I started the idea to podcast a year ago because I was bored. I also learned about Podcasting 2.0 and started listening to their podcast. I was intrigued as to where they were headed specifically with Value4Value and streaming payments to podcasters or any other person making content distributed via RSS. Over the last year I’ve had fits and starts with podcasting. I learned a lot but also don’t know enough to fully participate. I want to fix that but stepping through what I’ve done and where I want to go with this.
I have two podcasts not counting this one. Chasing the Yield and That’s All I Got. Chasing the Yield is the one I’ve been producing consistently. This podcast is easy for me to produce because it surrounds my personal investments that I track every day. All week I’m tracking financial news that pertains to my specific portfolio and post this news to my blog. Then I compile my investments’ performance over the week and blog that. That weekly recap becomes my show notes for a podcast episode. I’ve missed a few times because of scheduling but for the most part I do a weekly recording for the last 40 weeks.
That’s All I Got is hit or miss. I don’t know what I want to do with it. I usually create an episode when something bugs me or I think I have a unique take on a subject. It tracks with my personal blog which is also hit or miss. I only post news and links on my personal blog when I run across a news item that bugs me, a new tech gadget I buy (which is increasingly rare now), or some other opinion I have. I tried recapping the stories I blog on a podcast but I didn’t like doing it. I pretty much just read from things I blogged. Then I tried talking about a subject I haven’t blogged but needed to get it out of my head. That was better I thought but it’s inconsistent. Even so I completed 28 episodes of that podcast. I’d like to be consistent with it but I need to figure out how to come up with something on a regular basis.
Then there’s this podcast. Podcast Idiot. I started it before the other two because I thought I could chronicle each of my steps to host and produce my own podcasts. I got so bogged down with trying to produce the other two that trying to blog about it and podcast about it became a chore. Plus, I don’t really document what I do. I just kind of do it. By the time I’m ready to talk about it I’ve gone so far down the rabbit hole and don’t really remember how I arrived at the location I’m at. Here is a brief recap of what I’ve done and where I am.
- Registered domain names
- Created web sites
- Decided to self-host
- Chose a publishing platform (Blubrry)
- Need this in order to easily create an RSS feed that uses some Podcasting 2.0 tags
- I would like to move from Blubrry and create my own RSS feed.
- Creating your own RSS feed is not easy if you want to implement Podcasting 2.0 tags
- Purchased a microphone and podcast rig
- Enabled Value4Value using the Lightning Network
- Initially did this using Sphinx Chat. It was too difficult.
- Moved to LNPay
- I don’t know how to get funds from LNPay back out to Bitcoin
- Installed Ubuntu on an old PC and installed Umbrel
- Umbrel is a Bitcoin node (as I understand it)
- Umbrel has a built-in Bitcoin wallet
- I was able to figure out how to move Bitcoin into the wallet
- Umbrel has a built-in Lightning wallet
- I have not figured out how to move Satoshis (Sats) into my Lightning wallet
- Umbrel has a built-in Bitcoin wallet
- Umbrel is a Bitcoin node (as I understand it)
- I need to learn about how to use Umbrel and the LIghtning Network
I have a problem where I don’t retain details of a subject unless I’m using it frequently. I am very adept at knowing the big picture of how things work or how they’re supposed to work. But, the nuts and bolts of the inner workings never stay with me unless it’s something I’m doing on a daily basis.
Bitcoin and Lighting are a prime example. I’ve read books on blockchain technology and Bitcoin. I have a basic understanding of how it works. I’m not confident in Bitcoin as a currency (that’s a subject for a different post) but I am confident in blockchain as a technology. I can see how the technology can be used to quickly, securely, and inexpensively move funds from one person to another. That is what intrigues me and I would like to be able to use this regardless of what the ultimate digital currency turns out to be. Blockchain will be the technology used to facilitate digital money. Of that I’m fairly certain.
My problem with Bitcoin and Lightning is getting wallets up and running where I’m in control of it and not a third party. Umbrel seems to be a solution. I can’t figure out how to get my Lightning wallet working. The Bitcoin wallet was automatic. Once Umbrel was installed and the Bitcoin Blockchain fully synchronized it was stupid simple to load the Bitcoin wallet.
Lightning however is a different animal. There are things called channels that I need to “open” and I’m not quite sure how to do this. I opened a channel to a service called LNBIG. But when I try to send sats to my Umbrel Lighting wallet I continue to get an error saying “No Route”. I don’t know what that means exactly. I’m guessing whatever I’ve done with opening channels isn’t done correctly and there is no clear path to send sats from one Lightning wallet to my Umbrel Lightning wallet.
That’s where I’ve been and this is where I’m at. Let’s see where this leads.
Image by Pete Linforth from Pixabay
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