Answer Guy
JimD

http://www.starshine.org/jimd/index.html

Greybeard Geek.

Public Key

npub1trhp4evegd6sgavspfytt2d6j20s0duxqpxvpkrs8lje67tfdrqs8pe2z6

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs93ms6ukv5xagywkgq5j944xaf98c8k7rqqnxqmpcrleva095k3sgprdmhxue69uhkummnw3ez6ur4vgh8xetdd9ek7mpwv3jhvft5rhm

Publishing to

nostr-pub.semisol.dev

Author Public Key

npub1trhp4evegd6sgavspfytt2d6j20s0duxqpxvpkrs8lje67tfdrqs8pe2z6

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-06 01:50:39

- reply

Fuck you.
You post a link "inviting" participation in something you're working on, and your response to constructive feedback back is effectively the same as RTFM?
Then my response is, fuck you. Not interested in your user hostile bullshit. Don't bother replying and I won't be interested in any crap you promote either.

2024-08-06 01:47:28

- reply

As always, when postulating anything about what "they" are doing, or plotting, or intending …
… ask "who is «they»."
Who is behind Tether? Would they have been in cahoots with your conspiratorial "they?" Have they (creators and operators of Tether) been subverted? Co-opted? Enlisted?
Conspiracy theories mostly don't work when you analyze the mechanics and the specifics.
How would Tether be of any benefit to the factions within, and behind, governments who are (or may be) seeking to implement central bank digital currencies (CBDCs)? How would that work in their favor?

2024-08-02 08:20:37

- reply

Need to provide a lot more information about what people are should expect when you're inviting them to something like this.
Just a login and (demands for | questions about) sharing camera and microphone feeds is rather disconcerting.
Should offer a link to a page describing the project and service.

2024-08-02 08:12:27

- reply

I meant to type "wouldn't be even worse?"
I cannot see a scenario where the U.S. federal government wouldn't use a CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) to eventually exert far more insidious control over its users (citizens and others) than they could ever manage to impose on private corporations (especially international institutions).
They'll offer "better security" (backed by military force and the power of the state to collect taxes, tariffs, and fees) and lower volatility (but with 2% "target official inflation" (and the hidden debasement of quantitative "easing" and issuance of T-bills.
It'll be the same scams in most regards — just delivered cryptographically for greater efficiency and (their) convenience.

2024-08-02 08:04:13

- reply

Does Damus support "giftwrapping?" If so, where is it in the UI?

2024-08-02 08:01:17

- reply

And you think U.S. governmentally created (mandated?) CBDC would be even worse? And considerably less transparent?
What's your actual thesis here?

2024-08-02 03:35:32

- reply

Which "they?" How much can "they" do so without court orders?

2024-08-01 16:36:29

- reply

Enable all manner of surveillance and seizure that pesky court orders to private institutions would hamper.

2024-08-01 16:32:13

- reply

Personally I think it's the best approach to scaling Bitcoin beyond the single main blockchain (and increasing the capacity of Lightning even beyond the limits of a single chain for liquidity/channel management.
I say this not because I work for them. I work for them because I think it's the case.

2024-08-01 16:29:18

- reply

The "PIN Oracle server" is the service that unlocks your Jade using your PIN while preventing it from being brute force attacked (by cracking open the hardware and connecting some custom electronics.
I don't think Blockstream's website nor PIN Oracle was dependent on any service related to Clowdstrike. But maybe it was something else in your infrastructure or on your system.
Or maybe CloudFlare or Amazon's or Google's CDNs (content delivery networks) were impacted by the Cloudstrike outage. I don't know which of these CDNs are used by Blockstream for their website. (Pretty sure the PIN Oracle would not be behind any CDN).

2024-08-01 16:13:46

- reply

@npub1jg5…6n8n @npub1nyy…7gan is a federated side chain for Bitcoin. It's built over Elements, source which was derived from Bitcoin-core (the free code upon which the Bitcoin main blockchain was built and which still powers the vast majority of Bitcoin full nodes).
What does all that mean?
Mostly it provides an infrastructure for managing ₿ liquidity while overcoming many of the limitations and issues with performing transactions on the main blockchain, but also while maintaining a security, custody, and transaction processing model as close to Bitcoin's as possible and without additional the complexity, costs, and risks, of a separately exchanged (floating valuation) token.
Which limitations and issues?
Bitcoin transactions on the main chain take, on average, 10 minutes to be processed from the (peer-to-peer) mempool through a miner and into a block on the blockchain.
It's generally considered prudent to wait for at least six blocks of confirmation before treating a transaction as "settled" (no longer subject to the risk of a block re-organization or "double spend" cancellation).
Thus transaction settlement is likely to take an hour, and may take twice that in some cases.
Also this assumes that the transaction is among those to be selected for the first available block. But other transactions may be offering higher fee rates; thus Bitcoin transaction processing is effectively an ongoing auction for space in any upcoming block. Lower bids can take much longer (days, even up to two weeks, to be included in a block (processed to that first level of confirmation). Block congestion can make urgent transactions cost over 10x the fees of the low bidders.
Overall, transactions on the main chain can be slow, expensive, and offer relatively high uncertainty with regards to settlement delays.
The Lightning Network (LN) can provide means to alleviate some of these issues. But it's far more complex than the Bitcoin main chain and somewhat more complex than simple Bitcoin transactions over Liquid™.
To use LN you (and your counter parties — anyone you wish to transact with) must establish and maintain liquidity. That means you have to perform some special transactions on the main Bitcoin blockchain in the form of smart contracts which lock some quantities of Bitcoin funds for outbound and inbound usage.
That generally requires at least one on-chain transaction. But, without Liquid™, managing your LN liquidity (adding funds or moving funds to save self custody storage, removing it from being committed to those smart contracts, would also require (potentially slow, relatively expensive) on chain transactions.
How does Elements/Liquid solve these issues?
Using a wallet or other tools with Liquid support, you can conduct your transactions on the side chain directly (if your counter party accepts L-BTC, the Liquid asset tokens which are pegged 1:1 against BTC on the main chain.
You can exchange Bitcoin for L-BTC through many exchanges you're an advanced user, you could peg in your satoshis and claim the equivalent number of L-BTC sats (less any fees).
Transactions on the Liquid side chain are almost always processed in on minute and can be considered settlement after just two confirmations.
Liquid functionaries use HSMs, hardware signing modules, in lieu of "proof-of-work" (PoW) mining to construct new blocks of transactions. So, no "wasted" energy; but, more importantly, much less variability in the block issuance cadence.
Also the fee rates on Liquid are measured in centi-satoshis — a hundredth of those on the main chain.
By itself this wouldn't provide much value until there was wide enough adoption of Liquid L-BTC to ensure that you could usually do your transactions using it directly.
But, there are services, such as @npub1psm…8970 and Changelly which maintain liquidity on Liquid, the main Bitcoin blockchain, and in LN channels. So these can be used to resolve most of the liquidity management issues for LN.
Also you can arrange with some exchanges and services to accumulate your Bitcoin in smaller transactions as L-BTC (on the side chain, but in your own wallet — so self-custodied throughout). Then you can exchange more substantial amounts back out to the main chain (keeping it in self custody — perhaps on a hardware wallet securely stored in a vault or safe deposit box throughout the process).
(Remember you can direct payments to newly generated addresses (Bitcoin or Liquid]) without touching your wallet in cold storage. You export a wallet descriptor (xpub, ypub, zpub "key") and the "read only" wallet you import that into can securely generate new payment addresses while not exposing your funds to any risk of theft or misappropriation).
This all may sound complicated. But mostly it's just a few "tricks" of using the wallets with Liquid L-BTC support and using liquidity exchange services when doing so will save time and on fees over doing those transactions on the main blockchain.
The main Bitcoin blockchain and mempool will get more congested (and much more expensive to use) as Bitcoin becomes more successful — as it advances towards global adoption. That's a necessary aspect of its design and of the security and censorship resistance tradeoffs that were baked into its implementation.
Liquid provides infrastructure to mitigate these eventualities. Eventually it's likely that there will be a mesh of transparently interoperable Elements/Liquid side chains to support the scalability that global Bitcoin adoption will require. (Lightning over Liquid™ — LoL — has already been implemented and demonstrated as a technology so it's available long before there's demand for it).
Liquid was intentionally designed to operate almost identically to Bitcoin's core and it's a permission-less system in the same ways that Bitcoin is (except that there's no "mining" on the side chain). Integration of Liquid support by developers of Bitcoin wallets and other tooling has been described (by most of those who have done it) as easy, almost trivial.
On top of all that, Liquid offer many features which are not available on the main blockchain.
But you probably already so lots of information about those on the website.

2024-07-14 02:48:08

Regarding the shots taken at Trump, resulting in one audience member behind him dead, two wounded, and the shooter, a sniper on a roof apparently less than 100 meters away, shot by counter snipers.
I've now given a bit of thought to the "false flag" … "if was all staged" scenario.
It's not plausible.
But it will be almost impossible to allay such concerns. This helps support a false equivalence between supposed left wing conspiracy theories and Qanon.
If I were writing an action thriller around these events, I would do it like so:
Master mind (some like Gen. Mike Flynn or a Putin operative who has successfully maintained the secret of his, or her, identity) recruiting four co-conspirators.
Only one of those is in on the whole plot.
One other is a patsy, the others get duped into it thinking that it was just going to be a campaign publicity stunt.
Patsy is a unknown, random, Trump supporter and espionage wannabe. Convinced to snipe from a rooftop and deliberately miss, intentionally hitting (wound or kill, doesn't matter) a random person behind Trump.
They're convinced they're going to get away. Our master mind shows them the getaway plan and sells it (perhaps with the true co-conspirator — the shooter's shooter — posing as getaway accomplice).
The true co-conspirator is either a secret service agent who shoots the patsy, or a second sniper using the efforts of the actual anti-sniper, counter-sniper unit to cover his, or her, shots supplied with the exact same ammo as the anti-snipers).
One of the duped accessories must be close in with Trump's security detail, supplied with a trick ring or other device with a tiny, short, razor blade. He bloodies Trump's ear during the scuffle (after shots fired).
This avoids the risk of the (patsy) sniper having to graze Trump with a real bullet. Trump could be depicted, in my hypothetical story, as the one to cause the superficial but photogenic injury. He was around pro-wrestling kayfabe enough to understand that.
The last accessory is the attending physician — to ignore the discrepancies between intentionally inflicted razor bloodying and grazing from a real bullet.
Might actually be instructed to alter the injury to it would pass third party (cursory) review.
Only the mastermind and the shooter's shooter need to be in on the whole plot up front.
Everyone else is a patsy (dead afterwards) or duped into participating in "just a stunt" and then locked in as accessory to murder among other charges after the member of the crowd is shot by the patsy.
This is all far more plausible than most popular fiction, and perhaps more plausible than a shooter really only barely grazing Trump's ear from only 100 meters or so away, on a clear day, with clear line of sight to target. (I shoot better than that without any formal training!)

2024-02-16 18:04:26

- reply

これのために得る翻訳は奇妙に聞こえます:「祖母が作った女の子を着ています。」
もっと慣用的な解釈はありますか?

2024-02-16 17:59:17

- reply

The translation I get for this sounds odd: "I'm wearing the girl made by my grandmother."
Is there a more idiomatic interpretation?

2023-12-17 06:42:02

- reply

Also it's worth considering deriving the seeds for any mobile or desktop wallets from your Jade (using the BIP85 support in the firmware).
This allows you to safely leverage one Metal™ or Capsule™ recovery mnemonic device to backup all your wallets. (Recovery process is simply: recover to any Jade™ then re-derive seeds — as subordinate recovery mnemonics — at each index you've used; so just keep track of the mapping of wallet to BIP85 index numbers).
These same seeds (master and derived) can each be used for Bitcoin main chain and Liquid™ single sig and multi-factor wallets.

2023-12-11 14:09:41

- reply

Barely enough to taste it. Less salty than sweat.

2023-12-08 20:22:09

ゆっくり繰り返してください
#NoContext4U

2023-12-04 21:02:08

- reply

I've read that "straining on the pot" is an apt description of the technique that figher pilots are trained in as part of developing their ability to withstand high G-force maneuvers without blacking out.
Laugh all you like. But that shit is serious. Their lives depend on it in some combat scenarios — and lives are lost if they're too dignified to do it regardless of how it looks.

2023-12-04 20:52:43

What would it take for @npub18m7…q955 to support the iPadOS/iOS [Share] feature that's common in various other apps?
For example in Duolingo I can "share" an achievement to 𝕏 or Meta/Facebook like I did here:
https://x.com/answrguy/status/1731771579049320641
Also, what's the best way to share a #NOSTR note or event over the web?
I would love to phase out direct posting to 𝕏 and shift towards posting new content on #NOSTR with links to 𝕏 and other social media. Grow the NOSTR community by guiding my (admittedly not impressive number) of followers towards it.
Basically getting sick of 𝕏's continued decline and was long ago disgusted by Facebook's policies and algorithmic manipulation of my feed.

2023-12-04 11:13:14

These are worth pondering:
1. One mark of a smart person is the ability to learn from people they don’t like.
2. The most powerful productivity tool ever invented is simply the word "no."
3. Rich people have money. Wealthy people have time.
4. Writing is often the process by which you realize that you do not understand what you are talking about.
5. 90 percent of success is not getting distracted.
6. Short-term results come from intensity. Long-term results come from consistency.
7. Clear writing gives poor thinking nowhere to hide.
8. The quicker you want something, the easier you are to manipulate.
9. If you want new ideas, read old books.
10. First-principles thinking is a competitive advantage because almost no one does it.
11. Talent and potential mean nothing if you can't consistently do the boring things when you don't feel like doing them.
12. The greatest trap is telling yourself that you’ll do something important tomorrow. Procrastination creates negative momentum.
13. Make your next project something people will ask you about for the rest of your life.
Those are from: https://x.com/1writeofpassage/status/1731300704718123451
I'll add:
* To be successful, learn how to respond to failure.

2023-12-03 21:00:47

- reply

This is technically the case. But there's a key qualitative difference.
The issuance schedule is hard coded into the consensus rules implemented by all compatible software. It's an exponential (binary) decay function referred to colloquially as the "halvening," (I preferred the term "hardening" as it's easier to pronounce and reflects the benefit rather than simply calling out an implementation detail).
Every 216,000 blocks (four years, give are take some variance on a Poisson distribution) the reward gets cut in half. The exponential of the divisor is incremented.
So, sometime next April the block mining reward, the issuance rate, will go from 6.25₿ to 3.125₿ and annualized monetary inflation will drop to less than the U.S. Fed target. It will be much lower than real monetary inflation for any fiat currency.
What's the current annual increase global gold supply, as a percentage of total known reserves?
https://g.co/bard/share/42c4894b48e6

2023-12-03 00:48:36

- reply

As I said, I've got a whole multiverse setting in which I spend much of my daydreaming time. This idea emerges from that as a nugget that small enough, cohesive enough to toss out there for any and all to make their own.
Definitely would prefer for folks to not try to trademark the Ægobots neologism, though. That actually does fit in with a recurring theme in my as-yet unpublished corpus.

2023-12-03 00:43:08

- reply

I cross-posted this to a suReddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/SciFiConcepts/s/Z8ZcHygwTw
So there's some additional discussion going on there.
It should go without saying that I would be delighted for folks to write stories based on this idea. Acknowledgement would be nice (and ethical ). But I don't want any money for any derivative works.
Ideas are cheap. Stories are much harder to create and refine.

2023-12-02 20:55:32

Story idea: Ægobots
Have you ever wanted a personal robot or servant?
What if you could actually sort of be your own robot? What if there was some sort of implant or even just a discipline or technique by which you could turn the part of you that you consider to be YOU, your ego, inward to sleep, play games, watch movies, chat, do your doom scrolling, engage in virtual sex with other ægobots, whatever … all while a sort of AI or "mini me" was blissfully directing your body and other parts of your brain, alter egos, doing various boring, mind numbing or mindless tasks for you.
In other words, what if you could direct your body to essentially be your own personal servant?
Now the story plot: what if that device, implant, mechanism … what if that were compromised, backdoored, and after untold millions of folks had adopted this for their benefit, they could be subverted, co-opted into being a meatspace army while the owners of all those bodies were off in a dream space, unaware that any of this was going on … a sort of Inception/Matrix zombie horde?
What if?

2023-12-02 20:44:37

- reply

On the one hand I love the zen gist of this. But the framing is misogynistic sexist bullshit.
Still, that part is not worth fighting over. So I gonna just point it out, walk a way, and chill.

2023-12-02 20:40:39

- reply

We can certainly hope that past is prologue.

2023-11-26 19:53:03

- reply

First, one engine's mass can be amortized over multiple cars trained together. Also the rolling friction of a steel wheel on a steel rail is significantly lower than that of rubber tires on pavement. Finally your load capacity is much higher.
Most of the benefits are accrued at scale.
But, yes, the cost of tires — including the environmental costs of manufacturing and distribution and the labor costs of installation/replacement are significantly higher for rubber due to their much shorter operational lifespans.
Basically, the tradeoffs are all: higher capital investment (infrastructure and materials) vs. operational expenses and flexibility.

2023-11-13 20:14:42

- reply

https://x.com/electrumwallet/status/1724006226785140935

2023-11-13 20:14:03

⚠️ WARNING: A fraudulent Electrum app is being distributed on the Apple @AppStore. ⚠️

2023-11-13 08:44:30

- reply

I see them as people with their own agency. They can charge for their work, or not. They can release their software for free, or as shareware, or as proprietary software. They can build in advertising, they can link it to any sort of "zap sharing scheme" they want to devise.
I see the users of their products as people with their own agency as well. They can choose free or commercial software. They can donate, or accept advertising. They can write their own software. Whatever.
My point is that NOSTR, like TCP/IP and HTTP should be an open protocol and completely neutral regarding revenue models.
That's why we use the Internet and the web today. Otherwise we'd very likely still be in balkanized cells, walled gardens filled with weeds — enshittified prisons.
It's pretty obvious folks today don't know about the history of networking, the Banyan Vines, Novell Netware IPX/SPX, protocols, NetBEUI, and all the crap that was eventually tossed into the dustbins of history by truly open and interoperable standards.
Maybe folks should learn a little more history before arguing over how to proceed into the future.

2023-11-13 08:30:43

- reply

Linus Torvalds, Richard Stallman, and about 4000 developers of Linux, GNU, BSD, and other free (as in «libre» AND «gratis») like a word…
Your arrogance of ignorance about free software, free protocol stacks, and freedom in general reeks.

2023-11-12 01:00:25

- reply

Seems like a segue into a line about the difference between what she can own and "hardest asset she could hold."
But I do have salacious proclivities.

2023-11-12 00:58:03

Someone asked #NOSTR should be funded. I responded in thread, but want to also post this on its own:
How is the Internet funded?
NOSTR should not be a project, nor a product, nor a service.
It should be a suite of protocols (implemented over the Internet's TCP/IP protocol suite) which establishes interoperability among clients, servers, and peers — between clads of users and sources of content or providers of services.
In other words, it should be like the web, but using public/private keyed identities over an explicitly censorship resistant and privacy preserving event/relay model.

2023-11-12 00:56:20

- reply

How is the Internet funded?
NOSTR should not be a project, nor a product, nor a service.
It should be a suite of protocols (implemented over the Internet's TCP/IP protocol suite) which establishes interoperability among clients, servers, and peers — between clads of users and sources of content or providers of services.
In other words, it should be like the web, but using public/private keyed identities over an explicitly censorship resistant and privacy preserving event/relay model.

2023-11-08 01:51:19

Custodia Bank announced ₿ custody solution for institutional customers:
https://custodiabank.com/f/custody-whitepaper/t/

2023-11-07 08:16:14

- reply

Wisdom is understanding how fools might benefit an opportunity to grow. Diligence is providing those opportunities — thus separating the merely ignorant from the willfully ignorant.

2023-11-07 08:13:46

- reply

Doh! Forgot to mention: the glut was due to COVID-19 demand, with predictable competitive over production.

2023-11-07 08:12:11

- reply

Some folks are suggesting that overstock of UV LED light strips may have led to a flood of these on some markets (especially in Hong Kong and throughout Asia) where they're being sold, possibly without proper warning ⚠️ labels, very cheaply.

2023-11-07 08:09:21

Bored Apes dazzled into blind sheep?
https://www.dlnews.com/articles/web3/yuga-labs-investigating-eye-injuries-at-hong-kong-apefest/
#FuckingNuts!

2023-10-28 16:45:37

Metaphors and metaphysics of identity:
https://x.com/richdecibels/status/1718260144813875668

2023-10-28 16:41:13

Every successful narrative must incorporate improbable elements. It's due to a Darwinian dynamic.

2023-10-27 16:32:00

- reply

Thanks, Ars Technica,
https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/07/a-jargon-free-explanation-of-how-ai-large-language-models-work/

2023-10-27 16:30:17

TIL: polysemy: characteristic referring to lexicographically equivalent terms with multiple (poly-) semantic interpretations (-semy). https://image.nostr.build/c5327d6f0522eb257cb533100ce2637a553641119a24dd359c66fa2a3c741d18.jpg

2023-10-11 09:13:40

Precursors to Isekai 異世界
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isekai
☞ Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, Mark Twain, 1889
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Connecticut_Yankee_in_King_Arthur%27s_Court
☞ The Magician's Nephew, C. S. Lewis, 1955
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magician%27s_Nephew
☞ Three Hearts and Three Lions, Poul Anderson, 1961
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Hearts_and_Three_Lions?searchToken=8ddwrnqif0gurxhg9godp396z
☞ The Twilight Zone, Rod Serling, 1959
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twilight_Zone_(1959_TV_series)
☞ Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein, 1963
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_Road
☞ Lord Kalvan of Otherwhen, H. Beam Piper, 1965
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kalvan_of_Otherwhen
☞ Chronicles of Amber, Roger Zelazny, 1970
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_Road
☞ Spellsinger, Alan Dean Foster, 1983
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spellsinger
I'm sure I'm missing some seminal works which could qualify. Also The Twilight Zone only deserves honorable mention as many of its episodes wouldn't qualify as isekai. However, enough of its stories are so influential, and develop themes which could implicitly be isekai (in the sense that the protagonists have slipped into these "other worlds" without any exposition on how it occurred) that I felt compelled to include it.
But we might make similar arguments for The Outer Limits, or even Night Gallery. Where do we draw the line?

2023-10-10 18:17:57

- reply

Lofty accommodations: https://image.nostr.build/b461a9d3264be3b60b3fedeea0c93493acc7f75f3c2ef29fa490c86abfb3bb51.jpg https://image.nostr.build/e9a70c3bf7fce2f49f35e6203e5b4232fd92b906c4b827890f0de1076f6fe192.jpg

2023-10-10 17:01:38

Took the train from Berlin to Amsterdam.
Utterly failed to arrange hotel accommodations between getting here. Decided to wing it.
Picked a nice sounding pub to park Heather and the luggage at and just struck up a conversation with some pensioners who were drinking and smoking outside.
Asked if they had advice for a dumb, impetuous American.
So my new buddy Dietrich called over to the hotel that was listed as “full” nearby and arranged for them to hold a room for me at a lower rate than web was showing for anything else in the area.
Bought the lads a round. Left Heather here playing D&D over her phone and the interwebs, and watching the luggage while I ambled a quarter kilometer across Haarlemmer to pay for the room and pick up our keys.
Now I back sipping on Glenmorangie and getting ready to roll our luggage over these streets.
RIP my wheels.
Finnegans Rainbow: https://image.nostr.build/4c9a46d7e5025d4df50325cd16164b838d7ef749bdc4577ee0b8429addbddec1.jpg

2023-10-09 09:43:21

- reply

Some nice architectural design:
(https://www.energieforum-berlin.de/ — just half a block from the other pictures, heading back to the Moxy)
The later images are from a courtyard we got to through a side exit from the larger interior plaza. Basically a scenic path back towards our hotel. https://image.nostr.build/32f8ac6e78cbf2198eae469159de4fd26aabe465f8b1d7228f0f1112cd1ca02c.jpg https://image.nostr.build/bad7c064b8fd4f7fbff90bbd2bd2a81fc36c9d6c94be821b1495428efc3b7c0d.jpg https://image.nostr.build/56375d006dd748374ccb40479c878855fe5e7870bcf9ec80f9e91e6d2f7425a4.jpg https://image.nostr.build/875b1034c4c48f68d2e005ee72825100a2226c0001107fd743da6ee3e2e25e84.jpg https://image.nostr.build/d1d57e205513da1b5d9be73e922177df9fad4a55c5531d86e4494ccc2e5d64e5.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fc81be8f12514da15b5b5996f5fe3c87057e7cd3b52d82db06a8012b831a7487.jpg https://image.nostr.build/29a38ef3ef4d4ae0f520a04ceced5762ee4088bbfdaf563a9fb1bf2c558da973.jpg

2023-10-09 09:31:27

- reply

I love how the rivers and waterways in Berlin are part way of the local infrastructure.
It was something I noticed on my one previous trip. https://image.nostr.build/2b6067717578cac701e66f2e3ff645bc6e23dfdb15c47d1263b253b15aaf71d9.jpg https://image.nostr.build/fcaabd35a273a0cdf8aab93f7301d9016fde2db05a31a89a38e76899e1cf09c7.jpg

2023-10-09 09:29:27

- reply

More pictures from inside that park. https://image.nostr.build/73a488be17465684b141acad734b11c81e4fa5d9f30cb2c90b0ec92a144b2c6b.jpg https://image.nostr.build/1aeeeb72baf5aea5a45ea032fcfc6f667aca0220103522dc4df9633994848473.jpg https://image.nostr.build/4564dc8ae880db04656c477bb5fbc67bb4afaba3295fa99d0c05389bfff12b96.jpg https://image.nostr.build/3fe303c27eaf0e56803ac2e03082d5b4fc35f57a75e92e5ec7482b6281074064.jpg

2023-10-09 09:24:37

- reply

A memorial of the Berlin Wall, with re-creations of much of the graffiti from the Soviet era.
Some pillars on the other side, near this end of a spacious park, discuss the project and some of the artist reactions to the restoration and re-creation efforts. https://image.nostr.build/897a9f405edbec834c49ecae704085700cac907b163732fd1596a6602d6db232.jpg https://image.nostr.build/519fb30359dc80b284662b5cddeae2e3ef8bffb0fa91cb51cfe05789ce69ce1b.jpg https://image.nostr.build/a1ba8a12363f0a4a2b27e8bdc316b08cd73ee00a5b298de9a0b9850b1ca01bc7.jpg

2023-10-09 09:20:15

- reply

Also in the train station. Not as prudish as the U.S.
Interior is classier and has none of the skeezy aroma of American smut shacks. https://image.nostr.build/6a2fb7e67f9ba43cc28607942fc55f2e42a7aa8f80135863a0fd0759a623e464.jpg https://image.nostr.build/1cc1f4fc352b215a7f570011f02fdd77cb585b9d4665b76ba7f6fa0008420c81.jpg

2023-10-09 09:16:59

- reply

The aforementioned blank books, with a tote from another souvenir shop in the same station.
The tote has a for the other housemate. It shows the local (German) crosswalk signals walk and don’t walk on opposite sides.
We predict that she will load it up with stuff to take one, then leave it in her car forever.
Lost count of the cups, dishwater and utensils which have share that fate. https://image.nostr.build/34032e3eb473889defec88f4b229fd7e699453994e892928390120e01243f147.jpg

2023-10-09 09:09:57

- reply

Techie section: Python, machine learning, neural networks, Bitcoin/blockchain, etc.
Also spotted a copy of the gamer period White Dwarf, Deutsch edition, on the next shelf down, along with something for “retro gamers.”
Heather bought a couple weeks very pretty blank books for souvenirs. She plans to give one to one of our housemates when we get home. https://image.nostr.build/5e7ff00ebb9cda22aa51e7843b1759d3abe4b3cae5dc5eb81460e4ad2e0b6085.jpg

2023-10-09 09:03:50

- reply

A bookstore in the train station. Seems quaint these days.
Not one, but two magazines dedicated to the topic of chess.
Quaint quantity overload. https://image.nostr.build/3b7d48b837ea6dff99863cb2cd5ca369d0b30eba81c68646821727e914b971ba.jpg

2023-10-09 09:01:33

- reply

My breakfast: Brie and cranberry sauce, and I think some cream cheese, on a braided bread roll, and milchkaffe?
Heather had a much meatier and more substantial sandwich.
Germans don’t skimp on the sandwich fillings. https://image.nostr.build/54cc6f9a4ff9b56e430bd62a80d75ac69ed2f8c14d45a65e87266f8412b06bc2.jpg

2023-10-09 08:58:14

- reply

This is inside the Moxy lounge (there’s a hotel for which it serves as the lobby, but the vibe is as a lounge).
The trash can’s space shuttle motif is echoed in other decorations. https://image.nostr.build/cfaae70489e3bea75a800c0780d419f9ed21b3f2470f9e2ef70b879eca676d97.jpg

2023-10-09 08:54:29

After #btcplusplus Heather and I extended our hotel stay by two days.
Slept in and acted like cave bears all day Sunday.
Today we walked over to the Ostbahnhof train station (a whole block away), had breakfast at one of several bakeries inside, did a little souvenir shopping, and wandered over at a nearby park and Berlin Wall memorial.
Here are some photos: https://image.nostr.build/48e425fa977e5e334e8bf73844c5588cb77099287434956c9c8498855eb2f098.jpg

2023-10-09 06:41:42

Breakfast at the train station, Ostbahnhof, Berlin: https://image.nostr.build/5d3051176b8a55f32f06e8ccbfc85d828652a48cc526b6d9603cec1e86211dbd.jpg

2023-09-20 23:43:09

- reply

Looks like content on #NOSTR is improving significantly as well.
The looming threat of a paywall blocking all free access to 𝕏 (Twitter) makes that more significant.
I saw a poll on that topic. 96% of 38,800+ 𝕏 users indicate that they are completely unwilling to,pay even 5¢/month (60¢/year) for access. 2% would pay a nickel per month, and 1% voted for each of 50¢ or "even more than $2."
I'm in that first category.
It's not the money. I would even consider paying a nickel/month in ṩatṩ or DOGE. It's both the principle and the practical matter of refusing to entrust such an egregiously dishonest actor with my billing info.
So, I'm glad that NOSTR is gradually gaining traction.
Gradually is important for now, because I want to see a strong suite of cultural norms to evolve before there's any major influx of users.
Folks will need time to explore and internalize how NOSTR is different (self sovereign identity, truly decentralized notes/events propagation) and develop customs and tooling to optimize behavior within this environment.

2023-09-20 23:30:59

- reply

It means I can comfortably use the app without fussing with reading glasses that are unnecessary for just about 99% of the read of what I do on iPad, phone, and laptop.
Yes. It's very useful.

2023-09-20 23:19:58

- reply

I have now found the font size slider in Settings ☞ Appearance

2023-09-20 23:06:36

- reply

I was already on the Testflight™ version of Damus™

2023-09-15 00:26:06

- reply

When will it support NOSTR npub notifications?

2023-09-14 23:44:06

I really want a NOSTR client for which I can adjust the default font size.
The text in the main feeds interface of #Damus (on iPad) is legible, but I have to strain a little. Just enough to be annoying. Not enough to reach for reading glasses.
The text in the notes entry and reply panels is fine, just about ideal.
So which other clients should I look at?

2023-09-02 07:26:29

I've been feeling, and saying, this for many years:
https://x.com/theholisticpsyc/status/1697784302036238731?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-31 03:58:11

- reply

Yeah. It's just "text" (emoji).

2023-08-29 16:20:43

- reply

眠る。休む。

2023-08-29 16:12:30

- reply

The considerations and implications are a bit more complex than that, from what I've read. But this gist of it is this.
Also spot pricing entails a more complex set of obligations on the part of the ETF management for their pricing of the underlying asset. The excuse in early SEC rejections/delays was, ostensibly, due to concerns about price manipulation.
Given how Tera/Luna, FTX, and others, manipulated the markets — those concerns might not have been entirely unjustified.
I personally suspect that a couple of large, competitive, spot
ETFs are more likely to solve the price manipulation issue than they are to be affected by it to any detriment of their customers. But I could be wrong.
For example whales might gradually pump, then suddenly dump holdings. Low information customers of spot exchanges might be more likely to capitulate near the bottom than individual investors (HODLers).
Thus whales might be able to feed off spot customers be spilling relatively small droplets of blood 🩸 in the market waters 💦

2023-08-29 15:58:35

- reply

Also it's polite to do so quickly (within less than a day of receiving the torch and next hop address) and to publicly post a link showing the transaction in any publicly accessible explorer (such as http://explorer.blockstream.com/liquid/).

2023-08-29 15:51:05

- reply

All of that said, NOSTR's LN support would be far better if BOLT12 Offers support were more widely available in wallets AND if NOSTR clients integrated it for zaps as well as other features.
I should be able to "subscribe" to any BOLT12/zaps enabled user (account, entity) by clicking on an offer in their profile.
This has been supported in Sphinx Chat for as long as I've used it.

2023-08-29 15:46:07

- reply

So far as NOSTR is concerned, a zap is just an event type … representing a chain of events entirely outside of NOSTR.
This is, more or less, just like saying that Bitcoin payments (including those made over the Lightning⚡️Network) are just packets being routed over the Internet.
Technically correct from one perspective, and when constraining the scope pf consideration to accommodate that "just") but actually obscuring rather than explaining salient aspects of the broader picture.
Yes. NOSTR is independent of ₿ and LN. Zaps are just an optional feature and application of NOSTR protocols and some clients.

2023-08-29 15:33:02

- reply

Personally I've found Sphinx Chat to be a better LN app than NOSTR.
Of course its major barrier to entry, the main reason its usage is so low (apart from lacking any benefit of @npub1sg6…f63m's endorsement, promotion, and financial subsidy) is that you MUST establish LN liquidity to use the app at all.
But, once that hurdle is lept, you have booste, direct payments, staking as anti-spam mitigation, and the ability to subscribe to other users (for instance I "subscribed" to my wife's account for 2000 sats per week to ensure that she'd have plenty of chat funds without having to ask nor fuss with BlueWallet, etc).
Also Sphinx supports Jitsi video conferencing from within the app.
I don't want this to become a pissing contest. Bit maybe your criteria for "best" are tautological? Or perhaps you're just unaware of the alternatives.

2023-08-28 17:52:51

- reply

This is close to the way that Redis manages its .rdb images (as distinct from their alternative AOF file format.

2023-08-23 03:03:10

@npub102c…ostr:@npub102c…zyfp

2023-08-23 03:02:06

- reply

Does it have to start with "imagine" in all lowercase?
I've never gotten this 'bot to work for me.

2023-08-23 03:00:25

https://x.com/blockstream/status/1694175257605881993

2023-08-16 23:03:57

- reply

Any economic system is based on the concept of «ownership» … possession of, and control over resources.
Any system of government must define what ownership or authority means for purposes of its governance (laws) and must also engage in law enforcement.
Force (up to and including the actual, not merely metaphoric, barrel of a gun) is at the literal root of the concept of law enforcement.
ANY SYSTEM OF GOVERNMENT IS ULTIMATELY MAINTAINED BY FORCE.
Thus, it is disingenuous to argue that this characteristic somehow makes any attempt at socialism inherently any less just than any other.
It is also the case that every significant political movement in modern history which has claimed to be "socialist" has either been a pretext by authoritarians (fascists, demagogues, tyrants) or been co-opted by such factions.
So we must take any claims of socialist revolution with all due skepticism.
Meanwhile it's equally true that every effort towards democratic and legitimately populist reform has been decried as a headlong leap down the icy slopes of "socialism" or "communism" (usually promulgated by people who are ignorant of any nuances in their terminology — often willfully so).
Posts such as the one to which I'm responding here generally do far more to forestall any social, economic, and political progress than benefit they claim to be striving towards.
The "taxation is theft" mantra exclusively serves the status quo — especially plutocrats and oligarchs.

2023-08-16 22:37:00

- reply

It'd be cool if this were a honey pot.
That's what we should do, offer a honey pot screen saver!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honeypot_(computing)

2023-08-15 05:17:31

I'm planning on going to Bitcoin++ in Berlin, NixOS edition:
https://discourse.nixos.org/t/bitcoin-nix-edition-berlin-germany-oct-6-7/31135
This will include the option to switch into a configuration with the full Fort Nix nix-bitcoin suite (derivation) running in a NixOS native (systems-nspawn) container, and other services running in Podman, Docker, or LXC containers or virtual machines.
May also include Sphinx hosting and NOSTR relay containers.
Oh, and Wireguard, and the mobile SSH client, mosh, and the fwknop utility, among other small features (

2023-08-13 04:29:10

- reply

Sometimes rendered as 侘寂

2023-08-13 02:10:00

空母 — aircraft carrier:
空 — empty, sky
母 — mother
An aircraft carrier is a mother spawning into the sky (emptiness).
Almost poetic.

2023-08-13 01:28:42

- reply

In case anyone os curious here are the apps I'm actively using for my 日本語の学ぶ (studying of Japanese):
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id939540371 Language Drops
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id570060128 Duolingo
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id290664053 renzo, Inc.'s 辞書 (dictionary)
☞ https://apps.apple.com/app/id1048445761 Kanji Teacher by Christian Rusche
I've one at least one session (five minutes each) of Drops, every single day for 217 days!
I don't thing I have practiced or studied anything that consistently before.
I usually two or three. Sometimes I do one or two while waiting for an appointment or a table to become available in a restaurant. I do extras before going to sleep or before getting up in the morning.
I've also managed to do Duolingo sessions every day for 214 days.
After a couple days of Drops I decided to make another go at Duolingo which I'd tried a couple years back. The five or ten minutes of overhead from Drops alone was too easy to manage, and I figure that different voices, fonts and colors, and content would help me learn the language not just one app's contents.
A typical Duolingo session takes me 10 minutes. But I also have studied the syllabic written form (仮名 — kana). I do those sessions in about five minutes each and I did two of those per day — one for 平仮名の — hiragana, and another for 片仮名 — katana. I wanted to keep relatively in sync for the katakana and hiragana because I've found that learning them separately just muddles them later.
The Duolingo kana sessions are separated into one per row of the goju on 五十音 (50 sounds). I guess I was takin taking about five sessions on each row before advancing to the next. It's a freeform grid of topics, with color highlighting for what you've started and which you've become proficient at. I'm almost completely done with those, and I'm no longer consistently doing those every day.
Those kana modules that remain are just for when I'm in the mood or have a whim. They're most just some of the advanced nuances of kana, like the use of the small っ(vs the regular つ — "tsu") which has the effected transliterated as a doubled consonant sound, like the distinct pause between the k's in "bookkeeper") and the use of little ゃ, ゅ andょfor certain exceptions to the syllabary — like しゃ ("sha") vs. しや ("shi ya") and so on. I was aware of those from previous attempts to learn the language, and they mostly follow some simply patterns. No urgent need to go through the drills on those.
So as I phased past the daily kana study, I've phased in the use of the Kanji Teacher.

2023-08-13 00:30:23

I'm studying Japanese (日本語) on my own. So far I've managed to over 215 days going through at least one lesson in each of two iPad apps: Duolingo™ and Kahootz!'s Language Drops™.
At some point, chasing around some rabbit 🐇 rabbit hole, I came across 日本の歌百選 — Japanese Hundred Songs Collection.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihon_no_Uta_Hyakusen
Without commenting on their specific collection of songs, it occurs to me that this concept could be tremendously useful to foreign students of any language. Nursery/kindergarten level songs to learn and help remember various connected collections of terms and phrases.
One song for parts of the body (hand, arm, finger, chest/torso, head, …). Another for familial relationships (mom, dad, brother, sister, cousin, …). Others for days of the week, months of the years, and other temporal terminology (today, yesterday, tomorrow, now, morning, evening, etc).
100 songs, topics, composed and recorded for each language — entwined with culturally appropriate themes, in multiple voices (male, female, child, chorus) and licensed for free use.
Then apps could incorporate these into their lessons, and karaoke (からオケ) packs for each could be available.
Songs are amazing mnemonic devices, if they're of competent composition. Most attempts to explicitly write songs for pedagogic purposes are cringeworthy. But just raises the bar. Fund contests for every language and category, and select by popularity.
Who's in? How has spare funds to donate?

2023-08-13 00:05:17

- reply

BTW: is there a really good NOSTR to web gateway available?
I'm asking because I feel like I should start my migration off of this platform, and I'd prefer to just post to NOSTR, and post links to here.
Redirect the few responses that my tweets (not 𝕏eets, not ever) garner to a canonically better conversation.
https://twitter.com/answrguy/status/1690510543382269952?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-13 00:03:20

Wise words:
… "you never (only) choose a language, you choose an entire ecosystem."
I've make this points a few times in response to language 🔥 wars on forums such as Quora.
[Also a touching low key tribute to the memory of vim's creator].
"Why Python Is Amazing" https://bit.ly/3qkPABv
https://twitter.com/answrguy/status/1690513408796631043?s=61&t=YqvuG7PQIEbz8A2KmvCNFw

2023-08-12 23:44:07

- reply

LLM chat AI systems are changing our perception of what are uniquely human skills.
Ironically, prostitution may become one of the most highly valued services because actual, in-the-flesh, interactions may remain impossible to artificially replicate/simulate.
Non-sexual, more traditional geisha (芸者) services may also also experience a resurgence for the same reasons.
Also 10x improvement may be achieved in only a bit over five years. It could follpw Moore's Law, doubling in capacity roughly every 18 months. 10x is an increment past two doublings.

2023-08-12 21:21:22

Maybe we should start a new hacking community called the Rreiverrs.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_reivers
What's with all those Rs?
☞ Reproducibility
☞ Robustness
☞ Resilience
☞ Recovery
Break it to make it … BETTERRRR!

2023-08-11 04:23:04

- reply

Probably the closest would be a the Hawala network. However, it's based entirely on trusted parties and reputation. It's generally extra-judicial (not recognized, nor enforced by law enforcement). Probably illegal, or effectively so, in many places and at many points in history.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawala

2023-07-25 16:43:12

- reply

Speak for yourself.
Here's a list of options, most of which are not for iPhone/iPad nor Android:
https://github.com/aljazceru/awesome-nostr
Many of the more interesting applications for NOSTR may be for machine-machine event handling (similar to the sorts of things we used to do with procmail handling e-mail over SMTP).

2023-07-22 20:11:32

- reply

There's a lot to unpack in the Google translation for that post.
The whole text is translated as: "One of the foods I want to have at all times"
… even with my child's level of Japanese, I can tell that this is an incomplete translation.
肉まん is "pork buns"
常備したい … I guess this translates roughly to "always ready"
食べ物 is "food"
and:
のひとつ … roughly "one of"
So I guess you mean that you're always ready for pork buns (much as I might say for pizza (ピザ).
But notice how the Google translation left out the key concept?

2023-07-21 17:20:20

- reply

That's not the appropriate framing for any discussion about development of an open and free protocol suite (such as NOSTR).
The appropriate framing is that existing and prospective users want services and content AND ARE WILLING TO PAY FOR IT.
The features should be driven by user demand and desires — not be the those of "content providers."
The major problems with commercial social media platforms emerge from the choice to cater to "providers" (most advertisers and marketers — pushing "content" on the one hand, and ingesting user data for monetization on the other).
It ultimately degenerates into the "enshittification" that's described by the Doctorow doctrine:
https://pluralistic.net/2023/01/21/potemkin-ai/

2023-07-21 17:10:15

- reply

Sphinx chat (https://buy.sphinx.chat/) still works and handle paid content very smoothly and flexibly.
You can pay (₿ over Lightning⚡️) and folks can pay subscriptions which are paid directly to your Sphinx account (peer-to-peer).
Seriously. It's so far ahead of NOSTR in this regard that it's not even worthy of comparison.
DM me and I'll set you up with a Lite node.
https://buy.sphinx.chat/
It costs a one-time fee of 3000 ṩats (less than $1 USD at today's rates).
My Sphinx ID:
022bb41d512e5d265b0073ac78428d522a4637f6c94d7bda8a6840d00ac3965814:02736e7dad83d7205826649fc17db672ce08f8e87a2b47c7785ccbf79f24e91db0:1099657510913

2023-07-18 19:01:13

- reply

Any messaging system secured by public key identification and encryption could be used as a banking and commerce platform.
But NOSTR is unique in that it also eschews centralization.

2023-07-17 08:20:36

- reply

They said だめなのか… (Translation from my Damus configuration: "is it no good").
I'm studying 日本語(Japanese); so I looked up that phrase in my iPad's 辞書(dictionary) and found 駄目ですか？as an alternate rendering of the same words.
I was asking if my translation is valid or applicable. But also in a way that こじらさん(Kojira) might find amusing, as it echos the question: Is it no good?

2023-07-16 19:47:14

- reply

駄目ですか？

2023-07-14 16:56:11

- reply

Buy the right house at the right price and under the right terms. Then, after building equity, use a HELOC to DCA into ₿
But the time to have started that plan was years ago.

2023-07-14 16:53:19

- reply

What's the source for the data underlying this chart?
And interesting takeaway: almost all real estate is collateral to some debt instrument — mortgages and equity lines of credit.
How much of these equities are also being used as collateral to gain leverage? Not just covered calls, but for various other derivatives?
How much of that gold is actually just paper (through rehypothecation gaming)?

2023-06-25 11:17:34

@npub102c…zyfp Imagine a couple in a cafe where he's drinking from a mug decorated with fine images of an assortment of pairs of stylized women's naked breasts while her mug depicts googely eyes with each pair fixed on a different bosom.

2023-06-25 11:15:40

- reply

Clearly I don't get it.

2023-06-25 11:12:36

- reply

I have to admit that Starbucks' Via instant have been okay when I've had to resort to instant coffee. https://nostr.build/i/6014887d35a2222f1637cb814445d66a8cdd9acba4b9c05ecfef0351ad65cd20.jpg