thanks to the linearity property of Schnorr signatures, a type of digital signature introduced to Bitcoin with the Taproot upgrade. Unlike the older ECDSA signatures, Schnorr signatures have mathematical properties that allow multiple signatures to be added together into a single valid signature. Think of it like combining multiple handwritten signatures into one super-signature that still proves everyone signed off!

Fun Fact: CISA was considered for inclusion in Taproot but was left out to keep the upgrade simple and manageable. Adding CISA would’ve made Taproot more complex, so the developers hit pause on it—for now.

CISA vs. Key Aggregation (MuSig, FROST): Don’t Get Confused! Before we go deeper, let’s clear up a common mix-up: CISA is not the same as protocols like MuSig or FROST. Here’s why:

• Signature Aggregation (CISA): Combines multiple signatures into one, each potentially tied to different public keys and messages (e.g., different transaction inputs).
• Key Aggregation (MuSig, FROST): Combines multiple public keys into a single aggregated public key, then generates one signature for that key.

Key Differences: 1. What’s Aggregated? * CISA: Aggregates signatures. * Key Aggregation: Aggregates public keys. 2. What the Verifier Needs * CISA: The verifier needs all individual public keys and their corresponding messages to check the aggregated signature. * Key Aggregation: The verifier only needs the single aggregated public key and one message. 3. When It Happens * CISA: Used during transaction signing, when inputs are being combined into a transaction. * MuSig: Used during address creation, setting up a multi-signature (multisig) address that multiple parties control.

So, CISA is about shrinking signature data in a transaction, while MuSig/FROST are about simplifying multisig setups. Different tools, different jobs!

Two Flavors of CISA: Half-Agg and Full-Agg CISA comes in two modes:

• Full Aggregation (Full-Agg): Interactive, meaning signers need to collaborate during the signing process. (We’ll skip the details here since the query focuses on Half-Agg.)
• Half Aggregation (Half-Agg): Non-interactive, meaning signers can work independently, and someone else can combine the signatures later.

Since the query includes “CISA Part 2: Half Signature Aggregation,” let’s zoom in on Half-Agg.

Half Signature Aggregation (Half-Agg) Explained How It Works Half-Agg is a non-interactive way to aggregate Schnorr signatures. Here’s the process:

1. Independent Signing: Each signer creates their own Schnorr signature for their input, without needing to talk to the other signers.
2. Aggregation Step: An aggregator (could be anyone, like a wallet or node) takes all these signatures and combines them into one aggregated signature.

A Schnorr signature has two parts:

• R: A random point (32 bytes).
• s: A scalar value (32 bytes).

In Half-Agg:

• The R values from each signature are kept separate (one per input).
• The s values from all signatures are combined into a single s value.

Why It Saves Space (~50%) Let’s break down the size savings with some math:

Before Aggregation: * Each Schnorr signature = 64 bytes (32 for R + 32 for s). * For n inputs: n × 64 bytes.

After Half-Agg: * Keep n R values (32 bytes each) = 32 × n bytes. * Combine all s values into one = 32 bytes. * Total size: 32 × n + 32 bytes.

Comparison:

• Original: 64n bytes.
• Half-Agg: 32n + 32 bytes.
• For large n, the “+32” becomes small compared to 32n, so it’s roughly 32n, which is half of 64n. Hence, ~50% savings!

Real-World Impact: Based on recent Bitcoin usage, Half-Agg could save:

• ~19.3% in space (reducing transaction size).
• ~6.9% in fees (since fees depend on transaction size). This assumes no major changes in how people use Bitcoin post-CISA.

---

Applications of Half-Agg Half-Agg isn’t just a cool idea—it has practical uses:

1. Transaction-wide Aggregation
2. Combine all signatures within a single transaction.
3. Result: Smaller transactions, lower fees.
4. Block-wide Aggregation
5. Combine signatures across all transactions in a Bitcoin block.
6. Result: Even bigger space savings at the blockchain level.
7. Off-chain Protocols / P2P
8. Use Half-Agg in systems like Lightning Network gossip messages.
9. Benefit: Efficiency without needing miners or a Bitcoin soft fork.

---

Challenges with Half-Agg While Half-Agg sounds awesome, it’s not without hurdles, especially at the block level:

1. Breaking Adaptor Signatures
2. Adaptor signatures are special signatures used in protocols like Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) or atomic swaps. They tie a signature to revealing a secret, ensuring fair exchanges.

3. Aggregating signatures across a block might mess up these protocols, as the individual signatures get blended together, potentially losing the properties adaptor signatures rely on.

4. Impact on Reorg Recovery

5. In Bitcoin, a reorganization (reorg) happens when the blockchain switches to a different chain of blocks. Transactions from the old chain need to be rebroadcast or reprocessed.
6. If signatures are aggregated at the block level, it could complicate extracting individual transactions and their signatures during a reorg, slowing down recovery.

These challenges mean Half-Agg needs careful design, especially for block-wide use.

Wrapping Up CISA is a clever way to make Bitcoin transactions more efficient by aggregating multiple Schnorr signatures into one, thanks to their linearity property. Half-Agg, the non-interactive mode, lets signers work independently, cutting signature size by about 50% (to 32n + 32 bytes from 64n bytes). It could save ~19.3% in space and ~6.9% in fees, with uses ranging from single transactions to entire blocks or off-chain systems like Lightning.

But watch out—block-wide Half-Agg could trip up adaptor signatures and reorg recovery, so it’s not a slam dunk yet. Still, it’s a promising tool for a leaner, cheaper Bitcoin future!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

idea: Rumple

a payments network based on trust channels

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

Read these first to get the full context:

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

Explanation about the name

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

Now the idea

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

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

How exactly -- a protocol proposal attempt

It could work like this:

The parallel chain, or "Rumple Chain"

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

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

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

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

The payment flow

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

Why bother with this at all?

1. The biggest advantage of Lightning is its openness

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

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

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

2. Rumple fixes Lightning's fragility

   Lightning is too fragile.

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

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

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

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

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

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

3. Rumple fixes Lightning's unsolvable reputation issues

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

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

4. Rumple solves the hot wallet problem

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

5. Rumple ends custodianship

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

6. Rumple is fun

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

Questions or potential issues

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

@ f1f59549:f4121cfe

Wu wei is a Taoist idea that means "conscious non-action."

The more direct translation is something along the lines of "action that is non-action."

This concept suggests that we avoid applying unnecessary force in all things.

Despite what this sounds like, it isn't an invitation to laziness.

To apply wu wei is like saying “to go with the flow."

It's from this state of natural flow that the best ideas and creativity materialize. It’s a peaceful, engaged state where one’s maximum skill and efficiency are realized.

To apply wu wei is to act without the conscious application of effort or the intellectualization of one’s every move. “Don’t think, just act.”

Think about a skilled musician performing a complex piece of music. When they first learn the piece, they struggle with the notes, rhythms, and techniques, consciously applying great effort to master it. But with practice, they internalize the piece to such an extent that they no longer need to apply conscious thought in order to hit each note or maintain a fluid rhythm.

Another example could be made for an artist like Bob Ross — known for his technique of painting beautiful landscapes “by accident.”

Wu wei applies to all skills, hobbies, professions — all aspects of life.

In my own experience, my best writing always comes out of flow states. When I think too much or try too hard as I write, the work becomes more difficult. The words appearing on the page feel less natural and fluid, and I miss things. When I come back to edit these writings, I often find they require a great deal of fixing and smoothing out. Large swaths of the writing are removed.

By contrast, when I let the words simply flow from my fingers without any conscious striving, they arrange themselves on the page with a natural grace and in good order. The speed and quantity of my writing are also greatly increased this way.

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Wu Wei Applies More Broadly to Life in General

As humans, it's our nature to try and categorize, measure, and control the direction our lives take. We don't allow the flow of life to take us with it and instead burn our energy trying to swim against it.

It doesn't matter what we do now; we can't know what will happen in the future. Life will always take us in directions we can't control, and every minor event leads to unexpected outcomes.

By embracing the natural flow of life, we can allow ourselves to be carried along with the unfolding events — whether it's seizing a job opportunity, nurturing new relationships, letting go of old connections, embarking on a fresh journey, or closing a significant chapter in our lives.

By recognizing and accepting these events as they arise — instead of attempting to force or control them — we align ourselves with a more organic and effortless path.

Being Busy & Applying Effort

"Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished."

Our society is obsessed with productivity and achievement. We measure others’ value based on what they’ve accomplished.

As a result, we apply a great deal of effort to remain productive at all times as we try to accomplish as much as possible in our lives.

This often comes at the cost of our physical or emotional health.

Looking at the natural world shows us that this mentality is flawed. The greatest accomplishment comes not by force — but by allowing the natural flow of things to carry us with it.

Despite how productive the natural world is, it never appears rushed or hurried. Instead, it calmly and effortlessly follows its innate rhythm, taking all the time it needs to evolve in accordance with the natural flow of existence.

When the sun is shining, and the soil is wet, plants will grow.

But when the sun's rays are blocked by the clouds and the soil is too dry to fuel photosynthesis, growth is slowed. By trying to grow when the conditions aren't ideal, the plant will expend its energy reserves and die.

Rather than forcing it, the plant waits patiently until conditions are just right to resume its growth.

This is the wu wei of nature.

Through wu wei, nature always accomplishes what it sets out to achieve.

Living in Tao

Wu wei permeates every aspect of life — influencing everything from mundane tasks to the loftiest forms of creative expression.

It guides us through the natural rhythm of the day:

Are you hungry? Eat.

Are you tired? Sleep.

Do you feel sad? Cry.

Do you feel happy? Laugh.

Do you feel the desire to create something? Create.

The list goes on.

Stepping away from this concept is to be "doing" or applying effort. When you're tired but don't sleep. Creative, but don't create. You are, in effect, swimming against the current.

Allow these moments to ebb and flow as they do, and go along with it. Embrace each moment as it presents itself.

Everything gets done.

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@ 1c19eb1a:e22fb0bc

I am happy to present to you the first full review posted to Nostr Reviews: #Primal for #Android!

Primal has its origins as a micro-blogging, social media client, though it is now expanding its horizons into long-form content. It was first released only as a web client in March of 2023, but has since had a native client released for both iOS and Android. All of Primal's clients recently had an update to Primal 2.0, which included both performance improvements and a number of new features. This review will focus on the Android client specifically, both on phone and tablet.

Since Primal has also added features that are only available to those enrolled in their new premium subscription, it should also be noted that this review will be from the perspective of a free user. This is for two reasons. First, I am using an alternate npub to review the app, and if I were to purchase premium at some time in the future, it would be on my main npub. Second, despite a lot of positive things I have to say about Primal, I am not planning to regularly use any of their apps on my main account for the time being, for reasons that will be discussed later in the review.

The application can be installed through the Google Play Store, Zapstore, or by downloading it directly from Primal's GitHub. This review is current as of Primal Android version 2.0.21.

In the ecosystem of "notes and other stuff," Primal is predominantly in the "notes" category. It is geared toward users who want a social media experience similar to Twitter or Facebook with an infinite scrolling feed of notes to interact with. However, there is some "other stuff" included to complement this primary focus on short and long form notes including a built-in Lightning wallet powered by #Strike, a robust advanced search, and a media-only feed.

Overall Impression

Score: 3.8 / 5

Primal may well be the most polished UI of any Nostr client native to Android. It is incredibly well designed and thought out, with all of the icons and settings in the places a user would expect to find them. It is also incredibly easy to get started on Nostr via Primal's sign-up flow. The only two things that will be foreign to new users are the lack of any need to set a password or give an email address, and the prompt to optionally set up the wallet.

Complaints prior to the 2.0 update about Primal being slow and clunky should now be completely alleviated. I only experienced quick load times and snappy UI controls with a couple very minor exceptions.

Primal is not, however, a client that I would recommend for the power-user. Control over preferred relays is minimal and does not allow the user to determine which relays they write to and which they only read from. Though you can use your own wallet, it will not appear within the wallet interface, which only works with the custodial wallet from Strike. Moreover, and most eggregiously, the only way for existing users to log in is by pasting their nsec, as Primal does not support either the Android signer or remote signer options for users to protect their private key at this time. This lack of signer support is the primary reason the client received such a low overall score. If even one form of external signer log in is added to Primal, the score will be amended to 4.2 / 5, and if both Android signer and remote signer support is added, it will increase to 4.5.

Another downside to Primal is that it still utilizes an outdated direct message specification that leaks metadata that can be readily seen by anyone on the network. While the content of your messages remains encrypted, anyone can see who you are messaging with, and when.

That said, the beautiful thing about Nostr as a protocol is that users are not locked into any particular client. You may find Primal to be a great client for your average #bloomscrolling and zapping memes, but opt for a different client for more advanced uses and for direct messaging.

Features

Primal has a lot of features users would expect from any Nostr client that is focused on short-form notes, but it also packs in a lot of features that set it apart from other clients, and that showcase Primal's obvious prioritization of a top-tier user experience.

Home Feed

By default, the infinitely scrolling Home feed displays notes from those you currently follow in chronological order. This is traditional Nostr at its finest, and made all the more immersive by the choice to have all distracting UI elements quickly hide themselves from view as the you begin to scroll down the feed. They return just as quickly when you begin to scroll back up.

Scrolling the feed is incredibly fast, with no noticeable choppiness and minimal media pop-in if you are on a decent internet connection.

Helpfully, it is easy to get back to the top of the feed whenever there is a new post to be viewed, as a bubble will appear with the profile pictures of the users who have posted since you started scrolling.

Interacting With Notes

Interacting with a note in the feed can be done via the very recognizable icons at the bottom of each post. You can comment, zap, like, repost, and/or bookmark the note.

Notably, tapping on the zap icon will immediately zap the note your default amount of sats, making zapping incredibly fast, especially when using the built-in wallet. Long pressing on the zap icon will open up a menu with a variety of amounts, along with the ability to zap a custom amount. All of these amounts, and the messages that are sent with the zap, can be customized in the application settings.

Users who are familiar with Twitter or Instagram will feel right at home with only having one option for "liking" a post. However, users from Facebook or other Nostr clients may wonder why they don't have more options for reactions. This is one of those things where users who are new to Nostr probably won't notice they are missing out on anything at all, while users familiar with clients like #Amethyst or #noStrudel will miss the ability to react with a 🤙 or a 🫂.

It's a similar story with the bookmark option. While this is a nice bit of feature parity for Twitter users, for those already used to the ability to have multiple customized lists of bookmarks, or at minimum have the ability to separate them into public and private, it may be a disappointment that they have no access to the bookmarks they already built up on other clients. Primal offers only one list of bookmarks for short-form notes and they are all visible to the public. However, you are at least presented with a warning about the public nature of your bookmarks before saving your first one.

Yet, I can't dock the Primal team much for making these design choices, as they are understandable for Primal's goal of being a welcoming client for those coming over to Nostr from centralized platforms. They have optimized for the onboarding of new users, rather than for those who have been around for a while, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that.

Post Creation

Composing posts in Primal is as simple as it gets. Accessed by tapping the obvious circular button with a "+" on it in the lower right of the Home feed, most of what you could need is included in the interface, and nothing you don't.

Your device's default keyboard loads immediately, and the you can start typing away.

There are options for adding images from your gallery, or taking a picture with your camera, both of which will result in the image being uploaded to Primal's media-hosting server. If you prefer to host your media elsewhere, you can simply paste the link to that media into your post.

There is also an @ icon as a tip-off that you can tag other users. Tapping on this simply types "@" into your note and brings up a list of users. All you have to do to narrow down the user you want to tag is continue typing their handle, Nostr address, or paste in their npub.

This can get mixed results in other clients, which sometimes have a hard time finding particular users when typing in their handle, forcing you to have to remember their Nostr address or go hunt down their npub by another means. Not so with Primal, though. I had no issues tagging anyone I wanted by simply typing in their handle.

Of course, when you are tagging someone well known, you may find that there are multiple users posing as that person. Primal helps you out here, though. Usually the top result is the person you want, as Primal places them in order of how many followers they have. This is quite reliable right now, but there is nothing stopping someone from spinning up an army of bots to follow their fake accounts, rendering follower count useless for determining which account is legitimate. It would be nice to see these results ranked by web-of-trust, or at least an indication of how many users you follow who also follow the users listed in the results.

Once you are satisfied with your note, the "Post" button is easy to find in the top right of the screen.

Feed Selector and Marketplace

Primal's Home feed really shines when you open up the feed selection interface, and find that there are a plethora of options available for customizing your view. By default, it only shows four options, but tapping "Edit" opens up a new page of available toggles to add to the feed selector.

The options don't end there, though. Tapping "Add Feed" will open up the feed marketplace, where an ever-growing number of custom feeds can be found, some created by Primal and some created by others. This feed marketplace is available to a few other clients, but none have so closely integrated it with their Home feeds like Primal has.

Unfortunately, as great as these custom feeds are, this was also the feature where I ran into the most bugs while testing out the app.

One of these bugs was while selecting custom feeds. Occasionally, these feed menu screens would become unresponsive and I would be unable to confirm my selection, or even use the back button on my device to back out of the screen. However, I was able to pull the screen down to close it and re-open the menu, and everything would be responsive again.

This only seemed to occur when I spent 30 seconds or more on the same screen, so I imagine that most users won't encounter it much in their regular use.

Another UI bug occurred for me while in the feed marketplace. I could scroll down the list of available feeds, but attempting to scroll back up the feed would often close the interface entirely instead, as though I had pulled the screen down from the top, when I was swiping in the middle of the screen.

The last of these bugs occurred when selecting a long-form "Reads" feed while in the menu for the Home feed. The menu would allow me to add this feed and select it to be displayed, but it would fail to load the feed once selected, stating "There is no content in this feed." Going to a different page within the the app and then going back to the Home tab would automatically remove the long-form feed from view, and reset back to the most recently viewed short-form "Notes" feed, though the long-form feed would still be available to select again. The results were similar when selecting a short-form feed for the Reads feed.

I would suggest that if long-form and short-form feeds are going to be displayed in the same list, and yet not be able to be displayed in the same feed, the application should present an error message when attempting to add a long-form feed for the Home feed or a short-form feed for the Reads feed, and encourage the user add it to the proper feed instead.

Long-Form "Reads" Feed

A brand new feature in Primal 2.0, users can now browse and read long-form content posted to Nostr without having to go to a separate client. Primal now has a dedicated "Reads" feed to browse and interact with these articles.

This feed displays the author and title of each article or blog, along with an image, if available. Quite conveniently, it also lets you know the approximate amount of time it will take to read a given article, so you can decide if you have the time to dive into it now, or come back later.

Noticeably absent from the Reads feed, though, is the ability to compose an article of your own. This is another understandable design choice for a mobile client. Composing a long-form note on a smart-phone screen is not a good time. Better to be done on a larger screen, in a client with a full-featured text editor.

Tapping an article will open up an attractive reading interface, with the ability to bookmark for later. These bookmarks are a separate list from your short-form note bookmarks so you don't have to scroll through a bunch of notes you bookmarked to find the article you told yourself you would read later and it's already been three weeks.

While you can comment on the article or zap it, you will notice that you cannot repost or quote-post it. It's not that you can't do so on Nostr. You absolutely can in other clients. In fact, you can do so on Primal's web client, too. However, Primal on Android does not handle rendering long-form note previews in the Home feed, so they have simply left out the option to share them there. See below for an example of a quote-post of a long-form note in the Primal web client vs the Android client.

Primal Web:

Primal Android:

The Explore Tab

Another unique feature of the Primal client is the Explore tab, indicated by the compass icon. This tab is dedicated to discovering content from outside your current follow list. You can find the feed marketplace here, and add any of the available feeds to your Home or Reads feed selections. You can also find suggested users to follow in the People tab. The Zaps tab will show you who has been sending and receiving large zaps. Make friends with the generous ones!

The Media tab gives you a chronological feed of just media, displayed in a tile view. This can be great when you are looking for users who post dank memes, or incredible photography on a regular basis. Unfortunately, it appears that there is no way to filter this feed for sensitive content, and so you do not have to scroll far before you see pornographic material.

Indeed, it does not appear that filters for sensitive content are available in Primal for any feed. The app is kind enough to give a minimal warning that objectionable content may be present when selecting the "Nostr Firehose" option in your Home feed, with a brief "be careful" in the feed description, but there is not even that much of a warning here for the media-only feed.

The media-only feed doesn't appear to be quite as bad as the Nostr Firehose feed, so there must be some form of filtering already taking place, rather than being a truly global feed of all media. Yet, occasional sensitive content still litters the feed and is unavoidable, even for users who would rather not see it. There are, of course, ways to mute particular users who post such content, if you don't want to see it a second time from the same user, but that is a never-ending game of whack-a-mole, so your only realistic choices in Primal are currently to either avoid the Nostr Firehose and media-only feeds, or determine that you can put up with regularly scrolling past often graphic content.

This is probably the only choice Primal has made that is not friendly to new users. Most clients these days will have some protections in place to hide sensitive content by default, but still allow the user to toggle those protections off if they so choose. Some of them hide posts flagged as sensitive content altogether, others just blur the images unless the user taps to reveal them, and others simply blur all images posted by users you don't follow. If Primal wants to target new users who are accustomed to legacy social media platforms, they really should follow suit.

The final tab is titled "Topics," but it is really just a list of popular hashtags, which appear to be arranged by how often they are being used. This can be good for finding things that other users are interested in talking about, or finding specific content you are interested in.

If you tap on any topic in the list, it will display a feed of notes that include that hashtag. What's better, you can add it as a feed option you can select on your Home feed any time you want to see posts with that tag.

The only suggestion I would make to improve this tab is some indication of why the topics are arranged in the order presented. A simple indicator of the number of posts with that hashtag in the last 24 hours, or whatever the interval is for determining their ranking, would more than suffice.

Even with those few shortcomings, Primal's Explore tab makes the client one of the best options for discovering content on Nostr that you are actually interested in seeing and interacting with.

Built-In Wallet

While this feature is completely optional, the icon to access the wallet is the largest of the icons at the bottom of the screen, making you feel like you are missing out on the most important feature of the app if you don't set it up. I could be critical of this design choice, but in many ways I think it is warranted. The built-in wallet is one of the most unique features that Primal has going for it.

Consider: If you are a new user coming to Nostr, who isn't already a Bitcoiner, and you see that everyone else on the platform is sending and receiving sats for their posts, will you be more likely to go download a separate wallet application or use one that is built-into your client? I would wager the latter option by a long shot. No need to figure out which wallet you should download, whether you should do self-custody or custodial, or make the mistake of choosing a wallet with unexpected setup fees and no Lightning address so you can't even receive zaps to it. nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr often states that he believes more people will be onboarded to Bitcoin through Nostr than by any other means, and by including a wallet into the Primal client, his team has made adopting Bitcoin that much easier for new Nostr users.

Some of us purists may complain that it is custodial and KYC, but that is an unfortunate necessity in order to facilitate onboarding newcoiners to Bitcoin. This is not intended to be a wallet for those of us who have been using Bitcoin and Lightning regularly already. It is meant for those who are not already familiar with Bitcoin to make it as easy as possible to get off zero, and it accomplishes this better than any other wallet I have ever tried.

In large part, this is because the KYC is very light. It does need the user's legal name, a valid email address, date of birth, and country of residence, but that's it! From there, the user can buy Bitcoin directly through the app, but only in the amount of $4.99 at a time. This is because there is a substantial markup on top of the current market price, due to utilizing whatever payment method the user has set up through their Google Play Store. The markup seemed to be about 19% above the current price, since I could purchase 4,143 sats for $4.99 ($120,415 / Bitcoin), when the current price was about $101,500. But the idea here is not for the Primal wallet to be a user's primary method of stacking sats. Rather, it is intended to get them off zero and have a small amount of sats to experience zapping with, and it accomplishes this with less friction than any other method I know.

Moreover, the Primal wallet has the features one would expect from any Lightning wallet. You can send sats to any Nostr user or Lightning address, receive via invoice, or scan to pay an invoice. It even has the ability to receive via on-chain. This means users who don't want to pay the markup from buying through Primal can easily transfer sats they obtained by other means into the Primal wallet for zapping, or for using it as their daily-driver spending wallet.

Speaking of zapping, once the wallet is activated, sending zaps is automatically set to use the wallet, and they are fast. Primal gives you immediate feedback that the zap was sent and the transaction shows in your wallet history typically before you can open the interface. I can confidently say that Primal wallet's integration is the absolute best zapping experience I have seen in any Nostr client.

One thing to note that may not be immediately apparent to new users is they need to add their Lightning address with Primal into their profile details before they can start receiving zaps. So, sending zaps using the wallet is automatic as soon as you activate it, but receiving is not. Ideally, this could be further streamlined, so that Primal automatically adds the Lightning address to the user's profile when the wallet is set up, so long as there is not currently a Lightning address listed.

Of course, if you already have a Lightning wallet, you can connect it to Primal for zapping, too. We will discuss this further in the section dedicated to zap integration.

Advanced Search

Search has always been a tough nut to crack on Nostr, since it is highly dependent on which relays the client is pulling information from. Primal has sought to resolve this issue, among others, by running a caching relay that pulls notes from a number of relays to store them locally, and perform some spam filtering. This allows for much faster retrieval of search results, and also makes their advanced search feature possible.

Advanced search can be accessed from most pages by selecting the magnifying glass icon, and then the icon for more options next to the search bar.

As can be seen in the screenshot below, there are a plethora of filters that can be applied to your search terms.

You can immediately see how this advanced search could be a very powerful tool for not just finding a particular previous note that you are looking for, but for creating your own custom feed of notes. Well, wouldn't you know it, Primal allows you to do just that! This search feature, paired with the other features mentioned above related to finding notes you want to see in your feed, makes Primal hands-down the best client for content discovery.

The only downside as a free user is that some of these search options are locked behind the premium membership. Or else you only get to see a certain number of results of your advanced search before you must be a premium member to see more.

Can My Grandma Use It?

Score: 4.8 / 5 Primal has obviously put a high priority on making their client user-friendly, even for those who have never heard of relays, public/private key cryptography, or Bitcoin. All of that complexity is hidden away. Some of it is available to play around with for the users who care to do so, but it does not at all get in the way of the users who just want to jump in and start posting notes and interacting with other users in a truly open public square.

To begin with, the onboarting experience is incredibly smooth. Tap "Create Account," enter your chosen display name and optional bio information, upload a profile picture, and then choose some topics you are interested in. You are then presented with a preview of your profile, with the ability to add a banner image, if you so choose, and then tap "Create Account Now."

From there you receive confirmation that your account has been created and that your "Nostr key" is available to you in the application settings. No further explanation is given about what this key is for at this point, but the user doesn't really need to know at the moment, either. If they are curious, they will go to the app settings to find out.

At this point, Primal encourages the user to activate Primal Wallet, but also gives the option for the user to do it later.

That's it! The next screen the user sees if they don't opt to set up the wallet is their Home feed with notes listed in chronological order. More impressive, the feed is not empty, because Primal has auto-followed several accounts based on your selected topics.

Now, there has definitely been some legitimate criticism of this practice of following specific accounts based on the topic selection, and I agree. I would much prefer to see Primal follow hashtags based on what was selected, and combine the followed hashtags into a feed titled "My Topics" or something of that nature, and make that the default view when the user finishes onboarding. Following particular users automatically will artificially inflate certain users' exposure, while other users who might be quality follows for that topic aren't seen at all.

The advantage of following particular users over a hashtag, though, is that Primal retains some control over the quality of the posts that new users are exposed to right away. Primal can ensure that new users see people who are actually posting quality photography when they choose it as one of their interests. However, even with that example, I chose photography as one of my interests and while I did get some stunning photography in my Home feed by default based on Primal's chosen follows, I also scrolled through the Photography hashtag for a bit and I really feel like I would have been better served if Primal had simply followed that hashtag rather than a particular set of users.

We've already discussed how simple it is to set up the Primal Wallet. You can see the features section above if you missed it. It is, by far, the most user friendly experience to onboarding onto Lightning and getting a few sats for zapping, and it is the only one I know of that is built directly into a Nostr client. This means new users will have a frictionless introduction to transacting via Lightning, perhaps without even realizing that's what they are doing.

Discovering new content of interest is incredibly intuitive on Primal, and the only thing that new users may struggle with is getting their own notes seen by others. To assist with this, I would suggest Primal encourage users to make their first post to the introductions hashtag and direct any questions to the AskNostr hashtag as part of the onboarding process. This will get them some immediate interactions from other users, and further encouragement to set up their wallet if they haven't already done so.

How do UI look?

Score: 4.9 / 5

Primal is the most stunningly beautiful Nostr client available, in my honest opinion. Despite some of my hangups about certain functionality, the UI alone makes me want to use it.

It is clean, attractive, and intuitive. Everything I needed was easy to find, and nothing felt busy or cluttered. There are only a few minor UI glitches that I ran into while testing the app. Some of them were mentioned in the section of the review detailing the feed selector feature, but a couple others occurred during onboarding.

First, my profile picture was not centered in the preview when I uploaded it. This appears to be because it was a low quality image. Uploading a higher quality photo did not have this result.

The other UI bug was related to text instructions that were cut off, and not able to scroll to see the rest of them. This occurred on a few pages during onboarding, and I expect it was due to the size of my phone screen, since it did not occur when I was on a slightly larger phone or tablet.

Speaking of tablets, Primal Android looks really good on a tablet, too! While the client does not have a landscape mode by default, many Android tablets support forcing apps to open in full-screen landscape mode, with mixed results. However, Primal handles it well. I would still like to see a tablet version developed that takes advantage of the increased screen real estate, but it is certainly a passable option.

At this point, I would say the web client probably has a bit better UI for use on a tablet than the Android client does, but you miss out on using the built-in wallet, which is a major selling point of the app.

This lack of a landscape mode for tablets and the few very minor UI bugs I encountered are the only reason Primal doesn't get a perfect score in this category, because the client is absolutely stunning otherwise, both in light and dark modes. There are also two color schemes available for each.

Log In Options

Score: 1 / 5

Unfortunately, Primal has not included any options for log in outside of pasting your private key into the application. While this is a very simple way to log in for new users to understand, it is also the least secure means to log into Nostr applications.

This is because, even with the most trustworthy client developer, giving the application access to your private key always has the potential for that private key to somehow be exposed or leaked, and on Nostr there is currently no way to rotate to a different private key and keep your identity and social graph. If someone gets your key, they are you on Nostr for all intents and purposes.

This is not a situation that users should be willing to tolerate from production-release clients at this point. There are much better log in standards that can and should be implemented if you care about your users.

That said, I am happy to report that external signer support is on the roadmap for Primal, as confirmed below:

nostr:note1n59tc8k5l2v30jxuzghg7dy2ns76ld0hqnn8tkahyywpwp47ms5qst8ehl

No word yet on whether this will be Android signer or remote signer support, or both.

This lack of external signer support is why I absolutely will not use my main npub with Primal for Android. I am happy to use the web client, which supports and encourages logging in with a browser extension, but until the Android client allows users to protect their private key, I cannot recommend it for existing Nostr users.

Zap Integration

Score: 4.8 / 5

As mentioned when discussing Primal's built-in wallet feature, zapping in Primal can be the most seamless experience I have ever seen in a Nostr client. Pairing the wallet with the client is absolutely the path forward for Nostr leading the way to Bitcoin adoption.

But what if you already have a Lightning wallet you want to use for zapping? You have a couple options. If it is an Alby wallet or another wallet that supports Nostr Wallet Connect, you can connect it with Primal to use with one-tap zapping.

How your zapping experience goes with this option will vary greatly based on your particular wallet of choice and is beyond the scope of this review. I used this option with a hosted wallet on my Alby Hub and it worked perfectly. Primal gives you immediate feedback that you have zapped, even though the transaction usually takes a few seconds to process and appear in your wallet's history.

The one major downside to using an external wallet is the lack of integration with the wallet interface. This interface currently only works with Primal's wallet, and therefore the most prominent tab in the entire app goes unused when you connect an external wallet.

An ideal improvement would be for the wallet screen to work similar to Alby Go when you have an external wallet connected via Nostr Wallet Connect, allowing the user to have Primal act as their primary mobile Lightning wallet. It could have balance and transaction history displayed, and allow sending and receiving, just like the integrated Primal wallet, but remove the ability to purchase sats directly through the app when using an external wallet.

Content Discovery

Score: 4.8 / 5

Primal is the best client to use if you want to discover new content you are interested in. There is no comparison, with only a few caveats.

First, the content must have been posted to Nostr as either a short-form or long-form note. Primal has a limited ability to display other types of content. For instance, discovering video content or streaming content is lacking.

Second, you must be willing to put up with the fact that Primal lacks a means of filtering sensitive content when you are exploring beyond the bounds of your current followers. This may not be an issue for some, but for others it could be a deal-breaker.

Third, it would be preferable for Primal to follow topics you are interested in when you choose them during onboarding, rather than follow specific npubs. Ideally, create a "My Topics" feed that can be edited by selecting your interests in the Topics section of the Explore tab.

Relay Management

Score: 2.5 / 5

For new users who don't want to mess around with managing relays, Primal is fantastic! There are 7 relays selected by default, in addition to Primal's caching service. For most users who aren't familiar with Nostr's protocol archetecture, they probably won't ever have to change their default relays in order to use the client as they would expect.

However, two of these default relays were consistently unreachable during the week that I tested. These were relay.plebes.fans and remnant.cloud. The first relay seems to be an incorrect URL, as I found nosflare.plebes.fans online and with perfect uptime for the last 12 hours on nostr.watch. I was unable to find remnant.cloud on nostr.watch at all. A third relay was intermittent, sometimes online and reachable, and other times unreachable: v1250.planz.io/nostr. If Primal is going to have default relays, they should ideally be reliable and with accurate URLs.

That said, users can add other relays that they prefer, and remove relays that they no longer want to use. They can even set a different caching service to use with the client, rather than using Primal's.

However, that is the extent of a user's control over their relays. They cannot choose which relays they want to write to and which they want to read from, nor can they set any private relays, outbox or inbox relays, or general relays. Loading the npub I used for this review into another client with full relay management support revealed that the relays selected in Primal are being added to both the user's public outbox relays and public inbox relays, but not to any other relay type, which leads me to believe the caching relay is acting as the client's only general relay and search relay.

One unique and welcomed addition is the "Enhanced Privacy" feature, which is off by default, but which can be toggled on. I am not sure why this is not on by default, though. Perhaps someone from the Primal team can enlighten me on that choice.

By default, when you post to Nostr, all of your outbox relays will see your IP address. If you turn on the Enhanced Privacy mode, only Primal's caching service will see your IP address, because it will post your note to the other relays on your behalf. In this way, the caching service acts similar to a VPN for posting to Nostr, as long as you trust Primal not to log or leak your IP address.

Current Users' Questions

The AskNostr hashtag can be a good indication of the pain points that other users are currently having with a client. Here are some of the most common questions submitted about Primal since the launch of 2.0:

nostr:note1dqv4mwqn7lvpaceg9s7damf932ydv9skv2x99l56ufy3f7q8tkdqpxk0rd

This was a pretty common question, because users expect that they will be able to create the same type of content that they can consume in a particular client. I can understand why this was left out in a mobile client, but perhaps it should be added in the web client.

nostr:note16xnm8a2mmrs7t9pqymwjgd384ynpf098gmemzy49p3572vhwx2mqcqw8xe

This is a more concerning bug, since it appears some users are experiencing their images being replaced with completely different images. I did not experience anything similar in my testing, though.

nostr:note1uhrk30nq0e566kx8ac4qpwrdh0vfaav33rfvckyvlzn04tkuqahsx8e7mr

There hasn't been an answer to this, but I have not been able to find a way. It seems search results will always include replies as well as original notes, so a feed made from the search results will as well. Perhaps a filter can be added to the advanced search to exclude replies? There is already a filter to only show replies, but there is no corresponding filter to only show original notes.

nostr:note1zlnzua28a5v76jwuakyrf7hham56kx9me9la3dnt3fvymcyaq6eqjfmtq6

Since both mobile platforms support the wallet, users expect that they will be able to access it in their web client, too. At this time, they cannot. The only way to have seamless zapping in the web client is to use the Alby extension, but there is not a way to connect it to your Primal wallet via Nostr Wallet Connect either. This means users must have a separate wallet for zapping on the web client if they use the Primal Wallet on mobile.

nostr:note15tf2u9pffy58y9lk27y245ew792raqc7lc22jezxvqj7xrak9ztqu45wep

It seems that Primal is filtering for spam even for profiles you actively follow. Moreover, exactly what the criteria is for being considered spam is currently opaque.

nostr:note1xexnzv0vrmc8svvduurydwmu43w7dftyqmjh4ps98zksr39ln2qswkuced

For those unaware, Blossom is a protocol for hosting media as blobs identified by a hash, allowing them to be located on and displayed from other servers they have been mirrored to when when the target server isn't available. Primal currently runs a Blossom server (blossom.primal.net) so I would expect we see Blossom support in the future.

nostr:note1unugv7s36e2kxl768ykg0qly7czeplp8qnc207k4pj45rexgqv4sue50y6

Currently, Primal on Android only supports uploading photos to your posts. Users must upload any video to some other hosting service and copy/paste a link to the video into their post on Primal. I would not be surprised to see this feature added in the near future, though.

nostr:note10w6538y58dkd9mdrlkfc8ylhnyqutc56ggdw7gk5y7nsp00rdk4q3qgrex

Many Nostr users have more than one npub for various uses. Users would prefer to have a way to quickly switch between accounts than to have to log all the way out and paste their npub for the other account every time they want to use it.

There is good news on this front, though:

nostr:note17xv632yqfz8nx092lj4sxr7drrqfey6e2373ha00qlq8j8qv6jjs36kxlh

Wrap Up

All in all, Primal is an excellent client. It won't be for everyone, but that's one of the strengths of Nostr as a protocol. You can choose to use the client that best fits your own needs, and supplement with other clients and tools as necessary.

There are a couple glaring issues I have with Primal that prevent me from using it on my main npub, but it is also an ever-improving client, that already has me hopeful for those issues to be resolved in a future release.

So, what should I review next? Another Android client, such as #Amethyst or #Voyage? Maybe an "other stuff" app, like #Wavlake or #Fountain? Please leave your suggestions in the comments.

I hope this review was valuable to you! If it was, please consider letting me know just how valuable by zapping me some sats and reposting it out to your follows.

Thank you for reading!

PV 🤙

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Boardthreads

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

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

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

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

@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9

Here’s a revised timeline of macro-level events from The Mandibles: A Family, 2029–2047 by Lionel Shriver, reimagined in a world where Bitcoin is adopted as a widely accepted form of money, altering the original narrative’s assumptions about currency collapse and economic control. In Shriver’s original story, the failure of Bitcoin is assumed amid the dominance of the bancor and the dollar’s collapse. Here, Bitcoin’s success reshapes the economic and societal trajectory, decentralizing power and challenging state-driven outcomes.

Part One: 2029–2032

• 2029 (Early Year)\ The United States faces economic strain as the dollar weakens against global shifts. However, Bitcoin, having gained traction emerges as a viable alternative. Unlike the original timeline, the bancor—a supranational currency backed by a coalition of nations—struggles to gain footing as Bitcoin’s decentralized adoption grows among individuals and businesses worldwide, undermining both the dollar and the bancor.

• 2029 (Mid-Year: The Great Renunciation)\ Treasury bonds lose value, and the government bans Bitcoin, labeling it a threat to sovereignty (mirroring the original bancor ban). However, a Bitcoin ban proves unenforceable—its decentralized nature thwarts confiscation efforts, unlike gold in the original story. Hyperinflation hits the dollar as the U.S. prints money, but Bitcoin’s fixed supply shields adopters from currency devaluation, creating a dual-economy split: dollar users suffer, while Bitcoin users thrive.

• 2029 (Late Year)\ Dollar-based inflation soars, emptying stores of goods priced in fiat currency. Meanwhile, Bitcoin transactions flourish in underground and online markets, stabilizing trade for those plugged into the bitcoin ecosystem. Traditional supply chains falter, but peer-to-peer Bitcoin networks enable local and international exchange, reducing scarcity for early adopters. The government’s gold confiscation fails to bolster the dollar, as Bitcoin’s rise renders gold less relevant.

• 2030–2031\ Crime spikes in dollar-dependent urban areas, but Bitcoin-friendly regions see less chaos, as digital wallets and smart contracts facilitate secure trade. The U.S. government doubles down on surveillance to crack down on bitcoin use. A cultural divide deepens: centralized authority weakens in Bitcoin-adopting communities, while dollar zones descend into lawlessness.

• 2032\ By this point, Bitcoin is de facto legal tender in parts of the U.S. and globally, especially in tech-savvy or libertarian-leaning regions. The federal government’s grip slips as tax collection in dollars plummets—Bitcoin’s traceability is low, and citizens evade fiat-based levies. Rural and urban Bitcoin hubs emerge, while the dollar economy remains fractured.

Time Jump: 2032–2047

• Over 15 years, Bitcoin solidifies as a global reserve currency, eroding centralized control. The U.S. government adapts, grudgingly integrating bitcoin into policy, though regional autonomy grows as Bitcoin empowers local economies.

Part Two: 2047

• 2047 (Early Year)\ The U.S. is a hybrid state: Bitcoin is legal tender alongside a diminished dollar. Taxes are lower, collected in BTC, reducing federal overreach. Bitcoin’s adoption has decentralized power nationwide. The bancor has faded, unable to compete with Bitcoin’s grassroots momentum.

• 2047 (Mid-Year)\ Travel and trade flow freely in Bitcoin zones, with no restrictive checkpoints. The dollar economy lingers in poorer areas, marked by decay, but Bitcoin’s dominance lifts overall prosperity, as its deflationary nature incentivizes saving and investment over consumption. Global supply chains rebound, powered by bitcoin enabled efficiency.

• 2047 (Late Year)\ The U.S. is a patchwork of semi-autonomous zones, united by Bitcoin’s universal acceptance rather than federal control. Resource scarcity persists due to past disruptions, but economic stability is higher than in Shriver’s original dystopia—Bitcoin’s success prevents the authoritarian slide, fostering a freer, if imperfect, society.

Key Differences

• Currency Dynamics: Bitcoin’s triumph prevents the bancor’s dominance and mitigates hyperinflation’s worst effects, offering a lifeline outside state control.
• Government Power: Centralized authority weakens as Bitcoin evades bans and taxation, shifting power to individuals and communities.
• Societal Outcome: Instead of a surveillance state, 2047 sees a decentralized, bitcoin driven world—less oppressive, though still stratified between Bitcoin haves and have-nots.

This reimagining assumes Bitcoin overcomes Shriver’s implied skepticism to become a robust, adopted currency by 2029, fundamentally altering the novel’s bleak trajectory.

@ 5c8a5765:4fc5edee

[Читать в IPFS]

Итак, детки-котлетки, сегодня мы поговорим, как ~~не~~правильно распространять агиацию. Возьмите свои любимые антифашистские стикеры и используйте этот текст как инструкцию к ним — иначе у меня голова лопнет от того, что я вижу на улицах.

Агитация

Для начала определитесь, чем вы занимаетесь: агитируете к чему-то или поддерживаете чего-то, потому что это предполагает совершенно разные подходы. Агитацией может быть призыв к анархизму, классовой борьбе, неуплате налогов, гендерному равенству и т.д. Поддержкой может быть поддержка анархической борьбы, антифашистский идей и т.д. Первое — "вербует"/приманивает новых людей к идее, второе поддерживает только тех, кто уже знаком с идеей и уже с ней согласен.

Как должна выглядеть агитация? Представьте, что некий неонацист решил за-агитировать вас в неонацизм (с учетом, что сейчас вы его не поддерживаете): в каком случае у него больше всего на это шансов? Если вы заметите на мусорном баке наклейку "бей жыдоф"? Или если вам, например, выдадут в руки грамотный агитационный текст? Поставьте себя на место читающего: агитация должна выглядеть именно так, как мог бы выглядеть материал, который хоть немного мог бы поменять ваши текущие взгляды. А именно...

1. Агитация доступна

Она не висит на задней стороне мусорки. Она не нарисована на заброшке. Обыватель не рассматривает мусорки и не ходит по заброшкам. Чтобы масса увидела вашу агитацию, она должна висеть в заметном месте.

Ещё лучше, если она висит там, где человек по внешним причинам на мгновение задерживается, и имеет время проглядеть вашу агитацию: ибо обыватель никогда не остановится у столба посреди длинной тропы, чтобы прочесть стикер.

И учтите: если место, которое вы выбрали, уже забито стикерами, вашему придётся делить привлеченное внимание с каждым остальным.

К доступности стоит также отнести то, что агитация более значительна, если она написана на самом популярном в вашей стране языке, развешивается в разных локациях (чтобы люди разного класса могли её увидеть), если вы развешиваете в туалетах — то туалетах разного гендера (и не забывайте про инвалидные кабинки!), так далее.

Лучшие места для стикеров: лифт, автобусная остановка, метро, поручен эскалатора, внешняя сторона дверцы туалета, чистое (не разрисованное или расклеенное) зеркало.

Лучшие места для крупных агитационных листов или графитти: указанные выше, а также — заметные места подъездов,

Лучшие места для "визиток"*: оставлять под задницей на выходе из автобуса, метро, маршрутки, на стульях, скамейках и т.д.

*"Визитка" — это са-а-амый простой метод агитации: выводите нужный текст или картинки мелкими блоками на листе А4, нарезаете бумагу на кусочки "визиток" с небольшим текстом, картинкой или ссылкой, и оставляете где попало.

2. Агитация запоминается

Если вы не неонацист, какие эмоции в вас побуждает "бей жыдоф"? Вы возжелали стать неонацистом? Или это только укрепило ваши антифашистские взгляды? Или это для вас вообще никак не прозвучало?

Также для ваших противников и обывателей звучат ваши "ешь богатых!", "классовая борьба сегодня!!", "доёш онархию!!!". Это — поддержка. Уже-анархисты будут рады увидеть, что в городе есть левые активисты кроме них самих. Но это никого не переубедит и не привлечет.

А агитация привлекает. Агитация задаёт острые вопросы, которые остаются в голове. Агитация манит предложениями нового. Агитация нестереотипно предлагает.

Примеры хорошей агитации:

"Если большинство проголосует за то, чтобы ты спрыгнул(а) с вмоста, ты бы сделал(а) это? / - Может быть — если это было честным голосованием!"

"Этот телефон прослушивается - согласно законодательству США, телефонные разговоры прослушиваются без ордера или уведомленияю"

"Вы под наблюдением — текст, объясняющий тезис, и ссылка, где можно прочесть об этом подробнее."

Примеры никудышной агитации (но хорошей поддержки):

3. Агитация даёт возможность изучить больше

Хорошее правило для любой агитации: иметь ссылку на сайт, где можно найти больше информации о том, к чему агитируется. Это не обязательное, но рекомендуемое правило, ибо мало толку от человека, согласившегося с идеей анархизма и захотевшего (редчайший случай!) самостоятельно изучить больше, но не имевшего к этому простой возможности и забывшего вследствие обо всей идее.

Поддержка

А вот поддержка — ориентированная на тех, кто уже знает и уже поддерживает то, что вы любите — может быть совершенно любой. Поддержать антифашистов своего города, позлить фашистов и остаться совершенно незамеченными для обывателя — самое место для диалектики "бей жыдоф!" и "доёш онтифошизм!!".

Напоминание о безопасности

Несколько базовых напоминаний о том, что нужно помнить во время агитации:

• ОСТЕРЕГАЙТЕСЬ КАМЕР! Особенно в России! Метро, маршрутки, автобусы, учебные заведения полны ими!
• Если вас заметили гестаповцы, лучшее, что вы можете сделать — это бежать, что есть мочи.
• Шифруйте материалы, которые храните для распечаток.
• Не распечатывайте стикеры/"визитки" в публичных местах (вроде библиотек).

Спасибо за прочтение!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

bolt12 problems

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

bolt12 limitations

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

bolt12 illusions

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

@ 4898fe02:4ae46cb0

Meetup Registration Details

BTW--Support The SN Weekly Zine https://stacker.news/items/928207/r/unschooled

📹 Edward Griffin, Trace Mayer and Max Wright Talks About Money And Bitcoin (2014):

https://stacker.news/items/922445/r/unschooled - In this video, Trace Myer and Edward Griffin answer some key questions such as, what is bitcoin and what problems does it solve. Myer is a bitcoiner OG and Griffin authored the highly esteemed work, The Creature from Jekyll Island, which goes into gruesome detail about the origins of the Federal Reserve Banking System. Both of them are very knowledgeable. The whole interview is worth a watch.

📹 Bitcoin: Global Utility w/ Alex Gladstein:

https://stacker.news/items/633438/r/unschooled - A talk delivered at Bitcoin 2024, given by HRF Chief Strategy Officer of the Human Rights Foundation (HRF), exploring "how Bitcoin is transforming commerce, promoting freedom, and revolutionizing our approach to energy consumption worldwide. From empowering the unbanked to saving wasted energy, learn about the real-world impact of this misunderstood technology."

📹 The future of energy? Brooklyn's bitcoin-heated bathhouse:

https://stacker.news/items/315998/r/unschooled - Behind the scenes of a traditional bathhouse in Brooklyn, something extraordinary is taking place: The pools, heated to 104 degrees, are not warmed by conventional means but by computers mining for bitcoin.

📚 Stranded: How Bitcoin is Saving Wasted Energy (Alex Gladstein, Bitcoin Magazine)

https://stacker.news/items/772064/r/unschooled - Here is an article written by Gladstein, again detailing how "if you aren’t mining Bitcoin, you are wasting energy."

📚 Opinion How a Bitcoin conference in Bedford changed the way I see financial freedom and human rights

https://stacker.news/items/942300/r/unschooled - A very cool editorial piece written by a journalist who attended Cheatcode 2025, a conference held in Bedford, UK, exploring how the conference changed his perspective of Bitcoin

The people on stage weren’t investors or salespeople. These weren’t blockchain bros chasing the next coin or market high. They weren’t there to get the audience to swallow the ‘orange pill’.\ These were activists who were using Bitcoin in a way not often reported. These people had everything taken from them and had needed to flee their homes to save their lives, but they had found a lifeline in digital currency.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/958945

@ 94a6a78a:0ddf320e

Nostr is a revolutionary protocol that enables decentralized, censorship-resistant communication. Unlike traditional social networks controlled by corporations, Nostr operates without central servers or gatekeepers. This openness makes it incredibly powerful—but also means its success depends entirely on users, developers, and relay operators.

If you believe in free speech, decentralization, and an open internet, there are many ways to support and strengthen the Nostr ecosystem. Whether you're a casual user, a developer, or someone looking to contribute financially, every effort helps build a more robust network.

Here’s how you can get involved and make a difference.

---

1️⃣ Use Nostr Daily

The simplest and most effective way to contribute to Nostr is by using it regularly. The more active users, the stronger and more valuable the network becomes.

✅ Post, comment, and zap (send micro-payments via Bitcoin’s Lightning Network) to keep conversations flowing.\ ✅ Engage with new users and help them understand how Nostr works.\ ✅ Try different Nostr clients like Damus, Amethyst, Snort, or Primal and provide feedback to improve the experience.

Your activity keeps the network alive and helps encourage more developers and relay operators to invest in the ecosystem.

---

2️⃣ Run Your Own Nostr Relay

Relays are the backbone of Nostr, responsible for distributing messages across the network. The more independent relays exist, the stronger and more censorship-resistant Nostr becomes.

✅ Set up your own relay to help decentralize the network further.\ ✅ Experiment with relay configurations and different performance optimizations.\ ✅ Offer public or private relay services to users looking for high-quality infrastructure.

If you're not technical, you can still support relay operators by subscribing to a paid relay or donating to open-source relay projects.

---

3️⃣ Support Paid Relays & Infrastructure

Free relays have helped Nostr grow, but they struggle with spam, slow speeds, and sustainability issues. Paid relays help fund better infrastructure, faster message delivery, and a more reliable experience.

✅ Subscribe to a paid relay to help keep it running.\ ✅ Use premium services like media hosting (e.g., Azzamo Blossom) to decentralize content storage.\ ✅ Donate to relay operators who invest in long-term infrastructure.

By funding Nostr’s decentralized backbone, you help ensure its longevity and reliability.

---

4️⃣ Zap Developers, Creators & Builders

Many people contribute to Nostr without direct financial compensation—developers who build clients, relay operators, educators, and content creators. You can support them with zaps! ⚡

✅ Find developers working on Nostr projects and send them a zap.\ ✅ Support content creators and educators who spread awareness about Nostr.\ ✅ Encourage builders by donating to open-source projects.

Micro-payments via the Lightning Network make it easy to directly support the people who make Nostr better.

---

5️⃣ Develop New Nostr Apps & Tools

If you're a developer, you can build on Nostr’s open protocol to create new apps, bots, or tools. Nostr is permissionless, meaning anyone can develop for it.

✅ Create new Nostr clients with unique features and user experiences.\ ✅ Build bots or automation tools that improve engagement and usability.\ ✅ Experiment with decentralized identity, authentication, and encryption to make Nostr even stronger.

With no corporate gatekeepers, your projects can help shape the future of decentralized social media.

---

6️⃣ Promote & Educate Others About Nostr

Adoption grows when more people understand and use Nostr. You can help by spreading awareness and creating educational content.

✅ Write blogs, guides, and tutorials explaining how to use Nostr.\ ✅ Make videos or social media posts introducing new users to the protocol.\ ✅ Host discussions, Twitter Spaces, or workshops to onboard more people.

The more people understand and trust Nostr, the stronger the ecosystem becomes.

---

7️⃣ Support Open-Source Nostr Projects

Many Nostr tools and clients are built by volunteers, and open-source projects thrive on community support.

✅ Contribute code to existing Nostr projects on GitHub.\ ✅ Report bugs and suggest features to improve Nostr clients.\ ✅ Donate to developers who keep Nostr free and open for everyone.

If you're not a developer, you can still help with testing, translations, and documentation to make projects more accessible.

---

🚀 Every Contribution Strengthens Nostr

Whether you:

✔️ Post and engage daily\ ✔️ Zap creators and developers\ ✔️ Run or support relays\ ✔️ Build new apps and tools\ ✔️ Educate and onboard new users

Every action helps make Nostr more resilient, decentralized, and unstoppable.

Nostr isn’t just another social network—it’s a movement toward a free and open internet. If you believe in digital freedom, privacy, and decentralization, now is the time to get involved.

@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b

Originalni tekst na dvadesetjedan.com.

Autor: Gigi / Prevod na srpski: Plumsky

---

Postoji sveto carstvo privatnosti za svakog čoveka gde on bira i pravi odluke – carstvo stvoreno na bazičnim pravima i slobode koje zakon, generalno, ne sme narušavati. Džefri Fišer, Arhiepiskop Canterberija (1959)

Pre ne toliko dugo, uobičajen režim interneta je bio neenkriptovan običan tekst (plain text). Svi su mogli špiunirati svakoga i mnogi nisu o tome ni razmišljali. Globalno obelodanjivanje nadzora 2013. je to promenilo i danas se koriste mnogo bezbedniji protokoli i end-to-end enkripcija postaje standard sve više. Iako bitcoin postaje tinejdžer, mi smo – metaforično govoreći – i dalje u dobu običnog teksta narandžastog novčića. Bitcoin je radikalno providljiv protokol sam po sebi, ali postoje značajni načini da korisnik zaštiti svoju privatnost. U ovom članku želimo da istaknemo neke od ovih strategija, prodiskutujemo najbolje prakse, i damo preporuke koje mogu primeniti i bitcoin novajlije i veterani.

Zašto je privatnost bitna

Privatnost je potrebna da bi otvoreno društvo moglo da funkcioniše u digitalnoj eri. Privatnost nije isto što i tajanstvenost. Privatna stvar je nešto što neko ne želi da ceo svet zna, a tajna stvar je nešto što neko ne želi bilo ko da zna. Privatnost je moć da se čovek selektivno otkriva svom okruženju.

Ovim snažnim rečima Erik Hjus je započeo svoj tekst Sajferpankov Manifesto (Cypherpunk's Manifesto) 1993. Razlika između privatnosti i tajanstvenosti je suptilna ali jako važna. Odlučiti se za privatnost ne znači da neko ima tajne koje želi sakriti. Da ovo ilustrujemo shvatite samo da ono što obavljate u svom toaletu ili u spavaćoj sobi nije niti ilegalno niti tajna (u mnogim slučajevima), ali vi svejedno odlučujete da zatvorite vrata i navučete zavese.

Slično tome, koliko para imate i gde ih trošite nije naručito tajna stvar. Ipak, to bi trebalo biti privatan slučaj. Mnogi bi se složili da vaš šef ne treba da zna gde vi trošite vašu platu. Privatnosti je čak zaštićena od strane mnogobrojnih internacionalnih nadležnih organa. Iz Američke Deklaracije Prava i Dužnosti Čoveka (American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man) Ujedinjenim Nacijama, napisano je da je privatnost fundamentalno prava gradjana širom sveta.

Niko ne sme biti podvrgnut smetnjama njegovoj privatnosti, porodici, rezidenciji ili komunikacijama, niti napadnuta njegova čast i reputacija. Svi imaju pravo da se štite zakonom protiv takvih smetnja ili napada. Artikal 12, Deklaracija Ljudskih Prava Ujedinjenih Nacija

Bitcoin i privatnost

Iako je bitcoin često opisivan kao anoniman način plaćanja medijima, on u stvari poseduje potpuno suprotne osobine. On je poluanoniman u najboljem slučaju i danas mnogima nije ni malo lako primeniti taktike da bi bili sigurni da njihov poluanonimni identitet na bitcoin mreži ne bude povezan sa legalnim identitetom u stvarnom svetu.

Bitcoin je otvoren sistem. On je javna baza podataka koju svako može da proučava i analizira. Znači, svaka transakcija koja je upisana u tu bazu kroz dokaz rada (proof-of-work) postojaće i biće otkrivena dokle god bitcoin postoji, što znači - zauvek. Ne primenjivati najbolje prakse privatnosti može imati štetne posledice u dalekoj budućnosti.

Privatnost, kao sigurnost, je proces koji je težak, ali nije nemoguć. Alatke nastavljaju da se razvijaju koje čuvaju privatnost kad se koristi bitcoin and srećom mnoge od tih alatki su sve lakše za korišćenje. Nažalost ne postoji panacea u ovom pristupu. Mora se biti svesan svih kompromisa i usavršavati te prakse dok se one menjaju.

Najbolje prakse privatnosti

Kao i sve u bitcoinu, kontrola privatnosti je postepena, korak po korak, procedura. Naučiti i primeniti ove najbolje prakse zahteva strpljivost i odgovornost, tako da ne budite obeshrabreni ako vam se čini da je to sve previše. Svaki korak, koliko god bio mali, je korak u dobrom pravcu.

Koje korake preduzeti da bi uvećali svoju privatnost:

• Budite u vlasništvu sami svojih novčića
• Nikad ne ponavljajte korišćenje istih adresa
• Minimizirajte korišćenje servisa koji zahtevaju identitet (Know your customer - KYC)
• Minimizirajte sve izloženosti trećim licima
• Upravljajte svojim nodom
• Koristite Lightning mrežu za male transakcije
• Nemojte koristiti javne blok pretraživače za svoje transakcije
• Koristite metodu CoinJoin često i rano pri nabavljanju svojih novčića

Budite u vlasništvu sami svojih novčića: Ako ključevi nisu tvoji, onda nije ni bitcoin. Ako neko drugo drži vaš bitcoin za vas, oni znaju sve što se može znati: količinu, istoriju transakcija pa i sve buduće transakcije, itd. Preuzimanje vlasništva bitcoina u svoje ruke je prvi i najvažniji korak.

Nikad ne kroistite istu adresu dvaput: Ponavljanje adresa poništava privatnost pošiljalca i primaoca bitcoina. Ovo se treba izbegavati pod svaku cenu.

Minimizirajte korišćenje servisa koji zahtevaju identitet (KYC): Vezivati svoj legalni identitet za svoje bitcoin adrese je zlo koje se zahteva od strane mnogih državnih nadležnosti. Dok je efektivnost ovih zakona i regulacija disputabilno, posledice njihovog primenjivanja su uglavnom štetne po korisnicima. Ovo je očigledno pošto je česta pojava da se te informacije često izlivaju iz slabo obezbeđenih digitalnih servera. Ako izaberete da koristite KYC servise da bi nabavljali bitcoin, proučite i razumite odnos između vas i tog biznisa. Vi ste poverljivi tom biznisu za sve vaše lične podatke, pa i buduće obezbeđenje tih podataka. Ako i dalje zarađujete kroz fiat novčani sistem, mi preporučujemo da koristite samo bitcoin ekskluzivne servise koji vam dozvoljavaju da autamatski kupujete bitcoin s vremena na vreme. Ako zelite da potpuno da izbegnete KYC, pregledajte https://bitcoinqna.github.io/noKYConly/.

Minimizirajte sve izloženosti trećim licima: Poverljivost trećim licima je bezbednosna rupa (https://nakamotoinstitute.org/trusted-third-parties/). Ako možete biti poverljivi samo sebi, onda bi to tako trebalo da bude.

Upravljajte svojim nodom: Ako nod nije tvoj, onda nisu ni pravila. Upravljanje svojim nodom je suštinska potreba da bi se bitcoin koristio na privatan način. Svaka interakcija sa bitcoin mrežom je posrednjena nodom. Ako vi taj nod ne upravljate, čiji god nod koristite može da vidi sve što vi radite. Ova upustva (https://bitcoiner.guide/node/) su jako korisna da bi započeli proces korišćenja svog noda.

Koristite Lightning mrežu za male transakcije: Pošto Lightning protokol ne koristi glavnu bitcoin mrežu za trasakcije onda je i samim tim povećana privatnost korišćenja bez dodatnog truda. Iako je i dalje rano, oni apsolutno bezobzirni periodi Lightning mreže su verovatno daleko iza nas. Korišćenje Lightning-a za transakcije malih i srednjih veličina će vam pomoći da uvećate privatnost a da smanjite naplate svojih pojedinačnih bitcoin transakcija.

Nemojte koristiti javne blok pretraživače za svoje transakcije: Proveravanje adresa na javnim blok pretraživačima povezuje te adrese sa vašim IP podacima, koji se onda mogu koristiti da se otkrije vaš identitet. Softveri kao Umbrel i myNode vam omogućavaju da lako koristite sami svoj blok pretraživač. Ako morate koristiti javne pretraživače, uradite to uz VPN ili Tor.

Koristite CoinJoin često i rano pri nabavljanju svojih novčića: Pošto je bitcoin večan, primenjivanje saradničkih CoinJoin praksa će vam obezbediti privatnost u budućnosti. Dok su CoinJoin transakcije svakovrsne, softveri koji su laki za korišćenje već sad postoje koji mogu automatizovati ovu vrstu transakcija. Samourai Whirlpool (https://samouraiwallet.com/whirlpool) je odličan izbor za Android korisnike. Joinmarket (https://github.com/joinmarket-webui/jam) se može koristiti na vašem nodu. A servisi postoje koji pri snabdevanju vašeg bitcoina istog trenutka obave CoinJoin tranzakciju automatski.

Zaključak

Svi bi trebalo da se potrude da koriste bitcoin na što privatniji način. Privatnost nije isto što i tajanstvenost. Privatnost je ljudsko pravo i mi svi trebamo da branimo i primenljujemo to pravo. Teško je izbrisati postojeće informacije sa interneta; a izbrisati ih sa bitcoin baze podataka je nemoguće. Iako su daleko od savršenih, alatke postoje danas koje vam omogućavaju da najbolje prakse privatnosti i vi sami primenite. Mi smo vam naglasili neke od njih i - kroz poboljšanje u bitcoin protokolu kroz Taproot i Schnorr - one će postajati sve usavršenije.

Bitcoin postupci se ne mogu lako opisati korišćenjem tradicionalnim konceptima. Pitanja kao što su "Ko je vlasnik ovog novca?" ili "Odakle taj novac potiče?" postaju sve teža da se odgovore a u nekim okolnostima postaju potpuno beznačajna.

Satoši je dizajnirao bitcoin misleći na privatnost. Na nivou protokola svaka bitcoin transakcija je proces "topljenja" koji za sobom samo ostavlja heuristične mrvice hleba. Protokolu nije bitno odakle se pojavio bilo koji bitcoin ili satoši. Niti je njega briga ko je legalan identitet vlasnika. Protokolu je samo važno da li su digitalni potpisi validni. Dokle god je govor slobodan, potpisivanje poruka - privatno ili ne - ne sme biti kriminalan postupak.

Dodatni Resursi

This Month in Bitcoin Privacy | Janine

Hodl Privacy FAQ | 6102

Digital Privacy | 6102

UseWhirlpool.com | Bitcoin Q+A

Bitcoin Privacy Guide | Bitcoin Q+A

Ovaj članak napisan je u saradnji sa Matt Odellom, nezavisnim bitcoin istraživačem. Nađite njegove preporuke za privatnost na werunbtc.com

Originalni tekst

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The Lightning Network solves the problem of the decentralized commit

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

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

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

Differences (or 1 upside and 3 downside)

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

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

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

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

Solutions

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

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

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

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

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

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

"Malcolm Forbes recounts that a lady, wearing a faded cotton dress, and her husband, dressed in an old handmade suit, stepped off a train in Boston, USA, and timidly made their way to the office of the president of Harvard University. They had come from Palo Alto, California, and had not scheduled an appointment. The secretary, at a glance, thought that those two, looking like country bumpkins, had no business at Harvard.
— We want to speak with the president — the man said in a low voice.
— He will be busy all day — the secretary replied curtly.
— We will wait.
The secretary ignored them for hours, hoping the couple would finally give up and leave. But they stayed there, and the secretary, somewhat frustrated, decided to bother the president, although she hated doing that.
— If you speak with them for just a few minutes, maybe they will decide to go away — she said.
The president sighed in irritation but agreed. Someone of his importance did not have time to meet people like that, but he hated faded dresses and tattered suits in his office. With a stern face, he went to the couple.
— We had a son who studied at Harvard for a year — the woman said. — He loved Harvard and was very happy here, but a year ago he died in an accident, and we would like to erect a monument in his honor somewhere on campus.

— My lady — said the president rudely —, we cannot erect a statue for every person who studied at Harvard and died; if we did, this place would look like a cemetery.

— Oh, no — the lady quickly replied. — We do not want to erect a statue. We would like to donate a building to Harvard.

The president looked at the woman's faded dress and her husband's old suit and exclaimed:

— A building! Do you have even the faintest idea of how much a building costs? We have more than seven and a half million dollars' worth of buildings here at Harvard.

The lady was silent for a moment, then said to her husband:

— If that’s all it costs to found a university, why don’t we have our own?

The husband agreed.

The couple, Leland Stanford, stood up and left, leaving the president confused. Traveling back to Palo Alto, California, they established there Stanford University, the second-largest in the world, in honor of their son, a former Harvard student."

Text extracted from: "Mileumlivros - Stories that Teach Values."

Thank you for reading, my friend! If this message helped you in any way, consider leaving your glass “🥃” as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ bc52210b:20bfc6de

When writing safety critical code, every arithmetic operation carries the potential for catastrophic failure—whether that’s a plane crash in aerospace engineering or a massive financial loss in a smart contract.

The stakes are incredibly high, and errors are not just bugs; they’re disasters waiting to happen. Smart contract developers need to shift their mindset: less like web developers, who might prioritize speed and iteration, and more like aerospace engineers, where precision, caution, and meticulous attention to detail are non-negotiable.

In practice, this means treating every line of code as a critical component, adopting rigorous testing, and anticipating worst-case scenarios—just as an aerospace engineer would ensure a system can withstand extreme conditions.

Safety critical code demands aerospace-level precision, and smart contract developers must rise to that standard to protect against the severe consequences of failure.

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Es gibt Taubenzüchter-Vereine, Schrebergarten-Vereine, nichts dagegen einzuwenden und eben auch den Bundespressekonferenz-Verein.

Voraussetzung für eine Mitgliedschaft ist das hauptberufliche Berichten über Bundespolitik, für deutsche Medien, aus Berlin und Bonn.

Wie es sich für einen ordentlichen Verein gehört, finanziert er sich aus den Mitgliederbeiträgen. Derzeit gibt es ca. 900 Parlamentskorrespondenten, die dem Verein angehören.

Bei der Chance um Aufnahme in den Verein, kann systemkonforme Berichterstattung unter Umständen hilfreich sein. Kritische Fragen, warum denn die Hecke nur 1,10 Meter hoch sein darf, hört man nicht so gerne. Das kann schon mal unangenehme Folgen haben, wie man an dem Verzicht auf Boris Reitschuster erkennen konnte. Da Florian Warwegs Garten auf der Nachdenkseite etwas außerhalb, fast auf der Grenze liegt, musste er sich in den Verein hineinklagen.

Wie es sich für einen ordentlichen Verein gehört, organisiert man einmal im Jahr ein Schrebergartenfest, das heißt beim BPK-Verein Bundespresseball. Für diese jährliche Sause wurde eigens die Bundespresseball GmbH gegründet, dessen alleiniger Gesellschafter die BPK ist. Eine GmbH wurde sicher nur deshalb gegründet, um die Haftung beim Eingehen von Verträgen zu beschränken. Mögliche Gewinne sind wohl eher ein Abfallprodukt. Hier könnte man näher nachschauen, auf welcher Müllhalde die landen.

Dem Beispiel folgend sollte der Schrebergarten-Verein eine Lampion GmbH und der Taubenzüchter-Verein eine Gurr-Gurr GmbH gründen.

Auf dem Bundespresseball feiert man sich selbst, um seiner selbst willen. Und man geht einer traditionellen Handwerkskunst nach, dem Knüpfen. Das Küren, wer die schönste Taube oder die dicksten Kartoffeln im Garten hat, ist nicht bekannt.

Erfahrung durch die Organisation von Show-Einlagen auf dem Bundespresseball kommen der Bundespressekonferenz sehr zugute.

Die deutsche Bundespolitik glänzt derzeit mit einem ungeheuren Optimierungspotenzial. Florian Warweg lässt mit seinen, leider oft lästigen Fragen, gerne auch einmal Friedenstäubchen fliegen, die in den heiligen Hallen gar nicht gerne gesehen werden, schon gar nicht, wenn sie … Federn lassen.

Auch werden leider regelmäßig giftige Äpfelchen gereicht, in die man gar nicht gerne hineinbeißen möchte.

Das Ergebnis sind dann eigentlich immer Aussagen, die an Durchhalteparolen kurz vor dem Untergang erinnern möchten: Wir haben die schönsten Gärten in Berlin und Bonn, alles ist gepflegt, es gibt nicht den geringsten Grund zur Kritik. Unsere Täubchen haben keine Milben, sie fliegen vom Zentrum der deutschen Macht in alle Welt und verbreiten mit ihren Flügelschlägen nur den sanften Wind von Unseredemokratie. Diese Friedenstäubchen haben außerdem noch nie jemandem auf den Kopf gekackt.

Der Architekt des Vereinssaals könnte einmal Richter gewesen sein, denn architektonisch gleicht der Aufbau der Verkündigungsstätte einem Gericht. Oben, an einem langen Pult, sitzen majestätisch die Vereinssprecher, manche sogar in schicken Uniformen, und schauen auf die tiefer sitzenden Fragenden herab, während sie geruhen, Antworten zu geben. Mit oft versteinerter Miene eröffnen sie dem interessierten Zuhörer Verlautbarungen, die man fälschlicherweise auch als Absonderung von Textbausteinen empfinden könnte, wenn man nicht ein geschultes Ohr für Pressesprech hätte. Besonders gut gelingt auch oft der starre Blick beim antworten auf denjenigen, der vielleicht die falsche Frage gestellt hat. Da wird einem ganz anders und auch sehr deutlich, wer hier Herr über die Wahrheit ist.

Manchmal kommt es dann aber doch vor, dass die Augen blinzeln, oder ein Zucken an den Mundwinkeln zu sehen ist, was aber nur auf die Nachwehen des letzten Bundespresseballs zurückzuführen ist.

Die Phantasie in den Begründungen der politischen Entscheidungen scheint grenzenlos zu sein. Wer einmal genau studieren möchte, wie man es anstellt, dass Fragen und Antworten ganz bestimmt nicht zusammenpassen, dem sei das regelmäßige Verfolgen dieser Show sehr zu empfehlen.

Hier nur eine kleine Kostprobe:

24.04.2025: Regierungssprecher Hebestreit nennt internationale Berichte über gefährdete Meinungsfreiheit in Deutschland „abstrus“

https://youtu.be/8in7xKhgY5k

oder ganz:

https://www.nachdenkseiten.de/?p=132051

Recht hat er, der über alle Maße bewunderte, sehr gut ausgebildete und redegewandte Herr Hebestreit. Schließlich hat das Wahrheitsministerium sorgfältig recherchiert und die internationalen Berichte sind eindeutig auf eine Wahrnehmungsstörung der ausländischen Berichterstatter zurückzuführen. Bei uns ist nämlich alles in Ordnung, in bester Ordnung! Das war immer so, das bleibt auch so, und daran wird sich auch in Zukunft nichts ändern.

Im unwahrscheinlichen Falle der Verlosung einer Mitgliedschaft auf einem der nächsten Bundespressebälle sollte der Gewinner des Hauptpreises dem Beispiel von dem sehr geschätzten Herrn Reich-Ranicki folgen.

Alternative zur Vereins-Schau, wenn schon die Realität eh keine Rolle spielt: „Jim Knopf und Lukas der Lokomotiv-Führer“. Oder besser nicht? Ist ja nicht woke, obwohl da ein junger, reizender Afrikaner mit einer aparten Asiatin anbandelt.

Und die Bahn spielt auch mit. Die kann eine wichtige Rolle bei der Kriegstüchtigkeit spielen.

„Jeder sollte einmal reisen in das schöne Lummerland“:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jiMmZTl4zdY

Dieser Beitrag wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben.

(Bild von pixabay)

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Webvatar

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

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

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

See also

• jekmentions
• questo.email

@ bbef5093:71228592

A trícium érdekességei

A trícium a hidrogén lenyűgöző radioaktív formája, amely háromszor nehezebb, mint a közönséges hidrogén, és egy protont, valamint két neutront tartalmaz az atommagjában. Ernest Rutherford és csapata 1934-ben fedezte fel, és 12,32 éves felezési idővel rendelkezik.

Főbb alkalmazási területek

Világítástechnika A tríciumot önvilágító eszközökben használják energiaforrásként, például órák kijelzőiben és vészkijárati táblákban, ahol foszforokat aktivál, hogy folyamatos fényt bocsásson ki elektromos áram nélkül.

Tudományos kutatás A tudósok radioaktív nyomjelzőként használják orvosi kutatásokban és gyógyszerfejlesztésben, kihasználva azt a tulajdonságát, hogy kémiai reakciókban úgy viselkedik, mint a normál hidrogén. Kiemelkedő szerepet játszik a felszín alatti vizek kormeghatározásában is. Az 50 évnél fiatalabb vizek esetében a trícium-koncentráció mérése megbízható módszer, mivel az 1953-63 közötti magaslégköri nukleáris kísérletek egyedi "időbélyeget" hagytak a csapadékvizekben.

Vízföldtani alkalmazások

Vízbázisok védelme A trícium-vizsgálatok kiválóan alkalmasak a felszín alatti vízbázisok védettségének és a felszíni vizek elérési idejének meghatározására. A trícium ideális víznyomjelző, mivel beépül a vízmolekulába (HTO formában), és tökéletesen követi a víz mozgását.

Nukleáris létesítmények monitorozása A talajvíz trícium-tartalmának rendszeres megfigyelése kulcsfontosságú a nukleáris létesítmények környezetében, mivel segít azonosítani az esetleges szivárgásokat és a radioaktív anyagok terjedését a felszín alatti vizekben.

Nukleáris alkalmazások Az izotóp kulcsszerepet játszik a nukleáris fúzióban mint üzemanyag a tokamak reaktorokban, és "erősítőként" szolgál a nukleáris fegyverekben.

Biztonsági profil Bár radioaktív, a trícium csak alacsony energiájú béta-sugárzást bocsát ki, amely nem képes áthatolni az emberi bőrön. Természetes körülmények között nyomokban megtalálható a légkörben, ahol kozmikus sugárzás hatására keletkezik.

Tritium, the ideal tracer

Interesting Facts About Tritium

Tritium is a fascinating radioactive form of hydrogen that's three times heavier than regular hydrogen, containing one proton and two neutrons in its nucleus. It was first discovered by Ernest Rutherford and his team in 1934 and has a half-life of 12.32 years.

Main Applications

Illumination Technology Tritium is used as an energy source in self-illuminating devices, such as watch displays and exit signs, where it activates phosphors to create continuous light without electrical power.

Scientific Research Scientists use tritium as a radioactive tracer in medical research and pharmaceutical development, taking advantage of its ability to behave like normal hydrogen in chemical reactions. It also plays a crucial role in dating groundwater. For waters less than 50 years old, measuring tritium concentration is a reliable method, as atmospheric nuclear tests between 1953-63 left a unique "timestamp" in precipitation.

Hydrogeological Applications

Protection of Water Resources Tritium studies are excellent for determining the protection status of underground water resources and the arrival time of surface waters. Tritium is an ideal water tracer as it incorporates into water molecules (as HTO) and perfectly follows water movement.

Monitoring Nuclear Facilities Regular monitoring of groundwater tritium content is crucial around nuclear facilities, as it helps identify potential leaks and the spread of radioactive materials in groundwater.

Nuclear Applications The isotope plays a key role in nuclear fusion as fuel in tokamak reactors and serves as a "booster" in nuclear weapons.

Safety Profile Although radioactive, tritium only emits low-energy beta radiation that cannot penetrate human skin. It naturally occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, formed by cosmic ray interactions.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

President Trump has intensified immigration enforcement, likening it to a wartime effort. Despite pouring resources into the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arrest numbers are declining and falling short of goals. ICE fell from about 800 daily arrests in late January to fewer than 600 in early February.

Critics argue the administration is merely showcasing efforts with ineffectiveness, while Trump seeks billions more in funding to support his deportation agenda. Increased involvement from various federal agencies is intended to assist ICE, but many lack specific immigration training.

Challenges persist, as fewer immigrants are available for quick deportation due to a decline in illegal crossings. Local sheriffs are also pressured by rising demands to accommodate immigrants, which may strain resources further.

@ 6ce88a1e:4cb7fe62

Ist gut für Brot.

Brot für Brüder

Fleisch für mich

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

Vice President J.D. Vance addressed the Munich Security Conference, criticizing European leaders for undermining free speech and traditional values. He claimed that the biggest threat to Europe is not from external enemies but from internal challenges. Vance condemned the arrest of a British man for praying near an abortion clinic and accused European politicians of censorship.

He urged leaders to combat illegal immigration and questioned their democratic practices. “There is a new sheriff in town,” he said, referring to President Trump. Vance's remarks were unexpected, as many anticipated discussions on security or Ukraine. His speech emphasized the need for Europe to share the defense burden to ensure stability and security.

@ 6ad08392:ea301584

In 2024, I was high as a kite on Nostr hopium and optimism. Early that year, my co-founder and I figured that we could use Nostr as a way to validate ambassadors on “Destination Bitcoin” - the germ of a travel app idea we had at the time that would turn into Satlantis. After some more digging and thinking, we realised that Nostr’s open social graph would be of major benefit, and in exploring that design space, the fuller idea of Satlantis formed: a new kind of social network for travel.

###### ^^2 slides from the original idea here

I still remember the call I had with @pablof7z in January. I was in Dubai pitching the AI idea I was working on at the time, but all I could think and talk about was Satlantis and Nostr.

That conversation made me bullish AF. I came back from the trip convinced we’d struck gold. I pivoted the old company, re-organised the team and booked us for the Sovereign Engineering cohort in Madeira. We put together a whole product roadmap, go to market strategy and cap raise around the use of Nostr. We were going to be the ‘next big Nostr app’.

A couple of events followed in which I announced this all to the world: Bitcoin Atlantis in March and BTC Prague in June being the two main ones. The feedback was incredible. So we doubled down. After being the major financial backer for the Nostr Booth in Prague, I decided to help organise the Nostr Booth initiative and back it financially for a series of Latin American conferences in November. I was convinced this was the biggest thing since bitcoin, so much so that I spent over $50,000 in 2024 on Nostr marketing initiatives. I was certainly high on something.

Sobering up

It’s March 2025 and I’ve sobered up. I now look at Nostr through a different lens. A more pragmatic one. I see Nostr as a tool, as an entrepreneur - who’s more interested in solving a problem, than fixating on the tool(s) being used - should.

A couple things changed for me. One was the sub-standard product we released in November. I was so focused on being a Nostr evangelist that I put our product second. Coupled with the extra technical debt we took on at Satlantis by making everything Nostr native, our product was crap. We traded usability & product stability for Nostr purism & evangelism.

We built a whole suite of features using native event kinds (location kinds, calendar kinds, etc) that we thought other Nostr apps would also use and therefore be interoperable. Turns out no serious players were doing any of that, so we spent a bunch of time over-engineering for no benefit 😂

The other wake up call for me was the Twitter ban in Brazil. Being one of the largest markets for Twitter, I really thought it would have a material impact on global Nostr adoption. When basically nothing happened, I began to question things.

Combined, these experiences helped sober me up and I come down from my high. I was reading “the cold start problem” by Andrew Chen (ex-Uber) at the time and doing a deep dive on network effects. I came to the following realisation:

Nostr’s network effect is going to take WAY longer than we all anticipated initially. This is going to be a long grind. And unlike bitcoin, winning is not inevitable. Bitcoin solves a much more important problem, and it’s the ONLY option. Nostr solves an important problem yes, but it’s far from the only approach. It’s just the implementation arguably in the lead right now.

This sobering up led us to take a different approach with Nostr. We now view it as another tool in the tech-stack, no different to the use of React Native on mobile or AWS for infrastructure. Nostr is something to use if it makes the product better, or avoid if it makes the product and user experience worse. I will share more on this below, including our simple decision making framework. I’ll also present a few more potentially unpopular opinions about Nostr. Four in total actually:

1. Nostr is a tool, not a revolution
2. Nostr doesn’t solve the multiple social accounts problem
3. Nostr is not for censorship resistance
4. Grants come with a price

Let’s begin…

Nostr is a tool, not a revolution

Nostr is full of Bitcoiners, and as much as we like to think we’re immune from shiny object syndrome, we are, somewhere deep down afflicted by it like other humans. That’s normal & fine. But…while Bitcoiners have successfully suppressed this desire when it comes to shitcoins, it lies dormant, yearning for the least shitcoin-like thing to emerge which we can throw our guiltless support behind.

That thing arrived and it’s called Nostr.

As a result, we’ve come to project the same kind of purity and maximalism onto it as we do with Bitcoin, because it shares some attributes and it’s clearly not a grift.

The trouble is, in doing so, we’ve put it in the same class as Bitcoin - which is an error.

Nostr is important and in its own small way, revolutionary, but it pales in comparison to Bitcoin’s importance. Think of it this way: If Bitcoin fails, civilisation is fucked. If Nostr fails, we’ll engineer another rich-identity protocol. There is no need for the kind of immaculate conception and path dependence that was necessary for Bitcoin whose genesis and success has been a once in a civilisation event. Equivocating Nostr and Bitcoin to the degree that it has been, is a significant category error. Nostr may ‘win’ or it may just be an experiment on the path to something better. And that’s ok !

I don’t say this to piss anyone off, to piss on Nostr or to piss on myself. I say it because I’d prefer Nostr not remain a place where a few thousand people speak to each other about how cool Nostr is. That’s cute in the short term, but in the grand scheme of things, it’s a waste of a great tool that can make a significant corner of the Internet great again.

By removing the emotional charge and hopium from our relationship to Nostr, we can take a more sober, objective view of it (and hopefully use it more effectively).

Instead of making everything about Nostr (the tool), we can go back to doing what great product people and businesses do: make everything about the customer.

---

Nobody’s going around marketing their app as a “react native product” - and while I understand that’s a false equivalent in the sense that Nostr is a protocol, while react is a framework - the reality is that it DOES NOT MATTER.

For 99.9999% of the world, what matters is the hole, not the drill. Maybe 1000 people on Earth REALLY care that something is built on Nostr, but for everyone else, what matters is what the app or product does and the problem it solves. Realigning our focus in this way, and looking at not only Nostr, but also Bitcoin as a tool in the toolkit, has transformed the way we’re building.

This inspired an essay I wrote a couple weeks ago called “As Nostr as Possible”. It covers our updated approach to using and building WITH Nostr (not just ‘on’ it). You can find that here:

https://futuresocial.substack.com/p/as-nostr-as-possible-anap

If you’re too busy to read it, don’t fret. The entire theory can be summarised by the diagram below. This is how we now decide what to make Nostr-native, and what to just build on our own. And - as stated in the ANAP essay - that doesn’t mean we’ll never make certain features Nostr-native. If the argument is that Nostr is not going anywhere, then we can always come back to that feature and Nostr-fy it later when resources and protocol stability permit.

Next…

The Nostr all in one approach is not all “positive”

Having one account accessible via many different apps might not be as positive as we initially thought.

If you have one unified presence online, across all of your socials, and you’re posting the same thing everywhere, then yes - being able to post content in one place and it being broadcast everywhere, is great. There’s a reason why people literally PAY for products like Hypefury, Buffer and Hootsuite (aside from scheduling).

BUT…..This is not always the case.

I’ve spoken to hundreds of creators and many have flagged this as a bug not a feature because they tend to have a different audience on different platforms and speak to them differently depending on the platform. We all know this. How you present yourself on LinkedIn is very different to how you do it on Instagram or X.

The story of Weishu (Tencent’s version of TikTok) comes to mind here. Tencent’s WeChat login worked against them because people didn’t want their social graph following them around. Users actually wanted freedom from their existing family & friends, so they chose Douyin (Chinese TikTok) instead.

Perhaps this is more relevant to something like WeChat because the social graph following you around is more personal, but we saw something similar with Instagram and Facebook. Despite over a decade of ownership, Facebook still keeps the social graphs separated.

All this to say that while having a different strategy & approach on different social apps is annoying, it allows users to tap into different markets because each silo has its own ‘flavour’. The people who just post the same thing everywhere are low-quality content creators anyway. The ones who actually care, are using each platform differently.

The ironic part here is that this is arguably more ‘decentralised’ than the protocol approach because these siloes form a ‘marketplace of communities’ which are all somewhat different.

---

We need to find a smart way of doing this with Nostr. Some way of catering to the appropriate audience where it matters most. Perhaps this will be handled by clients, or by relays. One solution I’ve heard from people in the Nostr space is to just ‘spin up another nPub’ for your different audience. While I have no problem with people doing that - I have multiple nPubs myself - it’s clearly NOT a solution to the underlying problem here.

We’re experimenting with something. Whether it’s a good idea or not remains to be seen. Satlantis users will be able to curate their profiles and remove (hide / delete) content on our app. We’ll implement this in two stages:

Stage 1: Simple\ In the first iteration, we will not broadcast a delete request to relays. This means users can get a nicely curated profile page on Satlantis, but keep a record of their full profile elsewhere on other clients / relays.

Stage 2: More complex\ Later on, we’ll try to give people an option to “delete on Satlantis only” or “delete everywhere”. The difference here is more control for the user. Whether we get this far remains to be seen. We’ll need to experiment with the UX and see whether this is something people really want.

I’m sure neither of these solutions are ‘ideal’ - but they’re what we’re going to try until we have more time & resources to think this through more.

Next…

Nostr is not for Censorship Resistance

I’m sorry to say, but this ship has sailed. At least for now. Maybe it’s a problem again in the future, but who knows when, and if it will ever be a big enough factor anyway.

The truth is, while WE all know that Nostr is superior because it’s a protocol, people do NOT care enough. They are more interested in what’s written ON the box, not what’s necessarily inside the box. 99% of people don’t know wtf a protocol is in the first place - let alone why it matters for censorship resistance to happen at that level, or more importantly, why they should trust Nostr to deliver on that promise.

Furthermore, the few people who did care about “free speech” are now placated enough with Rumble for Video, X for short form and Substack for long form. With Meta now paying lip-service to the movement, it’s game over for this narrative - at least for the foreseeable future.

The "space in people’s minds for censorship resistance has been filled. Both the ‘censorship resistance’ and ‘free speech’ ships have sailed (even though they were fake), and the people who cared enough all boarded.

For the normies who never cared, they still don’t care - or they found their way to the anti-platforms, like Threads, BlueSky or Pornhub.

The small minority of us still here on Nostr…are well…still here. Which is great, but if the goal is to grow the network effect here and bring in more people, then we need to find a new angle. Something more compelling than “your account won’t be deleted.”

I’m not 100% sure what that is. My instinct is that a “network of interoperable applications”, that don’t necessarily or explicitly brand themselves as Nostr, but have it under the hood is the right direction. I think the open social graph and using it in novel ways is compelling. Trouble is, this needs more really well-built and novel apps for non-sovereignty minded people (especially content creators) and people who don’t necessarily care about the reasons Nostr was first built. Also requires us to move beyond just building clones of what already exists.

We’ve been trying to do this Satlantis thing for almost a year now and it’s coming along - albeit WAY slower than I would’ve liked. We’re experimenting our way into a whole new category of product. Something different to what exists today. We’ve made a whole bunch of mistakes and at times I feel like a LARP considering the state of non-delivery.

BUT…what’s on the horizon is very special, and I think that all of the pain, effort and heartache along the way will be 100% worth it. We are going to deliver a killer product that people love, that solves a whole host of travel-related problems and has Nostr under the hood (where nobody, except those who care, will know).

Grants come with a price

This one is less of an opinion and more of an observation. Not sure it really belongs in this essay, but I’ll make a small mention just as food for thought,

Grants are a double-edged sword.

I’m super grateful that OpenSats, et al, are supporting the protocol, and I don’t envy the job they have in trying to decipher what to support and what not to depending on what’s of benefit to the network versus what’s an end user product.

That being said, is the Nostr ecosystem too grant-dependent? This is not a criticism, but a question. Perhaps this is the right thing to do because of how young Nostr is. But I just can’t help but feel like there’s something a-miss.

Grants put the focus on Nostr, instead of the product or customer. Which is fine, if the work the grant covers is for Nostr protocol development or tooling. But when grants subsidise the development of end user products, it ties the builder / grant recipient to Nostr in a way that can misalign them to the customer’s needs. It’s a bit like getting a government grant to build something. Who’s the real customer??

Grants can therefore create an almost communist-like detachment from the market and false economic incentive. To reference the Nostr decision framework I showed you earlier, when you’ve been given a grant, you are focusing more on the X axis, not the Y. This is a trade-off, and all trade-offs have consequences.

Could grants be the reason Nostr is so full of hobbyists and experimental products, instead of serious products? Or is that just a function of how ambitious and early Nostr is?

I don’t know.

Nostr certainly needs better toolkits, SDKs, and infrastructure upon which app and product developers can build. I just hope the grant money finds its way there, and that it yields these tools. Otherwise app developers like us, won’t stick around and build on Nostr. We’ll swap it out with a better tool.

To be clear, this is not me pissing on Nostr or the Grantors. Jack, OpenSats and everyone who’s supported Nostr are incredible. I’m just asking the question.

Final thing I’ll leave this section with is a thought experiment: Would Nostr survive if OpenSats disappeared tomorrow?

Something to think about….

Coda

If you read this far, thank you. There’s a bunch here to digest, and like I said earlier - this not about shitting on Nostr. It is just an enquiry mixed with a little classic Svetski-Sacred-Cow-Slaying.

I want to see Nostr succeed. Not only because I think it’s good for the world, but also because I think it is the best option. Which is why we’ve invested so much in it (something I’ll cover in an upcoming article: “Why we chose to build on Nostr”). I’m firmly of the belief that this is the right toolkit for an internet-native identity and open social graph. What I’m not so sure about is the echo chamber it’s become and the cult-like relationship people have with it.

I look forward to being witch-hunted and burnt at the stake by the Nostr purists for my heresy and blaspheming. I also look forward to some productive discussions as a result of reading this.

Thankyou for your attention.

Until next time.

@ 6b3780ef:221416c8

We have been working on a significant update to the DVMCP specification to incorporate the latest Model Context Protocol (MCP) version 2025-03-26, and it's capabilities. This draft revision represents our vision for how MCP services can be discovered, accessed, and utilized across the Nostr network while maintaining compatibility between both protocols.

Expanding Beyond Tools

The first version of the DVMCP specification focused primarily on tools, functions that could be executed remotely via MCP servers. While this provided valuable functionality, the Model Context Protocol offers more capabilities than just tools. In our proposed update, DVMCP would embrace the complete MCP capabilities framework. Rather than focusing solely on tools, the specification will incorporate resources (files and data sources that can be accessed by clients) and prompts (pre-defined templates for consistent interactions). This expansion transforms DVMCP into a complete framework for service interoperability between protocols.

Moving Toward a More Modular Architecture

One of the most significant architectural changes in this draft is our move toward a more modular event structure. Previously, we embedded tools directly within server announcements using NIP-89, creating a monolithic approach that was challenging to extend.

The updated specification introduces dedicated event kinds for server announcements (31316) and separate event kinds for each capability category. Tools, resources, and prompts would each have their own event kinds (31317, 31318, and 31319 respectively). This separation improves both readability and interoperability between protocols, allowing us to support pagination for example, as described in the MCP protocol. It also enables better filtering options for clients discovering specific capabilities, allows for more efficient updates when only certain capabilities change, and enhances robustness as new capability types can be added with minimal disruption.

Technical Direction

The draft specification outlines several technical improvements worth highlighting. We've worked to ensure consistent message structures across all capability types and created a clear separation of concerns between Nostr metadata (in tags) and MCP payloads (in content). The specification includes support for both public server discovery and direct private server connections, comprehensive error handling aligned with both protocols, and detailed protocol flows for all major operations.

Enhancing Notifications

Another important improvement in our design is the redesign of the job feedback and notification system. We propose to make event kind 21316 (ephemeral). This approach provides a more efficient way to deliver status updates, progress information, and interactive elements during capability execution without burdening relays with unnecessary storage requirements.

This change would enable more dynamic interactions between clients and servers, particularly for long-running operations.

Seeking Community Feedback

We're now at a stage where community input would be highly appreciated. If you're interested in DVMCP, we'd greatly appreciate your thoughts on our approach. The complete draft specification is available for review, and we welcome your feedback through comments on our pull request at dvmcp/pull/18. Your insights and suggestions will help us refine the specification to better serve the needs of the community.

Looking Ahead

After gathering and incorporating community feedback, our next step will be updating the various DVMCP packages to implement these changes. This will include reference implementations for both servers (DVMCP-bridge) and clients (DVMCP-discovery).

We believe this proposed update represents a significant step forward for DVMCP. By embracing the full capabilities framework of MCP, we're expanding what's possible within the protocol while maintaining our commitment to open standards and interoperability.

Stay tuned for more updates as we progress through the feedback process and move toward implementation. Thank you to everyone who has contributed to the evolution of DVMCP, and we look forward to your continued involvement.