Socialism is the cult of victimhood.

Ethereum whales don’t have Diamond Hands… they have Sweaty Hands. Wondering when they should best offload their bags in order to - pay for the lawsuits brought on by people they duped - pay the variable mortgage on that massively overvalued property - pay for their ex who divorced them Etc, etc. Ultra. Sweaty. Hands. (I’m still short ETH/BTC)

Wow - can’t wait to get my hands on some 😂

No Ethereum, this doesn’t mean “it’s still so early”. You’ve had a go at it, I get it that you really wanted to try. It made a bunch of your early founders bitcoin rich. Now it’s time to pack your stuff and go home.

The 2015-‘17 block size war in a nutshell. Big blockers want to increase capacity regardless of security and centralization concerns. (Cartoon is from New Yorker Magazine, 1920s)

Grateful for your responses to my post from last night. I’m learning a few things: - Israel-Palestine is super complex and understandably a sensitive topic - Social media is not a good platform for me to share short burst ideas about complicated matters like this Two things I would like to clarify: - I wasn’t trying to justify Israeli government policy or military actions. - I have a lot of empathy for suffering on the Muslim side of this conflict, too.

The situation that the Jewish people are in, including some bitcoiners that I respect, has been on my mind lately. No doubt I’ll comment on it more, but for now I wanted to offer my deep sympathy in the form of sharing an anthem I grew up with, “The Flemish Lion”. Both in this song and in the recent personal updates I see determination and fierce courage in the face of gruesome brutality. I keep re-reading in particular verse IV. Here goes the translation: The Flemish Lion They shall not tame him, the proud Flemish Lion, Even if they threaten his freedom with chains and shouts. They shall not tame him, as long as a Fleming lives, As long as the Lion can claw, as long as he has teeth. Chorus: They shall not tame him, as long as a Fleming lives, As long as the Lion can claw, as long as he has teeth. II Time devours cities, no thrones remain standing: The armies may fall, but a people shall never perish. The enemy marches to the battlefield, surrounded by mortal danger. We laugh at his fury, the Flemish Lion is there! III He has been fighting for a thousand years for freedom, land, and God; And still, his strength remains in all its youthful delight. When they think him powerless and provoke him with a kick, Then he rises threateningly and frightful before them. IV Woe to the thoughtless one, false and full of betrayal, Who comes to caress the Flemish Lion and treacherously strikes him. Not a single movement of his escapes their watchful eye: And if he feels wounded, he shows his might and roars. V The signal for revenge has been given, he is tired of their provocation; With fire in his eyes, with anger, he springs at the enemy. He tears, destroys, crushes, covered in blood and muck, And triumphantly grins at the enemy's quivering corpse.

ETH/BTC

The importance of the Right to Bear Arms has mainly to do with how strong of a deterrent they are. The vast majority of defensive gun usages end without any bullets fired, even less so assailants getting injured. Of the 1-3 million defensive gun usages per year, 79% take place on the defender’s own property, and in less than 20% of the cases, a gun is actually fired. Once the bully sees the stakes are not in his favor, he prefers non-violence. As illustrated by this Ronnie Coleman clip:

The challenge with people who hate living in reality is that they are usually keen on forcing me to live inside of their fantasy. “Crazy” and “tolerant” don’t rhyme.

Imo all addiction stems from avoiding feeling your feelings, because you believe you’re not strong enough to handle them. A cold plunge forces you to feel your feelings and thereby reminds you how string you really are.

M for Mayhem? ETH/BTC

Stockholm Syndrome is real.

Bitcoin Amsterdam was wonderful, I’m so glad I came.

“We’re switching to proof-of-stake”

Awkwardly appropriate: my Airbnb landlord here in Amsterdam lost a painfully large amount of money investing in shitcoins, is not attending the bitcoin conference. “It’s over for crypto… maybe not for bitcoin… but I’m done…” he said with a grimace.

Driving through Houston on my way to Amsterdam. Stoked to see old friends and make new ones. I should be at the conference tomorrow!

I learned a lesson about the effects of a mainstream media diet… My parents are from Belgium and read the newspaper every day. They had NEVER heard of Joe Rogan and didn’t recognize his picture either 😄

The Economist today. Headlines like these used to be unthinkable. Impossible. Now here we are. Bitcoin did this, we did this.

The Land Run Monument in Oklahoma City is super impressive. All the more so since it was inaugurated as recently as 2006. Fascinating piece of history, too:

Land Rush of 1889 - Wikipedia