🇪🇸 V and I travelled back to Mallorca over last weekend. We did get to enjoy superbly sunny weather in Belfast before we left and I have included a few more photos below. We are somewhat repeating our tried and tested travel schedule, but there are also quite a few extensions and variations ahead.

It was nice to check back into the same apartment that we had last year. One advantage of planning ahead and having good relations with people around the world is that you can come back to familiar locations. Everything really was pretty much as we left it last June. It is really nice to be back here again and we have quickly settled into our daily routine here including daily yoga and swimming in the sunshine.

We are staying in Santa Catalina part of Palma. We really like this area - everything is very convenient. For example the Market is just a few minutes walk and V loves to do her shopping there. It is also a great place to drop in for local food and snacks and it is a real center for people to meet and chat - very nice!

Among other things we are back at the Tennis Club and enjoying the facilities there very much. We also enjoy our weekly Tai Chi sessions. I am also back in contact with many friends and bitcoiners from here and we have quite a few meetups planned in the weeks ahead.

Interview of the week - and resulting thread

This really is a "must-listen" interview by Hrvoje. TBH - I had always associated Margaret with Tess who read her article "Mistakes were NOT made" but you will find that Margaret covers much more ground and they map it out in this discussion. Listen, learn and be better informed.

ICYMI - here below is Dr Tess Lawrie reading Margaret's article. Every word in this is true and it hits home harder now that when she first read it two years ago.

As Tess explains - mistakes were NOT made. The actions that were taken were premeditated and globally coordinated in contravention and disrespect of established law and human rights. Also read by Mike Yeadon and Vera Sharav.

So - what does all this mean? Check this article below - sad but true - it is worse than you ever wanted to hear but closing your eyes and ears solves nothing.

Pulling the thread...

After all of that, you may well want to listen to another one of the monthly updates that Hrvoje does with a couple of well-informed folks from around the world. I understand that some may find this a step too far, but as with pretty much all the material in these newsletters - just bookmark it and you can return to it when you are ready.

Behind the scenes - meet Hrvoje

A few words on Hrvoje - he is a writer and podcaster living in Mexico (but with a very international background) and he interviews interesting people all the time. His hallmark is to seek out and interview people from diverse perspectives. Meet Hrvoje - click below:

BTW - this was recorded by Teace Snyder; you ought to recall his video, Blindfold - if not check it out now.

More in this issue

• Photo memories - Belfast and Palma de Mallorca this week
• Project Updates - GrapheneOS and Cashu
• Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
• Closing out - The Immortal within and more

🛠️ Project Updates

I had time this week to get back hands on with some project work. I really enjoy these activities and it is great to be collaborating with others, building useful things and doing useful work. What about your projects?

GrapheneOS Installation

This week I got round to installing GrapheneOS in my Pixel 7a. I am so happy with the result and I am sharing with you the steps and some observations on the process in case you are motivated to do this yourself.

The entire process takes about 20 minutes - that's all. You just need to follow the instructions on their website and I do recommend that you use the Web Installer.

A few remarks you may find helpful for the install process:
- It is easiest to do on Mac, Linux requires a few extra steps - if you are on Windoze I recommend that you make getting off that your priority!
- You do need to create a first Android user (you will erase it shortly). No need to upgrade Android (indeed after the Pixel 4a debacle you likely want to avoid this) but you do need a WiFi connection to be able to Enable OEM unlocking.
- Other than that, just go step by step and follow the instructions exactly
- the first thing to install is F-Droid (do this with Vanadium) - from there you can install Aurora Store and you are off to the races
- I do recommend that you set up multiple user profiles and share F-Droid and Aurora store with each of the profiles
- Set other profiles NOT to run in background
- Talk to me if you have questions or want to know more

Cashu - from strength to strength

Cashu development is alive and well and proceeding apace on many fronts. Remember that I am offering you the possibility to try it out yourself and get your first bitcoin. Check the instructions here.

What makes Cashu eCash particularly interesting is not just its privacy-enhancing properties, but its economic implications—introducing a new layer of financial instruments that could reshape how Bitcoin circulates. Let’s explore what this technology brings to the table and what its long-term consequences might be.

This is a great article and I encourage you to check Santiago's other articles - he writes on many interesting things.

🔗 Links for your edification

The following are links from my NetNewswire feeds - learn, enjoy and share.

Are you not entertained?

You should know by now that I always research widely and consider many opinions on important or significant topics. Recall too that we have discussed the benefits of Ethical Skepticism before.

So it is that I have a selection of insights and opinions for you to consider on the fallout of "Liberation Day" and all the chaos that has ensued. I include these below for your "entertainment". These are all possible plot scenarios. In case you do not get the reference: "Are you not entertained" was Maximus in Gladiator challenging the Roman elite and the mob’s thirst for violence, exposing the hollowness of their spectacle.  It feels rather appropriate to what is going on today.

As you read and listen to these things, remember that multiple things can be true at the same time. Remember too that just because you disagree with one point in a discussion, that does not discredit or invalidate the entire discussion.

Ex Investment Banker opinion

Raoul is a somewhat contentious character and does promote his payable services but he and Julien do give you a rather clearly thought-through and well presented opinion here and you may well do well to listen and assess along with the other information you have.

As you might expect, Raoul tackles the situation from a completely different (Macro) perspective. He and Julien have lots of graphs and seeming historical correlations and leading indicators. I guess the key question is to what extent is history relevant in current times and to what extent there are new factors at play. We will see - they seem pretty confident.

Crypto-Bro opinion

Guy too offers his insights. The most intriguing insight is that Grok, ChatGPT and Claude all propose Trump's formula as a simple way "to impose tariffs to get to zero bilateral trade deficit". Might this be the right answer to the wrong question? Could things really be so stupid? Honestly, nothing would surprise me.

0:35 Liberation Day 6:11 Borrowing From History 8:31 Part of the Plan? 10:47 The Purpose of a System is What it Does 15:42 The Fallout

For those looking for it, Techlead's take on the situation is here.

Former President Regan's opinion

This is rather interesting. This particular clip was even Tweeted on X by the Chinese Embassy in Washington DC. Wisdom from 1987 and hard to argue against.

CTO Larsson's opinion

This one is a must-watch. CTO teaches you Economics 101 and how free trade is the way to maximise profit for all involved, regardless of who is better at what. Just watch it and much will become clear.

Economic Advisors who are unaware of this have been described as "dumber than a sack of bricks". There seems to be at least one of those.

And contrarian views are available too

If you wondered if/how anyone could defend the current situation, look no further than Tom. He seems convinced that things are proceeding as per plan. Click below and he will explain it to you.

Yet one other possibility is that you have been watching an "Order out of Chaos" play. Considering what happened on Wednesday, I would not rule this out.

After all that - perhaps now you understand why I encourage people to "opt out". It's OK (and can even be fun) to observe it but do not allow your energy to be drained by any of this nonsense. As Hrvoje, Monica and Mike discussed above, there are many better ways to be spending your time and much more useful things that you can do. This is why I am supporting Bitcoin scaling solution development - recall that we discussed this when we reviewed the book Parallels and considered Parallel and Alternative systems. What are you doing?

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything."
~ Albert Einstein

Your language has been hijacked - can you see it?

George Orwell warned us in 1984: “A person growing up with Newspeak as his sole language would be unable to conceive of the ideas of freedom or rebellion, because the words for them would not exist in any form he could understand.” It’s less about censorship and more about engineering a mental prison through linguistic starvation.

Listen as James gives you quite a few relevant and pertinent examples of this technique being used on you today. And, this warning comes from his video of 2017 - don't say that you were not warned.

Vaccine math nobody added up ...until now

It pains me to share this next one but the evidence is now totally overwhelming and indisputable. For sure this is not what anyone (especially parents) wants to hear or discover but ignoring the truth does not make it go away.

🤔 Closing Thoughts

From time to time I do come across exceptionally good explainer material on important or significant topics. This week a couple popped up and they are both worth sharing. They relate to topics that we have discussed before. But before that, here is an excellent, positive and motivating one from Jason.

The Immortal within

I have shared Jason's book (and the audio reading) before. In this short video clip he explains some of the insights behind it. Just listen and you will learn lots. It's a short one, so there is no excuse.

Two good explainers

You ought to recall that we have discussed both Gnosticism and Hermeticism before - in addition to Buddhism and other Eastern religions. You ought also to be aware that these belief systems allow (even encourage) you to go very deep in your own analysis and journey.

Remember - if you keep doing the same thing, you will keep getting the same result. I know many who are looking for different results in life - my opinion is that these are beneficial routes to explore. Do or do not - that is your choice.

This next one is not AI produced, rather it is the result of personal analysis and presentation skills. As you study more you will see many similarities and cross-overs with older schools and teachings - it is good to be well informed rather than propagandised, so I encourage you to listen also to this one.

For those who want to read and study more - the Go-To book is The Kybalion:

You can read the book for free from Guttenberg project and/or I recommend reading/watching and listening to this reading on Youtube. 

I have got to recommend Master Key Society as a source of many great reads. Each of these is read from a physical classic book that you can follow along as the reader reads to you. Enjoy!

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No one can be told what The Matrix is. You have to see it for yourself.
- Morpheus to Neo in The Matrix

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You can also email me at: LetterFrom@rogerprice.me

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