People talk about not taking screenshots of your private keys. Once on an Internet-connected device, malware can target and recognize screenshots. Stay safe out there, anon.

The Hacker News

New Android SpyAgent Malware Uses OCR to Steal Crypto Wallet Recovery Keys

SpyAgent malware targets Android users, steals crypto wallet keys using OCR. Spreads via fake apps, evolves to use WebSockets. Expands from South Kore

From one of my favorite books, Zinky Boys, about real-life perspective from the Soviet soldiers who were staged in Afghanistan during the 1980s. “I still remember the way a twenty-year-old shouted, ‘I don’t want to hear about any political mistakes! I just don’t want to! Give me my two legs back if it was all a mistake.” “They were told they were on a holy mission and that their country would remember them. Now people turn away and try to forget the war, especially those who sent us there in the first place.” “It's three years since my son died and I haven't dreamt about him once. I go to sleep with with his vest and trousers under my pillow. 'Come to me in my dreams, Sasha. Come and see me!' But he never does. I wonder what I've done to offend him.”

One of the most gripping stories I've ever read about the realities of war journalism that absolutely pulls no punches. "Chris’ own stories were full of complicated people trying to pursue lives that had meaning, sometimes hurting others and themselves along the way. “Why did I come here?” he wrote in his journal in east Ukraine in 2015. “Many reasons I guess, but I don’t think I can hope to articulate them in a way which justifies my presence here, or the risks I’m willing to take, to an outsider.” “Death’s a bloody serious affair,” he wrote, quoting Graham Greene. “Indeed it is. But once we choose a path which takes us down this road, the part we play is for real. This is no stage play, but a life lived fully conscious of the consequences which may come with our decisions. This is part of what it truly means to choose, and therefore to live.”

HuffPost | Death of a Freelancer

Christopher Allen reported in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Who was looking out for him?

Here are a few lessons I've learned selling physical goods for sats/Bitcoin. 1- Have multiple Lightning wallets up just in case something goes wrong with any of them. @`ZEUS`has a POS system that is useful if you're selling the same-priced items. Generally having this setup maximizes the ideal checkout experience (one QR code, quickly drawn out, quick scan). Make sure to do liquidity management if it's your own node before major events. 2- It's a powerful thing to offer items for sale with the default option for most people (cards) removed. 3- From what I can see people love paying for goods in sats, there's a rush to it, and it's a way to further orange-pill. Yes, there are abstract debates on store-of-value and medium-of-exchange, but try to beat the feeling of zapping someone magic Internet money for something that ends up in your hands that minute. 4- Bitcoiners love physical, tangible goods like books.

One of the things that really sobers me is all of these restrictions, bans and arrests are happening in relative peacetime. Imagine what will happen in a war where countries have their backs against the wall - and some countries will have to fight wars or will be more prone to wars based on economic parity/debt cycles. Best to prepare on Nostr and Bitcoin for what is likely to come in the next 10-20 years.

Welcome new users to Nostr! Probably the most helpful resources I've seen for those curious, for example in #introductions: 1- A lot of people will try to "zap" you. This means sending you Bitcoin for your posts via Lightning Network. If you set up a wallet, you'll get the sats and be able to send them. Probably the easiest way to do it is with @`Wallet of Satoshi`. I've heard that @`primal`has a setup for those in the United States. This guide covers how: https://nostr.how/en/guides/setup-zapping-wallet 2- Though people have been sharing their npubs, there is a way to create a more human-readable NIP-05 like the one I have (loki@nostr-verified.com) that can be easier to share. This guide covers how:

Nostr.how

Get NIP-05 verified

How to verify your identity on Nostr to get a verification checkmark and an easier way to share your account.

3- If you're interested in running your own Lightning Node and relay, there are tools like @`Start9`and @`Umbrel ☂️` that can help.

Node Academy

Node Academy

Node Academy is an initiative of Vancouver Bitcoiners to help enthusiasts getting started with their own Bitcoin Lightning Network node. It is part...

from @`Leo` is a great resource on how to spin up a Lightning Node on your own.

usenostr

How to host a Nostr relay with strfry · usenostr

Step-by-step guide to running your own Nostr relay using strfry, Docker and Caddy. Includes TLS setup and basic operation.

works for setting up a Nostr relay. The two together are immensely powerful - and show the fullest potential of Bitcoin and Nostr. Be your own social media, your own app store, and your own bank - censorship-proof.

My favorite movies are fairy tales for adults: The Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki Pan's Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro Black Swan by Darren Aronofsky I'd love to get more suggestions along the same vein.

We sold ~30 books at the Bitcoin Block Party in Vancouver and of those, 90%+ were done with Lightning payments. We had no way of accepting debit card/credit card payments on-site for the bookstore and still managed to basically sell out. A few observations: 1- Bitcoiners love physical goods. Having a book in hand and being able to put it on a bookshelf still gives off a ton of good vibes. The demise of books seems oversold. 2- People did ask for audio versions of books and etc., so it's still critical to reach people looking for information about Bitcoin in the way that they prefer. 3- For those curious, @npub1trr5...hdpu's book, Hidden Repression, absolutely killed the game - the bookstore was out of its copies before the first hour was over. 4- Special props to @npub1s05p...eyhe who sent two signed copies of The Price of Tomorrow - they're in very good hands! 5- People came up and asked me about the writing process behind my book "Would Mao Hold Bitcoin" and I was able to sell and sign all copies I had on hand. The support from people in the Vancouver community and beyond as well as continuing curiosity, remains amazing. Onwards! Already looking forward to the next edition of the Bitcoin Bookstore, hopefully coming to a city near you.

China could have been a vastly different country if Hu Yaobang - who thought Mao left nothing worth emulating, wanted freedom of the press, and wanted to erode centralized leadership and his faction of reformers had kept power. Instead, his death sparked the Tiananmen Square Protests that was the nail in the coffin for his "heir" Zhao Ziyang's career. And ironically, Hu Yaobang's rehabilitation of Xi Zhongxun, Xi Jinping's father, has led to a China now governed by the principles he always feared would root the Party out - a central tyrant like Mao who believes in crushing even the smallest pockets of dissent.

The Long Reach of Hu Yaobang

China’s famous political reformer ironically helped pave the way for Xi’s current crackdown on dissent.

It's @npub1rxys...hnp8 at Vancouver in Funk Coffee. Vancouver easily has one of the most underrated Bitcoin meetup scenes in the world

In an attempt to get more Bitcoin-related content and CBDC to non-Bitcoin events (that usually avoid Bitcoin content because they're sponsored by alts), I have to give credit to @npub17xvf...c9as for advancing panels on Nostr and CBDCs. CBDC and human rights panel featuring me, @npub1n2m8...gflr, and @npub1tl8r...2v29:

SXSW PanelPicker®

Nostr panel featuring @npub1a2cw...w83a, @npub1qny3...95gx, and @npub12vkc...pugg:

SXSW PanelPicker®

Vote for them both and help us spread the orange and purple pill among one of the largest audiences on Earth. There's until August 18th to vote content in. CC: @jack, @npub1trr5...hdpu, @npub1wlkf...qwhy, @npub1rscu...peqk, @npub1szpa...h3td,

1940s Los Angeles became the cultural capital of German and Austrian exiles - taking the cafes of Munich, Berlin, and Vienna and placing them between physical paradise and writing purgatory. In LA, airy aristocrats like Thomas Mann were put together with Marxist firebrands like Bertolt Brecht - what ensued was boredom, tedium, but also resilience and hope - and some of the most defining post-war literature to reflect on what led Germany to madness. I often wonder about what city or perhaps online community this might mean for the exiles of Ukraine, Russia, Iran, China and more. Perhaps Nostr?

The New Yorker

The Haunted California Idyll of German Writers in Exile

Wartime émigrés in L.A. felt an excruciating dissonance between their circumstances and the horrors unfolding in Europe.