“It is impossible to get better and look good at the same time. Give yourself permission to be a beginner.” — Julia Cameron, The Artist’s Way
^ AKA still lazy and not spending time to format or create a cohesive logical structure, but posting each week so better than sitting on my hands
Relative structure is: Some quick thoughts, then articles/quotes/other, then Podcasts from this week.
Some Thoughts
I still need to update my books from the end of 2024 and then create a new list for 2025. I have been considerably slower in 2025 thus far, with only about 5 books YTD. A lot of podcasts, CFP studying, and some life shakeups have shifted my priorities.
There is a tension right now that I am hoping to be able to push through in short order, but the timing is out of my hands. Ideally I should have more clarity within the next week, and then I can be more formulaic about my goals when it comes to reading books, listening to podcasts, and writing on here.
Other thoughts lately have been surrounding AI implementation and trying to code an app idea I had back in college that I think could be useful.
Past two weeks I have gotten back into connecting with people on phone calls which I was much better about ironically when I was in PR. Now that I am stateside and closer to people, I feel less of a need to stay in touch over time since I could hypothetically see people any of these weekends.
I realize how good it feels to stay connected to people and bounce ideas off of people in different spaces, so I want to incorporate that more robustly into my weekly and monthly schedules.
I am continuing to trust in the powers that be and put my best foot forward in all areas of life, trying to live a life of truth and integrity. I believe that listening to my gut and being open to different signs has helped me historically, so I am submitting to that power and aiming upwards in all that I do.
I definitely fail and need to return to the path each and every day, but as I develop that muscle, it becomes easier and easier over time.
Some Notable Content
Lyn Alden Tweet: “Some of the purest feelings you can find, is when you are the same person in all contexts. You remove all personal filters and are just radically yourself. I’m not quite there myself, but I do try to act in text as I do in person. Any disconnect I consider a failure.”
Sahil Bloom Tweet: “Talent and intelligence are abundant. Courage is not. There’s someone out there living the life you want simply because they had the courage to act. They aren’t smarter than you. They aren’t more talented than you. They just took action when you didn’t.”
On AI Broadly:
“Sometimes, however, companies are in the mode of “having hammers looking for nails,” said Jim Siders, chief information officer of data analytics firm Palantir, also speaking at the summit.
“They’re so scared to be left out of a revolution in progress that they buy an AI thing of some kind, and they try to figure out how to drive value with it,” Siders said.”
Some charts from Charlie Bilello’s newsletter I thought were interesting:
The fartcoin stage of the market:
“I can’t agree that Fartcoin serves no purpose. Its purpose is to enrage and demoralize those of us who spent decades studying financial markets, believing we were engaged in serious and useful work.”
“There are no facts. There is no logic. There is only Fartcoin.”
“Karl Marx said that history repeats, first as tragedy, second as farce. He was too optimistic. The truth is that history repeats, first as tragedy, second as farts.”
“Some readers asked whether in the future, given the reckless behavior of politicians, inflation statistics might be faked or Treasurys might become risky.”
Some Podcasts:
I have played around with some different AI tools over the past few weeks of these posts to make it easier to grap titles and summaries, and Grok 3 came out this week so first iteration with that model. In short, it rocked.
Basic format is info, AI summary, and then my notes are preceded by a “DH” after the Spotify links
1. TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast
Episode Title: "Jeff Walton on Bitcoin, Liberty, and Parallel Economies - #577"
Guest: Jeff Walton
Summary: Jeff Walton joins Marty Bent to explore how Bitcoin can empower individual liberty and foster parallel economies outside traditional financial systems. A must-listen for anyone interested in the intersection of crypto and freedom.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin enables financial sovereignty by bypassing centralized control.
Parallel economies can reduce reliance on failing fiat systems.
Liberty thrives when individuals control their own wealth.
Link: Spotify
2. The Bitcoin Podcast
Episode Title: "The Bitcoin Podcast #444 - Lyn Alden & Sam Callahan"
Guests: Lyn Alden, Sam Callahan
Summary: Lyn Alden and Sam Callahan dive into Bitcoin’s evolving role in the financial landscape, offering sharp insights on markets, adoption, and macroeconomic trends.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin adoption is accelerating as trust in fiat wanes.
Macro trends favor decentralized assets over traditional ones.
Knowledge of monetary policy is key to understanding Bitcoin’s value.
Link: Spotify
DH
So bearish bullish, fiscal dominance
In 70s structurally high inflation majority from bank lending, bank loans, deficit smaller factor
Oil prices
Above target money supply growth
Debt to gdp thirty percent
Volcker jack up interest rates slow down borrowing demand fraction reserve money creation and should contain inflation but inc deficit
Slowdown on bank lending larger than inc of deficit
Bank lending sluggish now and high debt to gdp
Not rapid household formation
More money creation from monetized fiscal deficits
Flywheel, higher int rates then higher int exp and refi expense larger fiscal deficits more money printing more asset price inflation and then higher int rates
Darkside of volcker was bankrupting latin america, got addicted to dollars encouraged debt accumulation and then jacked up rates and hardened dollars, they consumed less energy and it fixed energy imbalance
Keeping dollar stronger puts pressure on all these countries and lowers their consumption
3. Coin Stories
Episode Title: "Ron Paul: End the Fed, Legalize Freedom, and Why Bitcoin Matters"
Guest: Ron Paul
Summary: Former Congressman Ron Paul discusses his long-standing push to end the Federal Reserve, the case for personal liberty, and why he sees Bitcoin as a tool for financial freedom.
Takeaways:
The Fed distorts markets and erodes personal freedom.
Bitcoin offers an alternative to centralized banking tyranny.
Legalizing freedom requires dismantling monetary monopolies.
Link: Spotify
4. TIP’s BTC Fundamentals
Episode Title: "Top 5 Bitcoin Clips of Q1 2025 with Joe Burnett | BTC222"
Guest: Joe Burnett
Summary: Joe Burnett joins to break down the top five Bitcoin moments of Q1 2025, offering a curated look at the most impactful clips and trends in the crypto space.
Takeaways:
Q1 2025 showcased Bitcoin’s growing mainstream traction.
Key clips highlight shifts in investor and regulatory attitudes.
Bitcoin’s narrative is evolving beyond just a store of value.
Link: Spotify
5. What Bitcoin Did
Episode Title: "Bitcoin Bonds & The Fiat Ponzi with Preston Pysh & Nico Lechuga"
Guests: Preston Pysh, Nico Lechuga
Summary: Preston Pysh and Nico Lechuga unpack the concept of Bitcoin bonds and critique the fiat system, calling it a Ponzi scheme ripe for disruption.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin bonds could fund projects without fiat debt traps.
Fiat’s Ponzi nature relies on endless money printing.
Crypto offers a transparent alternative to opaque finance.
Link: Spotify
DH
I think not having a strategic reserve is the biggest threat to the US dollar
Companies going mstr way, acquiring btc maybe shouldn't
Btc companies cash flowing btc
Need buy in at board level so small companies
6. TIP’s BTC Fundamentals
Episode Title: "The Bitcoin Self-Repaying Mortgage with Mauricio Di Bartolomeo | BTC221"
Guest: Mauricio Di Bartolomeo
Summary: Mauricio Di Bartolomeo explains an innovative idea: a self-repaying mortgage powered by Bitcoin, blending real estate with crypto economics.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin’s appreciation can offset mortgage costs over time.
Self-repaying loans challenge traditional banking models.
Real estate and crypto integration is the future of finance.
Link: Spotify
DH
All in sustaining cost in gold to ask for price above cost
If you want to access value prop for btc, pay price above cost
Btc raises cost of its own production
Engineered money
Makes itself more difficult to find
Diff adjustment is like a natural fed/central bank when things get too hot or to slow
Dynamic interest rates because collateral changes value
fixed rate is a price control -
Commodity credit vs circulating credit
Debt with low interest rates is almost an asset to the borrower
Banks sell off because it is like a liability
Sab 121, over collateralized
Bank lending, liability vs asset
Zombie economy
Need to have creative destruction back into the economy and cycles
Healthcare like financial share where you dont participate in fractional reserve banks
Apex predators in finance will look to put people in situations where they get liquidated
Income tax secures treasuries, money markets are rewiring
Ust market lack of demand, stable coins demand on treasuries
Red flags all over
Fuse btc into bonds
Rfk talked about 2% btc backing for treasuries
So tough to go out to duration
Upward spiral where demand for issuance creates more demand
Settle in usd
Btc backed munis
7. Build with Bitcoin
Episode Title: "Alex Mann - Building Wealth with Bitcoin - EP 028"
Guest: Alex Mann
Summary: Alex Mann shares strategies for building wealth through Bitcoin, offering practical tips for navigating the crypto world.
Takeaways:
Long-term holding beats short-term trading for wealth.
Bitcoin’s scarcity drives its value proposition.
Education is critical for successful crypto investing.
Link: Spotify
8. The "What is Money?" Show
Episode Title: "Shadow Banking & The Great Taking with Whitney Webb | WiM274"
Guest: Whitney Webb
Summary: Investigative journalist Whitney Webb digs into shadow banking and "The Great Taking," exposing hidden risks in the global financial system.
Takeaways:
Shadow banking hides systemic vulnerabilities from view.
“The Great Taking” threatens asset ownership globally.
Decentralized systems like Bitcoin counter these risks.
Link: Spotify
DH
Financial crimes and children
Organized crime and intelligence agencies intertwined
Cia connections to wall street secret police of finance kind of
Ultimate goal is expansion and maximize longevity of insititution
Digital ids have been pushed a lot over decades
Robert maxwell through israel sold software globally where they had backdoor
Systematics was another system got sold all over and was cia program, tracking people and money flows
Effectively anonymous currency would hurt blackmail
Deep politics vs superficial politics
Jfk last president?
Efforts to control jfk through sex, sexual blackmail, targeted him
Some wall st banks have outsized control of fed, also in global things and policies and crime rings etc. Entrenched web
Shwartzman, kissinger, 2nd in command in china
Superficial is its this nation states vs another nation state, but then why covid19 why pentagon funding that
90s and epstein with clinton tech sent to china, same people stopping commies in irancontra
Particular faction desire for power and money
Sdg’s creating macroeconomic stability - fiscal space, word salad, debt sustainability gap, ideological
2 ways to conquer a country, one by sword, the ither by debt
All towards centralizing power
Natures economy - finding way to extract minerals etc.
All under the guise of sustainable development
Book rec - seen like a state?
Harpa and total information awareness
Pre crime, palantir, etc
We have been programmed with parts of history or parts of education
Slaves of convenience at this point
Get your own rss feed
9. TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast
Episode Title: "Whitney Webb & Mark Goodwin on Bitcoin and Power Structures - #555"
Guests: Whitney Webb, Mark Goodwin
Summary: Whitney Webb and Mark Goodwin discuss how Bitcoin challenges existing power structures, blending investigative journalism with crypto analysis.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin disrupts centralized power by redistributing control.
Investigative insights reveal elite resistance to crypto.
Decentralization threatens entrenched financial hierarchies.
Link: Spotify
DH
Change comes from the bottom up
Plan of covid, print money and lock in houses
Crush inflation and buy up all assets
Peter thiel meeting with Epstein and Gawker releases Epstein list and he moves to take them down and it is tied to his sexuality
Thiel tied into those things. Doesn’t like free markets.
Sex trafficking minors and it happens on both sides. Not partisan
Ron Berger of Kroger very involved
Scandals of diddy and Epstein headlines vs looking through it all
Shouldn’t be a partisan thing
08 Epstein ties to bear stearns. Hand in collapse then switches to jpm who buys out bear
Key guys in china gate mark middleton from clinton, hung himself and shot himself in the chest
Leslie wexner
Brock pierce
Find compromised person
Intelligence pre 80s was pencil pushers in offices
Then it was hey we need to change to compete
Paypal connected to intelligence then into palantir- is it coopted once it emerged or is it originated out of intelligence
Legislation on stablecoins, maybe controlled demolition of ftx and terra luna - done to simulate dialectic of we need to ban algorithmic stablecoins
Preserve Dual banking system - cant have bitcoin backed money need to have treasuries
Building consent to have support for stables
Lummis focuses on preserving dollar as reserve
Climate finance concerns. New asset class, keep casino going
Need to shovel debt somewhere
Issues with stable coins, can size w assets with dollar ties
Debt based monetary paradigm has led to great suffering
Book rec - who controls the internet
“We are criminals, they just haven't made the laws yet”
10. TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast
Episode Title: "Dave Collum on Bitcoin, Chemistry, and Collapse - #580"
Guest: Dave Collum
Summary: Chemist and commentator Dave Collum joins to explore Bitcoin’s role amid societal and economic collapse, mixing science with sharp wit.
Takeaways:
Bitcoin hedges against inevitable economic breakdown.
Scientific reasoning supports crypto’s logical foundation.
Collapse accelerates adoption of alternative systems.
Link: Spotify
DH
Book Recs
Follow the science by Sharyl Attkisson
The indispensable right
American betrayal
11. TFTC: A Bitcoin Podcast
Episode Title: "Tom Luongo on Geopolitics, Bitcoin, and Freedom - #582"
Guest: Tom Luongo
Summary: Tom Luongo connects geopolitics and Bitcoin, arguing it’s a key to preserving freedom in an unstable world.
Takeaways:
Geopolitical chaos boosts Bitcoin’s relevance.
Freedom hinges on financial independence from states.
Crypto counters centralized control in crises.
Link: Spotify
DH
The dark heart of Europe
Substack Richard Poe about George Soros and him being an agent
The invisibles book? Recommendation
The gameplan playing out, two systems, one where gov in service of the people other is the opposite - call it communism vs populism whatever but that is the core thing
Gameplan is shutting down cashflow as step one and then forcing them to work through assets
12. All-In Podcast
Episode Title: "E104: Naval Ravikant on Happiness, Crypto, and AI"
Guest: Naval Ravikant
Summary: Naval Ravikant joins the All-In crew to discuss happiness, the future of crypto, and AI’s transformative potential.
Takeaways:
Happiness stems from internal clarity, not wealth alone.
Crypto and AI will redefine economic systems.
Personal sovereignty drives Naval’s philosophy.
Link: Spotify
13. All-In Podcast
Episode Title: "E112: Collison Brothers on Stripe, Tech, and Innovation"
Guests: Patrick Collison, John Collison
Summary: The Collison brothers, founders of Stripe, talk tech innovation, entrepreneurship, and the future of payments.
Takeaways:
Stripe’s success reflects relentless focus on user needs.
Innovation thrives in open, adaptable systems.
Payments tech shapes global commerce’s future.
Link: Spotify
DH
Book recs:
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War Book by Robert Coram
Henry kaiser builder of the american west
14. Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Episode Title: "Marc Andreessen"
Guest: Marc Andreessen
Summary: Tech titan Marc Andreessen chats with Rick Rubin about innovation, venture capital, and the internet’s next frontier.
Takeaways:
The internet’s evolution demands bold risk-taking.
Venture capital fuels disruptive tech breakthroughs.
Optimism drives Andreessen’s vision for progress.
Link: Spotify
DH
Very impressed by Andreesen and his guest spots on podcasts
Interesting because I have heard him on a lot of other podcasts recently and his tune has not changed much even though this one was from a year ago
Recommends The half life effect book
15. Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin
Episode Title: "Richard Feynman"
Guest: Richard Feynman (archival)
Summary: A special episode featuring archival audio of physicist Richard Feynman, reflecting on science, curiosity, and life.
Takeaways:
Curiosity is the bedrock of scientific discovery.
Simple explanations reveal complex truths.
Feynman’s humor makes learning timeless.
Link: Spotify
DH
Theres a difference between knowing a thing and knowing the name of a thing
On manhattan project “I wish I would have remembered the reasons I was doing it initially” basically he was doing it to defeat the germans, and then they were able to defeat the germans and he was still doing it - not losing your goal
He was so sure that the world would basically end because we had that power and humans are humans. He would see people building bridges or doing things and be like “that is so stupid, don't you know this is all going to end?”
Reconnected with the fun of physics, doing things for fun or because interesting
Father taught him that people are humans and, see that man bowing to the pope, thats one guy and they are all guys. Commanders generals popes etc. All just wearing uniforms, people underneath. Father in clothing and uniform design so salient
Ties into winning nobel prize, thinks its dumb, who cares what these people think is noble or worthy, what prize? I already got the prize I figured out the thing
Analogies with chess, observe bishop doesnt change color square its on and then you can figure out it moves diagonally, but oh wait then a pawn turns to a bishop and you have to make new rules, castling, various rules are discovered and in chess it becomes more complex
In the universe it is the opposite
As you discover new rules it becomes more simple, edge cases lead to things looking complex, then a discovery that makes things even simpler than they looked before
“To not know mathematics is a severe limitation in understanding the world”
Things are made of atoms, behavior of electrons is kind of known, eventually figured out how nucleus is held together, trying to find patterns
Quarks discovered, 3 types of
Problem is what holds quarks together?
Theory is quantum electrodynamics where quarks are like the electrons and photons which go between electrons and attract to each other are like gluons
Similar
Guessed by formulas
Unlike electrodynamics, forces at a distance dont get weaker like when you separate electrons by a big distance
If it were true then when you would do an experiment with enough energy a quark would come out but a big jet of the old hadrons comes out instead
Why so diff than electrodynamics?
Very surprising, you would think theory is wrong
Diff than any other time
Complete theory and enormous numbers of theories for hadrons
If the theory is right, what should happen? That is the challenge. Basically making predictions
Teaching chaotically to get hooks
“I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell.”
16. Shawn Ryan Show
Episode Title: "#108 Jordan Peterson - The Cost of Chaos"
Guest: Jordan Peterson
Summary: Jordan Peterson joins Shawn Ryan to discuss chaos, order, and the psychological costs of modern life.
Takeaways:
Chaos imposes a heavy toll on mental stability.
Order requires discipline and purposeful action.
Meaning emerges from confronting life’s struggles.
Link: Spotify
DH
Worth going back to this one’s transcript and see how JP advises working through your problems and diagnoses various problems
The feminine model of looking at the world generally women are more sensitive and have higher threat detection systems for when things may go wrong in therapy or when dealing with children or a spouse or partner if somebody is complaining or talking about problems, you can’t just jump in and give us a solution You need to let them talk about their problems. Then eventually it will become clear. You can steal their journey from them right away list out all the potential problems and work through it.
Be very very very careful of lying, even in small ways