Marius's avatar
Marius
marius@mess.ch
npub18kmu...xwnr
life, freedom, reason, btc, cln, lnbits, https://mint.mountainlake.io ⛵️🎾📷
What is the most secure way to shift funds from USD on HSBC to Bitcoin ((really) asking for a friend)? Naturally, this will go to an "un-hosted wallet" (while passing my best to all "un-divorced marriages").
I need to set some people up for Bitcoin. Coldcard or Bitbox 2 for the bulk. In addition I’d like to set people up with a “pocket wallet”. Have been recommending Blockstream Green lately. What do you think about “blue wallet”? It is cool that they cover both L1 and L2.
I am very grateful for nostr and Bitcoin - two strong anchors for everything else.
"There is no such thing as a genius in finance; if someone is being [called] a genius, they are just using leverage, they are taking risk. Without leverage, finance is just plumbing. There are no plumbers out there who can lay plumbing at 1% of the cost of everybody else. If you are in finance and you make 100 times the returns of everybody else, you are not a genius; you are using leverage, and you are going to blow up eventually." - @Saifedean Ammous
To shoot a great picture, you must choose your lens to neither lose details nor overview. In this unique and illuminating episode of WBD @npub1kvgw...v0p2 and @Lyn Alden explain why the democratic system of checks and balances has become defunct and provide an outlook to possible scenarios as we approach the 30ties of the 21st century. @Peter McCormack keeps amazing me with the quality and the diversity of his interviews.
For the freaks who contemplate running a lightning node, I wanted to share my experience with [core lightning](https://corelightning.org/). #noderunner [MINDLINER](https://1ml.com/node/03830ecd6fefbfc926a35ba474e56bb7466402570843b4936fbd984b7fbb213ac7), my first node went online five years ago. I assumed that running lightningd was similar to running bitcoind, i.e., download, start, forget. I was opening a few channels but failed to invest the time to understand the inner workings. As a result, most of the payments failed unless I opened a channel directly to the vendor. I bought [some stickers](image "All I Got Was This Sticker") and updated some pixels at [Satoshhi's Place](https://satoshis.place). After a year, I closed the channels and decommissioned the node. My next node was [KONTIKI](https://1ml.com/node/0322154776b0814c78b2675e34c232d91335ce7ad25137a079adfdb9db279429f1), and it was running slightly better. One morning, my node had a new name: "Slickerglee." I don't know what happened. Was I hacked? I did not have the time to investigate the situation. Happy that I still had my funds, I closed the channels and decommissioned ... "Slickerglee." With my next node, a [Raspiblitz]( "GitHub - raspiblitz/raspiblitz: Get your own Bitcoin & Lightning Node running - on a RaspberryPi with a nice LCD"), I made a tiny move towards de-centralization. The Raspiblitz works very well, and for the first time, I had a lightning node I could use for day-to-day payments (from sending zaps of a few sats to paying hosting invoices of several hundred dollars). In fact, I only began to appreciate _how_ well the Raspiblitz software package works after I started changing/upgrading stuff manually. Soon, I realized that I was sitting at the helm of on a rather large ship, not knowing how to maneuver. I wanted my fourth and current node [MindlinerTre]( "MindlinerTre - 02d695...080e73 - Amboss Space") to become a valuable routing node. In addition, I also wanted to understand how it works and eliminate at least a few of the blind spots in my understanding. I started out with a bare metal server and, for three weeks, stacked layers upon layers to finally have all parts working. And there is still much work left. Conclusion: It was definitely worth my time, and I appreciate the learning. There is a choice to make between two viable options: Either putting in the time to learn about the dozens of crucial components or running a well-functioning Raspiblitz (and refraining from altering it and accepting not understanding much of the setup). And now, of course, you can even run a personal node [on your phone]( which offers a new set of possibilities.
Assuming that freaks (borrowing Marty’s term) who got zapped on a repost will, of course, forward to the original author 🤙🏻
With this extension to my roof (connected since yesterday), my lightning node has become more resilient to power outages. On another note (no, literally this one), it is tough to run a lightning node _and_ understand what it is doing. Run a Raspiblitz, and everything works miraculously (cool stuff; until you start changing stuff manually). Or set everything up yourself (with help from https://bitcointv.com/w/rUELmYfAz9V7L7hZW9gq2b) and go to the deep end sweating and cursing 🎱. Either way - it is worth going for it. image
If you cannot, or will not manage your Satoshi‘s on your own, then at least store them with someone you know so you can knock at their door if necessarily.