Orange Man endorsing orange coin.

Ron Paul at Bitcoin2024!

#Bitcoin in the present feels like the "suddenly" that follows "gradually".

This warms the heart.

I find it interesting that people are chattering quite a bit regarding Lynn and Jack's talk at the Oslo Freedom Forum about free will and control of the algorithm while there are multiple moments in the broader forum where presenters are actively framing their arguments in a way that commits similar offenses of control, bias and steering of opinions. For example, there is a segment featuring Georges Azzi pushing an "LGBTQIA+" agenda. It's should be no surprise to anyone that many purveyors of this agenda have notoriously attempted to use tactics such as controlling the speech of others, including compelled speech, and compelled exposure to controversial ideas even on children. For example the idea that men can be women and women can be men is being forced on children in public schools in the US. Two other pieces leading into Lynn and Jack's talk frame the Ukrainian-Russian conflict as one of Russian aggression and usurpation, ignoring the larger backdrop of US and NATO provocation and expansion right up to Russia's Western borders and their refusal to allow Ukraine to engage in diplomacy, which has caused the loss of hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives. This conflict, the provocations leading up to it, and the obviously controlled media narratives about it, when objectively analyzed, paint a picture of Western aggesssion, propaganda and censorship which are in stark contrast to the ideas that follow in Lynn and Jack's talk. To provide a tangible example of my suppositions in the previous paragraph, please watch the following video. I ask you to consider if the entire situation surrounding the conflict passes the "change the names" test. Imagine Putin had ever suggested that "There will be no longer a Keystone pipeline. We will bring and end to it." what the reaction would have been. Or if the US had "defensive" missile systems steadily approaching its borders if diplomacy would have been attempted repeatedly only the be thwarted by powerful outside influences and how that would have been characterized. The broader point I'm trying to make is that if the goal is free will and free speech then discussions of such would be more effective if not interspersed or bookended with obvious subjective bias or propaganda that commits similar bias or steering, in this case human driven. The framing should be as objective and truthful as possible. Unfortunately that was clearly not the case here. Great words and ideas but presented within an ironic backdrop.

I just realized something that's probably pretty obvious. Legacy media is basically "pop culture politics", a term I'm attempting to coin with this post. It's for low information people who want keeping up with the Kardashians level journalism they can talk to their friends about. Recently I had a political exchange with a person who clearly got most of their ideas from the daily show, CNN and MSNBC and(j; think they are informed. These days people never met a popular narrative they disagreed with, by definition. These are not serious people.

I've spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to orange pill normies with mixed but overall disappointing results. I just recently realized that Bitcoin is like Evolution. Adaptation is required for survival but some people are just not built for it, even if their livelihoods or even survival depend on it. Sad but true. Say your piece but keep moving forward.

Incredibly powerful and moving from @TIP_NZ

In early January 2021 I unfollowed everyone on Twitter, involuntarily. My experience changed drastically as I lost all of my followers and DMs as well. My signal was immediately silenced. The algorithm wasn't the problem. The problem arose from complicit Twitter leadership at the time being corrupted by illegal actions of a tyrannical government. They chose to lie about it rather than expose those illegal actions, as was eventually done under new leadership via the #TwitterFiles. Being able to own my identity, as is now possible thanks to nostr, is a welcome restoration of my voice and rights to free expression. Twitter is a dead man walking due to malevolent and benevolent actions and thankfully disruption grown from rejection of emergent central control. Let us all remain skeptical of those supposed leaders, despite their "benevolent contributions". There are always strings attached, even if not explicit. This is how our once great ideals have been twisted to allow just this sort of massive rights infringement in the first place. Influence centralizes power and then morphs into control. Stay free.

The last block, 840004, had 24 BTC in fees. 😳

Congratulations to all of our fellow travelers on this amazing journey to establish a robust financial foundation for the future and disrupt the misguided (to say the least) central bankers, authoritarians and corrupt beuracrats everywhere, rendering them helpless to resist the gravity and impact of our global freedom movement. Cheers plebs! Welcome to Bitcoin Epoch 5! Enjoy the ride! Magic Internet Money for the win!

There we go!

9 blocks to go. I think we should do a nostr pool to guess the time of the halving. Closest gets zaps. Who's in? I'm guessing 8:00 pm Eastern (72 minutes from now.)

2024-04-19: Happy Bitcoin Halving Day! Block Height 839,882! Epoch 5 begins in 118 blocks! .85% annual monetary inflation on the way! What a time to be alive!