TheEpic on Nostr: Since I'm kind of in a flow state right now here's roughly where my head was and how ...
Since I'm kind of in a flow state right now here's roughly where my head was and how it went for me from when I started Bitcoin to now. These are some of the questions and thoughts I've had for a few years now:
1. What is Bitcoin? What makes it different vs the other coins? Is there any use for the other coins?
2. Well I guess I'll just put a little money in Bitcoin since it's the first one and that's probably the safest bet. I'll dip my toes in and figure out what an address is. Electrum seems to be a good wallet.
3. I should get a hardware wallet because that seems to be the safest way to store any cryptocurrency. I guess I'll get a Trezor because that's popular. Maybe I should get a BitPay debit card for spending...
4. Cool, I've got a hardware wallet! Time to ditch Electrum.
5. Oh hey, there's a capital gains tax on the conversion from Bitcoin to USD. Maybe I should be careful with that... Hmm, not so sure how I'm going to spend Bitcoin for things. It would feel cool if I could do that. I shouldn't play with fire with my BitPay debit card...
6. Hey these gift card merchants and options are a little expensive. They have some fees and I don't know which ones are useful.
7. Oh, BitRefill seems to be really reputable but the time for a transaction to confirm on Bitcoin is pretty slow. Still not sure how I'm going to use or spend Bitcoin daily on expenses. I'm not even sure which gift cards I should be looking into.
8. Hey I'm not understanding these other alt coins and don't really seem to have a use... I'm still curious though.
9. I just read the Bitcoin Standard and holy crap this Bitcoin thing is actually a political thing and really useful! It's not just for making money! It's serious about being money and it's actually trying to make money better as a technology. This thing could probably fix a lot of societal problems! I also now know what a Satoshi is. This is really cool and easier to look at versus the long decimal point.
10. Hmm... Kind of a mistake to start talking about Bitcoin with certain people. It's hard to change people's minds and orange pill. Maybe I should be more aware of who I talk to about it. I should probably respect the fact that it's not easy to understand and that not everyone will really care. I really wish I could talk about it though...
11. Everything is clicking. No wonder these altcoins don't have a use. They're literally designed to be scams.
12. I should probably set up a Bitcoin node for myself. It's the next step after getting a hardware wallet. If I get a node, I won't have to necessarily use Electrum again. Let's look into Umbrel.
13. Nice, I've got a Bitcoin node! Now what? How do I use this lightning network thing and how does it work?
14. Oh nice, the lightning network is like a bar tab. That's really clever!
15. But is it really instant and cheap?
16. Okay so I need a lightning channel. Let's look up some tutorials about that.
17. Coming back to the question... How can I spend and live on Bitcoin?
18. Okay I'm getting more confident with the whole lightning channel thing.
19. OH WAIT HOLD THE PHONE. THE LIGHTNING NETWORK IS AMAZING, WTF!
20. Ohhh... Wait, that BitPay card idea wasn't actually a good idea and now I understand why merchants like BitRefill are so good. You can use the Lightning network to pay for the gift cards. And hey, it looks like they have more selection now! I also really like The Bitcoin Company.
21. Time to look up how gift cards exactly work.
22. Now that I've done that I know what gift cards I'm looking for and how to ensure I'm maximizing the most I can out of them.
23. Oh shoot, not everyone accepts gift cards. Welp, I guess I'm gonna have to start being strategic with my bank account and Bitcoin.
24. Hey this book called Softwar is pretty interesting. Bitcoin as a weapon, that's a cool idea. I should return to this because this is a little over my head right now.
25. Hm... My Bitcoin node that's on my Raspberry Pi is going down an awful lot. I should reflash the SD card.
26. Okay, that's done and it seems to have better up time. I should wait and figure out how long it'll stay up.
27. Ugh, 15 days. That's not very good and I don't like having to go over and reflash the OS onto the SD card. I should probably use a different computer for my node so I can have better uptime.
28. Cool, I'm taking a trip to California! I'll be able to test and see if I can access my node all the way from Cali!
29. NICE! It works and it works really really well! That's kind of impressive!
30. Hey, if I just spend my lightning sats within my means I might actually be able to get ahead a little in savings. That way I won't be tempted by bull markets nor over spend during a bear market. Hey, this thing might help lift people out of poverty if they establish good habits... I'm starting to like bear market conditions way more than bull markets.
31. Man, I want to just use only Bitcoin in my life instead of my bank but there are still a lot of things you can't just buy with Bitcoin indirectly.
32. Oh... Oh my god... That bit about food in the Bitcoin standard is actually real? Wait WTF? There are people on YouTube talking about the Carnivore diet? Hey wait a second what's going on here? Are we all being poisoned?
33. Oh my god the carnivore diet is healing my mind and body. Wow! It feels like this is the modern panacea. Why was this hidden? Why is American culture so mess up with food? Is gluttony a real thing?
34. Please, don't tell me this is real. I can't believe what I'm reading in the Fiat Standard. Is greed also really that destructive that it has forced gluttony onto an entire country? Holy crap hold on, these things aren't like some fantasy demon creatures or ghosts, they're real concepts and problems. WTF? Thank goodness for Satoshi, the carnivore diet, and everyone who's done the research and leg work to figure these things out.
35. Now I really want to read more Bitcoin books and maybe get some Bitcoin merch. Though that would paint a target on me for anyone who might want to steal Bitcoin from people... I guess I'll try to wear orange more? Lol!
36. Maybe I should look into the capital gains tax thing and think about conversion for really huge purchases that can't be done directly or indirectly in Bitcoin.
37. Borrowing based on my Bitcoin could be a solid idea for those huge purchases...
38. Time to upgrade to some better hardware for my Bitcoin node. I've got an old computer that used to be on 24/7 and it had no issue. I'll just use that.
39. Sweet, it's up and now I'm confident that my uptime has been thoroughly extended. The external hard drive attached to my Raspberry Pi was getting a little full anyways.
40. In emergencies, credit cards might be nice to use in conjunction with Bitcoin if I'm not going to have any dollars in a bank account in the far future. But that would trigger a capital gains tax and I'll have to pay back the card. Not gonna play with fire until I know what I'm getting myself into. Eeeh, best to wait and see if things change on the US dollar side of things...
41. Let's put that credit card idea on the shelf for now... I want to get back to stacking more sats.
1. What is Bitcoin? What makes it different vs the other coins? Is there any use for the other coins?
2. Well I guess I'll just put a little money in Bitcoin since it's the first one and that's probably the safest bet. I'll dip my toes in and figure out what an address is. Electrum seems to be a good wallet.
3. I should get a hardware wallet because that seems to be the safest way to store any cryptocurrency. I guess I'll get a Trezor because that's popular. Maybe I should get a BitPay debit card for spending...
4. Cool, I've got a hardware wallet! Time to ditch Electrum.
5. Oh hey, there's a capital gains tax on the conversion from Bitcoin to USD. Maybe I should be careful with that... Hmm, not so sure how I'm going to spend Bitcoin for things. It would feel cool if I could do that. I shouldn't play with fire with my BitPay debit card...
6. Hey these gift card merchants and options are a little expensive. They have some fees and I don't know which ones are useful.
7. Oh, BitRefill seems to be really reputable but the time for a transaction to confirm on Bitcoin is pretty slow. Still not sure how I'm going to use or spend Bitcoin daily on expenses. I'm not even sure which gift cards I should be looking into.
8. Hey I'm not understanding these other alt coins and don't really seem to have a use... I'm still curious though.
9. I just read the Bitcoin Standard and holy crap this Bitcoin thing is actually a political thing and really useful! It's not just for making money! It's serious about being money and it's actually trying to make money better as a technology. This thing could probably fix a lot of societal problems! I also now know what a Satoshi is. This is really cool and easier to look at versus the long decimal point.
10. Hmm... Kind of a mistake to start talking about Bitcoin with certain people. It's hard to change people's minds and orange pill. Maybe I should be more aware of who I talk to about it. I should probably respect the fact that it's not easy to understand and that not everyone will really care. I really wish I could talk about it though...
11. Everything is clicking. No wonder these altcoins don't have a use. They're literally designed to be scams.
12. I should probably set up a Bitcoin node for myself. It's the next step after getting a hardware wallet. If I get a node, I won't have to necessarily use Electrum again. Let's look into Umbrel.
13. Nice, I've got a Bitcoin node! Now what? How do I use this lightning network thing and how does it work?
14. Oh nice, the lightning network is like a bar tab. That's really clever!
15. But is it really instant and cheap?
16. Okay so I need a lightning channel. Let's look up some tutorials about that.
17. Coming back to the question... How can I spend and live on Bitcoin?
18. Okay I'm getting more confident with the whole lightning channel thing.
19. OH WAIT HOLD THE PHONE. THE LIGHTNING NETWORK IS AMAZING, WTF!
20. Ohhh... Wait, that BitPay card idea wasn't actually a good idea and now I understand why merchants like BitRefill are so good. You can use the Lightning network to pay for the gift cards. And hey, it looks like they have more selection now! I also really like The Bitcoin Company.
21. Time to look up how gift cards exactly work.
22. Now that I've done that I know what gift cards I'm looking for and how to ensure I'm maximizing the most I can out of them.
23. Oh shoot, not everyone accepts gift cards. Welp, I guess I'm gonna have to start being strategic with my bank account and Bitcoin.
24. Hey this book called Softwar is pretty interesting. Bitcoin as a weapon, that's a cool idea. I should return to this because this is a little over my head right now.
25. Hm... My Bitcoin node that's on my Raspberry Pi is going down an awful lot. I should reflash the SD card.
26. Okay, that's done and it seems to have better up time. I should wait and figure out how long it'll stay up.
27. Ugh, 15 days. That's not very good and I don't like having to go over and reflash the OS onto the SD card. I should probably use a different computer for my node so I can have better uptime.
28. Cool, I'm taking a trip to California! I'll be able to test and see if I can access my node all the way from Cali!
29. NICE! It works and it works really really well! That's kind of impressive!
30. Hey, if I just spend my lightning sats within my means I might actually be able to get ahead a little in savings. That way I won't be tempted by bull markets nor over spend during a bear market. Hey, this thing might help lift people out of poverty if they establish good habits... I'm starting to like bear market conditions way more than bull markets.
31. Man, I want to just use only Bitcoin in my life instead of my bank but there are still a lot of things you can't just buy with Bitcoin indirectly.
32. Oh... Oh my god... That bit about food in the Bitcoin standard is actually real? Wait WTF? There are people on YouTube talking about the Carnivore diet? Hey wait a second what's going on here? Are we all being poisoned?
33. Oh my god the carnivore diet is healing my mind and body. Wow! It feels like this is the modern panacea. Why was this hidden? Why is American culture so mess up with food? Is gluttony a real thing?
34. Please, don't tell me this is real. I can't believe what I'm reading in the Fiat Standard. Is greed also really that destructive that it has forced gluttony onto an entire country? Holy crap hold on, these things aren't like some fantasy demon creatures or ghosts, they're real concepts and problems. WTF? Thank goodness for Satoshi, the carnivore diet, and everyone who's done the research and leg work to figure these things out.
35. Now I really want to read more Bitcoin books and maybe get some Bitcoin merch. Though that would paint a target on me for anyone who might want to steal Bitcoin from people... I guess I'll try to wear orange more? Lol!
36. Maybe I should look into the capital gains tax thing and think about conversion for really huge purchases that can't be done directly or indirectly in Bitcoin.
37. Borrowing based on my Bitcoin could be a solid idea for those huge purchases...
38. Time to upgrade to some better hardware for my Bitcoin node. I've got an old computer that used to be on 24/7 and it had no issue. I'll just use that.
39. Sweet, it's up and now I'm confident that my uptime has been thoroughly extended. The external hard drive attached to my Raspberry Pi was getting a little full anyways.
40. In emergencies, credit cards might be nice to use in conjunction with Bitcoin if I'm not going to have any dollars in a bank account in the far future. But that would trigger a capital gains tax and I'll have to pay back the card. Not gonna play with fire until I know what I'm getting myself into. Eeeh, best to wait and see if things change on the US dollar side of things...
41. Let's put that credit card idea on the shelf for now... I want to get back to stacking more sats.