9/11 - the 25th anniversary

237 - Bye bye, Belgium

Roger Price

12 Sep 2026 • 11 min read

🇧🇪 🇵🇹 As this newsletter goes out, V and I are back on the road to our next destination. We last visited it for our honeymoon, all those years ago so we are looking forward to getting back to visit again. Our stay this time will be a bit shorter than planned due to our extended trip in Belgium, but that is the joy of travelling!

Due to the last minute nature of the Belgian stay I forgot that I had declined to go to the Swift Alumni gathering in La Hulpe since I was expecting to be abroad! It was nice to see the pictures of many that I had not seen since I left Belgium and even before that. I have made a note that if we are here next year (2 Sep 2027), I'll check it out though it is quite a trek to get from Nieuwpoort to La Hulpe by public transport and back!

Apart from that V & I have done about everything that we had planned for this trip. We are heading South for a few days of R&R and then one last swing North for family and friends before we head East for the winter.

Anniversary of the week

With the 25th anniversary of 9/11 this Friday, it seems appropriate to reflect a bit on what happened that day and since. James Corbett puts all the official statements and the conclusions from the 9/11 Commission into one 5 minute overview. You really must take 5 minutes to refresh your mind on all the things you have been told as truth.

Take five minutes to listen to the official story of events on the day

There are a few brave people who have dug in to investigate and speak out on the crimes that have been (and continue to be) committed against populations by their governments.

If you have not yet watched it should should watch the documentary, "Loose Change" - this has wakened many up to what really happened.

Click for the soldier's tale - you need to know this

After that, listen to Hrvoje's recent interview of Korey Rowe, the producer of the documentary and former soldier. He tells a fascinating story.

Click for summary and notes and to listen to the full discussion

Eye-opening as all that was, it is but the tip of the iceberg. There is a perpetual rumble of lesser events of this nature to keep people on edge, accepting of additional controls and trusting in the need for their government "to protect them".

🛠️ 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?

Fedimint - it is getting real

Thanks to Matt Odell for yet another fantastically informative interview. Thanks also to Eric, Joscha and Hermann for all the work they have been doing. Fedi is an important component in enabling Bitcoin to be used as money in and between communities.

Like Cashu it is based on Chaumian eCash, however unlike Cashu it aims for out-of-the-box deployment into communities where it enables and empowers local community leaders to take ownership for running the infrastructure.

Click for summary and notes - also to listen to the full discussion

In the coming weeks I'll be looking into setting up my own Fedimint. Watch out for updates and let me know if you are interested to participate in this learning exercise too.

DHH and Omarchy

Let me say up front that I am somewhat suspicious of Lex - he does seem to be a "larger than life" character. That said (and maybe not unrelated) he does seem to have access to rather interesting people for his interviews.

This is one such interview and best saved for a hike or a long walk or two. I really enjoyed it. You have got to admire DHH's apparent boundless optimism and enthusiasm. He is someone who has delivered many interesting products, not least this latest flavour of Linux, Omarchy.

Click for notes and to listen to the full discussion

Regarding Omarchy, it certainly seems to be remarkable in many respects and I loved the discussion on how Linux can, and will, likely become dominant for end-users in the coming years. It is indeed true that the arcane nature of Linux commands and messages is exactly what makes it eminently suitable for AI tooling to let it leapfrog the (stodgy big tech) alternatives. I know that some will be tempted to "give it a whirl". For my part, I will be sticking with Linux Mint for now - for me, and likely the vast majority of people, the most important thing is stability - it should just not break. Linux Mint sits in the sweet spot and hits the right buttons for now for me.

Meanwhile, in the real world...

Bitcoin Rails Gain, Monero Leads is a report summarizing the most used cryptocurrencies (digital currencies that use encryption to secure transactions) for payments on the NanoGPT platform during August 2026.

Monero remained the most popular choice, representing 38.55% of all deposits. Bitcoin saw a significant increase, with its total share—including its Lightning Network - climbing to 26.90%. Stablecoins, specifically USDT (Tether) and USDC (USD Coin), accounted for 18.39% of the volume.

All of this is interesting because this is still an unregulated (and hence free) market and it reflects rather well people's preferences. I really love how you can try out all the models and compare one against the other, picking those which work best for particular tasks and with no lock-in subscriptions. Paying with Monero and Bitcoin is like living in the future!

🔗 Links for your edification

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

The News you did not hear

You might have noticed that the news has picked up again about the Middle East and also Ukraine. All of this happening now as the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches is no coincidence - remember: There are no coincidences!

Simon's take on the situation and his outlook sound about right to me and many that I talk to. If you have not yet looked into this, now is a good time. BTW: it is NOT a coincidence that the BRICS summit happens in New Delhi on Sat and Sun 12 & 13 September, the day after 9/11.

Click for summary and notes and to listen to the full explanation

Independently corroborating some of Simon's conclusions, this recent one from Andre Jikh also seems to be rather well "over the target", at least in the short-medium term.

Click for summary and notes and to listen to his full explanation

You should know by now that I am never one to take things at face value. I find it is often good to consider the Contrarian Viewpoints - at least as thought experiments. So it is that I encourage you to listen to Saifedean's address on stablecoins to the Los Angeles Bitcoin conference in 2025.

Click for summary and notes and to listen to the full address

TLDR: Tether is widely assumed to be bullish for the US dollar, having "found a whole new generation of bag holders around the world to buy the treasury shitcoin". Ammous runs the numbers on the most optimistic scenario imaginable and concludes Tether cannot meaningfully rescue US fiscal dynamics — while Tether's accumulation of Bitcoin makes it, in time, a bridge away from the dollar!

On a lighter note

I think it is rather important to stay mentally alert and to keep exercising such skills - the brain is like a muscle in this respect - use it or loose it, as Dagogo's article last week explained.

Every day one of the first things that I do it to work through a couple of dozen Scrabble games that I have on the go with people around the world. I also work through a harder Sudoku game or two. In the evenings, V and I often enjoy doing Word Games together, like Wordle/Hootie - it is interesting how we each can see things that the other misses!

Playing cards are also excellent to keep your mental abilities sharp - I recently came across something a little more recreational in this respect but there is certainly strategy here too - enjoy.

Click for a card game you likely did not know about

What are your favourite games and what techniques do you use to stay sharp and alert?

💡

If it is in the news - it is a ruse. There are no coincidences.

🤔 Closing Thoughts

Some four years ago I recommended Matthew Walker's book, "Why we sleep" as book of the week. Check it out and refresh your memory here. With four years of additional insights and some hindsight this may well have been "Selective Disclosure" - ie intended to give people so much knowledge and insight (mixed with a bit of misleading disinformation) than they would be satisfied and not want to investigate further.

For those who also see this, a first book to pick up is Robert Monroe's book, "Journeys out of the body", written way back in 1971. I have been reading it recently and it is a fascinating predecessor companion to Matt's book.

In the book, Monroe recounts how, unpredictably and without willing it, he found himself leaving his physical body to travel in a "second body" to locales far removed from physical and spiritual reality, unbound by time or death. He describes the disconcerting "vibrations" that precede separation, and organises his journeys by theme into three realms, alongside practical tips on how to get out of your body, all told with wry humour.

I am well aware that much of this discussion is controversial and that, even among those those who have heard of The Monroe Institute, there is a lot of skepticism about the origin and motivation of much of what he describes, not least in the (im)famous 30 page CIA document.

Click to read the definitive documentation

All that said, you might want to make your own informed opinion after looking deeper into this academic research and the plethora of material and personal accounts that you will find when you look. One such account is here from Haley - you decide:

TLDR: To achieve an out-of-body experience (OBE), you should focus on achieving deep physical relaxation while maintaining a sliver of conscious awareness. Key strategies include using Wake-back-to-bed (WBTB) techniques, pre-planning a consistent exit method, and cultivating curiosity rather than expectation to bypass the analytical mind.

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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

How to exit the matrix - do you see it yet? Click here: Morpheus will explain it to you

Any questions or anything else? Feel free to comment below!
You can also email me at: LetterFrom@rogerprice.me

🤔

"99% of all subjects accepted the program if they were given a choice - even if they were only aware of the choice at an unconscious level"
- The Architect

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