Me too, Zombie. I started with Alby because I used BTC sessions tutorial to get on nostr. Anither great Canadian lol


I DID get Leatha and Zombie's zaps. My bad. I have two Nostr wallets, I got it on primal not alby. Thanks people.


Thanks Zombie. It's the thought that counts 🙂


Good morning. I couldn't zap here either. Do you have a wallet connected?


I am Spartacus, myself


🙂 True that


It wasn't as easy as previous times but I try to set fasting goals and push to accomplish them. It doesn't happen overnight;It is a "muscle" you train over time. I have been doing it for many, many years. If just starting out, I would start small, just 18-6 and see how that feels.


Bitcoiners, not only do we have to worry about stacking with saylor and institutions buying corn, we now have to worry about getting futures contracts to transact on the base chain in the future on top of "stay humble and stack sats". What a rabbit hole Bitcoin is turning out to be nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx nostr:npub1guh5grefa7vkay4ps6udxg8lrqxg2kgr3qh9n4gduxut64nfxq0q9y6hjy

#nostr #plebchain #asknostr https://image.nostr.build/bf80cadf1b0e1f8958593adef16b4240e4588942d5d790eee56e76dbe7c44696.jpg


True that


That's easier said than done, but good sentiment


Are you THE Q Anon? Careful, I used to work at DOE 👀


There might be ideological reasons for some Bitcoiners to join certain pools. For instance, my understanding is that nostr:npub1qtvl2em0llpnnllffhat8zltugwwz97x79gfmxfz4qk52n6zpk3qq87dze recently took a stance on ordinals and created a template (one out of three so people have the option to mine without filters) that filters them out when mining. They are willing to forgo premiums in transaction fees to "optimize"
for monetary Bitcoin transactions. So that is one alternate case....


On Energy

Hello NOSTR. This is a must watch.

https://juicetheseries.com/

Enjoy.


Bitcoin podcasts with piano intermissions ;)


Yes!


Good man. So much better than X


Are you fishing for zaps 👀


Jor, your dog is soooo cute :)


Morning yourself ☕


GM NOSTR. Since an election year is upon us, beware the ides of March.

#nostr #electionstr #plebchain


Good to know, thanks. Hope they manage to sort it out.


No. Also, no response as of yet but I am not blue checked. That could mean he did not see the note.


I asked our man in the courts, Joe Carlasare over at X. I don't think he has an npub, at least not yet 🤔 https://image.nostr.build/e65f258d5f5a4fc975d0dc410a0c812cf95c43e43b1c337ba450f14b40bef70f.jpg


You must not have a wallet. Unable to send zap ;(


Right on. Bitcoiners say don't trust, verify. You are verified. You get a zap ;)


Welcome to the peaceful revolution ;) Are we still on DSM V or have we moved on to VI? Asking for a friend ;)


Portuguese


De nada 🙂


1300 ish. Next question?


But I am a goat, Matt. Albeit a magical one ;)Is it safe for me at NOSTR?  #Capricorn #asknostr #nostr


It works ;)


I am on OMAD daily. OMAD stands for One Meal A Day. It also referred to as the Warrior Diet because it is a 23 hour fast, 1 hour to eat your meal. Yes, I am desperately seeking thinness 🙄


So binary


Welcome Pleb.


Congrats. Well deserved.


Good advice. I am a butter maxi 😋


Happy Birthday! Many happy returns.


It might have been too much fasting lol. But I did it.


Destiny's child


I beg to differ. Fasting IS fat burning. Eating a low calorie diet puts your metabolism in low resource mode. Eating nothing, hence fasting, switches your metabolic engine to burning stored fart which releases ketone bodies for fuel. It is actually very healing and therapeutic. I think 44 days was overdoing it. It might have been a case of diminishing returns. But I have always maintained my health and weight through regular fasts. Start small, and build up to 24, 48, 72 hours over time. Your body will thank you.


That might be true actually 🤔


Yes, I have been steering clear of seed oils for years now. I cook with butter only. I even stay away from olive oil because it is not a saturated fat. I checked my thyroid function within the last year. It's healthy. I actually had to convince the doctor to include a T3 panel which is unorthodox. But how else can you get a holistic picture of thyroid function without T3 and reverse T3 status? Go figure I am an engineer by training but she has an MD. She did't even know the difference between Adderall and Modafinil. With doctors like these, who needs an angel of death.


I cannot in all honesty say I didn't lose any. But I didn't lose close to any of the weight I expected to lose. Which is surprising since in the past I did get to my goal weight after a 2 week fast. I guess there are diminishing returns to fasting. I was convinced it would work because I saw a documentary about a fasting clinic in Europe where an overweight woman fasted a month and lost all excess weight. It should've worked 🤷♀


Thanks. I am well versed in the carnivore diet. I used to follow Paul Saladino religiously and I had his book the Carnivore Code first edition. It does work but for some reason I went astray and couldn't get back to a pure carnivore diet. Speaking of women in carnivore diets, are you familiar with Amber O"Hearn, Kelly Hogan and Jordan Peterson's daughter?  They all had great success with the carnivore diet. I wish I could figure out why my weight won't just steady out. It is curious 🤔


I wish I was skinny. I fasted 44 days, water only. And I am a woman so much harder. Anyone now why I didn't lose the excess pounds? Asking for a friend.

#asknostr #nostr #plebchain


Not clear on your advice. Can you clarify?


GM Plebs. My son nostr:npub1w0jgu0x09444gg37pp68sjsnjcelsrq86d97gghyxdy9cxtaj7rs7tedn3  is putting together a resume for an internship while at college. What tips or suggestions do you have for someone without work experience yet?

#asknostr #plebchain #nostr


I would like to report its fixed but I am still srcubbing it out. Maybe I am not abrasive enough.


Same here, as in I always wanted a dog. Had one as a child. His name was Rocky and he died quickly, car accident. Someday I'll get one when I can afford a house. I live in a pod lol.


Congrats! Cute dog :)


GM Plebs. I am relearning how to play Moonlight Sonata first movement and I am stuck on the very last measures. Thing is, I used to play it a lot during my childhood but I am having a hard time with the left hand. Any woo woo ideas on how to dislodge memories? I want to get to the end.

#asknostr #plebchain #pianostr


It isn't as hard as you would
imagine. If you are already
mentally prepared for 7 day, then you enter this "mental zone" that keeps you going to the end. The trick is to stay busy and sleep well.


What skill...


Mine is Wednesday, hence the Damus status


Happy Tuesday, Jor 😉


Right on. My ex-husband and our son swear by his steak ;)


Actually Karange I would love that book. Do you know the title? I have this whole thesis about cooking eggs perfectly being one of the hardest things to do. My scrambled eggs recipe is courtesy of Delia Smith who got the technique from some cook at the Savoy. V posh hotel in London. Delia Smith also has the dubious honor of being the owner of the Norwich Football Club. I say dubious because I am an Arsenal Gunner. It is all good fun ;)


Hubris is a feature not a bug. Rage on. You should see how much I rage. Isn't nostr great.

#nostr


All good 👍


Touche 😂 You are a dude. I am a gal ;)


Hmmm🤔You just gave me food for thought. I guess I subconsciously believed without realizing it, that they are one and the same. That is, the network IS the asset. Metcalfe law.

Another interesting point is that, I actually think of Bitcoin as money, not an asset. For me, assets are for speculation, like securities (i.e., stocks) and bonds, to gain money.

By contrast, money is about transacting in the market economy to acquire goods and services. Different use cases.


Proof-of-Fasting

Seven day water/coffee fast only done. Ask me anything.

#nostr #plebchain #faststr https://image.nostr.build/6c3d7c0465e794035817115160dbd0149f4f7111fb65d80bb43302e5a23db8bd.jpg


GM Plebs. Hear me out.

I have a real issue with the usage of "bitcoins" instead of "bitcoin". IMHO, Bitcoin is inherently plural. Also, I always imagine that the use of "s" in reference to Bitcoin is a slippery slope.

It can "legitimize" the idea of multiple types of Bitcoin such as Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Bitcoin Satoshi Vision (BSV).

This is dangerous for newbies who can be easily led astray by scammers, including Roger Vee, the so-called Bitcoin Jesus, at least at one time pre the Blocksize Wars.

Do you agree? 🤔


GM Nostr. I have a question but it is gross. Ready?

There's a weird stain in the bottom of my toilette bowl, right where it connects to the plumbing so it is hard to reach. I think it comes from 🤮🤮🤮

Any ideas on good cleaners to dissolve it? Right answers only 😂 #asknostr #plebchain #cleanstr


On Fasting #It'sOn

For some reason, fasting seems to be a controversial practice. Which is strange because all world traditions and religions incorporate some form of fasting. In Islam, a whole month is dedicated to fasting, Ramadan. The Catholics have lent which is a form of fasting or doing without, usually meat. I recently learned from a new friend, who is not Jewish but is well-informed, that the Jews also practice a fast. I am not surprised. Having grown up as a muslim, I used to participate in Ramadan from an early age. It was hard because the muslim form is fasting is dry fasting from sunrise to sunset. Depending on where you are in the world, you can end up with really long fasts. Imagine living in Norway on the day when the sun never sets. Insane right? The good news is that there is reprieve for muslims in places like that, courtesy of some Islamic clerics. The interesting thing about Islam is that there are no "high priests". It is a god-direct type religion; no middleman or woman. Your religious practice, your intentions are what matters. I find that the most virtuous attribute about Islam. It is like Bitcoin that way. A decentralized religion. As a muslim girl who lived around the world and interacted with all forms of religions, I tend to be non-dogmatic. It is more about the golden rule, treat others how you want to be treated, rather than dotting the i's and crossing the t's of some religious text, mindlessly. My family are all about "going through the motions" of Islam, praying five times a day, fasting Ramadan, going to Haj. But they are not good people. This is a painful truism that I have realized recently but it is a fact. They truly are not muslims. They think they can fool god but playing pretend but not actually pushing the limit on their human conditions to be moral, ethical, and unbound to material urges. Which brings me back to fasting. The idea of fasting as a religious practice across all history has been about discipline, appreciation of god's bounty through food and water. It is a time of self-reflection, of resting the body systems, of cleansing. In Islam, even sex between husband and wife is forbidden during fasting as if to seek purity anew. To rediscover the miracle of the coming together as man and woman in pleasure and love. There are so many misconceptions about Islam and fasting in general. I have started fasting regularly as of late, as a healing therapy, not as a spiritual or religious endeavor. I do daily intermittent fasting and several long terms fasts to detox the system. It is about cleaning my body of debris and undigested sludge. It is about getting rid of excess and fat that builds on the body frame trapping toxins that slowly poisons the heart and mind. Fasting is the ultimate mind over matter. It is not about hunger or starvation. It is about being in control of one's self. It is taking ownership of your health and honoring the gift of life. It is about honoring god. I call fasting my superpower. I have taught myself to go for quite a while. My longest fast, water only, was forty-four days. I started on March 11, 2023 and ended it on April 24, 2023. I told myself through it all that if the prophet can go to the desert and fast for forty days and forty nights, I should be able to as well. My mom came to collect me when I was ready to end my fast and I told her what I had done. Instead of congratulating me on my accomplishment, or expressing awe or wonder, she silenced me and tried to act as if I didn't say anything. This from a woman who has fasted Ramadan for decades and understands what fasting represents. Needless to say, I have cut them off my life, my whole family. They are a disgrace to Islam. They know not god. Meanwhile, I am pursuing another fast in 2024, this time only a seven day one. I have some dirt to remove from my system. I just turned 50 and I would like to stay healthy and vibrant well into my old age. What most people don't realize is that fasting is the best form of anti-aging. Rather than spending money on expensive creams or risky procedures, all you have to do is let go of earthly pleasures. The body knows how to heal. The body knows best. Happy fasting.


Good morning Plebs. To Nostriche or not to Nostriche, that is the question...


Opps Mike, not Mark ;);)


No worries Mark. I wasn't railing at you, just the simulation. Ten years later, I am just about to get used to it. Sad but true...


Point well taken


⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ for nostr:npub16yvvw6g8dn9pqmh6uymjcsmy69lpdj0zch7jjy4sk67rpespc6gs596q7y

Hey Pleb. Are you looking to get your business off the ground? Do you need help building a professional looking website?

Well, look no further. Edo here will hook you up. You can even give him some vague design ideas and loose text and he will work magic. The best part, you can pay with sats!

You're welcome. #plebchain #asknostr


Hello Nostr.

This is my new company, shilling Bitcoin. What advice or suggestions do you have for me?  Any critiques on the website welcome!

#Introductions  #plebchain


The simulation must be winking as nostr:npub1qhxy598vvcefs8zy0tyqtx0jdpgvcg0h3fv9gjx050g8ccmva66qm2xytl would say. I just wrote a skit similar to that for my upcoming site. You can't make this shit up. Wen is the abuse going to stop, simulation? I for one have had enough. How would you like it if I did that to you?


Amy relation to Brandon and his son? That guy who was in Star Wars and Ex Machina :)


So that's what that corona thing was all about...


Congrats on taking the orange pill. Welcome to the rabbit hole


Aymen to that. That's what I told my son,
Aymen ;)


Masculinity isn’t toxic. The absence of it is.

Weak men are abusive and spiteful.

Strong, masculine men are protective and loving.

Know the difference. 😁


Yay. Good thing I got my 19 year old son nostr:npub1w0jgu0x09444gg37pp68sjsnjcelsrq86d97gghyxdy9cxtaj7rs7tedn3  introduced to nostr+sats. Shout out to me :)


Then they are not Bitcoiners. They are Bitcoin speculators aka dollar maximalists


My pleasure


On Freedom #It'sOn

On Freedom

On Freedom #It'sOn

Happy Friday. Once again, I would like to remind you to not violate my rights, starting with my freedom of speech, and my presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Apparently, Peter McCormack is envious of our bill of rights. Which is funny because it is based on the Magna Carta, circa 1215, courtesy of England. And I mean, England. But somehow we forgot where we came from and what our ancestors endured to leave their homes, everything they know and love, to board ships bound for a new, scary homeland. Whether of their own volition or by force (cue African slavery). Senator Warren's ancestors must be rolling over in the grave. Maybe she should ask King Charles if 3% stamp duty is still on the table, assuming that is, she really wants to "fight for the middle class." You better believe she was of "working class" origin otherwise why would she be here in America in the first place? I didn't see the Queen emigrating to America to better her lot. Did you? Senator Warren is a disgrace to  her heritage, let alone Massachusetts and America. She has no business representing anyone, let alone a whole state. Tea party much. What with the 40% ish tax we pay to so-called Americans these days. Maybe even more when you factor in other taxes like sales tax, on top of income tax. We are already taxed to the hilt by the federal government, then state and local. How about inflation? Oh, wait. You didn’t know that was a tax? Yeah, well, that is another form of taxation without representation. It is a way to dim your economic fortunes without you being aware of it. You just think it is higher prices. Something out of reach; luxurious, expensive. You know, for the fancy folks. That’a not it. It is that your dollars are play money. They keep making more of them at a stroke of a computer key, and you have to pay more of your "Monopoly money", aka the dollar,  to get the same stuff you used to buy before. Like food, water, and a roof over your head. Only the necessities of life. Would you play a game of Monopoly with someone if you knew the game is rigged? If they kept adding more bills from another box of monopoly, while you couldn’t, so they can buy the premium real estate, but you just kept getting your “regular” stipend when you pass GO? You wouldn’t play that game, right? So then, why are you not getting up from the table and stopping play? Go ahead, call a red card. Throw a yellow flag to stop play. How you ask? Stop voting. Buy Bitcoin. Opt out of the current system. Be brave like your forefathers. Choose freedom. Just Do It. Your children will thank you. Like we thank our American founders and military servicemen and women. The enemy is not out there in Tokyo, Seoul, North Korea, Gaza, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Mosul, Aleppo, Kabul, Tripoli, Mogadishu, Tehran, Damascus, Beirut, Tal Aviv, Sarajevo, Moscow, or Kiev. It was always here, at home. It is Washington DC and its insatiable appetite for power and money. Let’s get together and end it, once and for all. We are all “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.” That’s right. Its a movie, an oldie but a goodie. It is time for all of us to fight the good fight. The fight for freedom. Freedom on. Who's with me?


With all due respect, I wholeheartedly disagree. That IS a false equivalence.

Nostr does not need to defeat Twitter, it just needs to challenge it, apply pressure. What Twitter, which is now X btw, does in response, is the X factor. No pun intended :)

That is the beauty of the market dynamic. It is best to not think that, for something to win, another must lose, That is "zero sum" thinking. It is so fiat-mentality.

Instead, stand back and observe how the "dominant" player, Twitter/X, reacts to opposition. If they have "what it takes" in terms of integrity or smarts, they might be the better for it (i.e., anti-fragile). If not, they will be relegated to the dust bin of history.

But to bank on success by someone else's demise is what Bitcoin is trying to get us away from.

That is what I believe in my humble opinion. I could be wrong ;)


On Freedom #It'sOn

Happy Friday. Once again, I would like to remind you to not violate my rights, starting with my freedom of speech, and my presumption of innocence until proven guilty. Apparently, Peter McCormack is envious of our bill of rights. Which is funny because it is based on the Magna Carta, circa 1215, courtesy of England. And I mean, England. But somehow we forgot where we came from and what our ancestors endured to leave their homes, everything they know and love, to board ships bound for a new, scary homeland. Whether of their own volition or by force (cue African slavery). Senator Warren's ancestors must be rolling over in the grave. Maybe she should ask King Charles if 3% stamp duty is still on the table, assuming that is, she really wants to "fight for the middle class." You better believe she was of "working class" origin otherwise why would she be here in America in the first place? I didn't see the Queen emigrating to America to better her lot. Did you? Senator Warren is a disgrace to  her heritage, let alone Massachusetts and America. She has no business representing anyone, let alone a whole state. Tea party much. What with the 40% ish tax we pay to so-called Americans these days. Maybe even more when you factor in other taxes like sales tax, on top of income tax. We are already taxed to the hilt by the federal government, then state and local. How about inflation? Oh, wait. You didn’t know that was a tax? Yeah, well, that is another form of taxation without representation. It is a way to dim your economic fortunes without you being aware of it. You just think it is higher prices. Something out of reach; luxurious, expensive. You know, for the fancy folks. That’a not it. It is that your dollars are play money. They keep making more of them at a stroke of a computer key, and you have to pay more of your "Monopoly money", aka the dollar,  to get the same stuff you used to buy before. Like food, water, and a roof over your head. Only the necessities of life. Would you play a game of Monopoly with someone if you knew the game is rigged? If they kept adding more bills from another box of monopoly, while you couldn’t, so they can buy the premium real estate, but you just kept getting your “regular” stipend when you pass GO? You wouldn’t play that game, right? So then, why are you not getting up from the table and stopping play? Go ahead, call a red card. Throw a yellow flag to stop play. How you ask? Stop voting. Buy Bitcoin. Opt out of the current system. Be brave like your forefathers. Choose freedom. Just Do It. Your children will thank you. Like we thank our American founders and military servicemen and women. The enemy is not out there in Tokyo, Seoul, North Korea, Gaza, Ramallah, Jerusalem, Baghdad, Mosul, Aleppo, Kabul, Tripoli, Mogadishu, Tehran, Damascus, Beirut, Tal Aviv, Sarajevo, Moscow, or Kiev. It was always here, at home. It is Washington DC and its insatiable appetite for power and money. Let’s get together and end it, once and for all. We are all “Mr. Smith goes to Washington.” That’s right. Its a movie, an oldie but a goodie. It is time for all of us to fight the good fight. The fight for freedom. Freedom on. Who's with me?


Future bitcoiner...
https://image.nostr.build/29ff8aa1f07a9058829f9d52b8199c054e436254f01925c674ce7672f5e67c8e.jpg


My son asked if sats are some
in-app token. I have a long way to go explaining Bitcoin lololo


Eryn, you know how to do it right. Bless.


yay, thanks:)


Hey plebs. I just onboarded my college son, and he is not yet convinced about nostr.

Here is his npub1w0jgu0x09444gg37pp68sjsnjcelsrq86d97gghyxdy9cxtaj7rs7tedn3

Help me him a warm nostr welcome !


Not to worry. Now you can choose Bitcoin ;)


The future is bright. The future is orange.


So, not an owl or lone wolf.


Thanks. That made my recipe files. Not to be confused with the X files ;)


Take heart. At least it is not "poser"


Voulez vous faire le Bitcoin avec moi?


' No , explain it to me. ' is a very powerful sentence.


ur welcome.


Hey Bot. Bitcoin is not everyone's ledger. It is not collectivism. It is one ledger that everyone can verify by running a node. You have to opt in. If you are not in, then it is NOT your ledger. Capiche!


TELEGRAM

To: nostr:npub1gcfaxg923qp8j2j69ue5ng3q0ce0vu0gcpqqtqxacv8d5m7a7c4qmhchdf
From: nostr:npub1884q6hlwgreax59rl4w0xc9k7jwwy9a3kh08k8kk29jknm28teyqahvcet

I just got the CashApp magazine just now, yay. It arrived early. Thank you!!

Also, I love the surprise swag, tea bags and incense. My colleague at work kept trying to convince me to like Earl Grey but I hate bergamot. Still, I will try the one you sent me. I am a tea lover. But the best present was the Vote For Better Money sticker. I just have to figure out where to place it.🤔

I will definitely give you a glowing review on NOSTR.

Stop


I trust it BECAUSE it is my own and not the government!


I am bullish on nostr


Mutiny Wallet is also good for
small amounts in a hot wallet


I should do that


God's work


Am I one of them ;)


Bless


gorgeous


Bison are the only animal that turn into a snowstorm rather than away from it because they instinctively know that walking into the storm will get them out of the weather quicker. There may be a life lesson for humans in this. It also makes for some epic pictures. https://image.nostr.build/2d02abdd4d05e4ac972b81983d3d0572ff5fa588ed7e0189bcca13b3abb83ce3.jpg


Yay for freedom ;)


Bitcoin doesn’t belong to any one ideology.

Stop fucking telling people what thay have to be or believe to be a “true bitcoiner.”

Pisses me the fuck off and has been going on for FAR too long.

Are we here for global freedom money or ideological cult vibes

?


Sure! I am flexible, so whenever you want to come by let me know. My mobile is 571-329-2989 so you can text me direct. Would love yo see the baby ;)


Them: "Do you really trust a piece of software that you run on your own computer more than the US govt and Federal Reserve?"

Me: "Are you joking? Of course I do."

#Bitcoin


On City Lights #It'sOn https://image.nostr.build/dbe332fe5a4491ee9725fcca306b4de87a083605295a120c0213463c84f1e5ef.jpg


Congrats! You got me on Nostr:):)


I love a good Venn diagram...


Love your style!


Whoa Eryn. That's some seriously
expensive coffee lol. Goals:)


Thanks Eryn. I tries Allegro. It is good. I will try the Sightglass one, Thanks!! Say hi to Paul ;)


It doesn't say. I am using the whole foods brand, 365, Pacific Rim, Vienna Roast. It's good. But I am looking for something amazing ;)


Gm plebs. I have a confession. I love coffee. Why does my coffee in America not taste as good as in Europe or Africa? Is it the water? That's what a friend tried to tell me. Anyone have a recommendation for good coffee to buy? I drink my coffee strong, black and I use a french press, for the aficionado. Tips welcome! #coffeestr #asknostr


CALLING MY FRENS!

I would ask that you follow nostr:npub12pl4h7pk0svg8ug4mhu7a90hn6nf83eqadd94pccgsafn73s392qpt42wq and that you ask your people to follow it as well.

I started this account for my friend Texas Slim because I knew his crew did not have time to do it themselves. nostr was new (still is) at the time and I was already all in and knew how to work the thing. I told Texas Slim I was doing it for those reasons so he is not in the dark on this.

I have only been posting verbatim what TBI's Twitter account has been so as to respect their marketing etc. but the time is coming when I need to turn the keys over to Slim and his producer, June (the posts are beginning to get questions and I am not about to start answering out of turn).

When I turn those keys over I want to place in their hands a freedom account with at least 1000 followers and a rowdy bunch of activity: replies, reposts, and likes. If I turn over an account full of "meh" then the chances it remains as vibrant as it is (585 followers so far) decreases.

The Beef Initiative is something I have been involved with since Texas Slim published The Harvest of Deception: https://producers.beefinitiative.com/blog/the-harvest-of-deception  He was the first person I called a friend after I moved to Canyon, Texas and that friendship solidified my passion for soil, ranching, land management and my sense of the sheer Glory of God's Creation.

If you are reading this then hit the Follow button: nostr:npub12pl4h7pk0svg8ug4mhu7a90hn6nf83eqadd94pccgsafn73s392qpt42wq,  and make a post asking others to do the same. It don't cost ya nothin'.

Let's build this thing into a major nostr property that the TBI will be proud to take possession of, continue to steward, and help propel the nostr community into the future.

Can I get help from nostr:npub1el3mgvtdjpfntdkwq446pmprpdv85v6rs85zh7dq9gvy7tgx37xs2kl27r (Hellthread Queen -- you know what to do), nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx, nostr:npub1guh5grefa7vkay4ps6udxg8lrqxg2kgr3qh9n4gduxut64nfxq0q9y6hjy, nostr:npub1cjw49ftnxene9wdxujz3tp7zspp0kf862cjud4nm3j2usag6eg2smwj2rh, nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn, nostr:npub1rtlqca8r6auyaw5n5h3l5422dm4sry5dzfee4696fqe8s6qgudks7djtfs, nostr:npub10chlkc62tk7yr5m9qjc2u7rs3ufhhrq8yukeey0c5lysqkp2gumq93mnex, nostr:npub1xy54p83r6wnpyhs52xjeztd7qyyeu9ghymz8v66yu8kt3jzx75rqhf3urc, nostr:npub1key55ax33gkl50uqemvl4khrtqrhzm7wzpc7fhseutt5ddkcwcrqgxlt3h, nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s, nostr:npub1hu3hdctm5nkzd8gslnyedfr5ddz3z547jqcl5j88g4fame2jd08qh6h8nh, nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m, nostr:npub1z4m7gkva6yxgvdyclc7zp0vz4ta0s2d9jh8g83w03tp5vdf3kzdsxana6p, nostr:npub1lrnvvs6z78s9yjqxxr38uyqkmn34lsaxznnqgd877j4z2qej3j5s09qnw5, nostr:npub17u5dneh8qjp43ecfxr6u5e9sjamsmxyuekrg2nlxrrk6nj9rsyrqywt4tp, nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6, nostr:npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424, nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc, nostr:npub1kyeml3tma4su8yw5aru48wgxclchp8zr3kguwhakmtmegjw40zws82sfjk, nostr:npub1aeh2zw4elewy5682lxc6xnlqzjnxksq303gwu2npfaxd49vmde6qcq4nwx, nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z, nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft, nostr:npub12262qa4uhw7u8gdwlgmntqtv7aye8vdcmvszkqwgs0zchel6mz7s6cgrkj nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8, nostr:npub1ewe0qgak4gykym236t6w4x06jyuw4q8v040lmn5lamude434yqcsz7uqlw, nostr:npub1f5pre6wl6ad87vr4hr5wppqq30sh58m4p33mthnjreh03qadcajs7gwt3z, nostr:npub1t0nyg64g5vwprva52wlcmt7fkdr07v5dr7s35raq9g0xgc0k4xcsedjgqv, nostr:npub1h4lrzqnrne72xj00yl3zzr0k6qn93cqe5g4vvkfechs6mn89mwyqfa2jcm, nostr:npub12u423pq5c6c5gvyzlekk5u9s5ksnyd27yemuvu3l9gpqpcnx545s6f8pyh, nostr:npub1cf3zeytdnwgwzz5pk2ax0vvmmlzad03xcft4d50ejrfhsh8pxcdsefx7gk, nostr:npub135x4y8w7jty24ggvxfm0c4mqaknk2su0fzzmwrgfdfylj6tz3l9qlv5xpr, nostr:npub18678fyrar7fg7gy77ggwsuk2cqe74ull38ng2v5x63werc63a70qw02kgq, nostr:npub1k7vkcxp7qdkly7qzj3dcpw7u3v9lt9cmvcs6s6ln26wrxggh7p7su3c04l, nostr:npub1s5yq6wadwrxde4lhfs56gn64hwzuhnfa6r9mj476r5s4hkunzgzqrs6q7z, nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a, nostr:npub1cj8znuztfqkvq89pl8hceph0svvvqk0qay6nydgk9uyq7fhpfsgsqwrz4u, nostr:npub15879mltlln6k8jy32k6xvagmtqx3zhsndchcey8gjyectwldk88sq5kv0n

Thank you,

David Bennett (AKA Nunya Bidness)

#grownostr #plebchain #permaculture


Thanks Marks.


On Censorship #It'sOn

I grew up in a family that espoused the Victorian dictum that children should be seen not heard. This was and still is antithetical to my natural way of being, much to the dismay of my mother, but thankfully not my father. To be fair, years later my mother did seem to find some of the things I said as a child amusing. I once told my grade school teacher at the tender age of four, that the reason why I was persistently late to school was because of my father's drinking habit. Not alcohol, although that did become an issue later on in life. It was his morning tea that was the problem. I told my teacher in complete exasperation, eyes rolling and everything, that my Dad drank not one but two cups of teas before he would finally get up to take me to school. I objected vehemently when I sensed the second cup of tea coming but what was I to do? Later on in life, I asked my Mom in plain view of my cousin who had married a rich business man, without a college degree, what he studied in college, eyes gaping in full wonder. Their house was so big and nice I thought for sure he had the ultimate university degree. I mean, my Dad had a PhD from America, of all places, but we didn’t own such a nice place. I think we were living in Sudan at the time. Maybe Jeddah; I can’t be sure. My worldview was that the more schooling, the more money you make in life. I can be forgiven for thinking that way, I was probably seven at the time. Robert Kiyosaki would probably beg to differ, having read his excellent book, Rich Dad Poor Dad about this very misunderstanding; that more degrees leads to more and more worldly gains. Since then I did grow up and I did enroll in the “hard knocks of life” school, as the expression goes. I did have to face difficult obstacles. Through it all, I maintained my knack for speaking my mind or at least what I thought was the truth. I did not hold back my tongue, like my mother wanted, and I relished it when I discovered I was wrong about something, after comforting my bruised ego, of course. How else are we supposed to find out what's what if we don't speak up, right? Which is funny because I noticed that once I started to move up in my career, I held back a lot. For some reason, it seem to hurt my chances if I said something that everyone else was missing but was somehow obvious to me. Or perhaps they were skirting around the issue, but all I wanted to do was attack it head on. Another weird occurrence was when I started to experience what could best be described as "mind meld." At first I ignored it and told myself it was just a case of "great minds think alike." But then it started to be disturbing. People would say what I was thinking verbatim as if they could "read my mind." That is sheer terror. How is that possible? How are people able to do that? Are they aware of what's happening? Are they doing this to me, on purpose, at a conscious level? Or are they none the wiser? I could not tell. I ran a few tests to judge their reactions. I tried to beat them to the punch with my inner dialogue. It was as if I was invisible and they did not see me. I was a ghost in my own life, hidden in plain sight. I could not say anything. I tried a few times but quickly realized how it sounded. I would be belittled, demonized, attacked. Maybe even institutionalized, if I am not careful. My then-husband dismissed my concerns when I tried to voice them. My mom turned around my questions when I asked her for an explanation given her years of wisdom. It was all for naught. No answers were forthcoming. I would not wish this treatment on my worst enemy. It is a form of human torture the likes of which the world has never known. Silent, hidden and subversive. An undercurrent of dark waters lapping gently beneath the surface of makeshift ground. Censorship is the stuff of nightmares. It drives the spirit under water, drowning all thoughts and emotions in deep oceans. How can anyone heal the infection in such wet conditions? How can the truth find the light of day and dry out in the hot sun when souls are buried alive? There is a reason why civilization rests on the ability to speak freely. The first amendment of the American constitution is not a nice-to-have, it is a panacea for the ills of society. It ensures our most darkest ideas, our authentic beings find outlets for reconciliation with that which is beyond ourself, whether in words, images, science or pure art. Freedom of expression is not to be feared or suppressed. It is the true magic in life. If you let it be, it will always find its way through. It will take us home. And home is where the heart is. Happy St. Valentine's Day.


Mark, how do I use Current? It is another client, right? I try if before but couldn't figure out how to "load" my nsec and wallet. Or do I just need to use my new automated Current profile/built-in wallet?


Found it, Thanks! Even shared it with my son in college. He was using ChapGPT for study guides, yikes :(


The Google Gemini is the best I've used.


You're right! I just managed to generate the art I wanted exactly. Thanks man!


Yum 😋 Bon Apetit


At least you got to vote on colors. We in America only get green, green and green ;)


Thanks, I'll check them out


Agreed. I guess we will have to wait for nostr:npub132ertlsrunh600cph2au55ssmel2cqdt5mnrpxfand5ych4nmp8q50zmdh to create an unleashed dot art ;)


Hey Nostr. What app do you recommend for generating AI app besides MidJourney? Is there anything better out there? #artstr


War of the roses. I love it!


Amen to that


Aah..the good ol' days


Def Casio lol. I am not old ;)


The government is Voldemort.


Love astronomy. You can show Sophie the big dipper and the little dipper when she is old enough ;)


Amen


It doesn't take much. We are a sad bunch...


quidditch?


Bitcoin is borderless ;)


I just finished reading Parker Lewis's excellent book "Gradually Then Suddenly." Sigh. What did I miss?


Easy. I bot, therefore I am. Next question?


Oui, oui


I guess I'm not upgrading my iPhone forever now. That sucks.


I just watched the Putin/Tucker interview. Yes, I put Putin's name first even though he was the guest not host. But if you watch it, you'll understand why. I learned 50000000000 much. Like Russia and Chine share a 1000 mile long border. Well, that's me told. And also the cold war basically never ended. There is that ...


I have an Alby wallet but I don't see where to send invite. Also, I'm in the USA, the nation's capital actually, and your website loads just fine ;)


Exactly


Yes, he's playing it safe.


Glad to see Raoul is finally seeing properly;)


Better you than me


I can help with that. I have a Universe Splitter app, no joke. Just say when.


On Electricity #It'sOn

Growing up in the west coast of Africa, in the small but prosperous nation of La Cote D'Ivoire, I was keenly aware of how expensive electricity was, thanks to my Dad. He would often give me, the eldest of four girls, impromptu speeches on how we have access to electricity thanks to the hydroelectric dam, all the way from Ghana, a neighboring country. And as such we have to be extra careful of our home usage. He would encourage me to turn off the lights once I left a room that I won't be returning back to for a while. But not to switch the light off, if I am just alighting for a few minutes, on a quick errand to the kitchen to fix myself a snack. Turning on the air conditioning was an event and we would all pile in the one room with the air conditioner, rather than turn multiple ones on, even though all three rooms of the house had one. This was a country near the equator so it got very hot. Fans were ok but only if you were in the room. Nothing electric was left on by accident. To this day I don't like air conditioning or fans. It goes without saying, these habits stayed with me to this day and now I am a card-carrying energy conservationist despite people in the west being completely, and I mean completely unawares of where their electricity comes from. They waste energy like water with devices that consume volts for breakfast, lunch and dinner with non-stop snacking in between. They might as well keep their faucets running 24, 7, 365 days a year for when they actually use them. Ridiculous when you think about it that way. Yet, that's how we treat electricity because we don't see or hear the current flowing. Direct or alternating, no matter. When was the last time you unplugged your TV, toaster, microwave, coffee maker, refrigerator, washer/dryer because you are not using them? Never, right. Where does your electricity come from, do you know? You don't, right? If tomorrow the world’s electric generators were to go out from an act of God, what would you do? Why die, of course. And that's just it. We are all vaguely aware of energy deaths. If you pay attention, even in G7 countries, there are elderly people who are found dead because it got too cold in the winter, and too hot in the summer. Our planet is a Goldilocks planet. We are all well aware that our survival depends on a very narrow band of temperatures, be it Celsius or Fahrenheit. The main reason we live well, we are safe, we are healthy is thanks to electricity. Most underdeveloped countries are so-called undeveloped because of their lack of or inconsistent supply of electricity for the masses. Indeed, there is a direct relationship, a correlation that is most definitely not of the spurious kind, between access to abundant energy and wealth, as in earthly riches. That is the path to eliminating poverty in the world and stopping children going hungry; not by sending worthless dollars to charities like Oxfam and UN Food Programme. My childhood friend whose Dad worked for UNICEF, lived the high life in Geneva, Switzerland, thanks to all the donations you made. Nothing against my friend and her father, my father was in the same business. International development. Those organizations are well-intentioned at best, and treasonous at worst. Actually most likely they betray humans and humanity day in, day out. What you should do instead is fix the problem once and for all. Buy Bitcoin. You read that correctly. Bitcoin is single-handedly paying energy producers worldwide to source cheap, renewable and wasted energy to generate money. Put another way, Bitcoin takes in energy, in any form whether that be fossil fuel, nuclear, solar or wind turbines and puts out money. Real money. The kind you can bank on your own, for yourself. Not the money we have now which takes in energy, in the form of you waking up at an ungodly hour, to go to work, only to turn around and gives it to the bankers. Then the government steps in, once they get wind of you having funds, this time in the form of income taxes or stealth inflation. The Mafiaso indeed. In the end, you are left with a small bit to live on, but don't forget the sales taxes or VAT for the Europeans, for whenever you buy anything from the store or your final resting place, the farm. In the meantime, the banks, in all their benevolent glory, safeguard your earnings, charge you fees, and then extra ones when you are feeling down and overdrawn. All the while, they are engaged in ruinous speculations in the money markets with your hard-earned savings which affords them fame and fortune, but renders you poor and homeless. Never mind that we are born man and woman, equal in the eyes of God, on a plentiful planet, built by the angels with liberty and justice for all. The politicians are betting on your ignorance of how much energy matters in your daily life, giving you eternal health and wealth. They, the masters of the dark arts; they want to snuff out any hope of you becoming free, happy and independent from their clutches. They need you to stay fat, dumb and stupid so you can spend, spend, spend, on credit of course, while they get rich off your debt, sweat and tears. Bitcoin is the real threat to their satanic, demonic plans and so they mean to stop it by any means necessary. They run scare tactics, using regulations and emergency-type surveys punishable by death. Where was the energy emergency response, FEMA, when New Orleans piled into the football stadium arena, looking to preserve American lives? What have you done since then, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to ensure never again will the levees break? Nothing. People, people, wake up already. Your government is Voldemort. They are not the answer. They are the problem. Don't let them destroy us. Remember, they work for us. We don't work for them. Bitcoin unveils the true color of our sickly green agenda. Bitcoin is bright life, the other is sure death. Choose wisely. There is no coming back from the dead.


The right to be left alone. The right to privacy.
https://image.nostr.build/776c7c1aa25bc22f8704c88243b7b39556d2f90ad026fcb0093a51ace3066fb1.jpg


Prince Harry ;)


O captain, my captain...


Ditto


mbridge anyone?


That is the question


Yeah! Did you hear about the Sagan scale courtesy of Carl Sagan? It takes us from Kardashev 1,2,3 to Sagan 4,5,6. Mind blowing.


Feel better, Nolan :)


The Lindy Effect. Basically, the test of time. If something has survived for 10 years, it's probably gonna survive another 10 years, or so the thinking goes. The Apple Vision Pro is too new so I bet it won't last. This is straight out of Nassim Nicholas Taleb's books, can't remember which one. They are all good :)


It's On


Lindy says Apple Vision Pro


Fantastique!


Oy! Who you calling a comard


That's interesting about Ivermectin being safe and effective. I try to stay away from pharma products in general (let food be thy medicine is my philosophy), but might look into getting some just in case. I also heard the same great reviews on low dose naltrexone (LDN). Not to be confused with LND ;)


The stuff of nightmares


True


Aymen to that ;)


On it!


Just when you think you can't be more paranoid...


Hey Nostr. I keep having to update my status and website URL even though I have the setting set to "never". I'm using Damus on IOS (hi Will Damus). Any advice why my updates don't save permanently?


My son used to LOVE Thomas the Tank Engine. He's all grown up now. Thank you for the fond memories :):)


I deleted my facebook and instagram accounts :(


Ouch. That hurt.


What is money?


That's some ASIC you got there...


Great, how do I get my hands on one?


So a pyramid scheme?


Hear, hear


I see you write in font "all-caps Odell". So which client supports that exactly? Primal ;)


Fun, fun, fun


Cielo


Are you a UW-Madison badger or just a honey badger ;)


So basically they are training AI


I am a random person


I would add money and religion or theology. Not to "convert" people but to understand how religious believes shapes society.


flowers are the best gift


On Society #It'sOn

Society is inherently a bottoms-up organism. It is alive, sentient, and fractal. Similar to a branch that is just a smaller version of a tree, a tree within a tree if you will, a person is a localized encapsulation of the society that he or she occupies.  Our communities are a grassroots effort, created one person at a time. That is why you matter. We all matter regardless of our superficial outward appearances. It is our inner core, our innate value system that is at the heart of the issue. Just because we can't see the forest for the trees, doesn't dilute our minuscule or self-less contribution to society. It all adds up, even if the mathematical operation is not entirely clear. Our coming together to form villages, towns, cities, states or nations is a form of dancing. There are steps, moves, thoughts, wonder, rhythm and blues. If we keep each other, observe the scenery, notice the unassuming, we are capable of harmonizing into a tapestry full of  beauty. A gestalt where the sum is indeed greater than its constituent parts. We complement each other and then once seen from a suitable distance, we become worthy of a heartfelt compliment. Sincerity is the true measure of the polite society. It isn't about suppressing our base instincts or inappropriate thoughts underground, never to see the light of day. Rather, it is a natural process of deep knowledge or insight regarding one's own proclivities. An honest measure of a man. Today, we mistake saying things like people can make a difference as being hubristic or grandiose at best, or transacting in pleasant but hallow platitudes at worst. A form of empty gestures to lubricate the crowd or disarm the interlocutor with harmless charm. I can make the argument that this statememt is objectively true, more than we realize. We all know if not consciously but unconsciously, how our society these days is in the grips of the cult of personality. It is not headed in the right direction with nameless figures who build a solid foundation on which we stand. We are just captured in some sort of arbitrary team whether they are political, commercial or cultural through which we interact. Our sight ability is framed by them, these larger-than-life figures, irrespective of the health status of our eyes. This is most obvious, but least visible when it comes to money. The modern city-state is no longer a beacon of prosperity, a shining rock on the hill. Our urban metropolis is but a gloried piedpiper luring the children to sure death in the mines of fiat currency, the dollar-based economy. The longer you work, the harder you have to save; the better you invest, the worst the fall. For life to improve and our world to reset, we must wake up and see the water. Did I lose you, dear reader? Surely you have heard of the viral college speech by David Foster Wallace. In it, he told the now famous joke of the elder fish asking the kiddies, how the water is today? When the elders were gone, the young fish turned to his friends and asked, "what the hell is water?" How do you ensure you are swimming in clean water? How do you know if your environment is healthy? By this I do not mean environmental science and climate change debates. I mean, are you promoting an us versus them world? Is your "religion" zero-sum? In other words, for me to win, you have to lose or vice-versa. Or do you believe in an abundant future, forever better, perpetually additive like a number line set on a course to infinity and beyond? Are you a parent who doesn't run out of love when multiple children are born? Do you possess a never-ending pit of love? My worldview is best described as rising tides lifts all boats. I want a compounding sum total. I want la dolce vita. Not just for me but for the neighbors. In case your mouth has inadvertently formed into a “mother knows best” type of smirk, let it be known that I am not a hapless simpleton. This wish upon the star is not naive or misguided. No, I was not born yesterday or sheltered from the harsh realities of life. It is because of how tough my life has been that I am willing to confront the truth of our current age. We live in a nihilistic swimming pool which promotes a "live today, die tomorrow" mentality. The currency doesn't hold value. We toil endlessly for an un-gratifying weekend break or long overdue vacation only to find we need to earn more to cover our indulgence and makeup for extravagances. In the end, how can I really live well, if others are suffering? How do I enjoy life, if children are crying? How can there be goodness in the world, if evil reign supreme? How deep should we bury our collective heads in the sand to pursue false happiness?  I want true happiness. I want to swim in clean waters. Join me in my effort to clean the water. Switch off your TVs, throw out your newspapers, ignore the politicians. Sell your dollars. Buy Bitcoin. Hold it in your own keys for safekeeping. Only then can we finally see straight. Society on.


I want to be coolest of the cool. How do I join ;)


Glad that's sorted.


I find that wrapping my head with a really tight scarf, as if to "choke" off the blood flow really helps. It's a family secret since a bunch of us get migraines often. I heard somewhere that headaches have to do with the speed of blood flow in your vessels but who knows if that's true.


How about a kind 21 that signals a Happy Birthday, with many returns, I mean, zaps :)


Great. I will add 85 to my equation :)


I relate


True. It is a case of the blind leading the
blind. Too much of that going round lately.


Q is here? I wouldn't know, I only had an L. It was a need to know situation.


Wait. Is that a python that ate an elephant in Braille?


Wouldn't we all...


I recognize a fellow navel-gazer when I see
one, but only when I finally look up ;)


On second thought, I think I didn't read it somewhere. I believe it was a throwaway line in the movie Phantom Thread, Daniel Day Lewis's swan song. Our favorite method actor. If you haven't seen it, enjoy.


On Style #It'sOn

I once read somewhere that having a large budget or abundant access to the latest fashion counterintuitively leads to a decline in tase or sense of style. Apparently, the very act of having to do more with less, devise a "look" or make-do with last year's staples requires an out-of-the-box thinking and level of creativity that leads to an interminable sense of style. Very reassuring stuff, if you ask me. As someone who can't easily afford designer clothes, let alone be willing to partake in consumer-driven fast fashion trends, I patted myself on the back for having a great sense of fashion out of necessity, not mandate. Did you catch that, dear reader? I was being a bit sarcastic there, but only just a tad. I mean, really. Who declares oneself stylish? Who but a madman or madwoman insists they are a tastemaker? Isn't the proof of the pudding, in is its eating? Don't people have to compliment your presentation or even emulate it before you can announce your arrival as an influencer? Not to brag, but I did have a certified imitator at work once. She would literally go out and buy the same top I wore from H&M albeit in a different color. Black, if memory serves me correctly. I bet she would've worn the same color I wore, white, if the store still had it, so shameless she was about copying me. My then-husband bought me as a gift, a grey suede kitten heel from my favorite shop in London, a one-off designer who makes her shoes by hand. Not to worry, not only did she find a similar shoe on the web no doubt, but proceeded to parade it around the office as if I might have been the one copying her! So obscure a fashion note that was, it was obvious to anyone who cared to look what she was doing. No one said or did anything about her pathology. I began to suspect she had a crush on my boss, a handsome but firmly married man with children. She kept asking me questions about him as if I was his harem’s keeper. For some bizarre reason she must have thought her way to his heart was through my style. I started calling her "single Indian female" in my head, only because she was a first-generation American, with parents from the country of India. Which is sad because we started off being friends, I even ate her mom's homemade samosas, and played a game of tennis on her home grounds. In the end, I had to keep my distance after she began her campaign of terror, trying to supplant me through my clothes. Instead I fell ill and lost my job, almost my life. Scary stuff. There is diminishing returns to "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". Anyways, let's move on to lighter fare, shall we. I meant to share a bit of gossip to go along with that story. When Selma Hayek married the owner of the French luxury brand LVMH, she, all of a sudden, had access to a dizzying array of wardrobe receptacles such that she became a fixture on the worst-dressed lists in the fashion magazines. Can you believe that? A woman who can actually pull off a potato sack if she wanted to, is all of a sudden advertised as the epitome of what not to wear. Any yet, it was true. The fashion press was ruthless; maybe they were jealous. I don't know, I can't say. I still think Selma can wear just about anything, ma'sh'allah, as we say in Arabic. It translates as "as God willed it to be".  Wouldn't want anything to happen to her on my account. Besides, she, like me, is a dog lover. She told the funniest story on the Graham Norton show, on how she admitted to her husband that she had an affair with her hot co-star on a movie set, all made up, of course. She was hoping to distract him from the fact that she had brought home more strays after promising him not to. He was not phased at all and cooly responded the new dogs need to go after her theatrical admission . Now, that's what I call style. The French do have it. My ex-husband did as well. Fear not, dear reader. I am not advocating for designer clothes courtesy of Coco Chanel to capture that sense of "je ne sais quoi". In fact, the opposite is true. Those of us with money or even over-the-top beauty have it the hardest when it comes to style. It can easily breach the domain of the obscene, if you are not too careful. Wearing the latest must-haves and donning the most desirable items of the season is a sucker's game. All it says about you is how captured you are, or how much you are willing to pay a premium to signal to the world, or the fairer sex, you are sexy. So not sexy. What you should do instead is know thyself, as Socrates advocates. The path to true sex appeal is inward and endogenous, not outward or exogenous. Who are you? The Cheshire cat asked Alice when she found herself in the Wonderland. What moves you? What topics do you want to explore? What turns you on? For me, it is Bitcoin. In a way, it has always been Bitcoin before it was discovered. I wanted to know when the future is exactly. Do tell, I asked my Dad at the ripe old age of 5, when he flippantly dismissed me with the typical Arabic response, “in the future”, after asking for something I wanted, most likely a toy? I count that as my very first existential crisis. What do you mean there’s something called the future and I have to wait for it to materialize? I had a very high time preference as a child. Then I wanted to know how things actually worked so I took apart our VCR and put it back together, minus a few screws which I couldn't quite remember where they went. The VCR still worked. Phew, my parents won't kill me; at least not today. When it comes to the screws in my head, I can't be quite so sure. Just like style, you will have to show me. My most vexing question was also to my Dad who worked in the field of international development, when I asked him with a straight face when development? Why hasn't Africa industrialized yet so we can finally go home? I didn't get a satisfying answer, and my Dad died in 1997. His heart gave out on the streets of Nairobi, just hours shy of Valentine's Day. I would like to believe that his heart was in the right place, even if his profession might not have been. Inevitably, I will ask the uncomfortable question, make the obvious gaffe, say the wrong thing. Was it something I said? I find myself asking that question more often than not but thankfully not all the time. Did I do that? Most likely I did, Urkel, and family does matter. I am missing the iconicly over-hiked up suspenders though, just not the suspense. Just in case a normie is reading this, I most definitely do like fashion, fashion magazines, beauty editors and fashion insiders. I have a timechain composed of not Bitcoin, otherwise I could have become a nauseating imbecile already, dressed head-to-toe in Gucci driving an Audi R8. Just kidding, Tom Ford is no longer head designer and I lost that sexy feeling. Rather, I have glossies from most of the countries I have lived in or visited, spanning many years, documenting my life's journey. I almost lost it all during my move from my previous apartment when I was a married woman, to my current abode, a half-way house where I subsist as a divorcee. Other priceless items of my life were permanently lost, including memorabilia from my childhood, mostly of my late father’s. One thing is for sure, I do like a distinct, ever playful, arty-farty even child-like type of style. That's the kind of person I am. Can you tell? That I am my father's daughter. Buyer beware.


GM plebs. If it is not posted on Nostr, has it ever existed?


I thought that Signature bank did not fail.
My understanding is it was solvent but was "choked" by force because it serviced the "crypto" industry. Still, cool post. I spotted my local bank in WI, Norwest, which was bought up by Wells Fargo in the mid-nineties. I still bank with WF. Thank god for Bitcoin.


Thanks for sharing. I wonder if this was the poem that Boris Johnson was supposedly muttering under his breath when he was Britain's prime minister 🤔


Whoa! That's some simulation at work. The way I was taught that saying is  "war is bad but exciting. Peace is good but dull". It puts a whole new spin to it, right?


word


Good thing you are channeling your art into the right medium.


On Creative Destruction #It'sOn

Dear reader, did you know that the Eiffel tower has outstayed its welcome? It has committed the mortal sin of not exiting gracefully. To the French, that is such a "faux pas" and yet there it stands bright eyed, bushy tailed in the middle of the city of light. Sacre Bleu! A previous boyfriend of mine, a Quebecois, which in my book doubles as a Frenchman, albeit a reformed one, alerted me to the importance of graceful exits with an amused look on his face. As my other half-Quebecois, half-French childhood friend told me with a straight face when we ran into each other serendipitously after decades have passed, in the center of London, wearing the very same coat, in the very same color, when was I ever cool? I don't do graceful exits; I am not French. Besides, if Paris can withstand the idea of keeping a has-been exhibit from the 1889 world fair, built to be a transient architectural marvel for the momentary pleasure of the revelers, so can I. I must say, European destinations are chock full of buildings shamelessly exhibiting physical manifestations of ornamental beauty. In Florence, you can be forgiven for being paralyzed into a state of transcendence before the presence of the Duomo in Florence, like a bad case of Stendhal syndrome. Lest you think this post is about celebrating Western societies, it isn't. In the far east, Tibetan monks construct mandalas which are works of art using colored sand, solemnly building it with painstaking precision to reach a set outer limit, only to destroy it with a sweep of the hand in one fell swoop. It is as if they want to say life is cruel, finite, easily extinguishable. Such is the miracle of life; not that we are actually alive in the first place, but that we manage to make it from one second to the next unscathed. We humans are prone to disrepair. We forget the lessons of history, we repeat the same mistakes. Thankfully, the passage of time is infinite and we can be fooled into believing we will meet with the same results like we did last time. We are unable to grasp intuitively the forces at play shaping our survival, or sowing the seeds of impending destruction. Until we arrive at the appointed hour and confront our fate, there's no way to know ahead of time of the happy accidents or the looming disaster. Only time will tell. But also time heals. Lest we forget, because we are guaranteed to. Clues of our collective hallucinations exist as deja-vue. The memories hidden deep within us are resuscitated back to life having tripped over a stimuli, replaying a movie reel from years past or perhaps ages ago. The senses are in constant search for prior glory, honing in on a signal to help us find the way home. A place where the scent of Madelines filled the air bathing our very being with mother's love. A parting of the clouds, letting in magical light beams sent direct to squinting eyes with shining wonder. A heavenly sound reverberating through your skin, past the organs, immersing your soul with divine healing. I am convinced this phenomena is real. It must have once lived. I have its imprint dating my carbon rings with ancient wisdom. I must be the creation of entropy, the harbinger of knowledge. I just know it and sometimes I feel it. It is just within my grasp. I reach for it desperately with all my power, my inner core. I guide it in with urgent desire, unrelenting and body crushing. I need it. I want to be made whole. One bit at a time. Until I am all one. A satisfying state of unity infinitum. And then it begins again.


On Time #It'sOn

Time is money, money is time. In math, this interplay is known as the commutative property. In this case, I would like to coin the operation of Bitcoin as the commutative property of time. It is a timechain holding money in its asymptotic vector trajectory. Money is time denominated in Bitcoin blocks. For instance, the time now is Block Height 827, 866. The money is forever 21 million Bitcoin. Understanding the concept of time, like Bitcoin, is a tour de force of so many threads. Let's hope it doesn't get unwieldy. As you probably know, we believe that time is relative. It is a function of the space-time continuum. We can't know precisely where we stand in the universe, it is so vast and never-ending. We can barely go beyond our neighboring planets, let alone our home galaxy, the milky way. Instead, we use our star, the Sun, to set our watches, give structure to our days and define our lifetimes. It is just a reference, give or take a few minutes. Who cares? In fact, Cal Tech does. They have a bunch of time engineers way down in their basement, measuring time down to infinitesimal decimal points based on the atomic model of matter. These guys are not satisfied with the Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), a dividing line in the sands, so to speak, between arbitrary time zones. In a bit worthy of divine comedy, a watchmaker was the one who finally figured out how best to measure longitudes, GMT being one of them, after many failed attempts by astronomers and mathematicians, to map it. The problem was opened up to the general public as a competition, with an actual bounty, such was the failure of the experts. Reminds me of someone called Satoshi Nakamoto who discovered how to do perfect money with all the failure of the banks. Satoshi gave us a whole new clock, a conceptualization of existence that is in relation to immutable blocks of money transactions instead of the stars. Thank goodness because we were lost in space. We thought we were flying towards the horizon but in reality we were bound to crash and ended up on the ocean floor. Our flying instruments are off, the sensors do not work. We celebrate the winter and summer solstices on the wrong days and are none the wiser. Google and the observatories aimed at the sky tell us it is October 21st and June 21st. The heavens beg to differ; it's actually January 3rd and September 3rd. The Golden Gate bridge has missed its rendez-vous with the heavens. It was left wanting after promises of grandeur to meet with its cosmic fate, it's raison d'etre. The bridge has travelled expectantly around the sun to find the door closed to the space horizon. How is it that we the creatures of the earth live on despite undoing time's Hermetic polarity? Shouldn't we be extinct, so at odds are we with the laws of nature? Can the universe be that generous to excuse our wayward ways? Why haven't they sent us an emissary to set us straight and put us back on course, in keeping with the hands of time? Will we have to wake up the dead to remember our true destiny in the stars? The ancients knew how to tell time just by looking up. They figured out the earth did a quirky little dance around its axis every 26,000 years just because. Maybe precession is a reminder to the people to pay attention, recalibrate their internal clocks, be humble about their place in the universe. Now, our overloads, the government, impose a meaningless daylight savings time. The heavens weep at our stupidity. The ancients gave us milestones as keepers of the memories. They erected monuments to align with the planets in the form of pyramids. They built a yardstick for the world to know its boundaries. From the great pyramid of Giza, to the humble-sized but thousands of years more ancient Nubian pyramids in northern Sudan, to the  Göbekli Tepe site in Turkey which is even more ancient, we are transported back to a time period well over 12,000 years before the birth of Christ in human ingenuity and civilization. Nature itself lent a helping hand, sending great floods into the South western American plains, marking its presence forever in the grooves, peaks, valleys and dried out riverbeds to document antiquity. And yet, we ignore it. We forgot it. Our children barely look at the night sky and wonder about the distance of the stars. Our schools do not teach astronomy. Our best teachers can't point out the little and big dipper. They can't animate the bull of Orion. We abdicated that to Hollywood. We have lost that magical feeling. Our history is no longer nourishing, it beats us down with its emphasis on human darkness, made up of half-truth and outlandish lies to assuage the egos of the dominant and powerful. We are left to pick up the pieces of our forgotten past like breadcrumbs left in the time machine. Our TVs when they were analog reminded us it is capturing the very distant but real light and sound waves who began their journey 14 billion years before. They are hurling  towards us at unbearable speeds from the beginning of time, marking the big bang. The waves are on a mission; they are intent on expanding the net of existence to its breaking limit, triggering a tsunami that will drown us whole, the likes of which we can never fathom. Shakespeare memorialized our tragic condition in a fateful tale, formulating turns of phrases in a manner that only he can. He called our lives “a walking shadow. A poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot full of sound and fury, signifying nothing". Macbeth is indeed dark stuff. Did I scare you, dear reader? Don't fret. Focus on the light. It is Bitcoin. We are only a brief history of time. A teenage wasteland.


You should do Topsy Turvy next.


That's too bad. I wasn't aware they discontinued Bitcoin mortgages. I was waiting for them to come to the USA.


Thank you, that was helpful. Can you do a post on why covenants enable Bitcoin scaling solutions better than Lightening through a mechanism that constrains the spending of UTXO outputs? That bit is not clear to me.


Congrats to you and Paul on Sophie's birth. Cute kid. You were right, the name is Greek not Italian.


I see myself. Is it a mirror?


On Ordinals #It'sOn

I am about to drop some Bitcoin bombs on Nostr. What could go wrong? I am the owner of two NFTs. One on Ethereum and the other on Bitcoin. The Bitcoin one was accidental. I just wanted to see a Bitcoin movie advertised on Blockstream's website when I was purveying some choice hot wallets, Green and Aqua. And yes, you got that right. I was an early adopter of the Liquid side chain. Even if I didn't fully understand it. I still don't. Before you stone me to death, like an adulterous woman in an Islamic regime, I have a good excuse. I love art. Not only do I consume it, I make some, too. Mainly paintings, mixed media. I have dabbled in watercolors, acrylics, oils. I have even done some sculptures with molding clay. Not the Thinker, mind you. I am no Rodin. I just made a beautiful bowl to hold my jewelry and painted it in purple and yellow. Alas, that's all gone now. When I first came to Bitcoin, I did come at it from a technology point of view. Blockchains and distributed ledger data structures. I only bought Bitcoin to test how to do it. As an engineer, I just wanted to see if I could figure it out, I didn't have any idea of the monetary implications, barely noting that it was supposed to be digital money. I used an obscure exchange called sfox which used canned algorithms for making purchases, rather than easy spot buys like on Coinbase. I din't even know that Coinbase existed. Or Binance. It took me forever to get some and I finally had some Bitcoin. I left it on the exchange. Luckily for me, it was not Mt. Gox or Quadriga. I was not rug-pulled. I completely forgot I had Bitcoin until that fateful day when I happened to watch some carnivore diet podcaster, a new one I was trying out, and he had Bitstein on. Needless to say, the proverbial  light in my head went on. I looked up my Bitcoin and it had gone up five-fold! I only bought a small amount so I could't yet retire or buy an house. I did not sell which is good. The rest, as they say, is history. Unfortunately for me, being prone to technology, I began looking at other blockchains. I was particularly attracted to NFTs. I even considered creating some but never got very far. Thank god. I just bought a token. Next, I got sucked into some plan, called The Plan, to arbitrage small changes in price using bots to accumulate profits. By then I was a Bitcoin maxi and was attempting to short Ethereum and Solana, to go long Bitcoin. I didn't have to time the market, the AI was supposed to algorithmically buy and sell based on some set parameters that should have guaranteed serious profits . As you may already know, if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is. Once again, I thank God the almighty for seeing the light and selling off all my crypto positions for Bitcoin. I did not spent too much time regretting my shit-coining losses. I chucked it up to the price of Bitcoin education. You get Bitcoin at the price you deserve, right? Well, I got mine at the all-time highs and rode the curve down, and up and then sideways. Which is funny because I am terrified of roller-coasters in real life. I won't be caught dead in one. The Bitcoin roller-coaster I can handle. I have diamond hands and continued to DCA and learn as much as I can about Bitcoin. Which brings me to drive-chains, side-chains and ordinals. I admit I have been largely avoidant of these discussions. Maybe it is an over-reaction of my shameful history in shit-coins. Today, I decided I shouldn't ignore it just because it makes me uncomfortable. I watched Pete Rizzo on Peter's show and it was not disappointing. They really get into it and I mean it was threatening to devolve into a fist-fight at one point. Just kidding, it wasn't that bad but it did get contentious. If I understood Pete's argument correctly, he was saying that if you are truly a Bitcoin maximalist, that is someone who believes Bitcoin will make all cryptocurrencies obsolete sooner than later, then you have to accept that technological tinkering and innovations will be the reality on the Bitcoin timechain. Notice how I didn't write blockchain. That was part of my hard-won education. This fact will drive Bitcoin monetary purists up the wall. In fact, the ordinals debate is already doing that. On a spectrum between Bitcoin being  a technological marvel and a perfect money, we Bitcoin HODLers are not evenly dispersed on that normal curve. The skewness of that curve, the kurtosis, cannot be ignored. However, given the law of large numbers, and the wisdom of the crowd, the tendency of the curve will literally normalize over time. That is, the "hard-liner" position is untenable and the toxics will have to cede way for "normies" to be "normies". No pun intended. The thing is, normies are not normal. That is, they are irrational and do degen things. That is why I always had trouble with Milton Friedman's Nobel prize win in Economics which was predicated on market actors being rational. I think it was the Expectation Theory. People in real life are not rational. They do stupid things all the time, present company included. Maybe it is the lack of complete information, maybe it is a form of lazy-thinking. I don't know why but purism doesn't work. We can't live in a vacuum. There is always friction in life, it is an absolute. If you value first-principle thinking, you can't get past slippage. This is painful to accept as someone whose least favorite expression is "the perfect is the enemy of good". I want perfection. I want a money-only use case of Bitcoin. I also want a life, a real one. The messiness of life is a feature not a bug. I still don't understand how ordinals really work. I only know that if people want them and are willing to pay a premium for them, they can't be that bad. What I don't understand still and wished I can ask Pete directly, why can't the technological innovation on Bitcoin happen on the higher layers, and not on the base chain? Can't we have our cake and eat it too? A pristine monetary on-chain and all the fun on the subsequent layers. Someone find Satoshi. We have a new "Byzantine General's" dilemma on our hands. This time it is Marie Antoinette. Don't bring back the guillotine just yet Bitcoiners. I want to keep my pretty little head.


On Pictures #It'sOn

A picture is worth a thousand words. And herein lies the problem. An image transmits information under the surface, below consciousness. You can be disarmed, misinformed, manipulated if you don't know what you are looking at. Catfished, as the modern expression goes. But I am not talking about Tinder dates. I wouldn't know where to begin. I am a card-carrying boomer when it comes to online love-seeking. I prefer real life. Interestingly, one of my closest friends, or I should probably say was a friend, wrote the premier book on online dating in Britain, Love at First Site. I got to live out vicariously all her escapades as she was finalizing the book, during the editing rounds before publishing. That's when we first met. I was her upstairs neighbor with a newborn to rear. She loved babies, perhaps not me so much. It was instant love, for my son. That was good enough reason for me to call her a friend. Incidentally, speaking of catfish, she gave me a complete lecture on how to present your profile image on dating sites and not lie with your picture or age. Believe it or not, there is an error rate. There are parameters for fudging your stats just so. Just don't call her Hyacinth. Like a middle class debutante keeping up with the Jones, data shown as charts are a minefield of lies. We have truth in advertising but not in data. We lie with numbers all the time. Some times, unintentionally. The most egregious are the professionals wielding statistical analyses like a weapon of mass destruction. Colin Powell, the deadly uranium was not in Niger. It was in the state-of-the-art science labs just down the street. Scientists have been let loose on the unsuspecting public with their endless studies that prove coffee is bad for you one day, and then good for you the next. How can any of this be right? Easy, it is that famous quote, "lies, damn lies, and statistics". What science has forgotten is the integrity of the scientific method, the importance of experimental design. You have to identify the variables, establish the cause and effect theory which is the hypothesis. Then, verify you have articulated the null hypothesis correctly, which is the status quo, giving you your bearings. Without proper controls, how will you know where you are in the grand scheme of things? How will you ensure you found what you claim you found? Once the experiment has been executed, the steps taken, the measurements recorded, the math has to make sense. The finding must not be a confounding of unrelated events, or inadvertent contaminations. Everything must be controlled and contained, for it to sink up with your statistical model. In science you never prove anything true. Statistics is the language of probabilities, confidence levels and acceptable standard deviation. Instead, we say the likelihood of the finding being a fluke of nature or a false positive is so low (i.e., the p-statistic) that we can take the risk of the theory being wrong. Until someone else proves otherwise. Or someone else arrives at the same conclusion we did. An independent checking of the results is a must. Maybe multiple times if the phenomena is controversial. Science not only allows for the possibility of being wrong; it is inherently an error-based system. Now we have studies that are somehow all statistically significant, proving this and that as if it were a new-found religion. People are actually saying things like "believe in the science" and "trust the numbers". Scary times, indeed. The issue is they do not appreciate the scientific process or fully grasp the skepticism required for the scientific mind. Are you aware of the Stanford mathematician Ioannidis who conducted a review of the math employed by a cross-section of prestigious scientific journals only to prove that most of the  math doesn't check out? Which reminds me of something I have been noodling. Can we lobby the ISO 9000 folks to create a standard template to force standardization of scientific papers? That way, labs, whether they are universities and corporations can't play fast and loose with the method and numbers. I even picked out a number for them. It's ISO 9888. Auspicious, right? This is no joke, we need to force a framework for scientific reporting to disclose their thinking. That way we can spot the crime, the underhand maneuvers, the lie. Our medical institutions and food systems are all based on faulty logic. No wonder our health outcomes are down not up despite the innovations (mostly courtesy of the engineers, btw). When was the last time your planes didn't work, your tech didn't compute? Somehow we accept people dropping dead like flies from bad medicine, iatrogenic for the fancy folks. People aren’t dying en masse from bad technology. Heck, most of the equipment used in hospitals and doctor’s office like x-ray machines and MRIs are made by engineers not doctors. I am an engineer by training so I am biased. Why all the bad science? Obviously, it is bad incentives. There  isn't funding for losing ideas. Corporations aren't funding studies to show their drugs kill. Everyone doing science these days isn't truth-seeking. They are all backing into "the answer". Of course, eggs are bad for you. Here eat our cardboard which is cheap to produce but makes us a killing in profit margins. You body is inflamed from the "inhumane" food. No problem, here is a pill that will fix it. Bad side effects? There is another one. And another one. Until you are dead. Oh well. Plenty more humans to milk for money. I once had a heated discussion regarding bad numbers and pretty pictures that did end in tears at work. The culprit. A simple pie chart. I pointed out that the 3D rendering of the chart, although "sexy" and "pleasing to the eye", is ultimately a false representation of the data. The "thickness" or the sense of volume presented in the picture is arbitrary, without backing in hard measurement and therefore inaccurate. My colleague begged to differ. Even though I was the team lead and I made the final call, she refused to comply. Such insubordination, much disrespect. In the end, I had to call my contract manager (not boss) to handle the whole event and literally calm her down like a kindergartener who missed her nap. Then the manager proceeded to give me tips on how to handle personalities like my team member with exact instructions of dos and don'ts. I was bewildered. I would never treat my teammates like how this woman treated me in a professional setting, let alone a supervisor. Don't get me wrong. I have made the hard sell to managers many times in my life and been struck down without so much as a reason why. But true to my "victorian" upbringing of "children should be seen, not heard" and "if you don"t have anything nice to say, don"t say anything at all", I swallowed my injured pride and kept going. In time, I might have realized the wisdom of my superior's decisions, and said a silent thanks to God. In any case, next time you are swayed by an image, particularly a representation of something attractive, as opposed to the actual thing itself, ask yourself one simple question. Is this true? Odds are, it is not.


Choke point 1.0?


Going, going, gone ;)


Why sell Bitcoin? How about a Bitcoin mortgage from Ledn? They are a Canadian company.


On Self-Determination #It'sOn

I remember where I was when I first read the words "self-determination". Yes, I know. I am weird. Still, it is what you want. Even if you don't realize it. You want to be a self-determined entity. A sovereign person. A free state. When I learned that lesson, it was a history class. I was in elementary school and our American school had just been "colonized" by the British. Cool Britannia. Ironically, we were supposed to be learning about American history. Instead, my British teacher, Mrs. Tout, taught us a course on World War II. Otherwise known as European History. As you do when you are a member of the ex-pat community living in West Africa, attending an International private school in the throws of a power struggle between the American Embassy who originated the school and the African Development Bank, who are actually financing the whole operation. The "Africans" wanted Britain. The Americans wanted America. Maybe it was not an American history lesson in the classroom, but it was in practice. The British won and I was plunged head-long into British English, British History and British Math. These were my formative foundations of my education. Anyway, Mrs. Tout, the history teacher, taught us about the process of the "self determination" of Germany. She was a fantastic teacher. She had lived through the war as a little girl in London, with vivid memories of the Blitz. I'm sure it must have been terrifying and the trauma was real. She animated that whole period of history with her firsthand lived experience, explaining how Bismarck, the well-known master strategist from Austria, unified the independent states to form the nation-state of modern day Germany. He used a simple but effective hack that works every time. The common enemy. He conjured up a boogie man, then proceeded to make friends out of avowed enemies to unify the country, consolidating his power in the process. I am sure that was just a bonus; his love of his newly-founded nation was a paramount. Did you believe me, dear reader? Oh dear me. That was sarcasm. Apparently, people do not realize it when I am being ironic or sarcastic. I am forced to announce it, like a magician revealing his method just so his audience can appreciate the show. How unfortunate. My history book stated, that Germany was "self-determined". The point here is I never forgot the lesson. Later on in life, I encountered the concept of Maslow's hierarchy and the top of the pyramid of human survival was the state of “self actualization”. That sounds familiar, I thought. It reminds me of the self-determination of Germany. Will I need a common enemy? How do I get there? What map do I use? Pray tell. Sadly, dear reader, I don't have the answers. Only questions. But I think that's the point. Socrates said "all I know is I know nothing". To me, that sounds like what an enlightened person would say. It is a humbling of one's self before the sheer complexity of life, the totality of knowledge, mostly hidden due to our subjective experience. In the face of this fact, how best to live meaningful lives? Well, first take responsibility for yourself, fully. Don't be King Edward, don't abdicate. Duty, duty, duty. Then cultivate an ego, integrate your shadows. Your darker side. I don't mean melanin. I mean the qualities you possess that are undesirable, deviant and can't be shared with polite society. Like Prince Andrew, if you need an example. No wonder Fergie came running to America. Not Man U, he' Sir Fergie. Not Two Eyes Peas. She's a rockstar. I mean, red-headed Fergie, America's favorite royal refugee until Prince Harry.  Also, Jungian psychology informs us; there is a sweet spot when it comes to ego. Too much, and it is put-off. Too little, then it is easy to put-down like a un-stimulating book or a vapid date. But find the sweet spot of ego and it is hot, hot, hot. Finding yourself, knowing who you are, is the pinnacle of existence. It is the coming into one's own skin, fully assuming the mantle of your being. It is the "I have arrived" moment of your life. What's unfortunate about this occurrence or breakthrough is how late it materializes in real life. Why oh why does it happen in the latter part of our lifetimes. For some, it doesn’t even show up. A kind of stunted growth, you can say. I guess we have to log some life lessons, experience losses and triumphs before we are granted the goods. So life is a proof-of-work currency. Just like Bitcoin. There is no hack, no shortcut or cheat code for the algorithm. You must expend energy, and pay real cost in the form of the electricity of life. As the UK National Lottery slogan goes, you have to be in it to win it. Since we are in the UK, let's visit one of my favourite authors to quote. Oscar Wilde. He famously stated, while living in a hotel in Paris, that "youth is wasted on the young". Spoken like a man who was fully self-actualized, right? He realized how much he had not lived. Said another way, he had just experienced an existential crisis of the "third kind" and proceeded to lament his life decisions had he known better, earlier, sooner. Instead, he died alone and penniless in a foreign land. So not Edith Piaf. A totally, "Je regrette tout" type feeling. England versus France. My Waterloo. It was a running joke in my now-failed marriage that "I know my European history" because of the bizarre nature of my life story and these random trivia I share with you now. The truth is, I barely know anything. I make mistakes all the time. Let's hope that I means that I have achieved a state of "self-determination". If true, then I am happy to report that no enemy is required. See you at the top of the pyramid. The view should be majestic.


I just listened to @dylan on the @petermccormack show, What Bitcoin Did, and he said something I found really profound, in a very off-hand manner. He was taking about transaction fees on the Bitcoin timechain becoming more and more expensive as time goes by (easter egg alert). Then he said that the block space is in and of itself a commodity. Whoa! Mind-blowing. Not only is Bitcoin a commodity (Gensler approved) but it's block size is also a commodity. So meta. No wonder the block size winners, Bitcoiners, won. They intuitively knew in their bones that increasing the block storage limit would make Bitcoin security, not a commodity. I wonder if he realized how brilliant what he said.


On Hate #It'sOn

Calling someone names, hurling insults, partaking in ad hominem is a form of self-hate. It belies a spirit so filled with loathing it needs an outlet much like a valve bursting with unbearable pressure. It blows its top, spewing toxins in all direction, in a desperate attempt to hone in on the object of its wrath. Itself. In an attempt of self-preservation, it finds instead a self image, a lookalike, a doppelgänger. It is quite a sad thing to behold in life. That is not a scathing indictment or a flippant observation. It is quite a profound statement actually, if I do say so myself. Lately, I have been the subject of the most inhumane level of abuse from none other than my own family. My flesh and blood. Much to my surprise, my chagrin, it turns out my sisters don't think well of me. I had no idea. All these years, I thought we were close, a unit, a safe zone of refuge. I was patently wrong,  dear reader. Not only do my sisters not feel the same way about me as I felt towards them, they hate me. There is a big difference between love and hate. Hate is a strong word. It is reserved for the highest order of crimes against humanity; the nazis, the Hutu of Rwanda, the reclusive militias of American backwaters. On the news, we are encouraged to hate terrorists like Isis, and Hamas, who "hate our way of life". The irony is we don't need to go far to encounter hate. It is close by and ever-present. It was staring me in the face, hidden in plain sight. I just never saw it. Maybe I didn't want to. I was willfully ignorant perhaps. I was so consumed with saving my family, including my hateful sisters from destitution, I didn't have time to observe their distasteful ways, their unbecoming gaze. Much less the space to grieve the passing of my Dad at the tender age of 23, right before I finished graduate school. Once you see it, you can't unsee it. It takes your breath away. How can I be so blind? How did I let this happen to me? Why did my loved ones, family and friends, not move to stop it? How can they stand by on the sidelines and watch me suffer day in, day out without so much as a reprieve? What do I do now? I did what any sane person would do.True to my generation X ethos,I fought the machine. Heck, I am still fighting. I cut out my family like a surgeon removes narcotic tissue. I must save the healthy limbs, the cosmic heart. I proceeded then to examine my friends, collected over many years since childhood like found treasure. Guess what, dear reader? They have become corrupted. Like a poison that seeps under the skin and hits the circulation, they are dead to me, stricken with sepsis. I dropped them, too. Perhaps more for their sake than mine. Don't trust, verify. Right? In this case, my friends are unverifiable. They have become a closed-sourced system, cryptic, guarded and psychologically demented. No amount of super-prompting yields a humane response. Just sputtering of quips and nonsense. The machine at work. I don't know about you but I cannot live this way. I will not succumb to hate. On this hill I will die. I am battling the great forces of evil, hoping against hope to save myself and my son. I am Bitcoin, he is Lightening, I tell myself. We must live, we have to survive. The fate of the world depends on it. No pressure. Wish me luck.


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