Banks and banking services still are really valuable to Bitcoiners, and always will be, and please make use of them. The most obvious current example is the wrench attack. There are plenty of people who very famously have ridiculous amounts of money, pop stars, sports stars etc. but a wrench attack is very rare there. It’s not just because they have security teams, it’s also because they have banks… they don’t keep the money in their house! The banks have the vaults, they have the security cameras, they have the security guards. If you are a bitcoiner who doesn’t have the means to or the desire to have all those things, well, you go get a safety deposit box and pay a bank for their willingness to let you enjoy all of their security efforts. Wrench attacks happen when a thief gets the idea that you have a giant pile of digital cash accessible in your home. So Bitcoiners, please don’t be scared of using banking services, pay them for their security services, and please don’t have a pile of digital cash in your home!

If we are God’s children, do we not grow up? I’ve been pondering my relationship with religion and American culture. “Submission” is a core theme in popular religions. It's a popular theme in the Qur’an and it’s seems to be fair to say that it’s a key concept in Islam. The Bible is a bit less intense with the “submission” but it’s still a prominent concept, and certainly it’s a very prominent concept in the teachings of many modern churches. And, likely as a result, it’s a common collective unconscious concept in American culture. And yes we can argue that some of our obsession with dominance and submission is a hold over from our primate past, but there is something a bit more too it with this religious context. It’s is the pervasive understanding of ourselves as perpetual children, perpetually waiting for approval from a “higher” authority. It’s one of the most persistent and difficult things to remove from the back of my brain… the constant sensation of needing the approval of an authority figure. That gets in there really good when you are fed stories of inherent shame and enteral damnation from as early as you can understand language. And looking around at the world I can see that I’m not the only one infested with this. This is why we can’t get out from under our politicians and billionaires. We are still under the impression that we can’t be whole without a stamp of approval from someone “above” us. The idea that we are not capable of wholeness on our own. Growing up means letting this concept go. On an individual level and on a societal level. Do you grow up? Do you trust yourself?

All this talk lately about if marriage benefits men or women more ...it's totally missing the point. Do these people not know what partnership is? If it isn't a huge benefit to both parties, don't do it!

My abs 4 years ago... they don't usually look this fabulous. I think I was just dehydrated that day. But I'll take the opportunity to brag 😁