Hello all of you who are fans of politicians. Yes, it doesn't matter what the party is, whether it's left or right: Understand the COBRA EFFECT. Basically, sometimes government solutions to problems can end up creating even bigger problems. Let's talk about the Cobra Effect. This name comes from a situation that happened in India when it was a colony of England. The government wanted to reduce the number of cobras. And then? Well, they decided to pay for each dead cobra delivered to them. It seemed like a good idea. But people saw a chance to make money. They began to breed cobras to sell to the government. When the government realized this, they canceled the payment. Then, people released the cobras. There ended up being more cobras than before. Something similar happened in Mexico City in the 1980s. The city had a lot of pollution because of cars. The government made a rule. Cars with certain numbers on the license plate could not drive on certain days. The goal was to decrease the cars on the streets and the pollution. But people began to buy more cars. Many were old and polluted more. This did not decrease the pollution. In fact, it increased. 🤡 These stories show that simple solutions can bring complex problems. They teach us to think carefully before accepting that the government has all the answers. We need to avoid solutions causing more problems. This is the Cobra Effect. It's a lesson about thinking carefully about the consequences of actions.

DOMINO EFFECT: Imagine the government decides to raise the minimum wage. If you are, say, the owner of a café. This sounds like good news for your employees. But your costs go up and profits stay the same. Because of this, you have to make difficult decisions. You might need to lay off some employees. It's not what you want, but there isn't enough money to pay everyone. You try to reduce expenses. Maybe you use cheaper ingredients or reduce services like air conditioning. This changes what it feels like to be in your café. Fewer people might want to come. Another option is to raise prices. But this could drive away your regular customers. If only the wealthiest can afford it, you lose the essence of your café. This could lead to losing sales and, eventually, having to close. This problem is an example of the Domino Effect (aka Knock-on Effect). A government action leads to a series of unwanted changes. It's important to think about all the consequences before making decisions.

Today's special tip: @MostroP2P - similar to @lnp2pBot but uses Nostr to be unstoppable with censorship resistance in #bitcoin transactions through the Lightning Network. (By the way, have I mentioned today that NOSTR is better than Twitter? Well, I have now) To use Mostro, you need a Nostr key and a Lightning wallet. I'm still figuring out how it works, but from what I understood, if you want to sell your satoshis, Mostro generates an invoice. When someone agrees to buy, both of you communicate through Mostro to make the exchange. It doesn't matter which fiat money (or other crypto) you use. That's up to you to agree on. And then the payment is sent directly from the buyer to the seller. After both confirm the transaction, Mostro releases the seller's sats to the buyer. If someone tries it out and has practical experience, correct me, but I understood that each transaction is a maximum of 20000 sats. More details:

GitHub

GitHub - MostroP2P/mostro: Lightning Network peer-to-peer exchange platform on Nostr

Lightning Network peer-to-peer exchange platform on Nostr - MostroP2P/mostro

Official website:

Mostro

Mostro — Non-custodial P2P Bitcoin Exchange on Lightning Network & Nostr

Non-custodial P2P Bitcoin exchange on Lightning Network & Nostr. Trade Bitcoin peer-to-peer without intermediaries, KYC, or custody.

check this on Mostro View quoted note →

everybody check this out View quoted note →

Feeling grateful. So many awesome people in this world doing relevant work.

Make sure to follow @Anita Great work here

Lightning Wallets: Self-Custody Despite Poor Network Connection - Best Apps Tested in Zimbabwe 2024

Testing self-custodial Lightning wallets with results on their payment reliability, speed, user-friendliness, fees and security features.

BTC Sessions requested, I comply View quoted note →

Hi, I have been trying to create posts with the More Options - Zap Splits but not sure if it is working. So this post is currently configured to do a Zap Split between me (20%) @greenart7c3 (30%) who kindly shared a tip about https://app.nsecbunker.com/ and of 50% to @hzrd149 as you can see in the print screen below and also when trying to zap this note. Config screen:

When I check my Notifications and see something interesting I want to share by clicking to do a Quote repost, I'm getting the error "Something went wrong" Is this also happening to you? Not sure if it is only on my end

hey @OpenSecret in some tests I'm making (sending to Wallet of Satoshi and also sending to a Lightning Address with BTCPayServer) the LNURL Comment is not arriving. Is this expected?

Do you know what a Payjoin is? Here's what I learned from @jaonoctus : Payjoin is a variation of CoinJoin, wherein the sender collaborates with the transaction recipient to conduct a joint transaction. Originating from BIP-78, crafted by @npub1zfyt...m60l (the creator of @npub155m2...dcvg ), it addresses a key problem in typical transactions where a sender pays a merchant. This problem is the 'common-input ownership' heuristic. Simply put, when I send you money, all the inputs are usually mine. Moreover, transaction outputs often reveal the recipient and change due to differences in address types (change-scriptpubkey) and the presence of rounded, larger, or smaller amounts (change-round-amount). Payjoin mitigates these issues: For the recipient, it provides a chance to consolidate their coins. They can even make payments in the same transaction where they receive a payment. For the sender, it alleviates privacy concerns related to the mentioned heuristics. Payjoin is becoming popular across several implementations. I did a search and looks like since 2020 this was in the works: https://twitter.com/HillebrandMax/status/1253682677774983170 Hey @npub167hm...schc - I'm not sure if this is really your npub - I tried to use find it in

Wasabi Wallet: The Privacy focused Bitcoin Wallet

Wasabi is an open-source, non-custodial, privacy-focused Bitcoin wallet for desktop, that implements trustless multi-party transactions over the To...

and could not see a Nostr link and

nostr.directory

Nostr Profile Page

Social Media Connections

told me user is not found. Anyway, special thanks and praise to @OpenSecret for their Nostr-First approach and recently posting about Payjoin. This is how I heard about it today. (This is my contribution to help spreading around the concept of Payjoin and apologies if something got lost in translation. In case anyone zaps this note, I will be splitting it with @jaonoctus who was kind to teach me in simple language about what this Payjoin is about)

#Neuroscience 08 | Don't judge others. You are not perfect either. Try to see things from the point of view of the other (Nick Szabo used to talk about this idea). It does not mean you must agree with them.

THERE IS A PERVERSE INCENTIVE IN NOSTR LAND Okay, let's talk about the power play and existing possibilities and incentives. We've all seen how Big Tech uses engagement algorithms to keep us hooked. They strategically throw at us everything from rage bait to polarising content and hyper sexualised content (most would agree that Instagram is more erotic-powered than Xvideos itself). Now, Nostr's supposed to be our breath of fresh air, right? We should not take it for granted. Let's have a frank discussion on Clients. Think about it. The teams developing Nostr Clients have the incentive to want more users. I love what they do and I'm grateful for it. Of course we all understand market forces and it makes sense that Client teams need to become financially successful. This is how it will become sustainable. So, in a hypothetical scenario, Client teams may do some implicit or explicit partnerships with influencers. It's a bit like scratching each other's back – you help me get users, I help you get followers. Important: I'm not accusing anybody of this. I'm just saying it is a POSSIBILITY. The incentives are there. Ever noticed how, right after you join some Nostr Clients, they're already nudging you to follow certain big names? That's not just random. Could there be some deal behind the scenes? We may never know. But it is POSSIBLE. And this possibility by itself is already quite worrisome. And what about those Nostr "Highlights" or "Trending"? On the one side, it can be seen as a useful feature to help... on the other side, this is editorial intervention coming from the Client to steering the ship towards certain content. Could Nostr Clients be motivated to simply give interesting content and help new users stick and reduce churn? Or could there be the aspiration to have power such as the one from Big Tech determining what to add to our feed and what to shadow-ban? Once again: I'm not accusing any Client of doing this. I'm very grateful to have the possibility of using nostr. However I'm pointing out IT IS TECHNICALLY POSSIBLE that Clients get too much editorial power akin to Big Tech, boosting certain content for whatever reason coming from them and this alone is very worrisome. Let's keep our eyes open. Where there is power, there is the possibility of abuse of that power. We've got to stay sharp, ask questions, and discuss with Client developers about their features of editorial recommendations. Will c.c. important Clients to our ecossystem as well as individuals who I believe care about this topic npub18m76awca3y37hkvuneavuw6pjj4525fw90necxmadrvjg0sdy6qsngq955 npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg npub13myx4j0pp9uenpjjq68wdvqzywuwxfj64welu28mdvaku222mjtqzqv3qk npub1ye5ptcxfyyxl5vjvdjar2ua3f0hynkjzpx552mu5snj3qmx5pzjscpknpr npub1lunaq893u4hmtpvqxpk8hfmtkqmm7ggutdtnc4hyuux2skr4ttcqr827lj npub1vxd0dfst8ljvwva2egrpc53ve8ru78v8aaxfpravchkexmfmmu3sqnrs50 npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc npub1gcxzte5zlkncx26j68ez60fzkvtkm9e0vrwdcvsjakxf9mu9qewqlfnj5z npub1trr5r2nrpsk6xkjk5a7p6pfcryyt6yzsflwjmz6r7uj7lfkjxxtq78hdpu npub1xtscya34g58tk0z605fvr788k263gsu6cy9x0mhnm87echrgufzsevkk5s npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 npub1wyuh3scfgzqmxn709a2fzuemps389rxnk7nfgege6s847zze3tuqfl87ez npub1sn0rtcjcf543gj4wsg7fa59s700d5ztys5ctj0g69g2x6802npjqhjjtws npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m npub1h8nk2346qezka5cpm8jjh3yl5j88pf4ly2ptu7s6uu55wcfqy0wq36rpev npub1v0lxxxxutpvrelsksy8cdhgfux9l6a42hsj2qzquu2zk7vc9qnkszrqj49 npub107jk7htfv243u0x5ynn43scq9wrxtaasmrwwa8lfu2ydwag6cx2quqncxg npub1r0rs5q2gk0e3dk3nlc7gnu378ec6cnlenqp8a3cjhyzu6f8k5sgs4sq9ac

I opened noStrudel with a browser on my new iPhone, which has Breez installed. So when I hit the zap icon on a Note, it asked me to open Breez. I have no idea if there is a setting in iOS to change what is the default app for a lightning: request Anyway, I got my old iPhone and also opened noStrudel with a browser. This old iPhone only has Wallet of Satoshi. It does not have Breez. So I was hoping it would associate the zaps with WoS. However, it did not work. On the browser there is only the modal "Zap Event" and both the ⚡️Pay button on right side and the ⚡️Pay All button on bottom are greyed-out. Any ideas if there is any change to noStrudel that can be done so those zaps could be done via WoS?

This is a small bug when creating a new Secret Key on iPhone. Once the user decides to generate key straight on noStrudel, the screen to select relay will be cropped. The title "Select your relays" does not appear, not possible to scroll the screen down enough. I hope it's easy to replicate this. (I'm aware users ideally should not generate their secret key in the Client but I'm trying to onboard new users as fast/smooth as possible and then teach them how to later generate keys offline)

When I click this option, there is a field for "Connect URI" and a greyed hint saying bunker://<pubkey>?relay=wss://relay.example.co and then the explanation "A bunker connect URI" I want to create a tutorial so people can use this feature, but even I don't know how this works myself. Can you please teach me the step by step? Then I will gladly share the information. I believe today noStrudel is the best Nostr client.

Nostr clients providing "trending" Notes are on the path to replicate the damage from Big Tech social media algorithms. Please understand the value of pure feeds

I think there is a common mix-up of concepts in the debate about Bitcoin's fungibility. Fungibility is different from traceability. In the Bitcoin protocol, one bitcoin is always equal to another. There is no distinction. Fungibility is an inherent characteristic of bitcoin. It is used to send and receive from one to another, just like a dollar, which is fungible. The fact that we find an exception due to individual preference (like someone not wanting to receive certain dollars that have been part of a religious or mystical ritual) does not change the fact that the dollar is fungible. However, something that confuses many people is traceability. Due to the nature of the timechain, on-chain Bitcoin transactions are traceable. This means that anyone with access to on-chain data can, if they wish, set their own criteria to accept or refuse certain bitcoins based on transaction history. But this is an individual choice from contractual freedom. The legal nature of a thing does not change even when individuals exercise the right to make contracts based on information obtained through traceability. A bitcoin remains a bitcoin, regardless of its transaction history.Here is video 03 of the Bitcoin short series. I will be happy to receive your comments and opinions to continue improving this understanding.

Dear @blinkbtc user: I hope one day you will reach the transaction volume limit. And if you are not yet sovereign with your custody, may this be the incentive you need. Thank you @npub13ljn...cfhw for giving us the initial help and welcoming... and also letting us walk on our own.