67 - At the Tennis Club
🇪🇸 V and I have continued our health and fitness focus this week with daily workouts, yoga, tai-chi and swimming. We have got our rhythm and routine working and even the weather does not get in the way! With our new schedule we did not need to get out and about any further - we just enjoyed life around Palma this week.
The weather here in Palma has been somewhat changeable with thunderstorms most afternoons and frequent cloudy spells. Apparently this is more typical of October. As I write this things seems to be getting back to normal; it is fairly warm but not unpleasant. Meanwhile in HK they seem to be having plenty of rain and the usual horrible humidity and Bangkok is now in rainy season - so June in the Mediterranean is not the worst place to be!
WWDC anyone?
This week Apple held their annual WWDC developer conference. In recent years my interest in this has significantly diminished along with my trust in Apple as a vendor and supplier. Apple does the best job in releasing a coherent suite of products that interwork securely but they are hostile to 3rd party repairs and, like all the ESG-focussed companies, there is evil under the surface and they cannot be trusted.
I did not watch anything from WWDC; I did hear that they have the audacity to try to push VR headsets at $3500 (plus taxes). I am not interested either in buying their latest models of anything that sell you features you do not need and lock you more into their empire and will make it more difficult to do anything autonomous.
Whilst I am not replacing currently working devices, for the longer term I am evaluating and getting experience with desktop Linux - we have discussed this before. You can certainly run linux well on cheap, second-hand laptops; repurposed corporate PCs are a great option and you can likely easily find them near you. Getting hands-on experience with these can cost you almost nothing and you will acquire some useful skills going forward.
There are also purpose-designed new machines for running Linux that are very affordable - details here. With all the applications you need, these offer strong privacy, no tracking and you are at much less risk of limited access in future; not to mention the advantage of being able to run Tails.
EE - another example of corporate greed
On Tuesday this week EE (UK mobile phone provider) stopped free European Roaming. You now need to pay £2.5o per day if you want to use it. This is clearly timed for them to get maximum benefit from travellers over the summer. There is no proper justification they can give other than profiteering and feeding the bureaucracy. I do not consent - they can f*** off.
Wake up folks - this sort of thing will only get worse until/unless you push back. Take advantage of downtime; that is why I use CalyxOS on a de-googled phone. Many more are finding out the advantage of even simpler solutions - WDYT?
In case you have not yet realised it - the plan is that when CBDCs are deployed those who do not have a mobile phone will be "chipped" the same way that you need to get your pet chipped before taking it abroad. Don't believe me? Read The Mandibles - you have been warned. You will be unable to spend money without digital identification and if your social credit is insufficient you will be unable to spend at all.
People in HK already experience this through the infamous "Consumption Vouchers"; this is the thin edge of the wedge - coming soon to your city too. This is why it is good to hold liquid assets outside the system.
Good news - more to follow
In some good news, listen to this update from Richard at the conference in Bath UK over last weekend. More will follow and you can follow him directly.
And I certainly have to recommend this UK Column interview with Sandi Adams.
Tuesday, 6th June 2023.jpg)
If you have not done it yet - sign the UK Petition. Other countries here.
It takes 30 seconds - just do it!
Book of the week
While relaxing at the pool this week, I have been really enjoying Saifedean's latest book. This represents the culmination of several years of work, incorporating all the material that he delivers in his university-level Economics classes. Click below to listen to him explain why this is important and the structure of the book.
You can buy the book here - discount if you pay using Bitcoin - eg over Lightning! I did so and bought the Kindle version (ePub and PDF) and audiobook.
We have discussed separately that I also do not trust Amazon. They have been caught before removing and tampering with digital books that people have purchased; you likely do want to really own your digital materials - and there are ways to do this too for your kindle purchases - we can discuss.... let me know.
From the Bitcoin conference
Related to the Saifedean's book and from a slightly different perspective is Jeff Booth's recent Kitco interview. You may find this rather challenging but listen and reflect - he provides plenty of examples to help you understand; we did previously discuss Jeff's book back in Issue 33.
Jeff's Medium article they discuss is here: Finding signal in a noisy world.
And I have got to recommend Michelle's closing interview from the conference with Mark and Robert - watch and listen here. A lot of interesting Q&A and she does not hold back from asking difficult questions:
22:22 - Can gold be the solution?
27:27 - Is Bitcoin a Trojan horse for CBDCs?
31:11 - Possible Bitcoin forks, supply increases
34:31 - Central bank hedging with Bitcoin
39:13 - Risks to Bitcoin
And if you enjoyed these, you likely will enjoy Michelle's discussion with Lyn.
WTF...
This website shows you with dozens of examples how we all have been taken advantage of over the last 50 years as greedy banksters and politicians took advantage of the Cantillion Effect, enabled by fiat money.
Ellio exemplifies how some of the younger generation certainly do get it: here. You can also find useful statistics on World Base Money supply here; once seen, it cannot be unseen.
More in this issue
- Photo memories from around Palma this week
- Project Updates - studying and sharing knowledge this week
- Plenty of useful links - don't say nobody told you!
- Closing out - something provocative as usual
🛠️ Project Updates
This week I have been studying and have not had time for any hands-on work. Even so, such study is important to expand your knowledge so I am happy to share it for your benefit too.
First up is this interesting and somewhat challenging interview of Mark G by Whitney. It is important that bitcoiners listen to this sort of thing and understand that there are many ways that the system likely is fighting back. This is why we need projects like Cashu and Fedi with Chaumian eCash - @Calle, @Gandlaf21 and @Obi take note!
In related news I noticed that eNuts Mobile Cashu Wallet with Lightning Support is out for both iOS and Android - so I will be checking that out. And the Liquid Federation adds new members. I know that some purists object to Liquid but it is a perfect platform for innovation and proving of bitcoin scaling technology.
Next is a most interesting discussion by Stephan with Robin on how he is applying Zero Knowledge proofs to make running a bitcoin full node more accessible. This is likely not world-changing but it can be very beneficial and it is just another example of innovation in and around bitcoin and one that favours decentralisation - ZeroSync's website and full information are here.
And this next one is an important listen. There are lessons to learn from how big corporate captured the otherwise open email protocols and made it impossible for people to run their own email servers. Such corporate capture allows for regulatory and cost barriers favouring centralisation and must be avoided at all costs for bitcoin. Bitcoiners should not be complacent.
🔗 Links for your edification
A few links from my NetNewWire this week. The interviews are long-form and the one with Balaji is especially long but they are all interesting and I do recommend that you listen, learn and reflect.
London Real interviews
These London Real interviews are very insightful - I do recommend that you click through when prompted to see the full interviews - recall that you can (and should) always use a disposable email address. As I have explained before simplelogin is a good option for this.
Firstly, a fabulous interview with Michael Saylor; he is pretty clear on why he has done what he has done.
Listen carefully to Michael's story of what happened to him and his money in Argentina. Recall too what happened to everyone in Cyprus. Do you see it yet?
Next Ed Dowd rather clearly with plenty of supporting data - he says it like it is. The explanation as to how Social Medial was co-opted to work against own populations is interesting. Indeed we are waiting to see the "youtube files". They cover plenty of other things you need to know and the mainstream propaganda will for sure not tell you. Interesting discussion on Elon and Twitter towards the end!
Ed does end on some rather encouraging notes - indeed we all can and should vote with our "dollars". Consider carefully what companies you support and do not support those who espouse ridiculous ESG/DEI policies.
Ed's book is here:
Is this just stupid or is there evil intent?
In a spectacular example of marketing hype over common sense (or is there some deeper evil at work), Google recently launched some new Top Level Domains that have tremendous potential for abuse. In fact, on the first day of availability exploits were already published.
For my part (and this is also the SANS recommendation) I reject these domains and I have blocked them on my computers. There is a simple way you can do this as ChatGPT will explain to you if you ask!
As to the evil intent; time will tell but I do not give them the benefit of any doubt. WDYT? Do let me know or let's discuss.
Peter St Onge Weekly Roundup
If you are short on time and need a succinct and informed summary of what happened in US politics (with international implications) this week then Peter delivers.
He helpfully reminds you that politicians and government should be serving you, the population. To what extent do you think that is happening? Richard shares his view here; you should wonder (if you do not already know) where does the money come from?
Balaji on TFTC
This is a long listen but it is very interesting. I do not believe all that I see or read (and nor should you) but it is a privilege to be able to listen to people who can articulate clear positions on so many relevant topics with abundant supporting evidence. That said, I do agree with much of what he says - WDYT?
🤔 Closing Thoughts
With all the discussion around AI these days, you might want to consider the Dead Internet Theory. This video below is a great explainer that compiles several shorter clips that the creator made over the last year or so.
To those of who remember the early days of the internet - bulletin boards etc - the contrasts are quite apparent. Indeed the number of inauthentic accounts on twitter and other services is excessive but it is absolutely wrong to use this as an excuse to enforce digital ID onto everyone. Better is to exit the matrix.
Food for thought - how much do you remember?
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