So if I'm understanding things, folks in favor of removing OP_RETURN are worried about mining centralization because sneaky transactions are already happening and this will cause mining centralization. On the other side, folks in favor of keeping OP_RETURN are worried about storage of child porn and non-financial data. Do I have that right?

In the link you posted, the author stats that non-financial data will eventually get priced out of being on bitcoin. If that's true, then isn't the centralization of miners a temporary issue, as well?

Let's say that miners become centralized for a period of time. But then eventually bitcoin mining fees rip and non-financial data becomes untenable. At that point wouldn't miners start to decentralize? Or is the thought that once miners centralize it's the point of no return and/or that bitcoin fails?

Luke may be a nut job. Perhaps Lopp is right to point that out. But from my point of view, it looks bad that Lopp spent the time to write that article vs writing why removing OP_RETURN is a net gain over potential negatives from removing it. Maybe I've missed all of his arguments? But, I'm not seeing it discussed in his list of posts on his website.

If he (or someone else) has written a nice article that lists the pros and cons of both sides and can show that removing OP_RETURN is a net positive then I'd be more convinced. Or, I should say, I'd rather run Core 30 but all this debate makes me question the update. Lopp losses points in my eyes for resorting to personal attacks vs spending time explaining the benefits of Core 30.

Does anyone know of a good article that fairly lists the pros/cons of removing OP_RETURN? I've seen what I think are fair discussions about NOT removing it, but I haven't yet seen any about removing it.

Do you know what the benefits from removing op_return are other than more jpeg storage? Are there any downsides to leaving things as is?

I’ve heard the argument is to limit spam. But is there a benefit removing op_return or a downside by leaving it?

I know some folks shouldn't handle firearms when sad. But, after I lost my brother (slash best friend) I found that going to a shooting range made me feel like I had some kind of power or control. I only did it a few times, but I remember it feeling nice.

I think maybe one of the reasons for feeling bad is the loss of feeling in control. Sometimes you gotta do stuff that makes you feel some kind of power or control (within reason, of course - nothing weird, illegal, or mean).

Otherwise, you can't avoid the pain/sadness completely. Just gotta let time pass for somethings. Being with friends/family can really help, too. I'd avoid substances and reckless behavior as that'll make you feel worse later (those things basically just kick the can down the road).

I seem to average a move every 3 years. I don’t love packing but I love exploring new places. I also like that moving is a good time to declutter and get rid of crap. :)

I don’t think I’ve ever repeated. Always new places.

What about allowing the hiders to be tipped? That might be one way to encourage users to add content (caches) to the app.

For me, personally, when I go to find geocaches I don't need/care to make money - finding the thing is the reward. What I want is more caches - I'd tip people sats if they hid caches in fun locations. If a cache took me to an interesting place and the app told me cool facts about the area I'd want to tip even more.

Just a thought. Maybe I'm a weirdo.

Thanks for the post! I love reading (or watching on YouTube) people go without tech for a period of time. Motivates me to follow suit.

It’s so easy to get into a digital rut and all of a sudden realize you can’t read a book due to lack of attention span. A good detox seems to solve that.

I don’t know about you but when I leave devices out of my room I start reading books and feel cozy in a way I never do with a phone.

I’d prob pay off my mortgage so my annual costs were lower. I’d then not do much for a few years to make sure we didn’t get a big correction.

I might also cash out a bit and buy VTI or whatever to live on it (or have as a back up) for a year or two during the bear market.

I’d probably sell off my business and write some fiction or code some games like I’ve wanted to. Maybe start a side hustle or two that my kids could do when they got older.

The three-way lovers were too much for me and my little kiddos and so we turned it off. Thankfully! I then missed the last supper portion.

It’s annoying that nearly everything is sexualized these days. I can’t seem to watch “family friendly” TV anymore for fear of my kids having sex porned into their eyes.

I just watched and he said gold and silver are better than bitcoin (because “if you went back in time gold & silver would be accepted but not Bitcoin”). So he may know about bitcoin but I’m not sure if he’s pro-bitcoin? To be fair, he talked about it while discussing his sponsor that sells gold & silver.

Be he says he hates fiat and is a bit of a prepper so odds are good that he likes Bitcoin (or will eventually).

I’m warming up to the idea of anarchy but I’m curious if we have any examples of it. Are there any peoples that practice it now or in the past? I think the ideas are interesting but do we have any real life examples that are compelling?

I didn't. I tested positive for COVID and felt a bit sick but no worse then normal flu. The best thing was that I lost my sense of smell for a month or two and it was awesome since I took turns changing kid diapers. 😃

I eventually plan to be FIRE and if I live off of bitcoin I'd worry about bear markets. My current thought is to have a year or two worth of income in fiat so I can tap into that without touching my bitcoin.

If/when my stack ends up being large enough such that a 80% correction wouldn't hurt then I'd go all in.

Do you think covenants will be coming any time soon? They sound like a good idea but most folks seem gun shy about any changes. I'm guessing we need some distance from the NFT mess and then maybe folks will be open to another soft fork? But, how long will that be? Seems like a few years in my estimation. In the mean time, if some folks are building out some scaling concepts it seems like a fine thing to do.

I'm not sure I agree that the MSB topic will be as big of a deal as you think. I do think the US will want to go after them. Will they be able to in the end or will it go to the supreme court? And even if so, is there no way nym mints wouldn't be able to exist? Most of the bitcoin folks I follow are nyms or might as well be. Besides, I'm not going to stress about losing $1k across a few mints.

And, will MSB apply to a small group using a fedimint? Perhaps, but that sure would be bad optics if the US went after a small family, community, organization for hosting a mint for themselves simply to avoid transaction fees, for example.

Or maybe I'm too optimistic.

I’m not sure I understand the hostility. It’s not like eCash is going away. Complaining about it seems like pissing in the wind.

We can’t stop banks or exchanges from custodying bitcoin for people. At least fedimints spread out the rugpull problem.

Folks that ask how to avoid fractional reserve with bitcoin seem to missing the fact that banks and exchanges can already do that. At least with fediments people have more options (and I understand there are some solutions being worked on to avoid fractional reserve in mints).

Best folks can do is remind people to self-custody on-chain when possible.

Oh, dope. I hadn't heard about Oxchat before. I'll look into it. Thanks!

So what options are there? If you want to have a private conversation between yourself and a loved one that is far away how would you communicate? Can't use SMS, can't use phone, can't use most chat tools, can't really use email.

Seems like you'd have to use something like PGP or ProtonMail for email. For chat it seems like maybe SimpleX or Signal? Or, are you saying you just can't have private conversations anymore unless it's in-person?

In-person is great, but if family lives thousands of miles away then what options are there? I guess you could maybe send snail mail, but that's going to really slow down the conversation.

I don’t have a dog in this fight but it seems like you’re saying eCash would replace on-chain coins. One is for pocket money one is for savings.

Sadly, the US is staring to suck and the MSB argument is legit. That being said, there are other countries.

I’ve written fairly consistently for about 15 years now. If doing it digitally, I recommend Obsidian. One reason being that the files are plain text so regardless of what app you use you’re not locked into some obscure format. Another reason is that the wiki-like format makes it easy to make summaries of each day, each month, and each year. So it’s really easy to go back and find when big events happened.

I’m in the process of copy/pasting old entries (obscure formats) and it’s been cool to see what I was thinking way back when. I went through some dramatic moments during my dating years and so it’s nice to see how much better life is now as a married dude.

The only negatives I can think of are: (1) how private are my thoughts if digital, and (2) do I ruminated about bad things if I’m writing about complaints and/or hopes for the future too much?

That being said, you can encrypt the folder with something like VeraCrypt and sometimes you have to force yourself to count your blessings instead of complain.

Thanks!

You make a good point. There have been wars throughout time where the underdogs won for various reasons. As in, one side is fighting for something - often religion, freedom, or some cause the soldiers believe was noble. And, I could see the money printer weakening citizen's resolve (causing a weakened army).

It'd be interesting to see if there have been any books or studies that tracked wars and how often the side with the least money won. Maybe money has much less to do with it then one would think.