96 - Review the year - 2023
🇹🇭 We are in the period between Christmas and New Year here in Bangkok and I took advantage of the quieter time to do some reflections on the year that has just passed. This helps as we finalise our plans for 2024.
Back at the beginning of January we were doing the same exercise in HK and planning out this year. It is certainly interesting to go back to Newsletter 45 to re-read what I was thinking at the time - let's see how things worked out vs the plan!
Click for my thoughts and expectations at the outset on 2023
Our plans were tested right at the outset when Thailand decided to change their admission rules at 5pm on Friday evening with no indication as to when this would take effect but likely before our planned travel in 9 days! You can read the details of what ensued here and watch my diary recording here.
Long story short, we did make it to Bangkok (a week earlier than planned) and our stay there was great. Firstly the weather in Bangkok is so much better than Hong Kong in January and February. Secondly, there is so much going on in Bangkok; it has the vibes that Hong Kong used to have. I met up with so many interesting developers and entrepreneurs and the Bitcoin scene in Bangkok has a solid center with Bob Space.
Bangkok - already one month in
From Bangkok, next stop was Northern Ireland for some family time, celebrating my father's 90th birthday and meeting up with all the family there. Good as it is to meet up with family, it is certainly true that once you have lived in a warm country you do not want to go back to a cold country to live!
Passing through Belfast - family and friends
Next stop was Palma de Mallorca for some warmer weather than Belfast and nicely cooler than Bangkok (April and May are hot season). Mallorca is rather in the sweet spot. Here too, plenty of Bitcoiners to meet and we were pleased to find the Palma Tennis Club, a real gem!
Some warmer weather
One of the advantages of living in interesting places is that people like to come to meet you there. So it was that in May we had family visit us in Palma and we had a great time together.
Family visit
From Mallorca we headed back up to Belfast for the "summer". I guess that I ought to have known better than to expect good weather there. It had been good till the day we arrived, after which it was cold, wet and windy for the entire two months! Never mind - the purpose of being there over the summer was to spend time with family and friends (some of whom have always lived on the island!) and that was certainly achieved.
Summer in Belfast - family and friends
Wrapping up our Northern European visit, next stop was Antwerp and then Nieuwpoort at the Belgian coast - to visit the Belgian side of the family. We also met up with friends in Antwerp and had a great time at the coast doing all the things that Belgians do there!
Family and friends in Belgium
After summer in Northern Europe we were strongly in need of some warmer weather so V managed to find a new destination for us to try. Sardinia was a great find. We had not been there before and we found it to be most welcoming with very pleasant autumn weather. Among other things I also met up with a local Bitcoiner in Bosa - more on his project later.
Autumn on the Island - nice find
Next up we had business to do in Hong Kong. November really is the best month of the year to be in Hong Kong - the typhoons have finished, the humidity has passed and the weather is great. I got in lots of hiking and a few visits to the windsurfing club for lunch, not to mention the FCC - Foreign Correspondents Club. Hong Kong is beginning to recover from the last 5 years of lost time but it is still just a fraction of what it used to be and the locals have even more to complain about than before.
Business and friends in Hong Kong
As I write this we are rounding out the year in Bangkok. We have a fabulous apartment in central Bangkok next to the public transport and you really do have everything you need nearby. Nicely on schedule we had a dose of cooler weather over Christmas. Bangkok is so lively is there is lots to do and I even got to meet some friends visiting from Hong Kong!
And so - on to Bangkok for the winter
In case you are wondering what Central Bangkok is like at Christmas time, check Rob's walkabout video along Sukhumvit Road:
How about you and your year? How did it work out for you - I'd love to hear from you and listen to any questions, suggestions or tips you may have.
More in this issue
- Photo memories - around Bangkok this week
- Project Updates - Nostr, Bosa and more
- Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
- Closing out - Lost Scriptures and Christian Mysteries
🛠️ Project Updates
The following are updates from some projects that I am following, supporting and collaborating with. What are you doing?
Nostr
Like Miljan and many others I am celebrating my one year anniversary with Nostr. It has been a fantastic year and it is so exhilarating to have been part of the startup of a new internet paradigm. I do share a few of his predictions for 2024:
Today marks one year since I joined Nostr. It’s been a crazy year, but I have a feeling that 2024 is going to be much crazier. Here are some predictions:
- Nostr social media clients will become insanely good. By the end of the year we will surpass the legacy social media clients in terms of UX and features, making them look like relics of the past.
- More lightning wallets will implement Nostr integration. By the end of the year Nostr will become a de facto standard public lightning directory.
- The bitcoin bull run will bring more users to Nostr, adding more gravity to the network.
- At some point, a massive new cohort of users will join Nostr. We won’t be ready for them. Relays and other services (indexers, media hosting, etc.) will struggle to support them. After some hiccups, the Nostr ecosystem will adjust.
- With the increased network activity, spammers will return in force. They will be sophisticated and relentless, putting all of our spam mitigation services to the test.
- Long form notes will become much bigger on Nostr.
- At least one “other stuff” content type will take off in a meaningful way.
- Nostr’s censorship resistance capabilities will get tested in a major public episode.
- The AI community will get much more interested in Nostr. They will be attracted by the idea that open source language models, combined with Nostr’s open social graph and publicly accessible data - could actually democratise AI.
- By the end of the year everyone - even the haters - will realise that Nostr is going to win.
If you are in any doubt about all of the above listen to Kwinten (from Belgium) explain. With people like this on the team - we can only succeed!
Project Bosa
As I hinted above things have been progressing nicely on the Bosa project. Keep watching for the update that includes developments and support from Lugano and El Salvador!
Message to family and friends
For those of you who have no bitcoin I do encourage you to read GiGi's open letter.
Click to read and then reflect
He wrote this back in April 2020 and every word is as true and relevant now as it was then. You can also benefit from more than 3 years of hindsight. If you want to take practical steps, refer back to Newsletter #14.
🔗 Links for your edification
The following are links from my NetNewswire feeds - learn, enjoy and share.
Reading tips
A couple of subscribers wondered how I find time to read so many books. It's easy - just do it! That said, there are a few tips that you might find helpful. Ali recently shared his tips and I agree with pretty much all of them.
1 - Read what you love - read material you are interested in and want to read
2 - Quit books if they do not work out for you or when you get stuck
3 - Always buy the book - when someone gives you a book recommendation
4 - Read multiple books - have several books on the go at any one time
5 - Listen to audiobooks - this is a total game changer!
6 - Use a kindle - game changer #2 - this takes you to next level
Frank discussion
I have got to recommend this interview of Whitney Webb by Peter. Whitney is one of the best investigative journalists (more here) and she currently lives in Chile. This discussion is fascinating - links to specific topics are below.
1 - Expect more crises to put you in fear and compliance; corruption is endemic
2 - Big tech AI developments are dystopian and will be used to control you
3 - Elon Musk - what you see is not what you get
4 - The whole nine yards: Argentina, Milei, & the IMF
5 - Bitcoin vs technocrats
6 - Be prepared, take action and expect widespread apathy
A gift from my visitor from Hong Kong
As I mentioned I was pleased to meet up with an old friend from Hong Kong this week here in Bangkok. Totally unplanned and further evidence that "the remnant exist and they will find you". Among other things he shared this source with me and you likely want to add it to your RSS feeds.
What could have been...
Another great one written and read by Margaret Anna Alice. Click through and watch what could (and should) have been...
Margaret Anna Alice
Click to watch - then share.
🤔 Closing Thoughts
Closing out the recent series from Jason this video is a MUST WATCH. Jason will blow your mind with his eloquent and authoritative explanation of how so many things that you assumed (or believed) true are likely very different from what you thought.
You may well find this a challenging listen but suspend your judgement till you have listened carefully to what he says. You can check his book (PDF below) and all the other references on his channel. You might also want to check back to what we discussed in July about Caesar's Messiah.
Click for Jason to explain everything very clearly
Jason explains how his first book came to be published due to the publisher being so impressed by the depth of research and bibliography of authoritative texts - you can read the book yourself, freely available - just click below. This is also available as audiobook, read by Jason himself - just search on his YT channel.
If nothing else, Jason's eloquence and obvious command of all his data and facts ought to give you pause for thought. Let me know your views - happy to discuss.
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- The Architect
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