Can you recommend a good non-Bitcoin podcast?

The beauty of the Christmas story is that new beginnings are possible for all of us, no matter what mistakes we have made in the past. We all have the power to make a fresh start, in a more positive direction, should we lose our way. We don't have to be held captive by our worst moments -- hope and redemption are always possible.

The most sincere wishes for a Merry Christmas to all of you!

Appreciate the response, makes sense now given the goal of THIS build. Will be very curious to follow your advanced build.

I haven't used Start9 yet, but perusing their app list was a little disappointing.

The goal for THIS build is for the simplest possible setup and operation for a non-techy person. My guess is that Umbrel is going to be the most user-friendly UI once it's up and running. But will give Start9 a try, too.

Because of the above goal, running Bitcoin Core directly on debian/ubuntu isn't viable (e.g. when v26.0 is released, one click upgrade on Umbrel).

(note: I'm running experiments on the far other end of the spectrum building a ProxMox mini PC cluster with each service manually installed by me in its own debian VM)

Internal RAID on a cheap used laptop is probably possible (there is room for nvme and sata ssd) but that's starting to get into "if you're talking about RAID, you're already more advanced so what are you doing here?" territory (again, remembering that this laptop is for non-techy noobs; I don't think a laptop is necessarily the right form factor for someone who's more advanced).

I'll be setting up a RAID mirror/NAS on one of my more advanced mini PCs, but my approach there will be:

* 1TB nvme system drive

* 2TB sata ssd data drive

* 2x USB3 spinning 8TB hdds RAID mirror

So I'm separating safe, redundant storage (RAID mirror) from very fast data access (sata ssd) and keeping that separate from an extremely fast system disk.

The RAID will be the slowest storage I have (because usb3) but it doesn't matter since it's just a giant place to dump lots of regular backups.

Now, sure, if I was building on a regular-sized desktop, I'd run the 8TB RAID mirror on internal sata and wouldn't need the 2TB ssd data drive at all. The mini PC approach does force some compromises.

What's the best type of fish to cook in your opinion? How do you prepare it?

That's next on my list. Cast iron is just so f'n heavy.

I want to increase NOSTR usage, but I must be doing something wrong, I only see the same few people here over and over, despite following many, and having quite a few followers.

It's a bit boring. No offence.

Cast iron pan skills getting pretty solid!

* Dry brine for a few hours at room temp on a wire rack, skin side up

* Let the pan get hot, add a bit of avocado oil

* Dab a little oil on the skin side

* Start it skin side down

The dry brining helps a ton! Pulls the moisture away from the exterior surfaces. Previously the skin would always stick and pull away. Now it's beautifully sliding in the pan as if it were an ice rink!

Nostr: all politicians are liars and cheats!

DeSantis: I’ll protect bitcoin.

Also Nostr: vote DeSantis, he said “Bitcoin”!

I'm selling items I don't need on eBay, which I absolutely hate, so that I can raise funds to build a new, more powerful Lightning node with a RAID 1 setup. 🤙

Do I build one from scratch or buy a refurbished small form factor machine with two SATA ports? Decisions.

A refurb will be cheaper, but finding a device that supports 2X storage devices is the kicker.

If you've done this, what hardware did you decide upon?

I thought that too. Pulled one at a time and tried booting with each one. No luck. Memory check showed no errors

Anyone know anything about built computers? I just built this one but cannot get it to boot. I can boot into bios but if I try to load the drive it crashes after the grub. Occasionally it will show the Linux mint icon as it tries to load and then crashes. Put in a live USB and same thing

Nostr.wine w/ filtered relay by #[2] is the creme de la creme IMO

No actually. I do have one with that setup, but i have an external backup of the mobile wallet key either way. This is actually a 1/2 with just the tapsigners right now. So i only need to not lose both tapsigners at the same time, & i did this specifically to have one in the safe at home, and one for traveling.

But i do have my mobile key as my account key, so without that and my password, even stealing my phone and tapsigner makes it highly unlikely they can get my coins.

No actually. I do have one with that setup, but i have an external backup of the mobile wallet key either way. This is actually a 1/2 with just the tapsigners right now. So i only need to not lose both tapsigners at the same time, & i did this specifically to have one in the safe at home, and one for traveling.

But i do have my mobile key as my account key, so without that and my password, even stealing my phone and tapsigner makes it highly unlikely they can get my coins.

I have officially made my primary mobile BTC (on chain) setup the Nunchuk + 2 Tapsigners that I've been playing around with for the past few weeks. I fucking love it, and even though I've always loved the Coldcard/Keystone/Jade combo with mobile wallets, none of them have matched the ease of using the Tapsigner, which doesn't even account for the fact that all those others I have to carry around a separate device, while I can keep my Tapsigner right in the wallet I already carry around.

Can't believe I haven't been doing this for longer. #[0]