Alik Bakhshi
A new Russian-Finnish war is coming
The Russian-Finnish War of 1939-1940 began with an ultimatum from Moscow to transfer part of the territory of Finland to the USSR, namely the Korel Isthmus and islands in the Gulf of Finland in order to ensure the security of Leningrad. In other words, the Finns recklessly placed their country too close to the city of revolutionary glory, which the insidious Finns could subject to artillery fire. As a result of the war, the Finns lost 10% of their territory and Vyborg, the second largest city in Finland. Today the threat from Finland has returned again, which, having become a NATO member, has the opportunity to fire at the same city, now St. Petersburg, with NATO missiles. Due to the fact that the threat situation has returned, we must expect a new ultimatum for the Finns to move the border beyond the flight time, that is, to move the country to the ice of the Arctic Ocean, otherwise they will suffer the same fate as Ukraine.
03/22/2024
I don't think so. I think Putin is hell-bent on conquering Ukraine first. And if NATO/US does not help or helps too late, he might succeed.
Russian Kharkiv offensive will probably start soon to divert resources from the south.I think next countries to fall after Ukraine will be Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. His plans are probably to control Bulgaria and Romania before going after Finland. Maybe he will push to control Poland as well (Polish farmers anyone? lol). Slovakia and Hungary have been bought and paid for. |
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Hello everyone!
I'm trying to use my old laptop as an air gap devices, how do I know if it's air gapped because I already used it before for internet connection but but it has been a very very long time and I also removed the wifi adapter so it can be er go online again.
Thanks for your help
You should also plan on how are you going to transfer the unsigned/signed transaction to/from your offline laptop. After you install the new OS, and configure the way you want it, you should physically disable all ports, USB, HDMI, Ethernet, SD card reader, Wifi/WWAN, etc. (Unless you carry it around 24/7 and you sleep with it, LOL). Use QR codes and laptop cameras to transfer the data between your air gapped computers. |
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Ahhh, the linux distro wars bitciontalk style.
IMO debian and unbutu and the projects based on them such as mint are the most supported though the community with a lot of places to look for help.
CentOS and it's forks tend to be more stable (not always but tend to be)
And FreeBSD is a royal pain in the ass, but once you get it up it's rock solid and secure.
But, for something like this. If you install one and it does not work for you, just move to the next. You don't have to live with any particular distro if it's not working the way you want it to.
-Dave
+1 But it is not as bad as it was 15-20 years ago. I recently installed it on my laptop, without too many issues. Can run as a workstation (Xfce/Plasma, native Firefox/Chromium, Office, and 40k+ native apps or WINE, Linux compatibility. etc). Or run it as a firewall, router, mail server etc. PF on it just blows IPTables out of water. pkg installer is awesome. If you want, you can slim it down, compile for your particular hardware. I am really impressed by how much it has improved. I am switching all my machines to freeBSD. PS. I am done playing with blocking/patching Windows, or deciding which Linux distro is the 'best'.
FreeBSD is the best, end of story. |
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I don't think IDF targets children in schools on purpose. No point, what military objective would that achieve?
I think they are bombing all sites where they believe Hamas terrorists are hiding.
They have to destroy Hamas and ALL its supporters, otherwise the Islamist terrorists win this war.
IDF purposely targets UN safezones. There are no Hamas agents within these safezones.Their objective is to cause fear and terror in civilians. They're actual terrorists under international law. And who told your this? Hamas? The IDF objective is to eradicate Hamas. |
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Only a terrorist would support bombing children in schools.
Any justification to bomb children in schools is wrong. You do not bomb innocent United Nations workers __under any circumstance__.
These attacks have continued for weeks. They shown the inhumanity of Israel. Multiple international war criminal complaints have been issued.
I don't think IDF targets children in schools on purpose. No point, what military objective would that achieve? Other than anger peaceful people on both sides of this conflict. I think they are bombing all sites where they believe Hamas terrorists are hiding. They have to destroy Hamas and ALL its supporters, otherwise the Islamist terrorists win this war. |
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I am researching setting up a Bitcoin Node that includes software tools to explore the bitcoin blockchain, store bitcoin, earn bitcoin, spend bitcoin, Bisq to buy Bitcoin and Lightning network software. However, a bump in the road I have encountered relates to disabling the Intel Management Engine (IME) on my Supermicro X11SSH-F motherboard using Coreboot. Listed below are some questions I have: - Has anybody out there disabled the IME and if yes what motherboard model did you apply the Coreboot to? I ask just in case I end up bricking my Supermicro motherboard.
- Does disabling the IME with Coreboot really make a Bitcoin Hub more secure? Or are there tradeoffs that actually make the Bitcoin Hub less secure after installing Coreboot?
- What Intel chip generation is the correct one to buy so IME is no longer a factor to consider which means no longer having to mess with Coreboot?
- Is buying an Intel motherboard manufactured before 2006 the only way to 100% totally avoid IME? If yes doesn't such an old motherboard lack the required horsepower needed to operate a robust Bitcoin hub?
- Is an AMD motherboard a better foundation level security alternative to building a Bitcoin Node? If yes what particular AMD CPU generation / motherboard manufactured year should I be looking at?
As I mentioned, I am researching the task of disabling the IME on a motherboard and not 100% certain if I should continue down this path. I would appreciated any opinions that will help me figure out the best approach to building a secure Bitcoin node at the motherboard foundation level . Thank you for your time. Just buy a machine with coreboot and ME disabled. https://novacustom.com/https://system76.com/Install whatever OS you want and whatever software you want. Front it with a coreboot device running pfSense/OPNsense and watch the network traffic with wireshark on a third, clean device. If everything checks out, install your bisq, bitcoin core node etc. Re-writing your BIOS chip is not trivial but is doable. https://yewtu.be/watch?v=WJo8RsJeqxU |
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...
Don't use just core or any other wallet, get a hardware wallet for additional security.
The funds you save will be your own....
-Dave
Why not to use just the Bitcoin Core? I don't see the benefit of using anything else. How does a hardware wallet add security? Just store your encrypted wallet on encrypted SLC flash card(s), hard drives, M-discs etc. Why reinvent the wheel? Hardware wallets use flash memory, don't they? They degrade faster than hard drives or M-discs. Why add another company, or eBay/Amazon nefarious actors into the 'security' equation? Hardware wallets might add convenience for some people, not security, IMHO. Never give up control over your coins. Wasn't it the original idea? PS. If someone steals your hardware wallet, or you lose it, your coins are gone. If someone steals my hard drive, or my SD card, no problem, I'll just use the other copies and move my coins to a new wallet and make new backups. |
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I am just so conciouse about Bitcoin security because my country is not a Bitcoin friendly place, so I just want to be awear, is it possible for any agency to use Bitcoin wallet transaction and track a persons IP to know their location?
Get a router that supports OpenVPN (or Wireguard), signup for double hop VPN, run your own node, connect Bitcoin Core client to it. Your transactions will be transmitted by your node (which will be visible as an exit IP of your VPN connection), your real IP will be lost in the entry node of your two hop VPN connection. If you use OpenVPN VPN provider with no logs, nobody would be able to track your transactions down. Unless they get the VPN provider watch your connections in real time and log them. Most VPN providers these days drop logs after connection is done, or don't log at all, unless they are forced by the court order. If you are paranoid, change the country/VPN server location every time you connect your node or perform a new transaction. |
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... However, I have not noticed any (excessive) advertising on the Chromebooks, no. It was very different with a Windows 11 computer that I recently had to repair. These adverts come across very obtrusively as "tips" or "suggested apps" and tempt inexperienced users to click ... and to buy:  Source... Win 11 is probably Microsoft's worse release. The amount of tracking that they've put in is insane. Go through the privacy settings and turn some of these ads off. Install a third party firewall to prompt you when any program wants to create an outgoing connection, and block all this spyware they've put in. It will take a day or two to block all of them. You would be surprised how many of these send data silently. Wireshark can tell you exactly what data they collect and to which websites they send it. There are tools that go through the registry to clean this shit up, if you bothered by it. But in my experience, Microsoft's spyware programs do not consume a lot of resources once they lose network connectivity. |
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Higher fees are probably here to stay. They might fluctuate, but overall the baseline will be higher because
inscriptions and their underlying 'value' will 'pay' for the higher transaction fees.
A broader acceptance of inscriptions/'smart contracts' might eventually lead to inscriptions being worth more than the bitcoins themselves.
This will push the bitcoin blockchain further into the direction of 'store of value' instead of being a useful tool for carrying out
micro, small to medium financial transactions.
I guess we will see.
Evolution is in progress so stay tuned.
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If you had a wallet.dat that was never updated to the new format, and wanted to move to the 25.0 version, does it require any special steps or anything?
The last version I used was around 23.0. I haven't updated since then. I reckon at some point there was some sort of an update on the wallet format that was performed automatically and you didn't have to do anything, not sure if around 0.15 era when segwit was introduced, so im assuming that was applied on the wallet file, but now with the descriptors thing, I've seen some people discussing doing some additional steps. Im old fashioned and I haven't even locked at what the ordinals thing are yet. I use legacy addresses, but had to update because some people request bech32 addresses. As far as I can use Coin Control and generate legacy and bech32 addresses, I would be ok, but im assuming it's best to update for security reasons as bugs get updated. I just don't want to screw up an old wallet in the process. Of course I have backups before any of this is done, but I would like to know if any additional steps are required and why.
If it is a non-HD wallet, upgrade it with -upgradewallet (introduced in 0.17+, I believe). Then use -migratewallet in 0.25 to upgrade to the descriptor wallet. |
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I thought I share my experience migrating old legacy non-descriptor wallets to descriptor wallets and setting the corresponding watch wallets for them. I wish there was an easier way to do this. I used Bitcoin Core version 25.1 You need two 'bitcoin only' dedicated computers: OFFLINE and ONLINE. On the OFFLINE computer:
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1. Restore your legacy, non-descriptor wallet in bitcoin-qt, name it "legacyNoDesc" 2. Open the console and run migratewallet "legacyNoDesc" "password" Backup the wallet as "legacyDesc". 3. To get the range descriptors, run listdescriptors, make note of all the descriptors: for 1* addresses, the range descriptor looks like "pkh(***44'***)***", there are two, copy both of them for 3* addresses, the range descriptor looks like "sh(wpkh(***49'***))***", there are two, copy both of them for bc1q* addresses, the range descriptor looks like "wpkh(***84'***)***", there are two, copy both of them for bc1p* addresses, the range descriptor looks like "tr(***86'***)***", there are two, copy both of them 4. To get the one2one descriptors, run listaddressgroupings, and then listunspent command in the console for each address you want to monitor. Look for descriptors in the format "***(***/0'***)***". Those are ONE address <-> ONE descriptor, no range descriptors. You can run deriveaddresses "pkh(***0'***)***" to see/validate which address they derive. For range descriptors create two commands for each address type: importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"pkh(***44'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": false, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"pkh(***44'***)???"\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": true, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"sh(wpkh(***49'***))..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": false, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"sh(wpkh(***49'***))???"\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": true, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"wpkh(***84'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": false, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"wpkh(***84'***)???"\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": true, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"tr(***86'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": false, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"tr(***86'***)???"\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0, \"internal\": true, \"watchonly\": true, \"active\": true}]"
You can leave timestamp 0 (if you want to rescan the whole chain, or put the current time. Use https://www.epochconverter.com/ to pick the date/time you want as a starting point. For the non-range descriptors the commands will be shorter: importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"pkh(***0'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"sh(wpkh(***0'***))..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"wpkh(***0'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0}]"
importdescriptors "[{\"desc\": \"tr(***0'***)..."\, "\range\": [0,999], \"timestamp\": 0}]"Import descriptors for all addresses listed in listaddressgroupings command, or just the ones that have coins in them. Save the above importdescriptors in a text file. You will run them in your WATCH wallet in step 7. Now, on the ONLINE computer:
-------------------------------------5. Sync up your client. 6. Create an EMPTY/BLANK descriptor wallet with NO PRIVATE keys. This will be your WATCH wallet. 7. Run the commands created in step 4. (If you use timestamp set to 0, each command will be re-scanning the whole chain.) You can also import them with one command: importdescriptors "[{***},{***},{***}]"(replace *** with the descriptors your want to import) Wait for the wallet to sync up, and your WATCH wallet should show the correct balance of your COLD wallet. Now you can create unsigned transactions in your WATCH wallet (on the ONLINE computer), and sign them in the COLD wallet (on the OFFLINE computer). The OFFLINE computer should never be connected to any network, preferably have no WiFi/WAN and Ethernet hardware. Never put any software on it, other than some hardened OS and the Bitcoin Core. Same goes for the ONLINE computer, install some hardened OS on it, block all in/out connections, except out TCP 53, 8333 for bitcoin-qt executable ONLY. Use some other safe computer to download binaries from https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ and verify the checksum before copying core binaries to your 'bitcoin only' computers. PS. I wish someone would add "createwatchwallet" command to the Bitcoin Core so that we don't have to do this manually, maybe something like this: createwatchwallet "cold_wallet_name" "watch_wallet_name" |
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1) What CPU?
2) USB 3 or 2 on the external drive.
What others have discussed is true but running an older Celeron and an old spinning external drive on USB 2 is going to be a totally different experience then an 6th gen i5 and a newer 7200RPM external on USB3
-Dave
+1 When you use NVMe 4.0+ internal drives, the CPU becomes the 'bottleneck', especially towards the more recent blocks. I recently downloaded the whole blockchain using a notebook (T480, i5 1.8GHz, 2TB NVMe 4.0, 64GB) and it took ~25 hours to download the whole thing. I saw CPU usage over 90% towards the end of the download, around the 2023 data. Memory, network, and disk usage never went over 15%. A kick-ass desktop with something like i9-13900K and NVMe 5.0 would probably take half a day to download the whole thing. |
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-cut-
If Israeli officials are ever brought to ICC on war crime charges, prosecution will have a hard time proving the intent. Israel warns civilians daily to move to the southern part of Gaza. The civilian casulties are unintentional, IMHO. They clearly stated their intent: eradication of Hamas. Not eradication of Palestinians. This is the worst argument that can be relied upon to justify what is happening. I will answer you on the three points you mentioned: - The international community does not intend to hold the Israeli army accountable for what it is doing, and therefore the army does not fear anything, even if its responsibility for the massacres is proven with material evidence. Israel knows this, so it does not give any value to international standards. - The bombing is carried out on all areas of the Gaza Strip, whose area does not exceed 42 square kilometers. Bombing of schools and hospitals, and yesterday they bombed a convoy of ambulances heading towards the Rafah crossing in the south. Israel gives citizens minutes before carrying out bombing operations. Can you explain to me how a hospital or school crowded with civilians can be evacuated within a few hours? This is nonsense. - According to the latest statistics, more than 10,000 people were killed in Gaza. Among them are more than 3,000 children and countless women and elderly people. Do you find it logical to exterminate all this number under the pretext of eliminating a few hundred who are already hiding underground? If Hamas uses civilians as human shields and public humanitarian facilities as hideouts, does this justify the annihilation of those shields and the bombing of those facilities? You justify horrific massacres with this logic. The Palestinian people are not Hamas, and Hamas does not exist in the West Bank. Can you explain to me why 100 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank even though there were no Hamas fighters there? Please stop justifying violence. This took away part of your humanity. Sometimes law and ethics/morals don't overlap. I was refering to the potential legal ramifications for the leaders of the Israeli government. As for how they chose to fight the terrorists, well, I am not them so I don't know what they are thinking. One thing I will say, I would not want to be in their position. How do you eradicate these terrorists who are hidding among 50% of residents of Gaza who do not support Hamas? How can you tell who is the terrorist and who is not? Impossible task to do, IMHO. Ask yourself this question: how long would it take you to walk 20km to the southern part of Gaza? 5 hours? |
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OP, the two state solution will not work because both sides have a majority that opposes it.
Each side wants this land for itself exclusively.
Sadly, this war will go on until either Palestinians or Jews are no more.
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A few hours ago, the Israeli Defense Forces committed a new massacre in the Gaza Strip that exceeded all expectations. The forces bombed a hospital housing civilians fleeing the bombing, in addition to those injured as a result of the bombings. The targeting of the hospital left more than 600 dead, and the hospital administration confirmed that all of them were civilians.
According to the latest statistics, the death toll as a result of the continuous bombing for 12 days exceeded 3,000, in addition to an unspecified number of wounded and the complete destruction of the infrastructure of the entire northern Gaza Strip, which is already besieged, while preventing the entry of food and medical aid through all crossings leading to the Gaza Strip.
Regardless of whether you support the Palestinian right or support Israel, I cannot imagine a rational person who would question the horror of what is happening to more than two million citizens in front of the eyes of the world. You may have been affected by the death of 200 Israelis after the Hamas attack last October 7, but in your opinion, is it permissible to react in this barbaric way? Hamas did not kill children or attack hospitals, and no matter how strong it is, it cannot reach the size of the military might of a force like Israel, which is supported by the most powerful armies in the world. Who benefits from killing more than a thousand children and destroying hospitals and shelters?
Believe me, I am unable to even formulate the appropriate expressions to describe what I feel. I am no longer as surprised by what Israel does as I am by the position of countries, entities, and even companies.
Can someone explain to me what is the benefit of international law that imposes certain conditions, even in cases of war, that hospitals and shelter centers should not be targeted and the way for humanitarian crossings should be opened? Why does everyone view the American veto as a normal step, while the Security Council and the entire United Nations agree to condemn what is happening? Can a rational person explain to me what is the benefit of establishing international law in light of the existence of what is called the right of veto? Then why do those with the veto insist on remaining within the United Nations and international legitimacy if they constantly overturn its decisions that agree with them? How can laws be effectively activated under the veto?
If Israeli officials are ever brought to ICC on war crime charges, prosecution will have a hard time proving the intent. Israel warns civilians daily to move to the southern part of Gaza. The civilian casulties are unintentional, IMHO. They clearly stated their intent: eradication of Hamas. Not eradication of Palestinians. |
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Hello everyone
Gonna be fast...
I'm trying to download the Blockchain (by btc core) on an external HD, using my laptop (256 ssd, 8gb RAM). My internet connection is around 300mbps, and it is doing great, but the same way it keeps downloading 0,03% per hour... What can I do for optimizing this process ?? Just gotta download this and it won't work this by this speed.
Best regards
Follow these steps: - get a laptop with at least i5/i7 CPU, 2GHz+ - install PCIe NVMe 4.0+, 2TB or larger - install 64GB DDR4/3200+ memory - install your favourite OS (Windows 11 or whatever) - install all the updates etc., remove/stop bloatware after you get the OS cleaned up: - get the latest core from https://bitcoincore.org/en/download/ - block all incoming connections (all protocols and ports) - block all protocols for outgoing connections, except IPv4 - open TCP/UDP port 53 and 68 and TCP port 8333 outgoing connections (for bitcoin-qt only) - block all other outgoing connections (all protocols remote ports, except 53,68,8333 above) for all other applications - disable power management If you use your router as a DNS, open 53&68 for that IP only. With ~100 mbps Internet connection, T480 Thinkpad, I am getting ~25GB per hour blockchain downloads. (Average utilization in my setup: CPU: 35%, Memory: 10%, Network: 10%, Disk: 2%) |
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Here we go, boys and girls. The Kraken is finally starting to lift off the bottom. Click the links, and go to the site to show the many other links.
SIDNEY POWELL UPDATEblah, blah... So the KRAKEN was shot in the head. ROFL. |
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History in image; doesn't matter which side you are on this day remarks one of the worst days of humanity in modern history. Press conferance of a doctor in Gaza after hospital bombing. (verified image from Turkish Ministry of Health)  What can you expect from these Islamists? Precision? They are making rockets/missiles in their basements, so this is what you get. Islamists fucked up again. This whole region will not see peace until Israel/US eradicates ALL Islamists from the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The real tragedy is that the Palestinian people cannot leave these areas, no Arab/Islamic country wants them. Another allegation without any proof. The failed rocket hit an ammo storage the dickheads put next to the hospital. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYVr0lE4S9o |
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