5 Common Scams, Saving the Planet with Bitcoin & How Animals Use Medicinal Plants.
“Become the architect of your future.” – The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari
Photo credit: Elena Mozhvilo
Hi friends,
I focus a lot of my days learning about the brokenness of the world. From the Fed’s weaknesses and failures, to the manipulation of inflation and interest rates, to the systemic engine of poverty, it’s a lot of negativity for a young mind… So much so that my sister asked me: “Does knowing this make you not want children?”
To which I replied: “No, I still want them. I have to believe that the majority of people are inherently good and are doing their part to improve the world. Otherwise it will be the end of me. I refuse to live that way.”
It’s that extreme grip on optimism that helped me deal with my dad’s passing, made me move to Canada on my own, and overcome layoffs, heart-breaks, betrayals, and other catastrophes. If I go down a negative thought process, I change the channel of my thoughts.
To quote Julian Mantle from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari:
“The mind is a wonderful servant but a terrible master. If you have become a negative thinker, this is because you have not cared for your mind and taken the time to train it to focus on the good. Winston Churchill said that ‘the price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts.’ Then you will install the vibrant mindset you are looking for. Remember, the mind truly is like any other muscle in your body. Use it or lose it.”
Having said that, I still have much work to do to train my mind.
Anyway, let’s get onto the good stuff!
From The Misfit Podcast.
Alex Hillman: 5 Common Scams, Real Stories of Money Lost, How To Protect Your Bitcoin & Create a Family Inheritance Plan
Alex Hillman – also known as “Goodguy Biker” – is a white hat hacker.
He’s an ethical hacker who tries to find the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of a business so that black hat hackers (or bad hackers) don’t exploit them. White hat hackers are the reason businesses have less downtime, are better safeguarded, and experience less hacks overall.
Possibly more striking than being a white hat hacker is the fact he’s helped people recover their lost or stolen bitcoin. I thought he’d be a fascinating bitcoiner to learn from so I invited him over to The Misfit podcast.
During our two-hour conversation, Alex shared real stories of people getting scammed. We covered questions such as:
What makes some people more vulnerable to scams than others?
How do they get scammed?
And, what can we all learn about protecting ourselves and our bitcoin?
In talking with him I realized just how vulnerable we are to scams when we fall in love, or trust our religious leaders, or use public WiFi sources. While these were darker topics, at the end, we explored why bitcoin is a necessity. I ended up feeling extremely bullish on bitcoin.
If there’s only one podcast you ever listen to on The Misfit, let it be this one.
Listen to our conversation on Spotify or Fountain.
**Why listen on the Fountain app instead of Spotify? Because you can earn satoshis (fractions of a bitcoin) just for listening to a podcast there! For free. That’s right. You don’t have to buy bitcoin. Now, you can earn some sats, friends! Use this referral link to get started.**
WATCH.
Saving the Planet through Bitcoin with Mags Gronowska.
Tires release toxic chemicals into the ground that can be harmful to humans. That’s why in some places tires are not allowed in kids’ playgrounds. And in some landfills tires are banned. Their strong structural makeup to sustain road wear also makes it hard to decompose, which exacerbates the problem.
The crazy thing is 350 million tires are thrown out each year – in the U.S. alone! That’s about one tire per person. Globally, you’re looking at roughly a billion tires thrown out each year. That’s not even including tires in landfills. It’s an insane amount.
PRTI is a technology company that takes in tires, deconstructs them, and mines bitcoin with that energy.
“We have a vertical reactor. We put the tires in. We kind of bake it – it’s called ‘thermal deconstruction.’ You’re deconstructing it with higher temperatures. About 250 degrees. And in about 11 hours, you get several different products that are all useful.
So, one is in oil that can be burned in diesel generators for power. One is synthetic gas, like natural gas. There’s a black carbon type of product that currently we sell to another company. It has BTU content like coal. And then the third is steel. Because 25% of a tire is steel to give it that rigidity. So that steel can be sold for scrap. So we have four products that we can sell.
But, at any point, all the energy products we can use to make energy and mine bitcoin. So, we can mine landfill.” – Mags Gronowska, Advisor at PRTI
There are plenty of ways to mine bitcoin with existing waste, like PRTI is doing. Their innovation could also be important for small islands that don’t have much land for landfills, like Puerto Rico and Hawaii. I encourage you to listen to this episode to learn more.
READ.
The Most Powerful Paradoxes of Life
When I came across this Twitter thread on the most powerful paradoxes of life, I remembered how true it is that this world is full of paradoxes coexisting together. That reconciling contradictions is part of life.
From the persuasion paradox, to the effort paradox, and the wisdom paradox, here are 20 paradoxes of life outlined by life wizard, entrepreneur, creator, and investor, Sahil Bloom.
Here’s just one example to get you thinking: The Persuasion Paradox
“Have you noticed that the most argumentative people rarely persuade anyone? The most persuasive people don’t argue—they observe, listen, and ask questions. Argue less, persuade more. Persuasion is an art that requires a paintbrush, not a sledgehammer.”
The Bitcoin Whitepaper Is Hidden in Every Modern Copy of macOS
While trying to fix his printer, American technologist and blogger, Andy Baio found a PDF copy of the Bitcoin whitepaper “apparently shipped with every copy of macOS since Mojave in 2018.”
He asked his friends with mac computers to confirm whether they also saw it on their end – and sure enough, they did! This set off the Bitcoin community in a frenzy searching for the whitepaper, which they also found on their mac devices.
Was this done on purpose? If so, by whom? Is there a Bitcoiner working for Apple who discreetly placed the Whitepaper in everyone’s computer years ago? Will Apple now remove it?
Check out the article if you want to learn more about this story and follow the steps to see if the Bitcoin Whitepaper appears on your mac too!
LISTEN.
The Plants of the Gods – How Animals Use Medicinal Plants.
American aviators preparing to fly over the jungles of Indochina during World War II were taught that the best way to survive (if shot down) was to “eat what the monkeys eat.” Of course, we don’t have the stomachs that monkeys do and some plants could kill us, but at least in some cases it helped with medicinal purposes.
Interestingly, some animals – from chimps to elephants – consume plants for therapeutic purposes too. Some use plants to treat their own ailments. Some use plants as poison to protect themselves. Others as contraceptive measures. And others eat fermented marula plants and get drunk.
In this podcast, you’ll learn how animals – from Tanzania to Brazil and Wisconsin – use medicinal plants. And how all commercial medicine stems from the rainforests of Africa, Asia, and the Americas.
That’s it for now, my friends! Make an effort today to train your mind to focus on the good of the world. And to believe in the kindness and generosity of people. That’s a life well-lived.
Con cariño,
— Ayelen xx
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5 Common Scams, Saving the Planet with Bitcoin & How Animals Use Medicinal Plants.
I love learning about the different topics you share. I can't wait to hear the podcast with Alex Hillman!