Sleeping in a cave.
Karel od Martiny
karel@nostrplebs.com
npub1y2se...vr89
We're a nomadic family living full time in a van. We seek as much freedom this way as is possible for us in today's world. We are anarchists, hippies and nomads. Come with us on an amazing journey through life, because life is just awesome :).
We share our findings and reflections from nomadic life on the youtube channel "Karel od Martiny" in Czech language.
https://creatr.nostr.wine/subscribe/npub1y2se87uxc7fa0aenfqfx5hl9t2u2fjt4sp0tctlcr0efpauqtalqxfvr89
Our suspension arm broke. Now after a week of being stuck, we finally managed to get new arm from locals and successfully repaired everything :).
Why freedom parenting is also great biohack
In my previous post, I wrote about how having children is one of the best natural biohacks you can experience. But this biohack can be taken even further when it comes to parenting itself, especially if you choose to raise your child with freedom (Freedom parenting, Unschooling, etc.). After making such a decision (and doing some research), you'll find that the only thing you can do to even slightly influence and guide your child's development is through your own self-improvement (and that is the biohack for you)
In a parenting style where you have almost no prohibitions, commands, and often even no evaluations in your parental arsenal, self-improvement is the best and most effective way to guide your child, at least to some degree (and especially non-violently). The only thing you can do is be a great partner and inspiration to them in life. Rather than forming them by banning all bad things, you create an environment where there is no demand for them.
So you don't end up like many parents who project onto their children what they could never be and try to shape them into their dream perfect human being through the position of a police officer using violence. You simply have to BECOME what you want to project onto your child (if you want to project anything). You must become the perfect human being that you so admire and not expect the child to become it for you. And after you succeed, it's up to your child to decide what to take from you.
In my previous post, I wrote about how having children is one of the best natural biohacks you can experience. But this biohack can be taken even further when it comes to parenting itself, especially if you choose to raise your child with freedom (Freedom parenting, Unschooling, etc.). After making such a decision (and doing some research), you'll find that the only thing you can do to even slightly influence and guide your child's development is through your own self-improvement (and that is the biohack for you)
In a parenting style where you have almost no prohibitions, commands, and often even no evaluations in your parental arsenal, self-improvement is the best and most effective way to guide your child, at least to some degree (and especially non-violently). The only thing you can do is be a great partner and inspiration to them in life. Rather than forming them by banning all bad things, you create an environment where there is no demand for them.
So you don't end up like many parents who project onto their children what they could never be and try to shape them into their dream perfect human being through the position of a police officer using violence. You simply have to BECOME what you want to project onto your child (if you want to project anything). You must become the perfect human being that you so admire and not expect the child to become it for you. And after you succeed, it's up to your child to decide what to take from you.
Why having kids is the best biohack in my life.
Along with the Bitcoin culture, my partner Martina and I have delved into biohacking this year. While we had already been doing many things for a long time (such as fasting and meditation), other things brought us interesting inspiration and opened our minds to new ideas and approaches. When I heard the opinion of a Czech biohacker (@npub1m2mvvpjugwdehtaskrcl7ksvdqnnhnjur9v6g9v266nss504q7mqvlr8p9) that meditation is one of the most effective biohackings when we look at the price/performance ratio, I started thinking about other things that move our lives forward without having to pay for them or struggle to obtain them. Besides completely obvious things like exercise, I then thought of children.
After some reflection, I was left amazed. Children have changed my life for the better by several orders of magnitude more than any other technique I have ever tried. Before children, I was an unorganized chaotic person who smoked, drank, worked at night (or at least tried to), woke up late, watched movies and series, and always looked stressed and busy, even though I never really did much work. I was on the best path to burnout, and maybe I was already smoldering a bit.
But then the children came. And with them, a avalanche of changes. The first was to quit smoking - after 5 years of futile efforts, it was the children who gave my subconscious a strong enough reason. Then to stop drinking - to be the right support for Martina, who probably won't drink for another ten years or more.
That was before their birth. Then came the birth itself. And then the second one. And we found out that if you don't go to bed before ten o'clock, a cruel fate awaits you the next day. You don't feel like getting up? Nobody cares. You simply must (usually at 6 am), you can't just hit snooze like with an annoying alarm clock and sleep in (especially when your children don't like watching animated shows on laptop).
Suddenly, you gain a rhythm. It hurts at first. But then it gets better and better. We began to realize that thanks to the children, we have to learn to handle our time extremely efficiently. And that it is not necessary to sit in front of the computer all day, inefficiently browsing the internet and calling it work. That you can be just as effective with two hours of work a day. I have never had such pumped and efficient 120 minutes as when I know that I simply won't get any more (unless I want to just dump the kids on my partner).
You will also stop wasting time on TV shows and movies. That one hour between your children's bedtime and your own sleep is too valuable to be filled with something that doesn't bring you clear benefits. From now on, only reading books or listening to educational podcasts is acceptable. Also active resting needs to be learned. To shut down my laptop and turn off my phone. No phone calls. No checking emails. No neverending chats. I have endless lego building ahead of me, and the only way to make everyone happy in the long run is through full presence (although I don't always succeed in this).
Now, with two little children, I feel like I have more energy (since I've been forced to learn how to manage it), work much less (although I don't feel any less effective), go to bed on time and wake up regularly at dawn, have order in my life, don't drink or smoke, and do all the beautiful and healthy things (like exercising, cold baths, eating healthy) to be able to spend long days with my kids in a good mood and without emotional breakdowns.
In my life, there has been no better biohacking than the arrival of my children.
Along with the Bitcoin culture, my partner Martina and I have delved into biohacking this year. While we had already been doing many things for a long time (such as fasting and meditation), other things brought us interesting inspiration and opened our minds to new ideas and approaches. When I heard the opinion of a Czech biohacker (@npub1m2mvvpjugwdehtaskrcl7ksvdqnnhnjur9v6g9v266nss504q7mqvlr8p9) that meditation is one of the most effective biohackings when we look at the price/performance ratio, I started thinking about other things that move our lives forward without having to pay for them or struggle to obtain them. Besides completely obvious things like exercise, I then thought of children.
After some reflection, I was left amazed. Children have changed my life for the better by several orders of magnitude more than any other technique I have ever tried. Before children, I was an unorganized chaotic person who smoked, drank, worked at night (or at least tried to), woke up late, watched movies and series, and always looked stressed and busy, even though I never really did much work. I was on the best path to burnout, and maybe I was already smoldering a bit.
But then the children came. And with them, a avalanche of changes. The first was to quit smoking - after 5 years of futile efforts, it was the children who gave my subconscious a strong enough reason. Then to stop drinking - to be the right support for Martina, who probably won't drink for another ten years or more.
That was before their birth. Then came the birth itself. And then the second one. And we found out that if you don't go to bed before ten o'clock, a cruel fate awaits you the next day. You don't feel like getting up? Nobody cares. You simply must (usually at 6 am), you can't just hit snooze like with an annoying alarm clock and sleep in (especially when your children don't like watching animated shows on laptop).
Suddenly, you gain a rhythm. It hurts at first. But then it gets better and better. We began to realize that thanks to the children, we have to learn to handle our time extremely efficiently. And that it is not necessary to sit in front of the computer all day, inefficiently browsing the internet and calling it work. That you can be just as effective with two hours of work a day. I have never had such pumped and efficient 120 minutes as when I know that I simply won't get any more (unless I want to just dump the kids on my partner).
You will also stop wasting time on TV shows and movies. That one hour between your children's bedtime and your own sleep is too valuable to be filled with something that doesn't bring you clear benefits. From now on, only reading books or listening to educational podcasts is acceptable. Also active resting needs to be learned. To shut down my laptop and turn off my phone. No phone calls. No checking emails. No neverending chats. I have endless lego building ahead of me, and the only way to make everyone happy in the long run is through full presence (although I don't always succeed in this).
Now, with two little children, I feel like I have more energy (since I've been forced to learn how to manage it), work much less (although I don't feel any less effective), go to bed on time and wake up regularly at dawn, have order in my life, don't drink or smoke, and do all the beautiful and healthy things (like exercising, cold baths, eating healthy) to be able to spend long days with my kids in a good mood and without emotional breakdowns.
In my life, there has been no better biohacking than the arrival of my children.
After several attempts, we've finally found a functional system for safely climbing with LittleOne, LittleTwo and NotSoLittleThree. Beyond the technical aspects, the most crucial factor is not rushing and not taking anything for granted. Worst-case scenario, rock climbing will turn just into a beautiful walk in nature. Even better, this first joint climbing in a very long time awaited us on a beach with swimming possible.
#climbing #nostrplebs #nature
In my last post, I drew a comparison between the Bitcoin movement and the Hippie movement. When reading this rather pessimistic article - 
- it occurred to me that there is yet another analogy to be made. As the authos states, some bitcoiners really seem to be getting drunk on mass adoption, believing that nothing can go wrong anymore. They think that everyone already loves Bitcoin and that governments cannot simply ban it. While I also like this feeling of being unbeatable and unstoppable, I believe that it could potentially be a dangerous state of mind that could make us more vulnerable. Is bitcoin really so unstoppable just because "it is too late to ban it", "you cannot destroy the code" or "the adoption is too big"?
The truth is, in the 1960s, everyone also loved LSD. It was even used in universities, where professors and scientists freely and officially experimented with students. Who would have thought that it could be forbidden when it was so widely adopted, even in universities, right? And look at what happened when the US government decided to react to this adoption, because it eventually saw it as a threat to the state. And how quickly other countries followed suit - even the "enemy countries" behind the iron curtain. Revolution doesn't come without a cost. The adoption of love and peace during the hippie era dissipated just as quickly as it arose, and no one saw it coming. At the time of the biggest ecstasy somewhere around Woodstock 69, it possibly seemed like there was no going back, and peace and love would never be stopped (which is exactly what I often hear from bitcoiners about the holy and undefeatable code).
The same fate in my opinion may befall Bitcoin if too many people start to be sedated with enthusiasm. Instead of music festivals, we now have massive conferences, and instead of faith in karma and chakras, we have faith in code that no one can change, and states cannot reach.
But what if they might be able to reach it? How can we be so sure? Maybe not directly through the code, but what if it won't even be necessary. All they need to do is let us get drunk enough on enthusiasm and then strike at our weakest moment (and our greatest delusion) when everyone is thinking that everything will be just all right - the code will take care of it, and Bitcoin is too widespread to fail, right?
I understand that this comparison is not one of the most accurate and requires some bending, but personally, I want to express with this post my HUGE appreciation for all the crypto-anarchists, lunar punks, privacy fighters, coders and educators who have not abandoned their principles even in times of great excitement. They have not sold their souls to KYC and have not prioritized profit over Bitcoin's original intention - to be parallel and free money. Companies such as Trezor come to my mind in this point. With their open-source and bitcoin focused hardware wallet, they also developed a browser of non-KYC exchanges called Invity, and a non-profitable phone app called "vexl" which makes it easier to buy P2P local non-KYC Bitcoin (by this time being tested in Czechia). They never sacrificed their principles for better marketing or sales numbers - this, to me, is the true Bitcoin spirit. They have never overloaded their wallet with unreliable services that endanger the privacy and essence of Bitcoin as free money, even though it might have provided them with bigger profits. I want to extend a big thanks to every great coder out there who does the same thing and helps make the world a little bit freer.
I hope one day I will be able to say this about myself.
Stacker News
I'm losing my faith \ stacker news ~bitcoin
(Spanish at the end / Español al final) I have been a libertarian/anarchist for 20 years, and I have been in the bitcoin space for a few years, ha...
How our world turned upside down: From Leftist Intellectuals to Anarcho-Capitalists and freedom seekers (LONG POST)
Over the past three years, my wife and I have undergone a major transformation. We used to be not so happy boring artists/intellectuals who were dependent on state funding and felt kind of trapped in life without knowing why. Following my personal crisis and burnout, we eventually decided to embark on a journey to become much freer and independent individuals with two children, a large white dog, home on wheels and a tremendous amount of flexibility. Finally, we managed to stop the rat race, step aside and look at our lives from a perspective. Many old patterns suddenly ceased to make sense. And even today, after two years of freedom, we are occasionally surprised at how beautiful life can suddenly be and how easy it was not to see it before.
After departure with our van, we used to be into all sorts of weird stuff - ascetism, meditation, esoterics, ecology, spirituality, yoga - you name it. We've become true-blue hippies through and through. Our hair has grown long and wild as we've explored various hippie communities and gatherings. We've begun to live day by day, independent and carefree (and maybe a bit smelly)... this was a major step towards freedom. HOWEVER, something still didn't quite fit. It's not that hippies are necessarily die-hard leftists, but for the sake of peace and love, they often harbor an aversion towards money and lean towards socialism (especially when it comes to "helping the helpless and the poor"). At first glance, it all seems very alluring. Who wouldn't want to help the poor? But after some serious contemplation, one finds gaps in the consistency of these beliefs and realizes that it's not compatible with freedom, nor effectivnes. I think, that many hippies just do not think it through enough and if they did, they would not advocate for socialist ideas so much (although I do believe that voluntary and temporary socialism at the local level - like at Rainbow gatherings - can be and often is highly possible and free).
By those wild hippie times I would not have believed that when we finally reach our personal nirvana in the future, we would ultimately become NOT an ecological activists, but rather a capitalists in the most extreme form (anarcho-capitalist) advocating for a free market and money (once the devil's instrument). That instead of being tied to trees and puncturing car tires, we would be excited about some strange digital money that doesn't even exist and unnecessarily consumes lot of electricity. But here we are...
Did our values change? Our goals? Did we want something different before? No. We have the same goals. Truth, Love, Peace, Freedom, etc... We just realized that the path we were walking towards these values was actually leading us into a pit. And we were already falling into that pit when we realized it. So, the confused leftist hippies became a happy capitalists hippies.
From this 180-degree turn, I have learned two important lessons:
1- Let us never forget that our ideological opponents often have very similar goals and values as we do. They are not evil. Nor dumb. They just think they will get there through a different path - such as central planning and socialism. I know it may seem crazy to you, but it's important to remember that those who oppose your beliefs may view you in the same way. Unfortunately, I often see ideological opponents getting stuck on these assumptions and unable to engage in meaningful dialogue. We should behave like fellow travelers discussing which way to the same destination is better, not like enemies destroying each other's bridges and signs.
2- Let us never sell our soul to any box. Let us never be infinitely loyal to a particular direction (democracy / anarcho-capitalism / crypto-anarchism / Lunarpunk / Solarpunk / vegetarian / carnivore / or even the holy BItcoin). We are seekers of truth (and freedom) and should always be prepared to abandon our position and silence our ego if we find that the truth lies elsewhere (even on the other side). It's hard, but it's doable. Let us never allow our boxes to become us. We are not anarchocapitalism. We are not bitcoin. We are truth and freedom seekers and those things are just our tools, which can always be abandoned for something better (and eventually will be in the future - it is inevitable).
So... I am an anarchist and capitalist and bitcoiner now. I have changed my opinions, but I haven't abandoned absolutelly everything from my past. Even among esotericists, hippies, socialists, leftists, and environmental activists, there are ideas that are worth considering. Therefore, I remain a very unusual combination - deep down in my heart, I'm still the dirty ascetic hippie who doesn't shower, wears a poncho, dances to the rhythm of the fire, eats magic plants, and lives day by day with almost no property. At the same time, while cooking a communal dinner over the fire with other hippies (whom I love), I claim to be a capitalist and during breaks between playing djembe and didgeridoo, I offer non-KYC bitcoins for purchase, explaining why free money is important even for hippie brothers and sisters.
While this odd combination may surprise many people, I believe that those who understand bitcoin, money, and markets are not as taken aback. After all, bitcoin is currently associated with the world's largest movement for freedom and resistance to state authority, just as the hippie movement did in the 1960s. These two worlds have more in common than many people think, except the latter emerged during a time of new (more digital) tools.
Sometimes it's hard to share this view with people in my hippie social bubble, especially when my brothers and sisters are closed off in the aforementioned point 2 and value defending their existing identity more than seeking the truth. However, I still believe it's worth it and I hope that one day even environmental activists will realize that things like bitcoin does not have to be enemies and vice versa.
Over the past three years, my wife and I have undergone a major transformation. We used to be not so happy boring artists/intellectuals who were dependent on state funding and felt kind of trapped in life without knowing why. Following my personal crisis and burnout, we eventually decided to embark on a journey to become much freer and independent individuals with two children, a large white dog, home on wheels and a tremendous amount of flexibility. Finally, we managed to stop the rat race, step aside and look at our lives from a perspective. Many old patterns suddenly ceased to make sense. And even today, after two years of freedom, we are occasionally surprised at how beautiful life can suddenly be and how easy it was not to see it before.
After departure with our van, we used to be into all sorts of weird stuff - ascetism, meditation, esoterics, ecology, spirituality, yoga - you name it. We've become true-blue hippies through and through. Our hair has grown long and wild as we've explored various hippie communities and gatherings. We've begun to live day by day, independent and carefree (and maybe a bit smelly)... this was a major step towards freedom. HOWEVER, something still didn't quite fit. It's not that hippies are necessarily die-hard leftists, but for the sake of peace and love, they often harbor an aversion towards money and lean towards socialism (especially when it comes to "helping the helpless and the poor"). At first glance, it all seems very alluring. Who wouldn't want to help the poor? But after some serious contemplation, one finds gaps in the consistency of these beliefs and realizes that it's not compatible with freedom, nor effectivnes. I think, that many hippies just do not think it through enough and if they did, they would not advocate for socialist ideas so much (although I do believe that voluntary and temporary socialism at the local level - like at Rainbow gatherings - can be and often is highly possible and free).
By those wild hippie times I would not have believed that when we finally reach our personal nirvana in the future, we would ultimately become NOT an ecological activists, but rather a capitalists in the most extreme form (anarcho-capitalist) advocating for a free market and money (once the devil's instrument). That instead of being tied to trees and puncturing car tires, we would be excited about some strange digital money that doesn't even exist and unnecessarily consumes lot of electricity. But here we are...
Did our values change? Our goals? Did we want something different before? No. We have the same goals. Truth, Love, Peace, Freedom, etc... We just realized that the path we were walking towards these values was actually leading us into a pit. And we were already falling into that pit when we realized it. So, the confused leftist hippies became a happy capitalists hippies.
From this 180-degree turn, I have learned two important lessons:
1- Let us never forget that our ideological opponents often have very similar goals and values as we do. They are not evil. Nor dumb. They just think they will get there through a different path - such as central planning and socialism. I know it may seem crazy to you, but it's important to remember that those who oppose your beliefs may view you in the same way. Unfortunately, I often see ideological opponents getting stuck on these assumptions and unable to engage in meaningful dialogue. We should behave like fellow travelers discussing which way to the same destination is better, not like enemies destroying each other's bridges and signs.
2- Let us never sell our soul to any box. Let us never be infinitely loyal to a particular direction (democracy / anarcho-capitalism / crypto-anarchism / Lunarpunk / Solarpunk / vegetarian / carnivore / or even the holy BItcoin). We are seekers of truth (and freedom) and should always be prepared to abandon our position and silence our ego if we find that the truth lies elsewhere (even on the other side). It's hard, but it's doable. Let us never allow our boxes to become us. We are not anarchocapitalism. We are not bitcoin. We are truth and freedom seekers and those things are just our tools, which can always be abandoned for something better (and eventually will be in the future - it is inevitable).
So... I am an anarchist and capitalist and bitcoiner now. I have changed my opinions, but I haven't abandoned absolutelly everything from my past. Even among esotericists, hippies, socialists, leftists, and environmental activists, there are ideas that are worth considering. Therefore, I remain a very unusual combination - deep down in my heart, I'm still the dirty ascetic hippie who doesn't shower, wears a poncho, dances to the rhythm of the fire, eats magic plants, and lives day by day with almost no property. At the same time, while cooking a communal dinner over the fire with other hippies (whom I love), I claim to be a capitalist and during breaks between playing djembe and didgeridoo, I offer non-KYC bitcoins for purchase, explaining why free money is important even for hippie brothers and sisters.
While this odd combination may surprise many people, I believe that those who understand bitcoin, money, and markets are not as taken aback. After all, bitcoin is currently associated with the world's largest movement for freedom and resistance to state authority, just as the hippie movement did in the 1960s. These two worlds have more in common than many people think, except the latter emerged during a time of new (more digital) tools.
Sometimes it's hard to share this view with people in my hippie social bubble, especially when my brothers and sisters are closed off in the aforementioned point 2 and value defending their existing identity more than seeking the truth. However, I still believe it's worth it and I hope that one day even environmental activists will realize that things like bitcoin does not have to be enemies and vice versa.
If you ever start living in a van, I strongly recommend considering a wood stove. It's one of the things that brings me the most joy in our nomad home. Besides, me being a romantic soul and simply enjoying the sound of fire, I also love the fact that it expands our sovereignty and freedom. With wood for heating easily accessible everywhere, even if we run out of money, gas, or diesel, we'll always have the option to warm up, cook a hot soup, and calmly figure out what to do next.
Recieving zaps is such an unique experience. With every new zap I feel like I have suddenly signed an invisible contract with others to deliver (or at least try to deliver) some good content. So much different from likes.
#Zapathon #Zap (am I doing this right?)
Found a busted-up shelf in an abandoned decaying hotel. Turned it into a rickety pull-out table for work in our cramped van (hanging on shoelaces). Martina didn't appreciate it at all. But hey, it gets the job done! Finally The LittleTwo's naps give me golden moments of productivity. Let's see which will collapse first: the table or the hotel :) (or my productivity).
