TIL there is a "S&P 1500 Packaged Foods Index" in this great write-up on RFK by economist Tyler Cowen https://archive.ph/rHreK#selection-2605.178-2605.207

The real public policies that “matter” for Bitcoin are not flashy, performative one-time bills pushing NGU. It’s the small, boring reforms on bank surveillance and commercial laws defining self-custody that empower individual use of Bitcoin. “BREAKING” influencers who are loud about the former will produce a lot of noise and likely convince many people online that there is some “good” being attained. Maybe they’ll even raise money from it. But unless people are sovereign in their bitcoin use, that’s all for naught. Just something to keep in mind about where the more efficacious work is being done. Most of it is quiet, step-by-step, and nowhere near as self-aggrandizing. The former, as we’ve proven, has literally been harmful for adoption and protection of Bitcoin.

In Attempt to Stop CBDCs, States Are Rejecting Seemingly Pro-Bitcoin Legislation | Bitcoin Policy Institute

I like @Joël Kai Lenz's way of approaching the discourse of “political vs. apolitical” bitcoin. It is, of course, apolitical at a protocol level. Certain political factions have decided to (temporarily) embrace the “tech” in a certain regulated form. My only additional thoughts are that, generally, at lot of this support is coming from people practicing oppositional politics. Some are marginal political figures in European nations, for example, and now definitely part of the Trump coalition. It is a useful vehicle for gathering support against the status quo and signaling an openness to innovation, but we must also “police” how political actors with power describe Bitcoin — if only because it will determine how they will craft rules around it. The more the discourse is NGU only, the focus will be on regulated financial institutions and governments buying bitcoin purely for debt mitigation or investment. ETFs and qualified custodians will be the main actors. If the focus is self-custody and sovereign money, there will (hopefully) be sincere attempts at dismantling the regulatory barriers around bitcoin (Bank Secrecy Act, KYC rules, FATF, etc.) I’m skeptical, however, that once political power is realized among those pushing “crypto” that Bitcoin will be as useful to them. That’s a risk. It’s easy to embrace Bitcoin policies in opposition, but once you’re in government, you have hundreds of interest groups pushing and pulling you and you’ll have to compromise. Liberty and sovereignty are often the first sacrificial lambs. Hence, the “Bitcoin-only” political actors who champion *all* parts of satoshi’s innovation will be the more reliable, I would hope. Once certain political factions or actors practice the embrace of Bitcoin as a ENDS rather than the MEANS, that will be a more helpful sign. Right now, there are just too many “pump influencers” who are trying to run the narrative. Their interest is mostly in boosting their follower count and some kind of egotism that is antithetical to bictoin. View quoted note →

TIL a “certified privacy officer” is mostly just a compliance jockey. Anyone here recommend a CIPP/US?

Very cool to see @Alby's new business model springing forth! Alby straight to my node

Oops, your data's been exposed. What can you do?

Consumer Choice Center

Oops, your data’s been exposed. What can you do?

This week, I received a letter from an employer of mine from when I was in high school, a local car wash. It turns out there was a “data brea...

Too much NGU energy right now

I’m sorry to say that I may be now leaning toward Team Stainless Steel pans the last few weeks…

Yes, we should absolutely repeal cabotage laws and the Jones Act to allow foreign airliners and ships to serve domestic customers. We need more airline competition, and it comes with erasing the regulatory barriers that prevent more market entrants

Has anyone had any success switching between 868Mhz and 900Mhz on their Meshtastic device? I know I'll need a new antenna. I'll be back in the US for a few weeks and want to try to reach the plebs with my device

Hello, my name is Ÿael

Europe's version of tort lawyers stopping innovation and progress absolutely exist and are ruthless. But they're more revered on the continent since they call themselves "data privacy" NGOs who are quite chummy with EU authorities. Oh yes, and they're usually state-funded.

I was running Archivebox on my own server, but it was very difficult to expose those pages to the open web. Would like more easy one-click solutions -- perhaps for node implementations like start9 and umbrel?

If you're not subscribed to Watchman Privacy, you probably should be. Here's his interview with Erik Voorhees on Venice AI on the future of private AI apps

136 - Venice AI: Private and Uncensored — Watchman Privacy — Overcast

Going live on Schwab Network TV in 10 minutes to talk Spirit Airlines, Biden DOJ, and how we can slash regulations to allow budget airlines to compete for American consumers

Immer weniger in hartem Geld! View quoted note →

Very excited to read this new book by my longtime friend Fergus Hodgson about his long-time love affair (and sometimes hate fest) with Latin America: economic lessons, variable social trust, and how hostility to free enterprise holds back prosperity. “Latin America is a mystery, shrouded behind myths and niceties. However, the politically incorrect truth about the region is becoming more prescient as the diaspora balloons, especially in Anglo-America. If you want to get past polite-society conversations and marketing narratives to understand the reality on the ground, this is the book for you.”

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

For no reason at all, here's a reddit threat on the best way to be a prepper while living in a big populated city https://www.reddit.com/r/preppers/comments/fcv9z0/prepping_101_for_urban_areas/

There are perhaps tens of millions of millennials renting apartments across the U.S. Many of them own Bitcoin and other crypto assets as their only real net worth. If banks can’t accept Bitcoin as collateral for lending, someone else well.

On an “open-source AI” panel today, I mentioned Meshtastic and the beauty of open-course protocols like Bitcoin to the head bureaucrat of the European Data Protection Bureau. She took copious notes. Not sure if that’s a good thing.