Crypto
Forays into blockchain, NFTs and POAPs live here. I write about minting POAP tokens at family events, celebrating Ethereum’s 10‑year anniversary by creating an NFT and even using monitoring services to keep my POAP feeds up and running.
- Do not use any words from the title of the publication. Only use words from the name of this article. Typically there is a hyphen or pipe between them.
- Using alliterations can be fun but not necessary. Do not always use alliterations.
- Try to pick a set of words that pique the readers curiosity. Words that are punchy and thought-provoking.
- Avoid words that are negative or sad.
- Acronyms are fine to include.
- Be creative and have fun.
- Keep it positive, fun, and interesting.
- Pull in themes or terms from the headlines of the articles included in each issue. Do not use terms from the title of the publication. Only use words or topics from the subject of the specific article.
- Avoid negative themes or topics.
- Fortunes should be short, no longer than 8 to 10 words.
- Feel free to include an emoji if it makes sense.
- Keep it personal and not overly marketing driven or too sensational.
- Focus on it being descriptive and use second person voice.
- Avoid overly sensational words.
- It is okay to use emoji if appropriate.
- Focus less on the quoted text.
- You don’t need to introduce it with statements like “this week” and can focus just on the content.
- Keep it brief and terse, shorter is better.
- There are currently «Premium Count» Supporting Members.
- We have raised «Amount Raised» so far.
- The funds will be sent to the non-profit for the year in «Weeks Remaining» weeks.
- The non-profit this year is «Non-profit Name».
- There are currently «Premium Count» Supporting Members.
- We have raised «Amount Raised» so far.
- The funds will be sent to the non-profit for the year in «Weeks Remaining» weeks.
- The non-profit this year is «Non-profit Name».
Minnebar 19 POAP
Minnebar 19 is coming up this Saturday and I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to create a special Minnebar 19 POAP token for folks at the event to get and commemorate the event! I did a POAP for Minnebar 17 two years ago.
For this POAP I reached out to Meg Steuer at Minnestar and she was kind enough to share the graphics that are being used for the t-shirts. It was a super cool shirt and after consider it for a bit it worked absolutely perfect for an animated image. I’m loving this loop!
I have several hundred tokens loaded on three different POAP NFC discs that will be placed around the event. Just bring your phone near the disc and tap the center — you’ll get directed to a link to mint your token!
If you want to get ready for the day, download the POAP Home app to be ready for iOS and Android. Using this app you can also upload photos from the event to POAP Memories to share with others that hold the same token.
I’ll also be sharing my You Met Me POAP as well as a one for my How to Newsletter Session.
POAP 7343290 at Minnebar 19.
POAP 7343289 at Minnebar 19: How to Newsletter.
Minnebar 19 "How to Newsletter" Session POAP
I made a special POAP just for folks that attend my How to Newsletter session at Minnebar 19! If you join this session I’ll have a NFC card in the room you can tap to add this fun one to your collection!
We Met at Minnebar 19 POAP
Are you going to be at Minnebar 19 this Saturday? Come and introduce yourself and I’d love to share my You Met Jamie Thingelstad at Minnebar 19 POAP token with you! I’ll have it loaded on my IYK card easily redeemed with a tap.
Created the designs for three different POAPs for Minnebar 19 next week. Have a very cool one for the event, made a special one just for my session, and of course a You’ve Met Me one to share at Minnebar!
Won 0.5 SOL in my Mission Chest from Famous Fox Federation this week. I still have a lot of fun with this NFT project. I should try and get a couple more foxes.
POAP Planing for Minnebar 19
I’m going to distribute a POAP for Minnebar 19! This isn’t official (yet) — but something I’m doing for the community. I’ll have three IYK POAP Discs at the venue for claiming the tokens. This will be simpler and easier to distribute than what I did for Minnebar 17.
I’ll also have a POAP Card at my newsletter session for a special POAP just for that session, as well as a personal IYK Card loaded with my “You’ve met me POAP” to share at the event.
Getting ready? Install the POAP Home App (iOS, Android) and you are good to go!
What a great POAP for SPS Tech Connect 2025!
POAP 7326383 at SPS TechConnect 2025.
POAP 7325369 at TeamSPS Pi Day 2025.
How I Use AI in the Weekly Thing
I’ve been working with AI for a while now, and as I feel with all new technologies, the best way to learn them is to play with them. I’ve started to bring AI into my workflow for the Weekly Thing and thought it would be good to share specifically where and how I’m using it.
Before I get into the specifics, I want to make one thing clear: AI does not create the content of the Weekly Thing. I don’t use it to summarize articles or generate any of the comments I make on them. It is critically important to me that I use my voice and that what I share is my voice. I am using AI as an assistant rather than a creator. If I had someone else helping me assemble the Weekly Thing as an assistant, where would that be helpful? Where would that assistant do a better job than me? Or where might it be desirable to have “another voice” in the mix?
Right now I’m doing all this with a ChatGPT subscription using the 4o models. It is great that the ChatGPT app supports Shortcuts so I can do all of this in a largely or completely automated way. I could easily swap Claude in if I wish as it also supports Shortcuts automation.
With that in mind, here is where I’m using LLM capabilities now. You’ll note that in many of these cases I’m asking my “assistant” to generate options and then I’m doing the final selection and modifications. I think this is a good model.
Subject
The subject follows a simple structure of “Weekly Thing «Number» / «Word», «Word», «Word»”. These three words are selected from the titles of the links in each issue. I try to select triples that are interesting and engaging. The challenge is avoiding words from the website’s name, which appear inconsistently in article titles.
Here is the prompt I’m using for this:
You are a great editor and are helping me create the subject line for issue «Issue Number» of the Weekly Thing. The subject line follows a template with the number of this issue followed by three comma-separated words that are picked from the titles of the links contained in this issue. For example, “Weekly Thing 234 / Blogging, Bitcoin, Bison”.
Guidelines for picking great words include:
Please identify five options for subject lines. Each option should include three words from these titles. The three words are separated by commas. Return the list of options as JSON.
List of titles for this week are:
«List of titles»
The prompt requests valid JSON output. I extract the JSON and use the “Get Dictionary from Input” method to create a structured data object. This allows me to put the LLM completely behind the scenes.
Fortune
The fortune first showed up in Weekly Thing 53 and has been the last thing in the emails for a while. I got the inspiration for this from the fortune command in Unix. The text files that serve as the “database” for fortune are easy enough to find, and building a Shortcut around them was simple. I randomly select fortunes until I find one I like.
But with an LLM, I thought — why not make the fortune relevant to each issue’s content?
Here is the prompt that I’m using for this.
You are helping me create a fitting fortune for issue «Issue Number» of the Weekly Thing. The fortune is similar to what you may get inside of a fortune cookie. The best fortunes are light-hearted, humorous, and thought provoking for the reader. The fortune is one of the last items included in each issue of the Weekly Thing.
Guidelines for creating great fortunes:
Please identify five options for fortunes. Return the list of fortunes as a JSON object.
List of titles for this week are:
«List of Link Titles»
This also returns a list of options. They are impressively good and it does a great job pulling in themes from the links in each issue.
Byline
The “byline” is the first sentence in the email. Over time, its role has evolved. Initially, it was a reminder of why you’re receiving the email. Then I used a template to mechanically describe what was in the email. I’ve always desired this to be an “intro” to the links in the issue but it is difficult to do that. It is also a rare place in the email where I want it to be a “different voice”. Ideally this is more of a second person voice describing what is included.
To generate a meaningful byline, I provide more than just article titles — I also include my commentary. I focus only on featured links, skipping the “briefly” section.
Here is the prompt I’m using:
Please generate a single sentence description using the list of articles below. This description will be used as the first line of an email to introduce these items along with other things. Please provide 3 options.
Do not include any explanations, numbering, or formatting. Just provide each option on a line by itself like this:
option
option
optionHere is the list of article titles with commentary.
«List of Featured Links Only with Commentary»
This one still requires a bit more editing from me before I’m ready to use it, and I think that will always be the case. So rather than returning JSON I just get it to put the options in text and then I present it in the Shortcut for editing and refinement to finalize it.
Supporting Members
The newest section where I’m using AI, and a new section to the email itself is in the Supporting Members segment. This is a new thing where we raise funds for digital non-profits as a community. This is the section where I rely on AI the most, without requesting multiple versions. I’m okay, and actually kind of prefer, this to be in a different voice than mine.
To generate this section, I pull data from Buttondown and Stripe and do some quick calendar math to provide the LLM with context. This is then embedded into to two different prompts that generate the two “versions” of this section.
Here is the prompt to become a member:
You are a pleasant membership expert. Please write a call to action to encourage a reader of the Weekly Thing to become a Supporting Member. Some data to use for the call to action:
Remember to highlight that all of the money raised goes to the non-profit. Keep it fresh and fun. Limit to one paragraph. Do not include the pricing and subscription options. Do not add any links. That will be handled elsewhere.
Here is the prompt for existing members:
You are a grateful newsletter author. Please write a THANK YOU for being a Supporting Member. Some data to use for the note:
Remember to highlight that all of the money raised goes to the non-profit. Keep it fresh and fun. Limit to one paragraph and thank them for being part of it.
This is a new addition, but early tests look promising. This is also interesting because the LLM knows what Creative Commons is and can infer some additional context for the messaging. It is different with each run which will keep the messaging fresh.
Overall Editing
The most recent AI addition to my workflow is final editing. Here I take the draft generated through my automation and I send it for review. I do a brief review of each email but honestly I never review it that much. Most of the time, what I send is my first draft — straight from the keyboard. As a result, typos get through or simple grammar issues that I wish were caught. I’ve considered Grammarly before, but it’s too thorough and over-edits my work. I want a very specific kind of review.
Here is the prompt I’m using. Note the specifics on what I don’t want it to do.
Below is a draft of the «Subject». Please review it to find any typos or notable grammar mistakes. Do not follow any of the hyperlinks or suggest meaningful content modifications. Ignore text in the blockquotes.
«Body Markdown»
This works okay but it unfortunately is at the very end of my workflow. The challenge is that fixing errors requires updating two places: the email draft and the original blog post or Pinboard entry. That isn’t ideal but it is better than nothing and hopefully will reduce the number of silly errors that get all the way through.
I ran this on my draft of Weekly Thing 312 as a test and it found 16 edits. 🤦♂️
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to make a POAP to commemorate my first time ice fishing!
See list of POAPs.
POAP 7308555 at Ice Fishing on Pierson Lake.
POAP 7308201 at TeamSPS Cyberweek 2024.
Bitcoin Books and BTC Price
I saw this list of Bitcoin books with the price of BTC at time of release on Nostr, reshared from stacker.news. I turned it into proper text as a table and putting it here for reference.
| Date | BTC-USD | Book |
|---|---|---|
| 03/01/14 | $258 | Bitcoin: Beginner’s Guide |
| 06/14/14 | $604 | The Book of Satoshi |
| 07/01/14 | $640 | Mastering Bitcoin |
| 05/19/15 | $241 | Digital Gold |
| 01/01/16 | $432 | The Internet of Money |
| 03/23/18 | $4,046 | The Bitcoin Standard |
| 03/26/19 | $4,028 | Programming Bitcoin |
| 06/17/19 | $31,712 | Inventing Bitcoin |
| 07/07/19 | $11,231 | Bitcoin & Black America |
| 08/01/19 | $10,791 | The Little Bitcoin Book |
| 09/03/19 | $10,620 | Why Buy Bitcoin |
| 01/01/20 | $7,194 | The Price of Tomorrow |
| 01/06/20 | $7,725 | 21 Lessons |
| 11/23/20 | $18,690 | Thank God for Bitcoin |
| 01/18/21 | $36,934 | Layered Money |
| 01/31/21 | $34,140 | Cryptoeconomics |
| 03/14/21 | $55,805 | The Blocksize War |
| 06/21/21 | $31,712 | The 7th Property |
| 07/22/21 | $32,384 | L(earn) Bitcoin |
| 08/16/21 | $48,281 | The Bullish Case for Bitcoin |
| 12/25/21 | $50,774 | Bitcoin and the American Dream |
| 03/02/22 | $39,463 | Bitcoin is Venice |
| 03/09/22 | $38,904 | Check Your Financial Privilege |
| 06/13/22 | $28,374 | Bitcoin Evangelism |
| 03/24/23 | $27,621 | Softwar |
| 03/29/23 | $28,113 | The Bitcoin Handbook |
| 04/13/23 | $40,206 | A Progressive’s Case for Bitcoin |
| 05/02/23 | $28,654 | Proof of Money |
| 08/14/23 | $28,754 | Cryptosovereignty |
| 08/14/23 | $28,754 | Fiat Ruins Everything |
| 08/20/23 | $26,450 | Broken Money |
| 12/01/23 | $37,810 | Gradually, then Suddenly |
| 12/05/23 | $43,270 | The Hidden Cost of Money |
| 01/01/24 | $42,221 | The Fiat Standard |
| 01/03/24 | $43,556 | The Genesis Book |
| 04/04/24 | $69,001 | The Conservative Case for Bitcoin |
| 06/14/24 | $66,700 | Resistance Money |
| 07/19/24 | $68,088 | National Security in the Digital.. |
| 11/10/24 | $88,637 | The Bushido of Bitcoin |
| 02/03/25 | $101,405 | The Big Print |
Tyler and I have been having fun with Collector Crypt. I decided to join their Card Club and grabbed an NFT in the market place.
Venusaur Holo
I had never heard of a Gacha before but I was intrigued when Collector Crypt sent an announcement about the Elite Pokémon Gacha Machine. I forwarded it to Tyler to investigate.
The gist is you pay a fixed amount and get a random card with a minimum value. Collector Crypt does this all on the Solana blockchain. We decided to give it a whirl and pulled a Venusaur Holo (1996) with a near-mint 8 PSA rating.
Tyler digs Collector Crypt because they have good Pokémon cards. I dig it for that and that it is a great use of NFT’s and smart contracts. The transaction for this Gacha machine is a complicated one with seventeen different steps.
We will likely “burn” the NFT and have Collector Crypt ship us the nearly 30 year old card.
Support the Web via Open RSS
I recently discovered Open RSS via an article on Lifehacker highlighting how the service can provide feeds for some services that don’t do it themselves. I clicked through and was delighted to read more about Open RSS.
Open RSS is a non-profit advocating for the use of RSS. I read their about page in detail and it strongly resonated with me. Open protocols like RSS are an enabler to the open web and a way to create connection without all of the downsides of consolidated media platforms driven by a desire for data and engagement.
Open RSS also provides capability to discover and bridge RSS feeds for different sites (this is what the article was about). I’ve already suggested connecting POAPs to RSS. 🤓
I’m a care deeply about the kind of work this organization is doing. It is super small and grass roots. I’ve already had a few emails with Mark, one of the founders. This is a great opportunity to donate to a cause that is focused on the open Web. I think I just found the next organization that Weekly Thing Supporting Memberships can support!