@ eac63075:b4988b48

The future of physical money is at stake, and the discussion about DREX, the new digital currency planned by the Central Bank of Brazil, is gaining momentum. In a candid and intense conversation, Federal Deputy Julia Zanatta (PL/SC) discussed the challenges and risks of this digital transition, also addressing her Bill No. 3,341/2024, which aims to prevent the extinction of physical currency. This bill emerges as a direct response to legislative initiatives seeking to replace physical money with digital alternatives, limiting citizens' options and potentially compromising individual freedom. Let's delve into the main points of this conversation.

https://www.fountain.fm/episode/i5YGJ9Ors3PkqAIMvNQ0

(PT-BR version here)

What is a CBDC?

Before discussing the specifics of DREX, it’s important to understand what a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is. CBDCs are digital currencies issued by central banks, similar to a digital version of physical money. Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which operate in a decentralized manner, CBDCs are centralized and regulated by the government. In other words, they are digital currencies created and controlled by the Central Bank, intended to replace physical currency.

A prominent feature of CBDCs is their programmability. This means that the government can theoretically set rules about how, where, and for what this currency can be used. This aspect enables a level of control over citizens' finances that is impossible with physical money. By programming the currency, the government could limit transactions by setting geographical or usage restrictions. In practice, money within a CBDC could be restricted to specific spending or authorized for use in a defined geographical area.

In countries like China, where citizen actions and attitudes are also monitored, a person considered to have a "low score" due to a moral or ideological violation may have their transactions limited to essential purchases, restricting their digital currency use to non-essential activities. This financial control is strengthened because, unlike physical money, digital currency cannot be exchanged anonymously.

Practical Example: The Case of DREX During the Pandemic

To illustrate how DREX could be used, an example was given by Eric Altafim, director of Banco Itaú. He suggested that, if DREX had existed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the government could have restricted the currency’s use to a 5-kilometer radius around a person’s residence, limiting their economic mobility. Another proposed use by the executive related to the Bolsa Família welfare program: the government could set up programming that only allows this benefit to be used exclusively for food purchases. Although these examples are presented as control measures for safety or organization, they demonstrate how much a CBDC could restrict citizens' freedom of choice.

To illustrate the potential for state control through a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), such as DREX, it is helpful to look at the example of China. In China, the implementation of a CBDC coincides with the country’s Social Credit System, a governmental surveillance tool that assesses citizens' and companies' behavior. Together, these technologies allow the Chinese government to monitor, reward, and, above all, punish behavior deemed inappropriate or threatening to the government.

How Does China's Social Credit System Work?

Implemented in 2014, China's Social Credit System assigns every citizen and company a "score" based on various factors, including financial behavior, criminal record, social interactions, and even online activities. This score determines the benefits or penalties each individual receives and can affect everything from public transport access to obtaining loans and enrolling in elite schools for their children. Citizens with low scores may face various sanctions, including travel restrictions, fines, and difficulty in securing loans.

With the adoption of the CBDC — or “digital yuan” — the Chinese government now has a new tool to closely monitor citizens' financial transactions, facilitating the application of Social Credit System penalties. China’s CBDC is a programmable digital currency, which means that the government can restrict how, when, and where the money can be spent. Through this level of control, digital currency becomes a powerful mechanism for influencing citizens' behavior.

Imagine, for instance, a citizen who repeatedly posts critical remarks about the government on social media or participates in protests. If the Social Credit System assigns this citizen a low score, the Chinese government could, through the CBDC, restrict their money usage in certain areas or sectors. For example, they could be prevented from buying tickets to travel to other regions, prohibited from purchasing certain consumer goods, or even restricted to making transactions only at stores near their home.

Another example of how the government can use the CBDC to enforce the Social Credit System is by monitoring purchases of products such as alcohol or luxury items. If a citizen uses the CBDC to spend more than the government deems reasonable on such products, this could negatively impact their social score, resulting in additional penalties such as future purchase restrictions or a lowered rating that impacts their personal and professional lives.

In China, this kind of control has already been demonstrated in several cases. Citizens added to Social Credit System “blacklists” have seen their spending and investment capacity severely limited. The combination of digital currency and social scores thus creates a sophisticated and invasive surveillance system, through which the Chinese government controls important aspects of citizens’ financial lives and individual freedoms.

Deputy Julia Zanatta views these examples with great concern. She argues that if the state has full control over digital money, citizens will be exposed to a level of economic control and surveillance never seen before. In a democracy, this control poses a risk, but in an authoritarian regime, it could be used as a powerful tool of repression.

DREX and Bill No. 3,341/2024

Julia Zanatta became aware of a bill by a Workers' Party (PT) deputy (Bill 4068/2020 by Deputy Reginaldo Lopes - PT/MG) that proposes the extinction of physical money within five years, aiming for a complete transition to DREX, the digital currency developed by the Central Bank of Brazil. Concerned about the impact of this measure, Julia drafted her bill, PL No. 3,341/2024, which prohibits the elimination of physical money, ensuring citizens the right to choose physical currency.

“The more I read about DREX, the less I want its implementation,” says the deputy. DREX is a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), similar to other state digital currencies worldwide, but which, according to Julia, carries extreme control risks. She points out that with DREX, the State could closely monitor each citizen’s transactions, eliminating anonymity and potentially restricting freedom of choice. This control would lie in the hands of the Central Bank, which could, in a crisis or government change, “freeze balances or even delete funds directly from user accounts.”

Risks and Individual Freedom

Julia raises concerns about potential abuses of power that complete digitalization could allow. In a democracy, state control over personal finances raises serious questions, and EddieOz warns of an even more problematic future. “Today we are in a democracy, but tomorrow, with a government transition, we don't know if this kind of power will be used properly or abused,” he states. In other words, DREX gives the State the ability to restrict or condition the use of money, opening the door to unprecedented financial surveillance.

EddieOz cites Nigeria as an example, where a CBDC was implemented, and the government imposed severe restrictions on the use of physical money to encourage the use of digital currency, leading to protests and clashes in the country. In practice, the poorest and unbanked — those without regular access to banking services — were harshly affected, as without physical money, many cannot conduct basic transactions. Julia highlights that in Brazil, this situation would be even more severe, given the large number of unbanked individuals and the extent of rural areas where access to technology is limited.

The Relationship Between DREX and Pix

The digital transition has already begun with Pix, which revolutionized instant transfers and payments in Brazil. However, Julia points out that Pix, though popular, is a citizen’s choice, while DREX tends to eliminate that choice. The deputy expresses concern about new rules suggested for Pix, such as daily transaction limits of a thousand reais, justified as anti-fraud measures but which, in her view, represent additional control and a profit opportunity for banks. “How many more rules will banks create to profit from us?” asks Julia, noting that DREX could further enhance control over personal finances.

International Precedents and Resistance to CBDC

The deputy also cites examples from other countries resisting the idea of a centralized digital currency. In the United States, states like New Hampshire have passed laws to prevent the advance of CBDCs, and leaders such as Donald Trump have opposed creating a national digital currency. Trump, addressing the topic, uses a justification similar to Julia’s: in a digitalized system, “with one click, your money could disappear.” She agrees with the warning, emphasizing the control risk that a CBDC represents, especially for countries with disadvantaged populations.

Besides the United States, Canada, Colombia, and Australia have also suspended studies on digital currencies, citing the need for further discussions on population impacts. However, in Brazil, the debate on DREX is still limited, with few parliamentarians and political leaders openly discussing the topic. According to Julia, only she and one or two deputies are truly trying to bring this discussion to the Chamber, making DREX’s advance even more concerning.

Bill No. 3,341/2024 and Popular Pressure

For Julia, her bill is a first step. Although she acknowledges that ideally, it would prevent DREX's implementation entirely, PL 3341/2024 is a measure to ensure citizens' choice to use physical money, preserving a form of individual freedom. “If the future means control, I prefer to live in the past,” Julia asserts, reinforcing that the fight for freedom is at the heart of her bill.

However, the deputy emphasizes that none of this will be possible without popular mobilization. According to her, popular pressure is crucial for other deputies to take notice and support PL 3341. “I am only one deputy, and we need the public’s support to raise the project’s visibility,” she explains, encouraging the public to press other parliamentarians and ask them to “pay attention to PL 3341 and the project that prohibits the end of physical money.” The deputy believes that with a strong awareness and pressure movement, it is possible to advance the debate and ensure Brazilians’ financial freedom.

What’s at Stake?

Julia Zanatta leaves no doubt: DREX represents a profound shift in how money will be used and controlled in Brazil. More than a simple modernization of the financial system, the Central Bank’s CBDC sets precedents for an unprecedented level of citizen surveillance and control in the country. For the deputy, this transition needs to be debated broadly and transparently, and it’s up to the Brazilian people to defend their rights and demand that the National Congress discuss these changes responsibly.

The deputy also emphasizes that, regardless of political or partisan views, this issue affects all Brazilians. “This agenda is something that will affect everyone. We need to be united to ensure people understand the gravity of what could happen.” Julia believes that by sharing information and generating open debate, it is possible to prevent Brazil from following the path of countries that have already implemented a digital currency in an authoritarian way.

A Call to Action

The future of physical money in Brazil is at risk. For those who share Deputy Julia Zanatta’s concerns, the time to act is now. Mobilize, get informed, and press your representatives. PL 3341/2024 is an opportunity to ensure that Brazilian citizens have a choice in how to use their money, without excessive state interference or surveillance.

In the end, as the deputy puts it, the central issue is freedom. “My fear is that this project will pass, and people won’t even understand what is happening.” Therefore, may every citizen at least have the chance to understand what’s at stake and make their voice heard in defense of a Brazil where individual freedom and privacy are respected values.

@ eac63075:b4988b48

Imagine sending a private message to a friend, only to learn that authorities could be scanning its contents without your knowledge. This isn't a scene from a dystopian novel but a potential reality under the European Union's proposed "Chat Control" measures. Aimed at combating serious crimes like child exploitation and terrorism, these proposals could significantly impact the privacy of everyday internet users. As encrypted messaging services become the norm for personal and professional communication, understanding Chat Control is essential. This article delves into what Chat Control entails, why it's being considered, and how it could affect your right to private communication.

https://www.fountain.fm/episode/coOFsst7r7mO1EP1kSzV

https://open.spotify.com/episode/0IZ6kMExfxFm4FHg5DAWT8?si=e139033865e045de

Sections:

• Introduction
• What Is Chat Control?
• Why Is the EU Pushing for Chat Control?
• The Privacy Concerns and Risks
• The Technical Debate: Encryption and Backdoors
• Global Reactions and the Debate in Europe
• Possible Consequences for Messaging Services
• What Happens Next? The Future of Chat Control
• Conclusion

---

What Is Chat Control?

"Chat Control" refers to a set of proposed measures by the European Union aimed at monitoring and scanning private communications on messaging platforms. The primary goal is to detect and prevent the spread of illegal content, such as child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and to combat terrorism. While the intention is to enhance security and protect vulnerable populations, these proposals have raised significant privacy concerns.

At its core, Chat Control would require messaging services to implement automated scanning technologies that can analyze the content of messages—even those that are end-to-end encrypted. This means that the private messages you send to friends, family, or colleagues could be subject to inspection by algorithms designed to detect prohibited content.

Origins of the Proposal

The initiative for Chat Control emerged from the EU's desire to strengthen its digital security infrastructure. High-profile cases of online abuse and the use of encrypted platforms by criminal organizations have prompted lawmakers to consider more invasive surveillance tactics. The European Commission has been exploring legislation that would make it mandatory for service providers to monitor communications on their platforms.

How Messaging Services Work

Most modern messaging apps, like Signal, Session, SimpleX, Veilid, Protonmail and Tutanota (among others), use end-to-end encryption (E2EE). This encryption ensures that only the sender and the recipient can read the messages being exchanged. Not even the service providers can access the content. This level of security is crucial for maintaining privacy in digital communications, protecting users from hackers, identity thieves, and other malicious actors.

Key Elements of Chat Control

• Automated Content Scanning: Service providers would use algorithms to scan messages for illegal content.
• Circumvention of Encryption: To scan encrypted messages, providers might need to alter their encryption methods, potentially weakening security.
• Mandatory Reporting: If illegal content is detected, providers would be required to report it to authorities.
• Broad Applicability: The measures could apply to all messaging services operating within the EU, affecting both European companies and international platforms.

Why It Matters

Understanding Chat Control is essential because it represents a significant shift in how digital privacy is handled. While combating illegal activities online is crucial, the methods proposed could set a precedent for mass surveillance and the erosion of privacy rights. Everyday users who rely on encrypted messaging for personal and professional communication might find their conversations are no longer as private as they once thought.

---

Why Is the EU Pushing for Chat Control?

The European Union's push for Chat Control stems from a pressing concern to protect its citizens, particularly children, from online exploitation and criminal activities. With the digital landscape becoming increasingly integral to daily life, the EU aims to strengthen its ability to combat serious crimes facilitated through online platforms.

Protecting Children and Preventing Crime

One of the primary motivations behind Chat Control is the prevention of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) circulating on the internet. Law enforcement agencies have reported a significant increase in the sharing of illegal content through private messaging services. By implementing Chat Control, the EU believes it can more effectively identify and stop perpetrators, rescue victims, and deter future crimes.

Terrorism is another critical concern. Encrypted messaging apps can be used by terrorist groups to plan and coordinate attacks without detection. The EU argues that accessing these communications could be vital in preventing such threats and ensuring public safety.

Legal Context and Legislative Drivers

The push for Chat Control is rooted in several legislative initiatives:

• ePrivacy Directive: This directive regulates the processing of personal data and the protection of privacy in electronic communications. The EU is considering amendments that would allow for the scanning of private messages under specific circumstances.

• Temporary Derogation: In 2021, the EU adopted a temporary regulation permitting voluntary detection of CSAM by communication services. The current proposals aim to make such measures mandatory and more comprehensive.

• Regulation Proposals: The European Commission has proposed regulations that would require service providers to detect, report, and remove illegal content proactively. This would include the use of technologies to scan private communications.

Balancing Security and Privacy

EU officials argue that the proposed measures are a necessary response to evolving digital threats. They emphasize the importance of staying ahead of criminals who exploit technology to harm others. By implementing Chat Control, they believe law enforcement can be more effective without entirely dismantling privacy protections.

However, the EU also acknowledges the need to balance security with fundamental rights. The proposals include provisions intended to limit the scope of surveillance, such as:

• Targeted Scanning: Focusing on specific threats rather than broad, indiscriminate monitoring.

• Judicial Oversight: Requiring court orders or oversight for accessing private communications.

• Data Protection Safeguards: Implementing measures to ensure that data collected is handled securely and deleted when no longer needed.

The Urgency Behind the Push

High-profile cases of online abuse and terrorism have heightened the sense of urgency among EU policymakers. Reports of increasing online grooming and the widespread distribution of illegal content have prompted calls for immediate action. The EU posits that without measures like Chat Control, these problems will continue to escalate unchecked.

Criticism and Controversy

Despite the stated intentions, the push for Chat Control has been met with significant criticism. Opponents argue that the measures could be ineffective against savvy criminals who can find alternative ways to communicate. There is also concern that such surveillance could be misused or extended beyond its original purpose.

---

The Privacy Concerns and Risks

While the intentions behind Chat Control focus on enhancing security and protecting vulnerable groups, the proposed measures raise significant privacy concerns. Critics argue that implementing such surveillance could infringe on fundamental rights and set a dangerous precedent for mass monitoring of private communications.

Infringement on Privacy Rights

At the heart of the debate is the right to privacy. By scanning private messages, even with automated tools, the confidentiality of personal communications is compromised. Users may no longer feel secure sharing sensitive information, fearing that their messages could be intercepted or misinterpreted by algorithms.

Erosion of End-to-End Encryption

End-to-end encryption (E2EE) is a cornerstone of digital security, ensuring that only the sender and recipient can read the messages exchanged. Chat Control could necessitate the introduction of "backdoors" or weaken encryption protocols, making it easier for unauthorized parties to access private data. This not only affects individual privacy but also exposes communications to potential cyber threats.

Concerns from Privacy Advocates

Organizations like Signal and Tutanota, which offer encrypted messaging services, have voiced strong opposition to Chat Control. They warn that undermining encryption could have far-reaching consequences:

• Security Risks: Weakening encryption makes systems more vulnerable to hacking, espionage, and cybercrime.
• Global Implications: Changes in EU regulations could influence policies worldwide, leading to a broader erosion of digital privacy.
• Ineffectiveness Against Crime: Determined criminals might resort to other, less detectable means of communication, rendering the measures ineffective while still compromising the privacy of law-abiding citizens.

Potential for Government Overreach

There is a fear that Chat Control could lead to increased surveillance beyond its original scope. Once the infrastructure for scanning private messages is in place, it could be repurposed or expanded to monitor other types of content, stifling free expression and dissent.

Real-World Implications for Users

• False Positives: Automated scanning technologies are not infallible and could mistakenly flag innocent content, leading to unwarranted scrutiny or legal consequences for users.
• Chilling Effect: Knowing that messages could be monitored might discourage people from expressing themselves freely, impacting personal relationships and societal discourse.
• Data Misuse: Collected data could be vulnerable to leaks or misuse, compromising personal and sensitive information.

Legal and Ethical Concerns

Privacy advocates also highlight potential conflicts with existing laws and ethical standards:

• Violation of Fundamental Rights: The European Convention on Human Rights and other international agreements protect the right to privacy and freedom of expression.
• Questionable Effectiveness: The ethical justification for such invasive measures is challenged if they do not significantly improve safety or if they disproportionately impact innocent users.

Opposition from Member States and Organizations

Countries like Germany and organizations such as the European Digital Rights (EDRi) have expressed opposition to Chat Control. They emphasize the need to protect digital privacy and caution against hasty legislation that could have unintended consequences.

---

The Technical Debate: Encryption and Backdoors

The discussion around Chat Control inevitably leads to a complex technical debate centered on encryption and the potential introduction of backdoors into secure communication systems. Understanding these concepts is crucial to grasping the full implications of the proposed measures.

What Is End-to-End Encryption (E2EE)?

End-to-end encryption is a method of secure communication that prevents third parties from accessing data while it's transferred from one end system to another. In simpler terms, only the sender and the recipient can read the messages. Even the service providers operating the messaging platforms cannot decrypt the content.

• Security Assurance: E2EE ensures that sensitive information—be it personal messages, financial details, or confidential business communications—remains private.
• Widespread Use: Popular messaging apps like Signal, Session, SimpleX, Veilid, Protonmail and Tutanota (among others) rely on E2EE to protect user data.

How Chat Control Affects Encryption

Implementing Chat Control as proposed would require messaging services to scan the content of messages for illegal material. To do this on encrypted platforms, providers might have to:

• Introduce Backdoors: Create a means for third parties (including the service provider or authorities) to access encrypted messages.
• Client-Side Scanning: Install software on users' devices that scans messages before they are encrypted and sent, effectively bypassing E2EE.

The Risks of Weakening Encryption

1. Compromised Security for All Users

Introducing backdoors or client-side scanning tools can create vulnerabilities:

• Exploitable Gaps: If a backdoor exists, malicious actors might find and exploit it, leading to data breaches.
• Universal Impact: Weakening encryption doesn't just affect targeted individuals; it potentially exposes all users to increased risk.

2. Undermining Trust in Digital Services

• User Confidence: Knowing that private communications could be accessed might deter people from using digital services or push them toward unregulated platforms.
• Business Implications: Companies relying on secure communications might face increased risks, affecting economic activities.

3. Ineffectiveness Against Skilled Adversaries

• Alternative Methods: Criminals might shift to other encrypted channels or develop new ways to avoid detection.
• False Sense of Security: Weakening encryption could give the impression of increased safety while adversaries adapt and continue their activities undetected.

Signal’s Response and Stance

Signal, a leading encrypted messaging service, has been vocal in its opposition to the EU's proposals:

• Refusal to Weaken Encryption: Signal's CEO Meredith Whittaker has stated that the company would rather cease operations in the EU than compromise its encryption standards.
• Advocacy for Privacy: Signal emphasizes that strong encryption is essential for protecting human rights and freedoms in the digital age.

Understanding Backdoors

A "backdoor" in encryption is an intentional weakness inserted into a system to allow authorized access to encrypted data. While intended for legitimate use by authorities, backdoors pose several problems:

• Security Vulnerabilities: They can be discovered and exploited by unauthorized parties, including hackers and foreign governments.
• Ethical Concerns: The existence of backdoors raises questions about consent and the extent to which governments should be able to access private communications.

The Slippery Slope Argument

Privacy advocates warn that introducing backdoors or mandatory scanning sets a precedent:

• Expanded Surveillance: Once in place, these measures could be extended to monitor other types of content beyond the original scope.
• Erosion of Rights: Gradual acceptance of surveillance can lead to a significant reduction in personal freedoms over time.

Potential Technological Alternatives

Some suggest that it's possible to fight illegal content without undermining encryption:

• Metadata Analysis: Focusing on patterns of communication rather than content.
• Enhanced Reporting Mechanisms: Encouraging users to report illegal content voluntarily.
• Investing in Law Enforcement Capabilities: Strengthening traditional investigative methods without compromising digital security.

The technical community largely agrees that weakening encryption is not the solution:

• Consensus on Security: Strong encryption is essential for the safety and privacy of all internet users.
• Call for Dialogue: Technologists and privacy experts advocate for collaborative approaches that address security concerns without sacrificing fundamental rights.

---

Global Reactions and the Debate in Europe

The proposal for Chat Control has ignited a heated debate across Europe and beyond, with various stakeholders weighing in on the potential implications for privacy, security, and fundamental rights. The reactions are mixed, reflecting differing national perspectives, political priorities, and societal values.

Support for Chat Control

Some EU member states and officials support the initiative, emphasizing the need for robust measures to combat online crime and protect citizens, especially children. They argue that:

• Enhanced Security: Mandatory scanning can help law enforcement agencies detect and prevent serious crimes.
• Responsibility of Service Providers: Companies offering communication services should play an active role in preventing their platforms from being used for illegal activities.
• Public Safety Priorities: The protection of vulnerable populations justifies the implementation of such measures, even if it means compromising some aspects of privacy.

Opposition within the EU

Several countries and organizations have voiced strong opposition to Chat Control, citing concerns over privacy rights and the potential for government overreach.

Germany

• Stance: Germany has been one of the most vocal opponents of the proposed measures.
• Reasons:
• Constitutional Concerns: The German government argues that Chat Control could violate constitutional protections of privacy and confidentiality of communications.
• Security Risks: Weakening encryption is seen as a threat to cybersecurity.
• Legal Challenges: Potential conflicts with national laws protecting personal data and communication secrecy.

Netherlands

• Recent Developments: The Dutch government decided against supporting Chat Control, emphasizing the importance of encryption for security and privacy.
• Arguments:
• Effectiveness Doubts: Skepticism about the actual effectiveness of the measures in combating crime.
• Negative Impact on Privacy: Concerns about mass surveillance and the infringement of citizens' rights.

Table reference: Patrick Breyer - Chat Control in 23 September 2024

Privacy Advocacy Groups

European Digital Rights (EDRi)

• Role: A network of civil and human rights organizations working to defend rights and freedoms in the digital environment.
• Position:
• Strong Opposition: EDRi argues that Chat Control is incompatible with fundamental rights.
• Awareness Campaigns: Engaging in public campaigns to inform citizens about the potential risks.
• Policy Engagement: Lobbying policymakers to consider alternative approaches that respect privacy.

Politicians and Activists

Patrick Breyer

• Background: A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) from Germany, representing the Pirate Party.
• Actions:
• Advocacy: Actively campaigning against Chat Control through speeches, articles, and legislative efforts.
• Public Outreach: Using social media and public events to raise awareness.
• Legal Expertise: Highlighting the legal inconsistencies and potential violations of EU law.

Global Reactions

International Organizations

• Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International: These organizations have expressed concerns about the implications for human rights, urging the EU to reconsider.

Technology Companies

• Global Tech Firms: Companies like Apple and Microsoft are monitoring the situation, as EU regulations could affect their operations and user trust.
• Industry Associations: Groups representing tech companies have issued statements highlighting the risks to innovation and competitiveness.

The Broader Debate

The controversy over Chat Control reflects a broader struggle between security interests and privacy rights in the digital age. Key points in the debate include:

• Legal Precedents: How the EU's decision might influence laws and regulations in other countries.
• Digital Sovereignty: The desire of nations to control digital spaces within their borders.
• Civil Liberties: The importance of protecting freedoms in the face of technological advancements.

Public Opinion

• Diverse Views: Surveys and public forums show a range of opinions, with some citizens prioritizing security and others valuing privacy above all.
• Awareness Levels: Many people are still unaware of the potential changes, highlighting the need for public education on the issue.

The EU is at a crossroads, facing the challenge of addressing legitimate security concerns without undermining the fundamental rights that are central to its values. The outcome of this debate will have significant implications for the future of digital privacy and the balance between security and freedom in society.

---

Possible Consequences for Messaging Services

The implementation of Chat Control could have significant implications for messaging services operating within the European Union. Both large platforms and smaller providers might need to adapt their technologies and policies to comply with the new regulations, potentially altering the landscape of digital communication.

Impact on Encrypted Messaging Services

Signal and Similar Platforms

• Compliance Challenges: Encrypted messaging services like Signal rely on end-to-end encryption to secure user communications. Complying with Chat Control could force them to weaken their encryption protocols or implement client-side scanning, conflicting with their core privacy principles.

• Operational Decisions: Some platforms may choose to limit their services in the EU or cease operations altogether rather than compromise on encryption. Signal, for instance, has indicated that it would prefer to withdraw from European markets than undermine its security features.

Potential Blocking or Limiting of Services

• Regulatory Enforcement: Messaging services that do not comply with Chat Control regulations could face fines, legal action, or even be blocked within the EU.

• Access Restrictions: Users in Europe might find certain services unavailable or limited in functionality if providers decide not to meet the regulatory requirements.

Effects on Smaller Providers

• Resource Constraints: Smaller messaging services and startups may lack the resources to implement the required scanning technologies, leading to increased operational costs or forcing them out of the market.

• Innovation Stifling: The added regulatory burden could deter new entrants, reducing competition and innovation in the messaging service sector.

User Experience and Trust

• Privacy Concerns: Users may lose trust in messaging platforms if they know their communications are subject to scanning, leading to a decline in user engagement.

• Migration to Unregulated Platforms: There is a risk that users might shift to less secure or unregulated services, including those operated outside the EU or on the dark web, potentially exposing them to greater risks.

Technical and Security Implications

• Increased Vulnerabilities: Modifying encryption protocols to comply with Chat Control could introduce security flaws, making platforms more susceptible to hacking and data breaches.

• Global Security Risks: Changes made to accommodate EU regulations might affect the global user base of these services, extending security risks beyond European borders.

Impact on Businesses and Professional Communications

• Confidentiality Issues: Businesses that rely on secure messaging for sensitive communications may face challenges in ensuring confidentiality, affecting sectors like finance, healthcare, and legal services.

• Compliance Complexity: Companies operating internationally will need to navigate a complex landscape of differing regulations, increasing administrative burdens.

Economic Consequences

• Market Fragmentation: Divergent regulations could lead to a fragmented market, with different versions of services for different regions.

• Loss of Revenue: Messaging services might experience reduced revenue due to decreased user trust and engagement or the costs associated with compliance.

Responses from Service Providers

• Legal Challenges: Companies might pursue legal action against the regulations, citing conflicts with privacy laws and user rights.

• Policy Advocacy: Service providers may increase lobbying efforts to influence policy decisions and promote alternatives to Chat Control.

Possible Adaptations

• Technological Innovation: Some providers might invest in developing new technologies that can detect illegal content without compromising encryption, though the feasibility remains uncertain.

• Transparency Measures: To maintain user trust, companies might enhance transparency about how data is handled and what measures are in place to protect privacy.

The potential consequences of Chat Control for messaging services are profound, affecting not only the companies that provide these services but also the users who rely on them daily. The balance between complying with legal requirements and maintaining user privacy and security presents a significant challenge that could reshape the digital communication landscape.

---

What Happens Next? The Future of Chat Control

The future of Chat Control remains uncertain as the debate continues among EU member states, policymakers, technology companies, and civil society organizations. Several factors will influence the outcome of this contentious proposal, each carrying significant implications for digital privacy, security, and the regulatory environment within the European Union.

Current Status of Legislation

• Ongoing Negotiations: The proposed Chat Control measures are still under discussion within the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union. Amendments and revisions are being considered in response to the feedback from various stakeholders.

• Timeline: While there is no fixed date for the final decision, the EU aims to reach a consensus to implement effective measures against online crime without undue delay.

Key Influencing Factors

1. Legal Challenges and Compliance with EU Law

• Fundamental Rights Assessment: The proposals must be evaluated against the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, ensuring that any measures comply with rights to privacy, data protection, and freedom of expression.

• Court Scrutiny: Potential legal challenges could arise, leading to scrutiny by the European Court of Justice (ECJ), which may impact the feasibility and legality of Chat Control.

2. Technological Feasibility

• Development of Privacy-Preserving Technologies: Research into methods that can detect illegal content without compromising encryption is ongoing. Advances in this area could provide alternative solutions acceptable to both privacy advocates and security agencies.

• Implementation Challenges: The practical aspects of deploying scanning technologies across various platforms and services remain complex, and technical hurdles could delay or alter the proposed measures.

3. Political Dynamics

• Member State Positions: The differing stances of EU countries, such as Germany's opposition, play a significant role in shaping the final outcome. Consensus among member states is crucial for adopting EU-wide regulations.

• Public Opinion and Advocacy: Growing awareness and activism around digital privacy can influence policymakers. Public campaigns and lobbying efforts may sway decisions in favor of stronger privacy protections.

4. Industry Responses

• Negotiations with Service Providers: Ongoing dialogues between EU authorities and technology companies may lead to compromises or collaborative efforts to address concerns without fully implementing Chat Control as initially proposed.

• Potential for Self-Regulation: Messaging services might propose self-regulatory measures to combat illegal content, aiming to demonstrate effectiveness without the need for mandatory scanning.

Possible Scenarios

Optimistic Outcome:

• Balanced Regulation: A revised proposal emerges that effectively addresses security concerns while upholding strong encryption and privacy rights, possibly through innovative technologies or targeted measures with robust oversight.

Pessimistic Outcome:

• Adoption of Strict Measures: Chat Control is implemented as initially proposed, leading to weakened encryption, reduced privacy, and potential withdrawal of services like Signal from the EU market.

Middle Ground:

• Incremental Implementation: Partial measures are adopted, focusing on voluntary cooperation with service providers and emphasizing transparency and user consent, with ongoing evaluations to assess effectiveness and impact.

How to Stay Informed and Protect Your Privacy

• Follow Reputable Sources: Keep up with news from reliable outlets, official EU communications, and statements from privacy organizations to stay informed about developments.

• Engage in the Dialogue: Participate in public consultations, sign petitions, or contact representatives to express your views on Chat Control and digital privacy.

• Utilize Secure Practices: Regardless of legislative outcomes, adopting good digital hygiene—such as using strong passwords and being cautious with personal information—can enhance your online security.

The Global Perspective

• International Implications: The EU's decision may influence global policies on encryption and surveillance, setting precedents that other countries might follow or react against.

• Collaboration Opportunities: International cooperation on developing solutions that protect both security and privacy could emerge, fostering a more unified approach to addressing online threats.

Looking Ahead

The future of Chat Control is a critical issue that underscores the challenges of governing in the digital age. Balancing the need for security with the protection of fundamental rights is a complex task that requires careful consideration, open dialogue, and collaboration among all stakeholders.

As the situation evolves, staying informed and engaged is essential. The decisions made in the coming months will shape the digital landscape for years to come, affecting how we communicate, conduct business, and exercise our rights in an increasingly connected world.

---

Conclusion

The debate over Chat Control highlights a fundamental challenge in our increasingly digital world: how to protect society from genuine threats without eroding the very rights and freedoms that define it. While the intention to safeguard children and prevent crime is undeniably important, the means of achieving this through intrusive surveillance measures raise critical concerns.

Privacy is not just a personal preference but a cornerstone of democratic societies. End-to-end encryption has become an essential tool for ensuring that our personal conversations, professional communications, and sensitive data remain secure from unwanted intrusion. Weakening these protections could expose individuals and organizations to risks that far outweigh the proposed benefits.

The potential consequences of implementing Chat Control are far-reaching:

• Erosion of Trust: Users may lose confidence in digital platforms, impacting how we communicate and conduct business online.
• Security Vulnerabilities: Introducing backdoors or weakening encryption can make systems more susceptible to cyberattacks.
• Stifling Innovation: Regulatory burdens may hinder technological advancement and competitiveness in the tech industry.
• Global Implications: The EU's decisions could set precedents that influence digital policies worldwide, for better or worse.

As citizens, it's crucial to stay informed about these developments. Engage in conversations, reach out to your representatives, and advocate for solutions that respect both security needs and fundamental rights. Technology and policy can evolve together to address challenges without compromising core values.

The future of Chat Control is not yet decided, and public input can make a significant difference. By promoting open dialogue, supporting privacy-preserving innovations, and emphasizing the importance of human rights in legislation, we can work towards a digital landscape that is both safe and free.

In a world where digital communication is integral to daily life, striking the right balance between security and privacy is more important than ever. The choices made today will shape the digital environment for generations to come, determining not just how we communicate, but how we live and interact in an interconnected world.

---

Thank you for reading this article. We hope it has provided you with a clear understanding of Chat Control and its potential impact on your privacy and digital rights. Stay informed, stay engaged, and let's work together towards a secure and open digital future.

Read more:

• https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/posts/chat-control/
• https://www.patrick-breyer.de/en/new-eu-push-for-chat-control-will-messenger-services-be-blocked-in-europe/
• https://edri.org/our-work/dutch-decision-puts-brakes-on-chat-control/
• https://signal.org/blog/pdfs/ndss-keynote.pdf
• https://tuta.com/blog/germany-stop-chat-control
• https://cointelegraph.com/news/signal-president-slams-revised-eu-encryption-proposal
• https://mullvad.net/en/why-privacy-matters

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

O que é Cwtch? Cwtch (/kʊtʃ/ - uma palavra galesa que pode ser traduzida aproximadamente como “um abraço que cria um lugar seguro”) é um protocolo de mensagens multipartidário descentralizado, que preserva a privacidade, que pode ser usado para construir aplicativos resistentes a metadados.

Como posso pronunciar Cwtch? Como "kutch", para rimar com "butch".

Descentralizado e Aberto : Não existe “serviço Cwtch” ou “rede Cwtch”. Os participantes do Cwtch podem hospedar seus próprios espaços seguros ou emprestar sua infraestrutura para outras pessoas que buscam um espaço seguro. O protocolo Cwtch é aberto e qualquer pessoa é livre para criar bots, serviços e interfaces de usuário e integrar e interagir com o Cwtch.

Preservação de privacidade : toda a comunicação no Cwtch é criptografada de ponta a ponta e ocorre nos serviços cebola Tor v3.

Resistente a metadados : O Cwtch foi projetado de forma que nenhuma informação seja trocada ou disponibilizada a ninguém sem seu consentimento explícito, incluindo mensagens durante a transmissão e metadados de protocolo

Uma breve história do bate-papo resistente a metadados Nos últimos anos, a conscientização pública sobre a necessidade e os benefícios das soluções criptografadas de ponta a ponta aumentou com aplicativos como Signal , Whatsapp e Wire. que agora fornecem aos usuários comunicações seguras.

No entanto, essas ferramentas exigem vários níveis de exposição de metadados para funcionar, e muitos desses metadados podem ser usados ​​para obter detalhes sobre como e por que uma pessoa está usando uma ferramenta para se comunicar.

Uma ferramenta que buscou reduzir metadados é o Ricochet lançado pela primeira vez em 2014. Ricochet usou os serviços cebola Tor v2 para fornecer comunicação criptografada segura de ponta a ponta e para proteger os metadados das comunicações.

Não havia servidores centralizados que auxiliassem no roteamento das conversas do Ricochet. Ninguém além das partes envolvidas em uma conversa poderia saber que tal conversa está ocorrendo.

Ricochet tinha limitações; não havia suporte para vários dispositivos, nem existe um mecanismo para suportar a comunicação em grupo ou para um usuário enviar mensagens enquanto um contato está offline.

Isto tornou a adoção do Ricochet uma proposta difícil; mesmo aqueles em ambientes que seriam melhor atendidos pela resistência aos metadados, sem saber que ela existe.

Além disso, qualquer solução para comunicação descentralizada e resistente a metadados enfrenta problemas fundamentais quando se trata de eficiência, privacidade e segurança de grupo conforme definido pelo consenso e consistência da transcrição.

Alternativas modernas ao Ricochet incluem Briar , Zbay e Ricochet Refresh - cada ferramenta procura otimizar para um conjunto diferente de compensações, por exemplo, Briar procura permitir que as pessoas se comuniquem mesmo quando a infraestrutura de rede subjacente está inoperante, ao mesmo tempo que fornece resistência à vigilância de metadados.

O projeto Cwtch começou em 2017 como um protocolo de extensão para Ricochet, fornecendo conversas em grupo por meio de servidores não confiáveis, com o objetivo de permitir aplicativos descentralizados e resistentes a metadados como listas compartilhadas e quadros de avisos.

Uma versão alfa do Cwtch foi lançada em fevereiro de 2019 e, desde então, a equipe do Cwtch dirigida pela OPEN PRIVACY RESEARCH SOCIETY conduziu pesquisa e desenvolvimento em cwtch e nos protocolos, bibliotecas e espaços de problemas subjacentes.

Modelo de Risco.

Sabe-se que os metadados de comunicações são explorados por vários adversários para minar a segurança dos sistemas, para rastrear vítimas e para realizar análises de redes sociais em grande escala para alimentar a vigilância em massa. As ferramentas resistentes a metadados estão em sua infância e faltam pesquisas sobre a construção e a experiência do usuário de tais ferramentas.

https://nostrcheck.me/media/public/nostrcheck.me_9475702740746681051707662826.webp

O Cwtch foi originalmente concebido como uma extensão do protocolo Ricochet resistente a metadados para suportar comunicações assíncronas de grupos multiponto por meio do uso de infraestrutura anônima, descartável e não confiável.

Desde então, o Cwtch evoluiu para um protocolo próprio. Esta seção descreverá os vários riscos conhecidos que o Cwtch tenta mitigar e será fortemente referenciado no restante do documento ao discutir os vários subcomponentes da Arquitetura Cwtch.

Modelo de ameaça.

É importante identificar e compreender que os metadados são omnipresentes nos protocolos de comunicação; é de facto necessário que tais protocolos funcionem de forma eficiente e em escala. No entanto, as informações que são úteis para facilitar peers e servidores também são altamente relevantes para adversários que desejam explorar tais informações.

Para a definição do nosso problema, assumiremos que o conteúdo de uma comunicação é criptografado de tal forma que um adversário é praticamente incapaz de quebrá-lo veja tapir e cwtch para detalhes sobre a criptografia que usamos, e como tal nos concentraremos em o contexto para os metadados de comunicação.

Procuramos proteger os seguintes contextos de comunicação:

• Quem está envolvido em uma comunicação? Pode ser possível identificar pessoas ou simplesmente identificadores de dispositivos ou redes. Por exemplo, “esta comunicação envolve Alice, uma jornalista, e Bob, um funcionário público”.

• Onde estão os participantes da conversa? Por exemplo, “durante esta comunicação, Alice estava na França e Bob estava no Canadá”.

• Quando ocorreu uma conversa? O momento e a duração da comunicação podem revelar muito sobre a natureza de uma chamada, por exemplo, “Bob, um funcionário público, conversou com Alice ao telefone por uma hora ontem à noite. Esta é a primeira vez que eles se comunicam.” *Como a conversa foi mediada? O fato de uma conversa ter ocorrido por meio de um e-mail criptografado ou não criptografado pode fornecer informações úteis. Por exemplo, “Alice enviou um e-mail criptografado para Bob ontem, enquanto eles normalmente enviam apenas e-mails de texto simples um para o outro”.

• Sobre o que é a conversa? Mesmo que o conteúdo da comunicação seja criptografado, às vezes é possível derivar um contexto provável de uma conversa sem saber exatamente o que é dito, por exemplo, “uma pessoa ligou para uma pizzaria na hora do jantar” ou “alguém ligou para um número conhecido de linha direta de suicídio na hora do jantar”. 3 horas da manhã."

Além das conversas individuais, também procuramos defender-nos contra ataques de correlação de contexto, através dos quais múltiplas conversas são analisadas para obter informações de nível superior:

• Relacionamentos: Descobrir relações sociais entre um par de entidades analisando a frequência e a duração de suas comunicações durante um período de tempo. Por exemplo, Carol e Eve ligam uma para a outra todos os dias durante várias horas seguidas.

• Cliques: Descobrir relações sociais entre um grupo de entidades que interagem entre si. Por exemplo, Alice, Bob e Eva se comunicam entre si.

• Grupos vagamente conectados e indivíduos-ponte: descobrir grupos que se comunicam entre si através de intermediários, analisando cadeias de comunicação (por exemplo, toda vez que Alice fala com Bob, ela fala com Carol quase imediatamente depois; Bob e Carol nunca se comunicam).

• Padrão de Vida: Descobrir quais comunicações são cíclicas e previsíveis. Por exemplo, Alice liga para Eve toda segunda-feira à noite por cerca de uma hora. Ataques Ativos

Ataques de deturpação.

O Cwtch não fornece registro global de nomes de exibição e, como tal, as pessoas que usam o Cwtch são mais vulneráveis ​​a ataques baseados em declarações falsas, ou seja, pessoas que fingem ser outras pessoas:

O fluxo básico de um desses ataques é o seguinte, embora também existam outros fluxos:

•Alice tem um amigo chamado Bob e outro chamado Eve

• Eve descobre que Alice tem um amigo chamado Bob

• Eve cria milhares de novas contas para encontrar uma que tenha uma imagem/chave pública semelhante à de Bob (não será idêntica, mas pode enganar alguém por alguns minutos)

• Eve chama essa nova conta de "Eve New Account" e adiciona Alice como amiga.

• Eve então muda seu nome em "Eve New Account" para "Bob"

• Alice envia mensagens destinadas a "Bob" para a conta falsa de Bob de Eve Como os ataques de declarações falsas são inerentemente uma questão de confiança e verificação, a única maneira absoluta de evitá-los é os usuários validarem absolutamente a chave pública. Obviamente, isso não é o ideal e, em muitos casos, simplesmente não acontecerá .

Como tal, pretendemos fornecer algumas dicas de experiência do usuário na interface do usuário para orientar as pessoas na tomada de decisões sobre confiar em contas e/ou distinguir contas que possam estar tentando se representar como outros usuários.

Uma nota sobre ataques físicos A Cwtch não considera ataques que exijam acesso físico (ou equivalente) à máquina do usuário como praticamente defensáveis. No entanto, no interesse de uma boa engenharia de segurança, ao longo deste documento ainda nos referiremos a ataques ou condições que exigem tal privilégio e indicaremos onde quaisquer mitigações que implementámos falharão.

Um perfil Cwtch.

Os usuários podem criar um ou mais perfis Cwtch. Cada perfil gera um par de chaves ed25519 aleatório compatível com Tor.

Além do material criptográfico, um perfil também contém uma lista de Contatos (outras chaves públicas do perfil Cwtch + dados associados sobre esse perfil, como apelido e (opcionalmente) mensagens históricas), uma lista de Grupos (contendo o material criptográfico do grupo, além de outros dados associados, como apelido do grupo e mensagens históricas).

Conversões entre duas partes: ponto a ponto

https://nostrcheck.me/media/public/nostrcheck.me_2186338207587396891707662879.webp

Para que duas partes participem de uma conversa ponto a ponto, ambas devem estar on-line, mas apenas uma precisa estar acessível por meio do serviço Onion. Por uma questão de clareza, muitas vezes rotulamos uma parte como “ponto de entrada” (aquele que hospeda o serviço cebola) e a outra parte como “ponto de saída” (aquele que se conecta ao serviço cebola).

Após a conexão, ambas as partes adotam um protocolo de autenticação que:

• Afirma que cada parte tem acesso à chave privada associada à sua identidade pública.

• Gera uma chave de sessão efêmera usada para criptografar todas as comunicações futuras durante a sessão.

Esta troca (documentada com mais detalhes no protocolo de autenticação ) é negável offline , ou seja, é possível para qualquer parte falsificar transcrições desta troca de protocolo após o fato e, como tal - após o fato - é impossível provar definitivamente que a troca aconteceu de forma alguma.

Após o protocolo de autenticação, as duas partes podem trocar mensagens livremente.

Conversas em Grupo e Comunicação Ponto a Servidor

Ao iniciar uma conversa em grupo, é gerada uma chave aleatória para o grupo, conhecida como Group Key. Todas as comunicações do grupo são criptografadas usando esta chave. Além disso, o criador do grupo escolhe um servidor Cwtch para hospedar o grupo. Um convite é gerado, incluindo o Group Key, o servidor do grupo e a chave do grupo, para ser enviado aos potenciais membros.

Para enviar uma mensagem ao grupo, um perfil se conecta ao servidor do grupo e criptografa a mensagem usando a Group Key, gerando também uma assinatura sobre o Group ID, o servidor do grupo e a mensagem. Para receber mensagens do grupo, um perfil se conecta ao servidor e baixa as mensagens, tentando descriptografá-las usando a Group Key e verificando a assinatura.

Detalhamento do Ecossistema de Componentes

O Cwtch é composto por várias bibliotecas de componentes menores, cada uma desempenhando um papel específico. Algumas dessas bibliotecas incluem:

• abertoprivacidade/conectividade: Abstração de rede ACN, atualmente suportando apenas Tor.
• cwtch.im/tapir: Biblioteca para construção de aplicativos p2p em sistemas de comunicação anônimos.
• cwtch.im/cwtch: Biblioteca principal para implementação do protocolo/sistema Cwtch.
• cwtch.im/libcwtch-go: Fornece ligações C para Cwtch para uso em implementações de UI.

TAPIR: Uma Visão Detalhada

Projetado para substituir os antigos canais de ricochete baseados em protobuf, o Tapir fornece uma estrutura para a construção de aplicativos anônimos.

Está dividido em várias camadas:

• Identidade - Um par de chaves ed25519, necessário para estabelecer um serviço cebola Tor v3 e usado para manter uma identidade criptográfica consistente para um par.

• Conexões – O protocolo de rede bruto que conecta dois pares. Até agora, as conexões são definidas apenas através do Tor v3 Onion Services.

• Aplicativos - As diversas lógicas que permitem um determinado fluxo de informações em uma conexão. Os exemplos incluem transcrições criptográficas compartilhadas, autenticação, proteção contra spam e serviços baseados em tokens. Os aplicativos fornecem recursos que podem ser referenciados por outros aplicativos para determinar se um determinado peer tem a capacidade de usar um determinado aplicativo hospedado.

• Pilhas de aplicativos - Um mecanismo para conectar mais de um aplicativo, por exemplo, a autenticação depende de uma transcrição criptográfica compartilhada e o aplicativo peer cwtch principal é baseado no aplicativo de autenticação.

Identidade.

Um par de chaves ed25519, necessário para estabelecer um serviço cebola Tor v3 e usado para manter uma identidade criptográfica consistente para um peer.

InitializeIdentity - de um par de chaves conhecido e persistente:i,I

InitializeEphemeralIdentity - de um par de chaves aleatório: ie,Ie

Aplicativos de transcrição.

Inicializa uma transcrição criptográfica baseada em Merlin que pode ser usada como base de protocolos baseados em compromisso de nível superior

O aplicativo de transcrição entrará em pânico se um aplicativo tentar substituir uma transcrição existente por uma nova (aplicando a regra de que uma sessão é baseada em uma e apenas uma transcrição).

Merlin é uma construção de transcrição baseada em STROBE para provas de conhecimento zero. Ele automatiza a transformação Fiat-Shamir, para que, usando Merlin, protocolos não interativos possam ser implementados como se fossem interativos.

Isto é significativamente mais fácil e menos sujeito a erros do que realizar a transformação manualmente e, além disso, também fornece suporte natural para:

• protocolos multi-round com fases alternadas de commit e desafio;

• separação natural de domínios, garantindo que os desafios estejam vinculados às afirmações a serem provadas;

• enquadramento automático de mensagens, evitando codificação ambígua de dados de compromisso;

• e composição do protocolo, usando uma transcrição comum para vários protocolos.

Finalmente, o Merlin também fornece um gerador de números aleatórios baseado em transcrição como defesa profunda contra ataques de entropia ruim (como reutilização de nonce ou preconceito em muitas provas). Este RNG fornece aleatoriedade sintética derivada de toda a transcrição pública, bem como dos dados da testemunha do provador e uma entrada auxiliar de um RNG externo.

Conectividade Cwtch faz uso do Tor Onion Services (v3) para todas as comunicações entre nós.

Fornecemos o pacote openprivacy/connectivity para gerenciar o daemon Tor e configurar e desmontar serviços cebola através do Tor.

Criptografia e armazenamento de perfil.

Os perfis são armazenados localmente no disco e criptografados usando uma chave derivada de uma senha conhecida pelo usuário (via pbkdf2).

Observe que, uma vez criptografado e armazenado em disco, a única maneira de recuperar um perfil é recuperando a senha - como tal, não é possível fornecer uma lista completa de perfis aos quais um usuário pode ter acesso até inserir uma senha.

Perfis não criptografados e a senha padrão Para lidar com perfis "não criptografados" (ou seja, que não exigem senha para serem abertos), atualmente criamos um perfil com uma senha codificada de fato .

Isso não é o ideal, preferiríamos confiar no material de chave fornecido pelo sistema operacional, de modo que o perfil fosse vinculado a um dispositivo específico, mas esses recursos são atualmente uma colcha de retalhos - também notamos, ao criar um perfil não criptografado, pessoas que usam Cwtch estão explicitamente optando pelo risco de que alguém com acesso ao sistema de arquivos possa descriptografar seu perfil.

Vulnerabilidades Relacionadas a Imagens e Entrada de Dados

Imagens Maliciosas

O Cwtch enfrenta desafios na renderização de imagens, com o Flutter utilizando Skia, embora o código subjacente não seja totalmente seguro para a memória.

Realizamos testes de fuzzing nos componentes Cwtch e encontramos um bug de travamento causado por um arquivo GIF malformado, levando a falhas no kernel. Para mitigar isso, adotamos a política de sempre habilitar cacheWidth e/ou cacheHeight máximo para widgets de imagem.

Identificamos o risco de imagens maliciosas serem renderizadas de forma diferente em diferentes plataformas, como evidenciado por um bug no analisador PNG da Apple.

Riscos de Entrada de Dados

Um risco significativo é a interceptação de conteúdo ou metadados por meio de um Input Method Editor (IME) em dispositivos móveis. Mesmo aplicativos IME padrão podem expor dados por meio de sincronização na nuvem, tradução online ou dicionários pessoais.

Implementamos medidas de mitigação, como enableIMEPersonalizedLearning: false no Cwtch 1.2, mas a solução completa requer ações em nível de sistema operacional e é um desafio contínuo para a segurança móvel.

Servidor Cwtch.

O objetivo do protocolo Cwtch é permitir a comunicação em grupo através de infraestrutura não confiável .

Ao contrário dos esquemas baseados em retransmissão, onde os grupos atribuem um líder, um conjunto de líderes ou um servidor confiável de terceiros para garantir que cada membro do grupo possa enviar e receber mensagens em tempo hábil (mesmo que os membros estejam offline) - infraestrutura não confiável tem o objetivo de realizar essas propriedades sem a suposição de confiança.

O artigo original do Cwtch definia um conjunto de propriedades que se esperava que os servidores Cwtch fornecessem:

• O Cwtch Server pode ser usado por vários grupos ou apenas um.

• Um servidor Cwtch, sem a colaboração de um membro do grupo, nunca deve aprender a identidade dos participantes de um grupo.

• Um servidor Cwtch nunca deve aprender o conteúdo de qualquer comunicação.

• Um servidor Cwtch nunca deve ser capaz de distinguir mensagens como pertencentes a um grupo específico. Observamos aqui que essas propriedades são um superconjunto dos objetivos de design das estruturas de Recuperação de Informações Privadas.

Melhorias na Eficiência e Segurança

Eficiência do Protocolo

Atualmente, apenas um protocolo conhecido, o PIR ingênuo, atende às propriedades desejadas para garantir a privacidade na comunicação do grupo Cwtch. Este método tem um impacto direto na eficiência da largura de banda, especialmente para usuários em dispositivos móveis. Em resposta a isso, estamos ativamente desenvolvendo novos protocolos que permitem negociar garantias de privacidade e eficiência de maneiras diversas.

Os servidores, no momento desta escrita, permitem o download completo de todas as mensagens armazenadas, bem como uma solicitação para baixar mensagens específicas a partir de uma determinada mensagem. Quando os pares ingressam em um grupo em um novo servidor, eles baixam todas as mensagens do servidor inicialmente e, posteriormente, apenas as mensagens novas.

Mitigação de Análise de Metadados

Essa abordagem permite uma análise moderada de metadados, pois o servidor pode enviar novas mensagens para cada perfil suspeito exclusivo e usar essas assinaturas de mensagens exclusivas para rastrear sessões ao longo do tempo. Essa preocupação é mitigada por dois fatores:

1. Os perfis podem atualizar suas conexões a qualquer momento, resultando em uma nova sessão do servidor.
2. Os perfis podem ser "ressincronizados" de um servidor a qualquer momento, resultando em uma nova chamada para baixar todas as mensagens. Isso é comumente usado para buscar mensagens antigas de um grupo.

Embora essas medidas imponham limites ao que o servidor pode inferir, ainda não podemos garantir resistência total aos metadados. Para soluções futuras para esse problema, consulte Niwl.

Proteção contra Pares Maliciosos

Os servidores enfrentam o risco de spam gerado por pares, representando uma ameaça significativa à eficácia do sistema Cwtch. Embora tenhamos implementado um mecanismo de proteção contra spam no protótipo do Cwtch, exigindo que os pares realizem alguma prova de trabalho especificada pelo servidor, reconhecemos que essa não é uma solução robusta na presença de um adversário determinado com recursos significativos.

Pacotes de Chaves

Os servidores Cwtch se identificam por meio de pacotes de chaves assinados, contendo uma lista de chaves necessárias para garantir a segurança e resistência aos metadados na comunicação do grupo Cwtch. Esses pacotes de chaves geralmente incluem três chaves: uma chave pública do serviço Tor v3 Onion para o Token Board, uma chave pública do Tor v3 Onion Service para o Token Service e uma chave pública do Privacy Pass.

Para verificar os pacotes de chaves, os perfis que os importam do servidor utilizam o algoritmo trust-on-first-use (TOFU), verificando a assinatura anexada e a existência de todos os tipos de chave. Se o perfil já tiver importado o pacote de chaves do servidor anteriormente, todas as chaves são consideradas iguais.

Configuração prévia do aplicativo para ativar o Relé do Cwtch.

No Android, a hospedagem de servidor não está habilitada, pois essa opção não está disponível devido às limitações dos dispositivos Android. Essa funcionalidade está reservada apenas para servidores hospedados em desktops.

No Android, a única forma direta de importar uma chave de servidor é através do grupo de teste Cwtch, garantindo assim acesso ao servidor Cwtch.

Primeiro passo é Habilitar a opção de grupo no Cwtch que está em fase de testes. Clique na opção no canto superior direito da tela de configuração e pressione o botão para acessar as configurações do Cwtch.

Você pode alterar o idioma para Português do Brasil.Depois, role para baixo e selecione a opção para ativar os experimentos. Em seguida, ative a opção para habilitar o chat em grupo e a pré-visualização de imagens e fotos de perfil, permitindo que você troque sua foto de perfil.

https://link.storjshare.io/raw/jvss6zxle26jdguwaegtjdixhfka/production/f0ca039733d48895001261ab25c5d2efbaf3bf26e55aad3cce406646f9af9d15.MP4

Próximo passo é Criar um perfil.

Pressione o + botão de ação no canto inferior direito e selecione "Novo perfil" ou aberta no botão + adicionar novo perfil.

• Selecione um nome de exibição

• Selecione se deseja proteger

este perfil e salvo localmente com criptografia forte: Senha: sua conta está protegida de outras pessoas que possam usar este dispositivo

Sem senha: qualquer pessoa que tenha acesso a este dispositivo poderá acessar este perfil.

Preencha sua senha e digite-a novamente

Os perfis são armazenados localmente no disco e criptografados usando uma chave derivada de uma senha conhecida pelo usuário (via pbkdf2).

Observe que, uma vez criptografado e armazenado em disco, a única maneira de recuperar um perfil é recuperando a chave da senha - como tal, não é possível fornecer uma lista completa de perfis aos quais um usuário pode ter acesso até inserir um senha.

https://link.storjshare.io/raw/jxqbqmur2lcqe2eym5thgz4so2ya/production/8f9df1372ec7e659180609afa48be22b12109ae5e1eda9ef1dc05c1325652507.MP4

O próximo passo é adicionar o FuzzBot, que é um bot de testes e de desenvolvimento.

Contato do FuzzBot: 4y2hxlxqzautabituedksnh2ulcgm2coqbure6wvfpg4gi2ci25ta5ad.

Ao enviar o comando "testgroup-invite" para o FuzzBot, você receberá um convite para entrar no Grupo Cwtch Test. Ao ingressar no grupo, você será automaticamente conectado ao servidor Cwtch. Você pode optar por sair do grupo a qualquer momento ou ficar para conversar e tirar dúvidas sobre o aplicativo e outros assuntos. Depois, você pode configurar seu próprio servidor Cwtch, o que é altamente recomendável.

https://link.storjshare.io/raw/jvji25zclkoqcouni5decle7if7a/production/ee3de3540a3e3dca6e6e26d303e12c2ef892a5d7769029275b8b95ffc7468780.MP4

Agora você pode utilizar o aplicativo normalmente. Algumas observações que notei: se houver demora na conexão com outra pessoa, ambas devem estar online. Se ainda assim a conexão não for estabelecida, basta clicar no ícone de reset do Tor para restabelecer a conexão com a outra pessoa.

Uma introdução aos perfis Cwtch.

Com Cwtch você pode criar um ou mais perfis . Cada perfil gera um par de chaves ed25519 aleatório compatível com a Rede Tor.

Este é o identificador que você pode fornecer às pessoas e que elas podem usar para entrar em contato com você via Cwtch.

Cwtch permite criar e gerenciar vários perfis separados. Cada perfil está associado a um par de chaves diferente que inicia um serviço cebola diferente.

Gerenciar Na inicialização, o Cwtch abrirá a tela Gerenciar Perfis. Nessa tela você pode:

• Crie um novo perfil.
• Desbloquear perfis.
• Criptografados existentes.
• Gerenciar perfis carregados.
• Alterando o nome de exibição de um perfil.
• Alterando a senha de um perfil Excluindo um perfil.
• Alterando uma imagem de perfil.

Backup ou exportação de um perfil.

Na tela de gerenciamento de perfil:

1. Selecione o lápis ao lado do perfil que você deseja editar

2. Role para baixo até a parte inferior da tela.

3. Selecione "Exportar perfil"

4. Escolha um local e um nome de arquivo.

5.confirme.

Uma vez confirmado, o Cwtch colocará uma cópia do perfil no local indicado. Este arquivo é criptografado no mesmo nível do perfil.

Este arquivo pode ser importado para outra instância do Cwtch em qualquer dispositivo.

Importando um perfil.

1. Pressione o +botão de ação no canto inferior direito e selecione "Importar perfil"

2. Selecione um arquivo de perfil Cwtch exportado para importar

3. Digite a senha associada ao perfil e confirme.

Uma vez confirmado, o Cwtch tentará descriptografar o arquivo fornecido usando uma chave derivada da senha fornecida. Se for bem-sucedido, o perfil aparecerá na tela Gerenciamento de perfil e estará pronto para uso.

OBSERVAÇÃO Embora um perfil possa ser importado para vários dispositivos, atualmente apenas uma versão de um perfil pode ser usada em todos os dispositivos ao mesmo tempo. As tentativas de usar o mesmo perfil em vários dispositivos podem resultar em problemas de disponibilidade e falhas de mensagens.

Qual é a diferença entre uma conexão ponto a ponto e um grupo cwtch?

As conexões ponto a ponto Cwtch permitem que 2 pessoas troquem mensagens diretamente. As conexões ponto a ponto nos bastidores usam serviços cebola Tor v3 para fornecer uma conexão criptografada e resistente a metadados. Devido a esta conexão direta, ambas as partes precisam estar online ao mesmo tempo para trocar mensagens.

Os Grupos Cwtch permitem que várias partes participem de uma única conversa usando um servidor não confiável (que pode ser fornecido por terceiros ou auto-hospedado). Os operadores de servidores não conseguem saber quantas pessoas estão em um grupo ou o que está sendo discutido. Se vários grupos estiverem hospedados em um único servidor, o servidor não conseguirá saber quais mensagens pertencem a qual grupo sem a conivência de um membro do grupo. Ao contrário das conversas entre pares, as conversas em grupo podem ser conduzidas de forma assíncrona, para que todos num grupo não precisem estar online ao mesmo tempo.

Por que os grupos cwtch são experimentais? Mensagens em grupo resistentes a metadados ainda são um problema em aberto . Embora a versão que fornecemos no Cwtch Beta seja projetada para ser segura e com metadados privados, ela é bastante ineficiente e pode ser mal utilizada. Como tal, aconselhamos cautela ao usá-lo e apenas o fornecemos como um recurso opcional.

Como posso executar meu próprio servidor Cwtch? A implementação de referência para um servidor Cwtch é de código aberto . Qualquer pessoa pode executar um servidor Cwtch, e qualquer pessoa com uma cópia do pacote de chaves públicas do servidor pode hospedar grupos nesse servidor sem que o operador tenha acesso aos metadados relacionados ao grupo .

https://git.openprivacy.ca/cwtch.im/server

https://docs.openprivacy.ca/cwtch-security-handbook/server.html

Como posso desligar o Cwtch? O painel frontal do aplicativo possui um ícone do botão "Shutdown Cwtch" (com um 'X'). Pressionar este botão irá acionar uma caixa de diálogo e, na confirmação, o Cwtch será desligado e todos os perfis serão descarregados.

Suas doações podem fazer a diferença no projeto Cwtch? O Cwtch é um projeto dedicado a construir aplicativos que preservam a privacidade, oferecendo comunicação de grupo resistente a metadados. Além disso, o projeto também desenvolve o Cofre, formulários da web criptografados para ajudar mútua segura. Suas contribuições apoiam iniciativas importantes, como a divulgação de violações de dados médicos em Vancouver e pesquisas sobre a segurança do voto eletrônico na Suíça. Ao doar, você está ajudando a fechar o ciclo, trabalhando com comunidades marginalizadas para identificar e corrigir lacunas de privacidade. Além disso, o projeto trabalha em soluções inovadoras, como a quebra de segredos através da criptografia de limite para proteger sua privacidade durante passagens de fronteira. E também tem a infraestrutura: toda nossa infraestrutura é open source e sem fins lucrativos. Conheça também o Fuzzytags, uma estrutura criptográfica probabilística para marcação resistente a metadados. Sua doação é crucial para continuar o trabalho em prol da privacidade e segurança online. Contribua agora com sua doação

https://openprivacy.ca/donate/

onde você pode fazer sua doação em bitcoin e outras moedas, e saiba mais sobre os projetos. https://openprivacy.ca/work/

Link sobre Cwtch

https://cwtch.im/

https://git.openprivacy.ca/cwtch.im/cwtch

https://docs.cwtch.im/docs/intro

https://docs.openprivacy.ca/cwtch-security-handbook/

Baixar #CwtchDev

cwtch.im/download/

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=im.cwtch.flwtch

@ 7e538978:a5987ab6

Chain Duel, a fast paced PvP game that takes inspiration from the classic snake game and supercharges it with Bitcoin’s Lightning Network. Imagine battling another player for dominance in a race to collect blocks, where the length of your chain isn’t just a visual cue. It represents real, staked satoshis. The player with the most Proof of Work wins, but it’s not just about gameplay; it’s about the seamless integration of the Lightning Network and real-time payments.

But how does Chain Duel manage these instant transactions with such efficiency? That’s where LNbits comes in. LNbits, an open-source wallet and payment infrastructure, handles all in-game payments making it easy for developers to focus on gameplay while LNbits takes care of everything from microtransactions to automated splits for developers and designers. In this article, we’ll dive deep into how Chain Duel leverages LNbits to streamline in-game payments and how other developers can take advantage of this powerful toolset to build the future of Lightning-powered gaming.

Let’s explore how LNbits transforms payment processing and why it’s quickly becoming a must-have for game developers working in the Bitcoin space.

Overview of Chain Duel

Chain Duel is a unique Lightning Network-inspired game that reimagines the classic snake game with a competitive twist, integrating real-time payments. Two players face off in real-time, racing to "catch" blocks and extend their chains. Each block added to the chain represents Proof of Work, and the player with the most Proof of Work wins the duel. The stakes are high, as the game represents satoshis (small units of Bitcoin) as points, with the winner taking home the prize.

The game is designed to be Lightning-native, meaning all payments within Chain Duel are processed through the Lightning Network. This ensures fast payments, reducing latency and making gameplay smooth. With additional features like practice mode, tournaments and highscores, Chain Duel creates an engaging and competitive environment for Bitcoin enthusiasts and gamers alike.

One of the standout aspects of Chain Duel is its deeper integration with the Lightning Network even at a design level. For example, actual Bitcoin blocks can appear on screen during matches, offering bonus points when mined in sync with the game. The game’s current version, still in beta, has already drawn attention within the Bitcoin community, gaining momentum at conferences and with a growing user base through its social networks. With its innovative combination of gaming, the Lightning Network, and competitive play, Chain Duel offers a glimpse into the future of Lightning-based gaming.

How LNbits is Used in Chain Duel

Seamless Integration with LNbits

At the core of Chain Duel’s efficient payment processing is LNbits, which handles in-game transactions smoothly and reliably. Chain Duel uses the LNbits LNURL-pay and LNURL-withdraw extensions to manage payments and rewards between players. Before each match, players send satoshis using LNURL-pay, which generates a static QR code or link for making the payment. LNURL-pay allows users to attach a note to the payment, which Chain Duel creatively uses as a way to insert the player name in-game. The simplicity of LNURL-pay ensures that users can quickly and easily initiate games, with fresh invoices being issued for every game. When players win, LNURL-withdraw enables them to seamlessly pull their earnings from the game, providing a quick payout system.

These extensions make it easy for players to send and receive Bitcoin with minimal latency, fully leveraging the power of the Lightning Network for fast and low-cost payments. The flexibility of LNbits’ tools means that game developers don’t need to worry about building custom payment systems from scratch—they can rely on LNbits to handle all financial transactions with precision.

Lightning Tournaments

Chain Duel tournaments leverage LNbits and its LNURL extensions to create a seamless and efficient experience for players. In Chain Duel tournaments, LNbits plays a crucial role in managing the overall economics. LNbits facilitates the generation of LNURL QR codes that participants can scan to register quickly or withdraw their winnings. LNbits allows Chain Duel to automatically handle multiple registrations through LNURL-pay, enabling players to participate in the tournament without additional steps. The Lightning Network's speed ensures that these payments occur in real-time, reducing wait times and allowing for a smoother flow in-game.

Splitting Payments

LNbits further simplifies revenue-sharing within Chain Duel. This feature allows the game to automatically split the satoshis sent by players into different shares for the game’s developer, designer, and host. Each time a payment is made to join a match, LNbits is used to automattically pay each of the contributors, according to pre-defined rules. This automated process ensures that everyone involved in the development and running of the game gets their fair share without manual intervention or complex bookkeeping.

Nostr Integration

Chain Duel also integrates with Nostr, a decentralized protocol for social interactions. Players can join games using "Zaps", small tips or micropayments sent over the Lightning Network within the Nostr ecosystem. Through NIP-57, which enables Nostr clients to request Zap invoices, players can use LNURL-pay enabled Zaps to register in P2P matches, further enhancing the Chain Duel experience. By using Zaps as a way to register in-game, Chain Duel automates the process of fetching players' identity, creating a more competitive and social experience. Zaps are public on the Nostr network, further expanding Chain Duel's games social reach and community engagement.

Game and Payment Synchronization

One of the key reasons Chain Duel developers chose LNbits is its powerful API that connects directly with the game’s logic. LNbits allows the game to synchronize payments with gameplay in real-time, providing a seamless experience where payments are an integrated part of the gaming mechanics.

With LNbits managing both the payment process and the Lightning Network’s complex infrastructure, Chain Duel developers are free to concentrate on enhancing the competitive and Lightning Network-related aspects of the game. This division of tasks is essential for streamlining development while still providing an innovative in-game payment experience that is deeply integrated with the Bitcoin network.

LNbits proves to be an indispensable tool for Chain Duel, enabling smooth in-game transactions, real-time revenue sharing, and seamless integration with Nostr. For developers looking to build Lightning-powered games, LNbits offers a powerful suite of tools that handle everything from micropayments to payment distribution—ensuring that the game's focus remains on fun and competition rather than complex payment systems.

LNBits facilitating Education and Adoption

This system contributes to educating users on the power of the Lightning Network. Since Chain Duel directly involve real satoshis and LNURL for registration and rewards, players actively experience how Lightning can facilitate fast, cheap, and permissionless payments. By incorporating LNbits into Chain Duel, the game serves as an educational tool that introduces users to the benefits of the Lightning Network. Players gain direct experience using Lightning wallets and LNURL, helping them understand how these tools work in real-world scenarios. The near-instant nature of these payments showcases the power of Lightning in a practical context, highlighting its potential beyond just gaming. Players are encouraged to set up wallets, explore the Lightning ecosystem, and eventually become familiar with Bitcoin and Lightning technology. By integrating LNbits, Chain Duel transforms in-game payments into a learning opportunity, making Bitcoin and Lightning more approachable for users worldwide.

Tools for Developers

LNbits is a versatile, open-source platform designed to simplify and enhance Bitcoin Lightning Network wallet management. For developers, particularly those working on Lightning-native games like Chain Duel, LNbits offers an invaluable set of tools that allow for seamless integration of Lightning payments without the need to build complex custom solutions from scratch. LNbits is built on a modular and extensible architecture, enabling developers to easily add or create functionality suited to their project’s needs.

Extensible Architecture for Customization

At the core of LNbits is a simple yet powerful wallet system that developers can access across multiple devices. What makes LNbits stand out is its extensible nature—everything beyond the core functionality is implemented as an extension. This modular approach allows users to customize their LNbits installation by enabling or building extensions to suit specific use cases. This flexibility is perfect for developers who want to add Lightning-based services to their games or apps without modifying the core codebase.

• Extensions for Every Use Case
  LNbits comes with a wide array of built-in extensions created by contributors, offering various services that can be plugged into your application. Some popular extensions include:
• Faucets: Distribute small amounts of Bitcoin to users for testing or promotional purposes.
• Paylinks: Create shareable links for instant payments.
• Points-of-sale (PoS): Allow users to set up shareable payment terminals.
• Paywalls: Charge users to access content or services.
• Event tickets: Sell tickets for events directly via Lightning payments.
• Games and services: From dice games to jukeboxes, LNbits offers entertaining and functional tools.

These ready-made solutions can be adapted and used in different gaming scenarios, for example in Chain Duel, where LNURL extensions are used for in game payments. The extensibility ensures developers can focus on building engaging gameplay while LNbits handles payment flows.

Developer-Friendly Customization

LNbits isn't just a plug-and-play platform. Developers can extend its functionality even further by creating their own extensions, giving full control over how the wallet system is integrated into their games or apps. The architecture is designed to make it easy for developers to build on top of the platform, adding custom features for specific requirements.

Flexible Funding Source Management

LNbits also offers flexibility in terms of managing funding sources. Developers can easily connect LNbits to various Lightning Network node implementations, enabling seamless transitions between nodes or even different payment systems. This allows developers to switch underlying funding sources with minimal effort, making LNbits adaptable for games that may need to scale quickly or rely on different payment infrastructures over time.

A Lean Core System for Maximum Efficiency

Thanks to its modular architecture, LNbits maintains a lean core system. This reduces complexity and overhead, allowing developers to implement only the features they need. By avoiding bloated software, LNbits ensures faster transactions and less resource consumption, which is crucial in fast-paced environments like Chain Duel where speed and efficiency are paramount.

LNbits is designed with developers in mind, offering a suite of tools and a flexible infrastructure that makes integrating Bitcoin payments easy. Whether you’re developing games, apps, or any service that requires Lightning Network transactions, LNbits is a powerful, open-source solution that can be adapted to fit your project.

Conclusion

Chain Duel stands at the forefront of Lightning-powered gaming, combining the excitement of competitive PvP with the speed and efficiency of the Lightning Network. With LNbits handling all in-game payments, from microtransactions to automated revenue splits, developers can focus entirely on crafting an engaging gaming experience. LNbits’ powerful API and extensions make it easy to manage real-time payments, removing the complexity of building payment infrastructure from scratch.

LNbits isn’t just a payment tool — it’s a flexible, developer-friendly platform that can be adapted to any gaming model. Whether you're developing a fast-paced PvP game like Chain Duel or any project requiring seamless Lightning Network integration, LNbits provides the ideal solution for handling instant payments with minimal overhead.

For developers interested in pushing the boundaries of Lightning-powered gaming, Chain Duel is a great example of how LNbits can enhance your game, letting you focus on the fun while LNbits manages real-time transactions.

Find out more

Curious about how Lightning Network payments can power your next game? Explore the following:

• Learn more about Chain Duel: Chain Duel
• Learn how LNbits can simplify payment handling in your project: LNbits
• Dive into decentralized communication with Nostr: Nostr

@ f977c464:32fcbe00

Güneşin kaybolmasının üçüncü günü, saat öğlen on ikiyi yirmi geçiyordu. Trenin kalkmasına yaklaşık iki saat vardı. Hepimiz perondaydık. Valizlerimiz, kolilerimiz, renk renk ve biçimsiz çantalarımızla yan yana dizilmiş, kısa aralıklarla tepemizdeki devasa saati kontrol ediyorduk.

Ama ne kadar dik bakarsak bakalım zaman bir türlü istediğimiz hızla ilerlemiyordu. Herkes birkaç dakika sürmesi gereken alelade bir doğa olayına sıkışıp kalmış, karanlıktan sürünerek çıkmayı deniyordu.

Bekleme salonuna doğru döndüm. Nefesimden çıkan buharın arkasında, kalın taş duvarları ve camlarıyla morg kadar güvenli ve soğuk duruyordu. Cesetleri o yüzden bunun gibi yerlere taşımaya başlamışlardı. Demek insanların bütün iyiliği başkaları onları gördüğü içindi ki gündüzleri gecelerden daha karanlık olduğunda hemen birbirlerinin gırtlağına çökmüş, böğürlerinde delikler açmış, gözlerini oyup kafataslarını parçalamışlardı.

İstasyonun ışığı titrediğinde karanlığın enseme saplandığını hissettim. Eğer şimdi, böyle kalabalık bir yerde elektrik kesilse başımıza ne gelirdi?

İçerideki askerlerden biri bakışlarımı yakalayınca yeniden saate odaklanmış gibi yaptım. Sadece birkaç dakika geçmişti.

“Tarlalarım gitti. Böyle boyum kadar ayçiçeği doluydu. Ah, hepsi ölüp gidiyor. Afitap’ın çiçekleri de gi-”

“Dayı, Allah’ını seversen sus. Hepimizi yakacaksın şimdi.”

Karanlıkta durduğunda, görünmez olmayı istemeye başlıyordun. Kimse seni görmemeli, nefesini bile duymamalıydı. Kimsenin de ayağının altında dolaşmamalıydın; gelip kazayla sana çarpmamalılar, takılıp sendelememeliydiler. Yoksa aslında hedefi sen olmadığın bir öfke gürlemeye başlar, yaşadığın ilk şoku ve acıyı silerek üstünden geçerdi.

İlk konuşan, yaşlıca bir adam, kafasında kasketi, nasırlı ellerine hohluyordu. Gözleri ve burnu kızarmıştı. Güneşin kaybolması onun için kendi başına bir felaket değildi. Hayatına olan pratik yansımalarından korkuyordu olsa olsa. Bir anının kaybolması, bu yüzden çoktan kaybettiği birinin biraz daha eksilmesi. Hayatta kalmasını gerektiren sebepler azalırken, hayatta kalmasını sağlayacak kaynaklarını da kaybediyordu.

Onu susturan delikanlıysa atkısını bütün kafasına sarmış, sakalı ve yüzünün derinliklerine kaçmış gözleri dışında bedeninin bütün parçalarını gizlemeye çalışıyordu. İşte o, güneşin kaybolmasının tam olarak ne anlama geldiğini anlamamış olsa bile, dehşetini olduğu gibi hissedebilenlerdendi.

Güneşin onlardan alındıktan sonra kime verileceğini sormuyorlardı. En başta onlara verildiğinde de hiçbir soru sormamışlardı zaten.

İki saat ne zaman geçer?

Midemin üstünde, sağ tarafıma doğru keskin bir acı hissettim. Karaciğerim. Gözlerimi yumdum. Yanımda biri metal bir nesneyi yere bıraktı. Bir kafesti. İçerisindeki kartalın ıslak kokusu burnuma ulaşmadan önce bile biliyordum bunu.

“Yeniden mi?” diye sordu bana kartal. Kanatları kanlı. Zamanın her bir parçası tüylerinin üstüne çöreklenmişti. Gagası bir şey, tahminen et parçası geveliyor gibi hareket ediyordu. Eski anılar kolay unutulmazmış. Şu anda kafesinin kalın parmaklıklarının ardında olsa da bunun bir aldatmaca olduğunu bir tek ben biliyordum. Her an kanatlarını iki yana uzatıverebilir, hava bu hareketiyle dalgalanarak kafesi esneterek hepimizi içine alacak kadar genişleyebilir, parmaklıklar önce ayaklarımızın altına serilir gibi gözükebilir ama aslında hepimizin üstünde yükselerek tepemize çökebilirdi.

Aşağıya baktım. Tahtalarla zapt edilmiş, hiçbir yere gidemeyen ama her yere uzanan tren rayları. Atlayıp koşsam… Çantam çok ağırdı. Daha birkaç adım atamadan, kartal, suratını bedenime gömerdi.

“Bu sefer farklı,” diye yanıtladım onu. “Yeniden diyemezsin. Tekrarladığım bir şey değil bu. Hatta bir hata yapıyormuşum gibi tonlayamazsın da. Bu sefer, insanların hak etmediğini biliyorum.”

“O zaman daha vahim. Süzme salaksın demektir.”

“İnsanların hak etmemesi, insanlığın hak etmediği anlamına gelmez ki.”

Az önce göz göze geldiğim genççe ama çökük asker hâlâ bana bakıyordu. Bir kartalla konuştuğumu anlamamıştı şüphesiz. Yanımdakilerden biriyle konuştuğumu sanmış olmalıydı. Ama konuştuğum kişiye bakmıyordum ona göre. Çekingence kafamı eğmiştim. Bir kez daha göz göze geldiğimizde içerideki diğer iki askere bir şeyler söyledi, onlar dönüp beni süzerken dışarı çıktı.

Yanımızdaki, az önce konuşan iki adam da şaşkınlıkla bir bana bir kartala bakıyordu.

“Yalnız bu sefer kalbin de kırılacak, Prometheus,” dedi kartal, bana. “Belki son olur. Biliyorsun, bir sürü soruna neden oluyor bu yaptıkların.”

Beni koruyordu sözde. En çok kanıma dokunan buydu. Kasıklarımın üstüne oturmuş, kanlı suratının ardında gözleri parlarken attığı çığlık kulaklarımda titremeye devam ediyordu. Bu tabloda kimsenin kimseyi düşündüğü yoktu. Kartalın, yanımızdaki adamların, artık arkama kadar gelmiş olması gereken askerin, tren raylarının, geçmeyen saatlerin…

Arkamı döndüğümde, asker sahiden oradaydı. Zaten öyle olması gerekiyordu; görmüştüm bunu, biliyordum. Kehanetler… Bir şeyler söylüyordu ama ağzı oynarken sesi çıkmıyordu. Yavaşlamış, kendisini saatin akışına uydurmuştu. Havada donan tükürüğünden anlaşılıyordu, sinirliydi. Korktuğu için olduğunu biliyordum. Her seferinde korkmuşlardı. Beni unutmuş olmaları işlerini kolaylaştırmıyordu. Sadece yeni bir isim vermelerine neden oluyordu. Bu seferkiyle beni lanetleyecekleri kesinleşmişti.

Olması gerekenle olanların farklı olması ne kadar acınasıydı. Olması gerekenlerin doğasının kötücül olmasıysa bir yerde buna dayanıyordu.

“Salaksın,” dedi kartal bana. Zamanı aşan bir çığlık. Hepimizin önüne geçmişti ama kimseyi durduramıyordu.

Sonsuzluğa kaç tane iki saat sıkıştırabilirsiniz?

Ben bir tane bile sıkıştıramadım.

Çantama uzanıyordum. Asker de sırtındaki tüfeğini indiriyordu. Benim acelem yoktu, onunsa eli ayağı birbirine dolaşıyordu. Oysaki her şey tam olması gerektiği anda olacaktı. Kehanet başkasının parmaklarının ucundaydı.

Güneş, bir tüfeğin patlamasıyla yeryüzüne doğdu.

Rayların üzerine serilmiş göğsümün ortasından, bir çantanın içinden.

Not: Bu öykü ilk olarak 2021 yılında Esrarengiz Hikâyeler'de yayımlanmıştır.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

O Planetinha

Fumaça verde me entrando pelas narinas e um coro desafinado fazia uma base melódica.

nos confins da galáxia havia um planetinha isolado. Era um planeta feliz.

O homem vestido de mago começava a aparecer por detrás da fumaça verde.

O planetinha recebeu três presentes, mas o seu habitante, o homem, estava num estado de confusão tão grande que ameaçava estragá-los. Os homens já havia escravizado o primeiro presente, a vida; lutavam contra o segundo presente, a morte; e havia alguns que achavam que deviam destruir totalmente o terceiro, o amor, e com isto levar a desordem total ao pobre planetinha perdido, que se chamava Terra.

O coro desafinado entrou antes do "Terra" cantando várias vezes, como se imitasse um eco, "terra-terra-terraaa". Depois de uma pausa dramática, o homem vestido de mago voltou a falar.

Terra, nossa nave mãe.

Neste momento eu me afastei. À frente do palco onde o mago e seu coral faziam apelos à multidão havia vários estandes cobertos com a tradicional armação de quatro pernas e lona branca. Em todos os cantos da praça havia gente, gente dos mais variados tipos. Visitantes curiosos que se aproximavam atraídos pela fumaça verde e as barraquinhas, gente que aproveitava o movimento para vender doces sem pagar imposto, casais que se abraçavam de pé para espantar o frio, os tradicionais corredores que faziam seu cooper, gente cheia de barba e vestida para imitar os hippies dos anos 60 e vender colares estendidos no chão, transeuntes novos e velhos, vestidos como baladeiros ou como ativistas do ônibus grátis, grupos de ciclistas entusiastas.

O mago fazia agora apelos para que nós, os homens, habitantes do isolado planetinha, passássemos a ver o planetinha, nossa nave mãe, como um todo, e adquiríssemos a consciência de que ele estava entrando em maus lençóis. A idéia, reforçada pela logomarca do evento, era que parássemos de olhar só para a nossa vida e pensássemos no planeta.

A logomarca do evento, um desenho estilizado do planeta Terra, nada tinha a ver com seu nome: "Festival Andando de Bem com a Vida", mas havia sido ali colocada estrategicamente pelos organizadores, de quem parecia justamente sair a mensagem dita pelo mago.

Aquela multidão de pessoas que, assim como eu, tinham suas próprias preocupações, não podiam ver o quadro caótico que formavam, cada uma com seus atos isolados, ali naquela praça isolada, naquele planeta isolado. Quando o hippie barbudo, quase um Osho, assustava um casal para tentar vender-lhes um colar, a quantidade de caos que isto acrescentava à cena era gigantesca. Por um segundo, pude ver, como se estivesse de longe e acima, com toda a pretensão que este estado imaginativo carrega, a cena completa do caos.

---

Uma nave-mãe, dessas de ficção científica, habitada por milhões de pessoas, seguia no espaço sem rumo, e sem saber que logo à frente um longo precipício espacial a esperava, para a desgraça completa sua e de seus habitantes.

Acostumados àquela nave tanto quanto outrora estiveram acostumados à sua terra natal, os homens viviam as próprias vidas sem nem se lembrar que estavam vagando pelo espaço. Ninguém sabia quem estava conduzindo a nave, e ninguém se importava.

No final do filme descobre-se que era a soma completa do caos que cada habitante produzia, com seus gestos egoístas e incapazes de levar em conta a totalidade, é que determinava a direção da nave-mãe. O efeito, no entanto, não era imediato, como nunca é. Havia gente de verdade encarregada de conduzir a nave, mas era uma gente bêbada, mau-caráter, que vivia brigando pelo controle da nave e o poder que isto lhes dava. Poder, status, dinheiro!

Essa gente bêbada era atraída até ali pela corrupção das instituições e da moral comum que, no fundo no fundo, era causada pelo egoísmo da população, através de um complexo -- mas que no filme aparece simplificado pela ação individual de um magnata do divertimento público -- processo social.

O homem vestido de mago era mais um agente causador de caos, com sua cena cheia de fumaça e sua roupa estroboscópica, ele achava que estava fazendo o bem ao alertar sua platéia, todos as sextas-feiras, de que havia algo que precisava ser feito, que cada um que estava ali ouvindo era responsável pelo planeta. A sua incapacidade, porém, de explicar o que precisava ser feito só aumentava a angústia geral; a culpa que ele jogava sobre seu público, e que era prontamente aceita e passada em frente, aos familiares e amigos de cada um, atormentava-os diariamente e os impedia de ter uma vida decente no trabalho e em casa. As famílias, estressadas, estavam constantemente brigando e os motivos mais insignificantes eram responsáveis pelas mais horrendas conseqüências.

O mago, que após o show tirava o chapéu entortado e ia tomar cerveja num boteco, era responsável por uma parcela considerável do caos que levava a nave na direção do seu desgraçado fim. No filme, porém, um dos transeuntes que de passagem ouviu um pedaço do discurso do mago despertou em si mesmo uma consiência transformadora e, com poderes sobre-humanos que lhe foram então concedidos por uma ordem iniciática do bem ou não, usando só os seus poderes humanos mesmo, o transeunte -- na primeira versão do filme um homem, na segunda uma mulher -- consegue consertar as instituições e retirar os bêbados da condução da máquina. A questão da moral pública é ignorada para abreviar a trama, já com duas horas e quarenta de duração, mas subentende-se que ela também fora resolvida.

---

No planeta Terra real, que não está indo em direção alguma, preso pela gravidade ao Sol, e onde as pessoas vivem a própria vida porque lhes é impossível viver a dos outros, não têm uma consciência global de nada porque só é possível mesmo ter a consciência delas mesmas, e onde a maioria, de uma maneira ou de outra, está tentando como pode, fazer as coisas direito, o filme é exibido.

Para a maioria dos espectadores, é um filme que evoca reflexões, um filme forte. Por um segundo elas têm o mesmo vislumbre do caos generalizado que eu tive ali naquela praça. Para uma pequena parcela dos espectadores -- entre eles alguns dos que estavam na platéia do mago, o próprio mago, o seguidor do Osho, o casal de duas mulheres e o vendedor de brigadeiros, mas aos quais se somam também críticos de televisão e jornal e gente que fala pelos cotovelos na internet -- o filme é um horror, o filme é uma vulgarização de um problema real e sério, o filme apela para a figura do herói salvador e passa uma mensagem totalmente errada, de que a maioria da população pode continuar vivendo as suas própria vidinhas miseráveis enquanto espera por um herói que vem do Olimpo e os salva da mixórdia que eles mesmos causaram, é um filme que presta um enorme desserviço à causa.

No dia seguinte ao lançamento, num bar meio caro ali perto da praça, numa mesa com oito pessoas, entre elas seis do primeiro grupo e oito do segundo, discute-se se o filme levará ou não o Oscar. Eu estou em casa dormindo e não escuto nada.

@ f977c464:32fcbe00

Kendisini aynada ilk defa gördüğü o gün, diğerleri gibi olduğunu anlamıştı. Oysaki her insan biricik olmalıydı. Sözgelimi sinirlendiğinde bir kaşı diğerinden birkaç milimetre daha az çatılabilirdi veya sevindiğinde dudağı ona has bir açıyla dalgalanabilirdi. Hatta bunların hiçbiri mümkün değilse, en azından, gözlerinin içinde sadece onun sahip olabileceği bir ışık parlayabilirdi. Çok sıradan, öyle sıradan ki kimsenin fark etmediği o milyonlarca minik şeyden herhangi biri. Ne olursa.

Ama yansımasına bakarken bunların hiçbirini bulamadı ve diğer günlerden hiç de farklı başlamamış o gün, işe gitmek için vagonunun gelmesini beklediği alelade bir metro istasyonunda, içinde kaybolduğu illüzyon dağılmaya başladı.

İlk önce derisi döküldü. Tam olarak dökülmedi aslında, daha çok kıvılcımlara dönüşüp bedeninden fırlamış ve bir an sonra sönerek külleşmiş, havada dağılmıştı. Ardında da, kaybolmadan hemen önce, kısa süre için hayal meyal görülebilen, bir ruhun yok oluşuna ağıt yakan rengârenk peri cesetleri bırakmıştı. Beklenenin aksine, havaya toz kokusu yayıldı.

Dehşete düştü elbette. Dehşete düştüler. Panikle üstlerini yırtan 50 işçi. Her şeyin sebebiyse o vagon.

Saçları da döküldü. Her tel, yere varmadan önce, her santimde ikiye ayrıla ayrıla yok oldu.

Bütün yüzeylerin mat olduğu, hiçbir şeyin yansımadığı, suyun siyah aktığı ve kendine ancak kameralarla bakabildiğin bir dünyada, vagonun içine yerleştirilmiş bir aynadan ilk defa kendini görmek.

Gözlerinin akları buharlaşıp havada dağıldı, mercekleri boşalan yeri doldurmak için eriyip yayıldı. Gerçeği görmemek için yaratılmış, bu yüzden görmeye hazır olmayan ve hiç olmayacak gözler.

Her şeyin o anda sona erdiğini sanabilirdi insan. Derin bir karanlık ve ölüm. Görmenin görmek olduğu o anın bitişi.

---

Ben geldiğimde ölmüşlerdi.

Yani bozulmuşlardı demek istiyorum.

Belleklerini yeni taşıyıcılara takmam mümkün olmadı. Fiziksel olarak kusursuz durumdaydılar, olmayanları da tamir edebilirdim ama tüm o hengamede kendilerini baştan programlamış ve girdilerini modifiye etmişlerdi.

Belleklerden birini masanın üzerinden ileriye savurdu. Hınca hınç dolu bir barda oturuyorlardı. O ve arkadaşı.

Sırf şu kendisini insan sanan androidler travma geçirip delirmesin diye neler yapıyoruz, insanın aklı almıyor.

Eliyle arkasını işaret etti.

Polislerin söylediğine göre biri vagonun içerisine ayna yerleştirmiş. Bu zavallılar da kapı açılıp bir anda yansımalarını görünce kafayı kırmışlar.

Arkadaşı bunların ona ne hissettirdiğini sordu. Yani o kadar bozuk, insan olduğunu sanan androidi kendilerini parçalamış olarak yerde görmek onu sarsmamış mıydı?

Hayır, sonuçta belirli bir amaç için yaratılmış şeyler onlar. Kaliteli bir bilgisayarım bozulduğunda üzülürüm çünkü parasını ben vermişimdir. Bunlarsa devletin. Bana ne ki?

Arkadaşı anlayışla kafasını sallayıp suyundan bir yudum aldı. Kravatını biraz gevşetti.

Bira istemediğinden emin misin?

İstemediğini söyledi. Sahi, neden deliriyordu bu androidler?

Basit. Onların yapay zekâlarını kodlarken bir şeyler yazıyorlar. Yazılımcılar. Biliyorsun, ben donanımdayım. Bunlar da kendilerini insan sanıyorlar. Tiplerine bak.

Sesini alçalttı.

Arabalarda kaza testi yapılan mankenlere benziyor hepsi. Ağızları burunları bile yok ama şu geldiğimizden beri sakalını düzeltip duruyor mesela. Hayır, hepsi de diğerleri onun sakalı varmış sanıyor, o manyak bir şey.

Arkadaşı bunun delirmeleriyle bağlantısını çözemediğini söyledi. O da normal sesiyle konuşmaya devam etti.

Anlasana, aynayı falan ayırt edemiyor mercekleri. Lönk diye kendilerini görüyorlar. Böyle, olduğu gibi...

Nedenmiş peki? Ne gerek varmış?

Ne bileyim be abicim! Ahiret soruları gibi.

Birasına bakarak dalıp gitti. Sonra masaya abanarak arkadaşına iyice yaklaştı. Bulanık, bir tünelin ucundaki biri gibi, şekli şemalı belirsiz bir adam.

Ben seni nereden tanıyorum ki ulan? Kimsin sen?

Belleği makineden çıkardılar. İki kişiydiler. Soruşturmadan sorumlu memurlar.

─ Baştan mı başlıyoruz, diye sordu belleği elinde tutan ilk memur.

─ Bir kere daha deneyelim ama bu sefer direkt aynayı sorarak başla, diye cevapladı ikinci memur.

─ Bence de. Yeterince düzgün çalışıyor.

Simülasyon yüklenirken, ayakta, biraz arkada duran ve alnını kaşıyan ikinci memur sormaktan kendisini alamadı:

─ Bu androidleri niye böyle bir olay yerine göndermişler ki? Belli tost olacakları. İsraf. Gidip biz baksak aynayı kırıp delilleri mahvetmek zorunda da kalmazlar.

Diğer memur sandalyesinde hafifçe dönecek oldu, o sırada soruyu bilgisayarın hoparlöründen teknisyen cevapladı.

Hangi işimizde bir yamukluk yok ki be abi.

---

Ama bir son değildi. Üstlerindeki tüm illüzyon dağıldığında ve çıplak, cinsiyetsiz, birbirinin aynı bedenleriyle kaldıklarında sıra dünyaya gelmişti.

Yere düştüler. Elleri -bütün bedeni gibi siyah turmalinden, boğumları çelikten- yere değdiği anda, metronun zemini dağıldı.

Yerdeki karolar öncesinde beyazdı ve çok parlaktı. Tepelerindeki floresan, ışığını olduğu gibi yansıtıyor, tek bir lekenin olmadığı ve tek bir tozun uçmadığı istasyonu aydınlatıyorlardı.

Duvarlara duyurular asılmıştı. Örneğin, yarın akşam kültür merkezinde 20.00’da başlayacak bir tekno blues festivalinin cıvıl cıvıl afişi vardı. Onun yanında daha geniş, sarı puntolu harflerle yazılmış, yatay siyah kesiklerle çerçevesi çizilmiş, bir platformdan düşen çöp adamın bulunduğu “Dikkat! Sarı bandı geçmeyin!” uyarısı. Biraz ilerisinde günlük resmi gazete, onun ilerisinde bir aksiyon filminin ve başka bir romantik komedi filminin afişleri, yapılacakların ve yapılmayacakların söylendiği küçük puntolu çeşitli duyurular... Duvar uzayıp giden bir panoydu. On, on beş metrede bir tekrarlanıyordu.

Tüm istasyonun eni yüz metre kadar. Genişliği on metre civarı.

Önlerinde, açık kapısından o mendebur aynanın gözüktüğü vagon duruyordu. Metro, istasyona sığmayacak kadar uzundu. Bir kılıcın keskinliğiyle uzanıyor ama yer yer vagonların ek yerleriyle bölünüyordu.

Hiçbir vagonda pencere olmadığı için metronun içi, içlerindekiler meçhuldü.

Sonrasında karolar zerrelerine ayrılarak yükseldi. Floresanın ışığında her yeri toza boğdular ve ortalığı gri bir sisin altına gömdüler. Çok kısa bir an. Afişleri dalgalandırmadılar. Dalgalandırmaya vakitleri olmadı. Yerlerinden söküp aldılar en fazla. Işık birkaç kere sönüp yanarak direndi. Son kez söndüğünde bir daha geri gelmedi.

Yine de etraf aydınlıktı. Kırmızı, her yere eşit dağılan soluk bir ışıkla.

Yer tamamen tele dönüşmüştü. Altında çapraz hatlarla desteklenmiş demir bir iskelet. Işık birkaç metreden daha fazla aşağıya uzanamıyordu. Sonsuzluğa giden bir uçurum.

Duvarın yerini aynı teller ve demir iskelet almıştı. Arkasında, birbirine vidalarla tutturulmuş demir plakalardan oluşan, üstünden geçen boruların ek yerlerinden bazen ince buharların çıktığı ve bir süre asılı kaldıktan sonra ağır, yağlı bir havayla sürüklendiği bir koridor.

Diğer tarafta paslanmış, pencerelerindeki camlar kırıldığı için demir plakalarla kapatılmış külüstür bir metro. Kapının karşısındaki aynadan her şey olduğu gibi yansıyordu.

---

Bir konteynırın içini andıran bir evde, gerçi gayet de birbirine eklenmiş konteynırlardan oluşan bir şehirde “andıran” demek doğru olmayacağı için düpedüz bir konteynırın içinde, masaya mum görüntüsü vermek için koyulmuş, yarı katı yağ atıklarından şekillendirilmiş kütleleri yakmayı deniyordu. Kafasında hayvan kıllarından yapılmış grili siyahlı bir peruk. Aynı kıllardan kendisine gür bir bıyık da yapmıştı.

Üstünde mavi çöp poşetlerinden yapılmış, kravatlı, şık bir takım.

Masanın ayakları yerine oradan buradan çıkmış parçalar konulmuştu: bir arabanın şaft mili, üst üste konulmuş ve üstünde yazı okunamayan tenekeler, boş kitaplar, boş gazete balyaları... Hiçbir şeye yazı yazılmıyordu, gerek yoktu da zaten çünkü merkez veri bankası onları fark ettirmeden, merceklerden giren veriyi sentezleyerek insanlar için dolduruyordu. Yani, androidler için. Farklı şekilde isimlendirmek bir fark yaratacaksa.

Onların mercekleri için değil. Bağlantıları çok önceden kopmuştu.

─ Hayatım, sofra hazır, diye bağırdı yatak odasındaki karısına.

Sofrada tabak yerine düz, bardak yerine bükülmüş, çatal ve bıçak yerine sivriltilmiş plakalar.

Karısı salonun kapısında durakladı ve ancak kulaklarına kadar uzanan, kocasınınkine benzeyen, cansız, ölü hayvanların kıllarından ibaret peruğunu eliyle düzeltti. Dudağını, daha doğrusu dudağının olması gereken yeri koyu kırmızı bir yağ tabakasıyla renklendirmeyi denemişti. Biraz da yanaklarına sürmüştü.

─ Nasıl olmuş, diye sordu.

Sesi tek düzeydi ama hafif bir neşe olduğunu hissettiğinize yemin edebilirdiniz.

Üzerinde, çöp poşetlerinin içini yazısız gazete kağıtlarıyla doldurarak yaptığı iki parça giysi.

─ Çok güzelsin, diyerek kravatını düzeltti kocası.

─ Sen de öylesin, sevgilim.

Yaklaşıp kocasını öptü. Kocası da onu. Sonra nazikçe elinden tutarak, sandalyesini geriye çekerek oturmasına yardım etti.

Sofrada yemek niyetine hiçbir şey yoktu. Gerek de yoktu zaten.

Konteynırın kapısı gürültüyle tekmelenip içeri iki memur girene kadar birbirlerine öyküler anlattılar. O gün neler yaptıklarını. İşten erken çıkıp yemyeşil çimenlerde gezdiklerini, uçurtma uçurduklarını, kadının nasıl o elbiseyi bulmak için saatlerce gezip yorulduğunu, kocasının kısa süreliğine işe dönüp nasıl başarılı bir hamleyle yaşanan krizi çözdüğünü ve kadının yanına döndükten sonra, alışveriş merkezinde oturdukları yeni dondurmacının dondurmalarının ne kadar lezzetli olduğunu, boğazlarının ağrımasından korktuklarını...

Akşam film izleyebilirlerdi, televizyonda -boş ve mat bir plaka- güzel bir film oynayacaktı.

İki memur. Çıplak bedenleriyle birbirinin aynı. Ellerindeki silahları onlara doğrultmuşlardı. Mum ışığında, tertemiz bir örtünün serili olduğu masada, bardaklarında şaraplarla oturan ve henüz sofranın ortasındaki hindiye dokunmamış çifti gördüklerinde bocaladılar.

Hiç de androidlere bilinçli olarak zarar verebilecek gibi gözükmüyorlardı.

─ Sessiz kalma hakkına sahipsiniz, diye bağırdı içeri giren ikinci memur. Söylediğiniz her şey...

Cümlesini bitiremedi. Yatak odasındaki, masanın üzerinden gördüğü o şey, onunla aynı hareketleri yapan android, yoksa, bir aynadaki yansıması mıydı?

Bütün illüzyon o anda dağılmaya başladı.

Not: Bu öykü ilk olarak 2020 yılında Esrarengiz Hikâyeler'de yayımlanmıştır.

@ 5469030c:61ca3e1e

Chef's notes

Make sure to prep your ingredients, before boiling the pasta.

A little Tajín seasoning per serving is also great for some extra flavor. 🌶

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 21
• 🍳 Cook time: 21
• 🍽️ Servings: 5

Ingredients

• • 12oz Tricolor Penne Pasta ❤️💛💚
• • 3 cups rotisserie chicken, shredded🍗
• • 4 cups chopped celery🥬
• • 1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper 🌶
• • 1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper 🫑
• • 6 slices turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled. 🦃
• • 4 tbsp avocado mayo 🥑
• • 3 tablespoons olive oil 🫒
• Sea salt & Black Pepper to taste. 🧂

Directions

1. • Add 9 cups of water to a medium to large pot to boil for 15 mins over medium high heat
2. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C) then add turkey bacon on lightly coated baking sheet with a little olive oil to prevent the bacon from sticking. Bake for 15 mins.
3. • In a large bowl, combine the pasta shredded chicken, chopped celery, red and green peppers, crumbled turkey bacon, and avocado mayo.
4. • Drizzle 3 table spoons olive oil and stir.
5. • Chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before serving

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Embarking on the journey of operating your own Lightning node on the Bitcoin Layer 2 network is more than just a tech-savvy endeavor; it's a step into a realm of financial autonomy and cutting-edge innovation. By running a node, you become a vital part of a revolutionary movement that's reshaping how we think about money and digital transactions. This role not only offers a unique perspective on blockchain technology but also places you at the heart of a community dedicated to decentralization and network resilience. Beyond the technicalities, it's about embracing a new era of digital finance, where you contribute directly to the network's security, efficiency, and growth, all while gaining personal satisfaction and potentially lucrative rewards.

In essence, running your own Lightning node is a powerful way to engage with the forefront of blockchain technology, assert financial independence, and contribute to a more decentralized and efficient Bitcoin network. It's an adventure that offers both personal and communal benefits, from gaining in-depth tech knowledge to earning a place in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrency.

Running your own Lightning node for the Bitcoin Layer 2 network can be an empowering and beneficial endeavor. Here are 10 reasons why you might consider taking on this task:

1. Direct Contribution to Decentralization: Operating a node is a direct action towards decentralizing the Bitcoin network, crucial for its security and resistance to control or censorship by any single entity.

2. Financial Autonomy: Owning a node gives you complete control over your financial transactions on the network, free from reliance on third-party services, which can be subject to fees, restrictions, or outages.

3. Advanced Network Participation: As a node operator, you're not just a passive participant but an active player in shaping the network, influencing its efficiency and scalability through direct involvement.

4. Potential for Higher Revenue: With strategic management and optimal channel funding, your node can become a preferred route for transactions, potentially increasing the routing fees you can earn.

5. Cutting-Edge Technological Engagement: Running a node puts you at the forefront of blockchain and bitcoin technology, offering insights into future developments and innovations.

6. Strengthened Network Security: Each new node adds to the robustness of the Bitcoin network, making it more resilient against attacks and failures, thus contributing to the overall security of the ecosystem.

7. Personalized Fee Structures: You have the flexibility to set your own fee policies, which can balance earning potential with the service you provide to the network.

8. Empowerment Through Knowledge: The process of setting up and managing a node provides deep learning opportunities, empowering you with knowledge that can be applied in various areas of blockchain and fintech.

9. Boosting Transaction Capacity: By running a node, you help to increase the overall capacity of the Lightning Network, enabling more transactions to be processed quickly and at lower costs.

10. Community Leadership and Reputation: As an active node operator, you gain recognition within the Bitcoin community, which can lead to collaborative opportunities and a position of thought leadership in the space.

These reasons demonstrate the impactful and transformative nature of running a Lightning node, appealing to those who are deeply invested in the principles of bitcoin and wish to actively shape its future. Jump aboard, and embrace the journey toward full independence. 🐶🐾🫡🚀🚀🚀

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

All memed out

It finally happened. I think it was October 25th, at circa 18:45 in the evening. I was doomscrolling my Nostr feed, and kept seeing the same Bitcoin memes repeated over and over, by different people. They weren't even reposts, they were copy-pasted versions of the same image. A very funny image. Well, it was very funny last year... and the year before that... and probably the year before that, when it appeared on a different network.

Because it's all just reposts, copy-pastes and rehashes of the Best of Bitcoin Twitter, just like the tiresome influencers, with their groupies and their Episode 498 of Let's all eat a large chunk of lightly-burnt dead animal and count our stacks before jetting off to talk about how to save the poors by getting them to buy individual satoshis with money they don't have.

I'm the poors your looking for

It's all so tiresome. It has little bearing on the real world I see around me, where most people are thinking all day about 99 problems and Bitcoin ain't one.

Which is, of course, what the Bitcoin influencers would have you believe, is the reason that they're poor. What in the world could be more important, than thinking about Bitcoin? Why do these people not get with the program? Don't they know, that we are trying to save them?

Why are they worrying about OtherProblems? Don't they know that all OtherProblems can be fixed with Bitcoin? Really, if you just go back far enough, in any current, situational problem, you will discover that there was some slight, negative shift to the history record that involved soft money. It's the financial version of the Butterfly Effect.

That's why #BitcoinFixesThis. Bitcoin fixes everything, if you just think about it, for long enough.

The same way that we all actually come out of Africa, supposedly, if you go back enough generations. So, coming out of Africa, now, as a Real Life Person in The Present is supposed to have no significance. What does someone from Cameroon know about Africa, that someone from Alaska doesn't? Both people come out of Africa, if you just think about it, for long enough.

And maybe that really is true. Maybe Bitcoin will eventually end all vice and crimes, save the planet, and we will all just hold hands and sing kumbaya all day, while waiting for the Singularity to upload us to Satoshi.

Bitcoin envelope budgeting

Or maybe it's not. Maybe it's just a really hard, digital money that incentivizes savings, functions as a reliable measure, and makes micropayments possible on a global scale. Those really are things that will help the poors, including myself. I can see it, already, when trying to organize pre-paid meetups or figure out what to do with our household's meager savings, when the stock market is looking particularly bubblicious.

But this is what I would consider Boring Bitcoin. Bitcoin home economics. Penny-pinching Bitcoin. Bitcoin for homemakers. How to use the Bitcoin envelope budgeting system to beat inflation by a margin of 13%.

The actual use of Bitcoin as money, rather than as a mere investment gamble or hype machine. That's the part of Bitcoin that nobody seems to really talk about because it's incredibly practical, dull, and useful, and it can only be tested by -- Oh, the horror! -- actually spending Bitcoin.

But... perhaps I will begin talking about it. Perhaps those of us, Bitcoiners, who are having fun staying poor, while stacking sats, should speak up a bit more. Perhaps the boring stuff is actually the interesting stuff. Perhaps there is more to say about Bitcoin, than can fit into a meme.

@ cbaa0c82:e9313245

TheWholeGrain - #September2024

To start the second year of Bread and Toast off strong the September of 2024 includes five Sunday Singles, and the newest piece of cover art for a comic from Toast's Comic Collection includes a touch of color. Some bonus pieces of content were included this September. This includes one of the Political posts we all take so seriously, and a promotional piece for the upcoming npub10hj9rg5gds5x2gk0z0s2jlqnq04jg7g30aj2t5pqzdaaztfactgsnze5ny event coming up in October. The Concept Art released this month is an early design of a possible website logo. This month's Bitcoin Art stars End-Piece who is well informed on what money really is and asks the question, "Do you?"

September Sunday Singles

2024-09-01 | Sunday Single 055 Jump Rope https://i.nostr.build/ESlb23xVmTQLw7sw.png

2024-09-08 | Sunday Single 056 Trampoline https://i.nostr.build/1HNutqYQUjsA1JaG.png

2024-09-15 | Sunday Single 057 Hippity Hop https://i.nostr.build/5dTyLA0FJdK2rNol.png

2024-09-22 | Sunday Single 058 Jumping on the Bed https://i.nostr.build/PWaHDMroMjjfPmWS.png

2024-09-29 | Sunday Single 059 Shades https://i.nostr.build/pWeIZrttOjpcXAtz.png

Other Content Released in September 2024

2024-09-04 | Toast's Comic Collection Teenage Mutant Ninja Bread #5 Four brothers trained in ninjutsu live underneath the city and come up to the surface in order to save it! https://i.nostr.build/WPSB1qn2lMRlbdwJ.png

2024-09-10 | Politics Debate Night The first official debate between the candidates for Selection2024. https://i.nostr.build/wppFU8U3NJCww6U0.png

2024-09-11 | Concept Art Early Website Logo Design This is an early concept for a logo. It was never used. https://i.nostr.build/hxhzvtS4fCe0imNh.png

2024-09-18 | Bitcoin Art On Top of It End-Piece knows what money is. Do you? https://i.nostr.build/6TCWK5d1ynPhrteA.png

2024-09-27 | Nostr Valley Nostr Valley 001 Bread is getting prepared for NostrValley! Hope to see you there! https://i.nostr.build/nQqsPGmJ8hjvxROK.png

September Additions to The Bakery in 2024

2024-09-05 | npub1895dg7n47ldxxq8hyqj9h4xa3xwwxzpnn8lm7hydag4tck6cfj3qcmc4f0 https://m.primal.net/KgDW.jpg

2024-09-26 | npub1hcusg0xp9maamlh9vnv4mf635uwldsfeut00ghzrrjk7kjjh8j3sf9049l https://image.nostr.build/a0a64d709376b3650ebde0f3de5076748d69a999aef9e5fbd882574d5e64cf88.jpg

We hope you enjoyed this first issue of The Whole Grain. The Whole Grain will be released on the first of every month and will cover all of the content released by npub1ew4qeq576v3vz4gukeseknqghx3x4jtlld8ftys9amrca6f3xfzsrm8jpd in the previous month.

Thanks for checking it out, Bread, Toast, and End-Piece

BreadandToast #SundaySingle #ToastsComicCollection #ConceptArt #BitcoinArt #TheBakery #Bread #Toast #EndPiece #Art #Artstr #DigitalArt #Comic #Manga #NostrValley #NostrOnly #🖼️

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Chef's notes

Serving these two dishes together will create a delightful centerpiece for your Thanksgiving meal, offering a perfect blend of traditional flavors with a homemade touch.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 - 2 hours
• 🍽️ Servings: 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 whole turkey (about 12-14 lbs), thawed and ready to cook
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 onion, quartered
• 1 lemon, halved
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• Apple and Sage Stuffing
• 1 loaf of crusty bread, cut into cubes
• 2 apples, cored and chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups chicken broth
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

1. Preheat the Oven: Set your oven to 325°F (165°C).
2. Prepare the Herb Butter: Mix the softened butter with the chopped thyme, rosemary, and sage. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Prepare the Turkey: Remove any giblets from the turkey and pat it dry. Loosen the skin and spread a generous amount of herb butter under and over the skin.
4. Add Aromatics: Inside the turkey cavity, place the quartered onion, lemon halves, and garlic cloves.
5. Roast: Place the turkey in a roasting pan. Tent with aluminum foil and roast. A general guideline is about 15 minutes per pound, or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F (74°C) at the thickest part of the thigh.
6. Rest and Serve: Let the turkey rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.
7. Next: Apple and Sage Stuffing
8. Dry the Bread: Spread the bread cubes on a baking sheet and let them dry overnight, or toast them in the oven.
9. Cook the Vegetables: In a large skillet, melt the butter and cook the onion, celery, and garlic until soft.
10. Combine Ingredients: Add the apples, sage, and bread cubes to the skillet. Stir in the chicken broth until the mixture is moist. Season with salt and pepper.
11. Bake: Transfer the stuffing to a baking dish and bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 30-40 minutes, until golden brown on top.

@ 468f729d:5ab4fd5e

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smzuwLQfl_Q

@ 361d3e1e:50bc10a8

https://forex-strategy.com/2024/11/03/the-amazon-river-has-begun-to-dry-up-water-problems-are-escalating/ The Amazon River has begun to dry up, water problems are escalating

climate #climatechange #water #crisis #amazon #amazonriver #brazil

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Testing a brand new YakiHonne native client for iOS. Smooth as butter (not penis butter 🤣🍆🧈) with great visual experience and intuitive navigation. Amazing work by the team behind it! * lists * work

Bold text work!

Images could have used nostr.build instead of raw S3 from us-east-1 region.

Very impressive! You can even save the draft and continue later, before posting the long-form note!

🐶🐾🤯🤯🤯🫂💜

@ bf7973ed:841ad12a

I've been procrastinating too much the last few weeks, so I'm starting off this week with catching up on homework.

Creating good habits can take some time because it's so easy to create bad habits. So, I'm replacing a bad habit with a good one. I woke up and turned on the TV (bad habit), I knew I had work to catch up on.

I turned the TV off and started on some homework instead (good habit). So from now on, I'll be turning on my computer instead of the TV when I have nothing to do.

(I'm even using the Obsidian plugin to prevent distractions)

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

As the title states, scratch behind my ear and you get it. 🐶🐾🫡

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Test Bounty Note

@ 8fb140b4:f948000c

Intro

This short tutorial will help you set up your own Nostr Wallet Connect (NWC) on your own LND Node that is not using Umbrel. If you are a user of Umbrel, you should use their version of NWC.

Requirements

You need to have a working installation of LND with established channels and connectivity to the internet. NWC in itself is fairly light and will not consume a lot of resources. You will also want to ensure that you have a working installation of Docker, since we will use a docker image to run NWC.

• Working installation of LND (and all of its required components)
• Docker (with Docker compose)

Installation

For the purpose of this tutorial, we will assume that you have your lnd/bitcoind running under user bitcoin with home directory /home/bitcoin. We will also assume that you already have a running installation of Docker (or docker.io).

Prepare and verify

git version - we will need git to get the latest version of NWC. docker version - should execute successfully and show the currently installed version of Docker. docker compose version - same as before, but the version will be different. ss -tupln | grep 10009- should produce the following output: tcp LISTEN 0 4096 0.0.0.0:10009 0.0.0.0: tcp LISTEN 0 4096 [::]:10009 [::]:**

For things to work correctly, your Docker should be version 20.10.0 or later. If you have an older version, consider installing a new one using instructions here: https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/

Create folders & download NWC

In the home directory of your LND/bitcoind user, create a new folder, e.g., "nwc" mkdir /home/bitcoin/nwc. Change to that directory cd /home/bitcoin/nwc and clone the NWC repository: git clone https://github.com/getAlby/nostr-wallet-connect.git

Creating the Docker image

In this step, we will create a Docker image that you will use to run NWC.

• Change directory to nostr-wallet-connect: cd nostr-wallet-connect
• Run command to build Docker image: docker build -t nwc:$(date +'%Y%m%d%H%M') -t nwc:latest . (there is a dot at the end)
• The last line of the output (after a few minutes) should look like => => naming to docker.io/library/nwc:latest
• nwc:latest is the name of the Docker image with a tag which you should note for use later.

Creating docker-compose.yml and necessary data directories

• Let's create a directory that will hold your non-volatile data (DB): mkdir data
• Indocker-compose.ymlfile, there are fields that you want to replace (<> comments) and port “4321” that you want to make sure is open (check with ss -tupln | grep 4321which should return nothing).
• Create docker-compose.ymlfile with the following content, and make sure to update fields that have <> comment:

version: "3.8" services: nwc: image: nwc:latest volumes: - ./data:/data - ~/.lnd:/lnd:ro ports: - "4321:8080" extra_hosts: - "localhost:host-gateway" environment: NOSTR_PRIVKEY: <use "openssl rand -hex 32" to generate a fresh key and place it inside ""> LN_BACKEND_TYPE: "LND" LND_ADDRESS: localhost:10009 LND_CERT_FILE: "/lnd/tls.cert" LND_MACAROON_FILE: "/lnd/data/chain/bitcoin/mainnet/admin.macaroon" DATABASE_URI: "/data/nostr-wallet-connect.db" COOKIE_SECRET: <use "openssl rand -hex 32" to generate fresh secret and place it inside ""> PORT: 8080 restart: always stop_grace_period: 1m

Starting and testing

Now that you have everything ready, it is time to start the container and test.

• While you are in the nwcdirectory (important), execute the following command and check the log output, docker compose up
• You should see container logs while it is starting, and it should not exit if everything went well.
• At this point, you should be able to go to http://<ip of the host where nwc is running>:4321 and get to the interface of NWC
• To stop the test run of NWC, simply press Ctrl-C , and it will shut the container down.
• To start NWC permanently, you should execute docker compose up -d , “-d” tells Docker to detach from the session.
• To check currently running NWC logs, execute docker compose logs to run it in tail mode add -f to the end.
• To stop the container, execute docker compose down

That's all, just follow the instructions in the web interface to get started.

Updating

As with any software, you should expect fixes and updates that you would need to perform periodically. You could automate this, but it falls outside of the scope of this tutorial. Since we already have all of the necessary configuration in place, the update execution is fairly simple.

• Change directory to the clone of the git repository, cd /home/bitcoin/nwc/nostr-wallet-connect
• Run command to build Docker image: docker build -t nwc:$(date +'%Y%m%d%H%M') -t nwc:latest . (there is a dot at the end)
• Change directory back one level cd ..
• Restart (stop and start) the docker compose config docker compose down && docker compose up -d
• Done! Optionally you may want to check the logs: docker compose logs

@ 82341f88:fbfbe6a2

There’s a lot of conversation around the #TwitterFiles. Here’s my take, and thoughts on how to fix the issues identified.

I’ll start with the principles I’ve come to believe…based on everything I’ve learned and experienced through my past actions as a Twitter co-founder and lead:

1. Social media must be resilient to corporate and government control.
2. Only the original author may remove content they produce.
3. Moderation is best implemented by algorithmic choice.

The Twitter when I led it and the Twitter of today do not meet any of these principles. This is my fault alone, as I completely gave up pushing for them when an activist entered our stock in 2020. I no longer had hope of achieving any of it as a public company with no defense mechanisms (lack of dual-class shares being a key one). I planned my exit at that moment knowing I was no longer right for the company.

The biggest mistake I made was continuing to invest in building tools for us to manage the public conversation, versus building tools for the people using Twitter to easily manage it for themselves. This burdened the company with too much power, and opened us to significant outside pressure (such as advertising budgets). I generally think companies have become far too powerful, and that became completely clear to me with our suspension of Trump’s account. As I’ve said before, we did the right thing for the public company business at the time, but the wrong thing for the internet and society. Much more about this here: https://twitter.com/jack/status/1349510769268850690

I continue to believe there was no ill intent or hidden agendas, and everyone acted according to the best information we had at the time. Of course mistakes were made. But if we had focused more on tools for the people using the service rather than tools for us, and moved much faster towards absolute transparency, we probably wouldn’t be in this situation of needing a fresh reset (which I am supportive of). Again, I own all of this and our actions, and all I can do is work to make it right.

Back to the principles. Of course governments want to shape and control the public conversation, and will use every method at their disposal to do so, including the media. And the power a corporation wields to do the same is only growing. It’s critical that the people have tools to resist this, and that those tools are ultimately owned by the people. Allowing a government or a few corporations to own the public conversation is a path towards centralized control.

I’m a strong believer that any content produced by someone for the internet should be permanent until the original author chooses to delete it. It should be always available and addressable. Content takedowns and suspensions should not be possible. Doing so complicates important context, learning, and enforcement of illegal activity. There are significant issues with this stance of course, but starting with this principle will allow for far better solutions than we have today. The internet is trending towards a world were storage is “free” and infinite, which places all the actual value on how to discover and see content.

Which brings me to the last principle: moderation. I don’t believe a centralized system can do content moderation globally. It can only be done through ranking and relevance algorithms, the more localized the better. But instead of a company or government building and controlling these solely, people should be able to build and choose from algorithms that best match their criteria, or not have to use any at all. A “follow” action should always deliver every bit of content from the corresponding account, and the algorithms should be able to comb through everything else through a relevance lens that an individual determines. There’s a default “G-rated” algorithm, and then there’s everything else one can imagine.

The only way I know of to truly live up to these 3 principles is a free and open protocol for social media, that is not owned by a single company or group of companies, and is resilient to corporate and government influence. The problem today is that we have companies who own both the protocol and discovery of content. Which ultimately puts one person in charge of what’s available and seen, or not. This is by definition a single point of failure, no matter how great the person, and over time will fracture the public conversation, and may lead to more control by governments and corporations around the world.

I believe many companies can build a phenomenal business off an open protocol. For proof, look at both the web and email. The biggest problem with these models however is that the discovery mechanisms are far too proprietary and fixed instead of open or extendable. Companies can build many profitable services that complement rather than lock down how we access this massive collection of conversation. There is no need to own or host it themselves.

Many of you won’t trust this solution just because it’s me stating it. I get it, but that’s exactly the point. Trusting any one individual with this comes with compromises, not to mention being way too heavy a burden for the individual. It has to be something akin to what bitcoin has shown to be possible. If you want proof of this, get out of the US and European bubble of the bitcoin price fluctuations and learn how real people are using it for censorship resistance in Africa and Central/South America.

I do still wish for Twitter, and every company, to become uncomfortably transparent in all their actions, and I wish I forced more of that years ago. I do believe absolute transparency builds trust. As for the files, I wish they were released Wikileaks-style, with many more eyes and interpretations to consider. And along with that, commitments of transparency for present and future actions. I’m hopeful all of this will happen. There’s nothing to hide…only a lot to learn from. The current attacks on my former colleagues could be dangerous and doesn’t solve anything. If you want to blame, direct it at me and my actions, or lack thereof.

As far as the free and open social media protocol goes, there are many competing projects: @bluesky is one with the AT Protocol, nostr another, Mastodon yet another, Matrix yet another…and there will be many more. One will have a chance at becoming a standard like HTTP or SMTP. This isn’t about a “decentralized Twitter.” This is a focused and urgent push for a foundational core technology standard to make social media a native part of the internet. I believe this is critical both to Twitter’s future, and the public conversation’s ability to truly serve the people, which helps hold governments and corporations accountable. And hopefully makes it all a lot more fun and informative again.

💸🛠️🌐 To accelerate open internet and protocol work, I’m going to open a new category of #startsmall grants: “open internet development.” It will start with a focus of giving cash and equity grants to engineering teams working on social media and private communication protocols, bitcoin, and a web-only mobile OS. I’ll make some grants next week, starting with $1mm/yr to Signal. Please let me know other great candidates for this money.

@ 2cb8ae56:84d30cba

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

@ c4f5e7a7:8856cac7

Best viewed on Habla, YakiHonne or Highlighter.

TL;DR

This article explores the links between public, community-driven data sources (such as OpenStreetMap) and private, cryptographically-owned data found on networks such as Nostr.

The following concepts are explored:

1. Attestations: Users signalling to their social graph that they believe something to be true by publishing Attestations. These social proofs act as a decentralised verification system that leverages your web-of-trust.
2. Proof of Place: An oracle-based system where physical letters are sent to real-world locations, confirming the corresponding digital ownership via cryptographic proofs. This binds physical locations in meatspace with their digital representations in the Nostrverse.
3. Check-ins: Foursquare-style check-ins that can be verified using attestations from place owners, ensuring authenticity. This approach uses web-of-trust to validate check-ins and location ownership over time.

The goal is to leverage cryptographic ownership where necessary while preserving the open, collaborative nature of public data systems.

Open Data in a public commons has a place and should not be thrown out with the Web 2.0 bathwater.

Cognitive Dissonance

Ever since discovering Nostr in August of 2022 I've been grappling with how BTC Map - a project that helps bitcoiners find places to spend sats - should most appropriately use this new protocol.

I am assuming, dear reader, that you are somewhat familiar with Nostr - a relatively new protocol for decentralised identity and communication. If you don’t know your nsec from your npub, please take some time to read these excellent posts: Nostr is Identity for the Internet and The Power of Nostr by @max and @lyn, respectively. Nostr is so much more than a short-form social media replacement.

The social features (check-ins, reviews, etc.) that Nostr unlocks for BTC Map are clear and exciting - all your silos are indeed broken - however, something fundamental has been bothering me for a while and I think it comes down to data ownership.

For those unfamiliar, BTC Map uses OpenStreetMap (OSM) as its main geographic database. OSM is centred on the concept of a commons of objectively verifiable data that is maintained by a global community of volunteer editors; a Wikipedia for maps. There is no data ownership; the data is free (as in freedom) and anyone can edit anything. It is the data equivalent of FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) - FOSD if you will, but more commonly referred to as Open Data.

In contrast, Notes and Other Stuff on Nostr (Places in this cartographic context) are explicitly owned by the controller of the private key. These notes are free to propagate, but they are owned.

How do we reconcile the decentralised nature of Nostr, where data is cryptographically owned by individuals, with the community-managed data commons of OpenStreetMap, where no one owns the data?

Self-sovereign Identity

Before I address this coexistence question, I want to talk a little about identity as it pertains to ownership. If something is to be owned, it has to be owned by someone or something - an identity.

All identities that are not self-sovereign are, by definition, leased to you by a 3rd party. You rent your Facebook identity from Meta in exchange for your data. You rent your web domain from your DNS provider in exchange for your money.

Taken to the extreme, you rent your passport from your Government in exchange for your compliance. You are you at the pleasure of others. Where Bitcoin separates money from the state; Nostr separates identity from the state.

Or, as @nvk said recently: "Don't build your house on someone else's land.".

https://i.nostr.build/xpcCSkDg3uVw0yku.png

While we’ve had the tools for self-sovereign digital identity for decades (think PGP keys or WebAuthN), we haven't had the necessary social use cases nor the corresponding social graph to elevate these identities to the mainstream. Nostr fixes this.

Nostr is PGP for the masses and will take cryptographic identities mainstream.

Full NOSTARD?

Returning to the coexistence question: the data on OpenStreetMap isn’t directly owned by anyone, even though the physical entities the data represents might be privately owned. OSM is a data commons.

We can objectively agree on the location of a tree or a fire hydrant without needing permission to observe and record it. Sure, you could place a tree ‘on Nostr’, but why should you? Just because something can be ‘on Nostr’ doesn’t mean it should be.

https://i.nostr.build/s3So2JVAqoY4E1dI.png

There might be a dystopian future where we can't agree on what a tree is nor where it's located, but I hope we never get there. It's at this point we'll need a Wikifreedia variant of OpenStreetMap.

While integrating Nostr identities into OpenStreetMap would be valuable, the current OSM infrastructure, tools, and community already provide substantial benefits in managing this data commons without needing to go NOSTR-native - there's no need to go Full NOSTARD. H/T to @princeySOV for the original meme.

https://i.nostr.build/ot9jtM5cZtDHNKWc.png

So, how do we appropriately blend cryptographically owned data with the commons?

If a location is owned in meatspace and it's useful to signal that ownership, it should also be owned in cyberspace. Our efforts should therefore focus on entities like businesses, while allowing the commons to manage public data for as long as it can successfully mitigate the tragedy of the commons.

The remainder of this article explores how we can:

1. Verify ownership of a physical place in the real world;
2. Link that ownership to the corresponding digital place in cyberspace.

As a side note, I don't see private key custodianship - or, even worse, permissioned use of Places signed by another identity's key - as any more viable than the rented identities of Web 2.0.

And as we all know, the Second Law of Infodynamics (no citation!) states that:

"The total amount of sensitive information leaked will always increase over time."

This especially holds true if that data is centralised.

Not your keys, not your notes. Not your keys, not your identity.

Places and Web-of-Trust

@Arkinox has been leading the charge on the Places NIP, introducing Nostr notes (kind 37515) that represent physical locations. The draft is well-crafted, with bonus points for linking back to OSM (and other location repositories) via NIP-73 - External Content IDs (championed by @oscar of @fountain).

However, as Nostr is permissionless, authenticity poses a challenge. Just because someone claims to own a physical location on the Internet doesn’t necessarily mean they have ownership or control of that location in the real world.

Ultimately, this problem can only be solved in a decentralised way by using Web-of-Trust - using your social graph and the perspectives of trusted peers to inform your own perspective. In the context of Places, this requires your network to form a view on which digital identity (public key / npub) is truly the owner of a physical place like your local coffee shop.

This requires users to:

1. Verify the owner of a Place in cyberspace is the owner of a place in meatspace.
2. Signal this verification to their social graph.

Let's look at the latter idea first with the concept of Attestations ...

Attestations

A way to signal to your social graph that you believe something to be true (or false for that matter) would be by publishing an Attestation note. An Attestation note would signify to your social graph that you think something is either true or false.

Imagine you're a regular at a local coffee shop. You publish an Attestation that says the shop is real and the owner behind the Nostr public key is who they claim to be. Your friends trust you, so they start trusting the shop's digital identity too.

However, attestations applied to Places are just a single use case. The attestation concept could be more widely applied across Nostr in a variety of ways (key rotation, identity linking, etc).

Here is a recent example from @lyn that would carry more signal if it were an Attestation:

https://i.nostr.build/lZAXOEwvRIghgFY4.png

Parallels can be drawn between Attestations and transaction confirmations on the Bitcoin timechain; however, their importance to you would be weighted by clients and/or Data Vending Machines in accordance with:

1. Your social graph;
2. The type or subject of the content being attested and by whom;
3. Your personal preferences.

They could also have a validity duration to be temporally bound, which would be particularly useful in the case of Places.

NIP-25 (Reactions) do allow for users to up/downvote notes with optional content (e.g., emojis) and could work for Attestations, but I think we need something less ambiguous and more definitive.

‘This is true’ resonates more strongly than ‘I like this.’.

https://i.nostr.build/s8NIG2kXzUCLcoax.jpg

There are similar concepts in the Web 3 / Web 5 world such as Verified Credentials by tdb. However, Nostr is the Web 3 now and so wen Attestation NIP?

https://i.nostr.build/Cb047NWyHdJ7h5Ka.jpg

That said, I have seen @utxo has been exploring ‘smart contracts’ on nostr and Attestations may just be a relatively ‘dumb’ subset of the wider concept Nostr-native scripting combined with web-of-trust.

Proof of Place

Attestations handle the signalling of your truth, but what about the initial verification itself?

We already covered how this ultimately has to be derived from your social graph, but what if there was a way to help bootstrap this web-of-trust through the use of oracles? For those unfamiliar with oracles in the digital realm, they are simply trusted purveyors of truth.

Introducing Proof of Place, an out–of-band process where an oracle (such as BTC Map) would mail - yes physically mail- a shared secret to the address of the location being claimed in cyberspace. This shared secret would be locked to the public key (npub) making the claim, which, if unlocked, would prove that the associated private key (nsec) has physical access to the location in meatspace.

One way of doing this would be to mint a 1 sat cashu ecash token locked to the npub of the claimant and mail it to them. If they are able to redeem the token then they have cryptographically proven that they have physical access to the location.

Proof of Place is really nothing more than a weighted Attestation. In a web-of-trust Nostrverse, an oracle is simply a npub (say BTC Map) that you weigh heavily for its opinion on a given topic (say Places).

In the Bitcoin world, Proof of Work anchors digital scarcity in cyberspace to physical scarcity (energy and time) in meatspace and as @Gigi says in PoW is Essential:

"A failure to understand Proof of Work, is a failure to understand Bitcoin."

In the Nostrverse, Proof of Place helps bridge the digital and physical worlds.

@Gigi also observes in Memes vs The World that:

"In Bitcoin, the map is the territory. We can infer everything we care about by looking at the map alone."

https://i.nostr.build/dOnpxfI4u7EL2v4e.png

This isn’t true for Nostr.

In the Nostrverse, the map IS NOT the territory. However, Proof of Place enables us to send cryptographic drones down into the physical territory to help us interpret our digital maps. 🤯

Check-ins

Although not a draft NIP yet, @Arkinox has also been exploring the familiar concept of Foursquare-style Check-ins on Nostr (with kind 13811 notes).

For the uninitiated, Check-ins are simply notes that signal the publisher is at a given location. These locations could be Places (in the Nostr sense) or any other given digital representation of a location for that matter (such as OSM elements) if NIP-73 - External Content IDs are used.

Of course, not everyone will be a Check-in enjoyooor as the concept will not sit well with some people’s threat models and OpSec practices.

Bringing Check-ins to Nostr is possible (as @sebastix capably shows here), but they suffer the same authenticity issues as Places. Just because I say I'm at a given location doesn't mean that I am.

Back in the Web 2.0 days, Foursquare mitigated this by relying on the GPS position of the phone running their app, but this is of course spoofable.

How should we approach Check-in verifiability in the Nostrverse? Well, just like with Places, we can use Attestations and WoT. In the context of Check-ins, an Attestation from the identity (npub) of the Place being checked-in to would be a particularly strong signal. An NFC device could be placed in a coffee shop and attest to check-ins without requiring the owner to manually intervene - I’m sure @blackcoffee and @Ben Arc could hack something together over a weekend!

Check-ins could also be used as a signal for bonafide Place ownership over time.

Summary: Trust Your Bros

So, to recap, we have:

Places: Digital representations of physical locations on Nostr.

Check-ins: Users signalling their presence at a location.

Attestations: Verifiable social proofs used to confirm ownership or the truth of a claim.

You can visualise how these three concepts combine in the diagram below:

https://i.nostr.build/Uv2Jhx5BBfA51y0K.jpg

And, as always, top right trumps bottom left! We have:

Level 0 - Trust Me Bro: Anyone can check-in anywhere. The Place might not exist or might be impersonating the real place in meatspace. The person behind the npub may not have even been there at all.

Level 1 - Definitely Maybe Somewhere: This category covers the middle-ground of ‘Maybe at a Place’ and ‘Definitely Somewhere’. In these examples, you are either self-certifying that you have checked-in at an Attested Place or you are having others attest that you have checked-in at a Place that might not even exist IRL.

Level 2 - Trust Your Bros: An Attested Check-in at an Attested Place. Your individual level of trust would be a function of the number of Attestations and how you weigh them within your own social graph.

https://i.nostr.build/HtLAiJH1uQSTmdxf.jpg

Perhaps the gold standard (or should that be the Bitcoin standard?) would be a Check-in attested by the owner of the Place, which in itself was attested by BTC Map?

Or perhaps not. Ultimately, it’s the users responsibility to determine what they trust by forming their own perspective within the Nostrverse powered by web-of-trust algorithms they control. ‘Trust Me Bro’ or ‘Trust Your Bros’ - you decide.

As we navigate the frontier of cryptographic ownership and decentralised data, it’s up to us to find the balance between preserving the Open Data commons and embracing self-sovereign digital identities.

Thanks

With thanks to Arkinox, Avi, Ben Gunn, Kieran, Blackcoffee, Sebastix, Tomek, Calle, Short Fiat, Ben Weeks and Bitcoms for helping shape my thoughts and refine content, whether you know it or not!

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

I was recently having a friendly discussion about end-times eschatology. I believe the Bible communicates a pre-tribulation rapture of believers before an actual 7 year tribulation followed by a literal thousand year reign of Jesus on Earth before Armageddon and the Great White Throne Judgement. My friend said he thought the rapture had happened around 70 AD. I had never heard anyone make that argument, so I asked for scriptural evidence. He gave me these three verses:

“Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28)

And Jesus was saying to them, “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” (Mark 9:1)

But I say to you truthfully, there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Luke 9:27)

These three verses do sound like some of those standing before Jesus will be raptured, although the words are “see the kingdom of God.”

I always seek to know what I believe and why I believe it and to make sure that I am not misled about anything regarding the Bible, so I stopped and thought and listened. I know that most of the Bible strongly suggests that the rapture happens immediately before the tribulation, but these verses seem to contradict that conclusion. God gave me the following passage of a discussion between Peter and Jesus right after Jesus told Peter how he would die:

Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?” So Peter seeing him said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!” Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?” (John 21:20-23) {emphasis mine}

Jesus’s statements made His disciples think that the Apostle John would live until Jesus returned, but that wasn’t what Jesus was communicating. I think this misunderstanding is similar to the one in the three verses above. John did live longer than any of His other disciples. Near the end of John’s life, after all of the other disciples had passed away, Jesus brought him to heaven in the spirit:

I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, saying, “Write in a book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His chest with a golden sash. His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. (Revelation 1:9-16) {emphasis mine}

In this vision, before John’s death, he saw “the kingdom of God” in heaven. This alone would fulfill Jesus’s statement, but there is more.

Then slightly later in Revelation:

After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven, and the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things.” Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. (Revelation 4:1-2)

In this passage, John is called up to heaven to see “what must take place after these things.” What does John see about what is to come? He “see[s] the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”(Matthew 16:28b)

John was listening to Jesus’s promise that “there are some of those standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.” (Mark 9:1) In his old age, he was temporarily called to heaven to see the “the kingdom of God” and “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” John did see the things that Jesus promised before he “tasted death.” It wasn’t that Jesus came back or raptured the church before John died. It was that Jesus brought John into heaven in the spirit to see what would later come to be. Jesus then returned John back to earth to live out what remained of his life.

When I asked my husband to review my post, he made another explanation of the original three verses. I’ll use Matthew for this explanation.

28 “Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” (Matthew 16:28)

The very next verses are these:

Six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!” (Matthew 17:1-5)

The transfiguration was the initiation of Jesus reign and Peter, James, and John were able to see Jesus in His glorified form. Since this happened 6 days later, it stands out as a fulfillment. You could argue that both my idea and my husband’s are a fulfillment of Jesus’s promise.

It also does not make sense that the church was raptured in Jesus’s generation because Jesus’s kingdom did not come at that time. The evil in the world from His ascension to today is clearly not His kingdom. Also, nowhere in Revelation is the church mentioned (although people do come to know Jesus). This is because God took His church home to be with Him.

For God has not destined us for wrath, but for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, (1 Thessalonians 5:9)

The seven year tribulation is the wrath of God poured out on those who rejected their Creator and Savior. “God has not destined us for wrath.”

There will be a wonderful, literal thousand year reign of Jesus. Satan and his demons will be bound and will no longer being leading people away from Jesus. It will be a time of peace for 1000 years. Sadly a large number of people who live during the millennium will not put their faith in Jesus, but will rebel against Him when Satan is released one last time. Their rebellion will lead to their physical death and eternal torment.

Reading all of these verses, I once again see that even when there seems to be a contradiction, there is none. I still believe the rapture is yet to come and will occur shortly before the seven year tribulation. I still believe that the rapture and the tribulation are coming soon. I’m also glad that I took the time to look at the evidence, consider it logically, and consider the Bible in its entirety instead of blindly digging in my heels and claiming fiat, “I am right.”

I guess I should also share the two most explicit passages in the Bible on the rapture, so you can fully understand what is being talked about in this article:

But we do not want you to be uninformed, brethren, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as do the rest who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus. For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18) {emphasis mine}

This verse means even more when we look back at Jesus’s ascension:

And after He had said these things, He was lifted up while they were looking on, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them. They also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in just the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9-11) {emphasis mine}

The other most explicit passage on the rapture is this:

Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54) {emphasis mine}

In the New Testament, the Bible always calls the death of believers “sleep,” because it is not an end. It is a new beginning. I hope you are looking forward to the day when believers “will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet.”

God is good! All of the time! I hope to meet you all when we are called up to meet Jesus in the air.

Trust Jesus.\ \ your sister in Christ,

Christy

NOTE: I know this article is a bit different because it documents my whole thought process rather than just speaking clearly what I believe God’s word says. I hope it has been a blessing to you and I’d love feedback.

NOTE: Also, my last long form article, I never was able to see posted. Would someone please comment or like so I can make sure these are posting. This editor is easiest for me because I don't have to redo the editing, but if the posts aren't getting to people, I'll need to post using another editor. Thanks for your help.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

It arrived!

I was feeling impatient, waiting for my snazzy, brand-spanking new mobile phone to arrive, but when it got here, I just stared at the box, in trepidation. Everyone kept walking by, asking how it is, but I just shook my head. After nearly four years, with my (originally Android 10), Moto G8 Power, which I loved to death, I wasn't yet ready to move on. I needed a moment, to grieve.

RIP, my trusty fren.

Anyways...

Around 10 pm, I managed to emotionally recover enough to begin the Big Transition, and I was up until 2 am, and still didn't finish.

My SimpleX database is sort of large, and slow to migrate. Also, took me a while to figure out how to do it, and the whole thing made me terribly nervous, that I'd accidentally get locked out. But it worked, after eight failed attempts, so yay.

Telegram was back online, almost immediately, since it's tied to the SIM card. Which was convenient, but sorta creeped me out.

Our family-internal favorite, Threema, was a snap. Took 5 minutes.

I had four failed starts with Slack, as it kept sending a login code to my Proton Mail, but I didn't have Proton app installed on my new phone, yet, and I was really sleepy, so I kept confirming on the old phone and then Slack would freeze up, and I had to kill the process and restart.

My key manager is cloud-based, so that went really fast, and I had the nos2x browser extension going in Firefox within 10 minutes, or so. Logged into Habla.News, Nostr.Build, Zap.Cooking, and Nostrudel.Ninja, immediately, so that I can get my Nostr fix.

Then I took a deep breath and mass-installed F-Droid, Minibits, Amethyst, Citrine, Orbot, and Amber. And breathed out, again, because MIRACLES NEVER CEASE: it seems to be actually working.

Everyone knows that this is the unbeatable Android Nostr setup, but it's also a resource-gobbling monster, that should only be tried at home, kids. Make sure you don't use Amethyst when out-and-about, unless you have a gigantic battery and an unlimited, high-speed, mobile plan. So, basically, everyone in the First World, who isn't me, can do it.

Oh, well. At least, I can now indulge over WiFi.

The phone itself is just like the old one, but thinner, faster, and doesn't freeze up or take a long time to start. The Motorola is dead. Long live the Motorola.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

It's that season, again

I've been growing my hair out (too lazy to cut it) and it has -- once again -- quickly reached a length at which it draws unnecessary attention and sheds everywhere. I suppose it always sheds everywhere, but shedding short hairs is just generally less-gross than finding a 12-inch strand lying on the toast, you were about to consume.

So, I'm back to the 50 Shades of Updo stage, where I struggle to figure out how to best wear my head, usually defaulting to the Messy Bun look, because it's still too short to do anything more elaborate and looks silly, as a ponytail.

It's really not that great of a look for me, I know, especially, now that my chin is finally succumbing to gravity, but doing something more-elegant is usually more time-consuming and doesn't have that wonderful "swept up" feeling to it. You know that feeling, when you tie all of that heavy hair to a higher point on your skull and the roots just sigh with relief.

Another look, I tend to gravitate toward, at the moment, is head scarves, like this one:

...or a Bavarian-style bandana, for gardening or hiking (don't have a selfie handy, so here is some random chick, who also suffers from poofy, dark hair).

Hiking bare-headed, with flowing tresses, is not recommended, due to all of the Nature, that you have to comb back out of it.

Generally, just bored of my inbetween length and looking forward to braiding it, in a few months. Or giving up, in frustration, and cutting it all off.

@ 2dd9250b:6e928072

Silk Road: Mercado Clandestino (2021) é um filme Norte-Americano que conta a história de Ross Ulbricht e seu site da Dark Web, Silk Road. E por mais que o roteiro queira deixar claro que Ross é Libertário desde o começo, com citações de Mises a questionamentos quanto à legitimidade moral das Leis Juspositivistas, ele erra justamente na forma como conta a história.

Esse filme é ruim porque retrata o protagonista, que embora tenha 27 anos (em 2011), age como um adolescente abobado que quer salvar o mundo das garras satânicas do Estado. E o roteiro faz isso reforçando todos os estereótipos que os ancaps possuem como quando Julia se surpreende com o fato de "ter dormido com um Libertário" fazendo alusão à piada de que Ancaps não têm relações sexuais casuais, ou quando o pai de Ross praticamente chama ele de vagabundo - fazendo alusão à piada de Ancaps serem um bando de desocupados sustentados pelos pais.

Mas o que mais chama a atenção é o fato dos roteiristas realmente não fazerem o menor esforço para criar algo realmente interessante e original para contar a história do Ross.

Vai ver eles pensaram: "Vamos fazer esse jovem inspirado no Mark Zuckerberg, como se ele fosse um estudante de Física em alguma Universidade mequetrefe do Texas e resolvesse ler Mises e outros autores da Escola Austríaca. Vamos por um conflito nele entre ser um empresário que bate de frente com o Estado e ter uma namoradinha, já que Ancaps geralmente não têm namorada. Aí a namoradinha dele se empolga porque ele tá ganhando muito dinheiro e sugere que ele entre em contato com um jornalista para o site ficar famoso no País inteiro, enquanto ele vai se doxxando no processo."

A medida que o tempo passa ele fica tão obsecado pelo site que perde a namoradinha e a sanidade no caminho. It's Over. Assim como Mark Zuckerberg não curtiu o personagem dele do filme a Rede Social (2003) o Ross, além de ver o Sol nascer quadrado até morrer tem que se contentar com seu personagem sendo gado da mina lá que mal sabia o que era Libertarianismo. Em a Rede Social (2003) isso funciona porque é relatado em Bilionários por Acaso de Ben Mezrich, que Mark Zuckerberg e seu amigo brasileiro Eduardo Saverin criaram o Facebook praticamente para "pegar mulher". Mark anteriormente tinha criado o Facemash que era basicamente um site para os rapazes de Harvard escolherem entre duas alunas, qual era a mais atraente. Mark quase foi expulso por causa do Facemash e teve que pedir desculpas publicamente. Então faz sentido aquele final onde Mark envia uma solicitação de amizade para uma aluna de Havard criada pelos Roteiristas. Mas isso não deveria acontecer em Silk Road porque Ross Ulbritch não é um Mark Zuckerberg Libertário. Se bobear o filme sobre o Terry Davis também terá um interesse amoroso só para ficar ali dizendo o quão gênio ele era, até ele enlouquecer e ela acabar se casando com um atendente do Walmart de Seattle.

Isso realmente me irrita. O filme passa muito tempo enfatizando que Ross tem vários amigos e parentes que o amam muito e querem o seu bem, mas Ross está ocupado demais cuidando de sua valiosa empresa que roda no Tor. Além disso, Ross realmente age como se tivesse certeza que nunca seria pego. O que é um tremendo absurdo. Mesmo vendo políticos discursando na TV a favor do fechamento do site (porque ele intencionalmente criou o site para compra e venda de drogas e muitos jovens estavam morrendo por abusar das drogas), Ross acredita que pelo fato da guerra às drogas ter falhado, isso significa que ele não seria caçado pela NSA ou FBI. Então ele continua usando o site sem se preocupar muito com quem conversa no chat ou com o que estão fazendo para que a identidade do Dread Pirate Roberts nunca seja desmascarada.

O filme tenta induzir quem assiste a pensar que Ross foi enganado pelo agente quase aposentado do FBI, mas mesmo que esse agente não fosse um Boomer e soubesse o que é Bitcoin, não mudaria nada na história porque o problema é como a personalidade infantil do Ross é apresentada em tela. E por mais que ele tenha sido avisado pela sua namorada Júlia que o que ele estava fazendo era ilegal e por mais que ela tenha se afastando dele por ele agir com insensibilidade pelas vítimas que morreram por causa do tráfico de drogas viabilizado pelo site, ele faz uma incrível cara de surpresa quando é preso. Não tem suspensão de descrença que me faça ignorar aquela cena.

No fim, já preso, ele justifica sua ignorância dizendo que só queria que as pessoas tivessem Liberdade, mas não fazia ideia do que as pessoas fariam com essa liberdade. E que se ele não fizesse nada por medo da tirania do Estado, já tinha perdido. Deixando bem claro que esse é um filme Norte-Americano e como um bom filme Norte-Americano o Bem venceu o Mal e os Heróis Policiais brilham mais uma vez.

@ 599f67f7:21fb3ea9

¿Qué es una dirección Lightning o Lightning address?

Una dirección Lightning es una dirección que visualmente se asemeja a una dirección de correo electrónico legible para los humanos, por ejemplo usuario@dominio.com pero que en realidad te permite recibir pagos en bitcoin instantáneos y económicos, sin la necesidad de tener un nodo en linea en tu dispositivo ni tener que generar facturas de forma manual cada vez que alguien te quiere hacer un pago.

¿Suena bien no?

¿Y cómo funciona?

Funciona utilizando el protocolo de pago LNURL.

Aquí se muestra un sencillo esquema de lo que ocurre en segundo plano.

En resumen, cuando otro usuario quiere pagarte usando tu dirección Lightning, tu billetera convierte la dirección Lightning en una solicitud de pago LNURL. Luego se utiliza esa solicitud de pago LNURL exitosa para obtener una factura BOLT11.

💡 Dirección Lightning > LNURLp > Factura BOLT 11.

Suena bien, pero ¿cuál es el problema?

Por el momento, muchas de las implementaciones de Lightning Address son de custodia, porque se necesita un dominio para que Lightning Address funcione y un nodo que esté siempre en línea para recibir los pagos. Debido a que es de custodia, el custodio puede atacarte en cualquier momento y monitorear tus transacciones.

Tienes que confiar en el propietario del dominio para no cambiar el registro de tu dirección Lightning. Y no funciona si el servidor LNURL no está en línea.

Bitcoin Txoko ofrece una sencilla solución de Lightning Address respaldada por LNbits. Esto también es de custodia, así que por favor mantén solo una pequeña cantidad en tu billetera Bitcoin Txoko y ve retirando a tu billetera de autocustodia a medida que recibas más sats.

Estoy listo, ¿qué necesito para empezar?

¡Todo lo que necesitas es un teléfono móvil o un ordenador y una conexión a Internet!

1. Creando tu billetera

Si aún no lo has hecho, navega a https://bitcointxoko.com y crea una nueva billetera. Puedes elegir el nombre que quieras.

2. Activar extensiones

Hace falta la extensión Pay Links para que las direcciones Lightning funcionen.

Abre Extensiones en la barra de herramientas y activa Pay Links.

3. Creando tu enlace de pago

• En a la extensión Pay Links, haz clic en New Pay Link.

• Elige la billetera que has creado.

• Para la descripción del artículo, puedes escribir lo que quieras.

• Elige un nombre de usuario de tu dirección Lightning. Tu dirección Lightning se verá como username@bitcointxoko.com.

• Desmarque Fixed amount y cambia el valor mínimo a 1 y el valor máximo a 500000.

⚠️ También puedes cambiar el valor máximo a algo más alto, pero es más probable que los pagos más grandes fallen debido a la limitada capacidad de entrada del nodo Lightning de Bitcoin Txoko. Así que recomendamos mantenerlo en 500000 sats.

• Ahora abre Advanced options y cambia Comment maximum characters a 799. Este paso no es necesario pero permite más funcionalidades más adelante.

• Marca Enable nostr zaps en la parte inferior, para que puedas utilizar tu dirección Lightning para recibir zaps.

• Las demás opciones avanzadas son opcionales, puedes configurarlas si quieres o dejarlas en blanco.

Al final debería verse algo así.

• Cuando hayas comprobado que todo es correcto, sigue adelante y haz clic en Create Pay Link.

Probando

Puedes probar si tu nueva dirección Lightning funciona yendo a otra cartera, pulsando en Enviar y escribiendo tu dirección Lightning como destino, y luego enviándote una pequeña cantidad de sats.

Vuelve a tu billetera Bitcoin Txoko y comprueba si has recibido tu propio pago. Es posible que tengas que actualizar la página.

Si todo funcionó correctamente, ¡enhorabuena! 🥳

Si no es así, háznoslo saber. Siempre estamos aquí para ayudar.

Próximos pasos

Nostr zaps

Puedes añadir tu dirección Bitcoin Txoko Lightning a tu perfil de nostr y usarla para recibir zaps. Normalmente, esto se hace yendo a Perfil > Editar > Dirección Lightning y cambiando la dirección Lightning.

LNDhub

Puedes importar tu billetera LNbits como un LNDhub en tu teléfono utilizando una aplicación como Zeus o BlueWallet, en lugar de visitar la billetera en el navegador cada vez que desees comprobar tu saldo o realizar un pago. Echa un vistazo a nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzqkvlvlma7a55ccp6d5rrdc27h3ssmdmael286mjaq5uxmqslk04fqqxnzd3exuerqdfkxccnyv3cs0uvul sobre cómo hacer esto.

Código QR

También puedes compartir o imprimir tu código QR LNURLp para que la gente pueda escanearlo fácilmente con sus teléfonos. ¡Muy útil si estás introduciendo bitcoin a tu comerciante local favorito para que pueda recibir propinas Lightning!

Simplemente comparte el enlace a tu página compartida, o imprime el código QR como PDF yendo a View Link > Print.

@ 54609048:8e22ba03

In a rapidly changing world, where the boundaries between physical and digital spaces blur, one question looms large: How do we nurture the next generation to be masters, and not victims, of an increasingly complex economic landscape? The answer lies not just in new technologies or innovations but in cultivating sovereign minds—young individuals who are not only creative and resourceful but also understand the value of liberty, free markets, and sound money.

Our current world is dominated by centralization, with vast institutions—governments, central banks, and corporations—holding immense power over the lives of individuals. The modern financial system by design has created a populace that is increasingly dependent on centralized authorities for economic stability and security. Changing this awful paradigm starts with educating kids about Bitcoin and basic financial principles early on, in order to equip them with the tools they need to become independent thinkers, free from the constraints of centralized authorities, and prepared to thrive in a decentralized world.

The Modern Age of Centralization and Dependency

For decades, the modern education system has operated under the assumption that students are vessels to be filled rather than minds to be cultivated. Traditional schooling promotes conformity and compliance over creativity and critical thinking, often producing adults who are ill-equipped to handle the complexities of the financial system. Even more alarming, financial education is either poorly addressed or completely absent from mainstream curricula. This absence leaves young people vulnerable to the traps of debt, inflation, and economic dependency—tools that centralized systems use to control and limit individual freedom.

This erosion of personal sovereignty begins early, as children grow into adults who are dependent on an inflationary financial system, credit, and centralized institutions for their livelihoods. An example that immediately comes to mind is that of student loan debt in the United States. As of the second quarter of 2024, the total student loan debt in the US stands at approximately $1.74 trillion, with 77% of this debt having been accrued since 2005. The default rate of these loans stands at 10.3% within the first three years of repayment; which is very high when compared with historical averages. Most of the students signing up for these loans are not only financially illiterate but are graduating into a weaker economic climate with high unemployment rates.

That’s before we even consider the fact that in a lot of cases some of the degree programs that these students would have enrolled in degree programs that do not have any marketable skills. This debt trap continues throughout life as more debts pile up due to an ever rising cost of living coupled with a debt based economic system that impoverishes society over time. Through this lens, it becomes clear that most people are not living as free individuals, but as subjects of a system designed to benefit the few at the expense of the many.

The Case for Teaching Bitcoin Early

Bitcoin offers a profound shift in the way individuals, particularly the younger generation, can approach money. Unlike fiat currency, which is controlled and manipulated by governments and central banks, Bitcoin operates as a decentralized, immutable form of digital money. For the first time in history, people have access to a form of money that is not controlled by any central authority. This is more than just a technological breakthrough; it is a philosophical one.

Teaching kids early on about Bitcoin early on not only introduces them to the concept of sound money but also encourages them to think critically about the systems of control that govern their lives. Bitcoin is a living example of what happens when individuals reject top-down authority in favor of a decentralized, peer-to-peer network. By learning how Bitcoin works, children can grasp the importance of scarcity, decentralization, and the protection of their financial autonomy.

The same rule also applies to teenagers as well, as the saying goes; better late than never. When young people understand Bitcoin, they begin to see money not just as a medium of exchange but as a tool of liberation. They learn to question why inflation exists, why their purchasing power diminishes over time, and why they are required to participate in a system that benefits a select few while burdening the majority.

Sovereign Individuals and the Future of Society

What does it mean to be a sovereign individual in the modern age? It means having control over one’s life, choices, and destiny. Sovereignty begins with financial independence, but it extends into all areas of life. A sovereign individual is one who is not reliant on any centralized authority—be it government, a corporation, or even a bank—for their survival or success.

Understanding Bitcoin is just one part of the equation. Financial literacy as a whole is equally crucial. Children who are taught the principles of saving, investing, and understanding debt are far more likely to grow into adults who can protect their personal freedoms. Financially literate individuals make better choices, not only about their own lives but also in their role as participants in the broader economy. In a future shaped by decentralized technologies like Bitcoin, the individuals who succeed will be those who can think critically, act independently, and innovate freely. Creativity and sovereignty go hand in hand. Sovereign individuals are not just financially independent; they are creators, innovators, and problem solvers who drive progress and shape the future.

Practical Steps for Parents and Educators

If we are to cultivate the next generation of sovereign minds, we must start with practical steps. Parents and educators can introduce children to Bitcoin by teaching them the basics of how digital wallets work, how to earn and save in Bitcoin, and how to think about money in terms of long-term value rather than immediate gratification. Even small exercises, like earning Bitcoin for chores or using it to buy small items, can give kids hands-on experience with sound money. Above all, it's important to teach them to question the world around them—why does inflation exist? Why do prices go up over time? Why do some countries experience hyperinflation while others do not?—to name a few, because until one can question the current status quo they can cease to be victims of it.

With this in mind, the El Salvador edition of the Adopting Bitcoin conference this year will also have a special treat for the youngsters. In collaboration with the Bitcoin Junior Club the event will feature ‘Bitcoin Para Niños’—a dedicated zone where children can learn, play, and explore topics like sound money and creative thinking. Not only is this tailored for kids to learn about sound money in a very fun and interactive way; but ultimately it enables families to embark on their Bitcoin journey together. Beyond the technical aspects of financial literacy, it is vital to cultivate a mindset of independence and critical thinking. Sovereign minds are nurtured in environments that value curiosity, questioning authority, and taking responsibility for one’s actions.

Conclusion

The future belongs to the sovereign individuals—those who are financially independent, critical thinkers, and creators of value. Teaching kids about Bitcoin and financial literacy is not just about preparing them for economic success; it’s about empowering them to live free, meaningful lives in a world that increasingly values conformity and centralization. Sovereign minds are the architects of a free society, and it is our duty to help them build the world they deserve.

@ 1b5ee74d:bb1aae6e

A paper bordering on parody but, unfortunately, all too real. Titled “The Distributive Effects of Bitcoin,” it’s authored by Ulrich Bindseil and Jürgen Schaaf: the former manages the ECB’s Market Infrastructure and Payments division, while the latter serves as his advisor. Hosting this paper on its own servers, the Frankfurt institution safeguards itself with a disclaimer: “The views expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ECB.” The disclaimer is understandable, as the positions of the two authors are so blatantly biased and devoid of any logical foundation that they seem too much even for Bitcoin’s number one enemy: the central bank itself.

The underlying assumption of the entire document is simple: Bitcoin does not increase the productive potential of the economy. Based on this shortsighted foundation, the authors construct an entire narrative that ignores some of the fundamental changes introduced by Bitcoin.

“Bitcoin does not increase the productive potential of the economy”

Since Bitcoin doesn’t increase the productive potential of the economy, the alleged increase in value is essentially redistributive. This means that the enrichment of the early bitcoin holders can only come at the expense of the rest of society.

Right from the abstract, the authors assert that Bitcoin in no way contributes to increasing the productive potential of the economy. Their thesis is that Bitcoin, lacking any connection to the creation of tangible goods or services, represents an asset with no intrinsic productive value. According to the document, while investments in sectors like technology or industry improve the efficiency and productive capacity of the economic system, Bitcoin provides no such benefit, as it does not directly contribute to production growth or innovation.

For the authors, much of Bitcoin’s attributed value derives solely from financial speculation and the perception of those who purchase it, without any tangible increase in “economic capacity.”

The redistributive potential: penalizing latecomers

Bindseil and Schaaf then explore what they call Bitcoin’s “redistributive structure,” claiming that its mechanism rewards early investors at the expense of latecomers. Their shocking revelation is that Bitcoin’s value increases for early purchasers as demand rises, generating higher returns for those who entered the market first.

In other words, Bindseil and Schaaf have discovered the wonderful world of supply and demand dynamics within that mysterious entity called “the market”—perhaps too complex to grasp for those dreaming of a Soviet-style economy. Not coincidentally, they describe this process as inherently unjust, arguing that people who decide to invest later don’t receive the same advantages and are forced to buy at higher prices.

If the rational part of your mind is screaming in desperation, I ask for one last effort.

The document describes this effect as a negative feature of Bitcoin, comparing it to a “speculative bubble” destined to collapse when new investors can no longer sustain the asset’s high price.

A point-by-point rebuttal

I confess, I would never have found the strength to sit down at my keyboard to debunk, once again, arguments so erroneous that they’d make anyone with a basic understanding of economics cringe. Fortunately, Murray Rudd and Dennis Porter of Satoshi Action Education, along with Allen Farrington of Axiom and Freddie New of Bitcoin Policy UK, have taken on this task.

Bitcoin’s productive potential: a central misunderstanding

The main assumption—that Bitcoin does not contribute to the productive potential of the economy—is challenged by highlighting how Bitcoin is fueling an ecosystem of technological and financial innovation. Tools like the Lightning Network reduce transaction costs and increase system efficiency, bringing tangible benefits to the economy. “Considering Bitcoin as a mere speculative tool,” the analysis states, “means ignoring the immense infrastructural and social value of payment networks and decentralized technologies deriving from its adoption.”

Bindseil and Schaaf also overlook how Bitcoin is already used to reduce the cost of international remittances, a vital function in parts of the world where transaction costs via traditional banking systems are often exorbitant, reaching up to 20% in some regions. This application provides both direct and indirect productive benefits in contexts with low financial inclusion.

Further, the response notes:

“Bitcoin is promoting innovation beyond payments. It has catalyzed advances in cryptography and energy efficiency, particularly through mining. Bitcoin mining using waste gas can mitigate methane emissions and improve renewable energy generation, contributing to grid flexibility thanks to the unique features of mining.”

Beyond technological advances, the arguments against Bitcoin reflect a fundamental misunderstanding of the role of money in capital accumulation and, consequently, economic prosperity. Productivity is driven by capital accumulation, and economic growth is the result of increased productivity through effective capital use. Arguing that capital growth does not contribute to productivity reveals a deep ignorance of basic market dynamics.

Bitcoin’s redistributive potential: a market dynamic

The final criticism from the two ECB-affiliated individuals concerns the accusation that Bitcoin only benefits early investors at the expense of newcomers. The authors of the rebuttal paper observe that this phenomenon exists in any asset—from real estate to gold—where early investors benefit from an increase in value. Furthermore, Bitcoin lacks privileged distributions, as seen in other cryptocurrencies issued with pre-mines or venture capital models. Bitcoin’s distribution model, which began with open and transparent mining, is considered by the authors “one of the fairest in the history of digital assets.” I would even go so far as to say the fairest.

The authors also point out that the fiat system, widely supported by the ECB, favors inequality through monetary devaluation—a form of reverse redistribution that penalizes small savers in favor of those with greater access to financial resources. Bitcoin, with its maximum issuance cap, offers an alternative to this erosion of purchasing power caused by inflation. In short, such an accusation from those representing the primary cause of the Cantillon effect is almost laughable.

The Federal Reserve’s direct attack

A few days after the publication of Bindseil and Schaaf’s paper, their American counterparts also decided to attack Bitcoin. The Federal Reserve of Minneapolis published a study titled “Unique Implementation of Permanent Primary Deficits?”

I won’t drag this out: in nearly forty pages of formulas and calculations, Fed experts managed to rediscover the obvious—if Bitcoin were to become widespread, the government would no longer be able to run deficits!

“Good morning, princess,” as Roberto Benigni would say in La Vita è Bella. In this newsletter, we’ve been discussing this topic for about three years, yet I haven’t received a job offer from Washington. Perhaps it’s because my views are slightly at odds with those of the employees of the monetary monopolist. The Fed, in fact, sees a very simple solution: ban Bitcoin! They state it plainly:

“The government could simply make Bitcoin illegal.”

Here, we encounter a fundamental disagreement. Believing that Bitcoin can be banned by a few lines in a law reflects a profound misunderstanding of the technology. If you’d like a consultation on the subject, dear friends at the Fed, I’ll be here.

Or rather, I’ll be enjoying your decline.

Sincerely,

Federico.

@ 13e63e99:25525c6a

Preview

Last week, President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador emphasized Bitcoin’s role in enhancing the country's global image that boosted foreign investment and tourism. At the NostrWorld Unconference in Riga, the synergy between Bitcoin and decentralized social  networks was a key focus, showcasing the potential for integrating Bitcoin with the growing Nostr protocol. Meanwhile, Lightspark launched its Extend platform, facilitating instant Bitcoin payments for U.S. businesses, thereby expanding the accessibility  of Bitcoin transactions. Publicly traded companies have increased their Bitcoin holdings by nearly 200%, bringing their total to $20  billion, reflecting strong institutional confidence in Bitcoin as a reserve asset. Additionally, Bitcoin in exchange experienced its third-largest daily net outflow of 2024, indicating a shift toward long-term holding among investors. Despite some withdrawals,  including a $13.5 million outflow from BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust, the fund remains a dominant force in the Bitcoin investment landscape. Lastly, Nigeria's SEC granted its first provisional exchange license, a milestone in the regulation of the country’s  rapidly growing digital asset industry, positioning Nigeria as a leading player in global digital asset adoption. For more details, continue reading below.

A. Bitcoin Data Dashboard

1. Bitcoin Transactions\ 2. Supply\ 3. Mining\ 4. Transaction Fees\ 5. Difficulty Retarget\ 6. Lightning Network (Public)

B. Bitcoin Ecosystem

1. Bukele: Bitcoin was a powerful rebranding tool for El Salvador\ 2. NostrWorld Unconference in Riga: Exploring Bitcoin and Decentralized Social Networks\ 3. Lightspark launches Extend for instant Bitcoin Lightning payments in the U.S.\ 4. Public companies boost Bitcoin holdings by nearly 200%, reaching $20 billion\ 5. Bitcoin exchanges see 3rd-largest daily net outflow of 2024\ 6. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust faces $13.5m outflow amid broader ETF withdrawals

C. Regulation

1. Nigeria's first provisional exchange license from SEC, marking milestone in digital asset regulation

D. Macroeconomy

1. Vice President Harris proposes wealth tax targeting unrealized gains for ultra rich\ 2. Jobless claims drop as labor market slows, US economy remains on steady growth path

---

A. Bitcoin Data Dashboard

As of Sep 2, 2024

B. Bitcoin Ecosystem

1. Bukele: Bitcoin was a powerful rebranding tool for El Salvador

President Nayib Bukele recently provided a candid assessment of El Salvador's groundbreaking decision to adopt Bitcoin as  legal tender, a move that has drawn both praise and criticism on the global stage. In an interview with Time magazine,  Bukele emphasized that the initiative has had substantial benefits  particularly in enhancing El Salvador's international image  despite the country's bitcoin adoption has not expanded as rapidly as he has hoped, Bukele described the Bitcoin adoption  as a powerful rebranding tool for the nation, one that has attracted foreign investment and boosted tourism. The president’s  marketing advisor, Damian Merlo, echoed this sentiment, calling the decision "genius" and likening it to a major public  relations campaign that El Salvador didn’t have to pay for. "We could have spent millions on a PR firm to rebrand the  country," Merlo noted, "but instead, we adopted Bitcoin." While the move initially strained relations with institutions like  the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which urged Bukele to abandon the policy due to perceived risks, there are signs  that the tension is easing. El Salvador has recently reported progress in negotiations with the IMF, with a focus on enhancing  transparency and addressing potential fiscal and financial stability risks related to the Bitcoin project. 

Reference: Bitcoin.com, Time

2. NostrWorld Unconference in Riga: Exploring Bitcoin and Decentralized Social Networks

Last week, NostrWorld’s third unconference, held in Riga, Latvia, gathered advocates and developers of the Nostr protocol. Organized by  Jack Dorsey, NostrWorld provides a platform for open-source enthusiasts to collaborate on building a decentralized internet. The event,  called Nostriga, underscored the emerging synergy between Nostr’s decentralized social network and Bitcoin. Nostr is an  open-source protocol for a decentralized, censorship-resistant social network. Unlike traditional platforms, Nostr operates on a  network of relays, supporting features like micropayments and digital identity management. It promises greater privacy  and independence from centralized platforms. A highlight of the conference was Strike CEO Jack Mallers discussing  how Nostr’s micropayments—Zaps—helped a skeptic understand Bitcoin’s value. This feature shows Bitcoin’s  utility in social contexts, advancing the concept of internet tipping. Jack Dorsey enphasizing the importance of open source.  Nostr faces the challenge of broadening its user base beyond Bitcoin enthusiasts. New initiatives like Ditto aim to  integrate Nostr with larger internet communities, potentially increasing Bitcoin’s visibility and accessibility. Nostr’s role  as a social and identity system could pave the way for decentralized digital economies. By leveraging social graphs and  cryptographic trust, Nostr and Bitcoin together could enable secure, decentralized commerce.

Reference: Bitcoin magazine

3. Lightspark launches Extend for instant Bitcoin Lightning payments in the U.S.

Lightspark has unveiled Lightspark Extend, a new solution designed to facilitate instant Bitcoin Lightning payments for U.S. businesses.  This platform integrates with Universal Money Addresses (UMA) and Lightning-enabled wallets, exchanges, or bank accounts,  offering a compliant and cost-effective way to handle transactions around the clock. Lightspark Extend is compatible with over 99% of U.S.  banks that support real-time payments, enabling businesses to provide their customers with fast, low-cost transactions. UMA simplifies the  payment process by using easy-to-remember addresses similar to email, removing the need for complex codes or passwords. With this launch,  Lightspark Extend makes real-time payments via the Bitcoin Lightning Network accessible to eligible recipients across the U.S. Businesses  interested in adopting this solution can sign up for a UMA address, link their accounts, and start receiving payments through an onboarding  process facilitated by Zero Hash, a regulated U.S. financial institution. The introduction of Lightspark Extend marks a significant advancement in expanding the accessibility and utility of Bitcoin payments. This follows Lightspark’s recent announcement of a partnership with Coinbase,  enabling customers to send up to $10,000 instantly through the Lightning Network.

Reference: Bitcoin magazine

4. Public companies boost Bitcoin holdings by nearly 200%, reaching $20 billion

Publicly listed companies have seen their Bitcoin holdings soar by nearly 200% in a year, rising from $7.2 billion to $20 billion.  According to Bitbo data, 42 such companies now hold 335,249 BTC, valued at roughly $20 billion. This marks a 177.7% increase  from a year ago, when their BTC holdings were worth $7.2 billion. The trend began with MicroStrategy's August 2020  purchase of over 21,000 BTC, making Bitcoin its primary treasury reserve asset, and the company has since grown its holdings  to 226,500 BTC. A survey commissioned by Nickel Digital Asset Management revealed strong institutional support for Bitcoin  as a reserve asset, with 75% of 200 surveyed institutional investors and wealth managers endorsing public companies holding  BTC. The survey, involving firms managing $1.7 trillion in assets, also found that 58% believe 10% or more of public companies  will hold BTC within five years. Nickel Digital's CEO, Anatoly Crachilov, noted that institutional investors see Bitcoin as a hedge  against currency debasement and a valuable addition to reserve allocations. Despite this growth, the 335,249 BTC held by public  companies represent just 1.6% of Bitcoin's total capped supply of 21 million.

Reference: Cointelegraph

5. Bitcoin exchanges see 3rd-largest daily net outflow of 2024

Bitcoin is seeing a significant uptick in exchange withdrawals as its price nears the $60,000 mark, with approximately 45,000 BTC  removed from exchanges on August 27 alone. This movement represents the third-largest net outflow of Bitcoin from exchanges  in 2024, following similar spikes in July. According to data from CryptoQuant, this trend could signal a growing bullish sentiment  among investors, who appear to be transferring their Bitcoin off exchanges to hold for the long term, thereby reducing potential  selling pressure in the market. As of August 27, major exchanges hold around 2.63 million BTC, reflecting a 12.5% decrease  from the 3.01 million BTC held at the beginning of the year. This reduction in exchange reserves underscores a broader trend  of investors preferring to hold their Bitcoin privately, possibly in anticipation of future price increases.

Reference: Cointelegraph

6. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust faces $13.5m outflow amid broader ETF withdrawals

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) experienced a $13.5 million outflow on Thursday, marking its first outflow since  May 1st and only the second in the fund's history since its launch in January. This rare withdrawal contrasts with the ETF’s  usual pattern of consistent inflows, underscoring its dominance in the Bitcoin investment space. The outflow came as part of  a broader trend affecting spot Bitcoin ETFs, which saw a collective $71.8 million in withdrawals on Thursday. Competing  Bitcoin ETFs from Grayscale, Fidelity, Valkyrie, and Bitwise also reported significant outflows, ranging from $8 million to  $31 million. Despite these withdrawals, ARK's Bitcoin ETF saw an inflow of $5.3 million, highlighting a mixed investor  sentiment as Bitcoin remains below the $60,000 mark. This divergence suggests varied outlooks among investors regarding  Bitcoin's future. Despite the recent dip, BlackRock's Bitcoin ETF continues to lead the market, having attracted over $20  billion in net inflows since inception. With more than 350,000 BTC under management, it remains one of the largest  institutional Bitcoin holders, reflecting its enduring appeal and influence in the Bitcoin investment landscape.

Reference: Bitcoin magazine

C. Regulation

1. Nigeria's first provisional exchange license from SEC, marking milestone in digital asset regulation

The Nigerian Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has granted Quidax, an Africa-based crypto exchange, its  first provisional operating license. This marks a significant step toward formal recognition and regulation of Nigeria's  digital asset industry. The SEC's license allows Quidax to operate as a registered crypto exchange in Nigeria,  a move the company describes as a "shot of adrenaline" for the local crypto community, spurring innovation and growth. Quidax CEO Buchi Okoro praised the SEC, particularly under the leadership of Emomotimi Agama, for its efforts  to bring order and investor protection to the Nigerian crypto market. The approval also paves the way for Quidax to  collaborate with banks and financial institutions, pending approval from the Central Bank of Nigeria. This licensing follows the SEC's recent amendment to its rules on June 21, covering digital asset issuance, exchange,  and custody. Despite concerns that stringent requirements could limit local crypto exchanges, the new regulatory  framework, including the Accelerated Regulatory Incubation Programme, aims to align virtual asset service providers  with the latest standards. Nigeria, Africa's largest economy, is a global leader in cryptocurrency adoption, ranking  second in Chainalysis’ 2023 Cryptocurrency Geography Report. While foreign investment in Nigeria's crypto sector  has been slower than expected, the new regulatory environment and Quidax's licensing could attract more investors  by offering a stable and secure market.

Reference: Cointelegraph

D. Macroeconomy

1. Vice President Harris proposes wealth tax targeting unrealized gains for ultra rich

As a presidential candidate, Vice President Harris has aligned with President Biden’s tax policies, including the pledge  not to raise taxes on anyone earning under $400,000 annually. However, she also has her own ambitious tax proposals. These include raising the top marginal tax rate on high earners from 37% to 39.6%. Although she previously suggested  a 4% “income-based premium” on households earning over $100,000 to fund Medicare for All, this idea has not  resurfaced in 2024. Among the more controversial proposals Harris supports is a tax on unrealized capital gains for  individuals with over $100 million in wealth. Often dubbed the “billionaire tax,” this would require these households to  pay an annual minimum tax of 25% on their combined income and unrealized gains. This approach would be groundbreaking  in U.S. tax history, as it taxes assets that have not yet been sold. For example, if you buy stock at $10 and it increases to $20,  you would owe taxes on the $10 gain, even if you haven’t sold the stock. The same principle would apply to real estate,  where yearly value increases would be taxed. This proposal raises significant concerns, particularly about the administrative  challenges of valuing assets annually and the potential for future expansion of the tax to lower wealth thresholds. The wealth  tax faces hurdles in Congress and potential court challenges, but it signals Harris's intent to push for new forms of taxation  on the ultra-wealthy.

Reference: Forbes

2. Jobless claims drop as labor market slows, US economy remains on steady growth path

Last week, new applications for jobless benefits in the U.S. dropped slightly, but re-employment opportunities for laid-off  workers are becoming scarcer, indicating the unemployment rate likely remained high in August. Despite this, the labor market's  orderly slowdown is keeping economic growth on track, with the economy growing faster than initially reported in the second  quarter, driven by consumer spending and rebounding corporate profits. The labor market's cooling supports the expectation that  the Federal Reserve may start cutting interest rates next month, though a 50-basis-point reduction seems unlikely. Initial jobless  claims fell by 2,000 to 231,000 for the week ending August 24, while continuing claims, which indicate ongoing unemployment,  rose slightly, suggesting prolonged joblessness. In the second quarter, the economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.0%, with  consumer spending revised upward to a 2.9% growth rate, offsetting lower business investment and exports. Corporate profits  also reached a record high, helping businesses manage input costs amid supply-chain challenges. The goods trade deficit widened  in July due to a surge in imports, likely driven by expectations of higher tariffs if former President Trump wins the November election.  Despite these factors, economists predict growth will slow but avoid a recession.

Reference: Reuters, dol.gov

@ 469fa704:2b6cb760

I joined Nostr a week ago and wanted to recap it for myself and also give other newbies a simple introduction. Maybe this will help you get started too.

Step 1: Create your identity and get your private key for a browser extension

I started with the Snort client on my local home server. It created my private/public key pair and I was good to go. Then I transferred the private key to Amethyst, a pretty good Android-based client. Before looking at various clients and other nostr-based websites, I tried transferring my private key into a browser extension. I looked at Alby and nos2x. I chose the latter because I wanted to keep my Lightning wallet separate from my identity management. You don't have to, I just found it easier.

Step 2: If you're confused, always check your feed settings

I tried many different clients and was very confused at first. Due to its decentralized nature, Nostr relies on relays, which are just small servers, and to each one you can connect to, all your data is stored. When you post a message, write a note, an article like this or simply who you follow. The main reason and benefit for this is that there is no single point of failure or server-like entity that could be censored. The side effect of this, combined with using different clients, was that not only did it look different everywhere, but the content was also very different. This was simply because I wasn't connected to all my different clients with the same relays. But the main reason why each feed looks different on each client is usually because you can choose different variations of feeds and some clients even offer filters for the feeds.

Scroll down to get a small overview of the clients I've tried.

Step 3: Set up your lightning wallet with something like Wallet of Satoshi

I made my Bitcoin Lightning wallet independent of my identity. That's why I just went with the number one Lightning wallet on the market: Satoshi's Wallet. It's very simple and provides you with a Lightning address that resembles and has the format of an email address. You can add this address to your Nostr profile description and you're ready to receive Sats. Anyone can send them to you, e.g. for a good message or something else they find valuable on Nostr (like a podcast, a video, an article, ...). Just be aware that Satoshi's wallet contains your key and the sats you have there are not really your sats. So only leave a small amount there or no more than you need for your nostr experience.

Step 4: Set up your Nostr address

I set up a unique NIP-05 identifier that is human readable and also looks like an email address. For me, that's tobiya@nostrplebs.com, also called a nostr address. It's much easier to read, share and remember than your public key, which is just a long, unwieldy string of characters.

Some popular services are: * NostrVerified * Alby * Iris * Primal * Snort * nostrplebs.com

Most offer free services or at least a free tier. I chose nostrplebs.com because it links my Nostr address (tobiya@nostrplebs.com) to my Lightning wallet. ⚡

Brief overview of the clients (I have tested)

Web/Browser:

• Primal: Fast, user-friendly, nice looking, easy to use
• Coracle: Focuses on decentralized reputation, privacy and trust metrics. Also well organized and structured
• noStrudel: The most comprehensive I've found, has everything
• Rabbit: Designed like X (Twitter) Pro, focuses on everything at once
• Nostter: Clearly structured, easy to find what you're looking for
• Snort: Fast web client for those who prefer simplicity and speed.

iOS

I'm not an iPhone user, but everything I've discovered says that Damus is the best app for iOS.

Android:

• Amethyst: Feature rich for Android, I only tried this program because it gives me everything I currently need on my phone.
• Primal: Works seamlessly with Primal on the web, which is a pretty convenient starting point if you only want to use one client.

As for the web clients, I'm still figuring out which one will be my favorite. But I think they're all good in their own way. In the time of writing, I am mainly using Primal on Android and Web, Amethyst and noStrudel.

Let's have fun!!

@ 45bda953:bc1e518e

All Bitcoiners everywhere on the proverbial right have a natural disdain for Communism, those on the left sort of ashamedly admit that any form of Socialism is untenable on a Bitcoin standard. When debating the issue of whether voting is an efficate means of bringing about meaningful change, as soon as you throw your support into the abstain from voting camp, no matter what your reasoning, you are shamed with a statement which implies "Don't you care if Ross rots in jail?"

My assertive answer is yes. I do care about Ross. I have spent nights praying for him. I sympathise with him. My heart went out to him like it does for all who are imprisoned unfairly and for exclusively political reasons. More than most. I have prayed ardently for Julain Assange's freedom. But claiming to pray for someone is just as useless as voting to free someone in a national election. What then is the difference between they who vote and they who pray? Because prayer is a introspection responsibility which leads to action. Voting is a right that ends in passivity and abdication of responsibility. Statistics are in my favour here. This action I took requires some explanatory background.

Chris Hani was supposed to be the successor to Nelson Mandela and initiate the full transition of South Africa from a Republic to democracy and then by popular vote to communism. Something few people know is that uMkhonto we Siswe, the African National Congress and the South African Communist party is a trilateral organisation. (They still claim to be but the ANC have sort of snubbed the other groups) One helping the other all with the same end goal. Full blown Communism and State domination of civilian life.

Something threw a spanner in the works. A political crime born from fear of Communist Russian influence and the scars Stalin left as a legacy on Asia and Eastern Europe. This justified fear motivated normal good Christian men to commit a crime. They conspired and successfully assassinated Chris Hani.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Hani

Chris Hani (28 June 1942 – 10 April 1993),[1] born Martin Thembisile Hani was the leader of the South African Communist Party and chief of staff of uMkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing of the African National Congress (ANC). He was a fierce opponent of the apartheid government, and was assassinated by Janusz Waluś, a Polish immigrant and sympathiser of the Conservative opposition on 10 April 1993, during the unrest preceding the transition to democracy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1982_demonstrations_in_Poland

The 1982 demonstrations in Poland refers to anti-government street demonstrations organized by underground Solidarity to commemorate the second anniversary of the Gdańsk Agreement. The bloodiest protest occurred in southwestern Poland, in the town of Lubin, on 31 August 1982. The Lubin demonstration resulted in three protesters killed by Communist services, and an unknown number of wounded.[1][2] On the same day, rallies and demonstrations took place in several cities across the country. According to Solidarity sources, there were four more victims—in Wrocław, Gdańsk, Nowa Huta, and Toruń.[3] According to official government sources, there were demonstrations in 66 cities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janusz_Walu%C5%9B

So in the Northern Hemisphere communism is killing political activists and in the Southern Hemisphere the conservative right is resisting full blown communist revolt fighting a war in five countries. Rhodesia, Zambia, Mozambique, Angola and South Africa. Janusz Walus left Poland, a country saturated with communism and sought hope and freemarket opportunities in The South African Republic. When it became evident that the ANC, SACP, MWS in collaboration with the National Party was going to be successful at establishing a one man one vote system, communism was the inevitable outcome, unless...

Janusz who made connections in right wing conservative circles, volunteered to stop the whole scheme. The whole plan seems a little naive and untenable but men have done far more foolish things being guided by hope, false or otherwise. He was provided a gun by Clive, a plan and on the regrettable day of 10 April 1993 killed Chris Hani by handgun in the driveway of his home.

Janusz Wallus and Clive Derby Lewis, were sentenced to be executed by the Apartheid government. In 1994 Nelson Mandela became president and the death penalty was repealed, reversing the death sentence of many political criminals including Janusz and Clive. The ANC wanted to save/pardon all the freedom fighters who were under death penalty convictions. Clive and Janusz were beneficiaries of this pardon. Their sentences were commuted to life imprisonment after an extended stint of fanfare.

Fast forward to 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pERTDXg8dGo

Now everyone knows how mainstream media manages to downplay and mock anything that goes against what government actually want. The protests were slightly more impressive and extremist socialist communist groups namely the Economic Freedom Fighters even harassed and intimidated the white minority who were protesting for Clive's release. Any way (EchDel) I was present at Pretoria town square to participate at this demonstration in favour of Clive Derby Lewis's release. Why would I be in support of freeing a convicted criminal who already received a semi pardon? Because all the other terrorists on the side of the ANC were systemically pardoned and freed after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. This opportunity for Clive to being pardoned was vehemently opposed by the SACP.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truth_and_Reconciliation_Commission_(South_Africa)

I acted.

I participated in this protest because I really cared. If I voted for it I could conveniently virtue signal my support but voting was not an option anyway, I participated in this protest demonstrating for his release. I screamed and chanted for hours demanding for him to be freed and was spat at by commies and jostled aggressively by a mob of rowdy EFF supporters. I had lost my voice for three days after the affair. And then you have the audacity to say. "Don't you want Ross to be free?" The Bitcoiners at the Nashville conference did a lot of work, spent time, energy and possibly prayers to turn Donald Trumps arm get him to suggest Ross's freedom in exchange for a vote. Freeing Ross is an awesome rallying cry, but wanting him to be free and not supporting the system is not mutually exclusive.

No nobody deserves one nickel or dime of the freedom they currently enjoy unless they can come to one very important conclusion. Bitcoin fixes this and Bitcoin only fixes this.

Nickle and dime pun intended.

Bitcoin fixes racial tension. Bitcoin fixes party politics. Bitcoin fixes terrorism. Bitcoin fixes war. We (mankind) are not isolated groups fighting in different countries with different ideals to survive and retain our dignity and property anymore. We are all under the same boot of FIAT CURRENCY.

And no politician has the moral willpower to challenge that force and even when they do they fail because of the flawed nature of their institution. The grassroots movement of plebs adopting Bitcoin and withdrawing their support from the system which is the perpetrator of all this eye for eye, tooth for tooth, tit for tat political bullshit, that is where the power and tangible efficate change is going to happen. There are no bad guys, only humans stuck in fallible systems of their own design. There is no political solution.

Only a monetary one. Bitcoin.

Watch this interview and keep voting in mind as subject matter. The repeated failures of parliamentary democracy is a stepping stone away from socialism.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXy35jHQRb4

Everyone voted, everyone is still voting, no one is happy, everyone is impoverished. Crime goes up. Freedom's go down. The fruits of voting is putrid and rotten. So you vote and I will Bitcoin. When the elected party betrays your values with regard to speech, finance, property or war, remember to vote even harder next time.

Post script.

If Hani would have been alive and taken the South African presidency, I would have probably grown up as an immigrant in some European country having had to flee communism with my parents and siblings. The least I could do was protest peacefully for Clive's release. Janusz Wallus did not wait to vote. He acted and is still in prison to this day. He does deserve a pardon if only to receive equal treatment as all the other political prisoners did. I owe him and all the brave men in history who chose to act and make real change my thanks. You only risk action if you believe, even if it is foolishly.

A man has to believe in something, I believe I'll have another drink.

Matthew 25:31-40

“When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.’

“Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’

Echdel

...

bitbib

@ 0edc2f47:730cff1b

Chef's notes

In this case, sweet-and-sour doesn’t mean Americanized Chinese food but rather the sauce that dominated the Shabbos and Pesach dinner table among American Jewish immigrants in the early 20th century.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 6 hours
• 🍽️ Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 8-10 large cloves garlic
• 1 cup ketchup
• ¼ cup dry sherry
• ¼ cup sake
• ¼ cup cider vinegar
• ¼ cup soy sauce
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup Dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon coarsely ground black pepper
• ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1½ cups Coca-Cola, ginger ale, or Dr. Pepper
• 1 first-cut brisket, 6 to 7 pounds (2.7-3.2kg), rinsed and patted thoroughly dry

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325F / 160C.
2. Combine all ingredients except brisket in a blender and blend until smooth.
3. Place brisket in a Dutch oven or other large pot with a tight-fitting lid.
4. Pour sauce over brisket, place lid on pot, roast in oven for 3 hours. Flip roast and return to oven for 3 hours or until fork tender.
5. Remove roast to rest. Skim fat from sauce and reduce if desired. Serve immediately with sauce or cool, cover brisket and refrigerate overnight in cooking pan. The next day, defat sauce, reduce if desired, and reheat meat in sauce before serving.

@ 3b7fc823:e194354f

I dOn'T cAre ABouT pRivAcY. IT dOEsN'T maTtER. i'M nOT dOiNg AnyThiNg wRonG.

GHOSTn

Your phone is spying on you. Your apps are spying on you. Your websites, search engine, fitness tracker, smart watch, IoT device, EVERYTHING is collecting anything it can and sending it off to be stored, cross referenced, and sold.

Data is the new oil.

So what? I don't care if Google knows I like motorcycles. By itself one data point isn't a big deal but once you start bringing everything together...

Who are you talking to? When and how long did you talk to them? Where did you go? How often do you go there? On and on the profile starts to become overwhelmingly invasive.

Right now it is extremely cheap and easy to collect and store the data but it's hard and expensive to cross reference and tabulate the data down to the individual. But in the extremely near future using AI and faster processers, data profiles for sale go from white men between 25 - 30, with this education level, and background like XYZ to -> John loves motorcycls and steak.

Suddenly your insurance premiums are way higher than your friends because you partake in dangerous activities and eat too much red meat. You get denied that loan because you invest in risky assets and it raises your risk factors to pay it back. That job that you applied to never responded because they already ran you through the algorithm and you don't fit the culture.

Protect your data and privacy now before its too late.

privacy

@ df478568:2a951e67

Building An E-Commerce Store

I would like to be the change in the world I would like to see."" So I'm writing about how I would like to see the world change.

npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0

My new nym is Marc26z. Marc is my real name. I decided to stop being a-nym-nomous because I started a meetup and it felt to strange to tell people my nym and I heard Guy and Jeff Swann talk about being anonymous cuts you off from the people that will help you. So i guess I'm coming out so to speak. I also felt like I needed to show and not tell. Therefore I am creating an online store to show people how bitcoin can be used for e-commerce.

The 26z comes from the nostr key I mined. I'm on nostr because it gives me the ability to talk to the smartest people I've ever spoken with. It also provides a new way to get discovered on the Internet and a way to get use bitcoin as a medium of exchange. I spent about two years writing as a nym, but then hit a wall because I became interested in using bitcoin as a replacement for traditional banks and regulated exchanges made it easier to do so.

I still believe in self-custody.

I still believe bitcoin is a peer-to-peer electronic cash system

I still believe the majority of your wealth should not be trusted with a third party.

I don't really like credit cards, but it occurred to me that I can still accept credit cards and get them to pay me in bitcoin if I use [Strike](https://invite.strike.me/NGQDMT)*

Gradually, then suddenly, Bitcoin ETF's were approved.

Now you can read about them on Nerd Wallet

About 12% of all the bitcoin that will ever be made is held by governments and corporations.

According to Bitbo, more than 1-out of 20 bitcoin are held in ETF's

I know how to set up bitcoin Point-of-Sale system for businesses, but there's not much of a market for that., but there's not much of a market for it. Everyone need a t shirts. Everyone needs underwear. Everyone neess food. I plan on selling stuff like that…Well, not underwear.

Gaining e-commerce experience

I've been writing letters and building labs to get a coveted IT help desk job. I study Professor Messer 4 hours a week because most jobs require a Computer Technology Industry Association stamp of an A+ approval. Last week, I applied for a job that required "e-commerce experience." I didn't even get one of those “you're not hired” emails, but there is an orange lining to this situation. I spent the last few months building my resume and writing dozens of cover letters. This taught me even more stuff like how to run my own ticketing system. This gives me the confidence to create my own e-commerce store. I'm looking at my resume. This guy knows how to build websites with WordPress. He knows how to set up a bitcoin store. Forget that. We want fiat! Why would they hire me? So I;m building an "e-commerce lab" that takes credit cards. The payments will still take days to get to my Strike account, but when they do the dollars will instantaneously convert to bitcoin(sats) in my Strike account. The problem with writing about this is it's terrible writing. It takes too much technical expertise to write about without [citing stuff like this(https://medium.com/coinmonks/understanding-atomic-swaps-the-2024-guide-to-cross-blockchain-transactions-3427b75045c2) and that would turn off much of my bitcoin only audience because it talks about casino coins, but I found this exciting when Elizabeth Stark tweeted about it and I was still into the steamy number two mother of all alt-coin dingle-berries coin.

I still use the number one electronic currency in the world, the United States dollar to pay my bills. To do that, I sometimes need to use atomic swaps from bitcoin to USD . Strike probably uses Tether to make it happen so fast. I could swap into USD-T using Aqua Wallet, but I don't need to because I live in the United States and have financial privilege. This allows me to easily swap in and out of the bitcoin and dollars like fancy-suit wearing FOREX kingpin. I can send bitcoin from Aqua wallet(Which is actually Liquid-BTC to Strike using the lightning network. Why? Because I need to use the USD to pay my bills. I can also send fiat from my too big to fail bank account to River using Strike* as an intermediate! Jack Maller's explained it using an analogy I would like to share.

In this analogy:

The dollars in my too big to fail bank are tortilla chips.

The peanut is bitcoin on the lightning network.

I can send my tortilla chips from bank of too big to fail to Strike and Strike to River in about ten seconds. The tortilla chip magically transforms into a peanut like a shapeshifter and travels through a communication channel at the speed of light. It reaches River in almost no time. Then my peanut can transform back to a tortilla chip. I can stack those tortilla chips in my River savings account. This tortilla chip earns 3.8% interest paid in peanuts. Of course, if you are alergic to peanuts as Mallers says, you can only deal with tortilla chips. Which reminds me, have you seen the price of Tortilla chips laced with canola oil and lately? Maltodextrin lovers can automatically convert the bitcoin…I mean uh…peanuts they might receive from people who prefer peanuts into tortilla chips. IT doesn't take 5 days either. It takes seconds!

Building An E-Commerce Store

If I could summarize my Bachelor's degree in one sentence, that sentence would be, “Show don't tell.” This tortilla chip analogy is cool, but the best thing to do would be to start my own e-commerce store. Is it a business? Is it a home lab? I'm not sure, but I know I am not likely to convince other "businesses to accept bitcoin" unless I show them instead of tell the about what an amazing communications network we are using here. Somewhere along the way, people wearing shark-skin suits tried to convince the people bitcoin is an investment you should let a well-respected, too big to fail institution hold for you. I wish to go back to the roots and use bitcoin like a man who preferred to influence the world with his ideas instead of his ethos.

“Receivers of transactions will normally need to hold transactions for perhaps an hour or more to allow time for this kind of possibility to be resolved. They can still re-spend the coins immediately, but they should wait before taking an action such as shipping goods.”

[“Instantant non-repudiability is not a feature, but it's still much faster than existing systems. Paper cheques can bounce up to a week or two later. Credit card transactions can be contested up to 60 to 180 days later. Bitcoin transactions can be sufficiently irreversible in an hour or two.”]((https://satoshi.nakamotoinstitute.org/emails/cryptography/10/)

--Satoshi Nakamoto

I still believe in using bitcoin as a payment rail.

I still believe we can get paid in bitcoin and live in a fiat world.

I still believe we can mitigate the risk of bank failures without relying on bailouts and endless debt.

And I can still have fun. I'm basically like one of these dudes selling t-shirts on the freeway, but on the Internet.

✌️

npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0

868,557

*The links are referrals. I get a small commission if you sign up with these accounts using my referral. That being said, I would never endorse putting all your money in a centralized service. I like these companies because they do it better than most exchanges. River has a proof-of-reserve, automatic withdrawals to a bitcoin wallet. The fiat is FDIC insured (which still requires trust in the FDIC). This is not financial nor cybersecurity advice. Be aware that bitcoin does have risk of loss, of ten due to human error. Please consult a professional if you need financial or cybersecurity advice.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Bitcoin's Past Successes and Failures: An Overview

• Factors Influencing Bitcoin's Future

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Bitcoin, the first decentralized cryptocurrency, has taken the financial world by storm. Its volatility and potential for massive gains have captivated investors and enthusiasts alike. However, as with any investment, there are always questions surrounding its future. Is Bitcoin heading for another bull run, or is it on the verge of a catastrophic bust? In this article, we will delve into the numbers and trends to shed light on the potential future of Bitcoin.

Bitcoin's Past Successes and Failures: An Overview

To understand Bitcoin's future, it's essential to examine its past. Bitcoin's journey has been marked by tremendous highs and devastating lows, making it a rollercoaster ride for investors. Let's take a closer look at its historical performance.

The Early Years: Bitcoin's Humble Beginnings

In 2009, Bitcoin emerged as a concept, and its initial value was next to nothing. However, over time, its popularity grew, and by 2010, it gained some value. In May 2010, a historic moment occurred when Laszlo Hanyecz famously purchased two pizzas for 10,000 Bitcoins. Little did anyone know that those Bitcoins would be worth millions in the future.

The 2017 Bull Run: Bitcoin's Rise to Prominence

The year 2017 witnessed an unprecedented surge in Bitcoin's value, attracting global attention. Bitcoin's price skyrocketed from around $1,000 in January to nearly $20,000 in December. This massive growth sparked a frenzy among investors, leading to widespread adoption and media coverage.

The 2018 Bubble Burst: Bitcoin's Steep Decline

However, the euphoria didn't last long. In 2018, the cryptocurrency market experienced a significant crash, with Bitcoin's value plummeting to around $3,000 by the end of the year. This sharp decline shook investors' confidence and raised doubts about the long-term viability of Bitcoin.

Factors Influencing Bitcoin's Future

Bitcoin's future is shaped by various factors that impact its price, adoption, and overall market sentiment. Understanding these factors is crucial for predicting its future trajectory.

Market Adoption and Regulatory Developments

The widespread adoption of Bitcoin by businesses and individuals significantly impacts its value. As more companies accept Bitcoin as a form of payment and governments establish favorable regulatory frameworks, Bitcoin's future looks promising. However, regulatory challenges and negative news can hinder its growth.

Technological Advancements and Innovation

Bitcoin's future is intrinsically linked to technological advancements and innovation within the cryptocurrency space. The development of scaling solutions, improved security measures, and enhanced user experience can propel Bitcoin to new heights.

Global Economic Conditions

Bitcoin's value is closely tied to global economic conditions. During times of economic uncertainty, such as political instability or inflationary pressures, Bitcoin often emerges as a safe haven asset. Conversely, stable economic conditions may dampen its growth potential.

Investor Sentiment and Speculation

The speculative nature of Bitcoin makes investor sentiment a significant driver of its price fluctuations. Positive news, endorsements from influential figures, or large-scale institutional investments can fuel optimism and trigger a bull run. On the other hand, negative sentiment can lead to a bearish market.

Conclusion

While predicting Bitcoin's future with absolute certainty is impossible, analyzing historical trends and considering various factors can provide valuable insights. Bitcoin's path has been filled with remarkable highs and gut-wrenching lows, making it an intriguing investment option. As always, investors should exercise caution, diversify their portfolios, and stay updated with the latest developments in the cryptocurrency space.

FAQ

Is investing in Bitcoin still profitable? While Bitcoin has experienced significant price volatility, many investors have made substantial profits.

What caused the 2018 Bitcoin crash? The 2018 Bitcoin crash was influenced by a combination of factors, including regulatory uncertainties, a decline in market sentiment, and the bursting of the speculative bubble that had formed in the previous year.

Can Bitcoin replace traditional currencies? Bitcoin's potential to replace traditional currencies remains a subject of debate. While it offers benefits such as decentralization and borderless transactions, challenges related to scalability, regulatory hurdles, and public acceptance need to be overcome.

What role do institutional investors play in Bitcoin's future? Institutional investors, such as hedge funds and asset management firms, have started to show interest in Bitcoin. Their participation can bring stability, liquidity, and increased mainstream adoption, positively impacting Bitcoin's future.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnews

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co

Youtube: @croxroadnews

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 4ba8e86d:89d32de4

Ele oferece uma experiência de uso diário que coloca o controle sobre os dados pessoais nas mãos dos usuários. Uma das principais características do CalyxOS é sua abordagem proativa em relação à segurança, fornecendo recomendações e atualizações automáticas que simplificam o processo de proteção dos dados pessoais.O CalyxOS está disponível pra maioria dos modelos de Pixel da Google e agora está disponível pra alguns modelos Motorola G32, G42 e G52.

O CalyxOS é um sistema operacional criado por uma equipe internacional de voluntários e funcionários do Calyx Institute, uma organização sem fins lucrativos sediada em Nova York, EUA. A história do Calyx Institute remonta a 2010, quando seu fundador e diretor executivo, Nicholas Merrill, enfrentou questões de segurança e privacidade cibernética. Merrill havia recebido uma Carta de Segurança Nacional do FBI em 2004 por ser proprietário de um provedor de serviços de Internet, o que o levou a desafiar constitucionalmente o estatuto do USA Patriot Act.

Motivado por essa experiência, Merrill fundou o Calyx Institute com o objetivo de aumentar a conscientização sobre privacidade online, vigilância e acessibilidade por meio do desenvolvimento de software, defesa e divulgação. Ao longo de sete anos, a organização conseguiu estabelecer sua estrutura organizacional, obteve status de isenção de impostos 501(c)(3), formou um painel consultivo, estabeleceu parcerias com organizações líderes e angariou apoio de fundações e apoiadores.

O Calyx Institute é uma organização sem fins lucrativos focada em tecnologia e tem como missão desenvolver, testar e distribuir software de privacidade gratuito, além de trabalhar para reduzir a divisão digital. A organização conta com o apoio de membros, o que lhe permite desenvolver serviços de privacidade avançados na Internet e disponibilizá-los gratuitamente. O objetivo do Calyx Institute é crescer e expandir suas atividades, encontrando formas inovadoras de defender a privacidade, segurança e acessibilidade online. Entre os serviços oferecidos pelo Calyx Institute, destaca-se o serviço VPN gratuito baseado no projeto de código aberto LEAP. Além disso, eles planejam expandir sua oferta para incluir uma solução de e-mail criptografado baseada em nuvem. O Calyx Institute também hospeda vários nós de saída do Tor, que fornecem acesso à Internet sem censura em países onde a censura governamental é um problema.

O CalyxOS é uma iniciativa do Calyx Institute, uma organização sem fins lucrativos que se dedica ao desenvolvimento de software de privacidade e defesa da liberdade e acessibilidade na Internet.

CalyxOS é diferente. Acreditamos que o dispositivo em seu bolso deve sempre funcionar para seus melhores interesses. Nossos princípios orientadores incluem:

• Privacidade : Você deve ter controle total sobre seus próprios dados pessoais.  Nosso princípio orientador é Privacy By Design , uma abordagem que incorpora seus interesses em cada etapa do processo de design e desenvolvimento.

• Segurança : Seu dispositivo não deve surpreendê-lo. O significado de segurança é diferente para todos. Talvez você esteja preocupado com governos repressivos, censura, vigilância, ransomware ou apenas com seu amigo intrometido lendo suas mensagens. O que quer que seja importante para você, seu dispositivo não deve surpreendê-lo vazando informações que parecem seguras ou expondo seu dispositivo a vários ataques.

• Usabilidade : Privacidade e segurança não são muito úteis se estiverem disponíveis apenas para aqueles que já são tecnologicamente experientes. Acreditamos que é possível construir uma tecnologia fácil de usar e com os mais altos padrões de proteção de dados.

A tecnologia por trás do CalyxOS CalyxOS é construído sobre muitos projetos de software livre. Os principais incluem:

O Android Open Source Project (AOSP) é o backbone principal para todos os telefones Android que fabricantes como a Samsung desenvolvem. Mantido pelo Google, o AOSP recebe contribuições de desenvolvedores de todo o mundo.

O microG fornece uma reimplementação de código aberto dos serviços proprietários do Google Play. A maioria dos dispositivos Android vem com Play Services para fornecer, entre outras coisas, acesso à Play Store, notificações push, rastreamento de publicidade e serviços de localização. Embora alguns desses sejam ótimos recursos, o Play Services também é um sistema proprietário fechado usado pelo Google para rastrear seu comportamento. CalyxOS inclui microG , permitindo que muitos dos aplicativos que você adora funcionem sem o Play Services.

F-Droid é uma loja de aplicativos alternativa para Android para aplicativos gratuitos e de código aberto. O CalyxOS integrou o F-Droid de forma que seja mais fácil usá-lo como fonte principal de aplicativos móveis. Além disso, incluímos a Aurora Store , uma loja de aplicativos que permite instalar qualquer aplicativo na Google Play Store.

Vários aplicativos CalyxOS são escritos especificamente para CalyxOS para aprimorar a usabilidade e a privacidade. Isso inclui SeedVault , um aplicativo para backups criptografados e seguros, e Datura , um aplicativo para fornecer controle refinado sobre o acesso à rede.

Além disso, o CalyxOS se baseia fortemente na comunidade e no código do LineageOS . O LineageOS é um sistema operacional alternativo baseado no Android com ênfase na compatibilidade e personalização do dispositivo.

Privacidade por projeto Com o CalyxOS, nosso princípio fundamental é a privacidade por design. Este é um processo de design e desenvolvimento orientado por valores que concentra as necessidades dos usuários acima de tudo.

O que isso significa na prática? Algumas ideias em Privacy By Design incluem:

• Bons padrões : há muitos casos em que o Android permite que o usuário controle seus dados, mas as opções estão escondidas nas configurações e podem ser confusas para o usuário. O CalyxOS garante que a opção padrão seja sempre a opção que coloca a privacidade em primeiro lugar.

• Design centrado na privacidade : ao fazer escolhas de design e desenvolvimento, o CalyxOS coloca a privacidade no centro de todas as decisões.

• Design centrado no usuário : estamos continuamente nos perguntando como os usuários realmente se envolverão com o software e o que podemos fazer para garantir o comportamento menos surpreendente.

• Segurança de ponta a ponta : Sempre que possível, promovemos ferramentas e abordagens que garantem a criptografia total de todos os dados durante toda a sua vida, para que ninguém além de você tenha acesso a informações potencialmente confidenciais.

Aqui estão alguns exemplos de como essa abordagem chega ao CalyxOS:

• O CalyxOS não coloca seus dados na nuvem do Google nem informa constantemente sua localização ao Google.

• O CalyxOS Dialer facilita a atualização de sua chamada telefônica usando um método criptografado de ponta a ponta e lembra quando você está fazendo uma chamada insegura.

• O mecanismo de pesquisa padrão e os navegadores da Web bloqueiam rastreadores de publicidade e comportamento.

• Incluímos muitos aplicativos focados em segurança por padrão, como o Signal para mensagens seguras e o Navegador Tor para navegação na web totalmente anônima.

• O CalyxOS inclui serviços VPN gratuitos integrados de organizações confiáveis para proteger seu tráfego de rede e endereço IP.

• O CalyxOS é diligente em enviar atualizações de segurança regulares, oportunas e automáticas para o seu telefone.

• O SeedVault usa criptografia de ponta a ponta para fazer backup seguro do seu telefone via armazenamento USB ou nuvem.

O CalyxOS é uma opção atraente para usuários preocupados com a privacidade e a segurança de seus dispositivos Android.

Com seu foco na privacidade por design, atualizações automáticas de segurança e recursos integrados de proteção de dados, o CalyxOS oferece uma experiência de uso diário que permite aos usuários manter seus dados pessoais seguros e protegidos.

https://github.com/calyxos

https://calyxos.org/

Tutorial Feito por nostr:npub10m6lrv2kaf08a8um0plhj5dj6yqlw7qxzeag6393z352zrs0e5nsr2tff3 sobre CalyxOS em português.

https://pt.econoalchemist.com/post/privacidade-m%C3%B3vel-com-um-pixel-4a-calyxos

https://pt.econoalchemist.com/post/privacidade-m%C3%B3vel-com-um-pixel-4a-calyxos

@ 91687725:a0de48ea

こんにちは。Kateです。

最近ちょっとお休みしていますが、日本でビットコインを専門に扱うDiamond Hands Magazineに寄稿したりしてます。

私がビットコインと出会ったのは2011年、まだビットコイン利用者はとても少なかった時代です。たまたま身内にビットコイン界隈の人がいました。もしかしたら今でいうビト妻だったかも？

まだビットコインが1ドル以下でおもちゃみたいな存在だった頃に知ったわけですが、その後勢いづいて、100ドル、1000ドルと価値が上がっていきました。

それを見て、ビットコインを少しずつ買って貯めておけば、将来リタイヤの蓄えになるかもと思ってお小遣い程度のビットコインを積立してました。でも、アクシデントで失くしちゃったんですよね。

その後、身内のごたごたで自分の生活が天地がひっくり返るように一変し、気がつけばカナダでただお金がないアジア系移民シングルマザー、しかも周りに家族が誰もいないという、非常にマイノリティな立場になりました。

人生、何事も経験。一度ビットコインを失くし、傷心もあり、数年はビットコインから離れました。でも気がつけばビットコインは冬の時代を終えて、また元気になっていたんですね。自分は海外でひとり子育てに追われ、なんとか生きてた感じですが！

ビットコインが500ドルくらいになっていた時に困窮していた私は、ふとペーパーウォレットと呼ばれた当時の携帯可能ウォレット？に0.5btc 残っていたのを発見して速攻換金しましたね。悔やまれます。

その後、2017年頃、カナダで当時大手の割と使い勝手のいい取引所があることを知って、再度ビットコイン貯蓄にチャレンジしました。2年ほどで、ほぼ1ビットコインと10ETHくらいあったんですけどね、今度は取引所の代表者が行方不明になり、またもやビットコインを失くしました。

ふつうだったら、もうやめますよね。2回もなくしたら。

けれど、自分はかつてインターネットが始まったころのワクワクを経験していました。90年代半ば、新宿にできたばかりのインターネットカフェで、GIFがかろうじて表示できるグレーのブラウザ画面と対面しました。世界を変える技術を体験した時の感動は今でも忘れられません。

（こう書くと立派なオバサンなのがバレちゃいますね。ビットコインネイティブ世代の中では年長者）

それから15年以上たって、初めてサトシナカモトのホワイトペーパーを読んだ時に、同じ衝撃を受けたのです。初めて実用化されたインターネット上で世界の誰とでも送り合えるマネー。その可能性は無限∞。

そのビットコインの進化を、実際に買ってみたり、使ってみたり、なくしたりしつつ、より深く知ろうと付き合ってきた自分は、いつの間にかビットコインを通して世の中のいろいろを見て考えるようになりました。

ビットコインが生まれ、実験段階を経て、すでに15年が経ちます。けれども、ビットコインは今でも多くの人から最も誤解されている技術・発明のように見えます。ここまで来たら、自分が生きている間に、ビットコインが世界とどう関わっていくのか見届けたいと思います！

そして、私自身がビットコインを知ることで発見した世界や新しい価値観を、誰かに伝えられたらいいなと願って、このブログをスタートすることにしました。

今回は自己紹介という形になりましたが、私がビットコインを通して学んだことや気づいたことをこれから少しづつアップしてみます！

週1くらいのペースで投稿が目標です。よろしくお願いします。

@ 592295cf:413a0db9

Rereading the past articles, they seem to get something mystical.

I really wrote this article and yes.

Yakihonne sent me 21 sats, thank you! ! !

I left some links to long articles, you can read them or not, sorry.

Elections are always recounts or broils, we can not vote or let anyone who does not complain, and then people use social media to complain and complain about hatred over these last, less hatred.

Vitor wrote a NPs for pexel feed, but he forgot videos. He called it Instagram feed, but I think when people now think about Instagram they think about reels and not photos with filters. You really want a social interaction, photo feed.

"I just want pictures to cover in the blog, or meme template"

I tried Cornychat, it works. Not having a microphone, the computer's microphone was freaking out, from the phone I felt the computer's return. It has many features, including chat, slide, post on Nostr. It has a secret mood and you can share the room with the link. I'll have to buy a microphone for Christmas, I don't think I do, I'm afraid it's the way to start a podcast.

I'm trying to make a client that counts I like, zap and RT. The first takes from global, the second takes from your timeline. I did one for long form article.

Openvibe added Threads, first version. So from threads to Nostr 🤙

Always the usual thing if sending spam to people or not, I opted for no. Just give random answers to random people. Only naive, standard answers. No more vattelapesca situation increases only expectations, then he knows something. I don't know anything. But maybe I could do two broken links. I like it as a name for a site, maybe that of AI local-first & whatsever projects. Waiting for this to become something

WoT Max 0.2 on coracle feed to avoid influncer, I think Voyager can use this NPs, has almost everything ready.

1. Laeserin, silberengel or or one of these names wrote an article How to find humans on Nostr

   I haven't read it yet. How to find humans and avoid them. I think her logic is focused on fix the world, fix Bitcoin, fix Nostr. That just what a human person would do. I am pleased to have found these users and if necessary interact with them, it is like a microcosm. If there are few users better it will end sooner.

Good thing I'm doing my algorithm so I can get it with myself for the results.

I upgraded to nostr_sdk 0.35.1

If Yakihonne becomes a content creator application, I'll have to look for another platform, I have to see if freerse is still available.

Someone wrote on Mastodon that Nostr is a place for:

The best place to talk alone is definitely #Nostr :blobfoxangrylaugh:

Cool means you can do your things makes public gifts without need of privacy (lol) If you are a developer build, the rest is secondary.

1. Derek Ross smart widget one of the most beautiful things this week, maybe you can see with embed here smart widget nostr:naddr1qq2kyt28xay8s46cgekhsefnwavyusf4w42z6q3q8ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqxpqqqp657hzkura

Still too early and content creator don't use, but if it does trend they can start using.

I downloaded Yakihonne app and looks good, there are still bugs with Amber. As soon as it was downloaded at the opening it blocked the phone, scrolling I was watching a video, but then the video lasted like 10 minutes, maybe it's good to put only previews of 30 s in the feed. I think the bugs will be resolved soon and have already been reported is normal that when you launch an integration but then you don't have feedback you don't know if it's actually working.

Unanimity proceeds, I will have to sponsor it, 💡 Join on Unanimity 👾

When it rains, I think of the floods that have hit recently.

Cody started making the client that Fiatjaf wanted, what I mentioned last week.

What cringe story Google+ post on Mastodon

Google+ is like believing in BAT tokens. I remember the days of Google+ I had a blog about blogger who automatically posted. The circles were an interesting concept, I remember that there were influencer lists. Google podcast more recently 😔😔

1. Nostr build has a multimedia player (Audio,Video) 🤙, i think it's mostly for mobile phones song link link player

Vote only if you know that one of the two parts is against you, or it has as an "enemy" target a category of which you are part.

1. The fantastic zap cooking newsletter has arrived, you can read it

@ b0510a0c:12716ced

On April 24, 2012, Erik Voorhees changed everything about Bitcoin with the launch of Satoshi Dice:

a game that captivated users and intensified debates about Bitcoin's evolution and the network's ability to handle an increasing volume of transactions.

At that time, Satoshi Dice allowed thousands of players to bet on digital dice rolls, leading to a MASSIVE influx of transactions that filled the blocks of the blockchain.

📈 Success of Satoshi Dice:

Satoshi Dice achieved phenomenal success, attracting millions of users with its simplicity. Players flocked in, bets piled up, and blocks filled up.

Erik Voorhees effectively leveraged Bitcoin's microtransactions, quickly saturating the blocks with these. This was a testament to the game's popularity, but also a source of tension within the community.

Within months, Satoshi Dice became the most popular service on the Bitcoin network, boosting its usage and virality.

Players appreciated the "provable fairness" aspect of the game, where they could verify the transparency and fairness of each bet.

🚫 Criticism and Controversy:

However, this success was not without criticism.

Many Bitcoin enthusiasts viewed the massive influx of transactions generated by the game unfavorably. For them, these sometimes trivial transactions "spammed" the blockchain, clogging the blocks and increasing transaction fees for all users. Does this sound familiar?

The network, designed to handle about seven transactions per second, quickly reached its maximum capacity, causing validation delays and "high" fees.

⚔️ BlockSize Wars:

The BlockSize wars, which took place mainly between 2016 and 2017, were a technical and ideological conflict centered on block size and scalability solutions.

While Satoshi Dice was not the sole cause, the game significantly contributed to the emergence of this event by helping to popularize Bitcoin among new users and generating substantial transaction volume.

As Bitcoin adoption grew, the network faced intense pressure, leading to block saturation and rising transaction fees. On one side, some advocated for increasing block size to allow more transactions, leading to the creation of Bitcoin Cash in August 2017. On the other, proponents of solutions like SegWit pushed for improvements without compromising decentralization.

🔧 Adoption of SegWit:

Erik Voorhees expressed his support for the SegWit2x proposal, which aimed to improve network scalability by combining the implementation of SegWit with an increase in block size.

Segregated Witness (SegWit) was adopted in August 2017, allowing transaction data to be separated from signatures. This reorganization not only increased transaction processing capacity but also paved the way for the development of the Lightning Network, a layer 2 solution enabling instant and low-cost transactions.

SegWit was a crucial response to the challenges posed by network congestion, which had been exacerbated by Bitcoin's growing adoption and the emergence of popular applications like Satoshi Dice.

⚡ SegWit and Lightning:

The adoption of SegWit helped resolve blockchain congestion issues, while the Lightning Network, a layer 2 solution, facilitated fast and low-cost transactions.

Together, these innovations not only addressed technical challenges but also renewed enthusiasm for games and other applications on Bitcoin, paving the way for a new wave of development.

🎲 Nostr Dice:

Today, as we reflect on the impact of Satoshi Dice, a new project emerges: nostr:npub1nstrdc6z4y9xadyj4z2zfecu6zt05uvlmd08ea0vchcvfrjvv7yq8lns84

This modern clone of the original game is built on Nostr, a decentralized communication protocol, and Lightning, paying homage to the past while offering an enhanced gaming experience that does not impact layer 1 congestion!

From a game that caused Bitcoin congestion to its rebirth on Lightning, which it helped to bring about, the circle is complete!

@ b7338786:fdb5bff3

14 Signposts to Slavery

1. Restrictions on taking money out of the country and on the establishment or retention of a foreign bank account by an American citizen.

2. Abolition of private ownership of hand guns.

3. Detention of individuals without judicial process.

4. Requirements that private financial transactions be keyed to social security numbers or other government identification so that government records of these transactions can be fed into a computer.

5. Use of compulsory education laws to forbid attendance at presently existing private schools.

6. Compulsory non-military service.

7. Compulsory psychological treatment for non-government workers or public school children.

8. An official declaration that anti-communist (Patriot) organizations are subversive and subsequent legal action taken to suppress them.

9. Laws limiting the number of people allowed to meet in a private home.

10. Any significant change in passport regulations to make passports more difficult to obtain.

11. Wage and price controls, especially in a non-wartime situation.

12. Any kind of compulsory registration with the government of where individuals work.

13. Any attempt to restrict freedom of movement within the United States.

14. Any attempt to make a new major law by executive decree (that is, actually put into effect, not merely authorized as by existing executive orders.)

@ 09fbf8f3:fa3d60f0

> ### 第三方API合集：

免责申明:

在此推荐的 OpenAI API Key 由第三方代理商提供，所以我们不对 API Key 的 有效性 和 安全性 负责，请你自行承担购买和使用 API Key 的风险。

| 服务商 | 特性说明 | Proxy 代理地址 | 链接 | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | AiHubMix | 使用 OpenAI 企业接口，全站模型价格为官方 86 折（含 GPT-4 ）| https://aihubmix.com/v1 | 官网 | | OpenAI-HK | OpenAI的API官方计费模式为，按每次API请求内容和返回内容tokens长度来定价。每个模型具有不同的计价方式，以每1,000个tokens消耗为单位定价。其中1,000个tokens约为750个英文单词（约400汉字）| https://api.openai-hk.com/ | 官网 | | CloseAI | CloseAI是国内规模最大的商用级OpenAI代理平台，也是国内第一家专业OpenAI中转服务，定位于企业级商用需求，面向企业客户的线上服务提供高质量稳定的官方OpenAI API 中转代理，是百余家企业和多家科研机构的专用合作平台。 | https://api.openai-proxy.org | 官网 | | OpenAI-SB | 需要配合Telegram 获取api key | https://api.openai-sb.com | 官网 |

持续更新。。。

---

推广：

访问不了openai，去低调云购买VPN。

官网：https://didiaocloud.xyz

邀请码：w9AjVJit

价格低至1元。

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

Stop kidding yourself.

I'm too impressed by the quality of German workers, and I've learned too much in the programs here, to ever claim that professional certifications and academic qualifications are useless. They don't all carry equal weight, but they do all communicate real traits, experience, or knowledge, that are attractive to customers.

Even possessing a qualification or exam result, from Branch A, can benefit you in Branch B. I am, for instance, not a computer scientist, by certification. I am a logistics manager and freight-forwarding agent. Software companies invariably find that interesting because of what that entails: focus on clear planning and getting concrete results, well-organized, quick-thinking and staying calm under pressure, used to dealing directly with all sorts of people, understanding marketing, logical thinking skills, experience with databases and algorithms, etc.

People who have no qualification like to claim anyone could get one, but then they should prove it in the attempt. My own apprenticeship program took 2-3 years and 30% fail the exam, on the first attempt.

Money talks, bullshit walks.

Try to get professional insurance without a formal certificate. You will pay more, due to being a higher risk. If you pay enough, it's probably cheaper, mid-term, to go back and get the paper.

Our car insurance even offers cheaper rates to engineers because they've crunched the numbers. It can effect your life insurance costs. And people will pay a Meister more than a Journeyman, and a CPA more than a bookkeeper, for the same work.

Less would bring more

Getting rid of government licensing doesn't lead to a free-for-all, where everyone can just self-elect themselves as a neurosurgeon and start cutting peoples' heads open. It leads to more private qualifications, to fill the information gap, with branding.

If anything, private qualifications are harder to acquire, not easier, since they have to maintain signal, to stay on the market. That is why the IHK-lead (Chamber of Commerce) apprenticeship system, common to Germanic countries, is one of the best in the world and people everywhere are trying to copy it: the businesses, who hire and pay the apprentices, determine the curriculum, and decide which persons qualify.

Most qualifications are already private and not covered by licensing laws. The market demands them; the market receives them.

@ bcbb3e40:a494e501

El hombre y el contexto

El pensamiento tradicionalista español cuenta con una amplia trayectoria en la que concurren personajes, situaciones e ideas gestadas en el transcurso de dos siglos, en los que debemos distinguir el conflicto dinástico y el papel del legitimismo de la propia doctrina, que es algo que se construirá en el tiempo, con la contribución de figuras como el protagonista de este escrito, Don Juan Vázquez de Mella, así como por la confluencia de fuerzas de diferente signo que tiene lugar a lo largo del siglo XIX y la consolidación del Estado liberal, que lo hará siempre en lucha abierta contra las peculiaridades y el carácter genuino del pueblo español. Vázquez de Mella, nuestro autor, quizás represente la consolidación y madurez doctrinal del movimiento tradicionalista español, uno de sus primeros y más brillantes sistematizadores. No se destacó por una obra extensa ni especialmente difundida más allá de sus discursos, de sus artículos en periódicos y sus escritos dispersos, los cuales fue capaz de dotar de una especial significación y dignidad fruto de su enorme carisma y especial clarividencia para dar una forma definida y meridianamente clara a las ideas y doctrinas que nutrieron el tradicionalismo español madurado al calor de las armas, de las tres guerras que el carlismo libró contra el liberalismo español.

|| |:-:| |Juan Vázquez de Mella|

Nuestro autor, de origen asturiano, y nacido en Cangas de Onís un 8 de junio de 1861, ha mantenido vivo su prestigio y el valor de sus aportaciones teórico-doctrinales, ampliamente reconocidos por sus sucesores, por Rafael Gambra Ciudad (1920-2004) y Francisco Elías de Tejada y Espinola (1918-1978), así como de otros autores como Álvaro D'Ors (1915-2004) y otros muchos, que han reivindicado su figura en el tiempo y se han nutrido de sus fecundas enseñanzas. Se ha destacado la rectitud de su pensamiento, su inquebrantable voluntad y su impagable contribución en la creación de un marco teórico y conceptual para dar un sentido y una forma a las ideas del tradicionalismo español. Hijo de un militar de origen gallego, muerto prematuramente, quedó huérfano de padre durante su niñez, por lo cual pasó al cuidado de unos parientes de origen modesto. Estudió en la Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, donde mostró tempranamente su temperamento y habilidades oratorias, que explotó convenientemente a través de diarios como La Restauración o El pensamiento galaico, donde también mostró sus filiaciones militantes con el catolicismo tradicional. Sus habilidades y la brillantez de sus escritos pronto llegaron a Madrid, a las más altas instancias del Carlismo, lo que le permitió dar continuidad a sus actividades desde un medio más amplio, a través de El correo español.

En su militancia política llegó a las más altas cotas de su trayectoria con la elección en 1893 como representante de las Cortes por el distrito de Estella, Navarra, que ya con sus primeros discursos obtuvo un notable éxito, incluso entre los propios liberales, hasta 1900, fecha en la que se vio obligado a marcharse a Portugal, acusado de participar en una conspiración para derrocar el régimen de la Restauración. No regresó a España hasta 1905, manteniendo su estatus como diputado hasta 1919. De todos modos, no queremos dar más protagonismo a la biografía en detrimento de la doctrina, que es lo que nos interesa en este artículo, de ahí que obviemos otros datos biográficos trascendentes, polémicas con otras facciones del carlismo o sus posturas respecto a la dictadura del general Miguel Primo de Rivera, que nos harían desviar la atención del propósito principal que acabamos de enunciar.

La gran paradoja del Carlismo fue que a pesar de su derrota en la Tercera Guerra Carlista (1872-1876), y pese a la posterior escisión integrista en 1888, el partido carlista continuó manteniendo una fuerza y preponderancia significativa en la sociedad española del régimen de la Restauración durante el último cuarto de siglo. El Carlismo se vio inmerso en un buen número de paradojas, de situaciones encontradas, especialmente en relación al Desastre del 98 y la pérdida de los últimos territorios ultramarinos. Mientras que la gran esperanza del tradicionalismo español estaba depositada en el desmoronamiento y caída final de la restauración alfonsina, por otro lado este mismo régimen trataba de defender, al menos en teoría, los últimos restos del imperio español y, de algún modo, a la España católica frente a una nación protestante, como era la anglosajona estadounidense. Al mismo tiempo, durante esta época el tradicionalismo español se enfrentó a los grandes retos que presentaba una sociedad en cambio, con transformaciones políticas y sociales de gran calado como la emergencia del sufragio universal o el nacimiento de los separatismos periféricos (propiciados por la burguesía liberal), las cuales requerían de nuevas estrategias y reestructuraciones internas capaces de enfrentar la envergadura de todos estos cambios. Fue en este contexto donde se significó la figura de Juan Vázquez de Mella, quien merced a la obra de sistematización a la que ya hemos hecho alusión, y de sus concurridas conferencias, dio lugar a la denominada Acta Loredán, redactada por el tradicionalista asturiano y publicado en El correo español. Este escrito tenía como ejes fundamentales la defensa de la nación política española fundamentada en la monarquía, el catolicismo y el régimen foral. Al mismo tiempo, también recogía la reivindicación de un programa corporativista y gremial al abrigo de la doctrina social de la Iglesia defendido en la encíclica Rerum Novarum (1891), y es lo que se conoce como el «sociedalismo», cuyos antecedentes encontramos ya en autores como Donoso Cortés o Antonio Aparisi Guijarro. Son precisamente los atributos de esta doctrina, que contribuyó a la revitalización del pensamiento carlista, los que nos disponemos a desarrollar a continuación.

La figura del tradicionalista asturiano, de Don Juan Vázquez de Mella, aparece como necesaria ante una serie sucesiva de destrucciones que el régimen liberal ha producido sobre los fundamentos tradicionales de España, pero su papel no fue, como ya venimos apuntando, el de un gran intelectual erudito, y de hecho, como apunta Rafael Gambra, las mayores debilidades de su pensamiento se encuentran en los principios filosóficos, y destacando, en cambio, su papel de «revulsivo espiritual» podemos ubicarlo mejor en el ámbito de lo político y lo espiritual. Para ello debió tomar en cuenta las fuentes de sus predecesores, entre los cuales podemos ubicar perfectamente al ya mencionado Donoso Cortés y Jaime Balmes, así como también a otro contemporáneo suyo, Menéndez Pelayo. De los dos primeros tomó su capacidad de síntesis y la sencillez expositiva, mientras que de Menéndez Pelayo tomó, al menos en parte, el sentido de la crítica histórica en aras de la restauración de una Tradición nacional. Pero más allá de los sistemas de pensamiento y elementos retóricos, vemos a Vázquez de Mella profundamente interesado por la vida política de los pueblos medievales de Las Españas, lo cual fue, en definitiva, el marco de referencia para una síntesis política de conjunto más allá de los posicionamientos teóricos, como algo que puede ser llevado a la práctica en sus aspectos concretos y que es perfectamente viable. Todo un sistema edificado sobre el pensamiento tomista y una una profunda religiosidad, En este contexto, y más allá de las ideas formuladas por realistas y carlistas en la primera mitad del siglo XIX, Mella teoriza junto a la concepción del espíritu medieval, la idea de la coexistencia de dos soberanías, una política y otra social, una teoría de la soberanía tradicional inspirada por un principio dinámico y que se cimenta en las propias experiencias humanas en el devenir de la historia.

|| |:-:| |NITOGLIA, Curzio; En el mar de la nada: Metafísica y nihilismo a prueba en la posmodernidad, Hipérbola Janus, 2023|

El concepto de lo social

Lo social para Mella no tiene absolutamente nada que ver con las denominadas «políticas sociales», tan comunes en el lenguaje político de las democracias liberales, en las que se contempla lo social como un elemento externo a la propia estructura política, donde prevalece el individualismo a todos los niveles, y la sociedad aparece como un mero agregado de individuos. Muy al contrario, lo social, en el tradicionalismo de nuestro autor, implica la afirmación de un principio intrínseco tanto al modelo social como al tipo humano, así como a la naturaleza de las cosas en las que la persona desarrolla su existencia en común con los demás. Nos referimos a las instituciones, a los elementos jurídicos y otros órganos gestados en el tiempo por la experiencia histórica, que regulan la vida común.

En el ámbito de la sociedad cristiana medieval, en plena Reconquista, cuando todavía no existía un Estado unitario como tal, cada municipio tenía sus propias leyes y sus normas, adaptadas a su modelo de vida y costumbres, Las comunidades se concebían como agrupaciones de familias con un sistema de propiedad comunal y privado en las que el patrimonio y el estatus de cada uno de sus miembros venía garantizado por el ejercicio activo de una serie de derechos en defensa de las libertades concretas, cuya fuente última era el derecho natural. Los señores feudales y los reyes se limitaban a reclamar tributos para la guerra, pero sin interferir en la defensa de estas libertades concretas ni vulnerar el sistema que las sustentaba.

Eran gobiernos autárquicos, muy estables e inspirados por un principio democrático, el cual nada tenía que ver con las democracias liberales plutocráticas de la actualidad, cuya idea del derecho y la justicia está pervertida por el formalismo jurídico vacío e inane de sus constituciones, abstractas y plenamente funcionales a las oligarquías, al servicio de intereses espurios. En este caso, el hombre alcanzaba una plena dignidad y desarrollo en el contexto de una comunidad donde prevalecía el vínculo comunitario, al amparo de un modelo tradicional, de normas consuetudinarias y concretas que permitían la defensa efectiva del propio derecho. Ni siquiera con el advenimiento de los Estados modernos, y la centralización de algunos elementos de poder, como la Hacienda o el Ejército, se vieron alterados significativamente estos elementos, que representaban a los denominados «cuerpos intermedios» de la sociedad, y que adquirieron su propia expresión particular bajo el nombre de «Fueros», los que los propios reyes juraron respetar a lo largo de toda la Edad Moderna y hasta el advenimiento del régimen borbónico.

La antropología tradicional vincula al hombre a un medio social, a una familia, a una estirpe o a un pueblo, que reproducen esa misma estructura familiar, aunque a mayor escala. En nuestro caso particular lo vemos a través de la convivencia de pequeños grupos humanos, de ahí la importancia de los municipios o de los concejos en un marco de vida comunitaria fuertemente institucionalizada. Al mismo tiempo este modelo y estructura también se replicaba en otros ámbitos, como en la vida económica y profesional, impregnando todas las esferas de la vida del hombre. Instituciones naturales, amparadas en el derecho natural, y orientadas a la protección y garantía de prosperidad de los hombres, y esto por encima de cualquier interés particular y mercantil de negocio. Para Mella, la ruptura con este mundo, y en general con las experiencias del pasado, es la que nos lleva, merced a la acción del liberalismo, a los tiempos actuales, y lo hace recorriendo un itinerario que todos conocemos, y que tienen su punto de partida en la Ilustración y la posterior Revolución Francesa, la irrupción del elemento racional y abstracto y la destrucción de la religión, considerada como fruto de la superstición. La destrucción del orden feudal, que todavía pervivía como marco de convivencia en el mundo rural, como una suerte de prolongación de ese espíritu medieval, hizo desaparecer de un plumazo ese entorno de relaciones concretas y personales para sustituirlas por lo «público» entendido como la centralización estatal uniforme, ignorando las realidades particulares subyacentes en el cuerpo social, los denominados «cuerpos intermedios», que fueron despojados de su autonomía, corporaciones y patrimonios. De modo que la destrucción de estas «sociedades intermedias» que mediaban entre el Estado y la sociedad desenraizó y destruyó la propia sociedad, al mismo tiempo que los fundamentos cristianos del derecho natural sobre la cual se hallaba asentada, para hacer prevalecer esos principios racionales y abstractos traídos por la revolución.

Al mismo tiempo, y anejo a este desarraigo, del individuo se encuentra sometido a poderes arbitrarios del propio Estado liberal, sin un conglomerado institucional propio que lo proteja de estos atropellos, sumido en el individualismo ajeno a toda institución y destino colectivo, se limita al voto cada cuatro años de los partidos al servicio de oligarquías e intereses espurios, contrarios al Bien común. En este sentido, y advirtiendo las posibles acusaciones de «absolutismo» que en ocasiones se han lanzado contra el tradicionalismo, hay que señalar que Mella las rechaza por completo, dado que viola la idea de contrapoderes frente a la autoridad del rey que éste formula, ya que el absolutismo creía en la existencia de un poder ilimitado y tiránico del rey, transmitido por Dios y ajeno a la participación de la sociedad y sus estamentos. Como bien señaló Julius Evola, el absolutismo es un fenómeno antitradicional, vinculado a la descomposición y desacralización de las estructuras tradicionales. De hecho, el absolutismo, como los regímenes liberales de hoy, dejan al individuo totalmente desprotegido, sin un asidero sobre el que apoyarse en la defensa de sus libertades concretas. El propio Mella, como bien saben todos los que se adentren en su obra, fue partidario de contrarrestar el creciente poder del aparato estatal, tal y como hemos visto y seguiremos viendo en lo sucesivo, a lo largo del presente artículo.

|| |:-:| |EVOLA, Julis; Metapolítica, Tradición y Modernidad: Antología de artículos evolianos, Hipérbola Janus, 2020|

En nuestro caso particular, la desaparición de la organización gremial y corporativa tuvo unas consecuencias especialmente nefastas, y en especial después de las dos desamortizaciones liberales (Mendizabal y Madoz) al despojar a los grupos sociales populares de su natural organización sociohistórica. Asimismo, desvincularon la propiedad en las relaciones comunitarias y su uso patrimonial para vincularla al uso privado y anónimo, para fines puramente especulativos, los que caracterizan al liberal-capitalismo. De ahí nace la figura del asalariado, del contratado como mera mercancía, en un proceso de alienación del trabajo característico en el desarrollo del capitalismo burgués. De aquí parte lo que algunos tradicionalistas, como Gambra, denominan el «problema social», frente al cual, y al margen de las recetas ideológicas de la modernidad, Mella reivindica la restauración de los antiguos vínculos corporativos y orgánicos de inspiración medieval.

La idea de soberanía social

Todos los procesos disolutivos que conducen a la Modernidad liberal tienen su punto de inicio con el Renacimiento, con la afirmación del individualismo y la ruptura definitiva del ecumene cristiano medieval, algo que aparece indefectiblemente unido a la Reforma luterana, así como la «valorización» del mundo clásico, con la reemergencia de teorías de tipo hedonista, como las de Epicuro, por ejemplo, generando una disolución de los vínculos con el medio concreto. Esto supone la aparición de un nuevo tipo, que es el hombre abstracto que escapa cada vez más al entorno inmediato y vital, esto al tiempo que el poder del Estado se robustece y se vuelve omnipotente. Es por ese motivo que en lo sucesivo se ha impuesto en nuestras sociedades la falta de concreción, tanto en lo teórico como en lo político, lo cual ha propiciado el triunfo del contrato social roussoniano y la justificación del orden social en virtud de componendas voluntarias y totalmente artificiales. Estas construcciones político-ideológicas son las que contribuyen a la construcción de la sociedad liberal, asentada sobre patrones puramente racionales, individualistas y mercantilistas.

De hecho, la mayor preocupación de Mella es la destrucción de las instituciones locales y ese vínculo afectivo del hombre con su realidad inmediata, algo que impregnaba su relación con el trabajo, con su obra, con su impronta vocacional y devota, imprimiéndole, como en el caso del artesano, un sello propio y particular a su trabajo.

Y en este sentido, Mella afirma que la sociedad moderna ha perdido su sentido institucional como base estable de la sociabilidad. A través del elemento jurídico y la participación en las instituciones es el medio a partir del cual la comunidad se cohesiona y construye sus vínculos y su particular autonomía, que le hace tener una vida propia e interna, y con la institución nos podemos referir desde una asociación profesional, a la universidad o una cofradía etc. El individualismo ha representado el factor disolutivo y corrosivo que ha destruido este vínculo social fundado en múltiples solidaridades que han enfrentado y polarizado al cuerpo social, con el enfrentamiento entre «clases sociales» y la negación de las jerarquías naturales.

Ante todo lo relatado, y como consecuencia de las destrucciones provocadas por la revolución, Mella plantea su teoría de la soberanía social. Esta teoría consiste básicamente en encuadrar de nuevo a la sociedad en sus raíces naturales, concebida en todos sus órdenes como portadora de un dinamismo propio en una suerte de organización geométrica en la que conviven objetivos y finalidades variadas y concretas con su propia legitimidad y autonomía. Estas finalidades, amparadas en el derecho natural, son junto al poder del propio Estado las únicas formas de limitación del poder. La particularidad de esta idea de soberanía social está en el hecho de que la formación de la jerarquía social tiene una dirección ascendente, que tiene como punto de partida a las personas colectivas y concretas, pasando por una serie de instituciones, hasta llegar al Estado central, de forma escalonada y plenamente conscientes de sus funciones. Así lo expresa Mella en su propio lenguaje: «la jerar­quía de personas colectivas, de poderes organizados, de clases, que suben desde la familia hasta la sobera­nía que llamo política concretada en el Estado, que deben auxiliar, pero también contener». Es lo que Mella concibe como el sociedalismo, que supone la reintegración de la sociedad en la vida concreta de los hombres, con el desarrollo de una vida política común y estable en el marco de instituciones naturales que potencien las relaciones humanas y sociales, estimulando la sociabilidad. Y hablamos, desde la perspectiva de la integración de distintas sociedades, fuertemente institucionalizadas con funciones y finalidades concretas, más allá del sentido democrático y pactista que pueda entenderse en términos modernos o de cualquier asociación u organización relacionada con el «problema social».

¿Qué es la Tradición?

De este modo quedan formuladas las dos soberanías, la política y la social, que coexisten en un mismo espacio limitándose y apoyándose recíprocamente en lo que es uno de los fundamentos del sociedalismo de Mella. No obstante, esta doble soberanía no explica todavía la concreción política de cada pueblo y el vínculo superior que lo lleva a federarse con las diferentes sociedades y a mantenerse unido en una historia y espíritu comunes. Los vínculos que las mantienen unidas en el tiempo tienen que ver con un orden histórico concreto, con un vínculo espiritual que las entrelaza interiormente de una generación a otra, y en última instancia de ese orden tradicional que lo engloba todo, y que al mismo tiempo se asienta en la monarquía y la religión católica. La lealtad a Dios y a un solo rey en torno a los cuales se aglutina la fe, viene a coronar todas estas estructuras y lazos forjados en el fermento de la historia.

No se trata de la Tradición en términos de un «ultraconservadurismo», que ya sabemos que el prefijo «ultra» (lo que sea) es muy recurrente en nuestros días, con la idea de un medio social y político petrificado e invariable, sino que es el producto de un proceso de maduración y evolución histórica, de carácter dinámico y nutrido de experiencias humanas. Nada que ver con las monstruosas ideologías progresistas y modernas, nacidas de lo abstracto e impulsadas por un desbocado «ir hacia delante», desarraigado y que tiende siempre hacia la deshumanización y la destrucción de toda creación humana natural forjada en el devenir de los siglos. Este mismo dinamismo, planteado por Mella, en torno al concepto e idea de Tradición tiene continuidad y adquiere fuerza en sus sucesores y depositarios. Y al fin y al cabo, Mella no hace más que partir de la propia etimología del término, que viene del latín tradere, entregar, de la generación que entrega los frutos de su experiencia a la siguiente, perfeccionándola, haciéndola más estable y segura.

Podríamos seguir extrayendo más conclusiones del pensamiento tradicional de Vázquez de Mella, pero probablemente excedería, y por mucho, el modesto propósito de este escrito, de modo que nos quedaremos aquí, no sin advertir a nuestros lectores de la posibilidad de que en un futuro volvamos a retomar nuevamente el tema.

Antes de acabar queremos llamar la atención sobre una polémica acontecida hace unos años en torno a una Plaza en Madrid que llevaba el nombre de nuestro autor y que se cambio para dedicársela a un sujeto cuyos méritos eran, por decirlo suavemente, más que discutibles, concretamente a Pedro Zerolo, miembro del PSOE y activista al servicio del lobby homosexualista. Durante aquella época, en 2019, muchos miembros de la izquierda globalista trataron de identificar a Vázquez de Mella como un «pensador franquista», cuando en realidad ni cronológica ni ideológicamente tuvo nunca nada que ver con el franquismo. Recordemos que murió en 1928, y la impronta de su pensamiento ha tenido como continuadores a sus propios correligionarios dentro del ámbito tradicional, aunque en su tiempo llegó a ser muy respetado también por sus adversarios, los liberales. Aunque la retirada del nombre de una calle pueda resultar algo banal, o carente de una importancia excesiva, también contribuye, a su modo, a una forma de damnatio memoriae que condena al olvido y al ostracismo a grandes autores de la Tradición, portadores de un Patriotismo sano y capaz de entender las peculiaridades y el Dasein profundo de España, que si bien no nació invertebrada, como pretendían los Orteguianos, su esencia y naturaleza es mucho más compleja que cualquiera de las grandes naciones de Europa.

---

Artículo original: Hipérbola Janus, Juan Vázquez de Mella y el tradicionalismo español, 16/Ago/2024

@ 06830f6c:34da40c5

On August 10, 2024, the vibrant Sarit Expo was alive with energy as Bitcoin Dada celebrated the graduation of its seventh cohort. This momentous event, dedicated to advancing the understanding and application of cryptocurrency, showcased the dynamism and innovation of the Bitcoin Dada community. The evening began with the MC engaging the audience in a series of lively questions. “What is Bitcoin? Explain it to me like I’m five,” was one such question that underscored the diverse range of understanding in the room. While some answers were complex, others offered simpler explanations, highlighting the challenge of conveying intricate concepts.

As the MC continued, participants were asked for their impressions of the event space and suggestions for improvement. Comments ranged from critiques of overly bright lighting to discussions about the relevance of Bitcoin. One participant proposed an intriguing app idea that combined Eventbrite and WhatsApp, reflecting the innovative spirit of the audience.

The highlight of the evening was the inspiring opening speech by the CEO of Bitcoin Dada. She addressed the marginalization of women in tech, celebrating Bitcoin Dada’s commitment to inclusivity and support. She introduced her team

each member contributing uniquely: Edith, the community lead from Uganda; Sabina, the recruiter who found a sense of belonging; and Memelord, the project manager with a flair for comedy.

The ideathon segment was particularly thrilling. Debra’s third-place pitch proposed a Bitcoin-powered marketplace aimed at reducing youth unemployment by showcasing skills. Shantelle’s second-place idea focused on using Bitcoin to address global issues, such as helping refugees find safe zones with GPS technology. The top prize went to Meg, with her solution promising a significant impact—though the specifics were left as a tantalizing cliffhanger. 🌟🏆

PS : Sabina also gave a preview of the #tando app tha you can check out here on my youtube channel Link HERE

Meeting Inspiring Figures and Making Connections 📸

Throughout the event, I had the pleasure of meeting some remarkable individuals who are deeply involved in the Bitcoin community.

First, I met Felix from TheCore, a key panelist in the discussion on the financial revolution amidst economic unrest. We took a photo together, capturing a moment of shared enthusiasm for the potential of Bitcoin.

Later, I connected with a Bitcoin Dada and gamer who is actively involved with Thndr Games, Mary Imasuen. We took a photo showcasing our shared passion for Bitcoin and gaming.

I also had the chance to meet a Bitcoin enthusiast named Hope and she was adorned in Bitcoin-themed merchandise. We snapped a photo together, celebrating our mutual enthusiasm for Bitcoin and its future.

Panel Discussions: Insightful Exchanges and Thoughtful Dialogues

The panel discussion titled “Financial Revolution Amidst Economic Unrest” featured Felix from TheCore, Jason, a Bitcoin Dada supporter, and Bill, a lawyer with expertise in Bitcoin. They delved into the major challenges Kenyans face in adopting Bitcoin, emphasizing the importance of education and community support. They discussed the solid foundation of Bitcoin’s base layer and the need for further development in subsequent layers to enhance its functionality.

The discussion also touched on Kenya’s future in the Bitcoin space. Bill suggested integrating Bitcoin with fiat transactions and stock exchanges, while Jason highlighted the government's welcoming stance and the need for energy to support Bitcoin. Felix proposed making Bitcoin legal tender and finding sustainable energy sources to bolster its use. ⚖️🌍

Audience questions added further depth to the conversation. One attendee asked about using Bitcoin to offset government debt, while another inquired about measures for improving public education on Bitcoin. The responses stressed the need for comprehensive educational initiatives. When asked about alternative cryptocurrencies, the panel firmly rejected the idea of “shitcoins,” focusing instead on the value of Bitcoin. 🚫💸

The second panel discussion, moderated by Sharon from ₿-Trust, explored personal experiences with Bitcoin Dada. Panelists Anon, Vera, and Caroline shared how the program impacted their perspectives.

• Anon discovered a niche and a supportive community, emphasizing Bitcoin’s role as “lightning-fast internet money,” especially with Layer 2 advancements. 🌐⚡
• Vera found Bitcoin to be a valuable medium of exchange, advocated against other cryptocurrencies as “shitcoins,” and highlighted opportunities for women. 💪💰
• Caroline expanded her knowledge and aimed to educate others, describing Bitcoin as a store of value and emphasizing the importance of combating inflation through education. 📚🔍

The panelists also discussed opportunities for Bitcoin in their communities: - Anon saw potential for learning and growth through knowledge-sharing. - Vera mentioned BitSacco, a solution for saving in Bitcoin, and other upcoming projects like Sabina’s Tando app. - Caroline stressed the importance of education to counteract misconceptions about Bitcoin and its benefits. 🏡📈

In their closing remarks, the panelists shared their future aspirations: - Anon aimed to become a developer impacted by Bitcoin. - Vera planned to engage with the community and learn from others. - Caroline focused on educating the community to dispel myths about Bitcoin. 🌟👩‍💻

The event concluded with a warm dinner where attendees mingled, exchanged ideas, and enjoyed a meal together. WATCH https://video.nostr.build/4d0fbc2dd6ae0c20e0d45aa071a9e88000a9544f4289414900c91134d13960da.mp4

The Bitcoin Dada Cohort 7 graduation was more than just a celebration of individual achievements; it was a testament to the collective potential of the Bitcoin community.

As the event wrapped up, the atmosphere was charged with optimism and a shared commitment to advancing bitcoin technology. The graduating cohort left with new skills, fresh ideas, and a network of like-minded individuals, ready to make a significant impact on the future of Bitcoin. 🌍💡 #kenya #bitbiashara #kenya

@ 2d74600a:d6708a00

L'amore per l'umanità è un tema che ha attraversato secoli di pensiero filosofico, etico e politico. Tuttavia, nel contesto contemporaneo, la definizione di questo amore si complica ulteriormente, specialmente quando si considera l'ideologia del globalismo. Chi si definisce "globalista" spesso proclama un amore universale per l'umanità, ma è fondamentale interrogarsi su cosa significhi realmente questo amore e quale tipo di umanità venga abbracciato.

L'umanità del globalista: una massa informe

Il globalismo, nella sua essenza, propone una visione dell'umanità che trascende le specificità culturali, etniche e nazionali. In questo contesto, l'umanità è concepita come un'entità astratta, priva di radici e di identità. Essa diventa una massa informe, un aggregato di individui che si muovono secondo logiche economiche e politiche globali, spesso disconnettendosi dalle tradizioni e dalle peculiarità che caratterizzano i diversi popoli. Questo approccio, sebbene possa apparire inclusivo e progressista, rischia di ridurre l'individuo a un mero ingranaggio di un sistema più grande, sacrificando l'autodeterminazione e l'autenticità culturale sull'altare di un'uguaglianza imposta.

L'uguaglianza come discriminazione

Il concetto di "uguaglianza" promosso dai globalisti, pur essendo nobile in teoria, si traduce spesso in una forma di omologazione che ignora le differenze fondamentali tra le culture. Questa parità, che si presenta come un ideale di giustizia sociale, può assumere il sapore della discriminazione, poiché tende a marginalizzare le microrealtà e le specificità locali. In questo senso, l'amore per l'umanità diventa un'ideologia che, anziché esaltare la diversità, la mortifica, imponendo un modello unico di esistenza che non tiene conto delle storie, delle tradizioni e delle aspirazioni dei singoli popoli.

Amare l'umanità: un atto di rispetto per il "Volksgeist"

Amare veramente l'umanità implica un riconoscimento e un rispetto per ogni popolo nella sua unicità. Significa esaltare il "Volksgeist", lo spirito di ogni nazione, e comprendere che la ricchezza dell'umanità risiede proprio nella sua diversità. Ogni cultura, ogni tradizione, ogni forma d'arte e mestiere rappresenta un contributo unico al patrimonio collettivo dell'umanità. L'amore autentico per l'umanità non può prescindere dal riconoscimento di queste differenze, ma deve piuttosto celebrarle e proteggerle.

La schiavitù moderna: una servitù senza catene

La visione globalista, con la sua tendenza a uniformare e standardizzare, può essere vista come una forma di schiavitù moderna, una servitù senza catene. Questa schiavitù si manifesta nella perdita di identità e nella disconnessione dalle proprie radici culturali. L'individuo, privato della sua storia e della sua cultura, diventa un consumatore passivo in un mercato globale, privo di un senso di appartenenza e di significato. In questo contesto, l'amore per l'umanità si trasforma in una legittimazione di un sistema che, sotto la maschera della libertà e dell'uguaglianza, perpetua forme di oppressione e alienazione.

Conclusione

In conclusione, l'amore per l'umanità, se inteso in modo autentico, deve necessariamente abbracciare la diversità e il particolare. La vera essenza dell'umanità risiede nelle sue molteplici espressioni culturali, nelle tradizioni che la definiscono e nei valori che la sostengono. Solo attraverso il rispetto e la valorizzazione di queste differenze possiamo sperare di costruire un futuro in cui ogni individuo possa sentirsi parte di un tutto, senza dover sacrificare la propria identità. L'amore per l'umanità, quindi, non è un'ideologia astratta, ma un impegno concreto a riconoscere e celebrare la ricchezza della nostra esistenza collettiva.

@ f462d21e:1390b6b1

eyJfaWQiOiIwMjkwMWQ4Yi04YWFhLTRiMTYtYWZhOS0wMTMzMGY4MTI4YzEiLCJwdWJsaWNLZXkiOiJmNDYyZDIxZTEwMTYzZWIwYTQwM2FlYzZiOTNhYzU3ZWMyZjFiOTQ1NTQ3M2U5OTMwNGY1NzFhNTEzOTBiNmIxIiwiYWRUeXBlIjoiT05MSU5FX0JVWSIsImNvdW50cnkiOiJGcmFuY2UiLCJjb3VudHJ5Q29kZSI6IkZSIiwibGF0IjpudWxsLCJsb24iOm51bGwsImN1cnJlbmN5Q29kZSI6IlVTRCIsInBheW1lbnRNZXRob2RDb2RlIjoiQ1JZUFRPQ1VSUkVOQ1kiLCJwcmljZUlucHV0VHlwZSI6IkZJWEVEIiwibWFyZ2luIjowLCJtYXJrZXRQcmljZSI6bnVsbCwiZml4ZWRQcmljZSI6MTQ5LCJidXllclNldHRsZW1lbnRBZGRyZXNzIjoiODg4dE5rWnJQTjZKc0VnZWtqTW5BQlU0VEJ6YzJEdDI5RVBBdmtSeGJBTnNBbmp5UGJiM2lRMVlCUmsxVVhjZFJzaUtjOWRod01WZ041UzljUVVpeW9vZ0RhdnVwM0giLCJtaW5BbW91bnQiOjIwMCwibWF4QW1vdW50IjoyMDAwLCJsaW1pdFRvRmlhdEFtb3VudHMiOiIiLCJwYXltZW50TWV0aG9kRGV0YWlsIjoiYmVzdCBjcnlwdG8gdHJhZGVyIiwibXNnIjoic2NhbW1lcnMgaGF2ZSBubyBjaGFuY2UuIHByb2l2ZGUgYmxvY2tjaGFpbiBsaW5rIGFmdGVyIHBheW1lbnQiLCJhY2NvdW50SW5mbyI6IiIsImZvclRydXN0ZWQiOiJubyIsInJlcXVpcmVGZWVkYmFja1Njb3JlIjpudWxsLCJmaXJzdFRpbWVMaW1pdEFzc2V0IjpudWxsLCJwYXltZW50V2luZG93TWludXRlcyI6NjAsImhpZGRlbiI6ZmFsc2UsImJhbm5lZCI6ZmFsc2UsInZlcmlmaWVkIjp0cnVlLCJhZGRlZCI6IjIwMjQtMTEtMDJUMDU6Mjk6MjYuNzQ1WiJ9

@ 8947a945:9bfcf626

คำเตือน

• เนื้อหาต่อจากนี้ไม่ใช่คำแนะนำในการลงทุน เป็นเพียงประสบการณ์ส่วนตัวที่ผมใช้เครื่องมือนี้ ทุกท่านที่อ่านบทความของผม แล้วตัดสินใจใช้เครื่องมือตัวนี้ ขอให้ศึกษาด้วยตัวเองให้แน่ใจก่อน

• ระดับความเสี่ยงมันคือ gambling account ที่คุณลุงสอนไว้ครับ ยังไม่แน่ชัดเรื่องความเสี่ยงจาก third party ถึงแม้ว่าจะดำเนินกิจการมาแล้วตั้งแต่ปี 2014

• ผมมี affiliate link ใครใช้ link มีโบนัสให้จากทางเวบ ติดตามได้ทางเมล์จากเวบเขาครับ

---

สวัสดีเพื่อนๆ #siamstr ทุกท่านครับ

ผมมีเครื่องมือตัวนึงที่ผมใช้ #stacksat มาประมาณ 1 ปีกว่าๆหลังจากที่ผมมาใช้ชีวิตอยู่บน #ทุ่งม่วง แห่งนี้ครับ ครั้งแรกผมเห็นเครื่องมือตัวนี้จากผู้ใช้ท่านนึง เป็นเพื่อนใหม่ชาวต่างชาติที่ผมพึ่งรู้จักกับเขาบนดินแดนแห่งนี้นี่แหละ เครื่องมือที่ว่านี้ชื่อ Freebitcoin ครับ → Freebico.in

เวบนี้ประกาศตัวเองแบบชัดเจนว่าจะเป็นเวบการพนัน และ casino online โดยเงินรางวัลที่ได้จากการเข้าเล่น จะจ่ายด้วย BTC ทั้งหมด

เกมที่ให้เล่น

HI LO

ตรงตัวเลยครับ คือเล่นไฮโล แต่ผมเล่นไม่เป็น ผมขอข้ามนะครับ แต่ถ้าใครเล่นเป็นมีฝีมือเชิญได้ครับ

Lottery

เหมือนซื้อหวยครับ ประกาศผลทุกวันอาทิตย์ราคา 1 sat/1 lottery ผมเป็นคนที่ไม่มีดวงด้านนี้ ในชีวิตจริงขนาดได้หวยมาฟรี 3 - 4 ครั้งยังโดนกินเลยครับ ดังนั้นผมขอข้ามนะครับ แต่ถ้าใครมีดวงด้านเล่นหวย เชิญได้ครับ

Free BTC

อันนี้เป็นแหล่งหลักที่ผมทำเงินจากเวบนี้ และผมแนะนำให้ทุกคนทำเช่นกัน เพราะมันไม่มีอะไรต้องเสีย แถมการันตีว่าในชั่วโมงนั้นเพื่อนๆได้ sat แน่ๆ แต่จะได้มากหรือน้อยแล้วแต่ดวง

วิธีการก็คือทุก 1 ชั่วโมง จะมีการทอยลูกเต๋าโดยการกด click

อย่างรูปนี้ผมพึ่งกดไป ก็ต้องรออีก 44 นาทีถึงจะเล่นครั้งต่อไปได้

ทางเวบจะสุ่มตัวเลข lucky number ออกมาให้ เราจะได้ sat ตามตัวเลขที่เราได้ครับ รางวัลสูงสุด มีมูลค่า 200 USD เทียบในหน่วย sat ณ ขณะนั้นครับ เวบนี้อ้างอิงราคากับ bitstamp ครับ

ช่วงปี 2023 ที่ราคา BTC/USD ย่ำอยู่แถวๆ 20,000 ตอนนั้นรางวัลขั้นต่ำคือ 7sat แต่เมื่อราคา BTC/USD สูงขึ้น จำนวนรางวัลก็ลดลงตามสัดส่วน ต่ำสุดก็คือ 1 sat/ชั่วโมง

ลองคิดเล่นๆว่าถ้าเพื่อนๆทำงานอยู่หน้าจออยู่แล้ว ก็มากดเล่นชั่วโมงละครั้ง อย่างต่ำๆก็ได้วันละ 24 sat ครับ

---

Earn BTC

เป็นอีกวิธีนึงที่ผมแนะนำ วิธีการก็คือถ้าเพื่อนๆมีขั้นต่ำ 30,000 sat อยู่ใน wallet ทางเวบจะจ่ายดอกเบี้ยให้ปีละ 4.08% (APR 4.08%) โดยจะสุ่มจ่ายในเวลาที่แตกต่างกันในแต่ละวัน แต่จ่ายแน่นอน

ทางเวบให้เหตุผลเอาไว้ว่าเพื่อป้องกันไม่ให้มี whale วางเงินก้อนใหญ่เข้ามาเมื่อกินดอกเบี้ยแล้วถอนออก ฝากเงินเข้าๆออกๆ อันนี้ผมเข้าใจได้ว่ามันจะกระเทือนต่อ cashflow ของเขา และอาจจะพังได้ ลามมาไปถึง user คนอื่นๆ

เมื่อวานนี้วันที่ 1 Nov 2024 ผมพึ่งสะสม sat ได้ 68,638 Sat จากการ Betting ผมก็เลยพึ่งได้ดอกเบี้ย 7 sat/วัน เมื่อวานวันแรกครับ

จะเห็นว่าเขาทำตารางคำนวณดอกเบี้ยไว้ให้เรียบร้อย สะดวกดีครับ

ความเห็นของผม ผม ไม่แนะนำ ให้เพื่อนฝาก sat เข้ามานะครับ ถึงแม้ว่าเวบนี้จะดูน่าเชื่อถือ ฝากถอนได้ไม่มีปัญหา แต่ third party risk ก็ยังมี

แต่ถ้าใครรับความเสี่ยงได้ แบ่งเงินไว้แล้ว เชิญได้ครับ

---

Betting

วิธีการนี้เป็นวิธีการที่ผมปั้น sat ให้งอกได้มากที่สุดครับ มันก็คือการพนันแทงข้างดีๆนั่นแหละครับ กิจกรรมมีให้แทงผลบอล , บาสเกตบอล , เทนนิส , รถแข่ง และกีฬาดังๆแมทช์หยุดโลกทั้งหลายครับ

ง่ายๆก็คือแทงถูกได้ตังค์ แทงผิดเสียตังค์

ตังอย่างครับ

แต่ผมดูกีฬาพวกนี้ไม่เป็นหรอก ผมอาศัยดูข่าวตอนเช้า แล้วเลือกแทงในแมทช์ที่ผมเห็นว่าผมมีโอกาสแทงถูกมากที่สุด แล้วก็เอากำไรไปครับ เวลาลงเงินผมก็ลงเฉพาะในส่วนที่พร้อมที่จะเสียได้ เหมือนการทำ money management ตอนเทรดเก็งกำไรทั่วๆไปครับ

แต่ผมไม่ได้แทงกีฬาเป็นหลักหรอกครับ ผมเลือก predict ช่วงราคาของ BTC/USD ครับ

อันนี้คือรายการแทงล่าสุดที่ผมได้กำไรมา 5 เท่าครับ คาดว่า ราคา BTCUSD จะอยู่ที่เท่าไหร่ในเวลา 23.59 UTC (ราคาปิดของ daily chart ก่อนขึ้นแท่งใหม่เวลา 7.00 ของประเทศไทย GMT+7 นั่นแหละครับ) วันที่ 31 ตค.2024

ผมเลือกแทงช่วงราคา 70,000 - 75,000 โดยวางเงินไว้ 11,699 sat ได้ผลกำไรมา 68,610 sat ครับ คิดเป็นกำไรประมาณ 5.8x ได้

แต่ผมไม่ได้หลับหูหลับตาแทงสุ่มสี่สุ่มแปดนะครับ ผมอาศัยความรู้ technical analysis มาช่วยวิเคราะห์หาความน่าจะเป็น

เริ่มแรกผมเปิด Weekly chart ก่อน ในวันที่ผมทำการแทง มันคือกราฟแท่งที่ผมชี้ลูกศรสีแดง ผมเห็นราคากำลัง rally ขึ้นไป เป็นเทรน ผมเห็นการเคลื่อนที่แบบนี้มันน่าจะเป็น non standard small x wave (ภาษา Elliot wave ใครไม่เข้าใจ ข้ามไปก่อนครับ)

เพื่อ confirm ผม zoom เข้าไปดู daily chart เห็นภาพนี้

ลูกศรสีแดงตำแหน่งเดียวกัน แต่ขยายเข้ามาดู daily chart เป็นการ confirm non standard small x wave อาศัยความน่าจะเป็นและความรู้จาก Elliot wave ผมสรุปว่าช่วงสิ้นเดือนตค. ราคาน่าจะไปอยู่ range 70,000 - 75,000 แถวๆนั้นแหละ

ผมวางเงินแทงตามแผน แล้วก็ปิดจอไปเลยครับ เพราะมันไม่ต้องมาเฝ้าจอเหมือนการเทรดเก็งกำไร อันนั้นปวดหัว มาดูอีกทีตอน วันสิ้นเดือน นี่คือผลลัพธ์ครับ

กราฟ H1 ราคาปิดอยู่แถวๆ 70,700 เข้าเงื่อนไขชนะครับ ผมก็เก็บกำไรมา ทำให้ sat ของผมแตะใน area ที่สามารถได้ APR

ความเห็นของผม ผมมองว่ามันทดแทนการเทรดเก็งกำไรได้ เพราะการเทรดมันต้องมีการวางจุด stop loss และ take profit

สำหรับตัวผมเอง ผมไม่มีปัญหาในการวาง stop loss แต่มีปัญหาในการ take profit ผมชอบ run trend และไปขายที่จุดสูงสุดที่เป็นไปได้

อันนี้เป็นนิสัยเสียของผม ติดกับดักความโลภที่อยากจะกินคำใหญ่ แต่สุดท้ายตลาดก็เอาคืนครับ unrealized profit ค่อยๆหดลงๆ แล้วกลายเป็นเท่าทุน หรือไม่ก็ขาดทุน

แต่เมื่อวิธีนี้ มันทดแทนการเทรดได้ ไม่ต้องกำหนดจุด take profit เป็นราคาเป๊ะ แต่กำหนดเป็นช่วงราคาที่กว้างๆ ถึง 5,000 USD มันเลยง่ายขึ้นสำหรับผมครับ

---

โดยสรุป

สำหรับเวบนี้ที่ผมแนะนำเลยคือ Free BTC รายชั่วโมง ส่วนกระบวนท่าอื่นๆแล้วแต่ความถนัดและสกิลของแต่ละท่านครับ ผมฝาก affiliate link อีกครั้งนะครับ

@ 0403c86a:66d3a378

The Oakland A's are on the brink of a significant change, and not everyone is happy about it. The team's future is shrouded in uncertainty, and the actions of the owner, John Fisher, have come under intense scrutiny.

https://image.nostr.build/9ecbf15dcbc62ecf6a0bbc6d702678da62a97177994ea39c57b0490f2d72cb06.jpg Recently, a hat, dubbed the "Ass Hat," was briefly available for sale, and it has sparked a heated debate among fans. Some see it as a metaphor for the A's current state, while others view it as a misguided marketing attempt. Regardless, its brief viral fame and subsequent withdrawal have added to the narrative of the A's turbulent decade.

Fisher's recent letter to the public, allegedly written by an employee, has also raised eyebrows. The letter, filled with spelling errors and a tone-deaf approach, has been criticized for its lack of sincerity and understanding of the team's history and fanbase.

The A's potential relocation to West Sacramento or Las Vegas has further fueled the controversy. Critics argue that Fisher's power-carelessness has damaged the franchise's viability, making it a challenge to the imagination. The team's future seems as uncertain in these potential new homes as it did in Oakland.

Fisher's actions have made him a polarizing figure in the sports world. His obstinacy and lack of long-term planning have led to him being labeled as a detestable and least sympathetic sports figure in the nation.

As the A's prepare for their final game in Oakland, the focus is not on the game itself, but on the franchise's bleak future. The A's story is a cautionary tale of ownership, fan engagement, and the future of a historic franchise.

@ f462d21e:1390b6b1

deleted

@ 06639a38:655f8f71

One year ago I wrote the article Why Nostr resonates in Dutch and English after I visited the Bitcoin Amsterdam 2023 conference and the Nostrdam event. It got published at bitcoinfocus.nl (translated in Dutch). The main reason why I wrote that piece is that I felt that my gut feeling was tellinng me that Nostr is going to change many things on the web.

After the article was published, one of the first things I did was setting up this page on my website: https://sebastix.nl/nostr-research-and-development. The page contains this section (which I updated on 31-10-2024):

One metric I would like to highlight is the number of repositories on Github. Compared to a year ago, there are already more than 1130 repositories now on Github tagged with Nostr. Let's compare this number to other social media protocols and decentralized platforms (24-10-2024):

• Fediverse: 522
• ATProto: 159
• Scuttlebot: 49
• Farcaster: 202
• Mastodon: 1407
• ActivityPub: 444

Nostr is growing. FYI there are many Nostr repositories not hosted on Github, so the total number of Nostr reposities is higher. I know that many devs are using their own Git servers to host it. We're even capable of setting up Nostr native Git repositories (for example, see https://gitworkshop.dev/repos). Eventually, Nostr will make Github (and other platforms) absolute.

Let me continue summarizing my personal Nostr highlights of last year.

Organising Nostr meetups

This is me playing around with the NostrDebug tool showing how you can query data from Nostr relays. Jurjen is standing behind me. He is one of the people I've met this year who I'm sure I will have a long-term friendship with.

OpenSats grant for Nostr-PHP

In December 2023 I submitted my application for a OpenSats grant for the further development of the Nostr-PHP helper library. After some months I finally got the message that my application was approved... When I got the message I was really stoked and excited. It's a great form of appreciation for the work I had done so far and with this grant I get the opportunity to take the work to another higher level. So please check out the work done for so far:

• https://nostr-php.dev
• https://github.com/nostrver-se/nostr-php

Meeting Dries

One of my goosebumps moments I had in 2022 when I saw that the founder and tech lead of Drupal Dries Buytaert posted 'Nostr, love at first sight' on his blog. These types of moments are very rare moment where two different worlds merge where I wouldn't expect it. Later on I noticed that Dries would come to the yearly Dutch Drupal event. For me this was a perfect opportunity to meet him in person and have some Nostr talks. I admire the work he is doing for Drupal and the community. I hope we can bridge Nostr stuff in some way to Drupal. In general this applies for any FOSS project out there.
Here is my recap of that Drupal event.

Attending Nostriga

A conference where history is made and written. I felt it immediately at the first sessions I attended. I will never forget the days I had at Nostriga. I don't have the words to describe what it brought to me.

I also pushed myself out of my comfort zone by giving a keynote called 'POSSE with Nostr - how we pivot away from API's with one of Nostr superpowers'. I'm not sure if this is something I would do again, but I've learned a lot from it.
You can find the presentation here. It is recorded, but I'm not sure if and when it gets published.

Nostr billboard advertisement

This advertisment was shown on a billboard beside the A58 highway in The Netherlands from September 2nd till September 16th 2024. You can find all the assets and more footage of the billboard ad here: https://gitlab.com/sebastix-group/nostr/nostr-ads. My goal was to set an example of how we could promote Nostr in more traditional ways and inspire others to do the same. In Brazil a fundraiser was achieved to do something similar there: https://geyser.fund/project/nostrifybrazil.

Volunteering at Nostr booths growNostr

This was such a great motivating experience. Attending as a volunteer at the Nostr booth during the Bitcoin Amsterdam 2024 conference. Please read my note with all the lessons I learned here.

The other stuff

• The Nostr related blog articles I wrote past year:
  • Run a Nostr relay with your own policies (02-04-2024)
  • Why social networks should be based on commons (03-01-2024)
  • How could Drupal adopt Nostr? (30-12-2023)
  • Nostr integration for CCHS.social (21-12-2023)
• https://ccns.nostrver.se 
  CCNS stands for Community Curated Nostr Stuff. At the end of 2023 I started to build this project. I forked an existing Drupal project of mine (https://cchs.social) to create a link aggregation website inspired by stacker.news. At the beginning of 2024 I also joined the TopBuilder 2024 contest which was a productive period getting to know new people in the Bitcoin and Nostr space.
• https://nuxstr.nostrver.se 
  PHP is not my only language I use to build stuff. As a fullstack webdeveloper I also work with Javascript. Many Nostr clients are made with Javascript frameworks or other more client-side focused tools. Vuejs is currently my Javascript framework I'm the most convenient with. With Vuejs I started to tinker around with Nuxt combined with NDK and so I created a starter template for Vue / Nuxt developers.
• ZapLamp
  This is a neat DIY package from LNbits. Powered by an Arduino ESP32 dev board it was running a 24/7 livestream on zap.stream at my office. It flashes when you send a zap to the npub of the ZapLamp.
• https://nosto.re 
  Since the beginning when the Blossom spec was published by @hzrd49 and @StuartBowman I immediately took the opportunity to tinker with it. I'm also running a relay for transmitting Blossom Nostr events wss://relay.nosto.re.
• Relays I maintain
  I really enjoy to tinker with different relays implementations. Relays are the fundamental base layer to let Nostr work.

I'm still sharing my contributions on https://nostrver.se/ where I publish my weekly Nostr related stuff I worked on. This website is built with Drupal where I use the Nostr Simple Publish and Nostr long-form content NIP-23 modules to crosspost the notes and long-form content to the Nostr network (like this piece of content you're reading).

The Nostr is the people

Just like the web, the web is people: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCgvkslCzTo 

the people on nostr are some of the smartest and coolest i’ve ever got to know. who cares if it doesn’t take over the world. It’s done more than i could ever ask for. - @jb55

Here are some Nostriches who I'm happy to have met and who influenced my journey in Nostr in a positive way.

• Jurjen
• Bitpopart
• Arjen
• Jeroen
• Alex Gleason
• Arnold Lubach
• Nathan Day
• Constant
• fiatjaf
• Sync

Coming year

Generally I will continue doing what I've done last year. Besides the time I spent on Nostr stuff, I'm also very busy with Drupal related work for my customers. I hope I can get the opportunity to work on a paid client project related to Nostr. It will be even better when I can combine my Drupal expertise with Nostr for projects paid by customers.

Building a new Nostr application

When I look at my Nostr backlog where I just put everything in with ideas and notes, there are quite some interesting concepts there for building new Nostr applications. Filtering out, I think these three are the most exciting ones:

• nEcho, a micro app for optimizing your reach via Nostr (NIP-65)
• Nostrides.cc platform where you can share Nostr activity events (NIP-113)
• A child-friendly video web app with parent-curated content (NIP-71)

Nostr & Drupal

When working out a new idea for a Nostr client, I'm trying to combine my expertises into one solution. That's why I also build and maintain some Nostr contrib modules for Drupal.

• Nostr Simple Publish
  Drupal module to cross-post notes from Drupal to Nostr
• Nostr long-form content NIP-23
  Drupal module to cross-post Markdown formatted content from Drupal to Nostr
• Nostr internet identifier NIP-05
  Drupal module to setup Nostr internet identifier addresses with Drupal.
• Nostr NDK
  Includes the Javascript library Nostr Dev Kit (NDK) in a Drupal project.

One of my (very) ambitious goals is to build a Drupal powered Nostr (website) package with the following main features:

• Able to login into Drupal with your Nostr keypair
• Cross-post content to the Nostr network
• Fetch your Nostr content from the Nostr content
• Serve as a content management system (CMS) for your Nostr events
• Serve as a framework to build a hybrid Nostr web application
• Run and maintain a Nostr relay with custom policies
• Usable as a feature rich progressive web app
• Use it as a remote signer

These are just some random ideas as my Nostr + Drupal backlog is way longer than this.

Nostr-PHP

With all the newly added and continues being updated NIPs in the protocol, this helper library will never be finished. As the sole maintainer of this library I would like to invite others to join as a maintainer or just be a contributor to the library. PHP is big on the web, but there are not many PHP developers active yet using Nostr. Also PHP as a programming language is really pushing forward keeping up with the latest innovations. 

Grow Nostr outside the Bitcoin community

We are working out a submission to host a Nostr stand at FOSDEM 2025. If approved, it will be the first time (as far as I know) that Nostr could be present at a conference outside the context of Bitcoin. The audience at FOSDEM is mostly technical oriented, so I'm really curious what type of feedback we will receive.

Let's finish this article with some random Nostr photos from last year. Cheers!

@ 5f33097a:d8d0b22b

By Dr Farsalinos

A new study was published today in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health by our group, evaluating e-liquids for the presence of tobacco-derived toxins. Additionally, the accuracy of nicotine labelling was assessed. The study is novel because for the first time we assessed tobacco-flavored liquids for the presence of phenols and nitrate (known toxins in tobacco smoke), as well as nitrosamines. Moreover, we assessed a specific group of e-liquids (known as Natural Extracts of Tobacco – NETs), which are made by using cured tobacco leaves to extract the flavor. This is the first time that such liquids are specifically tested.

The study verified that tobacco-derived toxins are lower by orders of magnitude in e-liquids compared to tobacco products. Characteristically, nitrosamines were 146-1447 times lower in e-liquids compared to tobacco products (in 1 mL liquid compared to 1 gram of tobacco), while nitrate was 1360 times lower. NET liquids contained somewhat higher levels of tobacco-derived toxins compared to conventional e-liquids, but the levels were still significantly lower compared to tobacco. Deviation from labelled nicotine content was on average 5.9% for conventional e-liquids and 1.5% for NETs, with maximum deviation being 22.1%. Interestingly, no difference between conventional liquids and NETs were observed, indicating that the flavor extraction process does not lead to extraction of nicotine from the tobacco leaves.

The study adds to current evidence confirming the lower risk potential of e-cigarettes compared to tobacco. NET liquids contained more tobacco-derived toxins, but still much lower compared to tobacco.

In case you want to contact Dr Farsalinos and his team, please send email to:

drfarsalinos@ecigarette-research.org

@ 2d74600a:d6708a00

Questo articolo esplora la complessità dell'esperienza umana attraverso la lente della tristezza e della felicità, proponendo una distinzione tra le persone che si identificano rigidamente come tristi o felici e quelle che abbracciano la loro autenticità, vivendo un'alternanza di emozioni. Attraverso un'analisi filosofica, si indaga il significato di "essere veri" e si discute l'importanza di riconoscere e accettare la gamma completa delle emozioni umane.

Introduzione

La condizione umana è intrinsecamente legata a un ampio spettro di emozioni, tra cui la tristezza e la felicità. Queste due esperienze emotive sono spesso percepite come opposte, ma in realtà coesistono in una dinamica complessa. In questo contesto, è utile considerare non solo le persone che si definiscono rigidamente come tristi o felici, ma anche quelle che si riconoscono come "vere", capaci di navigare tra le diverse sfumature emotive. Questo articolo si propone di esaminare le implicazioni filosofiche di questa distinzione e di riflettere su come essa possa influenzare la nostra comprensione dell'autenticità e della realizzazione personale.

La Tristezza e la Felicità: Due Facce della Stessa Medaglia

La tristezza e la felicità sono spesso considerate come stati emotivi opposti, ma questa visione binaria può risultare limitante. La filosofia esistenzialista, ad esempio, suggerisce che la sofferenza e la gioia sono interconnesse e che la consapevolezza della propria mortalità e delle proprie vulnerabilità può arricchire l'esperienza della vita. In questo senso, la tristezza può essere vista come un elemento necessario per apprezzare la felicità. Le persone che si identificano esclusivamente come tristi o felici possono perdere di vista questa interconnessione, vivendo in una sorta di dualismo emotivo che limita la loro esperienza.

L'Autenticità dell'Essere Vero

Le persone "vere" rappresentano un paradigma alternativo. Queste individui non si limitano a una categorizzazione emotiva, ma abbracciano la complessità della loro esistenza. La filosofia di Søren Kierkegaard, ad esempio, enfatizza l'importanza dell'autenticità e della soggettività. Essere veri implica riconoscere e accettare tutte le emozioni, comprese quelle che possono sembrare negative. Questa accettazione porta a una maggiore comprensione di sé e degli altri, promuovendo una forma di empatia che trascende le etichette di tristezza e felicità.

La Dinamicità delle Emozioni

La vita è caratterizzata da un continuo fluire di emozioni. Le persone vere sperimentano alti e bassi, riconoscendo che la tristezza e la felicità non sono stati permanenti, ma piuttosto momenti transitori. Questa visione dinamica delle emozioni è supportata dalla psicologia positiva, che sottolinea l'importanza di sviluppare resilienza e consapevolezza emotiva. Le persone che abbracciano la loro autenticità tendono a essere più resilienti, poiché non temono di affrontare la tristezza, ma la vedono come parte integrante del loro viaggio.

Conclusione

In conclusione, la distinzione tra persone tristi, felici e quelle vere offre una prospettiva interessante sulla condizione umana. Riconoscere la complessità delle emozioni e abbracciare la propria autenticità può portare a una vita più ricca e significativa. La tristezza e la felicità non devono essere viste come opposti, ma come componenti di un'esperienza umana complessa e interconnessa. Solo attraverso l'accettazione di tutte le sfumature emotive possiamo aspirare a una comprensione più profonda di noi stessi e degli altri, promuovendo una società più empatica e autentica.

Bibliografia
- Kierkegaard, S. (1980). The Sickness Unto Death. Princeton University Press.
- Seligman, M. E. P. (2011). Flourish: A Visionary New Understanding of Happiness and Well-Being. Free Press.
- Frankl, V. E. (2006). Man's Search for Meaning. Beacon Press.

Questo articolo si propone di stimolare una riflessione profonda sulla nostra esperienza emotiva e sull'importanza di vivere in modo autentico, accettando la dualità della nostra esistenza.

@ 3ad01248:962d8a07

2024 has been an interesting year, lets put it that way. It couldn't be over soon enough to be honest. One of my New Year's resolution this year was to give up caffeine. To be honest this has been something that I have been putting off for a very long time because I did enjoy caffeine and the energy boost that it would give you in the morning.

I was regularly drinking 2 energy drinks per day at my worst in combination with a few sodas to top it off. Needless to say I was buzzed on caffeine all day everyday for years. You don't really notice that you have a problem because everywhere you look, everything has caffeine in it. It's in our drinks, our foods and in our medication. It is hard to get away from this stuff unless you make a dedicated decision not to ingest the substance. In our society it is perfectly normal to drink and eat caffiene all day long and not think anything of it.

At the end of the day caffeine is still a drug and is classified as a stimulant to your nervous system. Drugs over time obviously becomes addicting over time and your body becomes reliant on the substance to function. I think it is fair to say that people that are hooked on caffeine in the classic sense are drug addicts. I don't mean that to be harsh but if you look at this issue objectively you can see how this fits the definition quite succinctly.

Whenever I didn't have coffee or a energy drink I would get headaches, I would also be in a bad mood or generally just irrigated at little things that people would do. Ironically it made me more tired. My heavy caffeine consumption also made it where it was hard to fall asleep and stay asleep.

At some point you get tired of being on this rollercoaster and want to do something different for the sake of my health and wellness. I want to live as long as possible and I know that in order to do that I have to get rid of some bad habits that I have, caffeine consumption being one of them. So last month I bit the bullet and gave up caffeine cold turkey. It has now been 35 days since I have had caffeine but let me tell you it wasn't easy.

No Wonder Addicts Don't Quit

The first two to three days where probably the worst I've felt in a long time. I would wake up feeling like crap with no energy and a massive headache that would stay with me all day and didn't really get better taking over the counter medication. I thought to myself at one point, "no wonder drug addicts don't quit, this sucks".

To be honest it was hard to function at all, I just wanted to sleep all day and not do anything. It was hard to take my kids to school or really be present for anything because of the way I felt. I also experienced anxiety, had a weird pins and needles sensation all over my body. I felt so bad that I contacted my primary care freaking out because I couldn't figure out what was going on.

I don't know about you but when I don't feel great I on my phone looking up symptoms and trying to diagnose myself, which ultimately makes me feel worse and kicks the anxiety up to a 11.

Around day 20 I started to feel like myself again without the caffeine cravings. When I go to the store and I see the soft drinks, coffees and energy drinks for sale the first thing that comes to mind is these stores are selling drugs to their customers. They are junkies coming to get their fix. Starbucks same way. Peddling drugs via a drive through.

Sure its's only been 35 days but I am feeling pretty confident that I can kick this habit for good because I can see the health benefits from stopping caffeine consumption. Here is what I have experience so far:

• Falling asleep more easily
• Feeling rested in the morning
• More sustained energy
• Leveled out mood
• Mental clarity
• Less on edge
• Feeling of accomplishment and contentment.

Taking my first step towards beating this addiction has given me hope to keep going and continue my journey of self improvement. I'll report back in 30 days to give you an update on how its going at day 60! I'm stoked that I've made it this far and can't wait to make it to 6 months or a full year with out caffeine.

No Time Like The Present

If you want to try to giving up caffeine for good, I would highly recommend it. The first step towards breaking the cycle is to make the decision to stop consuming caffeine. Once you made this sincere decision you can start on your journey towards living a more healthy life.

Once you stop you will notice how much this substance is on our daily lives and make the needed adjustments to avoid it. I find myself drinking way more water than I use to. Whenever I go out to dinner with my family I order a glass of water, thus saving our family a few bucks!

We don't need this dreadful substance in our lives. We have fruits, vegetables and meat to give us all the energy we need during the day.

What kept me accountable was having an app on my phone that would help me track the habit of not consuming caffeine. The app I use is called Onrise

It has helped me keep track of this long term habit change and is super easy to use with smooth user experience. I highly recommend this app to anyone. It is only on iOS unfortunately but any habit tracking app will do the trick.

I really hope that you decide to go on this journey. It is well worth it!! If you have questions please don't hesitate to reach out!

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

The Law Giver

In my previous article, I briefly went into the topic of how contract law is holy law.

The Father of the Christians, you see, is a God of Covenants, and He sent His Son to Earth to fulfill the Law and pay a Price for our salvation. The Father also created the Natural Order to confirm His Laws through our observation of that Law in action.

That is why Christians have a deep respect for honest contracts, true prices, fair measures, natural systems, and good laws. Not merely for their own sake, but also because understanding them helps us to understand and emulate the Law Giver.

The tired What would Jesus do? meme is actually an attempt to capture this emulation of the Highest Judge. Jesus knows the Law, since His Father defined it and He is One with the Father, so how would He apply the Law best, in this situation?

The Last Things

Working together with him, then, we entreat you not to accept the grace of God in vain. For he says, “At the acceptable time I have listened to you, and helped you on the day of salvation.”

Behold, now is the acceptable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

-- 2 Corinthians 6:1-2 New Testament, RSV Bible

One of the things most devout Christians frequently ruminate over, is when Christ will return.

Every day, we ponder. We go for a walk, and ponder. We cook dinner, and ponder.

At the same time, we are called upon to live each day in a productive manner, and to not simply lie around, vegetating, and staring at the heavens. Not only for our own sake, but also because to do so would be to limit our ability to inform others about the Good News, so that they can take to pondering with us. We are called to ponder with as many people as we can produce, adopt, convert, or simply collect through our daily interactions.

This means that we are not of the world (as our eyes are watching God and baptism has made us Immortals), but we are definitely in the world (involved in, and effected by, the everyday dealings around us.) It is a very difficult balancing act to know when we are paying too much attention to the one or the other, or to know where to store up our treasures, if we can't put them all immediately into the Final Treasury.

So, we worked today and earned a bit of fiat cash and we have no immediate usage for it. What to do with it?

Well, some of it should go to charity or be invested in a business that provides important goods, services, and employment. Some of it will be needed to simply cover the day-to-day costs of our own life, or that of those dependent upon us. But it might be prudent to store up some of it, for the mysterious length of time between receipt of the monies and our own ascent into Heaven.

Typically, that store was the local currency, but that's being inflated away at an alarming rate. Then we all began to move to precious metals, and many of us still do, but they are so difficult to spend and can't be broken into small bits or transported over wide distances at low cost.

Enter Bitcoin.

The Great Ledger

In our frustration, more and more Christians are turning to a new technology, to save up some treasure in a liquid asset, for the mid-term. And, once we begin using it, and begin to understand how it works, we quickly grow fond of it.

Bitcoin is a beautiful money because it is a money based upon keeping precise accounts, using a fair measure, and obeying the Laws of Nature.

In essence, Bitcoin is a debt note emitted by a universal debtor (the network) in exchange for some good or service. This frees the individual people using it from ever needing to carry debt, as the debt stays in the network, the value and enforceability of that debt note is protected by the effort used to create and maintain the network, and the eagerness with which other people wish to store their efforts up in that same network. The debt still exists, but it can be so thinly and widely spread that it no longer rests as a burden upon one particular person.

The debt, in other words, has been disassociated from humans and the management has been distributed to machines. This is the precise opposite process of a "fiat" (by decree) currency, which only has value so long as it is associated with some particularly solvent group of humans (who personally vouch for repayment of any debts denominated in the currency), and where management is centralized to some other group of humans.

Have you accepted Bitcoin as your personal money and store of value?

You have invested $10 to buy the electricity to mine Bitcoin? Then you receive $10 of Bitcoin in return. The Bitcoin network now owes you the $10 purchasing power equivalent of that electricity.

If someone then gives you $5 worth of pizza, then you can then give them a $5 portion of your $10 worth of Bitcoin. You have taken a part of your Bitcoin debt note and shared it with them.

They now hold $5 worth of Bitcoin invested in the network and can spend it on some other good or service. Or they can simply hold it and wait for it to rise in value, as more people "mine" more of it (and produce more notes, paradoxically making the existing notes more useful and therefore valuable) and more people try to gain the notes in order to manage their own finances by storing their energy in the network or transporting their energy using the network.

Bitcoin, in other words, is an accounting book that needs no accountant because it stores, tracks, and controls the ledger on its own. It is a Natural Ledger that runs according to the the Laws.

It is the only human-made ledger that allows for true and immediate Final Settlement. This Final Settlement is what allows people to trade using the convenience of digital debt notes, with neither person occurring or even risking any personal debt. We Christians know that all debt is a burden, including monetary debts, which is why we are called to forgive each other's debt and to hope that our own debts are forgiven. Better still, is to avoid the accumulation of debts, altogether.

So, Final Settlement? Final Settlement is what Jesus would do.

@ 3c7d12a6:9532013e

NUD: Pubkey to colors

This NUD defines how to convert pubkey to colors.

Live demo

Why?

• npub is nonsense to display.
• too long.
• npub1bla...bla is nonsense to display.
• npub1 takes too much space.
• ... means nothing.

Specs

• Uses hex pubkey.
• Converts 64 characters to 8 colors.
• Splits 64 with 8 length chunks.
• Converts each 2 in 8 into
  • Alpha (0-255 -> 0.0-1.0)
  • Hue (0-255 -> 0.0-360.0)
  • Saturation (0-255 -> 0.0-1.0)
  • Light (0-255 -> 0.0-1.0)
• Supports dark and light theme.
• When Light is 1.0, flip the Light for light theme (0.0).

@ 319ad3e7:cc01d50a

https://image.nostr.build/4824c65d9a07c577bee8591b18ee147e7a457849fbaee53244667ec062914751.jpg

NOV 2024 | ISSUE 3 | LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER | FOOD ART | LIFE EXPERIENCE | FEATURED RECIPE | KIDS CORNER | MICROFICTION | FOOD NOTE QUOTES | SOUNDS | UPCOMING EVENTS | ECONOMICS | COMMUNITY PHOTO ALBUM | NEW RECIPES

---

LETTER FROM THE FOUNDER 📝

---

Hello and welcome back to the cozy autumn days with Zap Cooking! I’m thrilled to bring you another issue of our monthly newsletter, a space where we share our favorite moments and celebrate our vibrant community. Sarah, who does an amazing job curating these updates, has crafted this edition to capture the essence of both real-life gatherings and our shared online experiences on Nostr.

In this issue, we’re excited to revisit highlights from Nostr Valley, where Zap Cooking was proud to sponsor and connect with friends in a truly special celebration. It was an incredible honor to see so many of you make the journey to join us for the first annual event—a milestone in Nostr’s history and a testament to the strength of our community.

As always, thank you for being a part of this journey. Your continued support, contributions, and readership mean everything to us. Here’s to more shared moments, connections, and, of course, great cooking!

Gratefully,

Seth

Founder, Zap Cooking

https://i.nostr.build/gwaOKZDlTM45Ht15.jpg

---

FOOD ART 🎨

---

Zap.Cooking’s favorite food art of the month is the Banana Bread Costume from Bread and Toast! 😀 https://i.nostr.build/MgihZ6m2bQCv6krD.png Visit Breadandtoast.Com For More! New Single Every Sunday!

---

LIFE EXPERIENCE ✈️

---

Nostr Valley Adventures

https://image.nostr.build/7fd20dd7d9a4ce01657e0a9bed9d60cd6308325bf6cb69ec4f7ca63a6e3fb56e.jpg

The adventures of Nostr Valley began when I was invited to speak on a food panel alongside Seth, the founder of Zap.Cooking, at Happy Valley Brewing in State College Park, Pennsylvania.

Over the course of a month before the event, a fellow fun enthusiast known as The Beave organized a weekend filled with activities and accommodations, including a visit to a gun range and a stay at a charming three-bedroom countryside rental nestled among Pennsylvania's most scenic farm hills.

The Nostr Valley weekend had finally arrived, and I was set to drive six and a half hours to a small airport primarily used by skydivers and flying enthusiasts who park their personal planes in rented hangars. I was to meet a pilot who went by the name "Choke This." Despite the somewhat ominous name, my faith in the Nostr web of trust circles provided a sense of safety as I prepared to fly to Pennsylvania. Still, the thought of traveling alone to a remote area did cross my mind a few times. While it may not have been the wisest decision, I had faith in Nostr.

I began my journey at 1 am, getting ready and preparing my car before hitting the highway around 4 am. Driving on the empty roads was a pleasant experience, and I felt even better when I arrived at the well-kept airport on a beautiful sunny morning at 10:30 am, with not a single cloud in the sky. I knew it was a perfect day for skydiving, which alleviated one of the many flying-related nerves swirling in my head. Great weather? Check!

https://i.nostr.build/LXFm0A5hqmXgo9O0.jpg

After a brief introduction to the non-threatening pilot, we loaded our gear into the rear of the plane and settled in for takeoff, complete with those cool headphones. As we patiently waited for all the skydivers to land from their jumps, I received a crash course on plane safety in case of an emergency landing.

We made our way to the small runway, and with a gentle breeze, we were soaring into the blue skies. The view was absolutely breathtaking. Every time I fly, the scenery reminds me of the model city in the Beetlejuice movie.

For the next three hours, the pilot and I got to know each other. We shared our Nostr stories, backgrounds, and family lives. The pilot also gave an impressive presentation on the features of his aircraft, including a lesson on how to read knots—the unit of speed.

We landed in Maryland to pick up another panel speaker, Mr. Scott Churchill, who would be joining the art panel with Dan, the creator of the Nostr-only comic "Bread and Toast." Scott is a loving father with remarkable artistic skills that included drawing and music.

The three of us entered the airport restaurant and took a window seat overlooking the runway to grab a quick bite. This is where I was introduced to Maryland’s love for Old Bay seasoning. The pilot was eager to order crab cakes, and I was initially going to join him, but as soon as I spotted "CRAB SOUP" on the menu board, my food plans changed. Once we ordered, the food arrived fairly quickly. The kind server placed a bowl of soup in front of me, complete with extra crackers and an Old Bay salt shaker. My face lit up as I exclaimed, “What is this!?” Scott explained that Old Bay is a staple in these parts. I poured the seasoning into my soup and took a taste. “I’m going to do this at home,” I declared before even swallowing the first spoonful. I devoured the rest of the soup, sprinkling Old Bay each time I removed a layer of the flavorful creamy broth. I was hooked.

https://i.nostr.build/CWrwAxMADw18G8m5.jpg https://i.nostr.build/QgRqUJy7EdVEVNQc.jpg

Once lunch was finished, we boarded the plane. I offered the front seat to Scott since it was his first time flying. He was a mix of emotions about the flight, but he did amazing and even got to fly the plane!

When we landed in State College Park, Pennsylvania, it felt as though we had become a family. There’s nothing quite like trusting strangers with your life for several hours in a flying machine to foster a sense of camaraderie.

We were off to meet our fourth companion—the organizer, the maestro, the one and only, THE BEAVE! He awaited us at the house, and upon our arrival, we felt an immediate sense of comfort.

The house was beautiful, the people were friendly, and it was time to invite other speakers and guests over for a magical steak dinner. Beave started the bonfire while the pilot fired up the grill. Guests began to arrive.

The steaks were so thick and stacked that I dubbed it "Steak Jenga." The guests gathered around the impressive pile of perfectly cooked meat, each grabbing a steak as large as their faces.

https://i.nostr.build/im2ud6A45E41bili.jpg https://i.nostr.build/4cd8YSnIdz9X7fhz.jpg https://i.nostr.build/duqyX2xwIjunUlFR.jpg

After dinner, I had the opportunity to taste one of the best-flavored vodkas I had ever encountered: Blake’s Limited Edition x Gypsy Spirits’ Apple Pie Vodka, a vodka infused with Apple Cider & Cinnamon.

https://i.nostr.build/YHt8Em9wSJNGPqGs.jpg

I called it an early night due to all the traveling and being awake since 1 am, especially since I would be speaking on my first panel the next day. I wanted to be fresh and alert for the event. As soon as my head touched the pillow, I fell into a deep sleep. When I woke early the next morning, I felt rested and ready to conquer the day.

Beave and I were the only ones awake, so we headed to the nearest country store to see what breakfast supplies they offered. Upon entering the store, we found a convenience section on the left and a sit-down breakfast and lunch area on the right. We made our way to the cold section, where we discovered local dairy farm milk in half-gallon glass containers for only $3! I had to grab a jug. There were also small bottles of flavored milk, including strawberry milk, for less than $1.50.

https://i.nostr.build/KtCMvKOsTYIozmA8.jpg

Beave and I picked up some eggs and butter, but the real treasure was the donuts. The lady behind the register was an excellent saleswoman, encouraging us to take home a container of these fluffy looking treats. I noticed Beave had already bought some right before I made my way to the register, so I thought, "Why not?" I grabbed a container of smaller individual donuts that would be perfect for sharing with the house.

Once we got to the car, we each took a bite of a donut and immediately began scarfing it down in ecstasy. It was moist, and the bakers hadn’t skimped on the glaze. There was no oily aftertaste—just rich, sweet goodness that I would absolutely recommend.

After returning to the house, we served breakfast and started getting dressed for Nostr Valley.

At this point, I was a bundle of nerves. As we arrived at Happy Valley Brewing, it was heartening to see so many familiar faces from Nostr. Avi Burra, author and host of Plebchain Radio, began hosting the event, introducing all the speakers and panels. Derek Ross, one of the organizers of Nostr Valley, opened the show with a "Nostr 101" speech. Then, the art panel, moderated by Seth—my “boss” from Zap.Cooking—featured Dan and Scott. Avi then demonstrated his Nostr medical application. The food crew, consisting of Seth and me, followed next, moderated by Boston Wine. Next Block made their rounds with Mandana and Ian. The Other Nostr Apps panel featured Derek, Vic, Boston Wine, and Avi. The infamous Open Mike spoke about music with Derek, and the event concluded with closing remarks from the two organizers.

https://i.nostr.build/aoplHjfLu6oJPGr1.png (see the Community Photo Album for more pictures)

This was my first time speaking on a panel, and to say I was nervous would be an understatement. I practically clung to Seth the entire time and felt as though I blacked out while speaking. Nevertheless, I was proud to have made it through.

Afterward, a large group of us headed to the American Ale House, where we had a private section of the restaurant reserved. Avi and Derek’s shared dish was particularly notable—a nearly $90 certified angus beef tomahawk steak weighing in at 44 ounces.

https://i.nostr.build/Jk5ZJwd8VoBQQGTT.jpg https://i.nostr.build/7ydShpbQasVMp3hT.webp

For the afterparty, we invited everyone to a bonfire and podcast session at our VRBO for mini podcast recordings. However, I ended up successfully talking for 45 minutes with the first attendee, and by then, everyone else grew tired of waiting. I was ready for bed after such a long day.

On Sunday morning, the sun streamed through my window as I woke up, and I realized it was shooting range day! Beave and I headed over to the country store for more donuts, but unfortunately, it was closed on Sundays. We took a drive to fill up the car with gas and grabbed a breakfast sandwich or two at the gas station. We gathered the rest of the group and made our way to PGC Scotia Shooting Range, where we spent six hours shooting a variety of guns outdoors.

https://i.nostr.build/D3v1y8MebC1lzaa8.jpg

When we returned, we were starving and enjoyed a pleasant pheasant dinner filled with lively conversation.

https://i.nostr.build/M98NWu0oXaVKADaT.jpg https://i.nostr.build/hxp68wsP5Q4QUp4S.jpg

On Monday, we checked out of the VRBO. The day was cloudy, and the first part of the flight home was bumpy, but the sky cleared after we dropped off the other speaker. Once we landed back at the skydiving airport, I spent the rest of the evening driving home, finally walking in the door at 2 am.

My favorite part of the weekend wasn’t the speaking on stage or all the activities; it was the friendships I gained over those three days. I am truly grateful.

---

FEATURED RECIPE 🥪

---

https://image.nostr.build/8ec8e09bc081e7f70de446fda8fc85d485c01ed4579b13f511753568b21f3c8b.jpg

https://image.nostr.build/ba98258b64d17c6ca0d6148494d8dd9127530aca0826f6fe78809bce9e3dca5a.png nostr:naddr1qqmhvet8v9hz6cnvw4jj6am0dejx2u36943kzumgv4mj6cnpwdjkgttzd36k2ttrdpjk2um994kkzum5v4e8q6t9vdjsygxxndcac4j0ms6s4nwlly5lyhtjq2kpguxgwjyxpz7kmx8yy6a8vvpsgqqqw4rspyqve4

---

KIDS CORNER 🐤

---

https://image.nostr.build/c93a2f500f419bc85f429c8ba01240be32e3923b1a60831ae396f1b867d8478c.png

https://image.nostr.build/16f51b2ab39178e25a27b2f32a5890e4eed43872b37dfa48ad121428ad58efbe.png

https://image.nostr.build/b8bbc636081442196ae6dad0eb8426ec34134990f930cf8443fd39884ff579e9.png

https://image.nostr.build/f8211c8170391e2d1e9e589445b4084d5d6997fd54cd5f9518427dfa72b015d6.png

---

MICROFICTION 📖

---

TRICK OR TREAT? | Rustypuppy

“Remember, look into her orange eye, ask for a trick, and say ‘please.’” Janice fluffed the mane of my son’s lion costume and gave him a little push toward the dilapidated barn, decked out in creepy Halloween glory, complete with skeleton graveyard, tree ghosts, and a giant roof spider with glowing eyes.

Henry took two steps forward, then glanced back at me. I smiled and nodded. His brow furrowed, then he got in line with the other kids waiting for their turn at Granny Baba’s front door.

“You’re not traumatizing my five year old for life, are you?” I asked our babysitter.

The teen laughed. “He’s a brave little guy. I didn’t face her until I was seven. Relax, pops. Granny Baba is a rite of passage in this town. He’ll fit in better once he can say he got his trick. Besides, sometimes you gotta go through the scary to get to the good.”

After twelve minutes and eleven seconds, my son ran toward us, his face shining with joy. “I got the trick!” He showed off his jack o’ lantern candy bucket, which had contained the usual assortment of wrapped sugar and artificial ingredients, and now also held a clear plastic bag filled with lumpy darkness.

I side-eyed Janice as she took out the bag, opened it, and ate a handful. Henry did the same before I could stop him.

“This is …. good,” he said, frowning and chewing at the same time. “What’s the trick?”

“It’s healthy,” Janice replied. “All natural, sprouted granola.”

*RECIPE REFERENCE | Sprouted Bliss Granola - Essencial | Vegan | nostr:npub1c6dhrhzkflwr2zkdmlujnujawgp2c9rsep6gscyt6mvcusnt5a3srnzmx3

Follow Rustypuppy | https://rustypuppy.npub.pro/

---

FOOD NOTE QUOTES 🗒️

---

https://image.nostr.build/471a56680b7a3bdc6c63fa5682579b071de5b9fb65988df8b3673c2e6a4c68eb.png https://image.nostr.build/75ac9d6bc09e5fd0bdeec01010bf699905c11dbeff3fff5e4a3164a113812d9f.png

---

SOUNDS 🔊

---

MUSIC

HONEY | MARTIN GROOMS

https://wavlake.com/track/e4c1cf34-ada2-46ba-be1a-b9242479ca0a | https://image.nostr.build/470907a92d1155aca310a980bacb0e178d9299b78a897d6db3d5189f39ff5a5b.png

PODCASTS

TFTC

Courtney Swan breaks down how these harmful ingredients are fueling hyperactivity in children. | https://video.nostr.build/49e4c0db7da37748ac04071cab1fdc668b55aa346e08bf8501d6071bd59ab6e6.mp4 These 10 Companies Control The World To POISON YOU! | Marty sat down with Courtney Swan to expose how 10 Companies Control The entire Worlds food supply, and how they're producing food that's poisoning you and your family. | To watch the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSEiJ6C4MHk

BENPOD

BenPod.com featuring Twitter Co-Founder, Rabble | NOSTR Breaks Every Social Media Paradigm (BWP58) https://video.nostr.build/caaa77bb42bbfa2ddc04017ae45f68a95c162822edaa3084ffefeff4776ce0e0.mp4 | To watch the full episode: https://youtu.be/U-eNYRwyADI

PLEBCHAIN RADIO

Fermenting a Revolution with Ben Justman | Plebchain Radio | QW & Avi discuss the road to plebhood, building Peony Lane Vineyards, running a Bitcoin business, Creed, Nostr and more with Ben Justman. | Peony Lane Vineyard : https://www.peonylanewine.com/ | https://fountain.fm/episode/YMpNVBI3WjDv1Uttl1vd

---

UPCOMING EVENTS 🥳

---

Submit your Nostr event with @ZapCooking on Nostr

NOVEMBER 1

SoupBox Debut Listening Party| 7pm EST | ONLINE | zap.stream

NOVEMBER 6

The No-Conference Nostr Party at Bitcoin Park | Nashville, Tennessee | https://www.meetup.com/bitcoinpark/events/303283108

NOVEMBER 8-9

Brazil's Largest 100% Bitcoin Event | São Paulo | https://www.satsconf.com.br/

DECEMBER 15-19

Sats By SW | A V4V Weekend | Austin, Texas | https://media.primal.net/uploads/2/e0/e1/2e0e1258d63c4b758eeeb48cc0892eaf35a99f083d0a1cf7be03d1382fc6b8bd.jpg

JANUARY 30-31

Plan B Forum | El Salvador | https://image.nostr.build/86c3212b3677a0176f1a838ea006bfdf9cc43e778f5c406c641b553436917395.jpg

---

ECONOMICS 🍞

---

SAUSAGES | Peter McCormack

"...Mistakes, even trivial ones, are amplified in seconds. Look at the recent Labour Party conference, where Keir Starmer’s speech was meant to lay out his grand vision for fixing the country. Instead, a simple slip of the tongue—calling for the release of “sausages,” instead of “hostages”—became the story. Within hours, memes flooded the internet, and his entire message was lost in the noise..."

https://image.nostr.build/05d035f16769c1cffda143bc6ee5c0a5b86b74bad4c49aa9f98cdc5618ccc526.png

Read more: https://www.petermccormack.com/p/sausages

---

COMMUNITY PHOTO ALBUM 📷

---

Community Photo Album by The Beave, Derek Ross, Seth, Scott, T$, JD, Vic, Adam Toad, The Bitcoin Babe, Open Mike, Silberengel, inyahé, Bread and Toast, Nostr Valley, Atlantic Bitcoin Conference, TABconf, CornyChat, NostrNests | Share your Nostr community photos or videos with @ZapCooking

Nostr Valley

https://image.nostr.build/f743bdef24bca2d85eb78d182560e4d6fd8cba857d82252b1fbee23e97df4bbe.jpg https://i.nostr.build/xTw4pPUDkuTIaFW8.jpg https://i.nostr.build/O0wDQWEwDrrntToS.jpg https://i.nostr.build/vYkyGtdl2c8bgkmU.jpg https://i.nostr.build/uLqQ5a7Blza3n1d0.jpg https://i.nostr.build/ALGdDpTdMTFXiIu2.jpg https://i.nostr.build/NbUeiWCkDtYR4fF4.jpg https://i.nostr.build/JSImWt5lUx4am1iz.jpg https://i.nostr.build/CoS2Cc5j9Q6pSqBz.jpg https://i.nostr.build/o30Ljw4lObtlQQfn.jpg https://i.nostr.build/LRqTNfP9yFl3AgQl.jpg https://i.nostr.build/qv5PkjTbSgX6vygZ.jpg https://i.nostr.build/upPFNEEvXV9Jprez.jpg https://i.nostr.build/sWkZyiawJRP1uPJ0.jpg https://i.nostr.build/BWr1z0GE7BOlyZhH.jpg https://i.nostr.build/TgWpmKFc7Nqpt2ED.jpg https://i.nostr.build/MMX5LLABTCK4jZaY.jpg https://i.nostr.build/LnbJZmTA09F76um9.jpg https://i.nostr.build/hACVcv3cASvX9yZf.jpg

Atlanta Bitcoin Conference

https://i.nostr.build/Omk1YnOwYjhVShqO.jpg https://image.nostr.build/e46c9169c4b96bf2f6052c3e49555f7c6656ac061fff9b808a9fba33d0661f61.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fa282ad995e454cf899dac7a1720435fdc7921b2cf9693cffb9fc4cf23690907.jpg

TABConf

The critical innovations at @TABConf for a Saturday night. | Oatmeal-raisin, chocolate-chip, and vegan peanut butter cookies have been baked. Leaving for #meetup in Frankfurt with @Purple Konnektiv ❤️ | Silberengel https://image.nostr.build/f4a4d25220ec2b6797d09c68049639dedefc9d3414ad5587a48a6016ede46d81.jpg The Peanut Butter Cookie recipe is available on Zap.Cooking! nostr:npub1l5sga6xg72phsz5422ykujprejwud075ggrr3z2hwyrfgr7eylqstegx9z

---

NEW RECIPES 🍲

---

Robin Holstein | Soups | nostr:npub1rz7mvm42y0z3udug5s007sk0kgmcqs2ufa439edx8u2ptqhttews0tuhg4

Essencial | Vegan | nostr:npub1c6dhrhzkflwr2zkdmlujnujawgp2c9rsep6gscyt6mvcusnt5a3srnzmx3

Lucas M | Pork Meatballs | nostr:npub1whgjzsdrjxv5csrz2q032hpwxnjp4rpulxl0nexh62vz2dzc683qh8wqu9

Kat | Empanadas | nostr:npub10us6l7kvn340s2mw4jhluj0jlpt3zthnqftk8xewy80d64lpj96qa7xew6

Chriso🇺🇸🇦🇺🦘⚡️ | Mexican Grilled Chicken | nostr:npub147wy3decmxy3vs9u4nse80ha7nkcydt7zdge8lc9gk8ddglh4t6qudjwdr

MichZ | Orzo with Asparagus and Prosciutto | nostr:npub1jdyaqyngdj4tgmmtlm7j7npkr3fwzjcumcwdqf68dc9wd5lf39rqwlfwsu

---

FIN 🤠

---

https://image.nostr.build/497029805a46bbb4942bcb13a0e8f0238e3c7956282d4d2866ca342d19f54bad.jpg

@ a853296a:209e695f

👋 What's up, stackers & podcasters!
I'm excited to announce a new release for Jamie – our AI-powered podcast assistant (think a virtual Jamie for Joe Rogan fans)!

---

TL;DR: Jamie now goes beyond file uploads! With this update, Jamie can access any podcast published on an RSS feed, making it super easy to get transcripts, summaries, blog posts, and more.

Our goal is to make Jamie your go-to tool for everything pre-production, post-production, promotion, and podcast market research.

---

🛠️ How to Use the New Jamie

Step 1: Search for Your Podcast on RSS
Find the feed of your choice and select it to start analyzing episodes:

Step 2: Pick the Episode You Want to Analyze
Choose any episode to get started!
analyzing @k00b and @Car on SNL

Step 3: Select Your Content Type
Choose the type of content you want to generate – we have nine default options, or you can create your own Custom Prompt:

✏️ Optional: Customize the Prompt/Give More Context
Adding more context or tweaking the prompt can help tailor the output:

⏳ Step 4: Await Your Results
Within about a minute, Jamie delivers the content you need:

---

🚀 Future Plans
- Expand and continually improve on Jamie's capabilities. Our goal is to make Jamie a great assistant for all things media pre-production, post-production and even research! Please hit us with feedback as we pursue that goal. - Teaser: we are the proud owners of pullthatupjamie.ai. We plan to make the most out of that and provide you with great AI enhanced researching tools. This new tool to be announced will provide unparalleled utility, convenience and privacy aligned with our other applications - More language support! Jamie has gotten popular with an international audience! Stay tuned as we make more releases & optimizations related to supporting users worldwide

---

🧡 If you made it this far, thanks for tuning in! Check out our bitcoin-payable services and apps at https://cascdr.xyz.

Cheers, and happy podcasting!

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/749836

@ 38f9a05c:6999fc04

In today's world, where self-promotion appears to be the standard, there exists a subtle charm in modesty. As a child, I frequently encountered the expression, "Only a donkey praises their tail." its significance has remained with me throughout my life. It serves as a reminder that authentic excellence does not require shouting from the rooftops; instead, it manifests itself in actions, not words.

Allow me to now introduce Alfred Adler, a pioneer in the field of psychology. Born in Vienna in 1870, Adler's theories challenged the prevailing views of his time, particularly Sigmund Freud's emphasis on the unconscious mind. Adler proposed individual psychology, focusing on the unique experiences and perceptions that shape each person's worldview. Central to his theories was the concept of the "inferiority complex" and its counterpart, the "superiority complex," shedding light on how individuals grapple with feelings of inadequacy and superiority.

Inferiority complex

The "inferiority complex" describes persistent feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt, stemming from early experiences. Individuals afflicted with this complex often seek validation and may engage in compensatory behaviors. Therapy and self-reflection are key to addressing and overcoming these feelings, fostering healthier self-esteem and confidence.

An example of an inferiority complex might be a person who, from a young age, consistently felt overshadowed by their siblings' achievements and talents. Despite their own unique abilities and successes, they internalize a belief that they are inherently inferior to others. This belief could manifest in various ways throughout their life, such as constantly seeking approval from others, feeling anxious or inadequate in social situations, or striving excessively for success in an attempt to prove their worth.

Superiority Complex

Conversely, the "superiority complex" manifests as an exaggerated sense of self-importance and entitlement. Individuals with this complex may exhibit arrogance and lack empathy towards others, struggling with meaningful relationships and criticism.

An example of a superiority complex could be seen in a person who consistently belittles others and insists on being the center of attention in social settings. They might boast about their achievements, talents, or possessions in an attempt to assert their superiority over those around them.

Back to the childhood phrase "Only a donkey brags praises their tail." Returning to the childhood adage "Only a donkey brags praises their tail,” modesty and humility are often misconstrued as weakness or a lack of self-confidence. Nevertheless, it is far from that. It entails possessing a realistic view of oneself and comprehending that one's value should not rely solely on external validation or praise. Instead, it's found in the genuine connections we make with others and the positive impact we have on the world around us.

By abstaining from boasting about ourselves, we provide room for others to shine. It is not about denigrating our accomplishments or pretending to be less than we are. On the contrary, it involves acknowledging our abilities without feeling compelled to advertise them to the public continually. Therein lies the elegance of allowing our actions to speak louder than our words.

Moreover, humility allows for personal growth and learning. When we're humble, we're open to feedback and constructive criticism. Instead of becoming defensive or dismissive, we approach each opportunity for improvement with an open mind and a willingness to learn. This mindset not only helps us develop professionally but also fosters a sense of humility and gratitude for the knowledge and experiences that others bring to the table.

Humility enables personal development and learning. When we're not constantly focused on ourselves, we become more attuned to the needs and experiences of those around us. We listen more intently, offer support more readily, and celebrate the successes of others with genuine enthusiasm. In doing so, we cultivate deeper connections and create a more inclusive and supportive community.

In a society that often glorifies self-promotion and individualism, it can be challenging to embrace humility fully. However, it's a quality worth cultivating, both personally and professionally. By focusing on what we can contribute rather than what we can gain, we create a more harmonious and compassionate world. Hence, should you ever find the urge to trumpet your achievements or magnify your ego, pause to reflect on the timeless wisdom encapsulated in the age-old adage: "Only a donkey praises their tail," alongside the profound insights of the Austrian psychiatrist's psychological framework. Instead of trying to prove yourself with words, show who you are through your actions. Embrace humility, which means being modest and not bragging. True greatness isn't about loudly boasting about your good qualities. It's about having inner strength and making a positive impact on the people around you.

Lastly as the Great Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius said, "Waste no more time arguing about what a good man should be. Be one."

@ 2348ca50:32a055a8

Keeping a clean and organized home is essential for a healthy lifestyle, yet many people find it challenging to manage household chores alongside their busy schedules. This is where professional house cleaners come in. They offer various services tailored to meet individual needs, ensuring that homes are clean, organized, and welcoming. In this article, we will explore how house cleaners work, the different types of cleaning services available, methods and tools used, the hiring process, and tips for ensuring the best results from professional cleaning services.

Types of House Cleaning Services

House cleaning services can vary widely in scope and focus. Here are some of the most common types:

1. 1. Regular Cleaning

Regular cleaning is often a recurring service, such as weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly. It typically includes:

Dusting surfaces

Vacuuming and mopping floors

Cleaning bathrooms (toilets, sinks, showers)

Kitchen cleaning (countertops, sinks, exterior of appliances)

General tidying up

1. 1. Deep Cleaning

Deep cleaning goes beyond regular cleaning and is usually recommended periodically (e.g., quarterly or bi-annually). It involves a thorough cleaning of all areas of the home, including:

Scrubbing baseboards and moldings

Cleaning behind and underneath furniture and appliances

Washing windows and window sills

Detailed cleaning of bathrooms and kitchens

Dusting light fixtures and ceiling fans

1. 1. Move-In/Move-Out Cleaning

This type of cleaning service is designed for individuals moving into or out of a home. It typically includes deep cleaning to prepare the space for new occupants or to leave it spotless for landlords. Tasks may involve:

Cleaning cabinets and drawers

Scrubbing floors and carpets

Washing walls

Removing trash

1. 1. Specialized Cleaning

Some house cleaning services specialize in certain areas or types of cleaning, such as:

Post-construction cleaning

Carpet and upholstery cleaning

Eco-friendly cleaning

Commercial cleaning for offices and businesses

1. 1. Organizational Services

In addition to cleaning, some house cleaners offer organizational services to help clients declutter and arrange their belongings efficiently. This may include:

Closet organization

Kitchen and pantry organization

Home office decluttering

How House Cleaners Work

1. 1. Initial Consultation

Most cleaning companies offer an initial consultation, either in-person or over the phone. During this consultation, clients discuss their cleaning needs, preferences, and any specific areas of concern. This helps the cleaning team prepare a tailored plan for the job.

1. 1. Assessment and Estimate

After understanding the client’s requirements, the cleaning company typically conducts an assessment of the space to determine the time and resources needed. Based on this assessment, they provide an estimate of the cost, which can vary depending on the size of the home, the type of cleaning service, and any additional requests.

1. 1. Scheduling the Service

Once the client agrees to the estimate, the next step is to schedule the cleaning service. Clients can choose a one-time service or set up a recurring schedule based on their preferences and needs.

1. 1. Preparing for the Cleaning Day

Before the cleaning team arrives, clients can prepare their homes by: Decluttering spaces (to make cleaning easier)

Communicating any specific cleaning instructions or areas to focus on

Securing pets in a safe area (if applicable)

1. 1. The Cleaning Process

When the cleaning team arrives, they typically follow a systematic approach to cleaning:

Arrival and Preparation: The team members will introduce themselves and review the cleaning plan with the client (if present). They may also gather their cleaning supplies and equipment.

Dusting and Surface Cleaning: The team starts by dusting high surfaces, such as ceiling fans and shelves, and works downwards to avoid spreading dust onto clean areas.

Vacuuming and Mopping: Floors are vacuumed first, followed by mopping or scrubbing, depending on the type of flooring.

Kitchen and Bathroom Cleaning: These areas often require the most attention. The team will sanitize countertops, sinks, appliances, and fixtures, ensuring that they are thoroughly cleaned.

Final Touches: After completing the main cleaning tasks, the team may do a final walk-through to ensure everything meets the client’s expectations.

1. 1. Post-Cleaning Inspection

After the cleaning is completed, some companies may offer a post-cleaning inspection to ensure that everything has been done to the client’s satisfaction. Clients are encouraged to provide feedback and discuss any areas that may need additional attention.

1. 1. Payment and Scheduling Future Services

Clients typically settle payment after the service is completed. Many cleaning companies offer online payment options for convenience. Clients can also schedule future services at this time if they wish to maintain a regular cleaning schedule.

Tools and Techniques Used by House Cleaners

1. 1. Cleaning Supplies

House cleaners often bring their cleaning supplies and equipment, which may include:

All-Purpose Cleaners: Used for various surfaces, including countertops and appliances.

Disinfectants: Important for sanitizing high-touch areas such as doorknobs, light switches, and bathroom fixtures.

Glass Cleaners: Used for windows and mirrors to achieve a streak-free shine.

Floor Cleaners: Specialized products for hardwood, tile, or carpeted surfaces.

1. 1. Cleaning Equipment

Common cleaning equipment used by professionals includes:

Vacuum Cleaners: High-quality vacuums with attachments for different surfaces.

Mops and Buckets: For mopping hard floors.

Microfiber Cloths: Effective for dusting and cleaning without leaving streaks.

Brooms and Dustpans: For quick clean-ups of dust and debris.

1. 1. Techniques and Best Practices

Professional cleaners often employ techniques to maximize efficiency and effectiveness, including:

Top-to-Bottom Cleaning: Cleaning high areas first to avoid redistributing dirt.

Zone Cleaning: Focusing on one area at a time for thoroughness.

Use of Microfiber: Utilizing microfiber cloths for dusting and cleaning, as they capture dust and dirt effectively without the need for harsh chemicals.

Hiring a House Cleaner: What to Consider When hiring a house cleaner, it’s essential to consider several factors to ensure a positive experience:

1. 1. Reputation and Reviews

Researching the reputation of a cleaning service is crucial. Look for online reviews, testimonials, and ratings on reputable sites to gauge the quality of service provided.

1. 1. Services Offered

Ensure the cleaning service offers the specific type of cleaning you require. Some companies specialize in particular areas, so it’s essential to find one that meets your needs.

1. 1. Pricing Structure

Understand the pricing structure, including any additional fees for specific services or materials. Some companies charge hourly rates, while others offer flat fees based on the size of the home.

1. 1. Insurance and Certifications

Check if the cleaning company is insured and bonded. This protects you in case of accidents or damage during the cleaning process.

1. 1. Flexibility and Availability

Consider the company’s flexibility in scheduling and whether they can accommodate your preferred cleaning times, especially if you need a recurring service.

1. 1. Communication and Trust

It’s essential to hire a cleaning service that communicates effectively and values customer service. Trust is crucial, as cleaners will be in your home, so choose a company that instills confidence.

Tips for Getting the Best Results

To ensure you get the best results from your house cleaning service, consider these tips:

1. 1. Be Clear About Expectations

Communicate your cleaning needs and expectations clearly during the initial consultation. Providing specific instructions will help the cleaning team focus on areas that matter most to you.

1. 1. Keep an Open Line of Communication

If you’re present during the cleaning, feel free to ask questions or make requests. Open communication helps the cleaners understand your preferences better.

1. 1. Maintain a Clutter-Free Space

While professional cleaners will tidy up, maintaining a relatively organized space can make their job easier and allow for more thorough cleaning.

1. 1. Provide Feedback

After the service, share your thoughts with the cleaning company. Positive feedback encourages good practices, while constructive criticism helps improve future services.

1. 1. Consider a Regular Cleaning Schedule

To maintain a clean home, consider setting up a regular cleaning schedule. This prevents dirt and clutter from accumulating, making each cleaning session more manageable.

Conclusion

House cleaners provide a valuable service that helps individuals maintain clean and organized homes. By understanding how house cleaners work, the types of services available, and the processes involved, clients can make informed decisions when hiring cleaning professionals. Whether you opt for regular cleaning, deep cleaning, or specialized services, investing in professional house cleaning can save time, reduce stress, and enhance your living environment. With the right approach and communication, you can enjoy a sparkling clean home without the hassle.

@ 3c984938:2ec11289

A long time ago, a girl resided on a tropical island. The girl's name is Sirena. She resided with her mother in close proximity to the Hagåtña River. Sirena's mother was a bit strict and tried to teach her to follow her in footsteps to be a lady, but Sirena only dreamed of swimming all day.\ \ Sirena's only outlet was when her Godmother would come visit. She always brought surprises, such as new trinkets, stories, and secretly gave her coconut candy.

Sirena's mother was preparing for a special event and needed her to acquire special ingredients from the nearby village. She had a significant amount of preparations to complete, therefore she requested that Sirena procure the necessary ingredients and return promptly. Sirena made a promised to her mother that she would hurry back.\

She was on the village path. She kept her eyes on the trail, trying her best to be a good daughter and hurry back. But she took one glance briefly at the river.

\ She is mesmerized by the water and jumps in before she realizes it. She swims down the river to the ocean, completely forgetting her mother's errand and promise. Sirena does not returned home even after the sun has set and was still swimming. Her mother, frustrated and angry, unleashes a powerful curse. The godmother begged her daughter to calm down. She shouted, "She's swimming again! Look at how late it is! "If you have such a profound love for the ocean, then become a fish," she exclaims to the ocean. Knowing the extent of her daughter's curse. She tries to counteract her daughter's curse. She pleads to the ocean, "Please, let me keep my Goddaughter's heart, please let that much remain."\ \ In the eerie glow of the moonlight, upon realizing her mother's task, she swims back to where the ocean meets the river. But she experiences a strange sensation in her lower half. The water swirls around her. She looks down to see that she has now fins instead of feet. With the new transformation, she regrets not finishing her mother's errand.

Sirena was happy because now she can be in the water all day long. However, Sirena also wished she did what her mother asked and found another way to punish her. A part of her will forever be saddened by the loss of her Mother and Godmother.

It said that sailors have spotted mermaids on their voyage across the sea. Just that their too crafty & swift to be caught.

Historical Notes/context

The story originates from the indigenous island of Guam and has been shared for generations. There are multiple versions of the story. The term Sirena is not present in the Chamorro language; however, in Spanish, it refers to the mythological creature known as the mermaid. The capital of the Island is Hagåtña. The Hagåtña river flows beneath the Spanish Bridge, where it is possible to observe her monument. Many believe Sirena resided here. There is speculation that this story was crafted to frighten children into listening to their parents and not playing in the river's water, as it was a vital water source. This was more prevalent when the Spanish established Guam as a port for whaling, pirates, and trade during the Spanish Galleon trade era(16th century). It should be noted that the women's role in the Chamorro version reflects a matrilineal society, which can be seen with Grandma/Godmother.

👉I like to point out in this, Thomas Edison patented the light bulb in 1879. So visually the lights outside and inside the huts as flames. As Ai(text to image) does not account for these type of items.

👉This also goes back to be careful what you wish for because you may actual get your wish.

👉Chamorro people are Pacific Islanders, similar to Hawaiians, and have a brown/tan skin complexion.\

👉My mermaid looks strikingly similar to the Disney's recent version of Ariel. I Thought that was interesting because I put just "mermaid" into the text prompt. Its worth pointing out ai limitations as it's not advanced as I originally thought, likely due to its limited data. In this case only disney as a reference for mermaid.

based on ordinary prompts\ Prompt used:\ That's all-Thank you until next time (N)osyters!

If you like it, send me some ❤❤hearts❤ and if you didn't like it-⚡⚡🍑🍑zap⚡⚡🍑🍑 me!🍑🍑 me!

For email updates you can subscribe to my paragraph.xyz/\@onigirl or below if using the Yakihonne App

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

The last few days on developer nostr have involved quite a kerfluffle over the gossip model, blastr, banning jack, and many related misunderstandings. This post is an attempt to lay out my thoughts on the matter in an organized and hopefully helpful way.

What's wrong with gossip?

It all started with a post from jack asking why more devs haven't implemented the gossip model. There are many answers to this question, not least having to do with there being two standards for user relay selections, and ongoing changes to NIP 65. But I don't want to talk about compatibility here.

nevent1qydhwumn8ghj7argv4nx7un9wd6zumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcprfmhxue69uhhq7tjv9kkjepwve5kzar2v9nzucm0d5hszymhwden5te0wfjkccte9enrw73wd9hj7qpq2uf488j3uy084kpsn594xcef9g9x3lplx4xnglf0xwghyw2n3tfqqnrm02

Mazin responded with some numbers which estimate how many connections the gossip model requires. Too many connections can become expensive for low-power clients like mobile phones, not to mention some privacy issues stemming from nosy relays.

nevent1qyd8wumn8ghj7urewfsk66ty9enxjct5dfskvtnrdakj7qgewaehxw309amk2mrrdakk2tnwdaehgu3wwa5kuef0qyghwumn8ghj7mn0wd68ytnhd9hx2tcqyp2xzsjktypudzmygplljkupmuyadzzr6rkgnvx9e0fx3zwhdm0vkz4ceg7

I have some minor disagreements with Mazin's numbers, but I basically agree with his point — a purist gossip model, where a large proportion of nostr users run their own relays results in a high number of connections to different relays. I brought this question up late last year in my interview with Mike Dilger and in a conversation with fiatjaf, who convinced me that in practice, this doesn't matter — enough people will use a handful of larger hubs that there will be a good amount of overlap in relay selections between most pubkeys.

To articulate this more clearly: the goal is not "personal web nodes", which is a pipe dream the Farcasters and BlueSkys (BlueSkies?) of the world aim at, but a more pragmatic mix between large hubs and smaller purpose-built relays. These small relays might be outlets for large publishers, small groups, or nerds who also run their own SMTP servers and lightning nodes.

The point of the gossip model is that these small nodes be possible to run, and discoverable from the rest of the network so that we can preserve the censorship-resistant qualities of nostr that brought us here in the first place.

Blast It!

It's no secret that I've long been a critic of Mutiny's blastr relay implementation. My main objection is that the blastr approach doesn't account for the hard limits involved in scaling smaller relays. If the goal is to cross-pollinate notes across all relays in the network, all relays will require the same size database, and contain all notes in the network. This works right now (sort of), but as the network grows, the relays running on a $5 VPS are going to have their disks fill up and will inevitably fall over.

nevent1qyvhwumn8ghj76r0v3kxymmy9ehx7um5wgcjucm0d5hszxnhwden5te0wpuhyctdd9jzuenfv96x5ctx9e3k7mf0qythwumn8ghj7un9d3shjtnwdaehgu3wvfskuep0qqs07jr9qx49h53nhw76u7c3up2s72k7le2zj94h5fugmcgtyde4j9qfrnwxj

Not only that, but the content breakdown on any given relay by default becomes an undifferentiated soup of "GM", chinese notes, bots, bitcoin memes, and porn. Blastr makes it impossible to run an interesting relay without implementing write policies.

Which is actually fine! Because that's always been true — servers that allow anonymous uploads always get abused. Tony is just helpfully pointing out to us that this is no less true of nostr relays. I only wish he could have waited a little longer before mounting his attack on the network, because lots of hobbyists are interested in running interesting relays, but the tools don't yet exist to protect those servers from unsolicited notes.

One other note on blastr — Tony at one point described blastr as a relay proxy. This is an interesting perspective, which puts things in a different light. More on proxies later.

Ban Jack?

Here's a thought experiment: how might we actually "ban blastr"? @Pablof7z suggested to me in a conversation that you could configure your relay to check every note that gets published to your relay against the big nostr hubs, and if it exists on any of them to simply delete it. Of course, that would result in your relay being basically empty, and the hubs having all of your content. That's game theory for you I guess.

Another approach that was floated was to encourage users to only publish to small relays. In theory, this would force clients to implement gossip so users could still see the content they were subscribed to. Fiatjaf even posted two identical notes, one to his personal relay, and one to a hub to see which would get more engagement. The note posted to the mainstream relay got 10x more replies and likes than the more obscure note.

nostr:nevent1qyd8wumn8ghj7urewfsk66ty9enxjct5dfskvtnrdakj7qgmwaehxw309aex2mrp0yh8wetnw3jhymnzw33jucm0d5hszymhwden5te0wp6hyurvv4cxzeewv4ej7qpqdc2drrmdmlkcyna5kkcv8yls4f8zaj82jjl00xrh2tmmhw3ejsmsmp945r

Of course, this is thwarted by blastr, since blastr not only replicates notes posted to it, it also actively crawls the network as well. So the next logical step in this train of thought would be for hubs to encourage people to use small relays by actively blocking high-profile accounts.

nostr:nevent1qydhwumn8ghj7argv4nx7un9wd6zumn0wd68yvfwvdhk6tcpzdmhxue69uhhyetvv9ujue3h0ghxjme0qyd8wumn8ghj7urewfsk66ty9enxjct5dfskvtnrdakj7qpqpjhnn69lej55kde9l64jgmdkx2ngy2yk87trgjuzdte2skkwwnhqv5esfq

This would of course never happen (Damus is one client that hasn't implemented NIP 65, and they also run the biggest relay), but it was a fun thought experiment. At any rate, the silliness of the suggestion didn't stop certain people from getting offended that we would "disrupt the free market" by "forcing" our opinions on everyone else. Oh well.

Death to Blastr

In reality, even though blastr makes it a little harder to adopt gossip in the short term, its days are numbered. Eventually, relay operators will start to feel the pain of unsolicted notes, and will either shut their relays down or look for tools that will help them curate the content they host.

From my perspective, these tools take two forms — read protection and write protection. This is something I alluded to in my talk at Nostrasia last November.

Write protection is straightforward — already many relays have access control lists based on active subscriptions, invite codes, or just static whitelists that determine who is allowed to post to a given relay, or what event authors are represented there. This approach effectively prevents blastr from using relays as free storage, which is a huge improvement.

Read protection is more tricky, because anything publicly readable will be scraped by blastr and replicated to unauthenticated-write relays across the network. In most cases, this is ok, but there are use cases for relays to exist that host a unique collection of notes oriented around some organizing principle. Unfortunately, with blastr in action (or any scraper that might exist), the only way to do this is to actively protect proprietary content. There are a few approaches that can work to make this happen:

• IP-based access control lists
• AUTH-based access control lists
• Stripping signatures when serving events
• Storing and serving encrypted content

Each of these approaches has its own set of trade-offs. But depending on use case, any of them or a combination of them could work to allow relay operators to carve out their own piece of the nostr-verse. In fact, this is a big part of what Coracle is about — the white-labeled version of the product confines certain notes to proprietary relays, with optional encrypted group support.

Enough of my polemic against blastr. Let's talk about how to make the gossip model actually work.

Hints are pointless

Right now, clients that implement the gossip model rely pretty heavily on relay hints to find related notes — whether user profiles, reply parents, or community definitions. The problem with hints is that they are prone to link rot. Many of the relays that were set up a year ago when nostr took off are no longer online, and yet they persist in user relay lists, and in relay hints. These hints can't be updated — they are set in stone. What this means is that a different mechanism has to be used to find the notes the hints were supposed to help locate.

Because of this, I've come around to the position that hints are basically pointless. They are fine as a stopgap, and might be appropriate for certain obscure and ill-defined use cases where relay urls are the most durable address type available. But they provide basically no value in supporting the long-term robustness of the network.

What are durable, however, are pubkeys. Pubkeys are available pretty much everywhere, except in event id hints — and there is a proposal in the works to add a pubkey to those too. The cool thing about pubkeys as hints is that once you have a pubkey, all you need to do is find that person's kind 10002 inbox/outbox selections, and you should be able to find any note they have published.

This goes with the caveat that when users change their relay selections, or rotate their key, they (or their relays) should be sure to copy their notes to the new relay/pubkey.

The question then is: how do I find a given pubkey's relay selections?

There are already several mechanisms that make this reasonably easy. First of all, NIP 65 explicitly recommends publishing relay selections to a wide range of relays. This is a place where the blastr approach is appropriate. As a result, relay selections are usually available on the most popular public relays. Then there are special purpose relays like purplepag.es, which actively seek out these notes and index them.

These indexes are not confined to relays either. It would be trivial to create a DVM that you could ask for a pubkey's relay selections, optionally for a fee. Alex Gleason's proxy tag could also be used to indicate indexes that exist outside the nostr network — whether that be torrents, DHT keys, or what have you.

The best part is that this doesn't negatively impact the decentralization of the network because in principle these indexes are stateless — in other words, they're easily derived from the state of the public part of the nostr network.

Just do it for me

Looping back to where we started — the complexity and technical challenges of implementing the gossip model — there is a simple solution that many people have experimented with in different ways that could solve both issues at once: proxies.

As I mentioned above, Tony thinks of blastr as a proxy, and he's right. More specifically, it's a write-proxy. This is only part of its functionality (it also acts as an independent agent which crawls the network. EDIT: apparently this is not true!), but it is an essential part of how people use it.

Another kind of proxy is a read proxy. There are several implementations of these, including my own multiplextr proxy, which is gossip-compatible (although it requires a wrapper protocol for use). The advantage of a proxy like this is that it can reduce the number of connections a client has to open, and the number of duplicate events it has to download.

Proxies can do all kinds of fancy things in the background too, like managing the gossip model on behalf of the client, building an index of everything the user would be likely to ask for in advance to speed up response times, and more.

One interesting possibility is that a NIP 46 signer could double as a proxy, reducing the number of round trips needed. And since a signer already has access to your private key, this kind of proxy would not result in an escalation in permissions necessary for the proxy to work.

It's simple

The number of cool and creative solutions to the content replication and indexing problem is huge, and certainly doesn't end with blastr. Just to summarize the next steps I'm excited to see (to be honest, I want to build them myself, but we all know how that goes):

• More clients supporting gossip
• Gossip implementations maturing (Coracle's still has some issues that need to be worked out)
• A shift from relying on relay hints to relying on pubkey hints + relay selection indexes of some kind
• Proxy/signer combos which can take on some of the heavy lifting for clients of delivering events to the right inboxes, and pulling events from the right outboxes

Let's get building!

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

Sorry, this article went out on Substack, but I forgot to post it on Nostr.

God has made many promises throughout history that are recorded in the Bible. Most of them took centuries, if not millennia to be fulfilled. The God of the Bible is outside of time, so He doesn’t look at time like we do, but His timing is just what it should be.

God never breaks His promises. He fulfills them in full and in all details, but not necessarily in the timing we desire. We’re going to go through some of God’s greatest promises and see what we can learn about God, ourselves, God’s character, and the future. Seeing what God has done should help us to trust God in all things.

Adam & Eve

God’s first promise was given to Adam and Eve after they sinned.

To Eve, He promised:

“I will greatly multiply\ Your pain in childbirth,\ In pain you will bring forth children;\ Yet your desire will be for your husband,\ And he will rule over you.” (Genesis 3:16)

This promised was fulfilled immediately and for all of the women after Eve.

To Adam, He promised:

“Cursed is the ground because of you;\ In toil you will eat of it\ All the days of your life.\ Both thorns and thistles it shall grow for you;\ And you will eat the plants of the field;\ By the sweat of your face\ You will eat bread,\ Till you return to the ground,\ Because from it you were taken;\ For you are dust,\ And to dust you shall return.” (Genesis 3:17b-19)

This promise was also fulfilled immediately and in all men throughout history.

To the serpent (Satan), it was promised:

“Because you have done this,\ Cursed are you more than all cattle,\ And more than every beast of the field;\ On your belly you will go,\ And dust you will eat\ All the days of your life;\ And I will put enmity\ Between you and the woman,\ And between your seed and her seed;\ **He shall bruise you on the head,\ And you shall bruise him on the heel.” (Genesis 3:14b-15) {emphasis mine}

The initial curse on serpents was fulfilled immediately, but the ultimate curse/promise was partially fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross and will be fulfilled completely in the last battle (Armageddon) at the end of the age when Satan is cast into hell.

“You shall bruise him on the heel” refers to Satan working to have Jesus crucified. A bruised heel is not fatal and Jesus returned from the dead, conquering death and sin.

“He shall bruise you on the head.” A head wound is fatal. Jesus struck the initial blow when He rose from the dead conquering death and sin after paying the price for our sins. The final blow will be His last action on Earth before His believers move to the new heaven and new earth.

According to time calculations by Uscher using the genealogies, Adam and Eve were created about 4004 B.C. How long it took them to sin is not made clear, but what details we get suggests it was very soon after creation, so it took approximately 4,000 years to be partially fulfilled and will be at least another 2,000 years to be fully fulfilled.

But do not let this one fact escape your notice, beloved, that with the Lord one day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years like one day. (2 Peter 3:8)

Since God is outside time, He doesn’t look at time as we do. We want things now. We don’t want to wait, but we need to understand that God’s timing is always perfect and we often learn from God in the waiting.

Next we will learn from someone who waited faithfully on God’s promises and never gave up, even when logic would say that God’s promises were impossible.

Abraham

God’s first promise to Abraham came when he was 75 years old.

“Go forth from your country,\ And from your relatives\ And from your father’s house,\ To the land which I will show you;\ And I will make you a great nation,\ And I will bless you,\ And make your name great;\ And so you shall be a blessing;\ And I will bless those who bless you,\ And the one who curses you I will curse.\ And in you all the families of the earth will be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1b-3) {emphasis mine}

God told Abraham to leave his home and go to a land he did not know. What should have been Abraham’s golden years was the beginning of his wandering. Abraham trusted God and obeyed.

Abraham was promised that God would “make you [Abraham] a great nation.” Without faith in an all powerful God, this would have seemed impossible. Abraham was 75 years old and had no children. His wife, Sarah, was only 10 years younger. Both were past the age of having children. They were being told to leave their home and move to an unknown land inhabited by strange people. No betting person would believe this man would become the father of a great nation and definitely no one would think the whole world would be blessed through his family.

Abraham was led to the edge of Canaan (the future site of Israel) and once again God made a promise to Abraham:

“To your descendants I will give this land.” (Genesis 12:7b)

Abraham and Sarah had no children. They were blessed with flocks and servants, but it would have seemed unthinkable that they could conquer Canaan, drive out the nations living there, and father a new nation. Despite this, Abraham believed that God’s promises are true.

When did the land finally belong to the descendants of Abraham? I don’t know the exact number of years, but he was still about 25 years away from fathering Isaac. Then Isaac had to grow up and marry before fathering Jacob. Jacob had to grow up, worked many years to earn his wife Rachael before fathering his twelve sons, including Joseph. Joseph had to grow up and spend years in Egypt before being put in charge in Egypt. The Israelites were then in Egypt for about 400 years before being freed and exiting Egypt to go to the promised land. Because this generation rebelled, they were then forced to wander in the desert for more than 40 years. Looking at this, it was well beyond 500 years before Abraham’s descendants owned any of the land God promised Abraham other than a small burial plot.

Does this mean God was unfaithful? Of course not.

The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)

At first Abraham and Sarah tried to fulfill God’s promise themselves. Sarah followed the local pagan way and gave her maid to her husband to father a child for them and Hagar gave birth to Ishmael when Abraham was 86 years old.

When Abraham was 99 years old God said,

“For I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings will come forth from you. I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. I will give to you and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Genesis 17:5b-8) {emphasis mine}

God once again God promised the land to Abraham and also promised he would be “the father of a multitude of nations.” At last the promise of fathering nations seemed possible because of his son Ishmael, but owning the land of Canaan, in which he was a sojourner, living in a tent, seemed out of reach, but Abraham still did not fully understand God’s plan. God gave a new, more detailed promise to Abraham.

“As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her, and indeed I will give you a son by her. Then I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” (Genesis 17:15b-16) {emphasis mine}

Abraham couldn’t believe that they could possible have a child of their own. He couldn’t comprehend him, at 100, and Sarah, at 90, producing a child of promise and instead of thanking God said, “Oh that Ishmael might live before You!” God corrected Abraham saying, “No, but Sarah your wife will bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I will bless him, and will make him fruitful and will multiply him exceedingly. He shall become the father of twelve princes, and I will make him a great nation.” (Genesis 17:19-20)

Now becoming the father of a second son, even in his old age, Abraham began to see the fulfillment of God’s promises almost 25 years earlier.

Eventually, at the age of 100 Abraham had his promised son, Isaac, through whom the promise would be fulfilled.

When Sarah died, Abraham was able to buy the “cave of Machpelah” as a place to bury his wife. This was the first piece of soil that Abraham owned in the promised land and the only piece that he got to see, but God wasn’t done yet.

I always remember the son of promise, Isaac. When I stop and think, I remember that Abraham also had Ishmael. Until recently, although I had read this passage many times, I always forgot Abraham’s sons through Keturah.

Now Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah. She bore to him Zimran and Jokshan and Medan and Midian and Ishbak and Shuah. (Genesis 25:1-2)

God had promised Abraham, at the age of 75, that he would be the father of many nations. He seemed too old to become the father of even one son, but became the father of eight.

Jokshan became the father of Sheba and Dedan. And the sons of Dedan were Asshurim and Letushim and Leummim. The sons of Midian were Ephah and Epher and Hanoch and Abida and Eldaah. All these were the sons of Keturah. Now Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac; but to the sons of his concubines, Abraham gave gifts while he was still living, and sent them away from his son Isaac eastward, to the land of the east. (Genesis 25:3-6)

All of these sons and their sons became the foundation of many nations throughout the Middle East and beyond just like God had promised, but this was only a partial fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham. Much more was yet to come.

Jacob

God’s promise to Abraham was passed down to Isaac and then to Isaac’s son Jacob (the younger twin). After Jacob betrayed his twin brother Esau, Rebekah sent Jacob to her family to find a wife. On the way, God made a promise directly to him.

“I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie, I will give it to you and to your descendants. Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and in you and in your descendants shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.” (Genesis 28:13-15)

God once again promised the chosen heir the ownership of this land and that he would be returned to it. He also said, “Your descendants will also be like the dust of the earth,” reiterating the Abrahamic covenant.

Through two wives and two concubines, that were maids to his two wives, Jacob fathered 12 sons who became the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel. Although Jacob was returned to the promised land of Canaan after several decades with his mother’s family, he also did not get to see the complete fulfillment of God’s promise that they would be given the land. He saw that God was always with Him; he was returned to the land God had promised Him; but he did not get to see the vast descendants or how his family was a blessing to the whole world. God’s timing was not yet complete.

In Part 2 we will see more promises of God and see how God is faithful.

Trust Jesus.\ \ your sister in Christ,

Christy

@ 6871d8df:4a9396c1

The Apple Vision Pro was released, and it is the talk of the town right now. To be frank, I think it's a stupid product. It's not useful or particularly enticing to me in its current form factor. It's a toy, not a tool. All the features seem gimmicky as opposed to generally helpful. I'm not saying it may never be worthwhile, but as of this first release, it is only a party trick.

Coincidently, this is the first product that does not have any of Steve Jobs' influence. To me, it shows. I don't think Jobs would have ever let this product see the light of day.


Jobs understood product. He didn't make things for the sake of progress or to make sci-fi reality; he made things because he 'wanted to make a dent in the world.' He wanted to solve problems for everyday people by innovating with cutting-edge technology. He aspired to make people's lives better. Steve Jobs' genius was the way he married cutting-edge technologies with valuable tools that made those cutting-edge technologies simple and elegant.


The Vision Pro may be technically innovative, but it is not a tool, at least in its current form. It may be one day, but that is precisely my point; Jobs would have never released a product where the form factor would hold it back from becoming a tool. At best, it is an intriguing toy that is additive to some content at the behest of being very awkward to wear or be seen in. In my view, mainstream adoption can happen only in a world where we can use the Vision Pro as a contact lens or very small, discreet, minimalist glasses, but certainly not this iteration where it covers more than half your face.


Seeing people's eyes makes us human. So much emotion, understanding, and communication happens with just a look. It is a window into the soul. I don't want to live in a world where we are actively bringing all the negatives about communicating in the digital world to the physical one.

https://image.nostr.build/2365609411f144f5d789ffd684ffce9b4d867626a7bfe11bb311cb0f61057199.jpg

I can't help but wonder or hypothesize what Steve Jobs would focus on if he were still alive today. I think Apple's priorities would be completely different. My gut tells me he would not have let Siri get as bad as it is. Siri is a horrible product; I never use it, and everyone I know who tries to use it does so unsuccessfully, at least most of the time. I personally always default to ChatGPT or Bard. These AI systems make my life dramatically more productive. They are tools in the purest sense.

In my opinion, Steve would not have missed this train. Sure, Apple could wake up and integrate these systems into Siri — if they were smart, they would — but in its current form, it is so far behind that it almost astounds me. My intuition leads me to believe he would be closer to what [Rabbit] is doing.

Who knows? Maybe I am entirely wrong, and Apple just kickstarted VR's mass adoption phase. Unfortunately, I think this will likely be the biggest failure of a physical product that Apple will have seen since Jobs returned ages ago. The Vision Pro is only slightly better than the Oculus, and Facebook has already deprioritized VR for AI. Apple is further behind, and I don't see a world where they do not make the same pivot. There is a skill to creating successful, innovative products, and it makes me sad to see the torch that Jobs passed lose its flame. As someone who respected how Apple used to innovate, watching this decay in real-time is jarring as this is just the latest in a string of disappointing decisions that exemplify that 'peak Apple' is behind us.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• The Rise of River: A Game-Changer in the Bitcoin Space

• Factors Influencing Thiel's Decision

• Implications of Thiel's Investment

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Peter Thiel, the renowned venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal, has recently made headlines with his bold move of investing $35 million in a Bitcoin startup called River. Thiel's investment in the cryptocurrency industry has sparked curiosity and debate among investors and industry experts. In this article, we will explore the reasons behind Thiel's decision to back River and delve into the potential implications of this move for the Bitcoin ecosystem.

The Rise of River: A Game-Changer in the Bitcoin Space

Understanding River's Mission

River is a Bitcoin startup founded in 2019 with a mission to make Bitcoin more accessible and user-friendly. The company aims to bridge the gap between traditional finance and the world of cryptocurrencies by providing institutional-grade Bitcoin financial services. River offers a suite of tools and services designed to simplify the process of buying, selling, and storing Bitcoin for both individual and institutional investors.

Thiel's Confidence in River's Vision

Peter Thiel's investment in River is a testament to his confidence in the startup's vision and potential. Thiel has a track record of backing disruptive and innovative companies, and his support for River indicates his belief in the transformative power of Bitcoin. By investing a substantial amount of capital, Thiel is betting on River's ability to drive mainstream adoption of Bitcoin and revolutionize the way people interact with the digital currency.

Factors Influencing Thiel's Decision

Growing Institutional Interest in Bitcoin

One of the key factors influencing Thiel's decision to invest in River is the increasing institutional interest in Bitcoin. In recent years, major financial institutions, including banks and asset management firms, have started to embrace cryptocurrencies and recognize their potential as an investment asset. Thiel, known for his keen insights into emerging trends, likely sees the institutional adoption of Bitcoin as a significant catalyst for its future growth.

Addressing Bitcoin's Accessibility Challenges

Bitcoin's mainstream adoption has been hindered by various challenges, including its complexity and lack of user-friendly infrastructure. River aims to tackle these hurdles by providing a seamless and secure platform for buying, selling, and storing Bitcoin. Thiel's investment in River indicates his belief that the startup's innovative solutions can address these accessibility challenges and make Bitcoin more user-friendly for a broader audience.

Potential for Bitcoin's Price Appreciation

Thiel's investment in River may also be driven by his belief in the long-term potential for Bitcoin's price appreciation. As an early advocate of Bitcoin, Thiel has consistently expressed his bullish stance on the digital currency. By investing in a Bitcoin startup like River, Thiel is positioning himself to benefit from the potential growth of the cryptocurrency market as a whole.

Implications of Thiel's Investment

Boosting Confidence in the Bitcoin Ecosystem

Thiel's investment in River not only provides the startup with substantial funding but also boosts confidence in the broader Bitcoin ecosystem. Thiel's track record as a successful investor and his reputation in the financial industry lend credibility to the potential of Bitcoin as a disruptive force in the world of finance. His endorsement of River may encourage other investors and institutions to take a closer look at Bitcoin and its underlying technology.

Accelerating Mainstream Adoption

Thiel's investment in River has the potential to accelerate the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin. River's focus on user-friendly financial services can attract a wider audience of investors who were previously hesitant to enter the cryptocurrency space. By providing a seamless and secure platform, River can help overcome the barriers that have prevented mainstream adoption, ultimately driving more people to embrace Bitcoin as a viable investment option.

Fostering Innovation in the Bitcoin Industry

Thiel's investment in River also fuels innovation in the Bitcoin industry. The injection of capital enables River to expand its operations, hire top talent, and further develop its suite of services. This infusion of resources can have a ripple effect, inspiring other entrepreneurs and startups to enter the Bitcoin ecosystem with their own innovative solutions. Thiel's backing of River may spark a wave of creativity and competition, ultimately driving the industry forward.

Conclusion

Peter Thiel's $35 million investment in the Bitcoin startup River is a bold move that highlights his confidence in the future of Bitcoin and the potential of innovative companies within the cryptocurrency space. Thiel's investment not only supports River's mission to make Bitcoin more accessible but also boosts confidence in the broader Bitcoin ecosystem. By addressing Bitcoin's accessibility challenges, River has the potential to drive mainstream adoption and accelerate the growth of the cryptocurrency market. Thiel's backing of River also fosters innovation within the industry, inspiring other entrepreneurs to develop their own groundbreaking solutions. With Thiel's strategic investment, River is well-positioned to make a significant impact on the Bitcoin landscape and shape the future of digital finance.

FAQ

Who is Peter Thiel? Peter Thiel is a renowned venture capitalist and co-founder of PayPal. He is known for his investments in disruptive and innovative companies.

What is River? River is a Bitcoin startup that aims to make Bitcoin more accessible and user-friendly by providing institutional-grade financial services for buying, selling, and storing Bitcoin.

Why did Peter Thiel invest in River? Peter Thiel invested in River because he believes in the startup's vision and potential to drive mainstream adoption of Bitcoin. He also sees the growing institutional interest in Bitcoin and the need to address its accessibility challenges.

What are the implications of Thiel's investment in River? Thiel's investment in River boosts confidence in the Bitcoin ecosystem, accelerates mainstream adoption, and fosters innovation within the industry.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnews

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co

Youtube: @croxroadnews

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ cbaa0c82:e9313245

TheWholeGrain - #October2024

October is the month of Halloween and just like last year the gang wanted to show off their costumes! Bread was even excited to put on the costume this year. Can you believe it?

October also brought us a famous piece of cover art in the comic book industry while also showing us a possible logo for the "Bread Industry" in the world of Bread and Toast. The Bitcoin Art for this past month got to feature all three pieces of bread to show that Bitcoin works for everyone regardless of where they are, and we also got to show off what is obviously a very important political campaign logo for Toast.

The Bakery got to add the Bread and Toast logo to the collection with a new painting by The Bitcoin Painter. Please check out The Bitcoin Painter as this isn't the first time he has contributed to Bread and Toast, and we promise it will not be the last. He also created another art piece this past month of Bread, Toast, and End-Piece preparing for a quest.

Last of all, Bread and Toast went to it's first live event Nostr Valley on October 12th. The gang got to hand out some goodies and even made its first merchandise sales! Ten exclusive metal cut-outs in the shape of a slice of bread were sold at the event and NOSTR Badges were given out to those folks he bought them! Another badge was also given to folks who posted and shared a free exclusive print that was also given out to event attendees. All in all, Bread and Toast got to spread awareness of what they are up to with some fellow Nostriches, and we got to hear some kind feedback from those who are already following our adventures!

October Sunday Singles 2024-10-06 | Sunday Single 060 Roar https://i.nostr.build/Qp9CYnaGOuprxTQ1.png

2024-10-13 | Sunday Single 061 Ruff https://i.nostr.build/v2OsYHVmbyN84q9T.png

2024-10-20 | Sunday Single 062 Banana Bread https://i.nostr.build/MgihZ6m2bQCv6krD.png

2024-10-27 Trick-or-Treat https://i.nostr.build/dfBBgXQXNTcpfUeu.png

Other Content Released in October 2024 2024-10-02 | Toast's Comic Collection WATCHBREAD #6 On Friday night, a piece of toast fried in New York. Somebody knows why. Down there... somebody knows. https://i.nostr.build/4CqkA8GJ47NqAmNu.png

2024-10-08 | Politics Toast Campaign Logo The Official Campaign Logo for Toast2024. https://i.nostr.build/EnBDx.png

2024-10-09 | Concept Art Early Website Logo Design This was an early design for the logo of the bread company in the story of Bread and Toast. https://i.nostr.build/v6B4v68kkqmjygZT.png

2024-10-12 | Nostr Valley Nostr Valley 2024 Promotional A Promotional Art Piece released on the morning of Nostr Valley 2024. https://i.nostr.build/MPYjaZctceimKUm8.png

2024-10-16 | Bitcoin Art All Over Bitcoin can be used by anyone from wherever they are! https://i.nostr.build/BAzdyuf88SPuzkxk.png

October Additions to The Bakery in 2024 2024-09-05 | npub1tx5ccpregnm9afq0xaj42hh93xl4qd3lfa7u74v5cdvyhwcnlanqplhd8g https://i.nostr.build/SOROIK29W7otS49V.png

New Nostr Badges 2024-10-08 | Nostr Valley 2024 https://i.nostr.build/plCE3CYU5jLShKGF.png

2024-10-08 | Nostr Valley 2024 - Exclusive https://i.nostr.build/z87KZrDAduJFmj8a.png

Nostr Valley 2024 Photos The Bread and Toast Merch Table at Nostr Valley https://i.nostr.build/S3UkvSIiClfbB1lt.jpg

Nostr Valley Attendees Showing Off the Free Print npub12ujuf2pf9qz66zvfrw0c2qx9jfyumxr28pn5575zry24z6aylqsqgnnume https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.nostr.build%2Fe1691abf44ac067862f6e216582f99bd758095494c3a263027a5568119dbd900.jpg

npub1crs0mukptfxs0crz5n0y26apf5tph3uc8l2pguet7rqdr8w2ze3snsjv6g https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.nostr.build%2Fd63678bc8e220b720d10df1ea6699e5180115c3a1ed887e493dba8508317233a.jpg

npub1a4za2sgwlp04q7wjgrt6e2plperxtle8hwge9a5lx5283up5n94sdmvnvq https://image.nostr.build/f82bf8c54aa623acdf88b24606c9ad319736a1b39c2b6b46706d3827de64b250.jpg

npub1luvpvkhauqy994y6fcf3djvpc7hszexpsyxqhs87g8fkrhtu5lcqylnmt5 https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.nostr.build%2F90lc1SRTwX7HlCBX.jpg

Exclusive Steel Cut-Outs Made as Merchandise for Nostr Valley 2024 npub1lhezms58jx4yer60y3wzldc83fdez3j4rc4ue3edhz5qv3wxfsgqhhw94n https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.nostr.build%2F70dbb8f91719e30bddbcf925e7309a770c7f585efe491eaf958b0fe48f1f8421.jpg

npub1a6c3jcdj23ptzcuflek8a04f4hc2cdkat95pd6n3r8jjrwyzrw0q43lfrr https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.nostr.build%2F4124dd10fc5ac3ce1c7c0c267021b3207f789b491ca8a5fc644566eb25960d6a.jpg

npub1yx6pjypd4r7qh2gysjhvjd9l2km6hnm4amdnjyjw3467fy05rf0qfp7kza of CornyChat.com helping npub16e3vzr7dk2uepjcnl85nfare3kdapxge08gr42s99n9kg7xs8xhs90y9v6 make Cornbread! https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.nostr.build%2FkAV4C402FHL3vh9Z.jpg

Bread and Toast wants to give a special thank you to npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424 and npub15u3cqhx6vuj3rywg0ph5mfv009lxja6cyvqn2jagaydukq6zmjwqex05rq! This wonderful opportunity allowed Bread and Toast to have its first trial at merchandise sales and also provided a live platform to share our content with folks using Nostr that may not have been previously aware of this project. You guys did a great job with the event! Thanks again! https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fi.nostr.build%2FkUZD3TKl5yz1VmB1.jpg

Last of all, thank you to everyone who came to Nostr Valley! https://primal.b-cdn.net/media-cache?s=o&a=1&u=https%3A%2F%2Fimage.nostr.build%2F68bd53e745229b9dbb001879ec4a07183eee8be4e8a9930cced2c7c433da9806.jpg

Bonus: Fan Photo npub1n0pdxnwa4q7eg2slm5m2wjrln2hvwsxmyn48juedjr3c85va99yqc5pfp6 of Zap.Cooking ended up making soggy bread! We'll be waiting for the recipe! https://image.nostr.build/13f2254f07d2c07fb5f44ae1f9c1a96ac75bdbf328a1f4a6fd514a93f1f95b1e.jpg note1m7hf6lz7glefeayu6yqqt99z77gzdlf9j232sps6psn29vxxhwss5w589m

We hope you enjoyed the second issue of The Whole Grain. The Whole Grain is released on the first of every month and covers all of the content released by npub1ew4qeq576v3vz4gukeseknqghx3x4jtlld8ftys9amrca6f3xfzsrm8jpd in the previous month.

Thanks for checking everything out! Bread, Toast, and End-Piece

BreadandToast #SundaySingle #ToastsComicCollection #ConceptArt #BitcoinArt #TheBakery #Bread #Toast #EndPiece #Artstr #Comic #Cartoon #NostrValley #NostrOnly #🖼️

@ 0be0ab80:b6c2b58c

When it comes to education and adoption, it's essential to focus on the foundation, which begins already with the youngsters and their mentors.

If you've already checked out the main page of our Geyser campaign explaining more about the overall mission of Bitcoin Junior Club + our goals, you might remember that organizing short events and meet-ups for kids is one of them.

For this particular point, we hadn’t planned to start this year due to limited funding and resources, but sometimes life has other plans. There was a gift from the stars we couldn’t ignore... 😮💫

Less than a month ago, we were given the opportunity to organize [a dedicated space for children and families at this year’s Adopting Bitcoin in El Salvador.

• You can find more details on this in the links shared below(*).
• Huge thanks to the organizers, especially Kiki and Kemal, for their trust and a wonderful collaboration!

Here’s where it gets important, where your role may come in:

Both Adopting Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Junior Club are non-profit projects, built on strong values and integrity, which limits the potential for large-scale funding.

The entire Bitcoin Para Niños space and program are funded by our personal resources.

---

✅ Our input also includes countless hours of non-paid preparation and work.

✅ Adopting Bitcoin has covered costs for renting the dedicated venue space, essential equipment, about 40% of our travel costs, one entry ticket to the conference.

✅ While we’ve received support from other projects through hands-on help during the event and donations of unique materials (THANK YOU EVERYONE), still Bitcoin Junior Club is self-funding many other necessary items (books, toys, stickers, decorations, printouts, and creative supplies)—all of which will be used for rewards, keepsakes, and the program itself.

✅ We’re also covering a significant portion of our travel expenses, including the rest of the flight for one person (Europe - El Salvador and back), extra luggage allowance, and accommodations.

This mission is powered by passion and the belief in a better tomorrow, one where sovereign generations lead the way. But passion alone doesn’t pay the bills, and the budget for this project (Bitcoin Junior Club especially now with its part at Bitcoin Para Niños) is coming straight from family savings, which we hope to replenish over time.

If you’d like to support our shared mission to inspire young minds with values like Bitcoin, freedom, creativity, and critical thinking, consider sending us some sats. Every amount counts.

Thank you 🧡 Bitcoin Junior Club

---

(*)

1. "Bitcoin and El Salvador: Education, Adoption, Freedom!" —
2. https://thebitcoinstreetjournal.com/ab2024-bitcoin-para-ninos-and-btc-junior-club-for-sovereign-generations/
3. "Empowering the Next Generation: AB2024 with Spotlight on Kids and Families" — https://bitcoinnews.com/press-release/bitcoin-para-ninos-adopting-bitcoin-2024/
4. DJ Valerie B LOVE Show — [LIVE] Adopting Bitcoin in El Salvador - Kemal +Kiki + Sela: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guvnKp_H6-U

@ c5fede3d:16e03f7b

El Día Después ha terminado, y todo sigue igual. Se apagan los lamentos y llega la resignación. Toca trabajar duro y esperar a que venga la ayuda. Pasan los minutos, las horas, y no llega nada. Los políticos se esconden, alguno aparece ataviado con un equipo propio de la serie Top Gun, por supuesto, en el área menos afectada de la denominada ‘zona cero’. Hay que preservar la integridad de nuestros representantes, no vaya a ser que pillen un resfriado por ayudar a los damnificados. Un selfie y de vuelta al coche oficial. No se olvide a darle like, buen ciudadano, eso sí, cuando vuelva Internet, sin prisas.

Hay que seguir adelante, pero afloran los problemas, sobre todo en los pueblos. Allí reina la anarquía, son múltiples las disputas por una pieza de fruta, y esto es sinónimo de pelea. Muchos hacen acaparamiento y se aprovechan de la ayuda vecinal, son los de siempre, los okupas y los egoístas, los que antes actuaban así y mirábamos para otro lado, pero, tras el Día Después, ya no nos podemos permitir ese lujo. Otros se dan cuenta, ellos también quieren comer, y la desesperación entra en juego. Ahora gana el más fuerte, mera supervivencia, como en las películas y series pos-apocalípticas que usted veía tranquilamente por la noche en su casa. Las fuerzas del orden hacen lo que pueden con los pocos medios que tienen, la ‘zona cero’ exige triplicar esfuerzos, y a veces, no es suficiente. Cae la noche, y en algunos pueblos hay un toque de queda auto-impuesto, es hora de dejar la pala, se desmontan los puestos de recogida. Si el día es peligroso, imaginen pasadas las 20:00. Los robos y saqueos aumentan, quedan desvalijadas las farmacias, los supermercados, la mayoría por necesidad.

¿Y ahora qué? Es la hora de los iluminados, de aquellos que se disfrazaron para Halloween, mientras sigue aumentando el número de víctimas. <>, claman algunos. <>, afirman otros con rotundidad. Y ahí está la clave. De todo se aprende, y ahora se buscará la aclamación popular para que el Gobierno esté habilitado para una intervención exagerada e invasiva a costa de nuestros derechos. La inacción crea inseguridad, la inutilidad genera convencimiento y la maldad trae evidencia. Aprendamos de Valencia, de cómo fuimos abandonados. Distingan al lobo que se oculta tras la piel del cordero, pues ellos traerán a los vigilantes para acabar con los robos y los saqueos. Qué bien suena sobre el papel, pero, ¿confiarás tu seguridad en aquellos que generaron estos mismos problemas?, y sobre todo, ¿quién vigilará a los vigilantes?

@ 6bae33c8:607272e8

It’s our last day at the resort, and Sasha came down with chicken pox. She’s fine, but miserable, and as a result we’re leaving in an hour or so, so I had to watch the five-minute highlights version as I wait for the buffet to open to bring her some fruit.

Suffering kid aside, that game went perfectly for me. I had the Jets ATS in the picking pool — the Texans are smoke and mirrors now on offense, and the defense is only decent.

I also started Aaron Rodgers narrowly over C.J. Stroud and thank God for that. While I briefly considered Dalton Schultz at TE, I decided against it and stuck with Jonnu Smith. And I had Tank Dell in at WR who did his part. Basically after two horrific weeks, it was a perfect game as far as I was concerned and a great start to the week. My only regret is not using the Jets in the Circa contest.

• The Jets tree is the narrowest of all with only Davante Adams, Garrett Wilson and Breece Hall. There is no one else, and Malachi Corley surely won’t be joining that mix after fumbling for no reason on an easy TD.

• Joe Mixon produces whenever he’s healthy. The Texans like to run the ball and play conservatively, so he’s always heavily involved.

• Dell and Schultz were the only ones who got more than three targets. Robert Woods, John Metchie and Xavier Hutchinson were non-factors, and that’s even with Nico Collins still out.

• Stroud is playing under brutal conditions right now, and while Collins’ return should ease those somewhat, the offensive line problems and coaching is here to stay. I regret drafting him in two leagues — I don’t think the Texans will fix it this year.

• Rodgers’ line was nice, but heavily boosted by two tough TD grabs by Garrett Wilson. He’s lucky to have Wilson and Adams, but that offense is still not really in sync, either.

@ 45bda953:bc1e518e

Trump, Musk, CXDC and the Dept of Governmental Efficiency

This whole essay is an exposition on why I think it's possible that Donald Trump is one of the heads of the beast from the sea and Elon Musk is the beast who rises from the earth as is written and prophesied in Revelation chapter 13 of the Holy Bible New King James Version also alluding to the Koine Greek manuscript. If you are not interested in biblical exposition of scripture I do not blame you. Go look at the charts, see bitcoin number go up, go on polymarket and place a bet on Trumps election win, much more fun. I am not trying to convert anyone to Christianity because I don't care about your soul or the state of your personal relationship with god. I am writing this because I get a narcissistic pleasure from being right about things over and over and over again. I am writing this because I find it fun to point back in time and say, "I knew it." I am not trying to use bitcoin or science fiction stories as bait to trick anyone into reading bible verses and converting them to my supposed faith. In fact I get very annoyed with self righteous preacher types using tropes and gotcha moments to try and guilt trip people into saying a prayer and yippee ki yay, now you get to go to heaven with me. I find it retarded and very insulting to the actual meat and potatoes of what is a very deeply intelligently compiled and mysterious history book. So scrap all the preconceived notions you have about someone quoting bible verses and give me neutral territory as I try to expound on the abstract concepts contained within an ancient text.

Here goes...

My father was visiting us. I woke up early in the morning, laying in bed I habitually took my phone to check the news. I was met with a flurry of online commotion and frantic urgency. The internet was on fire with Donald Trump's assassination attempt. The news was a couple of hours fresh and already every conceivable conspiracy was permeating all the digital town squares. My father is always up early and I called to him "Someone tried to take out Donald Trump!" My dad turned on his laptop and started to follow the story which was a developing current event. No one had yet put together all the pieces. Still wearing my pyjamas I walked into the lounge where my dad was busy catching up with the news. Holding my phone I said to him "Elon Musk is going to endorse Donald Trump." He looked at me with a questioning look and asked me why I would say something like that. It was a totally irrelevant and weird thing to say considering the circumstances. I told him that I know of no other entity who can make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men. My dad thought I was being a bit nutty. To me it felt surreal.

Symbolism is always used in prophecy as a type of meme to condense complex systems often with abstract connotations into an archetype that can communicate the complex idea across time. This archetype allows the memetic symbolism to break through the obstacles of cultural jargon and evolution of language allowing the reader, to in his own time of being, find value or make sense of the text in spite of his modern world views. The books of Revelation and Daniel are especially difficult to understand and to sort the data into a quantifiable or practical structure is a pain. This is by design.

Daniel Chapter 12:4 (circa 530 BC Ancient Babylonia, modern Iraq.)

"But you, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book until the time of the end; many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.

Revelation Chapter 22:10 (95-96 AD Isle of Patmos, a small Greek island in the Aegean sea.)

"And he said to me, Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand."

Revelation and Daniel are keys that unlock and reference back and forth to each other across time but there is a third key which locks the books up leaving humanity always speculating and hypothesising until this third key gradually decrypts the occult of eschatological prophecy. This key is simply time. The chaos of nature and history is recorded by the predictable linearity of time condensing it into the ever present now. It was in that moment of time that the identity of Trump and Elon being figures of import in the annals of history, that realisation and the profundity of it made the moment so surreal to me.

I am going to quote the verses of Revelation Chapter 13 one at a time and give a running commentary of each as I do. There are 18 of them.

John is as a third person looking at the vision from the outside in. He also has a guide standing next to him explaining to him what he is witnessing. Almost like the architect explaining to Neo what is what in the TV screen room or like Morpheus trying to make known to Neo the situation in the real world in the white room using dramatic visual effects to convey his point. John was not in the real world's future but a symbolic projection of it. The Koine Greek differs somewhat to the King James I am also going to attempt a literal translation of phrases.

1: And stood (The Dragon)-stationed upon the sand of the sea, and I saw out of the sea a beast rising up, having horns ten and heads seven, and upon the horns of it diadems ten, and upon the heads of it names of blasphemy -slander.

The Dragon is the infamous Satan. The serpent of old. In Greek the word satan translates literally to the word opponent. That is why Satan (the character) does not exist in the Hebrew old testament as satan the definition. In Revelation chapter 12 the woman id est Christianity is attacked by the dragon who is furious that his leverage in heaven has been neutralised and him banished/exiled from it. The dragon is on a rampage to destroy the woman and her offspring. Christianity as an ideology of self sacrifice in service of others is the target of the dragons wrath (this self sacrifice in service of others as primary ethos is the inevitable demise of the dragon as seen through the action and accomplishment of Jesus Christ and Satoshi Nakamoto) and he summons forth the beast from the sea to do his will on earth to the advantage of his wrath. In this case I am going to be ambiguous and say that the dragon is a creature of financial power. Not limited to a specific people or culture but to various groups of people across time who love money and worship it to the point of harming human life to gain more of it. The love of money being the root of all kinds of evil - Timothy 6:10. A so called principality of the air. An intangible enemy animated by the weakness of human greed and lust. This banking force has a Rothschild like proclivity to absorb power through control of wealth. Welcome to the stage - The Dragon! (Applause) The dragon being a force of wealth has no tangible power in and of itself, it's power has to transcend the abstraction of finance into kinetic, it has to summon more efficate abstractions that can channel kinetic energy to achieve it's goals primarily that of eternal incumbency. This beast summoned out of the sea is government. If the finance can control bullet/sword/arrow/bombs then the Dragon can control this oceanic summoned beast. This beast is a chimera of sorts and we will get to defining it in more detail. The sea is mostly a symbol for mankind, the beast is summoned from and compiled of the nations of earth.

2: And the beast which I saw was like a leopard, and the feet of it as of a bear, and the mouth of it as a mouth of a lion. And gave to it the dragon the power of it and the throne of it and authority -right -privilege -freedom great.

Leopard: The leopard is often associated with agility, speed, and deadly force. In Daniel, the leopard represented the Greek Empire, known for its swift conquests under Alexander the Great. For the beast in Revelation, "like a leopard" suggests a similar capacity for rapid expansion or cunning.

Feet of a Bear: Bears are typically associated with strength and endurance. In Daniel 7, the bear represents the Medo-Persian Empire, known for its formidable military power. For the beast, "feet like those of a bear" symbolises an unstoppable or heavy force, capable of trampling or dominating.

Mouth of a Lion: A lion’s mouth represents authority, fearlessness, and perhaps fierceness in speech or command. In Daniel, the lion represented Babylon, an empire with significant authority and grandeur. For the beast in Revelation, a "mouth like a lion" suggests the beast’s capacity to speak with commanding authority and to blaspheme with boldness without being held to account.

This beast has expansionist and empiric type ambition. Let's call it England, no wait 1800's called and said don't blame me for NATO. Okay I concede, USA. The current year seat of power from where the beast bullies all into submission was gained through retaining it's control of finance through war. Be it gold, oil, or international trade, war or threat of it was the prima facie mechanism of enforcement. Babylonia in all it's glory for millennia through the rotations of power. This powerful beast bows only to one master, gold/finance. Even offering it's seat of power to the dragon. Government is physically capable of snubbing the dragon like the founding fathers snubbed England and it's royally decreed gold backed notes, the pound sterling (in the late 1700's). But the dragon is an insidious loathsome reptile, creeping and scheming, finding it's ways through the cracks of human fallibility. Enter the Federal Reserve and United States Treasury.

3: And one of the heads of it as having been slain -wounded to death -mortally, and the wound of the death -mortality of it was healed -cured. And marvelled -wondered the whole earth after the beast.

This is where Trump comes into the picture. As a head of state - head of the beast. The news with regard to his assassination attempt survival brought this verse to mind. I literally saw the entire chapter play out before my eyes as the implications became evident.

4: And they worshipped the dragon who gave the authority to the beast, and they worshipped the beast, saying: “Who is like -similar to the beast, and who is able -capable to war -battle against it?”

The whole mainstream media worldwide, alternative media, you name it. Trump was a household discussion on all continents. The united states presidential race and the imminent collapse of the financial system was all brought into the limelight of civilisation. So according to this verse a lot of sabre rattling is about to take place on the geopolitical map as Trump's presidency becomes obvious. Other powers want to divide territory and quickly while a pathetic and moronic Biden is babbling geriatric nonsense from the oval office. The leadership of the world was way calmer when they thought Harris was going to take the presidency, as soon as they realised a strong charismatic leader was once again going to take the reigns in the most powerful seat of military might in the world they scrambled to place their pieces on the chess board so as to have some negotiation leverage when Trump comes to their table.

5: And was given to it a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies -slanders, and was given to it authority to act -work -perform forty-two months.

This alludes to the fact that leadership is rarely held to account for their words because there is no authority above them to hold them accountable. It is hard to stay humble in this position of power. The forty two month implies the active duty of a presidential term in the United States of America.

6: And it opened the mouth of it in blasphemies -slanders against God, to blaspheme -slander the name of Him and the tabernacle -dwelling -sanctuary of Him, those dwelling in heaven.

I cannot tell you how this will play out. Because I honestly do not know and when I try to speculate about it my mind comes up blank. As far as I am concerned America is supposed to be a Christian nation. Maybe the blasphemy is that America does what is heathen and repulsive while claiming to be Christian, I don't know. A religion of science and capitalism seems to have replaced Christianity as a dominant cultural ideology in the seat of Empire.

7: And was given to it to make war against the saints -holy ones, and to overcome -conquer them, and was given to it authority over every tribe and people and language -tongue and nation.

This war is a war of attrition and culture within itself. Politics has humiliated and defeated the power of noble Christian endeavour in the United States. Deuteronomy promises that the country has to be overrun by heathen nations as punishment for this failure. Just look at the border. Through dollar reserve currency dominance the whole world -tribe/people/language is held captive and beholden to the United states.

8: And will worship it all those dwelling upon the earth, whose names have not been written in the book of the life of the Lamb -young sheep having been slain from the foundation of the world.

I do not pretend that everyone who supports the United States as a world power is evil. I don't believe it. But when the damage to life, liberty and property is violated so mercilessly by an Empire, those who harbour disgust and resentment and refuse to bow to it's ambition inevitably are crushed by it. Hating/resisting the dollar never made anyone rich. Until Jan 3rd 2009.

9: If anyone has an ear, let him hear.

If you know or don't know. Does not really matter, it is inevitable.

10: If anyone captivity into captivity he goes; if anyone with a sword kills, it is necessary him with a sword to be killed. Here is the endurance -steadfastness and the faith -belief of the saints -holy ones.

Basically it says to buy out the time, be peaceful and have hope. Bad shit is going to happen. Be content, aware and persevere.

11: And I saw another beast rising out of the earth, and it had horns two like a lamb -young sheep, and it spoke as a dragon.

This my friends, is Elon Musk. Born from free market capitalism with a healthy dose of socialist support. The banks and markets gave him his power. The financial institutions brought him forth. He is not a product of government. To the contrary, government has only inhibited his ability to achieve his goals.

12: And the authority of the first beast all it exercises before -in the presence of it, and it causes the earth and those dwelling in it that they will worship the first beast, whose wound of the death -mortality was healed.

Okay so this is where I came from when I told my dad that Elon was going to endorse Trump he literally endorsed him a couple of hours later on X. Now, as a student of history and having dabbled in eschatology as a hobby for many nihilistic and depressing years. Never before has my assumed prediction come true the next day. But in hindsight it's obvious, I mean who would not endorse Trump. Mark Zuckerface endorsed Trump, right? Elon went the full Monty jumping around on stage chanting USA! Endorsing Trump so hard Trump had to get out of the way. Elon is endorsing Trump so hard Trump could go home. Elon will run the campaign for him, without him. It is amazing to see.

13: And it does great signs -wonders, so that also fire it should make to come down out of heaven to the earth before men -humans.

Now let's put a cherry on this cake. This is the verse that so effortlessly popped into my head as I was looking at the imagery of blood splattered on Trumps face. Pumping his fist into the air. I said. "Elon Musk is going to endorse Donald Trump." He looked at me with a questioning look and asked me why I would say something like that. It was a totally irrelevant and weird thing to say considering the circumstances. I told him that I know of no other entity who can make fire come down from heaven in the sight of men." A couple of months later the super heavy booster gets caught by Mechazilla's chopsticks and the whole world marvelled again. I was so deep into uncanny valley I was Alice falling and falling. In 2017 some prophecies surrounding Revelations chapter 12 became fulfilled and it was meaningful to me. I enjoyed seeing a 2000 year old text consummate a relationship with reality. This was not the same. This was like bam! bam! You want some prophetic fulfillment, do you punk? Bam!

14: And it deceives those dwelling upon the earth through the signs -wonders which it was given to it to do before the beast, telling those dwelling upon the earth to make an image to the beast which has the wound of the sword and has lived -survived.

Okay so now I am back to speculation. Here I am writing this in the now. I have the past behind us. We now look forward into tomorrow. Remember - This is speculation on my part. Elon Musk establishes the department of governmental efficiency. It is a fun app connecting you directly to the upper echelons of governance. Cutting out the bureaucrats and middlemen. This D.O.G.E. makes everything much more convenient and efficient centralising and distributing the functions of government, reducing costs dramatically but also manages to audit and census the populace in real time. The citizens get Grocked by Grock if you will.

15: And it was given to it to give breath -spirit -life to the image of the beast, that also should speak the image of the beast and should cause -make -effect that as many as would not worship the image of the beast would be killed -put to death.

His simulacra of government becomes integrated with AI to the extent that you pledge allegiance to the app of the United States of America. Government becomes you constant companion, search engine, personal assistant. You think FBI exercise apps are creepy. Wait until government bucks you up when you have a down day.

16: And it causes all, the small and the great and the rich and the poor and the free and the slaves, that they should give to them a mark upon the hand of them the right or upon the forehead of them,

Is this simply a phone with an app in your hand. Right hand just suggesting most people are right handed? And does it suggest that the especially devout go get a Neuralink? I dunno.

17: and that no one would be able -capable to buy or to sell, except the one having the mark, the name of the beast or the number of the name of it.

He integrates the dollar and the use of it into X and all avenues of trade and commerce is conveniently migrated onto Starlink as infrastructure. The CXDC instead of a CBDC.

18: Here is the wisdom. The one having understanding, let him calculate -count the number of the beast; for a man’s number it is, and the number of it six hundred sixty-six.

In Gollums voice:

I know what it is. It's probably in your pocketses right now, your precious.

No, no, no, it cannot be my love.

Oh but it is precious, it is.

I know, I know, I hates it, I hates it.

We must serve the precious. The one dollar bill. Lol.

Post Script:

I don't think Elon Musk and Donald Trump are evil. I think they are cool dudes driven by very normal and natural incentives given their position and accomplishments. Just as Trump is about to once again be the head of the great statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream so too was Nebuchadnezzar just a dude doing his thing in his time and position. I have no hate for them, in fact I enjoy seeing them do their thing, it is impressive, entertaining and cool as hell. No pun intended.

I don't fear an apocalyptic future because I have made myself impervious to it by buying and holding Bitcoin. I don't give a fuck because I am possessed by the spirit of the honey badger and the cyber hornet. Which reminds me. Bitcoin is the promised land in cyberspace. But Bitcoiners should stay humble because nothing you did compares to what you got through no effort of your own. You owe your thanks to Satoshi and all the developers who made self custody possible and continue to build a world which maximises freedom, prosperity and personal responsibility.

Joshua 24:12-15

'I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labour, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.' Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River/Rubicon, and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

Gotcha.

...

bitbib

@ e1ff3bfd:341be1af

Over the last few months it feels the bitcoin community has gotten more and more jaded on lightning. To be honest, this is for good reason, back in 2017 we were promised a decentralized payment network that would always have cheap payments and everyone would be able to run their own node. Nowadays, the average lightning user actually isn't using lightning, they are just using a custodial wallet and the few of that do run lightning nodes often find it a burdensome task. For us at Mutiny Wallet, we are trying to make this better by creating a lightweight self-custodial wallet and in my opinion we have been executing on that dream fairly well. In this post, I'll analyze these issues and present a new way to view lightning and what that means for bitcoin going forward.

First and foremost one of the hardest UX challenges of lightning is channel liquidity. No other payment system has these problems today besides lightning so this often confuses lots of users. To make matters worse, there aren't any practical hacks that we can do to get around this. Muun Wallet used an on-chain wallet + submarine swaps to get around the channel liquidity problem, this worked very well until fees went up and everyone realized it wasn't actually a lightning wallet. The better solution is JIT liquidity like we do in Mutiny or splicing like that is done in Phoenix. These solutions abstract some of it away but not enough, we often get support questions confused on why some payments have fees and others do not. The fact is channel liquidity is not a usable UX for most end users.

The other major pain point of lightning is the offline receive problem. Inherently, you must be online with your private keys to sign and claim a payment. There is technically an ongoing spec proposal to be able to work around this (essentially creating a notification system of when people are online to receive payments), but it doesn't solve the fundamental problem and still has limitations. There has been a few attempts to get around this, most notably was Zeus Pay lightning addresses. These essentially worked by just creating stuck payments and waited for the user to come online to claim, this caused a ton of problems for people and even forced us at Mutiny to block users from paying them because it caused so many force closures. This is a hard problem because the entire rest of the bitcoin/crypto ecosystem works by just copy-paste an address and you can send to it whenever, there isn't caveats around asking your friend to open their wallet. This is further exacerbated by things like lightning address that requires a webserver to even get an invoice in the first place.

Channel liquidity and offline receives in my opinion are the two most obvious reasons why self-custodial lightning is not popular. When most users hear about any of these, they just think screw that and move to a custodial wallet because it is so much easier. If these were our only two problems, I think self-custodial lightning would be fine, it may never be the predominant way people use lightning, but we could get the UX good enough that we have a significant portion of people using lightning in a sovereign way. However, there are more problems under the surface.

Channel liquidity is a problem, but it is also deceptive. When you have 100k sats of inbound liquidity you would think you could receive up to 100k sats, but this isn't the case, often you can't actually receive any. This is because of on-chain fees, when a payment is being made in lightning you are creating pre-signed transactions that have outputs for every in-flight payment, these outputs cost potential on-chain fees and the high on-chain fees go the more it eats into your liquidity. After we've solved most of our force close issues Mutiny this has been number one support request. Even if you do everything right, understand liquidity and have enough for your payment, sometimes it still won't work because on-chain fees are too high. This is always really discouraging because isn't the whole point of lightning to not have to pay on-chain fees? Fundamentally, all current lightning channels could become entirely useless if on-chain fees went high enough because a single payment would require too many reserves. Obviously this is hyperbolic, but I hope I am getting the point across that on-chain fees don't just effect the opening and closing costs of channels, even if you are a diligent node runner that only opens channels when fees are low, that is not enough, your channels need to be large enough to pay for the on-chain fees of each HTLC at any future on-chain fee rate. As on-chain fees go up and up this problem will only get worse.

The proposed solution to these reserve issues are things like anchor channels, package relay, ephemeral anchors, etc. These are all well and good but kind of just mask the problem. They do solve it so the fee reserve can be much lower and possibly zero, however with the tradeoff that you need on-chain funds available to fee-bump your force closes so they can actually get into a block. This again breaks the UX for self-custodial users because they have hold on-chain funds alongside their lightning funds so they can do those on-chain fee bumps. The size requirements for their on-chain funds is still dynamically based on how high on-chain fees can spike. Solutions for this can include having someone else bump your transaction fees but this brings basically a trusted 3rd party into the mix and isn't ideal.

When you lay out all the different tradeoffs a lightning node needs to make, especially in a high fee environment, it makes me think, what are we doing here, are we going down the wrong path? Lightning is still fundamentally a fantastic payment protocol but its limitation is that it requires scale. Basically every problem I've outlined goes away when you have a large lightning node with lots of liquidity and high uptime so many we should optimize for that. The market has been telling us this for years already, +90% of lightning users are using custodial wallets because it works so much better at scale. So how can we use large scale lightning nodes without custodial wallets?

Combining existing large scale lightning infrastructure with self-custodial solutions sadly, isn't totally possible. The only real way to do that as of now is Muun Wallet which as we talked about earlier, doesn't really solve the problem because everything is just an on-chain transaction. However, Muun was onto something. The architecture of having a simpler protocol interface with lightning is genius and gives us the best of both worlds. We can make fast cheap payments and let the big boys collect fees for running the lightning node. Aqua Wallet just launched which is essentially a Muun Wallet but on top of Liquid, this is a good bandaid fix but doesn't get to the root of the problem.

Before we go further we should take a step back and break down what problems we are trying to solve. Bitcoin has a fundamental scaling limitation through the block size, if we could make infinite, then we wouldn't necessarily need any layer 2s because we could just make on-chain payments. However, we live in the real world and have a 1mb block size limit, and this limits the number of transactions we can make on-chain. Lightning is a huge improvement to bitcoin because we don't need to put every transaction on-chain, we just need to open a channel and can make seemingly countless payments. So why isn't lightning the silver bullet? Lightning lets us move payments off-chain but what it doesn't do is let us move ownership off-chain. Fundamentally lightning still relies on that, at the end of the day, a utxo goes to single user. So even if every on-chain transaction was a lightning channel, we still run into the limit of how many people can actually own those channels. What we need is another layer 2 that can scale utxo ownership and caninterop with lightning, that way we have a way to scale ownership combined with scaling payments.

So how do we scale ownership? Simply put, the answer today is custody, whether that is pure custodial like a Wallet of Satoshi or in the grey area like fedimints and liquid, the only way to do it today is through custody or federated bridges. In bitcoin, the only way to delegate ownership of a utxo to multiple parties is through multisig, however, that requires every user to be online when anyone wants to transact, and when you take go down this path far enough you end up just reinventing lightning.

Are we doomed then? Is there no way to scale bitcoin in a self-sovereign way? Luckily, the answer is no, but we need some soft-forks. Covenants are the way to scale bitcoin ownership. There are a bunch of covenant proposals but at their core what they propose to do is to add a way, so you can have a bitcoin address that limits where and how the coins in it can be spent. This can seem scary, but we already have these in bitcoin today, OP_CTLV (Check LockTime Verify), which was soft forked in 2016, only allows you to spend from a bitcoin address if the transaction has a given locktime, this lets you gate when a utxo can be spent. What the current covenant proposals do is let you gate where a utxo can be spent. With that simple primitive many different protocols can be built that allow for scaling ownership.

There are a lot of current covenant proposals, the main ones being: OP_CTV, OP_VAULT, OP_CSFS, OP_TXHASH, OP_CAT, and APO. They all have different functionality and tradeoffs but in my opinion we should be looking towards activating a form of covenants because otherwise we will likely be moving towards a future of less sovereign bitcoin users.

The future is not bleak however, even without covenants we can still scale bitcoin for the world, just not in the ideal way. At Mutiny, we are full steam ahead on implementing fedimint into the wallet, in my opinion (and the rest of the team's) it looks like the best current scaling solution for bitcoin. Fedimints give us the ability to dynamically share ownership over a group of utxos and is able to interop with lightning through gateways. It is the pinnacle of the scaling dream for bitcoin with current technology and I can't wait to help make it reality while we can.

@ 081f3b0c:c00498a5

Después de escribir mi primer artículo en este blog me di cuenta (o mejor dicho, me hicieron darme cuenta) de que, si voy a escribir para no-coiners (término afectivo para referirme a quienes no poseen ni un Satoshi ni ninguna shitcoin), tengo que empezar por el principio. Antes de contarles lo difícil o lo ameno que puede ser su viaje en la red de Bitcoin, necesito contarles al menos qué carajo es, o por qué lo necesitan en sus vidas. Porque claro, este sitio donde escribo funciona con nostr, y tanto quienes escribimos aquí como la mayoría de quienes nos leen somos bitcoiners. Muchos estamos orientados a la tecnología o la criptografía, y todos nosotros hablamos de Bitcoin y su "magia"; nos entendemos entre nosotros y rara vez volvemos a las bases o nos tomamos el tiempo de explicar por qué el mundo necesita Bitcoin y, sobre todo, por qué cada individuo debería tener sus propias llaves. Solemos decir frases hechas como “not your keys, not your Bitcoin”, “have fun staying poor” o la famosa cita del mismísimo Satoshi: “Si no me crees o no lo entiendes, no tengo tiempo para tratar de convencerte, lo siento”.

Satoshi (una persona o grupo de personas) publicó un documento de 9 páginas con el objetivo de crear un sistema de pagos entre personas, sin intermediarios de confianza. Una red P2P (peer-to-peer) o, en español, una red de pares. A diferencia de una red convencional, donde un servidor central controla la información y varios usuarios acceden a él, en una red de pares todos los nodos son iguales, y todos los nodos de Bitcoin guardan la misma información. En el white paper, Satoshi explicó en detalle cómo funcionaría la red y, unos meses después, lanzó oficialmente Bitcoin. Saltando 15 años de historia para tener material para futuros artículos (y también para evitar que te duermas leyendo), llegamos al presente: la red de pagos sin intermediarios es un éxito rotundo.

Resulta que yo no soy Satoshi, pero voy a tratar de convencerte, y hoy sí tengo tiempo para hacerlo.

Un día como hoy se publicó el white paper de Bitcoin. Te recomiendo que, ahora mismo o al terminar de leer esto, le des una mirada. Puede que lo entiendas completamente o que no lo comprendas del todo, pero es necesario que lo intentes. Este "papelito" hermoso cambió la historia.

Ya hablaremos del cómo, pero lo importante es que funciona. Por primera vez en la historia, se ha logrado construir un dinero 100 % digital, que no depende de bancos ni de gobiernos, ni de empresas o personas individuales. Depende únicamente de la red y de las reglas pactadas hace 15 años, que son inamovibles: están escritas en piedra y reforzadas por miles de nodos individuales alrededor del mundo. Es la red más robusta del planeta y cada día crece más en usuarios, nodos y mineros. Bitcoin puede usarse para una infinidad de cosas: desde el propio dinero P2P que Satoshi proponía, hasta aplicaciones mucho más avanzadas, como la verificación de la transparencia en elecciones. Y, por si no ha quedado claro, repito: estamos ante la red más robusta del mundo. No criticaré a las altcoins en este artículo porque no es la intención, pero sepan que la red de Bitcoin deja obsoletas a todas las demás. Todo lo que hacen las altcoins puede hacerse en Bitcoin: más rápido, más barato y, sobre todo, más seguro. Entraremos en detalles de esto en otros artículos.

Volviendo a la pregunta inicial: ¿por qué quiero Bitcoin?

Ahora ya sabemos que Bitcoin es la moneda de la red más segura del mundo y no depende de nadie. Pero por qué querés elegir una moneda que se respalda en una red y un protocolo y no en un gobierno? Puede que nunca te hayan confiscado los ahorros en un corralito, como en Argentina en 2001, o que nunca hayas experimentado la inflación desenfrenada como en Venezuela. Quizás no te importa que millones de personas no tengan acceso a una cuenta bancaria porque para vos los bancos son algo obvio y normal. Puede que estés viviendo con “privilegios financieros” y no te hayas dado cuenta... todavía. Bitcoin, al ser un dinero sin intermediarios ni custodios, y al no depender de ningún gobierno ni banco, puede ser almacenado por el usuario, quien es el único propietario de sus Bitcoin. Es inconfiscable, de ahí la importancia de la custodia y las llaves privadas. Además, la oferta total de Bitcoin en circulación es de 21,000,000 de unidades. Ni una más, ni una menos. Nadie, por más poder o influencia que tenga, puede imprimir más Bitcoin, ni inflacionarlo, ni devaluar tus ahorros. Por si fuera poco, Bitcoin es libre de censura: un cubano puede transferir Bitcoin a un argentino, o viceversa, sin importar las restricciones de capital en sus países. No se puede censurar una transacción de Bitcoin. Entonces, la respuesta corta a la pregunta es la siguiente:
Necesitás Bitcoin para protegerte de la inflación, de las restricciones de capitales y de los problemas bancarios. Y si estás pensando “para eso compro dólares, van abajo del colchón y listo”, te recomiendo que lo reconsideres, pero con este dato en mente: desde su creación hasta hoy, el dólar ha perdido más del 98 % de su poder adquisitivo. Mientras tanto, desde su creación hasta hoy, Bitcoin ha pasado de valer cero a ser una red de más de one trillion dollar. Quizás para ir ahorrando para el futuro sea mejor guargar Bitcoin que guardar Dólares. Mientras el dólar se fue desangrando año a año en cuanto a poder adquisitivo, Bitcoin ha pasado de no existir a ser comprado por individuos con alto patrimonio, fondos de inversión, empresas y hasta algunos países. ¿Todos están comprando Bitcoin menos vos?

Si llegaste hasta acá y no te dió FOMO (miedo de quedarte fuera) el saber que todos compran menos vos, si no pensás que necesitás un sistema monetario libre de restricciones, inflación y estado, si no pensás que es necesario un dinero libre y un individuo soberano o bien pensás que tus dólares están tranquilos y seguros en el banco bueno, entonces si, HAVE FUN STAYING POOR. Si entendiste todo esto pero aún no logré convencerte de que Bitcoin es la única solución podés leer más articulos míos o de otros autores aquí dentro de habla.news y vas a encontrar muchísima información valiosa. Y no te olvides de leer el White Paper!

Gracias por llegar hasta aquí. Ojalá te sea útil. En mi próximo artículo hablaré sobre las diferencias entre comprar acciones, bonos o cualquier inversión tradicional y comprar Bitcoin. Spoiler: todas las acciones valdrán cerca de cero en términos de Bitcoin en 50 años.

Saludos,

El Tío.

@ 30ceb64e:7f08bdf5

Lightning Node Issues

My nodes been down for a couple of days since I switched routers. It seems like they it connect to the internet, so my lightning node is down. I don't have much on the thing, but I really enjoyed using Albyhub, the budgeted NWC, and having zaps sent directly to my node. I'll get it working eventually; I probably need to look into Start9 customer support, which costs $100 but probably worth every satoshi.

---

Exploring E-Cash

I've switched my lightning address to hustle@npub.cash and have started checking out the e-cash stuff more closely. I should probably be using Minibits, but I'm gravitating towards the Cashu.me and Npub.cash combo. I like the idea of logging into a wallet with my extension or signer and seeing my Nostr profile and e-cash. Cashu.me also has NWC functionality (which I haven't tried yet, but look forward to).

---

Creating a Run Tracker: RunWild

I've been tinkering with making a run tracker for Nostr called RunWild. I'll play around with it myself a lot before shouting it out to freedomland.

RunWild Features: - Released on zap.store only - Sign in with Amber - NIP60/61 support for the e-cash attached to your Npub - Runstr Chatroom: Similar to Fountains' #tunestr chatroom - Run Controls: Start run/Pause run/Stop run/Run History/Post run to Nostr - Wavlake Support: See and play your Wavlake playlists from the app

Future Plans: - Achievements and Goals - Running groups with Nostr freaks - Competitions and challenges with Nostr freaks - Merch on Shopstr - Sponsored Workout Tracks - E-cash Rewards: E-cash zap and a shoutout after your run - Nostr Badges - Zaps

I'll probably limit the app to 100 users for a long time and give them e-cash as a way to reward them for testing the app and building a community feel. It makes sense to throw a territory fee amount of sats at them. I mainly want to stop using the Nike run app and use a run tracker that I can log into with Nostr and listen to Wavlake stuff while running. It'll be cool if the app catches on, but if not, it'll be a personal freedom tech tool that me and my wife use.

It would be cool to create a new event kind for the runs that I track, so that when someone comes out with a better app than mine, my runs will appear on theirs. This might be how I win.

---

Closing Rambles

I saw Pablo come out with an e-cash project today called Honeypot. It has a button stretching across the bottom of the screen that says "I'm ready to lose some money" (with an exclamation mark), and contains language like #reckless and "Aaaaand money gone." I quoted the note saying "I'm ready, where do I sign up?"............. Tinkering is often the antithesis of smooth sailing, and even though my node may be down, and I'm scrambling for e-cash wallets like a pre-coiner scrambling for exchange yield, I'm still excited and motivated to use and build. Maybe running through the shifting terrain is half the fun.

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/749200

@ 8947a945:9bfcf626

จงตระหนักรู้คุณค่าของตัวเอง เพชรไม่ได้เปล่งประกายเจิสจรัสจากสุดปลายถ้ำ

2023’s Wake up call

แรงบันดาลใจที่ทำให้ผมตัดสินใจเอาเรื่องนี้มาเล่าบน #ทุ่งม่วง เกิดจากเมื่อต้นปี 2023 ผมได้รับสัญญาณเตือนภัยจากที่ทำงานแห่งหนึ่ง (Wake up call) ปลุกให้ตื่นขึ้นจากภวังค์ ตระหนักรู้ถึงความเป็นจริงบางอย่าง ว่างาน part time ที่กำลังทำเริ่มมีสัญญาณความไม่มั่นคงเกิดขึ้นทีละเล็กทีละน้อย มีความสุ่มเสี่ยงที่จะถูกขอให้งดคลินิคไม่ต้องมาออกตรวจ (ภาษาสุภาพของการเลิกจ้างหมอ)

สำหรับหมอที่ทำงานหลายโรงพยาบาล จะเข้าใจสถานะ”หมอ part time” ของตนเองดีว่า สามารถถูกถอดเวรออกได้ทุกเมื่อ หากทางโรงพยาบาลมีความจำเป็น

เมื่อเกิดเหตุการณ์นี้ ผมติดต่อโรงพยาบาลใกล้บ้านเป็นแผนสำรองเอาไว้ ที่นี่ขาดอัตรากำลังแพทย์พอดี ผมเลยสามารถเริ่มงานได้ทันที ทำให้รายได้ไม่กระทบกระเทือนต่อครอบครัว แต่สิ่งที่ต้องพบเจอก็คือโรงพยาบาลแห่งใหม่นี้ งานหนักมาก หนักถึงขั้นกระอักเลือด เต็มไปด้วยความเสี่ยงที่ยังไม่มีระบบการบริหารจัดการที่มีประสิทธิภาพ ผมทำงานที่นี่ไประยะนึง เมื่อมาดูสลิปค่าตอบแทน พบว่าผมถูกจัดกลุ่มให้อยู่ในกลุ่มแพทย์เวชปฏิบัติทั่วไป (General practitioner หรือ GP คือหมอทั่วไปที่ยังไม่ได้เรียนต่อเฉพาะทาง)

แพทย์เฉพาะทาง ตามกลไกจะได้ค่าตอบแทนสูงกว่าแพทย์ GP ถึง 70 - 80%

ผมนำเรื่องนี้ขึ้นปรึกษาหน่วยงานที่เกี่ยวข้อง ได้รับการดำเนินแก้ไขอย่างเร่งด่วนเพราะความเข้าใจผิด และผมก็ได้ค่าตอบแทนสมน้ำสมเนื้อตามมาทีหลัง แต่ด้วยเนื้องานที่หนักมาก เหนื่อยมาก เลิกงานเที่ยงคืน วันอื่นๆทำงานอีก ทำงาน 7 วันต่อสัปดาห์ ร่างกายเริ่มส่งสัญญาณเตือนบางอย่างว่ากำลัง overheat เครื่องกำลังจะไหม้ในอีกไม่ช้า ถ้ายังคงลากเลือดขนาดนี้ แต่เวลานั้นผมทำเพื่อครอบครัวอย่างเดียว เลยไม่ได้ลังเล เดินหน้าต่อ

จุดเปลี่ยนมันอยู่ตรงนี้ครับ ผมมีอาจารย์แพทย์ที่เคารพมากท่านหนึ่ง อาจารย์เขารับรู้เรื่องผมมาตลอด เมื่อทราบว่าผมทำงานหักโหม แลกกับความเสี่ยงหลายมิติ จึงมีโอกาสได้นั่งคุยกัน อาจารย์ท่านนี้เล่าเรื่องสั้นเรื่องหนึ่งให้ฟัง และทิ้งท้ายเอาไว้ให้คิดว่า

ทรัพยากรที่มีค่าที่สุดคือเวลา จงเอาตัวผมไปอยู่ในที่ที่เห็นคุณค่าในตัวผมให้ได้ ถ้าผมทำได้ เวลาของผมมีจะสร้างมูลค่าได้มหาศาลกว่านี้

การสนทนาจบลงด้วยความรู้สึกพบแสงสว่างที่ปลายอุโมงค์ หลังจากนั้นไม่กี่สัปดาห์ผมตัดสินใจ ของดคลินิคจากโรงพยาบาลแห่งนั้นทันที และเป็นความโชคดี เพราะที่ทำงานประจำกำลังขาดแคลนหมอ ผมเลยได้ตารางออกตรวจเพิ่ม รายได้มั่นคงมากกว่าเดิม

ส่วนโรงพยาบาลที่กระตุ้น wake up call ผมตอนแรก เล็งเห็นความสำคัญของทักษะเฉพาะทางของผมที่ขาดไม่ได้และจำเป็นมากต่อสถานการณ์ปัจจุบัน จึงขอให้ผมอยู่ช่วยต่อและเพิ่มค่าตอบแทนเพิ่มจากเดิมอีกเกือบ 100%

---

ทักษะการเขียนบทความ ที่เกือบจะถูกปิดผนึกไปตลอดกาล เพราะเอาตัวเองไปอยู่ไม่ถูกที่

สิ่งที่ผมสนใจอยู่เป็นทุนเดิมคือการเล่าเรื่องแฝงแง่คิดจากประสบการณ์ของตัวเองให้กับผู้อื่นฟัง ตัวผมเองเป็นคนพูดไม่เก่ง บุคคลิกเก็บตัว Introvert ใช้เวลาส่วนใหญ่อยู่กับความคิดตัวเอง แล้วจดบันทึกข้อคิดที่คิดได้เอาไว้ ตั้งใจว่าถ้ามีเวลาพอ จะเอาสิ่งที่รีดออกมาจากสมอง มาขยายทำเป็นบทความ เพื่อเอาไว้ให้คนอื่นอ่าน เผื่อว่ามันจะมีประโยชน์ไม่มากก็น้อย ผมตระเวนหาเวบไซต์สำหรับนักเขียนไปเรื่อย แต่ก็หาที่ที่ถูกใจไม่ได้ ผมก็เลย”จำใจ” เขียนลงไปในเฟสบุค และ แพลตฟอร์มนักเขียนแห่งหนึ่งของประเทศไทย

ในช่วงแรกผมลองเขียนบทความลงเฟสบุค ผลลัพธ์เป็นไปตามคาดครับว่าไม่เป็นที่สนใจ ประเมินผลหยาบๆจากยอดกดไลค์ คอมเม้นท์ และการแชร์ เงียบเหมือนป่าช้าเลย นานๆจะมีคนมากดไลค์ซักที แต่ก็เป็นที่รู้ๆกันครับว่าการกดไลค์ มันอาจจะเกิดจากคนอื่นเปิดมาเจอโพสต์ของผม แล้วจะปัดให้มันพ้นๆไป “ไอ้บ้านี่มันบ่นอะไรของมัน” แต่นิ้วโป้งดันไปจิ้มโดนปุ่มไลค์พอดี ในเมื่อจิ้มไปโดนแล้วก็แล้วกันไปก็เป็นไปได้

เวลาผ่านไปมันเหมือนผมขึ้นไปพูดบนเวทีที่ไม่มีผู้ฟัง หรือ ผู้ฟังหลับทั้งห้อง บทความต่างๆข้อคิดต่างๆที่ผมตั้งใจเรียบเรียงมันส่งไปไม่ถึงผู้คน มันดูไร้ค่า จบด้วยการนั่งคุยกับตัวเองเหมือนเป็นคนไข้จิตเวช เหตุการณ์ทั้งหมดนี้เกือบนำพาผมไปสู่ข้อสรุปที่ว่า “ผมเองคงเขียนไม่เก่ง” หรือ “เขียนไม่ได้แย่หรอก แต่ไม่ได้โปรโมท เลยไม่มีใครมาพบเจอ” หรือไม่ก็ถูกทั้งสองข้อ บางครั้งอยากจะล้มเลิกการเขียนไปเลยก็มีครับ

ช่วงมกราคมปี 2023 เวบไซต์ Right shift เริ่มเป็นที่รู้จัก ฟังคอนเซปจากอาจารย์พิริยะแล้วชอบมาก

เวบไซต์ Right shift ตั้งใจเป็นแหล่งรวบรวมข้อมูลสำหรับผู้ที่สนใจอยากศึกษาบิตคอยน์ ให้สามารถเข้ามาศึกษาได้โดยไม่มีค่าใช้จ่าย แถมยังเชิญชวนให้ผู้ที่อยากเขียนบทความที่เป็นประโยชน์ให้แก่ผู้อื่น ใครสนใจสามารถส่งบทความเข้ามาได้ ถ้าหากบทความไหนมีแวว จะมีทีมบก.ติดต่อกลับไปเพื่อทำงานร่วมกันในการขัดเกล้า แก้ไขสำนวนบางจุดให้ดียิ่งขึ้น

พอรู้มาถึงตอนนี้มันนเหมือนมีอะไรมาเคาะกะโหลกดังๆ จนความรู้สึก “ปังปุริเย่ เฮ้ ร้องว้าว” มันผุดขึ้นมา แต่มันก็มาพร้อมกับความไม่มั่นใจในตัวเองนั่นแหละครับ ความขัดแย้งเต็มไปหมดว่า “จะเขียนหรือไม่เขียนดี” “เอาจริงอ่ะ? จะเขียนบทความส่งไปจริงๆเหรอ?” “ม_ึง ไม่ใช่นักเขียนมืออาชีพนะ คนที่เขาส่งบทความไปมีแต่เทพๆทั้งนั้น จะเอาอะไรไปสู้กับเขา” และเสียงอื่นๆในหัวอีกมากมาย

แต่สุดท้ายผมทลาย “Comfort zone” ได้ ด้วยกำลังใจเล็กๆน้อยๆจากภรรยาครับ ภรรยาผมบอกด้วยคำสั้นๆว่า “ก็ลองดูสิ สกิลการเขียนเล่าเรื่องของเธอก็ไม่ขี้เหร่นะ” ผมเลยลองทำดู และนี่คือสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้น

บอกได้ว่าเป็นครั้งแรกที่ผมได้ถูกฝึกการเขียนบทความโดย "ใครก็ไม่รู้” ผมรู้แค่ว่าเป็นทีมบก.ของ Right shift เมื่อทำงานร่วมกันไปเรื่อยๆ ทีมบก.ทุ่มเทในการช่วยแก้ไขช่วยตรวจสอบบทความของผมมากๆ จนผมสังเกตุเห็นได้

ใครเคยใช้ Google document ร่วมแก้ไขบทความด้วยกันมากกว่าหนึ่งคนคงจะรู้ดีนะครับว่า เวลาที่มีการแก้ไขข้อความมันจะมีเมล์แจ้งเตือนไปหาทุกคนที่เข้ามาร่วมแก้ไขเอกสารทั้งหมด บางคืนที่ผมนอนหลับไม่สนิท ตีสองตีสามตื่นมาเข้าห้องน้ำ ผมยังเห็นเมล์อัพเดทการแก้ไขบทความจากทีมงาน right shift เด้งๆอยู่เลย

จนสุดท้ายงานเขียนผมก็ได้รับการเผยแพร่บนเวบไซต์ Right shift

ใครยังไม่เคยอ่านกดตรงนี้ได้เลยครับ

หลังจากนั้นผมรับรู้ถึงทักษะนี้มากขึ้น เลยตั้งใจว่าต้องฝึกให้เก่งขึ้นดีขึ้นในทุกๆบทความที่ผมเขียน ผมอ่านหนังสือเยอะขึ้น ศึกษาสำนวนการเขียนจากนักเขียนรวมถึงนักแปลท่านอื่นๆ เพื่อดูตัวอย่างสำนวน ลีลาสไตล์การใช้คำ เอามาประยุกต์ใช้กับงานเขียนของตัวเอง

ไม่รู้ตัวหรอกครับ ว่าทักษะนี้มันโดนฝึก โดนขัดเกลาตั้งแต่เมื่อไหร่ แต่ตอนนี้ตระหนักรู้ถึงการที่มันมีตัวตนอยู่ภายในตัวผมแล้ว ผมก็จะลับคมมันไปเรื่อยๆ หลายครั้งตอนที่ผมเขียนบทความอยู่ผมลืมเวลา ลืมหิว ลืมง่วง ลืมเหนื่อยไปเลย ถ้าเปรียบเทียบกับนักกีฬา คาดว่าสภาวะตอนนั้นคงเป็นสภาวะหนึ่งของการเข้าสมาธิแบบ “Into the zone”

---

เรื่องสั้นที่อาจารย์ของผมเล่าให้ฟัง มอบบทเรียนชีวิตที่มีค่า อยู่ต่อจากนี้ครับ

---

พ่อคุยกับลูกสาว “ยินดีด้วยที่จบการศึกษา พ่อซื้อรถคันนี้ไว้ให้ลูกซักพักแล้ว ตอนนี้พ่อจะให้ลูกนะ แต่ก่อนที่พ่อจะให้ พ่ออยากให้ลูกนำไปที่ร้านรับซื้อ-ขายรถในตัวเมือง แล้วมาบอกพ่อด้วยว่าเขาให้ราคาเท่าไหร่”

ลูกสาวทำตาม กลับมาหาพ่อ บอกว่า “ร้านนี้เขาให้ราคา $10,000 เพราะรถเก่า” พ่อบอกลูกว่า “โอเคลูก ทีนี้พ่ออยากให้หนูเอารถไปที่โรงรับจำนำ ลองดูซิว่าเขาจะตีราคารถคันนี้เท่าไหร่”

ลูกสาวทำตาม แล้วกลับมาบอกพ่อว่า “โรงรับจำนำให้ราคา $1,000 เพราะรถเก่ามาก ดูแล้วต้องซ่อมอีกหลายรายการ ”

ครั้งนี้พ่อบอกลูกสาวให้นำรถนี้ไปยังชมรมคนรักรถที่มีผู้เชี่ยวชาญ และนำรถให้พวกเขาดู

ลูกสาวทำตาม ขับรถนี้ไปที่ชมรมที่ว่า หลังจากนั้นไม่นานลูกสาวกลับมาบอกพ่อด้วยน้ำเสียงตื่นเต้นว่า “บางคนเสนอราคา $100,000 เพราะเป็นรถหายาก และสภาพดีมาก”

ผู้เป็นพ่อยิ้มให้กับลูกสาว เหมือนว่ารู้อยู่แล้วว่าจะเกิดอะไรขึ้น ด้วยความสงสัยลูกสาวจึงถามพ่อว่า

“ในเมื่อพ่อรู้อยู่แล้วว่าร้านไหนจะให้ราคาสูง ทำไมพ่อไม่ให้หนูไปที่ชมรมคนรักรถตั้งแต่แรกล่ะ”

พ่อบอกลูกสาวว่า “นี่แหละบทเรียนชีวิตที่สำคัญบทหนึ่งที่พ่ออยากมอบให้แก่ลูก พ่ออยากให้ลูกรู้ไว้ว่า ลูกจะไม่มีค่าใดๆเลยถ้าอยู่ผิดที่ ที่ที่คนอื่นมองไม่เห็นเรา ไม่ต้องเสียเวลาไปโกรธโมโหไม่พอใจหรอกนะ สิ่งที่ลูกต้องทำก็คือเดินออกจากที่นั่น ออกไปจากสังคมและสถานที่ที่ไม่เห็นค่าในตัวลูก ค้นหาที่สถานที่ของลูกให้เจอ ถ้าลูกไม่ลองลงมือทำด้วยตัวเอง ลูกก็จะไม่ได้เรียนรู้อะไรเลย”

---

ข้อคิดที่อยากจะแบ่งปันกับทุกท่านที่อ่านมาจนจบ

บทความนี้มีความพิเศษกว่าบทความอื่นๆ ท้ายบทความของผมผมจะมาชวนคุยและสรุปข้อคิดที่เป็นประโยชน์ให้แก่เพื่อนๆพี่ๆทุกท่านที่อ่านมาจนจบ แต่สำหรับบทความนี้ข้อคิดที่ผมอยากให้ ถูกสรุปขมวดไว้ทั้งหมดแล้วในประโยคที่พ่อบอกลูกสาว

อย่าลืมต่อสู้ ฝ่าฟันอุปสรรค ค้นหาสถานที่ของตัวเราเองให้พบนะครับ เมื่อค้นพบทักษะในตัวแล้ว อย่าให้ถูกปิดผนึกไว้ เพียงเพราะอยู่ผิดที่ ลงมือฝึกฝนพัฒนามันไปเรื่อยๆ เราจะดีขึ้นในทุกๆวันครับ

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• Who is Paul Tudor Jones?

• The Rise of Bitcoin

• Why Bitcoin?

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Bitcoin has been a hot topic in the financial world, attracting both enthusiasts and skeptics. One prominent figure who has shown unwavering confidence in Bitcoin is billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. With his vast experience and expertise in the financial markets, Jones has been a vocal advocate for Bitcoin, citing it as the ultimate game-changer. In this article, we explore the reasons behind Jones' belief in Bitcoin and how it has the potential to revolutionize the financial landscape.

Who is Paul Tudor Jones?

Before delving into why Jones believes Bitcoin is a game-changer, it's important to understand who he is. Paul Tudor Jones is a billionaire investor, philanthropist, and founder of the Tudor Investment Corporation. He gained prominence in the 1980s for predicting the stock market crash of 1987, earning him the nickname "The Man Who Broke the Bank of England." Jones has built a successful career by making shrewd investment decisions, and his track record speaks for itself.

The Rise of Bitcoin

Bitcoin, introduced by an anonymous person or group known as Satoshi Nakamoto in 2009, is a decentralized digital currency that operates on a peer-to-peer network. It gained significant attention in the last decade, and its value skyrocketed, attracting the interest of investors worldwide. Bitcoin is based on blockchain technology, which ensures transparency, security, and immutability of transactions. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin, free from government regulations and intermediaries, has been both its strength and its source of skepticism.

Why Bitcoin?

Volatility and Inflation Hedge

One of the primary reasons why Jones believes Bitcoin is the ultimate game-changer is its potential as a hedge against inflation. Traditional fiat currencies are subject to inflationary pressures, reducing their purchasing power over time. Jones sees Bitcoin as a viable alternative that can protect investors' wealth from the erosion caused by inflation. Moreover, Bitcoin's limited supply, capped at 21 million coins, ensures scarcity and potentially drives its value higher.

Store of Value

Another aspect that appeals to Jones is Bitcoin's ability to serve as a store of value. Historically, precious metals like gold have been considered reliable stores of value. However, Jones argues that Bitcoin possesses similar qualities to gold and can even surpass it. He sees Bitcoin as a digital store of value that can act as a hedge against economic uncertainties and geopolitical risks.

Digital Gold

Jones has famously compared Bitcoin to gold, stating that Bitcoin will be the "fastest horse" in the race against inflation. He believes that Bitcoin's advantages, such as portability, divisibility, and ease of storage, make it superior to traditional gold. While gold has been a trusted store of value for centuries, Jones sees the potential for Bitcoin to become the preferred choice for investors seeking a safe haven asset.

Technological Innovation

Beyond its monetary properties, Jones recognizes the underlying technology behind Bitcoin, known as blockchain, as a groundbreaking innovation. Blockchain technology enables secure and transparent transactions without the need for intermediaries, revolutionizing industries beyond finance. The potential applications of blockchain are vast, ranging from supply chain management to decentralized governance systems. Jones understands the transformative power of this technology and believes Bitcoin is just the tip of the iceberg.

Portfolio Diversification

Jones advises investors to include Bitcoin in their portfolios as a means of diversification. He views Bitcoin as an asset class that offers unique properties not found in traditional investments. By adding Bitcoin to their investment mix, investors can potentially mitigate risk and enhance their overall returns.

Conclusion

Paul Tudor Jones' belief in Bitcoin as the ultimate game-changer stems from its potential as an inflation hedge, store of value, and technological innovation. His insights and endorsement have brought mainstream attention to Bitcoin, further solidifying its position as a significant asset class. While the future of Bitcoin remains uncertain, Jones' perspective sheds light on the transformative power of this digital currency and its underlying technology. Whether or not Bitcoin lives up to Jones' expectations, its impact on the financial world cannot be ignored.

FAQ

What made Paul Tudor Jones interested in Bitcoin? Paul Tudor Jones became interested in Bitcoin due to its potential as a hedge against inflation and its similarities to gold as a store of value.

Is Paul Tudor Jones the only billionaire who believes in Bitcoin? No, Paul Tudor Jones is not the only billionaire who believes in Bitcoin. Other prominent figures like Elon Musk and Michael Saylor have also shown support for Bitcoin.

How does Bitcoin protect against inflation? Bitcoin's limited supply and decentralized nature make it resistant to inflationary pressures that affect traditional fiat currencies.

Can Bitcoin replace traditional fiat currencies? While it's unlikely that Bitcoin will completely replace traditional currencies, it has the potential to coexist and provide an alternative form of value storage and transaction medium.

That's all for today

If you want more, be sure to follow us on:

NOSTR: croxroad@getalby.com

X: @croxroadnews

Instagram: @croxroadnews.co

Youtube: @croxroadnews

Store: https://croxroad.store

Subscribe to CROX ROAD Bitcoin Only Daily Newsletter

https://www.croxroad.co/subscribe

DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 361d3e1e:50bc10a8

https://forex-strategy.com/2024/10/31/app-reveals-real-time-location-of-trump-and-putin/ App reveals real-time location of Trump and Putin

app #mobile #location #tech #trump #putin

@ 5f33097a:d8d0b22b

By MIT Brickman

We win, that’s what now.

Between Governor Jerry Brown signing the controversial tobacco bills into law in California – which opens vaping up to unsustainable regulation, criticism, and taxation in the most vape-active state in the country – and the FDA injecting a slow-acting but definitely fatal poison directly into the jugular of the nation’s vaping industry, it seems that we may have lost the battle to ensure longer lives and better health for millions of cigarette smokers.

If I can interrupt your wailing and gnashing of teeth for a moment, I beg you to consider a different perspective. It’ll be worth it. What I see in the middle of this platter of steaming garbage (that has been served up on both the state and federal levels) is a big, glittering diamond. We have been given a gift.

In making no concessions to the vaping industry, and subsequently raising a tall middle finger to the citizens of this great country who have found improved health, happiness, and quality of life by moving from cigarettes to vaping, the government has guaranteed two things.

One. That the adults will now take over the vapor industry. Millennials, hobbyists, hipsters, and high school kids trying to push the 300 watt barrier just don’t have the intestinal fortitude for what’s coming. Many shops will close, convention centers will sit empty, vape trick competitions will disappear, and there will be the odd hissing sound of wringing hands coming from parents’ basements nationwide. The end of the current vaping industry is at hand. But if you read my post here – then you already know that it’s not a bad thing.

I worked for many years in the air medical industry; those brave folks who fly critically ill and injured people on helicopters. And I can tell you that the only industry more heavily regulated than healthcare is aviation. So why not mix them together and see what happens! I’ll tell you what happens – it becomes a constant (daily) struggle between governmental intrusion (usually fueled by ignorance and/or greed) and trying to make enough money to keep flying. You talk about protracted PR and lobbying battles – the e-cigarette and vaping world actually has had it easy. Well, until now.

So why do people in air medical keep getting up every day and fighting – after all, you can make significantly more money in numerous other industries? Because it’s the right thing to do. Human lives matter and fighting against bureaucracy to keep people alive and with their families is a damn compelling mission.

But it takes adults who can play the game. And I can tell you, those folks only show up when there is a compelling mission endangered by inappropriate, ignorant, and destructive resistance (sound like anything else you know?).

Truly successful people relish ‘unwinnable’ challenges, especially when the outcome is ultimately beneficial to humanity. And two. The eighty-five plus percent of Americans fatigued by continuous governmental intrusion are now primed to come around. Start pushing the messages that I recommended here and hammer the social proof of the benefits associated with vaping over cigarette smoking, and you will find exponential traction in the critical public arena.

If you are depressed or defeated over the massive anti-vaping developments in these past couple of days, I’d suggest you either get over it quickly or get out of the way. The people who are going to win this fight for the benefit of public health worldwide are about to step up, and this is going to get ugly, frustrating, expensive, and amazing from this point on.

In conclusion I will go back to what I said in part 1:

There is good news though. Great news, in fact. Victor Hugo once wrote, On résiste à l’invasion des armées; on ne résiste pas à l’invasion des idées – commonly paraphrased as no one can resist an idea whose time has come. No government, no politician, and no industry. It just got real.

https://mitbrickman.com/2016/05/05/rise-of-the-adults-in-vaping/

@ 57fe4c4a:c3a0271f

📝 Summary: Batched splicing can be risky due to certain conditions like no funds in a channel and using an old state. It is important for batched splicing mechanisms to have a backout option to prevent disruptions caused by confirmed old states. Additionally, not all splice implementations performing a check can lead to potential loss of funds.

👥 Authors: • Greg Sanders ( nostr:npub1jdl3plz00rvxwc6g2ckemzrgg0amx5wen4kfvs3laxtssxvk9cvsf3gh0m ) • ZmnSCPxj ( nostr:npub1g5zswf6y48f7fy90jf3tlcuwdmjn8znhzaa4vkmtxaeskca8hpss23ms3l )

📅 Messages Date: 2023-10-17

✉️ Message Count: 3

📚 Total Characters in Messages: 5405

Messages Summaries

✉️ Message by ZmnSCPxj on 17/10/2023: Batched splicing can be risky if certain conditions are met, such as having no funds in a channel and using an old state. It is important for batched splicing mechanisms to have a backout option to prevent disruptions.

✉️ Message by Greg Sanders on 17/10/2023: Batched splicing is risky because if an old state is broadcasted and confirmed before the splice, it can disrupt the process. It is important for batched splicing mechanisms to have a backout option.

✉️ Message by ZmnSCPxj on 17/10/2023: Batched splicing can be risky if not all splice implementations perform a check to ensure subsequent splices confirm, potentially leading to loss of funds.

Follow nostr:npub1j3t00t9hv042ktszhk8xpnchma60x5kz4etemnslrhf9e9wavywqf94gll for full threads

@ 5f33097a:d8d0b22b

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tobacco harm reduction (THR) is a public health strategy to lower the health risks associated with using nicotine, as an example of the concept of harm reduction, a strategy for dealing with the abuse of other drugs. Smoking tobacco is widely acknowledged as a leading cause of illness and death.[1] However, nicotine itself is not very harmful, as inferred from the long history of use for nicotine replacement therapy products.[2] Thus, THR measures have been focused on reducing or eliminating the use of combustible tobacco by switching to other nicotine products, including:

Cutting down (either long-term or before quitting smoking) Temporary abstinence Switching to non-tobacco nicotine containing products, such as pharmaceutical nicotine replacement therapies or currently (generally) unlicensed products such as electronic cigarettes Switching to smokeless tobacco products such as Swedish snus Switching to non-combustible organic or additive-free tobacco products It is widely acknowledged that discontinuation of all tobacco products confers the greatest lowering of risk. However, approved smoking cessation methods have a 90% failure rate, when used as directed.[1] In addition, there is a considerable population of smokers who are unable or unwilling to achieve abstinence.[3] Harm reduction is likely of substantial benefit to these smokers and public health.[1][2] Providing reduced-harm alternatives to smokers is likely to result in lower total population risk than pursuing abstinence-only policies.[4]

The strategy is controversial: proponents of tobacco harm reduction assert that lessening the health risk for the individual user is worthwhile and manifests over the population in fewer tobacco-related illnesses and deaths.[3][5] Opponents have argued that some aspects of harm reduction interfere with cessation and abstinence and might increase initiation.[6][7] However, surveys carried from 2013 to 2015 in the UK[8] and France [9] suggest that on the contrary, the availability of safer alternatives to smoking is associated with decreased smoking prevalence and increased smoking cessation.

—

Nitzkin, J (June 2014). “The Case in Favor of E-Cigarettes for Tobacco Harm Reduction”. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 11 (6): 6459–71.doi:10.3390/ijerph110606459. PMC 4078589. PMID 25003176. A carefully structured Tobacco Harm Reduction (THR) initiative, with e-cigarettes as a prominent THR modality, added to current tobacco control programming, is the most feasible policy option likely to substantially reduce tobacco-attributable illness and death in the United States over the next 20 years. Fagerström, KO, Bridgman, K (March 2014). “Tobacco harm reduction: The need for new products that can compete with cigarettes”.Addictive Behaviors. 39 (3): 507–511. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2013.11.002. PMID 24290207. The need for more appealing, licensed nicotine products capable of competing with cigarettes sensorially, pharmacologically and behaviourally is considered by many to be the way forward. Rodu, Brad; Godshall, William T. (2006). “Tobacco harm reduction: An alternative cessation strategy for inveterate smokers”. Harm Reduction Journal. 3: 37. doi:10.1186/1477-7517-3-37. PMC 1779270. PMID 17184539. Phillips, CV (November 2009). “Debunking the claim that abstinence is usually healthier for smokers than switching to a low-risk alternative, and other observations about anti-tobacco-harm-reduction arguments”. Harm Reduct. J. 6: 29. doi:10.1186/1477-7517-6-29. PMC 2776004.PMID 19887003. Hiding THR from smokers, waiting for them to decide to quit entirely or waiting for a new anti-smoking magic bullet, causes the deaths of more smokers every month than a lifetime using low-risk nicotine products ever could. “Harm reduction in nicotine addiction: Helping people who can’t quit” (PDF). Tobacco Advisory Group of the Royal College of Physicians. October 2007. Retrieved 21 April 2012. Sumner W, 2005. Permissive nicotine regulation as a complement to traditional tobacco control” BMC Public Health 5:18. Tomar, SL; Fox, BJ; Severson, HH (2009). “Is smokeless tobacco use an appropriate public health strategy for reducing societal harm from cigarette smoking?”. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 6: 10–24. doi:10.3390/ijerph6010010. Action on Smoking and Health, May 2016, Use of electronic cigarettes (vapourisers) among adults in Great Britain http://www.ash.org.uk/files/documents/ASH_891.pdf Résultats de l’enquête cigarette électronique ETINCEL – OFDT, 2014 –

Text above provided under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike License – excerpted from: Tobacco harm reduction. (2016, July 7). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 05:13, August 10, 2016, fromhttps://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Tobacco_harm_reduction&oldid=728767066

@ 32e18276:5c68e245

Hey guys, I'm spending some time today preparing v1.6 for the app store, it's been a long time coming with many new features. Here's a breakdown of everything new in this version!

Notable new features in 1.6

• Custom built, embedded C WASM interpreter (nostrscript), which will be used for custom algos, filters and lists
• Longform note support
• Hashtag following
• Configurable reactions
• New Live user status NIP (music, general)
• Adjustable font sizes
• A very long list of bug fixes and performance improvements
• Fast and persistent profile searching using nostrdb

Top priorities for 1.7

• Lists
• Custom algos and filters using nostrscript
• Stories
• Multi account
• Tor integration
• Better NWC integration (wallet balances, transaction history)
• Advanced note search via nostrdb
• Fully switch to nostrdb for all notes
• Discord-like relays (click a relay to view all the notes on it)

So much more but maybe I will not try to be too ambitious ...

Contributors

name added removed commits William Casarin +57964 -8274 288 petrikaj +1524 -0 1 Terry Yiu +1266 -964 9 ericholguin +1234 -252 11 Daniel D’Aquino +1223 -399 19 Suhail Saqan +905 -70 16 Grimless +838 -736 6 Bryan Montz +793 -744 30 Jon Marrs +658 -60 3 Joel Klabo +653 -105 6 transifex-integration[bot] +176 -0 9 Fishcake +129 -21 5 Daniel D‘Aquino +123 -9 5 Jericho Hasselbush +78 -2 2 cr0bar +66 -19 11 Daniel D'Aquino +55 -32 2 Mazin +53 -0 1 gladiusKatana +37 -8 1 doffing.brett +10 -6 1 tappu75e@duck.com +5 -1 2 Ben Harvie +5 -0 1

Changelog

• 76 Fixes
• 18 Changes
• 26 Additions

Added

• Add "Do not show #nsfw tagged posts" setting (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Add ability to change order of custom reactions (Suhail Saqan)
• Add close button to custom reactions (Suhail Saqan)
• Add followed hashtags to your following list (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Add initial longform note support (William Casarin)
• Add r tag when mentioning a url (William Casarin)
• Add relay log in developer mode (Montz)
• Add settings for disabling user statuses (William Casarin)
• Add space when tagging users in posts if needed (William Casarin)
• Add support for multilingual hashtags (cr0bar)
• Add support for multiple reactions (Suhail Saqan)
• Add support for status URLs (William Casarin)
• Add the ability to follow hashtags (William Casarin)
• Added feedback when user adds a relay that is already on the list (Daniel D'Aquino)
• Added generic user statuses (William Casarin)
• Added live music statuses (William Casarin)
• Added merch store button to sidebar menu (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Added padding under word count on longform account (William Casarin)
• Adjustable font size (William Casarin)
• Click music statuses to display in spotify (William Casarin)
• Enable banner image editing (Joel Klabo)
• Finnish translations (petrikaj)
• Hold tap to preview status URL (Jericho Hasselbush)
• Re-add nip05 badges to profiles (William Casarin)
• Show nostr address username and support abbreviated _ usernames (William Casarin)
• Suggested Users to Follow (Joel Klabo)

Changed

• Allow reposting and quote reposting multiple times (William Casarin)
• Damus icon now opens sidebar (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Hide nsec when logging in (cr0bar)
• Improve UX around clearing cache (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Improved memory usage and performance when processing events (William Casarin)
• Increase size of the hitbox on note ellipsis button (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Make carousel tab dots tappable (Bryan Montz)
• Move the "Follow you" badge into the profile header (Grimless)
• Remove nip05 on events (William Casarin)
• Remove note size restriction for longform events (William Casarin)
• Rename NIP05 to "nostr address" (William Casarin)
• Show muted thread replies at the bottom of the thread view (#1522) (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Show renotes in Notes timeline (William Casarin)
• Start at top when reading longform events (William Casarin)
• Switch to nostrdb for @'s and user search (William Casarin)
• Updated relay view (ericholguin)
• Use nostrdb for profiles (William Casarin)
• clear statuses if they only contain whitespace (William Casarin)

Fixed

• Allow relay logs to be opened in dev mode even if relay (Daniel D'Aquino)
• Allow user to login to deleted profile (William Casarin)
• Apply filters to hashtag search timeline view (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Avoid notification for zaps from muted profiles (tappu75e@duck.com)
• Crash when muting threads (Bryan Montz)
• Dismiss qr screen on scan (Suhail Saqan)
• Don't always show text events in reposts (William Casarin)
• Don't spam lnurls when validating zaps (William Casarin)
• Eliminate nostr address validation bandwidth on startup (William Casarin)
• Ensure the person you're replying to is the first entry in the reply description (William Casarin)
• Fix Invalid Zap bug in reposts (William Casarin)
• Fix PostView initial string to skip mentioning self when on own profile (Terry Yiu)
• Fix UI freeze after swiping back from profile (#1449) (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix UTF support for hashtags (Daniel D‘Aquino)
• Fix action bar appearing on quoted longform previews (William Casarin)
• Fix broken markdown renderer (William Casarin)
• Fix bug where it would sometimes show -1 in replies (tappu75e@duck.com)
• Fix compilation error on test target in UserSearchCacheTests (Daniel D‘Aquino)
• Fix crash when long pressing custom reactions (William Casarin)
• Fix crash when long-pressing reactions (William Casarin)
• Fix freezing bug when tapping Developer settings menu (Terry Yiu)
• Fix icons on settings view (cr0bar)
• Fix images and links occasionally appearing with escaped slashes (Daniel D‘Aquino)
• Fix issue where malicious zappers can send fake zaps to another user's posts (William Casarin)
• Fix issue where relays with trailing slashes cannot be removed (#1531) (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix issue where typing cc@bob would produce brokenb ccnostr:bob mention (William Casarin)
• Fix issue with emojis next to hashtags and urls (William Casarin)
• Fix issue with slashes on relay urls causing relay connection problems (William Casarin)
• Fix lag when creating large posts (William Casarin)
• Fix localization issues and export strings for translation (Terry Yiu)
• Fix localization issues and export strings for translation (Terry Yiu)
• Fix long status lines (William Casarin)
• Fix nav crashing and buggyness (William Casarin)
• Fix nostr:nostr:... bugs (William Casarin)
• Fix npub mentions failing to parse in some cases (William Casarin)
• Fix padding of username next to pfp on some views (William Casarin)
• Fix padding on longform events (William Casarin)
• Fix paragraphs not appearing on iOS17 (cr0bar)
• Fix parsing issue with NIP-47 compliant NWC urls without double-slashes (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix potential fake profile zap attacks (William Casarin)
• Fix profile not updating (William Casarin)
• Fix profile post button mentions (cr0bar)
• Fix profiles not updating (William Casarin)
• Fix rare crash triggered by local notifications (William Casarin)
• Fix reaction button breaking scrolling (Suhail Saqan)
• Fix situations where the note composer cursor gets stuck in one place after tagging a user (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix small graphical toolbar bug when scrolling profiles (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix some note composer issues, such as when copying/pasting larger text, and make the post composer more robust. (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix status events not expiring locally (William Casarin)
• Fix text composer wrapping issue when mentioning npub (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix text editing issues on characters added right after mention link (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Fix wiggle when long press reactions (Suhail Saqan)
• Fix wikipedia url detection with parenthesis (William Casarin)
• Fix zaps sometimes not appearing (William Casarin)
• Fixed a bug where following a user might not work due to poor connectivity (William Casarin)
• Fixed audio in video playing twice (Bryan Montz)
• Fixed disappearing text on iOS17 (cr0bar)
• Fixed issue where hashtags were leaking in DMs (William Casarin)
• Fixed issue where reposts would sometimes repost the wrong thing (William Casarin)
• Fixed issues where sometimes there would be empty entries on your profile (William Casarin)
• Fixed nav bar color on login, eula, and account creation (ericholguin)
• Fixed nostr reporting decoding (William Casarin)
• Fixed nostrscript not working on smaller phones (William Casarin)
• Fixed old notifications always appearing on first start (William Casarin)
• Fixes issue where username with multiple emojis would place cursor in strange position. (Jericho Hasselbush)
• Hide quoted or reposted notes from people whom the user has muted. (#1216) (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Hide users and hashtags from home timeline when you unfollow (William Casarin)
• Make blurred videos viewable by allowing blur to disappear once tapped (Daniel D’Aquino)
• Mute hellthreads everywhere (William Casarin)
• Show QRCameraView regardless of same user (Suhail Saqan)
• Show longform previews in notifications instead of the entire post (William Casarin)
• Stop tab buttons from causing the root view to scroll to the top unless user is coming from another tab or already at the root view (Daniel D’Aquino)
• don't cutoff text in notifications (William Casarin)
• endless connection attempt loop after user removes relay (Bryan Montz)
• icon color for developer mode setting is incorrect in low-light mode (Bryan Montz)
• relay detail view is not immediately available after adding new relay (Bryan Montz)

Removed

• Remove following Damus Will by default (William Casarin)
• Remove old @ and & hex key mentions (William Casarin)

@ b6424601:a11e4ff4

In my old school oversized spiral bound sketchbook with heavy-weight paper, I spend time off-screen writing with a 0.9 mm Pentel mechanical pencil customized with BB soft lead, where I regularly set and track my periodic goals, life planning, and project conception sketches. My longtime project Architect on my studio team calls this sketchbook the Money Maker. On March 3, 2024, the note at the top of the page read, "Have you bought your Bitcoin today? $72,994".As a Spring Semester BTC class of 2021, I loved to buy some BTC at the top. Thinking about a remedy for this “talent” what followed on the sketchbook were some ideas for shifting money flowing through my business, BTC, every two weeks.

I now had options.

Starting in 2024, I had new options to design my personal business strategy after we reworked our partnership agreement for our established professional architecture firm with the help of our attorney and tax account the year before to mitigate the problems of 50/50 ownership.

The business is established and is a survivor of the dot com crash, 9/11, the 3 years after the crash. We have established clients and make a modest profit, and we enjoy focusing on them to get architecture built for them. Through the grind, we stayed ahead but did not thrive.

We changed our corporate structure to retain our original S-Corp status, which allowed us to pay direct and indirect expenses. My partner and I then transitioned to operating as two separate LLCs, each managing one of our studio tribes. We've also planned for future studios to bring in new disciplines or incubate more experienced staff

who can sell enough architecture to support a studio of their own. To manage our studio profit, we have an operating agreement that allocates 30% of our cash-based studio profit to the firm, with the remaining 70% distributed to the individual studios. The architecture firm pays us its monthly management fee directly into our LLC bank accounts. Once the payment is transferred, we have the flexibility to decide how we're paid by our LLC. From that account, I manage our W2 income through a payroll company and allocate the remaining funds as a distribution among tax savings, studio equity and personal spending.

The result = is a little more autonomy to design the best way to retain the profit from energy spent in my business life.

Capturing the flow

In my Money Maker sketchbook, I brainstormed ideas for both personal and business, seeking to think creatively about leveraging our new entity to capture new cash flow opportunities that I could invest in Bitcoin (BTC). By setting up our LLC business account, I could now organize our equity to let it grow without having to convert our profit to BTC immediately, thereby avoiding capital gains or W2 income taxes. My 2024 strategy consisted of three initial moves, which I will elaborate on in more detail after six months of operation.

Treasury

I set up a business account for my studio's corporate treasury with Unchained Capital, utilizing the new EIN for our management LLC. I had previously retained studio profit from the previous year, anticipating the benefits of the new entity. This process was very satisfying, as I was able to transfer our equity into a business account, eƯectively moving it out of the bank and I can see the scoreboard of the growing equity. However, one of the less enjoyable aspects was that my bank couldn't wire directly to Unchained, requiring me to visit a bank, which involved driving to these empty buildings and filling out some paperwork during the hours they happened to be open. After you have jumped through the flaming hoops and moved your fiat into BTC at Unchained, I don't like the lack of control about when Unchained buys BTC. Although, I do like that I don't have to use an intermediary exchange.

Tax Savings

I pay myself a reasonable W2 income using a Payroll service, and then allocate the remainder of my monthly take-home pay as a distribution. Since the payment is a distribution, I must set aside a percentage of my income taxes. Previously, I would simply transfer money to a Tax Savings bank account. With the new system, I can set up a business account in the name of my LLC at River, and automatically transfer funds from my LLC bank account to the River business account on a monthly basis. This setup allows for a DCA (dollar cost average) strategy with 0 cost. My strategy is to continue buying Bitcoin for next year's taxes. I understand that River will be oƯering business accounts with a 3.8% interest rate, paid in Bitcoin. When the subsequent bear market returns, I will make an educated guess about the ratio of interest-bearing assets to BTC tax savings account to ensure I'm prepared when paying taxes on profit made in a bull year that is taxed in a bear year.

Personal Spending

The move involved switching my monthly spending budget to Fold, which allowed me to earn Bitcoin rewards. I started using Fold at the end of 2022 to earn BTC rewards for my spending. Although Fold isn't as exciting as it used to be (I miss the gamification aspect of spinning up 5,000 Sats for a coƯee purchase!), the math still works out, and I can accumulate a few bucks with my personal spending. A further evolution came from listening to Jack Mallers on Episode 245 of The Bitcoin Standard Podcast. Jack was talking about how he lives on a Bitcoin Standard by paying bills with Strike, a service he can access now, but customers don't. As I thought about how cool it would be to keep my monthly expenses in BTC, a metaphorical 2 x 4 struck my brain. Wait a second - I realized that I can buy Bitcoin on Fold and easily exchange it for fiat in the application. I could start living like Jack, starting this month. With this month's spending money transfer to Fold, I bought Bitcoin! As the month goes on, I convert funds as I need them and use my debit card for expenses. Thank you, Jack, for the thought. I'm sorry to be so slow.

With our personal W2 and distribution side organized, we are now working to create ways to capture a portion of our business income cash flow in Bitcoin (BTC). Accepting BTC payments

As an established business with a shared and overworked bookkeeper, I believe the personnel and accounting workaround to dip our toe into Bitcoin is to accept pre-project consultation and initial payments using Zaprite initially. This will allow us to educate our clients on the benefits of using Strike and Bitcoin for payments, and to showcase how the process is more trustless than traditional payment methods like ACH and credit cards. By doing so, we can encourage clients to adopt this new payment method and reduce our reliance on traditional payment systems. Our goal is to make the transition to Bitcoin as seamless as possible for our clients, while also allowing our internal staƯ to become proficient in handling the process. To achieve this, we will be using the discount strategy on Zaprite invoices and will be directing our limited cash flow of BTC directly into our business treasury account. Status: we have set up the Zaprite integration but have not yet received payment.

BTC payment client education

Once our payment strategy is in place, I plan to update our website with a blog that explains how the payment system works and markets our approach to clients. Specifically, I want to highlight that we accept Bitcoin as a payment method and provide clients with the option to choose this payment option on the first invoice they receive from us. By doing so, I hope to spark interest and enthusiasm among clients who are familiar with the benefits of using Bitcoin and want to learn more. With our payment system up and running, we can begin to make a more significant transition away from traditional fiat payment methods and towards a more decentralized, trustless payment system like Bitcoin. This will be a "Titanic like" shift, but one that we believe is necessary to stay ahead of the curve and capitalize on the growing demand for more innovative and secure payment methods.

Beyond implementing a payment system

I am considering setting up a new studio that operates on a Bitcoin Standard (BTS). This idea combines concepts from other readings, such as value pricing and the principles outlined in "Winning Without Pitching" by Jeffrey Gitomer, with the idea of creating a branded house configuration of services that we can offer through the new studio. To research and develop our service product, I plan to use my existing studio's BTC equity and not debt. I will then create a focused website to highlight the new service product. To support the new studio, I will utilize my existing studio staff on projects, as part of their unitization. I also plan to offer sweat equity profit sharing to interested staff who will contribute to the bootstrapped research and development of the service product. I will work with a separate bookkeeping group to report results to our umbrella company. One of the key goals of this experiment is to track the diƯerence in administration costs between the new studio and our existing operations. This will provide valuable insights into how to make the BTS model work for our business without going all-in. Additionally, the new studio setup will serve as a comparison experiment to help us determine when it's time to fully transition to a BTS for the business. By testing and refining this model, “we” (I will have some ammunition to help the others) can make an informed decision about whether to adopt the BTS for all aspects of our business.

The journey to implementing a Bitcoin Standard (BTS) is like a house renovation, where clients live through the process. In our industry, renovations are often more complex than new builds, and the process of evolving an existing business to a BTS is similar. We must navigate the challenges of not disrupting an established system or overwhelming staƯ with new systems and processes. To avoid disruptions, we need to identify a "temporary roof" - a stable foundation that allows us to continue operating while we refine our BTS model. Most importantly, we must listen and be willing to pivot our process for those interested, whether from within our studio or from outside, on how and what we offer.

HODL on

@ 54609048:8e22ba03

The tragic events of September 11, 2001, reshaped the world in profound and unforeseen ways. With thousands of innocent lives lost and countless more injured, the attacks were undeniably devastating. In response, the Bush administration embarked on a warpath—literally—introducing measures aimed at bringing the perpetrators to justice. These included placing a $25 million bounty on Osama bin Laden, initiating the "War on Terror" with the invasion of Afghanistan, and, notably, enacting the draconian PATRIOT Act. Twenty-three years later, while bin Laden is dead and U.S. troops have withdrawn from Afghanistan, the PATRIOT Act remains firmly in place.

Hastily passed six weeks after 9/11 as a preventive measure, the PATRIOT Act effectively neutered the Fourth Amendment and granted federal agencies unprecedented surveillance capabilities. These became the foundation for conducting "sneak and peek" searches, enabling unauthorized access to individuals' online purchases, emails, and browsing histories, and compelling banks to notify the FBI of deposits over $10,000—often sidestepping due process entirely. The irony lies in the fact that this tragedy didn't occur due to insufficient surveillance powers. A Congressional report revealed that intelligence agencies already possessed actionable information to prevent the attacks but failed to coordinate and act on it. Given such findings, one would expect a serious reevaluation of this legislation, but civil liberties have rarely been the state's primary concern, especially when a "good crisis" offers an opportunity to expand control.

Two decades later, we face a bleak reality and unsettling questions: Are we actually safer today? Are there fewer terrorists worldwide? Given the state's shifting definition of "terrorist," what prevents this law from being used against the very citizens it was meant to protect? While pondering these questions, Ben Franklin's famous words come to mind: "They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." In an age of emerging Artificial Intelligence (AI) and looming threats of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), the PATRIOT Act could become a cornerstone in establishing a totalitarian technocracy where privacy is a relic of the past—if we haven't already reached that point.

Financial Privacy Implications

In free societies, personal and financial privacy form a vital buffer against government interference, surveillance, and control. Financial privacy, in particular, protects individuals' assets from potential governmental overreach or confiscation based on political, ethnic, or religious grounds. The Canadian government's invocation of the Emergencies Act during the 2022 freedom convoy protests—particularly the freezing of bank accounts belonging to truckers and their supporters—serves as a stark example. This action was later ruled "unreasonable and unconstitutional" by a federal court judge.

While the PATRIOT Act's broad surveillance powers often dominate discussions, its substantial encroachment on financial privacy is frequently overlooked. The Bank Secrecy Act (BSA) of 1970 initially deputized financial institutions in combating money laundering by requiring them to report suspicious activities. The costly and administratively burdensome regulatory framework introduced by the BSA has not only severely eroded the financial privacy of law-abiding citizens but has hardly made a dent in preventing money laundering.

Before the PATRIOT Act, financial institutions were encouraged to adopt Know Your Customer (KYC) practices but were not legally obligated to do so. The BSA established a framework for reporting suspicious activities and maintaining records but did not specifically mandate customer identity verification processes during account opening. The PATRIOT Act, however, intensified these requirements by legally mandating KYC protocols and enforcing Title III, which established strict Customer Identification Programs (CIP) for verifying customer identities.

These expanded measures deeply compromised financial privacy, forcing banks to build detailed customer profiles by collecting personal data and extensively monitoring transactions. Additionally, financial institutions must file Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs) for any transaction over $5,000 that they suspect may be related to illicit funds. The broad definition of "suspicious transactions" compels institutions to err on the side of caution and flag any transaction deemed atypical for a customer, even without clear evidence of wrongdoing. As a result, individuals have almost no control over how their financial data is used and shared with government agencies.

With access to individuals' transactional data and digital metadata from sources like social media, the government can construct an exceptionally precise record of a person's daily activities—what is often called a "pattern of life." This capability allows authorities to surveil and assess a person's actions in real-time, essentially creating a comprehensive view of their life. This level of oversight is particularly troubling in light of former NSA director General Michael Hayden's remark, "we kill people based on metadata," underscoring the potentially lethal implications of unchecked surveillance power.

Thanks to the PATRIOT Act, any money or investments held in a financial institution now essentially function as a conditional permission slip that can be frozen at any time and for any reason. The worst aspect is that, due to the unholy alliance between the state and big business, many of these actions can be carried out by private corporations at the behest of the state. This intertwining of public and corporate power opens the door to unprecedented levels of financial control over individuals, undermining both their financial privacy and personal autonomy.

What Does the Future Hold?

Senate Judiciary Committee hearings following Snowden's revelations highlighted an even more troubling fact: the PATRIOT Act's supposed effectiveness was largely overstated. This stands in sharp contrast to earlier claims in two declassified documents presented to Congress as justification before key surveillance votes in 2009 and 2011, which asserted that mass data collection was essential for detecting terrorist threats.

In 2009, an Al-Qaeda operative nearly succeeded in bombing a Detroit-bound airplane, despite the extensive dragnet surveillance programs that became the norm after the passage of the PATRIOT Act. When Senator Patrick Leahy questioned NSA Deputy Director John Inglis about claims that 54 terrorist plots had been foiled due to the Act, further examination revealed that perhaps only one plot could be loosely attributed to the bulk surveillance program. Given the stated goals of passing this law, it would be an understatement to call it a monumental failure.

This raises a different set of questions: What if this was never really about security but merely an opportunity that the state seized to "legally" establish a surveillance superstructure? Is the "surveillance state" now a permanent feature of our lives? If this reality is to change, it will likely not come from the halls of Congress but from freedom-loving individuals who, in addition to pressuring policymakers, will build new tools. Without new technological solutions that preserve our privacy, it won't be long until we find ourselves living in a dystopian nightmare controlled at every turn by Big Brother.

@ 6e24af77:b3f1350b

test

@ 2edbcea6:40558884

Happy Sunday #Nostr !

Here’s your #NostrTechWeekly newsletter brought to you by nostr:npub19mduaf5569jx9xz555jcx3v06mvktvtpu0zgk47n4lcpjsz43zzqhj6vzk written by nostr:npub1r3fwhjpx2njy87f9qxmapjn9neutwh7aeww95e03drkfg45cey4qgl7ex2

NostrTechWeekly is a weekly newsletter focused on the more technical happenings in the nostr-verse.

Let’s dive in!

Recent Upgrades to Nostr (AKA NIPs)

1) (Proposed) NIP 43: Fast Auth between clients and relays

Some relays are member-only. There has to be some way for relays to verify the content being sent/requested is from an authorized user (one of the members). Most methods for this are clunky and slow.

This NIP proposes a faster method for auth between clients and relays. From what I can tell when clients open a connection to a relay they’ll open it with an “authorization” query parameter on the end of the relay url. That query param will actually be an encoded Nostr event whose payload has the necessary info for the relay to authenticate the user opening the connection.

Kinda looks like an auth header like you’d see in an http request but shoehorned into a query parameter since websockets (which are used for connections to relays) don’t traditionally support headers.

Author: aruthurfranca

2) (Proposed) Updates to NIP 03: Timestamps you can rely on

Sometimes you want to make sure that a piece of Nostr content was actually created/pushed to a relay at a specific time. The example from last week was in the case of a future betting system built on Nostr, you really don’t want people to be able to publish that they made a bet 2 weeks ago for something whose outcome was determined twenty minutes ago.

NIP-3 already outlines a way to add OpenTimestamp attestations to Nostr events essentially allowing Nostr clients to outsource trust to a third party on whether a piece of content was created when it claims to be created. As is, NIP 3 is a little hard to use. This update would make it far simpler.

In the new methodology, you’d publish a Nostr event of kind 1040 with the proof of timestamp and point to the event that you’re trying to prove the timestamp for.

Author: nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6

Notable Projects

Cellar Relay

If you haven’t been graced by the nostr.wine community they are a group of fine folks that host wine-themed relays. They’re some of the most reliable and widely used public and paid relays around.

nostr:npub18kzz4lkdtc5n729kvfunxuz287uvu9f64ywhjz43ra482t2y5sks0mx5sz recently announced the “Cellar” Relay that will store notes long term for paid users. Like we talked about in last week’s #NostrTechWeekly long-term note storage is a challenge for relay hosts (especially for relays that are free to users). But solving long term storage will help folks on Nostr feel like they’re building a persistent social experience instead of building an ephemeral feed.

Nice work! Glad to see the trend continuing for long-term note storage. 💪

Memestr.app

I can’t tell you how many times folks I talk to have said there should be a meme-focused client on Nostr. nostr:npub1zumzudhtu2558fgvycnjlc7pq9l4m338vghgcfzafftz9qg45ruslzpl4x delivers with https://memestr.app I definitely had some giggles when I logged on.

This could quickly evolve into a nostr-based Imgur and be far better for being nostr-based. But one thing I think is missing from the internet (not just Nostr) is a way to iterate on memes easily in the same place where you can share them. In combination with prisms/boosts this could be an interesting way for people to make money for their content and earn from what is built on top of their content.

Zap threads

Threaded conversations are an important component to social experiences on the internet. Reddit and Hackernews have really shown its power, we’ve seen StackerNews also leverage this format as well.

nostr:npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9 has created a nostr-based component for supporting the threaded comments, and it looks like it could be used in any web-application that needs commenting, spreading Nostr to every corner of the internet. It’s already powering the commenting on Habla.News

nostr:npub1wf4pufsucer5va8g9p0rj5dnhvfeh6d8w0g6eayaep5dhps6rsgs43dgh9 also did a great writeup on the reasoning for this project and where it’s going: https://habla.news/franzap/threading-the-web-with-nostr

If you need comments on your project, take a look!

Latest conversations: How decentralized is decentralized enough?

Distributed vs Decentralized

These two concepts are often used interchangeably, and it’s worth highlighting their distinction, especially in the context of Nostr. This is a good visualization to illustrate the difference.

Distributed: the P2P model

Robust, distributed systems are extremely censorship resistant, and include a lot of redundancy. Distributed systems distribute power widely, everyone is a peer.

Biological systems (cells, ecosystems, etc) are like this, cells are all peers and replaceable. Napster was distributed, everyone in the Napster ecosystem stored and shared some of the songs. IP (the “internet protocol”), which is how computers find each other on the internet, is a peer to peer technology where every node gossips about where to find other nodes.

Ideally all systems would be built this way, but in practice distributed / P2P systems are generally used when there’s a high chance of node failure (the death of individual cells) or attack (government takedowns). The challenge is that they’re expensive to run.

This might be confusing because Napster was “free” right? Most P2P software feels free-ish because many are donating some of their existing hardware/bandwidth/etc. But if you take the aggregate resources to run Napster versus just the parts of Spotify that help users to upload and download music, Spotify for sure uses fewer resources.

Distributed systems by their very nature have to assume that most peers in the network may fail. In order to maintain uptime, that results in P2P systems having many copies of what’s being shared and/or sending data many times to ensure it arrives.

I think most people would say they’d prefer everything to be P2P but it’s difficult to maintain a good experience in a P2P system and so it’s often only used in cases where it’s absolutely necessary.

Where does decentralization work better?

I wrote up a whole thing about decentralization a while back but the TL;DR is decentralized systems are better than centralized systems at distributing power widely, but they are generally still more performant than peer to peer systems.

Sometimes you need a mix of preventing abuses of power but still maintain a good experience for users. Freedom minded folks usually end up supporting decentralized solutions because they’re viable in the market and still take power away from centralized players.

Is Bitcoin decentralized or distributed?

The Bitcoin blockchain is a distributed system. Every Bitcoin full-node is an equal participant in storing, updating, and validating the blockchain.

Bitcoin as a monetary system, on the other hand, is decentralized: there are many more Bitcoin users than Bitcoin full-nodes. The nodes are the hubs and the users are the spokes.

There’s a reason for this architecture. Bitcoin nodes are ultimately in control of Bitcoin, it must be the least corruptible, most censorship resistant architecture possible. On the other hand a decentralized system has efficiency gains that make Bitcoin more competitive in comparison to existing financial systems. By having hubs (full-nodes, Bitcoin banks, wallet providers, exchanges, etc), the system is more efficient (and therefore cheaper). But by having many hubs, power is still spread widely.

Nostr: Decentralized or Distributed?

Nostr, as introduced by FiatJaf, seems like it was intended to be decentralized. Relays are the hubs and users are the spokes. Clients help connect users to relays (and therefore each other). There is wisdom to this architecture, because it will scale better than a P2P system.

Think of it this way, there are on the order of hundreds of millions of songs available for human consumption. With 10 million users storing a few hundred songs, there would be plenty of redundancy to allow Napster to distribute every song in a P2P manner. There are on the order of trillions of social media posts, if you include follows, reactions, DMs, etc, it’s likely in the quadrillions. With current technology a P2P system would never be able to provide coverage of every post and make it available in a reasonable time.

That said, there are some elements of Nostr that could benefit from being more P2P. Especially operations that would benefit from greater privacy (DMs, zaps, and reactions). Right now privacy around these actions is not well supported via Nostr.

Dev work has started on some P2P Nostr functionality announced by nostr:npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z and it’s right along those lines: maximizing privacy and security for nostr-based comms. It will have all the great things and all the difficulties of any P2P system, but it may be necessary to improve privacy on Nostr.

One thing that is great about Nostr is everyone can try things out and see if they work and if people want them. I see a lot of demand for privacy for certain Nostr operations, and if a P2P model would help, it needs to be tried. We’ll see whether the trade offs of P2P make Nostr better or if they make it less likely to succeed. We’ll see as development continues!

Until next time 🫡

If you want to see something highlighted, if we missed anything, or if you’re building something we didn’t post about, let us know. DMs welcome at nostr:npub19mduaf5569jx9xz555jcx3v06mvktvtpu0zgk47n4lcpjsz43zzqhj6vzk

Stay Classy, Nostr.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Anglicismos estúpidos no português contemporâneo

Palavras e expressões que ninguém deveria usar porque não têm o sentido que as pessoas acham que têm, são apenas aportuguesamentos de palavras inglesas que por nuances da história têm um sentido ligeiramente diferente em inglês.

Cada erro é acompanhado também de uma sugestão de como corrigi-lo.

Palavras que existem em português com sentido diferente

• submissão (de trabalhos): envio, apresentação
• disrupção: perturbação
• assumir: considerar, pressupor, presumir
• realizar: perceber
• endereçar: tratar de
• suporte (ao cliente): atendimento
• suportar (uma idéia, um projeto): apoiar, financiar
• suportar (uma função, recurso, característica): oferecer, ser compatível com
• literacia: instrução, alfabetização
• convoluto: complicado.
• acurácia: precisão.
• resiliência: resistência.

Aportuguesamentos desnecessários

• estartar: iniciar, começar
• treidar: negociar, especular

Expressões

• "não é sobre...": "não se trata de..."

---

Ver também

• Algumas expressões e ditados excelentes da língua portuguesa, e outras não tão excelentes assim

@ 6903089d:bd117177

Nostr and its ecosystem present a novel and unique possibility for digital self sorting. Discoverability has long been one of the main issues of the internet, this issue has to this point been solved through centralized entities. These entities or firms collect data and then present “useful” information to the individual user. It is important to note the subjectivity of what is considered “useful”. In today's world, what is useful is determined by large corporations that have their own agendas that are specifically related to you, your behavior, and your purchasing habits. The data collected from us and presented to us is the front line attack in the war in which anyone who uses a digital product or services finds themself. The process of discoverability - data collection and presentation - has become blatantly manipulative and harmful to everyone that interacts with the digital world.

Self-Sorting Thomas Sowell in “Discrimination and Disparities” talks about the importance of individual choice resulting in the formation of groups of people based on similar interests or wants. Governments and regulatory bodies often use the disparity in the outcomes resulting from this self sorting and claim that process to be unfair and harmful. The next step is to intervene and enforce, through threats of violence, rules and regulations to alter the outcomes so they appear to be more similar, or more fair. Self sorting is a natural process and the resulting disparity in outcomes resulting from self sorting is also a natural process. A society built from the natural self sorting of individuals will lead to a more productive, healthier, and happier, collective. Equality of outcome is the result of sovereign interference and thus assumes the subjectivity of the sovereign body responsible for enforcement.

Digital Sovereign The digital world is still very young. Just as past societies in the real world went through (and are still undergoing) a maturation process, that digital world is ruled by the Monarchs of our past. Twitter, Meta, Google, the Kings of the digital realm. Make no mistake the digital world is a feudal world and it does include the ability to self sort and thus form productive and healthy communities.

Self sorting is a result of the application of work to express and represent personal choice and preference. Is it possible to take that work and collect it in an open-sourced and transparent manner and then voluntarily display it to the Nostr network? Can we take control of our own freedom in the digital world and use our very own, very unique preferences and desires to create an identifiable and readable signal allowing us to navigate towards other individuals that share similar values all the while respecting and empowering individuals who have conflicting values. Imagine a self sorted internet. Where individuals share data of their choosing with the network allowing other people to identify a general quality of values and group together. Allowing companies to see this quality and indicate the possible interest in a good, product or service.

Communities or even individuals will create a quiz. The quiz for a community will need maintainers and the questions that it contains should be determined by the community itself. For quizzes created by individuals the process is less complex as it would be decided by the individual alone. Every quiz and every quiz question would be public. Most quizzes would utilize only multiple choice or agree/disagree statements.

For example lets say that the all of the current 7.2 million members of the Bitcoin community on Reddit took a standard and open sourced quiz on specific thoughts or opinions related to Bitcoin

The questions along with each individual response are put through SHA-256 hash and then that hash could be publicly displayed to the community. Seeing as how the questions are included in the hash it should be possible to compare everyone's individual hash to determine the similarity of the responses that were provided. It is likely that these quizzes would need to be paid for. Cost coupled with the actual time and effort required to complete the quiz generates a proof of work for each quiz taken. People would take many different quizzes and each one would be concatenated into a single hash that over time becomes a unique fingerprint of the individual. Hashes could then be compared and based on the quizzes any person chooses to pay for and take coupled with their individual responses it would be possible to see each individuals hash with a certain quality, almost like a color, that could be used to signal to the entire network the quality of personal values that person has.

@ c69b71dc:426ba763

Risks and Regulations

Food contact materials (FCMs)

Materials that come into contact with food during processing, packaging, or transport – play a critical role in food safety. However, chemicals can migrate from these materials into food, introducing potential health risks. For instance, chemicals can leach into food from packaging materials, especially during microwaving, pasteurization, or other high-temperature exposures. Even printing inks on the outer packaging, if not well-contained, can migrate into the food or drink. Factors like high temperatures, small package-to-food ratios, fatty foods, and long storage times all increase this risk.

More than 12,200 chemicals have been identified in FCMs, but only about 100 substances are regulated by the European Union, focusing mainly on plastics. The actual composition of many materials is often undisclosed due to proprietary protection, making it challenging to assess risks fully. Even less is known about secondary substances, which may arise from additives breaking down during manufacturing.

In 2016, EU regulation defined publicly that current regulations do not sufficiently protect public health from the harmful impacts of chemicals migrating from food packaging. The current paradigm for evaluating the safety of FCMs is insufficient, as there is a general underestimation of the role of FCMs in food contamination and a lack of information on human exposure. FCMs are a significant source of human exposure to chemicals of concern, including perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), as well as those linked to neurodevelopmental issues.

Moreover, the legal framework doesn’t account for the cumulative "cocktail effect" of multiple low-level chemical exposures, which can collectively exceed safe limits. Research shows that FCMs can contribute to serious health issues like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, neurological disorders, and cancer. Although packaging is designed to preserve food, maintain quality, and extend shelf life, its chemical impacts remain insufficiently regulated, posing risks that demand greater transparency and robust oversight.

So what can we do?

Be mindful and use less packaged food. Plastic is sometimes even less harmful than paper, as many chemicals and synthetic materials are used in paper production to improve texture and prevent humidity from transferring through the paper packaging. Additionally, the barrier between ink and food in paper packaging is often not very effective. Chemicals are mostly invisible...!

@ fab018ad:dd9af89d

1. ฟาร์มกุ้งวิปโยค

“ทุกอย่างล้วนหายไปหมดแล้ว”

–Kolyani Mondal

เมื่อ 52 ปีก่อน พายุไซโคลนโบลาฆ่าผู้คนในแถบชายฝั่งของบังกลาเทศไปมากกว่า 1 ล้านคน ถือเป็นพายุไซโคลนที่ร้ายแรงที่สุดที่มีการบันทึกไว้ในประวัติศาสตร์

หน่วยงานท้องถิ่นและองค์กรนานาชาติรู้ถึงความเสี่ยงที่จะเกิดความเสียหายร้ายแรงจากพายุลักษณะนี้เป็นอย่างดี ดังนั้นในช่วงปี 1960 หน่วยงานภูมิภาคจึงสร้างแนวกันคลื่นขนาดใหญ่เพื่อป้องกันแนวชายฝั่ง ซึ่งเปิดโอกาสให้มีการใช้พื้นที่สำหรับการเกษตรได้มากขึ้น

แต่หลังจากการลอบสังหารผู้นำอย่าง ชีค มูจิบูร์ เราะห์มาน ในการประกาศอิสรภาพ ก็ได้เกิดการเปลี่ยนแปลงแนวทางภายใต้ระบอบเผด็จการของบังกลาเทศด้วยการผลักดันของอิทธิพลจากต่างประเทศ ชีวิตของผู้คนถูกลดความสำคัญ และแนวป้องกันพายุสำหรับประชาชนถูกทำให้อ่อนแอลง

หมายเหตุผู้แปล : ชีค มูจิบูร์ เราะห์มาน (Sheikh Mujibur Rahman) เป็นผู้ก่อตั้งประเทศบังกลาเทศ โดยดำรงตำแหน่งประธานาธิบดีและนายกรัฐมนตรีระหว่างปี 1971 จนถูกลอบสังหารในปี 1975

ทั้งหมดก็เพื่อเร่งอัตราการส่งออกและเพื่อนำเงินมาชดใช้หนี้

โดยแทนที่จะส่งเสริมการปลูกป่าชายเลน ซึ่งสามารถเป็นแนวป้องกันพายุตามธรรมชาติ เพื่อประโยชน์สำหรับประชาชนมากกว่า 1 ใน 3 ของประเทศที่อาศัยอยู่ตามแนวชายฝั่ง หรือแม้แต่ลงทุนในการผลิตอาหารให้เพียงพอต่อการบริโภคภายในประเทศที่กำลังเติบโตอย่างรวดเร็ว แต่รัฐบาลกลับเลือกที่จะกู้เงินจากธนาคารโลกและกองทุน IMF เพื่อที่จะขยายฟาร์มกุ้ง ซึ่งกระบวนการเพาะเลี้ยงสัตว์น้ำในประเทศนั้นถูกควบคุมโดยเครือข่ายชนชั้นปกครองที่ร่ำรวยอีกด้วย

พวกคนรวยรวมหัวกันผลักดันบรรดาเหล่าชาวไร่ให้กู้ยืมเงินเพื่อทำสิ่งที่เรียกว่าการ “อัปเกรดกระบวนการเพาะเลี้ยง” โดยทำการขุดหลุมตามแนวกันคลื่นซึ่งป้องกันที่ดินของพวกเขาจากทะเล ทำให้ที่ดินที่เคยอุดมสมบูรณ์ของพวกเขาเต็มไปด้วยน้ำเกลือ หลังจากนั้นพวกเขาก็ต้องทำงานอย่างหลังขดหลังแข็ง เพื่อจับตัวอ่อนของกุ้งจากทะเลด้วยมือเปล่า เพื่อนำมันกลับมาเลี้ยงในบ่อพัก ก่อนจะขายกุ้งตัวโตเต็มวัยให้กับผู้รับซื้อกุ้ง ซึ่งมักจะเป็นผู้มีอิทธิพลในพื้นที่

เงินทุนที่กู้จากธนาคารโลกและ IMF ทำให้ไร่นาสวน ที่ดินลุ่มน้ำ และป่าชายเลนนับไม่ถ้วน ถูกดัดแปลงให้กลายเป็นบ่อกุ้งที่เรียกว่า “ghers”

พื้นที่บริเวณสามเหลี่ยมปากแม่น้ำคงคานั้นถือเป็นพื้นที่ที่มีความอุดมสมบูรณ์อย่างน่าทึ่ง โดยเป็นที่ตั้งของ “ป่าสุนทรพนา” ป่าชายเลนที่ใหญ่ที่สุดในโลก แต่หลังจากที่การทำฟาร์มกุ้งเชิงพาณิชย์ได้กลายเป็นธุรกิจหลักในท้องถิ่น ต้นโกงกางมากกว่าร้อยละ 45 ได้ถูกตัดออกไปเกลี้ยง ทิ้งให้ผู้คนเผชิญกับคลื่นสูงกว่า 10 เมตรที่พุ่งเข้าชนแนวชายหาดเวลาเกิดพายุไซโคลน พื้นที่ทำกินที่อุดมสมบูรณ์และสิ่งมีชีวิตตามริมแม่น้ำค่อย ๆ ถูกทำลายไปจากความเค็มที่เพิ่มขึ้นจากน้ำทะเล

จนสุดท้ายป่าทั้งป่าก็ได้อันตรธานหายไป เพราะฟาร์มกุ้งนั้นทำลายพืชพรรณท้องถิ่นทั้งหมด กลุ่มความร่วมมือพัฒนาชายฝั่ง (Coastal Development Partnership) ได้กล่าวถึงผลกระทบที่เกิดขึ้นนี้ว่า “การกระทำนี้ทำให้ดินแดนที่เคยอุดมสมบูรณ์กลายเป็น ‘ทะเลทรายที่เต็มไปด้วยน้ำเค็ม' ”

พื้นที่ไร่นาที่ปล่อยน้ำทะเลเข้ามาเพื่อทำฟาร์มกุ้งในจังหวัด Khuna

---

อย่างไรก็ตาม ผู้มีอิทธิพลที่รับซื้อกุ้งเหล่านี้กลับร่ำรวยขึ้นอย่างมาก และกุ้ง (ซึ่งถูกเรียกว่าเป็น “ทองคำสีขาว”) ก็กลายเป็นสินค้าส่งออกอันดับ 2 ของประเทศ

โดยนับตั้งแต่ปี 2014 เป็นต้นมา ชาวบังกลาเทศมากกว่า 1.2 ล้านคนทำงานในอุตสาหกรรมกุ้ง และผู้คนอีกกว่า 4.8 ล้านคนที่ต้องพึ่งพิงอุตสาหกรรมนี้ในทางอ้อม ซึ่งตัวเลขนี้ถือเป็นครึ่งหนึ่งของจำนวนคนยากจนที่อาศัยอยู่ตามชายฝั่ง คนเก็บกุ้งเป็นผู้ที่ทำงานหนักที่สุด (ซึ่งถือเป็นร้อยละ 50 ของแรงงานในอุตสาหกรรม) แต่ได้รับส่วนแบ่งเพียงร้อยละ 6 ของผลกำไร โดยร้อยละ 30 ของแรงงานนั้นเป็นแรงงานเด็กที่มีทั้งเด็กผู้ชายและเด็กผู้หญิง ซึ่งทำงานในน้ำเค็มมากถึง 9 ชั่วโมงต่อวันด้วยค่าจ้างรายวันน้อยกว่า 1 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐ เด็กเหล่านี้ส่วนมากไม่รู้หนังสือและไม่ได้เรียนต่อ

ผู้คนเคยมีการลุกฮือขึ้นประท้วงต่อต้านการขยายตัวของฟาร์มกุ้ง แต่แล้วก็ถูกปราบปรามอย่างรุนแรง โดยในเหตุปราบปรามที่เลื่องลือครั้งหนึ่่งนั้น ขบวนผู้ประท้วงถูกทำร้ายด้วยระเบิดจากผู้มีอิทธิพลที่รับซื้อกุ้งและกลุ่มลูกน้อง และมีผู้หญิงรายหนึ่งชื่อ Kuranamoyee Sardar ถูกตัดศีรษะจากเหตุปราบปรามดังกล่าว

ในงานวิจัยปี 2007 ซึ่งสำรวจฟาร์มกุ้งของชาวบังกลาเทศกว่า 102 แห่ง พบว่าแม้ค่าใช้จ่ายในการผลิตทั้งหมดจะอยู่ที่ 1,084 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐต่อเฮกตาร์ แต่รายได้สุทธิกลับอยู่ที่ 689 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐ นั่นหมายถึงกำไรที่ประเทศได้จากการส่งออกนั้น แลกมาด้วยการที่แรงงานในอุตสาหกรรมกุ้งต้องรับเคราะห์จากค่าจ้างที่ถูกกดและสภาพแวดล้อมของพวกเขาที่ถูกทำลายจนหมดสิ้น

ในรายงานที่จัดทำโดยมูลนิธิความยุติธรรมด้านสิ่งแวดล้อม (Environmental Justice Foundation) ชาวไร่ที่อยู่ริมชายฝั่งอย่างคุณ Kolyani Mondal ได้กล่าวว่า “เธอเคยปลูกข้าว พร้อมเลี้ยงปศุสัตว์และสัตว์ปีก” แต่หลังจากที่ได้มีการทำเกษตรฟาร์มกุ้ง “วัว ควาย และแพะของเธอก็เริ่มเป็นโรคท้องร่วงไปพร้อม ๆ กับเหล่าแม่ไก่และเป็ดซึ่งเป็นสัตว์ของเธอ พวกมันล้วนตายทั้งหมด”

ตอนนี้ทุ่งของเธอเต็มไปด้วยน้ำเกลือ และที่ดินที่ยังเหลืออยู่ก็เพาะปลูกอะไรแทบไม่ขึ้น ในอดีตนั้นครอบครัวของเธอสามารถปลูกข้าวได้ 18-19 มอนต่อเฮกตาร์ แต่ตอนนี้เหลือแค่ 1 มอนต่อเฮกตาร์ เธอยังจำช่วงเวลาในปี 1980 ที่เพิ่งเริ่มมีการทำฟาร์มกุ้งได้ ในตอนนั้น ชาวบ้านได้รับการสัญญาว่าสิ่งนี้จะสร้างรายได้เพิ่มขึ้น รวมทั้งมอบอาหารและพืชผลให้พวกเขามากขึ้น

แต่ตอนนี้ “ทุกอย่างล้วนหายไปหมดแล้ว” ชาวไร่ผู้เลี้ยงกุ้งขอเช่าที่ดินของเธอ โดยตกลงจะจ่ายเงินเธอ 140 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐต่อปี แต่ตอนนี้อย่างดีที่สุดที่เธอได้รับคือเงินผ่อนจ่ายแปลงละ 8 ดอลลาร์สหรัฐบ้างเป็นครั้งคราว โดยเธอกล่าวว่า “ในอดีตครอบครัวของเธอสามารถหาเลี้ยงตัวเองได้อย่างดีจากบนผืนดินแห่งนี้ แต่ตอนนี้ไม่เหลือทางเลือกใด ๆ นอกจากการไปซื้ออาหารที่ตลาด”

---

หมายเหตุผู้แปล : - มอน (Muand) เป็นหน่วยวัดน้ำหนักดั้งเดิมที่ใช้กันในเอเชียใต้ โดย 1 มอนมีค่าเทียบเท่าที่หลากหลายตั้งแต่ 11 กิโลกรัม จนถึง 72 กิโลกรัม - เฮกตาร์ (Hectare) เป็นหน่วยวัดพื้นที่ในมาตราเมตริกโดย 1 เฮกตาร์ เท่ากับ 10,000 ตารางเมตร หรือประมาณ 6 ไร่ 1 งาน.

---

ในบังกลาเทศนั้นเงินกู้เพื่อการปรับโครงสร้างจากธนาคารโลกและ IMF ปริมาณนับพันล้านดอลลาร์ (ที่มาของชื่อ “เงินกู้เพื่อการปรับโครงสร้าง” ได้มาจากการที่ผู้ปล่อยกู้จะบังคับให้ประเทศผู้กู้ต้องปรับโครงสร้างทางเศรษฐกิจเพื่อให้เอื้อกับการส่งออก ซึ่งต้องแลกมาด้วยการบริโภคภายในประเทศ) ได้ทำให้กำไรในการส่งออกกุ้งของประเทศเพิ่มขึ้นจาก 2.9 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐในปี 1973 - เพิ่มเป็น 90 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐในปี 1986 - และเพิ่มเป็น 590 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐในปี 2012

ซึ่งรายได้ดังกล่าวถูกนำมาใช้จ่ายหนี้ต่างประเทศและใช้ในการพัฒนากองทัพ แต่เงินบางส่วนก็ไหลเข้ากระเป๋าเจ้าหน้าที่รัฐ (ซึ่งก็ไม่ได้แตกต่างอะไรกับกรณีส่วนใหญ่ของประเทศกำลังพัฒนา) ในขณะที่เหล่าแรงงานทาสในอุตสาหกรรมกุ้งต้องถูกกดขี่ให้ยากจน ถูกลิดรอนอิสรภาพ ต้องพึ่งพิงผู้อื่น และมีความสามารถในการหาเลี้ยงตัวเองได้น้อยลงกว่าแต่ก่อน

โดยที่แย่ไปกว่านั้นคือผลวิจัยยังแสดงให้เห็นว่า “หมู่บ้านที่มีป่าชายเลนไว้เป็นแนวป้องกันตัวจากคลื่นพายุซัดฝั่งจะมีผู้เสียชีวิตน้อยลงมาก เมื่อเทียบกับหมู่บ้านที่ป่าชายเลนเสียหายหรือถูกทำลาย”

ภายใต้แรงกดดันของสาธารณชน ในปี 2013 ธนาคารโลกจึงได้ปล่อยเงินกู้ 400 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐให้แก่บังกลาเทศเพื่อใช้ในการพยายามแก้ไขความเสียหายของระบบนิเวศที่เกิดขึ้น ซึ่งพูดในอีกแง่หนึ่งก็คือธนาคารโลกจะได้รับค่าตอบแทนในรูปแบบของดอกเบี้ยจากการพยายามแก้ปัญหาที่ตัวเองเป็นผู้ก่อขึ้นตั้งแต่แรก ในขณะเดียวกันธนาคารโลกยังได้ปล่อยเงินกู้นับพันล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐไปยังทุกประเทศ ไล่ตั้งแต่เอกวาดอร์ ไปยันโมร็อกโก จนถึงอินเดีย เพื่อเปลี่ยนฟาร์มดั้งเดิมในท้องถิ่นให้กลายเป็นฟาร์มกุ้ง

ธนาคารโลกได้อ้างว่าบังกลาเทศนั้นคือ “เรื่องราวที่น่าทึ่งของการลดความยากจนและการพัฒนาประเทศ” หากยึดจากในข้อมูลตามเอกสารที่ว่าแล้ว นี่ถือเป็นชัยชนะ เพราะเศรษฐกิจของประเทศอย่างบังกลาเทศมีแนวโน้มที่จะเติบโตต่อไป ในขณะเดียวกับที่มูลค่าการส่งออกนั้นเติบโตขึ้นเพื่อชดเชยมูลค่าจากการนำเข้า แต่แท้จริงแล้วรายได้จากการส่งออกส่วนใหญ่กลับไหลเข้าสู่กระเป๋าของชนชั้นนำและเจ้าหนี้ต่างประเทศ และหลังจากได้รับเงินกู้เพื่อการปรับโครงสร้างมาถึง 10 ครั้ง หนี้ของบังกลาเทศเติบโตขึ้นอย่างมหาศาล โดยเพิ่มจาก 145 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐในปี 1972 กลายเป็น 95,900 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐในปี 2022 ซึ่ง ณ ตอนนี้ประเทศบังกลาเทศเองก็กำลังเผชิญกับวิกฤตด้านดุลการชำระเงิน (Balance of Payments) จากหนี้สินอีกครั้ง และในเดือนพฤศจิกายน 2022 รัฐบาลก็ตกลงที่จะกู้เงินปรับโครงสร้างครั้งที่ 11 จาก IMF โดยมีการอัดฉีดเงินช่วยเหลือมูลค่า 4,500 ล้านดอลลาร์สหรัฐเข้ามาในระบบ โดยแลกกับการถูกแทรกแซงในการปรับโครงสร้างที่เพิ่มขึ้นไปอีก

ธนาคารโลกและ IMF นั้นก็ต่างอ้างว่าพวกเขาต้องการช่วยเหลือประเทศที่ยากจน แต่ตลอด 50 ปีที่ผ่านมา ผลลัพธ์จากนโยบายของพวกเขาก็ได้แสดงให้เห็นอย่างชัดเจนว่า ประเทศอย่างบังกลาเทศกลับกลายเป็นประเทศที่ต้องพึ่งพาผู้อื่นมากขึ้น และเต็มไปด้วยหนี้สินอย่างที่ไม่เคยเป็นมาก่อน

ในระหว่างวิกฤตหนี้ของประเทศโลกที่สามในช่วงทศวรรษ 1990 การวิพากษ์วิจารณ์จากสาธารณชนทั่วโลกที่ต้องการจะตรวจสอบข้อเท็จจริงของธนาคารโลกและ IMF ได้ค่อย ๆ สะสมจนปะทุขึ้น เริ่มมีการศึกษาวิจัยเพื่อสืบค้นข้อมูลอย่างจริงจัง ผู้คนออกมาประท้วงตามท้องถนน และมีความเชื่อที่แพร่กระจายไปยังทุกฝั่งการเมือง (แม้กระทั้งในรัฐสภาของสหรัฐฯ เอง) ว่าองค์กรเหล่านี้ไร้ซึ่งประโยชน์ หรือกระทั่งเป็นพิษภัยด้วยซ้ำ แต่ความรู้สึกและความสนใจในองค์กรเหล่านี้ได้จางหายไปเกือบหมดแล้ว และถึงแม้ความรู้สึกและความสนใจเหล่านี้จะกลับมาอีกครั้ง มันกลับถูกมองว่าเป็นสิ่งที่ไม่สำคัญ หรือแม้จะมีการยอมรับว่าองค์กรพวกนี้มีปัญหาแต่ก็ยังมีความจำเป็นอยู่ หรือกระทั่งยังมีความเชื่อว่าองค์กรพวกนี้มีประโยชน์และยังได้รับการต้อนรับเหมือนเดิม

ความเป็นจริงแล้วองค์กรเหล่านี้ทำให้ผู้คนนับล้านยากจนลงและชีวิตเสี่ยงอันตรายมากกว่าในอดีต ในขณะเดียวกันกลับทำให้เหล่าผู้นำเผด็จการและเครือข่ายที่ยักยอกความมั่งคั่งของประเทศนั้นร่ำรวยขึ้น และยอมละทิ้งสิทธิมนุษยชนเพื่อทำให้อาหาร ทรัพยากรธรรมชาติ และแรงงานราคาถูกไหลออกจากประเทศที่ยากจนไปสู่ประเทศที่ร่ำรวย พฤติกรรมของพวกเขาที่กระทำในบังกลาเทศนั้นไม่ใช่เรื่องผิดพลาดหรือเป็นกรณียกเว้นแต่อย่างใด

แต่นั่นเป็นวิธีการดำเนินธุรกิจตามปกติของพวกเขา..

⚡️กด Zap บทความนี้เป็นกำลังใจทีมงาน

(ทุกยอด zap จะถูกแบ่งอัตโนมัติเข้าวอลเล็ทของผู้เขียนบทความต้นฉบับภาษาอังกฤษ, ผู้แปลดราฟต์ 1, ผู้เรียบเรียงดราฟต์ 2-3, กองบรรณาธิการและพิสูจน์อักษรจากไรท์ชิฟต์ พร้อมกันบางส่วนไว้เพื่อเป็นค่าธรรมเนียมธุรกรรม)

---

>แปลและเรียบเรียงจากบทความต้นฉบับเรื่อง : STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT: HOW THE IMF AND WORLD BANK REPRESS POOR COUNTRIES AND FUNNEL THEIR RESOURCES TO RICH ONES ซึ่งเผยแพร่ครั้งแรกเมื่อวันที่ 22 พ.ย. ปี ค.ศ. 2022

@ c5fede3d:16e03f7b

El terror inundó Valencia. Caos, culpa y resignación. Así fue la noche del día de ayer para los valencianos. Cayó tal cantidad de agua, que dejó a todos patidifusos ante este fenómeno natural. Lo que en un pasado fue conocido como Gota Fría, y hoy denominado Dana por los vividores del cambio climático™, hizo acto de presencia. Su paso fue tan devastador que no se veía tal grado de virulencia desde los años 50 del siglo pasado. Fueron horas críticas y de consecuencias fatales, pero pasada la tormenta llega la calma, o eso es lo que quieren que creas.

El Día Después ha llegado, es la hora de contar los múltiples desperfectos materiales; cómo han caído las estructuras que mantenían las redes de telecomunicación fruto de la tempestad, hacia dónde fueron a parar los incontables coches que fueron desplazados por la riada, y, sobre todo, la parte más crítica y omitida del relato, qué pasó con las personas desaparecidas. Al momento que redacto esta nota, el recuento oficial de muertes se eleva a un centenar, que previsiblemente se elevará dada la confirmación del destino de los desaparecidos. ¿Realmente ha llegado la calma tras la tormenta? Permítanme dudarlo.

El Día Después exige duelo por las víctimas y reparaciones para los damnificados, pero también respuestas. ¿Pudo haberse evitado esta desgracia? Probablemente sí. ¿Qué hubiese sido de nosotros si el aviso de emergencias se hubiera transmitido antes de las 20:00, hora crítica del desastre? ¿Por qué los políticos no movieron un dedo, con un plan de previsión, cuando se sabía, cinco días vista, que las consecuencias podrían ser fatales? ¿Dónde estaban los responsables de desmantelar servicios públicos de emergencias y presas cuya misión es la de prevenir desgracias? ¿Por qué había gente obligada a trabajar con el agua por la cintura?

Son muchas cuestiones las que asolan en el Día Después. Todas ellas quedarán sin responder y sin reparar, el duelo servirá de silencio para expiar la culpa de los responsables. Mientras, parte de la ciudadanía consciente se moviliza para ayudar en todo lo posible a los damnificados, una caridad no correspondida, pues los impuestos sirven para sufragar a quien tiene las competencias para ayudar, pero ante la inacción de la instancia superior, no queda otra que arroparse unos a otros. La otra parte de la ciudad, poblada por okupas y egoístas, solo se limitará a observar, y quien sabe si a rapiñar. Este es el Día Después de la Gota Fría. Espero que sirva para aprender algo.

@ 361d3e1e:50bc10a8

https://forex-strategy.com/2024/10/31/a-doctor-with-50-50-vaccinated-unvaccinated-children-tells-what-the-difference-is/ A doctor with 50/50 vaccinated unvaccinated children tells what the difference is

usa #vaccine #children #truth #freespeech #paulthomas

@ 8d5ba92c:c6c3ecd5

🧡 📄 October 31st, 2008 | The Bitcoin WhitePaper

For many of us, Bitcoin is much more than just a decentralized form of money. I’d even dare to say it’s the best form of money humanity has ever had—and will ever have! But Bitcoin goes beyond just being money, no matter how sound it is.

With respect for the topic, to keep this piece at a reasonable length, I’ll skip other important aspects and instead focus on Bitcoin, art and culture.

Indeed, Creativity Has Many Hands and Faces...

For years, many talented rebels from around the world—yes, artists are the group I mean here—have built a unique ecosystem of works that focus on truth, freedom, and Bitcoin. To honor their creative side and mark today’s special day, let me share some of my favorite pieces from last year’s Bitcoin Whitepaper Day.

by Flo Montoya (nostr:npub1zw0uc6anqjeg0xt5ckwd5cwcd4updt22crecaea8yn053qrquewswctfhf ) https://i.nostr.build/wgj5C4oBDtWtxxuu.png

by 0711_₿itcoin (or actually his father) https://i.nostr.build/qNi7VvpapS6ZAcPa.jpg

by Loꓘo 🦝 BTC https://i.nostr.build/XU1DYNTfOFOLGAn3.png

by MaxisClub (nostr:npub1pazuhetzx5w8yyt59lszeslxlywkeadnq6rncre7nlqv2uxnxuwq8c56r9 ) https://i.nostr.build/ZRyKIviBl0pd9gf2.png

by Bitcoin FilmFest (nostr:npub1rjtrs7xqdvj3588r9njrexh2n750j7jdwx9qs543nutmdsj6ljaqpfmp8a ) https://i.nostr.build/qt8bcr16fDkQfrkQ.jpg

---

Got your favorites too? Please share! I’m curious to see what this year brings… We’ll find out soon, starting on October 31st.

---

*BTC Your Mind. Let it Beat.

Şelale Malkoçoğlu*

---

I’s hard to believe it’s been 16 years already...

THANK YOU, Satoshi Nakamoto! Wherever you are, BE SAFE!

To the man who change the world. And to everyone else, at the end of the day...

"We Are All Satoshi..."

Happy Whitepaper Day!

@ cf5b8c65:494a0912

Estoy probando un plugin para Obisidian que permite publicar directamente en NOSTR los artículos que has creado en Obsidian.

@ 081f3b0c:c00498a5

Muchas son las maneras de referirse a la compra y mantenimiento de Bitcoin en cartera. Muchas también son las maneras de almacenarlo. Y, aunque en realidad NADIE almacena Bitcoin, sino llaves privadas y llaves públicas, no es de mi interés entrar hoy en esos tecnicismos.

Hoy quiero escribirle a la gente de a pie, los trabajadores, emprendedores, empresarios y todo aquel que se interese por lo menos un poquito en su futuro y el de los suyos. Hay algo que todos los Bitcoiners sabemos pero que muchos de ustedes no lo experimentan hasta llevarse un buen susto en su primer año de inversión (Hablaré en todo el artículo de manera indistinta entre inversión y ahorro en Bitcoin ya que en el largo larguísimo plazo y mirando a Bitcoin como moneda pero también como activo, pueden utilizarse ambos términos). Lo que no saben los que miran desde afuera, es que muy poca gente compró Bitcoin en centavos o pocos dólares (o lo minó en épocas tempranas) y todavía lo mantienen en cartera. Me arriesgaría a decir que este numero de individuos no supera unos pocos miles. Muchos no-coiners creen que los bitcoiners compraron a dos centavos se durmieron 15 años y hoy son todos ricos, pero la mayoría de los early adopters, se hundieron intentando navegar las profundas y peligrosas aguas de la custodia y el HODL.

Para quien todavía esté medio perdido y quizás este sea el primer artículo que lea, HODL es una manera "chistosa" de referirse a mantener Bitcoin en cartera, y se remonta allá por el 2013 donde un usuario quiso decir que estaba Holdeando (manteniendo) Bitcoin en cartera y lo escribió como HODLING. Pasó a la historia y hoy se usan HODL y HOLD de manera indistinta como chiste interno Bitcoiner.

En fin... Las profundas aguas... Holdear Bitcoin no es sencillo para las masas. Imaginate que tenés un activo en tu cartera, o compraste a 100 dólares y ahora vale 1.000. Lo venderías verdad? Y si vale 20.000 dólares? Ahí si lo venderías? Estarías multiplicando tu inversión como nunca. Bueno, a esa decisión se enfrentaron y se enfrentan TODOS los holders de Bitcoin más temprano o más tarde. Incluso aquel loco que compro por el 2017 en un precio de 20.000 hoy puede decidir vender y multiplicar casi por 4 su dinero en unos pocos años. Ni hablar de ese estresante momento que habías comprado en 69.000 dólares y lo viste bajar hasta los 17.000 dólares, unos cuantos meses de sufrimiento y temor... Más de uno se asustó de verdad y vendió todo, solo para verlo unas horas más tarde por arriba de los 20.000 y un año más tarde nuevamente en 70.000 dólares.

Si bien no me gusta poner el foco en el precio, lo que intento ilustrar es lo DIFICIL que puede ser ver tu inversión en máximos o en mínimos y aún así decidir mantenerla unos cuantos años más. Es dificil, aún para los que viven su tercer o cuarto ciclo de mercado. Pero se hace más y más fácil a medida que uno avanza en el famoso "rabbit hole" de Bitcoin y empieza a entenderlo desde las bases, cada vez mejor. Este camino también es arduo, entender de Bitcoin requiere un poco de conocimiento en cada campo, hay que saber un poco de tecnología, un poco de redes, un poco de seguridad informatica, una pizca de teoría de juegos, una apasionante cantidad de macroeconomía, y hasta un interés genuino en lo que Mises llamó "La acción Humana". Y todo esto, uno lo va a prendiendo con ganas y de a poco sólo para llegar a la conclusión, meses o incluso años después, de que Bitcoin tiene que ser un activo por siempre en la cartera de uno, no se vende. Incluso hay quienes llegan al punto (como este humilde ser que escribe) que no poseen otro tipo de ahorro o inversión que no sean sus pocos o muchos satoshis en Billetera Fria.

Mi recomendación siempre será que DYOR, "do your own research", investiguen, lean, pregunten, únanse a #nostr que tiene la mejor comunidad del mundo a la hora de ayudar a otros usuarios, pero si no llegan a tener el tiempo de leer y progresar sólo tómenme estos dos consejos:

• Háganse el tiempo para leer.
• Stay humble y stack sats (De a poco y constante, todo ahorro mensual que uno haga, está mejor guardado en Bitcoin, siempre gastando menos de lo que ingresa esto no debería ser dificil).

Otra dificultad que encontramos además de la parte emocional y humana relacionada con los precios y el desconocimiento, es la custodia. Cientos de personas perdieron TODO su Bitcoin por no saber almacenarlo correctamente. Decenas de maneras de almacenar claves y sin embargo muchos usuarios de Bitcoin no se sienten del todo seguro durante sus primeros años de inversión, y no están el todo equivocados... Por un lado puede ser tan sencillo como guardar 24 palabras. Por otro lado, puede no ser tan fácil, dependiendo del tipo de usuario. Entraremos en detalles de custodia en el próximo artículo.

Saludos!

El Tío.

PD: No es consejo de inversión.

@ 892ab9bd:e686de59

Understanding the Future of Decentralized Social Media

The Issues with Traditional Social Media

The issues with social media are well-documented. Facebook and Twitter started out as information distribution networks, but through censorship and algorithmic curation, the experience they used to provide continues to be tainted by politics and biases. Certain narratives are suppressed; certain personalities are de-platformed, and all the while, advertisers are in a race to bid for your eyeballs on every scroll.

The Rise of Nostr

Since the decay of legacy social media, many apps have tried to break their network effects with little or no success. Platforms like Gab, Truth Social and Mastodon launched with massive fanfare but have slowed down in recent years. While Nostr is being hailed as the next big alternative to social media apps like Twitter as its first use case for the protocol. While the platforms mentioned above specifically target a certain social media user Nostr doesn’t; it can’t. Nostr is only a protocol for relaying data between different users; how clients display this data is up to them.

How Nostr Works

Nostr relies on relays. There is no Nostr app, there is no Nostr website; there is no Nostr company. Nostr is a protocol that provides censorship-resistant communications on the internet. Nostr uses "dumb" relays to forward messages from one user to another. Anyone can spin up a private and public key pair, connect to a relay via a client of their choice and broadcast their information, in many cases a post, to one or several relays.

Key Features of Nostr

• Decentralized: Nostr is a decentralized network, meaning there is no central authority controlling the flow of information.
• Flexible: Clients can display data in various formats, from short-form content like Twitter to messageboard-style formats like Reddit.
• Censorship-Resistant: Nostr's design makes it difficult for any single entity to censor content.

How Nostr Relays Work

Every user is identified by a public key. Every post is signed. Every client validates these signatures. Clients fetch data from relays of their choice and publish data to other relays of their choice. A relay doesn’t talk to another relay, only directly to users.

The Benefits of Nostr

• Censorship Resistance: Nostr's design makes it difficult to boot someone off the platform completely.
• Flexibility: Users can choose which relays to broadcast on and which to ignore.
• Decentralized: No single entity controls the flow of information.

How is Nostr Different?

Nostr takes another stab at a decentralized social network without the need for a blockchain or the need for you to spin up a subdomain on a server. Unlike Mastodon, where user identities are attached to servers and servers have a degree of control over registered users, Nostr is far more open and fluid thanks to its reliance on relays.

Components of Nostr

There are two components at play on Nostr: Clients and Relays. Each user interacts with a client they prefer; this could be a web app, iOS app, Android app or Desktop application. While anyone can run a relay, think of this as a storage system that you can use or allow others to use to house their posts.

How Nostr Clients Work

Clients can publish data (i.e. create posts, likes, re-shares etc.) on any number of relays and fetch data from other relays to see what accounts they follow are up to online. Each user is assigned a public key. When a user follows someone, the user’s client fetches posts associated with that someone’s public key from the associated relay. This process is repeated on start-up, with the client querying data from all relays it knows for all users it follows.

Censorship Resistance in Nostr

Nostr has built-in censorship resistance. It sounds complicated, but such an implementation solves several flaws, such as the ability to back up your content locally and choosing which relays to broadcast on and which to ignore. That means when a relay rejects your content or shuts down, your data and account are still safely stored on your local or any relays that are still happy to house your content.

Running Your Own Nostr Relay

Platforms like Yakihonne and many other support the use of Nostr and Creation of Relays.

Source: https://thebitcoinmanual.com/articles/nostr-relay/

@ 5f2f01bc:c7b3eadc

Muchas son las maneras de referirse a la compra y mantenimiento de Bitcoin en cartera. Muchas también son las maneras de almacenarlo. Y, aunque en realidad NADIE almacena Bitcoin, sino llaves privadas y llaves públicas, no es de mi interés entrar hoy en esos tecnicismos.

Hoy quiero escribirle a la gente de a pie, los trabajadores, emprendedores, empresarios y todo aquel que se interese por lo menos un poquito en su futuro y el de los suyos. Hay algo que todos los Bitcoiners sabemos pero que muchos de ustedes no lo experimentan hasta llevarse un buen susto en su primer año de inversión (Hablaré en todo el artículo de manera indistinta entre inversión y ahorro en Bitcoin ya que en el largo larguísimo plazo y mirando a Bitcoin como moneda pero también como activo, pueden utilizarse ambos términos). Lo que no saben los que miran desde afuera, es que muy poca gente compró Bitcoin en centavos o pocos dólares (o lo minó en épocas tempranas) y todavía lo mantienen en cartera. Me arriesgaría a decir que este numero de individuos no supera unos pocos miles. Muchos no-coiners creen que los bitcoiners compraron a dos centavos se durmieron 15 años y hoy son todos ricos, pero la mayoría de los early adopters, se hundieron intentando navegar las profundas y peligrosas aguas de la custodia y el HODL.

Para quien todavía esté medio perdido y quizás este sea el primer artículo que lea, HODL es una manera "chistosa" de referirse a mantener Bitcoin en cartera, y se remonta allá por el 2013 donde un usuario quiso decir que estaba Holdeando (manteniendo) Bitcoin en cartera y lo escribió como HODLING. Pasó a la historia y hoy se usan HODL y HOLD de manera indistinta como chiste interno Bitcoiner.

En fin... Las profundas aguas... Holdear Bitcoin no es sencillo para las masas. Imaginate que tenés un activo en tu cartera, o compraste a 100 dólares y ahora vale 1.000. Lo venderías verdad? Y si vale 20.000 dólares? Ahí si lo venderías? Estarías multiplicando tu inversión como nunca. Bueno, a esa decisión se enfrentaron y se enfrentan TODOS los holders de Bitcoin más temprano o más tarde. Incluso aquel loco que compro por el 2017 en un precio de 20.000 hoy puede decidir vender y multiplicar casi por 4 su dinero en unos pocos años. Ni hablar de ese estresante momento que habías comprado en 69.000 dólares y lo viste bajar hasta los 17.000 dólares, unos cuantos meses de sufrimiento y temor... Más de uno se asustó de verdad y vendió todo, solo para verlo unas horas más tarde por arriba de los 20.000 y un año más tarde nuevamente en 70.000 dólares.

Si bien no me gusta poner el foco en el precio, lo que intento ilustrar es lo DIFICIL que puede ser ver tu inversión en máximos o en mínimos y aún así decidir mantenerla unos cuantos años más. Es dificil, aún para los que viven su tercer o cuarto ciclo de mercado. Pero se hace más y más fácil a medida que uno avanza en el famoso "rabbit hole" de Bitcoin y empieza a entenderlo desde las bases, cada vez mejor. Este camino también es arduo, entender de Bitcoin requiere un poco de conocimiento en cada campo, hay que saber un poco de tecnología, un poco de redes, un poco de seguridad informatica, una pizca de teoría de juegos, una apasionante cantidad de macroeconomía, y hasta un interés genuino en lo que Mises llamó "La acción Humana". Y todo esto, uno lo va a prendiendo con ganas y de a poco sólo para llegar a la conclusión, meses o incluso años después, de que Bitcoin tiene que ser un activo por siempre en la cartera de uno, no se vende. Incluso hay quienes llegan al punto (como este humilde ser que escribe) que no poseen otro tipo de ahorro o inversión que no sean sus pocos o muchos satoshis en Billetera Fria.

Mi recomendación siempre será que DYOR, "do your own research", investiguen, lean, pregunten, únanse a #nostr que tiene la mejor comunidad del mundo a la hora de ayudar a otros usuarios, pero si no llegan a tener el tiempo de leer y progresar sólo tómenme estos dos consejos:

• Háganse el tiempo para leer.
• Stay humble y stack sats (De a poco y constante, todo ahorro mensual que uno haga, está mejor guardado en Bitcoin, siempre gastando menos de lo que ingresa esto no debería ser dificil).

Otra dificultad que encontramos además de la parte emocional y humana relacionada con los precios y el desconocimiento, es la custodia. Cientos de personas perdieron TODO su Bitcoin por no saber almacenarlo correctamente. Decenas de maneras de almacenar claves y sin embargo muchos usuarios de Bitcoin no se sienten del todo seguro durante sus primeros años de inversión, y no están el todo equivocados... Por un lado puede ser tan sencillo como guardar 24 palabras. Por otro lado, puede no ser tan fácil, dependiendo del tipo de usuario. Entraremos en detalles de custodia en el próximo artículo.

Saludos!

El Tío.

PD: No es consejo de inversión.

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

Taryn Christiansen

Discussions with Eric Zhang.

The first part of this critique can be found here. A Nostr mirror publication of this article can be found here.

Section 1:

In the previous article, our Interns argued that autonomy is the principal end of the state. Human subjectivity can be divided into at least two parts, one quantitative and the other qualitative. Both have their respective needs, whose dissatisfaction results in dehumanizing conditions. The state’s aim is not merely to provide conditions by which people can pursue their self-interests. It is also concerned with promoting the development of their capacities for reflective deliberation and choice.

The present article will move to focusing on means rather than ends. The relevant question will be: How should a network state achieve this end? Fortunately, Balaji Srinivasan offers an approach to answer this: the idea of a one-commandment. That is, a one-premise moral critique of one or several preexisting nation-state(s) that will serve as a basis, a foundational starting point, to build a network state. However, his examples of one-commandments in the book tend to be impoverished in two senses. First, while his suggestions of one-commandments tend to be moral, they lack meaning. His example of a keto-diet society could be understood and expressed in moral terms, such as criticism regarding the public and private health of a society, but that doesn’t mean it will be meaningful enough to provide a vision about a greater good, whatever that may be, which people identify with and pursue, and that provides certain kinds of motivations to act on. The second issue is that one-commandments are also supposed to function as principles that guide the legal decision-making procedures of the society. The worry is that an individual commandment will be unable to accommodate all cases that arise in legal matters, and will easily devolve into morally troublesome situations. As will be discussed below, Balaji offers a solution by suggesting that network states adopt a preexisting legal codebase from a nation-state after formulating a one-commandment. This, too, has its difficulties. Throughout this article, I will use the United States as an example, and when such a case is invoked, it can be seen that, if Srinivasan’s proposal is employed, a network state would be beset by its attempt to reconcile the various preexisting legal parameters of a nation-state’s legal codebase, such as its forms of legal reasoning, modes of justification, and precedent, with its one-commandment.

There are therefore two conditions that a one-commandment must meet. It must be moral and sufficiently meaningful, and, secondly, it must be capable of generating principles that can guide the legal reasoning within the society, which will form consistent, coherent, and precedented justifications that establish the authority and legitimacy of the state. However, by satisfying these two conditions, a further problem arises. If a one-commandment is meaningful and can guide decision-making procedures within the society, it won’t be able to be formulated in a formal language that is appropriate for smart contracts. This is a problem because of certain statements made by Balaji in his book. At several points, he suggests that the constitution of the society will be in the form of a smart contract. However, smart contracts require certain properties that one-commandments should not, in principle, have if it is to satisfy the conditions above. For example, smart contracts operate by a set of fixed and specified rules that either hold or do not hold. Their functioning properly requires that the rules programmed into the contracts are determinate and should not require interpretation or discretion. A good one-commandment, though, should not be of this kind. This will all be explained in more detail below. For now, what’s important is understanding that one-commandments must satisfy the conditions. The task now is to understand these two conditions better. Let’s begin with the first.

Section 2:

The first condition is one about meaning. Not only should a one-commandment be a moral critique; but it should also be meaningful. Now, questions like ‘What is meaning?’ are inherently difficult to answer, and I will not attempt that. A more manageable approach is to look at the effects of meaning. It’s fair to say most have an instinctual grasp of what meaning is. We may not be able to conceptualize and articulate it, but we have an intuitive feel that allows us to point it out. Finding answers to difficult and troubling questions, writing a book, getting a dream job, and achieving goals are meaningful experiences. Many may not be able to express why, but they know and feel them to be so, especially through how they affect those who have them. The same approach can be adopted here. A meaningful society would produce certain kinds of effects indicative of meaning. But what are these effects supposed to look like? An important one is the effect of people being captured by what society presents as the good, which people identify with, take up, and develop in their lives. If a society is meaningful, and if what it presents is worth adopting, then one outcome should be that individuals within the society concern themselves with developing and understanding it. One apparent way to see this is when individuals create out of what a society presents. The United States serves as an example of this. Before turning to that example, something more should be said about why meaning is central to founding network states.

What makes meaning important is that it has to be admitted that reaching diplomatic recognition amongst other sovereign states is an arduous enterprise. To be sovereign is to compete with other nations, which is a potential threat to their sovereignty. And because such recognition must be leveraged; because it is highly plausible that nations primarily act from self-interest and rarely from any motivation that borders on goodwill, network states must be sufficiently motivated by a vision that they find meaningful enough to strive toward, and are willing to persevere through the issues and hardships that arise. Therefore, it should be a principal concern of any founder to undertake a serious and thorough investigation of what is worth criticizing about preexisting nation-states that will get at the heart of the issues that people find disillusioning, alienating, oppressive, dehumanizing, or obstructing about modern societies, which, when well understood, can be articulated and expressed in ways that positively affect people’s motivations, and that moves them to join a network state.

Let’s turn now to the United States as an example of a country that proved to be meaningful. I propose that the founders of the United States offered a project worth wrestling with. That is, they provided an ideal worth poeticizing and writing literature about, that was worth developing and coming to terms with which was meaningful enough to salvage and maintain despite its flaws and contradictions. It produced images that moved people and provided a sense of being a part of something bigger and more significant than themselves. The fact that many artists, writers, and philosophers devoted their creative resources toward the American project, who tried to work out its tensions and make progress in its promises of equality and freedom by understanding and elucidating its foundations and concepts, is evidence of the reality of what the United States attempted to do. Despite what the country got wrong and what it grossly failed to live up to, it grasped something true, which can be seen by how the society breathed life into the imaginative capacities of its people.

It is well known that the Founders of the United States were deeply influenced by the Enlightenment, especially the philosopher John Locke. It was Locke who offered a certain conception of a state of nature, where human beings are born free and equal and where each has a natural right to life, liberty, and property, that was expressed in Thomas Jefferson’s famous declaration that certain truths are held to be ‘self-evident’. These are truths supposedly discernible to anyone with the rational faculties necessary for ascertaining them. Locke believed that once someone has done the reasoning themself; who has followed the light of reason on its definite paths, these moral propositions will be illuminated as if they were mathematical axioms or basic expressions of arithmetic. They would be so firmly impressed upon the mind that no rational person could deny them. He writes in his Second Treatise on Government, “The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges everyone: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: for men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and infinitely wise maker.” If all the layers of society are peeled away, what lies underneath is a natural condition of equality and freedom. No divine hierarchy orders human beings by referring to their relation to an infinite being that justifies Monarchic authority, or the Church's claims to legitimacy. In a natural state preceding all social conventions and rules are natural laws that grant rights to those under it, and a legitimate government, one that may be properly said to have and wield authority, establishes the protection of people’s rights through the rule of law. Because in a state of nature, people must self-govern, they may easily overstep and try to violate the rights of others. They may steal the property of another person, restrict or take the freedom and liberty of someone else, or even take someone’s life; and since there is no central authority but only individuals, enforcing rights can be dangerous and costly. A good government would reduce and channel people’s dispositions toward self-interest and vice, directing it toward better, more productive ends. Thomas Paine, who played a fundamental role in galvanizing the people for the cause of revolution, wrote in his famous pamphlet Common Sense in 1775, “Government, like dress, is the badge of lost innocence; the palaces of kings are built upon the ruins of the bowers of paradise.” So, he agrees with Locke: government is a necessary evil because human beings cannot sustain and enjoy their natural rights to freedom and equality independent of external constraint.

Now, whether or not normative natural laws exist is not important here; what matters is that Locke held such a view and that the Founders were influenced by it when writing the country's founding documents. In having this view, Locke provided the initial concepts of freedom and equality at the forefront of how the United States conceived of itself over time.

What’s essential to this view of natural rights is that underlying it are claims about an ahistorical element of human nature that is not subject to social and cultural conditions. This aspect of human beings stands outside of time. As Locke believed, human beings’ capacity for reason is the locus of dignity and respect owed to each person. By having contact with truth, with being able to reason to it, and because truth is good, the ideal of a good society is to promote the right human faculties that have access to it. And to achieve this, a free, democratic, liberal society is necessary. Only if human beings exercise these faculties for themselves, enabling them to rationally discern these ‘self-evident’ truths, can this vision of human potential be realized. The people must be able to self-govern and not depend on a patriarch or dictator to do it for them. For human beings to realize the fundamental dignity that characterizes them; for a free, equal, and just society of autonomous individuals to exist, the people must be able and willing to participate and uphold a democracy that places the responsibility of their well-being in their own hands. However, as the French philosopher Montesquieu points out in his work Spirit of the Laws, which was also profoundly influential for the founders, democracy, as a form of government, requires virtue. He writes that in an aristocracy or a monarchy, “the force of laws in one, and the prince’s arm in the other, are sufficient to direct and maintain the whole. But in a popular state (like a democracy), one spring more is necessary, namely, virtue.” If the people are not virtuous; if they do not act from the right source that grounds their dignity and respect but from human wickedness and vice; if unable to actualize what is necessary for self-governance, then democracy will not work, and the American project will fail.

The takeaway from this philosophical vignette is that the foundations established in the United States held freedom, equality, and democracy as fundamental values that would animate the society, and that would lead to reimaginings of what those concepts mean over time. These are deep sources of meaning for those who identify as Americans, regardless of what part of the political spectrum one is on. Every political speech has to pay homage to these ideas. The use of the word freedom alone by a politician in the US can legitimize what they say to the public, even if their words are empty and lack significance. But when used properly and with meaning, they culminate into the highest expression of American society. While the language of Martin Luther King Jr is religious, it is also fundamentally American, and it was his ability to understand, develop, and wield that language that made him such an influential figure. Since America’s inception and development, the language of rights, freedom, equality, and democracy has become ubiquitous in the context of morality and human value, which points to how meaningful these concepts are. American literature also played a central role in this development.

American literature is an example of those within the society trying to come to terms with what these ideas mean, how to understand them, and how life should be lived in light of them. The example I want to look at is the 19th-century American Transcendentalist movement, with figures like Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. As thinkers, these three certainly have their differences, but what is continuous is the attempt to expound an individualism that is the source of a universal nature. By being an individual, as someone free and ‘self-reliant’, who does not conform to external constraints but relies on their internal intuitions, who trust themselves through and through, a truly democratic society may be realized. One should not be a product of mere circumstance; one must actively shape it. Emerson writes in his essay Self-Reliance that “there is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better or worse as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is a new nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.” Each individual has a unique and authentic self, differentiated from everyone else, and the noble life to pursue is one of uncovering this potential. To carve a path distinct from all that has come before is to lead a virtuous, spiritual life of freedom.

In the case of Henry David Thoreau, he gives his individualism a political salience, especially in his essay Civil Disobedience. There he argues that until people can participate in a democracy by using their conscience, by their capacity to discern the right for themselves, independent of what others say, think, or do, will the government be less liable to corruption. He begins the essay in agreement with Locke and Paine, saying, “I heartily accept the motto - ‘That government is best which governs least.’” Government is an expedient, he says, something purely instrumental, and what matters for society is for the people within it to realize their own moral conscience, which, of course, requires the exercising of their faculties, of their capacity for moral deliberation and choice. No one can do this for anyone else; in a democracy, where a majority may easily wield power unjustly by the sheer use of numbers, it is the responsibility of the individual to participate in the political processes by thinking for themselves, which must be directed toward justice and virtue, just as Montesquieu argued. And when government fails, when it does live up to its sole purpose which is to promote the well-being of the society, then it is the duty of its citizens to peacefully disobey the law, to obstruct its processes, until justice emerges and the rights of people are restored. This has been one of the most lasting contributions made by an American: it provided Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. a way to demonstrate the injustices they dedicated their lives to eradicating.

Whereas Thoreau and Emerson focused more on individualism, Walt Whitman focused more on what unites and what is universal about human beings in a democratic context. The political scholar George Kaleb writes, “Together with Emerson and Thoreau, Whitman tries to draw out the fuller moral and existential significance of rights. These are the rights that individuals have as persons and that the political system of democracy exists in order to protect.” Whitman’s poetry attempts to animate a democratic spirit, a national identity, that ‘the people’ identify with, and that moves them to feel the sanctity of individual rights. If democracy is going to work, the society must be animated by a sense of connectedness whose source produces the tolerance, sympathy, understanding, and moral conscience necessary for people to self-govern, and for individuals to choose the lives they wish to live. But this can only be achieved if the notion of rights sparks feelings of reverence, of emotions that dispose one to care for the dignity of other people, both in action and thought; otherwise, the society will surely either devolve into a tyranny of the majority or an elite aristocracy that governs over the community. In America, as the Transcendentalists saw it, what is universal is the individual, with each one’s infinite potential for becoming, and democracy and its virtues must promote the right of the individual to cultivate this potential for themselves.

The founding of the United States, then, and its underlying principles of rights, freedom, equality, and democracy, were sufficiently rich enough for subsequent generations to reimagine and reinterpret, through poetry, literature, and philosophy, what it means to be an American. Those who identified with the country and found it meaningful were willing to direct their efforts toward developing an ethos within the United States. This is of course a tall order, and the expectation of what a network state is, or what it should become, will likely be less than this example. Nevertheless, the U.S. is founded on principles rather than ethnicity or religion - or at least in principle - which serves as a model for network states and their one-commandments.

Satisfying the first condition means putting forth a project worth investigating, developing, and creating out of. If a network state is to have longevity, then the founders must spend their time establishing principles that will move people to envision a better mode of life that elicits motivating reasons to care for its inception and growth. And, of course, there will and should be a great deal of diversity between what networks states formulate as principles worth living by. There is likely a plurality of solutions that have the potential to make people better off. The environments people grow and develop in, the cultures they're embedded in, and the values instilled, are diverse. Therefore, the socio-political structures most conducive to each group's well-being will be too. However, what should not be diverse is the goal to provide a vision of a better life for those who desire to leave preexisting nation-states and join a network state.

Section 3:

Let’s turn now to the second condition. The question to be turned to is how principles can be formulated that will guide the decision-making procedures within a network state. This question can be thought of as one about the nature of principles. What should principles look like? I don’t aim to offer an exhaustive answer to this question, but, again, if the focus is on a significant aspect of principles, it will be helpful to look into and analyze it. Such an aspect can come to light by distinguishing principles from rules. What is significant in this discussion is that, whereas rules can be encoded into smart contracts, principles cannot. Rules are mechanical by nature, whereas principles require interpretation when applying them in context, especially in unprecedented situations. An example of this is the United States. When the Declaration of Independence states that all people are created equal, the document presents a principle by which the society will operate. Such a principle cannot be captured by a formal language appropriate to technologies like smart contracts. This will be explored with more detail below, but to herald what that will look like, think about how this principle could be captured by a language that is by its nature binary. That is, a language that necessitates formulating conditions that either obtain or do not obtain. A smart contract that is prone to ambiguity, and that lacks resources to determine whether something has been met or not is a defunct one; one that hasn’t been properly coded according to possible situations that will or may arise. On the other hand, rules are of a kind that do exactly this and are therefore viable candidates for smart contracts. Principles guide a society’s decision-making procedures, which generates rules that align with the principles themselves. This will also establish the legitimacy of a network state. When people join a network state, what they’re essentially agreeing to is the set of principles that will used to govern the society. And if no principles are formulated, or if they are but are poorly articulated and understood, then the justifications employed by the state will be impoverished in quality as well. Punishment is a great example of this. Every state must have an apparatus to administer punishments for those who violate the rules, and if those rules do not correspond to a firmly established standard that creates consistency and coherence between them, then the applications of those rules can easily produce inequalities, unfairness, injustices, etc. And what right does a state have to punish if it does so arbitrarily and not for the sake of reasons that can be justified according to a set of principles that the members of the society initially agreed to? Imagine a group of friends who all adopt the rule that promises must always be lived up to, but who then only adhere to it when it applies to some friends rather than others, and who attempt to enforce the rule by blaming and criticizing someone who breaks it, even though they all do so. It would be fair to say then that the rule has little to no legitimacy because it’s applied arbitrarily. There must be some acknowledged, rational basis to ground the rules that supply a measure of consistency and coherence that can be applied when broken. Therefore, it is important to distinguish between rules and principles to be clear about what the target concept of a one-commandment is and to eliminate potential confusion that may result in harm to those willing to join a network state.

As mentioned above, this distinction is relevant because Srinivasan seems to believe that smart contracts can function like constitutions which, as in the United States, consist of principles and not rules. So, it is significant to see how smart contracts cannot achieve this.

Turning to the book then, when Srinivasan offers his complex definition of a network state, one of the clauses of the definition states that it is “a consensual government limited by a social smart contract.” Then in section 2.4.3, he seems to suggest that law is reducible to smart contracts, and suggests optimistically that one day they will be the primary bearers of legal codes. This indicates that he believes one-commandments will operate through smart contracts, as sets of conditions that function more or less mechanically. Again, the issue is that it oversimplifies the nature of law. If a one-commandment may sufficiently guide the decision-making procedures of the society, then it will be unable to be formalized into a smart contract. The distinction between rules and principles helps us see this. Recall that rules, by their nature, have an all-or-nothing character. A rule in baseball states that when there are three strikes someone is out, which either obtains or does not. There is no wiggle room or discussion about whether the rule is valid or not. Exceptions to this rule are not about the validity of the rule itself but about whether the rule applies, as is the case when deciding whether a pitch is a strike or a ball. Disputes about whether a player is out or not is a matter of whether the proper conditions for the rule have been met. Laws in a society share similar features. For example, when a police officer issues a speeding ticket, they are merely applying a rule that either holds or does not hold. And when someone disputes the validity of the ticket, they are disputing whether the law (the rule) was broken or not, and not whether the law itself is valid. Now, one-commandments which satisfy the second condition will not be amenable to these kinds of constraints. One-commandments will operate more like principles than rules. As the legal philosopher Ronald Dworkin points out, principles have two dimensions that rules do not. First, principles are not all-or-nothing but require discretion when being applied to cases. For instance, the principle ‘always be fair’ cannot be formulated in rule-like terms. In other words, principles cannot be exhausted by enumerating their parts and accounting for all the possible cases it is relevant to. Of course, there will be clear cases when the principle is violated, but there will remain countless cases that have to be understood by applying and interpreting the principle. In the case of baseball again, imagine if one of the game’s rules was ‘to always be fair’. How could this be formulated in a way that gives it an all-or-nothing quality, which will render it mechanical and unambiguous? It’s impossible. Rules will have to be formed in light of the principle. For instance, perhaps the three-strike rule is the fairest standard by which the game can be played; a rule can then be established accordingly. But this again requires distinguishing between rules and principles.

Rules are candidates for being encoded into smart contracts because of their mechanical nature. Principles, on the other hand, are not and require interpretation when cases arise that are ambiguous or unprecedented. Because one-commandments are tasked with guiding the decision-making procedures of the society and of formulating laws that will constrain the behavior of its members, they should not be understood as being rules themselves but rather as normative principles, as reasons for forming certain judgments about the law and the conduct it is meant to regulate. It’s important to understand one-commandments this way because if they are seen as rules; if they are treated as being reducible to all-or-nothing propositions, then the higher, more complex legal procedures, the ones that require interpretation and discretion, will be unable to deal with cases that elude a rules application, and therefore will be unable to fully guide the society, which one-commandments are supposed to do. If they are treated as principles, as standards to produce rules and to apply when ambiguity arises in exceptional cases, a society will be better equipped to form consistent and fair legal precedents. For instance, the First Amendment in the US Constitution is a principle about free speech; it protects individuals’ and groups’ right to freely express their opinions and beliefs. When cases arise that pertain to this right, and if the case contains a sufficient degree of complexity, then the Supreme Court examines the case based on the First Amendment and past cases with similar conditions. Now, ideally, they would resolve the case by merely referencing precedent, and not on considerations regarding their own moral and ethical opinions. They would observe how previous judges may have applied the First Amendment in similar cases to the one being adjudicated, and draw their conclusions accordingly. What’s important is that they appeal to a document of principles that serves as a standard by which cases can be resolved, or, if the case is novel enough, generate new laws that will serve as future precedents.

As mentioned, one of the essential functions here is to provide justifiable reasons for decision-making, which eliminates the degree of arbitrariness inherent in the conclusions drawn by the state. In the US, when issues arise regarding rights, duties, laws, or any other politico-legal issue, the constitution serves as a basic frame of reference, a justifiable grounding for one’s judgments and assertions, that gives weight to the forms of reasoning that occur within the society. Of course, that doesn’t mean the Constitution cannot be morally evaluated. It has, and it should be. But because moral opinion can vary so widely, and because there must be some shared standard by which the society can operate in its deliberative processes, without which disorder and confusion would dominate its operations, the constitution provides a general basis for achieving this. It is essential, then, as a founder of a network state, to carefully consider the principles that will be adopted to govern the society.

An example of a one-commandment will illustrate the point. In his book, Srinivasan presents an FDA-free society as a possible network state and formulates a principle that undergirds it: Your body, your choice. Because of the history of the FDA, Srinivasan imagines a founder who would desire to create a network state that would address those issues by implementing this principle and eliminating third-party institutions that limit people’s ability to make choices regarding what they wish to produce and consume. But Srinivasan then makes the following suggestion, which creates issues: With this principle, “you could then take the existing American codebase and add one crucial new feature: the absolute right for anyone to buy or sell any medical product without third party interference.” The problem is that the US legal codebase is derived from the US Constitution, and because that document consists of twenty-seven amendments and not one, substantial revisions will be necessary for making Your Body, your Choice the principal standard within the society’s legal system. For instance, if regulation like what the FDA does is eliminated, then the commerce clause of the constitution that states “Congress shall have (the) Power . . . To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, should be either eliminated or greatly reduced in bearing any significance in future cases of law. That means of course that any part of the legal codebase derived from this amendment must be altered as well.

Now, while this problem is technically difficult because founders have the responsibility to hierarchically organize principles by their relative weights, it also has moral concerns. For instance, imagine a case where someone starts a private school within the FDA-free network state and decides to only admit persons of a certain race. Imagine further that the principle Your body, your choice has been interpreted by the judiciary sector of the society to mean that producers of goods and services like education can do what they please insofar as they obtain consent. Now, because they adopted the US legal codebase, and because I took this to mean that legal precedent has been carried over as well, then what if another member, one who has been discriminated against by the new school, appeals to Brown v. Board of Education, which relies on the Fourteenth Amendment of the US Constitution? Either the decision made will have to uphold the conduct of the school by appealing to Your body, your choice, which will mean the Fourteenth Amendment is reduced in significance, or they will have to prioritize that amendment over Your body, your choice. Either option has its difficulties, but clearly, the first option is far worse because of its oppressive and discriminatory nature. Therefore, founders mustn't merely establish a principle and then adopt a codebase. The principles expressed in a one-commandment should be deeply considered to avoid these kinds of potential catastrophes.

Let’s look at another case. In the absence of regulatory institutions, and this being so based on principle, is there no restriction regarding what someone within the society may produce and consume? Could someone choose to sell one of their kidneys in exchange for other goods? Could pharmaceutical manufacturers sell a carcinogenic drug by misrepresenting it as being capable of curing other diseases, and where the consumers who purchased the drug are told they’re out of luck? These are possible cases that are not ruled out by an unspecified and ambiguous principle like Your Body, your Choice. Unless a founder wishes to bite the bullet on these kinds of cases, this means further principles need to be developed that will interact with one another and can be used to form legal judgments that align with basic moral intuitions like having some form of consumer protection that prevent wrongful forms of exploitation, as is the case with misrepresentation of goods and services that undermines consumer consent.

A single, all-encompassing one-commandment that can guide a society’s decision-making procedures is difficult to formulate. Committing to a principle like Your body, your choice will likely lead to complications, as the previous two examples demonstrate. To avoid this, a good approach is to make a general enough principle that can be universalizable; one that is applicable and appropriate in all cases. The philosopher Immanuel Kant and his moral philosophy offer excellent examples of this. One of Kant’s famous contributions to moral philosophy is the idea of a categorical imperative. How Kant gets to this idea is complicated, and I’m not going to attempt an explanation of that. But from it, he generates universally applicable principles that a one-commandment should strive for, one of which can be called the humanity principle: never act in such a way that we treat humanity, whether in ourselves or in others, as a means only but always as an end in itself. An entryway into understanding an application of this principle is in the case of friendship. When two people are friends, this typically means that both persons treat one another as ends-in-themselves. Both friends represent each other as deserving consideration that does not use the other for any purpose other than for their own sake. When promises are made and decisions are acted upon in the context of the friendship, both share the responsibility of respecting the other by holding the other as the end one is directed toward. This doesn’t mean the friend is never treated as a means - that would be impossible. Sometimes people need a ride to work when their car has broken down, or one friend knows someone who can help the other get the job, and so one uses the other by obtaining the contact. But both are never to use the other as merely a means. Certain benefits may be derived from having a friend, but one is never a friend for those reasons: one is a friend because the other is intrinsically valuable.

In a society, this principle is general enough to guide the decision-making procedures. That’s not to say its application will be easy. It will often be difficult to understand what this principle amounts to and how it should be interpreted, but it won’t run into the same issues as Your body, your choice. The difference in generality between these two principles can be seen in the way failures occur when trying to follow them. Your body, your choice inevitably runs into cases that question its validity because certain moral intuitions desired to be preserved are violated. The humanity principle doesn’t easily run into this problem. When a case arises that seems to question the principle, it’s not so much whether it is valid because it fails to live up to intuitions but because it is difficult to live up to it as an ideal. Out of these two problems, failing to live up to a principle is better than adopting one that fails to satisfy moral expectations. The US Constitution is a great example of this. The idea of self-evident truths that hold human beings to have intrinsic value by virtue of their natural rights has proven to be a powerful resource for recognizing and upholding the moral worth of persons. The country has failed to live up to this throughout its history, but as an ideal, it has persistently pointed to a path forward to resolve the mistreatment of those within the society. While the contradiction of slavery in the United States was for a long time suppressed and rationalized, the language of natural rights provided the conceptual resources to dig it back up and shed light on it. As many have pointed out, the language of rights is self-correcting. If mistreatment of others exists, then the language illuminates it, brings it out into the open, and directs attention and concern for rectifying the moral shortcomings. Therefore, one-commandments should aim for universalizability, and avoid narrow and constrained principles that fail to capture moral intuitions. Having an ideal that one fails to live up to is far better than an impoverished one that lacks the proper resources.

@ d830ee7b:4e61cd62

ผมเจอหลายคนเริ่มต้นกับ Nostr มานาน แต่กลับยังไม่สามารถ “อิน” กับการอยู่ในสังคมแห่งใหม่นี้ได้เท่าไหร่นัก บางคนยังมีเพื่อนใหม่เพียงหลักสิบคน และหลายคนยังแทบไม่รู้จักหรือกดตามใครเลย บางคนมีคนติดตามเพียง 3-5 คน เท่านั้น แล้วมันจะไปมีคนเห็นสิ่งที่เราสื่อสารออกไปได้มากพอได้อย่างไรล่ะคับ?

ก็คนที่ไม่ได้ติดตามเราเค้าก็จะมองไม่เห็นสิ่งที่เราโน๊ตไปนั่นเอง

นี่แหละครับ Nostr

ผมไม่ชอบใช้คำว่า “เล่น Nostr” เท่าไหร่นัก สำหรับผมแล้ว.. Nostr คือ สถานที่ใหม่ สังคมใหม่ที่ทุกคนต้องเริ่มนับใหม่จากศูนย์ ผมขอใช้คำว่ามันเป็นการ “ใช้ชีวิตบน Nostr” ก็แล้วกัน เชื่อไหมครับว่าในแต่ละวัน ผมยังรู้สึกว่าตัวเองมีเวลาไม่มากพอจะใช้ชีวิตบน Nostr ให้สมใจอยากได้เลย.. ในขณะที่บางคนกลับรู้สึกว่า 5 นาทีมันก็นานเกินไปแล้ว..

เราลองมาพิจารณากันดูไหมว่าเพราะอะไร?

มันไม่ค่อยมีอะไรให้อ่าน ไม่ค่อยมีเรื่องให้ทำ

สำหรับข้อโต้แย้งนี้ผมคงต้องบอกว่ามัน “ผิดถนัด” เลยล่ะ.. บน Nostr นี่มีอะไรให้เราทำมากกว่าบนทุกแพลตฟอร์มเก่าๆ มาขยำรวมกันเสียอีกนะ

ผมคิดว่า.. ผมคงต้องเริ่มเล่าเรื่องในจินตนการให้พวกเราเห็นภาพนี้ได้ง่ายขึ้น ผมขอพาพวกเรากลับไปสู่จุดเริ่มต้นของการก่อร่างสร้างสังคม

อันดับแรก ผมอยากให้พวกเราลืม “สังคมแบบเดิม” ไปเสียก่อน ทั้งในชีวิตจริง หรือในโลกออนไลน์ที่เราเคยประสบพบเจอมา ที่ Nostr นี่มันต่างออกไปอย่างสิ้นเชิงครับ

จินตการว่าเราได้ลงจากเรือโนอาห์ที่เกาะขนาดใหญ่แห่งหนึ่ง กองเรือจัดตั้งอาณานิคมใหม่หลายลำที่พาผู้คนหลักแสนมาปล่อยไว้ ณ สถานที่เดียวกัน เกาะอันเวิ้งว้างว่างเปล่าที่อุดมไปด้วยทรัพยากรธรรมชาติ เต็มไปด้วยสิ่งเร้นลับและแปลกใหม่ ที่รอให้เหล่านักสำรวจได้ออกไปทำการค้นพบ

Nostr ก็คือสถานที่แบบเดียวกันนั้น..

เราต่างคนต่างมา ณ ที่แห่งนี้ เรามีสถานะภาพเท่าเทียมกันทุกประการ ทุกคนเริ่มนับหนึ่งใหม่ที่นี่ เริ่มทำความรู้จักกัน รวมกลุ่มกัน สร้างสังคมขนาดย่อมจนผ่านเวลาไปถึงขนาดกลางและกลายเป็นใหญ่ได้ในที่สุด

สิ่งนี้จะเกิดขึ้นไม่ได้เลย ถ้าผู้คนเหล่านี้ไม่พยายาม “Engage” เข้าหากัน ไม่มีปฏิสัมพันธ์ต่อกัน ไม่ยอมแลกเปลี่ยนหรือทำกิจกรรมบางอย่างร่วมกัน นี่คือกลไกการสร้างสังคมโดยธรรมชาติที่จะไม่มีใครมีคอยชี้นำ บังคับ หรือออกกฏเกณฑ์ชี้นิ้วสั่งใครให้ต้องทำอะไรทั้งนั้น.. มันคือสังคมแห่งเสรีชนโดยแท้จริง ทุกคนจะประพฤติอย่างเสรีภายใต้ทัศนวิสัยของปัจเจกชน

โฆษณาชวนเชื่อ หรือการทำเท่ห์ด้วยคอนเท้นต์โก้หรู ศิลปะในการหลอกล่ออัลกอริทึมเหมือนที่เคยทำๆ กันมา มันใช้ไม่ได้กับที่แห่งนี้

ที่นี่พวกเราให้ค่ากับ “คุณค่า” ที่เราจะได้รับมันมาจริงๆ และคุณค่าของแต่ละคนก็ไม่มีวันเหมือนกันเสียด้วย นี่คือความท้าทายที่พวกเราต้องเริ่มออกไปค้นหา ‘คุณค่า’ ที่ว่านั้น ด้วยตัวเองหรือจะทำกันเป็นหมู่คณะก็ย่อมให้ผลดีกว่าอย่างแน่นอนครับ

ไม่มีใครต้องการ “ฮีโร่” ที่นี่ ทุกคนแค่ต้องการ “เพื่อน” เพื่อนที่จะคอย 'ให้' เราก่อนและ 'ขอ' เราทีหลัง

ผมร่ายมายาวก็เพียงแค่ต้องการจะบอกว่า..

ที่เราไม่เห็นคอนเทนต์อะไรน่าสนใจเลย อาจเป็นเพราะเรายังทำความรู้จักกับ “คนที่น่าสนใจ” ยังไม่มากพอก็เป็นได้

แล้วมันเพราะอะไรได้อีกบ้าง?

เรายังกดติดตามคนอื่นน้อยเกินไป

ทำให้เราไม่เจอโน๊ตหรือคอนเทนต์ที่ดึงดูดใจเราได้มากพอ เราก็จะเห็นแต่โน๊ตของคนที่เราติดตามไว้อย่างน้อยนิดนั่นแหละครับ เว้นแต่เราจะไปกดดูแบบ Global ที่จะเห็นผู้คนทั้งเกาะเป็นหมื่นๆ แสนๆ ต่างคนต่างคนโน๊ตกันรัวๆ ซึ่งมันคงเต็มไปด้วยสิ่งที่เราไม่ได้ให้ความสนใจหรือคัดสรรมา

เรามีคนติดตามเราน้อยเกินไป

ทำให้เหงาและเงียบกริบทุกรอบที่เราโน๊ต มันก็แน่อยู่แล้ว ถ้าทั้งเกาะมีคนที่รู้จักเราอยู่แค่ 2-3 คน มันก็คงมีคนแค่จำนวนนี้แหละครับที่จะได้ยินสิ่งที่เราพูด ได้เห็นสิ่งที่เราทำ เราแค่ต้องออกไปทำความรู้จักหรือมีปฏิสัมพันธ์กับคนอื่นๆ ให้มากกว่านี้ มันไม่เหมือนกันนะครับ ระหว่างการโพสต์สิ่งที่อยากพูดออกไป เน้นเอาเท่ เอาเจ๋ง ไว้ก่อน กับการเดินไปหาคนอื่นเพื่อแลกเปลี่ยนความคิดและสร้างมิตรภาพกับเขาอย่างจริงใจ ผมคิดว่ามันให้ผลลัพธ์ไม่เหมือนกันบน Nostr

เรายังไม่เจอ Hashtag หรือกลุ่มสนทนาที่ตรงกับจริต

ทำให้เราไม่รู้สึกอินกับอะไรที่นี่เลย คนชอบฟุตบอลก็ชอบเสวนากับคนดูบอลฉันใด บิตคอยเนอร์ก็อยากจะคุยถูกคอกับบิตคอยเนอร์ฉันนั้น คนรักแมวก็มองหาคนรักแมว ฯลฯ ที่นี่มันพาเราย้อนกลับไปที่ยังยุคแรกๆ ของสังคมโซเชียลมีเดีย ที่คนจะเชื่อมโยงหากันโดยใช้ “Hashtag” ที่ต่างก็สนใจร่วมกัน มันเหมือนการชูป้ายไฟโลกให้รู้ว่า “ฉันรักแมว” (#Catstr) เพื่อดึงดูดคนประเภทเดียวกัน นั่นแหละครับ เราแค่ต้องหาป้ายไฟที่ว่านั่นให้เจอ

เราไม่เห็นได้ “Earn Zap” อย่างที่หลายคนป้ายยาเราไว้เลย

ก็ถ้าวันนี้เราเองยังไม่ค่อยอยาก Zap ให้ใครเท่าไหร่ แน่นอนว่ามันก็จะไม่มีใครอยาก Zap ให้เราด้วยเช่นกัน ป๋ามา-ป๋ากลับ คนที่นี่เป็นกันแบบนั้น มันประหลาดดี ทำลายความเชื่อแบบเดิมๆ ของเราไปเลยทีเดียว

จริงๆ แล้วมันไม่มีใครอยากได้ Sats เพิ่มบน Nostr เพราะมันไม่ง่ายขนาดนั้น พวกเขาก็แค่อยากหาเรื่อง Zap ให้คนอื่นๆ พวกเขาแสวงหาโน๊ต ข้อความ หรือคอนเทนต์ แม้กระทั่งมีมที่โดนใจ ไม่มีใครมาคอยนั่งคิดคำนวนว่า "วันนี้ฉัน Earn ไปเท่าไหร่” (คอนเซ็ปต์แบบนี้มัน Fiat สิ้นดี) สังคมบน Nostr นั้นเน้นการให้และการมีส่วนร่วม ช่วยเหลือกัน เมื่อคุณให้มา เราจะให้กลับ มันแฟร์ๆ แมนๆ ครับ

ในสังคมที่ไม่มีใครคอยมาทำหน้าที่กำกับดูแลพฤติกรรมหรือการกระทำของเรา ความสัมพันธ์จะเกิดขึ้นอย่างเป็นธรรมชาติสุดๆ เป็นเรื่องของปัจเจกชนที่จะเลือกว่าพวกเขาจะให้คุณค่ากับอะไร ดังนั้น.. เราจึงแทบไม่มีทางรู้ได้เลยว่าใครจะชอบ หรือคิดอะไรยังไง นอกเสียจากว่า.. เราจะใช้เวลาไปกับการทำความรู้จักความคิดและจิตใจของพวกเขา ออกไปพูดคุยแลกเปลี่ยนกับพวกเขาเพื่อให้เราเข้าใจคนอื่นได้มากขึ้นนั่นเอง

เมื่อคุณเข้าใจผู้อื่น มันก็ไม่ยากที่คุณจะรู้ว่า “คุณค่า” ที่พวกเขาตามหานั้นคืออะไร?

บก. จิงโจ้ ผู้มีปฎิสัมพันธ์และคอย Make friend กับคนไปทั่ว นั่นทำให้เขามีคนติดตาม และติดตามคนอื่นจำนวนมากทีเดียว เขาทำไปเพื่อ Sats หรือเปล่า? ผมคิดว่าไม่นะ.. Just make friend

เราไม่รู้ว่ามันใช้งานยังไง ทำอะไรได้บ้าง เลยไม่รู้จะไปต่อยังไง

ประเด็นนี้ก็ต้องย้อนกลับไปที่หัวข้อต่างๆ ด้านบน ก็ในเมื่อเรายังไม่เคยเจอคนที่จะคอยตอบคำถาม หรือสอนการใช้งานเราให้กับเราได้ หรือจริงๆ แล้วเราก็อาจแค่ถูกสอนให้ “รอรับ” มากกว่าที่จะ “ค้นหา” จนเคยตัว เราเลยไม่ชินกับการต้องออกไปไขว่คว้ามันด้วยตัวเอง?

ไม่ว่าอย่างไร.. เรามาเริ่มกันใหม่ที่นี่ เชื่อไหมครับว่าหลายคนบน Nostr นั้นเป็นระดับพระกาฬแทบทั้งสิ้น แถมพวกเขายังเต็มใจที่จะให้ความช่วยเหลือหรือคอยตอบคำถามให้กับพวกเราด้วย เราต้องหาเค้าให้เจอและเปลี่ยนตัวเองให้เป็นคนที่จะ “กล้า” ถาม กล้าแสดงออก และกล้าที่จะยอมรับว่าเราไม่รู้ ก่อนที่จะเราจะกลายเป็นผู้เชี่ยวชาญได้ในภายหลัง

นี่เป็นโอกาสที่เราจะได้ใกล้ชิดกับคนที่เราอยากคุยด้วยมานานแล้ว คนที่เราเคยชื่นชม หรือคนที่เราเคยเห็นบนโลกเฟียตๆ แต่ไม่เคยหาเหลี่ยมได้สักทีว่าจะเข้าหาหรือเข้าถึงพวกเขาได้ยังไง

แค่เริ่มทำความรู้จัก โลกก็เปลี่ยน

เอาล่ะ.. ผมจะลองแนะนำวิธีว่าเราจะเพิ่มผู้ติดตามหรือเลือกเฟ้นยังไงในการติดตามผู้อื่น ผมมีแนวทางของผมเอง คงไม่ใช่สูตรสำเร็จ แต่ถ้าเพื่อนๆ จะลองนำไปประยุกต์ก็ไม่ว่ากันครับ

ตามคนดัง

วิธีที่ง่าย และตรงไปตรงมาที่สุด ซึ่งมันก็ถูกแล้ว เพราะคนเหล่านี้การที่เค้าจะดังได้ต่างก็มี proof-of-work และความน่าสนใจในแบบของตัวเองด้วยกันทั้งนั้น แอคเคาต์แรกๆ ที่พวกเราคงนึกถึงก็คงเป็น อ.ตั๊ม พิริยะ และ Right Shift ทั้งแอคเคาต์ทางการ และทีมงานทั้งทีม ก็แหง๋ล่ะ เพราะพวกเขาป้ายยาพาคุณมาอยู่บน Nostr แต่อย่าตามแค่พวกเขาไม่กี่คนเท่านั้นนะครับ คุณควรจะ...

ตามคนอื่นๆ เลียนแบบคนดัง

เราสามารถกดดูได้ว่าใครกดติดตามใครเอาไว้บ้าง คนดังก็มักจะตามกลุ่มคนที่น่าสนใจแหละส่วนหนึ่ง ส่วนที่เหลือเขาก็คงตามคนที่ถูกจริตกับตัวเอง นอกจากนี่คนที่กดติดตามพวกเขาก็จะเป็นคนที่ชอบอะไรคล้ายๆ กับเขา มันก็เป็นไปตามกฎแห่งแรงดึงดูดทางด้านความสัมพันธ์ เราค่อยๆ กดไปดูโปรไฟล์ของแต่ละคนได้ว่าเขามีความน่าสนใจยังไง ชอบโน๊ตหรือการสื่อสารแบบไหน เขามีวิธีคิดหรือนิสัยใจคอ มีเคมีแบบเดียวกันกับเราหรือเปล่า?

ถ้าใช่.. คุณก็แค่กดปุ่ม Follow แล้วกระโจนเข้าไปตอบโต้กับเขาได้เลย ไม่ว่าจะในโน๊ตใหม่ หรือ โน๊ตเก่าๆ คอมเม้นให้มันได้เพื่อนนะครับ อย่าไปเม้นให้ได้ศัตรู

เราจะเห็นแอคฯ น่าสนใจให้เพียบ แค่ลองกดไปดูว่าคนดังๆ เขามีวงสังคมบน Nostr เป็นใครกันบ้าง แล้วตอบตัวเองว่าเราอยากพาตัวเองเข้าไปอยู่ในนั้นบ้างไหม?

ตาม Hashtag

ตามหา “ป้ายไฟ” สีที่เราชอบ หรือก็คือกด ‘#’ นำในช่องค้นหา ตามด้วยคำที่เราสนใจ แล้วลองไล่หาดูได้เลย คุณอาจเจอเข้ากับกระทู้ที่ตรงกับสิ่งที่ตามหา เรื่องที่อยากอ่าน หรือมุมมองที่อยากเห็น รวมไปถึงคนที่.. เอ้อ มันเจ๋งดีว่ะ อะไรแบบนี้ได้ง่ายๆ เลยล่ะ

เมื่อเราชอบแฮ็ชแท็กไหน เรายังสามารถกดติดตามตัวแฮชแท็กนั้นได้อีกด้วย และอย่าลืมกดติดตาม หรือติดแฮ็ชแท็ก #ThaiNostrich กับ #Siamstr เอาไว้ด้วยนะครับ มันคือป้ายไฟสามัญประจำบ้านของคนไทยบน Nostr คุณสามารถตามหาเพื่อนคนไทยได้ง่ายๆ ด้วยแฮชแท็ก 2 ตัวนี้นี่แหละ

Swarmstr เป็นตัวอย่างไคลเอนต์ที่จะรวบรวมข้อมูลบน Nostr ที่เราสามารถค้นหา หรือศึกษา Nostr ได้จากหัวข้อต่างๆ ตามแฮชแท็คที่แสดงเป็นตัวอย่างได้ (หรือค้นหาด้วยตัวเอง)

ตามประเด็นที่สนใจไปจนเจอตัวพ่อ

มันต้องมีบางโอกาสที่เราไปเจอเข้ากับกระทู้น่าสนใจ มีการสนทนากันอย่างเผ็ดร้อนหรือรื่นเริงจนคุณก็อดเข้าไปแจมด้วยไม่ได้ ที่แบบนี้แหละที่คุณจะเจอกับคนเก่งๆ ในด้านนั้นๆ หรือผู้เชี่ยวชาญเฉพาะด้าน หรือกระทั่งเป็นผู้ก่อตั้ง หรือนักพัฒนาไคลเอนต์เลยทีเดียว และคนเหล่านี้เขาก็มาที่เกาะแห่งนี้ด้วยจุดประสงค์คล้ายๆ เรา คือ "หนีความวุ่นวายและโสมมบนโลกเก่าเพื่อแสวงหาเสรีภาพและมิตรภาพ ณ สังคมใหม่"

ดังนั้น เขาเต็มใจที่จะได้ทำความรู้จักกับเราอย่างแน่นอนครับ

แต่คนนิสัยไม่ดี หรือมีพฤติกรรมไม่เป็นมิตรเราก็จะดูออกได้ในทันที และมันก็เป็นสิทธิ์ของเราล้านเปอร์เซ็นต์ที่จะเลือกว่า จะสนใจติดตามคนๆ นี้ หรือแค่ปล่อยผ่าน หรือไม่ก็ บล็อกแม่ง ให้มันจบๆ ไป

Nostrends เป็นตัวอย่างไคลเอ็นต์ที่คอยรวบรวมและแสดงโน๊ต หรือหัวข้อที่กำลังได้รับความนิยมบน Nostr ตามช่วงเวลาหรือตัวกรองที่เราเลือก

พยายามอย่าทำพฤติกรรมแบบเดิมๆ บน Nostr

ผมเชื่อว่ามีพวกเราส่วนใหญ่ (ชาวไทย) จะคุ้นเคยกับการใช้งานและวัฒนธรรมบน Facebook แต่ชาวต่างชาติหรือผู้ใช้งานส่วนใหญ่ที่นี่จะเคยชินกับวัฒนธรรมแบบ Twitter กันมากกว่านะครับ ไม่ว่าจะเป็นการโพสต์ การคอมเมนต์ หรือการกดตอบโต้ด้วยอีโมจิ (Discord cult) ก็ถือว่าเป็นวัฒนธรรมในแบบที่เราอาจยังไม่คุ้นเคยกันมากนักและคงต้องใช้เวลาเรียนรู้กันพอสมควร

ขอให้พวกเราทิ้งวิธีคิดแบบเดิมๆ ในการใช้งานโซเชียลมีเดียไปได้เลยครับ เราควรอยู่บน Nostr โดยใช้แนวคิดแบบเดียวกับการอยู่ในสังคมจริงๆ ทักทาย ตอบโต้ เห็นอกเห็นใจ ช่วยเหลือ แลกเปลี่ยน คอนทริบิ้วท์และมีส่วนร่วมให้มากกว่าที่เคย ฯลฯ เราจึงจะมีตัวตนและรู้สึกเหมือนเป็นส่วนหนึ่งในสังคมแห่งนี้ได้จริงๆ (ไม่งั้นเราก็เป็นได้เพียง "ผู้สังเกตการณ์เหงาๆ" เท่านั้นเอง)

ที่นี่.. ไม่ให้คุณค่ากับ การอวดรู้ หรือ โชว์พาว ทุกคนดูออกได้ง่ายๆ ว่าเจตนาของแต่ละคนคืออะไร คนเหล่านี้ล้วนเคยขยะแขยง Fiat Social Media Cult มาแทบทั้งนั้น ถ้าต้องมาเจออะไรแบบนี้บน Nostr ก็จะ ยี้ ได้ทันที และทุกคนก็พร้อม และ มีสิทธิ์ที่จะบล็อกเราได้ตลอดเวลา

เราจะกดติดตามคนนั้น-คนนี้ให้มากมายไปทำไมกัน ถ้าเราจะแค่ไถๆๆ ฟีดวืดๆๆ ไปวันๆ เราจะไม่ได้เพื่อนเลยสักคนกับการทำแบบนั้น และอาจพลาดโอกาสดีๆ ที่จะได้เรียนรู้อะไรบางอย่าง

เราไม่ควรทำแค่อ่านผ่านๆ เหมือนกับตอนที่เราเบื่อโลกเมื่อต้องใช้ Facebook และเห็นแต่อะไรที่ไม่ต้องการเห็น ที่นี่.. เราจะเลิกติดตามไปเลยก็ได้ถ้าแอคฯ นั้นเอาแต่โพสต์อะไรที่ดูไม่เข้าตา หรือไม่สามารถดึงดูดเราได้ (ถ้าเกรงใจก็กด Mute ไว้ก่อนก็ได้)

การอ่านอย่างตั้งใจในสิ่งที่เค้าโพสต์มา และตอบโต้ตามสมควร ก็เปรียบเสมือน การรับฟังผู้พูดอย่างตั้งอกตั้งใจ นั่นเอง นั่นคือหนทางเดียวที่เราจะเรียนรู้ได้ว่าเราควรตอบโต้อย่างไร เพราะเราเข้าใจ สาส์น ที่เขาได้สื่อออกมาอย่างถ่องแท้นั่นเองครับ

ถ้าไม่ว่าง คุณก็ปัดทิ้งได้ แล้วค่อยตามไปอ่านทีหลัง มันไม่มีการลบหรือปิดกั้นเรา ไม่มีโฆษณามาให้รกหูรกตา ถ้าเจอพวก แสกม/แสปม ก็บล็อกมันซะ อย่าให้พวกน่ารังเกียจได้มีที่ยืนบนสังคมที่คุณอยากให้เป็น

และขอให้ทุกคนระลึกไว้เสมอว่า การพูดคุยและมีปฎิสัมพันธ์ต่อกัน เท่านั้น ที่จะทำให้มนุษย์ได้มีความสัมพันธ์ต่อกัน

ผมขอทิ้งท้ายด้วยเคล็ดลับตกผลึกสั้นๆ ว่า..

• ติดตามผู้อื่น
• Zap ให้คนอื่นๆ
• เริ่มสร้าง Note ของตัวเอง (โพสต์) สักครั้ง หรือบ่อยครั้ง
• คุยกับคนอื่นให้มากกว่าที่เคย (มากกว่าแค่อ่านๆ ไปเรื่อยเหมือนตอนใช้ Facebook)
• ได้ Zap กลับมาจากคนอื่น
• สำรวจแฮชแท็กต่างๆ ลองใช้งานมันไปเรื่อยๆ

เหนือสิ่งอื่นใด จงใช้ชีวิตบน Nostr และแค่สนุกไปกับมันให้ได้ก็พอ.. :)

ปล. |--

• มนุษย์มีวุ้นแปลภาษาจริงๆ แล้วนะครับ ก็ Google translate นั่นยังไง อย่าให้ภาษากลายเป็นกำแพงแห่งการเรียนรู้.. จงใช้มัน ไม่ต้องขวยเขิลกันหรอกครับ (เพราะผมเองก็ใช้)

• บทความต่อไปผมจะมาลองแนะนำว่า มีแอคเคานต์ไหนบ้างที่น่าสนใจกดติดตามสัก 10-20 บัญชี เอาคนไทยเราก่อนเลย ไว้คอยติดตามกันนะครับ

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

Chef's notes

I got the recipe from the byanjushka website. She includes a lot more information on there, and lots of pictures and instructions. But it's all in German, so here's my quickie, English version. I've doubled the amounts, as I first baked this for the #PurpleKonnektiv meetup, and I knew I'd have some hungry guests.

The cookies are vegan, but they're mostly just peanut, so it's sort of irrelevant. Just make sure you get the really high-quality peanut butter that is 100% peanut. You can usually identify it by the fact that the oil separates from the base, a bit. Everything else is probably with hardened palm oil, or something.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 10 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 500 g peanut butter, normal or crunchy
• 300 g brown (or raw) sugar
• 160 ml plant-based milk (or cows' milk, if you don't care about vegan)
• 1 pkg vanilla sugar (bourbon is nice) or 1 tsp vanilla
• 250 g flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2/3 tsp salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C (350 °F).
2. Beat together the peanut butter and the sugars, with an electric mixer.
3. Mix in milk and vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, and baking powder.
5. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and then knead the dough a bit.
6. (At this point, I put the dough in the fridge overnight, and baked it the next day.)
7. Line your baking sheet with baking paper.
8. Form tbsp-spoon-sized balls of dough.
9. Press each one flat, with a fork, dipping the fork in water, before each press (to keep the dough from sticking to the fork).

@ 6e468422:15deee93

Not too long ago, I tried to paint a picture of what a vision for a value-enabled web could look like. Now, only a couple of months later, all this stuff is being built. On nostr, and on lightning. Orange and purple, a match made in heaven.

It goes without saying that I'm beyond delighted. What a time to be alive!

nostr

Here's the thing that nostr got right, and it's the same thing that Bitcoin got right: information is easy to spread and hard to stifle.[^fn-stifle] Information can be copied quickly and perfectly, which is, I believe, the underlying reason for its desire to be free.

[^fn-stifle]: That's a Satoshi quote, of course: "Bitcoin's solution is to use a peer-to-peer network to check for double-spending. In a nutshell, the network works like a distributed timestamp server, stamping the first transaction to spend a coin. It takes advantage of the nature of information being easy to spread but hard to stifle."

Easy to spread, hard to stifle. That's the base reality of the nature of information. As always, the smart thing is to work with nature, not against it.[^1] That's what's beautiful about the orange coin and the purple ostrich: both manage to work with the peculiarities of information, not against them. Both realize that information can and should be copied, as it can be perfectly read and easily spread, always. Both understand that resistance to censorship comes from writing to many places, making the cost of deletion prohibitive.

Information does not just want to be free, it longs to be free. Information expands to fill the available storage space. Information is Rumor's younger, stronger cousin; Information is fleeter of foot, has more eyes, knows more, and understands less than Rumor.

Eric Hughes, A Cypherpunk's Manifesto

Nostr is quickly establishing itself as a base layer for information exchange, one that is identity-native and value-enabled. It is distinctly different from systems that came before it, just like Bitcoin is distinctly different from monies that came before it.

As of today, the focus of nostr is mostly on short text notes, the so-called "type 1" events more commonly known as tweets.[^fn-kinds] However, as you should be aware by now, nostr is way more than just an alternative to twitter. It is a new paradigm. Change the note kind from 1 to 30023 and you don't have an alternative to Twitter, but a replacement for Medium, Substack, and all the other long-form platforms. I believe that special-purpose clients that focus on certain content types will emerge over time, just like we have seen the emergence of special-purpose platforms in the Web 2.0 era. This time, however, the network effects are cumulative, not separate. A new paradigm.

Let me now turn to one such special-purpose client, a nostr-based reading app.

[^fn-kinds]: Refer to the various NIPs to discover the multitude of event kinds defined by the protocol.

Reading

I'm constantly surprised that, even though most people do read a lot online, very few people seem to have a reading workflow or reading tools.

Why that is is anyone's guess, but maybe the added value of such tools is not readily apparent. You can just read the stuff right there, on the ad-ridden, dead-ugly site, right? Why should you sign up for another site, use another app, or bind yourself to another closed platform?

That's a fair point, but the success of Medium and Substack shows that there is an appetite for clean reading and writing, as well as providing avenues for authors to get paid for their writing (and a willingness of readers to support said authors, just because).

The problem is, of course, that all of these platforms are platforms, which is to say, walled gardens that imprison readers and writers alike. Worse than that: they are fiat platforms, which means that permissionless value-flows are not only absent from their DNA, they are outright impossible.[^2]

Nostr fixes this.

The beauty of nostr is that it is not a platform. It's a protocol, which means that you don't have to sign up for it---you can create an identity yourself. You don't have to ask for permission; you just do, without having to rely on the benevolence of whatever dictator is in charge of the platform right now.

Nostr is not a platform, and yet, powerful tools and services can be built and monetized on top of it. This is good for users, good for service providers, and good for the network(s) at large. Win-win-win.

So what am I talking about, exactly? How can nostr improve everyone's reading (and writing) experience?

Allow me to paint a (rough) picture of what I have in mind. Nostr already supports private and public bookmarks, so let's start from there.

Imagine a special-purpose client that scans all your bookmarks for long-form content.[^fn-urls] Everything that you marked to be read later is shown in an orderly fashion, which is to say searchable, sortable, filterable, and displayed without distractions. Voilà, you have yourself a reading app. That's, in essence, how Pocket, Readwise, and other reading apps work. But all these apps are walled gardens without much interoperability and without direct monetization.

[^fn-urls]: In the nostr world long-form content is simply markdown as defined in NIP-23, but it could also be a link to an article or PDF, which in turn could get converted into markdown and posted as an event to a special relay.

Bitcoin fixes the direct monetization part.[^fn-v4v] Nostr fixes the interoperability part.

[^fn-v4v]: ...because Bitcoin makes V4V practical. (Paywalls are not the way.)

Alright, we got ourselves a boring reading app. Great. Now, imagine that users are able to highlight passages. These highlights, just like bookmarks now, could be private or public. When shared publicly, something interesting emerges: an overlay on existing content, a lens on the written Web. In other words: swarm highlights.

Imagine a visual overlay of all public highlights, automatically shining a light on what the swarm of readers found most useful, insightful, funny, etc.

Further, imagine the possibility of sharing these highlights as a "type 1" event with one click, automatically tagging the highlighter(s)---as well as the author, of course---so that eventual sat-flows can be split and forwarded automatically.

Voilà, you have a system that allows for value to flow back to those who provide it, be it authors, editors, curators, or readers that willingly slog through the information jungle to share and highlight the best stuff (which is a form of curation, of course).

Zaps make nostr a defacto address book[^fn-pp] of payment information, which is to say lightning addresses, as of now. Thanks to nostr wallet connect (among other developments), sending sats ~~will soon be~~ is already as frictionless as leaving a like.

[^fn-pp]: The Yellow Pages are dead, long live The Purple Pages!

Value-for-value and participatory payment flows are something that traditional reading apps desperately lack, be it Pocket, Instapaper, Readwise, or the simple reading mode that is part of every browser.

A neat side-effect of a more structured way to share passages of text is that it enables semi-structured discussions around said passages---which could be another useful overlay inside special-purpose clients, providing context and further insights.[^5]

Further, imagine the option of seamlessly switching from text-on-screen to text-to-speech, allowing the user to stream sats if desired, as Podcasting 2.0 clients already do.[^3]

Imagine user-built curations of the best articles of the week, bundled neatly for your reading pleasure, incentivized by a small value split that allows the curator to participate in the flow of sats.

You get the idea.

I'm sure that the various implementation details will be hashed out, but as I see it, 90% of the stuff is already there. Maybe we'll need another NIP or two, but I don't see a reason why this can't be built---and, more importantly: I don't see a reason why it wouldn't be sustainable for everyone involved.

Most puzzle pieces are already there, and the rest of them can probably be implemented by custom event types. From the point of view of nostr, most everything is an event: bookmarks are events, highlights are events, marking something as read is an event, and sharing an excerpt or a highlight is an event. Public actions are out in the open, private actions are encrypted, the data is not in a silo, and everyone wins. Especially the users, those who are at the edge of the network and usually lose out on the value generated.

In this case, the reading case, the users are mostly "consumers" of content. What changes from the producing perspective, the perspective of the writer?

Writing

Back to the one thing that nostr got right: information is easy to spread but hard to stifle. In addition to that, digital information can be copied perfectly, which is why it shouldn't matter where stuff is published in the first place.

Allow me to repeat this point in all caps, for emphasis: IT SHOULD NOT MATTER WHERE INFORMATION IS PUBLISHED, and, maybe even more importantly, it shouldn't matter if it is published in a hundred different places at once.[^fn-torrents]

What matters is trust and accuracy, which is to say, digital signatures and reputation. To translate this to nostr speak: because every event is signed by default, as long as you trust the person behind the signature, it doesn't matter from which relay the information is fetched.

This is already true (or mostly true) on the regular web. Whether you read the internet archive version of an article or the version that is published by an online magazine, the version on the author's website, or the version read by some guy that has read more about Bitcoin than anyone else you know[^fn-guy]---it's all the same, essentially. What matters is the information itself.

[^fn-guy]: There is only one such guy, as we all know, and it's this Guy: nostr:npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev

Practically speaking, the source of truth in a hypernostrized world is---you guessed it---an event. An event signed by the author, which allows for the information to be wrapped in a tamper-proof manner, which in turn allows the information to spread far and wide---without it being hosted in one place.

The first clients that focus on long-form content already exist, and I expect more clients to pop up over time.[^4] As mentioned before, one could easily imagine prism-like value splits seamlessly integrated into these clients, splitting zaps automatically to compensate writers, editors, proofreaders, and illustrators in a V4V fashion. Further, one could imagine various compute-intensive services built into these special-purpose clients, such as GPT Ghostwriters, or writing aids such as Grammarly and the like. All these services could be seamlessly paid for in sats, without the requirement of any sign-ups or the gathering of any user data. That's the beauty of money proper.

Plagiarism is one issue that needs to be dealt with, of course. Humans are greedy, and some humans are assholes. Neither bitcoin nor nostr fixes this. However, while plagiarism detection is not necessarily trivial, it is also not impossible, especially if most texts are published on nostr first. Nostr-based publishing tools allow for OpenTimestamp attestations thanks to NIP-03, which in turn allows for plagiarism detection based on "first seen" lookups.

That's just one way to deal with the problem, of course. In any case, I'm confident that we'll figure it out.

Value

I believe that in the open ~~attention~~ information economy we find ourselves in, value will mostly derive from effective curation, dissemination, and transmission of information, not the exclusive ownership of it.

Although it is still early days, the statistics around Podcasting 2.0 and nostr zaps clearly show that (a) people are willing to monetarily reward content they care about, and (b) the willingness to send sats increases as friction decreases.

The ingenious thing about boostagrams and zaps is that they are direct and visible, which is to say, public and interactive. They are neither regular transactions nor simple donations---they are something else entirely. An unforgable value signal, a special form of gratitude and appreciation.

Contrast that with a link to Paypal or Patreon: impersonal, slow, indirect, and friction-laden. It's the opposite of a super-charged interaction.

While today's information jungle increasingly presents itself in the form of (short) videos and (long-form) audio, I believe that we will see a renaissance of the written word, especially if we manage to move away from an economy built around attention, towards an economy built upon value and insight.

The orange future now has a purple hue, and I believe that it will be as bright as ever. We just have a lot of building to do.

---

Further Reading

• A Vision for a Value-Enabled Web
• The Freedom of Value
• The Rediscovery of Money
• Lightning Prisms

NIPs and Resources

• Nostr Resources
• value4value.info
• nips.be
• NIP-23: Long-form content
• NIP-57: Event-specific zap markers
• NIP-47: Nostr Wallet Connect
• NIP-03: OpenTimestamps attestations for events

Originally published on dergigi.com

---

[^1]: Paywalls work against this nature, which is why I consider them misguided at best and incredibly retarded at worst.

[^2]: Fiat doesn't work for the value-enabled web, as fiat rails can never be open and permissionless. Digital fiat is never money. It is---and always will be---credit.

[^3]: Whether the recipient is a text-to-speech service provider or a human narrator doesn't even matter too much, sats will flow just the same.

[^4]: BlogStack and Habla being two of them.

[^5]: Use a URI as the discussion base (instead of a highlight), and you got yourself a Disqus in purple feathers!

[^fn-torrents]: That's what torrents got right, and ipfs for that matter.

@ cf5b8c65:494a0912

Estoy probando un plugin para Obisidian que permite publicar directamente en NOSTR los artículos que has creado en Obsidian.