This is a nostr appreciation post to start the new year. I don’t think any of us are ready for how this thing can change the media.

No more algorithms doesn’t just mean that you get to control what you see – it also means that journalists like me can directly interact with their readers to get real feedback on how their content is perceived, without collecting anyones data.

Lots of posts of mine do terribly on Twitter but do very well on nostr – simply because the algorithm disfavors them for using a wrong word, format or hashtag. Other posts don’t do well on either – telling me that I need to get better at explaining things. Quality feedback like this is the holy grail for any journalist because it makes us better at what we do, and it’s impossible to achieve on the manipulation sites.

And for the zaps – it’s the only mechanism I have seen that actually discourages having a paywall. People *will* and *do* spend money on content they appreciate; not because they are forced to, but because they value what other people have created. This simply doesn’t work when what you make is hidden for a payment in advance scheme that requires you to setup an account and make new passwords for every page.

Journalists, just like artists, don't create stuff because they want to get rich (maybe some do, but that's a pretty stupid strategy). We create things because its physically impossible for us not to. Knowing that someone is willing to spend their sats on your work is the best feedback you can get.

Call me crazy but nostr doesn’t just make media more free. It makes it better. Bullish on what's to come 🎆

I don’t care about nostr vs Twitter. It’s all the same. Except the Twitter algorithm is throttling my reach. The reason is I used to post about sports, and my followers and former colleagues, it turns out, unbeknownst to me were most desperately credulous normies. When I started posting things that were not-narrative compliant, they almost certainly muted me.

The algo, per Musk himself, dings you for having large follower verified accounts mute you. So my reach was throttled. The banger posts would get a lot of engagement right away then die on the vine. I couldn’t be sure of this — maybe I was just paranoid and imagining It — but Elon himself confirmed it the other day. So that’s just how it is.

I don’t care about nostr vs Twitter. I don’t care about purity tests or “freedom tech” as an ideal. But the algo is throttling me, so I feel more like posting here, despite much smaller network effects.

It’s not because I’m *good* or *pro-freedom* or *virtuous*. It’s because the centralized platform is limiting my reach for social credit reasons, and I have no recourse except to contribute posts on a protocol that doesn’t do that.

There’s nothing more to it than that.

Those numbers are useless, most of the US locations are ATMs, others are out of date, spam or simply outdated. At maximum, a large US city has two to three places that take sats. SF, LA, Seattle, Chicago for example all have at most two places, cumulative

don't be sad its changed be stoked you were there part of it

happy new year 🙌

We like to make fun of Europe’s approach to Bitcoin and tech regulation, but there are more shops accepting Bitcoin in Paris than in all of the United States.

2025 Nostr Predictions:

1. Algos will seriously challenge follow lists. Clients will de-emphasize the author to focus the post's merit on the content itself and push algos further.

2. First ad-based, VC-backed Nostr client will appear and seriously challenge incumbent clients on UX quality from the revenue model's deep pockets.

3. The Nostr Android ecosystem will evolve to be the proven app decentralization model for all other platforms. App-to-App communication takes over as a Nostr layer 3. Users are on-boarded to a Store, not to a single client.

4. Local-first clients with shared pool of events will become the only way to create a "good enough" performant experience on Nostr without using centralized caching servers, blurring the lines of online and offline.

5. First AI-native Nostr client attempts to render and react to any Nostr content based on voice/chat commands only. The notion of a "feed" disappears. AI-made content starts to challenge human-made content for top zaps and trending posts.

6. Moderated communities are re-born, grow slowly but consistently over time. Safe spaces that create genuine connections and clean, authentic content become a valueable revenue source for moderators.

7. Nostr libraries continue to have a hard time defining stable abstraction layers for Nostr clients to use. Which will lead to a NIP-like repo especifically designed to enable the development of interoperable abstractions that can overtake the complexity of the Nostr relay network protocol.

The idea that internet is replacing print media or television seems incorrect ..

Internet is just the training ground .. great filter .. and social feedback .. and (value for value) collaboration ..

The best will still write the books that people buy .. or act in movies that people go to watch ... and host prime time shows. ..

Today I found out I have cancer. So I climbed a mountain with my favorite people and gave thanks…

Because it’s not as bad as they thought. There will be difficult days but Praise God I am going to get through it. I have SO much to live for: my wonderful family, true friends, my beautiful grandkids, and my adoring husband who I love more and more every day. I am also super curious to see what #bitcoin is going to do to make this world a better place 😁. #BreastCancer #cancersucks #PTL

i think that it was all part of a plan that was already leaked at least 2500 years ago in books like Enoch and Revelation, and these people are the ancestors of the hybrids between sapiens/erectus and the iberomarussian clade (the ones that are associated with aliens and fae and aes dana)

and those of us seeing it and fighting back and organising these protocols that defeat them (bitcoin, nostr, lightning, etc) we are getting help as well, and whatever you think you know at the level of understanding what these people have been doing orchestrating mass consciousness, there is a deeper war going on that is even more far out than you can imagine... people who are literally harvesting the souls of people to power their evil machines of death

i'm sure the spooks are already trying to figure out how to put nostr in a box

but it's gonna fail

just like the endless ways in which they are trying to bury bitcoin is just further feeding into it, whatever they try to do to nostr is going to be turned against them

One day you will wake up and there won’t be any more time to do the things you have always wanted to do. Do it now.

What’s the best website for downloading audiobooks?

As affordable as possible, preferably free.

#asknostr

Bitcoin transfers wealth from the impatient to the patient

miss the cork pops and the 'actionable' bitcoin content