Why am I reading this _now_? Two stories in this morning's UK papers 1. Supposedly UK defence minister targeted by Russia for a potential missile strike (in Odessa) 2. Latvian foreign minister urging NATO countries to consider conscription A two-pronged approach to make us more scared of Russia and then further cede the conversation about escalating the war.

it still tickles me that for so many years the example all the Web3 people used to justify their scams was "imagine you could own your social network and take it with you to another platform" and yet here we are with NOSTR, doing exactly that (and more) with no scams, no tokens, no Web3 VC bullshit 😅🤷‍♂️👏✌️🤙🌅

yeah I think Saylor probably gets sacrificed this cycle

Not sure I've seen this analogy anywhere, but I've got a good explanation to friends of why it's so hard to copy or change Bitcoin: Bitcoin is like how modern society thinks of 24hr time 🕰️ (@npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc alludes to this in "Bitcoin is time"): - We all agree on the protocal of 24 hours, minutes, seconds etc. - International Atomic Time is the main reference point that can be independently verified. - It's relatively easy to check whether other clocks are cheating because we all run our own time nodes (quartz or the sun, or even Bitcoin). - To change this protocal or shift it in some way would be so massively difficult, that it just doesn't happen. It's only possible if the vast majority of people who control devices agree. - Yes you can try and claim your own time standard as the real one, but really there is no second best.

cult

Rules for thee ..

Personally, I agree that women should have a right to an abortion (within clear limits), but it's just such a sad and terrible thing to have to do in any circumstance. So I find it strange to have a celebration for putting it in your constitution (it was already legal in France).

One of the arguments I hear most from my friends when I tell them to get some Bitcoin and self-custody: Yeah but the money will be gone forever if I lose it or it gets stolen. They think bank accounts protect them. Have a look at this Revolut situation where a customer had £165K stolen from his account, and Revolut won't pay him back. HSBC accounts involved too, of course. Keep it simple. Stack sats, keys offline. Don't trust, verify.

Which?

Which? issues Revolut bank account takeover fraud warning - Which?

Two Revolut business customers have been left reeling after criminals drained their accounts using near-identical tactics

Just discovered a small star magnolia in my garden 🎉 Not in the best shape, but has potential. Excited to start gardening again this spring 🌷

Shit, apparently my watch (Casio F-91w) is used by terrorists! First Bitcoin, now this ... the state's got people who want to save money properly cornered 😂

Realizing that you were wrong about something is the most powerful lesson.

Bitcoin bull markets are very important for decentralisation - so no need to virtue signal that you don't care about price or purchasing power: - More distribution of ownership as OGs sell - More incentive for new miner manufacturers - More incentives for mining operations in areas and jurisdictions with more expensive energy - More Bitcoin businesses and products, some of which are good and will survive - Wealthier Bitcoiners who can support efforts to lobby & sue governments to create friendlier regulations - Casual holders scared about how much wealth they now have getting their shit together and storing their sats properly - More people being forced to engage with debates related to Bitcoin, and a % of those understanding and not being able to unsee the truth about money - More money donated to developers, and previous donated sats being worth more - should mean more developers - New constituencies with incentives to support friendlier attitudes to Bitcoin - Random businesses accepting Bitcoin as a marketing stunt, but continuing support and helping improve merchant products Loads more obviously. Yes I love Bitcoin and Bitcoiners even in a bear market and when prices are flat. But bull markets, while bringing a lot of clownery, move our cause massively forward. I think that's why I check the exchange rate so often: because it's a barometer of our progress.

I love it when a single article does such a great job of exemplifying so many facets of bad journalism:

The Atlantic

Why Crypto Just Won’t Die

Bitcoin’s biggest weakness may be its greatest strength.

Some gem quotes: "The fact that no one can agree on what crypto is even for hasn’t kept the market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies from surpassing $2.5 trillion. Indeed, its utter pointlessness may have even helped. The lack of consensus about crypto’s purpose might be the very reason it never dies." (I'm reading this as Bitcoin - clearly zero research has been done given how many people use it as a store of value, and to protect their wealth from criminals and tyrants) "bitcoin is approaching one of its periodic “halvings”—moments, programmed into its source code, when the rate of new bitcoin production gets cut by 50 percent, which reliably causes demand to jump" (How do you nearly perfectly describe a halving and then fumble the ball and describe it as a demand and not a supply effect?) "No central bank was needed to verify who owned how much bitcoin. Thanks to cryptography and some clever game theory, the network itself could keep track of that. Technologically, it has no single point of failure: Every computer in the network maintains a complete record of every transaction, which means no single entity can shut it off. This was a huge part of bitcoin’s early appeal. It was decentralized, but could still be trusted as a store of value. But to what end? What was it for?" (You literally just said it was a store of value. It's for storing value.) "The trouble is that convincingly debunking all the pro-crypto rationales at the same time is impossible. Each rebuttal can itself be rebutted" (Maybe your arguments are just bad?) Then at the end: "Support for this project was provided by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation." (WFHF's main goals are pushing DEI and climate propaganda - just check their website.)

Lol at UK newspapers saying that Bitcoin is only "nearly" at the ATH because they're using $ as their base currency, even though we're past the £ ATH already

BREAKING: UK government seeks to redefine "extremism" in broader terms to include anyone who "undermines" UK "values". Clearly at risk are those who don't drink tea, and people exchanging GBP for BTC.

Startup options are such a shitcoin Company I work for is being acquired and the deal completes 1 day before a chunk of my options vest, so they get cancelled 😂 "Stay humble, stack sats" applies very much to fiat mine job offers. Negotiate for higher cash and save it in Bitcoin rather than being conned into a seemingly high options package.

My council has started putting signs all over the park telling professional dog walkers that they need to apply for a license. Yet another racket from bureaucrats. Meanwhile the local playground has had broken equipment for months, and there's rubbish on the streets. But yes, let's focus on the professional dog walkers 🙃

The mainstream media haven't yet realised Bitcoin is pumping, but the UK tax man sure has ... friendly email received yesterday 🙀

BTC exchange rate solidly above 1M ZAR and a new ATH 🚀 Actually grateful that the ZAR is such a shitcoin and SA has capital controls. I was far more receptive to Bitcoin 🙏

This is one of the main reasons I expect deflation to happen unless there's QE and low rates again here in the UK. Natural gas prices were the biggest system shock in 2022 driving the "cost of living crisis" and sending UK energy companies into bankruptcy. It literally went up 1000%. But now we're heading towards historic lows - both a sign that production costs of goods will come down, but also partly shows that demand for energy is decreasing (although bigger driver seems to be a supply glut despite Ukraine war).