@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

I've been working 28 hours a week on the weekends as a Direct service professional, assisting adults with autism and intellectual disabilities. I've brought my laptop freaks. There's enough downtime for me to work on obtaining certifications online, posts to SN and Nostr, and work on my coding project Nostr Run Club. I work with 2 normies on saturday and sunday, and had the bright idea of pitching my app to them. Here is how the conversation went. Hustle: Hey do you guys want to see what i'm working on? Normie 1: Sure.... Normie 2: "Comes around to curiously investigate" ***The Pitch Hustle: Alright, so.....what social media do you use? Normie 1: Instagram. Hustle: Alright so....I'm making a running app. Imagine logging in with instagram, and seeing a feed of all of the runners and all of your friends. Now, what music streaming service do you use? Normie 1: Pandora Normie 2: Spotify Hustle: Cool, so imagine seeing your pandora and Spotify liked songs and playlists in the running app. So the app can track your run, its connected to your social media and streaming platform, and people can send you small donations congratulating you for the run. Normie 1 and 2: Ahh, that's cool. Normie 2: But why would people send you money? Oh? I think I've seen something like it where people send you a star and the star can be redeemed for like 99 cents, or they send you points and the app rewards you for points. Hustle: Nah. That parts already figured out, I'm just having trouble getting the music from "Spotify" to play, and then I'll release it into the wild, that's pretty much my hustle. And that was the conversation, it left me thinking about a few things. 1. V4V The concept is extremely familiar to me. I say good Morning I get 50 cents. I give 35 cents to other GM freaks and keep it pushing. Its normal. But for them the concept seemed so strange, they were looking for some solution or explanation on why people would just give someone else money for seemingly nothing. When the solution is already here, just not evenly distributed or promoted or adopted. Likely because the normies are still existing in the paradox of card companies and ravenous third party intermediaries imposing their cut. 2. The broken social media landscape of disconnected walled gardens I was thinking normie one would say Facebook, if asked normie 2 would've said snapchat, Tik Tok, Instagram etc. for music they could've said apple music, tidal, Youtube music etc. I see Nostr as a highway that connects all of these guys, and instead of buying multiple cars to travel on different streets, you have one car that you use to travel across the country. 3. The tact required to pitch ideas like Nostr and bitcoin I used to work at bank of America and was tasked to sell credit cards without saying the word credit card..... I would say "Hello, good sir/mam, have you thought about getting rewarded for your daily purchases??" I found myself in a familiar situation, introducing them to Nostr without using the word Nostr and introducing them to bitcoin without using the word inevitable. The experience was stranger for me than it was for them, they left thinking "Ahh, thats neat" I walked away from the conversation eager to get notify the freaks. In Conclusion, The interaction gave me a few interesting insights: 1. We'll need to bridge the conceptual gap between traditional and new payment paradigms. 2. The importance of focusing on user benefits rather than technical details 3. The market opportunity for solutions that unify fragmented digital services 4. The value of strategic communication that meets users where they are Successful adoption of new technologies like Nostr and Bitcoin requires careful attention to user education and communication, focusing on practical benefits rather than technical features. The positive reception to the core concept, even without understanding the underlying technology, shows huge potential for mainstream adoption when presented appropriately. Thanks, Hustle originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/829000

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Let's hear some of your latest Bitcoin purchases, feel free to include links to the shops or merchants you bought from too. If you missed our last thread, [here](https://stacker.news/items/820204/r/AG) are some of the items stackers recently spent their sats on. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/828556

@ b17fccdf:b7211155

#### **🆕 What's changed:** ----------- - [New bonus guide dedicated to install/upgrade/uninstall PostgreSQL](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/system/postgresql) - [Modified the LND guide to use PostgreSQL instead of bbolt](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client) - [Modified the Nostr relay guide to use PostgreSQL instead of SQLite (experimental)](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/bitcoin/nostr-relay#configuration) - [Modified the BTCPay Server bonus guide according to these changes](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/bitcoin/btcpay-server) - Used the [lndinit MiniBolt org fork](https://github.com/minibolt-guide/lndinit), to add an [extra section to migrate an existing LND bbolt database to PostgreSQL](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client#migrate-an-existing-bbolt-database-to-postgresql) (🚨⚠️[Experimental](https://github.com/lightninglabs/lndinit/pull/21) - use it behind your responsibility⚠️🚨) - [New Golang bonus guide](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/system/go) as a common language for the [lndinit compile](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client#migrate-an-existing-bbolt-database-to-postgresql) - [Updated LND to v0.18](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client#download-binaries) - [New Bitcoin Core extra section to renovate Tor & I2P addresses](https://v2.minibolt.info/bitcoin/bitcoin/bitcoin-client#renovate-your-bitcoin-core-tor-and-i2p-addresses) - [New Bitcoin Core extra section to generate a full `bitcoin.conf` file](https://v2.minibolt.info/bitcoin/bitcoin/bitcoin-client#generate-a-full-bitcoin.conf-example-file) - [Rebuilt some homepage sections and general structure](https://v2.minibolt.info/) - Deleted the `$` symbol of the commands to easy copy-paste to the terminal - [Deleted the initial incoming and the outgoing rules configuration of UFW, due to it being by default](https://v2.minibolt.info/system/system/security) 🪧 PD: If you want to use the old database backend of the LND or Nostr relay, follow the next extra sections: - [Use the default bbolt database backend for the LND](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client#use-the-default-bbolt-database-backend) - [Use the default SQLite database backend for the Nostr relay](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/bitcoin/nostr-relay#use-the-default-sqlite-database-backend) ⚠️**Attention**⚠️: [The migration process](https://v2.minibolt.info/lightning/lightning/lightning-client#migrate-an-existing-bbolt-database-to-postgresql) was tested on testnet mode from an existing bbolt database backend to a new PostgreSQL database using lndinit and the results were successful. However, It wasn't tested on mainnet, [according to the developer](https://github.com/lightninglabs/lndinit/pull/21), it is in experimental status which could damage your existing LND database.🚨 Use it behind your responsibility 🧼 **🔧 PR related**: https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt/pull/93 ----------- #### ♻️ Migrate the PostgreSQL database location **If you installed [NBXplorer + BTCPay Server](https://v2.minibolt.info/bonus-guides/bitcoin/btcpay-server)**, it is probably you have the database of the PostgreSQL cluster on the default path (`/var/lib/postgresql/16/main/`), follow the next instructions to migrate it to the new dedicated location on `/data/postgresdb` folder: * With user `admin` create the dedicated PostgreSQL data folder ``` sudo mkdir /data/postgresdb ``` * Assign as the owner to the `postgres` user ``` sudo chown postgres:postgres /data/postgresdb ``` * Assign permissions of the data folder only to the `postgres` user ``` sudo chmod -R 700 /data/postgresdb ``` * Stop NBXplorer and BTCPay Server ``` sudo systemctl stop nbxplorer && sudo systemctl stop btcpayserver ``` * Stop PostgreSQL ``` sudo systemctl stop postgresql ``` * Use the rsync command to copy all files from the existing database on (`/var/lib/postgresql/16/main`) to the new destination directory (`/data/postgresdb`) ``` sudo rsync -av /var/lib/postgresql/16/main/ /data/postgresdb/ ``` Expected output: ``` sending incremental file list ./ PG_VERSION postgresql.auto.conf postmaster.opts postmaster.pid base/ base/1/ base/1/112 base/1/113 base/1/1247 base/1/1247_fsm base/1/1247_vm base/1/1249 base/1/1249_fsm base/1/1249_vm [...] pg_wal/000000010000000000000009 pg_wal/archive_status/ pg_xact/ pg_xact/0000 sent 164,483,875 bytes received 42,341 bytes 36,561,381.33 bytes/sec total size is 164,311,368 speedup is 1.00 ``` * Edit the PostgreSQL data directory on configuration, to redirect the store to the new location ``` sudo nano /etc/postgresql/16/main/postgresql.conf --linenumbers ``` * Replace the line 42 to this. Save and exit ``` data_directory = '/data/postgresdb' ``` * Start PostgreSQL to apply changes and monitor the correct status of the main instance and sub-instance monitoring sessions before ``` sudo systemctl start postgresql ``` * You can monitor the PostgreSQL main instance by the systemd journal and check the log output to ensure all is correct. You can exit the monitoring at any time with Ctrl-C ``` journalctl -fu postgresql ``` Example of the expected output: ``` Nov 08 11:51:10 minibolt systemd[1]: Stopped PostgreSQL RDBMS. Nov 08 11:51:10 minibolt systemd[1]: Stopping PostgreSQL RDBMS... Nov 08 11:51:13 minibolt systemd[1]: Starting PostgreSQL RDBMS... Nov 08 11:51:13 minibolt systemd[1]: Finished PostgreSQL RDBMS. ``` * You can monitor the PostgreSQL sub-instance by the systemd journal and check log output to ensure all is correct. You can exit monitoring at any time with Ctrl-C ``` journalctl -fu postgresql@16-main ``` Example of the expected output: ``` Nov 08 11:51:10 minibolt systemd[1]: Stopping PostgreSQL Cluster 16-main... Nov 08 11:51:11 minibolt systemd[1]: postgresql@16-main.service: Succeeded. Nov 08 11:51:11 minibolt systemd[1]: Stopped PostgreSQL Cluster 16-main. Nov 08 11:51:11 minibolt systemd[1]: postgresql@16-main.service: Consumed 1h 10min 8.677s CPU time. Nov 08 11:51:11 minibolt systemd[1]: Starting PostgreSQL Cluster 16-main... Nov 08 11:51:13 minibolt systemd[1]: Started PostgreSQL Cluster 16-main. ``` * Start NBXplorer and BTCPay Server again ``` sudo systemctl start nbxplorer && sudo systemctl start btcpayserver ``` * Monitor to make sure everything is as you left it. You can exit monitoring at any time with Ctrl-C ``` journalctl -fu nbxplorer ``` ``` journalctl -fu btcpayserver ``` Enjoy it MiniBolter! 💙

@ b17fccdf:b7211155

A step-by-step guide to building a Bitcoin & Lightning node, and other stuff on a **personal computer**. ~ > It builds on a personal computer with **x86/amd64** architecture processors. ~> It is based on the popular [RaspiBolt v3](https://raspibolt.org) guide. --- **Those are some of the most relevant changes:** * Changed OS from Raspberry Pi OS Lite (64-bits) to ***Ubuntu Server LTS*** (Long term support) 64-bit PC (AMD64). * Changed binaries and signatures of the programs to adapt them to ***x86/amd64 architecture***. * Deleted unnecessary tools and steps, and added others according to this case of use. * Some useful authentication logs and monitoring commands were added in the security section. * Added some interesting parameters in the settings of some services to activate and take advantage of new features. * Changed I2P, Fulcrum, and ThunderHub guides, to be part of the core guide. * Added exclusive optimization section of services for slow devices. ~ > Complete release notes MiniBolt v1: [https://github.com/twofaktor/minibolt/releases/tag/1.0](https://github.com/twofaktor/minibolt/releases/tag/1.0) ~ > The [MiniBolt](https://minibolt.info) guide is available at: [https://minibolt.info](https://minibolt.info) ~ > Feel free to contribute to the [source code on GitHub](https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt) by opening [issues](https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt/issues), [pull requests](https://github.com/minibolt-guide/minibolt/pulls) or [discussions](https://github.com/orgs/minibolt-guide/discussions) --- Created by [⚡2 FakTor⚡](nostr:npub1k9luehc8hg3c0upckdzzvusv66x3zt0eyw7290kclrpsndepz92sfcpp63) Telegram groups: * [English](https://t.me/minibolt) * [Spanish](https://t.me/minibolt_es)

@ 623ed218:fa549249

It's been a week or so since I wrote this piece and put it up on my website, but I realized I hadn't shared it here yet. Hoping it's informative! Strike Bill Pay: A Deep Dive ============================  ### Start With the Foundation: Bitcoin is Savings Technology If you've spent any time in this space, you've probably heard the phrase: *Bitcoin is savings technology.* That's because Bitcoin solves a very specific problem---the inability of fiat to hold value over time. Here's the reality: - Every dollar you hold in a bank account is being debased, slowly (or sometimes rapidly) losing its purchasing power. - Inflation might be "only" 3-4% a year right now (if you believe the official numbers), but that adds up. Over a decade, that $10,000 in savings doesn't just stagnate---it sublimates. Bitcoin fixes this. - Bitcoin is scarce, decentralized, and deflationary. - It's not controlled by governments or central banks, and its supply is capped at 21 million. No one can "print" more Bitcoin. If you're holding fiat in a savings account, you're playing a game you can't win. Bitcoin is the better tool for preserving value over time. ### Why Savings First? Before looking at how you spend, it's worth considering where you're storing your wealth. If your savings are sitting in fiat, they're slowly losing purchasing power over time---that's just how the system works. Bitcoin offers an alternative: a way to protect your wealth in something scarce and reliable. Once you've addressed that piece---and your savings are no longer being held in melting fiat---you might start asking: *What about the money in my checking account?* That's where Strike Bill Pay comes in. It's a simple, practical tool that connects your Bitcoin savings to the everyday expenses you still need to handle in fiat, removing the need to hold fiat to pay fiat bills. ### The Spending Problem: Why a Bridge is Necessary Here's where things get practical. Even if you're saving in Bitcoin, you still live in a world where bills---rent, mortgages, utilities, credit cards---are denominated in fiat. What do you do? - You could hold some fiat in your bank to cover bills, but now you're back to the problem of fiat exposure. - You could convert Bitcoin to fiat every time you need to pay something, but trust me when I say that manual process is tedious and time consuming. This creates a gap: Bitcoin is where you want to save your wealth. Fiat is where you still need to *spend* your wealth. You need a bridge. Strike Bill Pay is that bridge. It lets you hold your value in Bitcoin while seamlessly paying fiat-denominated bills. No headaches, no extra steps, and no need to rely on a traditional bank account. ### How Strike Bill Pay Works (It's Simpler Than You Think) Here's the beauty of Strike: it integrates directly into the traditional system *without requiring you to deal with it.* *Here's how it works:* Strike Provides a Standard Bank Account - When you open a Strike account, you get a routing number and an account number tied to Cross River Bank. It works exactly like a regular checking account. You Set Up Bill Payments - For any bill that allows automatic payments, simply enter the Cross River Bank routing/account number Strike gives you. Your mortgage, utilities, subscriptions---these can all pull funds automatically from Strike. - For bills you pay manually (like credit cards), add the Strike-provided account as an external payment source. When you go to make a payment, simply select that account as the funding source. Strike Converts Bitcoin to Fiat on the Backend - You don't have to worry about manually selling Bitcoin for fiat. When the bill gets paid, Strike automatically sells the exact amount of Bitcoin needed to cover the payment. It's seamless. You save in Bitcoin and Strike handles the fiat side when you need it. ### Start Small: Test the Waters, Then Scale Now, I get it---this might sound like a big leap if you're new to the idea of using Bitcoin. You don't need to move all your bills over to Strike at once. Start small. - Pick one bill---something low-stakes, like a utility payment or a monthly subscription. - Add your Strike-provided account as the payment source. - Let it run. What happens? - Your bill gets paid. - You experience how smooth the process is. - You start seeing the benefit of holding Bitcoin without having to juggle fiat for bills. Why Start Small?\ This isn't about forcing you to flip a switch overnight. It's about building comfort with tools that let you take control of your money. When you see how simple it is, you may find you'll want to scale up. ### Strike's Fee Tiers: Low Costs That Get Even Lower One of the practical benefits of using Strike is its straightforward fee structure. Strike charges a standard 0.99% fee when converting Bitcoin to fiat and vice-versa. But here's where it gets interesting: the more you use the service, the lower your fees become. Strike's fee tiers are designed to reward activity: - The more you deposit and spend through Strike, the closer you get to a lower fee tier. - Regular bill payments, purchases, and deposits all contribute toward lowering your fee rate. Why It Matters: When you're living on Bitcoin---covering bills, expenses, and purchases---those fees can add up. Strike incentivizes regular usage by giving you a clear path to reducing costs. The result? Your bill-paying process becomes not only seamless but also more efficient and cost-effective over time. If you're managing everything---mortgage, utilities, credit cards---through Strike, it's likely you'll hit lower tiers quickly, making the service even more competitive. ### For Bitcoiners: Completing the Savings-to-Spending Loop If you're already holding Bitcoin as savings, Strike Bill Pay is the final piece. It lets you operate entirely in Bitcoin while still managing your fiat-denominated obligations. Here's why it matters: - Opting Out: If the majority of your wealth is in Bitcoin, why leave even a small amount in a checking account? Strike eliminates the need for that fiat buffer. - Automation and Ease: Bills that pull automatically? Easy. Manual payments? Just as simple. - Seamless Spending: No awkward conversions, no multiple steps. Strike lets you "spend Bitcoin" without all the extra steps. It's the bridge that completes the Bitcoin-first financial strategy. ### Flexibility: Adjust Your Strategy as Conditions Change One of the best parts about Strike is that it's flexible. If you feel the need to keep some fiat on the side, it's as simple as pressing a few buttons. - Bull Market Strategy: Hold Bitcoin all month, let it appreciate, and let Strike convert as bills are due. - Bear Market Strategy: If you're cautious, hold fiat in Strike temporarily and stack sats with what's left at the end of the month. Strike gives you the tools to adapt your strategy---no friction, no complexity. ### Taxes: How Strike Simplifies Year-End Reporting When using Bitcoin to pay bills, it's important to understand the tax implications. In the United States, Bitcoin is considered property by the IRS. This means that any time Bitcoin is converted to fiat (like when Strike pays a bill for you), it's a taxable event. Here's how it works: - If the value of your Bitcoin has increased since you acquired it, you owe capital gains taxes on the difference (the "gain") when it's converted to fiat to pay a bill. - If there's no appreciation---or if you're converting at a loss---there's no capital gain to tax. Example: - You bought $500 worth of Bitcoin. - When it's time to pay a bill, that Bitcoin is now worth $600. - If you use Strike to pay the bill, you'll only owe capital gains taxes on the $100 gain. Conversely: - If you bought $500 worth of Bitcoin, and by the time you use it to pay a bill, it's worth $450, you can report a capital loss instead. How Strike Helps: Strike simplifies this entire process by providing: - Year-End Tax Documents: Strike generates clear reports showing each transaction. - Easy Access: These tax documents can be downloaded directly from the Strike app, making it easy to share them with your accountant or upload them to tax software. Why This Matters: Keeping track of Bitcoin transactions manually can feel overwhelming. With Strike, all the reporting is done for you, so you can stay compliant without stress. Whether you're dealing with gains, losses, or flat conversions, Strike helps you navigate taxes with transparency and simplicity. ### Bringing It All Together Bitcoin is savings tech. It fixes the root problem---where you store your wealth. Strike Bill Pay is the tool that lets you: - Save in Bitcoin without compromise. - Pay fiat bills seamlessly without relying on a traditional bank. - Start small, test the waters, and scale at your own pace. ### Final Thought: Build the Future, One Bill at a Time Here's my challenge to you: - Pick one bill. - Add your Strike-provided account as the payment source. - Run it for a month and see how it feels. You don't need to jump in all at once. But as you experience the benefits--- no friction, and no headaches---you might find yourself wondering: *Why don't I use this for all my fiat needs?* Strike Bill Pay isn't about forcing change. It's about offering you tools that work better. Save in Bitcoin, spend seamlessly, and start building a future where your money works for you---not against you. Block 875215 - MSK 943 Digging Deeper: =============== ### Hey there, I hope you enjoyed this read! If you did, and would like to read more of my barks, follow the links below! - Curious how I found Bitcoin? Read ["Paw Prints to the Timechain"](https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/paw-prints-to-the-timechain/#wbb1 "https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/paw-prints-to-the-timechain/#wbb1") - Bitcoin meets psychology? I touch on this in ["Maslow's Apex"](https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/maslows-apex/#wbb1 "https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/maslows-apex/#wbb1") - Want to understand the basics of Bitcoin? Read ["Bitcoin Best Practice"](https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/bitcoin-best-practice/#wbb1 "https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/bitcoin-best-practice/#wbb1") - If you like seeing bad media takes unpacked, check out ["Pup's Double-Takes"](https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/Pups-Double-Takes/#wbb1 "https://bitcoinbarks.com/Barks/Pups-Double-Takes/#wbb1") ### External Resources: - Want to earn rewards on your mortgage? [Use my referral to earn 20,000 free sats at sign up!](https://use.foldapp.com/r/7KYTK4CP "https://use.foldapp.com/r/7KYTK4CP") - Do you like sharing Bitcoin content and earning sats for doing so? [Join me at Stacker.news!](https://stacker.news/r/bitcoin_pup "https://stacker.news/r/bitcoin_pup") ...Woof! ======== [](https://primal.net/p/npub1vgldyxx7syc30qm9v7padnnfpdfp4zwymsyl9ztzuklaf7j5jfyspk36wu) originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/828031

@ dca6e1cc:ea7d1750

Hello people, I built a web application that I'd like to share with you. I'd love for people to test it and share feedback. No, it doesn't integrate anything Bitcoin related...yet. It's only optimised for desktop at the moment. Not ideal for mobile use yet. It's a note taking and management app. I created it because I take a lot of notes and none of the apps out there are to my liking. Most of them are too complicated, distracting, and so forth. I think my app is ideal for keeping my back log from growing out of control... "Dynamic notes that burn your backlog. Your notes, zapped." [Zapnotes.app](https://zapnotes.app/) Thanks for checking it out! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/827912

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

I've been listening to this small playlist over and over again this week. Ivy keeps getting me. I'm having fun making these things https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=yNPfvgFEXuk&si=HjUdZxXKkGfqabk8 https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LyRJfs-Qn70&si=2ugksRTltXATqHVo https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=XkpAE8ZZ6bU&si=WwWopN-YMLGguFiB https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=VIcQreSskyM&si=Ewza3W6SOkRDWF1E https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=5xm8Q-1cOpU&si=GeQv3Kum_TV9H6KD https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=xYM-aZG9QbE&si=fwfzIFLAyVumnTs4 https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=r7JWHuGFUeI&si=MqoFBqvb0iI7pAAY https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=GjnjUHY8MiM&si=F_Aepjxc_g2SH7UG https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=sgjTb7UQe2A&si=04wik3m5LefpbGMV https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=SMOund_uFTk&si=v7sa3XxchH607d0Y https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLmYfnnK_Qs5jpv5hKuBKFOEvMnPFl3vto&si=Dkudss84jFszdGmj Thanks Anon, Hustle originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/827883

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

A recent conversation with fellow Bitcoiners prompted me to share this overview of Nostr tools. While you don't need to use everything, understanding the ecosystem helps paint a picture of where we're heading. I often hear people say "I'm posting to the void" or "My feed is boring" or "I'm not earning any bitcoin" or "It's too complicated." Let me address these concerns with a comprehensive overview. ### Core Clients and Features Primal and Amethyst are currently the best daily drivers. Theyre both valid twitter replacements with primal focusing on user friendliness and amethyst focusing on being more feature rich. Both apps feature an algorithm marketplace (we call them DVMs) where you can choose from various feed styles. Soon, anyone will be able to create and share their own algorithms. For additional feed customization, Listr.lol lets you curate lists of npubs to further refine your experience. ### Content and Rewards Stacker News (SN) integrates beautifully with Nostr. Cross-post your SN content to appear as longform notes on platforms like Highlighter, Yakihonne, and Habla.news. SN's rewards system pays out satoshis for quality content, bridging their closed platform with Nostr's open network. ### Payments and Zaps For zaps, I recommend CoinOS, or AlbyHub for a more sovereign alternative. CoinOS is non kyc and gives you a lightning address and NWC connection string to throw into your nostr clients. CoinOS supports e-cash and Bolt 12, Liquid, and can auto-withdraw earnings to cold storage. You can use coinOs as a PWA or input the connection string into Alby Go for a more minimal wallet alternative. ### Security and App Management Android users should use zap.store for downloading Nostr apps. It verifies app authenticity and implements Web of Trust features, showing which trusted npubs use each app. For managing multiple apps, Pokey provides a unified notification dashboard. Amber (Android) offers secure client login without exposing your nsec, while Citrine lets you run a relay on your phone for data backup. ### Creator Tools - Wavlake: Spotify alternative with open music graph - Fountain: Podcast app with Nostr integration - Zap.stream: Live streaming - Nostr.build: Media hosting - Cypher.space: Website creation with integrated marketplace - Olas: Instagram alternative - Gifbuddy.lol: Gif creation - memeamigo.lol: Meme creation - Zappadd: Promotional tools ### Making the Most of Nostr The key to Nostr is understanding that nothing is force-fed. You're responsible for: - Creating your desired feed - Choosing your client - Selecting your relays - Managing your wallet - Curating who you follow For best results, go all in: 1. Leave traditional social media 2. Use Primal and or Amethyst as your main client 3. Follow 1000 npubs 4. Set up CoinOS for payments 5. Engage daily with the community ### Future Outlook Some ask if Nostr is truly decentralized, censorship-resistant, or profitable. My response: the user experience will become so good that most internet users will naturally gravitate here. The only barrier will be ideological resistance. Nostr represents a new internet paradigm where users outpower platforms, identity persists across apps, and Bitcoin is the standard. We've practically already won. ### Crazy Ideas I'm thinking the age of of the super nostr app will come to a close. We're probably going to enter an era of a thousand micro apps and client templates, which allow users to build their own client in 30 seconds. Some templates will be impermanent, one time use clients, others will be more robust for building a daily driver. You'll be able to share your completed piece on nostr for other people to use, and they'll zap you for building it. A marketplace of user created apps supported by thousands of micro apps and relays and templates, probably a user experience holy grail, made possible by nostr's open social graph, smooth monetization processes from bitcoin. ### Growth Predictions Daily Active Users doubling yearly: 2024: 20k → 2029: 640k The beauty of Nostr isn't just in its decentralized nature or bitcoin integration – it's in the user experience that puts you in control. While traditional social media platforms force-feed you content through black-box algorithms, Nostr hands you the keys to your own digital kingdom. You choose your feed, your apps, your connections, and your level of engagement. Yes, there's a learning curve, but that's the price of digital sovereignty. Think of where Twitter was in 2006 or Bitcoin in 2013. Those who saw the potential and jumped in early didn't just benefit financially – they helped shape the future. Nostr is at that same inflection point. The tools are here, the infrastructure is growing, and the community is building. Whether you're a creator, developer, bitcoiner, or just someone tired of traditional social media, Nostr offers a glimpse of what the internet should have been all along. The question isn't if Nostr will win, but when. And when it does, you'll want to be able to say you were here when it all began. Thanks, Hustle originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/827860

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

As mentioned in my [inaugural post](https://stacker.news/items/826658/r/Undisciplined), I'm going to be searching for the optimal posting fee for ~econ. My suspicion is that we were above the optimum, so I'm beginning with a halving. If this brings in more revenue than last month (48k), then I'll continue with another reduction to 54. Otherwise, I'll increase to the midway point of 161. @cryotosensei told me that 108 has special significance, so let's see if it gives us a special month. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/826704

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Guess who's in charge of the ~econ territory? This guy (*Undisciplined points at him/her/itself as you read this*). The founder of this great territory, @jeff, has too many irl commitments to invest the time he would like to into ~econ, so he offered to let me take over indefinitely. If you are interested in the conditions agreed to in this transfer of power, see [here](https://stacker.news/items/89179/r/Undisciplined?commentId=826287) (*that link should probably have been a Rick Roll*). Even though we initially discussed this possibility a few months ago, I never really gave much thought to what I would do with the territory. I love the regular contributions we've been getting, lately, and I'll seek to make sure those continue. My first order of business will be to search out the optimal posting fee, which is a process @jeff began. Expect a fee reduction in the near future, once I settle on a search method. I have a very expansive view of what constitutes ~econ content (as one of my advisors said, "If it's about people making choices, then it's econ."), so I hope people will choose ~econ for their posts involving anything related to human action (the subject or the book). Expect more updates as I come up to speed on running a territory and let me know what you'd like to see from this territory going forward. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/826658

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Howdy, Stackers We've got some territory updates to cover this week: - The first round of the [College Football Contest](https://stacker.news/items/820618/r/Undisciplined) is in the books - Cricket contests: [CricZap](https://stacker.news/items/821369/r/Undisciplined) and [BBL Survivor Pool](https://stacker.news/items/819076/r/Undisciplined) are rolling forward (perhaps without @grayruby) - We have a winner of the impromptu [USA vs the World](https://stacker.news/items/822695/r/Undisciplined) contest - Apparently, some stackers started a [fantasy football league](https://stacker.news/items/824623/r/Undisciplined), but I don't recall hearing about it before Then onto some sports topics - The NFL and NBA are competing over Christmas Day supremacy: https://stacker.news/items/824953/r/Undisciplined - What are our favorite sports to watch live vs on tv? https://stacker.news/items/825580/r/Undisciplined - The NFL MVP race is tightening up. - Is Embiid still the Biggest Loser? Plus, some early trade conversations. - Canadians are fascinated by children beating each other up with sticks and razor blades on national television: https://stacker.news/items/825050/r/Undisciplined What's on your sports radar this week? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/826204

@ acbcec47:dd305bec

## Prepare starter - 1 part starter (~30g) - 2 parts wholemeal rye flour (~60g) - 2 parts warm water (~60g) Stir well, then leave to stand warm and covered until the volume has almost doubled.  Once the starter has doubled in volume and a light cap has formed, it can be used for the dough.  ## Ingredients - Flour (2/3 550/1100 wheat flour, 1/3 997 rye flour) = 600g - Water: 60% of the flour quantity = 360g warm water - Starter: 20% of the flour quantity = 120g starter - Salt: 3% of the flour = 18g  Put the rest of the starter (about 30g) back in the fridge for the next batch. Knead everything well for 5 minutes, then leave to stand warm and covered.  ## Fermenting First fermenting phase in one piece until the volume has almost doubled.  Then divide into portions ...   Shape and leave to rise on the baking tray for 1-2 hours.   ## Baking - Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) - Just before baking, cut in the top of the rolls with a razor blade, so that they can extend  - Bake for 20 min with steam/cover at 210°C (410°F) - Then remove the steam/cover and bake another 15-20 min at 180°C (360°F)  Enjoy ...  

@ 0861144c:e68a1caf

Recently, I read that @lunaticoin, in his latest interview with @Darthcoin, received a very significant [economic value in return](https://primal.net/e/note1rzu97re6hj5gkzqgs4j0huh4x585n4wk0wer5q45ucht96qz8ddqngfwyj). This comes as no surprise, because if you haven’t listened to this particular episode yet, it’s like missing out on an educational rollercoaster ride. It feels as though you already know the topic, but with every passing second, every slide, you find yourself paying close attention—not just for the entertainment value, but because it genuinely seeks to teach alongside the user. It’s a strange sentiment, I know, but that’s how I felt.  ### Now, dear friends of SN, what brings us to this conversation? Writing[^2] has many facets. Some write for the sats, earning them the (in)appropriate nickname of “ass-milkers.” They write to earn satoshis but without contributing anything meaningful, simply chasing gains at all costs. Should you sacrifice your thoughts to say something popular, avoid arguments, or avoid being labeled as someone with stupid ideas? The “ass-milker” does just that. They lack authenticity and, in the cultural battle, they’ll be the first to fall because they have nothing to offer except brain junk food. There are those who write to learn. This category of writers tends to produce long-form content that is often fascinating. In their process of learning, they leave breadcrumbs that, at least in my case, I follow and learn from. I’ve identified several of these writers here—they’re my favorites. I’ve even subscribed to them, allowing notifications every time they post something. Mind you, I’m someone who keeps my phone on focus mode, only allowing calls from my inner circle and no notifications from any messaging apps. Speaking as a Christian, notifications are Satan’s invention, designed to enslave me. Then there’s the final category of writers: the others. They write purely for fun, for the sheer joy of it, to share what’s on their mind with the world, and aim to elevate others, encouraging similar thoughts. I’ve found many of them on various forums, and they do monumental work. ### Why are we talking about writers? The recent debates [I’ve followed regarding the creative economy](https://stacker.news/items/798342) have left a strong impression on me. First, a fascinating discussion about music and the economy, and then suggestions on how to improve Stacker News to fairly compensate writers without devolving into just another Reddit. And this is the main point I’d like to address again: value-for-value aims to be the new focus of the creative economy. Let’s simplify: excluding the first type of writer mentioned above, writers don’t write because they want money; they write because they have to. Many times, we’ve written dozens of articles, essays, even books (in my case) without earning a penny, but with the complete satisfaction of having written. We smile when people ask if we have material to share. Oh, God, do we ever. ### Writers are irrational We are human beings who need to express ourselves. That’s why, when I write on [platforms like this](https://stacker.news/items/499556), I know I’m making an impact, and I _measure_ it through zaps, downzaps, and comments. Tell me one writer who doesn’t love comments or enjoy leaving comments on others’ work. *Our craft is not about agreeing with the audience*. Our craft is not about shaking our hips on a pole for money. **Our craft is about intervening in people’s thoughts**. One reason I love the V4V economy is that everyone does the [best they can with what they have](https://stacker.news/items/824763). Sometimes, you’re broke; other times, your wallet overflows, letting you show your generosity. Sometimes, observing comments is better than money. In fact, they tried to turn writers into rational beings, and as a direct result, we’ve flooded the internet with junk food for the brain. As a writer with profiles on Medium and Substack (previously WordPress, Tumblr, and others), I’m aware of the stats available to me. But at the end of the day—this is something I’ve learned over time—none of those metrics matter except the only one that does: - Are people talking about your article? - Have you joined the conversation? - Are you making your audience think? Writers don’t write for money. If they do, they’re called salespeople, not writers. That’s why artificial intelligence can write an entire book, but it can’t replicate the essence. AI helps edit and find errors. Believing it will make you a writer is a mistake. Let me share a story. A few days ago, a musician friend and I discussed AI and its capabilities. He mentioned tools that can create music in seconds. We created an avant-garde jazz track with a soul touch, and no sooner had it played than he said, “_This isn’t new; it’s Tom Jobim_.” Cross-referencing confirmed he was right. > An artist cannot be created artificially. If they could, it would just be junk food. Artificiality cannot create something new; it can only perfect what you’ve already made. **Art as an Investment** I understand copyright very well, having studied it extensively during my Model United Nations days. While I find it fascinating, I also recognize it as a fiat mentality. Instead of promoting art, it builds fences and walls to assign monetary value to music—a concept I’ve debated extensively and concluded doesn’t exist. Let’s admit something you won’t want to say aloud: even if no one reads your work, you’ll keep writing anyway. And you’ll keep writing because you never assigned monetary value to your words. Writing makes you happy. Creating words that turn into texts, then paragraphs, then sections, and eventually chapters—can they come together as a book? For a long time, few people read my work, and yet... I kept writing. Throughout history, art itself has rarely had an economic value attached to it. This is the lie they want you to believe: that without copyright, art will disappear because people will stop paying for it. Under that premise, platforms like Stacker News or Substack are destined to fail. Yet the data tells a completely different story. So, if value-for-value works, what do we have then? *Our enemy is copyright*. Art is not meant for rational economic activity. Writing isn’t essential to others, but it is to us. Writing isn’t intrinsically valuable, but it is **intrinsically** valuable to me. My goal for 2025 is to explore how my three books in Spanish can thrive in the value-for-value economy, so we as artists can continue creating. As a burgeoning economy formed around the hardest and most resilient money the internet has seen to date, let’s use everything to our advantage. I hope this inspires you, fellow writer, to keep contributing to the value-for-value economy and to continue the debate on copyright. [^2]: To clarify all points properly, the craft of writing in this post is considered an art; hence, the writer is an artist. If you don’t feel like an artist when writing, you may need to check if you’re a candidate for imposter syndrome. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/826042

@ 31bdca15:aac01582

 Honestly, this is hilarious on some level. To anyone with average intelligence it was clear from the beginning that Elon is not for free speech. # Up until today Here is are the major impediments to free speech on X the every platform as to my knowledge: - Banning the account that tracks Elons private jet. It is kind of understandable on a human level but this was the first sign that there is no free speech on X. There is no compromise, there isn't even a slippery slope: either there is free speech or there is not. It should also be noted that accounts that track Taylor Swifts jet ARE STILL UP! Hypocrisy. - Banning the word "cisgender". Even if you're a rightwing "anti-woke" culture warrior I expect you to acknowledge that any compromises to free speech are destroying all free speech, including the ones one does not agree with # Yesterday night  I do not think that freedom of speech is freedom of reach. But I do consider what happened tonight a wakeup call for everyone who is still in denial. Major impediments to reach until yesterday were afaik only on broad strokes on liberal and leftist accounts and maybe a few people personally like probably Grimes and Ron Desantis. Major impediments to reach as of today: - Laura Loomer personally and a forceful removal of all her paid subscribers  - "The conservative OG" had their organization badge removed, all accounts associated lost their blue check reach multiplier (they are still paying tho) - Speculative: I suspect but do not know for sure that accounts associated with the VC or tech scene got a malus now. If it's the same malus or a softer one than liberal/leftist have is unclear. Maybe Twitter engineers have programmed a whole system for manual malus factors now. - Individually suspended accounts:  It seems like Elon personally was angered yesterday night with a few people ratioing him personally and they got a ban personally. # Conclusion You do not get free speech just because it's "your guy" who's in charge. A digital town square must not centralized. It could consist of multiple plattforms (e.g. Fediverse) or one decentralized plattform (e.g. Nostr). But it cannot be one plattform. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/825944

@ dbb19ae0:c3f22d5a

**First** make sure to add this relay wss://relay.momostr.pink in your Nostr [setting](https://primal.net/settings/network) and **second** follow this [account ](https://nosta.me/npub1pqr3g2gk3vsnrqk9kwfqqcxc6d5cwjr0hyc0nlzz9py5nf92vd9sn02sck) Soon after an account will be created on bluesky and will mirror your Nostr profile the address will be like this: bsky.app/profile/npub1mwce4c8qa2zn9zw9f372syrc9dsnqmyy3jkcmpqkzaze0slj94dqu6nmwy.momostr.pink.ap.brid.gy And from there keep spreading the good word originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/825913

@ 16d11430:61640947

For centuries, financial markets have been shackled by an archaic mindset rooted in Newtonian physics: "What goes up must come down." This belief has dominated the thinking of old-school fiat economists, who view the rise and fall of markets as a natural cycle of gravity-bound economics. But Bitcoin, the digital phoenix, was designed to defy this outdated paradigm. It isn't just an asset class or a currency—it's a revolution in financial physics, unshackling value from centralized control and rewriting the rules of money. The Fiat Fallacy: Gravity Economics Fiat systems are inherently cyclical, prone to inflation, manipulation, and collapse. Central banks print money endlessly, causing value to "come down" as purchasing power erodes. For fiat thinkers, this is unavoidable—a gravitational force they accept as immutable. Yet this mindset ignores Bitcoin’s game-changing properties: its hard cap of 21 million coins, decentralized consensus, and permissionless architecture. Bitcoin is fundamentally non-Newtonian. It doesn’t adhere to traditional financial laws because it isn't bound by the same forces of supply and control. Instead, it operates in a new paradigm: deflationary, transparent, and immune to political meddling. Bitcoin's Escape Velocity Bitcoin's dominance lies in its ability to achieve escape velocity. Unlike fiat currencies, which are constantly being pulled back by inflationary policies, Bitcoin is propelled by its scarcity, adoption, and network effects. Every halving event tightens the supply, creating an upward pressure that fiat systems can't replicate. And as global trust in traditional systems erodes, Bitcoin's gravitational pull grows stronger. This phenomenon is evident in the adoption curve. Institutions, governments, and individuals worldwide are recognizing Bitcoin as a superior store of value, an inflation hedge, and the ultimate form of financial sovereignty. The more participants enter the network, the more its value compounds, creating a virtuous cycle of exponential growth. Humiliating the Old Guard The fiat establishment—steeped in centuries of centralized control—has long dismissed Bitcoin as a bubble, a fad, or even a Ponzi scheme. Yet, year after year, Bitcoin rises from the ashes of their predictions. Its resilience, transparency, and provable scarcity expose the fragility and corruption of fiat systems. The ultimate humiliation for fiat thinkers is Bitcoin's ability to thrive in crises. Where traditional systems falter—be it through hyperinflation, bank failures, or geopolitical instability—Bitcoin becomes a lifeboat. It doesn’t just resist gravity; it flips the entire script. Fiat currencies are revealed as infinite-print illusions, while Bitcoin’s immutable ledger stands as the ultimate arbiter of truth and value. A New Financial Paradigm Bitcoin’s ascent is not merely about price; it’s about domination. It represents a shift from centralized control to individual empowerment, from opaque systems to transparent protocols, from inflationary theft to deflationary savings. It’s a financial singularity, an escape from the gravitational pull of outdated thinking. As Bitcoin continues its trajectory, the old world of "what goes up must come down" will look increasingly absurd. In its place, a new principle will reign: what’s decentralized cannot be stopped. Bitcoin isn’t just leaving Earth’s orbit; it’s becoming the financial universe’s North Star. So buckle up, because Bitcoin isn’t just going up—it’s transcending. And as it does, it will leave the Newtonian thinkers in the dust, staring in disbelief at the rocket that left them behind.

@ 188302bb:9052db11

I took a brief look and saw it was only used to buy drugs. I didn't have a use for that so I dismissed it. Around 2012 I started buying once I understood the implications. Had i known earlier I'd be a billlioinaire today. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/824601

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

I just read this, and found it enlightening. > Jung... notes that intelligence can be seen as problem solving at an everyday level..., whereas creativity may represent problem solving for less common issues > Other studies have used metaphor creation as a creativity measure instead of divergent thinking and a spectrum of CHC components instead of just g and have found much higher relationships between creativity and intelligence than past studies https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/3/3/59 I'm unusually intelligent (Who isn't?), but I'm much more creative, than intelligent, and I think that confuses people. The ability to apply intelligence, to solve completely novel problems, on the fly, is something IQ tests don't even claim to measure. They just claim a correlation. Creativity requires taking wild, mental leaps out into nothingness; simply trusting that your brain will land you safely. And this is why I've been at the forefront of massive innovation, over and over, but never got rich off of it. *I'm a starving autist.* Zaps are the first time I've ever made money directly, for solving novel problems. Companies don't do this because there is a span of time between providing a solution and the solution being implemented, and the person building the implementation (or their boss) receives all the credit for the existence of the solution. At best, you can hope to get pawned off with a small bonus. Nobody can remember who came up with the solution, originally, and that person might not even be there, anymore, and probably never filed a patent, and may have no idea that their idea has even been built. They just run across it, later, in a tech magazine or museum, and say, "Well, will you look at that! Someone actually went and built it! Isn't that nice!" Universities at least had the idea of cementing novel solutions in academic papers, but that: 1) only works if you're an academic, and at a university, 2) is an incredibly slow process, not appropriate for a truly innovative field, 3) leads to manifestations of perverse incentives and biased research frameworks, coming from 'publish or perish' policies. But I think long-form notes and zaps solve for this problem. #Alexandria, especially, is being built to cater to this long-suffering class of chronic underachievers. It leaves a written, public, time-stamped record of *Clever Ideas We Have Had*. Because they are clever, the ideas. And we have had them.

@ 19279658:92b3da05

What better way to test out Stacker News to Nostr cross-posting than with a Meme. Opt-in to Bitcoin and reduce your exposure to banks. Unless you are getting a loan from a bank to buy more bitcoin then I believe that's a solid play (within reason). *Meme isn't my own*  originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/824519

@ 434a234c:0a2f68b4

***To Review Part 6 (https://stacker.news/items/800668/r/AndyAdvance)*** ***Scoring rubric is as follows:*** 5 - This law promoted 360 degrees of freedom. Bitcoiners around the world would champion this 4 3 2 1 - This bill is something straight out the communist/socialist playbook very anti freedom. Leads to forever wars endless spending and bad wellbeing for the american people Now a look at the seventh bill that became law. ***Public Law No: 111-164*** (05/07/2010) # H.R.4360 - To designate the Department of Veterans Affairs blind rehabilitation center in Long Beach, California, as the "Major Charles Robert Soltes, Jr., O.D. Department of Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Center" Source( https://www.congress.gov/bill/111th-congress/house-bill/4360?q=%7B%22search%22%3A%22lummis%22%7D&s=1&r=52) ## The Bill in Summary: Designates the Department of Veterans Affairs blind rehabilitation center in Long Beach, California, as the "Major Charles Robert Soltes, Jr., O.D. Department of Veterans Affairs Blind Rehabilitation Center." # The Score (2/5) Yawn. A naming bill. No offence to Major Roberts and his family but once again Congress is serving a special interest here. The time and resources wasted on voting on such a bill is ridiculous. Stuff like this could be delegated down to the Governor of the State or the Director of the VA if the duty is inherently federal. Instead of wasting time and resources of the American public this can be easily managed within the VA alone no need for an act of Congress. Create a board within the VA appointed by the President and name the VA facilities. Task done at the fraction of the time and cost of an act of Congress. I gave this a score of two because naming buildings does nothing for 99.99% of Americans. Not to disrespect the service Major Roberts provided to the country but we don't need 100 Senators and almost 500 House Representatives who all make more that $170k (1.5 BTC!) a year to vote on naming bills. Time and resources can be better spent somewhere else. # Total Score (17/35) After seven bills Sen. Lummis has 17 points out of a total 35. That is good for 48% freedom score. The more I dig into these bills the more I am finding out that Congress passes a lot of laws that 99.99999% Americans just don't care about. Sen. Lummis hasn't shown to be raging Neo-Con yet but these coin and building naming bills are a joke. I am sure Major Roberts didn't serve our country for him to be named after a VA center. If he was alive most soldiers are humble and would say no don't name that building after me. But here we are Congress doing more nonsense. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/824233

@ 19279658:92b3da05

As the holiday season is here, many of us find joy in gifting toys, gadgets, and other presents to our loved ones, especially children. These gifts often bring smiles and excitement in the moment, creating cherished memories. But alongside the tradition of giving tangible gifts, there’s an opportunity to introduce something more enduring: the gift of sats. A few thousand sats gifted to children each Christmas may not seem like much today, but their value could grow significantly over time. More than just a financial gesture, it’s a way of introducing them to the concept of sound money and Bitcoin’s potential to store and preserve value. In the future, when they look back at these small yearly contributions, they might come to appreciate not just the sats themselves, but the thoughtfulness behind the gesture. For instance, I recently started a Bitcoin fund for my two-year-old cousin. I’ve saved 150,000 sats for him in cold storage, a gift he’s completely unaware of. My plan is to hold it safely until he turns 18 and gift it to him as a meaningful contribution to his future. I’ve also done the same for my daughter, but with an added twist—she gets monthly DCA (dollar-cost averaging) contributions into her own cold storage wallet using Bitkey. It’s a simple yet powerful way to ensure her future savings grow steadily over time. This doesn’t mean you have to forgo traditional gifts. Children should still enjoy the magic of toys, games, and the excitement of unwrapping presents. But alongside those gifts, even a small yearly contribution of, say, 21,000 sats, can build up significantly over time. The key is consistency and ensuring proper UTXO management to keep things organized as these small contributions accumulate. By starting small and making it a yearly tradition, you can turn the act of gifting sats into a lasting legacy. It’s a simple, thoughtful way to pass on something valuable that they’ll likely come to appreciate as they grow older and begin to understand the world of money and finance. So, this Christmas (Today), consider adding a few thousand sats to your list of gifts for the ones you love. It’s a small step that could make a big impact in the years to come. Let’s keep up the spirit of giving, not just for today but for their futures. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/824140

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

The kid's sick this morning and we're awaiting our visiting relatives, so this is an unusually quiet and contemplative Christmas morning. I've been reflecting on how I've changed since finding Stacker News and becoming a bitcoiner (in that order). The change really struck me as I was looking through my podcast subscriptions for something to listen to. None of the current-events-focused establishment-critiquing pods appealed to me. I'm kind of over it. Bitcoin has given me the ability to focus on the positive. We're on the building side. We're on the winning side. We're on the side that's saving the world from all the bad things being described in my podcast feed. Stacker News has given me direct access to people who are every bit as interesting as those podcast hosts. Now, I can talk to interesting people, rather than just receiving their wisdoms. I have every confidence that this trend will persist next year and I hope to see you all there. *Stay humble. Stack sats.* *Tick-tock. Next block.* originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/823889

@ bcea2b98:7ccef3c9

It has been a fun year of learning and entertainment with you all. Merry Christmas! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/823433

@ 3a42879d:0cf7b499

  I pre-ordered this plush 6 months ago and it finally arrived, but I don't want to keep it. I'd rather have Sats LUL. New in factory sealed packaging. Free shipping to anywhere in the US. I will ship via USPS. I'm sakurablossomtradingpost on eBay. 4.6K items sold, 100% positive feedback, satisfaction guaranteed! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/823399

@ ee11a5df:b76c4e49

# China ## I might be wrong, but this is how I see it This is a post within a series I am going to call "I might be wrong, but this is how I see it" I have repeatedly found that my understanding of China is quite different from that of many libertarian-minded Americans. And so I make this post to explain how I see it. Maybe you will learn something. Maybe I will learn something. It seems to me that many American's see America as a shining beacon of freedom with a few small problems, and China is an evil communist country spreading communism everywhere. From my perspective, America *was* a shining beacon of freedom that has fallen to being typical in most ways, and which is now acting as a falling empire, and China *was* communist for about a decade, but turned and ran away from that as fast as they could (while not admitting it) and the result is that the US and China are not much different anymore when it comes to free markets. Except they are very different in some other respects. ## China has a big problem China has a big problem. But it is not the communism problem that most Westerners diagnose. I argue that China is no longer communist, it is only communist in name. And that while it is not a beacon of free market principles, it is nearly as free market now as Western nations like Germany and New Zealand are (being somewhat socialist themselves). No, China's real problem is authoritarian one-party rule. And that core problem causes all of the other problems, including its human rights abuses. ## Communism and Socialism Communism and Socialism are bad ideas. I don't want to argue it right here, but most readers will already understand this. The last thing I intend to do with this post is to bolster or defend those bad ideas. If you dear reader hold a candle for socialism, let me know and I can help you extinguish it with a future "I might be wrong, but this is how I see it" installment. Communism is the idea of structuring a society around common ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange, and the idea of allocating goods and services based on need. It eliminates the concept of private property, of social classes, ultimately of money and finally of the state itself. Back under Mao in 1958-1962 (The Great Leap Forward), China tried this (in part). Some 50+ million people died. It was an abject failure. But due to China's real problem (authoritarianism, even worship of their leaders), the leading classes never admitted this. And even today they continue to use the word "Communist" for things that aren't communist at all, as a way to save face, and also in opposition to the United States of America and Europe. Authorities are not eager to admit their faults. But this is not just a Chinese fault, it is a fault in human nature that affects all countries. The USA still refuses to admit they assassinated their own president JFK. They do not admit they bombed the Nord Stream pipeline. China defines "socialism with Chinese characteristics" to mean "the leadership of the Communist Party of China". So they still keep the words socialism and communism, but they long ago dropped the meanings of those words. I'm not sure if this is a political ploy against us in the West or not. ### China's Marketplace Today Today China exhibits very few of the properties of communism. They have some common ownership and state enterprises, but not much differently than Western countries (New Zealand owns Air New Zealand and Kiwibank and Kiwirail, etc). And there are private enterprises all over China. They compete and some succeed and some fail. You might hear about a real-estate bank collapsing. China has private property. They have mostly free markets. They have money, and the most definitely have social classes and a very strong state. None of that is inline with what communist thinkers want. Communist thinkers in China moan that China has turned away from communism. Deng Xiaoping who succeeded Mao and attempted to correct the massive mistake, did much when he said "to get rich is glorious." China achieved staggering rates of economic growth. 10% annually on average since 1977. Chinese economic reform started in 1979 and has continued through successive administrations (Deng, Jiang, Hu and now Xi). China is now the world's largest economy (by GDP in PPP terms) since 2016. I was first made aware of China's economic growth by Jim Rogers, an American commodities expert who travelled through China (and the rest of the world from 1990-1992) and in 2007 moved to Singapore where he ensured his daughters learned to speak Mandarin, because Jim knew where the economic growth was going to happen. Jim always spoke positively of China's economic prospects, and his view was so different from the "China is a nasty communist place" view that I had grown up with that my mind opened. How can anybody believe they are still a communist country? In what world does it make sense that communism can produce such a massively booming economy? It doesn't make sense because it is simply wrong. What *does* happen is that the CPC interferes. It lets the market do what markets do, but it interferes where it thinks oversight and regulation would produce a better result. Western nations interfere with their markets too. They have oversight and regulation. In fact some of China's planned reforms had to be put on hold by Xi due to Donald Trump's trade war with China. That's right, they were trying to be even more free market than America, but America's protectionism prodded Xi to keep control so he could fight back efficiently. Government oversight and regulation IMHO is mostly bad because it gets out of control, and there are no market forces to correct this. This gets even more extreme in a one-party system, so I can judge that China's oversight and regulation problems are very likely worse than those in Western nations (but I have no first hand experience or evidence). ## Why do you keep saying CPC? The Communist Party of China (CPC) is the ruling party in China. That is their official name. To call them the CCP is to concede to the idea that the British and Americans get to name everybody. I'm not sure who is right, since CPC or CCP is their "English" name (in Chinese it is 中国共产党 and Westernized it is Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng). Nonetheless, I'll call them CPC because that is their wish. ## Social Credit System China moved from a planned economy to a market economy in stages. They didn't want any more sudden changes (can you blame them?). In the process, many institutions that have existed in the West for a long time didn't exist in China and they had to arise somehow. IMHO market forces would have brought these about in the private sector, but the one-party CP of China instead decided to create these. One of those institutions was a credit score system. In the West we have TransUnion and Equifax that maintain credit ratings on people, and we have S&P, Moody's and Fitch that maintain credit ratings on companies. The domain of these ratings is their financial credit-worthiness. So the People's Bank of China developed a credit information database for it's own needs. The government picked up on the idea and started moving towards a National Credit Management System. In 2004 it became an official goal to establish a credit system compatible with a modern market system. By 2006 banks were required to report on consumer creditworthiness. But unchecked one-party governmental power will often take a good idea (credit worthiness data shared among private parties) and systematize it and apply it top-down, creating a solution and a new problem at the same time. Nonetheless, originally it was about credit worthiness and also criminal convictions. That is no big scary thing that some right-wing American commentators will lead you to believe. In the US for example criminal records are public, so China's Social Credit System started out being no more over-reaching in scope than what Americans have lived under their entire lives, its only fault (a severe one) being centrally planned. And that remained the case up until about 2016 (in my estimation). But of course there is always scope creep. As it exists today, I have reason to believe that CPC officials and even A.I. use judgement calls to score someone on how moral that person has been! Of course that is not a good idea, and IMHO the problem stems from one-party rule, and authoritarian administration of ideas that should instead be handled by the private sector. ## Environmental, Social, and Governance ESG is a system that came out of a couple basic ideas. The first is that many two-party transactions actually have externalities. They don't just affect the two parties, they also affect everybody else. When you fly in an airplane, you increase the CO2 in the atmosphere that everybody has to pay for (eventually). You may dispute that example, but that is no doubt one of the motivations of ESG. But of course the recognition of this basic issue didn't lead all people towards market solutions (well it did, but those have been mostly messed up by others), but instead led many people towards ESG, which is a social credit scoring system which applies scores based on environmental and social side-effects of market transactions. This is not at all the same as China's social credit system, which I described above. I hope you can see the difference. In fact, China imported ESG from the West. Chinese companies, of their free will, in an attempt to court Western capital, achieve ESG goals for those Western investors. They have been playing this ESG game for 20 years just like the entire world has, because the West has imposed this faux-morality upon them. It isn't something China exported to us, it is something we exported to them. ## I think China has avoided Woke-ism My understanding of Chinese people, based on what I've heard many Chinese people say, is that China isn't affected by the Western woke-ism epidemic. They deride Western white woke people with the term "Baizuo". They have never sent an incompetent break dancer to the Olympics because of wok-ism. Competence is highly respected as is the competition to be the most competent, which (when augmented by a one-child policy which is no longer) has produced child prodigies like no other country has. ## What about predatory loans of the Belt and Road initiative? Predatory is an odd name for loans to people in need. The World Bank makes loans to people in need. China does too. China stands in opposition to Western Empire, and in that regard they produce their own alternative BRICS institutions. This is one of them. There is AFAIK nothing more predatory about them. It is just that in some cases the borrowers have trouble paying them back and they get foreclosed upon. I don't think this is worthy of much discussion, except that the term "predatory" seems to me to be a propaganda device. ## What about foreign influence from China? China wants to influence the world, especially its own trading partners and potential trading partners. Doing that above board is fine by me. But some of it is undoubtedly covert. Sometimes Chinese-born people run for public office in Western countries. In New Zealand we stood down some when it became clear they were being influenced too much by the CPC while being charged with representing their local town (dual loyalty issues). If only the USA would do the same thing to their dually-loyal politicians. And all large nations run influence operations. The USA has the CIA, for example, and claims this "soft power" is actually the better alternative to what would otherwise be military intervention (but IMHO shouldn't be either). I'm not defending such operations (I despise them), I'm just explaining how China's position of exerting influence is not only no big deal and totally expected, it pales in comparison to the United States' influence operations which often become military excursions (something China rarely ever does). ## What about the Great Firewall? Yeah, that sucks. Again, single-party authoritarian control gone to extremes. ## What about Human Rights Abuses? What about the Uyghur Genocide? I don't like them. To the extent they are occurring (and I lean towards the belief that they are occurring), I condemn them. China has anti-terrorism and anti-extremism policies that go too far. They end up oppressing and/or criminalizing cultures that aren't Chinese enough. But especially, China punishes dissent. Disagreement with the CPC is the high crime. It is the one-party rule that causes this problem. Anybody who speaks out against the CPC or goes against the state in any way is harshly punished. This happens to Uyghurs, to Falun Gong, to Tibetans, and to any religion that is seen as subversive. Amnesty International and the UN OHCHR have documented issues around the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, Tibet, LGBT rights, death penalty, workers rights, and the Hong Kong special administrative region. I am not about to pretend I know better than they do, but to some extent they go too far. Amnesty International says this about the USA: Discrimination and violence against LGBTI people were widespread and anti-LGBTI legislation increased. Bills were introduced to address reparations regarding slavery and its legacies. Multiple states implemented total bans on abortion or severely limited access to it. Gender-based violence disproportionately affected Indigenous women. Access to the USA for asylum seekers and migrants was still fraught with obstacles, but some nationalities continued to enjoy Temporary Protected Status. Moves were made to restrict the freedom to protest in a number of states. Black people were disproportionately affected by the use of lethal force by police. No progress was made in the abolition of the death penalty, apart from in Washington. Arbitrary and indefinite detention in the US naval base Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, continued. Despite extensive gun violence, no further firearm reform policies were considered, but President Biden did announce the creation of the White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. The USA continued to use lethal force in countries around the world. Black people, other racialized groups and low-income people bore the brunt of the health impacts of the petrochemical industry, and the use of fossil fuels continued unabated. Amnesty international didn't even point out that the US government quashes free speech via pressure on social media corporations (because Amnesty International is far too lefty). So who is worse, China or the US? I'm not going to make that judgement call, but suffice it to say that in my mind, China is not obviously worse. China violates freedom of expression, association, and assembly of all people. This is bad, and a consequence mainly of one-party rule (again, what I think is the root cause of most of their ills). They arrest, detain, potentially kill anybody who publicly disagrees openly with their government. Clearly this is an excess of authoritarianism, a cancer that is very advanced in China. As to organ harvesting of Uyghur Muslims, I think this is a myth. China has dealt harshly with Muslim extremism. They don't offer freedom of religion to ISIS. And Amnesty International complains about that. But practically speaking you probably shouldn't respect the extremist religion of people who want to force everybody into a global caliphate through threat of violence. As you are well aware, some extremist Muslims (<1% of Islam) believe in using violence to bring about a global caliphate. Those extremists pop up in every country and are usually dealt with harshly. China has had to deal with them too. I have watched two different Western YouTubers travel to Xinjiang province trying to find the oppressed Uyghurs and interview them. They can't find them. What they find instead are Uyghur Muslims doing their prayers five times a day at the local mosque. And also stories that the CPC pitched in some money to help them renovate the mosque. Maybe they were afraid it was a CPC trap and so they wouldn't speak freely. Amnesty International and the UN OHCHR say more than a million are "arbitrarily detained" and I'm not going to argue otherwise. But I'd be more convinced if there were a stream of pictures and news like there is out of Gaza, and it is suspicious that there isn't. ## Conclusion China is more like a Western nation that Westerners realize. Economically, militarily, socially. It still has a very serious obstacle to overcome: one-party rule. I don't think the one-party is going to voluntarily give up power. So most probably at some point in the future there will be a revolution. But in my opinion it won't happen anytime soon. For the most part Chinese people are living high on the hog, getting rich, enjoying the good life, in positive spirits about life, and are getting along with their government quite well at present.

@ d8c59f3c:984e482e

sfgdfgdfgdfgdfgdfg originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459409

@ b83e6f82:73c27758

## Citrine 0.6.0 - Update dependencies - Show notifications when importing, exporting, downloading events - Change database functions to be suspending functions Download it with [zap.store]( https://zap.store/download), [Obtainium]( https://github.com/ImranR98/Obtainium), [f-droid]( https://f-droid.org/packages/com.greenart7c3.citrine) or download it directly in the [releases page ]( https://github.com/greenart7c3/Citrine/releases/tag/v0.6.0) If you like my work consider making a [donation]( https://greenart7c3.com) ## Verifying the release In order to verify the release, you'll need to have `gpg` or `gpg2` installed on your system. Once you've obtained a copy (and hopefully verified that as well), you'll first need to import the keys that have signed this release if you haven't done so already: ``` bash gpg --keyserver hkps://keys.openpgp.org --recv-keys 44F0AAEB77F373747E3D5444885822EED3A26A6D ``` Once you have his PGP key you can verify the release (assuming `manifest-v0.6.0.txt` and `manifest-v0.6.0.txt.sig` are in the current directory) with: ``` bash gpg --verify manifest-v0.6.0.txt.sig manifest-v0.6.0.txt ``` You should see the following if the verification was successful: ``` bash gpg: Signature made Fri 13 Sep 2024 08:06:52 AM -03 gpg: using RSA key 44F0AAEB77F373747E3D5444885822EED3A26A6D gpg: Good signature from "greenart7c3 <greenart7c3@proton.me>" ``` That will verify the signature on the main manifest page which ensures integrity and authenticity of the binaries you've downloaded locally. Next, depending on your operating system you should then re-calculate the sha256 sum of the binary, and compare that with the following hashes: ``` bash cat manifest-v0.6.0.txt ``` One can use the `shasum -a 256 <file name here>` tool in order to re-compute the `sha256` hash of the target binary for your operating system. The produced hash should be compared with the hashes listed above and they should match exactly.

@ d8c59f3c:984e482e

sdfsdfsdfsdfsdfsdf originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459408

@ d8c59f3c:984e482e

gvfygtftyfftyf originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459406

@ 16d11430:61640947

At the intersection of philosophy, theology, physics, biology, and finance lies a terrifying truth: the fiat monetary system, in its current form, is not just an economic framework but a silent, relentless force actively working against humanity's survival. It isn't simply a failed financial model—it is a systemic engine of destruction, both externally and within the very core of our biological existence. The Philosophical Void of Fiat Philosophy has long questioned the nature of value and the meaning of human existence. From Socrates to Kant, thinkers have pondered the pursuit of truth, beauty, and virtue. But in the modern age, the fiat system has hijacked this discourse. The notion of "value" in a fiat world is no longer rooted in human potential or natural resources—it is abstracted, manipulated, and controlled by central authorities with the sole purpose of perpetuating their own power. The currency is not a reflection of society’s labor or resources; it is a representation of faith in an authority that, more often than not, breaks that faith with reckless monetary policies and hidden inflation. The fiat system has created a kind of ontological nihilism, where the idea of true value, rooted in work, creativity, and family, is replaced with speculative gambling and short-term gains. This betrayal of human purpose at the systemic level feeds into a philosophical despair: the relentless devaluation of effort, the erosion of trust, and the abandonment of shared human values. In this nihilistic economy, purpose and meaning become increasingly difficult to find, leaving millions to question the very foundation of their existence. Theological Implications: Fiat and the Collapse of the Sacred Religious traditions have long linked moral integrity with the stewardship of resources and the preservation of life. Fiat currency, however, corrupts these foundational beliefs. In the theological narrative of creation, humans are given dominion over the Earth, tasked with nurturing and protecting it for future generations. But the fiat system promotes the exact opposite: it commodifies everything—land, labor, and life—treating them as mere transactions on a ledger. This disrespect for creation is an affront to the divine. In many theologies, creation is meant to be sustained, a delicate balance that mirrors the harmony of the divine order. Fiat systems—by continuously printing money and driving inflation—treat nature and humanity as expendable resources to be exploited for short-term gains, leading to environmental degradation and societal collapse. The creation narrative, in which humans are called to be stewards, is inverted. The fiat system, through its unholy alliance with unrestrained growth and unsustainable debt, is destroying the very creation it should protect. Furthermore, the fiat system drives idolatry of power and wealth. The central banks and corporations that control the money supply have become modern-day gods, their decrees shaping the lives of billions, while the masses are enslaved by debt and inflation. This form of worship isn't overt, but it is profound. It leads to a world where people place their faith not in God or their families, but in the abstract promises of institutions that serve their own interests. Physics and the Infinite Growth Paradox Physics teaches us that the universe is finite—resources, energy, and space are all limited. Yet, the fiat system operates under the delusion of infinite growth. Central banks print money without concern for natural limits, encouraging an economy that assumes unending expansion. This is not only an economic fallacy; it is a physical impossibility. In thermodynamics, the Second Law states that entropy (disorder) increases over time in any closed system. The fiat system operates as if the Earth were an infinite resource pool, perpetually able to expand without consequence. The real world, however, does not bend to these abstract concepts of infinite growth. Resources are finite, ecosystems are fragile, and human capacity is limited. Fiat currency, by promoting unsustainable consumption and growth, accelerates the depletion of resources and the degradation of natural systems that support life itself. Even the financial “growth” driven by fiat policies leads to unsustainable bubbles—inflated stock markets, real estate, and speculative assets that burst and leave ruin in their wake. These crashes aren’t just economic—they have profound biological consequences. The cycles of boom and bust undermine communities, erode social stability, and increase anxiety and depression, all of which affect human health at a biological level. Biology: The Fiat System and the Destruction of Human Health Biologically, the fiat system is a cancerous growth on human society. The constant chase for growth and the devaluation of work leads to chronic stress, which is one of the leading causes of disease in modern society. The strain of living in a system that values speculation over well-being results in a biological feedback loop: rising anxiety, poor mental health, physical diseases like cardiovascular disorders, and a shortening of lifespans. Moreover, the focus on profit and short-term returns creates a biological disconnect between humans and the planet. The fiat system fuels industries that destroy ecosystems, increase pollution, and deplete resources at unsustainable rates. These actions are not just environmentally harmful; they directly harm human biology. The degradation of the environment—whether through toxic chemicals, pollution, or resource extraction—has profound biological effects on human health, causing respiratory diseases, cancers, and neurological disorders. The biological cost of the fiat system is not a distant theory; it is being paid every day by millions in the form of increased health risks, diseases linked to stress, and the growing burden of mental health disorders. The constant uncertainty of an inflation-driven economy exacerbates these conditions, creating a society of individuals whose bodies and minds are under constant strain. We are witnessing a systemic biological unraveling, one in which the very act of living is increasingly fraught with pain, instability, and the looming threat of collapse. Finance as the Final Illusion At the core of the fiat system is a fundamental illusion—that financial growth can occur without any real connection to tangible value. The abstraction of currency, the manipulation of interest rates, and the constant creation of new money hide the underlying truth: the system is built on nothing but faith. When that faith falters, the entire system collapses. This illusion has become so deeply embedded that it now defines the human experience. Work no longer connects to production or creation—it is reduced to a transaction on a spreadsheet, a means to acquire more fiat currency in a world where value is ephemeral and increasingly disconnected from human reality. As we pursue ever-expanding wealth, the fundamental truths of biology—interdependence, sustainability, and balance—are ignored. The fiat system’s abstract financial models serve to disconnect us from the basic realities of life: that we are part of an interconnected world where every action has a reaction, where resources are finite, and where human health, both mental and physical, depends on the stability of our environment and our social systems. The Ultimate Extermination In the end, the fiat system is not just an economic issue; it is a biological, philosophical, theological, and existential threat to the very survival of humanity. It is a force that devalues human effort, encourages environmental destruction, fosters inequality, and creates pain at the core of the human biological condition. It is an economic framework that leads not to prosperity, but to extermination—not just of species, but of the very essence of human well-being. To continue on this path is to accept the slow death of our species, one based not on natural forces, but on our own choice to worship the abstract over the real, the speculative over the tangible. The fiat system isn't just a threat; it is the ultimate self-inflicted wound, a cultural and financial cancer that, if left unchecked, will destroy humanity’s chance for survival and peace.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

On this Victory Monday, the triumphant Raiders are picking 6th. That win was pretty costly, but I'll never root for a loss. What can we do with the 6th pick? **Mock Draft** 6th Pick: QB Cam Ward 37th Pick: WR Emeka Egbuka 68th Pick: OT Emery Jones Jr. 73rd Pick: CB Denzel Burke 104th Pick: RB Ollie Gordon II 139th Pick: OG Charles Grant 181st Pick: LB Jay Higgins 212th Pick: DE Tyler Baron 216th Pick: DT Ty Hamilton 221st Pick: TE Terrance Ferguson Fortunately, we can still get one of the top 2 QB's. The next biggest needs are a WR1 and a tackle to replace Kolton Miller (who sucks now). Corner depth is the biggest issue on the defense. We have three solid starting caliber CB's, but no true CB1. That means they'll have to take a committee approach, until someone emerges. The running game was a disaster this season, so taking another swing on RB is a must. Improving the interior of the line is also a step in that direction. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/821703

@ d8c59f3c:984e482e

daadfdaadfdaadfddfdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdfdfdsdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdfdfdsdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfds originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459401

@ d8c59f3c:984e482e

daadfdaadfdaadfdaadfddaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdfdsddaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfdsdfdfdsdaadfdaadfdaadfddfdfdfds originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/459400

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

The inspiration provided by @Jon_Hodl still flowing... @Public_N_M_E might be interested on this, as all the fans ~Music territory has been able to gather together.      FIY: @Msd0457890 @suraz @Roll @payingmantis @Lux @Kontext @craigwrong @jarjarships @stacksofsats @roadrunnah @jessikabtc Source file is available and welcoming edits and new banner creation: https://www.figma.com/design/ZL3FLItd9j48pzKVi4qlOy/Stacker.News-Media-Kit?node-id=173-167&t=am10v5YPSF2J3R3H-0 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/821464

@ 8dac122d:0fc98d37

To commemorate the first one-year anniversary of the AGORA territory on Stacker News, here is an introduction that highlights the vibrant and electrifying community where stackers can discover a wide range of items through peer-to-peer transactions, merchants can sell various products, and offer unlimited services globally to receive back valuable sats securely, without intermediaries. A place where entrepreneurs can learn about and build businesses on bitcoin and innovative market practices. It is also the hub for marketers to connect with their audience, advertisers to reach a diverse and engaged community glued together by strong values, and curious visitors to explore new opportunities and ideas in a free and dynamic marketplace. A place to connect, where individuals from all walks of life, including stackers, cowboys, maxis, and hodlers, come together to exchange, trade, and innovate remotely, privately, and anonymously. The AGORA territory embodies the spirit of a traditional _agora_, where people gather to exchange goods, services, and ideas, fostering a community that is both socially and economically active. One year already since its [inception](https://stacker.news/items/363312/r/AGORA), the AGORA territory has become a thriving community where users can post anything they want to sell or buy, advertise their services and skill sets, and engage in various types of discussions about business, free market, value exchange, peer to peer deals, operating in the private and learn how to get rid of uncomfortable third parties. From physical items to digital services, the diversity of offerings is vast, and the community is open to feedback and suggestions to continuously improve and expand its capabilities. # 2024 Highlights Over the past year, the AGORA territory has seen significant activity, with numerous posts, comments, and transactions. Here are the highlights: ### 📜 Top 3 posts by **zaprank** Discover the most engaging posts based on stackers interactions. You can see them all [here](https://stacker.news/~AGORA/top/posts/year/r/AGORA)! - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/597538/r/AGORA How to respond to illicit & immoral Payment Requests & Notices of Prosecution? by @supratic - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/710616/r/AGORA Advice For Bitcoin Online Store? by @siggy47 - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/791635/r/AGORA Darknet Market Archives of ~89 darknet markets & forums (2013-2015) by @aljaz ### 📜 Top 3 posts by **comments** Sparking the most out of the discussion. You can see them all [here](https://stacker.news/~AGORA/top/posts/year/r/AGORA?by=comments)! - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/372065/r/AGORA [OFFER] I will leave a comment on your Bio [500 sats] 😎 by @Eobard - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/723069/r/AGORA [SWAP] SN Cowboy credits by @DarthCoin - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/806578/r/AGORA Buy Kratum With Bitcoin by @siggy47 ### 📜 Top 3 posts by **sats** Yes! Those that have earned the most sats from the community. You can see them all [here](https://stacker.news/~AGORA/top/posts/year/r/AGORA?by=sats) (excluding internals)! - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/509450/r/AGORA I OWN NOTHING, and I'm the happiest I've ever been by @Lux - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/505860/r/AGORA The first contract you did NOT sign and someone stealing you(r) baby at birth by @mo - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/634874/r/AGORA The United States Corporation by @supratic ### 📜 Top 3 Boosts Learn about the posts that have gained significant attention supporting the territory. - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/787489/r/AGORA BLACK FRIDAY: Borrow against your Bitcoin for a Virtual Visa - No Fees by @lendasat - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/784376/r/AGORA SATOSH.EE - Gift Cards, Discounts, Loyalty Program by @Kontext - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/750336/r/AGORA [OFFER] IPv4+IPv6 KVM VPS, from 1.75EUR/month (Stockholm/SE SWEDEN) by @skhron ### ⚖️ Top 3 SELLERS Recognize the most successful sellers in the community. - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/367235/r/AGORA [SELL] 3 Chairs and 1 Standing Desk by @PlebLab - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/673616/r/AGORA [SELL] 1 Million Products, Travel Agency, Concierge and Cars by @ShopinBit - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/806603/r/AGORA Beeswax Dinner Candles For Sale by @kr ### 🖇 Top 3 OFFERS Explore the best service and product offers. - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/813013/r/AGORA [OFFER][Graphic Design] by @gpvansat - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/372801/r/AGORA [OFFER] Photoshoping by @tomlaies - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/650741/r/AGORA [⚖️SELL] Hand-Made Flecktarn Pouch(es) by @Fabs ### 🤠 Top 3 Contributors Let's acknowledge the stackers who have contributed the most to the territory. - 🥇 @watchmancbiz with [36 Ad-posts](https://stacker.news/search/r/AGORA?amount=&q=~AGORA+%40watchmancbiz&what=posts) - 🥈 @supratic with [29 posts](https://stacker.news/search/r/AGORA?amount=&q=~AGORA+%40supratic&what=posts) - 🥉 @thebullishbitcoiner with [9 Listings](https://stacker.news/search/r/AGORA?amount=&q=~AGORA+%40thebullishbitcoiner&what=posts) ### 🤠 Top 3 SN Posts about **Business** Outside of the AGORA, we know people was talking about business and markets. Here the most interesting ones: - 🥇 https://stacker.news/items/242308/r/AGORA Why are there so few bitcoiner e-commerce businesses??? by @DeltaClimbs - 🥈 https://stacker.news/items/320474/r/AGORA What is the best lightning business idea that nobody else is doing? by @piecover - 🥉 https://stacker.news/items/363827/r/supratic Which businesses will pivot to Bitcoin / Lightning / Nostr? by @davidw Special kudos to @OPAGO_PAY for [onboarding so many new businesses](https://stacker.news/search/r/AGORA?amount=&q=%40OPAGO_PAY&what=posts) into #bitcoin. - - - # In Summary - A total of 📜 `823` posts - with a total of 💬 `2324` comments - stackers spent 🔫 `419.5`k sats - we stacked 🐎 `183`k sats - and a revenue of 🏆 `136.3`k sats way below the 1.2M sats spent until now! **So why keep going at a loss?** We are driven by a desire to create something meaningful and useful for us all. We aim to build a community that aligns with our interests and values, which for us, is a fulfilling and motivating factor itself. Operating the AGORA provides an opportunity for us to connect with like-minded individuals, share ideas, and learn from others. The sense of community and the potential for personal and professional growth is our second strong motivator. Moreover, Stacker News is continually improving and expanding with new features that enable this to happen. Planned features include seamless crossposting, creating sub-territories, and more economic parameters to incentivize a worldwide free market! - - - # AGORA initiatives During this year, we have played, experimented and had much fun launching several initiatives to support and enhance the AGORA territory, some of them have work, others need some more work, but overall we are really proud of the progress done until now. Check out our gems: - https://stacker.news/items/806159/r/AGORA STACKER NEWS Merch: T-Shirts & Cap [32100 sats + shipping] https://agora.ftp.sh/cat/stacker-news/ - https://stacker.news/items/711428/r/AGORA Introducing SN nostr Badges for Legendary Stackers and Honorary Cowboys - you can get some stickers from https://agora.ftp.sh/tag/badge/ - https://stacker.news/items/430501/r/AGORA 🌵🏜 NEW WILD WEST POSTERS published as one of the OpenDesign Contests @Design_r shared with us https://posters.btc.pub/ - - - # Try the ~AGORA Ifyou are still new in the AGORA, we suggest reading our intro guides, browse the community latest items or, why not, put a sats-value and post products and services you may have to offer? Click any of the links below to get started: - [[⚖️ SELL]](https://w3.do/b_v2wutP) your stuff - [[🛒 BUY]](https://w3.do/zvixtuSh) for sats - [[🧑‍💻 HIRE]](https://w3.do/_j0kpVsi) some stuff or skills - [[🖇 OFFER]](https://w3.do/EfWF8yDL) something - [[🧑‍⚖️ AUCTION]](https://w3.do/sbbCjZ0e) - [[🤝 SWAP]](https://t.ly/DgeHr) Peer to Peer - You could also give it for [[🆓 FREE]](https://w3.do/DdVEE1ME) - [[⭐ REVIEW]](https://w3.do/CAZ5JxCk) anything - - - # A Heartfelt Thank You We are grateful to @mo for initiating this territory, @AG for the amazing work done keeping an eye on the territory, running our weekly [🏷️ Spending Sunday!](https://stacker.news/search/r/AGORA?q=spending+sunday+%40AG&what=posts) and [The Magnificent Seven](https://stacker.news/AGORA/r/AGORA#the-magnificent-seven---of-all-times) newsletter, and @k00b, @ek, and all @SN contributors for building and maintaining Stacker News the way the community want and need. Your contributions have enabled us to add to our words and actions value, real value! - - - # Your Feedback Matters If you have suggestions or ideas on how we can improve or expand the AGORA territory, please leave your feedback in the comments below or DM the AGORA team on #Nostr: `npub`: [`npub13kkpytvjcxsqka9pdshw3094urgh8fxwx7ru258lved9wr7f35mspal584`](https://iris.to/agora_sn) `NIP-05`: [`agora_sn@iris.to`](https://iris.to/agora_sn) `link`: [`https://iris.to/agora_sn`](https://iris.to/agora_sn) Thank you, stackers, for making this year an incredible journey. We hope you enjoyed the ɅGOᏒɅ 🌵🏜️ experience and look forward to many more successful and joyful done-deals. - - - ## MAY EVERY DEAL ₿RING JOY TO YOUR ~AGORA AD-VENTURES! - - - originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/821255

@ a367f9eb:0633efea

I’ll admit that I was wrong about Bitcoin. Perhaps in 2013. Definitely 2017. Probably in 2018-2019. And maybe even today. Being wrong about Bitcoin is part of finally understanding it. It will test you, make you question everything, and in the words of BTC educator and privacy advocate [Matt Odell](https://twitter.com/ODELL), “Bitcoin will humble you”. I’ve had my own stumbles on the way. In a very public fashion in 2017, after years of using Bitcoin, trying to start a company with it, using it as my primary exchange vehicle between currencies, and generally being annoying about it at parties, I let out the bear. In an article published in my own literary magazine *Devolution Review* in September 2017, I had a breaking point. The article was titled “[Going Bearish on Bitcoin: Cryptocurrencies are the tulip mania of the 21st century](https://www.devolutionreview.com/bearish-on-bitcoin/)”. It was later republished in *Huffington Post* and across dozens of financial and crypto blogs at the time with another, more appropriate title: “[Bitcoin Has Become About The Payday, Not Its Potential](https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/bitcoin-has-become-about-the-payday-not-its-potential_ca_5cd5025de4b07bc72973ec2d)”. As I laid out, my newfound bearishness had little to do with the technology itself or the promise of Bitcoin, and more to do with the cynical industry forming around it: > In the beginning, Bitcoin was something of a revolution to me. The digital currency represented everything from my rebellious youth. > > It was a decentralized, denationalized, and digital currency operating outside the traditional banking and governmental system. It used tools of cryptography and connected buyers and sellers across national borders at minimal transaction costs. > > … > > The 21st-century version (of Tulip mania) has welcomed a plethora of slick consultants, hazy schemes dressed up as investor possibilities, and too much wishy-washy language for anything to really make sense to anyone who wants to use a digital currency to make purchases. While I called out Bitcoin by name at the time, on reflection, I was really talking about the ICO craze, the wishy-washy consultants, and the altcoin ponzis. What I was articulating — without knowing it — was the frame of NgU, or “numbers go up”. Rather than advocating for Bitcoin because of its uncensorability, proof-of-work, or immutability, the common mentality among newbies and the dollar-obsessed was that Bitcoin mattered because its price was a rocket ship. And because Bitcoin was gaining in price, affinity tokens and projects that were imperfect forks of Bitcoin took off as well. The price alone — rather than its qualities — were the reasons why you’d hear Uber drivers, finance bros, or your gym buddy mention Bitcoin. As someone who came to Bitcoin for philosophical reasons, that just sat wrong with me. Maybe I had too many projects thrown in my face, or maybe I was too frustrated with the UX of Bitcoin apps and sites at the time. No matter what, I’ve since learned something. **I was at least somewhat wrong.** My own journey began in early 2011. One of my favorite radio programs, Free Talk Live, began interviewing guests and having discussions on the potential of Bitcoin. They tied it directly to a libertarian vision of the world: free markets, free people, and free banking. That was me, and I was in. Bitcoin was at about $5 back then (NgU). I followed every article I could, talked about it with guests [on my college radio show](https://libertyinexile.wordpress.com/2011/05/09/osamobama_on_the_tubes/), and became a devoted redditor on r/Bitcoin. At that time, at least to my knowledge, there was no possible way to buy Bitcoin where I was living. Very weak. **I was probably wrong. And very wrong for not trying to acquire by mining or otherwise.** The next year, after moving to Florida, Bitcoin was a heavy topic with a friend of mine who shared the same vision (and still does, according to the Celsius bankruptcy documents). We talked about it with passionate leftists at **Occupy Tampa** in 2012, all the while trying to explain the ills of Keynesian central banking, and figuring out how to use Coinbase. I began writing more about Bitcoin in 2013, writing a guide on “[How to Avoid Bank Fees Using Bitcoin](http://thestatelessman.com/2013/06/03/using-bitcoin/),” discussing its [potential legalization in Germany](https://yael.ca/2013/10/01/lagefi-alternative-monetaire-et-legislation-de/), and interviewing Jeremy Hansen, [one of the first political candidates in the U.S. to accept Bitcoin donations](https://yael.ca/2013/12/09/bitcoin-politician-wants-to-upgrade-democracy-in/). Even up until that point, I thought Bitcoin was an interesting protocol for sending and receiving money quickly, and converting it into fiat. The global connectedness of it, plus this cypherpunk mentality divorced from government control was both useful and attractive. I thought it was the perfect go-between. **But I was wrong.** When I gave my [first public speech](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtVypq2f0G4) on Bitcoin in Vienna, Austria in December 2013, I had grown obsessed with Bitcoin’s adoption on dark net markets like Silk Road. My theory, at the time, was the number and price were irrelevant. The tech was interesting, and a novel attempt. It was unlike anything before. But what was happening on the dark net markets, which I viewed as the true free market powered by Bitcoin, was even more interesting. I thought these markets would grow exponentially and anonymous commerce via BTC would become the norm. While the price was irrelevant, it was all about buying and selling goods without permission or license. **Now I understand I was wrong.** Just because Bitcoin was this revolutionary technology that embraced pseudonymity did not mean that all commerce would decentralize as well. It did not mean that anonymous markets were intended to be the most powerful layer in the Bitcoin stack. What I did not even anticipate is something articulated very well by noted Bitcoin OG [Pierre Rochard](https://twitter.com/BitcoinPierre): [Bitcoin as a *savings technology*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BavRqEoaxjI)*.* The ability to maintain long-term savings, practice self-discipline while stacking stats, and embrace a low-time preference was just not something on the mind of the Bitcoiners I knew at the time. Perhaps I was reading into the hype while outwardly opposing it. Or perhaps I wasn’t humble enough to understand the true value proposition that many of us have learned years later. In the years that followed, I bought and sold more times than I can count, and I did everything to integrate it into passion projects. I tried to set up a company using Bitcoin while at my university in Prague. My business model depended on university students being technologically advanced enough to have a mobile wallet, own their keys, and be able to make transactions on a consistent basis. Even though I was surrounded by philosophically aligned people, those who would advance that to actually put Bitcoin into practice were sparse. This is what led me to proclaim that “[Technological Literacy is Doomed](https://www.huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/technological-literacy-is-doomed_b_12669440)” in 2016. **And I was wrong again.** Indeed, since that time, the UX of Bitcoin-only applications, wallets, and supporting tech has vastly improved and onboarded millions more people than anyone thought possible. The entrepreneurship, coding excellence, and vision offered by Bitcoiners of all stripes have renewed a sense in me that this project is something built for us all — friends and enemies alike. While many of us were likely distracted by flashy and pumpy altcoins over the years (me too, champs), most of us have returned to the Bitcoin stable. Fast forward to today, there are entire ecosystems of creators, activists, and developers who are wholly reliant on the magic of Bitcoin’s protocol for their life and livelihood. The options are endless. The FUD is still present, but real proof of work stands powerfully against those forces. In addition, there are now [dozens of ways to use Bitcoin privately](https://fixthemoney.substack.com/p/not-your-keys-not-your-coins-claiming) — still without custodians or intermediaries — that make it one of the most important assets for global humanity, especially in dictatorships. This is all toward a positive arc of innovation, freedom, and pure independence. Did I see that coming? Absolutely not. Of course, there are probably other shots you’ve missed on Bitcoin. Price predictions (ouch), the short-term inflation hedge, or the amount of institutional investment. While all of these may be erroneous predictions in the short term, we have to realize that Bitcoin is a long arc. It will outlive all of us on the planet, and it will continue in its present form for the next generation. **Being wrong about the evolution of Bitcoin is no fault, and is indeed part of the learning curve to finally understanding it all.** When your family or friends ask you about Bitcoin after your endless sessions explaining market dynamics, nodes, how mining works, and the genius of cryptographic signatures, try to accept that there is still so much we have to learn about this decentralized digital cash. There are still some things you’ve gotten wrong about Bitcoin, and plenty more you’ll underestimate or get wrong in the future. That’s what makes it a beautiful journey. It’s a long road, but one that remains worth it.

@ ec42c765:328c0600

この記事は前回の内容を把握している人向けに書いています（特にNostrエクステンション（NIP-07）導入） 前回：[Nostrのカスタム絵文字の使い方](https://yakihonne.com/article/_@lokuyow.github.io/xVMTZxHcV_NWKuTbDBUYs) # 手順 1. 登録する画像を用意する 2. 画像をweb上にアップロードする 3. 絵文字セットに登録する ## 1. 登録する画像を用意する 以下のような方法で用意してください。 * 画像編集ソフト等を使って自分で作成する * 絵文字作成サイトを使う（[絵文字ジェネレーター](https://emoji-gen.ninja/)、[MEGAMOJI](https://zk-phi.github.io/MEGAMOJI/) など） * フリー画像を使う（[いらすとや](https://www.irasutoya.com/) など） ### データ量削減 Nostrでは画像をそのまま表示するクライアントが多いので、データ量が大きな画像をそのまま使うとモバイル通信時などに負担がかかります。 データ量を増やさないためにサイズやファイル形式を変更することをおすすめします。 以下は私のおすすめです。 * サイズ：正方形 128×128 ピクセル、長方形 任意の横幅×128 ピクセル * ファイル形式：webp形式（webp変換おすすめサイト [toimg](https://toimg.kakechimaru.com/to-webp)） * 単色、単純な画像の場合：png形式（webpにするとむしろサイズが大きくなる） ### その他 * 背景透過画像 * ダークモード、ライトモード両方で見やすい色 がおすすめです。 ## 2. 画像をweb上にアップロードする よく分からなければ [emojito](https://emojito.meme/) からのアップロードで問題ないです。 普段使っている画像アップロード先があるならそれでも構いません。 気になる方はアップロード先を適宜選んでください。 既に投稿されたカスタム絵文字の画像に対して - 削除も差し替えもできない → [emojito](https://emojito.meme/) など - 削除できるが差し替えはできない → [Gyazo](https://gyazo.com/)、[nostrcheck.me](https://nostrcheck.me/)など - 削除も差し替えもできる → [GitHub](https://github.com/) 、セルフホスティングなど これらは既にNostr上に投稿されたカスタム絵文字の画像を後から変更できるかどうかを指します。 どの方法でも新しく使われるカスタム絵文字を変更することは可能です。 同一のカスタム絵文字セットに同一のショートコードで別の画像を登録する形で対応できます。 ## 3. 絵文字セットに登録する [emojito](https://emojito.meme/) から登録します。 右上の**アイコン** → **+ New emoji set** から新規の絵文字セットを作成できます。   #### ① 絵文字セット名を入力 基本的にカスタム絵文字はカスタム絵文字セットを作り、ひとまとまりにして登録します。 一度作った絵文字セットに後から絵文字を追加することもできます。 #### ② 画像をアップロードまたは画像URLを入力 emojitoから画像をアップロードする場合、ファイル名に日本語などの2バイト文字が含まれているとアップロードがエラーになるようです。 その場合はファイル名を適当な英数字などに変更してください。 #### ③ 絵文字のショートコードを入力 ショートコードは絵文字を呼び出す時に使用する場合があります。 他のカスタム絵文字と被っても問題ありませんが選択時に複数表示されて支障が出る可能性があります。 他と被りにくく長くなりすぎないショートコードが良いかもしれません。 ショートコードに使えるのは半角の英数字とアンダーバーのみです。 #### ④ 追加 **Add** を押してもまだ作成完了にはなりません。  一度に絵文字を複数登録できます。 最後に右上の **Save** を押すと作成完了です。  画面が切り替わるので、右側の **Options** から **Bookmark** を選択するとそのカスタム絵文字セットを自分で使えるようになります。 既存の絵文字セットを編集するには **Options** から **Edit** を選択します。 以上です。 ----------- # 仕様 [NIP-30 Custom Emoji](https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/30.md) [NIP-30 カスタム絵文字（和訳）](https://github.com/nostr-jp/nips-ja/blob/main/30.md)

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

In a room of 100 people 99% are Bitcoiners How many Bitcoiners need to leave the room, to bring that percentage down to 98%? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/820455

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/820247

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Let's hear some of your latest Bitcoin purchases, feel free to include links to the shops or merchants you bought from too. If you missed our last thread, [here](#) are some of the items stackers recently spent their sats on. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/820204

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Last month @grayruby finally gave up on his silly Pacers pick. Considering how many of our international stackers copied that pick, it may have been a brilliant bit of 4-D chess, especially with him telling me that he wanted to bail on the pick mere minutes before the end of the month, as we recorded our podcast. We also had @gnilma bail on Brunson and Wemby for All NBA 1st Team. Remember, older correct predictions are worth more than younger ones, so don't wait too long to get off your bad predictions. Here's the current state of the competition with your max possible score next to your nym: | Contestant | MVP | Champ | All NBA | | | | | |--------------|------|---------|----------|-|-|-|-| | @Undisciplined 69 | Luka | OKC | Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant | SGA | | @grayruby 65| Giannis| Pacers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Mitchell| Brunson| | @gnilma 62| SGA| OKC| Jokic | Giannis| Tatum | Luka | SGA| | @BitcoinAbhi 70 | Luka| Denver| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @Bell_curve 70 | Luka| Celtics| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @0xbitcoiner 70 | Jokic| Pacers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| Brunson| | @Coinsreporter 49| Giannis| Pacers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| Brunson| | @TheMorningStar 49| Luka| Celtics| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @onthedeklein 49| Luka| T-Wolves| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Wemby| SGA| | @Carresan 49| Luka| Mavs| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Wemby| SGA| | @BTC_Bellzer 49| Luka| Celtics| Embiid| Giannis | Luka | Tatum| SGA| | @realBitcoinDog 49| Luka| Lakers| Jokic | Giannis | Luka | Ant| SGA| | @SimpleStacker 42| SGA| Celtics| Jokic| Tatum| Luka | Brunson| SGA| | @BlokchainB 42| SGA| Knicks| AD| Giannis | Ant| Brunson| SGA| I'm still not quite ready to move on from Luka for MVP, but those Giannis picks are looking pretty good right now, as is that Jokic pick. **Prize** The pot should be around 5k after this post. If you want to join this contest, just leave your predictions for MVP, Champion, and All-NBA 1st team in the comments. See the [June post](https://stacker.news/items/585231/r/Undisciplined) for more details. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/819573

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

I'm prompted to write this after seeing that my part time job offers tuition reimbursement to full time workers, and that I could become a full time worker and get essentially get a full ride to complete my bachelors through flexible and remote courses. Shoutout to the advice I got from a few Stackers > Just know that degrees dont mean as much as they did in the past. If you invest this time in to school, will it pay off later? It depends on what degree you will be getting, and how quickly you can complete the coursework. @Satosora >I was in a similar grind a full-time gig and a side hustle while chasing my degree. Ended up specializing in cybersecurity and the degree definitely opened doors I hadn’t even considered. My tip structure is key. Treat your study time like a third job, and don’t skimp on self care. You’ve already got that hustle mindset, so you’re halfway there. Go for it, but keep the balance in check! Good luck! @Imyourfed >This is how I ended up becoming an economist. I had a couple of jobs, one of which offered tuition benefits, and I took a couple of classes a semester until I finished an econ degree. Then, off to grad school. I say you should do it, as long as you're confident you can handle the workload. @Undisciplined Among many others. Shoutout to the advice I got from a few Nostritches https://primal.net/e/note166vyza03rwqjq49dez2xktv7vfmq98s8hjf5kjxlcdjg85ffs2mq02243r https://primal.net/e/note1x93cuy2n90k2y4kms8hn5qwsffcapluw7elxty03jntau75m6rfq094f47 https://primal.net/e/note15z0xfzwm8llqqsgm5aq5j9t0955kt5htzkafhxas93gfd7yn5x2q37dapn The Nostr freaks were overall against it, while SN freaks were overall for it. I've reached a dilemma. The dilemma is "why am I doing this?" Are my intentions pure and honorable, or is this fiat credentialism rearing its ugly head. Is this me wanting to better myself and contribute value to the world or is this not staying humble Am I risking something that I cant see at the moment, should my energy be spent doing other things; starting a business, Freelancing harder, Contributing to open source harder, Spending more time with the wife and kid on the way. Over the past few years I've become grumbly shouting at friends and family about evil fiat and perfect perfect bitcoin. At what point do I pull a satoshi, and move on to other things. At what point do I take my own advice, realize that I probably have enough bitcoin, and enjoy life. I'll try to articulate my thoughts the best I can.......although this is a ramble I want to get a bachelors degree and potentially become a lawyer for the reasons below 1. Stick it to the haters. I naively jumped around telling a few family members what I would do with my life and thought becoming a lawyer wasn't too far fetched. They did, and thought I was crazy and couldn't do it. Fuck em. 2. I have 30 college credits to go towards a bachelors, a lot of time to complete classes, approaching 6 years of experience working at an IP law firm, a rinky dink paralegal certificate, and the possibility to have it all paid for without spending any sats. So the goal seems oddly obtainable. 3. LLM's are great at homework 4. It would make my wife and unborn child more proud of me, which I believe is good. 5. I want to excel in my career and have good job opportunities moving forward. With a bachelors I'd be able to obtain higher paying jobs and have a formidable resume to take advantage of more opportunities as they come by. 6. I have a growing interest in learning this stuff. I think about the samurai wallet boys and keep a side eye on the trial. I'm a sovereign individual thesis guy, and want to see the how the laws will bend to support a new technological paradigm. 7. I read "come and take it" by Cody Wilson and followed a bit of his journey and thought his fight and thoughts on the courts were pretty cool. In Conclusion, I'm typing these rambling thoughts while working on my part time job, which may become a 2nd full time, because I might head back to school to finish my bachelors, while recognizing that college degrees are mostly scams for suckers. Kids come out of highschool and are sold the lie that, this is the only path forward. That if you dont go to fancy university than your life is shit. Society looks down upon you with a mocking and judgmental glare. Your parents arent proud of you, and you need to give a very good explanation on why you're throwing your life away. So instead of facing a tidal wave of scrutiny, most kids who can end up going to college and getting into a crazy amount of debt, or dropping out essentially wasting their time while postulating like they were trying to "find themselves". The idea of school in fiat is a rough one anyway, the campuses are communist lgbtq government obediance propaganda training grounds siphoning first principle thinking from its victims with a spooky efficiency. Ah, wait that was supposed to be a conclusion. Let me try again. In Conclusion, College degrees are mostly scams for suckers, but maybe armed with better knowledge of what i'm getting into, a bit more focus and more realistic expectations; I can appropriately navigate through the treacherous marshes of keynsian brainwashing into the orange light of sticking it to the man. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/819302

@ 798d712f:d2bac2e3

Every year that is passing, we learn more things about Bitcoin, and we add more hours to our knowledge base. For me, this year I learned more about how Bitcoin can work as a company's and a country's reserve asset. So now I am excited about next year when many more companies and countries are considering to add Bitcoin to their balance sheet. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/819208

@ c239c0f9:fa4a5015

`Block:` **`#875725`** `- Dec 2024` **The Monthly Thunderbolt Dispatch On LN innovations with the Best posts about the Lightning Network - Exclusively on [Stacker.News](https://Stacker.News/r/HODLR)**  Catch up with the latest features of the events and trends that are shaping the future of the Lightning Network. Each issue covers the latest and greatest advancements and trends dictating the future of the Lightning Network-the very first and most commented insights from around the LN world. In every issuance arrives expert analysis, in-depth interview, and breaking news of the most significant advancements in the Bitcoin Lightning Network. [Subscribe](https://stacker.news/HODLR/r/HODLR) and make sure you don’t miss anything about the Lightning Revolution! Special thanks today to our top contributors @Rsync25, @Roll, @BallLightning and @0xbitcoiner for regularly posting the latest softwares' updates, twats and news... Your contributions are invaluable 🙏 Now let's focus on the top five items for each category, an electrifying selection that hope you'll be able to read before next edition. Happy Zapping! - - - # Top ~Lightning posts Most _zapranked_ posts this month: 1. > [Ecash on Bitcoin - Gandlaf thoughts on ecash, after working on cashu for 2 years](https://stacker.news/items/793450/r/HODLR) by @supratic 4134 sats \ 30 comments \ 3 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 2. > [Get ⚡11,000 free sats⚡-- Help us test our "disposable" ☁️ cloud lightning nodes](https://stacker.news/items/803740/r/HODLR) by @rizful_com 1554 sats \ 280k boost \ 49 comments \ 10 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 3. > [why is my local balance changing without purpose](https://stacker.news/items/803341/r/HODLR) by @trieska 516 sats \ 9 comments \ 10 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 4. > [ZEUS Pay Lightning Address Fees Slashed to zero](https://stacker.news/items/791836/r/HODLR) by @BitcoinPilgrim 721 sats \ 8 comments \ 2 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 5. > [Is there a way to signal temporary downtime with a node](https://stacker.news/items/806557/r/HODLR) by @kepford 399 sats \ 13 comments \ 12 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) - - - # Top zapped posts 1. > [Breez SDK - Nodeless: Flutter Workshop + Video Tutorial](https://stacker.news/items/784896/r/HODLR) ⚡️ by @_ds 3746 sats \ 9 comments \ 27 Nov on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 2. > [Lightning Routing Replayer · BlueMatt's Blog](https://stacker.news/items/780014/r/HODLR) by @Rsync25 2381 sats \ 0 comments \ 23 Nov on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 3. > [Zeus wrapped lightning invoices expiration time](https://stacker.news/items/806327/r/HODLR) by @BallLightning 2096 sats \ 8 comments \ 12 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 4. > [Irrevocable fees---stealing from LN using revoked commitment transactions](https://stacker.news/items/804417/r/HODLR) by @Rsync25 1913 sats \ 2 comments \ 11 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 5. > [Ease of payment opinions - lightning vs card](https://stacker.news/items/810264/r/HODLR) by @BallLightning 1755 sats \ 2 comments \ 15 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) - - - # Top Lightning posts outside ~Lightning This month best posts about the Lightning Network outside ~Lightning territory: 1. > [How Bitcoin Scales w/o Forks: the Lightning, Liquid, On-Chain Triangle](https://stacker.news/items/790844/r/HODLR) by @028559d218 19.8k sats \ 10k boost \ 87 comments \ 2 Dec on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 2. > [What’s the general amount people send using the Bitcoin Lightning Network?](https://stacker.news/items/803181/r/HODLR) by @aliceandthewonderland 690 sats \ 14 comments \ 10 Dec on [`~bitcoin_beginners`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin_beginners/r/HODLR/) 3. > [Falkvinge Criticizes Lightning (2018)](https://stacker.news/items/781635/r/HODLR) by @standardcrypto 357 sats \ 7 comments \ 25 Nov on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 4. > [Redditors hate Lightning. Probably because LN is banned in the US?](https://stacker.news/items/789382/r/HODLR) by @hyperfree 217 sats \ 23 comments \ 1 Dec on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 5. > [Dragtkings but with Bitcoin/lightning](url) by @jawsh 342 sats \ 17 comments \ 6 Dec on [`~Stacker_Sports`](https://stacker.news/~Stacker_Sports/r/HODLR/) - - - # Don't miss: Other relevant posts about the ~Lightning Network > [Lightning receiver privacy](https://stacker.news/items/807067/r/HODLR) by @BallLightning 569 sats \ 32 comments \ 12 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) > [Onboarding Bitcoin users via lightning](https://stacker.news/items/795080/r/HODLR) by @sirstackalot 641 sats \ 33 comments \ 4 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) > [Introducing Subaccounts in Alby Hub](https://stacker.news/items/765768/r/HODLR) by @0xbitcoiner with 4175 sats \ 20 comments \ 13 Nov on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) > 💰 [Setup suggestions for my personal lightning node](https://stacker.news/items/811982/r/HODLR) by @CheezeGrater 1015 sats \ 24 comments \ 16 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) > [Favourite lightning wallets on desktop?](https://stacker.news/items/789983/r/HODLR) by @stack_harder 288 sats \ 37 comments \ 1 Dec on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) - - - # Forever top ~Lightning _La crème de la crème_... 1. > [Lightning Wallets: Self-Custody Despite Poor Network - Apps Tested in Zimbabwe](https://stacker.news/items/403662/r/HODLR) by @anita 72.8k sats \ 38 comments \ 28 Jan on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 2. > 📊 ["Lightning Network 📊 How often do you use Lightning for transactions?](https://stacker.news/items/387452/r/HODLR) by @localhost 1923 sats \ 34 comments \ 14 Jan on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 3. > [Lightning privacy tips for beginners?](https://stacker.news/items/375022/r/HODLR) by @BountifulB 5617 sats \ 20 comments \ 3 Jan on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 4. > [New Lightning Use Case Unlocked](https://stacker.news/items/379076/r/HODLR) by @kr 5528 sats \ 23 comments \ 6 Jan on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) 5. > [Will Pleb Hobby Lightning Nodes Be Big, Profitable Enterprises In The Future?](https://stacker.news/items/498302/r/HODLR) by @siggy47 4022 sats \ 37 comments \ 8 Apr on [`~lightning`](https://stacker.news/~lightning/r/HODLR/) - - - # Forever top Lightning posts outside ~Lightning When I'll see all the post below, posted on the ~Lightning territory I'll be happier :) 1. > [Rethinking Lightning](https://stacker.news/items/379225/r/HODLR/) by @benthecarman with 51.6k sats \ 137 comments \ 6 Jan on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 2. > [Zaplocker.com: a non-custodial lightning address server (no node needed!)](https://stacker.news/items/234331/r/HODLR/) by @supertestnet with 16.4k sats \ 57 comments \ 24 Aug 2023 on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 3. > [Lightning Prediction Market MVP - delphi.market](https://stacker.news/items/337637/r/HODLR/) by @ek with 34.1k sats \ 59 comments \ 4 Dec 2023 on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 4. > [Lightning Everywhere](https://stacker.news/items/213347/r/HODLR/) by @TonyGiorgio with 12k sats \ 27 comments \ 24 Jul 2023 on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) 5. > [I'm Calle, a Physicist and Programmer who fell in love with Lightning - AMA](https://stacker.news/items/109473/r/HODLR/) by @calle with 110.7k sats \ 79 comments \ @calle 20 Dec 2022 on [`~bitcoin`](https://stacker.news/~bitcoin/r/HODLR/) - - -  ``` #bitcoin #lightning #LN #GM #zap #zapathon #plebs #satoshis #introductions #tech #asknostr #coffeechain #btc #村上さん生誕祭2024 ##bitcoin #plebchain #zaps #nostr #freedom #grownostr #proofofconcept #siamstr ``` originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/818969

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

Spouse Mother-in-law Child $20m Dog originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/818843

@ 08ed25d0:ef053747

Another year is coming to a close, so it's time to take stock and look back on the year in Bitcoin in New Zealand in 2024\. In this article we'll summarize the highlights and happenings in the Bitcoin scene in 2024, provide a snapshot of the regulatory and political scene and share some thoughts about what will happen next year. Globally, this felt like a real year of important groundwork being laid and Bitcoiners around the world are daring to dream that this is the start of "hyper-bitcoinization". So how has that felt from New Zealand?Let's dive in and find out. ### **Article Contents & Quick Links** * [The Bitcoin Community in New Zealand](#the-bitcoin-community-in-new-zealand) * [Bitcoin Adoption in New Zealand](#bitcoin-adoption-in-new-zealand) * [Bitcoin Businesses in New Zealand](#bitcoin-businesses-in-new-zealand) * [Bitcoin Mining in New Zealand](#bitcoin-mining-in-new-zealand) * [Bitcoin Media in New Zealand](#bitcoin-media-in-new-zealand) * [Why do we need BItcoin in NZ \- House Prices, Consumer Prices & Monetary Inflation](#why-do-we-need-bitcoin-in-new-zealand-in-2024-and-beyond?) * [Government Finances and Political Landscape](#government-deficits-&-debt) * [Other Bitcoin Projects in New Zealand](#other-bitcoin-projects-&-initiatives-in-new-zealand) * [Bitcoin vs NZD](#bitcoin-vs-the-new-zealand-dollar) * [What will 2025 bring for Bitcoin in New Zealand?](#what-will-2025-bring-for-bitcoin-in-new-zealand) ### **The Bitcoin community in New Zealand** We'll start with the shining light on the Bitcoin scene in NZ, the community. As we explain to overseas Bitcoiners when they visit, there really is a "national Bitcoin scene" in New Zealand and it's not that hard to meet and get to know Bitcoiners from all over the country. We're all in the same time zone, travel times are short and all the events are open and welcoming. #### **Bitkiwi \- the heart and soul of the New Zealand Bitcoin community** If there is a heart of the Kiwi Bitcoin community, this is it. Bitkiwi has gone from strength to strength in 2024 with events in Queenstown (fast becoming the main event of the year), Wellington (the halving party) and Christchurch. Bitkiwi events are always free to anyone, relaxed and fun. You can buy beer and books with sats and meet other Kiwi bitcoiners. This year we had speakers, panel discussions and even a live feed with Melbourne bitcoiners for the halving party in April. We even had our own live performance from TipNZ at Bitkiwi VIII in Queenstown\!  In 2025, Bitkiwi will be on again in Queenstown (March), Auckland (July) and Wellington (October). [Find out more about Bitikiwi here.](https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/home/bitkiwi-meetups/) #### **Bitcoin meetups in New Zealand** There are now regular meetups in Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch and Queenstown. Other meetups and events are on in other places too, connect with Bitcoiners on X or Nostr to find one near you. [Bitcoin meetups and other events are posted here.](https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/#events) ### **Bitcoin adoption in New Zealand** A year on from our review of the Bitcoin scene in New Zealand in 2023, how is adoption looking now? Finding the exact number of people that hold bitcoin is difficult as it's a decentralized open protocol with no central authority running everything, so the best we can do is estimates. In mid 2024 a survey, New Zealand shitcoin casino Easy Crypto commissioned a survey which gives a good insight into the "crypto" adoption in New Zealand. The survey found that 14% of New Zealanders either own or are considering buying "crypto" assets. The number of people considering purchasing "crypto" is around 45%. This is a similar number to the figure we reported last year. The IRD (New Zealand's tax department) have identified 227,000 people as having made crypto trades on exchanges and one New Zealand exchange disclosed they have 250,000 customers. From an overall population of 5 million people, this is fairly low uptake and these numbers lump bitcoin and "crypto" in together, which we all know is not accurate. So this represents a similar level of ownership to last year. The launch of the Bitcoin ETFs in 2024 will make bitcoin exposure easier to New Zealanders as it's now possible for individuals to invest directly and Kiwisaver providers can now include ETSs in their fund. As of 2024 there was only one Kiwisaver provider who has included exposure to the Bitcoin ETFs in their fund and it is worth noting that had gains of 116% this year. [Source: Morningstar KiwiSaver Survey September 2024](https://www.morningstar.com.au/insights/funds/257124/kiwisaver-survey-september-quarter-2024) This fund (Koura) recently made the decision to only hold bitcoin in their "crypto" fund, and even change the name of the fund from "Koura Carbon Neutral Crypto Fund" to "Koura Bitcoin Fund". #### **Merchant adoption in New Zealand** For this metric, we used the proxy of BTCmap.org. In our 2023 review (written in October) there were 30 merchants in New Zealand on the map. This year 47 merchants are listed, a healthy increase. The South Island has 30 merchants and the North Island 17, an interesting mix considering the population differences. It's still early but community members regularly hear from merchants who are interested in accepting bitcoin, with community members doing the hard yards to help merchants and get them set up. The number of merchants accepting bitcoin in Queenstown has shown a good increase, and there was great work in Auckland getting a pharmacy from a national chain on board.  ### **Bitcoin merchants in New Zealand** Here's a comparison of other locations around the world with similar populations, from 2023 to 2024\. | | Oct 2023 | Dec 2024 | Change | | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | | New Zealand | 30 | 47 | \+57% | | Sydney | 23 | 22 | \-4% | | Ireland | 24 | 22 | \-8% | | Finland | 34 | 22 | \-35% | | Costa Rica | 54 | 81 | \+50% | Globally, it's still places like El Salvador and Lugano with the most merchant adoption. But it's worth noting rising merchant adoption in Africa and like last year, the Isle of Man punches way above its weight with 42 merchants for a population of 84,000. On a per capita basis, Lugano in Switzerland leads the way with 267 merchants for a population of 67,000. Source: [btcmap.org](https://btcmap.org/) ### **Bitcoin businesses in New Zealand** In terms of financial services for bitcoiners in New Zealand, 2024 was a breakout year with the launch of Lightning Pay, a Kiwi owned and operated business offering the quickest and easiest way to convert NZD into bitcoin and for merchants to accept bitcoin. For purchases Lightning Pay offers an API connection to your NZ bank account, making the transfer of NZD seamless, fast and cheap. They also support withdrawals on the Lightning network, meaning receiving your bitcoin is fast and at the lowest possible fee rate. Lightning Pay offers competitive rates and low fees, so it's a real change in the marketplace for Kiwis. [Read more about our recent test to find out where the best place to buy bitcoin in New Zealand is here.](https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/articles-and-guides/where-to-buy-bitcoin-in-new-zealand/) Lightning Pay also offers merchant services, allowing businesses to accept bitcoin payments at zero fees. This is the ultimate use case for bitcoin and lightning, getting rid of the legacy merchants and card fees charged by credit card companies and payment providers. [Find out more about Lightning Pay here.](https://lightningpay.nz/) ***Just before publishing this article, Lightning Pay won the Startup of the Year award from Web3 New Zealand.*** ### **Bitcoin mining in New Zealand** With an abundance of hydro power, New Zealand could adopt bitcoin mining and be a global leader. We also have one of the leading global voices on sustainable Bitcoin mining in Daniel Batten. Many people are surprised to hear that bitcoin mining using renewable electricity happens in New Zealand, with South Island company Gridshare partnering with Pioneer energy at Lake Monowai in Southland. Gridshare is the leading New Zealand bitcoin mining company, based in the South Island and uses 100% renewable energy for their data centres. Bitcoin mining is a global industry and Gridshare is partnering with C4 Capital (Daniel Batten's firm) to mine bitcoin at landfills in South America. This is an under reported but extremely strong case for bitcoin mining \- bitcoin miners located at landfills can mitigate the most polluting greenhouse gas of all, methane, while providing additional revenue to the landfill owner. [Listen to an update on Bitcoin mining in New Zealand with Sam Kivi from Gridshare here.](https://www.thetransformationofvalue.com/episodes/opportunities-for-methane-capture-and-bitcoin-mining-with-sam-kivi) #### **The world's leading voice on sustainable Bitcoin mining \- Daniel Batten** Featured in last year's article as one of the prominent Kiwi voices on the global Bitcoin stage, in 2024 Daniel Batten has continued to educate, challenge and engage media and the public about sustainable Bitcoin mining. His approach is data and research backed, it's very compelling and the way he communicates new ideas to critics is refreshing and polite. If there's one voice that Kiwis should listen to about Bitcoin mining, it's Daniel’s. [See Daniel's talk on Sovereign Wealth Fund interest in Bitcoin mining and Energy misinformation in October in Frankfurt.](https://youtu.be/7AN4JSfKW8g?si=-zJGTtnNAX5Nz_PP) The case Daniel makes in this talk is very compelling. The Bitcoin mining network is already using over 50% renewable energy and it would only take 35 more landfill mining sites to make the entire Bitcoin network a net reducer of atmospheric CO2.  ### **Bitcoin media in New Zealand** Independent outlets and media lead the way on Bitcoin coverage in New Zealand, although in 2024 we have started seeing more coverage of Bitcoin in mainstream outlets too. #### **The Transformation of Value Podcast** This is Kiwi Bitcoiner Cody Ellingham's podcast, now into its third year and over 100 episodes he's become the voice of Bitcoin in New Zealand. Cody will go deep with a wide range of guests such as international figures like Samson Mow, Allen Farrington and Max Hillebrand, ex Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash and of course many Kiwi Bitcoiners and personalities. ***Cody recently won the Educator and Advocate of the Year award from Web3 New Zealand.*** [Subscribe to the TTOV podcast on Fountain.fm here](https://fountain.fm/show/yeyKUxKjAw151iZAQhcw) #### **NZ Everyday Investor Podcast** While not strictly a Bitcoin podcast, host Darcy Ungaro is obviously a believer in Bitcoin and has been talking about how to introduce Bitcoin into your own investment mix for years. We love the fact Darcy puts it out there but just wonder how much his message is watered down by his mostly traditional client base and "crypto" sponsors. But he's doing the work and getting the message to new people so well done Darcy. [Listen to Darcy's recent interview with Australian Bitcoiner Peter Dunworth.](https://youtu.be/I5tcR27xXDI?si=1LZs1q-ZCPzVs5vJ) #### **Reality Check Radio** Also not a Bitcoin podcast, but definitely a new media channel with the balls to cover topics such as Bitcoin. A scroll through the episodes reveals a range of topics that would make your regular TVNZ & RNZ listener clutch their pearls in anguish. In a recent interview with Kiwi Bitcoin James Viggiano I was impressed with host Dieuwe de Boer's knowledge and understanding of Bitcoin as they discussed the opportunities Bitcoin represents for New Zealand. He's obviously done some work and understands the problems Bitcoin can solve. [Listen to James and Dieuwe's conversation about Bitcoin in New Zealand here.](https://realitycheck.radio/replay/james-viggiano-bitcoin-advocate-nzs-geothermal-mining-future-and-the-digital-cash-revolution-navigating-privacy-in-a-crypto-world/) One takeaway from me from this discussion was the framing of Bitcoin mining as an export opportunity. As an open global network anyone can participate in Bitcoin mining. All the Bitcoin currently bought by Kiwis is essentially imported and paid for with USD, what if we flipped that and started using our own energy resources to mine bitcoin and get paid foreign exchange (or bitcoin\!) to do so. #### **Markets with Madison Reidy** In terms of introducing Bitcoin to mainstream media in NZ in 2024, the award has to go to Madison Reidy. She has obviously done some research and has introduced the topic of Bitcoin this year on her "Markets with Madison" programme on the legacy mainstream media channel of the New Zealand Herald It was Madison's interview with Michael Saylor which he made the quip heard around the Bitcoin world about over zealous "crypto anarchists" insisting to hold their own keys. The Saylor interview was interesting for sure, but in terms of new people trying to find out more about Bitcoin, it just came across as a whole lot of financial engineering that would go over the heads of many regular people. The first interview she did with a well known Bitcoiner was late in 2023 with Larry Lepard, which I would actually recommend as a first take for NZ investors trying to understand how Bitcoin fits into the investment world. [Watch Madison's interview with Larry Lepard here.](https://youtu.be/FtWRAP_9jZo?si=87QAhBLbTpo51G0z) Full credit to Madison for doing the work and getting the Bitcoin message out to Kiwis. She sounds like a Bitcoiner and I've never heard her talk like a shitcoin apologist, although she started getting close in the Saylor interview when he started talking about the tokenization of assets. She even got Reserve Bank Governor Adrian Orr to bring up Bitcoin in an interview without mentioning it herself which was funny. #### **Unintended Kiwi Bitcoin Media star of the year** While we're talking about Adrian (full steam ahead) Orr, he wins the raspberry award for getting in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. During a presentation to the Parliamentary Select Committee in February, Mr Orr made the comment *"It’s a great business to be in central banking. You print money and people believe it. Touch wood,”*, to which the whole room laughed. This comment went around the Bitcoin world and reminded all of us that the ruling class do not share the same realities as most people, or even understand us. [Mr Orr walked back the statement afterwards, but watch and make up your own mind if you think it's funny that the currency that we have to work is being printed out of thin air.](https://www.tiktok.com/@keepthechangenz/video/7335238174962191634) #### **Tip\_NZ** If Mr Orr is the clown of the year, let us introduce you to the Queen, Tip\_NZ\! She's our own "Post Fiat Poet \- Exploring the Bitcoin universe with visual storytelling, sick beats & profound lyrics". Tip has taken global Bitcoin stages by storm in the last few years and her smiling face regularly brightens the room at Bitkiwi and Auckland meetups. She even gave us a live performance of "Dawn" at Bitkiwi VIII in Queenstown. [Haven't seen any of Tip's beats yet? Here's Dawn.](https://youtu.be/9T4Mj5nrQTQ?si=d_jtUW3G93ezhFr1) ### **Why do we need Bitcoin in New Zealand in 2024 and beyond?** If you're a Bitcoiner in New Zealand and talk to regular people in your life you are still likely to be met with the usual replies that the uninformed mass media patrons will offer you. But one thing everyone agrees on are the problems that need solving. What is happening in New Zealand on a wider scale that Bitcoin can help with? #### **House Prices** In a recent interview with Preston Pysh, James Check described the Australian house market as the most unaffordable in the world. Everything he explained applies equally to the New Zealand housing market. If you want one concrete example of how the fiat system is failing then just look at the median house price vs median household income in New Zealand. Whichever metric you use, housing is already unaffordable for working people in New Zealand. In 2024 the median house price is just under 7 times median household income, anything over 3 times is considered unaffordable. It never used to be this way and doesn't have to. Source: [Interest.co.nz](https://www.interest.co.nz/property/house-price-income-multiples) If Bitcoin is your unit of account, houses are actually getting more affordable, take a look for yourself. #### **NZ Median House Prices in NZD v Bitcoin from 2014 \- 2024** | | NZD Median House Price | Median House Price in BTC | YE NZD BTC Price | | ----- | ----- | ----- | ----- | | 2014 | $440,000 | 664.63 | $662.02 | | 2015 | $465,000 | 824.76 | $563.80 | | 2016 | $506,100 | 456.54 | $1,108.55 | | 2017 | $550,000 | 22.27 | $24,696.53 | | 2018 | $560,000 | 85.41 | $6,556.73 | | 2019 | $585,000 | 43.33 | $13,500.54 | | 2020 | $675,000 | 26.18 | $25,781.72 | | 2021 | $820,000 | 10.80 | $75,921.94 | | 2022 | $790,000 | 30.31 | $26,063.17 | | 2023 | $779,830 | 11.70 | $66,654.16 | | 2024\* | $795,500 | 6.57 | $121,146.59\* | | Source | REINZ | | CoinmarketCap | The 2024 NZD bitcoin price is taken from 31 Oct 2024, the last date for which median house prices were available. The takeaway here is clear \- the NZD is losing purchasing power in the housing market but Bitcoin is not. If you're saving in bitcoin and using that as your unit of account, houses are becoming more affordable. Kiwis choose real estate as the most common form of store of value. Imagine how much more affordable housing would be if housing was just required for its utility value, not as a proxy store of value because our base money won't do the job. #### **Consumer Prices** The Consumer Price Index is calculated every 3 months, with the most recent index in September 2024 showing a 2.2% increase, down from the 6-7% levels of 2021 \- 2023\. But is life more affordable for most Kiwis? What do you think, what do you see in your life? Source: [CPI figures on NZ Stats](https://www.stats.govt.nz/indicators/consumers-price-index-cpi/) Rates, insurance, healthcare and nutritious food all seem to be increasing way more than 2% to me. Why do we need inflation anyway? That's another rabbit hole but consider this \- at 2% inflation your money loses half its purchasing power in 36 years, at 3% inflation (the higher end of the RBNZ target) you lose half your purchasing power in 24 years. If we meet the official target inflation rate of the RBNZ this will ensure half of our purchasing power is eroded, so tell me again, why do we need inflation? And remember, CPI only includes a basket of arbitrarily determined goods and services. But we all live different lives, CPI cannot capture the goods and services different kinds of people need. If you're a university student, a family with young children, empty nesters or a retiree living in a retirement village the goods and services you require are very different. There's no way one single number calculated from an arbitrary selection of goods and services can be accurate for everyone. As with housing, when you start looking at prices in Bitcoin terms, that supermarket bill and fuel for the car gets more affordable, not less. #### **Monetary Inflation** After looking at housing and consumer price inflation, let's look at monetary inflation. What is this? It's how much the overall supply of money in the economy increases, i.e. how many NZD are floating around chasing goods. The more money there is, the more prices go up, its basic supply and demand. As the NZD is not backed by gold (or anything else) the quantity is not fixed and the more dollars issued by the RBNZ (as happened during Covid) and through lending by banks (as happens all the time), there's more money in the economy so prices will go up. Here's an interesting fact, since 1988 NZD base money (NZD notes & coins and commercial bank deposits with the RBNZ) has increased on average by 16% each year. This doesn't include the additional NZD issued by banks through lending, just the base money issued or held by the RBNZ. Another way of looking at this is that the supply of NZD has doubled every 5 years since 1988\. Source: [Porkopolis Economics \- Global Monetary Assets](https://www.porkopolis.io/topmoney/) That's why your dollars lose purchasing power every year, they're making more of them. It makes you think about why property goes up every year, in fact the amount of money supply increases over time matches really tightly to house price increases. Bitcoin is neutral money with a fixed supply and this is enforced by tens of thousands of bitcoin nodes around the world. Nobody can issue more bitcoin, the supply cap of 21 million bitcoin is baked into the code and protected by the world's largest and most powerful computer network. ### **Government Deficits & Debt** Government spending and debt are increasing significantly. In September 2024, our government debt was USD$99 billion (42.5% of GDP), an increase of $67 billion in just five years. The government deficit was USD$7.3 billion, $1 billion more than budgeted and the fifth year in a row the government is spending more than it takes in. A top line comparison to the figures from 2023 show that government debt has increased a lot, USD$11.3 billion in the last year. Sources: [Statement from the NZ Finance minister](https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/accounts-confirm-need-spending-restraint) [NZ government debt figures in USD on CEIC data](https://www.ceicdata.com/en/indicator/new-zealand/national-government-debt#:~:text=New%20Zealand%20National%20Government%20Debt%20reached%20118.8%20USD%20bn%20in,bn%20in%20the%20previous%20quarter.) [NZ government financial statements on the NZ Treasury website](https://www.treasury.govt.nz/publications/year-end/financial-statements-2024) ### New Zealand Regulatory and Political Environment for Bitcoin In our 2023 review, we reported that a parliamentary committee was reviewing the regulatory landscape for Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, with a view that new innovations in money would require a new approach to regulation. One year on from this and there has not been a lot of progress, a report has been presented and passed to parliament, the only response was an acknowledgement of the report and noted recommendations. The government issued a response in March. It was a general document, with an acknowledgement of the opportunities that exist with digital assets, recognition of the recommendations made and a statement that more work is required and prod for more work and a statement that New Zealand is following similar regulatory approaches to Australia and the UK. [Read the full response here.](https://www.mbie.govt.nz/dmsdocument/28149-government-responses-to-inquiries-by-the-finance-and-expenditure-committee-into-cryptocurrencies-and-banks-processes-and-consumer-protection-for-scams-proactiverelease-pdf) More broader work on the future of money and development of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) is underway through the Reserve Bank of New Zealand. There are no dates visible on the RBNZ's website explaining the next steps, although in public they have committed to being transparent and offering the public multiple opportunities for feedback. So it really seems like we're in a holding pattern in terms of regulation and any political leadership on Bitcoin. The USA is now considering a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and this is proving to be a catalyst for other countries to consider their approaches. New Zealand will have to make some decisions soon on how we will adopt our economy and financial system to Bitcoin. Politicians all over the world are openly talking about Bitcoin and their strategies to it, but here in New Zealand the silence is still deafening. It's up to us to let them know it matters and it matters now. ### The Travel Rule now in place for Exchanges and Brokers One new regulatory development in 2024 was the implementation of OFAC’s “travel rule”, which means that Virtual Asset Service Providers (someone like Lightning Pay) is required to record details and parties of transactions if other Virtual Asset Service Providers outside of New Zealand are involved. Part of this requirement is that all transactions over NZD$1,000 must be submitted to the New Zealand Police Financial Intelligence Unit. If the parties are within New Zealand or for transfers to self hosted wallets then this requirement does not apply. [Read the full guidance for Virtual Asset Service Providers here.](https://www.dia.govt.nz/diawebsite.nsf/Files/AML-CFT-2024/$file/VASP-Guidance.pdf) ### **Other Bitcoin Projects & Initiatives in New Zealand** #### **Orange Pill the New Zealand Parliament** An initiative to provide all members of New Zealand's Parliament with copies of the Bitcoin Standard or the Progressive Case for Bitcoin. Fundraising is complete and the books have been ordered, Simon Collins from Stackr and Lightning Pay is running this project. #### **Accept Bitcoin NZ** Another community initiative aimed at helping merchants in New Zealand accept Bitcoin. With the scene still nascent and Kiwis being the friendly folks we are, we even do house calls\! [Find out more about AcceptBitcoin.nz here.](http://acceptbitcoin.nz) ### **Bitcoin vs the New Zealand Dollar** Almost forgot, I'm putting the final touches on this draft the day bitcoin cracked USD$100,000 for the very first time, which translates to approximately NZD$175,000 per bitcoin. On 1 January 2024, 1 BTC was just under NZD$67,000, meaning the NZD has lost more than 250% of its purchasing power against bitcoin. This is pretty alarming, if you still haven't realized how weak the NZD is against a hard currency or asset you need to figure it out because it will affect you, then work out how you're going to deal with it because this is your purchasing power going down the drain. [See the latest NZD BTC price pair on Lightning Pay here.](https://app.lightningpay.nz/) ### **What will 2025 bring for Bitcoin in New Zealand?** It seems very clear that 2025 will be a watershed year for Bitcoin globally. All through 2024 the scene has been set, from the launch of the Bitcoin ETFs in January to the US election in November. December could bring even more developments, with Microsoft voting on whether to invest in Bitcoin or not at their shareholder's meeting. Bitcoin is here on the global stage, it's a USD 2 Trillion asset, a neutral, open, rules based digital monetary network outside the control of any one person, company or government. It's the future of money and every single one of us, from individuals to nation states need to work out how to engage with it. New Zealand has the same opportunity as any other country in front of us right now, we can open our economy and markets to Bitcoin or continue to use an inefficient and outdated monetary system which has inflation built in at the core which hurts all of us. It's on us now. #### **Resources & Articles** [The Bitcoin scene in New Zealand in 2023](https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/articles-and-guides/bitcoin-scene-new-zealand-2023/) [Where to buy Bitcoin in New Zealand in 2024?](https://kiwibitcoinguide.org/articles-and-guides/where-to-buy-bitcoin-in-new-zealand/) [RBNZ Governor Adrian Orr makes a cameo in a Central Bankers walk of shame video\!](https://youtu.be/7jQoSMhdFqw?si=MVoyzBcE-DXkw5tE) originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/818517

@ 31bdca15:aac01582

OpenAI released a new model called "o3" as part of their shipmas product release cycle 87.5% on ARC AGI (humans are rougly 85%), while the last generation o1 was suck in the 30%ish area  https://x.com/arcprize/status/1870169260850573333 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/818027

@ f8d42124:ead0d4a2

Hello Stackers! What a delight to spend time with you all today. Excited to see what questions you ask. I'm aware that I'm not a big name in Bitcoin so here's a bit about me! I’m a research and interview journalist with a passion for Bitcoin. I love travel, surfing and adventure. I left mainstream reporting at Oxford Business Group and in 2020 to pursue real, source-based Bitcoin journalism. After three years as a reporter at Cointelegraph, I began sharing videos and stories under the name Joe Nakamoto. I also moonlight as an MC at Bitcoin and crypto conferences—sometimes I troll them—but most of my time is spent creating mini-documentaries for my YouTube channel. Subscribe to check out my work: @JoeNakamoto on Youtube. I am REALLY trying to grow Youtube to meet more and more crypto people and normies. Although I always try to share the links on here! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/817928

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

This week, we'll be back to our regularly scheduled programming. - We're going to recap the NBA Emirates Cup and our corresponding survivor pool (Congrats to @Carresan). - We also have updated NBA power rankings to argue about, plus early trade speculation and the new All Star Game format - We'll give our thoughts on the NFL playoff picture, plus why we're each hopeful about our loser teams. - Several ~Stacker_Sports contests are ongoing and upcoming: UEFA, Cricket, College Football, NFL Pick 'ems and fantasy playoffs - Something about Inside the NHL being renewed. I assume that's a show. - And, of course, updating everyone on our recent sports betting adventures in Degenerate Corner Share your thoughts about those or any other sports topics and we'll try to fit them into the conversation. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/817666

@ acc925af:db9fb0bb

https://x.com/everythingsats/status/1870092803226652867 In a "what-part-of-this-cycle-are-we-in" episode, we are literally witnessing a glitch in the matrix, cos this would leave a massive dent. I am here for all of it🍿🍿🤣🤣 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/817580

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Here are the box score averages of two 6'6" NBA guards. Which one is Jordan and who is the other? | Player | eFG% | Points | Rebounds | Assists | Steals | Blocks | |--------|--------|-------|-------------|--------|--------|---------| | 1 | 0.561 | 30.3 | 5.5 | 6.3 | 1.9 | 1.0 | | 2 | 0.547 | 31.5 | 6.0 | 5.5 | 2.7 | 1.0 | What's the significance of this comparison? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/817115

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

After being on vacation with my parents, I have to wonder how people live like that. My parents are both great people and even better grandparents, but so much uninterrupted time together becomes immensely tedious. Maybe, over even more time together, you develop habits and patterns that smooth off some of the edges. We've been thinking about moving and part of that calculation is whether we should be preparing for the inevitability of having one of my parents move in with us, when that time comes. Hopefully, that day is far off in the future because 1. I love them and want them around for a long time, 2. I want my daughter to have a great relationship with them for a long time, and 3. I'd be annoyed out of my mind if I had to live with one of them. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/816929

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

The NBA All Star Game is no more. After last year's humiliation, Adam Silver has decided to shake things up. # Format Similar to the NHL, they are going to replace the All Star Game with a tournament. There will be five teams involved: three made up of the All Stars and two made up of the Rising Stars. The 24 All Stars will be drafted into three teams by the TNT crew, while the winner of the Rising Stars challenge will advance to the final four. There will then be a semifinals match, with the winners moving on to the championship round. The games are pickup style games to 30 points. # Thoughts I'm glad they're switching it up, but I don't know why the players would be expected to try any harder in this new format. The Rising Stars will be going all out, which might make whichever All Star team they face play a little harder. Eight players is too many for pickup. They should have split the All Stars into four teams of six and just play to 21 like normal. What do you all think about this new format? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/816168

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

...except it's the [GM filter](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/gm) you never wanted. [ONLY GM!](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/gm) # nostrminusnostr For those unaware, [nostrminusnostr](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/) is the nostr client for the countless nostr users who intent to use nostr for anything other than talking about nostr (or bitcoin). Not only is all nostr and bitcoin content totally filtered out, but so are smaller notes that don't really contain any substance worth reading. You can only zap one amount of 2000 sats at a time, forcing you to save your zaps for truly worthy content. In addition to the original [Pizza Party](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/pizza) version (objectively the greatest UI in all of social media), the dev team at nostrminusnostr has worked hard to bring you: - [Sports](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/sports) This is all of nostr's sports content. (mostly news from bots right now) - [Kittens](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/kittens) This area actually **only** features notes about bitcoin and nostr, but those words are replaced with puppies and kittens, as are all the pictures. - [Alt Coints](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxjY_YTksKM) This is where all things alt coins are discussed. It is very popular among users of stacker news and will probably make you rich. - AND NOW INTRODUCING... # [GM](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/gm) [This where you can go to see the TRILLIONS[^1] of posts of people just writing two letters for the world. Zaps are enabled here, although highly discouraged. All wishing of good morning and good night area included, opening you up to the wide world of nostr's obsession with the well-wishing of the day's bookends. It feature the same, visually stunning mastery users have grown to expect from nostrminusnostr and is now available at the click of a button.](https://nostrminusnostr.vercel.app/gm)  [^1]: as of August 2024, GMs on nostr have officially surpassed the dollar balance of the US national debt originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/816163

@ dbb19ae0:c3f22d5a

Inspired by a video on [youtube](https://youtu.be/OxPdPOsbxY8) I wrote a calculator with Perl: Beware the line my ($num1, $num2, $operator) = '@'_; should be my ($num1, $num2, $operator) = @_; But the markdown syntax needs to have the @ into quotes otherwise, well the rest of the program is missing #!/usr/bin/perl # calculator # use strict; use warnings; sub get_input { print "Enter number 1: "; chomp(my $num1 = <STDIN>); print "Enter number 2: "; chomp(my $num2 = <STDIN>); print "Enter operator (+, -, *, /): "; chomp(my $operator = <STDIN>); return ($num1, $num2, $operator); } sub calculate { my ($num1, $num2, $operator) = '@'_; my $result; if ($operator eq '+') { $result = $num1 + $num2; } elsif ($operator eq '-') { $result = $num1 - $num2; } elsif ($operator eq '*') { $result = $num1 * $num2; } elsif ($operator eq '/') { if ($num2 == 0) { die "Error: Division by zero\n"; } $result = $num1 / $num2; } else { die "Invalid operator\n"; } return $result; } # Get input from the user my ($num1, $num2, $operator) = get_input(); # Calculate the result my $result = calculate($num1, $num2, $operator); # Print the result print "$num1 $operator $num2 = $result\n"; originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/816121

@ b81776c3:4ef76c2a

**How To Sell Your Bitcoin** Selling Bitcoin isn’t just a transaction—it’s a strategy. Whether you're liquidating for necessity or rebalancing your portfolio, how you sell matters as much as why. **Understand the Market Dynamics** Bitcoin operates in a decentralised marketplace where prices are influenced by supply, demand, and holder behaviour. Unlike traditional assets, Bitcoin’s value is shaped by those with long-term conviction. **Sell With Discipline** The golden rule: never accept Bids unless absolutely necessary. Bids represent the buyer’s highest offer and the spread will undervalue your Bitcoin. Instead, set an Ask price at or above the current market bid. Patience is key; by holding your Ask, you let the market rise to meet you. **Timing Matters** Assess your financial needs and market conditions. Selling during periods of high volatility or at the height of media frenzy may result in suboptimal outcomes. Instead, focus on long-term trends and avoid impulsive decisions. **Use Reputable Platforms** Choose exchanges or platforms with high liquidity and strong security. Ensure you understand their fee structures and withdrawal policies to maximise your returns. **Tax Implications** In some jurisdictions, selling Bitcoin is a taxable event. Familiarise yourself with local tax laws, reporting requirements, and strategies to minimise your tax liability, such as holding periods for capital gains benefits. **The Strategic Hold** Sometimes, the best way to sell is not to sell at all. Bitcoin’s unique position as a deflationary asset often rewards those who can wait. By participating in the rise of the lowest Ask, you contribute to price stability and ensure a stronger market. **Conclusion** Selling Bitcoin is as much about mindset as it is about mechanics. By approaching the process with discipline, patience, and strategy, you can maximise your returns while respecting the broader market's integrity. Bitcoin, ultimately, rewards those with the resolve to see its long-term potential. --- originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/815334

@ d61f3bc5:0da6ef4a

January 2025 will mark two years since we started building Primal. Our goal was to create the best possible user experience for Nostr and make it accessible to everyone. We reached a big milestone towards realizing that vision with the recent Primal 2.0 release. It’s still early days, a lot more work lies ahead, but we thought the timing was right to introduce the Premium tier. Let’s explore what it is, why we built it, what’s included, and how it will evolve moving forward. ## What Primal Premium Is The idea behind Primal Premium is simple: integrate all tools and services required for the best Nostr experience into a single package. For $7 per month, Premium users get a *Primal Name* and *Nostr Tools* built by Primal. We’ll cover those in more detail below, but first we should make a crucial point: by signing up for Premium, you are in no way locked in to Primal. Quite the contrary, you can pick and choose which Premium features you wish to enable and use within other Nostr products. Openness is Nostr’s killer feature. Any product that wishes to truly empower the user needs to interoperate with Nostr’s budding ecosystem. The feed marketplace is a great example. External feeds are first-class citizens within all Primal apps. Primal feeds are available in other Nostr clients. We are working on Premium feeds, which our users will be able to enjoy within Primal or other Nostr apps. Media hosting is another example. Our upcoming support for the Blossom protocol will make Primal Premium media hosting interoperable with other Nostr apps and media hosting services. The common theme here is user choice. Nostr offers the highest level of user agency, and the compounding effect of interoperable products and services is bound to make Nostr immensely powerful. ## Why We Built Premium and Why Now What is unfolding on Nostr right now is unique and special. The first truly self-sovereign network is being bootstrapped by this early cohort of users and builders. People are literally holding the keys to their online presence. Network infrastructure – relays, indexers, media hosting services, etc. – is being stood up organically and without any central planning or coordination. Hundreds of independent projects are adding new capabilities to Nostr without needing permission. The whole thing is truly a sight to behold. In addition to fixing the fundamentals of the network, it is equally important that we fix the broken incentives that plague the legacy Web. The status quo of monetization via advertising, which turns users into products to be farmed, has overstayed its welcome. At Primal, we don’t monetize user data. Our users are our customers. We only make money when the user decides that we are providing a valuable service – and pays for it. That means that our users’ interests are aligned with ours. It allows us to wake up every morning and work all day to make the product better for our users. Some might say that it is too early to try to monetize a Nostr product. We definitely need to be thoughtful about paywalling important features while the network is so young. For example, advanced search is a Primal Premium feature, but we enable it for all users up to 20 search results. That makes it quite usable for anyone on Nostr, but power users get the ability to save these searches and create powerful specialized feeds. It is crucial to have commercially successful projects on Nostr that have their incentives aligned with those of their users. We are working on new features and monetization methods that follow this philosophy. The more we experiment on Nostr, the faster we will learn what works and unlock the full potential of this network. I have a feeling that a lot remains to be discovered, and Primal Premium is just the first step. Now, let’s take a closer look at what is included in Premium: *Primal Name* and *Nostr Tools*. ## Primal Name  A Primal Name is a unique name on the primal.net domain that offers three features: 1. **Verified Nostr address (NIP-05)**. This signals to the Nostr network that your account (npub) has been verified by Primal. Note that we don’t perform identity verification; we are simply signaling that this is a Primal Premium user. Users can pay with sats, preserving their privacy while signaling to the network that this verified account is not a bot. 2. **Friendly Bitcoin Lightning address**. Primal’s built-in hosted wallet creates a randomly generated lightning address for every user. They look like this: bluedog25@primal.net. Premium users get to pick their name, so their lightning address is more personalized (e.g. preston@primal.net). 3. **VIP profile on primal.net**. This is simply a friendly URL to your profile on primal.net. We are working on adding profile customization features for Premium users; stay tuned! In summary, a Primal Name makes you easier to find on Nostr. You are free to use any of these three Primal Name elements as you see fit. If you wish to use your Primal Nostr address and/or Lightning address, simply update your Nostr profile with those entries. ## Nostr Tools  Nostr Tools is a collection of features that we think would be useful to any Nostr power user. We are continuously working on expanding these capabilities, but the initial set of features includes: - **Media management**. Primal Premium comes with 10GB of media storage (compared to 1GB for free accounts). We implemented a slick interface for managing all media you have on Primal. - **Contact list backup**. Many Nostr users have experienced the loss of their contact list (i.e., their follow list) when using different clients. We store the history of the contact list for Primal Premium users and make it easy to recover. - **Content backup**. Nostr users post their content to a collection of public relays. These relays typically don’t offer guarantees that they will store the content for any amount of time. We back up all content posted by Primal Premium users and make it easy to rebroadcast it to the specified relays at any time. ## Primal Legends  The idea for the Primal Legend tier was suggested to me by Gigi a couple of months prior to the launch of Primal 2.0. His argument was simple: “There are users on Nostr who really appreciate Primal and are willing to pay way more than $7 / month to support the project. You should *let them* pay and *recognize them* for doing so.” I am really glad that Gigi convinced me to introduce the Legend tier. Nostr is truly a special place. The early users are extremely passionate and mission driven. They care about growing and improving Nostr as much as the builders do. At first, I thought of the term “Legend” as a bit tongue in cheek, but then I met and chatted with some of these people. Man, they are incredible. They just wish to support the network and the builders of open source software in any way they can. So now I think the term is appropriate. We are humbled by the support we received. Our first Legend supporter was none other than Jack. He found this option in the product and paid for the Legend tier literally an hour after Primal 2.0 was released. Thank you, sir, and thank you to all the other Legends out there! 💜🫂 ## What Comes Next? We are delighted and encouraged by the market response to Primal Premium. It is already clear to us that we are on the right path. We will lean into it even harder from here. There will be MOAR Premium features, while at the same time we will make sure that the free product remains excellent. Since you, the user, are the customer, tell us what you would like to see added to Primal Premium. Pura Vida 🤙

@ eac63075:b4988b48

[🇧🇷 pt-br version](https://www.eddieoz.com/policing-by-design-como-os-novos-planos-de-vigilancia-da-ue-ameacam-a-privacidade-e-a-seguranca/) The European Union is at a crossroads. While digital innovation and security cooperation remain critical in a connected world, recent proposals to enhance police surveillance and data sharing are stirring deep concerns about individual privacy, data security, and democratic oversight. Two recent reports published by *Statewatch* shed light on troubling developments in the EU’s policing landscape, raising alarms among privacy advocates and civil rights organizations. The EU’s new plans to expand police surveillance could put your privacy and rights at risk and introduce risks far outweighing their potential benefits. This article will analyze these proposals, their implications, and the growing opposition from privacy and civil liberties defenders. [Listen the Podcast (Spotify)](https://open.spotify.com/episode/79NheodjVb0C87gCgaDVVE) [Listen the Podcast (Fountain)](https://www.fountain.fm/episode/Da4mQAi7n4I9ZoRswiL5) # **Surveillance Infrastructure: Policing by Design** The first *Statewatch* report, titled [“Policing by Design: The Latest EU Surveillance Plan”](https://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/june/policing-by-design-the-latest-eu-surveillance-plan/), outlines a concerning trend in the EU’s approach to law enforcement. The proposals advocate embedding surveillance tools directly into the design of new technologies, effectively creating an architecture where policing capabilities are integrated into the systems we use daily. From facial recognition cameras to AI-driven analytics, the EU plans to enhance cross-border police cooperation by ensuring technology is designed to facilitate surveillance from the outset. Known as “policing by design,” this strategy involves building surveillance features directly into technologies we use every day. Imagine a network of cameras or software that can automatically monitor people’s faces or behaviors without any extra installation — it’s like your everyday tech quietly doubling as a police tool. The goal is to enable seamless sharing of data across borders for criminal investigations, but the unintended consequences are alarming. ## **The Problem with “Policing by Design”** 1. Mass Surveillance Normalized: By embedding surveillance features into public and private infrastructure, society risks normalizing mass surveillance, where every movement, transaction, or online interaction is monitored and analyzed. 2. Threats to Privacy: Such initiatives inherently contradict the principle of *privacy by design*, which prioritizes privacy protections in the development of technology. Instead, citizens are being treated as subjects of perpetual suspicion. 3. Lack of Transparency and Accountability: A systemic lack of transparency surrounding these plans raises serious governance issues. Civil society organizations, journalists, and privacy advocates have pointed to a lack of democratic oversight and meaningful debate. 4. Risks of Abuse: Surveillance systems are often deployed under the guise of security but are susceptible to abuse. History shows that tools designed for law enforcement can easily be turned against dissenters, journalists, or marginalized communities. As the report highlights, these developments could establish a permanent surveillance infrastructure across Europe, enabling the collection of biometric, behavioral, and communications data on an unprecedented scale. ## **Flawed Justifications for Surveillance Expansion** Privacy advocacy organizations, including the European Digital Rights (EDRi) network, argue that much of the justification for these surveillance plans relies on flawed assumptions. The rhetoric of the *“Going Dark”* report, which claims that law enforcement is losing access to communications due to encryption, has been widely debunked. As EDRi points out, law enforcement already has extensive tools at their disposal to access data and track individuals, but the focus on encryption risks undermining secure communication for everyone. Instead of addressing systemic issues within law enforcement, these flawed reports have fueled calls for intrusive surveillance systems that risk eroding privacy while offering little evidence of improving public safety. # **Centralized Police Data: A Substantial Security and Privacy Threat** A second *Statewatch* report, titled [“EU Police Data Plans Pose Substantial Security and Privacy Threats”](https://www.statewatch.org/news/2024/december/eu-police-data-plans-pose-substantial-security-and-privacy-threats/), explores another equally concerning initiative: the EU’s push to centralize police data repositories and expand their use. The EU has already established several large-scale databases, such as the Schengen Information System (SIS), which stores data about individuals who may be denied entry into the EU, and the Europol Information System, which can hold details about millions of people, including those not suspected of crimes. For example, a traveler flagged mistakenly in the system could face unnecessary scrutiny, detention, or restrictions when crossing borders — highlighting the real-world risks of inaccurate or overreaching data collection. The new proposals aim to go further, creating an interoperable web of police data accessible to law enforcement agencies across member states. Proponents argue this is necessary for combating cross-border crime and terrorism, but the risks are immense. ## **Key Concerns with Centralized Police Data** 1. Massive Data Collection: The EU’s proposed systems would require the collection of highly sensitive data, including biometric information (fingerprints, facial recognition scans) and behavioral analytics, to track individuals’ activities across borders. 2. Data Misuse and Security Risks: Centralized data systems are prime targets for cyberattacks, data breaches, and misuse. The larger and more interconnected the system, the greater the risks of unauthorized access, theft, or corruption of the data. 3. As *Statewatch* points out, the systems lack robust safeguards to prevent misuse or to ensure that data is handled proportionately and lawfully. 4. Erosion of Trust in Law Enforcement: Building centralized data repositories without meaningful safeguards undermines public trust. Individuals may be less willing to engage with law enforcement if they fear their data will be stored indefinitely, shared across borders, or used inappropriately. 5. Impact on Fundamental Rights: Mass police databases can violate the principle of proportionality, a cornerstone of EU law. By collecting and sharing data indiscriminately, these systems erode fundamental rights, including the right to privacy, freedom of movement, and the presumption of innocence. ## **Civil Society Opposition and Democratic Accountability** In an open letter to EU institutions, over 30 civil society organizations — including EDRi — have criticized the lack of transparency in the High-Level Group’s (HLG) recommendations for data access. The letter highlights a concerning pattern: while industry stakeholders are included in key discussions, civil society voices remain sidelined. This exclusion undermines democratic accountability and reinforces fears that surveillance policies are being driven by corporate interests rather than public well-being. These organizations have called for the EU to prioritize transparency, include meaningful public debate, and ensure any law enforcement proposals respect proportionality and fundamental rights. # **Why Privacy Advocates Are Sounding the Alarm** The reports from *Statewatch* highlight a fundamental clash between security policy and individual rights. Privacy advocates are urging EU lawmakers to take a step back and critically examine the following issues: 1. Lack of Democratic Oversight: Proposals to integrate surveillance systems and expand police databases are being pushed forward without genuine public debate or oversight. Civil society organizations have been excluded from key discussions. 2. Failure to Uphold Privacy Laws: The EU has some of the strongest privacy laws in the world, including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). However, these proposals risk undermining GDPR principles by enabling indiscriminate data collection and sharing. 3. Ignoring Proportionality: Surveillance systems must be targeted, necessary, and proportionate to their objectives. Embedding policing into technological design and centralizing data far exceeds what is justified for fighting crime and terrorism. 4. Setting Dangerous Precedents: The failure to fully ban harmful surveillance technologies like facial recognition in public spaces sets a troubling precedent. It risks not only eroding privacy within the EU but also encouraging other nations to adopt similar measures, undermining global human rights. # **A Call for Action: Safeguarding Our Privacy and Rights** As the EU pushes forward with these plans, the opposition from civil rights defenders grows louder. Policymakers must address the following key demands to prevent an erosion of fundamental rights: - Implement Privacy by Design: All new technologies must prioritize privacy protections at the design stage, ensuring they are not co-opted for surveillance. - Establish Robust Oversight: Any new policing tools or databases must be subject to democratic scrutiny, independent oversight, and clear legal frameworks to prevent misuse. - Reassess Interoperability Plans: Cross-border police cooperation is important, but it must not come at the cost of individuals’ privacy, security, and dignity. - Strengthen Export Controls: The EU must ban the export of surveillance tools that risk facilitating human rights abuses in authoritarian regimes. - Prioritize Data Security: Centralized systems require state-of-the-art security measures to protect sensitive data from breaches or misuse. The EU’s role as a leader in digital rights and privacy is now at stake. If these plans proceed without significant safeguards, Europe risks undermining its own foundational principles of freedom, security, and justice. # **Conclusion: The Price of Surveillance-Driven Security** The EU’s surveillance plans may be presented as necessary for security, but they come at a steep cost to privacy, trust, and individual freedoms. Embedding surveillance into our technologies and centralizing police data pose far-reaching risks that cannot be ignored. As privacy advocates, it is our responsibility to hold policymakers accountable and demand a security framework that upholds, rather than undermines, fundamental rights. Europe’s future must not be built on surveillance by design — but on privacy, democracy, and trust.

@ c239c0f9:fa4a5015

I guess you have been using ~lightning... How? How many newbies? or merchants? Which tool and wallets did you use? What was the strategy? Where? Tell us more! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/814027

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

It's here! Who's going to walk away with the highly coveted Emirates Cup? I'm pretty sure the Thunder will prevail, but that's why they play the games. You can also live bet the game at [Predyx](https://beta.predyx.com/market/nba-cup-winner). Finally, a hearty congratulations to @Carresan, who won 60k in our survivor pool. (let me know if you got the payment) originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/813752

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

I wanted to share real quick something my daughter did that we were very impressed by. We were at an interactive kids' event. Our daughter was one of the younger kids at it, but there were a couple of younger ones. Towards the end of the event, she won some extra prizes. They were just a bunch of cheap little trinkets, but it was obvious that the other kids were jealous. I don't think she even noticed, and we certainly didn't say anything, but she immediately wanted to share her winnings with all the other kids. She walked all over the space looking for everyone, even kids who didn't know she had gotten the extra prizes, and gave a little bit to everyone. That certainly didn't come from either of her parents. Her instinctive generosity is all her. Are there any virtues you've observed in your kids that didn't obviously come from either parent? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/813744

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

Finally another version of noStrudel. I keep telling myself I'm going to do more frequent releases but then time keeps getting away from me This release comes with a bunch of news features and most importantly a lot of cleanup ## Features ### Olas media posts You can now view a simple feed of media posts made on https://olas.app/ in the app and comment on them using NIP-22 comments  ### Simple gif picker This was mostly a test, but there is now a simple gif picker (and barely functional search) that is based on `k:1063` events If you want a better search and to help populate the nostr gif library you can use https://gifbuddy.lol created by nostr:npub1hee433872q2gen90cqh2ypwcq9z7y5ugn23etrd2l2rrwpruss8qwmrsv6  ### New support view The *(tiny)* support button at the bottom of the side menu now hides a zap leader board that shows top supporters and any custom messages they leave  ### Favorite DVM feeds You can now favorite DVM feeds in the discover view  ### Tools under notes There is now a simpler tools menu under notes and threads  ### Searching local cache relay If your using [nostr-relay-tray](https://github.com/CodyTseng/nostr-relay-tray) the search view will now use it by default for searching. which should make it a little faster and more reliable  ### Small features - Add "Proactively authenticate to relays" option to privacy settings, defaults to off - Add option for debug API - Add option to hide noStrudel logo in nav bar - Show unknown notifications in notification view - Add templates to event publisher ## Bug fixes - Show nostr mentions in markdown content - Fix delete events not getting published to outbox - Fix page changing from RTL when viewing some profiles - Refresh relay info on relay page - Fix bug with removing "about" in profile editor - Fix automatically disconnecting from authenticated relays ## Applesauce Over the past few months I've been doing tons of cleanup on the core of noStrudel *(677 changed files with 19,683 additions and 17,889 deletions)* and extracting it out into a friendly nostr SDK called [applesauce](https://hzrd149.github.io/applesauce/) Its very much a work-in-progress but the idea with these libraries is to help myself (and maybe others) build the UI layer of nostr apps and eventually make noStrudel just another app that is built with applesauce If your a developer and another nostr SDK sounds interesting to you. you can check out the [Getting Started](https://hzrd149.github.io/applesauce/introduction/getting-started.html) docs

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

*Originally written in October 2022 (Block: 757258 / USD: $20.1k / SatsDollar: 4961). Refined with slight edits for publishing on Nostr in December 2024 (Block: 875189 / USD: $106k / SatsDollar: 938 ). Banner image property of Hes. My journey down the rabbit hole has only intensified since the time of writing. Enjoy.* --- The Bitcoin time perspective is wild. Reflecting on it has been profoundly eye-opening, and once it has been seen— there is no returning to our prior ways. Ever since venturing down the rabbit hole that we call Bitcoin, I’ve started making significant life decisions and forming nuanced opinions on polarizing topics based on the implications of multi-generational timeframes. Before Bitcoin, I spent money recklessly, leading a fast-paced and impulsive lifestyle. Even in my early days of learning about Bitcoin, I hadn’t fully seen the light. I would still blow the occasional $500 bar tab or buy some flashy gadget I didn’t need. Living in the moment has its merits, but so does considering the time beyond our own lives. Now, I pause before purchases and decisions, always reflecting on how they might impact the future. When your money isn’t constantly being devalued before your eyes, you start seeing the world differently. You begin saving for the future with confidence, knowing that no central authority can endlessly print away your hard-earned time and energy. Inflation doesn’t just erode purchasing power; it steals time. It destroys the hours, days, and years of effort represented by a lifetime of savings. When governments print money to prop up failing banks or fund inefficient ventures, the impact ripples through generations. Those at the bottom of the ladder are hit the hardest, their ability to save and plan for the future undermined by forces beyond their control. Decisions become focused on surviving today instead of thriving tomorrow, leaving little room to consider the long-term implications of our choices. This system creates a mindset where we are incentivized to spend now, instead of save for later—an unnatural phenomenon that most of us have accepted as normal. For individuals who simply want to put away money for a rainy day, inflation is a relentless adversary. A dollar in 1900 has lost over 96% of its value. The countless hours of labor behind those savings have been stolen. Not only did the expansion of money destroy what they could buy, it stole our time and energy. Years of our lives—blood, sweat, and tears—washed away. This isn’t just a historical problem—it’s a recurring one that occurs every decade or so and is accelerating. At an average inflation rate of 3%, the value of cash halves roughly every 23 years. This means that even modest inflation rates gradually diminish purchasing power over time, forcing individuals to chase speculative assets like stocks, real estate, and gold—not because they want to, but because they have no choice. Personal inflation rates differ depending on consumer habits, but a glance at rising prices reveals they often outpace the 2% annual rate reported by the government, which poses a significant problem for individua;s, as highlighted in the table below: <aside> **Inflation Rate (%)** | **Purchasing Power Halving (Years)** - 2% | 35-40 years - 3% | 20-25 years - 4% | 15-20 years - 5% | 10-15 years - 6% | 7-12 years - 7% | 5-10 years - 8% | 4-8 years - 9% | 3-6 years - 10% | 2-5 years </aside> Corporations like McDonald’s understand this. Sitting on a prime corner lot in every major city is far smarter than stacking a pile of cash losing value. Even if the franchise is losing money, the building it operates in is guaranteed to “rise” in value over time. This mindset trickles down to everyday people. To protect themselves, they’re compelled to invest in assets—with real estate being the pinnacle savings instrument of our time. The financial system we’ve accepted as normal turns shelter into an investment vehicle and savings into a gamble. But here’s the irony: real estate is a lousy store of value—which is what we are all truly seeking. Properties require constant maintenance. Without care, assets deteriorate. We’ve all seen abandoned theme parks and overgrown cities. We’ve all dealt with broken pipes and creaky floorboards. Why should saving our hard-earned wealth require us to become housing market experts, landlords, or property managers? Why should we pay financial advisors to manage stock portfolios full of companies whose values or practices we might not even believe in, just to beat inflation? A flawed monetary system inflates bubbles in real estate and stocks, redirecting resources into speculative markets instead of productive investments. Imagine a world where people don’t have to read quarterly earnings reports after a long day of work to ensure their cash retains value. If the incentives driving these bubbles were removed, the financial landscape would dramatically shift. Inflation wouldn’t push people into markets like real estate or zombie companies; instead, they could focus on building or supporting businesses they genuinely care about. They could plan for the long term and make well-thought-out, rational decisions about their future. Bitcoin takes this entire dynamic and flips it on its head. It isn’t a tool for speculation as often misunderstood. It is the best form of saving humanity has ever seen. Unlike fiat currencies, Bitcoin’s fixed supply ensures scarcity, making it a refuge from the erosion of wealth caused by inflation. As weak currencies flow into stronger ones (a concept known as Gresham’s Law), Bitcoin’s role as a store of value becomes clearer. It’s not that Bitcoin has “gone up 19,000%”—it’s that people are exchanging weaker money for stronger money. The implications of a world on a Bitcoin standard extend far beyond monetary policy. It offers something unprecedented: a tool for transferring the value of labor and energy across time and space. Unlike fiat, Bitcoin allows time to be preserved across generations. It isn’t just a hedge against inflation—it reintroduces the idea of saving with confidence, of being able to store wealth in a form of money that cannot be manipulated or devalued. By saving in Bitcoin, individuals are no longer tethered to the uncertainties of fiat systems. The Bitcoin time perspective is about aligning our actions today with the future we want to build tomorrow. It’s about prioritizing long-term impact over short-term gains. When you embrace Bitcoin, you embrace a mindset that values time, energy, and the well-being of future generations. It’s not just a currency; it’s a revolution in thinking that will change you forever. The past, present, and future converge in this new paradigm, offering hope in an otherwise uncertain world. Bitcoin isn’t a bubble; it’s a beacon. --- ### More from Hes: [Art](https://hes.npub.pro/tag/art/) [Store](https://plebeian.market/p/517d6542a081d61ecd8900ad9e2640290e2cf06f516c5e5f3edadfbde446bff4/stall/1db0cdfe0e39c4bd81b903902eeda74e6aa0f0b56e30851f327e6d0c292c5c06) [Travel Guides](https://hes.npub.pro/tag/travel/) [Photography](https://hes.npub.pro/tag/photography)

@ dca6e1cc:ea7d1750

Hi y'all, I'd like to earn some sats instead of running the fiat treadmill. I have some digital graphic design and website front end skills I'd like to offer. DM me and I'll send you some of my work. Thanks! G originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/813013

@ 57d1a264:69f1fee1

 - Improved NFC UX for Android - New navigation menu for quick access to features like NFC, Payment requests, P2PK locks and more. Adjust quick access in settings. - Built-in numeric Keyboard, esp. useful for iOS. Disable/Enable keyboard in settings. - Improved look and animations `source:` `https://njump.me/note1kk7886xgdzef4p9xkny8pkxgrjjhm3lau8qrlhtdvw7p5lewrstq6v6q6a` originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812850

@ c7fa4651:a777c885

The summary of this account rule change is this: Companies holding BTC must: 1. Measure crypto assets at fair value each reporting period 2. Recognize both gains and losses in net income 3. Report crypto assets separately from other intangible assets on the balance sheet Items #1 and 2 are the most crucial. This is in contrast to the current method, in which companies only report their BTC "value" which is the value they bought it, until this sell it then its newly valued as income. Perhaps #2 is the most important of these changes. What this means is that if you hold 100 BTC on your books and the price of BTC moves from 100K to 200K, this means you need to report "Income of $10,000,000" for that reporting period. Such a report will then automatically mean a higher stock valuation since now "earnings per share" is increasing. This creates a fortuitous feedback loop for companies that hold BTC. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812834

@ 513d5051:8a622026

I got myself wondering what happens when a dollar doesn't buy a sat anymore? Well, there's nothing special about that number we'll continue to use fractions but the relationship will change. Of course for that to happen a single Bitcoin would need to be priced at $100 million which is about a thousand times more than the current price so it's not really a pressing concern. Moreover, at that price if all 21 million Bitcoin were in active addresses (which is impossible due to all the lost wallets over time) we would have a total market cap of 21 million Bitcoin because that would be a Bitcoin standard and it would be our unit of account, medium of exchange, and store of value. This is the right answer, the wrong answer would be about $2.1 quadrillion dollars, but who would measure wealth in terms of some random shitcoin that can't buy a sat with a single unit. Well, that's all I had to share for now, later. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812207

@ 005bc4de:ef11e1a2

Political hot take prediction... ...Trump hasn't even become Trump 47 yet, and a lot (a LOT) can happen in three or four years, but here's a wild prediction I'll make...after 3 years as president in round two, Trump will resign to allow VP Vance to take over as president. My thinking...Trump will have done what he wants to do by then. He's enough of a narcissist (he's the biggest narcissist ever, the most beautiful narcissist ever, and the most humble person ever as well, both at the same time) he: (a) won't want to finish out as a sterilized lame duck and (b) will want to further cement his legacy and longevity. Stepping down and allowing Vance to get a year or so of presidential experience would largely help his chances at getting elected in his own right. That in turn would open the door for eight years of a President Vance and a continuation of "Trump 48 and 49", not to mention any Supreme Court nominees Vance might make. Remind me in three years. nostr note: https://njump.me/nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzqqzmcn0yrn7ttq8hrjkk46ysn2tk26rr8f8k4y7xkl74hlh3rcdzqy88wumn8ghj7mn0wvhxcmmv9uq3wamnwvaz7tmjv4kxz7fwwpexjmtpdshxuet59uqzp2q7wm8n206scx0v4aygcylp2qkx0pcz6r947deh032ql6l3wak6zapadw originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812204

@ fe32298e:20516265

Today I learned how to install [NVapi](https://github.com/sammcj/NVApi) to monitor my GPUs in Home Assistant.  **NVApi** is a lightweight API designed for monitoring NVIDIA GPU utilization and enabling automated power management. It provides real-time GPU metrics, supports integration with tools like Home Assistant, and offers flexible power management and PCIe link speed management based on workload and thermal conditions. - **GPU Utilization Monitoring**: Utilization, memory usage, temperature, fan speed, and power consumption. - **Automated Power Limiting**: Adjusts power limits dynamically based on temperature thresholds and total power caps, configurable per GPU or globally. - **Cross-GPU Coordination**: Total power budget applies across multiple GPUs in the same system. - **PCIe Link Speed Management**: Controls minimum and maximum PCIe link speeds with idle thresholds for power optimization. - **Home Assistant Integration**: Uses the built-in RESTful platform and template sensors. ## Getting the Data ``` sudo apt install golang-go git clone https://github.com/sammcj/NVApi.git cd NVapi go run main.go -port 9999 -rate 1 curl http://localhost:9999/gpu ``` Response for a single GPU: ``` [ { "index": 0, "name": "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090", "gpu_utilisation": 0, "memory_utilisation": 0, "power_watts": 16, "power_limit_watts": 450, "memory_total_gb": 23.99, "memory_used_gb": 0.46, "memory_free_gb": 23.52, "memory_usage_percent": 2, "temperature": 38, "processes": [], "pcie_link_state": "not managed" } ] ``` Response for multiple GPUs: ``` [ { "index": 0, "name": "NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3090", "gpu_utilisation": 0, "memory_utilisation": 0, "power_watts": 14, "power_limit_watts": 350, "memory_total_gb": 24, "memory_used_gb": 0.43, "memory_free_gb": 23.57, "memory_usage_percent": 2, "temperature": 36, "processes": [], "pcie_link_state": "not managed" }, { "index": 1, "name": "NVIDIA RTX A4000", "gpu_utilisation": 0, "memory_utilisation": 0, "power_watts": 10, "power_limit_watts": 140, "memory_total_gb": 15.99, "memory_used_gb": 0.56, "memory_free_gb": 15.43, "memory_usage_percent": 3, "temperature": 41, "processes": [], "pcie_link_state": "not managed" } ] ``` # Start at Boot Create `/etc/systemd/system/nvapi.service`: ``` [Unit] Description=Run NVapi After=network.target [Service] Type=simple Environment="GOPATH=/home/ansible/go" WorkingDirectory=/home/ansible/NVapi ExecStart=/usr/bin/go run main.go -port 9999 -rate 1 Restart=always User=ansible # Environment="GPU_TEMP_CHECK_INTERVAL=5" # Environment="GPU_TOTAL_POWER_CAP=400" # Environment="GPU_0_LOW_TEMP=40" # Environment="GPU_0_MEDIUM_TEMP=70" # Environment="GPU_0_LOW_TEMP_LIMIT=135" # Environment="GPU_0_MEDIUM_TEMP_LIMIT=120" # Environment="GPU_0_HIGH_TEMP_LIMIT=100" # Environment="GPU_1_LOW_TEMP=45" # Environment="GPU_1_MEDIUM_TEMP=75" # Environment="GPU_1_LOW_TEMP_LIMIT=140" # Environment="GPU_1_MEDIUM_TEMP_LIMIT=125" # Environment="GPU_1_HIGH_TEMP_LIMIT=110" [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target ``` ## Home Assistant Add to Home Assistant `configuration.yaml` and restart HA (completely). For a single GPU, this works: ``` sensor: - platform: rest name: MYPC GPU Information resource: http://mypc:9999 method: GET headers: Content-Type: application/json value_template: "{{ value_json[0].index }}" json_attributes: - name - gpu_utilisation - memory_utilisation - power_watts - power_limit_watts - memory_total_gb - memory_used_gb - memory_free_gb - memory_usage_percent - temperature scan_interval: 1 # seconds - platform: template sensors: mypc_gpu_0_gpu: friendly_name: "MYPC {{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'name') }} GPU" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'gpu_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_0_memory: friendly_name: "MYPC {{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'name') }} Memory" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'memory_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_0_power: friendly_name: "MYPC {{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'name') }} Power" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'power_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_0_power_limit: friendly_name: "MYPC {{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'name') }} Power Limit" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'power_limit_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_0_temperature: friendly_name: "MYPC {{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'name') }} Temperature" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu_information', 'temperature') }}" unit_of_measurement: "°C" ``` For multiple GPUs: ``` rest: scan_interval: 1 resource: http://mypc:9999 sensor: - name: "MYPC GPU0 Information" value_template: "{{ value_json[0].index }}" json_attributes_path: "$.0" json_attributes: - name - gpu_utilisation - memory_utilisation - power_watts - power_limit_watts - memory_total_gb - memory_used_gb - memory_free_gb - memory_usage_percent - temperature - name: "MYPC GPU1 Information" value_template: "{{ value_json[1].index }}" json_attributes_path: "$.1" json_attributes: - name - gpu_utilisation - memory_utilisation - power_watts - power_limit_watts - memory_total_gb - memory_used_gb - memory_free_gb - memory_usage_percent - temperature - platform: template sensors: mypc_gpu_0_gpu: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU0 GPU" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu0_information', 'gpu_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_0_memory: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU0 Memory" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu0_information', 'memory_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_0_power: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU0 Power" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu0_information', 'power_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_0_power_limit: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU0 Power Limit" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu0_information', 'power_limit_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_0_temperature: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU0 Temperature" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu0_information', 'temperature') }}" unit_of_measurement: "C" - platform: template sensors: mypc_gpu_1_gpu: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU1 GPU" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu1_information', 'gpu_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_1_memory: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU1 Memory" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu1_information', 'memory_utilisation') }}" unit_of_measurement: "%" mypc_gpu_1_power: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU1 Power" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu1_information', 'power_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_1_power_limit: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU1 Power Limit" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu1_information', 'power_limit_watts') }}" unit_of_measurement: "W" mypc_gpu_1_temperature: friendly_name: "MYPC GPU1 Temperature" value_template: "{{ state_attr('sensor.mypc_gpu1_information', 'temperature') }}" unit_of_measurement: "C" ``` Basic entity card: ``` type: entities entities: - entity: sensor.mypc_gpu_0_gpu secondary_info: last-updated - entity: sensor.mypc_gpu_0_memory secondary_info: last-updated - entity: sensor.mypc_gpu_0_power secondary_info: last-updated - entity: sensor.mypc_gpu_0_power_limit secondary_info: last-updated - entity: sensor.mypc_gpu_0_temperature secondary_info: last-updated ``` # Ansible Role ``` --- - name: install go become: true package: name: golang-go state: present - name: git clone git: repo: "https://github.com/sammcj/NVApi.git" dest: "/home/ansible/NVapi" update: yes force: true # go run main.go -port 9999 -rate 1 - name: install systemd service become: true copy: src: nvapi.service dest: /etc/systemd/system/nvapi.service - name: Reload systemd daemons, enable, and restart nvapi become: true systemd: name: nvapi daemon_reload: yes enabled: yes state: restarted ```

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

I had an issue yesterday with Zeus wallet. All my fault by the way... I'd been doing some housekeeping with passwords and somehow reset or messed up the password lock to entry screen So without thinking and admittedly without having enough experience, I uninstalled the app and reinstalled it Thinking that would clear the password lock..... Which it did. But it also force closed the Ln channels Slight panic ensued and after a few minutes, the sats reappeared onchain queued in a tx The force close channels are still pending closure, after which they'll revert to onchain. So with so much discussion around custodial lsp's vs non custodial Quite a few plebs over on nostr were saying they wouldn't keep a 'significant' amount of sats on Ln What is significant to you? Do you feel like sats held non custodially on Ln are secure? Posting this in Bitcoin beginners which I assume includes lightning beginners originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812131

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

Hockey’s one of my favorite sports to play and watch, and I finally got the chance to photograph a game inside an arena. Charlotte Checkers took on the Iowa Wild and came out with a 3-0 win - two power-play goals and a shorthanded empty-netter. Solid game, and I think this was their fourth straight win.  I started shooting from the nosebleeds and worked my way down to ice level. Talked the guard into letting me in, and he was cool enough to let me wander into a few restricted areas. The main focus for me was the colors. I’ve been chasing this analog film look in my edits lately - no idea why, but it’s what I’m into right now. These were shot with my Leica M262 and edited with Lightroom and Dehancer. I’m happy with how they turned out, and that’s really all that matters. Here’s a few from the night        I’d like to shoot more things like this. If anyone here has any connections that could help me land a photography gig somewhere documenting sports, events or anything like that, I'd really appreciate it. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812108

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

Hey Freaks, Looks like my career goals are shaping up to be something like: 1. Paralegal 2. Direct Support Professional 3. Open Source Contributor After I obtain paralegal certificate I should offer freelance paralegal services on nostr. I'd market myself on shopstr, SN, Kind1 notes, Long form notes, Zapvertising, NPUB.PRO blog. Setting up and waiting for the newbies to flood in, not looking for so many clients, just setting up and making things available. My expertise will grow as I grab more certifications use educational resources, listen to podcasts, read etc. Could Setup a Nostrocket and involve the freaks in building a non state involved business. Could operate under the open anarchist license as a free members association, and help business's with whatever legal assistance they may need, with a focus on Intellectual property law, Nostr, Bitcoin, Free open source software. Would offer services for cheap and build a web of trust offering things like free consultations. I have 5 years experience working at an IP law firm filing patents with the US Patent and Trademark office. The Nostr resume would look really nice. Could post frequently on the SN legal territory, create a quick and simple newsletter and or AI podcast about the legal space and how it pertains to stuff we care about. I want to stick with the coding, because the tools are getting better and my knowledge is increasing, would love to contribute more to open source projects, and want to see what maintaining my own project would be like. I'll get back around to setting up that SN dev environment and looking for low level issues to crack, this time with more experience under my belt. I wanted to sell something on shopstr, something that helps people working remotely, legal services never quite came to mind, but would be an interesting direction to take. I was thinking vinyl records and merch and clothes, but something more wanted or needed, or unique or specialized might be better. And having an online shop that ties into my main career seems like a two birds with one stone sort of situation. I just need to increase my knowledge and level of expertise while continuing the pursuit of "proof of work". 2024 (Current) Roadmap - Release Nostr Running App - Obtain Paralegal Certification - Offer freelance Paralegal services - DSP transition to full time - Contribute to SN development - Continued writing Yours truly, Hustle originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/812103

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

### Strike Bill Pay Follow-up __Part 2 - "Discovering" a lucky opportunity__[^1] [Original Post - Paying my car loan with Strike Bill pay](https://stacker.news/items/804931) [Part One of Follow-up - Watching the settlement thereof](https://stacker.news/items/806470) So Saturday, I paid my Discover card using the Strike Bill pay[^2]. First though, I set up a mock sell order with Strike to see how many sats it would cost to have sold at that point in time to check again and see what the difference would be. Well, as you may have seen, the dollar dipped hard yesterday, and since I had used bill pay instead of selling the bitcoin myself and waiting for it to transfer to my bank, by the time the charge hit my Strike account this morning, the difference was 21,332 sats __in my favor__. That is despite and after the $6.37 Strike fee. 21,332 sats. That's the amount one gets for writing a _flaming hot_ post on SN or maybe an hour of work at Chipotle. My point is, it's significant, but it's not nothing. The lesson: well nothing really, this is just kind of neat and maybe something worth thinking about. I'm not sure exactly what the take-home is, but at least we all have a better idea of how this service plays out in different scenarios. Ultimately, I was just lucky that the dollar dipped at this moment instead of bitcoin. Short term, either of them can change and that's just the risk of having to hold to pay certain bills with the currency backed by violence. Cheers to the day we can pay more bills direct with bitcoin. [^2]: I feel it may be important to clarify with all of these posts that I'm not holding millions of sats on my Strike, as that would be very insecure and irresponsible. I just try to put enough on there to make sure that these bills go through even if bitcoin has a 10% dip over the time frame between paying the bill and it settling. [^1]: Concerning the brutal pun in the title, no disclaimers, apologies, remediation, or repentance will be offered. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/811662

@ dca6e1cc:ea7d1750

Hi y'all, I have plenty of ideas and skills to get front end web application prototypes up and running. If you're skilled with web app back ends then I'd love to collaborate. Money: We can go 50/50 on any ROI or Pay me sats as part of your team Let's go! Thanks y'all G originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/811211

@ ee11a5df:b76c4e49

# Nostr 2? ## Breaking Changes in Nostr Nostr was a huge leap forward. But it isn't perfect. When developers notice a problem with nostr, they confer with each other to work out a solution to the problem. This is usually in the form of a NIP PR on the nips repo. Some problems are easy. Just add something new and optional. No biggie. Zaps, git stuff, bunkers... just dream it up and add it. Other problems can only be fixed by breaking changes. With a breaking change, the overall path forward is like this: Add the new way of doing it while preserving the old way. Push the major software to switch to the new way. Then deprecate the old way. This is a simplification, but it is the basic idea. It is how we solved markers/quotes/root and how we are upgrading encryption, among other things. This process of pushing through a breaking change becomes more difficult as we have more and more existing nostr software out there that will break. Most of the time what happens is that the major software is driven to make the change (usually by nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6), and the smaller software is left to fend for itself. A while back I introduced the BREAKING.md file to help people developing smaller lesser-known software keep up with these changes. ## Big Ideas But some ideas just can't be applied to nostr. The idea is too big. The change is too breaking. It changes something fundamental. And nobody has come up with a smooth path to move from the old way to the new way. And so we debate a bunch of things, and never settle on anything, and eventually nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 makes a post saying that we don't really want it anyways 😉. As we encounter good ideas that are hard to apply to nostr, I've been filing them away in a repository I call "nostr-next", so we don't forget about them, in case we ever wanted to start over. It seems to me that starting over every time we encountered such a thing would be unwise. However, once we collect enough changes that we couldn't reasonably phase into nostr, then a tipping point is crossed where it becomes worthwhile to start over. In terms of the "bang for the buck" metaphor, the bang becomes bigger and bigger but the buck (the pain and cost of starting over) doesn't grow as rapidly. ## WHAT? Start over? IMHO starting over could be very bad if done in a cavalier way. The community could fracture. The new protocol could fail to take off due to lacking the network effect. The odds that a new protocol catches on are low, irrespective of how technically superior it could be. So the big question is: can we preserve the nostr community and it's network effect while making a major step-change to the protocol and software? I don't know the answer to that one, but I have an idea about it. I think the new-protocol clients can be dual-stack, creating events in both systems and linking those events together via tags. The nostr key identity would still be used, and the new system identity too. This is better than things like the mostr bridge because each user would remain in custody of their own keys. ## The nitty gritty Here are some of the things I think would make nostr better, but which nostr can't easily fix. A lot of these ideas have been mentioned before by multiple people and I didn't give credit to all of you (sorry) because my brain can't track it all. But I've been collecting these over time at https://github.com/mikedilger/nostr-next * Events as CBOR or BEVE or MsgPack or a fixed-schema binary layout... anything but JSON text with its parsing, it's encoding ambiguity, it's requirement to copy fields before hashing them, its unlimited size constraints. (me, nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s) * EdDSA ed25519 keys instead of secp256k1, to enable interoperability with a bunch of other stuff like ssh, pgp, TLS, Mainline DHT, and many more, plus just being better cryptography (me, Nuh, Orlovsky, except Orlovsky wanted Ristretto25519 for speed) * Bootstrapping relay lists (and relay endpoints) from Mainline DHT (nostr:npub1jvxvaufrwtwj79s90n79fuxmm9pntk94rd8zwderdvqv4dcclnvs9s7yqz) * Master keys and revocable subkeys / device keys (including having your nostr key as a subkey) * Encryption to use different encryption-specific subkeys and ephemeral ones from the sender. * Relay keypairs, TLS without certificates, relays known by keypair instead of URL * Layered protocol (separate core from applications) * Software remembering when they first saw an event, for 2 reasons, the main one being revocation (don't trust the date in the event, trust when you first saw it), the second being more precise time range queries. * Upgrade/feature negotiation (HTTP headers prior to starting websockets) * IDs starting with a timestamp so they are temporally adjacent (significantly better database performance) (Vitor's idea) * Filters that allow boolean expressions on tag values, and also ID exclusions. Removing IDs from filters and moving to a GET command. * Changing the transport (I'm against this but I know others want to) ## What would it look like? Someone (Steve Farroll) has taken my nostr-next repo and turned it into a proposed protocol he calls [Mosaic](https://github.com/SteveFarroll/mosaic-spec). I think it is quite representative of that repo, as it already includes most of those suggestions, so I've been contributing to it. Mosaic spec is rendered [here](https://stevefarroll.github.io/mosaic-spec/). Of course, where Mosaic stands right now it is mostly my ideas (and Steve's), it doesn't have feedback or input from other nostr developers yet. That is what this blog post is about. I think it is time for other nostr devs to be made aware of this thing. It is currently in the massive breaking changes phase. It might not look that way because of the detail and refinement of the documentation, but indeed everything is changing rapidly. It probably has some bad ideas and is probably missing some great ideas that you have. Which is why this is a good time for other devs to start taking a look at it. It is also the time to debate meta issues like "are you crazy Mike?" or "no we have to just break nostr but keep it nostr, we can't dual-stack" or whatever. Personally I think mosaic-spec should develop and grow for quite a while before the "tipping point" happens. That is, I'm not sure we should jump in feet first yet, but rather we build up and refine this new protocol and spend a lot of time thinking about how to migrate smoothly, and break it a lot while nobody is using it. So you can just reply to this, or DM me, or open issues or PRs at [Mosaic](https://github.com/SteveFarroll/mosaic-spec), or just whisper to each other while giving me the evil eye.

@ 2f5de000:2f9bcef1

This Week I immersed myself in Bitcoin from multiple angles-technical, societal and personal. The journey included a marathon 32-hours of listening to [Rabbit Hole Recap (RHR)](https://fountain.fm/show/VDaMppQRUBZioj2XkaLn), an essential resource for Bitcoin insights. It's worth noting that I started from the begining and plan to make my way through the whole catalogue. Marty and Matt's timestamps, along with contributions from their guests, served as my roadmap. Using Fountain to stream, I also streamed sats-a small but extraordinary feature that allows users to stacks sats while compensating cretors directly through fractional donations. ## Revisiting Speculative Attack by Pierre Rochard (2014) Now that [*Speculative Attack Season 2*](https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack-season-2/) *(which I've not read yet)* has been released. I took the time to read Pierre Rochards influential essay, [*Speculative Attack*](https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/speculative-attack/) and reflected on its timeless insights. Rochard argues that Bitcoin adoption isn't dependent on technological advancements or consumer preferences, but on economic realities. As fiat currencies weaken, Bitcoin won't enter the mainstream by persuasion but by necessity. Critics continue to underestimate Bitcoin's inevitability due to their fiat biases and lack of financial insight. This year alone, mainstream media has been compelled to discuss Bitcoin-notably to Trump's endorsement of 'crypto.' Despite their attempts to shape narratives to suit their ideal visions, they've had no choice but to engage with Bitcoin's growing influence.\ \ As Parker aptly puts it 'Gradually, The Suddenly' ## Wassabi Wallet and the Privacy Imperative An RHR interview (from early in the catalogue) with guest Adam Ficsor, CTO and Co-founder of Wassabi Wallet, sparked a deeper consideration of my digital footprint. Like many, I've spent years online neglecting privacy in favour of convenience. The discussion on CoinJoins reminded me of the importance of prioritising privacy, not just romanticising it. Improving operational security (opsec) is now a personal focus. Resources like Jameson's *Cypherpunk Cogitations* and the Bitcoin Optech newsletter offer valuable guidance. While I've exercised caution, I recognise a need to address my laziness with opsec and take meaningful steps to protect my privacy. Time will reveal the results of these efforts. ## Caribbean Slavery amd Centralised Platforms While exploring historical systems of control, I delved into the brutal realities of [New World slavery in the British Caribbean](https://aeon.co/ideas/how-did-slaveholders-in-the-caribbean-maintain-control). Enslaved elites, like drivers, were granted limited privileges to maintain order, creating divisions within the community. This divide-and-rule strategy highlights the fragility of oppressive frameworks, which began to crumble with events like the Hatian Revolution and humanitarian activism. Interestingly, similar dynamics are visible with centralised plaforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. Verified accounts (the "blue checks") act as mordern day 'elites' with perceived freedoms. However, their autonomy is limited by the platforms centralised authority. Challenging the rules risks censorship and cancellation, proving their freedom is an illusion subject to the will of their overseers. Enhancing the argument further for protocols like Nostr to help people win back their freedoms.

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

I'm working with autistic teens and adults, and I still have the knee jerk temptation of orange pilling them. They do not have the ability to run a node. The central banking cartels and downstream effects of a control economy are so outside of their purview, that bringing it up would be ridiculous. But. I am here to help them gain independence. Sovereignty is a ladder and regardless of where someone is on the ladder, it would be my job to guide them into more of it. Not everyone can run a node, some people have intellectual disabilities, physical limitations and higher priorities. Funnily enough I think it would be easier than one might assume to run a node, I have a client who could do it and have a semblance of what it means. The client has the ability to work, and when he sees trump on the screen, he knows he's the president, and he knows politicians are liars. I have a few other clients that don't have the ability to work or take care of themselves at all. Running a node is plugging something into the wall, making sure the light is on, and attaching your wallet to it. I aint talkin about a lightning node btw I'm talking about core. It boggles my mind on what people find so insurmountable about running bitcoin core. I think it might just be people projecting their own bias or inserting their own objections the thing. Start9 and Umbrel can be set up by a loved one, an assistant or nurse can make sure the thing continues being on and that the internet bill is paid. Is it harder managing the persons Bank of America account or is it harder attaching a wallet to your node and leaving the thing on? Would be cool if I took one of these guys to a bitcoin meetup with a node in a phone and had them teach fools how to conduct a peer to peer transaction. Could even get real fancy, and have them send a freak some e-cash. When I was at bitcoin Miami an OG pulled me to the side and explained what a peer to peer transaction was using hand signals...... So here we are at another conclusion, Sovereignty is a ladder that every last human being on the planet should attempt to climb and regardless of the rung you find yourself in, don't let others pontificate about how you "can't" because its probably just them being retarded. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/810401

@ 6f6b50bb:a848e5a1

Che cosa significherebbe trattare l'IA come uno strumento invece che come una persona? Dall’avvio di ChatGPT, le esplorazioni in due direzioni hanno preso velocità. La prima direzione riguarda le capacità tecniche. Quanto grande possiamo addestrare un modello? Quanto bene può rispondere alle domande del SAT? Con quanta efficienza possiamo distribuirlo? La seconda direzione riguarda il design dell’interazione. Come comunichiamo con un modello? Come possiamo usarlo per un lavoro utile? Quale metafora usiamo per ragionare su di esso? La prima direzione è ampiamente seguita e enormemente finanziata, e per una buona ragione: i progressi nelle capacità tecniche sono alla base di ogni possibile applicazione. Ma la seconda è altrettanto cruciale per il campo e ha enormi incognite. Siamo solo a pochi anni dall’inizio dell’era dei grandi modelli. Quali sono le probabilità che abbiamo già capito i modi migliori per usarli? Propongo una nuova modalità di interazione, in cui i modelli svolgano il ruolo di applicazioni informatiche (ad esempio app per telefoni): fornendo un’interfaccia grafica, interpretando gli input degli utenti e aggiornando il loro stato. In questa modalità, invece di essere un “agente” che utilizza un computer per conto dell’essere umano, l’IA può fornire un ambiente informatico più ricco e potente che possiamo utilizzare. ### Metafore per l’interazione Al centro di un’interazione c’è una metafora che guida le aspettative di un utente su un sistema. I primi giorni dell’informatica hanno preso metafore come “scrivanie”, “macchine da scrivere”, “fogli di calcolo” e “lettere” e le hanno trasformate in equivalenti digitali, permettendo all’utente di ragionare sul loro comportamento. Puoi lasciare qualcosa sulla tua scrivania e tornare a prenderlo; hai bisogno di un indirizzo per inviare una lettera. Man mano che abbiamo sviluppato una conoscenza culturale di questi dispositivi, la necessità di queste particolari metafore è scomparsa, e con esse i design di interfaccia skeumorfici che le rafforzavano. Come un cestino o una matita, un computer è ora una metafora di se stesso. La metafora dominante per i grandi modelli oggi è modello-come-persona. Questa è una metafora efficace perché le persone hanno capacità estese che conosciamo intuitivamente. Implica che possiamo avere una conversazione con un modello e porgli domande; che il modello possa collaborare con noi su un documento o un pezzo di codice; che possiamo assegnargli un compito da svolgere da solo e che tornerà quando sarà finito. Tuttavia, trattare un modello come una persona limita profondamente il nostro modo di pensare all’interazione con esso. Le interazioni umane sono intrinsecamente lente e lineari, limitate dalla larghezza di banda e dalla natura a turni della comunicazione verbale. Come abbiamo tutti sperimentato, comunicare idee complesse in una conversazione è difficile e dispersivo. Quando vogliamo precisione, ci rivolgiamo invece a strumenti, utilizzando manipolazioni dirette e interfacce visive ad alta larghezza di banda per creare diagrammi, scrivere codice e progettare modelli CAD. Poiché concepiamo i modelli come persone, li utilizziamo attraverso conversazioni lente, anche se sono perfettamente in grado di accettare input diretti e rapidi e di produrre risultati visivi. Le metafore che utilizziamo limitano le esperienze che costruiamo, e la metafora modello-come-persona ci impedisce di esplorare il pieno potenziale dei grandi modelli. Per molti casi d’uso, e specialmente per il lavoro produttivo, credo che il futuro risieda in un’altra metafora: modello-come-computer. ### Usare un’IA come un computer Sotto la metafora modello-come-computer, interagiremo con i grandi modelli seguendo le intuizioni che abbiamo sulle applicazioni informatiche (sia su desktop, tablet o telefono). Nota che ciò non significa che il modello sarà un’app tradizionale più di quanto il desktop di Windows fosse una scrivania letterale. “Applicazione informatica” sarà un modo per un modello di rappresentarsi a noi. Invece di agire come una persona, il modello agirà come un computer. Agire come un computer significa produrre un’interfaccia grafica. Al posto del flusso lineare di testo in stile telescrivente fornito da ChatGPT, un sistema modello-come-computer genererà qualcosa che somiglia all’interfaccia di un’applicazione moderna: pulsanti, cursori, schede, immagini, grafici e tutto il resto. Questo affronta limitazioni chiave dell’interfaccia di chat standard modello-come-persona: - **Scoperta.** Un buon strumento suggerisce i suoi usi. Quando l’unica interfaccia è una casella di testo vuota, spetta all’utente capire cosa fare e comprendere i limiti del sistema. La barra laterale Modifica in Lightroom è un ottimo modo per imparare l’editing fotografico perché non si limita a dirti cosa può fare questa applicazione con una foto, ma cosa potresti voler fare. Allo stesso modo, un’interfaccia modello-come-computer per DALL-E potrebbe mostrare nuove possibilità per le tue generazioni di immagini. - **Efficienza.** La manipolazione diretta è più rapida che scrivere una richiesta a parole. Per continuare l’esempio di Lightroom, sarebbe impensabile modificare una foto dicendo a una persona quali cursori spostare e di quanto. Ci vorrebbe un giorno intero per chiedere un’esposizione leggermente più bassa e una vibranza leggermente più alta, solo per vedere come apparirebbe. Nella metafora modello-come-computer, il modello può creare strumenti che ti permettono di comunicare ciò che vuoi più efficientemente e quindi di fare le cose più rapidamente. A differenza di un’app tradizionale, questa interfaccia grafica è generata dal modello su richiesta. Questo significa che ogni parte dell’interfaccia che vedi è rilevante per ciò che stai facendo in quel momento, inclusi i contenuti specifici del tuo lavoro. Significa anche che, se desideri un’interfaccia più ampia o diversa, puoi semplicemente richiederla. Potresti chiedere a DALL-E di produrre alcuni preset modificabili per le sue impostazioni ispirati da famosi artisti di schizzi. Quando clicchi sul preset Leonardo da Vinci, imposta i cursori per disegni prospettici altamente dettagliati in inchiostro nero. Se clicchi su Charles Schulz, seleziona fumetti tecnicolor 2D a basso dettaglio. ### Una bicicletta della mente proteiforme La metafora modello-come-persona ha una curiosa tendenza a creare distanza tra l’utente e il modello, rispecchiando il divario di comunicazione tra due persone che può essere ridotto ma mai completamente colmato. A causa della difficoltà e del costo di comunicare a parole, le persone tendono a suddividere i compiti tra loro in blocchi grandi e il più indipendenti possibile. Le interfacce modello-come-persona seguono questo schema: non vale la pena dire a un modello di aggiungere un return statement alla tua funzione quando è più veloce scriverlo da solo. Con il sovraccarico della comunicazione, i sistemi modello-come-persona sono più utili quando possono fare un intero blocco di lavoro da soli. Fanno le cose per te. Questo contrasta con il modo in cui interagiamo con i computer o altri strumenti. Gli strumenti producono feedback visivi in tempo reale e sono controllati attraverso manipolazioni dirette. Hanno un overhead comunicativo così basso che non è necessario specificare un blocco di lavoro indipendente. Ha più senso mantenere l’umano nel loop e dirigere lo strumento momento per momento. Come stivali delle sette leghe, gli strumenti ti permettono di andare più lontano a ogni passo, ma sei ancora tu a fare il lavoro. Ti permettono di fare le cose più velocemente. Considera il compito di costruire un sito web usando un grande modello. Con le interfacce di oggi, potresti trattare il modello come un appaltatore o un collaboratore. Cercheresti di scrivere a parole il più possibile su come vuoi che il sito appaia, cosa vuoi che dica e quali funzionalità vuoi che abbia. Il modello genererebbe una prima bozza, tu la eseguirai e poi fornirai un feedback. “Fai il logo un po’ più grande”, diresti, e “centra quella prima immagine principale”, e “deve esserci un pulsante di login nell’intestazione”. Per ottenere esattamente ciò che vuoi, invierai una lista molto lunga di richieste sempre più minuziose. Un’interazione alternativa modello-come-computer sarebbe diversa: invece di costruire il sito web, il modello genererebbe un’interfaccia per te per costruirlo, dove ogni input dell’utente a quell’interfaccia interroga il grande modello sotto il cofano. Forse quando descrivi le tue necessità creerebbe un’interfaccia con una barra laterale e una finestra di anteprima. All’inizio la barra laterale contiene solo alcuni schizzi di layout che puoi scegliere come punto di partenza. Puoi cliccare su ciascuno di essi, e il modello scrive l’HTML per una pagina web usando quel layout e lo visualizza nella finestra di anteprima. Ora che hai una pagina su cui lavorare, la barra laterale guadagna opzioni aggiuntive che influenzano la pagina globalmente, come accoppiamenti di font e schemi di colore. L’anteprima funge da editor WYSIWYG, permettendoti di afferrare elementi e spostarli, modificarne i contenuti, ecc. A supportare tutto ciò è il modello, che vede queste azioni dell’utente e riscrive la pagina per corrispondere ai cambiamenti effettuati. Poiché il modello può generare un’interfaccia per aiutare te e lui a comunicare più efficientemente, puoi esercitare più controllo sul prodotto finale in meno tempo. La metafora modello-come-computer ci incoraggia a pensare al modello come a uno strumento con cui interagire in tempo reale piuttosto che a un collaboratore a cui assegnare compiti. Invece di sostituire un tirocinante o un tutor, può essere una sorta di bicicletta proteiforme per la mente, una che è sempre costruita su misura esattamente per te e il terreno che intendi attraversare. ### Un nuovo paradigma per l’informatica? I modelli che possono generare interfacce su richiesta sono una frontiera completamente nuova nell’informatica. Potrebbero essere un paradigma del tutto nuovo, con il modo in cui cortocircuitano il modello di applicazione esistente. Dare agli utenti finali il potere di creare e modificare app al volo cambia fondamentalmente il modo in cui interagiamo con i computer. Al posto di una singola applicazione statica costruita da uno sviluppatore, un modello genererà un’applicazione su misura per l’utente e le sue esigenze immediate. Al posto della logica aziendale implementata nel codice, il modello interpreterà gli input dell’utente e aggiornerà l’interfaccia utente. È persino possibile che questo tipo di interfaccia generativa sostituisca completamente il sistema operativo, generando e gestendo interfacce e finestre al volo secondo necessità. All’inizio, l’interfaccia generativa sarà un giocattolo, utile solo per l’esplorazione creativa e poche altre applicazioni di nicchia. Dopotutto, nessuno vorrebbe un’app di posta elettronica che occasionalmente invia email al tuo ex e mente sulla tua casella di posta. Ma gradualmente i modelli miglioreranno. Anche mentre si spingeranno ulteriormente nello spazio di esperienze completamente nuove, diventeranno lentamente abbastanza affidabili da essere utilizzati per un lavoro reale. Piccoli pezzi di questo futuro esistono già. Anni fa Jonas Degrave ha dimostrato che ChatGPT poteva fare una buona simulazione di una riga di comando Linux. Allo stesso modo, websim.ai utilizza un LLM per generare siti web su richiesta mentre li navighi. Oasis, GameNGen e DIAMOND addestrano modelli video condizionati sull’azione su singoli videogiochi, permettendoti di giocare ad esempio a Doom dentro un grande modello. E Genie 2 genera videogiochi giocabili da prompt testuali. L’interfaccia generativa potrebbe ancora sembrare un’idea folle, ma non è così folle. Ci sono enormi domande aperte su come apparirà tutto questo. Dove sarà inizialmente utile l’interfaccia generativa? Come condivideremo e distribuiremo le esperienze che creiamo collaborando con il modello, se esistono solo come contesto di un grande modello? Vorremmo davvero farlo? Quali nuovi tipi di esperienze saranno possibili? Come funzionerà tutto questo in pratica? I modelli genereranno interfacce come codice o produrranno direttamente pixel grezzi? Non conosco ancora queste risposte. Dovremo sperimentare e scoprirlo!Che cosa significherebbe trattare l'IA come uno strumento invece che come una persona? Dall’avvio di ChatGPT, le esplorazioni in due direzioni hanno preso velocità. La prima direzione riguarda le capacità tecniche. Quanto grande possiamo addestrare un modello? Quanto bene può rispondere alle domande del SAT? Con quanta efficienza possiamo distribuirlo? La seconda direzione riguarda il design dell’interazione. Come comunichiamo con un modello? Come possiamo usarlo per un lavoro utile? Quale metafora usiamo per ragionare su di esso? La prima direzione è ampiamente seguita e enormemente finanziata, e per una buona ragione: i progressi nelle capacità tecniche sono alla base di ogni possibile applicazione. Ma la seconda è altrettanto cruciale per il campo e ha enormi incognite. Siamo solo a pochi anni dall’inizio dell’era dei grandi modelli. Quali sono le probabilità che abbiamo già capito i modi migliori per usarli? Propongo una nuova modalità di interazione, in cui i modelli svolgano il ruolo di applicazioni informatiche (ad esempio app per telefoni): fornendo un’interfaccia grafica, interpretando gli input degli utenti e aggiornando il loro stato. In questa modalità, invece di essere un “agente” che utilizza un computer per conto dell’essere umano, l’IA può fornire un ambiente informatico più ricco e potente che possiamo utilizzare. ### Metafore per l’interazione Al centro di un’interazione c’è una metafora che guida le aspettative di un utente su un sistema. I primi giorni dell’informatica hanno preso metafore come “scrivanie”, “macchine da scrivere”, “fogli di calcolo” e “lettere” e le hanno trasformate in equivalenti digitali, permettendo all’utente di ragionare sul loro comportamento. Puoi lasciare qualcosa sulla tua scrivania e tornare a prenderlo; hai bisogno di un indirizzo per inviare una lettera. Man mano che abbiamo sviluppato una conoscenza culturale di questi dispositivi, la necessità di queste particolari metafore è scomparsa, e con esse i design di interfaccia skeumorfici che le rafforzavano. Come un cestino o una matita, un computer è ora una metafora di se stesso. La metafora dominante per i grandi modelli oggi è modello-come-persona. Questa è una metafora efficace perché le persone hanno capacità estese che conosciamo intuitivamente. Implica che possiamo avere una conversazione con un modello e porgli domande; che il modello possa collaborare con noi su un documento o un pezzo di codice; che possiamo assegnargli un compito da svolgere da solo e che tornerà quando sarà finito. Tuttavia, trattare un modello come una persona limita profondamente il nostro modo di pensare all’interazione con esso. Le interazioni umane sono intrinsecamente lente e lineari, limitate dalla larghezza di banda e dalla natura a turni della comunicazione verbale. Come abbiamo tutti sperimentato, comunicare idee complesse in una conversazione è difficile e dispersivo. Quando vogliamo precisione, ci rivolgiamo invece a strumenti, utilizzando manipolazioni dirette e interfacce visive ad alta larghezza di banda per creare diagrammi, scrivere codice e progettare modelli CAD. Poiché concepiamo i modelli come persone, li utilizziamo attraverso conversazioni lente, anche se sono perfettamente in grado di accettare input diretti e rapidi e di produrre risultati visivi. Le metafore che utilizziamo limitano le esperienze che costruiamo, e la metafora modello-come-persona ci impedisce di esplorare il pieno potenziale dei grandi modelli. Per molti casi d’uso, e specialmente per il lavoro produttivo, credo che il futuro risieda in un’altra metafora: modello-come-computer. ### Usare un’IA come un computer Sotto la metafora modello-come-computer, interagiremo con i grandi modelli seguendo le intuizioni che abbiamo sulle applicazioni informatiche (sia su desktop, tablet o telefono). Nota che ciò non significa che il modello sarà un’app tradizionale più di quanto il desktop di Windows fosse una scrivania letterale. “Applicazione informatica” sarà un modo per un modello di rappresentarsi a noi. Invece di agire come una persona, il modello agirà come un computer. Agire come un computer significa produrre un’interfaccia grafica. Al posto del flusso lineare di testo in stile telescrivente fornito da ChatGPT, un sistema modello-come-computer genererà qualcosa che somiglia all’interfaccia di un’applicazione moderna: pulsanti, cursori, schede, immagini, grafici e tutto il resto. Questo affronta limitazioni chiave dell’interfaccia di chat standard modello-come-persona: Scoperta. Un buon strumento suggerisce i suoi usi. Quando l’unica interfaccia è una casella di testo vuota, spetta all’utente capire cosa fare e comprendere i limiti del sistema. La barra laterale Modifica in Lightroom è un ottimo modo per imparare l’editing fotografico perché non si limita a dirti cosa può fare questa applicazione con una foto, ma cosa potresti voler fare. Allo stesso modo, un’interfaccia modello-come-computer per DALL-E potrebbe mostrare nuove possibilità per le tue generazioni di immagini. Efficienza. La manipolazione diretta è più rapida che scrivere una richiesta a parole. Per continuare l’esempio di Lightroom, sarebbe impensabile modificare una foto dicendo a una persona quali cursori spostare e di quanto. Ci vorrebbe un giorno intero per chiedere un’esposizione leggermente più bassa e una vibranza leggermente più alta, solo per vedere come apparirebbe. Nella metafora modello-come-computer, il modello può creare strumenti che ti permettono di comunicare ciò che vuoi più efficientemente e quindi di fare le cose più rapidamente. A differenza di un’app tradizionale, questa interfaccia grafica è generata dal modello su richiesta. Questo significa che ogni parte dell’interfaccia che vedi è rilevante per ciò che stai facendo in quel momento, inclusi i contenuti specifici del tuo lavoro. Significa anche che, se desideri un’interfaccia più ampia o diversa, puoi semplicemente richiederla. Potresti chiedere a DALL-E di produrre alcuni preset modificabili per le sue impostazioni ispirati da famosi artisti di schizzi. Quando clicchi sul preset Leonardo da Vinci, imposta i cursori per disegni prospettici altamente dettagliati in inchiostro nero. Se clicchi su Charles Schulz, seleziona fumetti tecnicolor 2D a basso dettaglio. ### Una bicicletta della mente proteiforme La metafora modello-come-persona ha una curiosa tendenza a creare distanza tra l’utente e il modello, rispecchiando il divario di comunicazione tra due persone che può essere ridotto ma mai completamente colmato. A causa della difficoltà e del costo di comunicare a parole, le persone tendono a suddividere i compiti tra loro in blocchi grandi e il più indipendenti possibile. Le interfacce modello-come-persona seguono questo schema: non vale la pena dire a un modello di aggiungere un return statement alla tua funzione quando è più veloce scriverlo da solo. Con il sovraccarico della comunicazione, i sistemi modello-come-persona sono più utili quando possono fare un intero blocco di lavoro da soli. Fanno le cose per te. Questo contrasta con il modo in cui interagiamo con i computer o altri strumenti. Gli strumenti producono feedback visivi in tempo reale e sono controllati attraverso manipolazioni dirette. Hanno un overhead comunicativo così basso che non è necessario specificare un blocco di lavoro indipendente. Ha più senso mantenere l’umano nel loop e dirigere lo strumento momento per momento. Come stivali delle sette leghe, gli strumenti ti permettono di andare più lontano a ogni passo, ma sei ancora tu a fare il lavoro. Ti permettono di fare le cose più velocemente. Considera il compito di costruire un sito web usando un grande modello. Con le interfacce di oggi, potresti trattare il modello come un appaltatore o un collaboratore. Cercheresti di scrivere a parole il più possibile su come vuoi che il sito appaia, cosa vuoi che dica e quali funzionalità vuoi che abbia. Il modello genererebbe una prima bozza, tu la eseguirai e poi fornirai un feedback. “Fai il logo un po’ più grande”, diresti, e “centra quella prima immagine principale”, e “deve esserci un pulsante di login nell’intestazione”. Per ottenere esattamente ciò che vuoi, invierai una lista molto lunga di richieste sempre più minuziose. Un’interazione alternativa modello-come-computer sarebbe diversa: invece di costruire il sito web, il modello genererebbe un’interfaccia per te per costruirlo, dove ogni input dell’utente a quell’interfaccia interroga il grande modello sotto il cofano. Forse quando descrivi le tue necessità creerebbe un’interfaccia con una barra laterale e una finestra di anteprima. All’inizio la barra laterale contiene solo alcuni schizzi di layout che puoi scegliere come punto di partenza. Puoi cliccare su ciascuno di essi, e il modello scrive l’HTML per una pagina web usando quel layout e lo visualizza nella finestra di anteprima. Ora che hai una pagina su cui lavorare, la barra laterale guadagna opzioni aggiuntive che influenzano la pagina globalmente, come accoppiamenti di font e schemi di colore. L’anteprima funge da editor WYSIWYG, permettendoti di afferrare elementi e spostarli, modificarne i contenuti, ecc. A supportare tutto ciò è il modello, che vede queste azioni dell’utente e riscrive la pagina per corrispondere ai cambiamenti effettuati. Poiché il modello può generare un’interfaccia per aiutare te e lui a comunicare più efficientemente, puoi esercitare più controllo sul prodotto finale in meno tempo. La metafora modello-come-computer ci incoraggia a pensare al modello come a uno strumento con cui interagire in tempo reale piuttosto che a un collaboratore a cui assegnare compiti. Invece di sostituire un tirocinante o un tutor, può essere una sorta di bicicletta proteiforme per la mente, una che è sempre costruita su misura esattamente per te e il terreno che intendi attraversare. ### Un nuovo paradigma per l’informatica? I modelli che possono generare interfacce su richiesta sono una frontiera completamente nuova nell’informatica. Potrebbero essere un paradigma del tutto nuovo, con il modo in cui cortocircuitano il modello di applicazione esistente. Dare agli utenti finali il potere di creare e modificare app al volo cambia fondamentalmente il modo in cui interagiamo con i computer. Al posto di una singola applicazione statica costruita da uno sviluppatore, un modello genererà un’applicazione su misura per l’utente e le sue esigenze immediate. Al posto della logica aziendale implementata nel codice, il modello interpreterà gli input dell’utente e aggiornerà l’interfaccia utente. È persino possibile che questo tipo di interfaccia generativa sostituisca completamente il sistema operativo, generando e gestendo interfacce e finestre al volo secondo necessità. All’inizio, l’interfaccia generativa sarà un giocattolo, utile solo per l’esplorazione creativa e poche altre applicazioni di nicchia. Dopotutto, nessuno vorrebbe un’app di posta elettronica che occasionalmente invia email al tuo ex e mente sulla tua casella di posta. Ma gradualmente i modelli miglioreranno. Anche mentre si spingeranno ulteriormente nello spazio di esperienze completamente nuove, diventeranno lentamente abbastanza affidabili da essere utilizzati per un lavoro reale. Piccoli pezzi di questo futuro esistono già. Anni fa Jonas Degrave ha dimostrato che ChatGPT poteva fare una buona simulazione di una riga di comando Linux. Allo stesso modo, websim.ai utilizza un LLM per generare siti web su richiesta mentre li navighi. Oasis, GameNGen e DIAMOND addestrano modelli video condizionati sull’azione su singoli videogiochi, permettendoti di giocare ad esempio a Doom dentro un grande modello. E Genie 2 genera videogiochi giocabili da prompt testuali. L’interfaccia generativa potrebbe ancora sembrare un’idea folle, ma non è così folle. Ci sono enormi domande aperte su come apparirà tutto questo. Dove sarà inizialmente utile l’interfaccia generativa? Come condivideremo e distribuiremo le esperienze che creiamo collaborando con il modello, se esistono solo come contesto di un grande modello? Vorremmo davvero farlo? Quali nuovi tipi di esperienze saranno possibili? Come funzionerà tutto questo in pratica? I modelli genereranno interfacce come codice o produrranno direttamente pixel grezzi? Non conosco ancora queste risposte. Dovremo sperimentare e scoprirlo! Tradotto da:\ https://willwhitney.com/computing-inside-ai.htmlhttps://willwhitney.com/computing-inside-ai.html

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

We have a winner!!! After some legal challenges, @Carresan has rightfully emerged victorious. I hope everyone enjoyed playing. Let me know what you thought of the contest, including any tweaks you'd be interested in seeing next year. Also, how do you like the Emirates Cup tournament? Are there any changes you'd like to see the NBA implement. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/810331

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

Would he put two slices of bread on your head and call you an idiot sandwich!? Or would he say, that's a nice microwave!? Or would he say something else? What would Gordon say to you? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/810315

@ c11cf5f8:4928464d

Let's hear some of your latest Bitcoin purchases, feel free to include links to the shops or merchants you bought from too. If you missed our last thread, [here](https://stacker.news/items/800128/r/AG) are some of the items stackers recently spent their sats on. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/810124

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

Bitcoin is a medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account. The unit of account piece really throws people through a loop. Freaks say, but its too volatile, mimicking the financial advisors of yesteryear, not acknowledging the evident decay of their trusty accounting method, the method that dilutes your reality with the notion of inflation vs deflation. We live in a deflationary world, its only inflationary if your accounting metric sucks. If your not using bitcoin as a method to view prices, your method of viewing prices has been skewed, and skewed on purpose. What's really interesting is how, our unit of measurement is exactly backwards. The fiat way of viewing finances is 180 degrees away from the reality of sound money price deflation that bitcoin brings. And at this point I would say that it is unstoppable. if your stacking bitcoin but pricing it in dollars and making dollar type moves, your stack will diminish due to your own inability to adapt. You'll give in to leverage schemes and strange loans, your attitude towards risk and gain will be off kilter. In a lot of cases people will fail to realize that they've already won, and now they just need to pull a satoshi, leave their life stacking to go on and do other things. We've been conditioned to be on a hamster wheel where we need to constantly think about growing our money at all cost and no matter how much we stack it will never be enough. I find bitcoin to be the exact opposite, where at some point, you might have stacked too much, you might find yourself with wealth so large that it breaks your mind, it might enlarge your ego, destroy your family. This sounds suspiciously like absolute power corrupts absolutely, which is something that I've become a bit more awry of, but to a certain extent......how much is enough anon? At what point does the ring of power consume you. In conclusion "God Candle Approacheth" staying humble and stacking sats, while accounting for your stack in dollars, will give those freaks a rush of exhilaration unlike any they've likely had before. They will be awash in fortunes gained through the lazy doubt of haters, they will be vindicated and in most cases the fortune that they earned will be just and because they followed truth and because they had discipline and foresight and sugar and spice, and everything nice. The acceleration from lower middle class to top 1% will be a whiplash strong enough to sway the humbleness of most men. In conclusion again (and hopefully this is the last one) Use bitcoin as a unit of account. You likely have already won the game. Stay humble and brace for impact on the moon. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/809878

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

I created PictureRoom to share my photography work and offer insights into my editing process. I've always been drawn to watching other photographers edit their work (such as Kyle McDougall’s YouTube channel) as there's always something new to learn and incorporate into my own craft. It's important to never assume you have it "all figured out." Remaining open to learning keeps our skills fresh and evolving.  I published a video on my YouTube channel where I demonstrate how I edit my photographs using a preset I've developed. This preset has become the foundation for most of my recent work, and I'm excited to share it with others. In the video, I delve into some nuanced editing techniques that I believe many will find interesting. Please note that this preset isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.  You'll need to adjust it for each individual photograph, tweaking elements such as exposure, blacks, whites, highlights, shadows, temperature, and tint. However, it should get you most of the way there. As I explain in my YouTube video, this preset works well with both Leica and Fujifilm files. I'm offering this preset on a donation basis. If you find it valuable, I greatly appreciate any support you can provide for my efforts. Your generosity helps me continue creating and sharing resources like this. Of course, you can always send some sats here as well if you'd like. You can download the preset here and try it for yourself: https://czerwinskiphoto.gumroad.com/l/lightroom-preset-1 Feel free to check out the video for a detailed walkthrough, and don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions about using the preset: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52pOCphNSTc Like and Subscribe as well to the YouTube channel, or find me on nostr. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/809797

@ eac63075:b4988b48

BlueSky, a social network built on the decentralized AT Protocol (Authenticated Transfer Protocol), is revolutionizing content moderation by empowering users and communities to manage their own experiences. Unlike traditional platforms that centralize control, BlueSky adopts a modular and customizable approach, balancing freedom of expression with safety. https://www.fountain.fm/episode/mtp0RxPeuBpCozcSgfct ### The Jesse Singal Case and the Community’s Response Recently, the account @jessesingal.com was accused of publishing content considered homophobic and transphobic. Although some users questioned whether these posts violated BlueSky’s Terms of Service, the platform chose not to ban the account. Instead, it relied on community tools to limit the reach of these posts. Individual users blocked the account and subscribed to community-managed block lists, significantly reducing the visibility of Jesse Singal’s content. This decentralized approach demonstrated the effectiveness of a model in which the community regulates content without centralized intervention. ### BlueSky’s Five Layers of Moderation BlueSky implements a multi-layered moderation system, offering users tools to customize their experiences practically and efficiently: 1. **Personal Blocking and Muting**\ Users can block or mute unwanted accounts, individually adjusting the content they wish to see. 2. **Community Block Lists**\ By subscribing to block lists created by the community, users can share common moderation criteria, optimizing content filtering. 3. **Curated Feeds**\ Subscribing to personalized feeds allows users to consume content filtered by curators or algorithms, creating a safer and more tailored experience. 4. **Account Removal on the Personal Data Server (PDS)**\ In extreme cases, servers can directly delete accounts from their databases, preventing them from publishing or accessing the network. 5. **Ozone: Advanced Moderation Tool**\ Ozone is an integrated tool that enables advanced moderation strategies, combining various resources for greater efficiency. ### BlueSky’s Moderation Architecture Moderation on BlueSky is based on an open labeling system. This architecture allows anyone to assign labels to content or accounts, such as “spam” or “NSFW” (not safe for work). These labels can be automatically generated by third-party services or manually applied by curators and administrators, offering flexibility for communities and individuals to customize their experiences. ### The Role of the Community in Content Regulation In decentralized platforms like BlueSky, the community plays a central role in self-regulation, minimizing reliance on a centralized authority to moderate content. This decentralization distributes responsibilities and reduces the risks of institutional bias, often seen in centralized companies that may reflect specific interests at the expense of plurality. Centralized platforms often censor or promote content based on corporate agendas, compromising user trust. BlueSky’s model prioritizes autonomy, allowing the community itself to determine what is relevant or acceptable. With 25 million users registered within weeks, BlueSky remains committed to its mission of regulating not freedom of expression, but the reach of certain publications. Tools like block lists, curated feeds, and Ozone are tangible examples of how the platform is building a decentralized and inclusive ecosystem. ### Challenges and Opportunities of Decentralization Despite its merits, decentralization presents challenges. Educating users about available tools and protecting vulnerable communities from harmful content are complex tasks, especially in a rapidly growing environment. On the other hand, the decentralized model offers significant advantages. It enhances transparency, fosters trust among users, and reduces reliance on a central authority. On BlueSky, users shape their own experiences, ensuring greater freedom without sacrificing safety. ### Conclusion BlueSky is paving the way for a new era in social networks with a decentralized moderation model that empowers users and promotes shared responsibility. Aligned with principles of freedom and inclusion, BlueSky combines advanced technology and community collaboration to create a safer, more democratic, and adaptable space. Although still in its early stages, BlueSky offers a promising model for the future of social networks, where reach—not freedom of expression—is the true focus of regulation.

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

 Christmas season hasn't actually started, yet, in Roman #Catholic Germany. We're in Advent until the evening of the 24th of December, at which point Christmas begins (with the Nativity, at Vespers), and continues on for 40 days until Mariä Lichtmess (Presentation of Christ in the temple) on February 2nd.  It's 40 days because that's how long the post-partum isolation is, before women were allowed back into the temple (after a ritual cleansing).  That is the day when we put away all of the Christmas decorations and bless the candles, for the next year. (Hence, the British name "Candlemas".) It used to also be when household staff would get paid their cash wages and could change employer. And it is the day precisely in the middle of winter.  Between Christmas Eve and Candlemas are many celebrations, concluding with the Twelfth Night called Epiphany or Theophany. This is the day some Orthodox celebrate Christ's baptism, so traditions rotate around blessing of waters.  The Monday after Epiphany was the start of the farming season, in England, so that Sunday all of the ploughs were blessed, but the practice has largely died out.  Our local tradition is for the altar servers to dress as the wise men and go door-to-door, carrying their star and looking for the Baby Jesus, who is rumored to be lying in a manger.  They collect cash gifts and chocolates, along the way, and leave the generous their powerful blessing, written over the door. The famous 20 * C + M + B * 25 blessing means "Christus mansionem benedicat" (Christ, bless this house), or "Caspar, Melchior, Balthasar" (the names of the three kings), depending upon who you ask. They offer the cash to the Baby Jesus (once they find him in the church's Nativity scene), but eat the sweets, themselves. It is one of the biggest donation-collections in the world, called the "Sternsinger" (star singers). The money goes from the German children, to help children elsewhere, and they collect around €45 million in cash and coins, every year.  As an interesting aside: The American "groundhog day", derives from one of the old farmers' sayings about Candlemas, brought over by the Pennsylvania Dutch. It says, that if the badger comes out of his hole and sees his shadow, then it'll remain cold for 4 more weeks. When they moved to the USA, they didn't have any badgers around, so they switched to groundhogs, as they also hibernate in winter.

@ 04222fa1:634e9de5

Cancel culture? participation trophies? short attention spans? lack of sarcasm? influencers? Or the death of the mall? What's yours? originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/809232

@ 005bc4de:ef11e1a2

Nostr is changing fast, and that's a good thing. I made a "Nostr Wiki" a bit over a year ago (https://nostrwiki.vercel.app), but recently I've realized that a fair amount of the content is already outdated. Stuff has been happening and changing so quickly that a good deal of editing/omission is needed. That's actually a good thing. Means nostr is growing/maturing/evolving. Nothing worse than a project becoming stagnant. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/808964

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

Test post coming from stacker.news  originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/808769

@ deba271e:36005655

#### Background **The free Alby account is going away** by Jan 3rd 2025. With this users have options to switch to either self hosted Alby Hub or hosted Alby Hub for 21k sats per month (see https://albyhub.com/). Unfortunatelly neither of these options work for me. - I'm currently traveling a lot without a single base home, so I can't just run some server "at home" and I want to be able to use it even when I'm in the midst of moving between locations. - 21k sats/month for Alby Hub is too steep just for using it for Nostr zaps. I'd pay more for the service than what I ever get in zaps. I'm happy to support projects, but the math just doesn't work out. - Running lightning node, etc in VPS is also prohibitively expensive for this usecase, but I may end up eventually doing this for other reasons. Getting VPS strong enough for self hosted node is around $80/month, but there are also options like https://nodana.io/ for $10/month. (Shill me better options if you have) If there is a way to run a selft-custodial solution with these requirements (i.e. no "home" node, cheap for small amount zapping), let me know, otherwise this will do and we'll have to wait for BOLT12 in lnd. ## Tutorial So here's the plan - Get coinos.io account - Connect it with Amethyst via NWC - Install Alby Go to make it easier to use the account on the go Here are the steps to do on your Android phone. iOS will be similar - Get [Amethyst](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.vitorpamplona.amethyst&hl=en&gl=US) nostr app installed - Go to https://coinos.io/ , register new account and sign in. - On the main screen click on the settings gear icon and get the connection code  - Reveal and copy the connection strings (tap on Copy) - Open Amethyst and hold the lightning icon under any post - Tap the "paste" button (see the screenshot)  - Now click on Save and that's it - Zapping should now work natively in Amethyst and it will use the hosted wallet Optional - One extra thing you can do here is to install Alby Go (https://albygo.com/) and use the same "connection string" to connect it to your coinos.io account. This way you will have a mobile native wallet that's connected to this account (which makes it easier to pay with it, etc) originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/808573

@ 31bdca15:aac01582

Normally you'd assume stuff like this would stay in niche media and on Twitter. But the mysterious drones over New Jersey are now in all msm outlets. [New York Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2024/12/07/nyregion/new-jersey-drones.html), [Washington Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/2024/12/11/fbi-drones-new-jersey/7e9df7ca-b7f0-11ef-8afa-452ab71fe261_story.html), [Fox News](https://www.foxnews.com/politics/more-20-days-phenomenon-public-no-answers-about-origins-mysterious-nj-drones), [France 24](https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20241212-alarming-us-mystery-drones-confound-officials-scare-locals), [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrwz91wqd9o), [Al Jazeera](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/12/12/why-are-mysterious-drones-flying-over-new-jersey).  What is going on? I feel like I'm in a Tintin comic. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/807597

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Based on my super secret, highly secure record keeping we are down to relatively few options. # Remaining Options | Stacker | Hawks | Bucks | Thunder | Rockets | |---------|---------|-------|------------|---------| | @supercyclone | | | | x | | @Carresan | | | | x | | @grayruby | x | x | | x | It's looking pretty bleak for @grayruby. His best hope might be everyone taking the Thunder now and getting lucky with a Rockets upset. Taking the Thunder now might be a good idea for @Carresan and @supercyclone, since they'd be guaranteed to still have the winner of Bucks vs Hawks available and not taking the Thunder is the only way to possibly lose to @grayruby. I was hoping the remaining strategies would be more interesting, but unless someone goes rogue this is heading towards a tiebreaker between at least @Carresan and @supercyclone. # 1st Tiebreaker Since we're coming down to the wire, and a tie is plausible, the survivors need to submit their tiebreaker predictions. **Who will win the NBA Emirates Cup MVP award?** Best of luck everyone! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/807344

@ 372da077:518ec7ac

One of my favorite art pieces. an engraving from an 1888 astronomy book. Often depicted fully colorized, apparently this is the original.  originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/806953

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

Yesterday, I paid my months car payment in bitcoin for the first time ever. I was so psyched that it actually worked that I frantically ripped open SN and spewed forth this post: https://stacker.news/items/804931 Little did I know, (but of course realized later) @j7hB75 had actually just a handful of hours earlier written this thoughtful analysis of the program: https://stacker.news/items/804386 You should check it out for a less spazzed-out take on the service. Anyway, I said that I'd follow up on how different what I expected it would cost (493,555 sats) and what it actually cost. Well I got an email from Strike at 12:15 this morning and the difference is...drum roll... S U S P E N C E  192 sats That's right! I would have had to sell 493,555 sats to get $493.89 for my car loan payment and then either wait three days or pay an additional instant transfer fee. Instead, I spent 493,747 and my bill was paid instantly. Now, when I go into the Strike app and look at the transaction in my history, it says that they included a $3.93 fee, so it sound like I did just get kind of lucky with some accidental arbitrage. That being said, this is the exact fee level I would have had to pay to sell the bitcoin anyway, so all in all, this makes the bitcoin-maxi life WAY more easy for Americans. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/806470

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

We knew our party would take losses this round, but no one expect such a massacre. Legendary Knicks villain Trae Young eliminated them from the tournament, and consequently @realBitcoinDog, @siggy47, and myself were made the fools for believing in them. After an epic battle, @Carresan and @supercyclone prevailed over @gnilma, when the Rockets barely pulled off a win over the Warriors. That gets us down to three contestants: @grayruby, @supercyclone, and @Carresan. I'll do the semifinals picks post later today and dive into some of the scenarios. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/806387

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

There's a ton at stake tonight. Three of us have the Knicks, but more importantly there's a head-to-head(-to-head) showdown. @gnilma has staked his future on the late-empire Warriors vs @supercyclone and @Carresan who have the Rockets. Let the games begin! originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/805607

@ 000002de:c05780a7

I'm sure many of you have heard about Google's claim to have broken records with their quantum computer project. Its very impressive. I was listening to a local radio talk show talk about it and my BS meter was breaking. This morning I saw @petertodd [shared](https://primal.net/e/note1g5f25fjdv9ud3qpyxwzmggk7qwsvqqnxks9tjamr0ysxy7syzq3qcrcs52) a [post from Sabine Hossenfelder](https://x.com/skdh/status/1866352680899104960) where she explains a bit of the context missing from Google's press release. It confirmed some suspicions I've had. Here is what she wrote. > I see a lot of confusion about Google's Monday press release about quantum supremacy, so let me try to clarify a few things. > They say they did a computation on a ca 100 qubit chip much faster than a conventional (super)computer could do. The particular calculation in question is to produce a random distribution. The result of this calculation has no practical use. > They use this particular problem because it has been formally proven (with some technical caveats) that the calculation is difficult to do on a conventional computer (because it uses a lot of entanglement). That also allows them to say things like "this would have taken a septillion years on a conventional computer" etc. > It's exactly the same calculation that they did in 2019 on a ca 50 qubit chip. In case you didn't follow that, Google's 2019 quantum supremacy claim was questioned by IBM pretty much as soon as the claim was made and a few years later a group said they did it on a conventional computer in a similar time. > So while the announcement is super impressive from a scientific pov and all, the consequences for everyday life are zero. Estimates say that we will need about 1 million qubits for practically useful applications and we're still about 1 million qubits away from that. > Also, it's been a recurring story that we have seen numerous times in the past years, that claims of quantum "utility" or quantum "advantage" or quantum "supremacy" or whatever you want to call it later evaporate because some other group finds a clever way to do it on a conventional computer after all. Take it from someone that has been around the tech world for a while. You need to ALWAYS keep your skeptical hat on. Not to take away from the work these people are doing there are always incentives to frame things in a way that makes them appear more favorable. This happens with every business but for some reason people are extra gullible with tech business news. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/804998

@ e968e50b:db2a803a

### One-hundred K, One-schmrundred K # I'm now paying off my Honda Odyssey with bitcoin! So [Strike](https://strike.me/) announced last week that you could pay pay bills in bitcoin from their app. I signed up for [Bitcoin Well](https://bitcoinwell.com/) for this very reason only to find out that you can't do it in the US yet, so I ready for the other shoe to drop when I tried it out with Strike. But that didn't happen today! ## Background I've been bitcoin only since ready [Hidden Repression](https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Repression-Exploitation-Development-Gladstein/dp/B0C1JK6MG7). It turned me from a passionate hobbyist into a radical psychopath with less than 0 dollars (through loans like my loan with Honda). I had around 800 credit for almost fifteen years and have body slammed that to the low 600s (it's recovered a bit) in my effort to short the dollar. That said, it's been super stressful. My wife, who is actually more libertarian than me, has definitely gotten pretty annoyed by how inconvenient it's been to not have any money easily accessible. I get paid via CashApp and PayPal a lot, so there's always this fear that a transfer won't get to the bank account in time. Almost all of the bitcoin is in multi-sig wallets, so there's no escape valve when things like this happen, and what I do keep in Strike takes EONS to transfer if you don't like paying fees. ## Now we wait... OK, here's why I'm sharing / what may be good for you to know: - I had some bitcoin in Strike. - I had no dollars in the bank. - The bill was due on the 12th. - Today is the 11th. - I could sell my bitcoin at a fee and then pay an __additional__ fee to make sure I can pay my bill on time. ...or use the bill pay, which I did. It worked...BUT nothing has been acknowledged in my Strike account yet. This is significant because my $493.89 car note was 493,555 sats at the time of payment, but I don't know yet if that's going to be what I'll actually be charged in sats. Will the conversion rate be different at the time of settlement? Could this be an arbitrage opportunity for savvy stackers? Will the fees from Strike just be so high that it all works out the same? I can't find any documentation for any of this. I love the fact that Strike is just throwing something crazy up against the wall before they even have easy to find documentation for it[^1]. I'll let stackers know what happens with me. In the meantime, it's an experiment that I'm willing to take on and consider it a victory on at least one level no matter what. Has anybody else tried this? [^1]: except this one sentence, which is informative but not really a comprehensive explanation of when all of this plays out - "Bitcoin price volatility: If your default balance is bitcoin, any price drops could leave your balance too low to cover a bill." originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/804931

@ e83b66a8:b0526c2b

Can I suggest you read my book, it will tell you a lot. It is important you understand what Bitcoin is before you invest anything into it. https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CLJP6R3F/ Firstly, Bitcoin is not like anything else you have ever experienced in your life. Everything else is based on trust and there is a higher authority you can always turn to. If you loose access to your bank account, you can walk in to a branch with your ID papers and within half an hour or so, your account access will be restored by them. The bank control your account and the money held within it. If you loose your passport or driving license, the government can issue you new ones. They control your identity. If you get locked out of your house, you can call a locksmith and they will break in, legally, for you. Bitcoin is different, it is permissionless and trustless. Nobody can stop you spending your money and you can send it to anyone anywhere in the world instantly without having to trust a third party to authorise payment for you. By that same token, if you make a mistake and send it to the wrong address or if you lose the keys that secure your Bitcoin, it is gone, nobody can help you. You need to understand and be comfortable with that. As for Bitcoin as a store of value, this is the first stage that all new Bitcoiners go through, but if you do it properly, it will eventually be the least significant feature. However, as for Bitcoin price cycles. Every 4 years the supply is automatically halved. This happened on the 20th April this year, you probably saw we were in Warsaw at a halving party. It happened at 3:09am European time, so we were asleep. Nothing actually happens for around 6 months of the halving, but from 6 - 18 months after the halving, the price rises significantly to adapt to the new supply and scarcity. So, from the start of November the price has started to rise and will continue to do so in a saw tooth pattern for around the next year. The price rise often overshoots the new natural price level and so expect a crash around the end of next year, it will be significant and will take a year or so to recover, but will eventually settle to a new price. In 4 years time, around April 2028, the cycle will happen again. Bitcoin is not a short term investment, don’t invest unless you are prepared to hold for a minimum of 4 years. Holding bitcoin for 8 years can produce generational wealth. The three core tenets of Bitcoin are: Not your keys, not your coins - in other words, don’t leave them on exchanges Don’t trust, verify - which leads to: Do your own research Study Bitcoin, it will give you back far more than you can imagine.

@ e83b66a8:b0526c2b

I watched Tucker Carlson interview Roger Ver last night. I know we have our differences with Roger, and he has some less than pleasant personality traits, but he is facing 109 years in jail for tax evasion. While the charges may be technically correct, he should be able to pay the taxes and a fine and walk free. Even if we accept he did wrong, a minor prison term such as 6 months to 2 years would be appropriate in this case. We all know the severe penalty is an over reach by US authorities looking to make the whole crypto community scared about using any form of crypto as money. The US and many governments know they have lost the battle of Bitcoin as a hard asset, but this happened as a result of the Nash equilibrium, whereby you are forced to play a game that doesn’t benefit you, because not playing that game disadvantages you further. I.e. Governments loose control of the asset, but that asset is able to shore up their balance sheet and prevent your economy from failing (potentially). The war against Bitcoin (and other cryptos) as a currency, whereby you can use your Bitcoin to buy anything anywhere from a pint of milk in the local shop, to a house or car and everything in-between is a distant goal and one that is happening slowly. But it is happening and these are the new battle lines. Part of that battle is self custody, part is tax and part are the money transmitting laws. Roger’s case is also being used as a weapon of fear. I don’t hate Roger, the problem I have with Bitcoin cash is that you cannot run a full node from your home and if you can’t do this, it is left to large corporations to run the blockchain. Large corporations are much easier to control and coerce than thousands, perhaps millions of individuals. Just as China banned Bitcoin mining, so in this scenario it would be possible for governments to ban full nodes and enforce that ban by shutting down companies that attempted to do so. Also, if a currency like Bitcoin cash scaled to Visa size, then Bitcoin Cash the company would become the new Visa / Mastercard and only the technology would change. However, even Visa and Mastercard don’t keep transaction logs for years, that would require enormous amount of storage and have little benefit. Nobody needs a global ledger that keeps a record of every coffee purchased in every coffee shop since the beginning of blockchain time. This is why Bitcoin with a layer 2 payment system like Lightning is a better proposition than large blockchain cryptos. Once a payment channel is closed, the transactions are forgotten in the same way Visa and Mastercard only keep a transaction history for 1 or 2 years. This continues to allow the freedom for anybody, anywhere to verify the money they hold and the transactions they perform along with everybody else. We have consensus by verification.

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

Other than @grayruby potentially getting eliminated, there's not a lot at stake tonight. However, considering we all have the Thunder remaining, a Mavs upset would be pretty impactful. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/804061