A gift, given freely, is its own reward.


My life peaked in some ways when I was 7 years old. That was the last time I can say that I wasn't on the struggle bus.

Today I am content with struggle. I am where I am, and this ride has taught me repeatedly that I grow with each struggle overcome. This too shall pass - but it also shall strengthen and fuel me for next struggle.


I like running social media at 10%. I find this is the way I like it best. I found this in Satellite.  I've tried Amethyst again, and it just feels like taking a rural boy and putting him in Times Square NYC - overstimulation, stress, anxiety.  I prefer the simplicity of my happy 10%.


Here's another update to this round of testing.  I saw my drug dealer, he ordered the CAC score. Regardless of the results, my path is clear, much as I explained above. I'm centered on the goal of a 26 BMI. That means that I will be harder on myself than I have been, eliminating many things after I am done with my current supply.  My general goal is to really get down to beef (steak or burger), crab, salmon, tallow, butter, eggs, salt, water, and coffee. I may still occasionally have milk or cheese. Generally, pork scares me right now. Not happy with what they are allowed (or even encouraged) to do to pigs and not have to even label it as being done. If I can find a trusted source of pork, I'd be more open to it.  I'm going to eliminate cured meats, already was planning this. Before I was OK with slowly bringing my weight down, provided all else was going ok.  Now that changed.

My wife asked for clarification on what I was going to be eating now, so I sent her my preferences in 2 lists (what I would eat, if she cooked it, and what I might eat occasionally but was generally trying to avoid.) We agreed that she probably wouldn't cook for me much anymore, and I am fine with that - but it is really hard, because feeding people is very important to her, kind of her love language or how she feels valued.  I'm slowly trying to get her to eat more meat, eventually get her to keto or something. She loves her rice and pasta and potatoes and sides and alcohol and veggies. If I can get her to cut back on everything but the veggies, maybe there is hope for her, but it won't happen overnight, regardless of what I am able to accomplish for myself.

I'll update again when I've got the CAC score, but my journey is far from over. I won't be satisfied until I get flip that cholesterol pattern B to a pattern A. That is my next mountain to climb, and the only way I believe I can get there is to loose the weight, and that means fighting harder against the sugar demons.

Wish me well on this leg of my journey.


An update to this. I bought a small jar of Adam's peanut butter. I choose it because it was the only smooth peanut butter (I know peanuts don't actually break down well, so no point in buying chunky) that didn't also have palm oil or sugars.

It was several days before I even got around to opening it, mixing it up (natural peanut butter separates naturally, so need to mix the peanut oil back in to make it so that you're not getting a spoon of oil or a spoon of very dense peanut paste), and I saw that I just wasn't really drawn to it.

I also bought a small jar of raw honey. When I would raid the pantry, I would also tend to have a little honey to appease the sugar demons.  Honey contains fructose, so this is really contrary to what I should be doing, but hey - keep the demons at bay.

I ended up (had more or less planned this) mixing some of the honey into the jar of peanut butter.  After doing this, it became a million times harder to stop eating it.  Instead of maybe a couple spoons worth, it was 5-6 spoons, and then maybe a couple more. I think the jar is half gone now.

This is really showing me a) the power of the sugar addiction, and b) the reality that this is a horrible plan.  While this may be preferable to shoving a couple chocolate raised glazed dual-filled donuts in my face (my other go-to to appease the sugar demons), it is just not what I want to do.  So, yes, I will finish this jar, as slowly as I can manage, and then, not again.

I'm going to make another note that will really spell out WHY I'm not willing to appease the sugar demons, but that should hopefully close the loop on peanut butter.


This is great information. I've been on an extremely low oxalate diet for over a year, and didn't have many symptoms that I would consider oxalate related. I doubt PB will actually become part of my day-to-day diet, but will definitely be looking out for oxalate symptoms.


I don't waste the time or energy on keeping up with orange man drama, things happening overseas, or even things happening outside my home. Some might think this is ignorant of me, but ignorance is bliss, and I could sure use a little bliss right now.

GN and eat a damn ribeye. Just fucking do it.


Saw my drug dealer today; he agreed to put the order in for my CAC score. Was able to resist all his attempts to medicate me while I am healing.


Satellite (running as a PWA in Kiwi) because I don't share my nsec and I like the simpler interface.


Any time something is advertised as "safe and effective", I assume it is neither.


If I had my choice, I would probably stop using a phone altogether. Just use a service like google voice (preferably NOT google anything), so there is a number I can give when services demand it. Exist purely on email, and only check it when I feel like it.

Unfortunately, wife would leave me over this. I value her and her (misplaced) needs for security/stability.

Also, no 2fa that "requires" a phone or similar device.


Unpopular take: all "bullying" isn't bad.

It helps to establish and reinforce a social order. It teaches children that there will always be someone bigger and badder than you that wants what you have more than you do.

Overcoming bullying builds self esteem. This is the real world analog of facing a video game "boss", maybe losing a few times, and eventually learning how to beat them.

It helps to put a stop to a sense of entitlement, that the world owes you something. Instead, you learn that you only have what you're willing to fight for, and you'll choose better opsec to prevent fighting, because fighting sucks.

I hope my kids (and most kids) get punched in the face at least once, even if it is only emotionally. Obviously there should be some guardrails around this, and that is where parenting steps in. But a punch to the face from your peers will be far more effective than any punishment a parent can give.


Considering Aikido. Mostly because my neighbors, whom I like, have been teaching it for over 25 years. I think I would personally prefer Tai Chi, but I'm not sure I'm physically ready for it yet.


Also considering adding peanut butter intentionally back into my diet.

Why the fuck would I do that? Aren't I supposed to be #carnivore?

Well, piss off. I've varied how strictly I've adhered to the cult of carnivore from the beginning. Sure, I go days and weeks without eating any plants, but I still occasionally eat things that are not non-plan.

I actually started carnivore as just low-carb, and would snack on peanuts. I found that was a bad idea, as I could easily "snack" a whole jar of peanuts in a day. So I dropped them.

But I would occasionally get a late night craving for something, and a couple spoons of peanut butter was a better option than many others I tried.

Here's what I know. I'm definitely not allergic to peanuts. PB has been a satisfying late night option. I can get it with no added ingredients, just peanuts, pretty easily. Peanuts have protein and fat. They have a low glycemic index. A couple spoonfuls of PB isn't that much in carbs. Peanuts are not animals, and our ancestors probably didn't eat them. Carnivorous animals do not eat them. Whole peanuts do not completely digest in our stomach/intestines. I don't have kin issues or oxalate issues I'm concerned about triggering. Smooth PB generally has palm oil added, and I'm not cool with that. Peanuts can inhibit iron and zinc absorption, but I don't plan to eat them when eating other things, just late at night.

So I'll probably do it. Then I may stop. Or I won't. PB may actually help when I'm getting stricter in other areas (likely stopping pork, cured meats, dairy (except butter), spiced/sauced/breaded meats when offered to me, quitting nicotine, etc).

But if anyone has any concerns about peanuts or peanut butter they feel I should be aware of, I'm listening.


Got some more tests back. The good news is my fasting insulin is 5, which is pretty much optimal. To me, this means I'm winning the war. My CoQ10 level was 1.5, which is high normal. Another good sign that damage done by taking the statins for a few years may not be that bad. No need to take more CoQ10 supplements, which I had tried briefly to see if they would help my blood pressure.

Triglycerides were lower, back solidly in the reference range, but here's where it starts going south. Total cholesterol dropped a little, still high. HDL dropped, back down to low 30s. TG to HDL ratio is still over 4. But LDL particle size analysis (first time ever tested) was all in the red. The big reveal? LDL pattern B confirmed. That actually explains the higher TG, low HDL, high LDL issues I've had pretty much my whole life.

What does this mean? The healing is far from over. I really want my CAC score, to see how much damage has been done. Statins are DEFINITELY not the answer. But the real action item is I need to drop more weight. At 265 (already over 50 lbs less than my top weight recorded), BMI is still about 36. I want it to be 26. That means getting down to 190ish. So, time to take everything a lot more seriously and be more strict with diet. I'd been trying to take it easy, because I wanted to give my skin time to shrink a bit on its own, and to not alarm or upset my wife. She says she prefers me with some bulk (probably so she feels better about her own weight issues, as well as trust issues).

I broke the news to her that I needed to drop to 190 to fix my cholesterol (which she was far more concerned about than I was) and get my heart health on track. She wasn't thrilled, but she didn't threaten divorce either.

I know (absolute conviction) that I can do it. The only question is how fast, and how many people I will piss off in the process. (Mostly the wife). But that's where I'm at.

I see my idiot wanna-be doctor (not an MD) who will continue to push pills at me on Wednesday. He won't even understand the results of the tests I had him order for me. Hopefully I can get him to order the CAC score, armed with the basics of pattern B LDL. Otherwise, I'll have to find someone that will order the test. Then, drop another 75 lbs. I want to do that over the next year. Then, re-test everything and see where I'm at.

I also have to quit smoking again. Planned to anyway, but it has to happen. I've done it before, I can do it again.

This isn't even a setback, just part of my healing path. Definitely a re-focusing, though. My "why" might be narrowing a bit, at least for a while.

Also considering being interviewed on a podcast. Not sure I want that, but considering it.

#carnivore #health


There were a couple hugely traumatic events that no child should have to experience, but apart from those, yes, I wish my children could experience my childhood. Alas, the present state of technology did not make it so, and I was unwilling and unable to give them the Luddite existence I was lucky to have.


What would Viktor Frankl think of today's surveillance state and global autocracy?


Vegans are regarded. I don't hate them, just like I don't hate Downs syndrome people, but I look at their pathetic attempts to be righteous in much the same way. Pity.

At least a vegan can just change their mind and ways and become a healthy human again, in relatively short order. Many others with what are commonly held to be lifelong diseases and syndromes can too. Pity about Downs though, that can be a tough one.


Fasting glucose came back at 82, solidly in my goal range. I think it was 95 about 8 months ago.


Arrangements must be made. I get eggs occasionally from my neighbor that has some backyard chickens. But no, I don't eat a lot of eggs. And chicken even more rarely. And I would say I am suburban at present, but those in urban settings might have to make more distant arrangements.


"Smart" people make "dumb" decisions and "dumb" people make "smart" decisions all the time, but the "smarter" ones tend to be better equipped to deal with the consequences and more likely to choose differently in the future, when presented with a similar choice.


It's not easy to grow cows in anything other than a rural environment, so arrangements must be made.


I don't know that this has been proven wrong. They may not be the *best* store of value, but they still check a lot of boxes...


A box of rocks? The jokes write themselves. All kidding aside, I used to be convinced that semi-precious gemstones were a great store of value.


Well, if it hit something, it probably wouldn't travel forever?


Meat is freedom tech.


I rode my motorcycle today. As far up Mt St. Helens as the roads allow. With a couple hundred other motorcyclists.

Weather was cool, a little moisture in the air, but sun breaks too.

Won't be the last time I make that trek, as it is practically in my backyard.


On a fast, going to get some bloods taken and want to be super-clear. No food for over 24 hours now, maybe 26 or so. Nothing but black coffee and water since, and I had my last coffee a few hours ago, now nothing but water until bloods. Hope they can do them tomorrow, but if it doesn't happen until Tuesday, that's fine too. Not even really hungry now.

I have a ribeye ready to go for after my bloods. And another one after that, if I want it.


Try this on - trinity is three realms or dimensions of being; heavenly god is pure energy, realm of heavens, undiscernable by man. Beyond the physical universe we can observe. Jesus (in christian myths) represents the physical realm, the physical observable universe of matter, time and space. The "holy spirit" is the interface or intersection between the two, think field energy. It is also boundary region between the two realms, neither fully energy or matter.

Although triune brain theory is interesting too, but probably itself a product of natural thinking in threes, three-dimensional, and many more concepts with two poles and a boundary region between them. Good and evil are often seen this way, with some gray area between. I think they are just as artificial as any triune or trinity, just a product of man's conceptualization of his own reality.


What if I were to say that the story of Noah (and most if not all great flood stories) are really based on oral knowledge that represented a creation story; not of Earth's creation or human creation, but the creation of the universe? The characters, even the animals, represent particles, energy/light/matter transfer, quantum field theory, etc - but the versions we have now are so poorly reflective of the original knowledge after a multi-millenia telephone game that they are unrecognizable.

Yes, knowledge was encoded in allegory and myth, so as to be able to survive generations of oral translation. What remains is a strong indication that ancient humans had far more scientific knowledge than we currently do; a better understanding of physics and cosmology.

While this may indicate some kind of creator or god, it doesn't require one, just they forces needed to create our universe.


Today I was a shadowy super-coder. GN


Does the wolf care what the sheep thinks of him?


If (insert whatever the current nonsense is) kills bitcoin, then it wasn't worth living. This goes for ETFs, stableshit, even block size and op codes. Definitely includes nudes, rfts, epsilons, prescriptions, whatever. I believe it is much stronger thanks to these attacks, so keep 'em coming. Hodl.


Each one of us is only seconds away from an event that will change us and our life's path forever. Better yet, many of us won't even notice it when it happens.

GN 🌙


I need this in my life. Like it might become my new desktop background or something more visible. Thank you. 🫂


Only true if you ignore the fact that the state prints money. Yes, it would eventually fail, perhaps sooner than otherwise, but it is already going through the motions of a failing, underfunded system.


There are ill and ailing people everywhere, but I feel no need to shame them for being ill. That will never help them heal.


Found this a long time ago, by using a client that doesn't really show zaps. Yes, you can zap me, but no, I won't see it. I check my alby balance occasionally, maybe every few months, but have no good way to tell what was zapped without using another client, and I don't care enough to do so. I don't need the validation to share my observations freely.


Nevermind that essentially every element was taken or adapted from other more symbolic contemporary religions, without doing much to preserve the symbology that points at actual ancient scientific knowledge. This was just the latest link in a telephone game of religious teaching that put us into the dark ages. None of this was intended to be interpreted literally - until it was.


Good on you for having these useful items around! Old window blinds are very good multi-tools, with a little imagination.


Add to this - do something to help someone else. This has been my hack to improve overall outlook for a long time.


Or just eat some ribeyes and cut out the carbs. Amazing how much better you'll feel when you stop poisoning yourself.


Get high! Got some good pictures from friends in MT last night.


The hardest part of being meat-based for me isn't anything to do with food. It is watching the others around me that I care about struggle with ailments that I assume they could find relief from by changing what they allow themselves to eat. To be completely fair, I assume this same hardship is felt by vegans as well. It almost feels like the trope of the immortality/survivor struggle, watching everyone you love die.


I rode my motorcycle today.

And after being down in my shop for a few weeks of maintenance, repairs, upgrades, and tuning, it felt really good!

Nice weather this weekend, you can guess where I'll be

GNfn.


I get weary of the normalization of poisons and their effects. GN. 🌛


I use one for work, very convenient for all the mfa systems I access daily. It stays at home though, so I prefer other methods for personal mfa access that I might need while mobile.


Gn boho 🛌


Last night I was staying at a hotel in Kennewick, WA, after driving there to rescue my daughter's broken-down car.

I stopped in the parkng lot to have a smoke and ended up in a long conversation with a guy drinking some beers on the tailgate of his pickup.

He mentioned something about protests or protesters, and I had to ask him what they were protesting this time.

We both had to admit that I don't watch the news much. Once he mentioned it, I did recall seeing some things about Israel, but it definitely wasn't front of mind.

And in this moment I felt that I was doing something very right.

We went on to talk a bit about hope, and I brought up monetary policy and bitcoin. He admitted he knew someone who retired very young from bitcoin, but hadnt looked at it seriously for himself - and couldn't understand why the price had gone up so much, and didn't think it would go up that much more.

By the end of the conversation, he was talking about taking everything out of his retirement accounts (he was approaching retirement age) and buying bitcoin. I doubt he was serious, and he'd had more than a few beers, but maybe I planted a seed he'd remember later. I didn't encourage him to roll over his retirement into bitcoin all at once, but rather to do it slowly - much better chance he might learn some things as he does it.

Now this is ending like our conversation, we just walked off our separate ways. GN.


Gn boho 🌙


Tired of all the doom, gloom, and panic around here. This is no way to live our lives. Yes, the govt is shit, always have been. Yes, the world is going to become a dystopian nightmare of unimaginable magnitude, nothing new there.

But fuck all that noise. If we have fuck you money, then tell all of it to fuck off and go on about enjoying life! Eat a fucking ribeye! Go touch grass, as they said. Fuck Saylor, DOJ, US Congress, and anything else that takes you away from enjoying your surroundings and those you choose to share them with.

Fuck code, if it doesn't free you. Fuck freedom, if it doesn't help you be your best self. Shit happening around the globe can fuck right off as well; there's enough happening right in my own household to deal with.

This little nostr echo chamber has gotten dark and unfunny lately, we need to lighten the fuck up and sweep away the useless drama. Maybe it's just time to prune down my follow list, but I know some of the worst doomsayers of late have had some of the best notes in the past.

GN. GFY.


I, for one, am convinced. Prove me wrong. Or don't, won't matter either way. And sorry, you're not special in this, I would say the same of any npub ;p


Visited Sequim and Port Angeles a year or two ago (anly a few hours drive from me). Really enjoyed the drive-through wild animal park. I'll probably end up riding through again this summer on the coastal loop.


Don't ascribe to evil what can easily be explained by negligence, impatience, ignorance, or incompetence.


I think my node is starting to wear down. I haven't fully investigated it, but it seems to be lagging behind a day or so with transactions. I use it for Core and electrum, not Lightning.

What is the reasoning behind NOT running this on my main system, or maybe on a VM running on my main system? I don't feel like running another ras-pi, and also don't feel like setting up a secondary laptop.

I'm guessing it is the opsec, in that if agents bust in and take my shit, they may not notice this little black box in the corner - but I'm thinking we're past that. Anyone coming after me would probably be doing so for financial reasons - I won't call them crimes - and would be familiar enough with bitcoin to know to look for a raspberry pi.

Uptime? I just need it to be up enough to keep up with transactions. Space? Not an issue. Data corruption? Doubt this would get any better. Network segregation? That is one reason I would run a VM instead of directly on my main system.

Just thinking out loud here. I'm feeling a debian-based VM might be the nbt.


Just use lightning to mix and join, consolidate, split, etc. Or maybe Liquid, although not sure exactly how that would work. Jeez. It really just takes 2 ln nodes you trust (or own). If you're paranoid, use your own hardware, erase all memory when you're done, and ditch the hardware.

I thought about writing up a guide on how to do this, but don't want the liability of publishing it, or the headache of dealing with people telling me how it won't work.


While everything here seems to be threatening to come unhinged, I spent some time working on the motorcycle. Small things, preparing for bigger things.

This too shall pass. GN. 🌙


Don't worry, happy to share! 🫂


Where did you get that we're all one? I think that may be an over-simplification. But I do agree there are many ways to perceive, perhaps as many ways as there are those who perceive.


Our greatest struggle may be control over our emotions.

All actions are actually reactions, based on our perceptions.

Our perceptions are always colored by our emotional state.

All reactions are partially acted out based on our emotions.

Control over emotion is a false struggle, as understanding emotion will show emotion is beyond our control.

Understanding our emotions allows us to best use them to our perceived benefit.

Suppressing emotion will not help us as much as understanding and using our emotions to our perceived benefit.

Mastering our understanding of emotion moves us beyond the struggle of controlling emotions, and allows us to react with intent and discipline.

GN.


I agree with the intent behind these mindsets, but:

I am only responsible for my perception and response to anything I am aware has occurred.

I am capable to perceive and respond to anything I am aware of, using all means I perceive I can access.

Same as anyone else, but often with far different outcomes.


And this tells me your protocol is centralized, where network fees are not determined by math, consensus, or market, but rather by someone ("we") who can decide and act to reduce them. Good luck with that, sir!


Everyone acts to their own perceived benefit, even when serving others or making self-sacrifices. The perceived benefit may not be immediate or short term, some act on much longer time horizons.


And when those interests conflict? And who determines mutual benefit? Easy for one to feel less benefited than the other. Any of these systems work when interests overlap, but all break down when interests are in conflict.


I've noticed that male television advertisement voice-overs (as well as tv channel programming ads) are increasingly sounding like gay men. This includes Home Depot and Dairy Queen. I'm not making a value judgement here, just an observation. Female voice-overs have also gotten deeper in tone - not really a scientific observation, just an impression. I'm sure the intent is inclusion. Again, not a value judgement.


Yesterday was my birthday. Glad everyone had a good halving. I enjoyed the day without really even thinking about my savings. Fun that my wedding was also on a significant block day. In four years, I'll be four years older, and celebrating a decade longer on this rock. It would be too much to ask for exactly 4 years between halvings though, so I'll just remember this one fondly.


I've broken away from Heidegger to read up on Hindu cosmology.

Heidegger was frustrating, as he seemed obsessed with perfecting his ideas, tather than actually explaining them. Any explanation was generally getting lost in translation, made more difficult by his use of invented vocabulary, with little explanation about meaning of the terms he was using.

He also seemed to need to use the most obscure words, long words, etc to say anything, making it rough going for any normal non-academic like myself. It just felt like a huge load of pretention, and someone who got off on being hard to understand.

When I write my book, I promise not to do that. I will try to use the simplest words I can find. I will instruct my editors to find text that needs simplification, and listen to them.

Anyway, GN.


Ok, fucking up my previous GN attempt.

I'm pondering the properties of brake fluid. In both cars and motorcycles, brake operation is the major hydraulic system in play.

Brake fluid in both is glycol based, and glycol is hydrophilous, meaning it attracts water molecules.

In motorcycles, after about two years (depending on local humidity), brake fluid will already be 4% H2O, and need to be flushed out and replaced to maintain its high boiling point and compression qualities. Brake failure is obviously quite dangerous on a motorcycle.

But it would also be dangerous in a car, and how often, if ever, are car brake systems flushed to remove all compromised brake fluid? As a driver of a 30+ year-old automobile, and owner of several autos that are 10+ years old, I doubt any of them have had their brake systems flushed. I'm guessing all are running fluid well above 4% H2O.

Flushing attempts to remove all old fluid and replace it with new fluid. While bleeding brakes removes air in the system and is often done when changing pads, calipers, drums, and shoes (really any brake component that involves breaching the hydraulic system and allowing air to enter), bleeding only introduces a small amount of new fluid into the system.

I assume this is why master cylinders, boosters, and other ferrous brake components are subject to failure over time, due to rust buildup. But long before component failure, I would expect other negative effects (boiling, hydro lock, loss of compression and "spongy" reaction) because of H2O-compromised  fluid. Maybe some of these failures are mitigated by having a mechanical (cable-actuated) emergency brake system, which motorcycles do not have. Maybe the relative volume of fluid in an automobile is beneficial - relative to the amount of exposure to air or anything else containing H20.

Could water separators be effective? I'm curious if water separators are part of other glycol-based hydraulic systems, or cooling systems dependent on the high boiling point of glycol. If glycol is hydrophilous, how would those separators even work? Certainly much differently than with a hydrophobic fluid.

Any ideas? Yes, this is a little material science, some chemistry, some physics. Not areas I am an expert in. But I have an appreciation for it all the same.

Not my usual philosophy, anthropology, sociology, psychology bent, but interesting all the same.

Ok, GN.


I just reposted a note by accident. Thumb missed the icon I wanted, clicked on the repost icon, no confirmation, blam!

It was content I would approve of reposting, if I cared to repost anything.

Couldn't find a way (in about 30s of fumbling) to directly reply to my repost without replying to the original, so here we are.

And that's OK. Gn.

(Related to content reposted)
I do not believe I can know how another person is feeling, or thinking. I can make assumptions and guesses, even reasoned ones, but I will still never know.

This is an extremely important foundational assertion, because of how much we tend to credit to other people. We seek validation, community, love - but can never know how authentic any of it is.

All we can do is interpret actions, which I believe are always performed for the perceived benefit of the actor. Any benefit for others is always secondary, no matter how selfless the action may seem.

Yes, I will write a book. Early days. Researching now.


People who like you will see that you are trying to be better than you were yesterday and appreciate you for it.

People who hate you will judge you for who you were yesterday.

One troubling thing about humanity is knowing that there will always be those who wish to judge you based on your past mistakes.

One uplifting thing about humanity is that there are many many more people who are interested in your growth and development.

Let’s say you overcame alcoholism.

It’s more rare than not to meet a person who says “once an alcoholic, always an alcoholic. You’ll never change”.

Most people will congratulate you on overcoming your challenge and wish you well in regards to your future.

The reason the negative outlier stands out is often because we speak to ourselves the same way.

We are our own worst critics.

And hearing an outside source validate our secret horrible thoughts about ourselves makes them seem even more true.

But they’re not.

Don’t give in to fear and self doubt.

Most people are rooting for you.

Give yourself permission to root for you too.


You're only a nigger if you don't own anything. Even owning your pride is a start out of that hole. Owning your family, your community - even better. Owning your bitcoin - that gives you a huge fuck you and a way to opt out. Know your masters. Don't be a blind nigger, because a blind nigger is just grist for the mill.


Shut the fuck up, bot.


This could end my use of social media (for fun) altogether. Sorry, shitposting isn't very high on my hierarchy of needs. I only post occasionally, share very few things other than text. I did pay for a couple relays initially, under the assumption it was a one-time payment. Then I ended up preferring a nostr client that doesn't even have relay controls. So I have no idea if any of those services I did pay for even exist.

I get your frustration - but I don't see much of a market around social media outside of advertising and maybe appeasing influencers. Just because you spend time developing an app, or front the costs of media hosting, doesn't mean you have a market that will pay you.  The successful companies and paid developers are being paid by companies that already have a market, usually subsidized by advertising or subscription revenue.

Nostr is more of a protocol, sort of like bitcoin. You don't see a lot of smtp or tcp/ip developers, although plenty of service companies have been successful using and extending these protocols, often after already establishing a market presence through other means. Nostr may wind up the same way. What if Google, Microsoft, Meta, or Amazon created a client (or something more multifunctional), its own relays, or backported existing messaging to use the Nostr protocol? Would businesses pay for it, like they do for Google Microsoft web-based services? Could it become part of Amazon Prime, or subsidized through Meta's advertising reach? But Nostr isn't there yet - maybe some day, but not today. I don't remember paying for Netscape or Thunderbird, and Nostr clients are barely even at that point. They aren't AOL, or even Earthlink or GeoCities, which people did pay for.  All of those services did more than one thing, and tried to do it fairly seamlessly. We're seeing Nostr trying to do the same by combining wallet services into clients, but again, early days.

The initial protocol is built. Sure, maybe it could use some refining, but so could anything.  Now we build, we wait, we extend, we try to become a critical mass worthy of the attention of something bigger that will really accelerate Nostr. The same way Bitcoin is waiting for its next adoption phase. ETFs were big, nation states were big, but it hasn't yet grown to its full potential either.


Ah, we're talking about American natives, not the peoples of India. Feather, not dot.


Gn dan. 🌙


Yes, much easier. I buy it sliced/frozen from walmart, actually.  I use a heavier sharp knife, like a carving knife, with a thicker spine that I can push down on with my free hand.

It will thaw quickly, especially where you cut, so work quickly!


Why are images (in and of themselves) illegal? (Not saying they're not, just asking why)

Also, are you advocating for cryptographic signing of notes/content by an external signer? Feasible for those that have them, but horrible UX, especially for those that don't, and it won't end your scenario unless clients are somehow forced out of signing notes.

I do contemplate a future that uses a digital identification system that incorporates some kind of personal signing device for authentication, but that device would have to be individually held, not part of a centralized service. And I don't like that future very much.


I need to do this. I don't eat much ground meat, except probably more ground pork than I should.  Been thinking about buying a beef shoulder (and a power grinder) and cutting my own steaks, grinding the rest. If I do it, will definitely be adding some liver during grinding.


This is definitely the way. Cut sliced raw liver into strips, put on parchment paper on a tray, put in freezer. A few hours later, take the tray out, cut into desired pill size, then put into frozen storage (I use bags, but you do you). As long as they stay frozen properly, they shouldn't clump together much.


Long sentence maximalist. ;)


Maybe I should ask more good faith questions and quit raving about whatever is going through my head.


A little something on the origins of power - think coercion, the state, etc.

We started out fairly naive about how shit works. Yeah, sun comes up, goes down, everything hurts, wind and rain are cold, people die - but those are just things working, not HOW they actually work.

Coercion began when someone decided they knew how things worked, at least well enough to not just tell others how they worked, but to pretend they could control things, or could intercede between others and a "god" to help control things.  Then they began controlling people.

Go do a rain dance to appease the rain god. Give me your stuff and I'll do a dance and your hunt will go well. These are acts of coercion, with the threat of things going poorly if you don't comply.

As more people fell under the sway of coercion, it took more than one person to administrate the coercion. Here's where it evolved into religion, with religious leaders - a group of people that had a status of control over others, and a set of practices that the leaders would enact to keep people under their control.

This continued to grow - and power is addictive; being in the presence of power is addictive; so more people ingratiated themselves to the religious leaders to get not only their approval, but their assistance in getting the rest of the people to do what they wanted.  This is the origin of politics, although even the origin of religion had the seeds of politics involved.

Now you had religious leaders, with coerced practices (religion), and another class of leadership that had the favor of the religious leaders, but who would pursue other efforts, like building projects, infrastructure, maybe basic agriculture and trade. We'll call them politicians. They could use their favored status with the religious leaders to coerce others as well. And they needed practices as well, to keep everyone else working in line with their projects.  And here we have "the state".

All of this predates Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism, or any other current widespread world religion.  What we have now (both religion and state) have gone through millennia of evolution, with both golden ages of improvement and catastrophic extinction.  They've been refined into what we experience today as the coercion of The Church and The State, and many of us are still happy to bend the knee to one or both, because we believe they are needed to preserve "society" - but is this true?

What happens to our "society" when there is no "State"? Or going back further, no "Religion"? No leadership, no coercion - the fact is, I think most of us are so conditioned and evolved to bend the knee to a leader, that leaders will naturally be attracted to the power vacuum, and it will be more of the same, perhaps better, perhaps worse.

How to break out of this? We talk of individual sovereignty, but I don't see this happening until there is a major evolutionary change.  Two possibilities - and neither would necessarily get us there, but just things to think about.

1. Telepathy - evolving as a species to have some good ability to have at least an empathetic form of telepathy, where we can accurately sense the emotions of others.  This would make it very difficult to coerce or be coerced, because others could sense if your emotional state centered on control or hiding/manipulation.

2. Time theory - if something allows us to see beyond linear cause/effect time, like into the world of quantum mechanics, what would control/coercion look like? It is all based on cause and effect, so if those things are working backwards, out of sync, or even simultaneously, it is very hard to threaten a painful future based on your actions in the present.

Neither of these will come to pass any time soon - but if we zoom out, who knows, generations from now, millennia from now, maybe we will get there, but only if we can survive the potential catastrophic extinctions of State and Religion.


Oh, you like names? Name every name ever then.


Most don't want to hear this, but it leads back to religion, which was the original use of force (by appealing to the wishes of gods) to control the masses, or the tribe. Religious authority/oppression paved the way for state authority/oppression. There have been very few secular states, historically speaking.


Another 125 miles of freeway today, even with some traffic leaving Portland. Another great day to ride a motorcycle!


Something on reality and time theory - if I am correct that our understanding of reality is not truth, and may have been altered numerous times or is being fed to us continually in a way we can manage it (consider being evoked into this reality a moment ago with a lifetime of memories relatively intact), and that time, instead of being a linear construct of one event occurring after another, is rather a continuous process of destruction and invocation  . . .

This makes the bitcoin proof-of-work timechain a much more interesting existence. Perhaps it is the most "real" thing we have encountered, because for it to exist, with the properties it supposedly exhibits, it essentially defines time and a reality with history. I can't think of anything else that couldn't have been evoked a moment ago. Perhaps the full blockchain could be as easily evoked as a full memory, even a full universe of memory - but I don't think it could be altered as easily, so the history contained within the timechain may have to considered a true history, even if many such histories exist (or could exist.

I really need to read der Gigi's book.

Could the timechain exist independently of matter? I think it is possible. Could it exist in n-dimensional space? Also possible, in fact it may define its own n-space.

This is what happens when I start reading Heidegger, and find him stuck in trying to define his dasein in a worldview and reality that I have mostly discarded as insufficient and in favor of something far more grand. It's like watching a retarded child fumble around with blocks, hoping he'll be able to stack a few together in a meaningful way. I hope Heidegger emerges from this into something more comprehensive and illuminating.


To clarify my earlier notes - I always found my way to the least filtered content I could find. Yes, I've seen things I never need to see again, but I don't believe they hurt me.

That doesn't mean a market doesn't exist for filtered content. I think markets exist for both filtered and unfiltered relays. My money would generally go to unfiltered options.

However, I might also pay to have my posts relayed on popular filtered relays.

Or I might not pay for any of it, as having a digital social media presence ranks pretty low in my hierarchy of needs.


Even though it is a collab, Four Rooms might be on my list.


I think the real answer for Nostr is in the relays - paid relays, pay-for-post relays, and enough relay control to only post to and read from the relays you want.

Earlier digital-era had this with newsgroups, and there were definitely newsgroups you would avoid if you didn't care to rub bleach in your eyeballs. ISPs would routinely curate their available newsgroup options, as would universities - but you always had the option to pay a service provider that allowed relatively universal access.

In Nostr, a similar model is emerging, with some relays censoring, others not. Who pays for what has yet to be determined.


Freedom is not our natural state.  Perhaps it is how we arrive in this world, but as part of a social species, we quickly amass various obligations. These could be possessions, relationships, or simply a price we pay to attain cooperation, which is how we as a species have managed to thrive.

I believe obligation is our natural state, and find freedom (as a virtue) to be a naive and misunderstood pursuit.

Recent posts about censorship (of trolls, haters, attackers of the marginalized) are the result of proposing freedom as a maxim. When humans are not held accountable by their obligations, things generally get ugly - regardless of their station. We see this in emperors, as well as mobs of commoners.

What is the solution? Some kind of enforcement of a social contract, and I don't think any of us knows what that looks like in an anonymous digital world, but it is something that has always been an issue with technological expansion. Religion was a very early solution, which enabled an enforceable social contract and division of labor. But religion also created marginalized groups, so it wasn't a perfect solution.

Perhaps the new solution is Bitcoin, but it is far to early to tell how that will pan out, and if it also will create marginalization.

The only freedom that I believe is necessary is the freedom to own property - something that has been an issue until Bitcoin, and may yet be an issue, who's to say - but with ownership comes obligation, so even thay "freedom" is never free.


275 mile ride today, and I visited the ocean. Great day to ride a motorcycle. Gn?


I have embodied a life of understanding reality only through the  lens of my own perceptions, and have also read Hoffman. I don't agree with the assertion that viewing the full breadth of reality is a path to extinction, as I don't believe it is possible to do so as humans.

I like Hoffman's computer screen analogy, and that would be even less possible than a human "seeing" the flow of electricity through the circuits on a motherboard in a meaningful way, i.e. forming text and images displayed on a screen, but with no screen.

I believe I have consumed the right amount of psychedelics to be exposed to glimpses of altered realities, enough to understand there is much more out there than what we experience and perceive, but I feel no need to revisit that altered state.

I also maintain we have the concept of time all wrong. Cause and effect (in that order) are dubious and limited at best, and what we are beginning to understand through quantum mechanics will be transformative in our evolution as a species. The more I learn about the Hindu concepts of time, the more I sm finding them agreeable.


Today went much better than yesterday. Gn.


GN nostr. It was definitely not the easiest day, or evening. But I'm still 10x10, all good.

Until morning!


Same. 🫂


Today I was invited to apply for a position with a new company, similar to my current position. I've been with my current company for 14 years, but ready to make a change.

Perhaps that change is nigh.

Gn.


More like lukewarm beer and streetlights.


I was listening to a podcast today (I think it was Impact Theory) and I was excited to hear the host bring up the importance of emotion in decision-making. He seems to have reached some of the same conclusions as I, regarding emotional primacy

He also brought up some studies that were done on patients that had been lobotomized and no longer had the portion of brain that is responsible for emotion available to them. The study participants could easy make logical pros and cons regarding a decision, but were entirely unable to actually make the decision, regardless of any obvious benefit.

Very interesting stuff.

Gn.


The more wealth I have, the more things I feel free from, because I choose not to have them. Possessions are responsibilities that take our time, money, and attention.


Tonight I joined a motorcycle riding club. Patched member.

GN


Been to Manhattan a couple years ago, it held little attraction for me and I was ready to leave after doing what I needed to do. I personally prefer somewhere between town and small city - just big enough to have a few major stores and a fire dept.  I do like to be able to walk to a corner store if I need something. But I don't want to know everyone I pass along the way, although its fine if I know some of them.  I don't want a paved jungle of suburbia with planned communities of houses where I can see in my neighbor's windows, but sidewalks are nice.


Outside of family, i would say community, perhaps even brotherhood. This is why I found the motorcycle community so well-equipped to meet something I had been missing in the digital world, which is I have worked for the last couple decades.


Gn


As I am contemplating writing a book, I realize I don't really know the first thing about writing a book. Like if I write it in Word, how do I set that up for basic formatting?

Also this isn't a narrative with plot, characters, etc. Even outlining isn't looking good, because I know as I write I will be adding things, moving them, etc.

I think I just have to start writing. I can write an essay, so maybe I will start there.

GN.


Sometimes writing down helps you find the defect - and I often start any relatively complex automation by writing it all out anyway. Gives me some perspective, and I usually find ways to either speed it up or make it less complex as I go. I'm motivated to do so, as writing it out isn't all that fun.


The things that take time - automate them, and build in thoroughness. Then they can take all the time they need, but it won't be your time, and you can do other impending tasks.


So I started Erik Cason's book in earnest last night - and was surprised at how much of what he saying was disagreeable to me. We've actually came to many similar conclusions, but via very different paths. His tone is very us vs. them - and almost angry.  I get it. I agree with the point of bitcoin being sovereignty, and what that means to the current power structures and cultural ethos. We just see the why of all it very differently. I take a much more atheistic view of the topic, for one. And my early research on anarchy was that government was a product of property, and that the early solutioning toward anarchy involved the abolition of property rights. Which is almost the opposite of Bitcoin. I have always been wary of anarchy, as I think property is necessary.

Anyway, I ended up switching over to Heidegger, who I expected to disagree with more, but I hoped reading some of his work would help me better understand Erik's work, as Erik often references Heidegger.  So far, reading Heidegger has been more pleasant for me.

More importantly, this exercise is really pushing me to write a book. I've been thinking about it for a long time; it was even one of those things I was hoping to do much earlier in life. I'm actually glad I didn't. But now I'm really feeling the need to formally publish a lot of my philosophy. I may also publish a separate Bitcoin book, but more of a philosophical or anthropological approach to it.

So I'm actually thinking I should write less long-form style thoughts here, and save them for publishing. That said, I may need some help editing when the time comes.

I think this is an early positive coming out of an experience I expected to be positive anyway.

If only moon, then I could spend a few months writing instead of fiat mining. :)

Today I wrote code though. For speeding up some dreary spreadsheet work I was tasked with. Nothing fancy, but I still did it, and made my life less dreary.


It's already there, and been there for at least a couple generations - and what do we have now?


Are you saying that lgbtq (and whomever else may feel "marginalized") would all be considered Dalit? I don't know enough about the caste system and distinctions that go into it.

And how does India teach Dalit history? is it separated somehow from history taught to other castes? Just curious - trying to figure out how different the ideologies actually are on this point.

The original article was written in the US, discussing US/western practices, however I don't know that anything I stated, while definitely intended for a western audience, is any less true within other ideologies. That said, a more collectivist ideology might prefer to be indoctrinated through state/statist education centers, and may thrive on this path as dutiful members of the collective.


This just reinforces the need to have real talks with our children about what propaganda is, what "history" is, and how to be critical thinkers and not believe everything they're told.

There is no such thing as "insert marginalized group here" history, only our understanding of past events and cultural lore, none of which is necessarily true or complete in our understanding of the facts.

The government day cares and indoctrination centers will continue to do exactly what they were designed and incentivized to do - train our children to be slaves to the state.  The only thing we can do is deprogram and retrain our children (gently, of course) to see beyond the textbooks and teachers.


Still listening, mostly.

I struggled to stay awake through Robert Breedlove's forward to Erik Cason's book, but it wasn't boring, just dense, but well written. And I enjoy dense! I may have even read it before.

Anyway, looking forward to digging into Erik's essays. GN!


This is pretty close to my take. We agree there is no past, only our individual perceptions of the past.

Where I may diverge is in the significance of emotion. Our perceptions, both past and active (present) are colored by emotion. Every perception can be changed based on our emtional state.

I also thin every decision has an emotional component, in that we are constantly deciding (and then acting) based on a perception of a desired future state (an expectation), and that perception, as well as all of the risk assessment and perception of past events and present state - is all actually determined by our present emotional state.

So we are emotional beings, above all else. Even those we consider to be "logical" are just emotionally attached to and comforted by a sense of order, so their choices and actions reflect that attachment.

Change your emotional state, and many of your perceptions may change, past, present, and future (expectations). This is why psychedelics used in therapy have been so successful - they free us from overwhelming emotional states, long enough for us to get a glimpse of being free of that emotional state, and experience a different emotional state and all the changes that go with it.

Being "mindful" is just trying to experience the present while tuning in to your own emotions.

I could also argue the present doesn't exist, as by witnessing it, we have already moved on to a perception of the extremely recent past, but enough for now - thanks for your thoughts!


Disagree. But I may have a very different sense of expectations. I think they ultimately determine every action we take.

To your point, inflated or overly optimistic expectations are likely as you say. So just expect less!


No long thoughts from me tonight. I bought Erik Cason's book and also a book of Heidegger (Being and Time). I expect to agree more with one than the other, but I feel the need to read both.

There is a time to speak and a time to listen. I have been speaking, and now I will listen. GN.


To continue documenting my thoughts on the origins of religion, what happens when a relatively established cultural group, with their own ideas of how everything works, what is possible, not possible, etc. is visited by outsiders that have some technological superiority?

This is the idea of extraterrestrial contact, but in this context, the visitors don't have to be extraterrestrial - just technologically advanced. We have many examples of this happening, and each marked a shift in technological progress. How did the bronze age become the iron age?

Some great fiction that does a wonderful job explaining technological progress is the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett. I'm not going to develop this idea of technological shifts too much further, but when an outsider shows how the impossible is not only possible, but readily achievable, it makes a culture rethink its beliefs.

When a culture only knows their plant, or continent, or region - and believes themselves to be alone there, maybe even superior there, and a visitor from an unknown origin shows up, with vastly improved technology, including the ability to travel to that region, it is a big deal. "We are not alone."

For us humans now, with dominion over much of the planet, that visitor would likely need to from another planet, dimension, or time. For someone living in a nomadic hunting tribe with no knowledge of the world outside their region, or beyond their seas, that visitor could just as easily be from a different continent.

But I think those visitors came from much further away, and had to have come from beyond the skies.  Most religious traditions observe deities that come from (or live in) the heavens. There are plenty of sun gods, for example. Star worship, building to reach into the sky to either signal or communicate with gods - all of this points to extraterrestrial visitation. It is just too prevalent to have come from elsewhere.

We do have some religions that worship nature, or a "mother earth", and I think this would be the default state of faith, pre-visitation.

I also find it curious that several of the oldest religions seems to have got their start or really taken off around 1500 BCE. Most newer religions were just split off of the older religions. Judaism, Christianity, and then Islam, for example.  There was something that caused a drastic shift in faith around 1500 BCE though, followed by a lot changes in faiths and social structures.

Was this shift just a technological breakthrough, or the result of a visitation? We can look a lot more recently, and see a lot of accounts of ET phenomena in the mid 20th century CE, and here we are, living through a technological avalanche of activity, which has brought us modern computing and communication, and which may now be bringing us a radically different money. I wouldn't be the first to suggest that Satoshi Nakamoto may be ET. Whether or not is not the point, though, just part of the observation that a shift is happening, and it is causing societal structures and religious faith to be re-imagined.


Cows grow well here. Also hays to feed them. Goats as well. Sheep are much less common. Pigs do fine, and chicken, ducks, geese. Salmon, trout, steelhead, crab, clams, mussels. I literally live in a great place for having my food grow.


Funny thing, risk of heart disease is one thing I no longer worry about now that I am meat based. Cancer is another big one. Also all the things they sell drugs for in TV commercials.

Gout is something other people worry about on my behalf, but anything I personally see as an issue.

Living this worry-free is very liberating. Now all I really worry about how my body will be able to repair all the years of abuse and toxins. So far it is doing fine at this.

I also worry about the future availability of meat. But that is a very different topic.


Plants.


And I enjoy eating donuts. Doesn't make them food.


For conducting business, as well as for social engagement, I prefer to meet face to face, at least initially. After that, I agree that most things can be handled by email if they are not important enough to meet face to face again. All the stuff in the the middle is just annoying and a poor use of someone's time.


My thought on #onlyzaps - I quite like the likes. That just lets me know someone saw my note. I'm no inflooenzer, and I doubt I get many follows or views unless I reply to some else's note. So a like is nice for me.

I'm not here to monetize my social presence. Most of my notes are long winded bloviating on whatever topic happens to be on my mind. Sure, I could write a book, but why? If anyone cares enough about my ramblings, they can collect them and publish them however they like; I don't claim any copyright or ownership of my ideas and thoughts, and most aren't all that original. Hopefully they publish them posthumously, as I don't want to deal with the notoriety. No speaking tours, signing engagements, or answering emails accusing me of rubbish thinking. Nope.

Just posting notes, and if you see one, like it. Hopefully you read some of it too. If you want to zap it, go right ahead, but I don't check my zaps balance very often, or even see when it happens, maybe months later. And that is fine!


Well, not really food for humans, probably better as pleasure items.


Let's get this out of the way in one note. I've failed, but so fucking what?

I'm back on the ciggies again. As of Dec, actually. Quit for about 7 months. Will quit them again, just not today.

I'm not a strict carnivore. I eat a meat-based diet, and understand that I don't need to consume anything other than meat and water to optimize health. That said, if I am in a social or family situation, I won't turn down a meat-based option if it has a sauce on it or a few small pieces of plants stuck to it. I won't eat helpings/servings of plants, and won't prepare plants for my own meals - but I've decided to optimize social aspects of my life over health.

I also have compromised with my sugar addiction. When I do my weekly shopping, usually Sunday, I often get two donuts (usually something with chocolate icing or maybe fritters), and maybe a chocolate bar. Doing this is a long way from eating pastries every day. Does it kick me out of ketosis. Probably, idgaf.

I'm not going to claim to be carnivore, ketovore, or any of the diet cults, because strict rules are not for me. I prefer to avoid things, like plants and sugars, but only as a preference, not as a rule. I prefer to eat meat-based foods, but I am not at all strict about what that means, how it was prepared, etc. I prefer to avoid seed oils, but will not have an issue if my social meal was prepared using them. I prefer to eat meata that do not have corn syrup or similar sugers added to them (wtf?), but if there is dextrose or something similar added as part of a curing or preservative process, not a huge deal - I just will eat that in lesser amounts or less often.

I discovered I could eat too much fat. For a while I was eating steaks with butter, tallow, and bacon cooked with them in an air fryer, along with all the rendered juices in the pan. That was too much, I gained back 20 lbs or so, even when being a lot more strict with everything. I still eat the pan juices, but stopped with the bacon, kept the butter, and use tallow only occasionally on leaner cuts of meat. Lost that 20 lbs again, even with being less strict now.

I'm not optimizing to lose weight, though - I really am optimizing for social situations, and for being food-optional, where if something meat based or something I want (this week, half-and-half for my coffee, a new habit I picked up), I can go without for a meal, a day, a week or more for non-meat items. 24 or even 48 hours with absolutely no food is no big deal anymore. I'm sure I could go longer, but haven't needed or wanted to.

So that's where I'm at. I'm not leading a movement, just learning what works for me.


Ok, this may get long, (and that's saying something coming from me. I may break it into a few chunks. But I wanted to write something on my theories surrounding the origin of religions.

At first, we were nomadic small groups, providing for the group by tracking and killing animals. When the game was plentiful, we would hunt it there, until it was no longer plentiful - either because we exhausted the supply, or the animals chose to move away from us.

During this time, there was much we didn't know. We may have had a notion that thrre was something unexplained that controlled aspects of our environments - weather, sun, moon, etc. We may have done things that we hoped would help our chances of a good hunt, improve our shelter conditions. And we may have even had some superstitions around death. Most of these traditions would have been passed on orally, whether through song, or just listening and learning from others in the tribe, particularly the elders.

Here's where my theories start to diverge. I'm going with my older theory first.

At some point, a tribe was in a place long enough to begin to observe and learn some basic agriculture, like how to pick and eat from the same plants year after year, and how to transplant them, and how seeds work to grow more of them. Plants can fill you up kind of like meat, but with some interesting side effects. But tending to plants means that you must stay where your plants are growing, and not move with the meat. Well, whomever felt strongly about this needed a way to keep most of the rest of the tribe from wanting to move on. They also needed their tribe mates to work in the fields, rather then spending their days hunting.

It was likely more popular among the elders, who were physically tired of moving, and didn't have the caloric burn of movement in hunting to require the fats and proteins that hunters did, so they would be more than happy to sit around and subside on plants.

But they also needed more young active people to do the hard work associated with agriculture. How to do this?

Well, they already had some beliefs and superstitions, so one (or more) of them needed to twist these beliefs into a threat and a promise. The threat needed to be something along the lines of "if you don't do as we say, it will not go well for you." And the promise would be "as long as you do as we say, life will be better." It was pretty simple to use that unexplained notion of something else in control to appeal to, citing knowledge of how that something else works, and claiming to have some kind of direct link or influence over it.

But what about when things went wrong? Blight, drought, fire, poor crop production, flooding? Inevitably, the leaders of the agriculture change would have some explaining to do, as to why their promise was broken.

Time to pivot. Blame some bad forces, or blame some people who were not falling into line. Blame disbelievers, outsiders, whomever. Maybe even kill some of them to appease the forces of nature and get the plants growing again.

Note here that agriculture both requires and allows larger groups to form - what may have been a hunting family of 10-20 people was now growing into a community of 100 or more people, which required a lot more plants to sustain, and more people to care for and process those plants.

So the community leaders (also the ones appealing to spirituality for purposes of control over the larger community) would far more people to choose from for punishment, and could probably find someone to blame and punish that was not also their immediate family.

This is where the sickness of power takes over. What happens when punishing (even killing) some people doesn't make crops better? Well, being in control is nice, and what is the ultimate way to demonstrate that control? Demand (and execute) measures of sacrifice. Make sure the leaders are getting fed, demanding a portion of the plants (and animals still being hunted, but now also being domesticated) be given to the leaders so the leaders will be motivated to continue asking the forces of nature for positive outcomes.

It gets worse - demand children be sacrificed, or given to the leaders as aides and assistants. Or things will definitely go poorly. Obey!

(And this devolves into various perversions of child abuse, sexual abuse, paedophilia, whatever depraved act a ruling class might care to engage in)

But adults are still needed to do the labor, and do it they will... especially if their child's life may depend on it.

Here is where I will remind you, history is written (and passed down orally) by the winners, those alive to retell it - so they wouldn't care to disparage their own practices. Any religion that survives today surely has some dark history, same as any nation surviving today.

I can dig a lot deeper into what this does to the mindset of people, controlling them through fear, incentivizing them with promises that could not be always delivered, but when not, putting the blame back on the people themselves, so in addition to fear, there was also self doubt. I think I'll stop here though, on that thread anyway.

I mentioned a divergence. Well instead of all the agricultural stuff that would likely have taken centuries to go from settling in a fertile spot to enslavement and child sacrifice....

What if a charismatic sort just took all the elder's wisdom, got really weird and started freaking out a bit - and claimed to have communed with the forces of nature one-on-one? The rest of the tribe sees he's acting weird, and he claims to have some kind of divine knowledge - well, now if he gains the trust of the tribe (or already had it) we have a prophet - or a seer. I tend to think of prophets as younger charismatic males, and seers as older, well-established females, but there is no need to assume gender or age with these terms.

Does it take a wholly different path? Not necessarily, establishing a cult, creating a leadership, ruling a region, demanding sacrifices when things go poorly, it can all go the same way

One thing the charismatic leader can more easily do is convince his followers that his god is the best of all other gods, or even the only god, and all the others are fakes and weaklings. And if things happen as he says for a while, then people might get in line with that message.  Besides, people are probably tired and fed up with trying to appease all the different forces or deities, so having just one simplifies things for everyone. This may be why sun god cults pop up everywhere, especially nearer the equator.

These divergent theories can both go together, as the move to agriculture would open doors to both, and a stagnant leadership can fail in the face of a charismatic leader with a new idea

Any of this sounding familiar?

But what happens to all of the above when alien intervention in thrown in? The intervention doesn't even have to be alien, really any meeting of two civilizations where technology is more developed in one than the other.

Seems like magic (or god-stuff) when unexplainable things are being done - making the people performing these unexplainable acts a little god-like themselves...

Again, sounding familiar?

But I will stop here, I will definitely write more about the religious and cultural impacts of alien intervention another time.

Until then, buenas noches - GN.


Will definitely look into it.


I have another note to write about the origins of religions, and the why and for what purpose religions were formed - but my eyes are too worn out to write it tonight.

Gn #nostr


I'm becoming very interested in Hindu origins for several reasons - first, a lot of the basics appear to be aligned with my general worldviews and philosophy. Second, because of the age of the Hindu traditions, history, and variety of cultures that developed out of the Indus valley civilizations, and their initial separation from Judaism and later Christianity and Islam, it might be possible to ascertain more about what may have been happening during possible time gaps, like the first millennia CE, and more specifically the Dark Ages. Third, the Hindu take on time, creation/destruction, and even the nature of deity is very different than what we understand through western cultural traditions. Fourth, their openness and acceptance of extraterrestrial life is very interesting, and there is a fairly good chance they have past experience with extraterrestrial life.

It is also very interesting that there was a global explosion of religious traditions dating to around 1500 BCE. This probably isn't coincidence, particularly as this seems to be the case in different regions, even different continents. Something changed then, and poof - religions were formed.

I definitely do not believe in Christianity. I'm also not looking to answer spiritual questions, or have any unresolved spiritual angst. I am curious about the history of cultures and civilizations though, and what humans may have endured in the past to get to where they are today.


I think anyone can develop a talent, if you find a thing you like doing and practice and work at it to make them better at it. You can usually determine pretty quickly what you aren't good at, and don't care to spend the effort to get better at it.

So a talent to me is kind of like a proof of work.


Any good resources/books to learn about Hindu mythology? Specifically interested in creation/existence story and time theories.


For the last few months, been having an issue with pain in my right shoulder, especially nearer the edges of its range of motion. Went to an ortho dr, they x-rayed and ensured me it was bursitis, not arthritis, calcium deposits, bone spurs, gout, or muscle damage. Because it was a doctor, they immediately shot it full of steroids, because drs want to prescribe and administer drugs.

That helped for a week, but two weeks later, doing moderate activity (hanging doors and blinds in a renovated room project I finished), I re-injured it.

I'm looking at treating it with a combination of CBD and DMSO, both things I keep around as general purpose home medicine. Any reason the combination would be an issue? I would be applying both topically, but not necessarily at the same time(s).

I'm hoping this will allow for healing, because I'm not prepared to sit around resting my shoulder and not getting shit done for weeks or months. Behind on enough projects already.


Ok, this is my final planned transmission for tonight. And I do this more to just get these thoughts written down. It helps me to solidify a lot of competing theories in my head into one (or more) cogent writings on a topic.  Maybe it is my own little way to #grownostr.

So let's have a think about power. By power, I mean an organizing force. This is political power, economic power, etc., and it can be pretty easy to track over time if you zoom out a bit and look.

I think the same organizing force has been in control for at least a millennia, possibly a lot longer, especially in the western world. (Europe, Mediterranean, North and much of South America).

In a mod to my last note about aliens, I choose to think the organizing force is human, but they could really just as easily not be - but would need human or human-like proxies to coordinate with the earth's human populations.

I excluded Asia from the list of regions above. I think China has been a separate center of power for a very long time. I also excluded much of Africa, because it has been a battle ground. South America and Central Asia are likely similar battle grounds, and North America was a battle ground for some time.

However, if I take Western power and Eastern power as the two separate dominating world powers, I would be very surprised if the were not at least cooperating with each other if not coordinating between each other.

I don't know enough about Chinese and Asian history to properly treat it here, so I will focus on Western power. I am relatively sure it goes back to at least the RCC (Roman Catholic Church) (not as the seat of power, but perhaps an organization in the favor of the organizers).  But it likely goes back to Rome, possibly Egypt, but more likely the tribes of Israel.

One thing power does is controls the narrative - so the histories we know about are likely the histories most central to (and most apologetic to) the power structure. Kind of that history is written by the victors thing - everything else are discoveries about civilizations that may have existed in the way they are now presented, in the frame of the current power structure, but just as likely existed much differently.

Does rooting this power theory in the tribes of Israel make it Zionist? Perhaps, but maybe not in the way that term is currently being used.

I think this power has held control for so long by allowing economic and social experiments to play out, especially so long as they enrich the organizers. The RCC may have been such an experiment. Also British and European colonialism in general. USA is an experiment, as I have said in days prior. Canada, Australia - similar iterations of experiments.

Do I put on a tin foil hat and start pointing fingers at the WEF, Bilderbergers, Rothschilds, Illuminati, or some other shadowy initialed group? Nope, I just don't see it that way. Sure, any of the groups could have done some of the work of the organizers, but they just aren't longstanding enough. I expect multi-generational organization (or conspiracy, if you see it that way) and these groups don't really have that. Maybe Freemasons or Knights Templar? Rosicrucians? Much longer histories, but still more likely to be willing accomplices to power rather than power itself.

What does this mean for us? Well, again the American experiment is coming to an end, and may take Canada with it. I'm not sure this threatens the power structure, but it signals a change. It may mean we are headed for a conflict between West and East, or maybe a consolidation. I think bitcoin will play a role in this, but way to early to see what role. Keep in mind the power structure has always seeked its own enrichment and expansion of control, so however Bitcoin can be used to that end, or as a weapon against it, will determine Bitcoin's fate.

We live in interesting times. But as always, zoom way out to try and glimpse the bigger picture.


I think I have this and one more note I want to write tonight, then maybe gn.

First, on the ancient alien theories stuff.

At the far tail end of things, I believe in some form of panspermia - and I choose to believe we were essentially engineered to exist here.

Past that, I don't think whomever put us (or found us) here ever left.

Is this a god theory? Could be, and could definitely explain a lot of our god myths, even our creation and origin stories.

Now, looking back even a few thousand years, there is ample evidence of alien involvement, if you look at the evidence with an open mind to alien involvement.

If you look back to the dark ages, the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) was very effective at suppressing any hints of alien involvement from European, Mediterranean, and later north american knowledge and histories.  However, alien involvement was very observable in Middle and South America, as well as southeast Asia and Polynesia. I think the Chinese may have been also very suppressive of alien involvement in their histories. Alien involvement also didn't likely stop in North America until post-colonization by Europe, at which point, again surpressed.

The current trend seems to be more accepting of at least alien theories, so I think we may soon (in the next several generations) finally again be witness to our keepers.

There are many kinds of theories that spawn from this that I don't disparage, but who am I to know what is true?

It is also quite possible that alien involvement has not all been from the same species or civilization of aliens, and what we currently are finding is evidence of multiple waves of alien contact, with the original alien keepers (designers) now long gone.

Time plays a role in this too, as our human perceptions of time (and reality) may not be shared by our alien visitors, so what we see as intermittent may be for them constant, or even the other way around. Sequences of events for us do not necessarily interpret into sequences of events in a different perspective of time and reality. So some of what we observe is simply not applicable.

That's enough. This can lead to far too many thought paths for me to just choose one to follow.


I was starting a thought last night on our perception of history.

(To contextualize this, my overall theory of reality is that all of our theories are suspect, and anything we think happened in the past is only available to us through our present perception of it, not necessarily through the actual past event.)

I've heard some theories about missing time, maybe some time during the dark ages. I was trying to pin this down a bit, and I'm thinking that anything that happened over 1,000 years ago is highly suspect, both as to WHAT happened, and WHEN it actually happened. History just wasn't being recorded very well in the first millennia AD. The year 1066 is pounded into my head, but anything older than that just seems to be estimated.

Then I'm also questioning the accuracy of calendars during and prior to that time.  I don't know when the current 365.25 day calendar was adopted, but I don't think it was all that long ago.

Do I think an extra hundred or thousand years of time happened in the first millennia? Not ruling it out, but not really convinced either way.

Go back further. Looking at passed-down history (recorded later on) from any time prior to the Great Flood. Pick your cultural preference of which Great Flood.  I have a theory about this, which is that prior to that flood there was a thick outer-atmospheric band of water vapor covering the earth, and the flood was actually the collapse of that atmospheric layer. It explains a lot, including sub-marine ruins of prior civilizations.

I also think that atmospheric layer of water vapor gave the earth a very different greenhouse effect-like climate, where things grew differently, like megaflora and megafauna.  Also I think the mass of the earth was much greater, and its orbital path much different.  The collapse of the vapor layer resulted in much of that mass escaping into space, after an impact or near-impact with something else in space. So the years after the flood were an adjustment period as the earth found its new orbital path and distance from the sun.  This means "years" were of a different length, and not always a consistent length. Makes any dating of events prior to that time or even fairly close thereafter highly suspect.

This also explains humans living hundreds of years. If the years were shorter, or less UV, or just different climate conditions... it wouldn't be as much of a stretch as living hundreds of our current 365 day years, in our current climates.

It explains giant reptiles (dinosaurs). Reptiles generally don't really stop growing, as I understand it.  So what does a 1000 year old reptile look like? Maybe pretty big.  Same with trees.

But it means when "science" says something happened 4,000 or 40,000 years ago, I take that to just mean "a long time ago", or "a really long time ago. They can sometimes sequence it into other known events, sometimes not.

But I think similarly about events happening in the first millennia AD - I'm not sure the sequence of events we are taught is actually how it happened. They've already been shown to be wrong about european activity in the Americas. What else from before that did they get wrong?

This doesn't even get in to the possibility that extra-terrestrials played a part in this planet's history, or in our chain of civilizations' history. I prefer to think this is almost a certainty, because I am an ancient alien theorist, or whatever.

I'm starting to think more in Mayan (or what I believe to be Mayan) phases of time, rather than years and dates. There was the age of American power, which we are nearing the end of. Before that, the age of European power, which lasted for quite a while, and overlapped with a very long age of Chinese power. The beginning if the Euro age was also the age of Roman Catholic power. Before that, the ages of the Romans, Egyptians, and so on. There were others in power in the Mesopotamian region well prior to Egypt.  Again, look east, and there was a lot going on in India and China as well. No idea what was happening to the south in the rest of Africa.

I'm actually quite curious what the histories of India have to say about the last 6,000 or so years, or how far they actually go back. It may be much more accurate than our western histories.

Just a little dive into what came before. I'm sure there is a lot to learn there, but if it isn't true, then does that diminish the value of the lessons?

To bring this around, if I can only experience past events through my perception of them, a myth may be just as important and experiential as a factual event.

Just don't believe the lies that you are being told without first putting them into perspective and properly evaluating them.


Wife is pissed at me because I told her that text messages and facebook messages are not "urgent", and that I don't believe in being instantly available or interruptible at any time.

Poor timing on my part, for sure. There was a fatal motorcycle accident locally today, and yes,

Today I rode my motorcycle.

However, she didn't even text or message me.

And I still resist being tied to an electronic leash with some kind of obligation to immediately check it whenever it makes a noise. Sorry, not my way. Never has been.

Maybe just me being boomer-ish, but I'll check my notifications next time I look at my phone, which may be hours from whenever you sent your message. If you need to find me sooner, too bad.

Also kind of nice that my nostr client doesn't have notifications. Nope. Life is better this way.


I'm feeling ranty tonight. Geez, feel like I've been keeping a lot of this in my head with no good outlet to let it flow out.

I will now enjoy my post-release catharsis. Gn.


Side note on this - any food compsny marketing foods containing fructose, sucrose, lactose, dextrose, etc; including all imitations of these sugars - are de facto sugar companies, capitalizing on the addictive properties of sugars.


Pharma markets drugs to solve the problems created by nutritionally inadequate and quite frankly poisonous diets, which are sold to the masses as healthy food, or rewarding food, or just tasty food - and the sugar companies have subverted the government to the extent that the government (who has no business in public health or diet) recommending products as healthy that are filled with poisons and addictive substances.

Pharma also markets drugs to alleviate the side effects of other drugs. If you follow the government (or the marketers) ideas of a healthy diet, you will end up taking many drugs (prescription and otc) to combat the damage being done.

Doctors no longer heal, or have any incentive to make you well. They are the street dealers of pharma, and/or the beneficiaries of the "health insurance" racket.  Doctors are no longer even doctors; most people's primary contact in the medical sciences (in the US at least) is some kind of nurse that can recommend prescription drugs (and may or may not be able to actually write the prescription, but don't worry, someone else in the office will do it for them.)

I went to an orthopedic doctor for some recurring muscle aches that were often limiting my range of motion and physical activities. I was not given exercises, stretches, recommendations for ice or heat, etc - nope, just a couple steroid shots and be on your way!  When I asked about physical activities to try or avoid, the doctor seemed surprised, maybe a little annoyed, and had no practical feedback. Very disappointing.

Pharma is more than disappointing, it is harmful. Same goes for the companies marketing poisonous and addictive foods, clearly - and they definitely work hand-in-hand, and have the masses drinking their kool-aid.

This will not be looked back upon as a good period in societal (or human) evolution - we are in a Dark Ages of sorts, and these will be seen as tough times, or maybe when humans almost? wiped themselves off the planet.

Have fun surviving out there.


It's been really disgusting trying to ignore watching what my wife watches on TV.

- constant commercials for big pharma (this has really gone nuts - I could say so much more about this)

- commercials for shows (and shows, and commercials) glorifying poisoning one's self with alcohol

- shows dedicated to making plants (animal food) appealing to humans, calling it fine dining, healthy, when it is everything but.

- glorification of racial divisions, mental illness, consumerism

That's quite enough for now. I spend the time solving crosswords and solving mahjong puzzles. I occasionally do see a commercial, and I'm generally surprised at the actual actors behind the voices, what they are doing, or even what it is for. I had thought a Moen commercial was for perfume for the longest time.

This needs to change; I hope television dies with the younger generations and streaming tech.


BUY THE TOP! (and if it's not the top, buy that too!)


Yesterday, looked at Nostr through Primal (web version).  Up popped some stuff from Alby about a master key. Didn't care about Alby, ignored.

Came back today, did the Alby master key setup when prompted. Which is silly, I think.  Went on to look at Primal, and immediately noted all my nicely set up views/lists were gone and replaced with defaults I don't care about. Well, back to Satellite, where I don't have these problems.  I don't care to even try and remember how I set up those views/lists/whatever.  I don't really care about zaps or Alby (unpopular take) and my content in Satellite looks stellar!


I'm thinking about what all this fiat dumping  into bitcoin ETFs actually looks like long-term. Like what happens in 2027 or 2031. How do the lows in the bitcoin price cycle translate into big money investment? I don't think it is all ngu from here, and I still think there are big crashes ahead. Until bitcoin becomes a world currency, that shouldn't change, and that is still likely decades (and possibly a few wars) away from happening.

The next 30 years might get pretty rough. It already sucks working for less bitcoin than I did before.

Strap in lads and lasses, there's no going back from here.

Gn.


Were this true, who are they subverting America from? I challenge this, in stating they are merely arms of the hydra that has been in control the whole time. America was just an experiment that has been allowed to persist, as it greatly enriched those who were in control, and was easily used as a willing and able enforcer, but that time is coming to an end, and changes are being made. Think false-flag on a grand scale, with a multi-generational timeframe. Zoom way out.

Now we are facing social engineering pressures that are only made possible by our technologies that encourage information to be spread rapidly, if not instantly, coupled with data storage that permits history to be continually edited and curated to match the messaging desired by the thought leaders.

This isn't subversion, just power and control evolving with technology.

I do not assume a moral position on this; I won't assume that there is any savior to fix it, as if it were broken. I only can make my next decision, conduct my next action, with an awareness of what is, and my own priorities and assumptions of consequence.


Poverty is the default; it is our base case. We are born into our reality with nothing, and are fortunate to acquire whatever resources we can along the path toward our eventual death, where again, we will have nothing.

We are not guaranteed anything. We are not entitled to anything. There are no such things as "rights" or "freedoms".

The best we can hope for is to be able to act on the next decision we make.


My current state is not ideal. I could have a better job, better partner, better home. Even a better family and better friends.

But I don't believe life is about reaching some ideal state of being, and trying to maintain it.

I see it more as life is about existing in a less-than-ideal present state, with challenges continually threatening to disrupt it. However, using every available resource we have to overcome those challenges presents us with constant opportunity to improve our present state toward future ideals.

This is not a best-of-all-possible-worlds scenario, but it is the one we exist in, and every action we take has the potential to improve it.

I filed my taxes today.


Don't listen to me.

I believe strongly in the future of Bitcoin, but will sell some if I want to.

I don't trade in crypto, but still have some dust in old accounts that isn't worth the trouble to sell.

I eat a meat-based diet, but I still opportunistically eat whatever the fuck I want. Even if it's donuts.

I may know a few things, but they could all be at least partially wrong. That's fine with me, and I won't be offended if you disagree, or know differently. Sharing knowledge infers both parties have something to share.

I believe a lot of things, but with wildly varying levels of conviction and perceived importance.

So when I say something, I may or may not believe it strongly, or even care whether or not it is true. Even if I do believe it, my actions may not always be in line with that belief. This makes me unreliable, somewhat unstable, and unfit to be an authority on anything.

Would you be so bold as to say the same about yourself?


Been using Satellite in Kiwi on android for a long time, still works great!


Indoor dust is largely human (and sometimes animal) dander - think small particles of skin we shed every day. It is combined with whatever other particulates are in the air (both organic, like pollens, and inorganic, like sand), then because of particulate density and low levels of air humidity, as well as static charges present across many indoor surfaces, tends to fall, cling to, and accumulate on indoor surfaces.

Outdoors, the same dander generally ends up in the soil, as precipitation cleans it out of the air, and most other surfaces don't have the static charges to keep it in place when even a mild breeze passes through.

Carpeted homes build up lots of static, by the way, although dust is more visible on wood floors. And vacuum cleaners used an carpets often do more to redistribute particulate (yes, even those with fancy HEPA filters) than capturing it. Just shine a bright light on one when you start it up.

(Yes, I've sold vacuums, and know most of the tricks and scare tactics)


So where is my focus, if elsewhere?

- eating a meat-based diet. Shameless virtue signal.
- understanding everyone makes decisions and acts based on a general desire for an improved outcome. Each of us has no way to definitively infer what priorities or influences are in play, only to understand people always operate in what they believe to be their own self-interest.
- operating in my own self-interest is natural, and figuring out what that self-interest may entail is a life's work, and changing in each moment.
- sometimes an online community such as nostr is in my best interest, other times it is a  distraction. Every moment we spend doing one thing is one moment NOT spent doing all other possible things. We ultimately decide what to do in each moment. Obviously my decision for several months of moments has not been nostr.
- I am where I am. If you need to find me, it won't be difficult. I doubt it will be in your own best self-interest to find me, but I could be mistaken, as always.


Still not dead. Focused elsewhere. Social media hermitage is where its at.


Not dead, just living. Gn #nostr.


Happy new year, #nostr.


I would tend to agree, likely something in the way the app uses the OS audio drivers. I had an identical Pixel 6 that worked fine, bought this one to put Graphene on fresh, and it has never worked. Everything else has been great, though. I appreciate you talking me into Graphene, or at least pointing me at resources that were convincing.


Premium family, locked in hard enough I don't want to also pay for Tidal.


No luck. Setting it to loud did give a little increase, still at 50% or less volume.


Normalize - off, volume level greyed out but Normal is selected.


Looks like they took away the setting to only check for updates 1/wk. the notifications for reboots show an estimate of 1/day - that is pretty crazy for a "stable" release, IMO.  I've just disabled notifications for system updates altogether.  Now I have a feeling that anytime I reboot my phone, I'll just be waiting a significantly longer period of time for any updates to finish installing and apps to refactor or whatever they do.


My BT volume level on the phone is always 100%. When I first start Spotify, I hear a song start playing at normal volume, for maybe 1/2 a second, or 1/10 of a second. It immediately drops to a very low volume (although the volume still shows as 100%).  The volume continues at this level as long as the device is connected.  I've had this experience with multiple BT devices (car stereo, JBL speaker, my garage stereo system that has a BT input, etc).  It has ONLY been an issue with Spotify - Tidal, YouTube, etc work fine.


It would be super great if #GrapheneOS would let me play Spotify over bluetooth at full volume. Tidal works fine, it is something specific to Spotify as far as I can tell. Acts like it is playing through a hearing loss prevention filter.

Also would be great not to have restart my phone (and optimize apps) 3 days in a row for OS updates. I thought I had set it to max 1/wk.


Integrity means something.


Looking like it's been a good evening in Moscow.


Early gn #nostr.

Still around, just not spending much time on social media. I'm having a great time not thinking about the current thing, or the next thing.


Gn 🌛


Today I participated in my first ever toy run. I didn't even know what a toy run actually was, just that toys were being collected. Had never rode in a large pack of motorcycles, just a few times in groups of ten or less.

Well, it was a blast! Weather was great, cold (40ish, maybe) but clear and sunny. It was basically parading through the streets of my small city along an organized route. There were people outside watching the thundering horde go by. All the intersections had been blocked off for us.  There were hundreds of motorcycles, double-file. Could have been over 1000 of us.

What a great thing to be a part of! Learning to ride my motorcycle is paying off.


This doesn't change. You'll still be too old to skate when you're 41. Also 51. You've got a lot of years of non-conformity left in you, so I suggest you get used to it.


Gnite Gnostr

Sometimes it is hard to want to continue on in the shadows of a culture that is normalizing mental and physical illness and infirmity.


I think that it is not that easy to trace the transfers when done via lightning between exchanges. If we were talking on-chain transfers, I completely agree with you.


The flip side is what I am optimizing for.  I am interested in making it harder for them to check anything by their own rules.  And all I can tell them is that I don't know, because I don't.  If they want to try to figure it out, they can go right ahead, but at the end of the day, they won't know either, and I have no intent or motivation to help them.

Since they will mostly believe whatever I say, it is to my benefit to say only what can be obviously confirmed.  That is, at the time the sats sold went on the exchange (which is likely reporting to them), they were valued at X, and when exchanged for fiat, they were valued at Y.  This is my best try at complying, although everyone knows it is not 100%.  Any valuation prior to those sats being on the exchange is clouded in assumption.