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@ 3c7dc2c5:805642a8
2025-05-24 22:05:00đ§ Quote(s) of the week:
'The Cantillon Effect: When new money is printed, those closest to the source (banks, elites) benefit first, buying assets before prices rise. Others lose purchasing power as inflation hits later. If people find out how this works, they will riot.' -Bitcoin for Freedom
Just think about it. Your employer gives you a 5% raise. The Fed (central banks in general) prints 7% more dollars/euros/Fiat. You just got a 2% pay cut. This isn't a conspiracy theory. This is how fiat money steals from the working class every single day. This is why I support Bitcoin.
Anilsaidso: 'Saving in fiat currency is no longer an option. A 2% inflation rate means you lose 1/3 of your purchasing power over 20yrs. At 5% inflation, you lose 60%. And at 10% you've burnt 85%. Reduce your uncertainty. Save in Bitcoin.' https://i.ibb.co/N661BdVp/Gr-Rwdg-OXc-AAWPVE.jpg
đ§ĄBitcoin newsđ§Ą
âEducation increases conviction.
Conviction increases allocation.
Allocation increases freedom.â âGigi
https://i.ibb.co/Q3trHk8Y/Gr-Arv-Ioa-AAAF5b0.jpg
On the 12th of May:
âĄď¸Google searches for "Digital Gold" are at all-time highs. Bitcoin Croesus: "This is the second wave of the Digital Revolution - the digitization of value to complement the Internet's digitization of information. It wasn't possible to own a slice of the Internet itself, but it is possible with Bitcoin, the internet of value." "...It feels like you're late to Bitcoin. But this is a bigger game playing out than most realize, and we are much earlier than casual observers know. If you're reading this, you're here on the frontier early. And you have a chance to stake a claim before 99% of the world shows up. This is a land grab. This is the digital gold rush. Make your descendants proud."
https://i.ibb.co/5XXbNQ8S/Gqw-X4-QRWs-AEd5-Uh-1.jpg
âĄď¸ 'A new holding company âNakamotoâ just raised $710 million to buy more Bitcoin and will merge with KindlyMD to establish a Bitcoin Treasury company. Saylor playbook!' - Bitcoin Archive
âĄď¸American Bitcoin, backed by Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, will go public via an all-stock merger with Gryphon Digital Mining. Post-merger, Trump affiliates and Hut 8 will retain 98% ownership. GRYP tripled to $2.19, Hut 8 jumped 11% to $15.45. The deal closes in Q3 2025.
âĄď¸Phoenix Wallet: 'Phoenix 0.6.0 is out: offers can now have a custom description simple close (set an exact mutual close tx fee rate) native support for Linux arm64 This is the server version. Phoenix mobile release is around the corner. '
On the 13th of May:
âĄď¸Corporate Bitcoin purchases have now outweighed the supply of new Bitcoin by 3.3x in 2025. https://i.ibb.co/fVdgQhyY/Gq1ck-XRXUAAsg-Ym.jpg
âĄď¸ Publicly listed Next Technology disclosed buying 5,000 Bitcoin for $180m, now HODLs 5,833 $BTC worth +$600m.
âĄď¸ After rejecting the Arizona Strategic Bitcoin Reserve Act, Governor Katie Hobbs vetoed Bill SB 1373, which proposed a digital asset reserve fund. "Current volatility in the cryptocurrency markets does not make a prudent fit for general fund dollars."
âĄď¸Meanwhile in Paris, France the kidnapping of a woman with her 2-year-old child morning on the streets of Paris - the target is allegedly the daughter of a crypto CEO. 3 masked men tried forcing them into a fake delivery van, before being fought off by her partner and bystanders. One of whom grabbed a dropped gun and aimed it back.
âĄď¸ 'Bitcoin illiquid supply hit a new all-time high of $1.4B Are you HODLing too, anon?' - Bitcoin News
âĄď¸Why Coinbase entering the S&P 500 matters. Boomers will have Bitcoin / CrApTo exposure, whether they like it or not. Anyway, remember what happened in 2021. The COIN IPO, and theyâre still trading about 35% below their IPO-day high. Oh and please read the 'Coinbase" hack below haha.
âĄď¸ Nasdaq listed GD Culture Group to sell up to $300 million shares to buy Bitcoin.
âĄď¸ A Bitcoin wallet untouched since April 2014 just moved 300 BTC worth $31M for the first time in 11 years. This is how you HODL.
âĄď¸ Bitcoin's realized price is steadily increasing, mirroring behaviors seen in past bull markets, according to CryptoQuant.
âĄď¸ Bitcoin whales and sharks (10-10K BTC) accumulated 83,105 BTC in the last 30 days, while small retail holders (<0.1 BTC) sold 387 BTC, according to Santiment.
Bitcoin Whales have been AGGRESSIVELY accumulating BTC recently! With at least 240,000+ Bitcoin transferred to wallets with at least 100 BTC. The largest market participants are trying to buy as much as possible, what do they think comes next...
âĄď¸'The average cost of mining 1 BTC for miners is currently $36.8K. The spread between the current market price and the cost of one coin = 182%. This is essentially the average profitability. This corresponds to the beginning of the bull cycle in November 2022 and the peaks of this cycle >$100K. A price increase above this level will allow miners to fully recover after the last halving and reach excess profits comparable to the beginning of the bull rally in January 2023.' -Axel Adler Jr.
âĄď¸ Remember last week's segment on Coinbase..."Coinbase just disclosed in their Q1 filing: that they have custody of 2.68 million Bitcoin. Thatâs over 13% of all Bitcoin in circulation, on one platform. Is this the greatest honeypot in financial history? Yes, it is...read next week's Weekly Bitcoin update."
Well, here you go.
Coinbase estimates $180-$400 million in losses, remediation costs, and reimbursement following todayâs cyber attack. https://i.ibb.co/jkysLtZ1/Gq-C7zl-W4-AAJ0-N6.jpg
Coinbase didn't get hacked. Coinbase employees sold customer data on the black market. Coinbase failed to protect customer data. This is why KYC is useless. The criminals have our driver's license scans. They have AI tools that can generate fake images and videos. KYC puts our identities at risk, makes onboarding more difficult, and rewards criminals. To make it even worse. Coinbase knew about the hack as early as January but only disclosed it publicly after being added to the S&P 500.
I will say it one more time! Don't buy your Bitcoin on KYC exchanges. KYC means handing over your identity to be leaked, sold, or extorted.
It was 2 days ago, see the bit on the 13th of May, that we saw a violent attack in Paris. Minimize the data you share with centralized tools. Store as much as you can locally. Always ask yourself what data am I giving and to whom? Remove the need for trust.
And for the love of God, Allah, or whatever god you are praying to...
DON'T LEAVE YOUR COINS ON A FREAKING EXCHANGE!!!!
Clear!
âĄď¸ Sam Callahan: Bitcoin CAGRs over rolling four-year holding periods since 2012:
10th percentile: 33%
25th percentile: 50% 40th percentile: 75%
Said differently, for 90% of the time, Bitcoinâs four-year CAGR was higher than 33%. For comparison, here are the single best four-year CAGRs over the same period for:
Gold: 17%
Silver: 20%
S&P 500: 24%
Apple: 52%
Two lessons here:
1.) Even when Bitcoin underperforms, it still outperforms.
2.) Bitcoin holding goals are best measured in halving cycles.'
https://i.ibb.co/9m6q2118/Gq1-Ie2-Ob-AAIJ8-Kf.jpg
âĄď¸ Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft has bought 96,870 Strategyâż stocks for 30 Million dollars at an Average Price Of $310 Per Share In Q1 2025, Their Total Holdings Is 518,000 Shares Worth Over 214 Million Dollars.
âĄď¸Senator Lummis urges the U.S. Treasury to eliminate taxes on unrealized gains for Bitcoin.
On the 14th of May:
âĄď¸At $168,000, Bitcoin will surpass Microsoft, the world's largest company.
âĄď¸Fidelity tells institutions to buy Bitcoin if they canât match Bitcoinâs 65% return on capital.
âĄď¸Michigan has adopted House Resolution 100, declaring May 13 2025 as "Digital Asset Awareness Day." The resolution encourages "activities and programs that foster a deeper understanding of digital assets and their impact on our society and economy."
âĄď¸Publicly traded Vinanz raises funding to buy $2 million in #Bitcoin assets.
âĄď¸Bitcoin News: "Investor Jim Chanos is shorting MicroStrategy while going long on Bitcoin, calling the stock overvalued relative to its BTC holdings. âWeâre selling MicroStrategy and buying Bitcoin, basically buying something for $1 and selling it for $2.50," he told CNBC
On the 15th of May:
âĄď¸The Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund disclosed owning $511 million in Bitcoin through BlackRockâs ETF.
âĄď¸UK public company Coinsilium Group raises ÂŁ1.25 million to adopt a Bitcoin treasury strategy.
âĄď¸Chinese Textile company Addentax issues stock to buy 8,000 Bitcoin.
âĄď¸14 US states have reported $632m in $MSTR exposure for Q1, in public retirement and treasury funds. A collective increase of $302m in one quarter. The average increase in holding size was 44%.
âĄď¸Chinese public company DDC Enterprise to adopt a Bitcoin Reserve with 5,000 BTC.
On the 16th of May:
âĄď¸Brazilian listed company MĂŠliuz buys $28.4 million Bitcoin to become the nation's first Bitcoin Treasury Company. Shareholders voted to approve the strategy by an "overwhelming majority".
âĄď¸13F Filings show Texas Retirement System owns MSTR. The day MSTR enters the S&P 500, every pension fund will follow.
âĄď¸'Wealthy Investors Shift Up to 5% into Bitcoin as confidence in fiat falters. UBS, a Swiss banking giant says Bitcoin and digital assets are becoming key hedges against inflation and systemic risk, marking a dramatic shift in modern portfolio strategy.' -CarlBMenger
âĄď¸River: "Above all, Bitcoin is money for the people." https://i.ibb.co/Jj8MVQwr/Gr-Ew-EPp-XAAA1-TVN.jpg
On the 17th of May:
âĄď¸Illicit activity is now down to 0.14% of transaction volume across all crypto.
Context: World Bank, IMF suggests 1.5â4% of global GDP is laundered yearly through traditional banking Of that 0.14%:
63% of illicit trade was stablecoins.
13% was Bitcoin (declining each year)
Source: The 2025 Crypto Crime Report, Chainalysis 2025
Yet another confirmation that Bitcoin's use in facilitating illicit activities is a rounding error on a rounding error.
On the 18th of May:
âĄď¸JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said they will allow clients to buy Bitcoin. The repeal of SAB 121 is a bigger deal than most realize. âI will fire any employee buying or trading Bitcoin for being stupidâ - Jamie Dimon (2017) https://i.ibb.co/b5tnkb15/Gr-Vxxc-OXk-AA7cyo.jpg
On the 19th of May.
âĄď¸Bookmark the following stuff from Daniel Batten if you want to combat climate change (fanatics)...
'That Bitcoin mining is not only not harmful, but beneficial to the environment is now supported by:
7 independent reports
20 peer-reviewed papers
As a result * 90% of climate-focused magazines * 87.5% of media coverage on Bitcoin & the environment is now positive * source 7 independent reports https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1922666207754281449⌠* 20 peer-reviewed papers https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1923014527651615182⌠* 10 climate-focused magazines https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1919518338092323260⌠* 16 mainstream media articles https://x.com/DSBatten/status/1922628399551434755
âĄď¸Saifedean Ammous: '5 years ago at the height of corona hysteria, everyone worried about their savings.
If you put $10,000 in "risk-free" long-term US government bonds, you'd have $6,000 today.
If you put the $10,000 in "risky speculative tulip" bitcoin, you'd have $106,000.
HFSP, bondcucks!'
I love how Saifedean always put it so eloquently. haha
âĄď¸An Australian judge rules Bitcoin is âjust another form of money.â This could make it exempt from capital gains tax. Potentially opening the door to millions in refunds across the country. - AFR
If upheld, the decision could trigger up to $1B in refunds and overturn the Australian Tax Officeâs crypto tax approach.
âĄď¸Publicly traded Vinanz buys 16.9 Bitcoin for $1.75 Million for their treasury.
âĄď¸Bitcoin just recorded its highest weekly close ever, while the Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index hit its highest level in history.
âĄď¸4 in 5 Americans want the U.S. to convert part of its gold reserves to Bitcoin. - The Nakamoto Project
"or background, the survey question was: "Assuming the United States was thinking of converting some of their gold reserves into Bitcoin, what percentage would you advise they convert?" Respondents were provided a slider used to choose between 0% and 100%. Our survey consisted of a national sample of 3,345 respondents recruited in partnership with Qualtrics, a survey and data collection company"
Context: https://x.com/thetrocro/status/1924552097565180107 https://i.ibb.co/fGDw06MC/Gr-VYDIdb-AAI7-Kxd.jpg
âĄď¸Michael Saylor's STRATEGY bought another $764.9m Bitcoin. They now HODL 576,230 Bitcoin, acquired for $40.18 billion at $69,726 per Bitcoin.
âĄď¸The German Government sold 49,858 BTC for $2.89B, at an average price of $57,900. If they had held it, their BTC would now be worth $5.24B.
âĄď¸A record 63% of all the Bitcoin that exist have not transacted or moved from their wallets this year. - Wicked
https://i.ibb.co/j9nvbvmP/Gq3-Z-x6-Xw-AAv-Bhg.jpg
đ¸Traditional Finance / Macro:
On the 12th of May:
đđ˝The S&P 500 has closed more than 20% above its April low, technically beginning a new bull market. We are now up +1,000 points in one month.
On the 13th of May:
đđ˝ Nvidia announces a partnership with Humain to build "AI factories of the future" in Saudi Arabia. Just one hour ago, Saudi Arabia signed an economic agreement with President Trump to invest $600 billion in the US.
đŚBanks:
đđ˝ No news
đMacro/Geopolitics:
On the 12th of May:
đđ˝Huge pressure is on the European Union to reach a trade deal. Equities and commodities bounce hard on news of China-US trade deal. "We have reached an agreement on a 90-day pause and substantially moved down the tariff levels â both sides, on the reciprocal tariffs, will move their tariffs down 115%." - Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent
Dollar and Yuan strong bounce. Gold corrects.
đđ˝After reaching a high of 71% this year, recession odds are now back down to 40%. The odds of the US entering a recession in 2025 fall to a new low of 40% following the US-China trade deal announcement.
đđ˝'Truly incredible:
- Trump raises tariffs: Yields rise because inflation is back
- Trump cuts tariffs: Yields rise because growth is back
- Trump does nothing: Yields rise because the Fed won't cut rates Today, the bond market becomes Trump and Bessent's top priority.' - TKL
President Trumpâs biggest problem persists even as trade deals are announced. Tariffs have been paused for 90 days, the US-China trade deal has been announced, and inflation data is down. Yet, the 10Y yield is nearing 4.50% again. Trump needs lower rates, but rates wonât fall.
đđ˝Last week a lot of talk on Japanâs Debt Death Spiral: Japanâs 40-year yield is detonating and the myth of consequence-free debt just died with it. One of the best explanations, you can read here:
đđ˝Michael A. Arouet: 'Eye-opening chart. Can a country with a services-based economy remain a superpower? Building back US manufacturing base makes a lot of strategic and geopolitical sense.' https://i.ibb.co/Q3zJY9Fc/Gqxc6-Pt-WQAI73c.jpg
On the 13th of May:
đđ˝There is a possibility of a âbig, beautifulâ economic rebalancing, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says at an investment forum in Saudi Arabia. The âdream scenarioâ would be if China and the US can work together on rebalancing, he adds
Luke Gromen: It does roll off the tongue a whole lot nicer than "We want to significantly devalue USD v. CNY, via a gold reference point."
Ergo: The price of gold specifically would rise in USD much more than it would in CNY, while prices for other goods and services would not, or would do so to a lesser degree.
đđ˝ Dutch inflation rises to 4.1 percent in April | CBS â final figure. Unchanged compared to the estimate.
đđ˝Philipp Heimberger: This interesting new paper argues that cuts to taxes on top incomes disproportionately benefit the financial sector. The finance industry gains more from top-income tax cuts than other industries. "Cuts in top income tax rates increase the (relative) size of the financial sector"
Kinda obvious, innit?
đđ˝US CPI data released. Overall good results and cooler than expected month-over-month and year-over-year (outside of yearly core). U.S. inflation is down to 2.3%, lower than expected.
On the 14th of May:
đđ˝'The US government cannot afford a recession: In previous economic cycles, the US budget deficit widened by ~4% of GDP on average during recessions. This would imply a ~$1.3 trillion deterioration of US government finances if a recession hits in 2025. That said, if the US enters a recession, long-term interest rates will likely go down.
A 2-percentage-point decrease in interest rates would save ~$568 billion in annual interest payments. However, this means government finances would worsen by more than DOUBLE the amount saved in interest due to a recession. An economic downturn would be incredibly costly for the US government.' -TKL
On the 15th of May:
đđ˝'In the Eurozone and the UK, households hold more than 30% of their financial assets in fiat currencies and bank deposits. This means that they (unknowingly?) allow inflation to destroy their purchasing power. The risks of inflation eating up your wealth increase in a debt-driven economic system characterized by fiscal dominance, where interest rates are structurally low and inflation levels and risks are high. There is so much forced and often failed regulation to increase financial literacy, but this part is never explained. Why is that, you think?' - Jeroen Blokland https://i.ibb.co/zWRpNqhz/Gq-jn-Bn-X0-AAmplm.png
On the 16th of May:
đđ˝'For the first time in a year, Japan's economy shrank by -0.7% in Q1 2025. This is more than double the decline expected by economists. Furthermore, this data does NOT include the reciprocal tariffs imposed on April 2nd. Japan's economy is heading for a recession.' -TKL
đđ˝'246 US large companies have gone bankrupt year-to-date, the most in 15 years. This is up from 206 recorded last year and more than DOUBLE during the same period in 2022. In April alone, the US saw 59 bankruptcy filings as tariffs ramped up. So far this year, the industrials sector has seen 41 bankruptcies, followed by 31 in consumer discretionary, and 17 in healthcare. According to S&P Global, consumer discretionary companies have been hit the hardest due to market volatility, tariffs, and inflation uncertainty. We expect a surge in bankruptcies in 2025.' -TKL
đđ˝'Moody's just downgraded the United States' credit rating for the FIRST time in history. The reason: An unsustainable path for US federal debt and its resulting interest burden. Moody's notes that the US debt-to-GDP ratio is on track to hit 134% by 2035. Federal interest payments are set to equal ~30% of revenue by 2035, up from ~18% in 2024 and ~9% in 2021. Furthermore, deficit spending is now at World War 2 levels as a percentage of GDP. The US debt crisis is our biggest issue with the least attention.' - TKL
Still, this is a nothing burger. In August 2023, when Fitch downgraded the US to AA+, and S&P (2011) the US became a split-rated AA+ country. This downgrade had almost no effect on the bond market. The last of the rating agencies, Moodys, pushed the US down to AA+ today. So technically it didnât even change the USâs overall credit rating because it was already split-rated AA+, now itâs unanimous AA+.
Ergo: Nothing changed. America now shares a credit rating with Austria and Finland. Hard assets donât lie. Watch Gold and Bitcoin.
https://i.ibb.co/Q7DcWY2P/Gr-K66i-EXIAAKh-MR.jpg
RAY DALIO: Credit Agencies are UNDERSTATING sovereign credit risks because "they don't include the greater risk that the countries in debt will print money to pay their debts" with devalued currency.
đđ˝US consumer credit card serious delinquencies are rising at a CRISIS pace: The share of US credit card debt that is past due at least 90 days hit 12.3% in Q1 2025, the highest in 14 YEARS. The percentage has risen even faster than during the Great Financial Crisis.' - Global Markets Investor
https://i.ibb.co/nNH9CxVK/Gr-E838o-XYAIk-Fyn.png
On the 18th of May:
đđ˝Michael A. Arouet: 'Look at ten bottom of this list. Milei has not only proven that real free market reforms work, but he has also proven that they work fast. Itâs bigger than Argentina now, no wonder that the left legacy media doesnât like him so much.' https://i.ibb.co/MDnBCDSY/Gr-Npu-KKWMAAf-Pc.jpg
On the 19th of May: đđ˝Japan's 40-year bond yield just hit its highest level in over 20 years. Japanâs Prime Minister Ishiba has called the situation âworse than Greece.â All as Japanâs GDP is contracting again. You and your mother should be scared out of your fucking minds. https://i.ibb.co/rGZ9cMtv/GTXx-S7-Cb-MAAOu-Vt.png
đđ˝ TKL: 'Investors are piling into gold funds like never before: Gold funds have posted a record $85 BILLION in net inflows year-to-date. This is more than DOUBLE the full-year record seen in 2020. At this pace, net inflows will surpass $180 billion by the end of 2025. Gold is now the best-performing major asset class, up 22% year-to-date. Since the low in October 2022, gold prices have gained 97%. Gold is the global hedge against uncertainty.'
đIf you have made it this far, I would like to give you a little gift, well, in this case, two gifts:
What Bitcoin Did - IS THE FED LOSING CONTROL? With Matthew Mezinskis
'Matthew Mezinskis is a macroeconomic researcher, host of the Crypto Voices podcast, and creator of Porkopolis Economics. In this episode, we discuss fractional reserve banking, why it's controversial among Bitcoiners, the historical precedent for banking practices, and whether fractional reserve banking inherently poses systemic risks. We also get into the dangers and instabilities introduced by central banking, why Bitcoin uniquely offers a pathway to financial sovereignty, the plumbing of the global financial system, breaking down money supply metrics, foreign holdings of US treasuries, and how all these elements indicate growing instability in the dollar system.'
https://youtu.be/j-XPVOl9zGc
Credit: I have used multiple sources!
My savings account: Bitcoin The tool I recommend for setting up a Bitcoin savings plan: PocketBitcoin especially suited for beginners or people who want to invest in Bitcoin with an automated investment plan once a week or monthly.
Use the code SE3997
Get your Bitcoin out of exchanges. Save them on a hardware wallet, run your own node...be your own bank. Not your keys, not your coins. It's that simple. â â
â â â â â â
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If so, please share it and support my work with a zap.
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â Many thanksâ
Felipe - Bitcoin Friday!
ââââââââââââââââââ
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@ 6389be64:ef439d32
2025-05-24 21:51:47Most nematodes are beneficial and "graze" on black vine weevil, currant borer moth, fungus gnats, other weevils, scarabs, cutworms, webworms, billbugs, mole crickets, termites, peach tree borer and carpenter worm moths.
They also predate bacteria, recycling nutrients back into the soil and by doing so stimulates bacterial activity. They act as microbial taxis by transporting microbes to new locations of soil as they move through it while providing aeration.
https://stacker.news/items/988573
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@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 18:06:46Bitcoin 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 letâs 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.
Using stolen bitcoin for the reserve creates a perverse incentive. If governments see 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 bitcoinâs 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.
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@ 58537364:705b4b85
2025-05-24 20:48:43âAny society that sets intellectual development as its goal will continually progress, without endâuntil life is liberated from problems and suffering. All problems can ultimately be solved through wisdom itself.
The signpost pointing toward âwisdomâ is the ability to thinkâor what is called in Dhamma terms, âyoniso-manasikÄra,â meaning wise or analytical reflection. Thinking is the bridge that connects information and knowledge with insight and understanding. Refined or skillful thinking enables one to seek knowledge and apply it effectively.
The key types of thinking are:
- Thinking to acquire knowledge
- Thinking to apply knowledge effectively In other words, thinking to gain knowledge and thinking to use that knowledge. A person with knowledge who doesnât know how to think cannot make that knowledge useful. On the other hand, a person who thinks without having or seeking knowledge will end up with nothing but dreamy, deluded ideas. When such dreamy ideas are expressed as opinions, they become nonsensical and meaninglessâmere expressions of personal likes or dislikes.
In this light, the âprocess of developing wisdomâ begins with the desire to seek knowledge, followed by the training of thinking skills, and concludes with the ability to express well-founded opinions. (In many important cases, practice, testing, or experimentation is needed to confirm understanding.)
Thus, the thirst for knowledge and the ability to seek knowledge are the forerunners of intellectual development. In any society where people lack a love for knowledge and are not inclined to search for it, true intellectual growth will be difficult. That society will be filled with fanciful, delusional thinking and opinions based merely on personal likes and dislikes. For the development of wisdom, there must be the guiding principle that: âGiving opinions must go hand-in-hand with seeking knowledge. And once knowledge is gained, thinking must be refined and skillful.ââ
â Somdet Phra Buddhaghosacariya (P.A. Payutto) Source: Dhamma treatise âOrganizing Society According to the Ideals of the Sanghaâ
Note: âPariyosÄnaâ means the complete conclusion or the final, all-encompassing end.
âWe must emphasize the pursuit of knowledge more than merely giving opinions. Opinions must be based on the most solid foundation of knowledge.
Nowadays, we face so many problems because people love to express opinions without ever seeking knowledge.â
â Somdet Phra Buddhaghosacariya (P.A. Payutto)
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2025-05-19 18:09:52đď¸ Monday, May 26 â Bitcoin Golf Championship & Kickoff Party
Location: Las Vegas, Nevada\ Event: 2nd Annual Bitcoin Golf Championship & Kick Off Party"\ Where: Bali Hai Golf Clubhouse, 5160 S Las Vegas Blvd, Las Vegas, NV 89119\ đď¸ Get Tickets!
Details:
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The week tees off in style with the Bitcoin Golf Championship. Swing clubs by day and swing to music by night.
-
Live performances from Nostr-powered acts courtesy of Tunestr, including Ainsley Costello and others.
-
Stop by the Purple Pill Booth hosted by Derek and Tanja, who will be on-boarding golfers and attendees to the decentralized social future with Nostr.
đŹ May 27â29 â Bitcoin 2025 Conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center
Location: The Venetian Resort\ Main Attraction for Nostr Fans: The Nostr Lounge\ When: All day, Tuesday through Thursday\ Where: Right outside the Open Source Stage\ đď¸ Get Tickets!
Come chill at the Nostr Lounge, your home base for all things decentralized social. With seating for \~50, comfy couches, high-tops, and good vibes, itâs the perfect space to meet developers, community leaders, and curious newcomers building the future of censorship-resistant communication.
Bonus: Right across the aisle, youâll find Shopstr, a decentralized marketplace app built on Nostr. Stop by their booth to explore how peer-to-peer commerce works in a truly open ecosystem.
Daily Highlights at the Lounge:
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âď¸ Hang out casually or sit down for a deeper conversation about the Nostr protocol
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đ§ 1:1 demos from app teams
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đď¸ Merch available onsite
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đ§ Impromptu lightning talks
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đ¤ Scheduled Meetups (details below)
đŻ Nostr Lounge Meetups
Wednesday, May 28 @ 1:00 PM
- Damus Meetup: Come meet the team behind Damus, the OG Nostr app for iOS that helped kickstart the social revolution. They'll also be showcasing their new cross-platform app, Notedeck, designed for a more unified Nostr experience across devices. Grab some merch, get a demo, and connect directly with the developers.
Thursday, May 29 @ 1:00 PM
- Primal Meetup: Dive into Primal, the slickest Nostr experience available on web, Android, and iOS. With a built-in wallet, zapping your favorite creators and friends has never been easier. The team will be on-site for hands-on demos, Q\&A, merch giveaways, and deeper discussions on building the social layer of Bitcoin.
đď¸ Nostr Talks at Bitcoin 2025
If you want to hear from the minds building decentralized social, make sure you attend these two official conference sessions:
1. FROSTR Workshop: Multisig Nostr Signing
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đ Time: 11:30 AM â 12:00 PM
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đ Date: Wednesday, May 28
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đ Location: Developer Zone
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đ¤ Speaker: nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgdwaehxw309ahx7uewd3hkcqpqs9etjgzjglwlaxdhsveq0qksxyh6xpdpn8ajh69ruetrug957r3qf4ggfm (Austin Kelsay) @ Voltage\ A deep-dive into FROST-based multisig key management for Nostr. Geared toward devs and power users interested in key security.
2. Panel: Decentralizing Social Media
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đ Time: 2:00 PM â 2:30 PM
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đ Date: Thursday, May 29
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đ Location: Genesis Stage
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đď¸ Moderator: nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqy08wumn8ghj7mn0wd68yttjv4kxz7fwv3jhyettwfhhxuewd4jsqgxnqajr23msx5malhhcz8paa2t0r70gfjpyncsqx56ztyj2nyyvlq00heps - Bitcoin Strategy @ Roxom TV
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đĽ Speakers:
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nostr:nprofile1qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcppemhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mp0qqsy2ga7trfetvd3j65m3jptqw9k39wtq2mg85xz2w542p5dhg06e5qmhlpep â Early Bitcoin dev, CEO @ Sirius Business Ltd
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nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytndv9kxjm3wdahxcqg5waehxw309ahx7um5wfekzarkvyhxuet5qqsw4v882mfjhq9u63j08kzyhqzqxqc8tgf740p4nxnk9jdv02u37ncdhu7e3 â Analyst & Partner @ Ego Death Capital
Get the big-picture perspective on why decentralized social matters and how Nostr fits into the future of digital communication.
đ NOS VEGAS Meetup & Afterparty
Date: Wednesday, May 28\ Time: 7:00 PM â 1:00 AM\ Location: We All Scream Nightclub, 517 Fremont St., Las Vegas, NV 89101\ đď¸ Get Tickets!
What to Expect:
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đś Live Music Stage â Featuring Ainsley Costello, Sara Jade, Able James, Martin Groom, Bobby Shell, Jessie Lark, and other V4V artists
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𪊠DJ Party Deck â With sets by nostr:nprofile1qy0hwumn8ghj7cmgdae82uewd45kketyd9kxwetj9e3k7mf6xs6rgqgcwaehxw309ahx7um5wgh85mm694ek2unk9ehhyecqyq7hpmq75krx2zsywntgtpz5yzwjyg2c7sreardcqmcp0m67xrnkwylzzk4 , nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqgkwaehxw309anx2etywvhxummnw3ezucnpdejqqg967faye3x6fxgnul77ej23l5aew8yj0x2e4a3tq2mkrgzrcvecfsk8xlu3 , and more DJs throwing down
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đ°ď¸ Live-streamed via Tunestr
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đ§ Nostr Education â Talks by nostr:nprofile1qy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq37amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3dwfjkccte9ejx2un9ddex7umn9ekk2tcqyqlhwrt96wnkf2w9edgr4cfruchvwkv26q6asdhz4qg08pm6w3djg3c8m4j , nostr:nprofile1qy2hwumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqg7waehxw309anx2etywvhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7ur0wp6kcctjqqspywh6ulgc0w3k6mwum97m7jkvtxh0lcjr77p9jtlc7f0d27wlxpslwvhau , nostr:nprofile1qy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq3vamnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3wd33xgetk9en82m30qqsgqke57uygxl0m8elstq26c4mq2erz3dvdtgxwswwvhdh0xcs04sc4u9p7d , nostr:nprofile1q9z8wumn8ghj7erzx3jkvmmzw4eny6tvw368wdt8da4kxamrdvek76mrwg6rwdngw94k67t3v36k77tev3kx7vn2xa5kjem9dp4hjepwd3hkxctvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2qpqyaul8k059377u9lsu67de7y637w4jtgeuwcmh5n7788l6xnlnrgssuy4zk , nostr:nprofile1qy28wue69uhnzvpwxqhrqt33xgmn5dfsx5cqz9thwden5te0v4jx2m3wdehhxarj9ekxzmnyqqswavgevxe9gs43vwylumr7h656mu9vxmw4j6qkafc3nefphzpph8ssvcgf8 , and more.
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đ§ž Vendors & Project Booths â Explore new tools and services
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đ Onboarding Stations â Learn how to use Nostr hands-on
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đŚ Nostrich Flocking â Meet your favorite nyms IRL
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đ¸ Three Full Bars â Two floors of socializing overlooking vibrant Fremont Street
| | | | | ----------- | -------------------- | ------------------- | | Time | Name | Topic | | 7:30-7:50 | Derek | Nostr for Beginners | | 8:00-8:20 | Mark & Paul | Primal | | 8:30-8:50 | Terry | Damus | | 9:00-9:20 | OpenMike and Ainsley | V4V | | 09:30-09:50 | The Space | Space |
This is the after-party of the year for those who love freedom technology and decentralized social community. Donât miss it.
Final Thoughts
Whether you're there to learn, network, party, or build, Bitcoin 2025 in Las Vegas has a packed week of Nostr-friendly programming. Be sure to catch all the events, visit the Nostr Lounge, and experience the growing decentralized social revolution.
đŁ Find us. Flock with us. Purple pill someone.
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@ 3283ef81:0a531a33
2025-05-24 20:47:39This event has been deleted; your client is ignoring the delete request.
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@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:59:23Recently 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 Xâs 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 platformâs infrastructure allows accounts to be reset through its backend. This could happen maliciously by an employee or through an external attacker who compromises Xâs backend. When an account is compromised, the legitimate user often gets locked out, unable to post or regain control without contacting Xâs 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 companyâs 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, nostrâs 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, nostrâs 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 âreal.â
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.
Nostrâs 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.
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@ 4d41a7cb:7d3633cc
2025-04-08 01:17:39Satoshi Nakamoto, the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, registered his birthday as April 5, 1975, on his P2P Foundation profile. Many think that he chose this date because on that same day in 1933, the United States government confiscated the gold of the American people. Whether this was on purpose or not, what happened in this day is very important to understand how do we ended up here.
In 1933, as expressed in Rooseveltâs Executive Orders 6073, 6102, and 6260, the United States first declared bankruptcy. The bankrupt U.S. went into receivership in 1933. America was turned over via receivership and reorganization in favor of its creditors. These creditors, the International Bankers, from the beginning stated their intent, which was to plunder, bankrupt, conquer and enslave America and return it to its colonial status.1
As one of his first acts as President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared a âBanking Emergencyâ to bail out the Federal Reserve Bank, which had embezzled this countryâs gold supply. The Congress gave the President dictatorial powers under the âWar Powers Act of 1917â (amended 1933), written, by the way, by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.2
This day marked the official abandonment of the American Constitution, law and real money. Today, 92 years after this event, most of the people living today have never had any real money or paid for anything using real money; unless they used Bitcoin...
There could be no bankruptcy if there was not a private central bank lending paper currency to the government at interest, so we must start from 1913, when the Federal Reserve was created: a non-federal private bank with no reserves and the monopoly of issuing debt based paper currency in unlimited amounts and lending it to the government at interest by buying treasury bills. The fact that this currency is lent into existence at interest makes the debt mathematically impossible to be repaid; it can only be refinanced or defaulted.
Between 1929 and 1933, the Federal Reserve Bank reduced the currency supply by 33%, thereby creating the Great Depression, bankrupting the US government, stealing the Americansâ gold supply, and officially ending the gold standard. Since then the US dollar (money) was replaced with Federal Reserve Notes (debt). This was also the end of the Republican form of government and the beginning of a socialist mob rule democracy (Fascism).
âFascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.â â Benito MussoliniÂ
The United States government has been bankrupt since 1933, since it defaulted on its gold bonds. This type of bond existed until 1933, when the U.S. monetary system abandoned the gold standard. 3 From this year the government has been totally controlled by the International bankers and used as a tool to spread and maintain their power worldwide.
Many people think that the gold standard was abandoned in 1971, but this is not true; in fact, this happened in 1933 when the US dollar was replaced by Federal Reserve Notes that are 100% debt-based fiat paper currency.
The year 1933 in the United States marked:
- The end of the Republican form of government and the beginning of American Fascism
- The end of the United States dollar and its replacement by Federal Reserve Notes
- The abandonment of common law and replacement with military admiralty law
- The takeover of the United States government by International bankers
- A massive gold theft and the end of the US gold standard
- The exchange of rights with privileges and licenses
- The United States government bankruptcy
The next shameful event in our history which still plagues us to this day was the âWar Powers Act of 1933.â This Act permitted President Roosevelt to make law in the form of Executive Order, bypass Congress and create his socialist state. We (citizens of this country) were ever after to be considered enemies of the United States who must be licensed to engage in any commercial activity. With the aid of the Federal Reserve (the same people who created the Depression), the President confiscated our gold and silver coin and replaced it with worthless pieces of paper and a debt system that will eventually destroy this great country. Our land and our labor were pledged to the Federal Reserve Bank, Inc., as collateral for a debt system that could never be paid.4
âEmergency Powersâ means any form of military style government, martial law, or martial rule. Martial law and martial rule are not the same.
United States Congressional Record March 17, 1993 Vol. #33, page H- 1303, Congressman James Traficant, Jr. (Ohio) addressing the House:
âMr. Speaker, we are here now in chapter 11. Members of Congress are official trustees presiding over the greatest reorganization of any Bankrupt entity in world history, the U.S. Government. We are setting forth, hopefully, a blueprint for our futureâ
âThere are some who say it is a coronerâs report that will lead to our demise. It is an established fact that the United States Federal Government has been dissolved by the Emergency Banking Act, March 9, 1933, 48 Stat. 1, Public Law 89-719; dered by President Roosevelt, being bankrupt and insolvent. H.J.R. 192, 73rd Congress in session June 5, 1933 â Joint Resolution To Suspend The Gold Standard and Abrogate the Gold Clause dissolved the Sovereign Authority of the United States and the official capacities of all United States Governmental Offices, Officers, and Departments and is further evidence that the United States Federal Government exists today in name onlyâ **âThe receivers of the United States Bankruptcy are the International Bankers, via the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fundâ
âAll United States Offices, Officials, and Departments are now operating within a de facto status in name only under Emergency War Powers. With the Constitutional Republican form of Government now dissolved, the receivers of the Bankruptcy have adopted a new form of government for the United States. This new form of government is known as a Democracy, being an established Socialist/Communist order under a new governor for America. This act was instituted and established by transferring and/or placing the Office of the Secretary of Treasury to that of the Governor of the International Monetary Fund. Public Law 94-564, page 8, Section H.R. 13955 read in part:â
âThe U.S. Secretary of Treasury receives no compensation for representing the United States.â
The American Spirit
The intention of the founding fathers of the United States was to create a constitutional republic to protect natural human rights and escape from the tyrannical English monarchy and its usurious Bank of England's monetary system. They created an honest monetary system based on gold and silver (United State Dollar) and got rid of nobility titles, creating equality under the law.
Section 10 of the American Constitution says:
No State shall enter into any Treaty, Alliance, or Confederation; grant LetÂters of Marque and Reprisal; coin Money; emit Bills of Credit; make anything but gold and silver Coin a tender in payment of debts; pass any bill of attainder, ex post facto law, or law impairing the obligation of contracts; or grant any title of nobility.
The United States Dollar (1792-1933)
A dollar is a measure of weight defined by the Coinage Act of 1792 and 1900, which specifies a certain quantityâ24.8 grains of gold or 371.25 grains of silver (from 1792 to 1900) when the American dollar was based on a bimetallic standard.
The Gold Standard Act of 1900 formally placed the United States on the gold standard, setting the value of one dollar at 25.8 grams of 90% pure gold, which fixed the price of gold at $20.67 per troy ounce. This standard was totally abandoned in 1933.
Gold and silver were such powerful money during the founding of the United States of America that the founding fathers declared that only gold or silver coins could be âmoneyâ in America.
But since the greedy bankers cannot profit from honest money they cannot print, they replaced the money with paper debt instruments. And by doing this, they have effectively enslaved the American people until today. My definition of modern slavery is working for a currency that someone else can create at no cost or effort. What's worse is that they even demand to be paid back and with interest!
Federal Reserve Notes (1913-present)
Federal Reserve Notes are not real money. Money that has metallic or other intrinsic value, as distinguished from paper currency, checks, and drafts.
Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) are a legal fiction. An assumption that something is true even though it may be untrue. 5 The assumption that they are money, when in fact they are the opposite of money: debt or paper currency.
Paper money. Paper documents that circuÂlate as currency; bills drawn by a government against its own credit. 6 Like Goldsmiths' notes. Hist. Bankers' cash notes: promissory notes given by bankers to customers as acknowledgments of the receipt of monÂey. ⢠This term derives from the London banking business, which originally was transacted by goldsmiths.7
These notes were scientifically designed to bankrupt the government and slave the American people, as Alfred Owen Crozier warned one year before the bill for the creation of the FED was passed through Congress (1912):
If Congress yields and authorizes a private central bank as proposed by the pending bill, the end when the bubble bursts will be universal ruin and national bankruptcy.
Unfortunately, the bill was passed in 1913, and this private bank started printing a new currency different from the US dollar creating the great depression and effectible bankrupting the government like Alfred warned 20 years before.
Alfred also warned:
Thus the way is opened for an unlimited inflation of corporate paper currency issued by a mere private corporation with relatively small net assets and no government guarantee, every dollar supposed to be redeemable in gold, but with not a single dollar of gold necessarily held in the reserves of such corporation to accomplish such redemption.
Differently from what's commonly believed Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) were never really âbackedâ by gold; they were never supposed to be hard currency. Currency backed by reÂserves, esp. gold and silver reserves.
The United States government defaulted on its gold clauses, calling for payment in gold. This marked the end of the gold standard. A monetary system in which currency is convertible into its legal equivalent in gold or gold coin.
Since then we have been under a paper standard, where we use fake money as tender for payments. Paper standard. A monetary system based enÂtirely on paper; a system of currency that is not convertible into gold or other precious metal.
People traded their coupons as money or âcurrency.â Currency is not money but a money substitute. Redeemable currency must promise to pay a dollar equivalent in gold or silver money. Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs) make no such promises and are not âmoney.â A Federal Reserve Note is a debt obligation of the federal United States government, not âmoney.â The federal United States government and the U.S. Congress were not and have never been authorized by the Constitution of the United States of America to issue currency of any kind, but only lawful moneyâgold and silver coin.8
A bona fide note can be used in a financial transaction to discharge the debt only because it is an unconditional promise to pay by the issuer to the bearer. Is a Federal Reserve Note a contract note, an unconditional promise to pay? At one time the Federal Reserve issued bona fide contractual notes and certificates, redeemable in gold and silver coin. Most people never saw or comprehended the contract. It went largely unread because the Federal Reserve very cunningly hid the contract on the face of the note by breaking it up into five separate lines of text with a significantly different typeface for each line and placing the presidentâs picture right in the middle of it. They even used the old attorneyâs ruse of obscuring the most important text in fine print! Over time, the terms and conditions of the contract were diluted until eventually they literally became an I.O.U. for nothing.
FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE
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THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBT, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE, AND IT IS REDEEMABLE IN LAWFUL MONEY AT THE UNITED STATES TREASURY OR ANY FEDERAL RESERVE BANK.
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DATE: SERIES OF 1934
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WILL PAY TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND: ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS
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TREASURER OF THE UNITED STATES SIGNATURE
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SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY SIGNATURE
Nowadays FRNs say "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private" it tender debt but it does not pay the bearer on demand. It value was stolen by a counterfeiting technique commonly know as inflation.
One hundred dollars (SERIES OF 1934) will be 2480 grains of gold, or 159.4 grams, or 5.1249 troy ounces. Today one troy ounce is priced around $3,000 federal reserve notes. 5.1249 X 3,000 = $15,375 actual FRNs.
A $100 FRN bill today will buy 0.65% of a real gold $100 dollar certificate. Thatâs a -99.35% loss of purchasing power in the last 91 years.
FRNs savers have been rugged pulled!
Gold bugs where the winners...
But Bitcoin is even better...
Happy birthday Satoshi! April 5 will be forever remembered.
Satoshi... The man, the myth, the Legend...
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@ b7274d28:c99628cb
2024-12-15 17:48:26For anyone interested in the list of essential essays from nostr:npub14hn6p34vegy4ckeklz8jq93mendym9asw8z2ej87x2wuwf8werasc6a32x (@anilsaidso) on Twitter that nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev mentioned on Read 856, here it is. I have compiled it with as many of the essays as I could find, along with the audio versions, when available. Additionally, if the author is on #Nostr, I have tagged their npub so you can thank them by zapping them some sats.
All credit for this list and the graphics accompanying each entry goes to nostr:npub14hn6p34vegy4ckeklz8jq93mendym9asw8z2ej87x2wuwf8werasc6a32x, whose original thread can be found here: Anil's Essential Essays Thread
1.
History shows us that the corruption of monetary systems leads to moral decay, social collapse, and slavery.
Essay: https://breedlove22.medium.com/masters-and-slaves-of-money-255ecc93404f
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/RI0iCGRCCYdhnMXIN3L6
2.
The 21st century emergence of Bitcoin, encryption, the internet, and millennials are more than just trends; they herald a wave of change that exhibits similar dynamics as the 16-17th century revolution that took place in Europe.
Author: nostr:npub13l3lyslfzyscrqg8saw4r09y70702s6r025hz52sajqrvdvf88zskh8xc2
Essay: https://casebitcoin.com/docs/TheBitcoinReformation_TuurDemeester.pdf
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/uLgBG2tyCLMlOp3g50EL
3.
There are many men out there who will parrot the "debt is money WE owe OURSELVES" without acknowledging that "WE" isn't a static entity, but a collection of individuals at different points in their lives.
Author: nostr:npub1guh5grefa7vkay4ps6udxg8lrqxg2kgr3qh9n4gduxut64nfxq0q9y6hjy
Essay: https://www.tftc.io/issue-754-ludwig-von-mises-human-action/
4.
If Bitcoin exists for 20 years, there will be near-universal confidence that it will be available forever, much as people believe the Internet is a permanent feature of the modern world.
Essay: https://vijayboyapati.medium.com/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/jC3KbxTkXVzXO4vR7X3W
As you are surely aware, Vijay has expanded this into a book available here: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin Book
There is also an audio book version available here: The Bullish Case for Bitcoin Audio Book
5.
This realignment would not be traditional right vs left, but rather land vs cloud, state vs network, centralized vs decentralized, new money vs old, internationalist/capitalist vs nationalist/socialist, MMT vs BTC,...Hamilton vs Satoshi.
Essay: https://nakamoto.com/bitcoin-becomes-the-flag-of-technology/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/tFJKjYLKhiFY8voDssZc
6.
I became convinced that, whether bitcoin survives or not, the existing financial system is working on borrowed time.
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/gradually-then-suddenly/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/Mf6hgTFUNESqvdxEIOGZ
Parker Lewis went on to release several more articles in the Gradually, Then Suddenly series. They can be found here: Gradually, Then Suddenly Series
nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev has, of course, read all of them for us. Listing them all here is beyond the scope of this article, but you can find them by searching the podcast feed here: Bitcoin Audible Feed
Finally, Parker Lewis has refined these articles and released them as a book, which is available here: Gradually, Then Suddenly Book
7.
Bitcoin is a beautifully-constructed protocol. Genius is apparent in its design to most people who study it in depth, in terms of the way it blends math, computer science, cyber security, monetary economics, and game theory.
Author: nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a
Essay: https://www.lynalden.com/invest-in-bitcoin/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/axeqKBvYCSP1s9aJIGSe
8.
Bitcoin offers a sweeping vista of opportunity to re-imagine how the financial system can and should work in the Internet era..
Essay: https://archive.nytimes.com/dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/why-bitcoin-matters/
9.
Using Bitcoin for consumer purchases is akin to driving a Concorde jet down the street to pick up groceries: a ridiculously expensive waste of an astonishing tool.
Author: nostr:npub1gdu7w6l6w65qhrdeaf6eyywepwe7v7ezqtugsrxy7hl7ypjsvxksd76nak
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/economics-of-bitcoin-as-a-settlement-network/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/JoSpRFWJtoogn3lvTYlz
10.
The Internet is a dumb network, which is its defining and most valuable feature. The Internetâs protocol (..) doesnât offer âservices.â It doesnât make decisions about content. It doesnât distinguish between photos, text, video and audio.
Essay: https://fee.org/articles/decentralization-why-dumb-networks-are-better/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/b7gOEqmWxn8RiDziffXf
11.
Most people are only familiar with (b)itcoin the electronic currency, but more important is (B)itcoin, with a capital B, the underlying protocol, which encapsulates and distributes the functions of contract law.
I was unable to find this essay or any audio version. Clicking on Anil's original link took me to Naval's blog, but that particular entry seems to have been removed.
12.
Bitcoin can approximate unofficial exchange rates which, in turn, can be used to detect both the existence and the magnitude of the distortion caused by capital controls & exchange rate manipulations.
Essay: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=2714921
13.
You can create something which looks cosmetically similar to Bitcoin, but you cannot replicate the settlement assurances which derive from the costliness of the ledger.
Essay: https://medium.com/@nic__carter/its-the-settlement-assurances-stupid-5dcd1c3f4e41
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/5NoPoiRU4NtF2YQN5QI1
14.
When we can secure the most important functionality of a financial network by computer science... we go from a system that is manual, local, and of inconsistent security to one that is automated, global, and much more secure.
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/money-blockchains-and-social-scalability/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/VMH9YmGVCF8c3I5zYkrc
15.
The BCB enforces the strictest deposit regulations in the world by requiring full reserves for all accounts. ..money is not destroyed when bank debts are repaid, so increased money hoarding does not cause liquidity traps..
Author: nostr:npub1hxwmegqcfgevu4vsfjex0v3wgdyz8jtlgx8ndkh46t0lphtmtsnsuf40pf
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/the-bitcoin-central-banks-perfect-monetary-policy/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/ralOokFfhFfeZpYnGAsD
16.
When Satoshi announced Bitcoin on the cryptography mailing list, he got a skeptical reception at best. Cryptographers have seen too many grand schemes by clueless noobs. They tend to have a knee jerk reaction.
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/library/bitcoin-and-me/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/Vx8hKhLZkkI4cq97qS4Z
17.
No matter who you are, or how big your company is, đŽđ¤đŞđ§ đŠđ§đđŁđ¨đđđŠđđ¤đŁ đŹđ¤đŁâđŠ đĽđ§đ¤đĽđđđđŠđ đđ đđŠâđ¨ đđŁđŤđđĄđđ.
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/bitcoin-miners-beware-invalid-blocks-need-not-apply/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/bcSuBGmOGY2TecSov4rC
18.
Just like a company trying to protect itself from being destroyed by a new competitor, the actions and reactions of central banks and policy makers to protect the system that they know, are quite predictable.
Author: nostr:npub1s05p3ha7en49dv8429tkk07nnfa9pcwczkf5x5qrdraqshxdje9sq6eyhe
Essay: https://medium.com/the-bitcoin-times/the-greatest-game-b787ac3242b2
Audio Part 1: https://fountain.fm/episode/5bYyGRmNATKaxminlvco
Audio Part 2: https://fountain.fm/episode/92eU3h6gqbzng84zqQPZ
19.
Technology, industry, and society have advanced immeasurably since, and yet we still live by Venetian financial customs and have no idea why. Modern banking is the legacy of a problem that technology has since solved.
Author: nostr:npub1sfhflz2msx45rfzjyf5tyj0x35pv4qtq3hh4v2jf8nhrtl79cavsl2ymqt
Essay: https://allenfarrington.medium.com/bitcoin-is-venice-8414dda42070
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/s6Fu2VowAddRACCCIxQh
Allen Farrington and Sacha Meyers have gone on to expand this into a book, as well. You can get the book here: Bitcoin is Venice Book
And wouldn't you know it, Guy Swann has narrated the audio book available here: Bitcoin is Venice Audio Book
20.
The rich and powerful will always design systems that benefit them before everyone else. The genius of Bitcoin is to take advantage of that very base reality and force them to get involved and help run the system, instead of attacking it.
Author: nostr:npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu
Essay: https://quillette.com/2021/02/21/can-governments-stop-bitcoin/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/jeZ21IWIlbuC1OGnssy8
21.
In the realm of inforÂmaÂtion, there is no coin-stamping without time-stamping. The relentÂless beating of this clock is what gives rise to all the magical properÂties of Bitcoin.
Author: nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc
Essay: https://dergigi.com/2021/01/14/bitcoin-is-time/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/pTevCY2vwanNsIso6F6X
22.
You can stay on the Fiat Standard, in which some people get to produce unlimited new units of money for free, just not you. Or opt in to the Bitcoin Standard, in which no one gets to do that, including you.
Essay: https://casebitcoin.com/docs/StoneRidge_2020_Shareholder_Letter.pdf
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/PhBTa39qwbkwAtRnO38W
23.
Long term investors should use Bitcoin as their unit of account and every single investment should be compared to the expected returns of Bitcoin.
Essay: https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/everyones-a-scammer/
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/vyR2GUNfXtKRK8qwznki
24.
When youâre in the ivory tower, you think the term âivory towerâ is a silly misrepresentation of your very normal life; when youâre no longer in the ivory tower, you realize how willfully out of touch you were with the world.
Essay: https://www.citadel21.com/why-the-yuppie-elite-dismiss-bitcoin
Audio: https://fountain.fm/episode/7do5K4pPNljOf2W3rR2V
You might notice that many of the above essays are available from the Satoshi Nakamoto Institute. It is a veritable treasure trove of excellent writing on subjects surrounding #Bitcoin and #AustrianEconomics. If you find value in them keeping these written works online for the next wave of new Bitcoiners to have an excellent source of education, please consider donating to the cause.
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@ 3283ef81:0a531a33
2025-05-24 20:36:35Suspendisse quis rutrum nisi Integer nec augue quis ex euismod blandit ut ac mi
Curabitur suscipit vulputate volutpat Donec ornare, risus non tincidunt malesuada, elit magna feugiat diam, id faucibus libero libero efficitur mauris
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@ b7274d28:c99628cb
2024-11-17 04:38:20There seems to be a bit of confusion going around about exactly what #AlbyHub is, and what it does, what use-cases it does and does not fit into. As someone who is using #Alby Hub on a daily basis and have been quite happy with it, I thought I might be able to shed some light on the matter from the perspective of a user. nostr:npub1getal6ykt05fsz5nqu4uld09nfj3y3qxmv8crys4aeut53unfvlqr80nfm, please correct me if I get anything wrong in this article.
Note: I am not in any way affiliated with Alby, except by being a satisfied user of their software, and have not been paid to write this article.
I can understand the confusion surrounding Alby Hub, because it is not just one thing that works the same for all users of the product. There are various different ways you can have it set up, and while the end result is mostly the same functionality, the steps to get there are different for each version. There is the cloud (someone else's computer) version, the desktop version, the docker version, and the node (nostr:npub126ntw5mnermmj0znhjhgdk8lh2af72sm8qfzq48umdlnhaj9kuns3le9ll or nostr:npub1aghreq2dpz3h3799hrawev5gf5zc2kt4ch9ykhp9utt0jd3gdu2qtlmhct) package version. In some of these versions, Alby Hub is acting as a standalone Lightning node, and in others it is merely a front-end that gives your existing node additional features, such as segregated wallets, but you must have an #LND instance already established that it is running alongside.
Cloud
This service is a standalone Lightning node running in the cloud and online 24/7. For that reason, it can be very attractive to users who may not be able to run their own node at home, or who do not have reliable power or internet services.
It is still considered self-custodial, even though it is running on Alby's servers, because you hold your own keys.
Since this version of Alby Hub is a standalone Lightning node, this means that all of your channel setup and liquidity is managed inside of your cloud-hosted Alby Hub.
My assumption is that this Lightning node is reaching out to a #Bitcoin full node that Alby runs for all on-chain data and broadcasting channel-opens and closes.
At the time of writing, the cost for this cloud-hosted node is 21,000 sats a month. You get some additional features by paying for this service that other versions of Alby Hub lack, though. You can have a custom Lightning address, instead of just an "UserName@getalby.com" address. You also get priority customer support with an in-app live chat, and access to the "Buzz" community that other users of Alby Hub do not get access to.
There are other options for a cloud-hosted Alby Hub other than directly from Alby, as well. For instance, you can host your Alby Hub on nostr:npub1g26qnlumycdfs538kx4eyur7wpnh0tq5mcjx2nt7qhc9qxehuqpsk4y9fw or Render. These alternative hosting options may have a lower cost associated with them, but you will not have access to the additional features, such as a custom Lightning address or priority customer support.
Desktop
The desktop client is also a standalone node, but this time running on your own #Windows, #Mac, or #Linux desktop computer. You should only use this option on a computer you keep always online.
This option is completely free, but you are responsible to keep your Alby Hub online, or else you will not be able to send and receive transactions on the go using a mobile wallet connected to your Alby Hub, such as #AlbyGo or nostr:npub1g26qnlumycdfs538kx4eyur7wpnh0tq5mcjx2nt7qhc9qxehuqpsk4y9fw. Moreover, your only option for a Lightning address is "UserName@getalby.com" and you don't receive priority customer support.
As with Alby running in the cloud, since you are not running a full Bitcoin node, my assumption is that Alby Hub is reaching out to Alby's own full node for all on-chain data and for broadcasting channel-opens and closes.
Docker
You can also run Alby Hub on any local device or remote VPS that supports #Docker. This would also be a standalone node, so all the rules of running on your desktop apply. You should only use this option on a device that is online 24/7.
Start9 & Umbrel
Here is where we diverge from Alby Hub being its own standalone node. Instead, Alby Hub is installed on your #Start9 or #Umbrel, which must already be running an instance of LND as the Lightning node. LND, in turn, requires you to be running Bitcoin Core or other compatible Bitcoin implementation.
In this case, Alby Hub is acting as an alternative front-end for your existing Lightning node, and giving it extra capabilities. It would be similar to #Thunderhub or Ride-the-Lightning #RTL.
In my opinion, so long as you have reliable power and internet service, this is the best option available. Not only will you possess your own keys, but you will be running the software on your own device, dedicated to the task of hosting your Bitcoin software stack, and not your general computing needs. Moreover, Alby Hub will be reaching out to your own Bitcoin full node for all on-chain needs, including broadcasting channel-opens and closes.
All Versions
Now that you have one of the above versions of Alby Hub up and running, with channels open using Alby Hub as a standalone node, or as a front-end for your existing LND node on your Start9 or Umbrel, what can you do with it? What makes it any different than just using #Zeus to connect to your node via #LNDHub or #LightningTerminal? Plenty!
At the basic level, the default wallet in Alby Hub will utilize your entire node's outbound liquidity as its balance. You can purchase Lightning channels from liquidity providers very easily, and purchase Bitcoin using a bank transfer or credit card directly within Alby Hub, so you have both inbound and outbound liquidity. For slightly more advanced users, you can also set up custom channels to any peer, so long as you have their node ID.
You can then connect various services to have access to this main wallet, such as Nostr clients that support #NostrWalletConnect, or Alby's BuzzPay PoS terminal, or games like Paper Scissors HODL or Zappy Bird, and of course Alby's browser extension or Alby Go mobile wallet. Don't want a service to have unlimited access to your node's balance? You can set it a budget, and even set up an isolated balance for just that single application to have access to.
If you connect your wallet with your Alby account, you will gain the benefit of having your Alby Lightning address connected to your Alby Hub wallet, so you can receive zaps directly to your self-custody node.
There are a couple ways you can connect your Alby Hub wallet to a mobile wallet app. The first is using LNDHub with Zeus. I found the most success by doing this through my Alby account after connecting it to my Alby Hub wallet. It is my understanding that Zeus is also working on integrating Nostr Wallet Connect, so that will be an even easier option for using it as your mobile wallet. Note, though, this is NOT connecting to your self-custodial Zeus wallet using their node-on-a-phone option, if you have that set up. It is a remote connection to your Alby Hub node where Zeus is just a mobile interface. Your Zeus wallet's self-custodial balance will be entirely separate from your Alby Hub wallet balance, and you must select the wallet balance/node you want to use prior to conducting a transaction.
Alby has also released Alby Go, which is a mobile wallet app with a very minimal interface that just works and uses Nostr Wallet Connect rather than LNDHub to connect to your node.
Additionally, you can connect your wallet to several Podcasting 2.0 apps, such as nostr:npub1t8cmt7hjnyz0a99x5ppw9kpdsrtglst26aj3aw5s4r0rna3l3l5qk89gm4, #Curiocaster, #Castamatic, #LNBeats, and #PodcastGuru. Hat tip to nostr:npub177fz5zkm87jdmf0we2nz7mm7uc2e7l64uzqrv6rvdrsg8qkrg7yqx0aaq7 for reminding me of this functionality.
For those who are fans of #Fountain for podcasts, since it has leaned heavily into #Nostr integration, nostr:npub1unmftuzmkpdjxyj4en8r63cm34uuvjn9hnxqz3nz6fls7l5jzzfqtvd0j2 has confirmed that nostr:npub1v5ufyh4lkeslgxxcclg8f0hzazhaw7rsrhvfquxzm2fk64c72hps45n0v5 will be receiving Nostr Wallet Connect support in an upcoming update, so you can use your Alby Hub wallet to boost, earn, and stream sats there.
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpe8kjhc9hvzmyvf9tnxw84r3hrtece9xt0xvq9rx95nlpalfyyyjqythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wvfskuep0qyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuen0w4h8gctfdchxvmf0qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnswf5k6ctv9ehx2ap0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qg3waehxw309ahx7um5wghxcctwvshszrnhwden5te0dehhxtnvdakz7qghwaehxw309a5kucn00qhxummnw3ezuamfdejj7qgewaehxw309akk7mmwvfhkjtnwdaehgu339e3k7mf0qy28wumn8ghj7ctvvahjuat50phjummwv5hsqgy62xzfas5d0mjkmgwquscxykt9540cvtq9k9w9uyea2z7vru8aqv3mpqwc
More interestingly, though, you can set up "Friends & Family" wallets that are separate from your main node balance and start with their own balance of 0 sats. Each of these wallet balances are tracked separately, though they use your node's liquidity for transacting. This is similar to setting up individual wallets within a tool like #LNBits or Lightning Terminal. However, I find that these wallets are far easier to set up and more versatile. Moreover, they can be connected to all of the same services previously mentioned via Nostr Wallet Connect, and they can each be connected with a separate Alby account so that each wallet has its own Lightning address, without having to own a domain and set up reverse proxies or any of the more technical aspects of setting up Lightning addresses for LNBits wallets.
This, in my opinion, is the "killer feature" of Alby Hub. It enables anyone who runs any of the above versions to quickly and easily be an Uncle Jim for their family, who have no interest in learning how to set up self-custody wallets. The only thing you need to do is make sure your Lightning node always has enough outbound liquidity to cover their balances. If you fractionally reserve your own family members, you deserve what's coming to you.
Conclusion
So, what do you think? Is Alby Hub a good fit for your use case? If you don't really want to run a Lightning node and manage your own liquidity, it may not be a good fit, and you can check out some creat custodial options, such as nostr:npub1h2qfjpnxau9k7ja9qkf50043xfpfy8j5v60xsqryef64y44puwnq28w8ch, nostr:npub1hcwcj72tlyk7thtyc8nq763vwrq5p2avnyeyrrlwxrzuvdl7j3usj4h9rq, or nostr:npub1kvaln6tm0re4d99q9e4ma788wpvnw0jzkz595cljtfgwhldd75xsj9tkzv. For those of us who are willing to get our hands dirty for the sake of holding our own keys, then running a node in some sense is always going to be required, and that comes with the responsibility of managing liquidity. This is true for all of the good self-custody options available out there, such as nostr:npub148qm45zettnf6ekgkatnyfadunxwjpu8sy88mjdsgwc5f202d93qmejra7 or Zeus' Olympus node-on-a-phone option. Alby Hub, however, may just be the most feature-rich and user-friendly option that falls somewhere in the middle of running a full Bitcoin + Lightning node or running a node-on-a-phone option that often suffers from not being online 24/7 for receiving. At any rate, name another self-custodial Lightning option that you can connect to so many other applications using Nostr Wallet Connect. I'll wait.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-21 14:26:08::youtube{#prPOncMkV6c}
Tara Gaming has announced The Age of Bhaarat, a dark fantasy action RPG, with a cinematic and gameplay trailer, showcasing what seems like early footage of the game. The game will release on PC via Steam.
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@ cff1720e:15c7e2b2
2025-05-24 20:17:45Ich liebe Pareto. FĂźr das was es ist, viel mehr aber fĂźr das was es derzeit wird - der Marktplatz der Ideen. Er entsteht durch gemeinsames Engagement von Entwicklern, Autoren und aktiven Lesern. Es ist ein lebendiges Medium, das jeden Tag wächst, quantitativ wie qualitativ, durch offene Interaktion, was es in dieser Form einzigartig macht.\ \ Mein Text ist inspiriert durch den Artikel von Alexa Rodrian vom 22. Mai Ăźber den Auftritt von Wolf Biermann bei der Verleihung des Deutschen Filmpreises.  Alexa ist keine Publizistin, genau wie zahlreiche unserer Autoren, aber sie hat einen bemerkenswerten Beitrag verfasst. Ich habe ihn spontan geliked, kommentiert und mit einer Spende honoriert. In den vergangenen Tagen habe ich viel darĂźber reflektiert, und Pareto ermĂśglicht es mir, und jedem anderen, diese Ăberlegungen zur âCausa Biermannâ hier darzulegen.
MSN kommentierte die anstĂśĂige Rede wie folgt: mit einem verfälschten Golda-Meir-Zitat lenkte Biermann das Thema auf das Sterben in Gaza, fĂźr das er die Palästinenser selbst verantwortlich machte. âDass ihr unsere SĂśhne ermordet habt, werden wir Euch eines Tages verzeihenâ, habe Meir zu den Palästinensern gesagt, âaber wir werden euch niemals verzeihen kĂśnnen, dass ihr unsere SĂśhne gezwungen habt, selber MĂśrder zu werden.â Alexa Rodrian, in einer Mischung aus Enttäuschung und EmpĂśrung, erĂśffnete ihren Artikel wie folgt:
âTriff niemals deine Idoleâ heiĂt ein gängiger Ratschlag. In gewendeten Zeiten stehen zu dem die Werte auf dem Kopf â und manche KĂźnstler mit ihnen. Die Worte, die aus manch ihrer MĂźndern kommen, wirken, als hätte eine fremde Hand sie auf deren Zunge gelegt. Die fremde Hand ist bei Biermann eher unwahrscheinlich, denn sein Hang zu Provokationen und Verletzungen haben Tradition, man erinnere sich an den legendären Auftritt bei einer Feierstunde im Bundestag 2014 in der er die Mitglieder der Linksfraktion als âelenden Restâ und âDrachenbrutâ bezeichnete. Oder seine Beschimpfungen der (ostdeutschen) Wähler von AfD und BSW im August 2024 in einem Zeit-Interview:  âDie, die zu feige waren in der Diktatur, rebellieren jetzt ohne Risiko gegen die Demokratie. Den Bequemlichkeiten der Diktatur jammern sie nach, und die MĂźhen der Demokratie sind ihnen fremd.â
Im Februar 2025 wurde Wolf Biermann fĂźr sein Lebenswerk mit einem Musikpreis der GEMA ausgezeichnet. Was aber ist sein Lebenswerk, sein mutiges Engagement in der Opposition der DDR bis 1976 oder seine verfehlten RĂźpeleien in der Gegenwart? Ein solcher Preis ist fragwĂźrdig, denn kein Lebenswerk ist konsistent, und die Bewertung abhängig von subjektiven MaĂstäben. Meist wählen wir unsere Idole nach unseren Idealen, aber die kĂśnnen sich verändern, ebenso wie das Idol. Beethoven widmete seine 3. Sinfonie (Eroica) Napoleon, zog die Widmung aber zurĂźck als dieser sich 1804 zum Kaiser krĂśnen lieĂ. âIst der auch nichts anderes, wie ein gewĂśhnlicher Mensch?â soll er wĂźtend ausgerufen haben. Richtig! Was hatte Beethoven erwartet, einen Gott? âHosiannaâ und âkreuzigt ihnâ sind Affekte die durch unsere Projektionen verursacht und den Realitäten nie gerecht werden.Â
Den Preis fĂźr sein Lebenswerk kann Wolf Biermann behalten. Er hat Millionen von Menschen in der DDR Mut gemacht. Er hat zahlreiche groĂartige Gedichte und Lieder verfasst, das behalte ich gerne in Erinnerung. Nun hat er sich selbst vom Sockel gestĂźrzt und durch seinen Empathiemangel das Image beschädigt. Das hätte er vermeiden kĂśnnen, wenn er sich an die Worte seines Lehrmeisters Brecht erinnert hätte.
...\ Dabei wissen wir doch:\ Auch der Hass gegen die Niedrigkeit\ verzerrt die ZĂźge.\ Auch der Zorn Ăźber das Unrecht\ Macht die Stimme heiser. Ach, wir\ Die wir den Boden bereiten wollten fĂźr die Freundlichkeit\ Konnten selber nicht freundlich sein.\ ...
Er hätte auch von der Medizin nehmen kÜnnen, die er selbst fßr andere entwickelt hat \ (1966 fßr seinen Freund Peter Huchel).
âŚ\ Du, laĂ dich nicht verhärten\ in dieser harten Zeit.\ Die allzu hart sind, brechen,\ die allzu spitz sind, stechen\ und brechen ab sogleich.\ âŚ
PS: Fortsetzung folgt in der Reihe \ âWas wir von groĂen PersĂśnlichkeiten lernen kĂśnnen, wenn wir ihnen zuhĂśren wĂźrden."
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@ 21335073:a244b1ad
2025-05-21 16:58:36The other day, I had the privilege of sitting down with one of my favorite living artists. Our conversation was so captivating that I felt compelled to share it. Iâm leaving his name out for privacy.
Since our last meeting, Iâd watched a documentary about his life, one heâd helped create. I told him how much I admired his openness in it. Thereâs something strange about knowing intimate details of someoneâs life when they know so little about yoursâitâs almost like I knew him too well for the kind of relationship we have.
He paused, then said quietly, with a shy grin, that watching the documentary made him realize how âodd and eccentricâ he is. I laughed and told him heâs probably the sanest person I know. Because heâs lived fully, chasing love, passion, and purpose with hardly any regrets. Heâs truly lived.
Today, I turn 44, and Iâll admit Iâm a bit eccentric myself. I think I came into the world this way. Iâve made mistakes along the way, but I carry few regrets. Every misstep taught me something. And as I age, Iâm not interested in blending in with the worldâIâll probably just lean further into my own brand of âweird.â I want to live life to the brim. The older I get, the more I see that the ânormalâ folks often seem less grounded than the eccentric artists who dare to live boldly. Lifeâs too short to just exist, actually live.
Iâm not saying to be strange just for the sake of it. But Iâve seen what the crowd celebrates, and Iâm not impressed. Forge your own path, even if it feels lonely or unpopular at times.
Itâs easy to scroll through the news and feel discouraged. But actually, this is one of the most incredible times to be alive! I wake up every day grateful to be here, now. The future is bursting with possibilityâI can feel it.
So, to my fellow weirdos on nostr: stay bold. Keep dreaming, keep pushing, no matter whatâs trending. Stay wild enough to believe in a free internet for all. Freedom is radicalâhold it tight. Live with the soul of an artist and the grit of a fighter. Thanks for inspiring me and so many others to keep hoping. Thank you all for making the last year of my life so special.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2025-04-21 00:15:06At the recent Launch Music Festival and Conference in Lancaster, PA, featuring over 120 musicians across three days, I volunteered my time with Tunestr and Phantom Power Music's initiative to introduce artists to Bitcoin, Nostr, and the value-for-value model. Tunestr sponsored a stage, live-streaming 21 bands to platforms like Tunestr.io, Fountain.fm and other Nostr/Podcasting 2.0 apps and on-boarding as many others as possible at our conference booth. You may have seen me spamming about this over the last few days.
V4V Earnings
Day 1: 180,000 sats
Day 2: 300,000 sats
Day 3: Over 500,000 sats
Who?
Here are the artists that were on-boarded to Fountain and were live streaming on the Value-for-Value stage:
nostr:npub1cruu4z0hwg7n3r2k7262vx8jsmra3xpku85frl5fnfvrwz7rd7mq7e403w nostr:npub12xeh3n7w8700z4tpd6xlhlvg4vtg4pvpxd584ll5sva539tutc3q0tn3tz nostr:npub1rc80p4v60uzfhvdgxemhvcqnzdj7t59xujxdy0lcjxml3uwdezyqtrpe0j @npub16vxr4pc2ww3yaez9q4s53zkejjfd0djs9lfe55sjhnqkh nostr:npub10uspdzg4fl7md95mqnjszxx82ckdly8ezac0t3s06a0gsf4f3lys8ypeak nostr:npub1gnyzexr40qut0za2c4a0x27p4e3qc22wekhcw3uvdx8mwa3pen0s9z90wk nostr:npub13qrrw2h4z52m7jh0spefrwtysl4psfkfv6j4j672se5hkhvtyw7qu0almy nostr:npub1p0kuqxxw2mxczc90vcurvfq7ljuw2394kkqk6gqnn2cq0y9eq5nq87jtkk nostr:npub182kq0sdp7chm67uq58cf4vvl3lk37z8mm5k5067xe09fqqaaxjsqlcazej nostr:npub162hr8kd96vxlanvggl08hmyy37qsn8ehgj7za7squl83um56epnswkr399 nostr:npub17jzk5ex2rafres09c4dnn5mm00eejye6nrurnlla6yn22zcpl7vqg6vhvx nostr:npub176rnksulheuanfx8y8cr2mrth4lh33svvpztggjjm6j2pqw6m56sq7s9vz nostr:npub1akv7t7xpalhsc4nseljs0c886jzuhq8u42qdcwvu972f3mme9tjsgp5xxk nostr:npub18x0gv872489lrczp9d9m4hx59r754x7p9rg2jkgvt7ul3kuqewtqsssn24
Many more musicians were on-boarded to Fountain, however, we were unable to obtain all of their npubs.
THANK YOU TO ALL ZAPPERS AND BOOSTERS!
Musicians âGet Itâ
My key takeaway was the musicians' absolute understanding that the current digital landscape along with legacy social media is failing them. Every artist I spoke with recognized how algorithms hinder fan connection and how gatekeepers prevent fair compensation for their work. They all use Spotify, but they only do so out of necessity. They felt the music industry is primed for both a social and monetary revolution. Some of them were even speaking my languageâŚ
Because of this, concepts like decentralization, censorship resistance, owning your content, and controlling your social graph weren't just understood by them, they were instantly embraced. The excitement was real; they immediately saw the potential and agreed with me. Bitcoin and Nostr felt genuinely punk rock and that helped a lot of them identify with what we were offering them.
The Tools and the Issues
While the Nostr ecosystem offers a wide variety of tools, we focused on introducing three key applications at this event to keep things clear for newcomers:
- Fountain, with a music focus, was the primary tool for onboarding attendees onto Nostr. Fountain was also chosen thanks to Fountainâs built-in Lightning wallet.
- Primal, as a social alternative, was demonstrated to show how users can take their Nostr identity and content seamlessly between different applications.
- Tunestr.io, lastly was showcased for its live video streaming capabilities.
Although we highlighted these three, we did inform attendees about the broader range of available apps and pointed them to
nostrapps.com
if they wanted to explore further, aiming to educate without overwhelming them.This review highlights several UX issues with the Fountain app, particularly concerning profile updates, wallet functionality, and user discovery. While Fountain does work well, these minor hiccups make it extremely hard for on-boarding and education.
- Profile Issues:
- When a user edits their profile (e.g., Username/Nostr address, Lightning address) either during or after creation, the changes don't appear to consistently update across the app or sync correctly with Nostr relays.
- Specifically, the main profile display continues to show the old default Username/Nostr address and Lightning address inside Fountain and on other Nostr clients.
- However, the updated Username/Nostr address does appear on https://fountain.fm (chosen-username@fountain.fm) and is visible within the "Edit Profile" screen itself in the app.
- This inconsistency is confusing for users, as they see their updated information in some places but not on their main public-facing profile within the app. I confirmed this by observing a new user sign up and edit their username â the edit screen showed the new name, but the profile display in Fountain did not update and we did not see it inside Primal, Damus, Amethyst, etc.
- Wallet Limitations:
- The app's built-in wallet cannot scan Lightning address QR codes to initiate payments.
- This caused problems during the event where users imported Bitcoin from Azte.co vouchers into their Fountain wallets. When they tried to Zap a band by scanning a QR code on the live tally board, Fountain displayed an error message stating the invoice or QR code was invalid.
- While suggesting musicians install Primal as a second Nostr app was a potential fix for the QR code issue, (and I mentioned it to some), the burden of onboarding users onto two separate applications, potentially managing two different wallets, and explaining which one works for specific tasks creates a confusing and frustrating user experience.
- Search Difficulties:
- Finding other users within the Fountain app is challenging. I was unable to find profiles from brand new users by entering their chosen Fountain username.
- To find a new user, I had to resort to visiting their profile on the web (fountain.fm/username) to retrieve their npub. Then, open Primal and follow them. Finally, when searching for their username, since I was now following them, I was able to find their profile.
- This search issue is compounded by the profile syncing problem mentioned earlier, as even if found via other clients, their displayed information is outdated.
- Searching for the event to Boost/Zap inside Fountain was harder than it should have been the first two days as the live stream did not appear at the top of the screen inside the tap. This was resolved on the third day of the event.
Improving the Onboarding Experience
To better support user growth, educators and on-boarders need more feature complete and user-friendly applications. I love our developers and I will always sing their praises from the highest mountain tops, however I also recognize that the current tools present challenges that hinder a smooth onboarding experience.
One potential approach explored was guiding users to use Primal (including its built-in wallet) in conjunction with Wavlake via Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC). While this could facilitate certain functions like music streaming, zaps, and QR code scanning (which require both Primal and Wavlake apps), Wavlake itself has usability issues. These include inconsistent or separate profiles between web and mobile apps, persistent "Login" buttons even when logged in on the mobile app with a Nostr identity, and the minor inconvenience of needing two separate applications. Although NWC setup is relatively easy and helps streamline the process, the need to switch between apps adds complexity, especially when time is limited and weâre aiming to showcase the benefits of this new system.
Ultimately, we need applications that are more feature-complete and intuitive for mainstream users to improve the onboarding experience significantly.
Looking forward to the future
I anticipate that most of these issues will be resolved when these applications address them in the near future. Specifically, this would involve Fountain fixing its profile issues and integrating Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) to allow users to utilize their Primal wallet, or by enabling the scanning of QR codes that pay out to Lightning addresses. Alternatively, if Wavlake resolves the consistency problems mentioned earlier, this would also significantly improve the situation giving us two viable solutions for musicians.
My ideal onboarding event experience would involve having all the previously mentioned issues resolved. Additionally, I would love to see every attendee receive a $5 or $10 voucher to help them start engaging with value-for-value, rather than just the limited number we distributed recently. The goal is to have everyone actively zapping and sending Bitcoin throughout the event. Maybe we can find a large sponsor to facilitate this in the future?
What's particularly exciting is the Launch conference's strong interest in integrating value-for-value across their entire program for all musicians and speakers at their next event in Dallas, Texas, coming later this fall. This presents a significant opportunity to onboard over 100+ musicians to Bitcoin and Nostr, which in turn will help onboard their fans and supporters.
We need significantly more zaps and more zappers! It's unreasonable to expect the same dedicated individuals to continuously support new users; they are being bled dry. A shift is needed towards more people using bitcoin for everyday transactions, treating it as money. This brings me back to my ideal onboarding experience: securing a sponsor to essentially give participants bitcoin funds specifically for zapping and tipping artists. This method serves as a practical lesson in using bitcoin as money and showcases the value-for-value principle from the outset.
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@ 51bbb15e:b77a2290
2025-05-21 00:24:36Yeah, Iâm sure everything in the file is legit. đ Letâs review the guard witness testimonyâŚOh wait, they werenât at their posts despite 24/7 survellience instructions after another Epstein âsuicideâ attempt two weeks earlier. Well, at least the video of the suicide is in the file? Oh wait, a techical glitch. Damn those coincidences!
At this point, the Trump administration has zero credibility with me on anything related to the Epstein case and his clients. I still suspect the administration is using the Epstein files as leverage to keep a lot of RINOs in line, whereas theyâd be sabotaging his agenda at every turn otherwise. However, I just donât believe in ends-justify-the-means thinking. Itâs led almost all of DC to toss out every bit of the values they might once have had.
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@ 65912a7a:5dc638bf
2025-02-09 20:34:15I didnât set out to become an enemy of the worldâs richest man, but I seem to have managed it all the same. Until this moment, Iâve resisted describing my falling out with Elon Musk in much detail, but as the manâs cultural influence has metastasizedâand he continues to spread lies about me on the social media platform that he owns (Twitter/X)âit seems only appropriate to set the record straight. I know that it annoys many in my audience to see me defend myself against attacks that they recognize to be spurious, but they might, nevertheless, find the details of what happened with Elon interesting.
Of all the remarkable people Iâve met, Elon is probably the most likely to remain a world-historical figureâdespite his best efforts to become a clown. He is also the most likely to squander his ample opportunities to live a happy life, ruin his reputation and most important relationships, and produce lasting harm across the globe. None of this was obvious to me when we first met, and I have been quite amazed at Elonâs evolution, both as a man and as an avatar of chaos. The friend I remember did not seem to hunger for public attention. But his engagement with Twitter/X transformed himâto a degree seldom seen outside of Marvel movies or Greek mythology. If Elon is still the man I knew, I can only conclude that I never really knew him.
When we first met, Elon wasnât especially rich or famous. In fact, I recall him teetering on the brink of bankruptcy around 2008, while risking the last of his previous fortune to make payroll at Tesla. At the time, he was living off loans from his friends Larry and Sergey. Once Elon became truly famous, and his personal wealth achieved escape velocity, I was among the first friends he called to discuss his growing security concerns. I put him in touch with Gavin de Becker, who provided his first bodyguards, and recommended other changes to his life. We also went shooting on at least two occasions with Scott Reitz, the finest firearms instructor Iâve ever met. It is an ugly irony that Elonâs repeated targeting of me on Twitter/X has increased my own security concerns. He understands this, of course, but does not seem to care.
So how did we fall out? Let this be a cautionary tale for any of Elonâs friends who might be tempted to tell the great man something he doesnât want to hear:
(1.) When the SARS-CoV-2 virus first invaded our lives in March of 2020, Elon began tweeting in ways that I feared would harm his reputation. I also worried that his tweets might exacerbate the coming public-health emergency. Italy had already fallen off a cliff, and Elon shared the following opinion with his tens of millions of fans :
the coronavirus panic is dumb
As a concerned friend, I sent him a private text:
Hey, brotherâ I really think you need to walk back your coronavirus tweet. I know thereâs a way to parse it that makes sense (âpanicâ is always dumb), but I fear thatâs not the way most people are reading it. You have an enormous platform, and much of the world looks to you as an authority on all things technical. Coronavirus is a very big deal, and if we donât get our act together, weâre going to look just like Italy very soon. If you want to turn some engineers loose on the problem, now would be a good time for a breakthrough in the production of ventilators...
(2.) Elonâs response was, I believe, the first discordant note ever struck in our friendship:
Sam, you of all people should not be concerned about this.
He included a link to a page on the CDC website, indicating that Covid was not even among the top 100 causes of death in the United States. This was a patently silly point to make in the first days of a pandemic.
We continued exchanging texts for at least two hours. If I hadnât known that I was communicating with Elon Musk, I would have thought I was debating someone who lacked any understanding of basic scientific and mathematical concepts, like exponential curves.
(3.) Elon and I didnât converge on a common view of epidemiology over the course of those two hours, but we hit upon a fun compromise: A wager. Elon bet me $1 million dollars (to be given to charity) against a bottle of fancy tequila ($1000) that we wouldnât see as many as 35,000 cases of Covid in the United States (cases, not deaths). The terms of the bet reflected what was, in his estimation, the near certainty (1000 to 1) that he was right. Having already heard credible estimates that there could be 1 million deaths from Covid in the U.S. over the next 12-18 months (these estimates proved fairly accurate), I thought the terms of the bet ridiculousâand quite unfair to Elon. I offered to spot him two orders of magnitude: I was confident that weâd soon have 3.5 million cases of Covid in the U.S. Elon accused me of having lost my mind and insisted that we stick with a ceiling of 35,000.
(4.) We communicated sporadically by text over the next couple of weeks, while the number of reported cases grew. Ominously, Elon dismissed the next batch of data reported by the CDC as merely presumptiveâwhile confirmed cases of Covid, on his account, remained elusive.
(5.) A few weeks later, when the CDC website finally reported 35,000 deaths from Covid in the U.S. and 600,000 cases, I sent Elon the following text:
Is (35,000 deaths + 600,000 cases) > 35,000 cases?
(6.) This text appears to have ended our friendship. Elon never responded, and it was not long before he began maligning me on Twitter for a variety of imaginary offenses. For my part, I eventually started complaining about the startling erosion of his integrity on my podcast, without providing any detail about what had transpired between us.
(7.) At the end of 2022, I abandoned Twitter/X altogether, having recognized the poisonous effect that it had on my lifeâbut also, in large part, because of what I saw it doing to Elon. Iâve been away from the platform for over two years, and yet Elon still attacks me. Occasionally a friend will tell me that Iâm trending there, and the reasons for this are never good. As recently as this week, Elon repeated a defamatory charge about my being a âhypocriteâ for writing a book in defense of honesty and then encouraging people to lie to keep Donald Trump out of the White House. Not only have I never advocated lying to defeat Trump (despite what that misleading clip from the Triggernometry podcast might suggest to naive viewers), Iâve taken great pains to defend Trump from the most damaging lie ever told about him. Elon knows this, because we communicated about the offending clip when it first appeared on Twitter/X. However, he simply does not care that he is defaming a former friend to hundreds of millions of peopleâmany of whom are mentally unstable. On this occasion, he even tagged the incoming president of the United States.
All of this remains socially and professionally awkward, because Elon and I still have many friends in common. Which suggests the terms of another wager that I would happily make, if such a thing were possibleâand I would accept 1000 to 1 odds in Elonâs favor:
I bet that anyone who knows us both knows that I am telling the truth.
Everyone close to Elon must recognize how unethical he has become, and yet they remain silent. Their complicity is understandable, but it is depressing all the same. These otherwise serious and compassionate people know that when Elon attacks private citizens on Twitter/Xâfalsely accusing them of crimes or corruption, celebrating their misfortunesâhe is often causing tangible harm in their lives. Itâs probably still true to say that social media âisnât real life,â until thousands of lunatics learn your home address.
A final absurdity in my case, is that several of the controversial issues that Elon has hurled himself at of lateâand even attacked me overâare ones we agree about. We seem to be in near total alignment on immigration and the problems at the southern border of the U.S. We also share the same concerns about what he calls âthe woke mind virus.â And we fully agree about the manifest evil of the so-called âgrooming-gangs scandalâ in the U.K. The problem with Elon, is that he makes no effort to get his facts straight when discussing any of these topics, and he regularly promotes lies and conspiracy theories manufactured by known bad actors, at scale. (And if grooming were really one of his concerns, itâs strange that he couldnât find anything wrong with Matt Gaetz.)
Elon and I even agree about the foundational importance of free speech. Itâs just that his approach to safeguarding itâamplifying the influence of psychopaths and psychotics, while deplatforming real journalists and his own critics; or savaging the reputations of democratic leaders, while never saying a harsh word about the Chinese Communist Partyâis not something I can support. The man claims to have principles, but he appears to have only moods and impulses.
Any dispassionate observer of Elonâs behavior on Twitter/X can see that there is something seriously wrong with his moral compass, if not his perception of reality. There is simply no excuse for a person with his talents, resources, and opportunities to create so much pointless noise. The callousness and narcissism conveyed by his antics should be impossible for his real friends to ignoreâbut they appear to keep silent, perhaps for fear of losing access to his orbit of influence.
Of course, none of this is to deny that the tens of thousands of brilliant engineers Elon employs are accomplishing extraordinary things. He really is the greatest entrepreneur of our generation. And because of the businesses heâs built, he will likely become the worldâs first trillionaireâperhaps very soon. Since the election of Donald Trump in November, Elonâs wealth has grown by around $200 billion. Thatâs nearly $3 billion a day (and over $100 million an hour). Such astonishing access to resources gives Elon the chanceâand many would argue the responsibilityâto solve enormous problems in our world.
So why spend time spreading lies on X?
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@ f7a1599c:6f2484d5
2025-05-24 20:06:04In March 2020, Lucas was afraid.
The economy was grinding to a halt. Markets were in freefall. In a sweeping response, the Federal Reserve launched an unprecedented interventionâbuying everything from Treasury bonds and mortgages to corporate debt, expanding the money supply by $4 trillion. At the same time, the U.S. government issued over $800 billion in stimulus checks to households across the country.
These extraordinary measures may have averted a wave of business failures and bank runsâbut they came at a cost: currency debasement and rising inflation. Alarmed by the scale of central bank intervention and its consequences for savers, Lucas decided to act.
In a state of mild panic, he withdrew $15,000 from his bank account and bought ten gold coins. Then he took another $10,000 and bought two bitcoins. If the dollar system failed, Lucas wanted something with intrinsic value he could use.
He mentioned his plan to his friend Daniel, who laughed.
âWhy donât you stock up on guns and cigarettes while youâre at it?â Daniel quipped. âThe Fed is doing what it has toâstabilizing the economy in a crisis. Sure, $4 trillion is a lot of money, but it's backed by the most productive economy on Earth. Donât panic. The worldâs not ending.â
To prove his point, Daniel put $25,000 into the S&P 500âright at the pandemic bottom.
And he was right. Literally.
By Spring 2025, the stock market was near all-time highs. The world hadnât ended. The U.S. economy kept moving, more or less as usual. Danielâs investment had nearly tripledâhis $25,000 had grown to $65,000.
But oddly enough, Lucasâ seemingly panicked reaction had been both prudent and profitable.
His gold coins had climbed from $1,500 to $3,300 apieceâa 120% gain. Bitcoin had soared from $5,000 to $90,000, making his two coins worth $180,000. Altogether, Lucasâs $25,000 allocation had grown to $213,000âa nearly 10x return. And his goal wasnât even profit. It was safety.
With that kind of fortune, youâd expect Lucas to feel confident, even serene. He had more than enough to preserve his purchasing power, even in the face of years of inflation.
But in the spring of 2025, Lucas felt anything but calm.
He was uneasyâgripped by a sense that the 2020 crisis hadnât been a conclusion, but a prelude.
In his mind, 2020 was just the latest chapter in a troubling sequence: the Asian financial crisis in 1998, the global financial crisis in 2008, the pandemic shock of 2020. Each crisis had been more sudden, more sweeping, and more dependent on emergency measures than the last.
And Lucas couldnât shake the feeling that the next actâwhenever it cameâwould be more disruptive, more severe, and far more damaging.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2025-01-19 21:48:49The recent shutdown of TikTok in the United States due to a potential government ban serves as a stark reminder how fragile centralized platforms truly are under the surface. While these platforms offer convenience, a more polished user experience, and connectivity, they are ultimately beholden to governments, corporations, and other authorities. This makes them vulnerable to censorship, regulation, and outright bans. In contrast, Nostr represents a shift in how we approach online communication and content sharing. Built on the principles of decentralization and user choice, Nostr cannot be banned, because it is not a platformâit is a protocol.
PROTOCOLS, NOT PLATFORMS.
At the heart of Nostr's philosophy is user choice, a feature that fundamentally sets it apart from legacy platforms. In centralized systems, the user experience is dictated by a single person or governing entity. If the platform decides to filter, censor, or ban specific users or content, individuals are left with little action to rectify the situation. They must either accept the changes or abandon the platform entirely, often at the cost of losing their social connections, their data, and their identity.
What's happening with TikTok could never happen on Nostr. With Nostr, the dynamics are completely different. Because it is a protocol, not a platform, no single entity controls the ecosystem. Instead, the protocol enables a network of applications and relays that users can freely choose from. If a particular application or relay implements policies that a user disagrees with, such as censorship, filtering, or even government enforced banning, they are not trapped or abandoned. They have the freedom to move to another application or relay with minimal effort.
THIS IS POWERFUL.
Take, for example, the case of a relay that decides to censor specific content. On a legacy platform, this would result in frustration and a loss of access for users. On Nostr, however, users can simply connect to a different relay that does not impose such restrictions. Similarly, if an application introduces features or policies that users dislike, they can migrate to a different application that better suits their preferences, all while retaining their identity and social connections.
The same principles apply to government bans and censorship. A government can ban a specific application or even multiple applications, just as it can block one relay or several relays. China has implemented both tactics, yet Chinese users continue to exist and actively participate on Nostr, demonstrating Nostr's ability to resistant censorship.
How? Simply, it turns into a game of whack-a-mole. When one relay is censored, another quickly takes its place. When one application is banned, another emerges. Users can also bypass these obstacles by running their own relays and applications directly from their homes or personal devices, eliminating reliance on larger entities or organizations and ensuring continuous access.
AGAIN, THIS IS POWERUFL.
Nostr's open and decentralized design makes it resistant to the kinds of government intervention that led to TikTok's outages this weekend and potential future ban in the next 90 days. There is no central server to target, no company to regulate, and no single point of failure. (Insert your CEO jokes here). As long as there are individuals running relays and applications, users continue creating notes and sending zaps.
Platforms like TikTok can be silenced with the stroke of a pen, leaving millions of users disconnected and abandoned. Social communication should not be silenced so incredibly easily. No one should have that much power over social interactions.
Will we on-board a massive wave of TikTokers in the coming hours or days? I don't know.
TikTokers may not be ready for Nostr yet, and honestly, Nostr may not be ready for them either. The ecosystem still lacks the completely polished applications, tools, and services theyâre accustomed to. This is where we say "we're still early". They may not be early adopters like the current Nostr user base. Until we bridge that gap, theyâll likely move to the next centralized platform, only to face another government ban or round of censorship in the future. But eventually, there will come a tipping point, a moment when theyâve had enough. When that time comes, I hope weâre prepared. If weâre not, we risk missing a tremendous opportunity to onboard people who genuinely need Nostrâs freedom.
Until then, to all of the Nostr developers out there, keep up the great work and keep building. Your hard work and determination is needed.
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@ c9badfea:610f861a
2025-05-20 19:49:20- Install Sky Map (it's free and open source)
- Launch the app and tap Accept, then tap OK
- When asked to access the device's location, tap While Using The App
- Tap somewhere on the screen to activate the menu, then tap â and select Settings
- Disable Send Usage Statistics
- Return to the main screen and enjoy stargazing!
âšď¸ Use the đ icon in the upper toolbar to search for a specific celestial body, or tap the đď¸ icon to activate night mode
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2025-01-05 03:32:27EVERYDAY STACKING GUIDE
Let me break it down for you: stacking sats is about building your Bitcoin stash little by little. You do not need to make some massive play or wait for the perfect opportunity. It is about finding simple, steady ways to add to your stack, no matter what your situation looks like. And the best part? There are so many ways to do it, whether you are creating something, connecting with folks directly, or just using tools that reward you. Let us dive into how you can stack sats consistently, keeping it decentralized and peer-to-peer whenever possible.
You have got platforms like Stacker News where you can earn sats just by being part of the conversation. Think of it as Bitcoinâs answer to Reddit. You share something valuable, comment on posts, or just engage with the community, and next thing you know, you have got some sats coming your way. It is simple, and it is steady. Plus, it feels good to know your thoughts and contributions are being rewarded.
Then there is Nostr, a decentralized social platform that is making waves. It is built to connect people directly, and it ties in Bitcoin through the Lightning Network. The coolest thing? You can get tipped, or âzapped,â for your posts, notes, or anything you put out there. This is not about big corporations taking a cut; it is people showing love directly. Share your ideas, your art, your insights, and watch your stack grow while connecting with a global community.
Now, let us talk about Fold. It is a little different but still fun. You spin their rewards wheel every day, and you will earn a few sats. Sometimes it is a little, sometimes it is more, but it all adds up. If you are using their Bitcoin rewards debit card for your regular spending, you are earning even more. Sure, it is not 100 percent decentralized, but it is an easy way to stack sats while handling your everyday purchases.
For creators, platforms like Zap.Stream are opening doors. Imagine streaming your work, whether it is music, art, teaching, or something else, and getting paid directly in Bitcoin by your audience. No middlemen, no fuss. It is all about connecting directly with the people who support you and earning sats in real time.
And do not forget about selling something for Bitcoin. Whether it is handmade crafts, digital products, or your services, there is always a way to find buyers who want to pay in sats. Platforms that focus on Bitcoin marketplaces make it easier to connect with those folks. Plus, it is a true peer-to-peer exchange, keeping it aligned with the decentralized spirit of Bitcoin.
If you are freelancing, there are options to get paid in Bitcoin directly. Whether you are designing, coding, writing, or consulting, there are platforms that let you bypass the banks and get your payment straight into your wallet. It is quick, efficient, and keeps you in control of your money.
And let us talk about the small, passive ways to stack sats. Cashback apps like Lolli let you earn Bitcoin on everyday purchases. It might not be a huge amount, but those little bits add up over time. If you are already spending the money, why not get some sats back for it?
The real key here is consistency. Set a goal for yourself, whether it is adding sats daily or weekly, and stick to it. Even if it is just a few hundred sats here and there, it is progress. Those small steps add up over time and can turn into something meaningful.
Why focus on decentralized and peer-to-peer methods? Because that is what Bitcoin is all about. It is about staying true to the values of self-sovereignty and financial freedom. By avoiding centralized systems, you are not just stacking sats; you are strengthening the Bitcoin ecosystem itself.
Stacking sats is not about getting rich overnight. It is a journey. It is about building your stash, supporting the Bitcoin movement, and claiming your financial independence bit by bit. Whether it is through sharing content, selling products, or using new platforms, the mission stays the same: keep adding to your stack, little by little. And remember, every sat counts.
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@ b2d670de:907f9d4a
2025-02-28 16:39:38onion-service-nostr-relays
A list of nostr relays exposed as onion services.
The list
| Relay name | Description | Onion url | Operator | Payment URL | Payment options | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | nostr.oxtr.dev | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.oxtr.dev | ws://oxtrdevav64z64yb7x6rjg4ntzqjhedm5b5zjqulugknhzr46ny2qbad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.snort.social | Same relay as clearnet relay relay.snort.social | wss://skzzn6cimfdv5e2phjc4yr5v7ikbxtn5f7dkwn5c7v47tduzlbosqmqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.thesamecat.io | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.thesamecat.io | ws://2jsnlhfnelig5acq6iacydmzdbdmg7xwunm4xl6qwbvzacw4lwrjmlyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.land | The nostr.land paid relay (same as clearnet) | ws://nostrland2gdw7g3y77ctftovvil76vquipymo7tsctlxpiwknevzfid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | bitcoiner.social | No auth required, currently | ws://bitcoinr6de5lkvx4tpwdmzrdfdpla5sya2afwpcabjup2xpi5dulbad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.westernbtc.com | The westernbtc.com paid relay | ws://westbtcebhgi4ilxxziefho6bqu5lqwa5ncfjefnfebbhx2cwqx5knyd.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | freelay.sovbit.host | Free relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitm2enxfr5ot6qscwy5ermdffbqscy66wirkbsigvcshumyzbbqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.sovbit.host | Paid relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitgz5uqyh7jwcsudq4sspxlj4kbnurvd3xarkkx2use3k6rlibqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.wine | đˇ nostr.wine relay | ws://nostrwinemdptvqukjttinajfeedhf46hfd5bz2aj2q5uwp7zros3nad.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC, Credit Card/CashApp (Stripe) | | inbox.nostr.wine | đˇ inbox.nostr.wine relay | ws://wineinboxkayswlofkugkjwhoyi744qvlzdxlmdvwe7cei2xxy4gc6ad.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC | | filter.nostr.wine | đˇ filter.nostr.wine proxy relay | ws://winefiltermhqixxzmnzxhrmaufpnfq3rmjcl6ei45iy4aidrngpsyid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC | | N/A | N/A | ws://pzfw4uteha62iwkzm3lycabk4pbtcr67cg5ymp5i3xwrpt3t24m6tzad.onion:81 | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.fractalized.net | Free relay for fractalized.net | ws://xvgox2zzo7cfxcjrd2llrkthvjs5t7efoalu34s6lmkqhvzvrms6ipyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nfrelay.app | nfrelay.app aggregator relay (nostr-filter-relay) | ws://nfrelay6saohkmipikquvrn6d64dzxivhmcdcj4d5i7wxis47xwsriyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | relay.nostr.net | Public relay from nostr.net (Same as clearnet) | ws://nostrnetl6yd5whkldj3vqsxyyaq3tkuspy23a3qgx7cdepb4564qgqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nerostrator | Free to read, pay XMR to relay | ws://nerostrrgb5fhj6dnzhjbgmnkpy2berdlczh6tuh2jsqrjok3j4zoxid.onion | operator |Payment URL | XMR | | nostr.girino.org | Public relay from nostr.girino.org | ws://gnostr2jnapk72mnagq3cuykfon73temzp77hcbncn4silgt77boruid.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | wot.girino.org | WoT relay from wot.girino.org | ws://girwot2koy3kvj6fk7oseoqazp5vwbeawocb3m27jcqtah65f2fkl3yd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | haven.girino.org/{outbox, inbox, chat, private} | Haven smart relay from haven.girino.org | ws://ghaven2hi3qn2riitw7ymaztdpztrvmm337e2pgkacfh3rnscaoxjoad.onion/{outbox, inbox, chat, private} | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.nostpy.lol | Free Web of Trust relay (Same as clearnet) | ws://pemgkkqjqjde7y2emc2hpxocexugbixp42o4zymznil6zfegx5nfp4id.onion | operator |N/A | N/A | | Poster.place Nostr Relay | N/A | ws://dmw5wbawyovz7fcahvguwkw4sknsqsalffwctioeoqkvvy7ygjbcuoad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | Azzamo Relay | Azzamo Premium Nostr relay. (paid) | ws://q6a7m5qkyonzb5fk5yv4jyu3ar44hqedn7wjopg737lit2ckkhx2nyid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | Azzamo Inbox Relay | Azzamo Group and Private message relay. (Freemium) | ws://gp5kiwqfw7t2fwb3rfts2aekoph4x7pj5pv65re2y6hzaujsxewanbqd.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | Noderunners Relay | The official Noderunners Nostr Relay. | ws://35vr3xigzjv2xyzfyif6o2gksmkioppy4rmwag7d4bqmwuccs2u4jaid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN |
Contributing
Contributions are encouraged to keep this document alive. Just open a PR and I'll have it tested and merged. The onion URL is the only mandatory column, the rest is just nice-to-have metadata about the relay. Put
N/A
in empty columns.If you want to contribute anonymously, please contact me on SimpleX or send a DM on nostr using a disposable npub.
Operator column
It is generally preferred to use something that includes a NIP-19 string, either just the string or a url that contains the NIP-19 string in it (e.g. an njump url).
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@ 82a7a1ff:2c1e9cdf
2025-05-19 18:18:31Whatever
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@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-20 15:53:48This 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.
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@ 65912a7a:5dc638bf
2024-12-08 05:33:02Chef's notes
This is my late partner's award winning Cajun rice & beans recipe. It's an updated take on the traditional Cajun comfort food.
Chef Darin was a classically trained chef who spent 30+ years in the kitchen perfecting his recipes, and delivering authentic Cajun and Creole food to his patrons. This is a 5-star dish that will earn the respect of the most discerning Cajun afficionado. You won't be disappointed.
I suggest making this recipe exactly as directed the first time, and then make whatever adjustments you want for future batches. Also, don't cheap out on the Andouille. No Johnsonville or Hillshire Farms. Chef Aidelle's is a good choice, as is Silva's from Whole Foods. They cost a few extra bucks, but it's absolutely worth it.
Details
- â˛ď¸ Prep time: 30 min
- đł Cook time: 3 hours
- đ˝ď¸ Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 16oz small red beans, dry
- 2 cups long grain white rice
- 14-16oz andouille sausage, sliced
- 8oz ham, cubed
- 1 large yellow onion, chopped
- 1 green bell pepper, chopped
- 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
- 2 tbsp garlic (12 cloves), minced
- 7 cups water
- Âź cup olive oil
- 2 large bay leaves
- 1 tbsp parsley, dried
- 1 tsp thyme, dried
- 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
- ½ tsp cayenne pepper, dried
- Âź tsp sage, rubbed
- 1½ tsp salt (more or less to taste)
Directions
- Soak beans in a large pot of water overnight.
- Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic in olive oil for 3 to 4 minutes (until onion is translucent).
- Add beans, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, salt, MSG, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, Sage, and water. Stir, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-low (btwn 2-3). Cover and simmer for 2½ hours.
- Remove bay leaves. Mash some of the beans. Stir Andouille and ham into beans, and simmer uncovered for an additional 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare the rice. Bring water and rice to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
- Serve beans over steamed white rice.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-16 13:20:33::youtube{#Pex7jW3Tqwo}
Developer SHIFT UP has announced that their latest titled, Stellar Blade, that was released on PS5 on the 2024, will release on PC via Steam and EGS on the 11th of June 2025.
The game will be priced at $60, and $80 for the edition of the game that includes the 'Twin Expansion Pack', which includes the NieR: Automata DLC and the Goddess of Victory: Nikke DLC, and a key to redeem a Stellar Blade costume in the developer's previous Free-to-Play title Goddess of Victory: Nikke.
The trailer released to announce said release date also showcases the changes the made for the game and highlight PC specific enhancements, support, and options.
It's worth noting, in terms of negative news that tagged along with this, that the game will have Denuvo running, which there are evidence that decreases a game's performance, and may prevent you from playing the game offline. The game will also have an optional PSN account login, and because of this, the game is not available for purchase in around 130 countries. There's also an exclusive outfit locked behind a PSN-to-Steam account linking.
Here's the system requirements:
| | Minimum | Recommended | High | Very High | | ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------- | | Average Performance | 1080P at 60 frames per second | 1440P at 60 frames per second | 1440P at 60 frames per second | 4K at 60 frames per second | | Graphic Presets | Low | Medium | High | Very High | | CPU | Intel Core i5-7600K AMD Ryzen 5 1600X | Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 5 3600X | Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 5 3600X | Intel Core i5-8400 AMD Ryzen 5 3600X | | GPU | NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 6GB AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 SUPER AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT | NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 AMD Radeon RX 7900 XT | | RAM | 16GB | 16GB | 16GB | 16GB | | Storage | 75GB HDD (SSD Recommended) | 75GB SSD | 75GB SSD | 75GB SSD | | OS | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit | Windows 10 64-bit |
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@ 460c25e6:ef85065c
2025-02-25 15:20:39If you don't know where your posts are, you might as well just stay in the centralized Twitter. You either take control of your relay lists, or they will control you. Amethyst offers several lists of relays for our users. We are going to go one by one to help clarify what they are and which options are best for each one.
Public Home/Outbox Relays
Home relays store all YOUR content: all your posts, likes, replies, lists, etc. It's your home. Amethyst will send your posts here first. Your followers will use these relays to get new posts from you. So, if you don't have anything there, they will not receive your updates.
Home relays must allow queries from anyone, ideally without the need to authenticate. They can limit writes to paid users without affecting anyone's experience.
This list should have a maximum of 3 relays. More than that will only make your followers waste their mobile data getting your posts. Keep it simple. Out of the 3 relays, I recommend: - 1 large public, international relay: nos.lol, nostr.mom, relay.damus.io, etc. - 1 personal relay to store a copy of all your content in a place no one can delete. Go to relay.tools and never be censored again. - 1 really fast relay located in your country: paid options like http://nostr.wine are great
Do not include relays that block users from seeing posts in this list. If you do, no one will see your posts.
Public Inbox Relays
This relay type receives all replies, comments, likes, and zaps to your posts. If you are not getting notifications or you don't see replies from your friends, it is likely because you don't have the right setup here. If you are getting too much spam in your replies, it's probably because your inbox relays are not protecting you enough. Paid relays can filter inbox spam out.
Inbox relays must allow anyone to write into them. It's the opposite of the outbox relay. They can limit who can download the posts to their paid subscribers without affecting anyone's experience.
This list should have a maximum of 3 relays as well. Again, keep it small. More than that will just make you spend more of your data plan downloading the same notifications from all these different servers. Out of the 3 relays, I recommend: - 1 large public, international relay: nos.lol, nostr.mom, relay.damus.io, etc. - 1 personal relay to store a copy of your notifications, invites, cashu tokens and zaps. - 1 really fast relay located in your country: go to nostr.watch and find relays in your country
Terrible options include: - nostr.wine should not be here. - filter.nostr.wine should not be here. - inbox.nostr.wine should not be here.
DM Inbox Relays
These are the relays used to receive DMs and private content. Others will use these relays to send DMs to you. If you don't have it setup, you will miss DMs. DM Inbox relays should accept any message from anyone, but only allow you to download them.
Generally speaking, you only need 3 for reliability. One of them should be a personal relay to make sure you have a copy of all your messages. The others can be open if you want push notifications or closed if you want full privacy.
Good options are: - inbox.nostr.wine and auth.nostr1.com: anyone can send messages and only you can download. Not even our push notification server has access to them to notify you. - a personal relay to make sure no one can censor you. Advanced settings on personal relays can also store your DMs privately. Talk to your relay operator for more details. - a public relay if you want DM notifications from our servers.
Make sure to add at least one public relay if you want to see DM notifications.
Private Home Relays
Private Relays are for things no one should see, like your drafts, lists, app settings, bookmarks etc. Ideally, these relays are either local or require authentication before posting AND downloading each user\'s content. There are no dedicated relays for this category yet, so I would use a local relay like Citrine on Android and a personal relay on relay.tools.
Keep in mind that if you choose a local relay only, a client on the desktop might not be able to see the drafts from clients on mobile and vice versa.
Search relays:
This is the list of relays to use on Amethyst's search and user tagging with @. Tagging and searching will not work if there is nothing here.. This option requires NIP-50 compliance from each relay. Hit the Default button to use all available options on existence today: - nostr.wine - relay.nostr.band - relay.noswhere.com
Local Relays:
This is your local storage. Everything will load faster if it comes from this relay. You should install Citrine on Android and write ws://localhost:4869 in this option.
General Relays:
This section contains the default relays used to download content from your follows. Notice how you can activate and deactivate the Home, Messages (old-style DMs), Chat (public chats), and Global options in each.
Keep 5-6 large relays on this list and activate them for as many categories (Home, Messages (old-style DMs), Chat, and Global) as possible.
Amethyst will provide additional recommendations to this list from your follows with information on which of your follows might need the additional relay in your list. Add them if you feel like you are missing their posts or if it is just taking too long to load them.
My setup
Here's what I use: 1. Go to relay.tools and create a relay for yourself. 2. Go to nostr.wine and pay for their subscription. 3. Go to inbox.nostr.wine and pay for their subscription. 4. Go to nostr.watch and find a good relay in your country. 5. Download Citrine to your phone.
Then, on your relay lists, put:
Public Home/Outbox Relays: - nostr.wine - nos.lol or an in-country relay. -
.nostr1.com Public Inbox Relays - nos.lol or an in-country relay -
.nostr1.com DM Inbox Relays - inbox.nostr.wine -
.nostr1.com Private Home Relays - ws://localhost:4869 (Citrine) -
.nostr1.com (if you want) Search Relays - nostr.wine - relay.nostr.band - relay.noswhere.com
Local Relays - ws://localhost:4869 (Citrine)
General Relays - nos.lol - relay.damus.io - relay.primal.net - nostr.mom
And a few of the recommended relays from Amethyst.
Final Considerations
Remember, relays can see what your Nostr client is requesting and downloading at all times. They can track what you see and see what you like. They can sell that information to the highest bidder, they can delete your content or content that a sponsor asked them to delete (like a negative review for instance) and they can censor you in any way they see fit. Before using any random free relay out there, make sure you trust its operator and you know its terms of service and privacy policies.
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@ 15cf81d4:b328e146
2025-05-24 19:19:46Losing access to your cryptocurrency can feel like losing a part of your future. Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, a damaged seed backup, or a simple mistake in a transfer, the stress can be overwhelming. Fortunately, cryptrecver.com is here to assist! With our expert-led recovery services, you can safely and swiftly reclaim your lost Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Why Trust Crypt Recver? đ¤ đ ď¸ Expert Recovery Solutions At Crypt Recver, we specialize in addressing complex wallet-related issues. Our skilled engineers have the tools and expertise to handle:
Partially lost or forgotten seed phrases Extracting funds from outdated or invalid wallet addresses Recovering data from damaged hardware wallets Restoring coins from old or unsupported wallet formats Youâre not just getting a service; youâre gaining a partner in your cryptocurrency journey.
đ Fast and Efficient Recovery We understand that time is crucial in crypto recovery. Our optimized systems enable you to regain access to your funds quickly, focusing on speed without compromising security. With a success rate of over 90%, you can rely on us to act swiftly on your behalf.
đ Privacy is Our Priority Your confidentiality is essential. Every recovery session is conducted with the utmost care, ensuring all processes are encrypted and confidential. You can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private.
đť Advanced Technology Our proprietary tools and brute-force optimization techniques maximize recovery efficiency. Regardless of how challenging your case may be, our technology is designed to give you the best chance at retrieving your crypto.
Our Recovery Services Include: đ Bitcoin Recovery: Lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? We help recover lost wallets, private keys, and passphrases. Transaction Recovery: Mistakes happen â whether itâs an incorrect wallet address or a lost password, let us manage the recovery. Cold Wallet Restoration: If your cold wallet is failing, we can safely extract your assets and migrate them into a secure new wallet. Private Key Generation: Lost your private key? Our experts can help you regain control using advanced methods while ensuring your privacy. â ď¸ What We Donât Do While we can handle many scenarios, some limitations exist. For instance, we cannot recover funds stored in custodial wallets or cases where there is a complete loss of four or more seed words without partial information available. We are transparent about whatâs possible, so you know what to expect
Donât Let Lost Crypto Hold You Back! Did you know that between 3 to 3.4 million BTC â nearly 20% of the total supply â are estimated to be permanently lost? Donât become part of that statistic! Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, sending funds to the wrong address, or damaged drives, we can help you navigate these challenges
đĄď¸ Real-Time Dust Attack Protection Our services extend beyond recovery. We offer dust attack protection, keeping your activity anonymous and your funds secure, shielding your identity from unwanted tracking, ransomware, and phishing attempts.
đ Start Your Recovery Journey Today! Ready to reclaim your lost crypto? Donât wait until itâs too late! đ cryptrecver.com
đ Need Immediate Assistance? Connect with Us! For real-time support or questions, reach out to our dedicated team on: âď¸ Telegram: t.me/crypptrcver đŹ WhatsApp: +1(941)317â1821
Crypt Recver is your trusted partner in cryptocurrency recovery. Let us turn your challenges into victories. Donât hesitate â your crypto future starts now! đâ¨
Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.Losing access to your cryptocurrency can feel like losing a part of your future. Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, a damaged seed backup, or a simple mistake in a transfer, the stress can be overwhelming. Fortunately, cryptrecver.com is here to assist! With our expert-led recovery services, you can safely and swiftly reclaim your lost Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
# Why Trust Crypt Recver? đ¤
đ ď¸Â Expert Recovery Solutions\ At Crypt Recver, we specialize in addressing complex wallet-related issues. Our skilled engineers have the tools and expertise to handle:
- Partially lost or forgotten seed phrases
- Extracting funds from outdated or invalid wallet addresses
- Recovering data from damaged hardware wallets
- Restoring coins from old or unsupported wallet formats
Youâre not just getting a service; youâre gaining a partner in your cryptocurrency journey.
đ Fast and Efficient Recovery\ We understand that time is crucial in crypto recovery. Our optimized systems enable you to regain access to your funds quickly, focusing on speed without compromising security. With a success rate of over 90%, you can rely on us to act swiftly on your behalf.
đ Privacy is Our Priority\ Your confidentiality is essential. Every recovery session is conducted with the utmost care, ensuring all processes are encrypted and confidential. You can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private.
đťÂ Advanced Technology\ Our proprietary tools and brute-force optimization techniques maximize recovery efficiency. Regardless of how challenging your case may be, our technology is designed to give you the best chance at retrieving your crypto.
Our Recovery Services Include: đ
- Bitcoin Recovery:Â Lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? We help recover lost wallets, private keys, and passphrases.
- Transaction Recovery:Â Mistakes happen â whether itâs an incorrect wallet address or a lost password, let us manage the recovery.
- Cold Wallet Restoration:Â If your cold wallet is failing, we can safely extract your assets and migrate them into a secure new wallet.
- Private Key Generation:Â Lost your private key? Our experts can help you regain control using advanced methods while ensuring your privacy.
â ď¸Â What We Donât Do\ While we can handle many scenarios, some limitations exist. For instance, we cannot recover funds stored in custodial wallets or cases where there is a complete loss of four or more seed words without partial information available. We are transparent about whatâs possible, so you know what to expect
# Donât Let Lost Crypto Hold You Back!
Did you know that between 3 to 3.4 million BTC â nearly 20% of the total supply â are estimated to be permanently lost? Donât become part of that statistic! Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, sending funds to the wrong address, or damaged drives, we can help you navigate these challenges
đĄď¸Â Real-Time Dust Attack Protection\ Our services extend beyond recovery. We offer dust attack protection, keeping your activity anonymous and your funds secure, shielding your identity from unwanted tracking, ransomware, and phishing attempts.
đ Start Your Recovery Journey Today!\ Ready to reclaim your lost crypto? Donât wait until itâs too late!\ đ cryptrecver.com
đ Need Immediate Assistance? Connect with Us!\ For real-time support or questions, reach out to our dedicated team on:\ âď¸ Telegram: t.me/crypptrcver\ đŹ WhatsApp: +1(941)317â1821
Crypt Recver is your trusted partner in cryptocurrency recovery. Let us turn your challenges into victories. Donât hesitate â your crypto future starts now! đâ¨
Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.
-
@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-20 15:47:16Hereâs a revised timeline of macro-level events from The Mandibles: A Family, 2029â2047 by Lionel Shriver, reimagined in a world where Bitcoin is adopted as a widely accepted form of money, altering the original narrativeâs assumptions about currency collapse and economic control. In Shriverâs original story, the failure of Bitcoin is assumed amid the dominance of the bancor and the dollarâs collapse. Here, Bitcoinâs success reshapes the economic and societal trajectory, decentralizing power and challenging state-driven outcomes.
Part One: 2029â2032
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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 bancorâa supranational currency backed by a coalition of nationsâstruggles to gain footing as Bitcoinâs decentralized adoption grows among individuals and businesses worldwide, undermining both the dollar and the bancor.
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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 unenforceableâits decentralized nature thwarts confiscation efforts, unlike gold in the original story. Hyperinflation hits the dollar as the U.S. prints money, but Bitcoinâs fixed supply shields adopters from currency devaluation, creating a dual-economy split: dollar users suffer, while Bitcoin users thrive.
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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 governmentâs gold confiscation fails to bolster the dollar, as Bitcoinâs rise renders gold less relevant.
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2030â2031\ 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.
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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 governmentâs grip slips as tax collection in dollars plummetsâBitcoinâs traceability is low, and citizens evade fiat-based levies. Rural and urban Bitcoin hubs emerge, while the dollar economy remains fractured.
Time Jump: 2032â2047
- 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
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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. Bitcoinâs adoption has decentralized power nationwide. The bancor has faded, unable to compete with Bitcoinâs grassroots momentum.
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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 Bitcoinâs dominance lifts overall prosperity, as its deflationary nature incentivizes saving and investment over consumption. Global supply chains rebound, powered by bitcoin enabled efficiency.
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2047 (Late Year)\ The U.S. is a patchwork of semi-autonomous zones, united by Bitcoinâs universal acceptance rather than federal control. Resource scarcity persists due to past disruptions, but economic stability is higher than in Shriverâs original dystopiaâBitcoinâs success prevents the authoritarian slide, fostering a freer, if imperfect, society.
Key Differences
- Currency Dynamics: Bitcoinâs triumph prevents the bancorâs dominance and mitigates hyperinflationâs 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 worldâless oppressive, though still stratified between Bitcoin haves and have-nots.
This reimagining assumes Bitcoin overcomes Shriverâs implied skepticism to become a robust, adopted currency by 2029, fundamentally altering the novelâs bleak trajectory.
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-06 16:20:33As Bitcoinâs price continues to climb, the value of its smallest unit, the Satoshi, grows with it. Today, owning a million Satoshis is an affordable and wise investmentâespecially as Bitcoin reaches new heights. Hereâs why a million Satoshis should be the minimum amount everyone owns and why cold storage is key to securing your future.
- Affordability and Future Value
While owning one full Bitcoin might seem out of reach for many, owning one million Satoshis is much more achievable. As Bitcoin continues to rise in value, a million Satoshis, which is currently worth around $250, could become worth $10,000 or more in the future. This makes owning a million Satoshis not just an entry into Bitcoin, but a solid step toward securing future wealth.
- A World Priced in Sats
Imagine a future where goods and services are priced in Satoshis. As Bitcoin gains widespread adoption, this scenario is becoming more likely. With Bitcoin potentially surpassing $1 million per coin, one million Satoshis will be worth a significant sum in the future. By owning this amount now, youâre setting yourself up for a future where everyday transactions are measured in Sats, ensuring your financial independence.
- A Hedge Against Inflation
With fiat currencies losing value over time, Bitcoin offers a deflationary alternative. Owning Satoshis is like holding a form of âsound moneyâ that protects you from inflationary pressures. As Bitcoinâs value continues to grow, your Satoshis could outpace inflation, preserving your wealth for the long term.
- The Importance of Cold Storage
Storing your Satoshis securely is just as important as owning them. Cold storage solutions, like the Foundation Passport, Coldcard, or Bitkey, offer the highest level of security by keeping your private keys offline. This protects your Bitcoin from online threats, ensuring that your Satoshis remain safe for years to come.
Cold Storage Solutions
⢠Foundation Passport: Portable, secure, and open-source. A great option for long-term Bitcoin storage. ⢠Coldcard: A highly secure hardware wallet that keeps your Bitcoin offline and out of reach from hackers. ⢠Bitkey: A versatile, user-friendly cold storage solution integrated with your smartphone.
A Better Future with Bitcoin
Owning a million Satoshis today is not just about having a small piece of Bitcoinâitâs about securing a financial future where Bitcoin is the standard. Cold storage protects your wealth, and owning Bitcoin positions you to thrive in a decentralized, Bitcoin-driven economy. As Bitcoin continues to evolve, those who embrace it today will be ahead of the curve in a world where wealth is stored in Satoshis.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2025-01-12 21:03:36Iâve been using Notedeck for several months, starting with its extremely early and experimental alpha versions, all the way to its current, more stable alpha releases. The journey has been fascinating, as Iâve had the privilege of watching it evolve from a concept into a functional and promising tool.
In its earliest stages, Notedeck was rawâoffering glimpses of its potential but still far from practical for daily use. Even then, the vision behind it was clear: a platform designed to redefine how we interact with Nostr by offering flexibility and power for all users.
I'm very bullish on Notedeck. Why? Because Will Casarin is making it! Duh! đ
Seriously though, if weâre reimagining the web and rebuilding portions of the Internet, itâs important to recognize the potential of Notedeck. If Nostr is reimagining the web, then Notedeck is reimagining the Nostr client.
Notedeck isnât just another Nostr appâitâs more a Nostr browser that functions more like an operating system with micro-apps. How cool is that?
Much like how Google's Chrome evolved from being a web browser with a task manager into ChromeOS, a full blown operating system, Notedeck aims to transform how we interact with the Nostr. It goes beyond individual apps, offering a foundation for a fully integrated ecosystem built around Nostr.
As a Nostr evangelist, I love to scream INTEROPERABILITY and tout every application's integrations. Well, Notedeck has the potential to be one of the best platforms to showcase these integrations in entirely new and exciting ways.
Do you want an Olas feed of images? Add the media column.
Do you want a feed of live video events? Add the zap.stream column.
Do you want Nostr Nests or audio chats? Add that column to your Notedeck.
Git? Email? Books? Chat and DMs? It's all possible.
Not everyone wants a super app though, and thatâs okay. As with most things in the Nostr ecosystem, flexibility is key. Notedeck gives users the freedom to choose how they engage with itâwhether itâs simply following hashtags or managing straightforward feeds. You'll be able to tailor Notedeck to fit your needs, using it as extensively or minimally as you prefer.
Notedeck is designed with a local-first approach, utilizing Nostr content stored directly on your device via the local nostrdb. This will enable a plethora of advanced tools such as search and filtering, the creation of custom feeds, and the ability to develop personalized algorithms across multiple Notedeck micro-applicationsâall with unparalleled flexibility.
Notedeck also supports multicast. Let's geek out for a second. Multicast is a method of communication where data is sent from one source to multiple destinations simultaneously, but only to devices that wish to receive the data. Unlike broadcast, which sends data to all devices on a network, multicast targets specific receivers, reducing network traffic. This is commonly used for efficient data distribution in scenarios like streaming, conferencing, or large-scale data synchronization between devices.
In a local first world where each device holds local copies of your nostr nodes, and each device transparently syncs with each other on the local network, each node becomes a backup. Your data becomes antifragile automatically. When a node goes down it can resync and recover from other nodes. Even if not all nodes have a complete collection, negentropy can pull down only what is needed from each device. All this can be done without internet.
-Will Casarin
In the context of Notedeck, multicast would allow multiple devices to sync their Nostr nodes with each other over a local network without needing an internet connection. Wild.
Notedeck aims to offer full customization too, including the ability to design and share custom skins, much like Winamp. Users will also be able to create personalized columns and, in the future, share their setups with others. This opens the door for power users to craft tailored Nostr experiences, leveraging their expertise in the protocol and applications. By sharing these configurations as "Starter Decks," they can simplify onboarding and showcase the best of Nostrâs ecosystem.
Nostrâs âOther Stuffâ can often be difficult to discover, use, or understand. Many users doesn't understand or know how to use web browser extensions to login to applications. Let's not even get started with nsecbunkers. Notedeck will address this challenge by providing a native experience that brings these lesser-known applications, tools, and content into a user-friendly and accessible interface, making exploration seamless. However, that doesn't mean Notedeck should disregard power users that want to use nsecbunkers though - hint hint.
For anyone interested in watching Nostr be developed live, right before your very eyes, Notedeckâs progress serves as a reminder of whatâs possible when innovation meets dedication. The current alpha is already demonstrating its ability to handle complex use cases, and Iâm excited to see how it continues to grow as it moves toward a full release later this year.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2025-01-05 18:56:33New Yearâs resolutions often feel boring and repetitive. Most revolve around getting in shape, eating healthier, or giving up alcohol. While the idea is interestingâusing the start of a new calendar year as a catalyst for changeâit also seems unnecessary. Why wait for a specific date to make a change? If you want to improve something in your life, you can just do it. You donât need an excuse.
Thatâs why Iâve never been drawn to the idea of making a list of resolutions. If I wanted a change, Iâd make it happen, without worrying about the calendar. At least, thatâs how I felt until nowâwhen, for once, the timing actually gave me a real reason to embrace the idea of New Yearâs resolutions.
Enter Olas.
If you're a visual creator, you've likely experienced the relentless grind of building a following on platforms like Instagramâendless doomscrolling, ever-changing algorithms, and the constant pressure to stay relevant. But what if there was a better way? Olas is a Nostr-powered alternative to Instagram that prioritizes community, creativity, and value-for-value exchanges. It's a game changer.
Instagramâs failings are well-known. Its algorithm often dictates whose content gets seen, leaving creators frustrated and powerless. Monetization hurdles further alienate creators who are forced to meet arbitrary follower thresholds before earning anything. Additionally, the platformâs design fosters endless comparisons and exposure to negativity, which can take a significant toll on mental health.
Instagramâs algorithms are notorious for keeping users hooked, often at the cost of their mental health. I've spoken about this extensively, most recently at Nostr Valley, explaining how legacy social media is bad for you. You might find yourself scrolling through content that leaves you feeling anxious or drained. Olas takes a fresh approach, replacing "doomscrolling" with "bloomscrolling." This is a common theme across the Nostr ecosystem. The lack of addictive rage algorithms allows the focus to shift to uplifting, positive content that inspires rather than exhausts.
Monetization is another area where Olas will set itself apart. On Instagram, creators face arbitrary barriers to earningâneeding thousands of followers and adhering to restrictive platform rules. Olas eliminates these hurdles by leveraging the Nostr protocol, enabling creators to earn directly through value-for-value exchanges. Fans can support their favorite artists instantly, with no delays or approvals required. The plan is to enable a brand new Olas account that can get paid instantly, with zero followers - that's wild.
Olas addresses these issues head-on. Operating on the open Nostr protocol, it removes centralized control over one's contentâs reach or one's ability to monetize. With transparent, configurable algorithms, and a community that thrives on mutual support, Olas creates an environment where creators can grow and succeed without unnecessary barriers.
Join me on my New Year's resolution. Join me on Olas and take part in the #Olas365 challenge! Itâs a simple yet exciting way to share your content. The challenge is straightforward: post at least one photo per day on Olas (though youâre welcome to share more!).
Download on Android or download via Zapstore.
Let's make waves together.
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-06 16:07:53In a world that often rewards conformity, being open-minded can be a radical act. It is a choice to embrace curiosity, challenge assumptions, and allow life to surprise you. When we open our minds, we invite new possibilitiesânot just in the realm of ideas but in every aspect of existence, from consciousness expansion to financial freedom with Bitcoin, and even finding a life partner. Letâs explore how this mindset can transform your reality.
- Open-Mindedness and Consciousness
The first step to expanding consciousness is realizing how much there is to learn. By questioning the default narratives weâve inheritedâabout who we are, why weâre here, and what reality itself meansâwe create space for deeper awareness.
This could involve practices like meditation, exploring alternative philosophies, or studying ancient wisdom traditions like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). These practices teach us that the mind is not a fixed entity but a fluid and evolving tool. When we let go of rigid beliefs, we begin to notice synchronicities, experience heightened awareness, and even tap into higher states of being.
Being open-minded in this sense doesnât mean blindly accepting everything; it means cultivating discernment while remaining curious. Itâs in this openness that we discover the profound interconnectedness of all things.
- Bitcoin: Financial Freedom through Innovation
For many, Bitcoin is a misunderstood or intimidating concept. But being open-minded to alternative systems can lead to incredible breakthroughsânot just financially but philosophically. Bitcoin isnât just âdigital moneyâ; it represents decentralization, transparency, and freedom from traditional financial systems that have long prioritized the few over the many.
Adopting Bitcoin often requires a mental shift. Itâs not about chasing short-term gains but about understanding the principles of sound money, scarcity, and peer-to-peer networks. For those willing to question how money works and why it matters, Bitcoin offers an opportunity to participate in a financial revolution that empowers individuals.
Openness to Bitcoin can also reshape your mindset toward technology, personal sovereignty, and global collaboration. Itâs not just a currency; itâs a philosophy of trust and innovation.
- Finding Love Through Open-Mindedness
The search for a life partner often mirrors our internal beliefs about ourselves and others. An open mind can transform how we approach relationships, making space for unexpected connections.
When we let go of rigid expectationsâabout what our partner âshouldâ look like, where weâll meet them, or how a relationship should progressâwe allow love to unfold organically. Sometimes, the most wonderful spouse enters our lives when we least expect it, perhaps through a chance encounter or shared passion.
Open-mindedness in love also means being willing to grow together, embracing differences, and learning from one another. Itâs about building a relationship rooted in mutual respect, curiosity, and the belief that you can continually discover new facets of your partner (and yourself) over time.
Final Thoughts: The Ripple Effect of Open-Mindedness
Whether itâs exploring consciousness, adopting Bitcoin, or finding a wonderful spouse, being open-minded is a skill that creates ripple effects across all areas of life. Itâs not just about embracing new ideasâitâs about living with the belief that the universe has infinite possibilities waiting for you to discover.
By opening your mind, you open doors: to deeper awareness, financial independence, and love that feels like home. The more you explore, the more you realize that being open-minded doesnât just expand your worldâit transforms it.
So, the next time youâre faced with something unfamiliar or challenging, ask yourself: What could I learn if I let myself be curious?
On this journey, everything becomes possible.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-14 15:16:01::youtube{#1JDOzCUinPg}
Digital Happiness has announced DreadOut 3, a third-person horror adventure game, which will be released on PC (Steam).
DreadOut 3 is a third-person horror adventure inspired by Asian - Indonesian urban legend. Follow Lindaâs journey as Keepers of the Dark into an interdimensional rabbit hole to find the source of unseen power threatening the balance of light and darkness. This spine-chilling sequel expands on the cult hit original, making DreadOut 3 another terrifying chapter in the world of the unseen.
They've also released a short playtest gameplay footage of the game in its pre-alpha state.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-12-31 17:03:46Here are my predictions for Nostr in 2025:
Decentralization: The outbox and inbox communication models, sometimes referred to as the Gossip model, will become the standard across the ecosystem. By the end of 2025, all major clients will support these models, providing seamless communication and enhanced decentralization. Clients that do not adopt outbox/inbox by then will be regarded as outdated or legacy systems.
Privacy Standards: Major clients such as Damus and Primal will move away from NIP-04 DMs, adopting more secure protocol possibilities like NIP-17 or NIP-104. These upgrades will ensure enhanced encryption and metadata protection. Additionally, NIP-104 MLS tools will drive the development of new clients and features, providing users with unprecedented control over the privacy of their communications.
Interoperability: Nostr's ecosystem will become even more interconnected. Platforms like the Olas image-sharing service will expand into prominent clients such as Primal, Damus, Coracle, and Snort, alongside existing integrations with Amethyst, Nostur, and Nostrudel. Similarly, audio and video tools like Nostr Nests and Zap.stream will gain seamless integration into major clients, enabling easy participation in live events across the ecosystem.
Adoption and Migration: Inspired by early pioneers like Fountain and Orange Pill App, more platforms will adopt Nostr for authentication, login, and social systems. In 2025, a significant migration from a high-profile application platform with hundreds of thousands of users will transpire, doubling Nostrâs daily activity and establishing it as a cornerstone of decentralized technologies.
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@ 4fe4a528:3ff6bf06
2025-02-01 13:41:28In my last article I wrote about NOSTR. I found another local bitcoiner via NOSTR last week so here is why it is important to join / use NOSTR â start telling people âLook me up on NOSTRâ
Self-sovereign identity (SSI) is a revolutionary approach to digital identity that puts individuals in control of their own identity and personal data. Unlike traditional digital identity models, which rely on third-party organizations to manage and authenticate identities, SSI empowers individuals to own and manage their digital identity.
This approach is made possible by emerging technologies such as secure public / private key pairs. Decentralized identifiers, conceived and developed by nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 is an attempt to create a global technical standard around cryptographically secured identifiers - a secure, universal, and sovereign form of digital ID. This technology uses peer-to-peer technology to remove the need for intermediaries to own and authenticate ID information.
Notably, NOSTR, a decentralized protocol, has already begun to utilize decentralized IDs, demonstrating the potential of this technology in real-world applications. Via NOSTR, users can be sure that the person or computer publishing to a particular npub knows their nsec (password for your npub), highlighting the secure and decentralized nature of this approach.
With SSI, individuals can decide how their personal data is used, shared, and protected, giving them greater control and agency over their digital lives.
The benefits of SSI are numerous, including:
Enhanced security and protection of personal data. Reduced risk of identity theft and fraud Increased autonomy and agency over one's digital identity. Improved scalability and flexibility in digital identity management
challenges:
Ensuring the security and integrity of decentralized identity systems. Developing standards and protocols for interoperability and compatibility. Addressing concerns around ownership and control of personal data. Balancing individual autonomy with the need for verification and authentication in various contexts.
Overall, self-sovereign identity has the potential to transform the way we think about digital identity and provide individuals with greater control and agency over their personal data. Without people in control of their bitcoin seed words no freedom loving people would be able to exchange their money with others. Yes, keep enjoying using the only free market on the planet BITCOIN. Long live FREEDOM!
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-06 15:47:43The financial markets are at a crossroads. With SPY trading at $608 and QQQ at $525, these flagship ETFs are steadily moving toward the $1,000 per share milestone. While the milestone itself is symbolic, its implications for investors and the broader market could be transformative.
For many retail investors, high share pricesâdespite the availability of fractional sharesâcreate a psychological barrier. Investors instinctively perceive higher prices as less accessible, even if the value proposition remains unchanged. This perception challenges the traditional market and raises the question:
How will markets adapt as SPY and QQQ continue their climb toward $1,000 per share?
Letâs explore two potential paths forward, including how Bitcoin ETFs and direct Bitcoin ownership could reshape how we invest and define âThe Market.â
- New Standardized Products for Retail Investors
When SPY and QQQ reach higher price levels, markets will likely introduce new products to maintain accessibility. This adaptation wouldnât be unprecedented. For example, Fidelityâs FNILX, a zero-expense index fund that tracks the S&P 500, provides a low-cost and highly accessible alternative to traditional funds.
However, FNILX is a mutual fund and doesnât offer the liquidity or tradability of ETFs, which makes ETFs far more appealing to active traders and long-term investors alike. The ETF equivalent of FNILX would likely take the form of new products specifically designed to solve the âhigh price barrierâ problem.
What These New ETFs Could Look Like:
⢠Lower Price Points: New ETFs might adopt alternative share structures or tokenization to fractionalize ownership while maintaining correlation to major indices like SPY and QQQ. ⢠Cost-Effective Options: Providers could offer these products with reduced or zero fees, similar to FNILX, but with the tradability of ETFs. ⢠Trader-Friendly Designs: These ETFs would retain liquidity and flexibility, ensuring active investors can continue trading them easily.
Such products would act as next-generation ETFs, satisfying demand for accessibility while keeping retail investors engaged in traditional markets.
- The Rise of Bitcoin as an Alternative Market Standard
While SPY and QQQ dominate the current investment landscape, the rise of Bitcoin ETFs and direct Bitcoin ownership presents a compelling alternative. Bitcoinâs decentralized nature and finite supply make it fundamentally different from traditional equities, and its adoption as a financial instrument is growing rapidly.
Bitcoin ETFs: A Familiar Entry Point
Bitcoin ETFs, like IBIT, bridge the gap between the traditional financial system and the world of cryptocurrency. They allow investors to gain Bitcoin exposure through familiar platforms, such as brokerage accounts, without needing to manage private keys or wallets.
Advantages of Bitcoin ETFs: 1. Ease of Use: Easily accessible through existing brokerage platforms, making Bitcoin exposure as simple as buying a stock.
2. Regulated Framework: Operates within traditional financial regulations, providing a sense of security for traditional investors. 3. Portfolio Integration: Fits seamlessly into diversified portfolios, allowing Bitcoin exposure alongside traditional assets.
However, Bitcoin ETFs have limitations, including management fees, lack of true ownership, and reliance on third-party custodians.
Self-Custody Bitcoin: True Financial Sovereignty
For investors who want to fully embrace the decentralized ethos of Bitcoin, self-custody offers unparalleled financial sovereignty. By purchasing Bitcoin directly and storing it in a private wallet, investors take full control of their assets.
Benefits of Self-Custody: 1. True Ownership: You hold the private keys, ensuring no third party has control over your Bitcoin.
2. Censorship Resistance: Self-custodied Bitcoin is immune to freezes, seizures, or restrictions. 3. Decentralization: You actively contribute to the resilience of the Bitcoin network. 4. Security: Proper practices, like using hardware wallets or multi-signature solutions, provide robust protection against theft or institutional failure.
Self-custody does require responsibility, but the learning curve is shrinking as user-friendly tools and educational resources become more widely available.
A Broader Shift in Market Perception
As SPY and QQQ climb toward $1,000, Bitcoin may begin to redefine how we measure market health and economic performance. Traditionally, indices like the S&P 500 have been seen as benchmarks for the economy. In the future, Bitcoinâs price and adoption metrics could serve as a parallel or even competing measure.
Why Bitcoin Could Become a New Market Standard:
⢠Global Inclusion: Bitcoin is accessible to anyone with an internet connection, breaking down geographic and economic barriers. ⢠Inflation Hedge: Its finite supply makes it a powerful store of value, particularly in inflationary environments. ⢠Decentralized Economy: Bitcoin represents a global, decentralized economic standard, uncorrelated with traditional equity markets.
Implications for the Future of Investing
For Traditional ETFs:
As SPY and QQQ approach $1,000, the introduction of new, lower-priced ETF products will be critical to maintaining retail engagement. These innovations could fragment demand across products, altering trading volumes and creating new dynamics for liquidity and volatility.
For Bitcoin:
The rise of Bitcoin ETFs and self-custody will empower investors to rethink how they store and grow their wealth. The decision between convenience (Bitcoin ETFs) and sovereignty (self-custody) will define a new era of financial choice.
Takeaway: Preparing for a Transformative Future
The approaching $1,000 milestone for SPY and QQQ is more than just a numerical milestoneâit signals a shift in how markets must adapt to the needs of investors. Whether through new standardized ETFs or the growing adoption of Bitcoin ETFs and self-custody, the investment landscape is evolving.
For investors, this is an opportunity to embrace change. Will you continue to follow traditional benchmarks, explore new Bitcoin products, or take control through self-custody?
One thing is clear: the markets of tomorrow will reward those who adapt, innovate, and educate themselves. The future isnât about choosing between systemsâitâs about using the tools that empower you to thrive.
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@ 34f1ddab:2ca0cf7c
2025-05-16 22:47:03Losing access to your cryptocurrency can feel like losing a part of your future. Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, a damaged seed backup, or a simple mistake in a transfer, the stress can be overwhelming. Fortunately, cryptrecver.com is here to assist! With our expert-led recovery services, you can safely and swiftly reclaim your lost Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
Why Trust Crypt Recver? đ¤ đ ď¸ Expert Recovery Solutions At Crypt Recver, we specialize in addressing complex wallet-related issues. Our skilled engineers have the tools and expertise to handle:
Partially lost or forgotten seed phrases Extracting funds from outdated or invalid wallet addresses Recovering data from damaged hardware wallets Restoring coins from old or unsupported wallet formats Youâre not just getting a service; youâre gaining a partner in your cryptocurrency journey.
đ Fast and Efficient Recovery We understand that time is crucial in crypto recovery. Our optimized systems enable you to regain access to your funds quickly, focusing on speed without compromising security. With a success rate of over 90%, you can rely on us to act swiftly on your behalf.
đ Privacy is Our Priority Your confidentiality is essential. Every recovery session is conducted with the utmost care, ensuring all processes are encrypted and confidential. You can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private.
đť Advanced Technology Our proprietary tools and brute-force optimization techniques maximize recovery efficiency. Regardless of how challenging your case may be, our technology is designed to give you the best chance at retrieving your crypto.
Our Recovery Services Include: đ Bitcoin Recovery: Lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? We help recover lost wallets, private keys, and passphrases. Transaction Recovery: Mistakes happen â whether itâs an incorrect wallet address or a lost password, let us manage the recovery. Cold Wallet Restoration: If your cold wallet is failing, we can safely extract your assets and migrate them into a secure new wallet. Private Key Generation: Lost your private key? Our experts can help you regain control using advanced methods while ensuring your privacy. â ď¸ What We Donât Do While we can handle many scenarios, some limitations exist. For instance, we cannot recover funds stored in custodial wallets or cases where there is a complete loss of four or more seed words without partial information available. We are transparent about whatâs possible, so you know what to expect
Donât Let Lost Crypto Hold You Back! Did you know that between 3 to 3.4 million BTC â nearly 20% of the total supply â are estimated to be permanently lost? Donât become part of that statistic! Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, sending funds to the wrong address, or damaged drives, we can help you navigate these challenges
đĄď¸ Real-Time Dust Attack Protection Our services extend beyond recovery. We offer dust attack protection, keeping your activity anonymous and your funds secure, shielding your identity from unwanted tracking, ransomware, and phishing attempts.
đ Start Your Recovery Journey Today! Ready to reclaim your lost crypto? Donât wait until itâs too late! đ cryptrecver.com
đ Need Immediate Assistance? Connect with Us! For real-time support or questions, reach out to our dedicated team on: âď¸ Telegram: t.me/crypptrcver đŹ WhatsApp: +1(941)317â1821
Crypt Recver is your trusted partner in cryptocurrency recovery. Let us turn your challenges into victories. Donât hesitate â your crypto future starts now! đâ¨
Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.Losing access to your cryptocurrency can feel like losing a part of your future. Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, a damaged seed backup, or a simple mistake in a transfer, the stress can be overwhelming. Fortunately, cryptrecver.com is here to assist! With our expert-led recovery services, you can safely and swiftly reclaim your lost Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.
# Why Trust Crypt Recver? đ¤
đ ď¸Â Expert Recovery Solutions\ At Crypt Recver, we specialize in addressing complex wallet-related issues. Our skilled engineers have the tools and expertise to handle:
- Partially lost or forgotten seed phrases
- Extracting funds from outdated or invalid wallet addresses
- Recovering data from damaged hardware wallets
- Restoring coins from old or unsupported wallet formats
Youâre not just getting a service; youâre gaining a partner in your cryptocurrency journey.
đ Fast and Efficient Recovery\ We understand that time is crucial in crypto recovery. Our optimized systems enable you to regain access to your funds quickly, focusing on speed without compromising security. With a success rate of over 90%, you can rely on us to act swiftly on your behalf.
đ Privacy is Our Priority\ Your confidentiality is essential. Every recovery session is conducted with the utmost care, ensuring all processes are encrypted and confidential. You can rest assured that your sensitive information remains private.
đťÂ Advanced Technology\ Our proprietary tools and brute-force optimization techniques maximize recovery efficiency. Regardless of how challenging your case may be, our technology is designed to give you the best chance at retrieving your crypto.
Our Recovery Services Include: đ
- Bitcoin Recovery:Â Lost access to your Bitcoin wallet? We help recover lost wallets, private keys, and passphrases.
- Transaction Recovery:Â Mistakes happen â whether itâs an incorrect wallet address or a lost password, let us manage the recovery.
- Cold Wallet Restoration:Â If your cold wallet is failing, we can safely extract your assets and migrate them into a secure new wallet.
- Private Key Generation:Â Lost your private key? Our experts can help you regain control using advanced methods while ensuring your privacy.
â ď¸Â What We Donât Do\ While we can handle many scenarios, some limitations exist. For instance, we cannot recover funds stored in custodial wallets or cases where there is a complete loss of four or more seed words without partial information available. We are transparent about whatâs possible, so you know what to expect
# Donât Let Lost Crypto Hold You Back!
Did you know that between 3 to 3.4 million BTC â nearly 20% of the total supply â are estimated to be permanently lost? Donât become part of that statistic! Whether itâs due to a forgotten password, sending funds to the wrong address, or damaged drives, we can help you navigate these challenges
đĄď¸Â Real-Time Dust Attack Protection\ Our services extend beyond recovery. We offer dust attack protection, keeping your activity anonymous and your funds secure, shielding your identity from unwanted tracking, ransomware, and phishing attempts.
đ Start Your Recovery Journey Today!\ Ready to reclaim your lost crypto? Donât wait until itâs too late!\ đ cryptrecver.com
đ Need Immediate Assistance? Connect with Us!\ For real-time support or questions, reach out to our dedicated team on:\ âď¸ Telegram: t.me/crypptrcver\ đŹ WhatsApp: +1(941)317â1821
Crypt Recver is your trusted partner in cryptocurrency recovery. Let us turn your challenges into victories. Donât hesitate â your crypto future starts now! đâ¨
Act fast and secure your digital assets with cryptrecver.com.
-
@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-12-30 19:25:45As I look back on my predictions for Nostr in 2024, itâs clear I had some hits and misses. I believe my first two predictions were spot on, accurately reflecting the trends and developments we witnessed. However, my second two predictions missed the mark, proving to be far less accurate. Maybe I was too bullish?
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzq0mhp4ja8fmy48zuk5p6uy37vtk8tx9dqdwcxm32sy8nsaa8gkeyqyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcqypsm9tk39g20atwqskvjcvhq7rher5nkgwjr05lzspne4gf0uvyxukew5mg
What did I get right? Clients did increasingly prioritize user and content discovery while enabling users to easily select and choose their own algorithms. (DVMs, Trending, What's Hot, Feeds, etc.) This focus provided individuals with more tools, greater control, and unprecedented power over their social streams and attention than ever before. This is still actively happening and will continue to happen throughout 2025 too.
What did I get wrong? We didn't see an Other Stuff application breakthrough as a clear winner that became a mainstream favorite. I anticipated a standout application that would interest users and become a "must-use" within the ecosystem, but this didnât happen. And we also clearly didn't hit 1M active users either. While adoption did increase, it didnât reach the critical mass I expected.
But this doesn't mean 2024 fell short of expectationsâin fact, quite the opposite. The year brought incredible client innovations (Damus Notedeck, Primal 2.0, TOR only Amethyst, Flotilla, Chachi, Olas, Coracle feeds, etc.) and relay milestones (Web-of-Trust relays, private relays, algorithm based relays, etc.) with the introduction of these innovative features and the launch of these new platforms.
Beyond technology, the Nostr community achieved something truly remarkable: a grassroots movement that united people globally.
From supporting Nostr meetups and events to hosting booths across continents at major conferences, the community came together to raise money to support these initiatives in ways no one predicted. This organic, ground-up effort showcased the strength and passion behind Nostr, creating a foundation that will #grownostr and success for years to come.
Too bullish? Maybe I wasn't bullish enough? As is tradition, I will post my 2025 predictions tomorrow.
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-06 14:14:51What is NWC? Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) is an open protocol that connects your Lightning wallet to apps using your Nostr identity (Npub). Itâs private, decentralized, and secureâno need for Google or Facebook logins.
Why Choose NWC?
đ Unified Identity ⢠Log into apps using your Npub (Nostr public key). ⢠No passwords. One identity for all apps.
⥠Seamless Payments ⢠Send or receive Lightning payments directly in apps. ⢠Enable tips, subscriptions, or in-app purchases instantly.
đĄď¸ Privacy First ⢠No personal data sharingâyour Npub is all you need. ⢠Your wallet keys stay secure and private.
đ Decentralized Control ⢠No centralized gatekeepers. ⢠Your identity and wallet are yours foreverâno bans or restrictions.
How NWC Works
1ď¸âŁ Get a Nostr Key Pair ⢠Npub = your public identity. ⢠Your private key stays secure.
2ď¸âŁ Connect to Apps with NWC ⢠Use your Npub to authorize apps. ⢠Your Lightning wallet handles payments securely.
3ď¸âŁ Freedom Across Apps ⢠Use NWC with any app that supports Nostr and Lightning.
Why NWC is Better than Google/Facebook
â Google/Facebook ⢠Centralized and tracks your data. ⢠Can ban or restrict your account. ⢠Requires passwords and exposes personal info.
â NWC ⢠Decentralized and private. ⢠Censorship-resistantâyour identity is always yours. ⢠Password-free and keeps your data secure.
The Future of Online Connection NWC is the better way to connect apps, wallets, and identities. Say goodbye to centralized logins and hello to freedom, privacy, and control.
đ Start using NWC todayâyour wallet, your identity, your rules.
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-05 17:26:41If you could earn between 100-1,000 sats a day, what would that amount to if Bitcoin reached $1,000,000 per coin? Letâs do the math:
1 Bitcoin (BTC) = 100,000,000 satoshis (sats).
Current Bitcoin price = $101,000.
Future Bitcoin price = $1,000,000.
Daily Earnings in Fiat Equivalent at $1M/BTC:
⢠100 sats/day = 0.000001 BTC/day = $1.00/day ⢠1,000 sats/day = 0.00001 BTC/day = $10.00/day
Annual Earnings at $1M/BTC:
⢠100 sats/day x 365 days = $365/year ⢠1,000 sats/day x 365 days = $3,650/year
Even at the smallest levelâearning 100 sats a dayâyouâre positioning yourself for significant long-term wealth as Bitcoinâs value increases. Itâs a perfect example of the power of accumulation over time.
Why Every Sat Matters
Bitcoin is scarce, with only 21 million BTC to ever exist. Thatâs 2,100 trillion sats for the entire world. Each satoshi is a fraction of a finite resource, making it inherently valuable. If someone gives you even 1 satoshi, they are saying, âI appreciate your work. Youâre making a difference.â
Whether youâre earning sats through:
⢠Working: Salary or side hustle paid in Bitcoin. ⢠Nostr: Engaging, posting, or contributing to communities. ⢠Streaming: Providing value in podcasts or live content. ⢠Rewards Apps: Using tools like Fold or other Bitcoin cashback services.
Every sat stacks up, and over time, those seemingly small earnings can become life-changing.
The Fun of Stacking Sats
Part of the magic of Bitcoin is the journey. Watching your small daily efforts compound into something meaningful is both empowering and exciting. So whether youâre earning sats, stacking on dips, or getting tipped on Nostrâhave fun. Celebrate every sat. Youâre building a future on a foundation of hard work and a revolutionary currency.
The Bitcoin ride is just getting started. Hold tight, stack consistently, and enjoy the journey to financial sovereignty!
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-10-29 17:38:20Amber
Amber is a Nostr event signer for Android that allows users to securely segregate their private key (nsec) within a single, dedicated application. Designed to function as a NIP-46 signing device, Amber ensures your smartphone can sign events without needing external servers or additional hardware, keeping your private key exposure to an absolute minimum. This approach aligns with the security rationale of NIP-46, which states that each additional system handling private keys increases potential vulnerability. With Amber, no longer do users need to enter their private key into various Nostr applications.
Amber is supported by a growing list of apps, including Amethyst, 0xChat, Voyage, Fountain, and Pokey, as well as any web application that supports NIP-46 NSEC bunkers, such as Nostr Nests, Coracle, Nostrudel, and more. With expanding support, Amber provides an easy solution for secure Nostr key management across numerous platforms.
Amber supports both native and web-based Nostr applications, aiming to eliminate the need for browser extensions or web servers. Key features include offline signing, multiple account support, and NIP-46 compatibility, and includes a simple UI for granular permissions management. Amber is designed to support signing events in the background, enhancing flexibility when you select the "remember my choice" option, eliminating the need to constantly be signing events for applications that you trust. You can download the app from it's GitHub page, via Obtainium or Zap.store.
To log in with Amber, simply tap the "Login with Amber" button or icon in a supported application, or you can paste the NSEC bunker connection string directly into the login box. For example, use a connection string like this: bunker://npub1tj2dmc4udvgafxxxxxxxrtgne8j8l6rgrnaykzc8sys9mzfcz@relay.nsecbunker.com.
Citrine
Citrine is a Nostr relay built specifically for Android, allowing Nostr clients on Android devices to seamlessly send and receive events through a relay running directly on their smartphone. This mobile relay setup offers Nostr users enhanced flexibility, enabling them to manage, share, and back up all their Nostr data locally on their device. Citrineâs design supports independence and data security by keeping data accessible and under user control.
With features tailored to give users greater command over their data, Citrine allows easy export and import of the database, restoration of contact lists in case of client malfunctions, and detailed relay management options like port configuration, custom icons, user management, and on-demand relay start/stop. Users can even activate TOR access, letting others connect securely to their Nostr relay directly on their phone. Future updates will include automatic broadcasting when the device reconnects to the internet, along with content resolver support to expand its functionality.
Once you have your Citrine relay fully configured, simply add it to the Private and Local relay sections in Amethyst's relay configuration.
Pokey
Pokey for Android is a brand new, real-time notification tool for Nostr. Pokey allows users to receive live updates for their Nostr events and enabling other apps to access and interact with them. Designed for seamless integration within a user's Nostr relays, Pokey lets users stay informed of activity as it happens, with speed and the flexibility to manage which events trigger notifications on their mobile device.
Pokey currently supports connections with Amber, offering granular notification settings so users can tailor alerts to their preferences. Planned features include broadcasting events to other apps, authenticating to relays, built-in Tor support, multi-account handling, and InBox relay management. These upcoming additions aim to make Pokey a fantastic tool for Nostr notifications across the ecosystem.
Zap.store
Zap.store is a permissionless app store powered by Nostr and your trusted social graph. Built to offer a decentralized approach to app recommendations, zap.store enables you to check if friends like Alice follow, endorse, or verify an appâs SHA256 hash. This trust-based, social proof model brings app discovery closer to real-world recommendations from friends and family, bypassing centralized app curation. Unlike conventional app stores and other third party app store solutions like Obtainium, zap.store empowers users to see which apps their contacts actively interact with, providing a higher level of confidence and transparency.
Currently available on Android, zap.store aims to expand to desktop, PWAs, and other platforms soon. You can get started by installing Zap.store on your favorite Android device, and install all of the applications mentioned above.
Android's openness goes hand in hand with Nostr's openness. Enjoy exploring both expanding ecosystems.
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@ 9c47bb51:000381d0
2024-12-03 01:23:32Running your own Bitcoin node is one of the most powerful actions you can take to secure financial sovereignty and protect the networkâs decentralization.
Bitcoin nodes independently verify transactions and enforce consensus rules, ensuring no single entityâbe it governments, corporations, or influential players like BlackRock or Michael Saylorâcan dictate how Bitcoin evolves.
Hereâs why it matters đđ˝
1. Decentralization Is Freedom
A network is only as decentralized as its participants. When you run a node, you become a part of the consensus mechanism that ensures Bitcoin remains neutral, censorship-resistant, and immune to centralized control.
2. Verification, Not Trust
Bitcoinâs power lies in its ability to eliminate the need for trust. By running a node, you verify every transaction and block yourself, instead of relying on others who may have vested interests. This ensures youâre transacting on the Bitcoin network as it was designedânot on a version compromised by corporate or governmental interests.
3. Preventing Centralized Upgrades
Players like BlackRock and influential figures might push for changes to Bitcoin that align with their agendas, potentially undermining its core principles. Running your own node gives you the power to reject unwanted upgrades and stick to Bitcoinâs original ethos.
4. Strengthening the Network
The more nodes in the network, the more robust and resistant it becomes to attacks or collusion by centralized entities. Your node helps secure this public good for everyone.
Bitcoin is a tool for freedom, but that freedom only lasts if we actively protect it. Running a node is not just a technical actâitâs a declaration of independence. Donât let the promise of Bitcoin be steered by the powerful. Take control. Verify. Secure your sovereignty.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-10-29 17:34:34Amber
Amber is a Nostr event signer for Android that allows users to securely segregate their private key (nsec) within a single, dedicated application. Designed to function as a NIP-46 signing device, Amber ensures your smartphone can sign events without needing external servers or additional hardware, keeping your private key exposure to an absolute minimum. This approach aligns with the security rationale of NIP-46, which states that each additional system handling private keys increases potential vulnerability. With Amber, no longer do users need to enter their private key into various Nostr applications.
Amber is supported by a growing list of apps, including Amethyst, 0xChat, Voyage, Fountain, and Pokey, as well as any web application that supports NIP-46 NSEC bunkers, such as Nostr Nests, Coracle, Nostrudel, and more. With expanding support, Amber provides an easy solution for secure Nostr key management across numerous platforms.
Amber supports both native and web-based Nostr applications, aiming to eliminate the need for browser extensions or web servers. Key features include offline signing, multiple account support, and NIP-46 compatibility, and includes a simple UI for granular permissions management. Amber is designed to support signing events in the background, enhancing flexibility when you select the "remember my choice" option, eliminating the need to constantly be signing events for applications that you trust. You can download the app from it's GitHub page, via Obtainium or Zap.store.
To log in with Amber, simply tap the "Login with Amber" button or icon in a supported application, or you can paste the NSEC bunker connection string directly into the login box. For example, use a connection string like this: bunker://npub1tj2dmc4udvgafxxxxxxxrtgne8j8l6rgrnaykzc8sys9mzfcz@relay.nsecbunker.com.
Citrine
Citrine is a Nostr relay built specifically for Android, allowing Nostr clients on Android devices to seamlessly send and receive events through a relay running directly on their smartphone. This mobile relay setup offers Nostr users enhanced flexibility, enabling them to manage, share, and back up all their Nostr data locally on their device. Citrineâs design supports independence and data security by keeping data accessible and under user control.
With features tailored to give users greater command over their data, Citrine allows easy export and import of the database, restoration of contact lists in case of client malfunctions, and detailed relay management options like port configuration, custom icons, user management, and on-demand relay start/stop. Users can even activate TOR access, letting others connect securely to their Nostr relay directly on their phone. Future updates will include automatic broadcasting when the device reconnects to the internet, along with content resolver support to expand its functionality.
Once you have your Citrine relay fully configured, simply add it to the Private and Local relay sections in Amethyst's relay configuration.
Pokey
Pokey for Android is a brand new, real-time notification tool for Nostr. Pokey allows users to receive live updates for their Nostr events and enabling other apps to access and interact with them. Designed for seamless integration within a user's Nostr relays, Pokey lets users stay informed of activity as it happens, with speed and the flexibility to manage which events trigger notifications on their mobile device.
Pokey currently supports connections with Amber, offering granular notification settings so users can tailor alerts to their preferences. Planned features include broadcasting events to other apps, authenticating to relays, built-in Tor support, multi-account handling, and InBox relay management. These upcoming additions aim to make Pokey a fantastic tool for Nostr notifications across the ecosystem.
Zap.store
Zap.store is a permissionless app store powered by Nostr and your trusted social graph. Built to offer a decentralized approach to app recommendations, zap.store enables you to check if friends like Alice follow, endorse, or verify an appâs SHA256 hash. This trust-based, social proof model brings app discovery closer to real-world recommendations from friends and family, bypassing centralized app curation. Unlike conventional app stores and other third party app store solutions like Obtainium, zap.store empowers users to see which apps their contacts actively interact with, providing a higher level of confidence and transparency.
Currently available on Android, zap.store aims to expand to desktop, PWAs, and other platforms soon. You can get started by installing Zap.store on your favorite Android device, and install all of the applications mentioned above.
Android's openness goes hand in hand with Nostr's openness. Enjoy exploring both expanding ecosystems.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-14 14:50:19::youtube{#UOIg2lFVsJE}
The developers, Hanger 13, along with the publisher, 2K Games, have announced that Mafia: The Old Country, a third-person action adventure game, will be releasing on both PC (Steam) and consoles on the 8th of August 2025, and with it they've released a new gameplay trailer.
::youtube{#lVhXaoX25AE}
They've also release a 7 minute long developer diary that showcases the game in a more in-depth look at it. It's worth noting that the game isn't an open-world game, but rather a linear one.
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@ 6c05c73e:c4356f17
2025-05-24 19:16:17Descrição da empresa
Fundada em 1961, a WEG Ê uma empresa global de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos, atuando principalmente no setor de bens de capital com soluçþes em måquinas elÊtricas, automação e tintas, para diversos setores, incluindo infraestrutura, siderurgia, papel e celulose, petróleo e gås, mineração, entre muitos outros.
A WEG se destaca em inovação pelo desenvolvimento constante de soluçþes para atender as grandes tendĂŞncias voltadas a eficiĂŞncia energĂŠtica, energias renovĂĄveis e mobilidade elĂŠtrica. Com operaçþes industriais em 17 paĂses e presença comercial em mais de 135 paĂses, a companhia possui mais de 47.000 mil colaboradores distribuĂdos pelo mundo.
Em 2024, a WEG atingiu faturamento lĂquido de R$38,0 bilhĂľes, destes 57,0% proveniente das vendas realizadas fora do Brasil.
Vendendo soluçþes para os clientes
"Na febre do ouro, muito garimpeiros corriam atrĂĄs de ouro para ficar ricos. Enquanto isso, muita gente enriqueceu vendendo pĂĄs, roupas, bebidas, cigarros e mantimentos para elesâŚâ
Em um mundo dominado cada vez mais por Inteligência Artificial, carros elÊtricos e tecnologias quânticas. A Wege segue se destacando por oferecer equipamentos e parte da estrutura pode detrås para que essas tecnologias possam existir. Focada em inovação e performance. A empresa oferece soluçþes de ponta a ponta para os mais variados setores da indústria.
VisĂŁo geral da empresa
A Wege atua no setor de mĂĄquinas e equipamentos. Se formos fazer um refino, podemos dizer que ela atua em subsetores tais como: motores, compressores e outros.
Mercado que atua
O setor de mĂĄquinas e equipamentos no Brasil em 2024 enfrentou um cenĂĄrio desafiador, com uma queda na receita lĂquida, mas tambĂŠm mostrou sinais de recuperação e algumas perspectivas positivas em segmentos especĂficos e no inĂcio de 2025.
A WEG ĂŠ gigante no mundo todo. Os caras tĂŞm fĂĄbricas e filiais em mais de 40 paĂses, espalhados por todos os continentes. A estratĂŠgia dos caras ĂŠ expandir sempre, comprando outras empresas e investindo pesado em mercados-chave. A empresa foca em: ExpansĂŁo, inovação e sustentabilidade.
Mercado
Grana Alta: Em 2024, o mercado global de måquinas e equipamentos valeu uns US$ 205,67 bilhþes. Jå a parte de motores elÊtricos, chegou a uns US$ 152,2 bilhþes. A parada Ê que a automação industrial, que Ê a cara do futuro, estava em uns US$ 192,02 bilhþes em 2024. à muita grana rolando!
As empresas estão investindo cada vez mais em IA (Inteligência artificial), IOT (internet das coisas, robótica e fabricação sustentåvel.
Perspectiva de crescimento A parada ĂŠ que esse mercado tĂĄ com gĂĄs total pra crescer nos prĂłximos anos, parceiro:
Måquinas e Equipamentos: A expectativa Ê que o mercado global de måquinas e equipamentos cresça cerca de 6,57% ao ano atÊ 2033, podendo chegar a uns US$ 364,66 bilhþes.
Motores ElĂŠtricos: Esse setor tĂĄ prometendo um crescimento de uns 6,3% ao ano atĂŠ 2029, podendo bater uns US$ 206,4 bilhĂľes. A demanda por carros elĂŠtricos tĂĄ puxando muito esse crescimento.
Automação Industrial: Essa Ê a cereja do bolo! A expectativa Ê que o mercado de automação industrial dispare uns 9,1% ao ano atÊ 2033, alcançando uns US$ 420,49 bilhþes. A busca por mais produtividade, menos erros e mais eficiência tå impulsionando essa onda.
Materia sobre carros eletricos
Oportunidades que o ativo traz
Na minha visĂŁo, as maiores oportunidades que a Wege nos traz sĂŁo:
-
Equipamentos EletroeletrĂ´nicos Industriais
Esta årea inclui os motores elÊtricos, drives e equipamentos e serviços de automação industrial e serviços de manutenção. Os motores elÊtricos e demais equipamentos têm aplicação em praticamente todos os segmentos industriais, em equipamentos como compressores, bombas e ventiladores.
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Geração Transmissão e Distribuição de Energia (GTD)
Os produtos e serviços incluĂdos nesta ĂĄrea sĂŁo os geradores elĂŠtricos para usinas hidrĂĄulicas e tĂŠrmicas (biomassa), turbinas hidrĂĄulicas (PCH e CGH), aerogeradores, transformadores, subestaçþes, painĂŠis de controle e serviços de integração de sistemas.
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Motores Comerciais e Appliance
O foco de atuação nesta årea Ê o mercado de motores monofåsicos para bens de consumo duråvel, como lavadoras de roupas, aparelhos de ar condicionado, bombas de ågua, entre outros.
Desde Janeiro/25, podemos observar que o gråfico teve uma queda no seu preço. Contudo, continua se mantendo acima da ema200 e com ótimo volume negociado. Isso tudo caracteriza que a tendência majoritåria ainda Ê compradora. Então, devemos pensar em atuar somente nesse sentido.
Riscos
Os maiores riscos que vejo hoje, para uma empresa tĂŁo sĂłlida como Wege sĂŁo:
- Instabilidade Econômica Global e Regional, qualquer flutuação em mercado chave atuante pode representar um risco.
- Inflação e Custo de Insumos, principalmente aço e cobre que são matÊrias prima base.
- PolĂticas TarifĂĄrias e Protecionismo, se o homem laranja dos EUA impor tarifas. Pode afetar sim os negĂłcios da empresa como um todo.
Catalisadores
Na minha visão, os catalisadores da empresa. Que impulsionam e continuaram dando força a ela são:
- Forte diversificação de receita, 53% vem em dólar.
- Boa perspectiva do aumento do valor do dĂłlar. Isso representa mais caixa.
- As aquisiçþess feitas recentemente, que vão impulsionar a receita da empresa.
Faq
Qual foi o desempenho da WEGE3 nas Ăşltimas 52 semanas?
13.95% foi desempenho das açþes da WEGE3 atÊ o momento.
WEGE3 paga dividendos? Qual o Dividend Yield (DY) da WEGE3?
Sim, WEGE3 (WEG) paga dividendos e juros sobre capital prĂłprio (JCP). O Dividend Yield (DY) da WEGE3 tem variado ao longo do tempo, mas geralmente se encontra entre 1,4% e 1,8%, dependendo da cotação atual das açþes e dos valores de dividendos e JCP distribuĂdos.
O que Ê a WEG? Qual o setor de atuação da WEG?
A WEG Ê uma empresa global de equipamentos eletroeletrônicos, que atua principalmente no setor de bens de capital. A empresa se destaca por suas soluçþes em måquinas elÊtricas, automação, tintas e sistemas de energia, com foco em eficiência energÊtica e sustentabilidade.
Quais produtos a WEG fabrica?
A WEG produz uma vasta gama de produtos e soluçþes, abrangendo desde equipamentos elÊtricos e eletrônicos atÊ tintas e vernizes.
Qual Ê o P/L (Preço sobre Lucro) da WEGE3?
O P/L (Preço sobre Lucro) da WEGE3, conforme indicadores de mercado, estå em torno de 29,32.
Bio
Investir não precisa ser um bicho de sete cabeças! Na Threedolar, democratizamos o acesso ao mundo dos investimentos, oferecendo conteúdo claro e pråtico. Comece hoje mesmo a construir seu futuro financeiro!
Disclaimer
Lembre-se: este não Ê um conselho de investimento. Faça sua própria pesquisa antes de investir. Resultados passados não garantem lucros futuros. Cuide do seu dinheiro!
Referencia
https://www.fundamentus.com.br/detalhes.php?papel=WEGE3&h=1
https://ri.weg.net/a-weg/perfil-corporativo/
https://ri.weg.net/a-weg/por-que-a-weg/
https://www.cnnbrasil.com.br/auto/carros-eletrificados-registram-85-de-aumento-nas-vendas-de-2024/
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@ 65912a7a:5dc638bf
2024-11-22 21:37:16Details
- â˛ď¸ Prep time: 5 min
- đł Cook time: 30 min
- đ˝ď¸ Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 12-14oz fresh cranberries
- 1â cup packed brown sugar
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 orange, peeled & chopped
- 1 cup water
Directions
- Using medium sauce pan, simmer cranberries and water for 5-6 min. Cranberries will start to pop.
- Add brown sugar, raisins, and chopped orange to the berries.
- Bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 20 min. Stir often to prevent sticking. Remove from heat.
- Let set until room temp. Mixture will thicken as it cools.
- Put in a covered container and keep refrigerated. Lasts for about 2 weeks.
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@ 3283ef81:0a531a33
2025-05-24 18:41:43Why
is
this
noton
separate
lines -
@ 6389be64:ef439d32
2025-01-14 01:31:12Bitcoin is more than money, more than an asset, and more than a store of value. Bitcoin is a Prime Mover, an enabler and it ignites imaginations. It certainly fueled an idea in my mind. The idea integrates sensors, computational prowess, actuated machinery, power conversion, and electronic communications to form an autonomous, machined creature roaming forests and harvesting the most widespread and least energy-dense fuel source available. I call it the Forest Walker and it eats wood, and mines Bitcoin.
I know what you're thinking. Why not just put Bitcoin mining rigs where they belong: in a hosted facility sporting electricity from energy-dense fuels like natural gas, climate-controlled with excellent data piping in and out? Why go to all the trouble building a robot that digests wood creating flammable gasses fueling an engine to run a generator powering Bitcoin miners? It's all about synergy.
Bitcoin mining enables the realization of multiple, seemingly unrelated, yet useful activities. Activities considered un-profitable if not for Bitcoin as the Prime Mover. This is much more than simply mining the greatest asset ever conceived by humankind. Itâs about the power of synergy, which Bitcoin plays only one of many roles. The synergy created by this system can stabilize forests' fire ecology while generating multiple income streams. Thatâs the realistic goal here and requires a brief history of American Forest management before continuing.
Smokey The Bear
In 1944, the Smokey Bear Wildfire Prevention Campaign began in the United States. âOnly YOU can prevent forest firesâ remains the refrain of the Ad Councilâs longest running campaign. The Ad Council is a U.S. non-profit set up by the American Association of Advertising Agencies and the Association of National Advertisers in 1942. It would seem that the U.S. Department of the Interior was concerned about pesky forest fires and wanted them to stop. So, alongside a national policy of extreme fire suppression they enlisted the entire U.S. population to get onboard via the Ad Council and it worked. Forest fires were almost obliterated and everyone was happy, right? Wrong.
Smokey is a fantastically successful bear so forest fires became so few for so long that the fuel load - dead wood - in forests has become very heavy. So heavy that when a fire happens (and they always happen) it destroys everything in its path because the more fuel there is the hotter that fire becomes. Trees, bushes, shrubs, and all other plant life cannot escape destruction (not to mention homes and businesses). The soil microbiology doesnât escape either as it is burned away even in deeper soils. To add insult to injury, hydrophobic waxy residues condense on the soil surface, forcing water to travel over the ground rather than through it eroding forest soils. Good job, Smokey. Well done, Sir!
Most terrestrial ecologies are âfire ecologiesâ. Fire is a part of these systemsâ fuel load and pest management. Before we pretended to âmanageâ millions of acres of forest, fires raged over the world, rarely damaging forests. The fuel load was always too light to generate fires hot enough to moonscape mountainsides. Fires simply burned off the minor amounts of fuel accumulated since the fire before. The lighter heat, smoke, and other combustion gasses suppressed pests, keeping them in check and the smoke condensed into a plant growth accelerant called wood vinegar, not a waxy cap on the soil. These fires also cleared out weak undergrowth, cycled minerals, and thinned the forest canopy, allowing sunlight to penetrate to the forest floor. Without a fireâs heat, many pine tree species canât sow their seed. The heat is required to open the cones (the seed bearing structure) of Spruce, Cypress, Sequoia, Jack Pine, Lodgepole Pine and many more. Without fire forests canât have babies. The idea was to protect the forests, and it isn't working.
So, in a world of fire, what does an ally look like and what does it do?
Meet The Forest Walker
For the Forest Walker to work as a mobile, autonomous unit, a solid platform that can carry several hundred pounds is required. It so happens this chassis already exists but shelved.
Introducing the Legged Squad Support System (LS3). A joint project between Boston Dynamics, DARPA, and the United States Marine Corps, the quadrupedal robot is the size of a cow, can carry 400 pounds (180 kg) of equipment, negotiate challenging terrain, and operate for 24 hours before needing to refuel. Yes, it had an engine. Abandoned in 2015, the thing was too noisy for military deployment and maintenance "under fire" is never a high-quality idea. However, we can rebuild it to act as a platform for the Forest Walker; albeit with serious alterations. It would need to be bigger, probably. Carry more weight? Definitely. Maybe replace structural metal with carbon fiber and redesign much as 3D printable parts for more effective maintenance.
The original system has a top operational speed of 8 miles per hour. For our purposes, it only needs to move about as fast as a grazing ruminant. Without the hammering vibrations of galloping into battle, shocks of exploding mortars, and drunken soldiers playing "Wrangler of Steel Machines", time between failures should be much longer and the overall energy consumption much lower. The LS3 is a solid platform to build upon. Now it just needs to be pulled out of the mothballs, and completely refitted with outboard equipment.
The Small Branch Chipper
When I say âForest fuel loadâ I mean the dead, carbon containing litter on the forest floor. Duff (leaves), fine-woody debris (small branches), and coarse woody debris (logs) are the fuel that feeds forest fires. Walk through any forest in the United States today and you will see quite a lot of these materials. Too much, as I have described. Some of these fuel loads can be 8 tons per acre in pine and hardwood forests and up to 16 tons per acre at active logging sites. Thatâs some big wood and the more that collects, the more combustible danger to the forest it represents. It also provides a technically unlimited fuel supply for the Forest Walker system.
The problem is that this detritus has to be chewed into pieces that are easily ingestible by the system for the gasification process (weâll get to that step in a minute). What we need is a wood chipper attached to the chassis (the LS3); its âmouthâ.
A small wood chipper handling material up to 2.5 - 3.0 inches (6.3 - 7.6 cm) in diameter would eliminate a substantial amount of fuel. There is no reason for Forest Walker to remove fallen trees. It wouldnât have to in order to make a real difference. It need only identify appropriately sized branches and grab them. Once loaded into the chipperâs intake hopper for further processing, the beast can immediately look for more âfoodâ. This is essentially kindling that would help ignite larger logs. If itâs all consumed by Forest Walker, then itâs not present to promote an aggravated conflagration.
I have glossed over an obvious question: How does Forest Walker see and identify branches and such? LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) attached to Forest Walker images the local area and feed those data to onboard computers for processing. Maybe AI plays a role. Maybe simple machine learning can do the trick. One thing is for certain: being able to identify a stick and cause robotic appendages to pick it up is not impossible.
Great! We now have a quadrupedal robot autonomously identifying and âeatingâ dead branches and other light, combustible materials. Whilst strolling through the forest, depleting future fires of combustibles, Forest Walker has already performed a major function of this system: making the forest safer. It's time to convert this low-density fuel into a high-density fuel Forest Walker can leverage. Enter the gasification process.
The Gassifier
The gasifier is the heart of the entire system; itâs where low-density fuel becomes the high-density fuel that powers the entire system. Biochar and wood vinegar are process wastes and Iâll discuss why both are powerful soil amendments in a moment, but first, whatâs gasification?
Reacting shredded carbonaceous material at high temperatures in a low or no oxygen environment converts the biomass into biochar, wood vinegar, heat, and Synthesis Gas (Syngas). Syngas consists primarily of hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and methane. All of which are extremely useful fuels in a gaseous state. Part of this gas is used to heat the input biomass and keep the reaction temperature constant while the internal combustion engine that drives the generator to produce electrical power consumes the rest.
Critically, this gasification process is âcontinuous feedâ. Forest Walker must intake biomass from the chipper, process it to fuel, and dump the waste (CO2, heat, biochar, and wood vinegar) continuously. It cannot stop. Everything about this system depends upon this continual grazing, digestion, and excretion of wastes just as a ruminal does. And, like a ruminant, all waste products enhance the local environment.
When I first heard of gasification, I didnât believe that it was real. Running an electric generator from burning wood seemed more akin to âconspiracy fantasyâ than science. Not only is gasification real, itâs ancient technology. A man named Dean Clayton first started experiments on gasification in 1699 and in 1901 gasification was used to power a vehicle. By the end of World War II, there were 500,000 Syngas powered vehicles in Germany alone because of fossil fuel rationing during the war. The global gasification market was $480 billion in 2022 and projected to be as much as $700 billion by 2030 (Vantage Market Research). Gasification technology is the best choice to power the Forest Walker because itâs self-contained and we want its waste products.
Biochar: The Waste
Biochar (AKA agricultural charcoal) is fairly simple: itâs almost pure, solid carbon that resembles charcoal. Its porous nature packs large surface areas into small, 3 dimensional nuggets. Devoid of most other chemistry, like hydrocarbons (methane) and ash (minerals), biochar is extremely lightweight. Do not confuse it with the charcoal you buy for your grill. Biochar doesnât make good grilling charcoal because it would burn too rapidly as it does not contain the multitude of flammable components that charcoal does. Biochar has several other good use cases. Water filtration, water retention, nutrient retention, providing habitat for microscopic soil organisms, and carbon sequestration are the main ones that we are concerned with here.
Carbon has an amazing ability to adsorb (substances stick to and accumulate on the surface of an object) manifold chemistries. Water, nutrients, and pollutants tightly bind to carbon in this format. So, biochar makes a respectable filter and acts as a âbatteryâ of water and nutrients in soils. Biochar adsorbs and holds on to seven times its weight in water. Soil containing biochar is more drought resilient than soil without it. Adsorbed nutrients, tightly sequestered alongside water, get released only as plants need them. Plants must excrete protons (H+) from their roots to disgorge water or positively charged nutrients from the biochar's surface; it's an active process.
Biocharâs surface area (where adsorption happens) can be 500 square meters per gram or more. That is 10% larger than an official NBA basketball court for every gram of biochar. Biocharâs abundant surface area builds protective habitats for soil microbes like fungi and bacteria and many are critical for the health and productivity of the soil itself.
The âcarbon sequestrationâ component of biochar comes into play where âcarbon creditsâ are concerned. There is a financial market for carbon. Not leveraging that market for revenue is foolish. I am climate agnostic. All I care about is that once solid carbon is inside the soil, it will stay there for thousands of years, imparting drought resiliency, fertility collection, nutrient buffering, and release for that time span. I simply want as much solid carbon in the soil because of the undeniably positive effects it has, regardless of any climactic considerations.
Wood Vinegar: More Waste
Another by-product of the gasification process is wood vinegar (Pyroligneous acid). If you have ever seen Liquid Smoke in the grocery store, then you have seen wood vinegar. Principally composed of acetic acid, acetone, and methanol wood vinegar also contains ~200 other organic compounds. It would seem intuitive that condensed, liquefied wood smoke would at least be bad for the health of all living things if not downright carcinogenic. The counter intuition wins the day, however. Wood vinegar has been used by humans for a very long time to promote digestion, bowel, and liver health; combat diarrhea and vomiting; calm peptic ulcers and regulate cholesterol levels; and a host of other benefits.
For centuries humans have annually burned off hundreds of thousands of square miles of pasture, grassland, forest, and every other conceivable terrestrial ecosystem. Why is this done? After every burn, one thing becomes obvious: the almost supernatural growth these ecosystems exhibit after the burn. How? Wood vinegar is a component of this growth. Even in open burns, smoke condenses and infiltrates the soil. That is when wood vinegar shows its quality.
This stuff beefs up not only general plant growth but seed germination as well and possesses many other qualities that are beneficial to plants. Itâs a pesticide, fungicide, promotes beneficial soil microorganisms, enhances nutrient uptake, and imparts disease resistance. I am barely touching a long list of attributes here, but you want wood vinegar in your soil (alongside biochar because it adsorbs wood vinegar as well).
The Internal Combustion Engine
Conversion of grazed forage to chemical, then mechanical, and then electrical energy completes the cycle. The ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) converts the gaseous fuel output from the gasifier to mechanical energy, heat, water vapor, and CO2. Itâs the mechanical energy of a rotating drive shaft that we want. That rotation drives the electric generator, which is the heartbeat we need to bring this monster to life. Luckily for us, combined internal combustion engine and generator packages are ubiquitous, delivering a defined energy output given a constant fuel input. Itâs the simplest part of the system.
The obvious question here is whether the amount of syngas provided by the gasification process will provide enough energy to generate enough electrons to run the entire system or not. While I have no doubt the energy produced will run Forest Walker's main systems the question is really about the electrons left over. Will it be enough to run the Bitcoin mining aspect of the system? Everything is a budget.
CO2 Production For Growth
Plants are lollipops. No matter if itâs a tree or a bush or a shrubbery, the entire thing is mostly sugar in various formats but mostly long chain carbohydrates like lignin and cellulose. Plants need three things to make sugar: CO2, H2O and light. In a forest, where tree densities can be quite high, CO2 availability becomes a limiting growth factor. Itâd be in the forest interests to have more available CO2 providing for various sugar formation providing the organism with food and structure.
An odd thing about tree leaves, the openings that allow gasses like the ever searched for CO2 are on the bottom of the leaf (these are called stomata). Not many stomata are topside. This suggests that trees and bushes have evolved to find gasses like CO2 from below, not above and this further suggests CO2 might be in higher concentrations nearer the soil.
The soil life (bacterial, fungi etc.) is constantly producing enormous amounts of CO2 and it would stay in the soil forever (eventually killing the very soil life that produces it) if not for tidal forces. Water is everywhere and whether in pools, lakes, oceans or distributed in âmoistâ soils water moves towards to the moon. The water in the soil and also in the water tables below the soil rise toward the surface every day. When the water rises, it expels the accumulated gasses in the soil into the atmosphere and itâs mostly CO2. Itâs a good bet on how leaves developed high populations of stomata on the underside of leaves. As the water relaxes (the tide goes out) it sucks oxygenated air back into the soil to continue the functions of soil life respiration. The soil âbreathesâ albeit slowly.
The gasses produced by the Forest Walkerâs internal combustion engine consist primarily of CO2 and H2O. Combusting sugars produce the same gasses that are needed to construct the sugars because the universe is funny like that. The Forest Walker is constantly laying down these critical construction elements right where the trees need them: close to the ground to be gobbled up by the trees.
The Branch Drones
During the last ice age, giant mammals populated North America - forests and otherwise. Mastodons, woolly mammoths, rhinos, short-faced bears, steppe bison, caribou, musk ox, giant beavers, camels, gigantic ground-dwelling sloths, glyptodons, and dire wolves were everywhere. Many were ten to fifteen feet tall. As they crashed through forests, they would effectively cleave off dead side-branches of trees, halting the spread of a ground-based fire migrating into the tree crown ("laddering") which is a death knell for a forest.
These animals are all extinct now and forests no longer have any manner of pruning services. But, if we build drones fitted with cutting implements like saws and loppers, optical cameras and AI trained to discern dead branches from living ones, these drones could effectively take over pruning services by identifying, cutting, and dropping to the forest floor, dead branches. The dropped branches simply get collected by the Forest Walker as part of its continual mission.
The drones dock on the back of the Forest Walker to recharge their batteries when low. The whole scene would look like a grazing cow with some flies bothering it. This activity breaks the link between a relatively cool ground based fire and the tree crowns and is a vital element in forest fire control.
The Bitcoin Miner
Mining is one of four monetary incentive models, making this system a possibility for development. The other three are US Dept. of the Interior, township, county, and electrical utility company easement contracts for fuel load management, global carbon credits trading, and data set sales. All the above depends on obvious questions getting answered. I will list some obvious ones, but this is not an engineering document and is not the place for spreadsheets. How much Bitcoin one Forest Walker can mine depends on everything else. What amount of biomass can we process? Will that biomass flow enough Syngas to keep the lights on? Can the chassis support enough mining ASICs and supporting infrastructure? What does that weigh and will it affect field performance? How much power can the AC generator produce?
Other questions that are more philosophical persist. Even if a single Forest Walker can only mine scant amounts of BTC per day, that pales to how much fuel material it can process into biochar. We are talking about millions upon millions of forested acres in need of fuel load management. What can a single Forest Walker do? I am not thinking in singular terms. The Forest Walker must operate as a fleet. What could 50 do? 500?
What is it worth providing a service to the world by managing forest fuel loads? Providing proof of work to the global monetary system? Seeding soil with drought and nutrient resilience by the excretion, over time, of carbon by the ton? What did the last forest fire cost?
The Mesh Network
What could be better than one bitcoin mining, carbon sequestering, forest fire squelching, soil amending behemoth? Thousands of them, but then they would need to be able to talk to each other to coordinate position, data handling, etc. Fitted with a mesh networking device, like goTenna or Meshtastic LoRa equipment enables each Forest Walker to communicate with each other.
Now we have an interconnected fleet of Forest Walkers relaying data to each other and more importantly, aggregating all of that to the last link in the chain for uplink. Well, at least Bitcoin mining data. Since block data is lightweight, transmission of these data via mesh networking in fairly close quartered environs is more than doable. So, how does data transmit to the Bitcoin Network? How do the Forest Walkers get the previous block data necessary to execute on mining?
Back To The Chain
Getting Bitcoin block data to and from the network is the last puzzle piece. The standing presumption here is that wherever a Forest Walker fleet is operating, it is NOT within cell tower range. We further presume that the nearest Walmart Wi-Fi is hours away. Enter the Blockstream Satellite or something like it.
A separate, ground-based drone will have two jobs: To stay as close to the nearest Forest Walker as it can and to provide an antennae for either terrestrial or orbital data uplink. Bitcoin-centric data is transmitted to the "uplink drone" via the mesh networked transmitters and then sent on to the uplink and the whole flow goes in the opposite direction as well; many to one and one to many.
We cannot transmit data to the Blockstream satellite, and it will be up to Blockstream and companies like it to provide uplink capabilities in the future and I don't doubt they will. Starlink you say? Whatâs stopping that company from filtering out block data? Nothing because itâs Starlinkâs system and they could decide to censor these data. It seems we may have a problem sending and receiving Bitcoin data in back country environs.
But, then again, the utility of this system in staunching the fuel load that creates forest fires is extremely useful around forested communities and many have fiber, Wi-Fi and cell towers. These communities could be a welcoming ground zero for first deployments of the Forest Walker system by the home and business owners seeking fire repression. In the best way, Bitcoin subsidizes the safety of the communities.
Sensor Packages
LiDaR
The benefit of having a Forest Walker fleet strolling through the forest is the never ending opportunity for data gathering. A plethora of deployable sensors gathering hyper-accurate data on everything from temperature to topography is yet another revenue generator. Data is valuable and the Forest Walker could generate data sales to various government entities and private concerns.
LiDaR (Light Detection and Ranging) can map topography, perform biomass assessment, comparative soil erosion analysis, etc. It so happens that the Forest Walkerâs ability to âsee,â to navigate about its surroundings, is LiDaR driven and since itâs already being used, we can get double duty by harvesting that data for later use. By using a laser to send out light pulses and measuring the time it takes for the reflection of those pulses to return, very detailed data sets incrementally build up. Eventually, as enough data about a certain area becomes available, the data becomes useful and valuable.
Forestry concerns, both private and public, often use LiDaR to build 3D models of tree stands to assess the amount of harvest-able lumber in entire sections of forest. Consulting companies offering these services charge anywhere from several hundred to several thousand dollars per square kilometer for such services. A Forest Walker generating such assessments on the fly while performing its other functions is a multi-disciplinary approach to revenue generation.
pH, Soil Moisture, and Cation Exchange Sensing
The Forest Walker is quadrupedal, so there are four contact points to the soil. Why not get a pH data point for every step it takes? We can also gather soil moisture data and cation exchange capacities at unheard of densities because of sampling occurring on the fly during commission of the systemâs other duties. No one is going to build a machine to do pH testing of vast tracts of forest soils, but that doesnât make the data collected from such an endeavor valueless. Since the Forest Walker serves many functions at once, a multitude of data products can add to the return on investment component.
Weather Data
Temperature, humidity, pressure, and even data like evapotranspiration gathered at high densities on broad acre scales have untold value and because the sensors are lightweight and donât require large power budgets, they come along for the ride at little cost. But, just like the old mantra, âgas, grass, or ass, nobody rides for freeâ, these sensors provide potential revenue benefits just by them being present.
Iâve touched on just a few data genres here. In fact, the question for universities, governmental bodies, and other institutions becomes, âHow much will you pay us to attach your sensor payload to the Forest Walker?â
Noise Suppression
Only you can prevent Metallica filling the surrounds with 120 dB of sound. Easy enough, just turn the car stereo off. But what of a fleet of 50 Forest Walkers operating in the backcountry or near a township? 500? 5000? Each one has a wood chipper, an internal combustion engine, hydraulic pumps, actuators, and more cooling fans than you can shake a stick at. Itâs a walking, screaming fire-breathing dragon operating continuously, day and night, twenty-four hours a day, three hundred sixty-five days a year. The sound will negatively affect all living things and that impacts behaviors. Serious engineering consideration and prowess must deliver a silencing blow to the major issue of noise.
It would be foolish to think that a fleet of Forest Walkers could be silent, but if not a major design consideration, then the entire idea is dead on arrival. Townships would not allow them to operate even if they solved the problem of widespread fuel load and neither would governmental entities, and rightly so. Nothing, not man nor beast, would want to be subjected to an eternal, infernal scream even if it were to end within days as the fleet moved further away after consuming what it could. Noise and heat are the only real pollutants of this system; taking noise seriously from the beginning is paramount.
Fire Safety
A âfire-breathing dragonâ is not the worst description of the Forest Walker. It eats wood, combusts it at very high temperatures and excretes carbon; and it does so in an extremely flammable environment. Bad mix for one Forest Walker, worse for many. One must take extreme pains to ensure that during normal operation, a Forest Walker could fall over, walk through tinder dry brush, or get pounded into the ground by a meteorite from Krypton and it wouldnât destroy epic swaths of trees and baby deer. I envision an ultimate test of a prototype to include dowsing it in grain alcohol while itâs wrapped up in toilet paper like a pledge at a fraternity party. If it runs for 72 hours and doesnât set everything on fire, then maybe outside entities wonât be fearful of something that walks around forests with a constant fire in its belly.
The Wrap
How we think about what can be done with and adjacent to Bitcoin is at least as important as Bitcoinâs economic standing itself. For those who will tell me that this entire idea is without merit, I say, âOK, fine. You can come up with something, too.â What can we plug Bitcoin into that, like a battery, makes something that does not work, work? Thatâs the lesson I get from this entire exercise. No one was ever going to hire teams of humans to go out and "clean the forest". There's no money in that. The data collection and sales from such an endeavor might provide revenues over the break-even point but investment demands Alpha in this day and age. But, plug Bitcoin into an almost viable system and, voilĂ ! We tip the scales to achieve lift-off.
Letâs face it, we havenât scratched the surface of Bitcoinâs forcing function on our minds. Not because itâs Bitcoin, but because of what that invention means. The question that pushes me to approach things this way is, âwhat can we create that one systemâs waste is another systemâs feedstock?â The Forest Walker systemâs only real waste is the conversion of low entropy energy (wood and syngas) into high entropy energy (heat and noise). All other output is beneficial to humanity.
Bitcoin, I believe, is the first product of a new mode of human imagination. An imagination newly forged over the past few millennia of being lied to, stolen from, distracted and otherwise mis-allocated to a black hole of the nonsensical. We are waking up.
What I have presented is not science fiction. Everything I have described here is well within the realm of possibility. The question is one of viability, at least in terms of the detritus of the old world we find ourselves departing from. This system would take a non-trivial amount of time and resources to develop. I think the system would garner extensive long-term contracts from those who have the most to lose from wildfires, the most to gain from hyperaccurate data sets, and, of course, securing the most precious asset in the world. Many may not see it that way, for they seek Alpha and are therefore blind to other possibilities. Others will see only the possibilities; of thinking in a new way, of looking at things differently, and dreaming of what comes next.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-06-17 18:56:54Several months ago, nostr:npub1hqaz3dlyuhfqhktqchawke39l92jj9nt30dsgh2zvd9z7dv3j3gqpkt56s and I set out to do tackle a task that had never been done before throughout Nostr's short history. We decided adopt the "go big, or go home" mentality and give our best effort to Purple Pill all of the nostr:npub167n5w6cj2wseqtmk26zllc7n28uv9c4vw28k2kht206vnghe5a7stgzu3r conference.
We couldn't accomplish this monumental task without the help of the Nostr community. From every day Nostriches and plebs, to legendary developers putting their blood, sweat, and tears into building this new protocol, to several companies within the Nostr ecosystem, everyone was going to need to do their part to turn this dream into a reality.
The mission
For the original vision of Nostr at BTC Prague, we planned on supporting the smallest available booth and a small panel on the secondary stage. The plan was for any Nostr developer to contribute what they could and then use the Nostr booth as a central hub to onboard users to their applications, provide support to their users, and meet the community. I embarked on my first crowdfunding journey and was able to initially raise over 10M sats thanks to the greater Nostr community donating towards our efforts.
Shortly afterwards, I was approached by nostr:npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m from Satlantis. He had planned on doing a mainstage presentation at BTC Prague on his new Nostr powered application. He asked me if I wanted to combine our efforts to upgrade the Nostr booth to the largest booth possible to give Nostr an even larger presence. I reached out to Avi and several other trusted Nostriches to see their opinions on this potential upgrade and everyone seemed to agree that we should continue with the "go big, or go home" mentality and try our best to Purple Pill all of Prague.
Now with a larger goal at hand, we were able to garner even more support from the Nostr community in addition by adding Highlighter from nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft and Primal from nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr as larger contributors.
The final tallies for funds raised were 16M+ sats from the greater Nostr community and 38M+ sats raised from Satlantis, Primal, and Highlighter. (We did have to raise a little more than originally anticipated because the Bitcoin 58K Gang made the fiat value of Bitcoin dip down for a bit right when we were trying to finalize payment.)
Putting it all together
This support enabled us to secure one of the four large booths at BTC Prague and a main stage panel. Given that these three companies made significant contributions, enabling our acquisition of the largest booth, we decided that it was logical to feature these companies more prominently. However, it was crucial to strike a delicate balance here. While emphasizing that this booth represented the Nostr community and was a true community effort, we also wanted to acknowledge and showcase those who made it possible. These companies could have opted for smaller individual booths, but their collaboration in a unified space demonstrates Nostr's principles of openness and interoperabilityâdemonstrating that everyone and everything can work together seamlessly.
Therefore, we included as many logos across the Nostr ecosystem as possible throughout our iconography.
And, we also had a dedicated area of the booth highlighting our larger contributors.
The results exceeded all expectations. For three days during the BTC Prague conference, the Nostr booth was continuously bustling with activity. Attendees ranged from individuals who had never heard of Nostr before to those who were curious, active users within the ecosystem, and developers creating the applications we use daily. It was a remarkable community effort, with unexpected volunteers stepping up to onboard new users and provide support. Recognizing our busy schedules and flocks of new Nostriches hatching, they chose to assist in our efforts, offering help, and answering questions. It was a truly inspiring experience. Despite the busyness, the enthusiasm and support of so many people made each day enjoyable and dynamic, ensuring there was never a dull moment and we were always surrounded by friends.
Booth takeaways
As this was our very first attempt at doing something like this, I'd like to do a personal post mortem and highlight many of our successes and even some areas where I feel we can improve upon in the future.
Several Nostriches went above and beyond, helping onboard people and answer questions for three days straight. nostr:npub17plqkxhsv66g8quxxc9p5t9mxazzn20m426exqnl8lxnh5a4cdns7jezx0 nostr:npub1spdnfacgsd7lk0nlqkq443tkq4jx9z6c6ksvaquuewmw7d3qltpslcq6j7 nostr:npub1v0lxxxxutpvrelsksy8cdhgfux9l6a42hsj2qzquu2zk7vc9qnkszrqj49 nostr:npub1k6tqlj78cpznd0yc74wy3k0elmj4nql87a3uzfz98tmj3tuzxywsf0dhk6 nostr:npub1md39ua3h2s7204a7v5p9sdxmxx9qc7m4kr3r6naeuwfznad6d7nsxpctp9 nostr:npub1arkn0xxxll4llgy9qxkrncn3vc4l69s0dz8ef3zadykcwe7ax3dqrrh43w nostr:npub1zga04e73s7ard4kaektaha9vckdwll3y8auztyhl3uj764ua7vrqc7ppvc were the lifeblood of the booth, always answering questions themselves or referring them to others if they were unable to help, didn't know the answer or were busy at the time. You all put in the work and deserve much credit and thanks. Even nostr:npub1995y964wmxl94crx3ksfley24szjr390skdd237ex9z7ttp5c9lqld8vtf was helping with onboarding!
Additionally, beyond general use case questions, we also had many developers stop by and answer many more technical questions for those wanting to learn a bit more too. nostr:npub1zach44xjpc4yyhx6pgse2cj2pf98838kja03dv2e8ly8lfr094vqvm5dy5 nostr:npub1v0lxxxxutpvrelsksy8cdhgfux9l6a42hsj2qzquu2zk7vc9qnkszrqj49 nostr:npub1arkn0xxxll4llgy9qxkrncn3vc4l69s0dz8ef3zadykcwe7ax3dqrrh43w nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft were often seen answering more technical questions on various developmental topics.
Identifying areas for improvement is challenging, as the entire team of Nostriches performed exceptionally well, exceeding expectations. The event was a whirlwind of activity, with constant engagement and zero downtime. Volunteers seamlessly rotated at the front counter answering questions and distributing items to attendees. (Thanks nostr:npub1cgcwm56v5hyrrzl5ty4vq4kdud63n5u4czgycdl2r3jshzk55ufqe52ndy . Your nostr.how and nostrapps.com business cards were a HUGE help here!)
Full disclosure, I personally didn't leave the booth for three days all that much for two reasons. 1) Because I love to #GrowNostr and talk to people and 2) Because I was worried that the booth would turn into a corporate Primal or Satlantis show. However, this wasn't the case. While these teams did have a large presence with many team members all wearing t-shirts, none of my fears became a reality. If people asked questions about Nostr in general, that was discussed. If people asked questions about Primal or Satlantis, that was discussed. I personally recommended numerous social apps, Damus, Amethyst, Primal, Nostur, Nos.social - all of them. The booth was a true decentralized effort and I absolutely did not need to worry as much as I did, but I felt like I had an obligation to fulfill and I wanted to be there to see it through.
If I had to choose an area that needed improvement, I'd say that the three Satlantis women that nostr:npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m brought with him were supposed to shadow some of us to learn more about Nostr, so that they could then use this information to do the initial intake booth questions before making the referral to those with more information, but this just didn't happen. We were all so busy. Sorry! It was just too hard to coordinate. Maybe in the future we can prepare a bit more in this area. Although, nostr:npub1hz5alqscpp8yjrvgsdp2n4ygkl8slvstrgvmjca7e45w6644ew7sewtysa did a fantastic job, jumping right in there head first!
Secondly, we could have improved our television capabilities. We rotated from showing the live dashboard from the booth's Zap.stream livestream, to showing Primal.net/explore Nostr statistics, to showing nostr:npub1lelkh3hhxw9hdwlcpk6q9t0xt9f7yze0y0nxazvzqjmre3p98x3sthkvyz 's Nostr Documentary on loop, to playing the Satlantis promotional video. The majority of the time our TV was playing the same Nostr Documentary. It's great! I love that video, but we may be able to work out a better schedule and rotation mechanism in the future to showcase more content equally. Plus, I don't want to always be on the TV. I don't want people getting the wrong idea.
Nostr takeaways
After speaking with hundreds of people at BTC Prague, I feel that I've discovered the best way to describe Nostr.
Nostr has a portable digital social identity, allowing you to be in control of your digital social identity for the very first time, allowing you to take your entire social graph with you, every time you use a different application from Nostr's ecosystem.
Nostr is the social glue that binds all of your apps together.
In general, at BTC Prague, while explaining Nostr to people, the digital social identity route was what clicked with the most people. From there, it's not a long stretch to understand building a reputation and web of trust either.
Many people do not use the "Other Stuff" and explaining to them how to use these applications is hard. People want a native application.
Damus, Primal, and Amethyst seem to be the number one apps that people are using, with maybe Primal being the number one altogether? This is probably due to Primal being available on Android, iOS, and the web. Also, many people don't know that Damus still supports Zaps via the Nostr script workaround. I had to show many how to enable Zaps.
Everyone wants Nostr at their conference
There is significant interest in featuring Nostr at various conferences. Although not everyone has reached out, numerous individuals at BTC Prague expressed enthusiasm about incorporating a Nostr booth, along with several Nostr talks and sessions, into their upcoming events. They recognize the critical role Nostr and free speech play globally and acknowledge Nostr's popularity within the Bitcoin community. However, they also understand that more work is needed, and we must continue our efforts to onboard and engage new users.
I have two primary observations on this matter:
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The community effort demonstrated here serves as a blueprint for success. We have proven that this approach to growing Nostr is effective, desired, and necessary. The engagement at our booth and attendance at our panels prove this with ease.
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This fundraising initiative is likely a one-time effort. I cannot, in good conscience, continue to ask the community to bootstrap these endeavors. If we are to sustain these booths and promote Nostr at similar conferences, the conference organizers themselves must provide substantial support or discounts to foster broader Nostr adoption. While I understand that conferences entail significant operational costs, it is not feasible for Nostr developers and the broader Nostr community to finance these efforts continuously. Additionally, I would not feel comfortable requesting financial contributions from you all again for this purpose.
Looking forward
Will we do _this _again? I don't know. While our initial endeavor was a complete success, it would be unfortunate to cease our efforts just as we are gaining momentum.
Avi and I have a lot to discuss between ourselves and a lot to discuss with all of you.
Thank you all from the bottom of my heart. Thank you nostr:npub1dtgg8yk3h23ldlm6jsy79tz723p4sun9mz62tqwxqe7c363szkzqm8up6m nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr for making all of this possible. Thank you to every single Nostrich that donated your hard earned sats to make this possible. Thank you to all of the developers that built all of this to make all of this possible. Thank you to everyone else <3
Keep building.
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@ b83a28b7:35919450
2025-05-16 19:23:58This article was originally part of the sermon of Plebchain Radio Episode 110 (May 2, 2025) that nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqpqtvqc82mv8cezhax5r34n4muc2c4pgjz8kaye2smj032nngg52clq7fgefr and I did with nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7ct4w35zumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcqyzx4h2fv3n9r6hrnjtcrjw43t0g0cmmrgvjmg525rc8hexkxc0kd2rhtk62 and nostr:nprofile1qyxhwumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmvqyg8wumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnvv9hxgqpq4wxtsrj7g2jugh70pfkzjln43vgn4p7655pgky9j9w9d75u465pqahkzd0 of the nostr:nprofile1qythwumn8ghj7ct5d3shxtnwdaehgu3wd3skuep0qyt8wumn8ghj7etyv4hzumn0wd68ytnvv9hxgtcqyqwfvwrccp4j2xsuuvkwg0y6a20637t6f4cc5zzjkx030dkztt7t5hydajn
Listen to the full episode here:
<https://fountain.fm/episode/Ln9Ej0zCZ5dEwfo8w2Ho>
Bitcoin has always been a narrative revolution disguised as code. White paper, cypherpunk lore, pizzaâday legends - every block is a paragraph in the worldâs most relentless epic. But code alone rarely converts the skeptic; itâs the campâfire myth that slips past the prefrontal cortex and shakes hands with the limbic system. People donât adopt protocols first - they fall in love with protagonists.
Early adopters heard the whiteâpaper hymn, but most folks need characters first: a pizzaâday dreamer; a mother in a small country, crushed by the cost of remittance; a Warsaw street vendor swapping zĹoty for sats. When their arcs land, the brain releases a neurochemical OP_RETURN which says, âI belong in this plot.ââŻThatâs the sly roundabout orange pill: conviction smuggled inside catharsis.
Thatâs why, from 22â25âŻMay in Warsawâs Kinoteka, the BitcoinâŻFilmâŻFest is loading its reels with rebellion. Each documentary, drama, and animated rabbitâhole is a stealth wallet, zipping conviction straight into the feels of anyone still clasped within the cold claw of fiat. You come for the plot, you leave checking block heights.
Here's the clip of the sermon from the episode:
nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpwp69zm7fewjp0vkp306adnzt7249ytxhz7mq3w5yc629u6er9zsqqsy43fwz8es2wnn65rh0udc05tumdnx5xagvzd88ptncspmesdqhygcrvpf2
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-05-22 18:30:14Chef's notes
For the dough, combine the water, yeast, honey, and olive oil in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add 3 cups flour, then the salt, and mix. While mixing, add 1 more cup of flour, or enough to make a soft dough. Knead the dough on low to medium speed for about 10 minutes until smooth, sprinkling it with flour, if necessary, to keep it from sticking to the bowl. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured board and knead by hand a dozen times. It should be smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl and turn it several times to cover it lightly with oil. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Divide the dough into 6 equal parts and roll each one into a smooth ball. Place the balls on a baking sheet and cover them with a damp towel. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 4 hours.
If you've chilled the dough, take it out of the refrigerator approximately 30 minutes ahead to let it come to room temperature. Roll and stretch each ball into a rough 8-inch circle and place them all on baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal. (You will be able to fit 2 pizzas on each 18 by 13-inch baking sheet.) You may also use a cast iron skillet if so desired.
Details
- â˛ď¸ Prep time: 45 minutes
- đł Cook time: 15 minutes
- đ˝ď¸ Servings: 6
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups warm (100 to 110 degrees F) water
- 2 packages dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 3 tablespoons good olive oil
- 4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 500 degrees
- Bake for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on your desired level of crisp.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-13 11:26:31::youtube{#ELC4r7fbKEQ}
Silver Palace, developed by Silver Studio and published by Elementa, a fantasy adventure action RPG, built with Unreal Engine 5, was announced along with a 10-minute long gameplay video showcasing the game in what appears to be a pre-beta state.
::youtube{#EIUa74hDJiQ}
Find more information about the game from the game's website.
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@ e39333da:7c66e53a
2025-05-12 00:03:18::youtube{#VQRLujxTm3c}
Rockstar released the second trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI, where they mention that it showcases both cinematic and gameplay scenes equally, though of course it doesn't show any direct gameplay.
This trailer also announces the release date for the game. The game will come out on the 26th of May, 2026, for the PS5 and the Xbox One.
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@ 3283ef81:0a531a33
2025-05-24 18:17:22Vestibulum a nunc a sapien aliquam rhoncus\ Sed sem turpis, scelerisque sed augue ut, faucibus blandit lectus
Maecenas commodo, augue in placerat lacinia, lorem libero convallis mi, eu fringilla velit arcu id sem. In ac metus vitae sapien dignissim luctus
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@ 4fe4a528:3ff6bf06
2025-01-01 15:50:50I could have wrote about how bitcoin has more than doubled in 2024 or how some people are still sitting on the sidelines not trying to understand why bitcoin will double in 2025, but instead I thought I would write about how bitcoin is allowing for a decentralized social network.
Two years ago I decided to try out this NOSTR idea. Now I have 233 followers, almost the same number of people who read this monthly newsletter. Facebook / whats-app was to ad filled for me to enjoy what my friends were posting. X was great for news, but none of my friends where on it. Linkedin was just about business. Besides, NOSTR gives me more bitcoin every time I post. I am now using the bitcoin to buy eggs every two weeks from my neighbors. So to me it is a win win. I can write notes and eat eggs. I even use my NOSTR extension to log into hivetalk.org and help people with their computer issues. It is better than teaching via ZOOM. 2025 is going to be a great year for decentralization.
If you are trying to join NOSTR via your desktop I recommend going to getalby.com installing the browser extension. Then make an account with getalby and write down your 24 words (nsec). Link your profile to your lightning wallet and start posting and following other friends via primal.net. Yes, of course, I am put on this earth to help my fellow man. Some people enjoy using NOSTR via their cell phone and for those people I recommend amethyst or damus. We are all in this together.
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@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b
2025-05-24 18:17:09Ovaj post sam objavio 24.01.2024. godine na Redditu povodom tri decenije od uvoÄenja Novog dinara kao reĹĄenja za hiperinflaciju u Saveznoj Republici Jugoslaviji na ĹĄta su pojedini besni nokoineri sa te druĹĄtvene mreĹže osuli drvlje i kamenje na mene. Od starih budalaĹĄtina da je Bitkoin bezvredan, da nije oblik novca veÄ finansijsko ulaganje, preko pravdanja svrhe inflacije, sve do potpune nemoÄi da se argumentima opovrgne nepobitna istina i pozivanja moderatora da me banuju. đ
Cena Bitkoina tada je bila oko $40.000. :)
Osim glavnog posta, ovde Äu navesti i moje odgovore na neutemeljene i neinformisane tvrdnje besnih nokoinera. :) Da se saÄuva od zaborava!
JuÄe se navrĹĄilo 30 godina "Deda Avramove reforme".
Dan kada je roÄen novi dinar, a Deda Avram sasekao hiperinflaciju
Vikipedija: Jugoslovenski dinar
âU julu '93. godine u Jugoslaviji nisi mogao skoro niĹĄta da kupiĹĄ i niko za dinare nije hteo niĹĄta da prodajeâ, pisao je AvramoviÄ. Centralno-bankarska prevara se nastavlja jer je veÄ do kraja 1995. dinar oslabio prema marki za 70% (1 dinar = 3.4 DM), a u decembru 2000. je taj kurs veÄ bio 30.5 dinara za 1 DM (-96.7% od uvoÄenja novog dinara). To samo pokazuje da redenominacija valute tj. "brisanje nula" nije nikako Äudo i viÄano je puno puta kroz istoriju)
Ako je reformom iz januara '94 god. 1 novi dinar vredeo kao 1 nemaÄka marka, zatim od 2002. uveden evro Äime je realna vrednost marke (samim tim i dinara) prepolovljena, a danas 1 EUR vredi oko 117 RSD, to znaÄi da je "deda Avramov dinar" prema evru veÄ obezvreÄen 59.91 puta za 30 godina. Dakle devalvacija dinara od 5991% od 1994. godine, a svakako joĹĄ veÄa izraĹžena kroz dobra i usluge jer su i nemaÄka marka do 2002. i evro od svog uvoÄenja iste godine proĹĄli kroz sopstvenu inflaciju. Sam evro je izgubio oko 38% vrednosti od 2002. godine. Tako da se moĹže reÄi da i "deda Avramov dinar" veÄ uveliko prolazi kroz hiperinflaciju koja je samo razvuÄena na mnogo duĹži vremenski period (ne brinite - znam "zvaniÄnu" definiciju hiperinflacije - joĹĄ jedan "gaslighting" centralno-bankarskog kartela da zabaĹĄuri ĹĄta se iza brda valja). Jer ĹĄta je inflacija od preko 5991% nego viĹĄedecenijska hiperinflacija?! Kako ne shvata gigantske razmere ove prevare?!
ISPRAVKA: Dinar nije nominalno izgubio 23400% (234x) vrednosti prema nemaÄkoj marki/evru od 1994. godine, veÄ 59.91x odnosno 5991%. I danas na sajtu NBS postoji zvaniÄni srednji kurs marke prema dinaru od 59,91:1. Realno, obezvreÄivanje dinara i evra prema robama i uslugama je puno veÄe, poĹĄto su cene roba i usluga izraĹžene u evrima ubrzo udvostruÄene u periodu nakon uvoÄenja evra. Hvala Älanu DejanJwtq na ispravci i izvinjenje svima od mene zbog greĹĄke.
Dafiment i Jugoskandik ("Dafina i Jezda") su bili samo drĹžavna konstrukcija da se izvuku devize iz ruku naivnih investitora da bi te devize neĹĄto kasnije posluĹžile kao toboĹžnja rezerva za novi dinar. Ova gigantska prevara je unapred bila planirana, a Deda Avram iskoriĹĄÄen kao marioneta tadaĹĄnjeg reĹžima.
InaÄe lista drĹžava koje su izvrĹĄile redenominaciju valute kroz "brisanje nula" je popriliÄno dugaÄka i radi se o uobiÄajenoj pojavi kroz istoriju joĹĄ od Haitija 1813. godine, a poslednji put su to uradile Sijera Leone i Kolumbija 2021. godine. Odavno je zaboravljeno da je (SR) Jugoslavija devedesetih to uÄinila joĹĄ 1990. (10.000:1), 1992. (10:1), 1993. (1.000.000:1) i 1994. pre AvramoviÄa (1.000.000.000âś1) ali je ovaj dinar trajao samo 23 dana. Tako da Deda Avram nije izmislio toplu vodu.
U SFRJ je izvrĹĄena jedna redenominacija 1966. godine u odnosu 10.000:1.
Wikipedia: Redenomination
Kome i dalje nije jasno zaĹĄto Bitkoin neka viĹĄe puta paĹžljivo proÄita ove tekstove iznad: oblik novca koji se ne moĹže redenominirati, veoma lako konfiskovati i izdavati bez ikakve kontrole i pokriÄa. Potpuno nezavistan od kaprica korumpiranih i od realnosti otuÄenih politiÄara i centralnih bankara. Veoma je bitno da postoji ovakav oblik novca koji nije podloĹžan ovakvim manipulacijama od strane ljudskog faktora i da postoji slobodan izbor da se taj oblik novca odabere za ĹĄtednju i transakcije: barem od strane onih koji ga razumeju, ovi koji ne Ĺžele da razumeju neka i dalje pristaju da budu pljaÄkani - njima ionako nema pomoÄi.
Komentari
brainzorz: Da, ali ako cemo realno bitkoin ne sluzi kao oblik novca, vec kao finansijsko ulaganje.
Bar je tako za nas i vecinu ljudi po svetu u praktiÄnom smislu. Jer 99.99% ljudi ili koliko vec prime platu u svojoj lokalnoj valuti, trose istu na redovan zivot, a ostatak (ako ga ima) investiraju. Slazem se da lokalne valute imaju svoj neki rizik, koji je veci u banana drzavi i da cuvanje svog kapitala u turbulentnom periodu u istoj je jako losa ideja.
Kada tako posmatras onda se mogu vuci pararele izmedju ostalih aseta, poput ETFova na primer i onda dolazimo do gomile problema sa bitkoinom.
@BTCSRB: Bitkoin se ne moĹže porediti sa ETF-ovima poĹĄto ETF-ove i ostale investicione instrumente ne moĹžeĹĄ koristiti kao novac jer oni nisu "bearer assets" kao ĹĄto jeste BTC. BTC eliminiĹĄe potpuno inflaciju (jer dĹžabe ti keĹĄ u slamarici kao "bearer asset" kada je podloĹžan inflaciji) i potrebu za posrednikom kod elektronskih plaÄanja.
brainzorz: Ali on to eleminise samo u teoriji, sad da odem u pekaru, moram platiti u lokalnoj valuti, sad da li cu prodati bitkoin ili etf, prilicno je slicno.
Jedino sto mogu bitkoin zamenuti uzivo (ilegalno) sa nekim, pa tu jeste zamenjen posrednik. Ali provizije povlacenja su uglavnom zanemarljive, naspram ostalih parametara investicionog sredstva.
Neke stvari se mogu direktno platiti za bitkoin, ali to je ekstremno retko u stvarnom zivotu vecine ljudi.
@BTCSRB: SlaĹžem se ali u uslovima hiperinflacije i visoke inflacije kakvu danas imamo u Argentini, Venecueli, Zimbabveu, Libanu, Turskoj itd. sve viĹĄe ljudi direktno vrĹĄi transakcije u kriptovalutama, naroÄito "stablecoinima" poput USDT Tethera. Priznajem da u tim transakcijama BTC zaostaje upravo zbog volatilnosti ali je vrĹĄenje brzih i jeftinih transakcija svakako moguÄe putem Lightning mreĹže. Sve te lokalne valute su izgubile znaÄajnu vrednost i prema USDT i prema BTC-u, odnosno BTC konstantno probija rekordnu vrednost kada se denominuje u tim valutama. I u tim drĹžavama je adopcija kriptovaluta najraĹĄirenija.
HunterVD: Kako valuta u koju se upumpavaju nepostojeci dolari i evri moze biti realna i dobra. A USDT tek da ne spominjem. Mozes uvek revi jer joj ljudi veruju, al ta vera u nesto ide samo do odredjenog nivoa.
@BTCSRB: Godinama kupujem BTC od svake plate, praktiÄno ĹĄtedim u njemu i kupovna moÄ mi vremenom raste denominirana u evrima i dinarima. To isto rade na desetine hiljada ljudi ĹĄirom sveta. Kako su ti realni dinari i evri koje ubacujem svakog meseca koje sam zaradio od svog realnog rada - "nepostojeÄi"?
Kako dolari i evri koji se ĹĄtampaju ni iz Äega mogu biti realni i dobri kao valuta?
HunterVD: Pa eto bas to. Ulaze se nepostojeci novac u BTC i onda se prica o nekoj novoj valuti. Nije sija nego vrat, BTC ima jedino vrednost dok se upumpava taj lazni novac u njega. FIAT novac kolko tolko nastaje radom i proizvodnjom dobara, ne sav FIAT novac al neki deo, dok se BTC zasniva skroz na upumpavanje tog istog FIAT novca i dobroj volji i zeljama da magicne brojke idu navise.
@BTCSRB: Itekako je moguÄe izraziti cenu svih ostalih dobara i usluga kroz BTC i postojanje i vrednost BTC-a uopĹĄte ne zavisi od fiat novca. Ĺ taviĹĄe, gotova sva dobra i usluge dugoroÄno postaju jeftiniji kada se mere kroz BTC. Sutra kada bi fiat novac nestao BTC bi i dalje imao vrednost, Äak i veÄu nego danas.
https://www.pricedinbitcoin21.com/
HunterVD: Naravno da je moguce izraziti cene svakodnevnih proizvoda u BTCu. Cene svakodnevnih proizvoda je moguce izraziti u cemu god pozelis, evo npr broj radnih sati koji je potreban da se proizvede taj proizvod i onda se uporedi sa cenom radnih sati i cene na polici, mozes ga uracunavati i u dobrima , jedan iphone kosta tolko i tolko KG juneceg mesa..... nista cudno. Takodje cene proizvoda pokazuju pad u odnosu sa BTCom jer je BTC masivno porastao u poslednjih 5-6 godina. Sta ce biti kad BTC stagnira ili pada kako se u tom periodu odnose cene, a da BTC je store of value i namenjen je samo da se cuva izvinte molim vas moja greska. Ni druge kripto valute nisu nista bolje. Ljudi koji su zaradili na BTCu svaka cast eto imali su pameti i srece , al sad kako je cena sve veca, inflacija sve losija i kamatne stope sve vise postace sve teze i teze dolaziti do novca a kamo li intvestirati ga u nesto rizicno ko kripto valute tako da ce i BTC sve manje rasti sto zbog velicine market cap-a sto zbog toga sto ljudi i firme imaju sve manje novca za ulagati. Dal ce btc moci da se uzbori sa inflacijom i losim uslovima to tek treba da se vidi. Tako da videcemo u narednom periodu koliko ce se ta priva o BTC kao store of value i nacinu odbrane od inflacije obistiniti. Licno ne verujem da ce BTC ikad biti zvanicno sredstvo placanja.
@BTCSRB: Cena svega se moĹže izraziti kroz sve ostalo ali ĹĄta od svega toga najbolje vrĹĄi funkciju novca? BTC bolje vrĹĄi funkciju novca u veÄini okolnosti od gotovo svih stvari.
Ĺ ta Äe biti sa BTC videÄe se i oni koji veruju u njega Äe biti najzasluĹžniji za njegov uspeh jer su obezbeÄivali potraĹžnju kada su kola iĹĄla nizbrdo i za to biti asimetriÄno nagraÄeni, ali Äe i puno izgubiti ako se pokaĹže da nisu u pravu. Pukovnici ili pokojnici. Po meni je to cilj zbog koga vredi rizikovati, pa i bankrotirati a cilj je da se centralno-bankarski kartel uÄini manje relevantnim.
ZnaĹĄ i sam da fiat sistem ne moĹže da preĹživi i izbegne imploziju bez konstantnog uveÄanja mase novca u opticaju i zato se uopĹĄte ne plaĹĄim za BTC i spavam mirno. BTC sigurno neÄe rasti istom brzinom kao prvih 15 godina ali moje oÄekivanje je svakako ubedljivo nadmaĹĄivanje svetske inflacije i obezvreÄivanja. Ne vidim kako sistem moĹže da opstane bez novog QE kada god se on desi, u suprotnom imamo deflatornu spiralu.
Ne mora da bude zvaniÄno sredstvo plaÄanja, dovoljno da meni kao pojedincu sluĹži za to dok god ima ljudi koji ga prihvataju, a ima ih puno. I da niko u tome ne moĹže da nas spreÄi.
loldurrr: Ali i BTC je postao, u neku ruku, berzanska roba. ImaĹĄ market cap izraĹžen u dolarima, koji je danas, npr. 2 triliona $, za mjesec dana 500 milijardi. Isto kao i dolar, samo volatilnije. Zato i kaĹžem, da je to sve rezultat ponude i traĹžnje. HipotetiÄki, ja da imam milion BTC i odluÄim to danas prodati, enormno Äu oboriti cenu BTC. Ako je to valuta nezavisna od vanjskih uticaja - zaĹĄto Äe pasti toliko, kada imamo ograniÄenu koliÄinu BTC-a. Svima je i dalje u podsvesti vrednost BTC izraĹžena u USD, tako da je to isto kao i dinar, franak, akcija CocaCola i sl. Bar za sada...
A moguÄnosti za koriĹĄtenje BTC za robna plaÄanja su mizerna. Ima li na vidiku moguÄnosti da se vrednost nafte poÄne izraĹžavati u BTC?
@BTCSRB: Meriti Bitkoin direktno prema robama i uslugama je itekako moguÄe i kada ga tako meriĹĄ, a ne prema fiat novcu, dugoroÄno cene gotovo svih roba i usluga padaju prema Bitkoinu. Cene svega izraĹžene kroz BTC neÄe nestati ni u sluÄaju nestanka fiat novca, dolar sutra da prestane da postoji nikoga ne spreÄava da izraĹžava cene svega kroz BTC. Dolar i ostale valute nisu potrebni Bitkoinu.
Unlikely-Put-5524: Imam samo jedno pitanje za one "koji vide iza svega" i pronikli su bankarsku prevare da porobi ÄoveÄanstvo... Kako ne postoji moguÄnost da je BTC i kripto nastao iz iste kuhinje i predstavlja ultimativni naÄin za porobljavanje?
2% novÄanika poseduje 95% svog BTC-a koji nije izgubljen. ZnaÄi da centralizacija moĹže biti maksimalna...
@BTCSRB: KoliÄina BTC-a u posedu ne daje kontrolu nad pravilima protokola i veÄinski vlasnici ne mogu da ĹĄtampaju nove novÄiÄe i tako uveÄaju konaÄnu koliÄinu u opticaju. Mogu samo da kratkoroÄno obore cenu i tako samo ostanu sa manje BTC-a koji imaju poĹĄto Äe trĹžiĹĄte vremenom apsorbovati te dampovane koine.
Unlikely-Put-5524: A mogu i dugoroÄno da obore cenu. Hajde da kaĹžemo da imaĹĄ sada 10 BTC-a gde svaki vredi 40k
Veliki dumpu-ju ceo svoj bag u kontinutitetu kao ĹĄto sad radi GS i posle godinu dana tvoj BTC sad vredi 4k, zaĹĄto misliĹĄ da bi ljudi nastavili da ga drĹže? Posebno ako znamo da ga 97% kupuje da bi zaradili, a ne zato ĹĄto Ĺžele da ga koriste kao sredstvo plaÄanja.
Ja bih ore BTC gledao kao commodity, jer sa svojim deflatornim svojstvima ne moĹže biti valuta za plaÄanje.
TakoÄe postoji i doomsday scenario gde jednostavno mogu svi da se dogovore da je ilegalan i to je onda to. Ovo mi deluje kao gotovo neverovatno, ali po meni je bilo koji maksimalizam potpuno detinjasto razmiĹĄljanje.
@BTCSRB: Pa padao je toliko puta za preko 70% i uvek se vraÄao jer si uvek imao ljude koji su bili spremni da ga kupuju po bilo kojoj ceni, ukljuÄujuÄi i mene. PoĹĄto se ne moĹže ĹĄtampati, na kraju Äe ovi prodavci ostati bez BTC-a za prodaju i trĹžiĹĄte apsorbovati Äak i njihov "sell pressure". A ovi veliki koji drĹže tolike koliÄine itekako dobro znaju vrednost toga ĹĄto poseduju i nema smisla da svu koliÄinu koju drĹže prodaju za inflatorni novac - prodavaÄe da bi finansirali svoj Ĺživotni stil ili investiraju u biznise ili Äe ga koristiti kao kolateral za fiat pozajmice - ako raspolaĹžu tolikim koliÄinama i mogu da kontroliĹĄu trĹžiĹĄte nemaju strah da Äe im kolateral biti likvidiran.
VeÄina ljudi su fiat maksimalisti samim tim ĹĄto su 100% u fiat novcu pa ne razmiĹĄljaju u pravcu doomsday scenarija kakav je upravo bila hiperinflacija devedesetih.
Romeo_y_Cohiba: Niko ti ne brani da ulaĹžeĹĄ u bitcoin pod uslovom da znaĹĄ da je riziÄniji od gotovog novca, ĹĄtednje po viÄenju, oroÄene ĹĄtednje, obveznica, nekretnina, akcija, raznoraznih etfova, private equitya i derivata.
Drugim reÄima ako ti je ok da danas uloĹžiĹĄ 1000e, da za nedelju dana to vredi 500e, za mesec 1500 a za pola godina 300e ili 0 samo napred. VeÄini ljudi to nije ok.
Razlog zaĹĄto pamtimo Avrama je jer njegov dinar i dan danas koristimo. Prethodne uzastopne reforme nisu uspele kao ĹĄto si i sam primetio.
TakoÄe, nije u pitanju "centralno-bankarska" prevara jer se niĹĄta od toga ne bi desilo da ovom "odozgo" nisu zatrebale pare za finansiranje izvesnih stvari.
I dan danas, izvesni politiÄar(i) izaÄu na TV i kaĹžu da su "naĹĄli" novac za neki svoj genijalni plan i ljudi to puĹĄe. To u prevodu najÄeĹĄÄe znaÄi da Äe da nagna centralnu banku da mu doĹĄtampa novca i to nema veze sa bankama nego politikom..
@BTCSRB: Za investicione instrumente koje si naveo treba videti koliko su uspeĹĄno nadvladavali inflaciju prethodnih decenija i da li su oÄuvali kupovnu moÄ. Za ĹĄtednju u banci i obveznice se i iz daleka vidi da nisu. US obveznice su u septembru imale drawdown od 48% od ATH iz 2020, a kao vaĹže sa sigurnu investiciju. Äak i u momentu dospeÄa posle 10-30 godina jako teĹĄko Äuvaju vrednost od inflacije.
A sada se zapitaj: da li zaista misliĹĄ da politiÄari kontroliĹĄu banke i bankare ili je moĹžda obrnuto? Nisu politiÄari ti koji su vlasnici krupnog kapitala.
Romeo_y_Cohiba: Ne investiraju svi na 10-30 godina za potrebe penzije. To je samo jedan od mnogo vidova i razloga investiranja. Nadvladavanje inflacije je isto tako samo jedan od kriterijuma. Samo pogledaĹĄ u ĹĄta jedan penzioni fond u SAD-u investira(hint: nije btc i nisu samo akcije). Npr. neki penzioni fondovi su od skoro poÄeli da investiraju u private equity ali iskljuÄivo do 15% veliÄine portfolija. PoÄeÄe i sa kriptom u nekom trenutku ali mogu da potpiĹĄem da Äe biti u joĹĄ manjem procentu nego PE. Niko nije blesav da grune teĹĄko steÄeni novac u neĹĄto tako riziÄno osim u jako malim iznosima.
Ne znam ko koga kontroliĹĄe ali Avram je bio daleko manji baja od Slobe 90ih i pitao se za stvari samo u meri koliko mu je bio dozvoljeno da se pita. Ratovanje koĹĄta i finansira se ĹĄtampanjem novca, nisu to neke neshvatljive stvari. Da ne priÄam da smo bili pod apsolutnim sankcijama celog sveta.
Virtual_Plenty_6047: Npr jedan od velikih uspeha Japana od pre par decenija je zahvaljujuÄi devalvaciji njihove valute, pa samim tim izvoz im je bio relativno jeftin. NaĹĄ dinar je jak, i to odgovara uvozniÄkom lobiju.
NaĹžalost mi ionako niĹĄta ne proizvodimo tako da ne verujem da bi neĹĄto pomoglo ako bi devalvirali dinar. Al svakako ovo je jedna viĹĄa ekonomija za koju naĹĄi politiÄari nisu dorasli.
@BTCSRB: Gde je obiÄan Äovek u tom velikom japanskom uspehu? Postali su zemlja starih i nesreÄnih mladih ljudi koji ne mogu da pobegnu iz "hamster wheel-a". Imaju "debt to GDP" od preko 260%. Taj dug nikada neÄe vratiti, a uz to Äe povuÄi u ambis pola sveta jer najveÄi drĹžaoci ameriÄkog duga - 14.5%. Spolja gladac, iznutra jadac. Iako je malo degutantno da mi iz Srbije komentariĹĄemo Japance, opet pitam: gde je proseÄan Japanac u celoj ovoj igri?
Why Japan Is Facing a Financial Disaster
PreporuÄujem da pogledate dokumentarac "Princes of the Yen | The Hidden Power of Central Banks" snimljenom po istoimenoj knjizi profesora Riharda Vernera koji je otac kvantitativnog popuĹĄtanja (quantitative easing) i ekspert za japansku ekonomiju i bankarski sistem.
Virtual_Plenty_6047: Zato sam rekao od pre nekoliko decenija. Jer su do pre nekih 30 godina bili 50 godina ispred celog sveta, sad su 20 godina iza naprednog sveta. Japanci su svako specifiÄni. Poenta mog komentara da postoji razlog za neke zemlje da oslabe svoju valutu, i moĹže itekako dobro da radi ako se radi u sinergiji sa nekim drugim ekonomskim merama. Tako da odgovor na to opet pitam, ne znam gde je proseÄni Japanac, uskoro tamo trebam da idem pa Äu ti reÄi. :'D
Odgledao sam ja ovaj dokumentarac odavno, super je. ProÄitao mnoge knjige, a ponajviĹĄe od Austrijske ekonomske ĹĄkole gde su pojedinci (Hayek) bili prvi koji su zagovarali novu decentralizovanu valutu, bili su u toj ĹĄkoli mnogi koji su prvi priÄali o problemu inflacije i ĹĄta je taÄno inflacija, ali su bili i za kapitalizam. Ali ovo je zaista jedna visoka ekonomija, videÄeĹĄ da nije baĹĄ sve tako jednostavno kao ĹĄto misliĹĄ.
Malo si previĹĄe u kriptovalutama pa gledaĹĄ na sve drugo u ekonomiji sa prekorom, pogotovu na kapitalizam. Evo i ja sam sam dobro investiran u kripto (uglavnom u BTC) pa sam itekako svestan da sve to moĹže na kraju da bude potpuna pizdarija.
p.s. Knjiga za preporuku: 23 stvari koje vam ne kazu o kapitalizmu
@BTCSRB: Nisam u kriptovalutama nego iskljuÄivo u BTC.
Nisam ja protiv kapitalizma samo ĹĄto nije pravi kapitalizam kada ne postoji slobodno trĹžiĹĄte novca, pa samim tim ne postoji uopĹĄte slobodno trĹžiĹĄte koliko god se Äinilo tako. Kada su ekonomski subjekti prisiljeni da koriste odreÄeni oblik novca, a monetarna politika se centralno planira - po meni tu nema slobodnog trĹžiĹĄta niti kapitalizma. Npr. formiranje cene Bitkoina i transakcionih naknada je Äisto slobodno trĹžiĹĄte jer tu nema "bailout-a", a BTC mining industrija je pravi primer slobodnog trĹžiĹĄta u kapitalizmu. Äista ponuda i potraĹžnja bez intervencionizma. Ako si neprofitabilan nema ti spasa i bankrotiraÄeĹĄ i nema nikoga ko Äe ti priteÄi u pomoÄ. Niko nije "too big to fail".
Znam da sam se ovde usredsredio usko na jednu industriju ali se moĹže primeniti na celokupnu ekonomiju. DrĹžave i centralne banke su suviĹĄne i apsolutno pokvare sve Äega se dotaknu pa Äe u sluÄaju potpune pizdarije odgovornost biti na njima, a ne na Bitkoinu i njegovim drĹžaocima.
kutija_keksa: Evo zaĹĄto btc nije pogodan kao valuta:
-Volatilna vrednost. Vrednost btc se menja i do 200% godiĹĄnje, dok dolar ne trpi inflaciju vecu od 10% godiĹĄnje (mada je u redovnim uslovima tipa 3%). Äak i dinar, ako gledaĹĄ realnu kupovnu moÄ u prodavnici nema volatilnost preko 30% na godiĹĄnjem nivou (jedno 7 puta niĹžu od BTC) Ako danas kupim BTC u vrednosti od 15 USD ne znam da li Äu sutra moÄi da kupim 10 ili 20 USD za isti taj BTC.
-âGas feesâ koji se plaÄaju na svaku transakciju, u poreÄenjusa keĹĄom koji nema takvih problema.
-Spor transfer novca. Arhitektura blockchaina ne dozvoljava mreĹži da procesuira viĹĄe od 10 transakcija po sekundi, ĹĄto znaÄida na transakciju moĹžete Äekati i po nekoloo sati, u poreÄenju sa keĹĄom (bez odugovlaÄenja) ili debitnim karticama (10 sekundi do 10 minuta). Visa i MasterCard procesuiraju hiljadu puta viĹĄe transakcija po sekundi.
-Retko ko eksplicitno prima BTC, tako da Äete plaÄati menjaÄnici na kursu u oba smera, i pritom Äekati menjaÄnicu.
-PodloĹžan je manipulacijama velikih igraÄa poput Ilona Maska i velikih banki koje su u zadnjih pet godina debelo uloĹžile u kripto. Fiat je na milosti drĹžave i njenih graÄana, dok je BTC na milost privatnih investitora. Kome verujete viĹĄe?
-SVE BTC transakcije su jsvne, ako neko zna koji novÄanik je vaĹĄ lako zna i koliko para ste kada slali kome, dok fiziÄke novÄanice nemaju taj problem.
-Vrednost i upotreljivost BTC ne garantuje niko, dok vrednost i upotrebljivost fiat valute barem donekle garantuje drĹžava. Na primer, Srbija garantuje da je dinar upotrebljiv jer zahteva da vodu, struju, poreze, namete i takse plaÄaĹĄ u dinarima, a i javni sektor (10% Äitavog stanovniĹĄtva) isplaÄuje iskljuÄivo u dinarima.
OP oÄigledno ima jako ostraĹĄÄenu ideoloĹĄku perspektivu... Ja nisam struÄnjak, ali je moj otac pisao nauÄne radove o blockchainu dok je bio na doktorskim studijama, joĹĄ kad je pomisao o BTC vrednijem od sto dolada bila smeĹĄna, tako da znam neĹĄto malo kroz priÄe sa njim. Uostalom, sve o Äemu priÄam lako je proveriti pomoÄu javnih podataka. Ono ĹĄto OP piĹĄe je jednim delom taÄno, ali su iznete samo one informacije koje idu u prilog BTC.
Kripto kao pobuna protiv fiata, centralnih banaka i vlada je imao ideoloĹĄke korene kod anarhista na internetu devedestih, meÄutim od njihovih belih papira i ĹĄpekulacija dobili smo neĹĄto ĹĄto je kao valuta beskorisno. BTC moĹže biti investicija, ako su ljudi iskreni sa sobom, ali ideja o valuti je prevaziÄena. Ako i neka kripto valuta drĹži do toga onda je to Monero koji bar ima anonimnost.
@BTCSRB: Ne ulazeÄi u sve iznete navode taksativno, ipak moram da prokomentariĹĄem neke od nepreciznih ili netaÄnih navoda.
Transakcione naknade kod Bitkoina se ne zovu "gas fees" veÄ "transaction fees". Kod keĹĄa nema takvih problema ali ga ne moĹžete poslati putem komunikacionog kanala bez posrednika. To mora da ima svoju cenu poĹĄto BTC majneri moraju da imaju neki podsticaj da ukljuÄe neÄiju transakciju u blok koji je ograniÄene veliÄine. BTC "fee market" je najslobodnije trĹžiĹĄte na svetu. Fiat novac nemate moguÄnost da poĹĄaljete na daljinu bez posrednika koji takoÄe naplaÄuje nekada dosta skupe naknade.
Besmisleno je porediti blokÄejn kao "settlement layer" sa Visom i Mastercardom koje ne sluĹže za finalno poravnanje. Glavni Bitkoin blokÄejn se moĹže pre uporediti s SWIFT-om ili FedWire-om kod kojih je jednom poravnata transakcija nepovratna, a Mastercard/Visa sa BTC "Lightning Network-om" koji sluĹži za brza i jeftina plaÄanja. Otac je trebalo da Vas nauÄi o Lightning mreĹži, kako funkcioniĹĄe i da je sposobna da procesuira viĹĄe miliona transakcija u sekundi. Lightning mreĹža takoÄe nudi veÄi nivo privatnosti od glavnog blokÄejna ali puno manju sigurnost.
Ne bih se sloĹžio da je fiat na milosti iskljuÄivo drĹžave i graÄana, samo Äu spomenuti Crnu sredu iz septembra 1992. godine i spekulativni napad na britansku funtu.
BTC transakcije su javne ali su pseudonimne ĹĄto znaÄi da je jako teĹĄko utvrditi identitet ukoliko adresa nije povezana sa identitetom korisnika. Generisanje BTC adrese ne zahteva nikakvu identifikaciju ("krvnu sliku") za razliku od otvaranja bankovnog raÄuna. MoĹže se generisati neograniÄen broj adresa i na razne naÄine prekinuti i zamaskirati veza transakcija izmeÄu njih radi oÄuvanja privatnosti. Ponovo, fiziÄke novÄanice ne moĹžemo slati putem komunikacionog kanala bez posrednika, podloĹžne su konfiskaciji, uniĹĄtenju i obezvreÄivanju.
Upotrebljivost Bitkoina garantuje "open source" kod, energija, matematika i kriptografija. To su mnogo jaÄe garancije nego obeÄanja bilo koje drĹžave koja su toliko puta u istoriji izigrale poverenje sopstvenog stanovniĹĄtva - poput Jugoslavije devedesetih.
Ja sam BTC spomenuo kao potencijalno reĹĄenje za (hiper)inflaciju tek u kraÄem delu na kraju teksta, a od Vas i od ostalih komentatora sam dobio nesrazmeran odgovor usmeren na Bitkoin, a puno manje usmeren na navode iz najveÄeg dela posta.
Tako ste i vi izneli iskljuÄivo informacije koje ne idu u prilog BTC-a, a potpuno ignorisali sve oÄigledne nedostatke fiat novca (kako u fiziÄkom, tako i u digitalnom obliku) koji su se i ispoljili tokom hiperinflacije devedesetih, a ispoljavaju se i dan-danas.
Svako dobro!
kutija_keksa: Zato su i âGas feesâ pod navodnicima.
Ne vidim zaĹĄto bi bilo dobro imati âslobodno trĹžiĹĄteâ kada se radi o kopaÄima.
Ali, Äak i da je dobro imati slobodno trĹžiĹĄte, morate primetiti da BTC kopanje nije tako slobodno. Postojanje ASIC maĹĄina znaÄi da se kopanje prevashodno isplati velikim igraÄima (ne mislim na likove sa 3 riser kartice u PC, nego na kineze sa skladiĹĄtima teĹĄkih preko milion u opremi). TakoÄe, te velike operacije organi vlasti mogu zaustaviti kad im se prohte (Kina).
Jako je teĹĄko izvuÄi BTC anonimno bez gubitka kod menjaÄa -- pojedinca ili non KYC institucije.
Ĺ to se upotrebljivosti BTC tiÄe, ĹĄta meni garantuje da Äu imati na ĹĄta da potroĹĄim BTC? To je kljuÄno pitanje. A kasa Jugoslovenski fiat nije bio upotebljiv, vidim da NemaÄki jeste. Isto tako, mislim da Äe USD biti upotrebljiv dugo, a kada USD bude neupotrebljiv druĹĄtvo Äe ionako biti u apokalipsi gde papir nije vaĹžan koliko i hrana, utoÄiĹĄte, voda, radio, municija, lekovi i vatreno oruĹžje.
Naravno da iznosim samo informacije koje proizilaze iz nedostataka, to je balans postu i komentarima. Da su ljudi samo blatili kripto moj komentar bi mnogo viĹĄe liÄio na originalni post nego na moj proĹĄli komentar. Ja se sa mnogim tvrdnjama u postu slaĹžem delimiÄno ili potpuno, samo Ĺželim da pruĹžim kontekst za tumaÄenje toga.
IdeoloĹĄki su mi Cryptopunks potpuno zanimljivi, ali cinizam je opravdan kada se u obzir uzme priÄa. Ljudi su Ĺželeli da se odupru bankama, vladama, kontroli i prismotri. Izmislili su tehnologiju. PoÄeli su da koriste i popularizuju tu tehnologiju. U prostor su uĹĄle banke i vlade, kupovanjem, prodajom i praÄenjem samog trĹžiĹĄta (danas sve velike menjaÄnice imaju KYC procedure). Kao u matriksu, kontrolisana opozicija. Ok, ovo je liÄna teorija zavere u koju ni ja ne verujem u potpunosti.
Ako govorimo o crypto kao valuti mislim da je XMR mnogo bolja VALUTA od BTC, dok je mnogo gora investicija. Jednostavno se slaĹžem sa politiÄkim i ideoloĹĄkim ciljevima pionira kripto valuta, ali smatram da su oni ogromnim delom iznevereni zbog ulaska banaka i drĹžava u celu priÄu, te njihova stara reĹĄenja viĹĄe ne reĹĄavaju originalne probleme.
@BTCSRB: BTC kao neutralni novac je za svakoga, pa i za bankare i drĹžave. Ne moĹžemo ih spreÄiti da ga kupe na trĹžiĹĄtu i stave ga u kakav god instrument, pa i ETF. Ne moĹžemo ih spreÄiti da ga konfiskuju od onih koji nisu dobro obezbedili svoje kljuÄeve. DrĹžave su regulisale ono ĹĄto su mogle, poput menjaÄnica, kroz AML/KYC procedure ali kakve to veze ima sa BTC-om? Na protokol kao protokol nisu mogle da utiÄu.
Ko Ĺželi i dalje moĹže koristiti BTC kako je i prvobitno predviÄeno - za p2p transakcije i skladiĹĄtenje vrednosti u "self custody-u". Bitkoin je i dalje "bearer asset" otporan na cenzuru i konfiskaciju. Ne vidim da je taj pravac promenjen samo zato ĹĄto su uĹĄle banke i drĹžave. MoĹžda nije u duhu Bitkoina da ga kupuju fondovi pa ga prodaju upakovanog u ETF. Najmanje je u duhu bitkoina da se nekome zabrani da ga kupuje.
Kako to mislite "ne vidite zaĹĄto bi bilo dobro imati âslobodno trĹžiĹĄteâ kada se radi o kopaÄima? Na decentralizaciji mininga se radi (StratumV2 protkol, Ocean pool...), a kineski primer je samo pokazatelj koliko je otporno: nakon zabrane raĹĄirilo se dodatno po svetu, a u Kini se i dalje nalazi 21% heĹĄrejta. Majneri imaju veoma male margine profita zbog same prirode rudarenja i halvinga pa Äe bilo kakav "fck around" poput cenzure transakcija verovatno znaÄiti bankrot.
MoĹžemo do sutra priÄati o XMR vs BTC i naveĹĄÄu puno razloga zaĹĄto XMR ne moĹže i neÄe zaĹživeti kao novac, a pre svega je manjak decentralizacije (neograniÄena veliÄina blokÄejna) i otpornost na drĹžavni napad - sve ĹĄto Bitkoin ima. Kada je novac u pitanju pobednik nosi sve i tu je Monero veÄ izgubio, dok Äe BTC poboljĹĄanu privatnost obezbediti na ostalim nivoima, sidechainovima itd (Lightning, Liquid, Cashu, Fedimint, Ark i ko zna ĹĄta sve ĹĄto joĹĄ i ne postoji - nivo developmenta u Bitkoin prostoru je ogroman).
Dolar Äe uvek u nekom obliku biti upotrebljiv ali ne znaÄi da Äe zauvek ostati svetska rezervna valuta, kao ĹĄto i danas postoji funta ali odavno nije viĹĄe ono ĹĄto je bila na vrhuncu Britanske imperije.
kutija_keksa: Pa ti protokoli spreÄavaju pljude da anonimno kupe BTC.
Mislim, BTC realno ima neku primenu, ali ja ga danas npr. imam Äisto kao neku malu investicijicu, i to joĹĄ od doba kad je kopanje sa 2 grafiÄke u kuÄnom PC bilo isplativo po skupoj struji. Ali BTC prosto nije dobra alternativa fiziÄkom novcu na nivou drĹžave zbog volatilnosti i manjka kontrole. Jedna ogromna poluga drĹžave je puĹĄtanje u promet novog novca, i tako se kontroliĹĄe inflacija, pored menjanja kamatnih stopa. Bez moguÄnosti ĹĄtampe gubi se i taj faktor kontrole. A inflacija od 2-3% godiĹĄnje je zdrava, dok je za ekonomiju deflacija (kojoj je BTC bar delimiÄno sklon) haos, jer smanjuje ekonomsku aktivnost i investicije...
Ĺ to se tiÄe drĹžavnog napada na XMR, misliĹĄ na to kako jedna drĹžava moĹže da realistiÄno sprovede 51% napad?
XMR nije vrhovna valuta ali meni se sviÄa kako za njega nema ASIC maĹĄina, kako je anoniman u smislu da ne moĹžeĹĄ lako da provaliĹĄ ko kome koliko i kada ĹĄalje ĹĄta... Mislim da Äe XMR sigurno u toj privacy niĹĄi zameniti neka druga valuta kroz 10-15 godina koja ima bolji algoritam i tehnologiju...
Dobra dosetka za veliÄinu blockchaina, ali ona je trenutno 160GB cela / 50 GB pruned, tako neĹĄto. Sve dok nije preko 10TB (100x) veÄa moĹže je pohraniti najveÄi hard disk namenjen âobiÄnim ljudimaâ, a kad se doÄe do tad verovatno Äe i cene tih diskova biti pristupaÄnije nego danas. Sa druge strane, agresivan pruning je takoÄe opcija. A da ne govorimo o sidechainovima koji takoÄe postoje za XMR.
Da, to za dolar je i moja poenta, nekako Äe biti upotrebljiv uvek, dok je kripto neupotrebljiv bez neta, a i nema mnogo ĹĄta da se kupi kriptom u poreÄenju sa fiatom. I
@BTCSRB: Ima bezbroj naÄina da se nabavi non-KYC Bitkoin: coinjoin, coinmixing, rudarenje u non-KYC pulu, nabavka nekog drugog kripta putem KYC menjaÄnice pa "trustless atomic swap" za BTC, nabavka KYC BTC-a putem Lightning-a pa "submarine swap" on-chain, zatim nabavka bilo kog KYC kripta ili Lightning ili on-chain BTC-a pa swap na sidechain Liquid BTC gde su transakcije tajne sliÄno XMR-u i nazad swap na on-chain. Naravno i stara narodska razmena na ulici. XMR se isto moĹže koristiti za svrhu nabavke non-KYC Bitkoina. U svim ovim sluÄajevima se adrese koje su krajnje destinacije tih sredstava ne mogu ili jako teĹĄko povezati sa KYC identitetom korisnika. ViĹĄe na: kycnot.me
Diskusija o tome da li je zdrava i potrebna inflacija i da li je uopĹĄte potreban drĹžavni intervencionizam u ekonomiji je stara diskusija izmeÄu Kejnzijanske i Austrijske ekonomske ĹĄkole. Po meni svaka inflacija je pljaÄka. Da ne govorimo da centralni bankari ne snose nikakvu odgovornost za gubitak kontrole nad inflacijom koji se meri u stotinama procenata "omaĹĄka" jer kada je ciljana inflacija 2%, a imamo inflaciju od 10% to je onda promaĹĄaj od 500%. A svi vodeÄi centralni bankari su i dalje na svojim funkcijama od poÄetka inflacije negde 2020. godine iako su izneverili sva oÄekivanja. Nisu izabrani od strane naroda i nemoguÄe ih je smeniti od strane naroda, a utiÄu na Ĺživote svih!
Usled tehnoloĹĄkog napretka i rasta produktivnosti, prirodno stanje slobodnog trĹžiĹĄta je pad cena, a ne njihov konstantan rast kroz inflaciju. Ne postoji nikakva "poĹželjna" ili "neophodna" inflacija, svaka "ciljana" inflacija je pljaÄka koji onemoguÄava populaciju da uĹživa u plodovima sopstvene produktivnosti u obliku niĹžih cena svih roba i usluga. Bitkoin zbog svoje fiksne ponude novca u opticaju (21 milion novÄiÄa = apsolutna digitalna oskudnost) nameÄe ovu disciplinu slobodnog trĹžiĹĄta i tehnoloĹĄkog napretka. Dok je postojeÄi duĹžniÄki fiat sistem dizajniran da krade plodove produktivnosti, Bitkoin omoguÄava populaciji da ih zadrĹži u obliku niĹžih cena.
Kada nema rasta cena, inflacija je 0% i cene su stabilne. KraÄa i tada postoji, jer cene prirodno padaju zbog poveÄanja efikasnosti proizvodnje/usluga, gde bi se tada veca koliÄina robe/usluga, takmiÄila za istu (fiksnu) koliÄinu novÄa od 21M BTC-a.
Kakav je ishod ove diskusije nije bitno, bitno je da sada svako ima slobodu izbora kakav novac Ĺželi da koristi a ne da bude prisiljen da koristi iskljuÄivo inflatorni novac. Ako se neko ne slaĹže sa modernom monetarnom teorijom, sada ima alternativu koju nekada nije imao (zlato je odavno izgubilo bitku sa MMT) pre postojanja Bitkoina.
kutija_keksa: Neki od ovih non kyc nacina su mi vec bili poznati, neki nisu, ovo je bas informativan komentar.
A ĹĄto je inflacija pljaÄka? Bez obzira na inflaciju, broj novÄanica u novÄaniku ostaje isti, to ĹĄto se one sada mogu zameniti za manje robe je druga priÄa. Da li je onda i zlato pljaÄka, jer neko kupi, na primer, 100g zlata danas, a sutra na trĹžiĹĄtu cena zlata padne? Da li je onda pljaÄka i BTC, jer i danas i kad je BTC bio na vrhuncu cene imam isti broj satoshija, samo je danas njihova vrednost manja?
Ne vidim zaĹĄto bi centralni bankari snosili odgovornost zbog inflacije. Oni ugrobo imaju dve poluge za kontrolu inflacije: kamatne stope i ĹĄtampanje novca. U realnosti na inflaciju utiÄe mnogo faktora na koje centralna banka nema uticaj, niti koje moĹže da predvidi: pandemije, ratovi, drĹžavni budĹžeti i zaduĹživanja, trgovina u datoj valuti (i izvoz i uvoz), porast i pad produktivnosti... Oni imaju donekle uticaj, ali nisu svemoÄni.
Ĺ to se tiÄe izbora, ovo veÄ zalazi u politiku a ne u finansije, ali ni direktor poĹĄte, ni direktor EPS, ni direktor vodovoda nisu birani na izborima na kojima glasaju svi, a utiÄu na Ĺživote svih!
Ne verujem u kripto kao spasioce kapitalizma ili pojedinca. Ovo je sada viĹĄe politiÄki, ali zaista mislim da u kapitalizmu proseÄna osoba nema slobode, a da je kripto u najbolju ruku jedna mala stavka koja omoguÄava skladiĹĄtenje steÄenog kapitala (ovo se dobija ako prihvatimo sve kripto pozitivne teze), ali ne reĹĄava problem radnika koji Äine 95% druĹĄtva i doprinose 99% vrednosti a kapitala kontroliĹĄu viĹĄestruko manje.
Otkud znam, ono, da rezimiram: kripto je koristan alat koji joĹĄ nije dostigao svoj vrhunac, ali neÄe neĹĄto mnogo promeniti svet. To je neko moje viÄenje.
@BTCSRB: Kako nije pljaÄka? Broj novÄanica u novÄaniku ostaje isti ali ukupan broj novca u opticaju se uveÄava i tako obezvreÄuje tvoje novÄanice. InaÄe, znaĹĄ vrlo dobro da fiziÄki keĹĄ Äini manje od 10% ukupnog novca u opticaju, a ostalo je digitalno. Dakle "money supply" se uveÄava pritiskom na dugme tastature raÄunara u FED/ECB/NBS... Neko stvara novac ni iz Äega za koji svi moramo da radimo troĹĄeÄi svoje dragoceno i ograniÄeno vreme na ovom svetu. Tako nam efektivno krade vreme poĹĄto tvoj radni sat iz proĹĄlosti konstantno moĹže da kupi manje roba i usluga u buduÄnosti, a zbog tehnoloĹĄkog napretka i rasta produktivnosti bi realno cene trebaju da budu niĹže vremenom
Kako moĹžeĹĄ da porediĹĄ fiat, zlato i BTC u tom smislu? Vrednost fiata prevashodno smanjuje ljudska manipulacija sa strane ponude koja se uvek uveÄava, dok je potraĹžnja permanentno rastuÄa zbog zakona o "legal tenderu" i rasta privrede i broja stanovnika. Ovo sa BTC je strana potraĹžnje koju reguliĹĄe slobodno trĹžiĹĄte dok ukupna ponuda nije podloĹžna ljudskoj manipulaciji. DugoroÄno, vrednost zlata i BTC raste sa rastuÄom potraĹžnjom jer nema manipulacije ponude.
Centralni bankari Äe optuĹžiti sve druge faktore da bi skrenuli paĹžnju sa svoje odgovornosti za inflaciju, a za ratove se moĹže reÄi da su Äak i sauÄesnici poĹĄto tokovi novca mogu utvrditi veoma zanimljivu vezu izmeÄu njih i vojno-industrijskog kompleksa. Na stranu to, dolarska monetarna masa je samo izmeÄu februara i aprila 2020. uveÄana za 1.39 biliona/triliona ĹĄto je viĹĄe nego ukupna monetarna masa iz 2008-09 krize. U krizi 2008-09 su od septembra 2008. do januara 2009. naĹĄtampali 803 milijarde i tako uveÄali monetarnu masu za 88% sa 909 milijardi na 1712 milijardi - to znaÄi da su 4 meseca naĹĄtampali skoro isto novca kao tokom celih 95 prethodnig godina sopstvenog postojanja Federalnih rezervi. Te 2020. su i potpuno ukinuli obavezne rezerve u komercijalnim bankama.
ECB je naĹĄtampala 1T evra "zbog kovida". A kao naĹĄtampali su jer je bila zatvorena celokupna privreda, pa ĹĄto ste tako agresivno zatvarali privredu - trebalo je da pustite ljude da rade a ne da se igrate Mao Ce Tunga. I uprkos nezapamÄenom ĹĄtampanju ti isti centralni bankari su nazivali inflaciju "prolaznom" - dakle ni zrnce odgovornosti.
Ako u kapitalizmu proseÄna osoba nema slobode, ĹĄta reÄi za komunizam gde ne da nema slobode nego nema ni Ĺživota poĹĄto su komunistiÄki reĹžimi pobili na desetine miliona ljudi?
Na hipotetiÄkom BTC standardu zbog fiksne koliÄine novca u opticaju bi se popravio poloĹžaj radnika jer kapitalisti ne mogu da beskonaÄno uveÄavaju svoj BTC kapital i kupovna moÄ i radnika i kapitalista bi procentualno podjednako rasla i obiÄan radnik bi imao mnogo bolje ĹĄanse da i sam postane kapitalista nego danas. Imao bi moguÄnost da ĹĄtedi od svoje plate jer mu novac ne bi gubio vrednost i u nekom trenutku bi iz svoje ĹĄtednje finansirao neki biznis, a ne zaduĹživanjem. Tako bi se ravnomernije rasporedilo druĹĄtveno bogatstvo ali ne centralnim planiranjem nego kroz slobodno trĹžiĹĄte.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-02-24 18:01:19February 24, 2024 - Nostr Nests, the premier decentralized audio platform powered by the Nostr protocol, announces the launch of its highly anticipated version 2.0 beta release. This major update brings complete integration with Nostr, a redesigned user interface, and a host of powerful features, making it easier than ever to connect, collaborate, and create in an open and censorship-resistant environment.
Originally launched in January 2023 as Nostr Plebs Spaces, Nostr Nests quickly gained traction as a haven for audio-based interactions across the Nostr protocol. The official rebrand to Nostr Nests in February 2023 further solidified its position as the go-to platform for chatting, jamming, micro-conferences, live podcast recordings, and more with the onboarding of users, shows, and content from around the globe.
Version 2.0 marks a significant leap forward:
Seamless Nostr Integration: Nostr Nests 2.0 was built from the ground up to be a full fledged Nostr client, enabling a truly decentralized experience with direct Nostr authentication. No need for separate accounts, logins, or verification posts. Login with your current Nostr keys via nsecBunker or NIP-07 extensions such as Alby, Nostr Connect, or Nostore for iOS.
Discoverability and User Choice: Find your favorite live audio events like never before, not only on NostrNests.com, but also via a variety of Nostr clients that support live events such as Amethyst, Snort, Iris, Flockstr, Nostrudel, Wherostr and more. Install Nostr Nests as a PWA on Android, iOS, or your favorite desktop operating system.
Redesigned Interface: Navigate with ease thanks to a streamlined and intuitive layout. Find scheduled events, discover communities, and manage your interactions effortlessly.
Enhanced Functionality: Host events with flexible permission settings, record and store audio directly from your Nest, be in charge of your data while you chat on your customized relays, leverage advanced moderation tools for a smooth and secure experience, and broadcast it all across the Nostr protocol. Experience value for value with Zap enabled profiles and chat announcements.
Multi-lingual: Access Nostr Nests in your native language. Nostr Nests supports over a dozen languages, making Nostr Nests a truly global platform for our users. Open Source: The platform's code is fully open-source under the MIT license, welcoming community contributions and fostering transparency. Submit issues and pull requests on GitHub to shape the future of Nostr Nests.
Nostr Nests 2.0 empowers individuals and communities to:
Connect: Host and attend audio events with like-minded people based on shared interests, making new friends along the way or reconnecting with old ones.
Collaborate: Jam with musicians, brainstorm with colleagues, or conduct insightful interviews in a live audio setting.
Express Yourself: Share your voice, thoughts, and ideas with the world in an uncensored and secure environment via text chats as well as audio conversations.
Build Communities: Foster vibrant, customizable communities around shared passions, hobbies, or professional pursuits.
Whether you're a musician, podcaster, entrepreneur, or simply someone who enjoys meaningful audio interactions, Nostr Nests 2.0 invites you to join the conversation. Visit NostrNests.com today and experience the future of social audio.
Join and contribute to the Nostr Nests community:
Website: https://NostrNests.com
GitHub: https://github.com/nostrnests/nests
Current Features:
Nostr Integration: * Sign-in * Live events * Scheduled events * Zaps * Public chat * Reactions * Room presence * Relays (default or custom) * Social sharing * Follow/Unfollow * Profile creation * Profile Editing * Lobby filtering
Lobby: * Active rooms * Scheduled rooms * Filter by global or following * Create new room * View profile
Create room: * Create custom room * Customizable banner * Preselected colors * Custom image (static or animated) * Schedule room * Use default relays or custom relays
Rooms: * Stage and audience * Add/Remove people to/from stage * Public chat (ability to hide/view on mobile) * Raise hand * Mute/Unmute own mic * Mute others (Mod or Host) * Zap * Reactions * Edit profile * View profile * Share to Nostr * Stream audio (coming soon) (Mod or Host) * Record audio (Mod or Host) * Access room recordings (Mod or Host)
Sign-in: * Sign-in as guest to listen only * Create new Nostr profile * Use existing Nostr profile
Future Features:
- Chat zaps, chat reactions, mutes, etc.
- Support additional nsecBunkers
- More room customization options
- Monetization options for creators
- And more!
Please note: While Nostr Nests 2.0 marks a significant step forward, this release should be considered beta software. Users may encounter occasional bugs or unforeseen issues as we continue to refine and optimize the platform. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work towards a fully polished experience.
Known Issues:
- A lot! It's very new and very beta!
- Sign-in user flow for direct links to rooms
- Mobile UI alignment
- Mobile UI chat bar
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@ 1b939fa8:1ebdc679
2025-04-29 11:57:05All of my outfit conversion mods and Nora's Commonwealth Reconstruction Project have requirements that are on Nexus and nowhere else. Exception for the outfit conversions is Devious Devices which is noted and links provided to Lovers Lab and other requirements. My mods are dependent on those original mods to work. If/when the originals come to DEG then I will update and remove the Nexus links in my descriptions.
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@ 3283ef81:0a531a33
2025-05-24 18:12:47Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit\ enean magna lorem, dignissim et nisl a, iaculis eleifend dolor
uspendisse potenti
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@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:51:54In 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.
Tetherâs 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.
Tetherâs 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 Tetherâs 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, Tetherâs 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 companyâs 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 Tetherâs control, and the benefits bitcoin provides, bitcoin adoption will likely surpass it.
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@ 319ad3e7:cc01d50a
2024-12-15 21:20:59LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER | FEATURED RECIPE | MICROFICTION | FOOD NOTE QUOTE | SOUNDS | NOSTR MARKETPLACE | REAL REVIEWS | COMMUNITY ALBUM | NEW RECIPES | FIN
LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER đ
A Year of Growth and Gratitude
As we approach the end of the year, itâs the perfect moment to pause and reflect. 2024 has been a transformative year for Zap Cooking. What started as a simple idea has grown into a vibrant, connected community. From recipes to shared stories, the #zapcooking tag has become a rallying point for food enthusiasts everywhere, and itâs inspiring to see how this shared passion is bringing people together.
None of this would have been possible without the incredible support and dedication of Sarah, who pours her heart into crafting these newsletters. Sarah, thank you for helping us share the joy of cooking and community with so many.
I am deeply grateful, grateful for you, our community, for nostr, for the milestones weâve reached, and for the challenges that have helped us grow. Zap Cooking is about more than food; itâs about connections, creativity, and collaboration. Together, weâve built something special, and Iâm excited for what 2025 holds.
Hereâs to another year of cooking, connecting, and creating together. Thank you for being part of this journey.
Cheers!
Seth
Founder, Zap Cooking
FEATURED RECIPE đĽŞ
Nostrville 2.0 was located in Nashville, Tennessee. This music destination featured some powerhouse food establishments, such as Ladybird Taco, Hattie Bâs Hot Chicken Sandwiches, Pancake Pantry, and Modellâs infamous family-style breakfast; however, it was the people from Louisiana who brought their A-game to the shared kitchen at the after-party rental.
The lovely Rupert and her giant, Kajoozie, served up a traditional gumbo that had all of us reaching for a second bowl⌠or perhaps a fourth bowl. It was that good! They were also kind enough to share their recipe with all of us.
Rupert and Kajoozieâs #Nostr Famous Gumbo https://substack.com/home/post/p-152296981
MICROFICTION đ
GIFTS by RustyPuppy
Every Christmas Eve (and by 'every' Aaran meant those he could remember, which, being eight years old, was not many), after the dinner dishes had been washed, and the family settled into the living room to watch "It's a Wonderful Life," his nani would start chopping vegetables. Aaran once asked why she didn't cook Santa's beef stew when she prepared their dinner. Because she wanted the stew to be fresh, came the answer. Aaron knew better than to ask how something that needed to simmer for five hours could be considered 'fresh.'
Everyone knew their grandmother's beef stew, placed in front of the fireplace in a hand-made bowl wrapped in a dish towel to keep warm, was eaten by the dog after everyone went to bed. And every year, she insisted Santa needed a hot, healthy meal.
None of the children could believe anyone would choose vegetables over cookies. Shari, the girl next door, made peanut cookies for Santa. Aaron had helped mix the dough last year. He was forbidden from adding the frosting because Shari needed the perfect amount atop each cookie so she could write her name in the sugary mix with a toothpick. Depending how guilty she felt about the year, she sometimes added candy beads.
One year, a cousin asked if Santa really ate all of those hundreds? thousands? millions? of cookies. An uncle said, "Of course, that's why he's so fat," while Aaaran's mother said, "Of course not, he gives them to children who don't have sweets," and Nani added "And those who still want to believe in him."
Aaran secretly wanted to believe his nani, because his older brothers had teased him for writing his Christmas wish letter, saying Santa was only real for babies. He didn't want to be a baby, but he still wanted to believe in the magic that was Santa.
At last, the evening ended. Some returned to their homes; the rest returned to their rooms. Nani set her bowl under the stockings. Aaran hesitated on the stairs, but the thought of seeing the dog actually eat the stew made his eyes wet. He stepped over his cousin's sleeping bag, got into bed, and dreamed of flying reindeer.
In the morning, as the children opened their gifts and the adults took turns making coffee and tea, Nani asked Aaran to bring her the stew bowl. He looked at the dog, currently surrounded by shreds of wrapping paper, panting happily with a bow on his head. Picking up the bowl, Aaron saw something within; a peanut cookie with the name Shari written in the frosting.
RECIPE REFERENCES:
Lovely Indian beefstew with coconut milk & Ultimate Peanut Cookies https://substack.com/home/post/p-152296981
FOOD NOTE QUOTE đď¸
Today someone took a picture of my latte art after I handed them their cup đ and it made my day. Celebrate the small things. đ - TKay
SOUNDS đ
At Bitcoin Park in Nashville, Tennessee, the adorable cuties Mallory, Other Mallory, Island, and Sergio, along with help from Fountain, Phantom Power and Tunestr.io organized a night of activities, food, art, and a live acoustic music panel featuring four absolutely talented musicians - Ainsley Costello, Amber Sweeney, Luke Wood, and Jo Corso. SoupBox was honored to sit down with Amber to chat about music, fostering dogs from Wags and Walks, and food | Listen Now: SoupBox with Sarah | Featuring Amber Sweeney
https://fountain.fm/episode/nvwD83sajCiFNqTP4tYu
https://feeds.rssblue.com/soupbox
Short from Nashville | OpenMike | Tunestr
https://v.nostr.build/yLufD7GbwOPI3EgA.mp4
NOSTR MARKETPLACE đł
Find Your Holiday Gifts on Nostr | Value for Value (aka V4V) #circulareconomy
Agi Choote | Art Prints | Find on Nostr!
Amber Sweeney | Custom Songs for Any Occasion | https://www.theambersweeney.com/merch/custom-songs
Ant Richard | Limited Custom Handcrafted Knife Gift Certificates (12-month waitlist for all custom handmade orders) | Find on Nostr!
Apotheca Viva | https://apothecaviva.love/
Aupa Bars | https://eataupa.com/
Barnminerâs Barn Jerky | Find on Nostr!
Billay Coffee | https://billaycoffee.com/
BitBees | Honey & Honey Products | https://www.kittrellsdaydream.com/
Bitcoin Blankets âĄď¸| Website Coming Soon!
Bitpopart | https://bitpopart.com/ | https://www.storeofvalue.eu/collections/christmas-collection
BTC Aloha | Bitcoin Beachwear & Accessories | https://btcaloha.shop/
BtcPins | https://btcpins.com/
Cannabis Records | https://cannabisrecords.store/
CryptoCloaks | https://www.cryptocloaks.com/shop/
Delgadoâs Fuego | https://delgadosfuego.com/
Dot GNT | Laser Engravings | https://dotgnt.codeberg.page/
Finca Yabisi | https://yabisi.farm/
Foxfire Mushrooms | https://foxfiremushrooms.com/
Golden Tallow | https://goldentallow.com/
GoodBeans đ¸đť Coffee | https://thegoodbeans.com/
Isolabell.art | https://isolabell.art/
Jake Wolki | https://wolkifarm.com.au/
Keto Beejay | Low Sugar Jerky | https://ketolish.us/ | https://ketobeejay.npub.pro/
Kanuto Takumi San | Find on Nostr!
Laser Eyes Cards | https://lasereyes.cards/
LeatherMint | https://theleathermint.com/
Lightning Store | https://lightning.store/
LightningSpore | Full Service Mushroom Cultivation Company | https://www.lightningspore.com/
Lost Sheep Ranch | https://www.lost-sheep-ranch.com/
Lucho Poletti | Art Prints and Merchandise | https://luchopoletti.com/
Madex | Art & Apparel | https://madex.art/collections/in-stock
MapleTrade | Find on Nostr!
Matthew D | https://whitepaperstreetsoap.com/
Next Block Coffee | https://nextblockcoffee.com/
NoGood | Jake Wolki | https://wolkifarm.com.au/
PatsPropolisHoney | Find on Nostr!
Peony Lane Wine | Ben Justman | https://www.peonylanewine.com/
PlebianMarket | https://plebeian.market/
PictureRoom | Assorted Dessert Treats | Find on Nostr!
Regenerative Farmed Meats & Knives | AgrarianContrarian | Find on Nostr!
RustyPuppy | Art and Stories | https://heidi2524.com/
Salt of the Earth | Premium Electrolyte Mix | https://drinksote.com/
Satoshi Coffee Company | https://sats.coffee/
Scott & Son | Animal Portraits, Prints, and Apparel | https://xavierscraftworkanddesign.com/t-shirts
SofterSkin Tallow Skincare | https://softerskin.co/
Shopstr | https://shopstr.store/
Soap Miner | Tallow Body Soap Bars
SweetSats | Honey | https://sweetsats.io/
Veiled Mycology | https://veiledmycology.com/
Yojimbo | Jam & Marmalade | https://jimblesjumble.odoo.com/
REAL REVIEWS â
BitBees | Honey & Honey Products | https://www.kittrellsdaydream.com/ | By Rupert
If you follow me or have ever had the pleasure of chatting with me on cornychat.com or hivetalk.org, youâll know how proud I am of my Cajun heritage. For me, that means memories of long, hot summer days in South Louisiana, plenty of mosquito bites, the humming of cicadas in the cypress trees, and my grandfatherâs bee boxes abuzz with fuzzy little workers.
I recently had the pleasure of meeting our famed #nostr beekeepers, @bitbees and @kingbee, and the absolute joy of tasting the labors of the wee little friends they care for. @KajoozieMaflingo and I purchased both their wildflower and gallberry varieties, and we were able to pay with BTC! (BONUS!) The wildflower was chefâs-kiss perfection, but my taste buds were instantly rocketed back to my childhood when I tried the lovingly and aptly nicknamed âswamp honey.â
Its pale color might fool you into thinking it has a lighter flavor than its rich and flavorful counterpart, but that couldnât be further from the truth. Itâs crisp and bright, with a mellow sweetness balanced by a slight tang to finish. Itâs the ideal pairing with my favorite chamomile tea before bedtime.
This was my first purchase, but it will not be my last. By far, this is one of the most delicious use cases for Bitcoin Iâve come across to date.
Keto Beejay | Low Sugar Jerky | https://ketolish.us/ | https://ketobeejay.npub.pro/ | By The Beave
I recently had the pleasure of ordering four types of beef jerky from Beejay, the proprietress of http://ketolish.us. I was intrigued by her offerings and ended up ordering plain, pickle, pizza, and pepper. My order took a while to go through, mostly because Beejay and I were figuring out how to move sats around without it being too much of a pain in the butt. However, once finalized, everything shipped promptly and arrived quickly in a well-packed parcel. Beejay is also very good to communicate with, and I will gladly purchase more from her in the future.
I will start off the reviews with the most surprising of the batch: pizza. This was simply outstanding. I was shocked at how much it reminded me of eating pizza. I can't recommend this one enough! My second favorite pick is the pickle flavor. I love pickles. (I cannot express how much I love pickled things to you in words!) This was also very good, with the dill seasoning being front and center but restrained enough not to completely overpower the delicious beefiness of the jerky. A note on the texture: the jerky is ground, so it is not as tough as other jerkies you might try. This is a very new thing to me, and I rather enjoyed the novelty of the experience. The peppered jerky was full of pepper. This might be too much pepper for some, as it reminded me of the pepper-covered salami you can get at a good Italian pork store. Lastly, the plain jerky was delicious in its own right, though I would have preferred a touch more salt. I would order all of these again and am looking forward to ordering other flavors in the future, especially the bison!
COMMUNITY ALBUM đˇ
Photos & Videos by Mandana from NextBlock & Flirting with Bitcoin, Efrat Fenigson, Ava, Birthday B, Vic from CornyChat, Tortuga, Mallory, Island, Jack Spirko, Paul Keating, BreadandToast.com, Nos.Social and Sarah SoupBox
View the Album: https://substack.com/home/post/p-152296981
NEW RECIPES đ˛
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In November, we received an incredible surge of over 30 recipes submitted to Zap Cooking! That's a fantastic leap from the three or four we typically see each week! Dive into one, two, or even all of them, and donât forget to share your reviews and mouthwatering photos on Nostr using #foodstr. Weâd also love to see your favorite personal or family recipesâletâs keep the culinary creativity flowing!
Corn Pudding, The Beef Panzone, Vodka Pie Crust, Short Rib Barbacoa Tacos, Guiness Beef Stew with Pickled Pearl Onions, Fast AF Beef Stroganoff, Dark Chocolate Mincemeat, Vicâs London Broil, Easy Wholemeal Spelt Flour Bread, Mamma SLCWâs Cranberry Sauce, Hot Dog Nachos, Italian Wedding Soup, Mapo Tofu Curry, Hot Honey Crispy Salmon Bowls, Curried Butternut Squash Soup, Best Damn Oven Baked Chicken Legs, Chocolate Creme Pie, Broccoli Beef, Tuscan Steak and Green Peppers, Easy Carne Asada, InstantPot Chicken Tortilla Soup, Green Bean Casserole with Bacon and Fried Shallots, Bang Bang Shrimp, Rupert and Kajoozieâs #Nostr Famous Gumbo, The Best Lamb Winter Stew, Averyâs Hot Wallet Salsa, Candied Pecans, Pumpkin Bread, Breakfast Casserole with Sausage and Egg, Gold & Silver Soup, Mr. Gâs Homemade Chicken Pasta Salad, Ultimate Peanut Cookies
The recipe links are available here: https://substack.com/home/post/p-152296981
FIN đ¤
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@ 04c915da:3dfbecc9
2025-05-16 17:12:05One 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.
Nostrâs 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.
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@ 0e9491aa:ef2adadf
2025-05-24 18:01:14Humanity's Natural State Is Chaos
Without order there is chaos. Humans competing with each other for scarce resources naturally leads to conflict until one group achieves significant power and instates a "monopoly on violence."Power Brings Stability
Power has always been the key means to achieve stability in societies. Centralized power can be incredibly effective in addressing issues such as crime, poverty, and social unrest efficiently. Unfortunately this power is often abused and corrupted.Centralized Power Breeds Tyranny
Centralized power often leads to tyrannical rule. When a select few individuals hold control over a society, they tend to become corrupted. Centralized power structures often lack accountability and transparency, and rely too heavily on trust.Distributed Power Cultivates Freedom
New technology that empowers individuals provide us the ability to rebuild societies from the bottom up. Strong individuals that can defend and provide for themselves will help build strong local communities on a similar foundation. The result is power being distributed throughout society rather than held by a select few.In the short term, relying on trust and centralized power is an easy answer to mitigating chaos, but freedom tech tools provide us the ability to build on top of much stronger distributed foundations that provide stability while also cultivating individual freedom.
The solution starts with us. Empower yourself. Empower others. A grassroots freedom tech movement scaling one person at a time.
If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.
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@ 4fe4a528:3ff6bf06
2024-12-01 15:00:30https://cdn.satellite.earth/8dd22e9b598964ade69d4c5ca517c2637ffafdfb15cf3e589cd1a7955c173375.mp4 In my last news article I wrote about selling my beef for 4500 sats / lb and buying my eggs for 4500 sats / dozen. You will be glad to know that some of my friends gave me bitcoin for my birthday. One person gave me over 60,000 sats, so now I am feeling like my last months article caused everyone to buy bitcoin â opt out of inflation.
It must have been more than my friends giving me bitcoin that caused Bitcoin to increase itâs market cap by 600 billion US dollars. I know that eggs are costing me 3,000 sats now compared to 4500 sats one month ago. If things keep getting 50% cheaper every month I might not have to move all my value into bitcoin.
Isnât it weird using something that increases in value month after month? It is indeed a far cry from the traditional notion of money, where the value or the purchasing power of the currency loses value month after month. Most Bitcoiners care about the separation of money from the state, the removal of a third party from transactions and the capturing the deflationary nature of technology, etc. The fiat price is simply a short term way of measuring progress toward that goal. In reality, the moose shekel price doesnât really matter.
With Brazil and Russia now using it as legal tender I donât want anyone to give me bitcoin as a gift this month. Give your money/love to helping others see Jesusâ love in coming to earth instead. You might be able to write off your donation also.
You do realize there are only 16.5 million bitcoin available to be moved to other bitcoin type people and the US bitcoin strategic reserve might be coming next year. I just hope the Trudeau / Christine âVibâ session doesnât make Canadians give up on using the Moose Shekels as a means of exchanging value. Bitcoin is now worth more than the Canadian dollar. If you need to get educated about money join Nostr and do a video / desktop sharing conference with me. Say hivetalk.org @ 9am ish works best for me. Remember, learning technology makes you earn more. We are all in this together.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2024-01-23 20:28:37For Bitcoin enthusiasts seeking a haven for like-minded individuals and a chance to experience Bitcoin adoption in its purest form, El Salvador and Bitcoin Beach often come to mind. This is no coincidence, given El Salvador's pioneering role in making bitcoin legal tender. However, the Bitcoin ecosystem extends beyond national borders, with vibrant communities emerging around the world where bitcoin thrives in everyday transactions. One such example is the inspiring grassroots movement of Bitcoin Jungle in rural Costa Rica. Driven by a shared passion for Bitcoin and the "pura vida" spirit, a group of Bitcoiners has established a thriving community centered on a circular Bitcoin economy. This is the essence of Bitcoin Jungle.
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What is Bitcoin Jungle?
Bitcoin Jungle is an open-source community project focused on bringing the Bitcoin ecosystem to life in Costa Rica, particularly in the "Golden Triangle" area â Dominical, Uvita, Ojochal, Platanillo, and Tinamaste. Their mission is to build a circular bitcoin economy and a thriving community centered around bitcoin.
Focus:
- Bitcoin adoption: Encourage businesses and individuals to accept and use bitcoin as a form of payment.
- Education and resources: Provide educational materials and resources about Bitcoin and the Lightning Network to both businesses and individuals.
- Community building: Create a strong and supportive community of Bitcoin enthusiasts in Costa Rica.
- Boost to local economy: Increased tourist and resident spending through Bitcoin adoption to benefit local businesses.
- Financial inclusion: Bitcoin's borderless nature and ease of use offers financial inclusion for unbanked or underbanked populations.
Achievements:
- Bitcoin Jungle app: Developed a mobile wallet app built on the Bitcoin Lightning Network, facilitating easy bitcoin transactions within the community for both Android and iOS.
- Business adoption: Helped over 250 businesses in the "Golden Triangle" accept Bitcoin payments.
- Map and directory: Created a map and directory showcasing businesses accepting bitcoin in the area.
- Grassroots movement: Established a strong community identity around bitcoin and "pura vida" values.
- Integrate Sinpe: Allow sending of bitcoin payments to 90% of the Costa Rican population, both individuals and businesses.
Who's behind Bitcoin Jungle?
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The success of Bitcoin Jungle can be attributed to the convergence of two crucial drivers: passionate Bitcoin enthusiasts and skilled community leaders. Each individual, attracted by the unique allure of the "Golden Triangle" in Costa Rica, brought their diverse skillsets and collective ambition to the table, resulting in this organically developed and thriving hub of Bitcoin adoption. These skillsets ranging from technical, to personal, to community outreach, to spiritual and more, are a synergistic blend of expertise and shared vision, serving as the foundational layer for Bitcoin Jungle's continued progress.
Bitcoin Freedom Festival
Building upon the momentum of their inaugural Nostr unconference held at Awake in Uvita, Costa Rica, in March 2023, Bitcoin Jungle successfully hosted their first Bitcoin conference, the Bitcoin Freedom Festival, last week at the same venue. This conference took place during January 18-21, 2024, bringing together Bitcoiners and like minded, freedom loving folks from across the world.
The inaugural Bitcoin Freedom Festival, hosted by Bitcoin Jungle, offered a diverse and engaging lineup for attendees. Participants delved into the world of Bitcoin through a variety of talks, panels, and workshops catering to both technical and non-technical audiences. Attendees engaged in interactive sessions on building sustainable Bitcoin economies, fostering inclusivity within the ecosystem, and navigating the legal landscape of Bitcoin businesses. Speakers explored the potential of Bitcoin beyond finance, delving into its impact on social change, environmental sustainability, and spiritual connections. Beyond Bitcoin related themes, attendees were graced with various cultural sessions and ceremonies from local indigenous tribes and family-friendly events such as fruit tasting, hot chocolate creation, and hula hooping. For those that wanted to add decentralized communication talks to their schedule, attendees joined a Nostr panel hosted by yours truly along with several other Nostriches.
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Awake describes themselves as "a catalyst for humanity's awakening, celebrating life and serving as a community, retreat center, and hub for individual and collective growth" or the spiritual arm of Bitcoin's ethos, connecting human's together and to nature. Awake is essentially a Bitcoin Citadel.
Bitcoin transcends the function of a mere currency to symbolize the primal layer of existence that harmonizes our myriad experiences. It illuminates our collective path, encouraging truth, integrity, and unity, as we rise above the inner and outer forces that have historically suppressed the individual and humanity.
It seems poetic and fitting that Awake is located in the heart of Bitcoin Jungle, their co-founder Govinda, is also one of the founding members of Bitcoin Jungle, and Awake hosted both Nostrica and the Bitcoin Freedom Festival.
Bitcoin Marketplace
Beyond the conversations of conferences and networking opportunities, the Bitcoin Freedom Festival offered a taste of the future with its bustling Bitcoin Marketplace. This dedicated area brought together dozens of local merchants and vendors from the neighboring Bitcoin farmers' market, showcasing the possibilities of Bitcoin in everyday life. HODLing bitcoin is cool, but the real super power unlocks when you spend your bitcoin for everyday goods.
From delicious tropical fruits and local treats to handcrafted snacks, clothing, jewelry, artwork, and trinkets, the vendors represented the early adopters of Bitcoin Jungle's initiative. In collaboration with Bitcoin Jungle, each vendor utilized a compact mobile Point of Sale system powered by BTCPay server. These user-friendly devices, complete with thermal receipt printers, empowered vendors to seamlessly accept bitcoin payments, directly deposited to their Bitcoin Jungle wallets.
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This wasn't just a marketplace; it was a living, breathing testament to the growing acceptance of bitcoin within the local community. Attendees could witness firsthand the ease and convenience of using bitcoin for everyday purchases. The atmosphere buzzed with a sense of shared purpose and enthusiasm as vendors and customers alike embraced the innovative power of Bitcoin. From buying the freshest mango from a local farmer to picking up a unique handcrafted souvenir, participants experienced the thrill of being part of a pioneering community actively shaping a new economic landscape, all from within the Costa Rican jungle.
Where can you spend Bitcoin in Costa Rica?
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Bitcoin adoption in Costa Rica extends beyond the "Golden Triangle", encompassing over 250 locations spread across the country. While the densest concentration lies within Uvita, the beating heart of Bitcoin Jungle, businesses accepting Bitcoin can be found throughout the nation.
These locations are conveniently accessible on the Bitcoin Jungle map, both within the mobile app and on their website. You may browse Bitcoin Jungle's interactive map to discover various businesses and locations that accept bitcoin, searching by category and location.
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Rest assured, you won't be scrambling for mobile reception in most cities and towns. For example, Uvita and Dominical boast excellent mobile coverage with major carriers like Claro blanketing the area, providing your mobile bitcoin transactions the bandwidth they need. While mobile data is readily available, many cafes, restaurants, and shops in both towns offer free Wi-Fi for even greater connectivity. This connectivity extends across most of Costa Rica too, with many local businesses boasting high speed fiber connections.
If you happen to visit a business that isn't directly using the Bitcoin Jungle app or accepting bitcoin, there's a high probability that they're using Sinpe. This will indirectly allow you to spend your bitcoin virtually anywhere in Costa Rica.
What is Sinpe Movil?
Sinpe serves as the backbone of Costa Rican mobile payments, enabling instant transfers between bank accounts, individuals, and certain businesses. With an impressive 90% penetration rate, Sinpe has become the dominant payment method for everyday transactions.
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Thanks to Bull Bitcoin, the Bitcoin Jungle app now supports Sinpe, allowing you to convert your bitcoin into Costa Rican colones directly within the Sinpe network. This means you can seamlessly top up your Sinpe wallet with bitcoin or send bitcoin to an existing Sinpe wallet, effectively spending bitcoin and having it being converted to fiat for the local merchant on the fly.
Do you need the Bitcoin Jungle app?
The short answer: No! You can use whatever you want!
When it comes to spending your Bitcoin in Costa Rica, you have two primary options: utilizing the Sinpe mobile payment system through the Bitcoin Jungle app, or conducting direct Lightning Network transactions at participating businesses.
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- Over 250 locations in Costa Rica accept Bitcoin payments directly through the Lightning Network. Here, you can utilize your preferred Bitcoin Lightning wallet for seamless and instant transactions.
- The Bitcoin Jungle app is required if you want to convert your bitcoin to colones and utilize them within the Sinpe network. This opens up a wider range of spending options throughout Costa Rica, as Sinpe boasts a 90% penetration rate.
Not everyone will be able to install the Bitcoin Jungle application. For example, if you are visiting Costa Rica from the USA, with a USA phone, there's a high probability that you will not be able to install the Bitcoin Jungle application via Google Play Store or Apple App Store due to region locking. You may have to manually install the Android APK or join Apple's TestFlight program.
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While the Bitcoin Jungle app offers a convenient gateway for spending bitcoin with Sinpe in Costa Rica, its requirement for mobile phone number registration might deter some privacy-conscious users, particularly experienced Bitcoiners accustomed to self-custody solutions. Fortunately, for those seeking a purely pseudonymous experience, an array of robust mobile Lightning wallets exist and all work as expected.
Personal Experiences
My wife and I first explored Bitcoin Jungle in March 2023, witnessing the early stages of Bitcoin adoption. Now, upon my return for the Bitcoin Freedom Festival, I was astounded to find the number of accepting businesses almost doubled. This remarkable growth, directly attributed to the previous "Nostrica Unconference" with its near 300 Bitcoin enthusiasts, fuels my optimism for an even greater surge following this recent event. Witnessing firsthand the enthusiastic response of local merchants reaffirms my belief in Bitcoin.
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This trip, eager to share this experience with family, I brought my wife and children, armed with four Bitcoin Lightning wallets connected to my Lightning node at home. We embarked on a family vacation, using the Lightning Network exclusively for day-to-day purchases from breakfast treats to souvenirs. From coffee for my wife and pipa fria for my son to fresh fruit for my daughter and delicious meals for all of us, each transaction was seamless and effortless. This culminated in a memorable visit to Seba's, Uvita's premier restaurant, where we enjoyed both food and adult beverages â all paid for with bitcoin.
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This experience wasn't just about personal convenience; it was a testament to the growing acceptance and integration of bitcoin within the local community. Witnessing how families, from coffee shops to fine dining, can seamlessly operate, empowers me to envision a future where Bitcoin flourishes.
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Reaching Bitcoin Jungle involves some planning due to its distance from San Jose Airport. The journey takes approximately 3.5-4 hours by car, offering the most flexibility for exploring the region, attending excursions, and maximizing your itinerary. Car rentals are readily available, though ride-sharing, buses, and even small plane flights are alternative options, depending on your budget and preferences. While Uvita's downtown area features walkable access to many amenities, having a rental vehicle is recommended for exploring the full scope of the Golden Triangle's attractions. For example, my family visited jungle canopy zip lines, jungle cacao tours, waterfalls, and multiple beaches.
Conclusions
Bitcoin Jungle is a successful community-driven, grassroots project, showcasing the potential of Bitcoin adoption and integration beyond El Salvador. We often hear about Bitcoin Beach or how El Salvador is "Bitcoin Country", but I'd wager that Bitcoin adoption is on par or even higher with local merchants in Bitcoin Jungle.
Bitcoin Jungle is a beautiful paradise showcasing freedom at every corner, allowing you to spend bitcoin at nearly every corner. If you're a Bitcoiner seeking a vibrant, welcoming community and a real-world Bitcoin experience, look no further than Bitcoin Jungle. I highly recommend it. Pura vida!
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@ 21335073:a244b1ad
2025-05-09 13:56:57Someone asked for my thoughts, so Iâll share them thoughtfully. Iâm not here to dictate how to promote NostrâIâm still learning about it myself. While Iâm not new to Nostr, freedom tech is a newer space for me. Iâm skilled at advocating for topics I deeply understand, but freedom tech isnât my expertise, so take my words with a grain of salt. Nothing I say is set in stone.
Those who need Nostr the most are the ones most vulnerable to censorship on other platforms right now. Reaching them requires real-time awareness of global issues and the dynamic relationships between governments and tech providers, which can shift suddenly. Effective Nostr promoters must grasp this and adapt quickly.
The best messengers are people from or closely tied to these at-risk regionsâthose who truly understand the local political and cultural dynamics. They can connect with those in need when tensions rise. Ideal promoters are rational, trustworthy, passionate about Nostr, but above all, dedicated to amplifying peopleâs voices when it matters most.
Forget influencers, corporate-backed figures, or traditional online PRâit comes off as inauthentic, corny, desperate and forced. Nostrâs promotion should be grassroots and organic, driven by a few passionate individuals who believe in Nostr and the communities they serve.
The idea that âpeople wonât join Nostr due to lack of reachâ is nonsense. Everyone knows Xâs âreachâ is mostly with bots. If humans want real conversations, Nostr is the place. X is great for propaganda, but Nostr is for the authentic voices of the people.
Those spreading Nostr must be so passionate theyâre willing to onboard others, which is time-consuming but rewarding for the right person. Theyâll need to make Nostr and onboarding a core part of who they are. I see no issue with that level of dedication. Iâve been known to get that way myself at times. Itâs fun for some folks.
With love, I suggest not adding Bitcoin promotion with Nostr outreach. Zaps already integrate that element naturally. (Still promote within the Bitcoin ecosystem, but this is about reaching vulnerable voices who needed Nostr yesterday.)
To promote Nostr, forget conventional strategies. âInfluencersâ arenât the answer. âInfluencersâ are not the future. A trusted local community member has real influenceâreach them. Connect with people seeking Nostrâs benefits but lacking the technical language to express it. This means some in the Nostr community might need to step outside of the Bitcoin bubble, which is uncomfortable but necessary. Thank you in advance to those who are willing to do that.
I donât know who is paid to promote Nostr, if anyone. This piece isnât shade. But itâs exhausting to see innocent voices globally silenced on corporate platforms like X while Nostr exists. Last night, I wondered: how many more voices must be censored before the Nostr community gets uncomfortable and thinks creatively to reach the vulnerable?
A warning: the global need for censorship-resistant social media is undeniable. If Nostr doesnât make itself known, something else will fill that void. Letâs start this conversation.
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@ d6affa19:9110b177
2024-09-24 18:31:42i'm in the upstairs office. lost in some project i've been tinkering with. i feel driven with purpose.
the door is cracked open. i always leave the door open.
Her footsteps echo up the stairway. but my focus is intense; a solution just beyond my fingertips.
the door creaks open, a soft whisper of a sound.
i instantly feel Her presence. a sweet vanilla scent wraps around me, thick and intoxicating.
Her fingers brush through my hair, a gentle caress.
She grips my hair, then releases itâ over and over again. it feels good.
a soothing warmth envelops me.
Her fingers glide, each stroke igniting my senses. a chill races down my spine.
the monitor becomes a bit distant.
"You're really focused, hmm?" She teases, leaning closer. "I'm just checking in on my sweet boy." Her tone alluring, already drawing me in.
"of course, my Queen." i reply, my eyes glued to the screen, struggling to concentrate. "thank You," my voice hints at annoyance. "i'm so close to finishing this up."
just when i near a breakthrough, She appears, a siren pulling me from my path. how does She know..? the quiet signals that betray my focusâ that reveal my yearning.
"Hmmmm," She playfully muses.
ugh, i need to concentrate. but the way this feels...
it pulls me deeper.
Her fingers drift by my ear, lingering around my neck. nails grazing my skin, sending shivers through me.
my heart begins to race. the screen blurs, reality separates.
"Okay, sweet boy." Her voice is a soft command. Her nails dig in, a mixture of pain and pleasure. a sharp contrast to the softness of Her touch. "I'll be downstairs while you finish."
yet She remains. i close my eyes, drowning in the sensation. i should be finishing this project...
but each press feels like a silent command, an urge to abandon my thoughts, to succumb to the pull of Her presence.
the way She easily captures my attention... it makes me feel so vulnerable...
Her grip finally loosens, and slowly leaves my neck. it wants more...
i barely hear Her leave. but the air feels colder. the warmth of Her presence is fading. an aching emptiness fills the space...
the weight of Her absence settles in, another reminder of how easily She commands my thoughts...
desperately, i take in the remnants of Her scent.
i stare at my monitor. focus shattered, thoughts scattered like leaves.
i linger for a moment. fighting the urge to chase after Her.
the pull of Her absence is heavy in the air. i'm unable to resist. i rise from my seat.
the door is slightly open. She always leaves the door open.
i make my way downstairs, lost in the thoughts of serving Her. my true purpose...
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@ 8bad92c3:ca714aa5
2025-05-24 18:01:02Key Takeaways
Lyn Alden unpacks the complex interplay of global trade imbalances, the dollarâs entrenched reserve currency status, and Americaâs eroded industrial base, arguing that aggressive tariffs under Trump have backfired by hurting U.S. businesses without reversing decades of offshoring. She illustrates how China has rapidly ascended the value chain, dominating key industries and making it nearly impossible for the U.S. to build a trade coalition against them. Despite the U.S.âs massive debt and persistent global demand for dollars, cracks are forming in the system as nations explore alternative payment systems and neutral reserve assets like gold and Bitcoin. Lyn emphasizes that Bitcoinâs most effective path to integration is through grassroots and corporate adoption, not government-led initiatives, and warns that unless the U.S. urgently scales its energy and industrial capacity, it risks falling further behind Chinaâs unmatched pace of growth and infrastructure dominance.
Best Quotes
- "The trade deficit is often described as us sending out pieces of paper and getting goods and services, which sounds like a really good deal."
- "It's better to correct these imbalances from a position of strength, not weakness."
- "All that debt creates inflexible demand for dollars. Thereâs literally way more demand than dollars in the system."
- "China became the largest auto exporter in the world in just four years."
- "Bitcoin isnât changing to fit into the global financial system. The global financial system is changing to fit Bitcoin."
- "Individuals, small businesses, corporationsâthese are the real drivers of Bitcoin adoption. Not governments."
Conclusion
This episode offers a sobering look at Americaâs trade and currency dilemmas, with Lyn Alden explaining why quick policy fixes like tariffs canât reverse decades of deindustrialization tied to the dollarâs reserve status. She highlights the rise of neutral reserve assets like gold and Bitcoin as important hedges, stressing that grassroots and corporate adoption will be more effective than government-led efforts. Lyn also warns that without a major push to expand energy production, the U.S. risks falling behind in an AI-driven, hardware-centric world, urging strategic humility and innovation to navigate the shifting global order.
Timestamps
0:00 - Intro
0:31 - Triffin's dilemma
8:10 - Debt leverage
11:04 - Fold & Bitkey
12:41 - Trump's goals and tariff policy
19:54 - Unchained
20:24 - China is not weak
30:07 - Energy
37:15 - AI/robots
41:11 - SBR
48:47 - Bitcoin credit products
52:40 - Eventful week for bitcoinTranscript
(00:00) They ramped up tariffs super high, super quickly. In many cases, were so high that they hurt us as much as some of our trade adversaries. China has ramped up to like unfathomable degrees. Nuclear, solar, pretty much everything that they can throw money at they're building. The trade is often described as us sending out pieces of paper and getting goods and services, which sounds like a really good deal.
(00:19) They take those slips of paper and then they buy our stocks. They buy our corporate bonds and government bonds. And so they end up owning a larger and larger share of corporate America. got the headphone hair. I'm all out of whack, Lynn. It's been a long week here in Austin. Yeah, I can imagine. It's been a long time since we've talked on the show. It's been two years.
(00:41) I was checking, which is a astonishing to me. But no better time than now. Uh I think quite literally based off of all the conversations we've had uh over the years. I mean, your famous saying, nothing stops this train. I think we're coming to a juncture where that's becoming abundantly clear. and you wrote uh a newsletter earlier this week, I believe you sent it out Sunday, that basically highlighted the crux of the problem, which is the dollar reserve status and the almost impossible task that Trump would like to accomplish, but
(01:21) likely isn't the case, which is sort of solving Triffin's dilemma of reshoring manufacturing while keeping US dollar dominance. So I think diving into this from first principles would be great. Sure. Yeah. And that's that's the um I can imagine the administration's challenge of trying to communicate this because uh the intricacies of how trade deficits and the reserve currency kind of pair together is very wonkish.
(01:46) It it kind of has this like academic quality to it that doesn't go over well uh in kind of political oriented speeches. Um like I would I would be terrible at a political rally for example when I try to explain any of this. Um and so we kind of have this situation where um and this was outlined back during the Breton Wood system by Triffin as you mentioned uh which is that having the reserve currency does come with a bunch of benefits um you know historically called a extraordin uh exorbitant privilege um but then it has certain costs to
(02:15) maintain it and those costs can vary a bit depending on how the system structure. So for example back in the Bretton Woods era the cost was that we kept draining our gold reserves. uh we basically had to kind of keep paying out our go gold gold reserves to maintain that part of the system and in the current formation uh instead we kind of pay for it with our industrial base.
(02:36) We keep kind of sending out little parts of our industrial base over time to maintain the the global reserve currency status. And there's a few reasons for that. One is that um because unlike every other fiat currency, the dollar has all these extra demands for it by countries all around the world. um all these different purposes.
(02:55) um there's this extra demand for dollars which sounds good on the surface and as for Americans for example we have tons of import power when we go on vacations to the rest of the world it's you know we have pretty strong purchasing power compared to when they come to the US um these things seem good on the surface but it also means that it's pretty expensive to manufacture lower margin things here at home uh and so we have this kind of situation where our imports are very strong our exports uh especially lower margin stuff is less uh
(03:22) competitive whereas we can still be competitive competitive on really high margin stuff, you know, technology, finance, healthcare, that kind of thing. Um, and then the other aspect is that even if you could somehow solve that, there's the more fundamental problem, which is that the whole world needs dollars uh for the you know, global reserve currency status to use it for international contract pricing, crossber financing, one side of every trade pair that they do, all these different purposes as a reserve asset. Um uh and
(03:51) when you step back and say, "Well, how do they get all those dollars if they're all using dollars? How did all those dollars get out there?" And the answer is trade deficits. Um basically that overvalued aspect forces open the US trade deficit. And every year we send out hundreds of billions or sometimes a trillion dollars in net outflows.
(04:10) And over years and decades, these have accumulated out there. And so, uh, kind of the way it works is that if you want to fix the trade deficit, which I've been I've been writing about since 2019, I think that's a I think that's a valid mandate to do. Um, unfortunately does come with trade-offs.
(04:26) Uh, some of the some of the benefits that that you know that we enjoy at the cost of the trade deficit. Um, if you do want to kind of fix that imbalance, it comes up, you know, with with basically giving away at least some of those benefits and prioritizing that that industrial base a bit more. And one of the dynamics that you highlighted in your newsletter, which makes sense, but wasn't very clear to me before, is that via these deficits, we flood international markets with dollars because we're sending parts of our industrial base over there. But then
(05:00) it's like cyclical. They take those dollars and then reinvest them in US financial assets. So it has this sort of flow where it goes out but then it comes back in into the financialized economy via equities and real estate and other such assets and that is good for asset owners here in the United States.
(05:19) But again I think that's is part of the bag of mandate is that sort of cycle has led to this large wealth gap in the United States that they're trying to fix. Yeah. Exactly. Um and so basically the opposite side of a current account deficit which is basically so the trade deficit plus things like interest and dividends.
(05:39) Um so we run a structural current account deficit and the opposite side of that is a capital account surplus. Um which is that funds flow in the rest of the world and buy our financial assets. Uh and so it's the the trade deficit is often described as us sending out pieces of paper and getting goods and services which sounds like a really good deal.
(05:57) Um but then the extra step of that that you mentioned is that they take those slips of paper or really those electronic digits that they have and then they buy our stocks, they buy our real estate, they buy our private equity, they they buy our corporate bonds and government bonds and so they end up owning a larger and larger share of corporate America as part of their kind of accumulated uh trade surpluses uh and reserve assets and uh international private assets.
(06:22) Um, and the kind of the consequence of this, if you kind of like view the foreign sector as an intermediary, we're basically constantly kind of taking economic vibrancy out of, you know, Michigan and Ohio and, uh, you know, rural Pennsylvania where the steel m -
@ 4db2f229:205fed9f
2025-04-28 23:25:16https://www.nexusmods.com/newvegas/mods/80258
If you manage to get it up to date / uncorrupt the data, I give you full liberties to:
- The model itself
- Its XMF and/or XML skeleton
- Patching it to be compatible with any other gun mods
- other fixes
- and full credit handed over to you
I think this has honestly been abandoned by it's original developer, and since I am just hanging onto the file? I decided it'd be better maintained in someone elses hands, and with community much more responsible than Nexus. Honestly if I did not archive this mod? It would of been vaporware.
But in it's current state it's not fit for being playable. I did manage to save media of when it was playable however.
-
@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b
2025-05-24 17:11:28Originalni tekst na bitcoin-balkan.com.
Pregled sadrĹžaja
- Odakle PotiÄe Bitcoin?
- Koje Probleme ReĹĄava Bitcoin?
- Kako se Bitcoin razvijao u poslednjoj deceniji?
Bitcoin je peer to peer elektronski keĹĄ, novi oblik digitalnog novca koji se moĹže prenositi izmeÄu ljudi ili raÄunara, bez potrebe za uÄestvovanjem pouzdanog posrednika (kao ĹĄto je banka) i Äije izdavanje nije pod kontrolom nijedne stranke.
Zamislite papirni dolar ili metalni novÄiÄ. Kad taj novac date drugoj osobi, ona ne mora da zna ko ste vi.
On samo treba da veruju da novac koji dobiju od vas nije falsifikat. ObiÄno, proveravanje falsifikata âfiziÄkogâ novca, ljudi rade koristeÄi samo oÄi i prste ili koristeÄi specijalnu opremu za testiranje ukoliko se radi o znaÄajnijoj sumi novca.
VeÄina plaÄanja u naĹĄem digitalnom druĹĄtvu vrĹĄi se putem Interneta koriĹĄÄenjem neke posredniÄke usluge: kompanije za izdavanje kreditnih kartica poput Visa, snabdevaÄa digitalnih plaÄanja kao ĹĄto je PayPal ili Apple Pay ili mreĹžne platforme poput WeChat u Kini.
Kretanje ka digitalnom plaÄanju sa sobom donosi oslanjanje na nekog centralnog aktera koji mora odobriti i verifikovati svaku uplatu.
Priroda novca se promenila od fiziÄkog predmeta koji moĹžete da nosite, prenesete i autentifikujete do digitalnih bitova koje mora da Äuva i verifikuje treÄa strana koja kontroliĹĄe njihov prenos.
Odricanjem od gotovine u korist âudobnihâ digitalnih plaÄanja, mi takoÄe stvaramo sistem u kome dajemo ogromna ovlaĹĄÄenja onima koji bi poĹželeli da nas tlaÄe.
Platforme za digitalno plaÄanje postale su osnova distopijskih autoritarnih metoda kontrole, poput onih koje kineska vlada koristi za nadgledanje disidenata i spreÄava graÄane, Äije ponaĹĄanje im se ne svidja, da kupuju robu i plaÄaju usluge.
Bitcoin nudi alternativu centralno kontrolisanom digitalnom novcu sa sistemom koji nam vraÄa prirodu koriĹĄÄenja keĹĄa â Äovek Äoveku, ali u digitalnom obliku.
Bitcoin je digitalno sredstvo koje se izdaje i prenosi preko mreĹže meÄusobno povezanih raÄunara, od koji svaki od njih samostalno potvrÄuje da svi ostali igraju po pravilima.
Bitcoin MreĹža
Odakle PotiÄe Bitcoin?
Bitcoin je izumela osoba ili grupa poznata pod pseudonimom Satoshi Nakamoto, oko 2008. godine.
Niko ne zna Satoshijev identitet, a koliko znamo, oni su nestali i o njima se godinama niĹĄta nije Äulo.
11.februara 2009. godine, Satoshi je pisao o ranoj verziji Bitcoin-a na mreĹžnom forumu za cypherÂpunkere, ljude koji rade na tehnologiji kriptografije i koji su zabrinuti za privatnost i slobodu pojedinca.
Iako ovo nije prvo zvaniÄno objavljivanje Bitcoin-a, sadrĹži dobar rezime Satoshi-jevih motiva.
Razvio sam novi P2P sistem e-keĹĄa otvorenog koda pod nazivom Bitcoin. Potpuno je decentralizovan, bez centralnog servera ili pouzdanih stranki, jer se sve zasniva na kripto dokazima umesto na poverenju. [âŚ]
Osnovni problem konvencionalne valute je potpuno poverenje koje je potrebno za njeno funkcionisanje. Centralnoj banci se mora verovati da necĚe devalvirati valutu, ali istorija tradicionalnih valuta je puna primera krĹĄenja tog poverenja. Bankama se mora verovati da drĹže naĹĄ novac i prenose ga elektronskim putem, ali one ga daju u talasima kreditnih balona sa deliÄem rezerve. Moramo im verovati sa naĹĄom privatnoĹĄÄu, verovati im da necĚe dozvoliti da kradljivci identiteta pokradu naĹĄe raÄune. Njihovi ogromni reĹžijski troĹĄkovi onemogucĚavaju mikro placĚanja.
Generaciju ranije, viĹĄekorisniÄki time-sharing raÄunarski sistemi imali su sliÄan problem. Pre pojave jake enkripcije, korisnici su morali da imaju pouzdanje u zaĹĄtitu lozinkom kako bi zaĹĄtitili svoje fajlove [âŚ]
Tada je jaka enkripcija postala dostupna ĹĄirokim masama i viĹĄe nije bilo potrebno poverenje. Podaci bi se mogli osigurati na naÄin koji je fiziÄki bio nemogucĚ za pristup drugima, bez obzira iz kog razloga, bez obzira koliko je dobar izgovor, bez obzira na sve.
Vreme je da imamo istu stvar za novac. Uz e-valutu zasnovanu na kriptografskom dokazu, bez potrebe da verujete posredniku trecĚe strane, novac moĹže biti siguran i transakcije mogu biti izvrĹĄene bez napora. [âŚ]
ReĹĄenje Bitcoin-a je koriĹĄcĚenje peer-to-peer mreĹže za proveru dvostruke potroĹĄnje. Ukratko, mreĹža radi poput distribuiranog servera vremenskih Ĺžigova, obeleĹžavajuÄi prvu transakciju koja je potroĹĄila novÄicĚ. Potrebna je prednost prirode informacije koju je lako ĹĄiriti, ali je teĹĄko uguĹĄiti. Za detalje o tome kako to funkcioniĹĄe, pogledajte Älanak o dizajnu na bitcoin.org
Satoshi Nakamoto
Koje Probleme ReĹĄava Bitcoin?
Razdvojimo neke od Satoshi-jevih postova kako bismo uvideli razloge njegove motivacije.
âRazvio sam novi P2P sistem e-keĹĄa otvorenog koda.â
P2P je skraÄenica za peer to peer i ukazuje na sistem u kojem jedna osoba moĹže da komunicira sa drugom bez ikoga u sredini, kao medjusobno jednaki.
MoĹžete se setiti P2P tehnologija za razmenu datoteka poput Napster-a, Kazaa-e i BitTorrrent-a, koje su prve omoguÄile ljudima da dele muziku i filmove bez posrednika.
Satoshi je dizajnirao Bitcoin kako bi omoguÄio ljudima da razmenjuju e-keĹĄ, elektronski keĹĄ, bez prolaska preko posrednika na pribliĹžno isti naÄin.
Softver je otvorenog koda, ĹĄto znaÄi da svako moĹže videti kako funkcioniĹĄe i doprineti tome.
Ne treba da verujemo ni u ĹĄta ĹĄto je Satoshi napisao u svom postu o tome kako softver radi.
MoĹžemo pogledati kod i sami proveriti kako to funkcioniĹĄe. Ĺ taviĹĄe, moĹžemo promeniti funkcionalnost sistema promenom koda.
âPotpuno je decentralizovan, bez centralnog servera ili pouzdanih stranki âŚâ
Satoshi napominje da je sistem decentralizovan kako bi se razlikovao od sistema koji imaju centralnu kontrolu.
Prethodne pokuĹĄaje stvaranja digitalne gotovine poput DigiCash-a od strane Davida Chaum-a podrĹžavao je centralni server, raÄunar ili skup raÄunara koji je bio odgovoran za izdavanje i verifikaciju plaÄanja pod kontrolom jedne korporacije.
Takve, centralno kontrolisane privatne ĹĄeme novca, bile su osuÄene na propast; ljudi se ne mogu osloniti na novac koji moĹže nestati kada kompanija prestane sa poslovanjem, bude hakovana, pretrpi pad servera ili je zatvori vlada.
Bitcoin odrĹžava mreĹža pojedinaca i kompanija ĹĄirom sveta.
Da bi se Bitcoin iskljuÄio, bilo bi potrebno iskljuÄiti desetine do stotine hiljada raÄunara ĹĄirom sveta u isto vreme, zauvek, od kojih su mnogi na nepoznatim lokacijama.
Bila bi to beznadeĹžna igra, jer bi svaki napad ove prirode jednostavno podstakao stvaranje novih Bitcoin Ävorova ili raÄunara na mreĹži.
â⌠sve se zasniva na kripto dokazima umesto na poverenjuâ
Internet, a u stvari i veÄina savremenih raÄunarskih sistema, izgraÄeni su na kriptografiji, metodi prikrivanja informacija, tako da je moĹže dekodirati samo primalac informacije.
Kako se Bitcoin oslobaÄa potrebe za poverenjem? Umesto da verujemo nekome ko kaĹže âJa sam Alisaâ ili âImam 10 $ na raÄunuâ, moĹžemo koristiti kriptografsku matematiku da bismo izneli iste Äinjenice na naÄin koji je vrlo lako verifikovati od strane primaoca dokaza ali ga je nemoguÄe falsifikovati.
Bitcoin u svom dizajnu koristi kriptografsku matematiku kako bi uÄesnicima omoguÄio da provere ponaĹĄanje svih ostalih uÄesnika, bez poverenja u bilo koju centralnu stranku.
âMoramo im verovati [bankama] sa naĹĄom privatnoĹĄÄu, verovati im da neÄe dozvoliti da kradljivci identiteta pokradu naĹĄe raÄuneâ
Za razliku od koriĹĄÄenja vaĹĄeg bankovnog raÄuna, sistema digitalnog plaÄanja ili kreditne kartice, Bitcoin omoguÄava dvema stranama da obavljaju transakcije bez davanje bilo kakvih liÄnih podataka.
Centralizovana skladiĹĄta potroĹĄaÄkih podataka koji se Äuvaju u bankama, kompanijama sa kreditnim karticama, procesorima plaÄanja i vladama, predstavljaju pravu poslasticu za hakere.
Kao dokaz Satoshi-jeve poente sluĹži primer iz 2017. godine kada je Equifax masovono kompromitovan, kada su hakeri ukrali identifikacione i finansijske podatke za viĹĄe od 140 miliona ljudi.
Bitcoin odvaja finansijske transakcije od stvarnih identiteta.
Na kraju krajeva, kada nekome damo fiziÄki novac, on nema potrebu da zna ko smo, niti treba da brinemo da Äe nakon naĹĄe razmene moÄi da iskoristi neke informacije koje smo mu dali da ukrade joĹĄ naĹĄeg novca.
ZaĹĄto ne bismo oÄekivali isto, ili Äak i bolje, od digitalnog novca?
âCentralnoj banci se mora verovati da neÄe devalvirati valutu, ali istorija tradicionalnih valuta je puna primera krĹĄenja tog poverenja.â
Pojam tradicionalna valuta, odnosi se na valutu izdatu od strane vlade i centralne banke, koju vlada proglaĹĄava zakonskim sredstvom plaÄanja.
Istorijski, novac je nastao od stvari koje je bilo teĹĄko proizvesti, koje su bile lake za proveravanje i transport, poput ĹĄkoljki, staklenih perli, srebra i zlata.
Kad god bi se neĹĄto koristilo kao novac, postojalo je iskuĹĄenje da se stvori viĹĄe toga.
Ako bi neko pronaĹĄao vrhunsku tehnologiju za brzo stvaranje velike koliÄine neÄega, ta stvar bi izgubila vrednost.
Evropski naseljenici uspeli su da liĹĄe afriÄki kontinent bogatstva trgujuÄi staklenim perlicama koje su se lako proizvodile za ljudske robove.
Isto se dogodilo sa ameriÄkim indijancima, kada su kolonisti otkrili naÄin brze proizvodnje vampum ĹĄkoljki, koje su starosedeoci smatrali retkim.
Vremenom, ĹĄirom sveta ljudi su shvatili da je samo zlato dovoljno retko da deluje kao novac, bez straha da bi neko drugi mogao da ga stvori u velikim koliÄinama.
Polako smo preĹĄli sa svetske ekonomije koja je koristila zlato kao novac na onu gde su banke izdavale papirne sertifikate kao dokaz posedovanja tog zlata.
Nixon je okonÄao meÄunarodnu konvertibilnost ameriÄkog dolara u zlato 1971. godine, privremenim reĹĄenjem, koje je ubrzo postalo trajno.
Kraj zlatnog standarda omoguÄio je vladama i centralnim bankama da imaju punu dozvolu da poveÄavaju novÄanu masu po svojoj volji, razredjujuÄi vrednost svake novÄanice u opticaju, poznatije kao umanjenje vrednosti.
Iako je izdata od strane vlade, suĹĄtinska tradicionalna valuta je novac koji svi znamo i svakodnevno koristimo, ipak je relativno novo iskustvo u opsegu svetske istorije.
Moramo verovati naĹĄim vladama da ne zloupotrebljavaju njegovo ĹĄtamparije, i ne treba nam puno muke da nadjemo primere krĹĄenja tog poverenja.
U autokratskim i centralno planiranim reĹžimima gde vlada ima prst direktno na maĹĄini za novac, kao ĹĄto je Venecuela, valuta je postala gotovo bezvredna.
Venecuelanski Bolivar preĹĄao je sa 2 bolivara za 1 ameriÄki dolar, koliko je vredeo 2009. godine, na 250.000 bolivara za 1 ameriÄki dolar 2019. godine.
Pogledajte koliko novÄanica je bilo potrebno za kupovinu piletine u Venecueli posle hiperinflacije.
Satoshi je Ĺželeo da ponudi alternativu tradicionalnoj valuti Äija se ponuda uvek nepredvidivo ĹĄiri.
Da bi spreÄilo umanjenje vrednosti, Satoshi je dizajnirao novÄani sistem gde je zaliha bila fiksna i izdavana po predvidljivoj i nepromenjivoj stopi.
PostojaÄe samo 21 milion Bitcoin-a.
MeÄutim, svaki Bitcoin se moĹže podeliti na 100 miliona jedinica koje se sada nazivaju satoshis (sats-ovi), ĹĄto Äe Äiniti ukupno 2,1 kvadriliona satoshi-a u opticaju oko 2140. godine.
Pre Bitcoin-a nije bilo moguÄe spreÄiti beskrajnu reprodukciju digitalnih sredstava.
Kopirati digitalnu knjigu, audio datoteku ili video zapis i poslati ga prijatelju, je jeftino i lako.
Jedini izuzeci od toga su digitalna sredstva koja kontroliĹĄu posrednici.
Na primer, kada iznajmite film sa iTunes-a, moĹžete ga gledati na vaĹĄem ureÄaju samo zato ĹĄto iTunes kontroliĹĄe distribuciju tog filma i moĹže ga zaustaviti nakon perioda njegovog iznajmljivanja.
SliÄno tome, vaĹĄa banka kontroliĹĄe vaĹĄ digitalni novac. Zadatak banke je da vodi evidenciju koliko novca imate.
Ako ga prenesete nekom drugom, oni Äe odobriti ili odbiti takav prenos.
Bitcoin je prvi digitalni sistem koji sprovodi oskudicu bez posrednika i prvo je sredstvo poznato ÄoveÄanstvu Äija je nepromenljiva ponuda i raspored izdavanja poznat unapred.
Ni plemeniti metali poput zlata nemaju ovo svojstvo, jer uvek moĹžemo iskopati sve viĹĄe i viĹĄe zlata ukoliko je to isplativo.
Zamislite da otkrijemo asteroid koji sadrĹži deset puta viĹĄe zlata nego ĹĄto ga imamo na zemlji.
Ĺ ta bi se dogodilo sa cenom zlata uzimajuÄi u obzir tako obilnu ponudu? Bitcoin je imun na takva otkriÄa i manipulisanje nabavkom.
Jednostavno je nemoguÄe proizvesti viĹĄe od toga (21 miliona).
âPodaci bi se mogli osigurati na naÄin koji je fiziÄki bio nemoguÄ za pristup drugima, bez obzira iz kog razloga, bez obzira koliko je dobar izgovor, bez obzira na sve. [âŚ] Vreme je da imamo istu stvar za novac â
NaĹĄe trenutne metode obezbeÄivanja novca, poput stavljanja u banku, oslanjaju se na poverenje nekome drugom da Äe obaviti taj posao.
Poverenje u takvog posrednika ne zahteva samo sigurnost da on neÄe uÄiniti neĹĄto zlonamerno ili glupo, veÄ i da vlada neÄe zapleniti ili zamrznuti vaĹĄa sredstva vrĹĄeÄi pritisak na ovog posrednika.
MeÄutim, videli smo bezbroj puta da vlade mogu, i zaista uskraÄuju pristup novcu kada se oseÄaju ugroĹženo.
Nekom ko Ĺživi u Sjedinjenim DrĹžavama ili nekoj drugoj visoko regulisanoj ekonomiji moĹžda zvuÄi glupo da razmiĹĄlja da se probudi sa oduzetim novcem, ali to se dogaÄa stalno.
PayPal mi je zamrzao sredstva jednostavno zato par meseci nisam koristio svoj raÄun.
Trebalo mi je viĹĄe od nedelju dana da vratim pristup âsvomâ novcu.
SreÄan sam ĹĄto Ĺživim u Europi, gde bih se bar mogao nadati da Äu potraĹžiti neko pravno reĹĄenje ako mi PayPal zamrzne sredstva i gde imam osnovno poverenje da moja vlada i banka neÄe ukrasti moj novac.
Mnogo gore stvari su se dogodile, i trenutno se deĹĄavaju, u zemljama sa manje slobode.
Banke su se zatvorile tokom kolapsa valuta u GrÄkoj.
Banke na Kipru su koristile kaucije da konfiskuju sredstva od svojih klijenata.
Indijska vlada je proglasila odreÄene novÄanice bezvrednim.
BivĹĄi SSSR, u kojem sam odrastao, imao je ekonomiju pod kontrolom vlade ĹĄto je dovelo do ogromnih nestaĹĄica robe.
Bilo je nezakonito posedovati strane valute kao ĹĄto je ameriÄki dolar.
Kada smo poĹželeli da odemo, mojoj porodici je bilo dozvoljeno da zameni samo ograniÄenu koliÄinu novca po osobi za ameriÄke dolare po zvaniÄnom kursu koji je bio u velikoj meri razliÄit od pravog kursa slobodnog trĹžiĹĄta.
U stvari, vlada nam je oduzela ono malo bogatstva koje smo imali koristeÄi gvozdeni stisak na ekonomiji i kretanju kapitala.
Autokratske zemlje imaju tendenciju da sprovode strogu ekonomsku kontrolu, spreÄavajuÄi ljude da na slobodnom trĹžiĹĄtu povuku svoj novac iz banaka, iznesu ga iz zemlje ili da ga razmene u ne joĹĄ uvek bezvredne valute poput ameriÄkog dolara.
To omoguÄava vladinoj slobodnoj vladavini da primeni sulude ekonomske eksperimente poput socijalistiÄkog sistema SSSR-a.
Bitcoin se ne oslanja na poverenje u treÄu stranu da bi osigurao vaĹĄ novac.
Umesto toga, Bitcoin onemoguÄava drugima pristup vaĹĄim novÄiÄima bez jedinstvenog kljuÄa koji imate samo vi, bez obzira iz kog razloga, bez obzira koliko je dobar izgovor, bez obzira na sve.
DrĹžeÄi Bitcoin, drĹžite kljuÄeve sopstvene finansijske slobode. Bitcoin razdvaja novac i drĹžavu
âReĹĄenje Bitcoin-a je koriĹĄÄenje peer-to-peer mreĹže za proveru dvostruke potroĹĄnje [âŚ] poput distribuiranog servera vremenskih Ĺžigova, obeleĹžavajuÄi prvu transakciju koja je potroĹĄila novÄiÄâ
MreĹža se odnosi na ideju da je gomila raÄunara povezana i da mogu meÄusobno slati poruke.
ReÄ distribuirano znaÄi da ne postoji centralna stranka koja kontroliĹĄe, veÄ da svi uÄesnici koordiniraju medjusobno kako bi mreĹža bila uspeĹĄna.
U sistemu bez centralne kontrole, bitno je znati da niko ne vara. Ideja dvostruke potroĹĄnje odnosi se na moguÄnost troĹĄenja istog novca dva puta.
FiziÄki novac odlazi iz vaĹĄe ruke kad ga potroĹĄite. MeÄutim, digitalne transakcije se mogu kopirati baĹĄ kao muzika ili filmovi.
Kada novac ĹĄaljete preko banke, oni se pobrinu da isti novac ne moĹžete da prebacujete dva puta.
U sistemu bez centralne kontrole potreban nam je naÄin da spreÄimo ovu vrstu dvostruke potroĹĄnje, koja je u suĹĄtini ista kao i falsifikovanje novca.
Satoshi opisuje da uÄesnici u Bitcoin mreĹži rade zajedno kako bi vremenski oznaÄili (doveli u red) transakcije kako bismo znali ĹĄta je bilo prvo.
Zbog toga moĹžemo odbiti sve buduÄe pokuĹĄaje troĹĄenja istog novca.
Satoshi se uhvatio u koĹĄtac sa nekoliko zanimljivih tehniÄkih problema kako bi reĹĄio probleme privatnosti, uniĹĄtavanja vrednosti i centralne kontrole u ââtrenutnim monetarnim sistemima.
Na kraju je stvorio peer to peer mreĹžu kojoj se svako mogao pridruĹžiti bez otkrivanja svog identiteta ili potrebe da veruje bilo kom drugom uÄesniku.
Kako se Bitcoin razvijao u poslednjoj deceniji?
Doprinosi izvornom kodu Bitcoina
Kada je Bitcoin pokrenut, samo nekolicina ljudi ga je koristila i pokrenula Bitcoin softver na svojim raÄunarima za napajanje Bitcoin mreĹže.
VeÄina ljudi u to vreme mislila je da je to ĹĄala ili da Äe se otkriti ozbiljni nedostaci u dizajnu sistema koji Äe ga uÄiniti neizvodljivim.
Vremenom se mreĹži pridruĹžilo sve viĹĄe ljudi koji su pomoÄu svojih raÄunara dodali sigurnost mreĹži.
Ljudi su poÄeli da menjaju Bitcoin-e za robu i usluge, dajuÄi mu stvarnu vrednost. Pojavile su se menjaÄnice valuta koje su menjale Bitcoin-e za gotovo sve tradicionalne valute na svetu.
Deset godina nakon izuma, Bitcoin koriste milioni ljudi sa desetinama do stotinama hiljada Ävorova koji pokreÄu besplatni Bitcoin softver, koji se razvija od strane stotina dobrovoljaca i kompanija ĹĄirom sveta.
Bitcoin mreĹža je porasla kako bi obezbedila vrednost veÄu od stotine biliona dolara.
RaÄunari koji uÄestvuju u zaĹĄtiti Bitcoin mreĹže poznati su kao rudari/majneri.
Oni rade u industrijskim operacijama ĹĄirom sveta, ulaĹžuÄi milione dolara u specijalni rudarski hardver koji radi samo jedno: pobrinuti se da je Bitcoin najsigurnija mreĹža na planeti.
Rudari troĹĄe elektriÄnu energiju kako bi transakcije Bitcoin-a uÄinile sigurnim od modifikacija. BuduÄi da se rudari meÄusobno takmiÄe za oskudan broj Bitcoin-a proizvedenih dnevno, oni uvek moraju da pronalaze najjeftinije izvore energije na planeti da bi ostali profitabilni.
Rudari rade na razliÄitim mestima, od hidroelektrana u dalekim krajevima Kine do vetroparkova u Teksasu, do kanadskih naftnih polja koja proizvode gas koji bi u suprotnom bio odzraÄen ili spaljen u atmosferi.
Iako je Bitcoin popularna tema i o njemu se Äesto raspravlja u medijima, procenjujemo da je samo nekoliko miliona ljudi na svetu poÄelo da redovno ĹĄtedi Bitcoin.
Za mnoge ljude, posebno za one koji nikada nisu Ĺživeli pod represivnim reĹžimima, ovaj izum novog oblika digitalnog novca izvan kontrole vlade moĹže biti veoma izazovan za razumevanje i prihvatanje.
Zato sam ja ovde. Ĺ˝elim da vam pomognem da razumete Bitcoin i budete gospodar svoje buduÄnosti!
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@ ee11a5df:b76c4e49
2024-09-11 08:16:37Bye-Bye Reply Guy
There is a camp of nostr developers that believe spam filtering needs to be done by relays. Or at the very least by DVMs. I concur. In this way, once you configure what you want to see, it applies to all nostr clients.
But we are not there yet.
In the mean time we have ReplyGuy, and gossip needed some changes to deal with it.
Strategies in Short
- WEB OF TRUST: Only accept events from people you follow, or people they follow - this avoids new people entirely until somebody else that you follow friends them first, which is too restrictive for some people.
- TRUSTED RELAYS: Allow every post from relays that you trust to do good spam filtering.
- REJECT FRESH PUBKEYS: Only accept events from people you have seen before - this allows you to find new people, but you will miss their very first post (their second post must count as someone you have seen before, even if you discarded the first post)
- PATTERN MATCHING: Scan for known spam phrases and words and block those events, either on content or metadata or both or more.
- TIE-IN TO EXTERNAL SYSTEMS: Require a valid NIP-05, or other nostr event binding their identity to some external identity
- PROOF OF WORK: Require a minimum proof-of-work
All of these strategies are useful, but they have to be combined properly.
filter.rhai
Gossip loads a file called "filter.rhai" in your gossip directory if it exists. It must be a Rhai language script that meets certain requirements (see the example in the gossip source code directory). Then it applies it to filter spam.
This spam filtering code is being updated currently. It is not even on unstable yet, but it will be there probably tomorrow sometime. Then to master. Eventually to a release.
Here is an example using all of the techniques listed above:
```rhai // This is a sample spam filtering script for the gossip nostr // client. The language is called Rhai, details are at: // https://rhai.rs/book/ // // For gossip to find your spam filtering script, put it in // your gossip profile directory. See // https://docs.rs/dirs/latest/dirs/fn.data_dir.html // to find the base directory. A subdirectory "gossip" is your // gossip data directory which for most people is their profile // directory too. (Note: if you use a GOSSIP_PROFILE, you'll // need to put it one directory deeper into that profile // directory). // // This filter is used to filter out and refuse to process // incoming events as they flow in from relays, and also to // filter which events get/ displayed in certain circumstances. // It is only run on feed-displayable event kinds, and only by // authors you are not following. In case of error, nothing is // filtered. // // You must define a function called 'filter' which returns one // of these constant values: // DENY (the event is filtered out) // ALLOW (the event is allowed through) // MUTE (the event is filtered out, and the author is // automatically muted) // // Your script will be provided the following global variables: // 'caller' - a string that is one of "Process", // "Thread", "Inbox" or "Global" indicating // which part of the code is running your // script // 'content' - the event content as a string // 'id' - the event ID, as a hex string // 'kind' - the event kind as an integer // 'muted' - if the author is in your mute list // 'name' - if we have it, the name of the author // (or your petname), else an empty string // 'nip05valid' - whether nip05 is valid for the author, // as a boolean // 'pow' - the Proof of Work on the event // 'pubkey' - the event author public key, as a hex // string // 'seconds_known' - the number of seconds that the author // of the event has been known to gossip // 'spamsafe' - true only if the event came in from a // relay marked as SpamSafe during Process // (even if the global setting for SpamSafe // is off)
fn filter() {
// Show spam on global // (global events are ephemeral; these won't grow the // database) if caller=="Global" { return ALLOW; } // Block ReplyGuy if name.contains("ReplyGuy") || name.contains("ReplyGal") { return DENY; } // Block known DM spam // (giftwraps are unwrapped before the content is passed to // this script) if content.to_lower().contains( "Mr. Gift and Mrs. Wrap under the tree, KISSING!" ) { return DENY; } // Reject events from new pubkeys, unless they have a high // PoW or we somehow already have a nip05valid for them // // If this turns out to be a legit person, we will start // hearing their events 2 seconds from now, so we will // only miss their very first event. if seconds_known <= 2 && pow < 25 && !nip05valid { return DENY; } // Mute offensive people if content.to_lower().contains(" kike") || content.to_lower().contains("kike ") || content.to_lower().contains(" nigger") || content.to_lower().contains("nigger ") { return MUTE; } // Reject events from muted people // // Gossip already does this internally, and since we are // not Process, this is rather redundant. But this works // as an example. if muted { return DENY; } // Accept if the PoW is large enough if pow >= 25 { return ALLOW; } // Accept if their NIP-05 is valid if nip05valid { return ALLOW; } // Accept if the event came through a spamsafe relay if spamsafe { return ALLOW; } // Reject the rest DENY
} ```
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@ 21335073:a244b1ad
2025-05-01 01:51:10Please respect Virginia Giuffreâs memory by refraining from asking about the circumstances or theories surrounding her passing.
Since Virginia Giuffreâs death, Iâve reflected on what she would want me to say or do. This piece is my attempt to honor her legacy.
When I first spoke with Virginia, I was struck by her unshakable hope. I had grown cynical after years in the anti-human trafficking movement, worn down by a broken system and a government that often seemed complicit. But Virginiaâs passion, creativity, and belief that survivors could be heard reignited something in me. She reminded me of my younger, more hopeful self. Instead of warning her about the challenges ahead, I let her dream big, unburdened by my own disillusionment. That conversation changed me for the better, and following her lead led to meaningful progress.
Virginia was one of the bravest people Iâve ever known. As a survivor of Epstein, Maxwell, and their co-conspirators, she risked everything to speak out, taking on some of the worldâs most powerful figures.
She loved when I said, âEpstein isnât the only Epstein.â This wasnât just about one manâit was a call to hold all abusers accountable and to ensure survivors find hope and healing.
The Epstein case often gets reduced to sensational details about the elite, but that misses the bigger picture. Yes, we should be holding all of the co-conspirators accountable, we must listen to the survivorsâ stories. Their experiences reveal how predators exploit vulnerabilities, offering lessons to prevent future victims.
Youâre not powerless in this fight. Educate yourself about trafficking and abuseâonline and offlineâand take steps to protect those around you. Supporting survivors starts with small, meaningful actions. Free online resources can guide you in being a safe, supportive presence.
When high-profile accusations arise, resist snap judgments. Instead of dismissing survivors as âcrazy,â pause to consider the trauma they may be navigating. Speaking out or coping with abuse is never easy. You donât have to believe every claim, but you can refrain from attacking accusers online.
Society also fails at providing aftercare for survivors. The government, often part of the problem, wonât solve this. Itâs up to us. Prevention is critical, but when abuse occurs, step up for your loved ones and community. Protect the vulnerable. itâs a challenging but a rewarding journey.
If youâre contributing to Nostr, youâre helping build a censorship resistant platform where survivors can share their stories freely, no matter how powerful their abusers are. Their voices can endure here, offering strength and hope to others. This gives me great hope for the future.
Virginia Giuffreâs courage was a gift to the world. It was an honor to know and serve her. She will be deeply missed. My hope is that her story inspires others to take on the powerful.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2023-12-15 13:32:24A year ago today, a single tweet from Jack Dorsey set in motion a cascade of events that would redefine my life. His call to explore Nostr resonated with me, a testament to the respect he held. Little did I know that this nudge would unlock a year of unparalleled growth, both in the virtual world and beyond.
https://i.nostr.build/VAo0.png
Jack Dorsey's endorsement of Nostr resonated deeply with me amidst rising concerns about Twitter's focus under Elon Musk. Over the preceding months, the platform's impending shift in direction had prompted me to explore alternative social media options. I initially joined the BitcoinHackers.org Mastodon server, seeking a new community. However, the server's primarily cross-posting nature resulted in limited engagement, leaving me feeling disconnected and yearning for a more meaningful social experience.
Jackâs Tweet could not have come at a more pivotal moment.
Coincidentally, a year later, I often describe Nostrâs usefulness stating that people will understand decentralization and censorship resistant communication when they need to most. I guess this applied to me back then. I needed Nostr and these features more than ever a year ago.
nostr:note1zmnr70l834rjw490q85e85k3the5r5kpvya7j638akkseg7aadhsvnxe66
Immediately upon joining Nostr and fueled by the spirit of Nostr's decentralized ethos, I identified a pivotal need in the community and promptly launched NostrPlebs.com in response to Elon Musk's controversial $8 verification rollout on Twitter. This service empowered users to claim their online identities, offering a self-directed alternative to the centralized verification system. Initially a humble service for close friends, NostrPlebs.com swiftly garnered significant interest, becoming a pioneering Nostr services provider.
Recognizing the growing demand for alternative social audio experiences, I also founded NostrNests.com. This initiative, started during the migration from Twitter and Twitter Spaces, aimed to provide an alternative platform for fostering connections, building communities, and engaging with various content through audio-based interactions. If we were going to leave Twitter behind, we needed a social audio replacement. I recruited developers and designers to help make this a reality and launched Nostr Plebs Spaces in January 2023 with a rebrand to NostrNests.com in February 2023.
Driven by Nostr's intoxicating enthusiasm and the hope to build a better world, I dedicated myself to on-boarding new Nostriches, aiming to expand the protocol's reach and foster this new thriving community. My DMs were on fire as I helped countless new Nostriches on both Twitter and Nostr. I had found my calling.
My commitment to advocating for Nostr's potential led me to deliver numerous talks at Bitcoin and Nostr conferences over the past twelve months. I explored the crucial role of decentralized and censorship resistant social communication, emphasizing its alignment with the core values of the Bitcoin ecosystem when applicable. My presentations addressed diverse themes, including value for value, decentralized principles, and general protocol introductions if the audiences were unfamiliar with Nostr.
My speaking career with Nostr began in an unconventional setting: Nostrica, the "unconference" in the Uvita, Costa Rica. It was there that I had the privilege of meeting Jack Dorsey in person and giving him a warm "Nostrich hug" and, surprisingly, I had the honor of sharing a stage with Jack and with other incredibly talented developers. This unexpected turn set the stage for a whirlwind of speaking engagements, each one solidifying my passion for decentralization and open communication.
https://i.nostr.build/DwRJ.jpg
Following Nostrica, I took the stage at the Bitcoin Builders Conference in Miami, immersing myself in a panel discussion on Nostrâs importance. My message of Nostr's potential resonated further at the Canadian Bitcoin Conference in Toronto, where I engaged with freedom loving Canadians who looked forward to embracing the power of decentralized communication.
https://i.nostr.build/R6WA.jpg
Venturing beyond North America, I had the opportunity to speak at the Baltic Honeybadger Conference in Riga, Latvia. This conference, held in the historic city of Riga, provided a platform to connect with European Bitcoiners for the first time and discuss the importance of censorship-resistant communication in the face of growing online restrictions and how Nostr aligned with the Bitcoin ethos, how both protocols go hand-in-hand, stating that âthe purple pill helps the orange pill go downâ.
https://i.nostr.build/X0A0.jpg
Most recently, my speaking engagements returned to the US to share my Nostr insights at the Nostrville conference in Nashville - the very first US Nostr conference.
If one aspect of my travels stands out more than others, itâs that the conference buzz wasn't just confined to the stage; the real magic happened beyond the spotlights. Sharing laughter and stories with friends and forging new connections and building relationships over shared meals, parties, and impromptu gatherings were the hidden gems that truly enriched these life-changing experiences.
The past year has been marked by significant growth and development, fueled by the invaluable love and support from the Nostr community. Numerous individuals, encountered online and at conferences, have become trusted friends and colleagues. These connections, building these true relationships, have enriched my personal life and solidified my commitment to Nostr as a protocol for innovation and freedom. Nostr may have opened up new professional doors and fostered professional growth for me, but if Iâm being honest, the people and the community are more important to me. Itâs the meaningful relationships and friendships that I truly hold dear. I eagerly await future opportunities to connect and I cannot wait until the next time when weâre all together again.
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@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d
2024-09-06 12:49:46Nostr: 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".
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2023-10-13 15:14:42Nostr Nests Background:
Social audio is important because it provides a new and engaging way for people to connect, learn, share their stories, and build their communities. It is also a valuable tool for businesses and organizations to reach their audiences and build relationships. With this in mind, I knew that having an audio space outside of Twitter Spaces would be vital for nostr adoption, and set out to make this happen in January 2022.
The current Nostr Nests is a fork of the open source Jam System project, with custom user interface, Nostr npub verification, and several enhancements such as account restoration, discovery, and a minimal API. It served as a great starting point for a Nostr audio space, providing users all over the world with a platform for daily shows, weekly podcasts, and places for Nostriches to meetup and chat live with one another. Itâs a great success. However, itâs not a complete success and it will never be in its current form.
It has always been a dream of mine for Nostr Nests to be a full blown Nostr client, instead of loosely integrating Nostr into Jam's existing account verification system. My dream and vision for Nests is for anyone to be able to host a Nest on their own server or infrastructure and use Nostr NIP-53 Live Activities to publish their Nest to their Nostr relays, allowing anyone with a compatible client to discover and join their Nest. This is similar to how Zap.stream works on Snort and Amethyst clients. This functionality also helps decentralize Nostr Nests, so not one entity runs the audio backend. It is my hope to provide easy access to the open source code and installation instructions on https://nostrnests.org for all.
Several months ago, the groundwork for building Nests as a proper Nostr client began, but has since stopped. Even with open sourcing the project and seeking developer help, these efforts have failed. This bounty is another attempt at getting this project off of the ground and allowing those that use Nostr Nests on a daily basis to pledge their sats to help fund this project.
As my vision for Nostr Nests is a very large project, this project will be split into two bounties. The first bounty will aim to have the rewrite of Nostr Nests be feature compatible with the Jam System forked version with several quality of life enhancements. The second bounty aims to cover application customizations, feature additions, and individual Nest customizations (icons, badges, emojis, etc.) to provide Nest owners with tools to build their community and reward their participants and listeners.
Initial Nostr Nests Scope: (The word Room will be used here to be less confusing. A room is an individual Nest.)
Room Presence * Raising/lowering hand to speak * Reactions * Zaps * Exiting stage
Room Management * Removing and adding people to stage and moderators * Changing room information * Handling stage exit logic
Room Discovery * Allowing users to discover Nests * NIP-53 in clients * Homepage
Room Chat * NIP-28 * Individual Nest chats * Reactions to comments * Zaps to comments * Replies
Design * Design UI elements for new components such as an improved homepage, Nest discovery, etc. * Must be compatible with the existing design.
Audio * General Room audio * Backend and frontend
Groundwork: * The groundwork for Nests has begun and is located on our private Git * https://git.semisol.dev/NostrPlebs/nests/
Nests users: Please pledge your sat donation to help get this project built.
Developers: Please reach out if you have any questions.
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@ 9bc2d34d:d19d2948
2024-09-02 19:41:40Chef's notes
This recipe is designed for home cooks who want to recreate the delicious buttery hollandaise sauce at home without feeling overwhelmed. It focuses on teaching the basics of the sauce, allowing beginners to master the fundamentals before experimenting with seasonings, hot sauces, or herbs.
Please note the thickness of sauce in the picture. This is after ten minutes of blending.
Details
- â˛ď¸ Prep time: 3 minutes
- đł Cook time: 10 minutes (blending)
- đ˝ď¸ Servings: 2 - 4
Ingredients
- 4 egg yolks
- 8 tablespoons of melted butter
- 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of pepper
Directions
- Melt butter in the microwave or on the stovetop.
- Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites (reserve the egg whites for another dish).
- Place the egg yolks in a blender.
- Start the blender (medium to high settings for blend mode is fine).
- Slowly pour the melted butter into the cover opening (it will splatter).
- Add the remaining ingredients.
- Blend for ten minutes (seriously, walk away and do something else).
- Taste and adjust the flavors (add extra lemon juice or salt if desired).
- Serve over your breakfast!
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@ e890e461:12e502a1
2025-03-23 16:25:12Hello world. My blog where I post most of my stuff is https://robot-one.github.io/
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@ 52b4a076:e7fad8bd
2025-04-28 00:48:57I have been recently building NFDB, a new relay DB. This post is meant as a short overview.
Regular relays have challenges
Current relay software have significant challenges, which I have experienced when hosting Nostr.land: - Scalability is only supported by adding full replicas, which does not scale to large relays. - Most relays use slow databases and are not optimized for large scale usage. - Search is near-impossible to implement on standard relays. - Privacy features such as NIP-42 are lacking. - Regular DB maintenance tasks on normal relays require extended downtime. - Fault-tolerance is implemented, if any, using a load balancer, which is limited. - Personalization and advanced filtering is not possible. - Local caching is not supported.
NFDB: A scalable database for large relays
NFDB is a new database meant for medium-large scale relays, built on FoundationDB that provides: - Near-unlimited scalability - Extended fault tolerance - Instant loading - Better search - Better personalization - and more.
Search
NFDB has extended search capabilities including: - Semantic search: Search for meaning, not words. - Interest-based search: Highlight content you care about. - Multi-faceted queries: Easily filter by topic, author group, keywords, and more at the same time. - Wide support for event kinds, including users, articles, etc.
Personalization
NFDB allows significant personalization: - Customized algorithms: Be your own algorithm. - Spam filtering: Filter content to your WoT, and use advanced spam filters. - Topic mutes: Mute topics, not keywords. - Media filtering: With Nostr.build, you will be able to filter NSFW and other content - Low data mode: Block notes that use high amounts of cellular data. - and more
Other
NFDB has support for many other features such as: - NIP-42: Protect your privacy with private drafts and DMs - Microrelays: Easily deploy your own personal microrelay - Containers: Dedicated, fast storage for discoverability events such as relay lists
Calcite: A local microrelay database
Calcite is a lightweight, local version of NFDB that is meant for microrelays and caching, meant for thousands of personal microrelays.
Calcite HA is an additional layer that allows live migration and relay failover in under 30 seconds, providing higher availability compared to current relays with greater simplicity. Calcite HA is enabled in all Calcite deployments.
For zero-downtime, NFDB is recommended.
Noswhere SmartCache
Relays are fixed in one location, but users can be anywhere.
Noswhere SmartCache is a CDN for relays that dynamically caches data on edge servers closest to you, allowing: - Multiple regions around the world - Improved throughput and performance - Faster loading times
routerd
routerd
is a custom load-balancer optimized for Nostr relays, integrated with SmartCache.routerd
is specifically integrated with NFDB and Calcite HA to provide fast failover and high performance.Ending notes
NFDB is planned to be deployed to Nostr.land in the coming weeks.
A lot more is to come. đď¸ď¸ď¸ď¸ď¸ď¸
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@ 91bea5cd:1df4451c
2025-04-26 10:16:21O Contexto Legal Brasileiro e o Consentimento
No ordenamento jurĂdico brasileiro, o consentimento do ofendido pode, em certas circunstâncias, afastar a ilicitude de um ato que, sem ele, configuraria crime (como lesĂŁo corporal leve, prevista no Art. 129 do CĂłdigo Penal). Contudo, o consentimento tem limites claros: nĂŁo ĂŠ vĂĄlido para bens jurĂdicos indisponĂveis, como a vida, e sua eficĂĄcia ĂŠ questionĂĄvel em casos de lesĂľes corporais graves ou gravĂssimas.
A pråtica 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 lesþes 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 nÂş 11.340/2006)
A Lei Maria da Penha ĂŠ um marco fundamental na proteção da mulher contra a violĂŞncia domĂŠstica e familiar. Ela estabelece mecanismos para coibir e prevenir tal violĂŞncia, definindo suas formas (fĂsica, psicolĂłgica, sexual, patrimonial e moral) e prevendo medidas protetivas de urgĂŞncia.
Embora essencial, a aplicação da lei em contextos de BDSM pode ser delicada. Uma alegação de violĂŞncia por parte da mulher, mesmo que as lesĂľes ou situaçþes decorram de prĂĄticas consensuais, tende a receber atenção prioritĂĄria das autoridades, dada a presunção de vulnerabilidade estabelecida pela lei. Isso pode criar um cenĂĄrio onde o parceiro masculino enfrenta dificuldades significativas em demonstrar a natureza consensual dos atos, especialmente se nĂŁo houver provas robustas prĂŠ-constituĂdas.
Outros riscos:
LesĂŁo corporal grave ou gravĂssima (art. 129, §§ 1Âş e 2Âş, CP), nĂŁo pode ser justificada pelo consentimento, podendo ensejar persecução penal.
Crimes contra a dignidade sexual (arts. 213 e seguintes do CP) sĂŁo de ação pĂşblica incondicionada e independem de representação da vĂtima para a investigação e denĂşncia.
Riscos de Falsas Acusaçþes 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:
- Acusaçþes 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.
- Alegaçþes Futuras da Parceira: Em caso de tÊrmino conturbado, vingança, arrependimento ou mudança de perspectiva, a parceira pode reinterpretar as pråticas passadas como abuso e buscar reparação ou retaliação atravÊs de uma denúncia. A alegação pode ser de que o consentimento nunca existiu ou foi viciado.
- Alegação de Coação: Uma das formas mais complexas de refutar ĂŠ a alegação de que o consentimento foi obtido mediante coação (fĂsica, moral, psicolĂłgica ou econĂ´mica). A parceira pode alegar, por exemplo, que se sentia pressionada, intimidada ou dependente, e que seu "sim" nĂŁo era genuĂno. Provar a ausĂŞncia de coação a posteriori ĂŠ extremamente difĂcil.
- Ingenuidade e Vulnerabilidade Masculina: Muitos homens, confiando na dinâmica consensual e na parceira, podem negligenciar a necessidade de precauçþes. A crença de que "isso nunca aconteceria comigo" ou a falta de conhecimento sobre as implicaçþes legais e o peso processual de uma acusação no âmbito da Lei Maria da Penha podem deixĂĄ-los vulnerĂĄveis. A presença de marcas fĂsicas, mesmo que consentidas, pode ser usada como evidĂŞncia de agressĂŁo, invertendo o Ă´nus da prova na prĂĄtica, ainda que nĂŁo na teoria jurĂdica.
EstratÊgias de Prevenção e Mitigação
NĂŁo existe um mĂŠtodo infalĂvel para evitar completamente o risco de uma falsa acusação, mas diversas medidas podem ser adotadas para construir um histĂłrico de consentimento e reduzir vulnerabilidades:
- Comunicação ExplĂcita e ContĂnua: A base de qualquer prĂĄtica BDSM segura ĂŠ a comunicação constante. Negociar limites, desejos, palavras de segurança ("safewords") e expectativas antes, durante e depois das cenas ĂŠ crucial. Manter registros dessas negociaçþes (e-mails, mensagens, diĂĄrios compartilhados) pode ser Ăştil.
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Documentação do Consentimento:
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Contratos de Relacionamento/Cena: Embora a validade jurĂdica de "contratos BDSM" seja discutĂvel no Brasil (nĂŁo podem afastar normas de ordem pĂşblica), eles servem como forte evidĂŞncia da intenção das partes, da negociação detalhada de limites e do consentimento informado. Devem ser claros, datados, assinados e, idealmente, reconhecidos em cartĂłrio (para prova de data e autenticidade das assinaturas).
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Registros Audiovisuais: Gravar (com consentimento explĂcito para a gravação) discussĂľes sobre consentimento e limites antes das cenas pode ser uma prova poderosa. Gravar as prĂłprias cenas ĂŠ mais complexo devido a questĂľes de privacidade e potencial uso indevido, mas pode ser considerado em casos especĂficos, sempre com consentimento mĂştuo 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).
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Testemunhas: Em alguns contextos de comunidade BDSM, a presença de terceiros de confiança durante negociaçþes ou mesmo cenas pode servir como testemunho, embora isso possa alterar a dinâmica Ăntima do casal.
- Estabelecimento Claro de Limites e Palavras de Segurança: Definir e respeitar rigorosamente os limites (o que Ê permitido, o que Ê proibido) e as palavras de segurança Ê fundamental. O desrespeito a uma palavra de segurança encerra o consentimento para aquele ato.
- Avaliação ContĂnua do Consentimento: O consentimento nĂŁo ĂŠ um cheque em branco; ele deve ser entusiĂĄstico, contĂnuo e revogĂĄvel a qualquer momento. Verificar o bem-estar do parceiro durante a cena ("check-ins") ĂŠ essencial.
- Discrição e Cuidado com EvidĂŞncias FĂsicas: Ser discreto sobre a natureza do relacionamento pode evitar mal-entendidos externos. ApĂłs cenas que deixem marcas, ĂŠ prudente que ambos os parceiros estejam cientes e de acordo, talvez documentando por fotos (com data) e uma nota sobre a consensualidade da prĂĄtica que as gerou.
- Aconselhamento JurĂdico Preventivo: Consultar um advogado especializado em direito de famĂlia 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 especĂficos.
Observaçþes Importantes
- Nenhuma documentação substitui a necessidade de consentimento real, livre, informado e contĂnuo.
- A lei brasileira protege a "integridade fĂsica" e a "dignidade humana". PrĂĄticas que resultem em lesĂľes graves ou que violem a dignidade de forma nĂŁo consentida (ou com consentimento viciado) serĂŁo ilegais, independentemente de qualquer acordo prĂŠvio.
- 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 pråticas.
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A alegação de coação futura ĂŠ particularmente difĂcil de prevenir apenas com documentos. Um histĂłrico consistente de comunicação aberta (whatsapp/telegram/e-mails), respeito mĂştuo e ausĂŞncia de dependĂŞncia ou controle excessivo na relação pode ajudar a contextualizar a dinâmica como nĂŁo coercitiva.
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Cuidado com Marcas VisĂveis e LesĂľes Graves PrĂĄticas que resultam em hematomas severos ou lesĂľes podem ser interpretadas como agressĂŁo, mesmo que consentidas. Evitar excessos protege nĂŁo apenas a integridade fĂsica, mas tambĂŠm evita questionamentos legais futuros.
O que vem a ser consentimento viciado
No Direito, consentimento viciado ĂŠ quando a pessoa concorda com algo, mas a vontade dela nĂŁo ĂŠ livre ou plena â ou seja, o consentimento existe formalmente, mas ĂŠ defeituoso por alguma razĂŁo.
O CĂłdigo Civil brasileiro (art. 138 a 165) define vĂĄrias formas de vĂcio de consentimento. As principais sĂŁo:
Erro: A pessoa se engana sobre o que estĂĄ consentindo. (Ex.: A pessoa acredita que vai participar de um jogo leve, mas na verdade ĂŠ exposta a prĂĄticas pesadas.)
Dolo: A pessoa ĂŠ enganada propositalmente para aceitar algo. (Ex.: AlguĂŠm mente sobre o que vai acontecer durante a prĂĄtica.)
Coação: A pessoa ĂŠ forçada ou ameaçada a consentir. (Ex.: "Se vocĂŞ nĂŁo aceitar, eu termino com vocĂŞ" â pressĂŁo 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.: AlguÊm em situação emocional muito fragilizada Ê induzida a aceitar pråticas que normalmente recusaria.)
No contexto de BDSM, isso ĂŠ 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 pressĂŁo psicolĂłgica, o consentimento pode ser considerado viciado â e, portanto, juridicamente invĂĄlido.
Isso tem duas implicaçþes sÊrias:
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O crime nĂŁo se descaracteriza: Se houver vĂcio, o consentimento ĂŠ ignorado e a prĂĄtica pode ser tratada como crime normal (lesĂŁo corporal, estupro, tortura, etc.).
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A prova do consentimento precisa ser sólida: Mostrando que a pessoa estava informada, lúcida, livre e sem qualquer tipo de coação.
Consentimento viciado ĂŠ quando a pessoa concorda formalmente, mas de maneira enganada, forçada ou pressionada, tornando o consentimento inĂştil para efeitos jurĂdicos.
ConclusĂŁo
Casais que praticam BDSM consensual no Brasil navegam em um terreno que exige nĂŁo apenas confiança mĂştua e comunicação excepcional, mas tambĂŠm uma consciĂŞncia aguçada das complexidades legais e dos riscos de interpretaçþes equivocadas ou acusaçþes mal-intencionadas. Embora o BDSM seja uma expressĂŁo legĂtima da sexualidade humana, sua prĂĄtica no Brasil exige responsabilidade redobrada. Ter provas claras de consentimento, manter a comunicação aberta e agir com prudĂŞncia sĂŁo formas eficazes de se proteger de falsas alegaçþes 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 violĂŞncia real, os praticantes de BDSM, e em particular os homens nesse contexto, devem adotar uma postura proativa e prudente para mitigar os riscos inerentes Ă potencial mĂĄ interpretação ou instrumentalização dessas prĂĄticas e leis, garantindo que a expressĂŁo de sua consensualidade esteja resguardada na medida do possĂvel.
Importante: No Brasil, mesmo com tudo isso, o MinistĂŠrio PĂşblico pode denunciar por crime como lesĂŁo corporal grave, estupro ou tortura, independente de consentimento. EntĂŁo a prudĂŞncia nas prĂĄticas ĂŠ fundamental.
Aviso Legal: Este artigo tem carĂĄter meramente informativo e nĂŁo constitui aconselhamento jurĂdico. As leis e interpretaçþes podem mudar, e cada situação ĂŠ Ăşnica. Recomenda-se buscar orientação de um advogado qualificado para discutir casos especĂficos.
Se curtiu este artigo faça uma contribuição, se tiver algum ponto relevante para o artigo deixe seu comentårio.
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@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b
2025-03-13 14:15:21test-13-03
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@ 8dc86882:9dc4ba5e
2024-09-02 15:50:01Today I saw a YouTube video from one of the privacy related channels, Techlore maybe? I don't exactly remember. Either way this particular video was going over the pluses and minuses of Android and iOS; and it has made me reconsider some things. I have one of each type of phone and jump back and forth a bit, but always thought I would end on Android. I'm not feeling that way anymore.
After really getting to understand Apple's Advanced Data Protection I think I came to the conclusion that my iPhone more than meets my needs and does everything I like. Yeah, Android sounds like it has most of the privacy coolness as far as mods, roms, and apps, but my iPhone is easily fully encrypted along with iCloud. The few services that aren't are covered by my Proton plan. It also allows me to stop paying for services I may not really need.
- I use and pay for Ente photos, which is great, but my Apple photos are already encrypted and backed up. I don't think I need to be paying for the extra service.
- The Apple Notes app falls under the fully encrypted side, and I can use the free version of Standard Notes for other things.
- I still use Signal Messenger where the OS doesn't matter as much.
- MySudo which I use for numbers is transferable between OSs also.
That's really about it, I mainly use my phone for Email, Calendar, Messaging, Notes, some social, and photos. I don't think I need anything special beyond that. The insecure apps I use on either platform keep their risks though Apple isn't an advertising company, so I feel they are less likely to abuse anything, at least for now. I wonder what other folks thoughts are. Feel free to share.
Cheers!
plebone
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@ 0e9491aa:ef2adadf
2025-05-24 17:01:16For years American bitcoin miners have argued for more efficient and free energy markets. It benefits everyone if our energy infrastructure is as efficient and robust as possible. Unfortunately, broken incentives have led to increased regulation throughout the sector, incentivizing less efficient energy sources such as solar and wind at the detriment of more efficient alternatives.
The result has been less reliable energy infrastructure for all Americans and increased energy costs across the board. This naturally has a direct impact on bitcoin miners: increased energy costs make them less competitive globally.
Bitcoin mining represents a global energy market that does not require permission to participate. Anyone can plug a mining computer into power and internet to get paid the current dynamic market price for their work in bitcoin. Using cellphone or satellite internet, these mines can be located anywhere in the world, sourcing the cheapest power available.
Absent of regulation, bitcoin mining naturally incentivizes the build out of highly efficient and robust energy infrastructure. Unfortunately that world does not exist and burdensome regulations remain the biggest threat for US based mining businesses. Jurisdictional arbitrage gives miners the option of moving to a friendlier country but that naturally comes with its own costs.
Enter AI. With the rapid development and release of AI tools comes the requirement of running massive datacenters for their models. Major tech companies are scrambling to secure machines, rack space, and cheap energy to run full suites of AI enabled tools and services. The most valuable and powerful tech companies in America have stumbled into an accidental alliance with bitcoin miners: THE NEED FOR CHEAP AND RELIABLE ENERGY.
Our government is corrupt. Money talks. These companies will push for energy freedom and it will greatly benefit us all.
Microsoft Cloud hiring to "implement global small modular reactor and microreactor" strategy to power data centers: https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/news/microsoft-cloud-hiring-to-implement-global-small-modular-reactor-and-microreactor-strategy-to-power-data-centers/
If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.
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@ 4fe4a528:3ff6bf06
2024-09-01 12:45:44One of the main motivational factors for people to buy bitcoin is itâs ability to store value over time. During harvest we are doing the same thing. We have now harvested our garlic and 1/2 of our onions because if we donât use the sunâs energy to cure the plants before winter they will start to rot. Let me explain why God has made the world this way; but, first let me explain why storing things isnât evil.
âDo not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be alsoâ. Matt. 6:19-21
Is it wrong, then to have a retirement portfolio or even to care about the material things of this world for ourselves or for others? The answer is again both no and yes. The no comes from the fact that this passage is not the only one in the Bible speaking to questions of wealth and provision for those who are dependent on us. Other passages counsel prudence and forethought, such as, âThose who gather little by little will increase [wealth]â (Proverbs 13:11b), and, âThe good leave an inheritance to their childrenâs childrenâ (Proverbs 13:22).
God guides Joseph to store up food for seven years in advance of a famine (Genesis 41:25-36), and Jesus speaks favorably in the Parable of the Talents (Matt. 25:14-30). In light of the rest of Scripture, Matthew 6:19-21 cannot be a blanket prohibition. But the yes part of the answer is a warning, summed up beautifully in verse 21, âWhere your treasure is, there will your heart be also.â In other words, the possessions you own will change you so that you care more about the possessions than about other things.â So choose carefully what you own, for you will inevitably begin to value and protect it to the potential detriment of everything else.
How are we to discern the line between appropriate and inappropriate attention to wealth? Jesus answers, âStrive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to youâ So if you believe your heart is following Godâs direction go ahead and harvest your crops and / or buy some bitcoin. If you would have bought bitcoin one year ago, you would have 127% more purchasing power now. Letâs keep on fearing God and keeping his commandments.
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@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b
2025-03-10 16:50:48test
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@ a39d19ec:3d88f61e
2025-04-22 12:44:42Die Debatte um Migration, Grenzsicherung und Abschiebungen wird in Deutschland meist emotional gefßhrt. Wer fordert, dass illegale Einwanderer abgeschoben werden, sieht sich nicht selten dem Vorwurf des Rassismus ausgesetzt. Doch dieser Vorwurf ist nicht nur sachlich unbegrßndet, sondern verkehrt die Realität ins Gegenteil: Tatsächlich sind es gerade diejenigen, die hinter jeder Forderung nach Rechtssicherheit eine rassistische Motivation vermuten, die selbst in erster Linie nach Hautfarbe, Herkunft oder Nationalität urteilen.
Das Recht steht Ăźber Emotionen
Deutschland ist ein Rechtsstaat. Das bedeutet, dass Regeln nicht nach BauchgefĂźhl oder politischer Stimmungslage ausgelegt werden kĂśnnen, sondern auf klaren gesetzlichen Grundlagen beruhen mĂźssen. Einer dieser Grundsätze ist in Artikel 16a des Grundgesetzes verankert. Dort heiĂt es:
âAuf Absatz 1 [Asylrecht] kann sich nicht berufen, wer aus einem Mitgliedstaat der Europäischen Gemeinschaften oder aus einem anderen Drittstaat einreist, in dem die Anwendung des Abkommens Ăźber die Rechtsstellung der FlĂźchtlinge und der Europäischen Menschenrechtskonvention sichergestellt ist.â
Das bedeutet, dass jeder, der ßber sichere Drittstaaten nach Deutschland einreist, keinen Anspruch auf Asyl hat. Wer dennoch bleibt, hält sich illegal im Land auf und unterliegt den geltenden Regelungen zur Rßckfßhrung. Die Forderung nach Abschiebungen ist daher nichts anderes als die Forderung nach der Einhaltung von Recht und Gesetz.
Die Umkehrung des Rassismusbegriffs
Wer einerseits behauptet, dass das deutsche Asyl- und Aufenthaltsrecht strikt durchgesetzt werden soll, und andererseits nicht nach Herkunft oder Hautfarbe unterscheidet, handelt wertneutral. Diejenigen jedoch, die in einer solchen Forderung nach Rechtsstaatlichkeit einen rassistischen Unterton sehen, projizieren ihre eigenen Denkmuster auf andere: Sie unterstellen, dass die Debatte ausschlieĂlich entlang ethnischer, rassistischer oder nationaler Kriterien gefĂźhrt wird â und genau das ist eine rassistische Denkweise.
Jemand, der illegale Einwanderung kritisiert, tut dies nicht, weil ihn die Herkunft der Menschen interessiert, sondern weil er den Rechtsstaat respektiert. Hingegen erkennt jemand, der hinter dieser Kritik Rassismus wittert, offenbar in erster Linie die âRasseâ oder Herkunft der betreffenden Personen und reduziert sie darauf.
Finanzielle Belastung statt ideologischer Debatte
Neben der rechtlichen gibt es auch eine Ăśkonomische Komponente. Der deutsche Wohlfahrtsstaat basiert auf einem Solidarprinzip: Die BĂźrger zahlen in das System ein, um sich gegenseitig in schwierigen Zeiten zu unterstĂźtzen. Dieser Wohlstand wurde Ăźber Generationen hinweg von denjenigen erarbeitet, die hier seit langem leben. Die Priorität liegt daher darauf, die vorhandenen Mittel zuerst unter denjenigen zu verteilen, die durch Steuern, Sozialabgaben und Arbeit zum Erhalt dieses Systems beitragen â nicht unter denen, die sich durch illegale Einreise und fehlende wirtschaftliche Eigenleistung in das System begeben.
Das ist keine ideologische Frage, sondern eine rein wirtschaftliche Abwägung. Ein Sozialsystem kann nur dann nachhaltig funktionieren, wenn es nicht unbegrenzt belastet wird. WĂźrde Deutschland keine klaren Regeln zur Einwanderung und Abschiebung haben, wĂźrde dies unweigerlich zur Ăberlastung des Sozialstaates fĂźhren â mit negativen Konsequenzen fĂźr alle.
Sozialpatriotismus
Ein weiterer wichtiger Aspekt ist der Schutz der Arbeitsleistung jener Generationen, die Deutschland nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg mĂźhsam wieder aufgebaut haben. Während oft betont wird, dass die Deutschen moralisch kein Erbe aus der Zeit vor 1945 beanspruchen dĂźrfen â auĂer der Verantwortung fĂźr den Holocaust â, ist es umso bedeutsamer, das neue Erbe nach 1945 zu respektieren, das auf FleiĂ, Disziplin und harter Arbeit beruht. Der Wiederaufbau war eine kollektive Leistung deutscher Menschen, deren FrĂźchte nicht bedenkenlos verteilt werden dĂźrfen, sondern vorrangig denjenigen zugutekommen sollten, die dieses Fundament mitgeschaffen oder es Ăźber Generationen mitgetragen haben.
Rechtstaatlichkeit ist nicht verhandelbar
Wer sich fĂźr eine konsequente Abschiebepraxis ausspricht, tut dies nicht aus rassistischen Motiven, sondern aus Respekt vor der Rechtsstaatlichkeit und den wirtschaftlichen Grundlagen des Landes. Der Vorwurf des Rassismus in diesem Kontext ist daher nicht nur falsch, sondern entlarvt eine selektive Wahrnehmung nach rassistischen Merkmalen bei denjenigen, die ihn erheben.
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@ bf47c19e:c3d2573b
2025-05-24 16:13:51Originalni tekst na bitcoin-balkan.com.
Pregled sadrĹžaja
- Definisanje novca
- Ĺ ta je sredstvo razmene?
- Ĺ ta je obraÄunska jedinica?
- Ĺ ta je zaliha vrednosti?
- ZaĹĄto su vaĹžne funkcije novca?
- Novac Gubi Funkciju: AlhemiÄar iz Njutonije
- Eksploatacija pomoÄu Novca: Agri Perle
- Novac Gubi Funkciju 2. Deo: Kejnslandski Bankar
- Da li nas novac danas eksploatiĹĄe?
- Ĺ ta je novac, i zaĹĄto trebate da brinete?
- Efikasnija UĹĄteda Novca
- Zasluge
- Molim vas da ĹĄerujete!
Google izveĹĄtava o stalnom poveÄanju interesa u svetu za pitanje âĹ ta je novac?â koji se postavlja iz godine u godinu, od 2004. do 2021., a sa naglim porastom nakon finansijske krize 2008. godine.
I izgleda se da niko nema dobar odgovor za to.
GodiĹĄnji proseci meseÄnih interesa za pretragu. 100 predstavlja najveÄi interes za pretragu tokom Äitavog perioda, koji se dogodio u decembru 2019. Podaci sa Google Trends-a.
MeÄutim, odgovaranje na ovo naizgled jednostavno pitanje pomoÄi Äe vam da razjasnite ulogu novca u vaĹĄem Ĺživotu. Jednom kada shvatite kako novac funkcioniĹĄe, taÄno Äete videti i zaĹĄto svet danas ludi â i ĹĄta uÄiniti povodom toga. Zato hajde da se udubimo u to.
Na pitanje ĹĄta je novac, veÄina ljudi otvori svoje novÄanike i pokaĹže nekoliko novÄanica â âevo, ovo je novac!â
Ali po Äemu se ove novÄanice razlikuju od stranica vaĹĄe omiljene knjige? Pa, naravno, zavod za izradu novÄanica te zemlje je odĹĄtampao te novÄanice iz vaĹĄeg novÄanika kako bi se oduprla falsifikovanju, i svi ih koriste da bi kupili odredjene stvari.
MeÄutim, NemaÄka Marka imala je sva ova svojstva u proĹĄlosti â ali preduzeÄa danas ne prihvataju te novÄanice. Zapravo, graÄani NemaÄke su poÄetkom dvadesetih godina proĹĄlog veka spaljivali papirne Marke kako bi grejali svoje domove. Marka je imala veÄu vrednost kao papir za potpalu nego kao novac!
1923. nemaÄka valuta poznata kao Marka bila je jeftinija od uglja i drveta!
Pa ĹĄta to Äini novac, novcem?
Ispostavilo se da ovo nije pitanje na koje je lako dati odgovor.
Definisanje novca
Novac nije fiziÄka stvar poput novÄanice dolara. Novac je druĹĄtveni sistem koji koristimo da bismo olakĹĄali trgovinu robom i uslugama. MeÄutim, tokom istorije fiziÄka monetarna dobra igrala su kljuÄnu ulogu u druĹĄtvenom sistemu novca, Äesto kao znakovi koji predstavljaju vrednost u monetarnom sistemu. Ovaj sistem ima tri funkcije: 1) Sredstvo Razmene, 2) ObraÄunsku Jedinicu i 3) Zalihu Vrednosti.
Odakle dolaze ove funkcije, i zaĹĄto su one vredne?
Ĺ ta je sredstvo razmene?
Sredstvo razmene je neko dobro koje se obiÄno razmenjuje za drugo dobro. NajÄeĹĄÄe objaĹĄnjenje za to kako su se pojavila sredstva razmene glasi otprilike ovako: Boris ima jeÄam i Ĺželeo bi da kupi ovcu od Marka. Marko ima ovce, ali Ĺželi samo piliÄe. Ana ima piliÄe, ali ona ne Ĺželi jeÄam ili ovce.
To se naziva problem sticaja potreba: dve strane moraju da Ĺžele ono ĹĄto druga ima da bi mogle da trguju. Ako se Ĺželje dve osobe ne podudaraju, oni moraju da pronaÄu druge ljude sa kojima Äe trgovati dok svi ne pronaÄu dobro koje Ĺžele.
Ljudi koji trguju robom i uslugama moraju da imaju potrebe koje se podudaraju.
Vremenom, veoma je verovatno da Äe se odreÄena vrsta robe, poput pĹĄenice, pojaviti kao sredstvo razmene jer su je mnogi ljudi Ĺželeli. UzimajuÄi pĹĄenicu kao primer: pĹĄenica je reĹĄila âsticaje potrebaâ u mnogim zanatima, jer Äak i ako onaj koji prima pĹĄenicu a nije Ĺželeo da je koristi za sebe, znao je da Äe je neko drugi Ĺželeti.
Ovo nazivamo prodajnost imovine.
PĹĄenica je dobar primer dobra za prodaju jer svi moraju da jedu, a od pĹĄenice se pravi hleb. PĹĄenica ima vrednost kao sastojak hleba i kao dobro koje olakĹĄava trgovinu reĹĄavanjem problema âsticaja potrebaâ.
Razmislite o svojoj Ĺželji da dobijete viĹĄe novÄanica u eurima ili drugoj valuti. Ne moĹžete da jedete novÄanice da biste preĹživeli, a i ne bi vam bile od velike koristi ako poĹželite da ih koristite kao graÄevinski materijal za vaĹĄu kuÄu. MeÄutim, znate da sa tim novÄanicama moĹžete da kupite hranu i kuÄu.
Stvarne fiziÄke novÄanice su beskorisne za vas. NovÄanice su vam dragocene samo zato ĹĄto Äe ih drugi prihvatiti za stvari koje su vama korisne.
Tokom dugog perioda istorije, novac je evoluirao do te mere da monetarno dobro moĹže imati vrednost, a da to dobro ne sluĹži za bilo koju drugu âsuĹĄtinskuâ upotrebu, poput hrane ili energije. Umesto toga, njegova upotreba je zaliha vrednosti i jednostavna zamena za drugu robu u bilo kom trenutku koji poĹželite.
Ĺ ta jedno dobro Äini poĹželjnijim i prodajnijim od drugog dobra?
Deljivost
Definicija: Sposobnost podele dobra na manje koliÄine.
LoĹĄ Primer: Dijamante je teĹĄko podeliti na manje komade. Za zajednicu od hiljada ljudi koji dnevno izvrĹĄe milione transakcija, dijamanti Äine loĹĄe sredstvo razmene. PreviĹĄe su retki i nedeljivi da bi se koristili za mnoge transakcije.
UjednaÄenost
Definicija: SliÄnost pojedinaÄnih jedinica odredjenog dobra.
LoĹĄ Primer: Krave nisu ujednaÄene â neke su veÄe, neke manje, neke bolesne, neke zdrave. Sa druge strane, unca Äistog zlata je jednoliÄna â jedna unca je potpuno ista kao sledeÄa. Ovo svojstvo se takoÄe Äesto naziva zamenljivost.
Prenosivost
Definicija: LakoÄa transporta dobra.
LoĹĄ Primer: Krava nije baĹĄ prenosiva. Zlatnici su priliÄno prenosivi. Papirne novÄanice su joĹĄ prenoĹĄljivije. Knjiga u kojoj se jednostavno beleĹži vlasniĹĄtvo nad tim vrednostima (poput Rai kamenog sistema ili digitalnog bankovnog raÄuna) je neverovatno prenosiva, jer nema fiziÄkog dobra koje treba nositi sa sobom za kupovinu. Postoji samo sistem za evidentiranje vlasniĹĄtva nad tim vrednostima u nematerijalnom obliku.
Kako dobro postaje sredstvo razmene?
Dobra postaju, i ostaju sredstva razmene zbog svoje univerzalne potraĹžnje, takoÄe poznate kao njihova prodajnost, Äemu pomaĹžu svojstva koja su gore nabrojana.
Mnogo razliÄitih dobara mogu u razliÄitoj meri delovati kao sredstva razmene u ekonomiji. Danas, naĹĄa globalna ekonomija koristi valute koje izdaju drĹžave, zlato, pa Äak i robu poput nafte kao sredstvo razmene.
Ĺ ta je obraÄunska jedinica?
Stvari se komplikuju kada u ekonomiji postoji mnogo robe koja se prodaje. Äak i sa samo 5 dobara, postoji 10 âkurseva razmeneâ izmeÄu svake robe kojih svi u ekonomiji moraju da se sete: 1 svinja se menja za 15 piliÄa, 1 pile se menja za 15 litara mleka, desetak jaja se menja za 15 litara mleka, i tako dalje. Ako ekonomija ima 50 dobara, meÄu njima postoji 1.225 âkurseva razmeneâ!
Sredstvo za merenje vrednosti
Zamislite obraÄunsku jedinicu kao sredstvo za merenje vrednosti. Umesto da se seÄamo vrednosti svakog dobra u poredjenju sa drugim dobrima, mi samo treba da se setimo vrednosti svakog dobra u poredjenju sa jednim dobrom â obraÄunskom jedinicom.
Umesto da se setimo 1.225 kurseva razmene kada imamo 50 proizvoda na trĹžiĹĄtu, mi treba da zapamtimo samo 50 cena.
Na primer, ne treba da se seÄamo da litar mleka vredi 1/15 piletine ili desetak jaja, moĹžemo da se samo setimo da litar mleka koĹĄta 1USD.
PoreÄenje dobara je lakĹĄe sa obraÄunskom jedinicom
ObraÄunska jedinica takoÄe olakĹĄava uporeÄivanje vrednosti i donoĹĄenje odluka. Zamislite da pokuĹĄavate da kupite par Nike Air Jordan patika kada ih jedan prodavac prodaje za jedno pile, a drugi za 50 klipova kukuruza.
Ĺ ta je zaliha vrednosti?
Do sada smo gledali samo primere transakcija koje se odvijaju u odreÄenom trenutku u vremenu.
MeÄutim, ljudi vrĹĄe transakcije tokom vremena â oni ĹĄtede novac i troĹĄe ga kasnije. Da bi odredjeno dobro moglo da funkcioniĹĄe pravilno kao monetarno dobro, ono treba da odrĹži vrednost tokom vremena.
Novac koji vremenom dobro drĹži vrednost daje njegovom imaocu viĹĄe izbora kada Äe taj novac da potroĹĄi.
To znaÄi da prodajnost dobra ukljuÄuje njegovu sposobnost da odrĹži vrednost tokom vremena.
Ĺ ta jedno dobro Äini boljom zalihom vrednosti od drugog dobra?
Trajnost
Definicija: Sposobnost dobra da vremenom zadrĹži svoj oblik.
LoĹĄ Primer: Jagode Äine loĹĄu zalihu vrednosti jer se lako oĹĄtete i brzo trunu.
Odluka je daleko lakĹĄa ako jedan prodavac naplaÄuje 150 USD, a drugi 200 USD â odmah je oÄigledno koja je bolja ponuda jer su vrednosti izraĹžene u istoj jedinici.
TeĹĄke za Proizvodnju
Definicija: TeĹĄkoÄe koje ljudi imaju u proizvodnji veÄe koliÄine dobra.
LoĹĄ Primer: Papirne novÄanice predstavljaju loĹĄu zalihu vrednosti jer banke i vlade mogu jeftino da ih naprave.
Sa zlatom je suprotno â u ponudi se nalazi ograniÄena koliÄina uprkos velikoj potraĹžnji za njim, jednostavno zato ĹĄto ga je vrlo teĹĄko iskopati iz zemlje. Ova ograniÄena ponuda osigurava da svaka jedinica zlata odrĹži vrednost tokom vremena.
Kako dobra postaju zalihe vrednosti?
Dobro postaje zaliha vrednosti ako se vremenom pokaĹže trajnim i teĹĄkim za proizvodnju.
Samo Äe vreme pokazati da li je neko dobro zaista trajno i da li ga je teĹĄko proizvesti. Zbog toga neki oblici novca su postojali vekovima pre nego ĹĄto je neko otkrio naÄin da ih proizvede viĹĄe, i na kraju se to dobro viĹĄe nije koristilo kao novac.
Ovo je priÄa o ĹĄkoljkama, Rai kamenju i mnogim drugim oblicima novca tokom istorije.
Zlato je primer dobra koje je hiljadama godina sluĹžilo kao dobra zaliha vrednosti. Zlato se ne razgraÄuje tokom vremena i joĹĄ uvek ga je teĹĄko proizvesti. Hiljadama godina alhemiÄari su bezuspeĹĄno pokuĹĄavali da sintetiĹĄu zlato iz jeftinih materijala.
Äak i sa danaĹĄnjim naprednim rudarskim tehnikama, svake godine svi svetski rudnici zlata zajedno mogu da proizvedu samo 2% od ukupne ponude zlata u prometu.
TeĹĄkoÄe u proizvodnji zlata daju izuzetno visok odnos âzaliha i protokaâ: zaliha je broj postojeÄih jedinica, a protok su nove jedinice stvorene tokom odreÄenog vremenskog perioda. Svake godine se stvori vrlo malo novih jedinica zlata, iako je potraĹžnja za zlatom obiÄno vrlo velika.
KombinujuÄi ovo sa deljivoĹĄÄu, ujednaÄenoĹĄÄu i prenosivoĹĄÄu zlata, nije ni Äudo ĹĄto je zlato ÄoveÄanstvu sluĹžilo kao monetarno dobro tokom poslednjih 5.000 godina. PoĹĄto je zlato teĹĄko proizvesti, moĹžemo ga nazvati teĹĄkim novcem (hard money).
Kao rezultat toga, svoju vrednost je u velikoj meri zadrĹžao kroz milenijume. Cena veÄine dobara i usluga u pogledu zlata zapravo se vremenom smanjivala kao rezultat tehnoloĹĄkih inovacija, koje sve proizvode Äine jeftinijim.
Uzmimo na primer cene hrane prema praÄenju Kancelarije za hranu i poljoprivredu UN-a: sa obzirom na skokove u poljoprivrednoj tehnologiji tokom poslednjih 60 godina, cene hrane drastiÄno su pale kada se procenjuju u zlatu. To Äak i vaĹži uprkos Äinjenici da obiÄni ljudi retko koriste zlato za kupovinu stvari.
Cene hrane su padale u pogledu zlata tokom proteklih 60 godina, i mnogo pre toga (FAO Indeks Cena Hrane u Zlatu)
Zaliha vrednosti omoguÄava ljudima da uĹĄtede novac kako bi mogli da ga ulaĹžu u pokretanje preduzeÄa i obrazovanje, poveÄavajuÄi produktivnost druĹĄtva.
Monetarna dobra koja dobro Äuvaju vrednost takoÄe podstiÄu dugoroÄniji pogled na Ĺživot, ili kratke vremenske preference. Pojedinac moĹže da radi 10 godina, uĹĄtedi odredjeno monetarno dobro koje je dobra zaliha vrednosti, i nema potrebe da se plaĹĄi da Äe njegova uĹĄteÄevina biti izbrisana krahom trĹžiĹĄta ili poveÄanjem ponude tog dobra.
ZaĹĄto su vaĹžne funkcije novca?
Kada neki oblik novca izgubi bilo koju od svojih vaĹžnih funkcija kao ĹĄto su sredstvo razmene, obraÄunska jedinica i zaliha vrednosti, celokupna ekonomija i druĹĄtvo mogu da se rastrgnu.
Tokom istorije Äesto vidimo grupe ljudi koje eksploatiĹĄu druge iskoriĹĄÄavajuÄi nesporazume o novcu i vaĹžnosti njegovih funkcija.
SledeÄe, proÄi Äu kroz istoriju novca, prvo hipotetiÄki da bih ilustrovao poentu, a zatim Äu preÄi na stvarne istorijske primere. Kroz ove primere videÄemo ĹĄtetne efekte na druĹĄtva u sluÄajevima kada se izgubi samo jedna od tih kljuÄnih funkcija novca.
Novac Gubi Funkciju: AlhemiÄar iz Njutonije
Kroz istoriju, mnoga dobra su dolazila i odlazila kao oblici novca. Na Ĺžalost, kada se neki oblik novca ukine, ponekad postoji grupa ljudi koja eksploatiĹĄe drugi oblik manipuliĹĄuÄi tim novcem.
Hajde da pogledamo hipotetiÄko selo zvano Njutonija da bismo razumeli kako dolazi do ove eksploatacije.
Zelene perle postaju Novac
Tokom stotina godina ribolova u obliĹžnjoj reci, stanovnici Njutonije sakupljali su zelene perle iz vode. Zrnca su mala, lagana, izdrĹžljiva, jednoliÄna i retko se pojavljuju u reci. Ljudi prvo priĹželjkuju perle zbog svoje lepote. Na kraju, seljani shvataju da svi drugi Ĺžele perle â one se vrlo lako mogu prodati. Zrnca uskoro postaju sredstvo razmene i obraÄunska jedinica u selu: pile je 5 zrna, vreÄa jabuka 2 zrna, krava 80 zrna.
Ukupna ponuda perli je priliÄno konstantna i cene se vremenom ne menjaju mnogo. Seoski stareĹĄina je uveren da moĹže da se opustiti u poslednjim danima ĹživeÄi od svoje velike zalihe perli.
AlhemiÄar stvara viĹĄe perli
Seoski alhemiÄar je poĹželeo da bude bogat Äovek, ali nije voleo da vredno radi na tome. Umesto da traĹži perle u reci ili da prodaje vrednu robu drugim seljanima, on sedeo je u svojoj laboratoriji. Na kraju je otkrio kako da lako stvori stotine perli sa malo peska i vatre.
Seljani koji su tragali za perlama u reci bili su sreÄni ako bi svaki dan pronaĹĄli po 1 zrno. AlhemiÄar je mogao da proizvede stotine uz malo napora.
AlhemiÄar troĹĄi svoje perle
BuduÄi da je bio priliÄno zao, alhemiÄar nije svoj metod pravljenja zrna delio ni sa kim drugim. Stvorio je sebi joĹĄ viĹĄe perli i poÄeo da ih troĹĄi za dobra na trĹžiĹĄtu u Njutoniji. Tokom sledeÄih meseci, alhemiÄar je kupio farmu piliÄa, nekoliko krava, finu svilu, posteljine i ogromno imanje. On je imao priliku da kupi ova dobra po normalnim cenama na trĹžiĹĄtu.
AlhemiÄarevo troĹĄenje ostavljalo je seljanima mnogo perli, ali malo njihove vredne robe.
Svi seljani su se oseÄali bogatima â imali su tone perli! MeÄutim, polako su primetili da i svi ostali takodje imaju tone.
Cene poÄinju da rastu
UzgajivaÄ piliÄa primetio je da sva roba koju je trebalo da kupi na pijaci poskupela. DĹžak jabuka sada se prodaje za 100 perli â 50 puta viĹĄe od njihove cene pre nekoliko meseci!
Iako je sada imao hiljade perli, uskoro bi mogao da ostane bez njih zbog ovih cena. Pitao se â da li zaista moĹže sebi da priuĹĄti da prodaje svoje piliÄe za samo 5 perli po komadu? Morao je i on da podigne svoje cene.
Jednostavno reÄeno, kao rezultat alhemiÄarevog troĹĄenja njegovih novostvorenih perli, bilo je previĹĄe perli koje su jurile premalo dobara â pa su cene porasle.
Kupci robe bili su spremni da potroĹĄe viĹĄe perli da bi kupili potrebna dobra. Prodavci robe su trebali da naplate viĹĄe da bi bili sigurni da su zaradili dovoljno da kupe potrebna dobra za sebe.
BuduÄi da su cene svih dobara porasle, moĹžemo reÄi da se vrednost svake perle smanjila.
Nejednakost bogatstva raste
Seoski stareĹĄina, koji je vredno radio da saÄuva hiljade perli, sada se naĹĄao osiromaĹĄenim i gladnim. U meÄuvremenu, alhemiÄar je udobno sedeo na svom velikom imanju sa kravama, piliÄima i slugama koji su se brinuli za svaki njegov hir.
AlhemiÄar je efikasno ukrao bogatstvo celog sela, tako ĹĄto je jeftino proizvodio perle i koristio ih za kupovinu vredne robe.
Ono ĹĄto je najvaĹžnije, kupio je robu pre nego ĹĄto je trĹžiĹĄte shvatilo da je viĹĄe perli u opticaju i da ima manje robe, ĹĄto je dovelo do rasta cena. Ova dodatna proizvodnja perli nije dodala korisnu robu ili usluge selu.
Eksploatacija pomoÄu Novca: Agri Perle
NaĹžalost, priÄa o alhemiÄaru iz Njutonije nije u potpunosti hipotetiÄka. Ovaj prenos bogatstva kroz stvaranje novca ima istorijske i moderne presedane.
Na primer, afriÄka plemena su nekada koristila staklene perle, poznate kao âagri perleâ, kao sredstvo razmene. U to vreme plemenskim ljudima je bilo veoma teĹĄko da prave staklene perle, i one su predstavljale teĹžak novac unutar njihovog plemenskog druĹĄtva.
Niko nije mogao jeftino da proizvede perle i koristiti ih za kupovinu skupe, vredne robe poput kuÄa, hrane i odeÄe.
Sve se promenilo kada su stigli Evropljani, i primetili upotrebu staklenih perli kao novca.
U to vreme, Evropljani su mogli jeftino da stvaraju staklo u velikim koliÄinama. Kao rezultat toga, Evropljani su poÄeli tajno da uvoze perle i koriste ih za kupovinu dobara, usluga i robova od Afrikanaca.
Vremenom se iz Afrike izvlaÄila vredna roba i ljudi, dok je plemenima ostajalo mnogo perli i malo robe.
Perle su izgubile veÄi deo vrednosti zbog inflacije uzrokovane snabdevanjem od strane Evropljana.
Rezultat je bio osiromaĹĄenje afriÄkih plemena i bogaÄenje Evropljana, kako to ovde objaĹĄnjava monetarni istoriÄar Bezant Denier.
Dragocena roba je kupljena jeftino proizvedenim monetarnim dobrom.
Profitiranje na proizvodnji novca: Emisiona dobit
Ova priÄa ilustruje kako se bogatstvo prenosi kada jedna grupa moĹže jeftino da proizvodi monetarno dobro.
Razlika izmeÄu troĹĄkova proizvodnje monetarnog dobra i vrednosti tog monetarnog dobra poznata je kao emisiona dobit, eng. seignorage.
Kada je monetarno dobro mnogo vrednije od troĹĄkova proizvodnje, ljudi Äe proizvesti viĹĄe od monetarnog dobra da bi uhvatili profit od emisione dobiti.
Na kraju Äe ova poveÄana ponuda dovesti do pada vrednosti monetarnog dobra. To je zbog zakona ponude i potraĹžnje: kada se ponuda poveÄava, cena (poznata i kao vrednost) dobra opada.
Novac Gubi Funkciju 2. Deo: Kejnslandski Bankar
U priÄi o Njutoniji, alhemiÄar je otkrio naÄin da se od malo peska jeftino stvori viĹĄe zelenih perli. To se u stvarnosti odigralo kroz trgovinu izmeÄu Evropljana i Afrikanaca, priÄom o agri perlama. MeÄutim, ove priÄe su pomalo zastarele â mi viĹĄe ne trgujemo robom za perle.
Da bismo nas doveli do modernog doba, hajde da promenimo neka imena u naĹĄoj priÄi:
- Selo Njutonija postaje drĹžava koja se zove Kejnsland
- AlhemiÄar postaje bankar
- Seoski stareĹĄina postaje penzioner
- Zelene perle postaju zlato, koje niko ne moĹže jeftinije da stvori â Äak ni bankar.
Bankar Menja Papirne NovÄanice za Zlato
Kao i u stvarnosti, bankar u ovoj priÄi nema formulu ili trik da stvori viĹĄe zlata. MeÄutim, bankar bezbedno Äuva zlato u vlasniĹĄtvu svakog graÄanina Kejnslanda. Bankar daje svakom graÄaninu po jednu potvrdu za svaku uncu zlata koje ima u svom trezoru.
Te potvrde se mogu iskoristiti u bilo koje vreme za stvarno zlato. Papirne potvrde ili novÄanice su mnogo pogodnije za plaÄanje nego noĹĄenje zlata kroz supermarket.
GraÄani su sreÄni â oni imaju prikladno sredstvo plaÄanja u vidu bankarevih novÄanica, i znaju da niko ne moĹže da ukrade njihovo bogatstvo falsifikujuÄi viĹĄe zlata.
GraÄani na kraju poÄinju da plaÄaju u potpunosti papirnim novÄanicama, ne trudeÄi se nikad da zamene svoje novÄanice za zlato. Na kraju, novÄanice postaju âdobre kao i zlatoâ â svaka predstavlja fiksnu koliÄinu zlata u bankarevom trezoru.
Ukupno kruĹži 1.000.000 novÄanica, od kojih je svaka otkupljiva za jednu uncu zlata. 1.000.000 unci zlata sedi u bankarevom trezoru. Svaka novÄanica je u potpunosti podrĹžana u zlatu.
StareĹĄina koji je saÄuvao sve svoje perle u priÄi o Njutoniji sada je penzioner u Kejnslandu, koji svoje zlato drĹži u banci i planira da ugodno Ĺživi od novÄanica koje je dobio zauzvrat.
Hajde da u ovu priÄu dodamo i novi lik: premijera Kejnslanda. Premijer naplaÄuje porez od graÄana i koristi ga za plaÄanje javnih usluga poput policije i vojske. Premijer takoÄe drĹži vladino zlato kod bankara.
Bankar Menja Papirne NovÄanice za Dug
Premijer Ĺželi da osigura da nacionalno zlato ostane na sigurnom, pa banku ĹĄtiti policijom. Bankar i premijer se zbog toga zbliĹžavaju, pa premijer traĹži uslugu. TraĹži od bankara da kreira 200.000 novÄanica za premijera, uz obeÄanje da Äe mu premijer vratiti za pet godina. Premijeru su novÄanice potrebne za finansiranje rata. GraÄani Kejnslanda borili su se protiv veÄih poreza zbog finansiranja rata, pa je morao da se obrati bankaru.
Bankar se slaĹže da izradi novÄanice, ali pod jednim uslovom: bankar uzima deo od 10.000 novÄanica za sebe. Premijer prihvata posao kojim bankar âkupuje drĹžavni dugâ. Sada je u opticaju 1.200.000 novÄanica, potpomognutih kombinacijom 1.000.000 unci zlata i ugovorom o dugu sa vladom za 200.000 novÄanica.
Premijer troĹĄi svoje nove novÄanice na bombe kupujuÄi ih od dobavljaÄa iz domaÄe vojne industrije, a bankar sebi kupuje veliki luksuzni stan.
DobavljaÄ iz vojne industrije koristi sve nove novÄanice koje je dobio od premijera da kupi amonijum nitrat (Äubrivo koje se koristi u bombama) za proizvodnju bombi. Sve njegove kupovine poveÄavaju cenu Äubriva za uzgajivaÄe pĹĄenice u Kejnslandu, pa oni podiĹžu cenu pĹĄenice.
Kao uzrok toga, pekar koji kupuje pĹĄenicu treba da podigne cenu svog hleba da bi ostao u poslu. Na taj naÄin cene u Kejnslandu poÄinju da rastu, baĹĄ kao ĹĄto su to Äinile u Njutoniji kada su nove perle uĹĄle u opticaj.
Papirne NovÄanice ViĹĄe Ne Predstavljaju Zlato
Penzioner nailazi na finansijski Äasopis u kojem se pominje premijerov dogovor da se zaduĹži za finansiranje rata. Obzirom da je mudar, on zna da bombe loĹĄe vraÄaju ulaganje i sumnja da Äe premijer ikada da vrati svoj dug.
Ako on âpodmiriâ svoj dug, to bi ostavilo 1.200.000 novÄanica u opticaju sa samo 1.000.000 unci zlata da bi ih podrĹžalo, obezvreÄujuÄi njegovu uĹĄteÄevinu. VeÄ oseÄa stisak u dĹžepu zbog porasta cena, i on odluÄuje da se uputi u lokalnu banku i preda svoje novÄanice i zameni ih za zlato, koje niko ne moĹže da napravi u veÄoj koliÄini.
Kada penzioner stigne u banku, on zatiÄe i mnoge druge okupljene oko banke. Svi oni se nadaju da Äe uzeti zlato koje predstavljaju njihove novÄanice. GraÄani Kejnslanda sa pravom se plaĹĄe da njihove novÄanice gube na vrednosti â oni to veÄ oseÄaju zbog porasta cena.
Vrata su zakljuÄana, sa obaveĹĄtenjem bankara na njima:
Po nalogu premijera, onom koji se plaĹĄi za stabilnost ove bankarske institucije, ova banka viĹĄe neÄe podrĹžavati konvertibilnost papirnih novÄanica u zlato. Hvala vam!
Gomila se razilazi, ostavljena sa jednim izborom: da zadrĹže svoje novÄanice, koje sada vrede manje od 1 unce zlata. GraÄani sa dovoljno finansijske stabilnosti odluÄuju da uloĹže svoje novÄanice u kupovinu akcija banke i kompanija vojne industrije, koje dobro posluju jer mogu da kupuju stvari pre nego ĹĄto se poveÄaju trĹžiĹĄne cene.
Mnogi ljudi nisu u moguÄnosti da investiraju â oni moraju da gledaju kako njihove zarade stagniraju i kako njihova uĹĄteÄevina polako ali sigurno gubi vrednost.
Penzioner, koji se nadao da Äe Ĺživeti od novÄanica koje je zaradio tokom svojih 40 radnih godina, sada 40 sati nedeljno provodi iza kase u lokalnoj prodavnici, pitajuÄi se gde je sve poĹĄlo po zlu.
Dug Nikada Nije OtplaÄen
ProĹĄlo je nekoliko godina, a premijerov dug prema banci dolazi na naplatu. BuduÄi da je potroĹĄio svih 200.000 novÄanica na bombe, koje nemaju baĹĄ dobar povraÄaj ulaganja, on nema novÄanice koje moĹže da vrati banci. Plus, premijer Ĺželi da kupi joĹĄ bombi za svoj rat.
Bankar uverava premijera da je sve u redu. Bankar Äe napraviti novi ugovor o dugu za 600.000 novÄanica, koji bi trebao da stigne na naplatu u narednih 5 godina. Premijer moĹže da iskoristi 200.000 od tih novih 600.000 novÄanica da vrati svoj prvobitni dug prema banci, zadrĹži joĹĄ 300.000 da kupi joĹĄ bombi i da 100.000 bankaru da bi mu platio njegove usluge.
To nastavlja da se deĹĄava â svaki put kada dug dospeva na naplatu, bankar stvara viĹĄe novÄanica za vraÄanje starijih dugova i daje premijeru joĹĄ viĹĄe novca za troĹĄenje. Ovaj ciklus se nastavlja.
Ĺ ta se deĹĄava u Kejnslandu?
- Oni koji prvi dobiju nove novÄanice, gledaju kako se njihovo bogatstvo poveÄava
- To ukljuÄuje bankara, premijera, vladu i sve one koji mogu da pristupe moguÄnostima za investiranje u preduzeÄa koja prva dobiju nove novÄanice (finansijske, vojne itd.).
- Cene roba rastu
- Cene se ne poveÄavaju ravnomerno â one se poveÄavaju gde god nove novÄanice prvo uÄu u ekonomiju i od tog trenutka imaju efekat talasa na trĹžiĹĄta. U naĹĄem primeru prvo raste cena amonijum nitrata, zatim cena pĹĄenice, pa cena hleba. A tek na kraju zarade obiÄnih ljudi.
- Ĺ tednja i Ĺživotni standard opĹĄte populacije se smanjuju
- NajviĹĄe pate oni koji Ĺžive od plate do plate i ne mogu da ulaĹžu. Äak i oni koji su u moguÄnosti da investiraju podloĹžni su hirovima trĹžiĹĄta. Mnogi su prisiljeni da prodaju svoje investicije po niskim cenama tokom pada trĹžiĹĄta samo da bi platili svoje dnevne potrebe.
- Razlika u prihodima i bogatstvu izmeÄu bogatih i siromaĹĄnih se poveÄava
- Bogatstvo opĹĄte populacije se smanjuje, dok se bogatstvo onih koji su blizu mesta gde se troĹĄe nove novÄanice poveÄava. Rezultat je disparitet koji se vremenom samo proĹĄiruje.
Da li nas novac danas eksploatiĹĄe?
PriÄa o Njutoniji i stvarna priÄa o agri perlama u Africi deluju pomalo zastarelo. PriÄa o Kejnslandu, meÄutim, deluje neobiÄno poznato. U naĹĄem svetu cene robe uvek rastu, i vidimo rekordne nivoe nejednakosti u bogatstvu.
U poslednjem odeljku ovog naĹĄeg Älanka Ĺ ta je novac, proÄi Äu kroz nastanak bankarstva i korake koji su bili potrebni da se doÄe do danaĹĄnjeg sistema, gde banke i vlade saraÄuju u kontroli ekonomije i samog novca.
Ĺ ta su banke, i odakle su one doĹĄle?
Pojava bankarstva verovatno se dogodila da bi olakĹĄala poljoprivrednu trgovinu i da bi poveÄala pogodnosti. Iako su se mnoga druĹĄtva na kraju konvergirala ka upotrebi zlata i srebra kao novca, ovi metali su bili teĹĄki i opasni za noĹĄenje kao tovar. MeÄutim, u mnogim sluÄajevima ih nije ni trebalo prevoziti. Uzmite ovaj primer:
Grad treba da plati poljoprivrednicima na selu za Ĺžito, a poljoprivrednici gradskoj vojsci za zaĹĄtitu od varvara. U ovom dogovoru zlato se kreÄe u oba smera: prema poljoprivrednicima u selu kako bi im se platilo Ĺžito, i nazad u grad da bi se platila vojska. Da bi olakĹĄali ove transakcije, preduzetnici su stvorili koncept banke. Banka je zlato Äuvala u sigurnom trezoru i izdavala novÄanice od papira. Svaka priznanica je predstavljala potvrdu da njen imaoc poseduje odreÄenu koliÄinu zlata u banci. Imaoc novÄanice je u svako doba mogao da uzme svoje zlato nazad vraÄanjem te novÄanice banci.
Korisnici banke mogli su lakĹĄe da trguju sa novÄanicama od papira, i onaj koji poseduje novÄanice mogao je da preuzme njihovo fiziÄko zlato u bilo kom trenutku. To je te novÄanice uÄinilo âdobrim kao i zlatoâ.
Banke su izdrĹžavale svoje poslovanje naplaÄujuÄi od kupaca naknadu za skladiĹĄtenje zlata ili pozajmljivanjem dela zlata i zaraÄunavanjem kamata na njega. Trgovina na ovaj naÄin je mogla da se odvija sa laganim novÄanicama od papira umesto sa teĹĄkim vreÄama zlatnika.
Ovakva praksa sa transakcijama, koriĹĄÄenjem papirne valute potpomognute monetarnim dobrima, verovatno je zapoÄela u Kini u 7. veku.
Na kraju se proĹĄirila Evropom 1600-ih, a svoj zalet dobila je u Holandiji sa bankama poput Amsterdamske Wisselbanke. NovÄanice Wisselbank-e Äesto su vredele viĹĄe od zlata koje ih je podrĹžavalo, zbog dodane vrednosti njihovih pogodnosti.
Uspon nacionalnih âcentralnih banakaâ
Tokom vekova, zlato je poÄelo da se sakuplja u trezorima banaka, jer su ljudi viĹĄe voleli pogodnosti transakcija sa novÄanicama.
Na kraju, nacionalne banke u vlasniĹĄtvu vlada preuzele su ulogu Äuvanja zlata od privatnih banaka koje su zapoÄeli preduzetnici.
Nacionalne papirne valute potpomognute zlatnim rezervama u nacionalnim bankama zamenile su novÄanice iz privatnih banaka. Sve nacionalne valute bile su jednostavno potvrde za zlato koje se nalazilo u trezoru nacionalne banke.
Ovaj sistem je poznat kao zlatni standard â sve valute su jednostavno predstavljale razliÄite teĹžine zlata.
U gornjem levom uglu novÄanice moĹžete videti da piĹĄe da je novÄanica âzamenljiva za zlatoâ. Savremeni dolari nemaju ovaj natpis, ali inaÄe izgledaju vrlo sliÄno. Izvor
Zlatni sistem je postojao veÄi deo vremena, sve do Prvog svetskog rata. Vladama je bilo teĹĄko da prikupe novac za ovaj rat putem poreza, pa su morale da budu kreativne.
Kada vlade troĹĄe viĹĄe nego ĹĄto zaraÄuju na porezima, to se naziva deficitna potroĹĄnja.
Kako vlade mogu ovo da urade? Vlade to rade tako ĹĄto pozajmljuju novac prodavajuÄi svoj dug.
Tokom Prvog svetskog rata, vlade su graÄanima i preduzeÄima prodavale vrstu duga koja se naziva ratna obveznica. Kada graÄanin kupi ratnu obveznicu, on preda svoj novac vladi i dobije papir u kojem je stajalo vladino obeÄanje da Äe vlasniku obveznice vratiti novac, plus kamate, za nekoliko godina.
Plakat koji obaveĹĄtava graÄane, traĹžeÄi od njih da kupe ratne obveznice â ĹĄto predstavlja zajam vladi. Izvor
Centralne banke âmonetizujuâ drĹžavni dug
MeÄutim, graÄani i preduzeÄa nisu bili voljni da kupe dovoljno ratnih obveznica za finansiranje Prvog svetskog rata.
Vlade se nisu predale â pa su zatraĹžile od svojih nacionalnih âcentralnih banakaâ da one kupe ove obveznice. Centralne banke su otkupile obveznice, ali ih nisu platile valutom potpomognutom postojeÄim zlatnim rezervama, kao ĹĄto su to Äinili graÄani i banke prilikom kupovine obveznica.
Centralne banke su umesto toga davale vladi novu, sveĹže ĹĄtampanu papirnu valutu potpomognutu samo obveznicom. Ovu valutu podrĹžalo je samo obeÄanje da Äe im vlada vratiti dugove. Ovo je poznato kao monetizacija duga.
BuduÄi da su ratne obveznice i valuta samo komadi papira, one su lake i jeftine za proizvodnju i mogu se napraviti u ogromnim koliÄinama. Ono ĹĄto ograniÄava proizvodnju i jednog i drugog je poverenje.
Ima smisla da se neko rastane od svog teĹĄko steÄenog novca da kupi drĹžavnu obveznicu, samo ako veruje da Äe vlada da vrati svoj dug, plus kamate. Centralna banka je âkrajnji kupacâ, ĹĄto znaÄi da Äe ona da kupi drĹžavne obveznice kada to niko drugi neÄe da uradi.
Zapamtite, centralnu banku gotovo da niĹĄta ne koĹĄta da kupi drĹžavne obveznice, jer oni sami ĹĄtampaju valutu da bi ih kupili.
Zamislite da pridjete najskupljem automobilu u autosalonu â koji koĹĄta 100.000 USD. Mislite da je automobil lep, ali taj novac biste radije potroĹĄili na lepĹĄi stan â tako da ste spremni da platite samo 40.000 USD za taj auto.
Sada, hajde da zamislimo da imate ĹĄtampaÄ za novac i da vas koĹĄta samo 50 USD za mastilo i papir da bi iĹĄtampali 1.000.000 USD. Vi biste odmah kupili auto, Äak i ako biste morali da se cenkate sa drugim Äovekom, i da ga na kraju platite 150.000 USD!
Ista stvar se deĹĄava kada centralna banka kupuje obveznice (dugove) od vlade. Centralna banka moĹže da stvori valutu toliko jeftino, da su spremni da plate i viĹĄe nego ĹĄto bi drugi platili ove obveznice i nastaviÄe da ih kupuju Äak i kada niko drugi ne bude Ĺželeo.
Monetizacija duga uzrokuje inflaciju
Kada centralne banke monetizuju drĹžavni dug, funkcija novca kao zalihe vrednosti poÄinje da se nagriza. Vlada troĹĄi novi novac koji je dobila od svoje centralne banke na ratnu robu, obroke i joĹĄ mnogo toga.
Cene roba rastu od ove novoĹĄtampane valute koja kruĹži kroz ekonomiju. Kada se cene poveÄavaju, to znaÄi da se vrednost svake jedinice valute smanjuje. Svi koji drĹže valutu sada imaju manje vrednosti. Danas to nazivamo sporim gubitkom funkcije zalihe vrednosti u novÄanoj inflaciji.
Za NemaÄku nakon Prvog svetskog rata monetizacija duga izazvala je totalni slom NemaÄke ekonomije i stvorila uslove za rast faĹĄizma.
Kao deo sporazuma o prekidu vatre koji je okonÄao Prvi svetski rat, NemaÄka je pobednicima morala da plati ogroman novac. NemaÄkoj vladi je bio preko potreban novac, pa su prodale obveznice (dug) Rajhsbanci, nemaÄkoj centralnoj banci.
Ovaj postupak doveo je do toga da je vlada ĹĄtampala toliko maraka (tadaĹĄnja nemaÄka valuta) da je tempo inflacije u NemaÄkoj ubrzan u hiperinflaciju poÄetkom 1920-ih. Cena vekne hleba za samo 4 godine popela se sa 1,2 marke na 428 biliona maraka.
Tokom i posle Prvog svetskog rata, SAD, Britanija, Francuska i mnoge druge vlade pratile su NemaÄku u ĹĄtampanju valute potpomognute drĹžavnim dugom.
To je dovelo do toga da su graÄani Ĺželeli da svoju papirnu valutu zamene za zlato, baĹĄ kao i penzioner iz priÄe o Kejnslandu.
MeÄutim, mnoge vlade su suspendovale konvertibilnost svojih valuta u zlato. Ovim potezom vlade su primorale svoje graÄane da drĹže nacionalnu papirnu valutu i gledaju kako se njihova uĹĄteda smanjuje u vrednosti.
Da bi mogle da nastave da ĹĄtampaju novac i da bi ga troĹĄile na nepopularne programe za koje nisu mogle da skupljaju poreze za finansiranje â poput ratova.
Bretton Woods: Novi monetarni sistem
Nakon razaranja koja su donela dva svetska rata, vlade su uspostavile novi globalni monetarni sistem prema Bretton Woods-ovom sporazumu iz 1944. godine.
Prema ovom sporazumu, valuta svake drĹžave konvertovala se po fiksnom kursu sa ameriÄkim dolarom. AmeriÄki dolar je zauzvrat predstavljao zlato po stopi od 35 USD za jednu trojsku uncu zlata*.
Sve globalne valute su stoga joĹĄ uvek bile jednostavna reprezentacija zlata, putem ameriÄkih dolara kao posrednika. Redovni graÄani viĹĄe nisu mogli da otkupljuju svoje valute za zlato iz Sjedinjenih DrĹžava. MeÄutim, strane centralne banke mogle bi da doÄu u Sjedinjene DrĹžave da bi zamenile dolare za zlato po stopi od 35 USD za jednu uncu zlata.
MeÄutim, vlada Sjedinjenih DrĹžava nije uvek drĹžala dovoljno zlata da podrĹži sve dolare u opticaju. AmeriÄka vlada nastavila je da finansira proĹĄirene socijalne i vojne programe prodajom drĹžavnog duga svojoj centralnoj banci, Federalnim rezervama, koja je poveÄala ponudu dolara bez poveÄanja ponude zlata koja podupire te dolare.
*Trojna unca je standardna mera Äistog zlata i ima malo veÄu teĹžinu od normalne unce.
Propast Bretton Woods-a
Tokom 1970-ih, sve veÄi troĹĄkovi rata u Vijetnamu i stranih vlada koje su otkupljivale svoje dolare za zlato, stvorili su pritisak na Trezor Sjedinjenih DrĹžava.
Ponuda dolara je porasla, dok je zlato u posedu Sjedinjenih DrĹžava opalo. Od 1950. pa do poÄetka 1970-ih, rezerve zlata koje je drĹžala vlada Sjedinjenih DrĹžava smanjile su se za viĹĄe od 50%, sa 20 metriÄkih tona na samo 8 metriÄkih tona.
Godine 1970. drĹžava je imala zlata u vrednosti od samo 12 biliona dolara po zvaniÄnom kursu od 35 dolara za trojsku uncu zlata. Tokom ovog istog vremenskog perioda, ukupna ponuda ameriÄkih dolara otiĹĄla je sa oko 32 biliona USD na skoro 70 biliona USD.
ZvaniÄne rezerve zlata u SAD-u su naglo padale od 1950. do 1970. godine, dok su se dolari u opticaju poveÄavali. Izvor: Wikipedia, DollarDaze.org
AmeriÄka vlada nije bila u stanju da potkrepi dolare zlatom od 35 dolara po trojnoj unci, ĹĄto dovelo do rizika za Äitav globalni monetarni sistem.
PoÄetkom sedamdesetih godina, trojna unca zlata trebala je da vredi 200 USD da bi u potpunosti podrĹžala sve ameriÄke dolare u opticaju. ReÄeno na drugi naÄin, Sjedinjene DrĹžave su pokuĹĄavale da kaĹžu svetu da jedan dolar vredi 1/35 trojne unce zlata, ali u stvarnosti dolar je vredeo samo 1/200 trojne unce.
Kad su strane vlade trebale da pribave dolare za meÄunarodnu trgovinu i rezerve, bile su opeljeĹĄene. Francuska vlada je to shvatila ĹĄezdesetih godina proĹĄlog veka i poÄela je da prodaje svoje ameriÄke dolare za zlato po zvaniÄnom kursu od 35 dolara za trojsku uncu zlata.
Zemlje su poÄinjale da se bude iz ĹĄeme ameriÄke vlade. SAD su krale bogatstvo putem emisione dobiti, prodajuÄi dolare za 1/35 trojne unce zlata, kada su vredeli samo 1/200 trojske unce.
Nixonov Ĺ ok ulazi u âtradicionalniâ novac
Da bi kuÄa od karata mogla da ostane na mestu, predsednik Nixon je 1971. najavio da Äe ameriÄka vlada privremeno da obustavi konvertibilnost dolara u zlato.
Strane vlade viĹĄe nisu mogle da polaĹžu pravo na zlato svojim papirnim dolarima, a dolar viĹĄe nije bio âpoduprtâ zlatom. Nixon je tvrdio da Äe ovo stabilizovati dolar.
50 godina kasnije, kristalno je jasno da je ovo samo pomoglo dolaru da izgubi vrednost i da ovaj âprivremeniâ program joĹĄ uvek traje.
Pre 1971. godine, sve globalne valute bile su vezane za ameriÄki dolar putem Bretton Woods-ovog sporazuma. Kada je Nixon promenio ameriÄki dolar iz dolara podrĹžanog u zlatu u dolar podrĹžan dugom, ovim je promenio i svaku drugu valutu na Zemlji.
Sam je uÄinio da se celokupna svetska ekonomija zasniva na dugovima. Valute viĹĄe nisu predstavljale zlato, veÄ su predstavljale vrednost drĹžavnog duga.
Zlatni Standard se nikada nije vratio
Konvertibilnost ameriÄkih dolara u zlato â zlatni standard â nikada se nije vratio.
Od 1971. godine, Äitav globalni monetarni sistem pokreÄe se tradicionalnim âfiatâ valutama: poverenjem u vladine institucije da odrĹžavaju valutni sistem.
VeÄina valuta podrĹžana je kombinacijom duga njihove vlade i drugih tradicionalnih valuta poput dolara i evra. Papirne valute viĹĄe nisu podrĹžane zlatom, imovinom koja je viĹĄe od 5000 godina sluĹžila kao teĹžak novac.
Danas vas vlade prisiljavaju da plaÄate porez u njihovoj valuti i manipuliĹĄu saznanjima oko novca kako bi osigurale da potraĹžnja za njihovom valutom ostane velika.
To im omoguÄava da neprestano ĹĄtampaju viĹĄe valuta, da bi je potroĹĄili na vladine projekte, uzrokujuÄi inflaciju cena koja jede i smanjuje bogatstvo i plate.
AmeriÄka vlada sada prodaje drĹžavne obveznice (dugove), poznate kao obveznice Trezora SAD, eng. US Treasuries, komercijalnim bankama u zamenu za ameriÄke dolare.
Vlada koristi te dolare za finansiranje svog budĹžetskog deficita. Komercijalne banke prodaju mnoge obveznice Trezora SAD, koje su kupile, ameriÄkoj centralnoj banci, Federalnim Rezervama.
Federalne rezerve plaÄaju komercijalnim bankama sveĹže ĹĄtampanim novcem âpomoÄu raÄunara i upisivanjem koliÄine na raÄunâ, kako je rekao bivĹĄi predsednik Fed-a Ben Bernanke.
Ove komercijalne banke Äesto zaraÄuju samo kupujuÄi obveznice Trezora SAD od drĹžave i prodajuÄi ih centralnoj banci. Kupujte nisko, prodajte visoko.
Centralne banke ovaj proces kupovine drĹžavnog duga â odnosno pozajmljivanja novca drĹžavi â nazivaju operacijama otvorenog trĹžiĹĄta.
Kada centralna banka odjednom kupi velike iznose duga, oni to nazivaju kvantitativnim ublaĹžavanjem. Centralne banke javno najavljuju kupovinu drĹžavnog duga, ali vrlo malo ljudi razume ĹĄta to zapravo znaÄi.
Euro, jen i svaka druga valuta koja se danas koristi funkcioniĹĄu sliÄno kao ameriÄki dolar.
Da li Äe SAD ikada vratiti svoj nacionalni dug? NeobiÄna stvar u vezi sa drĹžavnim dugom SAD-a je ta ĹĄto vlada poseduje ĹĄtampariju potrebnu za njegovu otplatu.
Kao rezultat toga, kada vlada duguje novac, oni samo pozajme joĹĄ viĹĄe novca da bi otplatile taj dug, poveÄavajuÄi nacionalni dug.
Ako vam ovo zvuÄi kao Ponzijeva piramidalna ĹĄema, to je zato ĹĄto ona to i jeste â najveÄa Ponzijeva ĹĄema u istoriji. Kao i svaka Ponzijeva ĹĄema, nastaviÄe se sve dok su ljudi koji kupuju Ponzijevu ĹĄemu budu uvereni da Äe im biti plaÄeno nazad.
Ako ljudi i nacije prestanu da se zaduĹžuju i koriste ameriÄke dolare jer nemaju poverenja u ameriÄku vladu ili vide da cena robe raste (tj. dolar postaje sve manje vredan), potraĹžnja za dolarom Äe opadati, ĹĄto Äe izazvati zaÄaranu spiralu.
Ova spirala Äesto zavrĹĄi u hiperinflaciji, kao ĹĄto smo videli u novijoj istoriji sa Jugoslavijom, Venecuelom, Argentinom, Zimbabveom i mnogim drugim drĹžavama.
Ovo je naÄin kako funkcioniĹĄe novac na vaĹĄem bankovnom raÄunu. Novac svake nacije na svetu pati od istih problema kao i perle i novÄanice u priÄama o Njutoniji i Kejnslandu.
Kako banke i vlade kradu tvoj novac?
Tokom vekova, stigli smo do monetarnog sistema u kojem banke i vlade mogu da ĹĄtampaju novu valutu za finansiranje svojih operacija i svojih prijatelja u zloÄinu, dok kradu bogatstvo svojih graÄana.
Ĺ ta Äe se desiti sa svetom kada novac bude mogao da ĹĄtampa svaki narod na planeti?
- Bogatstvo onih koji su blizu pravljenja nove valute se poveÄava
- Vlada i politiÄki povlaĹĄÄena klasa ljudi, imaju pristup novoĹĄtampanom novcu pre svih ostalih, pa mogu da ga potroĹĄe pre nego ĹĄto cene porastu. Na ovaj efekat pokazao je ekonomista Richard Cantillon sredinom 1700-ih i poznat je kao Cantillonov Efekat.
- Cena robe raste (poznato kao inflacija
- Ne raste sve roba istovremeno u ceni. Roba blizu mesta gde se proizvodi nova valuta â finansijski sektor i vlada â prva raste, i odatle uzrokuje efekt talasa na cene.
- Inflacija se Äesto predstavlja kao promena cene potroĹĄaÄke korpe, poznata kao Indeks PotroĹĄaÄkih Cena, eng. Consumer Price Index (CPI). Vlada ima alate za manipulisanje ovim brojem kako bi osigurala da se ona Äini niskom i stabilnom, kao ĹĄto je objaĹĄnjeno u naĹĄem Älanku o inflaciji.
- Finansijska imovina Äesto primeÄuje ogromnu inflaciju, ali bankari to ne nazivaju inflacijom â oni kaĹžu da naĹĄa ekonomija cveta! Nakon ĹĄto su ameriÄke Federalne rezerve uÄetvorostruÄile ponudu ameriÄkih dolara u ĹĄest godina nakon finansijske krize 2008. godine, banke koje su dobile te nove dolare, kupile su akcije i obveznice, stvarajuÄi ogroman balon u cenama ove imovine.
- Ĺ tednja i Ĺživotni standard stanovniĹĄtva se smanjuju
- Plate su jedna od poslednjih âcenaâ u ekonomiji koja se prilagoÄava, jer se Äesto poveÄavaju samo jednom godiĹĄnje. U meÄuvremenu, cene dnevnih potrepĹĄtina te osobe koja zaradjuje platu neprestano rastu kako novi novac kruĹži ekonomijom.
- NajviĹĄe su pogoÄeni oni koji Ĺžive od plate do plate â a to je 70% Amerikanaca.
- Razlike u prihodima izmeÄu bogatih i siromaĹĄnih se poveÄavaju, kao ĹĄto se vidi na grafikonu ispod.
*Koncentracija dohotka na vrhu naglo je porasla od 1970-ih
ZaĹĄto i dalje imamo isti monetarni sistem?
Ako ovaj sistem bogate joĹĄ viĹĄe obogaÄuje, a siromaĹĄne joĹĄ viĹĄe osiromaĹĄuje, dovodeÄi do politiÄke nestabilnosti, zaĹĄto ga onda ne bismo promenili?
NajveÄi razlog zaĹĄto se niĹĄta ne menja je verovatno to ĹĄto puno toga ne znamo o samom sistemu. Svi svakodnevno koristimo valute svojih vlada, ali veÄina nas ne razume kako sistem funkcioniĹĄe i ĹĄta on Äini naĹĄim druĹĄtvima.
Obrazovni sistem, mediji i finansijski struÄnjaci neprestano nam govore da je monetarni sistem previĹĄe komplikovan da bi ga normalni ljudi razumeli. Mnogi od nas se zato i ne trude da pokuĹĄaju.
JoĹĄ nekoliko razloga zaĹĄto ovaj sistem nastavlja da opstaje:
- Mnogo je ljudi koji imaju direktnu korist od ĹĄtampanja novog novca.
- Ti ljudi ne Ĺžele nikakve promene i bore se da zadrĹže tu mocĚ.
- Nacionalne valute su Äesto pogodne
- Kreditne kartice, online bankarstvo i joĹĄ mnogo toga Äine upravljanje nacionalnim valutama i njihovo troĹĄenje lakim i jednostavnim.
- GraÄani moraju da plaÄaju porez u svojoj nacionalnoj valuti
- To stvara potraĹžnju za tom valutom od svih graÄana, poveÄavajuÄi njenu vrednost.
- Glavna meÄunarodna trĹžiĹĄta, poput nafte, denominirana su u dolarima.
- Nafta je potrebna svakoj zemlji na planeti, ali poĹĄto mnogi ne mogu da je proizvode, moraju da je kupuju na meÄunarodnim berzama. Od 1970-ih na ovim berzama gotovo sva nafta se prodaje za dolare, ĹĄto stvara potraĹžnju za dolarima. Da bi se odmaknule od ovog sistema, zemlje bi trebale da pronaÄu novu valutu ili robu za trgovinu naftom, ĹĄto zahteva vreme i rizike.
- Nije postojala dobra alternativa
- Uz globalnu ekonomiju u realnom vremenu, naĹĄ sistem digitalnog bankarstva koji koristi nacionalne valute je pogodan. Transakcija u tvrdom novcu poput zlata bila bi previĹĄe nezgrapna za danaĹĄnji svet. Digitalna valuta pod nazivom Bitcoin, predstavljena 2009. godine, je rastuÄa alternativa koja nudi Ävrst novac koji se kreÄe brzinom interneta.
Ĺ ta je novac, i zaĹĄto trebate da brinete?
Novac je alat koji olakĹĄava razmenu dobara. Kao i svako drugo dobro, novac se pridrĹžava zakona ponude i potraĹžnje â poveÄanje potraĹžnje poveÄaÄe njegovu vrednost, a poveÄanje ponude smanjiÄe njegovu vrednost.
Na ovaj naÄin novac se ne razlikuje od kuÄe ili piletine. MeÄutim, velika prodajnost novca znaÄi da je potraĹžnja za njim uvek velika. Kao rezultat, novac mora biti teĹžak za proizvodnju (a samim tim i ograniÄen u ponudi) ili Äe ga onaj ko ga moĹže napraviti, stvoriti toliko, da vremenom viĹĄe neÄe sluĹžiti kao zaliha vrednosti. Uskoro Äe izgubiti svoje funkcije kao sredstvo razmene i obraÄunske jedinice.
Najbolji novac u datoj ekonomiji je onaj koji se najslobodnije kreÄe â svi ga Ĺžele, lako je obaviti transakcije sa njim i koji sa vremenom dobro drĹži svoju vrednost. Nijedan novac nije savrĹĄen u svemu ovome, a neki istiÄu jednu funkciju novca na ĹĄtetu drugih.
Iako se istorija ne ponavlja, ona se rimuje, a usponi i padovi monetarnih sistema imaju jasne ritmove. Uspon i pad monetarnog sistema Äesto sledi opĹĄti obrazac koji smo videli u priÄama o agri perlama i Kejnslandu: pojavljuje se odredjenji oblik novca koji pomaĹže ljudima da efikasnije trguju i ĹĄtede, ali na kraju gubi na vrednosti kada neko shvati kako da ga jeftino stvori u velikoj koliÄini. MeÄutim, tokom dugog perioda vremena, monetarni sistemi su se poboljĹĄali u sve tri funkcije novca.
Na primer, zlato je tokom vremena dobro sluĹžilo kao zaliha vrednosti. MeÄutim, naĹĄa meÄusobno povezana ekonomija ne bi mogla efikasno da funkcioniĹĄe ako bi trebalo da fiziÄko zlato zamenimo robom i uslugama. Mnogo je lakĹĄe kretati se na papirnom i digitalnom novcu, ali istorija nam govori da su vlade i bankari iskoristili ove oblike novca za kraÄu bogatstva putem inflacije.
DanaĹĄnji globalni monetarni sistem je vrlo zgodan, a digitalna plaÄanja i kreditne kartice olakĹĄavaju troĹĄenje novca. Ovo skriva stalnu inflaciju koja nagriza vrednost svake jedinice novca i dovodi do sve veÄeg jaza u bogatstvu.
Nadam se da je ovaj Älanak proĹĄirio vaĹĄe razumevanje novca i njegove uloge u druĹĄtvu. Ovo je samo poÄetak svega ĹĄto treba istraĹžiti o novcu: za kasnije su saÄuvane teme o inflaciji, kamatnim stopama, pozajmljivanju, poslovnim ciklusima i joĹĄ mnogo toga.
Efikasnija UĹĄteda Novca
MoĹžda se pitate kako zaĹĄtititi svoju ĹĄtednju kada svaki oblik Äesto koriĹĄÄenog novca i investicija pati od inflacije ponude â koja umanjuje vrednost i prenosi bogatstvo onima koji mogu da stvore novac ili investiciju. MoĹžda se Äini da se niĹĄta na planeti danas ne moĹže kvalifikovati kao âteĹžakâ novac, ali dve stvari ipak ostaju: zlato i njegov noviji roÄak Bitcoin. Obe ove stvari je neverovatno teĹĄko proizvesti, a jedna od njih se kreÄe brzinom interneta i moĹže se Äuvati u vaĹĄem mozgu.
Ako Ĺželite da saznate viĹĄe o Bitcoin-u kao sredstvu za zaĹĄtitu vaĹĄe uĹĄteÄevine, proÄitajte ovde. Ako ste veÄ spremni za kupovinu Bitcoin-a, pogledajte moj vodiÄ za kupovinu Bitcoin-a. MoĹžete poÄeti sa investiranjem sa samo 5 ili 10 âŹ.
Zasluge
Hvala svima koji su pomogli u izradi i ureÄivanju ove serije o novcu: @ck_SNARKS, @CryptoRothbard, Neil Woodfine, Emil Sandstedt, Taylor Pearson, Parker Lewis, Jason Choi, mojoj porodici i mnogim drugima.
Hvala svima koji su ovo inspirisali i razvili kljuÄne ideje koje su ovde primenjene: Friedrich Hayek, Carl Menger, Ludwig Von Mises, Murray Rothbard, Saifedean Ammous, Dan Held, Pierre Rochard, Stephan Livera, Michael Goldstein, i mnogi drugi.
Molim vas da ĹĄerujete! Ako vam je ovaj Älanak otvorio oÄi o tome kako funkcioniĹĄe naĹĄ novac i finansijski sistem, kontaktirajte me ili ostavite komentar!
Ako vam se sviÄa moj rad, molim vas da ga podelite sa svojim prijateljima i porodicom. Cilj mi je da svima pruĹžim pogled u ekonomiju i na to kako ona utiÄe na njihov Ĺživot.
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@ faade9ee:1c6dfd69
2025-01-26 11:46:44test2c
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@ af9c48b7:a3f7aaf4
2024-08-27 16:51:52Chef's notes
Easy recipe with simple ingredients. This recipe uses some store bought, precooked items as way to cut down on cook time. I recommend letting the vegetables thaw if you don't like them on the firm/crunchy side.Feel free to substitute fresh ingredients if you have the time and want to make the extra effort.
Details
- â˛ď¸ Prep time: 20 min
- đł Cook time: 50 min
- đ˝ď¸ Servings: 8-10
Ingredients
- 2 (8 oz) packages refrigerated crescent rolls (dough sheets preferred)
- 1 pound cooked rotisserie chicken (deboned and chopped)
- 2 table spoons of butter
- 2 (10 once) packages of frozen mixed vegetables
- 1 (15 once can sliced potatoes (drained)
- 1 (10.5 once) can condensed cream of chicken soup
- 1 (10.5 once) can condensed cream of mushroom soup
- 1/2 cup milk
- salt and ground pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line the botton of 9x13-inch baking dish with one can of crescent roll dough. If you don't get the sheet dough, be sure to pinch the seams together.
- Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Then add the chicken, mixed vegetables, and sliced potatoes (recommend cutting into smaller pieces). Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are thawed and mixture is heated through, 5 to 7 minutes.
- While the mixed vegetables are heating, warm both cans of condensed soup in a seperate pan over medium-low heat. Slowly add milk and cook, stirring frequently, until combined and heated through, about 3 minutes.
- Add the soup mixture to the chicken mixture, then pour into the baking dish. Top with the second can of crescent roll dough. Feel free to cut some slits in dough if you are using the dough sheets. Cover lightly with foil to prevent the crescent roll dough from browning too quickly.
- Bake in oven until heated through and dough is a golden brown. Cook time should be around 45-50 minutes I reommend removing the foil for the last 10 minutes to get a golden crust. Be sure to keep a close watch on the crust after removing the foil because it will brown quickly.
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2023-07-31 12:53:38The following is a collection of Tweets posted on Twitter that documented my entire heart surgery process, from finding out I had an issue, through the surgery, and finally throughout my recovery process. If Elon decides to remove old and unpaid content, I do not want this part of my life to vanish from the Internet. At the time, it was extremely important for my mental health to talk about this whole process and it was therapeutic in my recovery process, reading all of the responses as all of Bitcoin Twitter was behind my success. Thank you all of your kind words, love, and support during this whole process. May my Tweets live on through nostr.
...
Nov 28, 2021 I had open heart surgery 4 days before my 3rd b-day. I've led a healthy & active life since then, zero issues. I had an echocardiogram last week. The results were not good. Heart valve replacement may be in my near future. I am freaking the fuck out. I'll know more on Dec 6th. đŤ
Dec 6, 2021 Update: I had my cardiologist appointment today. He said to not worry for now and continue to exercise and live life. In 3 months get another echo done. He doesn't believe the previous other results since I have zero symptoms and wants to do his own interpretation.
Dec 6, 2021 He said if the other results were correct, I may need valve replacement in 6 months to 3 years. However, he doesn't believe the local hospital's results as I said above. He can't form an opinion just yet. He said not to worry over and over again. For now, I'm staying positive!
Mar 7, 2022 Well, it's been three months. I had my follow up this morning. I have severe pulmonic regurgitation. I now need to speak with a specialist and see what my options are for surgery. Neat. đ
Apr 12, 2022 Well, it looks like I'll need full open heart surgery again to replace my pulmonic valve. Bonus: I'll be part pig. So, I have that going for me. I was assuming that if I had to have this done it would be much less invasive, so I'm not overly impressed at the moment. đŤ¤
May 11, 2022 Today I had to get a CT scan of my heart in preparation for the May 27th surgery. All went well. I have no other heart issues. It's looking like I'll be in the hospital for 4-7 days, depending on how fast I recover. I should be fully 100% recovered by the end of August. â¤ď¸
May 20, 2022 My grandfather with me 39 years ago, days after my open heart surgery. He taught me to hunt, fish, golf, and I'm sure taught me a thing or two about drinking beer and partying. đ He was a great man. He won't physically be with me next Friday, but I'm sure he'll be watching over.
May 25, 2022 Two more sleeps. My mind is racing with an incredible amount of thoughts and emotions now. It's overwhelming. I love you all. Thanks for all of your replies and DMs over the last couple days, weeks, and months. I appreciate it immensely. â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
May 25, 2022 Two more sleeps. My mind is racing with an incredible amount of thoughts and emotions now. It's overwhelming. I love you all. Thanks for all of your replies and DMs over the last couple days, weeks, and months. I appreciate it immensely. â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
May 27, 2022 LET'S GO! I am alive and doing well. I was on a ventilator until 8pm. That was horrible. I will read all of the comments that you all posted on Katie's updates. Now I need to rest. They want to get me up and walk at 11pm. 𤯠I love you all and your support had helped so much đ§Ąđ§Ą
May 28, 2022 The amount of love, compassion, caring, and appreciation from everyone blows my mind. Thanks for all of your comments and DMs. The positivity though all is this has helped me get through dark times and now it's helping me get through pain. You are helping me immensely. đ¤Żâ¤ď¸đ§ĄđŞ
May 28, 2022 Today has been a rough day. Lots of chest pain when breathing. But, I apparently am doing something right, because I have been upgraded to a regular room. No more ICU for this guy! My ICU nurse told my new nurse that I'm strong. â¤ď¸đŞđĽ
May 29, 2022 Using this to document my journey. Last night was not good at all. I had tachycardia and AFib for hours. It was scary as fuck having my heart beat the way it was at 160bpm. They gave me new medication to bring it down and stop the AFib irregular heartbeat. It's now at 101.
May 29, 2022 I was very scared. Katie was able to come and stay the night with me and be my personal care nurse. That made me feel much better having her here with me. Hopefully the meds continue to do what they're supposed to. Fuck. Anyways, I may not Tweet much today. Love you all. â¤ď¸
May 30, 2022 Today has mostly been a great day progress wise. I ate a lot. I've walked more today than I have previously. My doctor told me I might be going home tomorrow, it all depends on what happens with my last drainage tube. Fingers crossed that it's draining properly now. đŞâ¤ď¸
May 31, 2022 Morning walk crushed. Breakfast crushed. Feeling stronger. My drainage tube is still draining so we'll see what the surgeon says, but I probably won't be coming home today according to my nurse. It may be another day. Better to be safe. I'm feeling good though. Let's go! đŞđŞâ¤ď¸â¤ď¸
Jun 1, 2022 Today's plans: Crush morning walk, crush breakfast, CRUSH MY LAST X-RAY AND HEAD THE HELL HOME! Fingers crossed. đ¤đ¤â¤ď¸â¤ď¸đŞđŞ
Jun 1, 2022 On my morning walk I went into a slight AFib. The nurse and PA said since I hadn't had my morning meds to control that yet, that that could be the cause. They're going to increase meds and monitor me for another 24 hours. That sucks, but again, I'd rather be safe. Ugh.
Jun 2, 2022 GM! I miss my kids. I miss wearing normal clothes. I miss my house. I miss my doggy. I better go home today or I guess I'll just keep working to get well enough to go home. đ I'm still progressing forward. I have a chest x-ray scheduled later this morning. Fingers crossed.
Jun 2, 2022 I JUST GOT CLEARED TO HEAD HOME AFTER LUNCH. FUCK YEAH. LET'S GOOOOOOđŞđŞđŞ
Jun 2, 2022 I am home! I have some family that needs some loving. Enjoy the rest of your day!
Jun 4, 2022 Last night I slept in bed thanks to a reclining pillow, the first night our living room chair. I was so happy to sleep in my own bed. I walked around our yard about 9 times yesterday. My goal is to do that plus a little more every day. I'm still in a lot of pain, but meds help.
Jun 4, 2022 I still have a long way to go recovery wise, but having Katie and the kids here helping me along the way makes it easier and gives me a reason to keep pushing forward through this. Thanks again for all of your past and future support. You all are fantastic.
Jun 6, 2022 My wife went back to work today. My son and daughter are in charge of taking care of me. My kids are fantastic. They made me breakfast already and helped me check all of my vitals. My daughter really shines here. She's such a little nurse and caretaker. â¤ď¸â¤ď¸
Jun 6, 2022 I'm still in pain, but I'm not in as much pain as I was a couple days ago. I'm walking around a little better and a little more every day. I really hate just sitting around and not doing anything, but it's hard to do much else besides watch TV. I am enjoying my patio though. đŞ
Jun 16, 2022 It's been a while. It's time to update this thread! I am doing great, IMO. I have lots of energy. I feel great. I can do a lot more than I previously could. I still have a limited range of motion due to my sternum being broken and still healing. i.e. I can't wash my back or legs.
Jun 16, 2022 I started back to work yesterday. I was cleared to do 20 hours this week by my doctor and I'm hoping to be cleared full time next week. I work from home, so if I can sit in front of a TV, I can sit in front of a computer, right?
Jun 16, 2022 My home nurses have been absolutely fantastic.đ My kids make me breakfast every morning. And I could not have done any of this without my rock star wife. Words can't describe how much she's done for me throughout all of this. I am looking forward to continuing to improve. âĽď¸
Jun 16, 2022 You all have been absolutely wonderful through all of this too. I appreciate all of your love, support, and check-ins. Seriously. It means more than you know.
I have a check-up at the end of the month to make sure all is well. I'll update again in a couple weeks after that appt.
Jun 28, 2022 My doctor said everything looks great. He said it doesn't look like I had open heart surgery a month ago.đŞ He said I have zero restrictions and that I can resume normal life. I can drive and I can go out on my boat! â¤ď¸â¤ď¸â¤ď¸ I'm so happy right now! đĽđ
Jul 15, 2022 I started cardiac rehab this week. After 2 sessions the nurse said I'm on "Week 4" already. She doesn't believe with my initial intake stress test if I'll really be able to improve on it that much. 𤣠TL;DR I am a rock star and kicking ass. Feeling great. Life's great. đ
Aug 28, 2022 Yesterday was 3 months since my open heart surgery. I'm going great! I'd guess essentially back to normal. My sternum is still not fully healed, that'll take more time, but energy and capability are basically back to what I was like last summer. I'm very happy with the results.
Aug 28, 2022 I'm very happy to be able to exercise daily, go boating on the weekends AND swim and paddleboard. I was annoyed that I couldn't do these things a month ago. I had a cardiologist appt. two weeks ago. He said he hopes the valve lasts me the rest of my life and to see him in a year.
Aug 28, 2022 As a final post to this thread, I want to thank each and every one of you again that commented, liked, shared and DMed me throughout all of this. The love and support from Twitter and the #Bitcoin community was unfathomable. You all made a difference in my life and my recovery.â¤ď¸
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@ e3ba5e1a:5e433365
2025-04-15 11:03:15Prelude
I wrote this post differently than any of my others. It started with a discussion with AI on an OPSec-inspired review of separation of powers, and evolved into quite an exciting debate! I asked Grok to write up a summary in my overall writing style, which it got pretty well. I've decided to post it exactly as-is. Ultimately, I think there are two solid ideas driving my stance here:
- Perfect is the enemy of the good
- Failure is the crucible of success
Beyond that, just some hard-core belief in freedom, separation of powers, and operating from self-interest.
Intro
Alright, buckle up. Iâve been chewing on this idea for a while, and itâs time to spit it out. Letâs look at the U.S. government like Iâd look at a codebase under a cybersecurity auditâOPSEC style, no fluff. Forget the endless debates about what politicians should do. Thatâs noise. I want to talk about what they can do, the raw powers baked into the system, and why we should stop pretending those powers are sacred. If thereâs a hole, either patch it or exploit it. No half-measures. And yeah, Iâm okay if the whole thing crashes a bitâfailureâs a feature, not a bug.
The Filibuster: A Security Rule with No Teeth
You ever see a firewall rule thatâs more theater than protection? Thatâs the Senate filibuster. Everyone acts like itâs this untouchable guardian of democracy, but hereâs the deal: a simple majority can torch it any day. Itâs not a law; itâs a Senate preference, like choosing tabs over spaces. When people call killing it the ânuclear option,â I roll my eyes. Nuclear? Itâs a button labeled âpress me.â If a party wants it gone, theyâll do it. So why the dance?
I say stop playing games. Get rid of the filibuster. If youâre one of those folks who thinks itâs the only thing saving us from tyranny, fineâpush for a constitutional amendment to lock it in. Thatâs a real patch, not a Post-it note. Until then, itâs just a vulnerability begging to be exploited. Every time a party threatens to nuke it, theyâre admitting itâs not essential. So letâs stop pretending and move on.
Supreme Court Packing: Because Nineâs Just a Number
Hereâs another fun one: the Supreme Court. Nine justices, right? Sounds official. Except itâs not. The Constitution doesnât say nineâitâs silent on the number. Congress could pass a law tomorrow to make it 15, 20, or 42 (hitchhikerâs reference, anyone?). Packing the court is always on the table, and both sides know it. Itâs like a root exploit just sitting there, waiting for someone to log in.
So why not call the bluff? If youâre in powerâsay, Trumpâs back in the gameâsay, âIâm packing the court unless we amend the Constitution to fix it at nine.â Force the issue. No more shadowboxing. And honestly? The courtâs got way too much power anyway. Itâs not supposed to be a super-legislature, but here we are, with justicesâ ideologies driving the bus. Thatâs a bug, not a feature. If the court werenât such a kingmaker, packing it wouldnât even matter. Maybe we should be talking about clipping its wings instead of just its size.
The Executive Should Go Full Klingon
Letâs talk presidents. Iâm not saying they should wear Klingon armor and start shouting âQaplaâ!ââthough, letâs be real, thatâd be awesome. Iâm saying the executive should use every scrap of power the Constitution hands them. Enforce the laws you agree with, sideline the ones you donât. If Congress doesnât like it, theyâve got tools: pass new laws, override vetoes, orâhereâs the big oneâcut the budget. Thatâs not chaos; thatâs the system working as designed.
Right now, the real problem isnât the president overreaching; itâs the bureaucracy. Itâs like a daemon running in the background, eating CPU and ignoring the user. The presidentâs supposed to be the one steering, but the administrative stateâs got its own agenda. Let the executive flex, push the limits, and force Congress to check it. Norms? Pfft. The Constitutionâs the spec sheetâstick to it.
Let the System Crash
Hereâs where I get a little spicy: Iâm totally fine if the government grinds to a halt. Deadlock isnât a disaster; itâs a feature. If the branches canât agree, let the president veto, let Congress starve the budget, let enforcement stall. Donât tell me about âessential services.â Nothingâs so critical it canât take a breather. Shutdowns force everyone to the tableâdebate, compromise, or expose whoâs dropping the ball. If the public loses trust? Good. Theyâll vote out the clowns or live with the circus they elected.
Think of it like a server crash. Sometimes you need a hard reboot to clear the cruft. If voters keep picking the same bad admins, well, the country gets what it deserves. Failureâs the best teacherâway better than limping along on autopilot.
States Are the Real MVPs
If the feds fumble, states step up. Right now, states act like junior devs waiting for the lead engineer to sign off. Why? Federal money. Itâs a leash, and itâs tight. Cut that cash, and states will remember theyâre autonomous. Some will shine, others will tankâlooking at you, California. And Iâm okay with that. Let people flee to better-run states. No bailouts, no excuses. States are like competing startups: the good ones thrive, the bad ones pivot or die.
Could it get uneven? Sure. Some states might turn into sci-fi utopias while others look like a post-apocalyptic vidya game. Thatâs the pointâcompetition sorts it out. Citizens can move, markets adjust, and failureâs a signal to fix your act.
Chaos Isnât the Enemy
Yeah, this sounds messy. States ignoring federal law, external threats poking at our seams, maybe even a constitutional crisis. Iâm not scared. The Supreme Courtâs there to referee interstate fights, and Congress sets the rules for state-to-state play. But if it all falls apart? Still cool. States can sort it without a babysitterâitâll be ugly, but freedomâs worth it. External enemies? Theyâll either unify us or break us. If we canât rally, we donât deserve the win.
Centralizing power to avoid this is like rewriting your app in a single thread to prevent race conditionsâsure, itâs simpler, but youâre begging for a deadlock. Decentralized chaos lets states experiment, lets people escape, lets markets breathe. States competing to cut regulations to attract businesses? Thatâs a race to the bottom for red tape, but a race to the top for innovationâworkers might gripe, but theyâll push back, and the tensionâs healthy. Bring itâlet the cage match play out. The Constitutionâs checks are enough if we stop coddling the system.
Why This Matters
Iâm not pitching a utopia. Iâm pitching a stress test. The U.S. isnât a fragile porcelain doll; itâs a rugged piece of hardware built to take some hits. Let it fail a littleâfilibuster, court, feds, whatever. Patch the holes with amendments if you want, or lean into the grind. Either way, stop fearing the crash. Itâs how we debug the republic.
So, whatâs your take? Ready to let the system rumble, or got a better way to secure the code? Hit me upâIâm all ears.
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@ dd664d5e:5633d319
2024-08-24 07:57:16We can talk about something else, now.
Making boosts/quotes the primary way new users find a variety of topics is a fundamental flaw. We don't need boosts (which merely results in the main trending list trending even harder, as people feel safer boosting something that is already popular), and hashtags have become the mess they naturally will become.
We need topical forums and relay-based community boards.
This would actively encourage those of us who want to write on OtherTopics to write more on them, as we would have some chance of the material being found by those interested in it. And it would spare us having to win some general popularity contest, just to be able to converse about golfing, Hinduism, or veganism.
Scrollable "timeline" feeds, even with AI assistance (like DVMs), don't accomplish this as well, as they eliminate the ability to skim the top-level and selectively read. You have to scroll, scroll, scroll.
It would also reduce the overloading of the original posts with videos, which is starting to give Nostr a Tik-Tok vibe. There's nothing wrong with that, per se, and we should probably have clients like that, but it makes life hard for anyone who wants to have a deeper discussion. People scrolling have trouble even "seeing" a text-based OP, but using the written word is a true signal to the other people, that you are capable of carrying a conversation through text.
Examples for other styles of client
(I am including the Communities in Nostrudel and Satellite, even though they don't yet work, effectively.)
Some of the things that set these clients apart, is that: 1. they are topic-first or thread-first, not person-first, 2. they sometimes allow voting (I suppose we could rank by zaps), 3. they often allow the user to override the default order and simply look at whatever is newest, most popular, or where their friends are currently active (i.e. they allow for easy sorting and filtering), 4. they cap the depth of threads to one or two levels, keep the indentation tiny, or offer a "flat" view, 5. they are primarily text-based (Reddit broke with this and now their main pages look really spammy), 6. they allow you to see all of the entries in the thread, at once, and simply actualize to display the entries that pop up in-between, 7. they often have some indication of what you have already read (this is application data) and allow you to sort for "stuff I haven't looked at, yet".
https://i.nostr.build/uCx5YKMOsjhKBU5c.png https://i.nostr.build/hMkm2oKpos0pWaV9.png https://i.nostr.build/mGQONMw5RC8XKtph.png https://i.nostr.build/TCSkG1bPuMOL0jja.webp https://i.nostr.build/3fLjCSNdtefiZmAH.png https://i.nostr.build/BHgo7EKTK5FRIsVl.png
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@ faade9ee:1c6dfd69
2025-01-26 11:39:51This is a normal piece of text.z
This is a bold piece of text via button press.z
this is also bold, but via double-starsz
this is an italic via button press
this also but via one-star
look, it's an underline!
oh, a piece of code has appeared. Nice. Button press tho. seems like it's purple / missed styling it, will change that.
another code but via text
code block, kinda buggy (really buggy actually x3)
```this is another, but via text which is disabled for now as it's cause issues```
This is a top number thing222
a bottom number thing5ss65435ghrt
- bullets!
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another!
- a third!
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Number!
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another!
- a third!
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[x] check
- [x] box
this is a quote
"quote"
heading 1
heading 2
heading 3 via text
heading 4 via text
heading 5 via text
heading 6 via text
this is a link via text (button has an annoyance bug)
video below
::youtube{#aApSteSbeGA}
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@ 3f770d65:7a745b24
2023-07-18 14:24:15We say that Stackchain is the gamification of buying bitcoin, however itâs much larger than that. Itâs about building. Itâs more than just Bitcoiners having fun in a bear market, stacking sats, doing what they were going to be doing anyway. Itâs about building a community. Who would have known that the simple act of buying bitcoin, creating memes, and having laughs would have grown into the phenomena that it is today? No one could have foreseen the community and the relationships that have been built, all because of Stackchain.
This is the story of two Bitcoiners that met through Stackchain and ended up building a Nostr business together.
Last year during the early days of Stackchain, I met a fellow Stackchainer who just seemed to click with me. His name was Semisol. We seemed to get along great, have lots of laughs, and we both wanted to build with Stackchain. We wanted to take our Stackchain passion and technical skills to grow Stackchain, to help it flourish. Together, we brainstormed about how to build a website for Stackchain, we wanted to build an application so that Stackchain could survive off of Twitter, to make Stackchain its own platform. As a former entrepreneur, this truly excited me. While our hearts and our minds were in the right place, Stackchain wasnât ready for this.
In the beginning, we saw Stackchainâs potential to grow and we tried to steer Stackchain with growth plans and business proposals. It took us a while to realize that no one can control Stackchain and especially in the early days, it was way too hard to even suggest moving forward with anything. That is, except for our beloved Stackjoin proposal. Everything else flopped.
In the end, Semisol, as a talented developer, moved on to other areas of interest, where he could contribute, and grow a platform. He reached out to me several times and told me to try something called Nostr. I gave Nostr a try and laughed at him. I told him that Nostr was barely usable, had a horrible user experience, and just was not worth my time. I didnât realize that we just didnât need to build it.
Fast forward a few months later and I noticed several Bitcoin developers were talking about Nostr, which even managed to gain the attention of Jack Dorsey. In mid-December 2022, I tried Nostr again. This time it clicked with me. Nostr was to social communication what Bitcoin was to money. Decentralized. Censorship resistant. Open source. People were building.
After reading and studying the protocol, I quickly realized that I was able to provide a service for not only myself to utilize, but also for many of my Stackchain friends that were starting to get curious about Nostr. I bought the domain name nostrplebs.com and started Nostr Plebs, a Nostr service provider. Nostr Plebs was filling a need for both myself and the Nostr ecosystem. I was able to build, to feel like I was contributing to the space and through this, provide a service that was wanted and needed by others. My entrepreneurial thirst was quenched. I finally had my Bitcoin adjacent business.
Nostr Plebs was an instant and overwhelming success. I clearly needed help. I immediately thought about my old Stackchainer friend, Semisol. Based on our previous conversations, I knew that he not only had the drive to build a service, but also had the technical skills needed. Together, we built the first NIP-05 ID service provider for Nostr. Together, we continue to grow our Nostr services, providing microservices to help grow the Nostr ecosystem. From ID services, to email, to Lightning addresses, to directory services, to audio communications, Nostr Plebs is a prominent name in the Nostr ecosystem.
Stackchain allowed two like minded Bitcoiners to find one another, discuss their passions and skills for building, and to ultimately build a service provider together. Due to all of this, I say Stackchain is beautiful. Itâs beautiful because weâre not the only ones building. Stackchain embodies builders. Whether youâre building Stackchain content, building your bitcoin stack, building the community, or branching out and building new businesses, it all started with a simple $5 bitcoin purchase. Thatâs the beauty of it.
This article is featured in Stackchain Magazine Volume One, launching on July 18, 2023. You can order your copy today at Proof of Ink.
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@ 0e9491aa:ef2adadf
2025-05-24 16:01:21@matt_odell don't you even dare not ask about nostr!
â Kukks (Andrew Camilleri) (@MrKukks) May 18, 2021
Nostr first hit my radar spring 2021: created by fellow bitcoiner and friend, fiatjaf, and released to the world as free open source software. I was fortunate to be able to host a conversation with him on Citadel Dispatch in those early days, capturing that moment in history forever. Since then, the protocol has seen explosive viral organic growth as individuals around the world have contributed their time and energy to build out the protocol and the surrounding ecosystem due to the clear need for better communication tools.
nostr is to twitter as bitcoin is to paypal
As an intro to nostr, let us start with a metaphor:
twitter is paypal - a centralized platform plagued by censorship but has the benefit of established network effects
nostr is bitcoin - an open protocol that is censorship resistant and robust but requires an organic adoption phase
Nostr is an open communication protocol that can be used to send messages across a distributed set of relays in a censorship resistant and robust way.
â- Anyone can run a relay.
â- Anyone can interact with the protocol.
â- Relays can choose which messages they want to relay.
â- Users are identified by a simple public private key pair that they can generate themselves.Nostr is often compared to twitter since there are nostr clients that emulate twitter functionality and user interface but that is merely one application of the protocol. Nostr is so much more than a mere twitter competitor. Nostr clients and relays can transmit a wide variety of data and clients can choose how to display that information to users. The result is a revolution in communication with implications that are difficult for any of us to truly comprehend.
Similar to bitcoin, nostr is an open and permissionless protocol. No person, company, or government controls it. Anyone can iterate and build on top of nostr without permission. Together, bitcoin and nostr are incredibly complementary freedom tech tools: censorship resistant, permissionless, robust, and interoperable - money and speech protected by code and incentives, not laws.
As censorship throughout the world continues to escalate, freedom tech provides hope for individuals around the world who refuse to accept the status quo. This movement will succeed on the shoulders of those who choose to stand up and contribute. We will build our own path. A brighter path.
My Nostr Public Key: npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx
If you found this post helpful support my work with bitcoin.
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@ eb0157af:77ab6c55
2025-05-24 18:01:14Vivek Ramaswamyâs company bets on distressed bitcoin claims as its Bitcoin treasury strategy moves forward.
Strive Enterprises, an asset management firm co-founded by Vivek Ramaswamy, is exploring the acquisition of distressed bitcoin claims, with particular interest in around 75,000 BTC tied to the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate. This move is part of the companyâs broader strategy to build a Bitcoin treasury ahead of its planned merger with Asset Entities.
According to a document filed on May 20 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Strive has partnered with 117 Castell Advisory Group to âidentify and evaluateâ distressed Bitcoin claims with confirmed legal judgments. Among these are approximately 75,000 BTC connected to Mt. Gox, with an estimated market value of $8 billion at current prices.
Essentially, Strive aims to acquire rights to bitcoins currently tied up in legal disputes, which can be purchased at a discount by those willing to take on the risk and wait for eventual recovery.
In a post on X, Striveâs CFO, Ben Pham, stated:
âStrive intends to use all available mechanisms, including novel financial strategies not used by other Bitcoin treasury companies, to maximize its exposure to the asset.â
The company also plans to buy cash at a discount by merging with publicly traded companies holding more cash than their stock value, using the excess funds to purchase additional Bitcoin.
Mt. Gox, the exchange that collapsed in 2014, is currently in the process of repaying creditors, with a deadline set for October 31, 2025.
In its SEC filing, Strive declared:
âThis strategy is intended to allow Strive the opportunity to purchase Bitcoin exposure at a discount to market price, enhancing Bitcoin per share and supporting its goal of outperforming Bitcoin over the long run.â
At the beginning of May, Strive announced its merger plan with Asset Entities, a deal that would create the first publicly listed asset management firm focused on Bitcoin. The resulting company aims to join the growing number of firms adopting a Bitcoin treasury strategy.
The corporate treasury trend
Striveâs initiative to accumulate bitcoin mirrors that of other companies like Strategy and Japanâs Metaplanet. On May 19, Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, announced the purchase of an additional 7,390 BTC for $764.9 million, raising its total holdings to 576,230 BTC. On the same day, Metaplanet revealed it had acquired another 1,004 BTC, increasing its total to 7,800 BTC.
The post Bitcoin in Striveâs sights: 75,000 BTC from Mt. Gox among its targets appeared first on Atlas21.
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@ 8dc86882:9dc4ba5e
2024-08-23 01:08:19Today I am pondering the life of my blog, in this case my Npub.Pro blog. The existence of my post is limited by the time relays stay up and for how long. So a post could vanish at anytime.
Do I need a regular hosted blog? Where I know the longevity of my posts will be as long as I pay the bill?
Maybe I should just save a copy of everything, and if it disappears and I want it out there again I can just repost it?
Now I have a relay I am hosting and sharing. My posts go to it and will be on here until I stop it, so that is a good thing, since i plan on keeping it up as long as possible. Of course, I am not sure how to pull the data off of it.
The longevity question is a good one, I guess the only real way is to make second copies of everything and save and back them up. But I am bugged a little that links to stuff on my blog will someday possibly die, leading people nowhere. It's an interesting dilemma. I don't know if it outweighs the freedom of posting from Nostr? Maybe the freedom of Nostr makes the problem all worth while.
plebone
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@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b
2025-01-09 13:43:067
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@ bc6ccd13:f53098e4
2025-05-24 15:55:20It wasnât so long ago that the mainstream conversation around population was exclusively focused on the dangers of overpopulation. The fatal flaws in the Malthusian theory had yet to be disproven clearly and obviously by observable demographic trends. Thatâs been gradually changing, and while itâs hardly a mainstream consensus, concerns about falling birthrates and the risk of population collapse have taken over the population conversion on the political right, and sometimes beyond.
Thereâs no questioning the data at this point. Fertility rates over most of the world have been in precipitous decline, and if the current trajectory continues, global population will peak very soon and fall rather dramatically. And even the falling population itself is much less of a threat than the aging population that will inevitably precede it. Having a large cohort of older and retired people and a small cohort of young workers is an existential threat to the modern welfare state, and to the entire credit-based fiat monetary system that supports it. But thatâs a subject for another day.
There are a multitude of different theories that attempt to explain why this is happening. Iâll name some of the most common ones:
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Increased education and employment opportunities for women
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Urbanization
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Economic factors
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Access to contraception
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Changing social and cultural norms
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Delayed marriage
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Improvements in infant mortality rates
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Government policies
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Environmental concerns
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Pornography
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Feminism
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Endocrine disrupting chemicals
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Dating apps
Most rational thinkers agree there must be multiple factors playing a role. But the fact that the problem is so wide-spread, and populations that seem to be resisting the trend are so rare, shows that the strongest underlying factors are cross-culturally powerful and not easily resisted or reversed with marginal cultural differences and standard public policy efforts.
While populations that resist the trend are rare, they are not quite non-existent. A few groups stand out for their persistently high fertility rates. On a geographic basis, sub-Saharan Africa is the only major region still maintaining above-replacement fertility rates. For various reasons, I donât think Africa is the most useful place to look for answers on whatâs causing the decline elsewhere or how it could be reversed. One reason is that Africa seems to be following the global pattern, just with a lag. In another few decades the data may look very different, just like it does for South America today compared to 20 years ago.
In my opinion, a more useful place to look for data is in smaller population sub-groups within a geographic area that have fertility rates significantly higher than the general population levels. Rural populations in general have higher fertility rates than urban populations, but the difference isnât really enough to consider it significant. The groups that fit this category well seem to be exclusively religious. These include certain Christian denominations in the traditional Anabaptist category including the Amish, Mennonites, and Hutterites, Muslims in some areas, and Jews, particularly the most orthodox sects. Mormons recently fell out of the high-fertility religious group category, which would also make for some interesting research.
It would be fascinating to compare these groups and see what they have in common outside just being religious in nature. I donât have the knowledge to make that comparison. Instead, Iâm going to focus on the group thatâs often referenced and analyzed by people without much personal knowledge, the Amish.
I have read numerous articles and comments that reference the Amish to support this or that theory on the cause of falling fertility. One thing I notice is an obvious lack of understanding of the Amish culture, which leads to faulty arguments that donât reflect reality. This isnât surprising, given the insular and poorly-understood nature of the culture, the plethora of ridiculously incorrect âAmishâ reality TV shows and pop culture myths, and the fact that the number of people with firsthand knowledge of Amish culture from an insider perspective who also write about demographic trends on any public platform is probably zero.
Well, was zero. Iâm about to make that one.
My Qualifications
Since Iâm claiming to have this knowledge, itâs only fair to give a little background as to how I got it. I choose to stay anonymous on the internet, and given that this is personal information that could make it significantly easier to dox me, Iâll be deliberately vague.
My parents were both born in Amish families. They didnât stay, opting to leave the Amish church and culture before getting married and starting their family. My grandparents were all Amish, and all my cousins and most of my extended family remain Amish to this day. My parents didnât move out of the Amish community, staying in the area and joining a conservative Mennonite church that was about the closest thing to being Amish without actually being Amish. The Mennonite community has a generally good relationship with and a lot of respect for the Amish community, given their deep similarities and shared history and cultural background.
I grew up interacting regularly with Amish relatives, neighbors and community members, speaking the Pennsylvania Dutch my parents taught us and used exclusively at home. Iâm very certain that a real deep understanding of Amish culture is almost impossible without speaking their language, just like many other cultures around the world. The Amish speak English as their second language, but there are aspects of their culture that arenât spoken about in English.
This lifelong proximity to and interaction with the Amish community has, I believe, given me some unique insights into the factors supporting their high fertility rates that no amount of academic research will ever uncover.
Who are the Amish?
First, some basics.
The Amish are a traditionalist Christian denomination. The way to understand the Amish is as a religious denomination first, and a culture second. Getting the two mixed up makes it impossible to understand why the Amish live the way they do.
Sure, their unique lifestyles makes them noteworthy as a group. But that lifestyle is based on and maintained by their religious beliefs and convictions.
Fundamentally, the Amish attempt to live out the Gospel as Jesus taught in the Sermon on the Mount. They believe their church has done so historically, and that the best way to make sure they keep doing so in the future is to view any changes to their traditional lifestyle with extreme skepticism and resistance.
The two primary doctrines that separate them from the mainstream Protestant Reformation, which is their groupâs origin, are the doctrines of nonconformity and nonresistance. They apply the doctrine of nonconformity, the command to âbe not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of Godâ in both a spiritual and a practical sense. They believe that Christians are to be radically different from non-Christians, both in their beliefs and attitudes, and in their lifestyle and appearance. And they apply the command to âresist not evilâ, nonresistance, to mean that itâs a sin to use physical force or violence against another person for any reason whatsoever. They donât make any exception for military service of any type, which they object to as a matter of conscience, or for self-defense, which they refuse to engage in even if it means death for themselves or their family.
The Amish do not practice infant baptism. Their young people must choose to be baptized and formally become members of the church, usually in their late teens or early twenties. As part of the baptism ceremony, they make a vow to remain faithful to God and the church until death. The Amish, as a church, interpret this vow to mean that the new church member will remain a member of the Amish church for life. Leaving the Amish church after making this vow and being baptized is viewed as breaking the vow, and is the justification for their practice of shunning, or the ban. Those who do so are cut off from contact with the community in various ways. Typically they wonât eat a meal with a shunned person, ride in a car a shunned person is driving, or do business with a shunned person. That includes immediate family. Failure to enforce this shunning against someone, even your own child, can result in running afoul of the church leadership and also being excommunicated and shunned.
This punishment, however, only applies to people who leave the church after baptism. Those young people who choose not to be baptized and leave the church instead are free to be treated just like any other non-Amish person, although their family essentially disown them and treat them like a shunned person anyway, if theyâre especially strict and upset about the betrayal of Amish values.
Most Amish people donât believe that the Amish are the only true church, or that only Amish people are true Christians. Most are accepting of other conservative Anabaptist denominations, and respect their values and practices as a different but valid way to be Christian. Church teaching strongly suggests that those who fall under the ban are living in sin and wonât make it to heaven. Most individuals, though, probably wouldnât agree with that in every case if they were free to give their true opinion on the issue.
The Amish maintain a fertility rate of around 6 to 7 children per woman. Some recent research suggests this may be starting to fall somewhat, but the data isnât extensive enough to make a solid judgement yet.
There are a wide variety of different âflavorsâ of Amish in different areas of the US, a fact theyâre very aware of. The data strongly indicates that the most conservative and technologically primitive communities have slightly higher fertility rates and significantly higher retention rates of young people.
Why do the Amish Maintain High Fertility Rates?
Okay, enough background. Time to dive into the reasons I believe the Amish maintain their historically high fertility rate despite living in a developed, modern economy surrounded by people with dramatically sub-replacement fertility rates.
I thought long and hard about the best way to approach this. Going through a list of factors topically seemed like the obvious one. But the more I thought it through, the less I liked it. For one, how do you arrange the factors? Order of importance? How do you decide that? Also, the factors are so inter-related that theyâll be very tough to separate and understand individually. Finally, it seems dry and boring. Nobody needs that.
So Iâm going to try something different. Iâm going to approach it from a narrative angle. Iâll try to describe the life of a typical Amish person, from birth to death, in a chronological way. Thatâs the best approach to present it in a way that makes the culture relatable, while also tying the different factors together logically.
Iâll describe the experience for both men and women as best I can, and try to present the various factors encouraging high fertility as I see them at the appropriate part of the story.
This will likely be an article that gets revised later to address any questions that come up, so donât consider it the final word on the subject.
Alright, time to get started.
Subscribed
First off, this might seem obvious, but the typical Amish baby is born into a large family. On average, theyâll have 5 or 6 siblings, and more is not at all uncommon. Families of 10 wonât raise an eyebrow, and 12-16 children arenât unheard of, especially in the past when mortality was higher and second marriages were more common among younger widowers who went on to have children with their second wife. Humans are social creatures, and the environment and people we grow up surrounded by have a strong influence on our frame of reference. Studies have shown that women are very unlikely to have more children than their mother had. The number of siblings in your family, and in families you observe and interact with, doesnât determine the number of children you will have, but it does strongly influence the number of children you feel is a ânormalâ amount. That makes it a kind of ratchet effect, where itâs very unlikely that a generation raised in homes with one or two children will go on to have larger families of their own collectively.
This cultural norm of large families establishes a kind of inertia that normalizes high fertility right from birth. Amish children grow up surrounded by siblings, observing, and as they get older, helping with the care and maintenance of a large family. All their relatives, cousins and extended family are also likely to belong to large families. The average Amish child grows up with dozens of first cousins, and sometimes hundreds of more distant cousins, many of whom they likely know well and socialize with regularly. This experience establishes a mental framework where a large family is assumed to be the default. And there is no stronger human tendency than the urge to fit in with the people around you.
Amish children grow up with strong gender norms taught from a very young age. The Amish culture follows strict and conservative gender roles. Boys and men do male things, girls and women do female things, and there is little effort or desire to create any overlapping space.
Boys grow up doing traditionally masculine things. They play outside, do chores on the farm, help their dad with his work, probably get a BB gun before age 10, go hunting and fishing, play sports, and generally prepare for a lifetime of physical labor and providing for a wife and family.
Girls grow up doing traditionally feminine things. They help care for younger siblings, help with housework, play with dolls, learn to cook and preserve food, learn to sew, and generally prepare for a lifetime of caring for and raising children and maintaining a large household.
Itâs a common misconception that the Amish are mostly farmers who live off the land, subsistence style. Thatâs not at all accurate. While there are still Amish who make their living farming, at least in some areas, that has become the exception. The large scale of modern agriculture means it takes a lot of acres and a lot of machinery to run a profitable commercial farming operation. The Amish reject the use of most modern agricultural machinery, which makes them uncompetitive in commercial agriculture outside more niche markets like dairy, produce, or greenhouses. And the fact that they live in small geographic communities with large families means they quickly buy up all available farmland in an area until they price themselves out of the market. Prime farmland in heavy Amish farming communities like Lancaster, Pennsylvania routinely sells for over $25,000 per acre, which is more than a commercial crop farming operation might bring in over a lifetime.
So the Amish have moved away from a primarily agriculture based economy to various other occupations. In some areas they work in RV factories. Most work in trades, primarily construction. Many are masons, carpenters, cabinet builders, mechanics, welders, etc.
But they reject the ownership of cars, so they still use their characteristic horses and buggies for transportation. In reality, they use cars for most of their transportation needs. But they donât own cars or have driverâs licenses, so they rely on âAmish taxi driversâ to chauffer them around. The men hire a driver to take them to and from work, if they work in construction or some other job outside the home. The women hire a driver take them to town for their shopping or for other errands. The exception is church. Theyâre still required to drive to church in a horse and buggy, so every family must keep a horse for that reason, as a bare minimum. In many cases thatâs the only time they ever use a horse and buggy, and if it werenât for that requirement they wouldnât own one at all.
But that requirement means every Amish family must own enough land to keep a horse, which takes a few acres and a small barn at minimum. This forces them to live in rural areas and raise their families in a somewhat agricultural environment, even if their occupation wouldnât require that at all. So there are always chores for the children, animals to care for, and space to play outside with their siblings.
Amish children grow up with very limited exposure to mainstream cultural pressures. Their mothers inevitably raise them at home until they start school. They donât have TV or cell phones, so they arenât exposed to any mainstream culture on a daily basis.
The Amish have their own schools, typically small one room schools within walking distance of all the families who attend. The teachers are often young single people, always Amish. They primarily teach basic academics: reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, etc. While the Amish speak both English and Pennsylvania Dutch, many Amish children are first exposed to English on a daily basis when they start school. School is taught in English, although there is limited teaching of the High German the Amish use in their church services.
Amish children attend school until 8th grade. The schools run the minimum number of days required by the state, usually 160. There is no higher education beyond grade 8. No Amish attend college.
Amish children are taught from little up that they are not like other people. The differences between their culture and mainstream culture are emphasized, and Amish culture is praised as the ideal, at a religious level. They're taught that the way to do whatâs right is to do what the church asks, and those who donât do what the church asks are in the wrong.
The Amish rate and describe everyone on a scale from âhighâ to âlowâ. A person who isnât Amish, who isnât a Christian, is a âhighâ person, or an âEnglishâ person. To go from being Amish to being âEnglishâ is the worst, most damning, failure imaginable. The Amish are âlowâ people. The more strict and traditional an Amish sect, the âlowerâ they are. Being âlowâ is seen as a virtue. Other conservative Christian denominations, particularly other Anabaptist groups, are also considered âlowâ people and generally viewed favorably, but they arenât as âlowâ as the Amish.
Amish boys grow up expecting to start work full time at age 14, and to work at some type of trade or physical labor. There are no white-collar career tracks, essentially. Entrepreneurship is encouraged, and many young Amish men start their own construction crew or home business in their 20s or 30s after a few years of experience working for someone else. Often Amish boys start off working for and with their dad, in whatever trade or business he operates. But if theyâre not interested in that particular occupation, theyâre free to find another. Amish businesses and tradesmen are always willing to hire young Amish boys and train them in a craft. A good work ethic is considered a virtue, and Amish are known for their skilled craftsmanship and willingness to work harder than the competition. These traits are taught and encouraged from little on up.
Amish men as a whole do very well financially. For one, they start working and developing skills and work ethic a decade earlier than the typical college graduate. The trades pay well, and of course anyone could take advantage of that, but the mainstream narrative discourages men from pursuing a trade career by labeling it low status and keeping them in education until their prime years to gain a work ethic are past. Itâs not uncommon for young Amish men just out of 8th grade to land a job on a carpentry crew for $25-30 an hour. With bonuses, some of them are bringing in $90k/year before age 20. Another advantage young Amish men have is lower expenses. They can certainly find places to spend their money, typically hobbies like hunting and fishing, but things like expensive designer clothes and accessories or overpriced car payments arenât really an option. They also benefit from the Amish exemption to Social Security taxes. The Amish donât pay into or collect Social Security. More on that later, but it helps immensely to keep more of your paycheck in your early prime working years.
Amish girls grow up expecting to get married at a young age and raise a large family as a traditional housewife. Amish girls arenât encouraged to have a âcareerâ, and the idea would be silly to them. They are expected to work, but the work is either helping their mom with the household, working on the family farm or business, or doing something like teaching school or working at an Amish farmerâs market to pass the time between leaving school and marriage. Itâs never viewed as a permanent occupation, because marriage and motherhood is the default aspirational lifestyle. A common job for young Amish girls is working as a âmaidâ to help a new mother with housework at the end of pregnancy and for the first few months after childbirth. All new mothers can get this type of help if they want, and it will usually be a younger sister, cousin, or niece of appropriate age. Otherwise the community will find a suitable girl whoâs available for the job. A âmaidâ will sometimes travel to a different Amish community for this reason, given how large extended families are and how frequently Amish families move across the country to a different community. This is often an opportunity for them to attract the attention of a young man outside their local community, and is one of the only ways for a long-distance relationship and marriage to begin.
Amish young people are expected to live with their parents until marriage, with very few exceptions. Theyâre also typically expected to work for their dad in the family business for no pay, and to give any earnings they make at a day job outside the home to their parents. This is typically expected until age 21, or until they get married, whichever comes first. More recently, with the rising cost of land and housing, itâs becoming more common to make age 18 the cutoff. And when a young couple is engaged, the parents typically allow them to start saving their income for their future household. This practice helps parents offset some of the expenses of raising such large families, along with the fact that no money is spent on higher education. It also provides one strong incentive to marry as early as possible.
Amish culture revolves around family and the community. Extended families are large, and people are expected to know and interact with their family. Conversation with a stranger at a social event invariably starts by asking their name, then asking who their parents, grandparents, and other relatives are until some distant family connection or a mutual acquaintance is found. Since the Amish community has a small pool of family names, and tends to heavily favor certain Biblical first names, enough people end up with the same name to make things really confusing. People are often identified by two or three generations of their family, for example âSam Yoderâs Johnâs Amosâ for an Amos Yoder whoâs father was John Yoder and grandfather Sam Yoder.
Social activities are either family events or church events, or both. Weddings and funerals are the main social functions other than church services, and people are expected to attend as many as possible among their family and extended family, regardless of the distance. Given the large family sizes, most Amish have dozens of first cousins and many more distant cousins. Weddings and funerals can be almost weekly events. These are church events as well, so much of the local Amish community will usually attend. It will be an all day event, with the women and girls preparing a lunch and dinner for everyone. After the meal, the women and girls will wash the dishes and clean up, while the men sit around and talk. No cell phones, remember. Talking is the main form of social interaction. Topics typically include work, family news, hunting and fishing stories (Amish men hunt and fish with the same enthusiasm typical American men watch sports), horses, and interesting or funny stories about family and friends. Those with a knack for entertaining oratory are well respected and appreciated in the Amish community.
Of course the women do their fair share of talking as well, in the kitchen while cleaning up after the meal, and later in the living room where they join the men after the domestic work is done. The main topics of conversation always revolve around family, immediate and extended. News travels through the Amish community faster than any social media platform, because nothing builds Amish female status more than being the first to call with the news that great uncle so-and-so was injured in a farming accident or nephew so-and-so has a new baby, along with all the pertinent details about the name, size, and health of the baby and how the mother is doing and how many grandchildren that makes in total for the lucky grandparents.
While the adults are talking, the children are free to play either inside or preferably outside. Trampolines, climbing trees, playing in the hayloft, tag, volleyball, and softball are favorite activities at various ages. The younger boys and girls typically play together, but as they get older the girls spend more time visiting while the boys prefer more structured sports. Softball is a game for boys, but volleyball is popular with mixed teams of boys and girls at any age.
Visiting relatives or other community families is also a popular social activity, especially on âin-between Sundayâ. The Amish have church every other week, and the week without church is often an opportunity to visit another family. Invitations are not expected or required, and anyone stopping by will be expected to stay for dinner and into the evening. At these type of events, the older children are often expected to sit and visit with the adults. Sitting still and being quiet are mandatory skills, since church services are 2 hours or longer and held in barns or sheds without air conditioning filled with backless wooden benches. Self-discipline is not an optional virtue, because the alternative is physical discipline.
As Amish young people enter their mid teen years, they go from childhood to youth. At a certain age, usually around 15 or 16, they officially become youth and enter the stage everyone is familiar with, ârumspringaâ. Thatâs a Pennsylvania Dutch word that translates to ârunning aroundâ. The Amish use it more as a verb, but pop culture has adopted it as a noun based on some wildly inaccurate reality TV shows and depictions.
The reality is, rumspringa varies widely from community to community, mostly based on what the parents and church leaders tolerate. Remember that Amish church membership is a fully voluntary decision, and Amish young people are free to join or not, as they decide. Late teens is the typical age for that decision. In the meantime, they are free to make their own decisions, subject to their parentsâ rules. Breaking the rules can mean that at some point, they wonât be welcome to live in their parentsâ household any more. Thatâs a fairly strong deterrent to the most extreme infractions.
At this stage, young Amish men will be buying their own horse and buggy, and both boys and girls will be permitted to attend the Sunday night âsingingâ. This is a social activity held at someone's house on Sunday evening, involving all the youth in the community coming together for dinner, playing volleyball, and singing German hymns together. The purpose is to provide a somewhat controlled social environment for young men and women to interact and hopefully meet their future spouse. Dating couples can attend together, and dates are permitted after the formal activities, with the young men often driving their date home late at night before finally heading home themselves.
Depending on the tolerance of the community, the informal activities can be a bit more permissive than singing hymns and playing volleyball. Often the buggies will become a typical teenage party scene, with alcohol, smoking, a radio, illicit smartphones and DVD players, and some less-than-reserved interaction between boys and girls. The punishment for getting caught can be severe, but in many cases the adults tend to turn a blind eye to whatâs happening, and let the young people do as they please.
A lot more could be said about the dynamics of this cultural practice, but specifics vary so much between communities that I donât think thereâs much value in doing so. The point I think is relevant to this discussion is the question of sex.
Thereâs no reason to go off into the weeds on how much, if any, sex occurs. Premarital sex is absolutely forbidden. Does it happen anyway? Humans being human, certainly. How much? Probably very little in most cases. Getting pregnant, or getting someone pregnant, is the one transgression with inevitable life-changing consequences. The âshotgun weddingâ is alive and well among the Amish, and getting a girl pregnant means marrying her or being expelled from the Amish community permanently, no exceptions. Besides that, getting pregnant outside of marriage is the most disgraceful and shameful thing a girl could do. It happens very very rarely, put it that way.
So casual sex within the community is basically off the table. What about casual sex with âEnglishâ people? This is where the Amish cultural practices play a big role. The Amish dress very distinctly. They canât go anywhere in their traditional clothes without being instantly recognized. They also donât drive cars, so going somewhere means getting a ride with someone. And their parents will usually keep an eye on their plans and whereabouts. So letâs imagine how an Amish teenager might go about finding a casual sexual encounter.
First off, getting ahold of a cell phone would be essential. They need some way to communicate with the outside world, and coordinate with their âpartner in crime.â A lot of Amish teenagers do this, often with the help of slightly older people who have left the Amish, but keep ties with the community, maybe an older sibling or cousin. These are often the same people who buy alcohol for Amish teens.
Then, they need to get some non-Amish clothes. Remember, every trip away from home will take a willing driver, a plausible excuse in a community where everyone knows everyone, and the guarantee of being immediately recognized if seen in public. And the Amish parents know who the âbad kidsâ are, the ones who left but are willing to help their younger relatives and friends break the rules. Getting caught hanging around with them will probably mean a lot less trust and a lot less freedom in the future.
For the girls, a change of âEnglishâ clothes and a new hairstyle will let them blend in quite well. Of course, they canât be caught leaving or coming home in those clothes, or have the clothes found at home. Lots of logistical hurdles everywhere. For the boys, they have a very distinctive haircut. A new change of clothes wonât fix that. Thereâs really no way for them to hide the fact that theyâre Amish, even if the accent and the lack of a driverâs license donât give them away.
Assuming they manage all that, and sneak away from home undetected, how will they find someone to hook up with? Theyâre very insulated from popular culture, and probably not at all comfortable in typical social situations. For the girls, thereâs the added risk that an accidental pregnancy, or even just getting caught, would ruin their reputation and any chance of marriage and a family in the Amish community. So theyâre unlikely to even try, unless theyâre already fully intending to leave the Amish for good. That only really happens if they have a guy ready to marry them outside the Amish community, for reasons Iâll get into more later. Briefly, the Amish culture and schooling leaves women poorly prepared to support themselves outside that culture.
For the boys, thereâs the typical difficulty men face in finding casual sexual partners. Multiply that by the difficulty of not having a car or driverâs license, not being experienced in mainstream social norms, plus that obvious and undisguisable Amish haircut. And all that ignores the lifelong teaching that casual sex is sinful and wrong, and those who engage in it are going against the teachings of God and the church. The entire culture is specifically designed to discourage casual sex as strongly as possible, and it does an excellent job at that.
Why does that matter? Well, humans are all very much the same, with the same desires and instincts. And sex is one of the strongest of those desires. The Amish are certainly no different.
So the Amish religious practice and culture offers a very simple choice. You can choose sex outside of marriage, which will be difficult or impossible, occasional at best, and if you get caught will mean expulsion from the community your life is rooted in, and even if you donât get caught will mean youâre committing a mortal sin that will keep you out of heaven if you donât repent and change. Or, you can get married and have all the sex you want, and be respected and rewarded for it.
Thatâs really all it takes to sell the idea of marriage to most men.
When a couple does decide to get engaged, of course with permission from the girlâs father, the wedding happens within a reasonably short time, in acknowledgement of the temptation young people face in that situation.
So letâs take a little closer look at the gender differences between the choice to stay single or to marry. Itâs helpful to lay out the different life paths available, and how they play out over time.
There are very few Amish who remain single throughout their life, and almost all of them are women. So letâs look at it through a manâs perspective first. What kind of life can a single Amish man expect?
First off, a lifetime of celibacy. Thereâs hardly any need to go further, thatâs a deal breaker for most men. If they choose to stay single for some reason, most will leave the Amish completely rather than accept those terms.
So maybe itâs more useful to look at incentives for early marriage, which is the norm. Iâm a strong believer that incentives create outcomes, so Iâll be taking a hard look at incentives throughout this article.
Young people are expected to live with their parents until marriage, in most cases. Remember, no going off to college either. So from age 14 on, theyâre stuck living with Mom and Dad, working full time, and not even keeping their own income. That gets old fast. Getting married, moving out, and starting a family looks better every day. Besides that, Amish women do a lot to improve the lives of their men. The Amish are well known for their delicious food. Well, thatâs because the Amish women cook and bake. As a single guy, moving out of Momâs house means not getting delicious home-cooked food every day. And they donât have an iPhone to order DoorDash either, so itâs pizza delivery, hiring a driver to go to a restaurant, or whatever you can cook yourself. And Amish boys donât grow up learning how to cook, thatâs womenâs work. Same with making clothes. Amish mothers and wives sew clothes for their families, since theyâre forbidden to wear commercially available clothes in general. So a single guy is dependent on his mom for new clothes as well. Same with washing clothes. Most Amish have fairly modern clothes washing machines, although they donât use dryers. But washing and folding clothes isnât a job most boys grow up doing, so theyâre pretty lost if they have to try it.
All in all, there arenât a lot of upsides to staying single longer than absolutely necessary. There are plenty of benefits to marriage, though. For one, marriage is seen as a necessary step to full maturity as a man. Itâs even expressed as a visible marker. Single young men typically stay clean-shaven. Once they get married, shaving is completely forbidden, and they are required to grow out a full beard. So the difference between married and single men is obvious at first glance, and is acknowledged as a marker of full maturity.
Then of course thereâs the sexual access. No explanation needed.
Then there are all the benefits of an improved lifestyle a stay-at-home wife provides. That includes cooking, cleaning, washing clothes, caring for a garden, preserving food, helping with farm work or chores, and helping with his business. Many Amish wives are very involved in their husbandâs career or business, whether thatâs managing the bookkeeping, working in the greenhouses, or helping with daily chores on the farm. While most Amish communities use quite modern household appliances, powered with batteries, kerosene, or air pressure, the work of maintaining a household is still much more involved than for the typical American household. Especially when it comes to sewing, which very few American women do at all, but which took a large percentage of womenâs time only a few generations ago. Among the Amish it still does.
Iâm only focusing on the incentives for marriage right now, because thatâs the first step. Of course, most married couples today donât have 5-8 children, so thereâs more to the story. But universal marriage, particularly early marriage, is an essential part of the puzzle.
Shifting focus to the women, here the picture is even more clear. Almost all lifelong single Amish people are women, and thatâs not by choice. The Amish still maintain the âold maidâ category that used to be part of mainstream culture. Single Amish women are almost invariably single because no man offered to marry them. Hereâs why.
If single life is unappealing for Amish men, itâs positively bleak for women. Marriage and family life is the aspirational goal theyâre taught from little up. And for good reason.
With their eighth-grade education, and without a driverâs license and car, their income earning potential is very limited. Most young women who arenât busy on the farm or with the family business work as schoolteachers, housecleaners, babysitters, or cooks and servers at Amish restaurants or farmersâ markets. None of these jobs pay well. Enough to buy a few personal items, but not enough to buy a house or support even one person. And while it might be acceptable for a single Amish man to eventually buy a house and move out, at some point in his late 20s or early 30s, itâs really not acceptable at any age for an Amish old maid. Those old maids typically end up living with their parents, caring for them in old age, working the same type of jobs young girls do, and probably hoping that at some point an older widower with a family will show up and propose.
Marriage has massive lifestyle benefits for women, even more so than for men. Amish men typically do well financially, and often work in construction as well, or have friends and relatives who do. Amish houses are very nice and well constructed to say the least, and the wife gets the house she wants, the way she wants it. Being stingy with a house for your wife isnât part of an Amish manâs mentality. Amish women are well rewarded for all their hard work keeping house, with a house theyâll be happy keeping. And of course a nice farm or at least some acreage, with space for a big garden, a barn for any animals, and space for greenhouses or whatever she needs for any home business ambitions she might have.
Along with that, Amish women have a lot of flexibility when it comes to spending money. Many Amish women handle most of the family finances. And the money her husband earns is family money, not his money. While the husband has final say in financial decisions, most Amish men donât say no to their wivesâ purchase requests often. Married Amish women have access to all the creature comforts the church allows to make their lives as pleasant as possible.
When it comes to status, the benefits are just as clear. Amish life revolves around family, and nothing is higher status than a thriving family of your own. The Amish version of posting exotic vacation pictures on Instagram is showing up to a social function with your new baby. Itâs the automatic center of attention for weeks, until a newer baby show up in the community. And the default topic of conversation is always a womanâs children and their growth and development. Young girls grow up dreaming of the day they can join those conversations, and old maids are always outsiders in a certain sense, pitied by everyone else for their misfortune.
Being an old maid means being poor, low status, pitied by other women, and destined to live with your parents until they pass, with your only bitter-sweet consolation being the role of aunt to your dozens of nieces and nephews and maid to your sisters and sisters-in-law through their many pregnancies. Getting married means access to a manâs income, a nice new house just the way you want it, a farm, and an automatic status boost as a mother and eventually grandmother who always has lots to contribute to the conversation at social events.
As you can imagine, the incentives strongly favor marriage from both directions. Men benefit through improved lifestyle, status, and access to sex. Women benefit through improved lifestyle, economic opportunity, and status in the social hierarchy.
Given that the selection pool for potential partners is limited, mostly to the local Amish community, or occasionally another Amish community if thereâs some interaction through family ties or social events, assortative mating is the norm. Young people can be choosy, sure. But they already know most of the people in their potential mating pool, and have probably known those people for most of their lives. They have a pretty good idea how desirable they are to potential partners, and the girls especially have to think long and hard about turning down a suitor. Men are always the initiators of a relationship, and the risk of turning down an eligible man and then never getting another offer, ending up as a dreaded old maid, is always lurking in the back of their minds.
Besides that, both men and women have multiple ways to improve their spouseâs life. Women are much more than just sexual objects. Their domestic role actually raises their husbandâs standard of living significantly, in a way he canât access as a single man. And men are all valuable to women, both for resources and for status as a wife and mother. Even a very average husband or wife is a massive lifestyle boost over remaining single.
By now it should be pretty clear why marriage is almost universal among the Amish, and marriage at what most would consider a young age (19-23) is more common than not. And I havenât even mentioned any religious teaching, because frankly I donât think thatâs a major force on an individual level. The religious beliefs shape the social and material landscape, and that landscape provides the practical incentives that cause people to make the choices they do. The fact that an Amish interpretation of the Bible encourages marriage and children is one layer removed from the reasons individual 20-year-old Amish men and women choose to get married.
I pointed out earlier that getting married and having a high birthrate, or even getting married young and having a high birthrate, are not exactly the same thing. Plenty of married couples today have one, two, or even no children, even if they got married young enough to have ten if they chose to do so. So why are the Amish different?
Thereâs the too-obvious answer: they donât allow the use of contraceptives. Occamâs razor and all, but it deserves a bit more explanation. After all, the Catholic Church doesnât allow the use of contraceptives either, and look how well thatâs working out for them. Of course the enforcement mechanism doesnât have the teeth among Catholics that it has among the Amish, but thatâs not the whole story. If they were motivated enough, thereâd be a way to space the children out more, maybe end up without quite so many, without anyone knowing. That doesnât happen, because the contraceptive ban is a dead letter when couples want to have as many children as possible, which the Amish typically do.
Again, Iâll go back to incentives. What are the incentives to have children specifically, as many as possible, and not just get married and âplan for a family one dayâ?
For one, status. For both men and women, a large family is a marker of high status. Parents are respected and honored for doing a good job of raising well-adjusted children.
Children are also less of a financial burden for the Amish. Their children are raised well, but not in a financially intensive way thatâs become expected today. They donât have to buy a new car or SUV to fit the family, they donât buy every child a boatload of expensive electronic gadgets every birthday and Christmas, they donât have to pay for frequent vacations or college tuition, and they donât have to eat out or pay for takeout or pay for childcare or a house cleaner since the wife is handling all those domestic roles herself. And the Amish donât practice helicopter parenting, so children are much more free to play and amuse themselves without constant supervision from their parents. They donât have to be driven to 17 different weekly structured activities. They have a farm to play on and shelves full of books to read and some toys to play with if the weather is bad, and thatâs about it. And of course as the family grows, the older siblings do a large percentage of the housework and help with the younger children.
The older teenagers that are working outside the home typically give their earnings to their parents, but this basically offsets the cost of raising them, so it isnât really an incentive to have larger families, just the removal of a disincentive.
The strongest real incentive, other than increased status and cultural inertia, that I observe for large families is that the children are the parentsâ retirement plan. The Amish donât work at jobs that offer pensions or benefits. They are exempt from paying into, but also ineligible to receive, Social Security benefits. The Social Security exemption was granted on the basis that the Amish donât need government payments to support them in old age, because the family and community will do that. And they do.
How does this work out in practice? First, the Amish donât practice âretirementâ the way most people think of it. They teach that work is honorable and every able-bodied man should work to support his family and to help those in need. So as long as a man is physically able to work, heâll be employed and supporting himself and his wife. And Amish women move directly from the role of mother to the role of grandmother. Itâs not at all uncommon, in fact, for a womanâs first grandchild to be born before her last child is born. So plenty of Amish children are an aunt or uncle at birth, and have a niece or nephew older than they are. Grandmothers are extremely involved in helping their daughters and daughters-in-law with childcare, so they donât often have a big stretch of free time after their children grow up and move out. And besides that, there are still the significant household responsibilities to attend to.
As a couple gets older and perhaps less able to handle everything on their own, they often move to the home of one of their grown children. Typically not into the home directly, but into whatâs called a âdody hausâ (grandpa house) which might be a small detached house on the same property, or a separate wing of the larger house, like an in-law suite. Here theyâre able to live independently, help care for the grandchildren next door, and still be nearby so their children and grandchildren can give any care they may need in old age. If the couple has an unmarried âold maidâ daughter, sheâll typically still be living with them and will be the primary caregiver.
If someone doesnât have children to care for them, the Amish community will find a way to care for them. Some more distant relative or maybe surviving siblings will step in to help. But the expectation and the rule is that your children and grandchildren will care for you after youâre no longer able to care for yourself. Finding yourself growing old without family is an unfortunate and unpleasant situation, regardless how much the community may try to fill that role. Just as throughout earlier stages of life, social functions and social status revolve around children and family, and anyone without them will be incomplete as a person, something of an inevitable outsider to the joys of life. The best insurance against a lonely and uncomfortable old age is a large family, among which there are certain to be sufficient resources to care for you. Many elderly Amish people die with well over a hundred grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and spend their later years constantly surrounded by children and young people who deeply appreciate and respect them. Being taught and shown that respect toward their own grandparents from a young age is a strong incentive to aspire to the same status one day.
Iâm not sure exactly where this fits, but I should point out somewhere that the Amish have an absolutely zero tolerance policy toward divorce. There are no legitimate grounds for divorce whatsoever, and anyone who initiates a divorce will be excommunicated from the church and shunned. If an Amish personâs spouse initiates divorce proceedings, they wonât cooperate with those proceedings in any way. If the divorce happens through the legal system without their consent anyway, they can remain a church member in good standing only by staying celibate as long as their spouse remains alive. The only acceptable second marriage is in the case of the death of a spouse. In those cases, a quick remarriage is the rule among widows and widowers with young children, since raising a family is seen as a job for a married couple, not a single person.
Itâs hard to say exactly how this stance against divorce influences marriage and fertility. But it certainly limits exposure to the idea of divorce as a âsolutionâ to marriage difficulties, and incentivizes couples to work things out for their own life satisfaction. And it dramatically reduces the financial risks men face in the modern marriage system, where the potential to lose not only their family, but also a significant portion of their material wealth, raises strong disincentives to marriage. The physical realities of married life versus single life in a more low-tech environment probably discourage divorce, but the added threat of complete social and familial ostracization eliminate it almost entirely.
Conclusion
This article is my attempt to provide some insight into the Amish culture that might help us understand the factors causing their unusually high fertility rate. Iâve titled it as part one, because I plan to follow up with some of my personal opinions on how these insights relate to the broader society. I think a lot of the proposed causes of and solutions to the global demographic collapse are completely incorrect, and my opinion is based heavily on my observation of Amish culture. That will be the focus of part two of this article.
Feel free to comment and post questions. My biggest challenge in writing this article is the fact that I take my familiarity with Amish culture for granted to some degree, so I struggled to choose which points are relevant to understanding the culture for an outsider. Iâm sure I skipped over plenty of important details that may leave readers feeling confused, so Iâll do my best to answer any questions you post, and update the article with pertinent information I missed.
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@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3
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https://stacker.news/items/988245
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@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b
2025-01-09 13:06:282