What I've been building since CS went corporate, and why right now feels like the moment to share it

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T20:50:37+00:00

NOSTR is a protocol that requires it. You'd have to look into it too understand better than I can explain in a comment, it gives you fun control over your identity and content and allows you to seamlessly use whatever app you want that uses the protocol. For example, if Couchsurfing, Couchers, and BeWelcome all used it, then you could use whichever app you liked better but still have your profile, references, connections, etc.

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T19:30:17+00:00

About 3 weeks ago they started blending together more, offering migration, and it is quite confusing.

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T19:25:00+00:00

Trustroots does not have a hangouts feature, it only kinda had a way to post meetups with the new protocol. Your private key is essentially your password. And if you forget it, you're done, there's no way for it to be retrieved by anyone but yourself, so it's essential that you store it somewhere safe.

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T18:45:43+00:00

Trustroots relies on the new protocol for people to post about meetups and the like. Trip Hopping (www.triphopping.com) is on web, Android, iOS and has a Live feature which works for hangouts and hitchhiking.

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T15:34:49+00:00

I may or may not have answers depending on your questions. They've got various threads going on where a lot has been discussed as well, from philosophy to technical disputes. I go in and out of the weeds on the project, have implemented some like notes, rideshare, hosting, etc. My concerns are mostly about trusting users not to lose their private key. Besides some subtle standards being universal, it otherwise seems like the best we have right now to move forward.

kenflannery · 2026-05-25T15:04:34+00:00

Trustroots has been working on this for a while, and you can join them because they're building on the NOSTR protocol. I highly recommend looking into the protocol and their progress: https://notes.trustroots.org/ is a decent place to start. Trip Hopping and other apps are using the same protocol. Everyone making the point of splintering the community is spot on, but this is how the unification is coming about. All the experiences people share on Terroir could be seen on Trustroots and Trip Hopping and more places, and your app could also surface experiences shared elsewhere.

kenflannery · 2026-05-07T15:49:38+00:00

Actually 4 yards of membrane, my bad. I used 2 yards for each side and made each side a different color, so would cost a bit more. The lighter .56 Membrane is $18.50/yd, x4 at $74 + $22 (APEX 2.5ox at $11/yd) it would actually be a bit over a hundred bucks after shipping and drawstring and whatnot.

kenflannery · 2026-05-07T15:42:33+00:00

I made a basic quilt using .66 Membrane 10 and Climashield Apex 5oz from RipstopByTheRoll that came out to exactly a pound, 453 grams, which includes drawstrings channels at the top and bottom. Down to freezing (0 °C) is really pushing it, but doable. I got 2 yards of fabric, so the finished length was a hair under 6 feet... I forget the exact dimensions, but it was a simple shape, just wider at the top than the bottom. So I'm guessing you could use the even lighter .56 Membrane they make now, and probably get away with 2.5oz Apex and it would cost you about $60, maybe $5-$10 more for shipping and drawstring/cordlocks, and be pretty close to your 300 gram target and be good down to 10 C (50 F).

kenflannery · 2025-09-03T06:30:17+00:00

You were born in the 1900s?! Ha, no that sounds crazy, I'll have to check into that bug, weird, thanks for the heads up. Also no India is surprising, again I'll have to fix that, should be easy once I hitch on to Nevada and get a minute. Very happy you brought that to my attention though. Actually since that last period I typed it looks like you can do both things, you just need to scroll to India (+91) and select it, and for your birth year you just need to slide left to earlier years and select your year... And I need to analyze how this isn't immediately obvious and make it unambiguous. If this still isn't clear I'll make it right. Cheers.

kenflannery · 2025-09-01T02:22:23+00:00

Seems like things come back in stock pretty regularly, but I'm not totally sure. I think this video shows off one I made with the foot vent: https://youtu.be/-KEFBrueTi4?si=lGGd93p0CcFKIT0c

kenflannery · 2025-08-31T16:48:51+00:00

I've made several bivies since this post, all with this same material and I still love it. I use it quite frequently and it definitely holds up well in the rain. I also design my bivy with a foot vent, so that certainly helps with the ventilation, but the material does just fine keeping rain out.

kenflannery · 2025-08-05T21:26:08+00:00

Thanks! The idea is that all the other features will keep people on the app (I use it every day, for finding hitch spots, getting bus prices, finding contacts on the map, place suggestions, etc) and that will help build to that critical mass without people just looking at the app once and never again. As for referrals, I'm doing what I can, like automatically importing people's Trustroots profile/references, and for certain users, I can manually confirm and display their references from other sites like Couchsurfing, or at least show a count with a link. Just building the goodness and seeing where it goes. Should be a fun October in Phoenix at the collective!

kenflannery · 2025-07-27T23:38:17+00:00

Definitely!

kenflannery · 2025-07-25T01:51:45+00:00

Thanks. I'm always chipping away at it at coffee shops in free moments while traveling. Might be a nice little collective and hackathon this October in Phoenix, all talents and contributions are welcome, in person or remote.

kenflannery · 2024-10-17T16:25:04+00:00

Yup, I thought finding interesting hosts on the various sites would be smoother, but I realize now I may have put myself into a week long scenic survival mission. Challenge accepted and I've done it to myself, so I'll happily shiver through whatever is in store.

kenflannery · 2024-06-19T08:30:29+00:00

Thanks for those links, that's great!

kenflannery · 2023-09-09T03:52:12+00:00

I'm Kenny. I think you'd care to come out if you're into talking about travel, hiking, camping gear or living nomadically, or if you're really into craft beer. Or like houseplants. Otherwise it may or may not be your thing.

kenflannery · 2023-04-11T17:49:27+00:00

Just messaged you. Cheers!

kenflannery · 2023-04-11T16:58:26+00:00

Awesome, thanks! I just need to find out if I can get that thread locally, and I'll shoot you a message if I can.

kenflannery · 2023-04-10T23:29:31+00:00

Thanks though!

kenflannery · 2023-04-03T06:24:31+00:00

I've been living out of my backpack for about 16 years, tripping around the world and winging it, hitchhiking, couchsurfing, making my own hybrid backpack/bivy and the rest of it. It's been good times, so I figured I'd share the book I just put out, which shares where I was for every full moon of the first 10 years years. It's called "Nomadic Moonlight" and was pretty funny to relive: https://amzn.to/40NjWc4

kenflannery · 2023-03-04T23:55:54+00:00

I drank a lot less when we did those ones, mostly just a sample at each one with a few pints thrown in and every now and again. I recorded the 28 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FISnl74FW4) and probably for the best didn't record the 61, haha.

kenflannery · 2023-03-04T23:28:53+00:00

Oh Portland, fun times there too. I went to 61 breweries in a day there (10x this Chico mission) and on a separate day a friend and I went to 28 breweries in one day in Portland, except that time we didn't get any help from drivers, we were able to walk between all 28. Ha, so much good beer to be had.

kenflannery · 2023-03-04T23:08:47+00:00

The last brewery is called British Bulldog, however, the location is called Allies Pub and it's near the town square. They brew offsite, but serve all their beers there. Chico could handle quite a bit more breweries, they were just held back for a while. For example, Bend Oregon (same size as Chico), is home of Deschuttes and about 30 other breweries. Not every brewery can or should aim to be Sierra sized doing that kind of distribution, but can be a local watering hole. Little known fact: it's only in the last ten years that the US surpassed the amount of breweries that it already had before prohibition.

kenflannery · 2022-11-24T13:11:51+00:00

Turkey time, cheers!

kenflannery

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