To our valued Wallet of Satoshi community in the United States of America,

We've dedicated ourselves to providing the best Bitcoin experience with Wallet of Satoshi, being at the forefront of Lightning usability and adoption. However, we've made the difficult decision to remove our app from the U.S. Apple and Google app stores, and will not serve U.S. customers going forward.

This decision doesn't come lightly. Our commitment to providing a secure, user-friendly, and compliant platform globally is unwavering. Our top priority is the safety and interests of our customers and our company.

We understand this may be disappointing news and we share your frustration. We're hopeful that future developments will allow us to revisit and possibly resume our operations in the U.S.

For our existing users in the USA, rest assured that you have full access to your Bitcoin funds. You can seamlessly withdraw and transfer them to another wallet.

We deeply appreciate your support and understanding. We remain committed to bringing the benefits of Bitcoin to as many as possible.

Stay tuned for updates, and thank you for being a part of our community.

Peace, Love and Bitcoin,
The Wallet of Satoshi Team 🧡


WoS is great starter waller, shame for new USA plebs


Omygoshhowdidthishappen?

https://i.nostr.build/yxOe.jpg


Managed to create a send invoice from wos to phoenix

But anything over a 100 sats unable to route ln


If you just need a good, solid, self-custodial lightning wallet with reasonable fees, I recommend you check out Breez. It’s a “node in the phone” app, and is excellent for normal sending and receiving on LN. It also supports on chain payments, although there is a swap fee associated with on chain. It doesn’t give you a lightning address for receiving, so it’s not one you can add to your Nostr profile. But if you need a safer place to move sats out of your custodial wallets, it’s a great option. Here’s a screenshot of what its current fees look like to receive and establish a new channel. https://image.nostr.build/6f417c65be18a8c89207c1ebaa852555597c7f6960cd663af3e0b1e3a6cdf398.jpg


🐶🐾😭 https://i.nostr.build/WomR.jpg  nostr:note1mwd4v7peu5266vldumujdr0s8wdt07ecxr7wllfzzjygka5pr33ql7nuyn


True 🤜


#wos won't let me create a send invoice

It begins


Oh. Just checked got 3 up and running


I have 3 channels open on phoenix

If you want me to look after your sats send them to me


In 🇺🇸


Googling that 🤣🤣 no idea lol


It has a seed phrase so less custodial than wos


Is phoenix wallet safe? #wos banned


Still in 🇬🇧 on ios/android


WoS still available on ios and android in 🇬🇧


Is it available to update if already installed


Don't let it get to you fam 🤜


Gigi is very active this afternoon boosting all his boosts


Test thread please ignore


It has come to my attention that there are some #Bitcoiners that don’t think #Bitcoin can reach $1,000,000 in a matter of days/weeks after ETF money starts to flow in. They’re in for a pleasant surprise.


I've been working on a new electronic cash system that's fully peer-to-peer, with no trusted third party.


Blinding lights the weeknd
https://video.nostr.build/548e83682ce1c9ff05e5ac2de9cd7979a34a723e9db919e2daa287db4449a72e.mp4


I’ll be putting videos in Youtube more (more as in, I have only this one so far 😅) because it doesn’t lower the quality, so you get a better look of the process:

https://youtu.be/nmf9Jpvv_AE?si=_UuB1XklqK08coHS

Here you can see how ‘Bitcoin is Love’ was made 🧡

👇🏼 This picture is from the collectors, the piece is hanged and protected and part of someones life and I love it 🚀 https://image.nostr.build/0ff3a03012ef68598a582bd3ca93bdca69dec861997b8fe41ed6994a67510394.jpg


60% of plebs are living bitcoin to bitcoin


White noise #beats
https://video.nostr.build/22876fe597d61b04405fbf1515659c6c19df3f264ebd0667d37adf0fbe582efe.mp4


Lovely charring on outside, perfectly medium throughout, that's a very well cooked steak


We'll have to see 👀


Don't Count the Sats, Make the Sats Count.

GN


Dominos is fun. It's a numbers game. It's maybe more fun watching them fall.

Tick tock.

https://i.nostr.build/kQJV.jpg


I'm going to interview nostr:nprofile1qqswuyd9ml6qcxd92h6pleptfrcqucvvjy39vg4wx7mv9wm8kakyujgpremhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet59uq37amnwvaz7tmwdaehgu3dwfjkccte9ehx76m0w3shymewvdhk6tcpzamhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgtcva6z8k  on nostr:nprofile1qqsdluwc0qu62t3el7nxl93387gmppe56jkvm88vcuwh3lpw4fcevwspzdmhxue69uhhqatjwpkx2urpvuhx2ue0qy2hwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnyv9kh2uewd9hj7qghwaehxw309aex2mrp0yhxummnw3ezucnpdejz7myg2s8  here in a few minutes, anything in particular I should ask him about?


#ALBYISHIRING

Are you looking for a job in #bitcoin...
Maybe even a position in our hive?

We're looking for a lightning and backend engineer!

💼👇💼
 nostr:npub1cajs9cz6r43rmn0y8v8cgeuuj2lfhftvxcq05f8efc22hr5fnwmshx0pvw

https://bitcoinerjobs.com/job/1348447-lightning-infrastructure-engineer-alby


Like dis? https://image.nostr.build/0cd8b75822a55a6e2de35acb9d047848ad7f6137c19594eb3aa8d34f79d798d4.jpg


cz fined by sec ($2B!) and resigning as ceo 👀

if you still have shitcoins on bnb or from other shit chains (e.g. pancakeswap, works with binance chain), it's probably a very good idea to swap into btc and then withdraw to bluewallet (if no cold storage) right about.. now

the chains is going to get very congested soon, all the shit will be rugged and your coins are going to get stuck if you decide to wait longer (not a matter of if, but when)


False


When central banks start issuing CBDC's,

The centralised exchanges will offer CBDC>BTC

Then we'll see a power play - play out 👀 🍿


Just start…

https://image.nostr.build/7b1edeccb9014fb59131d27529bb6f0d10edbf900c10f089e614669c24bbdb2a.jpg


10,000 new Amethyst users from Thailand in the past few days. Incredible 🚀


Day n nite KidCudi
https://video.nostr.build/cde73b08a43839ec34af0330acda4947ff098c88903e1ad7838670a1a88ad28c.mp4


Come work with us on Nos!

Nos is looking to hire an iOS developer.

We are looking for an experienced iOS developer to work on our social media app, Nos.social. This is a full-time position available to anyone who can work core hours of 18:00-22:00 UTC, but we are open to working with contractors as well.

Nos is an open-source application part of the emerging social media commons built on the Nostr protocol. Nos is our attempt to build healthier social media by flipping the traditional power dynamics of social media on their head, giving users ultimate control over their accounts, balancing freedom of speech with freedom of listening.

You’ll be joining a small team distributed around the globe. This role will include collaborating with team members in other timezones and attending weekly planning meetings and daily standups. We’re a team that highly values relationships, humility, and a growth mindset. We resonate strongly with the DWeb principles: https://getdweb.net/principles/

You should have a strong working knowledge of iOS frameworks and be proficient with the Swift programming language. We are looking for someone who is fairly independent and can work with our designer and product lead to take a feature from an idea to a polished product.

Familiarity with the following tools and libraries is ideal:
* SwiftUI* Core Data* Combine* Structured Concurrency (async/await)* git/gitflow* Nostr or other p2p protocols
* Test Driven Development* Slack* Figma

Apply here: https://forms.gle/WMRrVU1zyVRw3FhV7


What did he think of the forbes article


Send back 20979


Respect 🙏


Will zap

*,


U global fam


This guy is hilarious, pretty sure he was a pot washer and tied all his 🍳🍳🍳 to the Quay at the beach and the tide washed them away 🤣 😆 😄


What if nostr notes were broadcast on chain, merging nostr and bitcoin forever


Sometimes the nuke will be false

nostr:nevent1qqstz7r5fax23zpcn0rrkf6arnarqwf00uapx7vffr2tje36xrf4chcpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfdupzq229sgd7jufwz4p2wp3da0t4563xyd79hseulpmuutp673k5qf4lqvzqqqqqqy99w065


About a year ago I said I bought an ordinal

Thank god that'll get nuked 👊🙄


GM

https://image.nostr.build/6c4ffcd984a67c0b0440d032b76777f0c59b439ac792b0896bcb5ea22a1d38a9.jpg


Today!
Will post the NostrNest link just before 7pmET.

🔥Basic Bitcoin Tech w/ nostr:npub17777777tpz9x2dcvvlw37sgk5gmpffexl0u30gjjgcd59ty92vrs0atnu0
👉Ep 9: All About Segwit
👉Monday 11/20 @ 7pmET
🧡See you there! https://i.nostr.build/DY2A.jpg


No lol, 1 bottle a week. Not 1 comment 😄😄


I get loads of comments about that 😄 about 1 a week


Lovin on me #1 Jack Harlow
https://video.nostr.build/94f7d8429a87c747263601bfcb4d6e2d041716325fa6b54b64e2f797b4c77e07.mp4


#Nostrina
nostr:nevent1qqsyl4mumdn7a3hv2trv5jytljuezqyyrruzqs39d278ujun5duqlvgpzemhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzv9hxgq3qaeh2zw4elewy5682lxc6xnlqzjnxksq303gwu2npfaxd49vmde6qxpqqqqqqzhr8kvz


Reisling


Lyn has started something, gradually then suddenly


😂😂😂
https://m.primal.net/HQit.mp4


What's a documentary you've enjoyed recently?


Keanu F1 Braun thing on Disney


i'm out here, tryin' to clean up the streets
https://video.nostr.build/1610c1c2358ff307bd89c3c6f2d7346bf53732a6274798fb8d8577969d6f9735.mp4


The best crisp sandwich ever 😋
https://video.nostr.build/3920dc0f9a3d64b54b07b729bece1d50fc365b40db84a460fc602eab42555916.mp4


I’ve spent a lot of hours analyzing “crypto” and keeping up with the fads, and to this day I still cannot find a problem that I have, and that it can solve.

Bitcoin solves my hard globally-portable savings problem. I don’t see better money than this. And that’s a big problem to solve.

Stablecoins solve some developing market intermediate-term money problems in very inflationary environments as a bridging tool while Bitcoin is still volatile. Okay. That’s big for now.

Digital collectibles are fine. I mean, I have cardboard Magic the Gathering cards worth thousands of dollars. So you buy an ape NFT and get membership to an exclusive ape club (which is like all dudes, nearly entirely devoid of women) and can show your status by displaying your supposedly elite avatar. I do see how there is a nonzero recurring interest in this sort of digital elitist collectible thing. But it doesn’t solve any of my problems or seem to be relevant on the macro scale. A niche thing that doesn’t appeal to me. Like, Pokémon might make a billion dollars but it won’t make a macro-scale trillion dollars.

DeFi is mainly about trading and leveraging worthless tokens. In a world where there are much more real-world tokens involved (eg tokenized Apple stock or whatever), then maybe there is more of a use for that. But until then it’s mainly a circular Ponzi. And even then, that industry is limited.

So almost 15 years into this industry, there have been a handful of interesting experiments, but barely anything other than bitcoin and stablecoins interests me at scale.

Beyond that, it is just things that they can empower.

Nostr, for example, doesn’t need a blockchain. There is no reason to go to the expense to maintain a global state. It certainly is empowered from the fact that Bitcoin and Lightning exist (new good money allows for new good technologies), so it’s a tangential technology.

The vast majority of “crypto” projects either don’t solve a problem, or just solve a smaller niche interest.


Good day!

This is #InkblotArt, the note that zaps you for your imagination!
Today is 19/11/2023. Block height of 817482

FULL COLOR INKBLOTART SUNDAY EDITION

What do you see in the blot? Comment and get a zap!

#GrowNostr #OnlyOnNostr #GrowArtstr #InkblotArt https://cdn.satellite.earth/c148bd453a7e15aa5a26ace0ae1c2a0a50341536d9a226ccc33d414d1b370b6a.jpg


Hippo in the middle with ducks leaning against it's face oddly 🤔 😐 😅


I don’t come to the #Nostr expecting anything, but if you wouldn’t mind boosting this note I’d appreciate it. 🙏

I’m one of the founders of nostr:npub1hxfkcs9gvtm49702rmwn2aeuvhkd2w6f0svm4sl84g8glhzx5u9srk5p6t, a community of noderunners on the Nostr, currently with over 340 member nodes and an active Telegram group, where we help new and experienced users connect, share knowledge, and expand the Lightning network together.

I started my journey into running a bitcoin and Lightning node in early 2021, when I was one of the first 100 members of Plebnet.

Built on a Raspberry Pi4 with 8 GB of ram, my current node, Dan on the Moon now runs 60 channels with a total capacity of nearly 175 million sats.

In early January, 2023, soon after joining the Nostr, I realized there was no organized group of noderunners, so I decided to start one along with a few other people. Within 3 months, we had reached 200 members, and are on track to double that by our one year anniversary.

Due to the current high-fee environment, my node hardware is struggling under the load. With no way to expand memory and disk space in the current configuration, it's due for an upgrade.

Because it runs Umbrel, I've decided the path of least resistance will be to purchase an Umbrel Home, which sells for $500 US, and ships with a migration assistant to seamlessly move all of the existing node data and channels.

In the future, I plan to also build a second node on custom-built components, but the current need is to keep this node stable and not end up in a situation where any of my channels get force-closed.

If I am able to raise the funds through Geyser, the node will be renamed "The Nodestrich" and will provide more stability for my channel peers, who have been some of the most supportive and helpful people I have met since I started my journey.

Thank you! 💜⚡🫂

https://geyser.fund/project/thenodestrichnode


Nostr assets are doing the rounds

Fiatjaf says tell your children, there are no nostr assets 😄


Lol sorry 🙈


Santa emptied his sack?


Campari gin vermouth my friend swears by them


Thank you nostr:npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s I've finally got a scammy status link on v1.6

You the man 👊


What's worse the womanflu or the mempool for congestion


Hackers in movies pov

Listens to classical music while sucking a lollipop

Coders in real life pov

Goes insane reading stack overflow


It's tricky #old-school rundmc
https://video.nostr.build/a50bc3e5078977d4cb783b330ee4c401e6658646514fbd6ecad05257b46e87a1.mp4


Dancing in my room 🕺
https://video.nostr.build/288c13c492ae325a9d3df4c1eb8e17f2190db558c59a63bc2c17e2351ce34ae4.mp4


I've put damus on my Son's iPhone and it's still saying v1.5

Didn't Will say v1.6 is available now??


1.6 approved ✅


I'm not at all religious but I've always felt there is something

I enjoyed your note, put God into a perspective I can accept


Best packet curry we've tried 😋 🍛 only in 🇬🇧 unfortunately 😕

https://video.nostr.build/2d334bc6cf15dcae2e9186ee0de9e0cf4e9836cebd6be89c030d75f3c9364036.mp4


#quote #life https://image.nostr.build/0c2182291082def23ccbaebc9a824ee5352715aa0d669fd3a6a300974400913c.jpg


Everyone else is on their phone kid, now is the time to create digital content

They'll watch fucking anything

Upload it and They'll come


Bonne nuit


Nightmare mate, guess locksmiths is the answer


#bitcoin is value 🦬


I would like to make a donation to the kings and queens behind the seed signer project.

Please provide a bitcoin address for the dev or devs behind this project and I will make a 1,000,000 donation this evening.

Thanks in advance.

nostr:npub17tyke9lkgxd98ruyeul6wt3pj3s9uxzgp9hxu5tsenjmweue6sqq4y3mgl

nostr:npub1m5mr8y7wgvcufav43hgda376xsm0t5qrerur30m23ek6w8gmn88q9hympt

I will post the tx ID


Happy anniversary!

https://video.nostr.build/94223eeaa9a89074ac1081d803e45c7501cc584697cd85bb4d2bba606cd74bb5.mp4


I need everyone to manifest an AppStore approval


Asked the nostrverse for some help 🙏


You're that special someone 😋

https://video.nostr.build/5ed370b57b4f944c3fa66acc02654c54271c469d6e9743ae23d954e846f094d5.mp4


GM

https://nostrcheck.me/media/public/nostrcheck.me_9354574583553302221700037101.webp


GM


Dropping a nostr:npub1wxl6njlcgygduct7jkgzrvyvd9fylj4pqvll6p32h59wyetm5fxqjchcan tutorial today. If you're on iPhone and you haven't been able to zap anyone, you will now be back in the game. Keep your eyes peeled!


Shine 🌞 on

https://video.nostr.build/626779d8920240677571825b2a6a7978a8037610188cd6e063f79d1f49bc8b2f.mp4


Restaurant serving bugs creating a buzz 🐝

This eaterie was fully booked and the owners said the customers couldn't get enough

Maybe ol' Claus was right 😳


BitConneeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeect! 🤣🤣


https://image.nostr.build/6ca741f5ace014d4d87f2ddd64d3c7f190722b1ec2a63c89396a4d3e6cb38076.jpg
#meme #nostrmemes #bitcoin


If you know any bitcoiners that haven't read the white paper yet, here is the free audiobook for people that have an aversion to reading for whatever reason.
#bitcoin
https://youtu.be/1yYrYCE4i1c?si


You back yet?


1 2 3 let's go 🕺🕺🕺

https://video.nostr.build/20b05aac078df13b795527169d57b89b16df46fd80ee1bc83891f6bd547c4def.mp4


Great piece of writing ✍ Lyn, but why'd you shorten it down so much, could've padded it out a bit.

*British humour warning*


Alright, here’s some backstory. Available only on the depths of Nostr.
Because, I don’t know, fuck centralized media. The best part about Nostr is that there is no “coin” for it. We’re here because we want to be here. Unlike those Web 3 people, we’re here unironically here for the tech and the decentralization.

Anyway, here goes.

My 12+ years of martial arts training was one of the most defining aspects of my life for a while, in terms of friendships, lifestyle, and what it made me into, but probably the lamest aspect of it was the anticlimactic nature in which it ended: I broke my leg.

-_-‘

Probably the constructive way of looking at it was that martial arts helped me build confidence when I needed it, and then also humbled me when I needed it, which was equally important.

Want another martial arts story? This one includes my favorite real-life character: the Irish Shihan. This guy was a living meme.

___

My father put me in martial arts from around age 7 after I came to live with him. My father was 60 at that time, and had raised a prior family but was now alone. He worked every day and so I had to take care of myself alone for long stretches of time, and I had to become adult-like quickly.

Prior to that, I had been homeless with my mother for 2-3 years, had gone deaf for a period of time from untreated ear infections that were eventually fixed by surgery, and then I had to have speech therapy since deafness leads to speech limitations at that early age. I had been anti-social for the past year or so due to these social issues and the deafness/speech issues, and so my father was like, “Jesus, I have some work to do on this one”.

My first several years in martial arts were… frankly unremarkable. I had no natural talent. I see YouTube videos of kids that can do flying backflip crazy kicks and stuff, and I had none of that. And all of this was in the 1990s before social media, so we could only go by whatever was local. Nowadays I wonder how these kids get so good at this, like does it just come naturally or did they actually practice this? Because I certainly practiced and couldn’t do anything cool like that. Maybe I just suck, I don’t know. That’s probably it.

I was taught MMA; mainly a combo of kickboxing and submission grappling with a Japanese karate backdrop culture and colored belt system and kata/weapon system, which was more popular three decades ago than today (and over time the organization began phasing out those cultural karate aspects to focus more on just pure MMA, but still has those ranks). I didn’t stand out. I progressed slowly, and was very “mid”.

I didn’t really care about it at first; I wasn’t fully invested and was more interested in playing Pokémon Red, or trying to become captain of my school mathletes team. I was bad at sports due to weak hand-eye coordination, and I felt like the only thing I really had going for me was academic achievements, so I tended to lean into that. But my father kept bringing me to martial arts which kept me grinding at it. That’s the greatest gift he ever gave me. He made me stick with it, and he drove me there four times per week, and then sat there and watched me for an hour or two, and then drove me home and gave me his thoughts on how I did.

In memory of my father and to his epic credit for those that would appreciate, he also did hook up with some (::cough:: many) of the fellow students’ moms while he was there; he was kind of an older gentleman player with top 1% outlier skill in this regard, I have to admit. His rate of hook-up success with the single moms who were each 15-25 years younger than him on average actually kind of became legendary in our community. As kids, we were all simultaneously impressed and horrified at his ability. But we’ll leave that aside; he really mostly he did this for me, which I’ll never forget. He got plenty of tail on the side for his work though, which was not his original intention, but which he wouldn’t leave on the table given his abilities, and is worth mentioning for his reputation on this un-editable Nostr protocol distributed among clients. I’ll throw my father’s epicness into this void because, well, he quietly would have enjoyed it.

Anyway, I built up a bunch of friends in the martial arts school; even more than in my academic school. It was almost like being in the military as a kid- there were official rank hierarchies, discipline, you fight each other, you run and exhaust yourself with push-ups together, you punch through wood or bricks to overcome your fears, you tell the Sensei “Osu Sensei!” in unison, etc. It’s hard not to make deep friends in that hardcore environment of shared pain and struggle with a military discipline vibe.

“You don’t know someone until you fight them” has a certain truth to it. We grew to know each other after fighting each other. You physically wrestle with someone every week and choke them out or get choked out, and you get to know them more closely than your academic friends. Sometimes awkwardly close… since it was coed. ;)

But for the first few years, I didn’t really care about it, and I wasn’t special at it, but just due to my father making me be there for so long, I became one of the more experienced students in it due to sheer attrition. And then when I became decent, I became more interested. It finally sparked a more competitive nature within me. When you go from age 7 to age 15 continually in martial arts four times per week, even if you have no natural talent, you gain so much experience at fighting that you reach the top of your class just because you’re somehow still there, and you start getting interested in it since you know the nuances of it and get more awakened toward it and want to be better at it.

In a previous Nostr post, I mentioned how my trailer park neighborhood friend Jordan had real-world fights in his backyard, and I had joined them. My martial arts fights were always controlled with proper gear, helmets, mouthpieces, close adult Sensei supervision, and so forth, whereas Jordan’s backyard fights had gloves but nothing else, and just consisted of a bunch of teens enjoying the mayhem. That environment gave me a certain real-world horror-show experience that even my fellow martial arts students mostly lacked, and it kind of woke me up and gave me an edge.

Eventually in my early teens I left the kids classes and joined the adult classes, and continued there. All of it was coed, but the kids classes were like 60/40 boy/girl whereas the adult classes were like 85/15 men/women. Amid the advanced students, it was me and then all guys.

Our school was part of a larger martial arts school federation, but on its own was small and backwater in the suburbs, especially after our former senior fifth-degree Sensei had retired. We went through a period of like, discount temporary instructors. For a while we had two co-instructors, one (very small) woman and one (very large) man, who weren’t even Sensei’s, but were Sensei’s-in-training. They were eventually replaced by a newbie sensei- some guy in his 30’s who had trained for about five years and was given the fresh rank of Sensei and was assigned this backwater school to try to turn around.

So, I’m like 15 at this point, been here for 8 years, and I have this new Sensei in his 30s with only 5 years of training coming to run things. He had basically the same skill level as me, like both of us were first-degree black belts, so unlike my original badass fifth-degree Sensei, I didn’t respect this guy. I wanted to become a second-degree black belt and this new Sensei teaching me was not yet a second-degree himself. My friends and I were like, “pfft” toward this guy. It became an ongoing tension. We needed at least a second-degree Sensei but didn’t have one.

Most aspects of the martial arts school rankings were handled internally, except for black belt tests, second-degree black belt tests, and so forth. Any formal black belt or instructor rank-up test was run federation-wide by the Shihans (the small handful of “masters” who were sixth-degree instructors and above and ran the federation) twice per year. So, we gained ground amid our individual schools in small increments and personal reputation, but had to pass external objective tests to reach key black belt and further second-degree or third-degree black belt or instructor milestones, so that there was standardization across the schools amid the elite level. And skill ranks and instructor ranks branched off once you had your first-degree black belt; there were third-degree black belts that *were not* instructors, and there were first-degree black belts that *were* instructors, because they had specifically learned and passed the tests for how to train others, which is somewhat of separate skill. But naturally, a low-rank instructor can only train people up to roughly their own skill level, which is fine most of the time since 90%+ of students were below first-degree black belt level, but was not sufficient for elite ranks trying to reach second-degree or third-degree level.

I had frankly been kind of slow to reach a black belt level (it took me from like five years age 7 to 12, whereas in some accelerated cases it only takes 2-3 years). The bigger martial arts schools amid my federation in major cities had prodigies directly trained by Shihans that reached like third-degree black belt ranks by their late teens, like three years per each rank-up starting at age 6, but at my small backwater school that wasn’t realistic. We had a weak sensei and only had some first-degree black belts, and just one college-aged second-degree black belt named Shane who was trained by the prior fifth-degree sensei and mostly didn’t come anymore and just showed up once per month or so.

By the time I was 16, I reached a weird state where I was technically the highest rank in the school out of students who showed up regularly (i.e. aside from Shane who was rarely there). There were two broad types of top fighters in the adult classes: those of us in our teens or twenties with many years of training who originally started as kids like me with 9 years of experience at this point, and those who had joined as adults for a health/fitness hobby and were more novice but were older and often bigger (30s, 40s, 50s, and with 0-3 years of experience). There was only one guy who was 40+ and also had 10+ years of training. His name was Michael and he was only a bit bigger than me and although he was one of my toughest opponents, I quickly learned how to beat him. He had stalled in his skills, his brief stamina was his weakness, and he was kind of a douchebag (he was known to abuse his own son, and none of us liked him).

So, I often went to classes and had nobody to fight and challenge me to become better. There were only a few other students of similar skill level to me, mostly in their teens or 20s and Michael his 40s, and other than the rare Shane appearance or Sensei deciding to put his gear on and spar me directly, I was at the top of the official skill rank. And then there were another handful of men that were of a lower skill level but were big enough to be a significant challenge, like this one firefighter who had just 1 year of training but was the physically strongest guy in the school. I could outfight him with speed and stamina and just had to make sure to avoid being taken down or hit hard. There was a diminishing pool of people who I could spar against to actually get better at technique, and with a Sensei who himself wasn’t any better either.

As I stalled in my skill toward my goal of second-degree black belt, I instead used the time to pass the separate federation test to become an assistant instructor, which was easy for me since it was comfortably with academic written tests. I would now run some classes, and when students wanted some private lessons to catch up, I would do that in the school. That was my first paid job.

But I started to get frustrated amid my stagnation. Many of my friends had left by this point. Other than Shane who was never here, even my Sensei who was a 6’ guy and could barely outpace me in the rare instances when he fought me, but pound-for-pound I was not impressed with him even though I couldn’t quite beat him (I was/am 5’7”). The fact that he couldn’t outright beat or submit me was proof enough for this worthlessness as an instructor in my view. My prior fifth-degree Sensei would have utterly rekt me in seconds without trying; this new guy was basically a peer that just happened to be bigger and older; he wasn’t really any better. He had nothing to teach me. I wished I was in a different school with a better teacher. The only hard opponents in my school for me to fight were the Sensei, Shane, Michael, the firefighter, and like two other old friends who had ranked up with me from the kids class for the past 5-10 years, and pound-for-pound I wasn’t learning anything anymore. I was only learning how to fight larger novice opponents.

But then when it got worse. There was a new 5’10” woman in her 30s named Rachel. She was skilled and hardworking from the start, devoted her life to it, and became a black belt in just under two years, which was a literal record pace in our school, and although I should have liked it, it instead made me kind of envious. Prior to her, all the top fighters were me and various guys. I didn’t really have a perception of rivalry with my peers, including Rachel at first. But… then she began dating the Sensei. She also quickly took the federation instructor test and passed, and the Sensei started having her run classes as the other assistant instructor, including adult classes that I was in. Like, both of us were the two assistant instructors for the Sensei, and I was a higher rank than Rachel (there were certain earned benchmarks amid black belts as they built towards their second-degree test), but she would be given authority to run a class that I was in, and was kind of assigned the senior assistant instructor status whereas I was now apparently the junior assistant instructor. Her seniority was unofficial and chalked up to age, but I felt it was biased due to their relationship. And it wasn’t just me, the other senior rank students all had general disrespect toward Rachel, not because she was bad or didn’t earn her initial first-degree black belt, but because she was elevated beyond her skill compared to the upper ranks who had been here for many years, and it was transparent to all of us. She couldn’t beat any of the top five students in a fight, including me who was smaller than her. She had among the best technique in terms of how it looked, like her kicks were flashy as hell, but she was firmly the sixth best fighter or less and was supposedly the new senior assistant instructor. I was like, “nah”.

I started to get too aggressive in sparring matches with Rachel. She was bigger, she admittedly had amazing technique and had learned fast, but she just didn’t have years of grit. She hadn’t had the shit kicked out of her before, and it showed. She hadn’t lost enough fights to learn the subtle techniques that are outside of the official curriculum. She hadn’t fought a thousand matches and earned all of those tiny lessons that can’t be taught other than to experience them. And unlike me, she hadn’t fought in Jordan’s backyard without a helmet and mouthpiece. Her kicks were way better-looking than mine when she did them alone outside of a fight. But despite being bigger than me, and flashier than me in some aspects, she simply couldn’t beat me in a fight or anywhere close, which is ultimately what matters. I had been doing this for a decade at this point. She didn’t have the experience or the grit, even if she had the flash and better natural talent, and started from a mature age. But Sensei was elevating her too quickly, and I was stagnating in my rank, and I was thinking, "what am I even doing here anymore?”

When we spar with someone, if we are better, we were supposed to go exactly 110% of our opponent’s level. Basically, it was the optimal level to help them learn- just slightly better than them. Unless you are specifically training for a test or tournament and told to go all-out against an equal, you stuck to this template. But whenever I fought against Rachel, I went purposely too hard. Just her. I had never done this before. I would outfight her by 2x, like kick her leg out and punch her down a bit too hard, and just glance at the Sensei each time as Rachel got up like, “why is she the senior assistant instructor again?” Rachel would leave each fight frustrated and likely with a headache, which is not what we are supposed to do. But I had something to prove. My goal was to mock the artificial hierarchy that was forming.

There was one day with an unusually large class of students who showed up, where I was more annoyed than usual at this ongoing situation, and I went harder than usual, like I purposely wanted to make the difference even more unmistakable this time. I kicked Rachel’s legs out so many times and outpunched her as hard as I could and kept looking at the Sensei like, “what now?” as he stood there and oversaw the class. I hurt her so much that she had trouble getting back up. Eventually after getting dropped and out-fought and hit too hard a number of times, Rachel literally said, “Okay I get it, can you go easier on me? You always do this Lyn!”

And then I… felt bad. In the middle of class I was immediately like, “Sure, of course. I’m sorry”.

And from then on, I was no longer annoyed at Rachel, but just annoyed at my own situation. Rachel had put her cards on the table, and I respected that. I had made her my rival not because I disrespected her, but because I *did* respect her and felt threatened by her. On one hand, I felt I had to demonstrate to the Sensei and others that I could easily beat Rachel since she wasn’t ready yet, and that he was biased and that she was unfit to lead adult classes, but then on the other hand, once I proved this, I had zero envy or angst toward her. I just felt sympathy, and I felt like an asshole. Once Rachel admitted that she wanted me to go easier more regularly, my entire purpose for wanting to be better became hallow.
And then I imagined the situation from her perspective; she joined the school at like age 30, became a talented hot-shot and got a black belt at a record pace, put all of her focus into it, dated the Sensei (not out of corruption, but just because of natural connection) and thus became looked at as an outsider by other students, and then felt intimidation from this existing borderline-autistic 16-year-old named Lyn that had somehow been there for 9 fucking years and that was grittier and could outfight her and had all of these multi-year friendships with other students that pre-dated her by many years as basically the head of the Mean Girl clique.
We had a big clique among experienced students, mostly in our teens and twenties, and she wasn’t in it. None of us had respected her relative to Sensei’s moving her to instructor status. Rachel felt like based on her situation she was supposed to be the best, like if anything the Sensei’s premature preference toward her and rank elevation of her had given her too much to prove, and yet she had to go to class each day with me and others and felt only intimidation and coldness, and every time she fought me it was stressful because she knew I would purposely go hard and not in a friendly way, to prove her inadequacy. So, as I thought through this, part of me was like, “Damn, am I the baddie here?”

For the next couple months, I was then on autopilot. I didn’t know what to do. I was very annoyed at my Sensei, who I felt was ultimately responsible for this, but I was purposely nicer to Rachel and told all the other senior students to be as well, since I got over my ego and our cards were more on the table now. Eventually my father voiced my (and his) concerns to the Sensei about a lack of sufficiently advanced instructor or sparring partners for my ongoing progress to reach my goals, and so Sensei decided to send me to a federation school an hour away to fight their top student, named Lionel. “The top student of my school vs the top student of our school” was how it was arranged.

I had seen Lionel before once at a federation test, and was intimidated. He was a year older, bigger, stronger, and just plain better. It would be 125 lb 5’7” me vs 150 lb 5’10” him. It was clear how this would go. My goal was not to win, but rather just to hold my own and learn something new.

Nonetheless, my father was like, “you got this”. We developed a gameplan. He was like, “okay look, admittedly if you grapple this boy you’re going to lose. But you’re faster. So, avoid his takedowns, and just try to out kickbox him. This is what you want; a fresh opponent rather than your stale opponents. And unfortunately I know the type of unsafe shenanigans you got into with Jordan’s friends. Use that. Lionel is softer than he seems, and you’re harder than you seem.” It was the best pep-talk ever.

But… it didn’t work. Lionel *broke my wrist*. The first few minutes of the fight were going okay, and I was sticking to the plan of kickboxing only, and purposely avoiding his takedown attempts. I was indeed actually out-kickboxing him. But Lionel eventually realized that if he takes me down and grapples me, it’s over, so he started prioritizing that but was having trouble due to my cautious takedown defenses. But then he got unconventional and made use of the fact that I was a far smaller opponent; after feeling my punches for a while, he just came in hard and left his ribs open. Against an opponent of his size he wouldn’t do that, but against me he realized that I likely don’t have enough damaging power and so that it’s worth the small risk in order to overcome my speed and grab me. I hit him clean in the ribs as he opened himself up and came in, but it wasn’t enough, and by throwing his defenses aside, his all-out takedown attempt worked, and he got me down. I tried to get him off of me, but he accidentally fractured my wrist with his own chest and bodyweight slamming down on me, which is a really embarrassing way of fracturing a wrist. Like the sheer power of this man’s chest broke my wrist, frankly. I never expected to win per se, but rather than having a decent pound-for-pound showing as I was hoping for like I could do even against Shane or my own Sensei, I just outright left with an injury and felt more demoralized than ever. Lionel was the assistant instructor and the top student of his school, was in his ascendent prime, had a lot to prove, and wasn’t fucking around. I cried in the car ride home, not out of pain but out of failure.

I considered quitting, like I had a busier schedule than I used to, and thought maybe I was just done with this shit now. Everybody I fought was either way worse or way bigger, like I never actually had someone to fight of similar size and skill, and figured maybe it’s time to start focusing on my academic work more anyway.

But my father stepped up yet again and was like, “Of course not. Here’s what we’re doing to do. You didn’t lose that fight due to weak technique. I watched every minute, as I always do. If he was your size, you would have won. You lost it because you were physically weaker. He overpowered you. So you’ll go to the gym now.”

So, my father took me to a local gym, and sat me down with the man who owned it, and explained that he wanted me to be stronger. He paid the guy to give me private weight-lifting lessons for the next several months. Bench-press, squats, deadlifts, etc. Just raw power. Also, one of the requirements for the second-degree black belt test was that women had to be able to do 45 continuous push-ups and men had to do 75 continuous push-ups, but my father told the gym owner that he wanted me to be able to do 90 push-ups. His view was, “They have a requirement, and I want her to double it.” I could do about 55 at the time. So, I started to go to class a bit less, and train here a bit more. I indeed got to 90+ push-ups, and a 2x bodyweight max deadlift.

And eventually, I decided to leave my martial arts school. I decided to start driving an hour away to the center city every evening to a major school within the federation. I decided I would do all or nothing with my time. The teacher there had the rank of Shihan which meant “master” He was one of the federation-wide leaders. His school was much bigger. He was a small 50-year-old Irish guy who was not much taller than me, maybe 5’8 and 150 lb, but whenever you touched him he literally felt like he was made of iron, and any student, big or small, old or young, who fought him got immediately rekt. It was almost magical how solid he was, like you couldn’t move him an inch, and I had never felt that before. It wasn’t gimmicky bullshit as some martial arts stuff is; he was just basically the hardest Irishmen ever born who then did three decades of training. I had fought hundreds of kids and adults, but Shihan felt like fucking solid iron; it’s hard to explain. Like most people if you push them their flesh will move, whereas if you push him you will push yourself back and barely even flex his skin. It was weird, like solid iron. He looked, seemed, and felt like he had come out of a Guy Ritchie movie. I had seen him fight my former weak-ass Sensei a year prior, and it wasn’t even a fight. It was over before it started, Shihan had choked Sensei out in under a minute, even though Shihan was smaller than Sensei.

That’s who I wanted to learn from. Driving distance didn’t matter to me anymore; I just wanted the best; it was Shihan or nothing. He had pictures on the walls of his dojo when he was younger and kicking through like five baseball bats at once. At the time, he also briefly held the world record for how many ice bricks he could put his fist through at once, although that record was later surpassed. At one event I saw him do this at where he punched through like 1500 lbs of ice, someone took a series of pictures with a motion camera that is meant for athletes, and after they were developed, the pictures showed Shihan winding up but then the actual moment where he hammer-fisted through the ice was a blur; it was too fast for the camera even though it was specifically meant to capture fast athlete movements and the photographer said he had never seen this happen before when taking athlete photos. I was like, “okay… this Shihan is my superhero now”.

And so I started at this new, larger school. I went from being the big fish in a small pond to a medium fish in a big pond. I was one of the technical higher ranks, but there were several students above me, and Shihan was very intimidating. The top four people in the adult class were all guys, and I was the fifth highest rank. But there was also this prodigy girl in the kids class who was like 12 and could do crazy backflip kicks and shit, and was going for her second degree black belt at the same time as me even though I was like 17 by this point. She would be one of those third-degree prodigies by my age, which made me feel lame. So I was like, “fuck my life, I should have come here to train from Shihan from the start”.

The first few months were like a stereotype karate kid movie. Shihan had some subtle initial animosity toward me because he didn’t like the fact that me as the known top student of my school was coming to join his school; he was a leader over many schools and didn’t want to create rivalries or student pilgrimages between schools, and my transfer to his school did create a small flood of other students joining his school, which disrupted things. So, he purposely was a bit harsh on me from the start, but I understood this and was all for it. I was all-in on this guy. Whenever he was mean I was like, “yes Shihan, may I have another.”

Shihan almost never complimented people. He was a small, stern, 50s, made-of-iron Irish guy who looked deep into your soul and found it badly wanting. His infamy extended amid the federation for 100 miles in all directions. Students of many schools in the area feared him. If he was showing you something, he’d be like, “No. Wrong. Again. No. Do this instead. No. No. Bad. No. Okay that wasn’t terrible; do that again. Your left elbow was slightly too far out, which left your ribs slightly exposed. Lower it five degrees so that you get hit less there while still defending your key jawline. That’s the optimal angle.”

My prior discount Sensei never had that level of detail. He was always like, “you’re doing fine” which from his standards was fine because the elite students were as good as him. Whereas Shihan saw through every tiny error. He had seen decades of errors and had that level of expertise that matters.

Never once did Shihan compliment me by that point, and not once did I see Shihan’s face in anything other than a scorn, and yet it all felt right. I had known this ahead of time. He had a certain vibe where you felt like you were getting better just by being around him after enough training hours, by him pointing out your subtle errors and telling you how you suck, and by fighting other students in the school who were great. I wasn’t the only student who felt that way; he was one of the only five Shihans in the entire federation for a reason. You got better almost just by being in his presence. And as a metric, the less he said that you sucked, the better you were getting. Him not saying anything meant you were actually doing pretty good. And indeed my technique improved a ton by being there for several months. I was training five or six days per week now, which was a big burden after school. Two hours of training, plus over an hour and a half round trip travel, each night six days per week. Every time Shihan gave me a new tip or comment, it was something that was literally new to me, pointing out a weakness of mine, and helped me level up. He’d be like, “No. No. No. Bad. Terrible. No. No. Okay close… do this instead.” And that thing he would describe was like magic.

At one point I was submission grappling against his #2 student, who was the biggest. He was aged 18, 175 pounds, vs me aged 17 and 125 pounds. He got me in a guillotine headlock and was trying to submit me, and I was struggling in it for a couple minutes and he couldn’t finalize the submission since I knew all the ways to get out of it or at least protect my front throat blood vessels. Shihan was watching this and said out loud, “She’s tough, isn’t she? Jesus.” And like, that one statement compliment flooded over me. He never said stuff like that. I eventually broke out of the guillotine, and although I couldn’t submit him due to his size and strength, he couldn’t submit me either. I went home and was like, “Shihan actually said something nice, dad; he said I was tough, and he never says this!” And he was so proud.

I became friends with many other students at that city school, women and men. I could easily beat every other woman, and although I couldn’t beat the top four of Shihan’s men, I could hold my own against them and not get submitted in a fight, which pound-for-pound is more than I could ask for and was a win.

Shihan would sometimes mess around and fight two top students at once, 1vs2, even some of which were bigger than him since he was not a large man, but even so it was never a fight. He never lost. One day it was me and that #2 student vs Shihan. I told my teammate, “Okay, frankly you can stand up to Shihan longer than me, so you distract him, and then I’ll try to choke him”, and he acknowledged. So this guy goes all-out against Shihan, started to get rekt quickly, and as Shihan was distracted I then jumped on Shihan’s back for my signature choke that I’m unusually good at, that works against anyone regardless of their size. There was a brief moment where I could tell Shihan was like, “shit”, but then he stepped it up a level and immediately knocked the wind out of my teammate and just reached back and somehow grabbed me, like gripped my shirt on my mid-back with his iron fist, basically digging deep into my back-skin itself and basically my soul, and flipped me over himself toward the ground in a way that I had never seen happen before. My larger teammate was also lying there down by this point all of a sudden, and I was down too now. And Shihan, stone-faced, was like, “Not bad, you two were better than usual. Close.” And later we were like, “omg, Shihan said it was close.” Nobody had gotten close.

Eventually Shihan sent me to the second-degree black belt test at the federation for my third try, after having skipped the prior to semi-annual tests, and this time… and it was outright easy. I fought against people my own size for a change which is what happens at these tests, and it wasn’t hard at all. It felt like I had been training with weighted gear at Shihan’s school the whole time, and then at the test it was like I took them off and felt, “Wait, that’s it, is this easy mode? That’s what it’s like to fight someone my size now?” So, I earned my second-degree black belt comfortably. I took me a decade from my start to get there, which was pretty slow. But I did it. I learned more under Shihan in like 8 months than the past several years under my prior discount Sensei.

I then continued at the school as one of the leaders.

And then Shihan wanted me to enter a big tournament, and said I had the knack to go far, and I began training for it. But one day when I was sparring against one of the other top several students; he happened to kick me in the side of the knee, and broke it. He was 6’ but unusually skinny and only 135 lbs, vs my 5’7” 125 lbs, basically the weakest of the top male students and easiest for me to spar with, and someone who was never considered a major offensive threat. Me and this student had fought dozens of times, we weren’t going hard at all, but just some random undefended light kick on the side of the kneecap broke it out of nowhere. I fell, and got back up, but could tell it was off. I tried to keep going anyway but then realized something was seriously wrong, so I went and sat down.

It was so… anticlimactic. I had many cool fights with peers where we had went all-out, but this wasn’t one of them. This was a boring, unemotional, routine sparring match. But his kick happened to hit the side of my knee in the perfect spot for a crack. I had broken my thumb, broken my wrist, but this one was bigger. This would change things.

I drove myself home, and my father was already asleep. I figured, “This can’t be much, I’ve dealt with injuries before. So, I slept. But as I woke up the next morning with the adrenaline gone, I was in terrible pain. I couldn’t walk at all. When I went from the bedroom to the bathroom in the morning, I had to literally crawl. It was de-humanizing. My father gave me his cane to use, and even then it was hard to walk with due to how much my leg hurt. I could put zero weight on it.

So, my father took me to the clinic and I had a scan. The doctor said my ligament was probably torn, that I’ll probably need surgery, and in the meantime he put a giant needle into my kneecap and sucked out two cups of blood, which today is still the most painful experience I’ve had but helped reduce the acute pain afterward. My father had to help hold me down for that one because I was willing to fight him over that one. And then after looking at the scan the doctor was like, “Excellent news. Your leg is fractured”. And I was like, “…what?” And he said, “Oh, fractures are way better than torn ligaments. See here? Your ligament is pulled, but not torn. This line here? That’s a fracture through your femur right above the knee, but not a messy break. So instead of surgery, you just need a brace and to stay off your foot for six weeks on crutches. You’re very lucky.” I was on crutches and with a leg brace, but otherwise could just continue on. I almost had to be at my senior prom on crutches, but managed to end them slightly prematurely and dance at my prom normally.

But that ended my martial arts training. I called Shihan on the phone and explained that I would miss the tournament, and then I had to go to college so… this was it for now. By the time I fully recovered a few months later, I graduated high school, got a summer job as a deli clerk (much less glamorous than my prior job of assistant martial arts instructor), and then went to college. I did a bit of casual fighting in college but overall kept it easy. I had passed my prime, and my priority was elsewhere.

Several months later, I had one college friend in particular, Jeff, who was a physical specimen with no prior training, like 6’ 180 lbs, and well-defined musculature. He challenged me to a fight once, and I submitted him within seconds with a choke, because as I described in my recent Nostr post, there are certain “Fool’s Mate” techniques that work well against bigger opponents that don’t know what they are doing. So, he tried multiple times and I tapped him out each time despite the size difference. But each time, I explained in detail what I did, and each time, the fight got longer and was harder since he would avoid the easy losses and start to use his strength and size better. That gap between me and him, due to our size and skill difference, could only close toward his advantage. Eventually, we built his technique to the point where I couldn’t tap him out anymore, but he still couldn’t tap me out. That was my discount college Sensei experience, trying to use my training for people with better physical potential than me, to pass on some of my experience. I lived vicariously through Jeff.

But even in my professional life, it stuck with me. My father was like, “Most people are intimidated by their bosses. In an interview, imagine sparring your boss and how flimsy he would be. Don’t be intimidated. You’re not locked in there with him. He’s locked in there with you. Your boss is likely physically a pussy, so keep that in mind.” While I never fought a boss of course, that mindset was useful for interviews and future interactions. Basically the advice was like, “don’t submit to the corporate hierarchy.” And I never did. I work for myself now, but every boss I had has been cool. If they were not, I would have left.

My right thumb still makes clicking sounds from the time when I broke it in Shihan’s school, and my left knee still makes cracking sounds if I stand up from a deep squat, even though it doesn’t hurt. Luckily my fractured wrist from Lionel healed more fully so I don’t have signs from that one. These injuries are with me forever.

Looking back, I felt that most of my academic schooling was unremarkable, and that it was my martial arts schooling that defined my coming-of-age years. It was where I had my closest friends, biggest triumphs, biggest losses, biggest character developments, and like, what I still remember clearly after two decades.

My rise was important to my confidence. I saw that I could be a source of power in my local world. My struggle with Rachel was important for my ethical development. My search for another school, my gains there, and my ultimate injury, was important for my humility. Despite my local power, I was small in the grand scheme of things, and a random injury could change my trajectory.

I highly recommend martial arts, especially for kids in safe environments. The overall character building and fitness you get from it is really useful. My father eventually passed away, and when I look back on it, I just think about how several days per week after work, he would drive me to martial arts and sit there and watch me and then drive me home. He was so involved time-wise. And when things got rough, he would support me, motivate me, and help me problem solve through specific issues. There were no participation trophies, just discussions on how to win next time. Despite all his shortcomings, part of him is always a legend to me because of how involved he was, especially in my martial arts training above everything else.

Whenever I feel weak due to burnout or whatever reason nowadays, I just think of my late father and am like, “Okay, I know, yes I shouldn’t be a bitch, yes there is a constructive path forward.” And I stand back up.


The World's Simplest #Bitcoin Referral program is live!!🥳

We want to reward you for Orange-pilling. It's easy...

1. Be the first to send any payment to a new wallet user

2. You'll automatically receive a share of any commission we make from them for the next 12 months! 🎁🤯

https://video.nostr.build/25320ca38d8c1f383acfa0d3131c4a74bc23c4f1ad175ed32404a88653aad965.mp4


I feel like I should share the story of how I broke my leg, exclusively on Nostr, and how that changed the direction of my life.

Yay or nay?


“Responsibly all-in.”

“I like the orange coin. A lot.”

My research and audience straddles the macro finance world and the bitcoin world. And so humorously, I get heat from both sides.

“Lyn, I love your macro work but you’re too obsessed with bitcoin; I wish you would focus less on that stuff.” -hedge fund reader.

Vs

“Lyn, since you’re a fellow bitcoiner, why do you only have a 5-10% allocation to bitcoin in your public model portfolios!? Shouldn’t you sell all your stocks and buy more?” -fellow pleb.

I talk to many institutions, as well as high net worth individuals, and medium net worth individuals like engineers and doctors. This is where individual situations come into play. I had been watching bitcoin for a while, publicly wrote about it near the top of the cycle in 2017 and (correctly) passed on it from that point, but then kept watching it during the bear market and then hardcore jumped into it during the March/April 2020 crash starting at $6,900/coin as a long-term bull, and haven’t wavered since.

For example, 2.5 years later as Bitcoin crashed amid the FTX fallout in November 2022 from 69k to sub-16k, I was at Pacific Bitcoin laughing about it. I was not uncertain.

In those initial months of 2020, I put every dollar of my liquid capital into bitcoin. I didn’t sell my existing stocks and trigger capital gains tax, didn’t withdraw from my IRA or 401(k), but otherwise most of my existing liquid cash and all of my incoming earned cash went into bitcoin. I threw like a quarter of my net worth into it. And it paid off. For me as a conservative investor, that was my version of “all-in”. I wasn’t fucking around. I never go all-in like that, but I did it for bitcoin.

I grew up poor, and then worked for 12 years in engineering and engineering management. There is no world where I would invest in such a way that there was even a 1% chance that I could be wrong and lose my entire net worth and the past 12 years of my work at that point. I would never be 100% invested unless I consider it to be risk-free, and I consider nothing to be risk-free, and so I diversify by default. I am conservative as a baseline, but opportunistic when appropriate. I put at most 5% into any one stock, but I threw 25% into bitcoin as an anomaly due to how bullish I was. My husband was like, “what are we doing?” and I was like, “trust me, here’s why”.

And then, there are eight family members and associates who, if I were to go broke, would have to radically diminish and change their lifestyles. Their housing support and their everyday income comes significantly from my earnings. It’s like running a small business. So, when I see people on social media be like, “wHy DoN’t YoU gO aLl iN?” I’m thinking like, “Bitch, I’ve gone about as all-in on this new distributed ledger as I can while still sustaining a reasonable level of lower volatility equity and other assets for tangible income and fallback support for eight people”. And then I realize the anon who wrote that is probably a single dude in his parents’ basement, and my response is unwarranted. Don’t let anons on social media affect you.

For example, our extended family ran into a liquidity issue and had to change households this year, and we got a good real estate deal but it was based on me having six figures in liquidity to just throw around at short notice, which meant having maintained adequate diversification for that possibility, which I was anticipating.

In my model portfolios, I began to recommend a 5% bitcoin allocation in early 2020, and then I took some chips off the table in 2021 near the highs after a 3x and 5x gain as Musk was pumping Dogecoin, to rebalance back down to that 5% target. Why? Because not everybody has put a thousand hours of research into it and can realistically put a quarter of their liquid net worth into it. My point was, “your portfolio has zero bitcoin, you should probably have at least 5% bitcoin, and better yet, you should buy bitcoin non-custodially at whatever size is appropriate for you. As it soars, rebalance. As it falls, buy back in.” That rebalancing worked well for my public portfolio. I warned of exuberance, leaned into fear, despite not trying to predict any short-term price action.

And during 2022, amid the bear market, I joined the formation of Ego Death Capital, a bitcoin-only VC firm, as a founding advisor. And more recently, I’m leaning more into that role, and some announcements regarding that are incoming in terms of my deeper involvement. In other words, while bitcoin price action was in a period of weakness, I was happily ready to lean in to it with my capital, my time, and my reputation, to fund bitcoin companies that were developing cool stuff. https://egodeath.capital/portfolio

And then there was my husband’s wisdom. He edits all of my research reports, among other work that he does. And he has better wisdom than me overall. One day in early 2023 amid the bear market out of the blue after hardly ever talking about bitcoin he was like, “How many bitcoins do we have?” I said the number X but also explained that I am buying more lately. He said, “Alright, good, let’s get to Y soon. I know you are super cautious, and I love that, but don’t mess around on this. Buy more. Push harder. I know you have extra pockets of liquidity above the baseline. Use them.” By Y, I mean he gave me an aggressive number that was a bit above what I would have otherwise done in that timeframe.

I was like, “Okay I’ll try. But I mean, we need certain liquidity.” And he said, “I’ve edited your research reports for years. I’ve never seen you more convicted on something. Don’t fuck around on this. Lean into it. We will figure out liquidity if need be. You said to trust you in early 2020 when you initially bought it. Trust me here in 2023 when I say to buy extra vs whatever you’re buying. I can read you better than you can read yourself, and the answer is to buy. You’re being too conservative.” I followed his advice, at like sub-$20k and sub-$25k.

And then later this year, within the past few months, we indeed balanced it very tightly; I had bought as many bitcoin for us as we could early in the year and I barely hit the target he set since I was being cautious, and then we ran into a surprise liquidity requirement (changing households in Egypt) and needed to throw capital at a new place as a down payment for our family for seven people, and I was like, “This is why I maintained so much liquidity, btw. We have it because I saw this type of thing coming!” And he was like, “But we have it, right?” I and I was like, “Yes, barely at such short notice!” And he was like, “So we have the exact amount then, fucking nailed it!” The yin-and-yang worked well.

The point is, I’m as all-in on bitcoin as I get with any asset. Which means to say, I am ready to survive its failure or repression in long bear markets without selling any, but I am also highly engaged and invested in its success.  I never go all-in on anything, but I’ve never leaned into any asset as thoroughly as I have done on bitcoin since April 2020. It’s the maximum I lean into any asset while still maintaining financial prudence. When it falls 80%, it doesn’t affect my lifestyle or force me to sell. When it soars, I am cautious, and focus on how to best improve the success of the network.

Good evening. Let's accelerate.


Amidst what's going on lately, I thought it might be a good time to remind everyone that nostr:npub155m2k8ml8sqn8w4dhh689vdv0t2twa8dgvkpnzfggxf4wfughjsq2cdcvg supports both PayJoin and CoinJoin.

So if you're running a BTCPay instance, you can:

1. Withdraw Bitcoin from exchanges with PayJoin, obscuring the amount to outside observers.
2. Auto-initiate CoinJoin when certain conditions are met (desired Bitcoin amount and fee market).

Bonus: You can easily run your own coordinator, mixing your Bitcoin without using mainstream services and coordinators.

This could be a great asset for local communities with regular Bitcoin flows (e.g., DCA of members) to boost privacy collectively.

The best part? It takes about 20 minutes to set up. I'm considering creating a video guide - would you watch it if I did?

https://m.primal.net/HPxP.png

https://m.primal.net/HPxQ.png

https://m.primal.net/HPxR.png


Would the central banks require the sheeple to obtain CBDC's through an official distributor, cutting the retail banks in on the action?


I like to move it move it #clean #wash #beats

https://video.nostr.build/0a7f75d536132078c05a8056ebc7c862d8a691fe7ad63fefe836e22d0c85b1a7.mp4


Is this October 22 or 23??

Either way timeless

nostr:npub1j4u5gjzjyggr3h96x3gjy4akdgwxuk7mgvumv72gym2qyje7fn5s47d6x9

nostr:nevent1qqsvutwd97c2revpasn9sm2k2622cr3ycvdhweg5z9xywx60ns0vc4spz3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezummcw3ezuer9wcpzqmjxss3dld622uu8q25gywum9qtg4w4cv4064jmg20xsac2aam5nqvzqqqqqqyqs9km6


Cuddly toy 🧸

https://video.nostr.build/79479bc19aa5891f0981ef44fa068a5f87520bcb442050a0ae21171ca04df4d3.mp4


#zapathon in 60 min! https://image.nostr.build/f9dd1e4a38391b5f36c3b5744084ddaad0c1d28d23a7383cd3feb8fbe8bb1054.gif


Test


Dirrty #clean #dirty #beats

https://video.nostr.build/179d9649227c03acd68c016c479622be8b2519066b8ad7014a51ea431af3934e.mp4


This bull run will make old scams looks like child’s play.
Grab the popcorn. Stay solvent. Don’t fall for any of them, please.

Buy BTC, don’t trade it, secure it simply so you don’t overcomplicate & blow yourself up.  Remain patient. Meme the fuck out of things. Stay positive. Enjoy success.  Let others fail that choose to fail, can’t save anyone but yourself. Lead by example.


Gonna make you sweat 💦

https://video.nostr.build/0e8403a57d848221dbebf86477404feff1a724cf6bb7c30adab41e12d1bc4ab2.mp4


Boom boom 💥 pow #clean #beats

https://video.nostr.build/92b8ee90fd8919ea8f189820be33d1c3835641e29a33fcbfa1cc09e2300973a4.mp4


Peanut butter jelly 🤙

https://video.nostr.build/be648eea778f1ca2de1a6d09941564971cec39360c2320394cefaea98e4aecce.mp4


Exactly that 👊


Zapathon has always been air replies


Ours had an upstairs that you were never allowed up


As corndalorian says, replying to a post with a new post


Choke ain't woke


what do you think is the most easily marketable client and/or feature on nostr?


Zaps


OK nostr:npub1lrnvvs6z78s9yjqxxr38uyqkmn34lsaxznnqgd877j4z2qej3j5s09qnw5 I get it now 😆😆


Yes, what are they


Guy in sauna said gaming industry is bigger than any sport, that can't be true?


Identity is prismatic, and always has been.

https://image.nostr.build/0305a42ab430101d198268f3683c83e489e0068fcba73b099a94a001f1d8f171.jpg


#linkedinstr

nostr:nevent1qqstfjtrzlqtusjqcfqr3ggtrtflxd7hj8vef05073un8l7v9huv38qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvupzpckv7l8jqspl8u4y54dn9rcduwlrs4v2040nxce0m2h0cunvrj8tqvzqqqqqqyl0ps92


What is air reply 🤔


The best burger full stop #burger #foodstr #food

https://video.nostr.build/989dea4487a1040673e71d2c2e4995a32385d255e363352b048dca7ad7125c5b.mp4


#mindset #nostr #bitcoin #plebs

https://image.nostr.build/923e8bda4a675e3388287b9c29e2e2b822d830e47c3095d9e1ed3245c690db94.jpg


You mean corndalorian from the nostr


The girl onchain


I’m not good at asking for help, but I am presently faced with a medical expense that I do not know how to pay at this point. I have been in constant pain for almost 20 years with bad teeth, and they have begun causing secondary health problems. Because of the structure of my teeth and bones, it will be a surgery to have them removed, and I’m liable to end up with holes where they were leading into my sinuses, etc. It’s doable, but it’s work for the surgeon, and they charge for that sort of thing.

The surgery looks like it will cost about $13,000, not counting the cost of dentures. Someone suggested I create a donation page on Nodeless, so here it is. There are countless people in worse situations, so I don’t really want to ask for anything. But if you feel like chipping a few sats to help out with this, every little bit helps.

https://nodeless.io/donate/oral-surgery


At my sauna, it's a speakers corner, all subjects discussed

Lately they been talking about Sam bankman fried

Funny how the narrative machine pushes a topic and everyone becomes aware


Come on, make a move on me 🕺

https://video.nostr.build/6544b7f74c214b056073aa640aa893712ae787279c9c0772d226fff651d99508.mp4


#Nostril🇧🇷

😊

nostr:nevent1qqsqtkxqgxzjh80mwwtkstulfqqsc806rnpr7ez8qklatpsae8vdt7spp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyp6lg46kn4cz07qem6fw3wcn09wql6lfw5xu87cmt3p2adgz6zzp6qcyqqqqqqgeyu8hh


80's kids had to go bakery, we knew our dough


OK two things, do you know what a split tin is? And a cottage loaf? Because it looks like they had a baby

nostr:nevent1qqs2473szvqnql2600erc4q77xlfa5yw303n77ukq7z8jmdxqhx5vkqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvupzp57hgyjdm76mm3sm3uvdzlpnxkamf7x8zxp2xhhzwv22fxjwk7caqvzqqqqqqy9xkspd


Your love just keeps taking me high ❤

https://video.nostr.build/a2ce3bd74ac40372d0247b52a4da262d6ebb70f7616cccda988e5568a6814864.mp4


Two notes transmitted months apart both solid 👌

nostr:nevent1qqsyxlgfxl2l7qpat7zhardjtmcf982u7xz32tmgee49tclzq60853qpzpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuamfdejsygq6lcx8fc7h0p8t4ya9u0a92jnwavqe9rgjwwdw3wjgxfuxsz8rd5psgqqqqqqsexdumh

nostr:nevent1qqsr9trrl87m9tnjpft027e2h6altzqsw6qw29ct5yx8qs9dvffl6kqf08x6m


👀😁💯
#ZAPATHON https://image.nostr.build/0379a219d6972e15a0e7d6a12f1f3dadc8a83857056f776f6555a4fbbcb82571.jpg


Long note worth a 👀

nostr:nevent1qqsyaxpwfnj8s3d2xtz4sf3q3s55uw6h5hcm3f63cem28265h5yheuqpr4mhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8wetvd3hhyer9wghxuet5qgsgym5l39dcr26p53fzy69jf8ng6qk2s9sgmm6k9fynem34llzuwkgrqsqqqqqpqjr59q


#mansnothot #bigshaq #wash #beats

https://video.nostr.build/800632951ba87f12a0ef6f2b0cf9b597cbbd98f91f22368a61299cd137771113.mp4


10 years ago... I hope they made the right choice.
#Bitcoin
https://m.primal.net/HPIa.png


#allstar #smashmouth #wash #beat 🫂🤙👀🔊🫧🧼

https://video.nostr.build/324611d700edd71b1696c4f373ec6db76a654c95220f81dd687855e7b215f401.mp4


Flower wood gap. NSFW confirmed 😳


This song 🎵 is popcorn makers by popcorn 🍿

🔊👀🔊👀🔊👀🤙🫂


My mate does it. Says pre school kids ask a question every 40 seconds.

Kids at school ask a question four times a day


Ok this is hilarious 😂
https://video.nostr.build/415311d560ba228670eb8bf48a654caca7de7c06a8eb716458d088e84bb53e84.mp4


Her: This is my first time in Nostr.
Me: Hold on.

#Plebchain
https://video.nostr.build/160e9a4b61d1f4f69608dca76243a6539ef33f265170353eba8d36d6c20cccef.mp4


Like when u tell the mechanic there's a noise from the engine


Great picture from nostr:npub1pwz3959npp8rvrtdyc3g022dz594klp0q5rxtqsw63grhe58anhsh3tdyp speaks for itself

https://image.nostr.build/f91d6c3411b96caf81f4fafbc108fbf2039f1253128ff4708b85bef783df4d60.jpg


No baguette was broken 💔

https://video.nostr.build/8123870795ed3ffbfce0ec9f17f876b8f7a9c2f86ab48101519d64b3ced10580.mp4


Anyone have the link to that awesome nostr video I saw yesterday?

I  think it was made by JeffG, but I'm not 100% sure.

#nostr #asknostr


We ain't afraid of no notes

nostr:nevent1qqsq52d8lrhaesvzuccck8hpaaye9wcp7ml807spx6wcmzk0u6s28zspz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvupzqar6m78fqdhd0z68ajnk90uqh3q67dxldknm63y8dnedylnt0htyqvzqqqqqqyqc243z


When you're angry at your friend but you're just too nice.

https://v.nostr.build/LL9n.mp4


#wash #juice #lizzo 👀🫧👋🔊🧼🙏🫧👋🧼

https://video.nostr.build/ecc721e57f4598a392765f7bd191ea24ca3c3c4e791f71d5058192c830bb7833.mp4


#wash #work #speedup 🧼⏰🔊🙏👀🫧👋

https://video.nostr.build/d3903677c5d1af18c13a90322ef9bdcf8c2df8cc3d5d0c5cff8b97810b41d721.mp4


Yes, I'm almost done developing an app that you can run to clean up your follow list. It will unfollow the nostr ghosts and bury them in your own nostr graveyard list. 🪦👻

If a revenant comes back to life, you can easily discover that by checking the feed for your graveyard list. 🤙🏼


Now I fkn Post enrage hunt


@nosnevets 👋


Still time to enter ⏲ 🤣


Why is everyone boosting our Blockclock giveaway from February? That was 8 months ago 😂


That isn't the tetra pak guy is it


Working on Nostr Wallet Connect Connect (taking better name suggestions)

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/pull/851


Why is everyone boosting this ⏰

nostr:nevent1qqs9lf6486d8n03h025qsg7haldwu8lgaa97expe2lwfk25rqq8dnpqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvupzq0vzarmvcmqfv4zt7vlysadq8atqpt8l0mzx0c2s58x8wykjznwfqvzqqqqqqy249a52


Following

Great ideas for my channel

Thank you 🙏

nostr:nevent1qqsrnrkgygkklqmq002xxcgrp88ma2x4u2jhudaul4fyzvm7w4l95ecpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyppgyklmtpwk44qqv77y9gdjdc3sfr6s8yat6zzjme6j9yjrmprtvqcyqqqqqqgm6c22c


Good day!

This is #InkblotArt, the note that zaps you for your imagination!
Today is October 29, 2023. Block height of 814355

**FULL COLOR INKBLOTART SUNDAY EDITION**

HOW TO EARN SATS ON INKBLOTART

100 sats for a note telling me what you envision.

200 sats for including my hashtags in your comments.

ONE COMMENT ONLY PLEASE, MULTIPLE COMMENTS WON'T RECEIVE ZAPS.
Everyday is fresh art and the rewards for old art don't exist. Always comment on the fresh art, please.

Want to share InkblotArt to other social media networks? (This opportunity ends on the last day of November.)
500 sats for proof of post (screenshots, no links to other social media.) Don't SPAM.
!!!ONE!!! post to a single network of your choice, per day. (Reddit, Facebook, X, Instagram, Pinterest, gab, truth social, plus other sites you think Bitcoiners may be!)
More newcomers are arriving and spreading the InkblotArt notes, hence the need to adjust rewards.

COMMENT USING WORDS NOT EMOJIS.

#GrowNostr #OnlyOnNostr #GrowArtstr #InkblotArt
https://cdn.satellite.earth/12b6ea20316e0f7fd7c7af11db1a50380dcccc6fb97b12befc6197bc79d16b3c.jpg


Young prince sitting on a throne surrounded by his subjects with a dog spirit overlooking him

#grownostr #onlyonnostr #growartstr #inkblotart


Great note 📝 👀

nostr:nevent1qqsxq68jlt8f5fn6yzfcygsjnhy56paw863wc76dd3m5qw2dge57nncppamhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5pzpu8d8t37rdu696vk2vxnkmkxg5d9ryrgnnc8mph9l094ej26jlqfqvzqqqqqqyf83d5p


Nollet


nostr:npub1luhyzgce7qtcs6r6v00ryjxza8av8u4dzh3avg0zks38tjktnmxspxq903

Thanks for the meme idea 💡

https://image.nostr.build/69a0667b9d042baaeb2a30208d1fdf4c765c381aa91cd6abd36ad801f5f59f77.jpg

https://image.nostr.build/dfd0f9092eee6906e9c9ae00bbd2bd1b70169504bea585a00cc23541a4bd5ed5.jpg


#wash #halloween #maniac 👻👀🔊🫧🧼👻👀🔊🫧🧼

https://video.nostr.build/48bd3ca87d9c45020d0e0fc30fe4b28a4b72d0ea78583486d4c613c19afdb773.mp4


People will realise that any centralised entity, company or organisation can block, ban or banish you, whether it be in the financial, retail or hospitality sectors.

#bitcoin few understand it now, many will

nostr:nevent1qqsfgtzvped6yzluqfsqmqu45f0k0r67exttartdv7q00fjerpkcghsprpmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuumwdae8gtnnda3kjctvqgsr7acdvhf6we9fch94qwhpy0nza36e3tgrtkpku25ppuu80f69kfqrqsqqqqqp8u77jw


I’m looking for 21 plebs willing to get a free copy of my book History Echoes #Bitcoin in return for an Amazon review. HMU…

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0C7MVH1HG?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_561P15Q20QN1P4GDZFC7


 Fuck off

https://image.nostr.build/89f415e740408d77837c7cd3a0bc14a55f65c2de376431bb0dd751b7a501c811.jpg


#wash #halloween #spooky 👻🧼👻👻🔊👻👀👻

https://video.nostr.build/f1855da8fb99d07b13e7019def0ec4fa3e0dcb877fc91434036155e97a1114d6.mp4


#zapathon

https://image.nostr.build/250df5ceecc5633f429f21787bdd203258d703facf31d103d3f85d850a2c39a9.jpg


#wash #pumpupthejam 🔊🕺👀🤙🫧🧼👏

https://video.nostr.build/3c6beaed0911b25acd75f179f1f6e74a6ad0f69b1f4fe12d6339daa9f768674f.mp4


https://image.nostr.build/e88d85f01ba6737ab471ed8173c601920fd7d20ef9ef04c3140a48a048416f64.gif
🔪🎃🎞📽🍿#MovieNight Stream🍿🎥📼🎃🗡
  🎃🎟🎬🍿Halloween "Screaming"🍿🎬🎟🎃

$boost $comment $like

Halloween Special in partnership with Conspiracy nest!

🗓 Sunday Oct 29th on zap.stream
🕰 Time: 6pm EST
📋 Schedule: Suspiria stream with live chat 6-8pm
🏆 Badges are awarded for attendance, see below.
Halloween Special Conspiracy Chat with nostr:npub1mu9wmykl7qx5llk69axd3rvk0hzhdd25jsqtj2hmnzjpn2sxum6s8jjj0t , nostr:npub1ezw0xm0w52rd4yfdg9zlw9qvwdy46alzelklkefptrd203m37tuq4djmeg , and nostr:npub12gu8c6uee3p243gez6cgk76362admlqe72aq3kp2fppjsjwmm7eqj9fle6 8pm
Trick? Or a possible Treat? 9pm

We're back! And we're watching Suspiria (1977)
https://youtu.be/hPs2ExUL_bc?si=vfJxbaHMb0P4pRXY

One of the most gorgeous horror films you'll ever see. Directed by the master Dario Argento, a household name of horror. You will be stunned with it's use of color and dazzled by it's angles. You'll barely even notice the greusome deaths because the sets are so spectacular! And a soundtrack by a genius Italian band local to where the film was shot. A band called Goblin. May I present to you, the original Suspiria.

Keep an eye out for the use of color
The elaborate sets
Kill count
And the music!

Hosted by nostr:npub17ranr5vpp20etheaz78u6e72pvyc0xk3r6rgnetfvtxc88acat2q4nhenz

There will we a watching party with live chat streamed thanks to nostr:npub1wtuh24gpuxjyvnmjwlvxzg8k0elhasagfmmgz0x8vp4ltcy8ples54e7js and nostr:npub1jv3tmy30yrr0ek0fzdz5wfanh0pdp947fqgewyz44qndmg75ev9sz7lakg Afterward, we will be directing people to Conspiracy nest with Ralf, Bevo, and New1 for their scheduled programming. They may or may not have a special Treat planned, or it may be a trick🤷🏽

Check the comments for plebs critiques! If you'd like to be notified about future movie nights let us know in the comments!

Here's the link if you want to watch it on your own time and just join the nest afterward.
https://movie-web.app/media/tmdb-movie-11906

#MovieNight nostr:npub1njst6azswskk5gp3ns8r6nr8nj0qg65acu8gaa2u9yz7yszjxs9s6k7fqx #movies #films #kino #kinostr #filmstr #flickstr #movie #film #flick #movienight #nowplaying #watchparty #artstr #art #masterpiece #cinematography #cinephile #surreal #nest #livechat #nostrnest #party #plebchain #coffeechain #spooktober #halloween #horror #Entertainment #Nostrich #Newtonostr #Newbies #GrowNostr #repost #420 #weedstr

nostr:naddr1qqg5v6tvd4pkcatz2d6hxurfwf5kzgqzyrc0kvw3sy9fl9wl85tclnt8eg9snpu66y0gdz09d93vmqulhr4dgqcyqqq82wgml6ddy
nostr:naddr1qq85ummnw3ezq3nfd3kjqsmvw43qyg8slvcarqg2n72a70gh3lxk0jstpxre45g7s6y726tzekpelw826spsgqqqw5ushls43l
nostr:naddr1qqykx6twv4cxcetzwvpzpu8mx8gczz5ljh0n69u0e4nu5zcfs7ddz85x38jkjckdsw0m36k5qvzqqqr48yrvpfse


Just created a channel on whatsapp

https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaChACQ35fLqPfvkCG2g


Mobile beer brewer and burger grill


It's downright hilarious that politicians who don't understand how #bitcoin works think they can effectively regulate it.

nostr:nevent1qqspdkklvnjxrytz37tkmlnk07kmlnufswu66pcw0nshgjc8k90lw3qpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujumn0wd68ytnzvupzqdqakkn782f37jgftkp2ftxf888c5eef8v0yz70afdwq23xylsh0qvzqqqqqqy6smhy8


#memes #meme #memestr #pics #fun #havefun #funny #grownostr #photo #photos #gif #nostr #plebchain
https://m.primal.net/HOey.jpg


If you were really serious about punishing stores that open on Thanksgiving,
you'd buy a bunch of stuff the prior week, then return it all on Thanksgiving,
giving them negative revenue for being open that day.
	-[deleted], Nov 2014


21 🤣 excellent touch ♾

nostr:nevent1qqsvlaghj7s9k9z45avatqplzsgjnpuuc0n23r5j38w35t79k5m8tnqpz9mhxue69uhkummnw3ezumr49e4k2q3q8ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqxpqqqqqqzwtmy2y


NRC-20, NostrSwap and "Nostr Assets" are scams that exist only to steal your money. Do not fall for it. Tell your children.


😂🤣💜💪🫂🧡🫡🤣#zapathon #zap #meme 💜💪🫂🧡🫡💜🤣 https://image.nostr.build/85a187c67b58895835c369ff8e31c85525c7b93642591e002e06f2ee992166b8.gif

nostr:nevent1qqsx52ks7vpwgpmqaeqwu2rzqj2vpd8xyvrzu85j0sr2zcfhyr0faggpp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyzkrgzs0lfy9385c47zhwa29985vt8ml6yg0r0yr958g6nzd85v9xqcyqqqqqqgmpsnj4


The World is Your Mirror

.🧡Smile💜 https://v.nostr.build/nMVE.mov


Thank-you Sir 🫡


Why am I the only nostrich without a clickable link 😭

Are you all on test flight


#bitcoin

https://image.nostr.build/561f259071261e43a12c2bb228ebf83a913741b654546710fd409a0506c43d40.jpg


A Machine Learning algorithm walks into a bar.

The bartender asks, "Why the long memory?"

nostr:nevent1qqsr2gdtx48zndxxx2pfatgrlvjvkgclf8ytx5lphff2uerg56x22wspp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzypdhslr4823pshemeqpm44x5wpxvxdvytzn2xmsm25x46dgxy3ueqqcyqqqqqqg3nk58g


Thinking about this today 😂 https://image.nostr.build/c5eb3f5198b19eeecadb39f7a7d5bba35c56f0e30bb02e4d76041ac227fdd083.jpg


Boost this post for 200 sats!!! ⚡⚡⚡

Here is a snippet of Vespa:

https://video.nostr.build/920c63956db11bf650fbfec326cdac3ffbeca22e2a242503f71da47ae227ae71.mp4

Please go pre-save it on Spotify 🫶 it helps me a ton 👇👇👇

https://distrokid.com/hyperfollow/chut1/vespa-feat-loui-grandson

Reply with proof you pre-saved for a surprise ⚡🎁


Congratulations 👏 on the long duration


70+ hours - no food

Winding down. I don’t know if I want to end today. I’m battling myself. I don’t need the food, I’m not even hungry.  I feel great. Worked out last night, no loss of energy or power.  This fast has been amazing.  The state of mind it threw me into is one I will look back on as a place I NEED to get back to whenever I think of fasting.

Thanks for reading my emotions and experiences these last few days.  I don’t typically say much in my regular life. Kinda strange to share so much.  I appreciate you all.

🤙🤝💜 https://image.nostr.build/d4cd8e049a2e6f5fb6d4bc9ba853598a2135734a7ed257dd3fbf7f8697fd9172.jpg


Custom Hitch Covers 🥰

https://image.nostr.build/e05275bd2ff9a308106d3817de85c8d119e8941701cae755ee5c36c4a05ba9a1.jpg


#wash #newpan #hear the drummer #getwicked 🔊🫂🕺👀🤙🧼🫧

https://video.nostr.build/d3cdc51137b8ced4a02cdd581a454de0faeb5a4aa9038124a1961bc8bfa8f7df.mp4


Nostr: decentralized social network powered by the magic of friendship.

Or something like that.


can i officially say i’m going through my first bitcoin bull run or am i too early?


Pray tell?


A YouTuber friend of mine with 100k subs is about to quit his job and focus on making content full time.

He’s a closet bitcoiner and he just started accepting BTC sponsorships.

He wants to add something to his studio background that is related to Bitcoin.

Any ideas what he could add?


I saw an old woman on my walk.. really old.. rail thin,  pale.. she was waking up her driveway slowly.. I glanced at her and she glanced at me.. then out of nowhere she smiled and raised her hand to say hello.. I did the same.. mind you I’ve seen this woman many many times before and she’s NEVER looked up.. just slowly looking down and sad or stone faced..

Suddenly my body was covered in chills.. like she saw the real me and I saw the real her.. I realized she’ll be gone soon and the energy in my body was feeling excitement for her as she returned to the infinite and she felt excitement too because she knew i could see her and felt my energy. I could literally feel her energetic presence,  beneath her human cloak. Still having chills as I write this.  I don’t really even know what just happened,  I just no that it happened.  It was real.  It was profound.


The Prequel to Why Bitcoin?

Prologue

In the dynamic confluence of technology, finance, and energy, understanding the nuances of money—its history, mechanisms, and potential for future transformation—is not just a scholarly pursuit but a strategic imperative. As we stand at an inflection point, with digital currencies like Bitcoin poised to disrupt our traditional financial paradigms, delving into the historical milestones, such as the pivotal year of 1971, the principles behind the gold standard, and the intricate mechanisms of money creation, debt, and credit, is critical. This exploration is not just about understanding these concepts in isolation but about envisioning how they could intersect with cutting-edge technology to redefine our world. This guide is an expedition into these complex territories, drawing insights from the past and present to navigate the uncharted future.

Summary

Our expedition into the financial realms underscores the intricate dance of economic forces and human ambition. The year 1971 was more than a historical marker; it was the genesis of a new monetary era that set the stage for today's economic theatrics. The gold standard, now a relic of the past, continues to hold lessons for the future, especially in discussions around financial stability and autonomy.

Money creation, a privilege of the banking elite, is a process shrouded in complexity and controversy, a magic trick with profound implications. Meanwhile, debt and credit are the lifeblood of our economy, sustaining growth yet also planting seeds for potential turmoil. These forces, seemingly mundane, hold the power to ignite economic booms or trigger devastating busts.

From the lens of Austrian economics, our current financial architecture is a precarious one, teetering on the brink, sustained by policies that inflate bubbles destined to burst. Herein lies the argument for a return to sound money principles, a sentiment echoing through the chambers of gold standard advocates and cryptocurrency enthusiasts alike.

Bitcoin emerges as a beacon in this discourse, a digital defiance against traditional monetary systems. Its immutable supply and decentralized nature present a stark contrast to fiat currencies, offering a glimpse into a future where money is not just a tool for transaction but an instrument of true economic empowerment.

As we venture further into this digital era, the lessons from our monetary past are not mere echoes but guiding voices as we forge our path. Whether we're transitioning into a world where cryptocurrencies reign supreme or one where they exist alongside fiat currencies in a complex financial tapestry, our understanding of these historical and economic nuances will be the compass that guides our journey.

 1. What happened in 1971?

In 1971, a critical event known as the "Nixon Shock" occurred. U.S. President Richard Nixon announced that the United States would no longer convert dollars to gold at a fixed value, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. This system was a global agreement where most countries pegged their currencies to the U.S. dollar, which was convertible to gold.

Why did this happen? The U.S. was facing high inflation and economic challenges, partly due to the costs of the Vietnam War. By ending the gold standard, the government hoped to stabilize the economy. However, this decision had global repercussions. It led to the modern system of floating exchange rates, where the value of a currency is determined by the forex market.

The end of the gold standard meant that governments could print more money without needing a gold reserve to back it. While this increased financial flexibility, it also introduced risks like higher inflation and economic instability. This event is a pivotal point in understanding Bitcoin, which seeks to offer an alternative to traditional fiat currencies by limiting its supply, akin to gold.

2. What is the gold standard?

The gold standard is a monetary system where a country's currency or paper money has a value directly linked to gold. With the gold standard, individuals could exchange their paper money for a specified amount of gold. Countries that use the gold standard set a fixed price for gold, allowing for the free exchange of gold for money.

The gold standard is significant because it provides a fixed asset to back a currency, ensuring governments don't print excessive amounts of money. However, it can also lead to economic problems. If a country doesn't have enough gold, it might not have enough money to support its economic needs. The gold standard can also tie the hands of policymakers, limiting their ability to respond to economic crises.

3. How is money created?

In modern economies, money is created through a process called fractional-reserve banking. Here's how it works: you deposit your money in a bank. The bank then loans out most of this money to others. When those loans are deposited into other banks, a portion is loaned out again. Through this process, the banking system creates more money than the original amount deposited.

Central banks also create money by buying assets like government bonds. This process is called quantitative easing (QE). They do this to influence economic activity, like encouraging spending and investment when the economy is slow.

4. What is debt?

Debt is money borrowed by one party from another. Many entities use debt as a method of making large purchases they could not afford under normal circumstances. A debt arrangement gives the borrowing party permission to borrow money under the condition that it is to be paid back at a later date, usually with interest.

Debt can be used effectively to improve one's financial position or business operations. However, if not managed carefully, debt can lead to financial ruin and severe economic consequences on a larger scale.

5. What is credit?

Credit is a contractual agreement in which a borrower receives something of value now and agrees to repay the lender at a later date, generally with interest. Credit also refers to the creditworthiness or credit history of an individual or company..

For individuals and companies, credit is vital for significant purchases and investments. It's a fundamental component of a modern economy, allowing for transactions, investments, and risk-taking that drive economic growth.

6. What happened in Venezuela?

The story of the wealthiest country in a continent, destroyed by Fiat gone to the extreme end of a socio economic system.

This series will explore the topics above like a study guide accessible to those with a curious mind.


This man got the minerals to hodl 🤙

nostr:nevent1qqsgv5wkq2kc29nnq2s6lev8cgtmkpxt2mntsrh5pv05ht8lqjg4j3cpr3mhxue69uhkummnw3ezucnfw33k76twv4ezuum0vd5kzmqzyrmhd0xpyfcmu70uwxm9tu7tl6e63gtf7vlwzv6lesxz9q5eq8dy5qcyqqqqqqgwkudn4


#wash just how you like it 🧼🫧👀🤙🔊🕺🫂

https://video.nostr.build/fc728046c55bd4cbe39b63580857cc42c2f2fbd7d74a42ce34ab275d646d1e77.mp4


Excellent write up for newcomers looking for information on lightning network ⚡🤙🫂

nostr:nevent1qqsfjzur7nlf25ua5jejukwh9yjrnyenjrna2f5487c08hrjv62dq5spp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyqswzlwsasdmpqex3rnnntvfwzwsgl0ty0k4z35z9m7a9532u5zdwqcyqqqqqqg75zxuk


They'll approve just before the halving for maximum bag pumpage. $boost


#wash #myfeelings #foryou 🤙🕺👀🫧🧼🔊🤙🕺

https://video.nostr.build/4c561e86839e9e4fca62c44e1ae92d9fe5f0b6c83b9ec80cfa999a55cc9234ef.mp4


No You've  got another thing coming!

https://static.noagendasocial.com/media_attachments/files/111/288/138/161/276/108/original/f942de12efacff00.png


𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝟮𝟭 𝗠𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻?

I was recently asked this at @LuganoPlanB’s conference, and admittedly, my answer could have been better. My responses are based solely on 𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘦𝘴, remember, not actual knowledge. 😉

But thanks to a little human intervention, I have a much better answer for you now.

This question is asked a lot, so be sure to 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬🔖 this, and 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘦🔄 it with others.

Let’s go⬇

https://m.primal.net/HOTK.png

It’s unlikely that Satoshi’s initial choice was to have a hard cap of 21 million coins, and then work everything else around that. Rather, the max supply of 21 million was the end result of 3 architectural decisions that are more foundational to Bitcoin's design:
𝟭. Average block time
𝟮. Coin distribution
𝟯. Number of blocks in a halving cycle

𝗔𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸 𝗧𝗶𝗺𝗲
Since Satoshi was a human (most likely), he would have thought in round numbers, and wanted the average block time to be a round number of minutes. 1 minute was too short to mitigate against possible internet latency issues, an hour would be much too long for a single confirmation, but 10 minutes was just right.

𝗖𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻
Simplistically speaking, there were 3 ways that Bitcoin could have issued new coins to miners:
𝟭. Keep the rate of distribution the same at an arbitrary amount, and make it end suddenly at an arbitrary point in time or amount of issued coins
𝟮. Start out with a small distribution and slowly increase it with time before suddenly stopping at an arbitrary limit
𝟯. Start out with a large distribution and gradually decrease it over time until the number of new coins runs out

Only this last one makes any sense. The others would hinder Bitcoin's early adoption, interfere with its maturing to rely on transaction fees, and shock the network when suddenly no more coins are distributed.

And in order for the distribution rate to diminish asymptotically, the number of new coins issued with each block would need to be halved at regular intervals. This means that 50% of the total supply would need to have been issued at the end of the first cycle.

It's only fitting then that the block subsidy for that cycle be 50 bitcoin, 𝘴𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘮𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘺𝘤𝘭𝘦.

𝗡𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗸𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗛𝗮𝗹𝘃𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝘆𝗰𝗹𝗲
Like with average block times, Satoshi likely wanted to keep the halving cycles as close to a round number of years and blocks as possible. 210,000 blocks, or just under 4 years, made the most sense, and allowed enough time for the market to adjust to any issuance rate before it gets halved again.

And then it’s a very nice "coincidence" that with 𝟮𝟭0,000 blocks in each cycle, working together with the distribution method and the average block time, the total number of bitcoin adds up to just under 𝟮𝟭,000,000.

https://m.primal.net/HOTL.png

So remember: 𝟮𝟭 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙪𝙡𝙩 𝗼𝗳 𝗕𝗶𝘁𝗰𝗼𝗶𝗻’𝘀 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿𝗹𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲, not an arbitrary number simply chosen by Satoshi.

But why do 𝘺𝘰𝘶 think Bitcoin has a maximum of 21 million coins, and not another number? Is there more significance to that number than initially meets the eye?
Let me know in the 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!⬇

Know anyone who has been asking this question?
𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲🔄 this post with them, and 𝗯𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗸🔖 it, so you can have the answer ready whenever you need it.


1,2 skip a few 100,000,000 sat

nostr:nevent1qqsdcf3xugqlhhw2aheyfqwjj8ukvyksj0q47h4atkmgvxd70aeh57qppamhxue69uhkummnw3ezumt0d5pzqjmqyk50uy29csf70nhzvf2ge7qqamyddp22yxscprs0nr5eqajfqvzqqqqqqycx3svk


GN https://video.nostr.build/5ab461ce986dd95efe93cfd8565c7e2ee74e02cd0bdec0c4f9578b24a9d257b8.mov


500 sats for EVERYONE! Repost and tag a Fren! Goal: 100 reposts. $boost

https://i.nostr.build/kV0j.gif


Help a nostrich out

nostr:nevent1qqs8hf4kdj72zwwk636k77jgcu30jkuhlyp7pxcxta8ga8v2ysezt6spp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzypxjmpt4z0288p3tnk54u5ghkarvdgc4t2x0k822lgv4uurau4t2gqcyqqqqqqghc4j55


I am so pumped. Finally a Non-custodial LN / On chain Wallet with a bonus of #Nostr integration.

If Phoenix wallet and #Nostr would have a baby, it would be called @zeus !

Just to be sure, before being able to receive zaps, I need to open a 50K channel? Is that the fees or it’s the minimum amount of the first channel?

LFG! nostr:note1pxl9mmj54slsehc6lt265kmr84rdzn482aw9flrydzdd6pyd7p5q0h48nt


https://video.nostr.build/d302b7491050fa77b1710d22311665b91abb2a8df016a1579e7048a7ff382b10.mp4

Bitcoin is pumping and everybody wants your sats.

Don't get rugpulled, withdraw your sats in cold storage and hold your own keys
Pick any wallet from my guide

https://LOVEISBITCOIN.com/wallets


#wash #special #someone 🧼🤙💦👀🔊🫧🕺🧼🤙

https://video.nostr.build/38ba80303899dca4b3c5d5bd4cc2d7914a5f058be1f67593628d583a7888f8fd.mp4


Nor can she poor girl


What's the yellow tick after organisation's accounts

Thought nostr was decentralised


#bitcoin

https://image.nostr.build/d0528878648bdd220badd5e54db064c145ca3b076a5efd9a07b5304011138a06.jpg


1.6 at any cost what a guy!! 🕺


So, back of a cigarette packet calculation

2036 is not that far away, it'll be 0.3btc reward

Currently 6.25

So 6.25 x 30k ish = 180k ish

So 0.3 of that if history repeats itself

In 2036 1 btc will be 540k

Right?

nostr:nevent1qqs26twkwscrcg9j7tpkqpwjzrd92y74zfczdmml5ypc6hwh3aq4lgspp4mhxue69uhkummn9ekx7mqzyz7mux7mexe94rvfmr767zlp5rwdsda6e9537ktcj2gr5h7asm387qcyqqqqqqg9zkc8k


#wash #bustarhymes 🧼🤙🫧🔊👀🧼🤙🫧 #oldschooltunes

https://video.nostr.build/73181709f5136c1b5a2a0fbb4d95709a780ffaae08762270401a11599067e85b.mp4


They can try their pandemics,
make a pact with Pharmakeia,
launch world war three,
try to digitize their fiat.

they'll fake blow the horns,
to try to stop the corn.
then they'll feign to be sad'ya
dont give a fuck like the badga.

like you just keep on stackin
and refining your craft
the beast system is drowning
but you found a raft.

#hallelujah


Relays Help!
Nostr noob and devops-in-training needs advice on server architecture and hosting infrastructure for a relay cluster. I have lots of questions and  a few sats for an experienced relay host only.

- will have a paid “main” relay with temp storage for all verified users @ vote.gold, available for any nostr user with one time registration fee.

- will spin up private relays for teams at subdomain.vote.gold, with archival storage and a one time fee + monthly storage fee.

- will have a dashboard UI to get verified @ vote.gold usernames and to register subdomains, configure & monitor relays, and top up sats.

What would hosting architecture look like? Can host multiple relays on a single VPs? How do containers and kebernetes fit into all this? What an I looking at in monthly cost per instance? How do I know what compute resources I will need? How to start and how to scale?  Pro tips?

#relays
#hosting
#devops
#help


#foodstr #zapathon #zap #Lightning #reddit #grownostr    https://cdn.zbd.gg/ugc-uploads/acc314da-1697836260782.jpeg


#Zapathon https://image.nostr.build/024052a9744c790a2bcf636b974dd17ab3447bca9fec8256d9136ce4108ea48a.jpg


🥰⚡#BTC #Nostr #Lightning #Zapathon ⚡💯 #Zaps at a time #RideThe ⚡

https://i.nostrimg.com/9f1276e9319483b1bf495cefd33281ef098e2453f6516f5e7bd18336bd69bd26/file.jpg