dude puts "there is no alternative" as his nym, then is like "actually, there is an alternative".

he rolled like Andy Hoffman

Dr. Toboggan...Mantis Toboggan

learn to swim...

Just leaked...behind the scenes footage of FOMC setting the price of Bison Dollars today

https://m.primal.net/Lvzd.mp4

if one owns a Chuck-E-Cheese, it puts one in a great position denominating one's debts in Chuck-E-Cheese tokens

buy tickets sometime thru ticketmaster...they take a heavy cut, and in addition, they tack on "convenience charges".

they are middlemen between the seller (artist/venue) and buyer, and extract a crazy amount of value from the transaction, without adding value to the experience.

the other day I was trying to think of an example of rent seeking, and I just realized the perfect example...Ticketmaster

1pm both dates

Simpson Library on Sat Nov 9th

Denim Coffee Mechanicsburg on Sun Nov 24th

yeah, the term "rent seeking" kinda suggests that it involves charging rent.

slum lords are a thing, and arguably extractive from society d/t milking govt housing contracts. being a landlord and/or charging rent is positive in most cases probably.

a classic example of rent seeking is someone who installs a chain across a river, and when a boat gets hung up in it, charges them to raise the chain.

there's some overlap with extortion.

would a holder of gold be doing the same thing?

or a holder of any other asset that appreciates in value relative to fiat currencies?

Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!

Two meetups lined up for November: an educational meetup on Saturday, Nov 9th, and our monthly coffee meetup on Sunday, Nov 24th. See below for a sneak peak of Nov 9th meetup.

After 6 months of chop, the exchange rate of bitcoin against the US Dollar is approaching its former ATH (all-time high). The ATH has already been breached when measured against other fiat currencies, and exceeded 100k Canadian Dollars yesterday. Keep in mind the shortcomings of these fiat measurement tools, though. Fiat currencies, due to constant debasement, AKA legal counterfeiting, bleed value continuously.

Imagine if other measurement tools that we rely on constantly changed in value! For example, say your height is 60" this year, and next year it's 63". This wasn't because you actually grew, though...it'd be because the length of an inch keeps insidiously getting smaller. Imagine if a carpenter were building you a house, and that when he showed up every morning to work on it, the length of each inch on his measuring tape decreased by some inconsistent amount overnight. How do you think that your house would turn out?

Value is subjective, and the fluctuating value of a thing can only be measured against the fluctuating value of another thing. Another way to measure bitcoin's value would be against assets scarcer than fiat currencies. Some examples are stocks (the S&P 500), precious metals (gold), or residential housing (the Case-Shiller Index). When measuring bitcoin's value against these scarcer assets, we've still got a bit to go before we eclipse the ATH, set for each of these in 2021. Compared to three years ago, we're still 24% under the ATH priced in stocks, 38% under the ATH priced in gold, and 16% under the ATH priced in houses.

Keep staying humble, and keep stacking sats.

-------------------------------------

The Nov 9th educational meetup will be geared towards what steps one can take to improve their financial sovereignty. Beginners welcome!

Topics:

What does it mean to increase one's sovereignty?

What is the staircase of sovereignty?

What does it mean to get off zero?

The importance and significance of getting off zero

Approachable steps that incrementally increase sovereignty

What is a seed phrase? Why are they so powerful?

Cold vs hot storage

Ideas for leveling up your skills and setup

Hope to see you there!

~Lonelypumpkins

Central PA Bitcoiners

Respectfully, I don't think you understand what rent seeking means.

Things that embody rent seeking extract value from a transaction without adding value.

Saving money isn't rent seeking.

Happy Bitcoin Whitepaper Day!

Happy Mole Day!

ok, I'll take a look tonight

Email just went out: (links turn to text, did include video titles in text)

Greetings Central PA Bitcoiners!

Our monthly coffee meetup is this Sunday, Oct 27th, at Denim Coffee in downtown Mechanicsburg. Come join us at 1pm!

This is the second time I've used "then they fight you" in the subject of an email. The first time was in April of this year, and it was referring to the arrest of the Samourai developers. There were some news items this week that evoke that same notion.

1. ECB economists publish a paper attacking bitcoin

2. Italy proposes plan to increase capital gains on bitcoin from 26% to 42%

3. Minneapolis Fed suggests banning or taxing bitcoin to sustain deficits

The hypocrisy is off the charts with these. In the first one, the argument is made that early bitcoin adopters are getting rich and capturing wealth from later adopters, in a zero-sum scenario. Of course, this is not zero-sum, and it's how holders of any capital asset are compensated for their risk and correct choices. People who bought AAPL at $1/share 20 years ago are able to realize profit due to the buyers that value it more than that now. Likewise, today's asset buyers will profit in the future if future buyers value it more than they do now.

A wonderful juxtaposition with these news items is a recent video which compares the current Bitcoin-focused pushback to pushback against past disruptive technologies, entited "Bitcoin and the Death of Energy Misinformation" on Swan's YouTube channel. There is a long history of instances where the old guard attempts to FUD the thing that's disrupting them. For example, the bicycle came to prominence in the 1890's, and disrupted several existing industries: horse and buggy, riding apparel, railway, and public transit. A newspaper article was written that claimed "the bicycle to be the most dangerous thing to life and property ever invented". The bicycle since has become the most ubiquitous means of mechanical transportation worldwide.

Lastly, I'll leave you with this gem of a video I recently came across called "Six reasons to withdraw your bitcoin from exchanges" by Arman The Parman. My favorite is reason #6: "Unless you take coins into your own custody, you will never fully appreciate how bitcoin works. If you don't appreciate it, you won't buy enough of it, and this you will regret." Reminds me of the saying "let your education drive your allocation".

Enjoy the rest of your week, friends. Hope to see you on Sunday!

~Lonelypumpkins

Central PA Bitcoiners

less what, sir?

PS nostr:npub1tftc33ttam85wraffce62cgtvvjrmttquqlv6a0agtfm5nl4vues82xar5 should turn their comments off on YT...too rife with scams

https://youtu.be/qSSj9L9pv2U?si=UBpWLRy8IGf8Fc0L

very sharable...short, thorough, catchy, appeals to wide audience