Incredible


Rally whips the llama’s ass


Shit


Right?
I never want to be the smartest guy in the room. I can’t learn anything that way. I can’t even unlearn anything that way.


If you ever find yourself to the the cleverest guy in the room, the cleverest thing to do would be to find a room with more interesting people in it.


C.S. Lewis

https://image.nostr.build/0dfa2ac560ffef0ec6de13feecbba5c8c7c29d0e99a4d4bb0bd1d272c70032c1.jpg


Krishna says to Arjuna,

“I am come as Time, the ultimate waster of people, ready for the hour that ripens to their doom. The warriors, arrayed in hostile armies, facing each other, shall not live, whether you strike or stay your hand.”

#BhagavadGita #Yoga


I see some groupings, but am missing an overall pattern.  Is there one?


Not saying that nostr:npub14mcddvsjsflnhgw7vxykz0ndfqj0rq04v7cjq5nnc95ftld0pv3shcfrlx  is culpable, just saying it sucks that so many of WBD’s sponsors were shady:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/iris-energy-mislead-computing-capabilities-investor-claims


❗ PSA: Update your Tor browser as soon as possible; fixes a security vulnerability Mozilla has had reports of being exploited in the wild.

- https://blog.torproject.org/new-release-tor-browser-1357/
- https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/security/advisories/mfsa2024-51/#CVE-2024-9680

Mozilla Firefox itself and all Mozilla Firefox forks should be updated accordingly once a new build is released.


BTAS > Batman Beyond

Few.


I feel seen


SRSLY.
I actually read a transcript of the conversation they had.  It was something like…

Prof. Mora: The Bitcoin network is a waste of energy. I assign you to prove it in a short paper and encourage you to make any assumptions you want about growth without researching the difficulty adjustment, hardware efficiency upgrades, energy markets, stranded energy, the mempool, load balancing, or renewable energy sources. Really, just extrapolate however you want. Don’t bother interviewing anyone who actually uses or secures the network. Bitcoin is bad and, remember, it’s a waste of energy. Also, does anyone know a guy named de Vries?

Et al:  Aye Aye, Captain!  Wow, data science is easy!!


No harm in trying again as an adult!  It’s on Amazon. Beginning with the first episode, it jumps right into moral ambiguities for the audience to consider.


Be kind for no reason


Love it


Your welcome.


F Mora and his graduate student et al’s


I didn’t know Marcus Aurelius wrote about bitcoin.

#TheMoreYouKnow


Hard pass!  For my money, Batman, The Animated Series was far better.

The character development, from Bruce Wayne, to the villains he faced as the Batman, to the challenges he faced as the Batman, himself, was excellent. The animation was smooth. The plots were full.

https://youtu.be/rrmUk2YUm14


Completely and utterly


This feels like it’s crossing the line of the  1993 National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).  Voter registration drives are allowed as long as they are conducted in a non-partisan manner and do not mislead or coerce individuals into registering. In other words, the person offering the commission must not be affiliated with a political party and must not pressure or deceive people into registering.


Yeah, no arguments here about that at all. I’m just asking why there is an @america handle in the first place. I never knew about that, or any other country having their own handle. I didn’t know that was a thing, or when it became a thing, or why that thing would be a good thing to exist, at all.


I knew there was a @POTUS account, but haven’t used Twitter for a long time.


Why is there an @america Twitter handle?  Is there one for other countries?  Who manages that, usually?


Unfortunately, this is your reality.


Source?


My favorite response to someone says, “I could’ve done that,” is, “Yeah, but you didn’t.”


Hey #Plebs, #NostrPlebs,

I met a bitcoiner last year who had recently gone down the rabbit hole. Listening to lots of podcasts, but not reading very much. I know this because he kept repeating how he had been “orange-peeled” and how he wanted to “orange peel” as many people as he could.  Evidently, never seeing it written down, he did not know that the term is “orange-pilled,” as a reference to the decision Neo has to make between the red pill, which will wake him up to a life-changing truth, and the blue pill which leave him asleep and living an ordinary existence inside The Matrix (1999).

He didn’t know the reference and it was an innocent mistake —  not one of any real consequence. But here’s another for all you Plebs, #BitcoinPlebs, doing it all #ForThePlebs.

Of course language can change over time and slang can hold different meanings but, in this case, you are actively reinforcing the belief that there is a division in society (originally Rome) between the elites and the common people, the haves and have nots, the Bourgeoisie and the Proletariat.  Ah, yes.  It’s literally a Marxist framework and you are swallowing it uncritically, regurgitating it enthusiastically, and binding yourself to an ideology that DOES  NOT WORK for a free society.  Unless you are a Marxist, stop using this language.

You cannot talk about creating generational wealth while simultaneously bashing the wealthy class… which you will become once you create said generational wealth with #Bitcoin. It is only through Capitalism that you will create the wealth you seek. Not Marxism. Not even Anarchism.

An Honest Capitalist is a net producer of value (whether products or services). They are rewarded in the free market in the form of profit if they can steer their enterprise effectively, efficiently and fairly among a variety forces: sales margin, competition, regulation, supply chain management, employee satisfaction, customer service, growth, etc.  It is, of course, true that we live in an age of Crony Capitalism which rewards intermediaries, nepotism, political connections, regulatory loopholes, obligatory intermediaries and rent-seeking (which has nothing prima facie to do with your landlord or real estate), etc.

…but that doesn’t mean that we should be reconsidering Marxism, Socialism, or Communism and using THEIR mental framework and language.


May you be happy.

May you be free from suffering.

May you be free of fear and regret.

May you find peace in this life.

#metta #meditation


Did you ever meet people in school/uni who said things like, “Learning math and science is stupid. When am I ever gonna use this stuff in real life?”
Well, now you can see what those people become as adults.


Depends on the browser. If Safari, I sometimes start fresh by going to each tab and close after saving the Reader View version to iBooks or Files as a pdf, and then read them on a slow weekend or during a vacation by the pool.

If Duck Duck / Firefox, I do the same but hit Ctrl+P and then Save as PDF.


#Meditation


No, you’re looking at it myopically.
Unless, do you think ONLY people with children/descendants want to support others??

Though I am child-free, I feel support people (as well as non-human animals) who will outlive me, most of whom I do not know, will not know, and who will never know me. That’s what philanthropy is all about. Hard money serves this purpose for me just as much as it does for someone who only wants to give to their blood relatives.


No. A wise an successful person leaves wealth to *anyone* they deem should be a beneficiary. There is no requirement that it be a blood relation. It can be a friend or a friend’s child. It can be a donation to anonymous individuals. It can be an endowment to a charity dedicated to a cause, or university for scholarships.


I don’t follow. What connection do you see between the two?


Over the past few years, I’ve seen #Bitcoin fans and people who view themselves as influencers take a variety of uncompromising stances on things that have nothing to do with hard money.

Whether it was dietary (meat-only), constitutional (2A), political (insert preferred lunatic), cultural (modern art sucks), medical (anti-vaxx), environmental (anti-ESG), etc. and now, it seems, there’s this trend to promote human reproduction.  I typically don’t like to get involved in any of these arguments because, well, it’s a waste of my precious time.

When I first became interested in it, ten years ago, I was fascinated by an immutable, censorship-resistant, cryptographically secure, pseudonymous, global, P2P, non-governmental, digital money that was, at that time, non-correlated to other asset classes. I saw this value then and I still do, for the most part. But that’s it.

Just because I was early in appreciating this, I don’t think that gives me special knowledge in other domains. Evidently, others feel differently.

On the topic of raising a family, do it if you want.. but implying that other people’s lives are meaningless if they do not want kids is just something I cannot abide.

I’m here to tell you that child-free is great, too.  Don’t let society, parents, or bullies pressure you into doing something you don’t want to do.  You only get one life, do what you want with it. nostr:note1f6zhtr80pp6rskpngcgtcaqv3m4qd5vtsskn2e39g5z9k3k7l54ssax9k0


That’s all well and good FOR YOU, but there are a variety of ways to contribute to something bigger than yourself, if you have the inclination to do so and, perhaps, some imagination beyond your reproductive biology.

You misread Darwin. “Fitness” has absolutely nothing to do with an individual decision to contribute to anything greater than the self.


This isn’t clever, though it is cute.  And also sad.

Calling his claim “hot garbage” is not an appeal to emotion.  I don’t know where you learned dialectic, but it appears you missed a few classes.  You have just enough education to appear sophisticated, but not enough to impress the initiated.

My claim that some people would be better of not having children is not a straw man, at all.  While neither verifiable nor falsifiable (due to the fact that some life choices are somewhat, shall we say, permanent), it is YOU who are creating a straw man by distorting what I said.  To wit, I did NOT write, as you claim, “the world doesn’t need more people.”  I wrote, “The world doesn’t SIMPLY need more people.”  Can you understand the difference?  Try reading it again a few times for better comprehension.  I’ll wait.  In fact, my next sentence emphasizes that point by praising quality over quantity but, apparently you and HODL (and others here) think more is better no matter what quality of lives those people have, or what qualities of character good parenting might instill.

Y’all just want MOAR and that is, in a word, dumb.

Since I apparently need to repeat myself, I did not call HIM or children in general “hot garbage” but evidently you and others think that me opposing his “make more babies” idea is the same as a personal insult.  Is he *that* identified with this declarative?  Are you?  JFC, where did you people learn to communicate?

To repeat, with more emphasis:
Make babies (if you want to and feel you are ready to commit your life to raising a kind, responsible human being. The world needs more of that.)
Or, you can also…
Make art
Make money
Make love
Rescue animals
Protect nature
Protect the vulnerable
Read literature
Push science’s boundaries
Push technology’s boundaries
Travel the world
Climb mountains
Sail the oceans
Write songs
Write books
Write code
Study mathematics
Study philosophy
Study history
Study #bitcoin
Build a business
Be a mentor
Visit libraries
#Meditate
Appreciate music, poetry, sunsets, sunrises, friends, or community.

It’s all well and good that nostr:npub1rtlqca8r6auyaw5n5h3l5422dm4sry5dzfee4696fqe8s6qgudks7djtfs enjoys being a dad, but he has also admonished people for not doing so, and now others dogpile on to rebuke me for simply providing alternative sources for a meaningful life.  ALTERNATIVES!

Can’t there be more than one way to live life? Or must we all be parents?  Don’t you hear how insanely stupid that sounds??  I weep for your children.  Oh, how some of them will let you down when they decide not to give you grandchildren because they want to pursue other paths WITH THEIR OWN LIVES. How immoral of them to not agree with what you think is the only way to live!

Here’s a tip: Don’t tell anyone that there is only one way to have a fulfilling life and that everyone must do it!  Else, you are nothing more than a fanatic.  (The world does not need more of those.)  I would recommend you not have children until, at the very least, you come to that realization for yourself.

To conclude, I’m writing all this not to prove a point to you or any other breeder trying to troll me.  Rather, to anyone else reading this who wants to remain childless, either because of personal choice, or sexuality, or medical condition, or any other reason, believe me when I tell you: Life is *also* wonderful and thrilling and fulfilling and happy without children.  Don’t take any shit from anyone who tells you otherwise.


That’s fine, for you. Don’t lecture or condescend or presume or that it’s the right fit for others.


The fact that you can read my post and come to that conclusion demonstrates a paucity of value in your life.


We don’t have to.

But that doesn’t mean I’m going to stand by and let you (or anyone else in your mentions) shame people into having children as if it’s the only way to live a fulfilling life (as you have done in previous posts).  Expect me to respond.

Make babies
Make art
Make money
Make love
Rescue animals
Protect the environment
Protect the vulnerable
Read literature
Push science’s boundaries
Travel the world
Climb mountains
Explore the ocean
Write songs
Write books
Write code
Study maths
Visit libraries
Appreciate music, poetry, sunsets, sunrises, friends, or community.

Don’t tell anyone that there is only one way to have a fulfilling life.


Wrong. I didn’t say children were hot garbage.  I’m referring to your hot take about increasing the population. Don’t get it twisted. Some people want kids. Some people don’t. Simple as that.
My point is that it is NOT a life path many people and that’s totally fine.


Reread your post.  Do I need to explain how declarative sentences work?
You repeatedly write that’s there is an imperative for people to have more children. I’m countering that telling people what choices to make with their lives indicates a bloated self-importance. And yes, now I am making it personal. You have no business telling people to have kids, or insulting people who chose not to.


In your view, describing his prescription that *everyone* should more babies as “hot garbage” is a personal insult?


Do not run from them.
Do not try to chase them, either.

Simply pay attention to your thoughts and sit with them, as they come and go.

Pay close attention to what happens when the current thought unravels and disappears. Where does it go? Where did it come from? How long can you hold onto a thought, without a new one coming up, unintentionally?

Are you your thoughts? Coming and going like a sensation or a flavor, moment to moment?  Or are you something else, witnessing them? What is it, then, that is watching and experiencing all this?

#meditation


I’m presenting an argument.

You’re making a personal attack.

Is that how you raise your children?


One can only hope that this case will inspire a fresh interest in the other, and Ghislaine will sing.


Hot garbage.

Parenthood is not for everyone.

In fact, an effective case can be made that some people would be better off NOT doing it. The world does not simply need more people.

Choose Quality > Quantity and live your life accordingly.


Bali?


Julian Assange outs  Mike Pompeo and the CIA.  This is huge. https://video.nostr.build/0d5ea59256aeabcc1bba3cc235409e881caee5fda3d6b331883f626c369aa0e2.mp4


Haha. Yes.


Are you ready for the future?

https://video.nostr.build/233808b107ffd96e681f097bd1300f247599c21cb2d834a20b3fa0c4b9960745.mp4


Q: When did debt become a positive number?

A: A long time ago, with the advent of double entry bookkeeping.  One party’s debt is another’s asset.  The fact that this number is so high demonstrates how important credit is to the financial system.  For a deeper explanation, read Graeber’s “Debt, the first 5,000 years.”


Greetings, Professor Falcon. nostr:note17xcgdk0wk54da7un7qzq58qdxlapxxg6qz72ey2wr0jga5zs3m4s8sk46m


Thank you, Joshua.


Is nostr:npub15c88nc8d44gsp4658dnfu5fahswzzu8gaxm5lkuwjud068swdqfspxssvx one of the expert concierges? 🤩


#math
🤔🧐😎 https://image.nostr.build/fd315add6dc5f58c5121d81ad1ed45ef6c951c40dd026ccf575bbbf929035599.jpg


Aprenden español, hijos.


Let’s see if history rhymes!


Halving progress 11%. #Bitcoin
https://m.primal.net/LEuA.png


if they lose your attention
they lose their power


Accessible to anyone willing to look for it.

🧘


Tornado Cash? Needed a banking license. Samourai Wallet? Needed a banking license. WhatsApp, Apple, X, probably all need licenses too.

Sounds retarded? Correct. That's why the SEC has proposed a rule to formalize licensing requirements for communication protocols.

In a speech at the annual U.S. Treasury Market Conference, Gensler announced to rule on proposed amendments to the Exchange Act by November, which expand the definition of the term "exchange" to mean "systems that bring together buyers and sellers of securities [...] (i.e. "communication protocols")."

Critics argue the rule may be weaponized to criminally indict software developers given the already hostile environment for crypto- and privacy devs.

If this rule passes, we are fucked beyond comprehension.

Full story:
https://www.therage.co/gensler-to-rule-on-licensing-requirements-for-communication-protocols-2/


Astonishing


Gotcha


You think you’re in control?
The captain of your ship?
Master of your own destiny?

…

You don’t even know the next thought you’ll think, or what you’ll do about it.

There isn’t a single neuron in your brain that fires on its own, for its own “reason,” let alone a person who is able to make choices free from their culture, biology, education, environment, etc.

Everything is cause and effect.

You are here to witness it.

Free Will is an illusion.


Follow
nostr:npub1sur5gd3mrfvcd4nh8dtsdh0ztrqrnaknff0lcfcfz5pn56n8eqkqv9sm0l

nostr:npub1gvlgps2077uwzmshnn8vxh64sv7l0h26tgrr6gc30d9srdhew9cqxcnhgv

And
nostr:npub1ss8e6s2lufl9twvfzwk9uwcsd45yglyy4p44kzu3m6u2aw4rtwuquvu3mz

And me


Simple #yoga

Sun Salutations
5 Surya Namaskara A
5 Surya Namaskara B

#Hatha or #Ashtanga versions. I prefer the latter, followed by the Ashtanga standing sequence, followed by 10 minutes in #meditation.

Open the body. Twist and turn. Stretch and squeeze.  Flex and extend. Link each movement with an inhalation and exhalation. Focus the mind, here, now.


#ProofOfEar


Ditto. Have you tried going greyscale in your phone?  It’s an interesting setting that makes the device significantly less appealing to use. (Easy to turn off/on again as needed in the control center once your configure.)

In the mid-aughts, inspired by Tim Ferriss’, The Four Hour Workweek, I embraced the remote-only life of a digital nomad. This was before for iPhone, mind you, but I adopted an accessible-anywhere lifestyle and ran multiple businesses using the services that were available at that time VOIP for phones & fax, DocuSign, LogMeIn (now GoTo), DropBox and, later, Evernote (which now sucks), Trello, Asana, and Slack.

I prided myself on being completely reachable during extended trips to India and East Asia, productive from any random beach or cafe, efficient across time zones, for over a decade. I travelled so much, the State Dept. had to reissue a passport for me after I filled up the extension pack that had been added to my book.

Now older, my staff knows I’m not reachable when I travel unless there’s fire, flood, or blood.

I want to be offline as much as possible now. There is simply no way my brain can keep up with the constant barrage of notifications. For my own sanity, I have to reduce, limit, cut away, via negativa (to borrow from Taleb), to allow myself room to breathe in this new attention economy.

https://image.nostr.build/285f93eebb3ac59a752d20b919eb6036c311b31819759c48b30836394421c4bd.jpg


To wit, I have been actively deleting apps off my iPhone, making it more dumb.   Moved all my financial, news, communication, and productivity apps over to my iPad.  This way, I’m very intentional about when I’m working, and when I’m not.


*Tony Gilroy


The plot and script are both excellent. Tom Wilkinson, Tilda Swinton, and Sydney Pollack are all phenomenal… giving memorable performances.

No spoilers, but one of my favorite parts about this movie is when the credits roll and George Clooney sits in the back of the cab in New York City, driving aimlessly for however far $50 (in 1997) will take him. We sit with Clooney for a full 2 minutes of no dialogue, staring at his face as he lets his character digest and reflect on everything that’s happened. What an amazing decision from Tom Gilroy, on his directorial feature debut!


DO I LOOK LIKE I’M NEGOTIATING!


Free will is an illusion.

Nothing is under control.

Be grateful. Be lucky. Be happy.

🙏


“I have a foreboding of an America in my children's or grandchildren's time -- when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what's true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness...

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance”

― Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark


Great story, Guy.
Same here, Lyn.
My variant is that I wasn’t attending a required class and ran out of time to officially withdraw and reschedule it for a later term. Mind you, I *never* withdrew from any class during undergrad or grad school but, evidently, my brain considers this to be an excellent dream metaphor for… something.
I’ve been out of school for decades at this point and I still have this nightmare every few years. It’s absolutely terrifying: The feeling of “oh fuck, I missed something major,” or did not take care of something when I had the time, and now it’s too late.

As a meditator, I can tell you that your dreams are not always “trying to tell you something.”  Sometimes, as with waking life, thoughts come into your mind OUT OF NOWHERE, and you drop them, or consider them in context, or ruminate about them holding onto them for way too long, etc. However, in the dream world, your mind doesn’t have that capacity. A neuron triggers, or an area of the brain releases a hormone, and your subconscious mind tries to give a reason for the consequent emotion. “Ah! I know what this feels like… like… fear…like… like… oh, like when you were in school!!Here’s what that looked like:”

But, dreams, like all thoughts, are just a mental activity coming and going in empty space of consciousness.  If dreams like these bother you, or if your thoughts bother you, I recommend meditation. If you’ll indulge the following digression, Sam Harris’ app #WakingUp is the best available at the moment. (Happy to provide a referral code for the intro 30day course.)  I’ve sat multiple times in Thailand and India for 10-45 days and Sam’s app, done consistently for 10mins/day is as life changing as any of the more intense Satsangs I’ve done.


Possibly the spiciest memo I’ve ever read from Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital.

#RentControl #Inflation #FreeMarket #bitcoin

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shall-we-repeal-the-laws-of-economics/id1521551570?i=1000670055084


Life is too short

To spend it at war with yourself.


Serbia?


Welcome to #nostr.  #Introductions.

1. Post a note or reply
2. Immediately report spam that comments on my note or reply
3. Immediately mute spammer profiles indefinitely


Pathetic
🤮


The root problem with conventional currency is all the trust that's required to make it work. The central bank must be trusted not to debase the currency, but the history of fiat currencies is full of breaches of that trust.


Yeah, but this doesn’t look good, either:
nostr:note1gk99eezhpssmpqjy47znxwyrnqq7gzgd0cukn7p9srnfsgzum4qshcjdu3


Insanity


Price gouging is generally defined as sellers taking advantage of market power or temporary supply/demand imbalances to raise prices to levels that otherwise wouldn’t prevail. And food prices did rise significantly in 2021 and 2022, leading to suspicion of food retailers. But might there be reasons for the price increases other than a malevolent decision to gouge on the part of sellers? Here are a few possibilities…”

*Shall We Repeal the Laws of Economics?*

By Howard Marks

https://www.oaktreecapital.com/insights/memo/shall-we-repeal-the-laws-of-economics


Get a grip on reality, Steve. “…to check and see if you are being safe and responsible in conducting your affairs” is literally NOT the same language as “take your guns.”

Responsible gun owners, for example, keep firearms safely locked away from unauthorized users, such as children.


Blackrock has just released a new report titled "#Bitcoin: A Unique Diversifier" in which they compare the performance of #Bitcoin to other assets following major geopolitical events.

To summarise: #Bitcoin leaves everything else in the dust.

https://www.blackrock.com/us/individual/literature/whitepaper/bitcoin-a-unique-diversifier.pdf https://image.nostr.build/13e491f837be6f0ff87963f7b6e9d8020ec4f558fe9d963dde6dc9c7936a6fb5.jpg


Damsel-in-distress

Seriously.  This trope is most commonly displayed with the exclamation “Let the girl go!” so the protagonist can battle his nemesis without the vulnerable female being harmed further.  The trope is cheap, boring, and portrays every woman like a helpless victim whose only hope is to be rescued by an alpha male.


Haven’t seen one of those in a while.


Arthur Hayes spitting truth: “But at the end of the day, if you're thinking about why now, why did BlackRock get in their ETF approval in six months and the Winkle Clowns couldn't get one in 10 years? Right? Live in New York. They're both billionaires, both very rich. Why weren't they given one and BlackRock was given one in six months? Well, at the end of the day, you want the same financial institutions to control the wealth that can ultimately be appropriated by the government at the flick of a switch. BlackRock is just another arm of the U.S. government, just the same as any other large Chinese asset managers in the arm of the Chinese government.”


If you combine the two, as nostr:npub1v5k43t905yz6lpr4crlgq2d99e7ahsehk27eex9mz7s3rhzvmesqum8rd9 proposes, it’s a good way to run a business.


Take a moment to reflect on the transitory nature of everything:

All the conversations you’ve had.
All the sunsets you’ve enjoyed.
All the arguments you’ve had with your friends.
All the moments of agony, triumph, pleasure, and pain.

Everything until this moment has come, and gone.

Where is any of that, now?

Each experience appears, and, because of that, it is natural (it is its nature) to disappear. It all just comes and goes.

Now, there is just this.
Take a breath.

#Meditation #WakingUp #SamHarris


Beauty!


This seems like a big deal: nostr:note196hql8cxzayuku2wc8sk2sjystdkprts7tmk4nenxhtm9wdayu5skxuzmp


I was not prepared for how hard it hit.

The profound sadness I felt from this, and Princess Mononoke TBH, was visceral.


Impersonation. This is not Peter.


Just tried to zap you but received an error trying to fetch the lightning invoice. Will see if the error is on my end.


Holy shit.

Thank you.


It is:

https://scitechdaily.com/scientists-discover-marine-fungus-that-can-eat-plastic/


I don’t know what’s going to happen with #Bitcoin.
Nor did I know when I became curious about the technology ten years ago.
Nor did I during the Blocksize Wars.
Nor during the ‘18-‘19 winter. Nor now.

Stay humble.
Stack (a responsible allocation of) Sats.
Learn privacy tools, and use them.
Diversify elsewhere. (Broad-base, low-fee, tax-advantaged.)
Don’t make any bet that, upon losing, could blow up your portfolio.
Be patient and try not to worry.
Ignore the noise.
Row your own boat.

Do this, and you’re already exponentially better off than most.

Control fixed expenses in your lifestyle.
Create multiple income streams, if you can.
Find a spouse who loves you and shares your values.
Get comfortable spending time alone, quietly, without distraction.

Beyond this, it’s not up to you. Truly. The rest is up to chance.

May you:
Be happy.
Be healthy.
Be lucky.


Oof. Dad, stop!


Seems sorta solipsistic, no?


Thanks for that.  Will put it in the queue!


Important clarification and excellent advice, Stephan.
🧡


Therapist Tip:

A tip to improve our Emotional & Mental Health  ⬇

🧡🧡🧡

F O S T E R I N G  R E S C U ES

🧡🧡🧡

It is an incredible way to

🐶 Save a life
🐶 Bring more love into yours
🐶 Move out of depression via the vehicle of giving service to less fortunate

In fact, fostering rescue dogs offers several biological benefits, many of which are linked to improved mental, emotional and physical health:

	1.	Increased Dopamine Release: Interacting with dogs can lead to the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter associated with feelings of pleasure and reward. This can enhance mood and provide a sense of satisfaction, especially when caring for a dog and witnessing its improvement.

	2.	Oxytocin Boost: Spending time with dogs can increase the release of oxytocin, often referred to as the “love hormone.” Oxytocin promotes bonding and feelings of love and trust, which can reduce stress and anxiety. This hormone also plays a role in reducing blood pressure and improving heart health.

	3.	Reduction in Cortisol Levels: Engaging with dogs can lower cortisol levels, a hormone related to stress. This can help foster a sense of calm and reduce feelings of anxiety or depression.

	4.	Endorphin Release: Physical activities with dogs, such as walking or playing, can stimulate the release of endorphins, which are natural painkillers and mood elevators. This contributes to a feeling of well-being and can even alleviate pain.

	5.	Improved Immune Function: Regular interaction with dogs may bolster the immune system. Exposure to different environments and germs from dogs can help build immunity, potentially reducing the risk of allergies and boosting overall health. ( Just beware of parasites so don’t miss them near the mouth )

	6.	Increased Physical Activity: Fostering dogs often involves physical activities like walking and playing, which can help maintain cardiovascular health, improve muscle tone, and contribute to weight management. Regular exercise is also known to improve mental health by reducing symptoms of depression and anxiety.

	7.	Enhanced Social Interaction: Fostering dogs can encourage social interaction with other dog owners or people in the community, which can provide a sense of belonging and improve overall mental well-being.

Fostering rescue dogs provides many biological benefits that contribute to both physical and mental health, primarily through increased interaction and bonding, stress reduction, and the promotion of an active lifestyle.

And the best part, if you’re a commitment phobe or plan to move to El Salvador 🇸🇻 if your country continues to go to shit, you are not tied down. Foster caring is as temporary or as long term as you can offer or until the dog is adopted.

Plus this is a great way to find the dog that best suits YOUR needs & THEIRS. Example : you work long hours do a 9 + year old senior is perfect for you as all they want is a warm bed to lay in , to welcome you home at night & some food & cuddles. Easy peasy! Plus if you can’t afford it the rescue organisation will supply you with food and all supplies! Yay!

Here are some of mine!!!

#volunteernostr
#fosteringrescuedogs
#fosteringrules
#love
#health
#wellbeing
https://m.primal.net/KTJI.mov


This was great, but now do the ear.


For those who would like to know more, watch the excellent documentary, “The Internet’s Own Boy.”

https://youtu.be/M85UvH0TRPc?si=ouXaOpMoZq73oXbN


Aaron Swartz would have loved nostr.

Effectively the culmination of his life’s work.

1999: At the age of 12, he co-authored the RSS 1.0 specification, which is a format for syndicating web content.

2000: Swartz became a member of the Creative Commons organization, which aims to expand the range of creative works available for others to build upon legally.

2002: He founded the Infogami platform, which later merged with Reddit.

2005: Swartz joined Reddit as a co-founder after a merger with Infogami.

2006: He left Reddit and began working on various projects, including the development of the web application framework, "Open Library," which aimed to create a web page for every book ever published.

2008: Swartz was involved in the development of the "Demand Progress" organization, which focused on issues related to internet freedom and government transparency.

 2010: He played a significant role in the campaign against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), advocating for internet freedom. He also developed a tool that allowed users to download large amounts of data from PACER  (Public Access to Court Electronic Records), which was typically behind a paywall.

 2011: Swartz was arrested for downloading a large number of academic journal articles from JSTOR with the intent to distribute them freely.  The U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts pursued the case against Swartz, and he faced the possibility of severe penalties, including up to 35 years in prison.

 2012: On January 11, Aaron Swartz tragically passed away at the age of 26. He allegedly took his own life due to the pressure of government prosecution.

https://cdn.satellite.earth/43780cc29e73f0ac8a226aba6e3ca93422a9022c4b27422995e5b99127d8d900.mp4


Link to source, please.


had to look this up but its true. reserve ratio requirement is still at 0%. lmao. https://i.nostr.build/p0apWUrfaVZYvCM3.jpg


Some things you have to learn for yourself.


I know this isn’t quite the answer to your question, but the villain that always comes to my mind is GARY OLDMAN.

The man is a CHAMELEON and nails the depth of every character:

https://image.nostr.build/c38fc91c58c61807b35a524c928fc6ef8bf261fb1773c34980504d2d8d5fb6b3.jpg


#FreeWill does not exist. Thanks for playing.


Huuuuuuge


This video was shared in the Dutch Noderunners group. Couldn’t not share it with you, this is brilliant 😂😂😂

#dogstr
#catstr https://video.nostr.build/afd0741b1691a261263bdf6df38de3aa96120a0fbbab78bb1356722ecb93106b.mp4


Do you like techie, lushie, melodic #DeepHouse?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mPFDYqagFAI


Who is this?


Sucker
Born
Every
Minute

It’s like Annie Lennox used to say, “Some of them want to use you. Some of them want to get used by you. Some of them want to abuse you. Some of them want to be abused.”

#Eurythmics


Art


Art: nostr:note13kj7rx8998ntnw0gazqgq6sxwafvwmvscj784kwxvfna3hlkppxs6xt0fj


If you’re the playful/creative type, a fun game to play is to imagine any quotidian task as if it were a performance on which you were being judged — like an Olympic sport.
Now you approach the kitchen sink, pick up the sponge, lightly clean the plate and place it into the dishwasher.  Perform each movement skillfully with balance, grace, and efficiency of action.  Link your breath to different motions, but do so subtly, without making it look weird, so no one could notice that you’re going for the gold medal in dishwashing.

Alternatively, for a more Stoic approach, imagine this is the last time you will ever wash dishes (or whatever task).  So appreciate all the many times you’ve done it before and this will be the last time you do it, because, who knows, momento morí, it might be...

Either way, fully engross yourself in the task. There are different #meditation practices that can help with this, too.


This alien *definitely* ate cats:

https://image.nostr.build/4880cacb0c34e3535e6d8d7f04bb14a042cc9491b475f321622e720622cab4da.jpg

https://alf.fandom.com/wiki/Cat


"There is a war going on for your bitcoins, and willpower is your only defense."

"Everyone's a Scammer" by @bitstein was published 10 years ago today, and it remains relevant for positioning yourself for the next 10 years.

https://nakamotoinstitute.org/mempool/everyones-a-scammer/


Yikes.

“Ministry plans to restrict access to nearly all VPNs”

“Russia's digital development ministry plans to allocate nearly 60 billion roubles ($660 million) over the next five years to improve the system used to censor web traffic, a government proposal seen by Reuters shows.”
https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-spend-over-half-billion-dollars-bolster-internet-censorship-system-2024-09-10/


Amazing episode with
nostr:npub1s5yq6wadwrxde4lhfs56gn64hwzuhnfa6r9mj476r5s4hkunzgzqrs6q7z and nostr:npub1v5k43t905yz6lpr4crlgq2d99e7ahsehk27eex9mz7s3rhzvmesqum8rd9

#bitcoin
#RealEstate
#CommercialRealEstate

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/we-study-billionaires-the-investors-podcast-network/id928933489?i=1000669085451


I knew I’d seen that chart before


If the cost of a Bitaxe is ~$700 (plus shipping), the breakeven analysis on this is not looking good, even if Bitcoin were to triple by the next halving.

This is a fun hobby project, and one worth supporting, but no one should buy one of these thinking they’re going to make their money back, or make a profit.


Right. It makes sense if you have a battery storage solution and want to over-build additional solar capacity on the roof, especially for residential applications.

For commercial (e.g. malls, business parks, and light industrial warehouse complexes), the possibility for additional solar capacity is certainly available, but the Landlord will need to use up some of a Tenant’s space (or Common Area) to install battery storage as well as somewhere *secure* to install the miners.  To me, that’s the real infrastructure play, but it will take a creative Landlord and property manager to commit additional resources to monitor an operation of any meaningful size — even just a dozen miners takes babysitting.


🚀 Introducing Passport v2.3.2

This update brings some highly requested features.

✅ Ephemeral seed support
✅ Message signing via QR code
✅ Connection for Fully Noded.

Check out the highlights & more below in our blog post👇

https://foundation.xyz/2024/09/passport-version-2-3-2-is-now-live/
https://m.primal.net/KmBJ.jpg


Interesting use of a Daft Punk gif, too.

I think that’s from their 2006 movie, Electroma.  It’s a (sad) story about two robots who want to become human.

Similarly, he’s always trying to be something he’s not.


Other than using the waste heat from the miners, what other infrastructure do you think is applicable for integration?


Never underestimate the power of holding cash on your balance sheet to pay for your liabilities, especially when it enables you to *not* be a forced seller of scare assets.

I never understood bitcoin mining companies that did not have a hodl strategy.


A reminder sent to the European Parliament and the European Council: this is what Chat Control and the Going Dark initiative will result in – total surveillance and the end of secure and private communication.

You can read the articles at mullvad.net/why-privacy-matters

https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/113/582/829/988/892/original/2a4e2a45206af8ab.png

https://files.mastodon.online/media_attachments/files/113/113/582/852/799/773/original/943397c854a17c2b.png


New studies confirm bitcoin mining’s role in reducing carbon emissions, challenging flawed research and sensational media headlines.

My latest Forbes article featuring research from the Bitcoin Policy Institute and Digital Asset Research Institute. #Bitcoin

https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/09/09/new-research-shows-bitcoin-mining-cuts-carbon-emissions/


Nice. Thanks.
“In the mobile app, the default search engine is Google and cannot be changed at this time.”
And all of their AI API features are either OpenAI or Anthropic

Just FYI in case either of those matter to you.

And as with anything these days, if there ends up being a merger or an acquisition, all of your data will eventually belong to whomever inevitably absorbs Arc.

Just something to consider.

Anyway, I have been playing around with it once in a while for over a year and am definitely impressed with how they’ve reimagined the browsing experience.  Creative folks, for sure.


If you can see this, Tor is now inside of Amethyst.

No more Orbot.


Trump's monetary policy seems to be:

1) Devalue the dollar (to become more competitive with manufacturing)

2) Force other countries to still use it (through a <checks notes> 100% tariff on countries who try to use other currencies)

Post-fiat historians will look back at these times with a lot of wonder and fascination

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-09-07/trump-pledges-100-tariff-for-countries-that-shun-the-dollar


How’s privacy?


It’s possible that some people will never get it.  For example, I will probably never learn to code, despite having made a few half-assed attempts. My brain just doesn’t work that way and I’ve got other things that I need to focus on, despite relying on software (and hardware) that other people build.

Money is the same way.  Some people just don’t think about it, and that’s mostly to their detriment.

Best we can do is let people know that we think about it A LOT and believe ₿ is a solution to fix a broken system. Just be there for your normie friends without judging them for their ignorance. Obviously this is hard to do when they have a deeply negative and misinformed perception about it, or conflate it with “crypto,” but just try to be patient.


That was impressive.

And reminded me to listen to Ænema. Maynard is such a talented songwriter. Amazing band.


Mumbai would like a word.


While EU has been busy gaslighting bitcoin, Japan has been busy researching it.

Kenji Tateiwa, president of Agile Energy X Inc., based in Tokyo

“Green energy producers have to operate their businesses on the assumption that part of the power they generate is wasted,” he said. “If bitcoin were to provide a new source of income, that would prompt more green energy to be introduced.”

https://www.asahi.com/sp/ajw/articles/15397216


Yes.  Fully support you exploring hobbies that give you joy.


“Hey, it’s your choice to take it personally, Morty.”

Rick & Morty
Season 1, Episode 10


Beauty


If you really want to bake your noodle, read Robert M. Sapolsky’s book, Determined: A Science of Life Without Free Will


Pot, meets kettle.


I code in MSWord.


Nice, Uncle.   Enjoy your break.


Pitchforks?


A little help please?

https://image.nostr.build/837bebd5002bccf6ba70fb61cb7bc68601d1064119ae70f53fe45238016723e2.jpg


Today’s price action proves there are some weak-ass, lettuce-handed degenerates in the space who can’t handle volatility, or think they are smart enough to time the market with entry & exit trades.

DCA like a normal psycho and carry on.

#bitcoin


Beautiful


Next, please do a guide for how you created this neat blog post! 🧡


Telegram was never private.
nostr:nevent1qqs8lv476ggexl5mtuvhwyar5ejdn0msaruscd342zr45n559cjg9lcpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5hsygqpmhhz3xc696ggwn9rg2985s28vjnv45dtl25ctsspu74d59kn3spsgqqqqqqswfudnx


👋

There are a few of us.


Hilarious and incredible


and hemorrhoids


spam dégoûtant


Sax Damage in NYC - radio edit
(Upper East Side Mix)

#HouseMusic

https://youtu.be/UcV0-8K3u1g


Exactly. Don’t take financial advice from gullible people.


Been reporting as spam and muting him all morning.


THIS NOTE IS ONLY INITIALLY BEING PUBLISHED TO MY PERSONAL RELAY. NOSTRICHES WILL FIND IT AND SPREAD IT AROUND THE NETWORK. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. WHY? THIS IS HOW WE BEAT CENSORSHIP. THIS IS HOW WE WIN. DECENTRALIZATION POWERED BY THE OUTBOX MODEL.


It makes sense that there is a strategic benefit for collocation among large consumers of energy and, if a public mining company wants to broaden their service/product line with something complementary and predictable (unlike mining as it pertains to revenues), why not do so?

The disadvantage I see is that running a high compute data center is a different set of skills & responsibilities than operating a mining farm with regards to climate control, software management, hardware management, etc. but, so what? That’s a staffing & operations challenge.  Not impossible.  If it helps a mining company smooth out its P&L, again, I don’t see the problem — especially if they are going to HODL what they mine on their balance sheet.


Delete your platform accounts. No fuss. No spectacle. No grand finale, no great exit. Leave their houses, leave their prisons, leave the golden cages behind. They all benefit from the noise that you make, so do the one thing that they can't censor. Be silent. Leave. And leave the noise behind.
https://image.nostr.build/aa509b35ba1d3223953fc94ef29693d0a35359e6c7b4fd3de9ebf959b040b3f5.jpg


Important.
Timely.

#FakeNews nostr:note1v4g034zdwf2qdyaxwq9e67ykw9uuft2ecdc6vg0uv4hfvhjxlyeqmn85fn


Bowlers?
I know some bowlers…

https://media.tenor.com/mGb704TWgZcAAAAC/big-lebowski-bowling.gif


Did y’all see the new #Ethereum logo?

https://image.nostr.build/cd6eccb4ef94d7893e4c22dab3c84e13f50a7ecb44652d1c8bf8a343a543d8d3.jpg

#StudyBitcoin
#BitcoinOnly


“Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio, a fellow of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy. He hath borne me on his back a thousand times…”

For those who don’t know Hamlet, here’s some background:

https://nosweatshakespeare.com/blog/hamlet-skull-scene/


#introductions nostr:note16whzryex4sefjh2jlxy52ujcx943sdnsytdux30e6p9e8qpcvzzsu7s8at


Consider this: nostr:note12sz2xsy2g6ycagj4dd5dczxfsyusc7sfn8chtj9fv99dey8zspzst3w6sm


LOL.
HBD.


Incredible film. nostr:note17wt63m082mfe2a9advl3hvfpd4krxlayulrx602wey3mpnv0s24qkt2j2x


The link is dead: 404.


Stuck in the middle with you.
🎶🎶🎶


Many such cases.

and yet, I consistently forget this.


cringe.
Some people will spend money on whatever someone else tells them is cool.


I canceled my nostr:npub1tftc33ttam85wraffce62cgtvvjrmttquqlv6a0agtfm5nl4vues82xar5 account a long time ago, but imagine falling for this shit.

This phishing email came from support[at]slazzer.com, BTW. Watch your backs, everyone.
https://image.nostr.build/0d6fa795e4f99b965a4b245da38df44b16dcdc2fafe50c5adc95b4b79b74df35.jpg
https://image.nostr.build/99211763783d6b282f6e8f0d704dacb8b8f39b14b0186ed9d48702bf03c6303c.jpg


Graduate students are not EXPERTS.


Hip Hop Surrealism


David Foster Wallace on Kafka’s humor:

“It's not that students don't "get" Kafka's humor but that we've taught them to see humor as something you get -- the same way we've taught them that a self is something you just have. No wonder they cannot appreciate the really central Kafka joke -- that the horrific struggle to establish a human self results in a self whose humanity is inseparable from that horrific struggle. That our endless and impossible journey toward home is in fact our home. It's hard to put into words up at the blackboard, believe me. You can tell them that maybe it's good they don't "get" Kafka. You can ask them to imagine his art as a kind of door. To envision us readers coming up and pounding on this door, pounding and pounding, not just wanting admission but needing it, we don't know what it is but we can feel it, this total desperation to enter, pounding and pushing and kicking, etc. That, finally, the door opens...and it opens outward: we've been inside what we wanted all along. Das ist komisch.”


Been there.
Done that.
Sent the postcard.
Bought the t-shirt.
Over it.


Note that sharing your private key (nsec) directly is not recommended, instead you should use a compatible browser extension to securely store your key.

#introductions
#nostr


I’m confused why you would “assume eurotrash”?

Perhaps you don’t know what that word means.


the perfect music video does not exis—
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5URefVYaJrA


Thanks for that link. What a performance!


In my experience, “boring” is good.

“Boring” typically ends up being quite profitable.


Currently in Black Rock City, Nevada.
#BurningMan

https://image.nostr.build/aa893cf628c93d94399cc5a29c4f2cd90b7574142b0a37ea8d2e0b7e7c0958e1.jpg


Photos that don't look real but are - thread 🧵

1. Cranberry harvest by Kristina Makeeva https://image.nostr.build/c8112d0645592c6196257e8e80c8835358e9938f0d9f92cf579394407949743e.jpg


Absolutely nuts. nostr:note17r9dfv3hkk9mz4dpta06kptsjg0qks8mt5gl578x4njl86w5w69q7x4c8n


Meanwhile, in Black Rock City, Nevada.

#BurningMan

https://image.nostr.build/34cee5fe28499492a4af068fc56db8cb8c6c42bafe3baf53bf87f30dc4c24035.jpg


Tom Waits
Coffee and Cigarettes, 2003


Jerry, “Well, you know, traditionally, science fairs were more of a father-son thing.”

Rick, “Well, scientifically, traditions are more of an idiot thing.”

Rick and Morty
Season 1, Episode 9.


Meanwhile, in Black Rock City, Nevada:

https://image.nostr.build/1162e93df076db09a31df14980736d34d78e695cf407fdb6adc000f3e02f2320.jpg


The bagger is completely right. It’s not even a political statement, it’s a principled one. His job is to put YOUR groceries into YOUR bags, not sneak other material into it that you didn’t want.

I just read this story out loud to my wife, which she thought was hilariously sweet.

“This bagger gets it. Maybe I, too, have a touch of the ‘tism,” I pondered.

“You bitcoiners definitely have a touch of SOMETHING,” she replied.

😁


Great story: nostr:note162ukwfjpgsdyd2yjvahwgt7zlkhgx7pvvz6xe7tp2wuw28s2wx5sjuk4sz


#introductions nostr:note1dt5vgaqzskdy2gvyq7dv42y7l5mh4ca9kj4893znk00wctp3tf3qn32l6w


Have you considered offering any discounts to customers who pay in ₿ to incentive them?


Consumerism is a value of the fiat system. It is both literally a value, since we measure economic health in large part by measuring consumption, and also an ingrained mode of behavior. By disincentivizing mindless, reflexive consumption and incentivizing a lower time preference, #Bitcoin, if it continues to grow in adoption, offers the promise of a cultural foregrounding of deeper things, like fulfilling pursuits, relationships, creativity, contribution to community, presence, etc.

#Bitcoin is money that, through its soundness, will hopefully allow us to actually get past thinking about money all the time so that we can make room for life’s important things - which tend to get lost, neglected, and/or sacrificed in consumption and the systemically coerced pursuit of more and more money.

We spend so much time thinking about money (how to get it, how to get more of it, how to make it grow, how to keep up with inflation, how to invest it, how to spend it, what to spend it on, how to get rich quick, how to pay the bills, etc). And to a certain extent this will always be true.

But when money does not hold its value, when it is continuously debased, when the sovereign debt is so massive it must be inflated away, and when the economic health of a country is measured by how much it consumes, it creates an environment in which money is practically all we think about.

Looking forward to a world in which this is no longer the case.


58k gang, reporting for duty


I don’t want to disagree with nostr:npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg here but I just want to mention that people should be cautious loading their nsec into a bunch of clients.

“The first step is to securely generate the keypair offline, not through web clients. Generating the key offline ensures that it does not get leaked, lost or stored online. Although web clients must not store your private keys remotely, this can never be guaranteed. A malicious web client can steal your private keys. Also, security vulnerabilities in web clients can leak your private keys if you have inputted it directly into the web client.”

More here:
https://orangepill.dev/nostr-guides/guide-nostr-key-generation-and-management/

#introductions nostr:note129jzdw6jupk0f3q999wygv6ekh5atv9vtnfh2ylrgrgc44q6nxdqeacv23


This is workable, especially because the value of the asset being borrowed against would need to be valued correctly based on the lender’s underwriting. That’s a fairer and more actionable method than some assessor’s “opinion of value” which can be arrived at different ways and to varying degrees.

Just want to point out that the 1% is not who this should be aimed at. It’s the 0.1% and the 0.01% who mostly using these strategies.  Put another way, it’s not something your average millionaire is doing. It’s the centi-millionaires and billionaires.

To put a fine point on it, we want *more* millionaires.  I’ll take a thousand millionaires over 1 billionaire any day. Your average millionaire is someone who has built or runs a successful small business with 10-100 employees.  We want a tax structure that incentivizes more of these.  It’s better for both the employer and the employee… and the customer, actually.


#introductions nostr:note1u77xpx6fnq0lst4df68hrm09j08hcsf8fp9fwafuqjqdnqets8hq93gl02


One more thing. Here is a free month on Waking Up for everyone. Enjoy.

https://dynamic.wakingup.com/shareOpenAccess/SCDB3EF0F

#meditation

nostr:note18ekvdcql7yc8emt9l0wp57znckch90f0g82vk7hfakf4pzfw0jlsxlh0r7


Lyn, I cannot recommend Sam Harris‘s Waking Up app
Highly enough.
There’s a lot of good content there, but Sam’s daily meditations (nonduality) are absolutely stellar.


Will watch this weekend, thanks.


Absolutely.
Looking forward to putting these into my queue.


Professor Hanke was born in 1942 and is currently 81 years old.
Just remember that when considering his opinion on anything related to Internet technology.


Network is number 469 on this list.  I have objections.


Precisely.
And it’s not exactly new for Roger Huang to be talking about bitcoin, either. He’s been a Forbes contributor since 2019, submitting monthly, and sometimes weekly.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/rogerhuang/

I guess it’s just that most people are fired up about Nostr and impressed to see it talked about on a widely known media site. But, let’s see if this article does numbers. Say 10k+ views?  That would be impressive.


Et tu, Brute?


How many times have you heard someone say one of the following?

1.  “I stopped smoking and feel so much healthier”
2.  “I stopped drinking alcohol and I feel so much happier.”
3.  “I stopped eating refined sugar and I feel so much better.”
4.  “I stopped drinking coffee after noon (or completely) and sleep so much better.”
5 .  “I stopped using Twitter because holy hell is that place a toxic clown show of hate and I didn’t realize how poisonous it was until I stopped. Life is pretty good, actually.”

Maybe it’s time you try one (or all) of these for yourself?


*SOME* bitcoiners don’t like #seedoils because they are a demonstration of industrialized food manufacturing.  Seed oils come from plants, which can make them sound like a good, natural ingredient.  However, they are a HIGHLY processed food, some might call them ultra-processed, (similar to high fructose corn syrup, as an example), and also high in Omega-6 which can be inflammatory like other polyunsaturated fat. This isn’t good for cardiovascular function and chronic inflammation has been linked to arthritis, type-2 diabetes, stroke, and heart disease.

The issue is not that polyunsaturated fats are necessarily bad for you, in moderation. The problem is that seed oils are in almost EVERYTHING we eat, from processed packaged foods, fast foods, and well… everything. Next time you go to the grocery store, look on the ingredients list for Canola oil (aka Rapeseed oil), Corn oil, Cottonseed, Grapeseed oil, Palm oil, Soybean oil, Sunflower oil, Safflower oil, etc.  You’ll be hard-pressed (pun intended) to find a packaged product that does not have at least one of these.

Some bitcoiners are focused on healthy living, including growing their own food and eating grass-fed beef. Some bitcoiners are also concerned about the quality of life of other sentient animals in factory farms and don’t eat any meat at all! (Myself included.)

It’s important to recognize that Bitcoiners are not health experts. We may be ahead of the average person at understanding the value of sound money, financial sovereignty, freedom of speech, P2P transactions, cryptography, energy markets, the failures of central banking, and monetary history, but that does *not* mean you should take medical advice from any of us. Subject matter expertise in one domain (like #bitcoin) does not necessarily equate proficiency in another.

What should you do?
Read.
Ask questions (like you are).
Consult with trusted physicians and nutritionists about what’s right for you, at your age, energy level, and body-type.


I’ve been doing both for a while now, with limited success.  More than zero, but still limited.


Charges against the ceo of telegram.
https://m.primal.net/KOQr.jpg


I would join this.


And I couldn’t possibly agree with THIS more!

That’ll earn a follow from me, Boss. nostr:note1nume4yxezen5f4j0k7l6xvjy8my3au6dyzspxnnd7hh8f0twydyqyhnp8l


The footnotes are fucking hilarious. I could feel DFW laughing with me from the grave. What tension he puts his characters, and readers, through!  So much fun.


I decided to rewatch the series. Will post more quotes as they hit me.


“Every morning, Summer, I eat breakfast twenty yards away from my own rotting corpse. […] I’m better than your brother. I’m a version of your brother you can trust when he says, ‘Don’t run. Nobody exists on purpose. Nobody belongs anywhere. Everybody’s gonna die.’

Come watch TV.”

Rick & Morty
Season 1, Episode 8: Rixty Minutes.


Please welcome Npub.pro!

This is a tool to make yourself a beautiful Nostr-based website.

It's been long in the making, and we're thrilled to launch it on this special day!

Here is a short demo of how you can make yourself a website right now:

https://v.nostr.build/kZG9O.mp4

It's free for anyone getting started, it's open source and self-hostable.

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- beautiful themes (any Ghost theme could work)
- great looking shareable links to your content
- works like an app, add to homescreen, useable offline
- SEO-optimized
- attach your custom domain or host yourself

Try it at https://npub.pro

Learn more on our Nostr-based blog: https://blog.npub.pro/post/npub-pro-is-live

P.S. If you like how it looks, that's because nostr:npub1r0rs5q2gk0e3dk3nlc7gnu378ec6cnlenqp8a3cjhyzu6f8k5sgs4sq9ac designed it. Thanks man, it's a pleasure to work with you!


House music.
Deep, melodic house music. nostr:note1gv9234hmj6w98l07az0ydjxr6zu0hca687ehypdmugnxnknne53qg399u2


Nondual meditation


“Communistic”?

Get your head examined.   Honestly. Seek therapy. I’ll pay.


Encouraging suicide


Run like Hal


“Woke”?  LOL

Andreas promotes respect for others.

Sad that you would promote any other kind of ideology.


Close your eyes and sit comfortably. Let your body fall into a cloud of sensations, and become aware of the light show behind your closed eyes. Pay close attention to any sounds as they appear.

What does it *FEEL* like to pay attention?

…linger on that for a moment…

Is there *someone* FEELING what it feels like to pay attention?  Isn’t the sense of someone also just a feeling?

#Meditation
#LetYourSelfGo


Hey, #Bitcoiner.
You think you’re self-sovereign, independent, and in control?

How long can you sit in silence, without reaching for your phone, without making plans, without thinking, with being dragged by a worry or memory, or a fantasy?

Do you know what your next thought will be? Do you know when it will come?

It may be uncomfortable to realize but, what control do you really have?  Is your mood dependent on circumstance?
To be truly self-sovereign, learn to #meditate.

#Meditation #Bitcoin


Savage


Know your adversaries and avoid them.


It looks VERY windy there.


iT’s nOt A cULt, trEy! dO nOt inSuLt ouR dEAr LeAdEr!!


I’m getting atherosclerosis and colon cancer just looking at that thing.


Don’t sell him short by using the past tense, Evan.


Your “BPA free” drinking bottle and cutting boards probably have BPS instead, which is just as bad or worse for you.

Use wood, glass and metal as much as possible.


The best way is to not try to take it all in at once — as if that were even possible.

In order to understand Bitcoin as digital money, it helps to first understand what money is, that’s a question that is best answered by understanding philosophy (what makes something “money”?) and history (what has been used as money prior to it being digital?).  Answering these questions, alone, can take up a lot of time and are very helpful. Some people are more interested in what makes digital money *secure* and thus study bitcoin from a cryptography perspective. However, security isn’t just about the code, it’s also about hash power. Thus, some people are more interested in hardware technology, and energy markets needed to power that hardware, at scale.

You’re not overthinking it.  You can’t.
There is no way to easily get “caught up”. Even if you spent the next year reading book about bitcoin ever published, the industry is moving so fast over the next 12 months, you won’t be able to keep up after you caught up.

My advice, take it slowly. Find the areas (perhaps mentioned above) that are interesting to you and follow your curiosity down the rabbit hole. Study #bitcoin. Ignore and avoid *everything* else in the shitcoin casino.

Nostr bitcoiners are available to recommend books and podcasts.


Meh, there are better books available now.


Are you looking for someone to explain it to you or are you willing to read a few books and listen to a dozen podcasts?
If the latter, we’ve got lots of recommendations.


That was me running a node in 2017.  It did not end well. Lost most of the funds.

Wallets now?
You got this, Daniel.

“Don’t be a dummy!”


Not built to last forever…What do you mean?

…oh
https://image.nostr.build/984b2a8f2b2dd8b00a1c5916101132d86251fd40cce575ca808ec73638dfca36.jpg


Needed that, this morning


GM https://image.nostr.build/dad0af55c660c339ecf1f6c9000885ad2635ae3323359c97e8f4457bb757c111.jpg


Evergreen. https://i.nostr.build/sUQcGYCEYjk1Egmh.jpg


Because theism is the ultimate scam?


Hero


Months later, deleting twitter feels like ending a relationship with someone who’d once been an uplifting influence, but became a self-destructive, emotional vampire. You knew it wasn’t healthy, but you kept making excuses.

Until, finally, you’d had enough. You cut them out, and you don’t look back.


At the time, it was worth the risk.
Now?  Sandstorm has become to stuff of rave nightmares.  I feel like I’m serving 25 to life every time I hear it.


Works for me


Totally.
We *should* all be calling it Asam.


Just did this podcast on the Bitcoin Layer with Nik Bhatia.

My work doesn’t normally get more than a few thousand views. But this one had 17k views - in the top 10 most viewed out of 275 on the Bitcoin Layer channel.

Thanks for all those who took the time to watch it, and for the very encouraging comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdgW3drkjQ4&t=621s


Nice turn


#Meditation


If you think procreation is the only thing that gives life meaning, you are a failure at recognizing the myriad ways a meaningful life can be lived. nostr:note1w2wr4zgqyclhxptdz9az27w5sczuvq5ur7cwa4ypamcg3mtjtcdq6x8vzc


I appreciate your willingness, but I don’t have the time or energy to explain. Sorry. I’m enjoying my Saturday.

This article from last year says enough:
https://theweek.com/2024-presidential-election/1025265/a-running-list-of-rfk-jrs-controversies


Adorable.

But the racism and sexual objectification displayed on her helmet is grotesque.

https://image.nostr.build/e9840920f0ec359b6b3133ca95db84b5bff2df9a6f68d9b7cc284e13667be869.jpg


Concur, except for the bit that rfk could make anything better, calmer, or more rational.


Beautiful, but also, there is no such thing as an immortal soul. Let that idea go, too, and enjoy reality as it is.

Life, itself.


I love coffee.

I switched to English Breakfast last week to experiment and, holy hell, I was not prepared for the withdrawals: headache, exhaustion, light sensitivity, generally feeling incapable.

 Not recommended.

Though, I will say that black tea has a much smoother high compared to the zing of my espresso.

#coffeechain


LOL. I love it how people go “Checkmate, Alden” without realizing that’s a laughable self-own.

Slay, Queen.


Story checks out


Hard disagree.

My first degree is in Creative Writing and my employees, customers, and vendors, and partners all benefit from my ability to express my thoughts well, as do I.
A good liberal arts degree teaches critical thinking as much as the subject it’s taught under. Grammar, logic, and rhetoric are a set of skills that are foundational to organized thought, persuasion, and self expression.  Let me not also forget to mention that it’s wonderful to READ LITERATURE in an academic environment in order to develop an appreciation for art… and also personal development. nostr:note1dr23h2enydwsycgtj5pyre80vcxpm8k7pvkvynzy3jywt6dzn4hshqlhm0


Nocturne in c-sharp minor by Chopin. https://video.nostr.build/1016377fda4d7e5a3e21a130d530881718223b7c05b11bcc14d7d82ff85f0a89.mp4


No, Dave, you see, the FBI conspired with Antifa to hire crisis actors to dress up like MAGA and storm the capital. It wasn’t an insurrection, but if it was, it was done by the Deep State.
wAkE uP shEepLE!


The debanking will continue.

Abortion and healthcare providers should absolutely consider Bitcoin for payments, and utilize privacy preserving tools and methods of safe-keeping their Bitcoin.

Protects providers and patients.

https://www.thepersistent.com/telemedicine-abortion-payment-providers/


Dammit. I pasted the wrong link.

Second attempt:

https://image.nostr.build/1aee75c1d855b362a045cfc87b4811d92e4c5d42adb7c0b370433fdd46e21e7f.jpg


MORE FUCKS GIVEN


The second sentence is missing its final punctuation.
It shouldn’t bug me as much as it does.
I should probably just follow the first sentence’s command


The Monopoly example is better than the pond analogy, which didn’t make much sense (at least in this short clip).

It’s funny how much that game taught me about money, banking, real estate, risk, taxes, cash flows, liabilities, competition, general investing, and more that was directly applicable to my life.


Sometimes people ask me, “what if American bans bitcoin like they did for gold?”

1) That’s why it’s useful to engage politically. To prevent that draconian tail risk. And it’s working. Prevent any sort of anti-Bitcoin supermajority.

2) America had a supermajority in Congress when they did that for gold. They could override every check on power. That’s uncommon. We became highly collectivist for a period of time.

3) America literally put Japanese Americans in camps back then. But not German Americans. Because we were outright racist. And this was all pre civil rights for Black Americans too. Terrible.

4) This was all pre-internet. Centralized media. Few memes. The slow speed of communication was relevant.

The meme-work makes the dream work.


*cries in childhood leukemia*


Go easy.
1.  Have a hot shower like normal, lather, then rinse with cold water for 30 seconds.
Do this for 3 or 4 consecutive days, when you are not washing your hair.

2. When you’re ready for the next step, start with a cold shower and EASE INTO IT, to begin. Turn the water on to as cold as you can reasonably tolerate. It should be uncomfortable but not unsafe. Stand in the shower,  it directly under the stream and bring water to your arms and legs with cupped hands. Next, splash water onto your face, then chest.
Now, you’re ready to go under… remember to breathe!
Stand under the stream for 1 minute, letting the water hit your head, face, shoulders and back.

After this is done, you can turn the hot water on if you need to do your hair.


Oh, and Google also violated antitrust laws.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/13/technology/google-monopoly-antitrust-justice-department.html


I ❤ nerds


"The thing I have noticed is when the anecdotes and the data disagree, the anecdotes are usually right. There's something wrong with the way you are measuring it."

 -  Jeff Bezos

https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/12/59percent-of-americans-think-the-us-is-in-a-recession-report-finds.html
https://m.primal.net/Jysg.png


Not only silent.link is substantially less expensive than competitors, it also features:
• Zero KYC / no reg
• No speed throttling
• Auto global roaming
• Data never expires
• Accounts never expire
• Works around state firewalls of China, UAE, Russia, etc https://image.nostr.build/a6361233e549c59bf7cc9e6ad11ff5721c593a659aebec61787fe0e8c7ae6371.jpg


Here's my profile for Reason on Nostr and why it could very well change the world

Pasting a few paragraphs here, you can find the rest at the link

Feel free to spread far and wide 😉

*************

Can Nostr Make Twitter's Dreams Come True?

Twitter's founder says Nostr is “100 percent what we wanted”—an open, ownerless network

Alex Gladstein | 8.13.2024

Virtually everyone agrees that social media is broken. On Facebook, X, Instagram, and TikTok, people fear out-of-control algorithms, fake news, state actor censorship, and propaganda. Google and Meta collect vast troves of personal information on their users and receive hundreds of thousands of requests every year from governments around the world to access that data. YouTube has become arguably "the most powerful media platform in the history of humanity," yet its algorithm is an ever-changing black box to the creators that populate the platform with videos. During the pandemic, federal officials were in contact with every major social media platform, coercing them to remove content.

The problem is centralized control. We can't trust companies to run our primary communications infrastructure. Government regulation only makes matters worse because it creates new legal barriers to entering the industry, which protects incumbent players and stifles innovation.

What if there were an alternative, not owned by Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, or the Chinese Communist Party? What if there were a way to control your own data to prevent companies from harvesting and monetizing it? What if you had granular control over what you see in your feed, with the freedom to choose your own algorithms? What if you owned your identity, which could be accessed seamlessly across different clients? That way, if you disapprove of the changes that Elon Musk brought to X, instead of closing your account you could take your handle and followers elsewhere.

That alternative exists. It's called "Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays"—or Nostr.

The Decentralized Solution

Invented by a pseudonymous programmer and overwhelmingly funded by grants from non-profit foundations, this decentralized, free, and open-source protocol has been quietly evolving for the past three years. Like bitcoin, Nostr is a community-run digital network highly resistant to censorship and corruption. It has 40,000 weekly active users and a growing ecosystem of clients and applications ranging from social media to long-form publishing to payments.

Nostr is only necessary because our existing internet is so broken.

Fifteen years ago, social media seemed destined to decentralize the world and give power back to the people. In 2009, we watched as Arab Spring activists used Twitter and Facebook to organize, coordinate, and help topple several long-standing dictatorships. The promise was that these new social platforms, designed by Silicon Valley entrepreneurs, could help liberate the masses.

It was intoxicating—but turned out to be a mirage. The Arab revolutions stalled out when brutal military regimes cracked down. These platforms became tools for spying and censoring their users. X and Facebook have helped journalists and human rights activists reach bigger audiences, but they haven't fulfilled their revolutionary promise.

Jack Dorsey's Shift from Bluesky to Nostr

This was a major theme at the 2024 Oslo Freedom Forum, which is put on annually by the Human Rights Foundation, where I serve as chief strategy officer. At this conference for democracy and human rights, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey told the audience that the problem was, actually, guys like him: The very fact that Twitter, now X, has a CEO makes it a single point of failure. Governments routinely pressured Dorsey to censor content; once the company's offices in India were raided. Dorsey says that under the new Musk regime X complies with whatever governments want.

The X network is proprietary. Known as a "silo," this construct traps a user's identity, followers, and data. X also has the power to evict anyone from the platform and delete what they've written. Several years ago, when he was still running the company, Dorsey became convinced that Twitter should become an application instead, where users could post content to an open, ownerless network. This would make it similar to how bitcoin works, where you use an application called a wallet to interact with the network, but the network itself is neutral and open.

Building a non-proprietary architecture was Dorsey's original vision for Twitter, but over time the need to maximize revenue to build a business and serve shareholders undermined that goal.

Nevertheless, in 2021, Dorsey encouraged the creation of Bluesky—an initiative bootstrapped in-house to create that open neutral base layer. But after Musk bought the company, the managers of Bluesky were afraid they would run out of money and started raising funds from venture capitalists, which undermined the vision of building an open platform. Dorsey grew disenchanted and left the Bluesky board.

At the conference in Oslo, Dorsey explained what happened next:

I asked a question: What open source initiatives should I be funding that would be helpful to the public internet? And people kept tweeting at me that I should be looking at Nostr. I found the GitHub that described it and it was 100 percent what we wanted from Bluesky, but it wasn't developed from a company. It was completely independent. Its paper diagnosed every single problem we saw and had. But did it in a grassroots and dead simple way, that felt like the early Twitter where any developer could get on and really feel it.

Escaping the 'Golden Prisons'

Nostr was created in 2020 by the pseudonymous Brazilian programmer fiatjaf, who describes it as "the simplest open protocol that is able to create a censorship-resistant global 'social' network once and for all."

Though nobody is in charge, Nostr works as promised and is thriving. "It is the solution we've all been looking for," says Miljan Braticevic, founder of Primal, one of the two dozen plus clients now available for the Nostr protocol. "Nostr is not a Twitter competitor or a Mastodon competitor. This is the biggest misconception at the moment. That's just the tip of the iceberg. Nostr is nothing less than the foundation for the new internet. Meaning almost every conceivable app we have today will be built on Nostr."

Braticevic's prediction is echoed by at least a dozen other prominent developers. Martti Malmi, the first coder to work on bitcoin alongside Satoshi Nakamoto, is now a Nostr developer. In a recent talk, he said he had started to work on similar ideas around decentralized identity in 2019, only to come close to giving up. But then he found fiatjaf's invention, which he called a "godsend."

"Bitcoin is freedom of money, and Nostr is freedom of everything else," Malmi said. "I was there" in the earliest days of bitcoin, "and Nostr is even more intense."

For something that could be world-changing, Nostr is quite simple. To join, you sign up with a mobile or desktop client, which helps you to create a public and private key pair. The public key (or "npub") is used as your identifier, and you share it with clients and other users so that people can find your posts or pay you for your content. The private key ("nsec") is hidden by the user, stored safely (just like a bitcoin seed phrase), and is your way to log in to different services. Unlike platforms like X or Facebook, no other information is required to set up and use Nostr.

This gives users a powerful range of sovereignty. You can use a client, for example, that has strong hate speech controls. Or you can choose one that doesn't have any at all. You can use a client with aggressive algorithms, just like the ones X uses today. Or you can use one without any algorithm at all. Today, when you log in to an app like Primal, you can sort your feed by what's the latest, by what's most popular, by what's most zapped, or by customized keywords. It's up to you.

Last month, the macroeconomist Lyn Alden, author of one of the best books on bitcoin, published a long essay about Nostr's potential:

[Nostr] is a simple set of foundational building blocks that, if widely adopted, could gradually reshape "the Web" as we know it. Instead of a separate set of siloed social ecosystems, we could gravitate toward a more interoperable set of ecosystems, with more of the power dispersed to the content creators and to the audience, and away from the middlemen corporations.

The Nostr network is constructed like a spider web that can morph and regenerate, making it almost impossible to censor. When you set up a client on Nostr (perhaps, Primal or Damus on iOS; Amethyst on Android; or Coracle on the web), you choose from a variety of relays to connect to. This architecture ensures no single point of failure: If you are connected to seven or eight relays, and half of them choose to censor posts, your feed remains censorship-free, as your app will display the net sum of everything broadcast from each relay. If the Chinese government decides to attack your relays—as it did in 2023 when Damus launched on the Hong Kong and mainland app store—then more can be spun up. "The enemy," said Damus creator Will Casarin, "is too numerous."

Prominent bitcoin developer and educator Gigi—who switched to Nostr and deleted his X account—says that what helped it become so resilient is that it has zero exit cost. If the Chinese Communist Party bans YouTube, its domestic users lose everything. There's no way to get back their profiles and followers. The same is true if a user voluntarily closes an account.

Gigi calls these corporate silos "golden prisons" with no escape. Nostr's spider-like architecture makes escaping easy. If one client goes down, or you fail to connect to one relay, you just find another client or connect to another relay. You keep your posts, photos, preferences, contacts, and even algorithms of choice. If you use X, you are an X creator. But if you use Primal, you aren't a Primal creator, you are a Nostr creator.

https://reason.com/2024/08/13/can-nostr-make-twitters-dreams-come-true/


I have a theory:  not everything is a conspiracy.

Google dominates the market  because they outcompeted other services on search function.  The results were fast, relevant, and unlike anything Lycos, Infoseek, or Ask Jeeves were serving in the mid to late 90s, and early 2000s.  Google was just better and everyone knew it. By 2004, searching for something on the Internet became colloquially known as “Googling.”  (Note that a googol is just a big number: 10 to the power of 100. The company came up with that as a nod to the power of math.  It’s not a verb.  *We,* the consumer, came up with that, based on how much we were using the service.)

Since then, now two decades later, Google is now Alphabet. They have acquired and built a suite of products and services, while improving Search, at no charge to the consumer.  In many cases, these products are superior (by measure of convenience) to paid products built by software companies, like Microsoft. Alphabet will continue to dominate (in any area) until a better alternative comes along that is cheaper, faster, or more useful. That’s how the free market works. Here, I’m leaving aside government restrictions such as China’s Great Firewall to both promote its own alternatives and prevent its citizens from viewing pro-democracy content (e.g. 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre).

Before you prepare your tinfoil hat, recognize the fact that consumers don’t like spending money. They will choose a free version of something if it means they pay with an abstract concept like “attention” or “privacy”.  Alphabet knows this. Now you do, too.


Bravo 👏🏻


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Can confirm


I like uncensorable money as much as the next bitcoiner, but the sentiment (as expressed here) is childish and woefully shortsighted. It’s notable only insofar as this guy is uncompromising.  I don’t remember his name, and don’t care to.  He runs the same shtick every time he’s on a stage, and I just want to say, to anyone who looks up to him, “Be careful who you take life advice from.”

Uncompromising anger isn’t how we win. It’s not even how we protect our interests.


“That men do not learn very much from the lessons of history is the most important of all the lessons that history has to teach.” - Aldous Huxley


While you were busy making fun of the UK for criminalizing free speech, the UN finalized its Cybercrime Convention which will overrule bank secrecy and criminalize hacking, whistleblowing, and security research.

The convention, which was finalized last friday, drastically expands government surveillance powers and enables the widespread sharing of personal data between UN member states.

The convention mandates the identification, tracing, confiscation and seizure of "proceeds of crime, property, equipment or other instrumentalities" and the collection of real-time traffic and content data on behalf of requesting member states.

It further mandates member states to establish criminal offences for "the concealment or disguise of the true nature, source, location, disposition, movement or ownership of or rights with respect to property" and  "the conversion or transfer of property [...] for the purpose of concealing or disguising the illicit origin of the property" when committed intentionally.

As the Electronic Frontier Foundation explains, the convention includes "documents saved on personal computers or notes stored on digital devices. In essence, this means that private unshared thoughts and information are no longer safe. Authorities can compel the preservation, production, or seizure of any electronic data, potentially turning personal devices into spy vectors regardless of whether the information has been communicated".

While the treaty defers most articles to the governance of local laws, it states that states "shall not decline to act [...] on the ground of bank secrecy".

Full story:

https://www.therage.co/un-cybercrime-convention-bank-secrecy/


Bitcoin whitepaper for Gen Z

Bitcoin: A Homie-to-Homie Digital Cash Vibe

https://www.bitcoinforgenz.org/
nostr:nevent1qqsgxcz58g7rlaz57y4quazxzfcpx9ryznk8jwgwpt7p4582r5m7nxcpz4mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wchsygxf92teqdkvh0nzwdk7s0kfyk879lzkpr6a2xepskljvyfpq5379qpsgqqqqqqskqfz86


The UN Cybercrime Treaty puts security researchers and journalists at risk of being criminally prosecuted. It is incompatible with basic human rights.

This dystopian treaty was passed on Thursday in a unanimous vote first put forward by Russia.

It must not be ratified. Read 👇

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/07/journalists-and-security-researchers-risk-why-you-should-hate-proposed-un

https://therecord.media/un-cybercrime-treaty-passes-unanimous

https://www.ccc.de/en/updates/2024/stopp-cybercrime-convention


https://image.nostr.build/3d0e7e99c5053f212c3f30647bef647bfd4849406252c01eee24808e81ebbaeb.jpg nostr:note1x2np0ngpyymxp0r0c62szaqta6duu2e0272d4ql6zvazk68mr87sttglxg


Doesn’t look like nostr:npub15c88nc8d44gsp4658dnfu5fahswzzu8gaxm5lkuwjud068swdqfspxssvx was tagged correctly.

Fixed.


I mean they aren’t really Tibetan.


Those aren’t really Tibetan Rites, just FYI.
But if they work for you, enjoy.


I appreciate people who are flexible, calm, patient, and kind.

Going with the flow doesn’t always lead to winning or dominating or controlling a situation or circumstance.

Very rare thing in this world to accept that *not every desire* can be fulfilled if only you push hard enough.


nostr:npub1s05p3ha7en49dv8429tkk07nnfa9pcwczkf5x5qrdraqshxdje9sq6eyhe digs deep into this in his book, The Price of Tomorrow.


Can confirm.


I had my doubts… but I have now seen the light.


#ProofOfEar nostr:note1e0npwtdkks4vz569jtu0hlqfdmmk2a3fw55zexsf4vh5069ze5eq2ml85h


Y’all claim to worship the sun, but how many of you are starting your mornings with these?:

https://image.nostr.build/4f1afdd7719c59bccf7f1d87dfab6a5bc334428cb0db435a3f7f784b24315802.jpg


Omigod. That’s beautiful.


Hard disagree.

We’ve met, briefly, at least three times.

“Cold, distant, and semi-retarded” are NOT the words I have used to describe you.

To wit, the words I’ve used are  “warm, approachable, and giga-brained.”

Thanks for everything you do, your intellect, and generosity.

#grateful


Indeed, this is the truth for ALL your thoughts: nostr:note1x8x9q4r59xwrmlznxdu555uzfcw44ntkcmyezknahuqmsqmhk9yshmycf0


Yesterday, I saw a dad yelling at his son to clean up all the balls they’d hit on the baseball diamond and then lock up the field so he (the dad) could go meet up with some buddies at a bar, and the the sone should come find him later. The son was maybe 12 years old, and his body language indicated a resignation to this routine.
My heart sank.  I wanted to say something the kid… some words of support or just to let him know that his dad’s anger had little to do with anything the son was responsible for.

Sports are supposed to be fun. Practicing alone on a Friday afternoon is supposed to be a sweet father-son bonding activity.  This was…not that.

I know this story is only barely related to yours, except that, in the end, I muttered the following under my breath as I walked away, which may be helpful to you, “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”


Well, in that case, it’s unfortunate that he took offense. There’s *probably* something else going on in his life at the moment. Or being called “Dave” is a special trigger for him, or whatever. You know what I mean? Not trying to psychoanalyze David from here, but… maybe he just doesn’t like you, Dave!   LOL.


I’ve thought a lot about this…

A name is a personal label.  In a social realm, it is their very identity.  Calling someone by a variation they did not offer can be an honest mistake, or it can be inconsiderate.  You’re stepping over a boundary of how they choose to present themselves in the world.  So they are redrawing it for you.

It’s like giving someone a nickname. If it’s not a term of endearment, or something that they appreciate, then it’s just disrespectful.


The US just recommended a 30-year prison sentence for alleged Bitcoin Fog operator Roman Sterlingov.

Sterlingov's case became known as the case to "put cryptocurrency tracing on trial", as much of the evidence presented was collected using Chainalysis' blockchain analysis software Reactor – The prosecution "haven’t pointed to any smoking-gun digital evidence retrieved from Sterlingov’s possessions or devices", as WIRED reported following Sterlingov's arrest.

Chainalysis described Sterlingov's guilty verdict as setting precedent for "Chainalysis blockchain analytics being used by prosecutors as evidence when they take criminals to court", arguing that the verdict "affirms the ways in which our solutions have become the industry standard, made possible by our partners in government who use our tools everyday to fight illicit activity".

The only problem: experts believe that the government's got the wrong guy, and that the jury has convicted a user of Bitcoin Fog as its operator – arguing that Chainalysis' tools are "flawed" and "shouldn't be trusted to convict defendants when they face decades in prison".

2024 is the year of dangerous precedents in which not just your right to privacy is on the line, but the very question of how much science matters in a court of law when it comes to BTC.

All the tea:

https://www.therage.co/bitcoin-fog-sentencing/


“700 mil dólares”

“Mil” means thousand in Spanish.

So, this is $700,000


Dude, shut the fuck up with that noise.


Freedom Tech Crash Course: Nostr, Ecash, Lightning, Fedi, Fedimint

Decided to put together a list of the freedom tech conversations I've had on nostr:npub10qrssqjsydd38j8mv7h27dq0ynpns3djgu88mhr7cr2qcqrgyezspkxqj8  -- please find them below in reverse chronological order of recording date.

I hope you find them valuable.

nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a  - Freedom Technology White Pill
https://youtu.be/YHVVC2Eo70Q

nostr:npub1kp7jzme0qs3wcqjjmkq6v5fm359sclhc22glhadgtmerlr0h37nsn8487l ` - nostr:npub1uq70uqgas9pyhds2zt57kr9se8rg3s68ztphjnq82ts8rzeknmeql7u0c2  -  Open-Source Freedom Technology, Community & Trust
https://youtu.be/8MD3QQymz0c

nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft  - ESCAPING THE ALGORITHM WITH NOSTR
https://youtu.be/gG92XFg5Q48

nostr:npub12rv5lskctqxxs2c8rf2zlzc7xx3qpvzs3w4etgemauy9thegr43sf485vg  - DEEZ eNUTS: Everything You Need to Know About Ecash
https://youtu.be/ipPqYIA7JkM

nostr:npub1773r2y5zl3sa7xufmye96un3hf02rse8j82hkd45ps0wvk2hrkasslesjt  - Machankura: Bitcoin WITHOUT Internet
https://youtu.be/tRjoWsc08h0

nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr - Nostr & The Future of Social Media
https://youtu.be/ZZJbXpQ-bxw

nostr:npub1s5yq6wadwrxde4lhfs56gn64hwzuhnfa6r9mj476r5s4hkunzgzqrs6q7z - HOW TO ACTUALLY GET FREE SPEECH (not a conversation - I read a great piece by Preston)
https://youtu.be/OfOcRsEfWF8

Here is part of a conversation I had with Preston where we talk about Nostr: https://youtu.be/2IRMp9uj1xA

nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s - Bitcoin + Nostr: The Only Path Forward
https://youtu.be/AtsLp3Rg5AA


Can confirm.
Moving social apps to my iPad was a huge time saver and stress reducer. The next phase was moving news apps, and then financial & banking that don’t need to be monitored daily.
…email and Slack remain on my mobile, but notifications are either turned off or only enabled during limited hours.

It’s like I have my life back.


Technically, they vomit honey but, Ser, I would never let facts get in the way of a good joke.


hope you stacked that dip, anon


1000x nostr:note1rc9tdqmmdm4cu03p0uhgwjrhj0lj27tx035mvhet9nn6grjamm3qakquhs


May be a good candidate for NakamotoProject.org?

nostr:npub1n3sjlzmhpu8rl56umtptc4lua6zkretq2p82yhytnmlcuq639vlqd0te5l


Hey nostr — if anyone on here is serious and running a bitcoin nonprofit, I’m searching for new roles and ways to help!

If anyone is looking for an executive director, development director or assistance with development/fundraising work for your Bitcoin focused nonprofit, please DM me. I’m interested in supporting Bitcoin orgs however best I can, and that’s my area of expertise! I also have expertise in nonprofit management including org strategy, capital campaigns, board management, program design, and beyond.

Please share widely as well, thanks all 🙏


Shortest. Recession. Ever?


LOL. Thanks for the clarification. And also:

https://image.nostr.build/7e307695589e9c9529acf7761bdc5f082bfa31b1a0b10760b50736da05969e96.jpg


Hacker Samy Kamkar is debuting his own open source version of a laser microphone—a spy tool that can invisibly pick up the sounds inside your home through a window, and even the text you’re typing.

https://www.wired.com/story/infrared-laser-microphone-keystroke-surveillance/


Consider: nostr:note12kukhx0h6wxv65fkls7hqzgr3w70rjnx3q95n73ur6pnep7em6lq7c7g6k


These are the people who don’t want you using bitcoin.
https://image.nostr.build/a2dd9668246113a2d531046b47e6c2010d304eb6fcdd8edcbb79f8312ad4400a.jpg


I don’t like Google either, but maybe lay off the creatine in your morning coffee?


😍 nostr:npub1mea2vwcu06qf7e4x00wd902vj54qnn2jacq76ldntrgfhtvhlpqqrvqane


Get rid of google docs
https://proton.me/blog/docs-proton-drive


But the normies, who will think of the normies! LOL.


You had me until Google and Zoom.


The good life is pretty simple.

You're only here for a very short amount of time.

1. Figure out what gets you out of bed
2. Find a way to add value to others
3. Be consistent as fuck

Put the profits into bitcoin 🍊

Don't overthink it.


Keep spreading your light 💜💡
#Freeman 🫂🔊ON 🎶✨🔮💤
https://video.nostr.build/f7c73156e461738d9857893e9f53b4f8ea07bef2ba360ccaddea8f7e47de8192.mp4


People are waking up. https://image.nostr.build/a4cb2243cb52d517c04ce17017b0247a8b96ad9418c9b00af4ab16feb706a3ea.jpg


Two Greeks walk into a bar.

You should be familiar with both of them before meeting the others.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/investing/092115/alpha-and-beta-beginners.asp


That outta keep the malware out.


A lot of people automatically dismiss e-currency as a lost cause because of all the companies that failed since the 1990's. I hope it's obvious it was only the centrally controlled nature of those systems that doomed them. I think this is the first time we're trying a decentralized, non-trust-based system.


Hey there, under no circumstances can our encryption be bypassed, meaning emails, attachments, calendars, files, etc. cannot be compromised by legal orders.

We also provide an official onion site for Proton Mail for use with the Tor network.

It’s also important to differentiate that VPN is not classified as a communication tool in Switzerland — Proton VPN does not log IPs and there are no existing Swiss laws that can compel us to do so.

Check out our latest audit here: https://protonvpn.com/blog/no-logs-audit


One of my biggest criticisms of many progressives and democrats in DC is their incompetence, lack of education, or pure disregard for caring about financial privacy, financial freedom and obvious objection to bitcoin when it comes to infringing on civil liberties through AML, KYC, and other financial privacy infringing laws.

If you say you care about social justice, you need to care about financial privacy and freedom.

Great work 👏 ⬇ nostr:note1w27m8re00500vr6v4vwpt7lpdfng5w7mmsxp2uvwfak562sjj5uqm7gsud


Victims of human rights abuses enabled by powerful surveillance technologies must be able to seek redress through U.S. courts against both foreign and domestic corporations, we told the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.  https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2024/08/eff-ninth-circuit-dont-shield-foreign-spyware-company-human-rights-accountability


Dear Lettuce Hands,

Thanks.

Sincerely,
Diamond Hands


That’s a Wences Casares company. He’s a Bitcoin OG.  Due to his family history in Argentina, his focus has always been on inflation protection and separating money from State control.

Clients can rely on Xapo for storing funds and creating a secure system accessible only to valid account holders — articles have been written about underground vaults, and armed guards protecting offline servers and cold storage, etc.

Note, however, that pseudonymity and privacy are not his main focus. So if you are looking for a non-KYC option, this isn’t it.


“DiD YoU CaTcH tHe GaMe lAsT niGhT?” https://image.nostr.build/1ef0d27640e38265631926d9ecd9baf914dc836a741a73c684dec26879125afd.jpg


I agree that it comes down to incentives, as you point out.

Whether it’s a misinterpretation (intentional or not), or an entitled/inflated pancakes v. waffles outrage, or an a attempt at a witty dunk on a perceived enemy to score points, or a pandering to one’s follower set to maintain loyalty, or imposing/expressing an authoritative opinion outside of one’s expertise to increase an audience or relevance…

All of these are driven by an incentive to be seen, feel validated, or get paid. I think it comes down to culture. Note, for example, how Tumblr used to have a unique audience and content creation. It was different than MySpace or Facebook. Some of that had to do with how these platforms were built and how user interactions were displayed. Some of it was how the content, itself, was consumed by users. Note that many areas of Reddit (at the time of writing) still have a playful sense of humor, and supportive community, while X is broadly a cesspool of insults and hatred.  Why?  Is it just because the Mods make it so?  Is it the ability to downvote?

Seems like there’s an opportunity for a Reddit-like Nostr alternative.  Mods wouldn’t be able to remove content from relays of course, but it would be nice to have a community that wasn’t permissioned and publicly traded, with all the incentives that come with *that*.

TL;DR build better communities by supporting others with thoughtful interactions and disincentivize trolls (somehow).


There is no such thing as a nocoiner.

There are only precoiners.