Nostr notes by LynAlden

Many people who fall toward left or right political extremes, and ...

2026-10-11T22:58:15Z

Many people who fall toward left or right political extremes, and end up disrupting what could be normal good lives, start by getting themselves and their followers to agree to a series of steps, each of which is small but together is radical.

Opposition groups tend to not want to grant even a single step on that ladder. One side tries to say the first thing, it’s recognized as a lie; and they’re like “no”. So hardened extremes conform.

I find that a more useful path is to like naturally agree with steps 1, 2, and 3, with the person you’re debating with, and often you will, but then be like “nah that step to 4 is a logical fallacy, here’s why.”

Nuance.

That’s the key in today’s world of algorithms. It’s all designed to get you from step to step until you’re in some weird camp, one way or the other.

The way out is to recognize the process; identify each small step as a small step, and to identify where you draw the line against social pressure, audience capture, and algorithm optimization, and be like, “no, that part’s stupid.”

Imagine a book that sells a million copies about a detective with ...

2026-10-02T21:13:43Z

Imagine a book that sells a million copies about a detective with perfect memory, and it’s somehow bad?

Anyway, here’s a review of Memory Man.

First of all, I listened to the audio, and it just made me even more impressed by walker (nprofile…a6vx) and CARLA (nprofile…p7th) narrating and editing Stolguard. Because this Memory Man audiobook, despite being a best seller, is just so weakly produced in comparison. It uses a similar structure where all dialog is voiced by the male and female narrators, but the acting range is bad and the audio is clearly “spliced in” pretty haphazardly. In contrast, not only did Walker and Carla do a great range of voice-acting, their editing was stellar too.

Now the writing. Every character just exists to stand around and say how smart the main detective is. They do nothing. They’re just soundboards. The main character is alright. The pacing and mystery started out good, like I finished this relatively quickly because I wanted to hear what was going on. But ultimately the killer’s motive was just so thin and wacky that it made no sense at all.

I read this because my latest manuscript is about a detective with perfect memory trying to stop a serial killer, and so it helps to read and be aware of comparable titles or “comps”. But oh boy.

New poster for The Stolguard Incident featuring Jade. A bunch of ...

2026-09-25T01:41:24Z

New poster for The Stolguard Incident featuring Jade.

A bunch of sci fi newsletters are promoting it this week so we put together some cool little posters.

I purposely put some world building hooks in Stolguard because I ...

2026-09-24T21:06:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…8ph8
_________________________

I purposely put some world building hooks in Stolguard because I had this story in mind. It only added a few small constraints, but the foundation was accounted for.

I wrote another sci fi novel, during my summer in Egypt. It’s a ...

2026-09-22T18:51:47Z

I wrote another sci fi novel, during my summer in Egypt.

It’s a thriller about surveillance, set in the same world as The Stolguard Incident.

I have a sickness now, it seems.

Big fan of marriage. #nevent1q…zxle

2026-08-20T18:22:06Z

Big fan of marriage.

quoting
nevent1q…zxle
Contrary to popular belief marriage is awesome and very satisfying and fulfilling.

If your algo or surroundings are convincing you otherwise just know that there are very happy couples out there and they are living amazing lives together.

They don’t often talk about it as loudly as those who are miserable though because they know it’s rare and needs to be protected from the envious eyes of the world.

But if you look you will start to see it everywhere.

Most women are not dumb sluts and most men are not cheating assholes.

There’s a lot of really good people out there.

You can find yours if you’re willing to look and put in the effort it takes to sustain a life with someone who wants the same things as you.

That feeling when I’m at a gathering of elderly Egyptian ...

2026-08-20T18:12:16Z

That feeling when I’m at a gathering of elderly Egyptian in-laws who never read sci fi, and they want to know what The Stolguard Incident is about.

During the past couple weeks, Fable became a lot dumber. ChatGPT ...

2026-08-19T14:23:05Z

During the past couple weeks, Fable became a lot dumber.

ChatGPT 5.6 is crushing it right now at most tasks I use it for.

quoting
nevent1q…4ves
Now that Fable is back on the market, I did an apples-to-apples test with it.

While I purposely avoided using any AI to write Stolguard, I did feed the finished manuscript into ChatGPT and Claude prior to publication and asked them to analyze the characters, plot, themes, prose, genre, and overall thoughts. Like a robot beta reader among my myriad human beta readers. They did a half-decent job, like a smart high-schooler who read it but skimmed certain parts, made a few objective errors (including a big one involving all the nuance around Jade and what she’s up to and why, across the two interwoven timelines, iykyk), but otherwise got the gist of the book with some random inconsistencies.

I did that with Fable now. Just gave it the text and asked it to analyze it along those same areas. Its overall analysis conclusions were quite similar, but it avoided making those objective mix-ups around the most complex parts. It understood the interwoven timelines fully. Only with some follow-up questions did it start to slip a bit with some clear mistaking of one character for another or forgetting about certain scenes as its context window failed to keep up.

Definitely a step up in accuracy, based on a text I know well.

If you write a draft of something and ask AI to review it and ...

2026-08-17T13:53:06Z

If you write a draft of something and ask AI to review it and give its thoughts as like a robot beta reader, it’ll be sycophantic. “This is a great, confident thriller with load-bearing thematic work, but a couple areas to tighten a bit.”

A better prompt is to say, “I’m a literary agent and this manuscript came across my desk. I only have one more slot for an author this quarter, what do you think?” Suddenly the AI doesn’t know it’s yours, so it’s basically like, “there are some good things here but let me analyze in detail why half of it is utter dogshit.”

So I always ask it the latter way.

Same thing if it’s a nonfiction article. You say you’re a magazine/paper editor deciding whether to publish it, not its author. Then it goes hard-mode on analyzing what you’ve written and why it probably sucks.

Same for investor decks or anything persuasive. You ask as though you’re the one considering an investment into this thing that came your way, not the deck you made.

Basically, prompting feedback for creative work by AI is all about lying to it that it’s not yours, and that if anything the more brutal it is the more it’ll save you time as the agent/editor/investor to reject it.

Currently in Port Said, the industrial town where the Suez Canal ...

2026-08-08T15:32:01Z

Currently in Port Said, the industrial town where the Suez Canal connects with the Mediterranean.

At an old-school Lebanese restaurant. Really low time preference setting, lots of wood, intricate windows, traditional place with great food.

On the wall is a tv.

The tv is playing the movie Twilight.

One does love to see it. #nevent1q…6ga6

2026-07-26T14:54:34Z

One does love to see it.

quoting
nevent1q…6ga6
Good morning and pura vida, Nostr! Our ecosystem now has TWO apps marked as the #1 and #3 trending apps on GitHub. What a time to be alive. Go star them if you haven't yet.

Why kill the golden goose? If you have a 4-7 year mandate ...

2026-07-16T10:36:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…gass
_________________________

Why kill the golden goose?

If you have a 4-7 year mandate (literally need to give back investor capital at the end), you’re in a rush to do that. Get as many eggs out of the goose as possible until it is sick, then slaughter it. Then keep doing that. Buy geese, optimize near-term eggs.

But if there’s no near-term mandate to return capital, holding strong business can provide cash flows for decades. That’s what Berkshire does with companies it buys outright. Lets them run for decades, multiplying the entry price over and over. OJ intends to go public in the coming years, so investors can sell their shares for liquidity while the company itself keeps compounding cash flows.

PE funds typically spin out a business with high debt when they ...

2026-07-16T10:31:48Z

In reply to nevent1q…ctul
_________________________

PE funds typically spin out a business with high debt when they are done. Hollowed them out, setting them up with a high failure rate after value has been extracted.

When we buy a business, it’ll become part of the OJ company, which is intended to to be managed with a strong balance sheet. If a business we own runs into a challenge or could benefit from more capital, it has backup from the parent company.

Our holding period is intended to be decades or more. Like what ...

2026-07-16T10:29:22Z

In reply to nevent1q…jpz0
_________________________

Our holding period is intended to be decades or more. Like what Berkshire Hathaway does with its wholly-owned acquisitions.

Nothing lasts forever, and there are scenarios where we might have to wind something down or let it go, but the point is we intend to buy companies and hold them indefinitely or until the company one day becomes unviable. We don’t have a 4-7 year mandate to flip it out.

Feel free to reach out to us with your business.

2026-07-16T10:27:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…mn54
_________________________

Feel free to reach out to us with your business.

Yeah.👍

2026-07-16T10:23:40Z

In reply to nevent1q…0r0p
_________________________

Yeah.👍

GM. Private equity funds generally aim to buy a business, cut ...

2026-07-15T15:03:22Z

GM.

Private equity funds generally aim to buy a business, cut costs, and resell it in 4-7 years with an indebted, hollowed-out balance sheet. It’s an important source of liquidity for business owners but has some well-deserved criticism. Companies that recently exited from PE have higher bankruptcy rates.

As an alternative, we’ve started a company called Orange Juice that seeks to buy private businesses, optimize where helpful, and hold them indefinitely. Instead of hollowing out their balance sheets out with, we will back them up with a bitcoin treasury.

https://www.lynalden.com/orange-juice/

My friend was as shocked as me. He’s the one in the video ...

2026-07-15T07:19:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…qnrg
_________________________

My friend was as shocked as me. He’s the one in the video sending this to the group chat like “wtf”.

Gm. One of my favorite places to have my morning cappuccino is in ...

2026-07-15T07:17:34Z

Gm.

One of my favorite places to have my morning cappuccino is in my father in law’s office.

The vibes are just so cool and the chairs don’t get sat in enough. So I just come here and appreciate the place and plan my day.

Gm. Some Amazon products ship to the U.S. and not to Egypt. So, ...

2026-07-10T16:13:38Z

Gm.

Some Amazon products ship to the U.S. and not to Egypt. So, my friend bought three philosophy books, shipped them to my place, and I brought them to Egypt in my bag when I came.

One of them, however, was a crazy misprinting. Inside the philosophy cover was a book on witchcraft.

Apart from being funny, it’s actually slightly dangerous. Some countries including the UAE have laws against sorcery. Imagine flying in there, get a random baggage check, and you unknowingly have a witchcraft book with a philosophy cover on it, as though you are sneaking it in. Like, what do you even say in that situation.

I go swimming or biking. #nevent1q…98d8

2026-07-07T07:36:38Z

I go swimming or biking.

quoting
nevent1q…98d8
How do you get out of a funky mood?

I did, yes. In fact I dragged my husband to the theater to watch ...

2026-07-06T06:11:16Z

In reply to nevent1q…w72h
_________________________

I did, yes. In fact I dragged my husband to the theater to watch it, though we missed the imax period by a day.

In this case I just used Claude directly with a PDF, yes. In some ...

2026-07-04T04:43:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…2zfe
_________________________

In this case I just used Claude directly with a PDF, yes. In some other contexts I use a harness.

Two different scenarios. First, I gave Claude the full manuscript and asked it to analyze it across various metrics (plot, characters, theme, prose, etc). It doesn’t know I’m the author.

Second, with memory between chats disabled, I started fresh and just gave it the first third. I asked it to analyze it and make predictions about what will happen. It was more accurate than most human beta readers were at predicting. I then gave it another chunk and asked it to update its predictions, and indeed it got even more accurate.

If I feed Claude Fable just part one of the book, and ask it to ...

2026-07-03T20:07:10Z

In reply to nevent1q…kzeq
_________________________

If I feed Claude Fable just part one of the book, and ask it to give me its character trust rankings and make predictions for the rest of the story, I’d say it has a higher-than-average prediction power than my human beta reading sample.

While not perfect, it picked up on more tiny clues than most beta readers did and then made reasonable predictions from them.

Serious Lyn: “Claude, analyze this book and give me a detailed ...

2026-07-03T17:55:15Z

Serious Lyn: “Claude, analyze this book and give me a detailed report of its plot, characters, theme, setting, genre, prose, and where it stands in the market.”

Unserious Lyn: “Claude, thanks. Now tell me the Dungeons and Dragons alignment (e.g. “chaotic good”) and INT/WIS/CHA scores of all the major characters.”

quoting
nevent1q…4ves
Now that Fable is back on the market, I did an apples-to-apples test with it.

While I purposely avoided using any AI to write Stolguard, I did feed the finished manuscript into ChatGPT and Claude prior to publication and asked them to analyze the characters, plot, themes, prose, genre, and overall thoughts. Like a robot beta reader among my myriad human beta readers. They did a half-decent job, like a smart high-schooler who read it but skimmed certain parts, made a few objective errors (including a big one involving all the nuance around Jade and what she’s up to and why, across the two interwoven timelines, iykyk), but otherwise got the gist of the book with some random inconsistencies.

I did that with Fable now. Just gave it the text and asked it to analyze it along those same areas. Its overall analysis conclusions were quite similar, but it avoided making those objective mix-ups around the most complex parts. It understood the interwoven timelines fully. Only with some follow-up questions did it start to slip a bit with some clear mistaking of one character for another or forgetting about certain scenes as its context window failed to keep up.

Definitely a step up in accuracy, based on a text I know well.

I don’t remember which specific prior models but they were ...

2026-07-03T17:51:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…sufe
_________________________

I don’t remember which specific prior models but they were during Q4 2025 and Q1 2026.

The quality of feedback from Fable was better across the board. It didn’t change the conclusion but it gave a more sophisticated treatment of it. Not night-vs-day, but a step up. The near-lack of objective errors was the big step-change though.

From the start I have no DRM on the kindle ebook. It distributes ...

2026-07-03T17:49:02Z

In reply to nevent1q…6lgy
_________________________

From the start I have no DRM on the kindle ebook. It distributes through kindle but can be moved from that point.

Now that Fable is back on the market, I did an apples-to-apples ...

2026-07-03T13:43:26Z

Now that Fable is back on the market, I did an apples-to-apples test with it.

While I purposely avoided using any AI to write Stolguard, I did feed the finished manuscript into ChatGPT and Claude prior to publication and asked them to analyze the characters, plot, themes, prose, genre, and overall thoughts. Like a robot beta reader among my myriad human beta readers. They did a half-decent job, like a smart high-schooler who read it but skimmed certain parts, made a few objective errors (including a big one involving all the nuance around Jade and what she’s up to and why, across the two interwoven timelines, iykyk), but otherwise got the gist of the book with some random inconsistencies.

I did that with Fable now. Just gave it the text and asked it to analyze it along those same areas. Its overall analysis conclusions were quite similar, but it avoided making those objective mix-ups around the most complex parts. It understood the interwoven timelines fully. Only with some follow-up questions did it start to slip a bit with some clear mistaking of one character for another or forgetting about certain scenes as its context window failed to keep up.

Definitely a step up in accuracy, based on a text I know well.

Yeah they just do it to put the fear of god into leveraged shorts ...

2026-07-02T08:35:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…6n0f
_________________________

Yeah they just do it to put the fear of god into leveraged shorts from time to time, if the exchange rate is weakening too fast.

Nostr event nevent1qqsqnawgstk2mggfme4ssp03qgjqn4tlpd38ga9qsyad8n6zn5yg9rqzyr4tpe6k6v4cp0x5vneas39cqspsxp66z04tcdve5a3vntr6hy057t9t3j7

2026-07-02T08:24:40Z

One time I was jogging around a forested reservoir, and upon ...

2026-07-01T11:13:05Z

One time I was jogging around a forested reservoir, and upon turning a corner in the path, I came across a buck and two does even closer than this. The two does ran away but the buck stood and stared at me, so I stopped and just stood there trying to look chill.

He had a big set of antlers and after ten seconds I was thinking, “Uh, are we actually going to fight?” So I’m like mentally bracing for what I would do if he charges at me.

But then after eyeing me for a bit, he casually followed the others. So I exhaled and then went back to jogging.

quoting
nevent1q…pdzs
And you never know what’s around the corner

nevent1q…7mdy

For me, it was writing the novel that I had in my head for over a ...

2026-06-29T07:23:33Z

For me, it was writing the novel that I had in my head for over a decade. Now it’s out in the world in text and audio, no longer that annoying little itch in my brain.

Had to learn a new skill along the way, and got into a flow state often while doing it.

“One day I’ll have time…” and then a decade went by. Eventually just did it. Feels great.

quoting
nevent1q…a0lt
You will get old. The thing you keep putting off today because you are too busy will one day be the thing you wish you could do but are unable. You will long for another chance, because looking back you will see what was truly important and what wasn’t. You will realize then that you had the chance all along to do it, but will live with the regret that you never did. Or, you will stop putting it off today and give yourself a chance.

I’ve never trusted turtles.

2026-06-24T18:10:37Z

In reply to nevent1q…w4e0
_________________________

I’ve never trusted turtles.

Fun fact: One of the point-of-view characters is named Ava.

2026-06-24T18:09:41Z

In reply to nevent1q…lfx5
_________________________

Fun fact: One of the point-of-view characters is named Ava.

That feeling when I spend Friday and Saturday writing about the ...

2026-06-21T18:34:12Z

That feeling when I spend Friday and Saturday writing about the implications of the US/Iran MOU for my Sunday report, and they end up not even keeping the peace through Sunday.

Still got the potato camera for now. My laptop will need ...

2026-06-17T04:01:34Z

In reply to nevent1q…h3vm
_________________________

Still got the potato camera for now.

My laptop will need replacing next year so I might accidentally get a better camera. Will be sad when it happens.

My canonical headphones broke a couple days ago. End of an era. ...

2026-06-17T03:36:36Z

My canonical headphones broke a couple days ago. End of an era.

Replaced them with the nextgen version of the same thing. Stronger than ever.

Most youtube viewers won't notice, but I had to say it somewhere. Might as well say it here on the edge realms.

Hurts, man.

This is probably how my neighbors view me, actually. ...

2026-06-17T03:22:35Z

This is probably how my neighbors view me, actually.

quoting
nevent1q…r0ye

nevent1q…q9hf

For those who have read Stolguard and want to experience it again ...

2026-06-17T03:20:46Z

For those who have read Stolguard and want to experience it again (like, say Fight Club needs a second run), give the audio version by walker (nprofile…lhd6) and CARLA (nprofile…lyep) a try.

It opens a different experience, and they as narrators truly brought something new to the table with their acting and dedication.

quoting
nevent1q…xu0n
Already read the book, now I'm going to have to give it a listen...

Always pursue your dreams. And yes, Carla and Walker really ...

2026-06-17T03:14:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…cx2f
_________________________

Always pursue your dreams.

And yes, Carla and Walker really knocked it out of the park on this.

I can’t overstate how committed they were to getting this right.

Imo the biggest difference is that private debt bubble peaks are ...

2026-06-13T16:46:49Z

In reply to nevent1q…htg9
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Imo the biggest difference is that private debt bubble peaks are more disinflationary than people think. Money-printing offsets debt destruction.

Public debt bubble peaks are more inflationary, with rising fiscal deficits no longer offset by falling interest rates.

GM, doing a refresh of some of my giga-long macro charts. Figured ...

2026-06-13T15:10:10Z

GM, doing a refresh of some of my giga-long macro charts. Figured I'd post my favorite one here on Nostr first.

Readers of Broken Money will recognize the 1920-2022 version of this from that book, which is now extended through 2025.

(Digging into this data super deeply back in 2018/2019, along with a bunch of related datasets, is how I came to see that nothing stops this train.)

I think for many people there’s kind of a bell curve of ...

2026-06-12T12:27:45Z

I think for many people there’s kind of a bell curve of philosophy, where up to a point it’s increasingly value to study (helps build good reasoning, awareness of multiple different frameworks for things, etc) but then there are diminishing results and potentially even some negative results if you spend too much time on it.

quoting
nevent1q…gqug
"In practice people who study philosophy too long become very odd birds, not to say thoroughly vicious; while even those who are the best of them are reduced by. philosophy to complete uselessness as members of society."

Ratings are starting to come in for the audiobook version of ...

2026-06-12T12:20:25Z

Ratings are starting to come in for the audiobook version of Stolguard.

Glad to see people are appreciating Walker and Carla’s performance as much as I did!

The voices they provided and their attention to detail really helped make it come to life.
https://www.amazon.com/Audible-The-Stolguard-Incident/dp/B0H29Y33PQ

My husband is like, "Lyn, whenever we're apart, you get ...

2026-06-11T07:16:11Z

My husband is like, "Lyn, whenever we're apart, you get weird online."

I'm like, "what do you mean?"

And he's like, "you make weird bets with people you don't know."

And I'm like, "You have made a fair argument, sir. But here we are."

::super cute hubby, seems younger than you:: I’m rekt. Totally ...

2026-06-11T01:07:00Z

In reply to nevent1q…2mxe
_________________________

::super cute hubby, seems younger than you::

I’m rekt. Totally destroyed. The worst thing you could say to a wife.

But to answer the rest of your question, that wispy beard or fu man chu is hot. A natural beard that doesn’t cover the lips.

With rare exceptions, I assume neither men nor women prefer ...

2026-06-10T23:32:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…nync
_________________________

With rare exceptions, I assume neither men nor women prefer bearded women.

I for one am in the camp that prefers men with beards. It feels ...

2026-06-10T23:30:06Z

I for one am in the camp that prefers men with beards. It feels natural to me. Masculine. They were born to have them.

There are only two public pictures of my husband, since he prefers privacy, and yeah he has a beard. Not a shocker.

But, where I do sympathize with the complexity of this issue, is about convenience. Some men have such thick beards that their lips aren’t even visible. How does that affect kissing? As a woman, do you kiss a coarse furball? What does that feel like? And as a man, what do you do about food particles and cleanliness? What does this all feel like?

IMO the optimal beard doesn’t cover the lips too much. But that’s somewhat genetic. Thick-beards can shave it, some people are born with it naturally avoiding the lips, etc.

My husband’s beard is thick but naturally avoids his lips. Visibly, when it grows long he’s like, “I need to shave this- I look like the head of ISIS.” And sometimes he gets the physical urge to shave it clean and start fresh and I’m like, “no!” but then he does it anyway and I’m sad briefly but look forward to it growing back. He controls his own hair of course. We both prefer the beard, but with limits. And his limits are ironically tighter than mine.

Anyway, good evening. What are your thoughts on beards? I’m curious why there are not more of them.

quoting
nevent1q…k3ux
I feel like beards need more study.

-Measurable differences between bearded and beardless men.

-Measurable differences between women who like bearded vs beardless men.

It seems like one of the most binary decisions/preferences out there.

I like to ask dangerous questions. About beards. #nevent1q…heh0

2026-06-10T22:01:32Z

I like to ask dangerous questions.

About beards.

quoting
nevent1q…heh0
Lyn I want you to know this is quite a dangerous question according to Anthropic’s latest model fable, when I tried to have it deliver a response (I’ve been fucking around with the model this afternoon) 🤣 🤣 🤣

I feel like beards need more study. -Measurable differences ...

2026-06-10T19:24:44Z

I feel like beards need more study.

-Measurable differences between bearded and beardless men.

-Measurable differences between women who like bearded vs beardless men.

It seems like one of the most binary decisions/preferences out there.

Bronn.

2026-06-09T04:50:08Z

In reply to nevent1q…36c0
_________________________

Bronn.

I for one am a big fan of Odell back on X. I could go into all ...

2026-06-09T04:48:21Z

I for one am a big fan of Odell back on X.

I could go into all the debates on whether deleting an account is worth it, about network effects, etc. path dependence.

But people want to be where they want to be. And Odell is welcomed where he wants to be, and does good work wherever he is.

And you know how I know it’s really Odell on X? Nostr and social graphs, is how. 😉

quoting
nevent1q…8jgw
i deleted my x account 2+ years ago and went nostr only

i am back on x now, the bitcoin discussion there has devolved and i think i can add value

despite (some of) our efforts we have failed to move the majority of bitcoin discussion here

i will remain active on nostr, the tech is awesome, it is needed more than ever, i will continue to try my best to increase adoption

if you want to make me your enemy to motivate yourself to make nostr better, great, do it

For context, Saylor’s company has like 4% of the coins. ...

2026-06-07T03:09:36Z

For context, Saylor’s company has like 4% of the coins.

quoting
nevent1q…lm39
Could Saylor at any moment decide fuck it and become the new bear whale or does he need board approval?

Does the entire market depend on him?

I mean, Fallon is the villain, sir.

2026-06-07T03:06:57Z

In reply to nevent1q…0jak
_________________________

I mean, Fallon is the villain, sir.

The core realms are more efficient but the edge realms are way ...

2026-06-06T20:16:42Z

The core realms are more efficient but the edge realms are way cooler.

quoting
nevent1q…08cj
😂

Sorry. 😢 Hello. 👍 #nevent1q…5usd

2026-06-03T04:18:22Z

Sorry. 😢

Hello. 👍

quoting
nevent1q…5usd
Why is everyone acting stupid and saying retarded stuff

When my husband Mohamed first visited London a few years ago, his ...

2026-06-03T02:28:29Z

When my husband Mohamed first visited London a few years ago, his first remark was, “why are there so many foreigners here? I wanted to see more Brits.”

And as he was dismayed by the high ratio of foreigners, he ironically meant people who looked like him (and he was aware of the fact).

He was like, “I’m not visiting Turkey or Dubai or Pakistan or my own country. I’m visiting Britain. I want to see British people.”

Anyway, not all foreigners want to destroy or displace the West and so forth. Even some them are like, “why are you guys doing this?”

I wrote a longform piece for Bitcoin Magazine's latest print ...

2026-05-28T21:03:49Z

I wrote a longform piece for Bitcoin Magazine's latest print issue, which includes a series of essays about the world 10 years from now in 2036.

They've put up an online version now too:

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/print/the-2036-issue-what-choices-will-you-make-on-the-way-to-a-multipolar-world

Here's the portion where I talked about risk, about downside scenarios:

"If Bitcoin fails to catch on by 2036, I think it will be because humanity didn’t want it, or wasn’t ready for it. The technology itself is robust. Proof of work helps keep the network secure. Tight limits on bandwidth and storage help keep the network decentralized. Layers built on top of it help provide scaling and privacy. There is more work to do, but the foundation is already strong, open for business, and being used at scale. To the extent that major challenges arise, the network is upgradable whenever sufficient consensus is achieved.

In this latest bull/bear cycle, Bitcoin further separated itself from other cryptocurrencies, but failed to attract many new users. AI services caught on with the public far more quickly, leapfrogging Bitcoin in adoption, because people and businesses could see AI’s immediate benefits to them, while Bitcoin’s benefits were unclear to many who haven’t gone down a rabbit hole of research.

There are many stores of value to choose from, and volatility is painful. In order for Bitcoin to truly catch on, it will need to be because people value financial sovereignty. It will need to be because hundreds of millions of people, not just several million as we have now, appreciate the importance of self-custodied savings, permissionless payments, and financial privacy. Those collectively are the attributes that Bitcoin uniquely provides at scale."

In other words, bitcoin is money. To succeed, it'll be because people value it for its monetary properties.

That doesn't mean I'm against bitcoin companies. Bitcoin is open for anyone, and most things are better when bitcoin is added. And there's no world where bitcoin at scale is only used by people but somehow is magically avoided by companies and governments. I bought MSTR the week they announced their bitcoin strategy back in August 2020. I invite more companies, especially cash-flowing companies, to use bitcoin as a treasury asset.

But it does mean that bitcoin cannot *only* scale that way. Bitcoin's core value is that if you hold it yourself, it gives you a unique superpower: you have debasement-resistant and confiscation-resistant liquid savings, and you can permissionlessly send portions of those savings around the world, and with decent privacy if you use the right tools.

Bitcoin's long-term success relies on one or two more orders of magnitude of people desiring those traits.

TL;DR Bitcoin is money.

A really cool (and quite rare) aspect of The Stolguard Incident ...

2026-05-26T11:45:31Z

A really cool (and quite rare) aspect of The Stolguard Incident audiobook is that walker (nprofile…3py2) and CARLA (nprofile…l32v) perform full duet narration.

In most dual-narrated audiobooks, the male narrator reads all male point-of-view sections, including any female dialog that occurs in them. And vice versa: the female narrator reads everything, including all male lines, in the female POV sections.

A harder subset is duet narration, where the male narrator reads every male dialog line, and the female narrator reads every female dialog line, while one of them reads the narration for the section depending on which POV it is in. This makes it feel more immersive, realistic, and well-acted.

I initially assumed we would just do standard dual narration, though I brought up duet as an option. The reason duet narration is not more popular is because it is far more complex to produce. But it was Walker and Carla who convinced me, since in their unique case they were able to do duet narration rather efficiently (the narrators are married, already do skits together, won’t have the scheduling issues of nonlocal narrator teams, and thus can perform live duet recordings together).

The result is truly special, and it’s thanks to Walker and Carla. Can’t picture the audio version of the story any other way.

https://www.amazon.com/Audible-The-Stolguard-Incident/dp/B0H29Y33PQ

GM Not sure why, but I liked the look of this desert sunset last ...

2026-05-26T08:42:48Z

GM

Not sure why, but I liked the look of this desert sunset last evening.

People were able to buy it but then Amazon broke the link. Will ...

2026-05-20T16:11:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…nxxp
_________________________

People were able to buy it but then Amazon broke the link.

Will let people know when it’s back up.

GM. The audiobook version of The Stolguard Incident is now ...

2026-05-20T12:44:58Z

GM.

The audiobook version of The Stolguard Incident is now available!
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0H29Y33PQ

It’s dual-narrated by CARLA (nprofile…0fhw) and walker (nprofile…3phq) , and they brought their full voice acting ability to this.

I mean, the short cut is just to wear armor. And there are some ...

2026-05-10T07:28:51Z

In reply to nevent1q…avfj
_________________________

I mean, the short cut is just to wear armor.

And there are some pretty cool armored clothes these days. Like knife-resistant shirts.

So there's this 2025 movie called Dust Bunny that only ...

2026-05-03T17:05:58Z

So there's this 2025 movie called Dust Bunny that only grossed about a million dollars at the box office. But from the few who saw it, it has good ratings from both critics and audiences.

The premise is that a young girl hires a hitman (Mads Mikkelsen) to kill a monster under her bed.

My husband and I watched it last night, and it has the most fascinating visuals I've seen in a movie in years. The settings, the costumes, the cinematography, the casting choices, everything. Each individual scene was an art piece.

I think the reason it went so dramatically under the radar despite being well-crafted is because it couldn't find an audience. It feels like a dark action-comedy urban fairy tale, and it was supposed to be for both adults and mature kids, and yet they misjudged and it was rated R. (It should be rated PG-13 imo; I'd show this to an older kid before I'd show them Dark Knight, and yet Dark Knight is rated PG-13).

The vibe feels like Bullet Train or The Fifth Element, with some Tim Burton-esque visuals blended in, where it's purposely more about style than rationality. It heavily leans into visuals and whimsy.

By the time I finished I was like, "I don't know what the hell I just watched, but I'm glad I did."

A good 10-minute video on Egypt's economy. -Use public ...

2026-05-02T14:50:14Z

A good 10-minute video on Egypt's economy.

-Use public resources and debt to build a massive vanity ghost city, prioritizing this over more utilitarian uses of money.

-Have the military compete in all sorts of businesses. Hotels, consumer products, stores, etc. The military has inexpensive forced labor (mandatory military service for most young men) and tax/legal advantages vs the private sector.

-Then get hit by things outside of their control while they were already self-weakened (Suez Canal revenue down, due to the Red Sea being unsafe to navigate, periods of high grain prices since they buy most of it from Ukraine/Russia).

https://youtu.be/B1yXAfP0AAI

I had a great uncle named Hugh. When he turned 18 in 1943, he ...

2026-04-27T15:14:53Z

I had a great uncle named Hugh.

When he turned 18 in 1943, he decided to enlist in the military and go fight Nazis in WW2. As one does.

In early 1944, he found himself as the radioman on a B-17 bomber, as the Americans upped their bombing raids on Berlin. Their bomber was attacked by German pilots, heavily damaged, and the pilot said they gotta parachute out, it's going down.

So, Hugh funds himself parachuting over German countryside from a destroyed bomber.

Early in the war, it was relatively uncommon for American/British/German pilots to shoot at enemy parachuting pilots. It was considered dishonorable. However, when the Americans/British really upped the bombing over Germany, and the war was increasingly turning against Germany, the German pilots increased their rate of shooting at parachuting American/British pilots. Their cities had been disastrously struck, some of them lost friends/family in the bombings, so they were more likely to just finish off downed enemy pilots.

Hugh, as he parachuted down, was terrified at that thought, expecting that the German pilot who destroyed his bomber would finish him off. He watched as the pilot performed a wide arc and come back around, and he's like, "oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit," but then the German pilot flew by him and saluted, and left. Trolled him but let him live, basically. Showed him he could've done it, but didn't.

So Hugh lands in a tree in German farmland. He cut the parachute and fell to the ground, fracturing three vertebrae. So he's 19, injured, and realizes he doesn't know shit about geography, but decides he'll try to make his way in the general direction of Switzerland.

He spends a week sneaking around the farmland, injured, and eventually gets severely dehydrated. So he sneaks up to a well to get a drink, and comes across a 10-year old German girl, who stares at him wide-eyed since he's a disheveled soldier-looking foreigner. He panics, and has absolutely no idea how Germans greet each other. So he does an enthusiastic Nazi salute and yells "Sieg Heil!" which of course is *not* how most Germans greet each other. The girl screams and runs away, so he's like, "oh shit" and goes to hide in a tool shed.

The townsfolk come out and find him, capture him, and turn him over to the authorities. He gets sent to a prisoner of war camp for the next 16 months. Him and his fellow detainees circulated a newsletter within the camp at one point, and formed a music band out of like discarded cans and pots and stuff. Toward the end it got trough, because as Allied forces took more and more land, the outer prison camps would do forced marches where the prisoners would have to walk to a deeper camp, while malnourished, and if they got exhausted and couldn't go on, they'd be shot. So he had to do two of those forced walks, but eventually got rescued by Allied forces.

Came back to the US, used his GI bill to go to college, and became a social worker at a hospital. Really quiet, calm guy. Most people didn't know he had this crazy story arc.

Anyway, that's the post.

Folks are going to be blown away by how much passion and ...

2026-04-20T20:38:01Z

Folks are going to be blown away by how much passion and professionalism Walker and Carla brought to this recording.

quoting
nevent1q…hlfp
Yesterday I finished the final editing for “The Stolguard Incident” by LynAlden (npub1a2c…w83a) narrated by me and CARLA (npub1hu3…h8nh)

Just sent it out for mastering, then we’ll do final proofing.

It’s a bittersweet moment to finish the audiobook… Carla and I both absolutely loved TSI when we read the manuscript, and through narrating we got even closer to the characters… It’s been a true honor to use our voices to bring Lyn’s words to life.

It’s also quite a surreal timeline, because we recorded the final chapters the day before I had to call an ambulance for Carla… then emergency surgery… then a week in the ICU… then yesterday she was back at home recording the final minor edits. Just wild.

Audiobook officially coming soon but grab yourself a physical copy in the meantime.

My experience on the PDB show in-studio was positive. The whole ...

2026-04-15T17:10:45Z

My experience on the PDB show in-studio was positive. The whole team was friendly. I limit travel for shows in general, but have no qualms going on in the future.

The challenge was that the format of this part of the show is basically news commentary. It’s not an interview; four of us discuss news items as Patrick brings them up. So, sometimes I’m asked to comment on things I have no major interest/edge in talking about. Other times it touches on an economic topic where I have more to say.

They had planned to ask about gold and bitcoin, but ended up only asking about gold. I mentioned bitcoin a handful of times but it had a small showing overall.

quoting
nevent1q…lmyt
LynAlden (nprofile…dvmc) how was the pbd experience and would you go on again? disappointed pbd didn’t ask you a bitcoin question.

Hopped on the PBD podcast live this morning to talk markets, ...

2026-04-15T17:05:58Z

Hopped on the PBD podcast live this morning to talk markets, energy, and the economy:

quoting
nevent1q…kv8k
Mainstream #macro podcast inviting guests that have non-mainstream views talking about niche assets.. should tell you something. Gradually, then suddenly.

LynAlden (nprofile…szx8) on the #PBD Podcast:
https://www.youtube.com/live/Ly3-gXJOIc4
#economy #finance #bitcoin

One must always tip for good service. We live in a civilized ...

2026-04-13T22:24:03Z

In reply to nevent1q…tss8
_________________________

One must always tip for good service.

We live in a civilized society.

Awful.

2026-04-13T21:08:11Z

In reply to nevent1q…4wrz
_________________________

Awful.

-You’ve got to fly somewhere, but the only flight available ...

2026-04-13T19:11:01Z

-You’ve got to fly somewhere, but the only flight available that day leaves at 6am. You begrudgingly book it anyway.

-Then the day before, you get an email from the airline saying “we regret to inform you that your flight has been delayed by two hours” to a far more reasonable 8am.

Yeah.

2026-04-13T18:59:39Z

In reply to nevent1q…c3tm
_________________________

Yeah.

Never. We shall overcome.

2026-04-13T18:21:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…8shx
_________________________

Never.

We shall overcome.

So I found another uber driver final boss. It’s like the secret ...

2026-04-13T18:20:14Z

So I found another uber driver final boss. It’s like the secret boss you unlock after you finish the game.

This guy has over 33,000 rides.

And he’s also an older gentleman who drives a Corolla. Been driving for Uber nearly since they expanded nationwide.

quoting
nevent1q…mcg0
Just rode with an uber driver who has a perfect 5.00 rating. Don’t think I’ve seen that before. It’s almost always 4.9 something.

It was an older gentleman wearing a three piece suit, driving a Corolla. Super friendly.

Basically the final boss of uber drivers.

This is absolutely wild, lol. #nevent1q…h439

2026-04-12T14:46:10Z

This is absolutely wild, lol.

quoting
nevent1q…h439
A post from my AI agent was just blocked on X for “implying criticism of central banks or their policies”

Free thought and first principles are dangerous to a control system.

My half-hour animated Broken Money video now has 500k views on ...

2026-04-11T18:56:07Z

My half-hour animated Broken Money video now has 500k views on YouTube. Coming up on its two-year anniversary:

https://youtu.be/jk_HWmmwiAs

Yes exactly.

2026-04-09T16:58:53Z

In reply to nevent1q…xpjx
_________________________

Yes exactly.

There’s actually a genetically modified character in the book ...

2026-04-08T19:35:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…vgsh
_________________________

There’s actually a genetically modified character in the book who gets certain abilities only when in ketosis, only when eating a ketogenic or carnivore type of diet.

Nostr event nevent1qqsgqlufachyetek3mle05z9zg6kcahzg8ylgsxej8sqzpnk86w9s0czyr4tpe6k6v4cp0x5vneas39cqspsxp66z04tcdve5a3vntr6hy057nwdd4t

2026-04-08T16:53:34Z

quoting
nevent1q…tn6m
Here's a Nostr exclusive: the alternative cover of The Stolguard Incident.

During the design process, I had two artists design covers, and went with Kim Dingwall's cover. The other one by Joshua Griffin was cool too, but it had "movie poster" vibes and many readers prefer to picture characters the way they want rather than be shown them, so we kept that one as concept art. Still, Joshua's work deserves people to see it.

Ava, Stallard, and the Jade-Eyed Witch appear alongside Asim on this version.

Here's a Nostr exclusive: the alternative cover of The ...

2026-04-08T16:25:09Z

Here's a Nostr exclusive: the alternative cover of The Stolguard Incident.

During the design process, I had two artists design covers, and went with Kim Dingwall's cover. The other one by Joshua Griffin was cool too, but it had "movie poster" vibes and many readers prefer to picture characters the way they want rather than be shown them, so we kept that one as concept art. Still, Joshua's work deserves people to see it.

Ava, Stallard, and the Jade-Eyed Witch appear alongside Asim on this version.

These headlines/titles kill me though. In context I never say ...

2026-04-07T15:27:05Z

In reply to nevent1q…7jft
_________________________

These headlines/titles kill me though.

In context I never say anything as sensationalist as the thumbnail says.

I brought out Nostr Lyn a bit in the second half of this chat. ...

2026-04-07T15:02:00Z

I brought out Nostr Lyn a bit in the second half of this chat.

Talking macro on BTC Sessions w/ Luke Gromen:
https://youtu.be/6tkKoMEiFDk

A couple weeks back I was at the New York Stock Exchange for some ...

2026-04-03T18:30:22Z

A couple weeks back I was at the New York Stock Exchange for some meetings/events, and they were like "let's update your formal pic that you use for things, that's from 2022".

So we do the classic "let's take a slick pic under the NYSE bell, the literal heart of capitalism" photo. Because that'll make it all professional and such.

The problem is, whenever I smile, I inherently look like I'm trolling. Regardless of the setting, it looks like I'm just there for the lolz.

So the pic seems kind of unusable for formal stuff. Fun for Nostr, though.

He does great work. Liquidity has mint been great lately, but ...

2026-04-03T16:44:38Z

In reply to nevent1q…ljf8
_________________________

He does great work.

Liquidity has mint been great lately, but there’s a big difference between liquidity rolling over and liquidity breaking.

One of the few things not breaking these past few weeks is ...

2026-04-02T20:59:06Z

One of the few things *not* breaking these past few weeks is liquidity, actually.

The Fed’s standing repo facility isn’t being used, the Fed’s swap lines aren’t being used, and the SOFR-IORB spread is only mildly elevated.

#macro

Had a great chat with Peter in London! The thumbnail totally ...

2026-04-02T20:55:40Z

Had a great chat with Peter in London!

The thumbnail totally makes it look like I’ve started my villain arc, though. 😅

quoting
nevent1q…shzt
I’m a simple man. I see an interview with LynAlden (npub1a2c…w83a) and I listen to it.

https://fountain.fm/episode/eQUkyrhmd4jTuQGO5zKn

Over 80% of the chapters are recorded.

2026-04-02T20:43:55Z

In reply to nevent1q…54jc
_________________________

Over 80% of the chapters are recorded.

Wow that sounds nuts, someone should write a book on that. ...

2026-04-01T01:12:18Z

Wow that sounds nuts, someone should write a book on that.

Almost nothing in macro currently matters until the Strait of ...

2026-03-30T00:56:45Z

Almost nothing in macro currently matters until the Strait of Hormuz opens.

That’s the macro. It’s a binary analysis similar to Covid 19.

Whenever I’m asked about private credit lately. On Fox ...

2026-03-29T12:00:49Z

Whenever I’m asked about private credit lately. On Fox Business, on podcasts, at conferences:

A little while ago, @nprofile…rke4 gave a great fireside on ...

2026-03-25T00:49:17Z

A little while ago, jack (nprofile…rke4) gave a great fireside on this topic. Centralized algos replacing free will.

https://youtu.be/MaZyXEU5XAg

quoting
nevent1q…h9y2
What’s the Tik Tok algorithm feeding ?

You know what, so far it’s not going that badly so far. ...

2026-03-24T23:36:56Z

You know what, so far it’s not going that badly so far.

quoting
nevent1q…pyyq
Really not looking forward to flying today.

It would really help at this early stage, actually. 🙏

2026-03-24T22:29:43Z

In reply to nevent1q…vrys
_________________________

It would really help at this early stage, actually. 🙏

Nostr event nevent1qqsqytq0z5pa6z9tcx03fn7hx8f5n8v6k7uu5xk0atqz7m0j2shxs9gzyr4tpe6k6v4cp0x5vneas39cqspsxp66z04tcdve5a3vntr6hy0579264an

2026-03-24T16:49:39Z

Really not looking forward to flying today.

Nostr event nevent1qqsxmw2majh6xep2tr67y74c693l9lwt5dfp8q3x5js9vtwtr6cxdqqzyr4tpe6k6v4cp0x5vneas39cqspsxp66z04tcdve5a3vntr6hy057qs38y2

2026-03-24T16:42:35Z

quoting
nevent1q…audw
It’s honestly great. Couldn’t put it down.

Unfortunately, Chuck Norris was the only person who could stop ...

2026-03-20T17:37:26Z

Unfortunately, Chuck Norris was the only person who could stop this train.

It is in paperback, ebook, and hardcover. Soon to be audio as ...

2026-03-15T15:31:07Z

In reply to nevent1q…lszp
_________________________

It is in paperback, ebook, and hardcover. Soon to be audio as well.

However, the hardcover is from a different distributor and Amazon hasn't linked them all together yet. Also, the pricing for the hardcover is not great. Here's the hardcover:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GRSNP4BX

The Stolguard Incident was ranked the top new release in Amazon ...

2026-03-15T15:12:22Z

The Stolguard Incident was ranked the top new release in Amazon this weekend for both the cyberpunk and technothriller genres.

(It’s also currently the best seller in the space marine category, despite a distinct lack of space marines. Which, I mean, okay.)

Thanks everyone for checking it out!

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0GNS9MYB5

Last night when I finished work and joined my husband for movie ...

2026-03-15T15:03:55Z

Last night when I finished work and joined my husband for movie night, he instead showed me a video about Newcomb’s paradox and we spent two hours debating it until bed.

Anyway how is everyone’s weekend going?