2/1/2024 ANNOUNCEMENT: I’ve made the difficult decision to close down the node. Sometimes flowing with life’s changes means accepting that everything must eventually come to an end.
To my channel peers: I will not be rushing to close our channels, giving you time to move liquidity and close on your terms.
To the network: I will not be accepting any incoming channels. My node will slowly dim into silence. It’s okay. This too is only the the other end of a new beginning.
My lightning node's tor connection is going in and out every 20 minutes or so it seems. Anybody else?
Whatever the BTC price does over the next 90 days or decade, one thing is for sure - Bitcoin will be more distributed to more people as time goes on. Which means the price has to do stuff that rips Bitcoin from die hard hodler hands.
Economic Report of the President "crypto assets offer no fundamental value"
Of course the ruling class sees no fundamental value in Bitcoin since its fundamental value is fairness.
Banks will continue failing. Bitcoin will continue functioning and improving.
Very few things are certain, but here are some:
- 21 million Bitcoin
- infinite dollars
- you control your Bitcoin
- they control your dollars
Is there a video compilation of us government officials condoning/supporting/legitimizing Bitcoin?
Been running on banks before it was cool.
This podcast is crazy. These guys can't believe the banking system is illiquid. This is just the start. Opt out with Bitcoin.
Google Podcasts is no longer available
I wish I knew what caused my lightning node to randomly restart lnd every ~couple of days.
### Printer Warriors
By Cyberhub
This is my true story.
It was June 2007, and I was walking across the Hewlett-Packard campus with a goofy smile on my face. I was trying to wipe it off, to play it cool, but I couldn’t. My whole life had been a singular story leading up to this one triumphant moment - my first day as an engineer - and it was too much happiness to contain. The sea of bluish gray cubicles stretched out before me like a tropical reef welcoming me home. This was where I belonged.
I shook my head in disbelief and laughed under my breath. Just a few weeks ago I was trapped under mountains of homework. Today the confines of classrooms were another world away. After 13 years of public school and 5 years of university without missing a single day, my time finally belonged to me. I was completely and utterly free. And I couldn’t stop smiling.
I strolled up to my new boss's cubicle. “Let’s get this party started,” I begged.
Soon I was arranging an arsenal of professional gear in my very own cubicle. Hewlett-Packard was outfitting the right guy. There was no way for them to yet comprehend the furious levels of focus that I was about to bring to their fight, but I had until age 59.5 to prove it to them. I was going to make them so rich. I was the perfect soldier with work ethic oozing from my armpits. This was the kid who hadn’t missed a single day of high school or university because the anxiety of missing a class was far more painful than any flu or cold could ever be. Eight solid years of spartan dedication to slaying quizzes and tests by the hundreds, and now I was fighting for their team. They made the right choice.
I smiled as I arranged my pictures on my cubicle wall. I was remembering the specific day that brought me to this triumphant moment. The day I chose to be a man. I was 11 years old, and it was the last day of summer before 6th grade. I would soon cross the finish line of graduation into the world of men. I could either waste my childhood and stumble across like a fool into some stupid job, or I could learn to run strong now. The answer was obvious. My childhood was over. From that day forward I was a man on a mission.
Setting up my cubicle command center, I could practically taste retirement. Treasury bonds yielded 5%, so all I needed was $1 million. Easy. I was already making $272 per day before any raises. Saving a simple $80 per day would fill my 401(k) with more than enough to retire by the time I turned 59.5.
I leaned back in my new office chair and cheerfully clicked my way through the benefits paperwork. Dental insurance? Yes, please. Vision? Of course. Automatic direct deposits into my very own 401(k) with matching contributions? Absolutely. What percentage of my paycheck would I like to automatically deposit? After calculating our necessary expenses, I knew the responsible answer. I leaned forward and punched in the keys.
30%.
It was all too easy.
For 17 months I lived the dream. It was bliss.
On October 1, 2008, I logged into my retirement dashboard to see my growing freedom fund. My heart sank and my stomach churned. This couldn’t be right. Where did it go? Seemingly overnight, my wealth had been slashed by 35%. Six months of direct deposits - gone. I didn't realize it at the time, but the US Senate had just passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. They were printing money to bailout the banks.
The worst part was the treasury bonds. Yields that had once been 5% were now 1%. I didn’t need $1 million to retire. I needed $5 million! By the next week, yields had dropped to 0.5%. Now I needed $10 million. One hundred percent of my paycheck for 101 years.
All this time I had been losing a war that I couldn’t see. When I was 11 years old, I thought I had cast aside my childhood to build my future, but in reality, I was building theirs. I chuckled as I realized I was building the wrong kind of printers. Milking people for overpriced inkjet cartridges was small-time thinking. The real money was in printing away their life savings. With a few strokes of their keys, they stole away my life. Touche.
But here’s the thing.
There is no way for them to yet comprehend the furious levels of focus that I’m about to bring to this fight. I’m the perfect soldier with work ethic oozing from my armpits. I’m the kid who set aside my childhood to fight for a brighter future. I have the rest of my life to grind their corrupted system into dust. Incorruptible money is the standard I fight for, and there’s nothing they can do to stop me.
And here’s the thing.
I’m not alone.
### Author’s Notes
For some reason my soul feels called to spread the principles of sound money to the world using the power of stories.
Lately, I’ve been digging in deep, making a serious study of the craft of storytelling. Hopefully soon I will get to the point where I’m producing some quality work. But it’s an overwhelming amount of new information I’m taking in, so it won’t be as soon as I would like.
In the meantime, studying the book Storyworthy, by Matthew Dicks, has given me the urge to share some of my own story. There’s power in stories, especially true ones. A few key threads in my life have led me to be a Bitcoiner. Sacrificing my childhood to build a future that would be stolen from me by the ones who promised to protect me is one of those key threads.
And since I know I’m not alone, the title is *Printer Warriors*, not *Warrior*.
My fellow warriors, I salute you.
Spend your time using the kind of things you wish made our world. Don't reinforce broken legacy systems by using them just because they are convenient. H/t #[0]
"Will is a team of one building the Damus app, creating tons of value for all of these people. When other developers see what is happening on Nostr, and how permissions innovation gets rewarded for building what people want to use, they will be drawn to contribute their efforts to build value on to of Nostr." Great interview, #[0] #[1]
I was raised in the Mormon church, and still consider much of my identity deeply rooted in what is my native wisdom tradition, so I know that what I'm about to say is divisive. But I need to say it. I could never say this at church, so I'm hoping I can say it here.
What if Christians miss the second coming because they think they know what they are looking for, and the truth is different from what they expect?
If Christians are honest with themselves, they have to admit this is a very real possibility, highlighted repeated by the Bible itself. The Jews didn't recognize salvation in Jesus because the miracle worker from Galilee who preached to love your enemy wasn't the political champion they anticipated. Those who sought to better worship God by etching him into stone accomplished the opposite of their intended efforts and instead estranged themselves from the true and living God by becoming idolaters.
When we freeze our understanding of God to a particular image of our limited understanding, we become idolaters and estrange ourselves from the true and living God.
Jesus embodied truth and love.
What if Christ's Second Coming refers to a time when once again truth and love are embodied on Earth, but not in a form that any Christian anticipates? The Old Testament repeatedly pointed to Jesus as the salvation that would walk among men, yet the experts and keepers of that tradition completely missed it.
What if Bitcoin fulfills the prophecy of truth and love embodied once again on Earth, walking among men, and bringing them salvation?
The prophecy goes that Christ will return and reign over the Earth in peace and prosperity for a thousand years, subduing all power that the devil once had. The prophecy goes that eventually every knee will bow, and tongue confess - which implies that many people will at first not recognize the Christ, even though he is staring them in the face.
How could people not recognize Christ?
What if instead of Christ returning as a being of light, truth, and love he actually returns as a network of energy, truth, and love?
Christ said that until we are one, we cannot be his. What better way to unite as one than to all speak the same incorruptible language? What better way to cooperate as one than to grant immutable property rights to every soul on earth that no tyrant can exploit?
As Jesus said, the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You just have to learn to recognize it.
I work for Bitcoin.
Like an early founder placing all their bets on a company they believe in, I've dedicated my life to bringing sound money to the world.
Yep, Bitcoin would be fine without me.
But Bitcoin would not be fine without people like me.
We are Bitcoin.
"Aum" is a wonderful word that represents to our ears the sound of the energy of the universe from which all things are manifest. When you have pronounced this properly, all vowel sounds are contained within. Consonants are merely interruptions of aum. All words are thus fragments of aum, just as all things are fragments of source. "Aum" is the 4 elemental word, the 4th being the silence that welcomes it back.
--Joseph Campbell, on God and the Word, 2 months before his sudden passing.
His description seems all the more beautiful knowing that it came a couple of months before his own unexpected interruption, welcoming him back to source.
Clip starting around minute 52:47
