@ a95c6243:d345522c

Ständige Lügen und Unterstellungen, permanent falsche Fürsorge \ können Bausteine von emotionaler Manipulation sein. Mit dem Zweck, \ Macht und Kontrolle über eine andere Person auszuüben. \ Apotheken Umschau

Irgendetwas muss passiert sein: «Gaslighting» ist gerade Thema in vielen Medien. Heute bin ich nach längerer Zeit mal wieder über dieses Stichwort gestolpert. Das war in einem Artikel von Norbert Häring über Manipulationen des Deutschen Wetterdienstes (DWD). In diesem Fall ging es um eine Pressemitteilung vom Donnerstag zum «viel zu warmen» Winter 2024/25.

Häring wirft der Behörde vor, dreist zu lügen und Dinge auszulassen, um die Klimaangst wach zu halten. Was der Leser beim DWD nicht erfahre, sei, dass dieser Winter kälter als die drei vorangegangenen und kälter als der Durchschnitt der letzten zehn Jahre gewesen sei. Stattdessen werde der falsche Eindruck vermittelt, es würde ungebremst immer wärmer.

Wem also der zu Ende gehende Winter eher kalt vorgekommen sein sollte, mit dessen Empfinden stimme wohl etwas nicht. Das jedenfalls wolle der DWD uns einreden, so der Wirtschaftsjournalist. Und damit sind wir beim Thema Gaslighting.

Als Gaslighting wird eine Form psychischer Manipulation bezeichnet, mit der die Opfer desorientiert und zutiefst verunsichert werden, indem ihre eigene Wahrnehmung als falsch bezeichnet wird. Der Prozess führt zu Angst und Realitätsverzerrung sowie zur Zerstörung des Selbstbewusstseins. Die Bezeichnung kommt von dem britischen Theaterstück «Gas Light» aus dem Jahr 1938, in dem ein Mann mit grausamen Psychotricks seine Frau in den Wahnsinn treibt.

Damit Gaslighting funktioniert, muss das Opfer dem Täter vertrauen. Oft wird solcher Psychoterror daher im privaten oder familiären Umfeld beschrieben, ebenso wie am Arbeitsplatz. Jedoch eignen sich die Prinzipien auch perfekt zur Manipulation der Massen. Vermeintliche Autoritäten wie Ärzte und Wissenschaftler, oder «der fürsorgliche Staat» und Institutionen wie die UNO oder die WHO wollen uns doch nichts Böses. Auch Staatsmedien, Faktenchecker und diverse NGOs wurden zu «vertrauenswürdigen Quellen» erklärt. Das hat seine Wirkung.

Warum das Thema Gaslighting derzeit scheinbar so populär ist, vermag ich nicht zu sagen. Es sind aber gerade in den letzten Tagen und Wochen auffällig viele Artikel dazu erschienen, und zwar nicht nur von Psychologen. Die Frankfurter Rundschau hat gleich mehrere publiziert, und Anwälte interessieren sich dafür offenbar genauso wie Apotheker.

Die Apotheken Umschau machte sogar auf «Medical Gaslighting» aufmerksam. Davon spreche man, wenn Mediziner Symptome nicht ernst nähmen oder wenn ein gesundheitliches Problem vom behandelnden Arzt «schnöde heruntergespielt» oder abgetan würde. Kommt Ihnen das auch irgendwie bekannt vor? Der Begriff sei allerdings irreführend, da er eine manipulierende Absicht unterstellt, die «nicht gewährleistet» sei.

Apropos Gaslighting: Die noch amtierende deutsche Bundesregierung meldete heute, es gelte, «weiter [sic!] gemeinsam daran zu arbeiten, einen gerechten und dauerhaften Frieden für die Ukraine zu erreichen». Die Ukraine, wo sich am Montag «der völkerrechtswidrige Angriffskrieg zum dritten Mal jährte», verteidige ihr Land und «unsere gemeinsamen Werte».

Merken Sie etwas? Das Demokratieverständnis mag ja tatsächlich inzwischen in beiden Ländern ähnlich traurig sein. Bezüglich Friedensbemühungen ist meine Wahrnehmung jedoch eine andere. Das muss an meinem Gedächtnis liegen.

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@ f3873798:24b3f2f3

Você já conheceu alguém que sempre tenta levar vantagem em tudo? Aquele tipo de pessoa que, em vez de buscar crescimento legítimo, prefere explorar os outros para obter benefícios? Infelizmente, essa mentalidade está mais presente do que gostaríamos de admitir.

Ela se manifesta de diversas formas, como:

• Pedir descontos e brindes de maneira abusiva, como se fosse um direito;

• Ameaçar ou constranger vendedores para conseguir preços mais baixos;

• Vender produtos com valores incompatíveis com a qualidade ou omitir defeitos para enganar clientes.

Quem age assim tem uma conduta antiética e, pior, muitas vezes se orgulha disso, como se enganar alguém fosse um sinal de esperteza. Mas será que essa mentalidade realmente leva ao sucesso?

A curto prazo, pode parecer que sim. Alguns até conseguem vantagens temporárias, mas a longo prazo, essa postura cobra seu preço. A reputação se desgasta, as oportunidades diminuem e, inevitavelmente, o comportamento oportunista se volta contra quem o pratica.

No Brasil, essa mentalidade oportunista se tornou quase um traço cultural. Combater isso exige uma mudança de perspectiva e, acima de tudo, uma autoavaliação sincera.

O primeiro passo é reconhecer se, em algum momento, você já adotou esse comportamento. Ser honesto consigo mesmo é fundamental para evoluir.

O segundo passo é entender que essa mentalidade não só é antiética, mas também prejudica seu próprio crescimento. Quem não valoriza o trabalho alheio dificilmente conseguirá que seu próprio trabalho seja valorizado.

Portanto, abandone essa postura de querer sempre "se dar bem" às custas dos outros. Valorize o esforço e o trabalho de quem está oferecendo um produto ou serviço. Se não pode pagar, simplesmente não compre. Faça igual o Lula rsrsrs.

Mas brincadeiras a parte, não exija que os outros arquem com o custo da sua insatisfação.

E esta foi a mensagem de hoje.

Espero que tenha gostado de mais uma leitura aleatória.

@ 6734e11d:c7e34e8f

...damit wir weiter recht haben und so weitermachen können wie bisher, die verordnete Omertà eingehalten wird zu Grundrechten, Notverordnungen, Pandemiesimulationen, Energieversorgung, Deindustrialisierung, kalte und echte Enteigung, Umverteilung, Freiluft- und Digitalgefängnis, Blockwartnachbarn...

Alles andere wäre äußerst unangenehm, wie das Aufplatzen einer großen Eiterblase und müsste dann wieder mit Exekutive, Justiz, Notverordnungen, neuen Strafrechtsparagraphen, Verschärfung der Strafprozessordnung, echte Änderung des Grundgesetzes, Überwachung, Totalzensur, Parteiverboten, Regimechanges und Krieg unterbunden werden.

Idee und Meme sind wieder von der Schwurbel Oase

https://t.me/schwurbel_oase/2318

@ a95c6243:d345522c

Europa – das Ganze ist eine wunderbare Idee, \ aber das war der Kommunismus auch. \ Loriot

«Europa hat fertig», könnte man unken, und das wäre nicht einmal sehr verwegen. Mit solch einer Einschätzung stünden wir nicht alleine, denn die Stimmen in diese Richtung mehren sich. Der französische Präsident Emmanuel Macron warnte schon letztes Jahr davor, dass «unser Europa sterben könnte». Vermutlich hatte er dabei andere Gefahren im Kopf als jetzt der ungarische Ministerpräsident Viktor Orbán, der ein «baldiges Ende der EU» prognostizierte. Das Ergebnis könnte allerdings das gleiche sein.

Neben vordergründigen Themenbereichen wie Wirtschaft, Energie und Sicherheit ist das eigentliche Problem jedoch die obskure Mischung aus aufgegebener Souveränität und geschwollener Arroganz, mit der europäische Politiker:innende unterschiedlicher Couleur aufzutreten pflegen. Und das Tüpfelchen auf dem i ist die bröckelnde Legitimation politischer Institutionen dadurch, dass die Stimmen großer Teile der Bevölkerung seit Jahren auf vielfältige Weise ausgegrenzt werden.

Um «UnsereDemokratie» steht es schlecht. Dass seine Mandate immer schwächer werden, merkt natürlich auch unser «Führungspersonal». Entsprechend werden die Maßnahmen zur Gängelung, Überwachung und Manipulation der Bürger ständig verzweifelter. Parallel dazu plustern sich in Paris Macron, Scholz und einige andere noch einmal mächtig in Sachen Verteidigung und «Kriegstüchtigkeit» auf.

Momentan gilt es auch, das Überschwappen covidiotischer und verschwörungsideologischer Auswüchse aus den USA nach Europa zu vermeiden. So ein «MEGA» (Make Europe Great Again) können wir hier nicht gebrauchen. Aus den Vereinigten Staaten kommen nämlich furchtbare Nachrichten. Beispielsweise wurde einer der schärfsten Kritiker der Corona-Maßnahmen kürzlich zum Gesundheitsminister ernannt. Dieser setzt sich jetzt für eine Neubewertung der mRNA-«Impfstoffe» ein, was durchaus zu einem Entzug der Zulassungen führen könnte.

Der europäischen Version von «Verteidigung der Demokratie» setzte der US-Vizepräsident J. D. Vance auf der Münchner Sicherheitskonferenz sein Verständnis entgegen: «Demokratie stärken, indem wir unseren Bürgern erlauben, ihre Meinung zu sagen». Das Abschalten von Medien, das Annullieren von Wahlen oder das Ausschließen von Menschen vom politischen Prozess schütze gar nichts. Vielmehr sei dies der todsichere Weg, die Demokratie zu zerstören.

In der Schweiz kamen seine Worte deutlich besser an als in den meisten europäischen NATO-Ländern. Bundespräsidentin Karin Keller-Sutter lobte die Rede und interpretierte sie als «Plädoyer für die direkte Demokratie». Möglicherweise zeichne sich hier eine außenpolitische Kehrtwende in Richtung integraler Neutralität ab, meint mein Kollege Daniel Funk. Das wären doch endlich mal ein paar gute Nachrichten.

Von der einstigen Idee einer europäischen Union mit engeren Beziehungen zwischen den Staaten, um Konflikte zu vermeiden und das Wohlergehen der Bürger zu verbessern, sind wir meilenweit abgekommen. Der heutige korrupte Verbund unter technokratischer Leitung ähnelt mehr einem Selbstbedienungsladen mit sehr begrenztem Zugang. Die EU-Wahlen im letzten Sommer haben daran ebenso wenig geändert, wie die Bundestagswahl am kommenden Sonntag darauf einen Einfluss haben wird.

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@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Die Geburt in die Pareto-Welt hat dann doch länger gedauert, als gedacht, jedoch dank der Geduld meines Hebammen-Mentors, ist es nun vollbracht.

Ich möchte meinen Beitrag zum Erhalt der Meinungsfreiheit leisten, bin aber nicht ganz uneigennützig, denn das Schreiben ist auch mein Ventil für den Wahnsinn, der bei Verstand gebliebenen Menschen immer näher auf die Pelle rückt.

2020 habe ich, bis heute erfolglos, damit angefangen, langjährigen Freundinnen und Freunden Links zu schicken, die die Vorzüge der Gen-Behandlung infrage stellen.

Auslöser war ein Gespräch mit einem jetzt ehemaligen Freund über die Verhältnisse im 3. Reich. Wir stellten uns damals die Frage, wie wir uns wohl verhalten hätten, wenn wir gefragt worden wären, wo denn plötzlich der ruhige, zuvorkommende Nachbar Salomon abgeblieben sei, der nie einer Fliege etwas zu Leide getan hat. Hätten wir auch mit den Achseln gezuckt, weil wir Angst davor gehabt hätten, dass uns vielleicht das gleiche Schicksal ereilen könnte?

Wir kamen überein, dass es uns nicht zusteht, über die Schweiger zu richten, weil wir uns keine wirkliche Vorstellung von dieser Zeit machen konnten. Wir, die wir in einer Demokratie aufgewachsen sind, hatten keine Ahnung davon, wie sich eine Diktatur anfühlt, welche Stimmung sie verursacht, auf was man alles achten muss, damit man sich nicht mit dem Staat anlegt.

Seit dem C-Ereignis sind wir um eine Erfahrung reicher. Jetzt wissen wir es.

Wir wissen, wie digitale Bücherverbrennung geht, wie Bankkonten ohne Begründung gelöscht werden können, wie Existenzen vernichtet werden können, was nötig ist, um morgens um 6 Uhr schon Besuch zu bekommen, der dann noch nicht einmal frische Semmeln mitbringt, und dass es gut ist, immer einen frisch gewaschenen Bademantel am Haken hängen zu haben.

Als junger Mensch hatte ich noch die Gelegenheit mit einer Frau zu sprechen, die diese dunkle Zeit in Deutschland miterlebt hatte. Auf meine Fragen antwortete sie, das werde ich nie im Leben vergessen: „Wir haben ja von all dem nichts gewusst!“ Das kann man glauben, muss man aber nicht.

Das war für mich das Aha-Erlebnis. Schon damals habe ich beschlossen, dass ich niemals zu denjenigen gehören will, die so etwas sagen werden. Und meinen Freunden wollte ich von Anfang an die Gelegenheit nehmen, mir diesen Satz einmal sagen zu können, daher habe ich sie, nach eigener anfänglicher Verunsicherung, mit Informationen über das C-Ereignis versorgt, die im staatskonformen Propaganda-Funk nicht zu finden waren.

Mit Samtpfötchen habe ich mich herangetastet, Lese-Angebote gemacht, vorsichtig formuliert. Dabei ging es mir nie darum, recht zu haben oder recht zu behalten. Für mich ging es um meine lieben Freunde, um Leben und Tod. Ich war zutiefst besorgt um sie. Das hat auch nach 5 Jahren nicht dazu geführt, dass sie ihr heiliges Schweigegelöbnis gebrochen haben.

Inzwischen ist mein Freundeskreis vollkommen ausgetauscht.

Anfangs war ich noch so naiv zu glauben, der Schwindel würde sich ganz schnell in Wohlgefallen auflösen, doch dann wurde mir klar, dass sich der gesunde Hausverstand von einem großen Teil der Menschen verabschiedet hat, und das hält bis heute an.

Irgendwann kam dann in der Öffentlichkeit der Satz auf: „Das konnten wir zum damaligen Zeitpunkt nicht wissen.“ Doch konntet ihr, wenn ihr euch mit den alternativen Informationsquellen beschäftigt hättet, die sicher nicht nur ich an Freunde weitergegeben habe.

Nie habe ich behauptet, die Wahrheit gepachtet zu haben, immer aber habe ich danach gestrebt, ihr so nahe wie möglich zu kommen. Bis heute.

Inzwischen sind die allermeisten Verschwörungstheorien wahr geworden.

Nachdem das C-Ereignis etwas an Schärfe verloren hatte, ging es gleich weiter mit dem Ukraine-Konflikt. Einen Tag nach Ausbruch im Februar 2022 schrieb ich in einer Email: Die Ukraine kann diesen Krieg nicht gewinnen.

Und so ging es weiter und weiter. Ein Wahnsinn nach dem anderen. Ohnmächtig müssen wir dabei zuschauen, wie Universal-Dilettanten das Ruder in der Hand haben und kerzengerade auf den Eisberg zusteuern. Da soll man sich still zurücklehnen, Popcorn futtern und die Show genießen? Tut mir leid, kann ich nicht.

Die „Geistesgrößen“ dieser Zeit scheinen George Orwells „1984“ als Bedienungsanleitung zu verstehen. Als ich es jüngst noch einmal gelesen habe, dachte ich, am weitesten ist bislang das Wahrheitsministerium vorangeschritten. Verdrehung der Realität mit Neusprech. Eine Generalumkehr der Begriffe. Daher auch mein Name in Anlehnung an diesen großen Vorherseher.

Es ist mir nicht vergönnt, zu denjenigen zu gehören, die die Bequemlichkeit im Denken pflegen und kultivieren und ein Diplom in Verdrängen über dem Sofa hängen haben.

Ich will die alte Welt nicht zurück, im Gegenteil. Mit meinen bescheidenen Mitteln und Möglichkeiten will ich dazu beitragen, habe ich die Hoffnung, den einen oder anderen vielleicht doch noch zum Nachdenken anregen zu können. Ich muss nicht recht behalten, darum ging es mir nie, ich kann mich irren und würde das auch zugeben. Derzeit mangelt es jedoch an Gelegenheiten.

Vielleicht habe ich tatsächlich etwas zu sagen (so sagt man mir es nach), und es ist sicher kein Zufall, dass mir Pareto durch Milosz Matuschek über den Weg gelaufen ist.

Es würde mich sehr freuen, wenn die geneigten Leserschaft das eine oder andere anspricht, was ich so von mir geben werde. Erst, wenn es Satoshis regnet, damit ich aufhöre, lasse ich es.

Bis dahin werde ich mich für den Erhalt der Meinungsfreiheit einsetzen, weil diese unmittelbar mit einem demokratischen System einhergeht. Sägt man an einem Baum auf einer Seite alle Äste ab, gerät der Baum in Schieflage und er fällt beim leisesten Windzug um. Das gilt es von den für Gehirnwäsche immunen Menschen zu verhindern.

@ 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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@ 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.

@ 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.

@ 41fa852b:af7b7706

"The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion." --Albert Camus

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Another great week of Bitcoin meetups is ahead of us!

This week, we are thrilled to partner with The Bitcoin Ireland Conference 2025 to help spread the word about this amazing grass-roots gathering.

We have two tickets to give away in a competition. To enter, click here to submit your entry.

Good luck, check out all the details below, and we'll see you there.

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This week's sponsor is…

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Upcoming Bitcoin Meetups

Happening this week…

1. Eat and Meet with Joe Bryan: Meet the creator of 'What's the Problem' and a host of fellow bitcoiners at the Weeping Willow in Bury St Edmunds. Starting at 18:00 on Tuesday, March the 4th.

2. Bitcoin 101 @ Cyphermunk House: On Tuesday, March 4, 2025, from 18:30 to 20:30, a beginner's Bitcoin class at 9 John Street, London WC1N 2ES. This 2-hour community-led event covers wallets, signers, and privacy, starting at 18:45. Arrive early; £5 donation in cash or sats.

3. Canterbury Bitcoin: Meeting this month at the Millers Arms in Canterbury at 19:00 on Tuesday the 4th of March. An informal meetup to discuss Bitcoin and chat.

4. Belfast Bitcoin: Join them on Tuesday the 4th March, 20:00. These guys meet in person monthly on the first Tuesday of each month at Ormeau Baths Event Space, 18 Ormeau Avenue, Belfast, BT2 8HS, Northern Ireland.

5. OPA North London Meetup: On Wednesday, March 5, 2025, from 18:30 to 21:30, North Londoners gather at Alice House, 283--285 West End Lane, NW6 1RD, West Hampstead. The Snug, a cosy pub nook, hosts this relaxed meetup for plotting and connecting, easily reachable by overground, no passport needed.

6. Rooted in the West Bank @ Cyphermunk House: On Friday, March 7, 2025, from 18:30 to 21:30, a 3-hour event at 9 John Street, London WC1N 2ES features a screening of a 47-minute documentary by Uri Fruchtmann and Bruno Sorrentino. It profiles Palestinian farmer Atta Jabar, with Uri presenting to raise sats for a feature-length expansion.

7. Bitcoin Walk - Edinburgh: Every Saturday at 12:00, Edinburgh Bitcoiners gather for a walk starting near Meadows Park's tennis courts, discussing news, innovations, and hyperbitcoinization. Newcomers are welcome to learn about Bitcoin's role in separating money from state. They often continue the conversation afterwards with something to eat. 🚶🏽‍♂️🚶🏼‍♀️🚶🏻

8. Bitcoin Derby: On Saturday, March 8, 2025, at 15:00, Bitcoin Derby gathers at Ye Olde Dolphin, DE1 3DL, to mark the 32nd anniversary of Eric Hughes' "A Cypherpunk Manifesto." Join fellow Bitcoiners to commemorate this iconic moment at the regular time and place.

9. Privacy Day, Nostr London v6: On March 9, 2025, the 2140 Collective hosts the event in Tooting from 15:00 to 21:40, honoring Eric Hughes' Cypherpunk Manifesto. It features talks on Bitcoin crowdfunding, freedom, Nostr projects, art, free burgers from Angor.io, and a sats drop for Lightning wallet users.

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Upcoming Special Events

These events aren't happening next week, but they're important to add to your calendar now as tickets are selling fast.

• CheatCode 2025 - Peter McCormack hosts the CheatCode conference, following last year's success. This year, international guest speakers include Preston Pysh, Alex Gladstein, Natalie Brunell, Matthew Pines, Steve Baker, Ben Arc, and Checkmate.

Friday, April 11th, is the main conference day, followed by a huge meetup at Ledger Park for the men's Real Bedford match, and again on Sunday for the women's match. Check out the link for ticket details.

• Bitcoin Ireland Conference 2025: Bitcoin Ireland is hosting its annual Bitcoin Conference, building on the momentum of previous years. This year Bitcoin Events UK are proudly serving as a media partner to help spread the word! Enter our competition to win two free tickets worth (€198 value). This year's lineup of international guest speakers includes Daniel Prince, alongside notable figures like Knut Svanholm, Dinny Collins, Lawrence-Stanley and other respected voices in the Bitcoin community, offering thoughtful perspectives on the evolving Bitcoin revolution.

The main conference takes place on Saturday, May 24th, at The Green Isle Hotel in Dublin. Following the event, attendees can join a relaxed networking meetup with Ireland's Bitcoin community to continue the discussion. For ticket details, visit: www.bitcoinireland.eu.

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Get Involved

• Volunteer Opportunities: Bridge2Bitcoin is actively seeking volunteers who share our passion for merchant adoption. We'd be delighted to connect if you're eager to contribute. Reach out to us on Twitter or through our website.
• Start Your Own Meetup: Interested in launching a Bitcoin meetup? We're here to support you every step of the way. We've assisted numerous UK Bitcoin meetups in getting started. Get in touch via Twitter.
• Contribute to BTCMaps: BTCMaps is a vital part of the Bitcoin ecosystem. It's a perfect project to get involved with if you're not a coder or even that technical. A great way to give back to the community. Maintain an area of the UK and keep it up-to-date.
• Telegram users: You might find our Telegram Channel another useful way to keep up-to-date with UK meetups.
• Feedback and Suggestions: We value your input! Share your ideas on how we can enhance this newsletter.

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This week's sponsors are…

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Get out and support the meetups where you can, visit Bitcoin Events UK for more info on each meetup and to find your closest on the interactive map.

Stay tuned for more updates next week!

Simon.

@ 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.

@ 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.

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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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 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/901383

@ fbf0e434:e1be6a39

DoraHacks has once again set a new standard for showcasing the brightest minds in Web3 and frontier technology with the successful debut of BUIDL DAY—our flagship event dedicated to amplifying the voices of early-stage, high-impact projects from the most promising ecosystems in the space.

With over 500 participants in attendance, BUIDL DAY was more than just an event; it was a hub of energy and innovation. Held at the intersection of collaboration and cutting-edge technology, we brought together nine pioneering ecosystems.— Cosmos, Babylon, Sonic, Aptos, Circle, KAIA, Initia, Movement and Flow—to spotlight the most original and contrarian early-stage teams building the next generation of technology.

It was the moment DoraHacks unveiled its defining thesis for 2025: Freedom of BUIDL—the fundamental belief that anyone, anywhere, should have the freedom to build what they want, when they want.

DoraHacks is not merely a platform. It is a force of nature, mobilizing the world's largest and most significant hacker movement. With over 200,000 developers having collectively launched 20,000+ startups, DoraHacks is rewriting the blueprint of innovation. This is where the future is built—not in closed rooms, but in the open, by hackers who refuse to ask for permission.

Hacking Without Borders

The numbers speak for themselves. In 2024 alone, over 300 organizations hosted more than 350 hackathons through DoraHacks, proving that the demand for open innovation has never been stronger. Any organization, from emerging startups to global enterprises, can tap into the boundless creative potential of the DoraHacks ecosystem and launch their own hackathons with ease.

DoraHacks' 2025 Thesis: The Future of BUIDL

At BUIDL Day, DoraHacks announced its core technological priorities for 2025. These are not mere trends—they are fundamental shifts in how the internet, cryptography, and decentralized systems will evolve. DoraHacks is doubling down on collaborations with the most critical open-source platforms to foster growth and innovation. The key areas include:

• Consumer Crypto – A narrative gaining traction across Aptos, Circle, Flow, and beyond, driving the next wave of crypto-native consumer applications.
• Agentic Crypto & Organizations – A revolution in decentralized coordination, playing out in Injective, Sonic, and YakiHonne.
• Freedom of BUIDL & Privacy Tech – Powering sovereign innovation and privacy-first technologies, championed by Zama and Dora Factory.
• Sovereign Independent Blockchains – The rise of self-sovereign networks, an area where Cosmos and its ecosystem continue to lead.

But we are not stopping there.

Exploring the Next Frontier

2025 marks the beginning of DoraHacks’ deep foray into frontier technology:

• Quantum Software & Infrastructure – Enabling the next paradigm shift in computing.
• Quantum Cryptography – Developing encryption that withstands the quantum era.
• Open Source Hardware – Breaking the barriers of proprietary computing.

The future is decentralized. It is open-source. And it is being built, right now.

The Next Chapter: Google Cloud x DoraHacks

DoraHacks is not just shaping the future—it is forming alliances with those who are building it. At BUIDL Day, DoraHacks officially announced its partnership with Google Cloud. As part of this collaboration, Google Cloud will provide $350,000 in cloud and AI services to support DoraHacks’ most promising startups. This partnership will also drive the launch of new hackathons focused on cutting-edge fields, from AI to quantum computing.

A Platform for Bold Builders

BUIDL DAY was meticulously designed to give early-stage teams the visibility, resources, and connections they need to propel their projects forward. Unlike traditional conferences and summits, our focus was on the BUIDLs that challenge the status quo—teams building with first-principles thinking and forging paths where others have yet to tread. These BUIDLs represented the cutting edge of decentralized technology, from novel Layer 1s and interoperability solutions to revolutionary applications in DeFi, consumer, AI gaming, and infrastructure.

Unparalleled Networking and Exposure

The energy in the room was electric as builders, investors, and foundation leaders engaged in deep discussion. Venture capitalists, including some of the most active investors in the space, had the opportunity to meet the next wave of category-defining projects at their earliest stages. Meanwhile, developers and founders connected with the leading foundations backing their ecosystems, receiving invaluable insights, mentorship, and potential funding opportunities.

Beyond structured networking, serendipitous encounters defined the day—whether it was a team finding a strategic partner over coffee or a founder securing an unexpected investor introduction during a panel discussion. BUIDL DAY was proof that the right environment fosters groundbreaking collaborations.

Why BUIDL DAY Matters

The ethos behind BUIDL DAY is simple: true innovation happens when visionary builders are given a platform to share, iterate, and connect. While the Web3 landscape is constantly evolving, one thing remains certain—early-stage projects need more than funding; they need the right ecosystem, exposure, and support to succeed.

By curating an event that prioritizes originality and contrarian thinking, DoraHacks has reaffirmed its commitment to nurturing the builders who will define the future of blockchain and beyond. BUIDL DAY was not just a moment in time—it was the beginning of something much bigger.

To all the builders, investors, and foundation leaders who joined us: thank you for making this an unforgettable experience. We can’t wait to see where these projects go next and look forward to building together in the future.

Until next time, keep BUIDLing!

If you want to learn more about all of the participating BUIDLs please refer the our

BUIDL DAY BUIDL BROCHURE

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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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

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Ascolta bene! Conquering a city is easy. All it takes is gathering armies, strategies, and being ruthless. But mastering one’s own spirit? Ah, that is the battle that separates men from boys, leaders from tyrants, and the wise from the foolish.

Davvero, patience is the hammer that shapes a man's spirit; fury is the fire that destroys it. A warrior wins battles, but a man who controls his emotions rules empires. He who governs himself will never be a slave to circumstances.

An army may tear down walls, but a single man who controls his emotions builds empires—both within and beyond himself. Patience is not weakness; it is the precise strike of one who has already won the internal battle. Unchecked rage destroys in seconds what patience builds over a lifetime.

External victory without internal mastery is a deception. What good is it to conquer a city if your soul remains a battlefield? He who does not control his spirit is a slave to himself. Anger, ego, and pride are serpents coiled within the heart, ready to suffocate any chance of greatness. A man without self-control is nothing more than a wild beast; a patient man is a fortress.

Patience is not weakness; it is an invisible sword that cuts deeper than any forged blade. True power does not lie in the roar of rage but in the silence of strategy. It is the shield that guards against reckless decisions, words that cannot be taken back, and mistakes that are far too costly. A patient man, one who masters his spirit, is like a volcano—choosing when and where to erupt. He does not waste energy; he channels it, calculates, and triumphs.

A man's success is not measured by the lands he conquers or the people he commands, but by his ability to remain unshaken, even when everything around him crumbles. The man who does not master himself is a slave, even with an empire at his feet. But the patient man, the one who transforms anger into strength and silence into strategy, becomes a living weapon. He does not merely survive—he dominates, unbreakable, immortal in his legacy.

Be this man, amico mio.

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!

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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)

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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.

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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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

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Written by Keith Meola, Revised by Frank Corva

Situated 8 miles off the coast of Cancun surrounded by pristine turquoise waters is a small island called Isla Mujeres.

And when I say small, I mean small. It measures just 5 miles long by 0.5 miles wide.

The sliver of landmass has a lot going on, though. On it, you can find a lake, a bay, different beaches with unique waves, and various distinct areas.

There’s the calmer residential center, the active and more touristy “downtown”, and the tranquil and posh Southern tip, to describe a few.

12,600 people live on the island, and several hundred merchants and businesses operate there.

Of these businesses, 16 accept bitcoin.

At the beginning of 2024, this number was zero. So, how have so many people on the island been orange-pilled in such a short period of time?

A passionate Bitcoiner named Isabella (Isa) Santos, that's who. And she started doing this work at block height #829,750 (mined February 9, 2024). This is when BTC Isla was born.

BTC Isla

Isa started the work as a passion project. BTC Isla was slow to initially get off the ground, but, Isa began to pick up steam by the end of 2024. And now she is charging ahead with the help of visiting Bitcoiners.

The first visitor arrived in the Summer of 2024 and the number of visitors has been steadily increasing since then.

Within the first month of this year, 6 Bitcoiners from 4 countries have visited the island to see what is happening and partake in the movement. Those who have visited have split their time between attending meetups or volunteering and partaking in efforts to spread Bitcoin adoption. And Isa intends to welcome many more Bitcoiners to the island this year.

She also plans to continue to work tirelessly to not only onboard more merchants but to educate the freshly orange-pilled about how Bitcoin works and why it's so important.

One of the bitcoin-accepting merchants on the island

Bitcoin Education

Education is at the core of BTC Isla. In Isa's mind, Bitcoin education is necessary to truly empower the population.

It is one thing to accept bitcoin as a form of payment. It's another for people to truly understand what Bitcoin is and what it can do for them.

Isa teaches Bitcoin classes which are free to attend.

At the moment they are held at the Mayakita restaurant, which is also the usual spot for the Bitcoin meetups. Isa teaches the classes in Spanish using the Mi Primer Bitcoin curriculum.

This curriculum is an open-source diploma-based educational program created by the organization Mi Primer Bitcoin in El Salvador. Through their coursework, students are taught the essential knowledge to gain financial literacy and understand Bitcoin.

As of the time of writing, one cohort has already graduated and the second one is on its way!

BTC Isla class

Merchant Adoption

Adoption on the island is picking up steam in 2025. As mentioned, 16 merchants on the island currently accept bitcoin as payment.

And Isa is working to increase that number with the help of locals. Expats living on the island as well as students and graduated students help with adoption.

Thanks to the efforts of Isa and her team, it's now possible to visit the island and use bitcoin exclusively to pay for goods and services!

The majority of the merchants who accept bitcoin are food and drink vendors, but it is possible to pay for accommodation, transportation, and even some tours and shopping with bitcoin.

Visitors at a meetup

As I wrote, the number of visitors to the island is exploding in 2025. I recently had the opportunity and pleasure to visit the island and spent 2 weeks there observing and taking part In the project. I will be writing about my experiences on the island and with BTC Isla!

Gaining Attention

Big and exciting things are happening on the small island of Isla Mujeres.

What started as a solo passion project to “orange pill a whole island” is quickly gaining new members and it's attracting attention both on the island and around the globe.

Word is quickly spreading that something is brewing off the coast of Cancun.

Post-class picture, that's me in the white shirt

BTC Isla can be followed at the following handles:

• btcisla.xyz
• Twitter/X
• Nostr
• Youtube

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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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 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.

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Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ 6e0ea5d6:0327f353

Every venture is a tremendous risk. In all your business endeavors, ask yourself: is the potential gain viable enough to outweigh the risk of loss? Courage must always align with intelligence. That is, every initiative should be based on a thorough study of the market, supply, and demand.

If the success of your plans depends on someone else's help, believe this: you have already failed. Do not wait for assistance, do not rely on the goodwill of others, and never trust promises of support. In the end, people are more likely to ignore you than to honor their word.

It will not be their fault in any way. However, it will be yours. Do not be disappointed in others—be disappointed in yourself for expecting too much from them. Engrave these words in your heart, and you will never have the spear of betrayal lodged in your back. When you are at rock bottom, the only thing that will fall from the sky is dirt. The best time to be courageous is when you have nothing left.

With that in mind, approach your problems with enthusiasm and determination! Keep your eyes open, your mouth shut, your heart still, and your spirit ready for war. Only lower your guard when they lower the lid of your coffin. Both failure and victory are direct results of your actions and how you navigate your personal circumstances. Take responsibility for your choices and mistakes, do not wallow in self-pity, and enjoy what you earn.

Expect nothing from others but disappointment, lies, and constant frustration. Anything good that comes your way—consider it a bonus.

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!

@ 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.

@ f3873798:24b3f2f3

Olá, caros leitores!

No meu Guia para Novatos do Nostr, mencionei brevemente o YakiHonne, um dos diversos clientes disponíveis no ecossistema Nostr. Hoje, quero aprofundar mais sobre esse cliente, destacando suas funcionalidades, vantagens, desvantagens e minha opinião final.

YakiHonne: O Melhor Cliente para Microblog no Nostr?

O YakiHonne se destaca por sua interface bem organizada e otimizada para leitura de artigos no Nostr. Um dos seus diferenciais é a seção de sugestões no canto superior da tela, que recomenda conteúdos relevantes e incentiva a exploração de novas postagens.

Caso você queira mais visibilidade na plataforma, existe a opção de pagar para destacar uma publicação através da funcionalidade> Note Paga, localizada na parte inferior da tela de criação de posts.

Além disso, o YakiHonne oferece diversas opções de publicação, cada uma com otimizações específicas.

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Funcionalidades do YakiHonne

Ao clicar no botão "+", o usuário tem acesso às seguintes opções de postagens:

📌 Note

Equivalente às postagens instantâneas de redes sociais como X (antigo Twitter), onde os usuários compartilham pensamentos curtos e interagem rapidamente.

📝 Article

Voltado para microblogs e blogs, essa opção permite uma formatação mais detalhada dos textos, sendo ideal para quem quer produzir conteúdo mais elaborado.

🎥 Vídeo

Uma funcionalidade destinada à publicação de vídeos. Aparentemente, o YakiHonne busca ser um “YouTube descentralizado” dentro do Nostr, mas ainda não explorei essa opção a fundo. Se alguém já testou, sinta-se à vontade para compartilhar nos comentários.

🖥️ Smart Widget

Permite personalizar o layout do cliente para que a experiência de navegação e leitura fique mais intuitiva e agradável para cada usuário.

📚 Curation

Uma funcionalidade que possibilita a criação de curations, ou seja, coleções de artigos organizados por tema. Além disso, outras pessoas podem contribuir com artigos relacionados, tornando essa uma ferramenta colaborativa interessante.

Na minha opinião, a opção Article é a mais útil, pois permite criar textos bem estruturados.

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Construindo um Artigo no YakiHonne

Na opção Article, há diversas ferramentas de formatação disponíveis, incluindo:

• Negrito

• Itálico

• Hyperlink

• Diferentes níveis de títulos (H1, H2, H3…)

• <> Para realçar trechos de código ou termos específicos

• " Para inserir citações destacadas

• Sublinhado

• f (parece criar um botão, mas precisa de ajustes)

• Inserção de imagens via URL ou upload direto

• Inteligência Artificial integrada para auxiliar na escrita

• Smart Widget para melhor organização

Essas ferramentas tornam a experiência de escrever no YakiHonne mais completa e dinâmica.

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Vantagens do YakiHonne

✅ Ótima otimização para textos – É um dos clientes mais completos para quem deseja produzir conteúdos bem estruturados. ✅ Interface intuitiva – A organização da plataforma facilita a navegação e a gestão das postagens. ✅ Ferramentas de divulgação – As opções de curadoria e destaques pagos ajudam a impulsionar conteúdos relevantes.

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Desvantagens do YakiHonne

⚠️ Edição de texto precisa de melhorias – A opção de sublinhar altera o tamanho e a fonte do texto, o que não é ideal para destacar palavras estrangeiras corretamente. ⚠️ Botão "f" desconfigurado – A funcionalidade que aparentemente gera um botão ficou deformada no meu celular, sem possibilidade de ajuste.

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Considerações Finais

O YakiHonne é um dos melhores clientes Nostr que já experimentei. Se você gosta de ler e escrever artigos, pode passar horas explorando os conteúdos da comunidade.

Além disso, acredito que no futuro haverá mais opções de monetização. Assim como outros clientes Nostr, o YakiHonne permite associar uma carteira de Bitcoin, possibilitando receber doações pelos conteúdos publicados.

Se você já testou esse cliente, deixe nos comentários sua experiências

@ d5c3d063:4d1159b3

ทำไมคนที่ด่าเรา ถึงเป็นคนที่ทุกข์...ลองนึกภาพคนที่กำลังมีความสุขดูสิ... เขาจะมีเวลามานั่งด่าใครไหม

วันหนึ่ง...ผมนั่งอยู่ในร้านกาแฟ มองออกไปเห็นชายคนหนึ่งกำลังมีปากเสียงกับพนักงานร้าน เขาพูดจาเสียงดัง หน้าตาบึ้งตึง ดูหงุดหงิดอย่างเห็นได้ชัด พนักงานสาวที่ถูกตำหนิพยายามขอโทษ และอธิบายเหตุผลของเธอด้วยน้ำเสียงสุภาพ แต่ชายคนนั้นยังคงไม่พอใจ เดินออกจากร้านไปด้วยอารมณ์ขุ่นมัว ทิ้งบรรยากาศตึงเครียดไว้เบื้องหลัง

!(image)[https://m.primal.net/PQdY.png]

พนักงานสาวถอนหายใจเบา ๆ แล้วหันกลับมาทำงานต่อราวกับไม่มีอะไรเกิดขึ้น ผมอดสงสัยไม่ได้ว่าทำไมเธอถึงดูไม่ทุกข์ร้อนกับเหตุการณ์เมื่อครู่นี้เลย

"ไม่เป็นไรค่ะ เขาคงมีเรื่องให้กังวลอยู่แล้ว" เธอตอบเมื่อผมถาม

คำพูดนั้นทำให้ผมหยุดคิด...

ในชีวิตของเรา คงไม่มีใครไม่เคยถูกตำหนิ ถูกต่อว่า หรือถูกพูดจาไม่ดีใส่ บางครั้งอาจเป็นเพียงคำพูดที่ไม่ได้ตั้งใจ บางครั้งอาจเป็นอารมณ์โกรธที่ถูกระบายออกมาโดยไม่เลือกที่หมาย แต่หากเราหยุดดูให้ดี เราจะพบว่าคนที่กำลังโกรธ ดุด่าหรือตำหนิใครสักคน มักจะเป็นคนที่กำลังเผชิญกับความทุกข์อยู่แล้ว

คนที่มาด่าเรา อาจจะกำลังเหนื่อยล้าจากปัญหาส่วนตัว อาจจะผิดหวังในบางสิ่ง อาจจะรู้สึกไม่เป็นที่ยอมรับ อาจจะเครียดจากเรื่องในครอบครัว และบางครั้ง…อาจจะไม่ได้มีเจตนาร้าย เพียงแต่เขาไม่รู้จะจัดการกับอารมณ์ของตัวเองยังไง

...และเมื่อเผชิญกับคำพูดที่ไม่ดี เรามีทางเลือกอยู่เสมอ...

• ตอบโต้กลับไป บางครั้งเราโกรธและเผลอพูดอะไรออกไปตามอารมณ์ สิ่งนี้อาจทำให้เกิดความรู้สึกไม่ดีทั้งสองฝ่าย บางครั้งเราชนะการโต้เถียง แต่กลับแพ้ที่ความสงบในใจ

• ปล่อยผ่าน และเข้าใจ การเข้าใจว่า "คนที่ด่าเรา เขานั่นแหละทุกข์" ไม่ได้หมายความว่าเราต้องยอมรับการถูกกระทำที่ไม่เหมาะสม แต่หมายถึงการไม่เอาคำพูดเหล่านั้นมาเป็นภาระของตัวเอง

• มองลึกลงไปให้เห็นเจตนา บางครั้งคนที่ตำหนิเราอาจจะต้องการให้เราปรับปรุงในบางเรื่อง อารมณ์ของเขาอาจจะไม่ดี แต่หากเราแยกเนื้อหาจากอารมณ์ออกมาได้ เราอาจพบว่ามีบางอย่างที่เราสามารถเรียนรู้ได้

ท้ายที่สุด คำพูดของใครก็ไม่สำคัญเท่ากับสิ่งที่เราบอกกับตัวเอง

หากเรามั่นคงพอ คำพูดที่รุนแรงจะเป็นเพียงเสียงที่ผ่านเข้ามาแล้วผ่านไป หากเรามีเมตตา คำพูดที่ไม่ดีจะเป็นบทเรียนให้เราเข้าใจมนุษย์มากขึ้น หากเรารู้เท่าทันอารมณ์ตัวเอง คำพูดเหล่านั้นก็จะไม่มีอิทธิพลต่อเรา

"ไม่เป็นไรค่ะ เขาคงมีเรื่องให้กังวลอยู่แล้ว"

ผมนั่งจิบกาแฟพลางคิดตามคำพูดนั้นแล้วพบว่ามันเป็นเรื่องจริง คนที่มาด่าเรา อาจจะต้องการกำลังใจมากกว่าที่เราคิดก็ได้...

Siamstr

@ 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.

---

Dieser Beitrag ist zuerst auf Transition News erschienen.

@ eb35d9c0:6ea2b8d0

I had a ton of fun making this episode of Midnight Signals. It taught me a lot about the haunting of the Bell family and the demise of John Bell. His death was attributed to the Bell Witch making Tennessee the only state to recognize a person's death to the supernatural.

If you enjoyed the episode, visit the Midnight Signals site. https://midnightsignals.net

Show Notes

Journey back to the early 1800s and the eerie Bell Witch haunting that plagued the Bell family in Adams, Tennessee. It began with strange creatures and mysterious knocks, evolving into disembodied voices and violent attacks on young Betsy Bell. Neighbors, even Andrew Jackson, witnessed the phenomena, adding to the legend. The witch's identity remains a mystery, sowing fear and chaos, ultimately leading to John Bell's tragic demise. The haunting waned, but its legacy lingers, woven into the very essence of the town. Delve into this chilling story of a family's relentless torment by an unseen force.

Transcript

Good evening, night owls. I'm Russ Chamberlain, and you're listening to midnight signals, the show, where we explore the darkest corners of our collective past. Tonight, our signal takes us to the early 1800s to a modest family farm in Adams, Tennessee. Where the Bell family encountered what many call the most famous haunting in American history.

Make yourself comfortable, hush your surroundings, and let's delve into this unsettling tale. Our story begins in 1804, when John Bell and his wife Lucy made their way from North Carolina to settle along the Red River in northern Tennessee. In those days, the land was wide and fertile, mostly unspoiled with gently rolling hills and dense woodland.

For the Bells, John, Lucy, and their children, The move promised prosperity. They arrived eager to farm the rich soil, raise livestock, and find a peaceful home. At first, life mirrored [00:01:00] that hope. By day, John and his sons worked tirelessly in the fields, planting corn and tending to animals, while Lucy and her daughters managed the household.

Evenings were spent quietly, with scripture readings by the light of a flickering candle. Neighbors in the growing settlement of Adams spoke well of John's dedication and Lucy's gentle spirit. The Bells were welcomed into the Fold, a new family building their future on the Tennessee Earth. In those early years, the Bells likely gave little thought to uneasy rumors whispered around the region.

Strange lights seen deep in the woods, soft cries heard by travelers at dusk, small mysteries that most dismissed as product of the imagination. Life on the frontier demanded practicality above all else, leaving little time to dwell on spirits or curses. Unbeknownst to them, events on their farm would soon dominate not only their lives, but local lore for generations to come.[00:02:00]

It was late summer, 1817, when John Bell's ordinary routines took a dramatic turn. One evening, in the waning twilight, he spotted an odd creature near the edge of a tree line. A strange beast resembling part dog, part rabbit. Startled, John raised his rifle and fired, the shot echoing through the fields. Yet, when he went to inspect the spot, nothing remained.

No tracks, no blood, nothing to prove the creature existed at all. John brushed it off as a trick of falling light or his own tired eyes. He returned to the house, hoping for a quiet evening. But in the days that followed, faint knocking sounds began at the windows after sunset. Soft scratching rustled against the walls as if curious fingers or claws tested the timbers.

The family's dog barked at shadows, growling at the emptiness of the yard. No one considered it a haunting at first. Life on a rural [00:03:00] farm was filled with pests, nocturnal animals, and the countless unexplained noises of the frontier. Yet the disturbances persisted, night after night, growing a little bolder each time.

One evening, the knocking on the walls turned so loud it woke the entire household. Lamps were lit, doors were open, the ground searched, but the land lay silent under the moon. Within weeks, the unsettling taps and scrapes evolved into something more alarming. Disembodied voices. At first, the voices were faint.

A soft murmur in rooms with no one in them. Betsy Bell, the youngest daughter, insisted she heard her name called near her bed. She ran to her mother and her father trembling, but they found no intruder. Still, The voice continued, too low for them to identify words, yet distinct enough to chill the blood.

Lucy Bell began to fear they were facing a spirit, an unclean presence that had invaded their home. She prayed for divine [00:04:00] protection each evening, yet sometimes the voice seemed to mimic her prayers, twisting her words into a derisive echo. John Bell, once confident and strong, grew unnerved. When he tried reading from the Bible, the voice mocked him, imitating his tone like a cruel prankster.

As the nights passed, disturbances gained momentum. Doors opened by themselves, chairs shifted with no hand to move them, and curtains fluttered in a room void of drafts. Even in daytime, Betsy would find objects missing, only for them to reappear on the kitchen floor or a distant shelf. It felt as if an unseen intelligence roamed the house, bent on sowing chaos.

Of all the bells, Betsy suffered the most. She was awakened at night by her hair being yanked hard enough to pull her from sleep. Invisible hands slapped her cheeks, leaving red prints. When she walked outside by day, she heard harsh whispers at her ear, telling her she would know [00:05:00] no peace. Exhausted, she became withdrawn, her once bright spirit dulled by a ceaseless fear.

Rumors spread that Betsy's torment was the worst evidence of the haunting. Neighbors who dared spend the night in the Bell household often witnessed her blankets ripped from the bed, or watched her clutch her bruised arms in distress. As these accounts circulated through the community, people began referring to the presence as the Bell Witch, though no one was certain if it truly was a witch's spirit or something else altogether.

In the tightly knit town of Adams, word of the strange happenings at the Bell Farm soon reached every ear. Some neighbors offered sympathy, believing wholeheartedly that the family was besieged by an evil force. Others expressed skepticism, guessing there must be a logical trick behind it all. John Bell, ordinarily a private man, found himself hosting visitors eager to witness the so called witch in action.

[00:06:00] These visitors gathered by the parlor fireplace or stood in darkened hallways, waiting in tense silence. Occasionally, the presence did not appear, and the disappointed guests left unconvinced. More often, they heard knocks vibrating through the walls or faint moans drifting between rooms. One man, reading aloud from the Bible, found his words drowned out by a rasping voice that repeated the verses back at him in a warped, sing song tone.

Each new account that left the bell farm seemed to confirm the unearthly intelligence behind the torment. It was no longer mere noises or poltergeist pranks. This was something with a will and a voice. Something that could think and speak on its own. Months of sleepless nights wore down the Bell family.

John's demeanor changed. The weight of the haunting pressed on him. Lucy, steadfast in her devotion, prayed constantly for deliverance. The [00:07:00] older Bell children, seeing Betsy attacked so frequently, tried to shield her but were powerless against an enemy that slipped through walls. Farming tasks were delayed or neglected as the family's time and energy funneled into coping with an unseen assailant.

John Bell began experiencing health problems that no local healer could explain. Trembling hands, difficulty swallowing, and fits of dizziness. Whether these ailments arose from stress or something darker, they only reinforced his sense of dread. The voice took to mocking him personally, calling him by name and snickering at his deteriorating condition.

At times, he woke to find himself pinned in bed, unable to move or call out. Despite it all, Lucy held the family together. Soft spoken and gentle, she soothed Betsy's tears and administered whatever remedies she could to John. Yet the unrelenting barrage of knocks, whispers, and violence within her own home tested her faith [00:08:00] daily.

Amid the chaos, Betsy clung to one source of joy, her engagement to Joshua Gardner, a kind young man from the area. They hoped to marry and begin their own life, perhaps on a parcel of the Bell Land or a new farmstead nearby. But whenever Joshua visited the Bell Home, The unseen spirit raged. Stones rattled against the walls, and the door slammed as if in warning.

During quiet walks by the river, Betsy heard the voice hiss in her ear, threatening dire outcomes if she ever were to wed Joshua. Night after night, Betsy lay awake, her tears soaked onto her pillow as she wrestled with the choice between her beloved fiancé and this formidable, invisible foe. She confided in Lucy, who offered comfort but had no solution.

For a while, Betsy and Joshua resolved to stand firm, but the spirit's fury only escalated. Believing she had no alternative, Betsy broke off the engagement. Some thought the family's [00:09:00] torment would subside if the witches demands were met. In a cruel sense, it seemed to succeed. With Betsy's engagement ended, the spirit appeared slightly less focused on her.

By now, the Bell Witch was no longer a mere local curiosity. Word of the haunting spread across the region and reached the ears of Andrew Jackson, then a prominent figure who would later become president. Intrigued, or perhaps skeptical, he traveled to Adams with a party of men to witness the phenomenon firsthand.

According to popular account, the men found their wagon inexplicably stuck on the road near the Bell property, refusing to move until a disembodied voice commanded them to proceed. That night, Jackson's men sat in the Bell parlor, determined to uncover fraud if it existed. Instead, they found themselves subjected to jeering laughter and unexpected slaps.

One boasted of carrying a special bullet that could kill any spirit, only to be chased from the house in terror. [00:10:00] By morning, Jackson reputedly left, shaken. Although details vary among storytellers, the essence of his experience only fueled the legend's fire. Some in Adams took to calling the presence Kate, suspecting it might be the spirit of a neighbor named Kate Batts.

Rumors pointed to an old feud or land dispute between Kate Batts and John Bell. Whether any of that was true, or Kate Batts was simply an unfortunate scapegoat remains unclear. The entity itself, at times, answered to Kate when addressed, while at other times denying any such name. It was a puzzle of contradictions, claiming multiple identities.

A wayward spirit, a demon, or a lost soul wandering in malice. No single explanation satisfied everyone in the community. With Betsy's engagement to Joshua broken, the witch devoted increasing attention to John Bell. His health declined rapidly in 1820, marked by spells of near [00:11:00] paralysis and unremitting pain.

Lucy tended to him day and night. Their children worried and exhausted, watched as their patriarch grew weaker, his once strong presence withering under an unseen hand. In December of that year, John Bell was found unconscious in his bed. A small vial of dark liquid stood nearby. No one recognized its contents.

One of his sons put a single drop on the tongue of the family cat, which died instantly. Almost immediately, the voice shrieked in triumph, boasting that it had given John a final, fatal dose. That same day, John Bell passed away without regaining consciousness, leaving his family both grief stricken and horrified by the witch's brazen gloating.

The funeral drew a large gathering. Many came to mourn the respected farmer. Others arrived to see whether the witch would appear in some dreadful form. As pallbearers lowered John Bell's coffin, A jeering laughter rippled across the [00:12:00] mourners, prompting many to look wildly around for the source. Then, as told in countless retellings, the voice broke into a rude, mocking song, echoing among the gravestones and sending shudders through the crowd.

In the wake of John Bell's death, life on the farm settled into an uneasy quiet. Betsy noticed fewer night time assaults. And the daily havoc lessened. People whispered that the witch finally achieved its purpose by taking John Bell's life. Then, just as suddenly as it had arrived, the witch declared it would leave the family, though it promised to return in seven years.

After a brief period of stillness, the witch's threat rang true. Around 1828, a few of the Bells claimed to hear light tapping or distant murmurs echoing in empty rooms. However, these new incidents were mild and short lived compared to the previous years of torment. Soon enough, even these faded, leaving the bells [00:13:00] with haunted memories, but relative peace.

Near the bell property stood a modest cave by the Red River, a spot often tied to the legend. Over time, people theorized that cave's dark recesses, though the bells themselves rarely ventured inside. Later visitors and locals would tell of odd voices whispering in the cave or strange lights gliding across the damp stone.

Most likely, these stories were born of the haunting's lingering aura. Yet, they continued to fuel the notion that the witch could still roam beyond the farm, hidden beneath the earth. Long after the bells had ceased to hear the witch's voice, the story lived on. Word traveled to neighboring towns, then farther, into newspapers and traveler anecdotes.

The tale of the Tennessee family plagued by a fiendish, talkative spirit captured the imagination. Some insisted the Bell Witch was a cautionary omen of what happens when old feuds and injustices are left [00:14:00] unresolved. Others believed it was a rare glimpse of a diabolical power unleashed for reasons still unknown.

Here in Adams, people repeated the story around hearths and campfires. Children were warned not to wander too far near the old bell farm after dark. When neighbors passed by at night, they might hear a faint rustle in the bush or catch a flicker of light among the trees, prompting them to walk faster.

Hearts pounding, minds remembering how once a family had suffered greatly at the hands of an unseen force. Naturally, not everyone agreed on what transpired at the Bell farm. Some maintained it was all too real, a case of a vengeful spirit or malignant presence carrying out a personal vendetta. Others whispered that perhaps a member of the Bell family had orchestrated the phenomenon with cunning trickery, though that failed to explain the bruises on Betsy, the widespread witnesses, or John's mysterious death.

Still, others pointed to the possibility of an [00:15:00] unsettled spirit who had attached itself to the land for reasons lost to time. What none could deny was the tangible suffering inflicted on the Bells. John Bell's slow decline and Betsy's bruises were impossible to ignore. Multiple guests, neighbors, acquaintances, even travelers testified to hearing the same eerie voice that threatened, teased and recited scripture.

In an age when the supernatural was both feared and accepted, the Bell Witch story captured hearts and sparked endless speculation. After John Bell's death, the family held onto the farm for several years. Betsy, robbed of her engagement to Joshua, eventually found a calmer path through life, though the memory of her tormented youth never fully left her.

Lucy, steadfast and devout to the end, kept her household as best as she could, unwilling to surrender her faith even after all she had witnessed. Over time, the children married and started families of their own, [00:16:00] quietly distancing themselves from the tragedy that had defined their upbringing.

Generations passed, the farm changed hands, the Bell House was repurposed and renovated, and Adams itself transformed slowly from a frontier settlement into a more established community. Yet the name Bellwitch continued to slip into conversation whenever strange knocks were heard late at night or lonely travelers glimpsed inexplicable lights in the distance.

The story refused to fade, woven into the identity of the land itself. Even as the first hand witnesses to the haunting aged and died, their accounts survived in letters, diaries, and recollections passed down among locals. Visitors to Adams would hear about the famed Bell Witch, about the dreadful death of John Bell, the heartbreak of Betsy's broken engagement, and the brazen voice that filled nights with fear.

Some folks approached the story with reverence, others with skepticism. But no one [00:17:00] denied that it shaped the character of the town. In the hush of a moonlit evening, one might stand on that old farmland, fields once tilled by John Bell's callous hands, now peaceful beneath the Tennessee sky. And imagine the entire family huddled in the house, listening with terrified hearts for the next knock on the wall.

It's said that if you pause long enough, you might sense a faint echo of their dread, carried on a stray breath of wind. The Bell Witch remains a singular chapter in American folklore, a tale of a family besieged by something unseen, lethal, and uncannily aware. However one interprets the events, whether as vengeful ghosts, demonic presence, or some other unexplainable force, the Bell Witch.

Its resonance lies in the very human drama at its core. Here was a father undone by circumstances he could not control. A daughter tormented in her own home, in a close knit household tested by relentless fear. [00:18:00] In the end, the Bell Witch story offers a lesson in how thin the line between our daily certainties and the mysteries that defy them.

When night falls, and the wind rattles the shutters in a silent house, we remember John Bell and his family, who discovered that the safe haven of home can become a battlefield against forces beyond mortal comprehension. I'm Russ Chamberlain, and you've been listening to Midnight Signals. May this account of the Bell Witch linger with you as a reminder that in the deepest stillness of the night, Anything seems possible.

Even the unseen tapping of a force that seeks to make itself known. Sleep well, if you dare.

@ 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.

---

Danke, dass du diesen Weg mit mir weitergehst!

@ 5725c4a8:6ba4f820

!(image)[https://i.nostr.build/iuWXGIaA91wMTFJg.jpg] I've been seeing some posts from (I think new) Bitcoiners complaining about the recent volatility of Bitcoin, sometimes in dismay about the price, and sometimes in dismay that they have no "dry powder" available to buy the dip. With inflation being such a huge problem, cost of living has a very real effect on our ability to stack sats, so some creative thinking is in order. My hope is that this post can share a little bit of wisdom that I have found to work for me in my own quest to accumulate as much Bitcoin as I can. If you want to skip to the meat of this article, scroll down My Strategy. As the standard disclosure goes: this is not financial or investment advice.

A little about me and where I'm coming from

I'm part of the 2022 class of Bitcoiners. I'm very new to this community.But I have gone down the Bitcoin rabbit hole, I have read Saifdean's The Bitcoin Standard and The Fiat Standard, and I have spent many many hundreds of hours listening to podcasts on Bitcoin and Austrian economics (which I discovered at about the same time). All this to say, despite the work that I have put in thus far, take this with a grain of salt and use your own reasoning to determine if this strategy or any ideas derived from it are right for you.

Dollar Cost Averaging

Dollar Cost Averaging (DCA) is the practice of setting a recurring buy order of a stock or commodity. Such orders, once set, will continue to execute at the set frequency until the buyer's selected termination date, or until a set amount has been reached, or until no more funds are available in the buyer's account from which to buy. DCA takes advantage of the fact that for a long term growth asset (like Bitcoin), the average price will always tend to go up over time despite intermittent volatility. By not trying watch for or time the dips and highs, DCAing not only makes it easier to accumulate Bitcoin, but it is very effective in the long term and reduces a lot of potential stress from trying to game the market volatility. One more important point is that as this method utilizes averaging, the closer that the buyer can match the actual price curve over time, the greater the benefit from the average growth of that price curve. This means that for two recurring buy orders, using the same amount of fiat in the buying pool, if one has more frequent buys and the other has less frequent buys, even if they spent the same amount at the end of the buying period, the order with more frequent buys will experience the greater value from the average growth of the asset being purchased.

This is in contrast to limit orders, in which they buyer attempts to gauge what price action will occur in the future, or "smash buying" in which the buyer tries to watch and time the market to place real-time orders. As these are not the focus of this strategy, I won't go into detail about them. But if you understand DCA and why it works, I assume that you can also reason for yourself about the effectiveness and utility of these other buying methods.

Each of these methods can occasionally be successful, I'm not saying that there is not place for them. In fact, I use these too, but they are used in a tactical manner, and I try to be careful to make sure that using these do not interrupt my DCA strategy.

Savings Allocation

I may update this in the future, based on changes in my financial situation, the larger landscape, and whatproducts/tools are available. Note that I'm not rich. I work for a tech startup which is gaining traction, and if it is successful then that may change. But for now I operate with limited financial resources to use for stacking sats. But still, I stack sats. I say this to clarify why this strategy works for me, and hopefully to establish that this will work for you if you also have limited income but have the ability and desire to accumulate Bitcoin for yourself.

I have a consistent amount of money coming in on a regular basis, and this is an important part of my calculus. Similarly, I have consistent bills going out. The difference between these are my subsistence and discretionary spending. Subsistence spending being money that I spend on food and other nutrients, and discretionary spending is what I spend on the things that I want but don't need.

I'm not at a point where I've managed to completely cut out my discretionary spending, but I do try to limit it as much as I can. Similarly, I'm proactive about finding good deals on food (especially beef). Then I can allocate more money to savings. It is this savings allocation that I use for buying Bitcoin.

My DCA Strategy

!(image)[https://i.nostr.build/augZsY8EVEAsdP34.png] My strategy begins with the money from each pay check that I want to allocate to savings (which in my case all goes to buying Bitcoin). It also hinges on DCA, and is strongly inspired by the sayings "stay humble and stack sats", and that "time in the market beats timing the market". I am not a professional trader, nor do I aspire to be one. As such, I want to maximize my time in the market without stressing myself out.

Allocating funds for DCA: First, find the amount for each pay period that you will use to buy Bitcoin, but don't immediately use it to buy, yet. Next, you need to find the frequency by which you will buy, and how much. I recommend the most frequent recurring buy option that you can find.

To do this, you need to find the DCA options available on the exchanges that you use. As a Bitcoin maximalist, I use Bitcoin focused exchanges. As a man with limited available funds for this use, I want the ability to DCA in fairly small amounts, but as frequently as possible. I find that River and Strike are excellent exchanges for this. Each of these exchanges currently allow buying as frequently as once-per-hour. River has a minimum of $1 per purchase. Strike can go even lower, I have a friend who I convinced to adopt this strategy and he started out with an hourly recurring buy of $0.05 per hour.

Having been a Bitcoiner for a little while now, I also find that it is useful to have additional funds set aside for "smash buys" to take advantage of major dips, such as the one that we are currently experiencing (I'm writing this on March 1st, 2025).

Using River as an example: The minimal buy on River, as stated above, is $1 per hour. There are 24 hours in a day, and 14 days in a pay period (for me). Then the minimum amount to allocate on River is $1/hour x 24 hours/day x 14 days/period = $336 per period.

You can change the dollar amount or number of days as are appropriate for your own goals and circumstances.

If you have a lower total available amount, you can use this version of the formula to find the recurring buy amount on Strike (or whichever other platform allows sub-dollar recurring buys): Recurring Buy = (available funds) / (number of hours over which to buy)

In truth, I use Strike as well, but I have another reason for choosing River in this example: I mentioned having a DCA strategy which keeps a reserve of "dry powder" so that you can also buy the dip.

You may benefit from keeping some reserve of savings in USD. It's something we simply can't get away from at this time of continued fiat dominance. This allows you to pull from the fiat reserve rather than selling any accumulated Bitcoin in cases of emergency (like car problems, or a family member needing help).

Last year, River announced a feature by which any cash kept on their exchange would earn 3.8% interest, which is paid in Bitcoin. This strategy works with other exchanges, but using River means that interest accumulation can also be leveraged (and it is much better than a typical bank savings account).

This is the final part of the strategy: put the rest of your savings into River and let it accumulate interest in Bitcoin. This reserve then becomes your dry powder. Use it at your discretion, save for emergencies, or use it to "smash buy" the dip, but do it without compromising your DCA setup. DON'T CANCEL your DCA, keep it going and take advantage of it's average growth. You don't know when the price will dip, and you don't know when it will go back up again. If it is difficult for you to maintain discipline and not spend your DCA reserve (since River doesn't split it into buckets for you), a variation of this strategy is to DCA-stack on another exchange so that it's not in the same pool as your fiat reserve.

When all else fails, just keep calm, stay humble, and stack sats. !(image)[https://i.nostr.build/pko6uWkq3rf0y0io.png]

I hope that someone finds this helpful. If you have your own personalized strategy, I'd love to hear about it in the comments.

@ 6389be64:ef439d32

Black Locust can grow up to 170 ft tall

Grows 3-4 ft. per year

Native to North America

Cold hardy in zones 3 to 8

Firewood

• BLT wood, on a pound for pound basis is roughly half that of Anthracite Coal
• Since its growth is fast, firewood can be plentiful

Timber

• Rot resistant due to a naturally produced robinin in the wood
  • 100 year life span in full soil contact! (better than cedar performance)
  • Fence posts
  • Outdoor furniture
  • Outdoor decking
• Sustainable due to its fast growth and spread
  • Can be coppiced (cut to the ground)
  • Can be pollarded (cut above ground)
• Its dense wood makes durable tool handles, boxes (tool), and furniture
  • The wood is tougher than hickory, which is tougher than hard maple, which is tougher than oak.
  • A very low rate of expansion and contraction
  • Hardwood flooring
  • The highest tensile beam strength of any American tree
• The wood is beautiful

Legume

• Nitrogen fixer
  • Fixes the same amount of nitrogen per acre as is needed for 200-bushel/acre corn
  • Black walnuts inter-planted with locust as “nurse” trees were shown to rapidly increase their growth [[Clark, Paul M., and Robert D. Williams. (1978) Black walnut growth increased when interplanted with nitrogen-fixing shrubs and trees. Proceedings of the Indiana Academy of Science, vol. 88, pp. 88-91.]]

Bees

• The edible flower clusters are also a top food source for honey bees

Shade Provider

• Its light, airy overstory provides dappled shade
  • Planted on the west side of a garden it provides relief during the hottest part of the day
  • (nitrogen provider)
  • Planted on the west side of a house, its quick growth soon shades that side from the sun

Wind-break

• Fast growth plus it's feathery foliage reduces wind for animals, crops, and shelters

Fodder

• Over 20% crude protein
• 4.1 kcal/g of energy
• Baertsche, S.R, M.T. Yokoyama, and J.W. Hanover (1986) Short rotation, hardwood tree biomass as potential ruminant feed-chemical composition, nylon bag ruminal degradation and ensilement of selected species. J. Animal Sci. 63 2028-2043

@ 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

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

Setting Up Your Code Editor

Introduction

In this lesson, we'll set up the most fundamental tool in your development journey: your code editor. This is where you'll spend most of your time writing, testing, and debugging code, so it's crucial to get comfortable with it from the start.

What is an IDE?

Definition

An IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is a software application that provides comprehensive facilities for software development. Think of it as your complete workshop for writing code.

Key Components

1. Code Editor
2. Where you write and edit code
3. Provides syntax highlighting
4. Helps with code formatting

5. Makes code easier to read and write

6. Compiler/Interpreter

7. Runs your code
8. Translates your code into executable instructions

9. Helps test your applications

10. Debugging Tools

11. Help find and fix errors
12. Provide error messages and suggestions
13. Make problem-solving easier

Setting Up Visual Studio Code

Why VS Code?

• Free and open-source
• Lightweight yet powerful
• Excellent community support
• Popular among developers
• Great for beginners and experts alike

Installation Steps

1. Visit code.visualstudio.com
2. Download the version for your operating system
3. Run the installer
4. Follow the installation prompts

Essential VS Code Features

1. Interface Navigation

• File Explorer (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + E)
• Browse and manage your files
• Create new files and folders

• Navigate your project structure

• Search (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F)

• Find text across all files
• Replace text globally

• Search with regular expressions

• Source Control (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + G)

• Track changes in your code
• Commit and manage versions
• Integrate with Git

2. Terminal Integration

To open the integrated terminal: - Use Ctrl + ` (backtick) - Or View → Terminal from the menu - Basic terminal commands: bash ls # List files (dir on Windows) cd # Change directory clear # Clear terminal code . # Open VS Code in current directory

3. Essential Extensions

Install these extensions to enhance your development experience: 1. ESLint - Helps find and fix code problems - Enforces coding standards - Improves code quality

1. Prettier
2. Automatically formats your code
3. Maintains consistent style

4. Saves time on formatting

5. Live Server

6. Runs your web pages locally
7. Auto-refreshes on save
8. Great for web development

Important Keyboard Shortcuts

Ctrl/Cmd + S # Save file Ctrl/Cmd + C # Copy Ctrl/Cmd + V # Paste Ctrl/Cmd + Z # Undo Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + P # Command palette Ctrl/Cmd + P # Quick file open

Writing Your First Code

Let's create and run a simple HTML file:

1. Create a new file (index.html)
2. Add basic HTML content: ```html
   

   Hello World!

``` 3. Save the file (Ctrl/Cmd + S) 4. Open in browser or use Live Server

Best Practices

1. File Organization

• Keep related files together
• Use clear, descriptive names
• Create separate folders for different projects

2. Regular Saving

• Save frequently (Ctrl/Cmd + S)
• Watch for the unsaved dot indicator
• Enable auto-save if preferred

3. Terminal Usage

• Get comfortable with basic commands
• Use the integrated terminal
• Practice navigation and file operations

Troubleshooting Common Issues

1. Installation Problems

• Ensure you have admin rights
• Check system requirements
• Use official download sources

2. Extension Issues

• Keep extensions updated
• Disable conflicting extensions
• Restart VS Code after installation

3. Performance

• Don't install too many extensions
• Regular restart of VS Code
• Keep your system updated

Next Steps

1. Practice Navigation
2. Create and manage files
3. Use the integrated terminal

4. Try keyboard shortcuts

5. Customize Your Editor

6. Explore themes
7. Adjust font size

8. Configure auto-save

9. Prepare for Next Lesson

10. Keep VS Code open
11. Get comfortable with the interface
12. Practice basic operations

Additional Resources

• VS Code Documentation
• Keyboard Shortcuts Reference
• VS Code Tips and Tricks

Remember: Your code editor is your primary tool as a developer. Take time to get comfortable with it, and don't worry about mastering everything at once. Focus on the basics we covered in the video, and you'll naturally learn more features as you need them.

Happy coding! 🚀

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

CSS Fundamentals: Styling Your First Webpage

Introduction

In our previous lesson, we created the structure of our webpage with HTML. Now, we'll learn how to style it using CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). While HTML provides the bones of our webpage, CSS adds the visual presentation - the colors, layouts, spacing, and overall aesthetics.

What is CSS?

Definition

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a stylesheet language that controls the visual presentation of HTML documents. Think of it like the paint, decorations, and interior design of a house - it determines how everything looks and is arranged.

Key Concepts

1. Styling Capabilities
2. Fonts and typography
3. Colors and backgrounds
4. Margins and padding
5. Element sizes
6. Visual effects

7. Layout and positioning

8. Cascading Nature

9. Styles can be inherited from parent elements
10. Multiple styles can apply to the same element
11. Specificity determines which styles take precedence
12. Styles "cascade" down through your document

Basic CSS Syntax

css selector { property: value; }

Example:

css h1 { color: blue; font-size: 24px; margin-bottom: 20px; }

Connecting CSS to HTML

Method 1: External Stylesheet (Recommended)

html <link rel="stylesheet" href="style.css">

Method 2: Internal CSS

```html

```

Method 3: Inline CSS (Use Sparingly)

```html

Title

```

The Box Model

Every HTML element is treated as a box in CSS, with:

┌──────────────────────┐ │ Margin │ │ ┌──────────────┐ │ │ │ Border │ │ │ │ ┌──────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ Padding │ │ │ │ │ │ ┌──────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │Content│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ └──────┘ │ │ │ │ │ └──────────┘ │ │ │ └──────────────┘ │ └──────────────────────┘

• Content: The actual content of the element
• Padding: Space between content and border
• Border: The border around the padding
• Margin: Space outside the border

CSS Units

Absolute Units

• px - pixels
• pt - points
• cm - centimeters
• mm - millimeters
• in - inches

Relative Units

• % - percentage relative to parent
• em - relative to font-size
• rem - relative to root font-size
• vh - viewport height
• vw - viewport width

Practical Example: Styling Our Webpage

1. Basic Page Setup

css body { min-height: 100vh; margin: 0; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; background-color: #f0f0f0; display: flex; flex-direction: column; }

2. Header Styling

css header { background-color: #333; color: white; padding: 20px; text-align: center; }

3. Main Content Area

css main { max-width: 800px; margin: 0 auto; padding: 20px; flex: 1; }

4. Footer Styling

css footer { background-color: #333; color: white; padding: 10px; text-align: center; }

Layout with Flexbox

Basic Concept

Flexbox is a modern layout system that makes it easier to create flexible, responsive layouts.

Key Properties

css .container { display: flex; flex-direction: row | column; justify-content: center | space-between | space-around; align-items: center | flex-start | flex-end; }

Common Use Cases

1. Centering content
2. Creating navigation bars
3. Building responsive layouts
4. Equal-height columns
5. Dynamic spacing

Best Practices

1. Organization

• Use consistent naming conventions
• Group related styles together
• Comment your code for clarity
• Keep selectors simple and specific

2. Performance

• Avoid unnecessary specificity
• Use shorthand properties when possible
• Minimize redundant code
• Consider load time impact

3. Maintainability

• Use external stylesheets
• Follow a consistent formatting style
• Break large stylesheets into logical files
• Document important design decisions

Debugging CSS

Common Tools

1. Browser Developer Tools
2. Element inspector
3. Style inspector
4. Box model viewer

Common Issues

1. Specificity conflicts
2. Inheritance problems
3. Box model confusion
4. Flexbox alignment issues

Exercises

1. Style Modifications

Try modifying these properties in your stylesheet: ```css / Change colors / header { background-color: #4a90e2; }

/ Adjust spacing / main { padding: 40px; }

/ Modify typography / h1 { font-size: 32px; font-weight: bold; } ```

2. Layout Challenge

Create a card layout using Flexbox: ```css .card-container { display: flex; justify-content: space-between; gap: 20px; }

.card { flex: 1; padding: 20px; background: white; border-radius: 8px; box-shadow: 0 2px 4px rgba(0,0,0,0.1); } ```

Additional Resources

Learning Tools

1. Flexbox Froggy - Interactive Flexbox learning game
2. CSS-Tricks - Excellent CSS reference and tutorials
3. MDN CSS Documentation

Practice Projects

1. Style your personal webpage
2. Create a responsive navigation menu
3. Build a flexible card layout
4. Design a custom button style

Remember: CSS is both an art and a science. Don't be afraid to experiment and break things - that's how you'll learn the most. The key is to start simple and gradually add complexity as you become more comfortable with the basics.

Next up, we'll dive into JavaScript to add interactivity to our webpage! 🚀

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

JavaScript: Building Your First Interactive Web App

Introduction

In this lesson, we'll bring our web pages to life by adding dynamic functionality with JavaScript. We'll build a real-world application that displays and updates Bitcoin prices in real-time, teaching core JavaScript concepts along the way.

Project Overview: Bitcoin Price Tracker

We'll build a web application that: - Displays current Bitcoin price - Updates automatically every 3 seconds - Allows currency switching - Includes interactive controls - Shows current date/time

Core JavaScript Concepts

1. Variables and Data Types

```javascript // Variables can be declared with let or const let currentCurrency = "USD"; // Can be changed const interval = 3000; // Cannot be changed

// Basic data types const price = 45000; // Number const isVisible = true; // Boolean const currency = "USD"; // String ```

2. DOM Manipulation

```javascript // Getting elements const priceElement = document.getElementById('price'); const button = document.getElementById('refresh-button');

// Modifying content priceElement.textContent = ${price} ${currency};

// Changing styles priceElement.style.display = 'none'; ```

3. Event Listeners

```javascript // Basic click handler button.addEventListener('click', () => { fetchBitcoinPrice(); });

// Change event for select elements selector.addEventListener('change', (event) => { handleCurrencyChange(event.value); }); ```

4. Async Operations & Fetch API

javascript async function fetchBitcoinPrice() { try { const response = await fetch(apiUrl); const data = await response.json(); updatePrice(data.price); } catch (error) { console.error('Error:', error); } }

Project Structure

HTML Setup

```html

Current Bitcoin Price

The price is:

```

Core Functionality Implementation

1. Setting Up the Timer ```javascript // Update price every 3 seconds setInterval(fetchBitcoinPrice, 3000);

// Update date/time every second setInterval(updateDateTime, 1000); ```

1. Currency Selection javascript function handleCurrencyChange(newCurrency) { currentCurrency = newCurrency; fetchBitcoinPrice(); }

2. Toggle Visibility javascript function togglePriceVisibility() { const price = document.getElementById('price'); price.style.display = price.style.display === 'none' ? 'inline' : 'none'; }

Best Practices

1. Error Handling

• Always use try/catch with async operations
• Provide meaningful error messages
• Handle edge cases gracefully

2. Code Organization

• Keep functions focused and small
• Use meaningful variable names
• Group related functionality
• Add comments for clarity

3. Performance

• Avoid unnecessary DOM updates
• Use appropriate update intervals
• Clean up intervals when not needed

Common Challenges & Solutions

1. API Issues

javascript // Handle API failures gracefully catch (error) { priceElement.textContent = 'Price unavailable'; console.error('API Error:', error); }

2. Currency Formatting

javascript function formatPrice(price, currency) { return new Intl.NumberFormat('en-US', { style: 'currency', currency: currency }).format(price); }

3. Time Zones

javascript function getLocalTime() { return new Date().toLocaleString(); }

Extending the Project

Consider adding these features for practice: 1. Price change indicators (up/down arrows) 2. Historical price chart 3. Multiple cryptocurrency support 4. Price alerts 5. Local storage for settings

Debugging Tips

Using Console

javascript console.log('Price fetched:', price); console.error('Error occurred:', error); console.table(priceHistory);

Chrome DevTools

1. Network tab for API calls
2. Console for errors
3. Elements for DOM inspection
4. Sources for debugging

Additional Resources

• MDN JavaScript Guide
• JavaScript.info
• CoinGecko API Documentation
• Chrome DevTools Documentation

Next Steps

1. Add styling with CSS
2. Implement additional features
3. Learn about React for more complex applications
4. Explore other APIs and cryptocurrencies

Remember: The best way to learn is by doing. Don't be afraid to break things and experiment with the code. The developer console is your friend for debugging and understanding what's happening in your application.

Happy coding! 🚀

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

Setting Up Git and GitHub: A Developer's Foundation

Lesson Overview

In this lesson, we'll establish one of the most important foundations of your development journey: version control with Git and GitHub. This knowledge will enable you to track your code, back it up in the cloud, and start building your developer portfolio.

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code installed
• Terminal/Command Line basics
• GitHub account (we'll create one in this lesson)

Key Learning Objectives

• Understand what Git and GitHub are and why they're essential
• Set up Git locally and connect it to GitHub
• Learn basic Git commands and workflow
• Create your first repository and commit
• Establish good Git habits for your developer journey

What is Git and GitHub?

Git: Your Local Version Control

• A version control system that tracks code changes over time
• Prevents accidental overwrites of your work
• Enables multiple developers to work on the same project safely
• Runs locally on your machine

GitHub: Your Code in the Cloud

• A web-based platform that extends Git
• Cloud storage for your code repositories
• Enables code sharing and collaboration
• Includes features like:
• Issue tracking
• Pull requests
• Project management tools
• Code review capabilities

Why Use GitHub?

1. Portfolio Building

• Acts as your "proof of work" as a developer
• Shows your coding activity through contribution graphs
• Demonstrates your consistency and dedication
• Serves as a public showcase of your projects

2. Collaboration and Learning

• Access millions of open-source projects
• Learn from other developers' code
• Contribute to real-world projects
• Get feedback on your code
• Work effectively in teams

3. Code Safety and Access

• All your code is safely stored in the cloud
• Access your projects from anywhere
• Never lose your work due to computer issues

Essential GitHub Terminology

| Term | Definition | |------|------------| | Repository (Repo) | A folder containing your project files and version history | | Commit | A saved change or addition to your code | | Staging | Marking changes to be included in your next commit | | Push | Sending your local commits to GitHub | | Branch | A separate version of your code for new features or experiments | | Pull Request (PR) | A request to merge changes from one branch to another | | Clone | Creating a local copy of a remote repository | | Fork | Creating your own copy of someone else's repository |

Hands-on Practice

Setting Up Git

1. Install Git from https://git-scm.com/downloads
2. Configure your identity: bash git config --global user.name "Your Name" git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"

Your First Repository

1. Create a new repository on GitHub named "hello-world"
2. Initialize Git locally: bash git init git add . git commit -m "My first commit" git remote add origin <your-repository-url> git push -u origin main

Basic Git Workflow Quick Reference

Pushing Code to GitHub

```bash

1. Stage your changes

git add .

2. Commit your changes with a message

git commit -m "Describe your changes here"

3. Push to GitHub

git push ```

Getting Code from GitHub

```bash

If you already have the repository locally:

git pull

If you need to download a repository:

git clone https://github.com/username/repository.git ```

Building Good Habits

Daily Git Practice

• Make it a goal to push code every day
• Even small changes count
• Use your GitHub contribution graph as motivation
• Track your progress over time

Best Practices

1. Commit often with clear messages
2. Pull before you start working
3. Push your changes when you finish
4. Keep each project in its own repository
5. Include README files to explain your projects

Common Issues and Solutions

"No upstream branch" Error

If you see this error when pushing: bash git push --set-upstream origin main

Changes Not Showing Up

1. Check if changes are staged: bash git status
2. Make sure you've committed: bash git commit -m "Your message"
3. Verify you've pushed: bash git push

Exercise: Start Your Journey

1. Create your GitHub account if you haven't already
2. Set up Git locally using the commands we covered
3. Create your first repository named "hello-world"
4. Make your first commit
5. Push your code to GitHub
6. Make a habit of pushing code daily

Additional Resources

• GitHub Documentation
• Git Documentation
• Practice with GitHub Learning Lab

Next Steps

• Start tracking all your code projects with Git
• Begin building your portfolio on GitHub
• Join the open-source community
• Collaborate with other developers

Remember: Every developer started where you are now. The key is consistency and persistence. Make pushing code to GitHub a daily habit, and you'll be amazed at your progress over time.

Happy coding! 🚀

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

What is HTML?

HTML (HyperText Markup Language) is the foundation of all webpages. Think of it as the framing of a house - it provides the basic structure that everything else builds upon.

Key Concepts

• HTML is a markup language, not a programming language
• It tells browsers how to structure web content
• Every HTML element is like a building block
• Browsers interpret HTML to display content

The Building Analogy

When building a webpage, think of it like constructing a house: - HTML: The framing and structure (walls, rooms, layout) - CSS: The design elements (paint, decorations, styling) - JavaScript: The functionality (plumbing, electrical, moving parts)

Basic HTML Structure

1. HTML Boilerplate

Every webpage starts with a basic template:

```html

```

2. Understanding the Parts

• <!DOCTYPE html>: Tells browsers this is an HTML5 document
• <html>: The root element of the page
• <head>: Contains metadata about the document
• <body>: Contains the visible content

Essential HTML Elements

1. Headings

HTML has six levels of headings: ```html

Main Title

Subtitle

Section Header

Smallest Heading

```

2. Paragraphs

```html

This is a paragraph of text. It can contain as much text as you need.

```

3. Images

html <img src="path-to-image.jpg" alt="Description of image" width="300">

4. Links

html <a href="https://example.com">Click here</a>

HTML Attributes

Attributes provide additional information or modify HTML elements:

html <tag attribute="value">Content</tag>

Common attributes: - src: Source path for images - href: Destination for links - alt: Alternative text for images - class: CSS class names - id: Unique identifier - style: Inline CSS styles

Semantic HTML

What is Semantic HTML?

Semantic HTML uses meaningful tags that describe their content's purpose. This improves: - Accessibility - SEO (Search Engine Optimization) - Code readability - Maintainability

Common Semantic Elements

```html

```

Non-Semantic vs Semantic Example

Instead of: ```html

```

Use: ```html

```

Building Your First Webpage

1. Basic Structure

```html

Welcome to My First Webpage!

About Me

Hi, I'm learning web development with PlebDevs!

My Interests

I'm interested in Bitcoin, programming, and building cool stuff!

```

Best Practices

1. Structure

• Use proper indentation
• Keep code organized and readable
• Use semantic elements when possible
• Include all required elements (DOCTYPE, html, head, body)

2. Content

• Use appropriate heading levels (start with h1)
• Write descriptive alt text for images
• Keep content meaningful and organized
• Use comments to explain complex sections

3. Accessibility

• Use semantic HTML elements
• Provide alternative text for images
• Maintain a logical heading structure
• Ensure content makes sense when read linearly

Common Issues and Solutions

Problem: Images Not Loading

```html

```

Problem: Links Not Working

```html

Click here

Click here ```

Next Steps

1. Practice Building
2. Create a personal webpage about yourself
3. Include different types of content (text, images, links)

4. Use semantic HTML elements

5. Experiment with Structure

6. Try different layouts
7. Use various HTML elements

8. Pay attention to semantic meaning

9. Prepare for CSS

10. Think about how you want your page to look
11. Consider what styles you'll want to add
12. Plan your layout structure

Exercise: Create Your Profile Page

Try creating a simple profile page using what you've learned:

1. Use the HTML boilerplate
2. Add a header with your name
3. Include an "About Me" section
4. Add a photo (if you want)
5. List your interests or goals
6. Add a footer with contact information

Remember to: - Use semantic HTML - Include appropriate headings - Add descriptive alt text for images - Keep your code clean and well-organized

Additional Resources

• MDN HTML Guide
• HTML5 Doctor (Semantic Elements)
• W3Schools HTML Tutorial

Remember: HTML is the foundation of web development. Take time to understand these basics well, as they'll serve as the building blocks for everything else you'll learn. Happy coding! 🚀

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Table Of Content

• From the Backbench to the Forefront

• Milei's Bitcoin Connection

• The Coinx Controversy

• Argentina's Financial Quagmire

• Conclusion

• FAQ

Well, folks, it seems like the winds of change are blowing in Argentina! In a twist that no one saw coming, Javier Milei, the presidential candidate with a penchant for Bitcoin and libertarian economics, clinched the top spot in Argentina's primary. This victory sent shockwaves throughout the nation. Milei and his gang, the La Libertad Avanza (or "Liberty Advances"), managed to snag a whopping 30% of the votes. They beat the second-place contender, Juntos Por El Cambio, by just under 2%, which is quite the feat!

From the Backbench to the Forefront

La Libertad Avanza, founded just a couple of years ago in 2021, was once the little guy in the political arena. In their first legislative elections, they made waves, becoming the third most-voted coalition in Buenos Aires. But this recent victory? It's monumental! It's like David taking on Goliath and emerging victorious. Milei's rise has certainly turned heads and raised eyebrows in the political sphere, making everyone wonder what's next.

Milei's Bitcoin Connection

Javier Milei is not your run-of-the-mill political candidate. He's carved out a unique niche for himself in the world of politics, largely due to his vocal support for cryptocurrencies, especially Bitcoin. When you tune into talk shows and interviews, you'll often find Milei passionately discussing the potential of digital currencies. He doesn't just see them as another financial instrument; to him, they represent a return to a time when the power of money was firmly rooted in the hands of the people, free from excessive governmental control.

His views on Bitcoin go beyond mere admiration. Milei perceives it as a revolutionary tool, one that can challenge traditional financial systems. He often contrasts the decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies with the centralized control of traditional fiat currencies. In his eyes, Bitcoin and its peers are not just alternatives but superior forms of money. He's even made bold claims, suggesting that in many ways, cryptocurrencies are safer investments than traditional precious metals like gold or silver. This is a significant statement, especially in a country like Argentina, where people have historically turned to gold as a hedge against economic instability.

However, as with any public figure with strong opinions, Milei's crypto enthusiasm has its fair share of critics. While he paints a rosy picture of a crypto-driven future, there are those who question his motives and the feasibility of his vision. The crypto world, as many know, is not without its pitfalls. From volatile market swings to regulatory challenges, the journey to mainstream acceptance is fraught with challenges. And Milei's connection to this world has put him under the microscope, with every statement and action being dissected and debated.

The Coinx Controversy

Rumor has it that Milei promoted a Ponzi scheme called Coinx, which allegedly swindled a cool $800,000 in Argentine pesos. Milei, of course, denies any wrongdoing. He even compared their business model to that of a bank. The only difference? They can offer higher interest rates because they're not tied down by the central bank. But not everyone's buying it. Manuel Ferrari, a big shot in the Bitcoin Argentina NGO, remains wary of Milei. This controversy adds another layer to the complex narrative surrounding Milei's rise.

Argentina's Financial Quagmire

Argentina's economic waters are turbulent, to say the least. With a dizzying inflation rate of 135% this year, the peso's value is plummeting, causing widespread distress. Amidst this chaos, many are pinning their hopes on Javier Milei, a figure who has emerged with a pro-Bitcoin stance that's causing quite the stir. Drawing parallels with El Salvador's audacious move to adopt Bitcoin, there's a buzz about whether Argentina might follow suit. But is Milei the savior Argentina has been waiting for? While his support for cryptocurrencies offers a glimmer of hope to some, it also brings with it skepticism and apprehension. The world of crypto, though promising, is still uncharted territory, especially for an economy as volatile as Argentina's.

As debates rage on, it's evident that Argentina stands at a crucial financial juncture. Milei's advocacy for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies suggests a potential shift in the country's financial paradigm. But diving into the crypto realm isn't without its risks, and there's a looming question: Are we witnessing the dawn of a new financial era for Argentina, or is it just a leap from the frying pan into the fire? The nation watches with bated breath, waiting to see the path Milei might pave.

Conclusion

Only time will truly reveal the impact of Milei's influence on Argentina's financial future. It's a waiting game now, folks. But if there's one thing we can bank on, it's that with Milei stirring the pot, Argentina's economic and financial landscape is poised for some dramatic shifts. The rollercoaster has just begun, so everyone better buckle up and brace themselves. Keep your eyes peeled and ears to the ground, because the upcoming months promise a whirlwind of changes, debates, and transformations for Argentina. The nation stands at a pivotal juncture, and the world watches with bated breath.

FAQ

Who is Javier Milei? Javier Milei is a presidential candidate in Argentina known for his support of Bitcoin and libertarian economics.

What is La Libertad Avanza? La Libertad Avanza, translated as "Liberty Advances," is the political coalition led by Javier Milei.

How did Milei fare in the recent primaries? Milei clinched the top spot in Argentina's primary, securing over 30% of the votes.

What is the Coinx controversy? Coinx is an alleged Ponzi scheme that Milei is rumored to have promoted. However, Milei denies any wrongdoing.

What is Milei's stance on Bitcoin? Milei is a strong advocate for Bitcoin, viewing it as a return to private sector-controlled money and a safer alternative to traditional assets like gold or silver.

That's all for today

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*DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research. *

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

Welcome to PlebDevs Starter Course

Course Mission

Welcome to the PlebDevs starter course! I'm Austin, the founder of PlebDevs, and I'll be walking you through this short intro starter course that will get you up and running and interacting with the rest of the content on the platform. If you're here, I'm assuming you're new to coding or just starting out. If you already have experience and have your bearings down, there's lots more intermediate and advanced content on the platform. This course is designed for absolute beginners.

Course Goals

Overall PlebDevs Goals

1. Learn how to code
2. Build Bitcoin/Lightning/Nostr apps
3. Become a developer

This is a big journey with a lot of pieces and things to learn. The starter course is going to get you on that path as quickly as possible and make it a smooth journey.

Starter Course Objectives

1. Give you an easy, high-level overview of the dev journey
2. Get you set up and comfortable in a development environment where you'll write and ship code
3. Give you basic experience in the languages covered in our courses and workshops

There's lots of material out there that will just tell you exactly what to do and not explain why but I want you to actually understand for yourself. I want you to have a good mental model of what this journey is going to be like, what it's going to be like actually writing and pushing code. And then we're going to start getting our hands dirty and gain real experience.

What is a PlebDev?

Origins and Philosophy

I started using the term "PlebDev" a few years ago to describe a unique approach to learning development in the Bitcoin space. It represents:

• Inclusive Learning: Anyone can become a developer, regardless of background
• Growth Mindset: Embracing the journey from beginner to professional
• Practical Focus: Emphasizing real-world application development
• Community Support: Learning and growing together

Key Characteristics

• 🌱 Growth-Focused: PlebDevs are always learning and improving
• 🎯 App-Centric: Focus on building applications rather than protocol development
• 🆕 Embrace Being New: Being a new developer is infinitely better than being on the sidelines
• 🤝 Community-Driven: Bitcoin/Lightning/Nostr ecosystem needs more plebdevs like you!

Our Learning Approach

Core Principles

1. Lower Barriers
2. Simplify complex concepts
3. Focus on practical understanding

4. Build confidence through action

5. Project-Based Learning

6. Learn by doing
7. Create real applications

8. Build a portfolio as you learn

9. MVP (Minimum Viable Product) Focus

10. Start with core functionality
11. Get things working first

12. Iterate and improve

13. Actionable Knowledge

14. Focus on the 20% that delivers 80% of results
15. Learn what you can use right away
16. Build practical skills

Teaching Methods

• Detailed concept breakdowns
• Line-by-line code explanations
• Interactive learning
• 1:1 support available
• Community-driven progress

Course Structure

The Learning Path

Instead of the traditional bottom-up approach, we use a project-focused method: 🏔️ Advanced Skills 🏔️ Projects & Practice 🏔️ Core Concepts 🏔️ Development Environment 🏔️ Getting Started

We'll create checkpoints through projects, allowing you to: - Verify your understanding - Build your portfolio - See real progress - Have reference points for review

Student Expectations

What We Expect From You

• High Agency: Take ownership of your learning journey
• Active Participation: Engage with the material and community
• Persistence: Push through challenges
• Curiosity: Ask questions and explore concepts

What You Can Expect From Us

• Clear, practical instruction
• Comprehensive support
• Real-world applications
• Community backing

Getting Started

Next Steps

1. Ensure you're ready to commit to learning
2. Set up your development environment (next lesson)
3. Join our community
4. Start building!

Resources and Support

Where to Get Help

• plebdevs.com

Tips for Success

1. Push code daily, even if it is small.
2. Focus on understanding rather than memorizing.
3. Build projects that interest you.
4. Engage with the community.
5. Don't be afraid to ask questions.

Remember

You don't need to become a "10x developer" overnight. The goal is to start writing code, build useful things, and gradually improve. Every expert was once a beginner, and the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single line of code.

Ready to begin? Let's dive into the next lesson where we'll set up your development environment! 🚀

@ 6260f29f:2ee2fcd4

PlebDevs ⚡️

A one-of-a-kind developer education, content, and community platform built on Nostr and fully Lightning integrated.
https://plebdevs.com

Overview

PlebDevs is an open-source platform that combines educational content, community interaction, and Bitcoin/Lightning integration. The platform publishes content to Nostr and actively pulls from Nostr relays, creating a distributed, interoperable trail of Documents, Videos, and Courses.

Technical Implementation

Nostr Integration

• Content Distribution: Implements NIP-23 for rich multimedia content embedding
• Content Encryption: Paid content bodies are encrypted while maintaining metadata visibility
• Authentication:
• Multi-method signup (NIP-07, Email, GitHub, Anonymous)
• Ephemeral keypair generation for non-Nostr users
• Account linking and recovery system
• Lists & Courses: NIP-51 implementation for structured content organization
• Monetization: NIP-99 for digital content sales
• Automated Subscriptions: NIP-47 (Nostr Wallet Connect) for recurring payments
• Badge System: NIP-58 for automated achievement rewards
• Identity: NIP-05 for custom platform identities
• Additional NIPs: Implements NIP-01, NIP-19, NIP-39, NIP-57

Platform Architecture

• Content Management:
• Draft system with preview capabilities
• Parameterized replaceable events
• Multi-format support (Markdown, Video, Mixed Media)
• Course builder with drag-and-drop ordering
• User Management:
• Profile synchronization with Nostr
• Activity tracking and progress monitoring
• Custom relay configuration
• Wallet connection management
• Admin Features:
• Protected admin routes based on pubkey configuration
• Content creation and management interface
• Draft/publish workflow
• Course assembly tools

@ 4f1c14e5:b8546d05

Training ideologies often lead to tribalism when they shouldn’t. As with all things, there are no solutions - only tradeoffs.

The reality is that free weights and machines are both tools. The one you should use is determined by your objective.

In either case, creating tension within the target muscle group is always the objective when it comes to building muscle. It's this mechanical tension that's responsible for initiating the growth process by destroying already formed muscle cells. Both machines and free weights accomplish this objective.

As a general rule, the more stable you are during an exercise, the more tension you can create within the target muscle.

The difference is simply that machines offer more stability. That’s neither better nor worse, it just is. Stability within exercises is a spectrum. We create stability by bracing against things. The more points of contact and the more of your body that braces against things, the more stability you will have.

Because of gravity, we are forced to have at least one point of contact braced against something at all times. Typically, it's the floor. A pistol squat offers a very low amount of stability because of the lack of bracing. In this example, only one foot is braced against the floor.

Adding a second foot to the ground and doing a body weight squat enhances stability. Holding onto a bar or a bench in front of you while squatting now adds another layer of stability.

A hack squat is a machine where both feet are planted on a platform and the user rests the posterior portion of their entire upper body - from their lower back to their head - against a pad. This machine has a fixed movement pattern which further reduces any instability.

These are all examples of different exercises that follow the same movement pattern, yet offer varying degrees of stability.

Which should beginners use? Again, both is the best approach. But what would happen if you limited yourself to mostly one or the other?

Predominantly using machines as a beginner will allow you to forego the lack of development in your ability to stabilize yourself. The machine stabilizes your body for you in a way that beginners simply aren’t able to at first. You are braced by a seat, a back pad/chest pad and maybe a handle or two as well. In addition to this bracing, the movement path is already carved out for you. You simply position yourself appropriately and push (or pull), and the machine does the rest. This allows you to focus more on creating tension in the target muscle as well as learning to train to failure safely.

Predominantly using free weights as a beginner will force you to develop stability from the start. There are no pads anywhere to brace your body against. Your body must learn to brace against itself. You become the machine. This may limit your ability to create maximum tension in the target muscles at first, but the stability you create this way will translate to systemic muscular development. You'll become thicker everywhere because your body works as a system to stabilize itself against gravity.

The stability built through free weight movements will transfer over to machines. If you can stabilize yourself with just a barbell, the stability you can create while braced in a machine will translate to even greater tension. You’ll be stabilized by your body AND the machine.

Since it makes the most sense to do both, the only thing left is understanding which circumstances are better suited for machines vs free weights. Since fatigue is something we all contend with during a workout, it makes sense to program the least stabilized, most demanding movements earlier in the workout and the most stabilized, least demanding movements later in the session. This not only allows you to create the most tension possible throughout the workout, but is also the safest approach. It would be unwise to schedule barbell front squats at the end of a workout when fatigue is high and energy is low. Not only will you fail to generate maximum tension, but you’ll put yourself at higher risk of injury.

TLDR; use both, but do free weight stuff first.

@ 6260f29f:2ee2fcd4

PlebDevs ⚡️

A one-of-a-kind developer education, content, and community platform built on Nostr and fully Lightning integrated.
https://plebdevs.com

Overview

PlebDevs is an open-source platform that combines educational content, community interaction, and Bitcoin/Lightning integration. The platform publishes content to Nostr and actively pulls from Nostr relays, creating a distributed, interoperable trail of Documents, Videos, and Courses.

Technical Implementation

Nostr Integration

• Content Distribution: Implements NIP-23 for rich multimedia content embedding
• Content Encryption: Paid content bodies are encrypted while maintaining metadata visibility
• Authentication:
• Multi-method signup (NIP-07, Email, GitHub, Anonymous)
• Ephemeral keypair generation for non-Nostr users
• Account linking and recovery system
• Lists & Courses: NIP-51 implementation for structured content organization
• Monetization: NIP-99 for digital content sales
• Automated Subscriptions: NIP-47 (Nostr Wallet Connect) for recurring payments
• Badge System: NIP-58 for automated achievement rewards
• Identity: NIP-05 for custom platform identities
• Additional NIPs: Implements NIP-01, NIP-19, NIP-39, NIP-57

Platform Architecture

• Content Management:
• Draft system with preview capabilities
• Parameterized replaceable events
• Multi-format support (Markdown, Video, Mixed Media)
• Course builder with drag-and-drop ordering
• User Management:
• Profile synchronization with Nostr
• Activity tracking and progress monitoring
• Custom relay configuration
• Wallet connection management
• Admin Features:
• Protected admin routes based on pubkey configuration
• Content creation and management interface
• Draft/publish workflow
• Course assembly tools

@ 6260f29f:2ee2fcd4

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

@ f33c8a96:5ec6f741

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Nostr: a quick introduction, attempt #2

Nostr doesn't subscribe to any ideals of "free speech" as these belong to the realm of politics and assume a big powerful government that enforces a common ruleupon everybody else.

Nostr instead is much simpler, it simply says that servers are private property and establishes a generalized framework for people to connect to all these servers, creating a true free market in the process. In other words, Nostr is the public road that each market participant can use to build their own store or visit others and use their services.

(Of course a road is never truly public, in normal cases it's ran by the government, in this case it relies upon the previous existence of the internet with all its quirks and chaos plus a hand of government control, but none of that matters for this explanation).

More concretely speaking, Nostr is just a set of definitions of the formats of the data that can be passed between participants and their expected order, i.e. messages between clients (i.e. the program that runs on a user computer) and relays (i.e. the program that runs on a publicly accessible computer, a "server", generally with a domain-name associated) over a type of TCP connection (WebSocket) with cryptographic signatures. This is what is called a "protocol" in this context, and upon that simple base multiple kinds of sub-protocols can be added, like a protocol for "public-square style microblogging", "semi-closed group chat" or, I don't know, "recipe sharing and feedback".

@ bbb5dda0:f09e2747

A couple weeks with a little bit of everything, TollGate marketing, app stability improvements, and some personal matters that needed my attention. Let's get into it:

TollGate App

For starters, we worked hard to get an early version of the TollGate website live. What do we want to communicate about the project, and to whom. We've identified three 'types' of visitor, each requiring its own 'customer journey' through the website. First there's the end-user, someone that just wants access to tollgate, but doesn't care about any of the technichalities. We try to guide those people to downloading our app as soon as possible. Currently that means downloading it straight from the website as an APK file. But we want to quickly move on to publishing it to the ZapStore.

The past couple weeks I put some efforts into getting the app stable. It was hard to identify what was causing the seemingly random crashes and full reloads (of the web content). After getting some outside help we've identified that we were trying to interact with the android API's on the main thread. Which is bad practice. I first couldn't figure out how to make a web request without having to spawn a seperate thread in the kotlin code, that then we'd have to create some kind of system to bubble up the callback method's result. I then found there's a proper Tauri (the framework) way of doing this using Kotlin Coroutines, which I wasn't familliar with. But it just executes the entire Tauri 'command' (function call) on a background thread. Problem solved. I haven't had any full app crashes since.

Which left me with the random page refreshes, the thing that was behind the demo-effect at Sat's and Facts. I noticed it happened around the moments I would go to settings to hit the 'sign in' button to dismiss the captive portal. That's where I had looked before, but I needed to zoom out. It had to do SOMETHING with moving the app to and from the background. Okay is it some kind of sleep issue? I don't remember where or how I found it but I saw a suggestion to run the Tauri dev build with a --no-watch flag. Which disables hot reloading of the app when I edit one of the TypeScript/HTML files. Somehow the reload would be triggered sometimes on app switching. Why? I don't know, but i'm glad I could pinpoint it.

So now the demo part seems stable, finally. Which means I can move on and properly implement the wallet logic and making the download on the website work.

TollGateOS

The second customer group will be people interested in running a TollGate. We're trying to get them to download our custom build of OpenWRT that includes all the required packages. We 'baptized' this version to be called TollGateOS as we say in proper Dutch ;). I think it will help to have these clear distinct names. I really want any moderately technical person to be able to install TollGateOS on a supported router. My vision for this is to have some kind of web installer, akin to what GrapheneOS does with their web-installer. It seems to be possible to do SSH from the browser, but I'll kill that bird when I see it (is that a saying? I think it should be...)

By the way, in earlier docs/demo's we talked about a 'herald' module, which would do the advertising of the tollgate. But as we found that the crowsnest already interacts with the hardware antennas, which is needed for 'advertising' the tollgate, we thought it better to merge both of them into the Crowsnest.

Developers

TollGate is fully open source, so anyone looking to either look at or fork the source code is welcome to do so. Developers interested at looking at the code are probably already interested to some degree. For this group we added easy links to navigate to the project's repositories

Currently our focus is publishing the Android version, but we're building the app in a cross-platform way. The only thing we have to customize are the system integrations, like scanning for wifi-networks and connecting to them.

Gearing up for Sovereign Engineering

As i'm writing this piece for you i'm at 10km (that's 30.000ft for y'all Americans) in the air on my way to Sovereign Engineering edition #4, SEC-04. I feel ready to go kick ass once again and build beautiful things with a bunch of my favourite plebs!

A bit of a focus shift

If you've been following me you might notice I haven't posted much about Epoxy recently. I found the momentum I see emerge on TollGate and GitHub Actions too good to let go to waste. So those will be my focus for a while, I'm hoping to circle back to Epoxy when these projects have a more steady pace.

@ df478568:2a951e67

In my Soapminer article, I added quotes from various plebs. I earned over 12,000 sats! That's enough for a McJunk today, but maybe a steak dinner in a few years. That's my two sats anyway.

This is not investment advice

It feels great to receive value from people who support and appreciate your work. It's also nice to stack more sats by writing. I have a budget of $25.00 that I have sent to various people using Zapplanner, but I'm trying something new: Zapsplits.

WTF Are Zapsplits?

I asked Unleashed.chat. Here's what the anthropomorphic Unleashed said.

Me: What is a Zapsplit on nostr?

Unleashed:

A Zapsplit on Nostr refers to splitting a Zap, which is a form of donation or tipping on the ~platform~ protocol, among multiple recipients. It allows users to distribute their support more broadly across various content creators instead of just one.

That's more succinct than I would put it, but nostr is a protocol, not a platform. The important part about Zapsplits for me is that it removes the cognitive cost of deciding what percentage of my giving budget should go to each creator. Do I zap podcast guests? Do podcasters with ads get less than podcasters sans ads? How much value did this particular article bring me? If I zap Guy Swann, should I also zap the authors he reads? Should I zap long-form articles more than micro-blogs? There are 21 million different considerations.

Zapsplits removes all this from me because I can use the following algorithm.

Does This Person Provide Me Value?

Yes ⬇️

I add them to my Zapsplit post for that month. A portion of my monthly zapping budget, 25 dirty-fiat bucks, transforms into magic Internet money and is distributed among everyone in the Zapsplit.

No ⬇️ If I don't get any value, I don't send value. Simple.

Testing Zapsplits

I added podcasters and devs to a nostr post and enabled a 10-way zapsplit on the post. It's based on prisms, a little nostr feature that gives me prose writing superpowers.

1. I can earn sats for writing.
2. I can support others with a single zap.
3. I can add people who give me quotes to my zap splits.

People appreciate attribution. I suspect they will appreciate it more if they also get paid. What if I added some quotes to an article and then split any zaps I get with the quoted plebs? Come to think of it, I'll try it. [Here's a quote from a dev on nostr](nostr:note1qf4277rudtflllrjr555890xsjp6u60f7xdvclkwc9t220duajeq0x665q

I added Silberangel to the Zapsplits on Habla.news.

My V4V payments can also get sent to ten different plebs with a simple click of a button. I am going to start using this for a lot of my monthly V4V budget. Every month, I'll think about the people's content I value most and add them to a single zapsplit payment. Then, I'll zap the post.

Say I create a poll and make a wager with ten different people. If I lose, I can pay everyone pit at the same time. This is probably better for a football pool, but you get the idea. The options are limited only by your imagination.

nostr:nevent1qqspnhucgxc6mprhw36fe2242hzv7zumavyy7dhzjswtldhxk4dh7ugpz4mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduhsygxlg7zks3uauf454q7phhzdh2mpkhxg9cdrzt3t9z7gzksj49g7vupsgqqqqqqsl5uwfl

Other people can also zap the post. As Siberangel says, we can use other people's money to provide value, too. This is a great option for stacking neophytes, people who don't have much bitcoin or cheap skates. Let's be honest, bitcoin has made most of us cheapskates.

Bitcoin books with multiple authors can have QR codes that link to one of these Zapsplit posts. The authors can do a book signing and sell their books using this on nostr. Nerds like me can get three autographs and zap the book. The sats are split among all authors. Here's a Zapsplit that includes all the authors of Parallel.

Can you think of any other ways to use Zapsplits? Let me know.

npub1marc26z8nh3xkj5rcx7ufkatvx6ueqhp5vfw9v5teq26z254renshtf3g0

885,610

Merch

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Drivechain

Understanding Drivechain requires a shift from the paradigm most bitcoiners are used to. It is not about "trustlessness" or "mathematical certainty", but game theory and incentives. (Well, Bitcoin in general is also that, but people prefer to ignore it and focus on some illusion of trustlessness provided by mathematics.)

Here we will describe the basic mechanism (simple) and incentives (complex) of "hashrate escrow" and how it enables a 2-way peg between the mainchain (Bitcoin) and various sidechains.

The full concept of "Drivechain" also involves blind merged mining (i.e., the sidechains mine themselves by publishing their block hashes to the mainchain without the miners having to run the sidechain software), but this is much easier to understand and can be accomplished either by the BIP-301 mechanism or by the Spacechains mechanism.

How does hashrate escrow work from the point of view of Bitcoin?

A new address type is created. Anything that goes in that is locked and can only be spent if all miners agree on the Withdrawal Transaction (WT^) that will spend it for 6 months. There is one of these special addresses for each sidechain.

To gather miners' agreement bitcoind keeps track of the "score" of all transactions that could possibly spend from that address. On every block mined, for each sidechain, the miner can use a portion of their coinbase to either increase the score of one WT^ by 1 while decreasing the score of all others by 1; or they can decrease the score of all WT^s by 1; or they can do nothing.

Once a transaction has gotten a score high enough, it is published and funds are effectively transferred from the sidechain to the withdrawing users.

If a timeout of 6 months passes and the score doesn't meet the threshold, that WT^ is discarded.

What does the above procedure mean?

It means that people can transfer coins from the mainchain to a sidechain by depositing to the special address. Then they can withdraw from the sidechain by making a special withdraw transaction in the sidechain.

The special transaction somehow freezes funds in the sidechain while a transaction that aggregates all withdrawals into a single mainchain WT^, which is then submitted to the mainchain miners so they can start voting on it and finally after some months it is published.

Now the crucial part: the validity of the WT^ is not verified by the Bitcoin mainchain rules, i.e., if Bob has requested a withdraw from the sidechain to his mainchain address, but someone publishes a wrong WT^ that instead takes Bob's funds and sends them to Alice's main address there is no way the mainchain will know that. What determines the "validity" of the WT^ is the miner vote score and only that. It is the job of miners to vote correctly -- and for that they may want to run the sidechain node in SPV mode so they can attest for the existence of a reference to the WT^ transaction in the sidechain blockchain (which then ensures it is ok) or do these checks by some other means.

What? 6 months to get my money back?

Yes. But no, in practice anyone who wants their money back will be able to use an atomic swap, submarine swap or other similar service to transfer funds from the sidechain to the mainchain and vice-versa. The long delayed withdraw costs would be incurred by few liquidity providers that would gain some small profit from it.

Why bother with this at all?

Drivechains solve many different problems:

It enables experimentation and new use cases for Bitcoin

Issued assets, fully private transactions, stateful blockchain contracts, turing-completeness, decentralized games, some "DeFi" aspects, prediction markets, futarchy, decentralized and yet meaningful human-readable names, big blocks with a ton of normal transactions on them, a chain optimized only for Lighting-style networks to be built on top of it.

These are some ideas that may have merit to them, but were never actually tried because they couldn't be tried with real Bitcoin or inferfacing with real bitcoins. They were either relegated to the shitcoin territory or to custodial solutions like Liquid or RSK that may have failed to gain network effect because of that.

It solves conflicts and infighting

Some people want fully private transactions in a UTXO model, others want "accounts" they can tie to their name and build reputation on top; some people want simple multisig solutions, others want complex code that reads a ton of variables; some people want to put all the transactions on a global chain in batches every 10 minutes, others want off-chain instant transactions backed by funds previously locked in channels; some want to spend, others want to just hold; some want to use blockchain technology to solve all the problems in the world, others just want to solve money.

With Drivechain-based sidechains all these groups can be happy simultaneously and don't fight. Meanwhile they will all be using the same money and contributing to each other's ecosystem even unwillingly, it's also easy and free for them to change their group affiliation later, which reduces cognitive dissonance.

It solves "scaling"

Multiple chains like the ones described above would certainly do a lot to accomodate many more transactions that the current Bitcoin chain can. One could have special Lightning Network chains, but even just big block chains or big-block-mimblewimble chains or whatnot could probably do a good job. Or even something less cool like 200 independent chains just like Bitcoin is today, no extra features (and you can call it "sharding"), just that would already multiply the current total capacity by 200.

Use your imagination.

It solves the blockchain security budget issue

The calculation is simple: you imagine what security budget is reasonable for each block in a world without block subsidy and divide that for the amount of bytes you can fit in a single block: that is the price to be paid in satoshis per byte. In reasonable estimative, the price necessary for every Bitcoin transaction goes to very large amounts, such that not only any day-to-day transaction has insanely prohibitive costs, but also Lightning channel opens and closes are impracticable.

So without a solution like Drivechain you'll be left with only one alternative: pushing Bitcoin usage to trusted services like Liquid and RSK or custodial Lightning wallets. With Drivechain, though, there could be thousands of transactions happening in sidechains and being all aggregated into a sidechain block that would then pay a very large fee to be published (via blind merged mining) to the mainchain. Bitcoin security guaranteed.

It keeps Bitcoin decentralized

Once we have sidechains to accomodate the normal transactions, the mainchain functionality can be reduced to be only a "hub" for the sidechains' comings and goings, and then the maximum block size for the mainchain can be reduced to, say, 100kb, which would make running a full node very very easy.

Can miners steal?

Yes. If a group of coordinated miners are able to secure the majority of the hashpower and keep their coordination for 6 months, they can publish a WT^ that takes the money from the sidechains and pays to themselves.

Will miners steal?

No, because the incentives are such that they won't.

Although it may look at first that stealing is an obvious strategy for miners as it is free money, there are many costs involved:

1. The cost of ceasing blind-merged mining returns -- as stealing will kill a sidechain, all the fees from it that miners would be expected to earn for the next years are gone;
2. The cost of Bitcoin price going down: If a steal is successful that will mean Drivechains are not safe, therefore Bitcoin is less useful, and miner credibility will also be hurt, which are likely to cause the Bitcoin price to go down, which in turn may kill the miners' businesses and savings;
3. The cost of coordination -- assuming miners are just normal businesses, they just want to do their work and get paid, but stealing from a Drivechain will require coordination with other miners to conduct an immoral act in a way that has many pitfalls and is likely to be broken over the months;
4. The cost of miners leaving your mining pool: when we talked about "miners" above we were actually talking about mining pools operators, so they must also consider the risk of miners migrating from their mining pool to others as they begin the process of stealing;
5. The cost of community goodwill -- when participating in a steal operation, a miner will suffer a ton of backlash from the community. Even if the attempt fails at the end, the fact that it was attempted will contribute to growing concerns over exaggerated miners power over the Bitcoin ecosystem, which may end up causing the community to agree on a hard-fork to change the mining algorithm in the future, or to do something to increase participation of more entities in the mining process (such as development or cheapment of new ASICs), which have a chance of decreasing the profits of current miners.

Another point to take in consideration is that one may be inclined to think a newly-created sidechain or a sidechain with relatively low usage may be more easily stolen from, since the blind merged mining returns from it (point 1 above) are going to be small -- but the fact is also that a sidechain with small usage will also have less money to be stolen from, and since the other costs besides 1 are less elastic at the end it will not be worth stealing from these too.

All of the above consideration are valid only if miners are stealing from good sidechains. If there is a sidechain that is doing things wrong, scamming people, not being used at all, or is full of bugs, for example, that will be perceived as a bad sidechain, and then miners can and will safely steal from it and kill it, which will be perceived as a good thing by everybody.

What do we do if miners steal?

Paul Sztorc has suggested in the past that a user-activated soft-fork could prevent miners from stealing, i.e., most Bitcoin users and nodes issue a rule similar to this one to invalidate the inclusion of a faulty WT^ and thus cause any miner that includes it in a block to be relegated to their own Bitcoin fork that other nodes won't accept.

This suggestion has made people think Drivechain is a sidechain solution backed by user-actived soft-forks for safety, which is very far from the truth. Drivechains must not and will not rely on this kind of soft-fork, although they are possible, as the coordination costs are too high and no one should ever expect these things to happen.

If even with all the incentives against them (see above) miners do still steal from a good sidechain that will mean the failure of the Drivechain experiment. It will very likely also mean the failure of the Bitcoin experiment too, as it will be proven that miners can coordinate to act maliciously over a prolonged period of time regardless of economic and social incentives, meaning they are probably in it just for attacking Bitcoin, backed by nation-states or something else, and therefore no Bitcoin transaction in the mainchain is to be expected to be safe ever again.

Why use this and not a full-blown trustless and open sidechain technology?

Because it is impossible.

If you ever heard someone saying "just use a sidechain", "do this in a sidechain" or anything like that, be aware that these people are either talking about "federated" sidechains (i.e., funds are kept in custody by a group of entities) or they are talking about Drivechain, or they are disillusioned and think it is possible to do sidechains in any other manner.

No, I mean a trustless 2-way peg with correctness of the withdrawals verified by the Bitcoin protocol!

That is not possible unless Bitcoin verifies all transactions that happen in all the sidechains, which would be akin to drastically increasing the blocksize and expanding the Bitcoin rules in tons of ways, i.e., a terrible idea that no one wants.

What about the Blockstream sidechains whitepaper?

Yes, that was a way to do it. The Drivechain hashrate escrow is a conceptually simpler way to achieve the same thing with improved incentives, less junk in the chain, more safety.

Isn't the hashrate escrow a very complex soft-fork?

Yes, but it is much simpler than SegWit. And, unlike SegWit, it doesn't force anything on users, i.e., it isn't a mandatory blocksize increase.

Why should we expect miners to care enough to participate in the voting mechanism?

Because it's in their own self-interest to do it, and it costs very little. Today over half of the miners mine RSK. It's not blind merged mining, it's a very convoluted process that requires them to run a RSK full node. For the Drivechain sidechains, an SPV node would be enough, or maybe just getting data from a block explorer API, so much much simpler.

What if I still don't like Drivechain even after reading this?

That is the entire point! You don't have to like it or use it as long as you're fine with other people using it. The hashrate escrow special addresses will not impact you at all, validation cost is minimal, and you get the benefit of people who want to use Drivechain migrating to their own sidechains and freeing up space for you in the mainchain. See also the point above about infighting.

See also

• Podcast episode with Ruben Somsen and Aaron van Wirdum explaining Drivechain
• Alternatives to Drivechain
• Drivechain comparison with Ethereum

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Personagens de jogos e símbolos

A sensação de "ser" um personagem em um jogo ou uma brincadeira talvez seja o mais próximo que eu tenha conseguido chegar do entendimento de um símbolo religioso.

A hóstia consagrada é, segundo a religião, o corpo de Cristo, mas nossa mente moderna só consegue concebê-la como sendo uma representação do corpo de Cristo. Da mesma forma outras culturas e outras religiões têm símbolos parecidos, inclusive nos quais o próprio participante do ritual faz o papel de um deus ou de qualquer coisa parecida.

"Faz o papel" é de novo a interpretação da mente moderna. O sujeito ali é a coisa, mas ele ao mesmo tempo que é também sabe que não é, que continua sendo ele mesmo.

Nos jogos de videogame e brincadeiras infantis em que se encarna um personagem o jogador é o personagem. não se diz, entre os jogadores, que alguém está "encenando", mas que ele é e pronto. nem há outra denominação ou outro verbo. No máximo "encarnando", mas já aí já é vocabulário jornalístico feito para facilitar a compreensão de quem está de fora do jogo.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

A Causa

o Princípios de Economia Política de Menger é o único livro que enfatiza a CAUSA o tempo todo. os cientistas todos parecem não saber, ou se esquecer sempre, que as coisas têm causa, e que o conhecimento verdadeiro é o conhecimento da causa das coisas.

a causa é uma categoria metafísica muito superior a qualquer correlação ou resultado de teste de hipótese, ela não pode ser descoberta por nenhum artifício econométrico ou reduzida à simples antecedência temporal estatística. a causa dos fenômenos não pode ser provada cientificamente, mas pode ser conhecida.

o livro de Menger conta para o leitor as causas de vários fenômenos econômicos e as interliga de forma que o mundo caótico da economia parece adquirir uma ordem no momento em que você lê. é uma sensação mágica e indescritível.

quando eu te o recomendei, queria é te imbuir com o espírito da busca pela causa das coisas. depois de ler aquilo, você está apto a perceber continuidade causal nos fenômenos mais complexos da economia atual, enxergar as causas entre toda a ação governamental e as suas várias consequências na vida humana. eu faço isso todos os dias e é a melhor sensação do mundo quando o caos das notícias do caderno de Economia do jornal -- que para o próprio jornalista que as escreveu não têm nenhum sentido (tanto é que ele escreve tudo errado) -- se incluem num sistema ordenado de causas e consequências.

provavelmente eu sempre erro em alguns ou vários pontos, mas ainda assim é maravilhoso. ou então é mais maravilhoso ainda quando eu descubro o erro e reinsiro o acerto naquela racionalização bela da ordem do mundo econômico que é a ordem de Deus.

em scrap para T.P.

@ 43baaf0c:d193e34c

eARThist vlog name represents the fusion of Earth and Art and me as traveling artist.

I'm kicking off my vlogging journey with my first vlog, Bangkok Lightning Tour. My goal with vlogging is to share more about my art journey as I travel the world. After years of traveling and filming around the world, I’m now fully focused on my art. However, filming and photography remaining a passion of mine. I also create still some travel content for my company, @traveltelly, whenever I’m not drawing.

After spending time creating art around the world, this feels like the natural next step sharing more behind the scenes moments of both traveling and my artist life.

I started in Bangkok, a city I often visit and where I’ve spent the last five months creating the BangPOP art. Teaming up with Sats ‘n’ Facts, I explored Bangkok to see how Bitcoin Lightning adoption is growing here. Bitcoin has given me the freedom to create art, so I wanted to see if it’s also helping others in Bangkok. On a scorching 35°C day, we filmed three places where you can pay with Bitcoin Lightning. You can find these locations on btcmap.org.

I’m leaving Bangkok soon, but more vlogs from Thailand will follow when I return. I always find my way back to the Land of Smiles.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

Bitcoin, since its creation by the enigmatic figure Satoshi Nakamoto, has revolutionized the concept of currency. Its journey from an obscure digital token to a major financial asset has been marked by dramatic bull runs, capturing the attention of investors worldwide. These surges in Bitcoin's value are not random but are driven by a combination of technological innovation, economic factors, and unique monetary policy. In this article, we explore the intricacies of Bitcoin's scarcity, the halving process, and the broader market dynamics that contribute to its periodic bull runs.

The allure of Bitcoin lies not just in its technological novelty but also in its challenge to traditional financial systems. It represents a decentralized form of currency, free from government control and manipulation. This aspect has been particularly appealing in times of economic uncertainty, where traditional currencies and markets have shown vulnerability. Bitcoin's bull runs can be seen as a barometer of the changing landscape of finance, reflecting a growing shift towards digital assets.

Table of Contents

• The Concept of Scarcity in Bitcoin

  • Finite Supply

  • Impact on Value

• The Halving Events

  • Mechanism and Purpose

  • Historical Impact on Price

• Market Dynamics and Investor Sentiment

  • Institutional Investment

  • Global Economic Factors

  • Technological Advancements

  • Regulatory Environment

• Conclusion

• FAQs

The Concept of Scarcity in Bitcoin

Finite Supply

Bitcoin's protocol ensures that only 21 million coins will ever be in existence. This limit is encoded in its blockchain, making it a deflationary asset as opposed to inflationary fiat currencies. The idea behind this is to create a form of money that can resist inflationary pressures over time, much like gold, which has maintained its value for centuries due to its scarcity.

Impact on Value

The scarcity of Bitcoin has a profound psychological impact on investors. It creates a sense of urgency and a fear of missing out (FOMO) as the available supply dwindles. This is particularly evident as each Bitcoin halving event approaches, reminding the market of the ever-decreasing new supply. The result is often a speculative rally, as seen in the past bull runs. Moreover, as Bitcoin becomes more scarce, its comparison to gold becomes increasingly apt, attracting investors who are looking for assets that can retain value over time.

Scarcity also plays into the hands of long-term investors, often referred to as 'HODLers' in the crypto community. These investors view Bitcoin as a long-term store of value, akin to an investment in precious metals. The limited supply of Bitcoin reassures these investors that their holdings will not be devalued through oversupply, a common problem in fiat currencies.

The Halving Events

Mechanism and Purpose

Bitcoin's halving is a genius mechanism that ensures a controlled and gradual distribution of coins. By reducing the mining reward by half every four years, Bitcoin mimics the process of extracting a natural resource like gold, becoming progressively harder and more resource-intensive to mine. This not only controls inflation but also adds to the scarcity, making each coin more valuable over time.

Historical Impact on Price

Each halving event has historically led to an increase in Bitcoin's price, though not immediately. There is typically a lag between the halving and the subsequent bull run. This delay can be attributed to market adjustment and the gradual realization of reduced supply. The anticipation of this price increase often starts a positive feedback loop, attracting more investors and further driving up the price.

The halving events serve as key milestones in Bitcoin's timeline, providing a predictable pattern of supply reduction that savvy investors monitor closely. These events have become celebratory moments within the Bitcoin community, symbolizing the strength and resilience of the network. They also serve as a reminder of Bitcoin's unique value proposition in the world of cryptocurrencies.

Market Dynamics and Investor Sentiment

Institutional Investment

The recent years have seen a paradigm shift with the entry of institutional investors into the Bitcoin market. This shift is significant as it marks a departure from Bitcoin's early days of being a niche asset for tech enthusiasts. Institutional investors bring with them not only large capital inflows but also a sense of legitimacy and stability to the market. Their involvement has been a key driver in the maturation of the cryptocurrency market, making it more appealing to a broader audience.

Global Economic Factors

The role of global economic factors in influencing Bitcoin's price cannot be overstated. In times of economic instability, such as during the COVID-19 pandemic, investors increasingly turned to Bitcoin as a safe haven asset. This trend is indicative of a growing recognition of Bitcoin's value as a hedge against inflation and economic uncertainty. The decentralized nature of Bitcoin makes it less susceptible to geopolitical tensions and policy changes that affect traditional currencies and markets.

Technological Advancements

The continuous evolution of blockchain technology and the infrastructure surrounding Bitcoin has played a crucial role in its adoption. Developments such as improved transaction speed, enhanced security measures, and user-friendly trading platforms have made Bitcoin more accessible and attractive to a wider audience. These technological advancements are crucial in building investor confidence and facilitating the integration of Bitcoin into mainstream finance.

Regulatory Environment

The regulatory environment for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies has been a double-edged sword. On one hand, clear and supportive regulations in certain jurisdictions have provided a boost to the market, encouraging institutional participation and providing clarity for investors. On the other hand, regulatory crackdowns in some countries have led to market volatility and uncertainty. The ongoing development of a regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies remains a key factor in shaping Bitcoin's future.

Conclusion

Bitcoin's journey is a testament to the evolving nature of finance and investment in the digital age. Its bull runs, driven by scarcity, halving events, and a complex interplay of market dynamics, highlight the growing acceptance of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class. As the world increasingly embraces digital currencies, Bitcoin's role as a pioneer and standard-bearer will likely continue to influence its value and relevance in the global financial landscape.

Understanding Bitcoin's market dynamics is not just about analyzing charts and trends. It's about appreciating the broader context of economic, technological, and social changes that are reshaping the way we think about money and value. For investors and enthusiasts alike, staying informed and adaptable is key to navigating the exciting and often unpredictable world of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies.

FAQs

What causes a Bitcoin bull run? Bitcoin bull runs are typically driven by a combination of factors including its built-in scarcity due to the finite supply, halving events reducing the mining rewards, institutional investment, global economic factors, advancements in blockchain technology, and the evolving regulatory landscape.

How does Bitcoin's scarcity affect its value? Bitcoin's value is significantly influenced by its scarcity. With a capped supply of 21 million coins, as demand increases, the limited supply pushes the price upwards, similar to precious metals like gold.

What is a Bitcoin halving event? A Bitcoin halving event is when the reward for mining new Bitcoin blocks is halved, effectively reducing the rate at which new Bitcoins are created. This occurs approximately every four years and is a key factor in Bitcoin's deflationary model.

Why do institutional investors matter in Bitcoin's market? Institutional investors bring significant capital, credibility, and stability to the Bitcoin market. Their participation signals a maturation of the market and can lead to increased confidence and investment from other sectors.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Veterano não é dono de bixete

"VETERANO NÃO É DONO DE BIXETE". A frase em letras garrafais chama a atenção dos transeuntes neófitos. Paira sobre um cartaz amarelo que lista várias reclamações contra os "trotes machistas", que, na opinião do responsável pelo cartaz, "não é brincadeira, é opressão".

Eis aí um bizarro exemplo de como são as coisas: primeiro todos os universitários aprovam a idéia do trote, apoiam sua realização e até mesmo desejam sofrer o trote -- com a condição de o poderem aplicar eles mesmos depois --, louvam as maravilhas do mundo universitário, onde a suprema sabedoria se esconde atrás de rituais iniciáticos fora do alcance da imaginação do homem comum e rude, do pobre e do filhinho-de-papai das faculdades privadas; em suma: fomentam os mais baixos, os mais animalescos instintos, a crueldade primordial, destroem em si mesmos e nos colegas quaisquer valores civilizatórios que tivessem sobrado ali, ficando todos indistingüíveis de macacos agressivos e tarados.

Depois vêm aí com um cartaz protestar contra os assédios -- que sem dúvida acontecem em larguíssima escala -- sofridos pelas calouras de 17 anos e que, sendo também novatas no mundo universitário, ainda conservam um pouco de discernimento e pudor.

A incompreensão do fenômeno, porém, é tão grande, que os trotes não são identificados como um problema mental, uma doença que deve ser tratada e eliminada, mas como um sintoma da opressão machista dos homens às mulheres, um produto desta civilização paternalista que, desde que Deus é chamado "o Pai" e não "a Mãe", corrompe a benéfica, pura e angélica natureza do homem primitivo e o torna esta tão torpe criatura.

Na opinião dos autores desse cartaz é preciso, pois, continuar a destruir o que resta da cultura ocidental, e então esperar que haja trotes menos opressores.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

neuron.vim

I started using this neuron thing to create an update this same zettelkasten, but the existing vim plugin had too many problems, so I forked it and ended up changing almost everything.

Since the upstream repository was somewhat abandoned, most users and people who were trying to contribute upstream migrate to my fork too.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/neuron.vim

@ b83a28b7:35919450

Preamble

I used OpenAI's o3-mini reasoning engine to construct a thesis for the Russia-Ukraine conflict using the positions of Jeffery Sachs and John Mearsheimer. I then asked it to create a counterargument to those positions- the antithesis. And I finally asked for a synthesis that concludes in lasting peace in the region. In all three cases, I prompted it to only use axiomatic deductive reasoning and first principles thinking, emphasizing facts and ignoring the opinions and assertions of so-called experts.

The Thesis

John Mearsheimer's Position: A Realist Perspective

First Principles

1. States prioritize survival: In an anarchic international system (no overarching authority), states act to maximize security and minimize threats.
2. Great powers seek regional hegemony: States aim to dominate their immediate regions to prevent rival powers from threatening them.
3. Proximity amplifies threat perception: The closer a rival power or alliance is to a state's borders, the greater the perceived threat.

Logical Reasoning

1. NATO's eastward expansion brings a U.S.-led military alliance closer to Russia’s borders.
2. From the principle of proximity, this increases Russia’s perceived insecurity.
3. Ukraine’s potential NATO membership represents a direct challenge to Russia’s sphere of influence.
4. A great power like Russia would logically act to prevent this encroachment, as it undermines its regional dominance.
5. Russia’s actions (e.g., annexation of Crimea in 2014 and invasion in 2022) are defensive responses to NATO's perceived encroachment.
6. From the principle of survival, Russia seeks to neutralize threats by ensuring Ukraine does not join NATO.
7. The U.S. and NATO ignored Russia’s stated red lines (e.g., no NATO membership for Ukraine).
8. This provoked predictable countermeasures from Russia, consistent with great-power behavior.

Conclusion

From a realist perspective, NATO expansion is the root cause of the conflict. Russia’s actions are not imperialistic but defensive responses to protect its security and sphere of influence.

Jeffrey Sachs' Position: A Historical and Diplomatic Perspective

First Principles

1. Agreements create expectations: Commitments between states establish norms that guide future behavior.
2. Security is interdependent: One state’s pursuit of security can increase another state’s insecurity (the "security dilemma").
3. Conflicts are preventable through diplomacy: Negotiations and compromises can avert wars by addressing mutual concerns.

Logical Reasoning

1. In 1990, U.S. officials assured Soviet leaders that NATO would not expand eastward if Germany was reunified.
2. If such assurances were made (even informally), subsequent NATO expansion violated these expectations, fostering mistrust.
3. The U.S.'s unilateral withdrawal from treaties like the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (2002) and its push for NATO enlargement exacerbated Russia's insecurity.
4. By the principle of interdependent security, these actions predictably escalated tensions with Russia.
5. Putin proposed negotiations in 2021 to prevent NATO expansion into Ukraine, but these were rejected by the U.S.
6. Diplomacy could have addressed Russian concerns without war, but its rejection left military action as Russia’s only perceived option.
7. Ukraine’s neutrality could have prevented conflict by satisfying both Russian and Western security concerns.
8. Neutrality would reduce NATO's proximity to Russia while preserving Ukraine's sovereignty.

Conclusion

From Sachs’ perspective, the war is a consequence of U.S.-led NATO expansion and missed diplomatic opportunities. A negotiated settlement based on Ukrainian neutrality remains the logical path to peace.

Deductive Insights

1. Both positions agree that NATO expansion is central to understanding the conflict but differ in emphasis:
2. Mearsheimer focuses on structural inevitabilities in great-power politics.
3. Sachs highlights historical commitments and missed opportunities for diplomacy.
4. Both rely on axioms about state behavior:
5. Mearsheimer emphasizes security maximization through power balancing.
6. Sachs underscores trust-building through adherence to agreements.

In conclusion, reasoning from first principles supports both scholars’ views as internally consistent frameworks for explaining the Ukraine conflict, though they emphasize different aspects of state behavior and international relations logic.

To construct counterarguments to the positions of John Mearsheimer and Jeffrey Sachs using axiomatic deductive reasoning, we will start with alternative first principles and challenge their logical conclusions. This approach ensures that the counterarguments are rooted in logic and facts, without relying on external opinions or assertions.

Counterarguments to John Mearsheimer's Position

First Principles for the Counterargument

1. Sovereign states have the right to self-determination: All states, regardless of size, have the right to choose their alliances and political alignments.
2. Security is not zero-sum: One state’s pursuit of security does not always come at the expense of another’s; collective security arrangements can enhance stability.
3. Aggression undermines security: A state that invades its neighbors creates insecurity for itself by provoking opposition and strengthening rival alliances.

Logical Reasoning

1. NATO expansion was voluntary and driven by the sovereign decisions of Eastern European states seeking protection from historical Russian aggression.
2. From the principle of self-determination, NATO enlargement reflects the legitimate choices of countries like Poland, Estonia, and Ukraine to align with a defensive alliance, not an act of Western aggression against Russia.
3. Russia’s perception of NATO as a threat is not inherently justified.
4. NATO is a defensive alliance with no history of invading non-member states. From the principle that security is not zero-sum, NATO’s presence near Russia does not necessarily reduce Russian security unless Russia itself acts aggressively.
5. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine contradicts Mearsheimer’s claim that its actions are purely defensive.
6. By attacking Ukraine, Russia has provoked a stronger NATO presence in Eastern Europe (e.g., Finland and Sweden joining NATO) and increased its own insecurity. This undermines the principle that great powers act rationally to maximize their security.
7. The analogy to the Cuban Missile Crisis is flawed.
8. In 1962, the U.S. objected to Soviet missiles in Cuba because they posed an immediate offensive threat. NATO membership for Ukraine does not involve stationing offensive weapons aimed at Russia but rather a defensive commitment.

Conclusion

Mearsheimer’s argument fails to account for the agency of smaller states and overstates the inevitability of conflict due to NATO expansion. Russia’s actions are better explained as aggressive attempts to reassert imperial influence rather than rational defensive measures.

The Antithesis

Counterarguments to Jeffrey Sachs' Position

First Principles for the Counterargument

1. Informal agreements lack binding force: Verbal or informal assurances between states do not constitute enforceable commitments in international relations.
2. Security dilemmas require mutual restraint: Both sides in a conflict must take steps to reduce tensions; unilateral blame is insufficient.
3. Sovereign equality underpins diplomacy: No state has the right to dictate another state’s foreign policy or alliances.

Logical Reasoning

1. The alleged 1990 U.S. assurance against NATO expansion was never formalized in any treaty or agreement.
2. From the principle that informal agreements lack binding force, subsequent NATO enlargement cannot be considered a violation of commitments since no legal obligation existed.
3. Russia’s actions have escalated tensions far more than NATO expansion ever did.
4. By annexing Crimea (2014) and invading Ukraine (2022), Russia has actively destabilized its neighbors and created insecurity across Europe. From the principle of mutual restraint, Russia bears responsibility for escalating the conflict rather than solely responding to U.S./NATO actions.
5. Diplomatic solutions require both parties to negotiate in good faith.
6. Putin’s 2021 proposals demanded guarantees that Ukraine would never join NATO—a condition that violates Ukraine’s sovereignty and right to self-determination. From the principle of sovereign equality, such demands are inherently illegitimate.
7. Neutrality is not always a viable solution.
8. Ukraine attempted neutrality after independence (e.g., refusing to join NATO for decades). However, this did not prevent Russian aggression in 2014 or 2022, undermining Sachs’ claim that neutrality would have ensured peace.

Conclusion

Sachs’ argument overemphasizes historical grievances and ignores Russia’s active role in escalating tensions through aggression and coercion. The failure of diplomacy lies as much with Russia’s demands as with Western policies.

Deductive Insights from Counterarguments

1. Both Mearsheimer and Sachs underestimate the agency of smaller states like Ukraine, which made sovereign decisions based on their own security needs rather than being mere pawns in great-power politics.
2. Both positions assume that Russia’s actions are primarily reactive or defensive, but this ignores evidence that Russia has proactively pursued aggressive policies (e.g., Georgia 2008, Crimea 2014).
3. The principle of sovereignty challenges both scholars’ frameworks:
4. Mearsheimer overlooks Ukraine's right to align with NATO if it chooses.
5. Sachs dismisses Ukraine's agency by suggesting neutrality could have been imposed as a solution.

In conclusion, while Mearsheimer and Sachs present internally consistent arguments, their frameworks can be challenged by emphasizing sovereignty, rejecting inevitability in great-power conflict, and highlighting Russia's active role in escalating tensions beyond what can be justified by security concerns alone.

The Synthesis: A Balanced Framework for Resolving the Russia-Ukraine Conflict

First Principles for Synthesis

1. Security is interdependent: A state’s pursuit of security can create insecurity for others, necessitating mutual accommodation.
2. Sovereignty is fundamental but constrained by geography: States have a right to self-determination, but geography imposes practical limits on absolute sovereignty in a multipolar world.
3. Great powers act to preserve their spheres of influence: In an anarchic international system, great powers prioritize regional dominance to ensure their survival.
4. Diplomacy is essential for de-escalation: Durable peace requires negotiated compromises that address the core interests of all parties involved.

Reconciling the Thesis and Antithesis

Thesis (Mearsheimer and Sachs' Positions)

• NATO expansion near Russia’s borders provoked a predictable response from Moscow, reflecting structural dynamics of great-power competition.
• U.S. and NATO policies ignored Russian security concerns, contributing to the escalation of tensions.
• Diplomacy and neutrality for Ukraine are necessary to resolve the conflict.

Antithesis (Counterarguments)

• NATO expansion was driven by voluntary decisions of Eastern European states seeking protection from historical Russian aggression, not Western provocation.
• Russia’s actions are not purely defensive but reflect imperial ambitions that violate Ukraine’s sovereignty.
• Neutrality alone would not guarantee peace, as Russia has acted aggressively even when Ukraine was neutral.

Synthesis

Both perspectives contain valid insights but fail to fully address the complexity of the conflict. The synthesis must: 1. Acknowledge Russia’s legitimate security concerns while rejecting its imperialistic actions. 2. Respect Ukraine’s sovereignty while recognizing that its geographic position necessitates pragmatic compromises. 3. Balance great-power dynamics with smaller states’ rights to self-determination.

Proposed Solution: A Comprehensive Peace Framework

To achieve an enduring peace in Ukraine and stabilize Eastern Europe, the following steps are proposed:

1. Immediate Ceasefire

• Both sides agree to an immediate cessation of hostilities under international supervision (e.g., UN peacekeeping forces).
• A demilitarized buffer zone is established along current frontlines to prevent further clashes.

2. Neutrality with Conditions

• Ukraine adopts a status of permanent neutrality, enshrined in its constitution and guaranteed by international treaties.
• Neutrality includes:
• No NATO membership for Ukraine.
• Freedom for Ukraine to pursue economic integration with both the EU and other global partners without military alignments.

3. Security Guarantees

• Russia receives legally binding assurances that NATO will not expand further eastward or station offensive weapons near its borders.
• Ukraine receives multilateral security guarantees from major powers (e.g., U.S., EU, China) to deter future aggression from any party.

4. Territorial Dispute Resolution

• Crimea’s status is deferred to future negotiations under international mediation, with both sides agreeing to maintain the status quo in the interim.
• Donetsk and Luhansk regions are granted autonomy within Ukraine under a decentralized federal structure, ensuring local governance while preserving Ukrainian sovereignty.

5. Economic Reconstruction

• An international fund is established for rebuilding war-torn regions in Ukraine, with contributions from Russia, Western nations, and multilateral institutions.
• Economic cooperation between Ukraine and Russia is encouraged through trade agreements designed to benefit both parties.

6. Phased Implementation

• Peace agreements are implemented incrementally to build trust:
• Initial steps include withdrawal of heavy weaponry, prisoner exchanges, and humanitarian aid delivery.
• Subsequent phases involve constitutional reforms (e.g., neutrality), elections in disputed regions, and gradual reintegration of territories under international supervision.

7. Long-Term Regional Security Framework

• A new regional security framework is established involving Russia, Ukraine, NATO members, and neutral states to manage disputes peacefully.
• This framework institutionalizes dialogue channels for arms control, economic cooperation, and crisis management.

Rationale for the Solution

1. Balances Security Concerns:
2. Neutrality addresses Russia’s fears of NATO encirclement while preserving Ukraine’s independence.

3. Security guarantees reduce mistrust between NATO and Russia while protecting Ukraine from future aggression.

4. Respects Sovereignty:

5. Ukraine retains its independence and territorial integrity (except for deferred issues like Crimea) while accommodating regional realities through federalism and neutrality.

6. Acknowledges Great-Power Dynamics:

7. The solution recognizes Russia’s need for a secure sphere of influence without legitimizing its imperial ambitions or violating international law.

8. Builds Trust Through Gradualism:

9. Incremental implementation allows both sides to verify commitments before proceeding further.

10. International monitoring ensures compliance with agreements.

11. Incorporates Lessons from History:

12. Neutrality models (e.g., Austria) demonstrate that such arrangements can work when backed by strong guarantees.
13. Phased implementation mirrors successful peace processes in other conflicts (e.g., Colombia).

Conclusion

The synthesis reconciles the structural realism of Mearsheimer with Sachs’ emphasis on diplomacy by proposing a balanced solution that addresses both security dilemmas and sovereignty concerns. Neutrality serves as the linchpin for de-escalation, while phased implementation builds trust over time. By integrating immediate conflict resolution measures with long-term regional frameworks, this approach offers a realistic path toward enduring peace in Eastern Europe.

Citations: [1] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1drhxxh/john_mearsheimers_take_on_the_russoukrainian_war/ [2] https://www.reddit.com/r/CredibleDefense/comments/14ktcv2/the_darkness_ahead_where_the_ukraine_war_is/ [3] https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalScience/comments/1bp64ub/what_is_with_mearsheimer_and_russia/ [4] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskConservatives/comments/1gznjks/do_you_think_appeasing_putin_is_the_right_way_to/ [5] https://www.reddit.com/r/changemyview/comments/1hu8iop/cmv_the_united_states_should_continue_to_send_aid/ [6] https://internationalpolicy.org/publications/jeffrey-sachs-matt-duss-debate-u-s-russia-talks-to-end-ukraine-war/ [7] https://www.reddit.com/r/IRstudies/comments/17iwfpr/john_mearsheimer_is_wrong_about_ukraine/ [8] https://scheerpost.com/2024/11/23/jeffrey-sachs-explains-the-russia-ukraine-war/ [9] https://consortiumnews.com/2023/09/21/jeffrey-sachs-nato-expansion-ukraines-destruction/ [10] https://www.democracynow.org/2025/2/18/russia_ukraine [11] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/15kwpx3/ukraine_war_and_the_paradox_of_mearsheimers/ [12] https://braveneweurope.com/jeffrey-d-sachs-the-real-history-of-the-war-in-ukraine-a-chronology-of-events-and-case-for-diplomacy [13] https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/nato-chief-admits-expansion-behind-russian-invasion [14] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/2c06cbc711d95427489f8bc781c45daab461ccde [15] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/46e28172de2a520e4f77e654a37687a7757d9d49 [16] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e8c17a15a554054c755a1b1d53d3e1099d159033 [17] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/65cbcec6ac255413086db567774844f84c813600 [18] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d11db25ffa5b50ef38d18c2a1e2243e4c7c53b24 [19] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/5b750f3d763d728ae2bcf2ce3e6cf67a8281bb2b [20] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/34883bf28c7a988eb2c2fe458b7eab3180b36dcc [21] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/b64319315d02b2cc1dff936d69be40d78d15f6b9 [22] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/c4ca4d645825a5b8d7389c45bcfcad0eeebecd81 [23] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11734947/ [24] https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalScience/comments/17iwhqi/john_mearsheimer_is_wrong_about_ukraine/ [25] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1ih646n/john_mearsheimer_is_offensive_realist_who_should/ [26] https://www.reddit.com/r/neoliberal/comments/tjhwi4/a_response_to_mearsheimers_views_on_nato_ukraine/ [27] https://www.reddit.com/r/IRstudies/comments/1b12pdh/genuine_structural_realist_cases_against_us/ [28] https://www.reddit.com/r/lexfridman/comments/17xl8jk/john_mearsheimer_israelpalestine_russiaukraine/ [29] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/17xve8j/people_give_too_much_credit_to_the_realist/ [30] https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalDiscussion/comments/zvfquu/do_you_agree_with_john_mearsheimers_complex_view/ [31] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1bghzbp/john_mearshimer_and_ukraine/ [32] https://www.reddit.com/r/LabourUK/comments/tbzs2d/john_mearsheimer_on_why_the_west_is_principally/ [33] https://www.reddit.com/r/IRstudies/comments/1gjus1i/playing_devils_advocate_to_john_mearsheimer/ [34] https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAllinPodcasts/comments/1fipvmu/john_mearsheimer_and_jeffrey_sachs_on_american/ [35] https://www.e-ir.info/2024/03/31/dissecting-the-realist-argument-for-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/ [36] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G6YOVl5LKTs [37] https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362890238_Mearsheimer_Realism_and_the_Ukraine_War [38] https://www.ndsmcobserver.com/article/2024/01/john-mearsheimer-talks-war-and-international-politics [39] https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/07/11/john-mearsheimers-lecture-on-ukraine-why-he-is-wrong-and-what-are-the-consequences/ [40] https://academic.oup.com/ia/article-pdf/98/6/1873/47659084/iiac217.pdf [41] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qciVozNtCDM [42] https://metacpc.org/en/mearsheimer2022/ [43] https://www.fpri.org/article/2023/01/the-realist-case-for-ukraine/ [44] https://www.mearsheimer.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Why-the-Ukraine-Crisis-Is.pdf [45] https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/why-john-mearsheimer-blames-the-us-for-the-crisis-in-ukraine [46] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/cd2fd9e8ea82fa4e7f2f66a2eb517f4ba34981a0 [47] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/99942047e1e43e77ef76e147e51b725a63d86e22 [48] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/a53f98c63c58e4268856bde3883abc72e43e03bf [49] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/471f43cd36c53141ee24a431eef520bec311c15c [50] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/d56b89349fade26cef69c1d0cffd6887adca102d [51] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/50f504029753ffb7eec4d2660f29beb48b682803 [52] https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e2f85f09340e854efcfc4df9d1aabd2e533e1051 [53] https://www.reddit.com/r/UkraineRussiaReport/comments/1ghs32m/ru_pov_jeffrey_sachss_view_on_the_lead_up_and/ [54] https://www.reddit.com/r/EndlessWar/comments/1iwpc2e/ukraine_war_is_over_jeffrey_sachs_explosive/ [55] https://www.reddit.com/r/UnitedNations/comments/1ivq4zg/there_will_be_no_war/ [56] https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1gx5c5k/jeffrey_sachs_explains_the_background_to_the/ [57] https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1ix8z9a/jeffery_sachs_providing_clarity/ [58] https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1ism3vj/jeffrey_sachs_on_us_russia_talks_to_end_ukraine/ [59] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1e04cpd/i_do_not_understand_the_prorussia_stance_from/ [60] https://www.reddit.com/r/PoliticalVideo/comments/1izr6g9/economist_prof_jeffrey_sachs_addresses_eu/ [61] https://www.reddit.com/r/LabourUK/comments/1iw9u56/economist_prof_jeffrey_sachs_addresses_eu/ [62] https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAllinPodcasts/comments/1cjfkbx/fact_checking_david_sachs_data_sources_on_ukraine/ [63] https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1e4n8ea/why_wont_the_us_help_negotiate_a_peaceful_end_to/ [64] https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/13lrmgo/rebuttal_to_jeffrey_sachs_ad_in_the_new_york/ [65] https://www.reddit.com/r/chomsky/comments/1ipg351/you_can_immediately_tell_who_in_this_sub_doesnt/ [66] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RiK6DijNLGE [67] https://www.internationalaffairs.org.au/australianoutlook/why-nato-expansion-explains-russias-actions-in-ukraine/ [68] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7ThOU4xKaU [69] https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/s6ap8hxhp34hg252wtwwwtdw4afw7x [70] https://www.jeffsachs.org/newspaper-articles/wgtgma5kj69pbpndjr4wf6aayhrszm [71] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfRG1Cqda2M [72] https://voxukraine.org/en/open-letter-to-jeffrey-sachs [73] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmZoJ1vKEKk [74] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBakiVQf-s [75] https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/russia-nato-security-through-ukrainian-neutrality-by-jeffrey-d-sachs-2022-02 [76] https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/nato-chief-admits-expansion-behind-russian-invasion [77] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MmJfmTgvAk [78] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ava7rqirOYI [79] https://jordantimes.com/opinion/jeffrey-d-sachs/war-ukraine-was-not-%E2%80%98unprovoked%E2%80%99 [80] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1d8ony5/john_mearsheimers_opinion_on_ukraines_own_ability/ [81] https://thegeopolitics.com/mearsheimer-revisited-how-offensive-realisms-founder-is-inconsistent-on-the-ukraine-russia-war/ [82] https://www.scielo.br/j/rbpi/a/MvWrWYGGtcLhgtsFRrmdmcx/ [83] https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/auk-2022-2023/html?lang=en [84] https://blog.prif.org/2023/07/26/russian-self-defense-fact-checking-arguments-on-the-russo-ukrainian-war-by-john-j-mearsheimer-and-others/ [85] https://europeanleadershipnetwork.org/commentary/the-ukraine-crisis-according-to-john-j-mearsheimer-impeccable-logic-wrong-facts/ [86] https://pjia.com.pk/index.php/pjia/article/download/837/587 [87] https://www.reddit.com/r/TheAllinPodcasts/comments/1e4noiz/where_is_sacks_prorussia_motive_coming_from/ [88] https://www.reddit.com/r/geopolitics/comments/1an20x2/why_did_boris_johnson_tell_ukraine_not_to_take/ [89] https://www.reddit.com/r/ukraine/comments/1gjfcwg/media_reveals_deal_russia_offered_to_ukraine_at/ [90] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/1d3pv6y/do_you_feel_like_the_west_was_actively_sabotaging/

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

On "zk-rollups" applied to Bitcoin

ZK rollups make no sense in bitcoin because there is no "cheap calldata". all data is already ~~cheap~~ expensive calldata.

There could be an onchain zk verification that allows succinct signatures maybe, but never a rollup.

What happens is: you can have one UTXO that contains multiple balances on it and in each transaction you can recreate that UTXOs but alter its state using a zk to compress all internal transactions that took place.

The blockchain must be aware of all these new things, so it is in no way "L2".

And you must have an entity responsible for that UTXO and for conjuring the state changes and zk proofs.

But on bitcoin you also must keep the data necessary to rebuild the proofs somewhere else, I'm not sure how can the third party responsible for that UTXO ensure that happens.

I think such a construct is similar to a credit card corporation: one central party upon which everybody depends, zero interoperability with external entities, every vendor must have an account on each credit card company to be able to charge customers, therefore it is not clear that such a thing is more desirable than solutions that are truly open and interoperable like Lightning, which may have its defects but at least fosters a much better environment, bringing together different conflicting parties, custodians, anyone.

@ d360efec:14907b5f

ภาพรวม (Integrated Overview)

ถ้าพิจารณาทั้ง TF Daily, 4H, และ 15m (พร้อมข้อมูล Money Flow ที่เป็นลบในทุก TF) ราคาปัจจุบันประมาณ 84,579

การวิเคราะห์แบบรวม*

1. แนวโน้ม (Trend):

   • Daily: ขาลง (Bearish) แม้ว่าราคาจะอยู่เหนือเส้นค่าเฉลี่ยเคลื่อนที่ (EMA) แต่ Money Flow ที่เป็นลบอย่างรุนแรง บ่งชี้ถึงแนวโน้มขาลง
   • 4H: ขาลง (Bearish) Money Flow เป็นลบอย่างมาก และมี รูปแบบ Head and Shoulders ที่มีโอกาสเกิดขึ้น
   • 15m: ขาลง (Bearish) Money Flow เป็นลบ

2. SMC & ICT (Smart Money Concepts & Inner Circle Trader):

   • Buyside Liquidity: อยู่เหนือราคาสูงสุดปัจจุบัน ระดับราคาที่ อาจ เป็นแนวต้าน (จากกราฟ Daily): 90456.8, 92755.8, 95054.9, 97354.0, 99653.1, 101952.1, 104251.3, 106550.3, 109998.9, และ 117000.0 ใน TF 15m, Buyside Liquidity คือจุดสูงสุดของแท่งเทียนก่อนหน้า
   • Sellside Liquidity: แนวรับสำคัญ: 80,000 (Neckline ของ Head and Shoulders ใน TF 4H, ตัวเลขกลม, แนวรับทางจิตวิทยา) แนวรับอื่นๆ: 83559.5, 81260.4, 78961.4, 76662.3, 74363.2, 72064.1, 69705.1, 67400.0, 66811.7, และ 65166.9 (จากกราฟ Daily) ใน TF 15m, Sellside Liquidity คือจุดต่ำสุดของแท่งเทียนก่อนหน้า

3. Money Flow:

   • Daily: เป็นลบอย่างมาก (Strongly Negative)
   • 4H: เป็นลบอย่างมาก (Strongly Negative)
   • 15m: เป็นลบ (Negative)
   • นี่คือตัวบ่งชี้ที่สำคัญที่สุดในขณะนี้ และเป็นขาลงในทุก Timeframe

4. EMA (Exponential Moving Averages):

   • Daily: ราคาอยู่เหนือ EMA 50 และ 200 แต่ถูกหักล้างด้วย Money Flow ที่เป็นลบ
   • 4H: ราคาอยู่เหนือ EMA 50 และ 200 แต่ถูกหักล้างด้วย Money Flow ที่เป็นลบ
   • 15m: ราคาแกว่งตัวรอบ EMA 50, อยู่เหนือ EMA 200 แต่ถูกหักล้างด้วย Money Flow ที่เป็นลบ

5. Trend Strength (AlgoAlpha):

   • Daily: เมฆ Ichimoku เป็นสีเทา (Neutral - เป็นกลาง)
   • 4H: เมฆ Ichimoku เป็นสีเทา (Neutral - เป็นกลาง)
   • 15m: เมฆ Ichimoku เป็นสีเทา (Neutral - เป็นกลาง)

6. Chart Patterns (รูปแบบกราฟ):

   • Daily: ไม่มีรูปแบบที่ชัดเจน แต่มีการอ่อนตัวของราคา
   • 4H: มีโอกาสเกิด รูปแบบ Head and Shoulders (กลับหัว) (Bearish - ขาลง)
   • 15m: ไม่มีรูปแบบที่ชัดเจน แต่อาจเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของ Right Shoulder ใน TF 4H

กลยุทธ์ Day Trade (SMC-Based)

เนื่องจาก Money Flow ที่เป็นลบอย่างท่วมท้นในทุก Timeframes และรูปแบบ Head and Shoulders ที่มีโอกาสเกิดขึ้นใน TF 4H กลยุทธ์การซื้อขายที่สมเหตุสมผล เพียงอย่างเดียว คือ การป้องกันอย่างเข้มงวด โดยเน้นที่ การหลีกเลี่ยงสถานะ Long และพิจารณาสถานะ Short เฉพาะ เมื่อมีเงื่อนไขที่เข้มงวดมากเท่านั้น

1. Long (Buy): ไม่แนะนำโดยเด็ดขาด (Absolutely, unequivocally not recommended) การทำเช่นนี้จะเป็นการซื้อขายสวนทางกับแนวโน้มหลักและสัญญาณ Money Flow ที่ชัดเจน

2. Short (Sell):

   • Entry (จุดเข้า): นี่คือการเทรด เดียว ที่ อาจ มีเหตุผลสนับสนุน, แต่ เฉพาะ เมื่อเงื่อนไข ทั้งหมด ต่อไปนี้เป็นจริง:
     • รูปแบบ Head and Shoulders ใน TF 4H เสร็จสมบูรณ์ ด้วยการ Breakout ที่ชัดเจนใต้ Neckline (80,000-81,000)
     • การ Breakout ใต้ Neckline เกิดขึ้นพร้อมกับ Volume ที่สูง
     • Money Flow ใน ทั้งสาม Timeframes ยังคง เป็นลบอย่างมาก
     • คุณมีสัญญาณ Bearish อื่นๆ ยืนยัน (เช่น รูปแบบแท่งเทียน Bearish, Bearish Divergence)
   • Target (เป้าหมาย): ระดับ Sellside Liquidity (เช่น 78961.4, 76662.3)
   • Stop Loss (จุดตัดขาดทุน): เหนือ Neckline หรือ Right Shoulder ทันที จำเป็นต้องมี Stop Loss ที่เข้มงวดอย่างยิ่ง

3. No Trade (ไม่เทรด): เป็นตัวเลือกที่ ดีที่สุด สำหรับนักเทรด/นักลงทุนส่วนใหญ่ ความเสี่ยงที่จะเกิดการปรับฐานครั้งใหญ่มีสูงมาก

สรุป

สถานการณ์ของ BTC คือ Bearish อย่างมาก Money Flow ที่เป็นลบอย่างมากในทุก Timeframes เป็นปัจจัยสำคัญที่สุด ซึ่งมีน้ำหนักมากกว่าสัญญาณ Bullish ใดๆ ก่อนหน้านี้จาก EMA รูปแบบ Head and Shoulders ที่มีโอกาสเกิดขึ้นใน TF 4H ช่วยเพิ่มการยืนยันแนวโน้ม Bearish สถานะ Long ไม่สมเหตุสมผลอย่างยิ่ง สถานะ Short อาจ พิจารณาได้, แต่ ต้อง มีการยืนยันสัญญาณที่ชัดเจน ทั้งหมด และมีการบริหารความเสี่ยงที่เข้มงวดมาก "Wait and See" (รอดู) และการรักษาเงินทุนเป็นสิ่งสำคัญที่สุด

Disclaimer: การวิเคราะห์นี้เป็นเพียงความคิดเห็นส่วนตัว ไม่ถือเป็นคำแนะนำในการลงทุน ผู้ลงทุนควรศึกษาข้อมูลเพิ่มเติมและตัดสินใจด้วยความรอบคอบ

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Splitpages

The simplest possible service: it splitted PDF pages in half.

Created specially to solve the problem of those scanned books that come with two pages side-by-side as if they were a single page and are much harder to read on Kindle because of that.

It required me to learn about Heroku Buildpacks though, and fork or contribute to a Heroku Buildpack that embedded a mupdf binary.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/splitpages
• https://splitpages.herokuapp.com/

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

tempreites

My first library to get stars on GitHub, was a very stupid templating library that used just HTML and HTML attributes ("DSL-free"). I was inspired by http://microjs.com/ at the time and ended up not using the library. Probably no one ever did.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/tempreites

@ d360efec:14907b5f

$OKX:BTCUSDT.P

Overview (Integrated Overview)

All three provided timeframes (Daily, 4H, and 15m, all now confirmed to have negative Money Flow), The current price is approximately 84,579.

Integrated Analysis

1. Trend:

   • Daily: Bearish. While the price is above the EMAs, the strongly negative Money Flow on the Daily chart overrides the EMA signal, indicating a bearish trend. The Ichimoku Cloud is neutral, further supporting the idea that the previous bullish trend is weakening.
   • 4H: Bearish. Strongly negative Money Flow and a potential (but not yet confirmed) inverted Head and Shoulders pattern.
   • 15m: Bearish. Negative Money Flow.

2. SMC & ICT (Smart Money Concepts & Inner Circle Trader):

   • Buyside Liquidity: Above the current high. Potential resistance levels (derived from the Daily chart image, assuming it's from 2025): 90456.8, 92755.8, 95054.9, 97354.0, 99653.1, 101952.1, 104251.3, 106550.3, 109998.9, and 117000.0. On the 15m chart (though we are prioritizing the Daily and 4H now), Buyside Liquidity would be represented by recent swing highs.
   • Sellside Liquidity: Key support: 80,000 (this is the approximate neckline of the potential Head and Shoulders pattern on the 4H chart, a round number, and a psychological support level). Other support levels (derived from the Daily chart image): 83559.5, 81260.4, 78961.4, 76662.3, 74363.2, 72064.1, 69705.1, 67400.0, 66811.7, and 65166.9. On the 15m chart, Sellside Liquidity would be represented by recent swing lows.

3. Money Flow:

   • Daily: Strongly Negative. This is a major bearish signal.
   • 4H: Strongly Negative. This reinforces the bearish signal and is consistent with the Daily chart.
   • 15m: Negative. This confirms the short-term outflow of money.
   • The consistently negative Money Flow across all timeframes is the most important and dominant indicator in this analysis.

4. EMA (Exponential Moving Averages):

   • Daily: Price is above the EMA 50 (yellow) and EMA 200 (white). However, the strongly negative Money Flow overrides the bullish signal typically provided by the price being above the EMAs.
   • 4H: Price is above the EMA 50 and EMA 200. Again, the strongly negative Money Flow overrides this.
   • 15m: Price is oscillating around the EMA 50 and above the EMA 200. The negative Money Flow overrides this.

5. Trend Strength (AlgoAlpha Indicator):

   • Daily: The Ichimoku Cloud is gray (Neutral). This is not a bullish signal and is consistent with the negative Money Flow.
   • 4H: The Ichimoku Cloud is gray (Neutral).
   • 15m: The Ichimoku Cloud is gray (Neutral).

6. Chart Patterns:

   • Daily: No fully formed classic chart pattern. However, the recent price action shows a loss of upward momentum and the beginning of a potential downward move. This weakening price action, combined with the strongly negative Money Flow, is bearish.
   • 4H: Potential inverted Head and Shoulders pattern. This is a bearish reversal pattern. It's crucial to understand that this pattern is not yet confirmed. Confirmation requires a decisive break below the neckline (approximately 80,000-81,000), with increased volume and continued negative Money Flow.
   • 15m: No clearly defined classic chart pattern. The 15m price action is best understood as potentially forming the right shoulder of the 4H Head and Shoulders.

SMC-Based Day Trading Strategies

Given the overwhelmingly bearish evidence – primarily the strongly negative Money Flow across all timeframes, combined with the potential Head and Shoulders pattern on the 4H chart – the only justifiable trading strategy is extreme caution and a strong bias against long positions. Short positions have a slightly higher probability of success, but only under very specific conditions and with extremely tight risk management.

1. Long (Buy): Absolutely, unequivocally not recommended. There is no technical justification for entering a long position at this time. This would be trading directly against the dominant bearish signals.

2. Short (Sell):

   • Entry: This is the only trade with any potential, and only if all of the following conditions are met:
     • The Head and Shoulders pattern on the 4H chart fully completes with a decisive break below the neckline (80,000-81,000).
     • The breakout below the neckline occurs on significantly increased volume.
     • The Money Flow on all three timeframes (Daily, 4H, and 15m) remains strongly negative at the time of the breakout.
     • Additional bearish confirmation is present (e.g., bearish candlestick patterns, bearish divergences on other oscillators like RSI or MACD – which we cannot see from the provided images).
   • Target: Sellside Liquidity levels, derived from the Daily chart. Potential targets include, but are not limited to: 78961.4, 76662.3, 74363.2, and potentially lower.
   • Stop Loss: Immediately above the neckline (after the breakout) or above the high of the right shoulder (if placing the trade before a confirmed neckline break – which is extremely risky). An extremely tight stop-loss is absolutely mandatory due to the inherent volatility of BTC and the potential for false breakouts.

3. No Trade (Cash): This is, by far, the best and most prudent option for the vast majority of traders and investors. The risk of a substantial price decline is extremely high, given the confluence of bearish signals. Preserving capital should be the primary objective.

Key Levels to Watch:

• 80,000 - 81,000 (4H Chart): This is the neckline of the potential Head and Shoulders pattern. A sustained break below this level, with the confirming factors listed above, would be a strong bearish signal.
• Money Flow on all chart:

Conclusion

The overall technical picture for BTC, strongly bearish. The dominant factor is the consistently and strongly negative Money Flow across all three timeframes. This overrides any seemingly bullish signals from the EMAs. The potential (but unconfirmed) Head and Shoulders pattern on the 4H chart adds further weight to the bearish case.

Long positions are completely unjustified and extremely risky. Short positions might be considered, but only with the strictest possible entry criteria, complete confirmation from multiple indicators, and extremely tight risk management. The "Wait and See" approach, prioritizing capital preservation, is the most prudent strategy for most market participants. This situation calls for extreme caution and a defensive posture.

Disclaimer: This analysis is a personal opinion. It is not financial advice. Trading and investing in cryptocurrencies involves significant risk. Always do your own research and consult with a qualified financial advisor before making any investment decisions.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

litepub

A Go library that abstracts all the burdensome ActivityPub things and provides just the right amount of helpers necessary to integrate an existing website into the "fediverse" (what an odious name). Made for the gravity integration.

• https://godoc.org/github.com/fiatjaf/litepub

See also

-

@ ed5774ac:45611c5c

Trump and Vance Expose Zelensky: The West’s Narrative Machine Meets Reality

In the modern era, the West has perfected the art of ruling through narratives. Stories, carefully crafted and disseminated, have become the primary tool for shaping public perception, justifying actions, and maintaining control. This narrative-driven approach to governance has been the cornerstone of Western power since the 20th century, and nowhere is this more evident than in the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Enter Volodymyr Zelensky, the comedian-turned-president, who has become a poster child for this narrative-driven world order. But in a recent confrontation with Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, Zelensky’s carefully constructed facade crumbled, exposing the fragility of the Western storytelling empire.

The West’s Narrative Machine

As Alastair Crooke astutely observes in his article The Western Way of War: Owning the Narrative Trumps Reality ( https://www.unz.com/article/the-western-way-of-war-owning-the-narrative-trumps-reality), the West’s power lies not in its military or economic might alone but in its ability to control the narrative. Crooke argues that the West has mastered the art of “owning the story,” creating a reality that serves its interests, regardless of facts on the ground. This narrative dominance ensures that the general public—often referred to as the masses—follows along without questioning, accepting the official line as gospel truth.

To maintain this control, the West relies on carefully curated protagonists who can sell its stories to the world. Take, for example, the story of Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor whose rise to power was itself a narrative triumph. Portrayed as a relatable outsider who defeated the corrupt establishment, Zelensky promised hope and reform. But behind this carefully crafted image lay darker forces. Oligarch Ihor Kolomoisky, one of Ukraine’s most powerful and controversial figures, played a pivotal role in Zelensky’s ascent. Kolomoisky, who owned the TV channel that aired Zelensky’s show Servant of the People, used his media empire to propel the political novice into the spotlight. This was not a grassroots movement but a calculated maneuver by Ukraine’s oligarchic elite to maintain control under a new, more palatable face.

Zelensky’s Rise and the West’s Geopolitical Strategy

Zelensky’s rise was not just a domestic political shift; it was a calculated move by the West to advance its long-standing goal of containing Russia and dominating Eurasia. The West, particularly the EU and NATO, saw Ukraine as a critical piece in its geopolitical chess game. By installing a pro-Western leader like Zelensky, the West aimed to pull Ukraine firmly into its orbit, knowing full well that such a move would antagonize Moscow. This was not an accidental escalation but a deliberate provocation, designed to create a pretext for further Western intervention.

To polish Zelensky’s image and present him as a beacon of hope for peace and the Westernization of Ukraine, the West also needed to whitewash Ukraine’s darker realities. This meant turning a blind eye to the corruption and oligarchic influence that underpinned Zelensky’s presidency. Equally ignored were the neo-Nazi crimes and policies that had been well-documented before 2014, such as the rise of far-right groups like Svoboda and the Azov Battalion, their glorification of Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera, and their violent attacks on ethnic minorities, political opponents, and LGBTQ+ communities. These atrocities, once reported in Western media, were suddenly erased from the narrative after 2014, as if they had never existed, to preserve the image of Ukraine as an innocent victim in the West’s geopolitical chess game.

The Grand Chessboard: Ukraine as a Proxy

The West’s use of Ukraine as a geopolitical pawn is not a recent development. Its roots can be traced back to Zbigniew Brzezinski’s 1997 book The Grand Chessboard, in which the former U.S. National Security Advisor laid out a blueprint for American dominance in Eurasia. He famously wrote, “The one who rules the heartland rules the world, the one who rules East Europe rules the heartland, the one who rules Ukraine rules East Europe.” This statement foreshadowed the West’s strategic interest in Ukraine as a tool to contain and destabilize Russia—a goal that has driven Western policy for decades.

Even in 2008, Western leaders like Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy opposed Ukraine’s NATO membership, recognizing that such a move would provoke Russia. Classified cables from William Burns, the U.S. Ambassador to Russia at the time, echoed this sentiment. Burns warned that NATO expansion into Ukraine was a “red line” for Moscow, succinctly stating, “Nyet means nyet.” The West was fully aware that it was playing with fire, risking a direct confrontation with Russia that could escalate into a potential World War III. Yet, despite these warnings, the West pushed forward with its agenda, pulling Ukraine into its orbit. The stakes were simply too high to abandon the plan.

At the heart of this strategy lies the West’s desperate need to sustain its faltering economic system. Since the 2008 financial crisis, the Western debt-driven financial model has teetered on the brink of collapse. Sovereign debt crises loom large, and the banking industry, reliant on endless money printing, urgently needs new collateral to back its ever-expanding debt. Russia’s vast resource-rich territories—filled with oil, gas, minerals, and rare earth metals—offer a tempting solution.

By dominating Russia and seizing control of its natural wealth, the West could issue resource-backed bonds, financial instruments tied directly to Russia’s oil and gas reserves. These bonds would allow the West to leverage Russia’s resources as collateral, providing a stable foundation for its debt-ridden financial system. Controlling access to these resources would ensure currency stability and keep Western economies functioning, even as debt levels soar.

But the West’s ambitions extend beyond economic survival. Controlling Russia’s resources would also allow it to sever China’s access to critical raw materials, undermining Beijing’s economic and military development. By dominating Russia’s energy exports, the West could manipulate global energy prices, stabilizing its own economies while weakening rivals like China, which relies heavily on Russian energy. The U.S. and EU view China as the greatest geopolitical challenge of the 21st century, and by encircling and weakening Russia, they aim to isolate and contain Beijing. In this grand strategy, Ukraine is not merely a pawn but a critical linchpin in the West’s efforts to reshape the global order—even at the risk of catastrophic conflict.

Zelensky’s Role in the West’s Strategy

To execute this high-stakes strategy, the West needed a compelling narrative—one that could justify its actions, rally public support, and obscure its true motives. Therefore, they created the narrative around Volodymyr Zelensky, casting him as a global symbol of resistance, a hero fighting against the “evil” of Putin’s Russia. The West, particularly the EU and NATO, embraced this narrative, using it to justify billions in aid—much of which served as a cover for money laundering—sanctions on Russia, and the broader geopolitical agenda outlined above. Zelensky became the face of this narrative, a willing participant in the West’s grand strategy, even as his own country was turned into a battlefield.

Zelensky’s narrative, however, is built on shaky ground. Take, for example, the claim that Putin is “non-agreement capable”—a talking point frequently parroted by Western media and politicians. This assertion is not only baseless but laughably ironic. Unlike the West, which has a long history of signing agreements only to disregard them (e.g., the Minsk agreements, the Istanbul peace deal in March 2022, or NATO’s broken promise not to expand eastward), Putin has consistently honored the contracts and treaties he has signed. The West, not Russia, is the true exemplar of “non-agreement capable” behavior.

Yet, Zelensky and his Western backers continue to peddle these lies, confident that the general public will follow. The narrative is simple: Ukraine is the victim, Russia is the aggressor, and any suggestion to the contrary is dismissed as propaganda. This black-and-white storytelling leaves no room for nuance, truth, or accountability.

Trump and Vance: Slapping Down the Narrative

Enter Donald Trump and J.D. Vance. In a recent meeting with Zelensky, the duo did what few in the West have dared to do: they called out the narrative for what it is—a fabrication. Trump, known for his blunt rhetoric, and Vance, a rising voice of realism in foreign policy, confronted Zelensky with the uncomfortable truth. They exposed the contradictions in his claims, highlighting the West’s role in prolonging the conflict and the absurdity of expecting the world to believe in a one-sided story.

Zelensky, accustomed to the adulation of Western elites and the uncritical support of the media, was unprepared for this reality check. His carefully rehearsed lines fell flat, his confidence wavered, and the mask slipped. The confrontation was a rare moment of clarity in a sea of narrative-driven fog, a reminder that truth, when spoken boldly, can still shatter even the most entrenched lies.

The Meltdown of a Narrative Puppet

Zelensky’s meltdown in the face of Trump and Vance’s truth-telling is emblematic of a larger crisis in the West’s narrative-driven order. For decades, the West has relied on storytelling to maintain its dominance, but this approach is increasingly unsustainable. The rise of alternative media, the growing skepticism of the public, and the emergence of leaders like Trump and Vance who refuse to play along are exposing the cracks in the narrative machine.

Zelensky, the figurehead who believed he could sell his lies to 8 billion people, is a cautionary tale. He is not the master of his narrative but a puppet, manipulated by his masters in the EU and NATO. His failure to withstand scrutiny is a testament to the hollowness of the stories he tells and the fragility of the system that props him up.

Conclusion: The End of Narrative Dominance?

The confrontation between Trump/Vance and Zelensky is more than just a political spat; it is a microcosm of the broader struggle between narrative and reality. The West’s reliance on storytelling as a tool of governance is reaching its limits. As Crooke warns, when the narrative diverges too far from reality, it risks collapsing under its own weight.

The general public, once content to follow blindly, is beginning to question. Leaders like Trump and Vance are challenging the status quo, forcing the world to confront uncomfortable truths. Zelensky’s meltdown is a sign of things to come—a harbinger of the end of narrative dominance and the return of reality-based governance. The question is, will the West adapt, or will it cling to its stories until the very end?

@ a296b972:e5a7a2e8

Hat das Corona-Ereignis Einfluss genommen auf die Bundestagswahl?

Eine zwingend notwendige Aufarbeitung der Corona-Zeit war noch nicht einmal Bestandteil der Wahlversprechungen in den Wahlprogrammen der Altparteien, die bekanntlich ohnehin nicht umgesetzt werden.

Bei einer hohen Wahlbeteiligung von rund 84 % haben sich rund 74 % für eine der Altparteien entschieden und rund 26 % für die AfD und das BSW.

Das Verhältnis von 74 zu 26 stellt in etwa das Verhältnis derjenigen dar, die sich für und gegen die Gen-Behandlung entschieden haben.

Kann es sein, dass sich die mehrheitlich genbehandelten Wähler unterbewusst für eine der Altparteien entschieden haben, weil sie hier recht sicher sein können, dass eine Aufarbeitung des Corona-Verbrechens nicht stattfinden wird?

Auch, wenn der öffentlich-rechtliche Propaganda-Apparat sehr darauf bedacht ist, die erdrückenden Erkenntnisse über die Schädlichkeit der Gen-Behandlung nicht zu thematisieren, dringt doch die eine oder andere Information zu den Gen-Behandelten durch.

Nach wie vor haben diese in der Mehrzahl ein heiliges Schweigegelübte abgelegt, denn ein ernsthafter Austausch findet auch nach 5 Jahren nicht statt. Die kognitive Dissonanz wirkt weiterhin. Sie wollen nicht, dass sie nach den aktuellen Erkenntnissen mit einem möglichen Fehler ihrer Entscheidung konfrontiert werden. Und hier sind sie bei der Wahl einer Altpartei auf der sicheren Seite, dass das auch von offizieller Stelle aus nicht geschieht.

Nach dieser Annahme wäre die Wahlentscheidung im Unterbewusstsein durch Angst manipuliert worden. Möglicherweise wäre so das Wahlergebnis die Folge der Corona-Zeit und indirekte Wahlmanipulation.

Bei der vorangegangenen Wahl durfte das Wahllokal nur mit einem Maulkorb betreten werden. Dieser wurde inzwischen durch einen DSA-gestützten meinungsfreiheitlichen Unseredemokratie-Maulkorb in den Köpften der Wähler ersetzt.

Die Regierungsbildung wird einige Zeit in Anspruch nehmen. In der Zwischenzeit werden die Friedensbemühungen für die Ukraine zwischen den USA und Russland mit derzeit guten Aussichten voranschreiten. Gleichzeitig findet eine Distanzierung von den USA statt und die EU, vor allem Deutschland, hält zur weiteren realitätsfremden Unterstützung der Ukraine und der für sie steigenden, aber nicht vorhandenen Gefahr einer russischen Invasion eine Kriegsertüchtigung dringend für notwendig.

Mit der Weiter-So-Politik wird der wirtschaftliche Niedergang Deutschlands voranschreiten.

Das Migrationsproblem wird sich nicht von alleine lösen. Es ist zu befürchten, dass es zu weiteren Messerstechereien kommt. Durch Aufrechterhalten der Brandmauer wird es zu weiteren absurden Entscheidungen der Alt-Parteien-Regierung kommen. Das wird dazu führen, dass diese Regierung keine Legislaturperiode von 4 Jahren halten wird. Es wird unter Umständen noch früher, vielleicht schon nach 2 Jahren zu Neuwahlen kommen.

Bereits einen Tag nach dem Wahlabend wird von Wahlmanipulation im Wahlkreis 106 Düsseldorf berichtet. Vermutlich kein Einzelfall. Viele Stimmen von Deutschen, die im Ausland leben, konnten nicht berücksichtigt werden. Viele der im Ausland lebenden haben das Land aufgrund der derzeit herrschenden Verhältnisse verlassen. Dass diese den Altparteien ihre Stimme geben, ist eher unwahrscheinlich. Es besteht auch noch die Möglichkeit, dass die gesamte Wahl annulliert werden muss.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

questo.email

This was a thing done in a brief period I liked the idea of "indiewebcamp", a stupid movement of people saying everybody should have their site and post their lives in it.

From the GitHub postmortem:

questo.email was a service that integrated email addresses into the indieweb ecosystem by providing email-to-note and email-to-webmention triggers, which could be used for people to comment through webmention using their email addresses, and be replied, and also for people to send messages from their sites directly to the email addresses of people they knew; Questo also worked as an IndieAuth provider that used people's email addresses and Mozilla Persona.

It was live from December 2014 through December 2015.

Here's how the home page looked:

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/questo.email

See also

• jekmentions, another thing related to "indieweb"

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

idea: Rumple

a payments network based on trust channels

This is the description of a Lightning-like network that will work only with credit or trust-based channels and exist alongside the normal Lightning Network. I imagine some people will think this is undesirable and at the same time very easy to do (such that if it doesn't exist yet it must be because no one cares), but in fact it is a very desirable thing -- which I hope I can establish below -- and at the same time a very non-trivial problem to solve, as the history of Ryan Fugger's Ripple project and posterior copies of it show.

Read these first to get the full context:

1. Ryan Fugger's Ripple
2. Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit
3. The Lightning Network solves the problem of the decentralized commit
4. Parallel Chains

Explanation about the name

Since we're copying the fundamental Ripple idea from Ryan Fugger and since the name "Ripple" is now associated with a scam coin called XRP, and since Ryan Fugger has changed the name of his old website "Ripplepay" to "Rumplepay", we will follow his lead here. If "Ripplepay" was the name of a centralized prototype to the open peer-to-peer network "Ripple", now that the centralized version is called "Rumplepay" the peer-to-peer version must be called "Rumple".

Now the idea

Basically we copy the Lightning Network, but without HTLCs or channels being opened and closed with funds committed to them on multisig Bitcoin transactions published to the blockchain. Instead we use pure trust relationships like the original Ripple concept.

And we use the blockchain commit method, but instead of spending an absurd amount of money to use the actual Bitcoin blockchain instead we use a parallel chain.

How exactly -- a protocol proposal attempt

It could work like this:

The parallel chain, or "Rumple Chain"

1. We define a parallel chain with a genesis block;
2. Following blocks must contain a. the ID of the previous block; b. a list of up to 32768 entries of arbitrary 32-byte values; c. an ID constituted by sha256(the previous block ID + the merkle root of all the entries)
3. To be mined, each parallel block must be included in the Bitcoin chain according as explained above.

Now that we have a structure for a simple "blockchain" that is completely useless, just blocks over blocks of meaningless values, we proceed to the next step of assigning meaning to these values.

The off-chain payments network, or "Rumple Network"

1. We create a network of nodes that can talk to each other via TCP messages (all details are the same as the Lightning Network, except where mentioned otherwise);
2. These nodes can create trust channels to each other. These channels are backed by nothing except the willingness of one peer to pay the other what is owed.
3. When Alice creates a trust channel with Bob (Alice trusts Bob), contrary to what happens in the Lightning Network, it's A that can immediately receive payments through that channel, and everything A receives will be an IOU from Bob to Alice. So Alice should never open a channel to Bob unless Alice trusts Bob. But also Alice can choose the amount of trust it has in Bob, she can, for example, open a very small channel with Bob, which means she will only lose a few satoshis if Bob decides to exit scam her. (in the original Ripple examples these channels were always depicted as friend relationships, and they can continue being that, but it's expected -- given the experience of the Lightning Network -- that the bulk of the channels will exist between users and wallet provider nodes that will act as hubs).
4. As Alice receive a payment through her channel with Bob, she becomes a creditor and Bob a debtor, i.e., the balance of the channel moves a little to her side. Now she can use these funds to make payments over that channel (or make a payment that combines funds from multiple channels using MPP).
5. If at any time Alice decides to close her channel with Bob, she can send all the funds she has standing there to somewhere else (for example, another channel she has with someone else, another wallet somewhere else, a shop that is selling some good or service, or a service that will aggregate all funds from all her channels and send a transaction to the Bitcoin chain on her behalf).
6. If at any time Bob leaves the network Alice is entitled by Bob's cryptographic signatures to knock on his door and demand payment, or go to a judge and ask him to force Bob to pay, or share the signatures and commitments online and hurt Bob's reputation with the rest of the network (but yes, none of these things is good enough and if Bob is a very dishonest person none of these things is likely to save Alice's funds).

The payment flow

1. Suppose there exists a route Alice->Bob->Carol and Alice wants to send a payment to Carol.
2. First Alice reads an invoice she received from Carol. The invoice (which can be pretty similar or maybe even the same as BOLT11) contains a payment hash h and information about how to reach Carol's node, optionally an amount. Let's say it's 100 satoshis.
3. Using the routing information she gathered, Alice builds an onion and sends it to Bob, at the same time she offers to Bob a "conditional IOU". That stands for a signed commitment that Alice will owe Bob an 100 satoshis if in the next 50 blocks of the Rumple Chain there appears a block containing the preimage p such that sha256(p) == h.
4. Bob peels the onion and discovers that he must forward that payment to Carol, so he forwards the peeled onion and offers a conditional IOU to Carol with the same h. Bob doesn't know Carol is the final recipient of the payment, it could potentially go on and on.
5. When Carol gets the conditional IOU from Bob, she makes a list of all the nodes who have announced themselves as miners (which is not something I have mentioned before, but nodes that are acting as miners will must announce themselves somehow) and are online and bidding for the next Rumple block. Each of these miners will have previously published a random 32-byte value v they they intend to include in their next block.
6. Carol sends payments through routes to all (or a big number) of these miners, but this time the conditional IOU contains two conditions (values that must appear in a block for the IOU to be valid): p such that sha256(p) == h (the same that featured in the invoice) and v (which must be unique and constant for each miner, something that is easily verifiable by Carol beforehand). Also, instead of these conditions being valid for the next 50 blocks they are valid only for the single next block.
7. Now Carol broadcasts p to the mempool and hopes one of the miners to which she sent conditional payments sees it and, allured by the possibility of cashing in Carol's payment, includes p in the next block. If that does not happen, Carol can try again in the next block.

Why bother with this at all?

1. The biggest advantage of Lightning is its openness

   It has been said multiple times that if trust is involved then we don't need Lightning, we can use Coinbase, or worse, Paypal. This is very wrong. Lightning is good specially because it serves as a bridge between Coinbase, Paypal, other custodial provider and someone running their own node. All these can transact freely across the network and pay each other without worrying about who is in which provider or setup.

   Rumple inherits that openness. In a Rumple Network anyone is free to open new trust channels and immediately route payments to anyone else.

   Also, since Rumple payments are also based on the reveal of a preimage it can do swaps with Lightning inside a payment route from day one (by which I mean one can pay from Rumple to Lightning and vice-versa).

2. Rumple fixes Lightning's fragility

   Lightning is too fragile.

   It's known that Lightning is vulnerable to multiple attacks -- like the flood-and-loot attack, for example, although not an attack that's easy to execute, it's still dangerous even if failed. Given the existence of these attacks, it's important to not ever open channels with random anonymous people. Some degree of trust must exist between peers.

   But one does not even have to consider attacks. The creation of HTLCs is a liability that every node has to do multiple times during its life. Every initiated, received or forwarded payment require adding one HTLC then removing it from the commitment transaction.

   Another issue that makes trust needed between peers is the fact that channels can be closed unilaterally. Although this is a feature, it is also a bug when considering high-fee environments. Imagine you pay $2 in fees to open a channel, your peer may close that unilaterally in the next second and then you have to pay another $15 to close the channel. The opener pays (this is also a feature that can double as a bug by itself). Even if it's not you opening the channel, a peer can open a channel with you, make a payment, then clone the channel, and now you're left with, say, an output of 800 satoshis, which is equal to zero if network fees are high.

   So you should only open channels with people you know and know aren't going to actively try to hack you and people who are not going to close channels and impose unnecessary costs on you. But even considering a fully trusted Lightning Network, even if -- to be extreme -- you only opened channels with yourself, these channels would still be fragile. If some HTLC gets stuck for any reason (peer offline or some weird small incompatibility between node softwares) and you're forced to close the channel because of that, there are the extra costs of sweeping these UTXO outputs plus the total costs of closing and reopening a channel that shouldn't have been closed in the first place. Even if HTLCs don't get stuck, a fee renegotiation event during a mempool spike may cause channels to force-close, become valueless or settle for very high closing fee.

   Some of these issues are mitigated by Eltoo, others by only having channels with people you trust. Others referenced above, plus the the griefing attack and in general the ability of anyone to spam the network for free with payments that can be pending forever or a lot of payments fail repeatedly makes it very fragile.

   Rumple solves most of these problems by not having to touch the blockchain at all. Fee negotiation makes no sense. Opening and closing channels is free. Flood-and-loot is a non-issue. The griefing attack can be still attempted as funds in trust channels must be reserved like on Lightning, but since there should be no theoretical limit to the number of prepared payments a channel can have, the griefing must rely on actual amounts being committed, which prevents large attacks from being performed easily.

3. Rumple fixes Lightning's unsolvable reputation issues

   In the Lightning Conference 2019, Rusty Russell promised there would be pre-payments on Lightning someday, since everybody was aware of potential spam issues and pre-payments would be the way to solve that. Fast-forward to November 2020 and these pre-payments have become an apparently unsolvable problem[^thread-402]: no one knows how to implement them reliably without destroying privacy completely or introducing worse problems.

   Replacing these payments with tables of reputation between peers is also an unsolved problem[^reputation-lightning], for the same reasons explained in the thread above.

4. Rumple solves the hot wallet problem

   Since you don't have to use Bitcoin keys or sign transactions with a Rumple node, only your channel trust is at risk at any time.

5. Rumple ends custodianship

   Since no one is storing other people's funds, a big hub or wallet provider can be used in multiple payment routes, but it cannot be immediately classified as a "custodian". At best, it will be a big debtor.

6. Rumple is fun

   Opening channels with strangers is boring. Opening channels with friends and people you trust even a little makes that relationship grow stronger and the trust be reinforced. (But of course, like it happens in the Lightning Network today, if Rumple is successful the bulk of trust will be from isolated users to big reliable hubs.)

Questions or potential issues

1. So many advantages, yes, but trusted? Custodial? That's easy and stupid!

   Well, an enormous part of the current Lightning Network (and also onchain Bitcoin wallets) already rests on trust, mainly trust between users and custodial wallet providers like ZEBEDEE, Alby, Wallet-of-Satoshi and others. Worse: on the current Lightning Network users not only trust, they also expose their entire transaction history to these providers[^hosted-channels].

   Besides that, as detailed in point 3 of the previous section, there are many unsolvable issues on the Lightning protocol that make each sovereign node dependent on some level of trust in its peers (and the network in general dependent on trusting that no one else will spam it to death).

   So, given the current state of the Lightning Network, to trust peers like Rumple requires is not a giant change -- but it is still a significant change: in Rumple you shouldn't open a large trust channel with someone just because it looks trustworthy, you must personally know that person and only put in what you're willing to lose. In known brands that have reputation to lose you can probably deposit more trust, same for long-term friends, and that's all. Still it is probably good enough, given the existence of MPP payments and the fact that the purpose of Rumple is to be a payments network for day-to-day purchases and not a way to buy real estate.

2. Why would anyone run a node in this parallel chain?

   I don't know. Ideally every server running a Rumple Network node will be running a Bitcoin node and a Rumple chain node. Besides using it to confirm and publish your own Rumple Network transactions it can be set to do BMM mining automatically and maybe earn some small fees comparable to running a Lightning routing node or a JoinMarket yield generator.

   Also it will probably be very lightweight, as pruning is completely free and no verification-since-the-genesis-block will take place.

3. What is the maturity of the debt that exists in the Rumple Network or its legal status?

   By default it is to be understood as being payable on demand for payments occurring inside the network (as credit can be used to forward or initiate payments by the creditor using that channel). But details of settlement outside the network or what happens if one of the peers disappears cannot be enforced or specified by the network.

   Perhaps some standard optional settlement methods (like a Bitcoin address) can be announced and negotiated upon channel creation inside the protocol, but nothing more than that.

[^thread-402]: Read at least the first 10 messages of the thread to see how naïve proposals like you and me could have thought about are brought up and then dismantled very carefully by the group of people most committed to getting Lightning to work properly. [^reputation-lightning]: See also the footnote at Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit. [^hosted-channels]: Although that second part can be solved by hosted channels.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Boardthreads

This was a very badly done service for turning a Trello list into a helpdesk UI.

Surprisingly, it had more paying users than Websites For Trello, which I was working on simultaneously and dedicating much more time to it.

The Neo4j database I used for this was a very poor choice, it was probably the cause of all the bugs.

-https://github.com/fiatjaf/boardthreads

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Webvatar

Like Gravatar, but using profile images from websites tagged with "microformats-2" tags, like people from the indiewebcamp movement liked. It falled back to favicon, gravatar and procedural avatar generators.

No one really used this, despite people saying they liked it. Since I was desperate to getting some of my programs appreciated by someone I even bought a domain. It was sad, but an enriching experience.

• https://github.com/fiatjaf/webvatar.com
• http://webvatar.com

See also

• jekmentions
• questo.email

@ 6a6be47b:3e74e3e1

Hi frens, 🎨 While painting today, my mind wandered from my latest blog entryto future artistic endeavors.I've been open about my feelings as an artist, but that's just the tip of the iceberg. I realized I haven't properly introduced myself here, so let me remedy that. 🖼️Art has been my lifelong passion. Nostr and its wonderful community have reignited my belief in my work, showing me that art can be both enlightening and potentially profitable. I'm truly grateful for the warm welcome and positive vibes I've encountered here. 🦋Nostr made me feel confident enough to speak my mind on a social platform (or should I say protocol? 😉). Some fun facts about me: 🐹 I'm a "golly jolly" kind of gal who's always curious about the world and seeking answers. 🐹I'm a sunscreen enthusiast in summer (but in winter, I'm buried under so many layers, I practically double in size!) 🐹Birdwatching is a hobby of mine. I've researched and painted some cool birds like shoebills and bearded vultures. (Any suggestions for my next avian subject?) 🩷I'm truly happy to be here and grateful for each day. My goal is to spread joy through my art and interactions. Thanks for being part of this journey with me! In your personal experience, how has it been discovering Nostr wether you're an artist or not? What's you favorite part of your journey so far? Godspeed 🚀

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The problem with ION

ION is a DID method based on a thing called "Sidetree".

I can't say for sure what is the problem with ION, because I don't understand the design, even though I have read all I could and asked everybody I knew. All available information only touches on the high-level aspects of it (and of course its amazing wonders) and no one has ever bothered to explain the details. I've also asked the main designer of the protocol, Daniel Buchner, but he may have thought I was trolling him on Twitter and refused to answer, instead pointing me to an incomplete spec on the Decentralized Identity Foundation website that I had already read before. I even tried to join the DIF as a member so I could join their closed community calls and hear what they say, maybe eventually ask a question, so I could understand it, but my entrance was ignored, then after many months and a nudge from another member I was told I had to do a KYC process to be admitted, which I refused.

One thing I know is:

• ION is supposed to provide a way to rotate keys seamlessly and automatically without losing the main identity (and the ION proponents also claim there are no "master" keys because these can also be rotated).
• ION is also not a blockchain, i.e. it doesn't have a deterministic consensus mechanism and it is decentralized, i.e. anyone can publish data to it, doesn't have to be a single central server, there may be holes in the available data and the protocol doesn't treat that as a problem.
• From all we know about years of attempts to scale Bitcoins and develop offchain protocols it is clear that you can't solve the double-spend problem without a central authority or a kind of blockchain (i.e. a decentralized system with deterministic consensus).
• Rotating keys also suffer from the double-spend problem: whenever you rotate a key it is as if it was "spent", you aren't supposed to be able to use it again.

The logic conclusion of the 4 assumptions above is that ION is flawed: it can't provide the key rotation it says it can if it is not a blockchain.

See also

• Excerpt of discussion about DIDs and ION

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

bolt12 problems

• clients can't programatically build new offers by changing a path or query params (services like zbd.gg or lnurl-pay.me won't work)
• impossible to use in a load-balanced custodian way -- since offers would have to be pregenerated and tied to a specific lightning node.
• the existence of fiat currency fields makes it so wallets have to fetch exchange rates from somewhere on the internet (or offer a bad user experience), using HTTP which hurts user privacy.
• the vendor field is misleading, can be phished very easily, not as safe as a domain name.
• onion messages are an improvement over fake HTLC-based payments as a way of transmitting data, for sure. but we must decide if they are (i) suitable for transmitting all kinds of data over the internet, a replacement for tor; or (ii) not something that will scale well or on which we can count on for the future. if there was proper incentivization for data transmission it could end up being (i), the holy grail of p2p communication over the internet, but that is a very hard problem to solve and not guaranteed to yield the desired scalability results. since not even hints of attempting to solve that are being made, it's safer to conclude it is (ii).

bolt12 limitations

• not flexible enough. there are some interesting fields defined in the spec, but who gets to add more fields later if necessary? very unclear.
• services can't return any actionable data to the users who paid for something. it's unclear how business can be conducted without an extra communication channel.

bolt12 illusions

• recurring payments is not really solved, it is just a spec that defines intervals. the actual implementation must still be done by each wallet and service. the recurring payment cannot be enforced, the wallet must still initiate the payment. even if the wallet is evil and is willing to initiate a payment without the user knowing it still needs to have funds, channels, be online, connected etc., so it's not as if the services could rely on the payments being delivered in time.
• people seem to think it will enable pushing payments to mobile wallets, which it does not and cannot.
• there is a confusion of contexts: it looks like offers are superior to lnurl-pay, for example, because they don't require domain names. domain names, though, are common and well-established among internet services and stores, because these services have websites, so this is not really an issue. it is an issue, though, for people that want to receive payments in their homes. for these, indeed, bolt12 offers a superior solution -- but at the same time bolt12 seems to be selling itself as a tool for merchants and service providers when it includes and highlights features as recurring payments and refunds.
• the privacy gains for the receiver that are promoted as being part of bolt12 in fact come from a separate proposal, blinded paths, which should work for all normal lightning payments and indeed are a very nice solution. they are (or at least were, and should be) independent from the bolt12 proposal. a separate proposal, which can be (and already is being) used right now, also improves privacy for the receiver very much anway, it's called trampoline routing.

@ 04c195f1:3329a1da

Yesterday's chaotic Oval Office meeting between Trump, Vance, and Zelensky exposes a harsh truth: Europe can no longer depend on American protection. The time has come for Europe to reclaim its sovereignty and rebuild as an independent power.

A Diplomatic Theater With No Happy Ending

Yesterday's chaotic scenes in the Oval Office revealed more than just diplomatic tension—they exposed the fundamental weakness of Europe's strategic position. As President Trump, Vice President Vance, and President Zelensky engaged in their uncomfortable public spectacle, one truth became painfully clear: Europe can no longer rely on American protection.

The awkward press conference featured about 40 minutes of relative calm before descending into 10 minutes of complete chaos. This final meltdown was likely never intended to produce meaningful results. Each participant appeared to be performing for different audiences—Trump and Vance signaling to their base, Zelensky demonstrating resolve to European allies. Without concrete security guarantees, any agreement would be meaningless for Ukraine, a reality all parties surely understood beforehand.

When Vance spoke of diplomacy as a "new strategy"—ignoring numerous failed diplomatic initiatives—he crossed a line that provoked Zelensky's visible frustration. The subsequent breakdown wasn't merely a failure of diplomatic protocol but the public collapse of a relationship Europe has staked its security upon.

The Price of Misguided Priorities

This moment of crisis presents an opportunity if European nations are willing to confront uncomfortable realities. The time has come for Europe to emerge as a third global power, independent from both Eastern and Western influence. However, the path forward requires acknowledging our current weaknesses.

European leadership has squandered decades pursuing ideological luxuries while our industrial and military capabilities have atrophied. While obsessing over multicultural social engineering, progressive identity politics, and globalist agendas, we've neglected the fundamental responsibilities of sovereign nations: securing borders, building defensive capabilities, and fostering national cohesion.

The defense of European nations begins with domestic policy. A society divided against itself cannot stand firm in the face of external threats. This principle applies whether discussing Sweden's defense posture or the broader European security architecture.

Photo by Christian Lue on Unsplash

Reclaiming National Identity and Purpose

To rebuild our defensive capabilities, we must first address the internal fragmentation deliberately cultivated across the political spectrum. The active policies of societal division pursued with increasing fervor since the latter half of the 20th century have undermined the very foundations of national identity and common purpose.

Strengthening national defense requires citizens who understand their shared heritage and believe their nation is worth defending. In practical terms, this means confronting difficult questions about immigration, assimilation, and the presence of potential fifth-column elements within our societies. Nations with higher social cohesion demonstrate greater willingness to defend their collective interests.

The current crisis in Ukraine and the uncertain American commitment should serve as a wake-up call. European nations must rapidly rebuild industrial capacity, military strength, and most importantly, a sense of shared purpose. This demands breaking free from the ideological constraints that have guided European politics for generations.

Although European establishment politicians show little appetite for such fundamental reassessment, events are accelerating rapidly. The dramatic scenes in Washington should catalyze serious reflection across European capitals. We cannot hold our breath waiting for political leadership to regain sense—we must push the conversation forward ourselves.

Europe stands at a crossroads. We can continue our dangerous dependence on unreliable partners, or we can reclaim our sovereignty and rebuild our strength. The choice should be obvious, but making it requires courage our leaders have thus far failed to demonstrate.

■

@ fd78c37f:a0ec0833

Author: Zhengyu Qian, Eric Zhang Original Link: https://research.dorahacks.io/2025/02/22/maci-mailbox/

We are not reinventing email.

Even a glance at the TOC of IETF RFC 5322 reveals: email is long-standing and well-established, but far from simple. This is just one piece of the puzzle in today’s email system.

What we would like to do first is to review the essence of message delivery.

Proto-mail

A typical process of message delivery can be broken down into three critical components:

1. Individuals intending to exchange messages—referred to as the users.
2. An intermediary, or agent, that facilitates the delivery.
3. The message itself.

Message delivery takes place when the sender hands over the message (e.g., a written note) to an agent—a person (a messenger), a device (a beacon), or an institution (a post office). The agent then dispatches the message to the recipient.

Though direct communication, such as face-to-face conversation, falls outside the scope of this context.

The Protocol of MACI Mailbox

The MACI Mailbox is an encryption-based mailing protocol that builds directly on the three components above, with modifications and extensions.

1. The user consists of two parts:

2. An account, typically with a publicly visible mailing address.

3. A keypair(a private key and its corresponding public key), which works its magic in encrypted communication.

4. The agent has a similar structure:

5. An account.

6. A keypair.

7. The message is simple, consisting of two fields:

8. Subject.

9. Body.

The following outlines the flow of message delivery in the MACI Mailbox protocol. The process of sending a message is addressed first.

1. The sender writes a message.

2. The agent encrypts the message using its public key, posts and stores it in a shared public database (e.g. a blockchain, Nostr), and assigns it a queryable ID.

3. The sender wraps the ID of encrypted message together with the agent’s private key, encrypts them using the recipient’s public key, and broadcasts the resulting encrypted data to a public space. Yes, broadcasts it publicly—feeling like encrypted radio communication yet?

In this process, asymmetric encryption is introduced twice, achieving something valuable: the decoupling of message storage from broadcast. This has at least two key implications:

1. It’s highly flexible to choose the infrastructures for encrypted message posting and storage as well as broadcasting facilities—both of which are modular, replaceable, and trustless.

2. Storage and broadcast infrastructures can be separately tailored to meet specific requirements. Typically:

3. Message storage is expected to be inexpensive, reliable, and scalable.

4. Broadcast infrastructure can be customized to fit the varying user ecosystems or needs.

Receiving a message is basically the reverse process:

1. The recipient indexes their mail in the broadcast space, decrypts it with their own private key (guaranteed by the principles of asymmetric encryption), and retrieves both the ID of encrypted message (storage address) and the agent’s private key (which, as you may recall, was bundled with the message ID before broadcast).

2. With the message ID, the recipient fetches the encrypted message from storage and decrypts it using the agent’s private key to obtain the plaintext message.

3. Tada.

It can be observed that the agent’s role described above is highly procedural, lending itself to a modular and replaceable design. This enables significant flexibility in the implementation of MACI Mailbox services and applications.

Vota-Nostr Mailbox: basic architecture

The Vota-Nostr Mailbox is the first implementation of the Protocol by Dora Factory, consisting of several core modules:

• A smart contract deployed on Dora Vota appchain to handle the broadcasting of messages.

• Nostr relays, used for publishing and storing encrypted messages.

• An indexer service to assist users in locating relevant messages, such as those sent to or from themselves.

• A web app as the interface for interacting with the Vota-Nostr Mailbox.

First, user accounts are implemented as on-chain accounts of Dora Vota (represented as a wallet address) paired with a public/private ECC keypair. Message content is kept simple as plain-text strings, with the flexibility to upgrade it later (Everybody Loves Rich Text).

Next, let’s push the boundaries for the agent. Ideally, users shouldn’t have to learn how to interact with it actively—think about fully automated agents. Or picture a stylish scene from The Day of the Jackal: Eddie Redmayne casually discarding a phone after each call.

Thus, a disposable, one-time auto agent is designed for each mail flow. This agent consists of a randomly generated ECC keypair and a temporarily created Nostr account (essentially another keypair: npub/nsec).

Vota-Nostr Mailbox: communication workflow

In Vota-Nostr implementation of MACI Mailbox Protocol, the communication flow is as follows. Both the encryption/decryption of message content and the broadcast rely on elliptic-curve cryptography.

To enhance user experience, a “Sent Messages” feature has been implemented, allowing senders to index, decrypt, and review their sent messages. In general, with asymmetric encryption, only the recipient’s private key can decrypt the encrypted content. Technically, there are cryptographic methods to enable mutual decryption by both sender and recipient.

For simplicity at this stage, this issue is addressed by creating a duplicate of each broadcast data (on Dora Vota appchain). This duplicate is encrypted using the sender’s own public key, allowing the sender to decrypt it with their private key.

Since the Protocol decouples the storage of encrypted message from the broadcast data, this duplication doesn’t significantly increase the payload on the broadcast infrastructure. Only the message ID and the agent’s private key need to be processed as duplicates, both of which are compact and independent of the actual message size (the length of your address line and the size of your front door key don’t depend on the dimensions of your house).

Below outlines the entire communication process:

1. The sender encrypts their message using the agent’s one-time public key and publishes it to Nostr relay(s) via the agent’s one-time Nostr account, obtaining the encrypted message’s ID (i.e., Nostr event ID).

2. The sender wraps the encrypted message ID along with the agent’s one-time private key, encrypts them using the recipient’s public key, and broadcasts the resulting encrypted data to the appchain via their own Dora Vota account. This process leverages wallet apps/extensions for transaction submission and the smart contract for processing, closely resembling how users typically interact with blockchains and dapps.

3. Once the on-chain transaction is processed, the encrypted data is broadcast on Dora Vota. Both the sender and the recipient can retrieve the data at any time via the Mailbox Indexer.

4. The recipient decrypts the broadcast encrypted data using their own private key, finding the Nostr event ID and the corresponding decryption key (one-time agent private key). They then fetch the encrypted message from Nostr relay(s) by the ID and decrypt it with the one-time private key.

5. The sender can follow a nearly identical process to fetch and decrypt their own duplicate, enabling them to review sent messages.

Acknowledgements

The MACI Mailbox protocol was conceived during a Dora Factory developer meeting in Kyoto, March 2024. Eric Zhang supported its implementation in October as a tool to facilitate communications and campaigns in MACI decentralized governance. Shrey Khater and Divyansh Joshi contributed to an MVP of the Vota-Nostr implementation. The protocol was officially integrated with Dora Vota appchain as well as its frontend with efforts from Zhengyu Qian, Dennis Tang, and Vegebun.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The Lightning Network solves the problem of the decentralized commit

Before reading this, see Ripple and the problem of the decentralized commit.

The Bitcoin Lightning Network can be thought as a system similar to Ripple: there are conditional IOUs (HTLCs) that are sent in "prepare"-like messages across a route, and a secret p that must travel from the final receiver backwards through the route until it reaches the initial sender and possession of that secret serves to prove the payment as well as to make the IOU hold true.

The difference is that if one of the parties don't send the "acknowledge" in time, the other has a trusted third-party with its own clock (that is the clock that is valid for everybody involved) to complain immediately at the timeout: the Bitcoin blockchain. If C has p and B isn't acknowleding it, C tells the Bitcoin blockchain and it will force the transfer of the amount from B to C.

Differences (or 1 upside and 3 downside)

1. The Lightning Network differs from a "pure" Ripple network in that when we send a "prepare" message on the Lightning Network, unlike on a pure Ripple network we're not just promising we will owe something -- instead we are putting the money on the table already for the other to get if we are not responsive.

2. The feature above removes the trust element from the equation. We can now have relationships with people we don't trust, as the Bitcoin blockchain will serve as an automated escrow for our conditional payments and no one will be harmed. Therefore it is much easier to build networks and route payments if you don't always require trust relationships.

3. However it introduces the cost of the capital. A ton of capital must be made available in channels and locked in HTLCs so payments can be routed. This leads to potential issues like the ones described in https://twitter.com/joostjgr/status/1308414364911841281.

4. Another issue that comes with the necessity of using the Bitcoin blockchain as an arbiter is that it may cost a lot in fees -- much more than the value of the payment that is being disputed -- to enforce it on the blockchain.[^closing-channels-for-nothing]

Solutions

Because the downsides listed above are so real and problematic -- and much more so when attacks from malicious peers are taken into account --, some have argued that the Lightning Network must rely on at least some trust between peers, which partly negate the benefit.

The introduction of purely trust-backend channels is the next step in the reasoning: if we are trusting already, why not make channels that don't touch the blockchain and don't require peers to commit large amounts of capital?

The reason is, again, the ambiguity that comes from the problem of the decentralized commit. Therefore hosted channels can be good when trust is required only from one side, like in the final hops of payments, but they cannot work in the middle of routes without eroding trust relationships between peers (however they can be useful if employed as channels between two nodes ran by the same person).

The next solution is a revamped pure Ripple network, one that solves the problem of the decentralized commit in a different way.

[^closing-channels-for-nothing]: That is even true when, for reasons of the payment being so small that it doesn't even deserve an actual HTLC that can be enforced on the chain (as per the protocol), even then the channel between the two nodes will be closed, only to make it very clear that there was a disagreement. Leaving it online would be harmful as one of the peers could repeat the attack again and again. This is a proof that ambiguity, in case of the pure Ripple network, is a very important issue.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

Eltoo

Read the paper, it's actually nice and small. You can read only everything up to section 4.2 and it will be enough. Done.

Ok, you don't want to. Or you tried but still want to read here.

Eltoo is a way of keeping payment channel state that works better than the original scheme used in Lightning. Since Lightning is a bunch of different protocols glued together, it can It replace just the part the previously dealed with keeping the payment channel.

Eltoo works like this: A and B want a payment channel, so they create a multisig transaction with deposits from both -- or from just one, doesn't matter. That transaction is only spendable if both cooperate. So if one of them is unresponsive or non-cooperative the other must have a way to get his funds back, so they also create an update transaction but don't publish it to the blockchain. That update transaction spends to a settlement transaction that then distributes the money back to A and B as their balances say.

If they are cooperative they can change the balances of the channel by just creating new update transactions and settlement transactions and number them like 1, 2, 3, 4 etc.

Solid arrows means a transaction is presigned to spend only that previous other transaction; dotted arrows mean it's a floating transaction that can spend any of the previous.

Why do they need and update and a settlement transaction?

Because if B publishes update2 (in which his balances were greater) A needs some time to publish update4 (the latest, which holds correct state of balances).

Each update transaction can be spent by any newer update transaction immediately or by its own specific settlement transaction only after some time -- or some blocks.

Hopefully you got that.

How do they close the channel?

If they're cooperative they can just agree to spend the funding transaction, that first multisig transaction I mentioned, to whatever destinations they want. If one party isn't cooperating the other can just publish the latest update transaction, wait a while, then publish its settlement transaction.

How is this better than the previous way of keeping channel states?

Eltoo is better because nodes only have to keep the last set of update and settlement transactions. Before they had to keep all intermediate state updates.

If it is so better why didn't they do it first?

Because they didn't have the idea. And also because they needed an update to the Bitcoin protocol that allowed the presigned update transactions to spend any of the previous update transactions. This protocol update is called SIGHASH_NOINPUT[^anyprevout], you've seen this name out there. By marking a transaction with SIGHASH_NOINPUT it enters a mystical state and becomes a floating transaction that can be bound to any other transaction as long as its unlocking script matches the locking script.

Why can't update2 bind itself to update4 and spend that?

Good question. It can. But then it can't anymore, because Eltoo uses OP_CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY to ensure that doesn't actually check not a locktime, but a sequence. It's all arcane stuff.

And then Eltoo update transactions are numbered and their lock/unlock scripts will only match if a transaction is being spent by another one that's greater than it.

Do Eltoo channels expire?

No.

What is that "on-chain protocol" they talk about in the paper?

That's just an example to guide you through how the off-chain protocol works. Read carefully or don't read it at all. The off-chain mechanics is different from the on-chain mechanics. Repeating: the on-chain protocol is useless in the real world, it's just a didactic tool.

[^anyprevout]: Later SIGHASH_NOINPUT was modified to fit better with Taproot and Schnorr signatures and renamed to SIGHASH_ANYPREVOUT.

@ 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/900550

@ 95cb4330:96db706c

Embracing The Principle of Asymmetric Bets

Embracing the principle of asymmetric bets, as practiced by visionaries like Jeff Bezos and Peter Thiel, involves seeking opportunities where the potential gains far outweigh the possible losses. This strategy enables bold decision-making while minimizing exposure to significant failures.

---

Understanding Asymmetric Bets

• Definition:
  An asymmetric bet is a strategic decision where the potential upside is substantially greater than the downside risk. This approach allows individuals and organizations to pursue high-reward opportunities without jeopardizing overall stability.

---

Examples in Practice

• Jeff Bezos and Amazon Web Services (AWS):
  Bezos invested in AWS when cloud computing was still emerging. The potential upside—a trillion-dollar business—vastly outweighed the moderate research and development costs, exemplifying an asymmetric bet.

• Peter Thiel's Investment in Facebook:
  Thiel's early $500,000 investment in Facebook transformed into a multi-billion-dollar return, showcasing the immense potential of asymmetric bets in venture capital.

---

Implementing Asymmetric Bets

1. Identify Opportunities with High Upside and Low Downside:
   Seek situations where the potential benefits are disproportionately higher than the risks involved.

2. Evaluate the Risk-to-Reward Ratio:
   Assess scenarios where even a small probability of success can lead to substantial rewards, justifying the risk taken.

3. Diversify Bets:
   Spread resources across multiple asymmetric opportunities to increase the likelihood of significant returns while mitigating individual risks.

---

Action Step

Identify a decision or project where the potential upside is considerable and the downside is limited. Take action on this opportunity today, leveraging the principle of asymmetric bets to maximize success while minimizing risk.

---

By adopting this mindset, you position yourself to capitalize on transformative opportunities that can lead to substantial growth and innovation.

---

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

idea: Hosted-channels Lightning wallet that runs in the browser

Communicates over HTTP with a server that is actually connected to the Lightning Network, but generates preimages and onions locally, doing everything like the Hosted Channels protocol says. Just the communication method changes.

Could use this library: https://www.npmjs.com/package/bolt04

@ 60d17aca:3d6671c6

잘 보내지나 시험해본다.

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

doulas.club

A full catalog of all Brazilian doulas with data carefully scrapped from many websites that contained partial catalogs and some data manually included. All this packaged as a Couchapp and served directly from Cloudant.

This was done because the idea of doulas was good, but I spotted an issue: pregnant womwn should know many doulas before choosing one that would match well, therefore a full catalog with a lot of information was necessary.

This was a huge amount of work mostly wasted.

Many doulas who knew about this didn't like it and sent angry and offensive emails telling me to remove them. This was information one should know before choosing a doula.

See also

• About CouchDB

@ 3bf0c63f:aefa459d

The monolithic approach to CouchDB views

Imagine you have an app that created one document for each day. The docs ids are easily "2015-02-05", "2015-02-06" and so on. Nothing could be more simple. Let's say each day you record "sales", "expenses" and "events", so this a document for a typical day for the retail management Couchapp for an orchid shop:

{ "_id": "2015-02-04", "sales": [{ "what": "A blue orchid", "price": 50000 }, { "what": "A red orchid", "price": 3500 }, { "what": "A yellow orchid", "price": 11500 }], "expenses": [{ "what": "A new bucket", "how much": 300 },{ "what": "The afternoon snack", "how much": "1200" }], "events": [ "Bob opened the store", "Lisa arrived", "Bob went home", "Lisa closed the store" ] }

Now when you want to know what happened in a specific day, you know where to look at.

But you don't want only that, you want profit reports, cash flows, day profitability, a complete log of the events et cetera. Then you create one view to turn this mess into something more useful:

``` function (doc) { var spldate = doc._id.split("-") var year = parseInt(spldate[0]) var month = parseInt(spldate[1]) var day = parseInt(spldate[2])

doc.sales.forEach(function (sale, i) { emit(["sale", sale.what], sale.price) emit(["cashflow", year, month, day, i], sale.price) }) doc.expenses.forEach(function (exp, i) { emit(["expense", exp.what], exp.price) emit(["cashflow", year, month, day, i], -exp.price) }) doc.events.forEach(function (ev, i) { emit(["log", year, month, day, i], ev) }) } ```

Then you add a reduce function with the value of _sum and you get a bunch of useful query endpoints. For example, you can request

/_design/orchids/_view/main?startkey=["cashflow", "2014", "12"]&endkey=["cashflow", "2014", "12", {}]

@ fb08144a:c9ced3f4

Print hello world

@ b581c912:7df8270f

Fui abordado por um colega e ele me falou de forma bastante enérgica sobre o projeto Pi Network, após uma breve conversa resolvi dar crédito e estudar sobre a solução proposta.

Tentei ser imparcial e fui direto no site “oficial” (🤔) onde encontrei dois Whitepapers (referência 1), um de 2019 e outro de 2021. Decidi então fazer a leitura pela documentação oficial, tentar não me influenciar mais do que já sou influenciado (como um Bitcoiner Maximlista que acho que sou).

Infelizmente não tive condições de terminar os dois documentos, no capítulo “Pi – Token Supply” de 2019 já deixa claro de forma matemática que Pi Network é uma pirâmide, e como até aquele momento não consegui resposta se o processo de recompensa da rede tinha sido atualizada, eu decidi não gastar mais meu tempo de vida estudando sobre o protocolo.\ \ Deixo aqui as anotações que fiz até onde tive condições de ler. Por favor, sinta-se à vontade para contra-argumentar caso você tenha entendido o protocolo de forma diferente, ou assim como Satoshi “If you don't believe me or don't get it, I don't have time to try to convince you, sorry.”.

De forma bastante resumida, esta é minha conclusão:

Pi Network é uma pirâmide declarada na sua própria documentação oficial. Infelizmente, mais uma shitcoin.

Vende a ideia de descentralização e justiça, mas não tem nada descentralizado e muito menos justa, usando da falácia argumentativa e frases de efeito tenta vender sua pirâmide financeira.

(OBS: os primeiros capítulos do Whitepaper de 2019 são concentrados em atacar o Bitcoin e seu ambiente, mas sem a coragem de pelo menos descrever corretamente como o ambiente funciona. Soltando verdades pela metade leva o leitor a achar que o ambiente do Bitcoin é malicioso e precisa de ‘melhorias’)

1. Introduction: Why cryptocurrencies matter

2. Traz alguns argumentos para validar a existência do Pi Network, cita falhas do sistema fia, mas não citou o maior problema: Inflação e/ou impressão de dinheiro;

3. Securing Distributed Ledgers (Mining)

4. “This process (Bitcoin mining) is very secure, but it demands enormous computing power and energy consumption as users essentially “burn money” to solve the computational puzzle that earns them more Bitcoin. The burn-to-reward ratio is so punitive that it is always in Validators’ self-interest to post honest transactions to the Bitcoin record.”

5. Aqui é descrito como se a base da “Prova de Trabalho” fosse punitiva “burn-to-reward”, quando na verdade  é completamente o contrário: meritocracia total. Trabalhe de forma justa, com dados reais, não tente burlar o sistema e você será recompensado, não importa quem você é ou de onde você vem. Seja justo, trabalhe e seja recompensado.

6. Problem: Centralization of power and money put 1st Generation Cryptocurrencies out of reach

7. O capítulo inteiro é focado em criticar o PoW, sendo que PoW + ”algoritmo de consenso” é a base da solução do problema do “General Bizantino” em um sistema descentralizado. Usando argumentos de ‘excesso de consumo de energia’ e outros para causar desprezo à tecnologia.

8. O Bitcoin é o mercado mundial que mais usa energia renovável. Em 2022 tinha um total de 56% de toda a rede de mineração rodando sobre energias renováveis (2). No Brasil temos algumas empresas que atuam em reutilização de energia renovável para mineração de Bitcoin (3).

9. A Simplified Introduction To Consensus Algorithms

10. A explicação desse capítulo ficou MUITO vago, deixando a entender que o que o minerador coloca no bloco é válido como dado real. Quando na realidade isso não é verdade: o minerador (Mining Node) realmente precisa fazer cálculos computacionais e quem achar o bloco ganha o direito de enviar essa informação para os Nós (“validation” nodes, se é que eu posso chamá-los assim), então os Nós é que vão decidir de forma descentralizada se aquele bloco é válido ou não, caso não seja, recusando o bloco e aceitando o próximo bloco válido.

11. A Simplified Introduction To Stellar Consensus Protocol

12. Este capítulo já começa reforçando a falácia anterior “Pi uses the other type of consensus algorithms”, tentando reforçar que o mecanismo de consenso do Bitcoin é inseguro ou custoso, sendo que no capítulo anterior eles misturaram a prova de trabalho (mineração) com a validação dos blocos, que é realmente o “consensus algorithms”, ou seja, o argumento utilizado aqui é nulo, não fazendo sentido além do de tentar levar o leitor a menosprezar a solução do Bitcoin.

13. “One major criticism of BFT (Byzantine Fault Tolerance) is that it has a centralization point: because voting is involved, the set of nodes participating in the voting “quorum” are centrally determined by the creator of the system in its beginning.”

    1. Não sei qual BFT exatamente eles estão criticando aqui, mas certamente não é o Bitcoin. Os Nós (“validation” nodes) não são centralmente especificados, qualquer um pode entrar como um nós validador e fazer parte da validação dos blocos, rejeitando aqueles que considera não verdadeiros por N motivos. O sistema de consenso do Bitcoin é feito por %, se 51% dos nós validadores aceitam o bloco (minerado pelo nó minerador) aquele bloco é então visto como válido. Se 51% rejeitam, aquele bloco é rejeitado por toda a rede.

14. Pi’s Adaptations to Stellar Consensus Protocol (SCP)

15. “For example, once a week, the stellar network is using it to compute inflation on the stellar network and allocate the newly minted tokens proportionally to all stellar coin holders (Stellar’s coin is called lumens). In a similar manner, the Pi network employs SCP once a day to compute the network-wide new Pi distribution across all Pi miners (pioneers, contributors, ambassadors, nodes) who actively participated in any given day. In other words, Pi mining rewards are computed only once daily and not on every block of the blockchain.” 

    1. Aqui está deixando claro a centralização da recompensa? Não ficou muito claro, mas me parece que a recompensa é mantida em um wallet temporária (controlada por quem? pelo ambiente? Isso quer dizer que a equipe de desenvolvimento controla a wallet?) e distribuída no fim do dia. Qual o nível de transparência desse processo? É possível analisar tudo capital armazenado, de onde veio, para onde está indo, quanto foi para cada ‘mão’?.

16. “Mining pools are not only points of centralization, but also their operators get cuts reducing the amount going to individual miners.  In Pi, there is no need for mining pools, since once a day everyone who contributed get a meritocratic distribution of new Pi.” 

    1. Aqui reforça a solução centralizada que eles mesmo acabaram de criticar. Se meus fundos vão ficar na mão da “Pi Network” que seja 1 dia apenas, então eles estão centralizando os incentivos.

17. Pi Economic Model: Balancing Scarcity and Access

18. Inverted Means Uneven

    1. Bem vindo à meritocracia, bem vindo à prova de trabalho, bem vindo à vida real. Quem viu a qualidade e futuro na solução XYZ e gastou seu próprio tempo entendendo, aprendendo e se especializando, consequentemente ganha mais. Isso não quer dizer que quem está entrando agora não ganhe ou esteja “burning more energy for less bitcoin”, eles entram agora sabendo que a recompensa é menor e que o trabalho está mais difícil, mas mesmo assim acreditam no potencial da solução.

19. Hoarding Inhibits Use As A Medium Of Exchange

    1. É necessário entender a história do dinheiro. Qualquer dinheiro precisa primeiro passar pelo processo de “reserva de valor” https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:1400/1*7-2w9CZn8yVeO31SmBQqow.png 

    2. Abstrairei aqui as camadas 2: Lightning, LIquid, Ark e etc, que já são usadas há alguns anos justamente para resolver o problema de “apenas reserva de valor e não moeda de troca”

20. The Pi Economic Model

21. Aqui temos um grande problema: levando em consideração que os fundos diários serão centralizados em uma ‘carteira temporária’ (isso foi especificado no capítulo “Transaction fees”, sem especificar quem ou o que controla essa carteira) , e unindo isso com a ‘distribuição justa’ e o fato de que eles querem ‘garantir que grandes quantidade de Pi não sejam concentradas em poucas mãos’, me vem a pergunta: quem decide o que é justo? Quem decide a distribuição justa? Quem decide o quanto é “grande quantidade”?

22. Pi – Token Supply

23. M=∫ f(P), uma função logarítmica decrescente, onde P é a quantidade de participantes. Resumidamente: M paga menos a cada novo integrante na rede

24. R=(r*M), onde a distribuição por novo membro acontece com 25% para o indicado (novo membro) 25% para o indicador (o membro que indicou) e 50% distribuído para o resto da rede
25. D=t*(M+R), remuneração dos desenvolvedores. Fixando t=25% de cada Pi token gerado
26. Acredito que a fórmula final pode ser traduzida como: (∫f(P)dx)⋅(1+r)⋅(1+t)
27. Tendo em vista esta tradução dissertativa do cálculo de “Token Supply”, é possível considerar que Pi Network é uma pirâmide: a recompensa é distribuída entre ‘indicado’ (novo membro), ‘indicador’ (quem indicou), equipe de manutenção da rede e por fim, o resto da rede. Essa recompensa diminui a cada novo membro na rede, forçando todos a continuar introduzindo mais membros (obviamente novos membros são incentivados com mais afinco para essa atividade, ou seja, se não indicarem mais membros, não ganham mais incentivos)

28. Apesar de existir recompensa através de taxas de transação, essa recompensa traz um grande problema que já foi citado anteriormente: centralização.

29. Outras críticas gratuitas sem nexo(?)

    • Em vários pontos eles só soltam informações soltas sem contexto tentando direcionar o leitor a uma avaliação falaciosa do ambiente do Bitcoin:
    • “While Bitcoin’s process for updating its record is proven (burning energy / money to prove trustworthiness), it is not very user (or planet!) friendly.”
    • Utilizando frases de efeito de um problema inexistente para validar a necessidade da solução proposta. Já é comprovado que o Bitcoin não consome energia em excesso, não é um perigo para o meio ambiente, muito pelo contrário.
    • “Moreover, due to Bitcoin’s lack in the safety guarantee, Bitcoin’s blockchain in rare occasions can be overwritten within the first hour. This means that a user of Bitcoin must wait about 1 hour before they can be sure that a transaction is considered final.”

    • “lack of safety guarantee” leva o leitor a achar que existe um problema de segurança

    • “in rare occasions can be overwritten” se qualquer bloco do Bitcoin for reescrito, então a rede foi hackeada, fim! Não existe forma de reescrever um bloco sem ultrapassar 51% da PoW atual.

30. Stella Core (Stellar Consensus Protocol SCP)

    • A equipe/gestora inicial são sabiamente conhecidos, vou abstrair toda e qualquer argumentação lógica do pq isso é terrível para o sistema.
    • Eles fazem questão de deixar tds os responsáveis pelo protocolo conhecidos https://stellar.org/foundation/team 
    • O David Mazières, autor principal do SCP, parece o Vitalik Buterin, criador da shitcoin Ethereum. Isso não deve ser levado como argumento válido!
    • https://github.com/stellar/stellar-core/tree/master
    • Sim, o protocolo é Open Source, já possui 81 contribuições de pessoas conhecidas e anônimas. Mas o fato de os principais gestores e mantenedores do projeto serem conhecidos cria um grande problema de segurança no protocolo. Em caso de um projeto deste vir a realmente ser útil e financeiramente rentável, basta impor sanções governamentais, processos ‘legais’, prisão ou sequestrar familiares e assim obrigar o protocolo mudar de objetivo/função/código.
    • Pré-mining(?): vários artigos citam ‘pioneiros’ migrando Pi Coin para a main net, ou seja, induz a ideia de pré-mining?

    • https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/new-updates/pi-network-coins-62-crash-explainedwhy-it-declined-and-what-it-means-for-crypto-enthusiasts/articleshow/118442880.cms?from=mdr

    • https://cointelegraph.com/explained/pi-network-mainnet-launch-what-it-means-for-pioneers

    • https://explorepi.info/en/statistic

    • Mas baseado no capítulo do Whitepaper, o capítulo “Pi – Token Supply“ especifica que o grupo de desenvolvedores (que mantém o protocolo) receberá 25% de todos os tokens, sabendo que o número de participantes é fixado em 100 milhões, podemos deduzir que 25% dos tokens foram pré-minerados para o grupo de desenvolvedores.

    • Transparência e KYC

    • Apesar da teórica descentralização da mineração, os nós precisam de KYC, possivelmente armazenado em um servidor central do SCP, apesar de não estar claro como o processo deles funciona, qualquer tipo de centralização e obtenção de dados pessoais levanta extrema cautela.

      • https://www.binance.com/en/square/post/20211503293737 
      • https://www.reddit.com/r/PiNetwork/comments/1isjnve/issue_with_kyc_on_pi_network_after_reinstalling/
      • https://coindcx.com/blog/crypto-news-global/pi-network-kyc-deadline-and-mainnet-launch/ 
        • Possui equipe formalmente organizada
        • Equipe de marketing

    • Fundação bem organizada

    • Hierárquica interna

\ O artigo se chama "(quase) Análise" justamente por que não tive condições de terminar os dois documentos.

[1] https://minepi.com/white-paper/#original-whitepaper 

[2] https://www.bitstamp.net/en-gb/learn/crypto-101/bitcoin-energy/#:\~:text=Bitcoin%20and%20clean%20energy,use%20was%20closer%20to%2040%25. 

[3] https://br.cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-mining-renewable-energy-transitionhttps://brasilbitcoin.com.br/blog/a-evolucao-da-mineracao-sustentavel-de-bitcoin/https://www.infomoney.com.br/onde-investir/mineracao-de-bitcoin-pode-ajudar-a-reduzir-energia-ociosa-no-brasil-diz-estudo/

@ 4898fe02:4ae46cb0

Posted Feb 28, 2025  Updated Feb 28, 2025

By Fionn O'Nymm

3 min read

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Fulfilling P2P Electronic Cash

Bitcoin only begins to fulfill the vision of bitcoin being a P2P electronic payment network when people actually use it to transact. Unschooled is positioning itself to realize some of the potential for which Satoshi Nakamoto had originally imagined it would be used.

Tech-savvy educators across the globe are uniquely positioned to be using bitcoin for transacting and selling their service online, free from jurisdictional constraints offered so magnanimously by our dear governments. Influencers, bloggers and programmers alike have already been able to plug into Bitcoin and Lightning for transmitting value around the globe, and Unschooled wants to push educators down the same stream.

So what makes the field of P2P Education so well-suited to transact using Bitcoin and Lightning?

1. Educators have one foot in both worlds

If you are a developer or influencer, you may already be transacting adversarially using Bitcoin or Lightning–but where are the Educators? Well - more often than not, they still have one foot in the ‘meat space.’ Be not mistaken, this is a strength. Educators, like Hermes from the Greek pantheon, are conduits between worlds. This makes them experts in bridging gaps in understanding as is so desperately needed for onboarding new freedom-minded users to bitcoin. And since they are, more often than not, end-users themselves, they have an intimate understanding of the user experience in a a way that others do not. Let’s help educators in becoming among the first beneficiaries of the global P2P market of our information age.

2. Great learners make great educators

Those who have spent the most time learning the ins and outs of how technology works become the best at explaining it to new users. One day, we can hope, the experience of decentralized payment networks will become so intuitive that we no longer rely on educators to explain it to people. It will become second-nature, and the focus of rendering educational services exogenous to the new economic reality can begin to take place. Those who have the most to share will be teaching those who are the most eager to learn. The Unschooling experience seeks to help in un-doing the malaise brought about by the economic-educational complex of governments.

3. Government issued education sucks

Leave teachers to teach, and they will change the world. Those who are capable of designing and marketing quality lessons ought to be able to enter their talent to be offered in the free market.

4. Ship it instantly

Like developers and influencers, educators have a product that can be shipped instantly across the globe with minimal energy output. Unschooled is a home for their product. There are many ways in which you may go about this (using these recommended tools, for example); you are only limited by what you can imagine.

5. Nothing can replace a mentor-student relationship

AI can do many things, but what it cannot do is replace the human-connection that can exist between a mentor and student. It cannot invite you to your hometown for coffee, attend a conference or event with you, meander off into tangents with you about what it means to be alive (well, maybe almost) like the way a great mentor can. In education, AI will make for a magnificent game-changer, but there’s nothing like great teachers.

@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

Atlanta Fed is now projecting Q1 GDP -1.5%. Last week it was +2.3%. 4 weeks ago it was +3.9%

https://x.com/AtlantaFed/status/1895508046215852476

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/899962

@ 6fac7d89:9d76f561

With the price of Bitcoin having gone significantly up over the past few months (I wrote this about a month ago to post on Stacker News), I imagine interest in acquiring it has gone up as well. As such, I'm here to share with you every method I use to stack sats so that we can all HODL more. While the majority of my experience in regards to phone apps is on Android, some of the apps mentioned may work on iPhone as well (I just got an iOS based device and intend to discover methods on there as well with time) so links provided will be the Play Store or my referral links. Some of the referral messages have included Apple App Store links by default so I've left them in.    

Bitcoin Education:   First and foremost, I think that anyone seeking to acquire BTC should learn about it. From how it works, to how to acquire and then store it. As such, this first category I'm covering is for BTC education resources that also reward you with satoshis for your learning progress.  

Yzer: Probably my favorite app in this category as it covers more than the others mentioned in greater depth. While the other apps do cover some aspects of the history of money, economics, and investing/finance, this one really delves into it to offer the most robust education of the bunch. I didn't even know about Austrian economics until going through the lessons provided here, and it boasts the most lessons of this category as well. Each section is divided into chapters containing a few lessons and an end-of-chapter quiz, and you have a chance of earning a few satoshis upon completion of a lesson or quiz.

Use my referral code to earn an extra 50 sats upon reaching level 2: KAB4ZKD https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=io.wizzer.academy&pcampaignid=web_share  

Simple Bitcoin: This app can be breezed through in regards to the lessons offered, allowing you to complete the learning aspect of it pretty quickly. Instead of rewarding sats outright for completion of lessons, this app rewards you with tickets you can spend to spin a wheel to earn small amounts of sats. Where this app shines is that while Yzer stops rewards when all lessons are completed, Simple Bitcoin has a news section where articles from outside sources are summarized, and reading them earns you more tickets. There is a limit to how many articles/day you can read unless you pay for premium, however, which also increases the reward amounts feature on the prize wheel.

https://simplebitcoin.page.link/ozJaD6uCaUyscYWy6  

Jippi: The newest of the bunch in this category, Jippi is still in its earlier stages of development and thus is the least robust. This one works a little differently as, for the time being, you need to complete all available lessons to earn a lump sum reward of 200 sats. Unlike the other educational apps, this one offers audio lessons to listen to for completion alongside the usual texts to read. While still in development, they plan to release a feature called "Tribe Clash" which they describe as "Pokemon Go for Bitcoin".

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.jippiApp.jippi.prod&pcampaignid=web_share    

Buying Bitcoin: So now you know about Bitcoin, but how can you buy some? While there are many crypto exchanges that offer BTC, this bitcoin-only service offers a more robust experience in regards to BTC and the purchase of it.  

Swan: While Swan allows you to buy BTC outright or via recurring buy (DCA), it has some additional interesting features and offerings as well. Their learn section allows you to further educate yourself on various aspects of bitcoin and perspectives on it, and they even offer a Bitcoin IRA (either Traditional or Roth) for those interested in such a service. The caveat to the IRA is that you'll be entrusting them with your BTC instead of having full custody and responsibility of it yourself.

Use my referral link and get $10 of BTC: https://www.swanbitcoin.com/MF_MOON    

Cash-Back: The next category I'll be covering is cash-back options, be they via spending with a certain card or using apps/extensions to earn sats on your purchases. Because if you're going to spend money anyways, why not try to get some of that money back in sats for your stack?  

Satsback: This browser extension works pretty similar to other cash-back extensions if you've ever tried them: if you're on a site which the extension offers cash-back on, a pop-up to activate it will appear. Make sure to have adblockers and (possibly) your VPN disabled before activating to ensure you get your reward (I suggest you do this for any similar extensions mentioned below as well).

https://satsback.com/register/k524KP0olqLX19Ov  

Fold Debit Card: Fold has several options that allow you to earn sats, one of which is the option to buy gift cards to popular retailers like Amazon, Google Play, Home Depot, Bass Pro Shop, AirBnB and more and earn sats back on the purchase. You can earn even more sats back by paying for these gift cards with their debit card, which needs to be pre-loaded to use, but using another card will still earn you sats, albeit at a lower rate. If you do have their debit card and opt for their premium service, Fold+, you can also earn 1.5% back on all purchases made with said card. Fold+ even offers you cash back on paying bills with the account and routing numbers they provide, though you need to hit certain spending thresholds in the prior month to be eligible for this feature. The app also offers a daily spin to earn small amounts of sats, with higher amounts including a whole Bitcoin locked behind the premium membership. Depending on your average spending and bills, this could be worth it though.

https://use.foldapp.com/r/3RHW4FUJ  

CoinMiles: CoinMiles is like SatsBack in the sense that it lets you earn cash-back in bitcoin via online retailers within their app (similar to Lolli below) with the added feature of cash-back in sats on the purchase of gift cards as well, similar to Fold.

Using my referral code will earn us both 5000 sats. https://coinmiles.onelink.me/90Pp/96f2tati  

Gemini Credit Card: Crypto exchange Gemini offers a credit card that offers some pretty nice rewards for using it, which has become my go-to method of spending at this point. Allowing you to choose from every crypto asset they offer for your cash-back rewards, you can earn in more than just Bitcoin with this card. The rewards rates are as follows: 4% back on gas at the pump and EV charging, 3% back on dining, 2% back on groceries, and 1% back on everything else. They also have "Merchant Reward Offers" in which they offer a higher rate in cash back on top of the default rate for the category the merchant falls under, I've gotten a total of 8% back at a local brewery using this as it automatically applies if you use the card at said locations. Rewards are issued and credited to your Gemini accounts instantly upon making said purchase. The one issue I take with the exchange is that without lightning integration, BTC withdrawal fees can get steep. As a result, I opt to earn in another asset with lower withdrawal fees and swap said asset for BTC via an external swapping service.

If you choose to purchase assets directly via the exchange as well, using my referral link can earn you referral rewards that scale with how much crypto you purchase with them: https://www.gemini.com/share/wwm6w8a3e  

Lolli: Boasting both an app and a browser extension, Lolli offers not only cash-back similar to SatsBack, but also card boosts, which reward you for paying with a linked credit or debit card in stores they offer. Simply activate the boost before paying with your linked card to earn cash-back in sats, or when shopping online, activate cash back via a pop-up from the browser extension or clicking the retailer within the app to be directed to their site. Similar to Fold, the app features a daily way to earn small amounts of sats.

https://lolli.com/share/T2r2NYSr7A  

Bitcoin Company Rewards: Another app that allows you to buy gift cards and earn sats back on the purchase, this one has the standout option of offering Visa gift cards within the US to earn a small amount of sats back on, among many other card offerings.

Use my referral code to earn 1000 sats to start. Referral Code: O30WN3 https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.tbtc_app&pcampaignid=web_share    

Social Media: These next two are, in my opinion, the future of social media, and you can earn on them too!   Stacker News: Reddit meets Hacker News on this site, which encourages quality content through the implementation of the lightning network and satoshis. You don't have to be signed up to browse and read content on here, but you should be, and you should use my referral link to do so!

https://stacker.news/r/MF_MOON  

Nostr: This one can be a little tougher to describe, but I'll do my best. Nostr is a social media platform that operates on an open-source protocol that supports of variety of applications or "clients" utilizing a unique public and private key pair. Connections can be maintained across clients, which are often made to emulate the more well-known social media services out there. It can be daunting to get into at first, and requires some involvement as there are no built-in algorithms (though devs are starting to provide ways to implement some for discoverability) but it boasts a great community. Users can "zap" each other sats for content they like, and it's integrated with a number of other services at this point including Fountain and Wavlake (see below).

Feel free to follow me on there: https://njump.me/nprofile1qqsglhkx0ey8pdac9ne4w9m4tzglpv2tkl8tvuyc9dzgyrgj07lk42ccwtvy9    

Music & Podcasts: Want to earn sats for offering up your ears while doing other things? With these apps, you can enjoy your favorite podcasts and discover new music to earn sats as you listen.   Wavlake: While this app allows you to listen to promoted songs to earn a few sats each day, it also offers you the ability to earn sats on your own music and podcasts that you upload to the service. If people listen to your content via the service and like it, they can send you sats, along with feedback and other comments. There is a flat fee of 10% of all earnings for creators, but it's another way to get your content some exposure and possible earn some sats along the way!

https://wavlake.com/    

Cloud Mining: The next section I'll be covering is a bit of a dicey topic as some consider it to be scam. While I agree that paying for cloud mining is absolutely a scam, the services I'll be mentioning here offer free options that offer low earnings but only require a daily check in that I do all at once. While I can't tell you how to spend your money, I HIGHLY suggest you avoid spending any money on higher mining rates and spend that money on BTC directly instead.   Bitcoin Mining (Crypto Miner): This one offers you 2 free "mining contracts": 1 that you can claim every 8 hours, and another that serves as a daily check-in reward for checking in consistently, as rewards increase the longer your check-in streak is. Claiming contracts involves simply tapping the corresponding claim button, so I usually claim the 8 hour contract 2 times a day and the daily one when I go to make the 2nd 8 hour claim. Your free earning rate can be increased by watching ads for a temporary boost if you so desire as well.

You can get an extra 10% in earnings using my referral link. https://cloudminecrypto.com/?invite_code=R0yMgkOEmEajYvD6 or download the app and add my invite code R0yMgkOEmEajYvD6 directly.  

Bitcoin Mining: This one is pretty similar to the previous one, but the free 8 hour mining option can only be activated once per day even if it's finished, unlike the other one. Similar to the prior app, you can watch ads to boost mining rate if you so desire. A nice feature of this one is that it integrates popular lighting wallets including Speed, ZBD and Muun for more seamless withdrawals.

My invitation code:5UHLF Appstore: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/id6503180820 Google play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=bitcoin.minning.com  

Ember: While this started off as a regular mining app on which you check in once a day, they've changed their model up a bit recently: you now earn "bonus sats" which must be gambled in games, and the sats earned from said games are then withdrawable. Essentially, you have to convert your earnings via a gambling game of some sort to make them eligible for withdrawal, with the risk of losing them along the way. However, this one earns the most in this category by far, especially if you have a network of friends to mine with as this affords you increased earning rates.

Referral Code: MNGCC33WRON https://emberfund.onelink.me/ljTI/l4g18zii?mining_referrer_id=MNGCC33WRON  

Games: Here we have games that offer BTC as rewards for paying in small amounts. While they won't earn you a ton, they're nice little time-killers to earn you sats on the side.  

ZBD: While technically a lightning wallet, the following app are powered by ZBD wallet, so you'll want to install this to claim your earnings from them. ZBD offers a variety of ways to earn should you choose to dabble in them, from completing surveys to watching videos to trying out games that allow you to earn from play time. The options I personally opt for are their daily poll and playing the next game listed below, as it allows you to earn without a "time-gated" mechanic: if you build up your game to a certain point and will allow you to earn more rapidly than any others I've tried. But see what games they offer and if you find them fun, go for it!

Referral Code: PEXE52 https://zbd.link/hcHi/invite?af_sub1=PEXE52  

Bitcoin Miner: Being an idle game, this one has a slow start but with a little dedication, can become one of the quickest and most consistent earners in this category. The daily withdrawal limit is unfortunately 330 sats, but when you're maxed out in the current state of the game, you can earn this within 3.5 resets, each of which takes me under minutes to max out with the right strategy and which can be done once every 30 minutes. A one-time purchase of $11.99 will remove all ads, which in my opinion is worth it as you can earn $10/mo in BTC with this game. Using my referral code will net you some of the premium in-game currency to get you started off nicely.

Referral Code: 8H44HB Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fumbgames.bitcoinminor&pcampaignid=web_share Apple App Store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bitcoin-miner-idle-tycoon/id1413770650  

THNDR Games: THNDR is a developer that offers a few different games you can play to earn tickets in timed drawings to earn sats, and with your tickets across their games pooling up in a single grand total for the prize drawing when the time comes. I personally find their game "Bitcoin Bay" (a bubble popping game) to be the one that strikes the best balance of fun and earning potential, so its the only one I keep on my phone (I don't want to be playing games on my phone much in my day as it is) but it's really a matter of personal preference which game of theirs you want to play. A nice feature here is that they integrate with lightning wallets including ZBD, Speed, and Strike among others.

https://bitcoinbay.thndr.games/r/tdhP  

Bling: Bling is a developer that makes a number of "match" games a la Candy Crush that allow you to earn in BTC and some of which offer earnings in other crytpo assets as well. I personally play their game "Sweet Bitcoin" as I find it to be the most visually appealing, but they all appear to earn at the same rate in my experience. The on caveat to these games is that it has an "energy" system similar to Candy Crush which allows you to play a limited number of games as a time-gating mechanism until you "recharge" plays. For this reason, if this is your preferred type of game, you may want to download more than one of their offerings to be able to earn more in less time. Their games offer withdrawals that integrate CoinBase, Lightning options ZBD and Strike, and PayPal (but only in USD for this option).

https://bln.gg/1NC-CQX-JDK  

Earn While You Browse: This last one is an extension on your browser that allows you to earn sats as you browse the web.

Slice: This browser extension adds small ads to sies you visit as you browse, paying you for the respective views. They also offer the option to change your new tab page & default browser for additional earnings, as well as a desktop app to display ads in the bottom right of your screen for even more opportunities to earn. The only downside to this is that your VPN must be turned off, and earnings are made in "slices" which must then be converted to sats.

https://addslice.com/?crew=FjVuNqgg    

And there you have it folks, every single method I use to accumulate sats/BTC all in one quick read for your convenience. Given that I've recently also joined the iOS eco-system, I intend to explore that side of earning apps as well, so let me know if any of you want me to share what I find after I spend some time with it, or if you recommend any apps I should check out. I also have methods of earning other coins in passive or semi-passive ways that I then convert into BTC and am happy to share if interest is expressed, or even ways I earn USD in such ways. Feel free to follow me on Nostr (link mentioned above) and to share the ways you earn sats on the side that I may have missed. Stay humble and keep stacking!

@ 6260f29f:2ee2fcd4

@ 54609048:8e22ba03

The recent $1.4 billion Extended Fund Facility (EFF) agreement between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and El Salvador marks a significant turning point in the nation's economic and monetary policy. The IMF’s $1.4 billion “lifeline” is a sly Trojan horse, gutting El Salvador’s sovereignty and kneecapping its 2021 Bitcoin law— which represented a bold step toward monetary freedom and economic self-determination— all to prop up the same economic mess it pretends to fix. Brilliant, right?

The IMF’s Colonialist Agenda: A Historical Precedent

In 2021, El Salvador made history by adopting Bitcoin as legal tender, positioning itself at the forefront of financial innovation and offering its citizens an alternative to the U.S. dollar. This move was a bold step toward monetary independence and as a pathway toward individual financial sovereignty by reducing remittance costs for Salvadorans and bypassing the predatory international banking system. By making Bitcoin legal tender, El Salvador was taking steps to free itself from financial colonialism.

The IMF’s response to El Salvador’s Bitcoin law was predictably hostile from day one. The institution repeatedly warned of the “risks” associated with Bitcoin, framing it as a threat to financial stability rather than a tool for economic empowerment. Hypocrisy drips from every word—the IMF’s own debt traps and inflationary schemes have fueled the chaos it now “rescues” El Salvador from. The Bretton Woods institution has long been the enforcer of the global financial elite, ensuring that nations remain shackled to the U.S. dollar-dominated system. Through predatory loans and stringent conditions, the IMF perpetuates economic subjugation. Now, facing pressure from these same institutions, El Salvador finds itself caught in the classic IMF trap: accepting loans with strings attached that further cement dependency.

This aid package isn't a solution to El Salvador's problems; it's leverage to force compliance with the global banking cartel's agenda. Under the IMF agreement, El Salvador has been compelled to amend its Bitcoin law, revoking Bitcoin's status as legal tender and making its acceptance by businesses voluntary. Additionally, tax obligations must now be settled exclusively in U.S. dollars. This gut-wrenching retreat from its bold Bitcoin rebellion represents a diabolical masterpiece of oppression—stripping citizens of financial freedom and forcing them to forever bow before the fiat gods.

**Why the IMF Must Destroy Bitcoin’s Medium of Exchange Use Case ** To understand why the IMF is so determined to undermine Bitcoin’s role as a medium of exchange in El Salvador, it’s important to revisit the fundamental nature of money. The widely cited “three functions” of money—medium of exchange, store of value, and unit of account—are often misunderstood. These are not rigid definitions, but empirical observations of how money functions in practice.

Money is, first and foremost, the generally accepted medium of exchange. The other functions tend to follow, but they are not exclusive to money. For example, gold can serve as a store of value but is no longer a commonly accepted medium of exchange, and other commodities can also act as units of account, but neither is money unless it is widely accepted as a medium of exchange. Bitcoin’s rise as a store of value (akin to “digital gold”) is not as threatening to the fiat system as its potential to function as a widely accepted medium of exchange. A strong store of value can exist within a system that is still dominated by fiat currencies.

If Bitcoin were to become a dominant medium of exchange, it would directly challenge the monopoly of central banks and the control that institutions like the IMF exert over global financial systems. That is why the IMF’s primary goal in El Salvador is not necessarily to stop Bitcoin’s adoption altogether but rather to strip Bitcoin of its medium of exchange function, thus effectively relegating Bitcoin to a speculative asset or store of value.

Furthermore, this Bitcoin experiment was the first real-world test of Bitcoin as a medium of exchange at the nation-state level. If it had succeeded, other countries—especially those in the Global South struggling with inflation, currency devaluation, and IMF-imposed austerity—might have followed suit. The IMF couldn't afford to let that happen. By neutralizing Bitcoin's role as money, it ensures that alternative financial systems do not gain traction outside the fiat-based global order. In other words, as long as Bitcoin can't be used freely as a medium of exchange, it cannot fulfill its role as money, and the fiat gods' grip on the global monetary system remains unchallenged—at least for now.

The $1.4 Billion Faustian Bargain

El Salvador’s decision to seek IMF funding is a reflection of the immense pressure it faces from global financial markets and institutions. The country’s high debt levels and weak external buffers are, in large part, a consequence of its integration into a global financial system that prioritizes short-term capital flows over long-term economic stability. By accepting the IMF’s terms, El Salvador has effectively traded its sovereignty for temporary financial relief.

What is even more surprising is that El Salvador had an alternative to this Faustian bargain: the issuance of Bitcoin bonds. While initially proposed as a way to finance Bitcoin City and geothermal Bitcoin mining infrastructure, the volcano bonds the country could have raised the $1.4 billion needed without sacrificing its monetary sovereignty. This represents a missed opportunity for El Salvador to bolster its financial independence, attract global capital, and solidify its position as a pioneer in the adoption of decentralized money.

Instead of falling back into the IMF’s debt trap—complete with austerity measures, restrictions on Bitcoin use, and financial surveillance—El Salvador could have embraced a Bitcoin-native financial strategy that aligned with its long-term vision of economic independence. So why didn't El Salvador go through with the Bitcoin bond issuance? I don't know, but if I were to speculate, I would say the answer likely lies in political and institutional inertia, coupled with external pressures from the IMF and its allied institutions, or worse. If El Salvador had raised capital through Bitcoin bonds, it would have sent shockwaves through the financial world, proving that a nation-state could operate independently of the IMF.

The Long-Term Consequences for El Salvador

While the IMF’s program may provide short-term relief, its long-term consequences are likely to be detrimental to the Salvadoran people. The emphasis on fiscal consolidation and debt reduction will inevitably lead to cuts in public spending, particularly in areas such as social services and infrastructure. These measures will disproportionately affect the most vulnerable segments of society, exacerbating inequality and undermining the country’s social fabric.

Moreover, the IMF’s focus on “strengthening governance and transparency” is a thinly veiled attempt to impose external control over El Salvador’s domestic policies. The requirement to enhance Anti-Money Laundering and Countering the Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) frameworks, while ostensibly aimed at combating illicit activities, will likely be used to surveil and restrict the financial activities of ordinary citizens. This represents a gross violation of individual rights and a further erosion of economic freedom.

Conclusion

The IMF's $1.4 billion arrangement with El Salvador represents not economic salvation but a calculated reassertion of control. By forcing El Salvador to retreat from its Bitcoin initiative, the IMF is protecting the very system that has kept developing nations financially subjugated for decades. For Salvadorans, this means their bold experiment in monetary sovereignty has been curtailed, not by market forces or technological limitations, but by the deliberate intervention of the guardians of the old financial order.

Those who believe in true financial freedom must recognize this for what it is: not assistance, but suppression; not aid, but control. The battle for monetary sovereignty continues, and despite this setback, Bitcoin's promise of financial liberation remains as vital as ever—not just for El Salvador, but for all those seeking escape from the oppressive machinery of central banking

@ b2d670de:907f9d4a

onion-service-nostr-relays

A list of nostr relays exposed as onion services.

The list

| Relay name | Description | Onion url | Operator | Payment URL | Payment options | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | nostr.oxtr.dev | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.oxtr.dev | ws://oxtrdevav64z64yb7x6rjg4ntzqjhedm5b5zjqulugknhzr46ny2qbad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.snort.social | Same relay as clearnet relay relay.snort.social | wss://skzzn6cimfdv5e2phjc4yr5v7ikbxtn5f7dkwn5c7v47tduzlbosqmqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.thesamecat.io | Same relay as clearnet relay nostr.thesamecat.io | ws://2jsnlhfnelig5acq6iacydmzdbdmg7xwunm4xl6qwbvzacw4lwrjmlyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.land | The nostr.land paid relay (same as clearnet) | ws://nostrland2gdw7g3y77ctftovvil76vquipymo7tsctlxpiwknevzfid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | bitcoiner.social | No auth required, currently | ws://bitcoinr6de5lkvx4tpwdmzrdfdpla5sya2afwpcabjup2xpi5dulbad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.westernbtc.com | The westernbtc.com paid relay | ws://westbtcebhgi4ilxxziefho6bqu5lqwa5ncfjefnfebbhx2cwqx5knyd.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | freelay.sovbit.host | Free relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitm2enxfr5ot6qscwy5ermdffbqscy66wirkbsigvcshumyzbbqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.sovbit.host | Paid relay for sovbit.host | ws://sovbitgz5uqyh7jwcsudq4sspxlj4kbnurvd3xarkkx2use3k6rlibqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.wine | 🍷 nostr.wine relay | ws://nostrwinemdptvqukjttinajfeedhf46hfd5bz2aj2q5uwp7zros3nad.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC, Credit Card/CashApp (Stripe) | | inbox.nostr.wine | 🍷 inbox.nostr.wine relay | ws://wineinboxkayswlofkugkjwhoyi744qvlzdxlmdvwe7cei2xxy4gc6ad.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC | | filter.nostr.wine | 🍷 filter.nostr.wine proxy relay | ws://winefiltermhqixxzmnzxhrmaufpnfq3rmjcl6ei45iy4aidrngpsyid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN, BTC | | N/A | N/A | ws://pzfw4uteha62iwkzm3lycabk4pbtcr67cg5ymp5i3xwrpt3t24m6tzad.onion:81 | operator | N/A | N/A | | nostr.fractalized.net | Free relay for fractalized.net | ws://xvgox2zzo7cfxcjrd2llrkthvjs5t7efoalu34s6lmkqhvzvrms6ipyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nfrelay.app | nfrelay.app aggregator relay (nostr-filter-relay) | ws://nfrelay6saohkmipikquvrn6d64dzxivhmcdcj4d5i7wxis47xwsriyd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | relay.nostr.net | Public relay from nostr.net (Same as clearnet) | ws://nostrnetl6yd5whkldj3vqsxyyaq3tkuspy23a3qgx7cdepb4564qgqd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | nerostrator | Free to read, pay XMR to relay | ws://nerostrrgb5fhj6dnzhjbgmnkpy2berdlczh6tuh2jsqrjok3j4zoxid.onion | operator |Payment URL | XMR | | nostr.girino.org | Public relay from nostr.girino.org | ws://gnostr2jnapk72mnagq3cuykfon73temzp77hcbncn4silgt77boruid.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | wot.girino.org | WoT relay from wot.girino.org | ws://girwot2koy3kvj6fk7oseoqazp5vwbeawocb3m27jcqtah65f2fkl3yd.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | haven.girino.org/{outbox, inbox, chat, private} | Haven smart relay from haven.girino.org | ws://ghaven2hi3qn2riitw7ymaztdpztrvmm337e2pgkacfh3rnscaoxjoad.onion/{outbox, inbox, chat, private} | operator | N/A | N/A | | relay.nostpy.lol | Free Web of Trust relay (Same as clearnet) | ws://pemgkkqjqjde7y2emc2hpxocexugbixp42o4zymznil6zfegx5nfp4id.onion | operator |N/A | N/A | | Poster.place Nostr Relay | N/A | ws://dmw5wbawyovz7fcahvguwkw4sknsqsalffwctioeoqkvvy7ygjbcuoad.onion | operator | N/A | N/A | | Azzamo Relay | Azzamo Premium Nostr relay. (paid) | ws://q6a7m5qkyonzb5fk5yv4jyu3ar44hqedn7wjopg737lit2ckkhx2nyid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | Azzamo Inbox Relay | Azzamo Group and Private message relay. (Freemium) | ws://gp5kiwqfw7t2fwb3rfts2aekoph4x7pj5pv65re2y6hzaujsxewanbqd.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN | | Noderunners Relay | The official Noderunners Nostr Relay. | ws://35vr3xigzjv2xyzfyif6o2gksmkioppy4rmwag7d4bqmwuccs2u4jaid.onion | operator | Payment URL | BTC LN |

Contributing

Contributions are encouraged to keep this document alive. Just open a PR and I'll have it tested and merged. The onion URL is the only mandatory column, the rest is just nice-to-have metadata about the relay. Put N/A in empty columns.

If you want to contribute anonymously, please contact me on SimpleX or send a DM on nostr using a disposable npub.

Operator column

It is generally preferred to use something that includes a NIP-19 string, either just the string or a url that contains the NIP-19 string in it (e.g. an njump url).

@ c43d6de3:a6583169

Every Sunday, my brother Alex and I would catch the scent of pie creeping from the oven as we chased Ronnie and Ellis around my grandma’s house.

We were good at keeping traditions. Though we eventually outgrew the days of stampeding through Grandma’s living room, her house remained our gathering place. The four of us—Alex, Ronnie, Ellis, and I—would settle on the back porch, the aroma of freshly baked pie still wafting through the air. We’d trade stories about our first crushes, our first kisses, and our dreams for the future, laughing in the warmth of a home that felt eternal.

Alex was the first to leave for college. He never really came back. Four years away, then a big-time job across the country.

Ronnie and Ellis—the twins—left a few years later. They never truly returned, either. Not the same, at least.

A cruel trick of biology had been lurking in the depths of their genes, lying in wait for the right moment to surface. In college, Ronnie was consumed by schizophrenia, while Ellis battled years of depression. They came back home, but they weren’t the same boys I had grown up with. The ones I had once sprinted through hallways with, laughing until our sides hurt, were lost to something none of us could chase down or outrun.

By the time I graduated, the scent of pie had vanished forever. My grandmother’s grave was my last stop before I, too, left town.

I never went back.

People leave in different ways. Some move to another city or another country. Some lose themselves to illness, slipping through our fingers even as they sit beside us. Some find their final resting place. All dearly departed.

What makes their departure so bittersweet is the time we once had with them—the memories we carry, the laughter that still echoes in the corners of our hearts.

That’s life. That’s what makes it worth it.

@ a012dc82:6458a70d

In the dynamic and often unpredictable world of cryptocurrency, the opinions and predictions of financial pundits like Jim Cramer, the host of CNBC's "Mad Money," can significantly sway market sentiments and investor behavior. Cramer, known for his incisive and sometimes controversial market insights, has recently turned his attention to Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency. His latest comments suggest a bearish outlook on Bitcoin, which has sparked intense discussions and speculations within the crypto community. This development is particularly noteworthy given Cramer's influence and the weight his opinions often carry in financial circles. His views on Bitcoin are not just idle chatter; they have the potential to shape market trends and influence investment strategies.

Table of Contents

• Cramer's Changing Stance on Bitcoin

  • Historical Perspective

  • The "Reverse Cramer Effect"

• Market Reactions and Speculations

  • Analyzing Past Trends

  • The Role of Bitcoin ETFs

• Implications for Investors

  • Navigating Market Sentiments

  • The Future of Bitcoin

• Conclusion

• FAQs

Cramer's Changing Stance on Bitcoin

Historical Perspective

Jim Cramer's relationship with Bitcoin has been a rollercoaster of changing opinions and stances. Initially skeptical, Cramer warmed up to Bitcoin, acknowledging its potential as an investment asset. However, his recent bearish comments mark a significant shift from his earlier views. This change is intriguing, as it comes at a time when Bitcoin has been showing signs of recovery and gaining mainstream acceptance. Cramer's influence in the financial world means that his opinions are closely monitored and can lead to tangible market reactions. His latest stance, suggesting that Bitcoin is "topping out," has therefore raised eyebrows and led to debates about the future direction of the cryptocurrency.

The "Reverse Cramer Effect"

The phenomenon known as the "reverse Cramer effect" has become a topic of interest among investors and market analysts. This effect, where the market tends to move in the opposite direction of Cramer's advice, has been observed on multiple occasions. For example, after Cramer advised investors to sell Bitcoin in April 2023, the cryptocurrency's price surged, defying his predictions. This pattern has led some investors to view Cramer's predictions as a contrarian indicator. The consistency of this effect raises questions about market psychology and the influence of prominent financial figures on investor behavior. It also underscores the complexity and unpredictability of the cryptocurrency market, where sentiment can often drive price movements more than fundamentals.

Market Reactions and Speculations

Analyzing Past Trends

The market's reaction to Cramer's comments is not just a matter of idle speculation; it has real implications for investors and traders. The "reverse Cramer effect" has been noted not just in the case of Bitcoin but also in other financial markets. This phenomenon suggests a deeper, perhaps psychological, aspect of market behavior where investors might be inclined to react contrarily to prominent predictions. The recent bearish stance by Cramer on Bitcoin thus becomes a focal point for market watchers. If history is any guide, this could very well be an inadvertent signal for a bullish phase for Bitcoin.

The Role of Bitcoin ETFs

The potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs by the SEC is a significant development in the cryptocurrency world. These ETFs would provide a more accessible and regulated avenue for investing in Bitcoin, potentially attracting a new class of investors. The approval of these ETFs could be a game-changer for Bitcoin's price, as it would represent a major step towards mainstream acceptance and institutional investment. The timing of Cramer's comments in the context of these developments adds an interesting dimension to market speculations. If the SEC does approve Bitcoin ETFs, and the "reverse Cramer effect" holds true, we could witness a substantial bull run in Bitcoin's price.

Implications for Investors

Navigating Market Sentiments

For investors, the "reverse Cramer effect" and the potential approval of Bitcoin ETFs present a complex scenario. While it's tempting to base investment decisions on the predictions of market experts, the unpredictable nature of cryptocurrencies requires a more nuanced approach. Investors need to consider a range of factors, including market trends, technological developments, regulatory changes, and broader economic indicators. The case of Jim Cramer's shifting stance on Bitcoin highlights the importance of not relying solely on expert opinions but also conducting independent research and analysis.

The Future of Bitcoin

The future of Bitcoin, as suggested by the recent developments and Cramer's comments, appears to be at a potential turning point. While the possibility of a bull market looms, it's important to remember the inherent volatility and risks associated with cryptocurrencies. The market's response to Cramer's comments, coupled with the potential regulatory advancements like Bitcoin ETFs, could indeed set the stage for significant price movements. However, investors should remain cautious and diversified in their approach, keeping in mind that the cryptocurrency market is still maturing and subject to rapid changes.

Conclusion

Jim Cramer's recent bearish comments on Bitcoin have stirred up a wave of discussions and speculations about the future of this leading cryptocurrency. While his track record suggests the possibility of an upcoming bull market, the volatile and unpredictable nature of the crypto world warrants a cautious approach. Investors should weigh Cramer's opinions alongside other market indicators and conduct thorough research before making investment decisions. As the cryptocurrency landscape continues to evolve, staying informed, adaptable, and prudent remains crucial for navigating the market's ebbs and flows.

FAQs

Who is Jim Cramer? Jim Cramer is a well-known financial expert and the host of CNBC's "Mad Money." He is recognized for his bold market predictions and has a significant influence in the financial world.

What is the "Reverse Cramer Effect"? The "Reverse Cramer Effect" refers to a phenomenon where the market tends to move in the opposite direction of Jim Cramer's predictions. This has been observed particularly in the cryptocurrency market with Bitcoin.

Why are Jim Cramer's comments on Bitcoin important? Cramer's comments are closely followed by investors and can influence market trends. His recent bearish stance on Bitcoin has sparked discussions and speculations about a potential bull market due to the "Reverse Cramer Effect."

What impact could Bitcoin ETFs have on the market? The approval of Bitcoin ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) by the SEC could significantly boost Bitcoin's price by providing a regulated and accessible investment avenue, potentially attracting more mainstream and institutional investors.

Should investors base their decisions solely on Jim Cramer's predictions? While Cramer's opinions are influential, investors are advised to conduct their own research and consider a range of factors before making investment decisions, due to the unpredictable nature of the cryptocurrency market.

That's all for today

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. Please be careful and do your own research.

@ d360efec:14907b5f

ภาพรวมการวิเคราะห์ Bitcoin (BTC)

จากการตรวจสอบกราฟและอินดิเคเตอร์ใน Timeframe 15 นาที, 4 ชั่วโมง, และรายวัน (Day) พบว่า Bitcoin มีความผันผวนและมีแนวโน้มการเปลี่ยนแปลงที่น่าสนใจในแต่ละ Timeframe ดังรายละเอียดต่อไปนี้ค่ะ

อินดิเคเตอร์ที่ใช้ในการวิเคราะห์

• EMA (Exponential Moving Average):
  • EMA 50 (สีเหลือง): แสดงแนวโน้มระยะสั้นของราคา
  • EMA 200 (สีขาว): แสดงแนวโน้มระยะยาวของราคา
• SMC (Smart Money Concepts): แนวคิดการเทรดที่เน้นการวิเคราะห์พฤติกรรมของ "Smart Money" หรือผู้เล่นรายใหญ่ในตลาด
• ICT (Inner Circle Trader) Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: อินดิเคเตอร์ที่ระบุตำแหน่งสภาพคล่องฝั่งซื้อและฝั่งขาย ซึ่งเป็นเป้าหมายราคาที่น่าสนใจ
• Money Flow: อินดิเคเตอร์ที่แสดงทิศทางการไหลเข้าออกของเงินทุนในสินทรัพย์
• Trend Strength (🌟Introducing the Trend and Strength Signals indicator by AlgoAlpha!): อินดิเคเตอร์ที่ช่วยระบุแนวโน้มและความแข็งแกร่งของตลาด มีลักษณะเป็นเมฆและสัญญาณซื้อขาย

วิเคราะห์แนวโน้มและกลยุทธ์การเทรด

1. Timeframe 15 นาที (TF 15m)

• แนวโน้ม: ใน TF 15 นาที ราคา BTC มีความผันผวนในกรอบแคบ EMA 50 ตัดกับ EMA 200 บ่งบอกถึงความไม่แน่นอนของแนวโน้มในระยะสั้น
• สัญญาณอินดิเคเตอร์:
  • Trend Strength: เกิดสัญญาณซื้อขาย (Buy/Sell Signal) แต่เมฆ (Cloud) ยังไม่ชัดเจน บ่งบอกถึงความแข็งแกร่งของแนวโน้มยังไม่เด่นชัด
  • Money Flow: มีการสลับการไหลเข้าออกของเงินทุน สะท้อนถึงความไม่แน่นอนในระยะสั้น
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: อินดิเคเตอร์นี้จะช่วยระบุแนวรับแนวต้านใน TF สั้นๆ เพื่อใช้ในการพิจารณาจุดเข้าออก
• Chart Pattern: พิจารณารูปแบบ Chart Pattern ใน TF 15 นาที เช่น รูปแบบสามเหลี่ยม (Triangle) หรือรูปแบบธง (Flag) เพื่อหารูปแบบราคาที่อาจเกิดขึ้น
• กลยุทธ์ Day Trade (การเทรดรายวัน):
  • กลยุทธ์: เน้นการเทรดในกรอบ Sideway โดยใช้แนวรับแนวต้านที่ระบุจาก Buyside & Sellside Liquidity และสัญญาณจาก Trend Strength ประกอบการตัดสินใจ
  • SMC Setup: มองหา SMC Setup ใน TF 15 นาที เช่น Order Block หรือ Fair Value Gap บริเวณแนวรับแนวต้าน เพื่อหาจังหวะเข้าเทรดตามแนวโน้มระยะสั้น
  • สิ่งที่ต้องระวัง: ความผันผวนสูงใน TF 15 นาที อาจทำให้เกิดสัญญาณหลอก ควรใช้ Stop Loss ที่เหมาะสม และบริหารความเสี่ยงอย่างเคร่งครัด

2. Timeframe 4 ชั่วโมง (TF 4H)

• แนวโน้ม: ใน TF 4 ชั่วโมง ราคา BTC มีแนวโน้มเป็นขาขึ้น EMA 50 อยู่เหนือ EMA 200 บ่งบอกถึงแนวโน้มขาขึ้นในระยะกลาง
• สัญญาณอินดิเคเตอร์:
  • Trend Strength: เกิดเมฆสีเขียว (Green Cloud) และสัญญาณซื้อ (Buy Signal) บ่งบอกถึงแนวโน้มขาขึ้นที่แข็งแกร่ง
  • Money Flow: เงินทุนไหลเข้าต่อเนื่อง สนับสนุนแนวโน้มขาขึ้น
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: อินดิเคเตอร์นี้จะช่วยระบุแนวรับแนวต้านที่สำคัญใน TF 4 ชั่วโมง เพื่อใช้ในการวางแผนการเทรดระยะกลาง
• Chart Pattern: พิจารณารูปแบบ Chart Pattern ใน TF 4 ชั่วโมง เช่น รูปแบบ Cup and Handle หรือรูปแบบ Ascending Triangle เพื่อยืนยันแนวโน้มขาขึ้น
• กลยุทธ์ Day Trade (การเทรดรายวัน) / Swing Trade (การเทรดระยะกลาง):
  • กลยุทธ์: เน้นการเทรดตามแนวโน้มขาขึ้น โดยใช้ EMA 50 และแนวรับแนวต้านจาก Buyside & Sellside Liquidity เป็นจุดอ้างอิงในการเข้าเทรด
  • SMC Setup: มองหา SMC Setup ใน TF 4 ชั่วโมง เช่น Break of Structure (BOS) หรือ Change of Character (CHOCH) เพื่อหาจังหวะเข้าเทรดตามแนวโน้มขาขึ้น
  • สิ่งที่ต้องระวัง: การพักตัวของราคาในแนวโน้มขาขึ้น อาจทำให้เกิดการย่อตัวระยะสั้น ควรพิจารณาแนวรับที่แข็งแกร่ง และตั้ง Stop Loss เพื่อป้องกันความเสี่ยง

3. Timeframe รายวัน (TF Day)

• แนวโน้ม: ใน TF รายวัน ราคา BTC ยังคงอยู่ในแนวโน้มขาขึ้นระยะยาว EMA 50 อยู่เหนือ EMA 200 อย่างชัดเจน
• สัญญาณอินดิเคเตอร์:
  • Trend Strength: เกิดเมฆสีเขียวขนาดใหญ่ (Large Green Cloud) และสัญญาณซื้อต่อเนื่อง (Continuous Buy Signal) บ่งบอกถึงแนวโน้มขาขึ้นระยะยาวที่แข็งแกร่งมาก
  • Money Flow: เงินทุนไหลเข้าอย่างต่อเนื่องและแข็งแกร่ง สนับสนุนแนวโน้มขาขึ้นระยะยาว
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: อินดิเคเตอร์นี้จะช่วยระบุแนวรับแนวต้านที่สำคัญใน TF รายวัน เพื่อใช้ในการวางแผนการลงทุนระยะยาว
• Chart Pattern: พิจารณารูปแบบ Chart Pattern ใน TF รายวัน เช่น รูปแบบ Bullish Flag หรือรูปแบบ Wedge เพื่อยืนยันแนวโน้มขาขึ้นระยะยาว
• กลยุทธ์ Day Trade (การเทรดรายวัน) / Swing Trade (การเทรดระยะกลาง) / Long-Term Investment (การลงทุนระยะยาว):
  • กลยุทธ์: เน้นการลงทุนระยะยาวตามแนวโน้มขาขึ้น โดยพิจารณาจังหวะเข้าซื้อเมื่อราคาย่อตัวลงมาบริเวณแนวรับสำคัญใน TF รายวัน
  • SMC Setup: มองหา SMC Setup ใน TF รายวัน เช่น Institutional Order Flow เพื่อยืนยันแนวโน้มขาขึ้นระยะยาว
  • สิ่งที่ต้องระวัง: ความเสี่ยงจากปัจจัยภายนอกที่อาจกระทบตลาด Cryptocurrency ในระยะยาว ควรติดตามข่าวสารและสถานการณ์ตลาดอย่างใกล้ชิด และกระจายความเสี่ยงในการลงทุน

สรุป

จากการวิเคราะห์ BTC ใน 3 Timeframe ด้วยอินดิเคเตอร์และ Chart Pattern พบว่า BTC ยังคงมีแนวโน้มขาขึ้นในระยะกลางและระยะยาว อย่างไรก็ตาม ในระยะสั้น TF 15 นาที ยังมีความผันผวนและไม่แน่นอน กลยุทธ์การเทรดที่เหมาะสมจะแตกต่างกันไปตาม Timeframe และเป้าหมายการเทรดของแต่ละบุคคล ควรพิจารณาความเสี่ยงและบริหารจัดการเงินทุนอย่างเหมาะสม

คำแนะนำเพิ่มเติม

• ศึกษาเพิ่มเติม: ควรศึกษาเพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับ SMC, ICT, และ Trend Strength Indicator เพื่อให้เข้าใจหลักการทำงานและนำไปประยุกต์ใช้ในการเทรดได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพ
• ทดลองบนบัญชี Demo: ทดลองกลยุทธ์ต่างๆ บนบัญชี Demo ก่อนนำไปใช้จริง เพื่อทดสอบความเข้าใจและปรับปรุงกลยุทธ์ให้เหมาะสมกับตนเอง
• ติดตามข่าวสาร: ติดตามข่าวสารและสถานการณ์ตลาด Cryptocurrency อย่างสม่ำเสมอ เพื่อประกอบการตัดสินใจในการเทรดและการลงทุน

Disclaimer (ข้อจำกัดความรับผิดชอบ):

การวิเคราะห์นี้มีวัตถุประสงค์เพื่อให้ข้อมูลเท่านั้น และเป็นความคิดเห็นส่วนบุคคล ไม่ใช่คำแนะนำทางการเงิน การลงทุนใน Cryptocurrency มีความเสี่ยงสูง นักลงทุนควรศึกษาข้อมูลด้วยตนเองและใช้ความระมัดระวังก่อนตัดสินใจลงทุน

@ d360efec:14907b5f

$OKX:BTCUSDT.P

From checking the charts and indicators in 15-minute, 4-hour, and daily timeframes, it is found that Bitcoin is volatile and has interesting trend changes in each timeframe, as detailed below:

Trend Analysis and Trading Strategies

1. 15-Minute Timeframe (TF 15m)

• Trend: In the 15-minute TF, the BTC price is fluctuating in a narrow range. EMA 50 crossing with EMA 200 indicates short-term trend uncertainty.
• Indicator Signals:
  • Trend Strength: Buy/Sell signals occur, but the cloud is not yet clear, indicating that the trend strength is not yet prominent.
  • Money Flow: There is an alternating inflow and outflow of funds, reflecting short-term uncertainty.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: This indicator helps identify support and resistance levels in short TFs to consider entry and exit points.
• Chart Pattern: Consider Chart Patterns in the 15-minute TF, such as Triangle or Flag patterns, to find possible price patterns.
• Day Trade Strategy:
  • Strategy: Focus on trading in a Sideway range, using support and resistance levels identified by Buyside & Sellside Liquidity and signals from Trend Strength to make decisions.
  • SMC Setup: Look for SMC Setups in the 15-minute TF, such as Order Blocks or Fair Value Gaps around support and resistance areas, to find short-term trend trading opportunities.
  • Things to watch out for: High volatility in the 15-minute TF may cause false signals. Appropriate Stop Loss should be used and risk should be managed strictly.

2. 4-Hour Timeframe (TF 4H)

• Trend: In the 4-hour TF, the BTC price is trending upwards. EMA 50 is above EMA 200, indicating a medium-term uptrend.
• Indicator Signals:
  • Trend Strength: A Green Cloud and Buy Signal occur, indicating a strong uptrend.
  • Money Flow: Funds continue to flow in, supporting the uptrend.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: This indicator helps identify important support and resistance levels in the 4-hour TF for medium-term trading planning.
• Chart Pattern: Consider Chart Patterns in the 4-hour TF, such as Cup and Handle or Ascending Triangle patterns, to confirm the uptrend.
• Day Trade / Swing Trade Strategy:
  • Strategy: Focus on trading along the uptrend, using EMA 50 and support and resistance levels from Buyside & Sellside Liquidity as reference points for entering trades.
  • SMC Setup: Look for SMC Setups in the 4-hour TF, such as Break of Structure (BOS) or Change of Character (CHOCH), to find trading opportunities along the uptrend.
  • Things to watch out for: Price consolidation in an uptrend may cause short-term pullbacks. Strong support levels should be considered, and Stop Loss should be set to prevent risk.

3. Daily Timeframe (TF Day)

• Trend: In the Daily TF, the BTC price is still in a long-term uptrend. EMA 50 is clearly above EMA 200.
• Indicator Signals:
  • Trend Strength: A Large Green Cloud and Continuous Buy Signal occur, indicating a very strong long-term uptrend.
  • Money Flow: Funds are flowing in continuously and strongly, supporting the long-term uptrend.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity: This indicator helps identify important support and resistance levels in the Daily TF for long-term investment planning.
• Chart Pattern: Consider Chart Patterns in the Daily TF, such as Bullish Flag or Wedge patterns, to confirm the long-term uptrend.
• Day Trade / Swing Trade / Long-Term Investment Strategy:
  • Strategy: Focus on long-term investment along the uptrend, considering buying opportunities when the price pulls back to important support levels in the Daily TF.
  • SMC Setup: Look for SMC Setups in the Daily TF, such as Institutional Order Flow, to confirm the long-term uptrend.
  • Things to watch out for: Risks from external factors that may affect the cryptocurrency market in the long term. Market news and situations should be closely monitored, and investment risk should be diversified.

Summary

From analyzing BTC in 3 Timeframes with indicators and Chart Patterns, it is found that BTC still has an uptrend in the medium and long term. However, in the short term, the 15-minute TF is still volatile and uncertain. Appropriate trading strategies will vary depending on the timeframe and individual trading goals. Risk should be considered and capital should be managed appropriately.

Additional Recommendations

• Further Study: Further study on SMC, ICT, and Trend Strength Indicator should be done to understand the working principles and apply them effectively in trading.
• Experiment on Demo Account: Experiment with various strategies on a Demo account before using them in real trading to test understanding and improve strategies to suit oneself.
• Follow News: Follow cryptocurrency market news and situations regularly to inform trading and investment decisions.

Disclaimer:

This analysis is for informational purposes only and represents a personal opinion. It is not financial advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies involves significant risk. Investors should conduct their own research and exercise due diligence before making any investment decisions.

@ d360efec:14907b5f

$OKX:BTCUSDT.P Overview:

Based on the overall picture across the 3 timeframes (15m, 4H, Day), Bitcoin is in a bullish trend but is experiencing a short-term consolidation.

Analysis of each Timeframe:

• TF 15m:

  • SMC: The price is in a sideways consolidation phase after breaking out of a triangle pattern. There's potential to test the Buyside Liquidity around $64,000.
  • ICT: The price is testing the EMA 50 (yellow) support. If it holds above this support, there's a chance for further upward movement.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity:
    • Buyside Liquidity: $64,000
    • Sellside Liquidity: $60,000 (around EMA 200 and the lower boundary of the sideways range)
  • Money Flow: Positive, supporting the bullish trend.
  • EMA: EMA 50 > EMA 200, a bullish signal.
  • Trend Strength: Thick green cloud and buy signals indicate a strong uptrend.
  • Chart Pattern: Triangle breakout.

• TF 4H:

  • SMC: The price is in a clear uptrend after breaking out of a significant resistance level.
  • ICT: The price is holding strongly above both EMA 50 and EMA 200.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity:
    • Buyside Liquidity: No significant resistance nearby.
    • Sellside Liquidity: $58,000 (around EMA 50)
  • Money Flow: Positive, supporting the bullish trend.
  • EMA: EMA 50 > EMA 200, a bullish signal.
  • Trend Strength: Green cloud and buy signals indicate an uptrend.

• TF Day:

  • SMC: The price is in a clear uptrend.
  • ICT: The price is holding strongly above both EMA 50 and EMA 200.
  • Buyside & Sellside Liquidity:
    • Buyside Liquidity: No significant resistance nearby.
    • Sellside Liquidity: $50,000 (around EMA 50)
  • Money Flow: Positive, supporting the bullish trend.
  • EMA: EMA 50 > EMA 200, a bullish signal.
  • Trend Strength: Thick green cloud and buy signals indicate a strong uptrend.

Day Trade Strategy (SMC):

1. Buy on Dip: Wait for the price to pull back towards the EMA 50 support on the 15m TF (around $61,500 - $62,000) or the lower boundary of the sideways range.
2. Take Profit: Set a profit target at the Buyside Liquidity around $64,000.
3. Stop Loss: Set a stop loss slightly below the Sellside Liquidity around $60,000.

Things to Watch Out For:

• Volatility: Bitcoin is highly volatile. Set your stop loss appropriately.
• False Breakout: Be cautious of false breakouts.
• News: Stay updated on news that may impact Bitcoin's price.

Summary:

Bitcoin is in a bullish trend across all timeframes but is experiencing a short-term consolidation. The recommended day trade strategy is "Buy on Dip," with a profit target of $64,000 and a stop loss slightly below $60,000.

Disclaimer: This analysis is for informational purposes only and represents a personal opinion. It is not financial advice. Investing in cryptocurrencies involves significant risk. Investors should conduct their own research and exercise due diligence before making any investment decisions.

@ 2e8970de:63345c7a

the silence before the storm

originally posted at https://stacker.news/items/899535

@ e373ca41:b82abcc5

Dieser Artikel wurde mit dem Pareto-Client geschrieben (lesen Sie ihn dort, um die volle Erfahrung zu machen). 

Dies ist Teil 3 der Serie “Die Corona-Connection”: Lesen Sie hier Teil 1 und Teil 2.

Wenn die Realität die Fiktion überholt: das ist die Signatur unserer Epoche. Im Zuge täglicher Enthüllungen tritt nun immer deutlicher der medial-industrielle Komplex der “Corona-Connection” zum Vorschein. Allein die Finanzströme zeigen deutlich: der Anfangsverdacht einer Verschwörung ist sichtbar und nachweisbar.

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“Follow the Money”

In Washington hat das große Sesselrücken begonnen: Tausende Wohnungen und Häuser werden gerade auf den Markt geschwemmt, die Suchanfragen nach Offshorebanken und Strafverteidigern explodiert. Die Ratten verlassen das sinkende Schiff, eine alte Nomenklatura fällt, eine neue wird errichtet. So ist Politik. Wie viel davon Inszenierung und wie viel echt ist, werden wir erst später erfahren.

(Quelle: X/@wikileaks)

Schon jetzt erfahren die Europäer allerdings von JD Vance, dass in Washington “ein neuer Sheriff in town” ist. Die Rede auf der Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz war eine Zäsur in den transatlantischen Beziehungen. JD Vance hat Europa die Leviten gelesen: Wir glaubten nicht mehr an die Meinungsfreiheit, und damit an die Demokratie; wir griffen in Wahlen ein, deindustrialisierten uns selbst, betrieben ideologische Beeinflussung, Zensur und Manipulation. Eine beeindruckende Rede eines früheren Trump-Verächters (er nannte ihn mal einen Betrüger und überlegte Hillary Clinton zu wählen). Und dann der „Killer-Satz“ an das Establishment:

„Wenn Sie Angst vor den eigenen Bürgern haben gibt es nichts, was die USA für Sie tun können.“

Ja, Vance hat in vielem Recht, Europa ist ein sektiererischer Bürokratenkontinent, der ideologisch gekapert ist. Doch vielleicht hätte Vance etwas mehr darüber sprechen können, was die USA bereits „für Europa getan haben“, allein in den letzten Jahren:

• Der Europäische Debattenraum wurde mit US-Steuergeldern manipuliert, knapp 500 Mio USD. flossen durch die Kanäle von USAID und Co.
• Deindustrialisierung: Danke für die Sprengung von Nordstream, großer Bruder!
• Zensur: waren das nicht auch die großen amerikanische Social Media Plattformen, siehe Twitter-Files?
• Ach überhaupt, der ganze Verschwörungskomplex zu Corona, ist nicht die Corona-Connection im Kern ein Konsortium überwiegend amerikanischer Player? NGOs, öffentliche Gesundheitsbehörden, CIA, Überwachungsindustrie, Big Pharma im Verbund mit China.
• Wer in den letzten Jahren von “Misinformation und Disinformation” sprach, benutzte exakt das USAID-Wording und derartige Beispiele gibt es viele.

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Sprechen wir also zuerst vom Verrat Amerikas an der Welt, in Form der größten Psyop der Welt, sowie dem Biowaffenangriff in Form von Corona und mRNA, an dem amerikanische Behörden maßgeblich beteiligt waren. Die USA (oder der deep state?) sind scheinbar im Kalten Krieg mit der eigenen Bevölkerung und der Welt:

• USAID und NIAID finanzierten Coronavirusforschung in Wuhan, USAID finanzierte massiv die Bill & Melinda Gates Stiftung, Impfprogramme sowie GAVI, CEPI, Programme für “reproductive health” etc. Die Liste der “joint ventures” von Gates und USAID ist lang. Und USAID finanzierte den Propagandaapparat.
• Früher eichte die CIA Schriftsteller im Congress for Culture Freedom, heute finanzieren sie Weiterbildungen und Medientrainings für Tausende Journalisten, auch in Europa. Die Presselandschaft wird wie bei “Operation Mockingbird” einfach weiter unterwandert.
• Reuters bekam 9 Mio. vom US-Verteidigungsministerium und eine köstliche Programm-Beschreibung obendrein: Millionen für social engineering und gesellschaftliche Täuschung, large societal deception (abgekürzt LSD). Ein Wink mit dem Zaunpfahl auf “Mission Mind Control”, also Bewusstseinsexperimente der CIA, u.a. mit LSD?

• Ein paar Tröpfchen LSD dürfen nicht fehlen (rechts unten)

Die Rede vom Verrat an den eigenen Werten in vasallenartigem Gehorsam reiht sich jedenfalls schlecht ein in den noch größeren Verrat der eigenen Werte und eine Form von Hochverrat am Bürger durch amerikanische Behörden. Was genau bleibt also vom Vorwurf von Vance? Ihr habt bei der von uns mitfinanzierten Propagandamaschinerie etwas zu gut mitgemacht. Watch your values!

Die Rede von Vance sei Wahlbeeinflussung, eine Einmischung in „unsere Demokratie“, heißt es nun bei hiesigen Nomenklaturapolitikern. Wahlbeeinflussung durch Vance? Eine schöne Nebelkerze. Die größte Wahlbeeinflussung war doch die mit Milliarden USAID-Geld finanzierte ideologische Unterwanderung des europäischen Debattenraums, von Moldawien und der Ukraine bis Deutschland und Frankreich: Internews Network, Trusted News Initiativen, Factchecker, Kampagnen zu „Misinformation/Disinformation“ uvm. Der europäische Debattenraum wurde auf CIA-Narrativebene geeicht. Die Europäer sind konsterniert: Sie haben mitgemacht und werden jetzt von Vance „unter den Bus geworfen“. Sie stehen als die nützlichen Idioten da, die sie waren. Auch eine Form von Gaslighing: Bestrafung für Gehorsam.

Das Business Modell des Philanthrokapitalismus

Der Verrat der Werte, er zieht sich längst durch alle Ebenen von Bürokratie, Politik, Wirtschaft. Was eröffnet auch bessere Geschäftsmöglichkeiten als Gedankenkontrolle, Beeinflussung, autoritäre Einschüchterungsmethoden, durchgeführt von einem korporativen Machtapparat aus Politik, Polizei, Medien, Big Tech und Pharma?

Unter denen, die wegen USAID am meisten aufheulen, ist Bill Gates. Zu diesem tauchen, welch Wunder, gerade überall Lobesartikel auf, in US-Sendungen wird er wieder als Gesundheitsexperte herumgereicht, warnt vor Millionen Toten, wenn die Hilfen, die in seine Gesundheitsprogramme von USAID flossen, gestoppt werden. Nur am Rande: Gerade gab es einen Ebolaausbruch in Uganda. Die WHO lobt den schnellen Impfstart. Immer diese Zufälle, pandamic preparedness sei Dank, Herr Gates!

USAID und Gates sind ziemlich beste Freunde: Die weltgrößte Privatstiftung von Eugeniker Gates und eine CIA-Frontorganisation in trauter Verbundenheit. Was soll da anderes rauskommen, als die größte Psyop der Welt? Nein, USAID hat nicht in 1.6 Mrd. Dollar in deutsche Medien gesteckt, wie kürzlich per falschem Screenshot auf X verbreitet wurde. Die EU steckte dafür 132 Mio. Euro in journalistische EU-PR. Doch es blieb genug Geld für die Medien übrig, um den Corona-Scam zu glauben, zu verbreiten – und sich boostern zu lassen.

So wird ein Schuh draus: (Netzfund)

Darüber hinaus steckte USAID Milliarden in Gavi und CEPI, die Gatesschen Impfkonsortien mit Sitz in der Schweiz. Sowie in zig andere Programme der Gatesstiftung. Teils floss Geld zurück. Ein Geben und Nehmen. All das wäre für ein James-Bond-Drehbuch zu viel des Guten und Undenkbaren: Wir haben es bei der Corona-Connection mit einer Verschwörung von Geheimdienstkreisen, China und Philanthrokapitalisten zu tun. Deren teils geheimdienstfinanzierten Outlets (GAVI, CEPI), aber auch die WHO genießen in der Schweiz Steuervorteile und Immunität, wie eine Botschaft.

Und so wird ein Business-Modell daraus:

• Man suche sich ein Tätigkeitsfeld, Anliegen oder ein sonstiges Vorhaben der sozialen Ingenieurskunst aus. Bei Gates: Bevölkerungskontrolle und -reduktion, Impfstoffverkauf. 2010-2020 sollte die Dekade der Impfstoffe werden – und wurde es. Gates Gebaren konnte man 2015 in einer kritischen Untersuchung von “Misereor” und “Brot für die Welt” studieren.
• Dann definiere man Strukturen, Mechanismen und Businessmodelle zur Umsetzung. In einer Studie von USAID, BMGF sowie Rockefeller-Stiftung zum Einsatz von KI im Gesundheitsbereich liest man es exemplarisch schwarz auf weiß: “If evidence is promising, define business case – Wenn die Beweise vielversprechend sind, entwickle eine Geschäftsidee.”

* Es erfolgt ein Investment in die Geschäftsidee. Das nennt sich dann Program-Related Investment, und nicht nur “grant”, wie die New York Times früher noch kritisierte. Hier wird der angebliche Altruismus zum systemischen legalen Interessenkonflikt. Katastrophen zahlen sich jetzt aus. * WHO, Partnerorganisationen, News-Netzwerke werden auf die Idee geeicht, das übliche PR-Geschäft. * Dann noch schnell ein Planspiel, in Wuhan ist der USAID-Partner mit der gain of function-Forschung nämlich schon bereit für den Lab-Leak. Investments in Curevac, Biontech & Co. sind bereits getätigt, das politische Feld in Sachen Epidemic Preparedness ohnehin vorgeimpft (und beteiligt, hunderte Millionen gingen von Deutschland an die BMGF und CEPI, Gavi).

In dieser Phase hängt der Erfolg der Operation nur noch davon ab, wie gut (und wie lange) man es schafft, das Overton-Fenster in den Medien (also das, was relevant ist) mit immer neuen Propaganda-Erzählungen und Angstbildern vollzuhängen, die sozialen Medien zurechtzustutzen und Kritiker zu dezimieren: Fertig ist der größte kriminelle Coup der Geschichte.

Alle Beteiligten gewinnen: Gates vedient an den Impfstoffen, kann das Geld steuerbefreit in der Stiftung für neue Machtgewinnungsfeldzüge einsetzen, die CIA hat ein erfolgreiches Massenhypnose-Experiment durchgeführt und China konnte die Weltwirtschaft hinter sich lassen, intern die Pandemie schnell besiegen und dem Westen seine sehr schnell in Vergessenheit geratenen Bürger- und Menschenrechte vorhalten. Diese Rechte fielen ungefähr so schnell, wie die Menschen in chinesischen Propagandavideos auf der Straße zusammensackten. Nur in China übrigens, nirgendwo anders.

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Philanthrokapitalismus bedeutet übersetzt, den Anreiz auszuleben, mit Kontrollphantasien, Social Engineering und Technokratie zugleich Geld zu verdienen, Steuern zu sparen, und Macht zu gewinnen. Ein Honeypot für schwerreiche Psychopathen, die munter nach Gutsherrenart an der Bevölkerung herumschrauben wollen. Der Philanthrokapitalismus eines Gates, Soros & Co ist das gefährlichste korporatistische Räuberbaronentum der Neuzeit. Der Staat kann legal für private Machterreichungszwecke ausgenommen werden – zum Schaden der Bürger.

Es gab bei Corona viele Profiteure. Und viele Opfer. Über beide werden wir in naher Zukunft noch viel mehr erfahren. Die Welle der Aufarbeitung rollt.

Und die Konsequenzen? Ein Bill Gates sollte vielleicht daran denken, nicht erst dann zu flüchten, wenn die Epstein-Files veröffentlicht werden, sondern schon früher. In der amerikanischen Verfassung gibt es nur einen Strafrechtsparagraphen und dieser lautet so:

Artikel III, Abschnitt 3 der US-Verfassung:

„Hochverrat gegen die Vereinigten Staaten besteht ausschließlich darin, Krieg gegen sie zu führen oder ihren Feinden Beistand und Unterstützung zu leisten.“

Die Corona-Impfkampagne hat die Gesundheit der Amerikaner, auch der von Soldaten massiv geschadet, wie akut erhöhte Krankenstände und Nebenwirkungsmeldungen zeigten. Damit wurde Feinden der USA (mindestens jede verfeindete Kriegspartei) Beistand geleistet.

Eines wissen wir schon jetzt: So in etwa ist der “Source Code” des Bösen programmiert.

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Bitcoin: The Future of Collateralized Loans

Bitcoin is transforming the financial landscape, not just as a digital currency but arguably as the best form of collateral for unlocking liquidity. At Lendasat, we're pioneering this shift by working towards a trustless, self-custodial lending platform that lets users borrow against their Bitcoin without selling it. Let's explore Bitcoin's unmatched value as collateral and how Lendasat's innovative approach - with Discreet Log Contracts (DLCs) and integrations - make borrowing secure, simple, and practical. Bitcoin unlocks cash access without letting it go.

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Why Bitcoin Stands Out as Collateral

Bitcoin's intrinsic properties set it apart from traditional assets like real estate or stocks:

🌐 Decentralized Control: No intermediaries, ensuring transparency and independence.
💧 Ultimate Liquidity: Bitcoin is one of the most liquid assets in the world, tradable 24/7 without interruption. Unlike traditional markets with public holidays, and weekend downtime, Bitcoin operates continuously, allowing transactions at any time from anywhere.
✅ Capped Supply: Only 21 million coins will ever exist, shielding it from dilution/inflation.
🔒 Robust Security: Backed by cryptography and a global mining network, Bitcoin is portable, durable, and verifiable.

These qualities make Bitcoin an ideal foundation for lending, a vision Lendasat brings to life. Our app leverages Bitcoin's censorship-resistant nature to offer a collateral option that traditional assets can't rival.

The "Buy, Borrow, Die" Strategy: A Smart Money Move Now Available For Everyone

For those unfamiliar, the "buy, borrow, die" strategy involves buying assets, borrowing against them for liquidity, and holding until death to pass on the assets with a stepped-up basis, minimizing taxes. Savvy investors and businesses often borrow against their holdings rather than sell them. Why? It's a tax-efficient way to access cash while retaining ownership and future gains. With Bitcoin, this approach is even more compelling:

🏷️ Tax Advantage: No capital gains taxes when borrowing instead of selling.
🔒 Ownership Retention: Keep your Bitcoin and its potential upside.
📈 Growth Exposure: Benefit from Bitcoin's long-term appreciation.

Lendasat's motto, "Get the bread you need without having to part with your corn" encapsulates this strategy. We empower users to tap into their Bitcoin's value without sacrificing their stake in its future. Bitcoin gives access to practices that were previously reserved to the wealthiest individuals and companies.

ℹ️ Note: Tax benefits may vary depending on your jurisdiction. Please consult with a tax professional.

Lendasat's Vision: Seamless Lending Process

Lendasat, in its public release, will make Bitcoin-backed loans straightforward and secure. Here's how it works:

1. Secure Your Bitcoin: Lock your BTC in a Discreet Log Contract (DLC), a "smart contract" that eliminates counterparty risk while keeping you in control
2. Borrow Stablecoins: Receive stablecoins at an average 50% loan-to-value ratio (e.g., $50,000 for $100,000 in BTC), balancing liquidity with safety.
3. Spend Anywhere: Use our spending tools and off-ramps integrations to spend loan funds effortlessly in the real world, as an example, with a Virtual Card for online shopping - launched in our closed beta.

This peer-to-peer process makes KYC optional, prioritizing privacy and accessibility.

Who Benefits from Lendasat?

Our app serves a wide range of users:

Borrowers:
- Unlock cash without selling Bitcoin.
- Enjoy tax savings and growth potential.
- Spend easily with the virtual debit card.
Lenders:
- Earn guaranteed returns on overcollateralized loans.
- Reduce risk with Bitcoin's security.
- Diversify investments with a cutting-edge asset.

Lendasat's self-custodial design ensures both parties retain autonomy, with DLCs handling the heavy lifting.

Real-World Applications

Bitcoin collateral isn't just for individuals - it's a game-changer for businesses:

Businesses: Fund expansion or operations without diluting equity or selling BTC.
Miners: Cover costs like electricity bills by borrowing against mined Bitcoin, avoiding sales at low prices.

Lendasat supports these scenarios with flexible solutions, and we're exploring enhancements like on-ramps integration for bank transfer repayments to streamline the experience.

The Future of Bitcoin Collateral

Bitcoin's role as collateral is only beginning. Emerging possibilities include:

Credit Lines: Bitcoin-backed spending options akin to traditional credit.
Institutional Use: Large-scale financing for companies and even governments.

While Bitcoin is currently primarily used as a store of value, its potential as a medium of exchange is still developing. Lendasat's platform is designed to adapt to Bitcoin's evolving role in the financial ecosystem, whether it remains a collateral asset or becomes widely used for transactions.

Lendasat is driving this future by refining our platform, focusing on user-friendly on/off ramps and practical spending tools to make Bitcoin loans a financial mainstay.

What Sets Lendasat Apart?

Lendasat isn't just another lending platform - it aims to be the leader in Bitcoin finance:

Trustless System: DLCs ensure security without third-party custody.
Practical Tools: The virtual debit card bridges DeFi and daily life.
User-Centric: Optional KYC, no credit checks, and flexible repayment options in development.
Mission-Driven: We're here to empower financial freedom through Bitcoin.

These strengths make Lendasat the premier choice for leveraging Bitcoin as collateral.

Challenges and Considerations

While Bitcoin-backed loans offer many advantages, there are risks to consider:

Volatility: Bitcoin's price can be volatile, which may lead to liquidation if the value drops significantly.
User Experience: Managing DLCs and understanding the lending process may be complex for some users.

At Lendasat, we're actively working to mitigate these risks through user education, robust platform design, and ongoing development of user-friendly features.

Conclusion: Bitcoin's Full Potential

Bitcoin isn't just money - It is the best collateral in the making ever discovered, blending security, liquidity, and growth. Lendasat brings this power to your fingertips with a platform that's secure, intuitive, and built for the future. Whether you're funding a dream or growing a business, we've got you covered.

Ready to borrow without selling? Dive into https://Lendasat.com and see how your Bitcoin can work harder for you.

Quick Comparison: Traditional vs. Lendasat's Bitcoin Collateral

This snapshot underscores why Bitcoin, paired with Lendasat, is rewriting the rules of collateral.

Help Us To Achieve Our Vision!

Want to be part of the journey?
Join our waiting list or, even better, connect with us on Discord to get yourself an invite code and try our app and share your thoughts!
Stay tuned, and as always, stay sovereign.

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Adopting Inversion Thinking, a mental model championed by Charlie Munger and Warren Buffett, can enhance decision-making and problem-solving by focusing on potential pitfalls to avoid. This approach involves considering the opposite of your desired outcome to identify and mitigate risks effectively.

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Understanding Inversion Thinking

• Definition:
  Inversion Thinking entails approaching problems by asking, "What could cause failure?" rather than solely focusing on achieving success. This perspective helps in uncovering obstacles and errors that might be overlooked when only considering positive outcomes.

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Examples in Practice

• Charlie Munger's Approach:
  Munger emphasizes solving problems by inverting them. For instance, instead of asking how to be successful, he suggests identifying what actions could lead to failure and then avoiding those actions.
  FS.BLOG

• Warren Buffett's Investment Strategy:
  Buffett applies inversion by considering what factors could cause an investment to fail, such as poor management or unsustainable business models, and avoids investments with these red flags.

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Implementing Inversion Thinking

1. Define the Problem:
   Clearly articulate the challenge or goal you are addressing.

2. Invert the Problem:
   Ask what actions or factors could lead to the opposite of your desired outcome.

3. Identify Preventative Measures:
   Determine strategies to avoid these negative actions or factors.

4. Apply Insights to Decision-Making:
   Use the information gathered to inform your choices, focusing on avoiding identified pitfalls.

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Action Step

Consider a current goal or project. Apply inversion by asking, "What steps could lead to failure in this endeavor?" List these potential pitfalls and develop strategies to prevent them, thereby increasing the likelihood of success.

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By integrating Inversion Thinking into your decision-making process, you can proactively address potential challenges, leading to more robust and resilient strategies.

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