This can be useful if you’re looking for astronomical events (aurora/Northern Lights, solar eclipses, planets, or comets for example), or chasing satellites (such as the ISS) while looking up at the heaven’s above, or see what’s in the sky live, today.
]]>Meetup.com has been sold, and it seems like the cool kids are moving over to lu.ma. As a result, I’ve created 3 calendars I plan to curate for the local community:
Original post:
As you may know, I’m a huge fan of community, and for the last couple of decades I often seek out to build community where I can’t find it. As we round out 2023, I’m really excited for the year ahead, with the local community getting stronger than ever. Here are a few communities I’m running (or co-running) that might be of your interest:
I look forward to seeing you in 2024!
]]>The amount of work it takes to run non-custodial lightning is just not worth explaining, to those not interested in such. I’m totally content with my custodial web wallet – my phone is worth more if compromised.
In fact, even when I once had my phone stolen many years ago, my custodial wallet sats were still safe.
Non-custodial wallet dogma unnecessarily confuses people, and requires higher technical know-how, and creates more likely mistakes.
Consider for a moment telling someone before they leave their house that they shouldn’t carry money in anything less than a handcuffed briefcase carrying their fiat, with at least a 5 digit PIN – this hopefully highlights how extreme this line of reasoning is, especially when the briefcase is worth more than the fiat they have inside it.
By referring to self-custody as a self-bank, and no longer referring to it as a wallet, it makes it very simple for anyone transitioning from fiat to understand the difference between the two. Having to explain the polarity of custodianship and temperatures of a wallet is unnecessarily confusing and I don’t think it’s too late to change this narrative as adoption continues to scale.
]]>The good news is that this will make banking services better because companies will compete to offer you a refreshing landscape of new and competitive better services, but there’s a downside too. With all these new companies, there will be many more privacy and security problems. Some will be on purpose, some will be “accidents”, and some will be malicious actors trying to steal your information. So, we need to be careful when we give any app or company access to our bank accounts.
The government’s economic statement from a couple days ago calls for the final legislative rules for Open Banking to be in the 2024 budget. These rules will deal with who is responsible if something goes wrong, what the rules are, and how to make sure things are safe. They will also have a government group in charge of watching over everything and making sure everyone follows the rules, but you don’t want to ask me how confident I am in that group.
Also, they are changing the Payments Act to let payment companies have more access to the payment system, which is a big change in Canada.
For more details, 2023 Fall Economic Statement: Policy Statement on Consumer-Driven Banking
]]>If you’re actively developing in AI, you’re familiar with Langchain but not everyone is a developer, in which case you should check out LangFlow which is a no code tool that allows anyone to drag and drop tools together to build an AI application, in some cases even in minutes. Click on “Community examples” at the top to get started, and click on “Basic Chat”. The lightning bolt in the bottom right allows you to run your new no code application at any time.
This is the most powerful tool today that allows anyone to build an AI application without any experience in software development.
The next tool I think everyone should try is Ollama, which is a command line tool. It’s super easy to download and install and you can be using it in a minute or two. Start by going to the Ollama website or if you’re more nerdy, the Ollama GitHub. It will walk you through the install process, which is simply to curl their installer and run it through sh, or you can use their Docker image.
If you’re on OSX, you can find terminal in the Applications/Utilities folder. Once you have it installed, you can use any of the model libraries, but I recommend mistral which runs fine on my several year old laptop:
$ ollama run mistral
That’s it! Why is this cool? It doesn’t need an internet connection, the prompts you provide are not going to Microsoft, or any American tech company. It’s completely private, it doesn’t need an internet connection once installed. It can even read local files, for example:
$ ollama run mistral “Which days are the busiest from this file:” “$(cat spreadsheet.of.dates.and.sales.csv)”
This is powerful, as if you have some software development skills and a curious and creative mind, the possibilities are endless personally and professionally.
The final recommendation I have here is LM Studio. Similar to Ollama, this is a UI that allows you to discover, download, and use Language Models on your laptop, entirely offline. In the business world, what we call “on prem”(ises), allows you to put sensitive or company information into it without it being processed for a foreign company.
This technology is so transformative, it allows anyone to create the next billion dollar company, or improve their personal life, as a single individual.
I teach classes to individuals and organizations, on how to leverage AI in their organizations, as well as provide business advisory if you’re interested. Most notably based on the frequency of request, I don’t answer a generic “How can we use AI in our business?” without an understanding of which problems your organization needs to solve, and how bad that pain point is – maybe AI is a good fit, maybe not, and solving your business issues is my priority, from solopreneur to Enterprise.
]]>Are you an AI professional utilizing Large Language Models (LLMs) but struggling with the constraints of a centralized, corporate-led inference engine? We present to you an innovative solution, a decentralized inference platform engineered to revolutionize your AI work while being budget-friendly.
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For both of the above solutions, we’re doing a unique hybrid of globally decentralized, while managing jurisdiuctional soverignty. This means that you can choose to have your content, or your inference, only done in a single jurisdiction or very specific ones. If you’re interested in either, please reach out.
]]>As the 3rd of the 4 biggest US banking collapses in history is happening today as I write this, and more powerful countries are leaving the US petrodollar to join BRICS which will be trading in the Yuan/Rubble, destabilziing USD even further. Any country which is reliant on a stable USD, or Central Banks, is having to make some very difficult decisions right now. This is on top of the inflation challenge affecting almost all of us.
Allegedly there are 21 countries who have expressed an interest in joining BRICS as of this month, it seems the list includes Argentina, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Algeria, Mexico, Nigeria, Syria, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, Senegal, Thailand, Turkey and Kazakhstan. Even Canada and Japan have been said to be interested. There does not appear to be set criteria for joining the BRICS, except, it seems, that the new members must be approved by the current five and have a sizable population. At this point, the most likely new members seem to be Argentina and Saudi Arabia.
This will begin a race to see who gets to control fiat currency; the government, the Central Bank, commercial banks, or the individual, are the current options. The first two will now heavily promote Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs), suggesting it will stabalize things and prevent bank runs, but it will also introduce a financial surveillance network and the ability to cut anyone and everyone off of any transaction or access to their currency at a moment’s notice. The debate has begun in Canada.
The only self-sovereign option, the ability to empower the individual to control their own assets, is bitcoin. Not only is it not inflationary, it’s the only asset you can carry across borders. For those fleeing Ukraine for Poland for example, you’re not sneaking your gold, coins, and bills across the border with you. You can memorize 12 words, and effectively carry millions of dollars worth of bitcoin with you.
The state can both monitor and take away your house, block access to your bank account, and your CBDCs (even at the transaction level), and lock you out of your bitcoin if it’s on a regulated, centralized exchange – but no one can access your bitcoin but you, if you control the private keys to your bitcoin. It’s also important not to lose your private key as many have, the responsibility is now on you, there is no FDIC insurance if you failed to have a backup and you have an earthquake or tornado for example, your backup should be in another jurisdiction and secured.
At best, CBDCs are a surveillance and control heavy temporary stop gap, from inflation and destabilization of the US dollar.
You might live in a democratic nation state today, but that can change in an election, or earlier. The political tides can change can quickly, and that will increase as poverty, climate impacts, and displacement grows – and we become more polarized. I would prefer if we found leaders who actually led (by example and their actions) and unified us, but that’s not happening today.
If there is no separatation of money and government, governments are motivated to maintain power and control, to their own benefit.
If you have say $1000 sitting in your bank account this year in Canada, it will be worth 4.2% less in a year, conservatively. This means you need to have your CAD in a vehicle making at least 4.3% this year, or you’re losing money, and your bank account is probably not doing that – it’s probably even costing you money when you consider monthly and transaction fees. If you compound this year on year, it will cause you to think what value your chequing or savings accounts are providing you.
If you look at it historically, in Canada as the example, where I live, we’re back to 1970 rates.
This is why bitcoin maxis have been recommending you leave fiat, and acquire bitcoin.
This post not not just about global macro economics, but also mental health & addiction. Anxiety is caused by fear of the future, and so to not have anxiety, you must have economic stability to have the two base layers of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs met, to also have hope for the future.
If you don’t have anxiety today, you have an excessive amount of privilege and should not only explore how those are surviving in the countries in the inflation map above, but you can even look around your own community.
On the micro, at the individual level, it’s a reminder, that we have to do the work to ensure we’re looking at the cup half full, and leading others to encourage them to do the same.
We’re in a global macro economic airplane who’s alarm is on and the oxygen masks have been deployed, for those who still have their headphones and sleeping masks on. We need to evaluate ourselves economically and mentally first until we’re glass half full, and then look to our neighbours and loved ones to show up as leaders and work towards solutions, instead of panicing or sitting idly by, should someone a little more selfish try to take control of the plane.
NOTE: This article is not investment advice!
A few things to note before jumping in, is that when buying bitcoin from fiat (CAD/USD etc), we call this an on-ramp exchange, just like selling bitcoin, you want an off-ramp exchange. The other important thing to note is custodial vs non-custodial. Custodial is easier to manage, or less friction, but a lot higher risk.
There’s a popular saying in bitcoin which is “not your keys, not your coins”. If your bitcoin is stored on a custodial exchange, and that exchange is hacked or goes out of business, you lose access to your bitcoin, custodial also allows your government to lock you out of access from your bitcoin. Non-custodial also implies self-sovereignty, where only you control the private key to your bitcoin, and no one can take it away from you. However, this comes with a steep learning curve, as numerous people have lost their private keys. Therefore, it’s crucial to manage backups in case of a disaster, ideally in a foreign jurisdiction to safeguard against catastrophes like earthquakes or hurricanes.
Let’s dive-in with the non-custodial exchanges, which are the best ideally, if you’re ready to put in the work for self-soverignty. The two main players in Canada are BitcoinWell and BullBitcoin, with Bitcoin Well having the lowest spread in Canada – in other words, this is the cheapest place to buy bitcoin in Canada as of writing this.
The easiest custodial on-ramp to use is Shakepay if you’re Canadian, otherwise I recommend Kraken and finally Coinsquare. If you’re American, check out Coinbase. There are hundreds of on-ramp exchanges around the world, I recommend using an on-ramp exchange in your own country for a bunch of reasons I won’t detail here.
Once you start to sign up for one of these websites, you’ll notice that once you begin the process there’s something different about these websites than most websites you sign up for, and that’s called the Know Your Customer or KYC process. KYC is needed on all legal on-ramp exchanges as the KYC process is used for anti-money laundering (AML) and counter terrorist financing (CTF) purposes. In order to comply with KYC, they’ll likely ask you to send a picture of your government ID (license/passport) and a recent or live picture or video of yourself. Once you complete this process, it will be sent to them, and they require a human to verify it, so it’s not uncommon to take a few days, although sometimes you’ll be verified in minutes.
I’m going to assume you’ve now been KYC verified on your local on-ramp exchange. If not, go back and start this process now as this is the biggest time delay in getting you started.
Now that you have a verified account, you’ll want to send your local currency from your bank to the exchange. In the case of Shakepay, you can link it to your bank account so you can send or receive money whenever you want. If you’re using Coinsquare, you can send money via Interac e-transfer. Each exchange has its own capabilities in terms of how you can send it money. This is the second biggest delay usually, so go through this process now if you plan on buying bitcoin. With some exchanges, like Coinsquare, they put a 3 day hold when your money arrives. With Shakepay, you can use it right away. I would only send a small amount like $100 your first time, until you’re comfortable putting money in, and taking it back out of the system through the off-ramp process.
But wait, there’s one more thing to learn, and that is that if you leave your cryptocurrency sitting on the exchange, and something happens to that exchange (I lost a lot of money when QuadrigaCX went down while trying to complete a withdrawal), you lose everything you owned there, and that will make you sad. So what you want to do now is create a wallet on a dedicated device, but that’s too much for now, so I’ll just link to Bitcoin.org’s list of Bitcoin Wallets. The one important thing to note about choosing a wallet is that a “hot wallet” is a wallet connected to the internet, convenient for trading, and a “cold wallet” which is a wallet which is offline and can even be written down on a piece of paper. I recommend for any cryptocurrency you don’t plan on actively using over the next month be moved to a cold wallet, also known as cold storage, until you’re ready to do something with it again.
OK OK one more little last thing I’ll note, is you should sign up for 2fa/mfa on your exchange, here’s how to do it on Shakepay. The advantage of 2fa is that even if someone hacks your password to that platform, they still can’t access your account. You can use a popular 2fa authenticator like Google’s or Authy, but I use Airsecure as it allows you to own these one time passwords, and it’s decentralized which is cool – no single source central company involved.
If you have any quick questions, you can always reach out on Twitter. Again, if you want to understand this more in depth reach out, as I regularly run practical buying bitcoin classes where I walk everyone through the entire process and answer any/all questions you have along the way.
Disclosure: For many of the above links, I’ve used a referral code, so I may receive a bonus if you click that link and buy some bitcoin, and you may receive a bonus too, depending on the platform.
]]>By providing us with images and audio recordings of your passed away loved one, we will use advanced AI algorithms to attempt to recreate a liveliness of them. This digital presence can provide a sense of comfort and closeness, allowing you to revisit cherished memories and maintain a connection with the person you have lost.
Intended for personal use only: Our service is designed to offer solace and support to grieving individuals. It is not intended for commercial purposes or public distribution. By using our service, you agree to keep the AI-generated liveliness for personal use only.
Emotional harm: We recognize that our service may have emotional implications for you and your loved ones. Please be cautious about creating false hope or expectations, and ensure that you understand the limitations of the technology. We provide resources and support for customers who may experience emotional distress, and we encourage you to reach out to us for assistance.
Copyright and content ownership: By submitting images, video, and audio of your deceased loved one, you confirm that you own the copyright and content. We take intellectual property rights seriously and expect our customers to do the same. Any infringement or violation of these rights may result in legal consequences.
Not a substitute for the real person: While our AI-generated liveliness may provide a sense of comfort and closeness to your deceased loved one, it is important to acknowledge that it is not a substitute for the real person. The AI-generated presence may not accurately capture their personality or essence. We encourage you to view our service as a supplementary tool for remembrance, rather than a complete representation of your loved one.
Our AI-generated liveliness service is a unique and innovative way to maintain a connection with your deceased loved ones. We strive to offer a professional and empathetic approach, acknowledging the emotional complexities that come with grief and loss. By understanding the limitations and potential implications of this technology, we hope to provide a meaningful and comforting experience that allows you to cherish and remember your loved one in a new way.
]]>If you do not yet own any Bitcoin, you are simply a “nocoiner.” This could be because you have not yet acquired any, or you may not be interested in doing so. The reason is not particularly important, and I’m open to hearing from you.
The next couple steps in the Bitcoin journey involves acquiring some Bitcoin. For most people, this means utilizing a custodial centralized exchange that complies with Know Your Customer (KYC) regulations, which involve verifying your identity and ensuring you are not involved in terrorist financing or money laundering activities. I’ve heard of people using decentralized exchanges (DEXs) like Bisq and people paying cash for bitcoin to avoid this process, but that is up to you to check regulations in your region and out out scope for this article, which is focused on your label as a bitcoiner and not jurisdictional rules.
A custodial exchange implies that the centralized organization retains control of your private keys, which means they, or the government authorities that oversee them, can lock you out of your Bitcoin holdings if they so choose. It is important to note that numerous centralized exchanges (CEXs) have collapsed over the years, such as Mt. Gox and QuadrigaCX. At this stage, it is more accurate to say you “have access to some Bitcoin,” as it could be taken away from you. This level applies to those who use platforms like Binance or Coinbase. In Canada, the easiest to use CEX to buy bitcoin is ShakePay.
Some CEXs offer non-custodial Bitcoin services. In Canada, two such exchanges are Bitcoin Well and Bull Bitcoin. When purchasing Bitcoin from these platforms, you must send it to a Bitcoin address – ideally, one where only you control the private keys. While this grants you greater control, it also places responsibility on you to secure your holdings. Essentially, you become your own Bitcoin bank. It is crucial to have a robust backup plan, as numerous Bitcoin holdings have been lost over the years due to inadequate security measures. Consider the possibility of device failure or a house fire; storing backups in a separate jurisdiction can help mitigate such risks. If you hold your own private keys to your Bitcoin, you can consider yourself a true “bitcoiner.”
This one is a bit of a stretch and strategy, but there are those that want self-soverignty, and to manage their own private keys, without using all of the space, time, and work to run a full node, and I think a soverign individual is the best label, altough I will propose a “Bitcoin Proce” for a few reasons as a better label for these individuals. The first one was after doing some google trend research for a client on bitcoin, I realized that an abnormal amount of people fat finger “bitcoin price”, and so Bitcoin Proce actually hits trend charts, as well as Bitcoin Pruce. (If you’re reading this and want the actual bitcoin price compared to USD, click here. Anyway, I decided to check if Proce was a word, and UD describes a Pruce “a stud, short in stature, who is young enough to tease and old enough to please. Proce is most commonly referred to as an “OG” and can wiggle the sticks with the best of them”. These typos memes have brought us many gems over the years, like HODL. I don’t know what all that means, but it seems that it could hold up for a few reasons. Anyway, I digress, if you run a pruned node, and manage you own private keys, well done!
The final stage in the Bitcoin journey is running your own full Bitcoin node, which makes you a part of the network. This requires a substantial amount of storage space, as the current size of the Bitcoin blockchain is almost 500GB. Becoming a node operator offers several benefits, including the ability to interact with the Bitcoin network, privately and securely, among others. Once you run your own node, you have achieved the status of a “Bitcoin maximalist.” or “Bitcoin maxi”.
If you hold enough bitcoin you that can’t afford to lose it, make sure you have a dedicate device, regardless of what level you’re at, and if you can, keep it air gapped.
If you’re looking for a 2fa/mfa solution for extra security, check out AirSecure which is an open-source, zero trust two factor authentication manager.
I run classes on how to acquire bitcoin safely and securely, reach out if you’re interested in this, starting from password management as an entire class which is mandatory; it’s important to me that those that want to get into the space can ask any and all questions they have, and have the confidence they understand the process, as far as they want to go.
Addendum: I buy bitcoin through CEXs to stay on board with the regulators, and have included several referral links in this article where I will recieve bitcoin if you purchase through these legal, regulated vendors. Have fun and stack sats!
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