Suggestions For Next Satsraiser \ stacker news ~bitcoin

5396 sats \ 63 comments \ @siggy47 30 Sep 2023 bitcoin

zaps forwarded to @orphansofuganda (50%) @anita (50%)

I would like everyone's suggestions and input for the next Satsraiser.

So far, @grayruby suggested Open Sats at one point.

I have been speaking to the man who runs Orphans Of Uganda. They just joined Stacker News this morning. I am impressed with the information I've gotten so far.

Please let me know about your favorite bitcoin projects.

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1406 sats \ 15 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

Definitely Open Sats.

The charity for orphans—as compassionate and moral as it may seem— is also in effect subsidizing orphanage itself. It is a harsh point to make. I'm making it in the hope that someone will convince me that I'm wrong. So I'll try to be clear.

What are the long term effects of leading Ugandan parents to believe that it's not so bad if they leave their child, since the child will be cared for anyway?

Americans, in a very human and compassionate reaction to rising poverty, voted in the 60s to institute welfare aimed to help the affected. Few were more affected than black single mothers. But what happens when a system is in place that gives free money to those who don't marry? Marrying meant an instant 15 to 20% reduction in welfare.

Today, around 70% of black americans are born out of wedlock (compare with asians around 10%). Is this compassionate? As Thomas Sowell wrote,

The black family, which had survived centuries of slavery and discrimination, began rapidly disintegrating in the liberal welfare state that subsidized unwed pregnancy and changed welfare from an emergency rescue to a way of life. —Thomas Sowell

I'm worried about giving crutches to people simply because it feels good to be generous.

Now if the Ugandan charity was instead for giving scholarships to children who showed aptitude or extraordinary ability, then I would support it wholeheartedly. I'm Swedish, so no stranger to welfare. I find the topic very interesting and hope someone (who does not hate my guts by now) finds it interesting as well.

83 sats \ 8 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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629 sats \ 7 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

Agreed. After considering siggys wisdom I've changed my vote, the kids are a more altruistic and effective choice, simply because it's not giving them (or rather, their parents) a crutch so much as it is giving the kids themselves a book. A book made of gold.

Think of what cool stuff we could have built if we knew about btc/crypto at that age. All I had was lego!

Hm. This whole thing is inspiring, makes me want to find more ways to enable lightning adoption and experimentation for kids. Any ideas? Barney the dinosaur except he's raving about elliptic curve cryptography??

121 sats \ 6 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

I am confused myself. I kind of embraced the Cuban idea. I've learned a few things today. #1. I don't know you personally, but you are a very good man, and 2, this place is amazing. I'll stop there before I get really sappy.

217 sats \ 5 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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217 sats \ 3 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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71 sats \ 2 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

I think they both are worthy, but the Cuban route might be more timely. Like you say, they're primed.

217 sats \ 1 reply \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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134 sats \ 0 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

Ron is the man!

170 sats \ 5 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

Two things:

I agree that Open Sats is a fantastic project. The reason I am not 100% behind it for SN is that Jack gave the project $10 million. Our pittance won't really provide any real benefit.
I am no bleeding heart liberal. I loathe what The Great Society did to my country. In many respects we are paying the price now. I see a complete distinction between generational dependence on handouts which destroys ambition and self reliance and poor children who have been victimized by the IMF and BIS. You are right that it is a "feel good" type giving, but it's not purely altruistic. I believe it will foster bitcoin adoption in a basic, fundamental way.

33 sats \ 3 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

Thanks for saying that, I want to be clear that I didn't mean to accuse you or anyone who is inclined to support the charity— I meant to describe my own feelings about it, and why I find it so hard to talk about. It kills me that these kids live in such circumstance and I CAN HELP THEM but by my own reasoning mustn't. Am I just stingy? Heartless? Even racist? These questions are what my inner child asks me, and I hope that I'm not. Because I can't be sure. And shouldn't be.

I'll be thinking about the kids I saw on that page all day, but there's nothing more to be done. Thanks again for engaging.

33 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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313 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

It's funny you said that, because your post really got me thinking. Could I ultimately be harming those kids to make me feel good about myself? Even worse, how do you vet something like this to make sure It's not going to some grifter? It's good to hash through this stuff.

499 sats \ 0 replies \ @Michelson_Morley 30 Sep 2023

Exactly. You totally get it. I've thought about it a bit more and what you said about introducing them to bitcoin/lightning, that carries a lot of weight that I didn't consider at all. It wouldn't be "just giving money away", it would be a much more valuable opportunity, giving a head start to the kids whos potential might otherwise go neglected. This outweighs my worry about "helping perpetuate poor parenting" by a large margin.

Hell, giving such insight to kids who aren't even orphans in uganda would be a head start. So I've changed my mind. I vote for the Ugandan kids. But not because I'm a bleeding heart or anything! :) It's just more reasonable.

100 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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163 sats \ 12 replies \ @pillar 30 Sep 2023

The Cuban Bitcoin community would be a great option in my opinion. They live in an extremely poor and oppressed society. What we call spare change is a monthly salary to them. Just a few days can be enough to get them very useful stuff for them like VPN subscriptions.

0 sats \ 11 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

I agree. Do you know of any specific projects we could fund?

353 sats \ 10 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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140 sats \ 7 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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268 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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172 sats \ 5 replies \ @birdeye21 30 Sep 2023

im chill w the cubans

203 sats \ 4 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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172 sats \ 3 replies \ @birdeye21 30 Sep 2023

how to send cigar over LN tho? ;(

203 sats \ 2 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

Excellent idea. In fact, maybe we should let him pick.

33 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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395 sats \ 6 replies \ @bitcointerest 30 Sep 2023

I was considering doing a small fund raise for Bitcoin Ekasi from Mossel Bay, South Africa.

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

Great idea! Go for it. That's a great project. I for one will certainly donate to it. Do they have an SN account?

33 sats \ 4 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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21 sats \ 3 replies \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

Good info. This is just my personal opinion, but I would like to find small vetted charities that could really benefit from our relatively small Satsraisers.

33 sats \ 2 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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21 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

I don't necessarily think the two are mutually exclusive. From my perspective, they both are an exchange, although I guess with a traditional charity that is less obvious. The way I see it is if the people with a real need for basics like food, clothing and shelter see their lives change through bitcoin, that enhances adoption.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 30 Sep 2023

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361 sats \ 5 replies \ @grayruby 30 Sep 2023

I suggested Open Sats because we know it is legit but it also has some big backers so I am good with doing smaller projects as well.

Maybe we focus on some of the bitcoin community projects like bitcoin ekasi or mi primer bitcoin as examples. Or maybe we do a satsraiser for bitcoin community projects (beach, lake, island, ekasi, mi primer bitcoin and so on) and just split the sats amongst them.

Thoughts?

33 sats \ 1 reply \ @k00b 30 Sep 2023

fwiw @opensats is already on here

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @nemo 1 Oct 2023

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20 sats \ 1 reply \ @siggy47 OP 30 Sep 2023

That's a good idea. Along those lines, is there a list anywhere for projects that are on SN? If a particular project isn't here, we should encourage them to join. Then we can have generalized posts and spread the sats around.