censorship is all around us, and pervades all big tech platforms. but because it consists in what is not seen, it is often very hard to see.

middlemen have their place (from Tibor Fischer's My Bags are Big; a good read)

I don't always get quoted in my local paper of record. But when I do, I am unable to refrain from saying what I really think about crypto token pumpers Source:

The Straits Times

The crypto bros are back: ‘The hubris never really left’

Singapore's crypto bros say the mood in their sector is now optimistic, if not celebratory. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstime...

"Acquit Roman Storm, and I will end all tariffs." Wow!

the first time I heard the term 'thought leader', I thought it was a joke and laughed. an insane thing to call yourself. same for 'changemaker'. little did I know.

Gerrymandering illustrates how automation in policy can be better than discretion. If you give a legislature the power to chop things up as they will, they will do so in ways that benefit the dominant local party. A better alternative is for an algorithm to draw districts instead, regularly revising so as to keep seats across a territory in line with popular vote (so that, e.g., when 40% of Californians vote GOP, GOP gets 40% of the House seats for California). Bitcoin obeys a similar principle. Rather than delegating monetary policy to trusted authorities, it automates that policy in highly predictable ways, and regularly revises (i.e., the difficulty adjustment) to keep things in line with what's expected. The outcomes needn't be optimal for this system to be superior, note; for there is no guarantee that those trusted parties will enact optimal policies, and they often fail in this task! The best argument for automated policy, then, is not that it is for the best always and everywhere, but that it is typically for the better.

politician ::lies:: world ::sighs:: me ::sighs not so::

some people out there don't know who Barbara, Celarent, Darii, and Ferio are, and it shows

The miracle is not over. Rather, it hides, and you have to look closely to detect its presence. Bitcoin, Tor, nostr, bittorrent, e2ee messaging, VPNs — all flawed tech stacks that nonetheless protect us from full disenchantment.

Schrödinger's bitcoin: an asset superpositioned between youthful ('we are still early'), and aged indeed ('bitcoin is here to stay'). We collapse to whichever position is convenient, of course, and return to the superposition when the move is complete.

Airport calls for "Friends of Bill W" is an interesting use case for bitchat. I could see that finding actual use, and for the good. For those not acquainted with this subculture: People in recovery often find airports challenging — this is a place where one is socially permitted to drink at any hour of the day — and call for help there to remain sober. An anonymous location-based, p2p chat app fits the bill.

It is a good day to rise with the sun and to visit the bank branch for a sixth time to see if I can wire out my “own” money to my “own” account.

Rumors that bitcoin will destroy the state are exaggerated (Resistance Money, p. 255) View quoted note →

“The trade-off is a massive one-time off-chain data transfer of ~5 TB for a SNARK verifier circuit with 5 billion gates.” View quoted note →

This has always been what attracted me to bitcoin, and what I still look for on the internet today — something closer to the wild Usenet and IRC and forum experiences I had in the 90s than curated Instagram feeds or censored news and opinion on Twitter. Pirated music. Sharing ideas. An ever-shifting cast of pseudonyms. View quoted note →

In-depth discussion of 'What Satoshi Did', published in the recent _Satoshi Papers_ edited collection.

Nostr isn’t a drug; it’s food

Noah was a conspiracy theorist. And then it rained.

One of the best effects of the current American administration is to remind people that some laws are bad, and that some crime is good. I fear they will forget the lesson very quickly, upon taking back power. But it is a good lesson!