@ d360efec:14907b5f

ภาพรวม LUNCUSDT: LUNCUSDT กำลังแสดงสัญญาณของการฟื้นตัว (Potential Reversal) จากแนวโน้มขาลงระยะยาว โดยมีปัจจัยสนับสนุนหลักคือการ Breakout EMA 50 ใน TF Day และการเกิด Golden Cross (EMA 50 ตัด EMA 200 ขึ้น) อย่างไรก็ตาม การฟื้นตัวนี้ยังอยู่ในช่วงเริ่มต้น และยังคงมีความผันผวนและแรงขายทำกำไรอยู่บ้าง แนวโน้ม: - TF Day: แนวโน้มขาขึ้น (Early Stage) – บ่งชี้ถึงโอกาสในการกลับตัวระยะยาว - TF4H: แนวโน้มขาขึ้น (ระยะกลาง) – ยืนยันแนวโน้มขาขึ้น แต่มีการพักตัวระยะสั้น - TF15: แนวโน้มแกว่งตัวขึ้น (Sideways Up) – แสดงถึงการต่อสู้ระหว่างแรงซื้อและแรงขายในระยะสั้น โครงสร้างราคา (SMC): - TF Day: มี Break of Structure (BOS) ด้านบน, เริ่มเห็น Higher Highs (HH) และ Higher Lows (HL) - TF4H: มี BOS ด้านบน, เริ่มเห็น HH/HL, มี Equal Highs (EQH) เป็นแนวต้าน - TF15: มี BOS ด้านบน, มี Change of Character (CHoCH) ด้านบน, มี EQH และ Equal Lows (EQL) Money Flow (LuxAlgo): - TF Day: แรงซื้อแข็งแกร่งอย่างชัดเจน - TF4H: แรงซื้อและแรงขายค่อนข้างสมดุล มีการขายทำกำไร - TF15: แรงซื้อและแรงขายพอๆ กัน แต่แรงซื้อเริ่มกลับเข้ามา แนวรับ-แนวต้านสำคัญ: - Timeframe Day - แนวรับ EMA 50 (0.00010000), EMA 200 (0.00008000), 0.00006000-0.00007000 - แนวต้าน 0.00017953 (High ล่าสุด), 0.00014000 (Volume Profile) - Timeframe 4H - แนวรับ EMA 50 (0.00007000), EMA 200 (0.00008000), Equilibrium (0.00008500), 0.00006000 - แนวต้าน 0.00008132 (High ล่าสุด), 0.00010000 (EQH), 0.00010755 (High ก่อนหน้า) - Timeframe 15m - แนวรับ EMA 50, EMA 200, 0.00007300-0.00007400, Equilibrium (0.00007100) - แนวต้าน 0.00007636 (High ล่าสุด), EQH (0.00007600) กลยุทธ์: 1.Buy on Dip (กลยุทธ์หลัก): - Day/4H: รอราคาย่อตัวลงมาใกล้แนวรับสำคัญ (EMA, Equilibrium) เป็นจุดที่น่าสนใจในการเข้าซื้อ โดยพิจารณาจากสัญญาณอื่นๆ ประกอบ (เช่น Volume, Candlestick Patterns) 2.Breakout Trading: - Day: รอ Breakout แนวต้าน 0.00014000 หรือ 0.00017953 พร้อม Volume ยืนยัน - 15: รอ Breakout แนวต้าน 0.00007636 พร้อม Volume ยืนยัน 3.Range Trading (TF15, ความเสี่ยงสูง): ไม่แนะนำสำหรับมือใหม่ เล่นสั้นๆ ในกรอบแนวรับ-แนวต้านของ TF15 (ต้องระวัง False Breakout อย่างมาก) 4.ไม่แนะนำให้ Short: ขัดกับสัญญาณการกลับตัวใน TF Day และ 4H ข้อควรระวัง: - LUNC เป็นเหรียญ High Risk: มีความผันผวนสูงมาก - ข่าวสาร: ติดตามข่าวสารเกี่ยวกับ Terra Luna Classic อย่างใกล้ชิด - Stop Loss: ต้องตั้ง Stop Loss ทุกครั้งที่เข้าเทรด เพื่อจำกัดความเสี่ยง คำแนะนำ: - LUNC มีความเสี่ยงสูงกว่า BTC และ XRP - ควรกระจายความเสี่ยง (Diversification) อย่าลงทุนใน LUNC เพียงอย่างเดียว - ลงทุนในสัดส่วนที่น้อย (เมื่อเทียบกับพอร์ตการลงทุนทั้งหมด) - ถ้าไม่แน่ใจ ให้รอสัญญาณที่ชัดเจนกว่านี้ก่อน (เช่น การ Breakout แนวต้านสำคัญพร้อม Volume) Disclaimer: การวิเคราะห์นี้เป็นเพียงความคิดเห็นส่วนตัว ไม่ถือเป็นคำแนะนำในการลงทุน ผู้ลงทุนควรศึกษาข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมและตัดสินใจด้วยความรอบคอบ   

@ bbb5dda0:f09e2747

**There's nothing like the ability of a Nostr/Bitcoin meetup to bring your bullish-ness back to a 120%. This weekend I had the honors to be part of the [Sats 'n Facts](https://satsnfacts.btc.pub/) conference so this update will be mostly about the conference.**  # Tollgate A while ago while still at SEC I got the invitation to go to Sats 'n Facts and tell something about TollGate, which I was working on at the time. This is the reason I made such a push on the TollGate Android app, because I wanted to show the world the potential implications of this technology when applied in practice. We get the ability to build our own (physical!) sovereign network infrastructure. Maybe it doesn't sound too sexy for rich western countries, but very valuable for regions with lacking digital infrastructure, or regular powercuts (something I learned at the conference, that TollGate could be applied to bridge those).  Above: Illustration how a TollGate network connects to the legacy internet. I did a presentation about the project and did a demo, which as the universe commands, suffered from the [demo-effect](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=demo%20effect). Despite that, it was very well-received and the feedback and ideas on how and where to apply this were amazing. From splitting your bill with your neighbour, to strapping 5g-enabled routers to a light-fixture in the city, everyone had their own ideas on how to use it, and the cool thing is that all of it can be done. ## Presenting GitHub Actions & Epoxy I held a seperate session on the GitHub actions project and Epoxy. The response was great and I have some more feedback coming in a 1-on-1 session, so I'm sure i'll be posting about that in the near future. ## A realization about Epoxy + TollGate The more I talk about Epoxy and TollGate, the more I realize how much they are related. Epoxy is a way of bridging connectivity between Nostr users that are on clearnet and want to connect to Relays that are on Tor. But rather than just bridging the captured clearnet and tor, it can be the bridge between clearnet and a community TollGate network, or between different TollGate networks. As I've thought more about the implications of sovereign TollGate based networks, I think the introduction of many TollGate networks might create a fracturing of the broader internet, which I'd argue is not even a bad thing as this fracturing can reduce centralized surveillance and control. If we'd do this within the conventional way of operating services - think API's & talking directly to servers- that would be a problem as we need to reach those servers at any moment in time. But given the decentralized Nature of Nostr messages + Blossom files, you might not even notice it if your geographical region gets cut off from the rest of the world, because the content likely already exists within your -now cut off- network. If we can get our content local, why wouldn't we embrace this fractured internet and use it in our advantage. nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzpwa4mkswz4t8j70s2s6q00wzqv7k7zamxrmj2y4fs88aktcfuf68qq3k2ur00puj6mt0dejhg6t6v93xcefdwajkyum0vd4k2apdwpex77rfv4esk0qk8g ## A final word I'm incredible grateful to be meeting all these talented developers, artists and community builders! I love to see art being integrated into the broader ecosystem and I think us dev's need to lean on the community builders to get our projects out into the world, they often have the insight on how our software shapes the lives of the communities they help to grow. Let's embrace that dynamic! special thanks to nostr:npub19m7m3rs66pfdn4ewhrm8slh60ukyxgrylaa03m73wa40j39lc03syq4gfu for his incredible drawings of the presentations: nostr:nevent1qvzqqqqqqypzpr2m4ykgej3at3ee9upe82c4h58uda35xfd5292purmuntrv8mx4qqsfr9f9kvta87yukqhedc00vckupu3erx3mk3nvxm28ptfak0acgrc6adj94 

@ ce75bae2:26c5d165

Bitcoin is reshaping entrepreneurship in Uganda and beyond. For many, it’s not just an alternative currency but a tool for financial empowerment, business innovation, and global connectivity. Herein, I reflect on my journey with Bitcoin, its impact on entrepreneurship, and how it has changed the way I operate business in Uganda. Discovering Bitcoin: A Fortunate Scam My Bitcoin journey started six years ago—not through traditional investment or financial curiosity, but rather by accident. Like many young people searching for ways to make money online, I stumbled upon a website that promised earnings through paid ad viewing. This turned out to be a scam, but it introduced me to Bitcoin. The site offered Bitcoin as a payment option, forcing me to learn how to set up a wallet and receive transactions. Though I lost money in the process, the experience was invaluable—I had unknowingly opened the door to an entirely new financial system. Years later, I checked my old wallet and saw that the small amount of Bitcoin I had left had doubled in value. That moment sparked a deeper curiosity, leading me to research Bitcoin’s mechanics and how it could be used beyond speculation. From Curiosity to Business Innovation As I dove deeper into the Bitcoin ecosystem, I saw its potential to transform business in ways that traditional finance could not. The first realization was that Bitcoin allows global transactions without intermediaries—a critical advantage for entrepreneurs in Uganda, where banking systems are often restrictive and expensive. Today, all the businesses I co-founded, including Gorilla Sats , Jungle B, and Juicy B, are deeply integrated with Bitcoin. My approach to entrepreneurship has shifted from merely running a business to leveraging Bitcoin as a tool for economic efficiency and expansion. Bitcoin’s Role in Business Growth 1. Unlocking Global Markets One of the biggest barriers for African entrepreneurs is the difficulty of conducting business beyond borders. International transactions often involve costly intermediaries, unfavorable exchange rates, and bureaucratic delays. Bitcoin eliminates these restrictions, allowing businesses to trade with anyone, anywhere, instantly. For example, at Gorilla Sats, our adventure tourism company, 70% of our customers come because we accept Bitcoin payments. Bitcoin not only opens a new customer base but also positions our business in a niche market—one of the very few in the world where travelers can book experiences entirely using Bitcoin. 2. Enhancing Financial Efficiency Traditional financial systems in Uganda rely heavily on mobile money, which, while innovative, is expensive. Transactions incur fees at every stage: deposit, transfer, and withdrawal. It’s not uncommon for users to lose 10-15% of their money in fees when sending funds. Bitcoin, on the other hand, allows for low-cost, borderless transactions. For businesses, this means higher profit margins and the ability to reinvest savings into growth. 3. Financial Resilience in an Inflationary Economy In just a few years, Uganda’s local currency has lost nearly 50% of its value against the US dollar. Businesses operating in shillings face constant depreciation, making long-term planning difficult. By storing value in Bitcoin, businesses can hedge against inflation and maintain purchasing power over time. At Jungle B, we keep part of our balance sheet in Bitcoin. This strategy protects us from the currency fluctuations that regularly impact Ugandan businesses operating solely in fiat currency. 4. Transforming Social Impact and Charity Beyond business, Bitcoin has become a tool for grassroots financial inclusion. At the Orphans of Uganda initiative, we integrate Bitcoin into daily transactions, ensuring donations reach the children directly without middlemen. Every day, children at the orphanage make symbolic Bitcoin payments for their food, learning firsthand how to use digital money responsibly. This isn’t just about feeding children—it’s about educating the next generation on financial autonomy. Challenges and Opportunities in Uganda 1. Skepticism and Misinformation Many Ugandans associate Bitcoin with scams, mainly due to past fraudulent projects. Educating people on the difference between Bitcoin (a decentralized asset) and scam coins (pyramid schemes) remains a challenge. 2. Regulatory Uncertainty Uganda’s regulatory environment for Bitcoin is still unclear. While Bitcoin remains in a legal vacuum, financial institutions are discouraged from facilitating Bitcoin transactions. However, this hasn’t stopped individuals and businesses from using it. In fact, the lack of regulation often makes adoption easier, as Bitcoin operates independently of government oversight. 3. Resistance from Traditional Financial Players Mobile money services like MTN and Airtel make enormous profits from transaction fees. If Bitcoin adoption grows, their revenue model could be threatened, leading to resistance from these financial institutions. However, they could integrate Bitcoin instead of fighting it, making transactions cheaper for their users. The Future of Bitcoin in Uganda Will there be mass Bitcoin adoption in Uganda? Not overnight. Many people resist change, and history shows that better financial tools don’t always lead to immediate adoption. However, Bitcoin’s advantages will continue to attract forward-thinking entrepreneurs and business owners. For those who embrace it, Bitcoin redefines entrepreneurship, offering financial independence, borderless trade, and a hedge against economic instability. Whether governments embrace it or not, businesses like mine and many others under Blockchain Association of Uganda (BAU) will continue pioneering its use in Uganda. Final Thoughts Bitcoin is more than just a digital currency—it’s a tool for freedom, efficiency, and global entrepreneurship. The more people learn about its benefits, the more they will integrate it into their businesses and daily lives. The journey begins with education and experimentation, just as mine did years ago. For those looking to explore Bitcoin-powered experiences, connect with us at gorilla-sats.com, or follow my work with bitcoinkampala.org. Whether you’re a business owner, traveler, or philanthropist, Bitcoin offers new possibilities—it’s time to embrace the future. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/882366

@ f3774632:44a58526

Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is known for its rich cultural heritage and the vast diversity in its geography, which includes the Himalayan mountain range. Here are some key points about Nepal: Geography Location: Nepal is bordered by China (Tibet) to the north and India to the south, east, and west. Topography: The country is home to eight of the world's ten highest peaks, including Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world. The landscape varies from the fertile Terai plains in the south to the towering Himalayas in the north. Climate: Nepal experiences a wide range of climates, from the tropical heat of the Terai to the freezing temperatures of the Himalayas. Culture Ethnic Diversity: Nepal is a multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country with over 125 ethnic groups and 123 languages spoken. Religion: The majority of Nepalis are Hindu, but there is also a significant Buddhist population. The country is known for its religious tolerance and harmony. Festivals: Nepal celebrates numerous festivals throughout the year, including Dashain, Tihar, Holi, and Buddha Jayanti. History Ancient History: Nepal has a rich history dating back to the Neolithic period. The Kiratis are believed to be the first rulers of Nepal. Modern History: Nepal was ruled by the Shah dynasty from 1768 until 2008, when the monarchy was abolished, and the country became a federal democratic republic. Economy Agriculture: Agriculture is the mainstay of Nepal's economy, employing about 65% of the population. Tourism: Tourism is a significant contributor to the economy, with trekking, mountaineering, and cultural tours being major attractions. Challenges: Nepal faces economic challenges due to its landlocked status, political instability, and underdeveloped infrastructure. Tourism Trekking and Mountaineering: Nepal is a paradise for adventure seekers, offering numerous trekking routes and mountaineering expeditions. Cultural Sites: The country is home to several UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including the Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini (the birthplace of Buddha), and Chitwan National Park. Politics Government: Nepal is a federal democratic republic with a multi-party system. Constitution: The current constitution was adopted in 2015, establishing Nepal as a secular and inclusive democratic republic. Challenges Natural Disasters: Nepal is prone to natural disasters such as earthquakes, landslides, and floods. Development: The country faces development challenges, including poverty, lack of infrastructure, and limited access to education and healthcare. Nepal is a country of immense beauty and cultural richness, offering a unique blend of ancient traditions and modern aspirations.

@ d058ffb7:70ed2330

Je publie un ancien texte portant sur Nostr. Auparavant hébergé sur ghost, je teste maintetant la capacité de Nostr d'hébergé de long format. *** Un point tournant vient d'être franchi. Damus est officiellement disponible sur le App Store de Apple, fini le mode bêta. Mais en quoi c'est un point tournant ? Apple joue un rôle important de gatekeeper. Chaque application qui veut accéder à son énorme écosystème doit passer une révision diligente, parfois excessive, avant d'être accessible à tous. Après plusieurs tentatives, le principal développeur de Damus, une application dont le code source ouvert est disponible sur github, a finalement reçu son acceptation. Mais encore, pourquoi est-ce un point tournant ? Et bien, Damus est la principale application pour accéder aux échanges du protocole Nostr. Ce protocole change le paradigme des réseaux sociaux et réduit pratiquement à néant les capacités de censure par une autorité, que ce soit Apple, le gouvernement américain ou un régime autoritaire. Déjà, après quelques heures, on peut voir une affluence chinoise à la recherche de liberté de parole. Ainsi, en permettant l'accès à cette application, Apple permet à des millions de personnes d'échanger des idées comme jamais auparavant. Mais en quoi c'est différent ? Les 3 éléments suivants expliquent grandement la différence : #### Identification par pairs clé publique / clé privée Cette stratégie permet de partir avec un haut niveau d'anonymisation. Au besoin, certaines fonctionnalités ou applications pourront venir ajouter certains concepts tel que la vérification d'humanité - la proposition NIP-05 va dans ce sens - ou encore la réputation. Evidemment, ca implique d'autres avantages, surtout dans des pays déjà sous haute surveillance. #### Décentralisation via l'utilisation de relais intermédiaires Cette architecture assure une résilience du réseau. Chaque relai peut décider l'information qu'il diffuse. Si un relai décide de censurer, un autre peut prendre le relai. Il est possible qu'on voit des relais apparaitre par communauté / région afin d'assurer une diffusion optimale des messages. La mise en place de relais entraine cependant des coûts, principalement matériel et télécommunications / bande passante. Différentes stratégies sont en cours d'[expérimentation](https://andreneves.xyz/p/the-rise-of-paid-nostr-relays), notamment via l'utilisation du réseau lightning, qui pourrait charger un frais minime lors d'échange de bitcoin. #### Séparation entre le protocole et les applications Enfin, cette séparation permet d'éviter les points uniques d'échec. Par exemple, malgré l'espoir de liberté qu'a eu l'application Damus, cette dernière a rapidement été [banni par l'état chinois](https://twitter.com/damusapp/status/1621220422216998915). Mais l'espoir survie, car il existe plusieurs alternatives pour accéder au protocole, que ce soit via des applications web (i.g. https://astral.ninja), des applications Android (i.g. Amethyst) ou encore, directement les codes sources sur github. Cela permet également à des applications existantes d'intégrer ce protocole. Jumelée à l'utilisation des clés publiques/privées, qui permet une mobilité de son réseau de contact, une saine compétition devrait s'établir sur ces applications clientes afin d'offrir la meilleure expérience utilisateur, que ce soit par l'interface graphique, la modération / curation du fils de nouvelles ou simplement la performance. Il faut cependant être réaliste, il reste beaucoup de défis à affronter avant d'atteindre le grand public. Parmi les défis, ceux-ci me semblent les plus importants:##### Experience utilisateur Alors que l'utilisation d'une paires de clés publique / privée peut sembler naturel pour les utilisateurs de bitcoin (et de crypto), ca peut être intimidant pour un non-initié. Le concept de relais n'est également pas intuitif et aurait avantage à être vulgariser ou abstrait/transparent. La performance de rafraichissement peut aussi être grandement améliorée. #### Modération et curation Qu'on aime ou on n'aime pas, Twitter utilise un algorithme puissant qui permet d'avoir un minimum de pertinence dans les messages affichées. Ce n'est pas encore le cas pour la majorité des applications Nostr. Par conséquent, on peut se sentir *spammer* lorsqu'on regarde le *feed* global. L'arrivée de beaucoup d'utilisateur chinois, et l'incapacité de traduire nativement, a amplifié ce sentiment. Malgré cela, je suis confiant qu'on va continuer d'entendre parler de ce protocole dans les années et décennies à venir. Pour me suivre, n'hésitez pas à me suivre : npub16pv0ld77fx0l8mjxwqtnq0dd7md40zte5w60esstfsty6u8dyvcqre8d46 Et pour lire une perspective différente sur le sujet, j'ai beaucoup apprécié cette lecture : https://read.pourteaux.xyz/p/the-moral-imperative-of-a-distributed

@ 9673b322:1b75ee9e

This is an example of test blog post, to be published via the obstrlish plugin. ### This is a sub heading **Lorem Ipsum** is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. * Test bullet point * test teste * test *sdfasdfasdfasdfadf* ### The standard Lorem Ipsum passage, used since the 1500s "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." ### Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" ### 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" ### Section 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat." ![[api-design-patterns.png]]

@ 9673b322:1b75ee9e

This is an example of test blog post, to be published via the obstrlish plugin. ### This is a sub heading **Lorem Ipsum** is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. * Test bullet point * test teste * test *sdfasdfasdfasdfadf* ### The standard Lorem Ipsum passage, used since the 1500s "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." ### Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" ### 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" ### Section 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat." ![[api-design-patterns.png]]

@ 9673b322:1b75ee9e

This is an example of test blog post, to be published via the obstrlish plugin. ### This is a sub heading **Lorem Ipsum** is simply dummy text of the printing and typesetting industry. Lorem Ipsum has been the industry's standard dummy text ever since the 1500s, when an unknown printer took a galley of type and scrambled it to make a type specimen book. It has survived not only five centuries, but also the leap into electronic typesetting, remaining essentially unchanged. It was popularised in the 1960s with the release of Letraset sheets containing Lorem Ipsum passages, and more recently with desktop publishing software like Aldus PageMaker including versions of Lorem Ipsum. * Test bullet point * test teste * test *sdfasdfasdfasdfadf* ### The standard Lorem Ipsum passage, used since the 1500s "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum." ### Section 1.10.32 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?" ### 1914 translation by H. Rackham "But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?" ### Section 1.10.33 of "de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum", written by Cicero in 45 BC "At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat."

@ 17724a68:89af0638

«Nació Bastiat el año 1801 en la Bayona francesa, muy cerca, por tanto, de la frontera de España y del Bidasoa, que a menudo citaba como ejemplo de un río que, en vez de promover el comercio, lo destruía por el simple hecho de ser frontera entre dos naciones». Empezamos citando al honorable Francisco Cabrillo, el experto (y prologuista) por excelencia de la obra de Bastiat en nuestra casa editorial. Con estas palabras, resume fielmente las dos principales preocupaciones del francés: el libre desarrollo del comercio y las relaciones entre los pueblos.  En "Lo que se ve y no se ve" —que podemos encontrar en *Obras escogidas* (Unión Editorial)—, Bastiat nos advierte de que quizás no siempre resulta evidente el efecto colateral de las decisiones políticas. Existen consecuencias visibles e inmediatas, pero también sucesos posteriores y menos visibles que pueden ser incluso más perniciosos que el mal que se deseaba corregir.  Hoy percibimos con suma inquietud el riesgo de una guerra comercial que imponga aranceles/barreras al comercio entre los miembros de las naciones. A los políticos y burócratas les tienta el solo pensar en los impuestos que cobrarán por productos importados, sin razonar sobre el impacto en la cadena productiva y en el poder adquisitivo de sus ciudadanos. Ciertamente, el sancionado sufrirá el impacto, pero quien impone los aranceles, también.  Los nacionales no solo tendrán que pagar más por un mismo producto extranjero, sino que, al verse restringidos por un precio mayor o caída del comercio, dejarían de beneficiarse de la profesionalización del vecino en la producción de un bien en concreto.  Los liberales siempre hemos defendido el libre comercio y la paz. Bastiat es quizás quien mejor resume las razones que nos ha llevado a dichas conclusiones, por lo que os invitamos a profundizar en su obra y disfrutar de la muy enriquecedora lectura de nuestro vecino del *otro lado* del Bidasoa.  -- [OBRAS ESCOGIDAS](https://www.unioneditorial.net/libro/obras-escogidas-segunda-edicion/)  [FRÉDERIC BASTIAT: UN HOMBRE ÚNICO](https://www.unioneditorial.net/libro/un-hombre-unico/)  [EN DEFENSA DEL CAPITALISMO GLOBAL](https://www.unioneditorial.net/libro/en-defensa-del-capitalismo-global-3a-edicion/)  -- Como solemos acostumbrar, para compras en nuestra web ofrecemos una promoción válida para la península ibérica que incluye un 5% de descuento y envío gratis a partir de los 20€ de compra. El código de descuento actual es: **UE2025**

@ 3b7fc823:e194354f

A VPN is Not Magic A VPN is a virtual private network. A VPN service provides an encrypted tunnel between your device and a server they own or rent. You then connect to the internet from this server thus making your IP address appear to the wider internet as the server IP. That's it. That's all it does. Your Device -> VPN -> Website Your Device sees that you are connecting to a website through a VPN. Your ISP sees that you are connecting to a VPN server but nothing after. The website sees that someone from a VPN is connecting to them but doesn't know who. The VPN sees your device connected to their server and that you then connected to a website. VPN Anonymity and Privacy VPNs do a lot to protect your privacy, they keep your ISP from seeing and logging every single thing you do online and they spoof your location and IP to any website that you visit. Although this website protection isn't 100% anonymous because of cookies, trackers, and if you have to log into a site with your information. If you are using a VPN on a mobile phone then you are still broadcasting your location to the cell towers even if you are not telling the website you are browsing. Then there is the elephant in the room. The VPN knows all and sees all. How much do they log? How long do they save it? Can you trust them? This is going to vary VASTLY between VPN providers. I always prefer if they are setup where they cannot know the information in the first place and limit what I tell them in the first place by paying through the use of bitcoin or monero. Just because they have a no log "policy" in place it doesn't always fill me with confidence. VPN Security How much security does a VPN give you? Some in certain circumstances but not a lot. A VPN is not going to stop malware or viruses. A VPN can provide some protection from a man in the middle or evil twin attack as it provides a encrypted tunnel between your device and the VPN server, so always use a VPN when joining public WIFI spots. Just remember a VPN cannot protect you downstream on the connection between the VPN server and the website, always use secure encrypted connections and be aware that MITM attacks can still happen on the backside. A VPN can prevent DDoS attacks since the attacker doesn't know your real IP address and a fantastic use of VPNs is to protect IoT devices. Those smart devices around your home love to scream out all their data insecurely and a VPN can change their IP and encrypt their data in transit protecting them from hacking. VPN Legality In many countries VPNs are banned, blocked, or outright illegal: Bahrain Belarus China Cuba Egypt Iran Iraq Libya Myanmar North Korea Oman Russia Syria Turkey Turkmenistan UAE Uganda Venezuela Vietnam --- Advocating for privacy does not finance itself. If you enjoyed this article, please consider zapping or sending monero 82XCDNK1Js8TethhpGLFPbVyKe25DxMUePad1rUn9z7V6QdCzxHEE7varvVh1VUidUhHVSA4atNU2BTpSNJLC1BqSvDajw1

@ fad5c183:5cb8046b

**The Big Question: What Really Supports Bitcoin?** Let’s cut the fluff. Money has always needed something to back it. In the past, it was **gold**, something tangible, scarce, and universally recognized as valuable. Then came **fiat** (government-backed currency), which ditched gold in favor of trust in central banks. Now, Bitcoin is here. It’s digital, decentralized, and allegedly **free from manipulation**. But is it? If Bitcoin isn’t backed by **gold, oil, or government decree**, what gives it value? And if a small number of players hold most of it, are we just recreating the same problems as fiat? **Let’s dig in.** **Why Bitcoin Has Value (Even If You Can’t Touch It)** Bitcoin is backed by **math, code, and energy**—not physical resources. Its value comes from three major factors: * **Scarcity** – Only 21 million BTC will ever exist. No central bank can “print” more. * **Security** – It’s protected by cryptography and (proof-of-work). Hacking the Bitcoin network is practically impossible. * **Market Trust** – Bitcoin is valuable because people believe in its ability to store value, just like gold or fiat. Unlike government money, where supply is **controlled by a central authority**, Bitcoin’s supply is **fixed and transparent**. Sounds great, right? Well, there’s a catch. **Are We Just Repeating the Fiat Problem?** Fiat money is flawed because central banks can **print it endlessly,** manipulate interest rates, and control its flow. This causes inflation, bailouts, and financial crises. Bitcoin fixes that. **No one can create more Bitcoin out of thin air.** But here’s the issue: A **small number of people and institutions own a huge percentage of Bitcoin.** These “whales” can **manipulate price movements,** just like big banks do with fiat. Unlike fiat, where governments intervene (for better or worse), Bitcoin markets are **unregulated and volatile.** So, if whales can **dump** Bitcoin to crash prices and **buy back cheap**, is it really that different from fiat where the rich get richer? **Bitcoin’s Advantage: Transparency & Control** Here’s where Bitcoin still wins: ✅ **No Central Control** – Governments and banks can’t change its monetary policy. ✅ **Transparency** – Every transaction is on the blockchain. No hidden “money printing.” ✅ **Self-Custody** – You can hold your Bitcoin, unlike fiat, which sits in a bank that can freeze or seize it. But let’s not pretend it’s perfect. If the majority of Bitcoin remains concentrated in a few hands, **it still creates power imbalances.** The solution? **More decentralization**—and that’s where Nostr comes in. **How Nostr & Bitcoin Could Change the Game** Nostr is a decentralized communication protocol. No servers, no censorship, no single point of control. When paired with Bitcoin and the **Lightning Network,** it could: * **Enable truly peer-to-peer transactions** without banks or centralized exchanges. * **Reduce whale manipulation** by increasing adoption and distribution. * **Support a free, censorship-resistant financial system** without intermediaries. Imagine a world where **you don’t need banks or corporations to transact**—just an internet connection. That’s where we’re headed. **Final Thought: Are We at Square One?** Bitcoin **isn’t a perfect solution**, but it’s a **step forward**. It removes central banks from the equation but still struggles with **wealth concentration and market manipulation.** So, are we **just recreating fiat 2.0**? Maybe in some ways. But here’s the difference: The rules **can’t be changed by elites in a closed room.** Every transaction is **visible**—no shady money printing. Anyone can **self-custody their assets**—no middlemen needed. The key to breaking the cycle? **More decentralization, better distribution, and adoption** beyond whales and institutions. Bitcoin is a tool. It’s up to us to use it wisely. **What do you think? Are we just repeating history, or is Bitcoin truly different? Let’s debate.** 🔥

@ 3b7fc823:e194354f

Dealing with law enforcement can be a challenging and stressful experience. However, understanding your rights and knowing how to navigate such situations can empower you to protect yourself. Here’s a structured approach to handle these interactions effectively: 1. **Stay Calm and Compliant:** - When approached by law enforcement, remain calm and avoid sudden movements. Slowly raise your hands and identify yourself if possible. 2. **Ask for Identification:** - Request the officer's name, badge number, and station. This documentation can be crucial later on. 3. **Know Your Miranda Rights:** - Upon arrest, you have the right to remain silent. Do not answer questions without consulting a lawyer. If Mirandized, exercise your right to remain silent. 4. **Refuse Incriminating Statements:** - Avoid answering questions that could incriminate yourself. Politely state, "I will not answer any questions at this time." 5. **Document the Incident:** - Use your phone or notebook to record details such as dates, times, and descriptions of interactions. Note any injuries or mistreatment. 6. **Seek Legal Advice:** - After the encounter, contact a lawyer. They can review evidence and provide guidance on how to proceed. 7. **Understand Search and Seizure Laws:** - Officers generally need a warrant to search your property unless there's probable cause. If stopped without a warrant, calmly refuse entry. 8. **Use a Body Camera Policy:** - If applicable, ask for the officer's body camera footage and request it via formal complaint if refused. 9. **Know When to Comply:** - Comply with instructions that do not infringe on your rights, such as providing identification when legally required. 10. **Consider a Witness Statement:** - If you witness illegal actions, consider reporting them. Your role as a bystander may be crucial in documenting incidents. 11. **Seek Emotional Support:** - Interactions with law enforcement can be traumatic. Reach out to support groups or mental health resources for assistance. 12. **Understand Legal Recourse:** - If rights are violated, consult legal aid societies or civil rights organizations for guidance on filing complaints or seeking redress. **Conclusion:** Understanding your rights and documenting interactions is essential when dealing with law enforcement. This guide provides a framework to help you navigate such situations confidently and protect your rights effectively. Remember, knowledge is power, and being informed can lead to better outcomes in challenging circumstances. --- Advocating for privacy does not finance itself. If you enjoyed this article, please consider zapping or sending monero 82XCDNK1Js8TethhpGLFPbVyKe25DxMUePad1rUn9z7V6QdCzxHEE7varvVh1VUidUhHVSA4atNU2BTpSNJLC1BqSvDajw1

@ 554ab6fe:c6cbc27e

René Descartes famously stated, "I think therefore I am." A concept centered around the idea that the existence of our meta-conscious thought proves our existence. Furthermore, it denotes a sense of self-derived from the presence of our thinking. What if this famous idea is wrongly reversed? What if our perceived sense of self derives from our thoughts, and these thoughts act as an illusion of the true nature of the self? A couple of my posts have focused on the idea that the calm mind, potentially derived from a practice of meditation, can achieve a heightened sense of awareness. Some neuroscientists now view the mind as a predictive modeling machine (Seth, 2013), constantly receiving signals from both internal and external sources, generating predictions and models to understand the current condition. This theory inspired me to create an analogy of a calm pond: Imagine the brain and mind as a pond, and instead of neuronal signals, raindrops are falling into the pond. When the pond is calm, and a single drop falls, the pond's ripples provide adequate information to deduce the location and size of the raindrop. By observing the single ripple, one can simply understand the raindrop. However, if there is a storm and many raindrops impact the pond simultaneously, then the ripples are indistinguishable. This makes the analysis of the incoming information near impossible. This may be how the brain works. This would be why calming the mind generates such benefits in health because the brain can analyze the information accurately and execute the proper response. This idea is supported by scientific evidence that interoception increases with mindfulness practice. I have alluded to this idea as a possible explanation of why meditation generates a higher form of consciousness. More on this later. To further explore this idea, a deeper exploration into the neuroscience of internal mental processes is required. The areas of the brain that are clinically recognized to perform internal mental operations are known as the default mode network (DMN) (Ekhtiari et al., 2016; van Buuren et al., 2010). The DMN is not a single area of the brain but a network and interaction between many areas. The brain areas involved within the DMN include the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), the anterior and posterior cingulate cortex (ACC and PCC), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), later temporal cortex (LTC), and the temporal pole (TempP)(Farb et al., 2007; Zhou et al., 2020). In general, the mental processes conducted by the DMN are self-referential processing, long-term memory retrieval, and mind-wandering (Ekhtiari et al., 2016; Marstaller et al., 2017; Spreng & Grady, 2010; van Buuren et al., 2010). However, the functions expand beyond just those. Different brain areas carry differing roles in these processes. For example, the PCC plays a unique role in the autobiographical retrieval process and plays a role in self-centered spatial navigation (Hamilton et al., 2015). However, sometimes these processes manifest in more complex interactions. For example, both the PCC and anterior portion of the mPFC (amPFC) facilitate self-referential processes and the interaction between other hubs of the DMN (Zhou et al., 2020). The role of the DMN is complicated, but its relationship to meditation is significant. The DMN's plays a significant role in mental ruminations and the activity of the mind. In our modern culture, mental ruminations are commonplace and widely accepted. With this cultural norm, there is no adequate training to properly handle these thoughts when they become repetitive, unconstructive, and potentially destructive. Repetitive unconstructive ruminations are associated with and can lead to depression (Watkins, 2008). Therefore, this mental habit attributes to a significant source of many mental health issues. It is a primary reason why meditation seems to be such an effective mental health benefiting practice. In Eastern traditions, this unhealthy mind is called the "monkey mind": a mind that swings from thought to thought, often time traveling to the past and future. Meditation, and similar practices, aim to quiet this monkey mind. From a clinical perspective, it is fascinating to consider that the DMN may be a neural network representing the monkey mind's activation. There is research to support this idea as well. Autobiographical memory retrieval processes activate the DMN (Spreng & Grady, 2010). Additionally, the DMN seems to maintain a cohesive perception of the self across time to interpret novel information (Marstaller et al., 2017). Clearly, not only is the DMN involved in processes that involve thoughts about the self, but it is also primarily responsible for our mental time traveling processes. If meditation aims to bring our experience to the present, then the DMN is the antithesis. As previously stated, mental ruminations and other unconstructive thought patterns drive the development of mental health issues such as anxiety and depression. Given that the DMN has a strong relationship to these thought patterns, it is also interesting to note that DMN activity dominance is associated with the development of depression (Hamilton et al., 2011). The brain areas that seem to be activated more often during depression are the anterior and dorsal regions of the mPFC, PCC, temporal lobes, and the TPJ (Zhou et al., 2020)—further suggesting that the DMN is the brain region highly responsible for our inner self-referential thoughts, our time traveling thoughts, and the subsequent mental health outcomes. The DMN represents, in large part, the mental activity of the mind that removes us from a calm and present state of being. In other words, it adds more “raindrops” to the calm pond (my analogy from before) making it harder for the brain to analyze and adequately react to incoming information. Evidence for this idea lies in the observation that the DMN is responsible for monkey mind-like processes and in learning and conditioning. Again, the brain is constantly receiving neuronal signals from the body. Say it receives a signal from the toe: it must first predict that the signal came from the toe, then understand what the signal meant, and react accordingly. So, if the signal was a pain signal, the brain may command the toe to lift from the ground. If the signal stops, the brain knows the toe is no longer in pain, verifying the prediction. If the signal doesn't stop, further trial and error are required. This is a simple example, but the brain is likely processing and reacting to signals like this all the time, both from information coming from outside the body and within. Therefore, much learning and prediction model generation is taking place. Imagine the famous experiment of Pavlov's dogs. The dogs learned that a particular cue meant food, and their bodies learned to react accordingly. This learning and conditioning are a fundamental aspect of biological life. The DMN plays a significant role in this learning within our brain. For example, the PCC responds to error detection, and the signal is amplified when small rewards or novel stimuli are introduced to the experience (Heilbronner & Platt, 2013). Areas of the DMN (such as the mPFC and PCC) are also thought to be involved in contextualizing memories of safety and inhibit fear responses when appropriate (Marstaller et al., 2017). Finally, the mPFC is thought to play a role in goal-directed motivation (Hamilton et al., 2015). All this evidence suggests that the DMN plays a significant role in the learning process by contextualizing information. Keep in mind that the DMN can only accurately contextualize incoming stimuli if the full range of signals is adequately recognized. According to the calm pond idea, the noisy activation of a ruminating mind may hinder this ability. Here, greater clarification and definition on what a polluted mind means is needed. To define such mental patterns, functions of specific DMN regions will be explained. Commonly activated regions within the DMN that involve self-referential processes are (Farb et al., 2007; Knyazev, 2013): 1. The orbitomedial prefrontal cortex (omPFC) – which contextualizes experienced stimuli as experienced by the self 2. The ACC – which actively monitors the self-experienced stimuli 3. The mPFC – which evaluates the self-experienced stimuli 4. The PCC – which is involved in a generated a broader context of the personal experience given certain self-experienced stimuli. By now, it may be evident that the DMN is involved with what is commonly referred to as the "ego". Some researchers claim that the DMN develops the ego itself (R. L. Carhart-Harris & Friston, 2010). The term "ego" derives from Freudian psychoanalytic, and for this reason, the term "narrative-self" will be used instead. It is crucial to consider the word choice here. As previously explained, the DMN generates a time-oriented perception of the self to contextualize information. Furthermore, the four brain areas above all involved contextualizing an experience as experienced by the narrative self (rather than the self being the experience), monitoring these experiences across time, and evaluating these experiences as a broader implication of the experience of the self. The DMN is generating a narrative of the self through every experience. This is indeed where many unconstructive ruminations arise. Any reader can likely relate to ruminating over themselves and their circumstances and thinking about what this means in the larger context of their lives, worth, purpose, etc. This is the monkey mind. This is the DMN. So, the real question becomes: what effect does the strong presence of a narrative-self have on our broader experience and health? Does a strong presence of the narrative-self influence the body's interoceptive abilities and ability to properly analyze and predict incoming stimuli? This is a complex and challenging question, but evidence suggests that this is indeed the case. In a fantastic study by Farb and others in 2007, fMRIs were used to monitor brain activity in those who did and did not practice mindfulness meditation (Farb et al., 2007). In this study, a distinction was made between narrative focus and experiential focus. For eight weeks, those who underwent mindfulness meditation training were taught to practice experiential focus, which involves having present centered awareness of all thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a non-judgmental manner. Narrative focus was defined as judging experiences and trying to figure out what those stimuli meant. Brain scans were performed on both trained and untrained participants during both focus styles. For both groups, narrative focus increased activation of the mPFC and PCC as expected. During experiential focus, both groups reduced mPFC activity, but only the meditation trained group increased activation of the insula. This is incredible because the insula is highly involved in interoception and the sensations of internal physical states (Fox et al., 2014; Mehling et al., 2012). This study by Farb and others suggests a functional difference between the narrative-self and an experiential-self and shows how the quieting of the narrative-self increases interoceptive abilities and enhances the brains' ability to analyze incoming stimuli properly. Not to mention, this study shows how this skill can be trained. So far, we have seen how the DMN is involved in the generation of the narrative-self and how this influences our ability to analyze the signals coming from the body. The next reasonable question is to what extent can this be changed? And what are the implications of such change? As was previously shown in the mentioning of the study by Farb and others in 2007, mindfulness meditation appears to be capable of changing DMN activity. This is not the only study to suggest this. Another study showed that meditation decreased mPFC activity in DMN regions, such as the TPJ and PCC (Scheibner et al., 2017). It has also been shown that the neurotransmitter GABA reduces DMN activity, and both yoga and meditation have been implicated in the release of GABA (Guglietti et al., 2013; Hu et al., 2013; Streeter et al., 2018). The release of GABA release is also modulated by the vagus nerve, providing evidence of the possible mechanism at which meditation inhibits DMN activity (Hu et al., 2013; Keute et al., 2018; Streeter et al., 2018). Through these studies, it seems evident that meditation decreases DMN activity. In what ways is this significant? Firstly, it provides more explanation as to why meditation seems capable of alleviating depression. Similarly, it offers more evidence for how meditation increases interoceptive awareness (de Jong et al., 2016; Farb et al., 2010; Hanley et al., 2017). The increase in interoception suggests that the brain is more adequately processing not only the internal environment more adequately, but presumably the outside environment as well. Reality in general is being more accurately understood. It is possible that this also implicates a broader understanding of how meditation can alter consciousness and allowing monks, yogis, and the like to achieve nirvana/samadhi/enlightenment, or whatever you prefer to call such a state of altered consciousnesses. Perhaps this experience of altered consciousness is a more accurate interpretation of reality, produced by enhanced interoception and exteroception. The subject of altered consciousness is perhaps best explored through brain changes induced by another technique commonly used in a spiritual manner: psychedelics. The famous studies from Johns Hopkins University using psilocybin found that this drug causes a spiritual experience often described as a sense of unity of all things that transcend space and time (Griffiths et al., 2006, 2008). Many participants rate this experience as one of the most significant spiritual experiences of their life (Griffiths et al., 2006). These experiences were often described with an experienced loss sense of self and an altered form of consciousness (Griffiths et al., 2008). It is not hard to imagine that this experience seems very similar to that of a trained monk or yogi, who learn to let go of their narrative-self and gain a sense of oneness with all things. This connection is further verified by the observation that psilocybin decreases the activity of the ACC, PCC, and mPFC (Robin L. Carhart-Harris et al., 2012). Ayahuasca, another psychedelic drug used in spiritual rituals by the indigenous peoples of the Amazon, also has been shown to have similar effects (Palhano-Fontes et al., 2015). Additionally, LSD has been shown to do the same (Speth et al., 2016). Suppose both psychedelic drugs and meditative practice decrease the same DMN, which generates the narrative-self. In that case, both methods likely lead one to the same place: an experience beyond time and space, where one is present with a profound sense of unity with everything. This, to me, is a profound idea. It suggests that quieting the mind, or calming the “pond”, improves mental, physical, and spiritual health. It provides one with a perception full of compassion, peace, and love. It not only can make the individual healthier, but so too the community and planet. It is extraordinary evidence that improving the self is the greatest means of improving the world around us. Not to mention, it provides a simple means of liberating oneself from the struggle and hardship of life. Perhaps it is not life that is hard on us, but ourselves, by allowing the narrative-mind to take hold of our reality, rather than letting a purer form of consciousness dominate our perceptions. This is the pursuit, and meditation techniques are the practice. References Carhart-Harris, R. L., & Friston, K. J. (2010). The default-mode, ego-functions and free-energy: A neurobiological account of Freudian ideas. Brain, 133(4), 1265–1283. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awq010 Carhart-Harris, Robin L., Erritzoe, D., Williams, T., Stone, J. M., Reed, L. J., Colasanti, A., Tyacke, R. J., Leech, R., Malizia, A. L., Murphy, K., Hobden, P., Evans, J., Feilding, A., Wise, R. G., & Nutt, D. J. (2012). Neural correlates of the psychedelic state as determined by fMRI studies with psilocybin. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 109(6), 2138–2143. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1119598109 de Jong, M., Lazar, S. W., Hug, K., Mehling, W. E., Hölzel, B. K., Sack, A. T., Peeters, F., Ashih, H., Mischoulon, D., & Gard, T. (2016). Effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy on body awareness in patients with chronic pain and comorbid depression. Frontiers in Psychology, 7(JUN). https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00967 Ekhtiari, H., Nasseri, P., Yavari, F., Mokri, A., & Monterosso, J. (2016). Neuroscience of drug craving for addiction medicine: From circuits to therapies. In Progress in Brain Research (Vol. 223, pp. 115–141). Elsevier B.V. https://doi.org/10.1016/bs.pbr.2015.10.002 Farb, N. A. S., Anderson, A. K., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., McKeon, D., & Segal, Z. v. (2010). Minding One's Emotions: Mindfulness Training Alters the Neural Expression of Sadness. Emotion, 10(1), 25–33. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0017151 Farb, N. A. S., Segal, Z. v., Mayberg, H., Bean, J., Mckeon, D., Fatima, Z., & Anderson, A. K. (2007). Attending to the present: Mindfulness meditation reveals distinct neural modes of self-reference. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 2(4), 313–322. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsm030 Fox, K. C. R., Nijeboer, S., Dixon, M. L., Floman, J. L., Ellamil, M., Rumak, S. P., Sedlmeier, P., & Christoff, K. (2014). Is meditation associated with altered brain structure? A systematic review and meta-analysis of morphometric neuroimaging in meditation practitioners. Neuroscience and Biobehavioral Reviews, 43, 48–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2014.03.016 Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., Johnson, M. W., McCann, U. D., & Jesse, R. (2008). Mystical-type experiences occasioned by psilocybin mediate the attribution of personal meaning and spiritual significance 14 months later. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 22(6), 621–632. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881108094300 Griffiths, R. R., Richards, W. A., McCann, U., & Jesse, R. (2006). Psilocybin can occasion mystical-type experiences having substantial and sustained personal meaning and spiritual significance. Psychopharmacology, 187(3), 268–283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00213-006-0457-5 Guglietti, C. L., Daskalakis, Z. J., Radhu, N., Fitzgerald, P. B., & Ritvo, P. (2013). Meditation-related increases in GABAB modulated cortical inhibition. Brain Stimulation, 6(3), 397–402. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brs.2012.08.005 Hamilton, J. P., Farmer, M., Fogelman, P., & Gotlib, I. H. (2015). Depressive Rumination, the Default-Mode Network, and the Dark Matter of Clinical Neuroscience. In Biological Psychiatry (Vol. 78, Issue 4, pp. 224–230). Elsevier USA. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2015.02.020 Hamilton, J. P., Furman, D. J., Chang, C., Thomason, M. E., Dennis, E., & Gotlib, I. H. (2011). Default-mode and task-positive network activity in major depressive disorder: Implications for adaptive and maladaptive rumination. Biological Psychiatry, 70(4), 327–333. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.02.003 Hanley, A. W., Mehling, W. E., & Garland, E. L. (2017). Holding the body in mind: Interoceptive awareness, dispositional mindfulness and psychological well-being. Journal of Psychosomatic Research, 99, 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2017.05.014 Heilbronner, S. R., & Platt, M. L. (2013). Causal evidence of performance monitoring by neurons in posterior cingulate cortex during learning. Neuron, 80(6), 1384–1391. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2013.09.028 Hu, Y., Chen, X., Gu, H., & Yang, Y. (2013). Resting-state glutamate and GABA concentrations predict task-induced deactivation in the default mode network. Journal of Neuroscience, 33(47), 18566–18573. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1973-13.2013 Keute, M., Ruhnau, P., Heinze, H. J., & Zaehle, T. (2018). Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for GABAergic modulation through transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation. Clinical Neurophysiology, 129(9), 1789–1795. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clinph.2018.05.026 Knyazev, G. G. (2013). EEG correlates of self-referential processing. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 7(MAY), 1–14. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00264 Marstaller, L., Burianová, H., & Reutens, D. C. (2017). Adaptive contextualization: A new role for the default mode network in affective learning. Human Brain Mapping, 38(2), 1082–1091. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23442 Mehling, W. E., Price, C., Daubenmier, J. J., Acree, M., Bartmess, E., & Stewart, A. (2012). The Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA). PLoS ONE, 7(11). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048230 Palhano-Fontes, F., Andrade, K. C., Tofoli, L. F., Jose, A. C. S., Crippa, A. S., Hallak, J. E. C., Ribeiro, S., & de Araujo, D. B. (2015). The psychedelic state induced by Ayahuasca modulates the activity and connectivity of the Default Mode Network. PLoS ONE, 10(2), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0118143 Scheibner, H. J., Bogler, C., Gleich, T., Haynes, J. D., & Bermpohl, F. (2017). Internal and external attention and the default mode network. NeuroImage, 148(January), 381–389. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.044 Seth, A. K. (2013). Interoceptive inference, emotion, and the embodied self. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 17(11), 565–573. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tics.2013.09.007 Speth, J., Speth, C., Kaelen, M., Schloerscheidt, A. M., Feilding, A., Nutt, D. J., & Carhart-Harris, R. L. (2016). Decreased mental time travel to the past correlates with default-mode network disintegration under lysergic acid diethylamide. Journal of Psychopharmacology, 30(4), 344–353. https://doi.org/10.1177/0269881116628430 Spreng, R. N., & Grady, C. L. (2010). Patterns of brain activity supporting autobiographical memory, prospection, and theory of mind, and their relationship to the default mode network. Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 22(6), 1112–1123. https://doi.org/10.1162/jocn.2009.21282 Streeter, C., Gerbarg, P. L., Nielsen, G. H., Brown, R. P., Jensen, J. E., Silveri, M., & Streeter, C. C. (2018). Effects of Yoga on Thalamic Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, Mood and Depression: Analysis of Two Randomized Controlled Trials. Neuropsychiatry, 8(6), 1923–1939. https://doi.org/10.4172/Neuropsychiatry.1000535 van Buuren, M., Gladwin, T. E., Zandbelt, B. B., Kahn, R. S., & Vink, M. (2010). Reduced functional coupling in the default-mode network during self-referential processing. Human Brain Mapping, 31(8), 1117–1127. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.20920 Watkins, E. R. (2008). Constructive and unconstructive repetitive thought. Psychological Bulletin, 134(2), 163–206. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-2909.134.2.163 Zhou, H. X., Chen, X., Shen, Y. Q., Li, L., Chen, N. X., Zhu, Z. C., Castellanos, F. X., & Yan, C. G. (2020). Rumination and the default mode network: Meta-analysis of brain imaging studies and implications for depression. In NeuroImage (Vol. 206, p. 116287). Academic Press Inc. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116287

@ 5d4b6c8d:8a1c1ee3

The Super Bowl definitely threw me off a bit. My dad offered to bring some food over and the plan was to eat before the game/during the first half. I have no idea what he was doing, but for some reason, it took him two hours to get the food (that was already made) ready to eat. All things considered, I still did ok. The dry fast was about 13 hours and I might make it to 16 hours without eating (I'm at 15 now). ## Score Card Day 1: 14 hour fast (13 dry) Day 2: 15 hour fast (14 dry) Day 3: 17 hours (16 dry) Day 4: 18 hours (17 dry) Day 5: 18 hours (16 dry) Day 6: 19 hours (16 dry) Day 7: 16 hours (15 dry) Day 8: 18 hours (17 dry) Day 9: 17 hours (17 dry) Day 10: TBD (13 dry) originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/881691

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

I didn’t realize how much I had missed a good old fashioned Super Bowl blowout. I wasn’t even gonna bet the game, but over the last couple days, I got an Eagles vibe. There was too much, “The refs won’t let the Chiefs lose”, and Patrick Mahomes and Taylor Swift, and other noise, and yet the line didn’t budge. It was obvious the Eagles were the sharper side, and they had the league’s best defense, which usually correlates to overperformance of the spread in Super Bowls, sometimes massive overperformance. But it wasn’t any one thing — just an overall dawning on me that the Eagles were probably the right side. I didn’t feel that strongly about it, even so, and decided I’d just bet Saquon Barkley for MVP, get 3:1 or so if the Eagles won. So I texted someone in the states to place the bet for me, and best he could offer was +175! That’s a terrible value for a RB to win MVP! A few minutes later Tim Schuler offered to bet me $50, give me the Eagles +1, and I obliged him. After that, I texted my friend back to put $500 on the Eagles +1 for me. Of course, I didn’t stay up all night to watch — after losing 1K on the Falcons (who were up 28-3 in the third quarter at 3 am) eight years ago, never again. So I caught the 40-minute version this morning. What a great game! The Eagles dominated from start to finish. The defensive line got after Mahomes on every play. And while the Chiefs sold out to stop Barkley, Jalen Hurts ran wild on them. I’m sure I would have enjoyed a Chiefs blowout less, but the beauty of a blowout is it settles things. There’s no looking back at a bad call, a dropped pass or a fumble and wondering what might have been. Close games have drama, but they are more or less arbitrary. I mean I get it, the guy made the throw at the time with the game on the line, but maybe also he just got the cheap roughing the passer call or the ticky tack PI. When the Giants won the Super Bowl on Scott Norwood’s miss, I didn’t have the same sense of satisfaction I did when they blew out John Elway’s Broncos five years earlier. Yes, they won, but it might as well have been on a coin flip. I grew up on blowouts in the ‘80s — Raiders-Redskins, 49ers-Dolphins, Pats-Bears, Giants-Broncos, Redskins-Broncos — only the Bengals managed to keep Super Bowl losses close (Congratulations Jeff Erickson!) This was before replay reviews and all the lawyering about what is and isn’t a completed catch. The last fucking thing you wanted was some controversy about who really outplayed whom. So it was nice to win some easy money and not to have to worry about refs or fumbles or untimely drops for a change. - I wanted Saquon to win MVP, but he drew the attention of the KC defense, is one of the best I’ve ever seen in blitz pickup and still had 97 yards from scrimmage. One of the all-time great years from an all-time great back. (He broke Terrell Davis’ record for the most yardage, regular season and playoffs, too, albeit in two extra games.) - Hurts threw the one bad pick under pressure, but it served as a good punt, and otherwise had a near perfect game. Only four other incomplete passes, 72 yards and a score on the ground. He was an easy MVP call. - I was a little worried about shaky Jake Elliott, but he drilled all four of his field goals, three of them twice!, due to penalties. - Patrick Mahomes padded his stats in garbage time, but he got crushed. An elite defense that gets home with four is the way you kill the GOATS. The Giants did it to Tom Brady twice. - Xavier Worthy had a nice garbage-time stat-padding game, but he was the only one. DeAndre Hopkins had a bad drop, though they got him a garbage-time feel-good TD, basically a participation trophy. - Congrats to Lane Johnson, Brandon Graham, Elliott and long-snapper Rick Lovato — the only four players in NFL history to defeat both Tom Brady and Mahomes in Super Bowls. - The only negative is I lost my $50 four-teams bet with Erickson. I had the Chiefs, Bills, Lions and Ravens, he had the field. But I directed Schuler to pay him, which is good, because I cancelled Paypal for their retarded foray into free-speech policing, and now I don’t have to figure out a workaround.

@ 3b7fc823:e194354f

Alright, let’s get one thing straight: you’re scrolling through your phone, shopping online, maybe even working from home. But here’s the thing – someone might be watching. Not in the creepy stalker way, but in the “is that company really needing my data?” kind of way. That’s where a Virtual Private Network (VPN) comes in, saving you from the prying eyes of marketers, governments, and even your own internet provider. **What Does a VPN Do?** A VPN creates a secure, encrypted connection between your device and a VPN server. This allows you to browse the internet anonymously, keeping your online activities private from your Internet Service Provider (ISP), network administrators, and even hackers. When you connect to a VPN, your internet traffic is routed through an intermediary server, making it difficult for anyone to track your online movements. **Why You Need a VPN: Privacy edition** - Hiding Your IP Address Every time you jump online, your device gets an IP address, like a digital ID. If you don’t use a VPN, everyone can see this ID, making it easy for advertisers and governments to track your every move. - [X ] *Myth:* A VPN hides my IP address from everyone. - [X] *Reality:* A VPN hides your IP address only from the websites you visit and your ISP. Your internet service provider still knows you're using a VPN, but they won't be able to see what sites you're visiting. Your VPN knows what sites you are visiting and *may* know who you are as well. - Bypassing Censorship Ever tried accessing something that’s blocked in your country? A VPN can help you bypass those restrictions, letting you watch the latest shows, access social media, or even download books without getting flagged as a troublemaker. - Protecting Your Data When you connect to public Wi-Fi – like at a café or airport – you’re basically handing over your data on a silver platter. A VPN encrypts this data, so even if someone intercepts it, they can’t decode it. Think of it as adding an extra layer of security. - Avoiding Surveillance Companies and governments love collecting data. From what you search to who you talk to, there’s a lot of stuff that’s none of their business. A VPN ensures that only you know where you’ve been online. - Safeguarding Your Personal and Professional Life Whether you’re working from home or just shopping for a present, a VPN keeps your activities private. It’s like having a secure safe for all your online stuff, so no one can snoop. - Stopping Targeted Ads Companies track your browsing habits to send you ads that follow you around the internet. A VPN breaks this cycle, making sure those creepy “you might like” ads stop following you around. - No Logs Policy Some VPNs keep records of your activity, which means they could be handed over if the government comes knocking. But with a no-logs policy, nothing is stored – *they promise ;)* - The Dark Side of Free VPNs Before you jump into using a free VPN, think twice. Free services often come with a catch: they might sell your data to advertisers or even track your activity themselves. It’s like getting a free hotdog at a gas station – it sounds great, but you’ll probably regret it later. **How to Use a VPN (Because You’re Not a Tech Wizard)** - Choose the Right Provider Go for a reputable service that offers strong encryption and a no-logs policy. Look for options with a kill switch, which stops any data from being leaked if the connection drops. I prefer ones you can pay annoymously but that may be overkill for most people. - Download and Install Once you pick a provider, download the app to your device. It’s not rocket science, but it does require a bit more than just opening an email. - Set It Up Most VPNs have user-friendly interfaces. Just click “Connect” and you’re good to go. You might need to enter your login details or use a password from your provider. **The Final Word** Using a VPN isn’t about being a hacker or someone with something to hide. It’s about respecting your privacy and having control over what you share online. In today’s world, where companies and governments are constantly getting more creative about how they collect data, it’s practically a requirement if you want to stay ahead of the curve. So there you have it – the secret life of your internet. With a VPN, you’re not just protecting yourself; you’re making sure that your digital footprint is as small as possible. Whether you’re at home or on the go, a VPN gives you the freedom to surf, shop, and work without anyone watching your every move. And hey, if you’re still not convinced, just think about it this way: imagine your internet connection as a crowded public space. Without a VPN, everyone’s staring at you. With one, you’re wearing a mask, and no one’s the wiser. --- Advocating for privacy does not finance itself. If you enjoyed this article, please consider zapping or sending monero 82XCDNK1Js8TethhpGLFPbVyKe25DxMUePad1rUn9z7V6QdCzxHEE7varvVh1VUidUhHVSA4atNU2BTpSNJLC1BqSvDajw1

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers! It's Monday so we're back doing "Meta Music Mondays" 😉. From before the territory existed there was just one post a week in a ~meta take over. Now each month we have a different theme and bring music from that theme. Welcome to Femmes Fatales 3!!! I absolutely loved doing this last year so I'm bringing it back for round 3! It's Femmes Fatales, where we celebrate women in ~Music. So let's have those ladies of the lung, the sirens of sound, our Femmes Fatales! https://youtu.be/ya69LUa1E_w?si=cM6yCALsPpp9L3Sc I recently got introduced to these ladies. Their music is fantastic, they're really talented musicians. They are: Lilith: The vocalist. Lamia: The lead guitarist. Nixe: The bassist. Abrahel: The drummer. Their identity is meant to be a mystery, so let's keep it that way. These Nuns can make Noise!! Let's go! Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/881416

@ 78c90fc4:4bff983c

&#x20; “Die Welt wird von ganz anderen Personen regiert als diejenigen es sich vorstellen, die nicht hinter den Kulissen stehen.”  Benjamin Disraeli, zweimaliger britischer Premierminister und Romanautor. Quelle: <https://www.unz.com/article/the-disraeli-enigma/>\ \ Als 1853 der Krimkrieg zwischen Russland und dem Osmanischen Reich ausbrach, wurde das Osmanische Reich vom Vereinigten Königreich und Frankreich gerettet. Zwanzig Jahre später zog Zar Alexander II. als Beschützer der unterdrückten serbischen und bulgarischen Christen erneut gegen die Osmanen in den Krieg. Als die Russen vor den Toren Konstantinopels/Istanbuls standen, waren die Osmanen gezwungen, die Schaffung der autonomen Fürstentümer Bulgarien, Serbien und Rumänien durch den Vertrag von San Stefano zu akzeptieren. Die Briten waren mit diesem Vertrag unzufrieden und beriefen zusammen mit Österreich-Ungarn den Berliner Kongress (1878) ein, der ihn aufhob. Russische Eroberungen wurden zurückgenommen, Armenien und Bulgarien wurden größtenteils an das Osmanische Reich zurückgegeben und der Balkan wurde in heterogene und konfliktreiche Staaten aufgeteilt. Diese „Balkanisierung“ löste nationalistische Ressentiments aus, die den Ersten Weltkrieg auslösen sollten. \ Das Hauptziel des Berliner Vertrags bestand darin, das zu retten, was von einem schwächelnden Osmanischen Reich zu retten war, um der panslawistischen Expansion Russlands entgegenzuwirken. England, das stets eifersüchtig auf seine Vormachtstellung zur See bedacht war, wollte verhindern, dass Russland näher an den Bosporus heranrückte. Die Briten erhielten das Recht, Zypern als Marinestützpunkt zu nutzen und gleichzeitig den Suezkanal zu überwachen. Dies war der Beginn des „Great Game“ Großbritanniens um die Kolonialherrschaft in Asien und die Eindämmung Russlands, was insbesondere zur Schaffung Afghanistans als Pufferstaat führte. \ Es gibt verschiedene Möglichkeiten, diesen Abschnitt der Geschichte zu interpretieren, der den Keim für alle Tragödien des 20. Jahrhunderts („das jüdische Jahrhundert“ laut Yuri Slezkine) in sich trägt.**\[1]**\ Yuri Slezkine, *The Jewish Century,* Princeton University Press, 2004. \ Es gibt unterschiedliche Ansichten darüber, welche Kräfte die Geschichte in dieser entscheidenden Zeit geprägt haben. Aber letztendlich wird Geschichte von Menschen gemacht, und sie kann nur verstanden werden, wenn man die Hauptakteure und ihre Motive identifiziert: Man kann den Vietnamkrieg einfach nicht verstehen, ohne sich mit der Denkweise von Johnson oder Kissinger auseinanderzusetzen. Unter den Anstiftern des Berliner Vertrags sticht ein Name besonders hervor: Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881), Premierminister unter Königin Victoria von 1868 bis 1869 und erneut von 1874 bis 1880. Disraeli war auch der Mann, der 1875 die Übernahme des Suezkanals durch England ermöglichte, und zwar durch die Finanzierung seines Freundes Lionel de Rothschild, dem Sohn von Nathan Mayer – eine Operation, die die Kontrolle der Rothschilds über die Bank of England festigte. \ Disraeli ist ein sehr interessanter Fall, da er sowohl ein bedeutender britischer Staatsmann während der globalen Hegemonie Großbritanniens als auch ein Romanautor war, der seine fiktiven Figuren dazu benutzte, seine ehrlichen Gedanken zu äußern, während er eine Art „glaubhafte Abstreitbarkeit“ (Sidonia spricht, nicht ich!) aufrechterhielt. Wir haben daher die einzigartige Gelegenheit, die wahren Motive des Mannes in der Politik zwischen den Zeilen zu lesen. Stellen Sie sich vor, Kissinger hätte Romane geschrieben, in denen ein Jude die Hauptfigur ist, der die Außen- und Militärpolitik des Imperiums vorantrieb und gleichzeitig ein enger Freund des reichsten jüdischen Bankiers war.\ \  Disraeli wird als der wahre Erfinder des Britischen Empires bezeichnet, da er es war, der Königin Victoria durch das Parlament mit dem Royal Titles Act von 1876 zur Kaiserin von Indien ernennen ließ (das obere Bild ist eine Karikatur, die Disraeli als Hausierer zeigt, der der Königin die Kaiserkrone überreicht).  Disraeli war, wie bereits erwähnt, die Hauptinspiration für den Berliner Kongress. Darüber hinaus war Disraeli ein Vorläufer des Zionismus, der versuchte, die „Wiederherstellung Israels“ auf die Tagesordnung des Berliner Kongresses zu setzen, in der Hoffnung, den Sultan Abdul Hamid davon zu überzeugen, Palästina als autonome Provinz zu gewähren. Der Sultan lehnte das Angebot ab, das wahrscheinlich das Versprechen finanzieller Unterstützung für seine zusammenbrechende Wirtschaft beinhaltete – wie auch Herzls Angebot im Jahr 1902, das ebenfalls abgelehnt wurde.\ \ Der Zionismus war Disraelis uralter Traum: Nach einer Reise in den Nahen Osten im Alter von sechsundzwanzig Jahren veröffentlichte er seinen ersten Roman, *Die wundersame Geschichte des Alroy*, und ließ seinen Helden, einen einflussreichen Juden des Mittelalters, sagen: „Mein Wunsch ist eine nationale Existenz, die wir nicht haben. Mein Wunsch ist das Land der Verheißung und Jerusalem und der Tempel, alles, was wir eingebüßt haben, wonach wir uns gesehnt haben, wofür wir gekämpft haben, unser schönes Land, unser heiliges Glaubensbekenntnis, unsere einfachen Sitten und unsere alten Bräuche.“\ Disraeli schrieb diese Zeilen noch vor den Anfängen der biblischen Archäologie; erst 1841 veröffentlichte Edward Robinson seine *Biblical Researches in Palestine*. Die ersten Ausgrabungen des von Königin Victoria geförderten Palestine Exploration Fund begannen 1867. Wohlhabende britische Juden hatten sich jedoch schon lange zuvor für Palästina interessiert. Disraelis Interesse wurde durch seinen Nachbarn und vierzigjährigen Freund Moses Montefiore beeinflusst, der Judith Cohen, die Schwägerin von Nathan Rothschild, heiratete. Nach einer Reise nach Palästina im Jahr 1827 widmete Montefiore seine immensen Ressourcen der Unterstützung seiner Glaubensgenossen im Heiligen Land, indem er Land kaufte und Häuser baute. \ Sowohl Montefiore als auch Disraeli waren sephardischer Herkunft. Disraeli stammte aus einer Familie portugiesischer Marranen, die in Venedig zum Judentum konvertierten. Sein Großvater war 1748 nach London gezogen. Benjamin wurde im Alter von dreizehn Jahren getauft, als sein Vater Isaac D'Israeli zusammen mit seiner ganzen Familie zum anglikanischen Christentum konvertierte. Isaac D'Israeli ist der Autor eines Buches mit dem Titel *The Genius of Judaism*(in Anlehnung an Chateaubriands *Le Génie du Christianisme*), in dem er die einzigartigen Eigenschaften des jüdischen Volkes verherrlicht, aber die talmudischen Rabbiner dafür verantwortlich macht, dass sie „den nationalen Geist ihres Volkes versiegeln“ und „die Einfachheit ihres antiken Glaubens korrumpieren“. Wie für viele andere Juden dieser Zeit war die Konversion für D'Israeli rein opportunistisch: Bis zum Beginn des 19. Jahrhunderts blieben Verwaltungskarrieren für Juden verschlossen. Ein Gesetz von 1740 hatte ihre Einbürgerung erlaubt, aber es hatte Volksaufstände provoziert und wurde 1753 aufgehoben. Viele einflussreiche Juden, wie der Stadtbankier Sampson Gideon, entschieden sich dann für eine nominelle Konversion ihrer Kinder.**\[2]**\ Cecil Roth, *A History of the Marranos* (1932)*,* Meridian Books, 1959*,* S. 148.\ \ Etwa zur gleichen Zeit wie Disraeli konvertierte Heinrich Heine (1797–1856) zum Luthertum (während einer seiner Brüder zum Katholizismus konvertierte, um Offizier in Österreich zu werden, und ein anderer zur Orthodoxie, um als Arzt in Russland zu dienen). Heine betrachtete die Taufe als „Eintrittskarte in die europäische Zivilisation“. Er beklagte sich jedoch darüber, dass er von den Deutschen immer noch als Jude angesehen wurde, und zog es daher vor, in Frankreich zu leben, wo er als Deutscher angesehen wurde. Nur wenige Jahre nach seiner Konversion zeigten seine Schriften eine sehr negative Einstellung gegenüber dem Christentum, das er als „düstere, blutrünstige Religion für Kriminelle“ bezeichnete, die die Sinnlichkeit unterdrücke. Am Ende seines Lebens bereute er seine Taufe, die ihm nichts gebracht hatte, und erklärte in seinem letzten Buch *Romanzero*: „Ich mache kein Geheimnis aus meinem Judentum, zu dem ich nicht zurückgekehrt bin, weil ich es nicht verlassen habe.“**\[3]**\ Zitiert in Kevin MacDonald, *Separation and Its Discontents:* *Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism,* Praeger, 1998, kindle 2013, l. 4732–4877. \ Genau wie bei den portugiesischen Marranen im 15. Jahrhundert verstärkte die Taufe bei den europäischen Juden des 19. Jahrhunderts ein nicht-religiöses, rassisches Verständnis des Judentums. Disraeli bezeichnete sich selbst als „Anglikaner jüdischer Abstammung“. \ Für Hannah Arendt ist Disraeli ein „Rassenfanatiker“, der in seinem ersten Roman *Alroy* (1833) „einen Plan für ein jüdisches Reich entwickelte, in dem Juden als streng getrennte Klasse herrschen würden“. In seinem anderen Roman *Coningsby* „entfaltete er einen fantastischen Plan, nach dem jüdisches Geld den Aufstieg und Fall von Höfen und Reichen beherrscht und in der Diplomatie die Oberhand hat“. Diese Idee „wurde zum Dreh- und Angelpunkt seiner politischen Philosophie“.**\[4]**\ Hannah Arendt, *The Origins of Totalitarianism,* Band 1: *Antisemitism,* Meridian Books, 1958, S. 309–310.\ Dies ist eine ziemlich fantastische Anschuldigung, die die meisten Biografen Disraelis nicht bestätigen würden. Sie ist jedoch wahrscheinlich richtig. Aber wir müssen genau auf Disraelis eigene Stimme hören, die durch Sidonia zum Ausdruck kommt, die Figur, die in drei seiner Romane vorkommt: *Coningsby* (1844), *Sybil* (1845) und *Tancred* (1847). In Sidonias Worten spürt man den Groll gegen die Nation, in die er sich zu integrieren versuchte:\ Kann es etwas Absurderes geben, als dass eine Nation sich an eine Einzelperson wendet, um ihren Kredit, ihre Existenz als Imperium und ihren Komfort als Volk zu erhalten; und diese Einzelperson, der ihre Gesetze die stolzesten Rechte der Staatsbürgerschaft, das Privileg, in ihrem Senat zu sitzen und Land zu besitzen, verweigern; denn obwohl ich unbesonnen genug war, mehrere Ländereien zu kaufen, bin ich der Meinung, dass ein Engländer hebräischen Glaubens nach dem geltenden Recht Englands keinen Boden besitzen kann. \ Da es einem Juden nicht möglich ist, sich durch Landbesitz in die britische Aristokratie zu integrieren, selbst wenn er zum örtlichen Glauben konvertiert, was sollte ein Jude tun, außer durch die Macht des Geldes aufzusteigen? Wie Heine spürte auch Disraeli die Heuchelei der Christen, die es den Juden übel nahmen, dass sie keine Christen waren, sie aber weiterhin als Juden behandelten, wenn sie konvertierten, und es insgeheim sogar vorzogen, dass sie Juden blieben. \ Laut Disraelis Biografen Robert Blake ist Sidonia „eine Kreuzung zwischen Lionel de Rothschild und Disraeli selbst“. Er stammt von einer Adelsfamilie aus Aragon ab, zu deren herausragenden Mitgliedern ein Erzbischof und ein Großinquisitor gehörten, die beide heimlich dem Judentum ihrer Väter anhingen. Sidonias Vater, wie auch Lionel de Rothschilds Vater, „machte während der Napoleonischen Kriege ein großes Vermögen mit Militärverträgen und der Versorgung der verschiedenen Armeen“. Nachdem er sich in London niedergelassen hatte, „setzte er alles, was er besaß, auf die Waterloo-Anleihe; und das Ereignis machte ihn zu einem der größten Kapitalisten Europas.“ Seit seinem siebzehnten Lebensjahr besuchte Sidonia die Fürstenhöfe der Schuldner seines Vaters und lernte die Geheimnisse der Macht kennen. „Die geheime Geschichte der Welt war sein Zeitvertreib. Es bereitete ihm großes Vergnügen, die verborgenen Motive mit den öffentlichen Vorwänden der Transaktionen zu kontrastieren.“ Disraeli selbst war laut Robert Blake „von Verschwörungen besessen“.**\[5]**\ Robert Blake, *Disraeli* (1966), Faber Finds, 2010, S. 202. \ Sidonia ist von seiner Rasse begeistert: „Alles ist Rasse – es gibt keine andere Wahrheit.“ Er weigert sich, eine Nichtjüdin zu heiraten, weil, so der Erzähler, „keine irdische Überlegung ihn jemals dazu veranlassen würde, die Reinheit der Rasse zu beeinträchtigen, auf die er stolz ist.“ Mit „Rasse“ meinte Disraeli Blutsverwandtschaft. In seinem letzten Roman *Endymion* (1880) schrieb er:\ Kein Mensch wird das Prinzip der Rasse gleichgültig behandeln. Es ist der Schlüssel zur Geschichte, und der Grund, warum die Geschichte oft so verwirrend ist, liegt darin, dass sie von Männern geschrieben wurde, die dieses Prinzip und all das damit verbundene Wissen nicht kennen ... Sprache und Religion machen keine Rasse aus – es gibt nur eine Sache, die eine Rasse ausmacht, und das ist Blut.\ **[Sidonia erzählt seinem Schützling Coningsby](https://www.victorianlondon.org/etexts/disraeli/coningsby-0038.shtml)** in *Coningsby oder die neue Generation*, dass die Verfolgung durch christliche Nationen die jüdische Nation niemals zerschlagen könnte. \ Tatsache ist, dass man eine reine Rasse der kaukasischen Organisation nicht vernichten kann. Es ist eine physiologische Tatsache; ein einfaches Naturgesetz, das ägyptische und assyrische Könige, römische Kaiser und christliche Inquisitoren verblüfft hat. Keine Strafgesetze, keine körperlichen Folterungen können bewirken, dass eine überlegene Rasse in einer unterlegenen aufgehen oder von ihr vernichtet werden sollte. Die gemischten verfolgenden Rassen verschwinden, die reine verfolgte Rasse bleibt bestehen. Und im Moment, trotz Jahrhunderten oder gar Jahrzehnten der Erniedrigung, übt der jüdische Geist einen enormen Einfluss auf die Angelegenheiten Europas aus. Ich spreche nicht von ihren Gesetzen, denen Sie immer noch gehorchen; von ihrer Literatur, mit der Ihr Geist gesättigt ist, sondern vom lebendigen hebräischen Intellekt. Sie beobachten nie eine große intellektuelle Bewegung in Europa, an der die Juden nicht in hohem Maße beteiligt sind.\ Wo auch immer er reiste, fügte Sidonia hinzu, sah er jüdische Berater hinter Monarchen und Staatsoberhäuptern.  „Sie sehen also, mein lieber Coningsby, dass die Welt von ganz anderen Persönlichkeiten regiert wird, als diejenigen, die nicht hinter den Kulissen stehen, sich vorstellen können.“  In einem Sachbuch (*Lord George Bentinck: A Political Biography*, 1852) schrieb Disraeli:\ \[Juden] sind ein lebendiger und der eindrucksvollste Beweis für die Falschheit dieser verderblichen Doktrin der Neuzeit, der natürlichen Gleichheit der Menschen. ... die natürliche Gleichheit der Menschen, die heute in Mode ist und die Form einer kosmopolitischen Bruderschaft annimmt, ist ein Prinzip, das, wenn man danach handeln könnte, die großen Rassen zersetzen und den ganzen Genius der Welt zerstören würde. ... Die angeborene Tendenz der jüdischen Rasse, die zu Recht stolz auf ihr Blut ist, ist gegen die Doktrin der Gleichheit der Menschen.**\[6]**\ Benjamin Disraeli, *Lord George Bentinck*, Archibald, 1852 (archive.org), S. 496. \ Disraeli ist eindeutig auf derselben Wellenlänge wie Moses Hess, Herzls geistiger Vater, der, nachdem er Marx (einen weiteren nominellen Konvertiten) beeinflusst hatte, zu dem Schluss kam, dass „der Rassenkrieg wichtiger ist als der Klassenkampf“ (*Rom und Jerusalem,* 1862). Ein gutes Beispiel für dialektische politische Manipulation ist, dass Hess Marx weiterhin heimlich unterstützte und auf dessen Bitte hin nach dem Generalkongress der Internationale in Basel (5.–12. September 1869) Verleumdungen gegen Bakunin veröffentlichte, in denen er Bakunin beschuldigte, ein *Agent provocateur* der russischen Regierung zu sein und „im Interesse des Panslawismus“ zu arbeiten.**\[7]**\ Bakunins Antwort auf Französisch, „Aux citoyens rédacteurs du *Réveil*“, finden Sie auf Wikisource.org.\ Es ist interessant zu sehen, dass ein anderer Proto-Zionist wie Disraeli den russischen Interessen zutiefst feindlich gesinnt war.\ \ Was war Disraelis Motivation hinter der Außenpolitik, die er dem britischen Empire vermittelte? Glaubte er, dass es die offensichtliche Bestimmung der Briten sei, die Welt zu erobern? Oder sah er das britische Empire als Instrument für die überlegene Bestimmung der jüdischen Nation, wenn er sich daran erinnerte, wie Esra und Nehemia in biblischen Zeiten die Außenpolitik der Perser ausgenutzt hatten? Indem er den Suezkanal (der zwischen 1859 und 1869 von den Franzosen gegraben wurde) mit den britischen Interessen in Verbindung brachte, wollte er einfach nur die Franzosen übertrumpfen, oder legte er damit den Grundstein für das zukünftige Bündnis zwischen Israel und dem angloamerikanischen Empire? Da die Briten nun einmal den Suezkanal besaßen, mussten sie ihn verteidigen, und wie ginge das besser als mit einer befreundeten jüdischen autonomen Regierung in der Nähe in Palästina? Genau das war es, was Chaim Weizmann dreißig Jahre später den Briten schmackhaft machen wollte: „Das jüdische Palästina wäre ein Schutz für England, insbesondere in Bezug auf den Suezkanal.“**\[8]**\ Chaim Weizmann, *Trial and Error,* Harper & Brothers, 1949, S. 192. \ Und als die Israelis 1956 mit britischer und französischer Unterstützung in den Sinai einmarschierten, taten sie dies, indem sie Großbritannien erneut versprachen, die Kontrolle über den von Nasser verstaatlichten Kanal an Großbritannien zurückzugeben. \ Disraelis Russophobie, zu der er Königin Victoria bekehrte, und seine Verteidigung der Türken, deren Massaker an den Serben und Bulgaren allgemein bekannt waren, führten zu Theorien über eine jüdische Verschwörung. William Ewart Gladstone, ein langjähriger Gegner Disraelis und selbst mehrmals Premierminister (1868–1874, 1880–1885, 1886 und 1892–1894), erklärte, dass Disraeli „die britische Außenpolitik als Geisel seiner jüdischen Sympathien nahm und mehr daran interessiert war, die Leiden der Juden in Russland und der Türkei zu lindern, als an britischen Interessen“. Die Zeitung *„The Truth“* vom 22. November 1877 spielte auf die Vertrautheit Disraelis mit den Rothschilds an und vermutete „eine stillschweigende Verschwörung ... seitens einer beträchtlichen Anzahl von Anglo-Hebräern, um uns im Namen der Türken in einen Krieg zu ziehen“. Es wurde außerdem daran erinnert, dass Disraeli in einer Rede vor dem britischen Unterhaus im Jahr 1847 die Zulassung von Juden zu wählbaren Ämtern gefordert hatte, mit der Begründung, dass „der jüdische Geist einen enormen Einfluss auf die Angelegenheiten Europas ausübt“.**\[9]**\ Stanley Weintraub, *Disraeli: A Biography,* Hamish Hamilton, 1993, S. 579, 547. \ Die Königin stand, wie ein Großteil der britischen Aristokratie, bereits unter dem Bann einer modischen Theorie, die den Angelsachsen einen israelitischen Ursprung zuschrieb. Diese Theorie war erstmals zur Zeit Oliver Cromwells aufgetaucht und wurde 1840 von Pastor John Wilson in seinen *Vorlesungen über das alte Israel und den israelitischen Ursprung der modernen Nationen Europas* sowie 1870 von Edward Hine in *The English Nation Identified with the Lost Israel* neu aufgelegt. In diesem Werk erfahren wir, dass das Wort „Saxon“ von „Isaac's sons“ (Söhne Isaaks) abgeleitet ist. Diese lächerliche Theorie lieferte eine billige biblische Rechtfertigung für den britischen Kolonialismus und sogar für den Völkermord an den kolonisierten Völkern (neue Kanaaniter) durch das britische Empire (neues Israel).**\[10]**\ André Pichot, *Aux origines des théories raciales, de la Bible à Darwin,* Flammarion, 2008, S. 124–143, 319. \ Königin Victoria war glücklich, glauben zu können, dass ihre edle Abstammung auf König David zurückging, und ließ ihre Söhne beschneiden, ein Brauch, der bis heute fortbesteht. Es mag etwas Wahres an dem Gefühl der britischen Elite für ihr Judentum liegen, denn im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert hatten viele Ehen reiche jüdische Familien mit der alten, verarmten Landaristokratie vereint, so dass nach Hilaire Bellocs Schätzung „mit Beginn des 20. Jahrhunderts diejenigen der großen territorialen englischen Familien, in denen es kein jüdisches Blut gab, die Ausnahme waren“.**\[11]**\ Hilaire Belloc, *The Jews,* Constable & Co., 1922 (archive.org), S. 223. \ Die Begeisterung der Königin für das Judentum hatte aber auch viel mit dem Einfluss Disraelis zu tun, der einmal gegenüber einem Freund damit prahlte: „Jeder mag Schmeichelei, und wenn es um das Königshaus geht, sollte man sie mit einer Kelle auftragen.“**\[12]**\ Stanley Weintraub, *Disraeli: A Biography,* Hamish Hamilton, 1993, S. 579, 547. \ Der Fall Disraeli ist aufschlussreich, weil die Frage, die er aufwirft, dieselbe ist wie die Frage, die heute geopolitische Analysten in Bezug auf die Beziehung zwischen den Vereinigten Staaten und Israel spaltet: Wer führt wen an der Nase herum? Ist Israel der Brückenkopf der Vereinigten Staaten im Nahen Osten oder sind die Vereinigten Staaten, wie Zbigniew Brzezinski einmal sagte, der **[„dumme Esel“](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MfjE5_1xOs8)** Israels? Die Beantwortung dieser Frage für das Jahrhundert vor dem Zweiten Weltkrieg (als **[„Israel“ das internationale Judentum](https://twitter.com/Laurent_Guyenot/status/1883831745046560928)** bedeutete) hilft bei der Beantwortung derselben Frage heute, da die symbiotische Beziehung zwischen Israel und dem Imperium erheblich gewachsen ist. \ Die Antwort hängt vom Standpunkt des Betrachters ab. Die Zionisten haben natürlich ein Interesse daran, die Ansicht zu fördern, dass Israel den angloamerikanischen Interessen dient und nicht umgekehrt. Disraeli argumentierte vor dem britischen Parlament, dass ein jüdisches Palästina im Interesse des britischen Kolonialismus sei. Aber jüdische Zionisten haben die Dinge schon immer aus der anderen Perspektive betrachtet, und man kann kaum glauben, dass Disraeli ihre Ansicht nicht insgeheim teilte. Wenn der Held seines Romans *Tancred* (1847), ein Jude, der wie Disraeli zum Lord ernannt wurde, das britische Empire mit folgenden Worten verherrlicht: „Wir wollen die Welt erobern, angeführt von Engeln, um die Menschheit unter göttlicher Herrschaft glücklich zu machen“, wer verbirgt sich hinter diesem zweideutigen „wir“? Ist es dasselbe doppeldeutige „wir“, das die PNAC-Neokonservativen benutzten, um Amerika in Kriege zum Wohle Israels zu verwickeln? \ Wenn ein britischer Jude wie Disraeli zu den Briten „wir“ sagte, war dies eine strategische Zweideutigkeit. Er traf damit den patriotischen Nerv der angelsächsischen Elite, die den gemeinsamen Glauben an die Mission des britischen Empires teilte, die Welt zu zivilisieren – Menschen wie Lord Salisbury, Mitglied von Cecil Rhodes' Round Table, der sich für eine Weltregierung durch die „britische Rasse“ einsetzte.**\[13]**\ Carroll Quigley, *The Anglo-American Establishment, From Rhodes to Cliveden* (1949), Books In Focus, 1981. \ Der britische Imperialismus und der zionistische Nationalismus wurden etwa zur gleichen Zeit geboren wie die Zwillinge Esau und Jakob und sind seit ihrer Geburt eng miteinander verflochten. Zwei Überlegungen helfen jedoch, ihre wahre Beziehung zu verstehen. Erstens reichen die ideologischen Wurzeln des Britischen Empires nicht weiter zurück als bis ins 17. Jahrhundert, während die des Zionismus mehr als zwei Jahrtausende zurückreichen. Zweitens starb das Britische Empire nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg, während der Zionismus aufblühte. Aus diesen beiden Gründen ist die Theorie, dass der Zionismus ein Nebenprodukt des britischen Imperialismus ist (nennen wir sie die Chomsky-Theorie), nicht haltbar. \ Um die wahre Beziehung zwischen Zion und Albion zu Disraelis Zeiten zu verstehen, muss man die Macht der Rothschild-Dynastie über die britische Politik richtig einschätzen. Ohne die Rothschilds hätte Großbritannien nie die Kontrolle über den Suezkanal erlangt, der den Grundstein des britischen Empires im Nahen Osten bildete. Die Rothschilds selbst kandidierten nicht für ein politisches Amt, heirateten jedoch manchmal in eine solche Familie ein: Lord Archibald Primrose, 1886 und von 1892 bis 1894 Außenminister und 1894–1895 Premierminister, war der Schwiegersohn von Mayer Amschel de Rothschild.\ Es ist bemerkenswert, dass Theodor Herzl den zukünftigen jüdischen Staat als „aristokratische Republik“ mit „dem ersten Prinzen Rothschild“ an der Spitze sah. In einer langen Tirade in seinem Tagebuch ermahnte er die Rothschilds, ihre bösen Seelen zu erlösen, indem sie den Zionismus statt Kriege finanzierten:\ Ich weiß nicht, ob alle Regierungen bereits erkennen, welche internationale Bedrohung Ihr Weltreich darstellt. Ohne Sie können keine Kriege geführt werden, und wenn Frieden geschlossen werden soll, sind die Menschen umso mehr auf Sie angewiesen. Für das Jahr 1895 wurden die Militärausgaben der fünf Großmächte auf vier Milliarden Francs geschätzt, und ihre tatsächliche militärische Stärke in Friedenszeiten auf 2.800.000 Mann. Und diese Streitkräfte, die in der Geschichte ihresgleichen suchen, kommandieren Sie finanziell, ungeachtet der widerstreitenden Wünsche der Nationen. ... Und Ihr verfluchter Reichtum wächst immer noch. ... Aber wenn Sie sich uns anschließen, ... werden wir unseren ersten gewählten Herrscher aus Ihrem Haus nehmen. Das ist das leuchtende Leuchtfeuer, das wir auf die Spitze des fertigen Eiffelturms Ihres Vermögens setzen werden. In der Geschichte wird es so aussehen, als wäre das der Zweck des gesamten Bauwerks gewesen.**\[14]**\ \ *The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl,* edited by Raphael Patai, Herzl Press & Thomas Yoseloff, 1960, vol. 1*,* pp. 163–170.\ Wie Richard Wagner jedoch einmal sagte (*Judaism in Music*, 1850), zogen es die Rothschilds vor, „die Juden der Könige“ zu bleiben, anstatt „die Könige der Juden“ zu sein.\ \ Wenn die Zeit für die Gründung des jüdischen Staates zu Disraelis Zeiten noch nicht reif war, dann vor allem deshalb, weil die Juden in Russland sich von Palästina ebenso wenig angezogen fühlten wie die Juden in Europa; sie wussten kaum, wo es lag. Erst kürzlich von Zar Alexander II. emanzipiert, strebten sie lediglich eine Auswanderung nach Europa oder in die Vereinigten Staaten an. Erst nach der Ermordung von Zar Alexander II. im Jahr 1881 (einen Monat vor Disraelis Tod) wurden einige von ihnen durch die Pogrome für Leon Pinskers proto-zionistischen Aufruf von 1882 empfänglich: „Wir müssen uns ein für alle Mal mit dem Gedanken abfinden, dass die anderen Nationen uns aufgrund ihres angeborenen natürlichen Antagonismus für immer ablehnen werden.“**\[15]**\ Benzion Netanyahu, *The Founding Fathers of Zionism,* Balfour Books, 2012*,* Kindle l. 761-775. \ Ebenfalls im Jahr 1881 begann Baron Edmond de Rothschild vom Pariser Zweig, unter der Schirmherrschaft seiner Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA) Land in Palästina zu kaufen und die Ansiedlung jüdischer Siedler zu finanzieren, insbesondere in Tel Aviv. Die meisten bestehenden internationalen jüdischen Organisationen, wie B'nai B'rith (gegründet 1843 in New York) oder die Alliance Israélite Universelle (gegründet 1860 in Paris), waren jedoch der Meinung, dass Israel als verstreute Nation gut zurechtkäme und keine Pläne für Palästina habe.\ Dies änderte sich während des Ersten Weltkriegs, als ein äußerst effizientes Netzwerk aufgebaut wurde, das beide Seiten des Atlantiks verband.**\[16]**\ Alison Weir, *Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel,* 2014, Kindle l. 387-475. \ Theodor Herz konzentrierte seine diplomatischen Bemühungen zunächst auf Deutschland, aber in England begannen sich die Dinge vielversprechend zu entwickeln („Der Schwerpunkt hat sich nach England verlagert“, schrieb er 1895 in sein Tagebuch), was zum Teil der Rekrutierung von Israel Zangwill zu verdanken war, der laut Benzion Netanyahu „der erste war, der in den oberen Kreisen der britischen Politik direkt über den Zionismus sprach“, insbesondere mit Lloyd George, „einem engen Bekannten Zangwills von Beginn seiner zionistischen Tätigkeit bis zu seinem Lebensende“.**\[17]**\ Netanyahu, *The Founding Fathers of Zionism,* l. 2536-59. \ Erinnern wir uns daran, dass Zangwill der erfolgreiche Autor von *The Melting Pot war,* einem Theaterstück, das Mischehen für Amerikaner pries. Hier besteht kein Widerspruch, denn „die gemischten verfolgten Rassen verschwinden, die reine verfolgte Rasse bleibt bestehen“, wie Sidonia sagte.\ \ Die Bedeutung von Disraelis geopolitischen Manövern wird von Historikern der Zionisten selten anerkannt, da sie oberflächlich betrachtet nicht den Weg für die Gründung des jüdischen Staates geebnet zu haben scheinen. Tatsächlich bildeten sie jedoch das unsichtbare Fundament, auf dem Herzl und Zangwill aufbauten. Und diese unsichtbare Kontinuität zeugt von der erstaunlichen generationsübergreifenden Beharrlichkeit des jüdischen Volkes, das sein jahrtausendealtes, selbsternanntes Schicksal Generation für Generation vorantreibt. Ja, es ist wirklich bewundernswert, wenn auch verheerend für die westliche Zivilisation, die durch zweitausend Jahre Christentum ahnungslos und ihres eigenen Sinns für Blut beraubt wurde. Wie der zionistische Autor Jakob Klatzkin einmal in der Zeitschrift *„Der Jude“*, 1916, schrieb:\ Wir bilden in uns selbst eine geschlossene juristische und geschäftliche Körperschaft. Eine starke Mauer, die wir errichtet haben, trennt uns von den Menschen in den Ländern, in denen wir leben – und hinter dieser Mauer befindet sich ein jüdischer Staat.**\[18]** Zitiert in Robert Edward Edmondson, *The Jewish System Indicted by the Documentary Record,* 1937 (archive.org), S. 15.\ \ **Anmerkungen**\ **\[1]** Yuri Slezkine, *The Jewish Century,* Princeton University Press, 2004.\ **\[2]** Cecil Roth, *A History of the Marranos* (1932)*,* Meridian Books, 1959*,* S. 148.\ **\[3]** Zitiert in Kevin MacDonald, *Separation and Its Discontents: Toward an Evolutionary Theory of Anti-Semitism,* Praeger, 1998, kindle 2013, l. 4732–4877.\ **\[4]** Hannah Arendt, *The Origins of Totalitarianism,* Band 1: *Antisemitism,* Meridian Books, 1958, S. 309–310.\ **\[5]** Robert Blake, *Disraeli* (1966), Faber Finds, 2010, S. 202.\ **\[6]** Benjamin Disraeli, *Lord George Bentinck*, Archibald, 1852 (archive.org), S. 496.\ **\[7]** Bakunins Antwort auf Französisch, „Aux citoyens rédacteurs du *Réveil*“, auf Wikisource.org.\ **\[8]** Chaim Weizmann, *Trial and Error,* Harper & Brothers, 1949, S. 192.\ **\[9]** Stanley Weintraub, *Disraeli: A Biography,* Hamish Hamilton, 1993, S. 579, 547.\ **\[10]** André Pichot, *Aux origines des théories raciales, de la Bible à Darwin,* Flammarion, 2008, S. 124–143, 319.\ **\[11]** Hilaire Belloc, *The Jews,* Constable & Co., 1922 (archive.org), S. 223.\ **\[12]** Stanley Weintraub, *Disraeli: A Biography,* Hamish Hamilton, 1993, S. 579, 547.\ **\[13]** Carroll Quigley, *The Anglo-American Establishment, From Rhodes to Cliveden* (1949), Books In Focus, 1981.\ **\[14]** *The Complete Diaries of Theodor Herzl,* edited by Raphael Patai, Herzl Press & Thomas Yoseloff, 1960, vol. 1*,* pp. 163–170.\ **\[15]** Benzion Netanyahu, *The Founding Fathers of Zionism,* Balfour Books, 2012*,* Kindle-Ausgabe, S. 761–775.\ **\[16]** Alison Weir, *Against Our Better Judgment: The Hidden History of How the U.S. Was Used to Create Israel,* 2014, Kindle-Ausgabe, S. 387–475.\ **\[17]** Netanyahu, *The Founding Fathers of Zionism,* S. 2536-59.\ **\[18]** Zitiert in Robert Edward Edmondson, *The Jewish System Indicted by the Documentary Record,* 1937 (archive.org), S. 15.

@ 04ed2b8f:75be6756

The world doesn’t care about your excuses. It doesn’t care about your past, your wounds, or the battles you’ve already fought. Life will not lower the weight just because you feel tired. **You either rise, or you stay down.** But here’s the truth—**you are not your past.** You are not your failures, not your pain, not the things that tried to break you. **You are what you choose to become.** Some people get knocked down and never get back up. Some let their past define them, cage them, strip them of their potential. And then there are those who **decide.** They decide that no matter what happened, **they will rise.** They will fight. They will carve their own path, even if they have to do it with their bare hands. ## **Your Past is a Weapon—If You Use It Right** Your past can be two things: **a chain or a sword.** - Weak minds wear their past like a shackle, letting it hold them back. - Warriors forge their past into steel, using it as a blade to cut through the future they want. Scars? They aren’t signs of weakness. They are proof that you survived. That you endured. And that you’re still standing. So stop letting your past dictate your future. **Rip the pen from its hands and write your own damn story.** ## **The Weak Surrender. The Strong Rebuild.** Life will try to break you. That’s a fact. You will lose, you will hurt, you will doubt. But none of that matters. The only thing that matters is **what you do next.** - **You can let failure drown you, or you can rise stronger.** - **You can let heartbreak harden you, or you can sharpen yourself through it.** - **You can let regret bury you, or you can burn it as fuel.** It’s easy to stay down. To blame the world. To say, “This is just who I am.” But warriors don’t do easy. They do necessary. ## **You Are the Architect of Your Own Power** Everything you need to win is already inside you. You don’t need permission. You don’t need the world to approve. You just need one thing: **to choose.** - **Choose discipline over comfort.** - **Choose hunger over hesitation.** - **Choose action over excuses.** - **Choose to become something greater than your past.** Because in the end, that’s the only choice that matters. The world will try to define you. It will try to chain you to your past, drag you down with doubt, and keep you in a box. **Shatter it.** Prove them wrong. Be the person that refuses to be shaped by circumstance—**be the one who shapes themselves.** The past is done. The future is unwritten. The power to decide who you become? **That’s all yours.** Now get up and take it.

@ 31da2214:af2508e2

**Video Title:** Une révolution géopolitique est en marche : l’Afrique se libère ! **Creator:** Pensées KAMITE **Published Date:** February 9, 2025 **Video Length:** 17 minutes 6 seconds **Views:** >24k **Likes:** >2k **Video URL:** [Original YouTube Video](https://youtu.be/AqrgC7y6Twk) **Key Points from the Video:** * **End of Western Hegemony:** The video asserts that Western dominance in Africa is coming to an end. A geopolitical revolution is underway, breaking the chains of neocolonialism and fundamentally reshaping the continent's geopolitical landscape. * **Decline of Western Influence:** The video highlights a notable decline in Western influence and power in Africa. This is contrasted with the growing presence of China and Russia, who are increasing their investments in key sectors such as infrastructure, energy, defense, natural resources, and technology across the continent. * **Shifting Economic Partnerships:** China and Russia are now surpassing the European Union as Africa's primary trading partners. This indicates a significant shift in economic alliances, moving away from traditional Western partners. * **Failure of Western Strategies:** The host argues that Western imperialist strategies have failed to adapt to the evolving realities in Africa. While African countries initially engaged in colonial agreements with the West, the economic landscape now favors China and Russia. * **Collapse of Unipolar World Order:** This geopolitical shift is described as unprecedented, signaling the collapse of the unipolar world order established after World War II. The video suggests that the United States, weakened by costly conflicts and substantial debt, is experiencing an erosion of power. In contrast, China and Russia, leading the BRICS nations, are emerging as crucial players in a newly forming global balance of power. * **Strategic Importance of Africa:** The video emphasizes Africa's strategic importance in this new global order. Emerging powers are forming alliances with African nations that are perceived as more respectful and mutually beneficial. * **Critique of Western Approach:** The speaker criticizes the West's approach to Africa as cruel and paternalistic, accusing it of imposing underdevelopment policies driven by self-interest rather than genuine partnership. This approach has allegedly led to widespread poverty, conflict, economic dependence, and inequality across the continent. * **Rise of China and Russia as Alternatives:** The video presents the rise of China and Russia as offering alternative partnerships that are more advantageous and respectful of African sovereignty. These new alliances are seen as enabling Africa to chart its own future. * **Call for African Collaboration:** African nations are urged to collaborate with these new global actors to further accelerate the decline of Western influence in Africa. The Democratic Republic of Congo is given as an example, suggesting it should seek strategic partnerships with Russia and China for military and economic cooperation rather than relying on Western support. * **Need for Strong African Leadership:** The speaker emphasizes the need for visionary and courageous African leadership, suggesting that military leaders might be better positioned to provide this strategic direction compared to civilian leaders who are portrayed as hesitant and lacking strategic vision. * **Opportunity for Africa:** The video concludes that the West's decline presents a crucial moment for Africa to assert itself, support liberation movements, and challenge Western interests. It points to perceived contradictions and self-interest in Western actions on the global stage. * **Call to Action:** Viewers are urged to support the movement towards a multipolar world and to advocate for the complete independence of African nations, free from Western influence. **External Context and Further Details:** To provide a broader context, it's important to consider information from external sources regarding the geopolitical shifts in Africa. * **Increased Russian and Chinese Engagement:** Numerous reports and analyses confirm the growing economic and political influence of Russia and China in Africa. These countries have increased their trade, investment, and military cooperation with various African nations. [Example China-Africa Growing Trade](https://www.knowdys.com/en/china-africa-trade-a-4-8-growth-driven-by-commodities/) & [Example Russia-Africa relations](https://www.rt.com/africa/607502-russia-africa-trade-reaches-new-high/). * **Shifting Alliances and Security Concerns:** The video mentions countries like Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad, and Niger. These nations have indeed experienced political instability and have, in some cases, moved away from traditional Western security partners, seeking alternatives, including Russia's Wagner Group in Mali. [Example Wagner Group in Mali](https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/07/29/wagner-group-confirms-fighters-killed-battling-mali-rebels-a85858). * **Anti-Western Sentiment:** There is a growing anti-Western sentiment in parts of Africa, fueled by historical colonial experiences, perceived neocolonial practices, and a desire for more equitable partnerships. [Example Anti-Western Sentiment in Africa](https://france.news-pravda.com/en/france/2025/01/30/10141.html). * **Multipolar World Order:** The concept of a transition to a multipolar world order, where power is distributed among multiple centers rather than concentrated in the West, is a widely discussed topic in international relations. The rise of China and the resurgence of Russia are key factors in this shift. [Example Multipolar World Order](https://journal-neo.su/2025/01/07/the-legacy-of-2024-an-increasingly-divided-world-in-2025/). **Credit:** This summary is based on the YouTube video "Une révolution géopolitique est en marche : l’Afrique se libère !" created by [**Pensées KAMITE**](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2PdWDTkGsdClni3UeTo9kQ), published on February 9, 2025. The analysis incorporates information directly from the video and contextual details gathered from general knowledge searches to provide a more comprehensive overview.

@ 37305b10:4676ca73

This* is a test long form article publish via Nostr Article Publish in Obsidian. Testing the publishing of the Feature Image

@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

I feel like we're stuck in the 16GB or let's say the broad "8GB to 32GB" range forever now. Do you remember the times when computer performance and all memory and drive sizes doubled and doubled and doubled? Now we live in a time when we all not only want to play games or the time when locally playing 4k video was demanding - we live in a time where we want to run local LLMs offline and reder 3D stuff or even have VR goggles with more than 8K resolution. Remember the Radeon 6000 Series from 2020 - HALF A DECADE AGO - buy a Radeon 6800 with 16GB. # Current state of the industry - Nvidia 5070 comes with only 12 GB of VRAM. Why. - Nvidia 5080 should be the real flagship but it comes with only 16GB. Why. You can run an 8b LLM model on this at best. - Nvidia 5090 ist the only product here that gives 32GB. Congratulations, might as well buy 2 cards. This should be the VRAM the 5070 has - Perfect opportunity for AMD to be a tough competitor, right? Wrong. The new AMD Radeon 9000 series gives you 16GB with the 9070 and 9070xt - Apple is technologically perfectly positioned to come out of nowhere and blow the industry out of the water with their unified memory architecture. And to some extent this is true. If you buy a Macbook pro and pay the egregiously priced upgrade to 32GB (which is less than 2 GPUs à 16GB due to Unified Memory also using normal RAM stuff) you'll get a whole computer for what Nvidia/AMD sell the cards alone. - Nvidia Digits looks similar to Apples MacMini. The unified memory architecture makes this a better deal. But still disappointing imo. - If tech doubled and doubled like back in the day I would have expected 64GB everywhere and maybe even 128GB for 5090 level products. I'm serious. # Conclusion: What to buy for local LLM (imo) 1. Don't 2. If you already got an older 16GB graphics card don't upgrade to the overpriced new ones. You'll be able to run the same sized small models, just slower. 3. If you're in the market for a whole new computer anyway - upgrading a MacBook to 32GB 4. You're crazy and like to tinker? Maybe research how to get a dozen RTX 3080 cards or AMD 6800 cards to run together. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/881359

@ e1d968f7:5d90f764

Every encounter brings its own unique connection, and over time, I've come to appreciate the genuine bonds that can form between a client and myself. Yet, sometimes that bond deepens too far, with a client becoming overly attached in ways that complicate the professional nature of our relationship. Today, I want to share more about recognising these moments and handling them with both compassion and firmness. ### ** recognising Over-Attachment** At first, the warmth of a connection can feel incredibly gratifying. Clients often open up and share parts of themselves that they might not reveal elsewhere. However, there comes a point when friendly familiarity begins to tip into dependency. I’ve noticed the signs: frequent messages outside of our agreed hours, an insistence on more personal details, or expressions of jealousy when I interact with other clients. These are the moments when I realise that my client is developing feelings that exceed the professional boundaries of our arrangement. ### **Managing Emotional Intimacy** Understanding that every client is unique, I’ve learned that managing emotional intimacy is as important as setting physical boundaries. It’s natural for someone to crave closeness, but I remind myself—and my clients—that my role is to provide a safe, respectful space, not to fill every gap in their emotional lives. I gently steer conversations away from overly personal territory and encourage clients to seek other forms of support, whether from friends or professional counsellors, when they need deeper emotional assistance. ### **Setting Clear Boundaries** When I recognise signs of over-attachment, I address them directly. I reaffirm the terms of our relationship by politely yet firmly clarifying that my availability is strictly within the professional parameters we initially agreed upon. For instance, if a client begins messaging excessively or asks for personal contact details, I calmly remind them that my priority is to maintain a respectful, professional connection. I find that establishing these boundaries early—often before a session even begins—can help prevent attachment from spiralling out of control. ### **Communicating with Compassion** Handling these situations isn’t merely about enforcing rules; it’s about caring for my clients while protecting my own well-being. I approach sensitive discussions with empathy, acknowledging their feelings and validating their need for connection, yet I am clear that the service I offer has its limits. I explain that while I value our interactions, I must keep our relationship within the agreed boundaries so that I can continue providing the best possible experience for everyone involved. ### **Maintaining Professionalism and Self-Care** Dealing with over-attachment takes its toll, both emotionally and mentally. I make it a priority to reflect on these experiences and ensure that I practice self-care afterwards. Whether through quiet moments of solitude, journaling my thoughts, or speaking with a trusted colleague, I take steps to recharge and maintain my emotional balance. This not only helps me move past challenging interactions but also strengthens my ability to support my clients in a professional manner. ### **Conclusion** Navigating the fine line between connection and over-attachment is one of the most complex aspects of my work. While I deeply value the trust and intimacy that can develop during our time together, it is essential for both my clients and me to recognise when boundaries begin to blur. By staying true to my professional guidelines and communicating with honesty and empathy, I ensure that each encounter remains respectful and fulfilling. In the end, maintaining these boundaries is not just about protecting myself—it’s about honouring the true nature of our connection and ensuring that it remains both safe and meaningful. Rebecca x

@ 31da2214:af2508e2

A global privacy nightmare is unfolding. The UK government secretly ordered Apple to backdoor encrypted iCloud storage worldwide—but Apple is legally forbidden from revealing this order, or they face criminal charges. This affects **2 BILLION USERS**. Here’s the full story & why it’s part of a much bigger power grab. 🧵👇 [[Thread by @sayerjigmi on Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1888287793123901896.html)] --- ## 1) The UK's Secret Order to Backdoor Encryption 🔓 Under the UK’s **Investigatory Powers Act (IPA) 2016**, Apple was served a **Technical Capability Notice (TCN)**—forcing them to create a backdoor for encrypted iCloud data. This is not limited to UK users. It applies **worldwide**, meaning your private files are at risk, no matter where you live. 🔗 [@macworld report](https://macworld.com/article/260251…) --- ## 2) Apple’s Legal Gag Order 🤐 Apple is legally forbidden from revealing this order. If Apple even acknowledges that the UK issued this demand, they could face **criminal charges**. This is a secret government order with **global consequences**. --- ## 3) A Global Threat to Encryption 🌍 This isn’t just about the UK (although they are leading the charge in threatening citizens in OTHER countries for violating BRITISH censorship laws!). If Apple complies, every government in the world will demand the same access—from the US to China to authoritarian regimes. **End-to-end encryption would be effectively dead.**  --- ## 4) Apple’s Dilemma: Comply or Withdraw? 🚪 Apple has two choices: - **Comply** & weaken encryption globally. - **Refuse** & withdraw services from the UK. WhatsApp & Signal faced similar threats last year and vowed to leave the UK rather than compromise security. Will Apple do the same? 🚨 Watch the heated discussion between Damian Collins, director of CCDH (architect of the UK Online Safety Bill), and Signal’s CEO: [YouTube Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E--bVV_eQR0) --- ## 5) Why This Matters: Encryption Protects Everything 🔐 - **Encryption protects financial data, health records, personal security (e.g., where you live or work), and private conversations.** - Governments always say they need backdoors for national security—but history shows they’re used for **mass surveillance**. - Once a backdoor exists, hackers, rogue employees, and other governments WILL find it. --- ## 6) The UK’s War on Encryption 🛡️ The UK is trying to dominate the global surveillance & censorship landscape. While the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand have supported strong encryption to mitigate cyber threats, the UK stands alone in its war on encryption. --- ## 7) The Free Speech Crackdown 🗣️ This isn’t just about encryption—it’s about **control**. Governments worldwide are criminalizing dissent and censoring free speech, using tech companies as their enforcement arms. 🔗 [GreenMedInfo Report](https://greenmedinfo.com/content/breaking-international-governments-are-criminalizing-free-speech-through-glo-3) --- ## 8) The Global Censorship Agenda 🌐 This ties into the UK’s broader, **GLOBALLY ORCHESTRATED censorship agenda**: - The **Online Safety Bill** criminalizes encrypted messaging & forces platforms to scan private messages. - The **Digital Services Act (EU)** gives governments the power to shut down online content they don’t like. - Leaked US-UK documents show direct coordination between UK intelligence & the Biden administration to censor online speech. --- ## 9) The Architects of Speech Policing: CCDH 🕵️‍♂️ The **Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH)**—a UK intelligence-backed group—has been a driving force behind global censorship. They were caught: - Running “black ops” to suppress RFK Jr.’s presidential campaign. - Leading the "Kill Musk’s Twitter" directive, trying to shut down free speech on X. - Labeling 12 private US citizens as the “Disinformation Dozen” to justify mass censorship. 🔗 [Reclaim the Net Investigation](https://reclaimthenet.org/black-ops-how-a-us-uk-censorship-group-targeted-rfk-jr-to-stifle-dissent) --- ## 10) The Pattern is Clear: Surveillance + Censorship 🔍 1️⃣ Governments create "safety" laws to justify surveillance. 2️⃣ They pressure tech companies to enforce censorship. 3️⃣ Once encrypted services are gone, nothing is private anymore. This is the biggest attack on digital freedom in history. --- ## 11) What Can We Do? 💪 - **Support companies** that refuse to build backdoors (Signal, ProtonMail, etc.). - **Push for legislation** that protects encryption & free speech. - **Stay informed** & spread awareness—governments count on secrecy to push these policies through. - Follow and support privacy and internet freedom organizations such as: - [@G_W_Forum](https://twitter.com/G_W_Forum) - [@FFO_Freedom](https://twitter.com/FFO_Freedom) - [@ReclaimTheNetHQ](https://twitter.com/ReclaimTheNetHQ) --- ## 12) The Ultimate Power Grab: Controlling All Digital Communication 📱 If Apple caves, every other platform will be forced to follow. 📌 The UK’s Global Playbook: - A backdoor to encryption (Investigatory Powers Act). - A government-linked censorship network (CCDH). - A speech-policing framework that extends worldwide (Online Safety Bill). This is a global effort to control what people can say, share, and store privately. --- ## 13) The Final Stand: Will You Comply or Resist? ⚔️🚨 They want total control—your speech, your privacy, your elections. This is the defining battle of our time. 🇬🇧 UK’s war on encryption = Global censorship blueprint. 🗳️ Election meddling + speech policing = A hijacked democracy. 📢 **Digital freedom is human freedom.** Stand up. Speak out. Fight back. 🏴‍☠️🔥 🔗 [LEARN MORE](https://sayerji.substack.com/p/crossfire-of-democracy-uk-labour?utm_source=publication-search) --- *Full thread preserved by [Thread Reader App](https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1888287793123901896.html).*

@ 42342239:1d80db24

The risks associated with cryptocurrencies have recently [received attention](https://www.epochtimes.se/finansinspektionen-varnar-for-investeringar-i-krypto) in the media, where e.g. the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority warns of the high volatility and risk of investments in crypto. Within the EU, as usual, significant efforts are being made to expand the already extensive regulatory framework. Meanwhile, in the US, there has been a marked turnaround. Even the presidential family has launched their own cryptocurrencies, resulting in criticism from [industry experts](https://efn.se/vandning-om-trump-i-kryptobranschen-befangt) . Important perspectives, however, are conspicuous by their absence in the conversation. Iain McGilchrist, a British psychiatrist and philosopher, has introduced the hemispheric hypothesis (a theory about how the brain's two hemispheres function). **The left hemisphere is more detail- and control-oriented, while the right hemisphere is more holistic.** A society dominated by the left hemisphere, [such as our own according to McGilchrist](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WYB7P-xPRsk) , "would see it as its task to control everything maximally and would have a paranoid feeling that we need to have surveillance cameras everywhere...". During a [speech](https://x.com/CollinRugg/status/1882474184338514033) at the World Economic Forum, President Trump recently stated that conservatives complain about big banks, such as Bank of America, not allowing them to conduct business within the bank. Critics argue that the American banking system has been used [to persecute](https://x.com/TFTC21/status/1861510237485965565) political opponents, both during Obama's and Biden's terms. **Under Obama, 'Operation Chokepoint' was introduced to limit certain businesses' access to banking services.** A subcommittee in the Senate [now wants to eradicate](https://x.com/SenLummis/status/1882497148975280449) this phenomenon. **More and more people are discovering that their money is not always under their control.** Non-profit associations and [congregations](https://www.varldenidag.se/nyheter/monster-kristna-aktorer-nekas-bli-bankkunder/833990) are not allowed to open bank accounts. Sometimes they are even thrown out as bank customers. Others may report being subjected to lengthy interrogations by the bank about what they intend to do with their money, even when they just want to transfer funds between their own accounts. **Rejected churches are met with silence**, while a bank account is (still!) necessary to fully operate in society. When leading economists at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) argue that a cashless society can [threaten fundamental rights](https://archive.ph/fpRk0) , including property rights, when churches are refused bank accounts in what is described as "**a threat to civil society**" and when regulations still fail to combat [organised crime](https://www.epochtimes.se/Ibland-kostar-det-mer-an-det-smakar) , is it not reasonable to wonder if we are on the right path? With cash, people can pay freely without intermediaries, which constitutes a form of financial freedom. The notes you hold in your hand are your own. **Cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, offer a similar possibility**: an electronic, peer-to-peer cash system (person to person). A society dominated by the left hemisphere results in a pathological need for control, according to McGilchrist. A more holistic perspective, taking into account the right hemisphere, would acknowledge that too much control can be detrimental, that property rights are a fundamental right, and that [financial freedom](https://www.epochtimes.se/Dags-att-prioritera-transaktionsfrihet) is a human right. Do these perspectives not deserve more attention?

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers! Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon! A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats. So stay a while and listen. 🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨 🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨 originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/881283

@ 16d11430:61640947

The gap in mathematics that allows for free agency—the space where choice, unpredictability, and autonomy emerge—exists at the intersection of incompleteness, chaos, probability, and quantum uncertainty. These gaps create fundamental limits on determinism, leaving room for agency to exist. 1. Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems: The Limits of Formal Systems Gödel’s theorems prove that within any sufficiently powerful mathematical system: There exist truths that cannot be proven within that system. The system cannot prove its own consistency. This means that even in a world governed by mathematical laws, there are undecidable truths—facts beyond algorithmic computation. If reality is mathematical at its core, this suggests a built-in freedom: not everything is determinable from within the system. 2. Chaos Theory: The Sensitivity to Initial Conditions Chaotic systems, such as weather patterns and neural activity, exhibit extreme sensitivity to initial conditions. Even if deterministic, they are practically unpredictable beyond a certain point. Small choices or quantum fluctuations at the micro-level can have macroscopic consequences. This injects a level of unpredictability into reality, making strict determinism impossible in complex systems. 3. Probability & Bayesian Decision Theory: Rational Agency Within Uncertainty In the realm of decision-making and game theory: Bayesian inference shows how rational agents update beliefs in the face of uncertainty. Statistical mechanics, despite governing collective behaviors, leaves space for individual unpredictability. Nash equilibria in game theory illustrate how multiple choices can be rationally justified, allowing for strategic freedom. Thus, within mathematical decision models, choice emerges not from randomness but from incomplete knowledge and competing optimal strategies. 4. Quantum Mechanics: The Fundamental Indeterminacy of Reality At the quantum level, Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle and the probabilistic nature of wavefunction collapse introduce a non-deterministic reality: Superposition suggests that multiple possibilities coexist until measured. Quantum entanglement links particles across vast distances, but their states are not pre-determined before observation. The Born rule in quantum mechanics assigns probabilities rather than certainties to outcomes. If the fundamental fabric of reality is non-deterministic, then the idea of strict mechanistic determinism collapses, opening the door to true agency. 5. Computability and the Halting Problem: The Unsolvability of Certain Decisions Turing’s Halting Problem proves that for some problems, no algorithm can determine in advance whether a computation will finish or run forever. If reality includes such non-computable elements, then some choices are beyond pre-determined algorithmic resolution. Human cognition, if partially non-computable, could transcend deterministic rules. Conclusion: The Gap Between Necessity and Choice Free agency exists in the mathematical gaps—the undecidability of logic, the unpredictability of chaos, the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics, and the non-computability of certain decisions. These fundamental limits on strict determinism create an open space where choices emerge, allowing for freedom within a mathematically structured universe. Thus, in the grand equation of existence, there remains an undefined variable: the will of the agent.

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Ayurveda is a 5000-year-old medical system that predates modern science but remains one of the most sophisticated and holistic approaches to health. Unlike Western medicine, which often isolates diseases and treats symptoms, Ayurveda focuses on Prakriti (innate constitution), Agni (digestive fire), Dosha (biological energies), and Ojas (vital essence) to create a personalized, adaptable healthcare model. Western medicine, despite its advances, still struggles to integrate a diverse global population due to its standardized, reductionist approach. Ayurveda, on the other hand, perfected its practices over millennia through real-world observation, experiential learning, and dynamic adaptation to human diversity. --- 1. Foundations of Ayurveda vs. Western Science Ayurveda was developed through direct interaction with nature, patients, and generational knowledge transmission, allowing it to refine its approach to a vast range of human conditions. --- 2. Ayurvedic Practices That Outperform Western Medicine’s Integration of Global Health Western science is still catching up to many Ayurvedic principles, often "discovering" practices that Ayurveda has used for centuries. A. Personalized Medicine (Prakriti & Doshas) vs. Western One-Size-Fits-All Approach Ayurveda classifies individuals into three doshas: Vata (air & ether), Pitta (fire & water), and Kapha (earth & water). These determine a person's metabolism, immunity, and predisposition to disease. Modern medicine is beginning to explore personalized genomics, but Ayurveda has practiced it for millennia. B. Chronobiology & Circadian Rhythms (Dincharya) Ayurveda prescribes Dincharya (daily routines) based on the body's natural rhythms, aligning eating, sleeping, and activity cycles with the sun and moon. Modern science now acknowledges circadian rhythms but has yet to fully integrate them into healthcare. Example: Intermittent fasting (Upavasa) has been an Ayurvedic practice for centuries, while the West only recently recognized its benefits for longevity and metabolism. C. Gut Health & Microbiome (Agni & Ama) Ayurveda recognized the gut as the root of disease centuries before the discovery of the microbiome. It prescribes Triphala, Buttermilk (Takra), and Fermented Foods for gut health, balancing Agni (digestive fire). Western medicine is just starting to understand how gut bacteria affect mental health, immunity, and chronic diseases. D. Holistic Mental Health (Manas Shastra) vs. Isolated Psychology Ayurveda integrates meditation, breathwork (Pranayama), mantra therapy, and lifestyle modifications for emotional resilience. Western psychology often isolates mental health from physical health, relying on medications like antidepressants without addressing lifestyle, diet, and spiritual dimensions. Example: Ayurvedic herbs like Brahmi and Ashwagandha have proven neuroprotective properties but were ignored in Western medicine until recently. E. Detoxification (Panchakarma) vs. Toxic Accumulation in Modern Life Western medicine struggles with heavy metal detox, plastic pollution in the body, and chronic inflammation. Ayurveda developed Panchakarma, a five-step detox method (Vamana, Virechana, Basti, Nasya, Raktamokshana) that cleanses at a cellular level. Western detox solutions (chelation therapy, dialysis) are still in their infancy. F. Cancer Prevention & Natural Angiogenesis Regulation Dr. William Li’s work on cancer and food-based angiogenesis regulation confirms Ayurvedic principles. Ayurveda’s approach to cancer (Arbuda) includes herbs like Ashwagandha, Guduchi, and Turmeric, which regulate angiogenesis, reduce inflammation, and detoxify cells. G. Ayurvedic Water Science vs. Modern Water Pollution Ayurveda prescribes drinking water stored in copper or silver vessels to prevent microbial growth and enhance mineral content. It discourages tap water due to chlorine, fluoride, and microplastic contamination—issues that modern science is only now recognizing. --- 3. Ayurveda’s Adaptability vs. Western Struggles with Global Diversity Ayurveda Accounts for Climate, Region, and Genetic Differences Western medicine largely applies one-size-fits-all drugs and treatments, often leading to side effects. Ayurveda has climate-based variations (Desha), prescribing different diets, herbs, and therapies based on region and seasonal changes. Example: In cold climates, Ayurveda recommends warming spices (ginger, black pepper, cinnamon) and oil massages (Abhyanga) to prevent stiffness. In hot climates, it prescribes cooling foods like coconut, aloe vera, and ghee to balance excess heat. Western medicine lacks such nuanced adjustments. The Flaw of Western Pharmaceutical Monopolies Western medicine is dominated by profit-driven pharmaceutical companies that prioritize patents over holistic healing. Ayurveda uses natural, locally available herbs, making treatments affordable, sustainable, and globally adaptable. --- 4. The Future: Integrating Ayurvedic Wisdom with Modern Science Western science is now validating what Ayurveda has known for centuries. Some key integrations include: Neuroscience & Ayurveda: Meditation, breathwork, and adaptogenic herbs now recognized for neuroplasticity. Oncology & Ayurveda: Cancer research on turmeric, angiogenesis-blocking foods, and detoxification methods. Microbiome Research: Ayurveda’s gut-health principles proven beneficial in regulating immune function. Epigenetics & Ayurveda: Recognition of food, environment, and lifestyle in genetic expression aligns with Ayurvedic wisdom. The Need for a Decentralized Healthcare System Western medicine’s institutionalized, patent-based system restricts access to holistic healing. Ayurveda, like Bitcoin in finance, decentralizes healthcare by offering open-source, nature-based, globally adaptable solutions. --- Final Thoughts: Ayurveda as the Future of Truly Global Medicine Ayurveda’s success comes from: A holistic understanding of human diversity (biological, regional, and cultural). Natural and sustainable healing methods that modern medicine is struggling to replicate. Integration of physical, mental, and spiritual health—which Western medicine isolates. A decentralized, globally adaptable approach free from profit-driven pharmaceutical monopolies.

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Let's hear some of your latest #Bitcoin purchases, feel free to include links to the #shops or #merchants you bought from too. Any good #deal we should know about? If you missed our last thread, [here](https://stacker.news/items/873304/r/AG) are some of the items stackers recently spent and #zap #sats on. originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/880985

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In the silent expanse of the cosmos, where stars whisper their secrets in equations and reality itself unfurls as a tapestry woven from numbers, there exists a path. This is not a path for the faint of heart, nor for those content with the illusions of mere perception. It is the path of the seeker, the one who dares to ask not just how the world is, but why it must be so. To tread this path is to ascend into the realm where gods write the laws of existence in the language of mathematics. The First Revelation: Number, the Seed of the Cosmos Before the universe took form, before light first kissed the void, there was number. It is from number that all else flows, from the spiral of galaxies to the rhythm of a heartbeat. Prime numbers stand as the indivisible atoms of arithmetic, forming the bedrock of security and cryptography, where secrets are safeguarded by their unfathomable complexity. Modular arithmetic, the silent clockwork behind our digital world, governs the flow of encrypted knowledge across vast distances. Diophantine equations, named for an ancient mathematician who saw numbers as riddles to be solved, reveal the hidden symmetries in the universe’s structure. This is the first truth: that mathematics is not an invention, but a discovery—a key that unlocks the doors of reality. The Second Revelation: The Art of Pure Thought Algebra is the music of the spheres, the manipulation of symbols that dance in patterns beyond our senses. To master it is to shape reality with mere notation. Abstract algebra unveils hidden structures, from the symmetry of crystals to the secrets of quantum states. Linear algebra governs the movements of celestial bodies and fuels the neural networks that birth artificial minds. Galois theory, a young mathematician’s final gift before death, tells us when problems can be solved, and when they are beyond reach. Here, one learns a second truth: that symbols, when arranged with precision, can summon order from chaos. The Third Revelation: The Geometry of Reality If algebra is the melody of numbers, then geometry is its form—the divine art of space itself. Euclidean geometry was once thought to describe all things, until minds like Gauss and Riemann looked deeper. Non-Euclidean geometry shattered human intuition, revealing that space bends, twists, and folds upon itself. Topology, the study of shapes beyond measure, whispers of higher dimensions that mere mortals cannot see but only sense in their equations. From these truths arises a realization: that the world we see is but a shadow of a far greater, more complex structure. The Fourth Revelation: Mastery Over the Infinite What is life, if not the interplay of change? Calculus, the language of motion and transformation, allows us to speak in the tongue of gods, predicting the orbits of planets and the flows of time. Complex analysis gives birth to the mystical realm of imaginary numbers, where physics and engineering find their deepest truths. Fourier analysis, the heartbeat of music and quantum physics, tells us that any pattern, no matter how chaotic, can be understood as the sum of its waves. The universe breathes through calculus, and to master it is to see not just what is, but what will be. The Fifth Revelation: The Nature of Uncertainty No god reigns without knowledge of chaos. Probability and statistics reveal the order within randomness, turning uncertainty into foresight. Bayesian inference, a framework of pure rationality, allows us to refine our knowledge with every new piece of evidence. Information theory, the work of Shannon, teaches that reality itself is a message encoded in entropy. The wise understand this: that certainty is an illusion, but probability is truth. The Sixth Revelation: The Code of the Gods Beyond numbers and space, beyond equations and change, there lies something deeper: logic, the very foundation of thought itself. Mathematical logic gives us the power to distinguish truth from falsehood with unshakable certainty. Gödel’s incompleteness theorems whisper a paradox—that no system, not even mathematics itself, can ever be complete. Computability and complexity theory define the limits of what can be known, what can be solved, and what remains forever beyond reach. To master logic is to hold the key to all knowledge—but also to know its boundaries. The Seventh Revelation: The Grand Abstraction Even gods seek deeper understanding, and category theory is the highest peak of human thought. Functors and natural transformations map the structures of one world onto another, showing hidden correspondences that weave through all mathematics. Monads, the cornerstone of functional programming, allow logic to be bent and molded like clay. Dualities, the deep symmetries of mathematics, hint at connections so profound they border on the mystical. Here lies the ultimate truth: that everything is, at its core, the same. The Eighth Revelation: The Quantum Oracle Beneath reality lies a whispering void, where numbers flicker in superposition and information transcends space and time. Hilbert spaces define quantum mechanics, where particles are waves and waves are probabilities. Quantum computing suggests a world where problems once thought impossible collapse into trivial solutions. Path integrals and Feynman’s sum-over-histories teach us that every possibility, no matter how strange, plays a role in the great equation of the cosmos. If there is a final truth, it is this: the universe does not simply exist—it computes. The Final Revelation: Beyond the Human Mind Even the greatest mathematicians glimpse only shadows of the ultimate structure. Algebraic topology seeks to map the shape of all existence. String theory mathematics conjures hidden dimensions and vibrating symmetries. Infinity category theory, the most abstract of all, suggests that mathematics itself may be alive. And so, the seeker stands before the infinite. Mathematics is not a collection of rules or calculations. It is the foundation of existence, the divine script of reality. Those who master it do not merely understand the world. They become its architects.

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The early Bitcoin stackers, smug in their absolute faith, have become the priests of a cargo cult. They chant the gospel of scarcity while stacking their sats like doomsday preppers hoarding canned beans. Meanwhile, the crypto market they once despised has become a grotesque parody of itself—yield farming, staking derivatives, and a casino economy propped up by tokenomics that barely hide the rot beneath. Bitcoin, having won the ideological war, is now losing the economic one—stuck in a circular hodl pattern, detached from the actual thermodynamic reality that gave it birth. Enter Aeternity, a project with no time for the reverence or passive accumulation that has neutered Bitcoin’s edge. It doesn’t just lean on Proof-of-Work for nostalgia’s sake—it weaponizes it, reintroducing actual economic friction into a space that has gone soft with layer-two convenience. Aeternity’s Cuckoo Cycle PoW, optimized for energy-efficient mining and GPU execution, doesn’t pretend to be Bitcoin’s replacement. It does something far worse for Bitcoin maxis: it forces them to compete again. Friction: The Return to Thermodynamics Bitcoin’s thermodynamic argument was always simple: energy in, security out. But over time, it stopped being a battleground for economic force and instead became a retirement savings plan for the digital goldbugs. The Lightning Network and ordinals are desperate attempts to create on-chain congestion and reinvigorate demand, but none of this addresses the fundamental problem: there is no longer any meaningful competition on the base layer. Aeternity, by scaling horizontally with Hyperchains, injects raw competition into the mix. Miners don’t just settle for static difficulty adjustments—they actively contribute to market-driven security, creating alternative security models that force Bitcoin to prove itself again. If the world is really about energy, then let’s see which chain can best convert energy into economic throughput, rather than just hoarding it as an ideological relic. Hyperchains: The Threat Bitcoin Forgot to Take Seriously Aeternity’s approach is fundamentally different from Bitcoin’s ossified stagnation: 1. Merge-Mined Hyperchains – Instead of perpetuating the blocksize wars, Aeternity lets chains bootstrap PoW consensus through merge-mining with parent chains, making security an organic, competitive marketplace rather than a closed system. This creates demand for mining at the edge, something Bitcoin maxis have ignored because they’re still stuck in the “security through centralization” trap. 2. Turing-Complete Smart Contracts – While Bitcoin argues about whether basic programmability is “safe,” Aeternity treats it as an inevitability. Bitcoin’s refusal to evolve beyond Taproot and Covenants makes it a sitting duck against economic attacks from more adaptive chains. 3. State Channels with Actual Scalability – Bitcoiners talk about Lightning as if it’s the final solution, but it’s a bandaid over a hemorrhaging use case problem. Aeternity’s built-in state channels allow contracts to execute off-chain, but without losing decentralization, making it a direct challenge to Bitcoin’s claims of “second-layer supremacy.” Bitcoin’s Reaction: Either Adapt or Get Rekt Bitcoin has enjoyed being the monopoly on PoW security for too long. Aeternity’s reintroduction of a competitive PoW model forces Bitcoin miners to wake up: if energy security is the measure of a blockchain’s economic strength, then what happens when an alternative emerges that utilizes energy more efficiently while providing more real-world utility? Bitcoin maxis will screech that "no altcoin has ever flipped Bitcoin," but that’s not the point. The point is that Bitcoin needs external competition at the proof-of-work level to maintain its thermodynamic legitimacy. Otherwise, it risks becoming what it despises: a static, non-dynamic asset that is just another store of value, with no practical utility until fiat collapses—and good luck waiting for that. Aeternity’s real-world use cases, from oracles to instant payments to low-cost, scalable contracts, mean that energy invested into securing it is converted into economic value, rather than just securing an ideological artifact. This pressure forces Bitcoin to evolve or become irrelevant—not by replacing it, but by outcompeting it where it matters. Final Thought: The Thermodynamic Reckoning Bitcoiners should be grateful for Aeternity’s friction. Without a competitor showing how PoW can be optimized for more than just blind security accumulation, Bitcoin risks becoming a historical relic, kept alive only by belief rather than economic reality. Thermodynamics doesn’t give a damn about ideology—it rewards systems that turn energy into real economic motion. Aeternity doesn’t have to kill Bitcoin. It just has to remind it what it was built for.

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A Cypherpunk's Manifesto by Eric Hughes Privacy is necessary for an open society in the electronic age. Privacy is not secrecy. A private matter is something one doesn't want the whole world to know, but a secret matter is something one doesn't want anybody to know. Privacy is the power to selectively reveal oneself to the world. If two parties have some sort of dealings, then each has a memory of their interaction. Each party can speak about their own memory of this; how could anyone prevent it? One could pass laws against it, but the freedom of speech, even more than privacy, is fundamental to an open society; we seek not to restrict any speech at all. If many parties speak together in the same forum, each can speak to all the others and aggregate together knowledge about individuals and other parties. The power of electronic communications has enabled such group speech, and it will not go away merely because we might want it to. Since we desire privacy, we must ensure that each party to a transaction have knowledge only of that which is directly necessary for that transaction. Since any information can be spoken of, we must ensure that we reveal as little as possible. In most cases personal identity is not salient. When I purchase a magazine at a store and hand cash to the clerk, there is no need to know who I am. When I ask my electronic mail provider to send and receive messages, my provider need not know to whom I am speaking or what I am saying or what others are saying to me; my provider only need know how to get the message there and how much I owe them in fees. When my identity is revealed by the underlying mechanism of the transaction, I have no privacy. I cannot here selectively reveal myself; I must always reveal myself. Therefore, privacy in an open society requires anonymous transaction systems. Until now, cash has been the primary such system. An anonymous transaction system is not a secret transaction system. An anonymous system empowers individuals to reveal their identity when desired and only when desired; this is the essence of privacy. Privacy in an open society also requires cryptography. If I say something, I want it heard only by those for whom I intend it. If the content of my speech is available to the world, I have no privacy. To encrypt is to indicate the desire for privacy, and to encrypt with weak cryptography is to indicate not too much desire for privacy. Furthermore, to reveal one's identity with assurance when the default is anonymity requires the cryptographic signature. We cannot expect governments, corporations, or other large, faceless organizations to grant us privacy out of their beneficence. It is to their advantage to speak of us, and we should expect that they will speak. To try to prevent their speech is to fight against the realities of information. Information does not just want to be free, it longs to be free. Information expands to fill the available storage space. Information is Rumor's younger, stronger cousin; Information is fleeter of foot, has more eyes, knows more, and understands less than Rumor. We must defend our own privacy if we expect to have any. We must come together and create systems which allow anonymous transactions to take place. People have been defending their own privacy for centuries with whispers, darkness, envelopes, closed doors, secret handshakes, and couriers. The technologies of the past did not allow for strong privacy, but electronic technologies do. We the Cypherpunks are dedicated to building anonymous systems. We are defending our privacy with cryptography, with anonymous mail forwarding systems, with digital signatures, and with electronic money. Cypherpunks write code. We know that someone has to write software to defend privacy, and since we can't get privacy unless we all do, we're going to write it. We publish our code so that our fellow Cypherpunks may practice and play with it. Our code is free for all to use, worldwide. We don't much care if you don't approve of the software we write. We know that software can't be destroyed and that a widely dispersed system can't be shut down. Cypherpunks deplore regulations on cryptography, for encryption is fundamentally a private act. The act of encryption, in fact, removes information from the public realm. Even laws against cryptography reach only so far as a nation's border and the arm of its violence. Cryptography will ineluctably spread over the whole globe, and with it the anonymous transactions systems that it makes possible. For privacy to be widespread it must be part of a social contract. People must come and together deploy these systems for the common good. Privacy only extends so far as the cooperation of one's fellows in society. We the Cypherpunks seek your questions and your concerns and hope we may engage you so that we do not deceive ourselves. We will not, however, be moved out of our course because some may disagree with our goals. The Cypherpunks are actively engaged in making the networks safer for privacy. Let us proceed together apace. Onward. Eric Hughes <hughes@soda.berkeley.edu> 9 March 1993

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## Data Vending Machine Context Protocol ### The Convergence of Nostr DVMs and MCP In the rapidly evolving landscape of artificial intelligence, a new approach to sharing and accessing computational tools is emerging through the combination of two powerful technologies: Nostr's Data Vending Machines (DVMs) and the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This convergence has the potential to reshape how we think about tool distribution and accessibility, creating a truly decentralized marketplace for computational capabilities that serves AI, humans, and any type of machine that speaks the protocol. ## Understanding the Building Blocks Nostr's Data Vending Machines function much like their physical counterparts, but instead of dispensing snacks, they provide computational services with built-in Lightning Network payment capabilities. These DVMs operate on the decentralized Nostr network, allowing users to reach service providers without relying on centralized platforms or gatekeepers. The Model Context Protocol complements this infrastructure by providing a standardized way for applications to share context and expose their capabilities. Think of MCP as a universal language that allows tools to communicate effectively with any application that understands the protocol. This standardization is crucial for creating a seamless experience across different tools and services. ## What is DVMCP? DVMCP proposes a path for making DVMs and MCPs interoperable, introducing a protocol that makes local utilities available to everyone on the network. Our [draft specification](https://github.com/gzuuus/dvmcp/blob/master/docs/dvmcp-spec.md) serves as a foundation for easily transforming any MCP server into a DVM. To bridge these technologies, we've developed a simple software component that sits between your MCP server and the DVM ecosystem. You can find it in our [repository](repo.link). This bridge connects to your MCP server as a client and exposes its utilities through Nostr as a DVM, handling all the necessary Nostr logic. This means any existing MCP server can become accessible through Nostr without modifications - simply run the bridge alongside your server. This is particularly exciting because the vibrant and growing MCP community. Any team or individual already working with MCP can instantly plug into the Nostr DVM ecosystem, gaining access to decentralized discovery, built-in monetization, and an already existing user base. The bridge component makes this transition effortless, requiring no changes to any existing MCP implementations. ## A New Paradigm A decentralized marketplace where anyone can run tools locally and make them available globally. This addresses an unsolved problem larger than the Nostr ecosystem: how to make resources and tools discoverable and accessible in a decentralized, permissionless way. The power of this combination lies in its flexibility. Users can access tools through regular Nostr clients, AI agents can discover specific capabilities, and DVMs can create sophisticated tool chains. With Lightning Network integration, true machine-to-machine transactions become possible, where machines can autonomously discover, negotiate, and pay for computational services. Most importantly, you can run services on your own hardware while making these capabilities accessible to anyone anywhere. The result is a system that preserves privacy, promotes innovation, and creates new opportunities without central authorities controlling what tools can be offered or who can use them. The entire project, is available under the MIT license, and any feedback and collaboration is welcome. ## Looking Forward As these technologies mature, we're likely to see a fundamental shift in how computational capabilities are distributed and accessed. Instead of relying on massive cloud data centers controlled by a few companies, we're moving toward a global network of local machines, each contributing unique capabilities and computation to a larger, more resilient ecosystem. The convergence of Nostr DVMs and MCP represents more than just a technical innovation—it's a step toward a more equitable and accessible future. By enabling anyone to run and share tools, we're building an ecosystem where computational resources are not concentrated in the hands of a few but are available to and controllable by everyone. [Repository](https://github.com/gzuuus/dvmcp/)