I've been using Nostr more lately it's a significant upgrade from early 2023 when I first signed up, there is still some lag, but the progress is clear I'm here for two reasons: first, censorship resistance and I'm more specificly on Nostr due to social proof plenty of people whose intelect and opinions I trust are on here it's striking to me that nearly everyone I know seeking decentralized social media are going to Nostr and almost zero going anywhere else. why is that? is it mostly the later--choosing Nostr because others before you did? or is it mostly the former--chosing Nostr because it has better censorship resistance compared to other decentralized social media? Third option is just because Nostr has embraced Bitcoin more and my social circle is mostly bitcoiners. curious about how Nostr came to dominate my social circle. why did you join Nostr and not a different alternative? social proof? better censorship resistance? zaps and other cool features? other?

It's been a busy week, let's recap @My First Bitcoin announced they were low of funds in the short term and asked the community to help fund the next two months, after which some grants will come in. As part of this Call To Action, the organization shared detailed breakdowns of both income and expenses and called on other bitcoin education projects to do the same The community responded! There was a surge of donations and community support and in just a few days we reduced our needed 'bridge' in half. Our two month deficit has been reduced to one month. We still need your support NOW, but we are making solid progress--thanks to you! There were also two announcements about conferences and in the spirit of financial transparency let's look at each from that angle In a few weeks I'll be speaking at Learning Bitcoin. The conference itself will pay travel expenses, I'll stay in a spare room of the conference founder/ organizer, and the trip will cost My Firsts Bitcoin nothing. Quick plug here: this is an education focused bitcoin conference, super high-signal and exactly the sort of thing we want to support--you should too We also announced ticket sales for the 4th edition of the Bitcoin Educators Unconference, hosted in El Salvador on Nov 14th. This is a non-commercial event and will never allow sponsors, so we try to keep costs as low as possible and recoup costs from ticket sales only. We expect to break-even, though if you count salaries of paid staff that help organize then this would likely lose money, still we consider this a worthy cost as its a massive boast to the international movement of community-led, front-line independent bitcoin educators #RadicalTransparency #WorkingInPublic

San Salvador volcano right now....as seen from my backyard #BitcoinCountry #ElSalvador

I'm passing along all the various zaps I've received recently to the Mi Primer Bitcoin campaign on Geyser sent over 100k yesterday and another 10k just now thank you!

My First Bitcoin needs your help We are in danger of running out of funding before some longer-term funding kicks in at the end of the year. If nothing changes, we will run out of money in September. How did we get here? Well, in order to remain independent, we leave A LOT of money on the table But for this post I want to give greater transparency into our expenses With time we will make financial transparency part of our official SOP and publish everything on our website, but in the meantime, some context Expenses are varied—we rent a house which we converted into school, we develop various open-source curriculum, we give sats to students as part of classes, we host 50+ meetups per year, we are building a Learning Management System (LMS) that anyone will be able to use, and lots of other expenses but I want to focus on payroll, which is our largest single expense We have 20+ paid staff in addition to project-based contract work we hire for on an as-needed basis. Teachers are the largest and most obvious group, but this number includes some less visible roles as well. We pay developers & designers to build out infrastructure to help independent educators across the world. We pay lawyers, accountants and auditors to help us be compliant in multiple jurisdictions. We pay creators of open-source curriculum, lesson plans and activities. This staff is the backbone of an emerging global movement. The commonality among them all—they are all underpaid. Not only did every current staff begin as a volunteer, many of them have quit much higher paying jobs to work here—often earning less than half of what they made in their previous job. Our payroll is about $24,000 per month We need your help to maintain and make it to the end of the year, when some new longer-term and more sustainable funding will kick in. if you do want to donate, visit our campaign on @Geyser

Geyser | Bitcoin Crowdfunding Platform

A Bitcoin crowdfunding platform where creators raise funds for causes, sell products, manage campaigns, and engage with their community.

Since moving to El Salvador I've picked up a new hobby: creating self-sustaining aquatic ecosystems I recently added a baby turtle and he seems to be getting along with the existing 🐢

Lessons from my 1 year old son: You are capable of more than you realize. He needs support to stand, something like a hand on a wall or chair. Or, better stated, he thinks he does. When he is distracted and focused on something else and not worried about falling he can stand on his own just fine.

Today is @My First Bitcoin's birthday! Three years ago today the website was registered, marking the first public record of the organization I am overwhelmed at the success of the project in three short years--much of which was spent building in a bear market. In three short years this project has taught tens of thousands of students, open-sourced education materials and processes, and inspired front-line bitcoin educators in 25+ countries around the world who have joined a self-governing decentralized network of independent education 'nodes' All of this has been accomplished without compromising values nor taking money with strings attached--mostly being grassroots funded with underpaid or volunteer staff And we are just getting started. We are pioneering a proof-of-concept that another way is possible. Independent bitcoin education is the means, the end is a re-imagined future Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Bitcoin Educators Unconference Day!

4 days to go.... 150 max people high-signal, intimate, inspiring Get your ticket today!

GM from #Bitcoin country!

July 24 in Nashville there will be an unconference for independent Bitcoin educators this is the third educators unconference and they are somewhat inspired and modeled after the #Nostrica conference last year there's a very natural and powerful link between Nostr and these conferences (and the whole @My First Bitcoin approach to education) come and see for yourself

This article is from March 2023, the same month that @My First Bitcoin launched it's international, decentralized expansion plan with the 'Node Network,' which is now active in 25 nations around the world independent, impartial, community-led education is an idea whose time has come

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Education Can Be The Foundation For Global Change, But It Must Be Local

Bitcoin education can change the world, but it has to be community-led, independent and focused on putting tools in students’ hands.

I'm back on Nostr! Yay! I think I'll stay this time 😁💜

Good morning El Salvador! Let's build a better world! Today, amd everyday 😁

In March #[0] taught 5,400 in-person intro students in El Salvador It's hard to express how impressive that growth is Our 2021 high was 200 students/month and in 2022 1,400 students/month We are also at student ATH's for: #BitcoinDiploma; international & online... LFG!

#[0] Verifying My Public Key for telegram: "John_Dennehy:466373264"

@#[0] Verifying My Public Key for telegram: "John_Dennehy:466373264"

Back in El Salvador! I'm not sure what I expected from #Nostrica but whatever it was...#Nostrica was more Thank you everyone for making it such a wonderful experience that gives me hope for the future

Gm #[0]