I’ve never seen a more anti-cash city than Amsterdam.

Most small businesses don’t accept it.

Restaurants act like they’re doing you a huge favor, they always say they have no change.

You can’t even buy bus tickets with cash.

Supermarkets that accept cash will verify every bill as if you’re trying to use counterfeit money.

Wtf?!

A single human cell is more complex than any machine humanity knows how to build yet. Only our greatest processors are even getting close.

The human body consists of trillions of these cells, specialized into tasks. A being of marvelous, monstrous complexity.

And yet we forget where we put our phone.

watched “jingle all the way” with my girlfriend

i love these 1990s movies with arnold schwarzenegger because they depict the peak of the american culture

everyone is financially careless and enjoys stuff the rest of the world can only dream about

and nobody is lecturing anyone for unapologetically enjoying life in this great civilization

makes me feel like i was born in the wrong place, at the wrong time – which used to be the whole point of hollywood

Bitcoin (low risk, high cost) +

Lightning (medium risk, medium cost) +

Ecash (high risk, low cost)

scales to infinity

Taxes be like:

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To all listeners of the Bitcoin Takeover podcast: I need your help!

For 5+ years, I had to answer to the question “who are your listeners?”

I have some rough stats, but don’t know specifics.

If you see this message + listen to the show, please leave a comment.

The fifth Stormlight book is coming out in December.

The way Sanderson has structured it, is that Stormlight will have ten books, but that the fifth book will be a major climax with a long time gap until book six which will start a later story. So it's a ten-book series told in two parts, and the climax within part five is coming up soon.

I've read through book four, like 4800 cumulative pages, and am locked. That's the first fiction book I'll buy on day one.

I’m reading my first fiction book in four years, since Rhythm of War.

It’s called The Lost Metal and it came out a couple years ago but I’m behind on my fiction, since my financial work engulfed me ever since the pandemic.

Both of these are like deep sequels into stories I’ve been reading for a decade from Brandon Sanderson.

If anyone is interested in his universe, imo the best place to start is Mistborn.

Privacy Features of Popular Messengers

In the world of secure messaging, not all apps are created equal. Let's take a look at the privacy features of SimpleX, Signal, Session, and Threema.

1

SimpleX

- Fully decentralized with no central servers.

- No phone number or email required.

- Minimal metadata collected.

- Strong anonymity with no user identifiers.

- Users can run their own servers.

- Focused on privacy.

2

Signal

- Strong end-to-end encryption.

- Requires a phone number (less anonymous).

- Collects some metadata (e.g., contact discovery).

- Centralized, with servers controlled by Signal Foundation.

- Widely adopted, with a balance between privacy and usability.

3

Session

- Decentralized and uses Onion routing (Tor) for added anonymity.

- No phone number or email required.

- Minimal metadata.

- User IDs are public keys, providing strong anonymity.

- Open-source community servers, users can run their own nodes.

4

Threema

- End-to-end encryption, but partially open source.

- No phone number required, can use an anonymous ID.

- Some metadata is collected, but it's limited.

- Centralized, with servers controlled by Threema GmbH.

- Requires a one-time fee, but offers robust privacy features.

Conclusion

SimpleX for decentralization & privacy purists.

Signal for strong encryption with a user-friendly experience.

Session for anonymity-focused users.

Threema for those wanting privacy with an anonymous ID system.