🇭🇰 We have really settled back into our routine in HK. I have been out hiking and island hopping most days and we usually end up at Happy Valley on Wednesday evening - V has a preferred spot and we get there early to grab it!

I did go over to Kowloon for Camera and Computer shopping. This was AI-assisted, meaning that (for the camera) I told AI the type of photos I take and gave it a few constraints and it picked the best models for me to check out. It also told me suggested shopping areas (Apliu Street and Sim City) as well as prices and negotiation techniques since I am buying second hand. For the computer I had specific configurations in mind but the challenge comes when you see other models alongside and you need to compare pros and cons; AI is fantastic for this.

For the camera the recommended model was the Lumix LX100. I have had Panasonic cameras before and this seems attractive. Unfortunately the 2nd hand market in HK has been pushed up by significant buying pressure from the northern neighbours, so the choice was less than I had hoped for. There were two in Apliu Street but both turned out to have some faults that I was not happy with and the one in Sim City is actually the Leica version, so it comes with a correspondingly higher price tag. Further AI discussion suggested that a good alternative would be Olympus OM-D E-M10 which also hits most of my requirements - so that's what I got. More on this in coming weeks.

As for the computer I wanted another X1 Carbon 16GB and Gen 9 preferred. These were harder to find than I had expected - I did find several in the street behind the Golden Computer Mall. I also found one on Carousell that looks a better deal - to be continued.

Our Wednesday trip to the races fell through. Instead of Happy Valley, the races this week were in Sha Tin, way up in the New Territories! V forgot to check and our planned meeting with friends got shifted to the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club instead. Had a fabulous evening and lots of interesting discussion on many topics. I also got to visit some rather nice yachts.

Deep dive of the week

This week I'm sharing a series of items that look deeper into what is currently going on in the world and explaining why and what's next. First up is Andrei's analysis. He gives you five theories and I tend to agree with him that all are in play with theories three and four being likely predominant at the moment.

For theory four, he credits Simon Dixon. You can listen to Simon's explanation in the Links section below. Going deeper still, Peter Duke offers the final chapter of his upcoming book; you may or may not be ready for this but I found it fascinating and I have had enthusiastic response from some with whom I have already shared and discussed it.

Not good in Europe

Andrei surmises that Europe is entering a period of serious unrest, citing a wave of protests: * Over half a million protesters in France; supermarkets looted, luxury boutiques smashed, public buildings set on fire, thousands arrested. * Milan: rioters cleared one of Europe’s most famous squares. * Marches in Belgium and Portugal

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

TLDR - Five theories: fiscal collapse, failed integration, elite incentives, late-stage capitalism and the Agenda 2030 endgame. He argues that declining birth rates and debt force reliance on immigration, which has created parallel societies rather than integration. Elites (parasites) and corporations reportedly benefit from cheap labor, surveillance, and war-driven profits while the working class suffers.

To reclaim control, he advises focusing on health and wellbeing, self-education, managing your attention and securing assets that cannot be easily devalued.

More in this issue

• Photo memories - The Peak, Cheung Chau, Peng Chau, Tai O and Sim City
• Project Updates - Kobalt reader, Bitchat and Happy 18th Birthday to Bitcoin
• Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
• Closing out - The boundary condition of reality

🛠️ Project Updates

The following are updates from some projects that I am following, supporting and collaborating with. What are you doing?

Better and better

Nico is continuing apace to improve the Kobalt reader for Kobo. In this latest update he gives a whole slew of useful configuration options and provides markup and annotation which was the main thing lacking from version 1. It is now pretty much feature-complete and I am really enjoying using this as the default reader on my Kobo.

Give it a go yourself - you will quickly see and benefit from being liberated from the Walled Garden (prison?) that is Kindle.

Bitchat - grab it before you need it

Traditional messaging apps (Signal, WhatsApp etc) depend on centralized infrastructure that can be monitored, censored or disabled. Bitchat creates ad-hoc communication networks using only the devices present in physical proximity. Each device acts as both client and server, automatically discovering peers and relaying messages across multiple hops to extend the network's reach.

This approach provides censorship resistance, surveillance resistance, and infrastructure independence. The network remains functional during internet outages, natural disasters and in locations with limited power and connectivity.

Considering what the Empire is planning and orchestrating in many countries around the world currently, you likely do want to have this on your phone and know how to use it. Like that, you will be able to communicate with others when power and internet go down as they surely will.

How it could have been

Most people intuitively think they understand money. What you do not realise is that for more than a century the education system has been telling a false story, the lies of Keynesian economics and debt-based financing. In this lecture Saifedean presents his latest book, The Gold Standard, an alternative history of the 20th century where hard money ended WWI, made governments compete for citizens & enabled free trade & self-determination. Don't say that nobody told you.

Gold standard lecture

Saifedean presents his book The Gold Standard — which he describes as a work of economic fiction, an alternative history of the 20th century. He argues that the pivotal event that pushed civilisation "back into barbarism" was the First World War and, above all, how it was financed, and that Britain'

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

BTW - the lies have long been known - it's just that the truth has been suppressed and entire populations have been misled. Refresh your memory here:

US central banking

The story of America's relationship with central banking is a fascinating and recurring political drama. The two times that Americans effectively "killed" or stopped their central bank were the dissolutions of the First Bank of the United Statesin 1811 and the Second Bank of the United States in 1836.

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

The implications of all this go much deeper and I encourage you to refresh your memory on this summary that I shared a few months ago.

The Versailles significance

Dixon constructs a sweeping historical narrative around the symbolism of signing the Iran-US MOU at the Palace of Versailles, arguing that the location was not chosen by accident — it signals a new monetary architecture being born in the same place the last one was. The argument weaves together centuries

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

Bitcoin turns 18 - happy birthday!

The Bitcoin whitepaper was published on October 31, 2008, by an individual or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto. It was posted to a cryptography mailing list and is titled "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System".

The Bitcoin network itself launched about ten weeks later when Satoshi mined the Genesis Block on January 3, 2009:

Genesis block - Bitcoin Wiki

Bitcoin Wiki

🔗 Links for your edification

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

Enjoy the ride

Simon argues, rather clearly that "Bitcoin has won" and has achieved its core mission, with institutional forces like banks now focusing on custody rather than opposition. The petrodollar era is unraveling as the financial industrial complex replaces traditional military intervention in the Middle East. Global power is shifting toward multipolarity, with China emerging as a key stabilizing force amidst the decline of US hegemony.

Bitcoin has won

1. The headline: the Bitcoin "mission" is over Simon's central argument is that the original fight — Bitcoin versus the banks — has been won, and that the banks have conceded. * He says Bitcoin still does the three things he needs: he can earn in it, spend it, and the 21-

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

• The new mission for Bitcoin users involves prioritizing self-custody and using bitcoin as money with consistent long-term investment perspective and protecting against scams or hacks.
• Short-term price fluctuations are seen as inevitable due to manipulation by hedge funds like Jane Street, but these do not impact the long-term thesis.

Yet another reason to hate Apple

You do not hate Big Tech enough. Below yet another example of unethical (and possibly illegal) behaviour by Apple. Sadly this is typical of what is coming from Big Tech these days and, as you should know from Anatomy of the State, the Empire and Legal system will most likely favour Big Tech. Your best option is to opt out and refuse to participate - you have many ways to do this as we often discuss.

Obsoleting older, working devices

Apple has hardcoded a server-side check into App Store submission that rejects any app build whose minimum supported iOS version is "too old" — regardless of whether it works perfectly. The change appeared on 9 September 2026, the day the iPhone 18 series launched, which he does not believe is a coincidence - there are no coincidences.

"Apple has now hardcoded to reject all apps capable of running on iOS 12 and earlier."

The practical effect: existing apps on those devices continue to work, but no new apps and no further updates can be delivered to them — including security patches.

🤔 Closing Thoughts

I have a special treat for you this week to close out. Peter Duke is sharing material from the final chapter of his upcoming book. Peter presents his conceptual framework that defines human consciousness as a boundary between direct experience and external narratives.

Handlers exploit this by using persuasion weapons like causal framing to manipulate belief. You can maintain mental sovereignty by activating four internal gifts: logos, discernment, restraint and directed love. Applying these tools helps protect against external manipulation while navigating the pursuit of absolute truth.

Boundary of reality

Source discussed: Peter Duke, The Boundary Condition of Reality, published at the Duke Report. Format: two-host "deep dive" discussion. The hosts explicitly set a rule for the episode: skip the mathematics entirely (union sets, vector equations, Greek symbols) and extract only the psychological and philosophical principles behind the equations.

Letter from ...around the worldRoger Price

Peter closes with simple tests for any claim reaching your boundary:

1. Experienced or told? — Is this inside my circle or outside?
2. Therefore or because? — Which package is being used?
3. Who applied the change? — Am I changing my mind from the inside out with reason, discernment and time, or is a handler running a problem–reaction?
4. Where is the good pointing? — Is this good experienced or merely told?
5. Ultimate trump card — "go and see." Where physically possible, turn a told claim into direct experience: pick up the flashlight and walk into the world and look yourself.

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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

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

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