Trump, Elon, RFK, Ron Paul, Dana, Tulsi, JR. What an ensemble. First time I’ve had real hope for America in a while.

A new chapter begins

Cooking Argentinian Empenadas in Beef Tallow with @Micael at The Bitcoin Citadel. #BuenosAires

I’m really happy to see this coming together and the community get behind it. Derek & @Avi Burra with the support of myself & @miljan put in a huge effort to get the first “Nostr Booth” done @BTC Prague earlier this year and it was a huge success. This is chapter 2, and it’s an entire initiative involving: - 3 conferences in 3 cities over 3 weeks - 3 full “Nostr days” on the day after each event - Getting the actual organisers onto Nostr, and have them use it to post updates & activity + encouraging attendees to get on to stay up to date. - A bunch of cool merch - Loads of material for @Max DeMarco's new Nostr Film This is going to be absolutely EPIC, and if you’re reading this, please support. This is a community initiative, which many have contributing to so far, but AFAIK, it’s only 40% of the way there. I’ve put up personally, and also from @Satlantis: Social Events considering it’s a Nostr business. Well done on the hustle so far @Tanja View quoted note →

The internet is a strange place. Or maybe that’s the world. Either way…incredible

The best sushi I’ve had is from #SãoPaulo 10/10

Friendly reminder

Every time I try to open a bank account, in ANY country, I’m reminded of how utterly broken & backwards the banking system is. The amount of data collected, and the amount of microscoping into your asshole they do, just so you can use your OWN money is mind boggling. I sincerely look forward to the day this stupid system is wholesale abolished. Seriously. Fuck these people. #bitcoin

When people ask me how Ethereum works, I send them this

This was a fantastic discussion. Thanks again for having me on @jimmysong Christian’s and Nietzcheans out there on Nostr will especially enjoy it. I did my best to blend what might seem disconnected philosophies and Jimmy genuinely challenged me every step of the way. Was very good. View quoted note →

Imagine thinking someone can “steal your idea” and then getting angry because they execute on it better than you do. 🤡🤡🤡

When you’re so busy you forget to check any socials. Lo and behold, you get so much more done

“Who will build the roads”

Nostr 2024: View quoted note →

Oof…this is a VERY good mental model. Take note / save / bookmark:

For my Austrian Econ friends. There is a far superior argument you’re missing.

Last week I posted about "Nostr struggling" and while there were many good responses, it seems to me that a bunch of people misunderstood my premise. I'm going to clear that up here and expand on the idea a little further. First of all, I'm a Nostr bull. I'm sold, and I know how necessary this is. I'm still recruiting souls from twitter:

X (formerly Twitter)

Svetski (@SvetskiWrites) on X

So what is this Nostr thing? In light of the ridiculous arrest of the telegram founder, a bunch of people have been sharing their nPubs and saying...

Secondly, I know that Nostr is SUPERIOR, technically speaking - and while the apps might not be as smooth, and some of the UX might be buggy, the substrate were working with is fundamentally better than the status quo. @rabble did a fantastic job of explaining that at the recent @Nostriga conference (I suggest everyone watch that if they haven't - and I'm still bummed I couldn't make it). There are so many NIPs, and so much tech shit going on, that nobody else stands a chance really. Elon might have cool AI, but we have @PABLOF7z that can produce more prototypes than all the AIs in the world, combined. That being said, my reference to "struggling" was not about the technical side of things. It was about messaging & go to market. I speak to people every day about Nostr. I live in Brazil right now and travel on a regular basis to at least 10 countries each year. When I speak to people, they don't really care so much about censorship resistance, or Bitcoin (interestingly enough, two things Rabble also mentioned in his talk). What they want is a place to connect, that's COOL. And that's a VERY HARD thing to do. @jack and the guys did it with Twitter early on, and so did the Instagram founders - but for every one "hit" - there are another 1000 well built flops which people just didn't find "cool." Right now, the messaging is more doom, than bloom. More "you need this bc government gonna get you", and less "this is where the cool kids are at". Now...I understand that this is gonna take time. All good things do. But if we're going to attract more people, the conversation needs to evolve. I wrote a piece a little while back called "Social as a Service" and framed Nostr more as this substrate for a Universe of new applications. Once again, Rabble echoed this in his talk and leaned into the "Social Protocol" angle. I personally find this more compelling. More white-pill, and more appealing for the purposes of growing a network. People need to be pulled, not pushed. The latter can work in bursts here and there (as we've seen this week since the Telegram debacle), but it's not sustainable growth. @Lyn Alden has been doing really good work with her framing, and I think her 80% bloom / 20% doom approach is a good one. @Ben Arc has some good framing too with the “city” analogy _______________ Thinking out aloud, maybe we just need more angles. I guess the Bitcoin people are still going to be attracted by "government gonna get you" - and we're FAR from saturation in that dimension. So maybe the right approach is the have that conversation with THEM...but a very different conversation with others. Ultimately, I hope to see more go-to-market initiatives that are user-oriented, and get people excited about Nostr. We saw that at the Nostr booth @BTC Prague that @Derek Ross kicked off, and that @Tanja is now working on. We've got some plans for later this year at a few conferences as we unveil @Satlantis: Social Events I know @utxo the webmaster 🧑‍💻 and @fiatjaf are doing some podcast stuff, which is excellent. Also @Jason Hodlers is doing a Nostr book. I'm starting to repeat some of what I said last week, so I'll stop here. Ultimately the point is this: Nostr is not struggling "technically" speaking. But it's not yet found a compelling enough SPACE in people's minds, outside of the Bitcoin community. And it's not found a narrative yet that's compelling, beyond the "government gonna get you / big tech gonna ban you". When we find that, I expect things to really begin taking off. Thankyou for coming to my TED Talk 🤣🤣🤣

Unfortunately I wasn’t able to make it Nostriga ☹️ I was really looking forward to it, but I’m in the middle of a residency process that precluded me from leaving the country. Typical government bureaucracy, something that should’ve taken a couple weeks has dragged on for months, and I’m still waiting for a simple document, without which if I left for Riga, would’ve meant I had to start the ENTIRE process again from scratch. 🤡🤡 I was trying to figure out a way up until yesterday night, in the hope I could make a last minute appearance. But this morning, I had to throw in the towel… Anyway. It is what it is. Some things you can’t change, so you roll with the punches. Thanks again to @PABLOF7z and the organisers like @mcshane @Anna ⚡️ @ExFrog @UNCLE ROCKSTAR, etc. I promise I’ll make it up to you all next time around.

On this day, two years ago, I told you, you were mine. Today, I renew that promise. You’re mine, forever woman. They say that women are crazy. You can often double the level of crazy with a Latina. With you, mi Esposita, that doubling occurs again. You’re a wild animal, a force of nature - and I love you for it. You have continued to enrich my life, support my endeavours (however crazy) and challenge me (in every way imaginable), and I look forward to more of this as we begin the next chapter of our lives together. Last year I spoke about the unlikely circumstances under which we met in Costa Rica. Me, an Australian nomad/scamdemic escapee, and you, a Dominican model & aspiring coach trying to set up her own little online business. This year, I’d like to reflect for a moment on the past year and how things have changed, plus a lesson learnt. We’ve now settled into a new country, established a long term routine and begun to build roots. We’ve both found our groove in the relationship. You, as the home-maker, house-wife, cleaner, chef, pilates pro and aspiring momma. Me, as the lunatic in the office, staring at the screen for hours, writing, building and yelling at people on the phone - trying to hustle his way into making a dent in the universe. There’s a lot of trad-wife and trad-husband stuff on socials these days, and I expect most of it is fake. In fact, I know many people who show one side online while in reality it’s completely different. We decided to show nothing online about us (other than the odd anniversary poast like this) but actually live that life for real. For everyone reading, I recommend the latter approach: It’s healthier for the soul (although maybe less so for the bank account & follower count). That being said - if there’s something I’ve learned from marriage - is that it’s not all smooth sailing. Like I said, women are crazy - and men have been trying to understand them since the dawn of time (with little to show for it).. And perhaps therein lies the problem. You don’t necessarily want to be understood, but instead want presence. This is often mentioned theoretically, but takes on a whole new meaning practically. If there’s something you’ve taught me about women (without a single word), it’s this. And it’s made me a better man. You can read all the books & tweets you want, but real life is where rubber meets the road. As Bruce Lee once said: “Knowing is not enough, we must apply. Willing is not enough, we must do.” So thankyou for being my wifey, my little sidekick, my clown, my slow cooker, my personal chef, my gym buddy, my home-maker, my personal intuition-device, my little model, and all the other things you are and plan to be (including your 99 personalities). Love you, and I look forward to continuing our journey into wherever this life and this crazy-ass world leads. @Paloma

Someone once said: “Wear your statement”