The larger threat to Bitcoin is not core devs adopting a central planner mentality and trying to force through an aggressive protocol change. It's a lack of experienced developers familiar with the codebase, who are capable (and willing) to do deep code review on even the smallest updates. The inflation bug of 2018, for instance, was not the result of some radical soft fork. It was the result of a minor optimization to bitcoin core that got merged with barely anyone looking at it. Central planners are easy for even most non-technical bitcoiner to spot. What few seem to grasp is that by creating a culture that is hostile to developers - that treats every core dev as though they are an attack on bitcoin - you end up with insufficiently reviewed and maintained, yet vitally important software. The worst of all worlds. What we should do is welcome developers with open arms, assume good intentions, and trust ourselves to be able to spot anyone developing a Mike Hearn complex.

I like the orange coin. I don't trust the orange man.

There’s nowhere better than New Zealand in fall 🍁 GE.

Never forget the 23rd of May. The day the big blockers tried to steal it all away.

GE. Happy Bitcoin Pizza Day

Me, opening lightning channels with friends so they can receive payments

If I want to buy a car that isn't just a surveillance device on wheels, what are my options? And how far back do I need to look? Should I be browsing the market for Rav4s from the 90s and then retrofit it with apple car play and better speakers?

I recently visited Hong Kong for the first time in years. Even on my last visit in late-2019, when protesters were still out in full force, it was clear the city was dying - gradually being deformed from a bastion of freedom into ‘just another city in China’. I grew up in HK in the 90s before my mother moved us to New Zealand. I would return every year to my visit my father, and spent my gap year and college summers there as well. The city had an incredible energy, and the sense of freedom was unlike anywhere else. It’s sad that those who didn’t know it during that time have no point of reference, and can’t see what was lost. They just see what it is today: Shenzhen + the ability to use google without a VPN. For those that do know the Hong Kong of old, visiting today feels like watching one of those horror films where the murderer wears the face of their victim. Things superficially look the same, but soul is gone. I had hoped to revisit some of my old haunts, including doing the Victoria Harbour Ferry Zig-Zag that leo@lightning.engineering charted out in a blog post: https://blog.liongrass.hk/2020/05/04/victoria-harbour-ferry-zigzag/#more-916. I found I had very little motivation, though. The weather and pollution were also abysmal, which mirrored my spirits and seemed appropriately funereal.

GM

GE

“Every normal man must be tempted, at times, to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats.” - HL Mencken

Does anyone else feel gripped by panic when restoring a hardware wallet, wondering if this is finally the one that got tampered with by the NSA whilst in transit?

This entire thread between Shinobi and Lyn is very worth reading. And, it's one of the exceedingly occasions where I find myself disagreeing with Lyn somewhat. As much as I am in the "slow and steady" camp when it comes to making changes to Bitcoin, I am also in the "go big or go home" camp. My sense is that Shinobi is as well. When you look at the ripple effects of the Samourai arrests alone (Wasabi shutting down globally, Phoenix shuttering in the US, Mash shutting down, Madeira Fedimint closing...), the idea of bitcoin scaling solely through custodial lightning banks seems far more tenuous than it did just a month ago. And to pursue this vision is to put a lot of stock in Bitcoiners being able to win at the ballot box and in the govt courts. It also relies heavily on a jurisdictional arbitrage thesis, which has yet to play out. We would need countries being openly willing to defy the US to protect Bitcoiners. And, in doing so, risk getting sanctioned, kicked off SWIFT, having their treasury reserves frozen, and possibly even having their ruler assassinated and regime- changed. IDK. That just seems increasingly dubious. Bitcoin is our one shot at separating money and state. It is this ridiculously brazen, Promethean endeavor to steal fire from those who imagine themselves to be gods. And yet, somewhat paradoxically, it seems to me that we risk the Bitcoin story winding more like that of Icarus - flying perpetually close to the sun and having our wings blowtorched by the State - if we aren't more bold in making changes to bitcoin that allow for greater self-sovereignty.

X (formerly Twitter)

Cory 🦢 Real Bitcoin @ Swan.com (@CorySwan) on X

Why is it that the two handles adding the least to recent public discussion of scripts and BIPs are the ones who keep saying everyone else is too d...

Is there a leaderboard of most prolific zappers anywhere?

Has anyone made a t-shirt with the rolling stones forty licks album art, only with an orange pill on the tip of the tongue? I want to buy one, and it seems too obvious not to have been created already.

Just drained my Phoenix wallet and they broadcast my tx at 12 sat/vb. Seemingly no way to fee bump.

Just drained my Phoenix wallet and they broadcast my tx at 12 sat/vb. Seemingly no way to fee bump.

Just drained my Phoenix wallet and they broadcast my tx at 12 sat/vb. Seemingly no way to fee bump.