183 - At the Belgian coast
🇧🇪 We have had a great week at the Belgian coast. We have been staying in Nieuwpoort with family. We had a week of fairly good weather and we did all the things that you would normally do at the coast.
In Nieuwpoort over the weekend we had the Sint Bernardus Festival. There was plenty of celebration on the streets with a fair and even fireworks on the beach - nice!
We did a dayrip to visit Ieper/Ypres. Strangely neither V nor I had ever been there as far as we can remember. The weather was perfectly sunny and the town is very neat and tidy with spectacular townhall (Lakenhalle) and cathedral/church - not to mention the Star Fort and all the war graves.
Another day we visited Diksmuide by boat. Surprisingly, the boat was nearly full with about 100 passengers! It was a relaxing journey along the canal and in Diksmuide we visited the AVVK war museum. I have already shared my views on this and I would say that nothing has changed - likely more of you see it now too.
Roger Price
Click to read - some thoughts from 2022
I also fitted in a few rides on the bike along the canals and waterways and I met up with a former work colleague - we last caught up out in Mallorca. We had a good catch up. Looking forward it seems that our next meetup will likely only be next year in Mallorca.
This coming weekend we will be in Antwerp - so say Hello if you are close
Europcar - customer service failure
I have another horror story for you you. Europcar used to be rather good for car rental and whilst the car was good their customer service was beyond awful via all touchpoints. I cannot recommend them and based on my recent experience I would recommend that you avoid them where possible - just like Ryanair.
On pickup normally the agent will show you the contract and highlight any charges that they want you to agree with. This time the agent refused to give me a printed copy or explain anything and told me that I "just had to sign on the iPad". He also did a hard sell trying to get me to buy extra insurance that I had already told him I did not want. Lastly, he told me that the car was "brand new with no damage".
When I got out to the car I discovered that it had over 8000km and there was unreported damage at the back and on the rear wheel and when I tried to talk to their agent at the pickup point he just waived his hand and walked off - he would not even talk to me.
The next day I found the emailed contract from the iPad and noticed that he had charged me for a full tank of petrol (EUR 133!) with no explanation. Of course I complained about this to their customer service (only accessible by email) and I reported the damage prior to pickup. For the entire period of the rental, despite several chaser emails none of these was acknowledged and their customer serice is unreachable by any other channel.
On returning the car I had printed out all the emails and I explained to issues to the Eastern European girl who handled the return - she was pleasant and helpful but said that I had to speak to the manager.
The manager was Irish and she was 100% non-stick. She insisted on justifying the pickup agent behaviour because "the entire country is on a green initiative and we have to reduce waste". I will let you determine the lunacy and customer hostility of this answer but I am sure that it checks all the DEI/ESG boxes of her training.
So - what do you think? I can only suggest that you avoid Europcar wherever possible. They are actively customer hostile and their agents seem to be incentivised against the customer in favour of their own inflated-cost options. Companies that train their staff to behave like this and defend it do not deserve our business - byocotting them and sharing experiences like this with others is the only way that they will ever take notice. Use alternatives wherever possible.
Book of the week
This week I could not resist Freedom, the successor book to Daemon by Daniel Suarez. You will recall that I really enjoyed Daemon, especially that discovery that you make in the final chapters (just like in real life).
Roger Price
Click for a spoiler-free summary of the book
This book continues right from where Daemon left off - so you may expect your new-found wisdom to make things clear and you may well hope for specific outcomes. Need I say that things do not pan out as you would hope or expect or they come with unanticipated downsides.
Pay particular attention as you read. You will be amazed at how many of the chapters reflect exactly what is currently happening around the world now and what has been happening leading up to, and since, the Covid crimes. You may well speculate that other chapters are yet to come!
More in this issue
- Photo memories - at the Belgian coast this week
- Project Updates - Liquid, Nostr and Vibe coding possibilities
- Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
- Closing out - 19th and 20th centuries as you have never seen them
Belfast to the Belgian coast
🛠️ Project Updates
The following are updates from some projects that I am following, supporting and collaborating with. These are all part of the Parallel Systems that we need to build and use. What are you doing?
Liquid solves more than you think
Liquid Bitcoin by Blockstream is rather interesting technology. It is a sidechain of Bitcoin, operated by an international federation with a 1:1 peg and numerous interesting advantages. In particular, it offers confidential transactions and 1- minute blocks with finality after 2 blocks.
Beyond that the network also serves to enable large scale testing of potential new features on the Bitcoin Network - without all the drama that accompanies Bitcoin network upgrades. Running such things on Liquid with widespread use for an extended period of time gives the confidence necessary for making the corresponding change on Bitcoin. It also allows to safely weed out things that do not have sufficient traction or demand.
This is an excellent interview with Andrew Poelstra, Director of Research at Blockstream - you will learn lots and understand how Liquid really enhances and extends the Bitcoin ecosystem - links to specific topics are below:
(01:57) - What is Liquid? (04:36) - What is Simplicity?
(11:48) - Implications of ‘formal verification’ for developers building on Liquid and Bitcoin?
(17:00) - What does Simplicity enable people to build?
(18:59) - What is a Sighash flag?
(28:35) - Could Shielded CSV be built using simplicity?
(33:32) - Zero Knowledge proofs verification with Simplicity
(43:15) - Use cases of Simplicity: Limit orders and Algorithmic trading in DeFi
(51:18) - Liquid's role in asset issuance and capital markets
(56:55) - Liquid vs. Stablecoins issuing their own Layer 1 chains
(1:02:22) - Liquid vs. other Layer 2 solutions
(1:07:53) - Closing thoughts; Developer engagement with Simplicity
Nostr and Vibe coding for all
This next one is mind-blowing and it shows what is now possible with current AI models. We really are at the point of an explosion of innovation on the Nostr network that provides worldwide access with built-in identity services and integrated decentralised payments.
This really is putting the most cutting-edge technology out there for whoever wants to pick it up and run with it. Coupled with all the features and benefits of the Nostr ecosystem that become ever-more appealing when compared with Big Tech platforms I do feel that we have arrived at a tipping point. - Try it yourself.
Next level - Photos update #3
In this latest update from Ben he talks you though how he has totally transformed his photo workflow to exactly meet his needs - much better than is possible from Apple Photos or Google Photos. All of this is done by linking together open source software through a few simple scripts generated by AI coding agents - Vibe Coding.
Click above to see what is possible. All of the software is open source and available via his substack - so you can tailor it to your own needs or use it to jump-start your own developments. In subsequent videos he will talk you through some of the technical details and steps.
Improving your privacy
You ought to know by now that Macs are much better than Windoze for privacy of your data but they are still far from perfect. I recently had to re-install my mac and should you be doing likewise or getting a new Mac you might well want to consider how to make it as private as possible. Nathalie does a GREAT job to explain the steps to consider.
Some of these suggestions will certainly be a step too far for many but others ought to fit perfectly - don't say that nobody told you! For an complementary (and very resonable) set of additional settings that you might want to consider - check here.
🔗 Links for your edification
The following are links from my NetNewswire feeds - learn, enjoy and share.
A dose of reality and flag theory
Thanks to one of my subscribers who sent me this video. It is short and to the point. He recounts his (fairly recent) experience of his bank being shut down and taking all his money. You likely do know by now that this is coming soon to many western (and so-called developed) countries as the fiat Ponzi scheme enters its end phase.
He also shares with you some rather practical tips and there is a wealth of information on his website.
What is it good for?
In Lecture 6, Saifedean does an objective walkthrough of the strengths of fiat money. You may recall that he has a similar chapter in his book, The Bitcoin Standard where he explains the strengths of Bitcoin. I'll not spoil what are the Fiat Strengths for you - it is an easy listen and if you followed the video above or have been following this newsletter for some time this should all be fairly obvious to you.
What does all this mean?
If you are wondering what all this means, I have again got to recommend that you read Lyn's newsletters. Her latest one is out - click below to read. In it she gives you the truth about the US Trade Tariffs - we have discussed this before but she independently confirms that and goes much further on all the implications.
Click for Lyn's complete explainer of what you need to know
🤔 Closing Thoughts
This is another of Jason's Archaix 4.0 series where he takes things to a whole new level. He has indeed published many videos where he describes the events that took place in and around 1902 - the last time that Phoenix visited.
In this video he looks at globally significant events that took place during the 19th and 20th centuries. You can check all the events yourself - these are well documented. What you likely have not realised is that there is correlation beyond doubt between events unfolding after 1902 with events that occurred before 1902 following a rather specific numerical sequence that cannot be coincidence.
Click for Jason's explanation and walkthrough
You likely should recall that Jason has made similarly insightful "Isometric Projections" around other years - not least of them being his Olympic Analysis and the breaking of the 7 seals.
Roger Price
Click for a full collection of related and supporting material
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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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- The Architect
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