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freecritter
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Lightning & other stuff
Replying to Avatar Zach

As Sovereign Engineering comes to a close, I'd like to take some time to reflect on the past few months. It feels like it was yesterday when I was sitting in a Panera Bread in NYC listening to a Nostrovia episode when these guys nostr:npub1l2vyh47mk2p0qlsku7hg0vn29faehy9hy34ygaclpn66ukqp3afqutajft and nostr:npub1dergggklka99wwrs92yz8wdjs952h2ux2ha2ed598ngwu9w7a6fsh9xzpc mentioned a crazy idea to bring a bunch of hackers to an island in the middle of the Atlantic to work on Nostr stuff for two months. At this point I had only recently heard about Nostr, in fact, I was still debating between building on Farcaster vs Nostr πŸ˜…. By the end of that podcast I was hooked, I knew I had to find a way to get myself into the Cohort and start contributing to the future of the web. So I started working on a client, learning all about the intricacies of the protocol as I did. A constant flow of Nostr podcasts streamed into my ears, fueling the next few weeks as I put together what eventually became Flockstr. (Funny enough, Flockstr was originally supposed to be a Patreon/Substack client where users could subscribe to creators and consume long-form content). Once my MVP was done I sent DMs to a bunch of the big names on Nostr to get some feedback. Luckily, despite not having much cred to my name at the time, I got some awesome encouragement from nostr:npub1jlrs53pkdfjnts29kveljul2sm0actt6n8dxrrzqcersttvcuv3qdjynqn & Pablo which pushed me to keep going. Fast forward 4 months and now I find myself sitting in a cafe in Madeira, writing this retrospective as I get ready to return home tomorrow.

In that time I've:

1. Turned Flockstr into the first Nostr Calendar events client

2. Built Flare.pub the first YouTube/Video sharing app on Nostr

3. Built Find Me On Nostr a fun little game to spread the word about Nostr and share some sats

4. Contributed to the Nips repo

5. Visited Bitcoin Park in Nashville to meet a bunch of Nostriches like nostr:npub1qny3tkh0acurzla8x3zy4nhrjz5zd8l9sy9jys09umwng00manysew95gx, nostr:npub18ams6ewn5aj2n3wt2qawzglx9mr4nzksxhvrdc4gzrecw7n5tvjqctp424, nostr:npub1yaul8k059377u9lsu67de7y637w4jtgeuwcmh5n7788l6xnlnrgs3tvjmf, nostr:npub1atn7mlwt08erz4ap47gef92xfey65a4z9ed9vec53u5kc9v94pusl6h4x3, nostr:npub1j8y6tcdfw3q3f3h794s6un0gyc5742s0k5h5s2yqj0r70cpklqeqjavrvg, and others

6. Joined SEC-01 in Madeira where I got to work with some of the most capable developers in the space and discuss the future of the web (I could gloat more about my time in nostr:npub1s0veng2gvfwr62acrxhnqexq76sj6ldg3a5t935jy8e6w3shr5vsnwrmq5 but this is a kind 1 after all so let's keep it somewhat brief πŸ˜‚)

7. Created Seeker, an Events app for Bitcoiners built on Nostr ready to onboard the next generation of Nostriches.

8. Presented at Bitcoin Atlantis where I was able to meet some incredible people like nostr:npub1sg6plzptd64u62a878hep2kev88swjh3tw00gjsfl8f237lmu63q0uf63m, nostr:npub1az9xj85cmxv8e9j9y80lvqp97crsqdu2fpu3srwthd99qfu9qsgstam8y8, nostr:npub16c0nh3dnadzqpm76uctf5hqhe2lny344zsmpm6feee9p5rdxaa9q586nvr, nostr:npub1zuuajd7u3sx8xu92yav9jwxpr839cs0kc3q6t56vd5u9q033xmhsk6c2uc, nostr:npub1jpvsahpy0vgq7gu8nfqjkeskce0gwjk8jpss590xkvjh5xxe4epsruqgsz, nostr:npub1zjx3xe49u3njkyep4hcqxgth37r2ydc6f0d7nyfn72xlpv7n97ss73pvrl, and so many more.

All of that in just a few months. I was just checking my GitHub, and my first ever Nostr commit was Oct 5th, 2023 marking tomorrow my 5-month Nostr-anniversary. It's amazing how much can happen in such a short time. Thanks to all who I've had the pleasure of meeting so far in this journey, I can't wait to see what the next 5 months have in store. 🧑

Glad you jumped in and are building awesome tools!

Ugh just spent writing a long note in #primal but accidentally swiped down and so it erased it all 😞😝🀣

Maybe I’ll retype tomorrow if I remember.

Thought it was gonna be one of my better notes too.

S o o nℒ️

PS - any good #longfrom #client recommendations?

#asknostr in addition to Creed’s Higher what other #songs and #music do I need to add to my #bitcoin #playlist πŸ™ 🎸🎧

Replying to Avatar Shawn

nostr:npub12vkcxr0luzwp8e673v29eqjhrr7p9vqq8asav85swaepclllj09sylpugg has been struggling for me for days. #Atlantis effect?

What I’m particular? I’ve noticed a little slow loading clicking into threads but it could also be other factors too. Nothing that made me link to the event.

On the flip side it continues to amaze me how much incentives align for all using #bitcoin and now #nostr πŸ€™

I think many will be glad to join in a system that aligns incentives as opposed to winner take all but there will be some that will always be scammers.

Great historical perspective on how technology evolves and I can see parallels with the efforts to #grownostr

#asknostr for anyone else with similar stories to share πŸ™πŸ’œπŸ€™

nostr:note13w2k8qeavtgjsm7dgq4c4mcy2t4ehg3h2f3vd69l56ay4t0qu2pqq0ptmn

I believe it was when they went off of TestFlight to the regular iOS store. It’s how they’ve decided to navigate Apple’s tax for now

Replying to Avatar Alan β‚Ώ

β€œWhat if someone changes the #Bitcoin protocol rules, such as by removing the 21M supply cap?”

They can certainly try. But at this point, it’s not feasible. Here’s why.

Let’s use chess as a metaphor.

You and I can agree to start playing chess by some new rules, such as allowing pawns to move like queens, or expanding the size of the board.

We can even spend billions of dollars paying chess influencers, chess organizations, and chess board manufacturers to promote our new version. However, the classic version of chess has enormous staying power, so good luck getting the rest of the world to follow our new rules.

At best, all we’ll do is create some new, lesser, alternate version of chess that a minority of people play. Most will still opt to play the old version.

One exception to this is that we might successfully introduce some tiny new edge-case rule that improves the game while keeping the essence of the classic version in tact. For example, pawn en passΓ© was adopted in the 15th century, 900 years after the original game of chess arose.

Still, it’s hard to force small edge-case rule changes like that. Typically, they emerge naturally as players of the game realize a slight way to make gameplay more fair or enjoyable.

The same is true for Bitcoin. Hard forks are out of the question at this point, as the majority of nodes will always follow the classic rules of the protocol out of their own self-interest. If the 21M hard cap was removed, that version would no longer be Bitcoin.

The only rules that might change henceforward are small and relatively insignificant to the essence of Bitcoin. And even then, these soft forks will only be adopted if a majority of nodes decide on their own to adopt them, which will only happen if they legitimately improve the protocol.

My node, for one, will never adopt fundamentally different Bitcoin rules. And there are many like me.

#JamieDimon needs this note πŸ“