April 2025 - Thimphu - mailman.fossbhutan.bow.st

admin volunteer request: xmpp bridge setup
by Mathew Cherry G. 28 Apr '25

28 Apr '25

Hello folks, As you know, fossbhutan.bow.st is a yunohost [1] instance running on AWS Singapore free tier (I had tried to get hosting within Bhutan, but haven't had any luck with a non-NATed public local IP yet - if anyone can help, happy to chat!) I suspect that a lot of folks are new to xmpp, but might be using other more centralised apps such as telegram (FSB-ware), matrix (Mossad-ware) or WhatsApp(NSA-ware) etc. If you are enthusiastic about using these apps to chat within the community, then please volunteer to setup a bridge with our tiny yunohost xmpp instance - reply me in private, and we can setup a hackathon. I would like to see at least 5 users before committing to setting up a bridge, because our VM is tiny and probably can't take much more load. Also, if you feel like getting into "devops" (OGs call it "sysadmin") , then please get in touch - this is an excellent way to learn. We don't do cluster nonsense, but open to it, if given the right resources. Best, Math/(~cherry) [1] https://yunohost.org

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Call for volunteering for Crypto party
by Mathew Cherry G. 25 Apr '25

25 Apr '25

KZ la, As you know last year Karan Urao la (Drawah Tech Space) and Leki Choden la (Dragon coders) took the initiative and put in the work behind the scenes to setup the first FOSS meet at the YDF Innovation centre. Karan put in the work to make the website https://fossbhutan.bow.st up and running, Leki la opened doors and DC purse to enable the physical meet, and I put together the server infrastructure on which this mailing list as well as the website runs. This was a milestone in Bhutan's journey to becoming a producer of tech, rather than a consumer. We had several very interesting interactions. For me, as an outsider, I see immense potential for these forums, where people from various walks of tech and entrepreneurship rub shoulders along with regulators, bureacrats, press, potential investors, students, etc. All this happened because one or two people took the initiative behind the scenes to make this happen. But we can't rely on "someone else will do it" to make it happen and continue to happen. It is time to join the "behind the scenes" and put your time and effort to make this happen again. Please reply me in private if you would like to help - I did not get any responses either on xmpp or on email replies from the people who showed initial interest - perhaps mail and xmpp are not the most responsive channels, but we must learn the fine arts of tech production before we can actually produce tech. So once again, please ping me on xmpp or here privately - we need all hands on deck to make this happen. Becoming a volunteer is a great way to get access to the who's who in tech in Bhutan and potentially abroad. This is because almost every recognisable brand in Tech today was built on FOSS. Let me give you a short list, for motivation: Company: FOSS tech/project Apple: NextStep, Mach, *BSD Google: Linux Whatsapp: FreeBSD, Erlang Facebook: php, Linux AWS, ec2: xen "AI": tensor2tensor etc. When most people stand in a queue to get a job or business opening by trawling linkedin and other mainstream forums, smart people know that person to person interactions and relationships is the fastest way to make quality and trustworthy connections - with these connections, if we add hard work and competence, there is no limit to what we can achieve and help others through our professional journey. And the internet has no national boundaries! I look forward to hearing from you soon. Best, -- Math/(~cherry)

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Thimphu Crypto Party, and other things.
by Mathew Cherry G. 21 Apr '25

21 Apr '25

Kuzu Zangpo La! I'm back in town, and I was wondering if there's any interest in a FOSS crypto party [1] in Thimphu. It's a great opportunity to get non-tech and tech people together while actually doing something useful together and not just blah blah. I suggest a PGP key-signing session using FOSS tools, as a great context for a crypto party. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CryptoParty Long blurb/Disclaimer: Since people like throwing around buzzwords - "Crypto" here means "Cryptography" - not money laundering or "blockchain" or anything like that. This meaning was in use well before the modern blockchain was invented. In fact, one of the reasons that it's called "Crypto" is because cryptographic techniques were used in the first blockchain (bitcoin) as a means to demonstrate "Proof of Work". This technique was borrowed from an existing implementation called "HashCash", which was initially implemented as a way to deter spam (believe it or not!). Here is a more colourful and user friendly description: https://crypto.news/what-is-hashcash/ I look forward to meeting you all soon, and signing your PGP key! -- Math/(~cherry)

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[Sr. SEO Innovate Bhutan] Invitation to Moderate Innovate Bhutan’s 11th Friday Friends Series
by Mathew Cherry G. 21 Apr '25

21 Apr '25

Hi Everyone, Can you think of a volunteer to help moderate this topic ? I am afraid I have to excuse myself. I think it's a good opportunity to put yourself out there - and there is some intersect with FOSS, as crypto came out of the FOSS+Cypherpunk world. If so , could you please respond to the email address in the forward below as soon as you can. Many Thanks! Math. -------------------- Start of forwarded message -------------------- From: "Sr. SEO Innovate Bhutan" <ydfse.innovatebhutan(a)bhutanyouth.org> Date: Mon, 21 Apr 2025 11:34:26 +0600 Subject: Invitation to Moderate Innovate Bhutan’s 11th Friday Friends Series To: mathew(a)fossbhutan.bow.st Dear Mr. Mathew, I hope you are doing well. I am delighted to extend a warm invitation to you to join us as the *moderator* for our upcoming *11th Friday Friends Series*, scheduled for *Friday, April 25, 2025*, from *5:00 PM to 7:00 PM* at Innovate Bhutan. This session will feature *Mr. Sandeep Rai Chamling*, CEO of PandoraBiz, who will be sharing his insights on the theme: *“Cryptocurrency and Connections – Navigating the Future of Money.”* Given your expertise and thoughtful presence, we believe you would be the best fit to guide the discussion and engage both our guest speaker and audience meaningfully. Should your schedule not permit, we would deeply appreciate your recommendation of someone knowledgeable and comfortable with the topic of cryptocurrency who could moderate in your place. We look forward to your participation and hope to welcome you to another engaging Friday Friends networking evening. Pema Gyeltshen, Social Enterprise Officer, Innovate Bhutan, YDF. +975 77356415 -- CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed. The contents are proprietary and may be subject to legal privilege. If you are not the intended recipient, or if you have received this email in error, you are prohibited from using, copying, disseminating, or retaining any part of this communication or its attachments. Please notify the sender immediately by replying to this email and delete all copies from your system. Unauthorized use or disclosure of this email or its contents is strictly prohibited. The Bhutan Youth Development Fund disclaims any responsibility for damage caused by any viruses transmitted via this email or any attached files. Thank you for your cooperation and assistance. -------------------- End of forwarded message -------------------- -- Math/(~cherry)

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