• Review
• Backpacking

Yo-yoing the CDT without a pot or a stove was austere.

For 7 months, I never had warm food (except when I resupplied in town). 

It was surprisingly easy to get used to uncooked food. I ate:

• Nuts
• Energy bars
• Powdered soy milk with cereals
• Dried fruit
• Bread and crackers
• PB&J

A few times, I would soak couscous overnight in a ziplock bag. I would eat the cold couscous in the morning, except that one morning when it was frozen solid.

I lacked the crazy cravings that I expected to have. Still, if I had to do it all over again, I would bring Gossamer Gear's Crotch Pot!

Watch my video review of the Crotch Pot

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What is Opendime? It is:

• Bitcoin on a stick.
• A Bitcoin piggybank.
• Not another hardware wallet since it has no PIN or password
• It's not like other "physical" bitcoin because nobody knows the private key until you physically alter the device.
• A disposable hardware wallet that can be used as cash.

Buy your Opendime

What’s new with V4?

It's an incremental (and not a radical) upgrade from v3. Coinkite has improved Opendime's:

• Form factor.
• Electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection
• Speed
• Recoverability in case of damage
• Blockchain viewing options (it added blockstream.info)

Why use it?

1. Gift: each Opendime costs about $17 and you can load it up with as much BTC as you want. Graduation present. Help someone buy a car or a house. Birthday gift for over $100.
2. You want to buy something expensive in a hurry.
3. Sell Opendimes with BTC. 
4. Anonymous transaction: it's almost impossible to know who spent the Opendime.
5. It’s better than a paper wallet because it has the upsides but also generates the private key safely.
6. Emergency money when you're traveling - it's like a traveler's check that works in the most repressive regimes. Wear it as a necklace under your shirt so that even if they steal your wallet and bags, you'll still have money. All you need a computer or a smartphone (with a USB-adapter).

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• Review
• Advice
• Cryptocurrency

In the 2020s, more travelers will want to make bitcoin transactions anywhere on the planet. Most will use their smartphones, which is somewhat secure. 

However, if you the best security, you should use a bitcoin hardware wallet. 

In this faceoff, we'll review the two best hardware wallets: Coinkite's Coldcard MK3 versus Ledger's Nano S. 

Since there is substantial information about the Ledger Nano S, we'll focus on the Coldcard MK3.

Because the Nano X is similar to the Nano S, much of what I say about the Nano S also applies to the Nano X. 

Watch my video review

What I love about the Coldcard MK3

• Big, fat numeric keypad and decent vs. the Ledger's tiny buttons and screen
• The Coldcard MK3 offers bulletproof security.
• Ingenious double-PIN security system. 
• The Coldcard MK3 comes with a Duress PIN that is useful if someone is forcing you to reveal the PIN
• Even better, the Coldcard MK3 comes with a Brick PIN, which allows you to erase the Coldcard completely with one PIN - that's also useful in an emergency.
• Unlike other hardware wallets, its process is in effect a flash ROM (read-only memory) with a pathetic 10k bits of storage. This is good news for you because it makes it effectively impossible to be reprogrammed. 
• 12-word encrypted backups.
• The Coldcard MK3 can fool an unsophisticated person into thinking that it's just a geeky calculator.
• Its display can show QR codes.
• The Coldcard MK3 supports Partially Signed Bitcoin Transactions (PSBT), thereby giving you supreme security through its air-gapped technology.

Coldcard MK3 Tips

• Verify that the tamper-evident bag has not been opened or altered.
• Back up your file on a MicroSD card, but do not put that file on any computer (unless it's an emergency). If you need to restore the backup, it's better to buy a new Coldcard and restore that.
• Connect it with the Wasabi wallet (or Electrum), but only in an air-gapped fashion (i.e., never plug your Coldcard directly into a PC).
• Be careful because there is no factory reset!
• Do not lose/forget your PIN. If you do, nobody can help you.

You should buy the Coldcard if you . . .

• Want the most secure hardware wallet in the solar system.
• Want to store a significant amount of BTC (over $10,000) - although it works great for $10 too.
• Make fewer than 100 bitcoin transactions per year (and if you make more than that, you could still use the Coldcard as your cold storage bank and use a hot wallet for your daily use).  
• Are technically competent and somewhat geeky.
• Want a superior device interface than the Ledger S.
• Manually create a random seed with 99+ six-sided dice rolls!
• Want encrypted backups.
• Are a bitcoin maximalist (bitcoin is the only cryptocurrency you own). 
• Are familiar with one of these bitcoin wallets: Bitcoin Core, Electrum, or Wasabi. (It also works with Generic JSON wallets).
• Are willing to trade-off convenience for extra security.
• Want a login-countdown option: this forces a delay of your choice (mins to 28 days) before you can access the device, which would be useful if a criminal who is in a hurry wants to quickly access your funds (the downside is that you're also limited). 

You should buy the Ledger Nano S or X if you . . .

• Want to manage multiple cryptocurrencies with one device (the Coldcard only stores bitcoin). 
• Plan to do many transactions while on the road; the Nano X's Bluetooth makes that easy with a smartphone.
• Are a novice.
• Are not much of a geek: if you're often asking other people to help you with your smartphone or computer, then get the Ledger since it's a simpler system than the Coldcard
• You like the Ledger Live software interface. 
• You're afraid that you will royally screw up. You can factory reset a Ledger, but (for added security) you cannot reset a Coldcard.

Verdict: Coldcard MK3 Wins!

If you're looking for the most bulletproof security to safeguard your bitcoins in cold storage, then Coldcard is the way to go. 

Some people may want the Coldcard mainly for ergonomic reasons: they like that it has a screen that displays a QR code, as well as the buttons that are also larger than the Ledger Nano S or X. They could plug the Coldcard directly into their PC to make transactions and ignore Coldcard's air-gap feature.

Final security point

Whether you use a Ledger or Coldcard, what matters more than anything else is protecting your 24-word seed phrase. Probably 99% of the lost/stolen bitcoins are due to someone putting their seed phrase in an insecure location (which a hacker or thief can access) or forgetting/misplacing the seed phrase (thereby permanently locking yourself out of your wallet).

Therefore, don't think that because you have a robust Coldcard that you're safe. All you've done is eliminate one of the 100 different ways that you can lose your bitcoins.

Buy a Ledger or a Coldcard - or both!

If this article was helpful, please use the affiliate links below to buy your hardware wallet. It costs you nothing, but the manufacturer gives a tiny bonus.

Buy a Coldcard

or 

Buy a Ledger

• Review
• Backpacking

In 2019, Gossamer Gear launched its Ranger 35 Backpack. 

I got lucky and was honored to go on a day hike with Glen Van Peski, Gossamer Gear's Founder.

Be sure to listen to our one-hour conversation on my podcast.

We paused to review the Ranger 35. 

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• Book Review

This book starts with a simple question: what would an alien think of humans?

We feel like we're pretty normal and rational, but Steve Stewart-Williams proves otherwise in The Ape that Understood the Universe.

We're a strange primate.

The author delves into many topics, including human sexuality.

As Bill Maher said:

"There are no such things as mutual fantasies! Yours bore us; ours offend you."

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• Book Review

Today, Yuval Noah Harari launched his third book, 21 Lessons for the 21st Century. Although it’s weaker than his first two books (Sapiens and Homo Deus), it’s still excellent and worth reading.

It seems that no other historian spends more time talking about the future than Harari. He should change the Historian label for the Futurist title.

The 21 lessons are organized into 5 parts.

Instead of repeating the 21 chapter titles (which are coyer than descriptive), I’ll succinctly summarize the takeaway from the chapter.

Here’s a teaser of what Harari’s 21 lessons are:

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• Book Review

I’ve read most of Michio Kaku’s books. I always enjoy them. His newest, The Future of Humanity, is his best. Still, there are parts that I disagree with.

He covers the topics that every futuristic geek loves to devour. The book is divided into 3 parts:

1) Leaving Earth
2) Voyage to the Stars
3) Life in the Universe

Each part has several chapters, covering topics like:

• Mining the heavens
• The challenges of terraforming Mars
• How the moons of gas giants and even comets can become gas stations of the future
• How robots can colonize the universe
• The pros and cons of various starships
• Transhumanism
• Advanced civilizations
• Time travel

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• Book Review

I usually dislike books that are a collection of unrelated essays but Paul Theroux’s newest book, Figures in a Landscape: People and Places, is an exception.

When writers compile their essays it’s a sign that they:

1. Are lazy.
2. Have nothing new to say (e.g., writer’s block).
3. Need money.

Many who reviewed Tim Ferriss’s book, Tribe of Mentors, called it a “money grab.” It’s when a popular author wants some quick cash so he pumps out garbage knowing that his fans will eat whatever crap he spews out.

I expected Theroux’s latest book to be just like that. I was ready to skip chapter after chapter. However, I rarely skipped.

The chapters are pulled from his articles in The Washington Post, Harper’s Bazaar, the Guardian, the Smithsonian, New York Times Magazine, and others.

Naturally, many chapters are travel essays. Several cover Africa but others discuss Ecuador and Hawaii. He critiques Henry David Thoreau, Joseph Conrad, and others.

Some of the best parts were the most unexpected: his interviews with Elizabeth Taylor, Robin Williams, and a Manhattan dominatrix.

He ends with a chapter about his dad and why he wants to thwart his future biographers (which is a bit conceited to believe that someone will write his biography).

If you’re a Paul Theroux fan and/or you like travel writing, you’ll enjoy Theroux’s latest, which you can pre-order now. It comes out May 8, 2018.

VERDICT: 8/10 stars.

Disclosure: I received a free advanced copy from the publisher to review. 

• Book Review

“Imagine running 84 marathons. Consecutively.”

That’s what running legend Scott Jurek asks you to do in his newest book, North: Finding My Way While Running the Appalachian Trail.

It comes out April 10, 2018.

Warning: if you know nothing about Jurek and Appalachian Trail records, then there are spoilers in this review.

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• Book Review

I have mixed feelings about Timoleon Amessa's Saving Africa book. The author is from Cote D'Ivoire but he's lived in the UK for decades.

What I liked

• He says that African leaders ought to take responsibility for its problems.
• He doesn't blame foreigners for everything.
• He spends half the book offering solutions.
• "Democracy is a logical and fair method. It is not rocket science and it is not magic either." (Many argue that Africans are too immature/savage for democracy)
• African countries should focus on the agricultural sector first.
• “Neighboring countries envied Côte D’Ivoire. West Africans rely on agriculture, but Houphouët-Boigny’s policies made a difference because the economy was partly operated by private Western agro-industrial companies.

What I didn't like

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