when you travel in 3rd world countries, you'd sometimes find first world country folks on the streets begging. At first you'd think something really bad happened, and then you realise they are begging people to fund them to continue their world travel. Similarly, the term bootstrap is often misused and abused
Good writing does not succeed or fail on the strength of its ability to persuade. It succeeds or fails on the strength of its ability to make you think - Malcolm Gladwell
from Greek mythology a genius inventor Daedalus,
created the Labyrinth but eventually destroyed his own creation for the greater
good to help Theseus defeat the monster Minotaur. It must have taken a lot of
courage and compassion in doing what you did, I understand the strategy and I
respect the decision. This wasn’t an easy note to respond to.
Random stuff - men wore high heels longer than women did throughout the course of history. Anarchist were far-left longer than the shift to the right. Many wars were advocated and criticized by both the spectrum depending on who funds and what gets more votes. There is liberal and conservative in US as much as it exist in the Islamic militant group. It is much harder fighting for peace and disturbingly easy facilitating wars. But fighting for peace is all that matters
History often serves as a reminder that what we know as the truth is far little compared to what's out there.
This statement makes a good example of high divergence with strong ideological commitment and it exist on both ends. I hope someday the world converges into a tolerant and respectful society
Good morning, all. Here's a thought on heading towards a more balanced society through Nostr. The topical relay conversations reminded me of this.
Society is divided. Everything is centralised and restricted by whichever gov’t who sits on the throne. People no longer know how to speak to each other if their opinions differ. Families are divided over beliefs.
When it comes to Nostr, perhaps the goal is to embrace the differences yet enable an open field for everyone to come together. People can go back to their comfort zone anytime through relays.
Conceptually, you can have relays A B C (refer to diagram) and more.
Say A is liberal, B is conservative, C is neutral.
Each can view others if they want to. They can remain within their vicinity. It’s their choice.
Being able to view other opinions helps one come out of the one-sided bubble. It challenges one to widen perspective without getting defensive. Understanding someone else creates compassion and empathy. And it brings people together. And i think that is what's missing in the world today.
Centralisation prevents that. It divides people
Took me a lot of book clearings to finally get to this - SEA historically has been a strategic trade pathway, filled with tropical islands and generally a non confrontational society. It has amongst the oldest tribes in the world. The early civilization settlements were from SEA to America so you might see some feature similarities between both the natives. SEA is also rich with cultural mix as it was one of the most occupied lands in the world - by India, China, Mongolia, the kingdom of Majapahit, kingdom of Khmer, Spain, Portugal, Dutch, British, US, Japan, France - from the 1st century until the 20th century
In my attempt to understand JFK better, i cruised on a series of books on various world events during that time, before and after, numerous conspiracy theories, his business approach and push for disarmament.
The biggest takeaway : It is much harder fighting for peace and disturbingly easy facilitating wars.
He practiced non-intervention. He wanted to pull out of Vietnam, establish peace with Castro, leave Laos, end the Cold War. He stood his grounds even when CIA went behind his back numerous times.
Should he have lived, cold war might have ended sooner. capitalist and socialist may have learnt to work together, even within America. The Islamic militant groups who rose a few years after he died, to oppose US and Soviet intervention, may not have existed. The Jihads - the far right of the Islamic Militants - likely would have faded.
Fighting for peace is definitely way harder. But its the only thing that matters.
Here are some articles of Nostr captured on media. These are pretty good stuff. A big shout out to all those who have contributed in advancing Nostr’s signal out there. There are 119 search results for Nostr under news category. These are the first 10 pieces that showed up.
What type of articles on Nostr you want to see more on media?
1. Coinkite’s newest Bitcoin device can serve as a lightning wallet and Nostr client
Author: Namcios
Publisher: Bitcoin Magazine
Date: 14 Oct 2023
2. The decentralised social media ‘super app’ of Elon Musk’s dreams already exists, with growing interest in China (Second title: A decentralised super-app backed by Jack Dorsey sees rising interest in China)
Author: Matt Haldane
Publisher: SCMP Magazine
Date: 5 Oct 2023
3. What is Nostr and How to Start Using Nostr
Author: Andrew Kamsky
Publisher: CCN
Date: Sep 12, 2023
https://www.ccn.com/education/what-is-nostr-and-how-to-start-using-nostr/
4. How to Get Started with Nostr, Jack Dorsey’s Favorite Decentralized Social Network
Author: Chris Castiglione
Publisher: Forbes
Date: April 11, 2023
https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2023/04/11/how-to-get-started-with-nostr/
5. Embracing Decentralization: Is Nostr the Answer to Social Network Concerns?
Author: Mensholong Lepcha
Publisher: Techopedia
Date: 5 June 2023
https://www.techopedia.com/is-nostr-the-answer-to-social-network-concerns
6. What is Nostr? How it works, Nostr is a protocol and not a product.
Author: Sajjad Hussain
Publisher: Medium
Date: 26 Aug 2023
7. Apple to delist Nostr-based Damus app over Bitcoin tip feature
Author: Prashant Jha
Publisher: Coin Telegraph
Date: 13 June 2023
Link: https://cointelegraph.com/news/apple-to-delist-nostr-based-damus-app-for-bitcoin-tip-feature
8. Twitter’s founder donated a quarter of a million to a new social media app
Author: Shubham Agarwal
Publisher: Freethink
Date: 6 Feb 2023
Link: https://www.freethink.com/internet/nostr
9. Nostr domain on sale for $5 million, may host Lightning wallet services if unsold
Author: Oluwapelumi Adejumo
Publisher: Crypto Slate
Date: 6 Sep 2023
10. Nostr is making decentralized social media possible
Author: Not disclosed
Publisher: Verdict
Date: 18 Sep 2023
Link: https://www.verdict.co.uk/nostr-supported-by-jack-dorsey-open-protocol-social-media/
Thanks to my dog and his walks, the morning sunshine efforts have been fairly consistent
I don’t know enough and the more I read, the more it becomes painfully obvious. But besides nationalism and interventionism there is also the influence on religious ideologies.
I think I should separate Mujahids and Taliban clearly because this the left vs right in the Islamic militant group.
Before the 60s, King Zahir Shah played a significant role in Afghanistan. The religious faith in Afghanistan was rather diverse, a reflection of the country's decentralized and locally rooted political geography. There’s evidence of ancient influence of Buddhism, Greek, mystics, saints, Sikhs, and Islamic warriors.
During the late 60s, there was a rise of Marxism - Cold war started seeping in - and it was a fight between embracing Marxism and Islamic ideologies. Kabul's universities were marked by intense political activity and a clash of ideologies.
Secret Marxist book clubs and Islamist societies operated within the city's academic institutions.
Afghanistan's monarchy was in decline; hence the political atmosphere was stressed up and urgent. The question of whether Afghanistan would adopt a Marxist or Islamic, secular, or religious, modern or traditional path became a constant subject of debate among university professors and students.
Massoud - who eventually became the leader of Mujahid - acquired a different, more militant form of the Islamic faith compared to his father during his time at Kabul Polytechnic Institute This new Islam faith is said to have conspiratorial and potentially violent aspects.
The influence of this form of Islam came through Afghan junior professors who had studied abroad such as at Al-Azhar University in Cairo, where they were exposed to radical Egyptian Islamist ideas. When they returned to Kabul in the mid-1960s, these professors introduced these radical ideas into their teaching.
This shift in the Islamic faith of some Afghan intellectuals and students - changed the Islam ideological landscape of the country during that period (and globally I would think - because even Islam in my country, before the 70s, was very moderate - the old movies has so many parties and dancing and fun, not controlled by religious police)
But the 60s also signifies the period when the British gave independence to a lot of countries - so I am sure there is a huge influence of newfound freedom of belief in these countries - and perhaps adopting Newton’s law and reacting the opposite way.
The influence of external ideologies led to polarization and significant conflicts within Afghanistan – these were imported ideologies : KGB-sponsored Marxism vs the rise of militant Afghan Islamists.
Students and activists started aligning themselves with either communism or radical Islam, leading to demonstrations, counter-demonstrations, and heated debates.
This confrontation of ideologies significantly reshaped the political landscape of Afghanistan during the late 1960s and early 1970s.
The US was playing a role here during this time as well through the CIA. And British’s M16 was popular too, if not more.
Russia left in ‘89. Masoud won in ‘92. US interference slowed down at this point. There was also apparently a rise of democrats in the US who portrayed war as a Republican thing, and they wanted to counter that.
At the same time, the late 80s/90 also gave birth to the rise of far-right conservative parties in the Islam – known as the fundamentalist (literal observation of the Quran and the Hadith) – these are the Talibans, the Al Qaeda’s.
They clashed with Massoud’s Mujahedin militant Islam party because Mujahedin was considered to be a liberal party (left wing). The clash between right and the left happens everywhere!
Now mind you, the Quran is very much like the Old Testament - which is very similar to the Torah. The Islams and the Jews have many similar practices for example praying several times a day, facing North, wearing the hat (Islam wear songkok, Jews wear Kippa). There are also the similarities between Kosher / Halal, not consuming pork etc. I don’t see why they can’t be friends in today’s time.
Back to the 90’s - there’s also the rise of corrupt leaders. Iran’s Ayatollah. Charles Taylor who was the leader in Liberia who funded the RUF to rise against their own corrupted gov’t in Sierre Leone because he wanted a hold of the Diamonds. The Taliban’s were formed in ‘96.
Massoud, opposed to their fundamentalist interpretation of Islam, led armed opposition against the Taliban regime. He eventually fled to Tajikistan. He formed the Northern Alliance and asked European Union for support to exert pressure on Pakistan who was supporting the Taliban. He also appealed for humanitarian aid to alleviate the Afghan people under the Taliban's rule.
Benazhir Bhuto was said to be extremely cunning and cruel women – but because she was well educated (Harvard / Oxford), very pretty, she seemed to get her way with everything. The CIA has very close ties with her. There is a really good video by Assange interviewing Imran Khan and the influence of US in Pakistan and funding corrupt leaders as well.
The Taliban's primary focus was on establishing an Islamic state in Afghanistan. They homed Al-Qaeda, but Al Qaeda’s goals were more global, to promote its brand of Islam worldwide.
On September 9, 2001, Massoud died from a suicide bombing act carried out by two al-Qaeda assassins, as instructed by Osama bin Laden. Massoud succumbed while en route to a hospital in Tajikistan.
Two days later, the September 11 attacks occurred in the United States. NATO and CIA then intervened in Afghanistan and allied with Massoud's forces. The Northern Alliance, with international support, ousted the Taliban’s in 2001.
Over time an entire young generation grew through this liberal (but not as liberal as in the 60’s) political landscape - I know stories of young people who went around building moving libraries etc.
Everyone fled when Biden decided to “leave” Afghanistan just like that. The Afghans were not prepared to be independent yet. A young former mayor of Kabul wrote a good piece on this - on why funding Afghans all those years blinded them and increased their dependencies on the US (and why Ukraine is going down that dangerous path too).
And after US left, Taliban took Afghanistan right back. And now we are back on the same Jihad cycle,
This book 'Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001' by Steve Coll - the managing editor of Washington Post is very interesting. It was embargoed, won Pulitzer Prize etc. I have not finished it – I’ve got a few more books in the pipeline before I get to it – but very well written. Could not put it down.
Snowden Archive – documents leaked by Snowden
Comments ( https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37880033 )
"Man, if you work in defense, pretend you didn't even see that URL.Back in the day, three gigs ago - when this stuff was full on the boil - bunch of people got insta-fired for just clicking on news stories about nostr:npub1sn0wdenkukak0d9dfczzeacvhkrgz92ak56egt7vdgzn8pv2wfqqhrjdv9 It was insane how fast it happened. "
https://github.com/iamcryptoki/snowden-archive
nostr:note1akkkxvvckvz6dkw898e6ag33gvcn7v4a9z8lyqm7xgqj80g25m6qhfwkqk
Catching up on a lot of backlog reading this weekend, this piece by nostr:npub1a2cww4kn9wqte4ry70vyfwqyqvpswksna27rtxd8vty6c74era8sdcw83a on US manufacturing, this piece is really good
https://www.lynalden.com/reshoring/ .
I had a simplistic view of the dire situation and danger of manufacturing deprivation in the US before I started diving in, and Lyn has wrapped this up in detail, in so many different perspective, very well.
The steel industry decline that was so international and local political driven led to a cluster effect of decline of other industries, and smaller manufactures and businesses tied around it - rust-belt cities, urban decay, population migration, are all the aftermath. To boost revenue, more funding to service industries and cut backs on manufacturing. That and the rise of globalization.
There are some tax free incentives to set up manufacturing in the US, but have to be very smart about it as import tariff, labour can be high. Export cost from the US though is really cheap so that's a plus point. I think boosting nanotech and additive tech as a support mechanism for big industries would be a win but there has to be a bigger boost in reshoring / rebuilding industries.
I believe the trade deficit happened sooner though in the 80s /90s? Adding some details on another manufacturing book by Ro Khanna on US policies on manufacturing. There's also another book I read called prototype nation on how China build their manufacturing empires - pretty impressive how they went about it.
If anything, absorb all the good, learn from the bad, rebuild
nostr:note1fg5mk0k5eddhrul0e06jjf8a8d2lhwcq4cdw2ku7qhakmehpuz5sf4t9ut
oh man, someone's gotta throw in an ice bucket and cool off the heat. I don't mind a few boring peaceful years ahead lol.
I appreciate the conversations here uncle Bob, and reading your exchanges with Mike as well. Its really nice to see how very contradictory views are shared, understood and respected. I learnt a wide spread of information just reading through this and I appreciate it.
Been trying to understand the 80's and 90's and the trigger factors to the rise of insurgencies, guerrilla warfare, and international terrorism - Taliban, RUF, Hezbollah, Hamas etc.
This period was also during the end of cold war - ie US and Soviets withdrawing troops and lettings the countries figure out for themselves
One interesting factor is who funded the “Mujahideen” - who are also known as the Jihads. During cold war, US picked out Afghanistan and Pakistan as the best position against Soviets (in my previous note, the CIA agents shares about it). They funded this jihadis group with training and military arms to go against the soviet-backed regime.
Eventually the Geneva accord was signed which signifies the ending of the Soviet-Afghan War.
Soviet Union held on to its promise and withdrew its army. But US renegaded and kept funding the mujahedin. Eventually the Mujahedin took down the formerly backed soviet regime.
The Taliban grew from the mujahedin.
The various fractions of Jihadist also exist in Iran, Iraq, Cyprus, Myanmar, Philippines, Syria, Nigeria, Somalia, Bosnia
The Arab Springs happened later – as an anti gov't protest (against corrupt gov't) in the 2010s by armed rebellions - starting in Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Egypt, Syria, Bahrain. It spread even more - Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Jordon, Kuwait, Oman, Sudan, Iraq. Those with oil and wealth sustained. Some became democratic. Some still in civil wars. I'll dive into the foreign interventions during this time on a diff note but this was also when the CIA came back.
But to end this note, Qaddafi of Libya was always portrayed as a cruel, evil dictator. When he died, media everywhere rejoiced in his death. I first came across different sentiments of Qaddafi as I read Frantz Fanon's books - on the spread of Islamization in North Africa, the Black Panther etc.
The second time I read about his kindness and how he was loved by his people was through Mohammad Ali's autobiography. He sent money to build Mosques in the US through Black Panther. He started rebuilding the Libyan economy. He did not want to collaborate with the US and I’m guessing it didn’t make him popular as Libya is top 10 country with oil reserve. He opposed imperialism, removed class system, educated women etc.
But it wasn’t all bed of roses, maybe the first 2 decades of his 4 decade of ruling was great and later he became a bit cuckoo, but he wasn’t hated or feared by his people. I also read how he was killed, including anal penetration.Today there is no longer peace and prosperity in Libya, but there is a ceasefire since 2020.
The world is messy. How do you prevent corrupt gov’ts? Is foreign intervention needed?
What do you do when arm rebellions come to your house and threaten to shoot your family down if you do not shoot your neighbours? Are you then named a terrorist too? I've read many stories similar to scenarios like this.
But one thing I realized is that post colonization, a lot of countries will be figuring out leaderships for themselves and bound to have corrupt leaders, and people have to step up. It becomes messy for some period of time.
Perhaps, this is the adjustment period post cold war which is also somewhat colonization. And perhaps its best to let it be without foreign intervention. A lot of times foreign intervention has ulterior motives and countries are suppressed. However countries like Sierra Leone would not have survive if British did not step in.
I'm still forming thoughts on this, this is an ongoing journey
true. And hobbies too. maybe the fishing community, there is woodworking community that is quite impressive, home schoolers and more
What nostr:npub180cvv07tjdrrgpa0j7j7tmnyl2yr6yr7l8j4s3evf6u64th6gkwsyjh6w6 says is painfully true.
This means learning and building a new UX paradigm, for a better future. And being patient and kind in its broad adoption.
#nostrdesign
would make exciting marketing penetration
Currently, tech enthusiasts, individuals with limited speech freedom, exiled from other platforms, seeking milder alternatives, Bitcoin users, and people with general social needs.
but i think planning out localisation strategy and engaging people here who want can contribute in some ways but are not programmers to onboard - city by city and eventually grow state by state, country by country would be a nice strategy to have. It could be from local relays, local news, local community stuff etc - and might give a nice balance to all 3 types of relays - private, public and third type of relay - was it community based? (i forgot what's the 3rd type of relay lol)
This book is written by the former managing editor of Washington Post, Steven Coll called " Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001"
US was attacked on Sep 11, 2001.
"The story is written in 3 parts :
The first section covers the anti-Soviet Jihad of 1979-89, a time when the U.S. collaborated with Pakistani and Saudi intelligence to aid the Afghan Mujahadeen battling Soviet occupying forces.
The second phase he covers in the book begins in 1989 with the Soviet pullout and goes through late 1997, early 1998. Here he tells the story of the "American retreat form Afghanistan and the rise of the Taliban, the full radicalization of Bin Laden, the maturation of Al Qaeda into a global terrorist organization, and the erosion of common cause among CIA, ISI (Pakistani), and Saudi intelligence."
The third and final part of this story begins in the Spring of 1998 and runs right up to Sept 10, 2001. Here Coll focuses on the return of CIA covert action to Afghanistan and the Clinton Administration's mandate to capture, disrupt, or kill Bin Laden, and his lieutenants.