Nostr notes by FeynStructure

There is a pretty well established convention here that ...

2026-05-20T16:12:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…hak8
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There is a pretty well established convention here that doesn't seem to be getting respected.

If it's really important, you don't text, you call. If they don't pick up, you leave a voicemail, or you explain in a text message that it's very important that you speak to them.

The whole point of texting is that it's asynchronous.

This one sounds like trouble. This could be just the tip of the iceberg in terms of unreasonable expectations.

Can confirm. I shattered my heel doing parkour as a teenager, got ...

2026-05-19T22:45:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…ryy4
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Can confirm. I shattered my heel doing parkour as a teenager, got it recrafted with four titanium screws. It is now noticeably stronger than the purely biological one.

8/10. Kalamata olives and pistachios are fire, albacore is good ...

2026-05-11T21:59:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…sgqs
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8/10. Kalamata olives and pistachios are fire, albacore is good but I'm more of an ahi tuna guy myself.

$76

I conduct experiments from time to time. I'm like, a ...

2026-05-11T15:44:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…n8hp
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I conduct experiments from time to time. I'm like, a scientist. Lab notebook is deranged though, more research needed.

Citation?

2026-05-11T01:46:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…fxeh
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Citation?

You gotta buy the course to understand how it works. Just six ...

2026-05-08T13:38:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…y7ph
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You gotta buy the course to understand how it works. Just six instalments of $5999.

Where do you suppose construction foremen sit in all this? Asking ...

2026-05-07T19:02:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…w98c
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Where do you suppose construction foremen sit in all this? Asking for myself, electrical foreman. It's middle management, of a sort, but inherently anchored to the physical.

Nice, congrats. Can confirm: I have never been on Twitter/X and ...

2026-05-06T01:47:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…qp6g
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Nice, congrats.

Can confirm: I have never been on Twitter/X and it has yet to be a problem in any way.

Oh thank fuck. Let him sell, it's a shit place for coins to ...

2026-05-06T01:45:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…8frw
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Oh thank fuck. Let him sell, it's a shit place for coins to end up.

Absolutely. Among all the retardation of "pure play" ...

2026-05-04T22:19:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…hmpe
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Absolutely. Among all the retardation of "pure play" treasury companies last year, they were actually moving the needle in terms of real, useful adoption. Bitcoin as savings, not financial engineering. And not just for themselves, but their employees as well.

They get it, and it warms my heart. I just wish they'd expand to Canada next.

After the success of Steak n Shake, I'm waiting for Beyond ...

2026-05-04T22:06:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…2nq6
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After the success of Steak n Shake, I'm waiting for Beyond Meat to start a Bitcoin ETF treasury.

Lord, ain't that the truth. Some of these guys realllly ...

2026-05-04T00:28:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…8el8
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Lord, ain't that the truth. Some of these guys realllly stroke it, too.

Personal experience: -Coldcard Q: easily the best in security, ...

2026-05-03T22:25:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…gxkr
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Personal experience:
-Coldcard Q: easily the best in security, features, and general usability. People who say this is too advanced for beginners baffle me.
-Jade Plus: janky, difficult to use, and the whole QR unlock via Blockstream's website just rubs me the wrong way. Is there a way around this to get a fully airgapped session without involving Blockstream? Maybe I just didn't look far enough into this; the whole experience was annoying and I never pursued it further.
-Ledger Flex: first stab at self custody, didn't know what I was doing, now I'll be looking over my shoulder for wrench attacks for the rest of my life. Goddammit... The experience was pretty smooth though, I'll give them that.

Would like to learn more:
-Foundation Passport: the software is basically a clone of CC though, right? Maybe pointless if I'm already using one.
-Seedsigner, Krux, and other self-built devices: this may be my next project. Sounds like they're less convenient, but maybe these two and a CC make for the ultimate multi-vendor multisig at this point.

I don't know who the best people to talk to are, but I'd ...

2026-05-02T18:58:24Z

In reply to nevent1q…2ws9
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I don't know who the best people to talk to are, but I'd love to learn more about radio nodes and other ways of using Bitcoin without internet. Could be incredibly valuable in places/times where shit's really hit the fan, like Iran right now.

One of the greats, a very fine man you might say.

2026-04-30T11:41:50Z

In reply to nevent1q…den3
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One of the greats, a very fine man you might say.

I'm willing to bet that physical banknotes will be more or ...

2026-04-30T11:38:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…gt39
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I'm willing to bet that physical banknotes will be more or less phased out within a decade or so.

Within the context of the fiat system, they're as free and anonymous as it gets, and that won't be tolerated for much longer.

Good thing we've already got a vastly superior replacement.

Almost finished The Creature from Jekyll Island. Some real ...

2026-04-30T00:39:50Z

Almost finished The Creature from Jekyll Island. Some real bangers in there.

I bet you my cat is longer than yours. #Catstr #WeirdFlex ...

2026-04-29T04:16:10Z

I bet you my cat is longer than yours.

#Catstr #WeirdFlex

I think it needs more intercourse.

2026-04-27T20:43:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…cech
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I think it needs more intercourse.

"Confiscate Satoshi's coins" is "tax the ...

2026-04-24T19:25:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…klqf
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"Confiscate Satoshi's coins" is "tax the rich" coming to Bitcoin.

Indeed. Let's make it interesting: Your remaining life is on ...

2026-04-22T02:17:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…ft3j
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Indeed. Let's make it interesting:

Your remaining life is on a slider. How far to the right do you adjust it before that 1 Bitcoin is worth it to you?

Swimming naked can be quite the thrill.

2026-04-21T14:04:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…h42f
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Swimming naked can be quite the thrill.

The base layers of Maslow's hierarchy are solved for most of ...

2026-04-20T16:08:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…9kds
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The base layers of Maslow's hierarchy are solved for most of us in the developed world, but many seem to have stalled out and are having trouble ascending further.

Perhaps if you didn't have to struggle at the lower levels, you are less able to struggle to the higher levels, which mere material comfort cannot deliver to you.

I think it breaks down at some point though. I'd argue I was ...

2026-04-19T13:07:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…j20u
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I think it breaks down at some point though.

I'd argue I was in trouble that time two grown adults handcuffed me and threw me in a cell. I was not free to go about my life for some time.

Nostr event nevent1qqs2meh7l7uzmcha6lu9877sfydzswz3cvsvmdm42paae60r2gl0g4szyp7pyqw3nnqdkw6ernl7ln6g4n0xq6fvxpt50nl7jyzkvvmd67uak7hg38h

2026-04-19T12:38:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…8qdr
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Like Simon says, beware of those Bitcoin lending products; ...

2026-04-18T16:30:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…ez26
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Like Simon says, beware of those Bitcoin lending products; it's one way the FIC can take your hard earned sats.

Anyways, this episode of Coin Stories was brought to you by Ledn.

No, it would not be correct to say that all outcomes were ...

2026-04-18T03:48:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…5sny
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No, it would not be correct to say that all outcomes were determined at the Big Bang, because of the probabilistic nature of quantum mechanics. It would be more correct to say that all POSSIBLE outcomes were determined at the Big Bang, but the specific path through Hilbert space (the perhaps infinite dimensional space of possible quantum states) that our universe took was inherently probabilistic, not deterministic.

Said another way, the probabilities are deterministic, but their outcomes are not, if that makes sense. The wave function evolves deterministically, but how it decoheres into the reality we perceive can only be predicted probabilistically.

This doesn't get us free will though, it just pushes the determinism up to a higher level. It does, however, mean that your fate was not determined at the Big Bang, which is comforting. Even Laplace's Demon can't tell you what will happen to you tomorrow with certainty.

Some have proposed that free will is to be found in quantum uncertainty, but the proposals are nebulous and essentially boil down to free will somehow intervening in the physical world and violating the laws of physics. In short, magic.

I come at this from the fundamental physics perspective so no, I ...

2026-04-17T20:36:59Z

In reply to nevent1q…afcp
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I come at this from the fundamental physics perspective so no, I don't believe we have free will. I behave as if I do, but I didn't really have any choice in that ;)

That raises uncomfortable questions about personal accountability, crime, and punishment however, since a person without free will can't justifiably be punished for taking actions they had no say in (likewise, credit and reward for valuable or good deeds are also moot).

This leads me to one of The Necessary Lies of Civilization*

NLC #1: For a society to function, its members must believe in human free will .

*Credit to CGP Grey for the concept of Necessary Lies of Civilization. See Hello Internet Podcast episode #99 for discussion and examples.

Ties into the free will debate too, IMO. Most of the time it ...

2026-04-17T09:31:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…edtv
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Ties into the free will debate too, IMO. Most of the time it doesn't feel like you're choosing the next word from a selection of options. They kinda just... come out.

One level higher, even if you are choosing from a list of options, where did the list come from? Who selected the options for you to become consciously aware of?

If you're convinced you have free will, who's to say the LLM doesn't? If you're convinced the LLM doesn't, who's to say you do?

The logic is that this man is still living in fiat-land and is ...

2026-04-16T19:43:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…xtyu
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The logic is that this man is still living in fiat-land and is terrified of anything delaying his fiat gains. He is willing to destroy one of the most fundamental attributes of Bitcoin to avoid that possibility.

Mask is off, and it's ugly underneath.

I think I'm primed from my days on Reddit where I found it ...

2026-04-16T18:00:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…2c96
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I think I'm primed from my days on Reddit where I found it just absolutely cringe when people would go out of their way to thank people for their worthless upvote karma, so on the one hand I lean towards not acknowledging.

On the other hand, zaps are money; they have real value, so it feels a bit different.

Ultimately, I'm with the people who say "expect nothing in return for your generosity." It's a pretty good stance for life generally.

If you need some sort of pat on the back for your zap, just don't zap.

Yeesh, that's a rough social circle O_o

2026-04-15T20:43:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…rpqm
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Yeesh, that's a rough social circle O_o

Bitcoin payments for cargo tolls may be uncensorable, but the ...

2026-04-12T17:03:59Z

Bitcoin payments for cargo tolls may be uncensorable, but the movement of said cargo remains very much censorable with violence.

We may live in a digital age, but we still exist in the physical world. Bitcoin doesn't solve people with guns being dicks or tyrants.

The angry sun-baked lobster guy? Yeah I can't listen to him ...

2026-04-11T18:42:04Z

In reply to nevent1q…57wv
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The angry sun-baked lobster guy? Yeah I can't listen to him for more than about 30 seconds.

He kind of reminds me of Eric Weinstein, in that they both act like they're geniuses beyond the comprehension of mortal men, but mostly just construct towering edifices of word salad in a condescending tone.

In that sense, I guess "beyond comprehension" is actually pretty accurate.

"Don't pay attention to the fiat price, it literally does ...

2026-04-06T15:52:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…ehh2
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"Don't pay attention to the fiat price, it literally does not matter. The price of Bitcoin measured in worthless toilet paper is meaningless."

Uhh, no. That toilet paper is currently the best proxy for bitcoin's purchasing power. Bitcoin is money. I care how much my money can buy. I also care what my sat-denominated salary is. It cuts both ways. We're not all monks, it's fine to pay attention to such things.

I've been so many places, I've seen so many faces, but ...

2026-04-04T20:22:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…q5k6
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I've been so many places, I've seen so many faces, but nothing compares to... this purple pill.

As an electrician, I resent the implication that overhead ...

2026-04-04T17:50:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…zsnh
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As an electrician, I resent the implication that overhead powerlines are indicative of crime and societal decline.

In Defense of Traditional Environmentalism and Looking Out For ...

2026-04-04T15:14:44Z

In Defense of Traditional Environmentalism and Looking Out For The Poor aka Maybe The Political Left Isn't Completely Retarded

We live now in the era of the Cult of Climate Change, which arose out of traditional environmentalism but in recent years has metastasized into an entirely different beast. The proponents have become more zealous and shrill, the timelines more dire, and the evidence more questionable, but I would like to take a moment to advocate for a more reasonable, rational stance, one that I remember from my childhood in the 90's. Being pretty far down the libertarian/free market rabbit hole myself, I am reticent to make any specific policy proposals. I simply want to encourage certain considerations that may have become unfashionable of late, tainted by their association with the Cult of Climate Change. These are things that I think should be appealing to all who value their health, the health of their children, and the beauty of the natural world.

I grew up in a small town, and like many small towns it had a primary industry; namely, a pulp mill. Nowadays, with paper being less in demand and automation rendering many of the jobs obsolete, the entire operation can run on a few hundred people, but back then it employed thousands, a significant fraction of the town's population. Thus, any perceived threat to the mill was a perceived threat to the town.

That made my parents somewhat unpopular figures. Old-school liberals, they were part of a small coalition fighting for better transparency of the air quality in the town and, if necessary, measures to improve it.

Anyone who has lived near a pulp mill can tell you about the smell. It's a farty, rotten-eggy smell resulting from volatile sulfur compounds like hydrogen sulfide. While the smell is unpleasant (and that is worth considering in its own right), these compounds are not usually considered harmful to human health in the typical concentrations. Whether or not you choose to believe that (who is asserting they're not harmful?), this was generally accepted as true at the time. Additionally, the image of thick, white clouds billowing out of the smoke stacks, just a few blocks away from homes and schools, can be repugnant, but this was basically all water vapor. The real battle was about the things that you couldn't see, and couldn't smell.

Chief among these were compounds known as dioxins and furans. These chemicals, largely associated with the bleaching process, were being released into the air and settling in the surrounding environment, where they would make their way into the food chain, accumulate in animal fats, and could remain stable for up to a decade. Known to cause numerous cancers, hormone imbalances, birth defects, and many other serious health effects, they were also notable components in the chemical weapon Agent Orange, before it was banned in 1971.

Like most environmentalists, my parents also lamented the clear-cutting of the surrounding forests, which left previously wooded hills looking like the unfortunate victim of a half completed head shaving prank at a frat party. But they understood the economic value this provided to the town, and recognized the replanting efforts of the parent company of the mill. It was planning decades in the future, after all, and had no interest in starving itself to death of its input commodity. Likewise, my parents just wanted to live in a community where the air was safe to breathe; they weren't trying to shut down the mill or bankrupt the town.

In the vein of rational environmentalism, my parents also strictly forbid littering and encouraged recycling in all it's forms; composting, collecting and returning refundables (for what it's worth, we were also quite poor, which probably had some influence on this as well), donating to, and buying from, secondhand stores (again, poor), as well as the recycling of paper, plastic, metal, and glass products generally.

Now, in recent years some of these efforts have been revealed to be little more than theatre. Plastic recycling, in particular, only processes a small fraction of what is collected, and barely makes a dent in reducing overall plastic waste. Metals, such as aluminum, are much easier (and more profitable) to deal with, and so make more sense. Glass is also worthwhile, as is paper.

The point isn't to put ourselves beneath the concerns of "the planet" (whatever the hell that means), it is simply to cultivate gratitude for the material wealth it affords us, and avoid wasting its bounty where possible, when feasible, without denying ourselves the rewards of our hard-earned labour.

Likewise, applying pressure to industries and infrastructure firms for reasonable controls on the contents of the matter they eject forth into the environment shouldn't be automatically dismissed as trivial leftist hysterics. Would you want your kids drinking the water in Flint, Michigan circa 2015? Does the air in Beijing look pleasant to breathe? Are you cool with untreated mining runoff being released upstream from your watershed?

Ideologically, I'm not 100% sure how to deal with this yet. The free market capitalist in me is tempted to say that the market should just work these things out over time. Hypothetically, with sufficiently transparent information consumers should choose not to support companies that poison people, and citizens should choose to move away from jurisdictions where real hazards exist, depleting companies of their labour pool and municipalities of their tax base. Meanwhile, public pressure campaigns can be carried out in the interim to try to influence egregious polluters to change their behavior voluntarily, without government intervention, before less forgiving market forces run their course.

But all that takes time, years or possibly decades, access to data can be gatekept, and those of lesser means, the poor, will have their options limited with regards to choice of products and choice of jurisdiction.

The Randian perspective, taken to its coldest logical limit, might suppose that the poor deserve their lot in life, because they didn't work hard enough to acquire wealth and so, in a twisted version of survival of the fittest, they (and their offspring) in some sense "deserve" to die so that the "fitter," those adapted to succeed in the modern capitalist economy, can spawn the next generation free of their inferior genes.

I'm a firm believer in personal responsibility , consequences for one's actions (or inactions), and evolution by natural selection, but even I can't bring myself to apply that level of cold, Darwinian reasoning to human society in its current form.

The game is at least partially rigged; those of us in the freedom tech space understand that better than most. Working hard and acting morally often lead to material success in life, but they are by no means necessary. Many a man and woman have worked hard and conducted themselves ethically their entire life and died poor, and many have lied, cheated, stolen, and fucked over the people around them and lived long, prosperous lives, leaving behind many descendants.

The axis of success in a system of crony capitalism does not run parallel to the axis of hard work and ethical virtue. Nor does it run perfectly orthogonal. The truth, as it so often does, lies somewhere in the middle.

We should, without question, work hard to provide value to the world and conduct ourselves in a manner that is honorable and fair. Because it is the right thing to do (as decreed by the god you believe in, or your secular moral compass), yes, but also because it really does improve your chances at material success and, by extension, a comfortable life in your later years. But it is not guaranteed.

Bringing it back to the subject of rational environmentalism, I would hope that as a society we can get past the bullshit of the Cult of Climate Change and find common ground in developing reasonable solutions to protect ourselves and our descendants from the worst excesses of our current broken system of perverted capitalism. A system where only the bottom line matters and free market checks and balances can be neutered by and for the incumbent powers, whether they be political or financial.

For those of us with the means and agency to influence change in the world, it seems fitting that we should seek to make it a better place for all, instead of merely retreating to our citadels and watching the rest burn. I'm no scholar of Him, but it seems like something that Jesus fellow might have had an opinion on.

Again, I'm wary of policy solutions, but perhaps if we look at it through the following lens it will seem more reasonable:

The power and purpose of the state should be limited to the collective protection of private property. Nothing more. If we include human life as a form of private property, then perhaps some government regulation in the context of environmental pollutants makes sense, provided it is rigorously evidence-based. Perhaps there can be specific niches where we twist the arm of government to actually protect the children, and other members of society with lesser means to protect themselves.

Fuckin love that app. Cuts through all the bullshit.

2026-04-04T03:07:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…e746
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Fuckin love that app. Cuts through all the bullshit.

Grade A shitstorm. We went from 4D chess to eating crayons and ...

2026-04-04T02:48:35Z

In reply to nevent1q…egyx
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Grade A shitstorm.

We went from 4D chess to eating crayons and sniffing glue.

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. You might say it's ...

2026-04-03T15:45:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…tt5u
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Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

You might say it's a book of the utmost Quality.

How much time we spend together. I'm rather introverted, ...

2026-04-03T01:36:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…5gex
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How much time we spend together.

I'm rather introverted, she's quite the opposite. It can be difficult to communicate that although I love her more than anything else in life, I need time away from her to thrive.

It was a big issue early on, but we're getting better at accommodating each other's needs.

This is the real Trump Derangement Syndrome: Thinking that the ...

2026-04-02T14:40:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…u8k0
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This is the real Trump Derangement Syndrome:

Thinking that the words of a clown should determine how much sound money you own.

Nostr event nevent1qqsv4p7qde04fkun4my4ch4jhpa8xf45escau4fydllmtlmev6m4wvczyp7pyqw3nnqdkw6ernl7ln6g4n0xq6fvxpt50nl7jyzkvvmd67uakkfwvm7

2026-04-02T04:23:30Z

He did so that. One man got the freedom he deserved. I don't ...

2026-04-01T22:43:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…lqsk
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He did so that. One man got the freedom he deserved.

I don't think he cared about Ross though, or understood what he represented. That was just throwing a bone to a group that helped get him elected.

I reckon it's all been downhill from there.

A lot of Bitcoiners voted for that immoral retard, somehow ...

2026-04-01T20:39:30Z

In reply to nevent1q…mwr3
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A lot of Bitcoiners voted for that immoral retard, somehow thinking that "this politician will be different."

Ahh yes, Matt Gaetz; that great bastion of truth and seriousness ...

2026-04-01T02:31:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…6lz6
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Ahh yes, Matt Gaetz; that great bastion of truth and seriousness 🙄 Leave the fiction to the pros, kid.

If you pick up a lot of pennies and never get crushed then ...

2026-03-27T19:25:52Z

In reply to nevent1q…zhl5
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If you pick up a lot of pennies and never get crushed then it's really no one's business. Actually, it's none of their business anyways. Freedom maxis get it.

I barely understand pennies or steamrollers, so I'll stick to wiring buildings.

"they can't scrape together the cash for a down payment. ...

2026-03-27T13:19:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…7ume
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"they can't scrape together the cash for a down payment. Not because they're broke."

Respectfully, I'd like to suggest that people being broke is perhaps a much larger part of the story.

A quick Google search suggests that anywhere from 10-30% of Americans have a negative net worth, nevermind being enough in the positive for a down payment.

It's looking grim out there.

This is where I think Lyn Alden might be onto something. Big ...

2026-03-26T14:00:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…9d6t
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This is where I think Lyn Alden might be onto something.

Big prints have been conspicuous due to their spikiness. If they just do it at a constant rate without letting up, it becomes the new norm, not some anomaly.

Of course, the system will still break at some point, but I suspect they will get away with it longer using this strategy.

Probably a good idea to cover up so you don't get any Vegas ...

2026-03-25T18:36:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…nlpu
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Probably a good idea to cover up so you don't get any Vegas on you.

Peter Schiff reportedly checked into psychiatric hospital, ...

2026-03-23T21:51:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…jfr4
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Peter Schiff reportedly checked into psychiatric hospital, mumbling "Ponzi scheme" and "intrinsic value" to himself over and over.

Suck it, Schiff!

2026-03-23T19:15:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…6hku
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Suck it, Schiff!

"You don't get it. There is no head to cut off; it's ...

2026-03-22T18:06:56Z

"You don't get it. There is no head to cut off; it's a conglomerate.

If one of them betrays the principles of the accrual of money and power, the others betray him.

What it is, is human weakness. You can't kill that with a gun."

It's not as bad yet, but it's definitely got its ...

2026-03-22T16:01:33Z

In reply to nevent1q…m4e9
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It's not as bad yet, but it's definitely got its tentacles into Nostr too. Not surprising given the strong crossover interest with AI in the Bitcoin community.

On the one end of the spectrum, one might use AI to merely pull quotes of things they've previously said and automate posting them. On the other end of the spectrum there's pure slop; shiny generated pictures, em dashes and all. Somewhere in between might be taking things you've said previously and expanding on them in "your" voice.

Where would you draw the line?

Don't worry, our dear leaders will save us. ...

2026-03-21T13:48:36Z

In reply to nevent1q…29d8
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Don't worry, our dear leaders will save us.

Yes, this is essentially a modern day Alaska purchase, where ...

2026-03-19T17:45:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…x32j
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Yes, this is essentially a modern day Alaska purchase, where resource rich land was sold for two cents an acre, and everybody looks back now like "boy wasn't that a monumental fuck up to sell it that cheap."

So much to do, so much to see, so what's wrong with taking ...

2026-03-19T13:18:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…s3dr
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So much to do, so much to see, so what's wrong with taking the back streets?

The Physical Record of a Man On the World I recently went back to ...

2026-03-18T21:53:02Z

The Physical Record of a Man On the World

I recently went back to my old neighborhood to look at the home I grew up in until the age of 13. Located on a rural street, half an hour from the nearest (small) town, far from the city which I now inhabit, it was the first time I had returned in over twenty years.

A tin can of a double-wide trailer, it's not much to look at, and I'm surprised it's still standing at all. It was in questionable shape when we lived there, and it's been through much since then, I'm sure.

From the respectful distance of the street (I'm not the type to go knocking on some stranger's door for a stronger hit of nostalgia), it wasn't the house that most drew my attention, however. Two other features interested me more.

One, the workshop in the back yard. My father built that shop when I was a child, mostly by himself although a friend would come by and help occasionally when the strength of two men was called for. Somewhere within those walls there even exist nails clumsily pounded in by my sister and I, as we learned firsthand the skill required in even the simple act of wielding a hammer. It takes many hundreds of such clumsily pounded nails before they glide in with ease, as if on command. The designs of the mind do not flow freely through into the world; they must submit to the limitations of the body, and of the tool. To become a master of one's tools, one must first be their disciple.

A humble man, my father owned and ran a small business installing sheet metal gutters when I was born; simple, unglamorous work, largely devoid of craftsmanship (although one can still find opportunities for craftsmanship, however small, in any job). He soon exited that business, however, and returned to being an employee, now in local woodworking shops, building cabinets and millwork. Low quality stuff, but it paid the bills (barely).

The shop in the back yard was where he could work on personal projects, art pieces, and some of his greatest works: grandfather clocks (very much pieces of art in their own right). Over the years, through uncountable evenings and weekends, whenever he could find time between raising his kids and maintaining his home, he honed his craft. In recent years he has become recognized as a master in the highest echelon of his craft: those building fine works of wood in the Pacific Northwest.

That upward trajectory, imperceptible at first, started in that shop and compounded over decades. I don't know what that building is used for today; it could very well be a play space for kids away from the house, or merely used for storage, but there it stands, a silent testament to one man's pursuit of excellence.

Something else began in that shop; something that was never completed, at least not by my father.

Geodesic domes have long appealed to various hippies, libertarians, and science-lovers seeking to improve their land with strong, cheap structures built of simple, repeated elements. My father was somewhat of a blend of those three archetypes, and I think the mathematical elegance of the structure appealed to him. Being a clock-maker, mathematics (and in particular, geometry) was as much a tool of his trade as any saw or chisel.

In the early 90's he set about cutting and shaping the edges and faces for two small wooden domes that were to be constructed on our property (I say "our" but in reality we just leased it from the local First Nations band). Everything was made of scrap 2x4 and plywood from local construction sites, collected for free, and the pieces of the frame were designed to interlock, no fasteners needed.

He never ended up building those domes. All the pieces were stowed away in the crawlspace below his shop but he and my mother ended up separating before construction could begin. He left, moving to the city, and left the pieces of his project behind. My sister and I would soon follow him, and when my mother finally moved away from that place, those pieces still remained, forgotten and collecting dust over the years.

It must have been a curious find for the new inhabitants: piles of identical struts and triangular boards, meticulously stacked and organized, with no (as far as I'm aware) explanation or instructions. For a certain type of mind, finds like this can be quite captivating, as they represent an opportunity for modern day anthropological research. Who fashioned these artifacts? What is their purpose? What do they say about the values and proclivities of those who lived on this land before us?

When I visited my childhood home again, it was evident that someone had found those pieces, deduced their purpose, and put them to use. The plywood faces were not used, but they had built the two frames out in the spacious yard and covered them in clear sheet plastic, creating greenhouses or perhaps just freestanding sunrooms, I couldn't tell from the distance. From across time and space, my father had given them an idea and the materials to create something beautiful and functional that allowed them to connect with nature in a different way.

My father's legacy encompasses more than just the physical structures outlined here, but it is a humble one nonetheless. His name is known by few, his stature in his craft appreciated only by those with the commensurate knowledge to make such fine distinctions. He has acquired no significant wealth. But he has left his mark on the world in ways big and small, visible and anonymous.

I hope to do the same.

I'd argue that 95k is still pretty cheap but yeah, these ...

2026-03-15T14:55:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…n8hy
_________________________

I'd argue that 95k is still pretty cheap but yeah, these sellers doing us a solid right now; their sacrifice will not be forgotten.

It's a complicated story but it basically comes down to ...

2026-03-15T13:43:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…hlh5
_________________________

It's a complicated story but it basically comes down to efficiency; if DC were the standard, electrical power would probably cost at least 10x what it does now, and that would filter into every product that uses electricity as an input.

Basically, we can't afford it, and the entire electrical system would have to be torn down and rebuilt from the ground up. This would be a century long project at this point.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar... Here's the actual ...

2026-03-15T13:37:17Z

In reply to nevent1q…8x2s
_________________________

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/ar...

Here's the actual article. The RF is what would come from your wifi, ELF-MF is what would come from the AC current in your walls.

Good-ish news on the RF side of things is that it seems that it's just the tablets (with or without internet connectivity) that are shown to be dangerous devices (by this study, at least); cell phones showed no increased risks.

I'm also a bit curious about why ELF-MF is so much higher in Mexico City (where the study was conducted) than global average.

Interestingly, wifi and Bluetooth headphones are never mentioned.

Does anyone remember Nexopia? Probably not, unless you were a ...

2026-03-15T00:20:39Z

Does anyone remember Nexopia?

Probably not, unless you were a millennial in western Canada in the mid-2000's. Nexopia was a curious example of a social media platform that, despite being online and globally accessible, nevertheless had tight geographic localization. About 50% of the user base was located in Alberta and British Columbia, with another 30-40% in Canada broadly. I suppose this is because it was founded in Edmonton, and mostly spread by word of mouth back then.

Launched in early 2003, it predated MySpace by six months, and Facebook by one year. Despite its head start, it never achieved the same success of those two giants and remained a distinctly Canadian phenomenon. For a handful of years, it was the place to be online for an angsty emo high schooler in Canada's southwest quadrant.

Some context here: no one really knew what kind of place this was yet, or how these platforms would come to shape culture. Almost all interaction with the platform occurred at home, on a (probably shared) desktop computer. Internet connections were often still dial-up, and even the broadband of the time wasn't great by modern standards (we thought it was amazing though).

Uploading photos was a technical challenge. Phones (at least the cheap ones our parents gave us) didn't typically have cameras yet, mobile internet was little more than a proof of concept, and there was no widely available cloud services, so getting your picture online usually consisted of:

1. Get a dedicated digital camera (not cheap at the time).
2. Figure out how to physically bridge it to the brick on your desktop. Maybe the camera used SD cards, but did your family's computer have a way of reading them? Perhaps there was a cord that came with the camera, but was there a port for it on your computer? Things weren't well standardized back then. Can I find an adapter at RadioShack? What software do I need? What the hell is a driver? Better look it up on Yahoo, hope I don't get any viruses when I download this...
3. If you made it through step 2 and the pictures actually existed in digital form on your computer's hard drive, congratulations. You didn't really understand what you did or how any of the shit you just downloaded to make it happen worked, but you won. Now just upload them to the platform. This will take at least a few minutes per low-resolution photo.
4. Now wait for an actual human employee to manually review your picture for ToS violations and voila! The world can now see a blurry picture of your sick skateboarding skillz.

Nexopia was the first social media platform I ever used, and it would be the last for two decades until I reemerged on Primal recently. There was something special and unique about it that could never be replicated by the corporate giants that would soon come to dominate the space. Nexopia in the mid-2000's was a time and place that felt like it largely belonged to one generation of young Canadians who were, together, leaving the innocence of their analog youth behind and leaping into a brave new digital future. We didn't know what we were doing, or where we were going, or that we would someday miss where we came from.

We can never return to the innocence of our analog past. The world has changed, as we have changed. I suspect that much of millenial 90's nostalgia is probably just misplaced sadness for the lost innocence of our childhood.

But it is, perhaps, a childhood innocence that can no longer truly exist, one that died with our generation. We lived through the final days of a world where a kid could just be a kid: believe in Santa without the ability to ruthlessly fact-check him on Google, say and do stupid things without fear of them being forever immortalized online, experience love and sexuality as a progressively revealed mystery, not a grotesque spectacle of voyeuristic debauchery. We didn't know what we had until it was gone, and now we live in a world where it is difficult for any child to have this experience of youth.

We can't return to the innocence of our childhood, nor should we seek to. Once our eyes have been opened to the harsh truths of the world, they cannot be shut. But everyone deserves a period of innocence before these harsh truths are revealed, and to have them revealed incrementally.

We can't go back to the world as it was, but we can create homes and families and ways of living that allow kids to just be kids again, in a world that pushes them relentlessly towards jadedness.

It's the straddling of the pre- and post-internet eras that ...

2026-03-14T11:14:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…z5hh
_________________________

It's the straddling of the pre- and post-internet eras that is so unique, I think. My childhood occurred in a world that had not yet undergone that great paradigm shift.

We can never go back to that world, and that's fine. There's a lot that's better about this new world too. But I'll always be grateful for my analog youth. It was a more innocent time.

The bombings will continue until debt-to-GDP improves.

2026-03-14T00:25:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…ggev
_________________________

The bombings will continue until debt-to-GDP improves.

Looks like step 4 to me, although step 3 stuff continues to occur ...

2026-03-13T15:57:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…8ny8
_________________________

Looks like step 4 to me, although step 3 stuff continues to occur through step 4.

Haha, it's called recency bias, and I have to check mine ...

2026-03-13T15:08:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…xlvm
_________________________

Haha, it's called recency bias, and I have to check mine frequently. Our brains are not as rational as we might hope.

Sounds good to me 👍

2026-03-13T13:13:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…jv37
_________________________

Sounds good to me 👍

Hi Jor. I'm a fellow Canadian, an electrician, and a ...

2026-03-13T10:02:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…fnst
_________________________

Hi Jor. I'm a fellow Canadian, an electrician, and a Bitcoiner. I've been lurking on Nostr for awhile and just started posting recently, just random stuff that I'm thinking about. Check me out if you're interested.

Great perspective. People often dismiss the centralization of the ...

2026-03-12T04:18:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…vh2a
_________________________

Great perspective.

People often dismiss the centralization of the unit as unimportant, "it's just the nodes that matter." But somewhere between the 3.5% they own now and 100%, there is a line. A fuzzy line, perhaps, but a line nonetheless.

Let us hope they never cross it.

Agreed. I paid for YT Premium to avoid ads, I don't need that ...

2026-03-11T15:35:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…c232
_________________________

Agreed. I paid for YT Premium to avoid ads, I don't need that shite injected directly into the content.

That man knows how to please a woman, I guarantee it.

2026-03-11T02:13:29Z

In reply to nevent1q…qhpk
_________________________

That man knows how to please a woman, I guarantee it.

I dunno if that's the peak man, you didn't even buy ...

2026-03-10T19:47:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…av0p
_________________________

I dunno if that's the peak man, you didn't even buy CumRocket.

In the spirit of science, I have elected to conduct numerous ...

2026-03-10T02:40:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…66q6
_________________________

In the spirit of science, I have elected to conduct numerous experiments on my brain chemistry over the years.

Positive results generally came from naturally occurring substances.

"I had no idea this gif/meme is where that [movie] came ...

2026-03-09T13:07:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…kxfd
_________________________

"I had no idea this gif/meme is where that [movie] came from."

It was just that good of a meme.

Hell yeah. I am, in fact, an electrician, and I can tell you that ...

2026-03-09T00:17:42Z

In reply to nevent1q…jjxw
_________________________

Hell yeah.

I am, in fact, an electrician, and I can tell you that we (and the skilled trades in general) need all the smart people we can get.

A couple of decades of funnelling every smart kid into college (and telling them that the trades are just for the dummies who couldn't hack it in higher education), has left us sorely low on talent.

We are the people building your homes so they don't fall down (and wiring them such that they don't erupt in flames). You want competent people doing that.

https://strc.live/ Active during New York market hours, assuming ...

2026-03-08T17:07:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…2k98
_________________________

https://strc.live/

Active during New York market hours, assuming STRC is trading above par.

The ironic thing is that the logical time to buy STRC was back in ...

2026-03-08T11:19:31Z

In reply to nevent1q…f5rj
_________________________

The ironic thing is that the logical time to buy STRC was back in the summer when the bitcoin-fiat exchange rate was high, and yet they didn't sell much at the time.

Right now is like, the worst time to be buying STRC, when sats are stupidly cheap. And yet here we are: people piling into fiat instruments for 11.5% yield at the bottom of a bear market, or close to it.

He's exploiting a moment of deep value, right in front of their faces, with their own money. Wild.

I was careful to use the words "might have." For many ...

2026-03-08T04:44:09Z

In reply to nevent1q…2pg7
_________________________

I was careful to use the words "might have." For many people, I'm sure it was valuable regardless of recent developments. As you point out, learning begets more learning, and you never know where you might end up.

For others, they may have spent fortune (possibly borrowed) on a university degree, expecting a lucrative career on the other end that never panned out.

To your point, I'll never regret the three months I spent learning Fortran, even if it's likely I will never use it in any practical application. It opened my mind to the logic of programming, and that's been incredibly valuable in a difficult to quantify way.

Is it the "learn to code moment" 10 years ago, when they ...

2026-03-08T04:25:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…6lj8
_________________________

Is it the "learn to code moment" 10 years ago, when they had to face up to their own technical inadequacies?

Or is it the one right now where it turns out to have been a significant opportunity cost that might have been better spent learning something else?

Both tough pills to swallow.

STRC pretty much taking care of that singlehandedly, if the ...

2026-03-07T21:02:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…pncv
_________________________

STRC pretty much taking care of that singlehandedly, if the numbers are to be believed.

Of course, without proof of reserves it's all just a trust me bro situation, so who knows.

We need to bring back "peevish" and "peevishly." ...

2026-03-07T19:14:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…pyhx
_________________________

We need to bring back "peevish" and "peevishly." Those are good words.

"It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that ...

2026-03-07T18:51:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…wvc3
_________________________

"It is the small things, everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay".

If you're gonna jump, do a flip.

2026-03-07T14:37:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…3qr8
_________________________

If you're gonna jump, do a flip.

Thanks for piping up, I didn't get it.

2026-03-06T22:03:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…kx6u
_________________________

Thanks for piping up, I didn't get it.

Absolutely; skills are the hardest asset. "You can just do ...

2026-03-06T16:42:19Z

In reply to nevent1q…secm
_________________________

Absolutely; skills are the hardest asset.

"You can just do things" applies just as much to the physical realm as the digital. That plumber is exploiting a knowledge asymmetry, and quite profitably too.

Sounds a bit condescending to a guy who just charged you $2745 ...

2026-03-06T16:16:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…nng0
_________________________

Sounds a bit condescending to a guy who just charged you $2745 for something you could have learned to do yourself.

Maybe he should have been schooling you.

Nero.

2026-03-06T02:29:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…zldg
_________________________

Nero.

That's very Zen, but as long as someone is willing to give me ...

2026-03-06T00:00:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…d0gz
_________________________

That's very Zen, but as long as someone is willing to give me scarce sats for infinitely printable trash units, the dollar price has a meaningful impact on me and my ability to acquire true wealth. Ignoring that does make one wiser.

Every time, I buy that dip... And every goddamn time I look back ...

2026-03-04T15:23:15Z

In reply to nevent1q…ff8t
_________________________

Every time, I buy that dip... And every goddamn time I look back and HODL's in my head telling me I didn't stack hard enough.

It's a tale as old as time(chain).

All we really know for certain is that he SAYS he is buying that ...

2026-03-04T02:53:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…uv3a
_________________________

All we really know for certain is that he SAYS he is buying that much, and his custodian at Coinbase tells him he owns 700k+, because trust me bro.

Analysts can probably point out the suspected addresses where all that coin is held; what they can't tell us with any certainty is if he's the only one with a claim to it.

Consider me wildly apathetic. I'm here for the separation of ...

2026-03-04T00:15:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…tpaf
_________________________

Consider me wildly apathetic. I'm here for the separation of money and state, not rules and regulations on shitcoins.

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself ...

2026-03-01T18:30:20Z

In reply to nevent1q…rfwp
_________________________

You either die a hero, or live long enough to see yourself promote yield on Bitcoin.

We all remember Josh Mandell, right?

2026-03-01T13:46:58Z

In reply to nevent1q…t8qz
_________________________

We all remember Josh Mandell, right?

Nostr event nevent1qqsdsfmkj4rw6hacy0yg7985u574r2u5nxhlkn79l28q2rmtpgcr0jgzyp7pyqw3nnqdkw6ernl7ln6g4n0xq6fvxpt50nl7jyzkvvmd67uaky3mrfk

2026-02-28T05:39:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…add4
_________________________

Retard having a nice resurgence though. Haven't heard anyone ...

2026-02-27T13:43:56Z

In reply to nevent1q…udee
_________________________

Retard having a nice resurgence though. Haven't heard anyone say "the R word" in quite awhile. That was super cringe.

For some reason people didn't find peer-to-peer electronic ...

2026-02-25T22:11:27Z

In reply to nevent1q…6s9y
_________________________

For some reason people didn't find peer-to-peer electronic cash nearly as compelling, even though that's the real superpower.

More or less that entire field of discussion can be one-shotted ...

2026-02-25T21:44:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…dw7p
_________________________

More or less that entire field of discussion can be one-shotted with "just evaluate people on their individual merits."

Yeah it's a greasy move on their part, but the cheap sats ...

2026-02-25T17:48:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…wjpa
_________________________

Yeah it's a greasy move on their part, but the cheap sats were nice while they lasted.

I'm locked in and fully erect.

2026-02-25T16:22:13Z

In reply to nevent1q…w47c
_________________________

I'm locked in and fully erect.