There's a fair amount of talk about anime profile pics. So, I will state for the record that: A) my profile pic is an original work that was created by a friend as a cartoonization of me for a now an comic that she started to make. It's her representation of me as a cartoon. B) I very much like some anime. I also like works out of most genre's. None of that defines me as a human being. While I think it's a mistake for anyone to base their personality off of any one thing, I also believe that it's a mistake to read too deeply into someone else's taste. For example, I sometimes have a framed photograph of a pile of dog shit on display in home. Why? Well, that photograph was a running joke between a close friend of mine who was a professional photographer at one point in his life and my father who as an amateur photographer for most of his life. They are both now deceased. Sometimes, I sit that picture out to remind myself of the good times the three of us had together. Sometimes, I put the photo up because it makes me sad. But, if someone sees it they are free to ask why I have a framed photo of dog shit. They are also free to pass judgment on me without we've knowing why I have it. It's really up to them. If they ask I will tell them stories of two brilliant and hilarious people. If they pass silent judgement, they'll never know anything about these people and it will be their loss, not mine. Snap decision making without context can be incredibly bad uses of heuristics. I'll concede, it can be necessary at times. But, in my experience, it often just leads to wasted time arguing from a place of intentional ignorance or opportunities missed while attempting broad generalizations in classifying human beings.

Verifying my Nostr Nests identity: S8BKZNx_2kb-kmWeBxmCLoBnRXJiRH2VG71ynbOsgpA

Nostr Nests

Join this audio Space

Testing.

Verifying my Nostr Nests identity: S8BKZNx_2kb-kmWeBxmCLoBnRXJiRH2VG71ynbOsgpA

Nostr Nests

Join this audio Space

Verifying my Nostr Nests identity: S8BKZNx_2kb-kmWeBxmCLoBnRXJiRH2VG71ynbOsgpA

Nostr Nests

Join this audio Space

I'm listening to Nostr history happening live in the Bitcoin Lobby Nest. Maybe. Hopefully. Okay, I like listening to nests when I get the chance.

Verifying my Nostr Nests identity: S8BKZNx_2kb-kmWeBxmCLoBnRXJiRH2VG71ynbOsgpA

Nostr Nests

Join this audio Space

Something I learned in my early days of political activism was to "meet people where they are," meaning: whatever it is you wish to discuss with them, do so on common ground. Over the last decade and a half or so, it seems to me that that is a concept that has gone out of favor. I think that is a mistake. A deep, terrible mistake. I needn't agree with everything anyone says to find common ground. And, if I don't work to find the common ground, the chances of reaching that person goes way down. And what's the point of the conversation if all I'm doing is earning bonus points from those who already agree with me? I've not furthered my cause. I've not made a positive impact. I've only shown any audience that feeling like I've "won" is more important to me than furthering my reach and my cause. Seems a bit silly to me to not meet people where they are. But, hey, that's just me.

I don't play the role of maxi on Facebook. Knowing my audience is something I strongly believe in. I do, however, try to give my "friends" things to think about. This is my most recent post. Now, as always, I wait for the arguements. But, I don't post these things for the people who will argue and never listen. I post them for the people who read them and maybe think about what I've written. The post: If you don't understand what is happening to the USD and how that's going to impact you, I suggest that you do some serious reading. It's not a secret. It's not being hidden. The US government is denying that it's a problem while madly scrambling to do anything to offset the mounting and inevitable problems. Not the least of these actions is attacking fiat on and off ramps to Bitcoin and crypto. Biden and Warren are desperate to stop the average person from having any chance of protecting what little wealth they possess. They are desperate to protect their own class along with their friends like Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger, and Jamie Dimon. And they'll gleefully make it difficult if not impossible for the average person to feed their families over the coming years so they can protect their banking partners. But, no matter what they try, the dollar is failing as the world reserve currency. It will continue to fail no matter how much the destroy the wealth of the average person. And, for what it's worth, there at plenty of Republicans who are gleefully onboard with Biden and Warren. It's important to remember that one of the primary issues that both parties tend to believe in is the necessity of protecting the US banking cartel even at the expense of the people. (And out of fairness, there are politicians in both sides of the aisle that do advocate for some financial freedom.) But, the long and short of this post comes down to this: If you don't own some gold, silver, or bitcoin (and, for this purpose, it's bitcoin, not "crypto" that you'll need), you're going to find yourself in a very terrible situation sooner than you think. Do what you want. Listen to me if you want. But, if you give two shits about your future, at least look into the imminent fall of the dollar as the world reserve currency and what that means to the US public.

Every time I listen to Janet Yellen speak, I honestly wonder what the thought process was behind appoiting her to the position of US Treasury Secretary. Even if, for whatever reason, someone thinks she's in the right path or whatever, she always comes across as ill-prepared, confused, and in a perpetual state of being startled. Of course, I think that pretty much all of her ideas are awful and she's generally either lying or wrong, so that could certainly play into my bias. All the same, I just get the sense that she instills confidence in basically no one.

#[0] recommend

I think it's about time for me to start looking at setting up my own bitcoin node. You all have convinced me whether you meant to or not. But, there's a catch: I'm not overly tech savvy. I'm fine as long as I have detailed instructions, however, in most tech projects I attempt there tend to be, often in the middle of the instructions, some assumed knowledge that I don't possess. I don't mind the digging and learning, but about half of the time, I find contradictory information and get stuck. So, if I could get some direction toward resources before I start, that would be wonderful. Unless I'm told otherwise, I'm hoping to use a raspberry pi 4 4GB for the node. Thanks, friends.

Verifying my Nostr Nests identity: S8BKZNx_2kb-kmWeBxmCLoBnRXJiRH2VG71ynbOsgpA

Nostr Nests

Join this audio Space

I never really used the blue bird app. At least, I never really posted anything. I only opened the app to find news that I want finding otherwise. Why didn't I post on Twitter? Because, while I have no problem being confrontational. For that matter, when I was younger, I often enjoyed being confrontation. However, I don't find confrontation for the sake of confrontation to be generally useful. Twitter, in my experience, is a whole lot of confrontation for the sake of confrontation. Now, on nostr, I find myself far more inclined to post. I've seen very little confrontational behavior here and even less confrontation for the sake of confrontation. I don't need a safe space. I just don't feel all that inclined to waste my time and energy on a stupid space.

Morning coffee thoughts: I think it's important to remember that we are a part of the network effect. By using nostr, we make it stronger and more useful. By being bitcoiners, we make it stronger and more useful. However, if we cloister ourselves too much or for too long, we decrease the positive impact we, as individuals, can have. So, I think it's important that we remember to interact with other parts of the world. So, when we're out in the world dealing with normies, I think it's important to bring something positive to as many interactions as as we can. If we bring something positive in small, seemingly unimportant interactions with others, it's more likely that they'll be receptive if they find us talking about nostr or bitcoin or anything else. If this is true, then we need not, in most cases, try to orange or purple pill people. We just need to be a positive memory, even a small one, when they discover that we are nostr users or bitcoiners. And, rereading this before I post, I'm not sure if my coffee has taken effect yet. But, hey, I'll post it anyway in case it makes sense to some people.