Tag: Paralelni Polis

Opt-out – Hacker’s Congress 2019

November 14, 2019 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Hacker’s Congress is always at Paralelni Polis here in Prague around the first weekend in October. This years theme suited us well (Opt-out) and we bought the tickets as soon as they were released. The price was a bit higher this year, but the quality of the conference was higher as well. They had much more sophisticated recording equipment and most of the talks were recorded. Some speakers declined to be filmed for obvious reasons, but the open talks are available here if you are interested.

More and more children attend each year, so this year Othilia had a friend near her age to play with. Older kids also had things to do at the conference so the attendees of the conference is turning into a mix of young hacker’s and families with children.

I will show a few photos from the conference, but I highly recommend you to visit their Youtube page and look at the recordings from the conference.

“Hacker’s Congress” arrangeras alltid på Paralelni Polis i Prag runt första helgen i oktober. Årets tema passade oss bra (Opt-out) och vi köpte biljetter så snart de släpptes. Priset var högre i år, men kvaliteten på konferensen var också högre. De hade mycket mer sofistikerad inspelningsutrustning och de flesta av föreläsningarna spelades in. Vissa av talarna ville dock inte filmas av uppenbara skäl, men de öppna samtalen finns här om du är intresserad.

Fler och fler barn deltar för varje år som går och i år hade Othilia en vän nära hennes egen ålder att leka med. Äldre barn hade också saker att göra på konferensen så deltagarna på denna konferens har förvandlats till en blandning av unga hackare och barnfamiljer.

Jag kommer att visa er några foton från konferensen, men jag rekommenderar dig starkt att besöka deras youtube-sida och titta på inspelningarna från konferensen.

Othilia checking out the Bitcoin ATM. The only accepted currencies at this conference are cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoin and litecoin.

The history and background of Parelni Polis was presented. Václav Benda was a Czech Roman Catholic intellectual and mathematician, that lead the anti-communist dissident organization Charter 77 when Czechoslovakia was under Communist rule. He wrote the essay Parallel Polis (parallel cities) in 1977 and he is an important person to the crypto-space here in Prague.

Some words about Facebook’s cryptocurrency Libra.

Some talks was live on Youtube and more are now available on Youtube.

Ken Schoolland was one of the main speakers at the conference. He is an Associate Professor of Economics at Hawaii Pacific University and the author of *The Adventures of Jonathan Gullible*.

Othilia chilling in the bean bag at Paralelni Polis. We couldn’t bring Othilia to the lectures so we had to divide the interesting talks between us.

Othilia had her friend Astrid (and her mother Hayley) at the Hacker’s Conference. They already met at last years conference, both just a few month old and in a sling back then. Now they are running around at Paralelni Polis.

We also took Othilia out to playgrounds so she wouldn’t be indoors all day.

Othilia is an expert at stealing other children’s balls (look how happy she looks :)). We bring her own balls to the playgrounds, but she is never interested in her own balls, only those of others.

Back to the conference! We got handed a Venezuelan Bolivar at the conference – this piece of paper is now worth less than 1 satoshi (0.00000001 BTC).

The people who put the conference together – a big thank you for all the work you put in to make this happen!

We will end this blog post with a few pictures from the morning walks Pontus does.

Some boats on the Vltava river is part of the public transportation system, so a regular ticket is enough to go from one side of the river to another. They also start to go quite early as you can see by the morning light.

Hacker’s Congress 2017, Paralelni Polis

October 15, 2017 / Ulrika / 0 Comments

Our visit to Prague this time was for the Hacker’s congress at Paralelni Polis, where we also held a presentation at a bitcoin meet up a few days before the conference started. We had really high expectations, because we visited last years version of Hacker’s congress and we had a really interesting and inspiring time, so we didn’t expect less for this year’s version. Hacker’s congress covers more topics than cryptography and programming – it is about finding freedom in an unfree world and how you can hack your life to become the greater you. A few of the talks are available at World Crypto Network if you are interested.

Vårt besök i Prag den här gången var för den årliga “Hacker’s Congress” vid Paralelni Polis, där vi också höll i ett föredrag på ett bitcoinmöte några dagar innan konferensen startade. Vi hade väldigt stora förväntningar, då vi besökte förra årets version av “Hacker’s Congress” som var otroligt bra och inspirerande, så vi förväntade oss inte mindre för årets version. “Hacker’s Congress” täcker fler ämnen än kryptografi och programmering – det handlar om att hitta frihet i en ofri värld och hur du kan hacka ditt liv för att bli ett större du. Några av föreläsningarna finns tillgängliga på World Crypto Network för dig som är intresserad.

It was time for the 2017 version of Hacker’s Congress and these were the topics covered during the Congress.

The Hacker’s Congress was held at our favorite place in Prague, Paralelni Polis which means parallel city in English.

This year 5% of the attendants were Swedish, and we have met many of them before, so we went out for dinner with a few of the Swedes. One of them brought a really nice cap to the table!

Adam Back was one of the speakers talking about Bicoin and he devoted his talk to the scalability and fungibility problems of bitcoin. His talk is one of the recorded talks uploded to the World Crypto Network hosted by Tone Vays.

Tone Vays was another speaker who mainly focused on talking about the history of the Bitcoin price. We’ve heard this before at Anarchapulco 2016 so it was not so much new things for us.

Pamela Morgan made people start thinking about what will happen with your cryptocurrencies when you die.

Peter Todd was here taking about Proof of Work and what a blockchain and mining are trying to prevent. Really good talk.

Giacomo Zucco had a great talk about the antifragility of bitcoin.

Hacker’s Congress is a three day conference and you can only pay for food and beverages in bitcoin and litecoin. No Fiat-money here!

Julia Tourianski a.k.a brave the world, had a talk about what she’s learned about people after she discovered bitcoin.

Jeffrey Tucker had an interesting talk over Skype about bitcoin and Austrian economics, which is in line with how we see bitcoin.

In the breaks, we tested Paralelni Polis own beer.

Our focus was bitcoin, but other topics was also interesting for us. Pavol Luptak talked about the possibilities with the new technologies available.

Paul Rosenberg talked about bio hacking and the CRISPR-technique.

Juraj Bednar had an inspiring talk about positive libertarianism or how to be free in an unfree world.

And Arto Bendiken had a highly interesting talk about anarchy and tribalism – Ulrika thought that this was one of the best speeches at this year’s Hacker’s Congress.

You could try the new fashion make up at the Hacker’s congress so you can avoid the face recognition algorithms in a public space, It is not for avoiding face detection algorithms, for that you need scarf and sunglasses etc to cover up you face.

Panel discussions on different topics were also on the agenda. Here, Smuggler, Frank Braun, Jim Bell. Paul Rosenberg and Joerg Platzer about the impact of cryptoanarchy and decentralization to our future.

Lastly, the crew of Hacker’s Congress said goodbye and welcomed us to the next year’s version of HCPP.

Life nomadic with Bitcoin and an unschooling family

October 9, 2017 / Ulrika / 7 Comments

We got invited to hold a lecture about our nomadic lifestyle and why we want to opt out from the current economic system at the Bitcoin meet up here in Prague. We gladly accepted and below you can watch the whole lecture and the Q&A afterwards. It was really fun to see that so many were interested in hearing about the nomadic lifestyle we have and why we want to opt out from the current economic system.

We have also spent time with the King family that uses unschooling to help their kids learn about the world and life, so we also want to show you a few pictures from inside such a cool family. Caroline is also one of the persons behind the Prague Worldschooling-group, so check out what they are up to.

Vi blev inbjudna att hålla en föreläsning om vår nomadiska livsstil och varför vi vill opta ut från det nuvarande ekonomiska systemet på Paralelni Polis här i Prag under ett Bitcoin meetup. Vi accepterade inbjudan gladligen och nedanför kan du titta på hela föreläsningen, samt frågestunden efteråt. Det var jättekul att se att så många var intresserade av att höra om den nomadiska livsstilen vi har och varför vi vill opta ut från det nuvarande ekonomiska systemet i världen.

Vi har också spenderat tid med Kingfamiljen som använder “unschooling” för att hjälpa sina barn att lära sig om världen och livet, så vi vill också visa dig några bilder från insidan av en sådan cool familj. Caroline är också en av personerna bakom Prags “Worldschooling”-grupp, så kika gärna på vad de gör.

This is a few of the unschooling books that are used to teach the kids. You won’t find these kind of topics in the Swedish state curriculum.

Winston is using these cards to teach his youngest brother the periodic table, but we think that Edward is a little bit to young for that. Also not a thing you would see in a Swedish classroom for 7-year olds.

We also wanted to help to educate the kids and when Henry and Winston showed interest in climbing we brought them to the boulder bar here in Prague.

They advanced quickly so now they are having rope climbing lessons!

We also introduced them to zombie hide and seek so we had to have som breaks just resting on the mattress.

Take every question you get from a child as a learning opportunity. Here Ulrika talks about how animals have different defense systems during our bouldering session.

Virtual reality is another thing we tried with the King children.

And we showed them how to build your own microscope with your smartphone and a laserpointer.

a wasps eye up close

A close up on a human thumb.

the root of a strand of hair

Close up on brave boys sacrifice for science – learning about the blood system.

Through Atlas Obscura, we found an underground alchemy lab that where only re-discovered after a massive flooding 2002. So we thought that this would be an interesting thing for the boys to look at.

Atlas Obscura is a great website that we use to find interesting things to see and do.

The secret alchemy lab is from the 16th century and they were built for the king Rudolf II for the purpose to try to make gold and to make the legendary philosopher’s stone.

They also made different elixirs to prolong life, make you healthy or become more happy. There was a whole room underground dedicated to dry the “magical” herbs.

From the laboratory, there are long, underground tunnels connecting the laboratory to the castle and other places in Prague.

A sign from King Rudolf II where he gives the scientist the approval to run the alchemy lab.

They sell elixirs that are prepared by a local monastery under strict conditions according to their original recipes. More pictures from the lab can be found below.

We also went to the Magical cavern in Prague, a painting gallery by the artist Reon Argondian. He turned his home into the Kingdom of Argondia and he also sells the paintings that are on display.

The paintings shows the magical creatures living in the Kingdom of Argondia.

They also have sculptures, who seems to have an apetite for small children :). More pictures from the Magical cavern can be seen below.

Paralelni Polis, Cryptocurrencies and Steampunk in Prague

September 17, 2017 / Ulrika / 3 Comments

Paralelni Polis is a place where we feel comfortable in and it is the center of Bitcoin-activity here in Prague. We spent our days in Prague with the King family or sitting here in this place with our computers. We just let our pictures speak this time, so enjoy the cryptocurrency world in Prague and our visit to a really cool, steampunk-inspired bar!

Paralelni Polis är en plats där vi känner oss hemma och det är centrum för Bitcoinaktiviteten här i Prag. Vi tillbringade våra dagar i Prag med Kingfamiljen eller så satt vi på PP med våra datorer. Vi låter våra bilder tala denna gång, så njut av kryptovalutavärlden i Prag och vårt besök på en riktigt cool, steampunkinspirerad bar!

Paralelni Polis is another reason why we like Prague so much. Here is where the Institute of Cryptoanarchy is located and where the Hacker’s Congress 2017 will be held in a few weeks. We will be there, will you :)?

Close up on the sign outside the entrace.

Paralelni Polis accepts only bitcoin and litecoin, so you have to hold some cryptocurrency or change fiat money to real money at the atm inside the cafe when you want to buy any food or drinks here.

Coffee, beer and internet access is all we need 🙂

Paralelni Polis hosts regular Bitcoin meet ups, mostly in Czech. Occasionally there are English-speaking meet ups, like this one where a really cool it-woman, named Gili, talked about traveling the world, how to live of only cryptocurrencies while not having any bank accounts. It was awesome to meet and speak with Gili and hope that we will meet somewhere else in the world.
We will also hold an English-speaking Bitcoin meetup here on October 3rd, so come by and say hello to us if your’e in Prague!

Bitcoin is hot in Czech Republic so we got to appear on Czech national TV, in the background (can you spot us?), when they had a half-hour long programme about Bitcoin. They aired live from Paralelni Polis, so they wanted us to look busy meantime 🙂 Thanks Rebecca for the screenshot!

We also met up with Daniel, a fellow Cor.ax-conference attendee. We introduced him to Paralelni Polis, the King family and Bitcoin, and it was nice to get to know each other here in Prague.

Alza.cz is i huge electronic retailer that has just started to accept bitcoin as payment. They even have a Bitcoin atm, so we took Daniel here so he could get his first bitcoins.

At Alza you can buy everything from kitchenware, mobile phones to Tesla cars. If you buy anything with bitcoin, then be aware that you need to wait for one confirmation for smaller cheaper stuff to six confirmations if you purchase more expensive stuff. We can recommend to either buy online first or go to the Vietnamese market next door to have lunch while your’e waiting.

If you’re not into cars, then perhaps electric motorbikes would interest you. They also have a game room and a VR-corner, so there is no problem to spend a few hours inside this store.

Daniel stayed a few days in Prague and we went out for dinner during his last night in Prague and then we thought that we would check out a cool, steampunk-inspired bar here in Holešovice. From the outside the Cross Club (the name of the bar) looks like a tiny bar with a small outdoor seating area, but we were so wrong.

The cross club just blew us away, with its interior design and lightning. It is spread out like a labyrinth on several floors with different dance floors, a pinball room and bars. This is a DJ-booth on one of the dance floors.

One of the bars at Cross Club. This night club is a really cool experience that we can recommend if you come to Prague!

The outdoor area we first saw is just a tiny part of the night club. There is so much to explore here and you find cozy corners everywhere, so Ulrika thought that this night club was well-suited for introverts, not so much open areas and you can easily find a booth or a corner where you can get away from people 🙂 Daniel took a picture of us together (Thank you Daniel for the picture!). More pictures from Cross Club can be found in the slide show below

We hanged out with the King boys so that their parents could prepare for the coming birth, and it was Winston and Henry who showed us the way to another cafe in Prague, where they also accept bitcoin as payment.

The boys were eager to show us all the games the cafe have and the cool interior of the place.

We ordered fika and played Monopoly here, but “A Maze in Tchaiovna”-cafe offers a lot of different things from poetry nights, Ted-talk nights, free Language lessons etc to more adults only activities. Just check out their schedule online!

Absolutely love to see this sign! It is also lovely to see how interested Winston and Henry are in crypto-currencies and how much they understand. Henry created his own bitcoin-wallet necklace with his public and private key printed on the back, of course BIP-38 secured 😉 He was so proud of it so Ulrika had to make a short movie of him with his very own bitcoin-wallet. Then it was time for Edward to meet his family, but more of that in our next blog post.

Here are som links, if you want to take a closer look on anything we written about in this blog post:

Tag: Paralelni Polis

Opt-out – Hacker’s Congress 2019

Hacker’s Congress 2017, Paralelni Polis

Life nomadic with Bitcoin and an unschooling family

Paralelni Polis, Cryptocurrencies and Steampunk in Prague

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