GM Nostr! I'm back after a bit of a self-enforced social media hiatus. It was Nostr, Twitter, everything. I was more than a little burnt out after BTC HEL. I didn't really get a proper break after the conference, since I went straight back to my fiat job the next day. All I had energy for was keeping the lights on at @Bitcoin Infinity Media . I was also more than a little shaken up by Charlie Kirk's death. I won't say much more about that here, but the TLDR is I did a lot of thinking about the risks of being public and saying controversial things. I was strongly considering taking a big step back from the space. Nope! I'm back, and ready to get started on new things! I got out to a couple of fantastic conferences, first BTC Balkans in Sofia, Bulgaria, then the Plan B Forum in Lugano. My Bitcoin batteries are fully recharged, even if I was pretty exhausted after a week of conferencing. Reconnecting with old friends and making new connections is what this is all about. I especially enjoyed the Rockamoto in Lugano - I can't believe I get to do all this cool stuff! Thanks @knutsvanholm , @Sirius , and @Samson Mow for just being awesome! Looking forward to next time! As for me, it's full speed ahead with the Bitcoin Infinity Show and the Bitcoin Infinity Academy! You may have noticed that I took a step back from the Bitcoin Infinity Show - it's just Knut now, at least in front of the camera. I'm still behind the scenes doing all the editing, but I couldn't keep my schedule flexible enough to join the recordings. I miss it, and I plan to change that. And of course, I'm involved in the planning for next year's @BTC HEL - stay tuned for all the details about next year's conference, and don't hesitate to reach out if you want to speak! Thanks everyone for making this community amazing. I'm full of gratitude, and I can't wait for what's in store ahead.

Just before I went to sleep last night, I saw that Charlie Kirk had been shot, and that it didn't look good. I hoped for the best, but didn't have a good feeling. I woke up to the terrible news that he had died. This is hitting me harder than I expected. I hadn't followed his work closely. From what I saw, he had reasonable conversations with US college students, he supported his views calmly, and tried to change minds through persuasion and reasoning. It was admirable, even though I doubt I agreed with him on every issue (probably most, though). And someone killed him for that. Whats hitting me hardest is that he was not only younger than me by a few months, but that he had young kids close to the age of my son. Supposedly his wife and kids were in the audience. This is just awful. Then there are people all over social media absolutely celebrating. It's sickening. Cheering for someone's death because you disagree with them. A young father. This feels like an inflection point. I hope the world starts to see the difference between people who admired him and people who are cheering about his death. There is a good side and a bad side here. RIP Charlie Kirk.

GM Nostr! Back in the gym after a few months off. First day deadlifting again. Feels great!

I can't believe how anyone can suggest without a hint of irony or sarcasm that you have to contribute to a specific open source project in order to have an opinion about Bitcoin. This is simultaneously elitist and mind-bogglingly stupid. It's correct that Bitcoin Core is an important part of the Bitcoin technology stack, but it isn't the only client available, which is a good thing. Being able to understand the code of Bitcoin Core gives you the ability to do exactly one thing: understand the code of Bitcoin Core. It says absolutely nothing about your ability to understand the implications of changes to the system, of what users want, or the purpose of Bitcoin itself, for that matter. Bitcoin Core developers are developing a product, and their customers are the users of the Bitcoin network. The Core developers don't get to dictate what the users are supposed to think. It's entirely the other way around. If the users don't like something Core plans to do, Core shouldn't make the change. Core ignored its users, so now they're getting fired, by users switching to an alternate client.

The biggest flaw of the pro-Core position, in my view, is that it's purely an appeal to authority, specifically the authority of the Core developers. In Bitcoin, you're supposed to not trust, but verify. But we're being told to trust this group of developers who ram through a controversial change without listening to the community. And you can verify what they're doing, too. This change doesn't need to happen. It's perfectly valid to oppose the changes made in Bitcoin V30. It's sickeningly elitist to suggest that you're not supposed to have an opinion about Bitcoin unless you contribute to the code. That's not how this works.