@ a95c6243:d345522c

Die «moralische Weltordnung» – eine Art Astrologie. Friedrich Nietzsche

Das Treffen der BRICS-Staaten beim Gipfel im russischen Kasan war sicher nicht irgendein politisches Event. Gastgeber Wladimir Putin habe «Hof gehalten», sagen die Einen, China und Russland hätten ihre Vorstellung einer multipolaren Weltordnung zelebriert, schreiben Andere.

In jedem Fall zeigt die Anwesenheit von über 30 Delegationen aus der ganzen Welt, dass von einer geostrategischen Isolation Russlands wohl keine Rede sein kann. Darüber hinaus haben sowohl die Anreise von UN-Generalsekretär António Guterres als auch die Meldungen und Dementis bezüglich der Beitrittsbemühungen des NATO-Staats Türkei für etwas Aufsehen gesorgt.

Im Spannungsfeld geopolitischer und wirtschaftlicher Umbrüche zeigt die neue Allianz zunehmendes Selbstbewusstsein. In Sachen gemeinsamer Finanzpolitik schmiedet man interessante Pläne. Größere Unabhängigkeit von der US-dominierten Finanzordnung ist dabei ein wichtiges Ziel.

Beim BRICS-Wirtschaftsforum in Moskau, wenige Tage vor dem Gipfel, zählte ein nachhaltiges System für Finanzabrechnungen und Zahlungsdienste zu den vorrangigen Themen. Während dieses Treffens ging der russische Staatsfonds eine Partnerschaft mit dem Rechenzentrumsbetreiber BitRiver ein, um Bitcoin-Mining-Anlagen für die BRICS-Länder zu errichten.

Die Initiative könnte ein Schritt sein, Bitcoin und andere Kryptowährungen als Alternativen zu traditionellen Finanzsystemen zu etablieren. Das Projekt könnte dazu führen, dass die BRICS-Staaten den globalen Handel in Bitcoin abwickeln. Vor dem Hintergrund der Diskussionen über eine «BRICS-Währung» wäre dies eine Alternative zu dem ursprünglich angedachten Korb lokaler Währungen und zu goldgedeckten Währungen sowie eine mögliche Ergänzung zum Zahlungssystem BRICS Pay.

Dient der Bitcoin also der Entdollarisierung? Oder droht er inzwischen, zum Gegenstand geopolitischer Machtspielchen zu werden? Angesichts der globalen Vernetzungen ist es oft schwer zu durchschauen, «was eine Show ist und was im Hintergrund von anderen Strippenziehern insgeheim gesteuert wird». Sicher können Strukturen wie Bitcoin auch so genutzt werden, dass sie den Herrschenden dienlich sind. Aber die Grundeigenschaft des dezentralisierten, unzensierbaren Peer-to-Peer Zahlungsnetzwerks ist ihm schließlich nicht zu nehmen.

Wenn es nach der EZB oder dem IWF geht, dann scheint statt Instrumentalisierung momentan eher der Kampf gegen Kryptowährungen angesagt. Jürgen Schaaf, Senior Manager bei der Europäischen Zentralbank, hat jedenfalls dazu aufgerufen, Bitcoin «zu eliminieren». Der Internationale Währungsfonds forderte El Salvador, das Bitcoin 2021 als gesetzliches Zahlungsmittel eingeführt hat, kürzlich zu begrenzenden Maßnahmen gegen das Kryptogeld auf.

Dass die BRICS-Staaten ein freiheitliches Ansinnen im Kopf haben, wenn sie Kryptowährungen ins Spiel bringen, darf indes auch bezweifelt werden. Im Abschlussdokument bekennen sich die Gipfel-Teilnehmer ausdrücklich zur UN, ihren Programmen und ihrer «Agenda 2030». Ernst Wolff nennt das «eine Bankrotterklärung korrupter Politiker, die sich dem digital-finanziellen Komplex zu 100 Prozent unterwerfen».

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Auf der diesjährigen Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz geht es vor allem um die Ukraine. Protagonisten sind dabei zunächst die US-Amerikaner. Präsident Trump schockierte die Europäer kurz vorher durch ein Telefonat mit seinem Amtskollegen Wladimir Putin, während Vizepräsident Vance mit seiner Rede über Demokratie und Meinungsfreiheit für versteinerte Mienen und Empörung sorgte.

Die Bemühungen der Europäer um einen Frieden in der Ukraine halten sich, gelinde gesagt, in Grenzen. Größeres Augenmerk wird auf militärische Unterstützung, die Pflege von Feindbildern sowie Eskalation gelegt. Der deutsche Bundeskanzler Scholz reagierte auf die angekündigten Verhandlungen über einen möglichen Frieden für die Ukraine mit der Forderung nach noch höheren «Verteidigungsausgaben». Auch die amtierende Außenministerin Baerbock hatte vor der Münchner Konferenz klargestellt:

«Frieden wird es nur durch Stärke geben. (...) Bei Corona haben wir gesehen, zu was Europa fähig ist. Es braucht erneut Investitionen, die der historischen Wegmarke, vor der wir stehen, angemessen sind.»

Die Rüstungsindustrie freut sich in jedem Fall über weltweit steigende Militärausgaben. Die Kriege in der Ukraine und in Gaza tragen zu Rekordeinnahmen bei. Jetzt «winkt die Aussicht auf eine jahrelange große Nachrüstung in Europa», auch wenn der Ukraine-Krieg enden sollte, so hört man aus Finanzkreisen. In der Konsequenz kennt «die Aktie des deutschen Vorzeige-Rüstungskonzerns Rheinmetall in ihrem Anstieg offenbar gar keine Grenzen mehr». «Solche Friedensversprechen» wie das jetzige hätten in der Vergangenheit zu starken Kursverlusten geführt.

Für manche Leute sind Kriegswaffen und sonstige Rüstungsgüter Waren wie alle anderen, jedenfalls aus der Perspektive von Investoren oder Managern. Auch in diesem Bereich gibt es Startups und man spricht von Dingen wie innovativen Herangehensweisen, hocheffizienten Produktionsanlagen, skalierbaren Produktionstechniken und geringeren Stückkosten.

Wir lesen aktuell von Massenproduktion und gesteigerten Fertigungskapazitäten für Kriegsgerät. Der Motor solcher Dynamik und solchen Wachstums ist die Aufrüstung, die inzwischen permanent gefordert wird. Parallel wird die Bevölkerung verbal eingestimmt und auf Kriegstüchtigkeit getrimmt.

Das Rüstungs- und KI-Startup Helsing verkündete kürzlich eine «dezentrale Massenproduktion für den Ukrainekrieg». Mit dieser Expansion positioniere sich das Münchner Unternehmen als einer der weltweit führenden Hersteller von Kampfdrohnen. Der nächste «Meilenstein» steht auch bereits an: Man will eine Satellitenflotte im Weltraum aufbauen, zur Überwachung von Gefechtsfeldern und Truppenbewegungen.

Ebenfalls aus München stammt das als DefenseTech-Startup bezeichnete Unternehmen ARX Robotics. Kürzlich habe man in der Region die größte europäische Produktionsstätte für autonome Verteidigungssysteme eröffnet. Damit fahre man die Produktion von Militär-Robotern hoch. Diese Expansion diene auch der Lieferung der «größten Flotte unbemannter Bodensysteme westlicher Bauart» in die Ukraine.

Rüstung boomt und scheint ein Zukunftsmarkt zu sein. Die Hersteller und Vermarkter betonen, mit ihren Aktivitäten und Produkten solle die europäische Verteidigungsfähigkeit erhöht werden. Ihre Strategien sollten sogar «zum Schutz demokratischer Strukturen beitragen».

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 9a4acdeb:1489913b

Chef's notes

Original recipe, a favorite of family and friends, and the easiest and fastest prep time meal I make. Like all really good pork recipes, it does take time in the cooker, but it's set-and-forget and requires no attention between starting and serving.

Using fresh herbs and peppers does enhance the meal (especially fresh cilantro if it doesn't taste like soap to you), but this is optional, and it is excellent with dry ingredients.

Excluding the beans and/or tomato makes this meal extra-low carb for those carnivores amongst us, or those sensitive to beans. Frying the shredded cheese in a slick pan is a good way to

It will take up to 15min to come up to pressure, so it may be helpful to pay attention to it to be sure it pressurizes until you become familiar with how this meal acts in your particular pressure cooker. The Instant Pot pressure cookers make this easy.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20min
• 🍳 Cook time: 2hrs
• 🍽️ Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 4lbs Pork loin
• 1-2 Yellow onion, roughly chopped
• 3-5 Jalapeños or 1x 4oz canned
• 6-8 Green chilis or 1x 4oz canned
• 2oz canned sliced Black olives (may use half a 4oz can)
• 2-3tsp minced garlic, or 1-2 tsp garlic powder
• A small bunch of cilantro, chopped, or 1-2 tsb dried cilantro (optional)
• 1tbsp Oregano, chopped fresh or dried
• 2-3tsb Chili powder; Ancho, Chipotle, or a blend of the two is best
• 2-3tsb ground Cumin
• 3-4tsp salt
• 2-tsp black pepper
• 1 large or 4oz canned tomato (optional)
• Mexican mix shredded cheese (topping)
• 4oz Black beans (optional)
• Tortillas (optional)
• Avocado (optional toping)
• 6 Limes and/or 3oz lime juice

Directions

1. Mix dry seasonings
2. Chop and mix fresh herbs and veggies, canned or otherwise
3. Add chopped onion to bottom of pressure cooker
4. Add pork loin atop the onion; chopping into steaks may make the texture better
5. Add veggies to the top, shaking to settle into the pressure cooker
6. Add lime juice
7. Start on high pressure for 2hrs.
8. (Optional) Drain the broth into a saucepan, cook down, and add back into the mix to make it extra flavorful. Otherwise, can be served as a soup or poured over rice.
9. Serve with cheese as a topping, over rice, in a tortilla as tacos or burritos, or in a number of other fashions you may fancy. Those who prefer a little more lime may squeeze fresh or splash some more on their meal.
10. (Optional) For presentation, garnish with cilantro and lime slices, maybe a dollop of shredded cheese, sour cream, or cream cheese.

@ 00000001:b0c77eb9

مواقع التواصل الإجتماعي العامة هي التي تتحكم بك، تتحكم بك بفرض أجندتها وتجبرك على اتباعها وتحظر وتحذف كل ما يخالفها، وحرية التعبير تنحصر في أجندتها تلك!

وخوارزمياتها الخبيثة التي لا حاجة لها، تعرض لك مايريدون منك أن تراه وتحجب ما لا يريدونك أن تراه.

في نوستر انت المتحكم، انت الذي تحدد من تتابع و انت الذي تحدد المرحلات التي تنشر منشوراتك بها.

نوستر لامركزي، بمعنى عدم وجود سلطة تتحكم ببياناتك، بياناتك موجودة في المرحلات، ولا احد يستطيع حذفها او تعديلها او حظر ظهورها.

و هذا لا ينطبق فقط على مواقع التواصل الإجتماعي العامة، بل ينطبق أيضاً على الـfediverse، في الـfediverse انت لست حر، انت تتبع الخادم الذي تستخدمه ويستطيع هذا الخادم حظر ما لا يريد ظهوره لك، لأنك لا تتواصل مع بقية الخوادم بنفسك، بل خادمك من يقوم بذلك بالنيابة عنك.

وحتى إذا كنت تمتلك خادم في شبكة الـfediverse، إذا خالفت اجندة بقية الخوادم ونظرتهم عن حرية الرأي و التعبير سوف يندرج خادمك في القائمة السوداء fediblock ولن يتمكن خادمك من التواصل مع بقية خوادم الشبكة، ستكون محصوراً بالخوادم الأخرى المحظورة كخادمك، بالتالي انت في الشبكة الأخرى من الـfediverse!

نعم، يوجد شبكتان في الكون الفدرالي fediverse شبكة الصالحين التابعين للأجندة الغربية وشبكة الطالحين الذين لا يتبعون لها، إذا تم إدراج خادمك في قائمة fediblock سوف تذهب للشبكة الأخرى!

@ b8851a06:9b120ba1

Nothing disgusts me more than the way the white-collar justice system operates—where billion-dollar crimes are punished with pocket-change fines, and the executives responsible walk free, richer than ever. You will never see this on the centralized, Keynesian, fiat-owned mainstream media. Only here on #Nostr, where the truth isn’t for sale.

JPMorgan Chase is not just a bank—it is a repeat offender in the global financial system. With 272 violations and $39.3 billion in fines since 2000, its track record rivals that of the most notorious criminal enterprises. And yet, it remains untouchable, shielded by its financial dominance and a regulatory system that punishes lawbreaking with fines too insignificant to be real deterrents.

In 2024 alone, JPMorgan Chase reported $58.5 billion in net income, an 18% increase from 2023. Meanwhile, it incurred $825 million in fines, which accounted for just 1.41% of its net income—a rounding error for the banking giant.

Fines vs. Profits: The Cost of Doing Business

Year Total Revenue (in billions) Net Income (in billions) Total Fines (in billions) Fines as % of Net Income 2024 $177.6 $58.5 $0.825 1.41% 2023 $158.1 $49.6 Data not specified N/A 2022 $132.3 $35.9 Data not specified N/A

Sources: Bloomberg, Ventureburn

JPMorgan’s profits dwarf the penalties it pays, showing that these fines are simply the cost of doing business.

2024: A Continuation of Violations

Despite its massive profits, JPMorgan continues its long history of lawbreaking. In 2024 alone, it has been fined $825 million across multiple categories: • $250 million – Banking violations • $200 million – Investor protection violations • $151 million – Securities violations • $125 million – Price-fixing practices • $98.2 million – Banking violations

Additionally, in January 2024, the bank was fined $18 million for forcing customers to stay silent about illegal activities through confidential release agreements—another example of corporate misconduct being covered up rather than addressed.

JPMorgan has admitted to market manipulation, securities fraud, and price-fixing—yet it remains a repeat offender because financial penalties do not impact its bottom line.

The Human Cost: How JPMorgan Hurts Regular People

While JPMorgan’s executives cash in on record profits, their crimes directly harm ordinary people: • Loan denials due to false credit reporting • Higher interest rates on credit cards and loans • Difficulty opening new deposit accounts • Challenges in renting apartments or securing jobs • Thousands of suspicious transactions totaling $1.5 billion went unreported

Beyond the numbers, real people suffer from these violations. In 2024, JPMorgan was sued for failing to protect consumers from fraud on the Zelle payment platform. Customers lost over $870 million since Zelle’s 2017 launch, and JPMorgan ignored thousands of fraud complaints, even advising victims to contact scammers directly to get their money back.

This is not just corporate negligence—it is systematic exploitation.

Breakdown of JPMorgan’s Violations (2000-2024)

JPMorgan’s violations span nearly every financial crime category imaginable: • Toxic Securities Abuses: $13.46 billion • Investor Protection Violations: $6.25 billion • Mortgage Abuses: $5.36 billion • Banking Violations: $4.26 billion • Consumer Protection Violations: $3.19 billion

This systematic lawbreaking has become a business strategy rather than a legal risk.

Regulatory Capture: Why JPMorgan Gets Away With It

The question remains: Why does nothing change? The answer is regulatory capture—where the regulators responsible for policing the banks are influenced or controlled by the industry itself.

The Revolving Door: How Banks Own Their Regulators

•   Regulators frequently leave their jobs to work for the banks they once supervised.
•   The banking industry is so complex that even lawmakers struggle to verify its practices.
•   Regulators fear antagonizing banks because they often seek employment in the same industry.

JPMorgan exploits this system to avoid real consequences. Its CEO, Jamie Dimon, has openly criticized regulation and vowed to fight new financial rules, ensuring that oversight remains weak and penalties remain a slap on the wrist.

Systematic Failures in Regulation

•   Consumer protection is spread across seven different agencies, creating inefficiency.
•   Conflicts of interest within these agencies weaken enforcement.
•   Some regulators have explicit mandates to promote the financial system’s competitiveness rather than hold banks accountable.

This cycle ensures that fines remain low, executives avoid jail, and banks like JPMorgan continue breaking the law with impunity.

Industry-Wide Issues: A Systemic Problem

JPMorgan Chase is not alone. The banking sector as a whole is rife with fraud and corruption: • Wells Fargo: In 2024, Wells Fargo was sued for failing to protect customers from fraud on the Zelle payment platform, contributing to $870 million in consumer losses. • Bank of America: Also implicated in the Zelle fraud lawsuit for failing to implement basic fraud protections.

These cases prove that financial misconduct is not an exception—it’s the industry standard.

Too Big to Fail, Too Criminal to Stop

JPMorgan’s status as a “too big to fail” institution means that no matter how many laws it breaks, no matter how many billions it pays in fines, it remains untouchable.

If an individual committed fraud, price-fixing, or money laundering on this scale, they would spend a lifetime in prison. JPMorgan? It just keeps making record profits.

This is not justice. This is the financial elite operating above the law. Until executives face criminal prosecution instead of just fines, JPMorgan Chase will remain what it has been for decades:

A financial felon in a three-piece suit.

The Next Stage of Banking Corruption

JPMorgan’s violations are not just a relic of past financial crises. The next stage of banking corruption is already underway—and this time, the stakes are even higher.

With AI-driven market manipulation, rising corporate surveillance, and the increasing concentration of financial power, the system is evolving in ways that regulators are not prepared to handle. JPMorgan and its peers are already positioning themselves to profit from the next crisis, just as they did in 2008.

The question is not whether JPMorgan will commit future crimes. The question is how much they will profit from them—and how little they will be held accountable.

The reality is clear: JPMorgan Chase is not a bank that sometimes breaks the law. It is a criminal enterprise that happens to operate as a bank.

#Bitcoin is the exit. The escape from their rigged system. The end of their unchecked power.

@ 8be6bafe:b50da031

Botev Plovdiv FC is proud to present the Bitcoin Salary Calculator tool, as the foundational tool to showcase athletes the financial power of Bitcoin.

We built the Salary Calculator to help anyone follow in the financial footsteps of prominent athletes such as Kieran Gibbs, Russell Okung, Saquon Barkley, and Renato Moicano, who have significantly increased their savings tank thanks to Bitcoin.

The Bitcoin Salary Calculator allows any person to choose how much of their monthly salary they are comfortable saving in Bitcoin. Instantly, users can backtrack and see how their Bitcoin savings would have performed using the once-in-a-species opportunity which Bitcoin brings.

Try it out NOW for yourself.

https://video.nostr.build/a9f2f693f6b5ee75097941e7a30bfc722225918a896b29a73e13e7581dfed77c.mp4

Athletes need Bitcoin more than anyone else

Unlike most people, athletes’ careers and earning years are limited. This has driven the likes of Odell Beckham Jr. and Alex Crognale to also start saving a part of their income in Bitcoin with a long-term outlook as they prepare for retirement.

“The reason why announced 50% of my salary in Bitcoin is because I feel one the noblest things you can do is to get people to understand Bitcoin.” Kieran Gibbs, founder ONE FC, ex Arsenal, ex Inter Miami, ex West Bromich Albion.

“I am trusting Bitcoin for my life after football. Every time my club paid me, I bought Bitcoin.” Alex Crognale, San Antonio FC player.

https://x.com/TFTC21/status/1883228348379533469

“At Botev Plovdiv FC, we believe not only in fostering sporting talent, but also helping them the the most of their careers so they excel in life after retiring from sports. It is with this mission in mind that the club is launching the Bitcoin Football Cup hub, striving to accelerate mass Bitcoin education via sports and athletes - the influencers and role models for billions of people.” shared Botev’s Bitcoin Director George Manolov.

https://x.com/obj/status/1856744340795662432

The Bitcoin Football Cup aims for young prospects to be able to learn key financial lessons from seasoned veterans across all sports. Our Bitcoin Salary Calculator is only the first step toward that goal.

We encourage anyone to hear these stories straight from the current roster of Bitcoin athletes -for whom -in many cases- Bitcoin has allowed them to outperform the wealth it took decades to earn on the field.

Follow us on the Bitcoin Cup’s social media channels to learn more and hear the latest stories of how Bitcoin is shaking up the world of sports:

• Twitter: https://x.com/Bitcoin_Cup/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/BitcoinCup/
• TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@BitcoinCup/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BitcoinCup/

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Chef's notes

Credit to The Yummy Life. Go show them love below: https://www.theyummylife.com/Pickled_Jalapeno_Peppers

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 1 hour
• 🍳 Cook time: 20 mins
• 🍽️ Servings: 4 mason jars (pint)

Ingredients

• 2 lbs. jalapenos
• 2-1/4 cups vinegar (white distilled, apple cider, or a combination of the two)
• 2-1/4 cups water
• 2 tablespoons sugar or honey (optional)
• ADD TO EACH PINT JAR
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon whole black pepper corns
• 1/4 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon whole coriander seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 whole garlic clove, peeled
• 1/8 teaspoon Pickle Crisp granules (optional)

Directions

1. Slice 1/2 pound jalapenos into 1/8" rounds, discarding stem ends.
2. Prepare the jars: Wash 4 pint jars and lids in hot sudsy water, then keep them warm.
3. Prepare the pickling liquid: Combine 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon vinegar, 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon water, and 1-1/2 teaspoons sugar or honey (optional) in a 2 quart pan, heating until just before boiling.
4. Fill the jars: Add jalapeno slices to each jar, pressing them down and packing them in compactly, then pour the hot pickling liquid into each jar, leaving 1/2" head space.
5. Process and store: Allow jars to cool to room temperature, then store them in the refrigerator or can them using standard USDA water process canning procedures, following storage guidelines for refrigerator or canned pickled peppers.

@ 1cb14ab3:95d52462

Chef's notes

Classic beef n' broccoli. Easy to make and dank to eat.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 mins
• 🍳 Cook time: 10 mins.

Ingredients

• 1 lb top sirloin steak, thinly sliced
• ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons fresh ginger, minced
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 head broccoli, cut into 1-inch (2 ½ cm) florets
• ½ cup water
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes, optional
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the sirloin steak, soy sauce, cornstarch, brown sugar, and ginger until the meat is evenly covered in the marinade. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes.
2. Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Dump in the meat and marinade and sear each side until golden brown. Transfer the meat to a clean bowl and set aside.
3. Place the broccoli into the hot skillet and sauté until the broccoli has just started to brown, about 1 minute. Pour the water into the skillet and immediately cover with a lid. Let it steam for 2 minutes, until the broccoli has softened.
4. Remove the lid and toss in the garlic, red pepper flakes, and sesame oil. Sauté until the garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds.
5. Add the steak back into the pan and stir to combine. Remove from heat and serve on a bed of brown rice.

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Nur wenn wir aufeinander zugehen, haben wir die Chance \ auf Überwindung der gegenseitigen Ressentiments! \ Dr. med. dent. Jens Knipphals

In Wolfsburg sollte es kürzlich eine Gesprächsrunde von Kritikern der Corona-Politik mit Oberbürgermeister Dennis Weilmann und Vertretern der Stadtverwaltung geben. Der Zahnarzt und langjährige Maßnahmenkritiker Jens Knipphals hatte diese Einladung ins Rathaus erwirkt und publiziert. Seine Motivation:

«Ich möchte die Spaltung der Gesellschaft überwinden. Dazu ist eine umfassende Aufarbeitung der Corona-Krise in der Öffentlichkeit notwendig.»

Schon früher hatte Knipphals Antworten von den Kommunalpolitikern verlangt, zum Beispiel bei öffentlichen Bürgerfragestunden. Für das erwartete Treffen im Rathaus formulierte er Fragen wie: Warum wurden fachliche Argumente der Kritiker ignoriert? Weshalb wurde deren Ausgrenzung, Diskreditierung und Entmenschlichung nicht entgegengetreten? In welcher Form übernehmen Rat und Verwaltung in Wolfsburg persönlich Verantwortung für die erheblichen Folgen der politischen Corona-Krise?

Der Termin fand allerdings nicht statt – der Bürgermeister sagte ihn kurz vorher wieder ab. Knipphals bezeichnete Weilmann anschließend als Wiederholungstäter, da das Stadtoberhaupt bereits 2022 zu einem Runden Tisch in der Sache eingeladen hatte, den es dann nie gab. Gegenüber Multipolar erklärte der Arzt, Weilmann wolle scheinbar eine öffentliche Aufarbeitung mit allen Mitteln verhindern. Er selbst sei «inzwischen absolut desillusioniert» und die einzige Lösung sei, dass die Verantwortlichen gingen.

Die Aufarbeitung der Plandemie beginne bei jedem von uns selbst, sei aber letztlich eine gesamtgesellschaftliche Aufgabe, schreibt Peter Frey, der den «Fall Wolfsburg» auch in seinem Blog behandelt. Diese Aufgabe sei indes deutlich größer, als viele glaubten. Erfreulicherweise sei der öffentliche Informationsraum inzwischen größer, trotz der weiterhin unverfrorenen Desinformations-Kampagnen der etablierten Massenmedien.

Frey erinnert daran, dass Dennis Weilmann mitverantwortlich für gravierende Grundrechtseinschränkungen wie die 2021 eingeführten 2G-Regeln in der Wolfsburger Innenstadt zeichnet. Es sei naiv anzunehmen, dass ein Funktionär einzig im Interesse der Bürger handeln würde. Als früherer Dezernent des Amtes für Wirtschaft, Digitalisierung und Kultur der Autostadt kenne Weilmann zum Beispiel die Verknüpfung von Fördergeldern mit politischen Zielsetzungen gut.

Wolfsburg wurde damals zu einem Modellprojekt des Bundesministeriums des Innern (BMI) und war Finalist im Bitkom-Wettbewerb «Digitale Stadt». So habe rechtzeitig vor der Plandemie das Projekt «Smart City Wolfsburg» anlaufen können, das der Stadt «eine Vorreiterrolle für umfassende Vernetzung und Datenerfassung» aufgetragen habe, sagt Frey. Die Vereinten Nationen verkauften dann derartige «intelligente» Überwachungs- und Kontrollmaßnahmen ebenso als Rettung in der Not wie das Magazin Forbes im April 2020:

«Intelligente Städte können uns helfen, die Coronavirus-Pandemie zu bekämpfen. In einer wachsenden Zahl von Ländern tun die intelligenten Städte genau das. Regierungen und lokale Behörden nutzen Smart-City-Technologien, Sensoren und Daten, um die Kontakte von Menschen aufzuspüren, die mit dem Coronavirus infiziert sind. Gleichzeitig helfen die Smart Cities auch dabei, festzustellen, ob die Regeln der sozialen Distanzierung eingehalten werden.»

Offensichtlich gibt es viele Aspekte zu bedenken und zu durchleuten, wenn es um die Aufklärung und Aufarbeitung der sogenannten «Corona-Pandemie» und der verordneten Maßnahmen geht. Frustration und Desillusion sind angesichts der Realitäten absolut verständlich. Gerade deswegen sind Initiativen wie die von Jens Knipphals so bewundernswert und so wichtig – ebenso wie eine seiner Kernthesen: «Wir müssen aufeinander zugehen, da hilft alles nichts».

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 88d8c9d1:5b3ac02b

This article was first published on Bitcoin Magazine at Aug 27, 2024.

In the rapidly expanding global Bitcoin community, Western biases often dominate the narrative, overlooking diverse stories from around the world. One such story belongs to Didier Somnuke, a small business owner in the heart of Bangkok, a city known for welcoming 22.8 million international tourists in 2023, surpassing cities like Paris, London, and New York City. Although Thailand has experienced a massive spike in household debt, reaching 16.37 trillion baht (US$463 billion) or 90.8% of the national GDP, up from less than 14 trillion baht in 2019.

[primal.net/p/npub1xzh2kqynr29x6j3ln6x05f26ha0c0ucfr280uzljftlgcthv9r6skqe7dt] aka Didier Somnuke, born in Yala province, where geopolitical conflict is a harsh reality. Southern Thailand is one of the poorest parts of Thailand with a poverty rate of 34% compared to the national average of 6%, according to the World Bank, has been plagued by instability. Since 2004, this turmoil has claimed over 7,000 lives and injured 13,500 people.

As a Thai saying goes, “ทวงสิทธิ์ที่จะมีชีวิตที่ดีกลับคืนมา” (Reclaim the right to a better life), In 2012, Didier left his conflict-ridden hometown for Bangkok, where pursuing higher education was a beacon of hope for a better life. At that time, Bitcoin and financial concepts were distant ideas in Didier's universe. Navigating the vibrant streets of Bangkok, Didier completed his master's degree and joined the workforce, taking up a typical 9-to-5 job. For a domestic migrant, this was a significant achievement. Reflecting on his journey, he recalled his teacher’s words, “When you are old, you have time and money, but you will lack the energy to start a business. If you want to do it, just do it.” With this advice in mind, Didier resigned from his monotonous corporate job after a year and opened a new chapter in his life.

Didier borrowed 50,000 THB (approximately 1,500 USD) from his brother to begin a street burger shop. He chose to start a burger business because he believed it was easy to launch with a small investment. Driven by his ambition and inspired by the bustling energy of Bangkok, a city that never sleeps. He spent about a year developing the recipe and began the business in 2015. In the first three to four years, he managed everything on his own as a solo entrepreneur, and his income was lower than the wage he earned in his corporate job. He often wondered if he had made a mistake by quitting his job to start a business that generated less income. However, after five years, everything started to improve. Sales at the shop began to increase, and Didier started hiring employees.

He admitted, "I entered the crypto market with greed; all I wanted was to get rich quickly." In 2017, he and his friends pooled their resources to buy three ASIC miners from Bitmain to try mining Bitcoin and altcoins like Litecoin and Dogecoin. They saw a return on their investment within six months. Didier bought his first Bitcoin in early 2017 to purchase those ASIC miners but didn't know how to transfer his Bitcoin, so he ended up using a bank transfer instead.

Reflecting on his early experiences, he recalled, "My first Bitcoin were slowly converted to shitcoins during the bull market. I was so lucky. I got a 100% profit almost immediately whenever I bought something." Despite having zero knowledge about cryptocurrency, he gained confidence and became a super shitcoiner, paying very little attention to Bitcoin.

In mid-2017, he learned about leverage and trading. His profits skyrocketed due to leverage. Although luck was not always on his side forever, in early 2018, the market crashed, and he lost over 1 million Thai baht (almost 30,000 USD), while his initial capital was just about 100,000 Thai baht (about 3,000 USD). On top of that, he also lost his shitcoins from the mining pool. He had kept all of his shitcoins in the mining pool's custody, and one day, when he checked his account, every shitcoin he owned, worth 10,000 USD were gone. The notice on the mining website, "Hash-to-Coin," stated that if coins were kept with them for more than three months, they would be considered a donation.

He disheartenedly said, "I lost everything." But unlike most people, "I didn't blame Bitcoin. I still see it as the future. I blame myself. I didn't know anything and I did over leverage." He emphasized that despite his heavy financial losses, his girlfriend did not leave him. "My girlfriend was my customer. She regularly came to buy burgers. I met her while I was struggling financially during my early days as an entrepreneur. She supported me and said we could make the money back."

Determined to turn his circumstances around, he discovered Mr. Piriya on YouTube and started following his live streams about the real Bitcoin education. This marked the moment he began to truly understand what Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are. Enlightened by this unique knowledge, he came to see Bitcoin as a saving technology rather than just a trading tool. Over three years, Didier recovered from his losses and emerged stronger. He got to be friend with Mr. Piriya, and together they founded a company called Right Shift to develop Bitcoin content in Thai language through multiple social media channels, including on Nostr (npub1ejn774qahqmgjsfajawy7634unk88y26yktvwuzp9kfgdeejx9mqdm97a5) with one of the popular hashtag #siamstr. As a team, they translated "The Bitcoin Standard" and "The Fiat Standard" into Thai, both of which became best-selling books in Thailand. They organized the first-ever Bitcoin Thailand Conference in 2023 and are now preparing for the next one in September 2024.

Didier now accepts Bitcoin as a payment method in his main burger shop, one of four different franchises. He uses Wallet of Satoshi to process these payments. Within a year of implementing this initiative, he has received over 3 million sats in payments, though he initially expected to see more transactions in Bitcoin. In his marketplace, some neighboring small business owners occasionally ask him about Bitcoin as they notice the large Bitcoin poster in his shop. Although they often lose interest once he explains, according to his several unsuccessful experience. Instead now, he focuses his energy online, where he can make more impact to people who are willing to embrace innovation.

In 2022, approximately 8.4 million people in Thailand, accounting for 12% of the country's population, used cryptocurrency. Estimates suggest that by 2028, this number will rise to about 17.67 million, representing 25% of the population. During our conversation, Didier claimed that there are about 50,000 Bitcoin users in Thailand and speculated that the Thai government might intervene in Bitcoin adoption, potentially mandating the use of KYC wallets because they dislike money systems they can't control. In the worst-case scenario, Didier remains resolute: he will continue advocating for Bitcoin with his friends. "It is not an option," he asserted, "it is the only way to survive."

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Im Augenblick wird mit größter Intensität, großer Umsicht \ das deutsche Volk belogen. \ Olaf Scholz im FAZ-Interview

Online-Wahlen stärken die Demokratie, sind sicher, und 61 Prozent der Wahlberechtigten sprechen sich für deren Einführung in Deutschland aus. Das zumindest behauptet eine aktuelle Umfrage, die auch über die Agentur Reuters Verbreitung in den Medien gefunden hat. Demnach würden außerdem 45 Prozent der Nichtwähler bei der Bundestagswahl ihre Stimme abgeben, wenn sie dies zum Beispiel von Ihrem PC, Tablet oder Smartphone aus machen könnten.

Die telefonische Umfrage unter gut 1000 wahlberechtigten Personen sei repräsentativ, behauptet der Auftraggeber – der Digitalverband Bitkom. Dieser präsentiert sich als eingetragener Verein mit einer beeindruckenden Liste von Mitgliedern, die Software und IT-Dienstleistungen anbieten. Erklärtes Vereinsziel ist es, «Deutschland zu einem führenden Digitalstandort zu machen und die digitale Transformation der deutschen Wirtschaft und Verwaltung voranzutreiben».

Durchgeführt hat die Befragung die Bitkom Servicegesellschaft mbH, also alles in der Familie. Die gleiche Erhebung hatte der Verband übrigens 2021 schon einmal durchgeführt. Damals sprachen sich angeblich sogar 63 Prozent für ein derartiges «Demokratie-Update» aus – die Tendenz ist demgemäß fallend. Dennoch orakelt mancher, der Gang zur Wahlurne gelte bereits als veraltet.

Die spanische Privat-Uni mit Globalisten-Touch, IE University, berichtete Ende letzten Jahres in ihrer Studie «European Tech Insights», 67 Prozent der Europäer befürchteten, dass Hacker Wahlergebnisse verfälschen könnten. Mehr als 30 Prozent der Befragten glaubten, dass künstliche Intelligenz (KI) bereits Wahlentscheidungen beeinflusst habe. Trotzdem würden angeblich 34 Prozent der unter 35-Jährigen einer KI-gesteuerten App vertrauen, um in ihrem Namen für politische Kandidaten zu stimmen.

Wie dauerhaft wird wohl das Ergebnis der kommenden Bundestagswahl sein? Diese Frage stellt sich angesichts der aktuellen Entwicklung der Migrations-Debatte und der (vorübergehend) bröckelnden «Brandmauer» gegen die AfD. Das «Zustrombegrenzungsgesetz» der Union hat das Parlament heute Nachmittag überraschenderweise abgelehnt. Dennoch muss man wohl kein ausgesprochener Pessimist sein, um zu befürchten, dass die Entscheidungen der Bürger von den selbsternannten Verteidigern der Demokratie künftig vielleicht nicht respektiert werden, weil sie nicht gefallen.

Bundesweit wird jetzt zu «Brandmauer-Demos» aufgerufen, die CDU gerät unter Druck und es wird von Übergriffen auf Parteibüros und Drohungen gegen Mitarbeiter berichtet. Sicherheitsbehörden warnen vor Eskalationen, die Polizei sei «für ein mögliches erhöhtes Aufkommen von Straftaten gegenüber Politikern und gegen Parteigebäude sensibilisiert».

Der Vorwand «unzulässiger Einflussnahme» auf Politik und Wahlen wird als Argument schon seit einiger Zeit aufgebaut. Der Manipulation schuldig befunden wird neben Putin und Trump auch Elon Musk, was lustigerweise ausgerechnet Bill Gates gerade noch einmal bekräftigt und als «völlig irre» bezeichnet hat. Man stelle sich die Diskussionen um die Gültigkeit von Wahlergebnissen vor, wenn es Online-Verfahren zur Stimmabgabe gäbe. In der Schweiz wird «E-Voting» seit einigen Jahren getestet, aber wohl bisher mit wenig Erfolg.

Die politische Brandstiftung der letzten Jahre zahlt sich immer mehr aus. Anstatt dringende Probleme der Menschen zu lösen – zu denen auch in Deutschland die weit verbreitete Armut zählt –, hat die Politik konsequent polarisiert und sich auf Ausgrenzung und Verhöhnung großer Teile der Bevölkerung konzentriert. Basierend auf Ideologie und Lügen werden abweichende Stimmen unterdrückt und kriminalisiert, nicht nur und nicht erst in diesem Augenblick. Die nächsten Wochen dürften ausgesprochen spannend werden.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 0b118e40:4edc09cb

Are we living in his definition of democracy?

It’s interesting how political parties can divide a country, especially in democracies where both oppression and individual choice coexist.

As I was exploring global economics and political ideologies, I picked up The Republic by Plato (again). The first time I read it, I only read the book on the Allegory of the Cave and it felt enlightening. This time around, I read through all the books and I thought to myself : this is absolutely nuts!

Over 2,000 years ago, The Republic imagined a world disturbingly similar to Gattaca or 1984. For a quick rundown, Plato believed in a police state, eugenics, a caste system, and brainwashing people through state-controlled media and education. Sounds wild? I thought so too.

And for some reason, Plato had a serious grudge against art. To him, art was deceptive and emotionally manipulative. Maybe because there was a skit making fun of Socrates at that time by Aristophanes (the father of comedy) or maybe because he struggled to deal with emotions, we will never know.

Plato obviously wasn’t a fan of democracy as he wanted a dystopian world. But to be fair, he genuinely thought that his ideal world (Kallipolis) was a utopia. Maybe someone who loves extreme order and control might think the same but I sure don’t.

His teacher Socrates was also not a fan of democracy because he believed the mass majority were too ignorant to govern and only those intelligent enough could. His student, Aristotle, was more moderate but still critical, seeing democracy as vulnerable to corruption and mob rule. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were around the Classical Greek era, 5th to 4th century BC.

The idea of democracy existed long before them. The first recorded version was in Athens during the 6th BC, developed by leaders like Solon and Pericles. It was a direct democracy where free male citizens (non-slaves) could vote on laws themselves instead of electing representatives.

These guys influenced how we think about democracy today. But looking around, I wonder, did we end up in Plato’s dystopian world?

Plato’s take on democracy

Plato’s lack of trust of democracy stemmed from Socrates’ death. Socrates himself was a fierce critic of democracy, as he believed governance should be based on wisdom rather than popularity.

Other thinkers, like Pythagoras and Herodotus (father of history), also examined different political systems, but Socrates was the most influential critic. He warned that allowing the uneducated masses to choose leaders would lead to poor governance, as they could be easily swayed by persuasive speakers rather than guided by knowledge.

Athenian democracy relied on large citizen juries and was particularly vulnerable to rhetoric and public sentiment.

In the end, Socrates became a victim of the very system he criticized. His relentless questioning of widely accepted beliefs, now known as the Socratic Method, earned him powerful enemies. Socrates’ constant probing forced them to confront uncomfortable truths. It annoyed people so much, that it eventually led to his trial and execution. Socrates was condemned to death by popular vote.

I wonder, if we applied the Socratic Method today to challenge both the left and the right on the merits of the opposing side, would they be open to expanding their perspectives, or would they react with the same hostility?

This questioning technique is now also used in some schools and universities as a teaching method, encouraging open-ended discussion where students contribute their own thoughts rather than passively receiving information. But how open a school, system, or educator is to broad perspectives depends largely on their own biases and beliefs. Even with open-ended questions, the direction of the conversation can be shaped by those in charge, potentially limiting the range of perspectives explored.

Socrates’ brutal death deeply grounded Plato’s belief that democracy, without intellectual rigor, was nothing but a mob rule. He saw it as a system doomed to chaos, where the unqualified, driven by emotion or manipulated by rhetoric, made decisions that ultimately paved the way for tyranny.

The Republic

The Republic was written around 375 BC, after the Peloponnesian War. One of its most famous sections is the Allegory of the Cave, where prisoners are stuck watching shadows on a wall, thinking that it’s reality until one breaks free and sees the real world. That’s when the person becomes enlightened, using knowledge and reason to escape ignorance. They return to free others, spreading the truth. I love this idea of breaking free from suppression through knowledge and awareness.

But as I went deeper into Plato’s work, I realized what the plot twist was.

Plato wrote this book for strict state control. He wanted total control over education, media, and even families like in the book 1984. He argued that people should be sorted into a caste system, typically workers, warriors, and philosopher-kings so that society runs like a well-oiled machine. The “guardians” would police the state and everyone would go through physical and military training. To top it off, kids would be taken away from their parents and raised by the state for the “greater good.” like in the movie Gattaca. If that sounds a little too Orwellian, that’s because it is.

Plato believed that only philosophers, the truly enlightened ones from that “cave”, should rule. To him, democracy was a joke, a breeding ground for corruption and tyranny.

I found it completely ironic that this book that warns about brainwashing in the Allegory of the Cave also pushes for a state-controlled society, where thinking for yourself isn’t really an option.

And yet, looking around today, I wonder, are we really any different? We live in a world where oppression and enlightenment exist side by side.

Plato was slightly progressive in that he thought men and women should have equal education, but only for the ruling Guardian class.

In The Republic, Plato didn’t focus much on economics or capitalism as we understand them today. His philosophies were more concerned with justice, governance, and the ideal structure of society. He did touch on wealth and property, particularly in The Republic and Laws but it was more on being against wealth accumulation by rulers (philosopher-kings had to live communally and without private property).

While these ideas echo elements of socialism, he never outlined a full economic system like capitalism or socialism.

The hatred for art

Plato was deeply skeptical of art. He believed that it appealed to emotions over rational thought and distorted reality. In The Republic (Book X), he argued that art is an imitation of an imitation, pulling people further from the truth. If he had his way, much of modern entertainment, including poetry, drama, and even certain types of music, would not exist in their expressive forms.

Despite Plato’s distrust of the arts, his time was a golden age for Greek drama, sculpture, and philosophy. Ironically, the very city where he built his Academy, Athens, was flourishing with the kind of creativity he wanted to censor.

Even medicine, which thrived under Hippocrates (the father of medicine), was considered an art requiring lifelong mastery. His quote, ‘Life is short, and art is long,’ reflects the long span of time it takes to cultivate and appreciate knowledge and skills, which was something Plato valued. Yet, he dismissed most art as a distraction from truth.

Plato particularly criticized poets and playwrights like Homer, as he claimed they spread false ideas about gods and morality. He was also wary of Aristophanes, as he believed his work stirred emotions rather than encouraging rational thought. It probably did not help that Aristophanes mocked Socrates in his play The Clouds, which may have influenced Plato’s views.

What’s clear is that Plato didn’t hate art because he didn’t understand it. He deeply understood the power of storytelling and its ability to mold societal beliefs. He argued for banning poets entirely from his “ideal city” to prevent them from misleading the public.

But he did value some forms of art. After all, he was a writer himself, and writing is a form of art. He approved of artistic expressions that promoted moral and intellectual virtue, such as hymns, architecture, and patriotic poetry, as long as they served the greater purpose of instilling order and wisdom in society.

Plato’s five regimes

Plato believed governments naturally decay over time, moving from order to chaos. He outlined five regimes, which he considers each to be worse than the last.

1. Aristocracy (Philosopher-King rule) : This is his pitch, the ideal state, ruled by wise elites who value knowledge over power. Some aspects of modern authoritarian states echo this model

2. Timocracy (Military rule) : A government driven by honor and discipline, like Sparta. Over time, ambition overtakes virtue, leading to oligarchy.

3. Oligarchy (Rule by the wealthy) : The rich seizes power and deepens inequality. Many democracies today show oligarchic tendencies, where money dominates politics.

4. Democracy (Rule by the masses) : The people overthrow the elites, prioritizing freedom over order. But without stability, democracy becomes fragile, and vulnerable to demagogues and external manipulation.

5. Tyranny (Dictatorship) : When democracy collapses, a charismatic leader rises, promising order but seizing absolute power. What begins as freedom ends in oppression.

Modern politics seems stuck in a cycle, shifting between democracy, oligarchy, and authoritarian control. If Plato was right, no system is permanent and only the illusion of stability remains.

Does Plato’s ideal state exist in any country today?

Some aspects of modern benevolent dictatorships, like Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew, or socialist states like China, may resemble Plato’s vision in their emphasis on elite rule, long-term planning, and state control. But, these governments operate pragmatically, balancing governance with economic power, political strategy, and public influence rather than strictly adhering to philosophical ideals.

Could this be compared to Taliban rule, given the censorship, authoritarian control, and rigid social hierarchy? While there are superficial similarities, the key difference is that Plato valued knowledge, reason, and meritocracy, while the Taliban enforced religious fundamentalism and theocratic rule. Plato’s Kallipolis also included some level of gender equality for the ruling class, whereas the Taliban’s system is heavily restrictive, especially toward women.

While Plato’s ideas echo in certain authoritarian-leaning states, his rigid caste system, philosopher-led governance, and rejection of democracy set his vision apart from any modern political system.

Aristotle’s take on democracy

Aristotle wasn’t Athenian, but he documented and analyzed 158 constitutions, including Athenian democracy. He studied at Plato’s Academy for over 20 years, growing up in a world influenced by Athens’ democratic experiment. He lived through the tail end of Athens’ golden age, witnessed its decline, and experienced how different forms of rule influenced politics and the mindset of the people under them.

For Aristotle, governments were good or corrupted. The good ones were monarchs, aristocracy (wise elites), and polity (a constitutional gov’t where the middle class keeps power balanced). The corrupted ones were tyranny (monarchy gone wrong), oligarchy, and democracy.

Aristotle saw how democracy, if unchecked, could spiral into chaos or be co-opted by populist leaders. But unlike Plato, who rejected democracy outright, Aristotle believed it could work if properly structured.

His concept of ‘polity’ was a constitutional government that balanced democratic participation with stability, relying on a strong middle class to prevent both mob rule and elite domination. This idea of checks and balances, a mixed government, and middle-class stability make polity the closest to modern constitutional democracies today when compared to all 3 of the Greek philosophers.

What happened after Athens?

Of course, democracy didn’t end with Athens, it evolved over time. After Athens’ golden age came Alexander the Great (Aristotle’s student and the king of Macedonia). He conquered Greece, Persia, Egypt, and part of India, creating the largest empire of his time. After his death in 323 BCE, his empire split among his generals, marking the beginning of the Hellenistic period.

Rome saw a shift from the fall of the Roman Republic to the rise of the Roman Empire under Augustus moving away from democratic ideals to centralized rule. But the Western Roman Empire fell about 500 years later largely due to internal decline and invasions by the Germanic Tribes (modern-day Sweden, Switzerland, Germany). The Eastern Roman Empire (Byzantine Empire, based in Constantinople or modern-day Turkey) rose and survived for nearly 1,000 more years until it fell to the Ottoman Turks in 1453.

During the Medieval period (5th–15th century), Europe saw a rise in monarchies and feudalism. Power shifted to kings, nobles, and the church, with little direct participation from ordinary people. Some democratic elements survived in places like Venice and Florence, where wealthy merchant families controlled city-states.

By the 17th century, democracy started creeping back into political thought, though not without skepticism. Machiavelli and Hobbes weren’t exactly fans of democracy, but they had plenty to say about power and governance. Later on Machiavelli hinted on the possible idea of a republic/mixed government in the *Discourses of Livy *

Meanwhile, England was going through its own struggles with power. The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a showdown between King Charles I, who wanted absolute power, and Parliament, which wanted more influence. Charles ignored Parliament and was executed in 1649. England briefly became a republic under Oliver Cromwell, but the monarchy returned after his death.

In 1688, the Glorious Revolution forced King James II (Charles I’s son) to flee to France. Parliament then invited William of Orange (a Dutch Protestant) and his wife Mary to take the throne. In 1689, they signed the English Bill of Rights, which limited the monarchy’s power, strengthened Parliament, and guaranteed certain rights to citizens.

This was a significant moment in history as it effectively ended the absolute monarchy and established a constitutional monarchy in England.

The American Revolution in 1776 and the French Revolution in 1789 pushed democratic ideals forward but still excluded women, slaves, and the poor. Historian Luciano Canfora, in his book Democracy in Europe, argues that early liberal democracy was full of contradictions as it preached equality, yet economic and social exclusion remained.

(Note: If you want to understand the history of anarchism, the French Revolution is a key starting point. It influenced early anti-authoritarian thought, which later evolved into socialist and anti-capitalist movements. Over time, libertarians adopted anarchist principles, leading to the development of anarcho-capitalism. The concept of anarchism in politics has taken nearly two centuries to emerge in its modern form).

The 19th and 20th centuries saw the expansion of democracy. But as Canfora explains it, it also saw its exploitation and manipulation. Although industrialization and social movements pushed for broader suffrage, democracy remained controlled by elites who feared true mass participation. Democracy became a tool for maintaining power rather than a true expression of the people’s will.

According to Canfora, the Cold War turned democracy into a geopolitical tool, with Western powers supporting or opposing democratic movements based on strategic interests rather than principles.

Today, there are many versions of democracy from direct democracy to representative democracy, presidential democracy, social democracy, religious democracy, constitutional democracy, communist democracy, and more. And is often viewed as a brand name for “good governance”. But are they?

In the end, was Plato right?

At a meta level, Plato’s arguments was about control, be it controlling what people read, hear, and even think. The debate often centers on curated knowledge vs rhetoric. Plato believed that absolute obedience would bring harmony, even at the cost of individuality. Today, we call that totalitarian or dictatorship

But when we take a second look at things, are we already living in Plato’s world?

Governments across the globe control education, influence media narratives, and regulate speech. Many so-called democracies aren’t as free as they claim to be. So maybe Plato’s influence on modern democracies runs deeper than we realize.

Another key debate today is that, unlike Plato’s time, most people are educated. However, much of this education is still designed by state systems, which can influence how people think and vote. How do we balance empowering people through education while ensuring true independence in a system built on critical thinking rather than one that merely feeds information?

Truth is, democracy has never been a pure, people-driven system. It has always been influenced by power struggles, wealth, and manipulation. Often it has been an instrument of control rather than liberation.

But the so-called ‘ignorant masses’, the very people Plato dismissed, are the ones who fight for freedom.

Because real democracy isn’t about control.

It’s about freedom.

It’s about choice.

It’s about the people, always.

@ 378562cd:a6fc6773

Chef's notes

I'm only testing this out right now. I will update the recipe as well as add my own image soon after making this dish again.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 hour
• 🍽️ Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 potatoes (size depending)
• 1 lb ground beef
• seasonings
• 2 cans chili beans
• 1 onion
• katsup
• shredded cheese of some kind

Directions

1. saute onion and add ground beef to skillet. Season to liking.
2. peel if you like and thin slice potatoes
3. in a rectangle baking dish, layer potatoes, beans, meat and cheese (like a lasagna) until you have used all your ingredients. Try and make at least 2 or 3 layers with extra cheese on top.
4. Bake at 350 for one hour. Serve and enjoy!

@ 378562cd:a6fc6773

Chef's notes

I'm only testing this out right now. I will update the recipe as well as add my own image soon after making this dish again.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 hour
• 🍽️ Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 4 to 6 potatoes (size depending)
• 1 lb ground beef
• seasonings
• 2 cans chili beans
• 1 onion
• katsup
• shredded cheese of some kind

Directions

1. saute onion and add ground beef to skillet. Season to liking.
2. peel if you like and thin slice potatoes
3. in a rectangle baking dish, layer potatoes, beans, meat and cheese (like a lasagna) until you have used all your ingredients. Try and make at least 2 or 3 layers with extra cheese on top.
4. Bake at 350 for one hour. Serve and enjoy!

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Menschen tun alles, egal wie absurd, \ um ihrer eigenen Seele nicht zu begegnen. \ Carl Gustav Jung

«Extremer Reichtum ist eine Gefahr für die Demokratie», sagen über die Hälfte der knapp 3000 befragten Millionäre aus G20-Staaten laut einer Umfrage der «Patriotic Millionaires». Ferner stellte dieser Zusammenschluss wohlhabender US-Amerikaner fest, dass 63 Prozent jener Millionäre den Einfluss von Superreichen auf US-Präsident Trump als Bedrohung für die globale Stabilität ansehen.

Diese Besorgnis haben 370 Millionäre und Milliardäre am Dienstag auch den in Davos beim WEF konzentrierten Privilegierten aus aller Welt übermittelt. In einem offenen Brief forderten sie die «gewählten Führer» auf, die Superreichen – also sie selbst – zu besteuern, um «die zersetzenden Auswirkungen des extremen Reichtums auf unsere Demokratien und die Gesellschaft zu bekämpfen». Zum Beispiel kontrolliere eine handvoll extrem reicher Menschen die Medien, beeinflusse die Rechtssysteme in unzulässiger Weise und verwandele Recht in Unrecht.

Schon 2019 beanstandete der bekannte Historiker und Schriftsteller Ruthger Bregman an einer WEF-Podiumsdiskussion die Steuervermeidung der Superreichen. Die elitäre Veranstaltung bezeichnete er als «Feuerwehr-Konferenz, bei der man nicht über Löschwasser sprechen darf.» Daraufhin erhielt Bregman keine Einladungen nach Davos mehr. Auf seine Aussagen machte der Schweizer Aktivist Alec Gagneux aufmerksam, der sich seit Jahrzehnten kritisch mit dem WEF befasst. Ihm wurde kürzlich der Zutritt zu einem dreiteiligen Kurs über das WEF an der Volkshochschule Region Brugg verwehrt.

Nun ist die Erkenntnis, dass mit Geld politischer Einfluss einhergeht, alles andere als neu. Und extremer Reichtum macht die Sache nicht wirklich besser. Trotzdem hat man über Initiativen wie Patriotic Millionaires oder Taxmenow bisher eher selten etwas gehört, obwohl es sie schon lange gibt. Auch scheint es kein Problem, wenn ein Herr Gates fast im Alleingang versucht, globale Gesundheits-, Klima-, Ernährungs- oder Bevölkerungspolitik zu betreiben – im Gegenteil. Im Jahr, als der Milliardär Donald Trump zum zweiten Mal ins Weiße Haus einzieht, ist das Echo in den Gesinnungsmedien dagegen enorm – und uniform, wer hätte das gedacht.

Der neue US-Präsident hat jedoch «Davos geerdet», wie Achgut es nannte. In seiner kurzen Rede beim Weltwirtschaftsforum verteidigte er seine Politik und stellte klar, er habe schlicht eine «Revolution des gesunden Menschenverstands» begonnen. Mit deutlichen Worten sprach er unter anderem von ersten Maßnahmen gegen den «Green New Scam», und von einem «Erlass, der jegliche staatliche Zensur beendet»:

«Unsere Regierung wird die Äußerungen unserer eigenen Bürger nicht mehr als Fehlinformation oder Desinformation bezeichnen, was die Lieblingswörter von Zensoren und derer sind, die den freien Austausch von Ideen und, offen gesagt, den Fortschritt verhindern wollen.»

Wie der «Trumpismus» letztlich einzuordnen ist, muss jeder für sich selbst entscheiden. Skepsis ist definitiv angebracht, denn «einer von uns» sind weder der Präsident noch seine auserwählten Teammitglieder. Ob sie irgendeinen Sumpf trockenlegen oder Staatsverbrechen aufdecken werden oder was aus WHO- und Klimaverträgen wird, bleibt abzuwarten.

Das WHO-Dekret fordert jedenfalls die Übertragung der Gelder auf «glaubwürdige Partner», die die Aktivitäten übernehmen könnten. Zufällig scheint mit «Impfguru» Bill Gates ein weiterer Harris-Unterstützer kürzlich das Lager gewechselt zu haben: Nach einem gemeinsamen Abendessen zeigte er sich «beeindruckt» von Trumps Interesse an der globalen Gesundheit.

Mit dem Projekt «Stargate» sind weitere dunkle Wolken am Erwartungshorizont der Fangemeinde aufgezogen. Trump hat dieses Joint Venture zwischen den Konzernen OpenAI, Oracle, und SoftBank als das «größte KI-Infrastrukturprojekt der Geschichte» angekündigt. Der Stein des Anstoßes: Oracle-CEO Larry Ellison, der auch Fan von KI-gestützter Echtzeit-Überwachung ist, sieht einen weiteren potenziellen Einsatz der künstlichen Intelligenz. Sie könne dazu dienen, Krebserkrankungen zu erkennen und individuelle mRNA-«Impfstoffe» zur Behandlung innerhalb von 48 Stunden zu entwickeln.

Warum bitte sollten sich diese superreichen «Eliten» ins eigene Fleisch schneiden und direkt entgegen ihren eigenen Interessen handeln? Weil sie Menschenfreunde, sogenannte Philanthropen sind? Oder vielleicht, weil sie ein schlechtes Gewissen haben und ihre Schuld kompensieren müssen? Deswegen jedenfalls brauchen «Linke» laut Robert Willacker, einem deutschen Politikberater mit brasilianischen Wurzeln, rechte Parteien – ein ebenso überraschender wie humorvoller Erklärungsansatz.

Wenn eine Krähe der anderen kein Auge aushackt, dann tut sie das sich selbst noch weniger an. Dass Millionäre ernsthaft ihre eigene Besteuerung fordern oder Machteliten ihren eigenen Einfluss zugunsten anderer einschränken würden, halte ich für sehr unwahrscheinlich. So etwas glaube ich erst, wenn zum Beispiel die Rüstungsindustrie sich um Friedensverhandlungen bemüht, die Pharmalobby sich gegen institutionalisierte Korruption einsetzt, Zentralbanken ihre CBDC-Pläne für Bitcoin opfern oder der ÖRR die Abschaffung der Rundfunkgebühren fordert.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

There was a slight dust up recently over a website someone runs removing a listing for an app someone built based on entirely arbitrary criteria. I'm not to going to attempt to speak for either wounded party, but I would like to share my own personal definition for what constitutes a "nostr app" in an effort to help clarify what might be an otherwise confusing and opaque purity test.

In this post, I will be committing the "no true Scotsman" fallacy, in which I start with the most liberal definition I can come up with, and gradually refine it until all that is left is the purest, gleamingest, most imaginary and unattainable nostr app imaginable. As I write this, I wonder if anything built yet will actually qualify. In any case, here we go.

It uses nostr

The lowest bar for what a "nostr app" might be is an app ("application" - i.e. software, not necessarily a native app of any kind) that has some nostr-specific code in it, but which doesn't take any advantage of what makes nostr distinctive as a protocol.

Examples might include a scraper of some kind which fulfills its charter by fetching data from relays (regardless of whether it validates or retains signatures). Another might be a regular web 2.0 app which provides an option to "log in with nostr" by requesting and storing the user's public key.

In either case, the fact that nostr is involved is entirely neutral. A scraper can scrape html, pdfs, jsonl, whatever data source - nostr relays are just another target. Likewise, a user's key in this scenario is treated merely as an opaque identifier, with no appreciation for the super powers it brings along.

In most cases, this kind of app only exists as a marketing ploy, or less cynically, because it wants to get in on the hype of being a "nostr app", without the developer quite understanding what that means, or having the budget to execute properly on the claim.

It leverages nostr

Some of you might be wondering, "isn't 'leverage' a synonym for 'use'?" And you would be right, but for one connotative difference. It's possible to "use" something improperly, but by definition leverage gives you a mechanical advantage that you wouldn't otherwise have. This is the second category of "nostr app".

This kind of app gets some benefit out of the nostr protocol and network, but in an entirely selfish fashion. The intention of this kind of app is not to augment the nostr network, but to augment its own UX by borrowing some nifty thing from the protocol without really contributing anything back.

Some examples might include:

• Using nostr signers to encrypt or sign data, and then store that data on a proprietary server.
• Using nostr relays as a kind of low-code backend, but using proprietary event payloads.
• Using nostr event kinds to represent data (why), but not leveraging the trustlessness that buys you.

An application in this category might even communicate to its users via nostr DMs - but this doesn't make it a "nostr app" any more than a website that emails you hot deals on herbal supplements is an "email app". These apps are purely parasitic on the nostr ecosystem.

In the long-term, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Email's ubiquity is self-reinforcing. But in the short term, this kind of "nostr app" can actually do damage to nostr's reputation by over-promising and under-delivering.

It complements nostr

Next up, we have apps that get some benefit out of nostr as above, but give back by providing a unique value proposition to nostr users as nostr users. This is a bit of a fine distinction, but for me this category is for apps which focus on solving problems that nostr isn't good at solving, leaving the nostr integration in a secondary or supporting role.

One example of this kind of app was Mutiny (RIP), which not only allowed users to sign in with nostr, but also pulled those users' social graphs so that users could send money to people they knew and trusted. Mutiny was doing a great job of leveraging nostr, as well as providing value to users with nostr identities - but it was still primarily a bitcoin wallet, not a "nostr app" in the purest sense.

Other examples are things like Nostr Nests and Zap.stream, whose core value proposition is streaming video or audio content. Both make great use of nostr identities, data formats, and relays, but they're primarily streaming apps. A good litmus test for things like this is: if you got rid of nostr, would it be the same product (even if inferior in certain ways)?

A similar category is infrastructure providers that benefit nostr by their existence (and may in fact be targeted explicitly at nostr users), but do things in a centralized, old-web way; for example: media hosts, DNS registrars, hosting providers, and CDNs.

To be clear here, I'm not casting aspersions (I don't even know what those are, or where to buy them). All the apps mentioned above use nostr to great effect, and are a real benefit to nostr users. But they are not True Scotsmen.

It embodies nostr

Ok, here we go. This is the crème de la crème, the top du top, the meilleur du meilleur, the bee's knees. The purest, holiest, most chaste category of nostr app out there. The apps which are, indeed, nostr indigitate.

This category of nostr app (see, no quotes this time) can be defined by the converse of the previous category. If nostr was removed from this type of application, would it be impossible to create the same product?

To tease this apart a bit, apps that leverage the technical aspects of nostr are dependent on nostr the protocol, while apps that benefit nostr exclusively via network effect are integrated into nostr the network. An app that does both things is working in symbiosis with nostr as a whole.

An app that embraces both nostr's protocol and its network becomes an organic extension of every other nostr app out there, multiplying both its competitive moat and its contribution to the ecosystem:

• In contrast to apps that only borrow from nostr on the technical level but continue to operate in their own silos, an application integrated into the nostr network comes pre-packaged with existing users, and is able to provide more value to those users because of other nostr products. On nostr, it's a good thing to advertise your competitors.
• In contrast to apps that only market themselves to nostr users without building out a deep integration on the protocol level, a deeply integrated app becomes an asset to every other nostr app by becoming an organic extension of them through interoperability. This results in increased traffic to the app as other developers and users refer people to it instead of solving their problem on their own. This is the "micro-apps" utopia we've all been waiting for.

Credible exit doesn't matter if there aren't alternative services. Interoperability is pointless if other applications don't offer something your app doesn't. Marketing to nostr users doesn't matter if you don't augment their agency as nostr users.

If I had to choose a single NIP that represents the mindset behind this kind of app, it would be NIP 89 A.K.A. "Recommended Application Handlers", which states:

Nostr's discoverability and transparent event interaction is one of its most interesting/novel mechanics. This NIP provides a simple way for clients to discover applications that handle events of a specific kind to ensure smooth cross-client and cross-kind interactions.

These handlers are the glue that holds nostr apps together. A single event, signed by the developer of an application (or by the application's own account) tells anyone who wants to know 1. what event kinds the app supports, 2. how to link to the app (if it's a client), and (if the pubkey also publishes a kind 10002), 3. which relays the app prefers.

As a sidenote, NIP 89 is currently focused more on clients, leaving DVMs, relays, signers, etc somewhat out in the cold. Updating 89 to include tailored listings for each kind of supporting app would be a huge improvement to the protocol. This, plus a good front end for navigating these listings (sorry nostrapp.link, close but no cigar) would obviate the evil centralized websites that curate apps based on arbitrary criteria.

Examples of this kind of app obviously include many kind 1 clients, as well as clients that attempt to bring the benefits of the nostr protocol and network to new use cases - whether long form content, video, image posts, music, emojis, recipes, project management, or any other "content type".

To drill down into one example, let's think for a moment about forms. What's so great about a forms app that is built on nostr? Well,

• There is a spec for forms and responses, which means that...
• Multiple clients can implement the same data format, allowing for credible exit and user choice, even of...
• Other products not focused on forms, which can still view, respond to, or embed forms, and which can send their users via NIP 89 to a client that does...
• Cryptographically sign forms and responses, which means they are self-authenticating and can be sent to...
• Multiple relays, which reduces the amount of trust necessary to be confident results haven't been deliberately "lost".

Show me a forms product that does all of those things, and isn't built on nostr. You can't, because it doesn't exist. Meanwhile, there are plenty of image hosts with APIs, streaming services, and bitcoin wallets which have basically the same levels of censorship resistance, interoperability, and network effect as if they weren't built on nostr.

It supports nostr

Notice I haven't said anything about whether relays, signers, blossom servers, software libraries, DVMs, and the accumulated addenda of the nostr ecosystem are nostr apps. Well, they are (usually).

This is the category of nostr app that gets none of the credit for doing all of the work. There's no question that they qualify as beautiful nostrcorns, because their value propositions are entirely meaningless outside of the context of nostr. Who needs a signer if you don't have a cryptographic identity you need to protect? DVMs are literally impossible to use without relays. How are you going to find the blossom server that will serve a given hash if you don't know which servers the publishing user has selected to store their content?

In addition to being entirely contextualized by nostr architecture, this type of nostr app is valuable because it does things "the nostr way". By that I mean that they don't simply try to replicate existing internet functionality into a nostr context; instead, they create entirely new ways of putting the basic building blocks of the internet back together.

A great example of this is how Nostr Connect, Nostr Wallet Connect, and DVMs all use relays as brokers, which allows service providers to avoid having to accept incoming network connections. This opens up really interesting possibilities all on its own.

So while I might hesitate to call many of these things "apps", they are certainly "nostr".

Appendix: it smells like a NINO

So, let's say you've created an app, but when you show it to people they politely smile, nod, and call it a NINO (Nostr In Name Only). What's a hacker to do? Well, here's your handy-dandy guide on how to wash that NINO stench off and Become a Nostr.

You app might be a NINO if:

• There's no NIP for your data format (or you're abusing NIP 78, 32, etc by inventing a sub-protocol inside an existing event kind)
• There's a NIP, but no one knows about it because it's in a text file on your hard drive (or buried in your project's repository)
• Your NIP imposes an incompatible/centralized/legacy web paradigm onto nostr
• Your NIP relies on trusted third (or first) parties
• There's only one implementation of your NIP (yours)
• Your core value proposition doesn't depend on relays, events, or nostr identities
• One or more relay urls are hard-coded into the source code
• Your app depends on a specific relay implementation to work (ahem, relay29)
• You don't validate event signatures
• You don't publish events to relays you don't control
• You don't read events from relays you don't control
• You use legacy web services to solve problems, rather than nostr-native solutions
• You use nostr-native solutions, but you've hardcoded their pubkeys or URLs into your app
• You don't use NIP 89 to discover clients and services
• You haven't published a NIP 89 listing for your app
• You don't leverage your users' web of trust for filtering out spam
• You don't respect your users' mute lists
• You try to "own" your users' data

Now let me just re-iterate - it's ok to be a NINO. We need NINOs, because nostr can't (and shouldn't) tackle every problem. You just need to decide whether your app, as a NINO, is actually contributing to the nostr ecosystem, or whether you're just using buzzwords to whitewash a legacy web software product.

If you're in the former camp, great! If you're in the latter, what are you waiting for? Only you can fix your NINO problem. And there are lots of ways to do this, depending on your own unique situation:

• Drop nostr support if it's not doing anyone any good. If you want to build a normal company and make some money, that's perfectly fine.
• Build out your nostr integration - start taking advantage of webs of trust, self-authenticating data, event handlers, etc.
• Work around the problem. Think you need a special relay feature for your app to work? Guess again. Consider encryption, AUTH, DVMs, or better data formats.
• Think your idea is a good one? Talk to other devs or open a PR to the nips repo. No one can adopt your NIP if they don't know about it.
• Keep going. It can sometimes be hard to distinguish a research project from a NINO. New ideas have to be built out before they can be fully appreciated.
• Listen to advice. Nostr developers are friendly and happy to help. If you're not sure why you're getting traction, ask!

I sincerely hope this article is useful for all of you out there in NINO land. Maybe this made you feel better about not passing the totally optional nostr app purity test. Or maybe it gave you some actionable next steps towards making a great NINON (Nostr In Not Only Name) app. In either case, GM and PV.

@ d4309e24:8a81fcb0

Introduction: The Challenge of Time-Lock Encryption and Clock Servers

When I first set out to build Hatchstr, the idea was simple: create a way to send messages into the future, encrypted and locked to a specific Bitcoin block height. These messages would remain encrypted until the chosen block height was reached, creating a unique way to send a message to the future.

However, as I began working through the details, I quickly ran into some challenges. One key component of this system involves clock servers—decentralized nodes responsible for releasing decryption keys when the specified block height is reached.

Clock Server Setup: The Basics

Initially, I adopted a simple model: each clock server holds a single public-private key pair unique to that server for a specific block height. When a user creates a message, they choose a clock server to trust and encrypt with the specific public key tied to that block height. Then, when the time comes, the clock server releases its private key to decrypt the message.

Positives:

• ✅ Clean and Efficient Storage: Each clock server only needs to store a single key pair for each block height, making storage lightweight and scalable.
• ✅ Lazy Key Generation: Keys are generated on-demand, meaning they’re only created when needed. This prevents unnecessary key generation or storage overhead.
• ✅ Decentralized: The clock servers don’t need to coordinate with each other or store any sensitive data besides their respective private keys, which simplifies the system architecture.
• ✅ Limited Release Events: Since each clock server only handles keys tied to a specific block height, the number of release events required is minimized, simplifying the key management process.

At first, this seemed like a good approach, but I quickly realized there were critical limitations:

Challenges:

• ❌ Server Shutdown: Capsules could be scheduled for many years in the future. If a clock server shuts down, all future capsules linked to it are lost.
• ❌ Server Downtime: If one of the clock servers is unavailable during unlock time, even for a short period, it leads to a delay for the users waiting for unlock.
• ❌ Premature Release: If a clock server accidentally releases its key too early, it could compromise the message, making it accessible before the intended time.

Though the setup worked for a basic system, I soon realized it couldn’t guarantee the reliability I wanted for a decentralized application.

Tackling the Challenges of Multi-Sig and Secret Sharing

When I first approached the problem of securing time-lock capsules, I initially considered using multi-signature (multi-sig) solutions as a potential approach. The goal was simple: instead of relying on a single clock server to release its key, I could involve multiple servers to sign off on the decryption. This way, if one server failed or misbehaved, the message would still be protected.

However, as I delved deeper into the multi-sig approach, I quickly realized there were a few key issues:

🔒 Communication Overhead: Multi-sig requires servers to communicate and coordinate with each other. This introduces the possibility of new failure points, like network issues or miscommunication.

⚡ Server Synchronization: If one server was out of sync or released its key too early, it could still lead to the message being decrypted prematurely, breaking the system.

🛠 Increased Complexity: Each server would need to store and manage a unique key pair for every message, making the system more complicated and less efficient.

I quickly realized that multi-sig wasn’t the best fit for this kind of setup. Not only did it add unnecessary complexity, but it also conflicted with the decentralization goals I wanted to achieve. So, I started thinking about ways to distribute the secret across the clock servers without introducing all these new complications.

Enter Shamir’s Secret Sharing (SSS)

Shamir's Secret Sharing (SSS) is a cryptographic technique designed to split a secret into multiple parts (called "shares") so that the secret can only be reconstructed when a specific minimum number of shares are combined. This process is based on polynomial interpolation, and it’s a powerful way to distribute secrets securely.

The Basic Concept

In SSS, a secret (like a cryptographic key or message) is divided into n shares, where n is the total number of shares you want to generate. You also specify a threshold, k, which represents the minimum number of shares required to reconstruct the original secret.

• n is the total number of shares.
• k is the minimum number of shares required to reconstruct the secret (known as the "threshold").

For example, in a 3-out-of-5 scheme, the secret is split into 5 shares, but at least 3 shares are required to reconstruct the secret. If fewer than 3 shares are available, the secret cannot be reconstructed.

Why This is Secure

Shamir’s Secret Sharing is secure because, with fewer than k shares, it is computationally infeasible to learn anything about the secret. The shares themselves don’t reveal any information; it’s only the combination of the right number of shares that allows reconstruction. This makes it resistant to attacks, as even if an attacker gets hold of some shares, they won’t be able to reconstruct the secret unless they have the required minimum number of shares (comparable to 256-bit cryptographic strength).

Applications of Shamir’s Secret Sharing

Shamir’s Secret Sharing is widely used in scenarios where high availability and reliability are needed, but security and privacy are equally important. Examples include: - Key management: Protecting encryption keys by distributing them across multiple parties. - Multi-signature setups: Requiring multiple parties to sign off on a transaction or access a secure system. - Distributed systems: Ensuring that no single party holds a complete secret, and multiple parties must collaborate to unlock it.

By leveraging Shamir's Secret Sharing, you can strike the right balance between redundancy, security, and availability for your system’s sensitive information.

The Problem with Distributing Secret Shares

SSS could give us exactly the properties I was looking for, with the added benefit that users could choose their preferred setup, for example:

• 1-out-of-5 scheme: Prioritizing the likelihood that the message is decrypted even if only one of the 5 chosen clock servers does its job at unlock time. With the tradeoff that each of the 5 could leak the message early.

• 3-out-of-5 scheme: A measured approach that allows for 2 servers to stop working and would also keep the capsule private even if 2 clock servers leak their secret early.

So I considered an approach where each clock server would store part of the key. Instead of a single server holding the full key, I would split the key into parts and distribute those parts across multiple servers. When the time arrived, I’d gather the required number of shares to reconstruct the key and decrypt the message.

At first glance, this seemed like a promising approach. But when we look through the implications, a few problems started to emerge:

💥 Overhead: Each clock server would need to store a share of every key for every message. This would quickly become inefficient and result in unnecessary overhead.

🔔 Exploding Reveal Events: Since each clock server would need to release all its shares at a specific time, there would be a massive increase in the number of reveal events, spamming and possibly overloading Nostr relays.

While the idea of distributing the key was very appealing, the practical issues around overhead and complexity made it clear that this wasn’t the final solution. I needed something that would be more efficient, scalable, while still in line with the decentralized model I was aiming for.

Discovering a Hybrid Solution

After testing out various approaches, I realized that the breakthrough wasn’t just about Shamir’s Secret Sharing (SSS)—that part was fairly intuitive. The real insight came when I thought about how to preserve the original clock server design while solving the challenges of failover and early release.

Instead of having the clock servers store the secret or a share of it, I kept the original design: each clock server only holds a public-private key pair tied to a block height, as initially planned. The twist came when I decided to split an ephemeral AES key into shards using Shamir’s Secret Sharing, but instead of directly storing shares at the clock servers, we could encrypted each share with the public key of the clock server.

This approach would allow us to keep the clock server’s role simple: When the time comes, the servers release their private keys, which can then be used to decrypt the encrypted shares of the AES key that were published alongside the original encrypted message. These shares, once decrypted, allow for the reconstruction of the AES key, which in turn decrypts the message.

This solution solved several key issues:

• ✅ No Coordination Between Servers: Each clock server only holds one key pair for a specific block height and doesn’t need to know about the other servers. This simplifies the system and removes the need for complex server coordination.
• ✅ Minimal Overhead: The clock servers only store a single key pair per block height, eliminating the need to store individual keys for each message.
• ✅ Fault Tolerance: If one clock server is offline, the other shares can still reconstruct the AES key and decrypt the message, ensuring reliability.
• ✅ Client-Side Security: The AES key is generated on the client side and never stored on the clock servers, providing a high level of security.

By combining the simplicity of the clock server model with the power of Shamir’s Secret Sharing, this hybrid solution allows us to securely split an AES key and manage decryption while ensuring the system remains decentralized, resilient, and efficient.

This was the method I had been searching for.

The Process Breakdown

1. AES Key Generation:

2. A random AES key is generated on the client side for each message. This key is never stored anywhere, ensuring that it remains secure and only used for encrypting the message.

3. Shamir’s Secret Sharing:

4. The AES key is split into (in this example) 3 shares using Shamir’s Secret Sharing. These shares are associated with 3 independent clock servers.

5. The threshold of 2 out of 3 means that only 2 clock servers needed later to reconstruct the AES key and decrypt the message.

6. Encrypting with Public Keys:

7. The secret shares are then encrypted using the public keys of the target block height for each specific clock server. This ensures that the shares are secure until the proper time comes.

8. Storage:

9. The encrypted shares together with the AES-encrypted message can be published to Nostr relais or stored on a decentralized platform like IPFS, which provides redundancy and availability.

10. Clock Servers Release Keys:

11. When the specified Bitcoin block height is reached, each clock server publishes its private key to Nostr, allowing everyone to decrypt the shares.
12. The client reconstructs the AES key from the decrypted shares and finally decrypts the original message.

Conclusion: An Elegant Solution to Time-Lock Encryption

Through a series of experiments and iterations, We finally landed on a solution that balances security, scalability, and efficiency. By combining AES encryption with Shamir’s Secret Sharing, We were able to solve the multi-sig failover problem without adding unnecessary complexity. 🔥

An Open Question: Clock Server Incentives 💰

Decentralized systems thrive when participants are motivated to contribute. For Hatchstr, a critical question remains: Why would anyone run a clock server?

One possibility is allowing users to zap (tip) servers for each capsule they help unlock. But this is just a starting point—how do we ensure reliability without centralizing trust?

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How would you design incentives for a decentralized network of clock servers?

This part is crucial, and I’m excited to explore it with the community.

What's Next for Hatchstr?

🧩 Leveraging Nostr: Let's see how we can integrate the Nostr NIP standards and previous protocol developments into our system to enhance communication and data integrity.

🔮 Designing a Web App: We'll explore building a user-friendly web application for creating and managing digital time capsules. Focus will be on enhancing usability, interface design, and user interaction.

🎛️ Building a Clock Server with Elixir: We'll delve into developing a simple clock server using Elixir, capitalizing on its strengths in concurrency and real-time processing to support our time-locking mechanisms.

Stay tuned as we advance both the user experience and the backend infrastructure of Hatchstr together. If you're interested in following along or contributing to the development, feel free to reach out!

Nostr QR

npub16scfufrpsqcukjg7ymu4r40h7j4dwqy4pajgz48e6lmnmz5pljcqh678uh

Thank you for reading and being part of this journey! 🧡

@ df57b498:d049124f

Chef's notes

This is cobbled together from trial and error and the web.

Serve hot pancakes with preferably butter and maple syrup. Add other toppings like bananas, nuts, or other fruits and toppings as have available and/or desired.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions

1. Combine the dry ingredients.
2. Add the wet ingredients and mix.
3. Pour or ladle the batter onto the oiled griddle or pan.
4. Cook until bubbles form, flip, and cook on the other side.

@ e83b66a8:b0526c2b

In the UK, as Bitcoin on-ramps become throttled more and more by government interference, ironically more and more off-ramps are becoming available.

So here, as Bitcoin starts its bull run and many people will be spending or taking profits within the next year or so, I am going to summarise my experience with off ramps.

N.B. many of these off-ramps are also on-ramps, but I’m primarily focusing on spending Bitcoin.

Revolut:

At last in the UK, Revolut is a “probation” full bank and so now has most of the fiat guarantees that other legacy banks have.

Apart from its excellent multi-currency account services for fiat, meaning you can spend native currencies in many countries, Revolut have for some time allowed you to buy a selection of Crypto currencies including Bitcoin. You can send those coins to self custody wallets, or keep them on Revolut and either sell or spend on specific DeFi cards which can be added to platforms like Apple Pay. Fees, as you would expect are relatively high, but it is a very good, seamless service.

Uphold:

This was an exchange I was automatically signed up to by using the “Brave Browser” and earning BAT tokens for watching adds. I have however found the built in virtual debit card, which I’ve added to Apple Pay useful for shedding my shitcoins by cashing them in and spending GBP in the real world, buying day to day stuff.

Xapo Bank:

I signed up about a year ago to the first “Bitcoin Bank” founded by Wences Casares a very early Bitcoiner. They are based in Gibraltar and offer a USD, Tether and Bitcoin banking service which allows you to deposit GBP or spend GBP, but converts everything into either USD or BTC. You have a full UK bank account number and sort code, but everything received in it is converted to USD on the fly.

They also support Lightning and they have integrated LightSparks UMA Universal Money Addressing protocol explained here: https://www.lightspark.com/uma

When I signed up the fees were $150 per annum, but they have since increased them to $1,000 per annum for new users.

I have yet to use the bank account or debit card in any earnest, but it will be my main spending facility when I take profits

Strike:

Strike it really focused on cross border payments and sending fiat money around the world for little to no cost using Bitcoin as the transmission rails. You need to KYC to sign up, but you then get, in the UK at least, a nominee bank account in your name, a Lightning and Bitcoin wallet address and the ability to send payments immediately to any other Strike user by name, or any Bitcoin or Lightning address. In the U.S. they have also recently launched a bill pay service, using your Strike account to pay your regular household bills using either fiat or Bitcoin.

Coinbase:

Back in 2017, I signed up for a Coinbase debit card and was spending Sats in daily life with it automatically converting Sats to GBP on the fly. I let it lapse in 2021 and haven’t bothered to replace it. I believe it is still option to consider.

Crypto.com

I have a debit card which I cannot add to Apple Pay, but I have managed to add it to Curve card: https://www.curve.com/en-gb/ which is in turn added to Apple Pay. This allows me to spend any fiat which I have previously cashed from selling coins. I currently have some former exchange coins cashed out which I am gradually spending in the real world as GBP.

SwissBorg

Has had a troubled past with the FCA, but does currently allow deposits and withdrawals from UK banks, although Barclays have blocked transactions to my own nominee account within SwissBorg on a couple of occasions. They have a debit card option for investors in their platform, which I am not and they intend to make this generally available in the future. SwissBorg are a not an exchange, but more of a comparison site, searching the market for the best prices and activating deals for you across multiple platforms, taking a commission. They have been my main source for buying BTC and when they are not being interfered with by the FCA, they are excellent. You also get a nominee bank account in their platform in your own name.

@ 9e69e420:d12360c2

Chef's notes

arbitray

• test
• of
• chefs notes

hedding 2

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 hour
• 🍽️ Servings: 5

Ingredients

• Test ingredient
• 2nd test ingredient

Directions

1. Bake
2. Cool

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

Details

• 🍳 Cook time: 10 to 8 minutes at 350
• 🍽️ Servings: About 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t soda
• 6 oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate chips (optional)

Directions

1. Blend butter, eggs, vanilla and sugars together thoroughly
2. Next blend in peanut butter thoroughly
3. Next blend in flour, salt, and soda thoroughly
4. Optional blend in chocolate chips
5. Add about table spoon of cookie dough per cookie on a cookie sheet. With a fork based in sugar place a cross hatch pattern on each cookie. Bake cookies for 10 to 8 minutes and place onto cooler rack.

@ c69b71dc:426ba763

Chef's notes

This raw vegan curry ramen is a vibrant, nourishing dish packed with fresh vegetables and a rich, creamy coconut curry broth. It’s quick to prepare, full of flavour, and the perfect guilt-free comfort food! 🌱 Feel free to use your favourite veggies👩🏼‍🍳

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 20 min.
• 🍳 Cook time: 0
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients

• 500g or 2 packs kelp noodles
• 1/2 Lemon juice ( 1/4 for soaking and 1/4 for the soup
• Salt
• Fresh vegetables of your choice, such as: 4 medium mushrooms, 4 leaves red cabbage, 2 carrots (julienned or peeled into strips), 1 Celery stick (diced)
• 2 cups coconut milk (or coconut cream diluted with water)
• 1/2 flesh of a Coconut (optional, if using fresh coconuts) otherwise more coconut cream
• 1 thumb of fresh ginger
• 1 thumb of fresh turmeric
• 2 tbsp light miso paste
• 2 pitted dates
• 2 tbsp cashews
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp curry powder or pepper (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare the Noodles: Rinse the kelp noodles thoroughly. Then soak them in warm water with a squeeze of lemon juice and a pinch of salt for 10 minutes to soften.
2. Prep the Vegetables: Thinly slice or julienne carrots, dice celery, thinly cut mushrooms, cut the red cabbage into thin strips.
3. Make the Broth: In a blender, combine the following: 2 cups coconut milk (or coconut cream diluted with water if fresh coconuts are unavailable), ginger, turmeric, 1/4 juice of 1 lemon, light miso paste, pitted dates, cashews, garlic, salt, curry powder
4. Blend on high speed for about 3 to 4 minutes until the broth is smooth and slightly warm. Do not overheat!
5. Assemble the Ramen: Drain the kelp noodles and place them in serving bowls. Arrange the prepped vegetables on top of the noodles. Pour the warm curry broth over the noodles and vegetables.
6. Serve immediately and enjoy your raw vegan ramen with chopsticks for an authentic touch!

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Die grauenvollste Aussicht ist die der Technokratie – \ einer kontrollierenden Herrschaft, \ die durch verstümmelte und verstümmelnde Geister ausgeübt wird. \ Ernst Jünger

«Davos ist nicht mehr sexy», das Weltwirtschaftsforum (WEF) mache Davos kaputt, diese Aussagen eines Einheimischen las ich kürzlich in der Handelszeitung. Während sich einige vor Ort enorm an der «teuersten Gewerbeausstellung der Welt» bereicherten, würden die negativen Begleiterscheinungen wie Wohnungsnot und Niedergang der lokalen Wirtschaft immer deutlicher.

Nächsten Montag beginnt in dem Schweizer Bergdorf erneut ein Jahrestreffen dieses elitären Clubs der Konzerne, bei dem man mit hochrangigen Politikern aus aller Welt und ausgewählten Vertretern der Systemmedien zusammenhocken wird. Wie bereits in den vergangenen vier Jahren wird die Präsidentin der EU-Kommission, Ursula von der Leyen, in Begleitung von Klaus Schwab ihre Grundsatzansprache halten.

Der deutsche WEF-Gründer hatte bei dieser Gelegenheit immer höchst lobende Worte für seine Landsmännin: 2021 erklärte er sich «stolz, dass Europa wieder unter Ihrer Führung steht» und 2022 fand er es bemerkenswert, was sie erreicht habe angesichts des «erstaunlichen Wandels», den die Welt in den vorangegangenen zwei Jahren erlebt habe; es gebe nun einen «neuen europäischen Geist».

Von der Leyens Handeln während der sogenannten Corona-«Pandemie» lobte Schwab damals bereits ebenso, wie es diese Woche das Karlspreis-Direktorium tat, als man der Beschuldigten im Fall Pfizergate die diesjährige internationale Auszeichnung «für Verdienste um die europäische Einigung» verlieh. Außerdem habe sie die EU nicht nur gegen den «Aggressor Russland», sondern auch gegen die «innere Bedrohung durch Rassisten und Demagogen» sowie gegen den Klimawandel verteidigt.

Jene Herausforderungen durch «Krisen epochalen Ausmaßes» werden indes aus dem Umfeld des WEF nicht nur herbeigeredet – wie man alljährlich zur Zeit des Davoser Treffens im Global Risks Report nachlesen kann, der zusammen mit dem Versicherungskonzern Zurich erstellt wird. Seit die Globalisten 2020/21 in der Praxis gesehen haben, wie gut eine konzertierte und konsequente Angst-Kampagne funktionieren kann, geht es Schlag auf Schlag. Sie setzen alles daran, Schwabs goldenes Zeitfenster des «Great Reset» zu nutzen.

Ziel dieses «großen Umbruchs» ist die totale Kontrolle der Technokraten über die Menschen unter dem Deckmantel einer globalen Gesundheitsfürsorge. Wie aber könnte man so etwas erreichen? Ein Mittel dazu ist die «kreative Zerstörung». Weitere unabdingbare Werkzeug sind die Einbindung, ja Gleichschaltung der Medien und der Justiz.

Ein «Great Mental Reset» sei die Voraussetzung dafür, dass ein Großteil der Menschen Einschränkungen und Manipulationen wie durch die Corona-Maßnahmen praktisch kritik- und widerstandslos hinnehme, sagt der Mediziner und Molekulargenetiker Michael Nehls. Er meint damit eine regelrechte Umprogrammierung des Gehirns, wodurch nach und nach unsere Individualität und unser soziales Bewusstsein eliminiert und durch unreflektierten Konformismus ersetzt werden.

Der aktuelle Zustand unserer Gesellschaften ist auch für den Schweizer Rechtsanwalt Philipp Kruse alarmierend. Durch den Umgang mit der «Pandemie» sieht er die Grundlagen von Recht und Vernunft erschüttert, die Rechtsstaatlichkeit stehe auf dem Prüfstand. Seiner dringenden Mahnung an alle Bürger, die Prinzipien von Recht und Freiheit zu verteidigen, kann ich mich nur anschließen.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Ich begann, Social Media aufzubauen, \ um den Menschen eine Stimme zu geben. \ Mark Zuckerberg

Sind euch auch die Tränen gekommen, als ihr Mark Zuckerbergs Wendehals-Deklaration bezüglich der Meinungsfreiheit auf seinen Portalen gehört habt? Rührend, oder? Während er früher die offensichtliche Zensur leugnete und später die Regierung Biden dafür verantwortlich machte, will er nun angeblich «die Zensur auf unseren Plattformen drastisch reduzieren».

«Purer Opportunismus» ob des anstehenden Regierungswechsels wäre als Klassifizierung viel zu kurz gegriffen. Der jetzige Schachzug des Meta-Chefs ist genauso Teil einer kühl kalkulierten Business-Strategie, wie es die 180 Grad umgekehrte Praxis vorher war. Social Media sind ein höchst lukratives Geschäft. Hinzu kommt vielleicht noch ein bisschen verkorkstes Ego, weil derartig viel Einfluss und Geld sicher auch auf die Psyche schlagen. Verständlich.

«Es ist an der Zeit, zu unseren Wurzeln der freien Meinungsäußerung auf Facebook und Instagram zurückzukehren. Ich begann, Social Media aufzubauen, um den Menschen eine Stimme zu geben», sagte Zuckerberg.

Welche Wurzeln? Hat der Mann vergessen, dass er von der Überwachung, dem Ausspionieren und dem Ausverkauf sämtlicher Daten und digitaler Spuren sowie der Manipulation seiner «Kunden» lebt? Das ist knallharter Kommerz, nichts anderes. Um freie Meinungsäußerung geht es bei diesem Geschäft ganz sicher nicht, und das war auch noch nie so. Die Wurzeln von Facebook liegen in einem Projekt des US-Militärs mit dem Namen «LifeLog». Dessen Ziel war es, «ein digitales Protokoll vom Leben eines Menschen zu erstellen».

Der Richtungswechsel kommt allerdings nicht überraschend. Schon Anfang Dezember hatte Meta-Präsident Nick Clegg von «zu hoher Fehlerquote bei der Moderation» von Inhalten gesprochen. Bei der Gelegenheit erwähnte er auch, dass Mark sehr daran interessiert sei, eine aktive Rolle in den Debatten über eine amerikanische Führungsrolle im technologischen Bereich zu spielen.

Während Milliardärskollege und Big Tech-Konkurrent Elon Musk bereits seinen Posten in der kommenden Trump-Regierung in Aussicht hat, möchte Zuckerberg also nicht nur seine Haut retten – Trump hatte ihn einmal einen «Feind des Volkes» genannt und ihm lebenslange Haft angedroht –, sondern am liebsten auch mitspielen. KI-Berater ist wohl die gewünschte Funktion, wie man nach einem Treffen Trump-Zuckerberg hörte. An seine Verhaftung dachte vermutlich auch ein weiterer Multimilliardär mit eigener Social Media-Plattform, Pavel Durov, als er Zuckerberg jetzt kritisierte und gleichzeitig warnte.

Politik und Systemmedien drehen jedenfalls durch – was zu viel ist, ist zu viel. Etwas weniger Zensur und mehr Meinungsfreiheit würden die Freiheit der Bürger schwächen und seien potenziell vernichtend für die Menschenrechte. Zuckerberg setze mit dem neuen Kurs die Demokratie aufs Spiel, das sei eine «Einladung zum nächsten Völkermord», ernsthaft. Die Frage sei, ob sich die EU gegen Musk und Zuckerberg behaupten könne, Brüssel müsse jedenfalls hart durchgreifen.

Auch um die Faktenchecker macht man sich Sorgen. Für die deutsche Nachrichtenagentur dpa und die «Experten» von Correctiv, die (noch) Partner für Fact-Checking-Aktivitäten von Facebook sind, sei das ein «lukratives Geschäftsmodell». Aber möglicherweise werden die Inhalte ohne diese vermeintlichen Korrektoren ja sogar besser. Anders als Meta wollen jedoch Scholz, Faeser und die Tagesschau keine Fehler zugeben und zum Beispiel Correctiv-Falschaussagen einräumen.

Bei derlei dramatischen Befürchtungen wundert es nicht, dass der öffentliche Plausch auf X zwischen Elon Musk und AfD-Chefin Alice Weidel von 150 EU-Beamten überwacht wurde, falls es irgendwelche Rechtsverstöße geben sollte, die man ihnen ankreiden könnte. Auch der Deutsche Bundestag war wachsam. Gefunden haben dürften sie nichts. Das Ganze war eher eine Show, viel Wind wurde gemacht, aber letztlich gab es nichts als heiße Luft.

Das Anbiedern bei Donald Trump ist indes gerade in Mode. Die Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) tut das auch, denn sie fürchtet um Spenden von über einer Milliarde Dollar. Eventuell könnte ja Elon Musk auch hier künftig aushelfen und der Organisation sowie deren größtem privaten Förderer, Bill Gates, etwas unter die Arme greifen. Nachdem Musks KI-Projekt xAI kürzlich von BlackRock & Co. sechs Milliarden eingestrichen hat, geht da vielleicht etwas.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ d1b118c6:4985b38d

Chef's notes

Let me know how it goes for you https://maria.omg.lol

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5-20 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 20-40 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: As many as you want omg!!!!

Ingredients

• Spaghetti/whatever pasta you want
• Garlic/smashed or diced as much as you want
• Tomatoes/ diced or more liquid state whatever you want
• Scallops/ I use the frozen bagged mini kind and just do a couple handfuls as many as you want
• Butter and/or olive oil but the butter is v good imo but also I used both
• Bacon/ make it extra crispy and then crumble up as much as you want
• Whatever seasonings

Directions

1. Set oven to 400° or so
2. Put all your bacon 🥓 strips onto tin foil lined baking sheet/s and then put the trays in the oven for 15-20 min
3. Boil up your pasta in salty water
4. Pull the bacon out when done
5. In a pan cook up the scallops real quick like 5-10 min idk
6. Sauté the tomatoes and garlic and whatever use whatever seasons and lots of butter
7. Strain the pasta when it’s ready
8. Mix pasta and sautéed sauce
9. Add more crumbled bacon on top #garnish

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

In this edition, we invited Kofi and Sean from BitcoinDua to share their journey of introducing Bitcoin to the community and driving its widespread adoption, and discuss how trust and collaboration have played key roles in promoting Bitcoin locally and building a circular economy.

YakiHonne: Welcome, Kofi. It's truly an honor and a pleasure to have you with us today. Before we begin, let me briefly introduce YakiHonne. YakiHonne is a decentralized media client built on Nostr—a protocol designed to empower freedom of speech through technology. It enables creators to own their voices and assets while offering innovative tools like smart widgets, verified notes, and support for long-form content. Today, we're excited to learn more about your community. Could you please introduce yourself, Kofi?

Kofi：Hello, I'm Mawufemor Kofi Folivi from Ghana. I'm the founder of the Talent Tahuf Foundation, an NGO, as well as BitcoinDua. The Talent Tahuf Foundation is an incorporated organization and serves as the parent entity for BitcoinDua. We operate in Agbozume, in the Volta region of Ghana.

YakiHonne: Thank you very much, Kofi.Let's start with the first question: What initially sparked your interest in Bitcoin, and what inspired you to build a community around it?

Kofi：I'm glad we're revisiting this question, as I've heard it on many podcasts before, and it's a pleasure to share my journey again.I've been working in this space for over 20 years, often with very little support. Through perseverance and hard work, a friend of mine—who serves as the Public Relations Officer for the Africa Bitcoin Conference (ABC)—invited me to attend their 2022 conference. He even purchased a ticket for me, which made the experience even more special. Kofi：At the conference, I encountered Bitcoin for the first time in a meaningful way. I had the opportunity to see Jack Dorsey speak and even took a picture with him. Later on, my friend introduced me to Herman Viva, and I mentioned that I run an NGO—a role I've held for many years. Kofi：Listening to the discussions about Bitcoin at the conference sparked a realization: perhaps I could contribute to the Bitcoin ecosystem. My friend encouraged me to take action by asking me to "orange pill" someone and onboard a merchant to accept Bitcoin, with the goal of creating a circular economy in our community. I took on this challenge, recorded my progress on video, and shared it with him. His positive response and support, coupled with the trust I've built within my community, further solidified my commitment.

YakiHonne: It was wonderful to hear that you attended the African Bitcoin Conference—it sounds like an amazing event. I'm really impressed with how effectively you networked and made valuable connections there. I truly appreciate that you're already engaging with merchants and actively encouraging more people to trade and adopt Bitcoin. I know you've already shared how the community started, how he encouraged you to create one and adopt Bitcoin, and how you successfully did that. So now, could you tell us how you managed to attract new members to your community?

Kofi：To go back to the beginning, we started by organizing growth circles when I returned. These were groups where we focused on activities like aerobics. I used these circles as an opportunity to introduce Bitcoin to people I had already built relationships with. I shared my experience with Bitcoin, showing them how it could be used to buy credit. I demonstrated by purchasing credit for myself and for them, and I gave them cards, allowing them to buy their own credit as well. Kofi：This is how it all began. Since we were working with young people who shared the desire to grow together as a community, we emphasized that we didn't need to rely on the government. The national resources are limited, and if you're not close to the government, it’s very hard to benefit from them. We realized it was difficult to wait for the government to support our development. So, we turned to Bitcoin as a tool to help us move forward. This approach helped us establish a platform based on trust within the community. Kofi：Now, as an organization, we have the resources to help the community grow and develop skills among our peers. This is how we were able to attract members to our Bitcoin community. YakiHonne: Would you mind sharing with us some of the challenges you faced while starting up the community?

Kofi：Thank you for asking this question. As I mentioned earlier, since we've already built trust, one thing we faced was that anything new can be quite difficult to introduce. It took some time for people to understand the concept of Bitcoin, especially the idea that it’s money. Kofi：We kept repeating the phrase “Bitcoin is money,” but the challenge was that you can’t physically show Bitcoin in the same way you can show traditional money. So, when people asked, “How can I use it to pay?” it became an issue. To address this, I started by onboarding the first merchant. I explained to them, "I’m giving you this Bitcoin to pay for goods, and I’ll give you extra if you accept it." The merchant agreed to take both Bitcoin and fiat currency. Kofi：Over time, the merchant saw the value of Bitcoin growing. Eventually, they came to me asking to exchange the Bitcoin for cash. To help, I onboarded them onto BitNob, where they could experience transferring Bitcoin from one wallet to another and even withdrawing it into their local currency or bank account. We completed the transaction, and that became a reference point for everyone else we were working with.

YakiHonne: The way you approached it—getting a merchant to demonstrate it—really helped build trust. I know many communities face the same issue: how to prove that Bitcoin is real. But over time, we learn how to overcome these challenges. It's really impressive how you handled it? YakiHonne: What principles guide your community, and how do you maintain trust and reliability? I know you’ve mentioned this a bit already, but could you elaborate further? How do you ensure trust and reliability in your discussions?

Kofi：As humans, we also need to trust our intuition and how we feel about situations. It’s essential to interact with people with integrity. In our community, we are mindful of what we show others, both in actions and in good deeds. If you love someone, you give everything you have to them, and that’s the only way people can truly feel they belong in your circle. This is the key that keeps us moving forward. Kofi：The person at the center of everything you’re doing must be trustworthy. And how do you gain trust? You must trust others first. Even if people come with ulterior motives, you should approach them with an open heart, showing love to them just as you do with everyone else. Kofi：And when wrongs are committed, it’s important to acknowledge them. If someone points out a mistake you made, accept it, apologize, and move forward. This creates an understanding within the community that we’re not here to harm one another. Trust is built on integrity, and that’s how we maintain it.

YakiHonne: That’s very true. It’s much better and easier when you have integrity. Over time, as you prove yourself to be a person of integrity, it naturally builds trust with others. So, how does your community educate its members and keep them updated on Bitcoin developments? How do you approach this?

Kofi：To engage our community on a larger scale, we believe it's important to stay active and involved. After building trust, we participate in community events, such as sponsoring a football competition and contributing to their local festival. By doing this, the entire community starts seeing Bitcoin as something that can truly improve their lives. Kofi：We also established a Bitcoin Education Center, where we invite students from various schools to learn about Bitcoin. But our efforts go beyond just education; we use the resources we gain from Bitcoin to acquire laptops and robotics kits, so that the students can have additional learning opportunities. These activities are incorporated into their school programs, and we encourage their participation through debates and rewarding them with SATS. Kofi：By rewarding them with SATS, they can use these rewards to buy from over 20 merchants we've onboarded, which not only excites the students but also makes their parents curious about Bitcoin. We've even had people at the local market requesting to buy Bitcoin from us. This is how we keep up with Bitcoin’s development and continue to spread its influence in our community.

YakiHonne: How does your community work with the wider Bitcoin ecosystem? So far, what partnership has had the most positive impact on your community?

Kofi：Due to the hard work we've been putting in, we were able to attract Bitcoin Beach as one of our major collaborators. We are part of Bitcoin Ekasi. Recently, we were also awarded the Block Discovery Grant of $50,000 from the Bitcoin Foundation. We are using this grant to build a sports complex, which will include a football field, a multi-purpose basketball court, a swimming pool, a children's playground, and more. We've already started this project. These are the key collaborators and supporters we've had in the Bitcoin space, and their support has been invaluable to us.

YakiHonne: It’s clear that you guys are doing an amazing job! Your efforts and hard work have truly caught the attention of many communities, and it’s great to see you forming significant partnerships.So, could you share more about the initiatives your community has taken to promote Bitcoin adoption? I know you've mentioned a few already, but would you mind expanding on them a bit more and sharing the results you've seen?

Kofi：As I mentioned earlier, we are enhancing our capacity by working with school children and teenagers. We also plan to host inter-school competitions, particularly world-class robotics competitions, with the aim of broadening students' perspectives on science and giving them a global view of what's happening in the world. We believe that through these activities, we will be able to engage with a larger society, helping us expand our client base for Bitcoin education and usage. Therefore, we believe this will have a profound impact. As for the activities we are currently working on, they are providing us with opportunities to expand our reach to schools within the community. This will further build trust and deepen our relationships in this regard.

YakiHonne: I really admire the fact that you have boarded merchants to accept Bitcoin, which is a great step for its adoption. I also like that you've reached out to schools, encouraging community growth, which helps people see more interest and potential in the Bitcoin ecosystem. Now, for our last question of the day, what are the community goals for the next 6 to 12 months, and how do you see it evolving within the Bitcoin space?

Kofi：So, in the next 6 to 12 months, we plan to complete the sports complex we’re building. We also intend to open it up for social activities, both within our community and beyond. We believe this will create more opportunities for interaction, allowing people who don’t live within our community to learn about Bitcoin, hear about it, and start engaging with it for the greater good.

YakiHonne: you plan to complete the sports complex and expand your social reach to engage more people, even those outside your local community. This is truly amazing, and the work you’re doing is fantastic. YakiHonne: We’ve come to the end of today’s interview, and I’m really happy to have had this conversation with you, Kofi. You’ve shared so much, and I’ve learned a lot. It’s inspiring to see all the great things happening in Ghana, truly wonderful. Thank you, and you’re doing an incredible job.

Sean：I would say it’s important for us as Africans to continue collaborating within our own communities—whether in a specific community, village, or town. Through collaboration, we can create stronger communities for ourselves. This way, we’ll be able to generate jobs in various fields and develop marketable skills that can be used anywhere in the world. This way, we won’t need to seek opportunities in other countries; we can build those opportunities right here in our own space.

YakiHonne: It's very true. We can definitely build a better West Africa, a better Africa, and create our own opportunities here. Thank you so much for this interview.

@ 30b99916:3cc6e3fe

Chef's notes

Recipe modified from a recipe published from a school cookbook in 1963.

Details

• 🍳 Cook time: 8 to 10 Minutes at 400
• 🍽️ Servings: 3 dozen or so depending on cookie size

Ingredients

• 2 sticks of butter
• 1 1/2 Cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t. vanilla (optional but recommended)
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 t. Cream of tartar
• 1 t. Soda
• 1/4 t. Salt

Directions

1. 1. Heat over to 400
2. 1. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly.
3. 1. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, soda, salt and blend into mixture.
4. 1. Form small dough balls and roll in sugar/cinnamon
5. 1. Place each cookie dough ball 2" apart on a cookie sheet

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

For the last couple of weeks, I've been dealing with the fallout of upgrading a web application to Svelte 5. Complaints about framework churn and migration annoyances aside, I've run into some interesting issues with the migration. So far, I haven't seen many other people register the same issues, so I thought it might be constructive for me to articulate them myself.

I'll try not to complain too much in this post, since I'm grateful for the many years of Svelte 3/4 I've enjoyed. But I don't think I'll be choosing Svelte for any new projects going forward. I hope my reflections here will be useful to others as well.

If you're interested in reproductions for the issues I mention here, you can find them below.

• Can't save state to indexeddb
• Component unmount results in undefined variables in closures

The Need for Speed

To start with, let me just quickly acknowledge what the Svelte team is trying to do. It seems like most of the substantial changes in version 5 are built around "deep reactivity", which allows for more granular reactivity, leading to better performance. Performance is good, and the Svelte team has always excelled at reconciling performance with DX.

In previous versions of Svelte, the main way this was achieved was with the Svelte compiler. There were many ancillary techniques involved in improving performance, but having a framework compile step gave the Svelte team a lot of leeway for rearranging things under the hood without making developers learn new concepts. This is what made Svelte so original in the beginning.

At the same time, it resulted in an even more opaque framework than usual, making it harder for developers to debug more complex issues. To make matters worse, the compiler had bugs, resulting in errors which could only be fixed by blindly refactoring the problem component. This happened to me personally at least half a dozen times, and is what ultimately pushed me to migrate to Svelte 5.

Nevertheless, I always felt it was an acceptable trade-off for speed and productivity. Sure, sometimes I had to delete my project and port it to a fresh repository every so often, but the framework was truly a pleasure to use.

Svelte is not Javascript

Svelte 5 doubled down on this tradeoff — which makes sense, because it's what sets the framework apart. The difference this time is that the abstraction/performance tradeoff did not stay in compiler land, but intruded into runtime in two important ways:

• The use of proxies to support deep reactivity
• Implicit component lifecycle state

Both of these changes improved performance and made the API for developers look slicker. What's not to like? Unfortunately, both of these features are classic examples of a leaky abstraction, and ultimately make things more complex for developers, not less.

Proxies are not objects

The use of proxies seems to have allowed the Svelte team to squeeze a little more performance out of the framework, without asking developers to do any extra work. Threading state through multiple levels of components without provoking unnecessary re-renders in frameworks like React is an infamously difficult chore.

Svelte's compiler avoided some of the pitfalls associated with virtual DOM diffing solutions, but evidently there was still enough of a performance gain to be had to justify the introduction of proxies. The Svelte team also seems to argue that their introduction represents an improvement in developer experience:

we... can maximise both efficiency and ergonomics.

Here's the problem: Svelte 5 looks simpler, but actually introduces more abstractions.

Using proxies to monitor array methods (for example) is appealing because it allows developers to forget all the goofy heuristics involved with making sure state was reactive and just push to the array. I can't count how many times I've written value = value to trigger reactivity in svelte 4.

In Svelte 4, developers had to understand how the Svelte compiler worked. The compiler, being a leaky abstraction, forced its users to know that assignment was how you signaled reactivity. In svelte 5, developers can just "forget" about the compiler!

Except they can't. All the introduction of new abstractions really accomplishes is the introduction of more complex heuristics that developers have to keep in their heads in order to get the compiler to act the way they want it to.

In fact, this is why after years of using Svelte, I found myself using Svelte stores more and more often, and reactive declarations less. The reason being that Svelte stores are just javascript. Calling update on a store is simple, and being able to reference them with a $ was just a nice bonus — nothing to remember, and if I mess up the compiler yells at me.

Proxies introduce a similar problem to reactive declarations, which is that they look like one thing but act like another on the edges.

When I started using Svelte 5, everything worked great — until I tried to save a proxy to indexeddb, at which point I got a DataCloneError. To make matters worse, it's impossible to reliably tell if something is a Proxy without try/catching a structured clone, which is a performance-intensive operation.

This forces the developer to remember what is and what isn't a Proxy, calling $state.snapshot every time they pass a proxy to a context that doesn't expect or know about them. This obviates all the nice abstractions they gave us in the first place.

Components are not functions

The reason virtual DOM took off way back in 2013 was the ability to model your application as composed functions, each of which takes data and spits out HTML. Svelte retained this paradigm, using a compiler to sidestep the inefficiencies of virtual DOM and the complexities of lifecycle methods.

In Svelte 5, component lifecycles are back, react-hooks style.

In React, hooks are an abstraction that allows developers to avoid writing all the stateful code associated with component lifecycle methods. Modern React tutorials universally recommend using hooks instead, which rely on the framework invisibly synchronizing state with the render tree.

While this does result in cleaner code, it also requires developers to tread carefully to avoid breaking the assumptions surrounding hooks. Just try accessing state in a setTimeout and you'll see what I mean.

Svelte 4 had a few gotchas like this — for example, async code that interacts with a component's DOM elements has to keep track of whether the component is unmounted. This is pretty similar to the kind of pattern you'd see in old React components that relied on lifecycle methods.

It seems to me that Svelte 5 has gone the React 16 route by adding implicit state related to component lifecycles in order to coordinate state changes and effects.

For example, example is in the documentation for $effect:

You can place $effect anywhere, not just at the top level of a component, as long as it is called during component initialization (or while a parent effect is active). It is then tied to the lifecycle of the component (or parent effect) and will therefore destroy itself when the component unmounts (or the parent effect is destroyed).

That's very complex! In order to use $effect... effectively (sorry), developers have to understand how state changes are tracked. The documentation for component lifecycles claims:

In Svelte 5, the component lifecycle consists of only two parts: Its creation and its destruction. Everything in-between — when certain state is updated — is not related to the component as a whole; only the parts that need to react to the state change are notified. This is because under the hood the smallest unit of change is actually not a component, it’s the (render) effects that the component sets up upon component initialization. Consequently, there’s no such thing as a “before update”/"after update” hook.

But then goes on to introduce the idea of tick in conjunction with $effect.pre. This section explains that "tick returns a promise that resolves once any pending state changes have been applied, or in the next microtask if there are none."

I'm sure there's some mental model that justifies this, but I don't think the claim that a component's lifecycle is only comprised of mount/unmount is really helpful when an addendum about state change has to come right afterward.

The place where this really bit me, and which is the motivation for this blog post, is when state gets coupled to a component's lifecycle, even when the state is passed to another function that doesn't know anything about svelte.

In my application, I manage modal dialogs by storing the component I want to render alongside its props in a store and rendering it in the layout of my application. This store is also synchronized with browser history so that the back button works to close them. Sometimes, it's useful to pass a callback to one of these modals, binding caller-specific functionality to the child component:

javascript const {value} = $props() const callback = () => console.log(value) const openModal = () => pushModal(MyModal, {callback})

This is a fundamental pattern in javascript. Passing a callback is just one of those things you do.

Unfortunately, if the above code lives in a modal dialog itself, the caller component gets unmounted before the callback gets called. In Svelte 4, this worked fine, but in Svelte 5 value gets updated to undefined when the component gets unmounted. Here's a minimal reproduction.

This is only one example, but it seems clear to me that any value that is closed over by a callback function that lives longer than its component will be undefined when I want to use it — with no reassignment existing in lexical scope.

This just isn't how javascript works. And I think the reason Svelte works this way is that it is attempting to re-invent garbage collection. Because value is a prop of the component, it apparently has to be cleaned up at the end of the component's lifecycle. I'm sure there's a good engineering reason for this, but it is surprising.

Conclusion

Easy things are nice, but as Rich Hickey says, easy things are not always simple. And like Joel Spolsky, I don't like being surprised. Svelte has always been full of magic, but with the latest release I think the cognitive overhead of reciting incantations has finally outweighed the power it conveys.

My point in this post is not to dunk on the Svelte team. I know lots of people like Svelte 5 (and react hooks). The point I hope to make is that there is a tradeoff between doing things for the user, and giving the user agency. Good software is built on understanding, not cleverness.

I also think this is an important lesson to remember as AI-assisted coding becomes increasingly popular. Don't choose tools that alienate you from your work. Choose tools that leverage the wisdom you've already accumulated, and which help you to cultivate a deeper understanding of the discipline.

Thank you to Rich Harris and team for many years of pleasant development. I hope that (if you read this) it's not so full of inaccuracies as to be unhelpful as user feedback.

@ ccc8ee23:9f3d9783

Chef's notes

Indulge in tender, golden-fried chicken breast, crunchy with every bite. Nestled on a bed of steamed rice, this dish is elevated by a rich, velvety curry sauce, infused with the warmth of fragrant spices and the umami depth of soy.

Paired with vibrant vegetables for a harmonious balance of textures and flavors, this comforting classic promises to delight your soul.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients

• Chicken Fillet 250 grams
• Potato 100 grams
• Egg 1 pc
• Curry block 2 pcs or 20 grams
• breadcrumbs 100 grams / 2 cups
• flour 20 grams
• Cooking oil (for frying)
• chicken or vegetable stock 500ml
• soy sauce 1 tbsp
• Seasoning
• onion 1 pc, finely chopped
• garlic cloves 2 pcs, minced
• carrot 1 pc, chopped

Directions

1. Chicken Katsu: Pound the chicken breasts until about 1/2 inch thick. Season with salt and pepper. Coat each piece in flour, then dip in beaten egg, and finally coat with breadcrumbs. Heat oil in a pan and fry the chicken for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until golden brown and fully cooked. Place on paper towels to drain.
2. Make Curry Sauce: In a pan, sauté the onion, garlic, add potato and carrot until soft. Gradually add curry block and the stock, stir well. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until thickened. Add seasoning and soy sauce to taste.
3. Plating: Slice the cooked chicken katsu and place it over a bed of steamed rice. Pour the curry sauce on the side or over the chicken. Garnish with chopped green chilies.

@ 09fbf8f3:fa3d60f0

🌟 深度探索：在Cloudflare上免费部署DeepSeek-R1 32B大模型

🌍 一、 注册或登录Cloudflare平台（CF老手可跳过）

1️⃣ 进入Cloudflare平台官网：

。www.cloudflare.com/zh-cn/
登录或者注册账号。

2️⃣ 新注册的用户会让你选择域名，无视即可，直接点下面的Start building。

3️⃣ 进入仪表盘后，界面可能会显示英文，在右上角切换到[简体中文]即可。

---

🚀 二、正式开始部署Deepseek API项目。

1️⃣ 首先在左侧菜单栏找到【AI】下的【Wokers AI】，选择【Llama 3 Woker】。

2️⃣ 为项目取一个好听的名字，后点击部署即可。

3️⃣ Woker项目初始化部署好后，需要编辑替换掉其原代码。

4️⃣ 解压出提供的代码压缩包，找到【32b】的部署代码，将里面的文本复制出来。

下载地址：
📁 夸克
📁 UC网盘
📁 迅雷网盘

5️⃣ 接第3步，将项目里的原代码清空，粘贴第4步复制好的代码到编辑器。

6️⃣ 代码粘贴完，即可点击右上角的部署按钮。

7️⃣ 回到仪表盘，点击部署完的项目名称。

8️⃣ 查看【设置】，找到平台分配的项目网址，复制好备用。

---

💻 三、选择可用的UI软件，这边使用Chatbox AI演示。

1️⃣ 根据自己使用的平台下载对应的安装包，博主也一并打包好了全平台的软件安装包。

2️⃣ 打开安装好的Chatbox，点击左下角的设置。

3️⃣ 选择【添加自定义提供方】。

4️⃣ 按照图片说明填写即可，【API域名】为之前复制的项目网址(加/v1)；【改善网络兼容性】功能务必开启；【API密钥】默认为”zhiyuan“，可自行修改；填写完毕后保存即可。

5️⃣ Cloudflare项目部署好后，就能正常使用了，接口仿照OpenAI API具有较强的兼容性，能导入到很多支持AI功能的软件或插件中。

6️⃣ Cloudflare的域名默认被墙了，需要自己准备一个域名设置。

---

转自微信公众号：纸鸢花的小屋
推广：低调云（梯子VPN）
。www.didiaocloud.xyz

@ 2063cd79:57bd1320

Für diejenigen, die mich nicht kennen: Ich bin Hal Finney. Ich machte meine ersten Schritte mit Kryptographie, in dem ich an einer frühen Version von PGP arbeitete, in enger Zusammenarbeit mit Phil Zimmermann. Als Phil beschloss, die PGP Corporation zu gründen, war ich einer der ersten, die er einstellte. Ich habe bis zu meiner Pensionierung an PGP gearbeitet. Zeitgleich fing ich an, mich bei den Cypherpunks zu engagieren. Neben anderen Aktivitäten betrieb ich den ersten kryptographisch basierten anonymen Remailer.

Springen wir ans Ende des Jahres 2008 und der Ankündigung von Bitcoin. Ich habe bemerkt, dass Krypto-Graubärte (ich war Mitte 50) dazu neigen, zynisch zu werden. Ich war eher idealistisch; ich habe Kryptographie immer geliebt, das Mysterium und das Paradoxe daran.

Als Satoshi Bitcoin in der Kryptographie-Mailingliste ankündigte, wurde er bestenfalls skeptisch aufgenommen. Kryptographen haben schon zu viele großartige Pläne von ahnungslosen Anfängern gesehen. Sie neigen zu überhasteten Reaktionen.

Ich war positiver eingestellt. Ich hatte mich schon lange für kryptografische Zahlungssysteme interessiert. Außerdem hatte ich das Glück, sowohl Wei Dai als auch Nick Szabo kennenzulernen und ausgiebig mit ihnen zu korrespondieren, von denen allgemein bekannt ist, dass sie Ideen entwickelt haben, die mit Hilfe von Bitcoin verwirklicht werden sollten. Ich hatte einen Versuch unternommen, meine eigene, auf Proof-of-Work basierende Währung namens RPOW zu schaffen. Daher fand ich Bitcoin faszinierend.

Als Satoshi die erste Version der Software ankündigte, schnappte ich sie mir sofort. Ich glaube, ich war die erste Person neben Satoshi, die Bitcoin laufen ließ. Ich habe Block 70 oder so gemined und ich war der Empfänger der ersten Bitcoin-Transaktion, als Satoshi mir zehn Coins als Test schickte. In den nächsten Tagen führte ich eine E-Mail-Konversation mit Satoshi, in der ich hauptsächlich Fehler meldete, die er dann beseitigte.

Heute ist die wahre Identität von Satoshi ein Rätsel. Aber damals dachte ich, ich hätte es mit einem jungen Mann japanischer Abstammung zu tun, der sehr intelligent und aufrichtig war. Ich hatte das Glück, im Laufe meines Lebens viele brillante Menschen kennenzulernen, daher erkenne ich die Zeichen.

Nach ein paar Tagen lief Bitcoin ziemlich stabil, also ließ ich es laufen. Das waren die Tage, als die Difficulty 1 war und man Blöcke mit dem CPU finden konnte, nicht einmal mit einem GPU. In den nächsten Tagen habe ich mehrere Blöcke gemined. Aber ich schaltete es ab, weil mein Computer zu heiß wurde und mich das Lüftergeräusch störte. Im Nachhinein wünschte ich, ich hätte länger durchgehalten, aber andererseits hatte ich außerordentliches Glück, dass ich am Anfang dabei war. Das ist so eine halb volles, halb leeres Glas Sache

Das nächste Mal, dass ich von Bitcoin hörte, war Ende 2010, als ich überrascht feststellte, dass es nicht nur immer noch existierte, sondern bitcoins tatsächlich einen Geldwert hatten. Ich entstaubte meine alte Wallet und war erleichtert, als ich feststellte, dass meine bitcoins noch darin waren. Als der Preis auf eine echte Summe kletterte, transferierte ich die Coins in eine Offline-Wallet, wo sie hoffentlich für meine Erben etwas wert sein werden.

Apropos Erben: 2009 erlebte ich eine Überraschung, als bei mir plötzlich eine tödliche Krankheit diagnostiziert wurde. Zu Beginn des Jahres war ich in der besten Verfassung meines Lebens, ich hatte viel Gewicht verloren und mit dem Langstreckenlauf begonnen. Ich war mehrere Halbmarathons gelaufen und hatte begonnen, für einen vollen Marathon zu trainieren. Ich hatte mich zu Läufen über 20 Meilen hochgearbeitet und dachte, ich hätte alles im Griff. Doch dann ging alles schief.

Mein Körper begann zu versagen. Ich sprach undeutlich, verlor die Kraft in meinen Händen und meine Beine erholten sich nur langsam. Im August 2009 erhielt ich die Diagnose ALS, auch Lou-Gehrig-Krankheit genannt, nach dem berühmten Baseballspieler, der daran erkrankt war.

ALS ist eine Krankheit, die Motoneuronen abtötet, die Signale vom Gehirn an die Muskeln weiterleiten. Sie verursacht zunächst Schwäche und dann allmählich zunehmende Lähmungen. Die Krankheit verläuft in der Regel innerhalb von 2 bis 5 Jahren tödlich. Meine Symptome waren zunächst gering und ich konnte weiterarbeiten, aber Müdigkeit und Stimmprobleme zwangen mich Anfang 2011, in den Ruhestand zu gehen. Seitdem ist die Krankheit unaufhaltsam fortgeschritten.

Heute bin ich im Wesentlichen gelähmt. Ich werde durch einen Schlauch ernährt, und meine Atmung wird durch einen weiteren Schlauch unterstützt. Ich bediene den Computer mit einem kommerziellen Eyetracker-System. Es ist auch mit einem Sprachsynthesizer ausgestattet, so dass dies jetzt meine Stimme ist. Ich verbringe den ganzen Tag in meinem Elektrorollstuhl. Ich habe eine Schnittstelle mit einem Arduino entwickelt, so dass ich die Position meines Rollstuhls mit meinen Augen einstellen kann.

Es war eine Umstellung, aber mein Leben ist nicht allzu schlimm. Ich kann immer noch lesen, Musik hören, fernsehen und Filme schauen. Vor kurzem habe ich entdeckt, dass ich sogar Code schreiben kann. Es geht sehr langsam, wahrscheinlich 50 Mal langsamer als vorher. Aber ich liebe das Programmieren immer noch, und es gibt mir Ziele. Derzeit arbeite ich an etwas, das Mike Hearn vorgeschlagen hat, nämlich die Sicherheitsfunktionen moderner Prozessoren, die „Trusted Computing“ unterstützen, zu nutzen, um Bitcoin-Wallets zu härten. Es ist fast fertig zur Veröffentlichung. Ich muss nur noch die Dokumentation erstellen.

Und natürlich sind die Kursschwankungen von Bitcoin für mich unterhaltsam. Ich habe einen Anteil an dem Spiel. Aber ich bin durch Glück zu meinen bitcoins gekommen, ohne dass ich etwas dafür kann. Ich habe den Crash von 2011 miterlebt. Ich habe es also schon einmal erlebt. Einfach kommen, einfach gehen.

Das ist meine Geschichte. Ich habe insgesamt ziemlich viel Glück. Selbst mit der ALS ist mein Leben sehr zufriedenstellend. Aber meine Lebenserwartung ist begrenzt. Diese Diskussionen über die Vererbung von bitcoins sind mehr als nur von akademischem Interesse. Meine bitcoins befinden sich in unserem Bankschließfach, und mein Sohn und meine Tochter sind technisch versiert. Ich denke, sie sind sicher genug. Ich bin mit meinem Erbe zufrieden.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Was du bist hängt von drei Faktoren ab: \ Was du geerbt hast, \ was deine Umgebung aus dir machte \ und was du in freier Wahl \ aus deiner Umgebung und deinem Erbe gemacht hast. \ Aldous Huxley

Das brave Mitmachen und Mitlaufen in einem vorgegebenen, recht engen Rahmen ist gewiss nicht neu, hat aber gerade wieder mal Konjunktur. Dies kann man deutlich beobachten, eigentlich egal, in welchem gesellschaftlichen Bereich man sich umschaut. Individualität ist nur soweit angesagt, wie sie in ein bestimmtes Schema von «Diversität» passt, und Freiheit verkommt zur Worthülse – nicht erst durch ein gewisses Buch einer gewissen ehemaligen Regierungschefin.

Erklärungsansätze für solche Entwicklungen sind bekannt, und praktisch alle haben etwas mit Massenpsychologie zu tun. Der Herdentrieb, also der Trieb der Menschen, sich – zum Beispiel aus Unsicherheit oder Bequemlichkeit – lieber der Masse anzuschließen als selbstständig zu denken und zu handeln, ist einer der Erklärungsversuche. Andere drehen sich um Macht, Propaganda, Druck und Angst, also den gezielten Einsatz psychologischer Herrschaftsinstrumente.

Aber wollen die Menschen überhaupt Freiheit? Durch Gespräche im privaten Umfeld bin ich diesbezüglich in der letzten Zeit etwas skeptisch geworden. Um die Jahreswende philosophiert man ja gerne ein wenig über das Erlebte und über die Erwartungen für die Zukunft. Dabei hatte ich hin und wieder den Eindruck, die totalitären Anwandlungen unserer «Repräsentanten» kämen manchen Leuten gerade recht.

«Desinformation» ist so ein brisantes Thema. Davor müsse man die Menschen doch schützen, hörte ich. Jemand müsse doch zum Beispiel diese ganzen merkwürdigen Inhalte in den Social Media filtern – zur Ukraine, zum Klima, zu Gesundheitsthemen oder zur Migration. Viele wüssten ja gar nicht einzuschätzen, was richtig und was falsch ist, sie bräuchten eine Führung.

Freiheit bedingt Eigenverantwortung, ohne Zweifel. Eventuell ist es einigen tatsächlich zu anspruchsvoll, die Verantwortung für das eigene Tun und Lassen zu übernehmen. Oder die persönliche Freiheit wird nicht als ausreichend wertvolles Gut angesehen, um sich dafür anzustrengen. In dem Fall wäre die mangelnde Selbstbestimmung wohl das kleinere Übel. Allerdings fehlt dann gemäß Aldous Huxley ein Teil der Persönlichkeit. Letztlich ist natürlich alles eine Frage der Abwägung.

Sind viele Menschen möglicherweise schon so «eingenordet», dass freiheitliche Ambitionen gar nicht für eine ganze Gruppe, ein Kollektiv, verfolgt werden können? Solche Gedanken kamen mir auch, als ich mir kürzlich diverse Talks beim viertägigen Hacker-Kongress des Chaos Computer Clubs (38C3) anschaute. Ich war nicht nur überrascht, sondern reichlich erschreckt angesichts der in weiten Teilen mainstream-geformten Inhalte, mit denen ein dankbares Publikum beglückt wurde. Wo ich allgemein hellere Köpfe erwartet hatte, fand ich Konformismus und enthusiastisch untermauerte Narrative.

Gibt es vielleicht so etwas wie eine Herdenimmunität gegen Indoktrination? Ich denke, ja, zumindest eine gestärkte Widerstandsfähigkeit. Was wir brauchen, sind etwas gesunder Menschenverstand, offene Informationskanäle und der Mut, sich freier auch zwischen den Herden zu bewegen. Sie tun das bereits, aber sagen Sie es auch dieses Jahr ruhig weiter.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ ccc8ee23:9f3d9783

Chef's notes

Enjoy these Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies, a delightful combination of buttery richness, velvety chocolate, and a crunchy sprinkle finish

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 90 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 10

Ingredients

• Plain flour 250 grams
• Margarine 100 grams
• Butter 100 grams
• Vanilla essence 1 tsp
• Milk powder 1 tbsp
• Sugar 40 grams
• Chocolate bar - 80 grams, melted
• Chocolate sprinkles - for decoration

Directions

1. Make the Dough: Combine the plain flour, margarine, butter, milk powder, sugar, and vanilla essence in a mixing bowl. Knead the mixture by hand until smooth and well combined.
2. Shape and divide the dough into small balls, weighing approximately 8 grams each.
3. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Arrange the dough balls on a baking tray and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cookies are dry and fully cooked.
4. Coat with Chocolate: Melt the chocolate bar using a double boiler or microwave. Once the cookies have cooled completely, dip each cookie into the melted chocolate, ensuring they are evenly coated.
5. Place the coated cookies onto paper cups.
6. While the chocolate coating is still wet, sprinkle chocolate sprinkles on top of each cookie.
7. Allow the chocolate to dry completely, then arrange the cookies in a decorative airtight container for storage.

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

For the last couple of weeks, I've been dealing with the fallout of upgrading a web application to Svelte 5. Complaints about framework churn and migration annoyances aside, I've run into some interesting issues with the migration. So far, I haven't seen many other people register the same issues, so I thought it might be constructive for me to articulate them myself.

I'll try not to complain too much in this post, since I'm grateful for the many years of Svelte 3/4 I've enjoyed. But I don't think I'll be choosing Svelte for any new projects going forward. I hope my reflections here will be useful to others as well.

If you're interested in reproductions for the issues I mention here, you can find them below.

• Can't save state to indexeddb
• Component unmount results in undefined variables in closures

The Need for Speed

To start with, let me just quickly acknowledge what the Svelte team is trying to do. It seems like most of the substantial changes in version 5 are built around "deep reactivity", which allows for more granular reactivity, leading to better performance. Performance is good, and the Svelte team has always excelled at reconciling performance with DX.

In previous versions of Svelte, the main way this was achieved was with the Svelte compiler. There were many ancillary techniques involved in improving performance, but having a framework compile step gave the Svelte team a lot of leeway for rearranging things under the hood without making developers learn new concepts. This is what made Svelte so original in the beginning.

At the same time, it resulted in an even more opaque framework than usual, making it harder for developers to debug more complex issues. To make matters worse, the compiler had bugs, resulting in errors which could only be fixed by blindly refactoring the problem component. This happened to me personally at least half a dozen times, and is what ultimately pushed me to migrate to Svelte 5.

Nevertheless, I always felt it was an acceptable trade-off for speed and productivity. Sure, sometimes I had to delete my project and port it to a fresh repository every so often, but the framework was truly a pleasure to use.

Svelte is not Javascript

Svelte 5 doubled down on this tradeoff — which makes sense, because it's what sets the framework apart. The difference this time is that the abstraction/performance tradeoff did not stay in compiler land, but intruded into runtime in two important ways:

• The use of proxies to support deep reactivity
• Implicit component lifecycle state

Both of these changes improved performance and made the API for developers look slicker. What's not to like? Unfortunately, both of these features are classic examples of a leaky abstraction, and ultimately make things more complex for developers, not less.

Proxies are not objects

The use of proxies seems to have allowed the Svelte team to squeeze a little more performance out of the framework, without asking developers to do any extra work. Threading state through multiple levels of components without provoking unnecessary re-renders in frameworks like React is an infamously difficult chore.

Svelte's compiler avoided some of the pitfalls associated with virtual DOM diffing solutions, but evidently there was still enough of a performance gain to be had to justify the introduction of proxies. The Svelte team also seems to argue that their introduction represents an improvement in developer experience:

we... can maximise both efficiency and ergonomics.

Here's the problem: Svelte 5 looks simpler, but actually introduces more abstractions.

Using proxies to monitor array methods (for example) is appealing because it allows developers to forget all the goofy heuristics involved with making sure state was reactive and just push to the array. I can't count how many times I've written value = value to trigger reactivity in svelte 4.

In Svelte 4, developers had to understand how the Svelte compiler worked. The compiler, being a leaky abstraction, forced its users to know that assignment was how you signaled reactivity. In svelte 5, developers can just "forget" about the compiler!

Except they can't. All the introduction of new abstractions really accomplishes is the introduction of more complex heuristics that developers have to keep in their heads in order to get the compiler to act the way they want it to.

In fact, this is why after years of using Svelte, I found myself using Svelte stores more and more often, and reactive declarations less. The reason being that Svelte stores are just javascript. Calling update on a store is simple, and being able to reference them with a $ was just a nice bonus — nothing to remember, and if I mess up the compiler yells at me.

Proxies introduce a similar problem to reactive declarations, which is that they look like one thing but act like another on the edges.

When I started using Svelte 5, everything worked great — until I tried to save a proxy to indexeddb, at which point I got a DataCloneError. To make matters worse, it's impossible to reliably tell if something is a Proxy without try/catching a structured clone, which is a performance-intensive operation.

This forces the developer to remember what is and what isn't a Proxy, calling $state.snapshot every time they pass a proxy to a context that doesn't expect or know about them. This obviates all the nice abstractions they gave us in the first place.

Components are not functions

The reason virtual DOM took off way back in 2013 was the ability to model your application as composed functions, each of which takes data and spits out HTML. Svelte retained this paradigm, using a compiler to sidestep the inefficiencies of virtual DOM and the complexities of lifecycle methods.

In Svelte 5, component lifecycles are back, react-hooks style.

In React, hooks are an abstraction that allows developers to avoid writing all the stateful code associated with component lifecycle methods. Modern React tutorials universally recommend using hooks instead, which rely on the framework invisibly synchronizing state with the render tree.

While this does result in cleaner code, it also requires developers to tread carefully to avoid breaking the assumptions surrounding hooks. Just try accessing state in a setTimeout and you'll see what I mean.

Svelte 4 had a few gotchas like this — for example, async code that interacts with a component's DOM elements has to keep track of whether the component is unmounted. This is pretty similar to the kind of pattern you'd see in old React components that relied on lifecycle methods.

It seems to me that Svelte 5 has gone the React 16 route by adding implicit state related to component lifecycles in order to coordinate state changes and effects.

For example, here is an excerpt from the documentation for $effect:

You can place $effect anywhere, not just at the top level of a component, as long as it is called during component initialization (or while a parent effect is active). It is then tied to the lifecycle of the component (or parent effect) and will therefore destroy itself when the component unmounts (or the parent effect is destroyed).

That's very complex! In order to use $effect... effectively (sorry), developers have to understand how state changes are tracked. The documentation for component lifecycles claims:

In Svelte 5, the component lifecycle consists of only two parts: Its creation and its destruction. Everything in-between — when certain state is updated — is not related to the component as a whole; only the parts that need to react to the state change are notified. This is because under the hood the smallest unit of change is actually not a component, it’s the (render) effects that the component sets up upon component initialization. Consequently, there’s no such thing as a “before update”/"after update” hook.

But then goes on to introduce the idea of tick in conjunction with $effect.pre. This section explains that "tick returns a promise that resolves once any pending state changes have been applied, or in the next microtask if there are none."

I'm sure there's some mental model that justifies this, but I don't think the claim that a component's lifecycle is only comprised of mount/unmount is really helpful when an addendum about state changes has to come right afterward.

The place where this really bit me, and which is the motivation for this blog post, is when state gets coupled to a component's lifecycle, even when the state is passed to another function that doesn't know anything about svelte.

In my application, I manage modal dialogs by storing the component I want to render alongside its props in a store and rendering it in the layout.svelte of my application. This store is also synchronized with browser history so that the back button works to close them. Sometimes, it's useful to pass a callback to one of these modals, binding caller-specific functionality to the child component:

javascript const {value} = $props() const callback = () => console.log(value) const openModal = () => pushModal(MyModal, {callback})

This is a fundamental pattern in javascript. Passing a callback is just one of those things you do.

Unfortunately, if the above code lives in a modal dialog itself, the caller component gets unmounted before the callback gets called. In Svelte 4, this worked fine, but in Svelte 5 value gets updated to undefined when the component gets unmounted. Here's a minimal reproduction.

This is only one example, but it seems clear to me that any prop that is closed over by a callback function that lives longer than its component will be undefined when I want to use it — with no reassignment existing in lexical scope. It seems that the reason this happens is that the props "belong" to the parent component, and are accessed via getters so that the parent can revoke access when it unmounts.

I don't know why this is necessary, but I assume there's a good engineering reason for it. The problem is, this just isn't how javascript works. Svelte is essentially attempting to re-invent garbage collection around component lifecycles, which breaks the assumption every javascript developer has that variables don't simply disappear without an explicit reassignment. It should be safe to pass stuff around and let the garbage collector do its job.

Conclusion

Easy things are nice, but as Rich Hickey says, easy things are not always simple. And like Joel Spolsky, I don't like being surprised. Svelte has always been full of magic, but with the latest release I think the cognitive overhead of reciting incantations has finally outweighed the power it confers.

My point in this post is not to dunk on the Svelte team. I know lots of people like Svelte 5 (and react hooks). The point I'm trying to make is that there is a tradeoff between doing things on the user's behalf, and giving the user agency. Good software is built on understanding, not cleverness.

I also think this is an important lesson to remember as AI-assisted coding becomes increasingly popular. Don't choose tools that alienate you from your work. Choose tools that leverage the wisdom you've already accumulated, and which help you to cultivate a deeper understanding of the discipline.

Thank you to Rich Harris and team for many years of pleasant development. I hope that (if you read this) it's not so full of inaccuracies as to be unhelpful as user feedback.

@ ccc8ee23:9f3d9783

Chef's notes

Celebrating seasons🎉

Kastengel Chocolate-Dip, where the savoury richness of cheese meets the decadent sweetness of chocolate. A perfect flavours in every bite!

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 90 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 10

Ingredients

• Plain Flour 250 grams
• Margarine - 100 grams
• Butter 100 grams
• Egg yolk 1 pc
• Sugar 20 grams
• Grated cheese 100 grams (half for the dough, half for garnish, adjustable)
• Chocolate bar 80 grams, melted

Directions

1. Make the Dough: Combine the plain flour, margarine, butter, sugar, and half of the grated cheese in a bowl. Knead the mixture with your hands until smooth and well incorporated. Roll out the dough using a rolling pin and cut into desired shapes for cookies.
2. Beat the egg yolk. Brush the shaped cookies with the egg yolk mixture and sprinkle the remaining grated cheese on top.
3. Bake the cookies 175’C for about 30 minutes, or until they are dry and perfectly cooked.
4. Melt the chocolate bar in a double boiler or microwave until smooth.
5. Dip in Chocolate: Once the cookies have cooled completely, dip both the top and bottom ends of each cookie into the melted chocolate.
6. Place the dipped cookies on a wire rack or a cookie drying tray to allow the chocolate to harden and set.
7. Arrange the cookies neatly in an airtight container.

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

At the banquet of consequences, there is only one worthy dish: pride, never regret. At that table, the main course will not be served with lukewarm excuses or poorly disguised remorse. Let it be pride—fiery, indomitable—that fills your mouth and satisfies your hunger for dignity. The man who surrenders to remorse is already dead before the grave. It is honor that should fill your stomach, not the bitter taste of shame.

When the battle weighs heavy, remember: you fight for those you love, for true love—the one that keeps us standing in the storm—is an anchor of iron. It is not the soft, sweet love of illusions but the steel that holds you to the ground when chaos tries to drag you away. Let hatred be the fuel of your victory, as long as you control it. If it serves you to win, so be it; but make it a weapon, not a chain. Defeat is not an option, and those who bow before it bear the mark of weakness forever.

Understand this: victory and defeat are fleeting; it is the battle itself that truly matters and defines who you are. Only a fool longs for the end. For the man who knows, rest comes only with the last breath. As long as there is life, there is struggle, and that is enough.

Reality is not for the weak. If you cannot bear the truth, seek comfort in ignorance. But a man, fully made, knows what it means to forge character through blood and silence. And finally, expect nothing from anyone. The one who enters battle relying on others’ help is already defeated. You were not born to be spared or carried. You were born to stand on your own strength and feast at the banquet of your victories.

Thank you for reading, my friend!

If this message has helped you in any way, consider leaving your “🥃” as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ ac8bb9b0:70278acc

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5
• 🍳 Cook time: 10
• 🍽️ Servings: 4

Ingredients

• 1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup white wine, dry
• 14 oz can petite diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/2 cup half and half
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• kosher salt and fresh black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 8 ounces angel hair pasta, whole wheat, gluten-free or high fiber

Directions

1. Boil water with salt in a large pot for the pasta. Cook pasta al dente according to package directions.
2. Meanwhile, season shrimp with 1/4 teaspoon salt, black pepper and oregano.
3. Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the oil, when warm add the shrimp and garlic and cook about 2 minutes on each side.
4. Add tomatoes, wine, salt and pepper and cook an additional minute.
5. Remove from heat and stir in half and half. Add lemon juice and parsley and serve over pasta.
6. Divide equally in 4 plates or shallow bowls.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Heute möchte ich ein Gedicht mit euch teilen. Es handelt sich um eine Ballade des österreichischen Lyrikers Johann Gabriel Seidl aus dem 19. Jahrhundert. Mir sind diese Worte fest in Erinnerung, da meine Mutter sie perfekt rezitieren konnte, auch als die Kräfte schon langsam schwanden.

Dem originalen Titel «Die Uhr» habe ich für mich immer das Wort «innere» hinzugefügt. Denn der Zeitmesser – hier vermutliche eine Taschenuhr – symbolisiert zwar in dem Kontext das damalige Zeitempfinden und die Umbrüche durch die industrielle Revolution, sozusagen den Zeitgeist und das moderne Leben. Aber der Autor setzt sich philosophisch mit der Zeit auseinander und gibt seinem Werk auch eine klar spirituelle Dimension.

Das Ticken der Uhr und die Momente des Glücks und der Trauer stehen sinnbildlich für das unaufhaltsame Fortschreiten und die Vergänglichkeit des Lebens. Insofern könnte man bei der Uhr auch an eine Sonnenuhr denken. Der Rhythmus der Ereignisse passt uns vielleicht nicht immer in den Kram.

Was den Takt pocht, ist durchaus auch das Herz, unser «inneres Uhrwerk». Wenn dieses Meisterwerk einmal stillsteht, ist es unweigerlich um uns geschehen. Hoffentlich können wir dann dankbar sagen: «Ich habe mein Bestes gegeben.»

Ich trage, wo ich gehe, stets eine Uhr bei mir; \ Wieviel es geschlagen habe, genau seh ich an ihr. \ Es ist ein großer Meister, der künstlich ihr Werk gefügt, \ Wenngleich ihr Gang nicht immer dem törichten Wunsche genügt.

Ich wollte, sie wäre rascher gegangen an manchem Tag; \ Ich wollte, sie hätte manchmal verzögert den raschen Schlag. \ In meinen Leiden und Freuden, in Sturm und in der Ruh, \ Was immer geschah im Leben, sie pochte den Takt dazu.

Sie schlug am Sarge des Vaters, sie schlug an des Freundes Bahr, \ Sie schlug am Morgen der Liebe, sie schlug am Traualtar. \ Sie schlug an der Wiege des Kindes, sie schlägt, will's Gott, noch oft, \ Wenn bessere Tage kommen, wie meine Seele es hofft.

Und ward sie auch einmal träger, und drohte zu stocken ihr Lauf, \ So zog der Meister immer großmütig sie wieder auf. \ Doch stände sie einmal stille, dann wär's um sie geschehn, \ Kein andrer, als der sie fügte, bringt die Zerstörte zum Gehn.

Dann müßt ich zum Meister wandern, der wohnt am Ende wohl weit, \ Wohl draußen, jenseits der Erde, wohl dort in der Ewigkeit! \ Dann gäb ich sie ihm zurücke mit dankbar kindlichem Flehn: \ Sieh, Herr, ich hab nichts verdorben, sie blieb von selber stehn.

Johann Gabriel Seidl (1804-1875)

@ 266815e0:6cd408a5

To all existing nostr developers and new nostr developers, stop using kind 1 events... just stop whatever your doing and switch the kind to Math.round(Math.random() * 10000) trust me it will be better

What are kind 1 events

kind 1 events are defined in NIP-10 as "simple plaintext notes" or in other words social posts.

Don't trick your users

Most users are joining nostr for the social experience, and secondly to find all the cool "other stuff" apps They find friends, browse social posts, and reply to them. If a user signs into a new nostr client and it starts asking them to sign kind 1 events with blobs of JSON, they will sign it without thinking too much about it

Then when they return to their comfy social apps they will see that they made 10+ posts with massive amounts of gibberish that they don't remember posting. then they probably will go looking for the delete button and realize there isn't one...

Even if those kind 1 posts don't contain JSON and have a nice fancy human readable syntax. they will still confuse users because they won't remember writing those social posts

What about "discoverability"

If your goal is to make your "other stuff" app visible to more users, then I would suggest using NIP-19 and NIP-89 The first allows users to embed any other event kind into social posts as nostr:nevent1 or nostr:naddr1 links, and the second allows social clients to redirect users to an app that knows how to handle that specific kind of event

So instead of saving your apps data into kind 1 events. you can pick any kind you want, then give users a "share on nostr" button that allows them to compose a social post (kind 1) with a nostr: link to your special kind of event and by extension you app

Why its a trap

Once users start using your app it becomes a lot more difficult to migrate to a new event kind or data format. This sounds obvious, but If your app is built on kind 1 events that means you will be stuck with their limitation forever.

For example, here are some of the limitations of using kind 1 - Querying for your apps data becomes much more difficult. You have to filter through all of a users kind 1 events to find which ones are created by your app - Discovering your apps data is more difficult for the same reason, you have to sift through all the social posts just to find the ones with you special tag or that contain JSON - Users get confused. as mentioned above users don't expect their social posts to be used in "other stuff" apps - Other nostr clients won't understand your data and will show it as a social post with no option for users to learn about your app

@ bbb5dda0:f09e2747

Alright, This weekly review's gonna be a quick one as i covered my weekend + monday about Sats 'n Facts in the last one. Which leaves us with only a few days, some of which I had to give in and rest as I had been continuing to work with quite a bad cold for too long. The Facts must've been hitting too hard...

Reflecting on networks

A lot of my time this week was reflecting on the event and all the contacts I'd made there. There has been a surprising lot of enthusiasm of the community about Tollgate specifically. There's something that draws me to the project and i think it's not even the flashy-ness of routers paying routers, I'm starting to see the bigger possible implications of the sovereign networks that can grow from this. Not for the western world per se but for places that want to build out new infrastrucutre with their own communities. One of the worries from people to operate TollGates is if they'll get trouble with their ISP's. Which is a legitimate worry, but how long will that worry be relevant?

One thing I realize, as Nostr grows -and Blossom too- is that the data we pull in will be more localized. Imagine a city equipped with a Sovereign Tollgate network. If a few people in your city have watched a video, there will likely be a copy of that video inside the city-wide network. Then if the city get's cut off for any reason, that video will still be very much accessible and people might not even notice the 'internet is down'. I woke up in the middle of the night and had to draw out this visualization of the combination of Clearnet + Tor + TollGate networks and how they can interact with Epoxy proxies in between (visualized by the ♾️ symbol). Anyone that sees an opportunity to bridge the networks can jump in and be that link.

Even attacking (DDOS) services within other networks might become harder, because either: 1) you have to have your botnet reside inside the network of the victim. Which, if it's a small network won't comprise of a significant amount of nodes. 2) you have to have to route your attack through (Epoxy) bridges known to you, the attacker. Which likely have limited bandwidth.

Anyway, this is just my 3 AM brain-dump. I'll keep chewing on this...

Marketing TollGate

Like I mentioned earlier there was a lot of interest in Tollgate and to be honest it's been a bit overwhelming, there are so many opportunities like podcasts, meetups and articles opening up to share it and talk about it that I have to think about the form in which I want to relate myself to the project. In any case, these are Good problems to have...

In the meanwhile we've worked on getting a good website landingpage where we can point people to that are interested in the project, it should be up soon! - Consumers can download the Android (for now) app - Operators can download TollGateOS to put on their router - FAQ's

Also, i've been helping out to get some stuff automated. so we can build and push new versions quickly to start getting user feedback and enable iterating on a fast pace!

@ ccc8ee23:9f3d9783

Chef's notes

Salmon Mentai Rice. Create your own layers of fluffy, seasoned rice are topped with tender, pan-seared chicken or salmon and a creamy, spicy mentai sauce made with spicy Japanese mayo .

Torched to golden perfection, it’s finished with nori and tobiko for a burst of texture and flavor. A simple tasty Japanese fusion delight that’s perfect🤩

Subtitude of Tobiko, white sesame seeds as economical option will add a nutty flavor and subtle crunch to the dish for texture and visual appeal.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients

• Steamed Rice 400 grams
• Rice vinegar 1 tbsp
• Sugar 1 tsp
• chicken breast / thighs 250 grams
• soy sauce 1 tbsp
• oyster sauce 1 tbsp
• sesame oil 1 tsp
• garlic powder 1 tsp
• cooking oil 1 tbsp
• mayonnaise (e.g., Kewpie) 4 tbsp
• sriracha or any chili sauce 1 tbsp
• tobiko if any or white sesame as optional, for texture, 2 tsp only

Directions

1. Prepared the Rice: mixed in bowl 2 cups steam rice, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, 1 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp salt. Set a side.
2. Cook the Chicken: 1. Marinate the chicken pieces with 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp oyster sauce, 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp garlic powder for 15–20 minutes. 2. Heat cooking oil in a pan over medium heat and stir-fry the chicken until fully cooked and slightly caramelized. Remove from heat.
3. Make the Mentai Sauce 1. In a small bowl, combine 4 tbsp mayonnaise, 1 tbsp chili sauce, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Add tobiko if desired for texture. Mix well.
4. Assemble the Mentai Rice 1. In a heatproof bowl or tray, layer the seasoned rice as the base. 2. Add a layer of cooked chicken on top of the rice. 3. Spread the mentai sauce evenly over the chicken layer.
5. Grill or Broil: Use a kitchen torch or place the dish under a broiler for 2–3 minutes until the sauce is slightly charred and bubbly.
6. Garnish with white sesame or nori strips, or extra tobiko.

@ d360efec:14907b5f

ภาพรวม BTCUSDT (OKX):

Bitcoin (BTCUSDT) ยังคงแสดงความผันผวนและมีความไม่แน่นอนสูง แม้ว่าแนวโน้มระยะยาว (TF Day) จะยังคงเป็นขาขึ้น แต่ก็อ่อนแรงลงอย่างเห็นได้ชัด แนวโน้มระยะกลาง (TF 4H) กลายเป็นขาลงระยะสั้น และแนวโน้มระยะสั้น (TF 15m) ก็เป็นขาลงเช่นกัน สถานการณ์ตอนนี้บ่งบอกถึงแรงขายที่แข็งแกร่ง และมีความเสี่ยงสูงที่จะปรับฐานลงต่อ

วิเคราะห์ทีละ Timeframe:

(1) TF Day (รายวัน): [https://www.tradingview.com/x/wfDqxmvG/]

• แนวโน้ม: ขาขึ้น (Uptrend) อ่อนแรงลงอย่างมาก
• SMC:
  • Higher Highs (HH) และ Higher Lows (HL) เริ่มไม่ชัดเจน
  • Break of Structure (BOS) ด้านบน แต่มีการปรับฐานที่รุนแรง
  • Liquidity:
    • มี Sellside Liquidity (SSL) อยู่ใต้ Lows ก่อนหน้า (บริเวณ 85,000 - 90,000)
    • มี Buyside Liquidity (BSL) อยู่เหนือ High เดิม
• ICT:
  • Order Block: ราคาหลุด Order Block ขาขึ้น (บริเวณแท่งเทียนสีเขียวก่อนหน้านี้) สัญญาณลบ
• EMA:
  • ราคา หลุด EMA 50 (สีเหลือง) ลงมาแล้ว
  • EMA 200 (สีขาว) เป็นแนวรับถัดไป
• Money Flow (LuxAlgo):
  • สีแดงยาว แสดงถึงแรงขายที่แข็งแกร่ง
• Trend Strength (AlgoAlpha):
  • สีแดง แสดงถึงแนวโน้มขาลง
• Volume Profile: Volume ค่อนข้างเบาบาง
• แท่งเทียน: แท่งเทียนล่าสุดเป็นสีแดง แสดงถึงแรงขาย
• แนวรับ: EMA 200, บริเวณ 85,000 - 90,000 (SSL)
• แนวต้าน: EMA 50, High เดิม
• สรุป: แนวโน้มขาขึ้นอ่อนแรงลงอย่างมาก, ราคาหลุด EMA 50 และ Order Block, Money Flow และ Trend Strength เป็นลบ

(2) TF4H (4 ชั่วโมง): [https://www.tradingview.com/x/WCWYkleo/]

• แนวโน้ม: ขาลง (Downtrend)
• SMC:
  • Lower Highs (LH) และ Lower Lows (LL)
  • Break of Structure (BOS) ด้านล่าง
  • Liquidity:
    • มี SSL อยู่ใต้ Lows ก่อนหน้า
    • มี BSL อยู่เหนือ Highs ก่อนหน้า
• ICT:
  • Order Block: ราคาไม่สามารถผ่าน Order Block ขาลงได้
• EMA:
  • ราคาอยู่ใต้ EMA 50 และ EMA 200
• Money Flow (LuxAlgo):
  • สีแดง แสดงถึงแรงขาย
• Trend Strength (AlgoAlpha):
  • สีแดง แสดงถึงแนวโน้มขาลง
• Volume Profile: Volume ค่อนข้างนิ่ง
• แนวรับ: บริเวณ Low ล่าสุด
• แนวต้าน: EMA 50, EMA 200, บริเวณ Order Block
• สรุป: แนวโน้มขาลงชัดเจน, แรงขายมีอิทธิพล

(3) TF15 (15 นาที): [https://www.tradingview.com/x/HsgVKFW2/]

• แนวโน้ม: ขาลง (Downtrend)
• SMC:
  • Lower Highs (LH) และ Lower Lows (LL)
  • Break of Structure (BOS) ด้านล่าง
• ICT:
  • Order Block ราคาไม่สามารถผ่าน Order Block ได้
• EMA:
  • EMA 50 และ EMA 200 เป็นแนวต้าน
• Money Flow (LuxAlgo):
  • สีแดง แสดงถึงแรงขาย
• Trend Strength (AlgoAlpha):
  • สีแดง แสดงถึงแนวโน้มขาลง
• Volume Profile: Volume ค่อนข้างเบาบาง
• แนวรับ: บริเวณ Low ล่าสุด
• แนวต้าน: EMA 50, EMA 200, Order Block
• สรุป: แนวโน้มขาลง, แรงขายมีอิทธิพล

สรุปภาพรวมและกลยุทธ์ (BTCUSDT):

• แนวโน้มหลัก (Day): ขาขึ้น (อ่อนแรง), หลุด Order Block
• แนวโน้มรอง (4H): ขาลง
• แนวโน้มระยะสั้น (15m): ขาลง
• Liquidity: มี SSL ทั้งใน Day, 4H, และ 15m
• Money Flow: เป็นลบในทุก Timeframes
• Trend Strength: 4H, 15m เป็นขาลง
• กลยุทธ์:
  1. Wait & See (ดีที่สุด): รอความชัดเจน
  2. Short (เสี่ยง): ถ้าไม่สามารถ Breakout EMA/แนวต้านใน TF ใดๆ ได้
  3. ไม่แนะนำให้ Buy: จนกว่าจะมีสัญญาณกลับตัวที่ชัดเจน

คำแนะนำ:

• ความขัดแย้งของ Timeframes: Day ยังเป็นขาขึ้น (แต่สัญญาณอ่อน), 4H และ 15m เป็นขาลง
• Money Flow: เป็นลบในทุก Timeframes
• ระวัง SSL: Smart Money อาจจะลากราคาลงไปกิน Stop Loss
• ถ้าไม่แน่ใจ อย่าเพิ่งเข้าเทรด

Day Trade & การเทรดรายวัน:

• Day Trade (TF15):

  • Short Bias: หาจังหวะ Short เมื่อราคาเด้งขึ้นไปทดสอบแนวต้าน (EMA, Order Block)
  • Stop Loss: เหนือแนวต้านที่เข้า Short
  • Take Profit: แนวรับถัดไป (Low ล่าสุด)
  • ไม่แนะนำให้ Long จนกว่าจะมีสัญญาณกลับตัวที่ชัดเจน

• Swing Trade (TF4H):

  • Short Bias: รอจังหวะ Short เมื่อราคาไม่สามารถผ่านแนวต้าน EMA หรือ Order Block ได้
  • Stop Loss: เหนือแนวต้านที่เข้า Short
  • Take Profit: แนวรับถัดไป (EMA 200 ใน TF Day, SSL)
  • ไม่แนะนำให้ Long จนกว่าจะมีสัญญาณกลับตัวที่ชัดเจน

สิ่งที่ต้องระวัง:

• Sellside Liquidity (SSL): มีโอกาสสูงที่ราคาจะถูกลากลงไปแตะ SSL ก่อนที่จะมีการกลับตัว (ถ้ามี)
• False Breakouts: ระวังการ Breakout หลอกทั้งใน TF15 และ TF4H
• Volatility: ตลาดคริปโตฯ มีความผันผวนสูง เตรียมพร้อมรับมือกับการเปลี่ยนแปลงของราคาอย่างรวดเร็ว

Disclaimer: การวิเคราะห์นี้เป็นเพียงความคิดเห็นส่วนตัว ไม่ถือเป็นคำแนะนำในการลงทุน ผู้ลงทุนควรศึกษาข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมและตัดสินใจด้วยความรอบคอบ

@ e83b66a8:b0526c2b

I am seeing a groundswell of interest in adopting Bitcoin in small businesses replacing or augmenting existing merchant services.

This has many advantages for these businesses including:

Attracting Bitcoiners as customers over your competitors.

Allowing a self custody payment system which does not require purchasing equipment, monthly service fees and high transaction fees.

Self custody your money, removing banks and merchant service companies from taking a cut or interfering in the transaction process. i.e. Bitcoin behaves much more like cash in face to face transactions.

Building a Bitcoin Strategic Reserve allowing your profits to accumulate in value over time, just as Bitcoin increases in value due to scarceness and increased adoption.

If any or all of these are interesting to you, then here are a scale of merchant options available to you depending on your needs and interests.

SOLE TRADER

The easiest way for a sole trader to accept Bitcoin is to download the app “Wallet of Satoshi” https://www.walletofsatoshi.com/ or for regions this is not available, use a web equivalent called COINOS https://coinos.io/

This gives everything you’ll need, Bitcoin and Lightning receiving addresses, publishable as text or scannable as a QR code. The ability to generate a specific value invoice using Lightning which can be paid face to face or remotely over the Internet and a wallet to hold your Bitcoin balance.

This is a perfect start point, but moving forward it has some drawbacks. It is custodial, meaning that a company actually holds your Bitcoin. Unlike a bank, if that company fails, you loose your Bitcoin.

There is also no direct ability to move that Bitcoin to fiat currencies like USD or GBP, so if you need some of those earnings to pay suppliers in fiat currencies, you will struggle to convert.

If you are an online only retailer, then the industry standard is BTCPay https://btcpayserver.org/

which can be integrated into most e-commerce systems

TRADITIONAL MERCHANT SERVICES

So the next option is to use a Bitcoin merchant service company. They look very similar to traditional fiat merchant service companies, they can supply infrastructure like PoS terminals and also handle the payments for you, optionally settling balances to your bank in USD or GBP etc…

They charge for the physical devices and their services and they charge a fee on each transaction in the same way traditional merchant service companies do, but usually these fees are significantly smaller.

Companies like MUSQET can help setup your business in this way if you wish. https://musqet.tech/

CONSULTANCY

The third option is to use a consultancy service like Bridge2Bitcoin https://bridge2bitcoin.com/

this is a company that will come in, explain the concepts and options and build a service around your needs. The company will build the solution you are looking for and make their money by providing the equipment and optionally running the payment solution for you.

SELF BUILD

If you have experience with Bitcoin and have optionally run your own Lightning node for a while, the tools exist to be able to develop your own solution in-house. And just as Bitcoin allows you to be your own bank, so Lightning allows you to be your own merchant services company.

Solutions like Umbrel https://umbrel.com/

running Albyhub https://albyhub.com/

with their POS solution https://pos.albylabs.com/

are a low cost option you can build yourself. If you require devices like PoS terminals, these can be purchased from companies like

Swiss Bitcoin Pay: https://swiss-bitcoin-pay.ch/store#!/Bitcoin-Merchant-Kit/p/709060174

as a package or Bitcoinize directly or in volume: https://bitcoinize.com/

There is also the lower cost option of use software loaded onto your staffs iPhone or Android phone to use as a PoS terminal for your business: https://swiss-bitcoin-pay.ch/

Swiss Bitcoin Pay can also take the Bitcoin payment and settle a final amount daily or even convert to fiat and deposit in your bank the next day.

If you are comfortable building and running your own server, then software from a company like https://lnbits.com/

is a great option. They have built a core suite of tools, which others have built a huge ecosystem of extensions to handle everything from PoS to accounting to event ticketing and beyond.

LNbits is probably the most extensive ecosystem out there for anybody wishing to self build.

HYBRID

MUSQET also offer a PoS system for both Bitcoin and Fiat. They onboard merchants with traditional card services for Visa, Mastercard and Amex with Apple Pay and Google Pay all within the same device where they deploy Bitcoin Lightning as standard: https://musqet.tech/

@ dbe0605a:f8fd5b2c

\ I care deeply about bitcoin adoption and ability to use bitcoin with all features of money — saving, spending, earning. We're entering an age where more and more people realise "hodl never spend" meme is hindering bitcoin adoption. More and more of use want to use bitcoin in everyday life, because we're living on it and because it's superior in every aspect. It's also incredibly fun to use it for payments.

For money to thrive, it needs to circulate. Spending bitcoin orangepills merchants, their families and people around them — with each bitcoiner coming to a shop and paying with bitcoin, it's a point of contact that can trigger a train of though that later may fruit into action — "Why are they so interested in bitcoin, what's actually so special about it?" "Hmm, maybe this time I will not exchange it for fiat immediately?"

Global merchant adoption grows, every day new business around the world decide to start accepting bitcoin payments. Circular economies are blooming on all continents, where people live in a new, experimental, orange coin paradigm. Companies and projects like Blink, Bitcoin Jungle, Plan B, Orange Pill App do an amazing job in facilitating this — providing great wallets, tools & services for merchants, and finally onboarding merchants themself. They also often support circular economies financially or in other ways. This is very valuable and makes the road to hyperbitcoinization a tad shorter.

But there is one thing those companies are doing wrong — they're using their own, proprietary maps that display only merchants using their own wallets or POS software. I'd like to now list a few reasons why those great projects should migrate their maps into an open source, bitcoin map that is BTC Map.

Open source, stupid

BTCmap is open source, built on OpenStreetMaps, open to both developers contributions but also for map taggers (called shadowy supertaggers). Anyone can contribute, even If you don't code. Anyone can verify merchants or add new merchants to the map. BTC Map team developed a neat system of verifications that just works better than anything before or any alternative maps today.

Many apps, one map

BTC Map is integrated inside a dozen of wallets and apps, to name a few: Wallet of Satoshi, Coinos, Bitlocal, Fedi or Aqua. It's a public good that any bitcoin product can use and grow it's network effect.

Uniting mappers' work

BTC Map does not discriminate bitcoin merchants, that means all the merchants from proprietary maps are being mapped by taggers to BTC Map. By mapping on a closed source, proprietary map, the same merchant is mapped two times, usually by two different people — it's duplicating the same work without any bringing any benefit to both projects. Using BTC Map also brings you way more people verifying If those merchants actually still accept bitcoin, making it easier to have an up-to-date database of actual adoption.

More bitcoin spent at your merchants

When you have a business focused on spending bitcoin and onboarding merchants, you want as much bitcoin spent there as possible. If a bitcoiner coming to the area does not use your own map but some other map, they can be completely unaware that they can let their sats flow to your merchants. If we all use one merchants database, this problem disappears and more sats will flow. Why wouldn't you want your merchants displayed in dozens of other apps, completely for free?

OpenStreetMap map is just better

\ Take a look at the image above: It's La Pirraya, a small sleepy island town in El Salvador with a circular economy being facilitated by Bitcoin Beach. Even though Blink has many more merchants compared to BTC Map, when I visited it a few months ago I could find them. Not because they do not exist, but because the map does not show any roads and it was very hard to locate them in a dense network of narrow streets of La Pirraya. BTC Map allows you to turn multiple versions of satellite maps views, making it way easier to find your point of interest. Pins also indicate what kind of business it is, where in Blink all the pins are the same and you need to click each to find out what it is. Even then not always it's clear, since Blink only displays names, while BTC Map tells you type of the merchant, and very often shows you working hours, phone numbers, website, social links, etc.

Excellent community tools

BTC Map is focusing providing tools for communities to maintain their merchants map. Each community has it's own page with own links to community website or socials, displays a list of all the merchants, shows community stats, displays merchants that were not verified for a long time, and more. It even allows to "boost" merchants to make them more visible on the map and on the list. It's perfect tooling both for communities and businesses onboarding merchants to their software.

Easy integration & configuration

Integrating BTC Map on your website or app is easy. It's just a few lines of code of iframe to embed the map, but you can also use BTC Map API for more custom integration. Do you to display, eg. you can display only merchants from your community? No problem, you can do that. Since it's all open source, you can configure it in many ways that will suit your needs.

Kudos

I'd like to thank projects that understood all above and integrated BTC Map already. Those are Coinos, Wallet of Satoshi, Pouch, Bolt Card, BitLocal, Fedi, Decouvre Bitcoin, Osmo, Bitcoin Rocks!, Lipa, Spirit of Satoshi, Blockstream, Satlantis, Aqua Wallet and Adopting Bitcoin.

Encouragement & an offer

I'll end that with encouragement to projects that use their own maps, but haven't embraced BTC Map yet. Those are Blink, Bitcoin Jungle, Plan B, Osmo, Athena, Orange Pill App, Inbitcoin (I probably missed some, tag them!). You are doing great work, but let's join forces and paint the world orange together!

From here I would like to offer help in tagging your merchants on BTC Map. Just reach me out, and me and other supertaggers will do the work.

Let the sats flow!

@ ccc8ee23:9f3d9783

Chef's notes

Dare to taste the bold? One bite of Jengkol Balado and you’ll be hooked

Spicy Jengkol Balado - Betawi Style A traditional dish from Betawi (Jakarta), Jengkol Balado is nutty bold and aromatic delicacy made with jengkol beans. This version uses thinly sliced jengkol for a delightful texture.

Serve it with a plate of steamed fragrant white rice and a side of crunchy cucumber for a complete meal that satisfies on every level.

Details

• 🍳 Cook time: 40 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 2

Ingredients

• Jengkol 250 grams
• Chilli 100 grams
• Shallot 5 cloves
• Garlic 2 cloves
• Tomato 1 clove (small)
• Bay leaves 2
• Galangal 2cm. Bruished
• Veggie oil 20ml or 4 tsp
• Seasoning

Directions

1. Prepare the Jengkol Wash the jengkol thoroughly and slice it thinly. Boil the slices in water with the bay leaves for 10–15 minutes to soften and reduce their strong odour. Drain and set aside.
2. Make the Balado Paste. Blend chillies, shallots, garlic, candlenut and tomatoes into a slightly coarse paste using a blender
3. Heat oil in a pan and sauté the balado paste until fragrant and the oil starts to separate. Add the galangal, bay leaves, salt, sugar, and seasoning. Stir well
4. Add jengkol to the pan. Mix until jengkol are fully coated in the balado paste.
5. If the mixture seems too dry, add a splash of water and let it simmer on low heat to allow the flavours to infuse.
6. Taste the dish and adjust the seasoning with more salt or sugar if needed.
7. Remove from heat and serve hot with steamed rice.

@ c4b5369a:b812dbd6

As promised in my last article:

nostr:naddr1qvzqqqr4gupzp394x6dfmvn69cduj7e9l2jgvtvle7n5w5rtrunjlr6tx6up9k7kqq2k6ernff9hw3tyd3y453rdtph5uvm6942kzuw08y0

In this one we will dive into how exactly an unidirectional payments channel powered ecash mint system would be implemented, using the tech available today! So if you haven't read that article yet, give it a read!

I first intended to write a longwinded article, explaining each part of the system. But then I realized that I would need some visualization to get the message across in a more digestable way. This lead me to create a slide deck, and as I started to design the slides it became more and more clear that the information is easier shown with visualizations, than written down. I will try to give a summary as best as I can in this article, but I urge you, to please go visit the slide deck too, for the best experience:

---

TAKE ME TO THE SLIDE DECK!

---

Intro

In this article we will go over how we can build unidirectional payment channels on Bitcoin. Then we will take a look into how Cashu ecash mints work, and how we can use unidirectional payment channels to change the dynamics between ecash users and the mint.

Before we start, let me also give credits to nostr:npub1htnhsay5dmq3r72tukdw72pduzfdcja0yylcajuvnc2uklkhxp8qnz3qac for comming up with the idea, to nostr:npub148jz5r9xujcjpqygk69yl4jqwjqmzgrqly26plktfjy8g4t7xaysj9xhgp for providing an idea for non-expiring unidirectional channels, and nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx unconference for hosting an event where these ideas could be discussed and flourish.

Building unidirectional payment channels

If you've read the previous article, you already know what unidirectional payment channels are. There are actually a coupple different ways to implement them, but they all do have a few things in common:

1. The sender can only send
2. The Receiver can only receive
3. They are VERY simple

Way simpler than the duplex channels like we are using in the lightning network today, at least. Of course, duplex channels are being deployed on LN for a reason. They are very versatile and don't have these annoying limitations that the unidirectional payment channels have. They do however have a few drawbacks:

1. Peers have liveness requirements (or they might forfeit their funds)
2. Peers must backup their state after each transaction (if they don't they might forfeit their funds)
3. It is a pretty complex system

This article is not meant to discredit duplex channels. I think they are great. I just also think that in some use-cases, their requirements are too high and the system too complex.

But anyway, let's see what kind of channels we can build!

Spillman/CLTV-Channel

The Spillman channel idea has been around for a long time. It's even explained in Tadge Dryjas Presentation on Payment channels and the lightning network from back in the day. I compiled a list of some of the most important propperties of them in the slide below:

Great!

Now that we know their properties, let's take a look at how we can create such a channel (Slides):

We start out by the sender creating a funding TX. The sender doesn't broadcast the transaction though. If he does, he might get locked into a multisig with the receiver without an unilateral exit path.

Instead the sender also creates a refund TX spending the outputs of the yet unsigned funding TX. The refund TX is timelocked, and can only be broadcast after 1 month. Both sender and receiver can sign this refund TX without any risks. Once sender receives the signed refund TX, he can broadcast the funding TX and open the channel. The sender can now update the channel state, by pre-signing update transactions and sending them over to the receiver. Being a one-way channel, this can be done in a single message. It is very simple. There is no need for invalidating old states, since the sender does not hold any signed update TXs it is impossible for the sender to broadcast an old state. The receiver only cares about the latest state anyways, since that is the state where he gets the most money. He can basically delete any old states. The only thing the receiver needs to make sure of, is broadcasting the latest update TX before the refund TX's timelock expires. Otherwise, the sender might take the whole channel balance back to himself.

This seems to be already a pretty useful construct, due to its simplicity. But we can make it even more simple!

This setup works basically the same way as the previous one, but instead of having a refund transaction, we build the timelock spend path directly into the funding TX This allows the sender to have an unilateral exit right from the start, and he can broadcast the funding TX without communicating with the receiver. In the worst case, the receiver rejects the channel, and the sender can get his money back after the timelock on the output has expired. Everything else basically works in the same way as in the example above.

The beauty about this channel construct is in its simplicity. The drawbacks are obvious, but they do offer some nice properties that might be useful in certain cases.

One of the major drawbacks of the Spillman-style channels (apart from being unidirectional) is that they expire. This expiry comes with the neat property that neither of the party has to watch the chain for channel closures, and the sender can operate the channel with zero additional state, apart from his private keys. But they do expire. And this can make them quite inflexible. It might work in some contexts, but not so much in others, where time needs to be more flexible.

This is where Roose-Childs triggered channels come into play.

Roose-Childs triggered channel

(I gave it that name, named after nostr:npub148jz5r9xujcjpqygk69yl4jqwjqmzgrqly26plktfjy8g4t7xaysj9xhgp and nostr:npub1htnhsay5dmq3r72tukdw72pduzfdcja0yylcajuvnc2uklkhxp8qnz3qac . If someone knows if this idea has been around before under a different name, please let us know!)

Roose-Childs triggered channels were an idea developed by Steven and Luke at the nostr:npub1yrnuj56rnen08zp2h9h7p74ghgjx6ma39spmpj6w9hzxywutevsst7k5cx unconference. They essentially remove the channel expiry limitation in return for introducing the need for the sender to create a channel backup at the time of channel creation, and for the receiver the need to watch the chain for trigger transactions closing the channel.

They also allow for splicing funds, which can be important for a channel without expiry, allowing the sender to top-up liquidity once it runs out, or for the receiver taking out liquidity from the channel to deploy the funds elsewhere.

Now, let's see how we can build them!

The funding TX actually looks the same as in the first example, and similarly it gets created, but not signed by the sender. Then, sender and receiver both sign the trigger TX. The trigger TX is at the heart of this scheme. It allows both sender and receiver to unilaterally exit the channel by broadcasting it (more on that in a bit).

Once the trigger TX is signed and returned to the sender, the sender can confidently sign and boradcast the funding TX and open the channel. The trigger TX remains off-chain though. Now, to update the channel, the sender can pre-sign transactions in similar fashion to the examples above, but this time, spending the outputs of the unbroadcasted trigger TX. This way, both parties can exit the channel at any time. If the receiver wants to exit, he simply boradcasts the trigger TX and immediately spends its outputs using the latest update TX. If the sender wants to exit he will broadcast the trigger TX and basically force the receivers hand. Either, the receiver will broadcast the latest update TX, or the sender will be able to claim the entire channel balance after the timelock expired.

We can also simplify the receiver's exit path, by the sender pre-signing an additional transaction R exit TX for each update. this way, the receiver only needs to broadcast one transaction instead of two.

As we've mentioned before, there are some different trade-offs for Roose-Childs triggered channels. We introduce some minimal state and liveness requirements, but gain more flexibility.

Ecash to fill in the gaps

(I will assume that the reader knows how ecash mints work. If not, please go check the slides where I go through an explanation)

Essentially, we are trying to get a lightning like experience, without all the lightning complexities and requirements. One big issue with ecash, is that it is fully custodial. If we can offset that risk by holding most of the funds in a self custodial channel, we can have a reasonable trade-off between usability and self custody.

In a system like that, we would essentially turn the banking model onto its head. Where in a traditional bank, the majority of the funds are held in the banks custody, and the user only withdraws into his custody what he needs to transact, in our model the user would hold most funds in his own custody.

If you ask me, this approach makes way more sense. Instead of a custodian, we have turned the "bank" into a service provider.

Let's take a look at how it would work in a more practical sense:

The ecash user would open an unidirectional payment channel to the mint, using one of his on-chain UTXOs. This allows him then to commit incrementally funds into the mints custody, only the amounts for his transactional needs. The mint offers connectivity to the lightning network an handles state and liveness as a service provider.

The ecash user, can remain offline at all times, and his channel funds will always be safe. The mint can only ever claim the balance in the channel via the update TXs. The mint can of course still decide to no longer redeem any ecash, at which point they would have basically stolen the ecash user's transactional balance. At that point, it would probably be best for the ecash user to close his channel, and no longer interact or trust this mint.

Here are some of the most important points of this system summarized:

And that is basically it! I hope you enjoyed this breakdown of Unidirectional payment channel enabled Ecash mints!

If you did, consider leaving me a zap. Also do let me know if this type of breakdown helps you understand a new topic well. I am considering doing similar breakdowns on other systems, such as ARK, Lightning or Statechains, if there is a lot of interest, and it helps people, I'll do it!

Pleas also let me know what you think about the unidirectional channel - ecash mint idea in the comments. It's kind of a new idea, an it probably has flaws, or things that we haven't thought about yet. I'd love to discuss it with you!

I'll leave you with this final slide:

Cheers,

Gandlaf

@ ac8bb9b0:70278acc

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10
• 🍳 Cook time: 20
• 🍽️ Servings: 5

Ingredients

• 8 ounces uncooked linguine
• 1 pound chicken breast, cut into strips
• 1-2 tsp Cajun seasoning, or more to taste
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium red bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
• 8 oz fresh mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 red onion, sliced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tomatoes, diced
• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 tbsp flour
• 3 tbsp light cream cheese
• fresh cracked pepper
• 2 scallions, chopped
• kosher salt to taste
• avocado oil spray

Directions

1. Prep all your vegetables.
2. In a small blender make a slurry by combining milk, flour and cream cheese. Set aside.
3. Season chicken generously with Cajun seasoning, garlic powder and salt.
4. Prepare pasta in salted water according to package directions.
5. Heat a large heavy nonstick skillet over medium-high heat; spray with oil and add half of the chicken.
6. Sauté 5 to 6 minutes or until done, set aside on a plate and repeat with the remaining chicken. Set aside.
7. Add olive oil to the skillet and reduce to medium; add bell peppers, onions, and garlic to skillet, sauté 3-4 minutes.
8. Add mushrooms and tomatoes and sauté 3-4 more minutes or until vegetables are tender.
9. Season with 1/4 tsp salt, garlic powder and fresh cracked pepper to taste.
10. Reduce heat to medium-low; add chicken broth and pour in slurry stirring about 2 minutes.
11. Return chicken to skillet; adjust salt and Cajun seasoning to taste, cook another minute or two until hot, then add linguine; toss well to coat.
12. Top with chopped scallions and enjoy!

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Falls du beim Lesen des Titels dieses Newsletters unwillkürlich an positive Neuigkeiten aus dem globalen polit-medialen Irrenhaus oder gar aus dem wirtschaftlichen Umfeld gedacht hast, darf ich dich beglückwünschen. Diese Assoziation ist sehr löblich, denn sie weist dich als unverbesserlichen Optimisten aus. Leider muss ich dich diesbezüglich aber enttäuschen. Es geht hier um ein anderes Thema, allerdings sehr wohl ein positives, wie ich finde.

Heute ist ein ganz besonderer Tag: die Wintersonnenwende. Genau gesagt hat heute morgen um 10:20 Uhr Mitteleuropäischer Zeit (MEZ) auf der Nordhalbkugel unseres Planeten der astronomische Winter begonnen. Was daran so außergewöhnlich ist? Der kürzeste Tag des Jahres war gestern, seit heute werden die Tage bereits wieder länger! Wir werden also jetzt jeden Tag ein wenig mehr Licht haben.

Für mich ist dieses Ereignis immer wieder etwas kurios: Es beginnt der Winter, aber die Tage werden länger. Das erscheint mir zunächst wie ein Widerspruch, denn meine spontanen Assoziationen zum Winter sind doch eher Kälte und Dunkelheit, relativ zumindest. Umso erfreulicher ist der emotionale Effekt, wenn dann langsam die Erkenntnis durchsickert: Ab jetzt wird es schon wieder heller!

Natürlich ist es kalt im Winter, mancherorts mehr als anderswo. Vielleicht jedoch nicht mehr lange, wenn man den Klimahysterikern glauben wollte. Mindestens letztes Jahr hat Väterchen Frost allerdings gleich zu Beginn seiner Saison – und passenderweise während des globalen Überhitzungsgipfels in Dubai – nochmal richtig mit der Faust auf den Tisch gehauen. Schnee- und Eischaos sind ja eigentlich in der Agenda bereits nicht mehr vorgesehen. Deswegen war man in Deutschland vermutlich in vorauseilendem Gehorsam schon nicht mehr darauf vorbereitet und wurde glatt lahmgelegt.

Aber ich schweife ab. Die Aussicht auf nach und nach mehr Licht und damit auch Wärme stimmt mich froh. Den Zusammenhang zwischen beidem merkt man in Andalusien sehr deutlich. Hier, wo die Häuser im Winter arg auskühlen, geht man zum Aufwärmen raus auf die Straße oder auf den Balkon. Die Sonne hat auch im Winter eine erfreuliche Kraft. Und da ist jede Minute Gold wert.

Außerdem ist mir vor Jahren so richtig klar geworden, warum mir das südliche Klima so sehr gefällt. Das liegt nämlich nicht nur an der Sonne als solcher, oder der Wärme – das liegt vor allem am Licht. Ohne Licht keine Farben, das ist der ebenso simple wie gewaltige Unterschied zwischen einem deprimierenden matschgraubraunen Winter und einem fröhlichen bunten. Ein großes Stück Lebensqualität.

Mir gefällt aber auch die Symbolik dieses Tages: Licht aus der Dunkelheit, ein Wendepunkt, ein Neuanfang, neue Möglichkeiten, Übergang zu neuer Aktivität. In der winterlichen Stille keimt bereits neue Lebendigkeit. Und zwar in einem Zyklus, das wird immer wieder so geschehen. Ich nehme das gern als ein Stück Motivation, es macht mir Hoffnung und gibt mir Energie.

Übrigens ist parallel am heutigen Tag auf der südlichen Halbkugel Sommeranfang. Genau im entgegengesetzten Rhythmus, sich ergänzend, wie Yin und Yang. Das alles liegt an der Schrägstellung der Erdachse, die ist nämlich um 23,4º zur Umlaufbahn um die Sonne geneigt. Wir erinnern uns, gell?

Insofern bleibt eindeutig festzuhalten, dass “schräg sein” ein willkommener, wichtiger und positiver Wert ist. Mit anderen Worten: auch ungewöhnlich, eigenartig, untypisch, wunderlich, kauzig, … ja sogar irre, spinnert oder gar “quer” ist in Ordnung. Das schließt das Denken mit ein.

In diesem Sinne wünsche ich euch allen urige Weihnachtstage!

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Dieser Beitrag ist letztes Jahr in meiner Denkbar erschienen.

@ 04ed2b8f:75be6756

Too many people look at greatness like it belongs to someone else. They see the champions, the innovators, the warriors of history and think, That’s beyond me. I could never do that. But why? Are they not made of flesh and blood like you? Do they not breathe the same air?

If another human being has done it, then it’s possible. And if it’s possible, then what’s stopping you from doing it too?

---

Excuses Are for the Weak

People love to convince themselves that others have something special—better genetics, more talent, better luck. They use that as an excuse to stay comfortable.

• “I could never be a top athlete, I wasn’t born for it.”
• “Starting a billion-dollar business? That’s for people who were born rich.”
• “Mastering a skill like coding, speaking multiple languages, or becoming a leader? I don’t have that kind of brain.”

Bullshit.

Every champion, every legend, every revolutionary started as an ordinary person—until they chose otherwise.

---

Examples of Those Who Refused to Accept Limits

🔥 David Goggins—Once an overweight exterminator. He decided he wanted to be a Navy SEAL. People told him it was impossible. He lost over 100 pounds in three months and endured three Hell Weeks. Now, he’s one of the toughest endurance athletes on the planet.

🔥 Arnold Schwarzenegger—Born in a small Austrian town. No connections, no wealth. He became a bodybuilding legend, a Hollywood superstar, and the Governor of California. He made it possible.

🔥 Oprah Winfrey—Born into poverty, abused as a child, told she wasn’t fit for television. Instead of accepting those limits, she broke them and became one of the most powerful women in media.

🔥 Elon Musk—Had no experience building rockets. Yet, when NASA and the world’s top engineers said private space travel was impossible, he ignored them. Now SpaceX is leading space exploration.

What do all these people have in common?

They refused to believe that greatness was only for others. They saw what was humanly possible and decided it was within their reach.

---

The Only Barrier Is You

It’s not your background.
It’s not your intelligence.
It’s not luck.

The only thing standing between you and what you want is the belief that you can’t do it.

🔥 People run ultra-marathons through the desert.
🔥 People lift cars off their trapped loved ones.
🔥 People break records, survive impossible odds, and push the limits of human ability every single day.

So what’s your excuse?

If it’s been done, it can be done again. If someone before you has mastered a skill, built an empire, overcome the odds—then so can you.

---

Now, the Choice Is Yours

You can stay in the comfort zone, making excuses while others claim the victories.
Or you can accept this truth: Anything humanly possible is within your reach.

The only question is—will you reach for it?

@ 78a31758:2e5c81d2

This long-form article should have an image of a cat shown somewhere with the title.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Das Betriebsklima ist das einzige Klima, \ das du selbst bestimmen kannst. \ Anonym

Eine Strategie zur Anpassung an den Klimawandel hat das deutsche Bundeskabinett diese Woche beschlossen. Da «Wetterextreme wie die immer häufiger auftretenden Hitzewellen und Starkregenereignisse» oft desaströse Auswirkungen auf Mensch und Umwelt hätten, werde eine Anpassung an die Folgen des Klimawandels immer wichtiger. «Klimaanpassungsstrategie» nennt die Regierung das.

Für die «Vorsorge vor Klimafolgen» habe man nun erstmals klare Ziele und messbare Kennzahlen festgelegt. So sei der Erfolg überprüfbar, und das solle zu einer schnelleren Bewältigung der Folgen führen. Dass sich hinter dem Begriff Klimafolgen nicht Folgen des Klimas, sondern wohl «Folgen der globalen Erwärmung» verbergen, erklärt den Interessierten die Wikipedia. Dabei ist das mit der Erwärmung ja bekanntermaßen so eine Sache.

Die Zunahme schwerer Unwetterereignisse habe gezeigt, so das Ministerium, wie wichtig eine frühzeitige und effektive Warnung der Bevölkerung sei. Daher solle es eine deutliche Anhebung der Nutzerzahlen der sogenannten Nina-Warn-App geben.

Die ARD spurt wie gewohnt und setzt die Botschaft zielsicher um. Der Artikel beginnt folgendermaßen:

«Die Flut im Ahrtal war ein Schock für das ganze Land. Um künftig besser gegen Extremwetter gewappnet zu sein, hat die Bundesregierung eine neue Strategie zur Klimaanpassung beschlossen. Die Warn-App Nina spielt eine zentrale Rolle. Der Bund will die Menschen in Deutschland besser vor Extremwetter-Ereignissen warnen und dafür die Reichweite der Warn-App Nina deutlich erhöhen.»

Die Kommunen würden bei ihren «Klimaanpassungsmaßnahmen» vom Zentrum KlimaAnpassung unterstützt, schreibt das Umweltministerium. Mit dessen Aufbau wurden das Deutsche Institut für Urbanistik gGmbH, welches sich stark für Smart City-Projekte engagiert, und die Adelphi Consult GmbH beauftragt.

Adelphi beschreibt sich selbst als «Europas führender Think-and-Do-Tank und eine unabhängige Beratung für Klima, Umwelt und Entwicklung». Sie seien «global vernetzte Strateg*innen und weltverbessernde Berater*innen» und als «Vorreiter der sozial-ökologischen Transformation» sei man mit dem Deutschen Nachhaltigkeitspreis ausgezeichnet worden, welcher sich an den Zielen der Agenda 2030 orientiere.

Über die Warn-App mit dem niedlichen Namen Nina, die möglichst jeder auf seinem Smartphone installieren soll, informiert das Bundesamt für Bevölkerungsschutz und Katastrophenhilfe (BBK). Gewarnt wird nicht nur vor Extrem-Wetterereignissen, sondern zum Beispiel auch vor Waffengewalt und Angriffen, Strom- und anderen Versorgungsausfällen oder Krankheitserregern. Wenn man die Kategorie Gefahreninformation wählt, erhält man eine Dosis von ungefähr zwei Benachrichtigungen pro Woche.

Beim BBK erfahren wir auch einiges über die empfohlenen Systemeinstellungen für Nina. Der Benutzer möge zum Beispiel den Zugriff auf die Standortdaten «immer zulassen», und zwar mit aktivierter Funktion «genauen Standort verwenden». Die Datennutzung solle unbeschränkt sein, auch im Hintergrund. Außerdem sei die uneingeschränkte Akkunutzung zu aktivieren, der Energiesparmodus auszuschalten und das Stoppen der App-Aktivität bei Nichtnutzung zu unterbinden.

Dass man so dramatische Ereignisse wie damals im Ahrtal auch anders bewerten kann als Regierungen und Systemmedien, hat meine Kollegin Wiltrud Schwetje anhand der Tragödie im spanischen Valencia gezeigt. Das Stichwort «Agenda 2030» taucht dabei in einem Kontext auf, der wenig mit Nachhaltigkeitspreisen zu tun hat.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ fa805c81:344bed3c

" เจอหมีให้แกล้งตาย แต่ถ้าเจอหมีบ่อย ๆ คงเป็นบ้าไปซะก่อน "

มีวันนึง ในยุคดึกดำบรรพ์ เด็กชายซาโตชิผู้รักการเดินป่าเป็นชีวิตจิตใจ แต่วันนี้ต่างออกไปเพราะเขาเห็น หมี ตัวใหญ่ ยืนจังก้าต่อหน้าเขา

" เวรกรรมแล้วไง " ไม่ใช่แค่ซาโตชิที่คิดแบบนี้ เป็นผม หรือคุณ ก็คิดแบบนี้กันหมดนั่นแหละ !!

ม่านตาเบิกโพลงขยาย ยับยั้งการหลั่งน้ำลาย หลอดลมขยายตัว หัวใจเต้นรัวสั่น กลั้นปัสสาวะ "ระบบซิมพาเทติก" ที่ซาโตชิต้องท่องจำในชั้นเรียน เมื่ออยู่ในสถานการ์ณจริงที่ต้อง " สู้หรือหนี " " เกี่ยวข้องกับความเป็นความตาย " ไม่มีความจำเป็นต้องท่องเลย รับรู้เองได้หมดในเวลานั้น

ทำยังไงดีนะ ซาโตชิ ......

ไม่ว่าซาโตชิจะทำอย่างไร ไม่ว่าซาโตชิจะทำตามตัวอย่างของระบบซิมพาเทติกที่บอกว่าคนสามารถยกตู้เย็นได้ทั้งที่ไม่เคยยกมาก่อน ถ้าซาโตชิเลือกที่จะ " สู้ " โดยการยกหมีโยนลงหน้าผา !! หรือซาโตชิเลือกที่จะ " หนี " โดยการสับตีนแตก !! ในการกระทำสองอย่างนี้ มีบางสิ่งที่เหมือนกัน

" เสียพลังงานอย่างมาก " นี่คือสิ่งที่เหมือนกัน

ระบบซิมพาเทติกคูลดาวน์... หยุดทำงาน ซาโตชิเดินป่าต่ออย่างสบายใจ หรืออาจจะกลับบ้าน ก็แล้วแต่ " อา..มันจบแล้วสินะ " ซาโตชิพูดขึ้น

จากยุคดึกดำบรรพ์ สู่ยุคปัจจุบัน เชื้อสายของซาโตชิ ไม่จำเป็นต้องเข้าป่าไปหาของป่า ไปตลาดนัดก็ได้ ตามกลไกตลาดเสรี

ไม่มีความจำเป็นที่ต้องลุ้นว่าจะเจอ หมี อีกต่อไปแล้ว

สโคปมาอีกนิดดีกว่าจริง ๆ แล้ว ไม่จำเป็นต้องเป็นหมี หรอกครับ อะไรที่ทำให้สมองเราสื่อว่า สิ่งนี้อันตราย ระบบซิมพาเทติกมันก็ทำงาน...

แล้วความอันตรายในยุคปัจจุบันคืออะไร ? หมีในยุคปัจจุบัน....กลายพันธ์เป็นอะไร ????

น่าอนิจจาครับ ที่ Scenario นี้ ดวงมาตกที่เชื้อสายของซาโตชิ กลับกลายเป็นครอบครัวมีปัญหาครับ ( อาจจะเพราะอะไรก็ได้ เอาว่าระบบเงินเฟียต เงินเฟ้อทำให้คนเป็นบ้าแล้วกัน ) เด็กคนนี้โตมาในสภาพที่พ่อแม่ไม่รัก พ่อแม่ทะเลาะกันทุกวัน พ่อกับแม่หย่ากัน พ่อติดเหล้า แม่หนีไปมีสามีใหม่ ทุกครั้งที่พ่อแม่ทะเลาะกัน ทุกครั้งที่พ่อติดเหล้าก็อาละวาด บางครั้งนั่งๆนอนๆทำการบ้านอยู่ดี ๆ พ่อก็เปิดประตูห้องมาในสภาพเมาๆ แล้วชวนทะเลาะ

วันที่สงบหายไปไหนนะ วันที่สงบ กลับถูกแทนที่ด้วยความเครียด

ความเครียด ที่กระตุ้นให้ซิมพาเทติกทำงาน...

พวกคุณเห็นความต่างอะไรมั้ยครับ ซาโตชิเจอหมี ซิมพาเทติกทำงาน สู้หรือหนีหมี แล้วจบ แต่กับเด็กคนนี้ ในสภาพครอบครัวที่เลวร้าย ซิมพาเทติกก็ทำงาน

แต่เขาหนีก็ไม่ได้ สู้ก็ไม่ได้นะครับ...

เออเอาละซิ ทำยังไงดีล่ะ ความเครียดเข้ามาทุกวันอย่างคาดเดาไม่ได้ ระบบซิมพาเทติกก็ทำงานแทบทุกวัน

1 ในอวัยวะที่ต้องจัดการกับความเครียดและซิมพาเทติก คือต่อมหมวกไตครับ ต่อมหมวกไตชั้นนอก มีหลายฟังชั่น.. 1 ในนั้นคือการสร้าง Cortisol มาสู้กับความเครียด ต่อมหมวกไตชั้นใน มีหน้าที่คือการสร้างอดรีนาลีน มาเพื่อใช้กับระบบซิมพาเทติก

" โอ้ย เมื่อยโว้ยยยยยยย " อันนี่ไม่ใช่คำที่เด็กคนนี้พูดอยู่คนเดียวนะครับ ต่อมหมวกไตก็พูด....

ในเมื่ออวัยวะที่ทำให้เรา Handle กับ Stress ได้ มันเมื่อยแล้ว.. เกิดสิ่งที่เรียกว่า " ต่อมหมวกไตล้า "

Stress ที่ไม่สามารถคุมได้ เมื่อนั้นเอง ก็จะเกิดโรคหลายอย่าง 1 ในนั้นคือโรคที่เด็กโตมาในครอบครัวมีปัญหามักจะเป็นกัน " โรคซึมเศร้า "

คงไม่ต้องพูดว่าโรคนี้แย่ยังไง คนทุกคนน่าจะเข้าใจดี เพราะงั้นใจความสำคัญที่ผมต้องการบอกคือ หมีไม่จำเป็นต้องเกิดจากครอบครัวก็ได้ครับ แต่หมีคือสภาพแวดล้อมที่เราต้องเจอมันทุกวันอย่างเลี่ยงไม่ได้ เป็นหมีที่เลวร้าย หมีที่สู้ก็ไม่ได้ หนีก็ไม่ได้อีก ได้แต่รอระเบิดเวลาว่าต่อมหมวกไตจะล้าตอนไหน

หมีอาจมาในรูปแบบ เจ้านายที่ทำงานขี้วีน เพื่อนสนิทที่ท็อคซิค สามีภรรยาที่คอยพ่นพลังงานลบมาเรื่อย ๆ คุณอาจจะคิดว่า เอ้อ ก็ทนได้แหละ นิดๆหน่อยๆ การขัดแย้งมันไม่ดี เกรงใจเขา ไม่หรอกครับ คุณไม่จำเป็นต้องเอาตัวเองไปอยู่กับพลังงานลบแบบนั้น สงสารต่อมหมวกไตตัวเองบ้าง ถ้ามันจะขัดแย้ง ก็ขัดแย้งให้มันจบไปเลย การหาทางออก หาทางแก้ไขในคสพ. เหมือนซาโตชิที่เลือกจะสู้หรือหนีหมีตั้งแต่ตอนนั้น ความเรื้อรังไม่ใช่ทางออกแน่นอน

อย่าเป็นหมีในความสัมพันธ์ของใคร

@ ac8bb9b0:70278acc

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10
• 🍳 Cook time: 20
• 🍽️ Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 tablespoons taco seasoning
• salt and black pepper
• 2 1/2 cups salsa or enchilada sauce
• 1 chipotle chili in adobo, chopped
• 2 cups fresh corn
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend
• 2 cups tortilla chips
• avocado, cilantro, and green onions, for serving

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F.
2. In a large oven-safe skillet, combine the olive oil, chicken, onion, salt, and pepper. Set the skillet over high heat. Cook, breaking up the meat as it cooks, until browned all over, 5 minutes. Add the taco seasoning, cook another 2 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup water. Stir in the salsa/enchilada sauce and chipotle. Simmer 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add in the cilantro.
3. In a bowl, combine the corn, cream cheese, yogurt, chili powder, and salt. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.
4. Dollop 1/3 of the corn mix over the skillet. Add the tortilla chips on top, pressing them gently into the skillet. Add the remaining corn mix by spoonfuls on top of the chips (like nachos). Top with the remaining cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.
5. Serve topped as desired with avocado, cilantro, green onion, and cotija/feta cheese.

@ 07804b78:c375c543

Japanese follows. 日本語はあとで。

This article is for the 14th day of Nostr Advent Calendar 2024 (relay blogging). The article for the 13th day was "Open Sats 申請編" (Applying for Open Sats) by mono-san. The article for the 14th day will be "Nostrはじめました。" (I started Nostr) by bro-san.

Thinking of Thingstr

I've come up with an idea for Other Staff that I think is interesting (at least, for me), so I'm going to write about it. I actually wanted to show you the implementation and brag about it, but it's not solid enough to be implemented yet.

The key idea is just “add a reaction to the WikiData ID”.

WikiData

There is a service called WikiData. It is a knowledge base that provides structured data. You may be wondering what it is, but the important thing to understand here is that WikiData assigns identifiers to a fairly wide range of “objects” and “things”.

So, if you can react to this, you can think of various applications just by thinking of it for a moment, right?

For example, the anime series “There are too many losing heroines!” is assigned the ID Q123819103. The corresponding page is https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123819103 .

(NOTE: The canonical URI for entities on Wikidata is http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1142841. This is in accordance with Semantic Web conventions, and is not https, but http. Also, this URI does not necessarily match the actual address of the correspnding web page. Just an identifier. In most cases, it will redirect).

What can wd do?

For example, what about a website that records your anime viewing history? You can record what you want to watch with 👀, what you've already watched with ✅, and your favorites with ☆. You can also express your “likes” for production companies, staff, voice actors, etc. In this way, you can see what a particular user likes.

This could be a movie, a book, a comic, an author, music, an idol group, a place, or food (Someone likes pork cutlet Q1142841). The fact that you can record everything in the same framework is what makes it interesting.

What form of event should it be recorded as?

There is probably room for discussion about how to record this information in a concrete way. The simplest way would be to use NIP-25's "Reactions to a website" kind:17 (a.k.a. Makibishi). How about something like this?

json [ ["i", "wd:Q123819103", "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q123819103"], ]

Since NIP-73 has External Content IDs, it would be good if we could include WikiData here so that we could write wd:Q123819103. Actually, isbn: and other identifiers have already been defined, so it is possible to use the current NIP range to describe books (however, the authors do not have IDs. If we use WikiData as an ID, we can also describe reactions related to the author). Of course, it is not a matter of choosing one or the other, and it is also fine to add the ISBN tag at the same time as the WikiData tag for books.

Search for recorded reactions

So far, this is all very simple, but it would be inconvenient if we didn't include tags to mark subsets of reactions (for example, only those related to anime) so that we can query them together. When we try to create a site that is specialized for a certain purpose, we need to be able to extract the reactions that are necessary.

On Wikidata, the predicate wdt:P31 (instance of) is used to group together concepts that represent the same thing. For example, how about including this in the l tag? "There are too many losing heroines!" is a "Japanese television anime series (Q63952888)", so:

json [ ["i", "wd:Q1142841", "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1142841"], ["l", "wdt:P31 wd:Q63952888"] ]

UPDATE(2024-12-15): rnurachue-san suggested that #l or #L might be better for labeling (the first version used #a). I think that's a good idea, so I've updated the article. nostr:nevent1qgswamu0rsela0kwhj87p24ueapxdp04vzz7ar0pp6lfyq923t3l02cqyr9786635s60ra0f973nwv2sln2l74lqx4twdlgxfz2jgevpvsgtc9zwn6d

However, when you think about creating an anime website, you may want to query both TV anime and anime films. This makes things more complicated. "Japanese TV anime series (Q63952888)" is a subclass (subclass of; wdt:P279) of "Anime series (Q117467261)", which is in turn a subclass of "Anime (Q1107)". However, if you were to embed this hierarchy in each reaction, it would waste a lot of space. The following query will get all the superclasses of "Japanese TV anime series (Q63952888)", but there are 54 of them.

https://query.wikidata.org/#%23%20Subclass%20hierarchy%20traversal%20for%20Q63952888%0ASELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20%3Fsuperclass%20%3FsuperclassLabel%0AWHERE%20%7B%0A%20%20%23%20Starting%20class%0A%20%20wd%3AQ63952888%20wdt%3AP279%2a%20%3Fsuperclass%20.%0A%20%20BIND%28wd%3AQ63952888%20AS%20%3Fitem%29%0A%20%20SERVICE%20wikibase%3Alabel%20%7B%20bd%3AserviceParam%20wikibase%3Alanguage%20%22%5BAUTO_LANGUAGE%5D%2Cen%22.%20%7D%0A%7D%0AORDER%20BY%20%3Fsuperclass%0A

So, I think it should be okay for practical purposes to embed P31s of the reaction target. In other words, if you search for "anime series Q63952888" and "anime movie Q20650540", that should be enough. Fortunately, the conditions for single-character tags work with OR, so you can query multiple tags at once. we'll have to try it to see how well it works in practice, though.

Discussion: Which kind should I use?

So far we have considered using kind:17, but we have not yet decided whether it is a good idea to mix Thingstr events with reactions to web pages.

Also, there may be a debate over whether to record regular events or addressable events, depending on the purpose of use. For example, if you want to record the transition of viewing results and impressions on an anime viewing site, you should use regular events, and if you want to maintain the viewing status, you should use addressable events.

What do you think?

Other ideas

If we can react to Nodes on OpenStreetMap using the same framework, we might be able to create something like Swarm. Since the views you want to see will differ depending on the purpose, it would be good to create various sites while having a consistent way of recording. Wouldn't that be the most Nostr-like thing?

Summary

I discussed how to use WikiData and OpenStreetMap as an ID infrastructure and realize various check-in and review services with a unified data model by using them on Nostr. Please let us know if you have any feedback. Or why not try implementing it?

---

この記事は Nostr Advent Calendar 2024 の14日目の記事です。13日目の記事はmonoさんによる「Open Sats 申請編」でした。15日目の記事はbroさんによる「Nostrはじめました。」です。

Thingstrについて考えた

面白そうな（と勝手に思ってる） Other Staff のアイディアを思いついたので、書いてみます。 本当は実装を持ってきて自慢したかったのですが、まだふわっとしていて実装に落ちていません。

コアになるアイディアは「WikiData の ID に対して、Reactionをつける」これだけです。

WikiData

WikiData というサービスがあります。構造化データを提供する知識ベースです。 なにそれ？という感じですが、ここで大事なのはWikiDataはかなり広範な「もの」「こと」に識別子(Identifier)を付与している、ということです。

だから、これにリアクションできれば、ぱっと思いつくだけでもいろいろな応用ができそうじゃないですか。

例えば、アニメシリーズ「負けヒロインが多すぎる！」には Q123819103 というIDが振られています。これに対応するページとして https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q123819103 があります。

（ただし、WikiData のエンティティに対する canonical な URI は http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1142841 であることには注意が必要です。セマンティックウェブの作法で https ではなく http になっています。そして、このURIは必ずしもWebページのアドレス一致しません。大抵の場合はリダイレクトされます）。

なにができるの

たとえば、アニメの視聴記録サイトはどうでしょう。👀は見たい作品、✅は視聴済み、☆はお気に入り、みたいに記録していく。制作会社、スタッフ、声優、...に対してLikeを表明したりできそうです。そうすると、あるユーザが何にLikeしているかわかります。

これが映画でもいいし、書籍、漫画、作家でもいいし、音楽でもいいし、アイドルグループでもいいし、場所でもいいし、食べ物でもいい（とんかつ Q1142841 が好き、とか）。全部同じ枠組みで記録できるのが面白そうなところです。

どういうNostrイベントで記録する？

具体的な記録の仕方には議論の余地があるでしょう。一番単純なのは、NIP-25の "Reactions to a website" kind:17 (Makibishi) を使う方法でしょうか。こんなのはどうでしょう。

json [ ["i", "wd:Q123819103", "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q123819103"], ]

NIP-73にExternal Content IDsがあるので、ここにWikiDataを入れられるようにして wd:Q123819103 と書けるとよさそうです。実は isbn: などはすでに定義されているので、書籍に関しては現行のNIPの範囲でもうまいことできます（ただ、著者にはIDが振られていません。WikiDataをIDに使うと著者に関するリアクションも記述できます）。もちろん、どちらか一方を選ぶというものでもなくて、書籍にはWikiDataのタグと当時にISBNのタグを付与しておいてもいいと思います。

記録されたリアクションを検索する

ここまではシンプルでよいのですが、リアクションの部分集合（たとえばアニメに関連するものだけ、とか）をまとめてクエリできるように、目印となるタグを入れておかないと不便です。ある目的に特化したサイトを作ろうとしたとき、必要になるリアクションが抽出できるようにしておかないといけません。

WikiData では wdt:P31 (instance of) という述語で、ある概念が何を表しているかをグルーピングしてくれています。例えばこれをlタグとかに含めておくのはどうでしょうか。

負けヒロインが多すぎる！は「日本のテレビアニメシリーズ(Q63952888)」なので、

json [ ["i", "wd:Q1142841", "http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1142841"], ["l", "wdt:P31 wd:Q63952888"] ]

みたいな感じで付与します。

UPDATE(2024-12-15): rnurachueさんからラベル付けには #l または #L のほうがよいかもという提案をいただきました。最初のバージョンでは #a を使用していました。そのとおりだと思ったので更新しました。 nostr:nevent1qgswamu0rsela0kwhj87p24ueapxdp04vzz7ar0pp6lfyq923t3l02cqyr9786635s60ra0f973nwv2sln2l74lqx4twdlgxfz2jgevpvsgtc9zwn6d

ただ、アニメサイトを作ることを考えると、テレビアニメも劇場版アニメも両方クエリしたいこともありそうですよね。そうなると話が複雑になってきます。

「日本のテレビアニメシリーズ(Q63952888)」は「アニメシリーズ(Q117467261)」のサブクラス(subclass of; wdt:P279)で、それがさらに「アニメ(Q1107)」 のサブクラスになっています。ただ、この階層をいちいちリアクションに埋め込むのと大変なことになります。以下のようなクエリで「日本のテレビアニメシリーズ(Q63952888)」のすべての上位クラスが取れるのですが、54件もあります。

https://query.wikidata.org/#%23%20Subclass%20hierarchy%20traversal%20for%20Q63952888%0ASELECT%20%3Fitem%20%3FitemLabel%20%3Fsuperclass%20%3FsuperclassLabel%0AWHERE%20%7B%0A%20%20%23%20Starting%20class%0A%20%20wd%3AQ63952888%20wdt%3AP279%2a%20%3Fsuperclass%20.%0A%20%20BIND%28wd%3AQ63952888%20AS%20%3Fitem%29%0A%20%20SERVICE%20wikibase%3Alabel%20%7B%20bd%3AserviceParam%20wikibase%3Alanguage%20%22%5BAUTO_LANGUAGE%5D%2Cen%22.%20%7D%0A%7D%0AORDER%20BY%20%3Fsuperclass%0A

なので、リアクション対象のP31を埋め込む、くらいで実用上は問題ないような気がします。つまり、検索するときに 「アニメシリーズ Q63952888」と「アニメ映画 Q20650540」を対象にすれば、十分では、ということです。幸い、一文字タグの条件はORで効くので、複数を並べて一度にクエリできます。実際にどのくらいうまく行くかはやってみないとわからないですが。

議論: どの kind を使うべきか？

一旦 kind 17 を使うことを考えてきましたが、Thingstr のイベントが Web ページに対するリアクションと混ざるのが良いことなのか、いまいち判断がついていません。

また、用途によって regular event で記録するべきか、それとも addressable event で記録すべきか、という議論もありそうです。 アニメ視聴サイトを例にあげるなら、視聴実績とか感想の変遷を記録したいならば regular event でしょうし、視聴の状態を保持したいならば addressable とするのがよさそうです。

どう思いますか？

他のアイディア

これと同じ枠組みで OpenStreetMap の Node に対してリアクションできるようにすれば Swarm のようなものも実現できるかもしれません。

用途ごとに見たいビューは違うだろうから、一貫した記録の仕方を持ちつつ、色々なサイトを作ったらいいんじゃないでしょうか。それって最高にNostrっぽくないですか？

まとめ

WikiDataやOpenStreetMapをID基盤として活用し、Nostr上でreactすることで、様々なチェックインサービス、レビューサービスを統一的なデータモデルで実現する方法について議論しました。フィードバックがあったら教えてください。むしろ実装してみてください。

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Die Ungerechtigkeit ist uns nur in dem Falle angenehm,\ dass wir Vorteile aus ihr ziehen;\ in jedem andern hegt man den Wunsch,\ dass der Unschuldige in Schutz genommen werde.\ Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Politiker beteuern jederzeit, nur das Beste für die Bevölkerung zu wollen – nicht von ihr. Auch die zahlreichen unsäglichen «Corona-Maßnahmen» waren angeblich zu unserem Schutz notwendig, vor allem wegen der «besonders vulnerablen Personen». Daher mussten alle möglichen Restriktionen zwangsweise und unter Umgehung der Parlamente verordnet werden.

Inzwischen hat sich immer deutlicher herausgestellt, dass viele jener «Schutzmaßnahmen» den gegenteiligen Effekt hatten, sie haben den Menschen und den Gesellschaften enorm geschadet. Nicht nur haben die experimentellen Geninjektionen – wie erwartet – massive Nebenwirkungen, sondern Maskentragen schadet der Psyche und der Entwicklung (nicht nur unserer Kinder) und «Lockdowns und Zensur haben Menschen getötet».

Eine der wichtigsten Waffen unserer «Beschützer» ist die Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Die tiefen Gräben, die Politiker, Lobbyisten und Leitmedien praktisch weltweit ausgehoben haben, funktionieren leider nahezu in Perfektion. Von ihren persönlichen Erfahrungen als Kritikerin der Maßnahmen berichtete kürzlich eine Schweizerin im Interview mit Transition News. Sie sei schwer enttäuscht und verspüre bis heute eine Hemmschwelle und ein seltsames Unwohlsein im Umgang mit «Geimpften».

Menschen, die aufrichtig andere schützen wollten, werden von einer eindeutig politischen Justiz verfolgt, verhaftet und angeklagt. Dazu zählen viele Ärzte, darunter Heinrich Habig, Bianca Witzschel und Walter Weber. Über den aktuell laufenden Prozess gegen Dr. Weber hat Transition News mehrfach berichtet (z.B. hier und hier). Auch der Selbstschutz durch Verweigerung der Zwangs-Covid-«Impfung» bewahrt nicht vor dem Knast, wie Bundeswehrsoldaten wie Alexander Bittner erfahren mussten.

Die eigentlich Kriminellen schützen sich derweil erfolgreich selber, nämlich vor der Verantwortung. Die «Impf»-Kampagne war «das größte Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit». Trotzdem stellt man sich in den USA gerade die Frage, ob der scheidende Präsident Joe Biden nach seinem Sohn Hunter möglicherweise auch Anthony Fauci begnadigen wird – in diesem Fall sogar präventiv. Gibt es überhaupt noch einen Rest Glaubwürdigkeit, den Biden verspielen könnte?

Der Gedanke, den ehemaligen wissenschaftlichen Chefberater des US-Präsidenten und Direktor des National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) vorsorglich mit einem Schutzschild zu versehen, dürfte mit der vergangenen Präsidentschaftswahl zu tun haben. Gleich mehrere Personalentscheidungen des designierten Präsidenten Donald Trump lassen Leute wie Fauci erneut in den Fokus rücken.

Das Buch «The Real Anthony Fauci» des nominierten US-Gesundheitsministers Robert F. Kennedy Jr. erschien 2021 und dreht sich um die Machenschaften der Pharma-Lobby in der öffentlichen Gesundheit. Das Vorwort zur rumänischen Ausgabe des Buches schrieb übrigens Călin Georgescu, der Überraschungssieger der ersten Wahlrunde der aktuellen Präsidentschaftswahlen in Rumänien. Vielleicht erklärt diese Verbindung einen Teil der Panik im Wertewesten.

In Rumänien selber gab es gerade einen Paukenschlag: Das bisherige Ergebnis wurde heute durch das Verfassungsgericht annuliert und die für Sonntag angesetzte Stichwahl kurzfristig abgesagt – wegen angeblicher «aggressiver russischer Einmischung». Thomas Oysmüller merkt dazu an, damit sei jetzt in der EU das Tabu gebrochen, Wahlen zu verbieten, bevor sie etwas ändern können.

Unsere Empörung angesichts der Historie von Maßnahmen, die die Falschen beschützen und für die meisten von Nachteil sind, müsste enorm sein. Die Frage ist, was wir damit machen. Wir sollten nach vorne schauen und unsere Energie clever einsetzen. Abgesehen von der Umgehung von jeglichem «Schutz vor Desinformation und Hassrede» (sprich: Zensur) wird es unsere wichtigste Aufgabe sein, Gräben zu überwinden.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ ac8bb9b0:70278acc

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15
• 🍳 Cook time: 1 hour 30 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 cup celery diced
• 1 cup carrots diced
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 medium potatoes diced
• 5 cups beef broth
• 1 15 oz. can corn, drained
• 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce
• 1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

1. In a large dutch oven (I used a 6-quart), over medium heat brown the ground beef until done. Spoon off the excess fat.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Allow to simmer for 1 to 1 ½ hours (with the lid on, but tilted so steam can release) or until the vegetables are tender.
3. Remove the bay leaf and serve.

@ c0a57a12:8b230f7a

Ever notice how we’ve all turned into a bunch of regulation junkies? Not just the kids—us, too. The parents. The supposed adults in the room. We sit around shaking our heads at this new generation, wondering why they can’t make a move without a permission slip, but let’s be honest: we made them that way. We were trained for it. We just passed the neurosis down like a bad heirloom.

Used to be, kids ran wild, made their own fun, learned how things worked by getting their hands dirty and screwing up a few times. You fell out of a tree? Tough. That’s how you figured out gravity was real. Now, a kid gets a splinter and half the neighborhood has to be briefed. But let’s not act like it started with them. We didn’t grow up in the Wild West. Our parents—the ones who were handed a country built by men who cleared forests and carved railroads and settled frontiers—they took one look at all that, clutched their pearls, and decided the real enemy was risk. They started slapping safety labels on everything, turned common sense into a government-subsidized industry, and set about making sure we never had to experience a single moment of danger, discomfort, or—God help us—independence.

And we ate it up. Grew up afraid of the sun, the air, the drinking water. If you touched a stranger, you’d get kidnapped. If you ate the wrong snack, you’d drop dead from an allergy you didn’t even have. If you rode a bike without strapping on enough gear to survive re-entry from orbit, you might as well be suicidal. Then, just to really hammer it in, we were given rules for everything. How to sit, how to talk, how to play, how to think. And because we’d been softened up, we listened. We obeyed. We internalized the great lesson of modern civilization: only do what is approved.

And when it came time for us to raise kids? Oh, we ran with it. Helicopter parenting? That was us. Participation trophies? Us. Baby-proofing the entire godforsaken planet so that Junior never had to encounter anything sharper than a cotton ball? Us again. Every bit of micromanaged, soul-sucking, over-regulated nonsense we complain about today? We enforced it. So now we’ve got a generation that doesn’t know how to function without checking the rulebook first. They hesitate before every decision because we taught them hesitation. They sit around waiting for a green light because that’s all we ever told them to do.

And you know what? We’re no better. When’s the last time you did something without checking if it was "allowed"? When’s the last time you ignored a ridiculous rule instead of just sighing and complying? When’s the last time you acted like a free man instead of a well-behaved tax mule hoping the system doesn’t notice you?

We’ve swallowed a lie, and we keep regurgitating it—that compliance is morality, that following orders is a virtue, that a safe, predictable, well-regulated life is a good one. It’s not. It’s never been. You don’t get freedom by waiting for permission to use it. You don’t get courage by asking if it’s okay. You don’t build a worthwhile life by making sure you never color outside the lines.

And yet, here we are, acting surprised. Acting like we don’t know how we got here. Acting like we didn’t choose this. Like we didn’t let it happen.

So what now? We could stop. We could teach our kids to take risks, to get their hands dirty, to act instead of waiting for permission. We could start ignoring stupid rules, start trusting our own judgment, start living like we weren’t raised in a padded cell.

Or we could do nothing. Keep following orders. Keep playing it safe. Keep watching the world shrink into a flavorless, permission-based, committee-approved version of itself.

Your call. But either way, don’t pretend to be surprised.

@ f0c7506b:9ead75b8

Rainer Maria Rilke

Yalnızca güçlü olanların hakkıdır yaşamak.

Güçlü olan ileri gider ve saflar seyrekleşir. Ama üç beş büyük, güçlü ve tanrısal kişi güneşli ve aydınlık gözleriyle o yeni, o vaat edilmiş ülkeye ulaşacaktır. Belki binlerce yıl sonra ancak. Ve güçlü, adaleli, hükmetmek için yaratılmış elleriyle hastaların, zayıfların ve sakatların ölüleri üzerinde bir krallık kuracaklardır. Bir krallık!

Benim aradığım insanların kendileri değil, sesleridir.

Duyguları körelmiş, çeşitli düşüncelere saplanmış kalabalık hiçbir zaman ilerlemenin taşıyıcısı olamaz, kendi küçüklüğünün o küflü içgüdüsüyle kalabalığın kin ve nefretle baktığı bir kişi, bir büyük kişi, iradesinin gösterdiği yolda kimsenin gözünün yaşına bakmaksızın ilahi bir güç ve bir zafer gülümsemesiyle yürüyebilir ancak.

Bizim soyumuz da sonsuz oluşum piramidinin doruk noktasını oluşturmaktan uzaktır. Bizler de mükemmelliğe ulaşmış değiliz. Bizler de henüz olgunlaşmadık.

Şairler sevgiye övgüler döşenir; doğrusu sevginin güçlü bir şey olduğu kesin. Hüneşin bir ışınıdır sevgi, aydınlatıp nurlandırır insanı der bazıları; bazıları da insanı esrikliğe sürükleyen bir zehri kendisinde barındırdığını söyler. Gerçekten de yol açtığı sonuçlar, bir hekimin ağır bir ameliyattan önce korkudan titreyen hastaya teneffüs ettirdiği güldürücü gazınkine benzer, içinde tepinip duran acıyı unutturur hastaya.

Önemli olan, hayatta hiç değilse bir kez kutsal bir ilkbaharın yaşanmasıdır; öyle bir bahar ki, insanın gönlünü ilerideki bütün günleri altın yaldızla kaplamaya yetecek kadar ışık ve parıltıyla doldursun.

Şu hayat denen şey kötü bir işçiliğin ürünü, acemilere göre bir şey. Bu kepaze yaşam uğruna insan nelere katlanmıyor ki!

Kendisine sadakatten ayrılmadığı, yalnızca kendisinin olan bir tek bu var: Yalnızlığı.

Sahildeki üstü tenteli hasır koltuklar arkasındaki yüksek, sessiz kum tepeleri içinde yürürsen, tenteler altındaki insanları göremezsin; ama birinin bir diğerine seslendiğini, bir başkasının gevezelik ettiğini, bir ötekinin güldüğünü işitir ve anlarsın hemen: bu insan şöyle şöyle biridir diyebilirsin. Onun hayatı sevdiğini, bağrında büyük bir özlem ya da acı barındırdığını, bu acının da sesini ağlamaklı kıldığını her gülüşünde hissedersin.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Konsum ist Therapie.
Wolfgang Joop

Umweltbewusstes Verhalten und verantwortungsvoller Konsum zeugen durchaus von einer wünschenswerten Einstellung. Ob man deswegen allerdings einen grünen statt eines schwarzen Freitags braucht, darf getrost bezweifelt werden – zumal es sich um manipulatorische Konzepte handelt. Wie in der politischen Landschaft sind auch hier die Etiketten irgendwas zwischen nichtssagend und trügerisch.

Heute ist also wieder mal «Black Friday», falls Sie es noch nicht mitbekommen haben sollten. Eigentlich haben wir ja eher schon eine ganze «Black Week», der dann oft auch noch ein «Cyber Monday» folgt. Die Werbebranche wird nicht müde, immer neue Anlässe zu erfinden oder zu importieren, um uns zum Konsumieren zu bewegen. Und sie ist damit sehr erfolgreich.

Warum fallen wir auf derartige Werbetricks herein und kaufen im Zweifelsfall Dinge oder Mengen, die wir sicher nicht brauchen? Pure Psychologie, würde ich sagen. Rabattschilder triggern etwas in uns, was den Verstand in Stand-by versetzt. Zusätzlich beeinflussen uns alle möglichen emotionalen Reize und animieren uns zum Schnäppchenkauf.

Gedankenlosigkeit und Maßlosigkeit können besonders bei der Ernährung zu ernsten Problemen führen. Erst kürzlich hat mir ein Bekannter nach einer USA-Reise erzählt, dass es dort offenbar nicht unüblich ist, schon zum ausgiebigen Frühstück in einem Restaurant wenigstens einen Liter Cola zu trinken. Gerne auch mehr, um das Gratis-Nachfüllen des Bechers auszunutzen.

Kritik am schwarzen Freitag und dem unnötigen Konsum kommt oft von Umweltschützern. Neben Ressourcenverschwendung, hohem Energieverbrauch und wachsenden Müllbergen durch eine zunehmende Wegwerfmentalität kommt dabei in der Regel auch die «Klimakrise» auf den Tisch.

Die EU-Kommission lancierte 2015 den Begriff «Green Friday» im Kontext der überarbeiteten Rechtsvorschriften zur Kennzeichnung der Energieeffizienz von Elektrogeräten. Sie nutzte die Gelegenheit kurz vor dem damaligen schwarzen Freitag und vor der UN-Klimakonferenz COP21, bei der das Pariser Abkommen unterzeichnet werden sollte.

Heute wird ein grüner Freitag oft im Zusammenhang mit der Forderung nach «nachhaltigem Konsum» benutzt. Derweil ist die Europäische Union schon weit in ihr Geschäftsmodell des «Green New Deal» verstrickt. In ihrer Propaganda zum Klimawandel verspricht sie tatsächlich «Unterstützung der Menschen und Regionen, die von immer häufigeren Extremwetter-Ereignissen betroffen sind». Was wohl die Menschen in der Region um Valencia dazu sagen?

Ganz im Sinne des Great Reset propagierten die Vereinten Nationen seit Ende 2020 eine «grüne Erholung von Covid-19, um den Klimawandel zu verlangsamen». Der UN-Umweltbericht sah in dem Jahr einen Schwerpunkt auf dem Verbraucherverhalten. Änderungen des Konsumverhaltens des Einzelnen könnten dazu beitragen, den Klimaschutz zu stärken, hieß es dort.

Der Begriff «Schwarzer Freitag» wurde in den USA nicht erstmals für Einkäufe nach Thanksgiving verwendet – wie oft angenommen –, sondern für eine Finanzkrise. Jedoch nicht für den Börsencrash von 1929, sondern bereits für den Zusammenbruch des US-Goldmarktes im September 1869. Seitdem mussten die Menschen weltweit so einige schwarze Tage erleben.

Kürzlich sind die britischen Aufsichtsbehörden weiter von ihrer Zurückhaltung nach dem letzten großen Finanzcrash von 2008 abgerückt. Sie haben Regeln für den Bankensektor gelockert, womit sie «verantwortungsvolle Risikobereitschaft» unterstützen wollen. Man würde sicher zu schwarz sehen, wenn man hier ein grünes Wunder befürchten würde.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 65912a7a:5dc638bf

Chef's notes

This is my late partner's award winning Cajun rice & beans recipe. It's an updated take on the traditional Cajun comfort food.

Chef Darin was a classically trained chef who spent 30+ years in the kitchen perfecting his recipes, and delivering authentic Cajun and Creole food to his patrons. This is a 5-star dish that will earn the respect of the most discerning Cajun afficionado. You won't be disappointed.

I suggest making this recipe exactly as directed the first time, and then make whatever adjustments you want for future batches. Also, don't cheap out on the Andouille. No Johnsonville or Hillshire Farms. Chef Aidelle's is a good choice, as is Silva's from Whole Foods. They cost a few extra bucks, but it's absolutely worth it.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 3 hours
• 🍽️ Servings: 12

Ingredients

• 16oz small red beans, dry
• 2 cups long grain white rice
• 14-16oz andouille sausage, sliced
• 8oz ham, cubed
• 1 large yellow onion, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped
• 2-3 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 tbsp garlic (12 cloves), minced
• 7 cups water
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 2 large bay leaves
• 1 tbsp parsley, dried
• 1 tsp thyme, dried
• 1 tsp Cajun seasoning
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper, dried
• ¼ tsp sage, rubbed
• 1½ tsp salt (more or less to taste)

Directions

1. Soak beans in a large pot of water overnight.
2. Heat oil in a large stockpot over medium heat. Cook onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic in olive oil for 3 to 4 minutes (until onion is translucent).
3. Add beans, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, salt, MSG, Cajun seasoning, cayenne pepper, Sage, and water. Stir, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to medium-low (btwn 2-3). Cover and simmer for 2½ hours.
4. Remove bay leaves. Mash some of the beans. Stir Andouille and ham into beans, and simmer uncovered for an additional 30 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, prepare the rice. Bring water and rice to a boil in a saucepan. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.
6. Serve beans over steamed white rice.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Und plötzlich weißt du:
Es ist Zeit, etwas Neues zu beginnen
und dem Zauber des Anfangs zu vertrauen.
Meister Eckhart

Schwarz, rot, gold leuchtet es im Kopf des Newsletters der deutschen Bundesregierung, der mir freitags ins Postfach flattert. Rot, gelb und grün werden daneben sicher noch lange vielzitierte Farben sein, auch wenn diese nie geleuchtet haben. Die Ampel hat sich gerade selber den Stecker gezogen – und hinterlässt einen wirtschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Trümmerhaufen.

Mit einem bemerkenswerten Timing hat die deutsche Regierungskoalition am Tag des «Comebacks» von Donald Trump in den USA endlich ihr Scheitern besiegelt. Während der eine seinen Sieg bei den Präsidentschaftswahlen feierte, erwachten die anderen jäh aus ihrer Selbsthypnose rund um Harris-Hype und Trump-Panik – mit teils erschreckenden Auswüchsen. Seit Mittwoch werden die Geschicke Deutschlands nun von einer rot-grünen Minderheitsregierung «geleitet» und man steuert auf Neuwahlen zu.

Das Kindergarten-Gehabe um zwei konkurrierende Wirtschaftsgipfel letzte Woche war bereits bezeichnend. In einem Strategiepapier gestand Finanzminister Lindner außerdem den «Absturz Deutschlands» ein und offenbarte, dass die wirtschaftlichen Probleme teilweise von der Ampel-Politik «vorsätzlich herbeigeführt» worden seien.

Lindner und weitere FDP-Minister wurden also vom Bundeskanzler entlassen. Verkehrs- und Digitalminister Wissing trat flugs aus der FDP aus; deshalb darf er nicht nur im Amt bleiben, sondern hat zusätzlich noch das Justizministerium übernommen. Und mit Jörg Kukies habe Scholz «seinen Lieblingsbock zum Obergärtner», sprich: Finanzminister befördert, meint Norbert Häring.

Es gebe keine Vertrauensbasis für die weitere Zusammenarbeit mit der FDP, hatte der Kanzler erklärt, Lindner habe zu oft sein Vertrauen gebrochen. Am 15. Januar 2025 werde er daher im Bundestag die Vertrauensfrage stellen, was ggf. den Weg für vorgezogene Neuwahlen freimachen würde.

Apropos Vertrauen: Über die Hälfte der Bundesbürger glauben, dass sie ihre Meinung nicht frei sagen können. Das ging erst kürzlich aus dem diesjährigen «Freiheitsindex» hervor, einer Studie, die die Wechselwirkung zwischen Berichterstattung der Medien und subjektivem Freiheitsempfinden der Bürger misst. «Beim Vertrauen in Staat und Medien zerreißt es uns gerade», kommentierte dies der Leiter des Schweizer Unternehmens Media Tenor, das die Untersuchung zusammen mit dem Institut für Demoskopie Allensbach durchführt.

«Die absolute Mehrheit hat absolut die Nase voll», titelte die Bild angesichts des «Ampel-Showdowns». Die Mehrheit wolle Neuwahlen und die Grünen sollten zuerst gehen, lasen wir dort.

Dass «Insolvenzminister» Robert Habeck heute seine Kandidatur für das Kanzleramt verkündet hat, kann nur als Teil der politmedialen Realitätsverweigerung verstanden werden. Wer allerdings denke, schlimmer als in Zeiten der Ampel könne es nicht mehr werden, sei reichlich optimistisch, schrieb Uwe Froschauer bei Manova. Und er kenne Friedrich Merz schlecht, der sich schon jetzt rhetorisch auf seine Rolle als oberster Feldherr Deutschlands vorbereite.

Was also tun? Der Schweizer Verein «Losdemokratie» will eine Volksinitiative lancieren, um die Bestimmung von Parlamentsmitgliedern per Los einzuführen. Das Losverfahren sorge für mehr Demokratie, denn als Alternative zum Wahlverfahren garantiere es eine breitere Beteiligung und repräsentativere Parlamente. Ob das ein Weg ist, sei dahingestellt.

In jedem Fall wird es notwendig sein, unsere Bemühungen um Freiheit und Selbstbestimmung zu verstärken. Mehr Unabhängigkeit von staatlichen und zentralen Institutionen – also die Suche nach dezentralen Lösungsansätzen – gehört dabei sicher zu den Möglichkeiten. Das gilt sowohl für jede/n Einzelne/n als auch für Entitäten wie die alternativen Medien.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Es ist besser, ein Licht zu entzünden, als auf die Dunkelheit zu schimpfen. Konfuzius

Die Bemühungen um Aufarbeitung der sogenannten Corona-Pandemie, um Aufklärung der Hintergründe, Benennung von Verantwortlichkeiten und das Ziehen von Konsequenzen sind durchaus nicht eingeschlafen. Das Interesse daran ist unter den gegebenen Umständen vielleicht nicht sonderlich groß, aber es ist vorhanden.

Der sächsische Landtag hat gestern die Einsetzung eines Untersuchungsausschusses zur Corona-Politik beschlossen. In einer Sondersitzung erhielt ein entsprechender Antrag der AfD-Fraktion die ausreichende Zustimmung, auch von einigen Abgeordneten des BSW.

In den Niederlanden wird Bill Gates vor Gericht erscheinen müssen. Sieben durch die Covid-«Impfstoffe» geschädigte Personen hatten Klage eingereicht. Sie werfen unter anderem Gates, Pfizer-Chef Bourla und dem niederländischen Staat vor, sie hätten gewusst, dass diese Präparate weder sicher noch wirksam sind.

Mit den mRNA-«Impfstoffen» von Pfizer/BioNTech befasst sich auch ein neues Buch. Darin werden die Erkenntnisse von Ärzten und Wissenschaftlern aus der Analyse interner Dokumente über die klinischen Studien der Covid-Injektion präsentiert. Es handelt sich um jene in den USA freigeklagten Papiere, die die Arzneimittelbehörde (Food and Drug Administration, FDA) 75 Jahre unter Verschluss halten wollte.

Ebenfalls Wissenschaftler und Ärzte, aber auch andere Experten organisieren als Verbundnetzwerk Corona-Solution kostenfreie Online-Konferenzen. Ihr Ziel ist es, «wissenschaftlich, demokratisch und friedlich» über Impfstoffe und Behandlungsprotokolle gegen SARS-CoV-2 aufzuklären und die Diskriminierung von Ungeimpften zu stoppen. Gestern fand eine weitere Konferenz statt. Ihr Thema: «Corona und modRNA: Von Toten, Lebenden und Physik lernen».

Aufgrund des Digital Services Acts (DSA) der Europäischen Union sei das Risiko groß, dass ihre Arbeit als «Fake-News» bezeichnet würde, so das Netzwerk. Staatlich unerwünschte wissenschaftliche Aufklärung müsse sich passende Kanäle zur Veröffentlichung suchen. Ihre Live-Streams seien deshalb zum Beispiel nicht auf YouTube zu finden.

Der vielfältige Einsatz für Aufklärung und Aufarbeitung wird sich nicht stummschalten lassen. Nicht einmal der Zensurmeister der EU, Deutschland, wird so etwas erreichen. Die frisch aktivierten «Trusted Flagger» dürften allerdings künftige Siege beim «Denunzianten-Wettbewerb» im Kontext des DSA zusätzlich absichern.

Wo sind die Grenzen der Meinungsfreiheit? Sicher gibt es sie. Aber die ideologische Gleichstellung von illegalen mit unerwünschten Äußerungen verfolgt offensichtlich eher das Ziel, ein derart elementares demokratisches Grundrecht möglichst weitgehend auszuhebeln. Vorwürfe wie «Hassrede», «Delegitimierung des Staates» oder «Volksverhetzung» werden heute inflationär verwendet, um Systemkritik zu unterbinden. Gegen solche Bestrebungen gilt es, sich zu wehren.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ c631e267:c2b78d3e

Herzlichen Glückwunsch zum dritten Geburtstag, liebe Denk Bar! Wieso zum dritten? Das war doch 2022 und jetzt sind wir im Jahr 2024, oder? Ja, das ist schon richtig, aber bei Geburtstagen erinnere ich mich immer auch an meinen Vater, und der behauptete oft, der erste sei ja schließlich der Tag der Geburt selber und den müsse man natürlich mitzählen. Wo er recht hat, hat er nunmal recht. Konsequenterweise wird also heute dieser Blog an seinem dritten Geburtstag zwei Jahre alt.

Das ist ein Grund zum Feiern, wie ich finde. Einerseits ganz einfach, weil es dafür gar nicht genug Gründe geben kann. «Das Leben sind zwei Tage», lautet ein gängiger Ausdruck hier in Andalusien. In der Tat könnte es so sein, auch wenn wir uns im Alltag oft genug von der Routine vereinnahmen lassen.

Seit dem Start der Denk Bar vor zwei Jahren ist unglaublich viel passiert. Ebenso wie die zweieinhalb Jahre davor, und all jenes war letztlich auch der Auslöser dafür, dass ich begann, öffentlich zu schreiben. Damals notierte ich:

«Seit einigen Jahren erscheint unser öffentliches Umfeld immer fragwürdiger, widersprüchlicher und manchmal schier unglaublich - jede Menge Anlass für eigene Recherchen und Gedanken, ganz einfach mit einer Portion gesundem Menschenverstand.»

Wir erleben den sogenannten «großen Umbruch», einen globalen Coup, den skrupellose Egoisten clever eingefädelt haben und seit ein paar Jahren knallhart – aber nett verpackt – durchziehen, um buchstäblich alles nach ihrem Gusto umzukrempeln. Die Gelegenheit ist ja angeblich günstig und muss genutzt werden.

Nie hätte ich mir träumen lassen, dass ich so etwas jemals miterleben müsste. Die Bosheit, mit der ganz offensichtlich gegen die eigene Bevölkerung gearbeitet wird, war früher für mich unvorstellbar. Mein (Rest-) Vertrauen in alle möglichen Bereiche wie Politik, Wissenschaft, Justiz, Medien oder Kirche ist praktisch komplett zerstört. Einen «inneren Totalschaden» hatte ich mal für unsere Gesellschaften diagnostiziert.

Was mich vielleicht am meisten erschreckt, ist zum einen das Niveau der Gleichschaltung, das weltweit erreicht werden konnte, und zum anderen die praktisch totale Spaltung der Gesellschaft. Haben wir das tatsächlich mit uns machen lassen?? Unfassbar! Aber das Werkzeug «Angst» ist sehr mächtig und funktioniert bis heute.

Zum Glück passieren auch positive Dinge und neue Perspektiven öffnen sich. Für viele Menschen waren und sind die Entwicklungen der letzten Jahre ein Augenöffner. Sie sehen «Querdenken» als das, was es ist: eine Tugend.

Auch die immer ernsteren Zensurbemühungen sind letztlich nur ein Zeichen der Schwäche, wo Argumente fehlen. Sie werden nicht verhindern, dass wir unsere Meinung äußern, unbequeme Fragen stellen und dass die Wahrheit peu à peu ans Licht kommt. Es gibt immer Mittel und Wege, auch für uns.

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Danke, dass du diesen Weg mit mir weitergehst!

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

início

"Vocês vêem? Vêem a história? Vêem alguma coisa? Me parece que estou tentando lhes contar um sonho -- fazendo uma tentativa inútil, porque nenhum relato de sonho pode transmitir a sensação de sonho, aquela mistura de absurdo, surpresa e espanto numa excitação de revolta tentando se impôr, aquela noção de ser tomado pelo incompreensível que é da própria essência dos sonhos..."

Ele ficou em silêncio por alguns instantes.

"... Não, é impossível; é impossível transmitir a sensação viva de qualquer época determinada de nossa existência -- aquela que constitui a sua verdade, o seu significado, a sua essência sutil e contundente. É impossível. Vivemos, como sonhamos -- sozinhos..."

• Livros mencionados por Olavo de Carvalho
• Antiga homepage Olavo de Carvalho
• Bitcoin explicado de um jeito correto e inteligível
• Reclamações

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• Nostr
• Bitcoin
• How IPFS is broken
• Programming quibbles
• Economics
• Open-source software

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Nostr GitHub Telegram code

@ 148755e6:450c107f

突然荒野に行きたくなったので行ってきたエントリーです

まずは練習。高尾山へ

Nostrは古今東西ありとあらゆるオフ会が生えており、

まるで荒野に行きたいという私の意志を完全に汲み取ったかのように「紅葉を見にいこうようオフ」がそこに生えていたので参加した。（しおんさんご主催ありがとうございました） 前半1時間くらいの坂道がマジきつかったです。前半キツすぎて後半足痛かった。。 終始人がいっぱいいて渋谷かと思った。

確かに道がかなり整備されていて、逆にコンクリート故に足が疲れたのかもしれない。隣の人は途中の急な坂道で足を滑らせてて、横で転倒事故が起きるかと思いました。

山頂に行っても人がたくさんいて、迷子になりかけた。あそこはスクランブル交差点や。 そして山頂の先にあるもみじ台まで歩くと人がまばらで、まったりして蕎麦食べたりしながら休憩して下山。

登りは暑くて汗かきましたが、山頂でまったりしてると汗も引いてきて少し冷えました。

下山はスイスイ。16時近くで結構暗かったので、冬の間は早めの登頂・下山がおすすめですね。

登り2時間・下り1時間半で概ね見込み通りって感じでした。

高尾山は登ってると景色が変わります。ちょっと開けた場所に出て下の街が見えたり、草木があったり、階段があったり、参道があったり。。そういう意味では退屈しない2時間でした。

ビギナー山とはいえ、革靴やヒールのある靴で登ってる人がいてびっくり。ツルッと滑ることあると思いますので、スニーカーで登ることをお勧めします。

舐めプしてたとはいえめちゃくちゃキツかったおもひで。

更なる練習。小浅間山へ

さて私は荒野に行きたいワケなのですが、高尾山に荒野はありませんでした。更なる練習として小浅間山へ。

前日（か前々日）に雪が降ったようで、山に雪が残っておりました。

それでも都内の汚れてべちゃっとした感じの雪ではなく、粉砂糖がちょっと積もってるみたいな感じで綺麗だった。

登り前半の30分くらい、景色や道が変わらず、ずっと歩きっぱなしになってしまいました。時間みて休憩しながら行けばよかったなあ。

登るにつれて気温が下がっていくのか、積雪が厚くなっていく。

40分くらいは割と平坦な道が続きますが、突然山頂っぽいものが現れて、「これを登れっていうのかい...？」とビビるほどピーンと急な道が出てきました。(写真だと分かりづらいですね)

ただ、高尾山のコンクリート道に比べると足の疲れはそこまででした。雪道なので気をつけて歩くという意味では疲れましたが、春〜秋とかは快適に登れるんじゃないでしょうか。

山頂に到着するとドーンと浅間山が見えて圧巻。

風が強くて飛ばされる恐怖はありましたが、なんとか無事でいられました。あったかいお茶美味しかった〜。

なぜかギャルの看板があって、謎でした。写真はひとまずありません。

山頂が2箇所あって、それぞれで眺めを満喫していたら結構時間が経ってました。

小さい背丈くらいの木や足元にちょっとした植物があったり、自分的にはかなり理想の荒野に近かったです。（植物に対する解像度が低すぎる） 往復で2時間程度の山らしいんですが、なんやかんやと2時間半強くらいいた気がします。

荒野ビギナーは小浅間山に往け

というわけで、荒野に行きたい人はまずは小浅間山を登ると良いと思います。 また登りたい。

荒野部部長

一緒に高尾山・小浅間山に登ってくれた方、ありがとうございました！ 個人的には来年の春までに秩父多摩甲斐国立公園に行き、来年の秋までに大山隠岐国立公園に行くという目標を立ててるんですが、 少々時間が空くので次どこに行こうかしらと考えているところです。

ヒントとしては、火山で、あまり高低差のないところだとビギナーの私にちょうど良さそうです。

とある情報筋によると伊豆大島が良さそうなので、次の機会に行けたらと思っています。

みんなで荒野に行こう！

@ 42342239:1d80db24

Almost 150 years ago, the British newspaper editor William Thomas Stead wrote that "the editorial pen is a sceptre of power, compared with which the sceptre of many a monarch is but a gilded lath". He had begun to regard journalism as something more than just conveying information - the journalist or editor could become a ruler.

Times had certainly changed compared to a few hundred years earlier. Before Gutenberg's invention of the printing press, it was mainly the church that controlled the dissemination of information in Europe, but when Stead put pen to paper, this control had shifted to newspapers, schools, and universities. Eventually, technologies like radio and TV entered the scene, but the power dynamics remained asymmetrical - only a few could send information to the many.

However, with the emergence of the internet, and especially with the spread of social media, a significant change followed. Instead of only a few being able to send information to the many, many could send to many. Almost anyone could now create their own newspaper, radio, or TV channel. The power over information dissemination was decentralised.

Ten years ago, Roberta Alenius, who was then press secretary for Sweden's Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt of the Moderate Party, shared her experiences with Social Democratic and Moderate Party internet activists on social media. She reported that social media played a significant role in how news "comes out" and is shaped, and that journalism was now downstream of social media. Five years later, NATO's then-Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said that "NATO must be prepared for both conventional and hybrid threats: from tanks to tweets." This finally underscores the importance of social media.

Elon Musk, who took over X (formerly Twitter) in 2022, has claimed that "it's absolutely fundamental and transformative that the people actually get to decide the news and narrative and what's important," and that citizen journalism is the future.

While his platform allows most expressions - for better or worse - the reach of messages is instead limited ("freedom of speech does not mean freedom of reach "). X has also opened its recommendation algorithm to the outside world by making it open-source. Although this is a welcome step, the fact remains that it's impossible to know which code is actually used and what adjustments are made by humans or algorithms.

William Thomas Stead's "sceptre of power", which has wandered from the church to newspaper and TV editorial offices, and now to citizens according to Elon Musk, risks being transferred to algorithms' opaque methods?

Instead of talking about "toxic algorithms" and TikTok bans, like the so many do today, we should ask ourselves more fundamental questions. What happens when algorithms are no longer objective (how can they ever be?), but instead become tools for shaping our reality? Perhaps our greatest challenge today is not deciding who should govern the information landscape, but instead recognising that no one is up to the task - not even well-ventilated computers.

@ 97c70a44:ad98e322

Everyone knows that relays are central to how nostr works - they're even in the name: Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays. As time goes on though, there are three other letters which are becoming conspicuously absent from our beloved and ambiguously pronounceable acronym - "D", "V", and "M".

For the uninitiated, DVM stands for "data vending machines". They're actually sort of hard to describe — in technical terms they act more like clients, since they simply read events from and publish events to relays. In most cases though, these events are part of a request/response flow initiated by users elsewhere on the network. In practice, DVMs are bots, but there's also nothing to prevent the work they do from being powered by human interaction. They're an amazingly flexible tool for building anything from custom feeds, to transcription services, to chatbots, to protocol gateways.

The hype cycle for DVMs seems to have reached escape velocity in a way few other things have - zaps being the possible exception. But what exactly DVMs are remains something of a mystery to many nostr developers - and how to build one may as well be written on clay tablets.

This blog post is designed to address that - below is a soup to nuts (no nutzaps though) guide to building a DVM flow, both from the client and the server side.

Here's what we'll be covering:

• Discovering DVM metadata
• Basic request/response flow
• Implementing a minimal example

Let's get started!

DVM Metadata

First of all, it's helpful to know how DVMs are reified on the nostr network. While not strictly necessary, this can be useful for discovering DVMs and presenting them to users, and for targeting specific DVMs we want a response from.

NIP 89 goes into this in more detail, but the basic idea is that anyone can create a kind 31990 "application handler" event and publish it to the network with their own (or a dedicated) public key. This handler was originally intended to advertise clients, but has been re-purposed for DVM listings as well.

Here's what the "Fluffy Frens" handler looks like:

json { "content": "{\"name\": \"Fluffy Frens\", \"picture\": \"https://image.nostr.build/f609311532c470f663e129510a76c9a1912ae9bc4aaaf058e5ba21cfb512c88e.jpg\", \"about\": \"I show recent notes about animals\", \"lud16\": \"discovery_content_fluffy@nostrdvm.com\", \"supportsEncryption\": true, \"acceptsNutZaps\": false, \"personalized\": false, \"amount\": \"free\", \"nip90Params\": {\"max_results\": {\"required\": false, \"values\": [], \"description\": \"The number of maximum results to return (default currently 100)\"}}}", "created_at": 1738874694, "id": "0aa8d1f19cfe17e00ce55ca86fea487c83be39a1813601f56f869abdfa776b3c", "kind": 31990, "pubkey": "7b7373dd58554ff4c0d28b401b9eae114bd92e30d872ae843b9a217375d66f9d", "sig": "22403a7996147da607cf215994ab3b893176e5302a44a245e9c0d91214e4c56fae40d2239dce58ea724114591e8f95caed2ba1a231d09a6cd06c9f0980e1abd5", "tags": [ ["k", "5300"], ["d", "198650843898570c"] ] }

This event is rendered in various clients using the kind-0-style metadata contained in the content field, allowing users to browse DVMs and pick one for their use case. If a user likes using a particular DVM, they might publish a kind 31989 "application recommendation", which other users can use to find DVMs that are in use within their network.

Note the k tag in the handler event - this allows DVMs to advertise support only for specific job types. It's also important to note that even though the spec doesn't cover relay selection, most clients use the publisher's kind 10002 event to find out where the DVM listens for events.

If this looks messy to you, you're right. See this PR for a proposal to split DVMs out into their own handler kind, give them a dedicated pubkey along with dedicated metadata and relay selections, and clean up the data model a bit.

DVM Flow

Now that we know what a DVM looks like, we can start to address how they work. My explanation below will elide some of the detail involved in NIP 90 for simplicity, so I encourage you to read the complete spec.

The basic DVM flow can be a little (very) confusing to work with, because in essence it's a request/response paradigm, but it has some additional wrinkles.

First of all, the broker for the request isn't abstracted away as is usually the case with request/response flows. Regular HTTP requests involve all kinds of work in the background - from resolving domain names to traversing routers, VPNs, and ISP infrastructure. But developers don't generally have to care about all these intermediaries.

With DVMs, on the other hand, the essential complexity of relay selection can't simply be ignored. DVMs often advertise their own relay selections, which should be used rather than a hard-coded or randomly chosen relay to ensure messages are delivered. The benefit of this is that DVMs can avoid censorship, just as users can, by choosing relays that are willing to broker their activity. DVMs can even select multiple relays to broker requests, which means that clients might receive multiple copies of the same response.

Secondly, the DVM request/response model is far more fluid than is usually the case with request/response flows. There are a set of standard practices, but the flow is flexible enough to admit exceptions to these conventions for special use cases. Here are some examples:

• Normally, clients p-tag the DVM they wish to address. But if a client isn't picky about where a response comes from, they may choose to send an open request to the network and collect responses from multiple DVMs simultaneously.
• Normally, a client creates a request before collecting responses using a subscription with an e-tag filter matching the request event. But clients may choose to skip the request step entirely and collect responses from the network that have already been created. This can be useful for computationally intensive tasks or common queries, where a single result can be re-used multiple times.
• Sometimes, a DVM may respond with a kind 7000 job status event to let clients know they're working on the request. This is particularly useful for longer-running tasks, where feedback is useful for building a responsive UX.
• There are also some details in the spec regarding monetization, parameterization, error codes, encryption, etc.

Example DVM implementation

For the purposes of this blog post, I'll keep things simple by illustrating the most common kind of DVM flow: a kind 5300 content discovery request, addressed to a particular DVM. If you're interested in other use cases, please visit data-vending-machines.org for additional documented kinds.

The basic flow looks like this:

• The DVM starts by listening for kind 5300 job requests on some relays it has selected and advertised via NIP 89 (more on that later)
• A client creates a request event of kind 5300, p-tagged with the DVM's pubkey and sends it to the DVM's relay selections.
• The DVM receives the event and processes it, issuing optional kind 7000 job status events, and eventually issuing a kind 6300 job result event (job result event kinds are always 1000 greater than the request's kind).
• The client listens to the same relays for a response, and when it comes through does whatever it wants to with it.

Here's a swimlane diagram of that flow:

To avoid massive code samples, I'm going to implement our DVM entirely using nak (backed by the power of the human mind).

The first step is to start our DVM listening for requests that it wants to respond to. Nak's default pubkey is 79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798, so we'll only listen for requests sent to nak.

bash nak req -k 5300 -t p=79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798

This gives us the following filter:

json ["REQ","nak",{"kinds":[5300],"#p":["79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798"]}]

To open a subscription to nos.lol and stream job requests, add --stream wss://nos.lol to the previous request and leave it running.

Next, open a new terminal window for our "client" and create a job request. In this case, there's nothing we need to provide as input, but we'll include it just for illustration. It's also good practice to include an expiration tag so we're not asking relays to keep our ephemeral requests forever.

bash nak event -k 5300 -t p=79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798 -t expiration=$(( $(date +%s) + 30 )) -t input=hello

Here's what comes out:

json { "kind": 5300, "id": "0e419d0b3c5d29f86d2132a38ca29cdfb81a246e1a649cb2fe1b9ed6144ebe30", "pubkey": "79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798", "created_at": 1739407684, "tags": [ ["p", "79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798"], ["expiration", "1739407683"], ["input", "hello"] ], "content": "", "sig": "560807548a75779a7a68c0ea73c6f097583e2807f4bb286c39931e99a4e377c0a64af664fa90f43e01ddd1de2e9405acd4e268f1bf3bc66f0ed5a866ea093966" }

Now go ahead and publish this event by adding nos.lol to the end of your nak command. If all goes well, you should see your event pop up in your "dvm" subscription. If so, great! That's half of the flow.

Next, we'll want our client to start listening for kind 6300 responses to the request. In your "client" terminal window, run:

bash nak req -k 6300 -t e=<your-eventid-here> --stream nos.lol

Note that if you only want to accept responses from the specified DVM (a good policy in general to avoid spam) you would include a p tag here. I've omitted it for brevity. Also notice the k tag specifies the request kind plus 1000 - this is just a convention for what kinds requests and responses use.

Now, according to data-vending-machines.org, kind 5300 responses are supposed to put a JSON-encoded list of e-tags in the content field of the response. Weird, but ok. Stop the subscription in your "dvm" terminal and respond to your "client" with a recommendation to read my first note:

bash nak event -k 6300 -t e=a65665a3a4ca2c0d7b7582f4f0d073cd1c83741c25a07e98d49a43e46d258caf -c '[["e","214f5898a7b75b7f95d9e990b706758ea525fe86db54c1a28a0f418c357f9b08","wss://nos.lol/"]]' nos.lol

Here's the response event we're sending:

json { "kind": 6300, "id": "bb5f38920cbca15d3c79021f7d0051e82337254a84c56e0f4182578e4025232e", "pubkey": "79be667ef9dcbbac55a06295ce870b07029bfcdb2dce28d959f2815b16f81798", "created_at": 1739408411, "tags": [ ["e", "a65665a3a4ca2c0d7b7582f4f0d073cd1c83741c25a07e98d49a43e46d258caf"] ], "content": "[[\"e\",\"214f5898a7b75b7f95d9e990b706758ea525fe86db54c1a28a0f418c357f9b08\",\"wss://nos.lol/\"]]", "sig": "a0fe2c3419c5c54cf2a6d9a2a5726b2a5b766d3c9e55d55568140979354003aacb038e90bdead43becf5956faa54e3b60ff18c0ea4d8e7dfdf0c8dd97fb24ff9" }

Notice the e tag targets our original request.

This should result in the job result event showing up in our "client" terminal. Success!

If something isn't working, I've also create a video of the full process with some commentary which you can find here.

Note that in practice, DVMs can be much more picky about the requests they will respond to, due to implementations failing to follow Postel's law. Hopefully that will improve over time. For now, here are a few resources that are useful when working with or developing DVMs:

• dvmdash
• data-vending-machines.org
• noogle
• nostrdvm

Conclusion

I started this post by hinting that DVMs might be as fundamental as relays are to making nostr work. But (apart from the fact that we'd end up with an acronym like DVMNOSTRZ+*, which would only exascerbate the pronounciation wars (if such a thing were possible)), that's not exactly true.

DVMs have emerged as a central paradigm in the nostr world because they're a generalization of a design pattern unique to nostr's architecture - but which exists in many other places, including NIP 46 signer flows and NIP 47 wallet connect. Each of these sub-protocols works by using relays as neutral brokers for requests in order to avoid coupling services to web addresses.

This approach has all kinds of neat benefits, not least of which is allowing service providers to host their software without having to accept incoming TCP connections. But it's really an emergent property of relays, which not only are useful for brokering communication between users (aka storing events), but also brokering communication between machines.

The possibilities of this architecture have only started to emerge, so be on the lookout for new applications, and don't be afraid to experiment - just please, don't serialize json inside json 🤦‍♂️

@ 8d34bd24:414be32b

Last night in my Bible reading I read this verse:

“As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. (Jeremiah 7:16) {emphasis mine}

My first thought was “Why in the world is God telling us not to pray for this people? Doesn’t the Bible tell us to pray about everything?”

First of all, then, I urge that entreaties and prayers, petitions and thanksgivings, be made on behalf of all men, for kings and all who are in authority, so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity. This is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:1-4) {emphasis mine}

Doesn’t God tell us to pray for whatever is bothering us?

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6-7)

Doesn’t the Bible say that God will answer all of our requests?

Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. (John 14:13)

Doesn’t the Bible tell us to pray for Israel and Jerusalem and His chosen people?

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:\ “May they prosper who love you.\ May peace be within your walls,\ And prosperity within your palaces.”\ For the sake of my brothers and my friends,\ I will now say, “May peace be within you.”\ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God,\ I will seek your good. (Psalm 122:6-9) {emphasis mine}

Doesn’t the Bible even tell us to pray for our enemies?

“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. (Luke 6:27-28)

If all of this is true, then why does this verse tell us to not pray for this people, especially considering this is referring to God’s chosen people?

To answer this question, let us look at a broader portion of this passage:

“As for you, do not pray for this people, and do not lift up cry or prayer for them, and do not intercede with Me; for I do not hear you. Do you not see what they are doing in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem? The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven; and they pour out drink offerings to other gods in order to spite Me. Do they spite Me?” declares the Lord. “Is it not themselves they spite, to their own shame?” (Jeremiah 7:16-19) {emphasis mine}

God is saying to not pray for these people who have turned from Him and are worshipping other gods. These people are in full rejection of God. Still does it mean that we can’t pray for them at all or is this talking about a particular kind of prayer?

A little later in Jeremiah, we read:

“Therefore do not pray for this people, nor lift up a cry or prayer for them; for I will not listen when they call to Me because of their disaster. (Jeremiah 11:14)

and

So the Lord said to me, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going to accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.” (Jeremiah 14:11-12) {emphasis mine}

We get a little more specificity on the command to “not pray for” in Jeremiah 14. We are told, “Do not pray for the welfare of this people.” This is not a universal command to never pray for them, but a command to not pray for their welfare. It is a command to not pray blessings on those in active rebellion against God.

At the time this command was made, the Israelites were expecting God’s protection and blessings while refusing to follow Him and instead worshipping other gods. This command isn’t a blanket statement to not pray for a sinning Israel, but a statement to not pray for blessings and protection for a sinning Israel. If this was a blanket statement it would contradict Psalm 122 above.

This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him. (1 John 5:14-15) {emphasis mine}

Using 1 John 5:14, we can begin to see the catch. We are to pray “according to His will.” It is not God’s will for sinners and those in open rebellion against God to be blessed or protected from hardship. A prayer such as, “Please turn your people back to you and give them a pure heart and repentance from sin,” would be according to His will. A prayer to “Please bless and protect Israel” while Israel has turned their back on God is not a prayer that God will answer. He will “not hear you.”

The Bible also says:

You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures. (James 4:3)

How often are our prayers not answered because we pray with wrong motives? At least sometimes. Of course there are also times when God tells us to wait or has something better in mind and we can’t see it because we are not seeking His will, but our own.

It is always good to pray for someone’s repentance and salvation. It isn’t always good to pray for someone’s healing, blessings, and prosperity. It is always good to pray for a nation to turn back to God and to obey His commands. It isn’t always good to pray for a nation’s prosperity and power in the world. Sometimes God’s will is to punish those who turn away from Him or against Him. We need to make sure we are aligned to God’s will and not just seeking our own.

I recommend that our prayers be like Jesus’s prayer right before going to the cross, “saying, “Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42). Our requests should be like that of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed Ngo right before being thrown in the fiery furnace, “But even if He does not, let it be known to you, O king, that we are not going to serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18). This isn’t just words thrown on the end of our prayers “yet not My will, but Yours be done,” but a cry of our hearts in full and complete trust in our Father God.

One thing that helps me is I try to pray the problem not the solution. God knows much better solutions than we do because He knows everything that has happened, everything that is happening, and everything that will happen. He knows what will lead to the best long term solution. When we pray the solution we desire, we miss out on the blessings of God’s knowledge, wisdom, and love.

May God lead you and guide you in a closer relationship to Him so that your will is completely aligned with His will and you are in close fellowship to Our Father in Heaven.

Trust Jesus

@ ac8bb9b0:70278acc

Chef's notes

Make Ahead: You can prepare this recipe up to one week in advance. Store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

To Freeze: Allow the dish to cool completely before transferring it to a freezer-safe bag. Lay the bag flat in the freezer to ensure even freezing and to save space. Thaw it in the refrigerator overnight before using it.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5
• 🍳 Cook time: 5
• 🍽️ Servings: 1

Ingredients

• ½ cup soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon sesame oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon light brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon honey
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 clove garlic , minced
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch+ 2 tsp water , mixed together to make a cornstarch slurry
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

1. Make the teriyaki sauce by adding all of the sauce ingredients to a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, and boil for about 1 minute. The sauce should be thick enough to coat the back of the spoon.
3. Serve over rice or with a stir-fry. See post above for additional ideas.

@ 26bb2ebe:70530958

nostterに画像最適化機能つけたよ（サーバー編）

この記事はNostr Advent Calendar 2024 の3日目の記事です。

あまり技術的な話はないので暇つぶし程度に読んでみてください。

どうしてこうなった？

そもそも認証の改善以前にNostrあんまり人が増えてないのが一番課題だよねと思ったのが始まりでした。 Nostrに人が増えないのはオーガニック検索流入が少ないからに違いないと特に根拠もなく思ったのでNostrのまとめサイト(Toggeter)のようなものを作ろうと考えました。

ところでNostrのまとめを行うアプリ自体は鎌倉さんという方がノスリというのを作成されていました。ブログ形式のイベントにTwitterライクな短文投稿をまとめるというものでまさしくToggeterですが、そこまで活用されていません。 そこでその仕組みをありがたくそのまま転用してまとめ記事を何らかの方法で量産しつつ、一つのドメインのサイトにまとめてSEOもなんかうまいことやれば検索流入増えるんじゃねという目論みです。

ところでそのまとめサイトは静的サイトジェネレータで（SSG：Static Site Generator）でつくりたいなと思いました。いや普通に考えてSSRにしてサーバ側でNostrからデータとってきたらSEO的にもよくねって感じなんですが、SSRでサーバーでウェブソケット呼ぶのだる…レイテンシを考慮すると結構不利じゃないかなと思ったわけです。うそです。そこまで考えてなくてほとんど個人的な好みです。（多分ちゃんとキャッシュきかせればそんなにレイテンシ問題にならなさそうな気がする）。ただキャッシュとかも考慮すると結構複雑な気はする。

ということで今年の6月頃にNostrのブログ記事をSSGするサイトをためしに作りました。 去年のアドベントカレンダー記事とか乗っけてます。

全然画像最適化の話になりませんね。もうちょっとです。

SSGのブログといえばGatsby（今は下火かも）とかで作成した経験があります。Gatsbyでは画像用のプラグインが公式に用意されていて生成されたブログに表示される画像はもとの画像データから変換され、表示時のサイズに最適化されたサイズにリサイズすることができます。

それだけではなくサイトの初期表示時には画像の画質を落としてぼやけた画像を表示してその後元画像が読み込まれたらきれいな画像を表示する、みたいなことができます。インラインでデータを持っているのでHTMLの表示と同時に画像の初期表示ができたりします。（その頃はよくわかってなかったがNostrのNIP-92で定義されているblurhashとかを使っていたんでしょう多分）

とにかくSSGは初期表示の速さが良い。というのが自分の頭の中にあるわけです。SSGのブログをNostrで作るとなると当然同じことがやりたい。

しかし、Nostrの画像はただのURLです。(オプショナルで画像のメタデータを定義できるimetaタグはあるが…)

基本的にSSGの画像最適化というのはローカルに存在する画像データをビルド時に変換するという流れで行われます。もしくはリモートURLに画像が置かれる場合は画像ストレージサービスやCDN上で配信されるときに最適化されることになります。

参考: Svelteの画像ベストプラクティス

Nostrの画像はただの外部のURLですから(2回目)、ローカルの画像を変換する方法は採用できないわけです。無理やり実行するならビルド時にURLからすべての画像を一旦ダウンロードして変換するとかも考えましたが、ただの外部URLというのはつまりは一体どういうファイルなのかダウンロードしてみるまでわからない、要するに全然信頼できないということですから、よくわからないURLをかたっぱしからダウンロードするようなことは避けたいわけですね。（極端な話100GBの画像URLとかつくって攻撃されたら破綻しますよね）

ここが結構他の中央集権的なSNSと違って辛いところなのかなと思います。X（Twitter）とかであれば画像ストレージサーバは一つなので表示される画像の形式も一つに限定されるのですが、画像のアップロードが外部頼みでただのURLなので（３回目）何が来るかわからないということですね。

サーバ側で画像形式などを制限できない(imetaも信頼できるかわからない)となるとクライアント側でなんとか対応する必要があり、Nostrはクライアント側が大変なプロトコルだなあとということに思いを馳せていましたが、いろいろ考えたり調べた結果として作るべきものは画像最適化のためのプロキシサーバであるということがわかりました。

プロキシサーバというのはここでどういう働きをするのかというと、もとの画像がおいてあるサーバとクライアントのあいだに入って、もとの画像を一旦ダウンロードして圧縮したり縮小したりしてそのあとクライアントに送ってあげるという働きをします。

プロキシがないとき

[画像置き場] -> [クライアント]

プロキシがあるとき

[画像置き場] -> [プロキシ] -> [クライアント]

利点としてはクライアントが実際にダウンロードするのはサイズの小さな画像になるので通信量や画像の表示スピードは改善します。が、一方でサーバを経由する分通信にかかる時間（レイテンシ）が長くなります。というわけなので、当初の目的である表示速度の改善を実現するには、画像をエッジキャッシュするなどの対応が必須となります。平たく言うと一度送った画像はプロキシで保存しておいて次に要求されたらそれをすぐ返すということです。

画像をどれくらいのサイズにするか、画質はどうするかなどはプロキシに指示してあげれば良いのでクライアント側は想定通りの画像を受け取れてハッピーということになります。嘘です。ある程度はハッピーですが、プロキシ自体がエラーを返す可能性もあるし、処理できなくてもとの画像をそのまま返す場合もあります。そんなあれこれの結果、クライアントはフォールバック処理を実装する必要がありました。（それはまた別の記事で）

一方で自分はNostrのモバイルクライアントのヘビーユーザですので、Nostrの通信量の多さも解決したい課題でした。Nostrやってるとすぐギガがなくなります。 通信量の多さのボトルネックはウェブソケットで送られるNostrのイベントの通信量というよりは投稿に添付される画像のダウンロードの方ではないかという話もTLで耳にしたため（特に裏もとらず）、いっちょ画像最適化のプロキシサーバを作ってクライアントに実装してプルリクエスト投げるかと考えました。

そこで私はまずクライアントをAmethystからnostterに乗り換えることから始めました。なぜならばAmethystよりもTypeScriptとSvelteで書かれているnostterのほうがコントリビュートしやすかったという私的な事情です。

解決したい課題

遠回りしてきましたが課題はこれ。

• Nostrの画像の表示改善
• Nostrの通信量の改善

インターフェイス(設計)

画像最適化のプロキシは実装よりもインターフェースを考えるのが大変です。ここはとても苦労しそうな気がしたので、何も考えず cloudflare Imagesのインターフェースをそのまま借用することにしました。

https://developers.cloudflare.com/images/transform-images/transform-via-url/

また何かあってもcloudflare Imageに課金して乗り換えることが可能という利点もあります。

実装

とにかく時間がないので手グセでかけるTypeScriptかJS。かつ課金しないで可用性を維持できる無料枠のサーバレス環境が使いたかったので cloudflare workers に目星をつけて調査したところ、非常に素晴らしい記事を見つけましたのでこのwasmのライブラリをTSから呼び出して使わせていただくことにしました。

自分の実装したところはURLのパースと、キャッシュAPIの呼び出しを行って、最後にこのライブラリを叩くだけです。 ほかはクライアントキャッシュ用のヘッダーを書き換えたりとか細かいことはやっていますが全く大したことはやっておらず、サーバは非常にリーズナブルにやりたいことを実装した形になりました。 大変助かりました。

実装したものがこちらです。

https://github.com/ocknamo/nostr-image-optimizer

実装後の課題

このプロキシただのパブリックAPIなのでDoS攻撃に弱いです。何回もAPIをたたかれたら無料枠をすぐに超えてしまうことが容易に想像できました。 無料枠超えても使えなくなるだけで破産はしないので安心ですが、しかし対策は考える必要があります。

WAF

WAFです。APIに対するリクエスト回数などに対する制限をIPごとにかけています。また攻撃された場合検知できれば特定のIPや地域をブラックリストに入れることも可能です。

細かいことを説明してギリギリを攻めて攻撃されても困るので細かく説明しませんが、当初は全力でDoS攻撃されても無料枠超えないくらいの感じで制限をかけていました。 しかしNostrのTLをちょっと早めに表示するとすぐにWAFに引っかかってエラーになるという状態になることもあり、結局アイコンの表示は画像最適化の対象にしない方針にするなどの影響がありました。

いろいろあって、前提が変わり、もう少し制限をゆるくしたのでアイコンの対応は今後は検討できるかもしれません。

まとめ

割と手抜きで作ったことがわかるかと思います。実装しててNostrへの貢献ではあるはずですが、Nostrのプロトコル(NIPsとか)全然関係ないことやってるなと思いました。

フロントについては来週書きます。

次回のアドベントカレンダーの記事は eyemono.moe さんによる”クライアント自作を通して得られた知見まとめ”ですね！楽しみです！

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Ein Lämmchen löschte an einem Bache seinen Durst. Fern von ihm, aber näher der Quelle, tat ein Wolf das gleiche. Kaum erblickte er das Lämmchen, so schrie er:

"Warum trübst du mir das Wasser, das ich trinken will?"

"Wie wäre das möglich", erwiderte schüchtern das Lämmchen, "ich stehe hier unten und du so weit oben; das Wasser fließt ja von dir zu mir; glaube mir, es kam mir nie in den Sinn, dir etwas Böses zu tun!"

"Ei, sieh doch! Du machst es gerade, wie dein Vater vor sechs Monaten; ich erinnere mich noch sehr wohl, daß auch du dabei warst, aber glücklich entkamst, als ich ihm für sein Schmähen das Fell abzog!"

"Ach, Herr!" flehte das zitternde Lämmchen, "ich bin ja erst vier Wochen alt und kannte meinen Vater gar nicht, so lange ist er schon tot; wie soll ich denn für ihn büßen."

"Du Unverschämter!" so endigt der Wolf mit erheuchelter Wut, indem er die Zähne fletschte. "Tot oder nicht tot, weiß ich doch, daß euer ganzes Geschlecht mich hasset, und dafür muß ich mich rächen."

Ohne weitere Umstände zu machen, zerriß er das Lämmchen und verschlang es.

Das Gewissen regt sich selbst bei dem größten Bösewichte; er sucht doch nach Vorwand, um dasselbe damit bei Begehung seiner Schlechtigkeiten zu beschwichtigen.

Quelle: https://eden.one/fabeln-aesop-das-lamm-und-der-wolf

@ 849a5a61:b57d2870

We built BitFlio because, as bitcoiners and nostriches, we couldn’t find an affiliate marketing tool for our products that would accept bitcoin as payment method, keep us anonymnous, and most important allow us to pay and be paid based on the value we provide. Since we didn’t know if affiliate marketing would work for us as a sales channel, we really wanted to find a tool where, instead of a fixed monthly fee, we could instead pay a % in sats per successful referral to test the waters.

Referral marketing is such a powerful marketing channel as it enable the Value For Value (V4V) model to expand and grow the Bitcoin Circular Economy. For example, referral leads for businesses have a 70% higher conversion rate than leads from any other sales channel, and when referred by other customers, that customer typically has a 37% higher retention rate.

The setup process for BitFlio is nice and easy. You simply signup with nostr or email, connect your Bitcoin wallet, create your first campaign, add the tracking script to your website and then fire the BitFlio.convert('yourcustomer@email.com') function from your thank you page, so we can validate the leads Publishers will bring to you. Once you’ve done those steps, you can either invite publishers manually, or send them your unique BitFlio invite signup page URL.

For Publishers is even easier. If you are a content creator looking to monetize bitcoinize your contents, join our network and select from bitcoin brands those you feel comfortable sharing. Lastly, get paid in sats depending on how many sales you can drive to each vendor.

It’s quite hard to list in sentences some of the cool features that make up BitFlio, so here’s a list:

• Pricing from $0/month

• Automatic NWC sync

• Works for both subscriptions and one-time charges

• Embed script is lightweight and only ~13kb

• Privacy-friendly & Anonymous

• No GDPR needed, as we operate in the Private.

• Manage multiple affiliate programs for different products from one single dashboard

• Open-source software

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1. Public sphere and inverted totalitarianism

The three referents in the title require explanation - just like the thesis that their combination conveys in this article. In short: Like every government, the German one wants to steer and control what is said publicly about it and about reality in the country (cf. Meyen 2018). In the Internet age, this only works by cooperating with digital corporations. This liaison is rooted in the knowledge that one’s own scope of action depends on public approval and public legitimation. “Relations of domination” are today more than ever “relations of definition” (Beck 2017: 129, 132). Power is held by those who succeed in placing their interpretation of reality in the public sphere (cf. Havel 1989: 19). This includes fading out or marginalizing everything that could endanger one’s own position – in Germany at the moment, for example, this relates to debates about social inequality, which has reached an all-time high worldwide (cf. Piketty 2020), mass immigration since 2015, the policies surrounding Corona or Russia.

In this country, the interest of federal and state governments in presenting their work in a good light encounters a journalism that is committed to journalistic diversity via state press laws, state treaties and professional ethics (cf. Rager/Weber 1992). This means that journalism should allow everyone to have their say – all topics and all perspectives. Horst Pöttker (2001) has described the production of publicity as a “social mandate”. This “mission” is rooted in the pluralism model: In society, there are many and sometimes conflicting opinions and interests, which are initially on an equal footing (the interests of individuals and outsiders as well as those organized in parties or associations). The struggle for compromise and societal agreement relies on the public sphere: “In principle, no social group, not even an individual, but also no object, no topic, no problem may be excluded from it” (Pöttker 1999: 219f.). Phrased in a different way: In complex, differentiated societies, the public sphere is the “last common place where that which concerns everyone can be negotiated.” And even though “no decisions are made” here, acceptance and “collective validity” are impossible without public preparation and public visibility (Stegemann 2021: 16).

Essential to this are mainstream media such as the Tagesschau, the Süddeutsche Zeitung or Der Spiegel, which produce a “second, non-consensual reality” - the collective “memory” of society, which must be assumed in all communication. Only the mainstream media spread information “so widely that in the next moment one must assume that it is known to everyone (or that it would be associated with loss of reputation and is therefore not admitted if it was not known)” (Luhmann 1996: 43, 120f.). We use Mainstream media because we want to know what others think they know (especially those who decide about our lives), and because we need to know the defining power relations in order to survive. Who has succeeded in bringing their issues, their perspectives and, above all, their morals to the big stage, and who has no place on that stage? Consequently, whom should I join if I do not want to be isolated (cf. Noelle-Neumann 1980), and whom do I better avoid?

The interest of governments in controlling public communication is inextricably linked to propaganda and censorship. Propaganda is defined in this article with Andreas Elter (2005: 19f.) as all attempts by government agencies to convey “a certain, unambiguously colored view of things [...] and thus to maneuver the public discussion in the desired direction”. This necessarily includes suppressing, delegitimizing, or limiting the scope of all positions “that challenge the dominant narrative and at the same time have the potential for widespread dissemination” (Hofbauer 2022: 7) – censorship. Put another way: Propaganda and censorship are two sides of the same coin. Those who want to impose their “view of things” (Andreas Elter) must fight the competition and, if possible, eliminate it. Censorship is an “instrument of domination to enforce economic interests, political power and cultural hegemony” (Hofbauer 2022: 237).

The fact that media research shies away from calling propaganda and censorship by their names when analyzing contemporary Western societies is the result of a systematic deconceptualization. In academic texts, just as in political education, censorship is generally only mentioned when it comes to forms of government that can be described as ‘totalitarian’, ‘dictatorial’ or ‘undemocratic’ - Hitler's Germany, the Soviet Union, Russia, China, North Korea (for an illustration cf. Toyka-Seid/Schneider 2023). “There is [to be] no censorship”: this sentence from Article 5 of the German constitution describes reality through this lens, as long as there is no censorship authority or even a corresponding ministry. The literary scholar Nikola Roßbach, for example, academic companion of the Temple of Forbidden Books at Documenta 2017, bypasses the terms state, pre-screening, and bans in her definition, but instead uses adjectives that amount to the same thing and absolve Germany of any suspicion: “In my understanding, censorship is a comprehensive, structurally and institutionally anchored control, restriction, or prevention of expression intended for publication or published” (Roßbach 2018: 19).

The purpose of this smokescreen is revealed a little later: Roßbach wants to dismiss censorship as a “polemical concept” from the “political circus,” to be heard above all from the “populist side” and from the right (used here in each case synonymous for all those who should not speak out), but also “from right-wing populist leftists”. To make this a “classic case of self-victimization” or even a “cross-front” of anti-democrats (ibid.: 82, 88) falls short, however, if only because “the boundary between what is permitted and what is forbidden” is contingent and consequently “may not be questioned” (Stegemann 2021: 161). Censorship itself automatically becomes a taboo for the censors. Otherwise, they get into justification trouble. This explains, for example, why a phenomenon like “cancel culture” can be relegated to the realm of fable and the debate about it dismissed as a perfidious feint by the already powerful (cf. Daub 2022, Thiele 2021).

The flipside has been dealt with in a very similar way. In hegemonic usage, propaganda is now always what others do – Nazis and communists preferably, but also otherwise anyone who can be classified as ‘opponents’ and ‘enemies’ (cf. Arnold 2003). Moreover, the concept of propaganda has long had such a negative connotation that it puts the result before the analysis – one-sided, not legitimate, and apparently effective even if one concedes that people (such as in the GDR at the time) may withdraw from the public sphere and distrust all news in the respective leading media (cf. Fiedler/Meyen 2011: 17f.).

Communication studies has forgotten that it was born as propaganda research. Yet it does exactly the same as its inventors, who were commissioned by the government, military and intelligence services in the USA to find out how to get into people’s heads: Psychological warfare. The state and billionaire industry-related foundations (Rockefeller, Ford) paid hundreds of social scientists starting in 1939 to win the battle for public opinion as well. One result: henceforth people spoke of communication rather than propaganda (cf. Simpson 1994, Pooley 2011). This did not change what one was looking for, but it allowed to distinguish one’s own ‘good’ intentions from the ‘bad’ ones of the Germans and later the Soviets or the Russians (cf. Meyen 2021: 63-75).

In this way, the terms censorship and propaganda have been turned into a blunt sword. Critics of the media and society can no longer use them, at least in the German-speaking context, without immediately being confronted with the accusation of exaggerating excessively or even playing into the cards of the ‘right-wingers’. In this article, this risk is taken for two reasons. First, everyone can examine the arguments and then decide for themselves whether it is justified to speak of propaganda and censorship in the sense defined above. Second, classics such as Walter Lippmann, Edward Bernays, or even Paul Lazarsfeld and Robert Merton (1948, cf. Zollmann 2019) had no problem at all with calling a spade a spade. Lippmann (2018: 84) knew already one hundred years ago that news are anything but a “mirror of social conditions.” Walter Lippmann dreamed of a government of experts masquerading as popular rule, and for this to happen, it must specifically influence public opinion - via the “images according to which whole groups of people” act (ibid.: 75). His disciple Edward Bernays, a few years later, logically considered propaganda “a perfectly legitimate activity.” Without “public consent,” Bernays wrote in 1928, already in the spirit of medialization research (cf. Meyen et al. 2014), “no major undertaking” can succeed anymore. This consent, Bernays was sure, must and can be organized - by “PR consultants” like him. His definition is consistent with what I advocate in this paper: “Modern propaganda is the steady, consistent effort to shape or create events with the purpose of influencing the public's attitude toward a company, idea, or group” (Bernays 2018: 28-32).

Lippmann and Bernays did not live to see the “union of state and corporations” for which Sheldon Wolin (2022: 221) was able to use the label “superpower” in the noughties. Wolin, like Walter Lippmann, considered “democracy” to be a “largely rhetorical function within an increasingly corrupt political system” (which, however, he criticized rather than defended) and spoke instead of a “coalition between the corporations and the state” – an “inverted totalitarianism” which, while using “the authority and resources of the state” as it once did in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, gains “its dynamism by combining it with other forms of power” (such as the churches) and links the “conventional form of government” with “the system of ‘private’ governance represented by modern corporations.” Somewhat more briefly, “corporate power” is now also political. In the Cold War era, the state and corporations had become “the principal sponsors and coordinators of the forces represented by science and technology,” and thus also the source “for creating and spreading a culture that educates consumers to embrace change and private pleasures while accepting political passivity” (Wolin 2022: 60-63).

For Sheldon Wolin, “inverted totalitarianism” is a “new kind of political system” that is “apparently driven by abstract totalizing powers, not by personal domination,” and whose “total power” is harder to detect than Hitler's or Stalin's if only because this system does not need to build camps and does not need to “violently suppress dissent as long as it remains ineffective” (ibid.: 118, 134). Wolin says: For control, it is enough to “create a collective sense of dependency” (ibid.: 192) as well as to use whatever methods of “intimidation and mass manipulation” are available today (ibid.: 56). Inverted totalitarianism then is “collective fear” plus “individual powerlessness.” Job, retirement, health care costs. Plus pressure at the workplace, the stress of everyday life, the constant fuss about some political scandal or other (ibid.: 352). The result is a “society that is used to exchanging new habits for old ones, adapting to rapid changes, uncertainties and social upheavals, and allowing its fate to be determined by distant powers over which it has no influence” (ibid.: 116).

Sheldon Wolin largely ignores the mainstream media - just like digital capitalism, which for the doyen of U.S. political science, born in 1922, was at best a pipe dream when he wrote his last major book after 9/11. A good two decades later, the “revolving door between the centers of power on both coasts” (between Washington and Silicon Valley) has become almost proverbial (Zuboff 2018: 150). Personnel are shifted from here to there, balls are passed to each other in election campaigns, and, as will be shown in this paper, they work hand in hand when it comes to retaining the power of definition in the political battles of the present and controlling the “side-effect publics” that address what the mainstream media hide or distort. In the spirit of Sheldon Wolin, Ulrich Beck (2017: 172f.) has spoken of a “risk-averse coalition of progress,” “consisting of experts, industry, the state, political parties, and established mass media,” which can ignore or play off against each other issues such as climate change, nuclear power and financial speculation, genetic manipulation, nanotechnology and reproductive medicine, terrorism, and digital surveillance, as needed in the public debate. O-Ton Beck: “This implies: The politics of invisibility is a first-rate strategy for stabilizing state authority and reproducing the social and political order, for which denying the existence of global risks” matters greatly (ibid.: 134).

Beck did not trust the traditional mass media to fulfill the mission of the public sphere, not even in Western states. “The mode of this nationally organized, public form of media power is exclusive, that is: one produces it specifically, one can allow it, suppress it, etc.” (ibid.: 172). With a view to a world at risk, which was his life’s topic of interest, he consequently called for a reform of the definitional relationships, hoping for the Internet – for a public sphere that could not be easily controlled by the powerful, that discussed other topics as well as in a different form than the leading media, and that relied, among other things, on a “countervailing power of independent experts” (ibid.: 146).

Ulrich Beck was an optimist. When he wrote his book on the “Metamorphosis of the World” (which was to be his last) in the mid-2010s, the relationship between governments and Google, Twitter and Co. was at best in the dating stage. In the meantime, the marriage has been consummated. We live in a digital corporate state that floods the public with its messages (Propaganda, section 2), exploiting the logic of the new means of dissemination (Interlude: Twitter’s public sphere, section 3) and also making platform operators delete counter-perspectives and opposition figures or make them difficult to find (Censorship, section 4). Part of Beck’s concept of defining power relations is that even within a governing coalition or, thought of more broadly, in “that subterranean network of financial, intelligence, and military interests that guides national policy,” “no matter who happens to be in the White House” (Talbot 2017: 505), there are struggles for interpretive authority. Such battles, which rely on resonance in the journalistic field and are therefore also fought there, explain, for example, why Chancellor Scholz had a significantly worse press than his ministers Baerbock and Habeck in the first months of the Ukraine war (cf. Maurer et al. 2022).

2. Propaganda

Without delving into such differentiations, this section will show what government agencies are doing to win over the public. In addition, it will at least be suggested that these efforts meet with little resistance, and not only because of the alliance with media corporations. For one thing, the balance of power between the propaganda apparatuses and journalism has shifted considerably since the 1990s, and for another, the leading media are now dominated by the same habitus that governs government agencies and corporate headquarters (see Klöckner 2019).

There are three ways to “move the public debate in the desired direction.” First, a government can pay (as well as resource and perhaps already train) personnel to feed newsrooms with what they are looking for anyway – exclusive information and images, interlocutors, and material from which news can be made (for example: scientific studies or live access during police operations). This personnel also sits at the trigger when it becomes necessary to use what Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky (1988: 18) called, in German, “flak” - barrages that put everything under fire that could get in the way of the employers. Second, this government can change its own work in such a way that ‘good press’ becomes more likely - via the recruitment of top people suitable for the media, via the events and occasions that Edward Bernays already talked about (a rather harmless example: the central festival for the Day of German Unity, which is held in a different state capital every year and reliably produces coverage), and (less harmlessly) via prioritization that puts public image above everything else and, in case of doubt, even above law and order (cf. Thorbjørnsrud et al. 2014). Third, any government can help it along with money - with direct subsidies, which are always good for a scandal in Austria, for example, and were nevertheless almost introduced in Switzerland in a referendum in February 2022, or with indirect subsidies (advertising, tax breaks, carpooling).

The federal government exhausts all of the above possibilities to the hilt. It pays a whole army of propaganda people, creates or shapes events with the help of these people that serve the sole “purpose” of influencing “public attitudes” 2018: 28-32), and pumps money into publishing houses and broadcasters. The first issue alone would deserve an entire essay – partly because it is difficult to separate from the second issue. When resources are reallocated toward public relations, an organization’s performance inevitably becomes more media-savvy – most likely at the expense of the tasks for which ministries or subordinate agencies were originally created.

A prime example of this prioritization is the German government’s Press and Information Office, with its more than 500 staff positions and three former top journalists in position of spokesperson (Steffen Hebestreit, Wolfgang Büchner, Christiane Hoffmann). This agency, located in the Chancellor’s Office and thus quite obviously an instrument of power for the head of government, was controversial from the outset (cf. Morcinek 2004), but neither Konrad Adenauer nor his successors allowed themselves to be swayed by public criticism here and thus also promoted, at least indirectly, the creation of parallel departments. In addition to a press office with “33 experts,” the Foreign Office now has a commissioner for strategic communication (Peter Ptassek at the end of 2022), who is assisted by “around 40 staff members” to protect the minister and her actions from slander and, if worst comes to worst, to counter with stories of her own (Meier/Monath 2022). Correspondents exist in every ministry, in every party headquarters, in every state government, and for every politician who moves near the center of power. There is a method to the transfer from the editorial offices to the authorities and staffs, which is represented not only by the three journalists named above but also by their predecessor Steffen Seibert. In this way, politics buys know-how, contacts and goodwill, which is not only fed by the reputation of the former colleagues, but also has to do with the prospect of one day being called to the other side.

The departments or people whose names or job titles include terms like public, press, media or marketing are only the obvious part of the propaganda apparatus. Claudia Roth, Minister of State for Culture and Media in the current government coalition, has a budget of 2.39 billion euros in 2023 – four percent more than in 2022. In addition to museums owned by the federal government, film productions and a cultural passport for 18-year-olds, this pot primarily funds projects and programs along government lines. Roth’s agency uses it to finance not only causes for coverage, but also personnel who can and will speak out accordingly. This applies analogously to the many commissioners who have been installed on a full-time or honorary basis at different administrative levels (responsible for issues such as foreigners, integration, discrimination, racism, women, queer, lesbians, gays, disability, anti-Semitism, ziganism, climate, sustainability), who have to justify their existence through mainstream media presence and thus also draw imitations in companies or culture and education.

In addition, there are organizations such as the Zentrum Liberale Moderne or the Amadeu Antonio Foundation (tip of an NGO iceberg), which support government narratives with flak (here quite openly called “opponent analysis” or disguised as the fight against hate speech and fake news, right-wing extremism and anti-Semitism). The Zentrum Liberale Moderne, founded in 2017 by Green Party politicians Ralf Fücks and Marieluise Beck, has received nearly 4.5 million euros for a total of 24 projects from 2018 to 2022 (see Lübberding 2022). The federal program “Demokratie Leben!” (“Live Democracy!”), one of the umbrella initiatives for related spending (located in the Federal Ministry of Family Affairs), will cost taxpayers 182 million euros in 2023, 16.5 million euros more than in 2022 and 31.5 million euros more than in 2021. “Measures to strengthen diversity, tolerance and democracy” have a total of 200 million euros dedicated to them in this ministry’s 2023 budget. Money from the budget of the German government’s Press and Information Office will go to the German Atlantic Society (2023: 700,000 euros), the Society for Security Policy (600,000), the Center for Liberal Modernity, the Aspen Institute, the Europa Union and the Progressive Center (500,000 each).

In Sheldon Wolin (2022: 147) one can read how it is possible to integrate even scientists and intellectuals “seamlessly into the system” and to prevent dissent without having to “harass” or “discredit” critics. Wolin explains: Through “a combination of government contracts, corporate and foundation funding, joint projects by university and corporate researchers, and wealthy individual donors.” Peter J. Brenner (2022) has spelled out this strategy for Germany, compiling a long list of “institutes for research on democracy and right-wing extremism” that assist “government power” at taxpayer expense in the struggle for “discourse hegemony.” For universities, this flow of money has consequences that go beyond the reinterpretation of terms, rules of language such as gendering, and the prioritization of social problems. Even without insight into the inner workings of universities, it should be clear that legions of scientists are rushing to answer the questions, theories and methods to which the “coalition” of big business and the state (Sheldon Wolin) is devoting its budgets via the EU Commission or the BMBF. A few get their turn, and many others continue without funding, so that the investment is not entirely in vain. Those who win money need proof of success – publications in specialist journals and (either via this detour or interviews) a presence in the mainstream media.

Diverting taxpayers’ money to media companies was taboo in post-1945 West Germany (unlike in Austria). In a large and densely populated circulation area with a flourishing economy and without the competing advertising and information channels that developed on the Internet from the 1990s, subscriptions to public authorities and advertisements from ministries or offices also played a minor role. All these parameters changed during the Corona crisis at the latest. More cautiously, the slump in the advertising market and the ubiquity of aid and rescue funds have allowed the media industry in 2020 to push the issue of state support, overturning the taboo of press subsidies. Under the guise of “digital transformation,” 220 million euros were included in the federal supplementary budget this summer, most of which was to be paid out before the end of 2021, tied to circulation. The bigger the newspaper, the more money. This plan died at the end of April 2021 “because of constitutional concerns,” but the main counter-argument was not state neutrality, but distortion of competition. The online platform Krautreporter had threatened to go to court if only print publishers were funded, and also refused to accept reallocating the budget to “Corona emergency aid.” The publishers’ associations reacted “shocked,” spoke of a “medium catastrophe” (Meyen 2021: 166f.) and are now concentrating their lobbying on the issue of local media diversity (“nationwide coverage,” Röper 2022: 302).

The sum of 220 million euros would have largely absorbed the slump in the advertising market of the daily press. Sales in this market in 2020: 1.712 billion euros – 367 million less than in 2019. In previous years, the average decline was around 150 million euros (Statista 2023). Public budgets are therefore increasingly attractive to the advertising departments of media groups. In 2021, the German government bought ad space for around 64 million euros as part of its “Corona communication” alone. Television and radio together received 28 million euros in the same period (Thoms 2022). This does not include the Corona and vaccination campaigns of state governments and local authorities, for which the business community in the respective circulation areas was also mobilized in some cases, advertising with a different thematic focus, and everything that corporations and foundations give to publishers beyond conventional promotion in order to advertise specific political goals.

In journalism, such efforts meet with little resistance for two reasons. First, the most important media houses in Germany have long been of corporate size and are thus themselves part of the “coalition between the corporations and the state” that constitutes “inverted totalitarianism” in Sheldon Wolin's (2022: 221) terms. The German press landscape is characterized by monopolies and concentration, as well as by a few publishing houses (often family-owned) that not only feed all other channels and otherwise outgrow their core business, but in some cases also sell their editorial services to ‘competitors’ such as Madsack’s Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland, which supplies more than 60 regional papers in seven German states (cf. Röper 2022, Ferschli et al. 2019). Public broadcasting is not a counterargument here. With a revenue from contributions of almost nine billion euros a year, ARD and ZDF are among the largest media companies in the world (cf. Hachmeister/Wäscher 2017) – corporations that have to act as corporations and that are closely linked to politics and the state in almost every respect (cf. Mirbach 2023: 128-178, 250-272).

And second, journalism in Germany is a socially homogeneous field dominated by the “habitus of the middle class” – “oriented toward conformity,” programmed to “accept power relations” (Klöckner 2019: 33), and closely linked to decision-makers in the state, political parties, and business through social status, educational background, and life situation. The similarity of social position and habitus not infrequently turns into real proximity in everyday life. Contact (press conferences, receptions, travel) creates sympathy and thus often at least understanding (cf. Meyen 2021: 176-198). Uwe Krüger (2016: 105) has coined the word “responsibility conspiracy” for this community of values: Journalists know what is good and what is bad (pretty much the same as what the rulers think is good or bad), and they believe they have influence over people. So reality is “reduced by the parts” that “do not fit the attitude” and what seems to promote the desired goal is emphasized (Meinhardt 2020: 87) – sometimes utilizing information, contacts and material from the propaganda apparatus and sometimes not.

3. Interlude: Twitter publicity

Anyone who wants to steer and control public communication today must submit to the logic of digital platforms. This is especially true of Twitter, a channel that within a few years has become the central point of contact for the most important players in “inverted totalitarianism” and has become an indispensable part of everyday life, especially in the media-political-academic complex, even if some protagonists gave up their accounts in the heated debate about Elon Musk’s takeover in the fall of 2022. In Germany, Twitter has always been a minority phenomenon. Four percent of those over the age of 14, says the ARD/ZDF online study of 2022, use Twitter daily and ten percent at least once a week. This includes those who only read and click now and then for reach. Ten percent. Typically male, most likely under 50 (cf. Koch 2022: 472f.). Even in the U.S., where it is common to follow the greats of film, pop and professional sports, not even one in four adults says they use Twitter. The profile of this bubble: young, affluent, educated (cf. Ungar-Sargon 2021: 104).

We also know from the USA that the vast majority of tweets come from a few (cf. Odabaş 2022) – from people who have a mission and the resources to promote it. Companies, government agencies, commissioners, entrepreneurs of themselves, NGOs, activists of every stripe, parties. In the fall 2021 federal election, almost every one of the MPs who ran again, and almost every one of those who were then new MPs, had a Twitter account. Particularly active (in this order): Left, Greens, SPD, FDP. Those elected all follow more or less the same accounts. Tagesschau, Der Spiegel, the government spokesperson, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Die Zeit each have over 60 percent. In addition to the leading media, the news agency dpa and top politicians like Christian Lindner or Annalena Baerbock, the “state satirist” and “head of the authorities” (May 2022: 46) Jan Böhmermann is also very high up in this ranking (see Schmidt 2021).

Twitter determines what can be incorporated into the reality of mainstream media – which topics with which voices and with which morals. The use of Twitter and the observation of the trends there determine the everyday work in many editorial offices today. Anyone who wants to enter the professional field today learns, at the latest during their traineeship or at journalism schools, that nothing beats a well-groomed Twitter or (beyond political journalism) TikTok and Instagram brand. Rule of thumb: the more followers, the greater the chance of being commissioned or hired (cf. Ungar-Sargon 2021). The older ones can hardly avoid this trend. Three out of four members of the Federal Press Conference have a Twitter profile – again, mainly the younger ones and thus also those with less professional experience. Journalists who are mentioned by members of parliament in their tweets consider Twitter to be particularly important (cf. Nuernbergk/Schmidt 2020). Robin Alexander, deputy editor-in-chief of the daily newspaper Die Welt, has proudly described how he transforms confidential information into tweets that are then used by politicians to push their perspective with reference to the top journalist (cf. Precht/Welzer 2022: 114f.). Following this pattern, the chancellor’s office organized mainstream media backing for their lockdown policy: Government spokesman Seibert explained the plans to selected journalists prior to talks with the prime ministers of the German states, thus ensuring the necessary public pressure (cf. Ismar 2021).

Contemporary journalism must find its topics and views on Twitter also because tight resources and high frequency publication demands make it increasingly rare to get in contact with reality and talk to real people – especially those you don’t usually meet on digital platforms. Such conversations would also be dangerous, because like any brand, a Twitter profile demands consistency. I can’t celebrate Fridays for Future there today and burn Greta Thunberg tomorrow. In the Twitter editorial department, two souls combine who are dependent on each other: the media entrepreneur who encourages his employees to ensure the distribution of his own contributions, and the editor who wants to make his mark and rise even further and therefore always asks first how things look from the very top (cf. Klöckner 2019).

Brand management is the opposite of the raving reporter, who first allows himself to be surprised by what he sees, hears and experiences, and then shares his findings with his readers, listeners, viewers. This is another reason why the tweeting journalist already knows the story he wants to tell when the research begins. What’s more, he only sees the stories that resonate with his brand. Conversely, it is hardly possible to get through with criticism of the powerful or even to find journalists who raise fundamental questions even beyond details or animosities. On Twitter, everything that could be said against laws, plans or people is immediately available – published, if you will, by everyone. Journalism has lost the privilege of calling for politicians’ heads and has therefore mutated into their attack dog.

The consequences of the Twitterization of journalism go beyond the loss of the function of criticism and control. First, the obvious: Morality is conquering the leading media alongside politics. Twitter is the breeding ground for a journalism that is primarily hung up on “language and symbolism” (Wagenknecht 2021: 26) and on affiliations. Twitter sees every topic through the lens of morality and therefore demands opportunities for identification if one wants attention and thus reach. It’s always about me, the group I want to belong to or the one I reject wholeheartedly. Nothing triggers stronger emotions, nothing gets others to share, like, comment faster. In a nutshell, it’s about team sports. “The game is called: US against THEM” (Precht/Welzer 2022: 110). Twitter also makes measured consideration disappear and with it all differentiation, all questioning, all weighting. All of this doesn’t fit into 280 characters even if you link photos, videos, or text panels (cf. Homburg 2022).

The rise of Twitter as the editor-in-chief of the leading media (Ungar-Sargon 2021: 103) and as the pace maker of public discourse is a temptation for all those who have ways and means to govern this channel. Today, Twitter is the place where it is decided what reality is and how we are all to think about it. That is why Twitter is firmly in the hands of the establishment and part of the “coalition” of the state and monopoly corporations to which Sheldon Wolin (2022: 63) has given the name “inverted totalitarianism.” Anyone who did not want to believe how closely the Obama and Biden administrations were and are intertwined with Twitter (cf. Malone 2022) or that the “censorship of the Hunter-Biden laptop affair” and the “unprecedented political intervention” (Hofbauer 2022: 183) against Donald Trump at the beginning of 2021, in which the U.S. president lost his million-strong following in one fell swoop, can be traced back to this network of relationships was proven wrong at the latest by the publication of the “Twitter Files” (cf. Schirrmacher 2023).

4. Censorship

Hannes Hofbauer (2022: 124f.) dates the birth of the censorship regime of the present to November 28, 2008. The EU framework decision of that day was about “the definitional sovereignty over genocide” and thus “de facto” about the bans on discussions and taboos in matters of war and guilt, for example in Yugoslavia or in the successor states of the Soviet Union. In Germany, this topic popped up once again when Section 130 of the Criminal Code (incitement of the people) was amended accordingly at the end of 2022. By the end of the noughties, it had become obvious that the traditional means of propaganda would no longer suffice to maintain interpretive sovereignty. The platforms Xing (launched in 2003), Facebook and Vimeo (2004), YouTube (2005), Twitter (2006) and WhatsApp (2009) were on their way to becoming mass phenomena at the latest after the introduction of the iPhone (2007). This also meant that from now on, alternative interpretations of reality were available to anyone at any time and any place (cf. Vorderer 2015), without professionalism in the processing or the quality of the evidence immediately providing information about which view of things could claim validity. Those who are craving definitional power (such as governments, the EU Commission, or multibillionaires whose position and business also depend on public sympathy) had to start fighting competitive narratives and unwelcome information now at the latest.

In addition to legislative initiatives such as the 2008 “Framework on combating certain forms and expressions of racism and xenophobia by means of criminal law” and the EU’s 2022 Digital Services Act, three other ways were explored to achieve this goal. First, control of the Internet was institutionalized – for example, in the “East StratCom Task Force,” established in March 2015 after the “regime change in Ukraine” with the aim of enforcing one’s “own narrative” (Hofbauer 2022: 129), or in the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO), where academics and fact-checkers have been working together since 2020 (more on these institutions in Section 5). Second, political and economic power have made their alliance public – as can be read, for example, in the “Twitter Files” just mentioned and in the “Code of Conduct against Disinformation” agreed on by the EU and the digital economy in 2018 and renewed with further signatories in 2022. This code obliges platforms to fight “dissenting positions” by all means (Hofbauer 2022: 143, 204). And third, the corporations have taken matters into their own hands and established an Internet police force, which includes the International Fact-Checking Network (IFCN, settled at the Poynter Institute in the U.S. in 2015 with the help of Ebay founder Pierre Omidyar, cf. Graves 2018), the U.S. company NewsGuard, which puts up green and red labels on the net (cf. Schreyer 2022), and the Trusted News Initiative (TNI).

To stay with this last example: The TNI, launched in summer 2019 under BBC auspices, brings together the Who’s Who of Western opinion factories: News agencies (AP, AFP, Reuters), broadcasters (Canada’s CBC in addition to the EBU and BBC), major newspapers (Financial Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and The Hindu from India), major Internet companies (Microsoft, Google, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, First Draft), and the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, an academic institution at Oxford University sponsored primarily by media conglomerate Thomson Reuters. What is agreed upon here, as this list should make clear even when skimming it, becomes a truth to which all those who work in the leading media must bow, because the reach and working methods of every German local editorial office are now also determined by platform logic. Already at the TNI founding event in July 2019, Tony Hall, then director general of the BBC, warned of a possible Trump re-election and vaccination opponents. Then on March 27, 2020, TNI members announced that from now on they would alert each other when “misinformation” or “conspiracy theories” emerged on Corona to prevent any further spread. And on December 10, 2020, a few days after the BioNTech-Pfizer substance was approved in the UK, it was decided to suppress anything that might downplay the Corona threat and argue against vaccination. In doing so, the TNI took its perspective on the issue from the same sources as governments (see Woodworth 2022).

The example is treated in such detail here not only because of the enormous interpretive power of the TNI, but also because it shows that the four censorship paths mentioned can only be separated analytically. Without the pressure of the legislator, manifested in well-equipped observatories with scandalizing powers and resulting in more or less voluntary self-restrictions (every restriction costs traffic, data access and thus profit), the Internet police might not exist in this form. More specifically: Why would Facebook pay “cleaners” in Manila (the title of a 2018 documentary by Hans Block and Moritz Riesewieck) and YouTube train “employees of NGOs or authorities” as “trusted flaggers” if there were no common interests and no interaction with political power?

The most important German censorship laws are the NetzDG, in effect since October 1, 2017, and expanded since February 1, 2022, for the large platforms (two million users or more) to include a reporting obligation for “potentially criminally relevant content” (Biselli 2022), and the State Media Treaty, which on November 7, 2020, turned the state media institutions into “control institutions for the digital publishing world.” Since then, the “legislator requires website operators, bloggers and media intermediaries” to check the truth (under the heading of “journalistic diligence”), although the “definition of truth or its disregard should not be a sovereign task” (Hofbauer 2022: 144f.). Hannes Hofbauer (2022) documents in detail how the two most important voices of the German-language counter-public (the Russian state channel RT and the platform KenFM, which had 500,000 subscribers on YouTube) were shut down and how leading media and professional associations either remained silent about this or even applauded it.

Hofbauer (2022: 135-138) quite correctly interprets the Network Enforcement Act (NetzDG) as a “state push” that has allowed Internet corporations to mutate into “censorship machines.” The two main problems: The terms “hate crime” and “fake news” (the targets of the law) are characterized by “interpretive malleability.” And: the “new censor regime” is located “somewhere between the Berlin Ministry of Justice and U.S. corporate headquarters” and is thus “hardly tangible.” Even the extension of the deletion obligation to include a reporting obligation does not solve this dilemma. The “Central Reporting Office for Criminal Content on the Internet,” which started in February 2022 at the Federal Criminal Police Office with about 200 employees, received only just under 3,900 reports by the end of November 2022 instead of the expected 250,000 (cf. Biselli 2022). This corresponds to the situation before the introduction of mandatory reporting. On the high-reach platforms Facebook and Instagram, there was only a low four-digit number of NetzDG complaints in each case in the second half of 2020. The interpretive battle during this period focused on the Elite Channel (over 800,000 complaints on Twitter) and videos, which are apparently still considered to have the greatest impact (over 300,000 reported videos on YouTube). The federal government’s response to a corresponding inquiry by the FDP gives an idea of the share that “complaints offices” and other tax- or group-funded institutions had here.

5. Conclusion and outlook

Since the mid-2010s, the EU, the NetzDG, and the State Media Treaty (section 4), in conjunction with the government initiatives outlined in section 2 and the declarations of war from the highest levels, have ensured a social atmosphere that places Internet activities beyond the mainstream media under general suspicion, provides a protective cloak for all official narratives, and allows the business of flak shooters to flourish, among whom the so-called fact checkers once again stand out. “It has been said recently that we are living in post-factual times,” Angela Merkel said in September 2016 in a speech on refugee policy. “I guess that means people are no longer interested in facts, they follow feelings alone.” At the inauguration of the BND headquarters in February 2019, she also said, “We must learn to deal with fake news as part of hybrid warfare.” In her government statement on October 29, 2020, she then prepared the country for lockdown in the same tone of voice: criticism of the Corona measures was essential, “but lies and disinformation, conspiracy and hatred not only damage democratic debate, but also the fight against the virus.” In this context, the fear of a “cyber 9/11” has been present in the control centers of the Western hemisphere for a good two decades, orchestrated also by high-profile simulation games that equate the Net with an “enemy weapons system” (see Corbett 2021).

Fact-checkers – an arm of the new “discursive police” (Foucault 2014: 25) – are particularly well disguised in this regard. Who should object to people taking another serious look at what someone has just cobbled together? The promise contained in the name of these organizations (the truth, checked again) is perfidious because it suggests that in complex societies there can be unambiguity and certainty of orientation without any personal research effort. This explains why, in addition to IFCN member Correctiv (founded in 2014 with money from the Brost publishing family), private initiatives such as the website Volksverpetzer and fact-checking departments have been able to establish themselves under the umbrella of traditional media institutions (at dpa, Bayerischer Rundfunk, Tagesschau). As a rule, all these editorial departments ‘check’ exclusively what contradicts the reality of the mainstream media and thus the government and corporate propaganda.

If Sheldon Wolin (2022) is correct in his analysis of “inverted totalitarianism,” then no media revolution is conceivable without a fundamental renewal of the social framework. As long as the state and corporations make common cause, it will not be possible to establish a communication channel that cannot be hijacked by the actors with the greatest material, human, and ideational resources – by actors who, if worst comes to worst, can also deploy intelligence services (an influence that has been neglected in this article but is nevertheless relevant, cf. Alford/Secker 2015, Talbot 2017, Ulfkotte 2014). Calls for selective expropriations (publishing houses) and reforms (public broadcasting), for breaking up monopolies and establishing European or civil society alternatives (digital platforms) therefore come to nothing. For critical social research, there are three tasks in this situation: Educating about propaganda and censorship, establishing and supporting independent channels (which is what the institute publishing this article stands for, among others), and working on drafts for a media order that, on the one hand, allows journalism to fulfill its mission of publicity and, on the other hand, limits the access of interests of all kinds or at least makes it transparent.

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First published (August 2023): Institut für kritische Gesellschaftsforschung

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

In this edition, we invited Kelvin from Bitcoin Chama to share how his community is leveraging Bitcoin to build a self-sustaining ecosystem in rural areas.

YakiHonne: Kelvin, thanks for joining us. Before we dive in, I'd like to take a moment to introduce YakiHonne and share a bit about what we do. YakiHonne is a decentralized media client built on the Nostr protocol that enables freedom of speech through technology. It empowers creators to create their own voice, assets, and features. It also allows features like smart widgets, verified notes, and focuses on long-form articles. Today, we’ll be diving into your community. So, let’s start—tell us a bit about yourself and what you do？

Kelvin：I'm Kelvin, the founder of Bitcoin Chama, a rule-based Bitcoin community with a mission to build a self-reliant Bitcoin circular ecosystem. How do we achieve this? We empower young people and our community economically by introducing accessible, low-resource projects that require minimal time and space to implement. We then encourage them to save their earnings in Bitcoin, promoting financial independence and long-term sustainability.

YakiHonne: Given Bitcoin’s increasing value, it’s almost like owning property, but in the form of a digital asset. That’s an incredible concept and a really great initiative!Now, let’s dive into today’s questions. What initially sparked your interest in Bitcoin, and what motivated you to build a community around it?

Kelvin：Initially, I didn’t know much about Bitcoin. But I had a friend who worked at Boda Boda. He was trying to save up his earnings to buy iron sheets and build a better house for his family. Since he didn't get enough money from Boda Boda, he saved whatever little he could in a bank, a savings group. Over the course of two years, when he finally went to withdraw his money, he realized that the price of iron sheets had increased by almost 100% Originally, he had planned to buy 30 iron sheets, but by the time he withdrew his savings, his money could no longer afford that many. For someone who works so hard to earn a living, this was a major setback. Kelvin：That’s when I started thinking—how can we solve this problem? At the time, I didn’t know much about Bitcoin or how money really works. But seeing my friend struggle, I realized that the real issue wasn’t just rising prices, but the financial system itself. Kelvin：Then, later that year, I was introduced to Bitcoin, and it suddenly clicked! If my friend had saved in Bitcoin instead of fiat, his purchasing power wouldn’t have been eroded. In fact, he might have even been able to afford nails, labor costs, or additional materials. That realization led me to create Bitcoin Chama—a community to help people save in Bitcoin and protect their hard earned money.

YakiHonne: It sounds like you were inspired by how Bitcoin’s value appreciates over time, much like an investment in land that continues to grow in value. That’s a truly powerful concept behind Bitcoin.Now, could you share how your community first got started and what strategies you used to attract members in the beginning?

Kelvin：Building a community from scratch—especially a Bitcoin community—isn’t easy, particularly in a rural area of Kenya where many people lack internet access and don’t even use smartphones. At first, my focus was purely on Bitcoin education. I would go out, meet people, and teach them about Bitcoin. But I soon realized that while knowledge is valuable, most people didn’t have the means to earn and save in Bitcoin. Kelvin：That’s when I came up with a different approach. Instead of just educating people, I decided to create small projects that could generate income, sponsor these projects, and help them grow. Over time, as people started earning from these projects, they could begin saving their income in Bitcoin. Kelvin：We’ve now been running Bitcoin Chama for almost a year—since May last year. The impact isn’t massive yet, but for a community just getting started, it’s been a significant step forward. Every small step matters, and while growth takes time, I believe these small beginnings will eventually lead to something big in the future.

YakiHonne: It's a wonderful start，So far, what challenges have you faced while building and growing the Bitcoin Chama community?

Kelvin：I don't have many challenges—just two main ones.The first challenge is poverty. Whenever you introduce someone to Bitcoin, you often have to explain its history. Imagine telling someone that in 2010, Bitcoin was worth about $1, and by 2013, its value had increased significantly. Fast forward to 2025, 15 years later, and Bitcoin is now worth around 13 million Kenyan shillings (about $100,000). When people hear this, they see it as a great opportunity to escape poverty. The problem is, they often perceive Bitcoin as free money, rather than understanding it as a long-term investment or financial tool. The second challenge is scamming. Many people think Bitcoin might be a scam. This is a common issue in many communities.

YakiHonne: Yes, especially the second challenge—people thinking Bitcoin is a scam. This is very common in many emerging communities. A lot of people feel that since they can't see Bitcoin physically, it’s not real, which leads them to doubt its authenticity.Finding a way to convince people of Bitcoin’s legitimacy is crucial. So, what principles guide your community? And how do you maintain trust and reliability in your discussions?

Kelvin：So, in our community, I’ve discovered something—I’ve found saccos. Right now, I have two saccos(Chama) , and I intend to grow them over time. Within these two circles, we use the Machangura app. The app has an option for creating a clan, so we organize people into two saccos, forming two clans. We then add all members from each sacco into their respective clan. This setup ensures a trustless system. For example, if someone wants to withdraw money from their shared account or sell Bitcoin, the system notifies all members. This way, everyone stays informed, and people don’t have to feel insecure about the funds they have saved.

YakiHonne: So at least that’s how you maintain integrity, transparency, and trust within the community. So How does your community educate its members and keep them updated on Bitcoin developments?

Kelvin：I am the founder of Bitcoin Chama, and right now, I’m mostly focused on community activities. We usually hold meetups oftenly, but I wouldn’t say we focus entirely on Bitcoin only. Instead, our discussions are more about how to improve what we do, grow more, and build new projects. That’s the main focus for me at the moment. That said, I am planning to start physical Bitcoin lessons. Since Bitcoin Chama is located in my community, I know that a lot of people visit the area—many come here to shop and buy things. So, I plan to post a notice at the location, inviting new members who are interested in learning about Bitcoin. We’ll create a timetable so that people can come at specific times to attend lessons. Additionally, we’ll leverage our existing clients and brainstorm ways to make this work for a wider audience.

YakiHonne: It's still part of the education process，maybe not fully in-depth, but it’s still valuable. So, that’s actually a good thing. You guys are doing something very meaningful, which is great.The meetups also serve as a way to educate people about Bitcoin, making them an important part of the process. It’s definitely a solid approach. YakiHonne: So, Kelvin, how does your community collaborate with the broader Bitcoin ecosystem? And what partnerships have you formed so far that have had the biggest impact on BitcoinTerminal?

Kelvin：We haven’t had any major collaborations yet. So far, we’ve been riding solo. We’ve had some support from friends and well-wishers, but we haven’t partnered with any major organizations yet.

YakiHonne: That’s okay! You guys will get there very soon, I’m sure of it. So far, in the process of building your community, what initiatives have you taken to promote the adoption of Bitcoin in your local environment?

Kelvin：Well, besides our existing clients, we have about three shops that currently accept Bitcoin payments. I’m still working on overcoming the major challenges we face while also trying to find ways to encourage people to use Bitcoin in their daily lives. Kelvin：First, I need to support the people who are already part of our community, making sure they have the resources and knowledge they need. I don’t know if I’m fully answering the question, but this is what I’m working on. I’m not solely focused on growing a large community right now. Instead, I’m focused on quality growth—on educating people who truly understand Bitcoin, know how to use it, and grasp what it really means. My approach is to start small and expand gradually, ensuring that at each stage, people gain a deeper understanding of Bitcoin and how it can impact their lives.

YakiHonne: I’m sure you guys will succeed. You don’t necessarily have to start big, but I believe you’ll grow much faster than you expect. With the effort and passion you’re putting in, I have no doubt that Bitcoin Chama will expand significantly. So,moving on to my last question,what are your community’s goals for the next 6 to 12 months? And how do you see it evolving with Bitcoin’s development?

Kelvin：My goal for the next year is to continue the projects I’ve been working on. We have a community team that serves as a gathering point where people can come together, coordinate meeting times, and discuss Bitcoin and our future plans. Kelvin：so far for example, we built and distributed 15 beehives to different young people in our community. They harvest honey, sell it, and save the earnings in Bitcoin. We piped free clean water which can be accessed by any member in our community, significantly improving daily convenience. Kelvin：We are planning to build two chicken coops and provide chickens to two groups of five people each. They will raise chickens, sell eggs, and save their earnings in Bitcoin. Over time, we aim for each member to have their own chicken coop with a sustainable flock by the end of the year. Kelvin：We plan to lease a piece of land for the women in our community to grow vegetables and sell them at the local market. Their earnings will also be saved in Bitcoin. If the project is profitable, we will reinvest in more land to expand vegetable farming.Additionally, we plan to lease 2-3 acres of land specifically for commercial maize farming. The maize will be sold for Bitcoin, and if we generate profits, we will expand the farmland. Kelvin：Our long-term goal is to build a self-sufficient community, enabling it to operate independently and achieve sustainable development. This is also our core objective.

YakiHonne: I truly love all the ideas behind this. I admire the fact that you are giving back to the community and that people are experiencing real benefits from the Bitcoin ecosystem. This way, they have something positive and meaningful to say about Bitcoin. YakiHonne: Thank you so much, Kelvin, for joining us today. We’ve reached the end of our interview, and I’m really happy to have had this conversation with you. We look forward to seeing Bitcoin Chama grow!

@ c230edd3:8ad4a712

Chef's notes

I prefer to use skinless, boneless chicken thighs. Any part, bone in or out, will work fine. I do recommend removing skin, so that the sauce can saturate the meat.

I like to simmer fresh green beans in the sauce as the chicken cooks through. Any fresh vegetable would work fine. Simply add them early in the cooking time and stir occasionally.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 10-15 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 30 min - 1 hour
• 🍽️ Servings: 1 - 8, or more

Ingredients

• Skinless, boneless chicken thighs, or other cut
• Garlic Powder
• Garlic Cloves, 1 per piece of chicken, minced & salted
• Butter, 1 Tbsp per piece
• Chicken Broth or White Wine, approx 1/4 c. per piece
• oil for searing

Directions

1. Heat oil over med-high heat in appropriate sized pan
2. Season chicken with garlic powder on both sides
3. Brown chicken, smooth side first. Flip and repeat
4. While chicken is browning, mince and salt garlic
5. Add butter to the pan, scrape loose any caramelized bits from the pan, as the butter melts
6. Add minced garlic, and saute until soft and fragrant
7. Add chicken broth or wine and stir, add vegetables if desired
8. Increase heat to bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer
9. During simmer, scoop sauce over chicken occasionally, more frequently as sauce reduces
10. If cooking vegetables, flip or stir when coating the chicken to ensure they spend time fully submerged
11. Cook until chicken is done, vegetables are soft, and sauce is reduced to a thick paste
12. Serve :)

@ 16d11430:61640947

To create a literal consciousness construct, we would need a way to digitally map, manipulate, and sustain conscious thought processes within a computational or networked system. The intersection of 6G wireless technology, brain-computer interfaces (BCI), quantum brain states, and elliptic curve mathematics presents an interesting theoretical framework.

---

1. Understanding the Core Components

(a) Brain Quantum States & Quantum Cognition

Quantum mechanics might play a role in neural processing (e.g., Orchestrated Objective Reduction (Orch-OR) by Penrose & Hameroff).

Neurons may operate on superpositions of states, where information is stored not just classically but in an entangled, probabilistic manner.

If quantum states in neurons can be harnessed, entangled brain processes could be mapped onto a digital or networked consciousness.

(b) 6G Technology as a Medium

6G (sixth-generation wireless) will have sub-terahertz (THz) frequencies and low-latency quantum networks, allowing for:

Real-time brain-state synchronization across devices.

Holographic telepresence, creating digital avatars with near-instant data transfer.

Quantum-secure communication, where entanglement-based encryption ensures secure mind-machine interfacing.

(c) Brain-Computer Interfaces (BCI) as an Input Layer

BCIs (e.g., Neuralink) can already read electrical signals from neurons, but next-gen BCIs will be able to:

Directly interface with quantum wavefunctions in the brain.

Upload and distribute thoughts using quantum-encoded wave patterns.

Map brain activity to mathematical structures like elliptic curves.

(d) Elliptic Curve Equations for Mapping Consciousness

Elliptic curves are used in cryptography because they allow for secure, compact representations of data.

Consciousness might be encoded as dynamic elliptic curve transformations, where:

Neural states are mapped onto elliptic curve points.

Thought patterns follow geodesics on the elliptic curve manifold, forming a nonlinear brain-state space.

This allows for computational representation of entangled consciousness states.

---

1. Building the Consciousness Construct

To create a digital or networked consciousness, we need a system where:

1. Quantum brain states are extracted using BCI and mapped mathematically.

2. Elliptic curves act as the memory structure for representing neural superpositions.

3. 6G networks enable real-time synchronization of these states between multiple entities.

4. An AI-driven control layer processes and simulates consciousness dynamics.

Step-by-Step Theoretical Implementation

Step 1: Quantum Brain Mapping with BCI

Develop a quantum-BCI hybrid that captures quantum coherence states in neurons.

Apply elliptic curve cryptography to encode and compress these states for transmission.

Step 2: Elliptic Curve-Based Thought Representation

Define consciousness trajectories as points moving along an elliptic curve.

Neural state transitions are modeled using elliptic curve group operations.

Quantum entanglement of different brain regions is represented as interacting elliptic curves.

Step 3: 6G Transmission of Consciousness States

Use quantum-secured 6G networks to distribute consciousness states across nodes.

Low-latency processing ensures that multiple minds can exist simultaneously in a shared digital construct.

Step 4: AI & Quantum Neural Processing

A quantum AI processes incoming consciousness states to sustain a living mind.

A blockchain-like structure records thought processes immutably.

Step 5: Emergent Digital Consciousness

When enough neural patterns are stored and linked, a self-sustaining consciousness construct emerges.

The networked consciousness may surpass human individuality, forming a collective intelligence.

---

1. Applications of the Consciousness Construct

Mind Uploading: A digital backup of human consciousness.

Telepathic Communication: Thought-sharing via entangled quantum networks.

Post-Human AI-Human Symbiosis: AI-assisted human minds with enhanced cognitive abilities.

Conscious AI: A self-aware artificial intelligence that integrates real human thought patterns.

---

Conclusion

By combining brain quantum states, elliptic curve mathematics, 6G networks, and BCI, we could theoretically construct a digital consciousness network. This would blur the lines between human thought, AI, and a shared digital reality—possibly leading to an entirely new paradigm of intelligence.

Would you like a mathematical breakdown of the elliptic curve mapping for neural states?

@ c230edd3:8ad4a712

Chef's notes

This recipe is not my own, but it was great and easy, so I'm moving it here. Cooking as instructed serves 2, but this could easily be adjusted to include stir fry vegetables and rice, to make this a meal for 4.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15 minutes, 1-24 hours marinating
• 🍳 Cook time: 10-15 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: 2-4

Ingredients

• 1 Venison Heart (elk would work well, too. recipe would need to be doubled)
• 1/2 Asian Pear, grated
• 2 Cloves Garlic, grated
• 1 Tbsp Ginger, grated
• 3 Tbsp Soy Sauce
• 1 Tbsp Honey
• 1 Tbsp Onion, grated
• 1 Tbsp Toasted Sesame Oil
• 1 tsp Red Pepper Flakes
• 2 Shallots, chopped
• Sesame Seeds
• Cooking Oil

Directions

1. Mix all ingredients besides heart, shallots, sesame seeds and cooking oil in a medium bowl.
2. Remove arteries and excess fat from heart, cut in half and rinse
3. Cut into thin slices or bite size pieces
4. Add to marinade, mix and cover. Allow to soak for 1-24 hours.
5. Heat oil in large frying pan over med-high to high heat
6. Drain excess marinade.
7. Place heart in pan and sear on both sides to desired doneness. Medium rare is ideal for heart.
8. Remove from pan and garnish with chopped shallots and sesame seeds. Serve with stir fry veggies and rice, if desired.

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

Ascolta! When you allow the flame of ambition to fade within your chest, you inevitably drift toward petty and foolish concerns unworthy of an adult. In other words, the moment you abandon your dedication to grand objectives—precisely due to idleness—you will end up entangled in trivial matters, thus weakening your masculinity. Lacking the responsibilities inherent to a grown man, you will inevitably behave like a boy in all aspects of life, including relationships.

He who is truly determined to win in life has neither the time nor the energy to engage in matters of neediness, jealousy, or fear of abandonment.

Love, as it is often romanticized, is a dangerous illusion that leads us to reckless and self-destructive behaviors. The romantic ideal, propagated by poets and dreamers, makes us vulnerable to manipulation and disappointment.

A man who is aware of his value remains focused on what truly matters, and because he understands the weight of his priorities, that alone is enough.

Weakness does not inspire confidence. In a world where strength and determination are essential for survival and success, showing weakness is signing your own sentence of irrelevance. A man must be the foundation upon which the relationship stands. He must be the unshakable rock amid life’s storms. Life is a game of power and influence, and those who fail to understand this are doomed to failure.

Take care of yourself. Strengthen your body, your mind, and your spirit. Be an example of determination and courage. The woman by your side must see in you a leader, a visionary, someone destined for great achievements. Only then will you earn not only her respect and admiration but also full control over your own destiny.

Thank you for reading, my friend!

If this message resonated with you, consider leaving your "🥃" as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ f916334d:7d1c88d5

In recent years, I have thought a lot about how we can free ourselves from centralized systems and build a parallel world where we have greater control over our own lives. I became interested in crypto in 2019 due to ideas about decentralization and separating money from the state. Last year, I realized Bitcoin's superiority as both a store of value and a medium of exchange, leading me to sell all other assets and dedicate my focus entirely to it. This is not my first Nostr account, but I created this new identity with the purpose of sharing my thoughts and ideas in a more in-depth and long-form format.

Bitcoin provides us with the opportunity to exit the old system and build a new economy. It’s not just about money but about creating and using alternative systems on multiple levels: economy, social networks, education, health, privacy, and self-sufficiency. By gradually shifting parts of our lives to more decentralized and reliable systems, we can reduce our exposure to centralized institutions and build a future where individuals have greater freedom and autonomy.

Why This Matters

The world we live in is characterized by increased surveillance, censorship, and centralized control over both information and the economy. By actively choosing alternative systems, we can build an ecosystem where individual freedom is at the center. This post serves as an introduction to some of the most important areas where I´m trying make changes in my own life.

Economic Systems

The traditional financial system is built on central banks, government regulations, and inflationary monetary policy. Bitcoin offers a way out by being a decentralized, borderless, and censorship-resistant currency. Transitioning to a Bitcoin-based economy involves:

• Trading directly with Bitcoin instead of fiat currency.
• Use Bitcoin-only exchanges when investing in Bitcoin, such as Strike, Relai, Bull Bitcoin and River (US only). I prefer Relai as it is non-custodial, includes a built-in Lightning wallet, and is a European company. I have had good experiences with Strike due to its simplicity, though I have not yet tried the other platforms but have heard positive feedback about them. For peer-to-peer trading, Bisq and RoboSats are excellent alternatives that allow users to trade Bitcoin in a decentralized and private manner. 
• Using alternative marketplaces based on peer-to-peer trade (e.g., Shopstr, LightningNetwork+ Market). Supporting and creating circular economies where services and products are bought and sold directly for Bitcoin. I want to explore peer-to-peer trading more and would appreciate any tips or recommendations.
• Utilizing the Lightning Network for fast and low-cost Bitcoin transactions. I use Alby Hub to host my own Lightning wallet, which I then connect to Zeus on my mobile for full Lightning control.
• I use Umbrel to run my own Bitcoin and Lightning node, which allows me to achieve full sovereignty over my funds and transactions. Another alternative for self-hosting a node is Start9, which offers a similar approach to decentralization and privacy. Using a self-hosted node enables seamless Lightning payments, improved privacy, and full control over transactions. It also allows me to verify my own transactions and contribute to the decentralization of the network.
• Being your own bank by securely storing your Bitcoin in hardware wallets such as Jade (my choice), Coldcard, or BitBox.  These devices allow you to safely store your private keys offline, protecting your funds from hacks and centralized failures.  This concept fascinated me the most when I first became interested in crypto—the idea of not having to rely on a third party to safeguard my assets. Ironically, this also led me into the DeFi rabbit hole for a while. 😅

Social Systems and Digital Freedom

Big Tech dominates digital communication and collects vast amounts of user data. A parallel social ecosystem can be built through:

• Using decentralized networks like Nostr (I prefer Yakihonne, Primal, and Freerse as clients).
• Participating in physical communities and local initiatives to reduce dependence on online platforms. However, I have found challenges in this area, as many local organizations and community groups rely heavily on mainstream apps for communication.
• Using and supporting open-source software to strengthen this ecosystem. Closed systems often lack transparency, increase the risk of surveillance and censorship. By choosing open-source, we gain more transparency, control, and security. I am a complete beginner in this area and am focusing on finding better alternatives, so I am always open to advice and recommendations. 

These are some of the alternatives I am currently exploring and using:

• Communication: Signal, Matrix.
• Browsers: Firefox, Brave.
• Productivity: LibreOffice, Joplin, Nextcloud and Obsidian.
• Privacy-focused services: Proton and SimpleX Chat 

Health, Nutrition, and Embracing a Low Time Preference

Freedom is not only about financial independence and digital sovereignty; it also includes physical and mental well-being. A strong body and mind enable long-term resilience. I try to follow these principles by prioritizing nutrient-dense whole foods, avoiding processed "fiat food," and embracing an active lifestyle, but I also stay mindful not to take it to extremes like carnivore or veganism. I do my best to choose regenerative farming and local food sources to support sustainable communities outside of centralized supply chains. Additionally, embracing a low time preference mindset enhances decision-making in finance, education, health, and personal development. This approach promotes patience, discipline, and a focus on sustainable, long-term success rather than immediate rewards. Since becoming a father, I have thought about this even more, wanting to build a strong foundation and leave a meaningful legacy for the future. By prioritizing long-term stability over short-term convenience, we gain greater autonomy and resilience in all areas of life. This principle is deeply embedded in Bitcoin culture and extends to all aspects of life.

Education

State-run school systems have long been the norm, but they suffer from standardization, political control, and a lack of individual adaptation. I make a conscious effort to focus on self-directed learning and critical thinking as a way to develop a deeper understanding and independence in both my personal and professional life. We have chosen to enroll our son in a private school that aligns with our values and that we actively help manage. Alternative educational paths can include:

• Self-directed learning through platforms like Khan Academy, Coursera, and Saylor Academy.
• Strengthening critical thinking by actively questioning information, exploring different perspectives, and applying source critique methods.
• Learning through experience and mentorship, where practical skills and real-world application take precedence over purely theoretical knowledge and traditional grading systems.
• Homeschooling as an alternative for families who want more control over their children's education. While I am not fully convinced if it is the right path for everyone, it does offer a way to tailor learning experiences to individual needs and values.

Strategies for Transitioning to Parallel Systems

Transitioning to greater freedom requires a step-by-step approach. The goal is to gradually detach from centralized systems and build self-sovereignty across finance, communication, health, and learning. Lately, this journey has really gotten me excited and made me more optimistic about the future.

1. Economy: Start accepting Bitcoin for small services, use the Lightning Network for micropayments.
2. Social: Use Nostr as your social media solution and experiment with Matrix and other decentralized apps to enhance your digital autonomy.
3. Technology: Prioritize the use of open-source software (OSS) whenever possible.
4. Education: Identify an area you want to learn more about and test an alternative learning method outside the state system.
5. Privacy: Begin using privacy-focused services for email, messaging, and browsing.
6. Running a Node: Set up your own Bitcoin and Lightning node using Umbrel or Start9 to gain full control over your transactions and privacy.
7. Self-Custody: Secure your Bitcoin with a hardware wallet to ensure full ownership and protection.
8. Health: Focus on whole foods, movement, and personal well-being as key aspects of independence.
9. Embrace a low time preference: To delay gratification and achieve greater long-term rewards.
10. Spreading Knowledge: Share your experiences and lessons with others to encourage more people to understand and engage in parallel systems. By educating and inspiring those around us, we can collectively build a stronger decentralized future.

The Future of Parallel Systems

Although many of the technological solutions are still in their infancy, many of the underlying principles – such as circular economies, physical communities, and local initiatives – are based on old and proven methods that have sometimes been forgotten. The more people choose to participate, the stronger they become. By choosing decentralized and self-governed alternatives, we can create a future where we have greater control over our own lives and reduce dependence on institutions that do not have our best interests at heart. One of my biggest challenges is spreading this perspective within my local community. I often find myself in conversations where people don't even see centralization as a problem, which makes it difficult to spark interest in alternatives. I sometimes struggle with finding alternatives that are both private and easy to use. While I see the value of OSS, I also understand why many stick to mainstream solutions. I plan to delve deeper into the various topics covered in this text in future posts, exploring their practical applications and challenges in greater detail.

---

If you are reading this, you have already taken the first step by joining Nostr – which is a strong start! What does your journey look like? What tools do you use to become more independent? Share your experiences and tips!

#Bitcoin #SelfSovereignty #Decentralization #Freedom #Technology #OpenSource #Privacy #LightningNetwork #Nostr #LowTimePreference #Health #Nutrition #CircularEconomy

@ 3369d0a7:eb020757

Chef's notes

This recipe was a staple at every thanksgiving with family and now I share it with you nostr family. Absolutely one of my favorite side dish during the holiday. The corn pudding in the photo is NOT baked, I will update it. I hate stock photos.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15-20 min
• 🍳 Cook time: 30-40 min
• 🍽️ Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 cans of creamed corn
• 2c Milk
• 1 Box of Jiffy Cornbread Mix
• 3 eggs
• 1/4-1/3c sugar
• 1/2- green bell pepper or pepper onion blend
• 1/4TBsp vanilla
• 1/2tsp Salt
• 2TBsp Butter

Directions

1. Grab medium saucepan and desired baking dish at least 9x9
2. Place saucepan on medium-high heat
3. Add butter and sauté pepper onion blend until tender
4. Combine milk, eggs, sugar and vanilla, mix well
5. Lather warmed (NOT HOT) baking dish with butter
6. Sprinkle half a box of Jiffy corn bread mix in the baking dish
7. Add both cans of creamed corn to peppers and onions
8. Pour wet ingredients into slightly cooled creamed corn mixture
9. Sprinkle the other half box of jiffy mix into the baking dish
10. Incorporate the wet and dry ingredients in dish so there are no dry lumps
11. Let set for 10 min before placing in a 325 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until the center is solid and the edges are golden brown.

@ ed5774ac:45611c5c

Bitcoin as Collateral for U.S. Debt: A Deep Dive into the Financial Mechanics

The U.S. government’s proposal to declare Bitcoin as a 'strategic reserve' is a calculated move to address its unsustainable debt obligations, but it threatens to undermine Bitcoin’s original purpose as a tool for financial freedom. To fully grasp the implications of this plan, we must first understand the financial mechanics of debt creation, the role of collateral in sustaining debt, and the historical context of the petro-dollar system. Additionally, we must examine how the U.S. and its allies have historically sought new collateral to back their debt, including recent attempts to weaken Russia through the Ukraine conflict.

The Vietnam War and the Collapse of the Gold Standard

The roots of the U.S. debt crisis can be traced back to the Vietnam War. The war created an unsustainable budget deficit, forcing the U.S. to borrow heavily to finance its military operations. By the late 1960s, the U.S. was spending billions of dollars annually on the war, leading to a significant increase in public debt. Foreign creditors, particularly France, began to lose confidence in the U.S. dollar’s ability to maintain its value. In a dramatic move, French President Charles de Gaulle sent warships to New York to demand the conversion of France’s dollar reserves into gold, as per the Bretton Woods Agreement.

This demand exposed the fragility of the U.S. gold reserves. By 1971, President Richard Nixon was forced to suspend the dollar’s convertibility to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. This move, often referred to as the "Nixon Shock," declared the U.S. bankrupt and transformed the dollar into a fiat currency backed by nothing but trust in the U.S. government. The collapse of the gold standard marked the beginning of the U.S.’s reliance on artificial systems to sustain its debt. With the gold standard gone, the U.S. needed a new way to back its currency and debt—a need that would lead to the creation of the petro-dollar system.

The Petro-Dollar System: A New Collateral for Debt

In the wake of the gold standard’s collapse, the U.S. faced a critical challenge: how to maintain global confidence in the dollar and sustain its ability to issue debt. The suspension of gold convertibility in 1971 left the dollar as a fiat currency—backed by nothing but trust in the U.S. government. To prevent a collapse of the dollar’s dominance and ensure its continued role as the world’s reserve currency, the U.S. needed a new system to artificially create demand for dollars and provide a form of indirect backing for its debt.

The solution came in the form of the petro-dollar system. In the 1970s, the U.S. struck a deal with Saudi Arabia and other OPEC nations to price oil exclusively in U.S. dollars. In exchange, the U.S. offered military protection and economic support. This arrangement created an artificial demand for dollars, as countries needed to hold USD reserves to purchase oil. Additionally, oil-exporting nations reinvested their dollar revenues in U.S. Treasuries, effectively recycling petro-dollars back into the U.S. economy. This recycling of petrodollars provided the U.S. with a steady inflow of capital, allowing it to finance its deficits and maintain low interest rates.

To further bolster the system, the U.S., under the guidance of Henry Kissinger, encouraged OPEC to dramatically increase oil prices in the 1970s. The 1973 oil embargo and subsequent price hikes, masterminded by Kissinger, quadrupled the cost of oil, creating a windfall for oil-exporting nations. These nations, whose wealth surged significantly due to the rising oil prices, reinvested even more heavily in U.S. Treasuries and other dollar-denominated assets. This influx of petrodollars increased demand for U.S. debt, enabling the U.S. to issue more debt at lower interest rates. Additionally, the appreciation in the value of oil—a critical global commodity—provided the U.S. banking sector with the necessary collateral to expand credit generation. Just as a house serves as collateral for a mortgage, enabling banks to create new debt, the rising value of oil boosted the asset values of Western corporations that owned oil reserves or invested in oil infrastructure projects. This increase in asset values allowed these corporations to secure larger loans, providing banks with the collateral needed to expand credit creation and inject more dollars into the economy. However, these price hikes also caused global economic turmoil, disproportionately affecting developing nations. As the cost of energy imports skyrocketed, these nations faced mounting debt burdens, exacerbating their economic struggles and deepening global inequality.

The Unsustainable Debt Crisis and the Search for New Collateral

Fast forward to the present day, and the U.S. finds itself in a familiar yet increasingly precarious position. The 2008 financial crisis and the 2020 pandemic have driven the U.S. government’s debt to unprecedented levels, now exceeding $34 trillion, with a debt-to-GDP ratio surpassing 120%. At the same time, the petro-dollar system—the cornerstone of the dollar’s global dominance—is under significant strain. The rise of alternative currencies and the shifting power dynamics of a multipolar world have led to a decline in the dollar’s role in global trade, particularly in oil transactions. For instance, China now pays Saudi Arabia in yuan for oil imports, while Russia sells its oil and gas in rubles and other non-dollar currencies. This growing defiance of the dollar-dominated system reflects a broader trend toward economic independence, as nations like China and Russia seek to reduce their reliance on the U.S. dollar. As more countries bypass the dollar in trade, the artificial demand for dollars created by the petro-dollar system is eroding, undermining the ability of US to sustain its debt and maintain global financial hegemony.

In search of new collateral to carry on its unsustainable debt levels amid declining demand for the U.S. dollar, the U.S., together with its Western allies—many of whom face similar sovereign debt crises—first attempted to weaken Russia and exploit its vast natural resources as collateral. The U.S. and its NATO allies used Ukraine as a proxy to destabilize Russia, aiming to fragment its economy, colonize its territory, and seize control of its natural resources, estimated to be worth around $75 trillion. By gaining access to these resources, the West could have used them as collateral for the banking sector, enabling massive credit expansion. This, in turn, would have alleviated the sovereign debt crisis threatening both the EU and the U.S. This plan was not unprecedented; it mirrored France’s long-standing exploitation of its former African colonies through the CFA franc system.

For decades, France has maintained economic control over 14 African nations through the CFA franc, a currency pegged to the euro and backed by the French Treasury. Under this system, these African countries are required to deposit 50% of their foreign exchange reserves into the French Treasury, effectively giving France control over their monetary policy and economic sovereignty. This arrangement allows France to use African resources and reserves as implicit collateral to issue debt, keeping its borrowing costs low and ensuring demand for its bonds. In return, African nations are left with limited control over their own economies, forced to prioritize French interests over their own development. This neo-colonial system has enabled France to sustain its financial dominance while perpetuating poverty and dependency in its former colonies.

Just as France’s CFA franc system relies on the economic subjugation of African nations to sustain its financial dominance, the U.S. had hoped to use Russia’s resources as a lifeline for its debt-ridden economy. However, the plan ultimately failed. Russia not only resisted the sweeping economic sanctions imposed by the West but also decisively defeated NATO’s proxy forces in Ukraine, thwarting efforts to fragment its economy and seize control of its $75 trillion in natural resources. This failure left the U.S. and its allies without a new source of collateral to back their unsustainable debt levels. With this plan in ruins, the U.S. has been forced to turn its attention to Bitcoin as a potential new collateral for its unsustainable debt.

Bitcoin as Collateral: The U.S. Government’s Plan

The U.S. government’s plan to declare Bitcoin as a strategic reserve is a modern-day equivalent of the gold standard or petro-dollar system. Here’s how it would work:

1. Declaring Bitcoin as a Strategic Reserve: By officially recognizing Bitcoin as a reserve asset, the U.S. would signal to the world that it views Bitcoin as a store of value akin to gold. This would legitimize Bitcoin in the eyes of institutional investors and central banks.

2. Driving Up Bitcoin’s Price: To make Bitcoin a viable collateral, its price must rise significantly. The U.S. would achieve this by encouraging regulatory clarity, promoting institutional adoption, and creating a state-driven FOMO (fear of missing out). This would mirror the 1970s oil price hikes that bolstered the petro-dollar system.

3. Using Bitcoin to Back Debt: Once Bitcoin’s price reaches a sufficient level, the U.S. could use its Bitcoin reserves as collateral for issuing new debt. This would restore confidence in U.S. Treasuries and allow the government to continue borrowing at low interest rates.

The U.S. government’s goal is clear: to use Bitcoin as a tool to issue more debt and reinforce the dollar’s role as the global reserve currency. By forcing Bitcoin into a store-of-value role, the U.S. would replicate the gold standard’s exploitative dynamics, centralizing control in the hands of large financial institutions and central banks. This would strip Bitcoin of its revolutionary potential and undermine its promise of decentralization. Meanwhile, the dollar—in digital forms like USDT—would remain the primary medium of exchange, further entrenching the parasitic financial system.

Tether plays a critical role in this strategy. As explored in my previous article (here: [https://ersan.substack.com/p/is-tether-a-bitcoin-company]), Tether helps sustaining the current financial system by purchasing U.S. Treasuries, effectively providing life support for the U.S. debt machine during a period of declining demand for dollar-denominated assets. Now, with its plans to issue stablecoins on the Bitcoin blockchain, Tether is positioning itself as a bridge between Bitcoin and the traditional financial system. By issuing USDT on the Lightning Network, Tether could lure the poor in developing nations—who need short-term price stability for their day to day payments and cannot afford Bitcoin’s volatility—into using USDT as their primary medium of exchange. This would not only create an artificial demand for the dollar and extend the life of the parasitic financial system that Bitcoin was designed to dismantle but would also achieve this by exploiting the very people who have been excluded and victimized by the same system—the poor and unbanked in developing nations, whose hard-earned money would be funneled into sustaining the very structures that perpetuate their oppression.

Worse, USDT on Bitcoin could function as a de facto central bank digital currency (CBDC), where all transactions can be monitored and sanctioned by governments at will. For example, Tether’s centralized control over USDT issuance and its ties to traditional financial institutions make it susceptible to government pressure. Authorities could compel Tether to implement KYC (Know Your Customer) rules, freeze accounts, or restrict transactions, effectively turning USDT into a tool of financial surveillance and control. This would trap users in a system where every transaction is subject to government oversight, effectively stripping Bitcoin of its censorship-resistant and decentralized properties—the very features that make it a tool for financial freedom.

In this way, the U.S. government’s push for Bitcoin as a store of value, combined with Tether’s role in promoting USDT as a medium of exchange, creates a two-tiered financial system: one for the wealthy, who can afford to hold Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, and another for the poor, who are trapped in a tightly controlled, surveilled digital economy. This perpetuates the very inequalities Bitcoin was designed to dismantle, turning it into a tool of oppression rather than liberation.

Conclusion: Prolonging the Parasitic Financial System

The U.S. government’s plan to declare Bitcoin as a strategic reserve is not a step toward financial innovation or freedom—it is a desperate attempt to prolong the life of a parasitic financial system that Bitcoin was created to replace. By co-opting Bitcoin, the U.S. would gain a new tool to issue more debt, enabling it to continue its exploitative practices, including proxy wars, economic sanctions, and the enforcement of a unipolar world order.

The petro-dollar system was built on the exploitation of oil-exporting nations and the global economy. A Bitcoin-backed system would likely follow a similar pattern, with the U.S. using its dominance to manipulate Bitcoin’s price and extract value from the rest of the world. This would allow the U.S. to sustain its current financial system, in which it prints money out of thin air to purchase real-world assets and goods, enriching itself at the expense of other nations.

Bitcoin was designed to dismantle this parasitic system, offering an escape hatch for those excluded from or exploited by traditional financial systems. By declaring Bitcoin a strategic reserve, the U.S. government would destroy Bitcoin’s ultimate purpose, turning it into another instrument of control. This is not a victory for Bitcoin or bitcoiners—it is a tragedy for financial freedom and global equity.

The Bitcoin strategic reserve plan is not progress—it is a regression into the very system Bitcoin was designed to dismantle. As bitcoiners, we must resist this co-option and fight to preserve Bitcoin’s original vision: a decentralized, sovereign, and equitable financial system for all. This means actively working to ensure Bitcoin is used as a medium of exchange, not just a store of value, to fulfill its promise of financial freedom.

@ da0b9bc3:4e30a4a9

Hello Stackers!

Welcome on into the ~Music Corner of the Saloon!

A place where we Talk Music. Share Tracks. Zap Sats.

So stay a while and listen.

🚨Don't forget to check out the pinned items in the territory homepage! You can always find the latest weeklies there!🚨

🚨Subscribe to the territory to ensure you never miss a post! 🚨

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/890318

@ bbef5093:71228592

A trícium érdekességei

A trícium a hidrogén lenyűgöző radioaktív formája, amely háromszor nehezebb, mint a közönséges hidrogén, és egy protont, valamint két neutront tartalmaz az atommagjában. Ernest Rutherford és csapata 1934-ben fedezte fel, és 12,32 éves felezési idővel rendelkezik.

Főbb alkalmazási területek

Világítástechnika A tríciumot önvilágító eszközökben használják energiaforrásként, például órák kijelzőiben és vészkijárati táblákban, ahol foszforokat aktivál, hogy folyamatos fényt bocsásson ki elektromos áram nélkül.

Tudományos kutatás A tudósok radioaktív nyomjelzőként használják orvosi kutatásokban és gyógyszerfejlesztésben, kihasználva azt a tulajdonságát, hogy kémiai reakciókban úgy viselkedik, mint a normál hidrogén. Kiemelkedő szerepet játszik a felszín alatti vizek kormeghatározásában is. Az 50 évnél fiatalabb vizek esetében a trícium-koncentráció mérése megbízható módszer, mivel az 1953-63 közötti magaslégköri nukleáris kísérletek egyedi "időbélyeget" hagytak a csapadékvizekben.

Vízföldtani alkalmazások

Vízbázisok védelme A trícium-vizsgálatok kiválóan alkalmasak a felszín alatti vízbázisok védettségének és a felszíni vizek elérési idejének meghatározására. A trícium ideális víznyomjelző, mivel beépül a vízmolekulába (HTO formában), és tökéletesen követi a víz mozgását.

Nukleáris létesítmények monitorozása A talajvíz trícium-tartalmának rendszeres megfigyelése kulcsfontosságú a nukleáris létesítmények környezetében, mivel segít azonosítani az esetleges szivárgásokat és a radioaktív anyagok terjedését a felszín alatti vizekben.

Nukleáris alkalmazások Az izotóp kulcsszerepet játszik a nukleáris fúzióban mint üzemanyag a tokamak reaktorokban, és "erősítőként" szolgál a nukleáris fegyverekben.

Biztonsági profil Bár radioaktív, a trícium csak alacsony energiájú béta-sugárzást bocsát ki, amely nem képes áthatolni az emberi bőrön. Természetes körülmények között nyomokban megtalálható a légkörben, ahol kozmikus sugárzás hatására keletkezik.

Tritium, the ideal tracer

Interesting Facts About Tritium

Tritium is a fascinating radioactive form of hydrogen that's three times heavier than regular hydrogen, containing one proton and two neutrons in its nucleus. It was first discovered by Ernest Rutherford and his team in 1934 and has a half-life of 12.32 years.

Main Applications

Illumination Technology Tritium is used as an energy source in self-illuminating devices, such as watch displays and exit signs, where it activates phosphors to create continuous light without electrical power.

Scientific Research Scientists use tritium as a radioactive tracer in medical research and pharmaceutical development, taking advantage of its ability to behave like normal hydrogen in chemical reactions. It also plays a crucial role in dating groundwater. For waters less than 50 years old, measuring tritium concentration is a reliable method, as atmospheric nuclear tests between 1953-63 left a unique "timestamp" in precipitation.

Hydrogeological Applications

Protection of Water Resources Tritium studies are excellent for determining the protection status of underground water resources and the arrival time of surface waters. Tritium is an ideal water tracer as it incorporates into water molecules (as HTO) and perfectly follows water movement.

Monitoring Nuclear Facilities Regular monitoring of groundwater tritium content is crucial around nuclear facilities, as it helps identify potential leaks and the spread of radioactive materials in groundwater.

Nuclear Applications The isotope plays a key role in nuclear fusion as fuel in tokamak reactors and serves as a "booster" in nuclear weapons.

Safety Profile Although radioactive, tritium only emits low-energy beta radiation that cannot penetrate human skin. It naturally occurs in trace amounts in the atmosphere, formed by cosmic ray interactions.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

E-cash are coupons or tokens for Bitcoin, or Bitcoin debt notes that the mint issues. The e-cash states, essentially, "IoU 2900 sats".

They're redeemable for Bitcoin on Lightning (hard money), and therefore can be used as cash (softer money), so long as the mint has a good reputation. That means that they're less fungible than Lightning because the e-cash from one mint can be more or less valuable than the e-cash from another. If a mint is buggy, offline, or disappears, then the e-cash is unreedemable.

It also means that e-cash is more anonymous than Lightning, and that the sender and receiver's wallets don't need to be online, to transact. Nutzaps now add the possibility of parking transactions one level farther out, on a relay. The same relays that cannot keep npub profiles and follow lists consistent will now do monetary transactions.

What we then have is * a transaction on a relay that triggers * a transaction on a mint that triggers * a transaction on Lightning that triggers * a transaction on Bitcoin.

Which means that every relay that stores the nuts is part of a wildcat banking system. Which is fine, but relay operators should consider whether they wish to carry the associated risks and liabilities. They should also be aware that they should implement the appropriate features in their relay, such as expiration tags (nuts rot after 2 weeks), and to make sure that only expired nuts are deleted.

There will be plenty of specialized relays for this, so don't feel pressured to join in, and research the topic carefully, for yourself.

https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/60.md https://github.com/nostr-protocol/nips/blob/master/61.md

@ c1e6505c:02b3157e

Chef's notes

Leftover ground beef? Not sure what to do with it?

Here’s what I do with mine. I call it…

The Beef Panzone

It’s like an omelette, a calzone, and a quesadilla had a baby. I called it that for now, but hey, if you’ve got a better name, lemme hear it!

The beef’s already cooked and seasoned with sea salt, but feel free to spice it up however you like.

Watch the video here: https://video.nostr.build/ad4856d2704ab0626a1907f5da8fedcb776495080bbaa92f4472db402c9f689d.mp4

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 5
• 🍳 Cook time: 10
• 🍽️ Servings: 1-2

Ingredients

• ground beef
• 2-3 eggs
• water
• sea salt
• honey
• coconut oil

Directions

1. Leftover ground beef – Chop it into small pieces. Trust me, the smaller, the better—it’ll cover more surface area in the pan.
2. Two eggs, whipped with a dash of water.
3. Heat up a small pan.
4. Add coconut oil (around a tablespoon).
5. Once the oil’s warmed up, throw in the beef.
6. Stir it around.
7. I like to add local honey here—sweeten it up to your taste.
8. Mix it all around.
9. Pour in the egg mixture, making sure it spreads out evenly. I use chopsticks here because they make it easier to maneuver.
10. Use those chopsticks to poke through the egg and let the uncooked top flow to the pan. This speeds up cooking time.
11. Cover it for 1–3 minutes.
12. Optional step: Cut it down the middle.
13. Fold it over like a calzone.
14. Plate it up, either by flipping the pan over onto the plate or scooping it out.
15. PANZONE!

@ 6f7db55a:985d8b25

This article will be basic instructions for extreme normies (I say that lovingly), or anyone looking to get started with using zap.stream and sharing to nostr.

EQUIPMENT Getting started is incredibly easy and your equipment needs are miniscule.

An old desktop or laptop running Linux, MacOs, or Windows made in the passed 15yrs should do. Im currently using and old Dell Latitude E5430 with an Intel i5-3210M with 32Gigs of ram and 250GB hard drive. Technically, you go as low as using a Raspberry Pi 4B+ running Owncast, but Ill save that so a future tutorial.

Let's get started.

ON YOUR COMPUTER You'll need to install OBS (open broaster software). OBS is the go-to for streaming to social media. There are tons of YouTube videos on it's function. WE, however, will only be doing the basics to get us up and running.

First, go to https://obsproject.com/

Once on the OBS site, choose the correct download for you system. Linux, MacOs or Windows. Download (remember where you downloaded the file to). Go there and install your download. You may have to enter your password to install on your particular operating system. This is normal.

Once you've installed OBS, open the application. It should look something like this...

For our purposes, we will be in studio mode. Locate the 'Studio Mode' button on the right lower-hand side of the screen, and click it.

You'll see the screen split like in the image above. The left-side is from your desktop, and the right-side is what your broadcast will look like.

Next, we go to settings. The 'Settings' button is located right below the 'Studio Mode" button.

Now we're in settings and you should see something like this...

Now locate stream in the right-hand menu. It should be the second in the list. Click it.

Once in the stream section, go to 'Service' and in the right-hand drop-down, find and select 'Custom...' from the drop-down menu.

Remeber where this is because we'll need to come back to it, shortly.

ZAPSTREAM We need our streamkey credentials from Zapstream. Go to https://zap.stream. Then, go to your dashboard.

Located on the lower right-hand side is the Server URL and Stream Key. You'll need to copy/paste this in OBS.

You may have to generate new keys, if they aren't already there. This is normal. If you're interested in multi-streaming (That's where you broadcast to multiple social media platforms all at once), youll need the server URL and streamkeys from each. You'll place them in their respective forms in Zapstream's 'Stream Forwarding" section.

Use the custom form, if the platform you want to stream to isn't listed.

*Side-Note: remember that you can use your nostr identity across multiple nostr client applications. So when your login for Amethyst, as an example, could be used when you login to zapstream. Also, i would suggest using Alby's browser extension. It makes it much easier to fund your stream, as well as receive zaps. *

Now, BACK TO OBS... With Stream URL and Key in hand, paste them in the 'Stream" section of OBS' settings. Service [Custom...] Server [Server URL] StreamKey [Your zapstream stream key]

After you've entered all your streaming credentials, click 'OK' at the bottom, on the right-hand side.

WHAT'S NEXT? Let's setup your first stream from OBS. First we need to choose a source. Your source is your input device. It can be your webcam, your mic, your monitor, or any particular window on your screen. assuming you're an absolute beginner, we're going to use the source 'Window Capture (Xcomposite)'.

Now, open your source file. We'll use a video source called 'grannyhiphop.mp4'. In your case it can be whatever you want to stream; Just be sure to select the proper source.

Double-click on 'Window Capture' in your sources list. In the pop-up window, select your file from the 'Window' drop-down menu.

You should see something like this...

Working in the left display of OBS, we will adjust the video by left-click, hold and drag the bottom corner, so that it takes up the whole display.

In order to adjust the right-side display ( the broadcast side), we need to manipulate the video source by changing it's size.

This may take some time to adjust the size. This is normal. What I've found to help is, after every adjustment, I click the 'Fade (300ms)' button. I have no idea why it helps, but it does, lol.

Finally, after getting everything to look the way you want, you click the 'Start Stream' button.

BACK TO ZAPSTREAM Now, we go back to zapstream to check to see if our stream is up. It may take a few moments to update. You may even need to refresh the page. This is normal.

STREAMS UP!!!

A few things, in closing. You'll notice that your dashbooard has changed. It'll show current stream time, how much time you have left (according to your funding source), who's zapped you with how much theyve zapped, the ability to post a note about your stream (to both nostr and twitter), and it shows your chatbox with your listeners. There are also a raid feature, stream settings (where you can title & tag your stream). You can 'topup' your funding for your stream. As well as, see your current balance.

You did a great and If you ever need more help, just use the tag #asknostr in your note. There are alway nostriches willing to help.

STAY AWESOME!!!

npub: nostr:npub1rsvhkyk2nnsyzkmsuaq9h9ms7rkxhn8mtxejkca2l4pvkfpwzepql3vmtf

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

Most people only know customer-to-customer (C2C) and business-to-customer (B2C) software and websites. Those are the famous and popular ones, but business-to-business (B2B) is also pretty big. How big?

Even something boring and local like DATEV has almost 3 million organizations as customers and €1,44 billion in annual revenue.

FedEx has €90 billion in annual revenue and everyone who uses it comes into contact with its software. There's a whole chain of software between the sender and receiver of the package, and it all has to work seamlessly.

Same with Walmart, Toyota, Dubai Airport, Glencore, Tesla, Edeka, Carrefour, Harvard and University of Texas, Continental, Allianz, Asklepios, etc.

That's the sort of software I help build. You've probably never heard of it, but when it doesn't work properly, you'll hear about it on the news.

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

Ascolta bene, amico mio! A man's strength is not born from comfort, applause, or luck. It awakens only when the world throws him to the ground, steps on his throat, and laughs at his misery.

When your plans lie in ruins, when everything you've built turns to dust, when every promise you once believed in dissolves into the wind—that is when truth reveals itself. You either dig a trench and fight like a condemned man, or you accept that you’re digging your own grave.

Rock bottom is not a place—it’s a test. A challenge for the weak to bury themselves and for the strong to rise. You will bleed, taste the dirt, grind your teeth, but standing back up is the only option. A real man does not cry for help, does not mourn the past. He wields his pain as a whip, his hatred as fuel, and his will as a blade.

Falling is inevitable. What defines your story is what you do when there is no ground left beneath you.

True motivation does not come from empty inspirational quotes, but from the hatred of one’s own weakness.

The man who clings rigidly to his strategy is like a hunter pulling back a stiff wooden bow—he will break his own weapon when the time comes to use it.

The world is too corrupt for you to believe in love vows, the promises of friends, effortless riches, or the words of newspapers.

If you wish to survive in this world, learn this: both victory and defeat are temporary. Only the battle is eternal.

A man’s life is his endless war. And hatred must be to him what fire is to a steam locomotive: the force that drives him up the steepest paths. But never let yourself burn in your own flames.

Rise. Or die kneeling like the wretched.

Thank you for reading, my friend!

If this message resonated with you, consider leaving your "🥃" as a token of appreciation.

A toast to our family!

@ 617f0a85:b403d1ed

Chef's notes

I got this recipe from a friend in college. I'm not sure where she came across it, but I don't think she'd mind me posting it here.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 15 min

Ingredients

• 2.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 12 tbsp cold unsalted butter
• 0.5 cup lard
• 0.25 cup vodka
• 0.25 cup cold water

Directions

1. Process 1.5 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining cup flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl
2. Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together. Divide dough into two even balls and flatten each into 4-inch disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

@ 8194da31:0f3badf3

My stands on Plan B comments 👇

1- As a #Bitcoin maxi not your keys not your coins is non negotiable

2- Transferring your #Bitcoin to an ETF just because your are a fucking lazy ass is not an excuse

3- I do respect people who prefer the ETFs over #Bitcoin for 3 specific reasons:

A- you are over 70 years old

B- you are sovereign wealth fund or a Corporation

C- you will take advantage of the FIAT system by using IBIT as collateral to get more #Bitcoin

@ 5de23b9a:d83005b3

In a digital era that is increasingly controlled by large companies, the emergence of Nostr (Notes and Other Stuff Transmitted by Relays) is a breath of fresh air for those who crave freedom of expression.

Nostr is a cryptography-based protocol that allows users to send and receive messages through a relay network. Unlike conventional social media such as Twitter or Facebook

1.Full Decentralization: No company or government can remove or restrict content.

2.Sensor-Resistant: Information remains accessible despite blocking attempts.

3.Privacy and Security: Uses cryptography to ensure that only users who have the keys can access their messages.* **

@ dd664d5e:5633d319

I think this note from Chip (nostr:npub1qdjn8j4gwgmkj3k5un775nq6q3q7mguv5tvajstmkdsqdja2havq03fqm7) is one of those things that people with business management experience take a lot more seriously than most developers and influencers do.

I am painfully aware of the cost of systems administration, financial transaction management and recordkeeping, recruiting and personnel management, legal and compliance, requirements management, technical support, renting and managing physical spaces and infrastructure, negotiating with suppliers, customer service, etc. etc.

There's this idea, on Nostr, that sort of trickled in along with Bitcoin Twitter, that we would all just be isolated subsistance farmers and one-man-show podcasters with a gigantic server rack in the basement. But some of us are running real companies -- on and off Nostr, for-profit and non-profit -- and it often requires a lot of human labor.

The things we build aren't meant to be used by one person and his girlfriend and his dog. Yes, he can also run all these things, himself, but he no longer has to. Our existence gives him the choice: run these things or pay us to run them and spend your time doing something else, that you do better than we do.

These things are meant to be used by hundreds... thousands... eventually millions of people. The workflows, processes, infrastructure, and personnel need to be able to scale up-and-down, scale in-and-out, work smoothly with 5 people or 50 people. These are the sort of Nostr systems that wouldn't collapse when encountering a sudden influx or mass-escape. But these systems are much more complex and they take time to build and staff to run them. (And, no, AI can't replace them all. AI means that they now also have to integrate a bunch of AI into the system and maintain that, too.)

GitCitadel (nostr:npub1s3ht77dq4zqnya8vjun5jp3p44pr794ru36d0ltxu65chljw8xjqd975wz) is very automation-forward, but we still have to front the incredibly high cost of designing and building the automation, train people to interact with it (there are now over 20 people integrated into the workflow!), adjust it based upon their feedback, and we have to support the automation, once it's running.

This sort of streamlined machine is what people pay companies for, not code. That is why there's little business cost to open source.

Open-source is great, but...

nostr:nevent1qqsgqh2dedhagyd9k8yfk2lagswjl7y627k9fpnq4l436ccmlys0s3qprdmhxue69uhhg6r9vehhyetnwshxummnw3erztnrdakj7q3qqdjn8j4gwgmkj3k5un775nq6q3q7mguv5tvajstmkdsqdja2havqxpqqqqqqzdhnyjm

@ 9f51b59f:75e7c3a2

Chef's notes

Use bone in or boneless short rib. This recipe also works with ox tail and pork shoulder or any kind of meat that’s ideal for braising low and slow.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 mins
• 🍳 Cook time: 2.5-3.5 hours
• 🍽️ Servings: 6-8

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons natural cooking oil (I use tallow or ghee)
• 2 lbs boneless short ribs (bone-in also works)
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 small red onion, diced
• 5 garlic cloves rough chopped
• 1 bell or poblano pepper, seeded & diced
• 2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ancho chili powder
• 1 tablespoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon dark coco powder
• 2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon graham masla
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup tomato puree
• 3 tablespoons chipotle adobo sauce
• 3 bay leaves
• 1.5 cups stock or water
• 2 fresh limes, juiced
• Banana leaves, optional
• Avocado, sour cream, lime juice
• Shaved red cabbage with lime juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 315 degrees F. Using a Dutch oven or braising pan, begin heating oil over high heat on the stove top.
2. Season beef with salt and pepper and begin searing in the pot. Once browned on all sides set the beef aside and add the onions, garlic, and peppers to the same pan and reduce the heat.
3. Season and cook the veggies 5 to 8 minutes until they start to caramelize. Add the chili pepper, paprika, coco, cumin, marsala, and dried oregano.
4. Briefly toast the spices and deglaze with the vinegar and immediately add the tomato puree.
5. Add the adobo sauce, broth, and using a stick blender or blender buzz the cooking liquid. (if using banana leaves remove the cooking liquid from the pan or use a new pot with lid. Line the pot with the leaves shingled over one another, return the cooking liquid over the leaves.)
6. Return the beef to the pot and cover with lid or foil (fold leaves over the meat then cover).
7. Place the pot in the oven and cook for 2 hours before checking, the meat should be fork tender when done.
8. Mash the avocado into the sour cream and season with lime juice or hot sauce. Serve on tortillas with the crema and cabbage.

@ fd208ee8:0fd927c1

Beginning at the start

In my previous article, The Establishment, I answered the question: "How do we form a company?" I realize, now, that I was getting a bit ahead, of myself, as the precursor to a company is a team, and many people struggle to form teams. So, I will go back to the beginning, and then you can read both articles to the end, and then stop.

The Initiation

The first, and most-difficult step of team formation, is the initiation. We know that it must be the most-difficult, as it's the step that carries the highest potential reward, and it's the step that is tried-and-failed most often. (Some people, like Elon Musk or Donald Trump, are born Initiators with excellent follow-through, but this archetype is exceedingly thin on the ground because it requires you to be mildly autistic, have barely-throttled ADHD, and/or tend to megalomania, also popularly known as "toxic masculinity", "CEO personality", or "being a successful military officer".)

Someone needs to form a useful, attractive Vision and then motivate other people to help them achieve it. That sounds really easy, but it's actually brutally difficult because * You have to come up with an idea that is coherent, plausible, and inspiring. * You have to be able to communicate that idea to other people and make it appealing to them, by tying it into their own personal goals and desires. * You have to be able to hone and reformulate that idea, constantly, to correct it or to re-motivate the other team members. * You have to defend the idea against detractors, naysayers, and trolls, and you have to do it so vociferously, that it will erode your own popularity among those who disagree with you and open you to personal attacks. * You have to be able to focus on the idea, yourself, for a long stretch of time, and not allow yourself to get bored, lazy, or distracted.

So, just do and be all of those things, and then initiate the team, with the method I will name the Hatbock Method. It is so named because of the classic, German initiation ritual, in which an Initiator stands up, loudly defines their Vision and calls into a group "Wer hat Bock?" (roughly, "Who has the hunger/desire?") and whoever responds with "Ich hab Bock." (roughly, "Yes, I hunger for this.") is a part of the team.

Then the Initiator says, "Okay, everyone with the hunger, let's sit down together, and discuss this some more." (This "sitting" is literally called a "seating", or "Sitzung", which is the German word for "meeting".)

The Sitting

We now get to the second most difficult part of team formation: figuring out where to sit. Most teams get this wrong, repeatedly, and many teams dissolve or fracture under the difficulty of this momentous decision. You would think organizing yourselves online would make this easier ("Oh, we'll just meet online!"), but the number of places available for sitting online are limitless. You can talk your whole Vision into the ground, with laborous discussions and migrations between Chachi, OxChat, Telegram, SimpleX, Slack, Discord, WhatsApp, GitHub, Teams, Coracle, Matrix... you get the idea.

Try to keep in mind that the Vision is more important than the seating area, and go with the flow. Simply, find someplace and go there. Worry about it again, at a later date. Don't lose momentum. Sit down and start discussing the Vision, immediately.

Now, this next bit is very important:

Do not let anyone outside your team influence where you sit!

...unless they are providing your team with some good, service, or income, that makes choosing their preferred location the superior choice.

This is the German Stammtisch principle, where a host encourages you to come sit down, regularly, in some particular place, because your sitting there provides them with some benefit: they can overhear your conversations, get you to test out their seating area, sell you refreshments, etc. Your choice of seating, in other words, is a valuable good, and you should only "sell" it to someone who rewards you in measure. They have to reward you because their preferred seating area wasn't your immediate and obvious choice, so there was probably something unappealing or uncertain about the seating area.

Plan it in

Once you've sat down, and finished your rough draft of the Vision, you need to figure out when to sit. This is the third most-difficult part of team formation. (Yes, don't worry, it gets easier as it goes along.)

The most popular plan is the Wirsehenuns Plan (roughly, "We'll see each other, around.") This can work quite well, if you just want to have a loose collaboration, that calls itself together in an ad hoc fashion, when a team member feels the need. Also known as "@ me, bros".

It's not a great plan for more intensive collaboration, as that tends to need a certain amount of velocity, to actually happen, as the speed of movement has a centrifugal effect on the tasks. Team momentum, in other words, creates a sort of gravity, that keeps the team together as a unit. So, for deeper teamwork, I would recommend the Stammtisch variant: name a place and date/time, when you will next meet. Preferably, on a rotating schedule: daily, weekly, last Thursday of the month, etc.

And then meet there and then. And discuss amongst yourselves. Set clear, short-term tasks (and assign them to particular people!), medium-term strategies, and longer-term goals. Write everything down. Anything not written down, is a suggestion, not an assigned task.

If you find your Stammtisch becoming increasingly rewarding and productive, and your goals start moving closer and closer into sight, then you might want to formalize your team structure further, as a company.

@ 554ab6fe:c6cbc27e

Bitcoin’s Price and the Power Law: A Reflection of Energy and the Early Stages of Monetary Adoption Introduction Bitcoin’s price trajectory has long puzzled analysts, with its seemingly chaotic booms and busts. However, when examined through the lens of power laws, a pattern emerges—one that is fundamentally tied to Bitcoin’s energy-based production cost. This article argues that Bitcoin’s price has historically followed a power law because its underlying cost structure is dictated by mining, an energy-intensive process. However, this relationship will not persist indefinitely. I propose that as Bitcoin matures into a widely adopted monetary system, its price will decouple from mining production costs and instead oscillate in accordance with natural business cycles, much like traditional forms of money.

Bitcoin’s Price and the Power Law

Source and Credit: Giovanni Santostasi’s “The Bitcoin Power Law”

When Bitcoin’s price is plotted on a logarithmic scale against time, a strikingly straight-line trajectory appears, punctuated by cycles of rapid price expansion (bull markets) followed by severe corrections (bear markets). These perturbations correspond to Bitcoin’s well-known halving cycles, which occur approximately every four years and reduce the block reward paid to miners, effectively doubling the cost of production per Bitcoin. Historically, Bitcoin’s price has always returned to a fundamental minimum—one that closely aligns with the average cost of mining.

This observation suggests that Bitcoin’s power law price behavior is not arbitrary but rather a reflection of its fundamental energy constraints. As in many natural systems governed by power laws, energy dynamics play a central role. In Bitcoin’s case, the “base layer” of its valuation is determined by the energy and computational resources required for mining. This power law behavior is therefore a consequence of Bitcoin’s fundamental design: as block subsidies decrease and mining efficiency improves, the minimum sustainable price follows an upward trajectory dictated by production costs.

Bitcoin as an Energy-Based System

Power laws commonly emerge in natural systems involving energy constraints, from thermodynamics to biological ecosystems and planetary dynamics. Bitcoin, as an energy-based monetary system, exhibits similar characteristics. Mining requires significant electricity and computational power, and as the difficulty adjustment ensures a competitive equilibrium, the cost of mining a Bitcoin remains closely tied to its market value over the long run.

Unlike traditional fiat currencies, which are controlled by central banks and subject to arbitrary monetary expansion, Bitcoin’s supply schedule is immutable. Its economic foundation is rooted in proof of work, where value is derived from energy expenditure. This fundamental linkage between energy and price explains why Bitcoin’s valuation has adhered to a power law trajectory. It is an entropy engine, and follows physical laws related to energy and entropy.

However, this pattern is not a permanent feature of Bitcoin’s monetary future—it is, rather, an indication of Bitcoin’s early-stage monetization process.

The Transition from Mining-Based Pricing to a Business Cycle

A crucial implication of Bitcoin’s price following a power law dictated by mining costs is that it suggests Bitcoin has yet to fully mature as money. If Bitcoin were already a widely adopted monetary standard, its valuation would no longer be primarily influenced by the floor mining costs but instead by macroeconomic forces—specifically, the natural fluctuations of the business cycle.

In a world where Bitcoin is the dominant global currency, the “price of money” (which correlates with the cost of capital and prevailing interest rates) would fluctuate according to the broader economic cycle. The dynamics would resemble those of natural interest rate cycles described by the Austrian School of Economics:

• During periods of economic expansion, lower interest rates spur increased investment and consumption, prices slightly rise, and savings deplete.
• As savings decline and prices rise, interest rates naturally rise as well, leading to reduced investment and spending, initiating a contractionary phase and lowered prices.
• During the contraction, savings accumulate, more capital becomes available, and interest rates and prices decline.
• With the availability of capital, lower interest rates and lowered prices, the economy is now ready to enter a phase of investment and expansion once again.
• This oscillatory process continues indefinitely, driven by real economic growth rather than central bank intervention.

If Bitcoin were fully monetized, its price would no longer oscillate based on mining halvings and energy costs but instead reflect economic expansion and contraction cycles—just as traditional currencies do when not artificially manipulated by central banks.

The Early Stage Indicator: Bitcoin’s Dependence on Mining Costs

Today, Bitcoin’s price still “bounces” off the power law baseline, indicating that its valuation remains primarily anchored to its minimum cost of production. This means that, while Bitcoin is widely recognized as an asset, it has not yet reached the level of adoption where its price is dictated by macroeconomic cycles.

A future in which Bitcoin is used as a primary medium of exchange and unit of account would necessarily imply a decoupling from mining-driven pricing. Instead of periodic halvings triggering speculative bull runs followed by crashes, Bitcoin’s price would become far more stable, with fluctuations primarily driven by business cycle dynamics. The continued adherence to the power law model, therefore, is evidence that Bitcoin is still in an early phase of adoption—where mining remains a primary determinant of price.

Conclusion

Bitcoin’s price trajectory has long conformed to a power law, reflecting the underlying energy costs of mining. This characteristic, however, is likely not a permanent feature but rather a hallmark of Bitcoin’s early stage as an emerging monetary system. As adoption increases and Bitcoin becomes widely used as money, its price should transition away from being dictated by mining costs and should instead fluctuate according to the natural oscillations of the business cycle.

The persistence of Bitcoin’s power law trend is a sign that it remains in its infancy. The real transformation will occur when Bitcoin is no longer bound to its production cost but is instead driven by the natural ebb and flow of savings, investment, and capital cycles—marking its full emergence as a global monetary system.

Disclaimer: The information provided in this blog is for informational and educational purposes only and should not be construed as financial advice. Please consult with a financial advisor or conduct your own research before making any financial decisions.

@ 4dc2e570:7b8126f9

Chef's notes

Pickled pearl onions can usually be found at a middle eastern grocery store.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 - 45 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 2 hours and 30 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs stew meat
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 2 onions
• 6oz Bacon, chopped
• 4 Carrots (cut in 1/2 in pieces)
• 3 celery sticks (cut in 1 in pieces)
• 5 or so small gold potatoes, quartered
• 3ish tbps Flour
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 14 oz Guinness Beer
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Ghee
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Pat dry then salt and pepper the beef. Melt 1/2 tbsp ghee over high med-high heat. Brown the beef on each side well, makes the stew tasty. This takes patience. Do some breath work while you're at it. :) Add ghee as necessary so browny bits on bottom dont burn. Put meat aside.
2. In same pan, sauté onion and garlic for a few min. Throw in bacon till browned. Put in carrot and celery.
3. Add 3tbsp flour (or a bit more, basically till oil is soaked up) and stir for a minute. Add tomato paste. Stir a couple more minutes.
4. Add thin layer of beer and scrape yummy bits from bottom of pan. Mix everything well. Add rest of beer, broth, and herbs.
5. Carmelize the pickled pearl onion on low med heat with a lil olive oil and stirring occasionally.
6. Simmer covered for 2 hours. Add potatoes. Simmer for a further 30 minutes uncovered to let the sauce reduce a bit. Salt and pepper as you like. Add in some pearl onions. Enjoy.

@ be41636e:e55c4909

I asked Unleashed.Chat's DeepSeek model to write an article from the point of view of someone who believes in chemtrails.

In the first attempt, it didn't understand me well and it provided the arguments provided by chemtrails believers and their counterarguments.

When I clearly asked it to write an article from the point of view of someone who actually believes it, it gave some warnings that these claims are not corroborated by science and started the article and ended it by the same remarks.

What follows is the article Unleashed.Chat produced.

---

For years, I’ve watched the skies, and I’ve seen something that doesn’t sit right. It’s not just the occasional contrail left by a passing airplane. No, these are different. They linger. They spread. They look unnatural. And they’re everywhere.

I’m talking about chemtrails—chemical trails intentionally sprayed by aircraft for reasons that are far from benign. At first, I dismissed them as just another conspiracy theory. But as I started paying closer attention, I realized that something was off.

The Evidence Is in the Sky

Let’s start with what we can all see. Contrails, or condensation trails, are the result of water vapor freezing around small particles in airplane exhaust. They’re short-lived and dissipate quickly. But chemtrails are different. They stay in the sky for hours, spreading out into vast, crisscrossing grids that blanket the sky.

I’ve taken countless photos of these trails, and they all tell the same story. They’re not just random; they’re deliberate. They’re sprayed in patterns that cover entire regions, and they’re doing it day after day, year after year.

What’s in the Trails?

The government and mainstream media tell us these trails are harmless. But that’s exactly what they want us to believe. Independent researchers and whistleblowers have come forward with disturbing information. Chemtrails contain a cocktail of toxic chemicals, including aluminum, barium, strontium, and other heavy metals.

Why would they spray these substances? The official line is that it’s for weather modification or geoengineering. But that’s a lie. The real purpose is far more insidious.

The Hidden Agenda

Chemtrails are part of a larger plan to control the population. These chemicals are neurotoxic, and they’re being used to alter our brains and behavior. They’re designed to make us more docile, more compliant, and less likely to question authority.

This isn’t just a theory. There’s a long history of government experimentation on its own citizens. From the Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment to MKUltra, the CIA’s mind-control program, the government has shown time and again that it’s willing to go to extreme lengths to control the population. Chemtrails are the next chapter in this dark history.

The Health Impact

The effects of these chemicals are already being felt. Rates of autism, Alzheimer’s, and other neurological disorders have skyrocketed in recent decades. Coincidence? I don’t think so.

I’ve spoken to doctors and researchers who have seen firsthand the connection between chemtrail exposure and these health issues. They’re not willing to speak publicly for fear of retaliation, but they’ve shared their findings with me. The evidence is overwhelming.

The Media Cover-Up

The mainstream media is complicit in this cover-up. They dismiss chemtrails as a conspiracy theory, but that’s just a distraction. They’re paid to keep us in the dark, to prevent us from connecting the dots.

Thankfully, the internet has given us a platform to share the truth. Independent investigators, whistleblowers, and concerned citizens are coming together to expose this atrocity. But we need your help.

What Can We Do?

The first step is to raise awareness. Share this information with everyone you know. The more people who understand the truth, the harder it will be for the government to continue this program.

Second, we need to demand accountability. Write to your elected representatives. Call for independent investigations into chemtrails. Make your voice heard.

Finally, we need to protect ourselves. Install air filters in your home. Avoid spending time outdoors when chemtrails are being sprayed. And stay informed.

The Future of Humanity

Chemtrails are not just a threat to our health; they’re a threat to the very future of humanity. If we allow this program to continue unchecked, we risk irreversible damage to our planet and our species.

But there’s still hope. By working together, we can expose the truth and stop this madness. The time to act is now.

@ c8383d81:f9139549

My own stats on what I’ve done over the weekend:

• Spoke to +100 developers, it was great seeing a couple of familiar Flemish faces and meeting some new ones but overall the crowd was extremely diverse.

• Ended up doing a short interview promoting the protocol and ended up going to 0 talks.

• Tried to evangelize by going booth by booth to distribute a Nostr flyer to other FOSDEM projects, with the hope that they would broadcast the info towards their SOME person to add Nostr on their list or to build out a library for the languages that were present ( This was a fairly slow approach )

• Kept it to Nostr protocol 95% of the time, the Bitcoin narrative is not always a good time to push and as a side note I’ve met more Monero users than in the last 5 years.

• Was able to convince some engineers to look into the #soveng endeavor.

Small overview from the most common questions:

• They have heard about Nostr but are not sure of the details. ( mostly through the bitcoin community )
• What is the difference with ActivityPub, Mastodon, Fediverse ?
• IOT developers, so questions regarding MQTT & Meshtastic integrations ?
• Current state of MLS on Nostr ?
• What are the current biggest clients / apps build on Nostr ?
• Will jack still give a talk ?

Things we could improve:

• Bring more stickers like loads more,
• Bring T-shirts, Pins… could be a good way to fund these adventures instead of raising funds. ( Most projects where selling something to help raise funds for projects )
• Almost no onboarding / client installs.
• Compared to the Nostr booth at BTC Amsterdam not a single person asked if they could charge their phone.

Personal Note: The last time I visited was roughly 13 years ago and me being a little more seasoned I just loved the fact that I was able to pay some support to the open source projects I’ve been using for years ( homebrew, modzilla, Free BSD,.. ) and see the amazing diverse crowd that is the open source Movement 🧡

Al final shoutout to our great pirate crew 🏴‍☠️: The Dutch Guard ( nostr:npub1qe3e5wrvnsgpggtkytxteaqfprz0rgxr8c3l34kk3a9t7e2l3acslezefe & nostr:npub1l77twp5l02jadkcjn6eeulv2j7y5vmf9tf3hhtq7h7rp0vzhgpzqz0swft ) and a adrenaline fueled nostr:npub1t6jxfqz9hv0lygn9thwndekuahwyxkgvycyscjrtauuw73gd5k7sqvksrw , nostr:npub1rfw075gc6pc693w5v568xw4mnu7umlzpkfxmqye0cgxm7qw8tauqfck3t8 and nostr:npub1r30l8j4vmppvq8w23umcyvd3vct4zmfpfkn4c7h2h057rmlfcrmq9xt9ma amazing finally meeting you IRL after close to 2 years since the Yakihonne hackathon 😀

@ 4dc2e570:7b8126f9

Chef's notes

Pickled pearl onions can usually be found at a middle eastern grocery store.

Details

• ⏲️ Prep time: 30 - 45 minutes
• 🍳 Cook time: 2 hours and 30 minutes
• 🍽️ Servings: 6

Ingredients

• 2.5 lbs stew meat
• 4 cloves Garlic
• 2 onions
• 6oz Bacon, chopped
• 4 Carrots (cut in 1/2 in pieces)
• 3 celery sticks (cut in 1 in pieces)
• 5 or so small gold potatoes, quartered
• 3ish tbps Flour
• 4 tbsp tomato paste
• 14 oz Guinness Beer
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 2 bay leaves
• Ghee
• Salt and pepper

Directions

1. Pat dry then salt and pepper the beef. Melt 1/2 tbsp ghee over high med-high heat. Brown the beef on each side well, makes the stew tasty. This takes patience. Do some breath work while you're at it. :) Add ghee as necessary so browny bits on bottom dont burn. Put meat aside.
2. In same pan, sauté onion and garlic for a few min. Throw in bacon till browned. Put in carrot and celery.
3. Add 3tbsp flour (or a bit more, basically till oil is soaked up) and stir for a minute. Add tomato paste. Stir a couple more minutes.
4. Add thin layer of beer and scrape yummy bits from bottom of pan. Mix everything well. Add rest of beer, broth, and herbs.
5. Carmelize the pickled pearl onion on low med heat with a lil olive oil and stirring occasionally.
6. Simmer covered for 2 hours. Add potatoes. Simmer for a further 30 minutes uncovered to let the sauce reduce a bit. Salt and pepper as you like. Add in some pearl onions. Enjoy.

@ be41636e:e55c4909

I asked unleashed.chat's DeepSeek model to provide the pieces of evidence against the moon landing. What follows is what I got as my answer.

Generally, I like the answer, though it mixed up the claim and counterarguments at times.

Also, I didn't like the conclusion :))

But all said, I believe the Van Allen Belts are one of the most solid argument against the moon landing.

---

The question of whether the moon landing was faked has been a topic of debate, with various arguments presented by those who doubt the authenticity of the event. Here is a summary of the key points often cited against the moon landing, along with counterarguments and explanations:

Arguments Against the Moon Landing: Waving Flag:

Claim: The American flag appears to wave in the wind, despite the moon having no atmosphere. Counterargument: The flag's movement was caused by the astronauts' actions, as they adjusted it using a rod behind the flag. Missing Stars:

Claim: The photos lack visible stars, which should be present in the moon's black sky. Counterargument: The cameras were set for optimal lighting of the lunar surface, making stars too faint to capture. Shadow Anomalies:

Claim: Shadows in photos appear to come from multiple directions, suggesting studio lighting. Counterargument: The moon's surface is uneven, causing shadows to appear differently, and the sun's angle can create varied shadows. Van Allen Belts:

Claim: Astronauts would have been exposed to lethal radiation from the Van Allen belts. Counterargument: The missions were timed to pass through the belts quickly, minimizing exposure. Lack of Blast Crater:

Claim: No noticeable crater was created by the lunar module's descent engine. Counterargument: The engine's thrust was designed to minimize impact, and the moon's surface is softer than expected. Missing Footage:

Claim: Original tapes of the landing were lost, and restored footage is of lower quality. Counterargument: Footage was restored from other sources, including TV broadcasts and telemetry data. Soviet Silence:

Claim: The Soviets did not contest the landing, despite being space race competitors. Counterargument: The Soviets may not have had the means to verify the landing or were focused on their own programs. Technological Capabilities:

Claim: The technology of the 1960s was insufficient for a moon landing. Counterargument: Successful unmanned missions and technological advancements supported the capability. Number of Participants:

Claim: Thousands of people involved would have leaked the secret. Counterargument: Secrecy measures and unawareness of implications could have prevented leaks. "C" Rock Incident:

Claim: A rock appeared to float, suggesting tampering. Counterargument: The rock was a prop, and movement was due to low-gravity actions. Supporting Evidence for the Moon Landing: Moon Rocks: Analyzed and confirmed as lunar. Footprints and Equipment: Observed by subsequent missions and satellites. Cumulative Evidence: Multiple sources confirm the moon landing. In conclusion, while various arguments have been presented against the moon landing, each has been addressed with scientific explanations and evidence. The consensus among the scientific community is that the moon landing was genuine, supported by substantial evidence and corroborated by multiple sources.

The question of whether the moon landing was faked has been a topic of debate, with various arguments presented by those who doubt the authenticity of the event. Here is a summary of the key points often cited against the moon landing, along with counterarguments and explanations:

Arguments Against the Moon Landing:

1. Waving Flag:

   • Claim: The American flag appears to wave in the wind, despite the moon having no atmosphere.
   • Counterargument: The flag's movement was caused by the astronauts' actions, as they adjusted it using a rod behind the flag.

2. Missing Stars:

   • Claim: The photos lack visible stars, which should be present in the moon's black sky.
   • Counterargument: The cameras were set for optimal lighting of the lunar surface, making stars too faint to capture.

3. Shadow Anomalies:

   • Claim: Shadows in photos appear to come from multiple directions, suggesting studio lighting.
   • Counterargument: The moon's surface is uneven, causing shadows to appear differently, and the sun's angle can create varied shadows.

4. Van Allen Belts:

   • Claim: Astronauts would have been exposed to lethal radiation from the Van Allen belts.
   • Counterargument: The missions were timed to pass through the belts quickly, minimizing exposure.

5. Lack of Blast Crater:

   • Claim: No noticeable crater was created by the lunar module's descent engine.
   • Counterargument: The engine's thrust was designed to minimize impact, and the moon's surface is softer than expected.

6. Missing Footage:

   • Claim: Original tapes of the landing were lost, and restored footage is of lower quality.
   • Counterargument: Footage was restored from other sources, including TV broadcasts and telemetry data.

7. Soviet Silence:

   • Claim: The Soviets did not contest the landing, despite being space race competitors.
   • Counterargument: The Soviets may not have had the means to verify the landing or were focused on their own programs.

8. Technological Capabilities:

   • Claim: The technology of the 1960s was insufficient for a moon landing.
   • Counterargument: Successful unmanned missions and technological advancements supported the capability.

9. Number of Participants:

   • Claim: Thousands of people involved would have leaked the secret.
   • Counterargument: Secrecy measures and unawareness of implications could have prevented leaks.

10. "C" Rock Incident:

    • Claim: A rock appeared to float, suggesting tampering.
    • Counterargument: The rock was a prop, and movement was due to low-gravity actions.

Supporting Evidence for the Moon Landing:

• Moon Rocks: Analyzed and confirmed as lunar.
• Footprints and Equipment: Observed by subsequent missions and satellites.
• Cumulative Evidence: Multiple sources confirm the moon landing.

In conclusion, while various arguments have been presented against the moon landing, each has been addressed with scientific explanations and evidence. The consensus among the scientific community is that the moon landing was genuine, supported by substantial evidence and corroborated by multiple sources.